A State of Personal Imbalance

In this present moment, you are the culmination of acquired health, genetics, life experience, developed intellect, emotional sensitivity and personal philosophy. Rarely, are these qualities evenly developed. When we place excessive focus on certain areas and neglect others, we run the risk of imbalance, in character and physiology.

I have acquaintances with very developed minds, but sickly bodies. I know others with strong, athletic, physical presence, yet have minimum intellectual inspiration. And, I've met many individuals who seem intellectually astute, but are in fact, highly immature, emotionally. Consciously, and more often unconsciously, we make such developmental choices.

Macrobiotic counseling is the art of offering broad inspiration and techniques for continual transformation and personal insight. The noble goal of macrobiotic counseling is to help clients strengthen their weaknesses, heal their deficiencies and learn practical strategies for enhancing their lives.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way. Macrobiotics has become known as a, "diet," a particularly restrictive one based on the archaic Chinese philosophy of opposites, or yin and yang. In publications that offer a modern interpretation, it's made to sound conceptually abstract, borderline cult and deficient in its nutritional suggestions. There are some valid reasons for these misconceptions, which is not the scope of this article, but never-the-less, it is, none of the above.

Macrobiotics is a dynamic philosophy of living that looks at the relationship of opposites and how natural laws between opposites govern all phenomena, including the food we eat. Based on numerous cultural teachings, it puts forth a template of suggested eating that relates to history, food cultivation, our bodies' design, social factors, and climatic availability. At the same time, it presents a traditional paradigm for understanding behavior, ethics and unique ways to maintain a broader and more positive perspective.

Ideally, a "macrobiotic consultant" is a developed soul that offers numerous solutions for people to improve their health and expand their lives by stimulating internal inquiry. Foundationally, we initiate this journey by offering some traditional principles of nourishment-principles thousands of years old that represent tried and true cultural teachings and simple laws of self-care.

Prompt results assert the conviction that this can be a powerful healing path. People regain a sense of control over their bodies, discovering they can regulate their bowel function, improve energy, sleep quality and endurance, mental clarity and find a peace previously illusive.

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The Trinity of Despair: Pain, Boredom and Stress

Schopenhauer once said, "The two human foes of happiness, are boredom and pain." Pain colors our ability to enjoy life, devouring energy and often, the will to live. Boredom fuels depression and often colors things meaningless. I've seen these characteristics in many cancer patients. Come to think of it, I've equally seen these characteristics in healthy people, as well.

Making sure we understand the source of our personal pain is therefore, a priority. There are many kinds of pain. Some people are in constant physical pain. This might be due to internal inflammation, a structural flaw, or errant chemistry. Others might be in emotional pain from years of suppression, an inability to communicate, or general indifference.

You only have to speak with someone for a short time to assess the degree of their emotional pain; it's difficult to hide. You can see it in their eyes, hear it in their voice pattern or conversation thread. You can observe it in their movement and style of animation.

Some are in philosophical or spiritual pain; they have a lack, or conflict of meaning, a fear that pervades and paralyzes their faith, or an insensitivity to the energetic, invisible world.

I suspect that most people who are bored, have less meaning and driving purpose in their lives. I've seen many wealthy clients who's exclusive goal was to make money, and then having made money, entered the darkness of boredom only to look back and suddenly discover that their life is no longer fulfilling; the challenge is gone, their inspiration dulled.

For whatever pain or conflict people live with, it represents a subtle and sometimes, not so subtle, stress. This stress permeates our lives. It's with us during our waking hours, and it's with us when we sleep, often revealed by the symbolism in our dreams. There is really no escape, only resolve.

You can attempt to numb yourself with obsessions, food, substances and numerous distractions, but unless you're willing to work at core levels, this stress remains constant. It has the potential to result in physical or mental breakdown. A state of dis-ease.

Through the prism of acquired knowledge, self-development, focused intuition and a guided philosophy of living, a macrobiotic consultant offers many ways for people to challenge themselves that can promptly prove self-revealing and beneficial.

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How to Scare Clients and Alienate Friends

You can diagnosis a counselor, just as a counselor diagnoses you, by asking questions
and by checking in with your intuition.

Ask how they might handle your concerns. Ask about their experience. Ask about anything. And, listen.

The one concern I have with macrobiotic "diagnostics," is that most of what is taught as facial diagnosis (also known as physiognomy) it is often used negatively-an evitably damaging attempt to motivate clients. Fear based motivation, in my opinion, based on years of actually doing it myself when I first began, is usually short-lived.

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My first consultation with an older Japanese Macrobiotic Teacher

In 1970 was something that I was excited to experience. At 18, and new to the macrobiotic community, I was very impressionable and imbued with loads of enthusiasm for macrobiotics.

My session began as written below and for many reasons was indelibly memorable. The JMT was staring at me with a half smile, his head bobbing from side to side, much like those baseball figurines you see on car dashboards that bob in traffic. Finally, he spoke:

I thanked him, paid my small donation and staggered out in a state of overwhelm. It was frightening having a stranger, a well-known and respected teacher, tell you that your organs were falling apart. How did he know this? And, how did he know about my secret peanut butter habit?

For a couple of days, I ate very simply with the focused goal of healing myself. But after a while, I began to resent his advice and felt compelled to test what he said. So, I did the opposite of what he advised-and, I lived…with no discernible kidney, liver or intestinal problems.

In fact, I felt great. What had been a well-intentioned ploy to inspire me, ended up backfiring because I felt manipulated by my fear.

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High Threat vs. High Opportunity

There are two main methods for motivating humans:

The process of praise, according to sports psychology, comprises three stages:

I sometime show clients the" before" pictures of previous clients and the dramatic "after" ones where they look younger and healthier. This often has a powerful motivating effect. I've had people book appointments and say, 'Gloria told me to call you for an appointment-and she wanted me to remind you to show me those pictures…"

It's very important in counseling to consider how you motivate clients. Typical of not just macrobiotic counseling, but many forms of health counseling, is what I call, "the casual threat approach." You allude to how all the individual's symptoms indicate the're a hairline away from a major disease, or by facial diagnosis, that their coloring, or feature placement, indicates developing illness. Essentially, you're warning them to prepare for the worst.

Threats create distrust and fear. In such
an atmosphere, it's more difficult for people
to realize their full potential, because
they are constantly thinking about the results
of not accomplishing their goal.

Threats, subtle and not-so-subtle, move people toward the survival side of motivation, but at the same time move them away from the opportunity side of health. Most importantly, threats do not motivate. Opportunities do. Threats typically create distrust and fear. In such an atmosphere, it's more difficult for people to realize their full potential, because they are constantly thinking about the results of not accomplishing their goal. Conversely, it becomes a self-induced method of stress.

Ironically, great opportunity or great threat, can stimulate high motivation. However, between the extremes of threat and praise motivation, most people are less motivated. When all methods of praise, such as encouragement, rewards or love fail, you then have to motivate by fear. Of all motivational styles, this can be very effective in the short run. But, eventually, you have to change this to a positive reinforcement of values and self-interest. This is where consistency, or staying power, resides.

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Rethinking Macrobiotic Diagnosis

In the mid-eighties, after 15 years of teaching macrobiotics, I co-founded a medical clinic in Los Angeles with two physicians, and was their chief resource for nutritional referrals. I was privileged to see client medical charts and know in advance, their complaints and previous diagnosed conditions. I would check this with what I knew about Oriental facial diagnosis and compare. But, rarely was my diagnosis accurate. Through trial and error, I realized that much of the folk medicine diagnostics we'd learned in Boston, showed future potential, not always the current condition.

Here's an example: Just because someone appeared with dark circles beneath their eyes, didn't always mean they had "bad kidneys," as we had been taught. It did not necessarily mean that the client had bad anything-maybe exhaustion, but usually not all that serious. Yet, many clients that I've seen who had been to other counselors told me upsetting stories about how the first thing a presumptuous counselor would say when they looked at their eyes was they had "bad kidneys;" or maybe because they had a division in their nose, they had a "heart murmur;" or a line between the eyebrows supposedly meant liver problems.

Then, almost perfunctorily, they were advised a special drink for their kidneys, specific foods for their heart, or a condiment for their, "liver condition." Often these conditions were generally categorized as, "stagnations." Another word, like, "detox," which can be very ambiguous.

From looking at thousands of eyes, I'd surmise that a dark eye area beneath the eye indicates blood sugar irregularities, possible kidney trouble, or possible adrenal gland exhaustion. Sometimes, in the case of extreme immune weakness, you'll also see this area to be quite dark.

The adrenals, about the size of your finger tip and weighing as much as an American nickel coin, sit on top of the kidneys and because of their anatomical closeness, in Chinese Medicine, were considered one unit along with the kidney.

Salt, caffeine, long periods without eating, chocolate, too many orgasms (you know who you are) and a lack of sleep, can darken the color of this thin tissue area. The area begins at the inside corner of the eye and stretches into the eye "bag" beneath the eye-lid.

Sometimes this area has a purple hue, (common for long-time vegetarians). This might mean that the person has potential anemia, a sugar habit, poor mineral absorption, or possible marijuana use. You can double-check this with a standard medical diagnostic that claims a blue-ish tinge to the eye white often indicates an anemic state. But, this is not a pat diagnosis. It's easy to mislead by such a simplistic visual analysis.

One of the best ways to evaluate your health or the health
of a client is by asking questions that broadcast
some kind of developing imbalance.

One of the best ways to evaluate your health or the health of a client is by asking questions that broadcast some kind of developing imbalance. This was also a traditional western medical approach. Before the 6-minute office physician visit became the standard, a competent medical practitioner would question his client by assessing mental clarity, manner and other symptoms.

They'd note the patient's coloring, observe their tongue, the eye-whites, complexion, the patient's state of anxiety, their physical flexibility, reflexes, abdominal sensitivity (palpation), note body temperature, etc. Today, this art is has given way to asking the patient about their chief complaint and then authorizing a prescription.

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12 Essential Self-Diagnosis Questions

There are some standard questions that can yield tremendous information for evaluating a client's current health. These questions, particularly for long distance counseling can offer solid insight to a person's condition if the practitioner understands what each question indicates:

Helping people requires we offer them a whole picture of restoration. As with any condition, you always look for a pattern. They're either getting worse or better. Rarely, is it the same, consistently. A counselor really needs a bit of compassion and patience to effectively counsel. In meetings, email queries, lectures, pot-lucks, business keynotes and via counseling, I've interviewed great numbers of individuals that at one time or another received macrobiotic counseling. The most common response was:

And, the most common:

It's the responsibility of a counselor to
tailor his recommendations to fit the
individual's condition and lifestyle.

It's the responsibility of a counselor to tailor his recommendations to fit the individual's condition and lifestyle. If you recognize that they cannot possibly do all that your ideal holds valuable, find a way to bring them one or two steps closer to a healthier, more balanced approach. In the long run this can open many doors for them.

"I don't cook…I warm!"

I tell a story in my book about a wealthy woman who had me visit her mansion in Bel Air, California for nutritional counseling. She had a good number of assistants running around, original paintings that I had only seen copies of previously, and all the trappings of extreme wealth. Yet, the Arthritis God of Pain was constantly by her side.

In fact, all of her joints ached and she was addicted to over-the-counter pain medication. Since she seemed to have mild inflammation, I had hope that she could triumph over it-until she gave me her major demand: She would, "not cook anything from scratch." She didn't mind "warming things up," but even with all the help, she permitted no one in her kitchen, and she was, "not the type to wear an apron and spend unnecessary time in the kitchen." Clearly, this seemed like a dead-end to me.

I never recommended boxed, canned or frozen food-and her fridge was full of these items anyway, but of poor quality. Her rule was quite simple: No dish should take over ten minutes, twenty minutes per meal, maximum.

At the time, my mindset was, "You'll just have to suffer, Lady, 'cause I'm not going to recommend fast food or packaged goods for you." But compelled by the fact that this was a very influential person in the entertainment industry and having just started a medical clinic, I knew that if she had a good outcome from the session, we'd get referrals-and of course, she'd benefit. Maybe she just needed a next step, as opposed to a leap.

Against my "better judgment" at the time, I recommended a "10 Minute Diet Plan" of canned beans, boxed rice, frozen vegetables and some fish. I gave her some rules for eating out and recommended massages, daily exercise and several motivational books-on tape (because she also "hated to read").

I walked out quite uncertain, wondering if I was compromising my own ideals. But, I thought, if she was able to do what I recommended, it was still better than what she had been already doing and even if she only saw a 20% change in her condition, it'd be worth it. Perhaps she would be encouraged to do more. Later, we could modify it, accordingly in a follow-up.

Two weeks later, I get a daytime call at my office and it's her. "Verne, dear…it's Emily. I just want you to know that I'm enjoying this experiment. Actually, the food still tastes a bit awful, but I'm loving that I've been off of pain medication for almost a week. First time in 3 years! Now, if I were going to actually cook my own rice, how would you recommend I do that?…"

I was stunned. Emily was ready to put on an apron and actually cook! In her mind, she rationed that if I gave her a fast natural food approach and she felt this good in such a short time, why not try cooking some of the food, herself-she might even feel better! And she did cook, and felt better…and better. And, we got some wonderful referrals from her, too!

What counseling represents to most
people, is simply, change. This is where
the biggest resistance lies.

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"Change is inevitable, resistance is optional"

I like to tell clients this when I meet with them. What counseling represents to most people, is simply, change-and maybe a bit of suffering on the side. This is where the biggest resistance lies. Humanly, we find soothing comfort in what is familiar, in our daily or weekly rituals that help us mark time and offer a sense of reverence and regularity. When these are taken from us, when we have to suddenly acquire new tastes and learn new styles of cooking, we lose a sense of stability. From familiar territory, we're suddenly adrift in a foreign sea of options that have less appeal. We feel separate from others who do not support our new path and in this separateness, we feel a growing sense of isolation.

A long time friend, associate and best selling author, Terry Shintani, MD, made a great point in a conversation we had this past summer. We were in Hawaii, running a disease prevention program that we filmed as a documentary and feeding 24 people that were on numerous medications. In previous programs that he'd done, Terry found that when offering people whole food choices such as grain, vegetable bean and even seaweeds, the key to getting participants enthusiastic, was making the food familiar to what they had been previously eating.

So, in our program, we made delicious salads with healthy dressings, bean soups, grain "burgers," spaghetti with mock meat balls and roasted vegetables. For breakfasts we served oatmeal with cinnamon and some raisins with a slice of whole grain toast and thin spread of jam, or nut butter. We tried to duplicate many dishes that people were already familiar with and the result was a positive one. People embraced the food and wanted more. Taste appeal rates big for people just changing their eating habits-especially for those who are more gourmet oriented.

We need to find different ways to create more value for people to change their diet and sedentary lifestyle, positive ways that reinforce their confidence and faith. Ways that are convenient and flexible, without sacrificing health quality.

The art of counseling should generate excitement and enthusiasm. It must inspire and educate. For the client, counseling can allow you to avoid some time-consuming mistakes so you can have a more intimate and guided experience with awakening yourself from the inside, out, learning from smaller mistakes and discovering what works best for your new sensitivity.

For the counselor, your clients are your mirror.
If you look deep enough, you will see a little
bit of yourself in each client.

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For the counselor, clients are always your mirror.

If you look deep enough, you will see a little bit of yourself in each client. I know from experience that whenever a client provoked a strong reaction in me, it was usually because I was seeing something in them that reminded me of myself-as much as I might have wanted to ignore that. And while I had the chance help an individual, that individual, in turn, also helped me.

For macrobiotics to emerge from its misconceived reputation as a brown rice diet, or from a restrictive image of being something exclusively Japanese, we must expand our recommendations to include other cultural foods with a degree of flexibility. At the same time we need to realize that many people have strong emotional investments in their food as comfort substances and simply emphasizing food changes is rarely enough.

The macro in macrobiotics implies, big. Maintaining a large view means to remember how everything we put in our mouth, and everything that comes out of our mouth, influences our health and happiness. For what goes in we can apply dietary rules of balance. For what comes out, we need to broaden perspective. 'Zhen, you can be, true champ-pion!'

"Healing is embracing what is most feared; healing is opening what has
been closed,softening what has been hardened into obstruction;
healing is learning to trust life."

-Dr. Jeanne Achterberg

During the past thirty-five years, Verne Varona's lectures, workshops and media appearances have motivated thousands of people to take better and more conscious care of their health. His book, "Nature's Cancer-Fighting-Foods," published in June 2001, (Penguin Books), is currently in its tenth printing and is used as a text-book in a number of academic health and wellness institutions. Currently, Verne is directing a documentary film about natural disease reversal. He lives in NY State and has an active counseling practice. Email: vernevarona@earthlink.net.

Comments & Responses

I think this a fantastic article and wow, it touched on as many ideas as I can think of. Hats off to Verne.
I have done consultations in this way for so long and agree that our thinking needs to be thoughtful
and fluid. I believe it is the only way for people to really understand macrobiotics. - Debra - New York

"Bravo for this article! About time someone wrote something understandable and inspiring about the essence of counseling. Most of all, I like the tone of a counselor that is still passionate about learning.
Keep up the good work" - Ben K, Los Angeles

"Great article! As always, Verne digs at the core of his subject and comes up with insight and wit. This has made me rethink the way I run my health counseling business. And thanks to the UK site for their efforts. It amazes me that Americans have to turn to a UK site about macrobiotics rather than have one in their own country! Well done.
- Clare , New York City

As always, you are right on (with your article on counseling). You reflect a very balanced, wise and human application of macrobiotics with a contemporary approach. It is always a pleasure to read you, for lots of
A-ha moments! Thank you. Looking forward to meet you in person...
- Chantal - Virgin Islands

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Macrobiotics took a blow in the United States about five years ago from not being standardized.
Macrobiotics cannot depend on word-of-mouth in the saturated western medicine world. The pharmaceutical dollars control our western doctors. Our medical institutions are too large and expensive to make the necessary changes for macrobiotic knowledge to be acknowledged. Western doctors cannot "refer" macrobiotic counseling due to another large pink elephant our insurance companies.

However, the last two years has opened many possibilities:
1. Doctors now refer us without clients needing to sign a "release".
2. NIH and CDC are now issuing grants for macrobiotic studies again. This process was stopped because of the "lack of consistency" within the macrobiotic community.

I request you as a community get the urgency of "standardizing" macrobiotics. This is the legal dance of the United States government that is acknowledged by the medical world and insurance companies. It is a paper nightmare up front. It is worth it. - Roxanne Koteles-Smith

 

My thoughts on The Art and Essence of Macrobiotic Counseling

I see a general division here that may be more semantic than real. Macrobiotics to me is not a diet it is a philosophy. The dietary aspect comes out of an application of that philosophy. Since the philosophy recognizes the principle of dynamic change as a driving force in life it is always going to be difficult to pin down anything like an absolute. Many of my generation were drawn to Macrobiotics by the philosophy not the promise of perfect health. Health was part of the package, diet was seen as essential but all of that was in the context of the philosophy.

I can remember when the first “sick person” arrived at my first study house. He was not interested in the thinking – he wanted to be cured. He was a curiosity. Up through the mid 1970’s the teaching of Yin/Yang was the draw for most students. Macrobiotic folks ate the way they did as part of a ritual belief that was (hopefully) personally beneficial but also as part of being in the group. The specific healing of sickness was proof that you understood the way to thinking as much as anything else.

As the diet became more known, the majority of people drawn to macrobiotic programs were those who had a specific illness. Their motivation was to re-establish their health, not a religious conversion (sometimes I can’t help myself). Do we tell them what to do or do we teach them yin and yang? That was, and still is, the question. Doing both is certainly best from our point of view but doesn’t really happen all that often. What mostly happens is that they are given a diet and perhaps some other life-style advice.

If they follow the diet and learn to cook they are then Macrobiotic or are they just eating a macrobioically designed diet? This issue is not as trivial as it may seem. The distinction here has to do with who we are as a group of people, professionals, seekers etc.

Standardization and scientific rationalization are fine in the context of a diet that will move people toward improved health. The difference in suggestions between counsellors is really quite small in my experience. Let’s face it much of the progress that clients experience – particularly in the first several weeks to months – has to do with what they stop eating and the general good quality of the food they have begun to eat. Out with the junk and in with the wholesome food.

How many scallions per week or the exact amount of miso in the broth are fine points but often not essential. The differences between what most counsellors recommend is usually down to how much they think the fine tuning effects the final outcome, how they perceive their own role as a “healer” and how much faith they have in the client’s empowerment. It often is a reflection on the amount of control the counsellor wishes to exert on the client’s life. It is my opinion that over-reaching the need for detail at the expense of simplicity and ease of application can feed the kind of food fear that is evident in many who follow the diet.

Some of this reflects arrogance inherent in the way that macrobiotic ideas on health are put forward. While there are some counsellors who have studied Chinese medicine or other approaches to health deeply, there is still an over reliance on visual diagnosis as the primary means of reading condition. While visual clues are important they are often presented as infallible and they are not. This serves no one but the counsellor and is often used (unwittingly) to keep people from getting in touch with their own experience of health.

When Verne talks about the use of Yin and Yang mumbo-jumbo to scientists he is right. Both Macrobiotics and Science are belief systems - we all have them. The only problem is that if any belief system blocks out consideration of information that doesn’t fit the specific “truth” of the system there can be no communication. Just because nutritionists don’t think seasons or climate or constitution effect nutritional needs doesn’t mean we should throw the baby out with the bath water.

If counselling is all about designing diets for people who are ill that’s all right with me. We have lots of experience and lots of very valuable information that can help people establish good health. The issue is then what we do about that pesky philosophy we claim to be following? Do we have a vision of life that goes beyond selecting food, cooking and chewing? If so we might focus on that. We will not be able to standardize it but it might make everyone’s life richer. Bill Tara