Inspiration: Cellular Respiration

Did you know that cells breathe? This process is known as cellular respiration. It allows the exchange of nutrients and waste products moving in and out of the cell. Glucose (sugar) is converted to water and carbon dioxide to provide energy for the cell and balance homeostasis. This takes place within the mitochondria. These mitochondria use enzymes as a catalyst for their transformation. Some enzymes, known as antioxidants, can neutralize waste compounds that are formed as a byproduct of energy production. 

Antioxidants have amazing healing potential and protect the body from damage done by oxidation from free radicals. Free radicals include reactive oxygen species (ROS), aka free radicals. While free radicals serve the purpose of destroying pathogens in the body, it can be harmful if there is too much oxidation in the body.  Their specific structure contains an unpaired electron that seeks to pair with antioxidants to neutralize the charge.

So, if we consume enough antioxidants, we can mitigate the risk of accumulating too many ROS “free radicals” and thereby prevent disease and damages.

When there is an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body, free radicals can begin to attack healthy cells. This can lead to premature cell death and damage. Free radicals can become overwhelming due to toxins in the environment from chemicals, pollution and radiation exposure.

While we cannot avoid all these triggers in modern times, we can take care to reduce our intake of harmful substances and exposure to chemicals. We can also choose to introduce more antioxidants to our system.

Quantum Qi

“It may be more important to look for the right questions than to look for the right answers”, says Werner Heisenberg. When examining reality according to quantum physical philosophy, the question asked may be as essential and deterministic as the answer itself. As John Archibald Wheeler, renowned physicist asserted, “we ourselves create the reality of human experience with the questions we ask and the procedures that we undertake to find the answers to this”. By positing a question we may assume there is a definite answer, but according to quantum physics, the answer is largely determined by our own input and positioning towards the outcome. Beyond even an observervational bias, there is actually an independence of action according to quantum physical properties.

As Gell-Mann stated, Quantum mechanics is not a theory, but rather a framework within which we believe any correct theory must fit. Thus, the quantum field is a framework which all other theories may rest upon, and thus far, align with. The classical model of offering an independent and ongoing universe that is objective without “us” is no longer an option of understanding. Instead, it is clear that the subjective reality of the observer, also known as consciousness, can not only take in information and assimilate it, but can also make self-assertive choice in accordance with its own subjective reality.

Quantum physics is likened by Tim Ferris to a Zen koan, a teaching riddle of sorts used in ancient Eastern teachings to open the minds of students’ to endless possibilities and interpretations of a single and seemingly simple idea.

A coin lost in the river is found in the river

Quantum physics is a frontier of thought inasmuch that “these border skirmishes raise questions sufficiently baffling as to constitute the scientific equivalent of a Zen koan. Quantum weirdness is so counterintuitive to comprehend it is to become not enlightened but confused.” These borders of consciousness bring about more questions than answers, but alas, the answers may only lie in the questions anyway.

The quantum field can be likened to the Qi field of Traditional Chinese and Eastern Medicine. While speaking about the quantum, psychologist and physicist Arnold Mindel shares, “It is the world in which the shaman moves, the world each of us meets every second of our lives, the realm we enter every night in our dreams”.

Acupuncture and ancient Eastern healing modalities enter into the realm of quantum healing at the Qi level, through the energy substrate that permeates all of existence. Qi is the animation and the framework. It is abundant, ever-evolving, and seemingly, self-evident and self-acknowledging. Accessing healing at this level brings balance beyond one psycho-spiritual-physical strata, but instead applies holistically. The quantum world is sentient and holistic, and each of its parts are in touch with the whole.

Taking accountability for our healing is easy from a quantum physical approach. We can affect much more than we may have formerly assumed possible. As Niels Bohr pointed out, just like within a dream, in our lives we are simultaneously actors and spectators; we are both the observers and the observed, subject and object, dreamers and the dream. It’s as if sharing a dream space together, we are collectively dreaming up our entire universe while simultaneously being dreamed up by it.

Here’s to the dreaming and the doing.

This Alkaline Water is Trash

I can’t condone littering on our beautiful beach but I will applaud whoever was willing to pay extra funds for this “alkaline” water in hopes of making a healthier choice.

Unfortunately, water in plastic bottles sits on shelves and leeches contaminants into the water. By the time someone drinks it, it’s definitely not fresh or springy.

Also, bottled alkaline water contains additives to increase the pH so it can be labeled as alkaline. You could get the same alkalinity by adding electrolytes, in this case potassium hydroxide, calcium chloride, and magnesium chloride. This is a chemical change in the water with “electrolytes added for taste”

This water attempts at what ionized water actually is: purified alkalyzed water. The ionizer I use and sell produces an electrical change in the water that not only raises the pH, but also contains the potent antioxidant molecular hydrogen. So, the machine I use isn’t only about alkaline, it’s more so about creating medicinal molecular hydrogen.

We can strive to eat an alkaline diet and keep our bodies balanced, but I’m sorry to say that spending extra money on bottled alkaline water definitely isn’t the pathway to improvements. Instead, invest in your longevity with a machine that is serviceable and built to last 25+ years, like a kitchen appliance you can take with you throughout life. When I move it moves, just like that!

Reach out if you are interested in health and improving the way you water. It’s clear this person cared about their health, but was misguided in their purchase. Can’t say the same about their carelessness for the planet, but hoping it was an accidental occurrence.

Please don’t trash our mama or your sacred vessel, if (it’s) possible.

Leave nothing behind, unless it’s chemically alkaline

What Are Free Radicals and How Can We Resolve Their Damage?

Antioxidants and Ionized Water

Ionized Water contains high levels of molecular hydrogen, a potent antioxidant. Instead of allowing free radicals to wreak havoc in the body and cause damage via disease over time, Kangen Water combats illness by neutralizing free radicals. How?

Free Radical damage creates aging in the body and leads to disease. The water ionizers create hydrogen-rich water that are easily absorbed by the body, making it one of the most powerful antioxidants available. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and our bodies contain hydrogen naturally, so Ionized Water acts as a supplemental formula for healing.

As the filtered water is ionized, the water is electrically charged to create a plethora of hydroxyl ions. These hydroxyl ions are oxygen molecules containing an extra electron. This extra electron is what is donated to free radicals to turn them into h2o, hydrating water.

In summary, free radicals are missing an electron and therefore are causing damage to cells in the body and could cause disease. Hydrogen water as an antioxidant hydroxyl ion is able to donate its free electron to the damaged free radical cell. When this takes place and the electron connects with the free radical, the former free radical is now changed to h2o aka hydrating water!

In this way, we are healing the body by restoring balance within the cells and establishing a baseline of hydration at the deepest level.

Understanding pH and ORP

Understanding pH and ORP

What is pH?

pH is a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution.  It provides a value on a scale from 0 to 14 where 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic, and greater than 7 is alkaline (or basic).   The closer you move towards 0, the more a solution is acidic, and the closer you move to 14, the more a solution is alkaline.

pH is often depicted on a graphical colour scale as shown below:

pH scale - EN.jpg

When talking about water, its pH value is related directly to the ratio of positively charged hydrogen ions [H+] and negatively charged hydroxyl ions [OH-]. 

  • When water has an equal concentration of H+ ions and OH- ions, it is said to be neutral (pH=7)

  • When water has a greater concentration of H+ ions, it is said to be acidic (pH<7)

  • When a solution has a greater concentration of OH-, it is said to be alkaline (pH>7)

Like the Richter scale that measures the intensity of earthquakes, the pH scale is a logarithmic scale, which means that when the pH increases or decreases by one unit, you change the concentration of H+ ions tenfold.  So for example, a solution with a pH of 8.0 is ten times more alkaline than a solution with a pH of 7.0. A solution with a pH of 9.0 is 100 times more alkaline than a solution with a pH of 7.0.

What is ORP?

In the world that surrounds us, we do not see it, but there is a continuous exchange of electrons that takes place between substances in the air, in the earth, in water, and in our bodies.  This phenomenon is known as ion exchange.

In an effort to reach a state of stability, substances that are lacking electrons are desperately seeking out electrons wherever they can: these substances are referred to as oxidizing agents.  On the contrary, substances which have a surplus of electrons are capable of donating their extra electrons: these substances are referred to as reducing agents, or anti-oxidizing agents.

Oxidation-reduction potential, or ORP, is a measurement that indicates the degree to which a substance is capable of oxidizing or reducing another substance.   ORP is measured in millivolts (mV) using an ORP meter. 

  • A positive ORP reading indicates that a substance is an oxidizing agent.  The higher the reading, the more oxidizing it is.  As such, a substance with an ORP reading of +400 mV is 4 times more oxidizing than a substance with an ORP reading of +100 mV. 

  • A negative ORP reading indicates that a substance is a reducing agent.  The lower the reading, the more anti-oxidizing it is.  As such, a substance with an ORP reading of -400 mV is 4 times more anti-oxidizing than a substance with an ORP reading of -100 mV. 

Most types of water, including tap water and bottled water, are oxidizing agents as their ORP value is positive. 

Alkaline ionized water is an anti-oxidizing agent, as it has a negative ORP value and it is able to donate extra electrons to neutralize the harmful effects of free radicals on the body.  Most other types of water are oxidizing agents as their ORP is positive.

The following video explains ORP and shows the ORP level of different kinds of water.