Nishta 6 years ago, before meeting Avesh and switching to an alkaline 80% raw diet	Nishta, 8/7/06, 70 years young, after 10 weeks of cleansing, superfoods and a raw food diet
Nishta 10 weeks ago after returning from India in very poor health	Nishta 8/7/06 after 10 weeks of cleansing, superfoods and a living food diet

Transformation has come to my being--when I least expected it--to my delight and amazement. I am seventy, but feel like I am getting younger as time goes on. I continue to learn more each day about how to take care of myself with appropriate diet, exercise, meditation, and a lifestyle that supports healing one’s inner and outer self.

I left the US about three years ago after getting a phone call from a friend telling me about the beauty of Byron Bay. I flew over to check it out and fell in love with Australia and have been living here in Byron since, alternating with visits to India. When I first came to Byron I stayed with Anand, Anshu and Prem, the guys who later started Raw Power and with Avesh, the friend who invited me to Byron. At that time we were all eating a pretty alkaline diet, about 75-80% raw. So I was already accustomed to a healthy way of living when I returned to Oz a few months ago.

About a year ago I went from Byron to India and fell in love with that continent. But the heavy Indian food and the environmental toxicity of the place got to me and my health and my energy began to deteriorate. I felt quite ill, had hives on a good part of my body, lots of aches and pains and spent a lot of time resting. When I went to my Indian doctor, he took my pulse and said “toxic, toxic, toxic”. He helped me feel “normal”, but I had no idea how much better it was possible to feel. In addition to my body being full of toxins, I had also gained quite a bit of weight, although I did exercise regularly. It got to the point three months ago where I was lying in bed in India thinking “this could be it; I might be dying!”

But Avesh came to my rescue and called me, knowing how ill I was. He suggested I join a raw food retreat that was going to happen in five days in Byron. Trusting that was the thing to do, I packed up my life in India and flew here in time to join the Raw Power retreat in March. Now, friends tell me I look ten-fifteen years younger than when I arrived three months ago. Check the photos and see if you agree.

I was really dragging myself around when I arrived. My first day here, I realized how wonderful it was just to be in a place with fresh, clean, breathable air. In the beginning it was difficult for me to join in the chi kung classes and Osho active meditations, I was in state of exhaustion. But my health began to improve almost immediately with the change of diet. After the five day living foods class and retreat, I continued to eat raw foods only and began taking a lot of the “superfoods” described on the Raw Power website.

Although I had, at various times, eaten a diet heavy with salads and other raw food, I had never experienced a 100% raw food menu. And I must add, this was a gourmet food plan, with delicious uncooked pizza, soups, quiche, sprouted nut “meatballs”, sweet and sour sauce, and the most wonderful assortment of desserts.

I was shown how to start each day with “energized” water, made by adding aloe juice, vitamin C, MSM, lemon juice and liquid minerals to water and drinking that upon waking up. I also started making fresh, green vegetable juice each day, mainly with lettuce, cucumbers, celery and a bit of carrot and capsicum for sweetener, sometimes adding kale, parsley, or other greens. Using some of the juice I also began making a Superfood Shake as recommended by the Raw Power team. (see the Raw Power superfoods page)……I have continued the juice and shakes each day, along with lots of salads and other raw goodies, including many sweet things. I also recently finished an extensive colon cleanse to get all the toxicity out of my body.

I feel great now, have tons of energy, and sleep much less since I started taking the superfoods and began living mostly “raw”. I regularly do Osho “active” meditations, which include a lot of physical activity, dance whenever I can, laugh a lot more, do tai chi or chi kung most days or walk on the beach or in nature. I have become an energy dynamo and friends remark on my clear eyes and glowing skin.

How did this all happen?

In 2001 I was a management consultant and director in a very large US IT international consulting firm, living in Seattle, a beautiful part of the country. As my “before” photos show, I was very overweight, living on the standard American corporate diet of lots of black coffee, sugar and starches—thinking for a woman of 65 I was pretty cool. I was living the “good life” with a great career, busy social life with friends and family, beautiful home, expensive car, lots of business travel with a corporate expense account and taking lots of trips around the world. And yes, I had been meditating for about fifteen years at that point, so I really thought I was doing great!

The down side was that I had almost constant pain in one of my hips, lots of neck and back pain, my right foot hurt all the time (oh yeah, I could blame that on a previous car accident), and lots of stomach distress and I ate a lot to cover the pain. I was incontinent and really not at all comfortable in my body.

Then near the end of 2001 I met Avesh, who was to become a very close friend; my life since then has been a total metamorphosis. Avesh not only introduced me to my spiritual master, Osho, but from our first meeting, began pointing out alternative ways to eat and live. He shared with me the knowledge he had gained over the years in healing his own body of cancer.

The first thing I learned from Avesh was about changing my acidic body condition to an alkaline state, learning that acidic body conditions are the cause of all disease. For the next four months I lived on a green juice and salad only diet. I shed 30 or 40 pounds and was on my way to better health. I got stuck into Osho meditations and videos. I was amazed at how much better I felt as each day went by. I learned about getting the toxic metals out of one’s mouth and took care of that. I learned about water and the importance of “good” water. I learned about environmental toxicity. And the learning continues; lately it’s been MSM and other Superfoods.

Over the years, although I have had periods of regression (like my recent visit to India) I have learned various protocols about healing oneself plus the difference a pure organic raw food diet can make in one’s life. And although I “stuff up” once in a while, I have learned to listen to my body’s response to an inappropriate food choice and usually don’t repeat the same mistake.

My chronic hip and foot pain are gone, my skin is softer and less wrinkled, my constipation and incontinence are gone, my hunched up shoulders have dropped; I have learned to relax. I actually enjoy being alone and in solitude rather than keeping myself busy doing “things”. There is a gentle quietness and peacefulness within me.

I have learned I can control my health and well-being and reverse the aging process by something as simple as diet, natural supplements, exercise, meditation…and the support of friends who have shown me “the way”. What to say? Life is good and seems to be getting better.