By Cristina Cuomo
PURIST: Linda, you divide your time between New York City and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where you founded Light Harmonics Institute in 1987. As an expert in radionics, energy healing, nutrition, herbal medicine, detoxification methods and Ayurveda yoga, can you tell us about your wellness journey and the philosophies in your book, Harmonic Healing: Restore Your Vital Force for Lifelong Wellness?
Linda Lancaster: I started doing yoga in 1971, when it was not exactly common. I then helped build an ashram on Long Island. After that, I was the executive chef of a vegetarian restaurant. I started to connect with the food I was eating and realized that’s where God existed. The Earth and our food has an etheric energy field. We have to feed ourselves with food that’s alive, and consume food that is grown and prepared properly.
I talk a lot about liver cleansing. Physically, the liver processes proteins, carbohydrates and fats, and stores vitamins. It also processes our emotions. The way we’re thinking is just as important as the way we’re eating. The liver is also an important organ for creating consciousness. When we grow in consciousness, we can do great things for ourselves and others. My goat milk cleanse takes stress off the liver so it can learn to process again. It consists of vegetables, and removes grains for the first three weeks, because they’re hard to digest. Then we start putting whole grains back. We remove olive oil cooked at high temperatures—olive oil is a healer because it has a smooth molecular structure. Once we put heat on oil, the molecular structure becomes ragged and inflammatory.
PURIST: We hear so much lately about people who have digestive problems, such as SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). Do you have an opinion about why this is happening more often, and how much of a player our environment is?
LL: Nothing exists outside of its own environment. If you change the environment, the condition no longer exists. Are heavy metals creating the environment bacteria wants? Is it a parasite producing bacteria? The [typical] way of dealing with SIBO is antibiotics. That creates another layer, candida. Which came first? We would have to check and see. The first thing is to start clearing heavy metals and radiation. Our goat milk cleanse will soon be available for the public. I’ve been using it for almost 40 years and it works. People get better from it.
PURIST: What is harmonic healing?
LL: Harmonic healing consists of breathing techniques and different types of exercise. I do a simple meditation from Father Thomas Keating, a Catholic monk. It clears your mind without any connection to religion. Just do something. Even go to the park, hold a tree and be in nature. Nature does heal.
PURIST: Can our thought process and creation of positive vibrations protect us from radiation?
LL: I talk about the etheric energy field. We strengthen our etheric energy field by eating food that’s imbued with energy. Our thoughts can strengthen our field. We can reach into the cosmos and realize who we are, but not without doing the work down here. Because we are in a physical body, we need to practice wellness techniques. One of the most important ones is meditating, and emanating a stronger field so we are not affected as much by radiation. Seaweed, cilantro and miso soup are also helpful for neutralizing radiation.
PURIST: Tell us about how you balance out environmental toxins with weekly therapeutic baths.
LL: Our world is full of pollution. Heavy metals, chemicals and radiation break down our red blood cells, create inflammation and cause us to have low energy. I use weekly therapeutic baths that neutralize them. You’re never gonna get rid of them, but you can take them down to a level enough where our cells can properly vibrate. We need to drink good water, exercise, and be in nature to stay healthy. It’s also whom we live with and the energy field between people.
PURIST: You told me that part of the healing process, especially when going the homeopathic route, is to stay hopeful. Because that positivity is going to get you to a healing place.
LL: My homeopathic teacher, Dr. Bhattacharya, said to me, “You can learn all the remedies, but the most important thing is hope. Eighty-five percent of healing is hope.” You tell a person that they’re going to be OK. Tap them on the shoulder and do it knowingly. If a doctor is negative, get rid of them. The definition of a physician is to be a teacher, not just hand out medicine or drugs. But that’s not the way of the world these days. That happened when pharmaceuticals came in.
PURIST: Can you give us your ideal morning routine that can send us on a path to wellness?
LL: I like to get up in the morning and drink a glass of water to flush the organs. Then I go down to the ground to wake up my body. My morning routine takes five minutes. It’s a combination of a few favorite yoga postures I’ve put together to incorporate downward dog and cobra. I also do spinal movement. I hold both legs, pull my knees up to my chest and rock. Then I shower. I try to read something. I really love reading Richard Rohr in the morning; he does a meditation everyday. The following selection is from his book, The Divine Dance:
“The energy in the universe is not in the planets or in the protons or neutrons, but in the relationship between them. Not in the particles, but in the space between them. Not in the cells of organisms, but in the way the cells feed and give feedback to one another. Not in any precise definition of the three persons of the trinity, as much as in the relationship between the three. This is where all the power for infinite renewal is at work. The loving relationship between them, the infinite love flowing between them. The dance itself.”
Understand that it’s all about energy. I make a cup of tea, then I meditate. I try to meditate every day. I say a mantra, always one particular mantra. I’ve done so for the past 15 years. Then I have breakfast. Sometimes I’ll make oatmeal, sometimes I’ll have a poached egg over asparagus, or I’ll make an omelet. Sometimes it’s a liver-cleansing drink. I don’t take six weeks for it, because I’m on the go all the time, but I do an intermittent liver cleanse. I try to keep it clean as much as I can by eating bitter greens, apples, and doing cleanses. I just live that way. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t eat other things. I’m not in a box at all. There’s always time for celebration. lightharmonics.com