My Personal Cold/Flu Prevention Strategy

30 November 1999
Posted in Getting Real

(9 years so far without a sniffle!)

I mentioned during an interview a while back that I hadn't had a cold or a bout with the flu in many years. Afterwards I got many inquiries from people who wanted to know my "secret." While I'm happy to share what I do that helps keep me healthy, I also feel a little nervous about speaking about it publicly. One of my fears is that about the time I publish my strategy I'll catch some bug that's been floating around and have to issue an "Oops" retraction. My other fear is that someone will take my experience as gospel truth instead of simply one person's experiment in self-healing. So, let me make it clear from the outset that nothing that follows should be regarded as medical advice or as any substitute for you taking complete responsibility for your wellbeing. All that said, here's what I do that's helped me go from several episodes of colds or flu a year to a health-streak of 9 years without either a cold or flu.
 Secret #1: Asking The Right Question
I practice a certain kind of self-reflection when I feel any bodymind discomfort beginning. If I feel any of the early warning signals of a cold, I stop in my tracks and ask myself these questions:

Why might I want to make myself sick right now?
(In my Ph.D. training we had to learn the famous 3 P's that cause hypochondriacs to get sick: punishment, prevention, protection. In other words, they get sick to punish themselves for something they think they've done wrong, OR to keep themselves from doing something, OR to protect themselves from the pain of some feeling or event, such as getting a sore throat and staying home instead of feeling the fear of giving a speech.) I learned that I, like almost all of us, have a little bit of hypochondriac inside.

Mindful of the Three P's, I always ask myself:
Is getting sick a way to give myself permission to avoid doing something I don't want to do? (If so, I've learned to be honest and courageous enough to say "I don't want to do it" and deal with the consequences. Before I found work I love, I used colds as a way to avoid going to work sometimes. It's usually not socially acceptable to call your boss and say, "I'm staying home today because the thought of coming in to spend all day doing a job I hate is making me crazy. Normally, I'd get a cold or the flu to give me an excuse, but today I'm going to just call in 'well' instead." Most bosses would find it more acceptable for you to call, in a hoarse whisper, and say "I'm sick.")

Am I getting sick to give myself permission to lie around and rest for a day or two? (If so, I try to be courageous enough to lie around and rest for a couple of days just because I want to, not because being sick is more socially acceptable.)

Am I getting sick to empathize with a family member or friend who's sick? (If so, let me empathize with them while I'm feeling good. I can empathize even better that way.) Many of us have close relationships in which we relate to the other person as a fellow-victim. If one person gets sick, this upsets the balance (because one person is 'out-victiming' the other!) and the other person often gets sick to maintain the "we're both victims in this together" status.

Secret #2: The Mountain Goat Solution
I keep a steady flow of Vitamin C going into my body year-round. My son once told me that mountain goats, incredibly hardy critters that live in harsh places, make 10-15 grams of Vitamin C inside themselves every day, but when they get sick they make twice that. We humans have lost the ability to make Vitamin C inside our bodies, so we have to supplement out of bottles. I take 2-4 grams every day of Supergram III, made by Alacer, the people who make the fizzy Vitamin C in packets I see everywhere. (**By the way, I'm not getting paid to endorse this product--it's just the best one I've come across. Its downside is that it's expensive, around $30 for a big bottle.)

Secret #3: Enlightened OCD
Third, and from the research I've read, possibly the most important: I wash my hands carefully several times a day. My friends sometimes kid me about having Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), but I'd rather get a little teasing than a lot of sniffling. I make a point of doing this especially if I come in contact with people through handshaking, taking change from somebody at a cash register, touching the knob of a public door, etc. I got this idea many years ago from the opera singer, Kiri Te Kanawa, who often performs more than a hundred concerts a year around the world. She said her friends make fun of her because she washes her hands up to ten times a day, but she also said she never catches colds. I was impressed, particularly since she's in a line of work in which a cold can be a costly disaster. She also said she never drinks out of a glass unless she's personally washed it or personally opened the wrapper on it.

Secret #4: A Special Breathing Practice
Fourth, I have a breathing secret that really helps. Actually, it's not such a secret, because I've taught it to thousands of people at our seminars. If I feel early signs of a cold coming on, such as sniffles or a scratchy throat, I do a few minutes of what we call The Healing Breath, also nicknamed 'Reset Button' by our students, until I feel a positive shift in the symptoms. It's based on something I first learned from a 92-year-old Canadian doctor who hadn't had a cold in fifty years! The way he taught it involved taking a walk while he did it, but I'm not always where I can take a walk when I feel a cold coming on. Here's my 'airplane' version, done sitting down, followed by my walking version.

Here's how to do it:
Breathe slowly all the way out, then wait for as long as you comfortably can before taking another in-breath. After you do this once, breathe normally for a couple of minutes, then repeat the sequence. Breathe out, then pause as long as possible before breathing in again. If you're where you can walk, do it while taking a brisk walk.

There's a simple but very sound scientific principle that explains why this odd procedure helps. When you hold your breath out of you for a while, you allow the saturation of CO2 to build up and the oxygen concentration to go down. This helps restore the acid/alkaline balance inside you, preventing the proliferation of germs. The same principle is practiced by gardeners, who work on getting their soil to the correct acid/alkaline balance so their plants are healthy and don't attract bugs.

Secret #5: A Whopper Dose of Mountain Goat Medicine
If none of the above seems to be knocking out my early-warning symptoms, I get an IV drip of Vitamin C and minerals. Many holistic doctors offer some version of this treatment, which I've used several times over the past nine years. It takes about 45 minutes to do it, but it's well worth the time it takes. On one occasion I recall, I could literally feel the cold symptoms leaving my body about halfway through the drip.

Here's to your health!

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