It may also be helpful to eliminate onions and garlic from your diet. Yes, we know they can have many physical health benefits, especially for certain blood types, but we are talking about bad effects on consciousness, not physical health. Some people first hear about eliminating onions and garlic when they start taking yoga lessons. Onions and garlic are described as promoting a ‘rajasic’ temperament, a somewhat hyperactive state of mind. The rajasic person is filled with willful and overactive mental and physical activity. A rajasic temperament (active ego and will) makes it harder to discipline the mind required in meditation and during alpha and other deeper types of neurofeedback training.
Intriguingly, there is a structural similarity in the active molecules of both onions and garlic that matches a rare structural feature in the active molecules of marijuana (THC), LSD, DMT, mescaline, psilocybin, bufotenine. (‘Buffo’ is Latin for ‘toad,’ and witches would put certain toads in their brews and then get high and have visions from the bufotenine.) In other words, all the major psychedelic agents have a rare structural similarity that is found in onions and garlic. This rare structural similarity involves a nitrogen atom that is unstable in the molecule and bounces back and forth (very fast) between two positions in the molecule. This rapid bouncing back and forth is described as an oscillation or a resonance—these molecules ‘hum’ with this energy. An organic chemist suggested that the frequency of this energy may be in the thermal range (infrared = heat), so when a molecule of LSD or a molecule of garlic oil, for example, reaches a synapse in the brain and breaks down, thermal energy (heat) may be released that might have some of the effects of a localized fever, producing various alterations of consciousness.
The different psychedelic molecules are likely attracted to different brain regions, so it is not surprising that the specific brain and mind-altering effects are different for LSD, mescaline, bufotenine, psilocybin, marijuana (THC), onions, and garlic. However, Paramahansa Yogananda and other meditation teachers recommend that people who are serious about meditation and spiritual development avoid ALL of these mind-altering chemicals, including onions and garlic. If you are serious about creating a brain environment conducive to alpha, you will begin to consider eliminating onions and garlic from your diet.
The problem is these two spices have recently become almost ubiquitous in the modern diet and are an ingredient of nearly all salad dressings and most processed foods. In the 1940s and 1950s, it was fairly uncommon to use garlic in cooking in the United States, and garlic was not widely used as a seasoning in processed foods. Such a profound change in our food supply has set up a condition where most people experience a constant suppression exposure to the stimulating effects of onions and garlic, even if they never see onion or garlic clove. This stimulation promotes a ‘rajasic’ (more hyper) temperament. It makes it harder to sustain the alpha state’s higher levels because nearly everything we eat has some garlic or onions in it.
Biocybernaut trainer:
Sort of went into withdrawal – it was such an ingrained habit to put garlic powder on everything. I had to move it out of my sight because it was like salt and pepper to me. As a Biocybernaut trainer, you need to be really focused on people. You can’t be drifting off into just anything. I can always tell if I have eaten something with garlic or onions in it. The other day, on the first day of training, I was a little disoriented.
I knew exactly what was responsible for it. I had gone out to have dinner, and I didn’t realize, at the time, that the chicken dish I ordered was cooked with onions.
The onions were minced really tiny, and I couldn’t avoid them and didn’t realize it until later because they were caramelized. I ate a couple of them before I realized what I was eating. Onions, now that I don’t eat them make me feel really scattered. Now that I see the huge difference in my ability to focus from leaving garlic and onions out of my diet, I would never go into a high-powered meeting or anything where I needed to be focused and coherent having any garlic or onions for at least three or four days ahead of time. It will affect me that far ahead.’
