Holistic Health:
What I Learned from an Angry Monkey

Your own holistic health, healing, well-being and growth are made possible by your brilliant Innate Intelligence.

The best story I can think of to illustrate the power of our Innate Intelligence is the healing I experienced--without any outside assistance--after I was attacked by a monkey in India back in 2000.

The following is an excerpt from my book, Oby's Wisdom! A Caveman's Simple Guide to Health and Well-being.

In the autumn of 2000, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to India on a chiropractic mission trip. One day during our visit, we took some time to visit a centuries-old mountaintop fortress. The fortress had a large population of monkeys who managed to tolerate the thousands of visiting tourists. Usually, that is. As I found out personally, sometimes they can become downright unfriendly. Acting like a clueless tourist, I tried to get close to a monkey to have my picture taken. It happened to be a female monkey who had a baby with her, and when I got too close, she felt threatened and attacked me. Nothing against Mama Monkey; she was doing exactly what Nature had programmed into her to protect her offspring. I knew better than to be so foolish, and I would have been wise to be more respectful of her space. Monkeys have sharp fingernails and the attack left me with several deep, bloody scratches on my forearm, not to mention a significantly elevated heart rate and just the slightest bit of shakiness. Oh yeah, and a red face, too. If you have ever been to a zoo, you may have observed that monkeys occasionally throw their feces at each other. I knew what those sharp fingernails left behind when they gouged my flesh. So did everyone with me. My concerned colleagues quickly jumped to my aid with alcohol swabs, antibacterial towelettes, antibiotic ointment and sterile dressings.

No, thanks.

As Oby would have done, I let Nature take Her course. First, I allowed the scratches to bleed with no interference. Bleeding is a natural mechanism that flushes impurities and contaminants out of a wound. Had I immediately applied direct pressure to stop the bleeding, I would have forced foreign particles and pathogens deeper into the wound. As the blood flow began to ease, I applied some of my own saliva to the scratches. Saliva contains a protein called secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) which has antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and other healing properties. (Why do you think animals lick their wounds?) When the monkey scratched me, my brilliant life force customized my saliva to the exact formula necessary to respond to that specific wound. Beyond my regular personal hygiene, I did nothing else. No antiseptic or antibiotic ointment found its way to the wound, nor did any bandage shield it. I knew that under conventional medicine, that type of wound cried out for a tetanus shot. I also knew the power of my innate healing wisdom, and I chose not to get one. Did I die of lockjaw? Obviously not. My scratches never got infected and they healed nicely with no scarring at all. My arm was able to heal because that is how Nature designed me. Nature intends for me—and you—to live a life of vibrant health. What I described above is an example of my body’s Innate Intelligence. The name “Innate Intelligence” suggests that our bodies have their own wisdom. They are smart. When we are injured, it is the wisdom within, and not what we put on, that does the healing. When the monkey attacked me, my Innate Intelligence initiated my fight or flight response, and my internal functions shifted gears instantaneously. My pupils dilated to make my vision more acute. My hearing and mental ability became more focused. My blood glucose concentration increased to give me a surge of energy, and more blood flowed to my muscles to give me a burst of strength so I could jump away. The blood supply to my digestive organs decreased. Digestion was not important at that moment. I had to get outta there! Oby experienced similar changes whenever he walked around a bend and had a surprise encounter with a grizzly bear. As soon as threats from protective primates or cranky carnivores ceased to exist, Innate Intelligence allowed both Oby and me to resume our normal mode of living. Our muscles relaxed, our hearts slowed back down and our digestive processes resumed. And in my case, after everyone was finished laughing, my beet red face gradually returned to its normal tone. Those thousands of internal functions that had so radically shifted just seconds earlier, gradually readjusted moment by moment, at exactly the right time, in precisely the right sequence. All of this happened within the space of just a few minutes and I did not even have to think about it.

Note that in this case, holistic health did not entail any external remedies--not even any "natural" ones. My whole body took part in the healing.

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