About Us

 

Ginat's Healing Story		Sheldon's Healing Story
Adventures	Travel Experiences		Meet Our Families

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep."                 ---Robert Frost

 

About Sheldon and Ginat

 

Ginat began practicing macrobiotics in Jerusalem in 1980 following seven years of vegetarian and vegan living in Israel and her native US.  By 1982 she had completed all three levels of study at the Kushi Institute, the world’s leading center of macrobiotic studies, located in Brookline, MA.  She scribed for health consultations conducted by Michio Kushi, the leading international expert in macrobiotic practice and traveled with the Kushi Institute’s cook referral service to cook and care for clients.  She co-owned and managed Satori Natural Foods Restaurant, in Boston, MA for ten years.  Ginat graduated from the Kushi Institute’s Level IV study program of advanced counselor training and holds their certification as Macrobiotic Teacher and Counselor.  She is also certified in shiatsu massage therapy, and practices Nine Star Ki (Asian astrology) and palmistry.

Ginat is a frequent contributor to Macrobiotics Today magazine, and has written for Non Credo e-zine.  She has lectured at the Kushi Institute summer conference, the French Meadows Summer Camp in California, the One World Festival in England, the Pacific Macrobiotic Conference and numerous macrobiotic seminars in Israel.  She is currently writing a book compiling three years of research and interviews on the topics of understanding of health and recovery from illness.

Sheldon discovered macrobiotics in 1984 during a 10-year hiatus in the US after moving to Israel in 1964.  He soon realized the effect of fifty years of a standard American diet and lifestyle as his weight plummeted uncontrollably and doctors discovered a tumor between his bladder and spine.  Careful macrobiotic practice for many years without medical intervention reversed the condition completely, and today he enjoys full health.  Sheldon specializes in numerology, teaching and consulting internationally.  He is the author of Getting to Know You:  A Numerology Textbook, and is currently working on a second volume of numerological research.   Seventy one years of life wisdom make him a compassionate and knowledgeable guide on the macrobiotic path.

Both Sheldon and Ginat have the particular wisdom that comes with self-healing.  They founded the Rice House of Macrobiotic Study as a home-based consulting practice offering a wide range of macrobiotic, numerology, nine star ki, palmistry, and shiatsu services.  These include health consultations, cooking lessons, and study courses in macrobiotic theory, health diagnosis, shiatsu, and palm healing.  They offer a residential experience of macrobiotic living in a comprehensive program of learning and practice.  Sheldon offers personal and group numerology readings, and classes in numerology training. 

Our Goal

We support the stated mission of the Kushi Institute: “To teach, guide and inspire individuals towards greater personal freedom, health, happiness and peace by using the principles of macrobiotics.”   This has been our life goal and passion for over 25 years, from the time we each discovered the macrobiotic way of life. 

 

Ginat's Healing Story

"Cancer in a Macrobiotic Counselor"

I was a veteran macrobiotic counselor advising people how to deal with serious illness when I developed breast cancer. This was at the height of my counseling career after twenty years of dedicated macrobiotic practice.

I discovered macrobiotics in Jerusalem in 1980.  I found it logical and sensible, perceiving the deep truth on which it is based.  In Jerusalem's fledgling Macrobiotic Center of Israel we studied principles and taught each other to cook.    I healed conditions that I never thought of as illness.

In 1982 I decided to study at the Kushi Institute.   I completed all three levels of instruction and was invited to scribe for Michio Kushi in his health consultations.   I then joined the Kushi Institute's cook referral service, traveling to several states to teach and cook for clients.  I studied shiatsu massage and became co-owner of L'Odeon (later Satori) Natural Foods Restaurant, in Allston, MA.   Throughout this time I ate a standard macrobiotic diet based on whole grains and vegetables, with the addition of desserts, sauces, and some creative combinations using macrobiotic-quality foods. 

In 1995 I returned to Jerusalem where I met and married Sheldon Rice, a long-term macrobiotic practitioner. We developed a home-based macrobiotic consulting service offering health advice, private and group cooking lessons, live-in facilities, a bed and breakfast, gourmet dinners, take-out meals, and courses in macrobiotic principles, shiatsu, reflexology, diagnosis, and palm healing.

In April 1999 I was surprised to feel a small lump on my right breast.   I ignored it until it hurt, and then arranged for a medical examination.   A palpation and mammogram proved inconclusive, and my macrobiotic counselor also did not raise red flags. Still, we simplified our diets considerably. Gone were the gourmet feasts and luscious desserts of our gourmet dinners.   We ate simple macrobiotic fare in silence in order to concentrate on our chewing.   I did not recognize my condition as energetically too contracted (yang), nor that I needed to lighten up my food and my emotions.   I still kept up my strenuous routine of teaching and cooking along with an overly serious outlook on life.

Nine months later I returned for a checkup.   The tests showed the tumor had a grown a whopping 30 percent.  The examining surgeon was alarmed by fluid discharging from my nipple, and immediately performed a painful needle biopsy. A second surgeon concurred with the cancer diagnosis and recommended immediate surgery.

My counselor's extensive examination of my face, eyes, tongue, arms and feet confirmed the medical conclusion.  He explained that cancer is caused by stagnating energy in the body.   Too much of the macrobiotic good life combined with taking on stress had me bottled up.

Deep changes require time, yet the tumor was progressing rapidly.   Surgery would help me open up physically until I had time to do so spiritually.   The counselor recommended chemotherapy for the initial shock it gives the body, but cautioned against the drug tamoxifin.

I hesitated at first to reveal my condition to the Jerusalem macrobiotic community. I projected their condemnation, as if my illness proved me or macrobiotics failures.   But there are no guarantees in life, so I determined to accept and change the condition I had created.   I understood that macrobiotics--Great Life--includes the form of medicine that best suits the current need.  My operation actually seemed to unite the Jerusalem macrobiotic community.   The phone rang constantly--locally and internationally.   By week's end our bedroom looked like a flower shop.    So many people who we had helped in the past were returning all that they had received and more.

The mastectomy revealed the cancer to be confined to the breast with no growth beyond the chest cavity.   Two lymph nodes were found to be cancerous. I began the chemotherapy protocol of four sessions administered at three-week intervals.   It was a terrible experience of dehydration and debility that entailed emergency hospitalization for intravenous transfusions three times. The oncologist admitted that he might have overdosed the drugs, which were based on statistical averages rather than my specific needs.  He cut down the individual dosage and added a fifth session.

Even though I was awash in the world of hospitals and doctors, I considered medical intervention as adjunct to true healing.   Taking personal responsibility for my illness, I focused on my emotional and mental needs.  I admitted anger, impatience and guilt, and actively sought programs that would help me release them.

I worked with a superb healer between chemotherapy sessions. I saw an osteopath specializing in mind-body therapy regularly, and began yoga classes with an inspiring teacher and friend.   I took advantage of the hospital psychiatric services but found the staff psychiatrist's classically Freudian method lacking the compassion and personal warmth I needed.  Quitting his aloof treatments made me feel like a failure until I realized that saying no to him was actually a sign of strength.   I frequently turned for reassurance to a friend who is a clinical psychologist.   I joined a prosperity workshop to repair my relationship with money, organized a four-session anger workshop at our house and joined a meditation group.  I learned healing visualizations to release resistance.   These avenues of spiritual growth eased my anxiety about the cause and healing of my disease. They represent the most profound expression of macrobiotics and the one that I cherish most.

One of my most rewarding healing experiences involved a workshop based on the teachings of Louise Hay.   I found it empowering and reassuring to know I was indeed making changes that could affect my future.   This ten-session course was scheduled to begin just at the time of my fourth chemotherapy session.   I struggled to decide whether to interrupt the psychological advances I was making or to continue with the dreaded treatment. Only two more rounds remained to complete the protocol yet I was beginning to doubt their value along with my ability to survive them.   My slender frame could not withstand such an abusive onslaught of toxic chemicals.   I suffered great personal anxiety in the face of heavy medical and family pressure to continue.

With the help of my macrobiotic counselor I was able to understand this conundrum: If I felt I needed more chemotherapy, then I did; if I knew that I did not require any more, then I didn't.   I made the brave decision to take charge of my own healing, listening to my own body regardless of protocol, pressure or personal fear.  Chemotherapy had jolted my system out of its chaotic growth pattern.   Now I was ready to begin deeper healing.

Much later, at Level IV macrobiotic studies at the Kushi Institute, Phiya Kushi highlighted four factors to successful macrobiotic practice: 1) A supportive environment; 2) Harmony with natural surroundings; 3) Feedback, or self-assessment; and 4) Food, including a) preparation, b) eating habits, c) selection, and d) yin-yang proportion.   Reviewing these factors, my social environment (1) was greatly supportive with a loving husband and wonderful friends. My contact with nature (2) was relegated to weekends as I love intellectual pursuits and often stayed indoors.    I lacked a sense of my personal needs (3) to make daily adjustments for my condition. It never occurred to me that my impatience and occasional bursts of anger were signals of deep imbalance.

It wasn't until I resumed study with Michio Kushi several years later that I could appreciate the role food (4) played in creating my cancerous condition.  I considered myself immune to serious illness because I was "macrobiotic."   While they were excellently prepared, I ate late meals, snacked and did not always chew well.   Quality and variety, so taken for granted in the US, are limited in Israel, and I lacked foods like hard leafy greens that could have relaxed my condition.   More than anything, my shortcoming was proportion.   I offered weekly lavish feasts consisting of tempting and calorific macrobiotic dishes with myriad sauces, dressings and desserts.   Daily take-out meals and cooking classes were often similar feasts.   I ordered whole-wheat flour, grain-based sweeteners and rice beverage by the case.   I excelled at baking bread, cakes and cookies.    Michio emphasized the stagnating, yang effect of these hard, dry, baked flour products.

Although in general breast cancer can be considered a yin imbalance, mine was a manifestation of overriding tightness in my diet and lifestyle.   The solidity, tenacity and position of the tumor on the right lower breast indicated a yang condition.   Kombu seaweed and cabbage compresses during the initial nine months did not melt this stubborn malignancy.

I experienced great fear and anxiety at the beginning of my recovery with the massive infusion of chemicals and drugs into a body that had not tasted an aspirin in twenty years. My kidneys and liver were so poisoned by chemotherapy that food could hardly mitigate its effects. The emotions corresponding to these organs are fear and anger, respectively.   It was a difficult period lasting over a year as I released these emotions.

As I began to eat more modestly, cutting back on oil, salt and complex dishes, I realized just how contracted and complicated I had been.   I incorporated lighter dishes and more variety into my diet.  As I regained my strength I reclaimed confidence for curing the condition I had created.

Illness opens the door to spiritual growth as great suffering indeed enables great benefit.   I found the expressed love and support of friends who I thought were only clients uplifting beyond my dreams.  I lost my arrogance about my invincibility, and my magical thinking that it can't happen to me.   I realized that I am entitled to be ill, even to the point of serious discharge.   My empathy for sick people soared now that I have spent time on their side of the fence.  I recognized deep emotional trauma and resentment that I would never have admitted.

Today I have no symptoms of disease.    My energy is vibrant, my sleep trouble-free and my mood consistently upbeat.    I am happier than I have ever been and truly grateful for the opportunity to change life patterns.   Knowing myself better than ever, I use food, thought, breath and movement to create the experiences I desire.  I affirm the macrobiotic lifestyle as the best possible means to a happy and healthy life, and my own ability to follow its teachings to create my own personal health and happiness.

I understand my dis-ease as a reflection of my life choices, and as a powerful new opening.   My patterns of thought create my reality, whether intentionally or by default. To the degree that I can conceive health, I am well.   To the degree that I can know God, I am whole.   This, to me, is macrobiotics.

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Sheldon's Healing Story  "Embracing Health"

 

In the early 1980s the world of health and diet was opened up to me. To supplement our income, my ex-wife and I began distributing health products. My personal lifestyle until that point entailed eating anything and everything even resembling food as long as there was plenty of it.   I suffered from Jewish Mother Syndrome:  "Eat, eat, if you love me."   I was a dutiful child, and I ate.   I entered a roller coaster of dieting and bingeing that left me bloated and frustrated.   Fortunately, my strong constitution enabled me to escape many of the illnesses of my peers.   Aside from  chronic bladder difficulties, I considered myself relatively healthy.

A client sent me an article that described a miraculous recovery of terminal cancer through macrobiotics of Dr Anthony Satillaro. This strange diet had made the difference for him where conventional medicine had failed.  I was fascinated as I recalled similar testimonials attributed to nutritional supplements.   A connection between cancer and diet seemed logical.   However, not having cancer myself, I considered the issue personally irrelevant.

About a year later I responded to a local health food store flyer and tasted my first macrobiotic meal. I fell in love with the food, its effect and the philosophical concept supporting it.   Several of the dinner guests made the food preparation sound manageable.  Seeking a pastime related to my growing awareness of health, I decided to take up macrobiotic cooking.

I applied myself seriously from the start. At a health consultation with a macrobiotic counselor I was surprised to learn how "yang" I was.   It sounded ominous even if I did not understand it.   I was informed that most of my digestive organs were malfunctioning—so much for alleged good health.   I followed his dietary recommendations closely and noticed physical and mental changes almost immediately.   My thinking became clearer and I began to lose weight.

Unexpectedly, my weight loss became rapid and uncontrollable despite chronic overeating.   I began discharging foul odors from my mouth and body.   My skin color rotated through cycles of brown and yellow.   Sexual energy vanished. Instead of feeling discouraged, however, I enjoyed renewed surges of (nonsexual) energy.

In eighteen months my weight plummeted from 175 to 105 pounds.   My clothes hung on me like a scarecrow.   Friends passing me on the street didn’t recognize me.   Along with the weight, my muscular system deteriorated.   To climb steps, I had to grab my slacks and dig my elbows into my sides to lift my legs.   I could not pick up my eight year-old daughter.

I had great pain and difficulty urinating and ultimately became incontinent.   I had to wear diapers to bed.   I developed deep tingling sensations on my left side.  Two toes on my left foot turned black, and urination became nearly impossible.   I finally agreed to consult a doctor.   He immediately hospitalized me when he determined that my bladder was about five times its normal size. The surgeon ordered routine diagnostic tests before operating.   A CAT scan showed a deep-seated growth between my bladder and spine.   Michio Kushi, as well as my macrobiotic counselor and an oncologist who later saw my scans confirmed that the growth was malignant.   Michio later affirmed that the cancer may well have spread significantly had I not made serious dietary changes  when I did.

The scheduled biopsy and probable chemotherapy treatment frightened me more than death itself.   The morning before my scheduled biopsy, I discharged myself from the hospital.   I was confident that I would cure myself without allopathic interference. Thus began my long hard road to recovery with macrobiotics.   I did not disclose the nature of my illness to my mother, sister or any of my three daughters.   It was the only way to avoid their unwanted pity and well-meaning pressure to seek the conventional medical treatment that I abandoned.

During the following four years I prepared all my own food with little family support.   Fortunately my job entailed little stress, leaving me the time I needed to focus on my healing.   Unfortunately, my wife and I clashed openly over my macrobiotic habits and their "negative" influence on our kids.

I underwent regular shiatsu treatments in Manhattan.   My Japanese therapist encouraged me, adjusted my diet and explained the many bodily transitions taking place.   I discharged sugar for about a year and a half—longer than she had ever seen—with ugly wart-like discolorations on the back of my hands and forearms.   I was nearly deaf for weeks until accumulated mucus slowly drained out of my head.   For over a year the skin on my hands was dry and cracked around the nails and joints.   The resulting infections took months to heal.   Worst of all was the cold that racked my body, particularly my hands and feet.   I couldn’t bear air-conditioning, something hard to avoid in the summer.

In 1990 I separated from my wife and relocated to Jerusalem.   I had a final CAT scan before I left the United States that confirmed what I already knew—I was well.   The tumor was completely gone.   I soon regained enough weight to look and feel human again.   I believed that my key to recovery was proper mastication, an art that actually required lessons, though I later broadened my views regarding the emotional issues surrounding my life.   I chewed every lunch and dinner for an entire hour over a two-year period.   Sometimes I would fall asleep in mid-bite.   I attribute my health to this incredible chewing, along with moderation in food quantity, eating only the food recommended for me, and a relentless will to live.

About seven years into my macrobiotic practice I went through a spiritual awakening that lifted me to levels of joy and peace I never knew possible. I was able to put aside all the anger and pain of my unhappy childhood and marriage, and approach higher levels of consciousness in my daily life.

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