by Swami Nirmalananda Giri (Abbot George Burke)
The body and mind are profoundly interrelated. This is especially important for the yogi to realize. Health of mind and body are also profoundly interrelated.
Diet
Naturally the first step in physical and mental health is that of the yogi’s diet, the primary factor being a pure vegetarian diet with strict elimination of meat, fish, eggs and anything derived from them in any manner to any degree. I personally feel that a vegan diet that also omits dairy products or their derivatives is best of all. It has made a marked difference in my general health. Read How a Vegetarian Diet Affects Your Yoga Practice.
Beware!
Alcohol, nicotine and any mind-affecting substances must be absolutely avoided. And this principle must be applied to any medications the yogi might take.
Nothing containing these elements must ever be ingested by the yogi, and this includes fish oil and other anima-derived substances. Nothing derived from an animal body should ever enter the yogi’s body. If your doctor insists on you taking such things then get another doctor that is better qualified to treat you. There is never justification for the yogi to take such things into his body–and that includes absorbing them through his skin.
If it comes from a living being it is not for the yogi. There are no exceptions.
Anything that contains CBD oil should avoided absolutely. I am aware that all kind of things are being sold with the assurance that the ingredients are not taken from any part of the plant that contains psychotropic elements. But this is meaningless. Every single product on the market that contains CBD oil has been tested in the laboratories of essential oil manufacturers and been found to contain psychotropic elements.
Consciousness and therapies
Quite a number of years ago I spoke a few times on the subject of Consciousness and Therapy. As the consciousness changes and develops, the yogi’s response to various types of therapies will be determined by that change and development. Therapies and medications that are inconsistent with the yogi’s body and mind can be either worthless or detrimental to him.
There have been great strides forward in allopathic medicine in recent decades, so much so that we can say that modern medicine has been been basically transformed in the last half century or so. So the yogi need not be so wary of allopathy as in earlier years. In our ashram we are all under the care of an excellent GP and are enrolled in the Presbyterian Centennial Health Care plan/program.
Vibrational Medicine
I am writing all this to share with you information about what I consider a most appropriate and effective form of therapy for a yogi: vibrational medicine. Basically this is because the yogi works with mantric vibrations and the basis of all manifestation is vibration–sound (shabda or spanda). Therefore this is completely compatible with a yogi’s body and internal makeup. That does not mean that everything that claims to be part of vibrational medicine is of value. As with all things, a lot of fake and even harmful devices are being sold–usually at very high prices.
Two approaches
There are two approaches in vibrational medicine. One is to use frequencies to kill or destroy harmful elements in the body such as tumors, parasites, viruses, bacteria and suchlike. This was the approach of Royal Rife, originator of the Rife Machine. These are usually sold at whopping prices and can overload a person’s system and create a toxic condition in the body from the things that have been killed or destroyed.
Both Nicola Tesla and George Lakhovsky warned Rife that his approach could easily become unsafe from the toxicity produced by its application. Tesla and Lakhovsky advocated the approach of enhancing the body’s natural powers of immunity by producing in the body the vibrations of health and strengthening, overcoming the negative by the positive.
Lakhovsky invented a remarkable device called a Multiple Wave Oscillator which was found in most hospitals in the first half of the twentieth century and which was very effective. 
After the Second World War they just disappeared and were forgotten. Today there are people who claim to produce and sell Multiple Wave Oscillators. Many of them are utterly fake and priced ridiculously. There are those that sell pendants claiming they are Multiple Wave Oscillators but are not. A true Multiple Wave Oscillator has two large antennae between which a person sits for a treatment. They are expensive, but work. Unfortunately I cannot recommend a source for one. Look on the internet and youtube for information. Be cautious.
Polaraid Disc
But I can tell you about a device based on the principles of the Multiple Wave Oscillator that works incredibly well. It is called a Polaraid Disc. It is available from polaraidhealth.com. 
It looks cheesy and cheap but it is the real thing as far as the principles of Lakhovsky are concerned. It most certainly is not the original device, but it does much the same thing, though not as intense. I have several of the discs and use them daily. As I say, they look cheesy and cheap but they work, and that’s what matters.
Visit the polaraidhealth.com website and see the material there, including a video. You can also contact them if you have questions. The inventor of the Polaraid Disc, Dr. Dino Tomic has a website also: polarisdisc.com.
There is a huge amount of fakes in imitation of the Polaraid/Polaris Disc, and shameless, exaggerated claims are made. The two sites I have listed are reliable.
The Quantum Pulse
An incredibly effective device is The Quantum Pulse, also known as The Vibe Machine. We have one and use it daily. It is not inexpensive, but it delivers. You can speak with people associated with the inventor. The web address is: thequantumpulse.com.
The Bemer
This, too, we use daily. It works with the micro-circulation in the body. The web address is: life.bemergroup.com.
The Vielight
We have two devices: 1) the 655 prime, and 2) the 810 infrared. The first works on brain health and efficiency and the second on irradiating the blood with infrared. We use both of these daily, as well. The web address is: vielight.com.
A note
Naturally, I am not qualified to recommend any of these in a professional capacity, but as a friend I suggest you look into these for yourself.
Homeopathy
This is also vibrational medicine (see the Wikipedia article on Homeopathy). The discoverer, Samuel Hahnemann, based his principles on the Indian concepts of shakti and pranic energies. When I was in Varanasi I met some people who told me that Hahnemann had lived in Varanasi for some time and had developed his ideas there. Homeopathy is the most widely-used system of medicine in India. I have been using it for over fifty years and have complete faith in it based on my own experiences and observations.
Unfortunately homeopathy has been dishonestly incorporated into what I call Cute Faddish Medicine. A lot of quacks and confidence tricksters are fraudulently practicing it at this time. Some of them claim to practice “integrative medicine.”
One of the primary traits of authentic homeopathy is its inexpensive character. No honest homeopath will charge outrageous sums for “initial consulations” such as $200 dollars or more. A true homeopath does not need hardly any time to diagnose you because he uses the pulse as the main method of diagnosis. He of course asks you a few questions, but that is usually all. Your body tells him what he needs to know. Nor are the remedies expensive.
There are several companies that make excellent homeopathic remedies, and often instruction on their use. You can find them online. As I say, they are inexpensive. Just look up “Homeopathy” and “Homeopathic Remedies” online. We use Boiron remedies, but there are several reliable brands.
Magnetic Therapy
Magnetic Therapy, or Pranic Healing, deals with the bio-energies of the body directly. It is easy and simple to apply. And very effective. I learned it from Ina Bryant who was an expert practitioner and author of Magnetic Electricity–A Life Saver. To be honest, Ina was not much of a writer (though a great teacher), so I wrote Magnetic Therapy: Healing in Your Hands (available soon in print and as a PDF download).
EMFs
Exposure to electromagnetic fields–EMFs–can affect a person’s health to their detriment, therefore shielding against these fields can be a very good thing and a safeguard for health. So I would like to tell you about a source of devices that we have found very helpful in neutralizing EMFs that may be encountered everywhere. The company is simply called Safespace (safespaceprotection.com.).
We have two of their EMF Adapters for shielding/clearing our monastery building. When we installed them we felt the effect immediately. Friends of ours, including a center for bio-energetic healing, have had the identical experience.
Since EMFs are found everywhere we go, we all wear a VitaPlex Pendant at all times, even at home.
Safespace has other devices as well. We have found them very helpful in answering any questions we have had.
Again, I only recommend these things for your consideration as a friend who has no technical knowledge or qualifications but my own experience and opinion.