Do you have trouble getting a good night's sleep?
What you are about to read may make a huge difference to your future health! Being well rested is essential to our wellbeing and is a major key in living an energetic lifestyle.
Here are some of the benefits of a good night's sleep:
- You will look and feel your best.
- Relating to others will come easier with enough rest.
- You'll be a safer driver and be less likely to fall asleep at the wheel.
- More alertness and creativity on the job will be a major benefit.
- You'll feel less stressed.
- There'll be an increased ability to fight off illness.
- You'll enjoy life more.
Here are some keys to getting a better night's sleep:
1. Set your body clock.
Choose a bedtime schedule by deciding how many hours of shut-eye you need and try to stick with it. That's because we are all creatures of habit.
Try not to oversleep too often because this tends to throw your body clock off. If you are tired, try taking a short nap. However, it should not be longer than about one half an hour because more time than that and you will wind up not being able to fall asleep that night.
2. Be wise about eating and drinking.
Drinking too much fluid in the late afternoon and evening can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night to trot off to the bathroom. Also consuming food and beverages that contain caffeine before bedtime can cause you to toss and turn for hours. So it would be wise to avoid coffee, tea, soft drinks and chocolate before going to bed. However, a hot non-caffeinated drink can relax you.
3. Prepare your sleeping environment.
You have control over a number of factors in your sleeping environment that will make or break a good night's sleep.
One of them is the temperature of your bedroom. Adjust the temperature of your bedroom so it's conducive to sleeping. It's usually best to have your room a little on the cool side, but be sure you have enough blankets on your bed.
Another environmental issue is the darkness of our bedrooms. Many people prefer sleeping when it's totally dark, so turn off the lights except for night lights.
A key bedroom environment factor is your bed. Purchase the best mattress you can afford since you'll spend a large proportion of your life on it.
Quietness is very important to our rest. Try to keep the noise down. If that's impossible, consider using ear plugs. Play calming music and avoid watching television just before bedtime. Violent scenes can lead to sleeplessness and violent dreams!
Design your bedroom to be a peaceful sanctuary in your home. Separate your work from the bedroom area so your body knows the bedroom is a place to rest - not work.
4. Prepare yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually for bedtime.
There are a number of steps you can take before going to bed to prepare yourself physically. Slowly stretching before hitting the sack can help you relax. Regular exercise during the day will enhance your ability to fall asleep. Taking a warm bath - not a shower - can be helpful too. If you are still tense, a back massage can help you relax. Wear comfortable nonbinding clothing.
Here's the most important thing you can do once you've hit the sack - let go of the day's worries. Bedtime is a bad time to dwell on problems since worry can keep you tossing and turning for hours! I've found that reading the Bible and praying before going to bed is a wonderful way to end the day. Then I can truly relax and lay down my problems. My sleep is much sweeter and so are my dreams!
5. Seek specialized help if needed.
A medical condition could be preventing you from getting your full rest at night. See your doctor if you have continuing difficulty with falling asleep. Usually it's not wise to take sleeping pills since they can become addictive. They also interfere with the body's own inner sleeping rhythm.
Here are three organizations that offer specialized help:
National Sleep Foundation http://www.sleepfoundation.org/about.cfm
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine http://www.aasmnet.org/
National Center on Sleep Disorders Research http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/ncsdr/index.htm
The suggestions in this article have been listed to help you get a better night's sleep. Now try putting them into practice and enjoy a more rested and energetic lifestyle.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
The Ayurvedic Way to Perfect Skin
Ayurveda, the 5000-year-old science of healing from India, advocates the use of natural skin care products that feature potent herbs, fruits and spices to keep your skin and hair looking healthy and radiant in every season and at every age
Want healthy beautiful skin? Think farmers' markets brimming with Nature's bountiful produce, not sterile labs and "dead" chemicals with polysyllabic names.
"According to the ayurvedic texts, fresh vegetables and fruits, grains, nuts, honey, milk, coconut milk and cream are excellent sources of nutrients for your skin and hair," says renowned ayurvedic dermatologist Rama Kant Mishra. "Extracts, powders and pastes made from these natural materials, topically applied, deliver their healing benefits from the outside to all the layers of the skin. Add therapeutic herbs, fragrant flowers and skin-friendly spices such as saffron and turmeric, and you have all the ingredients you need for healthy glowing skin and strong lustrous hair."
Phytochemicals-chemicals occurring naturally in plants-have been shown to have potent antioxidant power. Research has also shown that your skin can benefit from topically applied antioxidants just as it does from the antioxidants in the foods you eat. Carrot oil, for example, which is included in many natural sun protection formulations, contains carotenoids that enhance your skin's ability to resist damage caused by the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. Ayurvedic herbs such as Gotu Kola have been shown in research studies to support collagen synthesis and heal skin conditions such as varicose veins when taken internally and applied topically.
"Herbs work their magic both from the inside out and the outside in," says Mishra. "It is a truly holistic approach to beautiful skin and hair, with beautiful appearance a result of perfect health, not artifices that are temporary and may actually do more harm than good in the long term."
How herbs work from the inside out
According to ayurveda, perfect skin and healthy hair are the result of good digestion that leads to proper absorption of nutrients by the body and efficient elimination of wastes.
"Both absorption of nutrients and elimination of toxins are equally important," says Mishra.
"Your skin needs lots of nourishment on an ongoing basis. Good digestion creates good rasa, the nutrient fluid that is the basis of healthy body tissue. Rasa is responsible for skin moisture level and plumpness. Good digestion also creates good rakta dhatu, pure blood. Rakta governs skin clarity, color and glow. So when the nutrients from the foods you eat are properly absorbed by the body, your skin shows the results in glowing healthy color, vibrant good health and clear tone."
Efficient elimination of wastes is equally crucial for skin and hair health. When toxins build up in the body, your skin and hair look dull, lifeless and unhealthy. "Skin eruptions and lack of clarity often stem from toxin build-up either inside the body or on the skin," says Mishra.
Classical ayurvedic herbs and fruits such as Amla and Triphala are skin rasayanas-herbs that have an overall positive effect on skin and hair health and appearance. "Amla or Amalaki (Indian Gooseberry) is very nourishing for the skin and hair," says Mishra. "It has powerful antioxidant properties, enhances the digestion, and supports all the layers of the skin." Triphala is a traditional internal cleanser that helps cleanse the physiology of toxins. That's a boon especially for persons with oily skin, because oily skin needs stringent cleansing to stay clear and healthy. Tulsi (Holy Basil) is another well-known ayurvedic skin rasayana. "Tulsi's special quality is that it helps boost the body's ability to withstand the effects of environmental pollution," says Mishra. "When buying any herbs, make sure you invest in quality herbs that have been processed carefully and are potent and pure."
These herbal rasayanas, when made correctly from whole, mature herbs without using chemical solvents or preservatives, act just like whole foods in delivering healing benefits to your skin and hair, according to Mishra.
"There is no doubt that you have to maintain a proper daily routine of caring for your skin and hair," says Mishra. "When you combine a regular regimen of cleansing and nourishing externally using natural, botanicals-rich topical products with whole herbs that offer support from within, your skin and hair will look their very best, no matter what your age."
Want healthy beautiful skin? Think farmers' markets brimming with Nature's bountiful produce, not sterile labs and "dead" chemicals with polysyllabic names.
"According to the ayurvedic texts, fresh vegetables and fruits, grains, nuts, honey, milk, coconut milk and cream are excellent sources of nutrients for your skin and hair," says renowned ayurvedic dermatologist Rama Kant Mishra. "Extracts, powders and pastes made from these natural materials, topically applied, deliver their healing benefits from the outside to all the layers of the skin. Add therapeutic herbs, fragrant flowers and skin-friendly spices such as saffron and turmeric, and you have all the ingredients you need for healthy glowing skin and strong lustrous hair."
Phytochemicals-chemicals occurring naturally in plants-have been shown to have potent antioxidant power. Research has also shown that your skin can benefit from topically applied antioxidants just as it does from the antioxidants in the foods you eat. Carrot oil, for example, which is included in many natural sun protection formulations, contains carotenoids that enhance your skin's ability to resist damage caused by the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. Ayurvedic herbs such as Gotu Kola have been shown in research studies to support collagen synthesis and heal skin conditions such as varicose veins when taken internally and applied topically.
"Herbs work their magic both from the inside out and the outside in," says Mishra. "It is a truly holistic approach to beautiful skin and hair, with beautiful appearance a result of perfect health, not artifices that are temporary and may actually do more harm than good in the long term."
How herbs work from the inside out
According to ayurveda, perfect skin and healthy hair are the result of good digestion that leads to proper absorption of nutrients by the body and efficient elimination of wastes.
"Both absorption of nutrients and elimination of toxins are equally important," says Mishra.
"Your skin needs lots of nourishment on an ongoing basis. Good digestion creates good rasa, the nutrient fluid that is the basis of healthy body tissue. Rasa is responsible for skin moisture level and plumpness. Good digestion also creates good rakta dhatu, pure blood. Rakta governs skin clarity, color and glow. So when the nutrients from the foods you eat are properly absorbed by the body, your skin shows the results in glowing healthy color, vibrant good health and clear tone."
Efficient elimination of wastes is equally crucial for skin and hair health. When toxins build up in the body, your skin and hair look dull, lifeless and unhealthy. "Skin eruptions and lack of clarity often stem from toxin build-up either inside the body or on the skin," says Mishra.
Classical ayurvedic herbs and fruits such as Amla and Triphala are skin rasayanas-herbs that have an overall positive effect on skin and hair health and appearance. "Amla or Amalaki (Indian Gooseberry) is very nourishing for the skin and hair," says Mishra. "It has powerful antioxidant properties, enhances the digestion, and supports all the layers of the skin." Triphala is a traditional internal cleanser that helps cleanse the physiology of toxins. That's a boon especially for persons with oily skin, because oily skin needs stringent cleansing to stay clear and healthy. Tulsi (Holy Basil) is another well-known ayurvedic skin rasayana. "Tulsi's special quality is that it helps boost the body's ability to withstand the effects of environmental pollution," says Mishra. "When buying any herbs, make sure you invest in quality herbs that have been processed carefully and are potent and pure."
These herbal rasayanas, when made correctly from whole, mature herbs without using chemical solvents or preservatives, act just like whole foods in delivering healing benefits to your skin and hair, according to Mishra.
"There is no doubt that you have to maintain a proper daily routine of caring for your skin and hair," says Mishra. "When you combine a regular regimen of cleansing and nourishing externally using natural, botanicals-rich topical products with whole herbs that offer support from within, your skin and hair will look their very best, no matter what your age."
10 Strategies for Stress-Free Living
1. Identify and live by your values. When we know what our values are, and our goals and actions are in harmony with our values, we are seldom stressed or in conflict about what we are doing.
2. Complete the Past Sometimes we hang on to voices or perceived injustices from the past, long after the person or situation is dead and gone. By bringing closure to these events, we are free to move forward.
3. Plan for the Future. It is important to know where we want to go and to have a rough idea of how we plan to get there. While it is important to give up final control to God or the Universe, we need a sense of focus and direction to our lives. Planning for the future gives us that sense of direction.
4. Live in the Present. This is key. Once we have completed the past and planned for the future, we need to stay focused in the here and now. There is very little that we cannot handle in the moment. (A clue: if you are feeling guilt, you are in the past. If you are feeling fear, you are in the future. The absence of those feelings generally means you are planted firmly in the present!)
5. Understand that if you can dream it, you can achieve it. If we are - truly - not capable of something, then it is practically impossible for us to dream about it. Knowledge of what we are capable of is in each and every cell of our being. So no matter how wild and far-fetched your dream appears, the very existence of the dream means that you can achieve it if you are willing to commit to it.
6. Allow others to live their own lives. Allowing others to be themselves and to live their own lives is the first step in being able to be yourself and living your own life. If you have any 'shoulds' or expectations of others, let them go. Shoulds kill relationships faster than any weapon I know of and fill our lives with unnecessary stress.
7. Recognize God in everyone. Everyone (literally, everyone!) is a reflection of God. Sometimes we have to dig a little deep to see it as our perceptions, expectations and fears cloud our vision. But when we can recognize how God is mirrored in each person, our lives are calmer and freer!
8. Create reserves where you need them. Stress is often created through lack, either right now or right around the corner. Create reserves of time, space, money, love, vitality and meaningful action, starting where you feel most stressed.
9. Focus on being and not doing or having. When we are focused on who we are, what kind of person we are, we tend to be on a journey of spiritual evolution, which in itself tends to have less stress (or the stress is less stressful!). When we are focused on doing or having, we are not focused on our higher selves, but only on certain dimensions of who we are (and usually on what we think that means). Be a being, not a doing!
10. Choose to be the best you possible. Making a choice to be our best selves, to live life to our fullest potential, typically allows us to transcend our lives and reduces much stress because we understand that the source of stress is temporary. Also, don't forget that today, you are the best you've ever been! Revel in that fact.
2. Complete the Past Sometimes we hang on to voices or perceived injustices from the past, long after the person or situation is dead and gone. By bringing closure to these events, we are free to move forward.
3. Plan for the Future. It is important to know where we want to go and to have a rough idea of how we plan to get there. While it is important to give up final control to God or the Universe, we need a sense of focus and direction to our lives. Planning for the future gives us that sense of direction.
4. Live in the Present. This is key. Once we have completed the past and planned for the future, we need to stay focused in the here and now. There is very little that we cannot handle in the moment. (A clue: if you are feeling guilt, you are in the past. If you are feeling fear, you are in the future. The absence of those feelings generally means you are planted firmly in the present!)
5. Understand that if you can dream it, you can achieve it. If we are - truly - not capable of something, then it is practically impossible for us to dream about it. Knowledge of what we are capable of is in each and every cell of our being. So no matter how wild and far-fetched your dream appears, the very existence of the dream means that you can achieve it if you are willing to commit to it.
6. Allow others to live their own lives. Allowing others to be themselves and to live their own lives is the first step in being able to be yourself and living your own life. If you have any 'shoulds' or expectations of others, let them go. Shoulds kill relationships faster than any weapon I know of and fill our lives with unnecessary stress.
7. Recognize God in everyone. Everyone (literally, everyone!) is a reflection of God. Sometimes we have to dig a little deep to see it as our perceptions, expectations and fears cloud our vision. But when we can recognize how God is mirrored in each person, our lives are calmer and freer!
8. Create reserves where you need them. Stress is often created through lack, either right now or right around the corner. Create reserves of time, space, money, love, vitality and meaningful action, starting where you feel most stressed.
9. Focus on being and not doing or having. When we are focused on who we are, what kind of person we are, we tend to be on a journey of spiritual evolution, which in itself tends to have less stress (or the stress is less stressful!). When we are focused on doing or having, we are not focused on our higher selves, but only on certain dimensions of who we are (and usually on what we think that means). Be a being, not a doing!
10. Choose to be the best you possible. Making a choice to be our best selves, to live life to our fullest potential, typically allows us to transcend our lives and reduces much stress because we understand that the source of stress is temporary. Also, don't forget that today, you are the best you've ever been! Revel in that fact.
St Johns Wort and Depression
The bright yellow flower of the St Johns Wort (hypericum perforatum) with it's ray-like petals, represents the power of the sun that forces away the darkness. This already points to the anti-depressant effects of the St Johns Wort which are highly respected, even in conventional medicine.
St. John's Wort, a perennial plant, has been used for hundreds of years to treat depression, unrest and anxiety disorders as well as nerve pain. For a long time, doctors and herbalists alike have known about its use as a sedative, but also as treatment for wounds, burns, insect bites, stomach ulcers and more. It is still used widely today and it's effectiveness has been proven to a point where some insurance companies are now covering the treatment.
It is not a powerful drug - when used to treat depression - in the sense of bringing a quick recovery, but shows excellent long term results in many patients. The herb assists body and soul in the healing process and helps to build a solid foundation for a complete recovery.
St John's Wort was tested in a double-blind study of 105 male and female patients in the 20 to 64 year age group, suffering from mild to moderate depression. They were divided into two groups and monitored over a period of four weeks. One group were given 300mg of St Johns Wort extract three times daily, and the other received a placebo. All of the patients had psychiatric evaluations before the start of the study and after four weeks of treatment.
The results revealed that, 67% of the St Johns Wort group had responded positively to the treatment without any adverse side effects whereas only 28% of the placebo group showed any signs of improvement.
St Johns Wort is available as tea (flowers and leaves), liquid extracts and pills or capsules. It is normally taken thrice daily and it will take one week or more to notice any improvement in the condition.
Treatment can be continued for long periods of time as the herb does not normally produce any side effects. But St Johns Wort can interact strongly with other medication e.g. cancer and HIV drugs, contraceptive pills and others. So it is vitally important to consult a medical specialist first before starting a course of treatment.
One effect of St Johns Wort is, that it makes the skin more sensitive to light. It is therefore important to keep out of the sun as much as possible while using the herb.
There is growing evidence to suggest that St. Johns Wort is a safe and effective, natural remedy for the treatment of mild to medium depression.
St. John's Wort, a perennial plant, has been used for hundreds of years to treat depression, unrest and anxiety disorders as well as nerve pain. For a long time, doctors and herbalists alike have known about its use as a sedative, but also as treatment for wounds, burns, insect bites, stomach ulcers and more. It is still used widely today and it's effectiveness has been proven to a point where some insurance companies are now covering the treatment.
It is not a powerful drug - when used to treat depression - in the sense of bringing a quick recovery, but shows excellent long term results in many patients. The herb assists body and soul in the healing process and helps to build a solid foundation for a complete recovery.
St John's Wort was tested in a double-blind study of 105 male and female patients in the 20 to 64 year age group, suffering from mild to moderate depression. They were divided into two groups and monitored over a period of four weeks. One group were given 300mg of St Johns Wort extract three times daily, and the other received a placebo. All of the patients had psychiatric evaluations before the start of the study and after four weeks of treatment.
The results revealed that, 67% of the St Johns Wort group had responded positively to the treatment without any adverse side effects whereas only 28% of the placebo group showed any signs of improvement.
St Johns Wort is available as tea (flowers and leaves), liquid extracts and pills or capsules. It is normally taken thrice daily and it will take one week or more to notice any improvement in the condition.
Treatment can be continued for long periods of time as the herb does not normally produce any side effects. But St Johns Wort can interact strongly with other medication e.g. cancer and HIV drugs, contraceptive pills and others. So it is vitally important to consult a medical specialist first before starting a course of treatment.
One effect of St Johns Wort is, that it makes the skin more sensitive to light. It is therefore important to keep out of the sun as much as possible while using the herb.
There is growing evidence to suggest that St. Johns Wort is a safe and effective, natural remedy for the treatment of mild to medium depression.
What Is Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a non-toxic system of medicine used to treat a wide variety of health concerns.
It is based on the Law of Similars and potentization. Basically, the Law of Similars is the premise that because exposure to a given substance can cause specific symptoms in someone who is healthy, then that substance — given as a homeopathic remedy — will stimulate the body’s own curative powers to overcome similar symptoms during illness.
A common example used to describe this effect is that of the person chopping an onion ~ When a healthy person chops an onion they usually get watery eyes, and a a runny nose. They may even experience sneezing or coughing, from exposure to the active substances in the onion.
The homeopathic remedy, Allium cepa, made of potentized red onion, can help the body overcome a cold or allergy attack in which the person has similar symptoms (watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, coughing.)
Even though the symptoms were not caused by exposure to an onion, the remedy made from the onion can help the body overcome them, because the symptoms are similar.
Is Homeopathy Effective?
Millions of people have used homeopathic remedies to treat every conceivable type of ailment and symptom. Despite misconceptions, homeopathy is just as scientific as allopathic medicine.
Homeopathy does not base its effectiveness on animal experiments which have little relevance to humans, and prescribing is not based on empirical, or accidental discovery of effects, but on a rational, systematic observation of the effects of remedies on healthy and sick people.
What are the Advantages of Homeopathy?
SAFETY
Homeopathy enjoys an excellent reputation in part because it is given in such minute doses that it can be safely used to treat anyone. Pregnant women, new born babies, children and weak or elderly people may all use the appropriate dosages of homeopathic remedies without dangerous side effects. Homeopthic doses of certain herbs are appropriate for certain individuals (like colicky babes,) when a standard herbal dosage would be too strong.
NON-TOXIC ~ NON-SYNTHETIC
Homeopathy does not use synthetic substances, but relies on the healing properties inherent in plants, minerals, and animal substances. These substances are used in their whole, natural state, not as isolated chemicals.
CONSISTENCY
Homeopathy is not based on 'fad' research. Homeopathic remedies do not go in and out of fashion because they are based on indications for specific symptoms rather than on 'opposites'.
Easy to Take
Most homeopathic remedies have a very mild, sweet taste and are meant to disolve under the tongue.
Even very small children can take them, which is very handy.
They come in small bottles that can be easily carried with you.
Understanding Potencies
Homeopathic remedies are prepared through a process called potentization. Potentization involves a series of systematic dilutions and successions (a forceful shaking action).
Potentization removes all risk of chemical toxicity while activating a remedy substance and enabling it to affect the body therapeutically.
The more dilutions and succussions a substance undergoes, the higher the potency will be. Higher potencies of homeopathic remedies (anything higher than 12C) have been diluted past the point that molecules of the original substance would be measurable in the solution.
Homeopathic potencies are designated by the combination of a number and a letter (for example, 6X or 30C).
The number refers to the number of dilutions the tincture has undergone within a series to prepare that remedy.
The letter refers to the proportions used in each dilution of the series (the Roman numeral X means 10, and the Roman numeral C means 100), as well as the number of succussions the vial of solution undergoes in each successive stage.
Choosing the Appropriate Remedy
A key element in treating successfully with homeopathy is selecting the right remedy.
It is best to farmiliarize yourself with homeopathic remedies before you need them so you can have a vague idea in mind of what remedy may be called for.
Get yourself a good book like, The Complete Homeopathy Handbook: A Guide to Everyday Health Care, by Miranda Castro to have on hand.
Basically, when looking for a remedy you want to consider both physical and psychological symptoms.
Physical Symptoms
Homeopathic remedies promote a return to normal body function, and can be of help in almost any physical symptom or condition. Though they their work on a subtle level, they ultimately affect the chemical, cellular, and structural health of the organism.
Psychological Symptoms
Psychological states are a crucial piece of the symptom-puzzle. Even when treating a purely physical ailment,homeopathy considers the emotional response of the individual to be of prime importance. Improvement of an emotional state is one way to monitor the effectiveness of a remedy.
It is based on the Law of Similars and potentization. Basically, the Law of Similars is the premise that because exposure to a given substance can cause specific symptoms in someone who is healthy, then that substance — given as a homeopathic remedy — will stimulate the body’s own curative powers to overcome similar symptoms during illness.
A common example used to describe this effect is that of the person chopping an onion ~ When a healthy person chops an onion they usually get watery eyes, and a a runny nose. They may even experience sneezing or coughing, from exposure to the active substances in the onion.
The homeopathic remedy, Allium cepa, made of potentized red onion, can help the body overcome a cold or allergy attack in which the person has similar symptoms (watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, coughing.)
Even though the symptoms were not caused by exposure to an onion, the remedy made from the onion can help the body overcome them, because the symptoms are similar.
Is Homeopathy Effective?
Millions of people have used homeopathic remedies to treat every conceivable type of ailment and symptom. Despite misconceptions, homeopathy is just as scientific as allopathic medicine.
Homeopathy does not base its effectiveness on animal experiments which have little relevance to humans, and prescribing is not based on empirical, or accidental discovery of effects, but on a rational, systematic observation of the effects of remedies on healthy and sick people.
What are the Advantages of Homeopathy?
SAFETY
Homeopathy enjoys an excellent reputation in part because it is given in such minute doses that it can be safely used to treat anyone. Pregnant women, new born babies, children and weak or elderly people may all use the appropriate dosages of homeopathic remedies without dangerous side effects. Homeopthic doses of certain herbs are appropriate for certain individuals (like colicky babes,) when a standard herbal dosage would be too strong.
NON-TOXIC ~ NON-SYNTHETIC
Homeopathy does not use synthetic substances, but relies on the healing properties inherent in plants, minerals, and animal substances. These substances are used in their whole, natural state, not as isolated chemicals.
CONSISTENCY
Homeopathy is not based on 'fad' research. Homeopathic remedies do not go in and out of fashion because they are based on indications for specific symptoms rather than on 'opposites'.
Easy to Take
Most homeopathic remedies have a very mild, sweet taste and are meant to disolve under the tongue.
Even very small children can take them, which is very handy.
They come in small bottles that can be easily carried with you.
Understanding Potencies
Homeopathic remedies are prepared through a process called potentization. Potentization involves a series of systematic dilutions and successions (a forceful shaking action).
Potentization removes all risk of chemical toxicity while activating a remedy substance and enabling it to affect the body therapeutically.
The more dilutions and succussions a substance undergoes, the higher the potency will be. Higher potencies of homeopathic remedies (anything higher than 12C) have been diluted past the point that molecules of the original substance would be measurable in the solution.
Homeopathic potencies are designated by the combination of a number and a letter (for example, 6X or 30C).
The number refers to the number of dilutions the tincture has undergone within a series to prepare that remedy.
The letter refers to the proportions used in each dilution of the series (the Roman numeral X means 10, and the Roman numeral C means 100), as well as the number of succussions the vial of solution undergoes in each successive stage.
Choosing the Appropriate Remedy
A key element in treating successfully with homeopathy is selecting the right remedy.
It is best to farmiliarize yourself with homeopathic remedies before you need them so you can have a vague idea in mind of what remedy may be called for.
Get yourself a good book like, The Complete Homeopathy Handbook: A Guide to Everyday Health Care, by Miranda Castro to have on hand.
Basically, when looking for a remedy you want to consider both physical and psychological symptoms.
Physical Symptoms
Homeopathic remedies promote a return to normal body function, and can be of help in almost any physical symptom or condition. Though they their work on a subtle level, they ultimately affect the chemical, cellular, and structural health of the organism.
Psychological Symptoms
Psychological states are a crucial piece of the symptom-puzzle. Even when treating a purely physical ailment,homeopathy considers the emotional response of the individual to be of prime importance. Improvement of an emotional state is one way to monitor the effectiveness of a remedy.
Health and Anti-Aging by Knut Holt
Some words about anti-aging and disease prevention
The aging process is for the greater part no mystery anymore. It consists for a great part of daily damages done on the macroscopic, tissue, cellular and genetic levels. These add up as the years are passing. These damages have specific causes like oxidating agents, sun beams, mechanical wear and tear, psychological stress, lack of some nutritional components and too much of others, like fat.
Another component of aging is the reduction of the telomere chains at the chromosome ends, as each cell division occurs. However, the body has means to repair these ends again, with an enzyme called telomerase. The rapidity of the aging process depends on lack of efficiency in this repair process. The above mention aging causes also slow down this repair process.
The factors causing aging, also causes other diseases like cancer and coronary heart disease. Both aging and these diseases can in great extend be prevented with the knowledge possessed today, and the damages can in great extend be reversed. The components to achieve this are:
-Adequate dayly food containing whole cereals, peas, beans, vegetables, fruit, fish, mushroms, fouls and seafood, and with just a moderate amount of red meat.
-Just a moderate amount of fat and most of the fat supply comming from sources like olive, fish, nuts, sun-flower, etc. Then you will get a good balance between mono-unsaturated fat (olive), poly-unsaturated fat of the omaga-3-type (fish) and poly-unsaturated fat of the omega-6-type.
-Just a very moderate amount of butter, soya oil, corn oil and palm oil. A high consumption of these fat sources gives you too much saturated fat and poly-unsaturated omega-6-fat.
-Just a very moderate amount of sugar, refined flour or refined cereals.
-Supplements of specific nutritional components like vitamins, minerals, lecitin and some essential fatty acids.
-Adequate training, that both gives both a muscular load, work up your condition and stretches out your body. To stretch out, yoga-exercizes are ideal.
-Adequate rest and stress-reduction. Daily meditation is a method of achieving this. Natural relaxing agents or spesific tools for meditation or relaxation may also be useful.
-Supplements of specific anti-aging agents like anti-oxidants or human growth hormone.
-Use of spesific anti-aging agents to apply upon the skin surface.
-To protect the skin against excessive sun exposure.
The amount one needs of nutritional supplements, like vitamins and minerals, differs very much according to a person`s health condition, work load and exposure to environmental stress. A person having a poor digestion, doing high performance sport or being exposed to a high amount of environmental stressors, may need more than an person in an average situation.
http://www.panteraconsulting.com/salg2.htm
The aging process is for the greater part no mystery anymore. It consists for a great part of daily damages done on the macroscopic, tissue, cellular and genetic levels. These add up as the years are passing. These damages have specific causes like oxidating agents, sun beams, mechanical wear and tear, psychological stress, lack of some nutritional components and too much of others, like fat.
Another component of aging is the reduction of the telomere chains at the chromosome ends, as each cell division occurs. However, the body has means to repair these ends again, with an enzyme called telomerase. The rapidity of the aging process depends on lack of efficiency in this repair process. The above mention aging causes also slow down this repair process.
The factors causing aging, also causes other diseases like cancer and coronary heart disease. Both aging and these diseases can in great extend be prevented with the knowledge possessed today, and the damages can in great extend be reversed. The components to achieve this are:
-Adequate dayly food containing whole cereals, peas, beans, vegetables, fruit, fish, mushroms, fouls and seafood, and with just a moderate amount of red meat.
-Just a moderate amount of fat and most of the fat supply comming from sources like olive, fish, nuts, sun-flower, etc. Then you will get a good balance between mono-unsaturated fat (olive), poly-unsaturated fat of the omaga-3-type (fish) and poly-unsaturated fat of the omega-6-type.
-Just a very moderate amount of butter, soya oil, corn oil and palm oil. A high consumption of these fat sources gives you too much saturated fat and poly-unsaturated omega-6-fat.
-Just a very moderate amount of sugar, refined flour or refined cereals.
-Supplements of specific nutritional components like vitamins, minerals, lecitin and some essential fatty acids.
-Adequate training, that both gives both a muscular load, work up your condition and stretches out your body. To stretch out, yoga-exercizes are ideal.
-Adequate rest and stress-reduction. Daily meditation is a method of achieving this. Natural relaxing agents or spesific tools for meditation or relaxation may also be useful.
-Supplements of specific anti-aging agents like anti-oxidants or human growth hormone.
-Use of spesific anti-aging agents to apply upon the skin surface.
-To protect the skin against excessive sun exposure.
The amount one needs of nutritional supplements, like vitamins and minerals, differs very much according to a person`s health condition, work load and exposure to environmental stress. A person having a poor digestion, doing high performance sport or being exposed to a high amount of environmental stressors, may need more than an person in an average situation.
http://www.panteraconsulting.com/salg2.htm
Walking And Fat Loss
With obesity and disease increasing dramatically, many fitness experts are recommending walking for weight loss and fitness.
Some are even going so far as saying that walking is the best way to burn fat and lose weight. I strongly disagree with this and am going to show you why walking is NOT effective at burning off body fat.
Yes, you read that correctly... Walking is NOT effective at burning body fat and if your goal is fat loss you might be wasting your time. I am not saying that walking is not beneficial, I am saying that if fat loss is the primary goal, there are far better choices that will deliver far better results.
The primary benefits of walking are increased blood flow and circulation, improved recovery, and a strengthened immune system. There are several reasons why walking in not the best choice when it comes to fat loss.
Here are just a few:
1. Walking does NOT burn a lot of calories The lower the intensity of the activity or exercise the smaller the number of calories burned per unit of time. For example, you can burn more calories in 15 minutes of bicycling at a high intensity level than you can in 45 minutes of easy walking.
2. Walking does NOT result in a large increase in metabolism Another downside to walking is that because it's generally low intensity it results in only a small increase in metabolism that will only last approximately 1-2 hours after the walk. On the other hand, metabolism increases are larger and last longer (4-24 hrs or more) when you perform high intensity cardio workouts.
3. Walking does NOT deplete muscle glycogen Low intensity exercise like walking does not deplete muscle glycogen levels and therefore, later that day if you have excess calories they will likely be stored as body fat whereas if you deplete the glycogen the excess calories will primarily be stored in the muscles. So why then do so many fitness and health experts recommend walking for weight loss? One reason is that people don't want to hear that they have to work hard so they figure some activity is better than none. Another reason is that the body burns more fat for fuel when exercising at an easy pace, however, the total amount of energy used is so small that you end up burning off little body fat.
That's also why when you choose the "fat burning" program on your treadmill or bike it has you exercise at any easy level. Yes, you're burning fat, but so little that you'd have to exercise at that easy pace for hours and hours each day. High intensity cardiovascular/aerobic exercise is much more effective in burning off the excess body fat. In fact, several studies have been done to prove this. In one study they compared one group who did moderate level aerobics for 45 minutes with another group who performed high intensity workouts for 15 minutes. They did before and after fitness testing including body fat analysis and found that the group who performed the high intensity aerobics lost nine times as much body fat! Want more proof? Compare the bodies of a walker, marathon runner, and sprinter. If you are not familiar with what a sprinters body looks like, it is very muscular and has little body fat while on the other hand the body of a walker will likely have the opposite, little muscle and more fat. The sprinter does little or no low intensity exercise and does primarily short hard bursts of work while the marathoner overtrains so much they burn off both the body fat and the muscle and that's why they tend to look almost sickly thin.
So what should you do then if your main objective is to shed those excess pounds of body fat? Two things:
1. Perform some form of high intensity cardio 2-4 times per week
2. Stabilize blood sugar to minimize the storage of new fat I know some of you by now are saying "I can't do high intensity exercise, I have a bad knee" and don't worry, I have a solution for you. The good news is that high intensity is all relative to you and your current fitness level. For example, fast walking up and down hills may be high intensity for you... it all depends. So don't think that you have to start running or something like that. Just slowly start to increase the intensity of your cardio workouts while also maybe decreasing the time because you can either work hard or you can work long. Also, you can make almost any activity or exercise high intensity.... here are a few examples:
• increase your speed
• use an incline or hills
• increase resistance
• perform intervals ( the most effective method) Obviously, some exercises/activities or better suited than others but the point is if you want to burn more fat and make your workouts as productive as possible you need to increase the intensity.
Some are even going so far as saying that walking is the best way to burn fat and lose weight. I strongly disagree with this and am going to show you why walking is NOT effective at burning off body fat.
Yes, you read that correctly... Walking is NOT effective at burning body fat and if your goal is fat loss you might be wasting your time. I am not saying that walking is not beneficial, I am saying that if fat loss is the primary goal, there are far better choices that will deliver far better results.
The primary benefits of walking are increased blood flow and circulation, improved recovery, and a strengthened immune system. There are several reasons why walking in not the best choice when it comes to fat loss.
Here are just a few:
1. Walking does NOT burn a lot of calories The lower the intensity of the activity or exercise the smaller the number of calories burned per unit of time. For example, you can burn more calories in 15 minutes of bicycling at a high intensity level than you can in 45 minutes of easy walking.
2. Walking does NOT result in a large increase in metabolism Another downside to walking is that because it's generally low intensity it results in only a small increase in metabolism that will only last approximately 1-2 hours after the walk. On the other hand, metabolism increases are larger and last longer (4-24 hrs or more) when you perform high intensity cardio workouts.
3. Walking does NOT deplete muscle glycogen Low intensity exercise like walking does not deplete muscle glycogen levels and therefore, later that day if you have excess calories they will likely be stored as body fat whereas if you deplete the glycogen the excess calories will primarily be stored in the muscles. So why then do so many fitness and health experts recommend walking for weight loss? One reason is that people don't want to hear that they have to work hard so they figure some activity is better than none. Another reason is that the body burns more fat for fuel when exercising at an easy pace, however, the total amount of energy used is so small that you end up burning off little body fat.
That's also why when you choose the "fat burning" program on your treadmill or bike it has you exercise at any easy level. Yes, you're burning fat, but so little that you'd have to exercise at that easy pace for hours and hours each day. High intensity cardiovascular/aerobic exercise is much more effective in burning off the excess body fat. In fact, several studies have been done to prove this. In one study they compared one group who did moderate level aerobics for 45 minutes with another group who performed high intensity workouts for 15 minutes. They did before and after fitness testing including body fat analysis and found that the group who performed the high intensity aerobics lost nine times as much body fat! Want more proof? Compare the bodies of a walker, marathon runner, and sprinter. If you are not familiar with what a sprinters body looks like, it is very muscular and has little body fat while on the other hand the body of a walker will likely have the opposite, little muscle and more fat. The sprinter does little or no low intensity exercise and does primarily short hard bursts of work while the marathoner overtrains so much they burn off both the body fat and the muscle and that's why they tend to look almost sickly thin.
So what should you do then if your main objective is to shed those excess pounds of body fat? Two things:
1. Perform some form of high intensity cardio 2-4 times per week
2. Stabilize blood sugar to minimize the storage of new fat I know some of you by now are saying "I can't do high intensity exercise, I have a bad knee" and don't worry, I have a solution for you. The good news is that high intensity is all relative to you and your current fitness level. For example, fast walking up and down hills may be high intensity for you... it all depends. So don't think that you have to start running or something like that. Just slowly start to increase the intensity of your cardio workouts while also maybe decreasing the time because you can either work hard or you can work long. Also, you can make almost any activity or exercise high intensity.... here are a few examples:
• increase your speed
• use an incline or hills
• increase resistance
• perform intervals ( the most effective method) Obviously, some exercises/activities or better suited than others but the point is if you want to burn more fat and make your workouts as productive as possible you need to increase the intensity.
How to Halt the Train of Aging by Tony Zavasta
Excerpted from the book “Your Right to Be Beautiful: How to Halt the Train of Aging and Meet the Most Beautiful You” by Tonya Zavasta. The book is available at: http://www.beautifulonraw.com/html/righttobe.html
Aging would not be so bad if it did not tell on us at every encounter. As we hug one another, we register the love handles on the other's waist, the flab on their arms and the sag on their cheeks. We stare into each other's faces. After all, only saints find no pleasure in the wrinkles of their peers. We are not inexcusable sinners; we are checking to see how well we are holding up. Estimating someone's age and deciding how well that person has aged tells us a lot. Looking and feeling younger than chronological age has increasingly becomes a yardstick of success. Preoccupation with age is a reality for our rapidly aging society. It is part of our resume and every bit as important as our employment records.
We may be justified in our dismay at aging, even scientists are puzzled by the purposelessness of the process. Every biological event in the human body, from conception to puberty to maturity, has a purpose except aging. Aging makes no sense. Scientists are baffled as to why mammals have much shorter life spans than more primitive species. We don’t live nearly as long as the Galapagos turtle but we usually wind up looking like one.
Nowadays, researchers hunt for the gene that causes aging. If they find it, they will look for a pill to disable it, as though it were a virus. They face an appalling task. A cell, the simplest form of life, is more complex than Mexico City, the largest city in the world. No one gene or any one hormone is responsible for health and youth. It is the ideal work of all the cells and organs functioning together in complete harmony to prevent the breakdown of the body. What makes us think we can think stop aging just by turning a switch in the body?
The signs of deterioration that we consider the signs of aging are the result of waste overload on the cellular level. Eating denatured and devitalized food leaves residues the body cannot utilize, and they are deposited in places our Creator never intended. When our actions are in opposition to nature, the results are different types of bodily ills, deformities, and ugliness. Whatever the body cannot use, becomes toxic accumulations that steal our health and our youth.
Body acids enter in chemical reactions with waste products causing calcification of the soft tissue. Now tissues of vital organs and glands become burdened with mineral salts and crystalline deposits. Overloaded with waste, they not only can no longer function normally but also become more responsive to gravity’s pull. As every tissue elongates and sags, drooping jowls and sagging cheeks begin to drape on both sides of the mouth, and the eyebrows begin to hang over the eyes.
External deformities are direct manifestations of internal pathologies. Ugly ropes of varicose veins, puffy faces, and cellulite are telling tales about your inside condition. Every pimple, psoriasis, or pigment change on your skin is in fact a reflection of some organ struggling to do its job. Every bulge, boil, or swelling is a sign that the body is pushing out some toxins in its effort to protect itself.
Most of us feel our appearance lacks something. In reality, ugliness is more about excess. Toxic accumulations in our bodies are responsible for stealing our health and attractiveness. Beauty lies latent under cushions of retained fluids, deposits of fat, and sick tissues. Your beauty is buried alive, but in most cases it can be revived in a version that will be satisfactory to you. You must take immediate action to revitalize it. When you do, your uncovered beauty will surprise and delight you.
Some physical characteristics of our face and body we cannot change-they were determined prior to our birth. But the consumption of the raw plant diet as an adult will make a difference in the texture of skin and hair, the health of nails, weight and complexion. All of these traits and more are determined by daily choices, with food being one of the most important and, luckily, the one we can fully control.
Since there can be no natural health without eating 100 percent natural food, most of people have never explored optimum health. In my book Your Right to Be Beautiful, I advocate a diet made up solely of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds—Rawsome Diet. No, you will not be asked to graze the garden, dig up the squirrel’s nuts or dine out on the birdfeeder, but you will be introduced to an unexplored world of preparation techniques that allow you to create not only the most nutritious meals, but also dishes that are delicious, filling and satisfying. Some raw food recipes even mimic traditional cuisine and make the transition to the Rawsome diet easier. There are 100s of different kinds of fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds with a variety of tastes and flavors, which awakened taste buds will begin to appreciate. If you combine only two or three ingredients at each meal, then the number of dish combinations is endless.
The ability to renew cells is built into your body, and the body itself is capable of making you look more attractive. After all, we were designed to bloom continuously as old cells get replaced by new ones. The Rawsome diet makes the most of this rejuvenating ability of our bodies. Rawsome beauty is not manufactured from the outside but cultivated from the inside by nutritionally charged food. Whole raw food restores the integrity of every cell and facilitates the optimal operation of every organ inside and out. The body, having been awakened by the improved diet, in its wisdom, will reach out to the places where health was lacking, and you will gradually see your beauty surfacing. The Rawsome diet will eliminate all the toxins on a deeper level and bring amazing changes to your appearance.
Only the body sustained on raw food will host natural beauty, or should we say Rawsome beauty. The body becomes transcended and will unfold from the inside out. While your non-raw eating peers discover new blemishes, blotches, and moles on a nearly daily basis, you will see your own skin irregularities gradually fade or disappear. Feeding your body raw food will make eyes, once sunken in bulbous flesh, look larger and more round by eliminating the surrounding puffiness and by firming the eyelids. Eyebrows that were beginning to form an awning over the eyes will regain their youthful arch. As natural collagen production improves, it will fill in the places where it is needed as in hollow cheeks. It will not just patch your face, but every one of your 3,000 square inches of skin will improve.
The landscape of the body will change. The surface of the skin will become soft and smooth but still firm and supple. Visible pores will diminish. A sallow skin with a yellow pallor will turn into a porcelain-like complexion. The whites of eyes, once red, will become bright with a bluish tinge. Raw food eating will clarify and refine your features and bring delicacy to your face.
People who have been on the raw food lifestyle for several years begin to have a glow, the kind not often seen in middle-aged people. Optimal health is recognized by an emerging radiance. Glow is hard to fake because it is internal. It comes from an abundance of clear, pink, almost transparent cells that light up the face. Only superior blood circulation can bring this transfiguring glow. Several years on the raw food diet will make you look as though you just stepped out of a painting by Renoir-the impressionist best known for his preoccupation with light.
Colette, France’s greatest woman writer, once wrote: “The fear of aging, a commonplace neurosis, does not usually wait for age and spares neither sex.” But aging is full of mercy towards people on the raw food diet. This diet will allow you to ripen, not to decay. Beauty does not have to erode or disappear with age. You will be lithe and limber and keep your loveliness for a long time. It is like winning the Jack Pot in the Age Game. You become age-proof. When you discover The Most Beautiful You, old age will lose its sting, and you will have victory over the ravages of time.
Even on the 100 percent raw food diet, no one lives forever. For individuals who follow this diet for many years, aging comes a week or two before death. Deterioration takes place rapidly. Perennial youth is a perpetual dream. The raw food lifestyle is the closest anyone can come to reaching the maximum life span with the quality of life intact. The diet allows the body to mature gracefully. It produces an alliance of character and health. The Rawsome Diet allows everyone to live as long as God intended and look as God envisioned.
Aging would not be so bad if it did not tell on us at every encounter. As we hug one another, we register the love handles on the other's waist, the flab on their arms and the sag on their cheeks. We stare into each other's faces. After all, only saints find no pleasure in the wrinkles of their peers. We are not inexcusable sinners; we are checking to see how well we are holding up. Estimating someone's age and deciding how well that person has aged tells us a lot. Looking and feeling younger than chronological age has increasingly becomes a yardstick of success. Preoccupation with age is a reality for our rapidly aging society. It is part of our resume and every bit as important as our employment records.
We may be justified in our dismay at aging, even scientists are puzzled by the purposelessness of the process. Every biological event in the human body, from conception to puberty to maturity, has a purpose except aging. Aging makes no sense. Scientists are baffled as to why mammals have much shorter life spans than more primitive species. We don’t live nearly as long as the Galapagos turtle but we usually wind up looking like one.
Nowadays, researchers hunt for the gene that causes aging. If they find it, they will look for a pill to disable it, as though it were a virus. They face an appalling task. A cell, the simplest form of life, is more complex than Mexico City, the largest city in the world. No one gene or any one hormone is responsible for health and youth. It is the ideal work of all the cells and organs functioning together in complete harmony to prevent the breakdown of the body. What makes us think we can think stop aging just by turning a switch in the body?
The signs of deterioration that we consider the signs of aging are the result of waste overload on the cellular level. Eating denatured and devitalized food leaves residues the body cannot utilize, and they are deposited in places our Creator never intended. When our actions are in opposition to nature, the results are different types of bodily ills, deformities, and ugliness. Whatever the body cannot use, becomes toxic accumulations that steal our health and our youth.
Body acids enter in chemical reactions with waste products causing calcification of the soft tissue. Now tissues of vital organs and glands become burdened with mineral salts and crystalline deposits. Overloaded with waste, they not only can no longer function normally but also become more responsive to gravity’s pull. As every tissue elongates and sags, drooping jowls and sagging cheeks begin to drape on both sides of the mouth, and the eyebrows begin to hang over the eyes.
External deformities are direct manifestations of internal pathologies. Ugly ropes of varicose veins, puffy faces, and cellulite are telling tales about your inside condition. Every pimple, psoriasis, or pigment change on your skin is in fact a reflection of some organ struggling to do its job. Every bulge, boil, or swelling is a sign that the body is pushing out some toxins in its effort to protect itself.
Most of us feel our appearance lacks something. In reality, ugliness is more about excess. Toxic accumulations in our bodies are responsible for stealing our health and attractiveness. Beauty lies latent under cushions of retained fluids, deposits of fat, and sick tissues. Your beauty is buried alive, but in most cases it can be revived in a version that will be satisfactory to you. You must take immediate action to revitalize it. When you do, your uncovered beauty will surprise and delight you.
Some physical characteristics of our face and body we cannot change-they were determined prior to our birth. But the consumption of the raw plant diet as an adult will make a difference in the texture of skin and hair, the health of nails, weight and complexion. All of these traits and more are determined by daily choices, with food being one of the most important and, luckily, the one we can fully control.
Since there can be no natural health without eating 100 percent natural food, most of people have never explored optimum health. In my book Your Right to Be Beautiful, I advocate a diet made up solely of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds—Rawsome Diet. No, you will not be asked to graze the garden, dig up the squirrel’s nuts or dine out on the birdfeeder, but you will be introduced to an unexplored world of preparation techniques that allow you to create not only the most nutritious meals, but also dishes that are delicious, filling and satisfying. Some raw food recipes even mimic traditional cuisine and make the transition to the Rawsome diet easier. There are 100s of different kinds of fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds with a variety of tastes and flavors, which awakened taste buds will begin to appreciate. If you combine only two or three ingredients at each meal, then the number of dish combinations is endless.
The ability to renew cells is built into your body, and the body itself is capable of making you look more attractive. After all, we were designed to bloom continuously as old cells get replaced by new ones. The Rawsome diet makes the most of this rejuvenating ability of our bodies. Rawsome beauty is not manufactured from the outside but cultivated from the inside by nutritionally charged food. Whole raw food restores the integrity of every cell and facilitates the optimal operation of every organ inside and out. The body, having been awakened by the improved diet, in its wisdom, will reach out to the places where health was lacking, and you will gradually see your beauty surfacing. The Rawsome diet will eliminate all the toxins on a deeper level and bring amazing changes to your appearance.
Only the body sustained on raw food will host natural beauty, or should we say Rawsome beauty. The body becomes transcended and will unfold from the inside out. While your non-raw eating peers discover new blemishes, blotches, and moles on a nearly daily basis, you will see your own skin irregularities gradually fade or disappear. Feeding your body raw food will make eyes, once sunken in bulbous flesh, look larger and more round by eliminating the surrounding puffiness and by firming the eyelids. Eyebrows that were beginning to form an awning over the eyes will regain their youthful arch. As natural collagen production improves, it will fill in the places where it is needed as in hollow cheeks. It will not just patch your face, but every one of your 3,000 square inches of skin will improve.
The landscape of the body will change. The surface of the skin will become soft and smooth but still firm and supple. Visible pores will diminish. A sallow skin with a yellow pallor will turn into a porcelain-like complexion. The whites of eyes, once red, will become bright with a bluish tinge. Raw food eating will clarify and refine your features and bring delicacy to your face.
People who have been on the raw food lifestyle for several years begin to have a glow, the kind not often seen in middle-aged people. Optimal health is recognized by an emerging radiance. Glow is hard to fake because it is internal. It comes from an abundance of clear, pink, almost transparent cells that light up the face. Only superior blood circulation can bring this transfiguring glow. Several years on the raw food diet will make you look as though you just stepped out of a painting by Renoir-the impressionist best known for his preoccupation with light.
Colette, France’s greatest woman writer, once wrote: “The fear of aging, a commonplace neurosis, does not usually wait for age and spares neither sex.” But aging is full of mercy towards people on the raw food diet. This diet will allow you to ripen, not to decay. Beauty does not have to erode or disappear with age. You will be lithe and limber and keep your loveliness for a long time. It is like winning the Jack Pot in the Age Game. You become age-proof. When you discover The Most Beautiful You, old age will lose its sting, and you will have victory over the ravages of time.
Even on the 100 percent raw food diet, no one lives forever. For individuals who follow this diet for many years, aging comes a week or two before death. Deterioration takes place rapidly. Perennial youth is a perpetual dream. The raw food lifestyle is the closest anyone can come to reaching the maximum life span with the quality of life intact. The diet allows the body to mature gracefully. It produces an alliance of character and health. The Rawsome Diet allows everyone to live as long as God intended and look as God envisioned.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Nobel scientist warns on bird flu
Avian flu - caught directly from birds, and which kills in seven cases out of 10 - could suddenly sweep through the human population, killing 70 million people according to World Health Organisation estimates, a Nobel laureate warned yesterday.
Peter Doherty, of the University of Melbourne, who shared the 1996 Nobel prize for medicine, was speaking at an assembly of laureates in Lyon, France, 50 years to the day after the first announcement of an effective vaccine against the crippling disease poliomyelitis. World health teams hope to eliminate polio altogether by the end of 2005. But, Prof Doherty warned the Biovision conference, there were more immediate hazards.
Article continues
Avian flu has killed people who worked with poultry in south-east Asia. Prof Doherty warned that a simultaneous epidemic of human and bird flu could prove a lethal mix, opening the way for the two viruses to mutate into a dangerous infection that could spread swiftly through the human population.
"If it comes, it will probably come out of somewhere like south-east Asia and it will probably come very fast," he said. "It is highly lethal in birds, and in humans, when they catch it, it is something like 70% lethal. So it is very dangerous."
Influenza is a very simple virus with a genetic code in eight segments that can only replicate in an infected host. If a human infected with flu from ducks was also infected with human flu, then the two viruses could reassort themselves: swap genes. It happened 30 years ago, with Hong Kong flu, which also began in ducks, he said. In countries like Cambodia and Vietnam, where influenza vaccines were rare, a human version of avian flu would spread rapidly.
Governments had begun to stockpile an antiviral called Tamiflu, which was effective if taken early enough. "But if we got a real outbreak ... with massive numbers of cases there would probably be enough Tamiflu to protect key medical professionals, perhaps politicians ... it is whether there is enough of it around," he said.
Scientists in Britain, China and the US were racing to devise new vaccines. Researchers at the National Institute for Biological Standards in London are using a new technique called reverse genetics, to detach proteins from the surface of a standard strand of flu vaccine, and replace it with proteins from avian flu. This would mean that vaccines could be "grown" very swiftly.
"The interesting thing is that it would be, as a vaccine, a genuinely genetically modified organism, a GMO. Will the Europeans take a GMO when it is injected in their arms and saving their lives from flu? We shall see," Prof Doherty said.
Three years ago, severe acute respiratory syndrome - Sars - had been dangerous but slow to infect, he said. But influenza moved swiftly. In the world's most catastrophic pandemic, the Spanish influenza outbreak of 1918, the global death toll was estimated at more than 40 million. People travelled slowly then - by sea - but the virus still reached almost the entire world. Now people moved from one continent to another in a day, the global population had trebled, and people were more likely to defy attempts to impose quarantine.
"We may duck the bullet. We may be lucky. But I think it is a reasonably high probability, because you have a lot of human flu," Prof Doherty said. "We will always have flu epidemics. Once the thing hits, we would deal with it extraordinarily well."
Peter Doherty, of the University of Melbourne, who shared the 1996 Nobel prize for medicine, was speaking at an assembly of laureates in Lyon, France, 50 years to the day after the first announcement of an effective vaccine against the crippling disease poliomyelitis. World health teams hope to eliminate polio altogether by the end of 2005. But, Prof Doherty warned the Biovision conference, there were more immediate hazards.
Article continues
Avian flu has killed people who worked with poultry in south-east Asia. Prof Doherty warned that a simultaneous epidemic of human and bird flu could prove a lethal mix, opening the way for the two viruses to mutate into a dangerous infection that could spread swiftly through the human population.
"If it comes, it will probably come out of somewhere like south-east Asia and it will probably come very fast," he said. "It is highly lethal in birds, and in humans, when they catch it, it is something like 70% lethal. So it is very dangerous."
Influenza is a very simple virus with a genetic code in eight segments that can only replicate in an infected host. If a human infected with flu from ducks was also infected with human flu, then the two viruses could reassort themselves: swap genes. It happened 30 years ago, with Hong Kong flu, which also began in ducks, he said. In countries like Cambodia and Vietnam, where influenza vaccines were rare, a human version of avian flu would spread rapidly.
Governments had begun to stockpile an antiviral called Tamiflu, which was effective if taken early enough. "But if we got a real outbreak ... with massive numbers of cases there would probably be enough Tamiflu to protect key medical professionals, perhaps politicians ... it is whether there is enough of it around," he said.
Scientists in Britain, China and the US were racing to devise new vaccines. Researchers at the National Institute for Biological Standards in London are using a new technique called reverse genetics, to detach proteins from the surface of a standard strand of flu vaccine, and replace it with proteins from avian flu. This would mean that vaccines could be "grown" very swiftly.
"The interesting thing is that it would be, as a vaccine, a genuinely genetically modified organism, a GMO. Will the Europeans take a GMO when it is injected in their arms and saving their lives from flu? We shall see," Prof Doherty said.
Three years ago, severe acute respiratory syndrome - Sars - had been dangerous but slow to infect, he said. But influenza moved swiftly. In the world's most catastrophic pandemic, the Spanish influenza outbreak of 1918, the global death toll was estimated at more than 40 million. People travelled slowly then - by sea - but the virus still reached almost the entire world. Now people moved from one continent to another in a day, the global population had trebled, and people were more likely to defy attempts to impose quarantine.
"We may duck the bullet. We may be lucky. But I think it is a reasonably high probability, because you have a lot of human flu," Prof Doherty said. "We will always have flu epidemics. Once the thing hits, we would deal with it extraordinarily well."
Flu pandemic could hit 20% of world's population
A global taskforce should be urgently formed to tackle a potential influenza pandemic that could affect 20% of the world's population, trigger economic disaster and kill millions, experts warned today.
A report in scientific journal Nature gives a fearful assessment of the huge impact a pandemic could have on the world, with an estimate that more than seven million people could die in the first few months.
A pandemic would change the world "overnight" and could be worse than previous outbreaks because of the greater interlinked nature of modern life, experts told Nature.
Article continues
Fears of a pandemic have increased because of the outbreak of the current H5N1 bird flu strain in south-east Asia, which has caused 51 confirmed human deaths.
At present, there is no evidence that the H5N1 strain can be transmitted from one person to another, but it may only be a matter of time before the virus mutates into a form that can easily pass between people. If that were to happen it would spread rapidly around the world with devastating consequences. The fatality rate of humans infected by the virus is as high as 60%.
Experts warned in Nature that the world was now far more vulnerable to the effects of a pandemic than it was in 1918, when a deadly strain of influenza killed between 20 and 40 million people. An 2002 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), an atypical form of pneumonia killed more than 700 people and illustrated how disease can now spread quickly to other countries, carried by international travellers.
An optimistic estimate suggests that the next influenza pandemic could cause 20% of the world's population to fall ill and within a few months, almost 30 million people would need to be hospitalised, a quarter of whom would die.
Four Dutch experts, led by Dr Albert Osterhaus from the Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam, said in Nature that there was an urgent need for the creation of a global task force to control a future pandemic.
They said the task force should consist of leading specialists in the fields of human and animal medicine, virology, epidemiology, pathology, ecology and agriculture. It should also include experts in translating science into policy. Management teams should be available to target specific flu outbreaks occurring anywhere in the world.
"Given the large geographical area in which the H5N1 virus has become endemic, and the greater potential for rapid virus spread, an efficient, effective, outbreak management team strategy, with centralised guidance, is urgently needed," they said.
Early detection and rapid response to bird flu at a global level would greatly reduce the cost of dealing with a full-blown outbreak, they said.
The agricultural costs alone for the H5N1 outbreaks in Thailand and Vietnam in 2003 have been estimated at £481.5m and £65.6m respectively. An outbreak of a different bird flu strain in the Netherlands in 2003 cost £190m. In contrast, setting up and operating a global flu pandemic task force would cost less than £820,000 a year.
Professor Michael Osterholm, from the centre for infectious disease research and policy at the University of Minnesota, agreed that international cooperation was vital to minimise the impact of a pandemic flu virus.
He said there was a "critical need" for medical and non-medical planning, involving both the public and private sectors, at a level beyond anything considered so far.
"National, regional or local plans based on general statements of intent or action will be meaningless in the face of a pandemic," the professor said. He said a global effort was needed to develop a new type of vaccine that can be manufactured quickly and which targets multiple strains.
"Unfortunately, most industrial countries are looking at the vaccine issue through myopic lenses," he said, adding that time was running out to prepare for an outbreak.
"There will be an immediate response from leaders to stop the virus entering their countries by greatly reducing and even ending foreign travel and trade, as was seen in parts of Asia in response to the ... Sars epidemic.
"These efforts are doomed to fail given the infectiousness of the virus and the volume of illegal crossings that occur at most borders. But government officials will feel compelled to do something to demonstrate leadership. Individual communities will also want to bar 'outsiders'. Global, national and regional economies will come to an abrupt halt."
The Asian H5N1 virus that first surfaced in poultry in Hong Kong and China eight years ago has killed 37 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia. Fears were raised in China this week after it was confirmed 178 migratory geese found dead in a nature reserve in Qinghai province had died of the H5N1 virus, but a report today in a government newspaper claimed the deaths were an isolated case.
A report in scientific journal Nature gives a fearful assessment of the huge impact a pandemic could have on the world, with an estimate that more than seven million people could die in the first few months.
A pandemic would change the world "overnight" and could be worse than previous outbreaks because of the greater interlinked nature of modern life, experts told Nature.
Article continues
Fears of a pandemic have increased because of the outbreak of the current H5N1 bird flu strain in south-east Asia, which has caused 51 confirmed human deaths.
At present, there is no evidence that the H5N1 strain can be transmitted from one person to another, but it may only be a matter of time before the virus mutates into a form that can easily pass between people. If that were to happen it would spread rapidly around the world with devastating consequences. The fatality rate of humans infected by the virus is as high as 60%.
Experts warned in Nature that the world was now far more vulnerable to the effects of a pandemic than it was in 1918, when a deadly strain of influenza killed between 20 and 40 million people. An 2002 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), an atypical form of pneumonia killed more than 700 people and illustrated how disease can now spread quickly to other countries, carried by international travellers.
An optimistic estimate suggests that the next influenza pandemic could cause 20% of the world's population to fall ill and within a few months, almost 30 million people would need to be hospitalised, a quarter of whom would die.
Four Dutch experts, led by Dr Albert Osterhaus from the Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam, said in Nature that there was an urgent need for the creation of a global task force to control a future pandemic.
They said the task force should consist of leading specialists in the fields of human and animal medicine, virology, epidemiology, pathology, ecology and agriculture. It should also include experts in translating science into policy. Management teams should be available to target specific flu outbreaks occurring anywhere in the world.
"Given the large geographical area in which the H5N1 virus has become endemic, and the greater potential for rapid virus spread, an efficient, effective, outbreak management team strategy, with centralised guidance, is urgently needed," they said.
Early detection and rapid response to bird flu at a global level would greatly reduce the cost of dealing with a full-blown outbreak, they said.
The agricultural costs alone for the H5N1 outbreaks in Thailand and Vietnam in 2003 have been estimated at £481.5m and £65.6m respectively. An outbreak of a different bird flu strain in the Netherlands in 2003 cost £190m. In contrast, setting up and operating a global flu pandemic task force would cost less than £820,000 a year.
Professor Michael Osterholm, from the centre for infectious disease research and policy at the University of Minnesota, agreed that international cooperation was vital to minimise the impact of a pandemic flu virus.
He said there was a "critical need" for medical and non-medical planning, involving both the public and private sectors, at a level beyond anything considered so far.
"National, regional or local plans based on general statements of intent or action will be meaningless in the face of a pandemic," the professor said. He said a global effort was needed to develop a new type of vaccine that can be manufactured quickly and which targets multiple strains.
"Unfortunately, most industrial countries are looking at the vaccine issue through myopic lenses," he said, adding that time was running out to prepare for an outbreak.
"There will be an immediate response from leaders to stop the virus entering their countries by greatly reducing and even ending foreign travel and trade, as was seen in parts of Asia in response to the ... Sars epidemic.
"These efforts are doomed to fail given the infectiousness of the virus and the volume of illegal crossings that occur at most borders. But government officials will feel compelled to do something to demonstrate leadership. Individual communities will also want to bar 'outsiders'. Global, national and regional economies will come to an abrupt halt."
The Asian H5N1 virus that first surfaced in poultry in Hong Kong and China eight years ago has killed 37 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia. Fears were raised in China this week after it was confirmed 178 migratory geese found dead in a nature reserve in Qinghai province had died of the H5N1 virus, but a report today in a government newspaper claimed the deaths were an isolated case.
Bird Flu Pandemic - Is It Happening Again
Expert warns estimate of 7.5m global deaths is optimistic
A leading scientist warned yesterday that the avian flu virus is on the point of mutating into a pandemic disease and says that current estimates that such a pandemic could cause 7.5m deaths may understate the threat.
His warnings come as experts writing in today's edition of Nature voice concerns about the world's inability to manufacture sufficient vaccines for a pandemic and warn of the impact that the virus - H5N1 - could have on the global economy.
Article continues
In an accompanying editorial Nature argues that so far such warnings have "fallen on deaf ears". It backs a call by Prof Osterhaus and his colleagues at the Erasmus Medical Centre, in Rotterdam - one of the world's leading virus research labs - for a global taskforce to strengthen agencies on the ground.
There have been 90 human infections in south-east Asia , from which 54 people have died. But while culling and the vaccination of poultry appears to have slowed outbreaks in Thailand and other parts of south-east Asia, this year Vietnam has seen a worrying number of human infections in the same family groups. According to Prof Osterhaus such clustering could mean the virus is becoming more efficient at infecting humans - a precondition for a pandemic.
Another concern are reports which emerged from China last weekend that H5N1 was responsible for the deaths of 178 migratory geese at a wildfowl reserve in the western province of Qinghai earlier this month. Prof Osterhaus says the geese's deaths could be another indication that the virus is mutating and becoming more virulent. The problem is that countries such as China and Vietnam are not providing animal and human health officials with enough data, leaving scientists in the dark.
According to the WHO, within a few months of the pandemic 30 million people would need to be hospitalised, and a quarter could be expected to die. In his Nature commentary, Prof Osterhaus describes current estimates that a pandemic could infect 20% of the world's population and cause 7.5m deaths as "among the more optimistic predictions of how the next pandemic might unfold".
Such pandemic viruses emerge every 30 years or so. The most virulent was the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which is believed to have claimed 40 million lives worldwide. By contrast the 1957 Asian flu pandemic and 1968 Hong Kong flu claimed less than one million lives each. Prof Osterhaus wants the WHO, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health to set up global teams of vets, medics, virologists and agriculturalists to respond rapidly to outbreaks.
His comments are backed by the other experts in Nature, who also criticise the WHO and international efforts to develop vaccines against H5N1 and other strains of avian influenza.
According to Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, antiquated vaccine manufacturing systems mean that countries like the US are unable to protect their populations against annual flu strains, let alone pandemic ones.
A leading scientist warned yesterday that the avian flu virus is on the point of mutating into a pandemic disease and says that current estimates that such a pandemic could cause 7.5m deaths may understate the threat.
His warnings come as experts writing in today's edition of Nature voice concerns about the world's inability to manufacture sufficient vaccines for a pandemic and warn of the impact that the virus - H5N1 - could have on the global economy.
Article continues
In an accompanying editorial Nature argues that so far such warnings have "fallen on deaf ears". It backs a call by Prof Osterhaus and his colleagues at the Erasmus Medical Centre, in Rotterdam - one of the world's leading virus research labs - for a global taskforce to strengthen agencies on the ground.
There have been 90 human infections in south-east Asia , from which 54 people have died. But while culling and the vaccination of poultry appears to have slowed outbreaks in Thailand and other parts of south-east Asia, this year Vietnam has seen a worrying number of human infections in the same family groups. According to Prof Osterhaus such clustering could mean the virus is becoming more efficient at infecting humans - a precondition for a pandemic.
Another concern are reports which emerged from China last weekend that H5N1 was responsible for the deaths of 178 migratory geese at a wildfowl reserve in the western province of Qinghai earlier this month. Prof Osterhaus says the geese's deaths could be another indication that the virus is mutating and becoming more virulent. The problem is that countries such as China and Vietnam are not providing animal and human health officials with enough data, leaving scientists in the dark.
According to the WHO, within a few months of the pandemic 30 million people would need to be hospitalised, and a quarter could be expected to die. In his Nature commentary, Prof Osterhaus describes current estimates that a pandemic could infect 20% of the world's population and cause 7.5m deaths as "among the more optimistic predictions of how the next pandemic might unfold".
Such pandemic viruses emerge every 30 years or so. The most virulent was the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which is believed to have claimed 40 million lives worldwide. By contrast the 1957 Asian flu pandemic and 1968 Hong Kong flu claimed less than one million lives each. Prof Osterhaus wants the WHO, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health to set up global teams of vets, medics, virologists and agriculturalists to respond rapidly to outbreaks.
His comments are backed by the other experts in Nature, who also criticise the WHO and international efforts to develop vaccines against H5N1 and other strains of avian influenza.
According to Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, antiquated vaccine manufacturing systems mean that countries like the US are unable to protect their populations against annual flu strains, let alone pandemic ones.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Ayurveda And Diabetes Sugar Levels
Digestion and Assimilation of nutrients.
Ayurveda looks at proper digestion and assimilation of nutrients as a the root of health or disease. In blood sugar problems it is important to create an orderly breakdown of carbohydrates in the system.There are three types of carbohydrates. The simplest form are the monosaccharides, of which the most important for us is glucose. Next are the disaccharides, the most important being sucrose, lactose and maltose. Polysaccharides are the last type, which are very complex, being composed of enormous molecules made of many monosaccharide units - about 10 for glycogen, 25 for starch and 110 to 200 for cellulose.
Having small molecules, monosaccharides reach the intestinal wall and are directly absorbed into the body. Disaccharides must be broken down to monosaccharides by various enzymes, then absorbed by the intestinal wall. The absorption of these carbohydrates is very fast and within a short time glucose enters the bloodstream, upsetting the level of glucose in the blood. The liver and pancreas are called in to restore balance. As these situations continue, the adrenals begin to respond, resulting in organ fatigue. However, in the case of polysaccharides, the larger molecules have to pass through many levels of digestion, slowing the rate of absorption into the bloodstream. Therefore, a diet including more whole grains is helpful in maintaing healthy blood sugar levels.
Balancing Herbs
Gymnema sylvestre (shardunika)has been used in Ayurvedic formulas for centuries to assist in maintaining healthy blood glucose levels, stimulate the production of insulin and reduce the craving for sweets.It can be purchased as a single herb in tablet or capsule form or purchased in proprietary formulations such as Sweet Ease or Glucosim.
Constitutional Perspective
Blood sugar problems can be found in both pitta and kapha disorders. The incomplete buring of from direct ingestion of simple carbohydrates contributes to high acid levels in the body aggravating pitta. On the other hand, high kapha levels tend to suppress the production of insulin. If you are having blood sugar problems, You may find it helpful to take the self-test and use Ayurveda to establish a direction for you to move back to balance and health.
Ayurveda looks at proper digestion and assimilation of nutrients as a the root of health or disease. In blood sugar problems it is important to create an orderly breakdown of carbohydrates in the system.There are three types of carbohydrates. The simplest form are the monosaccharides, of which the most important for us is glucose. Next are the disaccharides, the most important being sucrose, lactose and maltose. Polysaccharides are the last type, which are very complex, being composed of enormous molecules made of many monosaccharide units - about 10 for glycogen, 25 for starch and 110 to 200 for cellulose.
Having small molecules, monosaccharides reach the intestinal wall and are directly absorbed into the body. Disaccharides must be broken down to monosaccharides by various enzymes, then absorbed by the intestinal wall. The absorption of these carbohydrates is very fast and within a short time glucose enters the bloodstream, upsetting the level of glucose in the blood. The liver and pancreas are called in to restore balance. As these situations continue, the adrenals begin to respond, resulting in organ fatigue. However, in the case of polysaccharides, the larger molecules have to pass through many levels of digestion, slowing the rate of absorption into the bloodstream. Therefore, a diet including more whole grains is helpful in maintaing healthy blood sugar levels.
Balancing Herbs
Gymnema sylvestre (shardunika)has been used in Ayurvedic formulas for centuries to assist in maintaining healthy blood glucose levels, stimulate the production of insulin and reduce the craving for sweets.It can be purchased as a single herb in tablet or capsule form or purchased in proprietary formulations such as Sweet Ease or Glucosim.
Constitutional Perspective
Blood sugar problems can be found in both pitta and kapha disorders. The incomplete buring of from direct ingestion of simple carbohydrates contributes to high acid levels in the body aggravating pitta. On the other hand, high kapha levels tend to suppress the production of insulin. If you are having blood sugar problems, You may find it helpful to take the self-test and use Ayurveda to establish a direction for you to move back to balance and health.
Gugglus for Maintaining Healthy Joints and Heart
One of the oldest and most famous herbs in Ayurvedic Medicine, Gugglu ( commiphora mukul ) is a gum resin and a relative of the Biblical botanical myrrh. There is a is a whole class of formulas containing gugglu combined with other herbs. Gugglu is considered an antiseptic and a carrier of herbs with specific properties which are needed for restoring balance for healthy joints. It was discovered that Gugglu being a resin, contained a sticky quality which attracts it to the synovial fluid in the joints. For example, if there was dryness or a lack of synovial fluid , gugglus resinous qualities acted as a lubricant (Yogaraj Gugglu)and foods to balance vata were given.
Toxins ( called ama ) which are formed mainly from undigested protein are also sticky and attracted to synovial fluid. From time to time , the immune system flushes these toxins out and this process creates an inflammatory condition. Arthritis is the name modern medicine give to this process when it becomes chronic. Herbs which have a cooling and cleansing quality (Kaishore Gugglu) were given in these situations, with foods to balance a pitta aggravation. If there was more of a kapha condition present with excess fluids and swelling, the appropriate drying foods were given and diuretics were combined (Punarnavadi or Goksuradi Gugglu) to clear fluids and help to restore balance to the tissues. Boswellia (salai guggal) is a tree gum resin with similar properties combined with other herbs to treat inflammatory conditions (Artrex formula).
More recently the cleansing properties of Gugglu have been discovered in the treatment of elevated blood cholesterol. Ancient texts reveal Ayurvedic physicians diagnosed the condition we call arteriosclerosis ( hardening of the arteries ) before 600 B.C. They described it as characterized by over eating and a lack of exercise which impaired metabolism and obstructed channels with fatal results. To treat it they used gugglus. Not surprisingly many Ayurvedic heart formulas contain gugglu combined with arjuna, which supports heart function and ashwagandha an adaptogen which increases tolerance to stress in our modern lifestyles.
Toxins ( called ama ) which are formed mainly from undigested protein are also sticky and attracted to synovial fluid. From time to time , the immune system flushes these toxins out and this process creates an inflammatory condition. Arthritis is the name modern medicine give to this process when it becomes chronic. Herbs which have a cooling and cleansing quality (Kaishore Gugglu) were given in these situations, with foods to balance a pitta aggravation. If there was more of a kapha condition present with excess fluids and swelling, the appropriate drying foods were given and diuretics were combined (Punarnavadi or Goksuradi Gugglu) to clear fluids and help to restore balance to the tissues. Boswellia (salai guggal) is a tree gum resin with similar properties combined with other herbs to treat inflammatory conditions (Artrex formula).
More recently the cleansing properties of Gugglu have been discovered in the treatment of elevated blood cholesterol. Ancient texts reveal Ayurvedic physicians diagnosed the condition we call arteriosclerosis ( hardening of the arteries ) before 600 B.C. They described it as characterized by over eating and a lack of exercise which impaired metabolism and obstructed channels with fatal results. To treat it they used gugglus. Not surprisingly many Ayurvedic heart formulas contain gugglu combined with arjuna, which supports heart function and ashwagandha an adaptogen which increases tolerance to stress in our modern lifestyles.
Ayurvedic Guidelines for Cancer Prevention
Our body cells are surrounded by fluids which should be slightly alkaline in order to sustain life. If these fluids, especially the blood, becomes more acidic, our physical condition will first manifest fatigue and tendencies to catch colds and flu. As these fluids become more acidic, our condition increases to headaches and chronic fatigue. Our body will begin to deposit these excess acid forming substances in some area of the body such as breasts in women or the prostate in men. Cells which adapt to an acid enviornment are called malignant.
Ayurveda recommends an on-balance alkaline forming diet to maintain healthy cells. High acid forming foods such as eggs, red meats, cheese and sugar should be replaced with moderate to low acid forming foods such as whole grains and legumes. The majority of foods shold be alkaline forming such as those found in seasonal fruits and vegetables and natural condiments such as soy. You can receive a free copy of acid & alkaline forming foods by email. Important lifestyle routines which help alkalanize are breathing excercises and warm-cold showers. Polarity Therapy and other stress reducing routines are essential to healing (see article below on Stress Management).
Herbs should be taken which help clean the blood of excess acidity and restore health. Traditionally, bitter herbs such as amalaki, manjista or guggul have been incorporated into balanced formulas such as triphala which can be taken over longer periods of time for health maintenance (please refer to herb history page). The great law of cause and effect is always operating and cannot be circumvented by only relieving symtoms. However, the law cuts both ways - by understanding how the disease was created, we can find the path back to health. Lastly, it is important to remember that every situation has a front as well as a back if we just will look for it.
Ayurveda recommends an on-balance alkaline forming diet to maintain healthy cells. High acid forming foods such as eggs, red meats, cheese and sugar should be replaced with moderate to low acid forming foods such as whole grains and legumes. The majority of foods shold be alkaline forming such as those found in seasonal fruits and vegetables and natural condiments such as soy. You can receive a free copy of acid & alkaline forming foods by email. Important lifestyle routines which help alkalanize are breathing excercises and warm-cold showers. Polarity Therapy and other stress reducing routines are essential to healing (see article below on Stress Management).
Herbs should be taken which help clean the blood of excess acidity and restore health. Traditionally, bitter herbs such as amalaki, manjista or guggul have been incorporated into balanced formulas such as triphala which can be taken over longer periods of time for health maintenance (please refer to herb history page). The great law of cause and effect is always operating and cannot be circumvented by only relieving symtoms. However, the law cuts both ways - by understanding how the disease was created, we can find the path back to health. Lastly, it is important to remember that every situation has a front as well as a back if we just will look for it.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Indian Head Massage
Massaging the head can do much to relieve the stress and tension that fill our day to day lives. The technique involves controlled caresses such as the spider walk, root pull, and comb, and focuses mainly on the face and scalp. It can also continue down the upper back, neck, shoulders and upper arms.
The massage has a strong effect on the three higher chakras of the seven - mind, body and spirit. Chakra (wheel) is the energy vortex that we need to remain striving. As the massage works on the shoulders and neck, the relief of tension is felt almost instantaneously.
As well as easing headaches and stress, the conditions it can help are many. It helps deal with scalp and hair problems, aids localised blood and lymphatic circulation, relieves eye strain, boosts the immune system, relieves muscle tension, and helps restore joint movement. This is particularly good for people who are wheelchair bound or are partially immobile.
My mother suffers from high blood pressure. During the worst times, she has attacks on the lympatic circulation. The only way to relieve this is to massage her neck and upper back to release the fluid retention. She says that it feels as if there is air trapped inside which makes her neck and forehead swell up. There are times when she falls unconscious, and immediate massage has to be given along with a cold damp towel pressed on to her forehead and scalp.
Head massage originated in India over a thousand years ago. The origin of shampoo comes from a Hindi word 'champi'. Being 'champi-ed' meant having your head massaged. It began as the way to keep your long hair in beautiful condition and has become a part of daily life.
Massage is probably the oldest therapy known to man, and has been practised in the Far and the Middle East for at least 5000 years. The beneficial effects have been acknowledged for generations, and massage is a part of everyday activity, performed within the family from a very young age.
It is stated that the way to health is to have a scented bath and an oiled massage everyday. Unfortunately this is impossible in today's world, although we are starting to realise that we have to take responsibility for our own health.
The beauty of head massage is you can have it almost anywhere - at home, work or in a salon. You can be clothed or unclothed, use oils, cream, powder or nothing.
I have found cold water blended with oil is very effective when massaging my mother. I place it on her scalp and then massage it around the neck area.
I was taught Indian head massage when I was nine years old. Being Bangladeshi in origin myself, I didn't understand why it was called 'Indian' head massage. When I was older, I learnt that I would have been Indian if the country hadn't been divided into three!
Taken from article by jamila hussain at the BBC
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Ayurveda In India
Ayurveda in India
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical science, the origin of which can be traced back to the Vedas, which are the oldest available classics of the world. Vedas are the ancient books of knowledge, or science, from India. They contain practical and scientific information on various subjects beneficial to the humanity like health, philosophy, engineering, astrology etc. Ayurveda is a holistic healing science which comprises of two words, Ayu and Veda.Ayu means life and Veda means knowledge or science. So the literal meaning of the word Ayurveda is the science of life. Ayurveda is a science dealing not only with treatment of diseases but is also a complete way of life.
Ayurveda is a science of life. Life according to Ayurveda is a combination of senses, mind, body and soul. So it is clear from this definition of life that Ayurveda is not only limited to body or physical symptoms but also gives a comprehensive knowledge about spiritual, mental and social health. Ayurveda practises the theory of balance. According to Ayurveda health is the state of balance and disease is the state of imbalance. The aim of Ayurveda is to give complete health and not just getting free from physical diseases. Ayurveda aims at having a happy, healthy and peaceful society. Two most important aims of Ayurveda are: to maintain the health of healthy people and to cure the diseases of sick people.
Ayurveda helps us in understanding each individual at a very subtle personal level and giving a detailed description about diet, daily routine, life-style, actions and activities to be followed. Ayurveda is a science that teaches how to live life in a true and natural balance.It teaches how to live in society and in the universe without disturbing the natural balance. Ayurveda not only deals with diseases and treatments but is a complete way of life. It describes how one can make his life advantageous or disadvantageous for himself or for others and what one can do to make his life happy or unhappy. It also describes what actions, activities, foods etc. are good or bad for life. As long as we can maintain this balance one remains healthy and when there is imbalance there is disease, unhappiness and misery.
Ayurvedic treatment does not suppresses the main symptoms and create new ones as side effects of the main treatment. It is to remove the root cause and give permanent relief. The treatment mainly comprises of powders, tablets, decoctions, medicated oils etc. prepared from natural herbs, plants and minerals. Panch Karma therapy is also used as a treatment in many diseases. Panchkarma is a purifying therapy to enhance the metabolic process through food and herbal medicines. Panch Karma means five types of actions or techniques or treatment. As the wastes are eliminated from the body the person becomes healthy.
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian medical science, the origin of which can be traced back to the Vedas, which are the oldest available classics of the world. Vedas are the ancient books of knowledge, or science, from India. They contain practical and scientific information on various subjects beneficial to the humanity like health, philosophy, engineering, astrology etc. Ayurveda is a holistic healing science which comprises of two words, Ayu and Veda.Ayu means life and Veda means knowledge or science. So the literal meaning of the word Ayurveda is the science of life. Ayurveda is a science dealing not only with treatment of diseases but is also a complete way of life.
Ayurveda is a science of life. Life according to Ayurveda is a combination of senses, mind, body and soul. So it is clear from this definition of life that Ayurveda is not only limited to body or physical symptoms but also gives a comprehensive knowledge about spiritual, mental and social health. Ayurveda practises the theory of balance. According to Ayurveda health is the state of balance and disease is the state of imbalance. The aim of Ayurveda is to give complete health and not just getting free from physical diseases. Ayurveda aims at having a happy, healthy and peaceful society. Two most important aims of Ayurveda are: to maintain the health of healthy people and to cure the diseases of sick people.
Ayurveda helps us in understanding each individual at a very subtle personal level and giving a detailed description about diet, daily routine, life-style, actions and activities to be followed. Ayurveda is a science that teaches how to live life in a true and natural balance.It teaches how to live in society and in the universe without disturbing the natural balance. Ayurveda not only deals with diseases and treatments but is a complete way of life. It describes how one can make his life advantageous or disadvantageous for himself or for others and what one can do to make his life happy or unhappy. It also describes what actions, activities, foods etc. are good or bad for life. As long as we can maintain this balance one remains healthy and when there is imbalance there is disease, unhappiness and misery.
Ayurvedic treatment does not suppresses the main symptoms and create new ones as side effects of the main treatment. It is to remove the root cause and give permanent relief. The treatment mainly comprises of powders, tablets, decoctions, medicated oils etc. prepared from natural herbs, plants and minerals. Panch Karma therapy is also used as a treatment in many diseases. Panchkarma is a purifying therapy to enhance the metabolic process through food and herbal medicines. Panch Karma means five types of actions or techniques or treatment. As the wastes are eliminated from the body the person becomes healthy.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Aromatherapy oils kill superbug - BBC report
Essential oils could kill the deadly MRSA hospital 'superbug', scientists have claimed.
University of Manchester researchers found three of the oils, usually used in aromatherapy, destroyed MRSA and E.coli bacteria in two minutes.
They suggest the oils could be blended into soaps and shampoos which could be used in hospitals to stop the spread of the superbug.
Hospital-acquired infections, such as MRSA, kill an estimated 5,000 a year.
The Manchester study was triggered when complementary medicine specialists at Christie Cancer Hospital asked university researchers to test essential oils.
Our research shows a very practical application which could be of enormous benefit to the NHS and its patients
Jacqui Stringer, Christie Hospital, Manchester
They wanted to ensure they could not harm the patients, whose immune systems are weakened by the treatments.
Dr Peter Warn, who carried out the research, said: "When I tested the oils in the lab, absolutely nothing grew. Rather than stimulating bacteria and fungi, the oils killed them off."
Soaps and shampoos
The team then tested 40 essential oils against 10 of the most infectious agents found in hospitals, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus).
Two of the oils were found to kill MRSA and E.coli almost instantly, while a third was found to act over a longer period of time.
However, the researchers say they are unable to reveal which oils carry benefits because of commercial sensitivities.
MRSA is often carried in patients' nostrils, and is currently treated by putting disinfectant on the area to kill the bacterium - which many patients often find unpleasant.
Dr Warn says the essential oils could be used to create much more pleasant inhalation therapies - which he said were likely to have a much higher success rate than the current treatment, which is only effective in around 50% of cases."
Dr Warn said: "We believe that our discovery could revolutionise the fight to combat MRSA and other superbugs."
But he said the team now needed around £30,000 in order to continue its research.
Jacqui Stringer, clinical leader of complementary therapies at Christie Hospital in Manchester, instigated the oils research.
She said: "Our research shows a very practical application which could be of enormous benefit to the NHS and its patients.
"The reason essential oils are so effective is because they are made up of a complex mixture of chemical compounds which the MRSA and other superbug bacteria finds difficult to resist."
The Department of Health evaluates products which are claimed to prevent or treat HAIs before it permits them to be used across the NHS.
University of Manchester researchers found three of the oils, usually used in aromatherapy, destroyed MRSA and E.coli bacteria in two minutes.
They suggest the oils could be blended into soaps and shampoos which could be used in hospitals to stop the spread of the superbug.
Hospital-acquired infections, such as MRSA, kill an estimated 5,000 a year.
The Manchester study was triggered when complementary medicine specialists at Christie Cancer Hospital asked university researchers to test essential oils.
Our research shows a very practical application which could be of enormous benefit to the NHS and its patients
Jacqui Stringer, Christie Hospital, Manchester
They wanted to ensure they could not harm the patients, whose immune systems are weakened by the treatments.
Dr Peter Warn, who carried out the research, said: "When I tested the oils in the lab, absolutely nothing grew. Rather than stimulating bacteria and fungi, the oils killed them off."
Soaps and shampoos
The team then tested 40 essential oils against 10 of the most infectious agents found in hospitals, including MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus).
Two of the oils were found to kill MRSA and E.coli almost instantly, while a third was found to act over a longer period of time.
However, the researchers say they are unable to reveal which oils carry benefits because of commercial sensitivities.
MRSA is often carried in patients' nostrils, and is currently treated by putting disinfectant on the area to kill the bacterium - which many patients often find unpleasant.
Dr Warn says the essential oils could be used to create much more pleasant inhalation therapies - which he said were likely to have a much higher success rate than the current treatment, which is only effective in around 50% of cases."
Dr Warn said: "We believe that our discovery could revolutionise the fight to combat MRSA and other superbugs."
But he said the team now needed around £30,000 in order to continue its research.
Jacqui Stringer, clinical leader of complementary therapies at Christie Hospital in Manchester, instigated the oils research.
She said: "Our research shows a very practical application which could be of enormous benefit to the NHS and its patients.
"The reason essential oils are so effective is because they are made up of a complex mixture of chemical compounds which the MRSA and other superbug bacteria finds difficult to resist."
The Department of Health evaluates products which are claimed to prevent or treat HAIs before it permits them to be used across the NHS.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Herbal Medicine
herbal medicine, use of natural plant substances (botanicals) to treat and prevent illness. The practice has existed since prehistoric times and flourishes today as the primary form of medicine for perhaps as much as 80% of the world's population. Over 80,000 species of plants are in use throughout the world. Along with acupuncture, herbal medicine is considered primary health care in China, where it has been in documented use for over 2,500 years.
Herbs may be used directly as teas or extracts, or they may be used in the production of drugs. Approximately 25% of the prescription drugs sold in the United States are plant based. Many more herbal ingredients are present in over-the-counter drugs, such as laxatives. Medicines that come from plants include aspirin from willow bark (Salix species) and digitalis from foxglove (Digitalis purpurea).
Scientific interest in herbal medicine in the United States has lagged behind that in the countries of Asia and W Europe; in Germany, for example, one third of graduating physicians have studied herbal medicine, and a comprehensive therapeutic guide to herbal medicines has long been published there. Nonetheless, millions of people in the United States use herbal products to treat a wide variety of ailments or to enhance health. Among the more popular remedies used are ginseng, to increase stamina and as a mild sedative; St.-John's-wort, for mild depression; echinacea, to aid the immune system and alleviate colds; kava, to calm anxiety and treat insomnia; saw palmetto, for enlarged prostate; and ginkgo biloba, to improve short-term memory (see ginkgo). Some people have used botanicals in an attempt to stave off serious illnesses such as AIDS.
This widespread use has prompted demands that herbal remedies be regulated as drugs to insure quality standards. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can require a clinical trial on any herb that has a health claim on its label, but medical testing, which is geared toward observing a particular active component, is difficult to apply to herbs, which may have many interacting ingredients. Debate over botanicals' validity and safety as medicines and over the appropriate degree of government regulation continues. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, passed in 1994, reclassified herbs as dietary supplements rather than food additives. It forbids unreasonable health claims by the manufacturers, but makes it the FDA's responsibility to prove that a marketed product is unsafe. (In contrast, in prescription and over-the-counter drugs, it is the manufacturer's responsibility to prove safety and effectiveness before a drug can be marketed.)
Another concern surrounding herbal medicine is the availability of wild plants for a growing market; it is feared that the limited supplies of known wild herbs are being threatened by overharvesting and habitat loss. The potential of isolating beneficial drugs from plants, however, has prompted large pharmaceutical companies to contribute to the conservation of the tropical rain forest. Biologists have called for more careful study of medicinal plants, especially regarding their capacity for sustainable harvesting and the effects of cultivation on their efficacy as medicaments.
Herbs may be used directly as teas or extracts, or they may be used in the production of drugs. Approximately 25% of the prescription drugs sold in the United States are plant based. Many more herbal ingredients are present in over-the-counter drugs, such as laxatives. Medicines that come from plants include aspirin from willow bark (Salix species) and digitalis from foxglove (Digitalis purpurea).
Scientific interest in herbal medicine in the United States has lagged behind that in the countries of Asia and W Europe; in Germany, for example, one third of graduating physicians have studied herbal medicine, and a comprehensive therapeutic guide to herbal medicines has long been published there. Nonetheless, millions of people in the United States use herbal products to treat a wide variety of ailments or to enhance health. Among the more popular remedies used are ginseng, to increase stamina and as a mild sedative; St.-John's-wort, for mild depression; echinacea, to aid the immune system and alleviate colds; kava, to calm anxiety and treat insomnia; saw palmetto, for enlarged prostate; and ginkgo biloba, to improve short-term memory (see ginkgo). Some people have used botanicals in an attempt to stave off serious illnesses such as AIDS.
This widespread use has prompted demands that herbal remedies be regulated as drugs to insure quality standards. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can require a clinical trial on any herb that has a health claim on its label, but medical testing, which is geared toward observing a particular active component, is difficult to apply to herbs, which may have many interacting ingredients. Debate over botanicals' validity and safety as medicines and over the appropriate degree of government regulation continues. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, passed in 1994, reclassified herbs as dietary supplements rather than food additives. It forbids unreasonable health claims by the manufacturers, but makes it the FDA's responsibility to prove that a marketed product is unsafe. (In contrast, in prescription and over-the-counter drugs, it is the manufacturer's responsibility to prove safety and effectiveness before a drug can be marketed.)
Another concern surrounding herbal medicine is the availability of wild plants for a growing market; it is feared that the limited supplies of known wild herbs are being threatened by overharvesting and habitat loss. The potential of isolating beneficial drugs from plants, however, has prompted large pharmaceutical companies to contribute to the conservation of the tropical rain forest. Biologists have called for more careful study of medicinal plants, especially regarding their capacity for sustainable harvesting and the effects of cultivation on their efficacy as medicaments.
Meditation
Meditation usually refers to a state in which the body is consciously relaxed and the mind is allowed to become calm and focused. Several major religions include ritual meditation; however, meditation itself need not be a religious or spiritual activity. Most of the more popular systems of meditation are of Eastern origin.
Another form of meditation is more closely akin to prayer and worship, wherein the practitioner turns spiritual thoughts over in the mind and engages the brain in higher thinking processes. The goal in this case is the receipt of spiritual insights and new understanding.
From the point of view of psychology, meditation can induce — or is itself — an altered state of consciousness.
Strategies common to many forms
Cross-legged posture. See also: Lotus Position
Enlarge
Cross-legged posture. See also: Lotus Position
Meditation generally involves discounting wandering thoughts and fantasies, and calming and focusing the mind. Meditation does not necessarily require effort and can be experienced as "just happening". Physical postures include sitting cross-legged, standing, lying down, and walking (sometimes along designated floor patterns). Quietness is often desirable, and some people use repetitive activities such as deep breathing, humming or chanting to help induce a meditative state.
Meditation can be done with the eyes closed (as long as one does not fall asleep), or with the eyes open: focusing the eyes on a certain point of an object or image, and keeping the eyes constantly looking at that point.
Besides the physical factors related to meditation perhaps the most important strategy relates to the very process through which the relevant state of consciousness is achieved. The most common approach is to focus one's full attention on the natural cycle of breathing. As one takes in a breath, one is called to experience that particular inbreath fully, as if nothing else existed in the world at that particular moment in time. Similarly, one follows the outbreath with full awareness. If for any reason the mind should get distracted during this process the key is to acknowledge this shift in attention, slowly pull one's awareness back to the breath, and continue focusing on its natural cycle.
Purposes of meditation
The purposes for which people meditate vary almost as widely as practices. It may serve simply as a means of relaxation from a busy daily routine, or even as a means of gaining insight into the nature of reality or of communing with one's God. Many have found improved concentration, awareness, self-discipline and equanimity through meditation. The disciplined self-cultivation aspect of meditation plays a central role in Taoism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Generally, there is religious meditation, where one meditates to commune with or on the Divine, and focus meditation, where one meditates to improve health or mental faculties. Very often there is significant overlap between these two positions in many meditative traditions.
However, see spiritual materialism.
Samadhi
In the Samadhi or Shamatha, or concentrative, techniques of meditation, the mind is kept closely focused on a particular word, image, sound, person, or idea. This form of meditation is often found in Hindu and Buddhist traditions (especially the Pure Land school), as well as in Christianity (Gregorian chant, for example), Jewish Kabbalah, and in some modern metaphysical schools.
Mindful awareness traditions
Vipassana (insight) and anapanasati (observance of breath) are parts of the broader notion of mindful awareness, which is part of the Noble Eightfold Path, which is held to lead to Enlightenment, and expounded upon in the Satipatthana sutra. While in anapanasati meditation the attention is focused on the breath, in vipassana the mind is instead trained to be acutely aware of not only breathing, but all things that one comes to experience.
The concept of vipassana works in believing that the meditator's mind will eventually take note of every physical and mental experience "real-time" or as it happens, the goal being that it will gradually reveal to the practitioner how one's mind unknowingly attaches itself to things that are impermanent in nature. Thus, when such things cease to exist, one experiences suffering from their loss. This in turn can gradually free one's mind from the attachment to the impermanent that is the root of suffering. In other words, in vipassana (insight, or seeing things as they are) meditation, the mind is trained to notice each perception or thought that passes without "stopping" on any one. This is a characteristic form of meditation in Buddhism.
However, in at least some forms of vipassana, notably the Burmese Theravada school as taught by S. N. Goenka, one does not attend to whatever perceptions arise, but purposely moves one's attention over their body part by part, checking for sensations, being aware and equanimous with them, and moving on. This form of meditation has some resemblance with "choiceless awareness" — the kind of meditation that J. Krishnamurti addressed.
Christian meditation
Jesus, according to the New Testament, often left his apostles and the crowds to distance himself in the wilderness areas of Palestine to engage in long periods of spiritual meditation and fasting wherein he is reported to have communicated with God. The 40 days following his baptism were spent in such a manner. Christian traditions have varying approaches to the subject of meditation, but they are especially to be found in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions, often associated with monastic practices.
Health applications and clinical studies of meditation
In the recent years there has been a growing interest within the medical community to study the physiological effects of meditation (Venkatesh et al., 1997; Peng et al., 1999; Lazar et al., 2000; Carlson et.al, 2001). Many concepts of meditation have been applied to clinical settings in order to measure its effect on somatic motor function as well as cardiovascular and respiratory function. Also the hermeneutic and phenomenological aspects of meditation are objects of growing interest. Meditation has entered the mainstream of health care as a method of stress and pain reduction. For example, in an early study in 1972, transcendental meditation was shown to affect the human metabolism by lowering the biochemical byproducts of stress, such as lactate (lactic acid), and by decreasing heart rate and blood pressure and inducing favorable brain waves. (Scientific American 226: 84-90 (1972)) The meditative aspects of T'ai Chi Ch'uan and some forms of yoga have also become increasingly popular as means of healthful stress management in recent years.
As a method of stress reduction, meditation is often used in hospitals in cases of chronic or terminal illness to reduce complications associated with increased stress including a depressed immune system. There is a growing consensus in the medical community that mental factors such as stress significantly contribute to a lack of physical health, and there is a growing movement in mainstream science to fund and do research in this area (e.g. the establishment by the NIH in the U.S. of 5 research centers to research the mind-body aspects of disease.) Dr. James Austin, a neurophysiologist at the University of Colorado, reported that Zen meditation rewires the circuitry of the brain in his landmark book Zen and the Brain (Austin, 1999). This has been confirmed using sophisticated imaging techniques which examine the electrical activity of the brain.
Dr. Herbert Benson of the Mind-Body Medical Institute, which is affiliated with Harvard and several Boston hospitals, reports that meditation induces a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body collectively referred to as the "relaxation response" (Lazar et.al, 2003). The relaxation response includes changes in metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain chemistry. Benson and his team have also done clinical studies at Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayan Mountains. Among other well-known studies within this particular field of interest we find the research of Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts who have done extensive research on the effects of mindfulness meditation on stress (Kabat-Zinn et.al, 1985; Davidson et.al,2003).
One of the most important invitations to study the clinical effects of meditation comes from The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has had many dialogues with Western scientists about this subject and it was at the top of the agenda when he visited Massachusetts Institute of Technology in September 2003 for the "Investigating the Mind conference".
Meditation and the Brain
Mindfulness meditation and related techniques are intended to train attention for the sake of provoking insight. Think of it as the opposite of attention deficit disorder. A wider, more flexible attention span makes it easier to be aware of a situation, easier to be objective in emotionally or morally difficult situations, and easier to achieve a state of responsive, creative awareness or "flow".
One theory, presented by Daniel Goleman & Tara Bennett-Goleman, suggests that meditation works because of the relationship between the amygdala, the part of the brain that handles emotions (sometimes referred to as the "emotional brain"), and the neocortex, particularly the prefrontal cortex, which handles reasoning and is also known as the inhibitory centre of the brain.
The neocortex processes information very deeply--so it's smart and flexible, but also very slow. Meanwhile, the amygdala, which is a simpler structure (and older in evolutionary terms), makes rapid guesses about our perceptions, and triggers an appropriate emotional response. These emotional responses are very powerful--often because they are related to our immediate survival needs. In other words, if you're an early human standing on the savannah and a huge lion jumps out at you, your amygdala will have you running and screaming long before your neocortex can even figure out what's happening.
Of course, in making snap judgements, our amygdalas are prone to error, seeing danger where there is none. This is particularly true in contemporary society where social conflicts are far more common than encounters with predators. A basically harmless but emotionally charged situation can trigger our amygdala's fight or flight reflexes before we know what's happening, causing conflict, stress, anxiety, and frustration.
Certain kinds of meditation (also, martial arts, yoga, etc.) train attention to watch the entire experience, so it's possible to catch emotional reflexes before they take over--but at the same time without squashing or denying the emotion (which would only cause additional frustration). The trick is that there is very little time to do this (roughly a quarter of a second) before the amygdala takes over and the person is flooded with emotion. But the idea is that a skilled meditator can quickly reframe fear and anger, and mould them into constructive responses and perhaps even good cheer.
The different roles of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex can be easily observed under the influence of various drugs. Alcohol depresses the brain generally, but the complicated prefrontal cortex is more affected than the comparatively simple and robust amygdala, resulting in lowered inhibitions, decreased attention span, and increased influence of emotions over behaviour. Likewise, the controversial drug ritalin has the opposite effect, because it stimulates activity in the prefrontal cortex.
Some other studies of meditation have linked the practice to increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex, which is associated with concentration, planning, meta-cognition (thinking about thinking), and with positive affect (good feelings). There are similar studies linking depression and anxiety with decreased activity in the same region, and/or with dominant activity in the right prefrontal cortex. Meditation increases activity in the left prefrontal cortex, and the changes are stable over time--even if you stop meditating for a while, the effect lingers.
Adverse effects of meditation
Predominantly, studies of meditation report positive effects. However some studies claim that Meditation might, in certain circumstances, have adverse effects.
If practiced improperly or too intensely, meditation can lead to considerable psychological and physiological problems. It is not uncommon for teachers of meditation to warn their students about the possible pitfalls of a contemplative path. Since the practice of meditation might include a powerful confrontation with existential questions it is not considered wise to engage in intense meditation techniques without an extended period of psychological preparation. Preferably in contact with a credible teacher or clinician. In the case of Asian contemplative traditions there often exist major challenges connected to the way the particular tradition is to be applied to a Western culture, or a Western mindset. The import of eastern contemplative concepts into popular Western culture has not always been sensitive to, or familiar with the cultural matrix that the meditative concept originated from.
A growing body of clinical literature is now starting to address the phenomenon of meditation-related problems (Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998; Perez-De-Albeniz & Holmes, 2000). Several side-effects have been reported, among these we find uncomfortable kinaesthetic sensations, mild dissociation and psychosis-like symptoms (Craven, 1989). From a clinical study of twenty-seven long term meditators Shapiro (1992) reports such adverse effects as depression, relaxation-induced anxiety and panic, paradoxical increases in tension, impaired reality testing, confusion, disorientation and feeling 'spaced out'. The possibility that meditation might trigger strong emotional reactions is also reported by Kutz, Borysenko & Benson (1985). Within the context of therapy, meditation is usually contraindicated when the therapeutic goal is to strengthen ego boundaries, release powerful emotions, or work through complex relational dynamics (Bogart, 1991). The tendency of meditation to disturb object-relations and release unconscious material implies that the beginning meditator should approach the practice with moderation. It usually takes years of dedication to become stable in a contemplative practice, a perspective that is often overlooked by many new religious movements and New Age therapies.
Yoga For The Body And Mind
With all the hype about yoga, there has to be a lot more to it than sitting cross-legged and contorting your body in weird poses. And there is much more. With over 800 styles of yoga to choose from, how can you find one that you might like?
Rooted in Indian philosophy, yoga is an ancient method of relaxation, regarded by many as a spiritual experience. However, in the last five years yoga has become ubiquitous, with independent studios sprouting everywhere and fitness centers incorporating yoga classes into their group instruction curriculum. Although some people still view yoga as a practice reserved for spiritual seekers looking for inner peace, yoga is rapidly being embraced by many Americans as an alternative or additional way to increase strength, endurance and body tone.
In fact, today many fitness experts recognize yoga as a valuable part of functional training. Functional training (also called functional exercise) has become a buzz word in the fitness industry, used in programs for competitive athletes as well as recreational exercisers. Functional training focuses on endurance, strength and coordination to allow individuals to maximize performance of everyday tasks.
In a weight-training routine, incorporating deadlifts (a great exercise to strengthen the back and thigh muscles) can help to decrease the likelihood of injury and strain in a simple movement like bending over to tie your shoe. Similarly, yoga can functionally develop the body by improving the body's ability to interpret and respond to nerve signals sent back and forth between the muscles and the brain. The increased connectedness of mind, nerves and muscles results in more fluid body motions and quicker adjustments to unexpected situations like tripping over a curb.
Yoga Basics
Yoga practice is commonly broken down into different postures or asanas. The different postures are guided by breath and focus on using core strength (mula bandha) to move energy (prana) through the body. Because there are many different schools of yoga, it can be challenging to nail down which discipline is right for you. Below is a simple guide to the different branches of yoga.
1. Ashtanga and power yoga — Ashtanga is a fast-flowing vinyasa-based (connecting movement with breath) practice with a set sequence of postures. Depending on the teacher, Ashtanga can be a rigorous workout, so be prepared to sweat. Power yoga is a generalized term that emerged in the mid-'90s to make yoga more accepted by western culture. Like Ashtanga, which is considered a "power yoga," the focus is on moving energy and creating heat within the body.
2. Jivamukti — Jivamukti originated out of a studio in New York City. A challenging class with a fast-flowing pace, Jivamukti utilizes the ashtanga-style, but incorporates chanting, singing, readings and meditation.
3. Iyengar — The Iyengar flow is generally a much slower practice, emphasizing stillness and form of each posture. Iyengar focuses on the body's imbalances and promotes physical alignment and mental serenity. Iyengar practice often incorporates props, such as straps, blocks and bolsters, to help a person unable to perform a posture independently and obtain the full benefit of the asana.
4. Bikram — Bikram, also called "hot" yoga, aims to make you sweat profusely. Bikram classes are held in heated rooms of around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The goal is to heat the body from the outside in and the inside out. There are 26 postures in the Bikram practice.
5. Kundalini — The Kundalini practice consists of rapid breathing, postures, chanting and meditation. Using slow and deliberate movements, Kundalini focuses on "moving energy through the body to enhance consciousness." The term Kundalini is also used to describe an energy of awareness. The theory is that through yoga and meditation one awakens his or her kundalini to discover inner awareness.
6. Kripalu — Also called "gentle" yoga, Kripalu integrates mind, body and spirit in three stages — willful practice, willful surrender and meditation in motion. It claims to promote spiritual healing by evoking awareness of your physical, mental and emotional experience. The class consists of postures that tone muscles, improve blood flow and energize the mind and body.
Most yoga classes range from 60 to 90 minutes long.
With so many styles of yoga, and its growing popularity, fitness centers and independent studios have begun to group yoga disciplines. For example, you might attend a class called restorative yoga or athletic yoga. Broad terms are used to help students relate to the practice and get a general sense of the flow of the class. You may also encounter hybrid fitness classes that incorporate yoga techniques, such as yogalates (a combination of yoga and Pilates), spin yoga (a class of half cycling and half yoga), and kids' yoga (promoting movement, physical expression and inner spirit for kids).
Yoga can be a great vehicle for positive physical and mental transformation. Ultimately, trial and error is the best way to determine which style of yoga is right for you. Trying different classes and different teachers can help you find one that meets your needs.
Howard LeWine, M.D., is chief editor of Internet publishing, Harvard Health Publications. He is a clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. LeWine has been a primary care internist and teacher of internal medicine since 1978.
Source Of Post :- http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/35320/35322/391147.html?d=dmtHMSContent
Rooted in Indian philosophy, yoga is an ancient method of relaxation, regarded by many as a spiritual experience. However, in the last five years yoga has become ubiquitous, with independent studios sprouting everywhere and fitness centers incorporating yoga classes into their group instruction curriculum. Although some people still view yoga as a practice reserved for spiritual seekers looking for inner peace, yoga is rapidly being embraced by many Americans as an alternative or additional way to increase strength, endurance and body tone.
In fact, today many fitness experts recognize yoga as a valuable part of functional training. Functional training (also called functional exercise) has become a buzz word in the fitness industry, used in programs for competitive athletes as well as recreational exercisers. Functional training focuses on endurance, strength and coordination to allow individuals to maximize performance of everyday tasks.
In a weight-training routine, incorporating deadlifts (a great exercise to strengthen the back and thigh muscles) can help to decrease the likelihood of injury and strain in a simple movement like bending over to tie your shoe. Similarly, yoga can functionally develop the body by improving the body's ability to interpret and respond to nerve signals sent back and forth between the muscles and the brain. The increased connectedness of mind, nerves and muscles results in more fluid body motions and quicker adjustments to unexpected situations like tripping over a curb.
Yoga Basics
Yoga practice is commonly broken down into different postures or asanas. The different postures are guided by breath and focus on using core strength (mula bandha) to move energy (prana) through the body. Because there are many different schools of yoga, it can be challenging to nail down which discipline is right for you. Below is a simple guide to the different branches of yoga.
1. Ashtanga and power yoga — Ashtanga is a fast-flowing vinyasa-based (connecting movement with breath) practice with a set sequence of postures. Depending on the teacher, Ashtanga can be a rigorous workout, so be prepared to sweat. Power yoga is a generalized term that emerged in the mid-'90s to make yoga more accepted by western culture. Like Ashtanga, which is considered a "power yoga," the focus is on moving energy and creating heat within the body.
2. Jivamukti — Jivamukti originated out of a studio in New York City. A challenging class with a fast-flowing pace, Jivamukti utilizes the ashtanga-style, but incorporates chanting, singing, readings and meditation.
3. Iyengar — The Iyengar flow is generally a much slower practice, emphasizing stillness and form of each posture. Iyengar focuses on the body's imbalances and promotes physical alignment and mental serenity. Iyengar practice often incorporates props, such as straps, blocks and bolsters, to help a person unable to perform a posture independently and obtain the full benefit of the asana.
4. Bikram — Bikram, also called "hot" yoga, aims to make you sweat profusely. Bikram classes are held in heated rooms of around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The goal is to heat the body from the outside in and the inside out. There are 26 postures in the Bikram practice.
5. Kundalini — The Kundalini practice consists of rapid breathing, postures, chanting and meditation. Using slow and deliberate movements, Kundalini focuses on "moving energy through the body to enhance consciousness." The term Kundalini is also used to describe an energy of awareness. The theory is that through yoga and meditation one awakens his or her kundalini to discover inner awareness.
6. Kripalu — Also called "gentle" yoga, Kripalu integrates mind, body and spirit in three stages — willful practice, willful surrender and meditation in motion. It claims to promote spiritual healing by evoking awareness of your physical, mental and emotional experience. The class consists of postures that tone muscles, improve blood flow and energize the mind and body.
Most yoga classes range from 60 to 90 minutes long.
With so many styles of yoga, and its growing popularity, fitness centers and independent studios have begun to group yoga disciplines. For example, you might attend a class called restorative yoga or athletic yoga. Broad terms are used to help students relate to the practice and get a general sense of the flow of the class. You may also encounter hybrid fitness classes that incorporate yoga techniques, such as yogalates (a combination of yoga and Pilates), spin yoga (a class of half cycling and half yoga), and kids' yoga (promoting movement, physical expression and inner spirit for kids).
Yoga can be a great vehicle for positive physical and mental transformation. Ultimately, trial and error is the best way to determine which style of yoga is right for you. Trying different classes and different teachers can help you find one that meets your needs.
Howard LeWine, M.D., is chief editor of Internet publishing, Harvard Health Publications. He is a clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. LeWine has been a primary care internist and teacher of internal medicine since 1978.
Source Of Post :- http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/35320/35322/391147.html?d=dmtHMSContent
Chakras
chakra
The chakram is also a disc-like weapon wielded by the Hindu god Vishnu.
In Hinduism and its spiritual systems of yoga and in some related eastern cultures, as well as in some segments of the New Age movement, a chakra (from the Sanskrit word चक्र meaning "wheel, circle") is thought to be an energy node in the human body.
The seven main chakras are described as being aligned in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Each chakra is associated with a certain color, multiple specific functions, an aspect of consciousness, a classical element, and other distinguishing characteristics.
The chakras are thought to vitalise the physical body and to be associated with interactions of both a physical and mental nature. They are considered loci of life energy, or prana, which is thought to flow among them along pathways called nadis.
Acupuncture chart from the Ming Dynasty
Enlarge
Acupuncture chart from the Ming Dynasty
Traditional Chinese medicine also relies on a similar model of the human body as an energy system.
The New Age movement has led to an increased interest in the West regarding chakras. Many in this movement point to a correspondence between the position and role of the Chakras, and those of the glands in the endocrine system. Some people in New Age also claim that other chakras, besides the above, exist — for instance, ear chakras.
The Danish author and musician Peter Kjaerulff in his book, The Ringbearers Diary, describes the chakras in great detail, including the reasons for their appearance and their exact functions. Shortly put, the seven chakras are said to reflect how the unified conscioussness of man (the immortal human being or the soul), is divided to manage different aspects of earthly life (body/instinct/vital energy/deeper emotions/communication/having an overview of life/contact to God). The chakras are placed on an intermediate layer which lies between the spirit and the earthly body.
Scientific basis
The general consensus of the scientific and medical communities is that chakras do not exist.
Supporters of the notion of chakras explain the lack of confirmation of their existence in Western medical science by noting that current technology is not capable of measuring life energy or chakras. This explanation is of course not satisfactory for those who respect the scientific view, since it could conceivably be used for anything.
There is, however, a marked similarity between the positions and roles of the chakras, and the positions and roles of the glands in the endocrine system. Chakras are thought of as having their physical manifestation in the body as these glands, and their subjective manifestation as the psychological and spiritual experiences as recorded in the traditional literature.
Indeed, the various hormones secreted by these glands do have a dramatic effect on human psychology, and an imbalance in one can cause a psychological or physical imbalance in a person.
Perhaps the most psychologically dramatic and potent secretion of these glands is the psychedelic drug DMT which is synthesized by the pineal gland, corresponding to the brow chakra.
Yoga asanas are thought by practitioners to massage the glands inside the body, and help correct any hormonal imbalances, bringing about psychological equilibrium as well.
The chakram is also a disc-like weapon wielded by the Hindu god Vishnu.
In Hinduism and its spiritual systems of yoga and in some related eastern cultures, as well as in some segments of the New Age movement, a chakra (from the Sanskrit word चक्र meaning "wheel, circle") is thought to be an energy node in the human body.
The seven main chakras are described as being aligned in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Each chakra is associated with a certain color, multiple specific functions, an aspect of consciousness, a classical element, and other distinguishing characteristics.
The chakras are thought to vitalise the physical body and to be associated with interactions of both a physical and mental nature. They are considered loci of life energy, or prana, which is thought to flow among them along pathways called nadis.
Acupuncture chart from the Ming Dynasty
Enlarge
Acupuncture chart from the Ming Dynasty
Traditional Chinese medicine also relies on a similar model of the human body as an energy system.
The New Age movement has led to an increased interest in the West regarding chakras. Many in this movement point to a correspondence between the position and role of the Chakras, and those of the glands in the endocrine system. Some people in New Age also claim that other chakras, besides the above, exist — for instance, ear chakras.
The Danish author and musician Peter Kjaerulff in his book, The Ringbearers Diary, describes the chakras in great detail, including the reasons for their appearance and their exact functions. Shortly put, the seven chakras are said to reflect how the unified conscioussness of man (the immortal human being or the soul), is divided to manage different aspects of earthly life (body/instinct/vital energy/deeper emotions/communication/having an overview of life/contact to God). The chakras are placed on an intermediate layer which lies between the spirit and the earthly body.
Scientific basis
The general consensus of the scientific and medical communities is that chakras do not exist.
Supporters of the notion of chakras explain the lack of confirmation of their existence in Western medical science by noting that current technology is not capable of measuring life energy or chakras. This explanation is of course not satisfactory for those who respect the scientific view, since it could conceivably be used for anything.
There is, however, a marked similarity between the positions and roles of the chakras, and the positions and roles of the glands in the endocrine system. Chakras are thought of as having their physical manifestation in the body as these glands, and their subjective manifestation as the psychological and spiritual experiences as recorded in the traditional literature.
Indeed, the various hormones secreted by these glands do have a dramatic effect on human psychology, and an imbalance in one can cause a psychological or physical imbalance in a person.
Perhaps the most psychologically dramatic and potent secretion of these glands is the psychedelic drug DMT which is synthesized by the pineal gland, corresponding to the brow chakra.
Yoga asanas are thought by practitioners to massage the glands inside the body, and help correct any hormonal imbalances, bringing about psychological equilibrium as well.
Kundalini Yoga And Energy
Kundalini is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning either "coiled up" or "coiling like a snake"; and refers to a religious experience of an altered state of consciousness brought about either spontaneously, or through a type of religious yoga practice, or through psychedelic drugs, or through a near death experience.
There are a number of other translations of the term usually emphasizing a more serpent nature to the word— e.g. 'serpent power'. The caduceus symbol of coiling snakes is thought to be an ancient symbolic representation of Kundalini physiology.
In yoga, Kundalini refers to the mothering intelligence behind yogic awakening and spiritual maturation, and may be regarded by yogis as a sort of deity, hence the occasional capitalization of the term. According to Yogic phenomenology kundalini awakening is associated with the appearance of bio-energetic phenomena that are experienced somatically by the yogi. This appearance is also referred to as Pranic Awakening. Prana is interpreted as the vital, life-sustaining force in the body. Uplifted, or intensified life-energy is called pranotthana and is supposed to originate from an apparent reservoir of subtle bio-energy at the base of the spine.
This energy is also interpreted as a vibrational phenomena that initiates a period, or a process of vibrational spiritual development (Sovatsky, 1998). According to the Yogic tradition Kundalini is curled up in the back part of the root chakra in three and one-half turns.
Some western translators interpret the energetic phenomena as a form of psychic energy, although the western parapsychological understanding of psychic energy, separated from its cultural-hermeneutic matrix, is probably not the same as the yogic understanding. Yogic philosophy understands this concept as a maturing energy that expresses the individual's soteriological longings. Viewed in a mythological context it is also sometimes believed to be an aspect of Shakti, the goddess and consort of Shiva.
Two early western interpretations of Kundalini were supplied by C.W. Leadbeater (1847-1934), of the Theosophical Society, and the Analytical Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961). Jung's seminar on Kundalini yoga, presented to the Psychological Club in Zurich in 1932, has been widely regarded as a milestone in the psychological understanding of Eastern thought and of the symbolic transformations of inner peace. Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model for the developmental phases of higher consciousness, and he interpreted its symbols in terms of the process of individuation. (PsycINFO abstract: C.G Jung - "The psychology of Kundalini yoga". Princeton University Press, 1999).
Kundalini is a popular concept that is widely quoted among various disciplines of yoga and New Age beliefs. However, the recent popularization of the term within new religious movements has - according to some scholars of religion - not contributed to promote a mature understanding of the concept (Sovatsky, 1998). As with many eastern contemplative concepts there exist considerable difficulties, and possible semantic confusion, connected to the way these concepts are adapted to a western context. This has led to somewhat different interpretations and applications of the concept of Kundalini within the spiritual and contemplative culture in the west. On the one hand there is the New Age popularizations, and on the other hand there is the traditional lineage of Kundalini Yoga understood from its cultural background and interpreted within the academic fields of Religious Studies and Transpersonal/Humanistic psychology.
Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini Yoga is a meditative discipline —or a system of meditative techniques and movements—within the yogic tradition that focuses on psycho-spiritual growth and the body's potential for maturation. The concept of life-energy - pranotthana - is central to the practice and understanding of Kundalini Yoga. It also gives special consideration to the role of the spine and the endocrine system in the understanding of yogic awakening (Sovatsky, 1998). Recently, there has been a growing interest within the medical community to study the physiological effects of meditation, and some of these studies have applied the discipline of Kundalini Yoga to their clinical settings (Lazar et.al, 2000; Cromie, 2002)
Kundalini rising
According to Yogic terminology the force of Kundalini is supposed to be raised through meditative exercises and activated within the concept of a subtle body, a body of energy and finer substance. This process has been explained in detail in the book "Theories of the Chakras" by Hiroshi Motoyama, who bases the bulk of the Kundalini raising practices listed in the book on the notable Swami Satyananda Saraswati, as well as on personal experience in helping people in various stages of Kundalini awakening. As the Kundalini raises from the root-chakra up through the spinal channel, called sushumna, it is believed to activate each chakra it goes through. Each chakra is said to contain special characteristics, and although the opening of higher chakras are believed to mark advanced spiritual unfoldment, it is important not to measure spiritual growth solely by the opening of higher potentials. According to this view chakras might be under- or overdeveloped, and lower chakras are thought to be just as important as higher. In raising Kundalini, spiritual powers (siddhis) are also believed to arise, but many spiritual traditions see these phenomena as obstacles on the path, and encourages their students not to get hung up with them (Kason, 2000).
According to much contemporary spiritual literature, and the field of Transpersonal Psychology, it is not considered wise to engage in this sort of practice without the guidance of a credible teacher or without thorough psychological preparation and education in yoga. Any form of intense contemplative or spiritual practice without the support of a cultural context, or without the support of thorough psychological preparation, is usually considered to be unfortunate, and in some cases even dangerous. These warnings cannot be underestimated without risk. A growing body of clinical and psychological literature notes the growing occurrence of meditation-related problems in Western contemplative life (Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998; Perez-De-Albeniz & Holmes, 2000). Among these we find the Kundalini Syndrome (which is presented more closely later in this article). For more on this subject see the article on meditation section 7: Adverse effects of meditation.
Spiritual literature also describes instances when Kundalini can be initiated. Initiation of kundalini activity is usually considered to take place by a form of 'laying on of hands', or shaktipat, where physical contact to the body or the forehead of the subject by the guru or initiator is supposed to cause an experience of Kundalini that later may persist or grow with continuing practice, or fade away if practice is neglected. Eye contact during satsang with the guru is also supposed to cause this experience. Within the context of spiritual literature inadvertent kundalini experiences have also been reported to take place when subjects physically contacted powerful gurus, such as Meher Baba, by accident.
Kundalini in the world's religions
Kundalini as a spiritual experience is thought to have parallels in many of the mystical and gnostic traditions of the world's great religions. Many factors point to the universality of the phenomenon. The early Christians might have referred to the concept as 'pneuma', and there are some recent parallells in contemporary Christian charismatic 'Holy Ghost' phenomena. Religious studies also note parallels in Quakerism, Shakerism, Judaic davening (torso-rocking prayer), the swaying zikr and whirling dervish of Islam, the quiverings of the Eastern Orthodox hesychast, the flowing movements of tai chi, the ecstatic shamanic dance, the ntum trance dance of the Bushman, Tibetan Buddhist tummo heat as practised by Milarepa, and the Indically-derived Andalusian flamenco (Sovatsky, 1998).
The Kundalini Syndrome
Theorists within the schools of Humanistic psychology, Transpersonal psychology and Near-Death Studies describe something called The Kundalini-syndrome, a complex psychological and somatic syndrome—or process—involving a pattern of motor, sensory, affective and cognitive/hermeneutic symptoms. This psycho-somatic arousal and excitation is believed to occur in connection with prolonged and intensive spiritual or contemplative practice (such as meditation or yoga). It might also occur spontaneously as a result of intense life experiences or a close encounter with death, a near-death experience (Greyson 1993, 2000; Scotton, 1996; Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998; Kason, 2000).
According to these fields of study the Kundalini-syndrome is of a different nature than a single Kundalini episode, such as a Kundalini-rising. The Kundalini-syndrome is a process that might unfold over several months, or even years. If the accompagnying symptoms unfold in an intense manner—that de-stabilizes the person—the process is usually interpreted as a Spiritual Emergency (Grof & Grof, 1989; Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998).
Interdisciplinary dialogue within these particular schools of psychology has now established some common criteria in order to describe this condition (see references below).
Motor symptoms are thought to include tremors, shaking, spontaneous or involuntary body-movements and changes in respiratory function. Sensory symptoms are thought to include changes in body-temperature, a feeling of energy running along the spine or progressing upwards in the body, a feeling of electricity in the body, headache and pressure inside of the head, tingling, vibrations and gastro-intestinal problems. Cognitive and affective symptoms are thought to include psychological upheaval, stress, depression, hallucinations (inner visions or accoustical phenomena), depersonalization or derealization, intense mood-swings, altered states of consciousness, but also moments of bliss and deep peace (Sannella, 1976; Greyson, 1993 & 2000; Greenwell, 1995; Scotton, 1996; Kason, 2000). Within the mentioned academic traditions this symptomatology is often referred to as the Physio-Kundalini syndrome (Sannella, 1976, Greyson 1993; 2000) or Kundalini-experience/awakening (Scotton, 1996; Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998). A roaring noise or other loud auditory hallucination have also been reported (perhaps related to the phenomenon of 'Exploding head syndrome'). Transpersonal literature emphasizes that this list of symptoms is not meant to be used as a tool for self-diagnosis. Any unusual or marked physical or mental symptom needs to be investigated by a qualified medical doctor (Kason, 2000).
Greyson (1993) developed The Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index in order to measure the degree of Physio-Kundalini symptoms among Near-Death experiencers. Most researchers within this field believe that the core of the process is not pathological, but maturational, even though the symptoms at times may be dramatic and very disturbing (Greyson, 1993; Lukoff, 1998). In a conventional medical journal Le Fanu (2002) briefly discusses the similarity between the interpretation of new mystery syndromes and the Kundalini experience. According to the field of Transpersonal Psychology the Kundalini-syndrome is largely unknown to Western psychiatry. Many writers within this field are consequently working towards a clinical approach to the problem. Possible improvements in the diagnostic system that are meant to differentiate the Kundalini-syndrome from other disorders have been suggested (Hansen, 1995; Herrick, 1996; Scotton, 1996; Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998; House, 2001; Maxwell, 2001; Grabovac & Ganesan, 2003).
A recent criticism of some of the approaches to this clinical category has been put forward by Sovatsky (1998) who believes that when interpreting the symptomatology one must differentiate between the symptoms of - what is thought to be - a Kundalini-awakening, and the symptoms of different preliminary yogic processes. According to this view many reported Kundalini-problems might rather be signs of the precursory energetic state of pranotthana. A confusion of terms within this delicate area of clinical concern might also - unfortunately - lead to various undiagnosed neurological problems being misdiagnosed as a Kundalini-problem.
In an article from Psychological Reports Thalbourne (2001) discusses whether scores on a 35-item Kundalini Scale is correlated to the concept of Transliminality (a hypothesized tendency for psychological material to cross thresholds into or out of consciousness). The Transliminality Scale, presented by Lange, Thalbourne, Houran & Storm (2000), defines a probabilistic hierarchy of items that address magical ideation, mystical experience, absorption, hyperaesthesia, manic experience, dream interpretation, and fantasy proneness.
Kundalini and physiology
Contemporary spiritual literature often notes that the chakras as described in the esoteric kundalini documents bear a strong similarity in location and number to the major endocrine glands, as well as nerve bundles called ganglions. One speculation is that the traditional practices have formalized a method for stimulating the endocrine glands to work in a different mode which has a more direct effect on consciousness, perhaps ultimately by stimulating the release of DMT by the pineal gland, which may be analogous to the 'pineal chakra' (Strassman, 2001). Within the context of meditation Kundalini might also be interpreted as a meditation-induced ecstatic experience, a non-sexual "air-gasm".
Within the transpersonal field Sovatsky (1998) has put forward the hypotheses of post-genital puberties. The possibiliy of viewing pranotthana (yogic terminology for intensified life-energy) and the larger Kundalini process as a maturation of body and character beyond conventional psychological growth. He has also made some criticism about the tendency—of much contemporary alternative culture—to frame the concept of Kundalini in a New Age-vocabulary. A tendency that might hinder a mature understanding of the subject. The interpretation of Kundalini as a developmental, or maturational phenomena, was first suggested to the west by the Indian Pundit Gopi Krishna, whose autobiography is entitled Kundalini—The Evolutionary Energy in Man (Boulder: Shambhala, 1971).
The late Ithak Bentov studied Kundalini from an engineering perspective. According to Bentov, the 7.5Hz oscillation of the heart muscle rhythm-induces mechanical KHz frequencies in the brain, that in turn create a stimulus equivalent of a current loop. The nerve ends in that loop correspond to the route through which the Kundalini "rises". This current polarizes the brain part through which it flows in a homogenous way, effectively releasing tremendous amounts of stress from the body. The body then becomes an effective antenna for the 7.5Hz frequency, which is one of the ionosphere resonant frequencies. In lay man terms, you then pick up information from the air. This might account for repeated descriptions of heightened senses as a result of rising Kundalini, e.g. as described by Yogananda: "The whole vicinity lay bare before me. My ordinary frontal vision was now changed to a vast spherical sight, simultaneously all-perceptive. Through the back of my head I saw men strolling far down Rai Ghat Lane..." An article by Bentov titled "Micromotions of the Body as a Factor in the Development of the Nervous System" appeared in the anthology "Kundalini" by John White, editor.
Pathological Kundalini
When practiced in a religious context, Kundalini is mostly beneficial and benevolent, but its initial physiological precursors have the potential to diverge into some peculiar types of pathology, when induced to arise via violence and outside of a religious context, where it may be part of a PTSD response to extreme experiences.
For example, the serial killer Pee Wee Gaskins describes kundalini-type symptoms as a response to childhood beatings:
"The new man of the house beat Pee Wee Gaskins and his other children 'just for practice', as Pee Wee recalled, the violence was a part of daily life, ... By age 10, he suffered from the onset of a lifelong 'bothersomeness', described as feeling like 'a ball of molten lead rolling around in my guts and up my spine into my head'. That feeling presaged outbursts of erratic violence, someti
There are a number of other translations of the term usually emphasizing a more serpent nature to the word— e.g. 'serpent power'. The caduceus symbol of coiling snakes is thought to be an ancient symbolic representation of Kundalini physiology.
In yoga, Kundalini refers to the mothering intelligence behind yogic awakening and spiritual maturation, and may be regarded by yogis as a sort of deity, hence the occasional capitalization of the term. According to Yogic phenomenology kundalini awakening is associated with the appearance of bio-energetic phenomena that are experienced somatically by the yogi. This appearance is also referred to as Pranic Awakening. Prana is interpreted as the vital, life-sustaining force in the body. Uplifted, or intensified life-energy is called pranotthana and is supposed to originate from an apparent reservoir of subtle bio-energy at the base of the spine.
This energy is also interpreted as a vibrational phenomena that initiates a period, or a process of vibrational spiritual development (Sovatsky, 1998). According to the Yogic tradition Kundalini is curled up in the back part of the root chakra in three and one-half turns.
Some western translators interpret the energetic phenomena as a form of psychic energy, although the western parapsychological understanding of psychic energy, separated from its cultural-hermeneutic matrix, is probably not the same as the yogic understanding. Yogic philosophy understands this concept as a maturing energy that expresses the individual's soteriological longings. Viewed in a mythological context it is also sometimes believed to be an aspect of Shakti, the goddess and consort of Shiva.
Two early western interpretations of Kundalini were supplied by C.W. Leadbeater (1847-1934), of the Theosophical Society, and the Analytical Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961). Jung's seminar on Kundalini yoga, presented to the Psychological Club in Zurich in 1932, has been widely regarded as a milestone in the psychological understanding of Eastern thought and of the symbolic transformations of inner peace. Kundalini yoga presented Jung with a model for the developmental phases of higher consciousness, and he interpreted its symbols in terms of the process of individuation. (PsycINFO abstract: C.G Jung - "The psychology of Kundalini yoga". Princeton University Press, 1999).
Kundalini is a popular concept that is widely quoted among various disciplines of yoga and New Age beliefs. However, the recent popularization of the term within new religious movements has - according to some scholars of religion - not contributed to promote a mature understanding of the concept (Sovatsky, 1998). As with many eastern contemplative concepts there exist considerable difficulties, and possible semantic confusion, connected to the way these concepts are adapted to a western context. This has led to somewhat different interpretations and applications of the concept of Kundalini within the spiritual and contemplative culture in the west. On the one hand there is the New Age popularizations, and on the other hand there is the traditional lineage of Kundalini Yoga understood from its cultural background and interpreted within the academic fields of Religious Studies and Transpersonal/Humanistic psychology.
Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini Yoga is a meditative discipline —or a system of meditative techniques and movements—within the yogic tradition that focuses on psycho-spiritual growth and the body's potential for maturation. The concept of life-energy - pranotthana - is central to the practice and understanding of Kundalini Yoga. It also gives special consideration to the role of the spine and the endocrine system in the understanding of yogic awakening (Sovatsky, 1998). Recently, there has been a growing interest within the medical community to study the physiological effects of meditation, and some of these studies have applied the discipline of Kundalini Yoga to their clinical settings (Lazar et.al, 2000; Cromie, 2002)
Kundalini rising
According to Yogic terminology the force of Kundalini is supposed to be raised through meditative exercises and activated within the concept of a subtle body, a body of energy and finer substance. This process has been explained in detail in the book "Theories of the Chakras" by Hiroshi Motoyama, who bases the bulk of the Kundalini raising practices listed in the book on the notable Swami Satyananda Saraswati, as well as on personal experience in helping people in various stages of Kundalini awakening. As the Kundalini raises from the root-chakra up through the spinal channel, called sushumna, it is believed to activate each chakra it goes through. Each chakra is said to contain special characteristics, and although the opening of higher chakras are believed to mark advanced spiritual unfoldment, it is important not to measure spiritual growth solely by the opening of higher potentials. According to this view chakras might be under- or overdeveloped, and lower chakras are thought to be just as important as higher. In raising Kundalini, spiritual powers (siddhis) are also believed to arise, but many spiritual traditions see these phenomena as obstacles on the path, and encourages their students not to get hung up with them (Kason, 2000).
According to much contemporary spiritual literature, and the field of Transpersonal Psychology, it is not considered wise to engage in this sort of practice without the guidance of a credible teacher or without thorough psychological preparation and education in yoga. Any form of intense contemplative or spiritual practice without the support of a cultural context, or without the support of thorough psychological preparation, is usually considered to be unfortunate, and in some cases even dangerous. These warnings cannot be underestimated without risk. A growing body of clinical and psychological literature notes the growing occurrence of meditation-related problems in Western contemplative life (Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998; Perez-De-Albeniz & Holmes, 2000). Among these we find the Kundalini Syndrome (which is presented more closely later in this article). For more on this subject see the article on meditation section 7: Adverse effects of meditation.
Spiritual literature also describes instances when Kundalini can be initiated. Initiation of kundalini activity is usually considered to take place by a form of 'laying on of hands', or shaktipat, where physical contact to the body or the forehead of the subject by the guru or initiator is supposed to cause an experience of Kundalini that later may persist or grow with continuing practice, or fade away if practice is neglected. Eye contact during satsang with the guru is also supposed to cause this experience. Within the context of spiritual literature inadvertent kundalini experiences have also been reported to take place when subjects physically contacted powerful gurus, such as Meher Baba, by accident.
Kundalini in the world's religions
Kundalini as a spiritual experience is thought to have parallels in many of the mystical and gnostic traditions of the world's great religions. Many factors point to the universality of the phenomenon. The early Christians might have referred to the concept as 'pneuma', and there are some recent parallells in contemporary Christian charismatic 'Holy Ghost' phenomena. Religious studies also note parallels in Quakerism, Shakerism, Judaic davening (torso-rocking prayer), the swaying zikr and whirling dervish of Islam, the quiverings of the Eastern Orthodox hesychast, the flowing movements of tai chi, the ecstatic shamanic dance, the ntum trance dance of the Bushman, Tibetan Buddhist tummo heat as practised by Milarepa, and the Indically-derived Andalusian flamenco (Sovatsky, 1998).
The Kundalini Syndrome
Theorists within the schools of Humanistic psychology, Transpersonal psychology and Near-Death Studies describe something called The Kundalini-syndrome, a complex psychological and somatic syndrome—or process—involving a pattern of motor, sensory, affective and cognitive/hermeneutic symptoms. This psycho-somatic arousal and excitation is believed to occur in connection with prolonged and intensive spiritual or contemplative practice (such as meditation or yoga). It might also occur spontaneously as a result of intense life experiences or a close encounter with death, a near-death experience (Greyson 1993, 2000; Scotton, 1996; Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998; Kason, 2000).
According to these fields of study the Kundalini-syndrome is of a different nature than a single Kundalini episode, such as a Kundalini-rising. The Kundalini-syndrome is a process that might unfold over several months, or even years. If the accompagnying symptoms unfold in an intense manner—that de-stabilizes the person—the process is usually interpreted as a Spiritual Emergency (Grof & Grof, 1989; Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998).
Interdisciplinary dialogue within these particular schools of psychology has now established some common criteria in order to describe this condition (see references below).
Motor symptoms are thought to include tremors, shaking, spontaneous or involuntary body-movements and changes in respiratory function. Sensory symptoms are thought to include changes in body-temperature, a feeling of energy running along the spine or progressing upwards in the body, a feeling of electricity in the body, headache and pressure inside of the head, tingling, vibrations and gastro-intestinal problems. Cognitive and affective symptoms are thought to include psychological upheaval, stress, depression, hallucinations (inner visions or accoustical phenomena), depersonalization or derealization, intense mood-swings, altered states of consciousness, but also moments of bliss and deep peace (Sannella, 1976; Greyson, 1993 & 2000; Greenwell, 1995; Scotton, 1996; Kason, 2000). Within the mentioned academic traditions this symptomatology is often referred to as the Physio-Kundalini syndrome (Sannella, 1976, Greyson 1993; 2000) or Kundalini-experience/awakening (Scotton, 1996; Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998). A roaring noise or other loud auditory hallucination have also been reported (perhaps related to the phenomenon of 'Exploding head syndrome'). Transpersonal literature emphasizes that this list of symptoms is not meant to be used as a tool for self-diagnosis. Any unusual or marked physical or mental symptom needs to be investigated by a qualified medical doctor (Kason, 2000).
Greyson (1993) developed The Physio-Kundalini Syndrome Index in order to measure the degree of Physio-Kundalini symptoms among Near-Death experiencers. Most researchers within this field believe that the core of the process is not pathological, but maturational, even though the symptoms at times may be dramatic and very disturbing (Greyson, 1993; Lukoff, 1998). In a conventional medical journal Le Fanu (2002) briefly discusses the similarity between the interpretation of new mystery syndromes and the Kundalini experience. According to the field of Transpersonal Psychology the Kundalini-syndrome is largely unknown to Western psychiatry. Many writers within this field are consequently working towards a clinical approach to the problem. Possible improvements in the diagnostic system that are meant to differentiate the Kundalini-syndrome from other disorders have been suggested (Hansen, 1995; Herrick, 1996; Scotton, 1996; Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1998; House, 2001; Maxwell, 2001; Grabovac & Ganesan, 2003).
A recent criticism of some of the approaches to this clinical category has been put forward by Sovatsky (1998) who believes that when interpreting the symptomatology one must differentiate between the symptoms of - what is thought to be - a Kundalini-awakening, and the symptoms of different preliminary yogic processes. According to this view many reported Kundalini-problems might rather be signs of the precursory energetic state of pranotthana. A confusion of terms within this delicate area of clinical concern might also - unfortunately - lead to various undiagnosed neurological problems being misdiagnosed as a Kundalini-problem.
In an article from Psychological Reports Thalbourne (2001) discusses whether scores on a 35-item Kundalini Scale is correlated to the concept of Transliminality (a hypothesized tendency for psychological material to cross thresholds into or out of consciousness). The Transliminality Scale, presented by Lange, Thalbourne, Houran & Storm (2000), defines a probabilistic hierarchy of items that address magical ideation, mystical experience, absorption, hyperaesthesia, manic experience, dream interpretation, and fantasy proneness.
Kundalini and physiology
Contemporary spiritual literature often notes that the chakras as described in the esoteric kundalini documents bear a strong similarity in location and number to the major endocrine glands, as well as nerve bundles called ganglions. One speculation is that the traditional practices have formalized a method for stimulating the endocrine glands to work in a different mode which has a more direct effect on consciousness, perhaps ultimately by stimulating the release of DMT by the pineal gland, which may be analogous to the 'pineal chakra' (Strassman, 2001). Within the context of meditation Kundalini might also be interpreted as a meditation-induced ecstatic experience, a non-sexual "air-gasm".
Within the transpersonal field Sovatsky (1998) has put forward the hypotheses of post-genital puberties. The possibiliy of viewing pranotthana (yogic terminology for intensified life-energy) and the larger Kundalini process as a maturation of body and character beyond conventional psychological growth. He has also made some criticism about the tendency—of much contemporary alternative culture—to frame the concept of Kundalini in a New Age-vocabulary. A tendency that might hinder a mature understanding of the subject. The interpretation of Kundalini as a developmental, or maturational phenomena, was first suggested to the west by the Indian Pundit Gopi Krishna, whose autobiography is entitled Kundalini—The Evolutionary Energy in Man (Boulder: Shambhala, 1971).
The late Ithak Bentov studied Kundalini from an engineering perspective. According to Bentov, the 7.5Hz oscillation of the heart muscle rhythm-induces mechanical KHz frequencies in the brain, that in turn create a stimulus equivalent of a current loop. The nerve ends in that loop correspond to the route through which the Kundalini "rises". This current polarizes the brain part through which it flows in a homogenous way, effectively releasing tremendous amounts of stress from the body. The body then becomes an effective antenna for the 7.5Hz frequency, which is one of the ionosphere resonant frequencies. In lay man terms, you then pick up information from the air. This might account for repeated descriptions of heightened senses as a result of rising Kundalini, e.g. as described by Yogananda: "The whole vicinity lay bare before me. My ordinary frontal vision was now changed to a vast spherical sight, simultaneously all-perceptive. Through the back of my head I saw men strolling far down Rai Ghat Lane..." An article by Bentov titled "Micromotions of the Body as a Factor in the Development of the Nervous System" appeared in the anthology "Kundalini" by John White, editor.
Pathological Kundalini
When practiced in a religious context, Kundalini is mostly beneficial and benevolent, but its initial physiological precursors have the potential to diverge into some peculiar types of pathology, when induced to arise via violence and outside of a religious context, where it may be part of a PTSD response to extreme experiences.
For example, the serial killer Pee Wee Gaskins describes kundalini-type symptoms as a response to childhood beatings:
"The new man of the house beat Pee Wee Gaskins and his other children 'just for practice', as Pee Wee recalled, the violence was a part of daily life, ... By age 10, he suffered from the onset of a lifelong 'bothersomeness', described as feeling like 'a ball of molten lead rolling around in my guts and up my spine into my head'. That feeling presaged outbursts of erratic violence, someti
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)