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Alternative Approaches to Pain Relief
Pain. The great leveler. The rich feel it. So do the poor, the happy, the sad, tall, and short. And, of course, article writers, too. It’s therefore not surprising to note that since the dawn of time, humans have attempted to discover ways to...
Eating Disorders And The Use Of Yoga In Prevention And Treatment
It was not so long ago that eating disorders, such as bolimia and anorexia, were thought to be purely the result of mental conditions. More recently, though, some physical factors have been attributed to these conditions. It is now...
High Blood Pressure - Natural Solutions
High Blood Pressure - Natural Solutions Robert Elias Najemy Some of the Causes of High Blood Pressure Before analyzing some of the effective solutions for high blood pressure, we must first look at some of the possible causes of this problem....
How Much Stress!
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What exactly is alternative therapy and how does it boost your health and well-being?
My first yoga retreat I never wanted it to stop. It was a wonderful feeling of joy, love compassion and connection to everyone who was there with me. This was despite the fact that I had only met these people just three days ago. But at that...
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Using Your Body To Strengthen Your Mind
For thousands of years, physical disciplines like yoga, Tai Chi
and Sufi Dancing have been said to increase mental and spiritual
powers. If this is true, how might one explain this, and even
better, how can we use this fact, practically, to enhance our
lives as artists, business people, parents, and partners?
First, we have to strip away the mysticism from the activity.
Not that these activities have no esoteric aspect, but rather
that we have to approach them on the most down-to-earth level.
The higher the tree, the deeper the roots. The taller the
building, the deeper the foundations. If you want to soar, be
certain that your tether is strong. So we need to start with a
simple, physiological explanation (if possible!) and then
suggest a way that this ties in to advanced artistic
accomplishment, relationship skills, intellectual clarity, and
spiritual growth.
My own enlightenment in this regard came from studying the work
of Coach Scott Sonnon, the first American martial artist to
train in the former Soviet Union. While there, this brilliant
man met Russian sports and performance scientists who had been
studying indigenous health system in the Ural Mountains for a
century. There, they found movement and wellness concepts
equivalent to anything in China or India. They shared many of
these concepts with Sonnon, and invited him to share them in
turn with Americans. Over the years, Coach Sonnon has created
hundreds of books, videos and essays on his interpretations of
this core knowledge.
Perhaps the single most important in terms of Body-Mind is what
he calls the "Flow State Performance Spiral." In order to relate
this breakthrough thinking in such a short essay, we'll have to
condense considerably:
1) All physical technique is composed of three aspects:
breathing, movement, and structure.
2) Each of these aspects is controlled by the other two (breath
is created by movement and structure, etc.)
3) Stress "dis-integrates" this structure. In other words, when
you are under stress, the physiological signs will manifest in
your breathing rate or shallowness, your posture, your muscle
tension. This is why lie detectors work!
Before he died, Hans Selye, the creator of the "stress"
concept, said that he had misspoken himself, that it is not
stress that hurts us, it is strain. Stress is the pressure we
are under. But strain is the degree to which that stress warps
us out of true.
Stress is not the enemy. In fact, when handled healthfully, it
is the primary trigger for growth. So the key is to avoid strain.
Let's skip around a bit to a truth about artistic and
intellectual pursuits: your ability to utilize your
intelligence, education, skills or talents will be in
direct
proportion to your ability to maintain "flow" under stress. Or
to put it another way, in life, we are rewarded for how much
stress we can handle without folding. Writer's block, for
instance, is nothing but a poor reaction to performance stress.
Combining these ideas, what we have is that mental and
emotional balance under stress leads to excellence. Combine this
with the fact that learning to cope with physical stress
develops skills that are tremendously applicable to the mental
arena. The most vulnerable portion of the "Flow State" triad
(breath, movement, structure) is breathing. Proper breathing
will be degraded by stress before you can detect it in posture
or muscle tension. This is one of the reasons breath control is
addressed in most religions and spiritual disciplines, whether
this is through pranayama (yoga), exercise, hymns, ritual
prayers, dance, or sacred postures.
A good yoga teacher, for instance, will place the student in a
posture sufficiently extreme to force total concentration. When
the student learns to relax and focus, that posture becomes
relatively easy, and a more extreme posture is given. The point
is to teach the student to monitor their own internal process.
Fine martial arts or breathing meditation teachers use similar
techniques.
The student learns to recognize the early signs of strain, and
to dissipate them. NOTHING in life creates more stress than lack
of oxygen, and learning to remain calm in the midst of oxygen
debt will teach you to remain calm when the children are
screaming, when your boss is on the rampage, when someone cuts
you off on the freeway.
Or when you have a writing deadline, or when insecurity and
fear hammers at the door of your resolve.
Deliberately practicing a physical discipline to enhance this
quality of calmness and centeredness, while simultaneously
working toward goals balanced in body, mind, and spirit, exposes
you to the currents of life while helping you develop the skills
and strategies necessary to excel. This, over time, leads to
excellence, even in a purely mental arena.
There are numerous disciplines that will teach proper
breathing under stress, and this article has listed a few. If
you wish to reach your maximum potential as a mental, spiritual,
and emotional being, seek one of these techniques out, and
integrate it into your life. It is one of the best investments
you could ever make in your future.
About the author:
Steven Barnes is a bestselling author and performance coach who
has lectured on storytelling and human consciousness at UCLA,
Mensa, and the Smithsonian Institute. He created the Lifewriting
high-performance system for writers and readers.
Www.lifewriting.biz and www.lifewrite.com
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Vipassana Meditation Website |
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Meditation |
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Meditation, Home, what is meditation, types of meditation ... |
Meditation Meditation is an alternative therapy. It can be broadly classified under the mind-body medicine. More and more doctors are prescribing meditation ... |
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Sivananda Yoga - Meditation |
Introduction to the Official Web site of the Internationa Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers. Lots of information on Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, ... |
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Stress Reducers: Articles index |
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Zen Mountain Monastery: Zen Meditation Instructions |
Detailed instructions from Zen Mountain Monastery on how to practice Zen meditation. |
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Siddha Yoga path - Gurumayi - Swami Muktananda founder |
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Meditation Handbook |
Survey of seven meditation techniques for beginners. |
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