Integral Options Cafe

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Daily Om: Creating Space In The Body

Today's Daily Om reflects on the use of meditation for healing the body as well as the mind.

No Hard Edges
Creating Space In The Body

Our minds and bodies are interconnected, and the condition of one affects the condition of the other. This is why meditation is such a powerful tool for healing the body, as powerful as physical therapies. When our minds are cluttered with thoughts, information, and plans, our bodies respond by trying to take action. When the body has a clear directive from the mind, it knows what to do, but a cluttered, unfocused mind creates a confused, tense body. Our muscles tighten up, our breath shortens, and we find ourselves feeling constricted without necessarily knowing why.

When we sit down to meditate, we let our bodies know that it is okay to be still and rest. This is a clear directive from the mind, and the body knows exactly how to respond. Thus, at the very beginning, we have created a sense of clarity for the body and the mind. As we move deeper into meditation, the state of our mind reveals itself, and we have the opportunity to consciously decide to settle it. A meditation teacher pointed out that if you put a cow in a small pen, she acts up and pushes against the boundaries, whereas if you provide her with a large, open space, she will peacefully graze in one spot. In the same way, our thoughts settle down peacefully if we provide them with enough space, and our bodies follow suit.

When we settle down to examine and experience our consciousness, we discover that there are no hard, definable edges. It is a vast, open space in which our thoughts can come and go without making waves, as long as we let them by neither attaching to them nor repressing them. As we see our thoughts come and go, we begin to breathe deeper and more easily, finding that our body is more open to the breath as it relaxes along with the mind. In this way, the space we recognize through meditation creates space in our bodies, allowing for a feeling of lightness and rightness with the world.

7 Pointers to Lift a Bad Mood

From Yahoo Health:

Going Up! 7 Pointers to Lift a Bad Mood

Posted by Dr. Maoshing Ni

No one can live a long and healthy life without the will to go on; sometimes mood swings can make us feel that life is too much for us.
A bad mood not only gives you a gloomy outlook, it also lowers your immune function, leading the way to illness. Here are some suggestions to lift your mood, your spirit, and your health.

1. A Laughing Matter
"Laugh Therapy," pioneered by Norman Cousins, has turned out to have real substance. Research has discovered that laughter and joy boost immune functions, especially the production of the natural killer cells that help defend the body from illness and cancer.
Laughter also increases the release of endorphins - compounds that give you a sense of well-being - in your brain. Without a doubt, joyful people liver longer and healthier lives. So read your favorite comics, watch your favorite comedies, and laugh it up!

2. Amino Acid for Restored Mindset
When an imbalance or deficiency is creating a bad mood, the Europeans use supplements of a natural compound found in human cells to regulate mood and restore a healthy mindset. SAMe (S-adenosyl-L-methionine) is produced from methionine, an amino acid that plays a role in the production of uplifting neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.
One study indicated that SAMe worked on patients who had unsuccessful results with conventional antidepressants. To get a boost from SAMe, take a supplement combining it with vitamins B6 and B12.

3. Hands-On Healing
Human touch increases the production of endorphins, growth hormone, and DHEA, all of which lengthen your life span and lower the negative impact of stress. Studies have found that patients who are regularly touched recover faster than those who are not touched. So give someone a hug and feel both of your moods improve.

4. Boost Your "Youth Hormones"
You don't need pills to flood your body with a rejuvenating flood of growth hormones. Research has found that doing squats and leg presses will greatly increase your natural production of the "youth hormone". Increased growth hormone translates to an elevated mood, among other physical benefits. Keep it up with weight training, knee bends, push-ups, and rowing.

5. Take a Bracing Breath
Breathing correctly is important for dispelling the toxins and wastes from your body; in fact, it is estimated that we expel only about 30 percent of toxins in our bodies through the bowels and bladder-the rest is all respiratory. Breathing is also a great way to clear your mind, boost your energy, and improve your mood. Practice deep, slow, rhythmic, breathing daily with mind-body disciplines such as tai chi, yoga, qigong, and meditation.

6. Smell the Joy
Research has shown that smell has a definite impact on our bodies and minds. When you stimulate the olfactory nerves inside your nose, you activate the limbic system of your brain, which is associated with moods and memory. This concept is instrumental to aromatherapy, a natural health tradition that makes use of the healing powers of plants with strong scents.
Aromatherapy recommends treating depression with jasmine, eucalyptus for exhilaration, and grapefruit to increase alertness and joy. Just put a dab of the essential oils from these plants on your temples, back of your neck, or acupressure points. Another option? Boil the herb in water and inhale the steam through your nose.

7. Feel Fine with Flowers
There is a reason that flowers are the traditional get-well gesture. Colorful flowers have a powerful influence on moods; they can uplift a patient's mood and even combat stress. One study found that during a five-minute typing assignment, people sitting next to a flowering bouquet were more relaxed than those who sat near foliage-only plants.

I hope these tips help the good feelings flow! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

God and Buddha: Deepak Chopra, Robert Thurman - a dialogue

Interesting discussion . . . (from 2000).

Satire: Non-Doping Cyclists Finish Tour De France

From The Onion:

Non-Doping Cyclists Finish Tour De France

August 30, 2007 | Onion Sports
PARIS—A small but enthusiastic crowd of several dozen was on hand at the Tour de France's finish line on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées Tuesday to applaud the efforts of the 28 cyclists who completed the grueling 20-stage, 2,208.3-mile race without the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.

Enlarge Image
Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins finished the final 56km time trial in a respectable and drug-free 4 hours and 38 minutes.

Finland's Piet Kvistik, a domestique with the Crédit Mondial team, was this year's highest-finishing non-doping rider (142nd overall). Kvistik claimed the maillot propre, the blue jersey worn by the highest-placed "clean" rider, on the ninth stage of the race when the six riders who had previously worn it tested positive for EPO, elevated levels of testosterone, and blood-packing.

"This is a very, very proud day for me," said the 115-pound Kvistik, who lost 45% of his body mass during the event, toppled from his saddle moments after finishing, and had to be administered oxygen, fed intravenously, and injected with adrenaline by attending medical personnel. "They say it is physically impossible to ride all of the Tour without drugs, but we prove them wrong this day."

"What day is it, anyway?" asked Kvistik, his eyes rolling wildly in his head. "I can no longer tell."

Kvistik's overall time for the Tour was 571 hours, 22 minutes, and 33 seconds, beating by over an hour the previous record for a non-enhanced rider, set by Albrect Påart during 1923's infamous ether-and-morphine-shortened race. Kvistik finished a mere 480 hours behind Alberto Contador, the overall winner, making 2007's margin between doping and non-doping riders the closest in history.

"It became most difficult for us on the 7th stage, which was almost 200 kilometers and the first stage through the mountains," Kvistik said while accepting the non-doping victor's 100-franc check from his stretcher. "Not only did the excruciating pain and weakness in my legs make it difficult to walk my bike on the steeper stretches, it was mentally very hard to know that half the other clean riders were dead or dying. Also, the other 141 riders finished the Tour in Paris that morning, which made it all that much harder."

"It's rather a shame that the Tour's 'clean' riders, or 'lanternes naturelles' as the fans call them, receive so little attention, for their monumental achievement," said cycling commentator Phil Liggett, reporting on the non-doping riders' finish for Versus-2, the little-sister network to Versus, who carried the main Tour de France coverage. "It's nearly impossible to compete in the full Tour while shot full of human growth hormone, erythropoietin, testosterone, glucocorticosteroids, synthetic testosterone, anabolic steroids, horse testosterone, amphetamines, and one's own pre-packed oxygen-rich red blood cells. To do it on water and bananas is almost heroic, no matter what one's time is."

While Kvistik's achievement is being celebrated by cycling insiders, critics of the Tour de France maintain that not enough is being done to combat the use of performance-enhancing substances in cycling's premier event.

"Nonsense—pure nonsense," said Tour general director Christian Prudhomme, who was vacationing in Switzerland as Kvistik crossed the finish line. "We have done everything we could imagine, both in terms of prize money and other incentives, to promote riders who compete without pharmaceutical aid. But we simply do not have the resources, nor the viewers the interest, to televise the entire two months it takes for a normal, unadulterated human to circumnavigate an entire nation on a bicycle."
Kvistik remains in critical condition at the Hôpital Neuilly-sur-Seine, where he was placed in a medically induced coma to aid his recovery from exhaustion, malnutrition, and loss of bone density. Attending physicians say he is not expected to return to cycling.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

More Gratitude -- It Could be Worse Edition

As much as living in Tucson sucks in the summer (we nearly broke the record for consecutive days over 100 degrees -- we got to 37, the record is 38), I could live in Phoenix, which would be a lot worse.

From News Vine:

PHOENIX — People here expect it to be hot, but they sure wouldn't mind a cool spell. You know, maybe 107 or so.
Phoenix reached a shoe-melting, spirit-crushing milestone Wednesday: 29 days of temperatures 110 degrees or higher in a single year. The previous record of 28 days was set in 1970 and matched in 2002, according to the National Weather Service.
The streak is enough to vaporize any humor left in the phrase "It's a dry heat." The average number of days 110 or higher in a given year is 10.
"It's a dry heat because we're in a desert!" Ollie Lewis said as she walked to a bus stop in downtown Phoenix.
Austin Jamison, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, said an oven produces dry heat, too. "You can put your head in the oven, but that's not comfortable."
The temperature hit 113 degrees Wednesday afternoon, matching the record high for Aug. 29 set in 1948 and 1981, Jamison said. The weather service is forecasting temperatures of 105 degrees for the rest of the week.
The National Weather Service says urbanization and global climate change could be contributing factors to the heat, but Phoenix has not come close this year to its all-time high of 122 degrees, set in 1990. The hottest day of 2007 was July 4, when the mercury hit 116 degrees.
Still, the string of broiling days was tough to deal with, even for lifelong Phoenix residents like Martin Milner, a construction worker who took a break under a rare shade tree.
"People say you'll get used to it, but you never get used to it," said Milner, who wore a bandanna under his black hard hat to stop the sweat from running down his face. "Every year it gets harder and harder and harder. This year it's just skyrocketed."
Marcia Reid, who moved to Phoenix from New York City five months ago, said the heat doesn't bother her.
"I lived in New York for so long, I got tired of the cold," she said. "I like it here.
"It's a dry heat."

Emphasis added -- and damn, I'm glad I don't live there.

Gratitude 8/29/07

Some things I am grateful for today:

1) A little rain storm we are having right now. The monsoon season is coming to an end, so this may be the last rain we get for a while.

2) My new favorite snack -- one cup of Fiber One cereal, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder, and 1 cup of cold water. Mix egg whites, protein, and water and pour over cereal. You can add berries if you like to make it tastier. It's high fiber, high protein, and only 300 calories (without berries), or 360 with 1/2 cup of frozen, organic blueberries. Yum.

3) A new writing gig that came my way yesterday.

What are you grateful for today?

Speedlinking 8/29/07

Quote of the day:

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered."
~ G.K. Chesterton

Image of the day:

BODY
~ Cabbage Soup Diet: Controversial In Promising Quick Fat Loss -- "No one knows where the cabbage soup diet originated even though it has been written about by a fair number of authors already. Learn what the diet consists of and why this diet should probably be avoided."
~ The Bodybuilder's Diet Coach -- "If you're a top-level competitive bodybuilder and you're serious about getting your diet right, you go to Justin Harris. He'll help you — provided he's not busy fine-tuning his own 265-pound frame in preparation for an upcoming contest."
~ The Best in Walking Gear -- "Get our picks for the best apparel and gadgets that will help you melt off pounds."
~ High Sugar Levels In Pregnancy Linked To Childhood Obesity -- "In the largest study of its kind, US researchers have found that the risk of a child being obese goes up in line with increase in the mother's sugar levels during pregnancy. Scientists are hopeful that treating more women for diabetes during pregnancy could help to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity."
~ Antioxidants: Definitions, Facts & The Color Wheel -- "Health headlines today are always focused around the topics of antioxidants. You cannot pick foods at the store without seeing the antioxidant hype. Learn about antioxidants from the following definitions, facts, and food color wheel right here!"
~ Health Tip: Coping With Chronic Pain (HealthDay) -- "Chronic pain persists for longer than six months. Besides pain medications, the American Academy of Family Physicians offers this list of additional treatment options: Physical therapy, including stretching and strengthening exercises. Low-impact exercise, including swimming, biking and walking. Occupational therapy to learn how to change daily activities to avoid making pain worse. Behavioral therapy, such as yoga and meditation, to increase relaxation and decrease stress."
~ Bio-alarm clocks sense right time to wake -- "Morning grogginess may be a thing of the past thanks to bio-alarm clocks designed to wake sleepers at the perfect time. The clocks detect brainwaves or body movements and are programmed to wake sleepers during light sleep, which occurs periodically through the night."

PSYCHE/SELF
~ How mom holds baby can show signs of stress -- "How you hold your baby may say a lot about your mental state, British researchers said on Wednesday. Their study found that mothers who cradled their babies in the right arm showed signs of stress and could be at higher risk of depression, said Nadja Reissland, a developmental psychologist at Durham University who led the research."
~ Meaning and Retirement -- "CNN recently had an insightful article about how to put some meaning into the retirement years, pointing out that what may appear to be a dream while you are still working, can turn into a nightmare if you don't plan properly. Free time with nothing to do that really means something to you is not fun."
~ An interview with Martin Seligman -- "Beliefnet.com has an interview with Martin Seligman. (Don't click on the link if you can't bear promises of finding "eternal joy with Jesus' word," or - worse - ads for live psychic readings.)"
~ Fixing Ourselves [The Frontal Cortex] -- "Ten years ago, neuroscientists were bullish about pharmaceuticals. It sometimes seemed as if every tenured professor was starting his own drug company or consulting for someone else's drug company. But virtually none of those drugs have come to market, at least not yet."
~ How to Find Time for Yourself -- "Do you ever find yourself longing for some time for yourself? Many of us are so busy with work, school, and home life that often there is no time left over to do something that you enjoy. What follows are some ways to carve out that essential time you need to slow down, enjoy life, and rejuvenate yourself."
~ Sticky Ideas Workshop (Part 5): Emotional -- "If you want to connect — I mean, really connect — with an audience, you have to hit ‘em square in their emotions. Movie makers know this, and exploit it to the fullest, making us laugh, cry, punch the air in triumph, jump out of our seats in terror, and even swell with love for all humanity — almost on demand."
~ Music + Body Language = More Excitement -- "Seeing a band live is a much more engaging experience than listening to a recording at home. But it's not just the atmosphere of a live event, it's also the singer's facial expressions and gestures which enhances our emotional experience."
~ Blinded by Beauty -- "Are pretty people healthier?"
~ Neurotransmitter current not flowing through ion channels -- "In studying how neurotransmitters travel between cells -- by analysis of events in the dimensions of nanometers -- Cornell researchers have discovered that an electrical current thought to be present during that process does not, in fact, exist."

CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Biggest Loser Season 4 -- "In two seeks we get the two hour Biggest Loser 4 Premiere. Remember a few weeks ago we found out that Bob Harper and Kim Lyons but also we will have a team coached by a returning Jillian Michaels. Also as a replacement to Caroline Rhea we are now going to have soap star Alison Sweeney as the new host." I encourage my clients to watch this show -- it's good motivation.
~ Fry and Laurie: From Footlights to Fiction -- "From the venerable halls of Cambridge University in the early 1980s, emerged two of the finest comedic minds in British Comedy. From their years as writers and performers in Cambridge's Footlights troupe, through their acting stints in Jeeves and Wooster, various seasons of Blackadder, and especially their brilliant BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry and Laurie..."
~ The New York Times | A Sobering Census Report: Americans' Meager Income Gains -- "The editors of The New York Times write: 'The median household income last year was still about $1,000 less than in 2000, before the onset of the last recession. In 2006, 36.5 million Americans were living in poverty - 5 million more than six years before, when the poverty rate fell to 11.3 percent.'"
~ Can Republicans Explain Why Higher Taxes Are Bad? -- "The Clinton economic boom back in the 1990s muddies the case for keeping the Bush cuts."
~ The Unexpected Fantasist -- "The Portuguese novelist and Nobel Prize-winner José Saramago is a stubborn atheist, an unreconstructed Communist, an ornery political polemicist — and the creator of some of the world’s most magical, imaginative, sweetly lyrical fiction."
~ The Gonzales Replacement Dilemma -- "In picking a new Attorney General, Bush wants to avoid a confirmation fight. But he also needs someone who backs the policies that have angered the Senate." Good luck with that.
~ 2 Years After Hurricane Katrina, Bush Sees Hope in New Orleans -- "The president, touring the city devastated by wind and flood, said he saw “a more blessed day” ahead." Too little, way too late. See also: New Orleans marks Katrina anniversary (AP) -- "Prayers, protests and a lingering disgust with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina marked the disaster's second anniversary Wednesday, with a presidential visit doing little to mollify those still displaced by the storm."

HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Volcanic Activity Key to Oxygen-rich Atmosphere -- "Next time you catch a breath, be thankful, for a change, that the Earth's surface is dotted with volcanoes."
~ Scientists take giant step forward in understanding exotic nuclei -- "Developing good predictive powers of how all nuclei work is critical to advance our understanding of the universe. The vast nuclear landscape, which is thought to consist of about 6,000 isotopes is not well charted and half the nuclei remain unknown."
~ EarthLink CEO: Company Must Refocus -- "EarthLink Inc. will refocus on its core business of supplying Internet access to consumers and businesses, its new chief executive said a day after announcing the company was slashing nearly half its work force."
~ Nokia takes on iTunes in digital music market -- "Nokia, the world's leading maker of mobile phones, unveiled on Wednesday a new digital music shop designed to loosen the grip of Apple's iTunes on downloads."
~ Germany mulls 'Trojan' IT viruses as anti-terror measure -- "Left-wing members of the ruling coalition have objected strongly to plans by the German interior ministry to enlist "Trojans", malicious programmes sent in electronic mail, to spy on terror suspects."
~ Supersonic 'rain' falls on newborn star -- "Astronomers at the University of Rochester have discovered five Earth-oceans` worth of water that has recently fallen into the planet-forming region around an extremely young, developing star."
~ Discovery could help stop malaria at its source -- the mosquito -- "As summer temperatures cool in the United States, fewer mosquitoes whir around our tiki torches. But mosquitoes swarming around nearly 40 percent of the world`s population will continue to spread a deadly parasitic disease — malaria. Now an interdisciplinary team led by researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has found a key link that causes malarial infection in both humans and mosquitoes."

INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ NEW BLOG ~ About Us_Integral Praxis 2.0 -- "This blog is a joint project. Integral Praxis is the offical homepage of the Integral Research Group (IRG). IRG is an innovative and critically informed non-profit research and development team. Our goal is to conduct practical inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural research, while collaborating with various projects and partners in the public and private spheres. IRG aims at evolving into a resource for integrative and critical understanding, and specifically as it related to practical, sustainable and positive change."
~ Ken Wilber reviews Apocalypto by Mel Gibson -- "Here is Ken Wilber's five minute review of the movie Apocalypto, cut from an Integral Spiritual Center conference call a few months ago, in which Ken lambasts the popular romantic notion of the "noble savage." I haven't seen the film yet—have you? What did you think?"
~ The happiness you can grow -- "There is a Chinese saying that 'if you want three hours of ecstasy, try gambling. For three weeks of rapture, go travelling. For three months of bliss, get married. Build a new house and you will enjoy three years of heaven. But if you want true and lasting happiness, grow and live with trees.'"
~ My body tells me it is true, so it must be and Going to the mind and body for truth -- good stuff.

Daily Dharma: Before the rain stops we hear a bird

[image source]

Today's Daily Dharma from Tricycle:

Before the rain stops we hear a bird

We must have beginner's mind, free from possessing anything, a mind that knows everything is in flowing change. Nothing exists but momentarily in its present form and color. One thing flows into another and cannot be grasped. Before the rain stops we hear a bird. Even under the heavy snow we see snowdrops and some new growth. In the East I saw rhubarb already. In Japan in the spring we eat cucumbers.

~ Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind; from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

Tags: Daily Dharma, Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, Buddhism, Tricycle

Stephen Colbert's Educational Video on DNA

Hilarious . . . .

Carl Jung - Matter of Heart

More Jung -- this was the first biography I had ever seen on Jung, back when I was still in college.

Satire: USA Today Crossword Puzzle Grants False Sense Of Intelligence

From The Onion:

USA Today Crossword Puzzle Grants False Sense Of Intelligence

August 29, 2007 | Issue 43•35
DES MOINES, IA—Forty-five minutes after sitting down with a cup of coffee and the USA Today crossword, local window fashions salesman Tom Dolan completed the puzzle's last three open squares and was filled with a sense of intellectual accomplishment.
Though he admitted to consulting the Internet for the tougher clues, such as "a Kentucky liquor aged in oak barrels," Dolan, 38, credited the successful completion to his amazing ability to follow word-based clues. "The clue said 'Charlie's' blank," Dolan said. "It took a little while, but I realized that it was 'Angels.' That was my Rosemary Stone for unlocking the rest of the puzzle."
Dolan's confidence in his superior cerebral faculties faltered slightly after he noticed the adjacent Sudoku grid, but then he realized that it was rated "hard" and was immediately relieved of the pressure to solve it.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Gratitude 8/28/07

Some things I am grateful for today:

1) Apples. I hadn't eaten apples in a while (like a couple of years) and I just started eating them again. I had forgotten how nice a ripe juicy apple can be.

2) I got an email from my friend Jane, who I hadn't heard from in a while. It's nice to hear from old friends.

3) A very good workout today, and I even did some dreaded cardio.

What are you grateful for today?