Researching Meditation with Dr Ramesh Manocha

Posted on 31 March 2014 by Carmen Burby

    

The Eastern View of Stress Meditation is an eastern tool that offers western health practitioners a new way of looking at health. The role of stress in disease is well recognised by modern medical researchers but, despite the progress that has been made in this field, there remains some very fundamental yet unanswered questions. One of those question is, “What exactly is stress?”. /

Few of us can easily come up with a good definition of “stress”, yet while we don’t know exactly what it is, we intuitively recognise that it is a factor that affects almost every aspect of our lives! The eastern explanation of “stress” is probably one of the most commonsense and practically useful ones. While you read this see if you can “look inside” and apply this perspective to yourself.

Stress, says the eastern perspective, is the by-product of thought. If we examine the nature of the thoughts that each of us experiences from moment to moment we will find that they all relate to one of two broad categories: (l) events that have occurred in the past or (2) events that we anticipate will occur in the future. Whether the event was an argument with a friend yesterday (past), an unpaid bill (future), a deeply troubling childhood experience that has become part of our subconscious (past) or anxiety about the share market (future) we will find that all of these troubling thoughts, and the resulting stress that they cause us, to have arisen from only the past or future!

Take the exercise a little further. If the vast majority, if not all, our thoughts emanate from events in the past or future, is it possible to think about the absolute present moment? Most of us will admit that, while we can think about events in the past (even a few moments ago), or events scheduled in the future (even milliseconds in the future), it is impossible to actually think about the present moment which we are continuously experiencing and is ever changing.

Now think about the stress that we all experience from time to time. Despite the huge variety of situations that “stress” us they all have one thing in common: we have to think about the events before they can reduce our sense of wellbeing. In other words thought itself is the final common pathway by which all events create stress within us! The past, comprised of events that have already occurred, no longer exists. Similarly the future, comprised of events that have yet to occur and are therefore undetermined, does not yet exist. However, paradoxically, we human beings exist only in the present.

The mind (and its thoughts), since it is comprised only of stuff from the past or future, is therefore not real and so the stress that it generates is also not real! If we are beings that exist in the present, and we realise that the stress and angst of life emanate from a mind which is the product of past/future, we acknowledge also that the antidote for the mental illusions that cause stress is to reign in our attention and focus it on the present moment. While, for most of us, focusing on the absolute present moment is virtually impossible, it is this razor’s edge of “thoughtless awareness” that the easterner seeks to cultivate and sustain in meditation. The vast inner silence of the thoughtless state leaves the mind uncluttered. By existing in that “space-between-thethoughts” one is neither enslaved to one’s past nor confined to a predetermined future. The inner silence of meditation thus creates a naturally stress-free inner environment.

Source:

http://www.researchingmeditation.org/meditation-research-summary/the-eastern-view-of-stress

http://www.energysprings.blogspot.com

A Return to Love

A Return to Love  By Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others.

http://www.enrgysprings.blogspot.com

The Scientific Basis of Yoga Therapy

Posted on 24 March 2014 by Carmen Burby

Research is documenting the effectiveness of yoga therapy and suggesting specific mechanisms for how it works.

By Timothy McCall, M.D.

One of the most exciting developments in the last few decades is the cross-fertilization of Western science with ideas from ancient Eastern wisdom systems such as yoga. With increasing precision, scientists are able to look at the brain and body and detect the sometimes subtle changes that practitioners of yoga and mediation undergo. Years ago, few yoga studies were done in the West, and most scientists dismissed Indian yoga research due to methodological problems, such as a lack of control groups in the studies. Now the methodology is much better, and it could be argued that many Indian studies of yoga are superior to most of those done in the West.

As yoga becomes more and more mainstream, and as research dollars for alternative and complementary health systems continue to grow, studies of yoga are getting not only better but also more numerous in both India and the United States. In just the last few years, research has documented the efficacy of yoga for such conditions as back pain, multiple sclerosis, insomnia, cancer, heart disease, and even tuberculosis. Studies are also increasingly documenting how yoga works. Among its many beneficial effects, yoga has been shown to increase strength, flexibility, and balance; enhance immune function; lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels; and improve psychological well-being. One of yoga's most prominent effects, of course, is stress reduction.

Stress and the Autonomic Nervous System

Although yoga is much more than a stress-reduction method, stress adversely affects a wide range of health conditions, and yoga is arguably the most comprehensive approach to fighting stress ever invented. Stress isn't just a factor in conditions commonly labeled "stress-related," such as migraines, ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome, but it appears to contribute to such major killers as heart attacks, diabetes, and osteoporosis.

Even diseases such as cancer—for which there is surprisingly little evidence that stress is a causative factor—are extremely stressful once a person has been diagnosed and begins treatment. Yoga can improve not only the quality of life after diagnosis, but it appears to diminish the side effects of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and other treatments, and may increase the odds of survival.

To appreciate the role of stress in disease and of relaxation in prevention and recovery, it's important to understand the function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls the function of the heart, liver, intestines, and other internal organs. The ANS has two branches that work in conjunction: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). In general, when activity is high in the SNS, it is lower in the PNS, and vice versa.

The SNS, in conjunction with such stress hormones as adrenaline and cortisol, initiate a series of changes in the body, including raising blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels. These changes help a person deal with a crisis situation. They mean more energy and more blood and oxygen flowing to the large muscles of the trunk, arms, and legs, allowing the person to run from danger or do battle (the so-called "fight-or-flight" response).

The PNS, in contrast, tends to slow the heart and lower the blood pressure, allowing recovery after a stressful event. Blood flow that was diverted away from the intestines and reproductive organs, whose function isn't essential in an emergency, returns. In contrast to fight or flight, these more restorative functions can be thought of as "rest and digest." They are also sometimes dubbed the relaxation response.

Many yoga practices, including quiet asana, slow breathing, meditation, and guided imagery, increase activation of the PNS and lead to mental relaxation. Yoga techniques are more than just relaxation, however. Practices like vigorous sun salutations, kaphalabhati breathing, and breath retentions actually activate the SNS. One of yoga's secrets, documented in research from the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation near Bangalore, is that more active practices followed by relaxing ones lead to deeper relaxation than relaxing practices alone.

Neuroplasticity

I believe some of yoga's most profound effects on health have to do with its ability to alter long-standing dysfunctional behavior. People often have unhealthy habits of thought and deed that undermine their health—habits they may recognize but haven't been able to change. In addition to the direct health benefits of asana, pPranayama, meditation, and other yoga practices, it's not uncommon for regular practitioners to start eating better, to cut back on caffeine or alcohol, to quit jobs with unreasonable demands, or to spend more time in nature. Once people become more sensitive to the effects of different actions on their bodies and minds (whether it is practicing alternate nostril breathing or eating huge, fatty meals), they increasingly want to do what makes them feel better.

The modern understanding of the brain is that rather than being a static structure (which is what I was taught in medical school), this organ is constantly remodeling itself, a phenomenon scientists call neuroplasticity. Repeated thoughts and actions can rewire your brain, and the more you do something, the stronger those new neural networks become. Almost 2,000 years ago, Patanjali was onto this when he suggested that the key to success in yoga is dedicated, uninterrupted practice over a long period of time. The resulting neural networks— or samskaras, as yogis call them—get stronger and stronger as you stay with the practice. Slowly but surely, these healthy grooves of thought and action help guide people out of the ruts in which they've been stuck.

Dr. Timothy McCall is a board-certified internist, Yoga Journal's medical editor, and the author of the forthcoming book Yoga as Medicine (Bantam Dell, summer 2007). He can be found on the Web at www.DrMcCall.com.

http://www.yogajournal.com/for_teachers/2016

http://www.energysprings.blogspot.com

EnergySpring

Welcome to EnergySpring

By Carmen Burby 23.03.2014

I am writing this blog in the hope of connecting with friends who would like to share their views on how we can maximise personal performance and resilience in our daily lives without inducing excessive stress and burning out.

The range of E-nergySprings is as diverse as the people who practice them and they allow us to tap into them to energise ourselves, but sometimes because of the numerous commitments we have in our lives, we tend to end up neglecting the most important person, ourselves. Hence, we may eventually experience the most dramatic consequences of our neglect. Burnout.

How to recover from this dramatic and traumatic state?

For me it was an ancient and long established discipline, which originated in India and in 1957 Swami Vishnu-Devananda was sent by his master Swami Sivananda to introduce and spread the ancient teachings of Yoga to the West. I am referring to the practice of Sivananada Yoga. Even though I was introduced to Yoga as a teen and have practiced ever since I would say I am still in the early stages of getting to know the intricacies that encompasses the science of Yoga. However, in the most trying times of my life it has served as a personal refuge where I was able to become better acquainted with the practice, which in turn inspired greater commitment and dedication. I would dare to say that I believe during my darkest hours it became my greatest gift and support because it prompted me to embark on a process of transformation using different methods that enable me to understand the illness and myself. Hence, I returned to normal life. In addition to all the care and assistance received from the mental health practitioners at the hospital and my amazingly supportive GP, Yoga positively influenced the long slow climb to recovery.

I feel that I have a story to tell you and as I was gifted I would like to pass this gift and wonderful treasure onto you!

Would you like to share my E-nergySpring? Wishing you all the very best and I look forward to hearing from you.

© 2014 Carmen Burby.   
http://www.energysprings.blogspot.com