Physical Body Energy flow is related to your habits of Nutrition, Hydration, Exercise, Sleep and Breathing. These are activities you are already (of necessity) engaged in, and in most cases the optimizing adjustments are few, simple and pleasurable.
Nutrition: most of us fall short of what we know is a good diet. We probably should eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, and less fried and fast foods. Anything we do to improve our diet improves positive energy flow. For greater detail, check out: http://www.pulsemed.org/back-to-basics-diet.htm
Hydration: most of us in the Western world, it is safe to say, are at least somewhat dehydrated. It is estimated that the average 150 – 200 lb person should consume 3 – 4 quarts of water daily for optimum flow. For details see: http://www.ilsi.org/northamerica/publications/hyd%20-%20hydration%20-%20fluids%20for%20life.pdf
Exercise: this activity needs no explanatory website; suffice it to say that more exercise is better, even a little more is better. For exercises specific to improving qi, see: http://www.qigongexercise.com/
Sleep: “In general, you can strengthen your qi by eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and getting adequate sleep… [and this will] also help reverse the aging process.” This quote, as well as more information about restoring qi, may be found o0 the site: http://www.pacificcollege.edu/acupuncture-massage-news/articles/433-restoring-and-enhancing-your-qi.html
Breathing: the benefits of breathing are obvious. Not so well known is that deep breathing from the diaphragm (belly breathing) relieves stress, while shallow chest breathing is actually stressful. For breathing thought to be especially beneficial to qi energy flow, see http://www.qi-energy.info/qi-breathing.htm
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Mind/Body/Spirit IV: What is “Qi”, or Positive Energy flow?
Energy flows throughout our body, mind and spirit. Our primary energy vehicle is the electrical energy in the nervous system that flows throughout our body, headquartered in the brain. Chemical energy flows via the blood through our circulatory system dependent on the heard and closely related to the nervous system. Western science understands in a general way how these are related to our mind and body, but how they are further related to the spirit is a mystery. Eastern science/healing philosophy starts with the spirit end of the spectrum, with their concept of “qi”.
“Qi” is defined, according to Webster: “In Chinese philosophy, the ethereal substance of which everything is composed. Early Daoist philosophers and alchemists regarded it as a vital force associated with breath and bodily fluids and sought to control its movement within the body in order to achieve longevity and spiritual power.” The western world, especially traditional science and medicine, does not find this a useful concept. This “ethereal substance” is a concept too “woo-woo” and spiritual for their likes, although that is beginning to change!
Western science prefers to study the body, and grudgingly, the mind. They prefer the traditional senses, yet: it can no longer be denied that there is extra sensory perception. The world of quantum physics is introducing ideas such as non-locality, string theory, alternate realities and this is only the beginning. Western science is now beginning to study the invisible connection among the members of a flock of birds or a swarm of fish- http://diydilettante.wordpress.com/category/science/ and how migrating birds and other animals are able to navigate vast distances, and entanglement- http://physicscentral.com/explore/action/pia-entanglement1.cfm ; and especially relevant to the study of mind/body/spirit are the energetic “electromagnetic aspects of the bio-field”- http://physicscentral.com/explore/action/pia-entanglement1.cfm .
We are dependent on these various energies for our well-being, even for life itself. The more smoothly they flow, the better we operate. If there are blockages in these systems we suffer emotional and physical ailments. The ecology of our body/mind/spirit demands this. We are well-advised to maximize this positive energy flow!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Mind/Body/Spirit III: Increasing Positive Energy flow.
The Eastern world has long been aware that there is a Positive Energy within all animate- and inanimate- objects. This is now being accepted in the Western world as well; as it is accepted that matter is basically a form of energy. This energy is universally connected, and may even be the connectivity itself. The ancients named this positive energy force “qi”, the source of life, and have developed healing techniques based on it. Among them are the acupuncture and acupressure healing techniques, still in use today.
The website http://www.acupressure.com/applications/qienergy.htm has some information about these techniques, and qi energy. “Within all living animals are Qi meridian pathways. These life force channels govern the functions of all systems of the human body. The way Qi energy flows through the meridians presides over wellness or dis-ease imbalances... Thus, when Qi blockage occurs, the inhibited energy flow can result in all kinds of human suffering; however the flow of the Qi force can contribute to happiness when the Qi energy flows… [This] is effective in the relief of stress-related ailments, in self-care and in preventive health care. ”
It turns out that these same healing benefits can be obtained by simply tapping on the meridian points, without recourse to acupuncture or massage. This is known as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) that can be easily learned and used by anyone with no previous experience or training. As mentioned on a previous post, there are easy to follow instructions at www.garythink.com/eft/eft-tutorial.html as well as other sites about EFT or tapping that a search engine will discover for you.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Mind/Body/Spirit Positive energy flow.
When you are “in the Zone” life is good. Most of us have experienced being in this Zone from time to time, and have felt ourselves empowered beyond the norm. Maslow called these moments “peak experiences”. There are other names for this: “being in the flow”, “feeling good vibrations”, and being in the moment. These are moments of inspiration, and miracles seem more likely to manifest themselves at such times. We transcend our incongruent stressed out states and are enlightened and empowered.
For the past five thousand years, healers, gurus and monks have been practicing meditative and spiritual healing techniques, attempting to regulate the body’s energy flow, referred to as “qi”. Recently these energy healing ideas have spread to the Western healing world as well. Miraculous medical and emotional healing results have been claimed, and indeed seem to have occurred. Scientific medical studies have documented many of these claims.
While there is scientific documentation supporting the efficacy of these techniques, there is very little in terms of scientific explanation of how they work. “Vibrations”, the “Law of attraction”, “Qi” and other energetic unseen forces are credited with improving or blocking our functioning. Some promising scientific medical studies are investigating neurochemical/DNA/hormonal changes. Whatever the explanatory principles of these various methodologies are, however, they have been shown to work and are worthy of pursuing.
These methodologies, with accompanying websites explaining how to perform these miracles, follow in the next few posts. Meditation and Breathing techniques, Yoga, Brainwave entrainment, Hypnosis, NLP and EFT are all effective positive energy ehancement tools, and in most cases can be accomplished via self-help.
For the past five thousand years, healers, gurus and monks have been practicing meditative and spiritual healing techniques, attempting to regulate the body’s energy flow, referred to as “qi”. Recently these energy healing ideas have spread to the Western healing world as well. Miraculous medical and emotional healing results have been claimed, and indeed seem to have occurred. Scientific medical studies have documented many of these claims.
While there is scientific documentation supporting the efficacy of these techniques, there is very little in terms of scientific explanation of how they work. “Vibrations”, the “Law of attraction”, “Qi” and other energetic unseen forces are credited with improving or blocking our functioning. Some promising scientific medical studies are investigating neurochemical/DNA/hormonal changes. Whatever the explanatory principles of these various methodologies are, however, they have been shown to work and are worthy of pursuing.
These methodologies, with accompanying websites explaining how to perform these miracles, follow in the next few posts. Meditation and Breathing techniques, Yoga, Brainwave entrainment, Hypnosis, NLP and EFT are all effective positive energy ehancement tools, and in most cases can be accomplished via self-help.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Body/Mind/ Spirit: Positive energy
For the last hundred years, since Albert Einstein revealed to the scientific world that mass is a form of energy (and vice-versa) with his famous equation E=MC2, we have begun to understand that reality is, basically, energy. And energy, we are coming to find out, has some previously unsuspected characteristics: it is not bound by time nor space; in fact it is more likely to be time and space! You- the Body/Mind/ Spirit you- are the positive energy that is created by your body, mind, and spirit. And as positive energy, you are neither bound by time nor space.
We tend to think of the body as a "container"- the mass- that houses the mind and spirit. This is partly true for it consists of fifty trillion or so cells; however these cells are all energetically connected, and communicate information back and forth electrically, chemically, and magnetically. This energetic flow is essential to our wellbeing. The channels for this flow are called meridians, a connecting network that goes throughout the body and organs. The strongest, heart meridian has by far the greatest electrical charge (far greater that the brain) and is the center of the electromagnetic “aura” field that radiates out from you. We can think of this as the center, or “ground” of our positive energy system.
We think of the conscious and subconscious mind as being a function of the brain. Perhaps it is more accurate to think of the conscious mind as being a control center, however, for the brain is connected to all fifty trillion cells in our body, while the brain itself only contains a paltry hundred billion or so. At the helm of this control center is our conscious mind. It has access to information from the fifty trillion cells and their energy information through the subconscious mind. Blockages of this energy information flow at the subconscious level can occur. These blockages have a “gate keeper” effect, preventing some information from consciousness. We can roughly identify and measure some of these mental activities in our brain with instruments like EEGs and EKGs, and at least grossly identify some mental states.
The spirit is more elusive. It is (quite obviously) a spiritual concept and traditionally not thought to have mass or any physical substance. Modern science and ground-breaking technology are bringing these traditional ideas into question, however! It appears that we humans emanate, from the heart, a magnetic energetic aura measurable to a distance of six to eight feet. Other findings with more advanced technology hint that this distance may be far greater, especially at higher vibration frequencies. We are now venturing into the quantum world, where time and distance disappear. Here we connect to the Universe, perhaps even to God. This positive energy flow may be where we encounter the miraculous! We will consider ways of increasing this energy flow in the future posts.
We tend to think of the body as a "container"- the mass- that houses the mind and spirit. This is partly true for it consists of fifty trillion or so cells; however these cells are all energetically connected, and communicate information back and forth electrically, chemically, and magnetically. This energetic flow is essential to our wellbeing. The channels for this flow are called meridians, a connecting network that goes throughout the body and organs. The strongest, heart meridian has by far the greatest electrical charge (far greater that the brain) and is the center of the electromagnetic “aura” field that radiates out from you. We can think of this as the center, or “ground” of our positive energy system.
We think of the conscious and subconscious mind as being a function of the brain. Perhaps it is more accurate to think of the conscious mind as being a control center, however, for the brain is connected to all fifty trillion cells in our body, while the brain itself only contains a paltry hundred billion or so. At the helm of this control center is our conscious mind. It has access to information from the fifty trillion cells and their energy information through the subconscious mind. Blockages of this energy information flow at the subconscious level can occur. These blockages have a “gate keeper” effect, preventing some information from consciousness. We can roughly identify and measure some of these mental activities in our brain with instruments like EEGs and EKGs, and at least grossly identify some mental states.
The spirit is more elusive. It is (quite obviously) a spiritual concept and traditionally not thought to have mass or any physical substance. Modern science and ground-breaking technology are bringing these traditional ideas into question, however! It appears that we humans emanate, from the heart, a magnetic energetic aura measurable to a distance of six to eight feet. Other findings with more advanced technology hint that this distance may be far greater, especially at higher vibration frequencies. We are now venturing into the quantum world, where time and distance disappear. Here we connect to the Universe, perhaps even to God. This positive energy flow may be where we encounter the miraculous! We will consider ways of increasing this energy flow in the future posts.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Become Friends with your SubConscious
Become Friends with your SubConscious. We tend to think of our Conscious mind as being in charge of our daily activities, the part of us that is in charge: the part that is “driving the bus”. While in a way that is true, our conscious mind is totally inadequate to run the show by itself. Our conscious mind is limited to processing seven (plus or minus two) bits of information at a time as the late George A Miller discovered more than fifty years ago. The rest of the (subconscious) mind has access to the unlimited information that is stored in the brain, and has unlimited processing power.
So while our conscious mind is nominally in charge, it is really dependent on the SubConscious rest of the mind, body and spirit to provide the data on which to proceed. The data/information flows on electromagnetic-chemical positive energy highways. Sometimes these highways can become blocked or impassable due to previous physical or emotional accidents, leaving the conscious mind to proceed on partial or incorrect data.
And unfortunately sometimes our conscious and SubConscious minds have opposing agendas. The SubConscious mind, for good reasons of its own, may block access to, clog up or otherwise sabotage what the conscious mind proposes to do. The positive energy stops flowing. You may get derailed by blockages on the highways. When the Conscious and SubConscious minds cooperate and communicate, and get on the same page, the energy flow is restored.
There are many approaches to restoring positive energy flow. Some approaches are physical and some are more spiritual; ancient and Eastern, or modern and Western; mind-based, body-based and spirit-based: these approaches all seem to work towards making the individual and even community an integrated, congruent whole. The next few posts will examine these approaches and refer the reader to various websites, most of which are free and contain powerful self-help tools.
So while our conscious mind is nominally in charge, it is really dependent on the SubConscious rest of the mind, body and spirit to provide the data on which to proceed. The data/information flows on electromagnetic-chemical positive energy highways. Sometimes these highways can become blocked or impassable due to previous physical or emotional accidents, leaving the conscious mind to proceed on partial or incorrect data.
And unfortunately sometimes our conscious and SubConscious minds have opposing agendas. The SubConscious mind, for good reasons of its own, may block access to, clog up or otherwise sabotage what the conscious mind proposes to do. The positive energy stops flowing. You may get derailed by blockages on the highways. When the Conscious and SubConscious minds cooperate and communicate, and get on the same page, the energy flow is restored.
There are many approaches to restoring positive energy flow. Some approaches are physical and some are more spiritual; ancient and Eastern, or modern and Western; mind-based, body-based and spirit-based: these approaches all seem to work towards making the individual and even community an integrated, congruent whole. The next few posts will examine these approaches and refer the reader to various websites, most of which are free and contain powerful self-help tools.
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