Creative Health Tip 05 October 2009

Today’s tip is about a practice called Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT.

Although I have not used this myself, I was told about it by two psychologists who think very highly of the practice.

EFT was created by Gary Craig. In his manual, he explains it like this: “EFT is based on the discovery that imbalances in the body’s energy system have profound effects on one’s personal psychology. Correcting these imbalances, which is done by tapping on certain body locations, often leads to rapid remedies.”

There are many success stories not only concerning emotional wellness by people who have used the process to overcome anxiety and fear, but many cases where physical pain and illness have been cured as well.

Given what the practice is, I’m not surprised! It appears to be a combination between acupressure, where tapping instead of direct continual pressure is applied to various acupuncture points, and EMDR.

In Chinese medicine, every energy acupuncture channel not only corresponds to bodily organs and physical wellness but emotional wellness, too, so even though I haven’t tried EFT myself, I can see how it would be of great benefit on the principles of Chinese medicine alone.

Another facet of the EFT practice includes eye movements that resemble and possibly are related to a practice called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR. EMDR helps people overcome past experiences that trigger negative emotions and beliefs, and can relieve emotional distress. I have seen EMDR used in several cases involving young girls suffering from emotional traumas, and it did them a world of good. It’s a very effective healing modality.

So, if you are struggling with a physical or emotional issue, give EFT a try! You can download the basic manual for free from the website www.emofree.com

There are also additional materials including DVDs that may be purchased, but the free manual is all you need to get started with this wonderfully easy and holistic wellness technique!

Have a great week!

Holistic Healing: How it works & Why it's better for You!

The excerpts below are from the book the Healing Power of Acupressure and Acupuncture by Matthew D. Bauer, L. Ac., The Penguin Group, NY, 2005, ISBN 1583332162

I am acquainted with Matthew; he and I belong to the same Yahoo!Group list. I heard a little about his book before it was published, and couldn't wait to get my copy when it finally arrived in my favorite book store. He wrote the book at the encouragement of his patients who wanted to know and understand more about the roots and the reasons behind the practice of acupuncture, the "how" and "why" it works. Matthew explains this in excellent detail in his book (which I am reading again – for the third or fourth time).

I happened to be reading the sections below at the time I ran into a person who thinks holistic medicine is quackery, herbal medicine belongs back in the Dark Ages, and hypnotherapy is a parlor game. People like this often demand to see the double-blind, scientific study that proves you, the believer in (or practitioner of) holistic practices, can make your case. Studies in the efficacy of holistic methods are being done all the time, but it can be a challenge to prove.

These excerpts from Matthew's book explain both why holistic medicine works, and why it works well! Heck, even the "side effects" are good instead of bad! He also explains why it's difficult to produce proof. Being an acupuncturist, he writes about Chinese medicine and acupuncture, but I believe his explanation of self-healing "Reaction Medicine" can apply to many holistic modalities, including stress relief.

Stress makes you look and feel old. I promise that the easy, safe, and effective stress-relief techniques that I teach you can help you look younger and feel great! Just fill out the contact form in the sidebar to get started with your free consultation!

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Pages 98 – 103 Action Medicine vs. Reaction Medicine

Whenever a healer does something to a patient in an attempt to help the patient's health, the healer is, in effect, taking some sort of action. The healer is manipulating or changing the patient's status quo. When such action is taken, there will be two basic consequences. The first will be the direct consequence of that action, and the second will be the body's reaction to having its status quo changed. To put it simply: every action causes a reaction.

Modern medicine's use of drugs and surgery are examples of action medicine – the intervening approach. When a drug such as an antibiotic is introduced into the body, its direct consequence is to kill bacteria. It will do this in a laboratory petri dish as well as in the human body. Unlike a petri dish, however, when such a substance is introduced into a living system, including the human body, this will also cause some sort of reaction. If this reaction causes harm, it is called a side effect, also known as an adverse reaction. Whether or not the body's reaction to a drug such as an antibiotic causes enough noticeable harm to be called a side effect, there must be some sort of reaction as the body adjusts itself after having its status quo changed.

With action medicine such as drug therapy or surgery, the hope is that the direct consequence of the action will be to improve the patient's problem and that the body's reaction will be minor and of little or no consequence. Acupuncture, on the other hand, is a type of reaction medicine – the self-healing approach. In the case of reaction medicine, the goals are the opposite of those for action medicine – one now hopes the direct action is of little or no consequence and that the reaction will improve the patient's symptoms.

Researchers around the world have been discovering that acupuncture can cause the body to produce a wide array of natural substances, including those that reduce pain and inflammation, enhance immune function, balance hormones, and produce feelings of well-being. The brain imaging research being done by Hang-Zee Cho and others strongly suggests that these effects result from the stimulation of key brain centers that exert control on the body's ability to produce these and other body-regulating substances. This is how reaction medicine works – by stimulating the body to produce its own medicine, as opposed to intervening in place of the body's healing process, as it is done in action medicine. The possibility of stimulating healing reactions is almost completely unknown to modern medicine but actually provides an important complement to action medicine.

As an example of the difference between action and reaction medicine, consider the gardener who wants to control some pests, such as aphids, that are destroying a garden. One method would be to spray the garden with an insecticide that kills aphids. This is usually a pretty reliable way to get rid of the pests, but it can also cause some undesirable effects, such as damaging plants and leaving toxins on plants one may wish to eat. Another method to deal with the problem would be to release ladybugs within the garden or, better yet, grow plants such as dill, cilantro, or caraway that will attract ladybugs to the garden naturally. As aphids are a natural food for ladybugs, having ladybugs in one's garden is a natural way to deal with aphid infestation. The first approach, using insecticide, is similar to what is done in action medicine: employing a manmade agent to intervene on nature. Releasing or attracting ladybugs into the garden is similar to the reaction medicine approach: facilitating nature's own means to control a problem.

Think of the human body as a garden and the bacterial infection as the aphids. Introducing an insecticide into the garden to directly kill the aphids is essentially what happens when antibiotics are used to treat a bacterial infection. Some infections, however, can be successfully treated with acupuncture. In this case, however, the action taken – performing acupuncture on the body – does not directly kill the bacteria but rather stimulates the body's immune response, helping it to do a more effective job of fighting the bacteria itself. This is somewhat like using plants that attract ladybugs to an aphid-infested garden.

Another method that may be used to treat a bacterial infection in Chinese medicine is to use herbs. In the case of Chinese herbs, there is a very wide range of actions. Some herbs are potent substances similar to drugs and work as an action medicine that in this example would directly kill bacteria. Other herbs are very mild substances that work as a reaction medicine by stimulating the body to heal itself. This would be like introducing ladybugs into the garden to eat the aphids. The vast majority of Chinese herbs are of the very mild variety that stimulates the body to heal itself. Many of these herbs have been deemed ineffective when tested by modern researchers because they were tested as though they were action medicine drugs – for example, putting an herb extract in a petri dish with bacteria and them proclaiming it ineffective because the bacteria were not killed. Testing herbs this way is as senseless as placing some acupuncture needles in a petri dish filled with bacteria and then reaching the conclusion that acupuncture is ineffective after the bacteria survive. Reaction medicine works via the body's reaction to a mild stimulus and so can only be studied by observing its effects on real, live subjects.

Another example that can put reaction medicine, especially acupuncture, into perspective is to consider a group of people with mild sinus congestion. One way to treat these people would be to administer antihistamines, an action medicine drug that directly blocks the production of the body's histamine response. The histamine response is a natural function of the body that causes cells to react to allergens, such as sinus cells that produce mucus to flush allergens out of the body. Nature gave us the ability to flush out allergens with the histamine response for good reason. Many of the symptoms we suffer in health problems are part of our body's natural response to the cause of the problem – for example, when our bodies try to flush out an allergen with mucus. A good percentage of action medicine approaches simply short-circuit our body's natural response to a problem. This can make us more comfortable, but does nothing to get at the root of the problem.

Imagine, however, that this group with mild sinus congestion could clear it with a good sneeze (I know this is far-fetched, but please play along so that I might make my point). A sneeze is another response the human body has developed over countless generations of evolution to help clear the sinuses. If one were to take a feather and tickle each person in this group under the nostrils, some, perhaps 20 percent or so of this group, would respond by sneezing, thus clearing their congestion. Acupuncture works very much like the feather – it stimulates the body to initiate natural, self-healing responses that nature has endowed us with over millions of years of evolution. Sometimes, for countless reasons, the body is not able to make full use of all the healing resources nature endowed it with. Good reaction medicine helps the body to make better decisions about how to utilize its resources.

I hope these examples have helped to explain these two approaches to healing. Now I can go on to explain some of the characteristics of each approach, as understanding these will help answer many questions about how to utilize Chinese medicine.

In the foregoing example, those who used the action medicine approach of taking antihistamines would probably experience a high rate of relief for their symptoms. Perhaps 70-80 percent of those who took that medicine would experience a reduction in their congestion. However, every action will cause a reaction, and some who took antihistamines will end up with side effects – that is, adverse reactions. The most common of these adverse reactions would be minor things like dryness of the mouth, throat, or sinus. Although it is rare, some who took antihistamines could experience severe reactions such as hallucinations, convulsions, or even cardiovascular collapse.

The point I wish to make here is that the direct consequence of taking action is easy to predict, while the subsequent reactions are difficult to predict. The same will be true when using a feather to cause a sneeze. The direct affect of this action – a slight stimulation of the skin cells touched by the feather – would be largely the same for all the subjects. The number of those who react by sneezing would be much smaller. So here, as in the example of the use of antihistamines, the direct effect of the action was the same for a large percentage of the subjects and thus predictable, while the reaction was much more varied and difficult to predict. Who, exactly, will sneeze when tickled with the feather, and who, exactly, will get what side effect from the antihistamine? Such questions regarding reactions are difficult to answer and thus explain why so many people are seriously harmed by drug side effects; we cannot predict beforehand who will get reactions that are worse than the original problem. If we could predict this, we would not give that drug to those individuals, and drug side effects would not be killing tens of thousands of Americans, as is the case in the United States today.

As action medicine's desired therapeutic effect is a direct result of the action taken, this action must be relatively strong and will thus be relatively easy to predict. That is one of action' medicine's greatest strengths. One of its greatest weaknesses, however, is the high rate of undesirable side effects that are much more difficult to predict. In the case of reaction medicine, the desired therapeutic effect takes place as an indirect reaction to the healer's intervention. This intervention will be milder than that used in action medicine, and there will be few if any undesirable effects, but the desired therapeutic effect, being a reaction, will be difficult to predict. Thus, one of the strengths of reaction medicine is its safety, while one of its weaknesses is a relatively greater degree of unpredictability in obtaining the desired therapeutic effect.

Pages 110 – 111 Additional Benefits of Reaction Medicine

[These are a couple of brief quotes from this section]

One of the most important and often overlooked strengths of reaction medicine is the potential to provide benefits for problems other than those being treated; that is, to cause good side effects. Because of the nature of holistic interconnections and the fact that reaction medicine takes advantage of these connections in helping the body to help itself, helping one problem with reaction medicine often helps others as well. …

Finding that other health conditions improve in the process of treating the primary problem is common occurrence in the practice of Chinese medicine. Often these additional benefits go unnoticed by the patient at first. Because reaction medicine helps the body to better adjust and heal itself naturally, many people do not realize that the cause of their sleeping better, catching fewer colds, experiencing more energy, and so on is the treatment they have been having for other problems. If someone continues to be treated with reaction medicine approaches over long periods of time, the improvements in overall body balancing they experience can also help to prevent future health problems.

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Get started with your holistic stress-relief today! Just send me a note through the contact form in the sidebar!

Qigong Group Practice: It Does A Body Good!

A group of people in China practice qigong together outside.













I've been advocating qigong for almost a year now, first mentioning it on August 9, 2006 and introducing Eight Pieces of Brocade on November 6, 2006. Speaking holistically, there is no better practice than qigong to aid in your surgery and illness recovery, strengthen your immune system, restore flexibility to your joints and muscles, and eliminate your anxiety and stress.

Qigong does this by restoring, correcting, or improving the natural function of your body systems so that you may effect your own healing. This is known as "reaction medicine." The "action medicine" approach to healthcare means introducing an agent that is directed at the control of symptoms and forces the body into compliance with a desired effect, for example a drug to control heartbeat that has very dangerous side effects. The "reaction medicine" approach would be to employ herbs, nutrition, or techniques like massage or acupuncture to restore health to the affected area, and that restoration of health will naturally eliminate symptoms of disease. It turn out there are additional benefits as well.

I take this opportunity to quote from a previous article on holistic healing and how this method helps the body react to an agent by returning to health.

Briefly quoting two paragraphs from pages 110 – 111, Additional Benefits of Reaction Medicine from Healing Power Of Acupressure and Acupuncture (Avery Health Guides) by Matthew Bauer, L.Ac.:

• One of the most important and often overlooked strengths of reaction medicine is the potential to provide benefits for problems other than those being treated; that is, to cause good side effects. Because of the nature of holistic interconnections and the fact that reaction medicine takes advantage of these connections in helping the body to help itself, helping one problem with reaction medicine often helps others as well.

• Finding that other health conditions improve in the process of treating the primary problem is common occurrence in the practice of Chinese medicine. Often these additional benefits go unnoticed by the patient at first. Because reaction medicine helps the body to better adjust and heal itself naturally, many people do not realize that the cause of their sleeping better, catching fewer colds, experiencing more energy, and so on is the treatment they have been having for other problems. If someone continues to be treated with reaction medicine approaches over long periods of time, the improvements in overall body balancing they experience can also help to prevent future health problems.

You can see by this that all true healing is self-healing, the return of your body to working in its unique and natural order.

There is an outside component that can enhance your self-recovery through qigong, and that is practicing with a group or in a class of people.

If you can't join a class, certainly doing qigong along with a video or through the instruction in a book will be beneficial, but there is a special synergy that increases every participant's personal energy when like-minded people with similar goals come together.

The energy of each person in the group becomes stronger, clearer, more focused. It is the personal energetic equivalent of 1 + 1 = 3, or the group energy being greater than the sum of its parts.

You have experienced this at sports rallies or games – though to a greater degree and sometimes unpleasant degree – when groups of people cheer for their team. The energy of the crowd is much greater than it would be if the individuals were not concentrated in one area and in close contact with each other.

For example, 10,000 people could be at home watching the same game and cheering for the same team to win, but the energy would be much different if those 10,000 people were together in the stadium.

Practicing qigong with a group of people won't be as exuberant as being in a sports arena with hundreds of screaming fans – it isn't supposed to be! – but the same energetic principle will be at work, enhancing your energy and the energy of your surroundings. It will be very beneficial and rewarding to your health and wellbeing!

Furthermore, when you become familiar with the routine of the form, you will find that you relax into a meditative state when practicing. This may take some time, but every repetition of the form brings you that much closer to knowing it without thinking about it. Upon reaching that level of knowledge, after a couple months of practice, when you do qigong, you may feel like you do when you are daydreaming, your body and mind both relaxed and in the moment.

When this happens, the body emits energy in the form of a bio-magnetic field that is often in the frequency range defined as that which can promote healing in a variety of soft and hard tissue. P. 83 of Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis by James Oschman Ph.D.

This is the same energy you experience when you say "vibes" in the context of the feeling you get in the presence of another person. Without that person doing or saying anything, you often get a feeling about a stranger when you are near them, getting "bad vibes" or "good vibes" as the case may be. Bad vibes make you feel nervous and uncomfortable, good vibes make you feel relaxed, open, and friendly.

You know that you do well when you are surrounded by people who have good feelings toward you, who want you do succeed. You learn better, you perform your job better, and in good surroundings, you also heal better.

Put those "good vibes" to work for you in the form of a class; join a group of people all interested in good health, all wanting to experience the benefits of practicing qigong, all feeling good being with a group of people who have the same goals. You will experience an unbeatable combination of enhanced internal and external "good vibes" producing a stronger, faster, and even more beneficial stress-reducing and healing experience through your qigong practice.

Summing up meditation

Since the meditation series spanned more time than I would have liked due to my computer problem, I thought I’d do a bit of a summary to bring it all back together.

Meditation is the introduction to what meditation is and what it can do for you. The rest of the series describes the major styles of meditation from most active to most contemplative. I know you can find one that is just right for you!

Walking Meditation tells you how to synchronize walking with breathing, and discusses two forms of walking meditation: random and labyrinth or pattern walking.

Standing Meditation introduces you to zhan zhuang qigong, the energy practice of “standing like a tree.” To learn more about qigong, see Eight Pieces of Brocade Qigong. I will also be talking more about qigong in the future, so stay tuned!

Journaling and Mandala Meditation is about stream-of-consciousness writing and art. This post contains links to several sites with free mandala drawings you may print and color.

Mantra and Mudra Meditation discusses the use of sound and vibration in meditation, and the use of hand acupressure to stimulate the flow of your qi, your internal energy.

Focus and Visualization Meditation are two different sides of the Art of Paying Attention.

Breath and Seated Meditation, the most contemplative of the meditation methods, discusses how to sit (and why!), and several breathing styles.

The wonderful Tree of Contemplative practices picture is courtesy of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. They have made available several sizes of the image for download. Thanks to JLB for letting me know about this image…I just love it!

Breath and Seated Meditation

Breath and Seated Meditation is sometimes called Insight Meditation because the practice has been known to lead to those “Ah-Ha!” moments.

On the surface, seated meditation appears to be the least active of the meditation styles which may be why it is considered to be the most difficult. If you are usually a very active person, doing what you perceive as “sitting and doing nothing” can be challenging. It goes against the grain of Western education and culture to not be “doing something” every waking moment. It’s very important to understand that while conscious physical activity is at a minimum during this style of meditation, you are far from “doing nothing.” There is quite a lot going on, energetically speaking, within your body and mind during seated meditation.

As with every meditation style, you should always strive to practice daily; the benefits of meditation are cumulative, so practicing five minutes every day will be more beneficial in the long run than a once-a-week marathon session lasting an hour or two.

The first thing to do for seated meditation is to be seated comfortably.

The Lotus Position is best for seated meditation. Take note of the picture above and notice how the toes are pressing on the thigh. I believe that posture is important, and will explain why in a moment.

The second best position can be attained easily by kneeling and using a meditation bench. Usually made of wood, these can be found from very simple to very elaborate designs, and come in two styles, one center leg or two legs. I prefer the center-leg version because I find it much easier to get into and out of the seated position, and it allows more freedom of leg movement. When using a meditation bench of either style, the tops of your feet will be on the floor and your toes will be pressing onto the floor from the top and outer-edge angle. (I’ll come back to that foot position soon.) The added benefit of kneeling while using a meditation bench is that you are not sitting on your legs and completely cutting off your circulation!

If neither of those postures suits you, just be seated comfortably in a chair with good back, shoulder, and neck support. Do not put your arms on the arms of the chair. That posture often forces your shoulders into a hunched position which creates tension and discomfort. Find something rounded that you can rest your foot on; it should be something fairly small (any smooth, round object about an inch in diameter is perfect) that will rest comfortably under your foot in the soft spot just behind the ball of the foot.

For all three seated styles, keep your elbows at your sides, and let your hands rest in your lap. You may do a mudra if you wish. (If you aren’t familiar with mudras, see Mantra and Mudra Meditation.)

Now, about that foot position: Here is why I believe it is important to sit in a position that creates pressure on that upper, outer edge of the toes and feet. On the side of the little toe that touches the toe beside it is the start point for the kidney meridian, an upward-flowing energy pathway that travels from your toes to your kidneys and onward. The spot just behind the ball of the foot is the second point on that energy pathway. By stimulating these points in the feet, you encourage the energy to flow in its upward direction. When it reaches the kidney, the main energy path continues on, travels through the liver, through the lungs, and ends at the base of the tongue. As this energy channel passes through the lungs, a secondary channel branches off, passes through the heart, and connects with yet another energy channel in the chest area. Knowledge of this energy flow is important because, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the kidney is the storehouse of your life essence, that energy that keeps the form of your body working and in balance, the source for growth, development, and reproduction. By placing your feet in a position that puts slight pressure on the first or second points of the kidney channel, I believe you are in effect giving yourself a mild acupressure treatment, and encouraging the flow of health-restoring, harmonizing, life essence energy through four very vital organs: kidney, liver, lungs and heart.

There are three breathing styles you may practice during seated meditation.

The first is “Belly Breathing,” or Tan Tien Breathing. Breathe slowly and deeply, filling your lungs. Inhale as though you are breathing so deeply that the oxygen is filling your lungs, your chest, and your abdomen. Always inhale through the nose; you may exhale either through the nose or the mouth. Done correctly, your abdomen will expand slightly as you inhale, and return to normal on the exhale. Of course, don’t “push” out the abdominal area, just let it rise and fall naturally. This breathing style is fluid; do not pause between breaths. You may count breaths if it helps your focus, or simply apply your attention to a positive emotion and let each inhaling breath fill you with gratitude, compassion, love, or the emotion of your choice. As you exhale, see yourself sharing the gratitude, compassion, or love with your family, your friends, your community, and beyond if you like. You may want to start with a five-minute session (yes, it’s okay to use a timer!) and build up to the amount of time that suits your schedule; twenty to forty minutes a day is recommended.

Another breathing style you may want to experiment with is breath pausing. This is performed the same as Tan Tien breathing, but you pause for a few seconds between each inhale and exhale. This style promotes deep relaxation. An advanced version of this practice is to lengthen the pauses between inhale and exhale until the pause is equal in length to the count of the inhale or exhale. For example, say you inhale to the count of 4, pause for a moment, then exhale to the count of four. The normal practice would be to hold the breath to the count of one then exhale. In the advanced practice, you may lengthen the pause to a two, three, or four count.

Alternate breathing is a style in which you inhale and exhale alternately through only the nostrils. It helps to balance the left and right hemispheres of the brain. To practice, put your hands in the prayer position, and rest your thumbs under your chin. Place your index fingers so they rest on the sides of your nose.

1 - Press the left index finger on the left nostril so that nostril is closed and inhale through the right nostril.

2 - Release the left nostril, press the right nostril closed with your right index finger and exhale through the left.

3 – Don’t move your fingers; keep your right nostril closed and inhale through the left nostril.

4 - Press the left index finger on the left nostril so that nostril is closed and exhale through the right nostril.

5 - Repeat steps 1 through 4.

Are you vibrating at a higher frequency?

If you meditate, the answer is probably “Yes.”

If you have ever heard someone claim to be “vibrating at a higher frequency,” or if you have read things like “As humanity begins to vibrate at a higher level...” and thought it was a bit strange and “New-Age” (it’s actually very scientific), here is what that is all about. I have to admit that the reason I researched this topic was partly because you hear it everywhere these days, and partly because someone I trust actually told me I was vibrating at a higher frequency; I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to spontaneously combust or anything.

Brainwave frequencies as measured by EEG (electroencephalograph) are measured as follows (though there are slight variations on the ranges of cycles per second from source to source):

Delta: 0.5 to 4 Hz. (Hz or Hertz = cycles per second) Deep, dreamless sleep.

Theta 4 to 8 Hz. Deeply relaxed; daydreaming (the state between wakefulness and sleep).

Alpha 8 to 13 Hz. Relaxed but not sleepy.

Beta 13 to 27 Hz. Focused attention, alert mental activity

Gamma 25 to 42 Hz. Very high level information processing. “When the brain needs to simultaneously process information from different areas, its hypothesized that the 40Hz activity consolidates the required areas for simultaneous processing.” http://www.crossroadsinstitute.org/

This “higher vibration level” topic is usually spoken of within the context of recognition of spiritual energy or achievement. It takes time and dedication to achieve brainwave consistency at this vibration level, but it can be accomplished through meditation. It’s likely that the most devoted practitioners are found in Buddhist monasteries where up to eight hours a day is spent in meditation.

A small study compared the brainwave frequencies of long-term Buddhist meditation practitioners who routinely “vibrated at a higher level” in the Gamma range to a group of people who didn’t. These people expressed interest in meditation but had never practiced. The results of the study were extremely interesting [my emphasis]:

“Our study is consistent with the idea that attention and affective processes, which gamma-band EEG synchronization may reflect, are flexible skills that can be trained [i.e. learned]. It remains for future studies to show that these EEG signatures are caused by long-term training itself and not by individual differences before the training, although the positive correlation that we found with hours of training and other randomized controlled trials suggest that these are training-related effects.”

You may read the full study here: “Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice”

The bottom line is: Yes, meditation can not only relax your body, lower your blood pressure, restore health and wellness, it can raise your level of vibration and lead to permanent improvements in many areas of brain function!

Mantra and Mudra Meditation

Mantra

A mantra is a chant. It can be as simple (and simply profound) as repeating the single syllable Aum, or it can be almost like a song of many words as is the Great Compassion Mantra. (Click here to listen to the Chinese version, one repetition, about two minutes.) The mantra is found throughout the world both as a meditation practice and as a healing practice.

As a spiritual practice, mantra chanting began with the Hindus and was adopted by Buddhists and eventually other religious groups. It is believed that the idea for chanting the "Ave Maria" was brought back to Europe by Crusaders who learned the practice of using strings of beads (which we now call rosaries) to count prayer repetitions from the Arabs who had received their instruction in the practice from Tibetan monks and Indian Yogi masters.

The originators of the mantra practice discovered that repeating certain sounds with the voice created a particular vibration within the body. This combination of sound and vibration created an altered state of consciousness when practiced at length. You usually begin by chanting aloud, and then your voice softens until it is no longer heard, but the vibration continues in the mind. It is believed this practice opens your mind to spiritual awareness and insight. Indeed, the word mantra comes from a combination meaning "mind-tool," and it is the use of the voice that harmonizes the chanter's energies. When the energies have become harmonized, the voice may rest, but with dedicated concentration and focus, the energy pulses on.

Anyone who has ever attended a political demonstration where hundreds or even thousands of people are chanting the same slogan will attest to the power of the mantra to alter the consciousness. Personally, I believe that the number of participants may make a difference in groups new to the practice; the more people chanting together, the more energy that will be generated, and the more rapid and deep the change to the consciousness will become. However, for spiritualists long trained in the practice, large numbers of participants are probably not necessary (maybe not even desirable) to achieve an altered state.

Mantras are probably the first-ever demonstration and practice of entrainment, the physics principle that states two different vibrating bodies will mutually influence each other and both will adapt until their vibrations are synchronized.

A small study was done to see if chanting a rhythmic formula (such as a mantra or the "Ave Maria") had an effect on the cardiovascular system, see if it would synchronize breathing and heart rate, and if it would affect the body's ability to maintain steady blood pressure. Their stated result: "Both prayer and mantra caused striking, powerful, and synchronous increases in existing cardiovascular rhythms when recited six times a minute. Baroreflex [your body's mechanism for maintaining steady blood pressure levels] sensitivity also increased significantly…" Their conclusion: "Rhythm formulas that involve breathing at six breaths per minute induce favourable psychological and possibly physiological effects." Source

If you read my previous article on breathing, you may recall that ten breaths per minute is the respiration rate of a relaxed individual. Six breaths per minute will slow the heart rate and lead to even deeper relaxation. When I am doing standing qigong, I usually breathe at a rate of four or five respirations (inhale and exhale) per minute, and doing this for thirty or more minutes at a time has been known to induce an altered state of consciousness even though chanting is not part of that practice.

In part, the reason that chanting has this relaxing and mind-altering effect is that performing the chant also regulates the breathing. The words and syllables in mantras for spiritual awakenings were created to (or were discovered to) also regulate the respiration. It is not just the sound, but the sound together with the regulation of the breath that causes the heart rate to synchronize, and the blood pressure to respond. This is why it is often said that it doesn't matter whether you chant "Aum," "Ave Maria," or "My Name Is Michelle," if you can hum the sound and create the vibration, the rate of respiration is slow and entrains the heart rate, you will likely achieve an altered state of consciousness if that is your goal. You will certainly achieve a state of very deep relaxation!

If you choose to create your own mantra, in order to be effective the words or syllables you chant should be sounds you can draw out like the mmmmmm of an M, or nnnnnnnnn of N, or ssssssss of S, or vvvvvvvv of V. Almost any vowel will work because you can almost hum them. (The ancient Greeks considered vowels to be sacred, possibly just for the reason that chanting them created altered states of consciousness.) Whatever sound you choose, make sure it is sustainable. K doesn’t work well, the sound is too hard and short. Neither does T or B because you can't elongate or hum them, you can only stutter them and you just don't get the same result.

Mudra

Photo of Buddha Amitabha in Ushiku, Japan. Courtesy of Manja on Wikipedia

Mudra (Sanskrit for "seal") is the collective name for the type of hand gesture you often see on statutes of Hindu or Buddhist sacred figures. Each position has it's own name, such as Atmanjali Mudra (the same palms-together and fingers pointing upward position that is common in many religious prayer traditions), or Ushas Mudra (fingers laced together with palms upward as though your hands are resting on your lap). All mudras require that your hands be in particular positions, sometimes with certain fingers pressed together, or in some cases fingers may be laced together or even spread out. Keep in mind that stretching or flexing puts its own type of gentle but steady pressure on muscles, arteries, and meridians!

As with mantras, mudras are considered to be both sacred and healing gestures. Traditionally, they are practiced along with the body postures in yoga, or in seated meditations like some of the Zen practices. It may not seem as if this would be an especially effective practice, but don't let the simplicity fool you. Mudras have been used for thousands of years; there is little doubt the practice is effective, the only question is: "How open-minded is the seeker?" Remember, if you are sure something works, or you are sure it doesn't, you're right.

It is very likely that the spiritual benefit from performing a mudra lies in the way the positions of the fingers put pressure on and activate your energy meridians. The same would be true of healing gestures also, but the way the fingers are placed, the amount of pressure applied, the length of time the position is held makes all the difference. Also, the point where pressure is applied must be precise, or the practice will avail nothing. (It's a bit like a computer touch screen; if you don't touch the right spot, nothing (or the wrong thing) will happen.) It is certain that pressure applied in such a way as to activate an energy meridian will cause energy or qi to flow along that channel. If that is a channel that connects to areas of the body or mind that induce spiritual experiences or altered states, then you will have a spiritual experience.

As healing gestures, mudras work the same way acupressure works. When you press upon certain points on the fingers and hands, you activate energy channels through which qi or energy runs through your body. In Chinese medicine, illness is caused by blocked or stagnant qi, so performing a mudra or acupressure on points of the hands or fingers that correspond to illnesses will encourage the free flow of qi and help to overcome that illness.

The one book I have and highly recommend is

by Gertrud Hirschi. I consult it frequently for personal use, and have prepared talks and demonstrations using information contained in the book.

How holistic healing modalities work & why they're better for you

The following is an excerpt from the book Healing Power Of Acupressure and Acupuncture (Avery Health Guides) by Matthew D. Bauer, L. Ac., The Penguin Group, NY, 2005, ISBN 1583332162

I am acquainted with Matthew; he and I belong to the same Yahoo!Group list. I heard a little about his book before it was published, and couldn't wait to get my copy when it finally arrived in my favorite book store. He wrote the book at the encouragement of his patients who wanted to know and understand more about the roots and the reasons behind the practice of acupuncture, the "how" and "why" it works. Matthew explains this in excellent detail in his book (which I am reading again – for the third or fourth time).

I happened to be reading the sections below at the time I ran into a person who thinks holistic medicine is quackery, herbal medicine belongs back in the Dark Ages, and hypnotherapy is a parlor game. People like this always take the high ground on the side of surgery and drugs by demanding to see the double-blind, scientific study that proves you, the believer in holistic practices, can make your case. Studies in the efficacy of holistic methods are being done all the time, but it can be a challenge to prove.

These excerpts from Matthew's book explain both why holistic medicine works (and works well!) and why it's difficult to produce proof. Being an acupuncturist, he writes about Chinese medicine and acupuncture, but I believe his explanation of self-healing "Reaction Medicine" can apply to many holistic modalities.

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Pages 98 – 103 Action Medicine vs. Reaction Medicine

Whenever a healer does something to a patient in an attempt to help the patient's health, the healer is, in effect, taking some sort of action. The healer is manipulating or changing the patient's status quo. When such action is taken, there will be two basic consequences. The first will be the direct consequence of that action, and the second will be the body's reaction to having its status quo changed. To put it simply: every action causes a reaction.

Modern medicine's use of drugs and surgery are examples of action medicine – the intervening approach. When a drug such as an antibiotic is introduced into the body, its direct consequence is to kill bacteria. It will do this in a laboratory petri dish as well as in the human body. Unlike a petri dish, however, when such a substance is introduced into a living system, including the human body, this will also cause some sort of reaction. If this reaction causes harm, it is called a side effect, also known as an adverse reaction. Whether or not the body's reaction to a drug such as an antibiotic causes enough noticeable harm to be called a side effect, there must be some sort of reaction as the body adjusts itself after having its status quo changed.

With action medicine such as drug therapy or surgery, the hope is that the direct consequence of the action will be to improve the patient's problem and that the body's reaction will be minor and of little or no consequence. Acupuncture, on the other hand, is a type of reaction medicine – the self-healing approach. In the case of reaction medicine, the goals are the opposite of those for action medicine – one now hopes the direct action is of little or no consequence and that the reaction will improve the patient's symptoms.

Researchers around the world have been discovering that acupuncture can cause the body to produce a wide array of natural substances, including those that reduce pain and inflammation, enhance immune function, balance hormones, and produce feelings of well-being. The brain imaging research being done by Hang-Zee Cho and others strongly suggests that these effects result from the stimulation of key brain centers that exert control on the body's ability to produce these and other body-regulating substances. This is how reaction medicine works – by stimulating the body to produce its own medicine, as opposed to intervening in place of the body's healing process, as it is done in action medicine. The possibility of stimulating healing reactions is almost completely unknown to modern medicine but actually provides an important complement to action medicine.

As an example of the difference between action and reaction medicine, consider the gardener who wants to control some pests, such as aphids, that are destroying a garden. One method would be to spray the garden with an insecticide that kills aphids. This is usually a pretty reliable way to get rid of the pests, but it can also cause some undesirable effects, such as damaging plants and leaving toxins on plants one may wish to eat. Another method to deal with the problem would be to release ladybugs within the garden or, better yet, grow plants such as dill, cilantro, or caraway that will attract ladybugs to the garden naturally. As aphids are a natural food for ladybugs, having ladybugs in one's garden is a natural way to deal with aphid infestation. The first approach, using insecticide, is similar to what is done in action medicine: employing a manmade agent to intervene on nature. Releasing or attracting ladybugs into the garden is similar to the reaction medicine approach: facilitating nature's own means to control a problem.

Think of the human body as a garden and the bacterial infection as the aphids. Introducing an insecticide into the garden to directly kill the aphids is essentially what happens when antibiotics are used to treat a bacterial infection. Some infections, however, can be successfully treated with acupuncture. In this case, however, the action taken – performing acupuncture on the body – does not directly kill the bacteria but rather stimulates the body's immune response, helping it to do a more effective job of fighting the bacteria itself. This is somewhat like using plants that attract ladybugs to an aphid-infested garden.

Another method that may be used to treat a bacterial infection in Chinese medicine is to use herbs. In the case of Chinese herbs, there is a very wide range of actions. Some herbs are potent substances similar to drugs and work as an action medicine that in this example would directly kill bacteria. Other herbs are very mild substances that work as a reaction medicine by stimulating the body to heal itself. This would be like introducing ladybugs into the garden to eat the aphids. The vast majority of Chinese herbs are of the very mild variety that stimulates the body to heal itself. Many of these herbs have been deemed ineffective when tested by modern researchers because they were tested as though they were action medicine drugs – for example, putting an herb extract in a petri dish with bacteria and them proclaiming it ineffective because the bacteria were not killed. Testing herbs this way is as senseless as placing some acupuncture needles in a petri dish filled with bacteria and then reaching the conclusion that acupuncture is ineffective after the bacteria survive. Reaction medicine works via the body's reaction to a mild stimulus and so can only be studied by observing its effects on real, live subjects.

Another example that can put reaction medicine, especially acupuncture, into perspective is to consider a group of people with mild sinus congestion. One way to treat these people would be to administer antihistamines, an action medicine drug that directly blocks the production of the body's histamine response. The histamine response is a natural function of the body that causes cells to react to allergens, such as sinus cells that produce mucus to flush allergens out of the body. Nature gave us the ability to flush out allergens with the histamine response for good reason. Many of the symptoms we suffer in health problems are part of our body's natural response to the cause of the problem – for example, when our bodies try to flush out an allergen with mucus. A good percentage of action medicine approaches simply short-circuit our body's natural response to a problem. This can make us more comfortable, but does nothing to get at the root of the problem.

Imagine, however, that this group with mild sinus congestion could clear it with a good sneeze (I know this is far-fetched, but please play along so that I might make my point). A sneeze is another response the human body has developed over countless generations of evolution to help clear the sinuses. If one were to take a feather and tickle each person in this group under the nostrils, some, perhaps 20 percent or so of this group, would respond by sneezing, thus clearing their congestion. Acupuncture works very much like the feather – it stimulates the body to initiate natural, self-healing responses that nature has endowed us with over millions of years of evolution. Sometimes, for countless reasons, the body is not able to make full use of all the healing resources nature endowed it with. Good reaction medicine helps the body to make better decisions about how to utilize its resources.

I hope these examples have helped to explain these two approaches to healing. Now I can go on to explain some of the characteristics of each approach, as understanding these will help answer many questions about how to utilize Chinese medicine.

In the foregoing example, those who used the action medicine approach of taking antihistamines would probably experience a high rate of relief for their symptoms. Perhaps 70-80 percent of those who took that medicine would experience a reduction in their congestion. However, every action will cause a reaction, and some who took antihistamines will end up with side effects – that is, adverse reactions. The most common of these adverse reactions would be minor things like dryness of the mouth, throat, or sinus. Although it is rare, some who took antihistamines could experience severe reactions such as hallucinations, convulsions, or even cardiovascular collapse.

The point I wish to make here is that the direct consequence of taking action is easy to predict, while the subsequent reactions are difficult to predict. The same will be true when using a feather to cause a sneeze. The direct affect of this action – a slight stimulation of the skin cells touched by the feather – would be largely the same for all the subjects. The number of those who react by sneezing would be much smaller. So here, as in the example of the use of antihistamines, the direct effect of the action was the same for a large percentage of the subjects and thus predictable, while the reaction was much more varied and difficult to predict. Who, exactly, will sneeze when tickled with the feather, and who, exactly, will get what side effect from the antihistamine? Such questions regarding reactions are difficult to answer and thus explain why so many people are seriously harmed by drug side effects; we cannot predict beforehand who will get reactions that are worse than the original problem. If we could predict this, we would not give that drug to those individuals, and drug side effects would not be killing tens of thousands of Americans, as is the case in the United States today.

As action medicine's desired therapeutic effect is a direct result of the action taken, this action must be relatively strong and will thus be relatively easy to predict. That is one of action' medicine's greatest strengths. One of its greatest weaknesses, however, is the high rate of undesirable side effects that are much more difficult to predict. In the case of reaction medicine, the desired therapeutic effect takes place as an indirect reaction to the healer's intervention. This intervention will be milder than that used in action medicine, and there will be few if any undesirable effects, but the desired therapeutic effect, being a reaction, will be difficult to predict. Thus, one of the strengths of reaction medicine is its safety, while one of its weaknesses is a relatively greater degree of unpredictability in obtaining the desired therapeutic effect.

Pages 110 – 111 Additional Benefits of Reaction Medicine

[These are a couple of brief quotes from this section]

One of the most important and often overlooked strengths of reaction medicine is the potential to provide benefits for problems other than those being treated; that is, to cause good side effects. Because of the nature of holistic interconnections and the fact that reaction medicine takes advantage of these connections in helping the body to help itself, helping one problem with reaction medicine often helps others as well. …

Finding that other health conditions improve in the process of treating the primary problem is common occurrence in the practice of Chinese medicine. Often these additional benefits go unnoticed by the patient at first. Because reaction medicine helps the body to better adjust and heal itself naturally, many people do not realize that the cause of their sleeping better, catching fewer colds, experiencing more energy, and so on is the treatment they have been having for other problems. If someone continues to be treated with reaction medicine approaches over long periods of time, the improvements in overall body balancing they experience can also help to prevent future health problems.

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Walking meditation

For anyone who leads a busy life, and who has not tried meditation before, walking meditation is a great place to start. You receive the many calming, grounding, and centering benefits of meditation without the challenge of trying to sit completely still.

You already know how great walking is for your circulation because the leg muscles aid the heart in moving your blood through your veins and arteries. Walking also works to relax your leg muscles through the constant flexing and stretching. It (hopefully!) takes you outdoors where you get fresh air, and sunshine to boost your Vitamin D intake.

There is a special benefit to walking meditation (and standing meditation, which I will talk about next time) that none of the seated methods offer. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the energy channels or meridians for the kidneys, spleen, and liver begin on the foot. Every step you take is like a little self-reflexology or self-acupressure treatment. When your toes press the ground, you put pressure on the starting points for each of these energy channels. In effect, you are giving each of these organs a little boost of energy, and that is fantastic since all three are involved in the processes of removing toxins from the body. If you would like to carry the Chinese Medicine ideals a step further, you may plan your walking meditation for one of the two-hour periods of the day when the energy channels for the organs are "active" or most open to energetic influence: between 9:00 and 11:00 AM for the spleen, 5:00 and 7:00 PM for the kidneys, or 1:00 and 3:00 AM for the liver.

(I know I spend a lot of time talking about physical wellness, but I can't emphasize this enough: When your body is in great shape, you are better prepared to effectively deal with mental and emotional stress.)

There are two types of walking meditation, random and pattern. Random walking is done anywhere at any time, and is like strolling according to meditative principles. Pattern walking is following the path of one of the many styles of labyrinths.

To prepare for walking meditation, you should be dressed comfortably and for the environment; lightweight clothing for indoors or warm weather, warm garments in layers for outdoor cooler weather. You can carry an umbrella if you like to walk in the rain….there is no especial position or task for your hands in walking meditation. Of course, you should always wear comfortable, supportive shoes although walking barefoot on grass is ideal if you have the opportunity to do so safely. Always walk on the softest surface possible; carpet indoors, grass or soil outdoors. Try to avoid solid, unforgiving surfaces that will be hard on your knees and shins.

While you walk, your breathing cycle and your steps will be synchronized: inhale as you raise your leg; exhale as you extend your leg and lean forward into your step. When you place your heel on the ground, your forward motion will be like rolling from the heel to the ball of your foot. You will inhale through your nose; you may exhale through your nose or mouth.

Stand up and try it now:

Lift your foot from the ground while you inhale.

Extend your leg and place the heel on the ground; roll forward from the heel to the sole of the forward foot while the foot behind you rolls up onto the toes as you exhale.

Lift your back foot from the ground while you inhale.

Extend that leg and place the heel on the ground; roll forward from the heel to the sole of the forward foot while the foot behind you rolls up onto the toes as you exhale.

Here's how it should look at the moment your forward heel touches the ground.

You will be walking slowly, of course, because your pace is linked to your breathing. You don't want to breathe too fast, you'll hyperventilate! To reach a level of meditative relaxation, your breathing cycle should be one complete breath, inhale and exhale, approximately every six seconds, so you should be walking at a pace that is about ten steps per minute.

For random walking, once you have command of the breathing/stepping cycle, you will want to deepen your meditative practice.

Begin by paying attention to your body as you move. Concentrate on the muscles and how they feel as they contract and extend as you move forward.

Extend your awareness to the ground beneath your feet and ponder how it affects your practice and your mood if it's soft, hard, lumpy, etc.

Place your awareness upon your intention, how your mind carries out your intention to walk by sending the signal to your muscles to move. Consider how your mind is in charge of your breathing and your movement.

Ponder how your awareness and your intentions affect your reactions (including stress reactions), moods, emotions, and "where you are going," how you "move" through life.

Chartres-style labyrinth

Pattern walking is a little different after you have mastered the breathing/stepping cycle.

Instead of directing your attention to your movement and your body, you will direct your attention inward. Most often this is a spiritual practice very symbolic of the inward journey to your source or soul, and the labyrinths are often found at churches or other houses of worship. The most famous of the labyrinths is the eleven-circuit one imbedded in the floor in the Chartres Cathedral in France, constructed during the Middle Ages (c. 1201) for the spiritual benefit of the parishioners. The Chinese and Native Americans had their own styles of labyrinths, and the Greeks had a very popular seven-circle pattern that was even stamped on their coins.

Labyrinth imprinted on a Greek coin (c. 100 BC)

Labyrinths come in a variety of patterns, but all tap into the same idea: inwardly, you are walking toward your Center just as outwardly, you feet are walking toward the center of the pattern. As a metaphor for life, a labyrinth is made of many twists and turns, sometimes it seems as though you double back on yourself, and it doesn't always make sense, but you are always on the right Path for there is only one Path leading to the Center.

If you ever have the opportunity to walk a labyrinth, go for it! I've walked labyrinths twice, one seven-circle Greek style outdoors, and one Chartres style indoors. Each of my labyrinth experiences was very different from the other, but both were pretty amazing. I'm sure your labyrinth-walking experience will be amazing, too!