There's a lot of discussion these days about fit kids. People who care (parents, doctors, teachers, and others) want to know how to help kids be more fit.
Being fit is a way of saying a person eats well, gets a lot of physical activity (exercise), and has a healthy weight. If you're fit, your body works well, feels good, and can do all the things you want to do, like run around with your friends.
Some steps only parents can take — such as serving healthy meals or deciding to take the family on a nature hike. But kids can take charge, too, when it comes to health.
Here are five rules to live by, if you're a kid who wants to be fit. The trick is to follow these rules most of the time, knowing that some days (like your birthday) might call for cake and ice cream.
1. Eat a variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. You may have a favorite food, but the best choice is to eat a variety. If you eat different foods, you're more likely to get the nutrients your body needs. Taste new foods and old ones you haven't tried for a while. Some foods, such as green veggies, are more pleasing the older you get. Shoot for at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day — two fruits and three vegetables. Here's one combination that might work for you:
* at breakfast: ½ cup (about 4 large) strawberries on your cereal
* with lunch: 6 baby carrots
* for a snack: an apple
* with dinner: ½ cup broccoli (about 2 big spears) and 1 cup of salad
2. Drink water and milk most often. When you're really thirsty, cold water is the No. 1 thirst-quencher. And there's a reason your school cafeteria offers cartons of milk. Kids need calcium to grow strong bones, and milk is a great source of this mineral. How much do kids need? Aim for 3 cups of milk per day, or its equivalent. You can mix it up by having milk and some other calcium-rich dairy foods. Here's one combination:
* 2 cups (about half a liter) of low-fat or nonfat milk
* 1 slice cheddar cheese
* ½ cup (small container) of yogurt
You probably will want something other than milk or water once in a while, so it's OK to have 100% juice, too. But try to limit sugary drinks, like sodas, juice cocktails, and fruit punches. They contain a lot of added sugar. Sugar just adds calories, not important nutrients.
3. Listen to your body. What does it feel like to be full? When you're eating, notice how your body feels and when your stomach feels comfortably full. Sometimes, people eat too much because they don't notice when they need to stop eating. Eating too much can make you feel uncomfortable and, over a period of time, can lead to unhealthy weight gain.
4. Limit screen time. Limit screen time. What's screen time? It's the amount of time you spend watching TV or DVDs, playing video games (console systems or handheld games), and using the computer. The more time you spend on these sitting-down activities, the less time available for active stuff, like basketball, bike riding, and swimming. Try to spend no more than 2 hours a day on screen time, not counting computer use related to school.
5. Be active. One job you have as a kid — and it's a fun one — is that you get to figure out which activities you like best. Not everyone loves baseball or soccer. Maybe your passion is karate, or kickball, or dancing. Ask your parents to help you do your favorite activities regularly. Find ways to be active every day. You might even write down a list of fun stuff to do, so you can refer to it when your mom or dad says it's time to stop watching TV or playing computer games!
Speaking of parents, they can be a big help if you want to be a fit kid. For instance, they can stock the house with healthy foods and plan physical activities for the family. Tell your parents about these five steps you want to take and maybe you can teach them a thing or two. If you're a fit kid, why shouldn't you have a fit mom and a fit dad?
Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: May 2007
Selasa, 29 April 2008
The Power of Now and the End of Suffering
For two years, a small man sits quietly on a park bench. People walk by,lost in their thoughts. One day someone asks him a question. In the weeks that follow there are more people and more questions. Word spreads that the man is a mystic, and has discovered something that brings peace and meaning into our lives. It sounds like fiction, but today that man, Eckhart Tolle, is known worldwide for his teachings on spiritual enlightenment through the power of the present moment. His first book, The Power of Now, is an international bestseller, and has been translated into 17 languages. More than 20 years have passed since Eckhart Tolle answered his first question on that park bench. While his audience has grown, his message remains the same: that it is possible to stop struggling in your life,and find joy and fulfillment in this moment,and no other.
Sounds True: Can you describe to us your own experience of spiritual awakening (and of course,can you define spiritual awakening as well)? Was there a singular event that occurred or has it been a gradual process?
Eckhart Tolle: Since ancient times the term awakening has been used as a kind of metaphor that points to the transformation of human consciousness. There are parables in the New Testament that speak of the importance of being awake,of not falling back to sleep. The word Buddha comes from the Sanskrit word Budh, meaning, to be awake. So Buddha is not a name and ultimately not a person,but a state of consciousness. All this implies that humans are potentially capable of living in a state of consciousness compared to which normal wakefulness is like sleeping or dreaming. This is why some spiritual teachings use terms likes shared hallucination or universal hypnotism to describe normal human existence. Pick up any history book,and I suggest you begin with studying the 20th century,and you will find that a large part of the history of our species has all the characteristics we would normally associate with a nightmare or an insane hallucination.
The nature of spiritual awakening is frequently misunderstood. The adoption of spiritual beliefs, seeing visions of God or celestial beings, the ability to channel, to heal, to foretell the future, or other paranormal powers – all such phenomena are of value and are not to be dismissed,but none of them is in itself indicative of spiritual awakening in a person who experiences them. They may occur in a person who has not awakened spiritually and they may or may not accompany the awakened state.
Every morning we awaken from sleep and from our dreams and enter the state we call wakefulness. A continuous stream of thoughts,most of them repetitive, characterizes the normal wakeful state. So what is it that we awaken from when spiritual awakening occurs? We awaken from identification with our thoughts. Everybody who is not awake spiritually is totally identified with and run by their thinking mind – the incessant voice in the head. Thinking is compulsive: you can’t stop,or so it seems. It is also addictive: you don’t even want to stop,at least not until the suffering generated by the continuous mental noise becomes unbearable. In the unawakened state you don’t use thought,but thought uses you. You are,one could almost say,possessed by thought, which is the collective conditioning of the human mind that goes back many thousands of years. You don’t see anything as it is,but distorted and reduced by mental labels, concepts, judgments, opinions and reactive patterns. Your sense of identity, of self,is reduced to a story you keep telling yourself in your head.Me and my story : this what your life is reduced to in the unawakened state. And when your life is thus reduced,you can never be happy for long, because you are not yourself.
Does that mean you don’t think anymore when you awaken spiritually? No,of course not. In fact,you can use thought much more effectively than before,but you realize there is a depth to your Being, a vibrantly alive stillness that is much vaster than thought. It is consciousness itself,of which the thinking mind is only a tiny aspect. For many people,the first indication of a spiritual awakening is that they suddenly become aware of their thoughts. They become a witness to their thoughts,so to speak. They are not completely identified with their mind anymore and so they begin to sense that there is a depth to them that they had never known before.
For most people,spiritual awakening is a gradual process. Rarely does it happen all at once. When it does,though,it is usually brought about by intense suffering. That was certainly true in my case. For years my life alternated between depression and acute anxiety. One night I woke up in a state of dread and intense fear,more intense than I had ever experienced before. Life seemed meaningless,barren,hostile. It became so unbearable that suddenly the thought came into my mind,I cannot live with myself any longer. The thought kept repeating itself several times. Suddenly,I stepped back from the thought,and looked at it,as it were,and I became aware of the strangeness of that thought: If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me – the I and the self that I cannot live with. And the question arose,Who is the ‘I’ and who is the self that I cannot live with? There was no answer to that question,and all thinking stopped. For a moment, there was complete inner silence. Suddenly I felt myself drawn into a whirlpool or a vortex of energy. I was gripped by an intense fear, and my body started to shake. I heard the words, Resist nothing, as if spoken inside my chest. I could feel myself being sucked into a void. Suddenly, all fear disappeared,and I let myself fall into that void. I have no recollection of what happened after that.
The next morning I awoke as if I had just been born into this world. Everything seemed fresh and pristine and intensely alive. A vibrant stillness filled my entire being. As I walked around the city that day,the world looked as if it had just come into existence,completely devoid of the past. I was in a state of amazement at the peace I felt within and the beauty I saw without, even in the midst of the traffic. I was no longer labeling and interpreting my sense perceptions – an almost complete absence of mental commentary. To this day, I perceive and interact with the world in this way: through stillness, not through mental noise. The peace that I felt that day,more than 20 years ago, has never left me, although it has varying degrees of intensity.
At the time,I had no conceptual framework to help me understand what had happened to me. Years later, I realized that the acute suffering I felt that night must have forced my consciousness to withdraw from identification with the unhappy self, the sufferinglittle me, which is ultimately a fiction of the mind. This withdrawal must have been so complete that the suffering self collapsed as if the plug had been pulled out of an inflatable toy. What was left was my true nature as the ever present I AM : consciousness in its pure state prior to identification with form. You may also call it pure awareness or presence.
ST: In your own life story there seems to have been a relationship between intense personal suffering and a breakthrough spiritual experience. Do you believe that for all people there is some connection between personal suffering and the intensity that is needed for a spiritual breakthrough?
ET: Yes,that seems to be true in most cases. When you are trapped in a nightmare, your motivation to awaken will be so much greater than that of someone caught up in a relatively pleasant dream. On all levels,evolution occurs in response to a crisis situation,not infrequently a life-threatening one,when the old structures, inner or outer,are breaking down or are not working anymore. On a personal level, this often means the experience of loss of one kind or another: the death of a loved one, the end of a close relationship, loss of possessions, your home,status, or a breakdown of the external structures of your life that provided a sense of security. For many people,illness – loss of health – represents the crisis situation that triggers an awakening. With serious illness comes awareness of your own mortality, the greatest loss of all.
For many people alive at this time, loss is experienced as loss of meaning. In other words, life seems to lack purpose and doesn’t make sense anymore. Loss of meaning is often part of the suffering that comes with physical loss, but it can also happen to people who have gained everything the world has to offer – who have made it in the eyes of the world – and suddenly find that their success or possessions are empty and unfulfilling. What the world and the surrounding culture tells them is important and of value turns out to be empty and this leaves a kind of painful inner void, often accompanied by great mental confusion.
Now the question arises: What exactly is the connection between suffering and spiritual awakening? How does one lead to the other? When you look closely at the nature of human suffering you will find that an essential ingredient in most kinds of suffering is a diminishment of one’s sense of self. Take illness, for example. Illness makes you feel smaller,no longer in control,helpless. You seem to loose your autonomy, perhaps become dependent on others. You become reduced in size,figuratively speaking. Any major loss has a similar effect: some form that was an important part of your sense of who you are – a person, a possession, a social role – dissolves or leaves you and you suffer because you had become identified with it and it seems you are losing yourself or a part of yourself. In reality,of course,what feels like a diminishment or loss of your sense of self is the crumbling of an image of who you are held in the mind. What dissolves is identification with thought forms that had given you your sense of self. But that sense of self is ultimately false,is ultimately a mental fiction. It is the egoic mind or the little me as I sometimes call it. To be identified with a mental image of who you are is to be unconscious,to be unawakened spiritually. This unawakened state creates suffering, but suffering creates the possibility of awakening. When you no longer resist the diminishment of self that comes with suffering, all role-playing,which is normal in the unawakened state,comes to an end. You become humble, simple, real. And, paradoxically, when you say “yes” to that death,because that’s what it is,you realize that the mind-made sense of self had obscured the truth of who you are – not as defined by your past,but timelessly. And when who you think you are dissolves, you connect with a vast power which is the essence of your very being. Jesus called it: eternal life. In Buddhism,it is sometimes called the deathless realm.
Now,does this mean that if you haven’t experienced intense suffering in your life, there is no possibility of awakening? Firstly, the fact that you are drawn to a spiritual teaching or teacher means you must have had your share of suffering already, and the awakening process has probably already begun. A teacher or teaching is not even essential for spiritual awakening,but they save time. Secondly,humanity as a whole has already gone through unimaginable suffering,mostly self-inflicted,the culmination of which was the 20th century with its unspeakable horrors. This collective suffering has brought upon a readiness in many human beings for the evolutionary leap that is spiritual awakening. For many individuals alive now, this means: they have suffered enough. No further suffering is necessary. The end of suffering: that is also the essence of every true spiritual teaching. Be grateful that your suffering has taken you to this realization: I don’t need to suffer anymore.
ST: Your teaching about the power of now seems so simple. Is that really our primary spiritual task – to fully engage the present moment?
ET: Identification with thoughts and the emotions that go with those thoughts creates a false mind-made sense of self,conditioned by the past: the little me and its story. This false self is never happy or fulfilled for long. Its normal state is one of unease, fear, insufficiency, and nonfulfillment. It says it looks for happiness, and yet it continuously creates conflict and unhappiness. In fact,it needs conflict and enemies to sustain the sense of separateness that ensures its continued survival. Look at all the conflict between tribes,nations,and religions. They need their enemies,because they provide the sense of separateness on which their collective egoic identity depends. The false self lives mainly through memory and anticipation. Past and future are its main preoccupation. The present moment, at best,i s a means to an end, a stepping stone to the future, because the future promises fulfillment,the future promises salvation in one form or another. The only problem is the future never comes. Life is always now. Whatever happens,whatever you experience, feel,think, do - it’s always now. It’s all there is. And if you continuously miss the now – resist it, dislike it, try to get away from it, reduce it to a means to an end, then you miss the essence of your life,and you are stuck in a dream world of images,concepts,labels,interpretations,judgments – the conditioned content of your mind that you take to beyourself. And so you are disconnected from the fullness of life that is the “suchness” of this moment. When you are out of alignment with what is,you are out of alignment with life. You are struggling to reach a point in the future where there is greater security, aliveness, abundance, love, joy ... unaware that those things make up the essence of who you are already. All that is required of you to have access to that essence is to make the present moment into your friend. And you may realize that most of your life you made the present moment into an enemy. You didn’t say “yes” to it, didn’t embrace it. You were out of alignment with the now, and so life became a struggle. It seemed so normal, because everyone around you lived in the same way. The amazing thing is: Life, the great intelligence that pervades the entire cosmos, becomes supportive when you say “yes” to it. Where is life? Here. Now. The “isness” of this moment. The now seems so small at first,a little segment between past and future,and yet all of life’s power is concealed within it. When there is spiritual awakening, you awaken into the fullness, the aliveness, and also the sacredness of now. You were absent, asleep, and now you are present, awake. The secret of awakening is to unconditionally accept this moment as it is. Some people do it because they can no longer stand the suffering that comes with nonacceptance of the isness of this moment. They are almost forced into awakening. Others have suffered enough and are ready to voluntarily embrace the now. When you become present in this way,the judgments, labels, and concepts of your mind are no longer all that important,as a greater intelligence is now operating in and through you. And yet the mind can then be used very effectively and creatively when needed.
Now the question may arise: Would there be anything left to strive for when you are so present in the now? Wouldn’t you become passive in that state? Many meaningless activities may fall away,but the state of presence is the only state in which creative energy is available to you. When your fulfillment and sense of self are no longer dependent on the future outcome, joy flows into whatever you do. You do what you do because the action itself is fulfilling. Whatever you do or create in that state is of high quality. This is because it is not a means to an end, and so a loving care flows into your doing.
ST: Being in the present sounds so obvious,and yet is quite hard to sustain. Do you have any practical tips for people for maintaining awareness of the present moment?
ET: Although the old consciousness or rather unconsciousness still has considerable momentum and to a large extent still runs this world,the new awakened consciousness – presence – has already began to emerge in many human beings. In my book The Power of Now, I mention ways in which you can maintain present moment awareness, but the main thing is to allow this new state of consciousness to emerge rather then believe that you have to try hard to make it happen. How do you allow it to emerge? Simply by allowing this moment to be as it is. This means to relinquish inner resistance to what is – the suchness of now. This allows life to unfold beautifully. There is no greater spiritual practice than this.
ST: On your video The Flowering of Human Consciousness,you talk about anew consciousness that is emerging in our time. What do you mean? Hasn’t the present moment always been available to genuine seekers? What’s new about our current time in history? Are you pointing to a certain evolutionary process – an acceleration in human spiritual development?
ET: Yes,the present moment has always been available to spiritual seekers, but as long as you are seeking you are not available to the present moment. Seeking implies that you are looking to the future for some answer,or for some achievement, spiritual or otherwise. Everybody is in the seeking mode, seeking to add something to who they are, whether it be money, relationships, possessions, knowledge, status – or spiritual attainment. Seeking means you need more time, more future, more of this or that. And there is nothing wrong with it. All that has its place in this world. To make money, to gather knowledge,to learn a new skill, to explore new territory, even to get from A to B – for all these things you need time. For almost everything you need time, except for one thing: to embrace the present moment. You need no time to open yourself to the power of now and so awaken to who you are beyond name and form and realize that in the depth of your being, you are already complete, whole,one with the timeless essence of all life. For that you not only need no time,but time is the obstacle to that realization,seeking is the obstacle, needing to add something to who you are is the obstacle. The story of your life, how it all unfolds, whether you succeed or fail in this world...Yes, it matters, yes, it’s important – relatively,not absolutely. Only one thing is of absolute importance and this is it. If you miss it, you miss the deeper purpose of your life,which I call the flowering of human consciousness. And ultimately nothing else will satisfy you.
Some of the first human beings in whom the new consciousness emerged fully became the great teachers of humanity, such as Buddha, Lao Tzu, or Jesus, although their teachings were greatly misunderstood, especially when they turned into organized religion. They were the first manifestations of the flowering of human consciousness. Later others appeared, some of whom became famous and respected teachers, whereas others probably remained relatively unknown or perhaps even completely unrecognized. On the periphery of the established religions,from time to time certain movements appeared through which the new consciousness manifested. This enabled a number of individuals within those movements to awaken spiritually. Such movements,in Christianity,were Gnosticism and medieval mysticism; in Buddhism, Zen; in Islam, the Sufi movement; in Hinduism, the teachings called Advaita Vedanta.
But those men and women who awakened fully were always few and far between – rare flowerings of consciousness. Until fairly recently,there was not yet a need for large numbers of human beings to awaken. For the first time in human history, a large-scale transformation of consciousness has now become a necessity if humanity is to survive. Science and technology have amplified the effects of the dysfunction of the human mind in its unawakened state to such a degree that humanity,and probably the planet,would not survive for another hundred years if human consciousness remains unchanged. As I said earlier, evolution usually occurs in response to a crisis situation,and we now are faced with such a crisis situation. This is why there is indeed an enormous acceleration in the awakening process of our species.
This new large-scale spiritual awakening is occurring primarily not within the confines of the established religions, but outside of those structures. Some of it,however,is also happening within the existing churches and religious institutions wherever the members of those congregations do not identify with rigid and exclusive belief systems whose unconscious purpose is to foster a sense of separation on which the egoic mind structures depend for their survival.
ST: How much time and effort is required to realize the power of now? Can this really occur in an instant or is this the work of a lifetime?
ET: The power of now can only be realized now. It requires no time and effort. Effort means you’re trying hard to get somewhere,and so you are not present,welcoming this moment as it is.
Whereas it requires no time to awaken – you can only awaken now – it does take time before you can stay awake in all situations. Often you may find yourself being pulled back into old conditioned reactive patterns, particularly when faced with the challenges of daily living and of relationships. You lose the witnessing presence and become identified again with thevoice in the head, the continuous stream of thoughts, with its labels, judgments and opinions. You no longer know that they are only labels, judgments, and mental positions (opinions) – but completely believe in them. And so you create conflict. And then you suffer. And that suffering wakes you up again. Until presence becomes your predominant state,you may find yourself moving back and forth for a while between the old consciousness and the new, between mind identification and presence. How long is it going to take? is not a good question to ask. It makes you lose the now.
ST: How would you recommend that people listen and watch The Power of Now teaching series in order to get the most out of the teachings? In your opinion, why are audio and video teaching tapes such a powerful way for people to learn?
ET: If at all possible,you should not be engaged in other activity while you are listening or watching so that you can give your complete attention not only to the words but also to the silent spaces between the words. You will most likely learn many helpful facts about the emerging state of presence as well as the obstacles you are most likely to encounter. But this is only the secondary function of these tapes. Their primary purpose is not to convey information,but to help you access the state of presence as you listen. As in all true spiritual teachings,the significance of the words that are being spoken goes far beyond their informational content. Words that arise spontaneously out of the state of presence are charged with spiritual power: the power to awaken. All that is required of you is to be in a state of attentive listening. Don’t just listen with the head. Listen with your entire body, so to speak. Feel the aliveness, the animating presence, throughout the body as you listen.
I recommend that you listen and/or watch these tapes over and over. Each time you listen, it will feel as if you were listening for the first time. Each time you listen,you will grow in presence. But do not listen compulsively. Allow a gap of at least two or three days, and ideally more,before you listen to the same tape again. Each time after you finish listening, just sit in silence for a few minutes.
Enjoy the greatest adventure a human being can be engaged in: to be part of the emergence of a new consciousness.
Sounds True: Can you describe to us your own experience of spiritual awakening (and of course,can you define spiritual awakening as well)? Was there a singular event that occurred or has it been a gradual process?
Eckhart Tolle: Since ancient times the term awakening has been used as a kind of metaphor that points to the transformation of human consciousness. There are parables in the New Testament that speak of the importance of being awake,of not falling back to sleep. The word Buddha comes from the Sanskrit word Budh, meaning, to be awake. So Buddha is not a name and ultimately not a person,but a state of consciousness. All this implies that humans are potentially capable of living in a state of consciousness compared to which normal wakefulness is like sleeping or dreaming. This is why some spiritual teachings use terms likes shared hallucination or universal hypnotism to describe normal human existence. Pick up any history book,and I suggest you begin with studying the 20th century,and you will find that a large part of the history of our species has all the characteristics we would normally associate with a nightmare or an insane hallucination.
The nature of spiritual awakening is frequently misunderstood. The adoption of spiritual beliefs, seeing visions of God or celestial beings, the ability to channel, to heal, to foretell the future, or other paranormal powers – all such phenomena are of value and are not to be dismissed,but none of them is in itself indicative of spiritual awakening in a person who experiences them. They may occur in a person who has not awakened spiritually and they may or may not accompany the awakened state.
Every morning we awaken from sleep and from our dreams and enter the state we call wakefulness. A continuous stream of thoughts,most of them repetitive, characterizes the normal wakeful state. So what is it that we awaken from when spiritual awakening occurs? We awaken from identification with our thoughts. Everybody who is not awake spiritually is totally identified with and run by their thinking mind – the incessant voice in the head. Thinking is compulsive: you can’t stop,or so it seems. It is also addictive: you don’t even want to stop,at least not until the suffering generated by the continuous mental noise becomes unbearable. In the unawakened state you don’t use thought,but thought uses you. You are,one could almost say,possessed by thought, which is the collective conditioning of the human mind that goes back many thousands of years. You don’t see anything as it is,but distorted and reduced by mental labels, concepts, judgments, opinions and reactive patterns. Your sense of identity, of self,is reduced to a story you keep telling yourself in your head.Me and my story : this what your life is reduced to in the unawakened state. And when your life is thus reduced,you can never be happy for long, because you are not yourself.
Does that mean you don’t think anymore when you awaken spiritually? No,of course not. In fact,you can use thought much more effectively than before,but you realize there is a depth to your Being, a vibrantly alive stillness that is much vaster than thought. It is consciousness itself,of which the thinking mind is only a tiny aspect. For many people,the first indication of a spiritual awakening is that they suddenly become aware of their thoughts. They become a witness to their thoughts,so to speak. They are not completely identified with their mind anymore and so they begin to sense that there is a depth to them that they had never known before.
For most people,spiritual awakening is a gradual process. Rarely does it happen all at once. When it does,though,it is usually brought about by intense suffering. That was certainly true in my case. For years my life alternated between depression and acute anxiety. One night I woke up in a state of dread and intense fear,more intense than I had ever experienced before. Life seemed meaningless,barren,hostile. It became so unbearable that suddenly the thought came into my mind,I cannot live with myself any longer. The thought kept repeating itself several times. Suddenly,I stepped back from the thought,and looked at it,as it were,and I became aware of the strangeness of that thought: If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me – the I and the self that I cannot live with. And the question arose,Who is the ‘I’ and who is the self that I cannot live with? There was no answer to that question,and all thinking stopped. For a moment, there was complete inner silence. Suddenly I felt myself drawn into a whirlpool or a vortex of energy. I was gripped by an intense fear, and my body started to shake. I heard the words, Resist nothing, as if spoken inside my chest. I could feel myself being sucked into a void. Suddenly, all fear disappeared,and I let myself fall into that void. I have no recollection of what happened after that.
The next morning I awoke as if I had just been born into this world. Everything seemed fresh and pristine and intensely alive. A vibrant stillness filled my entire being. As I walked around the city that day,the world looked as if it had just come into existence,completely devoid of the past. I was in a state of amazement at the peace I felt within and the beauty I saw without, even in the midst of the traffic. I was no longer labeling and interpreting my sense perceptions – an almost complete absence of mental commentary. To this day, I perceive and interact with the world in this way: through stillness, not through mental noise. The peace that I felt that day,more than 20 years ago, has never left me, although it has varying degrees of intensity.
At the time,I had no conceptual framework to help me understand what had happened to me. Years later, I realized that the acute suffering I felt that night must have forced my consciousness to withdraw from identification with the unhappy self, the sufferinglittle me, which is ultimately a fiction of the mind. This withdrawal must have been so complete that the suffering self collapsed as if the plug had been pulled out of an inflatable toy. What was left was my true nature as the ever present I AM : consciousness in its pure state prior to identification with form. You may also call it pure awareness or presence.
ST: In your own life story there seems to have been a relationship between intense personal suffering and a breakthrough spiritual experience. Do you believe that for all people there is some connection between personal suffering and the intensity that is needed for a spiritual breakthrough?
ET: Yes,that seems to be true in most cases. When you are trapped in a nightmare, your motivation to awaken will be so much greater than that of someone caught up in a relatively pleasant dream. On all levels,evolution occurs in response to a crisis situation,not infrequently a life-threatening one,when the old structures, inner or outer,are breaking down or are not working anymore. On a personal level, this often means the experience of loss of one kind or another: the death of a loved one, the end of a close relationship, loss of possessions, your home,status, or a breakdown of the external structures of your life that provided a sense of security. For many people,illness – loss of health – represents the crisis situation that triggers an awakening. With serious illness comes awareness of your own mortality, the greatest loss of all.
For many people alive at this time, loss is experienced as loss of meaning. In other words, life seems to lack purpose and doesn’t make sense anymore. Loss of meaning is often part of the suffering that comes with physical loss, but it can also happen to people who have gained everything the world has to offer – who have made it in the eyes of the world – and suddenly find that their success or possessions are empty and unfulfilling. What the world and the surrounding culture tells them is important and of value turns out to be empty and this leaves a kind of painful inner void, often accompanied by great mental confusion.
Now the question arises: What exactly is the connection between suffering and spiritual awakening? How does one lead to the other? When you look closely at the nature of human suffering you will find that an essential ingredient in most kinds of suffering is a diminishment of one’s sense of self. Take illness, for example. Illness makes you feel smaller,no longer in control,helpless. You seem to loose your autonomy, perhaps become dependent on others. You become reduced in size,figuratively speaking. Any major loss has a similar effect: some form that was an important part of your sense of who you are – a person, a possession, a social role – dissolves or leaves you and you suffer because you had become identified with it and it seems you are losing yourself or a part of yourself. In reality,of course,what feels like a diminishment or loss of your sense of self is the crumbling of an image of who you are held in the mind. What dissolves is identification with thought forms that had given you your sense of self. But that sense of self is ultimately false,is ultimately a mental fiction. It is the egoic mind or the little me as I sometimes call it. To be identified with a mental image of who you are is to be unconscious,to be unawakened spiritually. This unawakened state creates suffering, but suffering creates the possibility of awakening. When you no longer resist the diminishment of self that comes with suffering, all role-playing,which is normal in the unawakened state,comes to an end. You become humble, simple, real. And, paradoxically, when you say “yes” to that death,because that’s what it is,you realize that the mind-made sense of self had obscured the truth of who you are – not as defined by your past,but timelessly. And when who you think you are dissolves, you connect with a vast power which is the essence of your very being. Jesus called it: eternal life. In Buddhism,it is sometimes called the deathless realm.
Now,does this mean that if you haven’t experienced intense suffering in your life, there is no possibility of awakening? Firstly, the fact that you are drawn to a spiritual teaching or teacher means you must have had your share of suffering already, and the awakening process has probably already begun. A teacher or teaching is not even essential for spiritual awakening,but they save time. Secondly,humanity as a whole has already gone through unimaginable suffering,mostly self-inflicted,the culmination of which was the 20th century with its unspeakable horrors. This collective suffering has brought upon a readiness in many human beings for the evolutionary leap that is spiritual awakening. For many individuals alive now, this means: they have suffered enough. No further suffering is necessary. The end of suffering: that is also the essence of every true spiritual teaching. Be grateful that your suffering has taken you to this realization: I don’t need to suffer anymore.
ST: Your teaching about the power of now seems so simple. Is that really our primary spiritual task – to fully engage the present moment?
ET: Identification with thoughts and the emotions that go with those thoughts creates a false mind-made sense of self,conditioned by the past: the little me and its story. This false self is never happy or fulfilled for long. Its normal state is one of unease, fear, insufficiency, and nonfulfillment. It says it looks for happiness, and yet it continuously creates conflict and unhappiness. In fact,it needs conflict and enemies to sustain the sense of separateness that ensures its continued survival. Look at all the conflict between tribes,nations,and religions. They need their enemies,because they provide the sense of separateness on which their collective egoic identity depends. The false self lives mainly through memory and anticipation. Past and future are its main preoccupation. The present moment, at best,i s a means to an end, a stepping stone to the future, because the future promises fulfillment,the future promises salvation in one form or another. The only problem is the future never comes. Life is always now. Whatever happens,whatever you experience, feel,think, do - it’s always now. It’s all there is. And if you continuously miss the now – resist it, dislike it, try to get away from it, reduce it to a means to an end, then you miss the essence of your life,and you are stuck in a dream world of images,concepts,labels,interpretations,judgments – the conditioned content of your mind that you take to beyourself. And so you are disconnected from the fullness of life that is the “suchness” of this moment. When you are out of alignment with what is,you are out of alignment with life. You are struggling to reach a point in the future where there is greater security, aliveness, abundance, love, joy ... unaware that those things make up the essence of who you are already. All that is required of you to have access to that essence is to make the present moment into your friend. And you may realize that most of your life you made the present moment into an enemy. You didn’t say “yes” to it, didn’t embrace it. You were out of alignment with the now, and so life became a struggle. It seemed so normal, because everyone around you lived in the same way. The amazing thing is: Life, the great intelligence that pervades the entire cosmos, becomes supportive when you say “yes” to it. Where is life? Here. Now. The “isness” of this moment. The now seems so small at first,a little segment between past and future,and yet all of life’s power is concealed within it. When there is spiritual awakening, you awaken into the fullness, the aliveness, and also the sacredness of now. You were absent, asleep, and now you are present, awake. The secret of awakening is to unconditionally accept this moment as it is. Some people do it because they can no longer stand the suffering that comes with nonacceptance of the isness of this moment. They are almost forced into awakening. Others have suffered enough and are ready to voluntarily embrace the now. When you become present in this way,the judgments, labels, and concepts of your mind are no longer all that important,as a greater intelligence is now operating in and through you. And yet the mind can then be used very effectively and creatively when needed.
Now the question may arise: Would there be anything left to strive for when you are so present in the now? Wouldn’t you become passive in that state? Many meaningless activities may fall away,but the state of presence is the only state in which creative energy is available to you. When your fulfillment and sense of self are no longer dependent on the future outcome, joy flows into whatever you do. You do what you do because the action itself is fulfilling. Whatever you do or create in that state is of high quality. This is because it is not a means to an end, and so a loving care flows into your doing.
ST: Being in the present sounds so obvious,and yet is quite hard to sustain. Do you have any practical tips for people for maintaining awareness of the present moment?
ET: Although the old consciousness or rather unconsciousness still has considerable momentum and to a large extent still runs this world,the new awakened consciousness – presence – has already began to emerge in many human beings. In my book The Power of Now, I mention ways in which you can maintain present moment awareness, but the main thing is to allow this new state of consciousness to emerge rather then believe that you have to try hard to make it happen. How do you allow it to emerge? Simply by allowing this moment to be as it is. This means to relinquish inner resistance to what is – the suchness of now. This allows life to unfold beautifully. There is no greater spiritual practice than this.
ST: On your video The Flowering of Human Consciousness,you talk about anew consciousness that is emerging in our time. What do you mean? Hasn’t the present moment always been available to genuine seekers? What’s new about our current time in history? Are you pointing to a certain evolutionary process – an acceleration in human spiritual development?
ET: Yes,the present moment has always been available to spiritual seekers, but as long as you are seeking you are not available to the present moment. Seeking implies that you are looking to the future for some answer,or for some achievement, spiritual or otherwise. Everybody is in the seeking mode, seeking to add something to who they are, whether it be money, relationships, possessions, knowledge, status – or spiritual attainment. Seeking means you need more time, more future, more of this or that. And there is nothing wrong with it. All that has its place in this world. To make money, to gather knowledge,to learn a new skill, to explore new territory, even to get from A to B – for all these things you need time. For almost everything you need time, except for one thing: to embrace the present moment. You need no time to open yourself to the power of now and so awaken to who you are beyond name and form and realize that in the depth of your being, you are already complete, whole,one with the timeless essence of all life. For that you not only need no time,but time is the obstacle to that realization,seeking is the obstacle, needing to add something to who you are is the obstacle. The story of your life, how it all unfolds, whether you succeed or fail in this world...Yes, it matters, yes, it’s important – relatively,not absolutely. Only one thing is of absolute importance and this is it. If you miss it, you miss the deeper purpose of your life,which I call the flowering of human consciousness. And ultimately nothing else will satisfy you.
Some of the first human beings in whom the new consciousness emerged fully became the great teachers of humanity, such as Buddha, Lao Tzu, or Jesus, although their teachings were greatly misunderstood, especially when they turned into organized religion. They were the first manifestations of the flowering of human consciousness. Later others appeared, some of whom became famous and respected teachers, whereas others probably remained relatively unknown or perhaps even completely unrecognized. On the periphery of the established religions,from time to time certain movements appeared through which the new consciousness manifested. This enabled a number of individuals within those movements to awaken spiritually. Such movements,in Christianity,were Gnosticism and medieval mysticism; in Buddhism, Zen; in Islam, the Sufi movement; in Hinduism, the teachings called Advaita Vedanta.
But those men and women who awakened fully were always few and far between – rare flowerings of consciousness. Until fairly recently,there was not yet a need for large numbers of human beings to awaken. For the first time in human history, a large-scale transformation of consciousness has now become a necessity if humanity is to survive. Science and technology have amplified the effects of the dysfunction of the human mind in its unawakened state to such a degree that humanity,and probably the planet,would not survive for another hundred years if human consciousness remains unchanged. As I said earlier, evolution usually occurs in response to a crisis situation,and we now are faced with such a crisis situation. This is why there is indeed an enormous acceleration in the awakening process of our species.
This new large-scale spiritual awakening is occurring primarily not within the confines of the established religions, but outside of those structures. Some of it,however,is also happening within the existing churches and religious institutions wherever the members of those congregations do not identify with rigid and exclusive belief systems whose unconscious purpose is to foster a sense of separation on which the egoic mind structures depend for their survival.
ST: How much time and effort is required to realize the power of now? Can this really occur in an instant or is this the work of a lifetime?
ET: The power of now can only be realized now. It requires no time and effort. Effort means you’re trying hard to get somewhere,and so you are not present,welcoming this moment as it is.
Whereas it requires no time to awaken – you can only awaken now – it does take time before you can stay awake in all situations. Often you may find yourself being pulled back into old conditioned reactive patterns, particularly when faced with the challenges of daily living and of relationships. You lose the witnessing presence and become identified again with thevoice in the head, the continuous stream of thoughts, with its labels, judgments and opinions. You no longer know that they are only labels, judgments, and mental positions (opinions) – but completely believe in them. And so you create conflict. And then you suffer. And that suffering wakes you up again. Until presence becomes your predominant state,you may find yourself moving back and forth for a while between the old consciousness and the new, between mind identification and presence. How long is it going to take? is not a good question to ask. It makes you lose the now.
ST: How would you recommend that people listen and watch The Power of Now teaching series in order to get the most out of the teachings? In your opinion, why are audio and video teaching tapes such a powerful way for people to learn?
ET: If at all possible,you should not be engaged in other activity while you are listening or watching so that you can give your complete attention not only to the words but also to the silent spaces between the words. You will most likely learn many helpful facts about the emerging state of presence as well as the obstacles you are most likely to encounter. But this is only the secondary function of these tapes. Their primary purpose is not to convey information,but to help you access the state of presence as you listen. As in all true spiritual teachings,the significance of the words that are being spoken goes far beyond their informational content. Words that arise spontaneously out of the state of presence are charged with spiritual power: the power to awaken. All that is required of you is to be in a state of attentive listening. Don’t just listen with the head. Listen with your entire body, so to speak. Feel the aliveness, the animating presence, throughout the body as you listen.
I recommend that you listen and/or watch these tapes over and over. Each time you listen, it will feel as if you were listening for the first time. Each time you listen,you will grow in presence. But do not listen compulsively. Allow a gap of at least two or three days, and ideally more,before you listen to the same tape again. Each time after you finish listening, just sit in silence for a few minutes.
Enjoy the greatest adventure a human being can be engaged in: to be part of the emergence of a new consciousness.
Jumat, 25 April 2008
Eating Safely in a Polluted World: Part I - You Don't Have to Choose between Microbes and Chemicals!
Epidemics of parasitic infection from contaminated water and of bacterial food poisoning from chicken or hamburger serve notice that the U.S. food and water supply is not safe. Pesticides and preservatives provide no protection from the current crop of microbes and pose health hazards of their own. There are several simple, effective measures you can follow to protect yourself and those you love from the effects of eating contaminated food and water, avoiding both microbial and chemical contaminants in food and drink and building resistance to them if you are exposed.
(1) Avoid Antacids and Acid Lowering Drugs. The body's first line of defense against intestinal infection is the acid produced by a healthy stomach. Stomach acid kills most of the bacteria and parasites that are swallowed along with meals. Strong suppression of stomach acid increases the risk of intestinal infection. If you are troubled with frequent heartburn, gastritis or ulcers, there are potent alternatives to acid lowering therapies which are described in my book, The Four Pillars of Healing.
(2) Avoid Unnecessary Antibiotics. The second line of defense against intestinal infection is the normal intestinal bacteria, especially Lactobacilli residing in the small intestine. Antibiotics decimate Lactobacilli. In so doing, they increase the risk of subsequent intestinal infection. Strategies for avoiding or reducing antibiotic use are also described in The Four Pillars of Healing and will form the basis for a future column.
(3) Supplement your diet with friendly bacteria, especially if you must take antibiotics. A large body of research over the past ninety years has demonstrated the preventive value of eating foods fermented with Lactobacilli (like the well known Lactobacillus acidophilus) or their cousins, the Bifidobacteria. Eating these friendly bacteria helps to prevent antibiotic-induced diarrhea and travelers diarrhea. The daily dose should be between one billion and ten billion viable bacteria. More may cause gastrointestinal irritation. Lactobacillus plantarum, a species of bacteria that grows on plants, is the only Lactobacillus not harmed by antibiotics and can be taken simultaneously with them. Lactobacillus plantarum grows naturally in fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and is also available in pill form.
(4) Eat a diet high in fiber. Fiber is the term that describes remnants of plant cells that are resistant to human digestion. The usual sources are vegetables (especially beans, peas and winter squash), whole grain cereals and breads (made from whole wheat, brown rice or whole oats), nuts, and seeds. Among fruits, one gets the most fiber per serving from apples and berries. High fiber diets support the growth of Lactobacilli and other friendly flora in the large intestine and inhibit the ability of disease causing bacteria and parasites to attach themselves to the intestinal wall.
Carrots, carob, blueberries and raspberries contain complex sugars (oligosaccharides) which interfere with the binding of pathogenic bacteria to the intestinal lining. Juices made from these plants have been used in Europe for centuries for the treatment or prevention of diarrhea.
(5) Use antimicrobial herbs and spices. Before they were used as seasoning, culinary herbs and spices were most likely used for food preservation. Antimicrobial activity of garlic has been repeatedly demonstrated against many species of bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. The dose of garlic needed to obtain significant benefit is at least ten grams (about three small cloves) per day. Onion lacks the potency of garlic but can be consumed in much larger quantity, so that its antimicrobial benefits may be equal to those of garlic if consumed regularly. Turmeric relieves intestinal gas by lowering the numbers of gas forming bacteria; it also has anti-fungal activity and has been traditionally used for relieving inflammation. The effective dose is about one gram per day. Ginger, which contains over four hundred chemically active ingredients, has long been used for the treatment of digestive complaints. It protects the intestinal lining against ulceration and has a wide range of actions against intestinal parasites. Sage and rosemary contain the essential oil, eucalyptol, which kills Candida albicans, bacteria, and worms. Oregano contains over thirty biologically active ingredients of which twelve have antibiotic, antiviral, antiparasitic or antifungal effects. Heating at 200 degrees (Fahrenheit) for twenty minutes destroys the antibacterial activity of most of these spices. They should be added to food at the end of cooking, just before being eaten.
Herbal Programs for Women's Health
Herbal and nutritional supplements have been traditionally used in treating and enhancing women's health for a long time. Premenstrual syndrome, menopause, and other difficulties can respond favorably to natural medicine. There is, however, confusion as to which remedy to take, when to take it, and how long it should be continued. The question also arises as to how to combine an herbal remedy with other nutritional supplements for maximum effectiveness.
Although all natural medicine prescriptions should be individualized for optimal results, there are many effective general programs to try. A good herbal program rotates botanical remedies and combines them with synergistic nutritional supplements in an organized and rational manner. I have found that this type of system greatly enhances effectiveness and works in conjunction with natural body rhythms. By using natural remedies in specific cycles, the body remains more responsive and clinical results improve dramatically. This is especially true for women who tend to have sensitive metabolisms due to the complexity of the menstrual cycle and fluctuating hormone cycles.
Herbal programs for women are based upon the 4 weeks of the menstrual cycle. The first phase (weeks 1 & 2) involves the transition from menstruation to ovulation. The second phase (weeks 3 & 4) deals with the ovulation to menstruation process. Using herbal and nutritional supplements that support metabolic functions during these two distinct phases is the key to obtaining optimal results.
In the first phase, we find that toning the body by "nourishing" the blood and balancing the hormones is most beneficial. During this time, the hormones are building as the estrogen prepares the body for ovulation and potential fertilization of the egg. The two most important herbs during this first phase are Dong Quai and Red Raspberry leaf. Dong Quai (Angelica sinensis root) is the noted Chinese herb that is used as a blood tonic. It contains micronutrients known for their blood building properties (iron, vitamin B12, and vitamin E). Dong Quai balances estrogen in the body, and is traditionally used in China to regulate the menstrual cycle. Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus leaf) is a rough equivalent to Dong Quai in Western herbology. It is a blood tonic and blood builder with hormone-regulating and uterine-toning properties.
Because Dong Quai is "warming" in nature, and Red Raspberry leaf is "cooling", I prefer to use a blend of these two herbs. As a combination they are neutral, and may be used on a long term basis to treat a variety of menstrual complaints.
During the second phase, there is a metabolic shift in the body. The hormone Progesterone predominates, as it prepares the uterus for possible implantation of the fertilized egg. It is also during this time that the liver comes under the most stress. It is responsible for the balance of "favorable" estrogen with "unfavorable" estrogen, as well as the balance of estrogen with progesterone. The liver often becomes congested during these last two weeks of the cycle, causing the hormonal balance to fluctuate. Premenstrual symptoms are the result. It is interesting to note that recent advances in Western physiology point to this dysfunction in liver metabolism. However, for over 2,000 years Chinese medicine has diagnosed the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome as a problem with liver function.
So, we find that "clearing" the liver is the preferred treatment plan for the second two weeks of the menstrual cycle. The Western herb Dandelion and the Chinese herb Bupleurum are effective in taking congestion out of the liver. Liver cleansing formulas with these herbs as the principal ingredients are beneficial. The nutrients Choline, Inositol, and Methionine (known collectively as "lipotrophic factors") are also excellent for stabilizing liver function.
With these two phases in mind, let's look at several herbal programs that benefit optimal health for women:
Optimal Health for Women: General
This is a general program for women to both regulate and balance the hormonal system as well as to enhance body resistance. It can be used for several months, however it is not designed for women with severe premenstrual syndrome.
Week 1
Dong Quai and Red Raspberry leaf combination
For hormone balancing and blood building
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 3 times dailyWeek 2
Dong Quai and Red Raspberry leaf combination
For hormone balancing and blood building
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 3 times dailyWeek 3
Adaptogenic herbs (Astragalus, American Ginseng, or Chinese Ginseng)
To tonify the body's deep immune system
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 3 times dailyWeek 4
Echinacea & Goldenseal combination
For their anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory properties
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 3 times daily
Premenstrual Syndrome: General
This is a general program based upon hormone balancing and blood building during the first two weeks, and liver clearing during the second two weeks.
This is a general program based upon hormone balancing and blood building during the first two weeks, and liver clearing during the second two weeks.
Week 1
Dong Quai and Red Raspberry leaf combination
For hormone balancing and blood building
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 3 times dailyWeek 2
Repeat Week 1, or until onset of ovulation (then skip to Week 3)Week 3
Vitamin B6 and Magnesium
Nutritional support to reduce PMS symptoms and cramps
Dosage: 2-3 times dailyLipotrophic Factors (Choline, Inositol, Methionine)
To stabilize liver function
Dosage: 2-3 times dailyHerbal liver cleansing formula (Dandelion, Bupleurum, et al)
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 2-3 times dailyWeek 4
Repeat Week 3, until the beginning of menstrual flow
Premenstrual Syndrome with Flu Like Symptoms
For women whose immune systems become compromised during the week prior the menstruation. They frequently complain of cold and flu symptoms, with aching and general inflammation. Follow weeks 1 and 2 of the above PMS program. For Weeks 3 and 4, try the following:
For women whose immune systems become compromised during the week prior the menstruation. They frequently complain of cold and flu symptoms, with aching and general inflammation. Follow weeks 1 and 2 of the above PMS program. For Weeks 3 and 4, try the following:
Weeks 3 & 4
Echinacea and Goldenseal combination
For their anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory properties
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 3 times dailyVitamin B6 and Magnesium
Nutritional support to reduce PMS symptoms and cramps
Dosage: 2-3 times dailyLipotrophic Factors (Choline, Inositol, Methionine)
To stabilize liver function
Dosage: 2-3 times dailyHerbal liver cleansing formula (Dandelion, Bupleurum, et al)
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 2-3 times daily
Premenstrual Syndrome with Severe Cramps
For women with PMS accompanied by severe uterine cramps. Following the general program for premenstrual syndrome over a period of time will alleviate severe cramps if they are not due to a more serious condition (such as fibroids). For symptomatic relief of cramps, add the following at the onset of symptoms:
Women with anemia and borderline anemia need to build the blood. The following program should be used in conjunction with Iron and Iron synergistic nutrients prescribed by your health care practitioner. It features the blood-building herbs Dong Quai and Red Raspberry leaf every week of the month.
For women with PMS accompanied by severe uterine cramps. Following the general program for premenstrual syndrome over a period of time will alleviate severe cramps if they are not due to a more serious condition (such as fibroids). For symptomatic relief of cramps, add the following at the onset of symptoms:
Week 4
Homeopathic Mag Phos 6X
To relieve the symptoms of uterine cramps
Dosage: Every 1 to 2 hours until relief, then three times daily for 3 days
Women with anemia and borderline anemia need to build the blood. The following program should be used in conjunction with Iron and Iron synergistic nutrients prescribed by your health care practitioner. It features the blood-building herbs Dong Quai and Red Raspberry leaf every week of the month.
For all Four Weeks
Dong Quai and Red Raspberry leaf combination
For hormone balancing and blood-building
Dosage: As a liquid extract, tablet, capsule or tea, 3 times daily
Week 1
Yellow Dock (Rumex crispus leaf)
Chlorophyll nutritional support
Dosage: As a liquid extract or tea, 3 times dailyWeek 2
American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius root)
For its blood-building properties
Dosage: As a liquid extract or tea, 3 times dailyWeek 3
Nettle (Urtica dioica leaf)
Chlorophyll nutritional support
Dosage: As a liquid extract or tea, 3 times dailyWeek 4
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa leaf)
Chlorophyll nutritional support
Dosage: As a liquid extract or tea, 3 times daily
Janet Zand, OMD, L.Ac., is a respected naturopathic physician who lives and practices in the Los Angeles area. She has developed a unique and effective method of combining herbal medicine with nutrition, homeopathy, and acupuncture. Her credentials include a Doctor of Naturopathy, Doctor of Oriental Medicine, and is a Certified Acupuncturist. Dr. Zand has over fifteen years of clinical experience treating women and children, as well as formulating her own line of herbal supplements.
Women's Health: Insomnia
© Do you ever find yourself wide awake long after you go to bed at night? Well, you’re not alone. An estimated 40 million Americans are bothered by insomnia. They either have trouble falling asleep at night, wake up in the middle of the night or wake up too early and can’t get back to sleep. When they’re not asleep, insomniacs worry about whether or not they’ll be able to sleep. They are also often irritable and fatigued during the day.
An occasional sleepless night is nothing to worry about. But if insomnia bothers you for three weeks or longer, it can be a real medical problem. Some medical problems that lead to insomnia in women include:
- Depression and anxiety disorders.
- Over-activity of the thyroid gland.
- Heart or lung conditions that cause shortness of breath when lying down.
- Allergies and early-morning wheezing.
- Menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes.
- Any illness, injury or surgery that causes pain and/or discomfort, such as arthritis, which interrupts sleep.
- Any disorder (urinary, gastrointestinal or neurological) that makes it necessary to urinate or have a bowel movement during the night.
- Side effects of certain medications, such as decongestants and cortisone drugs.
Other things that lead to insomnia are:
- Emotional stress.
- Lack of a sex partner.
- Too much noise when falling asleep. This includes a snoring partner.
- Stimulants such as caffeine from coffee, tea, colas or chocolate and stay awake pills such as NoDoz.
- A lack of physical exercise.
Treatment
The first line of treatment for insomnia is to look for and address the cause. For example, estrogen can help treat hot flashes in menopause. It comes in oral tablets or in a patch that is applied to the skin. Medication and other measures may be needed to treat other conditions that keep you from getting a full night’s sleep.
Questions to Ask
| Do you have trouble falling or staying asleep because of:
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| Has your sleep been disturbed since you began taking medication of any kind? | |
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| Do you still have trouble sleeping after 3 weeks, with or without self-care procedures? (See page 39) | |
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Self-Care Procedures
Many old-fashioned remedies for sleeplessness work well. Next time you find yourself unable to sleep, try these time-tested cures:
- Get regular exercise, but don’t exercise for two hours before you plan to go to sleep.
- Avoid caffeine in all forms after lunchtime. Coffee, tea, chocolate, colas and some other soft drinks contain this stimulant as do certain over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Check the labels for ingredients.
- Avoid long naps during the day. Naps decrease the quality of nighttime sleep.
- Avoid more than one or two servings of alcoholic beverages at dinner time and during the rest of the evening. Even though alcohol is a sedative, it can disrupt sleep. Always check with your doctor about using alcohol if you are taking medications.
- Have food items rich in the amino acid L-tryptophan such as milk, turkey or tuna fish before you go to bed. Eating foods with carbohydrates such as cereal, breads and fruits may help as well. Do not, however, take L-tryptophan supplements.
- Take a nice, long, warm bath before bedtime. This soothes and unwinds tense muscles, leaving you relaxed enough to fall asleep.
- Read a book or do some repetitive, calm activity. Avoid distractions that may hold your attention and keep you awake, such as watching a suspense movie.
- Make your bedroom as comfortable as possible. Create a quiet, dark atmosphere. Use clean, fresh sheets and pillows and keep the room temperature comfortable, neither too warm nor too cold.
- Ban worry from the bedroom. Don’t allow yourself to rehash the mistakes of the day as you toss and turn.
- You’re off duty now. The idea is to associate your bed with sleep.
- Develop a regular bedtime routine. Locking or checking doors and windows, brushing your teeth and reading before you turn in every night primes you for sleep.
- Count those sheep! Counting slowly is a soothing, hypnotic activity. By picturing repetitive, monotonous images, you may bore yourself to sleep.
- Try listening to recordings made especially to help promote sleep. Check local bookstores.
- Don’t take over-the-counter sleeping pills or someone else’s sleep medicine. Only take sleep medicine with the advice of your doctor. Ask your doctor about taking an over-the-counter antihistamine, such as Benadryl. It may help promote sleep.
Insomnia
© Do you ever find yourself wide awake long after you go to bed at night? Well, you're not alone. An estimated 40 million Americans are bothered by insomnia. They either have trouble falling asleep at night, wake up in the middle of the night, or wake up too early and can't get back to sleep. And when they're not asleep, insomniacs worry about whether or not they'll be able to sleep. They are also irritable and feel fatigued during the day.
Self-Care Tips
Many old-fashioned remedies for sleeplessness work, and work well. Next time you find yourself unable to sleep, try these time-tested cures.
Questions to Ask
An occasional sleepless night is nothing to lose sleep over. But, if insomnia bothers you for three weeks or longer, it can be a real medical problem. Some medical problems that lead to insomnia include:
- Over-activity of the thyroid gland.
- Heart or lung conditions that cause shortness of breath when lying down.
- Depression, anxiety disorders.
- Allergies and early-morning wheezing.
- Any illness, injury or surgery that causes pain and/or discomfort, such as arthritis, which interrupts sleep.
- Sexual problems (Example: Impotence).
- Hot flashes that interrupt sleep.
- Any disorder (urinary, gastrointestinal or neurological) that makes it necessary to urinate or have a bowel movement during the night.
- Side effects of certain medications (Examples: Decongestants, cortisone medications).
- Emotional stress.
- Too much noise when falling asleep. This includes a snoring partner.
- The use of stimulants such as caffeine from coffee, tea or colas, and stay awake pills such as NoDoz.
- A lack of physical exercise.
- Lack of a sex partner
Self-Care Tips
Many old-fashioned remedies for sleeplessness work, and work well. Next time you find yourself unable to sleep, try these time-tested cures.
- Avoid caffeine in all forms after lunchtime. (Coffee, tea, chocolate, colas, and some other soft drinks contain this stimulant, as do certain over-the-counter and prescription medications. Check the labels for content).
- Avoid long naps during the day. (Naps decrease the quality of nighttime sleep).
- Avoid more than one or two servings of alcoholic beverages at dinner time and during the rest of the evening. Even though alcohol is a sedative, it can disrupt sleep. Always check with your doctor about using alcohol if you are taking medications.
- Have food items rich in the amino acid L-tryptophan such as milk, turkey or tuna fish before you go to bed. Eating foods with carbohydrates such as cereal, breads and fruits may help as well. (Do not, however, take L-tryptophan supplements).
- Take a nice, long, warm bath before bedtime. (This soothes and unwinds tense muscles, leaving you relaxed enough to fall asleep).
- Read a book or do some repetitive, tedious activity, like needlework. Try not to watch television or listen to the radio. These kinds of distractions may hold your attention and keep you awake.
- Make your bedroom as comfortable as possible. Create a quiet, dark atmosphere. Use clean, fresh sheets and pillows, and keep the room temperature comfortable (neither too warm nor too cool).
- Ban worry from the bedroom. Don't allow yourself to rehash the mistakes of the day as you toss and turn. You're off duty now. The idea is to associate your bed with sleep.
- Develop a regular bedtime routine. Locking or checking doors and windows, brushing your teeth, and reading before you turn in every night primes you for sleep.
- Count those sheep! Counting slowly is a soothing, hypnotic activity. By picturing repetitive, monotonous images, you may bore yourself to sleep.
- Try listening to recordings made especially to help promote sleep. Check local bookstores.
- Don't take over-the-counter sleeping pills or friends' or relatives' sleeping pills. Only take sleep medicine with your doctor's permission.
Questions to Ask
Do you have trouble falling or staying asleep because of any of the following?
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| Has your sleep been disturbed since you began taking medication of any kind? | |
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| Do you still have trouble sleeping after 3 weeks, with or without self-care tips (see below)? | |
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Selasa, 22 April 2008
Acupuncture May Ease Overactive Bladder
Overactive bladder affects roughly 17 percent of the U.S, occurring in both men and women. This condition is caused from the muscles around the bladder contracting erratically, creating pressure and causing the need to urinate.
A new study in Obstetrics & Gynecology found that acupuncture improved the frequent and overwhelming urge to urinate in women suffering from overactive bladder.
The study followed 85 women with overactive bladder and urge incontinence. The women were randomly put into two separate groups to monitor the effectiveness of treatment. Half of the women used in this study received acupuncture targeting bladder control, the other half received acupuncture treatment for relaxation. The women who received acupuncture for bladder control where treated specifically on the lower back and abdomen. The group treated for relaxation was given acupuncture on points throughout the body.
While the women who received the bladder specific acupuncture reported fewer trips to the bathroom and less urgency to urinate after four weeks of treatment, both groups, reported improvement in urge incontinence and urinary leakage.
Acupuncture has been cited by the World Health Organization to treat over 43 conditions effectively including a variety of gastrointestinal disorders such as colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and gastritis. Through continual research more conditions such as overactive bladder are finding beneficial r
esults through the use of acupuncture. For more information on overactive bladder please contact Pacific College at (800) 729-0941, or at www.pacificcollege.edu.
Provided by Pacific College of Oriental Medicine on 8/3/2005
Acupuncture Lowers High Blood Pressure
Acupuncture helps lower elevated blood pressure, according to new research. A University of California, Irvine study found that electro acupuncture treatments lowered high blood pressure in rats by as much as 50 percent.
Though few studies on the efficacy of acupuncture to treat blood pressure have been conducted, the latest research shows promise.
"This suggests that acupuncture can be an excellent complement to other medical treatments," said Dr Longhurst, the study's lead researcher. "Especially for those treating the cardiac system."
These studies suggest that acupuncture triggers the release of chemicals in the brain that dampen the response of the cardiovascular system. This decreases the heart's activity and need for oxygen, which as a result could lower blood pressure. Therefore, acupuncture could promote healing for a number of heart conditions including heart attacks and hypertension.
Electroacupuncture, like that used in the study, is small, low frequency electrical currents that are passed through normal acupuncture needles. The same points are stimulated as with traditional acupuncture. Needles are inserted on specific points along the body and then attached to a device that generates continuous, small electric pulses. The device adjusts the frequency and intensity of the impulse being delivered, depending on the condition being treated. Electroacupuncture employs two needles at once so that the impulses can pass from one needle to the other. Several pairs of needles can be stimulated simultaneously, usually for no more than 30 minutes at a time.
"This type of electroacupuncture is only effective on elevated blood pressure levels, such as those present in hypertension, and the treatment has no impact on standing blood pressure rates," Longhurst said. "Our goal is to help establish a standard of acupuncture treatment that can benefit everyone who has hypertension and other cardiac ailments."
The National Institute of Health and the World Health Organization have cited acupuncture and Oriental Medicine as an effective means of treatment. Over 15 million acupuncture treatments are performed safely each year, and nearly half of the American population spends $27 billion annually on complementary therapies of this sort. Acupuncture therapy is beneficial for problems such as: pain, arthritis, asthma, upper respiratory conditions, digestive and urinary disorders, insomnia, depression, post-stroke paralysis, addictions and more. Acupuncture and Oriental medicine are becoming more popular as patients in increasing numbers are discovering the benefits of Oriental medicine as their primary health care therapy.
For more information on how acupuncture can lower blood pressure, please contact Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at (800) 729-0941
Provided by Pacific College of Oriental Medicine on 8/9/2005
California Acupuncture Board Approves Changes in Regulations
On Monday, August 22, 2005, the California Acupuncture Board (CAB) approved several changes to the regulation of the profession.
Single Use Needles
The CAB approved "emergency regulations" that require single-use needles to be used by all Licensed Acupuncturists in California effective immediately. Specifically, the regulation prohibits the use of a needle more than once and requires that all needles be labeled "for single use only" in accordance with federal regulations (
While there is no evidence of transmission of infections or disease using properly sterilized reusable needles and while these sterilization and reuse procedures are common in other healthcare professions, this issue has become a central issue in many recent political battles surrounding the profession. This regulatory change has been recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Statement on Acupuncture; the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM); the Little Hoover Commission report on acupuncture; and Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions, and Consumer Protection.
AIMS has been contacted by several practitioners who rely on "reusable-type" needles in their practice. While the new regulations clearly prohibit needle reuse, we are working with these practitioners to determine if there is a way for "reusable-type" needles--that come in unsterilized packages--to be sterilized for single use. AIMS will publish this information as it becomes available.
Provided by California State Oriental Medical Association on 8/25/2005
Yee Bills Pass California Senate
Today, the California State Senate voted to approve Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Leeland Yee's acupuncture-related bills. These bill include:
All four bills will now await approval or veto by Governor Schwarzenegger.
AIMS has been supportive of all four bills, but we continue to have significant concerns about the vague language contained in AB 1113. AIMS is concerned that this bill may expose the profession to an unfavorable reinterpretion of its scope of practice.
Earlier this year, another Yee bill AB 1116 was defeated. This bill would have established a mandatory postgraduate internship for all prospective licensees. While AIMS supports the concept of a postgraduate residency, we believed that this bill was an "idea before its time." Consequently, AIMS opposed the bill.
Provided by California State Oriental Medical Association on 8/25/2005
Pacific College Fundraises To Assist Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort
New York- As a part of relief efforts taken up around the nation to aid those who were affected by Hurricane Katrina, Pacific College, New York is working to raise funds to assist Acupuncturists without Borders, in order to help the healing process from this tragedy.
In order to aid and support those who have suffered from this natural disaster, acupuncture can be extremely beneficial in helping people facing enormous stress, anger, frustration, depression, fatigue and other emotional and physical pain.
As a part of the relief effort, Acupuncturists without Borders will be traveling to Houston and surrounding areas where evacuees are being housed to provide free acupuncture treatments.
Community style acupuncture provides the opportunity to set up treatment facilities anywhere, as well as the ability to treat large groups at once. Auricular treatment is provided to each patient for 30-60 minutes while sitting in a chair.
In addition to reaching out to the victims of this disaster, treatments will also be made available to all service workers including police, search and rescue volunteers, Red Cross volunteers, as well as all medical personnel.
Throughout the month of September, our clinic, Pacific College Acupuncture Center, will be accepting donations in support of this program.
For more information on the relief efforts or to make a donation, please contact Pacific College at (800) 729-3468.
Physicians Divided on Impact of CAM on U.S. Health Care; Aromatherapy Fares Poorly; Acupuncture Touted
Flemington, NJ, July 5, 2005 — A new national survey of more than 700 physicians revealed that they are divided evenly on the impact of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) on U.S. health care. Approximately 36% believe it has a negative impact, 35% believe it has a positive impact and 20% feel CAM has no impact.
Despite their close division on the impact of CAM on U.S. health care, 64% of doctors reported that they have recommended complementary treatments to their patients, while 36% indicated they have not. Sixty-three percent would be willing to recommend them under some circumstances and 65% believe that the National Institutes of Health should fund research on CAM.
The survey which probed physicians' views on controversial techniques such as acupuncture, therapeutic touch and homeopathy, was conducted by HCD Research and The Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religion and Social Studies of The Jewish Theological Seminary, during September 1-2. The margin of error for the study was plus or minus 3% at a 95% level of confidence.
The well-known alternative and complementary therapies including acupuncture, chiropractic and massage received higher marks for their effectiveness than treatments such as aromatherapy, electromagnetic field therapies, homeopathy and naturopathy.
Among the findings:
- More than half of the physicians (59%) believed that acupuncture can be effective to some extent.
- Nearly half of the physicians (48%) believed that chiropractic can be effective, while 29% indicated that it is ineffective, and 57% of physicians reported that massage therapies can be effective.
- A mere 10% of physicians reported aromatherapy to be effective. Similarly, only 12% indicated that electromagnetic field therapies were effective, and 16% of physicians believed that homeopathy and naturopathy were effective to some degree.
- While a plurality of doctors (46%) felt that alternative approaches could be helpful to patients in some cases, 28% felt that they could be harmful. Thirteen percent believed that the putative helpfulness of CAM was due to the placebo effect.
"The one trait that all complementary and alternative therapies share is the fact that they are not conventionally used," noted Glenn Kessler, co-founder and managing partner, HCD Research. "However, they are not all the same and as we see in this study, physicians clearly recognize that each therapy must be judged on its own merits."
"The message here is that techniques, like acupuncture, which have made it into the mainstream, are recognized by physicians as useful complements to scientific medicine," said Dr. Alan Mittleman, Director of the Finkelstein Institute. "Other therapies remain on the fringe and are viewed with suspicion. Nonetheless, physicians seem willing to let their patients -- and future research -- decide what has credibility and what doesn't."
To view detailed results for this poll, please go to: http://publish.hcdhealth.com/P1007/
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Approximately 180,000 women will be told they have breast cancer this year. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, after skin cancer, and the leading cause of cancer deaths for women 35 to 54. Though early detection is an important component of survival, prevention is a primary goal in the fight against breast cancer.
Oriental medicine provides many resources for prevention. Exercises such as Qigong, Tai Chi and Yoga reduce stress, a leading cause of cancer, and alleviate tension. These physical arts also bring the body and mind into balance. Since the 1970s medical Qigong experiments for the treatment of breast cancer have shown the exercise improves quality of life and helps delay the growth and onset of cancer.
Studies have shown that women with breast cysts are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer, and that Chinese herbs and acupuncture are effective in resolving breast lumps. According to The Rites of the Zhou Dynasty (1100-400 BCE) Chinese specialists have been treating "swellings and ulcerations" for millennia. A 1996 study showed acupuncture and herbs to be 78.1% effective in eliminating breast lumps, which can reduce risk of developing malignant cysts.
A healthy diet rich in fiber, soy, vegetables and organically raised foods has shown cancer prevention effects. Breast cancer rates in Japanese and Chinese women, whose diets include more fish and less dairy, red meat and fat, are roughly 1/10 that of American women.
Chinese medicine is useful in all stages of cancer to augment the benefits of conventional treatment, to prevent recurrence and metastasis in early stages, and to promote health, improve quality of life and prolong life in advanced stages.
To learn more about breast cancer prevention, please contact Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at (800) 729-0941 or visit www.PacificCollege.edu.
NCCAM Expands Research Centers Program with Three Centers of Excellence and Two International Centers
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) announces funding of three centers of excellence and two international centers for the study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). With these new awards NCCAM, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), continues to enhance CAM research capacity by funding centers at leading U.S. institutions and by establishing new global partnerships.
Three of the five new centers will explore therapies used in traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture and Chinese herbal mixtures. The other two centers will study a type of energy medicine (millimeter wave therapy) and botanical therapies used by traditional healers in Africa. To read the full press release go to http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2005/101405.htm.
Centers of Excellence for Research on CAM
Center for Arthritis and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Principal Investigator: Brian Berman, M.D.
Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy
Principal Investigator: Xiu-Min Li, M.D.
Institution: Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY
Center for Mechanisms Underlying Millimeter Wave Therapy
Principal Investigator: Marvin Ziskin, M.D.
Institution: Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
International Centers for Research on CAM
Functional Bowel Disorders in Chinese Medicine
Principal Investigator: Brian Berman, M.D
Partner Institutions: University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD; Chinese University of Hong Kong, China; University of Illinois, Chicago, IL; University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia
The International Center for Indigenous Phytotherapy Studies: HIV/AIDS, Secondary Infections and Immune Modulation
Principal Investigator: William Folk, Ph.D.
Partner Institutions: University of Missouri, Columbia, MO; University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Republic of South Africa; along with University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Cape Town, and the South African Medical Research Council
For additional information contact the NCCAM Press Office at 301-496-7790 or e-mail nccampress@mail.nih.gov.
Principal Investigator: William Folk, Ph.D.
Partner Institutions: University of Missouri, Columbia, MO; University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Republic of South Africa; along with University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Cape Town, and the South African Medical Research Council
For additional information contact the NCCAM Press Office at 301-496-7790 or e-mail nccampress@mail.nih.gov.
Chinese Medicine Compliments World AIDS Day
While World AIDS Day on December 1 fuels awareness of the disease and the medical advances that have been made towards finding a cure, AIDS and HIV have been well-known conditions since storming onto the public stage in the early 1980s. Though there is still no known cure for AIDS, holistic therapies such as Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture may offer relief for the more than 10 million people who are HIV positive or are living with AIDS in the United States.
By stimulating key pathways in the body called meridians, acupuncture releases =endorphins in the brain. These endorphins have been shown to reduce pain and calm the body, which can enhance its natural defense system. Acupuncture also raises the amount of white blood cells, T-cells and anti-bodies in the body, which increase the body's level of immunity - a very important benefit for those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are nontoxic and have no side effects when prescribed by a licensed acupuncturist or herbalist. Many HIV/AIDS patients have reported a general increase in health and well-being due to acupuncture treatments.
Acupuncture has been cited by the World Health Organization to treat over 43 conditions, many of which are also symptoms of AIDS. These include abnormal sweating, muscle weakness, and the harsh chemical therapies typically prescribed for AIDS, such as diarrhea, nausea, and fatigue. The Oriental Medical Center verified this in a study of 103 adults with HIV or AIDS who were treated solely with acupuncture and Chinese herbs. After receiving several treatments, 66 percent of the 103 adults who participated in this study showed marked improvement.
For more information on how Oriental medicine can help those diagnosed with AIDS, please call Pacific College at (800) 729-0941, or visit www.PacificCollege.edu
Acupuncture Safe Alternative To Inducing Labor
Acupuncture has been used for everything from treating arthritis to providing cold and flu relief. Now studies are showing that acupuncture can be a beneficial and safe alternative for inducing labor in expectant mothers. Using acupuncture to induce labor in over due mothers, is a less invasive and safer method than taking Pitocin, a drug typically used in hospitals.
When the drug Pitocin is used, it creates a strong reaction, inducing labor almost immediately. While the effects this drug may have on the unborn child have not yet been determined, the side effects for the mother can range from nausea and vomiting, to experiencing more serious conditions such as postpartum hemorrhaging, cardiac arrhythmia's, and pelvic hematoma.
Using acupuncture is a much softer and easier approach to inducing labor. Chinese medicine identifies more than 2,000 acupuncture points connected with pathways called meridians that conduct vital energy or qi throughout the body. Acupuncture trigger points to induce labor include points on the back, above the ankle, and specific points on the hand. By needling these points, the body's qi is stimulated, and helps prepare the body to begin labor. The only side effect to using this treatment is potential light bruising at the needle points.
Currently, a research study is being conducted at the University of North Carolina to measure acupuncture's ability to trigger labor in over due mothers. The ongoing study will provide women five treatments over the course of a few weeks. Women who are treated will either be needled using real acupuncture points, or in trigger points that are not though to affect labor.
As more women seek drug-free treatment for the conditions of pregnancy, acupuncture can be a beneficial tool for not only inducing labor, but also to relieve nausea, and back pain related to pregnancy.
For more information about using acupuncture to induce labor please call Pacific College at (800) 729-0941 or visit www.PacificCollege.edu
Chinese Herb Cures the Common Cold
November signals the beginning of the dreaded flu season, but this year Canadian researchers have found the key to keeping the cold and flu at bay. Ginseng, an herb widely used in Chinese medicine, is proving successful at reducing the number and severity of colds in research subjects.
At least 1 billion colds are reported each year in the U.S., with a frequency of two to six colds per person. The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2005, found that extracts of North American ginseng enhance immune responses and stimulate natural killer cell cytotoxicity to keep the body healthy through peak illness periods.
According to the study, only one in 10 of those taking ginseng extract suffered two or more colds over a four-month period, compared with one in four of those in the placebo group. Subjects ages 18 to 65 with a history of at least two colds the previous year took two capsules of North American ginseng extract, or Panax quinque folius, during the randomized, double-blind study. They recovered around a third more quickly than those in the placebo group, and their symptoms were measurably less severe.
In Chinese herbal formulas it is used as a yang tonic. Chinese healers most often use ginseng to reinforce qi, enhance memory and stave off cold and flu. Chinese athletes feel it gives them an added competitive edge. Many take it as a stimulant or tonic to increase energy and stamina. Ginseng has been a part of Chinese medicine records for 2000 years and was commonly used by the elderly to improve mental and physical vitality.
This study represents a growing Western interest in herbal medicine and alternative therapies. Although surveys suggest that about one-third of Americans use herbal products as medications, education and research in the Western medical community is still catching up with public interest.
To learn more about ginseng and other Chinese herbs, please contact Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at (800) 729-0941 or visit www.PacificCollege.edu.
Seasonal Affective Disorder
To everything, there is a season. Our physical and emotional health is no exception. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which is nationally recognized during the month of December, is an example of how a change in seasons can affect our wellbeing.
Between 4 and 6 percent of the U.S. population suffers from SAD. It is more commonly observed in those who live at high latitudes (areas farther away from the equator to the north and south). Seasonal changes are generally more extreme in these regions, supporting the idea that SAD is caused by changes in sunlight availability.
Seasonal Affective Disorder can occur during summer with limited symptoms such as weight loss, trouble sleeping and decreased appetite. Winter symptoms tend to be more severe. They include fatigue, increased need for sleep, decreased energy levels, weight gain, increase in appetite, difficulty concentrating and increased desire to be alone.
The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine states that, "People and nature are inseparable." The winter months, which represent the height of the yin cycle and the water element, can cause those whose constitution tends toward yin to feel the effects of this season more acutely. Energetic imbalances, which are associated with emotional and physical disturbances in the body, can become more pronounced after a change in weather and sunlight. Western medicine currently treats seasonal affective disorder with light therapy and sometimes with antidepressants. The downside to these therapies is that they carry side effects such as eyestrain, headache, irritability, fatigue, insomnia, palpitations, high blood pressure and reduced libido. Also, these therapies do not address the underlying problems, but merely offer symptom relief.
Acupuncture, which has shown promising results treating depression by releasing serotonin and noradrenaline-norepinephrine, has no side effects. Together with a treatment plan created by a licensed acupuncturist, acupuncture can improve balance of mood and energy, relieving the patient from the burdens of a depressed, unbalanced system.
To learn more about Chinese medicine and Seasonal Affective Disorder, please visit the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at www.PacificCollege.edu.
Health Awareness Week
As the New Year gets started, many people are making resolutions that involve improving their health. During Health Awareness Week we are reminded of the importance of our health and well-being.
The 3,000-year-old practice of Chinese medicine has many easy and practical solutions to staying healthy during the New Year and beyond. Both Tai Chi and Qi Gong consist of gentle movements carried out in a continuous, non-strenuous and systematic manner that allow every part of the body to exercise. Tai Chi and Qi Gong ease muscle tension and release blocks in the body's vital energy, or "Qi", and keep muscles strong and supple. The gentle movements and low physical impact of these activities make them perfect for aging bodies, those recovering from injury, or people looking to change up their exercise routine.
Chinese massage and acupuncture are also effective ways to improve the body's overall health and vitality. Massage and acupuncture increase the circulation of blood and lymphatic fluids, reduce muscular tension, relieve pain, and release endorphins. Improved circulation brings fresh oxygen to body tissues, which eliminates waste products from inside the body and enhances recovery from diseases. By keeping the body balanced, acupuncture and massage can both restore and maintain health.
For more information about how Chinese medicine can improve health, please call (800) 729-0941 or visit www.PacificCollege.edu
NCCAM Awards First Director's Fellowships for CAM Research
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has selected the first two fellows for the NCCAM Director's Fellowship in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Research.
"This prestigious fellowship constitutes an important tool through which NCCAM can recruit and train the next generation of CAM researchers. It exemplifies our approach to integrative medicine by fostering CAM research throughout the NIH. We are very grateful for the support of this new concept by our colleagues at the NIH," said Stephen E. Straus, M.D., NCCAM Director.
The primary goal of the fellowship is to prepare new fellows for careers as independent CAM investigators. The fellowship provides full research support for 2 years of clinical, translational, and/or laboratory research. The fellows were selected from a highly competitive international pool of applicants.
The fellows will join the NIH Intramural Research Program and conduct research on CAM topics in the laboratories of senior scientists of other Institutes and Centers across the NIH. Under the mentor's guidance, the fellow will serve as a "bridge" between the mentor's laboratory, where the work will be performed, and NCCAM.
"The NCCAM Director's Fellowship is an innovative new component in NIH's longstanding commitment to, and responsibility for, training the next generation of biomedical researchers," said Michael M. Gottesman, M.D., Deputy Director for Intramural Research, NIH.
The first two NCCAM Director's fellows are:
- Patrick P. McCue who received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Massachusetts in 2004. He is currently studying the molecular effect of space radiation on the biology of yeast at NASA Ames Research Center in California. James Phang, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute will mentor Dr. McCue while he studies the effects of chemical compounds from botanical extracts on mechanisms of cancer cell death.
- Marni N. Silverman who received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Emory University in 2005. She will be working with Esther Sternberg, M.D., of the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Silverman will study glucocorticoid resistance, which contributes to individual variability in responses to stress. Her research will help shed light on the influence of CAM therapies on the responses of the brain and body to stress.
The NCCAM Director's fellowship is funded in part by the Prince of Wales Foundation. The Foundation distributes funding each year to benefit a wide range of causes throughout the world, including supporting research in CAM and integrative care.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine's mission is to explore complementary and alternative medical practices in the context of rigorous science, train CAM researchers, and disseminate authoritative information to the public and professionals. For additional information, call NCCAM's Clearinghouse toll free at 1-888-644-6226, or visit the NCCAM Web site. NCCAM is 1 of 27 institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health, the Federal focal point for medical research in the United States.
Chinese Medicine and Nutrition
Oriental medicine places high value on diet and nutrition. However, rather than the popular "you are what you eat" dogma, Oriental medical theory asserts that balanced dietary practices are just one piece of a healthy lifestyle.
The Chinese diet of balance is very different than that in the West. In cooperation with a Chinese medicine practitioner and nutritionist, individuals can tailor their diets to incorporate a variety of tastes, foods and herbs that will best serve their health needs. The Chinese diet system is about expanding food options in order to encompass all types of diet and nutrition sources.
Oriental medicine nutrition includes five tastes - spicy, sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Particular tastes tend to have particular properties. For example, bitter foods and herbs tend to be drying and Cold in nature, which makes them ideal for treating Damp Heat conditions. The bland flavor property is considered in addition to the basic five, and tends to aid areas unreachable by other flavors. Foods and herbs can have more than one taste or can incorporate all five.
The principles of yin and yang also apply to foods. Meats tend to be yang in energy, while vegetables are yin. As a very general nutrition guide, one can achieve balance by eating yang foods during winter (the most yin time of year) and yin foods in the summer (the most yang time of year). Sometimes it is appropriate to have a diet that is in tune with the season, and each individual requires different properties and energies in their diet.
A diet rich in grains and legumes and poor in fats and refined sugars frees qi so it can move through your system. This flow can cause negative emotions until it has a chance to become established. To help the body purify itself, eat Liver-cleansing foods such as beets, carrots and burdock. It is also wise to work in conjunction with other aspects of healing, such as acupuncture and herbs.
When choosing dietary therapy, people with chronic sinusitis, general fatigue or digestive problems should change their diet immediately. For others, the transition should be more gradual in order to ease into a new nutrient system to avoid shocking the body with sudden change.
For more information about Chinese medicine and nutrition, please call Pacific College of Oriental Medicine at (800) 729-0941 or visit www.PacificCollege.edu.
Sexual Health the Natural Way
Sexual health is a topic we often find difficult to define and master. Chinese medicine, with its focus on whole body wellness, supports sexual vitality in an active, complete way. In the age of quick-fix healthcare, it is becoming more necessary to slow the pace and reconnect with ourselves on a deeper level.
Sexuality is not widely considered a healthcare issue, but sexual desire can be a powerful source of healing and personal growth. When suppressed, diminished or dysfunctional, it can have negative effects on wellness. Sexual energy and passion make up a portion of our qi and feed positive aspects of our overall welfare. Sexual health can be greatly enhanced by principles inherent in Chinese medical philosophy.
Chinese herbal aphrodisiacs work in conjunction with every aspect of healthcare, such as good diet and exercise practices and maintaining positive mental health. An individual's sexual vigor will be increased and aided with the right herbal formula, but overall health and vitality are the key success factors. Chinese medicine seeks to strengthen entire body health.
Acupuncture has been used to treat infertility and sexual functioning to enhance the body's natural aphrodisiac responses. Studies have shown that acupuncture may affect parts of the central nervous system related to sensation and involuntary body functions through which blood pressure, blood flow and body temperature are regulated. These functions factor greatly into sexual vigor.
Acupuncture also regulates the flow of energy in the body. Jing energy is responsible for growth, development and reproduction and represents our sexuality. Jing is lost or consumed little by little throughout life, and once we lose jing, it cannot be replaced. We lose jing when we live recklessly -- drinking too much, excessive emotional reactions, working too hard, or inappropriate sexual behavior, for instance. Acupuncture can reduce the loss of jing, and with greater success when paired with moderate living.
Many people feel out of control of their sexual energy because of its powerful nature. Reconnecting with the desire inherent in ourselves is an important aspect of gaining personal power and balance. The ancient Taosists believed that human life is governed by natural laws that produce prosperity when obeyed, but when violated cause catastrophe. With the wisdom, moderation and balance that Chinese medicine promotes, we can avoid illness and fully enjoy our sexual potential.
Provided by Pacific College of Oriental Medicine on 3/3/2006
Chinese Medicine Eases Stress
Physical and emotional stress is a fact of modern life. Natural disasters, war, and general unrest are painting an uncertain picture of the future, which can leave many people with undue stress. Although the American Psychological Association reports that 63 percent of Americans say they are taking action to reduce their stress levels, 43 percent suffer adverse health effects due to stress. Studies show that Chinese medicine, which includes acupuncture, massage, Tai Chi and Qigong, can significantly help reduce stress.
The body's reaction to stress is meant to protect us as it adjusts to its surroundings to maintain homeostasis. Our natural reactions to danger or challenge can be positive, but when we feel intense pressure or out of control these reactions become negative stress. The "fight or flight" response from the sympathetic nervous system occurs as we react to physical and mental changes in our equilibrium. In Chinese medical language, excessive emotional stimulation or suppression causes imbalance of qi, thereby injuring the body and producing disease. reduce stress.
Increased blood pressure and cortisol levels, as well as lowered immune system function, result when stress begins to affect the body. Symptoms can worsen to become depression, fatigue, tension headaches, stomachaches, hypertension, migraines, ulcers, heart attacks, or colitis. For those who harbor anxiety, the stress response does not turn off, and can lead to more serious health problems such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes or thyroid dysfunction. Following trauma, it can develop into post-traumatic stress disorder, which requires professional treatment. reduce stress.
Chinese acupuncture and massage, as well as Tai Chi and Qigong exercises, can alleviate stress symptoms by releasing endorphins, the body's own natural painkillers, and improving the circulation of blood and lymphatic fluids, which brings fresh oxygen to body tissues. This increased oxygen flow eliminates waste products from inside the body and enhances recovery from diseases. Chinese medicine also decreases the stress hormone cortisol, lowers blood pressure, reduces heart rate, and relaxes muscle tissue.
Psychotherapy Dramatically Improved By New 'Acupuncture Without Needles' Technique
EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) replaces acupuncture needles with fingertip tapping and provides therapy relief in minutes or hours instead of months or years.
San Francisco, CA March 13, 2006 -- Stanford Engineer Gary Craig brings a new Acupuncture finding to the psychotherapy field. His new procedure, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is based on the discovery that the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s subtle energies.
The entire body of Chinese Medicine is centered around these minute energy flows but, until recently, their use for emotional issues has gone unnoticed. “Conventional psychotherapy takes a long time to do very little,” says Craig, “and that’s because psychologists have been looking in the wrong place for centuries.” According to Craig’s findings, traumatic memories from the past cause a ‘short circuit’ in the free flow of the body’s Chi (energy) and that is what causes current forms of anxiety, nervousness, depression, headaches, phobic responses and the like. “Once you realize this,” maintains Craig, “psychotherapy becomes easy.” EFT repairs this short circuit by stimulating precise meridian points via tapping on them with the fingertips. This simple process can be learned and applied by anyone.
“I believe that acupuncture and EFT work well together,” says Tashi Rabten, ND, LAc. At the Lhasa University School of Traditional Medicine in Tibet, where he received advanced degrees in medicine and acupuncture, Dr. Rabten attended over 4,000 hours of acupuncture classes and clinics. He is president of the International Tibetan Medical Association.
“It takes years of practice to become an expert acupuncturist,” he says, “but with EFT you can learn to tap on key points in just a few minutes with no experience or training. Acupuncture is still the best way to treat specific health problems because it works deeply and precisely, but EFT is an excellent support therapy, and it helps bring lasting results by removing the emotional causes of many illnesses.”
Dr. Rabten has witnessed the physiological changes EFT can produce first-hand. In one case, he held the wrist of a congestive heart failure patient to monitor his pulse, which was fast, weak, and erratic. Dr. Rabten asked the patient’s wife to tap EFT points on her husband’s face and torso, and within 20 seconds, the patient’s pulse slowed and became strong and steady.
Hundreds of reports and case studies from EFT practitioners, including licensed acupuncturists and health care professionals, testify to the procedure’s versatility. All of the conditions treated by conventional acupuncture are represented, along with psychological issues like post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, anxiety, and psychosomatic illnesses. Even reading comprehension problems and golf games improve as a result of tapping.
Craig’s EFT Manual provides all the basics for free and has been translated by volunteer practitioners into nine languages. His EFT website has risen from obscurity to the sixth most actively visited natural health site in the world.
The EFT Manual can be freely downloaded at
http://www.emofree.com/downloadeftmanual.asp?ref=prw-acup
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