MINDFUL LIVING

The body is not a fixed structure but a thinking organism. The mind is like a field of information and knowledge, which is not confined to the brain and is, present everywhere at the same time. Each and every cell of the three trillion in the body is a thinking cell. Each and every experience or thought in the body creates a neuropeptide, which acts on the body, and has an action similar to any drug.

Diseases today are nothing but the manifestations of the mind — psychosomatic stress. Emotions like fear and anxiety are known to be associated with high blood pressure; anger and jealousy with heart attack and paralysis; and greed and possessiveness with obesity, diabetes and heart failure.

To a large extent these can be controlled and prevented by living mindfully or changing the lifestyle, the body mind way. Mindful living, deals with self introspection — on eating, exercising, breathing, digestion, metabolism, eliminating, sleeping, thinking habits, feelings, emotions, relationships, memories and beliefs.

Mind it

It is a healthy lifestyle, holistic in nature. No extreme can ever lead to good health. Bhagavad Gita defines the one who lives this way— whose diet and movements are balanced, who does his actions in a proper manner, whose hours of sleeping and waking up are regular, and who follows the path of meditation, can destroy pain or unhappiness.

The tenets of mindful living are:
• Right diet
• Right exercise
• Right breathing
• Right attitude – Stress Management

Mindful Attitude

Stress is truly the reaction of the body or the mind to the interpretation of a known situation. Stress management, therefore, involves building healthy attitude and preparing the body and the mind in such a way that stress does not affect them.

Building healthy attitude

By improving the power of interpretation and analysis and by cultivating good thoughts one can change the present situation and alter the occurrence of a disease.

• Attitude of learning from experiences: every opportunity good or bad should be taken as an opportunity to learn for future betterment.

• Replacing negative thoughts is necessary as fear, doubt and persistence of negativity in the mind are the three fundamental causes for the development of diseases. According to yoga sutras of Patanjali, to remove the negative thoughts of mind, opposite thoughts should be cultivated — thoughts of love, forgiveness, compassion and happiness.

• Positive thinking and positive behaviour produce endorphins in the body which can change the health scenario of a person. Think positive and consistently and you can achieve everything in life.

Mind Body strengthening

It is to nullify the effects of stress, to reduce the over activity of the sympathetic nervous system and to reduce resting heart rate, the methodologies available are pranayama, regular exercise, having a hobby and mind-body relaxation techniques.

• Walking in nature with a silent mind and experiencing the sounds of nature can be as effective as 20 minutes of meditation.

• Pranayama and meditation helps to experience silence in the thought, speech and action. The silent spaces in between the thoughts consist of the space for a pure potentiality. Twenty minutes of meditation provides the same physiological parameters as that of seven hours of deep sleep.

Living with Awareness

To be happy and healthy, to keep away lifestyle diseases the mantra would be to live consciously. Practicing conscious awareness of each and every action will instigate to take charge of our life and participate in our health. Breathing awareness, eating awareness, thinking awareness, etc. all are the practical ways of doing the same thing.

SLEEPING HABITS CAN GIVE AND ALSO TAKE AWAY BACK PAIN

Sleeping is a prime need. The power of restorative rest is strong and wide reaching. Symptoms of diseases like fibromyalgia, migraine headaches, chronic fatigue and flu are decreased while we sleep. But did you know that improper sleep can be a cause of pain and suffering? Poor sleeping posture is the reason for this.

We all rest in various sleeping postures for five to eight hours every day! This entails 25-33 per cent of an average day or one fourth of our life time. Certain sleeping postures increase the tendency to a sway back while others give rise to neck pain.

We usually blame the mattress or the pillow for the pain and the stiffness. Let’s review the most common sleeping positions, why they are harmful and how can we correct them to help the body.

Sleeping on the belly

Sleeping on the belly can never be symmetrical as the head has to turn to one side or the other and this pressurises the neck. Even the lower back can get extremely curved as it sags into the mattress. It lets the lower back sink far inward and causes too much pressure on the back.

This creates unbalanced muscles, wherein one side is hypertonic (contracted) and the other is hypotonic (extended). This leads to neck strain, cramping, pain, tingling sensation in arms and headaches.

To sleep on the belly, follow these precautions:

• Place a rolled up towel or a small pillow under the abdomen to prevent the sagging of the lower back.

• One knee can be bent towards the chest.

• The pillow below the head should be as flat as possible so that the neck does not get arched or twisted to one side.
Begin to change the habit of sleeping on the stomach by starting off lying on your side or the back. Relaxing for a while in these positions, before turning to sleep on the belly, will gradually build in the new healthier habit. This position has to go.

Sleeping on the back

This places less pressure on the back than sleeping on the stomach. As the weight gets evenly distributed across the widest surface of the body, this minimises pressure points and ensures proper alignment of the internal organs.

If you are lying on your back and your legs are straight, then there is insufficient support for the lower back allowing it to arch too high. This can aggravate backache especially in people with increased lower back curvature and stiff hips.

If you sleep on your back with one leg bent, then you probably experience the same hip, lower back and/or knee pain as do the stomach sleepers who sleep in this way. Add a medium firm pillow under your knees and lower legs for a relaxed back. This support stretches the back and reduces the curvature.

Sleeping on the side

Side sleeping gets the votes for best sleeping position, if done correctly. Errors in side sleeping occur when one leg overlaps the other. The top leg is folded more than the lower one with the body getting twisted on the waist — the top hip trying to race with the lower hip! As the middle back gets suspended between the hips and shoulders, the broadest parts of the trunk, it can lead to tightness and pain in the low back and knees.

Then, side sleeping with hands under or over the head and scrunching the pillow so that the head is elevated can lead to neck and shoulder pain, stiffness, headaches, tingly or numbness in the arms or hands.

Side sleeping is the best because it allows the body to maintain a proper and corrective posture for several hours. What should be done is to place a pillow between the knees to create proper distance between them, thus keeping the hips in proper balance.

The legs must be parallel, so the hips remain square and there is no strain on the low back. A pillow should be placed under the head and pulled to the shoulder for optimal neck support. The hands should be parallel and below the eyes.

Placing a pillow between your knees and legs to keep hips, pelvis and spine aligned, helps a lot as this takes off the pressure from the lower hip and also keeps the pelvis vertical. This maintains the curve of the spine and alleviates any pressure or stretching.

Keep alternating the side to prevent muscular imbalance between the two sides of the body — left and the right. Who knew there was so much to sleeping posture? If these corrections are given a try, after a while the daily neck strain, shoulder pain, headaches, hip and low back pain and arm tingling may just start to correct itself.

EASE CANCER TREATMENT SIDE EFFECTS WITH YOGA

This is a write up by my friend Jillian MacKee to spread awareness on the subject !

Here are some side effects of cancer treatment: Insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, depression, aches and pains. Though, cancer treatments, such as surgery and radiation, are necessary, the side effects are almost as scary as having cancer. Even more unfortunate, many cancer patients do not know that there are ways they can relieve many of these symptoms, if not all of them.

An article from MSNBC showed that studies reported that yoga is great exercises that can also help cancer patients relieve their symptoms.

Yoga, especially hatha yoga -- the meditation yoga, is a spiritual exercise that has many benefits for cancer patients, especially patients with rare or aggressive cancer, such as mesothelioma that is triggered from asbestos exposure. In this article it lists specific reasons why yoga is not only a great idea for cancer patients, it is a must for them.

Essentially, the stretching and holding poses from many hatha yoga asanas promote the growth of anti-cancer cells, called macrophages. Even more, these types of holding poses helps the body's circulatory system, improving the blood flow that carries important minerals and nutrients to the parts of the body that desperately need it after radiation treatment.

However, because of the patient's severe condition, yoga should only be practiced under the care of a professional yoga instructor, especially one who understands its importance as an alternative complimentary cancer treatment.

Some doctors also found from various studies that yoga helps patients maintain a positive sense of well-being, which is very important during recovery. Optimistic people are typically healthier than pessimistic people. This is usually because optimism allows the body to relax, which in turn allows the brain to send positive neurological signals to the body's organs. The meditation sessions -- usually in the beginning of a hatha yoga session -- help patients clear their mind, allowing a more optimistic and courageous attitude towards their condition.

Mesothelioma treatment, and other aggressive treatments, can destroy healthy tissues and cells in the patient's body, forcing the body to work extra hard to repair itself, thus the insomnia and fatigue side effects. However, patients who practice yoga report feeling more energized and getting better quality of sleep at night, enhance quality of life, and increase life expectancy. This is mostly because yoga asanas allow for a full body workout, distributing energy to every part of the body.

As more studies are done, doctors will soon discover just how important yoga, and other types of alternative cancer treatments, is to cancer patients. Clinics across the nation may incorporate yoga therapy as a part of their patient's recovery process.

WEEKLY WATER FASTING - HEALING CHRONIC DISEASES

Fasting is a powerful tool that provides a period of concentrated physiological rest during which the body switches to repairing and strengthening its damaged organs. It allows the body to cleanse cells of accumulated toxins and waste products.

Fasting gives the digestive tract time to completely rest and strengthen its mucosal lining. A healthy intestinal mucosal lining is necessary for preventing the leakage of incompletely digested proteins and toxins into the bloodstream, thereby offering protection against autoimmune conditions.

Fasting for six-days a month can indefinitely postpone onset of type-2 diabetes in obese individuals! Water fasting releases natural chemicals and hormones to keep chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, hypothyroidism, colitis, IBS, fibroids and benign tumours and many more in control.

Obesity
Weekly water fasting is a safe and sure shot solution for resistant obesity. The aim is to create a food shortage (while water is allowed), to awaken the sleeping enzymes and chemicals that increase metabolism and burn fat. When the food supply is cut off, a switching action occurs in the body where the stored fat becomes the target of burning.

But this fat burning does not occur immediately due to the scarcity and disuse of certain enzymes needed to release free fatty acid from the stored fat, known as the hormone-sensitive-lipase (HSL).

In order to maintain adequate HSL levels, the body must know that this enzyme is needed which will happen only when a scarcity of food is produced for the body. When one does weekly water fasting, the HSL levels keep getting triggered and then increase the sleeping metabolism. Then one can actually eat the food of seven days in six days time without putting on weight!

Chronic diseases
There are other attributes to a weekly fast. On the day of fast, our daily secretion of glucocorticoid (natural steroids made by body) is doubled. This serves as a weekly pulse but without its usual adverse effects! This pulse mobilises the stored carbohydrates and also prevents hypoglycemia or lowering of the sugar.

Such pulse can prove effective in a large numbers of autoimmune disorders like thyroid disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and a number of skin problems. These patients are given steroids externally but with all the side effects of long term use. The glucocorticoids or bodily steroids are free of side effects!

Diabetes
Fasting gives a rest to the otherwise overworked pancreas which have to keep secreting insulin to push the sugar in the blood inside the cells, as we keep eating frequently throughout the day. It is found that in an obese person, the saturated fat cells release leptin which leads to spontaneous death of the insulin-secreting beta cells in the pancreas, leading to Diabetes. On the day of a fast, the same fat cells have been found to secrete adiponectin which has growth-promoting and proliferative effect on these beta cells to thus produce more Insulin.

Even in established type-2 diabetes, a graded weekly fast can be observed provided adequate care is taken to avoid drug-induced hypoglycemia. This is possible under a supervised protocol.

Making your fast a pleasant and rewarding experience!
Most people get discouraged by the first experience of headache, acidity and irritability and resolve not to fast any more. Yes there are going to be problems at the first occasion. However, by the next week, some changes would have already occurred in the body so that the trouble is reduced to only 50 per cent, and by the third week to 25 per cent. After the fifth week, there is hardly any problem in fasting for the whole day. To make the experience of fasting a pleasant one, the following regime is suggested:

• Fix up one day in a week according to your religious belief. While the conviction gets you agreed, the belief makes you observe it regularly, religiously. Remember, you have to stick to the chosen day even in face of the greatest temptations. This is to maintain a regular rhythm with bodily functions.

• Resolve. If for example you have selected Monday, the previous night, sleep with a resolve and an awareness that you have to fast the next day. Tell yourself that apart from eating, all other activities are going to take place exactly as any other day.

Graded fasting
• The first Monday: just avoid the morning tea and the breakfast. Take lemon-water instead. Those having a tendency to get 'acid formation' may be helped by taking a solution of Amla juice or simple water instead.

• The second Monday: your body will be in a better position to tolerate the avoidance of breakfast, and you can safely postpone the lunch for at least an hour.

• The third Monday: you can skip both the breakfast and the lunch, and take lemon-water or amla juice-water or cucumber instead. This way, gradually over a period of about four to five weeks, a 24 hours fasting will be a rewarding experience and you will wait for the day to get that 'positive kick' from fasting.

Yogic Vatasara to help!
Vatasara is a forgotten technique which means drinking air. Vatasara suppresses the hunger pangs and balances the acidity too. Yoga describes drinking air through Kaki-Mudra and the Bhujagi mudra, but they are difficult to practice by many. Dr P Malshe has invented a very easy and acceptable method of drinking air, using a punctured (pierced) straw. With one-two small punctures in the top one inch of a straw, you will suck in lot of air along with the half glass of water.

Drinking air on the day of fast fills up the stomach and immediately brings about a kind of satiety for several hours. After drinking water mixed with air, doing inverted postures like Adhomukha svanasana, Shashankasana and Uttanasana for a minute, maneuvers the air to the intestines. Let us take charge of ourselves. In order to be truly transformed, you must first empty yourself — fasting can transform!

Weekly fasting leads to -
• More energy
• Healthier skin
• Better quality sleep
• Dramatic reduction or complete elimination of headaches, aches and pains in muscles and joints
• Stabilisation of blood pressure
• Stronger and more efficient digestion and bowel movements.
• Loss of excess weight

WATCH THAT WEIGHT - Figures can change on scale!

Obesity is a lifestyle disorder that is influenced by genetic factors, hormonal patterns, individual will power, and food addictions. It is now recognised as a disease by the World Health Organisation. Yoga has helped many people shed extra pounds, even some who have spent years trying to slim down in other ways without much success.


Loose out

Vinita Gupta, a 36-year-old home-maker, hearing of the far-reaching benefits of Yoga, thought of giving it a try. Little did she know that she will come out slimmer and healthier, with a sense of control. As a large part of yoga is personal transformation, both on and off the mat — weight loss is just the beginning!

Vinita started with breathing yoga practices to build awareness and kick start her sluggish metabolism. A planned protocol of sustained stretches made her ‘squeeze out’ the toxins and mobilise the fat cells to get burnt up with the alternating aerobic practice of surya namaskaars.

While maintaining the poses like Naukasana, Vrukshasana, Trikonasana, Chaturanga, Parivrutta Parshvakonasana, her own body weight provided the necessary resistance to different muscle groups giving her all the advantages of a balanced weight training programme too.

She was then introduced to deep vinyasa power yoga, where movement and breath link poses together, to build heat and potentially result in greater metabolic boost and calorie burn. ‘Yoga is seriously the best thing that has ever happened to me’ is what she says now!

How yoga can change the number on the scale

Yoga works on many fronts and naturally creates balance. The key to achieving weight loss goals is not merely sweating out with asanas, but in developing mindfulness. The focus on breath, meditation and the ability to be in the present moment, translate off the mat as well.

Pepped up metabolism: Yogasanas increases core strength, flexibility, and lean muscle. They don’t just burn fat and calories but by placing healthy demands on the body, they sparks the sluggish metabolism, since more muscle burns more calories. Once the metabolism gets pepped up with the deep isometric asana holding and breathing techniques, the effects are sustained to the maximum. This helps burn fat cells in a more sustained way and not only when you exercise.

Digestive strengthening: If you are not digesting properly, your body will trick you into cravings that can affect your weight loss. Yoga improves digestion and so eliminates constipation, water retention, and bloating.

Hormone balancing: Yoga stimulates and improves blood circulation to the lethargic endocrine glands (such as the thyroid and pancreas) that control our appetite, metabolism, moods and sleep patterns, as well as improved self-image.

Detoxification: The deep breathing in Yoga expels toxins and increases the oxygen intake to the cells, further increasing metabolism. Pranayama also translates into daily life, reducing stress and maintaining focus, just as it does in each asana.

Mindful Eating: Mindfulness during asana and pranayama practices eventually spills into the lifestyle! One learns to feel when you are full, and you don’t like the feeling of overeating. You also recognise anxiety and stress for what they are instead of trying to mask them with food.

Positive Self Image: Weight gain often brings with it a great deal of harsh self-judgment. Through yoga, we can counteract this by creating a safe, positive environment to reconnect with our bodies and quiet the counterproductive messages that often arise in our minds. One learns to accept oneself (and the bodies) just the way they are.

Destressing also increase metabolism: By combating stress, yoga helps normalise cortisol levels. In response to stress, levels of the hormone cortisol rise which stimulates eating and ensures that any additional calories are efficiently converted to fat, which tends to get deposited in the abdomen. Big bellies are linked to insulin resistance-a precursor to diabetes and heart disease.

Why Yoga

Yoga has the potential to be very transformative on many levels, with the physical body being a doorway to the more profound gifts of the practices. Yoga is really a process of learning about your body, being comfortable in your own skin, and knowing it is a process that you can be in for a whole lifetime.

PEACE OF MIND - EXPERIENCE IT YOURSELF!

If we were to sit down and pen our thoughts without any editing, there would be no logical sequence. Our mind can be called a ‘madhouse’ of thoughts— unconnected and random. Out of the 60,000 thoughts we have in 24 hours time, 90% are ‘junk’ in reality. No wonder, our mind is running on the fourth gear most of the time. To prevent its breakdown, it needs to be silenced for a while!

Silence is to the mind what sleep is to the body—nourishment and refreshment. Beneath the ups and downs of life, beneath the restless surface of the mind, there is a profound state of calm and silence. By being able to rest for small periods in that state, we can create a stable and strong mind even in the face of stress. No wonder more and more of us are getting attracted towards meditation.

Finding difficulty meditating?

Meditation or Dhyana is being able to remain with the state of inner silence without any effort. The same can becomes a strain when one forcefully tries to still the mind, control the thoughts, and balance the emotions. Lack of time and patience make meditation nearly impossible for the majority. Nothing to despair as there are techniques which are within the reach of one and all and revolve around mindful breathing practices of yoga.

1. Belly breathing - Slow, rhythmic and deep abdominal breathing leads to calming of the chaotic mind as shown by the alpha waves in EEG recordings of the brain.

2. Vibrations of Bhramari - Specific sound vibrations while humming ‘MMM’ or ‘NNN’ have been shown to reduce anxiety thus leading to a mental restful state.

3. The Magical Pause – Kewal Kumbhaka - During meditation and relaxation, the breathing can become gradually fainter and eventually stop by itself—for a while. This is described as Kewal Kumbhaka. These pauses in our breathing are the abode of bliss, health and freedom. But can I and you experience it now? Yes, and the technique is Kapalabhati – a very versatile breathing kriya that is known to purify the body and the mind. After a short practice of Kapalbhati, the breath automatically gets suspended for a short while! There is no struggle or strain to hold the breaths, but a blissful experience, that peace of mind!

How can Kapalbhati lead to peace of mind?


During the practice with active exhalations, there is a washing out of carbon dioxide from the system with greater supply of oxygen. This delays the triggering of the breath, resulting in a peaceful pause in breathing, once the practice is stopped. When breathing comes to this temporary standstill, all the mental chatter disappears with a state of balanced calm and clarity – a perfectly peaceful state!

The density of thoughts significantly reduces during this time, giving the mind some rest. The breathing gradually becomes normal as the carbon dioxide builds up in the system. The duration of the peaceful pause lengthens if we relax and enjoy it consciously.

Try this –

• Sit straight in a comfortable pose, with head, neck and spine in one line.

• Place your palms on the thighs or knees. Relax and soften the face with a gentle smile.

• Begin with a chest-expanding inhalation and, maintaining it, start the practice. Use your abdominal muscles to perform active forceful exhalations, followed by passive soundless inhalations. Breathe only through the nose. Beginners can initially breath out blowing through the mouth as if blowing off a candle.

• The rhythm should be regular and consistent, like the ticking of a clock. The rate should be slow and steady, allowing enough time for spontaneous inhalations to occur. Stop after 25 – 30 strokes.

• At the end of one round, sit very still and observe the breath and the mind. The urge to breathe stops for a few seconds. Simultaneously, the mind experiences a deep state of stillness, silence, calm and peace.

Your goal is not to battle with the mind, but to witness the mind. Inner silence becomes a gift – strength, stillness and serenity! We tap a new level of health and creativity which surfaces without efforts. Worth it!

THAW THE FROZEN SHOULDER

If you find yourself suffering from significant shoulder pain, stiffness, limited range of motion, difficulty in making your hair or hooking your dress behind, you could be suffering from frozen shoulder or adhesive capsulitis. With primary frozen shoulder, there is no evidence or background history which explains the stiffness or decreased movement. When secondary, there’s an event of injury or trauma which precedes the discomfort.

A blend of customized yoga based practices, serve as a wonderful tool to help restore the shoulder's strength, flexibility, and function. They have to be performed thoughtfully and with patience and involve slow, deliberate movements requiring focus on what is being one and how the body feels. When overdone, they may make the shoulders go into spasm and freeze up even more. It is better to under exercise rather than over exercise. The practices mentioned are for primary frozen shoulder where there is no evidence of muscle injury.

Yogic Sukshma Vyayama – Release the tightness safely

1. Shoulder Circles - Start out with some very small circles; just a few minutes with each shoulder, several times a day.

2. Side lying arm circles - Lie on the side of the shoulder that is not hurting. Place your top hand on your shoulder and make circles with your elbow, thus rotating the shoulder. Start with small circles and gradually progress to larger ones to finally a figure of eight shape.

3. Side lying fist arches- Then making a fist with the hands of the painful side, pressing the upper arm to the side of the chest, bring the fist down towards the floor and then rotate it up.

4. Hands in and out breathing - While lying on your back, stretch your arm up toward the ceiling with the palms facing each other. As you slowly inhale, open your relaxed arms to the sides and before they touch the floor, breathing out slowly, lift them back to the vertical. Let the length of your breathing be equal to the length of each movement….do it continuously and slowly for a minute and then relax you arms by bringing them down with palms on your belly.

5. Controlled arm stretch – Lying down as above, move your parallel arms back. When you reach a point of stretch with mild discomfort, stop. Have a friend or helper bring some support to rest the arm at just that height. Then at that point of stretch, but not pain, let go of the weight of the arm fully supported with the prop . Breathe and relax for two minutes or more. Do this stretch at least once a day.

6. Side arm lifts - Open your arms out to the sides with palms up, while still lying on your back. Again, use support for the arm at just the right point of stretch sensation. When the arm is at about 90 degrees, you can also bend the elbows to 90 degrees or more, releasing the forearm and back of the hand toward the floor, with the palms up – making a ‘W’. As it is important to restore this movement, use plenty of height supporting the arm, planning on slow progress.

7. Chair release - Place the wrist of your 'good arm' on the top of the chair and walk back keeping legs perpendicular to the floor. The hand of your 'painful' arm’ is hanging down. Let the ‘hurting arm’ just hang down. GENTLY rotate your hips and upper body in a circular motion, you will notice that your hanging arm also rotates very gently in the same direction. Allow your hanging arm to move naturally. Pause for a few seconds, then rotate the hips and body in the opposite direction.

Shoulder strengthening -

Though one may be apprehensive about trying this, most frozen shoulders actually like mild weight bearing, especially when they have gained some confidence after subtly warming up their shoulder muscles.

Setubandasana - with hands interlocked on the floor, give a good blend of strength and stretch to the shoulders, without hurting them.

Marjarasana – Come on your hands and knees and keep your shoulder area actively wide. Then lift each arm forward and up a little off the floor, one arm at a time. Make sure that you keep lifting your trunk up out of your shoulders so there's no valley between the shoulder blades.

Adhomukhasvanasana - If you can do the above without pain, you're ready to progress. An easier variation, with hands on a chair seat suits many.