This is where I'm posting links to articles on Jin Shin Jyutsu®, CFT,
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tips. Just look at the posts, categories, and links on the right.
Multi-tasking is not all that it’s cracked up to be. As a parent, I learned to re-focus my attention when I have time to spend with my daughter, to be mindful of this delicious but fleeting time in our lives. Even before her birth, I stopped to eat and read, or do anything while eating. To my surprise, it’s made a huge difference in what, how and how much I eat. Nowadays, I feel dizzy when I attempt to eat and read at the same time, and it reminded me of my training in TCM, how the small intestine is the organ for discernment of what is good for us, and what is not. By multi-tasking, the small intestine gets overwhelmed with information and can’t fully live up to its purpose.
So it was really exciting when I found this article in the NYTimes. Upon looking at it online, I then discovered the video below.
Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh was invited to the Google campus as part of its Optimize Your Life initiative, which seeks to encourage health, happiness, and balance among employees and recognizes that mindful, meditative practices are critical to mental health.
Despite the fact that the writer chose to use the outdated and slightly offensive term “masseur,” this is a very informative article.
According to this recent article from the Well section of the NYTimes, researchers found that massage reduced the production of compounds called cytokines, which play a critical role in inflammation. Massage also stimulated mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses inside cells that convert glucose into the energy essential for cell function and repair. “The bottom line is that there appears to be a suppression of pathways in inflammation and an increase in mitochondrial biogenesis,” helping the muscle adapt to the demands of increased exercise, said the senior author, Dr. Mark A. Tarnopolsky.
Many people pop an aspirin or Aleve at the first sign of muscle soreness, but Dr. Tarnopolsky suggests that, in the long run, a professional massage may even be a better bargain than a pill. “If someone says “This is free and it might make you feel better, but it may slow down your recovery, do you still want it?” he asked.
“This is important research, because it is the first to show that massage can reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines which may be involved in pain,” said Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medical School. She was not involved in the study. “We have known from many studies that pain can be reduced by massage based on self-report, but this is the first demonstration that the pain-related pro-inflammatory cytokines can be reduced.” she said.
You have never heard of oil pulling therapy? Neither had I, until about two years ago. My gums would bleed periodically, and my dentist told me I had the “gums of a 50 year old man,” and I therefore needed periodontal care.
However, I soon switched to a more holistic dentist, and the dental hygienist there told me about oil pulling. Despite regular brushing and flossing, 98 percent of the population has some degree of gum disease or tooth decay. As it turns out, all disease starts in the mouth, and therefore, the mouth is a reflection of our health. Recent research has also demonstrated a direct link between oral health and chronic illness. Combining the wisdom of Ayurvedic medicine with modern science, oil pulling could help with conditions such as asthma, diabetes, arthritis, and migraine headaches. The science behind oil pulling is fully documented in the book, with references to medical studies and case histories. Although incredibly powerful, oil pulling therapy is completely safe and simple enough for even a child.
Within 3 months, I went from quarterly dentist visits with periodontal care, to twice a year regular cleanings, and my gums are much healthier and are no longer receding. On top of that, I’ve been saving at least $600 per year! I’m happy, my dentist is happy – I recommend reading this book to anyone. I know it sounds incredible, but it definitely works for me.
In this article in the New York Times’ Vital Signs column, researchers found that volunteers who received Swedish massage experienced significant decreases in levels of the stress hormone cortisol in blood and saliva, and in arginine vasopressin, a hormone that can lead to increases in cortisol. They also had increases in the number of lymphocytes, white blood cells that are part of the immune system.
Volunteers who had the light massage experienced greater increases in oxytocin, a hormone associated with contentment, than the Swedish massage group, and bigger decreases in adrenal corticotropin hormone, which stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol.
The study was published online in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
The lead author, Dr. Mark Hyman Rapaport, chairman of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai, said the findings were “very, very intriguing and very, very exciting — and I’m a skeptic.”
Although exercise is good for you and reduces your cardiovascular risk by a factor of three, too much vigorous exercise, such as marathon running, seems to actually increase your cardiac risk by seven, according to a study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010 in Montreal, and may explain a series of recent marathon deaths.
This could be an important lesson to anyone who engages in large amounts of cardio exercise, because as it turns out, excessive cardio may actually be counterproductive. Not only is it possible to over-exercise, but simply focusing on the wrong type of exercise to the exclusion of everything else can actually do you more harm than good.
Long-term endurance athletes were found to suffer diminished function of the right ventricle of the heart after endurance racing, according to this recent study. They also had increased blood levels of cardiac enzymes, which are markers for heart injury, and 12 percent of the athletes had detectable scar tissue on their heart muscle one week post-race. The authors of the study concluded that “Although short-term recovery appears complete, chronic changes may remain in many of the most practiced athletes, the long-term clinical significance of which warrants further study. ”
When exercising, remember that it can be overdone, and that you can push yourself too far. I’d like to invite you to be gentle and non-judgemental with yourself.
The universe is transformation, life is opinion…take away the opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, “I have been harmed.” Take away the complaint, “I have been harmed,” and the harm is taken away.
Marcus Aurelius(Roman emperor, 26 April 121 – 17 March 180 AD)
Pain is a universal human experience, but have you considered that it is always a product of our own brain, regardless of whether it’s acute or chronic pain? In chronic pain, the brain keeps producing pain, even though experts tell us that most anything in the body will have healed in 3-6 months’ time. That’s why medication and surgery are usually not a great option for chronic pain, but “retraining” your brain and nervous system is. It’s easy to see why we would feel down and stressed when we’re experiencing persistent pain, which creates a negative spiral, since these feelings are also brain impulses and producing more pain. So after getting the go-ahead from your physician, an active approach like bodywork/massage and appropriate exercise is often the most effective approach to combat chronic pain.
The Dalai Lama was asked what surprises him the most, and he replied:
“Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.”
Become actively involved in your well-being now to ensure it will last!
A study in the July 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that massage is an effective treatment for lower back pain. In some cases, researchers report, the benefits of massage lasted for six months or longer.
“Ten sessions of massage therapy led to more rapid improvement in low back pain than usual medical care. There was no apparent difference between relaxation massage and the more specialized technique of structural massage.”
Some highlights:
“Positive outcomes reported following massage therapy include pain reduction, better quality of life, improved sleep and function as well as reduced depressive symptoms.”
“This growing evidence base should aid clinicians in recommending massage as an evidence-based therapeutic modality.”
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You have never heard of oil pulling therapy? Neither had I, until about two years ago. My gums would bleed periodically, and my dentist told me I had the “gums of a 50 year old man,” and I therefore needed periodontal care.
The Dalai Lama was asked what surprises him the most, and he replied:
A study
