So what is this Ch'i stuff anyway? If you saw The Empire Strikes Back you already know. Yoda explained it quite well, except he called it The Force. The Chinese pictogram for Ch'i is often translated into English as breath, energy, or life force, but it's more than that. In Eastern philosophy everything in the universe is made up of a single, elemental force. It is both matter because it makes up everything and energy because it flows through and around everything, binding everything together into a unified whole. That's the essence of Ch’i.
In some respects there are similarities between this belief and concepts from physics related to the Unified Field Theory. Scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider hope to demonstrate the existence of the Higgs boson (a.k.a. the God particle), a fundamental field that pervades all space and interacts with other particles. Sound familiar?
Because of the similarities between Eastern thought and physics, it would be fairly simple for me to come up with some plausible sounding but bogus justification for the existence if Ch'i based on Western science, but I won't. I agree with Kierkegaard that science and faith are two different and incomparable things. One should not use one to prove or disprove the other. I include in faith any belief or concept that is based purely on empirical evidence, which includes Ch'i. More on that later.
Science is the practice of establishing measurable and verifiable cause and effect relationships using mathematics and experimentation. Faith attempts to describe conceptually things that cannot be measured or experimented upon. These are totally unrelated activities. That is why I'm as unimpressed by attempts to use fMRIs to prove Ch'i as I am by attempts to date the age of the earth by using the time lines in the Bible. Both use irrational assumptions that try to link science and faith.
[Note: If the idea of comparing Eastern philosophy and modern physics interests you I recommend a book from the 1970s called The Tao of Physics. It’s a fun read even if the physics is a bit dated. ]
So what is Ch'i and does it really exist? It doesn't matter. The word and concept of Ch'i simply make it easier to discuss and teach the different modalities of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Since TCM began about 5000 or 6000 years ago, they did not have the benefit of MRIs, CT scans, Xrays, or microscopes. The Chinese experimented on themselves (or each other most likely) and began keeping records on what happened to a certain ailment when they tried treatment A,B,C, or D. That is the process that lead to therapies like acupuncture and Ch'i Kung.
Unlike Western medicine, they never tried to figure out logically why action B helped condition Y. They simply checked thousands and thousands of records and determined that if you defecate near your source of drinking water you are likely to get sick and die. Even though they knew nothing about bacteria, they figured out you should wash your hands after going to the bathroom and before eating. This was at a time when primitive Europeans were living in their own filth and blaming diseases on evil spirits and witches.
The concepts of Ch'i and meridians are just conceptual frameworks, not necessarily reality. So when I say Ch'i can get stuck in your joints I do not mean that billions and billions of Higgs bosons are trapped under your patellae. I'm simply saying your Ch'i Kung session is likely to work better if you massage your joints after you do it.
Before you discount any medical therapy based purely on empirical evidence, I’d like to point out that Western medicine does it too. No one has ever proven scientifically that high cholesterol levels cause heart disease. But years of records indicate that people who have high cholesterol have more heart disease. No one knows why, yet millions of dollars are spent each year on statin drugs to reduce cholesterol. It's all based on nothing but empirical evidence gleaned from medical records.
So lets see, modern Western medicine has a couple of hundred years of records at best. Traditional Chinese Medicine has thousands. Keep that in mind if you decide to try Ch'i Kung or any other form of TCM. Try to keep an open mind and see for yourself what, if anything, happens.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Kitchen Ch'i
The last time I promised to tell you about a stress reduction technique that everyone has time to do. And I shall; but first I'd like to give you two examples of why stress reduction is important. These both come from new research that has been published in the past eight years. The first is that people who are frequently angry and upset have significantly higher rates of cancer than folks who are pretty much calm and relaxed.
Would you care to put some numbers with that to see just how much it can help to be happy? That comes from bit of research published in 2000. (http://longevity.about.com/od/mentalfitness/p/positive_aging.htm). People who have positive attitudes about aging live 7-1/2 years longer than people who are negative, all other health factors being similar. Seven and one half years! Compare that with studies comparing purely physical factors. A person who has great genetics, normal weight, perfect blood pressure, normal cholesterol, who exercises regularly and eats right can expect to live 3-1/2 years longer than an overweight person who has lousy genetics, hypertension, high cholesterol, and bad habits. That's right, maintaining a positive attitude will increase your life span more than twice as much as being in perfect health.
I believe that combining a positive attitude with good health and good habits has a synergistic effect that will extend a person's lifespan by 15 – 20 years. That's why I expect to still be enjoying myself well into my 90s. No research has confirmed that, but how often have you known me to be wrong? When I started aerobics training in 1969 everyone thought it was part of some suicide pact. When I became a vegetarian in 1972 most people thought I'd die of malnutrition within a few years. When I switched to health foods and whole grains a couple years later many of my friends and relatives gave up on me completely. Now these are all considered essential components of a healthy lifestyle. I wasn't wrong then and I'm not wrong now. Be happy, be healthy. It's that simple.
So what is this magic technique I'm going to teach you so you can reduce stress and stay positive? Meditation. Before you start whining about not having time or whatever excuse du jour you care to use, I'd like to point out that I taught this technique to a single mother who had four small children and a stressful, full time job. She was able to fit it into her schedule and benefit from it, so get off your pity pot and pay attention.
Most people think they don't have time to meditate because they don't understand what it is. They picture ascetic Zen monks sitting cross legged for hours and hours under a bodhi tree hoping for some mystical out-of-body experience that will lead them to enlightenment, or at least the nearest Taco Bell®. While that is one form of meditation, it's not the only kind. There is walking meditation, talking meditation, martial arts meditation, Ch'i Kung meditation, going to the bathroom meditation, and many, many other forms.
If you ask a Buddhist teacher how to meditate, the answer will often be, "When you eat, eat. When you sleep, sleep." That's it. Meditation is nothing more than keeping your mind totally focused on one thing: your breathing, the massage you're getting, the steps you're taking when walking, or for today's lesson the process of unloading the dishwasher.
Unloading the dishwasher is normally considered just one more inconvenient task of daily life. But with a slight change in attitude you can transform it into a relaxing activity that will calm your mind and improve your health. The trick is to stop looking at it as a job to be rushed through and totally immerse yourself in the movements, sounds, smells, and textures involved in the process. Throw in some slow, purposeful abdominal breathing and voila, Hotpoint® nirvana.
Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, back straight, knees slightly bent. Clear your mind for a moment as you smell the refreshing scent of the clean dishes. Breathe in as you slowly bend and reach to grab the first plate. Feel your weight shifting to foot nearest the dishwasher. Feel the slight, relaxing stretch as you reach for the first item. Really feel the sensation as your skin first touches the plate: its smoothness, its coolness, it's crusted piece of stuck on dinaguan (http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_9107463) that refused to budge even on pot scrubber mode. Slowly stand up and feel your weight shift and your body stretch to put the plate on the counter. Listen intently to the musical sounds of the flatware as they're put in their drawer.
Continue your purposeful movements and focused abdominal breathing. Immerse yourself entirely in this moment. Your mind will calm, your blood pressure will drop, your immune system will improve, your body will begin to heal itself. What was once an irritating chore has now become a path to a more positive, pleasant life that will help you stick around long enough to attend my 90th birthday party.
Apply this technique to all of your daily activities and see if you don’t detect a change in your outlook on life. It’s simple. When you eat, eat. When you sleep, sleep. When you go to the bathroom…well, you’re on your own there.
Would you care to put some numbers with that to see just how much it can help to be happy? That comes from bit of research published in 2000. (http://longevity.about.com/od/mentalfitness/p/positive_aging.htm). People who have positive attitudes about aging live 7-1/2 years longer than people who are negative, all other health factors being similar. Seven and one half years! Compare that with studies comparing purely physical factors. A person who has great genetics, normal weight, perfect blood pressure, normal cholesterol, who exercises regularly and eats right can expect to live 3-1/2 years longer than an overweight person who has lousy genetics, hypertension, high cholesterol, and bad habits. That's right, maintaining a positive attitude will increase your life span more than twice as much as being in perfect health.
I believe that combining a positive attitude with good health and good habits has a synergistic effect that will extend a person's lifespan by 15 – 20 years. That's why I expect to still be enjoying myself well into my 90s. No research has confirmed that, but how often have you known me to be wrong? When I started aerobics training in 1969 everyone thought it was part of some suicide pact. When I became a vegetarian in 1972 most people thought I'd die of malnutrition within a few years. When I switched to health foods and whole grains a couple years later many of my friends and relatives gave up on me completely. Now these are all considered essential components of a healthy lifestyle. I wasn't wrong then and I'm not wrong now. Be happy, be healthy. It's that simple.
So what is this magic technique I'm going to teach you so you can reduce stress and stay positive? Meditation. Before you start whining about not having time or whatever excuse du jour you care to use, I'd like to point out that I taught this technique to a single mother who had four small children and a stressful, full time job. She was able to fit it into her schedule and benefit from it, so get off your pity pot and pay attention.
Most people think they don't have time to meditate because they don't understand what it is. They picture ascetic Zen monks sitting cross legged for hours and hours under a bodhi tree hoping for some mystical out-of-body experience that will lead them to enlightenment, or at least the nearest Taco Bell®. While that is one form of meditation, it's not the only kind. There is walking meditation, talking meditation, martial arts meditation, Ch'i Kung meditation, going to the bathroom meditation, and many, many other forms.
If you ask a Buddhist teacher how to meditate, the answer will often be, "When you eat, eat. When you sleep, sleep." That's it. Meditation is nothing more than keeping your mind totally focused on one thing: your breathing, the massage you're getting, the steps you're taking when walking, or for today's lesson the process of unloading the dishwasher.
Unloading the dishwasher is normally considered just one more inconvenient task of daily life. But with a slight change in attitude you can transform it into a relaxing activity that will calm your mind and improve your health. The trick is to stop looking at it as a job to be rushed through and totally immerse yourself in the movements, sounds, smells, and textures involved in the process. Throw in some slow, purposeful abdominal breathing and voila, Hotpoint® nirvana.
Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, back straight, knees slightly bent. Clear your mind for a moment as you smell the refreshing scent of the clean dishes. Breathe in as you slowly bend and reach to grab the first plate. Feel your weight shifting to foot nearest the dishwasher. Feel the slight, relaxing stretch as you reach for the first item. Really feel the sensation as your skin first touches the plate: its smoothness, its coolness, it's crusted piece of stuck on dinaguan (http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_9107463) that refused to budge even on pot scrubber mode. Slowly stand up and feel your weight shift and your body stretch to put the plate on the counter. Listen intently to the musical sounds of the flatware as they're put in their drawer.
Continue your purposeful movements and focused abdominal breathing. Immerse yourself entirely in this moment. Your mind will calm, your blood pressure will drop, your immune system will improve, your body will begin to heal itself. What was once an irritating chore has now become a path to a more positive, pleasant life that will help you stick around long enough to attend my 90th birthday party.
Apply this technique to all of your daily activities and see if you don’t detect a change in your outlook on life. It’s simple. When you eat, eat. When you sleep, sleep. When you go to the bathroom…well, you’re on your own there.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Kudus to you
The question came up today, "So what are we going to do to get well?" This was from another semi old fart who has medical issues similar to my own. The answer: live and eat like a hunter-gatherer. As my sage counterpart so keenly observed, that does not mean hunting down the closest Twinkie® factory and gathering up all the sale items in their "day old" bakery.
Human physiology evolved over three or four million years into people known as hunter-gatherers. A contemporary example of a hunter-gather society is the Bushmen of Namibia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmen). Hunter-gatherers are so named because they make their living by, well, hunting and gathering.
The women and children in these small nomadic groups typically go out every day and wander around for several hours digging up tubers, picking fruits, nuts, legumes, and harvesting any wild grain they can find. Then they go back to camp and cook a meal for their group. Men will get together in small hunting parties every few days and go out hunting for whatever meat they can find.
Not having access to a Mossberg Ulti-Mag® pump action 12 gauge shotgun, this activity involves a lots of walking and stalking, followed by a short, intense burst of energy, and then a prolonged jog while slowly running down some dying animal such as a lesser kudu. The group cuts up the meat, drags it back to camp, and gives it to the women to sauté along with whatever tubers and nuts they had gathered.
Men being men, whether hunter-gatherers or not, the males will expend no more energy until the last of the kudu been consumed or is to gamy for even a guy to eat. Until then the men lie around, play with the little kids, channel surf, and ogle the women when they start out on their daily gathering rounds. Sound familiar, ladies?
The diet of this type of society is rich in complex carbohydrates, fruits, vegetable, and legumes with small amounts of protein at irregular intervals. It also involves a bit of fasting from time to time. Believe it nor not, the human stomach was not intented to be constantly topped off like the oil in a leaking Camaro. The hunter-gatherer also lifestyle involves regular, moderate exercise that is sustained for several hours, then followed by lots of rest (at least for us guys.)
As I said, the human body evolved over millions of years to accommodate this way of life. By contrast, our culture has evolved in just 10,000 years. That’s when people invented agriculture which resulted in major changes to both diet and lifestyle. The industrial age of the past few hundred years hasn't helped any.
Biological evolution works much more slowly than cultural evolution, so there is no way our bodies could have adapted enough to accommodate the way we modern folk eat. We simply were not designed to consume white bread, fast foods, pounds of abnormally fatty meat, genetically modified sugar cookies, and chemicals that would probably be better used for dipping radiators or dissolving unwanted steel.
So, once again, how do we get healthy? Eat lots of fruits, vegetables, beans, complex carbohydrates, and a little bit of meat every few days. Give your digestive system a rest from time to time by doing a partial fast for all or part of a day. And be sure to get lots of regular, moderate exercise. [Note to my accountability partners: Yes, I know; and I am trying to listen to my own advice.]
One other thing we need to do is to learn a stress reduction technique. Hunter-gatherers were sometimes exposed to very stressful situations such as being attacked by a vicious springbok. The bodies of early humans learned to produce large amounts of cortisol and adrenaline to facilitate the fight or flight syndrome when confronted by one of these beasts.
Once again our culture has evolved much faster than our bodies. Few of us ever have to face down a springbok, but thanks to 60-hour workweeks, superhighways, and nightly super delegate counts we are constantly exposed to stress. The cortisol and adrenaline that helps for brief periods of stress will kill you when secreted too often and for too long. Next time I’ll describe a stress reduction technique that can add years to you life and life to your years. It’s something even you will have time to do.
Human physiology evolved over three or four million years into people known as hunter-gatherers. A contemporary example of a hunter-gather society is the Bushmen of Namibia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmen). Hunter-gatherers are so named because they make their living by, well, hunting and gathering.
The women and children in these small nomadic groups typically go out every day and wander around for several hours digging up tubers, picking fruits, nuts, legumes, and harvesting any wild grain they can find. Then they go back to camp and cook a meal for their group. Men will get together in small hunting parties every few days and go out hunting for whatever meat they can find.
Not having access to a Mossberg Ulti-Mag® pump action 12 gauge shotgun, this activity involves a lots of walking and stalking, followed by a short, intense burst of energy, and then a prolonged jog while slowly running down some dying animal such as a lesser kudu. The group cuts up the meat, drags it back to camp, and gives it to the women to sauté along with whatever tubers and nuts they had gathered.
Men being men, whether hunter-gatherers or not, the males will expend no more energy until the last of the kudu been consumed or is to gamy for even a guy to eat. Until then the men lie around, play with the little kids, channel surf, and ogle the women when they start out on their daily gathering rounds. Sound familiar, ladies?
The diet of this type of society is rich in complex carbohydrates, fruits, vegetable, and legumes with small amounts of protein at irregular intervals. It also involves a bit of fasting from time to time. Believe it nor not, the human stomach was not intented to be constantly topped off like the oil in a leaking Camaro. The hunter-gatherer also lifestyle involves regular, moderate exercise that is sustained for several hours, then followed by lots of rest (at least for us guys.)
As I said, the human body evolved over millions of years to accommodate this way of life. By contrast, our culture has evolved in just 10,000 years. That’s when people invented agriculture which resulted in major changes to both diet and lifestyle. The industrial age of the past few hundred years hasn't helped any.
Biological evolution works much more slowly than cultural evolution, so there is no way our bodies could have adapted enough to accommodate the way we modern folk eat. We simply were not designed to consume white bread, fast foods, pounds of abnormally fatty meat, genetically modified sugar cookies, and chemicals that would probably be better used for dipping radiators or dissolving unwanted steel.
So, once again, how do we get healthy? Eat lots of fruits, vegetables, beans, complex carbohydrates, and a little bit of meat every few days. Give your digestive system a rest from time to time by doing a partial fast for all or part of a day. And be sure to get lots of regular, moderate exercise. [Note to my accountability partners: Yes, I know; and I am trying to listen to my own advice.]
One other thing we need to do is to learn a stress reduction technique. Hunter-gatherers were sometimes exposed to very stressful situations such as being attacked by a vicious springbok. The bodies of early humans learned to produce large amounts of cortisol and adrenaline to facilitate the fight or flight syndrome when confronted by one of these beasts.
Once again our culture has evolved much faster than our bodies. Few of us ever have to face down a springbok, but thanks to 60-hour workweeks, superhighways, and nightly super delegate counts we are constantly exposed to stress. The cortisol and adrenaline that helps for brief periods of stress will kill you when secreted too often and for too long. Next time I’ll describe a stress reduction technique that can add years to you life and life to your years. It’s something even you will have time to do.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Make up your own rules
On May 16, 1965 Anthony Newley opened The Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd on Broadway. Although it is described as a musical comedy it was, in fact, about a very serious subject. The play is about two men who are playing a game. The game is called Life. One of the men always wins the game, so the other always loses. At one point the dweeb looser asks why the other guy always wins. The Winner replies that when playing the game of life, "The secret that few people know is to make up the rules as you go."
That is one of the most profound statements you will ever hear, and it is one of the main secrets to my success.
From the time we are little kids until they put us in a box we are bombarded with rules. They come from our churches, our families, our governments, our cultures, and worst of all from ourselves. Humans have an amazing ability to take something they hear and twist it into the most perverse, self-imposed rule imaginable. I know, because I’ve done it numerous times and paid dearly each time.
I’m here to tell you those rules are all bull. The only rules that really matter are the ones that tell us we should be decent people and not intentionally hurt anyone. All others were created by someone who wants control over your very life: someone who wants to make you lose at the game of life so they can win. "You should do this, you should do that" soon becomes "I should do this, I should not do that, I should, I should, I should…." ad infinitum, ad nauseam until you are a very unhappy, unhealthy person.
Well guys, it’s time to stop shoulding on yourselves. Emerson said, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Don’t let other people define integrity for you. Take the time and effort to figure out what that means for you, for your life, for this point in history. Then make up your own rules that reflect your definition of integrity and live by them. Because life constantly changes you need to constantly re-evaluate and change your standards of integrity and rules accordingly. Do that and you too can be a winner at the game of Life.
That is one of the most profound statements you will ever hear, and it is one of the main secrets to my success.
From the time we are little kids until they put us in a box we are bombarded with rules. They come from our churches, our families, our governments, our cultures, and worst of all from ourselves. Humans have an amazing ability to take something they hear and twist it into the most perverse, self-imposed rule imaginable. I know, because I’ve done it numerous times and paid dearly each time.
I’m here to tell you those rules are all bull. The only rules that really matter are the ones that tell us we should be decent people and not intentionally hurt anyone. All others were created by someone who wants control over your very life: someone who wants to make you lose at the game of life so they can win. "You should do this, you should do that" soon becomes "I should do this, I should not do that, I should, I should, I should…." ad infinitum, ad nauseam until you are a very unhappy, unhealthy person.
Well guys, it’s time to stop shoulding on yourselves. Emerson said, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Don’t let other people define integrity for you. Take the time and effort to figure out what that means for you, for your life, for this point in history. Then make up your own rules that reflect your definition of integrity and live by them. Because life constantly changes you need to constantly re-evaluate and change your standards of integrity and rules accordingly. Do that and you too can be a winner at the game of Life.
Friday, May 9, 2008
It's quick and easy
Relax, bend, and breath. It's that simple to begin improving your health. Even 10 minutes a day can help. But many Americans aren't willing to spend even a few minutes of minimal effort improving their own health? Is it cynicism, laziness, or metafizzle? Lots of noise and movement with no direction is not the road to peace of mind and good health.
Perhaps it's a misconception that one must practice for hours to do any good. Thats a good excuse for wallowing in misery, but it's wrong. One Ch'i Kung practice I teach takes only six minutes a day. It's such a short, simple system that even adults with severe ADD can stick with it and benefit.
So here is your tip for the day. The next time you brush your teeth spend an extra 30 seconds to help the rest of your body. Before you grab that toothbush stand with you knees very slight bent and your ams loose at you side. Relax your eyes so they are open but not really looking at anything. Breath gently from you abdomen. Don't take big deep breaths; just slow, steady, moderate ones. Take 7 - 10 of these breaths, then brush you teeth.
Think you can manage that? If not, I'd love to hear your excuses. I love excuses even though I rarely believe them, even when I tell the to myself.
Perhaps it's a misconception that one must practice for hours to do any good. Thats a good excuse for wallowing in misery, but it's wrong. One Ch'i Kung practice I teach takes only six minutes a day. It's such a short, simple system that even adults with severe ADD can stick with it and benefit.
So here is your tip for the day. The next time you brush your teeth spend an extra 30 seconds to help the rest of your body. Before you grab that toothbush stand with you knees very slight bent and your ams loose at you side. Relax your eyes so they are open but not really looking at anything. Breath gently from you abdomen. Don't take big deep breaths; just slow, steady, moderate ones. Take 7 - 10 of these breaths, then brush you teeth.
Think you can manage that? If not, I'd love to hear your excuses. I love excuses even though I rarely believe them, even when I tell the to myself.
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