by admin on April 16, 2010
I’ve talked to a lot of people about meditation. It seems to me, people have a lot of beliefs and stories about it. Not as many people I’ve talked to have any real experience with it. I often hear people say, “I just can’t meditate.” Probably what they really mean is, “I can’t stop my mind from racing.”
This is a problem that most of us have had at one time or another—whether trying to meditate or just getting through a meeting at work. Sometimes, trying to meditate can even stress you out and make you feel worse. Maybe this is why most people try it once, and never go back to it again.
I’ve experienced this a lot, myself. However, I’ve always been intrigued by what’s possible with meditation. I’ve even spent weeks at a time at ashrams (full-time live-in yoga retreats) where people dedicate themselves 24/7 to living a calm and peaceful life. These people are what I call ‘meditation professionals.’ I figured, if they can’t teach me, nobody can!
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by admin on February 19, 2010
Lying on the couch with the window blinds closed; that’s all I felt like doing when I was in pain.
One Saturday a couple of summers ago, I was feeling bad. Not TMS, though. I’d recently ended a three-year relationship with my girlfriend. I hadn’t been sleeping well so I was feeling tired and sad. Now, I’m not suggesting that sadness is a bad thing. It’s not. I was facing what it meant to have ended what I thought would be a life-long romantic partnership. Given that, I suppose that a certain amount of mourning is healthy.
And, I was just feeling sad that day.
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by admin on April 22, 2009
I always waited until I was out of the city before I put the top down.
It’s very easy with a Miata. No motors involved. Just open the two latches on either side of the top of the windshield and throw the whole thing back. Done. The first gas station on the Cross County Parkway heading north about a half hour out of Manhattan is my usual spot to do this. It’s where the trees start, the air gets cleaner and the scenery opens up.
That’s most of what you want when it comes to driving a convertible. Although not a requirement, an interesting destination is nice, too.
On this particular sunny autumn Friday morning, my destination was Club Getaway; a weekend sports resort for adults in Kent, Ct. Think Club Med meets summer camp. I had been to both and after several weekends as a guest at Club Getaway, I’d become a member of their weekend staff. This meant that I would teach activities in exchange for free room and board.
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by admin on April 17, 2009
The pose is called Sivasana.
It’s the final position of the Asana practice, the physical movement part of Yoga.
It’s the most simple and the most important. Quite simply, you lay flat on your back with your eyes shut. Place your heels together and let your feet fall open. Hands are at your sides, palms up. Then, you just let everything go, including and especially your mind.
It is the final relaxation where all of the stretching, binding and balancing from all of the other poses integrates. It’s where the bringing together of the mind, body and spirit happens. Yoga translates to “sacred union” and doing this, I suppose, is what they are talking about. For me, as for most, it is a deeply relaxing experience and I consider it part of the reward for all of my efforts with the other poses.
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by admin on April 15, 2009
Looking at a picture of buildings has never affected me so deeply.
Just a few moments ago, I was paging through an online brochure for my alma mater, Syracuse University. Bold colored pages offset with photos of courtyards dotted with groups of students sitting in circles reading and relaxing on the deep green grass; majestic buildings reflecting the warm afternoon sun; classrooms full of students neat and clean, looking full of hope and promise. Just as they should. A college education is a valuable tool in our modern world.
I had a good experience in college and feel good about the four years that I spent at Syracuse. So I was surprised when I clicked to a page which revealed a large aerial photo of the main campus and suddenly felt sad. Taken from a helicopter, this image showed a view of a “world gone by” from a perspective that I had never seen before.
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by admin on April 7, 2009
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr joked around on stage last Saturday night. They demonstrated the exuberance of two old friends remembering a journey taken long ago. The night could have been ripe with the significance of a Beatles reunion but they transcended all of that.
I’ve asked myself many times, What would have brought the Beatles back together? Perhaps some big benefit concert.
Last Saturday at Radio City Music Hall was a benefit, for something that was part of the journey which the Beatles took together: The David Lynch Foundation whose mission is to establish meditation as a part of daily practice in schools.
If you’re a die-hard fan then you remember: the Beatles first discovered meditation in India, at the ashram of Yogi Maharishi Mahesh. And, meditation had a profound influence on their music.
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by admin on February 21, 2009
I spent the entire evening at a music rehearsal studio playing the drums. Amateur musicians gather every Saturday night to jam in an assortment of rooms designated by musical style. I showed up tonight and went right to the “Funk” room. That’s my favorite style of music to play.
When I arrived, the only other person in the room was another drummer, Rob.
Rob is really good!
So good, if fact, that after the first time I saw him play, which was several months ago, I asked him to give me lessons. You see, I’ve played drums for many years in school. I recently got back to playing and I want to get REALLY good!
Anyway, Rob turned me down. “Too busy” he told me. I was fine with that, but now, here we were alone in the studio and I had a chance to talk with him. I asked him how he got so good and he answered with a question.
“Do you practice every day?” he asked.
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by admin on February 14, 2009
What could possibly be wrong with having an X-ray or MRI of your spine?
In the case of any pain, we must be throughly checked out by our doctor to rule out serious disease. And in the case of back pain this would include an X-ray or MRI.
Right?
Well, doing so may be necessary but not without a “psychological” price to pay.
In her blog for The New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope recently reported about new research that show that scanning to find the source of back pain may do more harm than good.
Be sure to check out studies that she quotes!
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by admin on December 20, 2008
When Oscar from San Diego read ”Healing Back Pain”, it completely changed his life. Like many, Oscar realized that he’s a “typical candidate” for what Dr. Sarno is talking about.
Reading Dr. Sarno’s book was enough and indeed, the pain had gone away. But now it was coming back and, as he noticed, reocurrances were usually during high-stress times in his life.
“The pain is making him feel old!”, he told me. Living with chronic pain does take a lot of energy!
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by admin on December 19, 2008
Dr. Sarno uses big words.
I suppose after working with him for over a decade, I’ve gotten used to it. He still uses words that I don’t know and I really don’t mind admitting that to him. I’d rather learn than pretend so I come right out with a matter-of-fact: ”Dr. Sarno, I don’t know what that word means.” Being the great teacher that his is, he’s always ready to explain.
Repudiate was one of those words. It’s a great word that means “to deny the truth or validity of”. And, it fits perfectly with one of the key steps in learning what Dr. Sarno is teaching, as in:
Repudiate the Structural Diagnosis
This means that if you were told that there is a structural cause for your pain, and you’ve been examined by your doctor who has ruled out serious disease, then you must come to see that there is no structural basis for your pain. This is critical for Dr. Sarno’s program to work.
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