What is the hurry?
August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
How speed = stress
In his latest book, In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed, Canadian journalist Carl Honore touts the benefits of slow living.
Honore claims that the old paradigm “time is money” is being replaced by the “slow movement” model. Slow living produces more pleasure and better health. The slow city movement is fostering personal connection over speed. He makes a good point about how holistic medicine is inherently slow. Apparently, Italians have even expanded the “slow movement” into sex.
As I mentioned before, slow work is producing higher production. Multi-tasking is not productive. From the workplace to the home, Honore claims slowness is growing.
Stress reduction needs to integrate slowness for our kids, too. In his book, Honore reports about kids lacking spark and passion because they’re being pushed with homework and extracurricular activities.
Fortunately, a lot of us are putting the brakes on our speed. We’re making conscious choices to have a richer, whole life by traveling through it slowly.
There are places where speed is good. Having faster Internet connections certainly increases production and reduces stress. The unconscious conditioning around speed that we created in our lives is not good, though. Being mindful of where speed serves us, and where slowing down serves us, will enrich our lives. As my mother used to say to me, “What’s the hurry?”
Like a Tomcat’s Whisker
June 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Patients frequently ask, “Why don’t the needles hurt?” Most of us are familiar with the “ouch” that comes with an injection with a hypodermic needle, however acupuncture needles are very different and so is the feeling. The needles used by acupuncturists are much smaller diameter – more like thin wires. In fact, as students in Acupuncture college we experimented to see just how many acupuncture needles we could fit inside of a hypodermic. Eight!
So how else are they different? A hypodermic needle is like a tube used to pass material through the skin. In acupuncture, no substances are delivered by the needles. They are simply sterile “signal wires” used to communicate with the body’s nervous system. Another reason they are not painful is the shape of the tip. Instead of a tube with a bevel, as the tip of a hypodermic, the ancient Chinese designed the tip of an acupuncture needle like a pine needle. Therefore it slides smoothly and doesn’t hurt.
What does the needle touch? Acupuncture “points” are places on the body which are tried and true over the centuries for creating specific physiologic responses. For instance, the acupuncturist may want to prompt the patient’s body to regulate peristalsis (gut mobility) in order to care for a patient with diarrhea or constipation. A different acupuncture point could convey to the body to ease the muscle spasm causing sciatica or neck pain . Often the points used are located distal to the affected area, just because that is how the nervous system is designed. The acupuncturist doesn’t touch nerves with the needles, only the correct area of soft tissue to give the signal.
When the acupuncture needle is slid into the correct place, the patient’s soft tissue will very lightly “grab” the needle – like a fish grabbing bait – which informs the acupuncturist that the communication is received. Patients often feel this sensation and may call it a “zinger” because it is so quick. Once the pins are in place, people simply feel relaxed and may even doze off to sleep.
The arrangement of the acupuncture points on every human body is consistent and similar on all mammals. They are arranged in circuits often referred to as energy meridians. An Ohm meter passed along the skin on the meridians will indicate the acupoints as distinct areas with a different electrical charge. The “zinger sensation” coincides with as a rapid change in the electrical charge of that point of soft tissue.
Several factors influence how skillfully the acupuncture is being applied. The acupuncturist’s diagnosis and pattern recognition is the first step. For instance, if a patient reports having been diagnosed with “osteoarthritis”, their condition may be one of several distinct patterns of disharmony to the acupuncturist. Differential diagnosis is made based upon the patient’s answers to a wide range of questions about sleep, thirst, characteristics of the pain, etc. and observations of their face, tongue and pulses. Once the pattern is distinguished, the treatment principle and choice of acupoints is fairly clear. Then, of course, they must locate points correctly and apply the proper signal.
My tomcat, “Turbopurr”, a.k.a.” Razzledazzle”, is a perfect model of the sensitivity of acupuncture needles. His whiskers are flexible and just about the same diameter as an acupuncture needle. He uses them well, even in the dark, which is marvelous. Even more marvelous is that, when they brushed your arm, your nervous system can pick up the signal. If sterile signal wires that size are used to touch the right acupoints your body’s nervous system can perceive the signal and alter your physiology.
Where Do You Go
June 6, 2008 | 3 Comments
Escape is necessary. Modern lives demand a lot of us, sometimes 24/7. How do you escape your chaos? Do you accrue time and stress before you escape? Or do you go as needed?
Travel in the last decade has changed. Since 9/11, air travel is now a security experience. Green travel is no longer just for college students. Spas are popping up everywhere and range from your local hairdresser’s day spa to a complete resort such as Canyon Ranch. Hotel chains are falling over each other to be greener — more environmentally clean.
Our whole lifestyle is influencing how we travel. We want more than our traditional escape – we want to be renewed. Getting out of town is now a rejuvenation experience.
Tell us about your secret escapes and how you renew. Your excursion could be as simple as a nap or it could be trekking deep in the jungles of the Amazon. We want to know.
Discovering Massage
May 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
When you think of bodywork, you may first think of a body shop that specializes in repairs to your car’s body. If you think of repairing damage to your body, it’s likely that you’ll first think of massage. Massage’s growth is exponential. Massage visits grew from 91 million in 1999 to 136 million in 2003 producing $11 billion in revenue. 24 percent of American had a “massage at least once in the last 12 months and 34 percent of adult Americans received a massage in the last five years.”
Many people first seek massage for the therapeutic value — because they are in pain. This is particularly true for men. Until a man experiences a good massage, he often thinks of it as a luxury for pampered women. However, when a nagging back pain won’t go away and the usual drugs and tricks aren’t working, the pain can push a person to try something new. This is when you start searching for the number of that massage therapist your friend gave you.
As much as men may hate to admit it, this is an area where women are more knowledgeable. Massages not only work, they feel great. In time, a weekly massage can go from a luxury to a necessity. Over time, many of those nagging pains may also disappear and the tolerance for stress improves.
Give yourself a gift! Ask around for a good massage therapist and try it. Your body will thank you. Here are two sites to assist your search: Massagetherapy.com and AMTA.
What are your Pleasures of Life?
May 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment
What do you live for?
What do you think about when you go to bed? What do you dream about while you sleep? What do you lie awake thinking about? During the moments between other moments of action, what fantasies pop into your head? Are these experiences something you currently have in your life?
Sometimes in the pursuit of success, the enjoyment of life takes a backseat to the achievements of life. It’s time to surrender to the enjoyment of life in all its aspects. You don’t have to deny pleasure in the pursuit of success for success and happiness are not mutually exclusive.
Point of change
We are at a crossroads — we are being told that our future existence as we know it depends on us changing our behaviors. Our culture tells us that we must continue to grow to succeed. Our Declaration of Independence tells the world that we have a right to pursue happiness. Beyond these possibly conflicting positions is a place where the greater good for our fellow human and the planet is served as well as our needs.
New possibilities
One of our reasons for sponsoring Whole Revolution is to provide a vehicle and forum to support the changes the planet so desperately needs AND learn to enjoy the pleasures of the planet. Change that evolves from passion is much more sustainable and enjoyable than change that is forced upon on us for one reason or another.
When we slow down to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, we want to preserve them. A passion for healthy forests drives us to create better forestry practices. We shift from pushing from a place of rightness to leading from our enthusiasm. Internal or external opposing forces may then become our allies.
It is our hope at Whole Revolution that we can assist in co-creating a better life for all on the Four Worlds on the planet (plants, minerals, animals and humans) as our Native American elders refer to them. William McDonough, an internationally renowned sustainability architect, uses as his first criteria for design — “How do we love all the children of all species for all time?”
Our question to you is “How do we pursue our deep happiness while supporting the planet?” Please join us in sharing your passion of living a whole life.
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