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Happiness in a Recession

What I'm looking for is a blessing that's not in disguise. ~Kitty O'Neill Collins




A few days ago I came across an article that basically echoed the sentiments of many previous articles here on Kona Yoga:

• Take care of Yourself
• Become more charitable
• Spend more time and money on enjoyable activities
• Invest in relationships
• Focus on what you're grateful for

The title of the article? "5 Ways To Be Happy in a Recession".

I'm going to add a few more:

• Declutter. As all Feng Shui experts will tell you, it allows room for more to come into your life.
• Learn something new: a new language, skill or hobby.
• Foster your creativity.
• Regroup and recoup.
• Re-examine your beliefs.

All of these suggestions can lift you out of the "doom and gloom" mood and kick-start you toward something new and improved. If you'd like to follow this train of thought, I'll be posting more links and suggestions at Lessons in Balance, my latest blog.

Photo:Travel Aficionado. The tall tree is a cell phone tower in disguise.

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• Alternative Health: Feng Shui (laist.com)

Be Happy, for the Good of All Concerned!

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.-Thich Nhat Hanh

 

 

The results of a long-term study were revealed last week and affirm that "happiness spreads among people up to three degrees removed from one another. That means when you feel happy, a friend of a friend of a friend has a slightly higher likelihood of feeling happy too." (1)

Before you start crossing your sad friends off your list, know that although sadness does spread across a network, it doesn't move as swiftly as happiness.(2) James Fowler (UCSD), co-author of the study, says that you should just make more of an effort to spread happiness than spend time avoiding unhappy people.

Social beings that we are, it makes sense that we'd be hardwired as transponders of emotions. Early survival may have well depended upon one's ability to "read the energy" of unfamiliar territory.

A few years ago, I moved into a little studio sandwiched between two larger homes. I remember feeling safe and happy at night whenever I heard Michael next door, raucously laugh while watching television. During the day, the man who lived above me sang along to every song from the old Hit Parade magazines! Guffawed, aptly describes what I did in response.

Today, I live in a much larger space surrounded by many people that I haven't even met but they must be happy, because I am. Now it's nice to know that the inverse could also be true: they're happy because I'm happy.

If you're a regular reader, I can't help but assume that you're also a happier-than-average person or you would have cancelled your subscription after the first twenty happiness related articles of mine. :D The world needs us and we don't have to donate a cent or forward another e-mail to make a difference . Just see to it that you're happy. Be the eye of the storm and change its course.

Ponder one of my favorite Abraham-Hicks suggestions: The best thing you could do for anyone that you love, is be happy! And the very worst thing that you could do for anyone that you love, is be unhappy, and then ask them to to try to change it..."

Sources:
(1) CNN.com: Happiness is contagious in social networks.

(2) NPR: Clusters of Happiness (video 01:20)

Photo: Tony

Belief Clutter

When I'm not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded. -Stephen Wright

 

Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote about a new company that offered to decode your DNA for $1,000. 23and Me has since then managed to lower the cost of their initial spit-test to $399 and be selected as one of Time magazine's Best Inventions of 2008. Obviously, they were right on the money.

While I think it might be fun to trace my lineage and find out why my great-grandparents look more European than Asian, I'm not so sure that I want to know the specifics of my propensities toward certain diseases and conditions. Not yet. I think it would clutter my mind and make it more difficult to locate thoughts of health and well-being.

I watched the Biology of Belief for the fourth or fifth time last night because I love hearing cellular biologist Bruce Lipton emphasize:

Just like a single cell, the character of our lives is determined not by our genes but by our responses to the environmental signals that propel life.

In his book, Lipton speaks of the placebo effect as well as the nocebos, the power of negative beliefs. Citing examples of "staged" knee surgeries and the remarkable recoveries of patients (placebo) to the discovery of no evidence of esophageal cancer in a man who died believing that he had the fatal disease (nocebo along with a misdiagnosis), Lipton calls for Science to bring Spirit back into play.

One of my teachers says this repeatedly in many different ways: "Expectation is a focus with a vibration that permits the receiving of what you're focused upon-and, you expect things, both wanted and unwanted." Hearing someone in a white lab coat tell you that you are at great risk for multiple sclerosis becomes an unwanted condition that is difficult to ignore. I'm not sure that my mind is ready to completely override that, yet. I'm still working on the accumulated clutter.

Illustration: Reader's Digest.com

Food. Don't Take it for Granted.

The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed. -Brillat-Savarin

 

When I read an interview with Alice Waters, author and owner of Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, the current headlines of babies poisoned by milk in China, shed a different light:

"...every decision we make about the food that we eat has consequences. And they aren't just about people's personal health. There are consequences in terms of the healthcare system for all of us if people eat food that makes them sick. And there are environmental consequences. But I think the thing that people don't understand is that there are cultural consequences." (1)

As a residual of the milk situation, a particular brand of candy made in China has been taken off store shelves in Hawaii with more perhaps to follow. After sending a message along to a few people and receiving several "thank you" notes from those who often buy White Rabbit candy, I needed to hear a positive note. How vigilant do we have to be about our food sources? Who's in charge? Alice Waters continues:

"When we're eating fast food, we're not just eating the food, we're eating a set of values that comes with the food. And it's telling us that food should be cheap. It's telling us that food should be the same no matter where we are on the planet. It's telling us that advertising confers value. That it's OK to eat 24 hours a day. That there are unlimited resources. It's telling us that the work of the people who grow or raise the food is unimportant -- in fact we don't even need to know. And all of those values are informing what's happening in the world around us." (1)

She's so right. The number of women who breast- feed in China has declined as more young mothers have entered the workforce and given in to the advertised benefits of baby formulas. Many of them view instant formulas as a status symbol! (2)

Where's my positive note? I think it's time to change my tune! Except when I cook for company, food is a bother. Even though I don't use a microwave and buy organic as much as possible, according to Alice Waters, I've got fast food values. I think about food only when I'm hungry and then I want it fast. It's time to bring my yoga into the kitchen.

As I mentally prepare for the Eat Local Challenge that begins this Wednesday, the world within my 100 mile radius comes into focus. I'm looking for sources of locally grown foods to replace my favorite "foreign substances" and it sure looks as though a plan and a schedule are necessary. It's been years since I've made a weekly menu! But then all it takes is a decision and a change in attitude, a far more pleasant attitude.

Alice says, "you have to find ways of slowing it down. And this is an everyday delightful way to slow it down. Take time. Take a moment....there's pleasure in the doing. It's pleasure in work. It's something that we don't understand in this country. Work is over there and pleasure's over here..."

Consider what it would be like, if people all over the world were able to:

• Eat locally and sustainably.
• Eat seasonally.
• Eat together with friends and family.
• Believe that food should never be taken for granted.

What would need to change? What hasn't happened, yet?

-------------------------------------
Sources:
(1) Interview with Alice Waters (Salon Life)
(2) Women worry, but many don't breastfeed in China. (AP)

Photo: happy d

I See Things...

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get.
-Frank A. Clark

I had another (!) birthday last week Thursday and coincidentally (?) had an appointment with my optometrist the same day. Although it didn't sound like an exciting way to spend my birthday, the fact that my eyesight had improved yet again, made me very happy. Two years ago, the eye-doc wasn't impressed, "It happens at your age", he said, "and eventually you'll get cataracts." This year I guess the degree of improvement was a little surprising because he said, "You can see that? Congratulations!"

I still read well (and a lot) without any corrective lens but may "have difficulty removing a splinter". Pffffft. I'm not worried about splinters. I like the fact that my eyes are going along with my general yoga thought patterns: every year since beginning yoga, my body improves in some way and I have more strength and mobility than I did in my 30's! I've witnessed it, I believe it, and that's the story I tell.

I've been referring mostly to my musculo-skeletal system, but I guess the rest of my body has picked up on it too. What do you say and believe about your body as it ages? How is it responding? It takes more than positive affirmations for something to materialize, it helps to feel it and to believe it. That's why appreciating even the smallest improvement pays off and talking about what works in your body, and in your life, is so much more beneficial than reciting a litany of complaints. It's the difference between living till the end and dying in the end.

My friendly eye-doc said, "Well, I guess you're maturing," and I finished his statement even before it became a sentence: "...and I see things clearly now."

Photo: ianqui

Making a Good Brain Great

Is the glass half full, or half empty? It depends on whether you're pouring, or drinking.
-Bill Cosby

"Being grateful for the wonderful things in your life literally helps you have a brain to be grateful for", says Daniel Amen, M.D., a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist and brain-imaging expert, in his book Making A Good Brain Great. Amen utilizes SPECT images of brains to evaluate its outside surfaces and underactive areas. He says that the basic principles to keep in mind are:

• The brain is involved in everything you do. How you think, how you feel, how you act, and how well you get along with other people has to do with the moment-by- moment functioning of your brain.
• When your brain works right, you tend to be effective, thoughtful, creative and energetic.
• When the brain is troubled, you may have problems with depression, anxiety, work performance, impulsivity, memory and relationships.
• Your brain dysfunction, even when subtle, may be getting in your way of success.
• Your brain has only so much reserve. A lifetime of abuse or neglect (smoking, too much caffeine or alcohol, drug abuse, brain injuries, excessive stress) all add up and take years of healthy mental functioning away from you.
• With the right plan, you can reverse damage and optimize your own brain and subsequently improve your life.
• You (and your brain) can be better than you are, even if you are already in good shape!

I love it when high-tech meets high-touch. Dr. Amen theorizes that low cerebellar activity is associated with decreased motor and thought coordination and that negative thought patterns change the brain in a negative way. He also says that it is critical to visualize what you want and then match your behavior over time to get it! Stimulate your brain and it works better.

Dr. Amen's book thoroughly goes through the different areas of your brain and the effects of low activity in each. He tells you how to identify and then reduce the risks of the diseases of brain aging such as dementia and Alzheimer's. I suggest you get a copy of his book if you're interested in being "all here" for the rest of your life.

The bottom line though for any life enhancing exercise, diet or magic potion, in my opinion, is this: if it is practiced in fear, anger, or force, it's useless. Maybe even harmful. See your glass as being half full and think of everything that you are truly grateful for. SPECT images prove that healthy, active brains belong to those who hold such thoughts. Prayers go up, blessings come down.

Photo: Bluejacket Photo

Make It Easy on Yourself

Here are just a few suggestions to start clearing the air around you. We can start with what we have control over, our homes.

1. Survey Your Indoor Air Quality - at home.

2. Green Basics: Indoor Air Pollution.

3. Consider the food you eat and possible allergans.

4. Say "NO" to stress. Aside from physical stress, such as those mentioned above, emotional stress is toxic too.

5. Finally, from Abraham-Hicks: "DEEP BREATHING IS A BIG PART OF YOUR WELL-BEING, It is the current that carries the vitality to the cells. And so, the more you are breathing, the more you are thriving. Fortunately, it’s not left to your conscious mind to prompt you to breathe. It just happens. But you can prompt yourself to breathe more."

Cartoon: Savage Chickens

How to Breathe Efficiently

  If you've been attending yoga classes for a while, you're quite accustomed to hearing the instructions to breathe through your nose as you inhale and exhale.

Aside from the obvious reasons of allowing the nasal hairs to filter out particles in the air and to regulate air temperature before it enters your lungs, it appears that our bodies produce a gas in the sinus cavities that increases our breathing efficiency. The gas, Nitric Oxide (NO) is drawn into our lungs when we inhale and it relaxes the blood vessels in our lungs. The blood vessels in the alveoli are expanded and more oxygen is absorbed by the blood.

There's a 10-15% greater volume of NO absorbed by the lungs when we breathe through our noses. That's it, just breathe through your nose as you inhale and exhale.

It helps to be in a comfortable position,  laying on your back with your arms out to the side to expand your chest. Raise your upper body slightly by lying on a folded blanket or bolster so that your belly is slightly lower than your diaphragm, and your chin a little lower than your forehead. Close your eyes and start by simply noticing the air as it passes through your nose when you inhale and exhale. As you being to relax, allow your breaths to lengthen, just a little with each breath.

If you're not able to find a yoga class that teaches the basics of breathing in a comfortable and relaxed manner, you might be interested in a simple device called the Resperate, which will teach you to breathe slower and deeper. There is a side effect though, it has been proven to lower blood pressure.

Illustration: Adam.com

Resources: (1)Eddie Weitzberg, M.D., Ph.D., Breathe Through the Nose, Bindu Magazine, Number 13.

The Benefits of Deep Breathing

Let's start this with a bit of introduction to the way I try to present health related information. Years of surfing (the web) have helped to develop my trust in certain sources. I agree with this CNN health article offering "Tips for Savvy Medical Web Surfing" and tend to steer clear of all the latest wonder drug and herb websites.

"Scientific" research can be slanted to the benefit of the funding source or researcher, to the same degree as the latest and hottest diet guru's claims. We're aiming for self-responsibility here, so if what you read sounds true for you, consider it and try it. If not, sigh (but with a deep exhalation) and know that I meant well. :D

THE BENEFITS OF DEEP BREATHING:

1. Promotes Relaxation. Taking deep and slow breaths, is the quickest way to trigger your parasympathetic nervous system into the relaxation response.When we're stressed or frightened, our breathing is shallow and rapid (among other physical responses) and we're ready to fight or flee. When the stressor is gone, we breathe a sigh of relief and the brain receives signals that say, "All is well".

2. Eliminates Toxins. Your lymphatic system relies on body movement to flush out cellular waste and toxins. The action of your diaphragm in deep breathing massages your inner organs and stimulates lymphatic flow, much like the way your heart pumps blood through your body.

3. Improves mental clarity and relieves the effects of depression and anxiety. Much in the same way that it promotes relaxation.

4. Burns Fat. When you exercise, too fast or too slow, your body doesn't receive enough oxygen and burns glycogen rather than fat. Deep breathing strengthens your cardiovascular system so that you're able to exercise aerobically, and efficiently burn fat.

Illustration: USC Health Magazine

Resources: (1) Marcelle Pick, Deep Breathing - the Truly Essential Exercise, Women to Women. (2) Renew-You.com, Fitness Habits - Nurturing Ourselves Through Movement.

Inhale, Exhale.

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.
~Chinese Proverb                                                               

Can something as simple as the act of breathing change your demeanor? Try taking a series of quick and shallow breaths through your mouth. How does that make you feel? Now take a full exhalation, let your shoulders drop and take a few deep but gentle breaths, through your nose. How does that make you feel?

An increase in carbon dioxide may induce negative emotions (1) by triggering an inborn stress response. If we were suffocating then yes, it would be important for our bodies to respond with the fight or flight reflex. How bizarre to think that we could induce that same response just by the quality of our breath!

We discussed the importance of relaxation during childbirth in Friday's Prenatal Yoga class and the role of pranayama in learning to relax. The expectant mothers are learning to control their breathing and relaxing during exertion. It's a practice that's beneficial for all human bodies.

In times of pain and mental stress, slow deep breaths can bring instant relief, lower your heart rate and blood pressure. We come into this life with an inhalation and leave with an exhalation. Paying attention to the quality of those breaths in between the first and the last, makes all the difference.

(1) Griez EJ, Colasanti A, van Diest R, Salamon E, Schruers K (2007) Carbon Dioxide Inhalation Induces Dose- Dependent and Age-Related Negative Affectivity. PLoS ONE 2(10): e987. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000987

Photo: AK Travelers

Submitted to The Kathleen Show, Prevention Not Prescription