Health & Wellbeing

The Art of Breathing

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By Sensei Peter Durrant

We all want to live a more energised, healthy existence. And while I observe so many people work hard and apply self-discipline to their training and diet, there is often one simple yet fundamental area holding them back – breathing. I write this article hoping to inspire in you an appreciation about the importance of correct breathing.

Breath-taking For Granted

As with most things freely available to us, we tend to take the important business of breathing for granted. After all, it’s a simple process of inhale, exhale. It costs nothing, the supply is seemingly endless and it requires little to no effort. In fact, we can even do it in our sleep! Sadly, only when it’s impaired by pollution, unwelcomed odours, age or ill health do we start to show concern. We can survive weeks without food and days without water, but life is only possible for a few minutes without air, hence, the connection between life and breath is very close and breathing is our most important biological function. I imagine some of you are saying, “But I already know how to breathe, I’m alive aren’t I?” True, but few realise that we don’t just breathe to stay alive; it also plays a significant role in the quality of our life.

Is There Scientific Proof We Can Heal Ourselves?

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Whether you’re battling a life-threatening illness, saddled with a “chronic” health condition that Western medicine hasn’t been able to cure, or battling nuisance symptoms that decrease your quality of life, or just hoping to optimize your energy, vitality, looks, and longevity, there is scientific proof that you can heal yourself.

As a skeptic herself, Dr. Lissa Rankin makes an irrefutable case, documenting with cold, hard science that the medical establishment has been proving that the mind can heal the body for over 50 years.

Loads of data proves that the mind can believe itself well. In clinical trials, we call it “the placebo effect.” Patients treated with placebos don’t just feel better. It’s not just “in their heads.” They’ve actually had warts disappear, bronchi dilate, colons become less inflamed, hair growth on the heads of bald men, ulcers heal, and other measurable physiological phenomena. We also know that the opposite is true, and the mind can think itself sick, which researchers call “the nocebo effect.” When patients are given injections with saline and told it is chemotherapy, they vomit and lose their hair.

Read the full version here... (preventdisease.com)

The Age Of Aspartame May Be Coming To An End As More Health Risks Are Confirmed

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GFP Note: This article only mentions aspartame, but I wanted to add that the research paper it cites found harmful effects from diet drinks in general, not just the ones containing aspartame. We highly recommend avoiding Splenda, which is also deceptively called sucralose, so people confuse it with the natural sugar, sucrose.

Aspartame has been on the debate block for years as time and time again independent research reveals dangers associated with aspartame consumption, while industry funded research reveals no dangers. In a new study observing over 60,000 women, diet drinks containing aspartame consumed at 2 or more per day increased the risk of heart related illness by 50%. This is added to the list of studies that have shown aspartame causes fast paced kidney decline, brain and neurological damage, and is linked to increased rates of leukaemia and lymphoma and more.

The interesting part is, aspartame was once illegal. It was banned twice by the FDA because public cases and research showed a serious link between aspartame and serious health effects including brain related tumors. The aspartame legalization fiasco of the 1960′s and 70′s triggered the first ever criminal investigation into a food and drug manufacturer for shoddy testing practices. It didn’t become legal again until some corrupt political work had to be done to overturn the boards initial decision to keep it banned. More about that here.

The study completed by The University of Iowa confirms that: 

“…[C]ompared to women who never or only rarely consume diet drinks, those who consume two or more a day are 30 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event [heart attack or stroke] and 50 percent more likely to die from related disease.

Read the full article here... (thesleuthjournal.com)

Why A Good Dose of Gratitude Might be the Only Medicine You Need - Christina Sarich

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positive happy health 263x164 Why A Good Dose of Gratitude Might be the Only Medicine You NeedAre you thankful for your family? For the way the rainwater sparkles on your skin in the sun? How about a friend? Are you feeling lucky to just be alive? It turns out feelings like these are extremely good for your health. In a time when medical costs seem to rise higher than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, we can concentrate on feeling thankful without it costing us a single dime.

If you don’t believe gratitude can make you healthier and happier, consider this. It’s an important enough field of study that the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley—in collaboration with the University of California, Davis—has launched a $5.6 million, three-year project, called Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude. This is due in part to early scientific findings that show gratitude can:

  • Improve your immune system
  • Promote positive emotions in yourself and others, and
  • Guard against loneliness and isolation

Dr. Robert Emmons, of the University of California, has also found after eight years of intensive research, that gratitude can utterly transform one’s health and life.

Read the rest here... (naturalsociety.com)

How the Microbes Living in Your Gut Might Be Making You Anxious or Depressed

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Microbes are in the news these days. Specifically, the microbes that live in and on the human body, making up our “microbiome.” Michael Pollan made a splash with a column titled “ Some of My Best Friends are Germs” about a year ago, and now Martin Blaser, director of the Human Microbiome Project at NYU, has published a book called Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues.

In a short period of time, bacteria, fungi and other microbes have gone from enemy to friend in the public consciousness. 

But in addition to the many studies finding out about the numbers and diversity of the microbes with whom we share our bodies and their roles in our nutrition and immune function, some researchers have made some surprising findings: the bugs in your gut might actually impact your emotions.

Read the rest here... (alternet.org)

Choosing Happiness - Emotionally Resilient Living

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The ability to remain focused on joy and true happiness in life, regardless of our circumstances, is rooted in the desire to grow beyond mere existence to a life that is overflowing. 

Happy as you want to beLife can be quite a roller coaster ride. It’s easy to be happy when we’re at the top of the ride and things are going well.

The problem is – life being the grand adventure that it is – for all the carefree high points, from time to time there will inevitably be corresponding lows. They may only last for an hour, a day or a week … but sometimes we hit a particularly rough patch when no matter how hard we try it feels like that darn ride is never going to make the swing back up to where the sun shines and we get to “be happy” again.

Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions. ~Dalai Lama XIV

While it may not feel like it when you’re stuck in one of those low points, we each have the ability to be as happy as we choose to be, it’s just that sometimes we need to be reminded. Whatever your circumstances, it’s going to be a lot easier to shift your attitude and feelings to your happy place if you have a few strategies to rely on.

Read the rest here... (emotionallyresilientliving.com)

What Are the Symptoms Of Not Being Grounded?

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Author: Inaya Ved Ashtarie
www.AshtarCommandCrew.net

www.BenArion.com

There are several symptoms of not being grounded

Some are more mental/emotional and others more physical. Mood swings, being distracted, disorientated, forgetfullness and short term memory loss, unable to focus or concentrate, daydreamy, clumsy, inability to finish tasks, sensitivity to noise, feeling sleepy, general intolerance are a few traits that result from not being grounded.

Physical symptoms are due to an imbalance of energetic flow. Of course, not all physical symptoms are a result of not being grounded, they could be from dis-ease within the body from other causes.
When we are not grounded, there is ''excessive" spiritual pranic energy in some levels of our being, while the cells are trying to "keep up" with the absorption and assimilation. These symptoms include headaches,backache, shoulder strain, eyestrain, nausea, dizziness, palpitations and other manifestations in vulnerable organs.


This is my understanding of "grounding", learnt from different sources and from experience in my life so far!
 

Peaceful Sleep During "The Awakening Process" - InnerPeaceNow.com

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You may find that as you increase your level of awareness and start to "clear out" all the mess that is in your mind, you may experience crazy, vivid dreams that may seem different to usual.  This is normal, so do not worry, it is often part of the cleansing process.  

As your sense of presence increases you may also notice that you are sometimes more tired than usual, and other times feel you have more energy and greater presence, feeling more awake.  

The tiredness may come as part of the cleansing process, similar to a physical detox that someone may go through - the effects of cleansing can at first seem negative, but they are just creating space and eliminating what you no longer have use for.  

The increased sense of energy may come after this.  As a result of the cleansing, less energy is wasted through useless thinking and resistance, and so your energy is more abundant and readily available for more useful endeavours if any arise for you.

Read the rest here... (InnerPeaceNow.com)

Finding Happiness - InnerPeaceNow.com

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Finding happiness that lasts seems to be a challenge for most people. If only they knew where to look! Finding happiness in the world of form can not exist without finding unhappiness in it. Going within takes you beyond this duality.

If Some Thing Makes You Happy, It Has The Power To Make You Miserable

This is not being pessimistic. It is true. It does not mean that you can not be happy, but rather that permanent happiness must come from a different place.

Most of us seem to go through life completely dependent on what is happening around us for our own inner peace or happiness. It is as if what goes on in our lives controls our inner state of mental or emotional wellbeing.

There seems to be no other way for a while – the only way to feel good is to have what we want in our “exterior” world- relationships, possessions, status, things “going well”. We are conditioned to believe that all these things have to make us happy, because most of the world knows no different. We often demand that situations and circumstances fulfil us….

.…eventually you come to realise that this doesn’t work. Situations change. What makes you feel good therefore has complete power over you to make you feel bad. Things that you desired and believed that once achieved or acquired could make you at peace, fulfilled or happy, seem to lose their fulfilling quality after a while, or they get destroyed or go away leaving you feeling unhappy again.

Read the rest here... (innerpeacenow.com)

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