The NCCAM Integrative Medicine Research Lecture Series provides overviews of the current state of research and practice involving complementary and alternative medicine practices and approaches, and explores perspectives on the emerging discipline of integrative medicine.

Lectures are held at 10:00 a.m. in the NIH Clinical Research Center (Building 10) and are open to the public. Lectures are videocast at videocast.nih.gov.

Upcoming Lectures

Date: May 9, 2011
Speaker: Luana Colloca, M.D., Ph.D.
Topic: The Science of the Placebo Effect

Date: June 13, 2011
Speaker: Anita Bercovitz, M.P.H., Ph.D., Health Scientist, National Center for Health Statistics, Division of Healthcare Statistics, Long Term Care Statistics Branch
Topic: Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Hospice Results from the 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey
Note: The June lecture will be held in Building 31, 6C, Room 6.

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It’s about being aware of your inhalation and exhalation.

Find a comfortable position, try to find a position you feel relaxed in. You can spend 5 minutes or more on this. When you are ready and feel relaxed, you can start:

1. Close your mouth, continue to breathe through the nose. Become aware of the air passing through the nose. You can spend some time on this if you wish.

2. Follow your breath from the nose tip to the bottom of your stomach. Follow the breath all the way back up out through the nose again, you can even try to follow your breath up to an inch beyond the nose. Feel how the air feels as it flows through the body. Does it feel cold, hot etc..

NB;

Follow your natural deep breath, do not try to control your breath.

If you cant find peace with this technique, you can try adding an additional factor to this technique. This will possibly make you more alert and focused on your breathing. And help you to not be too concerned with your thoughts that pop up during this meditation.

3. Breathe in and out through both nostrils. Use the instructions described above, follow your breath down into your stomach and up to and even slightly beyond the nose, as described above.

4. Your second exhale and inhale; visualize that you only breathe through the left nostril, when you follow the exhale out, visualize that you only exhale through the right nostril.

5. Third breath, you can start to visualize that you inhale with right nostril and out the left nostril.

6. Do the fourth inhalation and exhalation with both nostrils, before again starting from 4. to 6.

Continue this throughout the meditation. Use 10 -15 minutes or more to get back to your daily life. You may want to use these last final minutes to feel how peaceful and relaxed you feel, without being aware of your breath.

Good luck.

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1.

3.

Continue to visualize this energy flowing up the back of your body, along your spine to the top of your head, and then down again on the front side of your body, down to the root chakra again. This means that energy flows through your most important and biggest seven energy centers in your body; Root Chakra, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and finally the crown chakra.

4.

Now the trick is being able to visualize this energy flowing up the back of your body, and at the same time feeling this flow of energy  flowing down the front of your body. Visualize this as a continuous circle of energy, light or whatever you choose to see this energy as. It is quite possible that you need some training to master this, especially if you’re not used to using visualization.

This is all you need to do, do it every day for 30 minutes or more for about a month to see if you get some positive side effects of this amazing technique. Feel free to send me any feedback about how you experience this exercise.

Good Luck.

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Many people seam to romanticize about meditation, and create very long advanced techniques, and even visualizations of them selves inn a another place etc. Meditation is not intended for escaping reality, but becoming one with the now, our true nature. Be here now! as Eckhart Tolle says. Inn our daily life we get to centered in our thoughts and worry`s, which tend to create a lot of stress and anger for many of us. To meditate is to remember your true nature, everyone can do this, cause every living being is present here and now, we just forget to treasure it. We get caught / identified with our minds totally. In meditation we want to nourish the state of being, just being, without judging what appears here and now when we sit in meditation. With practice we can bring this into our daily life.

The point i want to make, is that meditation is not something advanced that only a guru can do, but something everyone can practice. The only practice we need, is to learn how to detach from our thoughts / identification with mind, and learn how to just be still and watch what is happening, inn this present moment.

The easiest of all meditations is probably to find yourself a comfortable position to sit, with a straight back, or even meditate laying down (“without falling asleep”). Relax and settle into your chosen position, and when you feel comfortable just start following your breath. If your mind starts to wander, remind yourself to go back to just following your breath. Don`t tray to control the breath, just follow it.. This meditation-practice is old of age and creates a deep relaxing meditation. (You won’t need more meditation ) As Eckhart Tolle says; The ego is the one that wants more. You can learn about Eckhart Tolle`s philosophy by reading he`s books; “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment“,      ”Stillness Speaks“,     ”A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club, Selection 61)“.

Tip!
If you feel tension in some parts of your body, just bring your focus “attention” to that part of your body, and relax it. Move on to the next spot you feel tension inn, relax it and so on. If you feel no other tensions, just go back to following you breath.
Many people begin with relaxing the body in this manor. You can start with your feet, focus on your feet and send positive/energy to that spot until you feel relaxed in that area, then move on to your legs and so on and all the way to the top of your head. This process should leave you in a very relaxed state of being.

This exorcise can actually be practiced as a meditation in itself, and may be all you need to feel refreshed, energized & more relaxed to continue your day in a happier and more centered state of being.

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Are you staying up late at night and pondering over problems with your colleagues? Or do you worry about how your dinner with your in-laws will go this weekend?

The cause of stress may simply be that we are so organized and also have few external threats to relate to. This gives us good time to think and to create stress, according to Robert Sapolsky of Stanford University.

Neurologist and biology professor has studied baboons in Kenya. He recognized the number of stress factors and health problems in bavian society from our Western society.

“Fighters Fight” stress less
- We are ecologically privileged enough that we invent our own social and physical stress. Baboons are privileged in the same way. They get ulcers because of the social challenges, says Sapolsky.

Now baboons can give us an indication on how we could take the least possible damage of this stressful life that we live.

Sapolsky discovered, among other things, that the baboons were able to distinguish a real threat from a dangerous situation, and was less stressful than the others. Baboons that took hold of a dangerous situation by starting a fight, was also less stressed than those who sat back and waited for the fight to  break out.

According to Sapolsky, there is a special group of baboons that do not handle stress very good. Probably some people can be placed in a similar group, he said.

Unwind!
Under stress?  Good advice on how to cope with a busy life:

Moderate drinking. It might be easy to resort to alcohol and smoking in stressful situations. But if you stress a lot, both should be taken in moderation.

Hobby. Turn your attention to a hobby. Then your focus is put onto something else. It can be anything from a drawing course to work in a voluntary organization.

Drink water. If you are stressed out it perhaps sounds more tempting with a large glass of wine than a glass of water. But it is very important that you drink water. Because if you get dehydrated you will become sleepy, and it makes it difficult to cope with stressful situations.

Massage. Relaxation is the key to reducing stress. Massage calms the body, provides muscle relaxation and increase blood circulation.

Meditation. 15 minutes of meditation can provide deeper peace than an hour’s sleep. To begin the day with a two-minute meditation session can also be good. Sit with your back straight and repeat a word in your head. Or follow your breath. Learn a Meditation that releases stress Here!

Healthy diet. If you are stressed out, it is natural to crave more food, especially fast food. But even if the fast carbohydrates will give you a quick rush of insulin, you’ll rapidly get tired again. It is better to eat healthy and eat regularly. A stable blood sugar can reduce the stress level.

Sex. Maby you already know that sex can make you less stressed out: You can release a lot of anger, aggression and bad energy, that are associated with stress trough sex.

Sleep. It is important not to feel tired. Lack of sleep is a big influence on your day, and your problems may seem more serious than they really are.

Training. It is important to combine a stressful day with training. Exercise increases blood circulation, among other things in the body and opens the lungs so that you get more oxygen. Moreover, the body will produce more endorphins, the body’s own morphine.

Therapy. Sometimes it may help to talk to a therapist or a coach, who can advise on how to relax and tell you how you can get a more positive outlook on the situation you are in.

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This is still just the tip of the iceberg! Yawning also turns out to be a great brain exercise.

Here are 12 reasons to yawn:

1.) Stimulates alertness and concentration
2.) optimize brain activity and metabolism
3.) Improves cognitive function
4.) Improve your memory
5.) Improve awareness and understanding
6.) Reduce stress
7.) The body becomes more relaxed
8.) Improves voluntary muscle control
9.) Improves athletic skills
10.) Fine-tune your sense of time
11.) Increases empathy and social awareness
12.) Improves the joy and sensuality

Some researchers even claim that yawning will make you relax and bring you into a state of clarity faster than any other meditation technique.

Studies of the brain shows that yawning activates a part of the brain called the precuneus. According to researchers, it turns out that the precuneus among other things, plays a central role in consciousness, self-reflection, and improved memory. Physiologically yawning cools the brain and allows it to function better.

Why is yawning contagious?
The researchers believe that the social yawn has to do with protection, yawning makes us alert and aware of danger-signs in the environment. Ironically, studies show that you are not “infected” when breathing through the nose.

Unlike when we breathe through the mouth,  breathing trough the nose contributes to  a constant inflow of cool air. If you cool the head with something cold, you are probably not at risk. Those subjects who were asked to keep a cool bag on the head was not affected to yawn.

The process of yawning activates multiple neuro-chemical substances, including dopamine, which sets in motion a chain of reaction of other neurochemical substances. The result is that areas of the brain that contribute to improved memory, conscious control, temperature control, joy, sensuality and  social activities, is activated.

Conscious yawning
It is difficult to find another activity that has so positive effects on the brain that yawning has in so many ways. Conscious yawning may require some training and discipline. But all you need to do to trigger it; is to “pretend” 6 or 7 times, it is very easy.

So, what are you waiting for? Yawn away with a good conscience and make it a habit even if you actually dont want to yawn. This way you can treat your brain a little miracle every day.

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(By U Tejaniya – Shwe Oo Min)

The most important thing when you are meditating is to have the right attitude.

1. When meditating: Don’t focus too hard
Don’t control
Don’t try to create something
Don’t force or restrict yourself

2. Don’t try to create anything But don’t reject what is happening
But as things happen or stop happening, don’t forget
Be aware of them

3. Trying to create something is lobha (greed)
Rejecting what is happening is dosa (aversion)
Not knowing if something is happening
or has stopped happening is moha (delusion)

4. Only when the observing mind has no lobha, dosa, nor soka (worry/anxiety) inside it,
then the meditating mind will arise

5. You have to double check to see what attitude you are meditating with

6. You have to accept and watch both good and bad experiences

7. You only want good experiences
You don’t want even the tiniest unpleasant experience
Is this fair? Is this the way of the Dhamma?

8. Don’t have any expectations
Don’t want anything
Don’t be anxious
Because if these attitudes are in your mind,
It becomes difficult to meditate

9. Why are you focusing so hard when you meditate?
You want something to happen?
You want something to stop happening?
It is likely that one of these attitudes is there

10. If the mind is getting tired
something is wrong with the way you are practicing

11. You cannot practice when the mind is tense

12. If the mind and body are getting tired
it is time to check the way you are meditating

13. Meditating is waiting and watching

With awareness and comprehension
Understanding
Not thinking
Not reflecting
Not judging

14. Don’t practice with a mind that wants something
or wants something to happen
The only result will be that you will tire yourself

15. The meditating mind should be relaxed and at peace

16. Both the mind and the body should be comfortable

17. A light and free mind enables you to meditate well
Do you have the right attitude?

18. Meditating is,
Whatever happens good or bad,
Accepting, relaxing and watching it

19. What is the mind doing?
Thinking? Or being aware?

20. Where is the mind now?
Inside? Or outside? (of oneself)

21. Is the watching/observing mind
properly aware?
Or only superficially aware?

22. You are not trying to make things turn out
the way you want it to happen
you are trying to know what is happening as it is

23. Don’t feel disturbed by the thinking mind
You are not practicing to prevent thinking
To recognize and acknowledge thinking whenever it arises
is what you are practicing

24. You are not supposed to reject the object
(phenomena/things that are happening/being known)
You are to know (and thus note/observe) the defilement’s
that arise because of the object and thus remove them
(the defilement’s)

25. Only when there is Saddha (Faith), Viriya (energy) will arise
Only when there is Viriya, Sati (mindfulness) will become continuous
Only when Sati is continuous, Samadhi will become established
Only when Samadhi is established, then you will know
things as they really are, Saddha then increases further

26. Just pay attention to what is exactly in the present moment
Don’t go to the past!
Don’t plan for the future!

27. The object is not important
The mind that is working in the background –
working to be aware i.e. the observing mind is more important
If the observing (mind) is done with the right attitude the
object will be the right object.

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“Be here now.”

— Ram Dass

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.”

— Ram Dass

“We’re here to awaken from the illusion of separateness”

— Ram Dass

“The Ego is an exquisite instrument. Enjoy it, use it–just don’t get lost in it.”

— Ram Dass

“It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.”

— Ram Dass

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