Living vs. Non-living systems

For me, breath distinguishes between living and non-living organisms. Some organisms we can't see breathing, but they do, in fact, breathe (i.e. plants, trees, etc.). I see breath as the uniting force of all living beings. I feel this sometimes when I'm practicing meditation and deep breathing techniques. It puts me in touch with the divinity within me (within all of us, really) and our interconnectedness.

Speaking of pranayama, I want to share a breathing technique that I practice daily. It's very effective for energetic balancing and stress management. Enjoy. . . .

Nadi Sodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing)
If you don't do anything else, this is a simple yoga breathing exercise that can be done virtually anywhere, anyplace. You will be glad you did. It is simply dynamic!
The name alternate nostril breathing is due to the fact that we alternate between the two nostrils when we do the breathing. Yogis believe that this exercise will clean and rejuvenate your vital channels of energy, thus the name nadi sodhana (purification of nadis or channels).
With this exercise, we breathe through only one nostril at a time. The logic behind this exercise is that normal breathing does alternate from one nostril to the other at various times during the day. In a healthy person the breath will alternate between nostrils about every two hours. Because most of us are not in optimum health, this time period varies considerably between people and further reduces our vitality. According to the yogis, when the breath continues to flow in one nostril for more than two hours, as it does with most of us, it will have an adverse effect on our health. If the right nostril is involved, the result is mental and nervous disturbance. If the left nostril is involved, the result is chronic fatigue and reduced brain function. The longer the flow of breath in one nostril, the more serious the illness will be.
Benefits
The exercise produces optimum function to both sides of the brain: that is optimum creativity and optimum logical verbal activity. This also creates a more balanced person, since both halves of the brain are functioning property.
The yogis consider this to be the best technique to calm the mind and the nervous system.

Technique:


Close the right nostril with your right thumb and inhale through the left nostril. Do this to the count of four seconds.
Immediately close the left nostril with your right ring finger and little finger, and at the same time remove your thumb from the right nostril, and exhale through this nostril. Do this to the count of eight seconds. This completes a half round.
Inhale through the right nostril to the count of four seconds. Close the right nostril with your right thumb and exhale through the left nostril to the count of eight seconds. This completes one full round.
Start by doing three rounds, adding one per week until you are doing seven rounds.
Alternate nostril breathing should not be practiced if you have a cold or if your nasal passages are blocked in any way. Forced breathing through the nose may lead to complications. In pranayama it is important to follow this rule: under no circumstances should anything be forced. If you use the nostrils for breath control they must be unobstructed. If they are not, you must practice throat breathing.

For more info on pranayama, visit http://www.holisticonline.com/Yoga/hol_yoga_breath_home.htm

Use of language and tools in chimps

I believe such research is incredibly significant to making discoveries about the evolution of our species. We've learned that humans and chimps share 99% of the same DNA, so observing how chimps acquire language and other survival tools could likely tell us how we did the same. It seems that chimps are catching up to us in terms of intellectual development. Maybe in 100,000 years, chimps will be identical with modern-day humans. I wonder where we will be....probably like computers or aliens!

"Chinese medicine gaining respectability in the West"

A few things came up for me in reading this article. First, the stories of the patients who turned to TCM when Western medicine couldn't help them resonated with me. I have the same background; I fell through the cracks in the Western healthcare system onto TCM's doorstep, and in a life-threatening state. TCM helped me reclaim my life from severe, chronic health issues and gave me my purpose: to pass its healing powers onto others. Every time I hear a story of someone finding relief in the arms of TCM when nothing else worked is always a magical moment for me. I love TCM so much!

Second, the growing number of Western medical institutions that are now offering TCM modalities gives me hope for a full integration of East and West medical traditions someday. Two of the Western hospitals that were discussed are here in the Bay Area. My godfather works for Kaiser in SF and he says that they have several acupuncturists on staff. I think that the modern research on TCM coming out of Harvard and other prestigious institutions is the most important contribution to TCM growing in this country. I plan to do research studies and thus help to ground the field of TCM into the cold, hard facts that Western society appreciates.

Third, I was angered by the uneducated comments made by the Stanford professor of the "voodoo," placebo nature of TCM. It's frustrating that on top of the overwhelming complexity of TCM and having to learn so much Western medicine that we have to deal with the cynicism, doubts, and attacks from conventional doctors. But as long as we continue to do clinical studies on the efficacy of TCM and give the doctors cold, hard facts, I believe we will receive more and more of their support and cooperation in delivering integrative medicine.

Can diversification save a species?

I believe it can based on my experiences with gardening. When I lived with a women's healing community, we had a garden and planted greens every spring. We made sure to diversify our selection of greens because they made one another grow stronger and protected each other against bugs, weather conditions, etc. During our first year of the garden, the only green we planted was rainbow chard, and we lost the entire crop. This seems to make sense in terms of humans as well. I've witnessed people seek out partners with different traits than them so that their genetic material is stronger for their children. I think our species would have died off long ago if it wasn't for adaptability and diversification. But I don't believe it's the only thing that can save a species. Today, for example, I think that in order to save the human race, we need to heal the planet and practice loving kindness towards one another. Who's with me?

The chicken or the egg?

I appreciated the article on this timeless theoretical conundrum. It never made sense to me to believe that a chicken was created out of thin air and then laid an egg. But I couldn't see how an egg could have been made without a chicken. I never considered the possibility that a chicken could have been created from the egg of two non-chickens. So now I'm definitely behind the argument that the egg came first, and I'm excited to bring the information from the article to my next dinner party discussion.

"I always eat my broccoli"

Broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables. I never used to eat the stems until recently. They're great added to stir frys and soups. I remember reading an article in college about how to get children to eat vegetables like broccoli. It said the key was to pair it with a food that the kids enjoyed (i.e. cheese). This supposedly creates a positive association with the vegetable and soon enough you won't need to pair it with another food to get kids to eat it. So start your kids off with melting cheese on top of broccoli (or on all veggies for that matter) and I'll bet that they'll end up being broccoli lovers. I also plan to educate my children about the health benefits of eating such foods. I think it's disempowering to tell children to do things and not explain why. It's a lot of work being a conscious parent, but I can't imagine anything more rewarding.

How do you think chimps and humans diverged as species?

I believe in intelligent design (the theory that intelligent causes are responsible for the origin of the universe and of life in all its diversity) and that we diverged as a species because a Higher Power wanted us to. As discussed in the article on human-chimpanzee speciation, I found it all-too-mysterious that our mixed lineage with chimps (due to inbreeding) died off quickly. The article said itself that "something very unusual happened at the time of speciation." What I hear from this statement is that the Great Spirit was working its magic. I don't believe that nature and complex biological structures evolve by chance but rather by a purposeful design. It just doesn't make sense to me any other way. I am fully behind the saying that science only goes so far, then comes God. But it was fascinating to learn about the latest research in genetic mapping and evolutionary technologies.