Table of Contents:

What is Health?

We are the third generation raised on processed foods. We live in non-natural environments. We breathe air that is highly polluted both chemically and electromagnetically. We constantly need to adjust to the ever-changing demands of the Global Village economy where today’s news becomes ancient history by tomorrow. This induces much stress and anxiety. In this environment we cannot possibly expect to take our health for granted. That would be akin to driving a car across the Sahara desert without ever checking the oil.

If we want to be healthy we need to examine what health means to us and how we are going to become healthy. Wishful thinking, idealized states, and indulgence will not get us health. Changes in lifestyle, discipline and some sacrifice might.

Happiness and Physical Well-being

Some very gravely ill people radiate an energy that is quite incredible. They seem to be better adjusted, happier, and full of purpose, more so than many people we would define as “healthy”. At the same time we know of young people who seem to have strong bodies, yet they are sunk in depression, addictions, fatigue, etc. It would be hard to describe them as healthy.

More than anything, health is dependent on a frame of mind, on an attitude that promotes happiness and acceptance. It is a mental, emotional and spiritual state that allows us to create goals in our lives and to pursue them. Seen from this perspective, the dying cancer patient can still be spiritually healthy. If a person can be happy and find meaning in life, then even though his or her body is deteriorating, that person has something we must acknowledge is strongly connected to health.

In some people whose body is barely functioning we may see the soul truly shines. It is as if the weakening of the body has given freedom to the spirit/soul, and the light of the soul flickers as the body reaches its limit. It is tragic that we reach such full devastation before we wake up to the full meaning of life. Can our spirit/soul shine while maintaining a strong physical body? Can our light shine throughout the duration of our lifetime? We believe it can, and the purpose of this book is to explore how we might achieve that state.

Mind/spirit Medicine

Much of this book is dedicated to the idea of training our minds in order to achieve and sustain health. Any action we take for the sake of health be it changing our diet, exercising, or meditating, must involve our mind and our will.

Defining Health

It is this idea of smooth flow that is the basis of acupuncture and all other forms of Oriental medicine. For the Chinese, to be healthy is to flow, like a river. When the river flows at a good pace, the water is clear. When the flow slows down, the water gets murky, and if there is a blockage, the river becomes a swamp.

This idea of flow determines our health both emotionally and physically. The key to health is to prevent emotional and physical constipation.

The Emotional Flow

Anxiety, obsession, stress, fear, anger, doubt and guilt all tend to congest us. When we are caught in those feelings we tend to forget the possibilities of other, more pleasant, feelings. Our bodies react with sleeping, digestive, and circulatory problems, a response to the emotional blockage. Physically, these negative emotions create a sympathetic dominance response which, when over-activated, is a cause of many modern age diseases.

When we let these negative emotions take hold of us, the emotional flow becomes obstructed. It is natural to experience these emotions, but the moment they take hold rather than flow in and out, we are caught in an emotional state, and we lose the freedom to experience the full range of life.

The Chinese talk of the “bowels” as not just the large intestine, but also as the stomach, gall bladder, small intestine, urinary bladder, and an organ they call the Triple Burner, which can be thought of as the totality of the metabolic process, and also as the lymphatic system. Keeping the bowels open means keeping the assimilation and elimination processes unobstructed so as to prevent accumulation of metabolic and toxic byproducts. We can accomplish this by eating more vegetables, especially root vegetables, and less processed, starchy, fatty foods.

Keeping the breath open means breathing deeply, evenly, and consciously. The food we eat can only be converted into useful energy if it is combusted, a process that requires air. Every cell of our body requires taking oxygen and eliminating carbon dioxide. This is a process that involves the lungs and the nose. The more fully we breathe the better the circulation of oxygen and the elimination of toxins. Keeping the nasal passages clear is important because the air we breathe passes through the nasal cavities.

Keeping the joints open refers to all the joints, ensuring appropriate circulation through mild exercise and stretching. Blockage and stiffness of the major joints (shoulders and hips) can cause circulatory problems in the abdomen, affecting the organs and creating pathologies, and has also been linked to high blood pressure.

Stress: A Major Cause of Disease

Many people find strenuous exercise to be helpful with coping with stress. The exercise allows for the sympathetic (fight or flight) response to be resolved. However, it does not take care of our feelings. And so we get into a cycle of stress and exercise as a coping mechanism. We need to develop a strategy of calming our feelings, of nourishing our souls with what is wonderful in the world (like the sunset, the blue sky, the trees, the smile of a friend, whatever is precious to you). We need to be reminded of other feelings, so that the stressful feelings become less dominant, and the physiological response can be prevented.

There are no set guidelines that are guaranteed to work. Ultimately you are the judge of what methods work for you. You are the laboratory of your own life. Ultimately, you must try out any health advice before you know whether it is helpful for your particular circumstances or not.

That is also the good news: there is always more that we can discover about ourselves, about our health, about where we are going and how to get there. It is to try and help you in this exciting journey that we compiled the Yerba Buena Guidelines for Health. Keep in mind that they are merely guidelines, ultimately you must judge their efficacy in your life. We would love to hear from you and learn from your experiences.

The Chinese View of Health and Disease

From the Chinese perspective health is the free flow of energy (Qi). Once there is a blockage in the flow, disease ensues. Chinese medicine offers various models that explain the process of disease. Being a philosophically based medicine, Chinese medicine first defines health and the proper role of human life. Based on that one can then define disease.

Yin Yang

Following the Way, Living in Harmony

Obviously, these sages are seen as an ideal. Yet, already in the Chinese classics it is recognized that most people do not live in complete harmony with nature, or in accordance with what is best for them. Our shortcomings should not stop us from aspiring to a more harmonious way of life; we can simply acknowledge them, eliminate them when possible, accept them when not, and move on to the best of our abilities.

The Meridians

As life starts with the first breath and is sustained by breath, the first channel described is the Lung channel. The lungs take in the world in the form of air and let go of it. This is a natural and instinctive process. The Lung channel moves down before it goes up and out as a statement of our ability to “grasp life”. It ends in the thumb, again the way by which we grasp things. However, grasping must be accompanied by letting go. We must allow things to come and go. To remind us of that, the Lung is paired with the Large Intestine, a main organ of elimination, of letting go.

The Stomach channel moves through all the openings in the face: nose, eyes, mouth, ears, and then goes to the brain. (It then goes down to the stomach and down the leg.) This is to emphasize the notion that life is about interacting with the world and bringing it to our consciousness. Much like we do with the food we digest, we take in our experiences and make them a part of us.

The Heart and Pericardium channels show us the importance of expression through creativity. The Heart channel has very few points, and most of them are concentrated around the wrist, the wrist being the metaphor for calligraphy, or artistic or academic expression and communication. Another branch goes up to the tongue and the eye. With the tongue we speak and eat, while the eyes see the world and express our feelings. This connection emphasizes the importance of being open to the world and maintaining an open heart.

The Kidneys are considered to store our innermost energies, those inherited from our ancestors, somewhat akin to our concept of inherited DNA. Much like a DNA chain, the Kidney channel curls and winds, making loops, going back over itself. Starting at the sole of the foot, its every manifestation is a statement of secrecy, innermost activity which must be guarded and preserved. This is the true self, the person that we know we really are. Regardless of any of our actions, games, failures, there is always a core that is the true self. That core is represented in the form of the spiral of the Kidney channel.

The Liver is the organ which acts both to store the blood, meaning our nourishment, and is responsible for smooth flow of energy (from the Western perspective the liver is also a very vascular organ, and stores glycogen, our sugar reserves). The one emotion that immediately and without fail congests and blocks our flow is anger, and anger is associated with the Liver. The Liver channel climbs up the leg, faster than any other channel – it is the channel of action, of initiation. It controls the two areas where most people have the most blockages: the genitals and the diaphragm (representing the heart). For the ancient Chinese the Liver channel represents where blockages are most likely to occur, and the emotion most likely to cause them.

We see from the description of the channels that the Chinese clearly see our life’s purpose as interacting with the world, making contact, exploring, but without excessive attachment, always allowing things to come and go. Always remembering one’s own core, not as separate but as part of the vast ocean of life ever flowing (Kidneys are associated with the Water element). A strong reminder of what obstructs the flow of life is stated in the channel system also. For the Chinese it is no use to talk about how things should be without acknowledging what messes things up, what our obstacles are.

Chinese dietetics is a vast field. What we can learn from its principles is that cold foods can damage the digestive system. Cold foods are considered raw foods as well as those that have a cold temperature. The Chinese see the digestive system as an oven, and if we eat cold foods in excess, the “oven” begins to cool down. Unlike our kitchen oven, our digestive oven has no power supply besides what we eat. If what we eat demands more energy than it can supply, we end up weakening the digestive system. Americans tend to drink ice cold drinks and eat lots of raw salads. It is better to drink warm water (or tea) and to steam vegetables slightly (though not to the point of loosing all nutritional and taste value). Ginger and fennel are both warming digestive spices that can aid in restoring the “digestive fire”. Note that hot and spicy food such as curries and chilies are too hot in the Chinese sense. They disperse the Qi and deplete our energy.

Pathology

The Chinese concept of etiology and pathology consists of external climatic factors, the emotions, diet, exhaustion, injuries and insect bites, and blockages. The excess of any particular emotion blocks the Heart, that is, it does not allow us to experience life fully. Each emotion affects the flow of Qi (life force energy) in a particular way, but they all cause a dysfunction in the flow, and thus disrupt the life process.

Most unusual to the western mind is the concept of the climatic factors as causes of disease. On the physical level we can see that cold contracts and thus causes blockages and pain. Heat involves signs of redness, fever, rashes and bleeding. Dampness causes heaviness, while dryness is a depletion of fluids. Symptoms that are characterized by wind, are those which move around and are not constant, just like wind in nature. But on a deeper level, these factors can be seen as more than metaphors for our symptoms; they can be metaphors for what is wrong in our lives.

Wind is synonymous with change. Wind is said to be the “spearhead of all disease”. This means that our inability to change, the inability to let go of the past and of expectations, makes us stiff and unwilling to adjust. Our inability to adjust to our circumstances creates disharmony between us and the world we live in, and thus creates disease. In the West we have the myth of Lot’s wife who looked back at the fires that were consuming Sodom and turned into a salt statue. When we cannot let go of the past, we look back so fondly at what we believe was a safe and comfortable place. (Sodom was hedonistic and must have seemed attractive.) We may even shed salty tears (there are many types of tears, and those of sadness have a high salt content), we begin to loose our ability to move forward, we get the syndrome of “hardening of the attitudes”. Unsurprisingly this is a common syndrome in people with high cholesterol and arteriosclerosis.

Cold slows us down, it prevents us from living life fully, from moving forward with zest and enthusiasm. Cold is the antithesis of Yang, the force of life. The character for cold (Han) consists of the pictograms for person, a dividing line, a field, and tears, meaning that cold separates the person from their field of work, and that this separation from our life task results in tears. The first school of systematic classification of disease had assumed cold to be the primary cause of disease.

Heat is thought of as accelerating the body, speeding up the process of life. When we are anxious to move forward and we move too fast, we develop heat signs. This is very common in today’s fast paced culture. We feel that we need to be more active, to accomplish more, to compete more successfully; we are always engaged. The problem is that this excess Yang activity will eventually deplete the Yin. In modern terms it translates to getting many colds, depleting our immune system, depleting our adrenals, weakening our livers, and developing all sorts of inflammatory conditions, including many autoimmune diseases. The best remedy for Heat is to slow life down, to “preserve the Yin” as the Chinese would say.

Dampness also slows us down, but in a different way than cold. In a damp condition it is as if we cannot connect fully, as if there were a veil between two parts that need to connect – this is phlegm. Doubt and hesitation create this condition. In our daily lives we are faced with so many decisions we need to make and we are often left with great doubt, about our careers, our goals, our friendships, etc. Doubt is having two voices in us, so that we cannot take a full step forward and we are being pulled back at the same time. We hear doubt constantly either from the outside world or internally. Doubt activates the sympathetic chain: the adrenals, pituitary, and thyroid, it pumps insulin, depletes glycogen and produces lactic acid. These reactions produce metabolic toxic products. The lymph system is then activated to clear the toxins out. This is when we get cold-like symptoms: sweating, nausea, aches, and we experience anxiety, worry and fear. With constant doubt, expectations, and denial, we keep accumulating toxic byproducts, eventually creating a “swamp”. The swamp is Dampness. Eventually this swampy, unclear, situation will become a named disease, perhaps a cancer. To overcome Dampness we need to learn to be in the moment, to let go of doubt and expectation, to recognize that fear is not about the here-and-now, but an anticipation of the future which has not yet come.

Organ Diagnosis

Thus from the Chinese perspective one might be diagnosed as having Lung Qi Deficiency, Liver Qi Stagnation, or Dampness in the Spleen. There are numerous patterns of such kind, and any given person may have one or more of them in combination.

Two of the most common diagnosis are Liver Qi Congestion and Blood Deficiency. This is because we live in highly stressful environments which prevent the free flow of Qi and end up in a congestion, and the fast pace of our lives is considered to “burn up” the Blood, resulting in a Blood Deficiency. At the risk of greatly over-simplifying we can say that these might be seen as nervous disorders, and adrenal exhaustion in Western terms.

The Chinese view of health is complex in that it looks at the full process of human life, not at just at the symptoms that bother one at this particular moment. Any symptom can usually be seen as a link in a chain of events, not as an independent factor. Yet, this view is also very basic and simple, but like most basic and simple truths, its practice takes strength, courage, and patience.

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Nutrition

No field is as controversial as the field of nutrition. Forty, and even 30, years ago the issue of nutrition was quite simple. We had the four major food groups and that was how we looked at nutrition. Those days are long gone. Our understanding of nutrition has changed dramatically. Today the issue is not of major food groups, but of micro-nutrients, vitamins, minerals, etc. The problem is that the more we discover, the more complex the subject gets. We find that while substance A is really great for us, it also happens to leach out substance B which is crucial in producing enzyme C without which we cannot utilize D, etc., etc. No two nutritionists will ever agree completely on what the perfect diet is for a given person. There are plenty of biases here. Yet we are what we eat, and we are concerned. What should we do?

We have all heard friends tell us how wonderful their latest diet was, how they lost weight and felt energetic, slept beautifully, and transformed their lives. Yet, when we tried the exact same diet, we might have felt lethargic and depressed, perhaps even got sick. The point is that we each have a unique biochemistry; we are basically the same, yet different. We each metabolize nutrients slightly differently, we need slightly different proportions and combinations of different nutrients, require some while rejecting others. Some people seem to thrive on high protein diets, while others seem to need diets high in complex carbohydrates (and this is just one “simple” issue). Take as much advice as you possibly can, but beware that your own body may not be the body-type that the particular advice was meant for. When it comes to your diet, do not rely on other people’s dogmas except as possible guidelines. Ultimately it is you who has to decide what is the best diet for you.

Nutrition is one of the most important and basic factors on the road to health. Unfortunately it is the hardest lifestyle change to implement. We use food not only for bodily nourishment but for emotional as well as social comfort. When you decide on the changes you want to make, be reasonable. Remember that there will still be birthday parties, dinners out with friends, frustrating afternoons at work, and lonely evenings. Do not assume you can overcome all temptations. Moderation is by far preferred to “cutting it all out”. Studies show that 97% of people who loose weight on weight loss programs gain back the weight within 5 years. This is partially because it is impossible to be always “perfect”; we need to find the middle way. Coffee may be bad for you, but an occasional cup of coffee (less than once a day is occasional) is probably healthier than spending a lifetime in frustration.

Three Principles for Good Nutrition

Keeping the Bowels Open

We do not believe that all gut syndromes are caused by parasites. We do, however, believe that our diets must allow for gut integrity. In conventional terms this means less fat (which digests slowly) and more fiber. You want to consume foods that are readily available for absorption. This means either slightly cooking food rather than consuming it raw, or juicing it. When eating raw foods, add ginger or fennel to it. Foods like wheat and dairy are phlegm producing (as well as highly allergenic) and thus create bowel obstructions (though they may not cause constipation, the phlegm does stick to the intestinal walls, hindering absorption). Meat products have a slow intestinal transit time and thus create obstructions. Pesticides and hormones, beside being carcinogenic, are substances that are not easily digested: they can create intestinal obstructions, promote leaky gut, and overload the liver detoxifying function.

Nourishing the Blood

Dark leafy greens both nourish the blood and decongest the Liver. Dark leafy greens include kale, chard, spinach, collard greens, mustard greens, as well broccoli (though it is not a leaf). Lettuce is not a dark leafy green! For the purpose of decongesting the liver and detoxifying, dandelion greens are considered to be the best. Root vegetables both nourish the blood and lightly promote peristalsis, thus they help keep the bowels open. These include leaks, carrots, beets, onions, turnips, parsnips, kholoraby, etc. We like to recommend chlorophyll as a nutritional supplement on a regular basis. Chlorophyll is basically plant blood and is a very good blood nourisher.

Avoiding Phlegm Producing and Allergenic Foods

From the above principles we can see that the better diet is one that is low in fat, plant based diet. It is low in fat and cholesterol, and high in anti-oxidants and fiber. And, of course, we want to avoid, eliminate, or reduce (drastically!) sugar, wheat, coffee, processed foods, animal products (meat, dairy, eggs). The better diet is one which consists primarily of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. It does not have to be boring (and when it gets too boring, cheat a little; but do not cheat all the time!).

The American Diet

These habits have been deeply engrained in us from a very early age. Think of the type of meals that were served at your school lunchroom. It is no wonder that kids want their coke and Snickers bar after lunch. Without sugar and caffeine they don’t feel energetic enough to play baseball. And we carry these habits with us to our work places, except that as adults we compound the problem with alcohol and even more sugar as psychological “protectors” against anger, loneliness, boredom, etc.

Sugar Metabolism

Too much readily available sugar will result in temporary hyperglycemia. Insulin will be released, the glucose in the blood will be metabolized faster by the body cells (creating a faster rate of metabolic waste production), and unless there is new consumption of sugar, the body now becomes hypoglycemic (low on sugar). The result of eating too much sugar is that we always move between hyper- and hypo-glycemia. Long term, these “erratic” swings will eventually confuse our adrenal, liver, pancreas axis and affect the autonomic nervous system.

Readily available sugars are simple carbohydrates and plain sugar. Complex carbohydrates do not produce glucose as fast: there is a buffering effect created by their fiber content. Protein also converts to glucose if there is no other energy source, and acts to stabilize sugar levels. We want to avoid simple sugars and eat complex carbohydrates as well as some protein. Some people seem to balance their sugar levels better on a high protein diet, while others do it better with complex carbohydrates (the preferred method). (Those who do better with protein can try a higher fiber content, and if that does not work try vegetable based protein.)

How do we identify complex carbohydrates? Those are carbohydrates (grains mostly) which will not turn sweet when you chew on them. When you chew simple carbohydrates and masticate them well, the saliva in our mouth breaks down the carbohydrate chains and you can rather rapidly feel a sweet taste in your mouth. Complex carbohydrates will give you only a tinge of sweetness.

It is extremely important to correct a sugar imbalance. It can be the main contributing factor to fatigue, depression, mood swings, immune problems, and allergies. It is our belief that most people suffer from a sugar imbalance due to bad dietary habits. Before addressing any other problem, the sugar imbalance must be addressed. There are techniques for balancing sugar metabolism using acupuncture and other modalities; however, the bottom line correction needs to be done through your own diet. While still in the correction phase you will be asked to go on a very strict diet, once your body no longer reacts as badly to sugar, you can begin to enjoy some simple carbohydrates as long as they are buffered with other foods (in other words do no have sugar on an empty stomach).

The notion of natural sugar and white sugar is a misleading concept. What matters is the availability and concentration of sugar. Plain white sugar is nothing but sugar, it contains no fiber, no protein, nothing that might slow sugar absorption, so you get a big bang of high blood glucose. Fruit is fine because of its high fiber content, and because it contains other carbohydrates as well. We therefore do not advise people to abstain from fruit or natural fruit juices as long as no extra sugar was added.

The Protein Controversy

It is best to derive protein from plants. We especially recommend edamame. This is green soybean. The advantage of edamame is that it is a green live, unprocessed food. Beside protein it contains phyto-steroids which seem to prevent and help menopausal symptoms. (You can get fresh edamame at Rainbow, Real Food, and Whole Foods, or frozen in grocery stores in Japan town.)

Eating protein for breakfast helps counter fatigue in the afternoon. We recommend eating your protein at breakfast and at lunch, rather than at night.

What about Fat and Low Fat Meat?

Though some meats are considered lean, meat, including poultry, in most places is laced with antibiotics and growth hormones. Even if you do get organic meat, you are still getting the toxic metabolites that are released when an animal encounters the fear of slaughter. Animal products (including dairy and eggs) have a slower intestinal transit time, and are much more complex foods which, biochemically, require greater breakdown producing far more waste products which then circulate in our system. Animal products, fat content aside, are simply not clean for our system.

What is Wrong with Milk?

Raw versus Cooked Foods

On the other hand, over-cooking results in the destruction of enzymes in the food. If we quickly stir-fry or steam vegetables, they will not loose their nutritional value. Juicing is a compromise between raw and cooked foods. The juice is raw, thus enzymatic, but it has plenty of surface space, thus easily digested. Juice-only diets are not recommended, except for detoxification purposes.

Water

The Role of Supplements

Every so often we get a client who loves taking vitamins and whose problem seems to be resolved with our “mineral treatment”, a combination of acupuncture points designed for people with mineral imbalances. This is not to say that supplements cannot be useful. There are certainly times when we want to boost our immune response with vitamin C, help detoxification through use of anti-oxidants, clear inflammation with vitamin A, or simply get a tonic boost. We recommend that you use supplements for no more than 3 weeks out of every 4, preferably rotating your supplements, using one group one week, another the next. This system of alternation acts as insurance against adverse side effects and eliminates the possibility of our body getting so used to supplements that it stops utilizing food. There are certainly cases where the use of supplements needs to be prolonged (3 months to no more than a year) for specific purposes. But daily use simply so as to feel that we are doing something to be healthy can actually result in damage. (We hold the same view even on the use of Chinese herbals such as ginseng based products.)

We tend to recommend chlorophyll and flaxseed oil to many of our clients. Although used as a supplement they are true food substances: these are simply pressed into liquid, rather than selective chemical extracts.

The Yerba Buena Dietary Recommendations:

• Eat a variety of foods to ensure a supply of all of mother nature’s bounty.
• Eat primarily low fat, plant-based foods: fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes.
• Increase consumption of dark leafy greens and root vegetables in your diet.
• Eat simple foods, organic foods whenever possible, with the least amount of processing.
• Include protein in your breakfast (don’t skip breakfast!) and reduce protein intake at night.
• Cook your food. Reduce raw salads and avoid ice cold drinks.
• Eat regularly. Develop a schedule for eating. Prepare both your food and yourself. Enjoy your food by eating slowly and consciously. Use meals as an opportunity to come back to your own center. How food is eaten can be as important as what is eaten.
• Use mild spices such as basil, oregano, sage, marjoram. These aid digestion. Hot spices such as curries disperse the Qi (energy life-force).
• Use carrot juice instead of coffee or soda for an afternoon pick-me-up.
• Avoid, eliminate, or reduce oils and fats, especially cooking oils. Use flaxseed oil for essential fatty acid intake.
• Avoid, eliminate, or reduce sugar, coffee, alcohol, meats, dairy products, and eggs
• Avoid, eliminate, or reduce wheat products. If you have allergies, this may be crucial, and elimination rather than reduction might be necessary for a time period.

note: “reduce” is an option that will allow you some flexibility.

Remember:
• There is no ideal diet. You need to experiment to find what works best for you.
• We eat to live, not the other way around!

Detoxification

Stop Intoxication

Restrictions on the Diet

you can use ginger to pull out fluoride in the water
Cottage cheese (low sodium) – only for those who stay on this program for many months

• Give up smoking, alcohol, sugar, coffee, etc. (see list above).
• Avoid chlorinated/fluoridated water – use spring or distilled water, or ginger in your water.
• Avoid all animal products: meat (including chicken), fish, dairy, eggs.
• Eat lots of dark green and root vegetables. Especially dandelion greens and bitter melon.
• The best fruits for detoxification are apples (red not green), pears, and red grapes.
• Do not eat citrus fruit or tropical fruits.
• Drink at least 3 cups (8 oz. cups) of freshly squeezed juice
choose from carrots, apples, snowpeas, dandelion, parsley.
• Eat plenty of seaweed and/or kelp (up to ½ lb. when wet).
• Take vitamin B complex, vitamin C (1,000 mg twice daily), and vitamin E (400 IU twice daily)
• Take acidophilus
• Take pancreatic enzymes between meals (you can substitute with chlorophyll drinks)
• Wheatgrass juice for chlorophyll (aside from its use as an enzyme)
• 1 table spoon of flaxseed oil once a day
• ½ an hour before meals drink ginger tea (you can add peppermint and fennel – steep for 5 minutes)
• Use coffee enemas once a day for three days straight, then take a break for three days, then starting another 3 day of enemas, etc. Use 2-3 cups of black coffee (you can add chlorophyll and acidophilus). Use a bulb (as in a douche) rather than an enema bag. Hold the coffee in for 10 minutes if possible, and let go

Exercise

While lifting weights (i.e., non-aerobic exercise) will do the job on the stress reduction front, it is not useful as a pulmonary-cardiac tonic. Aerobic exercise is. In Chinese medical understanding it is said that heavy weight lifting damages the Kidneys, which means it stresses the bones, and can create a deep seated weakness (one sees this with super-heavy weight lifters with sexual dysfunction). There is nothing natural in lifting many pounds of weights in order to get beautiful muscles. If you really enjoy weight lifting, be sure to do it in moderation (preferably “strength-training” style), and always combine it with an aerobic workout and stretching.

We believe that the best form of exercise is that which you enjoy, be it social, solitary, a sport, or a meditation. Ultimately, you will not persist in an activity unless you enjoy it. Of course, some discipline is required. You may feel too lazy to start your exercise program on any given day, but most days you should feel quite happy that you went through with it, both physically and mentally.

Aerobic exercise for about 30 minutes 3 times a week is appropriate, if you still keep some activity on the other days. It is recommended that you exercise at about 75% of your maximum heart rate for 15 to 20 minutes. Never exceed 85% of your maximal heart rate. Maximum heart rate is determined by subtracting your age from 220. For example, for a 40-year-old person the maximum heart rate is 180 (220 – 40 = 180) and the exercise rate is 135 (75% of 180). Thus our 40-year-old person should exercise for about 15 to 20 minutes so that their heart rate is at 125 to 145 beats per minute (70-80%), and ensuring it does not exceed 153 (85% of 180).

Be sure to warm up before plunging into your cardiovascular routine. Activate the joints and the muscles, stretch, and then start your activity slowly, building up speed and increasing the heart rate gradually.

From a cardiovascular point of view it makes no difference what form of exercise you do, swimming, running, stairmaster, rowing, etc. However, from the perspective of exercising the fullest range of muscles, and avoiding injuries, some exercise forms are better than others. By far the best is swimming. This is because it is a non-weight-bearing form of exercise that minimizes muscular strain and injury possibilities. Swimming uses the fullest range of body parts. Breaststroke in particular opens up all the major joints (important for circulatory enhancement and blood pressure control). Unfortunately San Francisco is not blessed with an abundance of good swimming pools, however, they do exist even in the downtown area.

If you cannot incorporate swimming into your exercise routine, try to at least rotate your routine during the week. If you only run (and not on cement, we hope), not only are you only developing your leg muscles without addressing other large muscle groups, but you are more likely to develop hip, knee, and ankle problems because of the uneven stress. The gyms are full of all sorts of fascinating cardiovascular machines that can help you work out your lats, pecs, abdominals, as well as hamstrings and quads while getting your heart to pump. Most group sports (basketball, volleyball, etc.) also use a wider variety of muscles even though running is often emphasized. Beware of the one-sided overuse and twisting involved in tennis and golf.

Stretching is an important part of your exercise program. Many injuries can occur because of lack of warm up which includes activating the joints and muscles, or because of lack of stretching after the exercise period is over. After your muscles have been under stress, it is important to release any contractions and to elongate them. Otherwise you may develop a cramp from overstrained muscles.

During the days that you do not engage in aerobic activity, do some slow and easy stretching for 10-15 minutes. When stretching you want to breathe deeply, evenly, and slowly. Hold each pose for at least 20 seconds. Do not overstrain. Allow your weight and your breath to do the stretching for you, releasing tension on each breath, stretching just a bit more on the out breath. Do not bounce a stretch. Stretching shapes the body, activates the muscles, and lightly activates the circulation. Basically it should be a nice self-massage.

Upon embarking on an exercise program you may find the following to be helpful in easing your way in: a high potency multiple vitamin and mineral supplement for the first 4 weeks (after 4 weeks do not take the supplements on a continuous bases), massage (have as much as you like, and keep it way past 4 weeks if possible). If you have a family with heart disease history, take hawthorn berries (which aide and open cardiac circulation).

Do take every opportunity you can to walk. Not only will you save gasoline, avoid traffic congestion and irate Muni drivers, you will be benefiting your body as well.

Yoga and Tai Chi are excellent forms of exercise. There are various forms of both disciplines ranging from very mild to rather strenuous aerobic exercise. However, both systems work on a totally different principle than the Western concept of exercising at a certain heart rate so as to train the heart and lungs and increase their capacities. Yoga and Tai Chi are designed in such a way that without increasing heart rate (in fact lowering it) one can still develop the circulatory system through proper breathing. In these systems the internal organs are gently massaged, the muscles activated, and the joints opened, resulting in enhanced cardio-pulmonary health. The San Francisco Bay Area is blessed with many wonderful teachers of both disciplines who offer a wide variety of styles. These are wonderful practices that are meditative in nature and beautifully enhance body and mind.

The Air We Breathe

Diaphragmatic and Abdominal Breathing

To practice diaphragmatic breathing, lie on your back, make sure you are comfortable and close your eyes. Place your attention on your abdomen. To help you pay attention to your abdomen, place the palm of one hand just below the navel. Release any tensions and expectations. As you breathe in allow your abdomen to rise, as you breathe out allow your abdomen to fall. Make sure you are allowing, not forcing, your abdomen to rise and fall. It is natural for the abdomen to expand when we breathe in because the diaphragm is pulled down to allow for the expansion of the lungs and chest. The abdomen falls naturally with the out-breath. Pay your whole attention to the abdomen. Allow your exhalation to be longer than your inhalation. You will feel a fair amount of motion in the abdomen. The abdomen not only rises but also expands: this is a very comforting and calming rhythmic motion. Once you get the hang of the rise and fall of the abdomen you can remove your hand from below the navel. Practicing this way, reminding our bodies of the full, expansive, method of breathing is extremely useful and should be practiced every day. You can do it upon waking, take 5 minutes in the middle of the day, and also as you fall asleep. A body scan (described in the chapter on meditation) can then be added to further release tensions and increase awareness of our whole body.

You can also practice diaphragmatic breathing standing up and sitting down. In fact we should be breathing fully, using our diaphragm and relaxing our abdomens, at all times. Every so often, place your hand lightly just below your navel (the center of your palm should be about three finger breadths below the navel, which means your thumb will be touching the navel) and remind yourself to breathe fully, deeply, and evenly. You can start diaphragmatic breathing by breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth. This increases the clearing of stress-produced chemicals from the body and induces relaxation. Then go back to breathing through your nose.

Practicing abdominal breathing, at least once a day for 10 to 15 minutes will prove immensely valuable. You will feel calmer, less fatigued, and ready to encounter life’s challenges.

Not all indoor environments are equipped with full spectrum lights. You need to go out and breathe. If at all possible, take a break every hour or two and take a short walk outdoors. Even though a walk on Mount Tam would be better, a five minute break in the fresh air is still rejuvenating. We consider staying in the office during lunch hour to be hazardous to your health.

Meditation

In meditation we let go of all doing, of all thoughts, all worries. We enter a place of calmness and serenity. By shedding the various forms and manifestations of our busy lives we can find our true selves. Meditation affords us an opportunity to become calm, and thus the ability to look deeply and gain a new unobstructed perspective on our lives. Our meditation experience may not lead us to full bliss each and every time, but cumulatively it affords us more spaciousness and happiness.

There are many techniques of meditation. There are many books on meditation techniques as well as many sitting groups throughout the Bay Area. We encourage you to search out the method that best suits you. Ultimately meditation must be experienced, not read or talked about. An intellectual understanding of the experience is nice but it is not the experience.

To start your meditation, find a comfortable sitting posture with your back self-supported, relaxed and straight. A crossed-legged position sitting on a cushion is most common because it allows an open and wide base, with the spine creating a vertical axis, inferring a strong connection between heaven and earth. Westerners often find this posture too demanding and prefer using a chair. The chair is also more common in Western spiritual traditions. In either posture, allow your back to be straight, and your neck and shoulders to be relaxed. Either close your eyes or direct your gaze downwards about three feet away (some traditions practice gazing straight out). This way you already direct your focus inwards (some yogis call this “gazing at your heart”). Your arms can rest on your knees or in your lap. Allow a half smile to form on your lips. This posture seems easy. If you were to sit this way while talking to a friend or watching television you would have no problem, but when we “empty” our minds, the mind seems to want to grasp at something and pain and discomfort do arise.

Start by paying attention to your breath. You may want to start out with a few deeper breaths, then allow your breath to come to its normal course, using diaphragmatic breathing. Simply pay attention to your breath, the exchange of air through the nose, the rise and fall of the abdomen and torso. Know and identify your inbreath. Know and identify your outbreath. Note the coming and going of the breath. Observe how the inbreath turns into an outbreath, and the outbreath in turn leads into the inbreath. Keep your awareness on the breath. When various thoughts come, note them but do not engage in them (“do not invite them for tea”). The most experienced meditators have various thoughts come and go. The important thing is that the thoughts come and go, that they do not stay, that we do not begin to obsess and analyze.

To help you keep your focus on the breath you might want to softly and internally say “in” on the inbreath, and “out” on the outbreath.

Within a few minutes you are likely to feel calm and serene. Keep your awareness on the breath. Note the inbreath and outbreath and their interplay. Note that your breathing has become slower and deeper. Do not force your breath to become slower or deeper, simply observe it becoming slower and deeper. Enjoy this state of calmness. Thoughts will come. Allow them to go. If your posture feels uncomfortable, move your legs. Simply do it with full awareness, even coordinating it with your breath. Keep sitting for about 15-20 minutes. At the beginning you may want to sit for 10 minutes and build up to more.

This form of meditation, concentrating on the breath, emphasizes stopping. The Buddhists talk of stopping and insight as the two components of meditation. But first we must stop: stop the mind from racing, stop engaging in our daily activities, stop playing the millions of games we play without even knowing it. We stop so that we can allow something deeper to be discovered and to emerge. This is already great insight. It is a place where we have arrived. We have arrived at our true home, a place of great spaciousness. During these moments of sitting we are no longer bothered by our anxieties and pains, we are not obsessing about the past or worried about the future. We are simply sitting in the here and now, in full awareness and enjoyment of the present moment. This is a great gift. Now we have shed our “little self”. We have arrived at the place where we have let go of everything and we are connected to the source of our life, our breath. From here compassion, equanimity and non-attachment flow. This is the greatest gift meditation has to offer our health and us.

There are many other meditation techniques. In meditation we focus our attention (“meditate”) on one thing to the exclusion, or rather the letting go, of other thoughts so as to relax our minds and allow us to discover the mind’s greater depths. Most techniques utilize the breath as the attention point. The most common other technique is visualization, where you might visualize healing light, the light of God, of the Buddha, of compassion, etc., and take refuge in this light and space. Other common techniques are the use of mantras and chanting which open up the various energy centers of the body (chakras) and awaken the soul. All these techniques aim at reaching an ecstatic state. Ecstasy does not mean having a good old time, but shedding the boundaries of the self, connecting and becoming one with something bigger than the self as we commonly understand it.

At times, during meditation, we reach great depths of stillness. We wish we could take that sweet transcendent feeling and tuck it under the cushion, so we can take it out for our next sitting. At other times we will experience only thoughts and more thoughts. This stream of thoughts also serves us well. In the silence we can see what our thoughts are. Often we have many thoughts that pull us in many different directions without even noticing them. When thoughts arise in meditation we get a chance to observe and note them, and that can lead to great insight on our emotional life.

Meditation and imaging are two different techniques, each utilizing a different set of brain wavelengths. In imagery we communicate strongly with our inner world, while in meditation we become more one with the world. Many meditation masters warn against slipping into daydreaming, which may seem like imagery, during meditation. Both techniques are valuable but are best practiced separately. When meditating, do only meditation, and when imaging do only imagery.

Now, pay all your attention to your head, allowing the head to sink and be supported by the floor. Breathing in I send all my attention to my head, breathing out I release all the tension in my head. Breathe this way for several breaths. Now, focus on your neck and shoulders. “Breathing in, I send all my attention and love to my neck and shoulders, breathing out I release all the tension in my neck and shoulders, allowing them to open and widen.” Do this for several breaths.

Keep going down the body: the arms – from the shoulders to the tips of the fingers, the heart, the lungs, the liver, the kidneys, the intestines, the hips, the legs from the thighs to the tips of the toes. Pay attention to the area, send your love and intention to it, and release all tension on the outbreath (the release is mostly a thought process, but there may be a physical release and movement).

When you have finished scanning the body, note the whole body, allowing your whole body to sink into the floor, to be supported by the earth. Allow the whole body to lengthen and widen. Come back to your breath, the rise and fall of the abdomen. Slowly open your eyes. Roll over to one side, push with your arms so as to curl to a sitting position, and slowly get up.

You can go through the whole process in 5 minutes, although you might enjoy taking 10 minutes to do so. You can also do it sitting comfortably in a chair. This is a wonderful way to release tensions in our bodies and minds. It is a like taking a refreshing nap. You may want to practice this exercise every day after lunch. You will feel awake, refreshed, and relaxed afterwards.

Walking Meditation

When walking outdoors, you can take several steps (perhaps two or three) on the inbreath, and several on the outbreath. Again, pay all your attention to your breath, release all tensions in your body, and enjoy your walking. This form of walking meditation is faster so it does not look too strange, and can be done outdoors, in the garden, the park, and even for a short distance on your way to work. (You would be surprised at what you might discover when you drop out of the hustle bustle of the street.)

Eating Meditation

When you start eating, eat slowly, enjoying each mouthful. You may want to name the food before you put it in your mouth. This allows you to recognize the food, rather than to just gobble it down. Chew slowly and consciously, all the while remembering to breathe. You are eating your meal as if you have all the time in the world, as if every piece of food is the whole universe. This induces calmness and relaxation. All too often we eat and pay no attention. This is an opportunity to eat in full awareness.

Many people say this method of eating is not only a meditation practice, but also allows them to loose weight, as by eating slowly and consciously they can recognize satiation and they eat only what they need, and then they do not over-eat.

These forms of meditation help bring our awareness back to our breath, back to our non-congested nature, to a place of space and light. We need to try and practice coming back to our breath as often as we possibly can. We can simply stop for a moment and pay attention to our breath.

Telephone meditation is one of the best practices for people with busy schedules. Whenever the phone rings, simply breathe in and out three times, and only then pick up the phone. If your breath is very slow, you may need to breathe in and out only two times so as to not have the call go over to your voice mail (though you may prefer to do that). The main thing is to stop everything you are doing, stop the thinking, the talking, take your hands off the keyboard, and simply breathe. You will find this also improves your telephone conversations. Many of us get very tense when the phone rings. We are already engaged in something else and we see the upcoming conversation as a possible nuisance. Telephone meditation allows us to use this possible annoyance as an opportunity to create more space for ourselves, to release tensions, and to come back to our full breathing.

Throughout our daily activities, we can stop for a moment, breathe and smile, and continue what we are doing while breathing consciously. The quality of what we do is greatly transformed this way, without loosing any time. Suddenly we find that there is a feeling of space and ease in what we do. We no longer feel congested and pressured. We can wash dishes, cook, fold clothes, have conversations, type, and even think while we breathe.

Further reading on meditation practice in this style:

Thich Nhat Hanh: The Blooming of the Lotus, Beacon Press, Boston, 1993
A book with many guided meditations for use during sitting meditation

Thich Nhat Hanh: The Miracle of Mindfulness, Beacon Press, Boston, 1975
A manual on meditation, especially for everyday activity

Thich Nhat Hanh: Peace is Every Step, Bantman Books, NY, 1991
A guide to mindfulness in daily life

Imagery

During imagery we allow the image to unfold in its own way, in its own order. This is the subconscious communicating through free-association. We can analyze the image later, but not while it is happening. If we analyze the image while it is happening, the image is no longer happening and our rational mind has taken over. The type of imaging work we do is quick, full of movement, and leads toward light and space (essential elements in healing). It is not hypnotic in nature, nor is it meditative. Go through the image, keep it moving and end it within 30 to 60 seconds (or less). Any longer, and the rational mind will take over. This is very different than other imagery techniques, or meditative visualizations, where you go into an image for long periods. The key in this technique is movement.

It is best to do imagery in the morning upon waking, before eating or drinking anything. If you need to urinate, do so before starting the image (you want to feel comfortable while imaging). The process takes no longer than a minute per image. Do either one or three images in a sitting.

To engage in imagery, sit in a straight-backed chair, allowing your back to be straight and to rest on the back of the chair. Your feet are parallel, resting on the floor. Your arms are resting on the armrests, palms down (or on your lap, palms down, if the chair has no armrest). Do not cross your hands or feet. This is the position of the Egyptian Pharaohs: you are literally sitting on the throne of your own inner world. Close your eyes. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth, making the exhalations slightly longer than the inhalations, quieting the mind. Set the intention for the imaging exercise you are about to do and breathe out three times; that is start with an out-breath, breathe in, then out, in again, and out (there are only two inbreaths). This facilitates quieting, relaxation, and concentration. Now start the imagery.

In the imaging process we turn all our senses inwards: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, all turn inwards toward the mind (which is an internal sense organ). Most people find it easier to see things, but some find it easier to hear, smell, taste, or touch in an image, making the image more alive. Though the instructions we give are mostly visual, use all your senses to experience the situation. When you notice you are analyzing the image, stop analyzing, breathe out once, and continue with the image in as pure a manner as possible. If your rationalizing persists, stop the image altogether, and start again.

When the image is over, breathe out deeply once, and slowly open your eyes. Now you can analyze the imagery. You may now want to reinforce some of what you learned by drawing it, writing it, or giving it some expression (especially through behavioral changes). The purpose of the image is to bring the treasures of our inner world, our subconscious, to our “real lives”. Try to not just nod your head and say “this is interesting”; try to implement the message. You may not be ready to make all the changes you want (or are being indicated by the image). Do what you can and reinforce the image work by creating something tangible (like a drawing) that manifests the image in the “real world”. Repeat the image every day for 21 days. After which you can take a break for a week, and then resume for another 3-week period.

Create your imagery exercises by seeing the problem you want to resolve and then seeing yourself resolving it. Then see yourself being nourished by the sun, reinforcing your resolution. When you see yourself in your problem it may look nothing like it looks in “real life”. For example, if you want to look into a situation with a friend, you might see yourself with the friend, you might see yourself in the desert, you might see your friend in chains, you might see the two of you surrounded by wolves, etc. The possibilities are endless, because our imagination (which represents our inner world) is unlimited. You may be surprised or even shocked by what you see. Note the feeling, but do not try to analyze what the image means (in other words do not say to yourself “Wow, that’s the problem, my friend is on another plane, I remember how aloof he was…”). Once seeing the situation, make more of it by involving your other senses. What do you see, hear, smell, taste, touch, feel during this situation? For most people, this will come naturally once the stage has been set.

Once the situation has been created/imaged, move on to resolve it. Notice what you (in the image) do not like, where there are constrictions, darkness, etc. Use whatever tools you need to resolve the situation. Remember this is imagery, you have all the tools you need: you merely need to image them. For example, if you and your friend have encountered a pack of wolves, you can talk to the wolves asking them what they want, you can embrace them, you can wear big frightening masks and chase them away, you can cross a river which they cannot swim in, you can shine a light at the wolves transforming them to people. Use your imagination! Now that the situation has found some sense of resolution, see that resolution nourishing you. For example, you and your friend walking on the beach together with a wolf beside you, or you walking alone in the garden, knowing you are happy being on your own right now, etc.

Remember to keep the image moving. Once you see and sense the scene, move on, do not wait anywhere forever no matter how pleasant it may be. Hanging out in some beautiful meadow for a long time is a valid form of relaxation, but it is not conducive for searching the inner world for messages.

The example we used is highly simplistic and suggestive. It is important to understand that there are no good or bad resolutions in an image. You may really want to stay friends, but the image may indicate otherwise. You might be a very peaceful person, yet you might find yourself using violent tools in an image. Once the image is over you can analyze it and decide what it means and what the message is. However, during the image, allow it to unfold using its own logic.

A very common use of imaging is to look at pain. In this type of imagery you imagine the part of your body that is in pain (it can be a metaphorical part). You walk into the body part using any opening you choose (skin pores, for instance, are an opening) and see what is wrong. You can further ask to whom this pain belongs, or to what this pain belongs. Then clear the blockages using golden tools for gold is the color of healing and transformation, clearing away any debris. Then surround the body part with blue or white light, the colors of healing and purity, allowing the light to penetrate every cell of the body, and see the body radiating the healing light from within it. It is useful to know the anatomy and physiology of the body part you are imaging. What you see in that body part can be anything, from what we might consider to be rational (torn tissue) to the fantastic (witches, clowns, dark caves, stars, etc.).

Here are some examples of “generic” imaging exercises that you can use both as practice and for the resolution of specific issue.

Taking Refuge in Space and Light

Most people land in a place that is spacious and light. This is a place for you to take refuge in and which facilitates healing for you. If this is a place you are familiar with in your life, you may wish to spend more time there.

The Seaside

This is a purification exercise (every culture has a purification exercise that involves water). It is a wonderful exercise to begin the day with, letting go of all our attachments, becoming more pure.

The Clock

You can make the correlation that whatever is wrong with the clock is a metaphor for what is wrong with your life. Whatever you do to fix it represents what you need to do in order to fix your life.

The Mask – Finding the Inner Self

2. Breathe out three times. See, feel and know your innermost self, the indestructible self. Find the place in your body where the innermost self resides, and go there, merging with your innermost self. Breathe out and slowly open your eyes.

Pain

2. Breathe out three times. You are in a natural environment (a meadow, a beach, etc.). Allow the sun to penetrate and nourish the place in you that is most in the image of God. Breathe out once. See and feel the parts of your body that are holding on to pain. From that part of you that is most in the image of God, direct the light to each part that is holding on to pain and cure it. If you need more light, you can connect your Inner Light to the light of the sun, fortifying your light. Breathe out and open your eyes.

3. Breathe out three times. See yourself in your pain. Breathe out, and see yourself walking out of your pain. Look back at the pain. Breathe out and open your eyes.

It is common for us to fuel our pain by the fact that we do not walk away from it.

These exercises, as well as the innermost self exercises are not meant to be sequential.
Each is an imagery exercise that can be done on its own.

Many people seem somewhat reluctant to begin an imagery routine. Inevitably almost all of them find it to be a wonderful experience. After all what can be more exciting, more nourishing, than to communicate with our inner world? Imaging allows us direct contact with our inner world. In a minute or less of imaging you might gain insight and conviction that could otherwise take a long time to uncover.

The purpose of imaging is to bring back a message from our inner world. Most of us are not well connected with our inner worlds: it is too vast for most of us to feel comfortable in. It is then up to us as to how we use that information. But know that the inner world is always available to you, it can never be destroyed or tainted. It is a place where you reign supreme.

Stress Management

This chain of reactions produces many toxic metabolic waste products. As a result, the lymph system is activated in order to clear those out. It is normal to get various symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea, diarrhea, after a stressful incident. (This accounts for the high incidents of colds and flus in the Olympics, where young, healthy people are under tremendous pressure.) When we are continuously under stress, even if the stress is relatively mild, we are unable to flush the toxicity out of our body fast enough and we develop a swampy terrain in our body. This can be the beginning of chronic degenerative diseases and may end up as cancer.

Decision making, doubt, fear, anxiety, anticipation, expectations, are all sources of stress. Mostly they cause a minor stress response, but these feelings can often be repetitive and even constant, creating a prolonged stress response that is not given a chance to clear out of our system. Our nervous system then adjusts, we are constantly in sympathetic mode and our adrenals are under constant pressure. The result is that we exhaust our adrenals and confuse our nervous system, becoming “sympathetic dominant,” leading to further deterioration and disease.

The Chinese see stress as disrupting the flow of Qi (energy life-force). Stress is seen as primarily affecting the Liver and resulting in Liver Qi Congestion, one of the most common Chinese medical diagnosis.

Stress Management vs. Stress Avoidance

Aerobic exercise affords us an opportunity to clear the metabolic waste products created by stress. It can also often take our minds off the stressing factor. Nutritional support such as vitamin B6, vitamin C, zinc, magnesium, pantothenic acid, and potassium, all support the adrenal glands and can help us cope with stress. These are coping mechanisms.

If we want more than just coping mechanisms we need to look into how we handle our emotions. We need to find ways through which we can encounter stressful factors and react with less stress. The key to this is space. Providing more space for our feelings and our selves is the key to stress management.

The Spaciousness of Breathing

Coming back to the breath, and breathing deeply in the abdomen calms us and settles us. We use the metaphor of a tree in a storm. The leaves and branches sway violently in the wind. If we only look at the branches we think that the tree is about to fall down. But then, when we look at the trunk of the tree we see that it is not moved by the storm. Anchoring the breath below the navel is like descending from the branches of the tree down to the tree trunk and taking refuge from our emotional storm. We then feel less oppressed by the situation. Our negative feelings do not invade us as easily and we feel there is space for other, more positive, feelings (such as understanding the other person’s dilemma, seeing our frustration as a result of overwork, etc.)

We need to learn to take time to cultivate spaciousness in our lives so that at the moment of stress we can go back to our breath. If we wait for the storm to come before we practice conscious breathing, we probably won’t succeed. We need to constantly practice coming back to our breathing. We need to take every opportunity we can to take the time and see the positive things around us. This is where meditation can be our salvation. Formal sitting meditation is very useful, but we also need to bring the practice to our daily life. Practicing a body scan and relaxation once a day is a great help for people with stressful schedules. Stopping and breathing each time the phone rings reinforces our ability to calm ourselves.

The Spaciousness of Nature, the Spaciousness of Calm Activities

Each day we can have a cup of tea with mindfulness, alone or with a friend. Enjoying a c