Conscious Breath

Begin by paying attention
to your next few breaths.
Even as you continue to read these words,
also notice your breathing
and that you can easily read and breathe
and practice awareness of breath,
all in the same moment.
Pay attention to the quality of each inhale.
Even as you read, notice the feelings and
sensations of breath flowing into your body.
Feel the places in your torso that move
or do not move with each inhalation.
Pay attention to the quality of each exhale.
Even as you read, notice the feelings and
sensations of breath flowing from your body.
Feel the places in your torso that move
or do not move with each exhalation.
Now return to the top of this page
and read through again,
paying close attention to the ebb and flow
of each breath, even as you pay
close attention to the sound and meaning
of each word, and for a minute or so,
simply pay attention to yourself breathing,
eyes closing for a few more breaths . . .

May peace fill all the empty spaces around you
And in you, may contentment answer all your wishes.
May comfort be yours, warm and soft like a sigh.
And may the coming year
show you that every day is really a first day,
a new year.
Let abundance be your constant companion,
so that you have much to share.
May mirth be near you always,
like a lamp shining on the paths you travel.

Happy New Year to All!

A new year is beginning. Days are starting to lengthen. There is still cold weather ahead, but the movement is toward light.

Roots deep in the earth are already preparing for Spring.

It's a time of remembrance and anticipation; new beginnings, new plans, new goals, new directions...as well as thoughts of where we have been.

What will be your direction, your bearing, as the year starts to unfold?

It's an exhilarating time. The world is moving faster than ever. We are networked in a way that would have been considered science fiction only a few years ago. Distance is no longer a boundary for communication or commerce, national boundaries are becoming less and less important.

There is no longer a "Them". There is only "Us". In a very real, and growing, sense we are all intimately, and inextricably connected.

Our society is changing at such a rapid rate that it impossible to say with any certainty what our lives will be like twenty years from now.

Around the new year you start to hear a lot of grand plans. The big projects for the new year. Complex strategies for "Getting it Right this time".

Maybe there is a more direct approach....maybe something simpler is needed in a time where our picture of "The Future" can change in a moment.

The only thing that we can change or improve with any certainty is ourselves.

We all need to be Healthy and Kind.

We all need to help others be Healthy and Kind.

All the world's wisdom traditions teach that loving-kindness is the path to wisdom, peace, and the resolution of suffering.

These isn't something that requires wealth to practice, or position, or facilities. The place to start practicing is right here, and right now.

And if the intent of all of us is to become healthier, and kinder (and wiser)...

I can't see how it could have anything but a good influence on the future that we create in this New Year.

Wiley

Feeling Better

Take a look at your shoes. What reasons did you have for buying them? Was it the style or color? Or maybe the price was right. Regardless, there's a good chance you bought them because you were convinced you would feel better once you owned those shoes.

Think about all the choices we make: the new job; the new cell phone; last night's dessert; next summer’s vacation. Each choice represents a missing piece in our quest for happiness.

We all want to feel better more often. It's what motivates us to do just about everything. Whether it's the latest style, a tropical beach or a piece of chocolate, we're telling ourselves that when we have it, we will feel better.

Trouble is the feeling is often fleeting. Very soon we’re on to the next 'must have' on the list. This is the one. This one will do it. How long is your list?

If you want to feel better more often, then feel better more often. Sound too simple? Well, the truth is you create the feeling; not the sunset, not the perfect boss and certainly not another pair of shoes. When you feel better first you get what you want first! Then something happens to your choices. They become 'add ons' rather than 'must haves'. And you may be surprised to find out you really don't need those shoes!

My wish for you this holiday season is that you discover how to create the feelings you want inside yourself and find your own peace on earth!

Levels of Consciousness

As this illusory, localized point of view understands it, within space and time.


1) Deep Dreamless Sleep
Some consciousness exists. We can be roused by sound, touch or some other external stimuli.

2) Dreams
The subtle body expresses itself. There are thoughts, images, even insights, but the self is not grounded in physical reality or the rationality of logic.

3) Waking
The world of the 5 senses. A physical connection exists between inner and outer worlds, and though reality is interpreted in terms of self/not-self, an understanding of common experience exists. Most people seem to cycle between sleep and wake, but seldom look at the other levels.

4) The Glimpse of the Soul
The window into the infinite. It is realized that the seeker IS that which is sought. It is realized that there is an observer in the midst of the observation. There is that which is observed (body/events/objects), the process of observing (Mind), and the Observer (soul), the unchanging part that is neither body or mind.

5) The Awakened Soul
The observer is awake at all times. It is the being in the world but not of the world. There is local perception with awareness of the non-local nature of being. Waking, sleeping, eating, dreaming...the observer is still aware.

6) Divine Consciousness
Cognition and perception at the level of the senses that things are not what they seem. The embodiment of spirit is recognized in all aspects of creation. There is realization that all experience; beauty, love, anger, aversion is a co-creation of the observer and that which is observed.

7) Unity of Spirit
Merging with the spirit of all other objects and phenomena. I'm not in the body, the body is in me. I'm not in the universe, the universe is in me ... I Am that I Am.

All that arises is the Universe momentarily pretending that it has a localized point of view, for the simple joy of creation and existence.


8)

There has been a lot of conversation about misogi exercises on the Aikido-L mailing list lately.

This is interesting timing. I have just found a couple misogi breathing exercises on the Wisdom Quest biofeedback game.

They are interesting exercises, not very different from some of the misogi breathing exercises I've learned in Aikido. What further interest me is the fact that the biofeedback algorithms in the program indicate a high degree of physiological coherence develops when the exercises are performed. The algorithms in the series were licensed from Heartmath, which has a phenomenally good track record for for solid research and clinical results.

Here are the exercises, they are referred to as the "Three Diamonds" in the game.

The Sky (Heaven) Breath:

- Stand in a relaxed, upright, manner, with feet approximately shoulder width apart and weigh evenly distributed between your feet.

- Visualize a ball of energy directly over your head.

-Place your hands on either side of the ball, lightly cupping it.

-On the in-breath, move the ball from over your head to your seika tanden, follow the motion with your hands, keeping your palms facing each other, and lightly cupped. Keep your hands close to your body and symmetrical.

-On the out-breath, move the ball from the seika tanden to the top of the head.

- Repeat 9 times

- Perform the exercise with a feeling of light, expansive energy.

This breath is to develop intuitive, sharp awareness and stillness within.


The Earth Breath:

- Stand in a relaxed, conscious manner with feet shoulder width apart.

- Focus on the center of the Earth. Experience the cooling power of the planet. Allow your body to sink, without movement, toward the the center of the planet, the point that gravity pulls objects toward.

- Place your hands in a relaxed position lightly

- on the in-breath, strengthen the connection between the center of the Earth to your seika tanden.

- On the out-breath, maintain the strength of the connection, allowing your balance to unify with its connection to the center of the earth.

- Repeat 9 times.

The energy of this exercise is heavy, powerful and grounding.

This exercise develops physical and mental strength, focus and perseverence.


The Heart Breath:

- Stand in a relaxed balance manner, feet shoulder width.

- Extend your arms as if you were embracing the trunk of a great tree.

- Bend your knees, and on the in-breath gather the energy of the earth to the region of your heart as you return to standing.

- On the out-breath, turn your palms away from you and and let a feeling of universal lovingkindness and compassion emanate from the region of your heart.

- Start with you hands higher on the next in-breath. Gather the energy of the heavens into the region of your heart.

- On the out-breath, again, turn your palms away from you, emanating lovingkindness and compassion.

Repeat these alternating breaths for 9 cycles.

Shine with radiant light and forgiveness during during this breath. This is the polishing of the self, the balancing of the mind and body, the point of balance of Earth and Heaven.


Hints:
As you are standing and centering before each exercise in this series, feel for the rhythm of your heart. Develop an awareness of it in your hands, seika tanden, and head. Sync the breaths in this exercise with your heartbeat. Approximately 5 beats for the in-breath, approximately 5 beats for the out-breath. The in-breath will be slightly shorter, the heart rate will increase slightly on the in-breath and slow on the out-breath, but keep the 5:1 ratio.

The respiration rate will probably settle to around 6 breaths per minute. Don't force the depth of the breaths, listen to what your body calls for. If your body calls for more air, deepen your breathing, but keep the 5:1 ratio. Don't over-breathe either. Let your body naturally call for what it needs.

Here is a great article that was in my Wild Divine newsletter this month.
I recently got a copy of Healing Rhythms from the company, and I've been playing around with it.

The system is based on Galvanic Skin Sesponse and Heart Rhythm Coherence biofeedback.

The original research on Heart Rhythm Coherence was performed by The Institute of Heartmath.

Strangely, neither the original research, or HeartMath, is mentioned in the WildDivine literature. Hmmm...

But I must admit, they have come up with well designed and well packaged products.

The Healing Rhythms system is a collection of guided meditations on breath, heart, mindfulness, and positive emotional states. The following article reviews some medical information that supports the usefulness of this type of feedback:





Heart Disease: it is partially in your head

-Harvard Health

For worse or for better, how you think, feel, and live your life affects your heart.

Intimate connections between the heart and mind were once taken for granted. In some cultures, the heart was believed to be the seat and source of emotions. As Western medicine gradually unraveled these connections, heart and mind drifted apart. A new field, behavioral cardiology, is trying to stitch them together again, this time with strong scientific threads.

This work is opening up new ways to prevent and treat heart disease that will be good for the mind and the rest of the body.

Psychosocial factors For better or for worse, your emotions and moods, and even parts of your personality, can influence your heart. It isnt a one-way street. The health of your circulatory system can affect how you feel. Habits that are good for the heart seem to be good for the mind and brain, too.

Psychological factors and social factors are sometimes lumped together as psychosocial factors. They affect heart disease in two basic ways. Some contribute to atherosclerosis, the slow, corrosive process that damages artery walls and puts you at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Others can add the final insult that triggers a heart attack or stroke.

Chemical conversations between the heart and the head affect both. Depression, stress, loneliness, a positive outlook, and other psychosocial factors influence the heart. The health of the heart can affect the brain and the mind.

Psychosocial factors arent small potatoes. According to a comprehensive international study reported in The Lancet in 2004, their contribution to heart attacks is on a par with smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and cholesterol problems. This isnt just in the stress-obsessed West, but in the Middle East, China and Hong Kong, Latin America, and Africa, too.

Depression. Symptoms of depression, as well as full-blown major depression, contribute to heart disease. People who become depressed after a heart attack or stroke, heart surgery, or the onset of heart failure dont fare as well as those who arent depressed.

Anger/hostility. Atherosclerosis seems to advance faster in people who score high on anger or hostility scales. Anger can also trigger heart attacks. In the Harvard-based Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study, 1 in every 40 heart attack survivors reported an episode of anger in the two hours before the attack.

Anxiety. Intense anxiety, the kind associated with fear of enclosed places, heights, crowds, and the like, can sometimes set off a sudden cardiac arrest. These often-fatal heart attacks happen when the heartbeat abruptly turns fast and uncoordinated.

Social support. Among heart attack survivors, social isolation is almost as important as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking at predicting long-term survival.

Chronic stress. Constant stress from work, financial problems, a troubled marriage, taking care of a parent or partner, or even living in an unsafe neighborhood has been linked with the development of heart disease and doing poorer with it.

Sudden emotional stress. Sudden emotional turmoil can set off a type of serious but reversible heart failure dubbed broken heart syndrome. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have documented its appearance in people after a death in the family, a surprise party, a robbery, a car accident, and even fear of speaking in public.

Whats the connection? How do emotions, behaviors, or social situations promote heart disease or make it worse? No one really knows. But there are plenty of theories.

Stress hormones top the list. They constrict blood vessels, speed up the heartbeat, and make the heart and blood vessels especially reactive to further stress. Psychosocial factors have also been linked with increases in C-reactive protein, interleukin-1, and tumor necrosis factor. These signal increased inflammation, which plays important roles in artery-clogging atherosclerosis.

Psychosocial factors could influence heart disease via a less physiologic route, through habits that tip one toward heart disease or away from it. Depression or isolation, for example, can keep people from taking the heart medications they need, while a positive outlook or strong social network can help people stop smoking or watch their weight.

What to do Most psychosocial risk factors are neither bad nor good. A little dose of stress, for example, can motivate you to face a challenge or finish a project. Constant stress, though, can be harmful. The same can be said for anger, anxiety, or isolation.The point is not to eliminate particular negative emotions, but to regulate them better, either to integrate them or bring them into balance with positive emotions or behaviors,says Dr. Laura Kubzansky, an assistant professor at the Harvard School of Public Health whose research focuses on the role of stress and emotion in cardiovascular disease and aging.

Getting started isnt easy. Admitting to yourself that youre chronically worried, stressed, sad, angry, or alone is hard. Telling someone else, like your doctor, is even harder. But its an important first step.

There is no one-size-fits-all way to make changes. Some people can do it on their own. Beginning (and sticking with) daily exercise can be a great way to ease stress or beat depression. A do-it-yourself program like the one described in Mind Your Heart, by Aggie Casey and Herbert Benson of the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Chestnut Hill, Mass., offers help with stress management, relaxation, and healthier habits. Just taking more vacation time might help.

Many people, though, need the kind of help that comes with talk therapy or formal, structured behavior modification programs.

The connection between psychosocial factors and heart disease is so strong that todays cardiologists should start the discussion by asking their patients about moods, energy, stress, and support. Most dont, at least not yet.

If yours doesnt, its worth bringing up these issues yourself. Your doctor might extend the conversation, offer good suggestions, or gather information you can use. Because cardiologists and primary care physicians get little training in this area, though, dont be surprised if yours is uncomfortable talking about depression, anger, loneliness, or other psychosocial factors, or doesnt know how to help. If thats the case, dont hesitate to ask for a referral to a mental health professional.

Dr. Kubzansky calls anger, depression, chronic stress, loneliness, and other negative psychosocial factors a signal that there is a problem, much like that of chronic pain. Its time to treat them with the same urgency and respect.

As a side note, I showed the software to a couple of the monks at the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center.

They liked it. They thought that it was a good way to introduce Anapanasati (Mindfulness of Breathing) meditation.

That is not a small statement coming from a Theravada monk, since according to the Buddha:

"Anapanasati bhikkhave bhavita bahulikata cattaro satipatthane paripurenti. Cattaro satipatthana bhavita bahulikata satta b ojjhange paripurenti. S atta
b ojjhanga b havita b ahulikata vijjavimutti paripurenti"

"O monks, when mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it fulfills the four establishments of mindfulness. When the four establishments of mindfulness are developed and cultivated, they fulfill the seven factors of enlightenment. When the seven factors of enlightenment are cultivated and developed, they fulfill knowledge and deliverance"

I've also hooked a couple of the monks up to the HeartMath emwave PC system.
I gave them no instructions other than "sit and breath as you normally would during meditation".

They immediately showed high coherence scores. Scores that most people don't get without a fair amount of practice using the system.

I'm becoming convinced that I need to incorporate more of this type of biofeedback into my practice(s)...both my professional practice and my personal practice.

those that forget the past....

The history of the valley that I live in; The "Westinghouse Valley" continues to amaze me.
this week, Jill took me to the "Atom Smasher" in Forest Hills. She was actually taking me to the Kar Hing Restaurant for a Szezchuan dinner and a couple of TsingTao Beers, but it is within a stone's throw of the Atom Smasher.

This was the worlds first industrial particle accelerator. It was built in 1937, significantly before nuclear power was a practical reality. Today it is another decaying, abandoned industrial facility in Pittsburgh. It will possibly be demolished in the near future...another loss to world history. I took a number of pictures of the site with Jill's camera. i'll post some of them when I get them.

I was able to take a few photographs of the demolition of the KDKA building; the site of the worlds first commercial radio broadcast. These are the photos that are included with this post.

The building took several weeks to demolish. It fought the demolition every step of the way....Says something about the comparative quality of recent buildings.

But the building is gone now...

Truly a loss to history.
Not just local history but world history.