A Look at Traditional Chinese Medicine, Part 1

During this series on the Roots of Medicine, having looked at Traditional Tibetan Medicine with the last article, and the time before having looked at Ayurvedic Medicine, today I turn my sights on another ancient system of medicine: Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Chinese Medicine, like Tibetan and Ayurvedic Medicine, is a highly sophisticated and highly evolved system. Like all traditional forms of medicine, and like what Western Medicine used to be before it became a technological medicine, it is both a science and art.

(Full disclosure: as a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, I am highly biased towards this brilliant form of medicine.)

Chinese Medicine is a highly logical system of medicine, and all the concepts and theories that are part of it make a lot of sense.

Most people in the West, especially the U.S., when they think of Chinese Medicine, think of acupuncture. Yet acupuncture is just one modality within Chinese Medicine.

Chinese Medicine has five main modalities, what are called the Five Branches. Acupuncture is one modality; Chinese Herbal Medicine is another; dietary therapy is a third; tui na/shiatsu/acupressure is a fourth; and qi gong is the fifth.

In China, Chinese Herbal Medicine is considered the modality of choice for most internal medicine problems; in the West, acupuncture is seen as the primary modality of Chinese Medicine.

Chinese Medicine is a by-product of Taoism, the philosophy that is at the core of Chinese thinking. The Tao is translated as the “Path” or “Way” (of Life).

Taoism is based on the teachings of Lao Tzu, the Chinese sage in the sixth century B.C.E. He taught that “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” He wrote his teachings down in 81 chapters, and this book forms the Tao Te Ching, which is the essence of Taoism.

He begins his teaching in the first chapter, where he says,
“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.”

The essence of practicing Taoism is to learn to be in the flow – which is also the essence of living a Low Density Lifestyle. And in Taoism, to be in the flow is to be like water. As Lao Tzu says:
“The highest good is like water.
Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.
It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao.

In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling, be just.
In business, be competent.
In action, watch the timing.

No fight: No blame.”

Taoist thought generally focuses on nature, the relationship between humanity and the cosmos, health and longevity, and wu wei (action through inaction, also known as effortless effort, which is a key component of living a Low Density Lifestyle), which is thought to produce harmony with the Universe.

And harmony with the Universe is an important tenet both of Taoism and Chinese Medicine. Harmony with the Universe is attained by balancing the needs of the opposites and bringing them together in union. The harmony of opposites is what the famous Taoist symbol, that of yin and yang in unison, speaks of.

Taoism philosophy states that from the Tao, the eternal force that permeates the universe, the opposite yet harmonizing forces of yin and yang, spring forth. And from yin and yang, the ten thousand things arise.

And thus, from this very simple philosophy does Chinese Medicine spring forth. In fact, all Chinese thinking stems from this philosophy, and because of this, the traditional Chinese arts, sciences and martial arts, are all manifestations of it.

In other words, all traditional aspects of Chinese culture are meant to be reflections of the Tao.

I’ll continue with this discussion in the next article, and take a more in-depth look at Chinese Medicine.

Movement: A Key to a Healthy, Happy Life: Part 2

Yesterday and today are introductory articles to this series on Movement and Exercise – the theme of this entire series on movement is that movement is an essential key to healthy and happy living, and to living a Low Density Lifestyle.

I discussed in yesterday’s article on movement and exercise, part 1, how  movement of and by itself is important, and that the best approach was one that focused on a number of things: the body, the mind, the energy system, the breath and stillness.

I concluded the article by saying that whether you’re seeking spiritual harmony, soulful pleasures, or just want to sweat, training the body is as important as training the mind and spirit—you can’t have one without the other, and they are deeply interconnected.

Now, that is not to say that you have to have abs of steel to attain good health and a Low Density Lifestyle; instead what is important is an approach to movement that focuses on flexibility and strength, and touches on the components that help to make us FREE (FREE=Flow/Relax/Effortless Effort): the body, the mind, the energy system, the breath and stillness.

You may wonder why stillness is mentioned when it is movement I am talking about. Stillness gives the body a chance to rest and regenerate, and for the internal computer that runs our body and mind to reset the hardware and software within us.

You can’t just push, push, push all the time—we do too much of that. Taking the time to be still and to relax helps the body get into the effortless effort mode, and when we are in that mode we are more capable of feeling the pulse of the universe vibrating deep within our soul.

We also can’t ignore the importance of the breath, and when we practice stillness we become more cognizant of the breath and our breathing patterns. Breath is essential to all the processes that occur in the body; in Eastern traditions breath is essential because it is known that being in tune with your breath connects you to your deepest inner knowing.

The breath also signals both the beginning and end of life. If you have ever been present at the passing of a life, you would have witnessed that the final sign of transition is a deep and freeing gasp. In contrast, if you have ever had the pleasure of being witness to a new life about to begin its journey, you would have seen that the first sign of life is the cry of a newborn baby as they claim their place in the world.

Author Tarthand Tulku in his book Tibetan Meditation notes that we have both an outer and inner breath: the outer breath is our physical respiration, while the inner breath silently moves through the body and is smooth and full of feeling, and as it circulates throughout, has powerful effects on our energy centers.

If all you ever do is push, push, push all the time with your movement approach, and for that matter in your everyday doings, and never practice stillness and awareness of breath, your body will just become tighter and more rigid.

That is not the way to be if you want to live up to your peak abilities and enjoy the bounty of life. There is a certain lightness of spirit and soul that is desired in order to live a more zestful life, and so your movement philosophy should make sure that is what is represented in your approach.

That’s not to say that at times you won’t sweat and strain and feel sore all over, but you should also make the time to do something kinesthetic that has a different orientation: one that encompasses stillness, quiet and awareness of breath, so that you can feed and nourish the soul.

There also are many times when your movements are just natural extensions of life. Gardening, walking, hiking, biking, baking, playing with your friends or kids, and many other things that are part of the everyday aspects of life are all important ingredients to a healthy life because they are part of the ebb and flow of the cycles of nature and the changing seasons.

Thomas Jefferson understood this very thing when he once said, “walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.”

And the Zen proverb “chop wood, carry water” is a reminder that in the daily routines of life, we can find harmony, increased awareness, stillness and flexibility of body and mind – all of which are essential to living a healthy, happy and fulfilled life that will help point you towards living a Low Density Lifestyle.

Movement: A Key to a Healthy, Happy Life: Part 1

For the next few weeks I will be writing about the subject of Movement. Movement comes in all shapes and sizes, but the common unifying denominator of it is that it is an essential  part of living a healthy, happy and fulfilled life.

It is also an important ingredient for living a Low Density Lifestyle. The inverse of that is that a sedentary life is not conducive to living a Low Density Lifestyle.

We are born to move. Movement is essential to life—it helps get the circulation of blood and energy in your body flowing better.

Nothing in nature stays the same, as change is the only constant of life. And we are in constant motion in the dance of life: the world is a dynamic environment of energy exchanges.

Movement of and by itself, no matter what type, by virtue of its ability to get the heart pumping and blood flowing, can help to take lactic acid and other toxins that build up in the muscles, organs and connective tissue and assist the body in metabolizing and excreting them. This can help to dissipate the blockages and densities in the body.

But there is an art to movement. Even though we are always in motion, and always doing things, there is a certain approach to movement that can greatly enhance being in the flow state – which is the state of heightened awareness, a state where the mind is still and you are activating more of your potential.

The type of movement I am talking about can be any type of movement that touches your soul—what your passion is may be different from someone else. But the key is to do something that is aimed at the mind-body unison.

What would be best is if the approach focused on a number of things: the body, the mind, the energy system, the breath and stillness.

Granted, there may not be one approach you’re doing that may fit the bill and meet all these needs. But that’s ok. The trend nowadays is cross-training, to do a number of things that touch on each of the key areas that need attention.

The best philosophy in approaching what type of movement to engage in, in order to achieve a better chance of overcoming blockages and density in the body, and allowing you to attain a Low Density Lifestyle, is to practice an approach or approaches that both elongate your muscles and strengthen them. You need both—one creates flexibility and the other strength, and they go hand in hand in helping to create a dynamic flow in the body and mind.

There are many approaches that aim for this: from the East we have Tai Chi, Aikido, Kung Fu and other martial arts, along with Yoga; from the West we have Pilates, resistance work using a ball or bands, and strength training.

Then, of course, there are the various sports, which can put you profoundly in the zone when you become deeply immersed in them; and there is also dance, a modality that has its origins in the primal rhythms of the universe.

Some people mistakenly think that living a Low Density Lifestyle means having a body without muscle tone; they picture the image of a blissed-out wandering mendicant who has not a care in the world.

That is because many spiritual traditions caution followers to turn away from the body because they believe it to be a trap set by the ego to hinder transcendence.

But this is far from the truth. Whether you’re seeking spiritual harmony, soulful pleasures, or just want to sweat, training the body is as important as training the mind and spirit—you can’t have one without the other, and they are deeply interconnected.

To be continued tomorrow…

Connecting to the Spiritual Dimension

A Good Day, with Brother David Steindl-Rast: A Lesson in Living a Spiritual Life

In the last article, I told you of the 12 spiritual practices to honor the earth.

Not only do these practices help you feel more connected to the earth, they also will help you feel more connected to the spiritual dimension of life. And being more connected to the spiritual dimension of life is one of the 12 steps to living a Low Density Lifestyle.

How do we define spirituality? You can say that spirituality is the divine force that is the pulse of the universe, and this force is unlimited, infinite, undying and eternal. This divine force goes by many names: Universal Spirit, Universal Mind, Universal Consciousness, God, and the Zero Point Field, to name a few.

This force is both outside and within; it is everywhere and in everything. Everyone is connected to it at all times; the fewer blockages and densities a person has in their body, heart and mind, then the closer is that connection.

Every time a person allows himself or herself to relax, be silent and still, the potential to connect to the pulse of the universe is there.

When someone is living a Low Density Lifestyle it is much easier to feel that connection, because the static does not overcome the silence, whereas when living a High Density Lifestyle a person will have a harder time feeling that connection, because the static and noise are always there.

Mother Theresa said, “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Feeling the connection to the spiritual dimension also means holding love in your heart—loving yourself, those close to you, and all the inhabitants of the planet. Love is the ultimate truth at the heart of the universe, and when you feel love in your heart, you create an open energy circuit that connects you to the sacred flow of the universe.

Rumi said, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” The barriers you have built within yourself that stop you from feeling love are the very same densities and blockages that stop you from living a Low Density Lifestyle.

It is so important to surrender and let go of the things that hold you back from feeling love in your heart, because when you do, you can come closer to the Universal Force and be FREE.

There are many ways to feel connected to the spiritual dimension; for some it occurs from attending a church, synagogue, temple or mosque, while for others it is more personal—prayer, meditation, silence, walking in the woods, or some other way.

However you find your method of expression, one thing you need to understand is that spirituality is an everyday affair. You are not just spiritual when you go to church, synagogue, temple or mosque; or when you do the more personal way of expressing your spirituality.

Spirituality, and feeling connected to the spiritual dimension, is something that should be realized at all times. For instance, in the Zen tradition, there is no distinction between spiritual and non-spiritual moments. “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes,” is a Zen saying.

When that understanding is embedded in every cell of your body, your connection to the spiritual dimension becomes second nature, and all your actions will be directed in that way. You are in the flow and every movement you take and every achievement you make is done with effortless effort.

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Creative Intelligence and Vision

In Friday’s article, which was Elizabeth Gilbert talking about genius and the creative process, I said that was the end of the series on Creative Intelligence. But as I thought about it over the weekend, I decided I wanted to extend the series a few more days, because I wanted to talk about how Creative Intelligence is so closely related to Vision.

I also have received a lot of positive feedback on this series, so that also made me decide to stretch it out a few more days.

Vision is the ability to see the world in the largest way possible.  Living a Low Density Lifestyle is something that will help you develop your visionary capabilities.

You can use vision to to find happiness, love, prosperity, a successful career, fulfilling work or to change the world.

You can vision small or large, and you can make the vision a reality. Many have done it before us, and many will do it after us. And most importantly, many are doing it right now. You have the power to be one of those who are doing it now.

To vision you need to learn to think different (and that should sound familiar, one because it’s the theme Apple Computer uses, and secondly because that’s what Creative Intelligence is about), to add space in between your thoughts, and to let go of your current way of thinking in order to see something new.

In other words, you need to interject a certain amount of dreaminess into your thinking, whether it be daydreaming, gazing into space or applying your night dreams to situations that arise during the day.

I believe John Lennon’s song “Imagine” strikes such a resonant chord because it is a song about the power to vision, and it empowers us to vision the highest calling of humanity — living in a world of peace (which, sad to say, is such an elusive thing — could that be because so few people know how to vision?)

And so, the question is, What is Your Vision?

It might be something you’ve never thought about before, primarily because it is a quality that none of us are encouraged to cultivate. But what and who are we without a vision? If you have a vision, then you have a dream to live by, and it becomes a passion, something that can fire you up and inspire you every waking hour of your life.

And when this occurs, your actions in everyday life will be performed with effortless effort.

So ask yourself, What is My Vision?

Take some time to ponder that question. It’s not a test. Come back to it. And your vision can change and evolve, so what you come up with now may change tomorrow, next week, or next year.

I will continue on with Creative Intelligence and Vision tomorrow.

Jon Kabat-Zinn on Mindfulness, Effortless Effort and Non-Doing

Not too long ago, Jon Kabat-Zinn, the author of Full Catastrophe Living and Wherever You Go, You Are There, gave a talk at Google on the subject of mindfulness and effortless effort.

The phrase effortless effort comes from the Chinese term wu wei, which is directly translated as non-doing.

Mindfulness and effortless effort are important tools for living a Low Density Lifestyle.

The concept of non-doing is a very difficult one for us Westerners to get, because we are used to doing, doing and even more doing. “How can we not do when there’s so much to do,” Westerners who contemplate wu-wei often ask – or at least this Westerner (me) did when I first learned of the term and tried to wrap my brain around it.

Anyway, I thought it would be best if I let Dr. Kabat-Zinn do the talking, and so I have posted his video from his talk at Google.

Watch it, and enjoy!

I’m FREE: Sing along with The Who!

I asked my friends Roger and Pete to put together a little ditty to help you understand FREE (remember Flow/Relax/Effortless Effort). I hope you enjoy their efforts.

Sometimes it’s easy to just let images and music tell the story. So this is a good way to get FREE.

Click on play and see what you think. I think Roger and Pete got potential. Maybe they should consider forming a band!

Being FREE: Flow/Relax/Effortless Effort

The secret to living a Low Density Lifestyle is becoming FREE. In an earlier post, I explained what the acronym FREE means. It stands for Flow, Relax, Effortless Effort.

Because it is a very important concept, I want to discuss FREE a little further at length.

The Flow state is known to athletes as being “in the zone.”  To an athlete, this is where everything just seems to go their way. And athletes will be the first to tell you that when they are in the flow state, they perform at higher levels.

Shawn Phillips, the well-known athlete, bodybuilder and author of Strength for Life, had this to say about the subject:

From the beginning, what I was connecting with in the gym was a universal energy source. I would just feel it flowing. Even when I was twenty years old, I called the gym my church. When I was there, it wasn’t about being social; it was about doing my practice. I was in it. I was in the zone.

Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, said,  “Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.” In essence, this is what Flow is about. You become a circuit of energy, flowing infinitely, much like an unimpeded electrical circuit in which the electricity freely courses throughout.

Relax is something that doesn’t always come easy for many people. Sure, everybody knows how to veg out. But do you know how to profoundly relax, to tap into the stillness within and the center of your being?

To find that calmness and stillness within, you can do any number of things or techniques.  These can be meditation, prayer, walking in nature, speaking silently, listening to quiet engaging music, yoga, along with many other mind-body techniques.

A recent scientific study even found that relaxation techniques can beneficially affect your genes.

Relaxation is about finding your peace within the turmoil and hubbub of everyday life.  Some of you may do workshops or go to retreats or go on vacations to help find that inner quiet. And that is a good thing. But the trick is to embed that knowledge into your body and mind and integrate that understanding into your daily routine, so that everywhere you go, wherever you are, you are immersed in your stillness.

When you are acting with Effortless Effort, you can labor for hours on end, at times functioning on little sleep, and yet feel full of energy and life. You are firing on all cylinders, and the universe seems like a giant playground. You love what you do and you do what you love.

Interestingly enough, there are times when stress has a positive connotation. There is a term, eustress, which is the positive aspect of stress. In this case, a person is very busy, doing many things, but they are thriving in the midst of it, and loving how productive they are. A person in this situation is in full Effortless Effort mode. To an observer, it would seem as if this person is pushing themselves far too much and burning themselves out. But to the person immersed in Effortless Effort, they are thriving because they are firing on all cylinders and feeling alive, vibrant and awake.

And so, this is what being FREE is all about. Remember the formula? It’s LDL = FREE.  Keep that in mind–it will help you to live a Low Density Lifestyle.

Feelin’ the Low Density Lifestyle

Ok, I’ve been telling you about the Low Density Lifestyle, and you may be getting it, or maybe you’re not. But today I’m going to tell you about it in a different way, through the power of images and music.
So sit back, click play and enjoy:

There are a lot of themes that the Low Density Lifestyle covers, and the video covers some of them. These themes include: flow, relaxation, effortless effort, creativity, imagination, genius, health and wellness, movement and exercise, longevity, spirituality, enlightenment, meditation, quantum mechanics, consciousness, stillness, happiness, peak performance, productivity, success and a lot more. So stay tuned as we continue to delve further…

The Low Density Lifestyle: The Secret to Becoming FREE

To live a Low Density Lifestyle, all you have to do is become FREE.  In this case, FREE is an acronym that stands for:

Flow

Relax

Effortless Effort

Let’s break that down some – I’ll explain what I mean:

Flow: Flow is the state of feeling fully in synch and in harmony with the universal flow that permeates throughout. You feel like you are in the zone at these times. The author and creativity researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines flow as:

” ‘Total control’ of one’s own mind is in fact too strong an expression to describe accurately what happens when one is in flow. The point is not that one can always do what one wants, but rather that the possibility of making things happen as one wishes is present in a way that seldom occurs in ‘real’ life.’ ”

Relax: Relax means finding the calmness and stillness within. When this happens, you can find your center and your balance. You can also find peace, because you are able to shut out all the static and noise that circulates all over the place.

There is a Spanish saying, “Cuán hermoso es de no hacer nada, y entonces descansar después.” This wise traditional proverb translates as, “How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.”

And yet, so many of us are like a chicken without a head, running around here, there and everywhere, with a frantic energy. One of the big problems of modern day society is that so many people are burning their  candle out at both ends. The Chinese philosophers would say that people are burning out their yin, their nourishing aspect.

Effortless Effort: Effortless Effort is something the ancient Chinese philosophers called wu wei. The state of effortless effort describes a condition in which you are busy with effort, yet it seems effortless, as if the world seems to be working for you. You feel calm yet alert, focused yet receptive, drawing force from the storm while standing in its eye, acutely using all your senses. Like a marathoner who feels pulled forward, you accomplish the most with a minimum of energy. In this state hard work does not feel like work at all.

And so,  when you practice these essential characteristics—flow, relax and effortless effort—you promote a Low Density Lifestyle for yourself. An easy way to make these a part of your life is to commit to memory the simple formula: LDL = FREE.  That prescription stands for Low Density Lifestyle = Flow/Relax/Effortless Effort.

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