Whether we use our life to benefit or to harm self and others depends upon the state of our mind. - Glenn H. Mullin
Yoga, tai-chi, dance, and other forms of movement stimulate the soothing system of your organism, as does sitting meditation and even just regularly taking some conscious, long, deep breaths. Slow down and do one thing at a time. - Ratnadevi
People who suffer from migraines ought to consider adding yoga to their lives in order to ease the pain and stress of those headaches.
A new study published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. They show that yoga, in addition to regularly prescribed treatment, might help headaches happen less often, not last as long and become less painful. “Migraine is one of the most common headache disorders, but only about half the people taking medication for it get real relief,” study author Rohit Bhatia of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India, said in a press release “The good news is that practicing something as simple and accessible as yoga may help much more than medications alone. And all you need is a mat.” For three months, researchers followed 114 people who had episodic migraines and were 18-50 years old. The participants, who experienced four to 14 headaches per month, were randomly assigned to two groups: medication-only or yoga with medication. The people practicing yoga were instructed by a teacher three days a week for one month, then they practiced yoga on their own for five days a week. The individual yoga practice went on for two months. People in both groups improved. However, people who added yoga to their treatment had more benefits.The yoga group had a 48% reduction in headaches, while the medication-only group reported a 12% decrease in headaches. Among the yoga group, the average number of pills they used decreased by 47% after three months. In the medication-only group, the average number of pills used decreased by about 12%. "Our results show that yoga can reduce not just the pain, but also the treatment cost of migraines,” said Bhatia, a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “That can be a real game changer, especially for people who struggle to afford their medication. Medications are usually prescribed first, and some can be expensive.” Use one idea to cancel another. You can balance a negative emotion by instilling a positive one. Giving is the opposite of greed. Benevolence is the opposite of hatred. - Bhante Gunartana In his book, The Deeper Dimensions of Yoga, George Feuerstein says: "The doctrine of rebirth or punnar jamman, is one of the fundamental axioms of Yoga philosophy. The practical implications of this belief are enormous."
Here's his two part explanation: 1. "On the one side it is intended to account for the fact that people are endowed with different mental capacities and their lives proceed along idiosyncratic lines that cannot be satisfactorily explained in terms of environmental or other external factors." 2. "On the other side, far from relieving a person from all responsibility, thee teaching of reincarnation constitutes a challenge to actively determine his or her future lot. Nothing would be more wrong and destructive than to regard the doctrine of repeated births as a convenient excuse for a fatalistic attitude. Rather it should be seen as an urging us to accept our individual 'starting 'point, however disadvantageous it may seem, as the direct outcome of our previous mental activities, and to make the best of our life within the given parameters." "Being and becoming are different aspects of the same reality and are only relative to our intelligence. Man has the promise and potentiality of divine realization, of spiritual perfection, and therefore is God in the making; for even his humanity is intelligible only if regarded as an individualized self-expression of God. It is derogatory to human nature, therefore, to attribute sin to man. Besides, God being the sole and supreme Reality, how could a foreign element like sin invade the sanctuary of being? The Hindus refuse to call you sinners. Ye, divinities on earth, sinners? It is a sin to call man so! It is a standing libel on human nature."
- Swami Vivekananda in his address to the World Parliament of Religions, Chicago, IL, 1893 Harsh language hurts others and debases you. All unneessary speech not motivated by generosity, loving-friendliness and compassion is harmful. - Bhante Gunartana
One who gives charity to the poor grudgingly loses the merit of the deed, even though he gives much. It is better that he give only one coin with a pleasing countenance. - Gate of Magnanimity
Buddhism uses the phrase 'monkey mind' to describe the constant unsettled, unpredictable and unsophisticated moving of the mind. It is symbolized by a monkey inside a room with several windows. One Chinese Buddhist master explained monkey mind saying: "Imagine there is a room with six windows. In the room is a monkey. Someone calls at one widow 'monkey, monkey' and he runs to that window. Then a second person calls from another window 'monkey, monkey' and again he runs to that window. On and on it goes."
Let's all tap into our feminine side and then live and act as if every being was our child. - Victor M. Parachin (public domain image www.pixabay.com)
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Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
July 2024
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