Get a Nada Chair!

So... normally I would not recommend some little doo dad to help you sit/ meditate more effectively but this deserves some serious consideration my friends.

I was at a local organic baby festival and they had a demo booth for these amazing lower lumbar support devices/ chairs. I had a noticeable difference in overall well being after just a couple of minutes using one. It supports your hips and back in a way that is ergo dynamic and for those of us who sit frequently, we know how our bodies can disagree and distract us. I purchased the "Back Up" but all of the products do the same thing. On the package it says "Designed by meditators for life"... I believe em.

http://www.nadachair.com

Here is what the site has to say:

Benefits of Use

Watch the animations on the left to better understand how Nada-Chair products will benefit you. The first shows your spine as a naturally curving, flexible stack of bones called vertebrae. Separating the vertebrae are soft-core, donut-shaped discs. When you sit for a time, muscles slack, causing you to slouch. Slouching unevenly compresses the lumbar discs as shown in the second animation. The vertebrae bite one side of the lumbar disc causing the soft core to bulge against the back wall. This causes back pain and over time, leads to herniation, ruptures or other disc malformations. Slouching is a serious back problem that spirals you into further back pain cycles. (Click here for a more comprehensive medical description of how Nada-Chair breaks the back pain cycle.)

The Nada-Chair promotes good posture which, in turn, reverses the back pain cycle. It comfortably cradles the low back and follows the body with every movement, making it is impossible to slouch. Since you can't slouch, your discs are protected. Users report instant relief of low back, neck and shoulder pain associated with slouching. Good posture naturally allows deeper breathing so you feel refreshed with a greater sense of well-being. Better health, in turn, means fewer doctor visits. You save time and money (not least on prescription pain-killers). People admire good posture. (When did you last stop to admire a slouch?) Originally designed by meditators who found they can often sit longer more comfortably, those at computers also find they focus better when attention isn't sucked to nagging back pain. In short, Nada-Chair back slings are designed to let you sit comfortably for hours with effortless good posture.

PROBLEM - Chairs Don't Work
"All my life my legs have been banged up
by chairs that I've designed"
- Frank Lloyd Wright

Slouching is a universal back problem that can lead to permanent and painful deformations of the spine. Not only do chairs NOT solve this problem, most often they make it worse! Why? Chairs are passive mechanisms that cannot provide adequate support at the low back where it is essential for healthy, comfortable and upright posture. So-called "ergonomic" chairs promise lumbar support, but they can't deliver. Serving only as props for slouched spines, these chairs make back problems worse. Why else do so many complain of low back pain and associated neck and shoulder stress caused by slouching? Bottomline: chairs don't work.

SOLUTION - Wear Your Chair
The ideal chair that moves with the body "just as a glove moves with the hand that wears it."
- Emilio Ambasz

The Nada-Chair is the chair that you wear. This slouch-busting sling lets you sit comfortably for hours with effortless good posture. When you sit forward, the back support follows. Since the Nada-Chair follows your body with every move, you constantly enjoy firm, adjustable and dynamic support hugging your low back. "The Nada-Chair acts like an extra muscle that never tires," explains Arthur White, MD. By using the knees to stabilize the pelvis, muscles are relieved of their isometric tasks. The pelvis becomes a stable pedestal on which the spine can effortlessly rest with natural curves restored.

Be well!

Balthasar Gracian

To my great delight someone sent me a passage to ponder this morning from Balthasar Gracian. These passages reflect on things that have been significant in my work and deserve great reflection. May you all be happy, healthy and prosperous.



"Gracian was a 17th century (1601-1658) Jesuit monk, and sometimes you can see religion reflected in his writings. Gracian wrote Oraculo manual y arte de prudencia (this book) in 1637, and it soon became popular throughout Europe. The entire book is a collection of 300 paragraphs on various topics. This work gives advice and guidance on how to live more fully, advance socially, and be a better person. Some of the material here may seem disagreeable. We advise that Gracian's writings be taken with lots of contemplation, it might help to absorb the material slowly and then explore it further."

41. Never exaggerate. It is an important object of attention not to talk in
superlatives, so as neither to offend truth nor cast doubt on your
understanding. Exaggeration wastes distinctions and shows the narrowness of
one's knowledge or taste. Praise arises lively curiosity, begets desire and if
afterwards the value does not correspond to the price - as generally happens -
expectation revolts against the deception and revenges itself by cheapening both
the thing praised and the praiser. A prudent person goes more cautiously to
works and prefers to err by understatement than by overstatement. Extraordinary
things are rare, therefore temper your evaluation. Exaggeration is akin to
lying, and you jeopardize your reputation for good taste and - much worse - good
sense.


52. Never be upset. It is a great aim of prudence never to be embarrassed.
This is the sign of a real person, of a noble heart, for magnanimity is not
easily put off balance. The passions are the humors of the soul, and every
excess in them weakens prudence. If they overflow through the mouth, the
reputation will be in danger. Let us therefore be so great a master over
ourselves that neither in the most fortunate nor in the most adverse
circumstances can anything cause our reputation injury by disturbing our self-
possession but rather enhance it by showing superiority.

129. Never complain. To complain always brings discredit. Better to be a model
of self-reliance opposed to the passion of others than an object of their
compassion. For complaining opens the way for the hearer to act like those we
are complaining of, and to disclose one insult forms an excuse for another. By
complaining of past offenses we give occasion for future ones, and in seeking
aid or counsel we only obtain indifference or contempt. It is much more politic
to praise a person's favors, so that others may feel obliged to follow suit. To
recount the favors we owe the absent is to demand similar ones from those
present, and thus we sell our credit with the ones to the other. The shrewd
will therefore never publish to the world his failures or his defects, but only
those marks of consideration that serve to keep friendship alive and enmity
silent.

125. Do not be a blacklister of other people's faults. It is a sign of having a
tarnished name to concern oneself with the ill fame of others. Some wish to
hide their own stains with those of others, or at least wash them away; or they
seek consolation therein - it is the consolation of fools. Their breath must
stink who form the sewers of scandal for the whole town. The more one grubs
about in such matters the more one befouls oneself. There are few without stain
somewhere or other. It is only of little known people that the failings are
little known. Be careful then to avoid being a registrar of faults. That is to
be an abominable thing, a man that lives without a heart.

138. The art of letting things alone. The more so the wilder the waves of
public or of private life. There are hurricanes in human affairs, tempests of
passion, when it is wise to retire to a harbor and ride it out at anchor.
Remedies often make diseases worse; in such cases one has to leave them to their
natural course and the moral influence of time. It takes a wise doctor to know
when not to prescribe, and at times the greater skill consists in not applying
remedies. The proper way to still the storms of the vulgar is to hold yourself
back and let them calm down by themselves. To give way now is to conquer by and
by. A fountain gets muddy with but little stirring up, and does not get clear
by our meddling with it but by our leaving it alone. The best remedy for
disturbances is to let them run their course, for so they quiet down.

From "The Art of Worldly Wisdom"

Understanding Emotions in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Learn how emotions are related to body systems and symptoms
From Cathy Wong, for About.com

In traditional Chinese medicine, emotions and physical health are intimately connected. Sadness, nervous tension and anger, worry, fear, and overwork are each associated with a particular organ in the body. For example, irritability and inappropriate anger can affect the liver and result in menstrual pain, headache, redness of the face and eyes, dizziness and dry mouth.

A diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine is highly individualized. Once an organ system is identified, the unique symptoms of the patient determine the practitioner's treatment approach.

Using the liver again as an example, breast distension, menstrual pain, and irritability during menses are treated with certain herbs and acupuncture points, and migraines headaches, dizziness, and inappropriate anger with redness of the face point to a different type of liver pattern and is treated in a different way.

What does the liver have to do with migraines? Organ systems in the traditional Asian sense may include the Western medical-physiological function, but are also part of a holistic body system. The liver, for example, ensures that energy and blood flow smoothly throughout the body. It also regulates bile secretion, stores blood, and is connected with the tendons, nails, and eyes.

By understanding these connections, we can see how an eye disorder such as conjunctivitis might be due to an imbalance in the liver, or excess menstrual flow may be due to dysfunction in the liver's blood-storing ability. Besides emotions, other factors such as dietary, environmental, lifestyle, and hereditary factors also contribute to the development of imbalances.

Spleen

* Emotions - worry, dwelling or focusing too much on a particular topic, excessive mental work
* Spleen Function - Food digestion and nutrient absorption. Helps in the formation of blood and energy. Keeps blood in the blood vessels. Connected with muscles, mouth, and lips. Involved in thinking, studying, and memory.
* Symptoms of Spleen Imbalance - Tired, loss of appetite, mucus discharge, poor digestion, abdominal distension, loose stools or diarrhea. Weak muscles, pale lips. Bruising, excess menstrual blood flow, and other bleeding disorders.

Lung

* Emotions - grief, sadness, detached.
* Lung Function - Respiration. Forms energy from air, and helps to distribute it throughout the body. Works with the kidney to regulate water metabolism. Important in the immune system and resistance to viruses and bacteria. Regulates sweat glands and body hair, and provides moisture to the skin.
* Symptoms of Lung Imbalance - Shortness of breath and shallow breathing, sweating, fatigue, cough, frequent cold and flu, allergies, asthma, and other lung conditions. Dry skin. Depression and crying.

Liver

* Emotions - anger, resentment, frustration, irritability, bitterness, "flying off the handle".
* Liver Function - Involved in the smooth flow of energy and blood throughout the body. Regulates bile secretion, stores blood, and is connected with the tendons, nails, and eyes.
* Symptoms of Liver Imbalance - breast distension, menstrual pain, headache, irritability, inappropriate anger, dizziness, dry, red eyes and other eye conditions, tendonitis.

Heart

* Emotions - lack of enthusiasm and vitality, mental restlessness, depression, insomnia, despair.
* Heart Function - Regulates the heart and blood vessels. Responsible for even and regular pulse. Influences vitality and spirit. Connected with the tongue, complexion, and arteries.
* Symptoms of Heart Imbalance - Insomnia, heart palpitations and irregular heart beat, excessive dreaming, poor long-term memory, psychological disorders.

Kidney

* Emotions - fearful, weak willpower, insecure, aloof, isolated.
* Kidney Function - Key organ for sustaining life. Responsible for reproduction, growth and development, and maturation. Involved with lungs in water metabolism and respiration. Connected with bones, teeth, ears, and head hair.
* Symptoms of Kidney Imbalance - Frequent urination, urinary incontinence, night sweats, dry mouth, poor short-term memory, low back pain, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, and other ear conditions. Premature grey hair, hair loss, and osteoporosis.





Sources

Kaptchuk TJ. The Web That Has No Weaver. Chicago: Congdon and Weed, Inc., 1983.

Tierra M, Tierra L. Chinese Traditional Herbal Medicine Volume 1: Diagnosis and Treatment. Twin Lakes: Lotus Press, 1998.

Astronomy photo of the day

This is a great program that sends you a new astronomy photo each day. Just set it to come up with your home page for a beautiful gander at the cosmos.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html



Planets over Perth
Credit & Copyright: John Goldsmith, Celestial Visions exhibition, TWAN

Explanation: A bright trio of terrestrial planets was joined by a young Moon on September 1st, in planet Earth's early evening skies. In this view of the celestial gathering from Perth, Western Australia, the Moon's sunlit crescent is nearly horizontal at Perth's southern latitude of about 32 degrees. Venus, then Mercury, and finally Mars shine above colorful city lights on the far shore of the Swan River. The six unlit towers on the left surround a large cricket stadium. For now, the planetary trio still lingers low in the west just after sunset. But in the coming days Venus will move farther from the Sun, climbing higher after sunset, while Mercury and Mars will steadily sink into the glare along the western horizon.


M110: Satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy
Credit & Copyright: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi (Coelum Astronomia), Hawaiian Starlight

Explanation: Our Milky Way Galaxy is not alone. It is part of a gathering of about 25 galaxies known as the Local Group. Members include the Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31), M32, M33, the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud, Dwingeloo 1, several small irregular galaxies, and many dwarf elliptical and dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Pictured on the lower right is one of the dwarf ellipticals: NGC 205. Like M32, NGC 205 is a companion to the large M31, and can sometimes be seen to the south of M31's center in photographs. The image shows NGC 205 to be unusual for an elliptical galaxy in that it contains at least two dust clouds (at 9 and 2 o'clock - they are visible but hard to spot) and signs of recent star formation. This galaxy is sometimes known as M110, although it was actually not part of Messier's original catalog.



Grand Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232
Credit: FORS1, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO

Explanation: Galaxies are fascinating not only for what is visible, but for what is invisible. Grand spiral galaxy NGC 1232, captured in detail by one of the new Very Large Telescopes, is a good example. The visible is dominated by millions of bright stars and dark dust, caught up in a gravitational swirl of spiral arms revolving about the center. Open clusters containing bright blue stars can be seen sprinkled along these spiral arms, while dark lanes of dense interstellar dust can be seen sprinkled between them. Less visible, but detectable, are billions of dim normal stars and vast tracts of interstellar gas, together wielding such high mass that they dominate the dynamics of the inner galaxy. Invisible are even greater amounts of matter in a form we don't yet know - pervasive dark matter needed to explain the motions of the visible in the outer galaxy. What's out there?



The Crown of the Sun
Credit & Copyright: Hartwig Luethen

Explanation: During a total solar eclipse, the Sun's extensive outer atmosphere, or corona, is an inspirational sight. The subtle shades and shimmering features of the corona that engage the eye span a brightness range of over 10,000 to 1, making them notoriously difficult to capture in a single picture. But this composite of 28 digital images ranging in exposure time from 1/1000 to 2 seconds comes close to revealing the crown of the Sun in all its glory. The telescopic views were recorded near Kochenevo, Russia during the August 1 total solar eclipse and also show solar prominences extending just beyond the edge of the eclipsed sun. Remarkably, features on the dark near side of the New Moon can also be made out, illuminated by sunlight reflected from a Full Earth.

Unconditional love happens in a questioned mind

More of the lovely Mrs. Byron Katie.

Book: The Wisdom of Forgiveness

by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Victor Chan
The most intimate conversation yet with the world's most famous holy man

In a world where peace is elusive and empathy is in short supply, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an oasis in the desert. For decades he has been the spiritual and temporal leader of the exiled Tibetan people, as well as the most recognizable symbol of Buddhism in the world. An enigmatic figure, he is a Nobel Peace Laureate with a playful streak and an irresistible laugh. But that's not why he has gained superstar status in the West, or why his public appearances around the globe sell out in minutes.

Why is he so revered? Because people are thirsty for his message of compassion and non-violence, a powerful message that crosses barriers of race, religion, and creed. In today's post 9/11 insecurity, people embrace the Dalai Lama's universal, secular values—qualities like forgiveness and acceptance, or what he calls "the warm heart." As his longtime friend, Victor Chan, describes it: "He and his countrymen practice a very simple religion—they practice being kind to each other."

Chan met the Dalai Lama more than 30 years ago on a serendipitous trip to India, where the holy man was in exile. Over the next three decades Chan became a frequent visitor and confidante, the first person from China to enter Dalai Lama's inner circle since the Chinese government seized Tibet in 1959. Now, Chan recounts their long and evolving friendship in THE WISDOM OF FORGIVENESS: Intimate Conversations and Journeys (Riverhead Books; Publication Date: August 12, 2004; $24.95), a remarkable look into the life and mind of the Dalai Lama.

THE WISDOM OF FORGIVENESS invites readers to come along on the trip of a lifetime, as Chan chronicles nearly three decades traveling the world with the Dalai Lama. From war-torn Ireland to Eastern Europe, through India's holy sites and the Dalai Lama's grave illness, Chan had unprecedented access to the holy man's daily routine and private quarters, as well as his visits with bombing victims and dignitaries like Czech president Vaclav Havel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Chan documents the entire amazing journey and the ongoing intimate conversation that forged their friendship.

Chan says that initially theirs was an unlikely bond. Chan is, after all, a member of the race that destroyed Tibet, the Dalai Lama's homeland. In fact, the first question he asked the holy man was, "Do you hate the Chinese?" The Dalai Lama answered swiftly and easily in English: "No." In his native language he added that his quarrel was with the Chinese Communist Party, not with the Chinese people. He still considered the Chinese his brothers and sisters, and he forgave them without reservation. It was an answer that made an indelible impression on a young Chinese man and sparked a lifelong admiration for the holy man and his mission.

Over the years Chan has witnessed the amazing effect that the Dalai Lama has on others as well as his amazing capacity for compassion. But he has also seen him in more intimate moments: pre-dawn moments of meditation and in the grip of pain. In THE WISDOM OF FORGIVENESS: Intimate Conversations and Journeys, he shares the private side of this extraordinary man, where readers discover...

* What the experience of profound meditative insight really feels like.
* How the Dalai Lama has learned to love his enemies.
* Under what circumstances he could ever commit an act of violence.
* What this holy man does daily to develop spiritually.
* That doctors report that the Dalai Lama's near-seventy-year-old heart looks like the heart of a twenty-year-old.
* How a highly developed spiritual person experiences pain.

The Dalai Lama is an international icon for peace, an inspiration to millions around the world. In THE WISDOM OF FORGIVENESS: Intimate Conversations and Journeys, Victor Chan brings that icon to life, supplying a vivid portrait of the man whose global vision could just save the world.

Read the introduction here.

Lunacy: World's Biggest Atom Smasher to Start-up

As if some atom smasher can explain creation... We are living in a very strange time my friends.



World's Biggest Atom Smasher to Start-up
By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
07 September 2008


After more than 30 years of planning, 14 years of building and $10 billion later, the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest atom smasher, is due to start up on September 10. Scientists predict collisions of sub-atomic particles produced by the LHC will allow them to get closer than ever before to answering questions about the origins of the universe. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva.

Project leader for Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Lyn Evans, left, speaks with Carlos Fernandez Robles, right, engineer, at the European Particle Physics laboratory in Prevessin, France, 02 Sep 2008
Project leader for Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Lyn Evans, left, speaks with Carlos Fernandez Robles, right, engineer, at the European Particle Physics laboratory in Prevessin, France, 02 Sep 2008
LHC Project Leader, Lyn Evans, has been coddling this colossal machine from the start.

"It has been 14 years. I think this is really a very long time for any scientific project and, quite frankly, I'm glad to see the end," said Evans.

The end is actually the beginning. But, as Evans explains, the start of this grand voyage into the unknown will not begin by pulling a switch to get the machine working for the first time.

"There is not a big red button as many people think, that the thing switches on and results come spewing out," added Evans. "It is a complex operation and we start by trying to get a beam just to go around the ring once. And, if we can achieve that on the first day, I will be extremely happy."

The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is the world's most powerful particle accelerator. The giant machine could revolutionize our understanding of the universe by recreating the conditions which were present less than a billionth of a second after the Big Bang.

The gigantic ring-shaped device is housed in a 27-kilometer tunnel, which straddles the Swiss-French border near Geneva.

The collider has massive detectors that fill cathedral-sized rooms at intervals along the ring. Some 6,000 super-conducting magnets guide the beams. Evans says 50,000 tons of equipment will have to be cooled down to temperatures that are colder than that of outer space.

He says protons are fed directly into the LHC ring via two injection lines, one for each beam. He says the first attempt to circulate two proton beams all the way around the ring will occur on September 10.

"When these beams collide, then, of course when two particles collide, then they produce energy, which can convert itself into mass and if you got high energy than you can produce heavy objects," said Evans.

It will take a couple of months to bring collisions up to the desired energy. When the LHC gets up to speed, the accelerated protons will travel with nearly the speed of light. The machine will produce about 800 million proton-proton collisions every second.

CERN theoretical physicist, John Ellis tells VOA people should think of the LHC as the world's most fantastic microscope. He says the LHC will be able to look ten times deeper inside the structure of matter than any accelerator or microscope that has been built before.

"And, you should also think of it as being the world's most fantastic telescope because it recreates in some sense the conditions that occurred very early in the history of the Big Bang," said Ellis. "Not right back at the beginning, but a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang. So, in addition to addressing really fundamental questions about the structure of matter, what it is made of, what holds it together, it is also going, I think give us insights into how the universe came to be the way that it is today."

Emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh, British Peter Higgs (File)
Emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh, British Peter Higgs (File)
Physicists believe the LHC will lead to the discovery of a new particle called the Higgs Boson, named after the British physicist Peter Higgs. The Higgs is often referred to as the missing link in the history of particle physics. It is thought to hold the answer to why sub-atomic particles have weight or mass.

Ellis says the LHC is capable of unlocking other issues of equal or greater scientific interest. He says his particular passion is to probe Dark Matter.

"Astronomers and cosmologists tell us that something like 80 percent of the matter in the universe is invisible, the so-called Dark Matter that nobody has ever seen. We know it is there because it exerts gravitational forces, but it does not shine, so presumably it is not made of the same stuff as regular matter," added Ellis. "To my mind it is amazing that here we are in the 21st century and we still do not know what most of the stuff in the universe is made of."

As CERN celebrates its achievement, some people are predicting the LHC will create a mammoth black hole that will swallow up the earth. Several lawsuits have been filed to stop the LHC from starting up.

Physicists call these doomsday scenarios ridiculous. They say cosmic rays have been bombarding the earth and triggering collisions similar to those planned for the collider, since the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago.

And, Physicists John Ellis and Lyn Evans note, so far, the earth has survived.

"There is absolutely no evidence that black holes are eating up planets thanks to these cosmic ray collisions. No black hole will swallow up the earth," continued Ellis.

"I do not expect to be swallowed up by," said Evans. "I think nobody in their right mind expects to be swallowed up by hypothetical black holes which are created in the LHC."