Dr. Jay Kumar
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Thanks to everyone who attended the successful workshop last weekend on "Contemplative Neuroscience: Your Body as a Sacred Vessel." Please enjoy the podcasts to the lecture.
Dr. Jay Kumar
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“Don’t Buy More, Just Be More!” As much as our culture wants you to believe, material success does not equate to happiness. As I discussed in “Being Happy during the Happy Holidays,” authentic happiness cannot be measured by a price tag. In fact, researchers Ed Diener of the University of Illinois and Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 published findings in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest that while U.S. wealth has tripled over the past 50 years, our national wellbeing and happiness have been flat. It’s just as the famous line from The Beatles goes, “Money can’t buy me love.” While having material and financial stability are vital for your way of life, the point is that the real indicators for happiness are not found in your bank account, stock portfolio, or the size of your car or house. Rather, focus on what truly is of value in your life—family, friends, loved ones, and enjoying life! Studies conducted by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky at UC Riverside show that people who are happiest also have strong social connections and deep personal relationships with friends and family. We humans are social animals, after all. We need to feel a sense of belonging and connection to the greater whole. So the next time you get stressed, feel anxious about finances, or worry that you can’t afford that luxury car or home, remember that the real treasures in life, the love of our family and friends, are free!
“Gratitude is a Healthy Attitude” Expressing gratitude for what you have, no matter how small it is, can also contribute to your greater health and happiness. In the past few years, scientists now recognize that gratitude is one of the most powerful and healthiest of human emotions. Studies at University of Miami, UC Davis, and other universities successfully demonstrate that remembering to be grateful for what you have in life can greatly outweigh any sadness, stress, or challenges you might currently experience. Further discoveries in neuroscience suggest that when you experience gratitude, the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain, an area that correlates to emotions of love and compassion, begins to activate. As I like to say, “Gratitude turns WHAT YOU HAVE into enough, creates contentment for WHAT IS, and manifests greater joy for WHO YOU ARE!” If you can’t express gratitude for what you already have, how can you expect to be grateful for all the prosperity and abundance that awaits you in 2012! Read more on gratitude in “Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude”
“Practice Compassion and Kindness” As His Holiness the Dalai Lama often says, “If you want to be happy, make others happy!” In the past two decades, research into the human brain has discovered that we possess a peculiar thing known as a mirror neuron. Scientists know believe that these mirror neurons are the reason why humans, along with certain primates, elephants, dogs, and dolphins, are biologically wired to experience the emotions of others. Mirror neurons suggest that the human brain has evolved to experience both the pain and euphoria of others. It is this biological conditioning that may account for human empathy and compassion. Brain scans reveal that expressing more compassion and kindness helps you develop these mirror neurons, and it is this notion of compassion and empathy toward others that ultimately allows you to experience greater happiness and wellbeing on a daily basis. So the more kindness you practice toward people, the happier they become and the happier you become! Learn more about mirror neurons and the mind in “The Neuroscience of Health and Happiness."
“Keep Thinking Good Thoughts” Did you know that it takes at least FIVE good thoughts to outweigh a negative one! Neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson states, “The mind is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.” I’m sure many of you can relate to this idea, but why is that our minds tend to remember the painful, negative experiences but not so much the joyous, happy moments? There’s actually a neurobiological answer that has to do with something called a “negativity bias.” At the University of Washington a study revealed how a negative experience remains wired into your brain more strongly than a positive one. In fact, it takes up to five positive experiences to outweigh a negative thought! Neurobiologists believe that this “negative bias” of the human brain was an evolutionary trait that helped early humans survive by allowing the brain to react to, remember, and recall life-threatening experiences. Imagine you were an early human chased by a lion; your brain would store that information into a neural net, recalling that memory as a survival mechanism. The lesson is that in order to experience authentic happiness, you actively have to focus on the positive to overcome the negative experiences in your life that your brain has imprinted into your consciousness. Learn more about how your psychology influences your biology in the“The Healing Power of Thought.”
“Just Breathe!” One of the simplest and most effective tools you have to alleviate stress and create more happiness in your life is to create some sacred, personal time in your day. I find that one of the easiest ways to do this is to focus on your breath for as little as five minutes a day. Dr. James S. Gordon, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University Medical School, states, “Slow, deep breathing is probably the single best anti-stress medicine we have.” You may be surprised to learn that doing mindful, calm breathing exercises for just five minutes a day can begin to shift your emotional and mental health. In the growing field of mind-body medical research, studies show that focusing on your breathing, specifically on the quality and state of your breath, might be the key to unlock your potential for health and happiness. Let’s face it, most of us do shallow breathing, i.e. not connecting our breath deep into the belly. Deep-belly breathing has now been shown in numerous studies to have a significant benefit on your neurophysiology, calming and soothing both your mind and body. When you connect and focus on your breath by taking deep and slow inhalations and exhalations, your nervous system and brain waves begin to come into balance and coherence. When your brain and body are in alignment you tend to cultivate the “four C’s” of calmness, contentment, caring and creativity. Watch the Self-Guided Breathing Video to learn how to alleviate stress and to experience greater happiness in your daily life.
As you begin 2012, a phrase to remember is that “happiness is not something that happens to you, but rather it is something you create.” I hope you enjoy integrating these five tips for happiness and wellbeing into your daily life. For those who would like to cultivate greater health and happiness in 2012, I invite you to join me at the Health, Wellness & Gourmet Living Retreat in the Loire Valley of France May 27-June 2, 2012. Enjoy a week of learning how to implement these tools into your life in the relaxing and healing French countryside with yoga, meditation, gourmet food and wine. Lastly, always remember that you are powerful, whole, amazing, and unique in every way. Never be afraid to let your light shine forth fully and brightly, for the world would be a much dimmer place without you in it! Keep on Living Your Light® in 2012!
Dr. Jay Kumar
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With Halloween approaching I fondly remember as a kid, and even now as an adult, why it is one of my favorite times of the year. Of course, getting to put on a fun costume, trick-or-treating with friends, and eating lots of candy certainly makes Halloween a great time. However, it wasn't until I took a college class in ancient cultures and religions when I discovered the true significance and sacred origin of Halloween. It may come as a pleasant surprise to learn that the original sacred tradition of Halloween can actually offer valuable and important lessons as you embark upon your quest toward health, wholeness and integration.
Trick-or-treating, playing pranks, scaring one another, and dressing up in costume are some of the things that we generally associate with the festive spirit of Halloween. For many of us Halloween is the one day of the year when we can enjoy becoming our alter ego, disguising ourselves behind an anonymous mask, and perhaps even letting the trickster in us all to come out of hiding without fear of being judged. It may be surprising to learn that the original sacred and holy traditions of Halloween offer valuable and important lessons for us as we embark upon our quest toward health, wholeness and integration. Halloween can actually be a wonderful opportunity for us to expand on our healing and spiritual journey, to embrace a greater sense of self-awareness, and to put our personal spiritual beliefs into actual practice in the world. You might be saying to yourself, “What does Halloween have anything to do with healing and spirituality?” To answer this question and to see how this is possible, let us briefly explore the origin and original spiritual significance of Halloween.
The word Halloween is actually an abbreviation for Hallow Even(ing), the night of the year when both the dark and light energies on the planet are considered to be the most hallow. You might wonder how can there be anything sacred about the dark. The best way to answer this is to look at the English word hallow itself. The word hallow refers to that which is sacred and revered, being etymologically related to the words holy, heal, and whole. While the Winter Solstice is technically considered to be the longest night of the year, many cultures and spiritual traditions of the world recognize that this time of the year is the energetically or "spiritually" darkest night of the year. It is during this time of year, when the planet and each of us has the capacity and the means to experience true wholeness, holiness, and healing of both our own light and dark.
Many indigenous traditions and ancient cultures of the world have viewed this time of the year when the thin veil that separates the darkness and light of the world, as well as the dark and light within the human psyche, disappears. The origin of Halloween goes back to pre-Christian Celtic Europe when the last day of October known as Samhain, an Old Irish word that roughly translates as “summer’s end,” was the day that marked the beginning of the pre-Christian New Year. At this crucial point of the year the light of summer ends and the darkness of winter begins. The pre-Christian religion believed that on this day of the year the barrier between the world of the living and the realm of the departed becomes the most transparent.
Interestingly, one finds this concept shared by the Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead, a festival that perhaps is a remnant of the earlier Aztec culture. The Day of the Dead is celebrated each first day of November and commemorates the ancestors that have crossed the veil to the darkness of the other world. With the arrival of Christianity into Europe and later into the New World, the Christian religion recognized the relevance of this time of the year and commemorated these indigenous traditions by creating All Saints Day and All Souls Day to honor the various departed saints and beloved souls in our lives.
For many of us Halloween is the only time of the year when society gives us permission to let the hidden and perhaps repressed parts of our individual and collective consciousness come out and be seen in public without fear or shame. These parts of our self, sometimes referred to in psychotherapy as the shadow, the alter ego, the lower self, or the disowned soul, are merely aspects of our greater whole that are not fully integrated. Many of us earnestly guard or actively invest energy concealing these parts of our self from the outside world out of fear that they will be exposed, judged, or ridiculed. During this one day of Halloween, our society provides the safe and culturally sanctioned space for the underbelly of society as well as the darkness within us to have a healthy opportunity to be brought from occlusion into openness, from exclusion into inclusion, from fear of being judged to being accepted. In fact, I believe the reason why Halloween is such a popular holiday is that it is the only time of the year when society gives us permission to let our hidden shadow and disowned darkness be seen and come out of its cave where we may have forced it to hide for the other days of the year.
What exactly is our shadow or this disowned darkness? Simply stated our shadow and our dark are whatever we are unconscious of or have repressed, denied, or avoided in our life. This notion of a repressed shadow manifests both on an individual and collective level. For some our shadow can appear on a personal level as repressed anger, violence, fear, shame, judgment, contempt, or repulsion to others or even to ourselves. On a global or collective level, these same emotions can appear as racism, religious fundamentalism, slavery, misogyny, homophobia, warfare, fear of change, etc.
There are endless ways in which our dark makes itself known. Our shadow surfaces only in the hope that it can be healed. Our hidden shadow speaks to us all the time, but the more we ignore its pleas to be witnessed, the more it grows and surfaces when we least expect it. If you are not aware of what your dark might be, just simply ask your family, friends, and loved ones for they will easily identify it for you. Why it is easy for others to indentify our shadow rests in the notion that whatever aspects of our dark that we have disowned and unidentified, we project onto those around us!
Many of us have been taught and conditioned to believe that our individual dark and the disowned aspects of our consciousness need to be repressed and devalued as society has taught us to equate them as being evil and unhealthy. We need to truly understand that our shadowy dark side is nothing to be feared! It is not, as we are often led to believe, something that is unwholesome that needs to be shunned, repressed, or devalued. This is a common misconception that many people, including myself, bought into regarding the spiritual journey toward health and wholeness. While many of us wish to live from a place of expansion, abundance, and integrity in our light, many of us focus so much on experiencing the light that we completely ignore the dark that exists right alongside it.
I will share with you an opinion that is not often voiced in many circles–the more we actually proceed on our journey toward wholeness and focus only on expanding into our light, the denser, the more pained and more vocal our disowned dark becomes. Our inner dark is an aspect of our consciousness that we must be careful not to ignore. I have finally come to the realization for myself and also have expressed to my clients that the key to expanding on the sacred journey into light is to embrace and reintegrate the dark. As the famous psychologist Jung once asked, “Would you rather be whole or perfect?”
One thing I wish to clarify that the term “embrace the dark,” does not mean being unaccountable for our actions. We need to remember that we are the ones who created our dark, and each of us is responsible for owning it and ensuring that it is healthily expressed. By acknowledging our shadow, we do not in any way mean that we have to become subservient to it. By truly owning our dark, we ensure that it does not have the chance to be expressed as violence, rage, or in any way that is harmful to us, others, and to the planet.
You can perhaps think of it like this–the brighter our light, the more visible our shadow becomes. Just as on a bright and sunny day, we can see our physical shadow more easily as opposed to when the Sun is obscured, so too is the case with our personal darkness. The more we aspire to embrace our light, one thing that we also must do is to examine and embrace the dark aspects of our shadow. This idea is also true on a collective level. The more humanity awakens and continues on its journey toward a new consciousness of wholeness, the more we have to own up to all the shadow aspects in our world. It is my belief that as more light becomes manifest on the planet, the more visible our collective shadow will become. War, terrorism, racism, poverty and neglect of the environment–all of these ‘dark’ aspects of humanity will actually become more pronounced as more light emerges on the planet, until that point when humanity’s collective dark becomes fully reintegrated back into the light.
In fact, this reintegration of the dark with the light is currently happening all around us as we return to wholeness! This process parallels the same course that we as individuals encounter on our healing journey. Just as a person may have to recall and sometimes become present to a past trauma in order to heal, so too do we as a species have to witness and remember the collective trauma of the past several millennia. Again, our light serves nothing more than a beacon to illuminate our inner darkness. Just as a flashlight in a darkened room allows us to witness the things stored there, so too can our light empower us with the gift to witness and ultimately to face and embrace the darkened recesses of our inner being.
The philosophical and spiritual teachings of the ancient Indian traditions of Yoga that date back over 3,000 years state that Yoga is a word that translates as “union.” Yoga psychology aims at bringing into union all the disconnected aspects of our sacred self into a greater whole, which means embracing both our light and our dark! I have always said that there are no such things as negative emotions, as they are just energies disconnected from the greater whole of our being. As I’ve discussed in previous blog posts, the word “whole” is related to the word “heal.” In essence, all are disconnected emotions and thoughts that we label as being negative are really only “unhealed.” Even if you don’t practice Yoga, many of humanity’s great spiritual traditions and faiths teach that we need to explore these disowned and ignored areas of our emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual terrain that we have not yet dared to enter. Allowing our shadow to be felt and witnessed from a “healthy” place allows the darkness within to become “whole.”
When we fully own our dark, we abide in a greater place of integrity with our highest potential self, the place within each of us we strive to manifest as our goal in life. The way that we awaken our highest potential self is to become “whole,” which is to become “healed.” It is through our individual and collective ability to reintegrate our shadow into the greater whole that we experience the true health of mind, body, heart and spirit of which many ancient spiritual traditions speak. By owning our shadow, we take responsibility for our actions, our thoughts, and our words. The more we become accountable for these hidden aspects of our consciousness, the more we begin to live from a place of freedom, health, and wellbeing.
Again, owning our dark and acting upon our dark are two different matters. Although I encourage us to acknowledge the hidden and scary aspects of our consciousness, I’m not advocating that we have to act upon those destructive thoughts and tendencies. The more we actually are able to own our shadow, the less harm it can do. The more we ignore our dark, the more it controls us making us act out in violence, hatred, and rage. I would actually go so far as to say that everyday is Halloween–for everyday is a sacred opportunity to let our dark come out and to be healthily acknowledged as it reunites into the light. When our light and dark can exist as a unified whole, so too do we live from a place of freedom, liberation, and union with our whole self.
On a related note, half way around the world in India nearly a billion people on Oct. 26th will honor the ancient Hindu tradition known as Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Diwali always falls on the new Moon between mid-October to mid-November, and like the Celtic holiday of Samhain and the early Halloween ritual, Diwali is again the time of the year considered to be the energetically darkest night for the planet. During Diwali around the world people celebrate the Hindu lunar New Year by lighting oil lamps, bursting fire crackers, and allowing the light of humanity to shine at its brightest. Like the ancient Celts, Aztecs, and other traditions of the world, the ancient Indians realized that it is in the darkness where we eventually can discover and reclaim our light.
I find it more than just a coincidence that Halloween, Samhain, the Day of the Dead, Diwali, and the Christian holidays all coincide at this time of the year. I believe that there is something inherently recognized at the heart of our human experience that is evidenced in many of our world cultures–during this time of the year humanity acknowledges those aspects of itself that are hidden and obscured from the light.
As many of us begin to celebrate Halloween and the other global festivals that honor the dark and light, please keep in mind that we all hold onto darkness, for it is part of what makes us human. To deny our individual darkness, is to deny our very humanity. I invite you to honor this sacred time of the year as you feel your dark wanting to be heard. Close your eyes, connect to your breath deep into your body, and listen to the words this disowned part of yourself is saying. For many of us this dark speaks to us in the language of emotions–rage, shame, frustration, contempt, disgust, irritation, impatience, sadness, etc. The key to “heal” the dark and bring into “wholeness” the vulnerable emotions that our shadow reveals is to recognize the thoughts and belief systems we have created that fuel these emotions. From a place of compassion and self-acceptance, surrender these self-limiting judgments and perceptions into the breath for it is through the breath that the dark can be at long last reunited with our light.
Our ancient religious traditions believed that during this time of the year we walk between the worlds of the living and the departed, the known and the unknown, the revealed and concealed, and between the light and the dark. Regardless of whether you choose to honor Halloween, Day of the Dead, Diwali, or All Souls Day this week, rejoice in knowing that this is a sacred opportunity for each of us to come to terms with our hidden inner darkness and with those aspects of our consciousness that have been ignored and neglected for far too long in our life.
Again whatever aspects of our hidden darkness that we choose not to own get projected not only onto others but also onto the planet! To the extent that we each are at war internally with our own dark and refuse to make peace with our unhealed demons and devils, the more we see this battle magnified on a larger scale in our neighborhoods, streets, homes, schools, and lands. By each of us setting our intention to take the personal responsibility to heal the pain of our disowned dark, we each in our own way allow the polarized dark and light of humanity to unite into a harmonious integrated greater whole. Each of us makes a difference! As Gandhi once famously said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” The path to healing the planet and humanity starts within each of us. We each have a vital and important role to play. We each need to be the change. Happy Halloween!
May you always be LIVING YOUR LIGHT® from a place of compassion, intention, and integration as you make whole both your dark and your light.
Dr. Jay Kumar
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“The ultimate healing capacity of your brain may be, for all practical purposes, infinite." Dr. Jay Kumar
Check out the latest podcast from AWAKE with Dr. Jay Kumar on the Doug Stephan Good Day Show. In this episode we discuss how neuroscience now validates the power of our thoughts and intentions in our healing process. A really great episode!
AWAKE & ENJOY!
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• Viewing Loss as Change – While we grieve over the tragic loss of life and even the loss of our way of life in the aftermath of 9/11, the first step toward our personal and planetary healing is to view loss as merely change. We must understand that everyone is unable to avoid change (in both its empowering and challenging forms). We always have some change and transformation always happening in our life. The only way to cope with loss in life is by accepting them merely as change. I believe that change comes in two forms, as either an empowering, joyous experience that you embrace or as a painful, traumatic process that you dread. So why do we embrace the positive form of change but not when the change manifests as loss? Perhaps it is due to the innate human condition that views loss as something that causes uncertainty of the future over which we have no control. While we each experience loss in different ways, most of us react to loss through anger, grief, despair, frustration, or even denial. While all these emotions are valid in their own form, they are merely the ways in which we similarly react when life events seem out of control. If you can learn to shift the perception of loss to see it merely as just one form of change, the process of healing can begin as we transform our suffering into acceptance. The fundamental way to work through loss is to view it within the larger context of change. In the same way that the change brought on by losing a job or loved one can eventually become an opportunity for growth and expansion, I believe the same is true with the loss we all experienced during 9/11. The key resides once we merely see loss for what it truly is–change. As the noted scientist and natural philosopher Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
• The Power of Choice – Every moment in our life, we have the power of choice. Do we use our power to act in love, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, and trust or from a place of fear, distrust, anger, vengeance, and hatred? I believe that this lesson is the greatest one that 9/11 offers to us. While we initially reacted to the calamity of 9/11 with shock, anger, and the need for vengeance, the opportunity also existed to respond from a place of compassion and wisdom. A few months back I had the privilege of hearing His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak here in Los Angeles the day after Osama bin Laden was eliminated. Commenting on the event, the Dalai Lama said, “Forgiveness doesn't mean forget what happened…If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures." I believe that His Holiness refers to the ability for us individually and collectively to take action when absolutely necessary, but also to hold compassion to the person or group who committed the act. In essence, we can extend compassion and forgiveness to the individuals behind 9/11, but not forget their actions nor allow them to happen again. As the Buddha famously preached, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
• Healing Our Fear of “The Other” - In the case of Osama bin Laden, Hitler, or repressive dictators throughout history, they chose to act out from a place of fear toward those who held worldviews different from their own. Alternatively, there are those like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Theresa who use their power to dispel fear and hatred and to cultivate tolerance and compassion. You may have observed that right after 9/11 and also in the past few month various religious figures and major media networks want us to live in fear of those who are of a different race, sexuality, nationality, political view, religion, etc. While there are some in our society who advocate labeling people “white/black/Asian/Latino,” “Christian/Muslim/,” “gay/straight,” “Republican/Democrat,” “Conservative/Liberal,” “American/Middle Eastern,” we just need to see each other as fellow human beings first and foremost. Everything else is secondary and is just a category into which we put other people. Interestingly, in many of the world’s languages the word “heal” is related to the word “whole.” When you live your life from a place of fear, you are also living from a place fragmentation. Thus, you are not living from a place of wholeness because you are not healed. On a collective level, the paradigm of fear and mistrust appear in our national need for control and domination in an “us” versus “them” worldview. What 9/11 offers us on our path toward personal healing and planetary wholeness is to release our fear of the unknown and of those who happen to live a different way of life. It is about celebrating human diversity and not seeing others way of life as a threat to our own.
• The Power of the One Affects the Whole - A corollary to the two previous lessons is never to forget that your thoughts and actions influence others. If you choose to react and live in fear, anger, and hatred you give permission for others to do the same. However, if you choose to act from a place of authentic power, forgiveness, compassion, love, tolerance, and joy you also allow others to do the same. As more of us awake and realize the common bond that unites humanity, the more we become whole and healed. As more wholeness unfolds on the planet through our individual healing, all aspects of separation and fragmentation can no longer be tolerated, for us individually and collectively. The lessons from 9/11 provide each of us the ability to influence the greater whole. If we allow the events of 9/11 to have each of us live in fear, mistrust, and anger, we in turn give permission to those around us, especially to our children, to do the same. It is important to remember that children are not born to hate and to be racists or bigots; for these are attributes that they learn from their environment. However, if we recognize the power of choosing to live in trust, empowerment, and truth, we allow our children to learn and to live by our example. As Elizabeth Kubler-Ross says, “I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime.” Basically, our collective worldview will change only when we change our individual view of the world. Again, it all boils down to knowing that your thoughts and actions do indeed influence the greater whole.
• Reevaluate Your Values – The final lesson that 9/11 imparts to us is to recognize what truly is of value in our life. When the planes went down on 9/11 and the people trapped in the World Trade Center knew the end was near, the cell calls they made weren’t about trivial matters but were about expressing love and gratitude to those they would never see again. While having a great job, a home, and financial security are ideals that our society prizes, they are not the real values that matter. Our family, friends, pets, nature, health, and happiness, and all that which money cannot buy are what truly matter at the end of the day. One of the common bonds uniting all humans on this planet is our mortality. The painful circumstances of 9/11 demonstrated that life is such a rare and precious gift. In the Eastern traditions it is said that the key to health and happiness is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and fully. For it is in this very moment when the abundance and beauty of life present themselves to us in all forms. As I like to say, “At the end of the day it’s not about how much of a living you made but about how much you lived!"
However you choose to mark the anniversary of 9/11, I hope that these lessons empower you to live more in wholeness, health, and abundance. As the famous American author, William Faulkner, once declared, “I believe that mankind will not merely endure: it will prevail. It is immortal, not because it alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because it has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.” I truly believe that we humans, both individually and collectively, will not just survive from the tragedy of 9/11, but that we will thrive as a species as we dispel our petty differences and embrace our common humanity!
In remembrance and respect to all who were lost that day.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jay Kumar
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In the last blog, I discussed the powerful ways in which Nature heals and transforms us. The key resides in our brain being able to drop in to the healing and soothing brain wave state, known as Alpha waves. This issue explores exactly what the various brain waves are along with the deep and intimate connection between our human brain and body. You may have heard the phrases “Your psychology influences your biology,” or “You can think your way into disease.” Well, scientific research now validates much of the mind-body connection and deep understanding of how your brain waves are the key to your health and wellbeing. In the growing medical field of psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI), there appears to be a correlation between the various brain waves with one’s health and wellbeing. Let’s briefly explore the four brain waves and their function in our health.
At its most fundamental level the universe is merely energy that fluctuates and manifests at various frequencies. The same holds true for all living matter, including your brain, and some suggest even the human heart. (More on that in a later blog) The machine that measures brain waves is known as an Electro-Encephalo-Graph (EEG) and organizes the brain waves based on their wave-frequency in Hertz/sec. The four commonly accepted brain waves among scientists are: Alpha, Beta, Theta, and Delta, with some suggesting another possible Gamma state.
The brain waves are further divided into “waking versus non-waking” states of consciousness. Beta and Alpha waves are produced when we are awake, while Theta and Delta during sleep. Beta waves are predominant when our mind requires focus, attention, and alertness. They are also produced when the brain is in high stress or “fight-or-flight” mode, in turn, triggering adrenalin and cortisol into the body for survival. We experience Alpha waves, on the other hand, when our mind and body are awake yet calm and relaxed. Think of the difference you feel when stuck in a traffic jam late for your flight or relaxing on the beach hearing the waves and watching the sunset. In the first scenario, your brain is functioning in Beta waves, while in the latter in Alpha. The other two brain waves, Theta and Delta, are generally found when we are asleep, although there appear to be exceptions to this observed in the waking state of deep meditation or conscious breathing. Generally, the brain produces Theta waves during light sleep and when we dream, while Delta waves are found in deep, dreamless sleep.
So what then is the connection between these four brain wave states with our health and wellbeing. The answer resides in allowing all four brain-wave states to be in balance and equally manifest throughout our day. Unfortunately, our fast paced, technologically driven lifestyle creates a disruption in this important harmony. When our brains and bodies are in constant stress and amped up due to the fast-paced, caffeine-addicted, plugged-in, multi-tasking life that we have created, we spend our day predominantly in a Beta-wave state. Furthermore, Beta-waves are accompanied with the release of cortisol, the stress-hormone that eventually may lead to chronic anxiety, illness and disease. The famous Stanford neurobiologist Dr. Robert Sapoltsky’s enlightening book Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, observes that in the animal kingdom those animals that are prone to aggression, anger, and violence, due to an increase in cortisol and adrenaline, are also the ones with the weakest immune systems. (Watch video here) It now appears that the same observations are found in our human biology. When we are constantly in stress, anxiety, anger, fear, or worry, our immune system and health are considerably weakened.
The good news is that Alpha waves can counter the chronic harm of being in continual Beta-wave states. Alpha waves produce beta-endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, neurotransmitters that enable us to become relaxed, calm, and centered during the stress experienced throughout our day. When the alpha and beta waves are equally in balance throughout our waking day, we experience psycho-physiological coherence, a deep and profound state of integration of the body and brain. The longer we can remain in psycho-physiological coherence, the stronger our immune system becomes enabling us to be whole and healthy. So how can we experience more Alpha to balance out the Beta-waves in our daily life? The answers can be as simple as being in Nature, making love, laughter, deep-breathing, or meditation. (Watch Video to Learn How)
The important thing is to cultivate balance in your day between work, rest, and play. The human brain, thus, can be a very valuable organ in our quest for a healthy body, mind, and spirit! As Dr. W. Ross Adey, of the Brain Research Institute at UCLA, says, “The ultimate creative capacity of your brain may be, for all practical purposes, infinite.” I refine this statement by saying, “The ultimate HEALING capacity of your brain may be, for all practical purposes, infinite!”
Keep on LIVING YOUR LIGHT® in balance of brain and of body.
Dr. Jay Kumar
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How are we emerging to a new paradigm of healing? How does our individual view of the world shape our collective worldview? Learn how recent scientific theories substantiate what the spiritual traditions have always been saying throughout the ages- that the personal and planetary are intimately interconnected. Our individual actions, thoughts, and feelings have the ability to empower or disempower the Whole. Learn more in this exciting dialogue with Dr. Jay Kumar
Dr. Meg Jordan on 'Medicine in the 21st century: Emergence of a new Global Health Paradigm' (Dec. 16, 2010)
So what will health and medicine look like in the 21st century? What are the challenges that humanity faces in order to achieve authentic health? How do media and culture influence our individual and collective perceptions of illness and wellness? Helping us explore these questions on today’s show is my guest today, Dr. Meg Jordan.“Medicine in the 21st century: Emergence of a new Global Health Paradigm”
Meg Jordan PhD, RN, is a woman who has motivated millions to live healthier, more fulfilling lives. Author, speaker, international health journalist, registered nurse and a clinical medical anthropologist, she is one of the most recognized names in health and wellness reporting. Dr. Jordan is Department Chair and Professor of Integrative Health Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She is also known as the "Global Medicine Hunter" for syndicated radio on Health Radio Network, host of “Healthy Living on Global TV and numerous specials for NBC “Today,” Discovery and CNN. Dr. Jordan searches the globe for healing remedies, traveling to remote and exotic places, confirming the best of traditional practices with modern science. Her books include The Fitness Instinct and a forthcoming Adventures of a Global Medicine Hunter. You can learn more about Dr. Meg Jordan at www.megjordan.com