Yoga claims to be a science – a spiritual science at that.
Interestingly, science has proved many of the medical claims made by yoga to be valid.
Surprised? Most American men are. But then, the only yogis most of us ever knew were Yogi Bear and Yogi Berra. And since the end of the 1960s, it’s been easy to dismiss the concept of yoga as some navel-gazing, hippie-dippie waste of time. Not anymore.
Yoga has been shown to be effective in helping treat heart disease, diabetes, back pain, chronic pain, asthma, colitis, arthritis, depressed immune systems, all manner of stress-related illnesses, and more, says Dr. Arthur Brownstein of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Yoga itself is a complex, several-thousand-year-old, multifaceted system of living drawn and adapted from Hindu teachings. Hatha yoga is the style taught most commonly in the West at health clubs and colleges. This consists primarily of focusing attention on the breath and gentle stretches, says Barbara Lang of the Duke University Center for Living.
The greatest and most quickly realized medical benefits seem to derive from the profound calming effect that yoga produces in the mind and body, Dr. Brownstein says. This breaks the debilitating stress cycle, he says. It does this in four ways.
• Through properly and positively aligning body posture through specific positions (known as poses) and placing mental focus on the efforts
• Through slowing, relaxing, and deepening breathing
• Through directing attention inward, peacefully, meditatively
• Through stretching and limbering muscles gently and increasing circulation
A typical hatha yoga class is programmed to take each participant’s body through a full range of motion, stretching and strengthening each joint according to its capacity. Regular practice has been shown to ease pain for arthritis sufferers, says Dr. Brownstein. It does this by increasing flexibility – a benefit every practitioner enjoys, and one that makes us feel better.
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To some extent, it helps to think of anorexia and bulimia in the same way as any other illness, such as diabetes or asthma. One advantage of this approach, called the medical model, is that it helps reinforce the “no-fault” concept I described earlier. A person with asthma is not responsible for the condition, but is expected to participate actively in managing the problem.
The medical model follows certain logical steps: evaluating the patient and the problem, arriving at a proper diagnosis, designing a treatment plan, then carrying out that treatment. This approach takes each person’s individuality into account and looks at all the forces that may be contributing to the disorder. It also lets the physician choose from many therapeutic strategies to find the ones that have the best chance of working.
Such an approach is vastly superior to one in which a doctor assumes from the beginning that all eating disorders result from one cause-for example, a defective sense of self-esteem. Such restrictive, simple-minded thinking can lead to one-dimensional therapy that fails to address the multifaceted-perhaps I should just say human-nature of the disorder. As the saying goes, if all you have is a hammer, then every problem is a nail. It is better if the physician takes into account the nuts and bolts of the problem as well.
The medical model has limits. For one thing, anorexia and bulimia are not really like pneumonia. Most people would agree that there is nothing good whatsoever about pneumonia, unless you happen to be the bacterium that goes around causing it. Similarly, there is very little “good” about psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia or depression.
However, I believe there is something positive that exists in the strangely inverted world of eating disorders. That positive element concerns the patient’s attempt to exert her willpower to solve what she perceives as a problem. Rather than lying back passively and falling victim to the raging psychological and social forces that swirl around and inside her, she has adopted an active, even aggressive stance. She is taking a decisive course of action to achieve a goal-a goal she is willing to risk her life to achieve. While her goal is unreachable and her method is harmful, I feel her basic impulse is good and worthy of respect: She is trying to deal with a difficult situation by taking control and finding something in her life that makes her feel successful, special, and proud. In a strange way, eating disorders express a very American kind of thinking: Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, get a hold of yourself, improve your life, set a goal and work hard to achieve it, distinguish yourself. However, the approach taken by the bulimic or the anorexic is too rigid, too extreme, and is completely out of harmony with the needs of the body and the mind. The strategy is doomed to fail. When it does, the patient will suffer guilt, despair, and a sense of worthlessness-the very feelings that precipitated the disorder in the first place.
My approach as a physician is to recognize the complexity of the problem and try to take into account the many psychological and social factors that affect a patient. I accept that she is trying to solve her crisis, and I will try to help her channel that energy in a healthier way. When this approach works, the patient changes her faulty patterns of thinking, alters her destructive eating behavior, and improves her relationships with other people. Ideally, she leaves treatment with the resources she needs to cope in healthy ways with the pressure to be thin, pressure that will undoubtedly continue over the years.
*6/35/5*
Jeanette Green weighed more than 300 pounds until she discovered the slimming power of tea.
After years of failed attempts to lose weight, Jeanette, of White Plains, New York, finally took control of her eating habits. She reduced her portion sizes and cut out junk food. Sure enough, the pounds started disappearing.
Although she was encouraged, Jeanette realized she still had one hurdle to overcome. While she ate healthfully during the day, as soon as she arrived home from work, she’d be hit with the overwhelming urge to binge.
Like most of us, Jeanette felt tired at the end of the day. Just thinking of the chores and errands that she still had to do made her anxious and tense. To soothe herself, she would head straight for the refrigerator and grab the first food she saw.
Jeanette started thinking about her postwork behavior and about a theme of the Overeaters Anonymous meetings that she had attended. The two seemed to tie together.
“Overeaters Anonymous doesn’t concentrate too much on the food thing,” Jeanette says. “The emphasis is on the head. They say that if you get your head straight, your body will follow.”
Jeanette knew that her postwork binges were driven not by hunger but by her emotions. So she decided that instead of calming her nerves with food, she’d sip herbal tea.
As soon as she walked in the door in the evening, Jeanette would head straight for the kitchen and brew a cup of tea. Then she’d curl up someplace quiet to relax and recharge for the evening. Her daily tea time became a treasured ritual as well as a means of stopping the munchies that threatened her weight-loss goals.
Jeanette, who’s now 60, eventually lost 140 pounds. And she has \ kept the weight off for more than 18 years.
WINN IN C A C TJO N
Sip tea to de-stress. There’s no question that stress is a
big cause of weight gain. Find your own way to unwind, like Jeanette did. You’ll probably find that a lot of things in your life—hot just your waistline—will begin to come I do into better focus.
*60\89\8*
One of the most simple and yet obvious contributors to musicians failing to perform at their peak or optimum levels is the way in which they approach tension or stress in their lives Since a certain degree of stress is necessary for most to perform at their peak, methods must be devised to enhance the creative and productive aspects °f performance and to diminish or minimise the negative destructive aspects of unwanted stress.
It is simply not good enough to tell a performer to relax. Many of us have simply no concept of what it is to relax or be relaxed. There are few wn0 are fortunate enough to feel totally relaxed despite the long hours of practice necessary to become a better than competent performer.
The tension projected by the teacher will often find its end expression in the rigid posture and performance of the student. It is thus vitally important that both student and teacher be aware of what they can do to contribute to a relaxed atmosphere conducive to the best efforts of each one.
The self-imaSe 01 tne musician is vitally important, as all of us carry within us an image of how we see ourselves, and an image (often incorrect) of how others perceive us. If a musician cannot visualise him or her self as competent or confident he or she will always be battling that negative self-image.
As a corollary, given a certain amount of natural ability, the confident musician who has a degree of control over anxiety will perform at optimum levels. If they then perform with the body in a relaxed state there will be less tendency for injury to occur.
In the book, Mirrors of The Mind^ the many uses of self-hypnosis, relaxation and imagery are explored. Many of the simpler approaches to be described in the book will have major application to musicians and their teachers.
These processes, as outlined above, may also be brought to bear on the musician who develops pain or altered sensory awareness. The fear of injury in itself is a powerful factor in the production of the vicious cycle of pain — fear — muscle tension — pain — fear etc.
The ability of the musician to dissociate him or herself from the discomfort or to actively engage in the process of muscular and emotional relaxation is of advantage in preventing the end-stage pain and stress problems that present to therapists.
Simple hands-on measures such as basic massage techniques may be of great value when the relationship of student musician and teacher is a secure one, and where there is no implied sexual threat.
Such simple techniques should always be carried out with the explicit permission of the student involved. This is particularly important where relaxation and imagery exercises are carried out together with the gentle massage or reassuring touch.
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There is presently some excitement over the development of a new drug which it is claimed specifically mimics the neurotransmitter, Serotonin. It is claimed that migraine occurs because of low levels of Serotonin in the sufferer. Trials in Australia and other countries were discussed at a recent international headache meeting in Australia.
Preliminary trials of the drug known as Sumatriptan appear very promising whether the drug is injected or taken by mouth. It is claimed that up to 80% of those given the drug by a variety of methods gained relief of their headache. Sumatriptan is due for commercial release some time in 1990.
In the treatment of migraine there has been an increase of studies showing the efficacy of intravenous use of a moderately potent local anaesthetic, Xylocaine. In some casualty departments this has become the treatment of choice for acute migraine, rather than the automatic administration of narcotics such as Pethidine or Morphine.
*62\37\8*
Physiological elements
A large proportion of chronic pain patients do demonstrate physical pathology ranging from slight to questionable, such as minor degrees of arthritis and degeneration of areas such as the cervical spine, and to a great degree in conditions such as terminal cancer. Adequate, assessment includes the scientific assessment of these processes, such as physical findings, X-rays, electromyograms or EMGs, and CAT scans which may all be important depending on the type of pain.
Psychological pain
Psychological pain is just as keenly felt with or without a physical cause. We are just as disabled if the pain is partly, or wholly, from psychological causes and may require just as much help. In the final analysis, when all the fancy definitions are stripped aside, ‘pain is what hurts!;
Acute pain is associated with anxiety and chronic pain with depression and the resultants alterations in mood, self-concept and thinking. It has also been shown that 50 per cent of depressed hospital patients have pain as a major symptom. Almost all published reports on the psychological and psychiatric evaluation of chronic pain patients report depression as a major component. This is often marked although patients themselves may deny being depressed.
Another important concept has been described that replaces the older concepts of functional or psychogenic illness. This is called sornatisation. This refers to the physical expression of emotions such as sweaty palms, rapid pulse, gastric hyperacidity, increased blood pressure, slowing down of movement, and early morning waking and depression. Sornatisation also refers to, and includes, the concept of psychogenic disorders, or mind-caused disorders also known as ‘conversion disorders’. For example, blindness, hysterical paralysis, deafness and finally pain caused by emotional factors. Briefly, sornatisation is a physical expression of an emotional or psychological disorder such as anxiety, gross stress and, occasionally, severe depression. Thus, one of the difficulties in diagnosing, and treating, chronic pain patients is that it is often difficult to decide what are the physical and/or psychological components of the pain symptoms.
*40\37\8*
Pain involves the entire central nervous system — the brain, spinal cord, all the nerve fibres and billions of nerve cells. The central nervous system controls the voluntary muscles; that is, the ones you consciously control and which involve such everyday actions as walking, combing your hair or bending over to pick up things.
Pain also involves one component of the autonomic (automatic) nervous system called the sympathetic system. This controls the involuntary muscles of the body — the ones that function automatically — including the heart muscles, which control the pumping of the blood around the body, and the arteries, which have muscles in their walls allowing them to open and close. Other examples are the muscles that control the iris of the eyes and the muscles that control breathing. The sympathetic nerves also control the small arteries that control the flow of blood to the muscles.
The nerves are the most important piece of the pain puzzle. Their endings pick up pain signals which are started by a stimulus such as a pinprick. These nerve endings are found in all body tissues except the hair and nails. The nerves transmit the pain message, or signal, to its final destination — like a conveyor belt, taking messages to the brain and away from it. Tens of thousands of different nerves exist in the human body and there are about ten billion nerve cells in the brain. The nerve fibres vary in thickness and length. The nerves are either thick or thin. The thick ones have a coating of fatty material — the myelin, which acts like an electrical conductor to carry messages, or signals, along the nerves.
*17\37\8*
If you have had an immediate, violent reaction to food, but are not sure which food component is responsible, then you are in a more difficult position. It is important to identify your allergen, so that you can eat safely with the minimum of dietary restrictions. A little intelligent detective work may help you to guess the identity of the culprit, and your doctor should be able to arrange for a skin-prick test to check your conclusions.
One possibility you should consider is that you are reacting to an additive rather than a food. If you consistently react to commercial ice-cream, for example, but not to milk, cream or home-made ice-cream, then you may be allergic to polysorbates which are used as stabilizers in ice-cream manufacture. Careful reading of labels and some cautious experimentation with suspect additives should help you to identify the source of the problem. Appendix VI gives more details on food additives, and identifies ‘families’ of additives which are chemically similar to each other – if you are allergic to one, you may also react to others with a related chemical structure.
Another rather remote possibility is that you are allergic to a digestion product of the food rather than the food itself (see p46). Vomiting and diarrhoea begin some hours after eating, and anaphylactic shock is a possibility. This sort of allergy is thought to be very rare.
*64\180\8*
Convallaria — the Latin name for lily of the valley — is best used in the form of a standardised fresh plant extract, together with Scilla maritima (sea onion or squill). It strengthens the heart muscles and extends its favourable effect to the blood vessels. If the patient is given the same dose as would be given with digitalis, its action will be more gentle and produce no side effects such as are engendered by accumulation. Digitalis sometimes proves ineffective in cases of a weak heart resulting from influenza, pneumonia or other lung and infectious diseases, whereas lily of the valley invariably does the job more effectively. This plant can, and should, be used as a pre-operative heart tonic and it will also have a salutary effect if used after an operation. Those who engage in competitive sports, where a strain is often placed on the heart, will find Convallaria a real help. I have also had excellent results when using it to treat heart complications which occurred during or after kidney diseases and have found it most reliable in the treatment of arteriosclerotic conditions, high blood pressure and symptoms characteristic of degenerative and premature aging processes.
*722/28/1*
HOW HERBAL REMEDIES CAN BE USED – FRESH PLANT TRITURATION; OIL EXTRACTS (PREPARATIONS MADE WITH OIL)
In this method of preparing plant remedies, freshly cut or harvested plants are triturated with lactose, grape sugar or some other basic medium. Experience has shown this method to be one of the most effective. Unfortunately, as the process is slow and intricate, it is rarely used. Trituration has proved its worth in the manufacture of Urticalcin, since it allows the natural calcium to be prepared in such a way that the body can easily absorb it.
Oil is used in the preparation of St John’s wort oil and other body oils, since it dissolves resins and other oil-soluble substances, which the skin will absorb for the benefit of the whole body. For example, the red dye of St John’s wort is oil-soluble and much more effective in the form of an oil than as a tincture.
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