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Gentle Movement
The gentle movement methods accelerate cell metabolism, which causes
increased circulation of oxygen and nutrition in the blood. They gently
build muscle strength, enhance balance, increase oxygen demand without
spending it on muscle activity, and accelerate
propulsion of lymphatic fluid, which circulates immune cells and
eliminates metabolic by-products (waste, toxins) from the tissues.
Self-Massage
Self-applied massage sends reflex neurological impulses through the
brain and spinal cord to organs and glands. It accelerates lymphatic
circulation of immune cells and the elimination of metabolic
by-products and waste from the tissue spaces. It circulates the blood.
Self-massage soothes the sympathetic aspect of the au-tonomic nervous
system, which controls the function of the organs. This produces a
restorative neurotransmitter profile that includes sufficient
quantities of healing chemicals such as endor-phins, serotonin, and
dopamine and reduced amounts of adrenaline and reduces brain-wave
frequencies to the slower alpha range.
Breath
Practice
The regulation of the breath shifts the nervous system toward the
relaxed state, and this in turn shifts the neurotransmitter profile
dramatically. It expands the blood vessels, reducing blood pressure and
assisting the penetration of nutrients and oxygen deep into the
capillary system; deep breaths propel the lymph fluid more dynamically
than any other mechanism, which circulates immune cells and drives
metabolic by-products and waste into the elimination system.
Meditation
Deep relaxation and meditation balance the parasympathetic and
sympathetic aspects of the autonomic nervous system. When these two
aspects are properly in balance, the state is called homeostasis. When
they are out of balance, generally to the sympathetic side (fight or
flight), adrenaline-based chemistry causes exhaustion and the reduction
of immune system efficiency. When in balance the body chemistry is more
choline based. This shifts the neurotransmitter profile to the
restorative mode, which potentiates and directs immune cell activity.
The brain-wave frequency shifts toward the alpha or even theta level,
and the capacity of the microcirculatory system (capillaries) expands.
Energetics
The Chinese have always explained the internal power of healing in
terms of Qi (Chi). They believe that the complementary energies of the
earth (yin) and heaven (yang) meet within living bodies of animals,
plants, and humans. This is the "original cause"of the harmonious
interaction of energies known as life or vitality. The health
enhancement and self-healing practices of the Chinese, called Qigong,
circulate and harmonize these vital energies to maintain health and
cure disease.
In India a similar belief declares that universal energies, known as
Prana, circulate within the human system to sustain life and health.
The practice of Yoga, the health enhancement and self-healing system of
India, fosters the optimal activity of these vital energies.
Recent research in the Western sciences has begun to confirm that
energy does flow within the human system. One innovative researcher, B.
E. W. Nordenstrom in Sweden, has mapped the energy circulation within
the human system (Nordenstrom, 1983). He calls this energy circulatory
system the "vascular-interstitial closed circuitry." This is very
similar to the Chinese system of energy channels called jing luo and
the Indian system of nadis. Nordenstrom's name for the channels is
"preferential ion conductance pathways."
The Qi, it is speculated, can mean many forms of energy from
bioelectrical and magnetic to light (photons) to other subtle energies,
including quantum states. Numerous organizations and institutions,
including the Qigong Institute, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, the
International Society for the Study of Subtle Energy and Energy
Medicine, and the International Society of Life Information Science,
are exploring the energetic basis of health and healing.
The physiological explanations just presented, which Western science
prefers for describing the benefits of the health enhancement and
self-healing methods, do not diminish the relevance of the Asian
concept of energies. The two systems, one wavelike and energy based and
the other substantial and materially based, are completely
complementary."
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