Archive for the ‘breathing’ Category

Changing the brain/Rewiring the brain/Training the brain: Managing fibromyalgia

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

YJ_052010_TeenYoga_01“Every man (sic) can, if he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain”, Santiago Ramon Cajal

I have before me books, newspaper clippings, magazines that speak to the phenomenal advances that are occurring in the area of brain science and remapping the brain. Just this week I have read in our Canadian newspaper (The Globe and Mail) about brain research exploring the differences in social economic status (SES) of children, in particular regarding children raised in poverty. The  June edition of Yoga Journal speaks to training the brain through meditation. The book Buddha’s Brain explores the brains of those who meditate, while the magazine Shambhala Sun has an article  (May edition) on this very topic as well. All of these I have read  (or re-read) in just one week. Interestingly, apart from the Buddha’s Brain book,  and the research cited in the newspaper, the other two are magazines not known to be ‘scientific’ in nature.

(more…)

Fibromyalgia and Buddhist Practice of ‘Tonglin’

Monday, December 1st, 2008

1577314417” There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”, Leonard Cohen

While I have read about and practiced (somewhat… and not diligently), mindfulness meditation, I have not often successfully been able to ‘let go’ of the pain messages from my brain, which seems to be from where anxiety and stress originates. Certianly there has been good success with mindfulness meditation for fibromyalgia (See the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn). Meditation is a life long undertaking and the practice itself is intended to be daily. Now I have been told of another way to facilitate bringing more peace into our lives and ‘letting go’. It is called Tonglin Practice. Although I am not a Buddhist, I do believe that there is much to be learned from Tonglin. It too appears to be another way to work with the breath and training the brain.

(more…)