Happy New Year!
December 31, 2009 by dr. lam · 7 Comments
I wanted to interrupt my regularly scheduled blog to wish everyone a wonderful (and safe) new year celebration! I think as we mark the passing of 2009, we should look back at where we have come over this year and where we will plan to be going this coming year.
I have had probably my most profound awakening in 2009, and I owe a lot of it to writing these blogs. As I have repeatedly said, these blogs are a form of therapy for me, as much hopefully as they are good fodder for you as well. This past year, I have attained a much deeper sense of peace and tranquility despite whatever storm surrounds me, as you have seen reflected in these blogs that focus more on spirituality, peace, and happiness than achievement and attainment.
I have lost over 20 pounds through a radical change in diet (and more importantly attitude toward my diet) and also diligent, almost daily yoga practice. Yoga has given me greater peace, cleaner skin, more flexibility, better posture, a stronger heart, increased muscle tone (every muscle in my body), stronger neural stimulation through better balance, lower blood pressure, weight loss, daily meditation and also represents a metaphor for my life (that is a quiet peace about everything.)
Although my business actually increased despite the downturn, what I am most happy with is that my staff has continued to mature along with me in their sense of peace, happiness, and fulfillment. I have also seen a focus in my practice toward healing in which I am now actively looking for ways to heal my patients in a more holistic fashion.
In the spirit of this blog and all my blogs, I have no interest in recounting the lectures I have given, courses I have run, or other things that do not deserve the deep merit of what my life’s main mission is, i.e., to pass peace onto the world and healing energy through love, compassion, and growing self awareness.
I look forward to grow with all of you in the coming year 2010. As a leader (and you are leaders too!), I would like to recount what Ben Zander taught me (and his blog series is coming up soon on The Art of Possibility), “a leader is the relentless architect for the possibility of what others can acheive.” Well put. Let’s all grow and become greater in our peace, wisdom, and love in 2010. Wishing all a happy new year!
Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul Part 5 of 9: Being Comfortable with Your Body
December 30, 2009 by dr. lam · 7 Comments
Coming toward the end of his section on “Reinventing the Body”, Chopra challenges the reader to ask how comfortable the reader is with certain activities: looking at himself/herself naked, changing clothes at the gym, wearing a form fitting bathing suit, dancing in front of others, hugging, etc. What he is driving at is two things: how is your mind’s perception of your body and how comfortable are you with your own body.
He talks constantly throughout the book of “stuck energy”, where we have mind blocks on our behaviors and perceptions. Our body composition can be a source of frustration and fear for many of us. Honestly, until I started doing yoga about 10 months ago, I was extremely uncomfortable with my body. I now have a new relationship with my body both in terms of how I carry myself and how I work with my body. I am much more comfortable today because yoga not only has transformed my body physically but changed my relationship with my body at the same time.
Chopra encourages us to get in tune with our body and play through scenarios that compel us into a stuck position. For example, if you are uncomfortable changing at the gym, perhaps imagine how other people do not look at you and do not care about how you look. Start becoming more comfortable in your own skin, and start to see yourself differently, embracing your body however it looks. And if you are not happy with what you see, first accept yourself the way you are and then change your body to fit your new mental image of it.
Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul Part 4 of 9: Turning on Genes
December 29, 2009 by dr. lam · 7 Comments
We have always been taught that our genes are fixed. We have blue eyes and brown hair. That’s all she wrote. However, think of two identical twins, one of whom plies his hands as a bricklayer and another who determines to become a concert pianist. Each one has manipulated his DNA in profound but subtle ways: their neural pathways, hand shapes, and movements differ from each other despite being identical twins.
Blind individuals are known to have a much greater sense of touch than sighted people. A study in which electrical impulses were sent to the tongues of blind people to recreate a visual image showed up on an imaging scan in the visual cortex of these individuals. These neural pathways for sight were being rerouted in these blind people.
A new field of study today focuses on so-called epigenes, the complex proteins that circumscribe our DNA. This protein cloud is our trigger to turn a gene on or off. How do you explain cancers that without any treatment just disappear? Yes, miracles happen. However, also our mind to body connection is very powerful. We can influence our genes by our thoughts and emotions. We can continue to mature our neural networks differently depending on how we think and behave.
Mindfulness Mondays 31: Nothing Changes Without Change (500TH BLOG!!!)
December 28, 2009 by dr. lam · 7 Comments
THIS IS OUR 500TH BLOG! THANKS EVERYONE FOR CONTINUING ON THIS JOURNEY WITH ME!
As you know, I get a lot of inspiration from my yoga class. In a short 10 months, I have been able to achieve what I thought I would never be able to do like level 3 bridge extension, level 3 crescent, headstand (with a little wall support),full side angle with wrap, etc. A lot of it was taking chances to do harder poses and seeing that in time I actually could. As a metaphor for life, I see that in life we encounter things that are going to change us, sometimes things we do not want since we are creatures of habit or that we think outrightly will be a negative influence on us. With that in mind, we need to admonish what my yoga instructors chime all the time, “Nothing changes without change.”
Remembering the lessons we covered last year from the Tao Te Ching, when we encounter an obstacle we should not force that change but to allow it to happen. When we accept change will come, it is far easier than fighting it or forcing our way along a certain path. ”Be like water”, Lao-Tzu admonishes. We can be forceful just through our flow without forcing and be mutable like water. When we embrace change, we can view it as a beautful thing.
When I work with my staff and with my patients, I always say that I hope that I as a human being in 2010 will be better than I was in 2009 and in turn better than in 2008. I wish the same for my staff, my family, friends, and my patients. If we stop changing and growing, I think we are dying inside. This week, openly and freely embrace change. See it as a good thing no matter how negative it may appear to you at first. Look for ways to change yourself without being forceful in your change.
A lot of change does not “stick” because we do too much, too quickly, too brashly, like crash diets. Make small changes. Allow your heart to be open to change and permit your own growth. In the coming weeks to months, when I cover The Power of Less, I will work with you on constructive ways to change in small but big ways. Until then, open your heart, mind, and soul to change.
Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul Part 3 of 9: Ending Craving
December 25, 2009 by dr. lam · 10 Comments
As a follow up to yesterday’s blog on flexibilty, Chopra talks about a study of middle-aged Finnish men who were high risk for heart attacks. One group had the patients casually reinforced with techniques for better living to minimize risk, encountering the physician a few times a year for this lifestyle counseling, which they had hitherto ignored (and perhaps would continue to do so). Another group met regularly with their physicians, checking constantly their cholesterol, weight, and other factors, so as to make proper recommendations for lifestyle changes. The second group had an overwhelming greater percentage of heart attacks than the first. Perhaps the stress of these regular meetings led to their demise.
Our body is not separate from our minds. When we are living in a state of struggle with our bodies, we tend to live exasperated lives. For example, when we climb out of our beds to the kitchen to sneak a bite of chocolate ice cream, what are we doing really? We are living a cycle of “Should I or Shouldn’t I” that is unrelenting and unenlightened. We have very little self awareness for our actions, as we are forced into a never-ending cycle of struggle. Through reflection and meditation on what we are doing, we can elevate ourselves beyond the struggle and to see that we can rise above these limitations that drive us unconsciously. For most of my life, I have looked at food with craving until I went to France, which literally changed my paradigm. I am now seeing food for its social and healthful purposes rather than for it being part of an escapism that I no longer need.
We must begin to be aware so that we can change our energy so that we can change our body. Through reflection of why we are struggling and to expose that struggle for what it is, we can begin to let go of it. We can then change our energy, which ultimately changes our body. As Chopra has frequently said, “The issue is in the tissue.” We can end craving by allowing our mind to meditate beyond it and enter a state of peace.
Chopra recommends three types of meditation: focus on breathing, focus on the heart (just focusing and centering yourself on tranquility of your heart), and focus on the light (see yourself moving toward light and enlightenment). End your struggle with craving by seeing the foolish association of how ice cream has anything to do with your stress levels. Or how your hatred for your father should drive your current energy. Or whatever your situation might be. Free yourself from your own prison.
(Merry Xmas Everyone!)