This month, the NPR podcast Ted Talk is presenting a 6-segment special called Body Electric, to explore how the way we use our tech devices is impacting our bodies. https://www.npr.org/series/1199526213/body-electric These days, many people’s jobs require hours of sitting in front of a computer. The popular fix of a standing desk does not appear to … Read more
Generally the end of a session involves my leaving the room to allow my client to change back into street clothes. When I return to the room, nine times out of ten I find my client looking at their phone. This isn’t surprising: our phones are so useful! My client may be accessing their payment … Read more
Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist researching the effect of meditation on the brain*, reports that in the state of open attention, non-directed awareness, there was diminished activity in an area of the brain that normally assigns emotional value, the orbitofrontal cortex. The results were consistent in all 6 of the adepts that were being studied. It … Read more
Follow the link to try this experiment. When viewing the video, see if you can count the total number of times that the people wearing white pass the basketball. How many passes?http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html Then watch it again. More at http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/djs_lab/demos.html Experiment Results I was introduced to the basketball pass experiment (see the post “Try this Experiment”) … Read more
Sitting posture. The most important thing is to have the sacrum free to respond to the breath. That’s true in every situation, and more so in meditation practice. One of my early Rolfing teachers used to say: “Don’t sit on your brain.” In one of the Taoist meditations, spine rocking–starting at the tailbone–is one of … Read more
Organs and Emotions In Chinese medicine and in Taoist meditation practices, caring for the energy flow through the organs is considered as important as cardiovascular health and muscle tone are to us here in the West. The functioning of each organ also is associated with a specific emotional continuum:the heart: with impatience, hastiness, and joy, … Read more
The familiar figures of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly provide a fine example of two very different movement styles. In the picture above, a moment frozen in time, Fred Astaire embodies lightness with a sense of space and grace. It is as if he were suspended by invisible strings, weightless. Gene Kelly’s form is much … Read more
As you read these words, are you aware of an experience of “body”? Is there any awareness as you read, of your feet on the floor, your seat in the chair, of the breath? Or is the body simply a vehicle for your head? In our culture today, the body appears primarily as an object, … Read more