the stress of life.pdf

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THE STRESS OF LIFE:

Stress is undoubtedly an important personal human problem.

Robert Boyle - the famous scientist who originated Boyle’s law in

chemistry and physics - in the mid-sixteen hundreds wrote:

‘It is highly dishonorable for a reasonable soul to live in

so divinely built a mansion as the body she resides in -

altogether unacquainted with the exquisite structure of it.’

Hans Selye began - in 1935 - the very serious work of becoming truly

acquainted with the human body - not just its parts but even moreimportantly with its reactions to the life circumstances in which it

maintains itself.

Some have called Hans Selye ‘The Einstein of medicine’

He was a Canadian scientist - and he started the modern quest for the

reduction of the stresses that are found in the life of every individual -

he did his work at the institute of experimental medicine and surgery at

the university of Montreal.

He did so by showing that much modern ‘stress’ - although not all - is

detrimental to the physiology of animal and human living beings.

He wrote the book - ‘The Stress of Life’ - just before the sixties began

- in 1956.

As Hans Selye puts the ideas forward - we are continually immersed in

stress - and some of the stress comes from the joy of living - so there is

no way of totally avoiding stress.

While most of the stress comes from living in a fast-moving world

without properly adapting to it.

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It is possible to have health and happiness even in this world with all

its stressors - the secret is in adapting to the stress successfully.

If we do not learn to adapt to our circumstances we end up with

disease and unhappiness.

Our evolution during our lifetime into individuals capable of living with

the stresses and adapting to them is something that is up to each

individual to accomplish - it is a matter of understanding what is going

on and developing the power to act with common sense.

We are at the beginning stages of learning that many common diseases

are due mainly to mistakes in our reactions to stress - a different

reaction would result in a different final outcome.

SO WHAT IS STRESS?

Illustration of stress and strain using a spring:

[Use an ordinary spring - place various weights on the spring - see that

the spring stretches to a specific length when a weight is put on it - this

is the principle of the spring scale - see also that when too much weight

is put on a given spring - it stretches beyond its elastic limit and will

thereafter not return to its original length and it will give faulty readings

of weight after such stretching.]

When Hans Selye came into Canada and began his research he was not

aware of the usage of the words ‘Strain’ and ‘Stress’ as used in

physics.

In physics the word ‘Stress’ means any force that tends to cause a

change in a material.

As an example - when a weight is hung on a spring this would be

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called placing a ‘Stress’ on the spring.

The effect that results from the ‘Stress’ - in this case the elongation of

the spring - would be referred to as ‘Strain’ - the complete term would

be ‘Strain reaction’.

Since Selye had used the wrong word for several years before this was

pointed out to him - both in scientific communication with research

people and in presentations before the public - he was in a bind.

What he was saying by the way he was using the word was that stress

caused stress - that is - stress caused itself.

So he invented a new word - ‘Stressor’ - to indicate the cause - theweight on the spring - and let ‘Stress’ continue as the effect of the

‘Stressor’.

At present we define stress as the nonspecific response of the body to

any demand.

What this means is that when pressure is put on either the mind or the

body there will be a reaction in the body to that pressure - and that

reaction is called ‘stress’.

WHO IS UNDER STRESS?

These are all under stress:

1. A person who is hurting - either physically or mentally.

2. A mother worrying about her child.

3. A gambler watching a horse race.

4. Both the horse and the jockey at the race.

5. A beggar suffering hunger.

6. A glutton who eats too much.

7. A shopkeeper fearing bankruptcy.

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8. A rich man hoping to make another million.

9. A mother who tries to keep her children out of trouble.

You can think of many more.

SIGNS OF STRESS:

Some self-observable signs of stress:

1. General irritability - hyperexcitation - or depression. (also

known as the ‘prima-donna’ complex)

2. Pounding of the heart.3. Dryness of the throat and mouth.

4. Impulsive behavior - emotional instability.

5. The overpowering urge to cry or run and hide.

6. Inability to concentrate - flight of thoughts - general

disorientation

7. Feelings of unreality - weakness - or dizziness.

8. Predilection to become fatigued - and loss of the ‘Joy of life’.

9. ‘Free floating anxiety’ - that is - we are afraid although we do

not know exactly what we are afraid of.

10. Emotional tension and alertness - feeling of being ‘Keyed up’.

11. Trembling - nervous ticks.

12. Tendency to be easily startled by small sounds.

13. High-pitched - nervous laughter.

14. Stuttering and other speech difficulties, frequently stress-

induced.

15. Bruxism - or grinding of the teeth.

16. Insomnia - which is usually a consequence of being ‘Keyed up’.

17. Hypermotility - increased tendency to move about without

reason.18. Sweating.

19. Frequent urination.

20. Diarrhea - indigestion - queasiness in the stomach area -

sometimes even vomiting.

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21. Migraine headaches.

22. Premenstrual tension or missed menstrual cycles.

23. Pain in the neck or lower back.

24. Loss of - or excessive - appetite.

25. Increased smoking.26. Increased use of legally prescribed drugs.

27. Alcohol and drug addiction.

28. Nightmares.

29. Neurotic behavior.

30. Psychoses.

31. Accident proneness.

THE CAUSE OF STRESSTHE FIGHT OR FLIGHT SYNDROME:

Imagine with me the following:

You are at your campsite in the woods - you are happily cooking your

evening meal on the campfire - which is about 60 feet from your tent.

You backpacked to this site - it took you a week to get here from the

nearest civilized outpost.

A slight noise brings you to awareness - without thinking you turn

quickly.

There is a bear coming towards you!

You must make some quick decisions - you have food in your tent - is

the bear going for this food - or is it coming for you?

There is an immediate tightness in your stomach - a churning begins -

and a surge of energy flows through you.

You must act quickly!

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Do you attempt to fight the bear off with a stick you can pick up from

the ground - in this way saving your food supply?

Do you climb the tree that you are camping under?

The threat is a physical one.

You decide to climb the tree - the bear leaves after a while - you now

hang your food from a tree - still trembling - and you finally relax.

You have just experienced a classic ‘Fight or flight’ response.

How did your body prepare you almost instantly to deal with thesituation?

In the first few seconds your heartbeat quickened to pump more blood

to your vital organs - part of this blood came from the peripheral blood

vessels near the skin - just under the outer layers.

The heartbeat is quickened by the adrenalin that is poured into the

blood from the adrenal glands just over the kidneys.

You now have cold - clammy - hands as a result - as well as cold feet.

If you were injured at this moment so as to break your skin - you

would not bleed as much as you would in a relaxed condition.

When the pulse rate rises the blood pressure in the body rises - this

puts more blood into the muscles and brain - this will help you react

more quickly and think more clearly.

The liver pours sugar into your system.

The adrenalin allows quick release of energy from the sugars -

strengthening the muscles.

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Blood clotting chemicals are mixed into the blood so that an injury

causing a break in the skin or an internal injury will control the amount

of blood loss.

This can be risky since - if the blood vessels are narrowed by

arteriosclerosis - there is a possibility of a clot forming - leading to a

coronary thrombosis - and this will cause a heart attack.

At the same time the digestive system shuts down so that its action will

not waste any precious energy.

More red blood cells are produced so the body can utilize additional

supplies of oxygen for the production of energy in the muscles.

To make a long story short - within the first few seconds the body

goes through some 1400 changes related to the ‘fight or flight’

situation.

Bear stories are dramatic - and we can all see how there might be an

uproar in the human body over such a serious threat as possible

mauling or even death by a bear.

The emergency is over almost as soon as it started - what does the

body do with the 1400 changes to defuse the situation and return the

body chemistry to normal?

This episode is less dangerous to our long-term health - provided that

we escape the bear - than the everyday wear and tear stress that we are

all subject to every day of our lives.

The fight or flight response developed over millions of years of

learning to escape danger - it was with us when we still lived in caves -

and for that time and place it was less dangerous in its long-term

effects than the present fight or flight situations.

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Whether we are threatened by a saber-toothed tiger or a mugger in the

local park - when we act to flee the danger - or stand and fight - the

effort of our response uses up the 1400 chemicals that our body is

providing us with - and after we run or fight the body quickly regains

its equilibrium - with little harmful effect - if any.

In today’s world most of the fight or flight situations are not physically

life-threatening - and there is no opportunity to run or fight - and yet we

still react in the same way as we did in the true fight or flight.

We still perceive danger to us - we still react to this perceived threat.

It is true to say that our fight-or-flight reactions are inappropriate

behavior under the circumstances.

It is also true that there are many more kinds of stressful situations and

they come up much more frequently in our lives.

The need to run quickly or fight hard might have come up only

occasionally in the wild forest or the open plain - there was not

constant danger except in exceptional circumstances.

BUT - YOU SAY - I DON’T MEET BEARS EVERYDAY:

This is a generally true statement - except that the physiologic response

to any stress is just as definite and pronounced as the stress produced

in the ‘fight or flight’ meeting with the bear in the above illustration.

What is more - the dangers and the end result are just as damaging.

THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF BEARS

AND ALL KINDS OF WOODS:

It is the way our mind is constituted that causes the health problems.

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When our mind perceives a threat - this is communicated to the body -

and the body cannot tell the difference between a real threat to life and

limb and an imagined one - they are identical to the body.

Whenever we think about an event about which we have some feeling -

and it is true that we have some feeling or emotion about just about

everything - we begin to react to that feeling.

Here are some everyday examples.

First thing in the morning - going to the refrigerator - you are planning

to will make cereal for the family breakfast - there is no milk - the

system elevates as a result - what should you prepare now?

Taking the car out of the garage - slippery street - fish-tail on the drive-

way - the system elevates.

On the way to a test that is to be held in one hour - you try to anticipate

the questions - and the answers - they don’t come easily - you feel you

should have studied more - the system elevates.

You get to the school - drive around the block three times hoping to

find a parking spot - see a spot and make a dash for it - just then a car

passes and slides into the one vacant spot - your foot hits the brake -

you feel sudden rage at the inconsiderate wretch who took your spot -

system elevates a lot.

All day long the housewife - the farmer - college student - doctor -

contractor - secretary - teacher - everyone in fact - find their lives and

days filled with events that cause mental and emotional responses - and

stress.

This is true also of watching television - the situations that the writers

and actors are portraying are meant to grip our feelings and turn our

minds to romance or fear or compassion or anger or envy or hate -

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you name the emotion - they all come up.

If we do not feel ourselves gripped emotionally by what we see and

hear we quickly tune to another channel where we can usually find

some emotion that will enthrall us.

Let’s face it - we are stress junkies - hooked on stress - that’s why we

watch television.

We use an expression: ‘I am relaxing in front of the TV’.

There is nothing relaxing about watching television most of the time -

or a movie on the big screen - every action-adventure is meant to

elevate your blood pressure - every horror show is meant to scare thedaylights out of you - providing you with lots of fight or flight

reactions.

What the advertisements mean when they say ‘Exciting’ is that the

show will raise your blood pressure.

If they don’t deliver what they promise you want your money back!

But the mind reacts to fight or flight situations on television in the same

way as it does to real situations in life - and the body simply cannot tell

the difference between real dangers or merely perceived dangers.

Real dangers and imagined dangers are simply mental states - they

affect the body in exactly the same way.

And the same chemicals are released into the blood-stream when you

watch an exciting or scary show - or even when you get angry with the

villain and want to see him/her punished.

To make the situation worse - when watching television you are likely

to be a ‘Couch potato’ - taking no time after the show to work off the

stress-produced chemicals - perhaps even munching out of the

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refrigerator or a plastic bag.

To be in the body and to live without stress is no fun at all - you have

to be physically dead to have no stress - even the pleasures of family -

of love-making - and social gatherings - are a source of stress.

If we had plenty of time to recover between episodes of stress there

would not be much of a problem - but - after years of such continuous

stress without adequate recovery time the bodily responses begin to

take longer and longer to get back to their baseline levels - the ability

to recover rapidly is lost.

When this happens the elevated state becomes the ‘normal’ state -

blood pressure becomes chronically high - more than normal acid is poured into our stomachs - we may develop an ulcer.

Some people develop problems with chronic diseases - some develop

problems with the muscular system - resulting in tension headaches -

neck or chest pains - and so on.

So now we know about the presence and dangers of stress in our lives

- especially unrelieved stress with not enough time to recover between

stressful episodes in our daily lives.

Is there anything we can do about the danger?

There is!

All organisms - human beings included - need to do as much as

possible to reduce the effects of the stressors on the organism - and one

such method that can be practiced without much interference into the

routines of living is the practice of breathing properly.

Much more will be said about breathing later in the course - right now

it will be a good start to begin the process of stress reduction by means

of a new breathing pattern.

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This relaxed state is a good place to begin the process of sensing

energies that will be used in the healing of self or others.

To heal effectively the healer becomes aware of the energies that arefound in the vicinity of any living organism

To be able to detect the energy needs of self and others it is necessary

to know what the sensors feel when the healer is in quiescent or

steady-state condition - so that a comparison can be made between

this steady-state condition when healing is not being done and the

sensations that are caused by the healee’s energy field.

The hand chakras - more will be said about chakras later in the course- are used by the healer to influence the healee in such as way as to

restore the balance of energies which will result in the return of health.

Here is an exercise that will establish the sensations of the hand

chakras when healing is not being done.

ASSESSING BASELINE HAND CHAKRA ENERGIES OF

SELF:

1. Return to the state of calm felt at the end of the exercise in

breathing for stress reduction.

2. Hold your hands in front of you - palms up - hold your elbows

just slightly away from your chest.

3. Make sure that your wrists are loose - move them once or twice

- they should be almost limp.

4. Do not let your hands touch in front of you.

5. In this peaceful state focus your attention on your hands -

especially the hollows of your palms - what do they feel like.6. How your hands feel at this time - in this centered state - is the

base line for your touch - stay in this position until you form a

clear memory of what your hands feel like.

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You will use this memory of how your hands feel when you are not

placing them in the aura of another person - [as you do in healing] -

to compare with how your hands feel when they are within the aura of

the healee.

THE SYMPTOMS OF STRESS DISEASE:

By doing experiments on animals - rats - exposing them to heat and

cold beyond the normal range of comfort for them - selye was able to

show that the adrenal glands of rats so exposed would show the effects

of the discomfort by increasing the size of the adrenal glands and the

amount of their output of adrenalin.

And this has a consequence.

It was found that the fight or flight reaction - when the adrenalin is not

soon burned off by exercise - will lead to the scarring of the interior of

arterial walls - leading to ‘hardening of the arteries’ - which we also

call atherosclerosis - so heart disease usually occurs as a result of

stress which is not relieved by exercise.

But heart disease is only one of the ailments that humans - and animals

- acquire by too much stress on the mind and body without an adequate

release of the adrenalin into the energy of action - more will be said on

this later.

Hans selye wrote the book ‘the stress of life’ - which became famous

and eventually made ‘stress’ a household word around the world

It is not an exaggeration to say that the discovery of the stress

reaction opened the door to a whole new concept of medicine.

And yet - the basic ideas had been known and accepted in much of the

world’s literature and religion - and also people in the healing activities

- doctors and surgeons throughout the ages - had often indicated that

they understood the basic principles.

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After all - bed rest - to give the body an opportunity to recuperate - has

been well-known throughout history.

Who could have known that these experiments would in half a century

become the basis for a new approach - a new model - we now call sucha new model by the name ‘paradigm’ - for the understanding of disease

and its processes.

Suddenly it became clear that the immune system was affected by such

stressors, and the breakdown of the immune system led to the intrusion

of disease into the organism.

It became useful to think of the disease bacteria and viruses as always

there in the body - but impotent - as long as the defenses of the body -that is to say - the immune system - is intact.

Since Hans Selye’s work we do not so much think of the bacteria and

viruses out there as causing disease symptoms - but rather - we think of

the disease as manifesting because the immune system has been

somehow weakened.

Learning to live with disease germs inside the body but without getting

the symptoms of the disease is one form of a process that we call

‘adaptation’.

It was also found that there is a limit to the amount of adaptation that

any organism can sustain - in other words - the living being is much

like a spring which can return to its original length only if the stress is

not too great or persisting for too long - after that - the spring will not

return - and the living organism will no longer adapt to intruders but

become symptomatic.

To become symptomatic is to begin to show the symptoms of a

disease.

For this reason the ability to adapt has been postulated as being in the

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form of an adaptive energy of which there is a finite amount given to

the living organism at the time of its conception.

When this energy runs out - the organism dies.

Now - here is an exercise that you can do to increase your sensitivity

to life energies:

EXERCISE - THE PALMAR STRETCH - SELF:

1. Continue in the state of calm.

2. Hold your hands in front of you - palms up - hold your elbows

just slightly away from your chest.3. Make sure that your wrists are loose - move them once or twice

- they should be almost limp.

4. Do not let your hands touch in front of you.

5. Now - extend and separate your fingers and stretch and

straighten you hands fully - bend the fingers down and away

from the palms as hard as you can - your palm muscles should

be fully stretched as far as they can stretch.

6. Do this palmar stretch for a slow count of 15.

7. Relax your hands and notice the sensations in your palms

especially - and also in your fingers - do they feel tingly - do

they feel warm - do they feel bubbly like the effervescence of a

soda (fizz) - or do they feel cold - is there a warm pulsation or a

cool pulsation.

8. Scan your whole hands for sensations - what do you feel in the

fingers - is there sensation on the backs of your hands.

Normally - when you reach for a pencil or a glass of water - or car keys

- or whatever else you intend to contact and sense - you do so with the

fingers - usually the tips of the fingers.

Begin to sense things now with the palms of your hands - become

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aware that you can do so - and focus on the sensations that arise in

your hands - especially the palms of your hands - when you contact

something.

Begin to feel the antennas reaching up out of the wells of your palms -and sense the item you are reaching for with these antennae.

When you reach for a toothbrush - sense it first with your palms.

Remember that you do not stop at your skin - so - when you reach for

the handle of your coffee cup - or when you reach for a glass of water -

or a towel - or a knife - spoon - or fork - your energy field will interact

with the energy filed of the item you are reaching for.

See if you can sense these items first with the palms of the hands -

even before the palms touch the item.

You will find that the sensations are not like a blaring trumpet - they

are exceedingly subtle and gentle - and you may have to be in a most

quiet and centered state to detect these sensations.

Your whole body in this centered state will appear to be ‘listening’ in

a most peaceful and quiet - yet attentive - state.

You may want to ‘listen’ with your palms to groups of flowers - or

other plants - or ‘listen’ this way to a pet animal - cats are good for

this - as you pet them - or even a bird.

Where plants are concerned - an aloe vera plant will do wonderfully for

the work of developing this subtle sense of touch.

Let’s continue now with exercises to increase our sensitivity to the

energies of living organisms.

Your own body also has energies that can be sensed by you.

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Here is an exercise to demonstrate this to you.

FIRST EXERCISE TO DETECT ENERGIES BETWEEN

HANDS - SELF:

1. Hold your hands out straight - parallel to the floor - one palm

up - one palm down.

2. Quickly open and close hands about twenty times.

3. Reverse the palms.

4. Again open and close twenty times.

5. Now open palms slowly and slowly bring palms together from

about two feet apart to a few inches apart.

6. You should be able to feel a subtle ball of energy between your palms - maybe even a sensation of turning - if you tune in

closely.

To begin with the process of becoming a healer the following exercise

will be of benefit to you - this is an exercise in healing others who are

not in your immediate vicinity.

For reasons that will be discussed much later in the course - reasons

that relate to physics and the quantum nature of the universe - the

healing of someone who is not in your immediate presence is just as

potent as that of actually laying the hands on the physical body of the

individual.

FOUNTAIN ABSENT-HEALING GUIDED MEDITATION:

1. Become very comfortable .

2. Imagine yourself in a park or garden near a steep cliff downwhich a waterfall is cascading.

3. See the blue sky - flowers - trees - grass - birds - children

playing out of sight.

4. See a fountain near the cliff - a beautiful fountain in the form of

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a powerful androgynous being - neither male nor female.

5. The waterfall gushes down - enters the head of the being - then

reappears in its heart area and cascades along its arms and in

an arc into the pool at its feet.

6. Hear the wind in the trees and the grass - hear the birds - hear the children at play in the distance - hear the splashing of the

fountain.

7. Feel the wind tousling your hair - feel it on your cheeks - on

any bare part of your body - feel it tug gently at your clothing -

open your mouth and feel the cool air on your tongue.

8. Smell the grass - the trees - the flowers - the water from the

fountain and in the pool.

9. Pull up a blade of grass at your feet - open your mouth and

chew on it - feel and taste it - smell it fragrance.

10. Pick a flower and taste it - move the petals between your lips -

feel the cool and satiny texture.

11. As you become calm and gaze at the fountain you slowly begin

to feel yourself becoming the fountain - it is like an irresistible

pull - you are not moving - you are simply becoming the

fountain - and beginning to gush forth healing energies in the

water that flows from your heart and hands.

12. You begin to imagine the water pouring forth and giving

healing to all about you - to the earth - to the grass - the trees -

the sky.13. The water flows in an inexhaustible stream from the sky and

through you.

14. Imagine someone you know who needs healing standing before

you - direct the healing waters to the individual and see that

individual become strong and beautiful - the perfect picture of

health.

15. Do this with as many individuals as you like.

16. When you are all done - come back - at your own rate - in your

own time - to the here and now - feeling refreshed and veryalert .

We tend to think of breathing as just the mere inhalation and exhalation

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of air into and out of the body.

And yet - breathing is one of the greatest tools and resources

influencing the vitality of our body and positively or negatively

affecting our emotions.

By breathing in specific ways we can:

1. Set our busy mind to rest.

2. Change our mood.

3. Increase our prolongevity.

4. Reduce stress.

5. Wake up alert without three cups of coffee.

6. Concentrate better.7. Improve our resistance to colds and respiratory infections.

8. Reduce our chance of heart disease.

9. Sleep a deeper - more thorough sleep.

Each of us breathes in specific ways that are unlike anyone else’s

breathing patterns - which are as unique and individualistic as our

fingerprints.

Each emotion has a unique breathing pattern all its own.

Breathing is one of the most complex - essential - and controllable

processes of the body.

Primarily it is a process for oxygenating the body and removing carbon

dioxide.

Both the heart and the blood - which oversee the maintenance of the

body’s internal environment - rely totally on the breath to supply them.

with oxygen and remove gaseous waste.

On the average we breathe about 15 times a minute.

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The breathing process functions both automatically and voluntarily -

unlike the flow of our blood or the beat of our heart - we are able to

change the rate and pattern of our breath whenever we wish.

Through controlling the way we breathe - we can better regulate theneeds of our body - because the breathing process is so intimately

connected with our every thought and action.

By mastering our breathing we can continually monitor and improve

our health - vitality - and emotions.

Initially you may find yourself becoming somewhat obsessive about

your breathing - this will soon pass.

Once you train yourself in proper breathing it will rapidly become

second nature.

WHAT IS ADAPTATION ENERGY?

This adaptation energy is a basic feature of life itself - the length of the

human lifespan appears to be primarily determined by the amount of

available adaptation energy.

This amount of adaptation energy appears to be an inheritance that is

given to the living organism at the time of its conception - some receive

more - some less.

A better understanding of this energy promises to show us how to

improve recovery from any kind of exhaustion and perhaps even to

prolong life.

But all we know about this energy at this time is that constant exposure

to any stressor will use it up - that much is certain - we can verify it by

experiment.

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We can demonstrate that anything to which adaptation is possible

eventually suffers exhaustion - which is the loss of the power to resist

stress placed upon it.

Exactly what it is that is lost we do not know - but it cannot be caloricenergy - that is - energy that we get from foods and oxygen - because

we can show that exhaustion occurs even when there is lots of food

and lots of oxygen.

The most important applications of the stress concept as regards purely

somatic medicine are derived from the discovery that the body can

meet aggressions of various kinds with the very same adaptive

defensive mechanism.

When we understand what this means we also understand that we can

combat disease by strengthening the body’s own defenses against

stress.

These defenses are mental attitudes.

We must examine and dissect our troubles so that we can clearly

distinguish the part played by the actual external stressor - and the part

played by our own mental processes.

This requires self-knowledge.

This self-knowledge will make it possible for us to see what part of the

stress comes to us from our own attempts to adapt by defense or

surrender.

We must learn how to:

1. Tune down when we are wrought up.

2. Overcome insomnia.

3. Get out of certain grooves of stereotypical behavior.

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Stress plays a role in aging - in development of individuality - in the

need for self-expression - and in the formulation of man’s ultimate

aims.

Without stress nothing can be accomplished - so stress is necessary -and it must be understood and managed so that the organism can live in

health and vitality to accomplish is teleological purposes.

There is a term - teleologic - which expresses the idea that an item or

organism has been designed to produce some result or function.

This term can be used to describe the energy of adaptation.

Teleologic = telos>end + logia>science - this refers to more than merecausality - it suggests purposeful causation - intention to achieve an

end or an aim.

Science can and constantly must examine teleologic motives in the

objects of creation - without this we are left with unintelligible masses

of facts but no understanding.

Since most of the stress that we suffer - both the good and the bad

stress known in the literature as ‘Eustress’ and ‘distress’ - is the direct

result of our emotional states - we need to understand and master the

emotions.

Most emotions are generated and sustained by interpersonal relations.

So it becomes important to understand the psychological laws or rules

that govern interpersonal relations.

Both our ecstacies and our sorrows must be understood and managed.

We must learn to recognize and deal with the emotions that cause us

the greater part of all the stress that we will feel in our lifetimes - stress

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that has more to do with how long and happily and healthily we live

than any other factors - including diet.

SECOND EXERCISE TO DETECT ENERGIES BETWEENTHE HANDS-SELF:

1. Remain in a state of calm.

2. Place your hands so that your palms face each other.

3. Bring your palms together - do not let them touch - keep about

1/4 to 1/8 inch between them.

4. Separate your hands until they are about 4 inches apart - then

slowly bring them back together in the former position - slightly

apart.5. Again separate your hands - this time to about 6 inches apart -

and again slowly bring them together.

6. Separate your hands again - this time to about 8 inches apart

Now bring them back together slowly - with slight bouncy

movements so that they move toward each other about 2 inches

at a time.

7. Check to see what you feel in your hands - be aware of any

sensations - until your hands are again 1/4 to 1/8 inches apart.

The human energy field is invisible - except under certain conditions

for some people - but - as you now know - there are ways of detecting

where a field exists.

We are all different - but the better we know what makes us tick - the

more likely we will be to make a success of life.

The ancient greek philosophers recognized with great clarity the

importance of self-knowledge - because this is the road to doing andthinking exactly those things that will maintain our energies and health-

they also realized that this was the most difficult of all knowledge to

attain.

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It takes great courage even just to attempt this self-knowledge

honestly.

How awful to come to the conclusion that what people say about us is

true!

But it is worth the effort and the humiliation - and this is because most

of our tensions and frustrations come from our compulsive needs to act

the role of someone that we are not.

As Matthew Arnold put it:

‘Resolve to be thyself: and know that he who findshimself - loses his misery.’

Few things earn you more goodwill and love than the gift of always

being yourself.

Unaffected simplicity is one of the most likable traits.

This was so well understood in the ancient past that it was even

emblazoned on the temple at corinth - in the famous words - ‘man --

know thyself’.

Corinth was a place that many individuals went to for their medical and

healing education - as well as for personal healing.

The mere fact of knowing what hurts has an inherent curative value -

we have been able to demonstrate this truth in psychoanalysis.

Once we can understand how previous experiences from very early

childhood - often hidden from us in the subconscious part of ourselves

- can be made harmless and even advantageous to us - we can become

whole and healthy again.

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The subconscious conflicts can continue to cause disease almost

indefinitely if not recognized and rendered harmless.

Just knowing the mechanism of our mental conflicts can render them

into a form where they cease to bother us.

This self-knowledge is an adaptive feature - it allows us to learn to live

with the injury by understanding and accepting it - so that we can

‘work around’ the injury.

As it happens - and this is certainly no accident - the pursuit of self-

knowledge is what all the major religions throughout our history have

stated and confirmed as being the ‘spiritual path’.

For those who are inclined to the spiritual this will come as no surprise

since they will already have experienced and recognized the spiritual

growth that follows the hard lessons of self-knowledge.

Here is an exercise to check your own energy field - you may be

surprised to learn that whatever will work with others when you are

doing a healing on them will also work for you to do a healing on

yourself.

EXERCISE IN ASSESSING ENERGY FIELDS OF THE SELF:

1. Remain in a calm state - relaxed - scan your fields from an inch

to 3 inches from your physical body.

2. Begin at the top of your head - use both hands - or just your

right or left hand - to scan the energy fields on the front of your

body.

3. If you are using both hands try to discover whether there is a

difference between what you feel on the right side of your bodywith your right hand and what you feel on the left side of your

body with your left hand.

4. Scan all the way down the front of your body - see whether you

can sense areas of your body where there are more intense

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energy fields.

5. Check for heat - cold - vibrations - rough areas in the field -

anything that you can sense with your finger-tips or your palms.

BEING KEYED UP:

What happens to us when we are tense?

At times of tension our adrenal glands produce an excess of adrenalin

and corticoids - and taking these drugs in a setting of illness can

produce exactly the same symptoms as being keyed up.

Those who are given large doses of cortisone to relieve allergic or rheumatoid conditions often find it difficult to sleep - or else they may

even become euphoric - carried away by an unreasonable sense of

well-being and buoyancy - which interferes with sleep - and may make

them seem slightly drunk.

Mental excitement is often followed by deep depression

It is important to realize that stress stimulates our glands to make

hormones which can induce a kind of drunkenness.

So one should check one’s conduct as carefully during times of stress

as one would at a cocktail party.

The fact is that a person can become intoxicated with his own stress

hormones.

We are on our guard against external intoxicants - but hormones are a

part of our bodies - it takes more wisdom to recognize and overcome

the foe which fights from within.

All during the day we must look for signs that we are keyed up too

much - and we must learn to stop in time.

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HOW TO TUNE DOWN:

It is not easy to tune down when you have exceeded your stress quota -

many more people are the helpless slaves of their own stressful

activities than of alcohol.

Simple rest is no cure-all.

Activity and rest must be judiciously balanced - and every person is

unique in his own characteristic requirements for rest and activity.

To lie motionless in bed all day is no relaxation for an active person.

No one part of the body must be disproportionately overworked for along time.

If there is proportionately too much stress in any one part of the body -

you need diversion - and if there is too much stress in the body as a

whole - you must rest.

Deviation or diversion is the act of turning something aside from its

course - it need not necessarily be a pleasant or relaxing diversion.

When the concentration of effort in any one part of our body or mind

is not very intense and chronic - milder types of deviation are often

quite effective - such as sports - dancing - music - reading - travel -

chewing gum - these always cause a decentralization of our efforts -

and this can restore a lopsided stress quotient to normal.

THE DEFINITION OF THE STRESS QUOTIENT:

Local stress in any one part

Stress quotient = ____________________________

Total stress in the body

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Here is another exercise in training your sensitivity to what your palms

send and receive

FIRST EXERCISE IN MODULATING HUMAN ENERGY -

TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING HUMAN ENERGY -

DIRECTING AND DETECTING:

In this exercise you will direct energy down your arm and into your

hand chakra - if you are the sender.

1. Pick a partner - decide who will be sender and who will be

receiver.2. Remain calm - now extend your right hand to your partner as if

you were going to shake hands - do not let your palms touch.

3. Keep the wrists loose and let your shoulder depress so that

there is a minimum of tension in your arms - this is true for

both sender and receiver - your eyes may be closed for the best

results.

4. The receiver will give directions to the sender.

5. The receiver now instructs the sender to check to see whether

the sender can feel what the energy that makes up the space just

below the right shoulder feels like - and to tell the receiver when the sender feels the energy.

6. The receiver instructs the sender to bring the energy down the

arm to the elbow - and to say when this has been done.

7. The receiver instructs the sender to bring the energy down from

the elbow to the wrist - and to say when this has been done.

8. The receiver now instructs the sender to feel the energy just

below the right shoulder - and as soon as the energy is felt - to

send the energy directly down the arm smoothly into the energy

center in the hollow of the sender’s palm.9. Now the receiver instructs the sender to again feel the energy at

the right shoulder - then to send the energy into the right palm -

and then send the energy across the gap from the sender’s palm

to the receiver’s palm and directly into the energy center of the

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receiver’s palm.

10. The receiver now “listens” for the energy in the palm of his

hand.

[This energy will be very subtle - very low - somewhat likebubbles in flowing water - or it may be a very light tingling

sensation.]

11. When the receiver can detect the energy flow consistently -

sender and receiver should exchange places and do the

exercise again.

With practice it will become possible to control the energy flow quiteaccurately - this is called modulating the energy flow.

When energy can not only be sent - but sent into the right places in the

right amounts - this is called modulation of the energy.

It comes from the word “modify” which indicates the ability to change

or control something in some way.

SECOND EXERCISE IN MODULATING HUMAN ENERGY -

TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING HUMAN ENERGY -

DIRECTING AND DETECTING:

1. Decide who will be sender - who will be receiver.

2. Remain calm.

3. Extend you right hands to each other as if about to shake hands

- do not let the palm touch.

4. The sender now decides which one of three colors - red - blue -

yellow - will be sent.5. The sender now tells the receiver what color will be sent.

6. After spending a moment to recall his/her experiences with one

of the colors - the sender recreates within him/herself the

feelings or tone that is associated with that color.

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7. When the sender can both visualize and feel the effect of the

color he/she then directs that feeling or inner sensation to the

area of his/her right shoulder.

8. Now the sender brings those associated energies down the arm

and into the palm of the receiver.

[The sender should have a well-defined feeling of “jumping the

gap” between the hand chakras - and should feel the impact

that the jump makes on the receiver’s hand chakra.]

9. The receiver now also “feels” the impact and notes what she/he

feels for the color.

10. The same process is repeated several times with the three

colors in any order - until the receiver feels that she/he can

detect the differences between the energies of the colors sent.

11. When the receiver feels ready - the sender sends a color without

first identifying the color to the receiver.

12. The receiver now ‘guesses’ the color that was sent.

13. This process is repeated several times to get an average of

correct guesses. (one out of three is just chance so there should

be more than one correct guess out of three tries to be better

than chance.)

14. It does not matter whether the receiver guesses the color

correctly every time - only that this should happen more thanone time out of three tries.

15. Sender and receiver exchange - and the exercise is done again.

From physics we know that the surrounding electrical fields and

magnetic field of our ordinary everyday world have an effect upon

objects within their range.

It is something of this nature that allows the healer to affect the healee -

and the other way around.

There seems to be a field - and we can sense this field - that connects

the healer and the healee and transfers healing energy.

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But the ability to project this energy from one human body to another is

dependent upon the amount of experience that the projector has in this

process - for this reason it is most important to project energies - and to

detect energies - wherever and whenever this can be done - whether

relatives or animals or plants are used to aid in this detection and projection is immaterial.

Practice is essential!

Different materials have different effects on the energies of the life

fields of our being.

Here is an exercise to assess the properties of cotton in relation to the

life fields:

FIRST EXERCISE IN SENDING ENERGY THROUGH

COTTON BETWEEN HANDS:

1. Your left hand should be open in front of you with the palm

upwards.

2. Lay a piece of cotton on your left hand.

3. Hold your open right hand with the palm downward over the

piece of cotton in your left hand - but two or three inches above

the cotton.

4. Begin to focus on the field - your personal space - just beyond

the palm of your right hand and cotton.

5. Now that you are aware of and focused on the field - begin to

visualize that you are reaching down with the field of your right

hand - reaching down into the palm of the left hand.

6. Move the right hand slowly and steadily nearer and then farther

from the cotton - up and down - and also in a small circle.

7. Do this for a full minute.8. During this minute make a mental note of any sensations that

arise in either hand - sensations such as heat - cold - tingling or

bubbling - pressure - pulsations - electric discharges - or any

other sensations that you experience.

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9. Now - give your piece of cotton to someone else - and take that

person’s piece of cotton.

10. Now repeat with this new cotton what you have just done with

your own - reach down with your right hand’s field again - all

the way into your own left hand through the cotton.11. Focus on what you detect - become aware of any sensations

that arise - compare what you experience with your neighbor’s

cotton with what you experienced with your own.

You will find that the energies of your life fields go right through the

cotton - and you will feel the tingling - heat - cold - pulsations - electric

shock - whatever it is that you sense - moving through the cotton into

your left hand.

As you have also just seen - cotton acts as an absorber and holder of

life field energies.

TEMPLE GUIDED SELF-HEALING MEDITATION:

1. Become very comfortable.

2. Begin to imagine a temple of white marble - tall white columns -

broad steps leading up to a wide expanse of marble floor.

3. Walk up the steps of the temple and onto the marble floor under

the massive white marble roof of the temple.

4. Become aware of an altar of red crystal - ruby or garnet - or

bloodstone.

5. Pause for a short time - think of your life in this physical world

- is there an issue of physical survival that has been troubling

you - some issue of physical living that is causing problems -

perhaps some problem with the physical body - or a lack of

something needed to make life easier to bear.6. Imagine this issue as healed for you - imagine your life with this

issue healed - imagine your life strongly with this issue healed.

7. Walk on and become aware of an altar of orange crystal -

coral.

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- is there an issue of personal relationships that has been

troubling you - some interpersonal interaction that is not going

as you would like it to - some conflict that is causing you pain -

or some issue of rejection - or of loneliness.9. Imagine this issue as healed for you - imagine your life with this


10. Walk on and become aware of an altar of yellow crystal -

amber - topaz.


- is there an issue of personal power that is troubling you - do

you find yourself unable to say ‘no’ when it would be better for

you if you did say ‘no’ - do you carry fears for the future - do

you wonder whether you can overcome the many difficulties

that keep coming your way.

12. Imagine these issues as healed for you - imagine your life with

these issues healed - imagine your life strongly with these

issues healed.

13. Walk on and become aware of an altar of green crystal -

emerald - tourmaline.

14. Pause for a short time - think of an issue of the heart that has

been troubling you - do you find yourself unable to love as you

would like to love - unconditionally and completely - do you feel

that you have not been and are not now loved in the way that you would like to be loved.

15. Imagine these issues as healed for you - imagine your life with


issues healed.

16. Walk on and become aware of an altar of blue crystal -

turquoise.

17. Pause for a short time - think of an issue of speaking out that

may have been troubling you - perhaps you feel that it would be

better if you could express your feelings more forcefully and effectively in certain situations - not speaking out is painful -

and speaking out also creates pain because of fear of speaking

out and asking for what you need.

18. Imagine this issue healed for you - imagine your life with this

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19. Walk on and become aware of an altar of indigo crystal - lapis

lazuli.

20. Pause for a short time - think of an issue of perception that may

have been troubling you - perhaps you feel that your life and the lives of those around you might improve if you were able to

perceive the thoughts and emotions of others more clearly -

perhaps it might lead to less conflict and pain - perhaps the

keener perceptions of others of your feelings would improve

your life.

21. Imagine this issue healed for you - imagine your life with this


22. Walk on and become aware of an altar of violet crystal -

amethyst.

23. Pause for a short time - think of an issue of your own

spirituality that may have been troubling you - is there an issue

of confusion as to your path in this life - is there a fear that you

may somehow “miss the mark” in your life - are there issues of

guilt or faith.

24. Imagine these issues healed for you - imagine your life with


issues healed.

25. At your own rate - in your own time - leave the temple floor and

walk down the temple steps into the here and now.

This time we will begin the lesson with an exercise instead of with a

theoretical discussion.

SECOND EXERCISE IN SENDING ENERGY THROUGH A

PIECE OF COTTON BETWEEN THE HANDS:

1. Remain in a relaxed state.

2. Hold your left hand in front of you with the palm open upwards.

3. Pick up a piece of 100% cotton - and place it in the open palm

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of your left hand - let it lie there loosely.

4. Strongly visualize one of the colors - red - blue - yellow.

[Remember some time when you were looking at such a color -

recall as vividly as possible your emotional response to thiscolor.]

5. Place the open right hand - palm downward - about 3 inches

above the cotton in your left hand.

6. Direct the flow of your energy in the color that you have chosen

downward from just below your right shoulder and through the

energy center (chakra) of your right hand and downward

through the cotton into the energy center (chakra) of your left

hand.

[To do this - focus your attention and visualize as clearly as

you can a ball of energy in the color you have chosen - and that

the energy is flowing from just below your right shoulder and

down your arm and hand and through the cotton into your left

hand.]

[Your energy will follow the line of focus of your attention.]

7. Direct the flow of energy in this way for two to three minutes.8. Exchange your piece of cotton with that of another participant -

choose a partner - doing this same exercise.

9. Tell your partner what color you were storing in the energy

field of the cotton.

[Your partner tells you what color she/he has stored for you.]

10. Do an assessment of your partner’s cotton piece - how does it

feel.11. Do this exercise a few times with the color identified for you by

your partner.

12. Now do the exercise again - but do not tell your partner what

color you were storing - have her/him guess - your partner also

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will not tell you the color she/he was storing - you guess the

color.

[If you are using three different colors in the exercise - then it

is only necessary to guess correctly more often than once out of three tries.]

The human energy field is invisible - except under certain conditions

for some people.

As you now know - there are ways of detecting where a field exists.

This field can even be shrouded so as to make it seem to disappear.

EXERCISE USING HAND ENERGIES THROUGH

A PLASTIC VEST:

1. Stand at some distance from the healee - the healee sitting or

standing.

2. Close your eyes.

3. Have the healee put a plastic vest over one side of the healee’s

upper chest area - the healee does not tell you on which side of

the chest the vest has been placed

4. Move to within about a foot of the healee.

5. Because of the plastic vest the energy field of the healee will not

feel as it did before in the area of the vest.

6. With eyes still closed do an assessment of the healee’s energy

field - as you did before - not touching the healee at any time

7. Determine from the change in the energy field on which side of

the healee the vest is placed.

8. State your perception - open your eyes to check your

perception.9. Change with your partner - with the healee becoming the healer

- and do the procedure again.

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BECOMING SENSITIVE TO THE LIVING ENERGY FIELD:

Take every opportunity that you can to become aware of and sensitive

to the energy fields of humans - animals - and plants.

In the therapeutic touch interaction very fine energies are being

accessed - they may not be accessible to your gross senses at first - so

this process of becoming ‘Attuned’ may take considerable time.

Whatever the time frame over which the sensitization takes place - one

thing remains the same and is the same for all healers - the process

requires going within.

Unless there is a going within - there will be no accessing of thesesensitivities.

Because of this fact we - as healers - must be willing to go within - as

deeply as it is possible for us to go at any given time.

This going within will begin to bring self-knowledge - and that can be

painful and require healing at some deep levels of the healer’s being.

When we go within we become aware that there are many levels to our

inward being - and these levels correspond to levels of consciousness.

SENSITIVITY TRAINING EXERCISE

CHARGING COTTON BATTING:

1. Let each person from the group take a piece of cotton batting in

her/his hand - in a separate place.

[Pick up the piece of 100% cotton - and place it in the open palm of your left hand - let it lie there loosely.

2. Strongly visualize one of the emotions - love - hate - anger -

envy - jealously - fear - physical pain - anxiety - an emotion

that you have felt strongly in your life.

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[Remember some time when you were feeling such an emotion

- recall as vividly as possible your response to this emotion.]

3. Place the open right hand - palm downward - about 3 inchesabove the cotton in your left hand.

4. Direct the flow of your energy - in the emotion that you have

chosen - downward from just below your right shoulder and

through the energy center (chakra) of your right hand and

downward through the cotton into the energy center (chakra) of

your left hand.

[To do this - focus your attention and visualize as clearly as

you can that the energy is flowing from just below your right

shoulder and down your arm and hand and through the cotton

into your left hand.]

[Your energy will follow the line of focus of your attention.]

5. Direct the flow of energy in this way for about ten minutes.

6. Do not tell anyone what the emotion is that is being imagined.

7. Each cotton is then placed centrally - by turn - one piece at a

time - on a chair or other stand.

8. The other participants now sit around the cotton in a circle -only the imprinter goes aside.

6. The participants in the circle quiet themselves and put out their

hands towards the cotton on the central chair - but not quite

touching.

7. Then - listening and feeling very carefully for the subtlest

energies - they attempt to identify the emotion that has been

placed on the cotton by the imprinter.

After about 5 minutes each sensor tells the group what has been felt -which of the emotions the cotton was projecting - this impression is

checked with the imprinter.

After all have expressed their perceptions the imprinter tells the group

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what emotion she/he was imagining.

TWO KINDS OF ADAPTATION ENERGY:

There is a superficial kind of adaptation energy - which is ready to use

at any moment - and there is a deeper kind - which acts as a frozen

reserve.

When superficial adaptation energy is exhausted during exertion - it

can be slowly restored from a deeper store during rest.

This gives a certain plasticity to our resistance.

It also stops us from wasting too much too lavishly on foolish or

wasteful moments - because acute fatigue will stop us before we can

get too far into the deeper store.

It is the restoration of the superficial adaptation energy from the deep

reserves that tricks us into believing that the loss has been made good.

Actually it has only been covered from the reserves - and the cost will

be the gradual depletion of the deeper reserves.

This is like spending cash out of a wallet and replacing it by

withdrawals from the bank - the loss has not been made good - the total

bank balance has been decreased.

JUST STAYING ALIVE IS NEVER ENOUGH:

Mankind certainly does not get the feeling of happiness - of having

completed a mission on earth - just by staying alive for a very long time

- on the contrary - a long life without the feeling of fulfillment is very

tedious.

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And yet - when and if we analyze our lives - most of us get the feeling

of merely muddling through - of drifting aimlessly from one day to

another.

Just staying alive - no matter how comfortably and securely - is noadequate outlet for our vital adaptation energy.

Though comfort and security make it easier for us to enjoy the great

things in life - they are not in themselves great and enjoyable aims.

It is a very fundamental human need to work for some reward - and we

tend to judge the degree of success by the amount of reward that we

can accumulate by these efforts.

How can we know whether we have accomplished enough to be secure

and happy?

The lessons of the laboratory regarding stress and its relief have been

vaguely understood and felt by almost all people in all ages - hence the

tendency of religions to incorporate and expound these truths.

The instinctive wisdom of our emotional lives has always dimly

perceived that we must put effort into worthwhile endeavors - these

being endeavors that produce the right kind of stress for a long and

healthy life.

It is gratifying to learn that much of what religions and philosophies

have taught as doctrines to guide our conduct is based on scientifically

understandable biological and psychological truths.

Is the need for self-expression the common denominator of mankind’s

ultimate aim? - do we always look for rewards because we need some

cumulative indicator of success which tells us to what extent we have

accomplished self-expression?

No matter how acute they may be - the pleasures of the flesh are

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ephemeral - they cannot be accumulated in the form of any kind of

capital.

They cannot give us the sense of a life mission well accomplished - of

having earned some type of wealth which assures our securitythroughout life.

So it seems that the laboratory can give us an idea of what our code of

ethics should be:

It can be stated in these words by Hans Selye:

‘Earn thy neighbor’s love - don’t just try to command it - and this is

compatible with mankind’s nature structure - and it is not unethical.’

Who could blame the individual who wants to assure her/his own

equilibrium and happiness by accumulating the treasure of other

people’s benevolence towards herself/himself.

Avoid remaining alone in the midst of the overcrowded society which

surrounds you.

Trust people - even though they often appear untrustworthy - if you do

not you will have no friends and no support from others.

If you have earned your neighbor’s love you will never be alone.

SENSITIVITY TRAINING EXERCISE

CIRCLE WITH ONE CENTRAL PROJECTOR:

1. Have one person from the group sit in a chair in a central

position.

2. The other participants sit around the projector in a circle.

3. The projector in the center begins to imagine that she/he is

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going through an emotional experience - the emotion may be

love - hate - anger - envy - jealously - fear - physical pain -

anxiety

[The technique is familiar by now - just as was done before withthe cotton - imagine strongly a time when this emotion was

overpowering - all the aspects of the emotion are remembered

and heightened and then projected.]

4. The projector does not tell anyone what the emotion is that is

being imagined.

5. The participants in the circle quiet themselves and put out their

hands towards the person in the central chair - but not quite

touching.

6. Then - listening and feeling very carefully for the subtlest

energies - they attempt to identify the emotion that is being

imagined by the projector.

After about 5 minutes each sensor tells the group what has been felt -

which of the emotions the projector was projecting.

After all have expressed their perceptions the subject tells the group

what she/he was imagining.

It is possible and desirable to learn to sense the emotions of others -

without words being needed.

AGING:

Aging - particularly premature aging - is due to the constant and

eventually exhausting stresses of life.

Aging - at least true physiological aging - is not determined by the time

elapsed since birth - but by the total amount of wear and tear to which

the body has been exposed.

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There is a great difference between chronological and physiological

age.

One individual may be much more senile in body and mind and much

closer to the grave at forty than another at sixty.

True age depends largely on the wear and tear - on the speed of self-

consumption.

Life is essentially a process which gradually spends the given amount

of adaptation energy that we inherited from our parents.

Vitality is like a special kind of bank account which you can use up by

withdrawals but cannot increase by deposits.

The only thing that you can control is the rate at which you take out the

energy.

If you stop withdrawing you will encounter death - so you cannot stop

taking the energy out.

You could draw out only enough for a vegetative existence - but this

would not be any fun - life would be drab.

The intelligent thing to do is to withdraw and expend generously - but

never wasting in worthless effort.

People believe that after they have exposed themselves to very stressful

activities a rest can restore them to where they were before.

This is a false idea.

Experiments on animals have shown that each exposure to stress leaves

an indelible scar - it uses up reserves of adaptability which cannot be

replaced.

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It is true that immediately after some harassing experience rest can

restore us to almost the original level of fitness by eliminating the acute

fatigue.

The emphasis is on the words ‘Almost’ and ‘acute’.

Even a minute deficit of adaptation energy every day adds up - it adds

up to what we call ‘aging’.

STRESS WITHOUT DISTRESS:

From the point of view of its stress-producing or stressor activity - it is

immaterial whether the agent or situation we face is pleasant or unpleasant - all that counts is the intensity of the demand for

readjustment or adaptation.

The mother who is suddenly told that her only son has died in battle

suffers a terrible mental shock - if years later it turns out that the news

was false and the son unexpectedly walks into her room alive and well

she then may experience extreme joy.

The specific results of the two events - sorrow and joy - are completely

different - in fact opposite to each other - yet their stressor effect - the

non-specific demand to readjust herself to an entirely new situation -

may be the same.

WHAT STRESS IS NOT:

1. Stress is not merely nervous tension - animals that have no

nervous system also suffer stress.

2. Stress is not always the nonspecific result of damage - since

stress can be either pleasant or unpleasant - any kind of normal

activity - a game of chess - or a passionate embrace - these can

also produce considerable stress.

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[Damaging or unpleasant stress is ‘Dis-tress’]

3. Stress is not something to be avoided - in fact - it cannot be

avoided.4. Complete freedom from stress is death.

A TECHNIQUE OFTEN USED FOR COMPLETE

MUSCLE CONTROL AND RELAXATION:

A technique that is used a great deal is the progressive alternation of

tensing a group of muscles and then relaxing them.

To learn the techniques of effective control of the muscles in such a

way as to differentiate between the muscle groups may take up to a

year to learn.

The purpose of this exercise is to help you to become aware of and

learn to control very small changes in muscle tension.

This exercise emphasizes the relaxation of voluntary skeletal muscles -

all the muscles over which you have conscious control - this seeks to

achieve increased control over skeletal muscles until a subject is able

to induce very low levels of tension in the major muscle groups - such

as in the arms and legs.

Dr. E. Jacobson who devised the technique argues that anxiety neurosis

and other related diseases are caused or aggravated by skeletal muscle

contraction - and muscular relaxation produces opposite psychological

effects.

Progressive relaxation is practiced lying down in a quiet room.

A passive attitude is essential because mental images induce slight

measurable muscle tension - especially in the eyes and face.

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The subject is taught to recognize even the minute contraction of his or

her muscles so that he or she can avoid them and achieve the deepest

degrees of relaxation possible.

TENSE-RELAX EXERCISE:

1. Find a comfortable position.

2. Close your eyes gently.

[If you prefer you may keep your eyes open.]

3. Take a deep breath - hold for a count of four.

4. Exhale slowly - let all tension fade away.5. Breathe normally.

6. Scan your body for signs of tension.

[Notice any tension - pressure - or pain.]

[It may take a minute or two at first - but with practice you will

become aware of tension in just a few seconds.]

7. Now relax those areas that have tension - one by one.

8. Now scan for areas that are already quite relaxed.9. When the scans are completed begin by clenching your toes on

both feet - pull as tight as you can - then tighter still.

10. Hold clenched for about a count of 5 - while letting all other

muscles in your body remain in a relaxed state.

[Note - if you experience cramping - force your toes up

immediately as far as they will go - and do the exercise more

moderately.]

11. Notice where the tension is in your toes.

12. Relax your toes.

[Do this all at once - not by easing off - but by a sudden act of

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the will.]

13. Now be aware of how the muscles in your toes feel as they relax

to the limit.

[You are trying to become aware of exactly what it feels like to

relax the toes - what the letting-go feeling is like - so that you

can learn to do this quickly and on demand - without the

tensing.]

[You want to form an association in your mind and memory

between the letting-go feeling and complete relaxation.]

[After you have tensed the muscles and allowed them to relax

suddenly - the muscles continue to drift towards relaxation in

stages - you want to know what those stages feel like - so that

you can reproduce that feeling at will - and quickly.]

14. Now tense the muscles in the calves of your legs - do this by

forcing your toes up and then pulling your legs in towards your

thighs.

15. Hold for a count of 5.

16. Now release suddenly - be aware of the progressive relaxation

of the muscles of the calves of your legs.17. Now tense the muscles in your knees.



of the muscles of your knees.

20. Now tense the muscles in your thighs.



of the muscles of the thighs.

23. Now tense the muscles in your buttocks.24. Hold for a count of 5.


of the muscles of the buttocks.

26. Now tense the muscles in your lower abdomen.

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of the muscles of the lower abdomen.

29. Now tense your stomach muscles.

30. Hold for a count of 5.31. Now release suddenly - be aware of the progressive relaxation

of your stomach muscles.

32. Now tense the muscles of your chest.



of the muscles of your chest.

35. Now tense the muscles of your shoulders.



of the muscles of your shoulders.

38. Now tense the muscles of your upper arms.



of the muscles of your upper arms.

41. Now tense the muscles of your forearms.



of the muscles of your forearms.

44. Now tense the muscles of your hands - make tight fists.45. Hold for a count of 5.


of the muscles of your hands.

47. Now pull your forearms up against your upper arms.



of the muscles of your arms.

50. Now tense the muscles of your throat.

51. Hold for a count of 5.52. Now release suddenly - be aware of the progressive relaxation

of the muscles of your throat.

53. Now tense the muscles of your neck.


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of the muscles of your neck.

56. Now tense the muscles of your jaw.


58. Now release suddenly - be aware of the progressive relaxationof the muscles of your jaw.

59. Now tense the muscles of your eyelids by closing your eyes

tightly.


61. Now - keeping your eyes closed - release suddenly - be aware of

the progressive relaxation of the muscles of your eyes.

62. With you eyes still closed - roll your eyes in a large circle for a

count of 5 - be careful - these muscles can be strained easily -

make the circles just large enough so that you can feel the

tension go round and round.

63. Now relax - follow the relaxation attentively.

64. Now tense the muscles of your forehead.

[Notice where the central focus of tension is - and the adjacent

muscles that are affected by the tensing of the forehead.]



of the muscles of your forehead.

[Pay close attention to how the muscles feel at the various

levels as they drift toward relaxation - after they have been

tight the muscles let go by stages - it is these stages that you

will learn to recognize and become familiar with.]

[Once you have learned to identify the various degrees of

muscle tension-relaxation - you can duplicate any level that you

may desire.]

67. Now - take a deep breath.

68. Hold for a count of four.

69. Release the breath slowly.

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[Note how your entire body feels - see if any tension that you

noticed before the exercise is still present.]

70. Stretch fully - continue with your daily activities.

[The practice of this exercise will help you to learn to recognize

tension when it first begins to build - any slight change in

muscle tension can be noticed - and this awareness early on in

the tension loop will allow you to defuse the tension at the

start.]

HOARDING AND FEAR:

Collecting or hoarding is as characteristic of life as is egotism - in fact -

it is one of the manifestations of selfishness.

Even many animals instinctively hoard things that they may need in the

future to ensure their own security.

The same impulse drives entire human societies to amass a system of

roads - telephones - cities - and fortifications that strike them as useful

means of accumulating the ingredients of security and comfort.

By collecting certain things you acquire status and security in your

community.

This is the essence of capitalism - to hoard for future security - to

become free of the fear of being attacked and made vulnerable.

The basis of this drive is fear.

Egotism or selfishness is the most ancient characteristic feature of life -

we must all protect our own interests first of all.

We can hardly expect someone else to look after us more

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conscientiously than after her/himself.

SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF HOARDING AND FEAR:

And yet - we are afraid of this attitude because it also harbors the seeds

of fight and revenge.

Curiously - many of us are also motivated by altruistic feelings.

And in spite of first appearances - these two apparently contradictory

impulses are not incompatible - the instinct for self-preservation need

not conflict with the wish to help others.

Altruism is a kind of collective selfishness that helps the community as

a whole in that it often engenders gratitude in those who have been the

recipients of altruism.

It can make us wish that someone may prosper because of what he has

done for us or others - and will likely do for us again - this elicits

goodwill.

This is a humane way of assuring our security in society - as opposed

to the inhumane ways of violence and coercion.

By creating gratitude and trust we induce others to share our natural

wish for our own well-being.

And this is the better way - and leads to better health - and if there is a

teleological reason for our existence then this health benefit should not

surprise us.

It would be a ridiculous and insane creation indeed if there were no

sane way to live and thrive within the universe.

Both short and long-term goals may be pursued either unconsciously to

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satisfy basic drives or as consciously accepted guidelines to the

ultimate aim - the fulfillment of what we consider our purpose.

Hans selye’s suggestion is that the earning of love will direct the

hoarding instinct toward what is the more permanent and valuablecommodity that man can collect: a huge capital of goodwill which

protects the individual against personal attacks by his fellow men.

WHY ARE WE HERE?

Many of our problems with health and human interactions would seem

to be made easier to deal with if we had some idea of why we are here

- what our true purpose in life might be - our reason for living.

Humans have always found it difficult to live effectively and in good

health when they did not sense some purpose in their lives or believe in

some reason for their existence.

Below is a list of plausible purposes that some people - philosophers

and such - have thought we are here to accomplish.

Perhaps some of these reasons appeal to you and make your own life

worth living.

PLAUSIBLE PURPOSES FOR OUR EXISTENCE:

1. Lean on the powerful: pleasing god - serving the king - who

symbolizes the fatherland or the motherland - serving one’s

country - or loyalty to a political system - whether fascism -

communism - republicanism - democracy.

2. Promoting the good of the family - through self-sacrifice for the

spouse or the children - unswerving adherence to a code of

honor.

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served man in his search for a long-term objective to which he can

devote his whole life.

BREATHING EXERCISE FOR SELF-AWARENESS:

The awareness breathing will bring you into touch with your mental

processes and your body.

You will gain better insight into who you are - how you do things - and

what you want.

The awareness breath is designed to increase your inner sensitivity.

THE SELF-AWARENESS BREATH:

1. In a quiet room - lie on your back on the floor.

2. Hold this position for a minute with your eyes closed .

3. Slowly begin to inhale - inflating the lower abdomen and

diaphragm first - then expanding the rib area - and finally

filling the upper chest.

4. As you inhale - slowly lift your arms so that they rise up and

form an arc over you - then keep moving them up and back until

they come to rest on the floor behind you.

5. While forming this arc - let your outstretched fingers guide your

arms - which should more or less be in line with your

outstretched legs.

6. Let the breath enter in a line straight up into your forehead.

7. Check your inhalation - making sure that the breath is silent - if

you are making a wheezing noise or a sniffing noise you are

breathing in too much too soon - refine your breath so that it

enters the nostrils as if were a long silken thread - not a gush of wind - concentrate on the quality of the air you are inhaling.

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