Meditation: Retraining the Brain

I just got back from the Dr., my 5th visit this year I believe. Everything we talked about, my seemingly never-ending list of symptoms & problems, it all seemed to point back to the big "S" = STRESS. Bah. She talked about the depletion of the adrenal glands when we live lives high in stress, that years of demanding them to function at high levels leads to adrenal fatigue, & an onslaught of other problems.

She did a fascinating test where she looked turned off most of the lights in the room & shined a bright light in my eyes, much like at the eye Dr. After looking in both eyes at different times she nodded & said it was just as she suspected. She explained that normally the pupil should shrink with the bright light, but people who experience adrenal fatigue have pupils that get small then dilate, then get small again - like a spasm of the muscle.

So the top of my to list? DE-STRESS. One of the best ways to do this? Meditation. So many people have a false idea of what it really is & the implications of it seem too bizarre for most conservative American minds. I want to compel you to strip away any ideas of religion when you consider it. I'm not talking about becoming Buddhist - I'm talking about retraining your brain cells to communicate properly.

When we live stressed lives, our brain cells will react to certain things in such a way that sets off an entire series of neurological firings that ultimately lead to disease over time. Heart attacks, hormonal imbalances, the list goes on. But when we sit in meditation/silence/stillness, we are teaching our brains what it is like to simply be present moment to moment in what I like to call a "noise free space." free from the white noise we live in 24/7, whether it's dreams, people, conversations, sensory experiences, movement, computers, ads, etc etc. Getting rid of that stuff for a designated time, ALL of it, will literally retrain your brain to not fire off under stress, under the pressure of the noise.

I recently went to a meditation & movement workshop, an integration of yoga & seated meditation with visualizations (I like to visualize the beauty of solid & rooted trees, something that doesn't MOVE - b/c I tend to do a lot of moving, especially my restless mind when I am sleeping). I swear that the rest of my day I felt a lightness, less reactive to normal things that would stress the hell out of me - driving on the highway, crowds of people, too many noises all at once. I was able to be focused on what my friends were saying when we were talking, because I wasn't hearing things racing through my head about what I had to do that day & what time the meter on my car was going to run out & how my skin might be looking today or what I was going to eat for dinner. My mind was at rest & I was PRESENT with our engagement.

I've read that monks who meditate for years have been recorded as not flinching when gun fire was shot. There are endless studies done on how stress & stress related diseases are reduced when patients meditate. Stress is a CHEMICAL & not natural to a state of internal balance. Meditation acts as a reversal of this process, with such results as reducing the plaque build up in the coronary arteries & increasing the number of immune cells that fight breast cancer.

How to meditate:
-I recommend looking for groups to meditate with when possible - Zen centers, or yoga centers often have free & open invitation sittings. There's a discipline involved when you have schedule time & drive somewhere :) I find this to be the most productive way.

-At home, you can find a stress free spot, a room or space you find peaceful. Sit on a blanket or a pillow to open your hips so your back does not fatigue. Avoid distracting noises/ bright lights, & sit. Focus on deep breaths in & out, & use images that work for you that ground you & create a sense of stability. Artists - you should use this to your advantage!! Trees, mountains, oceans - they all have something to teach us! Stillness, vastness, strength - what would it be like to think on them in this way, as teachers to US?

Meditation is not like sleeping in that the act of stillness while remaining conscious is a completely different physiological & spiritual experience than conking out in bed. It's present, real, & focused in the most ambitious of ways. Apart from the TREMENDOUS spiritual benefit (which I will blog about later) I highly highly recommend it purely for the physiological nurturing it provides those overworked, Americanized brain cells!

Medicinal Urine

OK I know what you are thinking. But hang with me a bit. I have recently been doing a lot of research on what is known as Urine Therapy for my own health concerns, but also out of sheer curiosity. I had heard about using one's own pee on your scalp from a Russian co-worker years ago. I'm pretty sure I just thought her ludicrous and didn't think twice of it.

About 3 weeks ago I was in a health store here in Seattle and decided (without much expectation) to ask the lady working if she had any recommendations for acne products. We got to talking and she told me she was from Poland, which for some reason made me trust what she had to say. After spending months learning about the toxins Americans are exposed to everyday I've grown a great respect for Eastern alternatives and about natural health remedies in general. So I heard her out.

Instead of recommending a really expensive product, she simply said "You are gonna think I'm crazy, but you should consider 'You-ryne' Therapy." I had no clue what she said under her thick accent, so I said "What?" And when she said it again, I said, "Oh!" I think I sat on it for about a week before I even really researched it. Turns out people have been using their own pee for remedies for thousands of years. And I was / am desperate to get rid of my acne without using harmful chemicals, so I decided to take the plunge.

I found out that your pee is essentially excess vitamins, nutrients, minerals, hormones, etc etc that your body couldn't absorb or use- it is not toxic. And so in using your own urine you are basically putting back on your skin (if you decide to use it topically instead of internally - I'm not ready for that yet) what your body didn't absorb the first time. Even more fascinating is the fact that your urine is a snapshot of what your immune system was alarmed by and passed on to your kidneys - in homeopathic fashion, the idea of reintroducing this back into your immune system will give it a second chance to confront the exact same problems. For this reason, Urine Therapy has been successful in treating allergies among other things. And the pharmaceutical industry even uses Urea in many many medicines because of it's many benefits.

Before you stop reading or worse, stop talking to me, ha, please consider the popularity of this naturally remedy. A quick google search will prove just that. It has been used for ailments such as:

Acne
Psoriasis
Cold, Flu
Metabolic problems
Allergies
Digestive problems
Cancer
Lupus
Arthritis
Hepatitis
Diabetes
And more!

I understand that my attempts at convincing alone will not sway the most stubborn readers, so I encourage you to research on your own. I can only vouch for my own success thus far. In 3 weeks I've noticed severe improvement and most of my blemishes heal within a few days instead of a week or more. I can assume this is because of soaking these inflammations with nutrient rich, well - pee! I'll have to update you in the weeks to come since shifting your body's habits and functions can often take months. Go on, read about it!