Kombuchat

What is mindful awareness–and why is everyone doing it?

Many companies now offer meditative escapes, which are vacations that are specifically designed to enhance your abilities for mindful meditation.

So what exactly is mindful meditation?

According to Diana Winston, director of education for UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, it’s “[p]aying attention to present moment experiences with open, curious attention and a willingness to be with what is.”

That’s right–UCLA now has a Mindful Awareness Research Center.  It goes to show just how much meditation is being finally accepted by the mainstream.

In a retreat, visitors are encouraged to bring no electronic devices, eat vegetarian meals, clean up their own dishes, and eschew conversation.

The effect is to impart a strong degree of awareness and living-in-the-present, and with an ever-growing number of devotees, it certainly seems the retreats work.

How meditation makes you a better person

Among the many health benefits of meditation, there’s a new one—it makes you a nicer person.

In a new study between Northeastern and Harvard Universities, it was found that “meditation can improve compassion and do-gooder behavior.”

Surprise–meditation actually makes you a better person.

An actor in crutches struggled with a waiting room, and volunteers either responded to help or didn’t. The overwhelming number of those who underwent meditation treatment helped the person versus those who didn’t.

It goes to show that the benefits of meditation aren’t just physical—the benefits can help everyone!

The Apple Cider Vinegar trick you never thought of

Apple cider vinegar is known for having such a wide variety of health properties.

One of the newest claims is that it helps your complexion.

In fact, “[s]ome restaurants have recently begun offering shots of vinegar juice as a skin-boosting beverage”.

And what can it do?

Avid drinkers claim “firmer skin and more youthful appearance, as well as reduction of minor skin rashes and improved skin texture.”

This could be due to “beta carotene in the apples which acts as an agent for anti-aging”.

So if you’re tired of that dull complexion and want a little boost to your glow, try drinking “around two teaspoons, mixed with water”. It could be the thing you need to help you look your best.

Ow! How meditation helps pain relief

Meditation has so many health benefits that it’s difficult to keep them all in line.

Today, we return to one of its original discovered benefits—relieving pain and stress.

Heart-centered meditation has the ability to help your body through times of physical pain and stress.

Here is what you need to do:

Make your breath complete, with the assistance of your abdominal muscles. Inhale completely and balloon your abdomen out, then exhale and squeeze your abdomen toward your spine. Repeat this cycle 10 times.

Make sure to do this consistently with your heart rate. That way, you can synchronize your meditation and feel the full effects.

This type of meditation is geared towards relieving pain and stress.

So the next time you’re in a painful or stressful situation—try it out!

How Hollywood is using meditation for charity

There are two new endorsers of meditation out of Hollywood, but it’s not quite who you think.

Well-known filmmaker David Lynch (Mulholland Drive, Elephant Man, Dune) profiled the importance of meditation in a new film, Meditation Creativity Peace, which “follows the director during his 2007 visits to film schools in 16 Middle Eastern and European countries to talk about meditation, art and peace.”

On stage, Lynch was joined by Russell Brand, comedian, and fellow meditation devotee.

Lynch and Brand have teamed up to bring meditation to over one million schoolchildren who can implement it into their daily lives.

It’s good to see Hollywood embracing meditation–and not just in their own lives–but using their influence to spread it around the world.

Don’t stress! How meditation can help chill you out

There’s something meditation devotees have always noticed about meditation—it’s a real stress-reducer.

And now, there is a study that backs them up.

A UC Davis study shows that “focusing on the present — or being mindful — can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.”

In the study:

[i]ndividuals who scored high on the mindfulness questionnaire also had low levels in cortisol, both before and after the retreat. Subjects whose mindfulness score increased after the retreat also showed a decrease in cortisol.

Finally, it’s been proven that stress can literally be reduced by meditation. It also explains why doctors, especially cardiologists, are asking their patients to embrace meditation as a form of stress treatment.

So if you’re stressed, if you find yourself constantly on the edge, if your loved ones are constantly telling you to calm down–give meditation a try.

If there’s good bacteria, is there also good fungi?

You’re covered in tons of disgusting stuff—bacteria, fungus, and microbes.

You, everyone you know, your mom, The Queen of England, the bum on the corner—everyone’s got it.

And according to a recent study, it turns out we’ve got more than we ever thought before:

the remarkable variety of fungi we have at various places along our body—14 spots in all, including the creases behind the ear, the toes, the heels, the glabella (that’s the spot between your eyebrows), and the inguinal crease.

Most of the fungi are good fungi and harmless. Athlete’s foot, jock itch and others are not.

But it’s clear that when we try to kill everything on our bodies, we end up killing ourselves. We’re living, breathing breeding grounds for a little bit of everything. And it’s time we accept it.

mushroom mushroom

How meditation changes your brain

One of the great things about meditation is that it can actually rewire our brains.

For those of us who suffer from difficulties with addiction, anxiety, and depression, “[m]indful awareness facilitates greater awareness of bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions and leads to greater capacity for self-regulation and self-control.”

Neuropsychiatrists and Zen teachers agree on the benefits of meditation for healing your brain and allowing you the ability to change habits or behaviors that are negatively impacting your life.

It’s good to see that mainstream medicine is embracing the benefits of meditation to help people who are being failed by the current system.  As healthcare costs continue to rise, we have to look for reasonable alternatives.  After all–cures can’t always be found in a pill.

This doctor discovered the positive effects of meditation

Dr. Susan Bougher is a proponent of meditation after she found how well it worked in her own life:

I noticed a greater ability to stay focused and ‘on track’ in the middle of busy days where there’s a lot of multi-tasking going on. And compared with the days before meditating, I find that I am more aware of my emotions and feelings.

But meditation doesn’t need to be hours upon hours spent in solitary confinement. In fact, according to Gen Kelsang Nampur, a Buddhist nun in Australia, “[t]en to 15 minutes a day is enough. If you do that every day, your stress levels will go down, you’ll sleep better and you’ll have more patience.”

Meditation is now becoming more and more mainstream.  Instead of writing prescriptions for chill pills, doctors are starting to refer their patients to therapists specializing in meditation.

Just like exercise, meditation is something that can be done every day as part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Taking prescriptions? Read this before you start drinking kombucha

There have been spotty reports that kombucha consumption can indeed be dangerous.

There is little evidence to back this up, but according to Dr. Michele Berman:

[t]he greatest danger from kombucha seems to arise in “home brew” versions that have become contaminated because of improper preparation and/or when kombucha interacts with alcohol or prescription drugs.

People should be careful when consuming kombucha, especially if it’s made at home. And if you take prescriptions, it’s good to check with your doctor to ensure that there won’t be any adverse reactions (it sounds like some may be due to the small amount of alcohol content interfering with certain meds).

By and large, however, kombucha is extremely safe to drink and the entire beverage should not be tarred just because of a few instances of misuse.