Category: Clinic

Folks, I came across yet another breathing technique that was so powerful that I am compelled to share this with you. Developed by a Navy SEAL, it is shockingly simple, and I will outline it here.

 

1. Breath out, maximally. (Fun fact: The article alludes to “empty lungs.” Your lungs are actually never empty, courtesy of residual volume.)
2. Count to four.
3. Inhale through the nose while counting to four.
4. Hold your breath while counting to four. Mark Divine advises not to bear down (or perform a squeezing sensation, but to simply hold this air volume in your lungs.
5. Breath out while counting to four.

 

This is one iteration of box breathing. I performed one circuit, literally just one, and I felt that my mind was clear, my vision was bright, and my body was light. Did you do it for the recommended five minutes? What did you experience? Let me know in the comments, or at your next appointment.

 

P.S. There are many breathing techniques out there, I’ve noticed, many of which are new and invented by modern people. Have you invented your own breathing technique?

Chiropractic has its own philosophy. One of our tenets is that the nervous system is supreme. This means that we believe that out of all of the organ systems of the body, the nervous system is the best and the most powerful. That’s why we adjust the spine, as it houses components of the nervous system. Another philosophical precept is the mechanism of the subluxation, which may be one, or any combination of, the following:

 

• Mechanical trauma
• Psychological stress
• Chemical toxins

 

We have ample evidence that mechanical trauma causes subluxation. Chronic overuse injuries or sudden and acute accidents can cause subluxation or, if particularly severe, luxation (complete separation of joints). The research literature on psychological stress or chemical toxins causing subluxation is sparse, but not nonexistent. As I read this article on stress relief, I was struck by how the top two symptoms of stress, headaches and back pain, can be and are treated by chiropractic care.

 

Some years ago, researchers explored this further. They used positron emission tomography (PET) to measure the changes in the brain after receiving chiropractic manipulation. While the number of participants in this study is low, the results are very exciting. Not only did patients report decreases in pain and stress, changes in the brain associated with stress and pain reduction were noted after chiropractic adjustments.

 

While neither of these two articles suggest that psychological stress causes subluxation, they indicate that chiropractic can be used to manage symptoms of stress and reduce stress in general. I find that quite inspiring.

 

Have you ever noticed a decrease in stress after an adjustment? Let me know in the comments, or at your next appointment.

Have you ever been in-between chiropractic appointments and thought to yourself, “Gosh, I just really need an adjustment”? Exercise can help you manage joint pain between trips to a chiropractor. When treating chronic, overuse neuromuscular injuries, I follow a simple paradigm.

 

1. Correct joint misalignment (the chiropractic adjustment)
2. Stretch tight muscles (these are the ones that feel stiff and knotted)
3. Strengthen weak muscles (these are the ones involved in movements that you tell me are difficult to accomplish)
4. Movement reeducation (how to accomplishment a motion using a more efficient and effective set of muscles)

 

So, which exercises? Ask me at your next appointment, and it seems that Harvard offers an ebook for purchase. Do you have this book? How is it? Let me know in the comments.

We’ve reached the final topic in this series, which Harvard terms positive thinking. Before I delve into this topic, I want to introduce basic cognitive-behavioral theory. The premise of this theory is that the relationship between cognition (which includes thinking, judging, reasoning, perceiving, processing, analyzing, synthesizing, imagining, etc.) and behavior is linear. The relationship is as follows:

 

Thoughts –> Emotions –> Behavior

 

From this paradigm, one can deduce that for every behavior there is a corresponding and logically derived thought that led to it. If we take it one step farther, that means that if the thought were different, then the resulting behavior would correspond to this thought and would be different than the behavior with another thought motivator. Cognitive-behavioral theory is the basis for cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Affirmations are but one of many therapeutic techniques within cognitive-behavioral therapy.

 

I like affirmations because it is particularly useful in everyday life, in that one does not need to be with a psychologist or psychiatrist in order to practice it. At its essence, an affirmation is an encouraging, non-judgmental statement from the self to the self. This doesn’t mean that these statements need to be out loud; no usage of the vocal cords is required at all. But it can be, if you wish it, if it works for you. I often see Olympic athletes whisper to themselves before their performance; I imagine that these are their affirmations. For example, here is Usain Bolt at the London 2012 Olympics.

 

Examples of affirmations are, “I am strong,” or “I am fast,” or “I am ready.” Notice that these are positive affirmations; they are sentences that are structured to present what is, rather than what is not. For comparison, “I am not slow” is an example of a negative affirmation. Observe the difference in feelings elicited from that versus “I am fast.” Essentially, they mean the same thing, but it feels so different. Remember how feelings lead to behavior? How do you think you would act if you thought, “I am not slow”? How would you perform if, instead, you thought, “I am fast”?

 

Do you have an affirmation? Share in the comments or tell me at your next appointment.

 

That’s all, folks! For this series, at least. If you have ideas for other topics, do let me know.

We continue this week again, with my being at a loss for words. (It’s really quite impressive that this Harvard article was able to compress both yoga and tai chi into one bullet point.) Again, I will borrow the words from the experts, but I will present them in a very specific order. As usual, listen and watch mindfully to these videos.

 

First, Jet Li speaks about the concept of harmony of mind and body and through that, health and happiness. This channel has many lessons, if you should wish to continue your exploration of this discipline.

 

Second, Matthew Wolf guides a group of young folk in a Tai Chi exercise. He introduces the concept of the weapon with the sheath (pervasive in Chinese martial arts), the act of being rooted to the earth, and the coordination of breath and movement.

 

Third, Sandeep Desai demonstrates some Tai Chi forms and talks further about its accompanying philosophy. I was very inspired by this talk, and so impressed by how he breathes (which is strikingly different from the type of breathing I spoke about in earlier weeks).

 

Have you taken a Tai Chi class? How was it? Share in the comments. Not sure if you can incorporate this into your routine? Ask me at your next appointment.

The next topic in this series is yoga.

 

I am overwhelmed. Where and how do I even start on this topic? As you know, I practice Ashtanga yoga, but I am no closer to explaining it than I was when I first started two years ago. Instead, I will defer to the words of two prominent yoga teachers, Tao Porchon-Lynch and R. Sharath Jois. Listen and watch mindfully to these two videos.

 

I will offer one idea in closing. This series is an exploration in using the mind to manage pain. Yoga is but one of these techniques, which means that pain itself is not necessarily a contraindication to practicing yoga. In other words, if you have no other barriers to this practice other than pain, it is likely that you can practice yoga. Not sure if you can add yoga to your regimen? Ask me at your next appointment.

Last week, I introduced concentrative meditation through guided imagery. Today, I’ll introduce mindfulness meditation with this TEDx Talk by Dr. Shauna Shapiro. Before you click, I want to preface that this video is 13 minutes and 45 seconds, and I want you to practice mindfulness while you watch it. In other words, I want you to practice being present with and being attentive of the video and Dr. Shapiro’s message.

Did you find, like Dr. Shapiro herself said in the video, that your mind wandered while listening and watching? That’s okay. What did you think to yourself when your attention faltered? As I posited last week, I hope you said something nonjudgmental to yourself, like, “Oh. I thought of [blank]. That’s interesting,” and brought yourself back to the present moment of watching and listening. If your message to yourself was indeed judgmental, that’s okay as well; non-judgment is as much a practice as meditation itself. But with practice, you’ll get better at it (or stronger, in Dr. Shapiro’s words). Try a nonjudgmental thought next time you practice mindfulness.

If you’ve been following along with this series, you’ve actually incorporating mindfulness in everything we’ve discussed so far. When breathing, the exercise demanded mindfulness of you, even though it was not stated in these terms. When learning to progressively relaxing the muscles groups of the body, you had to concentrate fiercely on each cycle. Even during guided imagery, which is more concentrative meditation, you had to be mindful of the vocal prompts. Eventually, you’ll be able to be mindful in any situation and environment, a comparable end goal to that of applied relaxation.

Before I entered university, I played the piano and violin intensively. Perhaps that is not best description. It is more accurate to say that I was supposed to practice my instruments intensively, but in actuality, I would struggle with paying attention. I would tell myself, just do this for an hour, a good hour, and then you can go do something else. Despite this, I would pause here and there, if just to fidget. However, it is not about the time. It is more about the quality of the attention within the time. Though I made note of the timespan of the video in my third sentence of this post, that was to bring awareness that attention spans really are short. I’ve learned now that that’s okay. As long as your attention was sharp and keen for however long, you’ve practiced mindfulness.

This week, pick an activity, anything really, and do it mindfully. Tell me how it goes in the comments, or at your next appointment.

The third technique highlighted in this article is guided imagery, a specific form of meditation. So, in order to explain the former, I’ll first expound on the latter.

 

Meditation is the practice of concentration. It is an ancient technique that was associated with spirituality and religion, but in the modern context, does not have to be either spiritual or religious. But, why concentrate? Why focus on just one thing, concrete or abstract? It appears that by focusing intensely on one idea, the clutter of the mind stills. In stillness, there is clarity, and through the clarity, one can find relaxation.

 

There are two broad categories of meditation: concentration meditation and mindfulness meditation. Concentrative meditation is meditating on the breath, on an image, or on a sound. Indeed, if you’ve been following only with this series, you’ve already done concentrative meditation when we discussed breathing. The point of focus is slightly more concrete than that of mindfulness meditation. In mindfulness meditation, one experiences the environment without attachment, judgment, or application of conscious thought. It is the experience of one’s surroundings as a witness, rather than as a participant. For now, we will focus on concentrative meditation and explore mindfulness in a later post.

 

In order to start meditation, it is helpful to follow these steps:

 

1. Find a quiet place.
2. Maintain a comfortable but proper posture. This is especially important when using meditation to reduce pain. However, it is not recommended to lie down, as sleep comes quite easily in this position during meditation. If you have trouble finding a posture that you can maintain for ten minutes, ask me at your next appointment.
3. Choose something to focus on. Be creative.
4. Be passive. Perhaps this is the most counterintuitive step. How can one possibly be passive when concentrating fiercely? What this means is to not judge yourself harshly when you find that focusing on one thing is difficult. Your thoughts will certainly drift. Rather than feeling frustrated, recognize that you’ve thought of something else, and think, “Oh. That’s interesting,” and then return to your subject of focus.

 

I think guided imagery is a fantastic introduction to meditation. Rather than self-driven meditation, guided imagery involves someone telling you what to visualize. You create the images in your mind, based on what you hear. You can attend an in-person class or listen to a recording. Here is an example.

 

How did that go? Let me know in the comments, and feel free to share other resources. I’ve found that because guided imagery involves listening to someone’s voice, people may prefer certain inflections over others. Listen to recordings that work best for you.