Connection to the Universe through Om

What's up with Om anyway?

Om (pronounced "aum") is a mantra, vibration or vocalization often chanted 3 times at the beginning and 3 times at the end of a yoga class. But what does that chant mean? "Om" is actually a very simple sound with a complex meaning. It represents the whole universe in just one syllable. Chanting om at the beginning of class unifies the people in the class together as one. This fusion is symbolic of the union of mind, body and spirit that happens during your yoga practice. Knowing the background of this sacred syllable will help you understand yoga even more, allowing you to delve deeper into your practice.

Om is one of the most chanted syllables in India. The sound is believed to have a profound effect on the mind, body, and surroundings of the person that speaks it. Somehow the ancient yogis knew what scientists today are telling us-that the entire universe is moving, with nothing ever solid or still. Everything in existence pulsates, creating a rhythmic vibration that the ancient yogis acknowledged with the sound of Om. We may not always be aware of this sound in our daily lives, but we can hear it in the sound of the waves on the shore, the rustling of autumn leaves, even the sound of the ocean inside a seashell.

Chanting Om allows us to recognize our experience as a reflection of how the whole universe moves-the rising and setting of the sun, the ebb and flow of the tides, the waves of our breath and the beating of our hearts. The sound of Om establishes us in universal movement, our practice and connecting us through our breath, self-awareness, and physical energy. As we chant "aaauuummm" at the beginning and ending of our practice, we begin to sense a bigger connection to the universe.

Keep it Fresh!

~ Terra

Is toughing out a sports injury a good idea?

Yesterday, the NY Times published an article called Sports Injuries: When to Tough It Out(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/fashion/01best.html). I this article to be interesting because it interviewed a number of physicians who shared their philosophy and most recommended not seeing a family doctor for these types of injuries. It seems they believe their own profession is most likely to take athletes out of their activities and many recommend that you just try to train through it.

Our offices are filled with athletes who tried to just train through it. The fact that medical professionals do not trust medical professionals with sports injuries that are of gradual onset is telling. The question of course is who do/should you trust? In the minds of most athletes, the answer has commonly become chiropractic sports physicians. The International Olympic Committee has a director who is a chiropractor and this year two chiropractors were officially at the games for the american team and the athletes want it that way.

What should you do with an athletic injury: Trust a family doctor with minimal training for this or a chiropractor athletes rely on? I welcome your thoughts.

Body mass index and cancer deaths in various US states

Ancel Keys is often heavily criticized for allegedly originating the fat phobia that we see today in the US and other countries, perhaps with good reason. But he has also made many important contributions to the health sciences.

One of them was the index known as body mass index (BMI), calculated based on a person's weight and height. Unlike other measures, such as body fat percentage and body fat mass, BMI is very easy to calculate; divide your weight (kg) by your height (m) squared.

BMI is strongly correlated with body fat percentage, and body fat mass. Very muscular people are exceptions; they may have a high BMI and yet reduced body fat.

Excessive body fat mass leads to chronic inflammation, due in part to elevated circulating levels of pro-inflammatory hormones such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (cute name eh?).

Chronic inflammation, in turn, leads to increased incidence of cancer.

Thus it should be no surprise that having a BMI above 30 (obesity level) is strongly correlated with cancer death rates; see graph below (click on it to enlarge), from: Florida, 2009 (full reference at the end of this post).

The correlation for the graph above is a high 0.702, calculated as the square-root of the R-squared value shown at the bottom-right. The R-squared is the percentage of explained variance for cancer deaths, meaning that nearly 50 percent of the cancer deaths are "explained", or caused, by the BMI percentages.

One more reason to bring body fat down to healthy levels.

How do you do that? A good way to start is to replace refined carbohydrates and sugars with natural sources of protein and fat in your diet; eggs included, no need to worry about dietary cholesterol.

Reference:

Florida, R. (2009). The geography of obesity. Creative Class, Nov. 25.

Chocolate and Your Heart - Some delicious news

A recent study published in the NY Times yesterday (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/30/health/AP-EU-MED-Heart-Healthy-Chocolate.html)states that people who had an average of six grams of chocolate per day -- or about one square of a chocolate bar -- had a 39 percent lower risk of either a heart attack or stroke as per a new study to be published Wednesday in the European Heart Journal. My wife will love the implications of this study since it vindicates other previous studies that has come up with similar determination with the exception being this one has been done over a much longer period of time.

Overall, this is not a direct recommendation to eat tons of chocolate however, it does show that small amounts of the stuff is beneficial in our diets. Read the article. I welcome your comments.