Yeah. I know even living in B'lore you are blind to your own culture. The authentic breathing techniques are passed on by so many practitioners and time-tested, unlike modern western crap.
144 karma · joined March 5, 2019
Stop wasting your time on Church and find better alternatives from the east.
Swami Vivekananda has a dedicated book on "Raja Yoga" in detail.
I recommend - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.abdula.pra... app. I am a subscriber for years and this one has the authentic breathing patterns.
The western adaptation is reducing meditation and mindfulness to a "tool" of relieving stress and better ones mental well-being. As easy as downloading an app and stay calm for few minutes.
Unfortunately, this is not ideal. The traditional way is to seek a guru who asks the disciple to cleanse their heart first. Put them on the spiritual path of purifying the soul. Meditation is a part of ones spiritual journey. Some even leave everything and go to forest or mountains to practice for years.
Fortunately, for those who want to live in a society closely, they should practice "Raja Yoga" which is also a spiritual path where one raises their spiritual plane by helping others and following ones duty with high-integrity.
However simple breathing exercises still work for the body and can be easily incorporated into every day lives. There are so many apps helping with the patterns of different breathing techniques.
But don't expect you or anyone to become a better person just by doing some mindfulness exercises. When one goes to discover/amplify their inner core, you will just highlight whats inside you more. I.e. if you are bad, you will get worse. Mindfulness has nothing to do with it but just amplifying what is already there as you discover yourself more through mindfulness.
My view on social media and parents giving smartphones to kids is the primary reason. When kids start overusing phones and digital world, everything seems binary, they can feel like they can control people in real-world as if thy do a 3d character in their latest game. And can get depressed when others don't behave as they intend to. A friend becomes a removable entity in a list or circle(google+) they can add or pluck out anytime, without considering the emotional factor others feel. I can talk on this topic whole day, i believe kids don'e need smartphones etc. and I will never bring my kids near them at-least till they reach their teen years.
Interesting model with imminent flaws I suppose. If I share the login email to anyone, they can simply click on it and login and use premium services (e.g. Netflix etc) if they use this API?
Also, if the email is hacked!, the dashboard on fast.co shows all the sites that use the API, so all of them are compromised nicely without effort, very huge security flaw IMHO.
"Small differences in initial conditions yield widely diverging outcomes for dynamical systems"
My interpretation is that second order thinkers see unconventional things of how a dynamic system behaves to fine tune it initially and intervene when it's moving in wrong direction to drive it in the direction that yields desired results.
> What do the consequences look like in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 Years? 1
> Extraordinary performance comes from seeing things that other people can’t see.
Although experience plays a key role, the second order still have to think that aren't yet experienced by them based on the patterns they can recognize.
Not an expert, but that seems alarming. Please check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSiS9qkJUU0
Although regular exercise is great, complementing with good diet is a must too, I believe.
Don't know if there is any governance or other controls in U.S. uni's but that's not how it should work. Isn't it discouraging one way for a student who earned it after hard work, compared to the one who simply enters a uni just because he was happens to be born to a rich father. Don't want to question the morality or ethical side, but it just doesn't feel right and should be handled in someway. may be more stricter exams etc. But I don't think that's practical either as they can easily workaround the system same way.
Let me tell you an Indian story from mahabharatha (an Indian epic). There is Arjuna and Karna (Karna, known for his dana guna - virtue of giving away & charity). On an occasion, Arjuna has so much money and wanted to give it away to poor to gain some punya(good fortune). He expresses his intention to Krishna, and Krishna says, go a head. So, he does that, he partitions his wealth, and starts giving it away to poor one-by-one personally. In the end, he comes to know he hasn't accumulated anything (no punya/good fortune). he goes to Krishna again and asks, why haven't I accumulated anything? I did a good thing, I should accumulate good karma for my coming lives, right?
Krishna smiled and took him to karna in disguise to show him something. He went to Karna in disguise and said he was poor and asked for help. Karna gave away everything he got with him without any second thoughts. And he forgot about it instantly and moved on. Krishna turned to arjuna and said, you wanted to accumulate good karma/fortune, and hence you did gave away something of yours(keeping something for yourself) and kept claiming it everywhere you go and you even came to me asking why you haven't got anything in return. Karna, on the other hand, simply gave away everything he has and never even thought about it or boasted about it elsewhere. He just helped a poor and moved on. And thats how dana works. There are so many people in India who were never heard of and in disguise giving away and doing charity without even claiming it anywhere. Thats called 'guptha dana'. Charity in disguise. The first rule of charity according to Indian scriptures is, do it because you can. You wont't get anything in return because you are doing it. That's not how it works.
The above applies in the other way too, someone did something bad in their previous life so they were born wealthy and miss all the simple happy and emotional things poor and joint families can enjoy, instead they merely work hard to multiply their wealth like a machine. The wisdom in Indian literature is very deep and one have to understand it properly and muse over it to benefit from it. If any one is interested, I strongly recommend Devdutt Pattanaik 's show on Netflix. Very entertaining.
> A wide range of things affect cytokines, nutrition and exercise are central, but also cognitive stress and sleep
If that is true, you get best sleep when using Ashwagandha and its effect on stress, like I said previously is well studied.
https://examine.com/supplements/ashwagandha/
it is there for centuries and affects in a multitude of ways for a body to bring it into balance in every front. In ayurveda, if a practitioner or doctor was unable to diagnose a disease properly, they simply give them Ashwagandha, as it will work or fail to but never works adversely. I still strongly recommend trying it with any other interventions you mentioned like exercise, etc. I never discouraged any other interventions. It helped me personally, so I am inclined to suggest it to others who are hopeless at the moment. Like I said, zero harm. I never suggested it as a one shot solution. People with depression need more caring than any other.