Tag Archives: Health

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Have the flu or a stomach virus and can’t eat? Try Asian rice porridge,


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If you are suffering from the flu, or the latest nasty stomach flu, and can’t eat any solid foods, here is a great recipe to build your strength and immune system. It is absolutely the best for anyone who is having trouble eating food, during any illnesses.

We used to cook this all the time in our immersive, sleep-away retreats, to give our retreatants extraordinary nourishment and strength-building breakfasts, for the strenuous practices we put them through!

Jook, congee, Chinese rice porridge, Vegan recipe:

1 cup white or brown basmati rice, washed
2 (or more) quarts water

Place the rice and water in a soup pot, over high heat until it comes to a rolling boil.

Turn down the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for two or three hours, until creamy, and the rice is completely broken down.

Garnishes:
Fresh ginger, sliced
Scallions, chopped
Soy sauce to taste
Roasted sesame oil to taste

You can make a large batch, and keep in the refrigerator. Eat this nourishing, strengthening breakfast daily.

Jook, congee, Chinese rice porridge, Chicken recipe:

1 cup white or brown basmati rice, washed
2 (or more) quarts water
1 ½ pounds bone in chicken legs or thighs, skin removed and excess fat trimmed off

Optional: for more flavor, brown the chicken in the soup pot, with a little bit of olive oil, before adding the rice and water.

Place the chicken, rice and water in a soup pot, over high heat until it comes to a rolling boil.

Turn down the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour. Remove the chicken, put aside to cool.

Continue to simmer the jook for another two hours, until creamy, and the rice is completely broken down.

Once cool, shred the cooked chicken and discard the bones.

Garnishes:
Fresh ginger, sliced
Scallions, chopped
Soy sauce to taste
Roasted sesame oil to taste
Cooked chicken

You can make a large batch, and keep in the refrigerator. Eat this nourishing, strengthening breakfast daily.

Check out the Wikipedia page on Asian rice porridge for the history of this great, restorative dish!

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We’ve received some interesting feedback on using commendations from two United States presidents.


To quote one of our country’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, “We must all hang together, or assuredly, we will all hang separately.”

We’ve received some interesting feedback on our using commendations we’ve received from two United States presidents.

Some people are offended by our being so bold and being proud of our accomplishments and showing what we have achieved.

There are so few people in the world who have received accolades from the highest office in this country, and even fewer people in the world who are doing the work we do. We honor and respect all those who have given of themselves to make this world a better place.

Although Obama and Bush, the Presidents who have praised our work, may not always be in alignment with our core values, the fact of the matter is that they are in the positions of being two of the most powerful and influential people in the world.

Therefore receiving an acknowledgement for the good work that WE do in the world is just that. And, not all that good people do in the world is good, and not all that bad people do in the world is bad.

This is where the power of discernment comes into play, otherwise we as humans through our ignorance throw the baby out with the bathwater and find nothing to unite us or find what we all have in common, which is why we chose the simple, human act of breathing. And including intentions with our every breath, such as love, greater health, success, safety, peace and harmony worldwide, sets these positive intentions into the Universe and the more people who join in this movement the greater the vibrational frequency of these positive thoughts and emotions permeate and take permanent root in our collective consciousness.

And this is exactly what our movement is about, finding what we all have in common and setting aside those seemingly insurmountable differences. We work for peace, peace all around the world.

Some people are offended by what they perceive as the failings of President Obama in enacting, or not enacting, many of his policies, and direct their anger at him. By supporting the positive aspects of what Obama is saying and doing, we are creating the conditions and energy for these positive aspects to grow and benefit millions of people. We don’t just sit and ask ourselves, “Well, how can Obama make our lives better, and why isn’t he?” That is our responsibility, and we work every moment of our lives to bring this into our reality, but not just our own reality, for the good of the whole world.

How do we achieve peace and acceptance of our differences if we don’t find it first within ourselves?

Rest assured that your intentional breath merged with  the collective powerful, positive intentions are always present to help you, and everyone else, in your evolution to your highest potential.

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Our Extraordinary Breath Campaign on Indiegogo!


In our ongoing quest to merge cutting-edge technology with ancient wisdom, we are delighted to find the popular, fast-growing online phenomenon of crowd-funding websites. In this time of economic uncertainty, crowd funding has become a way for people, start-ups, established businesses and nonprofits to get financial support to realize a wide variety of activities. You may recall the extraordinary success of the campaign to raise funds for a vacation for Karen Klein, the bullied school bus monitor. Although the intention of the person who created the campaign on Indiegogo.com was to give her a vacation, this Campaign highlighted the culture of bullying in our schools, and went on to change the conversation of bullying across America, even across the world.

Early on, we saw the trend toward the inevitability of a more digital world, and we were among the first to self-publish an eBook, The Extraordinary Breath, Making the Power of Deep Breathing Work for You, in 2007, while many others, including the publishing industry, were fighting against the tide of technological progress. Now, of course, the sales of eBooks totally eclipse printed books.

And so now we are taking it to the next level and have launched our own crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo.com.

We chose Indiegogo for three reasons, first, because of the cultural importance of the Karen Klein campaign, second, for their Flexible Funding option (which other sites don’t have), and lastly, for the future-forward philosophy of its founder, Danae Ringelmann.

Our goal, with this crowd-funding Extraordinary Breath Campaign, is to enhance the health and wellbeing of everyone, providing easy-to-use, future-forward tools and events to bring people back to automatic, full deep breathing.

Over a decade ago, we were inspiredto distill our (up to then) combined 60 years of experience in the martial, meditation and health and wellness fields into the Extraordinary Breath. It’s a simple, effective and instant method to achieve profound, long-lasting health benefits, and as we wrote above, we published The Extraordinary Breath in 2007. Then in 2008, during the devastating global financial collapse, we saw widespread suffering and the failure of the banking systems and the world’s economies, which created an atmosphere of collective fear and anxiety, which then contributed to stagnation and further collapse.

As human beings we always have choice, even in the darkest of times, and we chose to make a difference. We knew we had a time-proven, quick, self-administered way to alleviate the stress and fear that was paralyzing our world so we released the first chapter of our book as a free digital eBook. Our intention was to encourage hope, recovery, fearlessness and limitless expansion for humanity. To reach as many people as possible, our extraordinary volunteers have translated it into six additional languages, and more are coming.

An Extraordinary Breath: our intention and our breath are one.  Every long, deep and even breath consciously balances mind, body and spirit.

We’d love to have your support for this important Campaign. Please join our global movement to celebrate the profound health benefits of intentional deep breathing and unite communities in peace, love, health and harmony worldwide.

The Extraordinary Breath is different than other deep-breathing methods, this system is more than merely bringing a greater volume of air into your body; as you inhale and exhale, long, deep even breaths, your positive intentions are synchronized with your breathing.

Science has proven that every time you think a thought, feel an emotion, or perform an action, your neuro-circuitry changes. When you take charge of this process, through the Extraordinary Breath, the positive changes can become limitless!

We encourage people to find within themselves what we all have in common, and we chose the breath as a focal point because it is one of the most overlooked and underutilized superpowers in the human experience, and it is the most basic element of our existence. As Donald teaches, we (you, me, every human!) can live for weeks without food, and days without water, but only moments without breath. The Extraordinary Breath, intention merged with breath, connects the human race on the deepest level possible.

As visionaries, we know that mind body-medicine is the medicine of the future, and scientists are now creating models of treatment based on an individually tailored approach to curing illness and disease.

And as pioneers in the mind-body medicine field, we were among the first to bring complementary medicine (known now as mind-body medicine) practices into America’s hospitals. This was in 1994, and we had been invited by Leslie Davenport, the director of the Humanities Department at Marin General Hospital, to design and run a Wellness program. This successful program ran for thirteen years, and had a tremendous impact on the health and wellbeing of our community in Marin County.  We also worked with other Bay Area hospitals and HMOs and the V.A., helping them develop their own Wellness Programs.

In the early years, in order to dissolve the walls of resistance and fear put up by many doctors and powerful medical associations toward these new (to them!) holistic views of health and healing, we had to vibrate only in wisdom, knowledge, love, compassion and understanding. Although change came slowly, we were helped on this path by many brave, forward-thinking doctors, nurses and alternative care practitioners. Now every hospital and doctor’s office in the country offers a more holistic approach to caring for their patients.

“Donald’s presence and healing gifts have been a tremendous resource to many of our patients who have pursued complementary healing modalities along with conventional medical care. He is such an asset to the community.” — Leslie Davenport, MFT, Institute for Health and Healing, Marin General, Novato Community Hospitals, California Pacific Medical Center.

Letter of support from President Obama

We have dedicated our lives to making the world a better place for everyone, in our every moment; our work is our passion, our heart and our life. Our global health education nonprofit, The Paul D. Pickens II Research Foundation, has been in the forefront of positive change in the health and wellness fields since its founding in 1997. P.D.P. II Research Foundation is a 501 (C.) (3), founded by us in honor of Cheryl Lynne’s brother Paul, who passed away in 1995 from complications from HIV.

P.D. P. II Research Foundation’s mission is to improve health and elevate consciousness worldwide by raising awareness of the profound health benefits of ancient healing systems. We do this through teachings, eBooks, Youtube videos and DVD’s, and by creating global healing events, that give people the tools to take control of their health and their lives. As a nonprofit organization, we define success in terms of enriching people’s lives and building healthy communities. We believe in the power and potential of every person to control and direct their own free will, and we want to see everyone, everywhere thrive in a sustainable manner.

We need the help of everyone who reads this, and we ask that you forward this on to as many people as possible. We know our Vision for this Extraordinary Breath Campaign is on a grand scale, and we believe, with your support, it is achievable. And, although we are keeping our Goal amount at a reasonable level, we’d like to fund all of the areas of expansion listed in the Campaign. We hope that we raise more money than our target amount, and rest assured that we’ll put all of the funds into continuing to manifest these worthy Extraordinary Breath projects.

The inspiration for our work is every single person in the world, we continually strive for ever greater heights of accomplishment, for a healthy future for everyone.Let’s work together to give humanity the breath for hope, healing, love, understanding and peace.

Go here to for more information and to Contribute to the Extraordinary Breath Campaign

You can help boost our Gogofactor by ‘Liking’ the Campaign, and/or making a Contribution, of ANY amount. With your support, Indiegogo will feature the Campaign on their homepage, and interest the Press!

Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts.

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Donald and I reveal how to harness the infinite power of mind to access divine miraculous healing.


We are so excited to announce the release of our latest eBook, The Art and Mastery of Bio Energetic Healing – Rubbo Energy System of Transformation.

It is truly a labor of love, and it was a delight to write. Donald decided to pull out all the stops, he’d been asked for years to write about his methods of achieving the highest levels of healing in his clients, what others would call miracles. The words just flowed out of us, with ease and grace, and we knew that the Universe was guiding us, in fact prompting us to share this wisdom with the world.

Here are some excerpts:

“We have experienced this co-created healing effect time and time again in our private practice, our clients come to us with life-threatening illnesses, and through our work they transmute their illnesses and bodies into states of extraordinary good health, and transform their lives.  You can read an account of our client’s (Dan Reich) inspiring journey, from being diagnosed in 2002 with a brain tumor and told by his doctors that he had six months, to a life of full wellness, here:  http://www.danreichandfriends.com/Survival.html .

In 2001, Maria Rubbo (Donald’s mother) was told by her doctors that her body, according to numerous tests, was riddled with cancer that had begun in her uterus. Donald spent days at a time with her, in deep meditative healing practice, for almost a year, and immediately after surgery to remove Maria’s uterus, her doctor was stunned to find no evidence of cancer in Maria’s body.  She did not require radiation or chemotherapy, and Maria is cancer free to this day.”

and:

“We are proud to be pioneers in the Mind-Body Medicine field. In 1997, Leslie Davenport, then director of the Institute for Health and Healing at Marin General Hospital, approached us about starting a Wellness Program featuring Qigong at the hospital. Leslie knew about our work because Donald had been teaching Tai Chi Chuan, Shao Lin Chuan and Qigong in Marin since 1980, and at that time Leslie’s thirteen year old son Andrew had been studying with Donald for almost ten years. Leslie asked us to audition by leading a Qigong class for the decision makers at the Institute and invited guests.  She told us that the Institute was also going to audition other Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan teachers, including some from San Francisco. After our audition class, we didn’t hear anything for a couple of months, and then Leslie called us to say that our audition class had been the overwhelming favorite, and when could we start?”

Qigong for Wellness, 1999, Marin General Hospital

and:”Priming the practitioner’s mind: The frequency of the feeling of love is the highest vibration of thought/wave. We recommend love as the foundation of your healing intention, and as you become familiar with the exquisite frequency of love you can then create infinite layers and levels of intention.”

Check out the eBook at our website ASustainableBalance.com!

Being One with Universal Energies – Primordial Qigong


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This exquisitely beautiful form was purportedly developed by the  Taoist sage Chang San Feng, and is a precursor to Tai Chi Ch’uan.

Through his practice of Primordial Qigong, Master Zhu Hui cured himself of a potentially fatal case of hepatocirrhosis, and dramatically heightened his sensory awareness and intuition to such a degree that he could visually diagnose his patients and administer the correct treatment without error. Zhu Hui became quite famous in China, and after establishing the ‘Tian Ta Guo Qing’ hospital, treated seventy or more patients a day for several decades.

It’s claimed by its adherents that practicing Primordial Qigong enables you to ‘turn back the hands of time,’ because you are moving backwards through the seasons. The form consists of two parts, A & B, repeated for a total of four times. You begin the first Parts A and B facing East, moving counter-clockwise through the form, and conclude them facing South (which is clockwise from where you started, facing East.)  Starting the second Parts A and B facing South, moving counter-clockwise through the form) at the conclusion you are facing West (clockwise from South.) And so on through to the end of the form.

When you’ve practiced the form for a while, you’ll notice that you are creating a double circle, a circle within a circle. Women are usually the first to notice this phenomenon, interestingly enough.

Some of the movements in the Primordial Qigong form stimulate the pituitary and pineal glands, and help to awaken the Third Eye and increase intuitive abilities. Practicing this form has definitely increased our hyper-sensory awareness and intuition.

In its construct, Primordial Qigong can be viewed as a three dimensional physical mandala: it encompasses all of the primary aspects of Taoist philosophy: the concepts of yin yang, the trinity (heaven, earth and man), the Five Element Wu Xing theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM),  the I Ching, the Bagua and the mystical aspects of numbers.

The Primordial Qigong form reflects the Taoist theory of the birth of the universe. These concepts were based on the ancient Chinese sages’ observations of nature, their perception of the alternating balance of energy of the primal forces (yin yang) and the integral relationship between heaven, humanity and earth. These Taoist sages postulated that from the pre-birth state of WuJi (Original Emptiness) came the primal spark and from the primal spark, Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) was born. From Taiji, yin yang manifested as opposing forces.

The Bagua, which represents the fundamental principles of reality in Taoist cosmology, is integrated into the Primordial Qigong form: the eight interrelated concepts  – the eight trigrams-

are represented by the placement of the body in the Center facing the cardinal directions and awareness of the intercardinal directions: northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest, as one turns both counter-clockwise and clockwise throughout the form. The bagua signifies that change is constant, each movement of your body through time and space creates change.

Primordial Qigong has been called Wu Ji Qigong, Tai Chi Enlightenment and Enlightenment Qigong, by other teachers of the form.

You can learn more about this from in our eBook Primordial Qigong, by visiting http://www.PrimordialQigong.com.

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“But what about the children who are born with deformities and illnesses, or get cancer?”


During a recent day-long teaching that we had been invited to present to a new community, we encountered an interesting but not uncommon situation, although it was one that we had rarely experienced in our over thirty years of teaching others how to access their innate healing abilities through ancient, effective self-directed transformative arts.   

After the morning session broke for lunch, two or three people posed some rhetorical questions to each other: “But what about the children that are born with deformities or illnesses, or who get cancer? How can what he is teaching really work, when there are people who die every day or suffer terribly from conditions beyond their control?”  

They were, and are, good questions, but it seemed that they didn’t really want the answer because they left after lunch. In their confused state, they rejected our message of hope, healing, love, generosity and self-empowerment. “Love is the answer,” Donald said, repeatedly, during the morning session.

Donald had been talking about the power of thought, how focused positive intention, over a period of time, can create good changes in one’s life, and the world, if the belief system is there to reinforce and maintain the changes. He led the group through profound deep-breathing exercises and meditation practices to get them in touch with universal energies and discover their own limitless potential.

They must not have liked hearing that they have the power, and the responsibility, to control and direct their own minds and in doing so, could reap limitless positive rewards, in their own lives, in the lives of their loved ones, and in the world. They may have preferred to stay, as Donald had pointed out that many in the world are,‘comfortably numb.’

And so, to prove to themselves that our message could not possibly be true, or work for anyone, they chose to leave. But for those who came to our teaching that day with open hearts and receptive minds, the benefits they received will have lasting, positive effects in their lives. They recognized the truth of it, and in that recognition they understood how to change the old programming (negative thoughts, behaviors and beliefs) that no longer served their highest will and good.   

Donald did address this question, quite eloquently and compassionately in his teachings later that afternoon, and I wish those who left could have heard it. Maybe they would have understood.

He said, “Some of you, during the lunch break, posed the question, well, what about children that get cancer, or other illnesses, and can’t use the power of their minds to heal themselves? I understand why you asked that. Please remember, I’m just a messenger here, I’m not God and there are some things that not even I can explain.  But in the last hundred years, there have been unthinkable advances in medical care, for example children that would have died at birth back then have the chance to live and to thrive. These breakthroughs come from the power of thought, from the minds of the doctors and scientists who say, there has to be a better way. So, yes, you ALL have the power to change your own reality, through controlling and directing your own minds.”

It is in the state of believing in ourselves that we create a positive future.  When we are in the state of doubt, we default back to dysfunctional programming.

John 20:29. Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

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Quantum Healing on a Global Level


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For a while now, we’ve felt called by the Universe to bring our wisdom and healing on a global level. We released a free eBook, The Extraordinary Breath, in six languages so far, and have had thousands of downloads from just about every country in the world. This free eBook has the One-Part Breath, which we took from our larger eBook Extraordinary Breath, to give people worldwide a simple, easy and effective deep breathing practice to reduce stress, increase health and promote community and global harmony.

Part of our vision also includes gathering people together, wherever we are, for free events, and co-creating a state of health, happiness, prosperity and empathy for them, their loved ones, their communities and the world, because we remind them that they are connected with the whole world, not separate from it, and whatever good they do creates more good for everyone, regardless of whether we perceive them as enemies or loved ones.  

In our workshops, which are fee-based, whatever we teach is always enhanced with connecting people to their higher selves, deepening their intuition, and developing their skills and talents to benefit not just themselves but all others as well.  

Donald also does private appointments (healings as well as forms work) wherever we go, with this same intention, of reminding people of their own innate healing abilities, and their connection to Universal energies, and that they have the power, and the responsibility, to control and direct their own lives.

All our work is done through our global health education nonprofit, the Paul D. Pickens II Research Foundation. This organization was founded in 1997, and named after Cheryl Lynne’s brother, who passed away from complications of AIDS in 1995. Paul was a talented martial artist, a student of Kuo Lien Ying, who bore the unknowable pain and indignities of his fatal illness with grace, charm and courage. Every single person that we’ve helped through our work, and there have been thousands so far, has given us the opportunity to thank the Universe for Paul’s influence and inspiration.

Here’s our travel schedule so far (more to be added!)

San Blas, Mexico:

Healing Begins in the Imagination – Free Healing Evening for the Community – April 27, 2012. The Rubbos present an inspiring evening of deep, joyful healing. Using transformational breathwork, meditation and movement, they will help you call in Divine energies for healing mind, body, spirit and planet. Connect to the Earth and the Heavens to bring about miraculous healings for you, your loved ones, your community, your country and our world. Donald and Cheryl Lynne’s mission is to awaken and inspire as many people as possible on the planet to the infinite potentials and limitless possibilities within each one of us.

Awakening Your Inner Nature Day-Long Workshop – April 29, 2012. Awaken all your senses and deepen your intuition. The Rubbos will help you to develop a felt-sensation of living continually in a higher vibrational state, which is the state for manifesting your heart’s desire: whether it is good health, abundant wealth, better living, better relationships or a deeper connection to the infinite universal energies and higher consciousness.

Boulder, Colorado:

Healing Begins in the Imagination – Free Healing Evening for the Community – June 2, 2012. The Rubbos present an inspiring evening of deep, joyful healing. Using transformational breathwork, meditation and movement, they will help you call in Divine energies for healing mind, body, spirit and planet. Connect to the Earth and the Heavens to bring about miraculous healings for you, your loved ones, your community, your country and our world. Donald and Cheryl Lynne’s mission is to awaken and inspire as many people as possible on the planet to the infinite potentials and limitless possibilities within each one of us.

Qigong Tui Na  – Increasing Intuition, Sensitivity and Ability through Directed Intention Workshop – June 9 & 10, 2012. Sponsored by James MacRitchie, L.Ac., Diplc. NCCAOM, and hosted by Adam Shapiro, L.Ac., MSTCM

Qigong Tui Na, as we learned it and as we teach it, is more than just physical manipulation of the patient’s body. The practitioner’s mind is the agent of change here, and the more time and effort you spend training your mind, the greater the heightening of your hyper-sensory awareness you will gain.   The advanced level of Tui Na practice involves all of the senses, and a calm, focused and directed mind. This requires more of a connection between the practitioner and the patient, quiet listening time, a felt-sensation of the energy flows of oneself, one’s patient and the environment, and a commanding of these energies, than might be usual for the practitioner.  But the rewards are so much greater as well, the potential for the practitioner’s intuition, diagnostic abilities and positive treatment results to expand are limitless, the more one engages in this type of bio -energetic medicine, the more one’s skills and certainty, and number of happy clients/patients, will grow.

New York City, NY:

Healing Begins in the Imagination – Free Healing Evening for the Community – July 7, 2012. Sponsored by Douglas Garn. The Rubbos present an inspiring evening of deep, joyful healing. Using transformational breathwork, meditation and movement, they will help you call in Divine energies for healing mind, body, spirit and planet. Connect to the Earth and the Heavens to bring about miraculous healings for you, your loved ones, your community, your country and our world. Donald and Cheryl Lynne’s mission is to awaken and inspire as many people as possible on the planet to the infinite potentials and limitless possibilities within each one of us.

Quantum Mind Power Day-long Workshop – July 14, 2012. Sponsored by Douglas Garn. Deepen your Intuition, Awaken your Third Eye, Engage all of your senses, Connect to the Source, Live stress and fear free. Transformational Breathwork: The Extraordinary Breath, deep breathing system based on ancient Chinese healing wisdom. Energybody Chakra Clearing: Cleansing and clearing your chakra system and strengthening  hyper-sensory awareness. Develop a felt-sense of the subtle energies of the universe, learn how to receive and send information.  Third Eye Opening: Modern meditation techniques to merge with one’s Higher Self; connecting the pituitary and pineal glands to awaken your superconscious. 

Scuol, Switzerland

Holistic Wellness Retreat  – July 22 to 27, 2012 – Our annual retreat, training body, mind and spirit in the pure mountain air of the Swiss Alps.

Check our website for more information!

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Exercise, what’s really in it for you?


We all know that exercise is good for us, although there have been some scientific studies done recently that seemed to indicate the benefits from exercise weren’t that great.

But as we know from our own lives as athletes and as teachers, movement of any kind brings positive physiological changes to our bodies, releasing endorphins that elevate our moods, flushing toxins that get stuck in our bodies and increasing our endurance and strength.

Now, according to the Harvard Medical School, the secret to better health is, wait for it, exercise!

Regular exercise improves your mood, boosts your ability to fend off infection, and lowers your risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and colon cancer.  Today, hundreds of studies have demonstrated that exercise helps you feel better and live longer.

The secret to better health — exercise

Children, adults and senior all benefit from regular exercise, with discipline you can enhance your health and well-being at any age. But although many people understand that exercise is important to living a balanced life, it’s become too easy to put it off and sit around watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing computer and video games.

The minimum threshold of activity for good health is burning at least 700 to 1,000 calories a week through physical pursuits. Experts are now saying that ‘decades of solid science confirm that exercise improves health and can extend your life.’ By adding a minimum of half an hour of moderately intense physical activity to your day will prevent many serious ailments  – heart disease, diabetes, depression, and several types of cancer, particularly breast and colon cancers.

According to these experts, regular exercise has been known to help you sleep better, reduce the symptoms of stress, help you control your weight, definitely brighten your mood, sharpen your mental functioning, and, as an extra bonus, improve your sex life!

Research shows that your balanced exercise program includes four types of exercises  – aerobic activity, strength training, flexibility training and balance exercises  –  and each component benefits your body in a different way.

First, Aerobic Exercise

 Aerobic exercise should be the centerpiece of your fitness program. Research shows the disease-fighting benefits of exercise revolves around cardiovascular activity – walking, jogging, swimming, and cycling. If you are just starting your new exercise regimen, you should begin by working out at moderate intensity when doing aerobic exercise  - we suggest brisk walking while doing the Extraordinary Breath. (To learn correct deep abdominal breathing, download our free eBook, Extraordinary Breath, available on our website http://www.extraordinarybreath.com/.) Moderate intensity exercising is safe for almost everyone and will give you the desired health benefits. As you build up strength and endurance, you can increase the intensity of your aerobic routine and enjoy even greater health benefits.

We’ve found that our Shao Lin Chuan martial arts routine (which we learned as teenagers) is a perfect aerobic exercise, from the envigorating warmups, the sinew-strengthening stretching exercises to the powerful forms themselves. Shao Lin Chuan is a dynamic, fluid, powerful system of martial arts developed by Buddhist monks in China to cultivate a philosophy of wellness, and strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance are developed through this practice.

Second, Strength Training

You can build muscle and protect your bones with strength or resistance training, such as elastic-band workouts and the use of weight machines or free weights.

It’s a fact that bones lose calcium and weaken with age and strength training can help slow or sometimes even reverse this trend. Strength training will make you look and feel better, and increase your endurance for everyday activities: climbing stairs, carrying groceries, and even better performance at your job. By strengthening your muscles your body will have better mobility and balance, with a lower risk of falling and injuring yourself. You can also control your weight with strength training, because each pound of muscle burns more calories than its equivalent in fat.

Tai Chi Chuan, and in particular the lively Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi Chuan that we teach, is excellent for improving your health. Regular practice of Tai Chi Chuan, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, has been shown to maintain and even increase bone density. Practicing Tai Chi Chuan on a daily basis has greater health benefits as well, among them improving balance and increasing musculoskeletal strength.

Third, Flexibility Exercises

Stretching or flexibility training is the third prong of a balanced exercise program. Muscles tend to shorten and weaken with age. Shorter, stiffer muscle fibers make you vulnerable to injuries, back pain, and stress. But regularly performing exercises that isolate and stretch the elastic fibers surrounding your muscles and tendons can counteract this process. And stretching improves your posture and balance.

For those with chronic back pain, doctors are now recommending daily exercises to ease the pain, keep the spine flexible and recover faster from the injury.

As some of you know, Donald suffered a severe back injury about twelve years ago, a frank injury that ruptured the disc between L4 and L5. You wouldn’t know it today by looking at him, though, because he used all of his wisdom and knowledge to avoid the surgery his doctors were insisting upon and brought himself to full recovery. Paramount to the robust spinal health he enjoys today is his intention-driven bio-energetic exercises.  

As you can see in this video from our 2011 summer retreat in the Swiss Alps, Donald has no difficulty demonstrating the demanding Chinese Pushups for our students (watch for it at the 1:14 mark).  

 

Fourth, Balance Exercises

In most people, balance slowly erodes over time, leaving people fearful and hesitant at home and in public places. Being fearful of falling while you are doing simple tasks and exercises is a very real concern, and stops you from enjoying your life to the fullest.

Thankfully, we’ve found that mindfully performing balance exercises is one of the best ways to protect yourself against falls that can lead to temporary or permanent disability, and we’ve helped many seniors regain their joy in life because they could resume beloved activities in their daily lives.

Doing your balance exercises will take only a few minutes a day, and you can easily incorporate them into the warm-up portion of your workout. According to the Harvard Medical School, many strength-training exercises also serve as balance exercises, and balance-enhancing movements may simply be woven into other forms of exercise, such as Tai Chi Chuan, yoga, and Pilates.

We have an excellent series of balance exercises that we teach in almost every one of our retreats, and the results in our older students (and even the younger ones!) have been phenomenal.

When you exercise on a regular basis, you will:

  • Reduce your chances of getting heart disease. For those who already have heart disease, exercise reduces the chances of dying from it.
  • Lower your risk of developing hypertension and diabetes.
  • Reduce your risk for colon cancer and some other forms of cancer.
  • Improve your mood and mental functioning.
  • Keep your bones strong and joints healthy.
  • Help you maintain a healthy weight.
  • Help you maintain your independence well into your later years.

And who wouldn’t want all those wonderful health and longevity benefits?

Source: Harvard Medical School.

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Donald and I have been blessed to participate in, and even to be the catalyst for, many miracles….


Donald and I have been blessed to participate in, and even to be the catalyst for, many miracles, not only in our own lives, but in the lives of our families, friends, students and clients.

We set our intention for specific outcomes, and more often than not this reality unfolds before our eyes.

Twelve years ago, one of our very dear longtime friends, Norman Schwartz, a Wall Street whiz, was walking his dog in the early New York City springtime when he slipped on black ice and broke his leg. The fracture was very bad, and while still in the hospital he developed compartment syndrome. His doctors were considering amputating his leg, as the swelling was quite severe, and getting worse. Donald flew there immediately, and stayed by Norman’s side performing healing prayers and rituals until Norman was released from the hospital with his leg intact.

It took Norman quite a while to heal completely from this injury, and Donald and I flew several times to New York to be with him and do healing work on him. During one long, particularly powerful meditation/prayer/ healing session in Norman’s twelfth-story apartment in late spring, we glanced out the plate-glass windows and saw, although the sky was blue all around the city, snowflakes falling but only over Norman’s apartment building!

Not long after this, Norman called us from his hospital bed, telling us the doctors said he was dying from osteomyelitis in his leg and a stubborn high fever, several days of antibiotics were not working, and he begged us to come see him and save him from dying. We flew in the very next day, and the moment we walked into his hospital room his fever started to go down, and the infection started to recede. His girlfriend and the doctors attributed it to the antibiotics finally kicking in, but we knew in our hearts that his belief in us, and our belief in our healing abilities, brought Norman back to recovery.

In mid-2000, Donald’s mother, Maria, was diagnosed with uterine cancer at Montefiore Hospital, in the Bronx, New York. A sweet, seemingly delicate woman, Maria didn’t believe she was sick, and she went to doctor’s appointments only reluctantly. For the next year, Donald traveled to the Bronx every six weeks to spend a week or two with his mother, doing bio-energy healing work on her. Her extensive tests from Montefiore showed that the cancer had metastasized to her lymph system, pancreas and liver. Donald took her to the top cancer hospital in New York City, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, where a noted oncologist agreed to see her. More tests were done on Maria that confirmed the findings at Montefiore, and it was noted by Maria’s doctor that her uterus looked shrunken and diseased. Finally, surgery was scheduled, and Donald sat in the family waiting room, deep in meditation, ‘seeing’ his mother free of cancer and mentally guiding the surgeon’s hands.

After the operation, the doctor came out to talk with the family. She was practically in shock and mumbling to herself, “I don’t understand, I don’t understand.” Donald asked her about his mother, was she okay? The doctor said, “Your mother is in the recovery room. But I don’t understand.  I just took the uterus of a seventeen year old out of your mother. So I had to go and review the tests that were done at Montefiore and here at Sloan-Kettering. Those tests clearly showed that there was cancer present, and that it had metastasized. I just did biopsies of the organs, and I am very puzzled because I couldn’t find any cancer! Your mother does not need chemo or radiation, and in fact, I’m sorry to say the surgery itself was not required.” Donald told her, “As long as my mother is okay, what we’ve experienced is nothing short of miraculous. Thank you for your role in this miracle!”

Maria continues to live cancer free to this day.

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Physician as Placebo


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‘Physician as Placebo’ refers to the phenomenon of patients feeling better during, and after, a visit to their doctor or health care provider, and healing faster than normal.   

Try Googling ‘Physician as Placebo’ and you’ll find that there isn’t much out there on this important concept. We have seen the effect of this time and time again in our private practice, our clients come to us with life-threatening illnesses, and through our work they transmute their illnesses and bodies into states of extraordinary good health, and transform their lives.  

What causes this positive change? We believe it is because of the power of our minds, our trust and belief in ourselves as healers, and the faith and trust placed in us by our clients.

Placebos are defined as substances with no active medicine in them, or procedures and devices that have no curative effects.  Placebos are considered deceptions, these substances or procedures somehow ‘trick’ people into the desired outcome, whether it’s shrinking cancerous tumors or lifting depression, or lowering blood pressure, to name just a few.

But how to explain the phenomena of positive results in the patient through the physician/patient relationship? Why do some patients respond better to treatment, real or placebo, with some doctors and fail to respond with other doctors? And not just doctors, but healers from the spectrum of health care providers?

The answer might lie with mirror neurons. A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires when a person acts as well as when the person observes the same action performed by another. The neuron “mirrors” the behavior of the other, as though the observer were himself acting.     

If you feel that your doctor, or health care provider, sincerely cares about you and your positive health outcome, you develop trust in that person. Thus, whatever medications, if any, real or placebo, that your doctor prescribes for you will more work more often than not to quickly bring about a positive health outcome.  

 The power of belief and certainty

These doctors trust and believe in their own wisdom, they have a certainty borne of long years of practice and interaction with patients. This certainty radiates from the doctor, she is an authority due to years of experience and training, it is in the words she speaks, the assured tone of her voice, the comfort you feel from her caring touch, her belief that you can get better, and soon.  

As you watch her, and listen to her, and feel her certainty, your neurons are firing in empathic response to her brain activity. You believe you can get better because she knows that you will.   

V.S. Ramachandran, the eminent neuroscientist, writes in The Tell-Tale Brain,[1] “It is as if mirror neurons are nature’s own virtual-reality simulations of the intentions of other beings.”

The doctor knows that the body is a healing machine, it begins healing itself automatically. When you cut yourself, the repair to the injured area starts immediately. If you break a bone, it starts knitting back together; if you have a cold or flu, the immune system, always working in the background, kicks into high gear to fight off the bacteria or virus.

So, choose your doctors and health care providers carefully, they can help you accelerate your healing process with their care, their wisdom and their certainty.

 “Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.” Hippocrates.
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[1] The Tell-Tale Brain, V.S. Ramachandran, W. W. Norton & Company (January 17, 2011)