Throughout its long history, coffee has endured both accolades and opposition. Over the ages, some of the world’s greatest composers, thinkers and statesmen have extolled coffee’s virtues, while others have denounced it as a poisonous, mind-corrupting drug. Coffee has been praised by certain religions and prohibited by others.
Some governments have subsidized coffee crops; others have imposed steep taxes and duties on them. Doctors validate coffee’s health benefits yet worry about its contribution to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even cancer.
Coffee is more popular than ever, which contributes to its contradictory status. In moderation, coffee poses minimal health risks for most people. In some cases, coffee even appears to be protective. Read more…
What do you think when you hear “hypnosis”? There are some people and some doctors who swear by it—and there are others who swear it’s just a scam. This split mindset is what therapists and psychologists are trying to avoid when it comes to the practice of mindfulness meditation. They want to be certain they have plenty of evidence and testing before claiming it’s a fail proof therapeutic technique.
Mindfulness meditation is not yet hailed as a creditable therapeutic technique, although it is currently tested by many therapists as a beneficial practice for everything from depression to chronic pain. And while all sorts of different psychologists are experimenting with it, they know that without more evidence of benefits, mindfulness meditation will be discarded like so many other holistic techniques often have been in the past. To be certain mindfulness meditation retains credibility, psychologists are making sure that all tests and experiments keep up, if not ahead, of any hype that may develop from whatever success stories it produces. Read more…
In the foreword to The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism, Daniel C. Matt, one of the world’s leading Kabbalah scholars, and the author of a multi-volume English translation of The Zohar, the summa mystica of this ancient tradition, states: “Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition, is precious and well hidden. Its symbolism, and multiple layers of meaning have attracted and confounded readers for centuries. Having studied Kabbalah for some twenty-five years, my attraction has not abated, my confoundedness has not been eliminated, but seasoned with wonder.”
What is Kabbalah, and what makes it so mysterious to the uninitiated, and constantly endearing to those who delve into its secrets for years?
In Hebrew, “kabbalah” means several things: “tradition” or “receiving” or “that which has been received,” and also “reception” as in the welcoming sign that greets the tourist arriving in Israel when entering hotels. Read more…
Heart Fields
Many believe that conscious awareness originates in the brain alone. Recent scientific research suggests that consciousness actually emerges from the brain and body acting together. A growing body of evidence suggests that the heart plays a particularly significant role in this process.
Far more than a simple pump, as was once believed, the heart is now recognized by scientists as a highly complex system with its own functional “brain.”
Research in the new discipline of neurocardiology shows that the heart is a sensory organ and a sophisticated center for receiving and processing information. The nervous system within the heart (or “heart brain”) enables it to learn, remember, and make functional decisions independent of the brain’s cerebral cortex. Moreover, numerous experiments have demonstrated that the signals the heart continuously sends to the brain influence the function of higher brain centers involved in perception, cognition, and emotional processing. Read more…
MINDFUL STRENGTH TRAINING
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Dr. Berardi show's you how to get nutrition right. Strategies include: protein intake, altering your eating schedule, eating on the road, revving your metabolism, and more. Download...