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[post_content] =>
What do you like about your anxiety?
This is a question I’ve asked many of my patients. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone’s initial response is “nothing.” But over time (especially in people who are determined to get the most out of their unpleasant experiences) I’ve seen anxiety become a gift that re-orients people in a profound way.
I’ve learned many strategies for managing anxiety directly, some of which I shared in my
last article. They can really help. However, my greatest intention isn’t merely that we can effectively manage anxiety when it arises, but that our basic orientation is to be attuned to what’s good, what’s working, and what we
love about life.
So this time I’m going to share self-care practices to guide you back to the love beneath that fear.
It’s true that fear isn’t usually a
healthy expression of love, but sometimes it is – like when love spurs fear in a parent and they rush into harm’s way to save a child. Most of the time we’re afraid, though, the underlying love is so contorted by the mind that it doesn’t feel like love at all. It just feels nasty and horrible, and we get into a vicious circle whereby the feeling prompts fearful thoughts and the thoughts heighten the feelings, and so on.
But deeper than all of that craziness, we love life, we love ourselves, and we love others. I would like to invite you this week to bring your anxious feelings back to the loving point of their origin.
1) Practice good posture. Having a straight spine automatically helps you to breathe more fully. It also has a subtle effect on your mood. It’s easier to feel threatened, weak, or like a victim when you’re slouching; conversely, when you sit or stand tall, with a straight spine, you’ll naturally feel clearer and more confident.
2) State the facts (in the morning and always). What you do in the morning affects your whole day, so start with a brief and enthusiastic session of truth telling. What is good right now? Are you alive? Are you breathing? Did the sun rise again? Do you have enough to eat? Say it.
Who do you choose to be today? A light-hearted person? A truth-telling person? An emissary of love in the world? A devoted servant to the highest good of the world? Say it.
Pausing, noticing, and stating the facts about what’s good in your life is like hitting the save button. It programs your mind to continue to spot the good stuff. It reconfigures you for peace.
And stating the facts during fearful times is like becoming a warrior with a razor sharp sword. With your loving fierceness, you cut through the collective illusions and emotional fog, reminding yourself and others,
We didn’t jump into the world just so we could cower from life. The truth is bigger (and better) than the story we’re telling each other.
3) Get connected to the elements. Spend time in nature, ideally including some direct contact of skin to earth and natural bodies of water. Some people with anxiety also report that they feel much better with sun exposure. Others feel a benefit from sitting in front of a fire or even several candles. Besides helping to realign you with the rhythm of the natural world, it’s also a nice break from your electronic devices and media.
4) Establish a daily routine and stick to it. Predictability helps stabilize a wayward mind and helps the body get into a consistent rhythm. This means setting a regular bedtime and wake time, having meals at the same time each day, exercising on a regular basis at the same time, meditating at the same time, bathing at the same time, etc. Of course, your routine shouldn’t be strict in a way that generates stress if you stray from it – it’s something you do out of kindness for yourself.
5) Love actively. There’s no use in trying to obliterate fear. That would be like trying to destroy the sound of ‘middle C’ on a piano. Fear is a frequency of energy. No matter how you train yourself to cut it out of your life, you can always call it up again. Instead, focus on the love beneath.
What do you
love that your mind tells you is threatened? Give your attention to loving what you love instead. Love is so much stronger and bigger than fear, and unlike fear, love is a unifying and creative force. If you’re out of practice, find the things that are easiest to love, like kittens and donuts, and feel the love opening your heart. Then practice expanding that love to envelop yourself, your neighbor, your houseplants . . . and your fear. Then go bigger.
All along, keep opening your heart. Just imagine it opening like a golden ring in the center of your chest. Learn to feel when it closes, and patiently open it again and again and again.
Love will prevail. Always.
Dr. Peter Borten
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[post_content] => In this video, Dr. Peter Borten shares a bunch of easy and yummy variations of "jook" (Chinese for porridge) that will send you on your way feeling nourished and full of energy. If you have any favorite ideas to add, please share them in the comments below!
[post_title] => Talking Wellness with Peter: Eating a Healthy Breakfast
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[post_content] => My 12-year-old is always asking me to tell her stories from my childhood, so I recently described the time when I got into big trouble for making long-distance calls to an out-of-state girlfriend. The phone bill was over $500. “Wait,” she asked, “you mean, the phone company charged you more money because the person lived farther away?” It’s such a foreign concept today when we can have a video conversation with someone on the other side of the planet for free! (Moment of gratitude for communication technology . . . Amen.)
Our talk turned to how the world was more culturally insular back then. I explained that many of the Eastern philosophical and medical concepts that are commonplace in our house and community only became mainstream in the past few decades. Global connectedness has allowed us to share the pearls of our cultures with receptive others around the world in an unprecedented way. It’s awesome.
The only downside is that details – and sometimes even the core value – can get lost in translation. One particular “incomplete translation” I’ve been working on correcting for 20 years has to do with the yogic practice of neti – which can be a valuable part of our immune enhancement routine in these crazy times.
Neti – AKA “nasal washing” – comes from the millennia-old tradition of Ayurveda. It cleanses and soothes the nasal passages and is great for people with allergies, crusty nasal mucus, difficulty breathing through the nose, snoring, and frequent colds and flus. By helping to clean and heal our upper airway, it may help the body to more effectively catch and kill airborne viruses. However, traditionally neti has always been prescribed in combination with another practice called nasya – but somehow almost no one knows about it.
While salt water in the nasal passages can clean out the gunk and calm the membranes down, it can also leave them dry and vulnerable. Sometimes the dryness even causes these membranes to respond by producing more mucus. This is why nasya – the practice of lubricating the inside of the nose with oil – is essential. Whereas neti can potentially “strip” your nasal passages, nasyacoats and protects them.
Several years ago, I developed an herb-infused nasya oil called
Dragontree Nasal Oil, and it’s been one of our best sellers. I think it’s been popular partly because of the unique combination of herbs it contains and partly because there just aren’t many products like it out there. One doctor tells me she gives it to all her patients who get frequent colds and flus and says it has helped them tremendously.
Let’s look at the whole neti-nasya practice. A neti pot is shaped like a small tea pot, the spout of which fits comfortably in a nostril. You start with warm, clean water (body temperature is good) to which you add a little salt. The ideal degree of saltiness varies from person to person – about the saltiness of tears is usually good. A standard solution is 1/4 teaspoon of salt per 1/2 cup of water. Try this concentration first, and adjust the saltiness if necessary.
Fill the pot with your saline solution, stand over a sink, and place the tip of the spout in one nostril. Tip your head sideways without leaning your head forward or back. As the pot is tipped, the solution should enter one nostril and flow out the other. It helps to keep your mouth open and try not to breathe through your nose. Pour half of the solution through one nostril and then the other half of the solution through the other nostril. This process cleanses the nasal passages of dust, pollen, bacteria, viruses, and other debris which can cause allergies, colds, and sinus infections. If it causes a burning sensation it’s often because there isn’t enough salt for you. Try a little more. Sometimes a pinch of baking soda in the solution can also help.
Now for the nasya. We have often heard from clients that they feel congested after doing neti. This is probably because they didn’t do nasya. There are two main ways of applying oil to the nasal passages. One is to place oil on your (very clean) little finger and use this to lightly coat the inside of each nostril with oil. The other option, which I prefer because it’s more thorough, is to use an eyedropper to instill 4-5 drops of oil into each nostril while lying on a bed with your head hanging slightly off the edge. With this second method, it is best to relax in this position for a few minutes to let the oil penetrate deeply.
A good all purpose (tridoshic) oil for neti is safflower (which is what we use in the
Dragontree Nasal Oil). If you don’t have any on hand, you can use olive oil or even liquid ghee (clarified butter). Nasya provides lubrication and protection against pathogens in the nasal passageways after being cleansed by neti. If the nasya step is skipped then the process of neti can potentially make our membranes more susceptible to irritation and infection.
I have studied and experimented with many forms of “medicated” nasya oil over the years. Typically these oils are infused with various herbs and/or essential oils to enhance the protective and cleansing effect of this practice (or occasionally to calm the mind or achieve some other therapeutic effect). For my own herbed nasya, I chose herbs and oils that are traditionally used to kill germs and calm irritated mucus membranes.
I know it’s a bit of an unusual practice, and due to the herbs sometimes people experience a bit of stinging and a bitter taste when they use it – especially if they have an early stage infection. But I’ve been told so many times that it rapidly cleared whatever was in there, so apparently the effectiveness trumps the weirdness factor!
If you try it, I would love to hear about your experience with it.
Wishing you clear, full breaths,
Peter
P.S if you'd like to use our Dragontree Nasal Oil in your immunity routine, you can find a bottle here:
Grab a bottle of
Dragontree Nasal Oil
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What do you like about your anxiety?
This is a question I’ve asked many of my patients. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone’s initial response is “nothing.” But over time (especially in people who are determined to get the most out of their unpleasant experiences) I’ve seen anxiety become a gift that re-orients people in a profound way.
I’ve learned many strategies for managing anxiety directly, some of which I shared in my
last article. They can really help. However, my greatest intention isn’t merely that we can effectively manage anxiety when it arises, but that our basic orientation is to be attuned to what’s good, what’s working, and what we
love about life.
So this time I’m going to share self-care practices to guide you back to the love beneath that fear.
It’s true that fear isn’t usually a
healthy expression of love, but sometimes it is – like when love spurs fear in a parent and they rush into harm’s way to save a child. Most of the time we’re afraid, though, the underlying love is so contorted by the mind that it doesn’t feel like love at all. It just feels nasty and horrible, and we get into a vicious circle whereby the feeling prompts fearful thoughts and the thoughts heighten the feelings, and so on.
But deeper than all of that craziness, we love life, we love ourselves, and we love others. I would like to invite you this week to bring your anxious feelings back to the loving point of their origin.
1) Practice good posture. Having a straight spine automatically helps you to breathe more fully. It also has a subtle effect on your mood. It’s easier to feel threatened, weak, or like a victim when you’re slouching; conversely, when you sit or stand tall, with a straight spine, you’ll naturally feel clearer and more confident.
2) State the facts (in the morning and always). What you do in the morning affects your whole day, so start with a brief and enthusiastic session of truth telling. What is good right now? Are you alive? Are you breathing? Did the sun rise again? Do you have enough to eat? Say it.
Who do you choose to be today? A light-hearted person? A truth-telling person? An emissary of love in the world? A devoted servant to the highest good of the world? Say it.
Pausing, noticing, and stating the facts about what’s good in your life is like hitting the save button. It programs your mind to continue to spot the good stuff. It reconfigures you for peace.
And stating the facts during fearful times is like becoming a warrior with a razor sharp sword. With your loving fierceness, you cut through the collective illusions and emotional fog, reminding yourself and others,
We didn’t jump into the world just so we could cower from life. The truth is bigger (and better) than the story we’re telling each other.
3) Get connected to the elements. Spend time in nature, ideally including some direct contact of skin to earth and natural bodies of water. Some people with anxiety also report that they feel much better with sun exposure. Others feel a benefit from sitting in front of a fire or even several candles. Besides helping to realign you with the rhythm of the natural world, it’s also a nice break from your electronic devices and media.
4) Establish a daily routine and stick to it. Predictability helps stabilize a wayward mind and helps the body get into a consistent rhythm. This means setting a regular bedtime and wake time, having meals at the same time each day, exercising on a regular basis at the same time, meditating at the same time, bathing at the same time, etc. Of course, your routine shouldn’t be strict in a way that generates stress if you stray from it – it’s something you do out of kindness for yourself.
5) Love actively. There’s no use in trying to obliterate fear. That would be like trying to destroy the sound of ‘middle C’ on a piano. Fear is a frequency of energy. No matter how you train yourself to cut it out of your life, you can always call it up again. Instead, focus on the love beneath.
What do you
love that your mind tells you is threatened? Give your attention to loving what you love instead. Love is so much stronger and bigger than fear, and unlike fear, love is a unifying and creative force. If you’re out of practice, find the things that are easiest to love, like kittens and donuts, and feel the love opening your heart. Then practice expanding that love to envelop yourself, your neighbor, your houseplants . . . and your fear. Then go bigger.
All along, keep opening your heart. Just imagine it opening like a golden ring in the center of your chest. Learn to feel when it closes, and patiently open it again and again and again.
Love will prevail. Always.
Dr. Peter Borten
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