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[post_content] => Many traditional systems of medicine consider our digestion and nutrition to be central to the maintenance of health and (when imbalanced) the development of disease. If you look up almost any health problem in a textbook of Chinese Medicine, one of the possible causes will nearly always be “improper intake of food and drink.” This covers a lot of things - eating too fast, consuming very cold drinks, overeating, eating the wrong kinds of foods for one’s constitution, skipping meals, eating while upset, and more.
I appreciate that Chinese Medicine explains the origin of health problems in this way, because it highlights the most fundamental issue - and shows us the way to get the maximum results by changing our behavior. Whereas someone suffering from acid reflux (heartburn) might simply take an acid-blocking drug and think that’s the end of it, such an approach would not get to the real cause – which might be a food sensitivity, overeating, eating too fast, a structural imbalance, stress, or something else. Addressing the cause is better medicine; anything else is just a band-aid.
While “improper intake of food and drink” is a very common root cause of health problems, I think we can actually go one step deeper. If we’re eating and drinking in a way that is damaging to our health, much of the time
we know this, but there’s a mental disconnection occurring. The disconnection takes one of two forms – a split within the mind, or a split between the mind and body.
When the mind is split, we allow ourselves to ignore what we know to be true. We might do this consciously, such as in telling ourselves, “I know I shouldn’t eat this whole container of ice cream, but I had a really bad day.” Eating the whole container of ice cream is harmful to us and we know it, but we justify it with a belief that having done something good or endured something bad entitles us to this indulgence. We may also do it unconsciously, by simply avoiding thinking about how our eating choices are likely to affect us. In either case, there’s a part of us that knows how to care for our body properly, and another part that pretends not to know. Playing this game never feels good.
When the mind and body are disconnected, we tune out the feedback we get from our body during and after eating. It is this split that allows us to overeat, to eat too fast. All bodies give clear negative signals when we do this. When we don’t pay attention to how our body responds to different foods and ways of eating, we miss out on valuable physical information. Not only does our body tell us when we’ve eaten in a manner that it dislikes, it also tells us when we’re treating it well. Unfortunately, the concept of “listening to your body” strikes many as some kind of kooky New Age practice. I would guess that the great majority of modern humans ignore all but the most dramatic messages from their bodies.
A good way to start healing these disconnections is through a practice of doing nothing but eating for one meal each day. Engaging in other activities while eating makes it easy for our consciousness to stray from the vital and enjoyable act at hand. It’s hard enough for many of us to eat consciously even when it’s the only thing we are doing. Why complicate it by trying to multitask while eating?
Relax your mind: let go of worries before you start a meal. If this is hard to do, try making a deal with yourself – tell yourself you can worry all you want at a later time in the day and put it in your calendar. Turn off the TV, put away reading material, keep conversation minimal and light, and turn off any music (or keep it soft and light). Relax your body: no driving, standing, or walking while eating, and no exercise for at least half an hour after eating.
Try to keep a portion of your attention (like ten percent) on how your body feels before, during, and after the meal. With practice, we can learn to perceive which foods our body likes and dislikes - often from the moment they touch our tongue. As we stay connected to our body, it becomes harder to eat more than our body wants. Think like an Okinawan. They are some of the longest lived people on the planet and they embrace a practice called Hara Hachi Bu, which means, "eat only until you're 80 percent full." You'll feel lighter and more energized as you leave the table.
Emotions can strongly affect our digestion and the ability to stay focused on the act of eating. The nervous system is densely “wired” into the digestive tract. It’s why so many people experience nausea, appetite changes, diarrhea, constipation, or other forms of digestive upset when they’re stressed. The
sympathetic division of the nervous system excites us, it raises our level of arousal, and it’s responsible for the “fight or flight” survival mechanism. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated – whether or not we’re in actual danger – blood is diverted away from the digestive tract (because digestion is less important to our immediate survival) and is sent instead to our lungs, heart, and sense organs. For this reason, thinking about the bills we need to pay, a recent conflict, or politics is best saved for a time other than during or just after a meal.
Another reason to avoid being unsettled or engaged in other activities while eating is that it degrades something that should be a thoroughly enjoyable event. The frequency with which we do it doesn’t make eating any less special an act. When we eat, we are doing for ourselves what our mother did for us in the womb, and then while cradled in her arms. Later, she or another family member cooked meals for us and offered them with love. Eating reconnects us to these deep memories of being nourished and engaged with family. We put life-giving sustenance into our bodies and it keeps us alive; it makes us feel good; it gives us energy; it physically connects us with the earth, sun, plants and animals. So, when we eat while talking on the phone, while driving, or while working, we
miss out on something important – a level of sustenance that goes beyond the food itself.
Why not try this week to have one meal of
just eating each day?
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
Want to know more?
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A professor of mine once admonished me to stop reading books. “Throw them away!” this burly Iranian man growled. The thing is, I love books. I love the typefaces and bindings and the smell of the pages. I admire how they look on a shelf. When I pass my own collection of books, I nearly always feel a sense of eagerness. Books have shaped the way I think and feel, and they have undeniably altered the course of my life.
So, I bristled at his advice. But I pondered it nonetheless. What he was saying, really, was that I could never learn how to heal from a book, and more importantly, that I could never come to truly understand the human condition through books. He wanted me to be with people without thinking so much – instead, just feeling and listening. Foremost, though, he wanted me to go outside.
He was guiding my instruction in healing people, but he insisted that my primary teacher was going to be Nature. I capitalized that last word because I think it deserves to be capitalized. If you consider the other things we capitalize – brands, people and places, days of the week and the names of months, organizations, languages, and races – isn’t Nature worthy being in that list? It’s just, you know, everything.
This was the beginning of my experiencing Nature in a way I hadn’t before. Before then, I tended to go through periods in which the outside world was essentially just the space surrounding the human structures and activities that were the focus of my life. It was scenery, and I could feel rather removed from it.
But I started to approach the natural world with the reverence I imagined Native Americans or the Daoist sages of ancient China did. When we live closer to the land and more at the mercy and grace of the seasons, I think it’s easier to recognize that the world isn’t a human thing surrounded by a bit of Nature. No, it’s an unfathomable ALL with a tiny bit of human in it. It birthed us, it sustains us, and it’s the source of the greatest wisdom and deepest connection we can know.
This connection is regarded as an optional thing these days. Communing with nature is nice if you just ate some psychedelic mushrooms, but it’s a mere detour for those of us who look to the human realm for all our fulfillment. While I think people can survive without it, I have noticed that a lack of connection makes us unbalanced creatures.
Books aren’t really the impediment. It would be closer to say it’s our electronic devices, but even that’s not quite true. What we’re immersed in instead of the splendor of Nature is just a symptom of this disconnection. Honestly, and happily, we’re not really disconnected from Nature. We’re just oblivious to the connection. But down in our DNA, which is mostly the same DNA as every other living thing, we know what we’re part of, and we understand why it’s dubbed “Mother” in so many cultures.
So, let us humble ourselves before Nature’s majesty, and recognize the part of us that is nourished by her. I used to see a bumper sticker all over Portland that said, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,” and I thought, how sad that we should aspire to be outraged. Instead, I say, if you’re not fascinated, you’re not paying attention. Go be fascinated.
With love,
Dr. Peter Borten
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I once took a required course in a subtle form of bodywork called Jin Shin Do. Rather than pressing, kneading, or stroking, the practitioner simply rests her fingers on specific combinations of acupuncture points and intends for healing to occur. During the first few classes, I thought, “I have all these other healing tools. Why would I waste my time on this? Who can even tell if anything is happening?!”
Yet, I was pleasantly surprised. This class gave me an appreciation for the power of subtlety in medicine. I now believe that subtle healing techniques often succeed where others fail, because there’s less potential for the recipient’s mind or body to object to the intervention, less potential to exacerbate an existing condition, plus an opportunity to “slip under the radar” and initiate a deeper healing.
Frequently, the professor broke us into pairs – a giver and a receiver – to try experiments. And there was one experiment that I’ll never forget.
While the givers’ hands rested on the receivers, she would circulate through the room whispering a variety of words into the givers’ ears. Some of the phrases I remember were, “I love you,” “You are safe,” “You are healed,” and “Everything is good.” The givers were instructed to hold each set of words in their consciousness without changing anything about what they were doing with their hands. Sometimes they were directed to think about what they were going to have for dinner or to ponder a current problem in their life. After a few minutes, both the giver and the receiver would report about what they experienced.
Nearly all the receivers, without knowing what the givers were focused on, reported feeling better when the givers were focused on a positive intention rather their own “stuff.” They weren’t always able to articulate what exactly felt better about it, but some felt more “held” by the giver, or more energy, or an alignment of their skeleton, or a reduction in pain.
There were minimal differences in the effect of the various positive intentions – except one. Everyone in the room reported that the best, most “connected” experience occurred when the giver held the phrase “I am here for you” in their mind. In fact, when the giver thought, “I am here for you,” there were sighs around the room from the receivers. Their breathing deepened and they relaxed more.
I’ve thought about this a lot in the years since. It reminds me of an anxious phase I went through as a tween. When I was 12 I had some panic attacks, and afterwards I always wanted one of my parents to be near me. That need for physical proximity eventually passed – I actually preferred to be alone much of the time – but as I got clearer about it, I realized that I what I really wanted was to know that someone would be available to give me their full presence if I ever needed it. (Kind of like the ease that comes from having a Xanax in your pocket, even if you never take it.)
This realization eventually led to the understanding that attention is an exceedingly valuable thing. We all know that “time is money” because there’s a finite amount of it in the workday. But attention (or presence) is even more precious. How often do you feel that you have someone’s complete, undivided attention?
Back in my angsty tweens and teens – before the Internet, and when it used to cost a lot to make a long-distance phone call – if there wasn’t someone nearby, it might be difficult or expensive to find a human connection. Today, it’s much easier and cheaper. We can Skype or Facetime with someone on the other side of the planet for free! We’ve made great gains in bridging distance with technology.
And yet, it seems even more uncommon to find someone who can give you their presence in a sustained way. Based on my conversations with patients, people feel busier and more distracted than a few decades ago. We have shorter attention spans and less ability to focus. (I believe the phenomenon I’ve dubbed the Human Data Stream – that massive flow of information in the form of texts, calls, videos, social media, emails, etc., and the devices that transmit it – is largely to blame.) You could be sitting across the table from someone, engaged in a conversation, and still feel that they’re not really “here for you.”
HERE. FOR. YOU.
Think about what it means to really be present for someone you care about. As in, I offer you my total presence. And consider how good it would feel if you could allow yourself to fully trust and relax in the presence of a loved one who’s holding the space for you. What a gift! I encourage all of us to practice offering our presence to others – setting aside our personal agendas and giving our full attention to the one in front of us.
Now, there’s a little more to the story. So, I realized that I didn’t need someone always holding my hand, but I wanted to know I had a support system in my family and community. I gathered folks who would be here for me if I needed it (and I for them). And I will always prioritize family and community for the rest of my life.
However, I came to understand that even that level of support was still external in a way. I don’t mean to diminish its value, but I recognized that there was a deeper or closer trust available, a closer presence, that wouldn’t require calling a friend.
I saw that I rarely offered myself my own total presence, choosing instead, almost incessantly, to give my attention to my mind’s constant stream of thoughts. I saw that I rarely told myself, I AM HERE FOR YOU! (By “I” in this phrase, I mean my Authentic Self, my Divine Self, my Absolute Self, or what many people simply call a Oneness with God.) It’s at once tragic and glorious to recognize this self-deprivation.
Sometimes I have difficulty remembering it or accessing it, but I know it’s always there. That is, I am always here. And, because you and I are one, I am always here for you, and you are always here for me. Let’s remember together, and dispel the illusions of separation that cloud our vision.
Be well my friend,
Peter
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[post_content] => Many traditional systems of medicine consider our digestion and nutrition to be central to the maintenance of health and (when imbalanced) the development of disease. If you look up almost any health problem in a textbook of Chinese Medicine, one of the possible causes will nearly always be “improper intake of food and drink.” This covers a lot of things - eating too fast, consuming very cold drinks, overeating, eating the wrong kinds of foods for one’s constitution, skipping meals, eating while upset, and more.
I appreciate that Chinese Medicine explains the origin of health problems in this way, because it highlights the most fundamental issue - and shows us the way to get the maximum results by changing our behavior. Whereas someone suffering from acid reflux (heartburn) might simply take an acid-blocking drug and think that’s the end of it, such an approach would not get to the real cause – which might be a food sensitivity, overeating, eating too fast, a structural imbalance, stress, or something else. Addressing the cause is better medicine; anything else is just a band-aid.
While “improper intake of food and drink” is a very common root cause of health problems, I think we can actually go one step deeper. If we’re eating and drinking in a way that is damaging to our health, much of the time
we know this, but there’s a mental disconnection occurring. The disconnection takes one of two forms – a split within the mind, or a split between the mind and body.
When the mind is split, we allow ourselves to ignore what we know to be true. We might do this consciously, such as in telling ourselves, “I know I shouldn’t eat this whole container of ice cream, but I had a really bad day.” Eating the whole container of ice cream is harmful to us and we know it, but we justify it with a belief that having done something good or endured something bad entitles us to this indulgence. We may also do it unconsciously, by simply avoiding thinking about how our eating choices are likely to affect us. In either case, there’s a part of us that knows how to care for our body properly, and another part that pretends not to know. Playing this game never feels good.
When the mind and body are disconnected, we tune out the feedback we get from our body during and after eating. It is this split that allows us to overeat, to eat too fast. All bodies give clear negative signals when we do this. When we don’t pay attention to how our body responds to different foods and ways of eating, we miss out on valuable physical information. Not only does our body tell us when we’ve eaten in a manner that it dislikes, it also tells us when we’re treating it well. Unfortunately, the concept of “listening to your body” strikes many as some kind of kooky New Age practice. I would guess that the great majority of modern humans ignore all but the most dramatic messages from their bodies.
A good way to start healing these disconnections is through a practice of doing nothing but eating for one meal each day. Engaging in other activities while eating makes it easy for our consciousness to stray from the vital and enjoyable act at hand. It’s hard enough for many of us to eat consciously even when it’s the only thing we are doing. Why complicate it by trying to multitask while eating?
Relax your mind: let go of worries before you start a meal. If this is hard to do, try making a deal with yourself – tell yourself you can worry all you want at a later time in the day and put it in your calendar. Turn off the TV, put away reading material, keep conversation minimal and light, and turn off any music (or keep it soft and light). Relax your body: no driving, standing, or walking while eating, and no exercise for at least half an hour after eating.
Try to keep a portion of your attention (like ten percent) on how your body feels before, during, and after the meal. With practice, we can learn to perceive which foods our body likes and dislikes - often from the moment they touch our tongue. As we stay connected to our body, it becomes harder to eat more than our body wants. Think like an Okinawan. They are some of the longest lived people on the planet and they embrace a practice called Hara Hachi Bu, which means, "eat only until you're 80 percent full." You'll feel lighter and more energized as you leave the table.
Emotions can strongly affect our digestion and the ability to stay focused on the act of eating. The nervous system is densely “wired” into the digestive tract. It’s why so many people experience nausea, appetite changes, diarrhea, constipation, or other forms of digestive upset when they’re stressed. The
sympathetic division of the nervous system excites us, it raises our level of arousal, and it’s responsible for the “fight or flight” survival mechanism. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated – whether or not we’re in actual danger – blood is diverted away from the digestive tract (because digestion is less important to our immediate survival) and is sent instead to our lungs, heart, and sense organs. For this reason, thinking about the bills we need to pay, a recent conflict, or politics is best saved for a time other than during or just after a meal.
Another reason to avoid being unsettled or engaged in other activities while eating is that it degrades something that should be a thoroughly enjoyable event. The frequency with which we do it doesn’t make eating any less special an act. When we eat, we are doing for ourselves what our mother did for us in the womb, and then while cradled in her arms. Later, she or another family member cooked meals for us and offered them with love. Eating reconnects us to these deep memories of being nourished and engaged with family. We put life-giving sustenance into our bodies and it keeps us alive; it makes us feel good; it gives us energy; it physically connects us with the earth, sun, plants and animals. So, when we eat while talking on the phone, while driving, or while working, we
miss out on something important – a level of sustenance that goes beyond the food itself.
Why not try this week to have one meal of
just eating each day?
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
Want to know more?
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