3 Website categories: From the Editor, Nurturing Spirit
[From the Editor] by Michelle Wood
I am happy that our theme for this first Yang Shen issue of 2014 is Nurturing Spirit. This is a wonderful way to experience the second half of the quiet, winter season as well as prepare ourselves for an exciting year of growth when spring arrives!
Our selection of articles for this issue offers a wide variety of information as well as practical tips and methods of self-nurturing.
A “New” Love Story by Nadia Linda Hole MD is an amusing and interesting look at what allows people to live long lives. It’s not just diet and exercise, a lot of it has to do with love! Raven Cohan shows Why My Number One Priority is Nurturing My Spirit By Raven Cohan shares her journey to self-realization through many different and diverse but compatible systems, offering a wonderful blueprint showing the successful merging of Western and Eastern teaching and practices.
A Simple Taiji Technique to Calm the Mind By Eric Borreson This very simple and easy Open and Close Hands practice is very effective at helping with relaxation and calming. When feeling stressed, take a moment to practice open and close, and you’ll find that your stress level will immediately be reduced. Also on the topic of mind is Cultivating the mind – Mind Matter Connections by Sharon Montes, an exploration of just what we really mean by “mind,” and how it really connects with the Body.
From the Daoist perspective, The Way of Wu Wei by Solala Towler Wu wei (oo way) is one of the most difficult yet pivotal concepts in Daoist philosophy. Roughly translated, it means “doing nothing.” The true meaning of the phrase wu wei is something like “not doing anything that is not natural” or “not doing anything that does not have its roots in Dao.”
A Daoist Practical Journal: Come Laugh With Me by Michael Rinaldini (Shifu Li Chang Dao), a book reviewed by Michelle Wood. Written in a diary-entry style, Shifu Li Chang Dao’s book certainly lives up to the title: it is, indeed, a marvelous journal chronicling the eighteen-year journey of Michael Rinaldini’s personal progress as a Daoist priest and practitioner.
In this issue’s feature article, Life’s Challenges, the Nine Palaces by C Zinnia Maravell discusses the areas of life in which we may face challenges. Rather than a psychological approach, she offers suggestions to effect wellness energetically through the Extraordinary Meridian channels. Fibromyalgia and Dancing by Joyce Del Rosario offers an alternative for fibromyalgia treatment: dancing! Studies show the efficacy of dance intervention on pain when performed once or twice a week with moderate intensity.
Of course we have our regular columns, the backbone of Yang Sheng, with Dr. Marty Eisen’s Scientific Qi Exploration and Dr. Kevin Chen’s Mind-Body Medicine Research Updates, and the most delicious Seasonal Harmony in which Ellasara Kling offers not only information, but recipes to excite the palate and heal the body.
Please enjoy this issue, and Nurture Your Spirit throughout 2014, and always!
Many blessings,
Michelle