Living with Brain Tumors: An Educational Event for Patients and Families

Exciting news today: The Center for Neuro-Oncology is sponsoring an event packed with guest speakers who are leading the field in research and treatment of Brain tumors. It's all happening on September 20th at the Yawkey Conference Center, 3rd floor, at Dana-Farber. Complimentary parking, light breakfast, and lunch will be provided.

To register call 617-632-2501, or email: braintumored@partners.org. 

You can get the entire agenda and list of speakers here. 

You can also download the .pdf agenda here.

Of course, I'd like to give special attention to my part of the conference. I will be giving a presentation from 1:40-2pm, and then I will lead a Qigong demonstrations from 3:10-4pm in the conference area outside of Yawkey 306 and 307.

Hope to see you there!

Top Five Reasons to go Back-to-School with Tai Chi

School is starting up again, and that means long hours sitting at desks and computers, studying and generally not getting as much exercise as you should. On top of that, it will soon be getting colder here in New England, and that means that a lot of your favorite physical activities will have to be put on hold until next year.

Luckily, a Tai Chi routine is the perfect alternative to pick up during this transition to the indoors. Here are five reasons why:

1. Tai Chi can be done anywhere. You really only need enough room to stand up straight and spread your arms out. This means you can do Tai Chi in your apartment, your office, your bathroom, a library... the possibilities are endless!
2. No, really, I mean anywhere. For those of us who like to connect with the earth every day, or at least get some of that fresh, winter air, throw on some heavy clothes, a knit hat and gloves, a jacket, and head outside! Shovel yourself a little space in your driveway or at the local park and start moving. You'll warm up very fast if you focus on your breathing.
3. Slow down, but still be on time. Tai Chi is great because you can create so many different forms and routines to suit the amount of time you have. You could do an hour of Tai Chi every morning, or take a couple ten minute breaks for it during the day, or anything in between. No matter how your schedule looks, you'll be thankful you took the time to get some gentle exercise each day.
4. Reboot your inner CPU. The human brain can only absorb so much information at a time. Whether you are starting a new semester at college, or starting a new job, you'll probably feel like you are trying to drink out of a fire-hose some days. Too much information! The meditative aspects of Tai Chi do wonders for renewing your ability to focus, sleep well, and feel awake and alert throughout your day. 
5. Skip the sniffles. Tai Chi and meditation boost your immune system. The colder weather, flu season, and mixing of so many people going back to school and work create a melting-pot of germs and viruses that spread like wildfire each year. Washing your hands as often as possible and adhering to appropriate sneezing and coughing etiquette can help, but the only way to really avoid getting sick is to keep your immune system running on all cylinders. Tai Chi does that too.

If you aren't sure where to start on your new Tai Chi journey, I have a number of courses, books, and DVDs available for practitioners of all skill levels. I even have a short-form course designed to help you focus, currently on-sale at Udemy.

Good luck!

Sitting is Hurting your Hips

I saw a great article from www.artofmanliness.com posted on Twitter today (by @ImproveMove) that showed some great stretches for correcting the damage that sitting for long periods of time can do to your hips. I highly recommend giving the page a visit and incorporating those stretches into your routine.

I have touched on the issue of our sedentary lifestyle before, specifically, how it can affect our spine and back health. Obviously, a stiff or painful back will put anyone out of commission for a while, and that's why I spoke about it first. However, tight and painful hips will also do a number on our overall health. They can affect our digestive and reproductive health, and if you are an athlete, I'd argue that your hips are the most important part of your body.

Like I said in my vlog on Tuesday, the difference between a white belt and a black belt in martial arts is where the power of their attacks originates. In the case of the white belt, they are punching and kicking with only their limbs. In the case of the black belt, they are striking with their whole body, and the force of the ground pushing up against them, and turning that all into much more powerful attack.

There are two reasons as to why the hips are so important to athletic movement. The first, is that our hips are our biggest joint, and also the center of gravity in our body. But in the eastern tradition, just above the hips (two inches below the navel) is our bodies greatest energy reservoir, the Lower Energy Center. When we move energy from within our body outward, such as when we are playing sports, that is where it comes from.If you have tight hips, your energy in not going to flow as well as it should.

So stretch those hips! On my site, you can find numerous stretches for your hips labeled under Hips, and the Legs and Abdomen tags (because all those muscles connect to the hips, so any stretch for them is also a hip stretch).

Happy stretching!

Cooling the Energetic Baton

To round out our series on the Energetic Baton, we're going to talk about how to cool it.

Energy naturally moves up the baton, to the head, as our brains are over stimulated during the day. This upsets the energetic balance, and to regain an energetic balance, you need to cool the Upper Energy Center.

To do this, put your mind in the Upper Energy Center, and slowly move it downward to the Lower Energy Center. This moving of your internal visualization will draw the energy down with it, cooling the Upper Energy Center.

The best way to do this is by facing the setting sun, and allowing the powerful downward energy to pull the heat from your head and chest areas to your lower abdomen.

Later, you can visualize the pull of the energy down in a spiral, rather than a straight line. And once you have enough experience, you can actually reside in the Lower Energy Center first, and pull the energy down from the Upper Energy Center in the same way. This will help you avoid being drawn back up into the Upper Energy Center and away from the meditation.

Why Visualize the Upper Energy Center?

Next week, we will discuss cooling the Upper Energy Center by moving energy through the Energetic Baton. This week, we need to learn what happens when we have an imbalance of energy between the two ends of the baton.

The Upper Energy Center is the source of our creative and excited energy. This can be very good, but also very stressful! When we are doing artwork, or being creative, our energy moves up to the Upper Energy Center. But the energy also moves up through the baton when we are anxious or worried, and keeps us in that worried state longer. It makes us feel imbalanced, almost like we might get blown head-over-heels if we don't hold onto something!

The Lower Energy Center is the source of our grounding energy. Visualizing it keeps us low to the ground and closer to our natural center of gravity. An abundance of energy in our Lower Energy Center keeps us calm and allows us to let go of stressful situations. It is also important for martial arts: for maintaining our balance and driving power up from the ground into our attacks.

No one can reside in the Lower Energy Center all the time. Life is both exciting and happy, and also stressful and worrisome. Each of these situations cause our energy to rise, making an imbalance that drives Yi, brain energy, and boosts the spirit, Shen. These can be useful in short bursts, but a constant amount of these "fire" energies will cause you to burn out from the stress.

That is why cooling the baton is a very important skill. It keeps us level headed, and maintains a balance of energy in our bodies, when life would normally create an imbalance in favor of the Upper Energy Center.

The Energetic Baton

Once you have worked on visualizing the Upper and Lower Energy Centers at the same time, you can visualize their connection running up and down the front of the spine. This is the Energetic Baton.

You may be thinking, "Wait! Why didn't we just visualize the whole baton from the beginning?" Good question. The answer is because the important aspect of the baton is how energy moves within it. If you begin visualizing one solid object, it becomes harder to visualize the energy moving within it. On the other hand, if you picture each energy center separately, as a pool or source of energy, and then picture a connection between then, like a pipe or a tunnel, it is much easier to experience the energy moving between them.

When you picture the baton, pay attention to the similarities and differences between the two energy centers. How are the sensations different? Where does the energy naturally flow in your body? Why?

Next week, we deal with cooling the baton to relieve stress.