Is Balancing Chakras a Legitimate University Health Event?

[phyzmatix]

The key is simply to finish what you started:

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we all could use more calm in our lives.

By following the simple advice I heard on a Medical TV show, I have finally found inner peace.

A Doctor proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started.

So I looked around my house to see things I started and hadn't finished and, before leaving the house this morning,

I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Shhhardonay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of vocka, a pockage of Prunglies, tha mainder of bot Prozic and Valum scriptins, the res of the Chesescke an a bax a cholates.

Yu haf no idr who gud I fel.

 

[Evo]

If that is substantiated, then gardening may also be prescribed as a stress-reduction technique. The difference in evaluating the medical efficacy of meditation is that is is difficult to set up a placebo. I haven't yet seen a study that eliminated the placebo effect from suggestion, so I don't know how much of it is psychological. What has been established though, is that meditation is better than no meditation.

There was a paper I came across that did a neurological study, and the answer may be in there, but I can't seem to find it now.

That's ok. I agree some form of relaxation, whether it is sitting with your legs crossed and opening your third eye, or pulling weeds, or chopping wood, (one of my tricks when I get upset is to imagine myself chopping wood, of course the ax always gets stuck and I have to apply a lot of force to pull it out, and it's a good anger release, of course the anger is then replaced with stress) can relax a person, then it really goes back to the OP. Where do we draw the line from learning what form of relaxation works for an individual to creating a belief in mystic hand waving?

 

[Evo]

The key is simply to finish what you started:

 

[JasonRox]

"have to WANT to be hypnotized to the point that you let someone else start telling you what to think, that you are wanting to receive auto suggestions. I was watching a show about it just last night. There was a famous scientist you'd recognize, whose name of course escapes me right now, that was debunking hypnosis as nothing more than being fed false memories by the hypnotists. In self hypnosis, you are the one feeding yourself the suggestions which you want to make yourself believe.

You're quoting whom? I don't see that in my link.

You have daydreamed before right? To the point you lost track of your surroundings? Please say yes.

 

[Danger]

Is it bad that I read Chakra and the first thing that came to mind was Fight Club?

Yes, that is bad. My first thought was 'Xena'. Each to his own, though.

I'm with Evo in that anything that you believe will work can help. The placebo effect is very real, and is, in my opinion, a demonstration of self-hypnosis.
I've already mentioned my experience of having to play a baseball tournament with a broken finger, and convincing myself that 'pain' would be interpreted by my brain as 'heat'. It worked great. What I didn't relate was that I was involved in a bar scrap last year and ended up bleeding fairly seriously. A couple of off-duty paramedics (damned cute ones, at that ) sat me down and were all concerned that I had to stay still. I thanked them for their attention and told them that I was just going to make it stop. Sure enough, within about 45 seconds it stopped. I didn't know the exact physiological mechanism involved, but I envisioned muscles in the area clamping off the vessels. Whatever, my brain subconsciously knew what action to take and did its thing.
If W hadn't been there, I would have just let it bleed to keep those young ladies around.

 

[Evo]

You're quoting whom? I don't see that in my link.

You have daydreamed before right? To the point you lost track of your surroundings? Please say yes.

Daydreamed yes, to the point of forgetting my surroundings, no. The closest would have to be driving to work while thinking of a million other things, but I am all the while fully cognizant of what's happening on the road. It's kind of like washing dishes and watching tv at the same time. That's just doing two things at once. At my job, one of the tests for hiring consists of reading instructions, listening to and following verbal changes to the written answers you are doing and using physical objects all at the same time to see how many things you can handle at once without making mistakes and it's all timed. The test starts with doing a long list of written math problems, which I guess made some people's eyes glaze over, then a very soft monotone voice tells you if you answered "5" in problem 8 change 5 to C and replace the C in problem 10 to 5, this happens every couple of minutes and the voice only tells you what to do once, so if you miss a verbal command, you are hosed for the rest of test. No talking is allowed and you hear a lot of whispers of "what?, what are we supposed to do?" It's fun. There are 2 days of psychological tests for the job. They really try to crack you. By lunch of the first day, one woman was doubled over and crying and they had to send her home. Next day, out of the 6 being tested only 3 of us showed up. It was a real eye opener, I learned a lot about myself that I did not know.

But, we're hijacking the thread.

 

[Danger]

But, we're hijacking the thread.

Subtly, though.
I wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes on that test of yours.

 

[JasonRox]

Daydreamed yes, to the point of forgetting my surroundings, no. The closest would have to be driving to work while thinking of a million other things, but I am all the while fully cognizant of what's happening on the road. It's kind of like washing dishes and watching tv at the same time. That's just doing two things at once. At my job, one of the tests for hiring consists of reading instructions, listening to and following verbal changes to the written answers you are doing and using physical objects all at the same time to see how many things you can handle at once without making mistakes and it's all timed. The test starts with doing a long list of written math problems, which I guess made some people's eyes glaze over, then a very soft monotone voice tells you if you answered "5" in problem 8 change 5 to C and replace the C in problem 10 to 5, this happens every couple of minutes and the voice only tells you what to do once, so if you miss a verbal command, you are hosed for the rest of test. No talking is allowed and you hear a lot of whispers of "what?, what are we supposed to do?" It's fun. There are 2 days of psychological tests for the job. They really try to crack you. By lunch of the first day, one woman was doubled over and crying and they had to send her home. Next day, out of the 6 being tested only 3 of us showed up. It was a real eye opener, I learned a lot about myself that I did not know.

But, we're hijacking the thread.

Then you're missing out on a beautiful experience life has to offer.

 

[Cyrus]

Then you're missing out on a beautiful experience life has to offer.

Hahahah, daydreaming is a beautiful experience life has to offer now? Hahahahahahah......AHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

[Cyrus]

I have forwarded your concern to the Director.

Hmmm, that probably means they just deleted my email...

 

[hypatia]

I am sure that's what it means, cause that's what it means where I work. I'd half to agree with Jason, how dull life would be without the ability to let your mind wander.

 

[JasonRox]

Hahahah, daydreaming is a beautiful experience life has to offer now? Hahahahahahah......AHAHAHAHAHAHA.

No, to enter into a trance like state.

 

[Andre]

Subtly, though.
I wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes on that test of yours.

But you should. That's what flying is all about, isn't it? Being able to intercept the final radial correcting for the wind, reducing to approach speed while leveling off, reporting the initial approach fix, call the bravo in close formation, while changing frequencies to final approach 126,15, while changing squawk to 4512

 

[Daniel Y.]

I've been using hypnosis and meditation for the past two years; and it has certainly helped me out quite a bit.

I had nearly the same type of experience as edward. When I went into get my Wisdom teeth pulled, they put those fancy gadgets on my chest and finger that monitored my breathing and heart rate. Just for kicks, I thought I'd see how low I could get them, and I started meditating to a deep enough point where the breathing and heart rate monitors started going off! Nurse burst into the door and asked me if I had messed with the machine or something. :)

I liked reading about http://www.scribd.com/doc/20232/-surely-youre-joking-Mr-feynman" (starting on page 27 on Meeeeee!). He's a good storyteller.

Hypnosis definitely does a lot of good things for a lot of people (as does meditation). My other mother Audrey went to a hypnotist to stop smoking; forty minutes after walking into the hypnotist's door she quit - no cravings at all afterwards.

I had a similar experience with my fear for math. About a year or so ago I was freaked out by the simplest math such as fractions, and couldn't hardly do elementary Algebra (and even when I did get it right it was from guesswork). I knew I needed to be damn good at math to be a physicist, so I learned self-hypnosis to get rid of my phobia of math, and motivation to 'get into' it. A few self-hypnosis sessions later I practically devoured my Algebra and Trig book, and am now chipping away at my Calculus text and thought many times that I might prefer to be a mathematician instead of a physicist! I suppose one could attribute my huge change to other factors, but meh...

I feel sad for people who won't try hypnosis and meditation, or think it doesn't work for them because they tried it once or twice. If you've ever been engaged in a movie, or a book, or time passed quickly while driving or doing some other activity, or ever 'zoned out' of a boring lecture or TV show or conversation in the background, you can be hypnotized (it took me about 20 self-hypnosis trials to finally get it, because my brain is constantly worrying about stupid crap). People think it's some drug-like state where you can't think, or you're asleep and you're a slave to the hypnotist; nothing could be further from the truth. You can think, act, react, and stop the hypnosis at any time. The less you think, react, and generally let your mind race, the more effective the hypnosis will be (the thing that really killed my hypnosis experiences at first was constantly thinking 'am I hypnotized? Am I? How do I know? Am I? Should I pinch myself? Am I hypnotized now? I don't think it's working...or is it?' blah, blah...and so on constantly worrying instead of just relaxing body and mind).

 

[Evo]

Unless you have a very, very serious mental disability, you can, and have, been hypnotized.

You will need to post a peer reviewed study that shows this has any truth to it.

If you've ever been engaged in a movie, or a book, or time passed quickly while driving or doing some other activity, or ever 'zoned out' of a boring lecture or TV show or conversation in the background, you can be hypnotized (it took me about 20 self-hypnosis trials to finally get it, because my brain is constantly worrying about stupid crap). People think it's some drug-like state where you can't think, or you're asleep and you're a slave to the hypnotist; nothing could be further from the truth. You can think, act, react, and stop the hypnosis at any time. The less you think, react, and generally let your mind race, the more effective the hypnosis will be (the thing that really killed my hypnosis experiences at first was constantly thinking 'am I hypnotized? Am I? How do I know? Am I? Should I pinch myself? Am I hypnotized now? I don't think it's working...or is it?' blah, blah...and so on constantly worrying instead of just relaxing body and mind).

I don't know where you are getting your definition of hypnosis, but here is the dictionary definition.

The merriam Webster Dictionary definition of hypnosis is

1 : a trancelike state that resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject

 

[Kurdt]

I'm very sure that meditation does work for many people. Luckily we live in a world where there is a spectrum of different effects for different people. I think this is the hardest thing for people to grasp as we like to think everyones experience is the same as ours.

As for the original point, I agree with you Cyrus that use of the Chakras part is ill advised for a university.

 

[Daniel Y.]

You will need to post a peer reviewed study that shows this has any truth to it.

While there might be such a study, I don't know of it. I'm relying more on the accounts of many, many hypnotists I've spoken with, and as such is reflective of my opinion.

I don't know where you are getting your definition of hypnosis, but here is the dictionary definition.

The merriam Webster Dictionary definition of hypnosis is

That's hardly the definition of hypnosis, just one of many. Here are a few others I've picked up from typing define:hypnosis into Google:

A trance-like state in which a person becomes more aware and focused and is more open to suggestion.

Psychological condition of altered state of consciousness in which some people may be induced to show various differences in behaviour and thinking, like heightened suggestibility and receptivity to direction.

Teaches patients to use a deep relaxation state to address issues such as smoking cessation, weight loss, pain relief, or self-improvement.

A state of heightened suggestibility.

A deep state of relaxation where an individual is more susceptible to suggestions.

A strategy or technique, employing a suggestion given by oneself or another, used to facilitate entering into a "non-ordinary" (ie, other than waking, dreaming and sleeping) State of Consciousness. ...

To name a few that fit my previous musing.

 

[Evo]

While there might be such a study, I don't know of it. I'm relying more on the accounts of many, many hypnotists I've spoken with, and as such is reflective of my opinion.

Ok, I will edit it out then.

 

[rewebster]

To me, it's one of those 'feel' things too----if you 'feel' like you need to relax from being stressed out, meditation may work. Some high strung people or type 'A's may have a hard time, or may think its useless. Throwing the word 'chakras' into the ad may be just trying to bring some 'new' people in---like using the word 'quantum' (leap) in some sort of TV ad for 'change'.

----A low end sales technique for those who may have heard the 'word' before.



oh--evo, that 'hiring test' does sound like it would be fun

 

[Evo]

oh--evo, that 'hiring test' does sound like it would be fun

It is fun, in an aggravating way. You get interrupted while you are working on a written math problem and go and make all these changes to earlier problems and re-do the math, then just as you get back to the question you left and try to remember what you were doing, the voice tells you to start making more changes, you begin to think that you're never going to finish that problem that keeps getting interrupted. And some don't. You also have no calculators or scratch paper. The math is easy, problems similar to those on an SAT, I believe they actually were taken from an SAT, come to think of it, they are just checking your ability to multi-task.

I was told that on average less than 2% of the people that get to take the 2 day asssessment get recommended by the review board.

 

[binzing]

I think people could do with a dose of "Shut the hell up and stop critiquing stupid sh!t".

 

[rewebster]

It is fun, in an aggravating way. You get interrupted while you are working on a written math problem and go and make all these changes to earlier problems and re-do the math, then just as you get back to the question you left and try to remember what you were doing, the voice tells you to start making more changes, you begin to think that you're never going to finish that problem that keeps getting interrupted. And some don't. You also have no calculators or scratch paper. The math is easy, problems similar to those on an SAT, I believe they actually were taken from an SAT, come to think of it, they are just checking your ability to multi-task.

I was told that on average less than 2% of the people that get to take the 2 day asssessment get recommended by the review board.

sounds like most don't have the 'chakras' to do it

 

[JasonRox]

It is fun, in an aggravating way. You get interrupted while you are working on a written math problem and go and make all these changes to earlier problems and re-do the math, then just as you get back to the question you left and try to remember what you were doing, the voice tells you to start making more changes, you begin to think that you're never going to finish that problem that keeps getting interrupted. And some don't. You also have no calculators or scratch paper. The math is easy, problems similar to those on an SAT, I believe they actually were taken from an SAT, come to think of it, they are just checking your ability to multi-task.

I was told that on average less than 2% of the people that get to take the 2 day asssessment get recommended by the review board.

How can you get interrupted when you're thinking about a problem if you can think a million things? Just add that thinking to the millions of other things.

 

[Danger]

Being able to intercept the final radial correcting for the wind, reducing to approach speed while leveling off, reporting the initial approach fix, call the bravo in close formation, while changing frequencies to final approach 126,15, while changing squawk to 4512

Hmmm... I never squawked, because my birds weren't transponder-equipped. It's been over 30 years since I've been in the air, so my memory is pretty screwed, but I thought that our tower frequency was 128.5, not 126.15. Also, there wasn't a separate frequency for regular control as opposed to final. Once we were down, we switched to the Ground Control channel. I can't remember what that was. You're European, though, aren't you, and currently or recently active? That might make a difference.
Also, since you reference formation flight and reporting your own fix, I assume that you are talking about your military experience. I was strictly civilian.

 

[rewebster]

Daydreamed yes, to the point of forgetting my surroundings, no. The closest would have to be driving to work while thinking of a million other things, but I am all the while fully cognizant of what's happening on the road. It's kind of like washing dishes and watching tv at the same time. That's just doing two things at once. At my job, one of the tests for hiring consists of reading instructions, listening to and following verbal changes to the written answers you are doing and using physical objects all at the same time to see how many things you can handle at once without making mistakes and it's all timed. The test starts with doing a long list of written math problems, which I guess made some people's eyes glaze over, then a very soft monotone voice tells you if you answered "5" in problem 8 change 5 to C and replace the C in problem 10 to 5, this happens every couple of minutes and the voice only tells you what to do once, so if you miss a verbal command, you are hosed for the rest of test. No talking is allowed and you hear a lot of whispers of "what?, what are we supposed to do?" It's fun. There are 2 days of psychological tests for the job. They really try to crack you. By lunch of the first day, one woman was doubled over and crying and they had to send her home. Next day, out of the 6 being tested only 3 of us showed up. It was a real eye opener, I learned a lot about myself that I did not know.

I think if that little voice did that more than once, I say, "are you sure?--and why can't and didn't YOU get it right the FIRST time?"

 

[Moonbear]

If you consider meditation just to be another relaxation technique (like zoning out in a hot bathtub...without the water), then it makes sense that it helps relieve stress, which in turn can have health benefits. It's the "chakra" part that's the nonsense, unless they're using chakra as a synonym for stress hormones or some such.

Cyrus should write to them and tell them how much they've added to his stress rather than relieved it with such a class being offered.

 

[rewebster]

MB--having a rough day?---do you want someone to rub your chakras?

 

[Danger]

MB--having a rough day?---do you want someone to rub your chakras?

Where do the volunteers line up?
I just got back, too late to edit my previous post. I'm thinking that it was 128.6, not 128.5. Still, that was one hell of a long time ago, and I can't even remember my own home phone number.

 

[phyzmatix]

MB--having a rough day?---do you want someone to rub your chakras?

"Barman! Two double vodkas, three chakra-rubs and a round of "Kundalini Awakening" for everyone!"

 

[Danger]

Too bad that we just got home from the bar, because I just realized what my next graffiti will be: 'Moonbear has awesome Chakras!'

And anybody who doesn't believe that (or still thinks that she's a he) should check out the Members Photos thread.