Prayer to Space
The 5 Rhythms have appeared in my life in many guises. I learned about 5 humors in Western Medicine and 5 elements in Chinese medicine and then embodied them when practicing martial arts such as Pancha Tanmantra, yet they have never been so potent as when I am dancing...
The Recipe for Wellness
Health authorities around the world all agree on one thing. The best way to avoid or treat a viral infection is to be well. After more than 40 years studying medicine and research wellness, I have come to the conclusion that wellness is simple. Here’s a recipe: The...
The Antidote to Fear
Ever since I was in primary school in the early 1970s and read “The Limits to Growth” I’ve been anticipating a global collapse and believed that in my lifetime humanity would either destroy itself or break through to a new age of enlightenment. As I could not tell...
Hacks to Relax
The best way to overcome viral infection is to be ‘positively well’, which means adopting the Wellness Manifesto, following the ‘Recipe For Wellness‘, staying ‘Chilled And Fulfilled‘ and doing Extreme Wellness Practices so you can explore the limits of your physiology...
The Whirl of Wellness
Hold someone’s hand, gaze into their eyesGo barefoot in nature, bask in sunrise Choose a dance partner, go find your grooveDo tai chi or yoga, mindfully move Share a massage, enjoy healing touchFocus on one thing and...
The following poem “Prayer to Space” is expressed as a ‘wave’ that embodies the 5 rhythms. Between the opening and closing verses are three verses devoted to each rhythm and its associated body part, emotion and essence.
Prayer to Space
Overwhelmed
By beauty and grace
I dance the rhythms
A prayer to space
Craving connection
The feel of contact
To be totally met
Authentically act
I follow my feet
My body in tow
Relentlessly moving
Trusting in flow
Till fear of life’s fury
Rejection and pain
Compels me to seek
Relief from the strain
So I Stop. Contract.
Build walls to protect
A semblance of self
Control an effect
My arrogant wisdom
Then thinks to define
The limits of being
Profane and sublime
Backwards and forwards
Repetitive notions
Create enduring drama
Bound with emotions
I try to escape
But can only surrender
I commit everything
Turn on life’s blender
Yet it’s sad to let go
Should I try to hold on?
Confusion reigns freely
Then all thought is gone
I dissolve into chaos
Releasing the mind
And in losing myself
I am able to find
Infinite bliss
Within and without
I feel my heart singing
I want to cry out
My life is a gift
Filled with joy and delight
Floating through space
Basking in light
The power of creation
Of substance and form
Is all in my hands
A new world is born
Waves of emotion
Flood over the floor
Then settle in stillness
Drenching in awe
Till numbness surrounds me
A fatigue of the will
Where’s the next move?
Impossibly still
Feeling compassion
I tune into my breath
Connect to the source
Exist beyond death
My prayers are then answered
With what I knew at first glance
Rhythms transform
My whole life into dance
The Recipe for Wellness
Bathe in beautiful water
Prepare delicious food
Make the most of every breath
Dance through every mood
Tend the soil beneath your feet
Feel sunshine from above
Share your gifts with all the world
Fill your life with love
Wellness is simple. Yet wellness can be difficult to achieve in the modern age when:
Our water commonly contains disinfectants and their toxic by-products, along with heavy metals, pesticides, pharmaceutical residues, fire retardants, endocrine disruptors and other emerging contaminants.
Our food is often high in sugar, salt and fat, nutrient depleted, and contaminated with pesticides and artificial additives.
Our air contains traffic-related air pollutants and range of toxic volatile compounds and can be further polluted by cigarette smoke.
We lead sedentary lives, experience life stress and sleep poorly
Our homes are often unhealthy and maybe affected by water damage and mould, excessive electromagnetic radiation, poor air quality and toxic building products and our personal relationships are impacted by stress and the demands of busy lives.
The current global emergency is forcing us all to go within and focus on what’s important. If we can all focus on wellness and follow the above recipe, then perhaps when we emerge we can work together and realise worldwide wellness.
More than forty years on, it seems the apocalypse is now upon us and there is a lot of fear going around as governments seem intent on keeping us sick, scared, jobless, helpless and hopeless. To counter this fear I have attempted to condense my 40 years of accumulated medical knowledge into bite size chunks and they seem to be coming out as poetry. This includes my Recipe for Wellness and the Whirl of Wellness, which lists 50 evidenced-based immune-boosting activities that can help you go from wired and tired to chilled and fulfilled. I also shared the 10 Hacks to Relax which serve as emotional first aid that allow you to relax on demand anytime you are scared anxious upset or in pain.
I have now come up with following Antidote to Fear:
Antidote to fear
Foster Love of Poetry
Express yourself through dance
Fill your life with fun and joy
Friendship and Romance
Focus on the world you want
Be the change you want to see
Spread goodwill to all you meet
Live fearless and free
Fear or love: good wolf or bad wolf: which one will you feed? Rather than give into fear or fighting what we don’t want, I believe it is more fruitful to focus on love and creating what we do want. I hope these poems help you focus on what is important. The are certainly helping me.
Hacks to Relax
The best way to overcome illness is to be ‘positively well’, which means adopting the Wellness Manifesto, following the ‘Recipe For Wellness‘, staying ‘Chilled And Fulfilled‘ and doing Extreme Wellness Practices so you can explore the limits of your physiology and become an ‘Extreme Being‘. If despite these measures, you find yourself becoming overwhelmed by the current uncertainty, here are 10 simple bio-hacks that can be used as ’emotional first aid’ to help you relax your body, calm your mind and cope with the immediate effects of stress and anxiety.
The “10 Hacks to Relax” are simple actions enable you to ‘relax on demand’ and can be done anywhere, or anytime to relax your body, calm your mind and give you a sense of control anytime you feel anxious, scared, upset or in pain. The ’10 Hacks to Relax’, can be used with children, in classrooms or online, and can help you get a sense of control and relieve the immediate effects of fear and anxiety, if you feel overwhelmed.
The ’10 Hacks to Relax’ are simply:
1. Touch all your fingers
2. Wiggle your toes
3. Soften your stomach
4. Breathe through your nose
5. Sigh
6. Smile
7. Swallow
8. Sing
9. Flutter your eyelids
10. Focus within
Use the ’10 Hacks to Relax’ to ‘focus within’ and access your superpowers so you can deal with the stressful situations that are sure to lie ahead.
The Whirl of Wellness
Hold someone’s hand, gaze into their eyes
Go barefoot in nature, bask in sunrise
Choose a dance partner, go find your groove
Do tai chi or yoga, mindfully move
Share a massage, enjoy healing touch
Focus on one thing and don’t think too much
Make time for a hobby, play chess, fly a kite
Make use of your hands, draw, paint, sew or write
Help someone in need, donate to a cause
Play games, meditate, read stuff from bookstores
Turn off your screens, get a good sleep
De-clutter, spark joy, love what you keep
Dig around in a garden, pick up a guitar
Slip into a bathtub, sauna, or spa
Care for a pet, take up a sport
Go on vacation, make your home a resort
Lie in a hammock, release pent-up stress
Relax and do nothing, then do even less
Laugh out loud, share a joke, give someone a kiss
Say a prayer, chant a mantra, follow your bliss
Each of the 50 activities in this poem boost immunity, relieve anxiety and help you go from wired and tired to chilled and fulfilled and require minimal cost, skills or equipment. Each activity is linked to the scientific evidence to support it with a preference given to more recent articles, systematic reviews and articles that discuss improvements in mental health, immunity and general wellbeing.
Give it a whirl and make the ‘Whirl of Wellness’ your dance of Life.