bluegreen17 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bluegreen17) wrote2003-07-16 02:19 pm
bluegreen17) wrote2003-07-16 02:19 pm
tonglen and healing
a couple of nights ago,i woke up with one of the severe pains i sometimes get in my back and chest that seems to be associated with either something digestive or with getting a chill. in either case,a drop or two of a ginger tincture usually helps,as ginger is warming and helps with digestion.
the alpha state...that half-awake,half-asleep state...is a very interesting place to be in. anyway,i was in this state and i decided to use 'tonglen' breathing to see if that would help with the pain,instead of reaching for the ginger tincture. i'm really an amateur in a lot of things,but tonglen practice is a buddhist practice where you breathe in negativity in the world,transform it,with your breath,i suppose,and then breathe out the transformed energy. it's a way of helping the world out a little bit. some folks seem concerned that this will drain your energy or leave the negative energy with you,but actually what has been found is that in doing that,those who practice it actually seem to get healthier. it makes sense. if one is transforming it,it is not staying negative. and so,in giving something freely,one is benefiting oneself at the same time. which is true of all sincere giving.
so by some instinct,half asleep,i decided to try this. i guess i figured that i could kill two birds with one stone,so to speak. help others,help myself. and yeah,it did work.
sometimes i'm amazed at the hard-to-explain,hard-to-prove things that work. people may mock the placebo effect,and/or say that homeopathic medicine is just a placebo effect. but it's not 'just' because a placebo effect is the body healing itself,which it can do. in my mind,a placebo effect is just the mind tricking the body in a benevolent way into allowing itself to healed.
i remember little things like this at times,but i so often forget so much.
the alpha state...that half-awake,half-asleep state...is a very interesting place to be in. anyway,i was in this state and i decided to use 'tonglen' breathing to see if that would help with the pain,instead of reaching for the ginger tincture. i'm really an amateur in a lot of things,but tonglen practice is a buddhist practice where you breathe in negativity in the world,transform it,with your breath,i suppose,and then breathe out the transformed energy. it's a way of helping the world out a little bit. some folks seem concerned that this will drain your energy or leave the negative energy with you,but actually what has been found is that in doing that,those who practice it actually seem to get healthier. it makes sense. if one is transforming it,it is not staying negative. and so,in giving something freely,one is benefiting oneself at the same time. which is true of all sincere giving.
so by some instinct,half asleep,i decided to try this. i guess i figured that i could kill two birds with one stone,so to speak. help others,help myself. and yeah,it did work.
sometimes i'm amazed at the hard-to-explain,hard-to-prove things that work. people may mock the placebo effect,and/or say that homeopathic medicine is just a placebo effect. but it's not 'just' because a placebo effect is the body healing itself,which it can do. in my mind,a placebo effect is just the mind tricking the body in a benevolent way into allowing itself to healed.
i remember little things like this at times,but i so often forget so much.