Nutritional Support of Relaxation

Centering during crises

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  During a crisis or any time one has a decision to make, it helps to take a few moments to write down the pros and cons, rather than having them buzzing in one’s mind like a cloud of bees. To further consider one’s options, one could let go of what others want one to do by finding one’s center, by refreshing and relaxing, letting go of the weight of the world for just a few moments, even during a crisis. Several methods for doing so follow.
  
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  “Progressive relaxation” involves tensing, relaxing muscle groups while breathing deeply. The audio recording of Sylvester’s method is available for free download linked from SylvesterJohnson.com. (“Easing into Sleep” audio tape by E.E.Miller ISBN 1-56170-365-6)
  
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  Ideally one breathes “into” the lower abdomen, as can be promoted by placing a hand there with the thumb just below the bellybutton, letting this contact “draw” the breath “into” the lower abdomen.
  
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  One can release busy thoughts while relaxing or preparing to sleep, by mentally voicing an “eternal” resonant note, giving a mental massage: “ahhh…” The ever-sustained note replaces the busy thoughts, so that one lets go of words and worries, becomes present in the moment, and drifts off to more peaceful sleep.
  
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  Sounding a note “ahhh…”vibrates one’s chest; humming it vibrates the brain. I haven’t searched for a study documenting the health benefits of these vibrations, but many religions incorporate chanting to induce relaxation and trance.
  
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  During the day one could relax anywhere by exhaling stress and inhaling vitality fully. A worthy goal could be to expand the sense of peace experienced before sleep, as well as while traversing the hectic pace of one’s life. Like any other skill, letting peace flow into daily life comes with practice (tranquil, not driven). Peace in daily life is paradoxical, but paradox is a part of life. The hectic in peace, all joy and sorrow in peace, are paradoxes one could live.
  
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  My mood and outlook are generally upbeat, partly due to diet, and partly due to building on the positive, not feeding the negative, as well as getting the news via periodicals other than the dailies, without broadcast media. I envision success, focus on gratitude for the positive rather than resentment of the negative, think of my cup as half full rather than half empty.
  
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  Every human being is "be-coming".
  
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  Human bond in common: Gut-wrenching habits can be transformed into heart-healing habits. For example, attacking person  attacking problem; blaming  accepting; complaining  listening; criticizing  respecting; defensiveness  understanding; nagging  negotiating differences of opinion; threatening  encouraging; “you” language  “I” language; fighting  community-building. One could replace “fighting” feelings with “for” feelings both within and without.
  
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  Ethics: No one appreciates being “shoulded”. One could stop “shoulding” oneself by imagining how one would feel after taking or after not taking an action that entails ethical pros and cons. It helps to write down the pros and cons, rather than having them buzzing in one’s mind like a cloud of bees.
  
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  Instead of “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong”, how about “Whatever can go wrong can go right”, or better still “Whatever can go right will go right”. There exist no problems, only situations.
  

Dietary advice from major religions

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  The vegan diet is compatible with all major religions, whereas conflicting thoughts regarding eating or drinking animal products were expressed in the revered texts of most major religions.
  
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  The roots of the movement to emphasize plant food go back thousands of years. Several religious traditions refer to an “original” diet, among them the Judeo-Christian. “…given you every herb bearing seed (vegetables), …fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be meat.” “Flesh food weakens…moral will, …clarity of mind…for understanding God’s messages to us, dulls…spiritual receptivity to the light …of God, and strengthens the animal tendencies, allowing them dominance…”
  
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  “Fruits and vegetables, seeds, grains and nuts, to you it shall be for food.” (Genesis 1:29) Not until after the flood did people begin to eat meat (Genesis 9:3).
  
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  “While the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague” (Numbers 11:33). The present epidemic of degenerative disorders could be interpreted as the continuation of that plague. [In this section I’m quoting passages that to me seem to support eating plant-based foods. In brackets for balance are the critical comments by a friend who is a biblical scholar, who for example wrote about this passage: This is taken out of context. If you read the whole chapter in Numbers, then you will find that the problem was not the eating of meat. Rather, it was that of complaining against God.]
  
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  The Bible does not endorse milk products (Why Christians Get Sick by George Malkmus ISBN 1-56043-849-5). “Everyone who partakes of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is a babe” (New Testament, Chapter 5 Verse 15). [Comments by a biblical scholar: The reference ("New Testament Chapter 5, Verse 15") is nonsensical. I believe that the quote to which you’re referring is Hebrews 5:12-14: "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Again, the point here is not about diet. Rather, use is made of the metaphor of an infant who can drink only its mother's milk vs. an adult who can eat solid food. The metaphor is used to describe the Hebrew Christians' lack of spiritual progress in their faith in Jesus as being the Messiah who was raised from the dead. If the point were about diet, then what would you do with the statement made to adults: "You need milk, not solid food!"?] My comment: The latter sentence could have been meant to be sarcastic, implying that the persons addressed were but babes.
  
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  Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were part of the Essene movement of the times. Jesus not only was raised in an Essene community, he also escaped to one in the backcountry to avoid King Herod for a period. The Essenes, also called the Nazarenes, wrote in the Dead Sea Scrolls: “Let not a man make himself abominable with any living creature or creeping thing by eating of them”. [Comments by a biblical scholar: There is no evidence that Jesus was an Essene. Given that he grew up in Nazareth in Galilee with Mary and Joseph, it is highly unlikely that he was an Essene. This is a baseless fabrication made up in modern times by people who want to read their own beliefs into the New Testament.]
  
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  In the versions of the New Testament that have been handed down to us, Jesus asked for meat several times. The original Greek manuscripts used many words for “eat” and “food”, such as phago, broma, brosimos, brosis, trophe, and prosphagion. Over the ages, translators substituted “meat” for all those words for “eat” and “food”. The Greek word for “flesh” meant animal flesh, not the above words for “meat”. When Jesus asks “Have ye any meat” he’s really asking “Have ye any food” (John, Chapter 21 Verse 5). Would Jesus really have salivated over lamb oozing blood? [Comments by a biblical scholar: We know that Jesus' last supper was a Passover Seder (e.g., see Jesus instructions to prepare the meal given in Luke 22:7,8). Lamb was eaten by every loyal Jew on the Passover. We also know that Jesus cooked fish for his disciples and fed it to them (See John 21:1-13). He also multiplied 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish so that many people could eat them (See Matthew 14:13-21).]
  
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  “Fish” was a secret term used by the early Christians. The first letters of the ancient word for “fish” stood for “Jesus Christ Son of God Savior”. The feeding of fish to the people meant the feeding of the teachings of Jesus. [Comments by a biblical scholar: Actually, the symbol of fish in early Christianity was not about eating. Rather, fish were a metaphor for people, fisherman for those who preach the gospel, and getting caught for getting saved by being brought to trust that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for our sins, and that He physically rose from the dead. (See the story of Peter's calling in Luke 5:1-11. The key quote is Jesus' statement to Peter, who had been a fisherman: "from now on you will catch men".) This doesn't have much to do with the eating of meat or not.]
  
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  “For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19). [Comments by a biblical scholar: The issue of being a vegetarian or not is specifically addressed in the New Testament in Romans Chapters 14. The bottom line of this chapter is that the decision is a matter of conscience and that either decision is acceptable to God provided that the particular believer is not violating his or her conscience. There is no mention of the decision being a matter of health.]
  
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  Yogic tradition teaches that dairy clogs the subtle channels of energy flow known as the nadis. The ancient yogis as well as the modern-day Youkta yogi ate a plant food diet, quite likely for improved health, flexibility and mood (YouktaSpiritDance@yahoo.com).
  
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  Pythagoras, the ancient Greek mystic and mathematician, used plant foods to ease his contemporaries’ digestion and maladies.