Inspiration........Epigenetics......Jin Shin Jyutsu

As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far place. --Russian Proverb
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/science/09tier.html

The article and quote above, arrived in my email box via charityfocus.org, which I highly recommend subscribing to their newsletter, always filled with inspirational stories of one sort or another. This particular article is about which stories, that appear in the newspaper, are emailed the most. The researchers figured it would be all of the "bad news" stories, but instead it was all of the "good news" stories, especially the ones that were awe inspiring.

They talked about a story that had.... an “emotion of self-transcendence, a feeling of admiration and elevation in the face of something greater than the self.”

And how it.." involves the opening and broadening of the mind,” writes Dr. Berger and Dr. Milkman, who is a behavioral economist at Wharton.

“Seeing the Grand Canyon, standing in front of a beautiful piece of art, hearing a grand theory or listening to a beautiful symphony may all inspire awe. So may the revelation of something profound and important in something you may have once seen as ordinary or routine, or seeing a causal connection between important things and seemingly remote causes.”

Dr Berger goes on to say..."people who share this kind of article seem to have loftier motives than trying to impress their friends. They’re seeking emotional communion, emotion in general leads to transmission, and awe is quite a strong emotion.”

So let's take this a little further.....if you are experiencing "awe" , then you are experiencing inspiration, which may propel you to do something you've always wanted to do,go somewhere new (the Dalai Lamma recommends going to one new place every year) a creative project, or just spread a little kindness for the day.

And all of this has a huge impact on our "well being". I watched a "Nova" program last night called "Ghost in your Genes"-it was about epigenetics-very fascinating-they are little chemical tags that can turn a gene on or off. I was riveted to this program, because this is what my medication (Gleevec) is working on-keeping that gene turned off that created the cancer.

They also talked about other factors that can manipulate these little tags-environmental, nutrition, lifestyle, exercise, and of course-emotions and traumatic experiences (which my nutritionist had talked to me about)-and how we can manipulate them back! That's where Gleevec comes in, and the reason for writing this in the first place and that is Jin Shin Jyutsu.

Mark Dresser hipped me to this wonderful body energy work many years ago. I use it everyday, and go to a wonderful practitioner every other month. The main focus of this work is like most body energy practices-to release stuck energy and get it flowing again. In Jin Shin Jyutsu, energy is associated with 5 basic emotions, anxiety, fear,anger,grief, and what they call pre-tense or trying to hard. Then, there are energy locks that are associated with various medical and psychological issues, as well as organ flows. I work on the energy locks for digestion, and mental clarity, and combine that work with meditation. It gets me going in the morning, and de-stresses me in the evening.

So there are genes that we are born with, and little chemical tags that buzz around them that have been influence by environment, lifestyle etc., emotional and psychological trauma-and I forgot to mention that they have proven all of that can also be inherited. But those little tags can be manipulated by reading an inspiring story everyday, passing that along to others, meditating, body energy work, doing something creative, spreading a little kindness, learning something or going somewhere new-even if it's only a new place for lunch or a different route home.

The other part I want to add is something that my first acupuncturist told me "there is the energy that you are born with-ancestral chi-and the chi that you generate"-sounds a little like what these biologist are talking about with genes and epigenes.

So while western medicine-which I am extremely grateful to-finds new ways to manipulate epigenes which in turns eradicates or as they called it-restructuring the cell with the cancer causing protein-I am working on another level of manipulating those little buggers ;-)
And-keeping a look out for "awe inspiring stories".