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• Payson R. Stevens
interviewed by Steve Hays & Marjorie Fox;
edited by David S. Cohen

Gersten • Your Mental Fitness Program
by David Gersten, M.D.

• The Physical Dynamics of Emotions
by Vaishali

• Qigong: Healing Wave—East to West
Master Mingtong Gu

• I Loathe Valentine’s Day!
Liv Kellgren

Payson R. Stevens speaking on India and his Himachal; the Global and Local Environment; and his Artwork

Trained in both art and science, Stevens is a San Diego resident who divides his time annually between the Indian Himalayas and Del Mar, California.Originally trained in molecular biology at the City University of New York and in oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Stevens studied at the Arts Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Stevens founded two award-winning companies, InterNetwork, Inc. and InterNetwork Media, Inc. and was a 1994 recipient of the Presidential Design Award for Excellence from Bill Clinton. Stevens was lead author of Embracing Earth: New Views of Our Changing Planet (Chronicle Books, 1992), which appeared in four foreign-language editions.

Since 2000, he has advised on environmental, sustainable livelihood and ecotourism issues for the Great Himalayan National Park (www.greathimalayannationalpark.com). He is a founding member and Board Advisor of My Himachal (www.myhimachal.com), a US non-profit and Indian NGO. Formed in 2006, it is dedicated to uplift the lives of rural Himachal Pradesh villagers and protect the environment.

by David Gersten, M.D. • February 2010

Your Mental Fitness Program

Thirty years ago Canadian sports psychologist, Dr. Peter Jensen, wanted to find a way to destigmatize mental training. If an Olympic athlete was seeing a psychologist to improve his mental game, he had to face comments that implied he must have a mental problem. So, Dr. Jensen coined the term “Mental Fitness Techniques” (MFT) and then told high-level athletes that they need Physical Fitness, on the one hand, and Mental Fitness on the other.

The four main mental fitness techniques are: meditation, mental imagery, use of the breath, and mood words. I have found that helping to set up a patient’s mental fitness program dramatically increases their chance of success, whether their problem is mental/emotional or physical.

More than 60% of the patients in doctor’s offices have stress-related illnesses, and very little is done to address that fact. If people leave my office, go home and practice their MFTs, their stress levels will drop by 50% rather quickly. When people begin practicing MFTs, they are empowered, for they make those techniques their own, can use them anywhere and any time, thereby developing a solid mental game plan for living.

The Physical Dynamics
of Emotions

by Vaishali — author of Wisdom Rising

After being diagnosed terminal from an illness, and then ten years later from an injury, there is one thing I truly understand as a result of piecing my health back together and studying the Eastern healing sciences. That is the physical dynamics of emotions - how emotions travel through the body, what emotions stress and undermine which organs and how unresolved emotional experiences can literally get trapped inside the body.

Emotions are a form of energy, and like all forms of energies they have a certain vibrational signature frequency. That vibrational frequency difference is what separates anger from fear, and sadness and grief from impatience. Our internal organs, also being forms of energy, vibrate at difference frequencies. That is what makes the liver, the liver, and not the lung or the foot. When we have an emotional experience, that frequency moves through the body like waves move through water or sound waves through air.

Our internal organs have the ability to digest those emotional frequencies. Different organs digest different emotions. For example, the lungs and related airway passages are designed to digest the signature frequency of sadness and grief. When that organ has digested that emotion, it has taken the emotion in, then pulled from it what is needed, and last and most importantly, let the rest go for the recognized waste that it is. The natural post-digestive emotional by products of sadness and grief are courage, self-confidence and self-assurance these emotions are then absorbed internally and ultimately embodied.

Qigong: Healing Wave—
East to West

by Master Mingtong Gu

Qigong, an integrated mind-body healing method, has been practiced with remarkable results in China for thousands of years. In more recent years, qigong has attracted popular attention in Western culture. The Chinese have long treasured qigong for its effectiveness both in healing and in preventing disease. More recently they have used it in conjunction with modern medicine to treat cancer, immune system disorders and other health conditions. This ancient technology is also based on the ancient wisdom tradition of working with the spiritual dimension. Through practice, qigong creates an energy condition (chi body) under which mind, body and spirit can function in the most optimal, harmonious and integrative way. The implication is beyond just physical healing — it enhances all of life.

Historically, qigong can be traced back to ancient shamanism, passed down through many traditions such as Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Traditional Chinese Medicine (e.g., acupuncture), martial arts and folk traditions. Its energetic teaching and practice remained secretive and somewhat mystical until after the Cultural Revolution in China (1966–1976) when a few grand masters took qigong public. It gained popularity very quickly between 1980 and 2000 as the government promoted qigong’s health benefits at the time of the country’s recovery from the deep wound from the destruction of the Cultural Revolution. Qigong wards in Chinese medical hospitals became commonplace and hospitals devoted solely to qigong treatments as the primary therapy rose throughout the country. Then in 2000 the Chinese Government decided to trade health benefits for political control and many had to shut down or at least go underground or minimize their scales. Around that same time, the Western countries became aware of the many benefits of qigong.

Liv Kellgren I Loathe Valentine’s Day!
It’s Valentine’s Year that gets my vote

by Liv Kellgren

I loathe Valentine’s Day. Maybe that’s the wrong word. Do I detest it? Hmmm. Actually, I dread it. It looms for months, preying with its heart-wrenching expectations. As soon as I’ve recovered from last year’s tyranny, there’s another Valentine’s Day gaining on me. There’s just so much obligation packed into this one innocent day. Idea! What if, instead, we spread it out, all over the place? What if, in fact, we could dabble a little sprinkling of the love glitter each and every day? Valentine’s Day for the other 364 days a year? A Year-Round Romance? Yes, let’s!

Year-Round Romancing Yourself. What makes you feel romanced? What are those romantic things that a friend or lover can do for you, or to you? Many years ago, a friend borrowed my car and when she returned it, the tank was full. Dizzy with gratitude, I stared at the gauge as if I had opened a door to another magical world. At that moment, I realized that little magical gesture was love itself. And it was then that I met a new person, whose name is Myself. She experiences every emotion and situation I do, but if I don’t take care of her, love her, romance her, who will? Since then, I no longer wait until the last moment to fill the tank; if I’ve got a busy day on my calendar, I fill up the day before so my car is ready to go first thing in the morning. Myself is so delighted. I look at that gauge, grateful and amazed that I’ve thought about Myself that way. I’ve also started romancing Myself in other ways. I’m now treating Myself as I would want a lover or partner to treat Myself: I dress up a little bit each day (Myself likes to wear my jewelry), I’ve invested in designer sheets and bedding, I buy Myself fresh flowers, I take Myself out to lunch, I bring home a bottle of wine that’s not two-buck chuck. I now romance Myself every single day. So, with the Year-Round Romancing in mind, what would you want for Yourself? Massage? Sunset walks on the beach? Bubble bath? Dinner and dancing? Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you, or to inspire you. You deserve only all the good things.