Dear Reader,
Welcome to Dr. Mitra Ray’s Monthly E-Newsletter
FROM HERE TO LONGEVITY
Issue 1 – August 12, 2003
www.drmitraray.com – The Official Site of Mitra Ray, Ph.D.
Special Note: Welcome to the first issue of Dr. Mitra Ray’s Monthly E-Newsletter! Thank you to everyone who encouraged and supported us in creating this publication. Your belief and inspiration makes all the difference.
Today’s issue is going out to 545 monthly subscribers. Thank you in advance for forwarding this issue to friends, family and associates!
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‘When you hold the breath, you hold the soul.’ -B.K.S. Iyengar
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Today’s issue includes:
1. Article – ‘Computer Yoga’ by Mitra Ray Ph.D.
2. Dr. Mitra Ray ‘LIVE’ in Spokane and Nashville
3. Dr. Mitra Ray Testimonials – August 2003
4. More Information
For some time now, I have held the idea of creating and launching an electronic magazine -an ‘e-newsletter.’ I have shared the possibility with many of you and have received your enthusiastic response to the idea of fostering good health through the creative use of the electronic medium.
As you may know, until now my message has been delivered in an ever-widening arc – through personal appearances, audio, video, radio and television, and the publication of my recent book, From Here to Longevity: Your Complete Guide to a Long and Healthy Life. As someone who is so used to looking out at a sea of loving faces when I speak, there was some concern on my part as I began writing the book – could my words, put down ‘on paper,’ actually move my readers? Could a written message promote profound change? The Preliminary Edition of the book is out, and the resounding answer is ‘YES.’
Buoyed by that success, I am ready to move forward with my dream of an electronic magazine. I know that how this ‘e-newsletter’ is created and what is said in it, and even the space in which people read it, will offer not only new possibilities, but also new challenges as well. For instance, many of you who are reading this may be sitting at your computer, crouched – perhaps in the worst posture possible for supporting your back, your breathing, and everything that sustains life. So, for this initial issue of the e-newsletter, I’d like to suggest a posture of receptivity – to my message, certainly, but more importantly – to life. I hope you will take just five minutes to try this simple exercise:
* First of all, sit at the edge of your chair.
* Your knees are at a 90-degree angle to the floor and your spine is erect but relaxed.
* Your neck and your head are in line with the rest of your spine, with your chin slightly tucked.
To accomplish this basic position, you will need to engage your core muscles. If you don’t know what core muscles are, consider the support belts that weight lifters wear. That is an externalized image of what is going on inside your body. You have a group of muscles inside you that can act like one of those belts, and it can hold you. It can support the weight of your body. And this muscle group, in a sense, ‘connects’ the lower half of your body to the upper half of your body, and allows your diaphragm to move freely so that your breath can also support your body.
Now, to actually locate and engage these core muscles, pretend that you are bracing yourself for someone to hit you in the stomach. Go ahead and try that. You might notice that at this point, you are holding your breath. If you were to keep those muscles engaged for long, you might notice how shallow your breath is. The trick is to keep those muscles engaged while you lift the chest up and allow your ribs to expand as you breathe in. Of course, this will seem extremely difficult at first, unless you are already working on developing core strength. But, in time, your core muscles should be engaged most of your waking hours. This allows the body to be receptive to breath and receptive to life.
I assure you that reading this will not make any difference to you if your body cannot accept it. And if your body cannot accept it, your mind cannot accept it. The access is your breath. And what supports your breath is proper spine alignment. We’ve all developed a multitude of bad posture habits. So, in order to sensitize yourself to the harmful possibilities, take a step back – from the healthy position you have just assumed – and actually practice some of the bad things that we all do.
* Crouch over;
* Hunch up your shoulders; and,
* Let your neck fall into this girdle of hunched-up shoulders, which doesn’t really support your neck, but feels like it should.
Now, in this posture, you may begin to notice some surprising consequences:
* Your breathing is shallow, because your lungs are collapsed, your rib cage is not expanded;
* Your jaws might be tight; and,
* Your tongue might be way at the front of your mouth.
Your body may already be asking you to make the following adjustments:
* Bring that tongue back to the back of your mouth;
* Bring your shoulders back and down;
* Feel your neck pulled up by an imaginary skyhook, while you restore that ever so slight tuck to your chin; and then,
* Feel your chest expand and open as you allow your elbows to face back with your palms relaxed and open in you lap.
It is important to say here that all of the above activity can be really difficult unless you have the proper chair. Yes, I cannot stress that enough. You have to get the height right, so that your feet can comfortably touch the floor. If you’re short like me, for instance, you might have to find a stool or something to rest your feet on. With most chairs, I can’t reach the floor. And if you’re tall, you still have to get the height right – so that you can sit at the edge of your chair with your knees at a 90-degree angle – in order to support yourself.
Even when you are supported by a good chair and a conscious posture, you may simply be spending too much time in front of your computer. It is important to get up and move around occasionally, to take a few moments to concentrate on your body and how it is bearing up under the strain, to be sure that you are ‘still breathing.’ Make time for you — in the midst of all you have to do.
Make time for YOU. This is where it all begins; this is where health begins; this is how you spend your day; this is how you spend your precious time here on Earth.
Give yourself the freedom to breathe. If you can’t breathe, then your body lacks. And when it lacks, it starts to go toward foods and drinks and other things that taste good and feel good and promise to give you immediate gratification — and all of that because you didn’t take a breath.
The last thing I would want is for you to be reading my monthly electronic magazine in a state where you couldn’t really take it in. So, check your posture right now. Are you still supporting your body’s ability to breathe? Is your energy flowing? If not, relax, because it is easily available. Remember, the easiest way to increase your energy is to exhale out all of the stale air and inhale some fresh, new air into your expanded lungs. Energy is available in abundance, all around you, all the time – so take full advantage.
To Your Health and Success,
Mitra Ray
2. Mitra Ray Ph.D ‘LIVE’ in Spokane and Nashville
See Dr. Mitra Ray ‘live’ September 18, 2003 in Spokane, WA and October 9, 2003 in Nashville, TN
3. Dr. Mitra Ray Testimonials – July 24, 2003
Here are some of the dozens of testimonials and comments we received over the past few months from readers of ‘From Here to Longevity.’
Thank you for such an informative and compelling book. At times your thoughts and research scared me as well as made grateful for the opportunity to do something good for my body and life as well as my family’s. Grateful & Indebted in Denver,
-Tim Bosworth
Dr. Ray, I just wanted to say thank you for the available and applicable information you have given us to use as Juice Plus+ advocates. I just returned from the boot camp my upline Mark Schwan put on in Collingwood Ontario…and I am as pumped as ever to get the message out about prevention! Thank you for your research and your tools. I look forward to meeting you in the future.
-Emily Vennor, Juice Plus+ Ottawa
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Copyright/Reprint Info – The contents of this E-Newsletter may be copied, reproduced, or freely distributed for all nonprofit purposes without the consent of the author as long as the author’s name and contact information are included. Example: Reproduced with permission from the Mitra Ray Ph.D ‘From Here to Longevity’ E-Newsletter zine.
All contents Copyright (c) 2003 Shining Star Publishing, Inc. except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide.**Duplication or reprints only with express permission or approved Credits (see above). All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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‘Do not mistake laziness for relaxation. The lazy man is inactive…full of lethargy and inertia. Whereas a man who practices relaxation…has vigor, strength and endurance.’
-Swami Sivanada
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