Meditation in the Media

Dear members

We're not sure how many people caught last Sundays Carte Blanche programme
on MNet and saw the feature about the benefits of meditation and the
scientific study of a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks using state of the art
neurological measuring equipment. It really was fascinating to see the
" hard-science" proof of what the mystics have believed for thousands of
years i.e. that meditation makes you healthier and happier - perhaps an
indication of the increasingly mainstream nature of these "esoteric"
pastimes?? Whilst on matters of media, below is a copy of a recent press
release put out by Moksha which resulted in a radio interview on SAFM and
some other attention.

That's it for now.

Love
The Moksha Team

"Thought is not the way to the new. Only meditation opens the door to that
which is everlastingly new. Meditation is not a trick of thought. It is
the seeing of the futility of thought and the ways of the intellect.
Intellect and thought are necessary in the operation of anything mechanical,
but the intellect is a fragmentary perception of the whole, and meditation
is the seeing of the whole. Intellect can operate only in the field of the
known and that is why life becomes a monotonous routine from which we try to
escape through revolts and revolutions - merely to fall back once again into
another field of the known. This change is no change at all, as it is a
product of thought, which is always old. Meditation is the flight from the
known. There is only one freedom: it is, from the known. And beauty and
love lie in this freedom."
~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

Press Release: Back pain costs SA economy billions

"At least 80% of South Africa's workforce is suffering from severe
discomfort and even disability due to problems which arise from lower back
pain. Although there are no official figures available on the cost of
disability, it is estimated that worker disability in 1999 cost the economy
more than R2 billion according to the SA Society of Physiotherapy." -
Health24.com

Cape Town, Nov 12, 2004 -- According to the SA Society of Physiotherapy,
lower back pain costs the South African economy billions of Rands and causes
major discomfort. The solution, however, is not complex but is often ignored
by Government, medical aids and sufferers.

The American Arthritis Foundation reports that back pain affects 50 to 80%
of people in the USA, with 10% of adults experiencing pain, immobility or
stiffness at any one point in time. Americans spend an estimated US$24
billion every year on treatment, not taking into account time missed from
work. After the common cold, back pain is the most frequent cause of lost
workdays in adults under 45 and also carries an emotional cost to sufferers.

A recent study at the University of Warwick and Oxford University has put
routine physiotherapy, a traditional treatment of lower back ailments, under
the spotlight. Published in the British Medical Journal, the study found no
difference in results between a group that were treated by physiotherapists
and another that was given advice and no treatment. "The message to take
away from this study is that there is no magic wand to curing back pain. If
you want to get rid of the pain, you have to play an active role in the
process yourself," said report co-author Sarah Stewart-Brown.

In the UK GPs refer 1.3 million patients every year to NHS physiotherapists,
despite the fact that research indicates that physiotherapy may be
ineffective for the ailment. Chris Loker, MD of Moksha Yoga Studio, says
that it is not unreasonable to extrapolate the figures from the USA and UK
to South Africa: "Like obesity, we are following some alarming health trends
emanating from these countries," he says.

"Anecdotally, there seems to be a higher number of back operations per
complaints in South Africa. Many of these are unnecessary and avoidable.
Researchers have found that taking exercise is the way to get over lower
back pain. This flies in the face of those who recommend rest. "

"It is critical to keep the spine working in order to increase mobility, but
unfortunately many exercise regimes don't work on twisting, rotating,
lengthening and strengthening the spine and surrounding muscles, including
the abdominal muscles which support the back".

Pilates may be effective in this respect, says Loker, but he believes that
the ancient art of yoga offers the solution. "Our increasingly sedentary
lifestyle and the amount of time spent in chairs and at desks means that it
is critical to work the spine to avoid back ache, and more importantly,
increase quality of life as we age. What's the point of living longer but
hating every minute of it?"

Increased quality of life requires a bit of an investment, he believes, in
this case the discipline of a regular exercise practice, but the benefits
are immense; leading to increased vitality, reduced stress and mental
clarity.

"What I don't understand is that major industries shy away from this proven
practise and focus more on the drug, operation solution rather than
prevention. Maybe it is because there is more money in the former. Yoga is
still a cottage industry by comparison, however, if more people took
responsibility for their own well-being, instead of adopting a 'pill for
every ill' mentality, perhaps this wellness word will become mainstream."