On the Sundance Channel, there's a show called 'Iconoclasts', where they take two famous people, generally people that have known each other for a number of years, and they talk about each other. Some of the pairings, I don't care about, but sometimes, they're rather unusual. One was Richard Branson (The billionaire that runs Virgin Airlines, and a bunch of other things) and Desmond Tutu (Arch Bishop of South Africa). They've worked together a fair amount over the years because Branson gives large amounts of money and works to get others to work on various humanitarian issues around the world. Another was Quentin Tarantino and Fiona Apple. They apparently met when neither of them were particularly famous and have been friends over the years. An Episode that I found particularly interesting, though, was Deepak Chopra and Mike Myers. Deepak Chopra is known for his takes on 'mind-body' medicine, and, well, I suppose you know what Mike Myers is famous for.

I've been listening to a lecture series with Chopra and another doctor. It seems to be a seminar given for doctors on the concepts of mind-body medicine and how it affects people. Chopra explains that starting with Newton, we started to look at the world as various events that we could manipulate their results. This extended into the way that medicine has progressed, since at it's core, it's science. Much of medicine over the past 50-100 years has dealt with humans much as you would deal with your car - you take your car in to get an oil change, or you have an accident and you take it to get the cosmetic issues of that accident repaired. However, those weren't really the cause of the problem.

The other doctor doing the lecture tells of a series of events that I imagine most people have had happen to them. He was away at camp for the first time when he was a kid, got there, and realized that it wasn't where he wanted to be. So, he decided he was going to get sick. The following morning, he woke up. Had a sore throat, and a temperature. And sure enough, he was on his way home. While I haven't done anything that extreme, I know I've made myself feel sicker than I really was.

He then discussed the Pavlovian bell - where dogs would salivate when they heard the bell, because they associated it with food. There were a series of experiments wherein various things were done with animals to do the same thing, only purely on a mental level. Rats were given a sweet liquid to drink, and then injected with a horrible drug. After a few weeks of repairing themselves, they were given the liquid again, and their bodies started to respond the same way. I know for me at least, there's various songs I can listen to, and past experiences become so vivid that I can start to taste things that I associate them with (Okay, songs that would be playing when I partied in high school - i can taste the beer). I think this is something that more people can relate to.

Then the discussion turned to how our hunter/gatherer nature effects us in everyday life. You get pulled over by the police, or another event happens, and your heart rate elevates. This is due to the 'flee or fight' aspect of the hunter/gatherer nature - your body is getting ready to do either of those things. Which, is the same thing that happens with stress - when you get stressed, your heart rate elevates, as does your blood pressure - this takes a toll on your body over time. The doctor told about this place in africa, where if you do something 'wrong', you get cast out by the society. And it's such a big deal, that the people get so highly stressed that they generally die in 3-4 weeks.

I was reading Amanda's blog the other day, and she mentioned that she's trying to write before bed every day. In this lecture series, they discuss research where college students would do the same, and the ones that were doing that had lower stress levels than those that didn't. I remember a few years ago, when I was doing some of 'The Artist Way' stuff, the thing I got the most out of, was doing the free writing exercises they have you do. So, I decided to do the same - spending some time doing free writing in the evening before bed.

I think that there's great power in saying things 'out loud'. In the lecture series, they bring up that studies have shown that women that are diagnosed with breast cancer have a 40% higher recovery rate when they attend support programs. I think with someone diagnosed with cancer, especially, that there are so many feelings and issues that can really only be discussed with someone with the same issues. The greatest benefit is just saying the things that are bothering you and knowing that everyone else in the group is going through the same issues.

I've been told the story that at MIT, in one of the labs, there's a stuffed bear on a shelf. The rules of the lab are that you cannot ask a question of a human until you ask the bear first. I know for myself, at least, there are plenty of times that I'm struggling with something, only once I verbalize the problem to explain it to someone, I already know the solution. There's power in verbalizing what's bothering you - I think this is a large reason why the idea of blogging is so popular. Granted, most people don't blog about their deep-down thoughts, it's still a way to release the thoughts into the wild and get them out of your mind. Most people don't blog because there's a million people reading it. Most people probably expect nobody to read it. However, it's still therapeutic. Even though this isn't communicating using spoken language, even written language has some weight. It's like telling your problems to the bear - or, I imagine many people tell their problems to their pets - just putting it into words, and getting it outside of your mind helps.

The lecture also talks about doing meditation. Something I've been curious about and have inadvertently done over the years. My mind ends up racing when I'm laying in bed, and I can't sleep. So, I count. However, it's not just counting, it's visualizing each number in sequence. Imagining a big 1 in front of you, looking at it, then a big 2, and so on. Which forces my mind to focus on one thing instead of the other things that it wants to think about. Which, essentially, is meditation at a basic level. I think I'm going to explore this area further and find something that works for me.

I did day 2 of the first week of c25k. My legs weren't cooperating with me, nor did I have enough fuel for the length of the run. So, my time wasn't so great. But, at least I did it. I only briefly thought of not doing it, so that was an achievement in and of itself. Tonight, I need to do laundry, and then do weights later this evening. Whee.