Winter Kundalini & Meditation

Posted on October 6th, 2010 by in , , tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Stephen Colmant's sweat therapy sauna Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Stephen Colmant, PhD. Dr. Colmant is a licensed psychologist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Health and Medical Division and has more than 15 years experience working with people with a wide range of treatment issues in a variety of settings. This is an excerpt from his upcoming book, “Sweat Therapy: A Guide to Greater Well-Being.” You can read his other works on his website, . Intense heat exposure can be therapeutic and it can be deadly.  Like a powerful drug, it is the way in which it is used that makes the difference. The context, preparation, helpful aids, temperature, rest periods, and recuperation time are all important. That does not mean that there is just one way or even “a best way” to do it. Sweat practices are not unique to any one culture, have existed throughout the world for thousands of years and continue to be developed. Culture is not static. The integration of culturesoccurs constantly and is a natural consequence of human interaction, particularly over time. The question, “Should new and better sweat procedures be developed?” is irrelevant. New sweat procedures integrating ancient traditions with new technologies are regularly developed. A better question is: “How should new and creative sweat procedures be developed?” You can intensify your sweat practice by adding another dimension to it with meditation, music, aromatherapy, exfoliation, and close interpersonal interaction. These activities are common adjunctive practices used in many ancient forms of sweat practices and integrate well with sweating. Meditation Meditation naturally emerges while sweating.  The intense heat promotes introspection and deep relaxation while the participant cultivates an attitude of calmness and self-regulation.  This can grow to include the development of other mental qualities such as concentration, love, or wisdom.  As is true with any discipline, to becomeskilled in meditation takes time and practice.  Yet anyone can meditate. Here are some thoughts and reflections to consider for a sauna meditation: Sitting erect but not rigid, lean against the back of the sauna, placing your hands comfortably in your lap.  Let your body and mind rest and relax and get into the heat. When you feel comfortable with it, allow your eyes to gently close.  Tune in to the feeling of the breath moving in and out of your body, allowing yourself to breathe mostly through your mouth as the hot air stings the nostrils.  Focus on the sensation of the hot air moving in and out of your mouth. Let your body relax and as you sweat, think about the stress leaving your body.  Negative energy leaves your body as you sweat.  As the sweat leaves the pores of your skin so does anger, frustration, and tension.  Relax and enjoy the heat. Just become as comfortable as possible.  The intense heat of the sauna is gentle at first, providing a very warm, relaxing feeling. Somepeople sweat immediately and others take longer.  Notice how your body reacts to the heat.  As the sweat begins coming to the surface of your skin, notice the feeling of your body. Feeling relaxed and calm, the intensity of the heat grows.  You may begin to struggle slightly as the heat works its way through your body.  As the heat intensifies, so does the amount of stress and anxiety that is released. Each time that you find your mind wandering off, simply bring it back to your breathing. Music The effects of music may be profound relaxation, a peak experience of joy, or a depth of understanding or insight. From research with music therapy, we know that music is associated with a decrease in depression, improved mood, and a reduction in pain, stress and anxiety. Music therapy has also been shown to improve various aspects of social interaction. Musical preference has been identified as one of the most important factors mediating the beneficial effects of music. Music has a verypersonal and intimate meaning for each individual and may have a either a calming or a stimulating effect. Most music therapy studies have focused on reducing anxiety. Characteristics of the type of music found to reduce anxiety include simple repetitive rhythm, predictable dynamics, low pitch, slow tempo, consonance of harmony, no percussion instruments, string composition, and recognized instrumental and vocal timbre. Others found that slow, quiet, nonvocal music lowered physiological responses associated with stress, whereas faster music generally heightened the physiological responses. When I have friends over to my sauna, soft rock/acoustic rock is the big crowd pleaser. I use Sirius Satellite Radio and usually have it on the Coffee House on channel 30 (XM 51, Dish network 6030, DirecTV 848). It seems to have a good balance of being not too intense and not too laid back. The SPA channel is great for meditating (Sirius 73, XM 72, Dish Network 6073, DirecTV 856). It can also be funto choreograph your sweat session by matching the type of music to the type of experience you would like to facilitate. As the heat is experienced as more intense toward the end of the round, more intense music fits well. If you don’t own your own sauna, you can bring music into your sweat session with the use of a hand-held personal audio player with headphones. I have used several types of personal audio players including digital music players inside saunas and have not experienced any problems with the sauna conditions causing damage to the music players. One reason for this might be that the heat exposure is relatively brief (about 15-minutes before taking a break). However, if you are still worried about possibly damaging your audio player, you can insulate your audio player simply by wrapping a towel around it. Aromatherapy Some common traditional uses of aromatherapy include incense and smudging for cleansing, purification, protection of physical and spiritual bodies, banishmentof negative energies and creation of sacred space. Many believe that incense or smudging releases the energy and fragrance of the herbs and botanicals so they can heal and promote well-being. Today, aromatherapy — the therapeutic use of essential oils and plants — is a multimillion dollar business. Proponents claim that aromatherapy can stimulate the immune system, improve concentration, relieve pain, muscle aches, and act as an aphrodisiac.  Some claim that aromatherapy can be used for a multitude of purposes from curing athlete’s foot to bringing enlightenment and everything in between. The clinical research, however, does not support such claims. What is not in doubt is that smell is a powerful sense. The olfactory system, the apparatus responsible for our sense of smell, has a pathway in the brain closely associated with the limbic system. The limbic system contains the amygdala and the hippocampus parts of the brain which are closely associated with emotion and memoryrespectively. The sense of smell is especially powerful in triggering memory. So if you want to use a symbol as part of a ritual that gets everyone’s attention, the sense of smell is hard to beat. Try experimenting with different herbs. Sage, cedar, and are often used in sweat lodge ceremonies. Eucalyptus is also worth trying. [Most Korean saunas are scented with . We’ve been in German saunas scented with spearmint, peppermint, cinnamon and citrus rinds. – Ed] Burning herbs in a sauna or sweat lodge is done conveniently by sprinkling some over the hot rocks. A metal pan containing the herbs can be placed in or above the stove, or bags of dried herbs can be hung from the roof of the sauna, as is common in Korea. Remember, it doesn’t take much to create a pleasant aroma. Be careful if you place herbs on the hot surface of the stove — they can burn, making a very unpleasant and noxious smoke. are another option for creating an aroma in the sauna, without the ash that some herbs will leavebehind. Small amounts of these oils can be mixed with water and poured the over the hot rocks to produce a scented löyly. Again, be careful, essential oils will burn. Don’t bring the bottles into the hot sauna — dilute them into your sauna bucket outside. When working with aromas in the sauna, stick to just one, and don’t try mixing dried herbs with essential oils.  Nobody likes an olfactory nightmare. Make sure you ask permission before adding scents to a sauna that isn’t your own. As for my favorite scent, personally, I mostly stick with sage. Exfoliation Exfoliation involves the removal of the oldest dead skin cells on the skin’s outermost surface. The skin is constantly generating new skin cells at the lower layer and sending them to the surface. As the cells rise to the surface they gradually die and become filled with keratin. Exfoliation removes the outer layer to reveal the newer skin beneath. This shedding of the outer layer unclogs pores, keeps skin clean, and helps reduceacne breakouts. As we age the process of cell turnover slows down. Cells start to pile up unevenly on the skin’s surface, giving it a dry, rough, dull appearance. Traditional use of the sauna, shvitz and bania will often include whisking to promote exfoliation. Whisks are typically made from young birch branches about 18 to 24 inches long and tied together called a vihta in Finnish or a venik in Russian. Whisking includes a process of hitting oneself and others in a careful, caring way. [For more about how to make and use a venik, see , or to make a vihta, see this video on . -Ed] [In the Korean Jim Jil Bang, exfoliation is taken to the extreme via the body scrubs given by the staff in the wet area. After loosening up their skin in the sauna, steam rooms, or tubs, patrons lay down on a plastic-covered table, where a staff member thoroughly scrubs their body using a synthetic “italy towel.” First timers receiving such a scrub are amazed at the amount of dead skin that is liberated fromtheir body during the scrub. -Ed] If you want to exfoliate yourself there are various body brushes, mitts and loofah sponges available. Sauna Parties One of the best ways to throw a memorable party is to throw a sauna party. Sweating accelerates and intensifies group interaction. The sauna experience helps your guests to loosen up and have fun. When planning your sauna party, make sure to send out invitations with enough advanced notice. In the invitation, let people know that sauna can be dangerous for people with breathing and heart problems and for pregnant women with complicated pregnancies. I usually say that minimal attire is a bathing suit and ask that guests bring their own towel. Make sure to have plenty of clean drinking water on hand. It is also a nice touch to have sliced lemons and limes for people to add to their water. Some people like to have the sauna available for guests to use throughout the evening. I prefer to set it up so that sauna is the first event of theevening before moving on to other activities. My rationale is that it is better to sweat on an empty stomach so if you are going to have food at the party, it is better to serve it afterwards. Secondly, alcohol use is safer after the sauna than before. Never let an intoxicated guest use the sauna. Your sauna can allow for different themes by changing the color of lighting, adding specific scents and choreographing music. I once had a St. Patrick’s Day sauna party with green lights, Celtic music and green beer for afterwards. A beach-theme party can be accented with blue light bulbs, beach music and coconut-lime fragrance oil in the sauna. (Bath & Body Works® offer a wide array of fragrances for different seasons.) One of the best sauna parties I threw was in June. It started with the sauna, then moved to my front porch where we served nachos, beer and cocktails and then music and disco ball on the side porch. The sauna experience seemed to loosen people up so that they were ready todance. Since they had already been half naked sweating in front of each other, taking a risk on the dance floor was nothing. This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 at 10:52 am and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. You can , or from your own site.