Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner
thelivyjr
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

Post by thelivyjr »

T'ai chi is about coming over into the present moment ...

Either you are in the present moment ...

Or you are not ...

T'ai chi does not allow you to lie to yourself as to where you really are ...

In that, it is a tough taskmaster, perhaps ...

And so ...
thelivyjr
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

Post by thelivyjr »

A strong and fluid energy field is the key that unlocks the doors of self-healing and peace of mind.

Though the channels through which this energy flows are open systems and influenced by factors outside of our control, we ultimately choose what impact these will have in our lives.
thelivyjr
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

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If you develop and hold the thought that any adversity can actually be turned to your advantage, you then have an immense mental asset going for you ...
thelivyjr
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

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Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.

If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it.

Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them.

To overcome the anxieties and depressions of contemporary life, individuals must become independent of the social environment to the degree that they no longer respond exclusively in terms of its rewards and punishments.

To achieve such autonomy, a person has to learn to provide rewards to herself.

She has to develop the ability to find enjoyment and purpose regardless of external circumstances.

One needs to learn to control attention.

In principle any skill or discipline one can master on one’s own will serve: meditation and prayer if one is so inclined; exercise, aerobics, martial arts for those who prefer concentrating on physical skills.

Any specialization or expertise that one finds enjoyable and where one can improve one’s knowledge over time.

The important thing, however, is the attitude toward these disciplines.

If one prays in order to be holy, or exercises to develop strong pectoral muscles, or learns to be knowledgeable, then a great deal of the benefit is lost.

The important thing is to enjoy the activity for its own sake, and to know that what matters is not the result, but the control one is acquiring over one’s attention.

The first step is to develop the habit of doing whatever needs to be done with concentrated attention, with skill rather than inertia.

Even the most routine tasks, like washing dishes, dressing, or mowing the lawn become more rewarding if we approach them with the care it would take to make a work of art.

The next step is to transfer some psychic energy each day from tasks that we don’t like doing, or from passive leisure, into something we never did before, or something we enjoy doing but don’t do often enough because it seems too much trouble.

There are literally millions of potentially interesting things in the world to see, to do, to learn about.

But they don’t become actually interesting until we devote attention to them.

Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make.

But once the interaction starts to provide feedback to the person’s skills, it usually begins to be intrinsically rewarding.

The task is to learn how to enjoy everyday life without diminishing other people’s chances to enjoy theirs.

― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
thelivyjr
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

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KIDNEYS & CHI GONG

The Kidneys act like the radiator in a car.

If there isn’t enough water the whole engine runs hot.

Water is Yin – cooling, calming, refreshing, nourishing.

Drink plenty of water to support the Kidneys to soothe, calm, cool and cleanse the body, mind and emotion
thelivyjr
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

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T'ai chi as I practice it as a chi gong (qigong, energy work) is about using the mind to perceive a pattern that the body and breath then follow at the direction of the mind ...

And then, using the mind, you break that pattern and move over into others ...

You don't become locked into pattern ...

Mental flexibility ...

Not rigidity ...
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

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Medical press

"New, more infectious strain of COVID-19 now dominates global cases of virus: study"


by University of Sheffield

July 2, 2020

Researchers have shown that a variation in the viral genome of COVID-19 improved its ability to infect human cells and helped it become the dominant strain circulating around the world today.

The study, published today in the journal Cell, shows the variation is more infectious in cell cultures under laboratory conditions.

The variant, named 'D614G', makes a small but effective change in the 'spike' glycoprotein that protrudes from the surface of the virus, which it uses to enter and infect human cells.


The D614G variant of COVID-19 quickly took over as the dominant strain soon after it first appeared, with geographic samples showing a significant shift in viral population from the original, to the new strain of the virus.

Researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Duke University in North Carolina, partnered with the University of Sheffield's COVID-19 Genomics UK research group to analyse genome samples published on GISAID, an international resource for sharing genome sequences among researchers worldwide.

Dr. Thushan de Silva, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Infectious Diseases at the University of Sheffield, led analysis of data from Sheffield.

He said: "We have been sequencing SARS-CoV-2 strains in Sheffield since early in the pandemic and this allowed us to partner with our collaborators to show this mutation had become dominant in circulating strains."

"The full peer-reviewed study published today confirms this, and also that the new D614G genome mutation variant is also more infectious under laboratory conditions."

"Data provided by our team in Sheffield suggested that the new strain was associated with higher viral loads in the upper respiratory tract of patients with COVID-19, meaning the virus's ability to infect people could be increased."

"Fortunately at this stage, it does not seem that viruses with D614G cause more severe disease."

Dr. Bette Korber, from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, was the lead author of the study.

She said: "It is possible to track SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) evolution globally because researchers worldwide are rapidly making their viral sequence data available through the GISAID viral sequence database."

"Currently tens of thousands of sequences are available through this project, and this enabled us to identify the emergence of a variant that has rapidly become the globally dominant form."

New supporting experiments, more extensive sequencing and clinical data, and improved statistical models have been published today in full at Cell, however the researchers are keen to stress that further laboratory analysis in live cells needs to be done to determine the full implications of the mutation.

"It's remarkable to me," commented Dr. Will Fischer, from Los Alamos National Laboratory and an author on the study.

"That this increase in infectivity was detected by careful observation of sequence data alone, and that our experimental colleagues could confirm it with live virus in such a short time."

More information: Tracking changes in SARS-CoV-2 Spike: evidence that D614G increases infectivity of the COVID-19 virus, Cell (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.043 , www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)30820-5

Journal information: Cell

Provided by University of Sheffield

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07- ... lobal.html
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

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CELL

"Tracking changes in SARS-CoV-2 Spike: evidence that D614G increases infectivity of the COVID-19 virus"


B. Korber, W.M. Fischer, S. Gnanakaran, D.C. Montefiori on behalf of the Sheffield COVID-19 Genomics Group

Published: July 02, 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.043

Highlights:

* A SARS-CoV-2 variant with Spike G614 has replaced D614 as the dominant pandemic form

* The consistent increase of G614 at regional levels may indicate a fitness advantage

* G614 is associated with lower RT PCR Ct’s, suggestive of higher viral loads in patients

* The G614 variant grows to higher titers as pseudotyped virions

Summary

A SARS-CoV-2 variant carrying the Spike protein amino acid change D614G has become the most prevalent form in the global pandemic.

Dynamic tracking of variant frequencies revealed a recurrent pattern of G614 increase at multiple geographic levels: national, regional and municipal.

The shift occurred even in local epidemics where the original D614 form was well established prior to the introduction of the G614 variant.

The consistency of this pattern was highly statistically significant, suggesting that the G614 variant may have a fitness advantage.

We found that the G614 variant grows to higher titer as pseudotyped virions.

In infected individuals G614 is associated with lower RT-PCR cycle thresholds, suggestive of higher upper respiratory tract viral loads, although not with increased disease severity.

These findings illuminate changes important for a mechanistic understanding of the virus, and support continuing surveillance of Spike mutations to aid in the development of immunological interventions.

Publication History

Accepted:June 26,2020

Received in revised form:June 10,2020

Received:April 29,2020

Footnotes

#Members of Sheffield COVID-19 Genomics Group: Adrienne Angyal, Rebecca L. Brown, Laura Carrilero, Luke R. Green, Danielle C. Groves, Katie J Johnson, Alexander J Keeley, Benjamin B Lindsey, Paul J Parsons, Mohammad Raza, Sarah Rowland-Jones, Nikki Smith, Rachel M. Tucker, Dennis Wang, Matthew D. Wyles

Identification

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.043

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S009 ... 20)30820-5
thelivyjr
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Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

Post by thelivyjr »

T'ai chi is about coming over into the present moment ...

Either you are in the present moment ...

Or you are not ...

T'ai chi does not allow you to lie to yourself as to where you really are ...

In that, it is a tough taskmaster, perhaps ...

But a true one!
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73429
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: Inward Bound - The T'ai Chi Corner

Post by thelivyjr »

Meditation helps us to familiarize ourselves with a clear and accurate way of seeing things and to cultivate wholesome qualities that remain dormant within us unless we make an effort to draw them out.

- Mathieu Ricard from Shambhala magazine
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