(NY Post) No amount of Instagram [AI] filters will fix this.
Influencers might seem glamorous on social media, but their smoldering good looks apparently won’t last.
Experts at the gambling site casino.org have devised a grotesque model of what these content creators will look like by the Year 2050, complete with
pale, patchy skin
a hunchback and
chronic neck pain.
AI kills for the first time
Future social media influencers
“While the career [of social media influencer] can be glamorous, it can also bring significant changes to our lifestyle,” the gambling experts wrote.
They reportedly wanted to see how the “trendy profession” — which boasts 30-50 million adherents worldwide and is growing by 10-20% each year — can impact appearances over time.”
They deduced that “algorithm-chasing, [unrealistic] beauty standard pressures, and non-stop content creation can take a visible toll on both body and mind.” More
Ultimate wisdom from 131-year-old Yogi Raidas Baba
(The Himalyan Yogini) Aug. 18, 2024: यह एक आध्यात्मिक चैनल है। साधु - संतो की सेवा हेतु आपसे सहयोग राशि अपेक्षित है। अगर आपको वीडियोज पसन्द आ रहे है तो वीडियोज को ज्यादा से ज्याद Share करे, like 👍 करे और, comment अवश्य करे lUPI ID: himalyanyogini@oksbi. Queries will be replied [to] on donation basis only. You can do superthanks or upi.
How to sit for hours in meditation
Is there a way to stand up? - Do yoga.
Posture of Meditation (Johnson)
(Guru Pashupati) Jan. 24, 2024. [(WQ) Here is excellent advice on proper posture. Sitting flat is not the solution. The wandering ascetic Siddhartha Gautama would go to the foot of a tree, make a seat for himself out of kusa grass covered in cloth or leaves and sit in delight for long stretches in peace. Did he do yoga poses? He might have. He certainly walked up and down mindfully for circulation and exercise, walking for alms in the morning, going into seclusion in a pleasant forest grove. Posture is vital for ease of breathing and movement of chi (prana) along the meridians. And lymph needs to move, which is by movement. Here Guru Pashupati is merely pointing out the proper angle, which is not a stiff 90 degrees but a relaxed and elevated position such that the knees are lower than the waistline. The mind has more to do with it (because when the mind is alright, the body is at ease and natural) but the body can help or hinder. Mind-body in harmony is the way to progress.]
Samadhi with Paramahansa Yogananda?
He was very short so always positioned to compensate for that in photos
Commentary: What shall we eat and when?
Ultimate Yogini Jen Love H.
(WQ) India has amazing beings, even today in this Decadent Age (Kali Yuga). There are breatharians, fruitarians, yogis living in the Himalayan foothills in caves surrounded by snow. How is it possible? Breath control is one secret, which is achieved by concentration (samadhi) and breathwork (pranayama).
An important way to begin is purification. Fresh local seasonal fruit in the morning is very purifying (cleansing) for the body because the enzymes are intact and appropriate for the weather. Unfortunately, in the US we have access to everything all the time, and it is neither seasonal, local, nor in its original state because it is kept in suspended animation through refrigeration in the unripe state, ripened artificially with gas and few nutrients that would have been present in naturally ripened pieces.
The people of an area benefit from fruit from that area more than exotic fruit. But due to the altered sugar content of most commercial fruit, we are getting Frankenfruit instead of the work of Mother Nature. If breatharianism is real, fruitarianism (eating only fruit, which may be defined as anything that grows from a plant the eating of which does not kill the plant, so bean, pulses, legumes, and the like may be included).
How would it be possible to live on breath alone? It is not oxygen that is meant by "breath" but rather prana supplemented by sunlight, which through yogic exercises is converted to amrita from under the tongue. These may be practiced with risk under an experienced teacher. To do it otherwise will only wrap us in our assumptions and limited knowledge, dooming us to failure.
It is important to emphasize that the Buddha taught that it is not possible to become enlightened by diet alone. If it were, those who restrict themselves to this or that would be there. And they are not. However, diet is crucial. On one occasion a group of Buddhist wandering ascetics living a distance from the Buddha could not make progress in their meditation. They came to ask the Buddha about it, who recommended they eat from a variety of the eight flavors of food.
This was an ancient system to ensure a variety to get all their nutrients: hard and soft, salty and sweet, astringent and umami, spicy and mild might be those eight. The point is that by being offered a variety of greens and things, they got those nutrients and made quick progress. The idea that one could advance by strict fasting or only eating sesame or hemp, this rice or that, a single plant, leaf, or root, this was a mistake to avoid.
As for eating meat, that is a whole discussion in itself because asking for it or commending is approving of killing, and this cannot be in line with the Buddha's guidance. Wandering ascetics do not directly choose what is offered; that is the privilege of the donors. But tacitly, of course, by welcoming somethings and being less than enthusiastic about others, they make their likes and dislikes known. This seems like a form of asking, which is disallowed.
For sitters of all traditions (Will Johnson)
The point is not to be an imposition. The larger point is to eat like travelers across a desert -- not to beautify, enjoy, savor, play, or treat it as a trifle. Food is medicine. Another amazing thing about the Buddha's guidance for wandering ascetics in his Dhamma-Vinaya (Doctrine and Discipline) is intermittent fasting.
Monastics are not ordered to go without food. They can eat every day and should to maintain their health and vitality. But these meals are spaced in such a way that they are limited to eating only between dawn and noon. The whole rest of the time is for proper digestion and cleansing in accordance with the body's cycles. The body needs to intake (eat in moderation), assimilate (digest), and eliminate (cleanse). When these are in balance, health is excellent, and the mind/heart is restrained and not allowed to become a hindrance.
One can, therefore, see why as householders we have so many problems with food: overeating, craving and eating the "wrong" (processed, ultra-processed, sugary, salty, spicy, depleted, fried, stale, burned, out-of-season, fatty, empty) foods, eating at all times, eating in excess, engaging in extreme diets, failing to fast (which allows the body to shut down the digestive system to clean it out), and not taking enough water, vitamins, and perhaps most importantly the micronutrients (72-92 trace minerals) needed for vibrant health.
What I've Learned, 2/6/19; Amber Larson, Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Attractive face or not? It depends on TONGUE posture
(What I've Learned) One thing missing from any discussion of beauty is the health impact of good oral posture.
I used to be so beautiful
Considering that it is at the back of the face, having a receded chin or maxilla could hinder the airway, with big implications for sleep apnea.
Clarification on the title: Of course, no one means to suggest that attractiveness depends only on tongue posture. Nutrition in utero (during the mother's pregnancy), postpartum nutrition, and health through the formative years surely play very big roles in how the face develops.
In fact, Weston Price's book
I'm hot. There's nothing wrong with my face.
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration suggests that fat soluble vitamins are very important for fertility and the proper development of the young; grains and sugar ("modern foods") are very detrimental to their development, particularly their oral health.
Oral posture is simply another piece of the puzzle.
SUTURE FUSION: The phrases "These sutures are not completely fused together" and "Sutures are not completely closed" would have been better. It is understood that after birth, the sutures of the skull "fuse" together by age 2 or so. One study found that complete closure of certain sutures does not occur until as late as 70-years-old. Another found that “The human frontozygomatic suture undergoes synostosis during the eighth decade of life but does not completely fuse by the age of 95 years" based on 61 human cadavers aged 20 to 95.
This topic with a focus on facial development's affect on respiration and sleep apnea is discussed in Dr. Felix Liao's Six Foot Tiger, Three Foot Cage.
Skull anatomy images provided by Kenhub. To learn more about the anatomy of the human body, check out their awesome learning materials: bit.ly/2Rz3SZl.
If interested in this topic and how to properly "mew" (practice good oral posture and other habits that encourage good facial development), check out the Orthotropics channel: bit.ly/2DciWp0.
Spinal traction or decompression is stretching out the back. It can be done by inverting. It helps posture, meditation, and sleep. This kind of stretching has made a noticeable improvement. The idea came from @TimFerriss's #fourhourbody. Why it works: It improves blood and lymph circulation. The circle above shows the lymph nodes on the vertebral column. Andrew Still said circa 1874, "[the importance of chiropracty/osteopathy is] found in the spinal column with all of its intricate bony framework, plus the beautiful circulation of blood and lymph through the nerve centers of the spinal cord and throughout the whole body.” Hang from a bar or, safer yet, use an inversion table. Hang completely upside down then lower yourself gradually while keeping the core engaged. Spinal traction is meant to be a "gentle" decompression process.More
"It doesn't matter who you used to be. What matters is who you become."
.
What is meditation?
Meditation is a conscious effort to change how the mind works. The Pali word for "meditation" is bhavana, which means "to make grow" or "to develop." [Literally, it means "to bring into being, to make become."]
Is meditation important?
Yes,
it is. No matter how much we may wish to be good, if
we cannot change the desires that make us act the way we do,
change will be difficult. For example, a person may realize that
s/he is impatient with a spouse and may promise, "From
now on I am not going to be so impatient." But an hour
later one may be shouting again simply because, not
being aware of oneself, impatience has arisen without
one knowing it. Meditation helps to develop the
awareness and the energy needed to transform ingrained
mental habit patterns.
I have heard that meditation can be dangerous. Is this true?
To
live, we need salt. But if we were to eat a kilogram
of salt it would kill us. To live in the modern world we may need
a car, but if we do not follow the traffic rules or if we
drive while we are a little intoxicated, a car becomes a
dangerous maiming machine. Meditation is like this, it
is essential for our mental health and well-being, but
if we practice in a foolish way, it amy cause problems.
Some people have problems like depression, irrational fears (phobias),
or schizophrenia, and they think meditation is an instant
cure for all problems. So they start meditating, yet sometimes their
problems get worse. If we have such problems, we may
want to seek professional help or therapy and after we
are better then take up meditation. Other people over
reach; they take up meditation and instead of going
gradually, step by step -- making the gradual progress the Buddha
advised -- they meditate with too much energy, effort, and exertion
for too long, and by going out of balance they are soon
exhausted and discouraged.
[Siddhartha failed and failed due to over-exertion. Then he relaxed effort to a point of balanceby pursuing the blissful and increasingly more refined meditative absorptions (jhanas).
This gave rise to
temporary purification, which served as a strong basis for cultivating insight (vipassana). Trying to practice "insight meditation" without a solid foundation of concentration
is almost certain to fail and leave us disappointed and discouraged.
Siddhartha succeeded, he later explained, with the paradoxical statement
that he neither pushed forward nor stood still, that is, neither
he overexerted himself into a fruitless frenzy nor sank into laziness from a lack of
effort. The key to success in meditation, therefore, is balanced-effort, persistence, strong-soft (sthira-sukha) cultivation.]
As Siddhartha eventually realized, Too much exertion is as bad as not enough exertion.
.
But perhaps most problems in meditation are caused by ''kangaroo meditation."
[Most are actually caused by Monkey Mind,
but the venerable is making another good point.]
Some people
go to one teacher and do that meditation technique for a while,
then they read something in a book and decide to try
this technique, then a week later a famous meditation
teacher visits town so they decide to incorporate some
of those ideas into their practice, and before long
they are hopelessly confused.
[Hopping around like a marsupial when it
gets tough is no way to "meditate." Pick a technique, learn it well,
practice it for long enough to see if it works.]
Jumping like a kangaroo from one teacher to another or
from one meditation technique to another is a mistake.
But if we do not have any severe mental problem and we
take up meditation and practice sensibly, it is one of
the best things we can do for ourselves.
.
If the heart/mind is settled and purified, one begins to see things as they really
are -- including sensing the many kinds of unseen beings that live alongside
us and often impact us.
How many types of meditation are there?
The
Buddha taught many different types of meditation, each
designed to overcome a particular problem [he detected in the person he
was instructing] or to develop a particular
psychological state [hidden strength in the person]. But the two most
common and useful types of meditation are "Mindfulness
of Breathing" (anapana sati) and "Loving-Kindness Meditation" (metta).
[The two broad classes of meditation are the cultivation of
concentration and calm and the development of insight and wisdom, known
as samatha and vipassana.]
If I wanted to practice Mindfulness of Breathing, how would I do it?
Follows these easy steps known as the Four P's: place, posture, practice, and problems.
First, find a suitable place, perhaps a room that
is not too noisy and where you are not likely to be
disturbed.
Second, sit in a comfortable posture. A good
posture is to sit with your legs folded, a pillow under your buttocks,
your back straight, the hands nestled in the lap and the
eyes closed. Alternatively, you can sit in a chair as
long as you keep your back straight.
Next comes the actual practice itself. As you sit
quietly with your eyes closed you focus your attention
on the in and out movement of the breath [just under the nostrils]. This
can be done by counting the breaths or [alternatively
being mindful of the grosser] rise and fall of the abdomen.
When this is done certain problems and difficulties will arise.
You might experience irritating itches on the body or
discomfort in the knees. If this happens, keep the body
relaxed without moving. Keep focusing on the breath.
You will probably have many intruding thoughts coming
to mind and distracting your attention from the breath.
The only way to deal with this normal occurrence is to
patiently keep returning your attention to the breath.
If you keep doing this, eventually thoughts will weaken,
your concentration will become stronger, and you will have moments
of deep mental calm and inner peace. [Remembering the
breath, and bringing it back to mind, is said by some to be the
definition of "mindfulness," known in Pali as sati and in Sanskrit as smirti.]
How long should I meditate for?
It
is good to do meditation for 15 minutes every day for a
week and then extend the time by 5 minutes each week until
you are meditating for 45 minutes. After a few weeks of regular
daily meditation, you will start to notice that your
concentration gets better, there are fewer distracting
thoughts, and you have moments of real peace and
stillness.
What about Loving Kindness Meditation? How is that practiced?
Once
you are familiar with Mindfulness of Breathing and are
practicing it regularly, you can start practicing Loving Kindness
Meditation. It should be done two or three times each week
after you have done Mindfulness of Breathing.
First, turn your attention to yourself and say to
yourself words like, "May I be well and happy. May I be
peaceful and calm. May I be protected. May my mind/heart be free of
hatred. May my heart be filled with loving
friendliness. May I be well and happy."
Then one by one you think of a loved and respected
living person of the same sex (like a teacher), a neutral person, that
is, someone you do not know and neither like nor
dislike, and finally a disliked person, wishing each of
them well as you do so.
What is the benefit of doing this type of meditation?
If
you do Loving Kindness Meditation regularly and with
the right attitude, you will find very positive changes taking
place within yourself. You will find that you are able to be
more accepting and forgiving towards yourself. You will
find that the feelings you have towards your loved
ones will increase. You will find yourself making
friends with people you used to be indifferent and
uncaring towards, and you will find the ill-will or resentment
you have towards some people will lessen and eventually be
dissolved. Sometimes if you know of someone who is
sick, unhappy, or encountering difficulties you can
include them in your meditation, and very often you
will find their situation improving. [These and the benefits the Buddha
mentioned are more likely to result from practicing metta meditation to the point of absorption or jhana,
a deep calm and concentration that brings about the benefits. It is not
positive or wishful thinking, but an awakening of the heart/mind's
latent powers to make our reality.]
How is that possible?
The
mind, when properly developed, is a very powerful
instrument. If we can learn to focus our mental energy and project
it towards others, it can have an effect upon them. You may
have had an experience like this. Perhaps you are in a
crowded room and you get this feeling that someone is
watching you. You turn around and, sure enough, someone
is staring. What has happened is that you have picked
up that other person's mental energy. Loving Kindness
Meditation is like this. We project positive mental
energy towards others and it gradually transforms them.
Do I need a teacher to teach me meditation?
A
teacher is not absolutely necessary, but personal guidance
from someone who is familiar with meditation is certainly helpful.
Unfortunately, some monastics and laypeople set
themselves up as meditation teachers and gurus when
they simply do not know what they are doing. Search and pick a teacher
who has a good reputation, a balanced personality, and
who adheres closely to the Buddha's teachings. More
A CT scan reveals the body of a nearly 1,000-year-old mummified Buddhist monk inside a statue of the Buddha. [However, it is not likely meant to be the Buddha but the "immortalized" monk himself as a saint or ascetic (Drents Museum/Discovery.com).
.
Monk is made into statue of himself not Buddha
Researchers at the Drents Museum in the Netherlands made a shocking discovery when they imaged an ancient Chinese statue and found a nearly 1,000-year-old mummy inside.
Sitting in the lotus position, the mummy fits within the statue perfectly.
"On the outside, it looks like a large statue of [the] Buddha," the museum said in a release. "Scan research has shown that on the inside, it is the mummy of a Buddhist monk who lived around the year 1100."
Glowing through the statue's golden cast, the human skeleton is believed to belong to Buddhist master Liu Quan, a member of the Chinese Meditation School [Ch'an the Chinese pronunciation of the Buddhist practice of Pali jhana, "meditative absorption," Sanskrit dhyana].
To further investigate the mummy, the researchers took the statue to the Meander Medical Center in Amersfoort [Netherlands] and carried out an endoscopy and additional CT scans.
They found out that Liu Quan's internal organs had been removed and replaced with scripts covered in Chinese writing.
The museum speculates Liu Quan may have "self-mummified" in order to become a "living Buddha."
Practiced mainly in Japan, self-mummification was a grueling process that required a monk to follow a strict 1,000-day diet of nuts and seeds in order to strip the body of fat. A diet of bark and roots would follow for another 1,000 days.
At the end of this period, the monk began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Japanese varnish tree, normally used to lacquer bowls and plates. The tea caused profuse vomiting as well as a rapid loss of bodily fluids, possibly making the body too poisonous to be eaten by bacteria and insects.
A living skeleton, the monk was then placed in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, which was equipped with an air tube and a bell.
Researchers thoughtremains dating back to the 11th or 12th Century were in the statue, but the CT scan revealed that the mummified monk's organs had been removed (Daily Mail).
Never moving from the lotus position, the monk would ring the bell each day to let those outside know that he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the monk was presumed dead, the air tube removed and the tomb sealed.
After another 1,000 days the tomb would be opened to check whether the monk had been successfully mummified. Of the hundreds of monks that tried this horrifying process, only a few dozen actually became self-mummified and venerated in temples as [an actual] Buddha.
Budapest has Buddhism?
Researchers aren't certain when or how this monk's organs were then removed and replaced with scripts.
The Buddha statue is currently on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Budapest [NHMUS.hu/en]. It will remain there until May.More
Russian archaeologists resume excavation in a remote site near Arctic Circle to solve mystery of mummies clad in copper masks (Kate Baklitskaya/The Siberian Times).
.
Copper, reindeer, beaver, wolverine, bear
The artifacts discovered near the copper-clad mummies included an iron combat knife, bracelets, silver medallions, and bronze figurines. The archaeologists also found bowls originating in Persia [Iran, Central Asia, geopolitical Middle East], some 3,700 miles to the southwest, dating from the 10th or 11th centuries. The finding suggests that around one millennium ago Siberia was not a remote and inhospitable site but an important trading crossroad (Natalya Fyodorova/Siberian Times).
The archaeologists admitted the graves feature burial rites they had never seen before. They hope to solve the riddle on the mysterious people by carrying further excavations and genetic tests (Kate Baklitskaya/The Siberian Times).
Archaeologists found 34 1,000-year-old shallow graveswith seven male adults, three male infants, and one female child. Buried with a hoard of artifacts, some of the bodies had shattered or missing skulls and smashed skeletons (Natalya Fyodorova/The Siberian Times).
Archaeologists investigating the Tuscan island of Elba have identified remains of villa belonging to real-life individual who inspired a principal character in epic tale of Ben-Hur.
Pyramids, Stonehenge, Richard III, Siberia, Asteroid, Ancient Villa (news.discovery.com)
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What is meditation?
Meditation is a conscious effort to change how the mind works. The Pali word for "meditation" is bhavana, which means "to make grow" or "to develop." [Literally, it means "to bring into being, to make become."]
