HOW TO DO THE EXERCISES FOR SELF-MANAGEMENT OF ANXIETY: DIFFICULTIES IN ATTAINING RELAXATION OF THE MIND

It is extraordinary how people tend to give up even before they have started. “Relaxing the body, yes, I can do that; but relaxing my mind, that is impossible; that is why I have come to you.” I hear this almost daily. Yet experience has shown that anyone who can achieve physical relaxation can likewise attain the sensation of relaxation of his mind, if he will only try—and try in the right way.

A common difficulty is that our thoughts seem to become too active. We keep thinking of the problems of the day. All the small inconsequential things of our business keep running through our mind. In an effort to stop it, we consciously turn our thoughts to our home. But the same thing happens again, and we become exasperated by the flow of unwanted thoughts. This particular difficulty is more common in people who have well-developed obsessive traits in their personality. The main problem is the rather vivid awareness of these thoughts, the way they intrude into our consciousness and the way they disturb us. We cope with this difficulty simply by giving our thoughts full rein, as it were, and letting them wander where they will without us worrying about them. We do this in a way similar to what happens in our moments of reverie. In it we are idle, and we daydream. Our thoughts wander far and wide; but it does not disturb us, and we still remain completely relaxed in our mind. This is the approach to the difficulty of active thoughts while we are first trying to relax. We just let the thoughts go. There is no tension. We let them go easily, just where they like, and it does not worry us.

There is another approach to this same problem which is also a help. As we do our exercises we have to maintain the physical reaction of our body. We do this by thinking of different parts of our body in turn, and making sure that each is relaxed.

I can feel my legs relaxed, both of them relaxed.—My body, it is relaxed, and I just feel the weight of it.—My arms relaxed, my face smooth, my jaw loose, the muscles around my eyes relaxed, my forehead relaxed deeply.

The sequence is then repeated easily and leisurely, starting with the legs again. By this simple means the mind is kept occupied so that other thoughts do not get the chance to intrude and worry us.

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THE ROLE OF NUTRITION IN ARTHRITIS TREATMENT: BALANCED DIET

The worn-out cliche, “the balanced diet,” has been so misused and abused that it no longer has much meaning. The term optimum diet would better signify a diet so well planned and chosen as to assure optimum health.

What is a balanced diet? Is it a diet made up of “four basic foods” as you were taught in grade school? Or is it the “seven basics” as it is sometimes advised? Whichever it is, meat has always been considered the most basic food. We have all been brainwashed for years with the pseudoscientific slogan “high protein—low carbohydrate.” We believe that we should eat as much protein as possible. We are living in an era of the high-protein cult!

When I recently met Dr. Karl-Otto Aly, M.D., the prominent Swedish doctor, upon his return from an extensive lecture tour in the United States and asked him, ‘What is singularly the most memorable impression of your trip?” he had an immediate answer:

“The American high-protein craze! Not only the general public, but even so-called health enthusiasts are so thoroughly brainwashed on the question of protein in their diet, that, to my mind, this point alone may be held responsible to a great degree for the deplorable state of health of the American people.”

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