Self-Health Tasks Handbook, April 2013

Monthly Tasks

Handbook APRIL 2013 養生 四月號

Self-Health Monthly Tasks Handbook shares natural treatments and methods that aims to encourage people to self-heal / improve body by trying different actions in daily lives.

VERY FIRST EDITION COVER FIGURE

Coco's Grandma Doing

Morning

Exercise

self-Health Natural Treatments for Improving Body

INSTRUCTIONS +

Self-Health, a research project designed by the MA student of Design & Environment in Goldsmiths College, Yun Shan Chang. To the interest of that health improving as an issue nowadays, the project aims to test the feasibility of alternative regimen in highly urbanized culture - especially those self-treatments of natural without vigorous scientific support. It also focuses on rediscovering the relationship between human body and environment that beyond the modern medical technology. In addition, it is expected to develop a community for people to share knowledges and

1. Pick a task that interests you, or you think you might need.

2. Try to use the I'M DOING THIS! form on the last page to document your feeling about body.

3. Don't force yourself if you feel uncomfortable; keep going if you find it suits you!

experiences from various contexts, improve the body and environment in relatively natural ways.

Yun Shan Chang | zderax@hotmail.com

4. Share your experiences or discoveries to others if you can.

5. Look forward to the tasks next month and the self-healthing group meeting!

1.

HELP YOUR STOMACH TASK:

Chew each mouthful for 30 times when having foods.

Tips for this:

1. Recommended steps for chewing 5 times by the left, 5 times by the right, repeat, 10 times by both sides - then swallow 2. The precise number of times varies from person to person (gender, age, or food, e.g. 5-10 times is enough for softer foods) 3. Concentrate on enjoying your meals

Why?

Stomach problem can be seen as one of ‘lifestyle related illnesses’ nowadays because of that living under various pressures makes many people lack of sleep, or eat too fast. This actually causes damages to our digestive organs, and makes our body failed to absorb nutrients completely.

‘Chewing properly can bring the quantity of heat that human need to have a healthy life’, said by 101-year-old Japanese doctor, Shigeaki Hirohara. The physical action of chewing food is the first step in the digestive process, the enzymes in your saliva go to work breaking down the food as soon as it enters your mouth. Through the proper chewing, your body undergoes several processes that trigger digestion. ‘This action can prevent obesity and dementia, improve the vision, reduce the pressure, and protect the teeth, it also discovers the capacity of living that human actually have,’ according to Saito Shigeru, Japanese doctor in tooth medicine.

Source Saito Shigeru Dr. Saito is the Doctor of Dental Medicine and the Professor of Oral Biochemistry in Japan. He served as the director of Japanese Society for Mastication Science and Health Promotion in 1996-1997, and still works for areas that associated with health information promotion until now.

Other Readings CHEW! CHEW! CHEW! CHEW! http://www.eattosaveyourlife.com/food-and-supplements/chew!/

5 Tips to Improve Your Digestion http://altmedicine.about.com/od/optimumhealthessentials/a/Tips_Digestion.htm

The Importance of Chewing Food

http://www.divavillage.com/article/id/66922/section_name/Food+&+Fitness/title/ Importance+of+Chewing+Food/pg/2

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2.

SLEEPING SKILL TASK:

Remind each part of your body to relax.

Tips for this:

1. Lying on the bed, spread your arms and legs at 45 degrees.

2. Close the eyes, roll your eyeballs down a bit.

Loose the muscle and bone of your jaw.

3. Breathe slow and deep.

Give all your weight to the bed.

4. Concentrate on your body, start the relaxing process from your head tell your head : sleep -> then tell your eyes : sleep -> tell your nose : sleep -> then tell your mouth, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, breast, belly...to your toes : SLEEP.

Why?

This is actually the practice of Savasana, which is the most important pose in yoga. It seems the easiest but also the most difficult one, because it is hard for people nowadays to achieve complete relaxation of body and mind. In traditional yoga, according to the article by the yoga teacher, Ramdesh Kaur, Savasana is a combination of the body position and the ability to prepare you for the ultimate relaxation: death, which is the most important moment of life. Apart from believing in yogism or not, the mental pressure is still one of convincing reasons of sleep problem that also affects many aspects in life. Through doing Savasana, Kaur stated, ‘it decreases heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension and general levels of anxiety, also increases energy levels, boots memory and stimulates the ability to concentrate.’ Thus training yourself to relax mind and body can actually help you sleep, and brings a general sense of well-being.

If you sleep well everyday, you can still try this process to get other associated benefits!

Source Ramdesh Kaur Kaur is an IKYTA Certified Kundalini Yoga teacher trained by Gurmukh. She is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Sprit Voyage, the Editor of Spirit Voyage’s blog, and writes extensively on yoga, spirituality and mantra. http://www.spiritvoyage.com/blog/index.php/all-about-yoga-what-is-savasana/

Other Readings Corpse Pose http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/482

Relaxation Pose (Savasana)

http://www.yogalearningcenter.com/poses/relaxation_pose

The Insomniac's 3 A.M. Yoga Routine

http://www.oprah.com/health/Yoga-for-Insomnia-Yoga-to-Help-You-Sleep/9

The Art of Relaxation

http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/yogapractice/yogarelaxation.asp

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3.

PROTECT YOUR SKIN TASK:

Wash your face with water only.

No Products to Make You Clean.

Tips for this:

1. Try this for 2-4 days as a start 2. Cold water recommended 3. For ladies, it also means trying to get rid of the makeup for few days!

Why?

Skin is one of excretories of our body, the dirt falls naturally even we never care about it. Actually, there are natural oils on the skin that defend all kinds of outside bacteria, also avoid the ageing and dryness. They are natural moisturizers that better than any kind of ‘high-quality’, ‘bottled’ lotion to improve the skin. Thus washing or scrubbing your face with soaps or cleansers too often can strip away these natural defences, also ruin the balance of pH level of your skin and make it to excrete more ‘bad oils’ that cause acne and pimples. Additionally, washing with cold water can improves the blood circulation of the face, lessens the wrinkles and makes your skin firmed!

However, this task may not be suitable for ladies who wear the makeup all the time. Do remove the makeup and cleanse your face gently, also, cold water is still recommended!

Source Hirata Masako Dr. Hirata is the Doctor of Medicine and the Certified doctor in Dermatology. She is also the professional at gynecology and emergency treatment. Before she opened her own clinic in Tokyo in 2003, she had to diagnosed over 300 patients everyday when she served as vice-president in the department of dermatology in Tama Nagayama Hospital in Tokyo. She advocates improving the skin by simple methods and has numerous clinical experiences from patients in Japan. Her clinic: http://www.watashino.jp/ Other Readings The no-soap, water-only washing experiment http://www.hobomama.com/2012/07/no-soap-water-only-washing-experiment.html

Only washing with water regimen

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/316031-only-washing-with-water-regimen/

A forum about Washing the Face with Water Only http://forums.vogue.com.au/showthread.php?t=100845

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I'M DOING THIS! April 2013

Self-Healthing Experiment

Help My Stomach - Chew each mouthful of food for 30 times Sleeping Skill - Remind my body to relax Protect My Skin - Water-only washing my face How to use this form: write, draw, doodle, describe or discuss with others... up to you!

Why I choose to try this task for my body?

How do I feel about this task?

‌Useful Easy Interesting Nonsense Difficult Disgusting

Starting Date /

How do I really feel about this task?

(Set your own length of the experiment)

End Date /