I decided to change up my musings this year on the last Sunday of the month by letting you know my favorite book about health (mind/body/spirit) that I have read or listened to, and a podcast that has stuck with me or taught me to ponder how I am caring for myself and those around me. 

Book to listen to:  Dr. Andrew Weil MD -”Breathing the Master Key to Self Healing”

Take away:

“I think the amount of time that you spend on this work is not that important. The basic exercise that I'll be teaching you, you can do in a few minutes, and if you do this twice a day, that's more than adequate. But again, I'd like to remind you that what is important here is the regularity of doing this work. You want to do this every day without fail because you are attempting to change rhythms in your nervous system, and it's the constancy of the input, it's the regularity of the input, that is going to produce these changes over time.”

This is an audible book as he teaches his preferred breathing technique, so I listened at home safely on my couch:). Dr. Weil is a fan of the 4/7/8 breath.  Which I love as well.  4 count inhale, 7 pause breath, 8 count exhale. 

Podcast to listen to: Huberman Lab (Jan. 2, 23/episode 105)Sam Harris, Ph.D. is the guest.

Take away:

Dr. Huberman’s podcasts are like being back in the lecture hall in college. Oftentimes way over my head and very long.  I like the best hour from 1:52 to 2:54.  So if you’re not in the car driving a long distance I would fast forward to what interests you. 

I did realize that we often overthink how to meditate.  Dr. Sam Harris talks about simply sitting still and focusing on our breath or flickering candle.  I really enjoyed this part.  Just do and be and don't overthink, because that's perhaps what is causing us stress to begin with.

“Sam describes several meditation techniques and their benefits, including how meditation fundamentally changes our worldview and how it can be merged seamlessly into daily life. It can help us overcome universal challenges such as distractibility and persistent, internal dialogue (“chatter”) to allow for deep contentment and pervasive shifts in our awareness, all while acknowledging the more immediate stress-lowering and memory-improving effects of meditation.“

Have a blessed week!