Body, Discourse, and the Cultural Politics of Contemporary Chinese Qigong

1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 961-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Xu
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
The Body ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Cultural Imperialism ◽  
Martial Art ◽  
International Environment ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
Training Research ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

Many asian cultures have rich traditions of self-cultivation that exercise mind and body through physical and meditational training. Research and scholarship with respect to those traditions have focused fruitfully on how the body is cultivated to serve as an agent of resistance against various forms of social control. Of these many writings on this subject, I will here name only a suggestive few: Joseph Alter's study of Indian wrestling (1993), for example, tracks the wrestlers' self-conscious reappropriation of their bodies from the power of the state through a regimented discipline aimed at resisting docility. John Donohue's study of the Japanese martial art karate (1993) explores how, in the West, karate's symbolic and ritual functions create a psychological dynamic that counters the prevalent fragmentation of urban life. Douglas Wile's research on Chinese taiji quart (1996) similarly reconstructs the cultural/historical context in which this martial art was created. He shows that what motivated nineteenth-century literati to create taiji quan was its representational function rather than its practical utility. That is, Taiji quan “may be seen as a psychological defense against Western cultural imperialism” (p. 26) insofar as it produced a secure sense of the national self that helped China adapt to a new international environment (p. 29). All of these studies place the body-in-cultivation in a specific historical context; they maintain that the individual, physical body both registers and reveals the national sociopolitical landscape.

Clinical Neuropsychologist, 20 years’ experience, UK

2020 ◽  
pp. 229-232
Author(s):  
Markus Reuber ◽  
Gregg H. Rawlings ◽  
Steven C. Schachter
Keyword(s):  
Epileptic Seizures ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Body Awareness ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
The Body ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
Epileptic Attack ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Experience Of Illness

This chapter explores how dissociation of awareness of either the mind or the body can be experienced by everyone to some degree. It has been suggested that in Non-Epileptic Attack Disorder (NEAD), a protective mechanism of enabling individuals to detach from the difficult emotions they have not yet been able to make sense of has led to a detachment from the awareness of the body, thus resulting in physical symptoms that resemble epileptic seizures. Treatment therefore lies in improving both mind and body awareness. Working with individuals with NEAD or Dissociative Seizures introduces one to the multifaceted nature of humanity. Although there are common themes that emerge through psychological assessment—such as prior experience of illness, neurological insult or physical injury to a specific body part, difficulty recognizing stress in the body or mind, or a tendency to use unhelpful coping strategies during prolonged periods of stress,—no two persons with NEAD have the same seizures because each individual’s experience is unique, making the nature and clinical presentation of the seizure-like experiences idiosyncratic. Despite this, it is always possible to discover the reason that individuals with NEAD experience the symptoms they do, even if it is sometimes initially hard for the individual to accept or believe this.

From Fighting to Joy in Kendo

Paragrana ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 269-280
Author(s):  
Jörg Potrafki
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Development ◽  
Martial Art ◽  
Personal Relation ◽  
Body Activity ◽  
Japanese Art ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Individual

Abstract To trace joyful emotions in the practice of the Japanese art of fencing is quiet complicate and uncommon. As a former martial art Kendo is straightly connected with the mortal sword fighting of the Middle Ages. Today the fight with sharp swords has been replaced by a competition trough using the sportive protection armor and bamboo sword. The serious contest between the opponents with the reference to the life-or-death constellation of ancient times marks the activity in Kendo. The primary aim is the verification of the individual development, arising from the combination of an adult character and sportive skills. At the highest level of Kendo the development of a positive personal relation to the partner is being created via the hard and battlesome competition. Under specified conditions the fight yells harmony and empathy in a social interaction through the body activity of two individuals.

scholarly journals CORPORALITY AS AN ATTRIBUTE OF SCULPTURE(EUROPEAN CONTEXT)

2017 ◽  
pp. 87-93
Author(s):  
R. M. Rusin
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Renaissance Art ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Natural Beauty ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Natural Decay ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Cult Of The Individual

The historical development of art is a change of paradigms. Each paradigm contains a special understanding of art, defined bothby the act of creativity itself and by the evaluation of its results. It is especially important to identify the origins of these changes, identify their stages, and determine the direction of the evolution of artistic creativity. In this context, corporeality as an artistic paradigm of European sculpture is considered in an article in the historical dimension from classics to postmodernism. Background research driven by changes that have suffered over the past century art not only in terms of formative principles, but also in terms of being a work of art. The term "art" is not given apriori; itis inseparable from the historical conditions of its own realization and filled with different content. In ancient tradition, from which theoretical understanding of artoriginates, provides an understanding of art as mimetic activity. For plastic art of the ancient Greeks man was the epitome of all things, the prototype of all creation and the created. The human body in great shape was almost the only model of art aesthetic. The Greeks thought it only as a stature completeness. For the Greeks, body language was the language of soul, although Greek plastics did not know what analysis characters the cult of the individual, which is typicalfor the art of modern times. Plasticity, the ancient body kinetics can be regarded as some elements of thesemantic structure of a particular language as a kind of mimicry. Plastic modern European sculpture shows opposite tothe ancient classics, Christian traditional relationship of mind and body. Antiquity knew dualism of mind and body, and provided perception of the gods only in the body incarnation. Christianity brought a legislateddualism and brought early naive monism attitudeinto the historically natural decay. In the art of the Renaissance in Europe, due to rethinking of ancient Christian tradition, experience acquires the tendency of forming an image of ideal body oriented on classic examples. In the mid-nineteenth century, under the influence of a new understanding of human corporeality was an appeal to antiquity qualitatively new level due to the growing trend of "naturalization" in human culture and criticism concerning the previous historical periods. In the culture of the twentieth century, there was a quite relevant anthropological stance of negativism. Justification ofindividual values has led to a lack of uniform standards, because itwas perceived as an encroachment on personality. The natural beauty in all its perfection, the image of which was the purpose and content of Antiquity plasticsand the Renaissance art lost all its worthiness and has becomea subject of neglecting within the postmodernism.

scholarly journals Historicising stress: anguish and insomnia in the middle ages

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 20190094 ◽  
Author(s):  
William MacLehose
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The Body ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Modern Condition

While the concept of ‘stress' in the modern sense is a twentieth-century innovation, many of the symptoms we associate with the modern condition appear in historical materials going back many centuries. But how did premodern people understand and experience these symptoms and their relation to sleep? This study focuses on the rich materials from the central middle ages in Western Europe, a period during which understandings of the body, mind, emotions and sleep were radically different from the present. It analyses two examples, nightmares and insomnia, disease categories which illustrate medieval views of the impact of worries and anguish on sleep. Medical and other sources identified a number of ways in which the mind and body interacted with one another in complex ways which disrupted the humoral and mental balance of the individual.

Influence of stable iodine on the uptake of the thyroid – model vs. experiment

2001 ◽  
Vol 40 (01) ◽  
pp. 31-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Wellner ◽  
E. Voth ◽  
H. Schicha ◽  
K. Weber
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Compartment Model ◽  
The Body ◽  
Iodine Uptake ◽  
Model Calculations ◽  
Physiological Conditions ◽  
Iodine Supply ◽  
Predicted Values ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Stable Iodine

Summary Aim: The influence of physiological and pharmacological amounts of iodine on the uptake of radioiodine in the thyroid was examined in a 4-compartment model. This model allows equations to be derived describing the distribution of tracer iodine as a function of time. The aim of the study was to compare the predictions of the model with experimental data. Methods: Five euthyroid persons received stable iodine (200 μg, 10 mg). 1-123-uptake into the thyroid was measured with the Nal (Tl)-detector of a body counter under physiological conditions and after application of each dose of additional iodine. Actual measurements and predicted values were compared, taking into account the individual iodine supply as estimated from the thyroid uptake under physiological conditions and data from the literature. Results: Thyroid iodine uptake decreased from 80% under physiological conditions to 50% in individuals with very low iodine supply (15 μg/d) (n = 2). The uptake calculated from the model was 36%. Iodine uptake into the thyroid did not decrease in individuals with typical iodine supply, i.e. for Cologne 65-85 μg/d (n = 3). After application of 10 mg of stable iodine, uptake into the thyroid decreased in all individuals to about 5%, in accordance with the model calculations. Conclusion: Comparison of theoretical predictions with the measured values demonstrated that the model tested is well suited for describing the time course of iodine distribution and uptake within the body. It can now be used to study aspects of iodine metabolism relevant to the pharmacological administration of iodine which cannot be investigated experimentally in humans for ethical and technical reasons.

Virginia Woolf and Being-in-the-world

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Simone
Keyword(s):  
Virginia Woolf ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cartesian Dualism ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
The World ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Existential Perspective

Virginia Woolf and Being-in-the-world: A Heideggerian Study explores Woolf’s treatment of the relationship between self and world from a phenomenological-existential perspective. This study presents a timely and compelling interpretation of Virginia Woolf’s textual treatment of the relationship between self and world from the perspective of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Drawing on Woolf’s novels, essays, reviews, letters, diary entries, short stories, and memoirs, the book explores the political and the ontological, as the individual’s connection to the world comes to be defined by an involvement and engagement that is always already situated within a particular physical, societal, and historical context. Emma Simone argues that at the heart of what it means to be an individual making his or her way in the world, the perspectives of Woolf and Heidegger are founded upon certain shared concerns, including the sustained critique of Cartesian dualism, particularly the resultant binary oppositions of subject and object, and self and Other; the understanding that the individual is a temporal being; an emphasis upon intersubjective relations insofar as Being-in-the-world is defined by Being-with-Others; and a consistent emphasis upon average everydayness as both determinative and representative of the individual’s relationship to and with the world.

Variations of the Mixed Discourse

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal Jaquet
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
States Of Mind ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Shed Light

Lastly, on the basis of this definition, the author shows how affects shed light on the body-mind relationship and provide an opportunity to produce a mixed discourse that focuses, by turns, on the mental, physical, or psychophysical aspect of affect. The final chapter has two parts: – An analysis of the three categories of affects: mental, physical, and psychophysical – An examination of the variations of Spinoza’s discourse Some affects, such as satisfaction of the mind, are presented as mental, even though they are correlated with the body. Others, such as pain or pleasure, cheerfulness (hilaritas) or melancholy are mainly rooted in the body, even though the mind forms an idea of them. Still others are psychophysical, such as humility or pride, which are expressed at once as bodily postures and states of mind. These affects thus show us how the mind and body are united, all the while expressing themselves differently and specifically, according to their own modalities.

Ayurveda dietary guidelines during Covid-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1477-1481
Author(s):  
Ishwari Gaikwad ◽  
Priyanka Shelotkar
Keyword(s):  
Dietary Habits ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Dietary Guidelines ◽  
The Body ◽  
Daily Regimen ◽  
Web Page ◽  
Healthy State ◽  
Health Disorders ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

The current world situation is both frightening and alarming due to the massive disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The next few days are censorious as we need to be very precautious in our daily regimen as well as dietary habits. Ayurveda offers knowledge about food based on certain reasoning. Indecent food custom is the chief cause for the rising development of health disorders in the current era. In classical texts of Ayurveda, the concept of diet explained well, ranging from their natural sources, properties and specific utility in pathological as well as physiological manner. In this work, the review of the relevant literature of Ahara (Diet) was carried out from Charak Samhita and other texts, newspapers, articles, web page related to the same.  Every human being is unique with respect to his Prakriti (Physical and mental temperament), Agni (Digestive capacity), Koshtha  (Nature of bowel) etc. For that reason, the specificity of the individual should be kept in mind. Ahara, when consumed in the appropriate amount at the right moment following all Niyamas (Guidelines) given in Ayurveda texts, gives immunity and keeps the body in a healthy state during pandemics such as Covid-19. Ultimately, this will help the human body to maintain its strength for life. This article reviews the concept of diet viz. combination of foods, their quantity and quality, methods of preparation and processing, which are to be followed during pandemics and are essential in maintenance and endorsement of health and preclusion of diseases.

Physiological and Hereditary Hyperbilirubinemia in Athletes: Role in Reducing Efficiency and Correction Methodology

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 386-393
Author(s):  
L. M. Gunina ◽  
◽  
Kazys Mylashyus ◽  
Voitenko V. L. ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Functional State ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
Diagnostic Algorithm ◽  
Drug Prevention ◽  
The Body ◽  
Erythrocyte Membranes ◽  
Pharmacological Agents ◽  
Bilirubin Metabolism ◽  
The Individual

Under high-intensity loads, the athlete's bodies take place a number of biochemical reactions and physiological processes that can lead to hyperbilirubinemia. The factors that can initiate the onset of this phenomenon include the syndrome of micro-damage muscle, violation of the integrity of erythrocyte membranes, decreased blood pH, malnutrition and increase oxygen demand of the body. Degree of expression of manifestations of physiological bilirubinemia depends on the level of adaptation of the athlete to the physical activities offered. Hyperbilirubinemia in athletes can be one of the components of the deterioration of the functional state, forming the symptoms of endogenous intoxication. The relevance of this problem in sport lies in the relatively low detection rate of hyperbilirubinemia due to the lack of regular screening studies. However, in drawing up a plan of nutritional- metabolic support for training and competitive activity and recovery measures, must not only the individual reaction of the athlete body to physical activity, but also the severity of shifts in the indicators of bilirubin metabolism and their ratio. The article describes the reasons for the increase in bilirubin levels, which can be caused by both the effect of physical activity and by the presence of pathological processes in athletes. The factors influencing the blood serum’s bilirubin content are also highlighted, which include the state of erythrocyte cell membranes and the rate of hemoglobin destruction, the functional state of the liver, the specifics of physical loads and the use of ergogenic pharmacological agents by athletes. Particular accent has been placed on the illumination of hereditary hyperbilirubinemias, which may have been detected at the stage of selection of athletes. The most common phenomenon is Gilbert's syndrome, which occurs in 2-5% of cases in the general population, is characterized in the clinic by a benign flow and is manifested by episodes of jaundice and an increase in total bilirubin content to moderate values due to indirect. The frequency of detection of hyperbilirubinemias in the population of athletes is 4.68%, among which Gilbert's disease accounts for almost half (48.7%). Conclusion. The work highlighted the pathogenesis and diagnostic algorithm of Gilbert's disease, and also emphasized that its drug prevention and correction in athletes to maintain functional and physical fitness should be carried out taking into account anti-doping rules, which requires upon diagnosis timely receipt of a therapeutic exclusion

Study on Pramana Shareera in relation to Prakriti

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajendra Pai N. ◽  
U. Govindaraju
Keyword(s):  
Observational Study ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Lower Limb ◽  
Characteristic Property ◽  
The Body ◽  
Artificial Limbs ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Unit Of Measurement ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Parts

Ayurveda in its principle has given importance to individualistic approach rather than generalize. Application of this examination can be clearly seem like even though two patients suffering from same disease, the treatment modality may change depending upon the results of Dashvidha Pariksha. Prakruti and Pramana both used in Dashvidha Pariksha. Both determine the health of the individual and Bala (strength) of Rogi (Patient). Ayurveda followed Swa-angula Pramana as the unit of measurement for measuring the different parts of the body which is prime step assessing patient before treatment. Sushruta and Charaka had stated different Angula Pramana of each Pratyanga (body parts). Specificity is the characteristic property of Swa-angula Pramana. This can be applicable in present era for example artificial limbs. A scientific research includes collection, compilation, analysis and lastly scrutiny of entire findings to arrive at a conclusion. Study of Pramana and its relation with Prakruti was conducted in 1000 volunteers using Prakruti Parkishan proforma with an objective of evaluation of Anguli Pramana in various Prakriti. It was observed co-relating Pramana in each Prakruti and Granthokta Pramana that there is no vast difference in measurement of head, upper limb and lower limb. The observational study shows closer relation of features with classical texts.

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