Satya: The Truth About Lies and Healthy Aging

by Ram

Sun Through the Clouds by Brad Gibson

In the Sadhana Pada of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali we are introduced to the yamas that serve as moral, ethical and societal guidelines for a harmonious living. The five positive guidelines help us to behave and relate to our surroundings and environment and to achieve oneness with it. Patanjali considered the yamas as universal vows and preached that they be practiced on all levels: by way of thoughts, actions, and words. Thus, the yamas serve as prized guides to lead a conscious, honest and ethical life. Satya, meaning truth, is one of the five yamas in the yoga sutras. Verse 2.36 defines satya as:

satya pratisthayam kriya phala ashrayatvam

Being well grounded/established (pratisthayam) in truthfulness (satya), the fruits (phala) of actions (kriya) naturally result (ashrayatvam) according to the will of the Yogi. —translation by Swami Jnaneshvara

Satya is also defined in Sanskrit as “sate hitam satyam,” which translates to “The path to truth is ultimate truth itself.” Thus, one who is always truthful in actions, speech, and thoughts, his or her will is naturally fulfilled since such behavior allows a natural flow of goodness or positive feelings. Truth is considered divine and should be spoken to maintain righteousness (dharma in Sanskrit). Truth connotes purity and is superior to silence. If we start living in truth, we may not have to tell lies at all at any point of time. Truth keeps us free from all kinds of emotional turmoil.

Telling the truth significantly improves a person’s mental and physical health, and has a positive impact on health and longevity, according to a “Science of Honesty” study presented at the American Psychological Association’s 120th Annual Convention. Anita Kelly and LiJuan Wang of Notre Dame recruited a group of 110 people from 18 to 71 years old, and told them that once a week for ten weeks they’d have to come in and, in a lie detector machine, report how many times in the previous week they had lied. Approximately half the participants were instructed to stop telling both major and minor lies for the duration of the 10-week study. The other half served as a control group that received no special instructions about lying. Both groups came to the laboratory weekly to complete health and relationship measures and to take a polygraph test assessing the number of major and white lies they had told during that week.

The results were astounding. Participants across both groups who lied less in a given week reported their physical health and mental health to be significantly better that week. Participants in the no-lie group reported improvements in their relationships, less trouble sleeping, less tension, fewer headaches, and fewer sore throats. Telling three fewer minor lies a week translated to four fewer mental health complaints, and three fewer physical complaints. According to the authors of the study when you are honest, you feel good about it and life gets better. Associated with this, there is less stress and fewer physical and mental problems.

Research on how lying affects health is scant, but lying is thought to trigger the release of stress hormones, increasing heart rate and blood pressure. Stress reduces the number of your body’s infection-fighting white blood cells, and over the years, could contribute to lower-back pain, tension headaches, a rapid heartbeat, menstrual problems, and even infertility. Moreover, research has linked telling lies to an increased risk of cancer, increased risk of obesity, anxiety, depression, addiction, gambling, poor work satisfaction, and poor relationships (see The Prevalence of Lying in America: Three Studies of Self-Reported Lies. According to these studies, lying and its negative effects are a two-sided problem: liars create physical and emotional problems for themselves and people with these underlying problems are more likely to lie. Lies not only imprison an individual, but the more we lie, the harder we have to work to protect those lies from being discovered. As a result, all the physical, mental and emotional energies are diverted into protecting those lies, and we live in constant fear that can lead to chronic stress, health problems and unhealthy aging

One method that has been suggested for cutting back on lies and telling the truth is to surround yourself with like-minded, honest folks who will encourage you to be a truthful person. There’s an adage “Truth hurts for a little while, but lies hurt forever.” So tell the truth and protect yourself from the insidious damage of chronic stress, as it will help you live healthier and even longer lives.

Satyameva Jayate
(Truth Alone Triumphs)

Cabeza de Vaca: Supernaturalism and psychosomatic disorders

Andrew Weil, a major proponent of the idea of self-healing (), has repeatedly acknowledged the influence of osteopaths such as Robert C. Fulford () on him, particularly regarding his philosophy of health management. Self-healing is not about completely autonomous healing; it is about healing by stimulation of the body's self-repair processes, which in some cases can be achieved by simply reducing stress.

Interestingly, there are many reported cases of osteopaths curing people from various diseases by doing things like cranial manipulation and other forms of touching. We also have much evidence of health improvement through prescription of drugs that don’t appear to have any health benefits, which is arguably a similar phenomenon.

The number of such reported cases highlights what seems to be a reality about diseases in general, which is that they often have a psychosomatic basis. Their “cure” involves making the person affected believe that someone can cure him, a healer, with or without drugs. The healer then cures the person essentially by her power of suggestion.

Paleoanthropological evidence suggests that this healer-induced phenomenon has always been widespread among hunter-gatherer cultures, so much so that it may well have been the result of evolutionary pressures. If this is correct, how does it relate to health in our modern world?

I am very interested in hunter-gatherer cultures, and I have also been living in Texas for almost 10 years now. So it is only natural for me to try to learn more about the former hunter-gatherer groups in Texas, particularly those who lived in the area prior to the introduction of horses by the Europeans.

There are parks, museums, and other resources on the topic in various parts of Texas, which are at driving distance. Unfortunately much has been lost, as the Plains Indians of Texas (e.g., Comanches and Kiowas) who succeeded those pre-horse native groups have largely been forcibly relocated to reservations in Oklahoma.

Anthropological evidence suggests that the earliest migrations to America have occurred via the Bering Strait, initially from Siberia into Alaska, and then gradually spreading southward to most of the Americas between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Much of what is known about the early Texas Indians is due to Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer who survived a shipwreck and lived among the Amerindians in and around Texas between 1528 and 1536. He later wrote a widely cited report about his experiences ().


(Cabeza de Vaca and his companions; source: Biography.com)

In Spanish, “cabeza de vaca” means, literally, “cow’s head”. This odd surname, Cabeza de Vaca, clearly had a flavor of nobility to it in Spain at the time.

You may have heard that early American Indians were uniformly of short stature, not unlike most people at the time, but certainly shorter than the average American today. Cabeza de Vaca dispels this idea with his description of the now extinct Karankawas, a description that has been born out by anthropological evidence. The male members “towered above the Spaniards”, often 6 ft or taller in height, in addition to being muscular.

The Karankawas were a distinct indigenous group that shared the same environment and similar food sources with other early groups of much lower stature. This strongly suggests a genetic basis for their high stature and muscular built, probably due to the “founder effect”, well known among population geneticists.

Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, two Spaniards and one Moroccan slave, were believed by the Amerindians to be powerful healers. This enabled them to survive among early Texas Indians for several years. Cabeza de Vaca and his colleagues at times acknowledged that they were probably curing people through what we would refer today as a powerful placebo effect.

Having said that, Cabeza de Vaca has also come to believe, at least to a certain extent, that he was indeed able to perform miraculous cures. He repeatedly stated his conviction that those cures were primarily through divine intervention, as he was a devout Christian, although there are many contradictory statements in this respect in his reports (possibly due to fear from the Spanish Inquisition). He also performed simple surgeries.

Much has been written about Cabeza de Vaca’s life among the early Indians of Texas and surrounding areas, including the report by Cabeza de Vaca himself. One of my favorites is the superb book “A Land So Strange” () by Andrés Reséndez, a professor of history at the University of California at Davis ().

The Spanish explorer’s experiences have been portrayed in the film “Cabeza de Vaca” (), which focuses primarily on the supernatural angle, with a lot of artistic license. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with this film, as I expected it to show more about the early Indians’ culture and lifestyle. Juan Diego, the Spanish actor portraying Cabeza de Vaca, was razor thin in this film - a fairly realistic aspect of the portrayal.

It is quite possible that modern humans have an innate tendency to believe in and rely on the supernatural, a tendency that is the product of evolution. We know from early and more recent evidence from hunter-gatherer societies that supernatural beliefs help maintain group cohesion and, perhaps quite importantly, mitigate the impact that the knowledge of certain death has on the mental health of hunter-gatherers.

Homo sapiens is unique among animals in its awareness of its own mortality, which may be a byproduct of its also unique ability to make causal inferences. Supernatural beliefs among hunter-gatherers almost universally address this issue, by framing death as a threshold between this existence and the afterlife, essentially implying immortality.

Yet, supernatural beliefs seem to also have a history of exploitation, where they are used to manipulate others. Cabeza de Vaca himself implies that, at points, he and his companions took personal advantage of the beliefs in their healing powers by the various indigenous groups with which they came into contact.

Modern humans who are convinced that they have no supernatural beliefs often perceive that to be a major advantage. But there could be disadvantages. One is that they may have more difficulty dealing with psychosomatic disorders. The conscious knowledge that they are psychosomatic could possibly pale in comparison with the belief in supernatural healing, in terms of curative power. Another potential disadvantage is a greater likelihood of suffering from mental disorders.

Finally, those who are sure that they have no supernatural beliefs; are they really correct? Well, subconsciously things may be different. Perhaps a good test would be to go to a “convincing” movie (i.e., not a laughable “B-level” one; for lack of a better word) about supernatural things, such as possession or infestation by evil spirits, and see if it has any effect on you.

If the experience does have an effect on you, even a small one, couldn't this suggest that your subconscious belief in the supernatural may not be so easy to control in a conscious way? I suspect that having no supernatural beliefs is unnatural and unhealthy. In most cases it probably creates a conscious-subconscious conflict, and a fairly pessimist view of the world.

My guess is that it is better to have those beliefs, in some form or another, and be on guard against exploitation.

Then and Now plus goals update

This past week I was doing some work on my computer to clean off my desktop and caught a glimpse of my wallpaper.  In that instant I realized just how much change has been going on.  I did some digging and found some pictures to do a comparison with- so here you go (and the reason my eyes are so wide in the bottom left is because my mom was having issues getting a picture with my eyes open).

Lots of physical change- but also mentally and spiritually as well.  One of my favorite verses in this journey has been Psalm 73:26- to know that my heart and my flesh are going to fail me but HE is my true portion forever.  He is my strength- He is the reason why I can have joy in this journey!

Now, for a goals update- unfortunately I have not done so well on my goals this week:
Goal 1 was to get to bed by 10:30 on work nights- I did this so I can check that one.
Goal 2 was to have water only 5 out of 7 days- I struggled with this- I did drink all of my daily goal in water but still ended up with a soda more times than I wanted to.  I think I will amend this for next week to be 3 out of 7 days- I need to start small and then build on it.  If I can do three days this week then shoot for 4 the following and so on.
Exercise goal- I didn't meet my 5 days- long story but the events of this week wore me out mentally- and physically I was exhausted.  I did 3 days and if I end up getting Sunday in that will be 4 so I will amend this post if I did.  Will keep this goal for consistency the same- this week will hopefully be a little easier- only one meeting and it's not after school.

Source: calventure.net via Tami on Pinterest

Source: hercampus.com via Tami on Pinterest

The Yummy Mummy Kitchen - Cookbook

A HUGE congratulations goes out to my beautiful and talented friend Marina Delio, of the blog Yummy Mummy Kitchen on her published cookbook The Yummy Mummy Kitchen.  She was kind enough to send me a copy of the glorious, kid-friendly cookbook filled with tons of her beautiful food photography.  Her philosophy is all about eating well with all-natural, non-processed ingredients and doing it with style.

I've been savoring this cookbook and really enjoying all of the stories and insights from Marina about how to live and eat well with family and friends.  This is more than a cookbook, it's a "lifestyle" book.   I have to admit, I feel like a big failure when it comes to my 3 year-old son's diet, but seeing how Marina's girls chow down on her simple meals gives me encouragement to keep trying.  I love how gorgeous and colorful her plates are.  

Her book has over 100 recipes, many with just a few ingredients.  Here's just a peek at what's got my mouth watering.  

*All photos via Marina.  So proud of you girl!

Are you drooling yet?!  You can order Marina's cookbook, The Yummy Mummy Kitchen HERE.

Healthy Spirits: New Arrivals CASTRO

New Arrivals at CASTRO:

1.Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura (sour stout)

2. Fantome Saison

3. Alvinne Cuvee de Mortagne (dark strong ale aged in pomerol wine barrels)

4. Saint Somewhere+Prairie Plus tot l'etat

Friday Q&A: Peel Method in Bridge and Other Poses

Q: Is the Peel Method (flexion) for Bridge pose also contraindicated for students with spinal osteoporosis?

A: If the peel method you are referring to is the technique Baxter's described in his post To Peel or Not To Peel of slowly rounding the spine into flexion, then the short answer is yes, this version of the pose is contraindicated for students with spinal osteoporosis. Students with spinal osteoporosis should not generally move their spines into a flexed (rounded) position one vertebrae at a time. But I have to qualify this statement. If you are flexing vertebra by vertebra while standing as if you are going into Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) this would definitely be contraindicated, because the force generated through the vertebral bodies will be very high. However, if you are talking about the movement of going into Bridge pose as Baxter described, then the answer might be “maybe.” In Bridge pose, gravitational forces through the vertebral bodies are less because the load is not vertical loading. However, if the muscular contractions to round the vertebra are very strong and maybe propulsive then this would potentially cause load forces greater than the vertebral bodies can sustain (see info on Wolfe's law in the post What is Osteopenia?). So how do you know how much force is transmitted through the vertebral body? Unfortunately, you can’t really tell. So my general recommendation for all people with osteoporosis is to stay on the safe side and avoid all flexed asana positions, including the flexed position of the spine created by Peel Method of entering and exiting Bridge pose. I hope this helps!

—Shari

Tuna, White Bean, and Avocado Salad

Hi there, everyone!  It’s Jennifer from The Chronicles of Home and I have the easiest, tastiest, quick lunch idea for you today.  It’s made almost entirely with pantry staples I always have on hand and goes together in no time.  My daughters love it as much as I do and I think it’s the perfect healthy, stay-with-you lunch to give you a punch of energy for the rest of the afternoon.

You could make a double or triple recipe and keep it in the fridge for even faster lunches all week.  The only thing I would recommend if you do this is to add the avocado right before you’re going to eat.  It just tastes so much better when it’s freshly cut.

Tuna, White Bean, and Avocado Salad - serves 2-3

1 can tuna, packed in extra virgin olive oil

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 avocado, diced

2 tbsp. golden balsamic vinegar

1 very small garlic clove, or 1/2 a larger clove, pressed

2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

salt and pepper

Drain the heavy oil off the tuna then spoon the tuna and remaining oil into a medium bowl.  Add the beans, avocado, vinegar, garlic and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper and stir gently to combine.

That is it!  Can you believe it’s so short?  I’ve made this twice in the past week, it just tastes so good.  Hope you love it too.

Thank you for this post from contributing writer, Jennifer, of The Chronicles of Home.  You'll definitely want to check out her blog for more amazing recipes, beautiful home decor, and easy-to-follw DIY projects!