Health Tips:What Is Budokon??

Article Summary:

Article Content:

What Is Budokon??

Sure yoga has had more than its fifteen minutes of fame and
it doesn’t look like it’s going to be over any time soon, and
pilates is still a popular offering for those looking to add
a bit more intensity to their workout, but there is a new
type of “miracle exercise” popping up in magazines, gossip
rags, and newspapers over the last few years. Have you ever
wondered why Friends Courteney Cox Arquette and Jennifer
Aniston are able to keep their figures and their friendship
so tight? If you enjoy yoga but are also in love with the
high-intensity kickboxing class across the hall, try a fusion
class like Budokon (bu-do-kon) and get hip with the Hollywood
crowd. Budokon is spiritual rhythmic class involving the poses
of yoga with the quick, cardio aspect of martial arts training
that is quickly sweeping the red carpet.

Created in 2000 by Los Angeles-based trainer Cameron Shayne,
the word Budokon is Japanese for “Way of the Spiritual Warrior”
and Shayne is the embodiment of his creation. Budokon isn’t
just the hyped-about new fusion workout that has celebrities
praising his name, but is more about precision and technique
while being true to your mind and spirit while tending to your
body’s health needs. Shayne says that Budokon is a “living art,”
he goes on to say that it encompasses your entire being, “It is
your waking and your sleeping, your walking and your sitting,
your living and your dying.” Shayne promises that he isn’t
selling anything with Budokon and that there are no gimmicks,
there is only something he calls “The Way.”

Although “The Way” sounds like a connection to a religion or
another structured practice, Shayne emphasizes that it is
merely a zen way of approaching your life and is not meant to
be taken as enlightenment. There is a specific philosophy
attached to the practice of Budokon as a way of connecting
spirituality to the physical and mental stages of the art, but
it primarily focuses on the individual and letting go of
attachments and being true to yourself above all else.

There are three steps to bringing Budokon into your life. First,
study the practices and do them regularly, keeping a fluid motion
within your body and an open communication with your mind. Check
out the locations to find a Budokon class near you or to inquire
when a teaching workshop will be in your area.

Second, learn the ten cultivations of Budokon and research the
food guidelines in order to attain the highest level of
effectiveness in order to completely balance to your life. The
cultivations are simple and range from simple and direct, “Order
before chaos,” to something more complex for example, “Humility
before dishonor.” Food guidelines are also straightforward and
easy to follow by advising against eating or drinking a lot
before practice and sticking to light foods, keeping a diet of
leafy vegetables throughout the day, using meat sparingly in your
diet, staying away from rich foods, and trying to eat only natural
sugars like honey and stevia, among others.

The third and final step to acquiring full Budokon is to keep a
rhythm moving from the peaceful yogic poses to fast moving cardio
kicks to the seated meditation as the final part of a class.

Of course the steps are aquired over time and beginners are not
obliged to be graceful right away, as Ellen McCarthy of The
Washington Post learned when she experimented in a class taught
by a student of Shayne’s. McCarthy later calls the experience, “A
hell of a workout.” On her recommendation alone, I would volunteer
to try out a class or two and challenge my body to work outside of
its comfort zone for a bit, I think it sounds like fun regardless
of whether or not the rest of the Budokon lifestyle fits me. Budokon
may end up being another fad exercise trend that celebrities will
wear out soon, but it seems to be gaining strength for now. If it
makes you feel good and helps to make your body look like you could
be a starlet’s body double, more power to founder Cameron Shayne
and the refreshing style known as Budokon.

________________________________________________
Gene transfer may lead to new HIV vaccine

PHILADELPHIA - A U.S. research team says it may have broken
the stubborn impasse that has frustrated the invention of an
effective human immunodeficiency virus vaccine. The scien-
tists from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said they
used an approach that bypasses the usual path followed by
vaccine developers. By using gene transfer technology that
produces molecules that block infection, the scientists said
they successfully protected rhesus monkeys from infection by
the simian immunodeficiency virus — a virus closely related
to HIV, which causes AIDS. “We used a leapfrog strategy,
bypassing the natural immune system response that was the
target of all previous HIV and SIV vaccine candidates,” said
study leader Dr. Philip Johnson, chief scientific officer at
the Philadelphia hospital. Johnson developed the novel
approach with molecular virologist K. Reed Clark in Columbus.
Johnson cautioned many hurdles remain before the technique
used in the animal research might be translated into an HIV
vaccine for humans. The study appears in the online version
of the journal Nature Medicine.

________________________________________________

Drug promising as cystic fibrosis therapy

DURHAM, N.C. - U.S. pharmaceutical researchers say a new
sodium channel blocker is showing promise as a potential
treatment for cystic fibrosis. Scientists who developed the
drug at Parion Sciences Inc. in Durham, N.C., said cystic
fibrosis patients could benefit from the medication that
increases airway hydration and prevents the buildup of mucous.
“Our results suggest that we have identified a new agent
that acts directly on a specific pathway, which is involved
in the development of cystic fibrosis,” Andrew Hirsh,
Parion’s senior director of drug discovery and preclinical
development, said. “Cystic fibrosis patients have a genetic
ion transport defect, which decreases the hydration level
on the airway surface and therefore reduces the body’s
ability to effectively clear mucous, which is a primary
defense mechanism of the respiratory system. “Diminished
mucous clearance leads to chronic respiratory infection and
impaired pulmonary function,” Hirsh added. “Currently there
are no therapies available to specifically target this
channel in patients with cystic fibrosis.” The research was
presented Sunday during the American Thoracic Society’s
105th International Conference in San Diego.

________________________________________________

Glutamine: A new stomach ulcer treatment?

BOSTON - U.S. medical researchers say they’ve discovered
popular glutamine supplements show promise in the treatment
of stomach ulcers. Since it’s been known Helicobacter pylori
bacteria are responsible for stomach ulcers, antibiotics
have become the primary therapy for such conditions. But
scientists say bacteria are growing increasingly resistant
to antibiotics. In the new study led by scientists at Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology, researchers found the
amino acid glutamine might prove beneficial in offsetting
gastric damage caused by H. pylori infection, therefore
possibly serving as an alternative to antibiotics for the
treatment of stomach ulcers. “Our findings suggest that
extra glutamine in the diet could protect against gastric
damage caused by H. pylori,” said Susan Hagen, an associate
professor at the Harvard Medical School and lead author of
the study. Glutamine is a non-essential amino acid naturally
found in certain foods, including beef, chicken, fish, eggs,
dairy products and some fruits and vegetables. L-glutamine
– the biologically active isomer of glutamine — is widely
used as a dietary supplement by body builders to increase
muscle mass. The study is reported in the Journal of
Nutrition.

________________________________________________

AIDS patients helped by early retrovirals

STANFORD, Calif. - U.S. medical researchers say they’ve
determined AIDS patients with serious complications benefit
from early antiretroviral treatment. Scientists at the
Stanford University School of Medicine said a multicenter
trial they led determined patients testing positive for the
human immunodeficiency virus who don’t seek medical attention
until they have a serious AIDS-related condition can reduce
their risk of death or other complications by half if they
get early antiretroviral treatment. The researchers said
their findings could lead to widespread changes in HIV treat-
ment, particularly for patients diagnosed at an advanced
stage. “Even in San Francisco, one of the first epicenters
of HIV in the United States, we still find that many people
present late in the course of their illness with an oppor-
tunistic infection,” said Dr. Mitch Katz, San Francisco’s
director of health, who was not involved in the study. “This
study shows that it is life-saving to treat those persons
with antiretroviral drugs while they are still in the hos-
pital. “The results of this study will change practices
throughout the world,” he added. The research that involved
262 patients at 39 U.S. sites, as well as 20 patients in
South Africa, is reported in the online journal PLoS One.

________________________________________________

Mutant genes found in childhood leukemias

MEMPHIS - U.S. medical scientists say they have identified
mutant genes involved in high-risk childhood leukemias,
possibly leading to a new therapeutic target. Researchers
said they pinpointed a new class of gene mutations that
identify cases of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia
that have a high risk of relapse and death. The scientists
said their finding suggests specific drugs that could treat
the high-risk leukemia subtype in children, particularly be-
cause such drugs are already in clinical trials for similar
blood diseases in adults. Discovery of the mutations was
led by scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,
the Children’s Oncology Group, the University of New Mexico
and the National Cancer Institute. “We have made such great
progress in curing children with ALL that the main challenge
is now the remaining high-risk patients,” St. Jude
Scientific Director Dr. James Downing said. “We still do not
know how to accurately identify these patients and effec-
tively treat them to provide the highest chance for a cure.
The problem is that this high-risk group is likely a hetero-
geneous mixture of biologic subtypes.” The study is detailed
in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.

________________________________________________

Average Teen Output – Eighty Text Messages per Day

According to a recent Nielsen study, the typical teen in
this country sends nearly 80 text messages every day. How
many minutes does it take to send 80 text messages per day?
We probably really don’t want to know, because that much
time is cutting into homework, class work, social time
(unless you consider text messaging social time), and sleep.
Observation of the populace in any setting, be it restaurants,
shopping, or walking the dog, will find people utilizing their
cell phones, non-stop. Most teenagers are texting while older
adults are talking.

According to The New York Times, the numbers come from Dr.
Martin Joffe, a pediatrician in Greenbrae, California who
polled students at local high schools. Dr. Joffe is concerned
about the anxiety, distraction, falling grades, repetitive
stress injury, and sleep deprivation attributed to texting.
Dr. Joffe is not alone in his concern, as physicians and
psychologists are wondering how all the texting will affect
the users. Teenagers generally have sleep issues and
responding to and sending texts throughout the night is
going to add to the problem. Dr. Joffe says parents tend
to be less aware of texting than of video games or general
computer use and unlimited texting plans often means they
are not paying attention to billing details.

Michael Hausauer, a psychotherapist in Oakland, California,
said teenagers have a “terrific interest in knowing what’s
going on in the lives of their peers, coupled with a terrific
anxiety about being out of the loop.” For that reason, he
said, the rapid rise in texting has potential for great
benefit and great harm. “Texting can be an enormous tool,”
he said. “It offers companionship and the promise of
connectedness. At the same time, texting can make a youngster
feel frightened and overly exposed.”

Sherry Turkle, a psychologist who is director of the
Initiative on Technology and Self at MIT has studied texting
among teenagers in Boston for three years, and believes that
it may be changing the way adolescents develop. Adolescence
is the time to separate from parents and find peace and quiet
to become the person they decide they want to be according to
Turkle, and texting hits directly at both those jobs. Instant
communications interrupt thoughts, and separation is hard when
you are only seconds away from your parents through texting.

Since text messaging is used more than phone calls in all
groups up to 45 or older, AT&T has held workshops in
Cleveland and Pittsburgh to teach older customers how to
use their phones for texting. AT&T spokesman Jamie Carracher
said the seniors became excited and were anxious to learn to
do things such as text their grandkids. Carracher said that
the company attributes the increase in texting to the
popularity of unlimited texting plans and cell phones with
keyboards. She said that a user with a keyboard device sends
122 percent more texts than users without one.

Rob Enderle a technology analyst said that “It’s less
disruptive than using the phone, there’s a lot of places
where picking up the phone just isn’t appropriate.” He said
that texting does have a problem, it is impersonal and removes
a lot of the personality of communications, but he points out
it does help solve one problem—the nonstop talker. Texting
requires briefness and that prevents people from rambling on.