Biology - The Healing Arts & Sciences

Class Reflection for 9/10/20            Date: 9/16/20

This class brought up my thoughts on the intersections of health, science, ethics, and bias. It was interesting to discuss scientific advancements in vaccines and Eastern and Western medicine and how much we know and do not know and how our beliefs and biases impact our views and perceptions of medicine and scientific/technological research and advancements. How much faith we may have in thousands of years old Eastern medicine for example may be negatively impacted by how rooted we are in our Western scientific model. Contrastingly, to what extent of evidence and research do we need in order to believe in Western medical advancements. If someone has no spiritual/religious beliefs or skill set in logical thinking, then how would that also impact their views on such topics that can greatly alter their life? It's my view that having a foundation in both can result in the greatest potential success of both learning and understanding the healing arts and sciences.

Class Quiz –  Our Biological World – and the “Post Pandemic Age”

1. “For Pfizer, the first interim look occurs when 32 trial volunteers get infected.”

(How drugmakers can keep their pledge and still deliver an October vaccine surprise)

What are your thoughts on the prospects of an “emergency vaccine approval process”?I am young, relatively healthy, not immuno-compromised, and live in a safe, comfortable country/area, so I do not believe that scientific methods should be changed in order to expedite the scientific process and expedite a vaccine. I worry about the unknown side effects and negative impacts that a not ready vaccine can cause on the masses. Again, I also worry about people who are in worse situations than me, for example my grandmother in Iran and others in worse health and economic situations. I am also not a scientist or expert on vaccinations and health statistics. If a vaccine has been scientifically and statistically proven to be effective and safe, then I do not see why it should not be made available. It would of course have to stand up to research methods, with statistically significant margin of safety and efficacy. 

2. “…people can..start having imagined side-effects”   

(Side-effects could be all in the mind)  

What is your own view on these “placebo” and “nocebo” effects?

Side effects, like economic externalities, can be negative or positive. The mind/body/spirit connection is an amazing thing, no matter which lens you look at it through. Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine or Prana in Yogic/Ayurveda for example can create a multitude of blessings in one's life and maintain homeostasis in the body - or an unbalance can wreak havoc on one's health. The power of our intention can direct our life force and energetics and facilitate health, and the stronger this mental muscle is, the more it can support directing the body back into a balanced state. An example that came up in conversation today for me was discussing the outcome of acupuncture on an excited and optimistic patient vs. one who grumpily came in because their spouse told them to - [insert obvious outcome here] the first patient was cured after 6 treatments and the other felt like no progress was made. This is also evident in studies on our brain's neuroplasticity and effect it has on our physical state. Two studies come to mind - in short, one that includes a group who regularly watch piano lessons and only practice playing the piano in their mind and another where a group who imagine doing repetitions of a specific exercise. In the former study, it was shown that the consistent mental exercises expand our brains' neural networking and grown neural pathways and connections, and in the latter study, it was proven that imagining an exercise being with an area of the body actually made that body part physically stronger - despite it never actually moving an inch! I believe that there's a lot more to say about this on both sides, however the quotes about how your thoughts become your reality come to mind - these are not just fluffy, hippy ideals, but significantly impactful truths, evident through various scientific and spiritual lenses. So cool!!

Physics Week 3 Energy, Matter, Force, & Vibrations

Energy, Matter, Force, & Vibrations

Are all vibrations "good"?
I feel like this question is limited by the larger question of "good" vs. "bad" and whether one believe they exist all together so I feel stuck in trying this question... Instead, I will write about the beauty/goodness of vibration and something I believe is interesting and related that I learned in my yin yoga training - every note's frequency, when played beneath sand, they each create different beautiful geometric shape. I don't think we can say that these are "bad" but definitely special and beautiful.

Resonance in my world.
Resonance reminds me of the fact that we are energetic beings, along with our own electromagnetic energy fields. I remember my yoga teaching training and teaching assistant training where we were taught how to prepare energetically before and after teaching/assisting a class and the instruction to sync one's breath with the other student's breath before making physical contact with them. Reflecting on this, it sounds like an attempt at aligning our own resonance with the other person's. More on this below...

Connections I can make between Energy & Qi?
Qi, energy, prana, life force, intentional energy and connection - there are so many ways to describe this and none of them doesn't do it justice. Having an energy healing father who is grounded in science, I have had what I think is a unique perspective on these subjects. I am reminded of my dad, who mentioned to me that a lot of his findings are from his qi gong practice, telling me (paraphrasing here) that, "The science just hasn't reached this yet," when discussing energetics and energy healing - but also adding that I shouldn't mention this!
I also think of meditation and acupuncture - having gone the longest I think in a while without a real acupuncture treatment, I feel like an addict in need of feeling that movement of energy/qi that I feel from both. During such moments, I can feel my qi/energy pulsating across my body. I was told that initially you can begin to feel it, and eventually one can direct one's energy in the direction they wish. I can currently feel this wave-like motion of my qi's flow of energy, but have yet excel past that.

I was too shy in class to mention, as was brought up during the discussion the direction I have felt my qi moving. Usually, I feel it sort of vibrating wave-life side to side, but there was a day during my yoga certification program a few years back that was meditation heavy, and ironically, I was also able to attend a workshop afterwards on how to advance one's intuition and kind of psychic abilities that was being held by an intuit at my yoga studio. I wasn't able to predict what was in the mystery box, but the session also had a lot of meditation, and I remember feeling my energy in a way I had never before... Usually in meditation, I see light expanding outwardly from my third eye area, but on this day, I felt as though I this time, that that light, and my energy, was pulsating in a clockwise circle. Full disclaimer here - I am not sure if it was before or after this experience (and I should confirm this with my dad), but my dad had told me that this is our body's energy path. I also believe a Buddhist teacher from my program mentioning (paraphrasing again/don't quote me on this one either) that Buddhists believe in our core/center line of energy, we have vertical energetic lines of energy that also include these sort of 'moving energy spheres.' This also reminds me of my yin yoga teachings, and the yogic "nadis" or "little rivers" of energy that are also tied to the Daoist/TCM energy channels. This is also tied to Kundalini yoga which also reminds me that my vinyasa yoga teacher also mentioned to me that Carl Jung wrote a book about Kundalini energy which just makes my thoughts on how connected all of these topics are even stronger - and wishing I'd gotten around to reading that! :)

Physics - Week 2

Reflections on Uncertainty:
It is so cool to me that no matter how close we think we get to science or the truth, a lot of what we are discussing is really just technically "theories" at the end of the day. While we know there are facts and truths in the world, but we can only get so close to "proving" things. This seems to be like light, and scientists attempt at trying to decipher and light being explained as a wave, then as particles, and finally as a wave-particle/neither/both?

Attempting to Explain Connectivity:
"Everything is connected," seems like an obvious truth to me. I feel like you would have to prove otherwise to any stubborn self-serving hippy. I am glad though that Bohm's physics agrees. This is where science and spirituality/religion intersect - one of my favorite types of things to learn. I think if you think about this statement logically, we are all made of the same matter, how life comes into this world and passes on, and how the universe must operate, then this statement still stands. Thinking more theoretically, we are all living together in the same time and space and our thoughts and actions are also all interlinked and affect one another.

Universe = Weird?
YES - finally an easy question - thank you, Professor! The universe is weird, cool, complicated, simple, interconnected, beautiful - who can say. We are all reincarnations of the infinite.


May 20, 2020
Sahar Azizi

Ramblings on The Meaning of Time

Describing time to me seems akin to the relativity within our own experiences and to joy and pain, in addition to the duality of our heightened or desensitized emotions. I am reminded of varied experiences where I have experienced trauma as well as love. I have experienced relative time by living through moments, remembering them, and realizing the inter-connectedness of time, space, and each other through experiences.

I remember memories around trauma and how such differing experiences felt so drawn out, and likewise, my memory around them so specific, detailed, and more slower-paced. Living through those moments, I remember feeling desensitized to what was going on around me and going through the day in a way that felt almost child-like, and I was experiencing it as a slow dance, but the music surrounding me was muted and life around me felt farther away and out of focus, out of sight, and even out of my sense of hearing. I felt like I was experiencing time in slow motion.

My rational mind wants to label it “trauma,” “disassociation,” my brain‘s attempt to protect my mind and body - and yet I feel these labels fall short of truly appreciating time and the beauty of the experience as a whole.

I am then reminded of my intuitive mind and experiencing time and love and its limitless-ness, lack of barriers, and it’s ability to bring us together. I think of being with loved ones and being unable to comprehend how so quickly so many moments passed. I am reminded of seeing a person in a dream who was no longer actively a part of my life and upon looking into their eyes during a dream, I came to the lucid realization that I was dreaming because I knew that if I was looking into their eyes, then it must be a dream. The depth of that truth awakened my unconscious mind brought me into the presence of my own dreaming mind. Such a mind-altering experience - through both love and pain - bridged time and space within my own mind and body. This reality connected my present through my past from my unconscious through my consciousness.

And if our love is as infinite as it feels, then is it not also expanding through time and space?

May 7-8, 2020 / Edited May 13, 2020
Sahar Azizi

Bio

Hello, my name is Sahar! I am a Bay Area native. I have always been interested in holistic health and wellness. Meditation, energy healing, and logical thinking are aspects of my childhood that are near and dear to my heart. 

As a teenager, I found my passion and gratitude for yoga. In 2017, I completed my yoga teacher certification, and in 2020, I was eager to balance my vinyasa style yoga education so I pursued my yin yoga certification. After a recent personal traumatic experience in the spring of 2019 and realizing how impactful a single acupuncture treatment was for my PTSD, I came to the realization that the way to bring all of my passions together and help others was through acupuncture alongside complementing holistic therapies. 

In the fall, I began my education in acupuncture & integrative health at AIMC, Berkeley. My dad jokes that I am a retired poet. I currently work as an HR & Benefits professional and hope to also teach yoga in the future.

- Sahar

:)