Archive for thelinksclan.myfastforum.org This forum is so the healers in The Linksclan International Healers Association can leave general informations/post healing requests ect if they wish
Scientist who put parapsychology on the academic map
Quote:
The psychologist John Beloff, who has died aged 86, was best known for initiating and nurturing the academic study of parapsychology in Britain. Born and educated in London, he was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants who had settled near Hampstead Heath. He was the fourth of five children, one of whom was his older brother Max (later Lord) Beloff, the founding vice chancellor of Buckingham University.
I found this article on another group and was thrilled to
see it. Although I had never seen auras before..
after my surgery I was seeing light from my finger tips at least
3 inches in length.. of course I thought something may have
been something the matter with my eyes.
Human hands glow, but fingernails release the most light, according to a recent study that found all parts of the hand emit detectable levels of light.
The findings support prior research that suggested most living things, including plants, release light. Since disease and illness appear to affect the strength and pattern of the glow, the discovery might lead to less-invasive ways of diagnosing patients.
Mitsuo Hiramatsu, a scientist at the Central Research Laboratory at Hamamatsu Photonics in Japan, who led the research, told Discovery News that the hands are not the only parts of the body that shine light by releasing photons, or tiny, energized increments of light.
"Not only the hands, but also the forehead and bottoms of our feet emit photons," Hiramatsu said, and added that in terms of hands "the presence of photons means that our hands are producing light all of the time."
The light is invisible to the naked eye, so Hiramatsu and his team used a powerful photon counter to "see"it.
The detector found that fingernails release 60 photons, fingers release 40 and the palms are the dimmest of all, with 20 photons measured.
The findings are published in the current Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology.
Hiramatsu is not certain why fingernails light up more than the other parts of the hand, but he said, "It may be because of the optical window property of fingernails," meaning that the fingernail works somewhat like a prism to scatter light.
To find out what might be creating the light in the first place, he and colleague Kimitsugu Nakamura had test subjects hold plastic bottles full of hot or cold water before their hand photons were measured. The researchers also pumped nitrogen or oxygen gas into the dark box where the individuals placed their hands as they were being analyzed.
Warm temperatures increased the release of photons, as did the introduction of oxygen. Rubbing mineral oil over the hands also heightened light levels.
Based on those results, the scientists theorize the light "is a kind of chemiluminescence," a luminescence based on chemical reactions, such as those that make fireflies glow. The researchers believe 40 percent of the light results from the chemical reaction that constantly occurs as our hand skin reacts with oxygen.
Since mineral oil, which permeates into the skin, heightens the light, they also now think 60 percent of the glow may result from chemical reactions that take place inside the skin.
Fritz-Albert Popp, a leading world expert on biologically related photons at The International Institute of Biophysics in Germany, agrees with the findings and was not surprised by them.
Popp told Discovery News, "One may find clear correlations to kind and degree (type and severity) of diseases."
Popp and his team believe the light from the forehead and the hands pulses out with the same basic rhythms, but that these pulses become irregular in unhealthy people. A study he conducted on a muscular sclerosis patient seemed to validate the theory.
Both he and Hiramatsu hope future studies will reveal more about human photon emissions, which could lead to medical diagnosis applications.
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Pat
Composer reveals musical chords' hidden geometry
I found the reader's post at the bottom of the article pertient to the
information:
Quote:
Within the context of using music and natural sounds as a treatment modality to assist with the healing process in medical and convalescent care facilities, a central challenge is to provide the patient with a mechanism for expressing personal preference in the types and range of music they would like "prescribed." In order to zero in on the sound stimulus most likely to have a positive and appealing impact on the patient"s mental, emotional and physical state, is requires that the music and sound library be contextualized in a matrix, within which areas of similarity of appeal can be identified. I believe that Dmitri"s calculus holds the promise for just such a matrix. A question which it begs is whether it is possible through sampling of a piece of music or natural soundscape, to automate the reference coordinates and location of the particular piece within the unified geometrical field?
India's cake loving British 'ghost'
By Amarnath Tewary
Gaya, Bihar
Owen Tomkinson was a British soldier who died of cholera in the northern Indian state of Bihar in 1906.
Nothing unusual about that, but people of Ekbalnagar in Gaya town where Mr Tomkinson is buried, believe that his ghost stops residents and passers-by and demands tea and cake.
So much so that to placate the dead soldier's ghost, they offer tea, biscuits and home-baked cakes at Mr Owen's grave at a two-acre burial ground, where he lies buried with hundreds of other Britons who died in the area.
Most of the graves are of children, aged between three months to eight years, and who died between 1833 and 1877.
Mr Tomkinson was among the last people to have been buried here - 'In loving memory of Owen, The dearly loved husband of Annie Tomkinson who died at Gaya (sic) on 19 September 1906, aged at 47 years', reads the epitaph.
'Hogwash'
But 100 years after his death, locals of this Muslim-dominated neighbourhood still say that the "angrez bhoot" (English ghost) is a restless soul who can be only pacified with tea and cakes.
Gaya is rife with stories about how Mr Tomkinson's ghost "stops people" and "asks for tea and cakes".
There is a restless soul around with a liking for tea and biscuits
Mehmood Ali, graveyard caretaker
"When darkness falls, the English ghost appears. He is dressed in a very English suit and boots. He stands in the middle of the road demanding tea and biscuit," says local school teacher Mohammad Zamiuddin.
Mehmood Ali, caretaker of the 'European' graveyard where the Englishman lies buried, is not sure of Mr Tomkinson's ghost, but says there is a "ghost in the area who likes tea and biscuits" .
"I have never met the English ghost. But I believe there must be some restless soul roaming around the area with his penchant of tea and biscuit," he says.
Sexagenarian Mohammad Basir says he had an encounter with the ghost some five years ago early one morning.
"He stopped me but after shaking my hand became invisible," says Mohammed Basir, a small time businessman.
There are even stories of how the ghost was "tamed" by a local resident few years ago by "chaining" it to a pillar in the graveyard.
"He tied him with some divine chains and fixed him to iron pillars near the grave," says resident Mohammed Zamiuddin.
But Mr Tomkinson's spirit was free again after the chain was stolen from the graveyard, says caretaker, Mohammed Ali.
The oldest English resident of Gaya town, Arthur Wakefield, is appalled by the ghost stories surrounding Mr Tomkinson.
"This story about his ghost demanding tea and biscuits is just hogwash and part of the local superstition," he says.
But residents of Ekbalnagar - the most backward neighbourhood in Gaya town - still keep queuing up at Mr Tomkinson's grave to offer tea and cakes.
Faiyaz Ahmed, a local resident, says it is a small price to pay to keep the Englishman's ghost happy.
"He is quite unlike other ghosts. He is harmless. Even if you do not serve tea and biscuit, he leaves you if you promise to get it any other day," he says.
This may be a bit off subjects but the article is a bit off color.
It is my understanding that this disease can sit stagnant for 10 years much like the aids virus before there are complications .
And by looking at the statistics. It seems a bit risky.
I will admit that I gave up pork almost 20 years ago and beef has not been on my plate for over 4 years and not much more than that for a few years before it.Lost interest in poultry which was a favorite and now
they talk more about the fish being contaminated with mercury.
Not much left when one considers the chemicals in veges and fruits.
Its one of those if one thing dont get you another will things...
A virtual world designed to test human telepathy has been demonstrated at the University of Manchester, UK.
Pairs of participants enter separate virtual rooms in the game and try to select which virtual object they think the other is interacting with.
The designers of the system say it overcomes some of the problems associated with real world studies.
Critics of previous tests say they are easily manipulated to create an effect that looks like telepathy but is not.
"By creating a virtual environment we are creating a completely objective environment which makes it impossible for participants to leave signals or even unconscious clues as to which object they have chosen," said Dr Toby Howard, one of the team that designed the system.
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Pat
Ancient Biblical Waterworks... and the real message..
RAMAT RACHEL, Israel (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Israel have unearthed an ancient water system which was modified by the conquering Persians to turn the desert into a paradise.
ADVERTISEMENT
The network of reservoirs, drain pipes and underground tunnels served one of the grandest palaces in the biblical kingdom of Judea.
Archaeologists first discovered the palace in 1954, a structure built on a six-acre (2.4 hectare) site where the communal Ramat Rachel farm now stands.
Recent excavations unearthed nearly 70 square meters (750 square feet) of a unique water system.
"They had found a huge palace ... even nicer than the palaces in Jerusalem, (dating) from the late Iron Age to the end of the biblical period in the 7th century," Oded Lipschits, a Tel Aviv University archaeologist, said.
The infrastructure of the palace was remodeled throughout the centuries to fit the needs of the Babylonians, Persians, Romans and Hasmoneans who ruled the Holy Land, said Lipschits, who heads the dig with an academic from Germany's University of Heidelberg.
But it was the Persians, who took control of the region around 539 BC from the Babylonians, who renovated the water system and turned it into a thing of beauty.
Lipschits said they added small waterfalls to try to turn a desert into a paradise.
"Imagine on this land plants and water rushing and streaming here," Lipschits said. "This was important to someone who finds aesthetics important, for someone who wanted to feel as though they are not just in some remote corner in the desert."
Yuval Gadot, a biblical archaeology expert from Tel Aviv University who is taking part in the excavation, said it was unclear exactly how the water system worked.
"Probably rainwater came down on the roof of the houses (in the palace complex)," he said. "From there, it was collected by drains into pools or to the underground reservoir and taken to nearby fields for crops or nice gardens."
For centuries water supplies have been one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East, where most of the region is desert
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Pat
Can Prayer Heal what Ails you?
September 17, 2006 08:41:49 PM PST
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
[url]http://health.yahoo.com/news/166603
Quote:
SUNDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Whenever a loved one suffers a health crisis, well-wishers often pass on the heartfelt promise that they'll "pray for you."
In fact, so many people believe in the power of prayer that it's now caught the attention of scientific researchers.
"Praying for your health is one of the most common complementary treatments people do on their own," said Dr. Harold G. Koenig, co-director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center. "About 90 percent of Americans pray at some point in their lives, and when they're under stress, such as when they're sick, they're even more likely to pray."
More than one-third of people surveyed in a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine said they often turned to prayer when faced with health concerns. In the poll involving more than 2,000 Americans, 75 percent of those who prayed said they prayed for wellness, while 22 percent said they prayed for specific medical conditions.
Numerous randomized trials have been done to assess the effect of intercessory prayer on heart patients' health.
In one such study, neither patients nor the health-care providers had any idea who was being prayed for. The coronary-care unit patients didn't even know there was a study being conducted. And, those praying for the patients had never even met them.
The result: While those in the prayer group had about the same length of hospital stay, their overall health was slightly better than the group that didn't receive special prayers.
"Prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care," wrote the authors of this 1999 study, also published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
However, a more recent trial from the April 2006 issue of the American Heart Journal seemed to contradict these findings, suggesting that it's even possible for some harm to come from prayer.
In this study, which included 1,800 people scheduled for heart surgery, the group who knew they were receiving prayers developed more complications from the procedure, compared to those who had not been a focus of prayer. Additionally, this study found no benefit in the group that received prayers, but didn't know it.
But Koenig said there's a simple explanation why people might fare worse if they knew they were being prayed for in a study.
"These people got the news just before they went into surgery. They were given pieces of paper that said they'd be getting prayer, which may have made them think, 'Oh my God, what's wrong with me?' " Koenig explained. "That's a totally artificial situation. Normally, you have loved ones and friends praying for you and there's nothing negative in that situation."
This new study also points out the difficulty of trying to quantify the effects of prayer, said Koenig.
"Studies cannot prove that prayer does not work. We don't know any more about the efficacy of prayer after reading these studies and they shouldn't affect anyone's belief in prayer," he said.
With scant evidence to support prayer for healing, should doctors encourage the practice?
Clearly, many patients are reluctant to bring up the subject with their physicians. In one study, only 11 percent of people surveyed have mentioned prayer to their physicians. But, physicians may be more open to the subject than patients realize, particularly in serious medical situations.
In a study of doctors' attitudes toward prayer and spiritual behavior, almost 85 percent of physicians thought they should be aware of their patients' spiritual beliefs. Most doctors said they wouldn't pray with their patients even if they were dying, unless the patient specifically asked the doctor to pray with them. In that case, 77 percent of physicians were willing to pray for their patient.
The bottom line on prayer and health: If it's something you want to do and you feel it might be helpful, there's no reason you shouldn't do it.
"I think many people are convinced that prayer helps, otherwise I don't think they would do it. Some people are 'foxhole religious' types and prayer's almost a reaction or cry to the universe for help. But, many people do it because they've experienced benefit from it in the past," Koenig explained.
"So, if you have any inclination that prayer might work, do it," he said.
More information
For more research on spirituality and health, head to the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
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Pat
Yoga can help in healing..
Quote:
Fitness for all: Yoga teacher and author says the discipline can help in healing
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
By Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mt. Lebanon native Amy Weintraub is returning to Pittsburgh this weekend to explain how practicing yoga helped her overcome a lifetime of suffering from depression.
Ms. Weintraub, 55, wrote the 2003 book, "Yoga for Depression." She'll be holding workshops Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Schoolhouse Yoga, 2401 Smallman St. in the Strip District.
The author attended college in New England and began a successful career writing fiction. But she suffered constantly from depression, which neither psychiatrists nor antidepressant drugs seemed to help.
"On a fall afternoon in the mid-'80s, I sat on the tweed sofa in my psychiatrist's office, two years after entering therapy, feeling as depressed as I ever felt in my life, as she told me I would be one of those people who would always have empty pockets," Ms. Weintraub wrote in a 1999 article. "What she meant, I assumed, was that my depression would forever interfere with my ability to feel fulfilled. What I heard was a life sentence -- I was a depressive."
In 1989, Ms. Weintraub took a yoga class at the Kripalu Center in Lenox, Mass. She felt better immediately.
"Physically, I felt like Rip Van Winkle, waking up, in my case, after nearly 40 years of sleep," Ms. Weintraub said.
She gradually weaned herself from antidepressants, and in a little less than a year after taking up yoga, gave them up entirely.
Yoga as a discipline is thousands of years old. But Kripalu, devised in the last century, is a comparatively modern form of it. It places great emphasis on proper breathing and body alignment as the keys to physical and mental health.
Ms. Weintraub became certified to teach Kripalu Yoga in 1992. She now lives in Tucson, Ariz., where she founded the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute. She has written a second book, "Breathe to Beat the Blues."
Ms. Weintraub describes yoga as "preventive and positive medicine."
"Just as the immune system is strengthened against the common cold and other viruses with daily practice, the emotional body is strengthened as well," she wrote in her book.
At her seminars, she'll teach yogic breathing strategies to help manage moods; meditation techniques, and guided relaxation techniques, Ms. Weintraub said in an interview with the Post-Gazette.
"The reasons the yogis believe we become depressed is because there is not enough oxygen flowing through the system to the brain," she said.
"If someone is depressed, likely their breathing is shallow and their shoulders are slumped. I'm going to help people clear the space within so that energy and breath can flow."
Studies -- most of them from India -- indicate yogic breathing and asanas (poses) raise levels of the hormones oxytocin and prolactin and increase oxygen levels in the brain, Ms. Weintraub said.
Oxytocin, which is produced by the hypothalamus gland, is sometimes called the "hormone of love" because it is consistently involved in all forms of love, said nurse Denise Fisher in a 2005 paper.
Despite her own experience, Ms. Weintraub made it clear she doesn't recommend yoga as a substitute for conventional medical treatment for depression.
"This is not instead of psychotherapy or medication," she said. "It's in addition."
That answered a concern expressed by Dr. P.V. Nickell, interim chair of the department of psychiatry for Allegheny General Hospital, who said he knows " a whole lot about depression but only a little bit about yoga."
One must distinguish between the blues -- which we all get from time to time -- and major clinical depression, which is a life-threatening illness because, if untreated, it can lead to suicide, Dr. Nickell said.
Dr. Nickell said he's seen only three studies concerning yoga as a treatment for clinical depression. All three indicated that yoga is helpful, but not as helpful as electric shock therapy or antidepressant medications.
"I'm not against yoga," he said. "It can be very valuable for lots of things. Every study I've seen indicates that when yoga is an addition to treatment, people feel better.
"Yoga is a helpful augmentation, but I'd be reluctant to recommend it as a primary or sole treatment for someone with the life-threatening illness we call major depression."
Ms. Weintraub's workshop Friday will be for newcomers to yoga, those on Saturday for people with some experience with the discipline.
The workshops Sunday will be for "healers." For more information on the workshops, call Leta Koontz at 412-401-4444.
Among those planning to attend the workshops Sunday is Dr. Sharon Plank, 52, a family practitioner who directs the "Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies" program at UPMC's Center for Integrative Medicine.
"We use yoga as [a supplemental treatment for] back pain, depression, colon problems, osteoporosis, even," Dr. Plank said. "It's a way to combine strength and flexibility with nutrition and stress reduction."
Wikipedia had a link to Distributed Proofreaders.
See below:
Quote:
About This Site
Distributed Proofreaders was founded in 2000 by Charles Franks to support the digitization of Public Domain books. Originally conceived to assist Project Gutenberg (PG), Distributed Proofreaders (DP) is now the main source of PG e-books. All our proofreaders, managers, developers and so on are volunteers. If you have any questions or comments regarding this site, please e-mail dphelp@pgdp.net.
Site Concept
This site provides a web-based method of easing the proofreading work associated with the digitization of Public Domain books into Project Gutenberg e-books. By breaking the work into individual pages many proofreaders can be working on the same book at the same time. This significantly speeds up the proofreading/e-book creation process.
An exciting concept indeed!
Pat
New group at Penn studies the science behind spirituality
PHILADELPHIA - Religion and science can combine to create some thorny questions: Does God exist outside the human mind, or is God a creation of our brains? Why do we have faith in things that we cannot prove, whether it's the afterlife or UFOs?
The new Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania is using brain imaging technology to examine such questions as well as to investigate how spiritual and secular beliefs affect our health and behavior.
"Very few are looking at spirituality from a neurological side, from the brain-mind side," said Dr. Andrew Newberg, director of the center. "We have a fairly unique focus."
Newberg, a doctor of nuclear medicine and an assistant professor at Penn, also has co-authored three books on the science-spirituality relationship.
The center is not a bricks-and-mortar structure but a multidisciplinary team of Penn researchers exploring the relationship between the brain and spirituality from biological, psychological, social and ideological viewpoints. Begun in April 2006, it is bringing together some 20 experts from fields including medicine, pastoral care, religious studies, social work and bioethics.
"The brain is a believing machine because it has to be," Newberg said. "Beliefs affect every part of our lives. They make us who we are. They are the essence of our being."
Words like spirituality and belief don't necessarily mean religious faith, Newberg said. For example, enlightenment can come to some people from artistic expression, nonreligious meditation, watching a beautiful sunset or listening to stirring music.
"Atheists have belief systems, too," Newberg said.
In one study, Newberg and colleagues used imaging technology to look at the brains of Pentecostal Christians speaking in tongues - known scientifically as glossolalia - then looked at their brains when they were singing gospel music. They found that those practicing glossolalia showed decreased activity in the brain's language center, compared with the singing group.
The imaging results are suggestive of people's description that they do not have control of their own speech when speaking in tongues. Newberg said that scientists believe that speech is taken over by another part of the brain during glossolalia but did not find it during the study.
Other recent studies looked at the brains of Tibetan Buddhists in meditation and Franciscan nuns in prayer, then compared the results to their baseline brain activity levels.
Among other changes, both groups showed decreased activity in the parts of the brain that have to do with sense of self and spatial orientation - which suggests the description of oneness with God, of transcendence sometimes experienced in meditation or prayer.
Prayer and meditation also increase levels of dopamine, often referred to as the brain's pleasure hormone.
"The mind and the body are the flip side of the same coin," said Dr. Daniel Monti, head of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's integrated medicine center. "Now we know some of the mechanisms by which that occurs, and it's becoming better and better understood."
The integrated medicine center treats patients with cancer, chronic pain and other ailments to work things like meditation and proper diet into their conventional therapy, Monti said. Such thinking seemed "fringy" to many people a decade ago, but it is becoming widely accepted by the medical community and patients, he said.
"Now there's the recognition that a truly effective treatment plan is not just giving a pill," he said. "We need to look at how to help a person adjust to a different lifestyle in addition to taking a pill."
Not many imaging studies have yet been done that look at changes in the brain's blood flow because technology has only within the past decade become sophisticated enough to study the brain in this way, Newberg said.
Specifically, cerebral blood flow in Newberg's studies is measured with single photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT. An increase in blood flow to certain parts of the brain means increased activity in those areas.
Newberg is currently studying how the brains of novice yoga practitioners change as they become more adept, and whether meditation can improve cognitive impairment in people with mild dementia or early Alzheimer's disease.
"The sky's the limit as far as the things we can study," he said.
ESP laboratory closes its doors
A US laboratory set up to study ESP and telekinesis is to close at the end of the month, ending a strained 30-year relationship with the scientific world.
Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research lab (PEAR) was set up in 1979 to examine human consciousness and its affects on computers and machines.
Founder Robert Jahn, 76, said the lab, with its ageing equipment and dwindling finances, has done what it needed to.
Many scientists have been dismissive of the Princeton University-based unit.
A typical PEAR experiment had a person sitting in front of an electric box which flashed numbers just above or below 100.
The participant would be told to "think high" or "think low" as they watched the display.
Researchers concluded that people could alter the results in such machines about two or three times out of 10,000.
PEAR says such effects could be "functionally devastating" for people working in aircraft cockpits, surgical facilities and even ICBM missile silos.
'Embarrassment to science'
"Venues that appear to be particularly conducive to such field anomalies include small intimate groups, group rituals, sacred sites, musical and theatrical performances, and other charismatic events," it adds.
Mr Jahn, former dean of Princeton's engineering school and an emeritus professor, told the New York Times: "For 28 year, we've done what we wanted to do, and there's no reason to stay and generate more of the same data.
"If people don't believe us after all the results we've produced, then they never will."
Funded by private donations rather than grants obtained via peer-reviewed research, the lab had an awkward relationship with the scientific community.
"It's been an embarrassment to science, and I think an embarrassment for Princeton," Robert Park, a University of Maryland physicist, told the NYT.
"Science has a substantial amount of credibility, but this is the kind of thing that squanders it."
A statement on the PEAR website said the lab was to transfer to a nearby non-profit group, the International Consciousness Research Laboratories.
The Global Intelligencer is one small piece of the puzzle. Its mission is to serve as an information clearinghouse for topics concerning individual, social and global transformation, making it available on a monthly basis to a maximum number of people worldwide.
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
Sun Apr 22, 11:45 PM ET
SUNDAY, April 22(HealthDay News) -- Is your chi not flowing right?
Whether or not you subscribe to the theory that the mind and body contain this mysterious, potentially healing force, the ancient martial art known as Tai Chi can still help bring health and fitness into line, experts say.
What's more, unlike more strenuous physical activities, Tai Chi's slow, balanced movements "are very accessible to older adults or patient populations that may have some physical limitations," said Dr. Michael Irwin, a professor of psychiatry and a researcher at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, part of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine. He's conducted much research on the health benefits of the practice.
He defined Tai Chi, which originated centuries ago in China, as "a series of slow-moving movements that have a meditative quality, incorporating both physical movement as well as meditation."
Practitioners, who swear by Tai Chi's ability to calm body and soul, often talk about chi and the discipline's ability to restore a yin-yang physiological balance to this "life energy." Irwin said there's currently no way to scientifically validate these theories, "but I'm not bothered by that, because there are lots of things in the world that we do not understand because we do not yet have a way to measure them."
He and other researchers have been able to compare the health of Tai Chi devotees against that of more sedentary types, however. Using a standard "Medical Outcomes Scale," researchers have shown "that there are robust improvements in physical function -- simple things like being able to carry groceries, walk, go up stairs," Irwin said.
That's because Tai Chi, while seemingly slow, is surprisingly good exercise. "There are a number of studies on Tai Chi and its aerobic effects that show that metabolism increases, and there's physical conditioning over time," Irwin said.
Benefits extend to other areas, as well. A much-publicized study this year from Emory University in Atlanta found that Tai Chi helped elderly practitioners reduce their risk for potentially lethal falls. Irwin's own work at UCLA found that Tai Chi reduced older people's risk for the immune disorder shingles. Another UCLA study, to be published soon in the journal Gerontology, showed that it boosted the function of the sympathetic nervous system, which has long been tied to good cardiovascular health.
According to Irwin, no one has yet done a study on Tai Chi's effect on depression, although two UCLA studies did note significant improvements in mood in non-depressed people who took up the practice.
Sean Vasaitis is a graduate student at the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore and a Tai Chi instructor. He said the martial art isn't "magic" but is, in fact, rooted in balance and physics.
"Understanding that helps you develop and do what you're doing correctly," he said. Typical classes run about 45 minutes to an hour, he said, but can vary in quality.
Vasaitis offered up a few tips for beginners on finding a good class:
Consider your goals. Tai Chi can be a way to boost mental and physical fitness, but it can also be an effective method of self-defense, where practitioners use their skills to "throw" opponents.
Sit in on a few classes. "It can be difficult to distinguish good and bad Tai-Chi," he said, so a little investigation helps. Some classes are very structured and demand certain tests and uniforms, while others are more informal. "Students should find a class that suits their personality best," Vasaitis said.
Look for "hands-on" training. Instructors should do more than just model the correct movements. "The really specific body structures that give Tai Chi its benefits are hard to get unless someone takes you through it, physically putting you into that proper position," he said.
Don't be intimidated. Vasaitis said he's seen college athletes have as much trouble -- and success -- in getting Tai Chi moves down as nursing-home residents. "Everyone starts out on the same page," he said, but most will soon learn and enjoy the discipline.
Most people will also gain real health benefits, Vasaitis said.
"I have students who say it's helped their blood pressure, their balance got better, they now get around better," he said. "For younger people, too, their energy level tends to be higher after Tai Chi. I always feel a lot better."
Need more convincing? A study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggested that Tai Chi may help prevent the painful skin condition shingles.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that older people who performed the slow, graceful movements of Tai Chi had a stronger immune system response against the virus that causes shingles than those who only received health education, the Associated Press reported.
More information
There's more on Tai Chi at the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Tribute to Britain's last 'witch'
STEPHANIE BUNGAY
(news_en@edinburghnews.com)
SHE was the last person in Britain to be tried as a witch - in a 1944 case Winston Churchill called "obsolete tomfoolery".
Her ability to inform relatives about loved ones who had died abroad during the Second World War led to her family being demonised. Even 54 years later, then-Home Secretary Jack Straw refused to grant her a posthumous pardon.
But now Helen Duncan is to receive a special mention in a ceremony to remember 81 people from Prestonpans who were killed during the witchcraft trials of the 16th and 17th century.
Ms Duncan, who lived in Niddrie at the time but travelled the country putting on seances for relatives, was convicted in 1944 under the 1735 Witchcraft Act for "pretending to raise the spirits of the dead". She was sentenced to nine months in Holloway prison.
Her granddaughter, Mary Martin, 72, from Craigmillar, who will lead tomorrow's ceremony at the Prestoungrange Gothenburg pub in Prestonpans High Street, said: "I still remember it. My brother and I were at school at the time and it was awful, we got called names like demon child.
"It's still upsetting thinking about it. The whole family were devastated. When she came home she seemed to have lost all her will to live, she was never the same again. I am so proud of her - she did nothing wrong. I loved that lady and I still miss her after all these years."
She said her grandmother should never have been tried under the ancient law.
"She was arrested and tried for witchcraft, but she wasn't a witch. It was farcical.
"She was a spiritualist, and at the time they were getting tried for vagrancy. If that had happened she would have got a fine."
The ceremony - the only one of its kind in the UK - is now in its third year. It was started following the pardoning of the Prestonpans witches in 2004 by the Baron of Prestoungrange.
Although Ms Duncan lived in Niddrie, she could not be pardoned by the Baron, as she was tried in Portsmouth.
However, her case is so well known she is being included as a special guest to mark the 50th anniversary.
Kristine Cunningham, from Prestoungrange Arts Festival, which is organising the event, said: "It will be a sombre occasion. We want to focus on the injustice so people know what happened to her."
Campaigners are trying to clear her name through the European Courts. Her story was made into a Channel Four drama documentary in 1999 and at one stage there was talk of a Hollywood film.
It was in Portsmouth in 1941 that she claimed to have been contacted by a sailor from the HMS Barham, who said the ship had been torpedoed.
The Government was yet to reveal the details for fear it would affect morale.
The War Office feared Ms Duncan could also see and reveal the secret site chosen for the imminent D-Day landing, and the top-secret Enigma operation to break German codes.
So it was decided to try her under the ancient law, which had not been tried for more than 200 years. Ms Duncan had many famous clients, including Winston Churchill.
As prime minister, he repealed the Witchcraft Act in 1951, recognising spiritualism as a religion. Despite this, a seance Ms Duncan held in Nottingham in 1956 was still raided by police.
She was in a trance at the time and was grabbed by police officers. It was this which supporters claimed killed her.
Mrs Martin said the interference of the trance when her grandmother was grabbed caused ectoplasm - a whitish, pliable substance said to take the shape of spirits and enable the dead to communicate - to recoil back into the body causing severe burns. She added: "When we saw her body it was covered in burns"
Mrs Martin said she would continue to fight on in the hope of clearing her grandmother's name.
Factfile
Helen Duncan was born in Callender on November 26, 1897. She married a cabinetmaker, who was disabled after suffering an injury in the First World War.
The couple moved to Dundee then Edinburgh. Mrs Duncan fell pregnant 12 times but only six children survived.
Her first brush with the law was in 1933, when she was found guilty at an Edinburgh court of practising as a false medium.
During the Second World War Helen travelled the country carrying out seances.
In 1941, she alarmed the authorities when she told a seance in Portsmouth about attacks on the British warships Hood and Barham before their losses had been made public.
Three years later one of her seances was raided by the police and Navy.
She was charged with conspiracy, which was a hanging offence, but it was later dropped to contravening the Witchcraft Act of 1735 by pretending to raise the spirits of the dead.
A bid by her lawyers to get Mrs Duncan to perform a seance in court was rejected.
A total of 44 witnesses, including a justice of the peace and journalists, spoke in her defence, but she was still found guilty and sentenced to nine months at Holloway.
During her time in jail, Mrs Duncan received many visitors, including Winston Churchill. She was released on September 22, 1944.
Mrs Duncan died in 1956 after allegedly being assaulted by two police officers during a seance and was cremated at Warriston Crematorium.
