I believe depression occurs for two reasons. The first one being purely psychological. A person tries to do something. Things do not work out. Depression sets in.

 

The second reason is physical. May be, there is some chemical imbalance in one's head. Some people are just predisposed to being depressed much like some people are predisposed to having certain conditions.

 

I believe in both cases, these breathing exercises can help. Yes, it is a simple explanation, but it makes sense.

 

We live in a society of "easy solutions." It is much easier to take a pill than to do anything else.

 

I suspect that being depressed sometimes was always a norm, since the
ancient times. It is just that nobody was considering this abnormal,
but rather a just punishment by God for our sins. At least
that is how I am trying to apply this logic to myself.

To put it more scientifically, the mood is an objective reflection of
two things:

1) how well the body engine operates (based on billion year optimized
program developed by evolution)

and

2) how well the individual executes the cultural program (developed
during last 100 000 years since invention of the language, when
information developed by individuals started being passed from one
generation to the next)

If either of these two things are unsuccessful, mood goes down.

Of cause it takes a lot of work to maintain both operations
(that sometimes contradict each other) successful at all times.
It is supposed to be NOT EASY, after all we are fighting for
_survival_ both of our genes and of our cultural information (e.g.
human spirit).
The purpose of mood and our nervous system in general
is not to pleasure itself, but to help with survival.
So no wonder that is not always only pleasure.

The issue with the present times is that maximal pleasure is
considered the only purpose of human life. I agree with this
concept as long as pleasure is achieved the "fair" way, e.g. by
satisfying above 2 criteria, and so pleasure coincides with satisfying
the purpose of Life. But in the moment when we are starting to
cheat, creating artificial pleasure with drugs of any kind,
there is a disconnect, that leads to demise of the specie (or
informational/cultural program that certain population part caries).

I agree that there are certain (and very rare) medical conditions
that people are depressed for no obvious reason, otherwise being
healthy and culturally successful. In this case machinery of pleasure
is imbalanced in the negative direction and some help can be provided.
But before any such treatment I think it would be important to
establish that such imbalance is really true (say by taking
physical measurements of dopamine levels depending on different
situations, etc). Presently no such physical tests are required
to prescribe tranquilizers, any shrink can do it, who not even
necessarily has any medical certification. I think this is just
legalized drug-ring, that needs to be busted.

Regards,
Evgenij

--- In strelnikova_exercise@yahoogroups.com, mclaym1@... wrote:
>
> Yevgen,
>
> I would say that being depressed is becoming a norm in this society.
Look at
> the number of people who take anti-depressants. Unfortunately, to
maintain my
> mood, it takes work. I hope that with time, my good mood will be
longer
> maintained without these breathing exercises. I wondered if similar
effect can
> also be obtained just by doing aerobics or strength training
exercises. I also
> noticed that after doing these exercises, I am more motivated and
energized
> to do stuff that needs to be done.
>
> Best Regards,
>
>
> Mark
>
>
> In a message dated 3/10/2008 3:40:22 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
> evgenij_b@... writes:
>
>
>
>
> Good to hear that you observed shortened cold. I have seen it
> happen too, and I usually switch to 2 exercise/day when sick.
>
> I always intensify S. exercises when I feel I am getting a cold and
> often it prevents me from actually getting sick. In fact neither me
> nor daughter (who used to suffer from asthma attacks) were sick this
> winter at all, by following this method.
>
> I bet it is not normal to be depressed all the time, the whole
> concept of "norm" (e.g. average) implies that should be sad/happy
> about half/half :-) Settling in either of these moods too much will
> make the feed-back on success of failure less effective, reducing
> survival chances.
> So in this sense S. exercise helps to come back to more success
> inducing state. I did not observe it to reduce my too good mood
> though :-)
>
> Regards,
> Yevgen
>
> --- In _strelnikova_strelnikostrelnikova_str_
> (mailto:strelnikova_exercise@yahoogroups.com) , "clymrk" <mclaym1@>
wrote:
> >
> > Last week, I had a cold. I believe these exercises helped to shorten
> > the duration of it. I did feel much better after them.
> >
> > When I do not do these exercise, my mood is kind of bad too. Doing
> > these exercises consistently and regularly helps to elevate my
mood and
> > keep it on a level where I can function normally. As I look back, I
> > have been having consistent depressing moods for years. I thought it
> > was normal.
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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