Wednesday, October 12, 2011

On Kirtan Chanting

Those of us privileged to attend a yoga/writer's retreat  in Vermont recently as I did also learned Indian chanting  during our evenings, and benefited from sing-alongs led by a lovely, talented singer usually known simply as Yvette, or sometimes Yvette Om.
Yvette
I have been learning her chants by heart, aided by her CD "Into the Arms of Love" which I highly recommend. It is available at her website to order online, and makes the perfect gift for any yoga enthusiast, or buy it as background music, for meditation...She sings haunting Kirtan lyrics with the aid of her harmonium, other singers, and other musical instruments, such as the violin and sitar. 
Yvette

Please take a moment to buy it. You will soon find yourself adding quick chants throughout your busy days, and probably long, slow, chanting meditations,  as well.... Songs with titles like Sri Ganesha, Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha, Hey Ma Durga, Om Narayana, Om Namah Shivaya..Yvette's lovely lyrics will relax you when you allow her music to move you...

Bliss Out With Yoga

My incredibly gifted yoga instructor at a recent  retreat  in northern Vermont was a top American yogini, or should I say a guru, precious Lilavati, owner of "Temple of the Lotus" a yoga center near Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.

Lilavati

She has been learning yoga since the age of 15 and  has perfected her Ayurvedic practices ever since...She taught us yoga for hours each day. She now has lots of oils and nectars available at her website to use "as a protective sheath from Vatas dry chilling energy"  available to buy.

 
Best of all, for us, were her intensive training classes to yoga teachers around the country. I am hoping to use her special recipes to enhance my "strength, grounded~ness, health, and balance during the winter months." Be sure to contact her studio "Temple of the Lotus" where she teaches yoga, and talks about doshas and balance and  other such important yoga principles.

"Temple of the Lotus" Philadelphia's Ayurvedic Sanctuary is at 1527 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146 email: Lilavati@TempleoftheLotus.com 

Before I went to the writer/yoga retreat, I became convinced in my own mind I would fail at it. Lilavati assured me no one fails Yoga...If I can do a little yoga, anyone can!!!

Of course, I like yoga for the stress-reduction benefits, and "for positive effects on sleep anxiety, quality of life, and spiritual growth" W. Tranquility is, for anyone, a positive goal.  
Yoga also has a grand goal of freedom from illness, old age and death...As a physical, spiritual and mental discipline, however, yoga is a useful adjunct to our busy lives. I recommend it when you have the opportunity.


Lomography Brightens Emails With Eastern Philosophy

Recently, we ordered an Diana mini camera


for my enthusiastic 18-year-old photographer's birthday. A whimsical automatic message immediately appeared in my Inbox from Lomography:


"We're seriously committed to making sure your Lomographic order arrives in the best possible condition. At the moment our holistic shipping experts are busy preparing your treasured cargo psychologically for the journey that lies ahead. After a bit of chanting and chakra balancing our packaging architects will set to work making your goods as comfortable as possible. Under the cover of darkness a no-messing security troop will escort your package to the post depot to ensure it departs without a sniff of trouble. It's at this point we release two pigeons of peace as a symbol of thanks for another successful shipment."


"chanting"..."chakra balancing"..."pigeons of peace"??? I have to say, I appreciated this message far more now than I would  have a month ago before my Ayurvedic weekend in northern Vermont...I am even learning Indian chanting now, not intending to outdo my teenager who is incidently learning Chinese...


Monday, October 10, 2011

Book Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Written by the immensely talented  and gorgeous Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks traces the history of the biotech and gene therapy industries in America and makes it exciting.

Hela cells were used in research studies at Johns Hopkins University, and named after  a so-called donor, Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old mother in Maryland. Her cells evidently expanded and divided at an unprecedented speed. They were reproduced  and sent around the world for use in medical experiments. Her cells were used as building blocks  that created new products and ultimately led to the the expansion of the multi-billion-dollar  international pharmaceutical industry.  At the same time, Henrietta's family, after her death, did not make a penny and are currently deeply in debt.

The well-written, entertaining story is about so much more than one family, and yet learning about the Lacks family grounds the book in reality and gives the story urgency. We see how real people's lives were impacted by permissions they did, or did not give, for their tissues to be used in scientific experiments. We learn about how people have given up ownership of  the raw materials, their cells, blood, and body parts, whether voluntarily or not, in  medical procedures around the world.  Read this book to learn useful knowledge about the industry and about the world of medicine.

Listen to Rebecca Skloot describe her book, and be sure to buy it. I stayed up late reading  it, and was sorry when it ended. Don't worry, you will be in good hands when you read her book. She would make a very desirable friend...


Rebecca Skloot

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Is Mormonism a Cult?


Today, I am missing Sunday services at Washington National Cathedral. I like to listen to them for the quality of the service, the sermon, and the music. I will miss Cathedral Dean Lloyd's leadership.

Please give generously to Washington National Cathedral as they make repairs following the earthquake and subsequent hurricane.

Is Mormonism a cult?

Cult: a system of religious beliefs and rituals regarded as unorthodox.

The latest assertions of a Republican saying that Mormonism is a cult has me thinking. Even though I am not a Republican, and it matters not who said made this accusation, I am a Christian.

I also believe church and state are separate entities and should remain such. Wars have been fought over that division. At the same time, this is my platform to discuss my views on Mormonism, and you are most welcome to visit.

Mormonism has certain givens up front, aspects many mainstream Christians, including me, find very disturbing:

1. It's not inclusive and diverse...as this picture illustrates:


Even if a few diverse groups have joined recently, I remain skeptical. Assertions to that effect wouldn't cut it with me.

2. Why is it not ever going to be truly diverse?

Mormonism is elitist at heart and in principle, and only allows certain people to join because of their genetics and family history. It does not allow those who simply want to join if they change their beliefs. Newcomers would not be accepted into the inner sanctums with their children. 

3. Mormonism believes in Prophets alive until recently. That doesn't happen in Christian denominations. All our prophets died thousands of years ago...

4. Some of the initiation rites, the marriage bed pictured in online photos, if true, and marriage practices of taking multiple wives, if true, are still  rumored to be going on.  These practices are illegal, and can be unconstitutional and hurtful to under-age or female participants.

5. Certainly, Mormons might consider themselves different children of God by choice and aspiration, but how free are they in the eyes of the world if they aren't allowed in principle to do normal American activities inside America? What's so wrong with drinking coffee or tea from Starbucks,  for example, or drinking a bit of wine?

6. No other church gets involved in uniforms and undergarments for general participants. To me, that makes it suspect and leaves it outside the Christian umbrella. God is supposed to love us at all times.

6. Mormons look at The Book of Mormon as their primary authority. Christian churches, in stark contrast, use the Holy Bible as their primary authority.

I am not going to delve any more deeply into the religion and invite quibbles. Any one of the above reasons would be sufficiently major to make most individuals around the world eschew it and take it out of consideration if they wanted to make a change.

Ultimately, I do not think Mormons are free enough to be happy and flexible,  either, even if they are children of God (as we all are), because freedom to change and join religions is an important and useful value.

To conclude, even if the religion works for some, and Mormons feel cozy in their beliefs, nevertheless, in my final analysis, yes, ultimately Mormonism is a cult as well as a religion. What it is not is mainstream Christianity, and most American Christians I have spoken to believe it is not Christian. What do you believe...Is Mormonism a cult?

Again, please give generously to Washington National Cathedral.



Sunday, October 2, 2011

American Healthcare Systems Needs Overhaul To Focus on Fair Access and Healthy Futures

The world will read this blog post, and probably correctly call their own health care system superior to the American model, despite any improvements that may have already been enacted here.

Doctors in America work in a system in which they routinely and unwisely lose interest in their patients and get away with it. Medical doctors in America refer their patients around other doctor's offices without caring about outcomes just because they don't have to, and get paid for it.

They do not automatically, and only rarely, request a follow up return visit. They just seek payment for referrals of patients to other doctors and forget who matters. I have had doctors at all levels do that, and it makes me angry at their irresponsibility. They don't get paid for caring. They get paid more for other so-called services, like ripping people apart in surgeries, whether or not they have had their medical education in the United States.

They are in it for the money, and they are not supposed to be and should care more for their patients. They do not know if patients have followed up on their ailments and they don't care if  patients don't follow the recommendations -- sometimes because patients can't afford to. If patients don't get treatment, doctors wouldn't know or care. I know because I have been treated that way, too, and I supposedly have good insurance that covers catastrophic incidents.

American medicine is a joke for most Americans, even me, a vacuous hollow of the good health care system the country could have if it ever got its act together. It is an extremely poor, inefficient system, as it has been for at least thirty years since I have lived, fortunately healthily, for the last thirty years in this country.

Here's a good example of a gross inefficiency of the medical system overall...Someone who has insurance in one state has to pay the bills for health services rendered in another state.

That's exactly what happened to a good, old friend of mine, my former cleaning lady, who lives in Florida and pays health insurance there. When she visited her daughter on holiday, she had emergency gall-bladder surgery in New Jersey. A couple of months later, she has been billed for more money than she makes in a year in Florida.

A little background: she was visiting her daughters in New Jersey  when she was admitted. They looked after her when she was discharged from the hospital. She lives alone in Florida, so it was actually better for her to have the operation in New Jersey and stay afterward with her daughter's family. She also knew and trusted some of the doctors who performed the operation because she used to work cleaning the hospital for thirty years and felt familiar with it. Another of her daughters works at the hospital...

Which brings us back to the paperwork and the expenses  she submitted from  her New Jersey hospital that are now being rejected by her Florida insurer. Does this make sense to charge her to pay more for a required procedure than she can  make in one year? In her sixties, she labors in a job requiring a lot of physical effort. She might have spent a few more expensive days in the hospital in Florida had she done the procedure in that state. She would certainly had a lot more personal trouble since she hadn't anyone to help her post-discharge. She is understandably disputing her bills.

In an even more extreme case, an article called "Stuck in Bed for 19 Months, at Hospital's Expense" in the New York Times today tracks a case in an extravagantly inefficient American health care system that lacks accountability for long-term patients without insurance. The profiled patient had previously made $400 in cash each week, and been abandoned by his wife and children who could not afford his care, although he ultimately returned home.

"For the $1.4 million in services that [the hospital] had provided, total reimbursement to the hospital from Medicaid was $114,000...

If he had been insured or immediately eligible for Medicaid or Medicare, he might have gone to a nursing home after a week or two, where the average daily cost in New York is about $350 — and where he might have had steady companionship. Or he might have received a home health aide in his apartment, which could have cost even less, depending on the required hours. 

For hospitals---that treat many illegal immigrants, the health care plan enacted last year does nothing to solve this liability...During debates about reform, lawmakers insisted that the plan’s benefits not extend to the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants...Nor is this likely to change."

Hospitals keep patients and can't efficiently care for them; they don't automatically transfer them to less expensive  locations. This inefficiency is another example that hospitals fail to address. Even if hospitals say they don't have the money, by not improving this practice they have, in fact, consciously condoned it. They  actually allow patients  like him to stay at a place that normally charged over USD$2,000 a day instead of  forcing them to transfer to another  less-expensive alternative at $350 a day.  Why are the 'powers that be' not ashamed of this administrative malpractice. Why are they not held accountable for their inefficiency?

Either expense will appear nonsensical and outrageous to my international audience.  Yet, America lacks the business and political will to improve health care. Meetings between hospital, long-term care facilities, and the government should have taken place to care for this patient instead of making me, a taxpayer, help pay for his excessive bill and their mistakes. Let's face it, many mistakes have been made that have not been corrected yet. There should be financial incentives to reward results in the best interests of the long-term health and longevity of the patient. Successful diagnoses  obviously need to be followed through with intelligent treatments. Treatments and results matter to patients. America has a system where doctors are better rewarded for referrals and invasive surgery than long-term results, and have the wherewithal to sway politicians with graft.

If you are an international visitor, or on business, in the United States, and happen to land in the hospital, these extremely high bills will have to be paid.

What about patients who are airlifted to safety only to have to pay more than they can afford? They have no choice but to pay, unless covered by the appropriate insurance.

Instead of being an intelligent, broadly inclusive health care system, the bureaucratic rules are unintelligible at times, disconnected, and open to inconsistency and misinterpretation on an individual level. 

It should have made taxpayers in America revolt by now. Oddly, that has not happened. Businesses could not change the health care system; the inefficient American health care system has led giant car companies to bankruptcy.

Sensible rules to reward follow ups and make records of results need to be formed by the government,  as the British and Canadian governments did after the Second World War, or else all that is left is inefficiency and chaos. The rich might or might not pay for high end treatments, but every taxpayer loses overall in the American health care system. And that's not being caring, charitable, or compassionate to patients. For this reason, the American government must rule where businesses do not for the greater good of all patients. I just hope I don't get sick; the risks of getting sick are too horrific and expensive for me to imagine.