Monday, July 21, 2008

Flax Seed: Loving Bliss, Omega-3 Fatty Acids & Harbin's Warm Pool ~ L.B. 'Musical' Explorations


Loving Bliss


What's the biology, or more specifically, neurophysiology of the experience of loving bliss? And what is the anthropology of loving bliss?

Again, here's my definition of loving bliss:

~ experiences that are deeply, gratefully, reciprocally appreciative and affectionate, both with a friend or friends, and alone, as well as profoundly and naturally high at the same time, and which are ongoing, biological, 'flow' experiences.

Omega-3 fatty acids (1000 mg 3-4 times per day from flax seed oil, for example) seem to allow for the neurophysiology of loving bliss's emergence, in my experience. For me, ingesting omega-3 fatty acids lead to a biological, harmonizing effect. (Please let me know of studies that support this clinically as this is anecdotal, but Dr. Andy Weil's web site is a rich reference).

For me, too, Harbin Hot Spring's warm pool, as well as Harbin's milieu, can lead to a far-reaching, relaxation response (Benson 1972) which richly contributes to a basis for loving bliss.

{And Ecstasy - [MDMA - methylene_dioxy_meth_amphetamine] is another instance that loving bliss is neurochemical, although I don't recommend taking it.}

For 'flow,' Csikszentmihalyi's book "Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience," about how enjoyment works, shows empirically that this process involves focus or concentration with a goal in mind.

In an anthropological sense, some liminal spaces - places outside social structure - e.g. Harbin, some religious gatherings, Grateful Dead concerts, ragas, traveling, etc. - are sometimes where communitas emerges, and can give rise to loving bliss, in my experience. But I find the 'flow' experience of releasing to elicit the relaxation response particularly salutary, and especially in the Harbin warm pool.


Thinking novelly, with a knowledge-orientation, and systematically, how to access loving bliss when one wants to, and in the ways one wants to, naturally and in far-reaching ways, while functioning well in Modernity, and raising kids, for example?



Loving Bliss Explorations

Seeking loving bliss 'chamber music' musicians, improvisers and composers :)
for the next many decades

For a creative exploration of loving bliss qualities

Naturally and neurophysiologically

Contact - scott@scottmacleod.com


Loving Bliss as Musical Explorations


Guidelines
for practicing loving bliss
scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingLovingBlissvavMusicalInstrument.htm
vis-à-vis practicing a musical instrument



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