Guruji with others gathered for Pratishtha celebrations

Siddhachalam Tirth ( ), with its serene and spiritually vibrant surroundings spread over 120 acres, is the home to three exquisite and unique Jain temples. Back in 1991, for the first time in contemporary Jain history, Acharya Sushil Kumarji, the founder of Siddhachalam fondly addressed as Guru Ji by his followers, inspired all Jain traditions to come under one unified Jain temple roof at Siddhachalam.

Under his spiritual guidance, an elaborate 10-day Pratishtha (consecration) ceremony was held on August 2-11, 1991. At precisely 11:45am on Thursday August 8, 1991 the auspicious Pratishtha of all Tirthankara images in the temples were formally conducted by priests and monks from all Jain traditions. The 25th anniversary of that auspicious day is fast approaching and we are planning a joyous celebration in the summer of 2016 to mark this historic event.

The next major spiritual milestone was Shikharji at Siddhachalam, a to-scale replication of the most sacred Jain Teerth, which was completed in August 2013.

Visiting pilgrims can practice and perform pujas in their chosen tradition, or in a Sanghadith (unified) Puja held every day at the temple. They can go on Shikharji yatra to enjoy religious splendor or immerse themselves in Siddhachalams immensely spiritual surroundings.

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All students and facultyat MUM practice the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique. Itis a simple, natural, effortless process practiced 1520 minutes twice daily while sitting comfortably with eyes closed. It is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. More than six million people worldwide have learned the TM technique people of all ages, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Hundreds of scientific research studies have shown that practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique reduces stress, enhances brain functioning, increases intelligence and creativity, improves memory and learning ability, improves academic performance, improves health and well-being, develops the personality, improves interpersonal relationships, enhances athletic performance, and promotes inner peace.

TM was brought to the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to develop the inner potential of all people. Extensive published research indicates that this technique boosts learning ability and creativity, improves brain functioning, and reduces stress. This is why students benefit from the daily technique both in academic and social life.

Find out the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions below, scroll to the bottom for videos, orlearn more at the Transcendental Meditation website.

TM is practiced for 20 minutes twice a day, sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. The technique must be learned from a certified Transcendental Meditation teacher. MUM students receive TM instruction shortly after their arrival on campus.

Academic credit is given for the Development of Consciousness course. This required course supports the regular and correct practice of the TM technique.

The TM technique allows the mind to effortlessly settle inward and arrive at the source of thought pure awareness, also known as transcendental consciousness. Transcendental means going beyond, in this case referring to going beyond thought. Transcendental consciousness is the most silent and peaceful level of consciousness; it is your innermost Self. In this state of restful alertness, your brain functions with significantly greater coherence and your body gains deep rest.

TM creates coherence in the functioning of the brain, which carries over into daily life, increasing calm, focus, comprehension, and creativity. TM provides deep rest and even helps with chronic conditions such as depression, anxiety, and high blood pressure. When large groups of people are meditating, quality of life is shown to improve in the entire population. Learn more about theTM meditationresearch behind these benefits.

Yes. Over 350 research studies have been conducted at more than 250 universities and research centers (including Harvard, UCLA, and Stanford). These studies have been published in more than 100 journals.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded more than $25 million for research on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique on health, especially cardiovascular health, and its impact on helping college students cope with stress.

The Transcendental Meditation technique is based on the ancient Vedic tradition of India. This knowledge has been handed down by Vedic masters from generation to generation for thousands of years.

In 1959, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi the representative in our age of the Vedic tradition introduced the Transcendental Meditation technique to the world, restoring the knowledge and experience of higher states of consciousness.

Other forms of meditation typically involve one of these two approaches, both of which may produce some good effects in specific areas:

The Transcendental Meditation technique involves neither concentration nor contemplation. It is a simple, natural procedure that effortlessly allows the mind to transcend to experience transcendental consciousness which has been described by neuroscientists as a state of restful alertness.

A meta-analysis of 597 studies covering most meditation and relaxation techniques was published in the American Journal of Health Promotion (12:297-299, 1998). The study found the TM technique to have markedly better results in a wide range of criteria related to cognitive function, self-actualization (growth toward ones potential), and mental and physical health.

Before coming to MUM, some of our current students practiced other meditation techniques for self-improvement.

To avoid the risk of mixing procedures which can compromise the naturalness, effortlessness, and effectiveness of the Transcendental Meditation technique we ask that all students practice only the TM technique. Our admissions counselors will be happy to discuss this further with you.

At MUM all students practice and enjoy the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation program. For those individuals who have applied to MUM and are pursuing their application in good faith, scholarships are available to cover the cost of learning the practice.

To start enjoying the benefits as soon as possible, we encourage as many of our applicants as possible to learn the practice in their hometown prior to enrollingthose who cannot learn before enrolling would learn the practice in their first week of studies.

The student rate for learning the TM technique is $360. MUM Admissions will provide a 50% scholarship for all applicants who intend to enroll within a year, whether accepted or not. Each applicant would then be expected to pay $180 toward the $360 fee upon learning. Once the applicant enrolls at MUM he or she will be reimbursed within two weeks for the $180 they paid to learn. For those who learn after matriculation the full fee will be covered as part of tuition expenses.

The Transcendental Meditation Sidhiprogramis a simple, natural, effortless set of procedures that accelerate the personal growth gained from the TM technique by itself. As scientific research studies have shown, the TM-Sidhi program brings faster growth of creativity, learning ability, physical health, and psychological well-being.

One of the TM-Sidhi procedures is called Yogic Flying, which leads to the body lifting in short hops from the ground. Students describe the experience of this technique as one of happiness, energy, bliss, and inner freedom, with these qualities carrying over into their daily life.

The Transcendental Meditation technique allows the mind to settle down to the source of thought and experience pure consciousness a state of restful alertness. The TM-Sidhi program provides the opportunity to remain on that level, allowing the practitioner to think and act from this most silent and powerful level of the mind. The TM-Sidhi program was brought to light by Maharishi from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, from the ancient Vedic tradition.

When people practice the TM-Sidhi program in groups, they create a powerful effect of harmony, peace, and societal coherence that radiates into the community. Studies have found a statistically significant reduction in crime, accident, and sickness rates. When open warfare is present, such groups have reduced violence and war deaths. Scientists have termed this peace-creating phenomenon the Maharishi Effect.

MUM, situated in the center of the U.S., is committed to creating and maintaining a group of Yogic Flyers large enough to impact societal coherence and improve the quality of life for the whole country. With this Vedic technology of consciousness, we have within our means a practical formula for creating national and international peace and well-being.

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Jerry, Bob, and George discuss TMs effect on the average person and its part in helping veterans overcome PTSD.

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"Least excited state of mind, where the mind is completely settled and silent..."

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Maharishi: "We are all thinking all the time - where do these thoughts come from?" (Lake Louise, Canada, 1968)

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Education centers on the objective aspect of reality but misses knowledge of the subjective "Knower."

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What is TM? MUM students explain what it's like to meditate, and why they practice TM.

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The People Behind the Science: Demo and Interview

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Let's ask Russell Simmons, Founder and CEO of Def Jam Recordings.

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World-class skateboarder Zarosh says meditation is "like the missing link to life."

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Sarina Grosswald, Ed.D. is an ADHD researcher who discusses her interviews with TM kids.

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David Lynch, speaking at the Majestic Theatre, Emerson College

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On TM: "It's a simple process that calms the mind." - Moby

In this program you will participate in the creation of an original Web-TV Series, working alongside fellow students and industry professionals. This unique opportunity is being made available to a select number of students who will work together to write, produce, edit, and distribute the series. Every student will work in different capacities throughout the course of the production.

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Transcendental Meditation Technique

Buddhist meditation refers to the meditative practices associated with the religion and philosophy of Buddhism.

Core meditation techniques have been preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through teacher-student transmissions. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward Enlightenment and Nirvana.[a] The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhvan[b] and jhna/dhyna.[c] Buddhist meditation techniques have become increasingly popular in the wider world, with many non-Buddhists taking them up for a variety of reasons.

Buddhist meditation encompasses a variety of meditation techniques that aim to develop mindfulness, concentration, supramundane powers, tranquility, and insight. Given the large number and diversity of traditional Buddhist meditation practices, this article primarily identifies authoritative contextual frameworks both contemporary and canonical for the variety of practices. For those seeking school-specific meditation information, it may be more appropriate to simply view the articles listed in the "See also" section below.

While there are some similar meditative practices such as breath meditation and various recollections (anussati) that are used across Buddhist schools, there is also significant diversity. In the Theravda tradition alone, there are over fifty methods for developing mindfulness and forty for developing concentration, while in the Tibetan tradition there are thousands of visualization meditations.[d] Most classical and contemporary Buddhist meditation guides are school specific.[e] Only a few teachers attempt to synthesize, crystallize and categorize practices from multiple Buddhist traditions.

The earliest tradition of Buddhist practice is preserved in the nikya/gamas, and is adhered to by the Theravda lineage. It was also the focus of the other now-extinct early Buddhist schools, and has been incorporated to greater and lesser degrees into the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and many East Asian Mahyna traditions.

Meditation on the Buddhist Path

Most Buddhist traditions recognize that the path to Enlightenment entails three types of training: virtue (sla); meditation (samadhi); and, wisdom (pa).[f] Thus, meditative prowess alone is not sufficient; it is but one part of the path. In other words, in Buddhism, in tandem with mental cultivation, ethical development and wise understanding are also necessary for the attainment of the highest goal.[1]

In terms of early traditions as found in the vast Pali canon and the gamas, meditation can be contextualized as part of the Noble Eightfold Path, explicitly in regard to:

And implicitly in regard to:

Classic texts in the Pali literature enumerating meditative subjects include the Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10) and the Visuddhimagga's Part II, "Concentration" (Samadhi).

In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha identifies four foundations for mindfulness: the body, feelings, mind states and mental objects. He further enumerates the following objects as bases for the meditative development of mindfulness:

Meditation on these subjects develops insight.[3]

The Buddha is said to have identified two paramount mental qualities that arise from wholesome meditative practice:

Through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to suppress obscuring hindrances; and, with the suppression of the hindrances, it is through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberating wisdom.[4] Moreover, the Buddha is said to have extolled serenity and insight as conduits for attaining Nibbana (Pali; Skt.: Nirvana), the unconditioned state as in the "Kimsuka Tree Sutta" (SN 35.245), where the Buddha provides an elaborate metaphor in which serenity and insight are "the swift pair of messengers" who deliver the message of Nibbana via the Noble Eightfold Path.[i]

In the "Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta" (AN 4.170), Ven. Ananda reports that people attain arahantship using serenity and insight in one of three ways:

In the Pali canon, the Buddha never mentions independent samatha and vipassana meditation practices; instead, samatha and vipassana are two qualities of mind to be developed through meditation.[j] Nonetheless, some meditation practices (such as contemplation of a kasina object) favor the development of samatha, others are conducive to the development of vipassana (such as contemplation of the aggregates), while others (such as mindfulness of breathing) are classically used for developing both mental qualities.[6]

Buddhaghosa's forty meditation subjects are described in the Visuddhimagga. Almost all of these are described in the early texts.[7] Buddhaghosa advises that, for the purpose of developing concentration and consciousness, a person should "apprehend from among the forty meditation subjects one that suits his own temperament" with the advice of a "good friend" (kalyana mitta) who is knowledgeable in the different meditation subjects (Ch. III, 28).[8] Buddhaghosa subsequently elaborates on the forty meditation subjects as follows (Ch. III, 104; Chs. IV - XI):[9]

When one overlays Buddhaghosa's 40 meditative subjects for the development of concentration with the Buddha's foundations of mindfulness, three practices are found to be in common: breath meditation, foulness meditation (which is similar to the Sattipatthana Sutta's cemetery contemplations, and to contemplation of bodily repulsiveness), and contemplation of the four elements. According to Pali commentaries, breath meditation can lead one to the equanimous fourth jhanic absorption. Contemplation of foulness can lead to the attainment of the first jhana, and contemplation of the four elements culminates in pre-jhana access concentration.[10]

Particularly influential from the twentieth century onward has been the "New Burmese Method" or "Vipassana School" approach to samatha and vipassana developed by Mingun Jetavana Saydaw and U Nrada and popularized by Mahasi Sayadaw. Here samatha is considered an optional but not necessary component of the practicevipassana is possible without it. Another Burmese method, derived from Ledi Sayadaw via U Ba Khin and S. N. Goenka, takes a similar approach. Other Burmese traditions popularized in the west, notably that of Pa Auk Sayadaw, uphold the emphasis on samatha explicit in the commentarial tradition of the Visuddhimagga.

Also influential is the Thai Forest Tradition deriving from Ajahn Mun and popularized by Ajahn Chah, which, in contrast, stresses the inseparability of the two practices, and the essential necessity of both practices. Other noted practitioners in this tradition include Ajahn Thate and Ajahn Maha Bua, among others.[11]

Another less common type of meditation is practiced in Cambodia and Laos by followers of Tantric Theravada. This form of meditation includes the use of mantras and visualizations.

Mahyna Buddhism includes numerous schools of practice, which each draw upon various Buddhist stras, philosophical treatises, and commentaries. Accordingly, each school has its own meditation methods for the purpose of developing samdhi and praj, with the goal of ultimately attaining enlightenment. Nevertheless, each has its own emphasis, mode of expression, and philosophical outlook. In his classic book on meditation of the various Chinese Buddhist traditions, Charles Luk writes, "The Buddha Dharma is useless if it is not put into actual practice, because if we do not have personal experience of it, it will be alien to us and we will never awaken to it in spite of our book learning."[12] Venerable Nan Huaijin echoes similar sentiments about the importance of meditation by remarking, "Intellectual reasoning is just another spinning of the sixth consciousness, whereas the practice of meditation is the true entry into the Dharma."[13]

In the Pure Land tradition of Buddhism, repeating the name of Amitbha Buddha is traditionally a form of Mindfulness of the Buddha (Skt. buddhnusmti). This term was translated into Chinese as nianfo (), by which it is popularly known in English. The practice is described as calling the buddha to mind by repeating his name, to enable the practitioner to bring all his or her attention upon that buddha (samdhi).[14] This may be done vocally or mentally, and with or without the use of Buddhist prayer beads. Those who practice this method often commit to a fixed set of repetitions per day, often from 50,000 to over 500,000.[15] According to tradition, the second patriarch of the Pure Land school, Shandao, is said to have practiced this day and night without interruption, each time emitting light from his mouth. Therefore, he was bestowed with the title "Great Master of Light" () by the Tang Dynasty emperor Gao Zong ().[16]

In addition, in Chinese Buddhism there is a related practice called the "dual path of Chn and Pure Land cultivation", which is also called the "dual path of emptiness and existence."[17] As taught by Venerable Nan Huaijin, the name of Amitbha Buddha is recited slowly, and the mind is emptied out after each repetition. When idle thoughts arise, the phrase is repeated again to clear them. With constant practice, the mind is able to remain peacefully in emptiness, culminating in the attainment of samdhi.[18]

Repeating the Pure Land Rebirth Dhra is another method in Pure Land Buddhism. Similar to the mindfulness practice of repeating the name of Amitbha Buddha, this dhra is another method of meditation and recitation in Pure Land Buddhism. The repetition of this dhra is said to be very popular among traditional Chinese Buddhists.[19] It is traditionally preserved in Sanskrit, and it is said that when a devotee succeeds in realizing singleness of mind by repeating a mantra, its true and profound meaning will be clearly revealed.[20]

Another practice found in Pure Land Buddhism is meditative contemplation and visualization of Amitbha Buddha, his attendant bodhisattvas, and the Pure Land. The basis of this is found in the Amityurdhyna Stra ("Amitbha Meditation Stra"), in which the Buddha describes to Queen Vaidehi the practices of thirteen progressive visualization methods, corresponding to the attainment of various levels of rebirth in the Pure Land.[21] Visualization practises for Amitbha are popular among esoteric Buddhist sects, such as Japanese Shingon Buddhism.

In the earliest traditions of Chn/Zen Buddhism, it is said that there was no formal method of meditation. Instead, the teacher would use various didactic methods to point to the true nature of the mind, also known as Buddha-nature. This method is referred to as the "Mind Dharma", and exemplified in the story of kyamuni Buddha holding up a flower silently, and Mahkyapa smiling as he understood.[22] A traditional formula of this is, "Chn points directly to the human mind, to enable people to see their true nature and become buddhas."[23] In the early era of the Chn school, there was no fixed method or ple formula for teaching meditation, and all instructions were simply heuristic methods; therefore the Chn school was called the "Gateless Gate."[24]

It is said traditionally that when the minds of people in society became more complicated and when they could not make progress so easily, the masters of the Chn school were forced to change their methods.[25] These involved particular words and phrases, shouts, roars of laughter, sighs, gestures, or blows from a staff. These were all meant to awaken the student to the essential truth of the mind, and were later called gng'n (), or kan in Japanese.[26] These didactic phrases and methods were to be contemplated, and example of such a device is a phrase that turns around the practice of mindfulness: "Who is being mindful of the Buddha?"[27] The teachers all instructed their students to give rise to a gentle feeling of doubt at all times while practicing, so as to strip the mind of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, and ensure its constant rest and undisturbed condition.[28] Charles Luk explains the essential function of contemplating such a meditation case with doubt:

Since the student cannot stop all his thoughts at one stroke, he is taught to use this poison-against-poison device to realize singleness of thought, which is fundamentally wrong but will disappear when it falls into disuse, and gives way to singleness of mind, which is a precondition of the realization of the self-mind for the perception of self-nature and attainment of Bodhi.[29]

In China it has been traditionally held that the meditation methods used by the Tiantai school are the most systematic and comprehensive of all.[30] In addition to its doctrinal basis in Indian Buddhist texts, the Tiantai school also emphasizes use of its own meditation texts which emphasize the principles of amatha and vipayan. Of these texts, Zhiyi's Concise amathavipayan (), Mohe Zhiguan (, Sanskrit Mahamathavipayan), and Six Subtle Dharma Gates () are the most widely read in China.[31] Rujun Wu identifies the work Mah-amatha-vipayan of Zhiyi as the seminal meditation text of the Tiantai school.[32] Regarding the functions of amatha and vipayan in meditation, Zhiyi writes in his work Concise amatha-vipayan:

The attainment of Nirva is realizable by many methods whose essentials do not go beyond the practice of amatha and vipayan. amatha is the first step to untie all bonds and vipayan is essential to root out delusion. amatha provides nourishment for the preservation of the knowing mind, and vipayan is the skillful art of promoting spiritual understanding. amatha is the unsurpassed cause of samdhi, while vipayan begets wisdom.[33]

The Tiantai school also places a great emphasis on npnasmti, or mindfulness of breathing, in accordance with the principles of amatha and vipayan. Zhiyi classifies breathing into four main categories: panting (), unhurried breathing (), deep and quiet breathing (), and stillness or rest (). Zhiyi holds that the first three kinds of breathing are incorrect, while the fourth is correct, and that the breathing should reach stillness and rest.[34] Zhiyi also outlines four kinds of samadhi in his Mohe Zhiguan, and ten modes of practicing vipayan.

One of the adaptations by the Japanese Tendai school was the introduction of Mikky (esoteric practices) into Buddhism, which was later named Taimitsu by Ennin. Eventually, according to Tendai Taimitsu doctrine, the esoteric rituals came to be considered of equal importance with the exoteric teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, by chanting mantras, maintaining mudras, or performing certain meditations, one is able to see that the sense experiences are the teachings of Buddha, have faith that one is inherently an enlightened being, and one can attain enlightenment within this very body. The origins of Taimitsu are found in China, similar to the lineage that Kkai encountered in his visit to Tang China and Saich's disciples were encouraged to study under Kkai.[35]

The aim of the teachings of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, each taught by the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Indo-Tibetan or Vajrayana Buddhism, respectively, is to familiarize one with the ultimate nature of mind which underlies all existence, the Dharmakya. Then, by meditating in union with the Dharmakya, one gradually passes through each of the Ten Bhmis until reaching liberation from sasra and karma.

The shared preliminary practices of both the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism are called ngndro, which involves visualization, mantra recitation and sadhana practice, and many prostrations. Nyingma also focuses on three foundational practices in Tibetan Buddhism: Shamata (calm abiding), Tonglen (sending and receiving), and a "breath practice" called "Clearing the Stale Energies that helps clear the mind in preparation for meditation.[36]

For a long time people have practiced meditation, based on Buddhist meditation principles, in order to effect mundane and worldly benefit.[37] Buddhist meditation techniques are increasingly being employed by psychologists and psychiatrists to help alleviate a variety of health conditions such as anxiety and depression.[38] As such, mindfulness and other Buddhist meditation techniques are being advocated in the West by innovative psychologists and expert Buddhist meditation teachers such as Thch Nht Hnh, Pema Chdrn, Clive Sherlock, Mother Sayamagyi, S.N. Goenka, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Alan Clements, and Sharon Salzberg, who have been widely attributed with playing a significant role in integrating the healing aspects of Buddhist meditation practices with the concept of psychological awareness and healing.

The accounts of meditative states in the Buddhist texts are in some regards free of dogma, so much so that the Buddhist scheme has been adopted by Western psychologists attempting to describe the phenomenon of meditation in general.[k] However, it is exceedingly common to encounter the Buddha describing meditative states involving the attainment of such magical powers (P. iddhi) as the ability to multiply one's body into many and into one again, appear and vanish at will, pass through solid objects as if space, rise and sink in the ground as if in water, walking on water as if land, fly through the skies, touching anything at any distance (even the moon or sun), and travel to other worlds (like the world of Brahma) with or without the body, among other things,[39][40][41] and for this reason the whole of the Buddhist tradition may not be adaptable to a secular context, unless these magical powers are seen as metaphorical representations of powerful internal states that conceptual descriptions could not do justice to.

Theravada Buddhist meditation practices:

Zen Buddhist meditation practices:

Buddhist meditation centers:

Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism meditation practices:

Related Buddhist practices:

Proper floor-sitting postures and supports while meditating:

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Traditional preliminary practices to Buddhist meditation:

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Tai chi (t'ai4 chi2 ch'an2, Wade-Giles; ti j qun, hanyu pinyin; tai ji chuan (Yale)) is een Chinese neijia vechtkunst.

Er bestaan binnen het tai chi verschillende stijlen, zoals de Chen-, Yang-, Wu- en Sun-stijl, waarbij de Yang-stijl voornamelijk langzaam wordt uitgevoerd en de Chen-stijl ook explosieve momenten in zich heeft. Deze stijlen zijn vaak weer onderverdeeld in diverse substijlen van leraren (sifu), die er hun eigen kennis, vaardigheid en ervaring aan toe hebben gevoegd. De bewegingen worden in een vaste volgorde uitgevoerd. De tai-chibeoefenaren spreken van vormen ( taolu). Elke stijl kent zijn eigen vormen, die van leraar op leerling worden overgedragen. Een vorm helemaal doorlopen duurt 3 tot 20 minuten. De langzame bewegingen, die vanuit de buik en vooral zeer ontspannen uitgevoerd worden, zijn kenmerkend voor tai chi. De Yang en Wu stijl zijn wat meer verinnerlijkt terwijl bijvoorbeeld in de Chen-stijl het zelfverdedigend karakter veel zichtbaarder aanwezig. Bij tai chi als zelfverdediging ligt de nadruk met name op zachtheid. Dit levert een belangrijke bijdrage aan de balansverstoring van de tegenstander. Zachtheid is ook noodzakelijk om in de beweging van de tegenstander mee te gaan en deze te kunnen neutraliseren. Uiteindelijk wordt de energie van de aanvaller weer 'terug gegeven'. Dit teruggeven kan op heel verschillende manieren en kan zeker ook als tegenaanval worden ervaren, hoewel in tai chi feitelijk gezien nooit sprake is van een tegenaanval. Van groot belang hierbij is het behouden van het eigen evenwicht of centrum. Zachtheid, ontspanning, alertheid, opgerichtheid etc. zijn hierbij onmisbaar. In veel stijlen worden ook zwaarden gebruikt, maar ook waaiers, speren en andere wapens komen voor.

Tai chi is gebaseerd op principes uit het taosme.

Tai chi verwijst naar een filosofie. Tai chi wordt vaak gebruikt als een verkorte naam voor t'ai chi ch'an, meestal vereenvoudigd tot tai chi chuan. Woord voor woord vertaald betekent dat letterlijk ultieme beste vuist (vechtmethode). Deze letterlijke vertaling is echter onvolledig. Tai Chi betekent het ene uiterste (ultieme) en het andere uiterste (beste) en verwijst daarmee naar de filosofie van Yin en Yang. Tai Chi Chuan betekent dus ongewapende krijgskunst gebaseerd op de filosofie van Yin en Yang.

Er zijn enige systemen die een poging doen de chinese karakters om te zetten in een westerse schrijfwijze. De meest voorkomende schrijfwijze is tai chi chuan. Deze schrijfwijze wordt Wade-Giles genoemd. Een tweede schrijfwijze is taiji quan of taijiquan. Deze schrijfwijze wordt hanyu pinyin genoemd. Een derde, ietwat minder bekend, is taiji chuan (Yale systeem). De uitspraak is voor alle drie dezelfde, en is bij benadering (fonetisch): thai dzjie tsjhwn. Met de klemtoon op het middelste woord, dat heel kort wordt uitgesproken. In het Nederlands is het echter meer gebruikelijk tai chi als 'tai-tsjie' uit te spreken.

De uitspraak en betekenis van chi is hier niet dezelfde als die in chi kung, waar chi de betekenis heeft van 'levensenergie', en in het Chinees uitgesproken wordt als "tsjie".

Hoewel tai chi bekendstaat als een zogenaamde zachte sport als onderdeel van wat in China wushu wordt genoemd, en de bewegingen meestal solitair worden uitgevoerd, worden er ook aan tai chi gerelateerde wedstrijden gehouden.

Een veel door tai chi beoefenaars gedane activiteit wordt aangeduid met de Engelse term pushing hands waarbij twee deelnemers elkaar uit hun evenwicht proberen te krijgen. Hierin worden ook internationaal wedstrijden gehouden. Andere wedstrijden worden gehouden in het zo goed mogelijk uitvoeren van de bewegingen van een stijl. De uitvoering wordt beoordeeld door een jury.[1]

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Tai chi - Wikipedia

In traditional Chinese culture, q or ch'i (q, also known as kh in Vietnamese culture, or ki in Korean culture, ki in Japanese culture, or or khiig in Mongolian culture, qi in Filipino culture, chi in Malay culture, or lmpr in Thai culture, chi in Indonesian culture, or aasaat in Burmese culture, or sivid in Lao culture, or chhi in Khmer culture and qi in Timorese culture) is an active principle forming part of any living thing.[1][2][3]Qi literally translates as "breath", "air", or "gas", and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow".[4]Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts.

Concepts similar to qi can be found in many cultures: prana in Hinduism (and elsewhere in Indian culture), chi in the Igbo religion, pneuma in ancient Greece, mana in Hawaiian culture, lng in Tibetan Buddhism, manitou in the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, ruah in Jewish culture, and vital energy in Western philosophy.

Some elements of the concept of qi can be found in the term energy when used in the context of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine. Elements of the concept can also be found in Western popular culture, for example "The Force" in Star Wars[5] and the related Jediism, a religion based on the Jedi and even in Eastern popular culture like Dragon Ball and One-Punch Man. Notions in the West of energeia, lan vital, or vitalism are purported to be similar.[6]

Despite widespread belief in the reality of Qi, it is a non-scientific, unverifiable concept.[4][7]

This cultural keyword q is analyzable in terms of Chinese and Sino-Xenic pronunciations, possible etymologies, the logographs , , and , various meanings ranging from "vapor" to "anger", and the English loanword qi or ch'i.

The logograph is read with two Chinese pronunciations, the usual q "air; vital energy" and the rare archaic x "to present food" (later disambiguated with ).

Pronunciations of in modern varieties of Chinese, from the infobox (see top right of page) with standardized IPA equivalents, include: Standard Chinese q /ti/, Wu Chinese qi /ti/, Southern Min kh /ki/, Eastern Min k /ki/, Standard Cantonese hei3 /hei/, and Hakka Chinese hi /hi/.

Pronunciations of in Sino-Xenic borrowings include: Japanese language ki, Korean language gi, and Vietnamese language khi.

Reconstructions of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of , standardized to IPA transcription, include: /keiH/ (Bernard Karlgren), /kiH/ (Wang Li), /kiiH/ (Li Rong), /kjH/ (Edwin Pulleyblank), and /kiH/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang).

Reconstructions of the Old Chinese pronunciation of , standardized to IPA transcription, include: /*kds/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang), and /*C.qp-s/ (William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart).

The etymology of q (reconstructed as Middle Chinese kjeiC and Old Chinese *k(t)s) "air; breath; vapor; vital principle", as well as its cognate ki (MC kiC and OC *kh(t)s) "sigh; angry", interconnects with Kharia kis "anger", Sora kissa "move with great effort", Khmer ks "strive after; endeavor", and Gyalrongic ks "anger".[8]

In East Asian languages, Chinese q "air; breath" has three logographs: is the traditional Chinese character, Korean hanja, and Japanese kyjitai "old character form" kanji; is the Japanese shinjitai "new character form" kanji, and is the simplified Chinese character. In addition, q is an uncommon character especially used in writing Daoist talismans. Historically, the word q was generally written as until the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), when it was replaced by the graph clarified with m "rice" indicating "steam (rising from rice as it cooks)".

This primary graph corresponds to the earliest written characters for q, which consisted of three wavy horizontal lines seen in Shang dynasty (c. 16001046 BCE) oracle bone script, Zhou dynasty (1046 BCE- 256 BCE) bronzeware script and large seal script, and Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE) small seal script. These oracle, bronze, and seal scripts graphs for q "air; breath; etc." were anciently used as a phonetic loan character to write q "plead for; beg; ask", which did not have an early character.

The vast majority of Chinese characters are classified as radical-phonetic characters, which combine a semantically suggestive "radical" or "signific" with a "phonetic" element approximating ancient pronunciation. For example, the widely known word do "the Dao; the way" graphically combines the "walk" radical with a shu "head" phoneticalthough the modern do and shu pronunciations are dissimilar, the Old Chinese *lu-s and *lu-s were alike. The regular script character q is unusual because q is both the "air radical" and the phonetic, with m "rice" semantically indicating "steam; vapor".

This q "air/gas radical", which was only used in a few native Chinese characters like ynyn "thick mist/smoke", was used to create new scientific characters for gaseous chemical elements. Some examples are based on pronunciations in European languages: f (with a f phonetic) "fluorine" and ni (with a ni phonetic) "neon"; others are based on semantics: qng (with a jng phonetic, abbreviating qng "light-weight") "hydrogen (the lightest element)" and l (with a l phonetic, abbreviating l "green") "(greenish-yellow) chlorine".

Q is the phonetic element in a few characters such as ki "hate" with the "heart-mind radical" or , x "set fire to weeds" with the "fire radical" , and x "to present food" with the "food radical" .

The first Chinese dictionary of characters, the (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi notes that the primary q is a pictographic character depicting "cloudy vapors", and that the full combines "rice" with the phonetic qi , meaning "present provisions to guests" (later disambiguated as x ).

Qi is a polysemous word; the unabridged Chinese-Chinese character dictionary Hanyu Da Zidian lists one meaning "present food or provisions" for the x pronunciation and 23 meanings for the q pronunciation.[9] The modern ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary, which enters x "grain; animal feed; make a present of food" but not classical x , has a q entry giving seven translation equivalents for the noun, two for bound morphemes, and three for the verb.

n. air; gas smell spirit; vigor; morale vital/material energy (in Ch[inese] metaphysics) tone; atmosphere; attitude anger breath; respiration b.f. weather tinq [linguistics] aspiration sngq v. anger get angry bully; insult.[10]

Qi was an early Chinese loanword in English, romanized as: k'i in Church Romanization in the early-19th century, ch'i in WadeGiles in the mid-19th century (sometimes misspelled chi omitting the apostrophe indicating aspirated consonant stops, e.g., spelling the martial art ch'i kung as "chi kung"), and qi in Pinyin in the mid-20th century. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for qi gives the pronunciation as IPA (ti), the etymology from Chinese q "air; breath", and a definition of "The physical life-force postulated by certain Chinese philosophers; the material principle." The OED gives eight usage examples, with the first recorded example of k' in 1850 (The Chinese Repository),[11] of ch'i in 1917 (The Encyclopaedia Sinica),[12] and qi in 1971 (Felix Mann's Acupuncture)[13]

References to concepts analogous to the qi taken to be the life-process or flow of energy that sustains living beings are found in many belief systems, especially in Asia. Philosophical conceptions of qi from the earliest records of Chinese philosophy (5th century BCE) correspond to Western notions of humours, the ancient Hindu yogic concept of prana ("life force" in Sanskrit) and traditional Jewish sources refer to as the Nefesh level of soul within the body.[14] An early form of the idea comes from the writings of the Chinese philosopher Mencius (4th century BCE). Historically, the Huangdi Neijing/"The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine" (circa 2nd century BCE) is credited with first establishing the pathways through which qi circulates in the human body.[15][16]

Within the framework of Chinese thought, no notion may attain such a degree of abstraction from empirical data as to correspond perfectly to one of our modern universal concepts. Nevertheless, the term qi comes as close as possible to constituting a generic designation equivalent to our word "energy". When Chinese thinkers are unwilling or unable to fix the quality of an energetic phenomenon, the character qi () inevitably flows from their brushes.

The ancient Chinese described it as "life force". They believed qi permeated everything and linked their surroundings together. They likened it to the flow of energy around and through the body, forming a cohesive and functioning unit.[citation needed] By understanding its rhythm and flow they believed they could guide exercises and treatments to provide stability and longevity.[citation needed]

Although the concept of qi has been important within many Chinese philosophies, over the centuries the descriptions of qi have varied and have sometimes been in conflict.[citation needed] Until China came into contact with Western scientific and philosophical ideas, they had not categorized all things in terms of matter and energy.[citation needed]Qi and li (: "pattern") were 'fundamental' categories similar to matter and energy.[citation needed]

Fairly early on, some Chinese thinkers began to believe that there were different fractions of qi and that the coarsest and heaviest fractions of qi formed solids, lighter fractions formed liquids, and the most ethereal fractions were the "lifebreath" that animates living beings.[18]

Yun q is a notion of innate or pre-natal qi to distinguish it from acquired qi that a person may develop over the course of their lifetime.

The earliest texts that speak of qi give some indications of how the concept developed. The philosopher Mo Di used the word qi to refer to noxious vapors that would in due time arise from a corpse were it not buried at a sufficient depth.[19] He reported that early civilized humans learned how to live in houses to protect their qi from the moisture that had troubled them when they lived in caves.[20] He also associated maintaining one's qi with providing oneself adequate nutrition.[21] In regard to another kind of qi, he recorded how some people performed a kind of prognostication by observing the qi (clouds) in the sky.[22]

In the Analects of Confucius, compiled from the notes of his students sometime after his death in 479 B.C., qi could mean "breath",[23] and combining it with the Chinese word for blood (making , xue-qi, blood and breath), the concept could be used to account for motivational characteristics.

The [morally] noble man guards himself against 3 things. When he is young, his xue-qi has not yet stabilized, so he guards himself against sexual passion. When he reaches his prime, his xue-qi is not easily subdued, so he guards himself against combativeness. When he reaches old age, his xue-qi is already depleted, so he guards himself against acquisitiveness.

Confucius, Analects, 16:7

Mencius described a kind of qi that might be characterized as an individual's vital energies. This qi was necessary to activity and it could be controlled by a well-integrated willpower.[24] When properly nurtured, this qi was said to be capable of extending beyond the human body to reach throughout the universe.[24] It could also be augmented by means of careful exercise of one's moral capacities.[24] On the other hand, the qi of an individual could be degraded by adverse external forces that succeed in operating on that individual.[25]

Not only human beings and animals were believed to have qi. Zhuangzi indicated that wind is the qi of the Earth.[26] Moreover, cosmic yin and yang "are the greatest of qi."[27] He described qi as "issuing forth" and creating profound effects.[28] He said "Human beings are born [because of] the accumulation of qi. When it accumulates there is life. When it dissipates there is death... There is one qi that connects and pervades everything in the world."[29]

Another passage traces life to intercourse between Heaven and Earth: "The highest Yin is the most restrained. The highest Yang is the most exuberant. The restrained comes forth from Heaven. The exuberant issues forth from Earth. The two intertwine and penetrate forming a harmony, and [as a result] things are born."[30]

"The Guanzi essay Neiye (Inward training) is the oldest received writing on the subject of the cultivation of vapor [qi] and meditation techniques. The essay was probably composed at the Jixia Academy in Qi in the late fourth century B.C."[31]

Xun Zi, another Confucian scholar of the Jixia Academy, followed in later years. At 9:69/127, Xun Zi says, "Fire and water have qi but do not have life. Grasses and trees have life but do not have perceptivity. Fowl and beasts have perceptivity but do not have yi (sense of right and wrong, duty, justice). Men have qi, life, perceptivity, and yi." Chinese people at such an early time had no concept of radiant energy, but they were aware that one can be heated by a campfire from a distance away from the fire. They accounted for this phenomenon by claiming "qi" radiated from fire. At 18:62/122, he also uses "qi" to refer to the vital forces of the body that decline with advanced age.

Among the animals, the gibbon and the crane were considered experts at inhaling the qi. The Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu (ca. 150 BC) wrote in Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals:[32] "The gibbon resembles a macaque, but he is larger, and his color is black. His forearms being long, he lives eight hundred years, because he is expert in controlling his breathing." ("")

Later, the syncretic text assembled under the direction of Liu An, the Huai Nan Zi, or "Masters of Huainan", has a passage that presages most of what is given greater detail by the Neo-Confucians:

Heaven (seen here as the ultimate source of all being) falls (duo , i.e., descends into proto-immanence) as the formless. Fleeting, fluttering, penetrating, amorphous it is, and so it is called the Supreme Luminary. The dao begins in the Void Brightening. The Void Brightening produces the universe (yu-zhou). The universe produces qi. Qi has bounds. The clear, yang [qi] was ethereal and so formed heaven. The heavy, turbid [qi] was congealed and impeded and so formed earth. The conjunction of the clear, yang [qi] was fluid and easy. The conjunction of the heavy, turbid [qi] was strained and difficult. So heaven was formed first and earth was made fast later. The pervading essence (xi-jing) of heaven and earth becomes yin and yang. The concentrated (zhuan) essences of yin and yang become the four seasons. The dispersed (san) essences of the four seasons become the myriad creatures. The hot qi of yang in accumulating produces fire. The essence (jing) of the fire-qi becomes the sun. The cold qi of yin in accumulating produces water. The essence of the water-qi becomes the moon. The essences produced by coitus (yin) of the sun and moon become the stars and celestial markpoints (chen, planets).

Huai-nan-zi, 3:1a/19

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) asserts that the body has natural patterns of qi that circulate in channels called meridians.[33] In TCM, symptoms of various illnesses are believed to be the product of disrupted, blocked, or unbalanced qi movement through the body's meridians, as well as deficiencies or imbalances of qi in the Zang Fu organs.[34] Traditional Chinese medicine often seeks to relieve these imbalances by adjusting the circulation of qi using a variety of techniques including herbology, food therapy, physical training regimens (qigong, t'ai chi ch'uan, and other martial arts training),[35]moxibustion, tui na, and acupuncture.[36]

A qi field (chu-chong) refers to the cultivation of an energy field by a group, typically for healing or other benevolent purposes. A qi field is believed to be produced by visualization and affirmation, and is an important component of Wisdom Healing Qigong (Zhineng Qigong), founded by Grandmaster Ming Pang.[37][38][39]

Qi is a non-scientific, unverifiable concept.[4]

A United States National Institutes of Health consensus statement on acupuncture in 1997 noted that concepts such as qi "are difficult to reconcile with contemporary biomedical information."[40]

The April 22, 2014 Skeptoid podcast episode titled "Your Body's Alleged Energy Fields" relates a Reiki practitioner's report of what was happening as she passed her hands over a subject's body:

What we'll be looking for here, within John's auric field, is any areas of intense heat, unusual coldness, a repelling energy, a dense energy, a magnetizing energy, tingling sensations, or actually the body attracting the hands into that area where it needs the reiki energy, and balancing of John's qi.[7]

Evaluating these claims scientific skeptic author Brian Dunning reported:

...his aura, his qi, his reiki energy. None of these have any counterpart in the physical world. Although she attempted to describe their properties as heat or magnetism, those properties are already taken by - well, heat and magnetism. There are no properties attributable to the mysterious field she describes, thus it cannot be authoritatively said to exist."[7]

The traditional Chinese art of geomancy, the placement and arrangement of space called feng shui, is based on calculating the balance of qi, interactions between the five elements, yin and yang, and other factors. The retention or dissipation of qi is believed to affect the health, wealth, energy level, luck and many other aspects of the occupants of the space. Attributes of each item in a space affect the flow of qi by slowing it down, redirecting it or accelerating it, which is said to influence the energy level of the occupants.

One use for a luopan is to detect the flow of qi.[41] The quality of qi may rise and fall over time, feng shui with a compass might be considered a form of divination that assesses the quality of the local environment.

Qgng ( or ) is a practice involving coordinated breathing, movement, and awareness, traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance qi. With roots in traditional Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, qigong is now practiced worldwide for exercise, healing, meditation, and training for martial arts. Typically a qigong practice involves rhythmic breathing coordinated with slow stylized movement, a calm mindful state, and visualization of guiding qi.[42][43][44]

Qi is a didactic concept in many Chinese, Korean and Japanese martial arts. Martial qigong is a feature of both internal and external training systems in China[45] and other East Asian cultures.[46] The most notable of the qi-focused "internal" force (jin) martial arts are Baguazhang, Xing Yi Quan, T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Southern Praying Mantis, Snake Kung Fu, Southern Dragon Kung Fu, Aikido, Kendo, Aikijujutsu, Luohan Quan and Liu He Ba Fa.

Demonstrations of qi or ki are popular in some martial arts and may include the immovable body, the unraisable body, the unbendable arm, and other feats of power. Some of these feats can alternatively be explained using biomechanics and physics.[47]

Acupuncture is a part of traditional Chinese medicine that involves insertion of needles into superficial structures of the body (skin, subcutaneous tissue, muscles) at acupuncture points to balance the flow of qi. Acupuncture is often accompanied by moxibustion, a treatment that involves burning mugwort on or near the skin at an acupuncture point.

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Qi - Wikipedia

Aerobic exercise (also known as cardio) is physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process.[1] Aerobic literally means "relating to, involving, or requiring free oxygen",[2] and refers to the use of oxygen to adequately meet energy demands during exercise via aerobic metabolism.[3] Generally, light-to-moderate intensity activities that are sufficiently supported by aerobic metabolism can be performed for extended periods of time.[1]

When practiced in this way, examples of cardiovascular/aerobic exercise are medium to long distance running/jogging, swimming, cycling, and walking, according to the first extensive research on aerobic exercise, conducted in the 1960s on over 5,000 U.S. Air Force personnel by Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper.[4][5]

Kenneth Cooper was the first person to introduce the concept of aerobic exercise. In the 1960s, Cooper started research into preventive medicine. He became intrigued by the belief that exercise can preserve one's health. In 1970 he created his own institute (the Cooper Institute) for non-profit research and education devoted to preventive medicine. He sparked millions into becoming active and is now known as the "father of aerobics".[citation needed]

Aerobic exercise and fitness can be contrasted with anaerobic exercise, of which strength training and short-distance running are the most salient examples. The two types of exercise differ by the duration and intensity of muscular contractions involved, as well as by how energy is generated within the muscle.[6]

New research on the endocrine functions of contracting muscles has shown that both aerobic and anaerobic exercise promote the secretion of myokines, with attendant benefits including growth of new tissue, tissue repair, and various anti-inflammatory functions, which in turn reduce the risk of developing various inflammatory diseases. Myokine secretion in turn is dependent on the amount of muscle contracted, and the duration and intensity of contraction. As such, both types of exercise produce endocrine benefits.[7]

In almost all conditions, anaerobic exercise is accompanied by aerobic exercises because the less efficient anaerobic metabolism must supplement the aerobic system due to energy demands that exceed the aerobic system's capacity. What is generally called aerobic exercise might be better termed "solely aerobic", because it is designed to be low-intensity enough not to generate lactate via pyruvate fermentation, so that all carbohydrate is aerobically turned into energy.

Initially during increased exertion, muscle glycogen is broken down to produce glucose, which undergoes glycolysis producing pyruvate which then reacts with oxygen (Krebs cycle, Chemiosmosis) to produce carbon dioxide and water and releases energy. If there is a shortage of oxygen (anaerobic exercise, explosive movements), carbohydrate is consumed more rapidly because the pyruvate ferments into lactate. If the intensity of the exercise exceeds the rate with which the cardiovascular system can supply muscles with oxygen, it results in buildup of lactate and quickly makes it impossible to continue the exercise. Unpleasant effects of lactate buildup initially include the burning sensation in the muscles, and may eventually include nausea and even vomiting if the exercise is continued without allowing lactate to clear from the bloodstream.

As glycogen levels in the muscle begin to fall, glucose is released into the bloodstream by the liver, and fat metabolism is increased so that it can fuel the aerobic pathways. Aerobic exercise may be fueled by glycogen reserves, fat reserves, or a combination of both, depending on the intensity. Prolonged moderate-level aerobic exercise at 65% VO2 max (the heart rate of 150 bpm for a 30-year-old human) results in the maximum contribution of fat to the total energy expenditure. At this level, fat may contribute 40% to 60% of total, depending on the duration of the exercise. Vigorous exercise above 75% VO2max (160 bpm) primarily burns glycogen.[8][9]

Major muscles in a rested, untrained human typically contain enough energy for about 2 hours of vigorous exercise. Exhaustion of glycogen is a major cause of what marathon runners call "hitting the wall". Training, lower intensity levels, and carbohydrate loading may allow postponement of the onset of exhaustion beyond 4 hours.[9]

Aerobic exercise comprises innumerable forms. In general, it is performed at a moderate level of intensity over a relatively long period of time. For example, running a long distance at a moderate pace is an aerobic exercise, but sprinting is not. Playing singles tennis, with near-continuous motion, is generally considered aerobic activity, while golf or two person team tennis, with brief bursts of activity punctuated by more frequent breaks, may not be predominantly aerobic. Some sports are thus inherently "aerobic", while other aerobic exercises, such as fartlek training or aerobic dance classes, are designed specifically to improve aerobic capacity and fitness. It is most common for aerobic exercises to involve the leg muscles, primarily or exclusively. There are some exceptions. For example, rowing to distances of 2,000m or more is an aerobic sport that exercises several major muscle groups, including those of the legs, abdominals, chest, and arms. Common kettlebell exercises combine aerobic and anaerobic aspects.

Among the recognized benefits of doing regular aerobic exercise are:[10]

As a result, aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of death due to cardiovascular problems. In addition, high-impact aerobic activities (such as jogging or using a skipping rope) can stimulate bone growth, as well as reduce the risk of osteoporosis for both men and women.

In addition to the health benefits of aerobic exercise, there are numerous performance benefits:

Some drawbacks of aerobic exercise include:

Both the health benefits and the performance benefits, or "training effect", require a minimum duration and frequency of exercise. Most authorities suggest at least twenty minutes performed at least three times per week.[13]

Cooper himself defines aerobic exercise as the ability to utilise the maximum amount of oxygen during exhaustive work. Cooper describes some of the major health benefits of aerobic exercise, such as gaining more efficient lungs by maximising breathing capacity, thereby increasing ability to ventilate more air in a shorter period of time. As breathing capacity increases, one is able to extract oxygen more quickly into the blood stream, increasing elimination of carbon dioxide. With aerobic exercise the heart becomes more efficient at functioning, and blood volume, hemoglobin and red blood cells increase, enhancing the ability of the body to transport oxygen from the lungs into the blood and muscles. Metabolism will change and enable consumption of more calories without putting on weight. Aerobic exercise can delay osteoporosis as there is an increase in muscle mass, a loss of fat and an increase in bone density. With these variables increasing, there is a decrease in likelihood of diabetes as muscles use sugars better than fat. One of the major benefits of aerobic exercise is that body weight may decrease slowly; it will only decrease at a rapid pace if there is a calorie restriction, therefore reducing obesity rates.[14]

Aerobic capacity describes the functional capacity of the cardiorespiratory system, (the heart, lungs and blood vessels). Aerobic capacity refers to the maximum amount of oxygen consumed by the body during intense exercises, in a given time frame.[15] It is a function both of cardiorespiratory performance and the maximum ability to remove and utilize oxygen from circulating blood. To measure maximal aerobic capacity, an exercise physiologist or physician will perform a VO2 max test, in which a subject will undergo progressively more strenuous exercise on a treadmill, from an easy walk through to exhaustion. The individual is typically connected to a respirometer to measure oxygen consumption, and the speed is increased incrementally over a fixed duration of time. The higher the measured cardiorespiratory endurance level, the more oxygen has been transported to and used by exercising muscles, and the higher the level of intensity at which the individual can exercise. More simply put, the higher the aerobic capacity, the higher the level of aerobic fitness. The Cooper and multi-stage fitness tests can also be used to assess functional aerobic capacity for particular jobs or activities.

The degree to which aerobic capacity can be improved by exercise varies very widely in the human population: while the average response to training is an approximately 17% increase in VO2max, in any population there are "high responders" who may as much as double their capacity, and "low responders" who will see little or no benefit from training.[16] Studies indicate that approximately 10% of otherwise healthy individuals cannot improve their aerobic capacity with exercise at all.[17] The degree of an individual's responsiveness is highly heritable, suggesting that this trait is genetically determined.[16]

Obesity in Australia is becoming a huge issue. With one in four Australians over weight. Obesity can be deadly as it increases the risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke. In Australia it is proven that nearly 40% of males and 60% of females do not do enough physical activity a day. Introducing aerobic exercise to a daily routine would benefit the body and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The Australian Heart Foundation guidelines outline that exercise to reduce fat should involve continuous moderate aerobic exercise. Continuous moderate exercise is easily accessible and should be performed for at least 30 minutes five times a week. This will reduce obesity by 19% versus no activity at all.[18]

Higher intensity exercise, such as High-intensity interval training (HIIT), increases the resting metabolic rate (RMR) in the 24 hours following high intensity exercise,[19] ultimately burning more calories than lower intensity exercise; low intensity exercise burns more calories during the exercise, due to the increased duration, but fewer afterwards.

Aerobic exercise has long been a popular approach to achieving weight loss and physical fitness, often taking a commercial form.

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Aerobic exercise - Wikipedia

We would like to share with you some pictures of the yearly rice harvest at Dayalu Babas ashram. This is the second year that we have helped this ashram to produce rice and vegetables so that they can move towards being self-sufficient.

Dayalu Baba is a sadhu who has beenliving at the base of a sacred mountain on the edge of Orissas Simlipal forest range for many decades. I first visited his simple ashram around 8 years ago. At the time he had a single mud hut, with a thatched straw roof, but there was a hole so big in the roof that he had more hole than roof. When it would rain his hut provided very little protection from the elements.

Usually straw roofs have to be changed every one or two years, or the straw begins to rot and fall apart. Being a very poor sadhu, and living in a remote area whereno one would visit him, he didnt have any means to repair his straw roof. Despite the hardships, he had remained at that spot in the forest because it was a very powerful siddhi sthana, where many rishis had performed tapasya in previous yugas. Sages such as Vyasa, Narada, Buddha, and theSapta Rishis, as well asavatars such as Lord Rama and Lakshmana had stayed at this location.

After getting to know him I could understand that he was a very special soul, having done sadhana for decades at this spiritually powerfullocation. At first we tried to help him by repairing the roof of the mud hut that he was staying in. Despite helping, still we didnt understand the full extent of the poverty that he and the other sadhus staying at his ashram were going through. I didnt understand it till a later trip.

One day we went to visit his ashram, and as is customary when visiting sadhus, we bought some simple sweets (rasagulas) in a shop to give to him. We arrived at his ashram around 2 pm and gave the sweets to him. Usually in most ashrams that we had visited, when we give the sweets the sadhus will put them on a plate,bring tea and distribute the sweets among the devotees present while drinking the tea. In this case Dayalu Baba kept the sweets to the side and only brought red tea (tea powder andwater with no milk).

We all drank the red tea, but in the back of my mind I was wondering why he had not distributed the sweets we had brought.We spent the day and night with him talking various topics, then it was time to sleep. From the time that we had taken the red tea in the afternoon till the night we observed that there was no other food that any of the sadhus at the ashram took.We were feeling hungry, but for us it was onlyone night so we tolerated it and went to sleep. The next morning we got up and were feeling hungry, but again we saw there was no food for the sadhus and no one was eating anything. The sadhus went about doing their morning pujas and meditation without any complaint.

Finally around 11 am Dayalu Baba called us to come for breakfast. By this time it had been almost 24 hours since we had drunk the red tea the day before,and we were feeling really hungry. When we sat down, we saw him take out the simple milk sweets we had brought the day before, divide them amongst all of the sadhus present, and that was the breakfast a few rasagulas each. Now we finally understood why he had not distributed the sweets the day before when we arrived. They had no food for the next days meal, so they were keeping the fewsweets we had brought them for the next day.

Sometimes we take things for granted. When we see sweets we think why arent we eating them, why arent they giving them to us. We cant understand that there are people who dont have food for the next day, and what we think to be a snack may actually be a full meal for them or even their entire days food. From that experience I could finally understand the poverty of their ashram, and we began thinking how to help the sadhus so that they could become self-sufficient.

It took some time, but eventually we managed to buy two acres of farm land adjacent to their ashram and donated it to the sadhus so that they could grow their own food. This is the second year that they have harvested the rice, and this year they have also grown some other vegetables as well as toordahl. Below you can see some photos of the planting and harvesting of the rice and vegetables from this year.

If you would like to visitand spend some time with sadhus at Dayalu Babas ashram please send us a message and we will try to help you. Staying isa bit austere, but associating with real sadhus is a great spiritual gift worth all of the effort and hardship.

The ashram is located in the forest in the distance.

Dayalu Baba inspecting the ashrams rice fields.

The ashrams rice fields with newly planted rice.

An elephant had walked through the ashrams rice field.

A pedal powered rice thresher.

Growing cabbage in the ashrams garden.

Harvesting toordahl plants to dry in the sun.

Dayalu Baba inspecting the tomato garden.

The daily tomato harvest during peak season.

A view of the tomato garden at the ashram.

Drying toordahl (red) in the sun along with mustard seeds (black).

Preparing the garden for planting new seedlings.

Devotees harvesting eggplants from the garden.

Dayalu Baba walks through the ashrams new vegetable garden.

Dayalu Baba walking in the forest.

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The Rice Harvest at Dayalu Baba's Ashram

Only five kilometers upriver from Laxman Jhula, Phool Chatti Ashram is accessible yet still far from the noise and chaos of town life. Set in a beautiful, natural environment of forested foothills, flowing waters, and sandy beaches, the ashram lies right beside the sacred Ganga River (Ganges).

At Phool Chatti Ashram, ancient Hindu traditions join with modern comfort and cleanliness. The rooms are simply furnished offering the perfect retreat from the clutter of modern life.

Phool Chatti has designed the Yoga and Meditation Program to be a broad introduction to the yogic path and ashram life. It further recognizes the western guests desire for an Indian ashram experience in a tranquil setting with healthy food and a relaxed atmosphere.

We welcome you to come feel for yourself the ancient vibration that so many people notice when they first set foot on this holy land. The ever-flowing song of Mother Ganga can be heard throughout your stay at Phool Chattialways calling to invite you into her sacred waters.

For more course information, please click The Yoga Program link.

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Phool Chatti Ashram: A spiritual haven in northern India

This article is about food that complies with the standards of organic farming. For food advertised as "natural", see natural foods.

Organic food is food produced by methods that comply with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming in general features practices that strive to cycle resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Organizations regulating organic products may restrict the use of certain pesticides and fertilizers in farming. In general, organic foods are also usually not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents or synthetic food additives.[1]

Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification in order to market food as organic within their borders. In the context of these regulations, organic food is produced in a way that complies with organic standards set by regional organizations, national governments and international organizations. Although the produce of kitchen gardens may be organic, selling food with an organic label is regulated by governmental food safety authorities, such as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) or European Commission (EC).[2]

There is not sufficient evidence in medical literature to support claims that organic food is safer or healthier than conventionally grown food. While there may be some differences in the nutrient and antinutrient contents of organically- and conventionally-produced food, the variable nature of food production and handling makes it difficult to generalize results.[3][4][5][6][7] Claims that organic food tastes better are generally not supported by evidence.[4][8]

For the vast majority of its history, agriculture can be described as having been organic; only during the 20th century was a large supply of new products, generally deemed not organic, introduced into food production.[9] The organic farming movement arose in the 1940s in response to the industrialization of agriculture.[10]

In 1939, Lord Northbourne coined the term organic farming in his book Look to the Land (1940), out of his conception of "the farm as organism," to describe a holistic, ecologically balanced approach to farmingin contrast to what he called chemical farming, which relied on "imported fertility" and "cannot be self-sufficient nor an organic whole."[11] Early soil scientists also described the differences in soil composition when animal manures were used as "organic", because they contain carbon compounds where superphosphates and haber process nitrogen do not. Their respective use affects humus content of soil.[12][13] This is different from the scientific use of the term "organic" in chemistry, which refers to a class of molecules that contain carbon, especially those involved in the chemistry of life. This class of molecules includes everything likely to be considered edible, and include most pesticides and toxins too, therefore the term "organic" and, especially, the term "inorganic" (sometimes wrongly used as a contrast by the popular press) as they apply to organic chemistry is an equivocation fallacy when applied to farming, the production of food, and to foodstuffs themselves. Properly used in this agricultural science context, "organic" refers to the methods grown and processed, not necessarily the chemical composition of the food.

Ideas that organic food could be healthier and better for the environment originated in the early days of the organic movement as a result of publications like the 1943 book The Living Soil[14][15] and Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease (1945).[16]

Early consumers interested in organic food would look for non-chemically treated, non-use of unapproved pesticides, fresh or minimally processed food. They mostly had to buy directly from growers. Later, "Know your farmer, know your food" became the motto of a new initiative instituted by the USDA in September 2009.[17] Personal definitions of what constituted "organic" were developed through firsthand experience: by talking to farmers, seeing farm conditions, and farming activities. Small farms grew vegetables (and raised livestock) using organic farming practices, with or without certification, and the individual consumer monitored.[citation needed] Small specialty health food stores and co-operatives were instrumental to bringing organic food to a wider audience.[citation needed] As demand for organic foods continued to increase, high volume sales through mass outlets such as supermarkets rapidly replaced the direct farmer connection.[citation needed] Today, many large corporate farms have an organic division. However, for supermarket consumers, food production is not easily observable, and product labeling, like "certified organic", is relied upon. Government regulations and third-party inspectors are looked to for assurance.[citation needed]

In the 1970s, interest in organic food grew with the publication of Silent Spring[18] and the rise of the environmental movement, and was also spurred by food-related health scares like the concerns about Alar that arose in the mid-1980s.[19]

Organic food production is a self-regulated industry with government oversight in some countries, distinct from private gardening. Currently, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Japan, and many other countries require producers to obtain special certification based on government-defined standards in order to market food as organic within their borders. In the context of these regulations, foods marketed as organic are produced in a way that complies with organic standards set by national governments and international organic industry trade organizations.

In the United States, organic production is managed in accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) and regulations in Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.[20] If livestock are involved, the livestock must be reared with regular access to pasture and without the routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones.[21]

Processed organic food usually contains only organic ingredients. If non-organic ingredients are present, at least a certain percentage of the food's total plant and animal ingredients must be organic (95% in the United States,[22] Canada, and Australia). Foods claiming to be organic must be free of artificial food additives, and are often processed with fewer artificial methods, materials and conditions, such as chemical ripening, food irradiation, and genetically modified ingredients.[23] Pesticides are allowed as long as they are not synthetic.[24] However, under US federal organic standards, if pests and weeds are not controllable through management practices, nor via organic pesticides and herbicides, "a substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production may be applied to prevent, suppress, or control pests, weeds, or diseases."[25] Several groups have called for organic standards to prohibit nanotechnology on the basis of the precautionary principle[26] in light of unknown risks of nanotechnology.[27]:56 The use of nanotechnology-based products in the production of organic food is prohibited in some jurisdictions (Canada, the UK, and Australia) and is unregulated in others.[28][29]:2, section 1.4.1(l)

To be certified organic, products must be grown and manufactured in a manner that adheres to standards set by the country they are sold in:

In the United States, there are four different levels or categories for organic labeling. 1)100% Organic: This means that all ingredients are produced organically. It also may have the USDA seal. 2)Organic: At least 95% or more of the ingredients are organic. 3)Made With Organic Ingredients': Contains at least 70% organic ingredients. 4)Less Than 70% Organic Ingredients: Three of the organic ingredients must be listed under the ingredient section of the label.[39] In the U.S., the food label "natural" or "all natural" does not mean that the food was produced and processed organically.[40][41]

There is widespread public belief that organic food is safer, more nutritious, and better tasting than conventional food.[42] Consumers purchase organic foods for different reasons, including concerns about the effects of conventional farming practices on the environment, human health, and animal welfare.[43]

The most important reason for purchasing organic foods seems to be beliefs about the products' health-giving properties and higher nutritional value.[44] These beliefs are promoted by the organic food industry,[45] and have fueled increased demand for organic food despite higher prices and difficulty in confirming these claimed benefits scientifically.[3][5][6][46][47] Organic labels also stimulate the consumer to view the product as having more positive nutritional value.[48]

Psychological effects such as the halo effect, which are related to the choice and consumption of organic food, are also important motivating factors in the purchase of organic food.[4][pageneeded] The perception that organic food is low-calorie food or health food appears to be common.[4][pageneeded][49]

In China the increasing demand for organic products of all kinds, and in particular milk, baby food and infant formula, has been "spurred by a series of food scares, the worst being the death of six children who had consumed baby formula laced with melamine" in 2009 and the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, making the Chinese market for organic milk the largest in the world as of 2014.[50][51][52] A Pew Research Centre survey in 2012 indicated that 41% of Chinese consumers thought of food safety as a very big problem, up by three times from 12% in 2008.[53]

There is no good evidence that organic food tastes better than its non-organic counterparts.[8] There is evidence that some organic fruit is drier than conventionally grown fruit; a slightly drier fruit may also have a more intense flavor due to the higher concentration of flavoring substances.[4][pageneeded]

Some foods, such as bananas, are picked when unripe, are cooled to prevent ripening while they are shipped to market, and then are induced to ripen quickly by exposing them to propylene or ethylene, chemicals produced by plants to induce their own ripening; as flavor and texture changes during ripening, this process may affect those qualities of the treated fruit.[54][55] The issue of ethylene use to ripen fruit in organic food production is contentious because ripeness when picked often does affect taste; opponents claim that its use benefits only large companies and that it opens the door to weaker organic standards.[56][57]

With respect to chemical differences in the composition of organically grown food compared with conventionally grown food, studies have examined differences in nutrients, antinutrients, and pesticide residues. These studies generally suffer from confounding variables, and are difficult to generalize due to differences in the tests that were done, the methods of testing, and because the vagaries of agriculture affect the chemical composition of food; these variables include variations in weather (season to season as well as place to place); crop treatments (fertilizer, pesticide, etc.); soil composition; the cultivar used, and in the case of meat and dairy products, the parallel variables in animal production.[3][6] Treatment of the foodstuffs after initial gathering (whether milk is pasteurized or raw), the length of time between harvest and analysis, as well as conditions of transport and storage, also affect the chemical composition of a given item of food.[3][6] Additionally, there is evidence that organic produce is drier than conventionally grown produce; a higher content in any chemical category may be explained by higher concentration rather than in absolute amounts.[4][pageneeded]

Many people believe that organic foods have higher content of nutrients and thus are healthier than conventionally produced foods. However, scientists have not been equally convinced that this is the case as the research conducted in the field has not shown consistent results.

A 2009 systematic review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that organically produced foodstuffs are not richer in vitamins and minerals than conventionally produced foodstuffs.[58] The results of the systematic review only showed a lower nitrogen and higher phosphorus content in organic produced compared to conventionally grown foodstuffs. Content of vitamin C, calcium, potassium, total soluble solids, copper, iron, nitrates, manganese, and sodium did not differ between the two categories.[59]

A 2014 meta-analysis of 343 studies[3] found that organically grown crops had 17% higher concentrations of polyphenols than conventionally grown crops. Concentrations of phenolic acids, flavanones, stilbenes, flavones, flavonols, and anthocyanins were elevated, with flavanones being 69% higher.

A 2012 survey of the scientific literature did not find significant differences in the vitamin content of organic and conventional plant or animal products, and found that results varied from study to study.[6] Produce studies reported on ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) (31 studies), beta-carotene (a precursor for Vitamin A) (12 studies), and alpha-tocopherol (a form of Vitamin E) (5 studies) content; milk studies reported on beta-carotene (4 studies) and alpha-tocopherol levels (4 studies). Few studies examined vitamin content in meats, but these found no difference in beta-carotene in beef, alpha-tocopherol in pork or beef, or vitamin A (retinol) in beef. The authors analyzed 11 other nutrients reported in studies of produce. Only two nutrients were significantly higher in organic than conventional produce: phosphorus and total polyphenols).[citation needed] A 2011 literature review found that organic foods had a higher micronutrient content overall than conventionally produced foods.[60]

Similarly, organic chicken contained higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids than conventional chicken. The authors found no difference in the protein or fat content of organic and conventional raw milk.[61][62]

A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis found that organic meat had comparable or slightly lower levels of saturated fat and monounsaturated fat as conventional meat, but higher levels of both overall and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.[63] Another meta-analysis published the same year found no significant differences in levels of saturated and monounsaturated fat between organic and conventional milk, but significantly higher levels of overall and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in organic milk than in conventional milk.[64]

The amount of nitrogen content in certain vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables and tubers, has been found to be lower when grown organically as compared to conventionally.[5] When evaluating environmental toxins such as heavy metals, the USDA has noted that organically raised chicken may have lower arsenic levels.[65] Early literature reviews found no significant evidence that levels of arsenic, cadmium or other heavy metals differed significantly between organic and conventional food products.[4][pageneeded][5] However, a 2014 review found lower concentrations of cadmium, particularly in organically grown grains.[3]

The amount of pesticides that remain in or on food is called pesticides residue. In the United States, before a pesticide can be used on a food crop, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must determine whether that pesticide can be used without posing a risk to human health.[66]

A 2012 meta-analysis determined that detectable pesticide residues were found in 7% of organic produce samples and 38% of conventional produce samples. This result was statistically heterogeneous, potentially because of the variable level of detection used among these studies. Only three studies reported the prevalence of contamination exceeding maximum allowed limits; all were from the European Union.[6] A 2014 meta-analysis found that conventionally grown produce was four times more likely to have pesticide residue than organically grown crops.[3]

The American Cancer Society has stated that no evidence exists that the small amount of pesticide residue found on conventional foods will increase the risk of cancer, though it recommends thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables. They have also stated that there is no research to show that organic food reduces cancer risk compared to foods grown with conventional farming methods.[67]

The Environmental Protection Agency maintains strict guidelines on the regulation of pesticides by setting a tolerance on the amount of pesticide residue allowed to be in or on any particular food.[68][69] Although some residue may remain at the time of harvest, residue tend to decline as the pesticide breaks down over time. In addition, as the commodities are washed and processed prior to sale, the residues often diminish further.

A 2012 meta-analysis determined that prevalence of E. coli contamination was not statistically significant (7% in organic produce and 6% in conventional produce). While bacterial contamination is common among both organic and conventional animal products, differences in the prevalence of bacterial contamination between organic and conventional animal products were also statistically insignificant.[6]

Organic meat certification in the United States requires farm animals to be raised according to USDA organic regulations throughout their lives. These regulations require that livestock are fed certified organic food that contains no animal byproducts.[70] Further, organic farm animals can receive no growth hormones or antibiotics, and they must be raised using techniques that protect native species and other natural resources. Irradiation and genetic engineering are not allowed with organic animal production.[70][71][72] One of the major differences in organic animal husbandry protocol is the "pasture rule":[70] minimum requirements for time on pasture do vary somewhat by species and between the certifying agencies, but the common theme is to require as much time on pasture as possible and reasonable.[73][74]

There is little scientific evidence of benefit or harm to human health from a diet high in organic food, and conducting any sort of rigorous experiment on the subject is very difficult. A 2012 meta-analysis noted that "there have been no long-term studies of health outcomes of populations consuming predominantly organic versus conventionally produced food controlling for socioeconomic factors; such studies would be expensive to conduct."[6] A 2009 meta-analysis noted that "most of the included articles did not study direct human health outcomes. In ten of the included studies (83%), a primary outcome was the change in antioxidant activity. Antioxidant status and activity are useful biomarkers but do not directly equate to a health outcome. Of the remaining two articles, one recorded proxy-reported measures of atopic manifestations as its primary health outcome, whereas the other article examined the fatty acid composition of breast milk and implied possible health benefits for infants from the consumption of different amounts of conjugated linoleic acids from breast milk."[46] In addition, as discussed above, difficulties in accurately and meaningfully measuring chemical differences between organic and conventional food make it difficult to extrapolate health recommendations based solely on chemical analysis.

With regard to the possibility that some organic food may have higher levels of certain anti-oxidants, evidence regarding whether increased anti-oxidant consumption improves health is conflicting.[75][76][77][78][79]

As of 2012, the scientific consensus is that while "consumers may choose to buy organic fruit, vegetables and meat because they believe them to be more nutritious than other food.... the balance of current scientific evidence does not support this view."[80] A 12-month systematic review commissioned by the FSA in 2009 and conducted at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine based on 50 years' worth of collected evidence concluded that "there is no good evidence that consumption of organic food is beneficial to health in relation to nutrient content."[81] There is no support in the scientific literature that the lower levels of nitrogen in certain organic vegetables translates to improved health risk.[5]

The main difference between organic and conventional food products are the chemicals involved during production and processing. The residues of those chemicals in food products have dubious effects on the human health. All food products on the market including those that contain residues of pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones and other types of chemicals that are used during production and processing are said to be safe.[82]

Claims of improved safety of organic food has largely focused on pesticide residues.[5] These concerns are driven by the facts that "(1) acute, massive exposure to pesticides can cause significant adverse health effects; (2) food products have occasionally been contaminated with pesticides, which can result in acute toxicity; and (3) most, if not all, commercially purchased food contains trace amounts of agricultural pesticides."[5] However, as is frequently noted in the scientific literature: "What does not follow from this, however, is that chronic exposure to the trace amounts of pesticides found in food results in demonstrable toxicity. This possibility is practically impossible to study and quantify;" therefore firm conclusions about the relative safety of organic foods have been hampered by the difficulty in proper study design and relatively small number of studies directly comparing organic food to conventional food.[4][pageneeded][5][8][47][83]

Additionally, the Carcinogenic Potency Project,[84] which is a part of the US EPA's Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) Database Network,[85] has been systemically testing the carcinogenicity of chemicals, both natural and synthetic, and building a publicly available database of the results[86] for the past ~30 years. Their work attempts to fill in the gaps in our scientific knowledge of the carcinogenicity of all chemicals, both natural and synthetic, as the scientists conducting the Project described in the journal, Science, in 1992:

Toxicological examination of synthetic chemicals, without similar examination of chemicals that occur naturally, has resulted in an imbalance in both the data on and the perception of chemical carcinogens. Three points that we have discussed indicate that comparisons should be made with natural as well as synthetic chemicals.

1) The vast proportion of chemicals that humans are exposed to occur naturally. Nevertheless, the public tends to view chemicals as only synthetic and to think of synthetic chemicals as toxic despite the fact that every natural chemical is also toxic at some dose. The daily average exposure of Americans to burnt material in the diet is ~2000 mg, and exposure to natural pesticides (the chemicals that plants produce to defend themselves) is ~1500 mg. In comparison, the total daily exposure to all synthetic pesticide residues combined is ~0.09 mg. Thus, we estimate that 99.99% of the pesticides humans ingest are natural. Despite this enormously greater exposure to natural chemicals, 79% (378 out of 479) of the chemicals tested for carcinogenicity in both rats and mice are synthetic (that is, do not occur naturally). 2) It has often been wrongly assumed that humans have evolved defenses against the natural chemicals in our diet but not against the synthetic chemicals. However, defenses that animals have evolved are mostly general rather than specific for particular chemicals; moreover, defenses are generally inducible and therefore protect well from low doses of both synthetic and natural chemicals.

While studies have shown via chemical analysis, as discussed above, that organically grown fruits and vegetables have significantly lower pesticide residue levels, the significance of this finding on actual health risk reduction is debatable as both conventional foods and organic foods generally have pesticide levels well below government established guidelines for what is considered safe.[4][pageneeded][5][6] This view has been echoed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture[65] and the UK Food Standards Agency.[7]

A study published by the National Research Council in 1993 determined that for infants and children, the major source of exposure to pesticides is through diet.[88] A study published in 2006 by Lu et al. measured the levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure in 23 school children before and after replacing their diet with organic food. In this study it was found that levels of organophosphorus pesticide exposure dropped from negligible levels to undetectable levels when the children switched to an organic diet, the authors presented this reduction as a significant reduction in risk.[89] The conclusions presented in Lu et al. were criticized in the literature as a case of bad scientific communication.[90][91]

More specifically, claims related to pesticide residue of increased risk of infertility or lower sperm counts have not been supported by the evidence in the medical literature.[5] Likewise the American Cancer Society (ACS) has stated their official position that "whether organic foods carry a lower risk of cancer because they are less likely to be contaminated by compounds that might cause cancer is largely unknown."[92] Reviews have noted that the risks from microbiological sources or natural toxins are likely to be much more significant than short term or chronic risks from pesticide residues.[4][pageneeded][5]

In looking at possible increased risk to safety from organic food consumption, reviews have found that although there may be increased risk from microbiological contamination due to increased manure use as fertilizer from organisms like E. coli O157:H7 during organic produce production, there is little evidence of actual incidence of outbreaks which can be positively blamed on organic food production.[4][pageneeded][5][8] The 2011 Germany E. coli O104:H4 outbreak was blamed on organic farming of bean sprouts.[93][94]

Demand for organic foods is primarily driven by concerns for personal health and for the environment.[95] Global sales for organic foods climbed by more than 170 percent since 2002 reaching more than $63 billion in 2011[96] while certified organic farmland remained relatively small at less than 2 percent of total farmland under production, increasing in OECD and EU countries (which account for the majority of organic production) by 35 percent for the same time period.[97] Organic products typically cost 10 to 40% more than similar conventionally produced products, to several times the price.[98] Processed organic foods vary in price when compared to their conventional counterparts.

While organic food accounts for 12% of total food production worldwide, the organic food sales market is growing rapidly with between 5 and 10 percent of the food market share in the United States according to the Organic Trade Association,[99] significantly outpacing sales growth volume in dollars of conventional food products. World organic food sales jumped from US $23 billion in 2002[100] to $63 billion in 2011.[101]

Production and consumption of organic products is rising rapidly in Asia, and both China and India are becoming global producers of organic crops[102] and a number of countries, particularly China and Japan, also becoming large consumers of organic food and drink.[50][103] The disparity between production and demand, is leading to a two-tier organic food industry, typified by significant and growing imports of primary organic products such as dairy and beef from Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the United States.[104]

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Organic food - Wikipedia