When kundalini comes outward as Prana, the Prana operates in the body, it divides into five major flows called Vayus. These can be thought of as somewhat like major currents in one of the large oceans of the world, while there may be thousands of smaller currents. These five Vayus are the major currents that contain thousands of smaller currents.
Prana Vayu operates from the heart area, and is an upward flowing energy, having to do with vitalizing life forces.
Apana Vayu operates from the base of the torso, in the rectum area, is a downward flowing energy, and has to do with eliminating or throwing off what is no longer needed.
Samana Vayu operates from the navel area, deals with digestion, and allows the mental discrimination between useful and not useful thoughts.
Udana Vayu operates from the throat and drives exhalation, operating in conjunction with Prana Vayu, which deals with inhalation.
Vyana Vayu operates throughout the whole body, having no particular center, and is a coordinating energy throughout the various systems.
From - http://swamij.com/kundalini-awakening-1.htm
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Appearance Emptiness
Appearance emptiness
has been the longing
blossoming in all
forevers, all along.
has been the longing
blossoming in all
forevers, all along.
In The Sky, 24/1/12.
Vantage Points and Form/Emptiness Trans-Duality
"... as each new vantage point is recognized along the spectrum of realization, the shallower vantage point are seen through as transparent but they do not cease to exist. That is to say, even as one shifts identity beyond thought, one moves beyond the confusion and obscuration that an exclusive identification with thought causes, but the functionality and apparent existence of thought still remains. In a similar way, from an awakened vantage point of non-dual awareness, each of the lower vantage points (witness, time/space, personality, and thought) remain open and functioning. This means that appearances of subject and object and the whole manifestation of duality in form do not vanish. In fact, the experience of realization is quite the opposite. All lower vantage points are enlivened with the magnificence of realization and seen clearly as an expression of the very nature of reality. A realization that fails to fully manifest the functionality and particular skills of a lower vantage point suffers from a state-stage pathology".
- Dustin DiPerna, in his forthcoming book, Heart of Conscious Evolution: An Advanced Guide to Integral Spiritual Development
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra Oral Instructions
This afternoon, after begin guided through the first three turns of the dharma wheel, we were given the grace of receiving these unspeakably beautiful instructions, 1001 years after their first oration on the mouth of the Ganges. I've never been pointed to non-dual then awakened space before, and still can't quite make appropriate constructs to convey the gravity of this simple, powerful opportunity and gift from a very skilled master. Heartfelt blessings.
Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra Oral Instructions
Translated by Daniel Brown, Ph.D. (c)
1. Out of respect for the lineage, who developed these instructions to counter an ocean of suffering in Samsara, Let me pour this View into your mind, my friends.
2. Although Mahamudra isn’t anything I can really explain. Just let go, and hold this vantage point of mind, without artificial meditation strategies, and freshly [without conceptualization]. Just as space has no substance to it, Likewise, the real nature of the mind, Mahamudra, has no substance that can serve as a support to focus on
3. Cling to nothing as I speak, and there is no doubt, liberation will come. Take this View as if you were looking directly into awareness-itself, like space, in such a way that you aren’t trying to see, because from this vantage point, awareness sees itself by itself. And when all attempts to conceptualize cease, you will attain perfect awakening.
4. Clouds float through space, but don’t go anywhere, or stay anywhere. In the same way conceptualization arises in the mind, but from the vantage point of the real nature of the mind, thought is like waves that become calm.
5. Just as space has no color. It has no form. It has no darkness. No light. It is changeless. Likewise, the real nature of the mind has no color, no form, Nor is it tinged by the darkness of bad, nor the light of virtuous actions.
6. For thousands of aeons, the sun that shines everyday day has never been clouded by darkness. Likewise, the real nature of the mind’s clear-light of awareness has never been clouded by the cycle of Samsara.
7. You’ll probably conceptualize about the mind in so many ways, calling it “empty space’ or ‘clear-light’ but you can’t really explain it in words. This mind is...insubstantial, and words won’t make awakening happen.
8. The real nature of the mind is always right here, beginning less, endless, like vast space that saturates everything! So my dear friends, now stop doing anything to set up your body posture, shut your mouth, be quiet, and don’t think about anything whatsoever.. Simply take this vantage point, as the teaching beyond all practices.
9. The body has no substance, like the hollow inside of a bamboo stalk. And the mind, like space itself, is beyond any intended meditation object. So let go of any artificial strategies of meditating. Let go of meditating. And when this mind reflects itself to itself, right here is Mahamudra awakening.
10. You will not see the clear-light of Mahamudra by chanting mantras, reading the wisdom texts or sutras on emptiness, or by practicing ethical precepts. When the [ordinary] mind [incessantly reacts] by moving away from practices it dislikes and moving toward practices it likes You stay obscured and will not see the clear-light of Mahamudra-awakening.
11. Having ideas about how you routinely keep your vows, trying to conceptualize how you might [awaken], just makes to stray from this truth. This truth is beyond the reactivity of the mind moving away or moving toward anything.. Don’t particularize anything, and whatever seems to arise by itself, immediately becomes calm by itself, and so the mind remains like a still pool of water.
12. Never leave Thatness, but don’t stay in it either, and don’t try to represent it. Simply vow never to leave it, and nothing will obscure the flames [of awakening!]. Beyond the reactivity of the [ordinary] mind moving toward and moving away, not trying to stay, not even trying to see it, then you will see everything there is to see!
13. Conduct an examination-meditation right now on the Truth, and you will become liberated from the prison of Samsara. Then, in you samadhi-meditation, right now, the flames of this Truth will burn up all the bad karma and obscurations. Those who are unable to appreciate this Truth are toss about in the sea of Samsara.
14. Those foolish beings who continuously get caught up in negative states of misery and sorrow. All these sorry folks who wish to be free, need only depend on the teacher’s pointing out instructions.
15. So my friends, everything that exists within Samsara is only the cause of suffering, not the cause of Truth. The essence of this teaching is: to do nothing, other than taking the vantage point of what is the essence of Truth.
16. The King of Views is: Going beyond subject/object duality The King of Meditation is: Holding this vantage point uninterruptedly. The King of Practice is: Do nothing. Do not search for anything. Be without any expectation of gain or fear of failure, and your realization will directly come to fruition.
17. So now move beyond any intended meditation object to the real nature of the mind’s awareness self-illuminating itself to itself. There is no path to walk.... and you are already facing Buddha-mind as your mind. And when you are familiar with what its like meditating in this way, without any intended meditation object, and it is perfect, now you awaken!
18. So my friends, please understand me well. Everything that seems to exist in this world is impermanent, like a mirage or a dream, And as such, mirages and dreams are not the Truth.
19. So at least for now put aside everyday activities, break connection with [ordinary] sensory experience. It only generates more desire and aversion. Dwell in the forests or mountains and meditate. Yet, [above all] stay in this vantage point of non-meditation, and when you don’t try to attain it, you will attain Mahamudra-awakening.
20. The leaves and branches of a tree whither and wilt when its roots are cut. Likewise, cut the roots of the mind, and the leaves and branches of Samsara end.
21. The smallest lamp can eliminate darkness that has accumulated for thousands of eons. Likewise, a singe flame of the clear-light of the mind’s awareness self-illuminating itself to itself, in a single instant, eliminates all the ignorance, obscurations, and defilements, that have accumulated for eons.
22. So my friends, don’t conceptualize this, or you won’t see the Truth that is beyond all conceptualization. Don’t engage in any artificial meditation strategies, or you won’t see the Truth that is beyond all doing. So if you want this Truth, it is beyond all conceptualization and all artificial meditation strategies.
23. Use your sword of emptiness everywhere, and cut to the root, and hold the vantage point freshly. Purify the muddy water of conceptualizing until it becomes clear. Ease up so you let whatever arises come forth in its own right [self-contentedly]. Don’t do anything. Do not make anything happen nor prevent anything from happening.
24. Do not hold onto anything, nor let anything go, and right here, is Mahamudra-awakening, and you are freed from Samsara. All that obscures, even the subtlest propensities cease. The awakened mind, always right here, self-illuminates the storehouse of all potential experience.
25. Complete liberation from all extreme [views]. This is the Supreme View. Wide and deep and limitless. This is the Supreme Meditation. Beyond any intention or cutting anything off. This is the Supreme Practice. Beyond all expectation of outcome or fear of failure, the mind frees itself. This is the Supreme Fruition.
26. At first awakening the mind is like a fast-moving waterfall. Then, it flows gently like the vast Ganges, And finally, it is a great ocean wherein the infant of individual consciousness and the dharmakaya mother consciousness flow into one another.
27. For those less intelligent who can’t stay [continuously] in the vantage point of awakened wisdom [once you taste it] You can [once again] stay on the breath, and distill the nectar of awareness with many concentration practices, [and when your concentration is strong again] Above all learn to hold the vantage point of awareness-itself
28. If you take that vantage point as your support, Awakened Wisdom arises, its radiance, its emptiness. Through empowerment, entering samadhi, then insight, [the seeds of] this Awakened Wisdom are gently drawn into the mandala [in your heart], then manifest in various sites in your body, then saturate your entire being. When you don’t grasp for it, Awakened Wisdom arises, its radiance, its emptiness.
29. You will seem ageless and healthy like the waxing moon. You become radiant. You’ll seem to have the strength of a lion, and all the ordinary [positive states] and special powers of a Buddha will flourish.
This is my oral advice to you, my friends, on the essence of Mahamudra awakening. Let it stay uninterruptedly in your heart, and in the hearts of all sentient beings!
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Tilopa’s Ganges Mahamudra Oral Instructions
Translated by Daniel Brown, Ph.D. (c)
1. Out of respect for the lineage, who developed these instructions to counter an ocean of suffering in Samsara, Let me pour this View into your mind, my friends.
2. Although Mahamudra isn’t anything I can really explain. Just let go, and hold this vantage point of mind, without artificial meditation strategies, and freshly [without conceptualization]. Just as space has no substance to it, Likewise, the real nature of the mind, Mahamudra, has no substance that can serve as a support to focus on
3. Cling to nothing as I speak, and there is no doubt, liberation will come. Take this View as if you were looking directly into awareness-itself, like space, in such a way that you aren’t trying to see, because from this vantage point, awareness sees itself by itself. And when all attempts to conceptualize cease, you will attain perfect awakening.
4. Clouds float through space, but don’t go anywhere, or stay anywhere. In the same way conceptualization arises in the mind, but from the vantage point of the real nature of the mind, thought is like waves that become calm.
5. Just as space has no color. It has no form. It has no darkness. No light. It is changeless. Likewise, the real nature of the mind has no color, no form, Nor is it tinged by the darkness of bad, nor the light of virtuous actions.
6. For thousands of aeons, the sun that shines everyday day has never been clouded by darkness. Likewise, the real nature of the mind’s clear-light of awareness has never been clouded by the cycle of Samsara.
7. You’ll probably conceptualize about the mind in so many ways, calling it “empty space’ or ‘clear-light’ but you can’t really explain it in words. This mind is...insubstantial, and words won’t make awakening happen.
8. The real nature of the mind is always right here, beginning less, endless, like vast space that saturates everything! So my dear friends, now stop doing anything to set up your body posture, shut your mouth, be quiet, and don’t think about anything whatsoever.. Simply take this vantage point, as the teaching beyond all practices.
9. The body has no substance, like the hollow inside of a bamboo stalk. And the mind, like space itself, is beyond any intended meditation object. So let go of any artificial strategies of meditating. Let go of meditating. And when this mind reflects itself to itself, right here is Mahamudra awakening.
10. You will not see the clear-light of Mahamudra by chanting mantras, reading the wisdom texts or sutras on emptiness, or by practicing ethical precepts. When the [ordinary] mind [incessantly reacts] by moving away from practices it dislikes and moving toward practices it likes You stay obscured and will not see the clear-light of Mahamudra-awakening.
11. Having ideas about how you routinely keep your vows, trying to conceptualize how you might [awaken], just makes to stray from this truth. This truth is beyond the reactivity of the mind moving away or moving toward anything.. Don’t particularize anything, and whatever seems to arise by itself, immediately becomes calm by itself, and so the mind remains like a still pool of water.
12. Never leave Thatness, but don’t stay in it either, and don’t try to represent it. Simply vow never to leave it, and nothing will obscure the flames [of awakening!]. Beyond the reactivity of the [ordinary] mind moving toward and moving away, not trying to stay, not even trying to see it, then you will see everything there is to see!
13. Conduct an examination-meditation right now on the Truth, and you will become liberated from the prison of Samsara. Then, in you samadhi-meditation, right now, the flames of this Truth will burn up all the bad karma and obscurations. Those who are unable to appreciate this Truth are toss about in the sea of Samsara.
14. Those foolish beings who continuously get caught up in negative states of misery and sorrow. All these sorry folks who wish to be free, need only depend on the teacher’s pointing out instructions.
15. So my friends, everything that exists within Samsara is only the cause of suffering, not the cause of Truth. The essence of this teaching is: to do nothing, other than taking the vantage point of what is the essence of Truth.
16. The King of Views is: Going beyond subject/object duality The King of Meditation is: Holding this vantage point uninterruptedly. The King of Practice is: Do nothing. Do not search for anything. Be without any expectation of gain or fear of failure, and your realization will directly come to fruition.
17. So now move beyond any intended meditation object to the real nature of the mind’s awareness self-illuminating itself to itself. There is no path to walk.... and you are already facing Buddha-mind as your mind. And when you are familiar with what its like meditating in this way, without any intended meditation object, and it is perfect, now you awaken!
18. So my friends, please understand me well. Everything that seems to exist in this world is impermanent, like a mirage or a dream, And as such, mirages and dreams are not the Truth.
19. So at least for now put aside everyday activities, break connection with [ordinary] sensory experience. It only generates more desire and aversion. Dwell in the forests or mountains and meditate. Yet, [above all] stay in this vantage point of non-meditation, and when you don’t try to attain it, you will attain Mahamudra-awakening.
20. The leaves and branches of a tree whither and wilt when its roots are cut. Likewise, cut the roots of the mind, and the leaves and branches of Samsara end.
21. The smallest lamp can eliminate darkness that has accumulated for thousands of eons. Likewise, a singe flame of the clear-light of the mind’s awareness self-illuminating itself to itself, in a single instant, eliminates all the ignorance, obscurations, and defilements, that have accumulated for eons.
22. So my friends, don’t conceptualize this, or you won’t see the Truth that is beyond all conceptualization. Don’t engage in any artificial meditation strategies, or you won’t see the Truth that is beyond all doing. So if you want this Truth, it is beyond all conceptualization and all artificial meditation strategies.
23. Use your sword of emptiness everywhere, and cut to the root, and hold the vantage point freshly. Purify the muddy water of conceptualizing until it becomes clear. Ease up so you let whatever arises come forth in its own right [self-contentedly]. Don’t do anything. Do not make anything happen nor prevent anything from happening.
24. Do not hold onto anything, nor let anything go, and right here, is Mahamudra-awakening, and you are freed from Samsara. All that obscures, even the subtlest propensities cease. The awakened mind, always right here, self-illuminates the storehouse of all potential experience.
25. Complete liberation from all extreme [views]. This is the Supreme View. Wide and deep and limitless. This is the Supreme Meditation. Beyond any intention or cutting anything off. This is the Supreme Practice. Beyond all expectation of outcome or fear of failure, the mind frees itself. This is the Supreme Fruition.
26. At first awakening the mind is like a fast-moving waterfall. Then, it flows gently like the vast Ganges, And finally, it is a great ocean wherein the infant of individual consciousness and the dharmakaya mother consciousness flow into one another.
27. For those less intelligent who can’t stay [continuously] in the vantage point of awakened wisdom [once you taste it] You can [once again] stay on the breath, and distill the nectar of awareness with many concentration practices, [and when your concentration is strong again] Above all learn to hold the vantage point of awareness-itself
28. If you take that vantage point as your support, Awakened Wisdom arises, its radiance, its emptiness. Through empowerment, entering samadhi, then insight, [the seeds of] this Awakened Wisdom are gently drawn into the mandala [in your heart], then manifest in various sites in your body, then saturate your entire being. When you don’t grasp for it, Awakened Wisdom arises, its radiance, its emptiness.
29. You will seem ageless and healthy like the waxing moon. You become radiant. You’ll seem to have the strength of a lion, and all the ordinary [positive states] and special powers of a Buddha will flourish.
This is my oral advice to you, my friends, on the essence of Mahamudra awakening. Let it stay uninterruptedly in your heart, and in the hearts of all sentient beings!
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Friday, January 20, 2012
A Walk in the Hills: A Few Thoughts on Self-Acceptance - Jonathan Young
What a fine day, I thought, for a walk in the hills. The sky is pleasantly warm and clear. The breeze drifting through the trees makes the world seem fresh and new. On an outward level, this stroll is a very small adventure. I pass near some old sheds that were once used for animals, but have been neglected for years. The dark planks have texture and character that are the gifts of the seasons. Further away, some cows graze with what seems like infinite inner peace.
My love affair with the beauty of this landscape is not rare. Anyone who visits the coastal hills has to be swept up in the natural grandeur of such a place. As a native Californian, I share in the belief that this is about as close to sublime as we are going to find on this planet.
So, ok, I’m in a good mood. I am appreciating the simple experience of moving the body and how it takes me into a reflective space. There is more than a lovely day to celebrate. I am grateful to live in a part of the world where people are curious. The seekers that are numerous in these parts are kindred spirits. Being in the company of adventurous types is gratifying. Around here, I don’t feel like the only one who is forever poking at difficult questions.
The people that appeal to me are forever discovering new layers of possibility. Their larger adventures are often within. After all, our rich inner lives are what we have to show for how we have invested our energies over the years. Whatever we might accomplish in practical terms is modest, compared with the marvels within. It is as if a life is the task of building an interior castle of ideas, feelings, experiences, and dreams.
On this day as I wind my way through a glen with a small creek, most of my attention is in the private world of thoughts. Bits of conversation float through my mind.
A memory comes of a very successful friend who once asked for ideas on how to live so that, at the end, he would have no regrets. I thought long and hard, then answered that I thought regrets were inevitable. There isn’t time to do everything. There is always some grief about all the good ideas we never get around to developing. I don’t think life has to be perfect to be fulfilling. I suggested that he give some thought to how to handle regrets well, rather than putting too much energy into avoiding them.
These days, I am far more interested in self-acceptance than in further improvements. Seems to me that a good deal of pop psychology is thinly veiled self-rejection. Of course, I want to continue to discover more about life and myself. I just don’t want to miss the quiet knowing that has always been present.
The sun is starting to get low in the trees. The air is growing cooler. At moments like these, I can hear the angels sing.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Emptiness of Self + Emptiness of Phenomena from the Mind Perspective
Two monks were arguing about a flag flapping in the wind. "It's the wind that is really moving," stated the first one. "No, it is the flag that is moving," contended the second. A master, who happened to be walking by, overheard the debate and interrupted them. "Neither the flag nor the wind is moving," he said, "It is mind that moves."
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Simply Wait
You do not need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at the table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait.
Do not even wait, be still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice.
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
- Franz Kafka
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Remain sitting at the table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait.
Do not even wait, be still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice.
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
- Franz Kafka
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Eight Extremes - Nagarjuna - "Find the Middle Way".
Based on dependent origination something occurs, yet
There is no arising nor passing away.
There is no nihilism nor eternalism.
There is no coming nor going.
There are not many nor one event(s).
Whatever tends to be elaborated becomes almost calm again and again.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Nothing Else Matters - John O'Donohue
From you
I don't want anything new
no more gifts
nor the scent of landscapes
rising to fill us,
no bouquets of insight
left by my head
in the tenderness of morning,
I don't want anything new
no more gifts
nor the scent of landscapes
rising to fill us,
no bouquets of insight
left by my head
in the tenderness of morning,
no intoxication
of thoughts that open horizons
where rooms are low,
nor the sever of spring
under the grid of old worlds
that has set on our skin,
nor my favourite blue,
the cobalt
colour of silence.
No.
All I want
is your two hands
pulsing in mine,
the two of us
back in a circle
round our love.
Bowlby
"Attachment theory regards the propensity to make intimate emotional bonds to particular individuals as a basic component of human nature, already present in germinal form in the neonate and continuing through adult life into old age."
- John Bowlby
Five Stages of Prenatal Development - The Sutra Requested by Yakshendra and The Sutra of Entering the Womb.
Five stages of prenatal development (Wyl. mngal gyi gnas skabs lnga) — there are two principal ways of counting the five stages of prenatal development, following lists given in two different sutras, The Sutra Requested by Yakshendra and The Sutra of Entering the Womb.
According to the The Sutra Requested by Yakshendra, the five stages are:
- ‘creamy mass’ (nur nur po),
- ‘quivering mass’ (mer mer po),
- oval mass (nar narpo),
- ‘solidifying’ (trang gyur), and
- ‘with emerging limbs’ (kanglak gyüpa).
According to the The Sutra of Entering the Womb, they are:
- ‘creamy mass’ (nur nurpo),
- ‘quivering mass’ (mer mer po),
- oval mass (nar narpo),
- rounded (gor gor po), and
- ‘with emerging limbs’ (kanglak gyüpa).
A slightly different list, beginning with mer mer po, is given in Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation.
The Padmakara Translation Group, in their translation of Words of My Perfect Teacher, give the five as:
- round jelly,
- viscous ellipse,
- thick oblong,
- firm oval, and
- hard round lump.
From the Rigpa Wiki
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Blessings For Those At the Threshold of Manhood - John O'Donohue
As you leave the blurred wood you entered while still a boy,
And light clarifies around your emerging, manly form,
May you discover gradually a natural confidence in your body.
May your new strength be graceful as you learn to carry yourself
With a dignity that is sure, bringing your gestures and expression
Into an easy harmony and rhythm.
May you never feel the need to be coarse, or force yourself;
Rather, may you receive your manhood with grace and mindful ease;
Then, at one with your own elegance, your presence will claim it’s radiance.
May you awaken confidently to the feminine within you,
and learn to integrate the beauty
Of intuition and feeling so that your sensitivity kindles and your heart is trusted.
That you may slowly grow to trust the silence of the masculine
As the home of your stillness.
Though it will be always difficult to find the words for what you feel,
May you find ease in that awkwardness, until gradually from beneath
The gravel of stuttered sounds, the pure flow of you emerges.
Be gentle with yourself, learn to integrate the negative,
Harnessing its force to cross the boundaries
That would confine you.
Love the life of your mind, furnishing it ever with new thought
So that your countenance glows with the joy of being alive.
Be vigilant and true to an inner honor that will not allow
Anger or resentment to make you captive.
Always have the courage to change,
welcoming those voices that call you beyond yourself.
Beyond your work and action, remain faithful to your heart
For you to deepen and grow
Into a man of dignity and nobility.
- John O'Donohue, from his book To Bless the Space Between Us.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
And light clarifies around your emerging, manly form,
May you discover gradually a natural confidence in your body.
May your new strength be graceful as you learn to carry yourself
With a dignity that is sure, bringing your gestures and expression
Into an easy harmony and rhythm.
May you never feel the need to be coarse, or force yourself;
Rather, may you receive your manhood with grace and mindful ease;
Then, at one with your own elegance, your presence will claim it’s radiance.
May you awaken confidently to the feminine within you,
and learn to integrate the beauty
Of intuition and feeling so that your sensitivity kindles and your heart is trusted.
That you may slowly grow to trust the silence of the masculine
As the home of your stillness.
Though it will be always difficult to find the words for what you feel,
May you find ease in that awkwardness, until gradually from beneath
The gravel of stuttered sounds, the pure flow of you emerges.
Be gentle with yourself, learn to integrate the negative,
Harnessing its force to cross the boundaries
That would confine you.
Love the life of your mind, furnishing it ever with new thought
So that your countenance glows with the joy of being alive.
Be vigilant and true to an inner honor that will not allow
Anger or resentment to make you captive.
Always have the courage to change,
welcoming those voices that call you beyond yourself.
Beyond your work and action, remain faithful to your heart
For you to deepen and grow
Into a man of dignity and nobility.
- John O'Donohue, from his book To Bless the Space Between Us.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Another Padmasambhava Invocation, This Time From The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Imagine the practice unfolding in these three phases:
First, dazzling light, crystal white in color, bursts out from the forehead of the master and enters the energy center in your forehead and fills your whole body. This white light rep-resents the blessing of the body of all the buddhas: It cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through negative actions of the body; it purifies the subtle channels of your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the body of the buddhas; it empowers you for visualization practice; and it opens you to the realization of that compassionate energy of Rigpa, the nature of mind, that is manifesting in everything.
Second, a stream of ruby red light shines out from the throat of the master into the energy center at your throat, fill-ing your entire body. This red light represents the blessing of the speech of all the buddhas: it cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through harmful speech; it purifies the inner air of your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the speech of the buddhas; it empowers you for mantra practice; and it opens you to the realization of the radiance of the nature of Rigpa.
Third, a stream of shimmering blue light, the color of lapis lazuli, bursts out from the heart of the master into the energy center at your heart, and fills your whole body. This blue light represents the blessing of the mind of the buddhas: It cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through negative activity of your mind; it purifies the creative essence, or energy, within your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the mind of the buddhas; it empowers you for advanced yoga practices; and it opens you to the realization of the primordial purity of the essence of Rigpa.
Know and feel that you are now empowered, through the blessing, with the indestructible body, speech, and mind of Padmasambhava, of all the buddhas.
First, dazzling light, crystal white in color, bursts out from the forehead of the master and enters the energy center in your forehead and fills your whole body. This white light rep-resents the blessing of the body of all the buddhas: It cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through negative actions of the body; it purifies the subtle channels of your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the body of the buddhas; it empowers you for visualization practice; and it opens you to the realization of that compassionate energy of Rigpa, the nature of mind, that is manifesting in everything.
Second, a stream of ruby red light shines out from the throat of the master into the energy center at your throat, fill-ing your entire body. This red light represents the blessing of the speech of all the buddhas: it cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through harmful speech; it purifies the inner air of your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the speech of the buddhas; it empowers you for mantra practice; and it opens you to the realization of the radiance of the nature of Rigpa.
Third, a stream of shimmering blue light, the color of lapis lazuli, bursts out from the heart of the master into the energy center at your heart, and fills your whole body. This blue light represents the blessing of the mind of the buddhas: It cleanses all the negative karma you have accumulated through negative activity of your mind; it purifies the creative essence, or energy, within your psycho-physical system; it gives you the blessing of the mind of the buddhas; it empowers you for advanced yoga practices; and it opens you to the realization of the primordial purity of the essence of Rigpa.
Know and feel that you are now empowered, through the blessing, with the indestructible body, speech, and mind of Padmasambhava, of all the buddhas.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A Gift from Padmasambhava via my friend Trish
'Now when the bardo of this life is dawning upon me,
I will abandon laziness for which life has no time,
Enter, undistracted, the path of listening and hearing, reflection and contemplation and meditation.
Making perceptions and mind the path, and realise the three kayas, the enlightened mind;
Now that I have once attained a human body,
There is no time on the path for the mind to wander'.
- Padmasambhava
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
I will abandon laziness for which life has no time,
Enter, undistracted, the path of listening and hearing, reflection and contemplation and meditation.
Making perceptions and mind the path, and realise the three kayas, the enlightened mind;
Now that I have once attained a human body,
There is no time on the path for the mind to wander'.
- Padmasambhava
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Om Ah Hum Invocation From Padmasambhava from Awakened Dharmakaya Space
On a lotus, streaming toward me for benevolent means, available at all times, resting life size in front of me, connecting white light Om out of awakened dharmakaya space from his third eye to mine, then connecting red light Ah out of awakened dharmakaya space from his throat chakra to mine, and connecting blue light Hum out of awakened dharmakaya space from his heart to mine.
Then a clear light ball comes from him, to me, down from above and resting in the heart.
An auspicious beginning.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Integral Options Cafe: Introduction to Attachment - Conference Lectures
Integral Options Cafe: Introduction to Attachment - Conference Lectures: The first lecture is useful as an introduction to the basic ideas of attachment theory - too bad the whole conference was not videoed or mad...
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
The Domes
“If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace”.
― Gaston Bachelard
"These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased”.
― Ranier Maria Rilke
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
― Gaston Bachelard
"These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased”.
― Ranier Maria Rilke
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Friday, January 13, 2012
Sambhogakāya and The Reward Body
Evidenced in meeting the road of trials with ethical action and assuming karma beyond the proximate self, the Sambhogakāya is the reward-body whereby a bodhisattva completes his vows and becomes a Buddha in this second of Trikayas. Amitabha, Vajrasattva and Manjushri are examples of Buddhas with the Sambhogakaya body. Sambhogakāya is the second mode or aspect of the Trikaya. Sambhogakaya has also been translated as the "deity dimension", "body of bliss" or "astral body". Sambhogakaya refers to the luminous form of clear light the Buddhist practitioner attains upon the reaching the highest dimensions of practice. Conversely, it is also considered one of the primary means by which the Dharmakaya is made manifest. Consequently, the Sambhogakaya encompasses "celestial" Buddhas such as Bhaisajyaguru, etc., as well as advanced bodhisattvas such as Avalokitesvara and Manjusri.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Depictions of Sahasrāra
From ILoveULove
The Celestial Rose, Illustration to Dante's Paradisio.
Trans-Duality in the Mahāyāna Mahāmudrā - Daniel P Brown
"Eventually, when you awaken in the Mahāyāna, you also eradicate reactivity. That is called the liberation component of awakening. It gets rid of all the reactivity and suffering. But in addition to that, which you get in the Mahāyāna, and which you don't find in the earlier Theravadan tradition, is another component which is called the omniscient component of awakening. You have this vast all-at-oneness as a direct experience, and you open up to what are called the Buddha bodies. The buddha bodies are then the basis of operation. It is no longer only within individual consciousness. Your basis of operation is now also the Dharmakāya awareness - that vast ocean of awareness which is the ground of our being. Simultaneous with that, the energy of manifesting anything in existence, across any potential kind of existence, is there at the same time. And simultaneous with that is your individual consciousness, and the content of your individuation consciousness and your personality, and the stuff of your ordinary mind. It's like quadraphonics - it's all there at once".
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.comSalvador Dali - Ascension
Looks conspicuously like Sahasrāra in the background...
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Longing for Recognition: Commentary on the Work of Jessica Benjamin by Judith Butler
"One of the distinctive contributions of her theory is to insist that intersubjectivity is not the same as object relations, and that 'intersubjectivity' adds to object relations the notion of an external Other, one who exceeds the psychic construction of the object in complementary terms. What this means is that whatever the psychic and fantasmatic relation to the object may be, it ought to be understood in terms of the larger dynamic of recognition. the relation to the object is not the same as the relation to the Other, but the relation to the Other provides a framework for understanding the relation to the object. The subject not only forms certain psychic relations to objects, but the subject is formed by and through those psychic relations. Moreover, these various forms are implicitly structured by a struggle for recognition in which the Other does and does not become dissociable from the object which is psychically represented. This struggle is represented by a desire to enter into a communicative practice with the Other in which recognition takes place neither as an event nor a set of events, but as an onging process, one that also poses the psychic risk of destruction. Whereas Hegel refers to a 'negation' as the risk that recognition always runs, Benjamin retains this term to describe the differentiated aspect of rationality: the other is not me, and from this distinction, certain psychic consequences follow....For Benjamin, humans form psychic relations with Others on the basis of a necessary negation, but not all of those relations must be destructive. Whereas the psychic response that seeks to master and dispel that negation is destructive, that destruction is precisely what needs to be worked through in the process of recognition".
Longing for Recognition: Commentary on the Work of Jessica Benjamin by Judith Butler
Reference:
Judith Butler (2010). Longing for Recognition. In Kimberly Hutchings & Tuija Pulkkinen (eds.), Hegel's Philosophy and Feminist Thought: Beyond Antigone? Palgrave Macmillan.
RT @ Trish Nowland
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Longing for Recognition: Commentary on the Work of Jessica Benjamin by Judith Butler
Reference:
Judith Butler (2010). Longing for Recognition. In Kimberly Hutchings & Tuija Pulkkinen (eds.), Hegel's Philosophy and Feminist Thought: Beyond Antigone? Palgrave Macmillan.
RT @ Trish Nowland
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Contact
"One of the reasons many people fundamentally get into relationships is to have someone witness your life with you...an unwitnessed life is a tragedy".
- Ken Wilber
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Reanimating The Penny Arcade Characters of Musee Mechanique, Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Interdependence
"The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community".
- William James
- William James
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe".
- John Muir
"Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without interrelation with society he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality".
- Mahatma Gandhi
"...for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom".
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Dependency to Responsibility - Joseph Campbell
"The human being is a very strange animal. He matures when he is about twenty years old. He has been growing for twenty years. For most animals, that is the length of a lifetime. So here is a creature who has grown for twenty years in an attitude and in a position largely of dependency: uncertain of himself, turning—particularly in the earlier years, the first twelve or so—to his parents for help, instruction, protection, approval and punishment.
This creates a psychological structure of dependency. The individual is in an attitude of dependence on parental figures. Then we ask him to become responsible, to assume responsibility, grow up. This is the crisis of the transit from infancy to adulthood, from dependency to responsibility. Something has to be done to make it happen; it won't happen automatically, as we now know from the problem of psychoanalysis.
A person who looks like an adult, but every time responsibility is thrown upon him turns around to see where Mother or Daddy is just hasn't passed that threshold. A neurotic is a person who is having responses of dependency when there ought to be responses of responsibility. That's all it is. So then he goes to a psychiatrist, who tells him, "Grow up."
That's about all the problem is. But that is not so easy, because after you have, you know, the business of a reflex stimulus response, the response takes place—the response of dependence, dependence, dependence—and now suddenly it's got to be responsibility. And so, here it's going: you say, "Oh gee, look, I'm 30 now, I've got to be over here," and the thing gets mixed up".
- Joseph Campbell
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Pacifica
...
I dive...
... into our hewn earth courageously. Celebratory. With praise.
Praise for hills above Santa Barbara, and what they would hold in store.
Praise for Clarissa telling me to face every wind to protect the flames at our core.
Praise for the soil, ploughed with our every toil, every root torn, and restored.
Praise for harvesting our dreams, and sewing their seeds for our own family tree once more.
Praise for Joe, and what he's done for you. And I. I tipped my hat at his library, and dropped your book at his door.
Praise for the these many Gods who plunder and adore, surely across the universe, but most certainly in these hallowed halls.
Praise for Carl, seeing what so many would ignore. Gifting me a bridge to explore my true nature's rhythmic and blissful score.
Praise for the rapport with men who resemble me, pouring cups of plentitude, stomping together these floors, eyes that meet where others merely war.
... and the walls, oh the redwood walls! You should see this place! Decor fit for heaven and earth's wedding, a marrying of the exalted and the abhorred.
... and praise for my soul. Once more.
Praise for my soul. Once more.
Praise for soul. Once more.
- Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara. 08/01/2012.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Malibu
Here, on this ordinary day, I stand at the precipice of all things. The wintersun gentle, as though twilight, soft filtered through the ocean spray and a canopy of Los Angeles smog. We make our claim to this place, you and I. Our mark is obvious, always expressed, digested in nature's entropy, and renewed again - as our true nature.
Here on this ordinary day, I stand as the precipice of all things. My prescient blood keeps me warm with memories of your smell, and impressions of what you might be (doing) right now. We make our claims on eachother, you and I. Our mark is obvious, each breath shared, even at distance, across the entire world - true nature.
Here on this ordinary day, we stand as the precipice of all things. My sentient belly preempts our unborn, and I already love them. Just like you, I nurture life within. Held in the embrace of this motherly coast, my being is provoked by fatherly urges to steal another independence in this formless, ever renewing, pregnant moment. This divine family claims us all. It is our mark. The mark of our true nature.
I stand here, on other side of this ocean's shore and see, in us all, Blake's eternity. Our eternity. In every finitude. Fleeting. I must respond. Compelled. I walk across these sands and, at the precipice of all things, I raise my hands in praise, make dedications to each of us, and all, and then, I dive.
- Malibu, 07/01/2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
She In Me In You
I met her, the her in I, transcendent,
mother,
- lover,
- > other.
Then it was you.
You who can nurture life within you.
Like I now can too. My own life. And ours. All of ours.
mother,
- lover,
- > other.
Then it was you.
You who can nurture life within you.
Like I now can too. My own life. And ours. All of ours.
I will.
For you.
- All -
Split Enz/ENZSO - Message To My Girl
I don't want to say "I love you"
That would give away too much.
It's hip to be detached and precious,
the only thing you feel is vicious.
I don't want to say "I want you"
even though I want you so much.
It's wrapped up in conversation,
it's whispered in a hush.
Though I'm frightened by the word,
think it's time I made it heard.
No more empty self possession,
visions swept under the mat.
It's no New Years resolution,
it's more than that.
Now I wake up happy
warm in lovers embrace.
No one else can touch us
while we're in this place.
So I'll sing it to the world
this simple message to my girl.
No more empty self possession,
visions swept under the mat.
It's no New Years resolution,
it's more than that.
Though I'm frightened by the word,
think it's time I made it heard.
So I'll sing it to the world
this simple message to my girl.
No more empty self possession,
visions swept under the mat.
It's no New Years resolution,
it's more than that.
Oh there's nothing quite as real
as the touch of your sweet hands.
I can't spend the rest of my life
buried in the sand.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Nick Cave - The Ship Song
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around
We talk about it all night long
We define our moral ground
But when I crawl into your arms
Everything comes tumbling down
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Your face has fallen sad now
For you know the time is nigh
When I must remove your wings
And you, you must try to fly
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
New Year
Hot golden light marks transition again
from dreaming to waking and walking
across another threshold, a marker
of boundary space, from year to year.
What was formerly toil, now practice.
What was formerly struggle, somewhat eased.
Where there was nothing, now there is no-thing.
This spaciousness, this self, all meeting this new year.
from dreaming to waking and walking
across another threshold, a marker
of boundary space, from year to year.
What was formerly toil, now practice.
What was formerly struggle, somewhat eased.
Where there was nothing, now there is no-thing.
This spaciousness, this self, all meeting this new year.
Winnicott on the gift of the good-enough mother
"The good-enough 'mother' (not necessarily the infant's own mother) is one who makes active adaptation to the infant's needs, an active adaptation that gradually lessens, according to the infant's growing ability to account for failure of adaptation and to tolerate the results of frustration. Naturally, the infant's own mother is more likely to be good enough than some other person, since this active adaptation demands an easy and unresented preoccupation with the one infant; in fact, success in infant care depends on the fact of devotion, not on cleverness or intellectual enlightenment. The good-enough mother, as I have stated, starts off with an almost complete adaptation to her infant's needs, and as time proceeds she adapts less and less completely, gradually, according to the infant's growing ability to deal with her failure. The infant's means of dealing with this maternal failure include the following:
1. The infant's experience, often repeated, that there is a time-limit to frustration. At first, naturally, this time-limit must be short.
2. Growing sense of process.
3. The beginnings of mental activity.
4. Employment of auto-erotic satisfactions.
5. Remembering, reliving, fantasying, dreaming; the integrating of past, present, and future.
If all goes well the infant can actually come to gain from the experience of frustration, since incomplete adaptation to need makes objects real, that is to say hated as well as loved. The consequence of this is that if all goes well the infant can be disturbed by a close adaptation to need that is continued too long, not allowed its natural decrease, since exact adaptation resembles magic and the object that behaves perfectly becomes no better than a hallucination. Nevertheless, at the start adaptation needs to be almost exact, and unless this is so it is not possible for the infant to begin to develop a capacity to experience a relationship to external reality, or even to form a conception of external reality".
From his seminal, Playing and Reality
It appears quite sensible - gotta be attuned and not resentful in your devotion during infancy, then slowly provide tolerable failures of empathy which provide differentiation and self-soothing away from fused fantasy (of perfection) into reality objects, which ushers in self growth from the paranoid-schizoid position of the infant into an early ego position - from the pleasure principle into the reality principle. Nicely...
Wilber's Fulcrums 0-4 sorted! ;-p
Monday, January 2, 2012
New Year
Hot golden light marks transition again
from dreaming to waking and walking
across another threshold, a marker
of boundary space, from year to year.
What was formerly toil, now practice.
What was formerly struggle, somewhat eased.
Where there was nothing, now there is no-thing.
This spaciousness, this self, all meeting this new year.
from dreaming to waking and walking
across another threshold, a marker
of boundary space, from year to year.
What was formerly toil, now practice.
What was formerly struggle, somewhat eased.
Where there was nothing, now there is no-thing.
This spaciousness, this self, all meeting this new year.
Alexander Ebert - Truth
Truth
The truth is that I never shook my shadow
Every day it's trying to trick me into doing battle
Calling out "faker" only get me rattled
Want to pull me back behind the fence with the cattle
Building your lenses
Digging your trenches
Put me on the front line
Leave me with a dumb mind
With no defenses
But your defense is
If you can't stand to feel the pain then you are senseless
Since this
I've grown up some
Different kind of fighter
And when the darkness comes, let it inside you
And your darkness is shining
My darkness is shining
Have faith in myself
Truth
I've seen a million numbered doors on the horizon
Now which is the future you're choosing before you gone dyin'?
I'll tell you about a secret I've been undermining
Every little lie in this world comes from dividing
Say you're my lover, say you're my own homie,
Tilt my chin back, slit my throat, take a bath in my blood, get to know me
All out of my secrets
All my enemies are turning into my teachers.
Because, lights blinding, no way dividing what's yours or mine
When everything's shining
You darkness is shining
My darkness is shining
Have faith in ourselves
Truth
Yes I'm only loving only trying to only love.
Yes I'm only lonely loving trying to only love and feeling lonely only loving.
Yes I'm only loving only trying to only love.
Yes I'm only lonely loving trying to only love and feeling lonely only loving.
Swear to God I'm only loving, you say it ain't loving ain't loving ain't loving my loving
But I'm only loving only loving swear to God I'm only loving
Only loving only loving only loving only loving
I'm only loving only trying to only love
You say it ain't loving ain't loving ain't loving my loving
But I'm only loving only loving only loving only loving the truth.
http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
First Point in Mindfully-Held Anger
"What we need to learn to do is to see the thought as a thought, and then feel the body tighten. The body is going to tighten if you're angry with somebody, right? So just be the tightening. Forget the thinking at this point, and just be the anger, the tension or vibration. When you do that, you're not trying to change your anger. You're just being with it, totally. Then it is able to transform itself".
–Charlotte Joko Beck
Garden, Temple.
Among a watchful community
of olive trees and tomato plants
and voices feint but knowing
we touch temples and sense
transmissions of love's awareness
so much bigger than you, or I,
or us, or this watchful community
of spinach leaves and sansivera
and traces of persuasive whispers
which midwifed new clarity
where none had chosen to grow
until we all planted care, just here.
of olive trees and tomato plants
and voices feint but knowing
we touch temples and sense
transmissions of love's awareness
so much bigger than you, or I,
or us, or this watchful community
of spinach leaves and sansivera
and traces of persuasive whispers
which midwifed new clarity
where none had chosen to grow
until we all planted care, just here.
Is the Relationship Between Trait-Positive Affect and Global Physical Health Mediated by Nature Relatedness and Nature Exposure?
Is the Relationship Between Trait-Positive Affect and Global Physical Health Mediated by Nature Relatedness and Nature Exposure?
Luke Fullagar
Research Project at Monash University
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
School of Psychology and Psychiatry
Abstract
Emotions are thought to act as a principal pathway connecting psychological stress to physical disease (Cohen & Pressman, 2006). Much research in health psychology has focussed on associations between negative emotional states and/or affective styles (traits) with negative morbidity and mortality outcomes (see meta-analysis in Pressman & Cohen, 2005). More recently, evidence from a range of experimental methodologies (Diener & Chan, 2011) has provided compelling evidence of associations between trait-positive affect (PA) and increases in a number of physical health indicators including: mortality, morbidity, disease survival, recovery, as well as for specific biological systems (e.g. cardiovascular, endocrine) (Pressman & Cohen, 2005; Cohen & Pressman, 2006).
For brevity, this study is limited to self-reported health measures in healthy populations, and therefore, a review of previous research is limited to morbidity and self-reported symptom findings. Similarly, the current study limits the research question to hedonic trait-PA defined as the enduring disposition to experience feelings that “reflect a level of pleasurable engagement with the environment” (Clark, Watson, & Leeka, 1989; Cohen & Pressman, 1995). This definition distinguishes the current study from research on state-PA, being those that measure or manipulate short-term experiences of PA (Cohen & Pressman, 1995). Similarly, generalisability of subjective wellbeing research (SWB) is limited, and therefore excluded from review, given the inclusion of both eudonic measures (e.g. optimism (Diener & Chan, 2011)) alongside hedonic PA.
Both cross-sectional and prospective studies support an association between trait-PA (herein referred to as “PA”) and lowered morbidity (Pressman & Cohen, 2005). Unsurprisingly, many cross-sectional designs on populations with serious disease demonstrate a link between lowered PA and increased disease severity, for example: fibromyalgia and arthritis (Celiker & Borman, 2001) and hypertension (Knox, Svensson, Waller & Theorell, 1988). However, these cross-sectional research designs preclude causal inferences, rendering it possible that the observed effects of PA are attributable to the chronicity of disease symptoms themselves rather than PA’s unique contribution. Prospective morbidity studies, however, do provide encouraging evidence for a causal and unique contribution of PA to physical health despite strong variation in PA measures and health constructs studied: e.g. in contracting the common cold (Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper & Skoner, 2003); the future occurrence of stroke (Ostir, Markides, Peek, & Goodwin, 2001), lowered risk of injury for hockey players (Smith, Stuart, Wiese-Bjornstal, & Gunnon, 1997); and incidence of general injuries (Koivumaa-Honkanen, Viinamaeki, Heikkila, Kaprio & Koskenvuo, 2000).
While exposed to affect-elicited self-report biases (Cohen & Williamson, 1991) considerable research also connects higher PA to lower self-reported pain (for example, in cancer patients (Guadagnoli & Mor, 1989) and hospital inpatients (Kvaal & Patodia, 2000)), and better perceived health and fewer self-reported symptoms in healthy populations (e.g. Takkouche, Regueira, & Gestal-Otero, 2001; Roysamb, Tambs, Reichborn-Kjennerud, Neale, & Harris, 2003). Prospective studies by Hirdes & Forbes (1993) also demonstrate that PA prospectively predicts less symptom reporting and better self-reported health. By contrast, small, or in some cases negative, associations between PA and symptom reporting were observed by Watson and Pennebaker (1989). However, it is important to note that in this study, trait NA was also associated with greater self-reported symptoms and poorer self-reported health, potentially confounding conclusions on the role of trait PA.
Indeed, this potential for confounding is highlighted by ambiguous evidence that NA and PA are both bipolar extremes and orthogonal factors (Pressman & Cohen, 2005; Deiner, Smith & Fujita, 1995). Three of abovementioned studies on morbidity either controlled for NA or assessed NA variables and found no influence on outcomes (Cohen et al., 2003; Ostir et al., 2001; Smith et al.,1997; Pressman & Cohen, 2005), suggesting a unique contribution of PA in limiting morbidity. However, the literature on NA and disease demonstrates convincing associations (e.g. meta-analyses by Krantz & McCeney (2002) and Pressman & Cohen (2005)), and it is therefore essential for PA research to control for NA to assess whether the relationship between PA and self-reported health measures is merely due to the absence of NA, or a unique contribution of an orthogonal PA factor.
Additional variables have been shown to affect both health and PA and are controlled for in this study. SES is a potential spurious factor as it has been strongly linked to health (Adler et. al., 1994), and while no study appears to explore the connection between positive affect and SES, SES has been identified as a common risk factor for emotional health (Hudson, 2005).
Existence of religious affiliation has also been shown to affect health (Ferraro & Albrecht-Jensen, 1991) and positive affect (Fredrickson, 2002; Levin & Chatters, 1998). Employment status also has been shown to affect health (Bartley & Owen, 1996; Bambra, 2011) and positive affect (Puglesi, 1995). Similarly, relationship status has also been shown to affect both health (Verbrugge, 1979; Wyke & Ford, 1992) and positive affect (Wood, Rhodes, & Whelan, 1989)
While many of these studies are atheoretical in nature, two theoretical frameworks have been proposed for the influence of PA on health outcomes. The Main Effect Model proposes that PA affects physical systems such as cardiovascular, nervous system and endocrine pathways, as well as social and behavioural influences, whereas the Stress Buffering Model suggests that PA influences health through its ability to mitigate pathogenic outcomes of environmental stressors (Pressman & Cohen, 2005).
One pathway proposed by Smith and Baum (2003) suggests that PA’s stress buffering role may be achieved through inducing a proclivity toward self-caring restorative activities such as sleep, exercise, relaxation and spending time in natural environments, which in turn reduce the physical and negative affective stress responses which lead to disease. This stress-buffering perspective echoes theoretical and empirical research in the nature exposure, affect and health literature spearheaded by Roger Ulrich (Ulrich, Dimberg & Driver, 1991, Ulrich, Simons, Losito, Fiorito, Zelson. 1991, Ulrich & Parsons, 1992, Ulrich, 1993), which suggests that exposure to natural settings (real and, to a lesser extent, virtual) potentates an affective response which replaces negative affects with positive ones, and resultantly reduces stress activation and susceptibility to stress induction via restoration of cognitive, emotional, social and, importantly, physical resources (Hartig, Book, Garvill, Olsson & Garling, 1996). Together, these lines of research may suggest a causative pathway from trait-PA to nature exposure through to state-PA and stress-reduction leading to better health outcomes.
However, while these associations are well supported, diversity in research findings renders the direction of these relations uncertain (Hartig et al., 1996; Mayer et al., 2008). That is, it remains uncertain the extent to which, nature exposure, connection or relatedness cultivates trait-PA and state-PA versus the extent to which it may assist in sustaining PA which motivates nature-focussed activity in first instance.
The relationship between nature exposure and health is supported by findings which demonstrate that those exposed to nature have reduced heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure, and improved skin conductance (Ulrich, Simons, Losito, Fiorito & Zelson, 1991); lower frequency of stress symptoms (Moore, 1981; Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989; Leather, Pyrgas, Beale & Lawrence, 1998) lower digestive illnesses and headaches (Moore, 1981) and also recover from illness faster (Lewis, 1996) and with more resilience to subsequent stress (Parsons, Tassinary, Ulrich, Hebl, Grossman-Alexander, 1998).
Strong associations between PA and nature exposure have been evidenced in cross-sectional correlation designs (Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecalm & Dolliver, 2009). Mediation of this relationship by one’s sense of nature connectedness, or affective sense of community with nature, as measured by Mayer and Frantz’s (2004) Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) has been observed by Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecal & Dolliver (1999).
Nisbet, Zelenski and Murphy’s (2009) nature relatedness (NR) construct transcends but includes the domains covered by the CNS by adding physical relation with nature to the construct. Nisbet & Zelenski (2011) demonstrated strong associations between NR and PA, and this was repeated in three cross-sectional correlation designs (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2011) where the NR construct strongly correlated with trait-PA measured on the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Importantly, NR was also found in these studies to be unrelated to NA prior to the control of environmental measures, suggesting a unique contribution of PA to this relationship. NR has also been shown to mediate the relationship between PA and nature exposure (Nisbet, Nealis, & Zelenski, 2011).
Accordingly, this study aims to assess whether trait-PA and self-reported global physical health are associated when controlling for NA, and demographic variables age, socio-economic status, religious affiliation, relationship status and employment status. In addition, this study aims to assess whether any relationship between trait-PA and global physical health is mediated by nature relatedness and/or exposure.
It is hypothesised that PA will be positively associated with PH, operationalised as a significant correlation between trait-PA scale scores on the PANAS and self-reported global physical health scores on the WHO-BREF (Hypothesis 1). It is further hypothesised that PA will continue to predict PH when controlling for: self-reported trait-NA (reported as a score on the PANAS NA sub-scale), age (reported in years); dichotomous SES by postcode (reported as either below or equal/above average), existence of religious affiliation, relationship status and employment status (Hypothesis 2). Thirdly, it is also hypothesised that NE will mediate the relationship between PA and PH (Hypothesis 3). Due to size limitations of this study, this mediation will employ an augmented version of the methodology for mediation analyses set out by Baron and Kenny (1986), and will be operationalised by: establishing Hypothesis 1, establishing a significant positive correlation between NE scores on the NE Questionnaire and self-reported trait-PA on the PANAS (Path 3a), establishing a significant positive correlation between NE scores on the NE Questionnaire and self-reported global health scores on the WHO-BREF (Path 3b), and then, by controlling for paths in hypotheses 3a and 3b in a hierarchical regression model, evidencing a significant diminution in the strength of the correlation between trait-PA scores on the PANAS and self-reported global health scores on the WHO-BREF. Finally, it is also hypothesised that NR will mediate the relationship between self-reported trait-PA and global physical health (Hypothesis 4), similarly operationalised by establishing Hypothesis 1, establishing a significant positive correlation between NR scores on the NR Scale and self-reported trait-PA on the PANAS (Path 4a), establishing a significant positive correlation between NR scores on the NR Scale and self-reported global health scores on the WHO-BREF (Path 4b), and then, by controlling for paths in hypotheses 4a and 4b in a hierarchical regression model, evidencing a significant diminution in the strength of the correlation between trait-PA scores on the PANAS and self-reported global health scores on the WHO-BREF.
Method
Participants
318 participants were recruited, and 297 completed the study. All were healthy adults aged between 18-79 sampled at convenience through invitation from student experimenters. 68.80% were female (n=192) and 31.20% were male (n=87). Mean age was 38.28 years (SD=11.78). Mean annual household income was between $70,001 - $105,000. 78.5% were employed. 19.3% had completed standard education and 80.7% had completed advanced education. 78.2% had a current partner, and 21.5% were currently single. 34.9% reported having a religious affiliation.
Materials
A copy of the survey used is included in Appendix 1.
Demographic Information. A demographic survey was administered using an online university website.
PANAS. The trait-scale of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) was used to assess participants’ trait positive and negative affect. The PANAS is a 20-item scale, divided into 2 separable 10-item positive and negative trait affect scales. Positive affect is characterized by feelings of enthusiasm, engagement, and alertness, whereas negative affect is characterized by various types of distress, including anger, contempt, disgust, guilt, fear, and nervousness. Participants rated the extent to which they had felt these mood states during the past few weeks using a modified Likert-type scale (1 = very slightly or not at all, 5 = extremely). The positive and negative affect scales both demonstrate moderately good internal consistency (NA: α=0.84 to 0.87, PA: α=0.86 to 0.90), and 8-week test-retest correlations were also good (PA: 0.47-0.68; NA 0.39-0.71) (Watson, 1988)
WHOQOL-BREF. The WHOQOL-BREF comprises of 26 items, which measure an individual’s self-reported perceptions of themselves across four broad health domains (subscales): physical health (“the PH subscale”), psychological health, social relationships, and environment. Participants rate questions (e.g. How satisfied are you with your health?) on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = lowest to 5 = highest). The full WHOQOL-BREF measure was administered, but only the PH subscale was used in the analysis of self-reported global physical health (PH). The test demonstrates moderately good internal consistency (α=.60-.90; PH subscale in healthy populations α=.87), and 8-week test-retest correlations were also above r=.80, PH subscale r=.86 (Murphy, Herrman, Hawthorne, Pinzone & Evert, 2000).
Nature Exposure Scale. The Nature Exposure Scale (Francis, 2011) is a four question measure testing the extent of one’s exposure to, and noticing of, natural and virtual nature settings in everyday life and on specific excursions to nature (e.g. In your everyday home, travel and work environments and activities, please rate your level of exposure to ‘natural environments’). Questions are answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = lowest to 5 = highest). The test demonstrates moderately good internal consistency (α=.707).
Nature Relatedness Scale. Nature relatedness was measured using the NR Scale (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2009). The scale requires participants to rate 21 items on a 5-point Likert scale (1=disagree strongly to 5=agree strongly). Each item asked participants to measure the extent to which they agree with statements evoking cognitive, affective, and physical connection with nature, e.g. “My relationship to nature is an important part of who I am”, “I enjoy digging in the earth and getting dirt on my hands”, “I don’t often go out in nature” (negatively keyed item). The NR Scale has demonstrated good test-retest reliability (r=.85), internal consistency (α=.87), convergent and discriminant validity and construct validity (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2009).
Procedure
Participants who agreed to participate were advised by letter from senior Monash University staff that approval for the study was granted by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee. Inclusion criteria were that paricipants were over 18 years and had computer access, and exclusion criteria were that participants must not be experiencing a severe or debilitating illness. All materials were administered online and completed in one sitting at participant’s convenience. All scored surveys were collated by university staff and uploaded as a data file on SPSS Version 18 software.
Results
SPSS Results are presented in Appendix 2. Raw data was cleansed and 23 cases removed because of missing information. Three outliers with Mahalanobis distances over 25 were identified and excluded from the analysis. One additional case was eliminated due to an absent employment score. Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure no violations in the assumptions of linearity, normality, multicollinearity, and homoscedasticity. P-P plots were inspected and confirmed normal distribution, and scatterplots confirmed a linear and homoscedastic distribution. Belsley’s (1991) limits for multicollinearity problems (Variance Inflation Factors (VIFs) above 10 and Tolerance values below 0.10) were not breached in the current regression models, with VIFs below 1.88 and Tolerance values above 0.53.
Descriptive statistics for measures used in the study are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1
Descriptive Statistics Mean (M) and Standard Deviations (SD) for Study Measures
Variable Mean SD
Physical Health 73.98 14.20
PA 34.84 6.69
NR 3.75 .63
NE 9.38 2.98
NA 18.50 6.39
Dichotomous SES from Postcode .91 .29
Existence of Religious Affiliation .35 .48
Relationship Status .78 .41
Employment Status .78 .41
PH means and standard deviations were similar to Australian normative data (M=80, SD=17.1) (Murphy, Herrman, Hawthorne, Pinzone & Evert, 2000). PA means and standard deviations were marginally higher than normative samples of Australian men (M=33.5, SD=5.9) and women (M=33.9, SD=5.1) (Watson & Clark, 1994). Similarly, NA means and standard deviations were higher than normative samples of Australian men (M=14.2, SD=4.1) and women (M=15.5, SD=5.3) (Watson & Clark, 1994). Mean NR scores were similar to the average reported by Nisbet, Zelenski and Murphy (2008) (M=3.71). NE score range was from 0-20. Dichotomous SES from postcode was coded 0 = below average, 1 = average to high. The dichotomous variables existence of religious affiliation, employment status and relationship status dichotomous were coded as (0 = No, 1= Yes).
Pearson product-moment correlations were computed and are presented in Table 2. Due to an error in scoring, the sign of the NE scale in correlation results were manually reversed.
Table 2
Correlations Between Study Variables
Measure 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Physical Health .33** .11* .15** -.40** .07 .11* -.18** .11* .20**
2. Positive Affect .18** .17** -.13** -.02 .11* -.03 .05 .10
3. Nature Relatedness .66** -.14* .06 .22** -.26** .16** -.01
4. Nature Exposure -.12** .40 .15** -.17** .12* -.03
5. Negative Affect -.02 -.21** .13* -.09 -.02
6. SES .08 -.21** .10* .10**
7. Age -.18** .27** -.05
8. Religion -.10* -.05
9. Relationship Status -.02
10. Employment Status
*p<0.05 (two-tailed), **p<0.01 (two-tailed)
SES = Dichotomous Socioeconomic Status From Postcode.
Pearson product-moment correlations were computed for all study variables and are presented in Table 2. PH was significantly positively correlated with PA (r2=.11), NR (r2=.01), NE (r2=.02), as well as age (r2=.01), relationship (r2=.01) and employment status (r2=.04). PH was also significantly negatively correlated with NA (r2=.16), and existence of religious affiliation (r2=.03). PA was also significantly positively correlated with NR (r2=.03) and NE (r2=.03), and significantly negatively correlated with NA (r2=.02). NR and NE were significantly positively correlated (r2=.44), and both were significantly negatively correlated with NA: NR (r2=.02), NE (r2=.01).
Additionally, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to examine whether PA could be used to predict PH after controlling for potentially confounding and/or mediating variables: NR, NE, NA, Dichotomous SES, age, existence of religious affiliation, and relationship and employment status.
Results are presented in Table 3.
Table 3
Hierarchical Multiple Regression Predicting Global Physical Health
Criterion Variable: Global Physical Health Β SEB β
Step 1 Constant 82.77 4.91
Negative Affect -.83 .12 -.38**
Dichotomous SES from Postcode .90 2.70 .02
Age -.00 .07 -.00
Religion -3.26 1.68 -.11*
Relationship Status 2.40 1.95 .07
Employment Status 6.63 1.88 .19**
Step 2 Constant 92.95 9.73
Negative Affect -.82 .12 -.37**
Dichotomous SES from Postcode .91 2.70 .02
Age -.01 .07 -.01
Religion -3.10 1.72 -.10
Relationship Status 2.24 1.95 .07
Employment Status 6.75 1.88 .20**
Nature Relatedness -1.26 1.67 -.06
Nature Exposure -.60 .34 -.13
Step 3 Constant 75.00 10.04
Negative Affect -.77 .12 -.35**
Dichotomous SES from Postcode 1.48 2.59 .03
Age -.03 .07 -.02
Religion -3.37 1.65 -.11*
Relationship Status 2.15 1.87 .06
Employment Status 5.75 1.81 .17**
Nature Relatedness -1.86 1.61 -.08
Nature Exposure -.48 .33 -.10
Positive Affect .56 .11 .26**
** p<.01 * p<.05
Durbin-Watson tests revealed no violation of the independence of errors assumption.
The analysis revealed that the variables in Step 1: NA, dichotomous SES from postcode, age, existence of religious affiliation, relationship and employment status (“Step 1 Variables”) significantly predicted PH, F (6, 267) = 12.31, p < .01, accounting for 21.7% (adjusted R2 = .20) of the variability.
Adding NR and NE in Step 2 did not significantly improve the prediction of PH, ∆F (2, 265) = 1.63, p >.05, accounting for only 1% of the variability in PH. Thus, together, the Step 1 variables, NE and NR, significantly predicted PH, F (8, 265) = 9.69, p < .01, accounting for 22.6% (adjusted R2 = .20) of its variability.
Adding PA in Step 3 significantly improved the prediction of PH, ∆F (1, 264) = 23.83, p < .01, accounting for an additional 6.4% of the variability in PH. Thus, together, the Step 1 variables, NE, NR, and PA significantly predicted PH, F (9, 264) = 12.00, p < .01, accounting for 29% (adjusted R2 = .27) of its variability.
Table 3 shows the regression coefficients for this analysis. As can be seen in the table, when only the Step 1 variables were included in the regression model, NA, existence of religious affiliation and employment status were significant predictors of PH. When NR and NE were added to the regression model, they were not significant predictors of PH, and NA and employment status remained significant predictors of PH. When PA was additionally included in the regression model, it, together with NA, employment status, and again, existence of religious affiliation, were each significant and unique predictors of PH.
A meditational analysis was performed to test the hypothesis that NR and NE would mediate the relationship between PA and PH. An additional hierarchical multiple regression was performed to assess the whether there was a diminution in the extent to which PA predicted PH when NR and NE were removed from the regression model.
Step 1 in the analysis above is identical the first regression model. Adding PA in Step 2 of this regression did significantly improve the prediction of PH, ∆F (1, 266) = 25.12, p < .01, accounting for 6.8% of the variability in PH. When contrasted with the first regression model, NA and NE accounted for a very marginal .4% of the variability in PH, consistent with a weak mediation effect.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to assess whether trait-PA and self-reported global physical health are associated when controlling for NA, and demographic variables age, socio-economic status, religious affiliation, relationship status and employment status. In addition, this study also aimed to assess whether any relationship between trait-PA and global physical health is mediated by nature relatedness and/or exposure.
The first hypothesis that PA would be significantly and positively associated with PH was supported.
The second hypothesis that PA would continue to predict PH after controlling for NA, SES, existence of religious affiliation, relationship and employment status, was also supported. PA was a significant independent predictor of PH after controlling for each of these predictor variables in the regression model.
Taken together, these results confirm previous findings of the unique role of trait-PA in predicting self-reported health (e.g. Takkouche, 2001; Roysamb, 2003), and provide contrary evidence to equivocal findings of Watson and Pennebaker (1989) who observed small, or in some cases negative, associations between PA and self-reported health (symptom reporting). The significant and unique contribution of PA to PH after controlling for NA lends further cross-sectional support to prospective studies that suggest an independent role of PA to PH when controlling for NA (Cohen, et al., 2003; Ostir, et al., 2001; Smith, et al., 1997). However, NA was significantly negatively correlated with PA in this study, and remained the strongest unique predictor of PH in the regression model, demonstrating that previously observed PANAS sub-scale independence (e.g. Egloff, 1999; Deiner, Smith & Fujita, 1995) was not present and suggesting that PA and NA were not orthogonal factors in this study. This potentially confounds the independence of these results. Given the strong psychometric properties of the PANAS, further research should seek to replicate the current findings in further populations to assess whether the independence between PA and NA observed in other studies (Cohen, et al., 2003; Ostir, et al., 2001; Smith, et al., 1997) can be repeated.
The third and fourth hypotheses that NR and NE would each mediate the relationship between PA and PH were not strongly supported. While NR and NE both significantly correlated with PA and PH, when added to the regression model, they were not significant predictors of PH at any step. In the comparison between the first regression model and the second that excluded NR and NE, NR and NE accounted for a negligible .4% of the variability in PH. This unexpected result is in contrast to Smith and Baum (2003) and Ulrich’s (1992) suggested pathway for the stress-buffering contribution of PA to PH. Given the strong and repeated correlations between PA, trait-NR and NE (Nisbet, Nealis, & Zelenski, 2011; Nisbet & Zelenski, 2011), myriad health benefits (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2011), and also the meditational observations of Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecal & Dolliver (1999) and Nisbet, Nealis, & Zelenski, (2011) demonstrating a mediating relationship of NR between NE and PA, these results suggest that a different causative process may account for the relationship of nature exposure and relatedness to PA and PH. Given the strong associations between PA and PH in this study, and previous meditational results, further research should test models that posit PA as a potential mediating factor in the relationship between nature and health.
The current study only tested trait-PA, and not state-PA. Given the theoretical bases for suggesting a restorative role for nature in stimulating stress-buffering health benefits, differential testing of state and trait affect in future studies would be prudent for studies attempting to understand whether trait and state PA affect the meditational pathways between the varieties of PA, nature and health outcomes in different ways (e.g. as a motivator for vs an outcome of nature exposure and relatedness). Similarly, subscales of nature experience were bundled in this study, and future discrimination of types of nature experience and relatedness (e.g. NR-scale subscales, virtual v natural nature view, exposure vs view) should be the subject of additional research.
Because self-report measures are subject to affect-elicited self-report biases (Cohen & Williamson, 1991), future research should consider replicating these results alongside other direct observation measures of health.
Issues of affect valence may affect the current results. The PANAS scale has been repeatedly shown to privilege activated positive affect (happy, cheerful), as opposed to non-activated PA (e.g. contentment, calm) (Egloff, 1999). Ulrich (1992) and Smith and Baum (2003) both focused their research and sound theory on the basis that nature induces non-activated PA, and accordingly the observations which predicate the hypotheses of this study may be affected by issues of valence. To test potential for a differential role of valence, future research should provide for either a measure of low-arousal PA or introduce a range of affect and mood measures sensitive to differences in valence (e.g. Egloff, 1999).
These findings further implicate hedonic trait-PA in the establishment and maintenance of positive health, but do not explain the role of nature relatedness or exposure in that relationship. The unique contribution of PA to health is an important issue for public health research, and especially in the production of preventative health and disease management protocols and campaigns. Importantly, demonstrating the effect of hedonic PA on health adds another feather in the cap of the broader subjective wellbeing research canon which has demonstrated strong associations with eudaimonic measures and health. Ultimately, these results demonstrate that emotions do provide a significant pathway in the connection between psychological stress and physical disease. Future research will hopefully further elucidate the role of nature in this equation.
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http://www.thepresentparticiple.blogspot.com
Luke Fullagar
Research Project at Monash University
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
School of Psychology and Psychiatry
Abstract
Emotions are thought to act as a principal pathway connecting psychological stress to physical disease (Cohen & Pressman, 2006). Much research in health psychology has focussed on associations between negative emotional states and/or affective styles (traits) with negative morbidity and mortality outcomes (see meta-analysis in Pressman & Cohen, 2005). More recently, evidence from a range of experimental methodologies (Diener & Chan, 2011) has provided compelling evidence of associations between trait-positive affect (PA) and increases in a number of physical health indicators including: mortality, morbidity, disease survival, recovery, as well as for specific biological systems (e.g. cardiovascular, endocrine) (Pressman & Cohen, 2005; Cohen & Pressman, 2006).
For brevity, this study is limited to self-reported health measures in healthy populations, and therefore, a review of previous research is limited to morbidity and self-reported symptom findings. Similarly, the current study limits the research question to hedonic trait-PA defined as the enduring disposition to experience feelings that “reflect a level of pleasurable engagement with the environment” (Clark, Watson, & Leeka, 1989; Cohen & Pressman, 1995). This definition distinguishes the current study from research on state-PA, being those that measure or manipulate short-term experiences of PA (Cohen & Pressman, 1995). Similarly, generalisability of subjective wellbeing research (SWB) is limited, and therefore excluded from review, given the inclusion of both eudonic measures (e.g. optimism (Diener & Chan, 2011)) alongside hedonic PA.
Both cross-sectional and prospective studies support an association between trait-PA (herein referred to as “PA”) and lowered morbidity (Pressman & Cohen, 2005). Unsurprisingly, many cross-sectional designs on populations with serious disease demonstrate a link between lowered PA and increased disease severity, for example: fibromyalgia and arthritis (Celiker & Borman, 2001) and hypertension (Knox, Svensson, Waller & Theorell, 1988). However, these cross-sectional research designs preclude causal inferences, rendering it possible that the observed effects of PA are attributable to the chronicity of disease symptoms themselves rather than PA’s unique contribution. Prospective morbidity studies, however, do provide encouraging evidence for a causal and unique contribution of PA to physical health despite strong variation in PA measures and health constructs studied: e.g. in contracting the common cold (Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper & Skoner, 2003); the future occurrence of stroke (Ostir, Markides, Peek, & Goodwin, 2001), lowered risk of injury for hockey players (Smith, Stuart, Wiese-Bjornstal, & Gunnon, 1997); and incidence of general injuries (Koivumaa-Honkanen, Viinamaeki, Heikkila, Kaprio & Koskenvuo, 2000).
While exposed to affect-elicited self-report biases (Cohen & Williamson, 1991) considerable research also connects higher PA to lower self-reported pain (for example, in cancer patients (Guadagnoli & Mor, 1989) and hospital inpatients (Kvaal & Patodia, 2000)), and better perceived health and fewer self-reported symptoms in healthy populations (e.g. Takkouche, Regueira, & Gestal-Otero, 2001; Roysamb, Tambs, Reichborn-Kjennerud, Neale, & Harris, 2003). Prospective studies by Hirdes & Forbes (1993) also demonstrate that PA prospectively predicts less symptom reporting and better self-reported health. By contrast, small, or in some cases negative, associations between PA and symptom reporting were observed by Watson and Pennebaker (1989). However, it is important to note that in this study, trait NA was also associated with greater self-reported symptoms and poorer self-reported health, potentially confounding conclusions on the role of trait PA.
Indeed, this potential for confounding is highlighted by ambiguous evidence that NA and PA are both bipolar extremes and orthogonal factors (Pressman & Cohen, 2005; Deiner, Smith & Fujita, 1995). Three of abovementioned studies on morbidity either controlled for NA or assessed NA variables and found no influence on outcomes (Cohen et al., 2003; Ostir et al., 2001; Smith et al.,1997; Pressman & Cohen, 2005), suggesting a unique contribution of PA in limiting morbidity. However, the literature on NA and disease demonstrates convincing associations (e.g. meta-analyses by Krantz & McCeney (2002) and Pressman & Cohen (2005)), and it is therefore essential for PA research to control for NA to assess whether the relationship between PA and self-reported health measures is merely due to the absence of NA, or a unique contribution of an orthogonal PA factor.
Additional variables have been shown to affect both health and PA and are controlled for in this study. SES is a potential spurious factor as it has been strongly linked to health (Adler et. al., 1994), and while no study appears to explore the connection between positive affect and SES, SES has been identified as a common risk factor for emotional health (Hudson, 2005).
Existence of religious affiliation has also been shown to affect health (Ferraro & Albrecht-Jensen, 1991) and positive affect (Fredrickson, 2002; Levin & Chatters, 1998). Employment status also has been shown to affect health (Bartley & Owen, 1996; Bambra, 2011) and positive affect (Puglesi, 1995). Similarly, relationship status has also been shown to affect both health (Verbrugge, 1979; Wyke & Ford, 1992) and positive affect (Wood, Rhodes, & Whelan, 1989)
While many of these studies are atheoretical in nature, two theoretical frameworks have been proposed for the influence of PA on health outcomes. The Main Effect Model proposes that PA affects physical systems such as cardiovascular, nervous system and endocrine pathways, as well as social and behavioural influences, whereas the Stress Buffering Model suggests that PA influences health through its ability to mitigate pathogenic outcomes of environmental stressors (Pressman & Cohen, 2005).
One pathway proposed by Smith and Baum (2003) suggests that PA’s stress buffering role may be achieved through inducing a proclivity toward self-caring restorative activities such as sleep, exercise, relaxation and spending time in natural environments, which in turn reduce the physical and negative affective stress responses which lead to disease. This stress-buffering perspective echoes theoretical and empirical research in the nature exposure, affect and health literature spearheaded by Roger Ulrich (Ulrich, Dimberg & Driver, 1991, Ulrich, Simons, Losito, Fiorito, Zelson. 1991, Ulrich & Parsons, 1992, Ulrich, 1993), which suggests that exposure to natural settings (real and, to a lesser extent, virtual) potentates an affective response which replaces negative affects with positive ones, and resultantly reduces stress activation and susceptibility to stress induction via restoration of cognitive, emotional, social and, importantly, physical resources (Hartig, Book, Garvill, Olsson & Garling, 1996). Together, these lines of research may suggest a causative pathway from trait-PA to nature exposure through to state-PA and stress-reduction leading to better health outcomes.
However, while these associations are well supported, diversity in research findings renders the direction of these relations uncertain (Hartig et al., 1996; Mayer et al., 2008). That is, it remains uncertain the extent to which, nature exposure, connection or relatedness cultivates trait-PA and state-PA versus the extent to which it may assist in sustaining PA which motivates nature-focussed activity in first instance.
The relationship between nature exposure and health is supported by findings which demonstrate that those exposed to nature have reduced heart rate, muscle tension, blood pressure, and improved skin conductance (Ulrich, Simons, Losito, Fiorito & Zelson, 1991); lower frequency of stress symptoms (Moore, 1981; Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989; Leather, Pyrgas, Beale & Lawrence, 1998) lower digestive illnesses and headaches (Moore, 1981) and also recover from illness faster (Lewis, 1996) and with more resilience to subsequent stress (Parsons, Tassinary, Ulrich, Hebl, Grossman-Alexander, 1998).
Strong associations between PA and nature exposure have been evidenced in cross-sectional correlation designs (Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecalm & Dolliver, 2009). Mediation of this relationship by one’s sense of nature connectedness, or affective sense of community with nature, as measured by Mayer and Frantz’s (2004) Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) has been observed by Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecal & Dolliver (1999).
Nisbet, Zelenski and Murphy’s (2009) nature relatedness (NR) construct transcends but includes the domains covered by the CNS by adding physical relation with nature to the construct. Nisbet & Zelenski (2011) demonstrated strong associations between NR and PA, and this was repeated in three cross-sectional correlation designs (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2011) where the NR construct strongly correlated with trait-PA measured on the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Importantly, NR was also found in these studies to be unrelated to NA prior to the control of environmental measures, suggesting a unique contribution of PA to this relationship. NR has also been shown to mediate the relationship between PA and nature exposure (Nisbet, Nealis, & Zelenski, 2011).
Accordingly, this study aims to assess whether trait-PA and self-reported global physical health are associated when controlling for NA, and demographic variables age, socio-economic status, religious affiliation, relationship status and employment status. In addition, this study aims to assess whether any relationship between trait-PA and global physical health is mediated by nature relatedness and/or exposure.
It is hypothesised that PA will be positively associated with PH, operationalised as a significant correlation between trait-PA scale scores on the PANAS and self-reported global physical health scores on the WHO-BREF (Hypothesis 1). It is further hypothesised that PA will continue to predict PH when controlling for: self-reported trait-NA (reported as a score on the PANAS NA sub-scale), age (reported in years); dichotomous SES by postcode (reported as either below or equal/above average), existence of religious affiliation, relationship status and employment status (Hypothesis 2). Thirdly, it is also hypothesised that NE will mediate the relationship between PA and PH (Hypothesis 3). Due to size limitations of this study, this mediation will employ an augmented version of the methodology for mediation analyses set out by Baron and Kenny (1986), and will be operationalised by: establishing Hypothesis 1, establishing a significant positive correlation between NE scores on the NE Questionnaire and self-reported trait-PA on the PANAS (Path 3a), establishing a significant positive correlation between NE scores on the NE Questionnaire and self-reported global health scores on the WHO-BREF (Path 3b), and then, by controlling for paths in hypotheses 3a and 3b in a hierarchical regression model, evidencing a significant diminution in the strength of the correlation between trait-PA scores on the PANAS and self-reported global health scores on the WHO-BREF. Finally, it is also hypothesised that NR will mediate the relationship between self-reported trait-PA and global physical health (Hypothesis 4), similarly operationalised by establishing Hypothesis 1, establishing a significant positive correlation between NR scores on the NR Scale and self-reported trait-PA on the PANAS (Path 4a), establishing a significant positive correlation between NR scores on the NR Scale and self-reported global health scores on the WHO-BREF (Path 4b), and then, by controlling for paths in hypotheses 4a and 4b in a hierarchical regression model, evidencing a significant diminution in the strength of the correlation between trait-PA scores on the PANAS and self-reported global health scores on the WHO-BREF.
Method
Participants
318 participants were recruited, and 297 completed the study. All were healthy adults aged between 18-79 sampled at convenience through invitation from student experimenters. 68.80% were female (n=192) and 31.20% were male (n=87). Mean age was 38.28 years (SD=11.78). Mean annual household income was between $70,001 - $105,000. 78.5% were employed. 19.3% had completed standard education and 80.7% had completed advanced education. 78.2% had a current partner, and 21.5% were currently single. 34.9% reported having a religious affiliation.
Materials
A copy of the survey used is included in Appendix 1.
Demographic Information. A demographic survey was administered using an online university website.
PANAS. The trait-scale of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) was used to assess participants’ trait positive and negative affect. The PANAS is a 20-item scale, divided into 2 separable 10-item positive and negative trait affect scales. Positive affect is characterized by feelings of enthusiasm, engagement, and alertness, whereas negative affect is characterized by various types of distress, including anger, contempt, disgust, guilt, fear, and nervousness. Participants rated the extent to which they had felt these mood states during the past few weeks using a modified Likert-type scale (1 = very slightly or not at all, 5 = extremely). The positive and negative affect scales both demonstrate moderately good internal consistency (NA: α=0.84 to 0.87, PA: α=0.86 to 0.90), and 8-week test-retest correlations were also good (PA: 0.47-0.68; NA 0.39-0.71) (Watson, 1988)
WHOQOL-BREF. The WHOQOL-BREF comprises of 26 items, which measure an individual’s self-reported perceptions of themselves across four broad health domains (subscales): physical health (“the PH subscale”), psychological health, social relationships, and environment. Participants rate questions (e.g. How satisfied are you with your health?) on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = lowest to 5 = highest). The full WHOQOL-BREF measure was administered, but only the PH subscale was used in the analysis of self-reported global physical health (PH). The test demonstrates moderately good internal consistency (α=.60-.90; PH subscale in healthy populations α=.87), and 8-week test-retest correlations were also above r=.80, PH subscale r=.86 (Murphy, Herrman, Hawthorne, Pinzone & Evert, 2000).
Nature Exposure Scale. The Nature Exposure Scale (Francis, 2011) is a four question measure testing the extent of one’s exposure to, and noticing of, natural and virtual nature settings in everyday life and on specific excursions to nature (e.g. In your everyday home, travel and work environments and activities, please rate your level of exposure to ‘natural environments’). Questions are answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = lowest to 5 = highest). The test demonstrates moderately good internal consistency (α=.707).
Nature Relatedness Scale. Nature relatedness was measured using the NR Scale (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2009). The scale requires participants to rate 21 items on a 5-point Likert scale (1=disagree strongly to 5=agree strongly). Each item asked participants to measure the extent to which they agree with statements evoking cognitive, affective, and physical connection with nature, e.g. “My relationship to nature is an important part of who I am”, “I enjoy digging in the earth and getting dirt on my hands”, “I don’t often go out in nature” (negatively keyed item). The NR Scale has demonstrated good test-retest reliability (r=.85), internal consistency (α=.87), convergent and discriminant validity and construct validity (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2009).
Procedure
Participants who agreed to participate were advised by letter from senior Monash University staff that approval for the study was granted by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee. Inclusion criteria were that paricipants were over 18 years and had computer access, and exclusion criteria were that participants must not be experiencing a severe or debilitating illness. All materials were administered online and completed in one sitting at participant’s convenience. All scored surveys were collated by university staff and uploaded as a data file on SPSS Version 18 software.
Results
SPSS Results are presented in Appendix 2. Raw data was cleansed and 23 cases removed because of missing information. Three outliers with Mahalanobis distances over 25 were identified and excluded from the analysis. One additional case was eliminated due to an absent employment score. Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure no violations in the assumptions of linearity, normality, multicollinearity, and homoscedasticity. P-P plots were inspected and confirmed normal distribution, and scatterplots confirmed a linear and homoscedastic distribution. Belsley’s (1991) limits for multicollinearity problems (Variance Inflation Factors (VIFs) above 10 and Tolerance values below 0.10) were not breached in the current regression models, with VIFs below 1.88 and Tolerance values above 0.53.
Descriptive statistics for measures used in the study are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1
Descriptive Statistics Mean (M) and Standard Deviations (SD) for Study Measures
Variable Mean SD
Physical Health 73.98 14.20
PA 34.84 6.69
NR 3.75 .63
NE 9.38 2.98
NA 18.50 6.39
Dichotomous SES from Postcode .91 .29
Existence of Religious Affiliation .35 .48
Relationship Status .78 .41
Employment Status .78 .41
PH means and standard deviations were similar to Australian normative data (M=80, SD=17.1) (Murphy, Herrman, Hawthorne, Pinzone & Evert, 2000). PA means and standard deviations were marginally higher than normative samples of Australian men (M=33.5, SD=5.9) and women (M=33.9, SD=5.1) (Watson & Clark, 1994). Similarly, NA means and standard deviations were higher than normative samples of Australian men (M=14.2, SD=4.1) and women (M=15.5, SD=5.3) (Watson & Clark, 1994). Mean NR scores were similar to the average reported by Nisbet, Zelenski and Murphy (2008) (M=3.71). NE score range was from 0-20. Dichotomous SES from postcode was coded 0 = below average, 1 = average to high. The dichotomous variables existence of religious affiliation, employment status and relationship status dichotomous were coded as (0 = No, 1= Yes).
Pearson product-moment correlations were computed and are presented in Table 2. Due to an error in scoring, the sign of the NE scale in correlation results were manually reversed.
Table 2
Correlations Between Study Variables
Measure 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Physical Health .33** .11* .15** -.40** .07 .11* -.18** .11* .20**
2. Positive Affect .18** .17** -.13** -.02 .11* -.03 .05 .10
3. Nature Relatedness .66** -.14* .06 .22** -.26** .16** -.01
4. Nature Exposure -.12** .40 .15** -.17** .12* -.03
5. Negative Affect -.02 -.21** .13* -.09 -.02
6. SES .08 -.21** .10* .10**
7. Age -.18** .27** -.05
8. Religion -.10* -.05
9. Relationship Status -.02
10. Employment Status
*p<0.05 (two-tailed), **p<0.01 (two-tailed)
SES = Dichotomous Socioeconomic Status From Postcode.
Pearson product-moment correlations were computed for all study variables and are presented in Table 2. PH was significantly positively correlated with PA (r2=.11), NR (r2=.01), NE (r2=.02), as well as age (r2=.01), relationship (r2=.01) and employment status (r2=.04). PH was also significantly negatively correlated with NA (r2=.16), and existence of religious affiliation (r2=.03). PA was also significantly positively correlated with NR (r2=.03) and NE (r2=.03), and significantly negatively correlated with NA (r2=.02). NR and NE were significantly positively correlated (r2=.44), and both were significantly negatively correlated with NA: NR (r2=.02), NE (r2=.01).
Additionally, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to examine whether PA could be used to predict PH after controlling for potentially confounding and/or mediating variables: NR, NE, NA, Dichotomous SES, age, existence of religious affiliation, and relationship and employment status.
Results are presented in Table 3.
Table 3
Hierarchical Multiple Regression Predicting Global Physical Health
Criterion Variable: Global Physical Health Β SEB β
Step 1 Constant 82.77 4.91
Negative Affect -.83 .12 -.38**
Dichotomous SES from Postcode .90 2.70 .02
Age -.00 .07 -.00
Religion -3.26 1.68 -.11*
Relationship Status 2.40 1.95 .07
Employment Status 6.63 1.88 .19**
Step 2 Constant 92.95 9.73
Negative Affect -.82 .12 -.37**
Dichotomous SES from Postcode .91 2.70 .02
Age -.01 .07 -.01
Religion -3.10 1.72 -.10
Relationship Status 2.24 1.95 .07
Employment Status 6.75 1.88 .20**
Nature Relatedness -1.26 1.67 -.06
Nature Exposure -.60 .34 -.13
Step 3 Constant 75.00 10.04
Negative Affect -.77 .12 -.35**
Dichotomous SES from Postcode 1.48 2.59 .03
Age -.03 .07 -.02
Religion -3.37 1.65 -.11*
Relationship Status 2.15 1.87 .06
Employment Status 5.75 1.81 .17**
Nature Relatedness -1.86 1.61 -.08
Nature Exposure -.48 .33 -.10
Positive Affect .56 .11 .26**
** p<.01 * p<.05
Durbin-Watson tests revealed no violation of the independence of errors assumption.
The analysis revealed that the variables in Step 1: NA, dichotomous SES from postcode, age, existence of religious affiliation, relationship and employment status (“Step 1 Variables”) significantly predicted PH, F (6, 267) = 12.31, p < .01, accounting for 21.7% (adjusted R2 = .20) of the variability.
Adding NR and NE in Step 2 did not significantly improve the prediction of PH, ∆F (2, 265) = 1.63, p >.05, accounting for only 1% of the variability in PH. Thus, together, the Step 1 variables, NE and NR, significantly predicted PH, F (8, 265) = 9.69, p < .01, accounting for 22.6% (adjusted R2 = .20) of its variability.
Adding PA in Step 3 significantly improved the prediction of PH, ∆F (1, 264) = 23.83, p < .01, accounting for an additional 6.4% of the variability in PH. Thus, together, the Step 1 variables, NE, NR, and PA significantly predicted PH, F (9, 264) = 12.00, p < .01, accounting for 29% (adjusted R2 = .27) of its variability.
Table 3 shows the regression coefficients for this analysis. As can be seen in the table, when only the Step 1 variables were included in the regression model, NA, existence of religious affiliation and employment status were significant predictors of PH. When NR and NE were added to the regression model, they were not significant predictors of PH, and NA and employment status remained significant predictors of PH. When PA was additionally included in the regression model, it, together with NA, employment status, and again, existence of religious affiliation, were each significant and unique predictors of PH.
A meditational analysis was performed to test the hypothesis that NR and NE would mediate the relationship between PA and PH. An additional hierarchical multiple regression was performed to assess the whether there was a diminution in the extent to which PA predicted PH when NR and NE were removed from the regression model.
Step 1 in the analysis above is identical the first regression model. Adding PA in Step 2 of this regression did significantly improve the prediction of PH, ∆F (1, 266) = 25.12, p < .01, accounting for 6.8% of the variability in PH. When contrasted with the first regression model, NA and NE accounted for a very marginal .4% of the variability in PH, consistent with a weak mediation effect.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to assess whether trait-PA and self-reported global physical health are associated when controlling for NA, and demographic variables age, socio-economic status, religious affiliation, relationship status and employment status. In addition, this study also aimed to assess whether any relationship between trait-PA and global physical health is mediated by nature relatedness and/or exposure.
The first hypothesis that PA would be significantly and positively associated with PH was supported.
The second hypothesis that PA would continue to predict PH after controlling for NA, SES, existence of religious affiliation, relationship and employment status, was also supported. PA was a significant independent predictor of PH after controlling for each of these predictor variables in the regression model.
Taken together, these results confirm previous findings of the unique role of trait-PA in predicting self-reported health (e.g. Takkouche, 2001; Roysamb, 2003), and provide contrary evidence to equivocal findings of Watson and Pennebaker (1989) who observed small, or in some cases negative, associations between PA and self-reported health (symptom reporting). The significant and unique contribution of PA to PH after controlling for NA lends further cross-sectional support to prospective studies that suggest an independent role of PA to PH when controlling for NA (Cohen, et al., 2003; Ostir, et al., 2001; Smith, et al., 1997). However, NA was significantly negatively correlated with PA in this study, and remained the strongest unique predictor of PH in the regression model, demonstrating that previously observed PANAS sub-scale independence (e.g. Egloff, 1999; Deiner, Smith & Fujita, 1995) was not present and suggesting that PA and NA were not orthogonal factors in this study. This potentially confounds the independence of these results. Given the strong psychometric properties of the PANAS, further research should seek to replicate the current findings in further populations to assess whether the independence between PA and NA observed in other studies (Cohen, et al., 2003; Ostir, et al., 2001; Smith, et al., 1997) can be repeated.
The third and fourth hypotheses that NR and NE would each mediate the relationship between PA and PH were not strongly supported. While NR and NE both significantly correlated with PA and PH, when added to the regression model, they were not significant predictors of PH at any step. In the comparison between the first regression model and the second that excluded NR and NE, NR and NE accounted for a negligible .4% of the variability in PH. This unexpected result is in contrast to Smith and Baum (2003) and Ulrich’s (1992) suggested pathway for the stress-buffering contribution of PA to PH. Given the strong and repeated correlations between PA, trait-NR and NE (Nisbet, Nealis, & Zelenski, 2011; Nisbet & Zelenski, 2011), myriad health benefits (Nisbet, Zelenski & Murphy, 2011), and also the meditational observations of Mayer, Frantz, Bruehlman-Senecal & Dolliver (1999) and Nisbet, Nealis, & Zelenski, (2011) demonstrating a mediating relationship of NR between NE and PA, these results suggest that a different causative process may account for the relationship of nature exposure and relatedness to PA and PH. Given the strong associations between PA and PH in this study, and previous meditational results, further research should test models that posit PA as a potential mediating factor in the relationship between nature and health.
The current study only tested trait-PA, and not state-PA. Given the theoretical bases for suggesting a restorative role for nature in stimulating stress-buffering health benefits, differential testing of state and trait affect in future studies would be prudent for studies attempting to understand whether trait and state PA affect the meditational pathways between the varieties of PA, nature and health outcomes in different ways (e.g. as a motivator for vs an outcome of nature exposure and relatedness). Similarly, subscales of nature experience were bundled in this study, and future discrimination of types of nature experience and relatedness (e.g. NR-scale subscales, virtual v natural nature view, exposure vs view) should be the subject of additional research.
Because self-report measures are subject to affect-elicited self-report biases (Cohen & Williamson, 1991), future research should consider replicating these results alongside other direct observation measures of health.
Issues of affect valence may affect the current results. The PANAS scale has been repeatedly shown to privilege activated positive affect (happy, cheerful), as opposed to non-activated PA (e.g. contentment, calm) (Egloff, 1999). Ulrich (1992) and Smith and Baum (2003) both focused their research and sound theory on the basis that nature induces non-activated PA, and accordingly the observations which predicate the hypotheses of this study may be affected by issues of valence. To test potential for a differential role of valence, future research should provide for either a measure of low-arousal PA or introduce a range of affect and mood measures sensitive to differences in valence (e.g. Egloff, 1999).
These findings further implicate hedonic trait-PA in the establishment and maintenance of positive health, but do not explain the role of nature relatedness or exposure in that relationship. The unique contribution of PA to health is an important issue for public health research, and especially in the production of preventative health and disease management protocols and campaigns. Importantly, demonstrating the effect of hedonic PA on health adds another feather in the cap of the broader subjective wellbeing research canon which has demonstrated strong associations with eudaimonic measures and health. Ultimately, these results demonstrate that emotions do provide a significant pathway in the connection between psychological stress and physical disease. Future research will hopefully further elucidate the role of nature in this equation.
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