Adaptation, habit, learning, plasticity allow us to reinvent ourselves for survival, whether biological or intellectual in a broad sense (I mean the ability to make thoughts, points of view or decisions flexible when we seek agreement with other people).

We can see the adaptation in how we get used to the weight of clothes on our bodies, in the way we incorporate new cultures or routines. These are changes that can occur unconsciously or consciously; sometimes to keep up with the times, and other times to achieve what we want to do or become who we want to be.

First you learn, then you repeat and it becomes a habit. By sustaining it over time, that profound change occurs: plasticity, transformation. Once something has been learned, it is available as a resource, ready to be activated when we need it. Think, for example, of the ability to concentrate.

Some tasks require very little attention, but others require 100%. If we don't invest that energy, we may not achieve the expected result, or it may take much longer to achieve it and we will spend more resources than necessary.

Habit and learning also apply to concentration. We can learn to focus the mind when we want and to abstract ourselves from what is happening around us, to generate a state of full concentration.

You can start training your concentration without it being useful at that moment. Like a game. Choose a time of day, it can be at your work desk, and fix your gaze on a point in front of you — an image, a mark on the wall or some object on the table. If you see that you are dispersing, change the object on which you are focusing. Sustain the exercise for a couple of minutes. You will notice how the environment begins to blur. Once that capacity for abstraction is trained, it is time to sustain attention on the chosen point.

In this way we train the mind and thought. And when the time comes to need more attention and concentration, the habit will already be in you: your head will know what you are proposing and will play along ;)

Fragment from the book Welcome Yôga by Edgardo Caramella

Chapter on Organic Cleansing Techniques (Kriyás)

Nature has distributed remedies everywhere.

PLINY THE ELDER

Talking about organic cleansing implicitly means affirming that we need to eliminate waste and toxins from our organism in some way.

Until the beginning of the industrial era, man only had to face the natural aggressions of the external environment. Toxic fruits, poisonous mushrooms, plants that produced allergies, microbes, bacteria, poisonous animals, etc., were its main enemies. But today, as a consequence of progress and great industrialization, the human being is increasingly disturbed in his biological balance, by his life habits and also by the chemical invasion of the environment that surrounds him, which does not stop increasing.

Since we cannot change the world, the most intelligent, feasible and effective thing is to change ourselves.

In ancient times, the yôgis developed a series of very effective techniques, called kriyás, to stimulate organic detoxification.

In our body there is an accumulation of undesirable substances, either due to the entry of foreign substances or due to the excessive accumulation of toxins. Toxins are waste products from cellular metabolism. A part of them comes from the wear and tear of the organism in its biological life; others are generated as a consequence of the degradation and transformation of food substances. In small quantities, their presence is perfectly normal since the organism is prepared to get rid of them.

This clearly shows us that we must adapt our diet to our needs, since, if we eat more than we can burn, the body is faced with an excess of substances that it does not know what to do with.

Scientists affirm that each person consumes an average of three kilos per year of additives, such as colorants, emulsifiers, stabilizers, preservatives, etc., which are currently present in almost all foods. But we not only assimilate toxins through the digestive tract; harmful substances also reach us through the skin, which is extremely permeable. When we breathe, we incorporate tobacco smoke, hydrocarbon gases and many other substances that are present in the air even if we ignore it.

It seems a polar wave is coming. Yesterday winter began. Today it rained, the sun came out, it got cloudy, it was cold, it was nice. A lot of diversity throughout the same day. If my decisions / plans had depended on the weather, I would have been a kite at the total mercy of stimuli. And if I had ignored my surroundings, I would definitely have had a bad time.

July, which is approaching, brings multiple themes, such as the weather today. It is my turn to write about freedom and discipline; Meanwhile, the furious wind of the beginning of winter blows, gets between the trees and to that clear climate of unease, which is sometimes experienced on Sundays, is added that of the restlessness of the wind, of what can apparently be, in the same way, kind and hostile.

I feel before this subject as one who sits before a small fire that shelters. In part it was because of this sometimes unthinkable duo —freedom and discipline— that years ago, one day, I decided that I wanted to teach the DeRose Method. It was the combination of those two things that I didn't know it was possible to put together. I call discipline, in my case, the ability to build anything: paint a picture, run a school, write a book of poems, sustain a bond, train something consistently (beyond the weather). I call discipline the sum of little bricks that give existence to what we want to carry out. And freedom, the way we build it. Without that reaching the point of subduing us. Being able to build, create, carry out projects, relationships, life itself without it being at our expense. It seems obvious, but it is not. That is why it often happens to us that, even doing what we like, something is not being as we wanted. And not because everything has to be as we want, far from it. But sometimes we have that clear feeling of being aware of more, that what we want to do so much is occupying places that belong to other things, even that it has lost its course and overflows everywhere.

I thought that freedom and discipline permeate the way we train in schools, but also our way of teaching, working and building. Not because we always do well, but because it is a variable that we take into account when making decisions, I would almost say when doing anything.

Discipline brings us the possibility of building. Freedom, to establish a bond with what we are creating, whether individually or collectively; a loving, considerate, powerful, channeled and therefore lasting bond. I don't know if you've ever wondered how freedom and discipline coexist in you, but know that they are a great duo and, when they go hand in hand in a project, they unleash unexpected potential.

Learn breathing techniques to better deal with emotions:

There are several breathing techniques we can use to regulate our emotions and improve our emotional well-being. Here are some of them:

Diaphragmatic breathing:

This technique consists of breathing deeply through the nose, filling the lungs with air and expanding the abdomen. Then, slowly release the air through the nostrils, while the abdomen goes in. When air enters, the abdomen projects outwards, when air exits, the abdomen goes in. This technique can help manage anxiety and stress.

Rhythmic breathing:

This technique initially consists of applying a time to inhale and exhale. You can add retention time with and/or without air. However, these are more advanced variations, and it is advisable to learn with a properly trained teacher. Rhythmic breathing brings mental stability and contributes to improving sleep.

Start using the 1-1-1 rhythm. This means that you will inhale, hold the air in your lungs, and exhale in the same time, which can be 3, 4, 5 seconds, depending on your breathing capacity.

If this rhythm is very comfortable for you, switch to 1-2-1. That is, doubling the retention time with air.

No technique should cause discomfort or accelerate the heart.

Alternate breathing:

This technique, as the name suggests, consists of alternating the nostril through which you breathe. Excellent for stabilizing emotions and improving concentration. You should alternate the nostril in activity whenever the lungs are full of air.

Accelerated breathing:

Do this technique ALWAYS SITTING. IF YOU FEEL DIZZY, STOP. It can be useful for increasing energy and motivation. Breathe quickly and deeply through your nose at an accelerated rate, keeping your mouth closed and your expression relaxed.

Accelerated breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system and is excellent for times when we need an extra boost of energy and more lucidity.

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Consult your doctor before performing any of these techniques. They do not serve as therapy, although they greatly improve the quality of life.

In addition to the techniques mentioned, it is important to remember that simple conscious and focused breathing helps to regulate emotions and promote greater emotional balance in times of stress or anxiety.

Therefore, start observing yourself in your daily life: notice how your breathing is, especially in moments of greater challenge or difficulty.

It's not the same to read, study, or practice philosophy.

We can read philosophy like reading a story. In search of inspiration, perhaps learning something, incorporating some thought model to solve an issue that afflicts us.

We can go to university to study philosophy. Read many authors. Compare them. Listen to profound explanations of the context in which the texts were written, the stories and lives of their authors. Become expert connoisseurs of the proposals of each philosophical line.

But practicing philosophy is another thing.

Practicing philosophy is living it. It is having a compass and using it so as not to walk aimlessly. It is permanently applying the proposed thought models to the small and big moments of life. Especially to the small ones, because with a little luck that prepares us for the big ones.

Training meditation is, to a large extent, training concentration. A simple meditation exercise is to imagine a geometric figure and try to keep that image present without getting distracted.

In very brief moments we will inevitably get distracted. The distractions that arise will be of one of these three types: physical, emotional, or mental.

A physical distraction can be, for example, that the knees start to hurt, the back gets tired, or the neck bothers us. Physical sensations that take the focus of attention that we were trying to maintain on a certain thought and bring it towards the body.

An emotional distraction is a little more subtle. For example, we may feel anxiety or boredom. Perhaps a feeling of sadness surfaces. Or if we had a bad day and we are in a bad mood, it becomes difficult to direct attention towards the object of concentration.

Mental distractions are thoughts. We remember something, we start thinking about something else. We make associations. We direct attention to memories of the past or projections of the future.

To reduce these distractions and advance in meditation training, all these aspects (physical, emotional and mental) have to be worked on. Performing a comprehensive work of the individual is crucial if we want to obtain true results with this technique.

Book - Thoughts Unveiled - DeRose
Biological yeast for life to grow and become fluffy

I think, therefore I am. This is how Descartes referred to the human prerogative to think, in his Discourse on the Method, in 1637. With this, we conclude that the Method has been discussed since at least that date!

There are many ways to transmit the DeRose Method: technical, philosophical, ethical, behavioral discourse, stories, messages or through sutras, which are the maxims of this book. Sometimes, a simple sentence contains the synthesis of a complex premise or the impact of a perception capable of changing your life forever.

The thoughts in this book are little seeds upon which you can meditate and, with that, germinate conclusions, discoveries, paths through which, who knows, you will be able to lead your life with more security, success and harmony. These maxims can be the path of stones, through which you will lead your destiny, erring less and getting it right more; suffering less and enjoying more. These sutras provide maturity, consideration, understanding, comfort and even a certain mastery over the facts of life.

Available on our website!

In our understanding, stress is the psycho-organic state produced by the mismatch between the individual's potential and the challenge they need to face. Stress is the consequence of the psychophysical effort to face the obstacle. To manage stress, we try to increase the practitioner's energy, so that their potential rises and they can face the challenge from top to bottom.

Stress in itself is not a bad thing. Without it, the human being would be vulnerable and would not be able to fight, work or create with the necessary energy. What is bad is the excess of stress or the lack of control over it.

Between one psychophysical alert and another, the person would be able to recover from this state of extreme organic and mental tension. For this, it would be necessary that there be less frequency of the state of tension or, then, specific techniques to minimize the resulting generalized fatigue and that produces a chain reaction of secondary effects such as heart attack, high blood pressure, migraine, insomnia, depression, nervousness, drop in productivity, hair loss, herpes, digestive problems, ulcer, gastritis, sexual impotence, back pain and the worst of all health problems: the doctor's bills!

Just reduce stress to also alleviate all its effects, which, otherwise, would hardly yield to a definitive solution. They would be merely palliative measures or a masking of the symptoms.

The DeRose Method has in its collection several efficient resources to reduce stress to healthy levels. This opinion is shared by a good number of doctors who recommend this method to their stressed patients.

For this reason, there are many entrepreneurs, executives, artists and liberal professionals who seek, in the DeRose Method, the extra dose of energy and dynamism they need, but, at the same time, the control of stress.

Ninety percent of people feel the effects of combating stress already in the first session of our method. Our techniques and social activities stimulate oxytocin, which is a hormone produced in the hypothalamus. With its stimulation, levels of cortisol (stress hormone) decrease in the body.

From the pocket book Stress
Professor DeRose, Egrégora Books

One day, I went to the dermatologist to have him analyze my hair loss, and he said, It's stress. And it was no use explaining that I am the least stressed person he has ever met. I work at what I love, I wake up whenever I want, I decide what I want to do, I have a wife who is a sweetheart and we never argue, my secretary takes care of everything for me... in short: I have no stress at all. But the dermatologist continued to think that the hair loss was due to stress and not testosterone.

Some time later, I went to the cardiologist to control my blood pressure, which was a little high, and he pontificated: It's stress. And it was no use explaining that my father had high blood pressure, so the first suspicion should be genetics. He continued to think it was the supposed stress.
On another occasion, I went to the gastroenterologist to see if we could locate the bacteria that I had certainly brought from my many trips to India and that was causing abdominal cramps. He told me: This is stress. And it was no use explaining that, with 25 years of traveling to the Himalayas, it was inevitable that I had brought bacteria, protozoa and a whole zoological garden of microorganisms different from ours. He continued to think that the cause was stress.

One day, I hurt my back practicing Aikido. I went to the orthopedist and, as soon as I declared that I had back pain, he told me, based on his experience: It's stress. And it was no use explaining that the cause had been trauma. He persisted in saying that, regardless of the impact on the vertebrae, stress was associated with back pain.

But the most incredible thing was when, years later, I went to the dentist with an abscess in a tooth and the dentist immediately said: It's stress. Recent studies have proven that stress triggers abscesses and all sorts of inflammations, including cancer, because it lowers the body's resistance.

What is the conclusion?
The conclusion of the cases above is that, whatever your problem, the trigger may have been stress. You may have viruses and bacilli in your body that would never create any problems if there was no decrease in immunological capacity due to stress. This is the case of the herpes virus, which is there quietly until you have an episode of stress: immediately the nasty blisters start to appear on the lips or on the genitals. You may have a genetic predisposition to cancer, but it would never develop if there was no decrease in the body's resistance.

From the pocket book Stress
Professor DeRose, Egrégora Books

The rules of etiquette are basically applicable to followers of the clean proposal. However, these tips will be useful to everyone, as they aim to develop an aesthetic sense of behavior with universal scope.

It is indeed true that a DeROSE Method practitioner has a more elegant, cordial behavior and a polished ability to manage conflicts. Therefore, we must be attentive to a perfect family, social and professional integration. Obviously, we try to maintain mimicry in order not to attract attention. But sometimes it doesn't work. So, may we be noticed and remembered for our elegance, sympathy, culture and cordiality.

Most of the rules of conduct arose from practical reasons. If you can discover the vein of human consideration, you will also have discovered the origin of all the formulas of etiquette. It all comes down to a matter of education. Good manners are the ways of acting in the company of other people so as not to invade their space, not to embarrass them and to make everyone feel good and at ease in your presence. Therefore, good manners are a matter of common sense.

By the way, with regard to this detail, let's recognize that good manners are also constantly changing conventions, depending on time and space. Therefore, the etiquette manual that is useful for Europe is not useful for Japan and what was published a few years ago may already be outdated today, as the world is changing rapidly.
So, the best thing you can do when you are out of your habitat is to wait for others to act first, observe and do the same. If they eat with their hands, follow suit; if with chopsticks, try to do the same.
But if, despite everything, you cannot follow certain customs, simply decline them. I will never be able to slurp soup or tea, or burp at the end of a meal as is correct in some countries. In these cases, I count on the indulgence of the hosts for the fact that I am a foreigner who does not know how to behave 100% according to local manners. I settle for about 95%.

However, if you are the host, put your guest at ease, doing as he or she does — whenever possible. I have a friend who, in order not to embarrass his guest, accompanied him and drank the lavender that was served after the meal to wash the tips of his fingers.

Another well-known fact was that of an Arab diplomat who, at a gala reception, finished eating a chicken drumstick and threw the bone back over his shoulder. For a moment, everyone looked at each other as if asking: What shall we do?. Immediately afterwards, the host imitated him and then everyone was throwing their bones over their shoulders... and having a lot of fun with it.

From the book Method of Good Manners,
Professor DeRose, Egrégora Books