Mbody and body in balance a new series of books is called (details below) focused on a fundamental concept: for health, for well-being there is a need for a transversal approachAnd. The good news? The strategies are simple, within anyone’s reach and concern breathing, nutrition, meditation, contact with nature, walking, silence…
«Today, between wars and ecological catastrophes, starting from ourselves, from awareness of who we are is a form of social revolution: the only possible form of non-bloody revolution. It’s the opposite of disengagement, of ego-reference” smiles the editorial director, Daniel Lumera, naturalist biologist, writercreator of International School of Forgivenesspromoter of International Kindness Movement and projects in prisons, schools and hospitals.
Daniel Lumera, awareness is revolutionary
«Meditate» continues Lumera, who embarked on this path 32 years ago, «it is a civil duty, a provocation, almost an act of disobedience: the world runs and you – without fear of being abandoned, of being left behind – stop and seek that solitude that brings you closer to yourself. And when you learn to listen to yourself, you learn to listen to others too. We live in a hyper-performing context, our brain is in a state of chronic inflammation. The scientific data is disconcerting: our mind spends 47 percent of its time thinking about what isn’t happening and must handle 74 gigabytes of information per day. We are not allowed regenerative breaks, we are in chronic reserve: this is why we often get sick».
Daniel Lumera, 49 years old, naturalist biologist and bestselling author (the latest book is Stop and Breathe, published by Solferino). He founded the volunteer organization My Life Design. (Photo Alberto Buzzanca)
Why meditating is good, the science proves
In short, the context can lead us to have adrenaline peaks and then depressive downs which we try to compensate for through pharmacological chemistry. But in this way we limit ourselves to quelling the symptoms by perpetuating a daily rhythm disconnected from the natural one. These are not new age beliefs, Lumera is keen to underline, citing the data from memory hundreds of international scientific studies (over 40 thousand alone appeared on PubMed, the most authoritative scientific search engine). «They all recognize the irrefutable connection between mental states and the functioning of our organism and demonstrate that the application of a methodological and strategic approach such as the one suggested by our series of texts even has an impact on slowing down the aging processes».
A practical example? «It has been proven that, in two and a half months of meditation practice, our body produces 30 percent more telomerase (the enzyme that repairs the “caps” of our chromosomes, increasing cellular regeneration)».
Revolution of the social fabric
The series, released with iO Donna, Corriere della Sera And Gazzetta dello Sport, opens with a bestseller signed by himself Lumera with Franco Berrinoepidemiologist and former director of the Department of Preventive and Predictive Medicine at the National Cancer Institute of Milan: The Way of lightness. Lose weight in body and soul.
Losing weight in the body is already a challenge, if we also add the soul… «But no: proceeding on both fronts is easier. And definitive” laughs Daniel. «The excess kilos, perhaps lost with drastic diets, are destined to be regained if we don’t get to the root. Lightness is a mental state, before a physical one: we need to get rid of toxic relational burdens, anger, practice forgiveness (which is neither forgetting nor justifying, but rather emptying the past of the constructs that create suffering). In many people the heaviness comes from fear of emptiness: we fill our homes with objects and appointment diaries so as not to stop and finally listen to the wonder of life. Which – of course – also involves the fear of the unknown. Meditation helps us face this emptiness and return to the essential, to minimalism.
Silence is essential to understand if you are truly living life that resembles you, if you are making use of your talents, your vocation.” The conversation with Lumera opens one small door after another, moving from a reflection on evolutionism and on Darwin (“We misunderstood him: he didn’t say that the fittest survives, those who best adapt to change survive») to the analysis of a common, banal phrase: «Finish what you have on your plate». «It seems ethical, but in reality it hides two pitfalls. The first: we invite children to adapt to the rules instead of getting used to listening and recognizing the wisdom of the body. The second: by rewarding them when they have been “good”, we create an addiction to approval in them and, therefore, we push them towards approval. We “train” them, we don’t educate them, when instead the sweeping revolution of the social fabric must start precisely from the educational system.”
To continue with…? «The introduction into healthcare of the preventive approach integrated with the “natural medicines” that the books in the series deal with, followed by the change in the penitentiary system: we must invest in recovery and in understanding the causes of discomfort. Punishment doesn’t work, 70 percent of prisoners are repeat offenders. In the Pagliarelli prison, in Palermo, we inaugurated a meditation room for prison guards and inmatesexperiencing a reduction in conflict. And we must not stop here: we need to rethink politics, the economy…”.
The seven steps to harmony
«Peace in yourself, peace in the world» was the belief of the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, of which Lumera proposes The seven steps to harmony. «Meditation is not a practice, it is a value system: you learn to cultivate not only perseverance, patience, perseverance, dedication, but also compassion, kindness, forgiveness. And it works by osmosis» he adds. In what sense? «In 2022, at the Maxxi in Rome, we gave birth – with the public and the team of researchers of Professor Giacomo Rizzolatti (the neuroscientist who discovered mirror neurons, ed) to the experiment “The Meditating Mind”. I’ll make it short: it has emerged that a brain in a deep meditative process helps others reach the same condition. I repeat: it is not an individual issue. It is collective, social. Political”.
“Mind and body in balance” edited by Daniel Lumera: the titles released weekly
“Mind and body in balance” the series edited by Daniel Lumera on newsstands from January 25th.
JANUARY 25
Franco Berrino, Daniel Lumera: The way of lightness
FEBRUARY 1st
Daniel Goleman, Richard J. Davidson: Meditation as a cure
FEBRUARY 8
Dalai Lama, Daniel Goleman: Destructive emotions
FEBRUARY 15
Frédéric Gros: Go on foot
FEBRUARY 22
Daniel Lumera: The cure of forgiveness
MARCH 1st
Remo Bassetti: History and practice of silence
MARCH 8
Thich Nhat Hanh: The seven steps to harmony
MARCH 15
Chandra Candiani: This immense not knowing
MARCH 22
Matthieu Ricard, Wolf Singer: Brain and meditation
MARCH 29
Fabrizio Benedetti: Hope is a drug
APRIL 5
Pema Chodron: Live in beauty
APRIL 12
Daniel Lumera: 28 breaths to change your life
APRIL 19
Alberto Pellai, Barbara Tamborini: Belong
APRIL 26
Megan Devine: It’s okay to be sad
MAY 3
Aaron Elaine: Highly sensitive people
10 MAY
Dacher Keltner: Wow!
MAY 17
Patanjali: Yoga Sutras
MAY 24
Rabindranath Tagore: The true essence of life
MAY 31st
Lao Tzu: Tao te ching
JUNE 7
Frank Ostaseski: Five invitations
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