Can dervish whirling improve circulation?
Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:17 am
-http://www.speakingtree.in/spiritual-ar ... -a-dervish"The movement is ... meant to mimic the movement of the earth around its own axis as well as its journey around the sun. The dervishes move faster and faster in a synchronised way, their eyes half closed till they are a twirling blur.
...revolution is a natural order of things from the planets to the atom. Even the blood in our body is constantly circulating. Rumi said, ‘Wherever you turn, there is God’; maybe, that explains why the dancers twirl round and round fluidly in a trance like state, never dizzy or knocking against one another, feet never faltering. Their eyes are glazed and their heads flop to one side.
They say that the dance had its origins in Konya, a city in the Anatolia region of Turkey. When Rumi was roaming the streets, he heard the rhythmic beat of a goldsmith’s hammer on the anvil ... he started whirling joyfully in tune with it and reached a trance-like state. He later danced in front of his followers accompanied by his poems. The rest is history!
There is a technique behind whirling. The dervishes keep their left foot solidly planted and their skirts hems are lined with mesh. They are known to train on a wooden board, one metre square, with the toes of one foot positioned against a nail. Being a dervish means learning to control your body through special breathing techniques that help you to overcome any nausea arising out of spinning. But the essential ingredient is much more than just careful footwork and deep concentration. It’s about a mystical journey and the devotion and the spiritual union with God.
...
...Today, dervishes can be ordinary people like students, office workers or teachers. It takes almost a year’s training which includes learning to play music... and writing calligraphy."
Surely whirling is exercise at least, for the legs, and must assist the forcible circulation of arterial blood to the hands. They are said to be held bent palms facing opposite each other, one up, one down.
Except for the blood pumped by muscles of the legs, it can't help blood in extremities return via veins, because the centrifugal force is outward, away from the more central heart.
It would help the left heart muscle force blood outward from the centre of rotation but oppose venous blood returning from outside the centre. The leg movement would involve continuous operation of the venous pumps in the calves and thighs. Central veins like the jugulars and azygus would be less affected than more outside ones.
If the head is flopped over to one side there would be more outward force on the neck and brain. Gravity would still have the same effect on blood as when a person is upright but not whirling.
Anybody tried it?
(This post is not meant to offend any religious belief, but only to assist in a quest for the right treatment. Do not try this at home.)
