I sprained my ankle this week trekking carelessly and too quickly up an uneven hill, and couldn't go walking or do yoga for three days. I felt extremely frustrated until I decided to use the time to meditate instead. In 10 years experimenting with the world of well-being, it's the single most replenishing thing I've learnt to do, and an increasing number of spas across the globe seem to agree, for they now offer private and group sessions of meditation. You'll get a more instant result from a good massage or facial, of course, while a meditation session can be frustrating and difficult. But if you have a good teacher you'll take home the tools you need to calm yourself down for the rest of your life - and stay physically healthy.
The goal of meditation isn't to stop thinking, but to enable us to become dispassionate observers of our thoughts. When we're more detached from our worries and our fears, we develop a sense of ease, of "being" rather than "doing". This process of "letting go" is not only deeply relaxing, but has a direct healing effect on our physical health, reducing blood pressure, increasing our immunity, easing chronic pain, even minimising depression.
The British-Indian neuroscientist Shanida Nataraja explores meditation in her book The Blissful Brain. When we think too much, she says, we're over-using the left halves of our brains, the part associated with analytical, rational processing, and neglecting the right side, which is associated with abstract thought, visual-spatial perception and emotions. Meditation rebalances us because it uses the alpha brain wave, a sign that we're activating the parasympathetic nervous system and giving ourselves a rest from the more familiar "fight or flight" responses of our sympathetic nervous system that stress us out and make us ill. Meditation also improves our concentration, memory and decision-making because it puts both halves of our brains to work.
It's pretty impressive stuff for such a seemingly simple task. The American neuroscientist Candace Pert has also studied meditation and found that emotions can cause biological changes in the body which can in turn cause diseases. So by detaching from anger, hate or desire through meditation, we are positively affecting the make-up of our hearts and brains. The meditation teacher Guy Burgs, who set up The Retreat in Bali, takes this one step further. "The huge increase in degenerative conditions over the last 50 years is largely due to our obsessive minds and the lack of mindfulness that most people have in their bodies," he told me. A scary thought.
In a spa meditation session, you'll find most teachers will begin with the simplest way of meditating, which is to concentrate on your in and out breath while sitting with a straight back on the floor, a meditation stool or a chair. This process recreates the Buddhist notion that the past has left us, the future has (always) yet to come, and this moment is all there ever is. As thoughts intrude, you acknowledge them rather than trying to forcibly replace or suppress them, but then gently return your attention to the breath. The eyes can be closed, though in Tibetan Buddhist meditation you keep your eyes open to remain more present.
Other techniques include visualisation, concentration on a symbol such as a candle, a flower or mandala, or repeating a mantra. While in theory you should be able to meditate whatever your surroundings, quiet is important when you start out. I did a group meditation at a spa recently where the teacher played background music - this was really very irritating, as I just felt like I was sitting in a room being forced to listen to music that wasn't very good. After 15 minutes of this I asked her to turn it off, but my concentration was gone. Don't play music when you're meditating - listening to it will keep your brain waves on a "busy" frequency and thwart the process.
Once you've mastered it, just 15 minutes meditation a day will make a difference, though being mindful of simple tasks such as washing up, walking across your terrace or making a cup of tea is also a form of meditation. It's this type that I'm rather better at because it fits more realistically into my lifestyle. Done properly, activities such as yoga, qigong and tai chi are also a form of meditation in motion, as are swimming and walking - though not, of course, if they lead to a sprained ankle. From now on, I'll go slower so I can keep up with my new found meditative friend.
Caroline Sylger-Jones is the author of Body & Soul Escapes, a travel resource book of over 450 places around the globe where you can replenish mind, body and soul. Her second book, Body & Soul Escapes: Britain & Ireland will be published in November. See @email:www.carolinesylge.com
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
