Dr. Andrew Belaveshkin

  The principle of the golden mean. The tendency to swing to extremes in the search for truth has long been recognized by people. Buddha explained this using the metaphor of a musical instrument, asking, “Tell me, will music sound if the string is too loose?” — “No, teacher.” “And will we hear music if the string is pulled so tight it’s about to snap?” — “No, teacher.”    Buddha continued, “The music you wish to draw from yourself will only emerge when the strings are neither too loose nor too tight but perfectly balanced in the middle. Know that excessive tension leads to excess, while too much relaxation results in weakness. Find your balance — only then can you achieve your goals.”   This principle applies to improving your health as well. There is always a golden mean, optimal performance or resilience point, and the lowest mortality risk. The golden mean may differ among individuals depending on their genetics and lifestyle. It can be determined empirically by c...

 If you are reading these lines, you are most likely concerned about your health, think about your future, want to become tougher and stronger, live longer and better. Concern about the optimal state of health is already an indication of health since people who live one day simply don’t think about the long-term consequences of their actions. However, you are here, which means that you believe in yourself and are ready to handle various challenges. Referring to the question: “What’s the most important thing for you?” we confidently respond, “Health!” I guess you’d be surprised if I suddenly say that health shouldn’t be your primary goal. After all, we end conversations by wishing each other to stay healthy, and one of the toasts during feasts (which aren’t always healthy) will definitely be to everyone’s health. With all responsibility, I declare that the excessive pursuit of health is a symptom of poor health. A person who sets health as their main goal is certainly unhealthy and...

 Practice of verbal awareness, or how language shapes thinking. According to the Sapir–Whorf theory of linguistic relativity, the structure and vocabulary of a language can influence how we categorize and perceive the world, especially in the domain of embodiment, where linguistic concepts are tied to bodily and sensory experience.   Many effects have been studied: having distinct words for colors improves color discrimination; ways of describing space influence navigation strategies; and in children, the development of an emotion vocabulary is associated with better emotion recognition. When children learn words for emotions, they classify facial expressions more accurately. A lack of words can slow down or limit perception and understanding (!!!) So, the key practical rules are: 1. Use a rich and differentiated vocabulary, not just a couple of words. 2. Think in continua and multisensory terms, rather than black-and-white judgments. 3. Focus on objective characteris...