Ritual exercise
Ritual exercise is a series of movements performed religiously, incorporating two primary moves, prostration and bowing. Alternating between the primary moves is the main purpose however including resting positions such as sitting and standing in intervals is prescribed because they ease the flow of movements. Ritual exercise is essentially an act of worship directed at a singular God who is the sole creator of the world. Ritual exercise is classified into two separate categories. Cathemeral ritual is performed anytime. Cardinal rituals are compulsory and must be performed 4 separate times daily in alignment with the circadian rhythm to maximise benefit. The cardinal times to worship are morning, midday, evening and night, following after the sun's position. Additional worship at night is prescribed in preparation for sleep. Each session of worship should take about 10 to 30 minutes. An utterance known as mantra can be recited mentally or verbally to solemnize and ratify a ritual, deepening the meditative state. Ritual exercise is psychophysiology therapy that has immense hidden benefits besides curing baldness. Unlike conventional talk therapy, you have the advantage of privacy since it's between you and God, spiritually connecting you to God in a direct way. There are 4 guiding principles listed below that should dictate how you perform ritual exercise.
- ASMR - piloerection
- Inversion method
- Blood circulation (light exercise)
- Blood oxygenation (synchronized breathing)
Purpose of the above points is to direct vital energy to the scalp and away from the genitalia where leakages occur. Vital energy has various names in different cultures, hindus call it prana, chinese name it chi, ancient egyptians name it sekhem, hebrew call it ruah and so on. It’s not yet known what exactly this force is but its function overlaps across cultures. In baldness, the concept of vital energy is essential to understanding hair loss. The concept is adapted to model the idea of vital energy flowing through the vertical column of the body. The genitalia and the head oppose each other on opposite sides of the body, applying force to change the direction of flow. The reason castrated men don’t lose hair is because they have lost the ability to engage in all types of sexual activity including the type that causes vital energy leakage. Ritual exercise prevents downwards flow of vital energy when performed at the prescribed time according to circadian rhythm. The effects of the ritual lasts for sometime until the next exercise. Further practice flows vital energy upwards to facilitate spiritual regrowth of hair. Each of the listed points is labelled on the image below to illustrate how they work together to facilitate hair regrowth during prostration move.
Performing ritual exercise at specific times during the day leverages psychophysiological changes that occur in the body. These changes are regulated by circadian rhythm, a daily cycle that repeats the body’s biological functions. Syncing your ritual with the circadian rhythm helps to speed up hair regrowth, taking advantage of biological events for your benefit. Although the ritual can be performed at any time, a scheduled one multiplies efficacy many times over, making it a better alternative. It’s known in the scientific community that receiving treatment such as medication or surgery at a particular time can boost the success rate. For example, taking blood pressure medication at the evening when blood pressure is highest, increases potency of the same medication. Likewise, ritual exercise works in the same fashion as medication. After puberty, there is a disturbance in the circadian rhythm, marking a shift into adulthood which puts responsibility on the individual to prevent downwards flow of vital energy. Coincidently, the baldness process can only begin after puberty and sometimes children as young as 11 years old start losing hair, continuing to late teenage years where it becomes visible. What ensues is harmful androgenic activity depending on genetic susceptibility and certain circumstances. Whether you like it or not, the duty is on the individual irrespective of age to work on flowing vital energy upwards using ritual exercise. It’s crucial you follow the cardinal ritual times so that your circadian rhythm is calibrated to maximize hair regrowth. Regularity is what calibrates the circadian rhythm. The image below shows cardinal rituals that should be performed.
In total there are 4 cardinal rituals, spanning across 3 separate time categories based on the sun’s position. These 3 categories are diurnal, crepuscular and nocturnal and they correspond to a period vital energy is mostly likely to flow downwards. To compensate, you must flow vital energy upwards where it's needed for hair regrowth by practising ritual exercise at the specified times. One diurnal ritual is performed at solar noon when the sun moves to the highest position in the sky at midday. Diurnal ritual is particularly important because it coincides with a phenomenon called afternoon slump which drains vital energy. Afternoon slump usually occurs between 1-3pm, demotivating and decreasing energy. To overcome this hurdle, jumpstart your vital energy with a midday ritual which will physically, mentally and emotionally recharge you until the evening time. Two crepuscular rituals are practised at twilight periods when the sun is below the horizon yet light is visible, one in the morning, the other in the evening, otherwise known as matutinal and vespertine respectively. In the matutinal twilight, shortly after waking up there is a sharp increase in blood pressure along with nocturnal penile tumescence otherwise known as morning wood. This together with other bodily functions flows vital energy downwards unless ritual exercise is performed as a counterbalance. In the vespertine twilight, the body's temperature and blood pressure peak to a maximum, easing the flow of blood and vital energy. If not directed to the head and scalp when prostrating and bowing, the flow will be directed to genitalia instead. For this reason, the evening ritual is ideal and should not be ignored. Finally, nocturnal ritual is practised continually when it's completely dark to prepare for sleep. At night, it’s best to practice ritual exercise until fatigued to prepare the mind for a long sleep ahead. If unprepared, nocturnal penile tumescence will occur or even worse nocturnal emission.
There is more to ritual exercise than meets the eye. For now only the surface has been scratched and if you want to know more buy the book 'Cure baldness'. Let's finish by covering a little more about the first guiding principles listed above.
ASMR - piloerection
ASMR is a personal sensation described as a tingling sensation around the scalp area involving psychophysiological responses in the body. The target response is piloerection which is the contraction of small muscles at the base of hair follicles resulting in visible erection of hair. This phenomenon is also known as goosebumps. There is a muscle at the root of each hair follicle called arrector pili muscle (APM). When APMs contract, they stimulate stem cells to regrow hair. To activate these muscles, electrical impulses must reach them. ASMR is a natural electrical muscle stimulator (EMS), rehabilitating APMs and preventing muscle atrophy. EMS is a concept widely used in the fitness industry to stimulate muscle growth. EMS delivers intermittent electrical impulses to APMs preventing the loss of these muscles which is associated with baldness. In androgenetic alopecia, the arrector pili muscle is progressively replaced by adipose tissue and loses its attachment to the hair follicle bulge. The APM plays a significant role in maintaining hair follicle integrity. The loss of APM and hair miniaturization are unique to androgenetic alopecia. Superficial treatments are beneficial to an extent that APMs still remain in the scalp. Lack of APM is correlated with depletion of stem cells. With intense ASMR sensation during ritual exercise, APMs can be restored over time. APMs should be trained like any other muscle for real regrowth. Approach APMs like how a bodybuilder trains muscle but use ASMR instead of weightlifting. You may have heard of ASMR YouTube videos. This supply of ASMR is inferior to meditation. ASMR artists leverage common triggers like whispering, tapping, physical touch, personal attention and page turning. Meditation uses mental mantras and other spiritual practices to induce ASMR. Furthermore ASMR relaxes the tight muscle around the scalp, loosening the balding area that has the highest tension. ASMR relaxation is similar to Botox which is proven to grow hair superficially after injection. Relaxation is necessary before and after arrector pili muscle contraction to facilitate continued piloerection.