Oakville Zen Meditation
How to assess our Mind/Body Energy Level: the palm test.
The following is an interesting little exercise that I learned from a Tibetan monk living in Dharamshala with the Dalai Lama who was with us for 2 years at our temple in Toronto learning English. His name was Lin Chung. It is called the “palm test” to assess our energy level.
When I am talking about Energy level, I am including both body and mind.
The term “Energy Level” represents an approximate assessment of your current global energy level present in your Mind/Body
Our brain represents 2% of our body mass but consumes 20% of our total energy.
Our body cannot eliminate excess intake of energy (calories from food).
Such excess is stored in the form of fat (1lb of fat represents 3,500 cals) or it is eliminated via our respiration and skin in the form of heat through radiation, convection, conduction, and evaporation for the skin. These findings are the basics used to perform the following test which is not, by any means a scientific test.
Description of the “palm test”:
When to do it?
Always in the same setting, same time & same location since our energy level varies during the day: higher in the morning, lower in the evening.
Sit still for 1 or 2 min. - Rest your elbows on a table - Straight up your arms &hands.
Palms are straight, facing each other and apart by around 4’’/ ~10cm.
Close your eyes to avoid a "biased test" and bring the palms of your hands together very slowly until you feel the heat between them. You should feel heat radiation usually at around 1 ‘’/ ~2.5 cm. gap.
The sooner you feel the heat, that is, the wider the gap- the higher your current energy level is.
On the contrary, the narrower the gap, the lower the current energy level. Make sense.
With practice, this palm test takes less than 1 minute. to do.
The important point is to do it frequently to analyze the trend of your energy level.
Don’t do it when one of the conditions will increase or decrease your body temp artificially.
Avoid doing the test: After a meal, after an aerobic workout, high outside temperature,
medical conditions not listed here.
2) Conditions in which your energy level is low:
There are many body and mind conditions which act as a biological Black Hole, sucking energy.
Being physically and mentally tired, physical pain of any sort, digestion dysfunction, etc..
Restless mind from overthinking, worries, negative feelings, etc....
Medical conditions are not listed here.
False negative when your energy level is higher than what the test shows. Avoid doing the test if: 1) Being cold. 2) Low external temp. 3) Medical conditions not listed here.
As you can see the palm test is an empirical estimation but it will help adapt your physical and mental activities to your current energy level. Don’t do it when one of the conditions will increase or decrease your body temp artificially. Common sense should be applied. THANKS
