Vishwaroopam

Vishwaroopam is a 2013 Indian Tamil spy thriller film written, directed and co-produced by Kamal Haasan who is also enacts the lead role. The film has Pooja Kumar, Rahul Bose, Andrea Jeremiah and Jaideep Ahlawat in supporting roles. Also made simultaneously in Hindi as Vishwaroop, the film featured soundtrack composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, with lyrics by Vairamuthu and Haasan himself while Javed Akhtar translated them for the Hindi version.

Development of the project commenced after the release of Haasan's Manmadhan Ambu (2010) when several of the crew were brought in from the United States to lend their technical expertise. The direction was taken over by Haasan from Selvaraghavan and reports indicating a comparison with several English films surfaced during the production. The first teaser was revealed in April 2012 and first theatrical trailer was revealed in June 2012. Vishwaroopam is the first Indian film, and second film worldwide after Red Tails (2012), to utilize the new Auro 3D sound technology. The film is also the first of its kind to release via direct-broadcast satellite, also known as direct-to-home (DTH), a concept which allows a one-time viewing on home entertainment systems for a fee of INR1,000 (US$18.2). An early estimate by Haasan stated the film to earn INR350 crore (US$63.7 million) from all its sources including music and distribution rights.

The film released worldwide, excluding Tamil Nadu, on 25 January 2013. Legal controversies regarding the film's portrayal of Islamism arouse as several Muslim extremist groups protested the film's release in Tamil Nadu, resulting in an official ban being imposed on the film in the state by the Madras High Court. The ban resulted in similar decisions being made in Sri Lanka and Malaysia while release was delayed in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. Despite the fragmented release, Vishwaroopam garnered highly positive reviews from critics, most of which had downplayed claims of the film being anti-Muslim. The ban on the film in Tamil Nadu was lifted by Madras High Court following a special screening, but later uphold the ban on January 30,2013 and further release of the film was blocked by the government of Tamil Nadu over law-and-order concerns.. The consecutive banning of the film was strongly criticized by the Indian film fraternity, including the Central Board of Film Certification.Kamal Haasan said that he will file a petition in the Supreme Court to overturn the ban on his film 'Vishwaroopam'.Kamal Haasan was deeply grieved over the ban in Tamilnadu and even said that he is thinking of leaving Tamil Nadu for some other secular state in India.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa  Recent Comments
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today tried to justify ban on Kamal Haasan's  Vishwaroopam.

She cited shortage of police to provide security at theatres.

Ban on Vishwaroopam imposed based on intelligence inputs about likely violence, the CM said

She also made it clear that she had no personal grudge against Kamal Haasan nor had any personal interest in banning Haasan's movie.

Adding that she would facilitate an understanding reached by Haasan and the Muslim groups, Jaaylalithaa said,  "If leaders of Muslim organisations and Kamal Haasan can work out an amicable agreement, government will facilitate that."

Ref: http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=788441

New Features in Joomla 3.0

Joomla has recently released the Joomla 3.0.0 version on September 27th, 2012 with significant updates and major developments. Following right up with the immediate upgrade version Joomla 3.0.1 for security fix on October 9th, Joomla 3.0 is indeed the hot spot for this month. If you haven’t become familiar with it yet, here are the 20 things that are worth taking note in Joomla 3.0.

1. Non-Responsive vs. Responsive

Yup, Joomla is now officially responsive – mobile device ready, due to the help of Bootstrap. The front-end will have the responsive built-in feature, the back-end also inherits this tweak. You will NOW officially be able to get your site under control even when you are ”on-the-go” with just a mobile device!

The Joomla 2.5 Front-end

The Responsive Joomla 3.0 Front-end

The Joomla 2.5 Back-end

The Responsive Joomla 3.0 Back-end

2. Without bootstrap vs. With bootstrap

The big word for Joomla 3.0 is Bootstrap. With basic CSS already integrated into Joomla 3.0, it is aiming for a much better UX for the end-user.

Bootstrap for Joomla 3.0

3. Non+ -LESS CSS vs. LESS CSS

LESS is a dynamic stylesheet language designed by Alexis Sellier and has recently been integrated into Joomla 3.0. The development of a template has significantly changed by the use ofLESS. All the website templates and backend will include /less directory and template.less files. Those two are meant for importing both Bootstrap and JUI (less files and media/jui/less files). That enables the template designers to define which file should be applied to their template, and which one will be imported to the LESS JUI.

Without Less, Joomla 2.5 uses CSS to style

vs. Less in Joomla 3.0

4. Without JUI vs. With JUI (for Extension Developers)

The Joomla User Interface (JUI) library provides a common set of tools that enables component developers to share a common ground of elements, drastically reducing time in coding, without having to innovate and create their own library but still having a clean, nice looking interface. In addition, the loading time is dropped dramatically for users who are surfing around from one Joomla 3.0 site to another, as the javascript and css files are already loaded, adding an extra fast loading speed for the Joomla 3.0 CMS.

5. The Mambo days vs. the Great UX

No longer will you be bored with the old-fashioned interface, Joomla 3.0 did a major improvement on UX that would amaze and make all of us – the fans – fall in love all over again, starting with:

• The Main Menu
  
  

  The Joomla 2.5 main menu
  
  

  Main menu in Joomla 3.0 back-end
• Dashboard with the new look for administrator statistics module
  
  

  Joomla 2.5 dashboard
  
  

  Joomla 3.0 dashboard
• Administrator submenu is now located in the left panel
  
  

  The only menu style that you'll find in Joomla 2.5
  
  

  Complemented menu on the left panel in Joomla 3.0
• A redesigned footer menu for quick status view of your site and a new location for the preview link
  
  

  Footer menu in Joomla 3.0
• The right panel includes a list of commonly used features
  
  

  Commonly used features quick icons are located on the right panel in Joomla 3.0

6. 7 steps vs. the faster 3 steps installation

Right off the bat, you will immediately feel the ”difference" in UI of the complete redesigned installation screen in Joomla 3.0. The installation process is now simplified in only 3 steps compared to the 7 steps procedure we had with joomla 2.5.

Joomla 2.5 installation screen with the original 7 steps procedure

The 3 steps installation for Joomla 3.0

The installer will auto-detect your language from your browser and the "Yes | No" option is now designed in a color coded button: Yes (Green) | No (Yes)

The old days Yes | No check-box style

vs. New design for your Yes | No button

In this new version, Joomla supports five sample data sets instead of only three in Joomla 2.5.

3 sample data sets on Joomla 2.5

vs. 5 sample data sets on Joomla 3.0

The whole process has tremendously cut back installation time to less than 1 minute, which is a huge improvement for the installation process. Plus, you can save the installation settings for later use by sending it to your email address.

Get the installation settings sent to your inbox

7. Article Manager interface: boring vs. polished

In the back-end, you’ll find a completely refreshing look and feel starting with the Article Manager which now includes a better organized filtering system with more options available, and better defined icons.

The old Article Manager look

Filter friendly and defined icons in Article Manager

Article edit screen has had its own redesign with Publishing Options, Article Options and Metadata Options tabs moved from their usual right panel to the top, the text editor is now up-front and centered.

Article edit screen in Joomla 2.5

vs. Article edit screen in Joomla 3.0

8. Guest user group: Manually creating as needed vs. Automatically available by default

Now you don’t need to bother creating a “guest” level group in Joomla 3.0. It is now available as default upon installation.

There is no sign of Guest user group upon the complete installation of Joomla 2.5

Guest user group is present as default in Joomla 3.0

9. Non-responsive Front-end template vs. Responsive Front-end template

This new responsive minimal front-end template – Protostar – powered by Bootstrap that you’ll find to be versatile and it is simple to customize the template colors by taking advantage of the color picker. Google fonts are allowed in Protostar with a parameter for your heading tag (h1-h6) and site title. You can toggle on or off the parameter in deciding whether or not to use Google fonts for your site, meanwhile that means you are giving up a wide range selection of 500+ google fonts to choose from. Protostar also has a completely natively clean bootstrap customized grid-layout look, it sets a new standard for Joomla template itself.

Brand new Protostar template

Protostar offers a variety of customisation options for users

10. The same old admin template vs. The slick admin template

Joomla 3.0 named its new administrator template after the Egyptian goddess Isis. Compared to the Bluestork administrator template in Joomla 2.5, Isis has been perceivably designed differently. Since the Isis template is built using the flexible Bootstrap grid layout, the administrator interface Isis is also responsive.

Isis - The Joomla 3.0 administrator template

11. Template Beez3: Updated

If you would like the traditional look for the front end, an updated Beez3 template is the other template option which is still available.

Beez3 template in Joomla 3.0

12. Joomla Platform version 11.x vs. 12.x

The new Platform has removed numerous deprecated classes and methods from version 11.4. However, for extensions developers, your components would require reasonably small changes for compatibility with Joomla 3.0. It is advised to stop using deprecated classes as they are meant to be removed in a future version anyway. Several changes in extensions installation (usage ofbase tag in replacement for, stop supporting install/uninstall scripts, com_install/com_uninstall methods in promoting the usage of scriptfile instead, etc...), components (admin.*.php and toolbar.*.php are no longer supported), classes (renamed JFTP as JClientFtp, JLDAP as JClientLdap, JWebClient as JApplicationWebClient, removed and adjustment to number of classes), plugin events (onContentBeforeSave event receives $article by value not by reference as well as onContentAfterSave event), and etc... More details are listed at Joomla Documentation section.

13. Mootools vs. JQuery

Joomla 3.0 is packaged with JQuery in the core. Though the Mootools option is still available in the back-end, it will be initially available for the sake of backward compatibility and is no longer the primary javascript library interface.

14. Manual rearrangement vs. Drag & Drop feature

Thanks to JQuery, Joomla 3.0 finally supports a Drag & Drop sorting feature in the back-end.

Remember the time when we have to re-order it "manually" in Joomla 2.5?

Say "yes" to the new Drag & Drop feature for sorting elements in Joomla 3.0

15. Lower vs. Higher PHP/MySQL requirements

You must have PHP 5.3.1 and MySQL 5.1 or newer to get your Joomla 3.0 up and running while Joomla version 2.5.x only requires PHP 5.2.4 and MySQL 5.0.1.

16. Normal settings vs. Advanced module option

The advanced module settings allow you to modify:

• Module tag: to change the div in section
• Bootstrap size: changing Bootstrap span grid class
• Header tag: which aims for better SEO
• Header class: adds the Bootstrap class in the page header
• Module style: to inherit the Joomla installed template for the module styling.

Your usual and limited module settings in Joomla 2.5

Advanced module settings in Joomla 3.0

17. Simple Pie vs. JFeed

Switch the feed management from SimplePie to JFeed to get rid of several existing strict error, due to the fact that Simple Pie has been quite old and no one has really done any update on its library for a while now. On the other hand, Simple Pie’s users are confronted with its crucial errors and lack of flexibility for the current version. This encourages Joomla 3.0 to step up with the use of Louis Landry's JFeed, which is claimed to be simple, extensible and native Joomla contribute to the enhancement of feeds generator in a better and powerful way that Simple Pie wouldn’t allow.

18. Non-supported vs. A new PostgreSQL driver is included

You are now able to run your Joomla 3.0 site using PostgreSQL database which further makes the platform ”database independence" for the very first time as it is only integrated with MySQL & SQL server by default.

19. Saving full-detailed articles vs. Saving blank articles

Surprisingly, Joomla 3.0 allows administrative users to create and save blank articles. This feature strives for support users to create articles with even images only and no text content as needed.

Articles with no content will not be allowed to save in Joomla 2.5

No worry! Saving blank articles are NOW acceptable with Joomla 3.0

20. Updated unit testing in CMS

Unit testing is aiming for testing small chunks of code (or we can call them units) on the lowest level possible, usually are methods without including any other classes or methods, to ensure those methods are working as expected. The old unit test was untouched sometimes between version 1.6 and 1.7 which suited the PHPUnit version 3.4. With the updating of CMS version Joomla 3.0 which requires the minimum of PHP 5.3.1 as a minimum version, the new unit test will be developed to prevent backward compatibility from being broken and other cases as necessary (e.g security problems). The Unit test has set its goal to automate the testing process and achieved 100% unit test coverage for the CMS library classes. Details on the phases of the unit testing for Joomla 3.0 can be found at Unit tests for CMS Working Group.

Ref: http://magazine.joomla.org/issues/issue-nov-2012/item/933-20-new-things-joomla25-vs-joomla30

Wordpress - Tag Selection Based on Category

Code to Select tags based on category select in admin panel


function get_category_tags($args) { global $wpdb; $tags = $wpdb->get_results (" SELECT DISTINCT terms2.term_id as tag_id, terms2.name as tag_name, null as tag_link FROM wp_posts as p1 LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships as r1 ON p1.ID = r1.object_ID LEFT JOIN wp_term_taxonomy as t1 ON r1.term_taxonomy_id = t1.term_taxonomy_id LEFT JOIN wp_terms as terms1 ON t1.term_id = terms1.term_id, wp_posts as p2 LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships as r2 ON p2.ID = r2.object_ID LEFT JOIN wp_term_taxonomy as t2 ON r2.term_taxonomy_id = t2.term_taxonomy_id LEFT JOIN wp_terms as terms2 ON t2.term_id = terms2.term_id WHERE t1.taxonomy = 'category' AND p1.post_status = 'publish' AND terms1.term_id IN (".$args['categories'].") AND t2.taxonomy = 'post_tag' AND p2.post_status = 'publish' AND p1.ID = p2.ID ORDER by tag_name "); $count = 0; foreach ($tags as $tag) { $tags[$count]->tag_link = get_tag_link($tag->tag_id); $count++; } return $tags; } Call Function $args = array('categories' => '12,13,14'); $tags = get_category_tags($args);

Show Div Based on the Anchor Tag Clicked

I have specified the java script code to display the "DIV" based on the "A" anchor tag being clicked

Installing Komodo Edit 6 on Ubuntu

Step 1 :Open the terminal by pressing the CTL + ALT + T from your keyboard. When the terminal opens, run the following command in the terminal to download Komodo-Edit zip file on Ubuntu.

    $ wget http://download.activestate.com/Komodo/releases/6.1.3/Komodo-Edit-6.1.3-8844-linux-libcpp6-x86.tar.gz

Step 2 : After downloading the zip file, run the following command in the terminal to extract content of  downloaded zip file on Ubuntu.

    $ tar xzvf Komodo-Edit-6.1.3-8844-linux-libcpp6-x86.tar.gz

Step 3 : Now, enter into the extracted folder by running the following command in the terminal.

    $ cd Komodo-Edit-6.1.3-8844-linux-libcpp6-x86/

Step 4 : Finally, run the following command in the terminal to install Komodo-Edit on your Ubuntu system.

    $ sudo ./install.sh

Step 5 : Now, While installing when prompted to specify the which directory or folder to install Komodo Edit on your Ubuntu system, then run the following command in the terminal.

    $ /opt/Komodo-Edit-6/

Step 6 : After installing the Komodo Edit on your Ubuntu system, run the following command in the terminal to complete the process.

    $ export PATH="/opt/Komodo-Edit-6/bin:$PATH"

Step 7 : Now the installation of Komodo Edit is complete and you can ‘Komodo-Edit’ from Dash on Ubuntu 11.10. That's All and now enjoy the programming on Komodo Edit.

Step 8 :  Now open terminal and type Komodo to lunch the editor

F-word!!!

“Daddy, are you pregnant?” Nayna asked innocently, curled up on the bed beside Mahesh, his dad, with her hand over his protruding belly.
“What?” Mahesh snapped, shocked, yet amused. She’s only five! Who the hell tells them such things? He asked himself.
“Your tummy is big..” she said, stretching her arms, wide, emphasizing, showing how big she meant.
“I know darling, I know.” He answered sadly.
“Why are you fat? Are you pregnant?” She asked again, her voice unoffending, her curious eyes burning into his.
“My tummy is big because….” he trailed off, thinking hard what to say “-because God made me so.”
“Oh okay.” She said, satisfied with his explanation.
“Now go to sleep.” He breathed a sigh of relief. But somewhere in his heart the ‘I wish I were slim too’ was born.
For the next few days he tried to eat a little less and go for evening strolls. He was now conscious of his belly, aware of himself, and looked at himself every time he passed a mirror.
Two weeks, ten skipped meals, and 15 evening walks later, he had gained 3kgs instead of losing any. It was a consequence of something he did not understand.
Something is wrong. Why am I not losing weight?
He asked himself, but his soul, fat as himself, shrugged shoulders, leaving him all alone, fat as a mouse in a cheese-factory. He started getting fatter and people around him started reminding him of it. One day he was off for an evening walk when a football came rolling down and stopped at his feet.
“Fat uncle, fat uncle, please kick the ball over here.” A kid in a sweaty t-shirt was shouting.
FAT… FAT… The word haunted him everywhere. Everywhere. The F-word plagued him, terrorized him, terrified him. His family knew something was up, and one day, after everyone was asleep and he was awake, sitting depressed in the bedroom, Priya, his wife, brought up the topic.
“What happened darling? You seem upset these days. You okay?” She asked, worried for him.
“I’m heavyset, and-” He started to explain.
“You mean fat.” She interrupted.
“Don’t you dare use the f-word in front of me! I’m not f-.. f-” he shouted angrily, burning with self loathing, as he stammered.
“Fat.” She completed the sentence.
“For god’s sake, can’t you use heavyset? Or Plump? Or Beefy? Fleshy?” he cried, frustrated.
Mahesh, whose English vocabulary was as bad as his cooking, was throwing the thesaurus in her face. She knew it was serious, and that she had to do something.
“Look honey-” She started, but seeing his face, she said “Calm down first.”
She placed her hand on the back of his neck gently, calming him, soothing him. She saw the anger subsiding, slowly. Cautiously, she picked the glass of water from the bed-side table and made him drink it.
“You know, its nothing to be ashamed of. Its just the way you are. Accept yourself.” She explained calmly. “You are f-.. heavyset, but you’re beautiful. Just the way you are.”
“Yeah! Its easy for you to say!” he snapped, his voice sarcastic, his hand aiming at her slim-n-trim body.
“Yeah its easy for me to say” she answered back, her voice reasonable. “Just a sec-” she said and got off the bed.
She lowered herself on the bedroom floor, and sitting on her knees, she darted a hand under the bed. Pulling out a bag, she picked it up and placed it between them. Her long, elegant fingers expertly fished out a book, a diary of sorts’ from the bag and she sighed, relieved. She looked up to him wondering what she was about to do was right or not. Shaking her head, she decided.
She opened her diary and showed it to him. There were photographs of some over-weight girl with notes scribbled all around the pages. He bent his head and looked closer.
“Oh my god! Its you!” he said, astonished, shocked, amazes, dazzled, surprised, bewildered, as his eyes darted to the photo again and then back to his wife, slim-n-trim, a smile resting on her lips.
“I was fat once. Long time ago.” She said, gesturing with a flick of her hand that it was really a long time ago. “I used to click my photos every Sunday and check if I’d lost weight or not. I kept this diary with me at all times, reminding myself to lose some weight.”
He watched her, mesmerized. It must’ve been hard, he told himself. But she did it! And so will I!
“You see, it all about accepting yourself as you are. The first step towards solving a problem is to acknowledge that it exists. Running away won’t help.” She finished.
“So you’re saying I should click my photos and stop eating?” He mused.
“No. I’m saying that you’re beautiful just the way you are! Stop punishing yourself.” She let it all out. “And if you really wanna lose weight, there are a gazillion ways, but cursing yourself and worrying those who love you isn’t one of them.”
He bent his head and a kiss followed. A kiss neither short, nor unsatisfying. “I love you.” He said.
She lifted the hem of his T-shirt and kissed him on his bulging stomach. “I love you too. Just the way you are.” She said, meaning every word of it.
“You mean you like me heavyset?” he asked, amused.
“No. I like you fat.” She replied.
“The F-word.” He observed.
“Yes, the F-word.” She agreed with a smile.
Since that day, Mahesh was happy. Happier than he was over the month before. Priya’s revelation restored his faith in himself. He lost some weight – not much – but enough to be called plump (pleasantly fat) rather than obese (FAT). The F-word never haunted him since then.

Microsoft's Fight Against Google Continues With YouTube App Complaint

Even as the Federal Trade Commission ends its two-year investigation of Google with a whimper, Microsoft is desperately hoping that the war isn't yet over. The latest battleground: the YouTube app for Windows Phone.
On the face of it, whether or not Google should be obligated to license Microsoft the API technology necessary to build a Windows Phone app to access Google's YouTube video service seems relatively trivial. In a blog post, Microsoft said that Google has unreasonably blocked access to the necessary APIs, preventing it from doing so. Google already supplies a YouTube "app," which is merely an HTML5 version of its website, which runs inside the Internet Explorer browser on the phone.

For its part, Google believes that's more than enough. “Contrary to Microsoft’s claims, it’s easy for consumers to view YouTube videos on Windows phones," a YouTube spokeswoman wrote in an email. "Windows phone users can access all the features of YouTube through our HTML5-based mobile website, including viewing high-quality video streams, finding favorite videos, seeing video ratings, and searching for video categories.  In fact, we’ve worked with Microsoft for several years to help build a great YouTube experience on Windows phones.”
The problem, according to Microsoft, is that Google's behavior with regard to Windows Phone YouTube app is emblematic of its behavior in general. Two years ago, Microsoft complained to the European Union about Google's tactics, as well as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. (Longtime Microsoft watchers have long noted the irony of Microsoft complaining about anti-competitive actions, given the company's issues with the U.S. Department of Justice, and the possibility that the EU may impose fines or other sanctions after Microsoft ignored the browser choice restrictions from a previous EU settlement.)
But now the FTC has ended its Google investigation with a slap on the wrist, Microsoft can't seem to give up the fight: Dave Heiner, vice president and deputy general counsel from Microsoft said Wednesday that the YouTube app dispute is simply a representative example of the "misconduct" that Google has employed with respect to its practices on the Internet. "Just last month, we learned from YouTube that senior executives at Google told them not to enable a first-class YouTube experience on Windows Phones," Heiner wrote.
"Google often says that the antitrust offenses with which it has been charged cause no harm to consumers," Heiner added. "Google is wrong about that. In this instance, for example, Google’s refusal deprives consumers who use competing platforms of a comparable experience in accessing content that is generally available on the Web, almost all of which is created by users rather than by Google itself. And it’s inconsistent, to say the least, with Google’s public insistence that other competing services, such as Facebook, should offer Google complete access to their content so they can index and include it on their search site."
Now that the FTC has made its ruling, those concerns may be moot. But Microsoft may be seeking to tacitly plead its case before the European Union - which some now see as the "hard man" of international antitrust law. Whatever the situation, it's clear that Microsoft has no intention of giving up its fight against Google.

Ref:  http://readwrite.com/2013/01/03/microsoft-plays-the-long-game-with-youtube-app-complaint

How to Apply Pressure to Acupressure Points

     Use prolonged finger pressure directly on the point; gradual, steady, penetrating pressure for approximately three minutes is ideal. Each point will feel somewhat different when you press it; some points feel tense, while others are often sore or ache when pressed. How much pressure to apply to any point depends on how fit you are. A general guideline to follow is that the pressure should be firm enough so that it "hurts good" - in other words, something between pleasant, firm pressure and outright pain.

The more developed the muscles are, the more pressure you should apply If you feel extreme (or increasing) sensitivity or pain, gradually decrease the pressure until you find a balance between pain and pleasure. Acupressure is not meant to increase your tolerance of pain, so do not think of it as a test of endurance. Do not continue to press a point that is excruciatingly painful. Usually, however, if you firmly hold the point long enough (up to 2 minutes using the middle finger with your index and ring fingers on either side as support), the pain will diminish.

Note that sometimes when you hold a point, you'll feel pain in another part of your body This phenomenon is called referred pain and indicates that those areas are related. You should press points in these related areas as well to release blockages.

The middle finger is the longest and strongest of your fingers and is best suited for applying self-acupressure. The thumb is strong, too, but often lacks sensitivity If you find that your hand is generally weak or hurt s when you apply finger pressure, you can use the knuckles or your fist or other tools, such as an avocado pit, a golf ball, or a pencil eraser.

Although you may be tempted to massage or rub the entire area, it is best just to hold the point steadily with direct finger pressure. The rule of thumb is to apply slow, firm pressure on the point at a 90 degree angle from the surface of the skin. If you are pulling the skin, then the angle of pressure is incorrect. Consciously and gradually direct the pressure into the center of the part of the body you are working on. It's important to apply and release finger pressure gradually because this allows the tissues time to respond, promoting healing. The better your concentration as you move your fingers slowly into and out of the point, the more effective the treatment will be.

After repeated acupressure sessions using different degrees of pressure, you will begin to feel a pulse at the point. This pulsation is a good sign - it means that circulation has increased. Pay attention to the type of pulse you feel. If it's very faint or throbbing, hold the point longer until the pulse balances.

If your hand gets tired, slowly withdraw pressure from the point, gently shake out your hand, and take a few deep breaths. When you're ready, go back to the point and gradually apply pressure until you reach the depth where it hurts good. Again, press directly on painful site (which often moves, so follow and stay with it) until you feel a clear, regular pulse or until the pain diminishes. Then slowly decrease the finger pressure, ending with about twenty seconds of light touch.

When you have located the point and your fingers are comfortably positioned right on the spot gradually lean your weight toward the point to apply the pressure. If you're pressing a point on your foot, for instance, bend your leg and apply pressure by slowly leaning forward . Using the weight of your upper body (and not just your hands) enables you to apply firm pressure without strain. Direct the pressure perpendicularly to the surface of the skin as you take several long, slow, deep breaths. Hold for a few minutes until you feel a regular pulse or until the soreness at the point decreases. Then gradually release the pressure, finishing with a soothing touch.

Each body - and each area of the body - requires a different amount of pressure. If it hurts a great deal when you apply pressure on a point, then use light touch instead of pressure. The calves, the face, and genital areas are sensitive. The back, buttocks, and shoulders, especially if the musculature is developed, usually need deeper, firmer pressure. Because certain areas of the body, such as the back and shoulders, are hard to reach, I will recommend using Acu-Yoga1 postures, which involve leaning against the floor to apply the proper amount of pressure to the points.

To achieve the full benefit of self-acupressure, you should choose a comfortable, private environment that lends itself to deep relaxation. You can use acupressure at work, however, if you can take a ten-minute break. Choose whatever position you find most comfortable - either sitting or lying down. As you press points in different areas, feel free to reposition your body so that your muscles can relax completely. (See "Guidance for Deep Relaxation," at the beginning of Part 11.)

Ideally, you should wear comfortable clothing. Tight collars, belts, pants, or shoes can obstruct circulation. I recommend wearing natural fibers that breathe, such as cotton or wool blends. Also, it's a good idea to keep your fingernails trimmed fairly short to prevent any discomfort or injury to the skin.

Avoid practicing acupressure right before a big meal or on a full stomach. Wait until at least an hour after eating a light meal and even longer after eating a heavy meal. Practicing a complete acupressure routine when your stomach is full can inhibit the flow of blood and may cause nausea. However, simply pressing one or two points to relieve indigestion or hiccups is perfectly safe.

Avoid iced drinks (especially during the winter months), because extreme cold generally weakens your system and can counteract the benefits of acupressure. A cup of hot herbal tea would be good after an acupressure session along with a period of deep relaxation.

For optimal results, you should perform the acupressure routines daily, whether you are using acupressure to maintain your health or to help relieve an ailment. If you are using acupressure for the latter reason, continue using these same points even after you've obtained relief. This can prevent recurrence. If you cannot practice every day, treating yourself to acupressure two or three times a week can still be effective.

Limit your self acupressure sessions to an hour at the most. When you begin practicing acupressure, you may find that you are most comfortable holding a point for two to three minutes. You may find that you can gradually over two to three months - work up to holding points longer, but do not hold any one point longer than ten minutes. And do not work any single area of the body, such as the abdominal area or the face, for longer that 15 minutes. The effects of acupressure can be quite strong. If you work too long, too much energy is released and complications, such as nausea and headaches, can occur.

¹  For further self-help information, see Michael Reed Gach's Acu-Yoga (Tokyo: Japan Publications, 1981), 121-247