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This is made by Nini Phan, working individually.
Student ID: 100823808

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Definition:
Appeal to authority is when individuals of power such as doctors, celebrities, and government officials say ideas with the power to influence others opinions.
Connection:
In this video, Theresa Tam, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada says that it is highly recommended for all individuals to get their booster COVID-19 vaccines. Her reasoning comes from the recommendation of NACI advising individuals who are moderately or severely immunocompromised to get it. Mrs. Tam's position of power as the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada plays a huge role by persuading other individuals to believe that she is right.

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Canada's top doctor says vaccine passports helping uptake, backs booster for immunocompromised| FULL

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Definition:
Mystical energy is related to the emotions present by humans which could not be explained other than the method of crystals, tarot cards, candles, and spirituality. These objects help explain the unexplainable.

Connection:
The photo above is an illustration of the body with seven different chakras including the crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and root. It is believed that chakras are focal points placed within the body that is involved in ancient meditation practices. Several individuals  believe that chakras provide humans with energy which helps with the mind and organs. It is believed that if there is a blockage these chakras, this can result to low self-esteem levels, high stress levels making it difficult when making life decisions, and anger.

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Definition:
Red herring is when the truth is present in front of you, but another person, object, or event draws your attention elsewhere so that the truth is no longer relevant.

Connection:
In this image above, shows a mom and a child at the grocery store. The child wanted to get a piece of candy while the mom turns her away from the candy and gives her a lecture. The lecture serves as a distraction for the child as she is focused on her moms words instead of the candy located behind her.

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Definition:
The unexplained is something that we as humans cannot explain. Although the topics may seem simple, it is just unexplainable as to the how and why it occurs.
Connection:
In the above image, there is a screen capture from a camera of a suspected UFO in the sky. We know UFO's exist but we can't seem to explain the how, where, and why UFO's exist.

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Definition:
Humans being able to identify any patterns in their everyday life to see if there is certain trend.

Connection:
In the above image shows a picture of the sky with clouds aligned in a pattern. You can notice that the pattern of the clouds are like a field of wheats of corn on a farm. We as humans tend to identify patterns in everyday objects for some deeper understanding / meaning.

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Definition:
Ancient wisdom is referred to practices that have originated through hundreds or thousands of years back. These practices may not align with current modern day practices, but remain as a popular topic as they have been around for a long time.

Connection:
In this photo reveals different types of herbal medicines used amongst Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years which has thought to find all the root causes of illness. This practice addresses illness through natural methods to include the mental, emotional, and physical body. Chinese medicine does not align with today's modern day practices but still remain a popular choice in health and healing.

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Definition:
Causation and correlation are two different ideas/topics mistakenly believed to have a direct relationship with one another.

Connection:
In this photo above, it illustrates that ice cream and sunburns are associated with hot weather through causation. But just because these factors are caused by the hot weather, does not necessarily mean that ice cream and sun burns are correlated with one another.

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Definition:
The concept of ideology is when an individual holds a set of beliefs or opinions regarding a specific subject. These beliefs or opinions are subjective amongst one another and can be supported through different cultures and religions.

Connection:
In the above image illustrates many individuals of different cultural/religious backgrounds holding hands around the globe. This image depicts the message that we are all different based on our backgrounds and where we come from. Thus, these differences allow us to hold different sets of beliefs and religious opinions which contribute to own ideology.

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Critical Thinking Process - Chakra Energy

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Critical Thinking Process - Chakra Energy

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For my critical thinking aspect of this assignment, I decided to pick the mystical energy of chakras.

Define the Problem:
Does the alignment of chakras actually feed off good energy?

Gather Information:
The website explains that chakras are vital centres of energy that exist amongst humans. The website refers to these chakras as spinning energy vortexes that are not visible to the eye but are essential for the development of the human body. It is believed that humans have 7 chakras all stacked up on top of each other where our spine is located. The 7 chakras are as follows:

root chakra at the base of the spine

sacral chakra just below the belly button

solar plexus on the upper abdomen

heart chakra at the centre of the chest

throat chakra at the throat

third eye chakra located between the eyes

crown chakra on top of the head

It is believed that these chakras govern different aspects of mental and physical components of amongst humans.

Evaluate Evidence:
This article was written by a person by the name of Sara Novak. It is unknown whether or not she has the appropriate credentials to back up her arguments. However, there was a counselor by the name of Karla Helbert which states that chakras are important as it helps the development of humans in a mental and physical aspect.

Recognize Assumptions, Bias, Emotions:
In the article, it also mentions that to date, there is no clear scientific explanation as to why or how we measure our chakras. There was a trial done back in 1970s using electrodes along the points where chakras lie in order to measure the energetic changes in the body. However, they have not yet been able to detect the chakra energy because they believe that chakras work in unison with each other not independently.

Synthesize Evidence, Identify Alternatives:
An alternative opinion regarding this topic is that it is believed that chakras were first discovered in ancient Vedic and Tantric texts which are considered oldest Hindu writings, dating back to the time period of 1500 to 500 B.C. One can argue that something that was discovered so far ago, must be deemed as real. The reality is that when we look at possible alternatives, we can conclude that the alignment of chakras do benefit and feed off good energy which is vital for our mental and physical health. On the contrary, we can also conclude that the alignment of chakras have nothing to do with our mental and physical health.

Select Best Alternative:
I honestly feel like chakras do exist as it's been discovered several years ago, but it may be one of those concepts that are unexplainable.

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According to the tradition of yoga and many New Age practices, the chakras are vital centers of energy that exist in all of us. While these constantly spinning energy vortexes are not visible to the human eye, they're thought to be essential to our ongoing development and health as human beings, says Karla Helbert , a licensed counselor, yoga therapist and author of The Chakras in Grief and Trauma .

"I think of them as invisible energy organs, each one self-contained and having functions that impact all parts of the whole," says Helbert.

Understanding the Chakras

The chakras were first mentioned in ancient Vedic and Tantric texts, some of the oldest Hindu writings, dating from 1500 to 500 B.C. The seven main chakras are supposedly stacked upwards on top of one another along the spine, starting with the root chakra at the base of the spine; the sacral chakra just below the belly button; the solar plexus on the upper abdomen; the heart chakra at the center of the chest; the throat chakra at the throat; the third eye chakra located between the eyes on the forehead; and the crown chakra on top of the head.

According to Helbert, the chakras are constantly moving at varying speeds in an effort to maintain homeostasis in the body, each one governing different physical and mental components of our being. The three lower chakras are linked to our "earthly" existence, including our survival instinct, reproduction and self-confidence. The heart chakra is linked to empathy and acceptance of others, and the upper three chakras are linked to less physical attributes, including self-expression, intuition and "our connection to the divine."

When our chakras go out of balance - or become "blocked," a phrase you may have heard spouted by certain spiritual characters in pop culture - it purportedly causes certain negative results. For example, an imbalanced sacral chakra is associated with fertility issues and a blocked throat chakra means you have trouble expressing yourself. "The chakras regulate functions that effect us on all levels: physical, mental, emotional, intuitive, spiritual and sensory," says Helbert.

A Connection to the Endocrine System

In modern times, the chakra system has been linked to the endocrine system, with certain glands correlated to certain chakras, says Helbert. For example, the root chakra correlates with the testes or ovaries, the throat chakra with the thyroid gland and the heart chakra with the thymus. Each one of these endocrine glands supposedly has something to do with the functions associated with that chakra.

While these ideas fit snugly into a more modern explanation of the chakras, there's no scientific evidence to back them up. "This is really a Western point of view and we don't have any data to prove the connection," says Shamini Jain, a psychologist and researcher at the University of California, San Diego, and author of Healing Ourselves: Biofield Science and the Future of Health .

As a whole, there's currently no meaningful way of measuring the chakras scientifically. To Jain's knowledge, it hasn't really been attempted since 1978. "The most robust work in trying to measure the chakras was under Valerie Hunt at UCLA in the 1970s," says Jain. Hunt used electrodes at various points along the chakra system - for example, an electrocardiogram at the heart - to measure changes energetically in the body. But to date, we haven't been able to detect chakra energy partially because the chakras don't work in isolation, they work in coordination, so it would be difficult to isolate one of them to study, says Jain.

A 2005 paper published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine mentioned the non-visible energy of the chakra system but didn't investigate the practice. "The chakras are the energy transducers for subtle energy. Subtle energy is a healing energy that anyone can learn to perceive and utilize. It is a crucial, but often missing, component in health care," the authors write.

Other research efforts have investigated similar systems of healing energy. A number of have also looked at reiki, a Japanese healing-energy technique that employs the use of gentle physical touch, and its impact on lowering anxiety, depression and pain, as well as improving wellbeing. Research has shown that the technique can be effective, but scientists don't know the mechanism behind its success - for example, whether it's due to this energy working or whether the practice itself is simply relaxing, therefore reducing the impact of stress on the mind and body.

Overall, Jain says, it's often difficult to get funding for the large-scale research we would need to better understand the chakra system and healing energy as a whole. This is largely because energy isn't material, meaning you can't see it. "We're comfortable with the idea that a drug can fix problems but we're not comfortable with energy doing the same thing because many don't believe that energy is real," she says.

But Jain hopes that this will change. "If you could measure changes in your energy biofield before you got physically sick, you could potentially prevent disease." And that, says Jain, is a code worth cracking.

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According to the tradition of yoga and many New Age practices, the chakras are vital centers of energy that exist in all of us. While these constantly spinning energy vortexes are not visible to the human eye, they're thought to be essential to our ongoing development and health as human beings, says Karla Helbert , a licensed counselor, yoga therapist and author of The Chakras in Grief and Trauma .