Rami's Blog

Like the Yin-Yang, Eastern Martial Arts and Western medicine are two halves of a whole. My mission is to preserve the ancient mind-body tools and pass them on to you.

 

Surgery, Exercise, and Understanding Your Body's Limits

One of the most difficult aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is adapting your exercise, diet, and activities to your body's changing capabilities. There are countless reasons why our body may not work the same as it used to. Injury, surgery, having children, and even the natural aging process can change our body's ability to function. It could even be something as simple as not getting a chance to exercise for a while.

In my experience, if I don't do arm exercises for a couple weeks, I have to ease back into a routine to avoid straining myself too much and risking injury. When I am in good practice, I can do two sets of 30 wall push-ups (elbows in then elbows out). But if I even go two weeks without upper body exercise, I need to start back at 15 repetitions on each set, rather than the full 30.

And what if you have just had surgery? Many exercises on the blog are related to recovering from or preparing for surgery. I always show you how to do the exercise with no resistance, because adding resistance when you are weak after surgery is dangerous. You have to accept your new level of ability, and slowly work your way back up to your previous capability. Even if you are not strong enough to completely lift your arms, or if you have very low range of motion after an operation, do not feel ashamed and do not push yourself to get better too fast. The wise thing to do is to be confident that you will get better with time, and stick to your new routine very closely.

Recently, I had a blog reader ask me how they should do the breast cancer exercises when they aren't planning on having surgery. Should they do them the same? Differently? Should they bother to do them at all?

My answer was, of course they should do them! These exercises are not just for surgery, but for getting oxygen and healing energy to the site of the cancer. The difference is, what is your 80% level when you have not had surgery? 80% effort after surgery might mean just stretching your chest a tiny bit while lying in bed. If you aren't having surgery, but are going through chemo, 80% effort may be doing a few chest exercises for 10 minutes while sitting in a chair. If you are completed treatment and are feeling healthy, 80% effort could be chest and arm motions with some 5lb weights in your hands, while standing up.

It's all about recognizing what your ability is at this stage of your life, and doing the right amount of exercise to maximize healing and minimize your chance of further injury or illness.

Happy Stretching!

Why am I SAD during the holidays?

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you have had a relaxing and fulfilling holiday season, and are making a commitment again this year to be healthy and happy.

As the delicious leftovers begin to run out, and the relatives and friends all head back home, you may very likely realize a few things. First, is that you probably gained a few pounds thanks to all those treats! But not to worry, the blog has many resources to help you get back to a healthy weight. The other thing many of you may experience is that your mood has not been as positive as usual. This can be particularly bad right after the holidays, as you say goodbye to many people for another year, and work begins to pile up again.

If you feel this way, then you may be experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder, or "SAD" for short. This disorder is characterized by a drop in mood, or even the development of depression symptoms, often beginning in the fall and continuing until the end of winter.

Experts are not entirely sure what causes SAD, but there seems to be a common theme found across the United States: the more sun your state gets, the lower the prevalence of SAD. So for sunny states like Florida, SAD affects less than 2% of the population. Whereas in states with a very long winter, like Alaska, SAD affects upwards of 10% of the population.

Doctors are beginning to use light therapy to help people with their SAD symptoms, but I think everyone who suffers from SAD should also make sure they exercise on a very regular schedule. As you all know, I am a huge proponent of treating mood issues with exercise. I always suggest adding one of my Mind-Body Prescriptions to complement the doctor's orders.

So to start this year off, I am going to put together a Mind-Body Prescription to help treat SAD symptoms and improve your mood this winter (and maybe even shed those holiday pounds).

Check it out! (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).

Stay tuned to the blog, and Happy Stretching!

P.S. Our schedule for posting on the blog is going to be more relaxed going forward, so that my team and I can focus on other projects, including my new venture with Jeff Sirlin over at Cancer Wellness TV. If you aren't getting enough mind-body tips and exercises here on the blog, please make a free account over there and you will have access to many more of my Tai Chi and exercise videos.