A Mind-Body Prescription for Fatigue

To relieve, deal with and eliminate fatigue I have created a Mind-Body routine based the eastern health and martial arts philosophies, Chi Kung, Tai Chi, and Meditation. My experience working with different ages, abilities and backgrounds in groups and for individuals has given me insight into the different ways fatigue effects people and some easy techniques that help.

Fatigue on one hand could be because of weakness which according to Chi Kung and Chinese medicine is being too Yin. For example, weak muscles or what is called Sarcopenia or “vanishing flesh,” weak bones or osteoporosis, a collapsed posture, pain, shallow breathing, negative thoughts and emotions or over-sleeping are considered Yin.

On the other hand, fatigue can happen from being too Yang; tense muscles, swollen and painful joints, fast breathing, stress, a hyper mind, or a lack of sleep.

Today, I will introduce you two mind body exercises for each situation: Yin and Yang.

A Mind-Body Prescription for Fatigue

YIN FATIGUE

“Up and Down like the Moon and the Sun”

First, I will show you an easy and simple way to increase leg strength and bone density with the visualization of the lower energy center. This mind-body prescription as I call it, is meant to reverse Sarcopenia and osteoporosis, quiet negative thoughts and emotions and move you from being Yin to being Yang.

We will learn and practice “Up and Down like the Moon and the Sun” from a chair with the legs together to strengthen the inner thighs and legs apart to strengthen the outer thighs. The Up and Downs help increase your heart rate and stimulate your lungs to breathe deeper. Adding the Lower Energy Center visualization calms the mind and helps reduce negative thoughts while at the same time strengthens your energetic system.

Download a practice guide for Up and Down Like the Moon and the Sun

Chair Sit Ups with Taoist breathing or Internal Organ Massage

Second, we will learn and practice Chair Sit Ups while moving the abdominal and back muscles in when you inhale and out when you exhale. Over time and with practice you will be able to add the visualization of the lower energy center, as well. This authentic health and martial exercise of moving the abdominal and back muscles in on inhalation and out on exhalation while visualizing the lower energy center is called Chi Kung and Tai Chi Taoist breathing.

Download a practice guide for Sit Ups

The Chair Sit-Ups and the movements of the back and abdominal muscles strengthen your core to support the spine. The continuous movement of the abdominal and back muscles massages your internal organs, removes stagnation, and increases circulation. Visualizing the lower energy center cleanses and then nourishes your internal organs and your spine.

YANG FATIGUE

Baby Mountain

First, we will practice a restorative posture I like to call “Baby Mountain” with deep breathing. This passive posture relaxes your lower back, neck, shoulders, and arms and can also relieve headaches and migraines. Baby Mountain stretches the spine and all the soft tissues around it. It helps relax the abdominal muscles and more importantly, the internal organs. This posture allows you to lead your breath into the back part of the lungs and empty your mind from any thoughts: you might even fall asleep.

Lying Down Relaxation

Second, we will concentrate on deep breathing while practicing the lying down meditation or relaxation with the legs at a 90-degree angle on a chair or pillows if you are doing it in your bed (a 90-degree angle is not needed when using pillows).

This lying meditation relieves the lower back and neck from stress. Use a pillow if needed. Elevating your legs allows the heart to not work as hard. This posture helps relax the internal organs, empty the mind, and can even lead you to fall asleep. If you want, put an eye bag on your eyes for a stronger experience.

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Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system and evoke your spirit!

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For private lessons online or in person email me.

Fall Asleep and have Better Sleep with tricks from the philosophies of Chi Kung, Tai Chi, and Meditation

Hello again Mind Body Practitioners! Today I want to talk about the importance of sleep. We all know and have experienced how getting less than 7 hours of sleep at night can affect you the next day. We all know that a good night’s sleep is essential, but, for many it is easier said than done.

The importance of getting more than 7 hours of good sleep, including deep sleep, is essential to our physical and mental health. A good night’s sleep regulates and produces the positive hormones that we need to keep our heart and blood vessels healthy. On the other hand, sleeping less than 7 hours per night is associated with developing chronic conditions and disease such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, mental stress and anxiety. A good sleep helps regulate your metabolism and your blood sugar levels while a lack of sleep can disturb the regulation of blood sugar levels which can negatively affect your mood, energy levels and mental function; just watch the movie Insomnia with Al Pacino.

Good sleep helps the mind and body relax and prevents you from releasing stress hormones while research shows that people who get less than 7 hours of good sleep are likely to be overweight. Good sleep is when our body works hard to repair injuries, physical and mental damage and strengthens your immune system which may prevent inflammation while studies show that sleep deficiency leads to balance problems which can contribute to injuries and falls. A good night of sleep makes you feel energized, alert, and focused which may help you make better decisions.

Despite all the health benefits of a good night’s sleep more than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep. Nearly half of 18 to 29 year-olds get less than the recommended amount of sleep.

Not only that, but the total direct and indirect health cost for lack of sleep is 100 billion US dollars per year. So, as you can see sleep deficiency is a huge health problem. But what can we do about it?

There are not a lot of choices when it comes to trying to fall asleep at the beginning of the night or falling back to sleep in the middle of the night. A lot of people rely on pharmaceuticals which can cost a lot of money and often have side effects.

However, if you are looking for alternative methods or mind body techniques from the philosophies of Chi Kung, Tai Chi, and Meditation, with no negative side effects, holistic approaches that are supported by research and recommended by doctors, here are 3 sleeping tricks or tips that will cost you $$$ nothing.

TRICKS FOR FALLING ASLEEP

Many individuals have sleep issues either because they cannot fall asleep when they want to or when waking up in the middle of the night, they have a challenging time falling back asleep.

The main problem, for many individuals, is the emotional mind, or the thoughts that come into the mind when trying to fall asleep.

THE “MONKEY” & THE “HORSE” MINDS

In the philosophies of Chi Kung and Tai Chi we have two minds: the Wisdom mind or the “Horse” Mind and the Emotional mind or the “Monkey” Mind. The “Horse” mind, the wisdom says, “Now fall asleep. We have a long day tomorrow.” You close your eyes but instead of falling asleep the “Monkey” mind uses this quiet, relaxing time to start “talking” and “thinking.” The next thing you know, you are awake and have no chance of falling asleep.

The solution, according to the eastern philosophies, is to offer a “Banana” to the Monkey mind; not to answer back or add more thoughts. Stay silent.

In the Tai Chi poetry, it is said, “Train the Horse and Seize the Monkey.”

How many times have you experienced lying down, planning to go to sleep when you start thinking about something positive or negative and before you know it a second thought comes to mind, followed by a third thought. Now you are charged up and awake and cannot fall asleep anymore. Probably, by the third thought, you have generated some hormone that will keep you up.

So, what do you do?

The trick is not to let the second or third thought into your brain. You need to recognize the first thought and then stop the second and third ones!!! It is a must: you cannot let a second or third thought come into your brain!!!

But how do you do that? How do you quiet the Monkey mind? How do you prevent the second and third thoughts? You need a trick. You need a “Banana” to capture the “Monkey” mind.

LEVELS AND TRICKS or “BANANAS”

Different individuals need to use different tricks to keep the thoughts from coming into the brain.

The different tricks from the eastern philosophies Chi Kung, Tai Chi and Meditation have many levels: some are easier, and some are more challenging. The easier methods are noisier: repeating a word or a sound. They may work for falling asleep but are not as beneficial to your health as the more quiet and advanced methods.

I encourage you to first learn and then practice the different methods I offer you in this blog. See what your level is, at first, and which one works best for you. Over time and with practice move from the noisier methods to the quiet, more advanced, and challenging methods.

Start with the two easier tricks that use basic thoughts and sound to capture the monkey mind: “Counting the Breath” or the “Fire Breath.” Next, try the more advanced tricks: The “Water Breath” or “Dissolving the Internal Organs” meditation or over time and with practice try combining the “Water Breath” with “Dissolving the Internal Organs.”

For beginners who have a challenging time emptying the mind and quieting the “Monkey” mind, external sounds may work. For example, focusing your mind on a wave machine sound or listening to soft music may do the trick.

But if you are interested in going deeper into the training of learning how to quite the “Monkey” mind you may need to start with chanting, repeating a word or “Counting the Breath.”

COUNTING YOUR BREATH

I joke, “Counting your Breath” in the east and “Counting Sheep” in the west are the same trick.

By counting you “fill” your mind with thoughts of numbers so that other thoughts cannot come in. After a few minutes you may fall asleep but if you do not fall asleep after 15 or 20 minutes get up and stretch, meditate, or read for a few minutes and try again.

FIRE AND WATER BREATH

Once you have mastered “Counting your Breath” and are ready to move to the next level, try the two tricks which are slightly harder:

either the “Fire” breath or the “Water” breath to quiet the “Monkey” mind.

The “Fire” breath is “noisier,” not as much as counting, but is easier than the water breath but sometimes needed to quiet the Monkey. The “Fire” Breath is done slowly in and out through the nose with a sound.

The “Water” breath method is more challenging since it is incredibly quiet. The “Water” breath is silent, quiet, long, and peaceful. No sound, yet deep. This quiet breath allows more opportunity for the Monkey mind to come in and bother you. The quieter it is, the “louder” or more distracting the Monkey mind can be. Focus on your breath. Breathe in and out through the nose. Breathe deep. Breathe soft and quiet like gentle, soft water flowing down a brook. Breathe until you fall asleep.

The harder, yet the strongest health-wise method or trick to help you fall asleep is using your mind to “Dissolve the Abdominal Muscles and the Internal Organs.”

How do I do it?

DISSOLVING THE INTERNAL ORGANS

Put your mind in the abdominal area and then move your mind deeper into your internal organs. Sense the entire area and start using your mind to dissolve the muscles and internal organs. You can use both hands or just one to gently massage the abdominal and internal organ area. Circle your hands counterclockwise, up through the right and down through the left, using the metaphor “solid to liquid and liquid to gas” to dissolve. Try relaxing, letting go, melting or dissolving the abdominal muscles and the internal organs with the help of your hands and the power of the mind. Dissolve the entire area to make it more relaxed, softer. Dissolve and strive for a feeling of transparency.

Over time and with practice you may dissolve the internal organs using only your mind without the help of your hands.

The last method for this blog is combing the “Fire” Breath or the “Water” Breath with the “Internal Organ Dissolving.”

Sleeping Positions which one is the best? Which one is the worst?

When it comes to which posture is the best for sleeping, in my humble opinion:

Sleeping on your Stomach

The worst one is sleeping on your stomach. This posture is bad for your internal organs. They are compressed, squished and your spine is out of alignment. Your neck and back will suffer. Sleeping on your stomach is a bad posture for many negative health reasons.

Sleeping on your Left Side

Sleeping on your left side is better than on your stomach, but you are compressing your heart and your spine is, again, not in alignment. When lying on your side, I recommend putting a pillow between your knees to maintain alignment in the hips and legs and to prevent the knees from touching each other and putting stress on your hips and lower back. Also, when sleeping on your side you need to make sure that you have a good pillow that keeps your neck in alignment with the rest of your upper and lower back. Once you are in position, you might want your partner to check your position and tell you if your neck is nice, straight, and lined up with the rest of your spine.

Sleeping on your Right Side

Sleeping on your right side is better than sleeping on your left side in terms of reducing pressure and stress on the heart. In this posture, again, a pillow between your knees and the right pillow for your neck are especially important. I used to sleep on my stomach until my mid-twenties. Once I understood that it is a bad posture for sleeping, I tried changing it and over time and with practice I was able to. Now I alternate between sleeping on my left and right sides.

Sleeping on your Back

Sleeping on your back is the best sleeping posture. The spine and the neck are nice and straight, free from stress or pressure. The internal organs are nice and relaxed, the lungs are wide open. You will also find that you do not need as many hours of sleep. Sleeping on your back is not easy for most but is easy for some. I always try to fall asleep on my back but if it does not work, I turn to my right or left side.

Not Just for Sleeping - Sitting and Standing Meditations

Counting the Breath, Fire Breath, Water Breath and Dissolving the Abdominal Muscles and Internal Organs can also be practiced as sitting or standing meditations.

The benefits of meditation, either sitting or standing, have been scientifically studied and shown to lead to better sleep and mood, increased stamina, endurance, toleration, less anxiety, a boost in energy levels, reduced stress, improved memory, a positive hormone production, mental discipline and more.

When sitting, sit on the floor or on the edge of the chair. Keep your spine lengthening upwards, head suspended, relax your shoulders and your face.

 If you like, wrap yourself with a blanket to keep yourself warm. The blanket also helps lead warmth and energy inwards instead of outwards. When the energy and warmth are moving inwards, this nourishes every cell in your body.

Sitting on the edge of a chair

Sitting on a block

When standing, stand in a “Horse” stance or in “Mountain” Stance.

Choose one of the methods and put a timer.

Focus either on “Counting the Breath,” “Fire Breath,” “Water Breath” or “Dissolving the Internal Organs.”

When meditating, sitting or standing, start with 3 minutes and build up to 20 or 40 minutes.

Horse Stance

Mountain Stance

 Sweet Dreams - Happy Stretching – Deep breathing – Calm mind – Strong Spirit

Effects of Tai Chi or Exercise on Sleep in Older Adults With Insomnia
A Randomized Clinical Trial
- Jama Network 2021

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Information about the cost of sleep to our mind, body and wallet was taken primarily from:

webMD, The CDC, Very Well Health

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Radio talk with Rami

Welcome friends. Today I would like to share Part 1 of a 3 part radio interview I did with Rashid Westcott of OXFIT RADIO.

Radio Interview Part one

In the rest of this blog, I summarize the first part of the interview and I added some pictures and many interesting links; enjoy. One of the stretches, or body marker, I talk about in the interview, for example, is for your quads which I like to call the Heron stretch.

You can see where you are on my scale of flexibility and how to practice it 3 different ways depending on your flexibility. I also added pictures for another, more advanced stretch which I did not talk about in the radio interview (Seza) for those of you that have healthy knees and want to give it a try.

In the beginning of the interview, I talk about how I got into practicing the eastern health and martial arts (Chinese philosophies) in Israel in 1978 at the age of 16. I started with passive complementary practices such as massage, moxa, suction cups, as well as passive stretching. Then I met my first Zen teacher Zvi Wiseman who I practiced and trained with for 3 years in Jerusalem focusing on Zen meditation, Kung Fu and Tai Chi.

After working with Zvi I wanted to dedicate myself to real traditional training and ended up coming up to Boston in 1983 to study with Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming. In Boston I got into intense training at Dr. Yang’s school called YMAA. I learned and trained Kung Fu with him at his school for about 10 hours every day! I studied Long Fist bare hands and weapons, White Crane bare hands and weapons, Ti Dau (a large, heavy weapon used to cut the horse’s legs to get the rider off his horse) Staff, Saber, Narrow blade sword, Chin Na, Knife Defense, Xing Yi, Ba Gua bare hands, Deer hook, and Meditation.

I also studied Tai Chi, Pushing hands, Tai Chi sword, Tai Chi ball, Chi Kung theory and different styles of Chi Kung and Tai Chi, Chi Kung massage and more. I studied with Dr. Yang and a few other masters like Liang Shou Yu and Wei Lun Huang and continued to practice and teach for another 30 years in Boston and all over the world.

About 20 years later in I got into working with Cancer patients at Dana Farber and was involved with the creation of the Zakim center. I found that the eastern philosophies could be developed into a powerful method of healing and developed mind body interventions for chronic conditions, especially for the side effects and symptoms of Cancer or autoimmune conditions. I use this method to help people feel better mentally and physically in both personal classes as well as online.

If you are interested, check out the lecture at Dana Farber I presented to caregivers and nurses explaining how a mind body practice based on the principles of Yoga, Tai Chi and Chi Kung, complement western health care.

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Free pre-recorded videos I offer on the Dana Farber YouTube channel

Cleansing and Nourishing Meditations

The Tai Chi Move Begin Tai Chi

Tai Chi Walking Meditation

The Tree meditation

The Lower Energy Visualization

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One of the guiding principles behind my teaching is that we are made up of 5 building blocks. I call them the 5 building blocks of our being or Body, Breath, Mind, Energy and Spirit. I am also a believer in the concept of “freeing the skeleton from being the prisoner of the soft tissue” which draws on some of my studies and training with BKS Iyengar Yoga.

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In the interview you can hear a little bit about the method I have developed for measuring flexibility and strength which I call “BodyMarkers” - my next book! My first and second books are Sunrise and Sunset Tai Chi (Now called Tai Chi AM Workout and Tai Chi PM Workout).

In this blog I want to show you what I mean by “Body Marker.” The Heron stretch, for example, is one way to improve the quad body marker. To get a 10 on the Ramel Rones body marker scale of flexibility your heel should touch your sitting bone. This is the most you can stretch your quads.

Practice this stretch for 1 to 3 minutes, 5 to 10 times a week, with deep breathing to improve balance, increase flexibility and to prevent or deal with knee issues.

I call this stretch the Heron stretch after the patient, graceful heron who stands still for long periods of time waiting for fish.

I did not mention it in the interview but for individuals who have healthy knees another way to improve your “quad Body Marker” is by practicing the slightly more advanced Seza.

I talk more about this stretch and another way to stretch your quads in my blog series about Freeing the Skeleton with the Body Markers. I also go over how to stretch your ankles and your hamstrings. Both of these stretches are important for preventing falls and for preventing stiffness in your lower back. Give it a try!

Some of the other concepts I talk about in the interview

• We are shallow breathers and we need to make a conscious decision to breathe deep throughout the day.

• Abdominal breathing and the importance of massaging your internal organs.

• The energetic system and about the lower energy center, your life force and energetic battery.

• Evoking the spirit and how it leads to a positive hormone production.

• The 4 schools of Chi Kung: Religious Chi Kung, Confucius Chi Kung , Health Chi Kung and Martial Chi Kung.

• I finish the first part of the interview with an explanation of the difference between Chi Kung and Tai Chi.

Come back next time when I release the second part of the radio interview or you can go ahead and listen to it at OXFIT Radio.

Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system and evoke your spirit!

May the coming year be a good one!

Ramel Rones (Rami)

Eliminate Physical and Mental Stress from Home

For some, working from home is the new normal. Wearing a mask is normal. I even started to like it in the cold air of Boston. We have a vaccine but we have not made it to the end of this pandemic yet so we need to stay strong but also patient, flexible and calm: easier said then done.

A very common discomfort a lot of us struggle with due to inactivity, working from home and sitting in front of our screens day and night is lower and upper back pain. Another common issue is neck, shoulder pain and headaches. For some, sleep is an issue. Integrating a mind-body routine into your daily life will go a long way towards improving and maintaining your mental and physical health and eliminating stress.

Balancing between strength and flexibility, making a conscience decision to breath deep throughout the day, emptying the mind from any thoughts for a few minutes every 2 or 3 hours, visualizing the energetic system and evoking the spirit a few times every day is the foundation of a mind body practice for health and prevention. But how can you do that every day?

Today I am going to share a few easy ways right from your home or office. Practicing these mind body techniques will help you reduce both physical and mental stress and help you sleep better.

To get the most out of your time and effort, hold the stretches for 2 to 3 minutes, or even longer if you find it helpful. Breathe deep through your nose. Keep your tongue touching the roof of your mouth and empty your mind from any thoughts. When you meditate, start with 3 minutes if you are a beginner and work up to 20 minutes or longer. Within 3 to 5 weeks you and, maybe, the people around you will see and feel the benefits a mind-body practice brings.

The first stretch that I recommend is for your lower back. Hold each posture for 2 to 3 minutes.

I call it the Three Musketeers or 12 o'clock, 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock.

I always put a timer so I can relax fully and concentrate on my breathing instead of thinking about the clock.

Three Muskateers

The next stretch I want to show you is for stiffness in your neck. When moving from left to right, do about 1 minute and when holding the stretch on the wall also do about 1 minute to each side. Sometimes I like to do the stationary neck stretch two times to each side.

Stretching your neck with and without a yoga block

Remember that it is important to stop and take short breaks to “exercise” your mind, not just your body throughout the day.

The mind is like a muscle and as a muscle it needs rest. Sleep is one way to achieve this rest but we are not always getting a good night’s sleep. Sometimes the brain is still tired even after sleeping all night simply from not reaching the deep sleep stages.

Meditation has been shown, scientifically, to have many health benefits. That is why it is essential for optimizing the performance of your mind and to stay refreshed. A few short breaks throughout your day can boost your energy, rejuvenate your mind and contribute to a healthy, day to day lifestyle. You will reduce both physical and mental stress and you will be able to make better decisions. If you are not meditating already I encourage you to add this training into your practice. You can do it in your car, at your desk, while waiting in line or in your living room.

Try these simple meditations for a healthy mind and body and to eliminate stress.

First try the Counting the Breath meditation. Then move to the next level meditation which is the Fire Breath meditation.

Counting the Breath and the Fire Breath meditations help you quite the mind by focusing on counting or by focusing on the sound of the Fire Breath.

After you succeeded in emptying your mind with the Fire Breath and you are interested in moving to the next level, which is a little more challenging, try emptying your mind with the Water Breath.

Since you are in total silence the monkey mind is much more powerful and emptying the mind is harder for some but works for others.

All three meditations start with a 3 minute practice and build up to 20 or 30 minutes.

Sit on the floor or on the edge of the chair. If you like, wrap yourself with a blanket, to keep yourself warm. The blanket also helps in bringing or leading the warmth and energy inwards and not outwards. When the energy and warmth are moving inward this will nourish every cell in your body.

Learn Counting Breath Meditation

Practice Counting Breath Meditation

Fire Breath

Water Breath Meditation

If you want more ways to dissolve tension and relax try my new course on Udemy.com

Eliminate Physical and Mental Stress in your Life

You might also like some of my other courses on Udemy

15 Minute Mind-Body Workout for Recharging & Reducing Stress

Strengthen Your Immune System with Tai Chi and Qigong

Improve Your Physical and Mental Success with Tai Chi

If you are interested in private lessons on zoom or facetime email me at rami@ramelrones.com

Happy Stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system and evoke your spirit!

Stay Safe and Sane

Ramel (Rami) Rones

Light Up the Darkness

The holidays are here but so are the shortest days of the year. It is dark and cold and on top of that, because of Covid –19, we are isolated: no friends, no family, for some, no work, no income and not spending as much time outside.  Some people enjoy and love it and some don’t.

Whether you enjoy it or not, practicing the candle meditation is a great way to improve your mood from the deep breathing and emptying your mind and to improve your posture and create alignment by emphasizing the major up and down forces in the trunk. Meditating can also stimulate your energetic system, evoke your spirit, help with anxiety, a racing mind and falling asleep.

The Candle Meditation

Candle Meditation

Make the room dark

Light a candle
Place it 2 to 3 feet away

Wrap yourself with a blanket

Watch the flame. Be the flame

Sit on the edge of a chair, in seza, or on the floor with crossed legs

Start with 5 to 10 minutes of the major up and down forces meditation

First close your eyes and start breathing deep: in and out through the nose. The tongue touches the roof of the mouth. Emphasize the major up and down forces for a few minutes: lengthen the spine, head suspended, face, shoulders and abdominal muscles relaxed.

Next practice 5 to 10 minutes of the face melting meditation

Start melting from the tight areas of your face: the temple areas, the corners of your eyes, nose and mouth, ears and jaw joint area. Melt layer by layer. Start from the skin then the fascia and then the muscles until you reach the skull - until you are just a skull.

Next, focus on 5 to 10 minutes of internal organ dissolving meditation

Relax your abdominal muscles. Bring your mind to your internal organ area and start dissolving, with your mind, using the metaphor solid to liquid and liquid to gas. Notice that some areas are more solid. When dissolving those areas do not dissolve from the center of the sensation: start from the edges and slowly work your way in.

Finally, you are ready for 5 to 10 minutes of the Candle Watching meditation

Open your eyes and watch the candle. Keep performing the up and down forces you just practiced with deep breathing in and out through the nose. Watch the candle. Become the candle.

Some will experience special seconds or moments while watching the flame of the candle.

If and when you do play it cool otherwise your will lose it.

For example, more than once while I was watching the flame of the candle, the whole room became bright light like in the middle of the day (remember I was sitting in total darkness). Another special experience was seeing around the candle every color in the spectrum of colors. A few times I finished the meditation and thought it was 10 minutes but it was actually 45 minutes. Another great experience, I was able to stick to the flame with my mind and almost anticipate the flame moves: great for martial arts training.

Some days you can just do just the candle meditation part without the up and down forces, and without the face or internal organ dissolving.

As the light of the candle may your spirit be always bright.

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Hey, Rami! Is meditation enough for my health and prevention?

What other exercises should I do?

People ask me what exercises I should do to achieve better health and invest in prevention.

To answer that, first you need to remember the 4 categories of exercises:

1)      Cardiovascular

2)      Resistance

3)      Flexibility

4)      Meditation

The first two kinds of exercises I recommend for health and prevention are typical western exercises, the yang side of exercises, which are essential to our health and wellbeing: cardio and resistance training. Cardio is recommended 3 to 5 times per week for 30 to 40 minutes. Resistance can be done using weights or by using your own body resistance 3 to 5 times per week for 30 to 60 minutes.

The other two kinds of exercise which are less emphasized in the western world are the Yin side of exercise: flexibility and meditation. The goal of being flexible is to free your skeleton from being a prisoner of your soft tissues. For different people practice and time may be different to achieve flexibility. Usually, 3 to 5 times a week for 20 to 60 minutes works.

As for meditation, emptying the mind and reaching the brain waves between awake and asleep, I recommend spending time practicing every day, even if on some days you practice just 3 to 8 minutes.

Make meditation part of your daily routine or practice even if you sit or stand some days for 3 minutes: it will pay off. On the days that you can do it for longer, sit or stand between 20 and 40 minutes.

The brain is like a muscle that needs rest and meditation is one method to achieve that.

There are many ways to achieve a meditative mind. Check out my blog a guide to sitting meditation to learn more.

Make sure you practice all 4 categories for better health, physically and mentally. Remember to use the breath as a tool to help you achieve maximum results in each category.

Happy Stretching, Deep Breathing, Empty your Mind, Strengthen your Energetic System & Evoke your spirit!

Happy Holidays and Stay Safe!

Ramel Rones (Rami)

If you are looking for more ways to reduce tension and pain check out my online courses at Udemy.com

• 15 Minute Mind-Body Workout for Recharging & Reducing Stress

• Alleviate Upper Back and Neck Pain with Tai Chi & QiGong

• Relieve and End Your Lower Back Pain with Tai Chi & QiGong

Final Week of Recruitment for Pilot Tai Chi Study at MGH 2020

Seeking Participants for virtual Tai Chi for IBS Study

Are you interested in joining this pilot study?

Over the last 2 months I implemented an 8 week Tai Chi intervention that I designed for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Constipation (IBS-C) in collaboration with Kyle Staller, MD, MPH director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratory and Brad Kuo, MD of the Digestive Healthcare Center.

We just finished the first group and we are about to start a second group. If you are interested, or know somone who might benefit from a Tai Chi Intervention for IBS-C we are looking for qualified participants.

Here is the link to the overview of the study and who is qualified to join.

The pilot takes place every Tuesday for 8 weeks from 4:30 to 5:30 on Zoom. Anyone age 18 to 70, male or female, can join if qualified, from the comfort and safety of home.

The beauty of this pilot is that it is a short, simple, effective Tai Chi / Chi Kung intervention that draws on my extensive years studying, teaching and working with chronic diseases and conditions.

The Tai Chi / Chi Kung Intervention for IBS includes:

• Gentle stretching

• Deep Breathing

• Meditation

• Self massage

• Dissolving Visualizations

• A short Tai Chi Form

You can learn and experience some of the aspects of the Tai Chi Mind-Body intervention in my recent blog.

The deadline for this unique opportunity is Monday October 11.

It is very easy to see if you qualify and to sign up from the MGH website.

If you have questions you can contact

Mimi Paz, the clinical research coordinator

mpaz3@mgh.harvard.edu

(617) 643-5742

If you missed the deadline for this second group but you are interested in participating, we may have a third group. I will send out more information when it becomes available or you can reach out to Mimi.

Happy stretching, deep breathing, empty your mind, strengthen your energetic system and evoke your spirit!

If you are interested in private lessons on zoom or facetime e-mail me at rami@ramelrones.com

Ramel (Rami) Rones

www.ramelrones.com

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