Mind-Body Workout #3: Stability and Independence

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Today's blog is a workout routine that will improve your stability and balance, which is especially important for the elderly. If you can stand up on your own, walk around on your own, etc., not only do you feel more in control, but it will also motivate you to keep moving and stay healthy.

This routine isn't just for the elderly, however. Athletes need stability more than anyone, because their dynamic body movements can become very dangerous if their muscles are imbalanced, or their sense of balance is weak.

So, with that in mind, here is the workout routine for Stability and Independence

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Mind-Body Workout #3: Stability and Independence

Do the first three exercises three days a week. Depending on your level of balance, you may not be able to do the most difficult exercises I show in the last video. Instead, do the exercise that challenges you, but is not dangerous.

Tai Chi Walk: 2-3 minutes around an area with a low wall or couch that you can stabilize yourself with. You can also do a certain number of steps, instead of timing yourself. Just make sure you go as slow as possible. This isn't a speed workout, it is a balance exercise.

Push the Tablets: 10-20 repetitions on each side. Move through your core, which will strengthen your obliques and build your core strength. Your core is incredibly important for balance. As a bonus, it also stretches your chest and shoulders and back. What a great exercise!

Stretch your Neck: Hold this stretch for 30 seconds to 1 minute on both sides of your neck. This exercise will help your head feel balanced, which goes a long way toward helping your actual balance.

Choose one Stability Exercise from this Video: Either the legs from Cloud Hands, Hold the Knee with a wall, Hold the Knee freestanding, or the advanced stability exercise at the end. Do what is challenging, but also safe!

And that's it! Good luck with increasing your stability!

November Announcements

I hope everyone is happy and well! Today's blog post is full of updates and some announcements for the end of the year here on the blog.

First of all, next Friday's blog will be our Mind-Body workout of the month for November. I know you probably won't feel like working out the day after Thanksgiving, but make sure you check it out once all the tryptophan wears off!

Second, we're going to take a holiday break from the blog starting in late December. But don't worry! We'll start it up again with all new content in January 2015.

Leading up to the break, Tuesdays will finish out the Office Exercise Series, so you can stay healthy and active before your holiday vacations. Fridays will feature not only next week's Mind-Body workout, but also a two or three part series of posts about the "hows and whys" of meditation. There is going to be a lot of scientific research we discuss, and we'll even get into some of the brain physiology and sleep cycles to help you understand why meditation is so important.

Lastly, if you are interested, please remember to signup for my hands-on workshops at Yang's Fitness Center, which you can learn about here. Plus, as the holiday shopping season hits its peak, remember that my Sunrise Tai Chi DVD is still on sale for less than $10 on amazon. It really is a great way to learn and practice Tai Chi at home in a relaxing and private environment, as are all of my DVDs and Books.

That's it! Happy stretching!

Mind Over Matter: Helping Teens Lose Weight

The typical method used to help overweight teens lose weight is a combination of loving, personal nutrition education, and burning calories. This kind of intervention has been done for the last 5 years in various research institutes and many different programs around the country. The success of this approach has only been moderate, however, and that was the reason why researchers at Tufts were looking for a new strategy.

The education component is very helpful, and I wish I'd had this education when I was growing up. Every school should integrate nutritional education into their curriculum. Having the knowledge of which foods are good for me, which ones are higher in vitamins and fibers, and how many calories foods contain would have been a great tool for me growing up, and for everyone interested in better health and illness prevention.

Burning calories is a great principle as well, but when the children leave the programs we witness a big percentage of teens gain the weight back.

These programs had the right rules and knowledge, but they weren't teaching children how to conquer themselves and build discipline. It's like I always say, "You are your biggest enemy. If you can conquer yourself you can conquer anything."

About two year ago I was able to find a few people at Tufts, Michael Leidig, the clinical director for the Center for Youth and Wellness at Tufts Medical Center, and Meagher Susan, PHD., who felt the same way. We needed to add a third component to these programs: meditation and martial arts. We hoped it would make a difference and help children with the long term goal of losing weight through knowledge, burning calories, and strengthening the teens' decision center.

Through mediation and some martial arts training, the teens strengthen their will power and that leads to better decision making: especially when it comes to eating.

Read and enjoy this article about the program we are running in Maine. We are currently on the third month; the program will run for one year.

Register for my Two Workshops in Andover

I have two, 3-hour workshops happening in January at Yang's Fitness and Wellness Center in Andover, MA. Registration has just opened up, so be sure to get your spots early while the discount still applies!

The first workshop, on January 11th from 11am-2pm, will deal with relieving pain and stiffness in the upper back, neck, and shoulders.

The second workshop, on January 18th from 11am-2pm, will teach you the basics of sitting, standing, and moving meditations.

Neither of these workshops require any experience. Please check out the flier here for more details on the workshops, and the registration form here.

Don't forget! If you register for both workshops, you get 10% off the total.

Happy stretching!

Build Up Your Commitment Muscle First

I have a rule about stretching and exercising, called the Rule of 80% effort. When your goal is to be healthy and increase your quality of life, there is no need to push yourself to your limits. 80% effort it more than enough.

If your goal is recovery, 40% effort is more than enough!

It's easy to get down on yourself when you can't maintain 100% effort. Americans feel as though they need to be pushing themselves as hard as they can whenever they are working. But often, this exertion only leads to fatigue, and then more disappointment when we just can't motivate ourselves to try any more.

If you feel like you are just not motivated, or are too tired, first, make sure you talk to a doctor or professional to make sure it isn't a symptom of something more serious. Then, try this:

Drink one glass of water, first thing, every day.

It sounds too easy to make a difference, but it's important. If you can get yourself to do one healthy thing every day, like drink a glass of water, soon you'll have the confidence to do two healthy things every day.

Not to mention, when you start being more healthy, not only does it make you feel good about yourself for committing to something, it makes you feel good in general because water is important for everything your body does. The more your health improves, the more you will want to keep improving and maintaining it. Start with small steps, then work your way up.

I do this all the time with my elderly patients when they first learn Up and Down Like the Moon and the Sun. Sometimes, they get upset if they can't even do one time up and down from the chair by themselves. Some people just quit. They are too embarrassed and too upset with their lack of physical health to continue. But others commit to doing whatever they can do without too much strain. I add yoga blocks to the seat so they only have to push themselves up a little bit each time. Slowly, over the course of a few weeks, they start lower and lower. Pretty soon, they are doing fifteen, or twenty times up and down from the chair with no problem.

So maybe you can do more than just drink a glass of water today, or go up and down once from your chair. How much you can commit to is like a muscle. You can't commit to a whole new routine in one day, so commit to little things, one at a time, over the course of a few months.

This builds up your commitment muscle, which is what you have to have before you can build up all your other muscles.

Office Exercise Series Announcement

Hey everyone! Today, I am announcing a month-long video series on the vlog about staying healthy and fighting stress at the office. It will start on the first Tuesday of November, and you'll know you can do these exercises in the office, because I got all dressed up in business attire just to show them to you!

Office stress can be a real serious problem, especially because we sit all day long at a computer, and constantly drink coffee to stay awake. This builds up a lot of physical energy that has nowhere to go, which makes us stressed out, and then makes us tired.

Really! Having too much energy and not using it can make you tired! That's why getting exercise and increasing your heart rate each day does wonders for stress reduction and energy levels.

Not only is getting up, stretching, and even doing a little meditation good for your health, it will be good for your productivity too. This video series will be your one-stop shop for getting healthier AND working better. It all starts in two weeks, hope to see you there!