Evoking the Spirit While You Relax

When you are marching in place, it is easy to evoke the spirit of the warrior. And when you are performing graceful Qigong moves, it is easy to evoke the spirit of whatever animal the move is based on. But when you are doing a relaxation, it is harder to get that inspiration for what your mind and soul should embody in that moment.

The best way to jumpstart your spiritual progress during relaxations is to do them in a natural area that has a spirit of its own. For my money, the best place for this is the Dead Sea. People have been visiting the Dead Sea to experience its healing powers for a very, very long time. Science has only just begun to study the effects of the Dead Sea on the people who visit, but there is no doubt that the combination of Earth's lowest land elevation, very dry and clear air, extremely high level of mineral salts, and long history can be felt.

But you don't have to fly to Israel to feel the spirit of an area! There are countless parks, forests, lakes, mountains, and so on that are probably near you. And it doesn't have to be a place that scientists are interested in studying. All that matters is that you connect with the area and can achieve a greater level of relaxation there. Perhaps there is a pond by your childhood home that holds many great memories of simpler times and sunny days. If you feel at home somewhere, and can ease your mind for a while, then you are 90% of the way to healing already.

Something else you might try is looking for natural products from these special places, such as a sea salt. Incorporating a special mineral salt into your Hot Foot Bath is a great way to take your healing routine to the next level. Some people call it the Placebo Effect, I call it the power of the mind. Either way, if you aren't using it in your mind/body routine, you're missing out!

Happy Stretching and Deep Breathing!

Going Barefoot For Health

Shoes weren't around when humans first began to walk the earth. In some places, they still aren't used much. But an important question that many people who wear shoes their entire lives don't often ask is: how do these shoes change the natural movement of my feet?

Depending on the shoes, the answer could be: quiet a lot. Many shoes available in American stores do a number of things to the movement of the foot, typically by adding materials of various thickness into the body of the shoe.

For example, many shoes today, especially athletic shoes, are advertised as providing "arch support." Interestingly, arch support shoes, or arch-supporting orthotic inserts, are prescribed to people with high arches, and people with low arches. But no matter who is wearing them, nor what problem they say they are treating, arch-support shoes are really just "arch-paralysis" shoes.

The arch of the foot is full of ligaments and tendons that bare much of your weight as you walk. When the foot comes down, heel first, then the outer ball quickly followed by the inner ball, the foot does a motion called pronation. During pronation, the arch sinks slightly toward the ground (though not all the way), and the ankle rolls in very slightly as well. Think of it like a wave of force that moves through your foot. This movement leads the force of the step naturally into the ball of the foot, propelling you forward for the next step.

But when there is a big piece of rubber and plastic keeping your arch from pronating, that force gets sent through other parts of your body, like your outer ankle and knee. Just like I spoke about in my video on common walking issues, any misalignment in your walking posture can cause problems all the way up to your head and neck.

So does this mean you should throw all your shoes in the trash? No, of course not. Wearing shoes while you are out and about is perfectly fine. But what you need to do is make sure you take those shoes off once you are at home, and move on your bare feet. In the following weeks I will be releasing videos showing you all kinds of foot health exercises and stretches, which you should be doing barefoot for maximum movement and flexibility.

When it comes to buying new shoes, try to find ones that are as flexible as possible, especially through the midsole where most shoes are too stiff. Your feet should feel great in your shoes, almost like you aren't even wearing any. That's how you know you've got shoes that are good for you.

Recovery is About Balance

In America, very often doctors will tell you that complete bed rest is necessary for a healthy recovery from an injury. If you have a pulled muscle, or bad inflammation from arthritis, they recommend that you put no weight on the injury, and if possible, totally immobilize the area.

In my experience, this philosophy is only half of the whole picture. I have seen arthritis sufferers who moved their affected joints too much, causing more inflammation and difficult recovery. But I have also seen people with arthritis who moved their affected joints too little, and ended up losing much of their mobility and making their arthritis worse in the long term.

In recent years, western style medicine has incorporated healing movement into some areas, such as physical therapy after accidents or surgeries. That is all great, but it isn't enough. The body was not meant to be immobilized, and moving is an important part of the healing process for nearly everything.

For example, I have treated many people who suffered from chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia. These patients had severe pain in their soft tissues, especially when they moved or were touched. Most of them took this as a sign that they just shouldn't move or make physical contact until they found a medication that could treat their symptoms. But research that I co-authored showed that staying in bed and immobilizing painful areas was less effective at treating their pain than gentle movements like those found in Tai Chi. 

This principle can be applied to many skeleto-muscular issues, such as lower back problems, shoulder problems, foot problems, the list goes on and on. According to eastern philosophies, moving is one of the primary ways to cultivate healing energy.

So remember, if you are having issues with pain or mobility, especially chronic ones, and your doctor can only suggest lying in bed or taking a new pill, make sure to get a second opinion from a mind-body or physical therapy professional. You never know what a little gentle movement could do.

Happy Stretching!

Mind-over-Matter: The Yin Yang Weight Loss System

Well, it's been a long journey, but we have finally completed all parts of my Yin Yang weight loss system. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done! The purpose of this blog is simply to collect all the exercises in one place, so that you don't have to go searching through all the blogs to find them.

If you are wondering how long you should continue this routine to get the best results, the answer is: forever! Maintaining a healthy weight after losing weight doesn't require as much exercise, but it does still require exercise. So, if you were pushing yourself hard while you still had weight to lose, you can dial that effort back to 80% when you're goal is changes to simply maintaining your current weight.

Okay! That's it. On to something new next week. Happy Stretching!

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Yang - Strength of Body

Walk like a Warrior: Warm up with this exercise. It integrates body, mind, and spirit. Even better, you can walk like a warrior anywhere: in your house, outside, in place facing the window, around a lake, etc. You can do it year-round. This video demonstrates the exercise at home, in place, near a window. When walking, keep the toes facing forward, and roll from the heal to the ball of the foot. Start with 1-3 minutes. 

Up and Down: I go into great detail in this video about the many ways to do this exercise to get your heart pumping, build muscle, and burn fat. Be sure to start at the level that is appropriate for your ability, and work your way up.

Push-ups: Begin with 5-15 of each type (elbows-in and elbows-out), and work your way up to 30-50 of each, 3-5 times a week. Make sure you integrate deep breathing, emptying the mind, and evoking the spirit by putting the mind in the three forces: human, heaven, and earth.

Sit-ups: For people who are restricted and cannot do sit-ups from the floor, start from the chair. Slide to the edge of the chair with your butt, straighten your trunk, and hold it straight like a plank throughout the exercise. In the video, we show the three arm positions, as well as the three levels of difficulty on the floor. Again, choose what is challenging, but not painful for you, and work your way through each stage.

Counting Breath Cool Down: Finally, we cool down from all of the cardio and strength training with a simple method for slowing the breath and the mind. This facilitates relaxation and healing by bringing oxygen into the tired muscles and rebuilding them, regulating hormone production, and reducing stress.

Yin - Strength of Mind

Candle Meditation: This is the easiest of the self-guided meditations, so you want to begin here. To make things even easier, make sure to check the Fire Breathing and Tip-of-the-Tongue tips that I give down below the first video. If you don't have any candles lying around, you can always download an app on your smartphone, or use a candle meditation Youtube video to help guide you. Remember: make sure you are sitting comfortably, and begin with short sessions. Work your way up to 5, then 10, then 15 minutes.

Iron on the Wall with Fire Breath: Now that you've got that Fire Breathing down, you can utilize it during a gentle stretch. This will relax your entire shoulder girdle, neck, and upper back. You may even find that it helps relieve migraines and other forms of headaches. Remember to visualize the skeleton moving up, and the fascia, muscles, skin, and ligaments moving down. We don't do western style-stretching here! So don't do this for only 30 seconds and think you're done. Go for as long as you can, ideally holding the stretch for 2-3 minutes at a time. Breath deep and loud while you do this stretch, and imagine your soft tissues like ice, melting to water, and then evaporating like steam.

Water Breath: Well, now that you've mastered fire breathing, it is time in the workout for a more challenging task: water breathing. Slow, silent, and steady. That is what you should be thinking while you do water breath. If you can hear your own breathing, even that's too loud! Just like the candle meditation, work your way up to 15 or 20 minutes while doing this meditation in a workout. If you wish to only meditate by itself, not as part of a workout, you can go up to 45 minutes, but then make sure to walk around and stretch your legs for at least 15 minutes before sitting again.

Vitamin H with Water Breath: The same rules apply for this stretch as for the Iron on the Wall Stretch. You may not be as able to visualize the ice melting here, but make sure to keep your toes pointed forward, your legs straight, and tilt your hip bones toward the floor (you can think of it as tilting your butt up to the ceiling too, if that helps). This hip tilt makes sure that you put the maximum amount of stretch on your hamstrings as possible. Breath deep!

Embrace the Tree: This is a standing meditation, and some people may find it a bit tiring in the legs, but that is good. Practice it like you practice the other two meditations, working up to about 20 minutes. With this meditation, don't forget to picture the lower energy center. You can even hold a tai chi ball or something similar two inches below the navel if that helps you visualize.

Cloud Hands: Last but not least, you will put a slow, moving meditation to work for you by doing the cloud hands movement in addition to the lower energy center visualization and water breath. This exercise seems pretty simple on the surface, but when you combine everything we've done in this Yin routine do far, it actually requires a lot of concentration and control to do it correctly. Improve with this exercise in steps: first just do the motion, then incorporate the breathing, then the visualization. This is where your willpower and decision-making center really come into play and get a full workout.

Bonus Exercise - Add to either half of the routine

Lying Down Relaxation: Get comfortable on the floor, using a mat or blanket to protect your spine, and keep your hands and feet relaxed using sandbags or other weights if necessary. Empty your mind of any thoughts, and put your attention in your toes. Breath in and out, visualizing the energy enter your body through your nose, with your breath, and traveling all the way to your toes. Now move your attention up to include your whole feet. Next your lower legs. Now your knees. Are you asleep yet? It's okay if you are! This exercise is a great way to reduce stress, which can have a negative effect on our self-esteem, self-control, eating habits, and much more. Shed weight by shedding that excess stress!

Mind-over-Matter Weight Loss - Yin Routine

Welcome back everybody. Today, we're consolidating the second half of my Mind-over-Matter weight loss system into one workout post. This half is the Yin routine, which focuses on meditation and stretching. Don't forget about this half of the strategy. Just doing the heart-pumping Yang workout will only get you so far. You need to exercise your decision making center as much as you exercise your muscles.

Next week, I'll throw in one bonus exercise that you can add to both the Yin and Yang halves of the workout. But you'll have to wait to see what that exercise is. Good luck with the Yin workout!

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Candle Meditation: This is the easiest of the self-guided meditations, so you want to begin here. To make things even easier, make sure to check the Fire Breathing and Tip-of-the-Tongue tips that I give down below the first video. If you don't have any candles lying around, you can always download an app on your smartphone, or use a candle meditation Youtube video to help guide you. Remember: make sure you are sitting comfortably, and begin with short sessions. Work your way up to 5, then 10, then 15 minutes.

Iron on the Wall with Fire Breath: Now that you've got that Fire Breathing down, you can utilize it during a gentle stretch. This will relax your entire shoulder girdle, neck, and upper back. You may even find that it helps relieve migraines and other forms of headaches. Remember to visualize the skeleton moving up, and the fascia, muscles, skin, and ligaments moving down. We don't do western style-stretching here! So don't do this for only 30 seconds and think you're done. Go for as long as you can, ideally holding the stretch for 2-3 minutes at a time. Breath deep and loud while you do this stretch, and imagine your soft tissues like ice, melting to water, and then evaporating like steam.

Water Breath: Well, now that you've mastered fire breathing, it is time in the workout for a more challenging task: water breathing. Slow, silent, and steady. That is what you should be thinking while you do water breath. If you can hear your own breathing, even that's too loud! Just like the candle meditation, work your way up to 15 or 20 minutes while doing this meditation in a workout. If you wish to only meditate by itself, not as part of a workout, you can go up to 45 minutes, but then make sure to walk around and stretch your legs for at least 15 minutes before sitting again.

Vitamin H with Water Breath: The same rules apply for this stretch as for the Iron on the Wall Stretch. You may not be as able to visualize the ice melting here, but make sure to keep your toes pointed forward, your legs straight, and tilt your hip bones toward the floor (you can think of it as tilting your butt up to the ceiling too, if that helps). This hip tilt makes sure that you put the maximum amount of stretch on your hamstrings as possible. Breath deep!

Embrace the Tree: This is a standing meditation, and some people may find it a bit tiring in the legs, but that is good. Practice it like you practice the other two meditations, working up to about 20 minutes. With this meditation, don't forget to picture the lower energy center. You can even hold a tai chi ball or something similar two inches below the navel if that helps you visualize.

Cloud Hands: Last but not least, you will put a slow, moving meditation to work for you by doing the cloud hands movement in addition to the lower energy center visualization and water breath. This exercise seems pretty simple on the surface, but when you combine everything we've done in this Yin routine do far, it actually requires a lot of concentration and control to do it correctly. Improve with this exercise in steps: first just do the motion, then incorporate the breathing, then the visualization. This is where your willpower and decision-making center really come into play and get a full workout.

Good luck and Happy Stretching!

The Greater Purpose of Mind-Body Health: BALANCE

Being healthy from the inside to the outside is a lot of work. You need to practice. Smart resistance training for the big and small muscle groups. Cardiovascular training for 30 to 40 minutes at least 4 times a week. Efficient stretching regimens. Sitting, standing, and slow moving meditations. Good nutritional standards. Breathing fresh air. Daily challenges for the mind and spirit. Enough rest. And fostered relationships with your loved ones, friends, and neighbors.

That’s a lot of work! If we are going to spend so much time and energy doing these things, we need to make sure that our progress serves a greater purpose than simply losing weight.

I use a beautiful idea to motivate myself, which I think I heard first from one of my friends, Limor, when I was a teen. This idea might originate in the Kabbalah, an ancient, esoteric Jewish text which is said to reveal how the universe works.

The idea is simple. There are three kinds of people, or three kinds of souls, in this world. The first kind only takes. They think only of themselves. These people do the least amount of good in the world, and are the least happy in the long run. 

The second kind only gives. They are on the right track, but they ignore their own needs. This causes them to burnout, and then, over the long run, they can’t afford to give at all. They are easily depleted. They lack balance, just like the first kind.

The third type of soul is the best and most balanced one. He or she keeps learning and building themselves in order to give.

We should all strive to be the third kind of person, especially when it comes to our health. Knowing when to take time off and invest in yourself, and also knowing when to share your love and give to others, is a difficult, but important decision we all must face. A person who makes this decision wisely will do the most good in the world, because they take care of themselves, and then they take care of everyone else, and they don’t burnout.

Our goal with mind-body health is to first build our center, so that we can help others from a place of strength and wisdom. 

Recently, the Boston Globe published an article called "Five things you should know about Steve Grossman." Steve is one of my students, and he works every day to help others here in Massachusetts and all over the United States. If not for his special soul, his wife Barbara and supportive family, good nutrition, and the tailored mind-body routine, you can be sure that he would not have the energy and strength to do as much work and good as he does, at this time in his life. How else could he be on so many top business lists around the world!

Steve knows better than anyone what it means to invest in something to help it grow and do more good for people. That’s exactly what mind-body training does for the human body, mind, and spirit. That consistency and knowledge and patience leads to success.

Happy Stretching, Deep Breathing & thank you Steve Grossman!

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To read the article in the Sunday 10/11/2015 issue of the Boston Globe, click the link below and press continue to see #4 & #5:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/10/09/five-things-you-should-know-about-steve-grossman/IXpVqwk38ONawPYcCbKKsI/story.html