"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." (Lao-tzu Chinese Philosopher)
"The journey to lose 100 pounds begins with a single step and an insistent, persuasive friend that motivates you to sweat." (T.Larson American Philosopher)
Lisa is doing it! Her physiological chemistry is changing and her physical shape is getting stronger! Lisa shared this positive text with me from her doctor's office yesterday: "What in the world are you doing? All your lab results have gone down to the normal range for everything (LDL, HDL and triglycerides). Your results look excellent! Your cholesterol is down from 237 to 152." To answer the doctor's question Lisa is doing cardio fitness at least 5 days a week, making more nutritious choices of fresh fruits and vegetables, taking dance lessons (yes, she took me with her to tap class...I borrowed two left shoes!), and incorporating a mind/body practice...Pilates in this case. In addition I am as much her exercise buddy as her trainer. Research suggests improved success when you have a supportive partner. When your brain says, "no thanks" to that hill your friend says "most definitely yes." Or when you say, "tap dancing isn't for me," your friend says "you really should try new things!" She is at a critical point in her journey...people are starting to take notice of the 35 pounds she has lost thus far but at times she still feels the emotional strain that contributed to self destruction. Isolation leads to ice-cream, job stress demands chocolate, financial stress implores the bakery, a trip to visit friends in Chicago deters her from exercise. We all have circumstances that cause regression in our behaviors but forming solid health practices provides a protective barrier. Although she was admittedly unhealthy for more than a decade, just 3 months of deliberate, conscious living has made a dramatic change in her physiological chemistry as well as her emotional state. She is contemplating doing the Jingle Bell Run, a 5K at the Milwaukee County Zoo Sunday November 4th...join her as she races everything from turtles to gazelles!
"The journey to lose 100 pounds begins with a single step and an insistent, persuasive friend that motivates you to sweat." (T.Larson American Philosopher)
Lisa is doing it! Her physiological chemistry is changing and her physical shape is getting stronger! Lisa shared this positive text with me from her doctor's office yesterday: "What in the world are you doing? All your lab results have gone down to the normal range for everything (LDL, HDL and triglycerides). Your results look excellent! Your cholesterol is down from 237 to 152." To answer the doctor's question Lisa is doing cardio fitness at least 5 days a week, making more nutritious choices of fresh fruits and vegetables, taking dance lessons (yes, she took me with her to tap class...I borrowed two left shoes!), and incorporating a mind/body practice...Pilates in this case. In addition I am as much her exercise buddy as her trainer. Research suggests improved success when you have a supportive partner. When your brain says, "no thanks" to that hill your friend says "most definitely yes." Or when you say, "tap dancing isn't for me," your friend says "you really should try new things!" She is at a critical point in her journey...people are starting to take notice of the 35 pounds she has lost thus far but at times she still feels the emotional strain that contributed to self destruction. Isolation leads to ice-cream, job stress demands chocolate, financial stress implores the bakery, a trip to visit friends in Chicago deters her from exercise. We all have circumstances that cause regression in our behaviors but forming solid health practices provides a protective barrier. Although she was admittedly unhealthy for more than a decade, just 3 months of deliberate, conscious living has made a dramatic change in her physiological chemistry as well as her emotional state. She is contemplating doing the Jingle Bell Run, a 5K at the Milwaukee County Zoo Sunday November 4th...join her as she races everything from turtles to gazelles!
I have been part of a book club for more than 5 years. At one point I took a hiatus from reading (among other things) but the club was sympathetic and accepted me as a non-reader contributor. I attended meetings for the social aspect---whine, wine, and laughter. No matter my lame participation they kept me in the loop and fortunately I have returned to reading. This past month we read Teach Us To Sit Still...A Skeptic's Search for Health and Healing by Tim Parks. Parks is an accomplished literary author, college professor, and essay writer but his writing was sidetracked by chronic prostate pain. (No book or topic is off-limits...Shades of Grey, Pillars of the Earth or prostate pain...we read it, we embrace it!) Parks western physicians recommend a procedure called TURP...trans urethral resection of the prostate...but after researching results he finds patients often still have pain. In addition no MRI, CT scan, or bloodwork could show there was a definitive problem contributing to his pain, yet his physicians still encourage surgery.
Parks states, "I was becoming withdrawn," he says. "I was losing interest in intimacy." Even the characters in his novels were displaying the same symptoms – "manic and withdrawn". And then he discovers a book on the internet, called A Headache in the Pelvis. Written by two Californian doctors, it suggests that Parks might be suffering from nothing more than muscle tension. Can this be true? Can decades of agony and malaise be caused by sitting on your bottom and clenching your muscles? Yes, apparently.
About now, Parks has his spiritual breakthrough. He realizes that, as a writer, he hardly ever lives in the moment – up to now, he's spent the vast majority of his time thinking about how to translate his experiences into words. He's been living in the past, and in the future, but never quite in the present. And this has caused his entire body to become rigid with tension. "I yanked on my socks as if determined to thrust my toes right through them. I tied my shoes as if intent on snapping the laces." He's tense when he shaves, when he eats, when he brushes his teeth, when he grips the steering wheel.
So he starts to meditate. He realizes his problem; it's almost impossible to make his mind relax, because it's full of words. But he tries and tries. He meditates and exercises. He spends time at a retreat. Gradually, he clears his mind. The pain in his pelvis disappears. It wasn't cancer. It wasn't a bladder infection. But it wasn't nothing. It was the anxiety of the sedentary westerner who sits on his bottom for hours on end, racking his brains and tapping a keyboard. (guilty as charged!)
Even though Tim struggled with prostate pain somehow the all female Aspen Book Club understood his discomfort. We don't have prostates but we all have the propensity to attach ourselves to painful circumstances, and often repeat that cycle until everything we do seems to be in tandem with the pain. Breaking out of this cycle of hectic school mornings, difficult relationships, anxiety about work, fear about personal health, or even just chronic contemplation, allows for a much calmer, healthier state. One of the meditation mediators describes this fluctuating energy and environmental change as "annica." He implores Parks to "get to know annica." To the Buddhist teacher annica means impermanence. It is the belief that everything will come to an end and that nothing lasts forever. However, it is not necessarily a negative, pessimistic belief; it can be taken as enjoy things while they last, but not to be upset when they end.
By accepting there is impermanence within chaos, that nothing lasts forever in both a positive and negative sense, we become better able to deal with our internal reactions--or perhaps we don't react at all. I love the women in the Aspen Book Club. Their diverse back grounds and experiences as high school language teachers, physical therapists, accountants, stay-at-home moms, and sexy wives provide friendship and perspective on the spiritual nature of our often mundane appearing tasks. Thank you Aspen Book Club and Stacy for hosting this most recent interesting read.
Parks states, "I was becoming withdrawn," he says. "I was losing interest in intimacy." Even the characters in his novels were displaying the same symptoms – "manic and withdrawn". And then he discovers a book on the internet, called A Headache in the Pelvis. Written by two Californian doctors, it suggests that Parks might be suffering from nothing more than muscle tension. Can this be true? Can decades of agony and malaise be caused by sitting on your bottom and clenching your muscles? Yes, apparently.
About now, Parks has his spiritual breakthrough. He realizes that, as a writer, he hardly ever lives in the moment – up to now, he's spent the vast majority of his time thinking about how to translate his experiences into words. He's been living in the past, and in the future, but never quite in the present. And this has caused his entire body to become rigid with tension. "I yanked on my socks as if determined to thrust my toes right through them. I tied my shoes as if intent on snapping the laces." He's tense when he shaves, when he eats, when he brushes his teeth, when he grips the steering wheel.
So he starts to meditate. He realizes his problem; it's almost impossible to make his mind relax, because it's full of words. But he tries and tries. He meditates and exercises. He spends time at a retreat. Gradually, he clears his mind. The pain in his pelvis disappears. It wasn't cancer. It wasn't a bladder infection. But it wasn't nothing. It was the anxiety of the sedentary westerner who sits on his bottom for hours on end, racking his brains and tapping a keyboard. (guilty as charged!)
Even though Tim struggled with prostate pain somehow the all female Aspen Book Club understood his discomfort. We don't have prostates but we all have the propensity to attach ourselves to painful circumstances, and often repeat that cycle until everything we do seems to be in tandem with the pain. Breaking out of this cycle of hectic school mornings, difficult relationships, anxiety about work, fear about personal health, or even just chronic contemplation, allows for a much calmer, healthier state. One of the meditation mediators describes this fluctuating energy and environmental change as "annica." He implores Parks to "get to know annica." To the Buddhist teacher annica means impermanence. It is the belief that everything will come to an end and that nothing lasts forever. However, it is not necessarily a negative, pessimistic belief; it can be taken as enjoy things while they last, but not to be upset when they end.
By accepting there is impermanence within chaos, that nothing lasts forever in both a positive and negative sense, we become better able to deal with our internal reactions--or perhaps we don't react at all. I love the women in the Aspen Book Club. Their diverse back grounds and experiences as high school language teachers, physical therapists, accountants, stay-at-home moms, and sexy wives provide friendship and perspective on the spiritual nature of our often mundane appearing tasks. Thank you Aspen Book Club and Stacy for hosting this most recent interesting read.
One of the activities that allows me to "know annica" without attaching to it is through nature and yoga. Sunday I attended a vinyasa flow class with live music provided by Dennis Hawk. Dennis travels to local yoga studios sharing his music FREE of CHARGE! Wearing a black Under Armour t-shirt and Nike running pants his tattoos, beaded jewelry and music are interesting, if not contradicting accessories. With a guitar, keyboard, canvas drum, ankle bells/chimes, and a wooden clarinet instrument he creates soothing, warm, melodic sounds. (Side note: It was reminiscent of one of my favorite local nature sanctuaries, Shalom Wildlife Center in West Bend. Shalom also is a mindful retreat from modern life and the tour guide plays similar Native American music as he describes the collection of elk, deer, buffalo, and wildlife that roam this 400 acre farm. To me, it is better than any zoo--and I think it is also a great place for a date or family trip close to home. )
This particular yoga class had nearly 30 participants. At first I could not help but notice the early morning odor of garlic and basil (yogis are a healthy bunch), the man growling rather than breathing next to me, and the women wearing identical Athleta tanks...did they plan it? Within minutes however I detached my need to think and translate the experience and instead became present to the experience. I left feeling the effects of a week-long vacation in 75 minutes.
This particular yoga class had nearly 30 participants. At first I could not help but notice the early morning odor of garlic and basil (yogis are a healthy bunch), the man growling rather than breathing next to me, and the women wearing identical Athleta tanks...did they plan it? Within minutes however I detached my need to think and translate the experience and instead became present to the experience. I left feeling the effects of a week-long vacation in 75 minutes.
The soothing, meditative, Native American sounds of Dennis Hawk will put you in a tranquil, peaceful state.
If you want to do yoga to the warm, mellow music of Dennis Hawk, my friend and exceptional yogi, Jen Martin, is hosting Stories, Yoga, and Kirtan with Dennis Hawk in October. Please check out her website or Facebook page at The Soul Source in West Bend for more details.
Enjoy the weekend! Thank you for reading.
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