During the holidays

 I am very keen to assist anyone who wants to join the online exercise class.  Lots of our regular activities will go into recess over the summer holidays - so we might miss out on our precious physical activity.  I am building a catalogue of classes that will be available over the next three months.  

It will be a combination of the live classes online on Monday at 8.15am and Wednesday at 9.15 am recorded classes to access any time.

The new Monday class will be recorded each week.  

The Regular Cost
A monthly subscription costs $20.00 per month.
You will need the internet. Zoom classes do not use much internet data. However, dare I suggest that if you need more internet data, you can easily increase the data allowance on your phone plan for only a few extra dollars per month.

How much space do you need at home?
I teach the entire class from a mat in my lounge which is 1.5 metres by about 2 metres. My other venue is beside my son's kitchen table.  You don't need much space.

Time?
If we don't make time to keep well, we have to find time to be sick. The availability recorded classes means you can do classes at any time.  The shortest class is 10 minutes. There is a 24 minutes floor class, 30 minutes, and a 57 minute class 

All Welcome, but first

I am keen to help any newcomers. however, I would need to have a chat and outline the classes before a new person joins, to ensure their safety and class's suitability. 
So contact me by email if you want to give it a go.  My email is:-
annlear1@gmail.com

 

How much Exercise should we do? Less than you think.....There is a sweet spot.

 As a general rule, the more you exercise, the more benefit you gain.  It is important to consider why you want to exercise.  There are so many benefits: 

    Live longer

    Maintain a healthy body weight

    Perk up your immunity 

    Less pain - exercise is anti-inflammatory

    More energy

    Tolerate the hot weather

    Increase the number of your cells mitochondria.

I should stop now. I could go on all day.

In an article in the New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds investigates how much exercise we should do.  She found in the research that there is a sweet spot.    12 minutes.  That is not much.  It is a six minutes walk out and a six minute walk back.  ( I spend longer than that waiting for a kettle to boil) 

It turns out that there is tremendous benefit doing 12 minutes of exercise compared to doing nothing It is not a trivial benefit, it is for "all cause mortality".    

So if you don't have time to do exercise - you might just have to find time to be sick.

Spread your dots - Expand the triangle of joy. Habit of the Week

One way to check your posture is to open up the collar bone area.  It is easy.  Just imagine three dots:-

•     One at the front of each shoulder
•     One at the base of your sternum - the lowest part of your breastbone.

Once you have located these three sites, seek to expand the triangle they form. This automatically puts your neck, and therefore your head in the right place. 

As well, it is a positive stance, uplifted. Like putting a smile on your body.

The benefits

As well as the visual appeal, there are physiological benefits as well.  By lifting and expanding the upper part of the chest, the diaphragm is no longer compressed so it can move freely.  This matters to our new nasal breathing, wherein our diaphragm moves efficiently to allow for easier, more efficient breathing. I hope you are breathing through your nose right now.  There is also less pressure on the spine in the midback.  Our digestive organs are not compressed.

Meanwhile, this is an excellent habit we can implement on the way to Christmas day.  Every time you think of it expand that triangle of dots.  You will be retraining those muscles.  Our body adapts to the load we give it, so this uplifted posture will begin to feel quite normal - our default setting.

So Christmas day we will make a spectacular entrance.  We look younger, slimmer and smarter with our triangle of joy expanded. 

So spread your dots.     START RIGHT NOW

December Update

Every Monday I will conduct a fresh class at 8.00am.  It will have different music, different moves, a different theme and will include weights, stretches.  I will also discuss the habit of the week, as well as any other juicy new research.

This class will be available for one week, then removed to make room for the next.  So watch the date. Note , though, each week a new class which means a new link. So make sure you log into the current class.

So, there will be only one live class each week on Monday at 8.00am. 

Live Timetable Monday 8.00am

 - recorded each week - available for one week - Go crazy.  

There is still a library of classes.  Each week I will send out the appropriate link to the new Monday class. Take a look and let me have any feedback about the new system.  Would you like to change the make up of the Library. For instance more quiet classes?, more weights?. More H.I.I.T.?  Whatever.  Let me know. 

To join the class or to see the Library, just email me and I can send the details.

annlear1@gmail.com

Zoom Classes - The Library of Recorded

I have figured out how to change the passcode on the recorded classes, so all the Zoom class's passcodes are much simpler.

Hoorary

It is going to be a long summer break, Would you like to exercise at home? Why not do a Zoom class - with me, live or do a recorded. whenever you want.

Let me know by commenting below or send an email if you are interested.

Never print out another recipe again

Cooking for me is relaxing and joyful.. My Italian heritage I guess. I love my Recipe Keeper App.  I have been using it for more than 12 years now.  I never ever print out recipes any more.  

Instead, I use this app on my tablet in the kitchen and it stays open while I am cooking. There is no need to touch the screen with floury to switch it back on all the time because it stays on while the app is open.  I stand the tablet on my book stand.  

It is easy to import recipes and super easy to share them. 

Shared from my Recipe Keeper - the easy way to collect, organize and share your recipes on your mobile, tablet and PC.

I haven't even used all the features, there is a shopping list function, and a menu log. 

It is EASY It is called Recipe Keeper.  See for yourself.

Download  at https://recipekeeperonline.com

How good are you? Habit of the Week. Look! - No Hands

Our muscle mass can waste away, without our knowing.  We lose a couple of kilograms of lean muscle tissue every decade.  Doesn't seem like much?  Agreed.  However, when we start stringing a few decades together, it does start to add up. 

So let's check.  Two questions.

Can you get out of a regular chair without using your hands to push off?

Can you walk up or down a set of stairs without using the handrail?  Caution! No swan dives down the steps now.

Try it out. We are wired to find the easiest, most efficient way to move.  However, efficiency might lead to muscle wastage.

Chairperson

So our habit of the week is firstly test, whether you can manage this chair action. Then make a regular challenge out of trying to stand up without your arms.  There is a trick you know.  While sitting put one foot in front, tip forward from the hips then launch.

Whereas the steps

Firstly, I recommend you try to walk up the stairs.  There is less danger of falling.  

This especially applies to those who don't have stairs at home. 

If you don't use it you lose it...  If you do use it you get it back.. 

Check those four numbers

 

There are things we should know about ourselves. Lots of things for our peace of mind and our health.  There are four important numbers that are indicators of our health.

Blood Pressure

Blood Sugar

Cholesterol

Bone Density.

I am prompted to write about this because of renal failure in a close friend.  There were no symptoms, still aren't.  The only way that this diagnosis came to light was by way of blood tests. So now my friend is closely monitored.  She keeps a two litre jug of water on the bench in her kitchen. 

Even though the numbers can be pointers to potentially scary problems, it is so important to know.  Then, if we know, we can take steps. Information is power.

Be brave, find out your numbers.  You have two months.

Habit of the week

Start making the appointments necessary to find out this bio-marking numbers.

An Oldie but a goodie

 Here is a reprint of a previous blog post.   YIKES

The Guardian , 25th November 2014 had a great article Homa Khaleeli:- " Tech Neck,  How smart phones are damaging our spines".

Here's the graphic from the article that I  have been talking about.

Two great ideas to manage stress and create joy instead.

 Habit of the week - Let's change the way we regard the view from our window. Or look through a different window.

The article came from the New York Times.  In the "city that never sleeps", anxiety may have been quite high around election time. I found a few treasures in the article by Melissa Kirsch, called "The View from a Different Window" 4th November, 2020.

Window Swap 

"A new perspective is a click away".  A Singaporean couple who had grown weary of the view from their window during the pandemic, launched a programme called Window Swap.  Go to the website,  click, and a random view from a window will appear.  It is a video clip - so you might see birds or insects.  You can watch with or without sound.  Here is the link:-

https://www.window-swap.com

The link will ask if this is correct - It is.

The words for you and me.

What do these words have in common:- Crop Top, Gobsmacked, Backlit and Meltdown.

These words came into print in the year I was born.  There are many more words for that year and some have already gone out of use. Double click here and have a look at the year you were born:- 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler

The link will ask if this is correct - It is.

 

Back Pain Breakthrough

 

In a YouTube by Jeremy Ethier and featuring Dr. Stuart Magill we learn that what feels right might be wrong.

The deceptive stretch reflex

Allowing our spine to curl inwards, forwards, while giving temporary relief from pain, is probably increasing the pressure that caused our back pain in the first place. Forward flexion puts pressure on the spine and can lead to bulging and herniated discs.  No thank you. These unhelpful stretches all include forward flexion of the spine, for example, a poorly-performed toe-touch, or bringing both knees in toward the chest... whoopsie, we do that one in class- not any more. 

Sitting too much
Instead, there are movements we can perform which mobilize the spine to decrease stiffness and still others that stretch the psoas muscle. This muscle goes from the top of the leg to the  low back. It can become chronically tight from sitting, or, say, driving and when it is tight, it can pull on the lower back. So it is beneficial to do a good psoas stretch to open up the hip joint. 

Head Forward Posture

Believe it or not, head forward posture can have an impact on the lower back. As we age our head travels further and further forward.  Those of us with a smart phone.  Yikes.  Let's start holding our phone in front of our face.  Bonus - if we did hold our phone up higher, we might actually put it down more often.

Dr Stuart Magill famously has measured the actual stresses on the spine during and after various movements. He measure the impact from various movements and "beneficial stretches. The message is - don't necessarily trust your instincts. This temporary relief can be quite deceptive.

I am really excited to share these quite revolutionary ideas in my classes.

Zoom Class Timetable for November

Each month I review the Zoom timetable. As the summer approaches we need to update.

Monday 8.00am Light Paced Class 30 minutes

Monday 8.40am Weights class 15 minutes - it is on the same link as 8.00

Monday 9.00am Mid Paced Class 60 minutes

Wednesday 8.00am Midweek Pick-me-up 30 minutes

Friday 8.00am  Quiet Class 45 minutes

In addition, there is quite a catalogue of recorded classes which you can access any time.  And you can do any class more than once.  These classes are all streamed, which means you don't need a lot of data.

If you have any queries or you would like to have a go at Zoom, let me know.  I will send you the details and assist you with the technology.

Walk in Awe

"Older men and women who took a fresh look at the objects and vistas around them felt more upbeat and hopeful"

So says Gretchen Reynolds in the New York Times 30/9/2020. It suggests the wisdom of older people comes into play.  

Here is the link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/well/move/an-awe-walk-might-do-wonders-for-your-well-being.html 

Let me know what you think.

These ideas follow on from previous blog posts which notes that our creativity and problem solving is enhanced if we go out into nature. Remember the post about Japanese Forest Bathing. Ahhh

Neck Mobility

 Here is a simple sequence of neck exercises. Try them a couple of times a day.

It is important to lengthen the back of the neck and to not over extend the neck into a painful position.

There are five simple exercises on on Mark Wildman's Youtube clip. I recommend them.

Here is the link:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4dmZ5_n6uU

We are doing these stretches in class now.

Walking - Why not kick up your heels - HOW

Our habit of the week is to push off from our heels when we walk or run.  When we do this, we recruit the correct gluteal muscles, which are the muscles we evolved to walk with.  we’ve been walking this way for millennia

The Primal Posture Course I did this year called this “Glide Walking”.  Esther Gokhale, the author wants us all to walk “as a series of forward propulsion, not falls”

When we walk we want to propel ourselves

1.     So, we use the mobility of the shoulders to swing our arms, especially to the back. (see week - shoulder mobility)

    Gluteus medius, but where?    

    These are the buttock muscles at the sides. Dig your thumbs into your hips you will feel them.

3.     Pushing our heals out the back when we walk.                                                                         This is the start of the correct action of walking. It is propulsion, rather than falling forward. So pushing the heals then pushing off the toes not only starts to recruit the gluteal muscles, it sets up good alignment,  

The problem is our modern gluteus fails to switch on, probably because of all our modern sitting in chairs.  The average adult is sedentary for 64% of the time – the desk job, the car, the couch.  This even has a name Gluteal Amnesia. 

So let's get to know our glutes.  Let's use them to propel ourselves forward by driving off with our heels as we walk.

Science confirms what we knew already......again

This definitely goes in the "thought so" category.  

First some background.  We live in a particularly verdant place. Whenever I say where I am from, people nearly always say how beautiful it is. A friend just said that it is  a pleasure to come home and it is truly a pleasure to have visitors come.  Everyone breathes a beautiful sigh when they arrive and they are refreshed.

It is the colour green. 

Many scientific studies have shown that people are less anxious and more creative in the midst of the green of nature.

I am listening to an audio book by Julia Baird, (yes, Julia from the ABC's the drum) She has written a beautiful book " Phosphorescence"  a note from the cover best summarizes -"On awe, wonder and things that sustain you in dark times"

She refers to the quiet healing properties of nature - the forest, the sea. ........ 

Julia says " a small mountain of studies in the field of nature science has confirmed that the mere sight of green -plants, leaves, trees - views from windows can make us happier and healthier"

Of course, she refers to the Japanese practice of forest bathing Shinrin Yoku..You heard it here first. See the blog 26th July.

Do we need a little more wonder?  I just heard Robin Williams (The Science Show) says that a big handful of rich soil contains more microbes than the number of humans that have ever been on earth.

Wonderful

    

Lengthen our mid-section

An easy way to improve just about EVERYTHING * is to lengthen the spine between ribs and hips.

It is a great way to improve our walking.  It lengthens the muscles of our spine and puts the hips in the optimal position.  In fact, in the Posture Course I did earlier in the year, pre Covid,  they suggested lengthening the spine is like a self-correcting massage.

Lengthening the mid spine also allows room for the inner organs of digestion and breathing.  

We can lengthen the mid section even while we are sitting......even milking a cow. Matter of fact, I am doing it now. 

So 100 times per day lengthen your breadbasket.  You will train those muscles, look better and slimmer.

*Actually not EVERYTHING  neither your mortgage or baldness.

KIdney Health

 Last week, coincidentally, two people spoke about kidney health.  It got me thinking about drinking - water, that is. 

I have tracked down the ABC radio program that was drawn to my attention. It is pretty comprehensive, well worth a listen. Search for this link:-

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/overnights/kidney-disease/12681010

(you to need to click this  then click redirect)

I did some digging of my own and looked at my nutrition bible Rosemary Stanton's "Eating for Peak Performance"

She talks about the "Odium of Sodium"

One of the kidney's jobs is to control the amount of sodium in the body.  Sodium being an essential mineral.  She says if we eat  a salty meal. we excrete more sodium and if we say, sweat too much, the kidneys simply re-absorb a little more sodium.  

"The kidneys are perfectly capable of cutting down on the amount lost in urine.  The big problem is disposing of excess."  We eat between 10 and 20 times too much.

So, in excess, salt levels can affect blood pressure and other organs such as your liver. 

 Yikes!

The second kidney conversation happened with someone with a case of renal failure, albeit a slow decline.

She is putting the two litres of water on the bench where she can see it.  

Great Idea.

Could Exercise be the Cure? Well I would say that!

 "The Exercise Cure" by Jordan D. Metzl, MD 

Here is a long quote. Persevere, it is worth it.

"Exercise can be very effective in helping you prevent and overcome the symptoms of stress. Vigorous exercise busies the brain and gives it a break from mulling over the stressful situation.

Exercise also causes cortisol levels to drop acutely reducing symptoms of anxiety and restlessness and helping you to focus. If stress is affecting sleep, regular exercise can also help restore the normal circadian cycle, leading to better sleep at night and more focus during the day. Some hard-charging, stressed-out types engage in physical activities they feel they should do for their health or appearance. Exercise can thus become another obligation on a never-ending to-do list. So, select a form of exercise based on preference and enjoyment.”

 

As a matter of fact, there were sessions on Stress and Exercise in the Fitness conference, Filex, that I attended last weekend.  Speakers did discuss this very thing.  – Exercise is a stress, and to come to the gym and to do a big program when a person is stressed, will mean a less than optimal performance. One lesson for me is that on “off” days, it is okay not to do the hardest workout.

The second point of interest from the conference was Motion and Emotion.  The mood-changing power of exercise. 

Anyone who exercises regularly already knows this.  For me, I just have a better day on the days I exercise.

We can consider three different stresses. These are all manifested in our bodies.

Eustress is the way we want to feel, stimulated, provoked in a positive way, the sense of flow. We get things done.  We enjoy the challenge and succeed.  YES. 

It is the opposite of Distress, from say a sudden mishap or bad news…

Worst of all is Chronic stress. We are bathed in the inflammatory hormone cortisol. It affects our mood, our sleep, our weight. 

The book “The Exercise Cure recommends:-

 

• TAKE A BREATH.  

Modalities  that include attention to breathing-yoga, tai chi, Feldenkrais, and Pilates, among others—may be particularly helpful in relieving the symptoms of stress, as focus on breath helps slow respiration and heart rate.

Ann's note:-  Remember to breathe through the nose to reduce stress and inflammation

    • GO AEROBIC. A 2008 study indicated that a lunchtime aerobics class lasting from 45 to 60 minutes was an effective stress reducer, improving the mood and focus of white-collar workers, as well as the ability to get along with their coworkers. The mood-boosting effects of exercise only accrued on days when the workers exercised—so when you’re facing a challenging day, it may be all the more important to get that workout in.

 

    • GO OUTSIDE. If the weather cooperates, exercising outdoors may be more effective  in reducing stress than working out in a gym. A 2011 review of studies published in Environmental Science and Technology found that people who exercised outdoors experienced “greater feelings of revitalization, increased energy, and positive engagement, together with decreases in tension, confusion, anger, and depression,” compared with people who exercised indoors.

Let's take the weight off and think about sitting down..

 

This is part one of a whole lot of sitting down.

Here is the link to a great Radio National program about sitting:-

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/are-chairs-fit-for-purpose/12618592

Let's sit up - the stack sit. A handy way to sit if there is no  back rest on your chair.

Here is how.  

• Sit at the front of the chair or bench
• Sit with your "behind" behind you.
• Arrange your spine so that your alignment is a vertical line.  The 'J' spine. not the 'S'

   For me, I  have  a sway in my back, so this means I must imagine a bar across my lower ribs to cancel the sway. 
The top of the ribs, the collarbone, gently  rolls upward
This all allows the neck to be in neutral and the head is free to move.


Let's lean back into the stretch sit, it is a yummy back massage.

• Sit back in the chair,
• 'Behind' behind, but lean back - you may need cushions or the ball here.
• Using arm strength, grab the chair lift your upper body forward
• Keep hold of the chair
• Scoop backwards with your upper body onto the cushion or ball
• Hook yourself there,
• Relax your back.  You are stretch sitting.

I'll show you the stretch sit in next week's classes

Bad Habits - Remember that song

There are lots of people telling us what to do, but what should we avoid?

One of the most common injuries occurs in the back, especially the mid or lower back.

In fact, nine out of ten of us will hurt our back sometime in our lives and it can be a long road to recovery.

In general, to avoid "ANY injury during movement - be that exercise, or daily living - we need to set ourselves up properly first. This means good alignment and posture before we even start.  This helps ensure we don't twist, too much, during a lift. 

• knees and feet pointing the right way i.e. in line with the load
• Back straight
• head up
• You know the drill

However, the back requires a little more attention.  Some say we must brace our back as we lift.  Note that a lot of bracing may happen automatically, subconsciously.  By all means, if the load you are going to lift is heavy - BRACE. All the bracing in the world may not help if you are in poor posture.

So to avoid disaster DO NOT BEND FROM THE WAIST. Bending from the mid-back puts strong, harmful forces through the spinal discs.

•     Hinge from the hip. So when you do bend, the bottom sticks out the back 
•       Keep the whole waistband, broad and straight. 

We should learn this in school, it is so important.  

So when you want to lift something heavy, think of squatting in good form and in the correct sequence. Bend from the hips using the big muscles of the legs and hips, they are gluts, hamstrings and quads.  Use your "rump " rather than the little "eye fillet" muscles that run down your spine. 

My Chinny Chin Chin

We can even consider our posture from our chin's point of view - Leading from the chin, perhaps

Ideally our chin is angled gently down. By the way, I remember my nonno used to tilt his chin up and down to look through the different lenses of his bifocals.

However, it is not just collapsing the head down. We must place our head in the correct place - stacked up above our body.  The back of our neck must be elongated.  When we do this we are quietly switching on the core muscles of our neck.  

So for homework we will be practising "chin glides". This means gently  move your chin backwards.  Go ahead make a double chin.

• Standing with your back against the wall
• Start by lengthening the back of your neck - and keep it long.
• Retract your chin horizontally. Relax
• Repeat.

You  don't necessarily need to stand at the wall.  The car is ideal.  Every time you sit in a car seat, gently glide your chin so your head touches the headrest or at least, moves towards the headrest.

Here is a link to a YouTube regarding the chin glide from  Bob and Brad. It is a 5 minute video.  They call it a chin tuck...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OEJyVhVlAE  

and while you are at it 

This is excellent, too and it is a bit more recent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpVq1A-BrfI

Draw up the Golden Thread - Habit of the Week - HOW

This week our homework is to draw up an imaginary golden thread.  This thread runs from the earth beneath our feet up through our body into the neck and the crown of the head. The idea is taken from the discipline of Tai Chi.

When we pull up on the golden thread, our spine and neck automatically lengthen, but our shoulders and limbs stay relaxed - like a beautifully draped garment on a coat hanger.    This lengthening helps to line us up straight and gives more room for our organs.  It makes good posture AND breathing easier.

Habit of the Week draw up your Golden Thread.  Like all the habits, practice this 100 times per day - In other words,  whenever you think of it. By the end of the week you will have trained your postural muscles into a better position.  It will feel natural. 

Nose Breathing - A great Piece on Radio National

This week I happened to be listening to ABC Radio National and heard James Nestor discussing his book "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art".  This is a different author than the fellow in the previous blog,  Patrick McKewon.

This is very inspiring and here is the link to ABC for you to listen for yourself.

Just click

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/why-breathing-through-your-mouth-is-bad-for-your-health/12570560

Let me know what you think.

 

Neuroplasticity - really great news.

Dr Andrew Hubermann says that the path to neuroplasticity (re-shaping our brain) is requires two components. Firstly, the stimulus then the integration.

For the stimulus we can take three different forms. Exercise, learning something new and a social engagement.

Whereas the integration phase occurs in slow wave sleep, meditation or a nap.

Alain De Botton has his School of Philosophy - a wonderful online service. 

He speaks in favour of a nap being a time where we unplug ourselves and have some quiet or thinking time.  He says for every hour of input we probably need 10 minutes to rest our brains.     

Have a quick look at the YouTube (6 min 25 seconds).  Then switch it off

 Just click:-         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lECIsRif10 

A confession

During one summer break, a couple of years ago. I would listen to the glorious content on Radio National all day long.  I did end up feeling quite swamped.  Now I know it is because I didn't allow for any integration time, to either process what I heard or to chill and unplug for a while.

Stretch your 'ruffle collar"

Thinking about posture this week.  This is a tiny tweak to our comportment.   

If we focus on the area of our body from our ears to our armpits. When we attend to that particular area, the rest of our posture falls into place. 

This means, that this week's habit is to roll the top of our chest upwards. Then from this position, 

• our head sits in the right place i.e.stacked on top of our body. 
• It is easy to lengthen our neck correctly
• We can roll our shoulders gently back
• Spread open the triangle of our chest
• Place our arms behind our body.

The rolling of the chest means angling the top of your chest upwards "shining your headlight up to the sky" rather than a caved-in chest position that points down.

Think of it as lifting up your heart.

It may very well be mood altering as well.  Here's hoping.

Music - something to make you smile

Have a look at YouTube - "Colt Clark and the Quarantine Kids" and search for "Cecilia".  It's my favourite. He posts one song per week

Colt is a dad with a great ‘Rock n Roll’ voice.  The drummer, his son, is 8 years old.  The M C / front person is the 6 years old.

I love the line - "making lunch in the afternoon with Cecilia up in my kitchen."

Also

Jailhouse Rock deserves an "honourable mention" 

Music - Something to make you cry

 

I was in Bunnings and I could faintly hear a Janet Jackson song that I really love.  One of the staff was singing along too. 

"Together again" 
Songwriters: James Samuel Harris / Janet Damita Jo Jackson / Terry Steven Lewis Together Again lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Why did I love this song? I didn't even know the words properly. I love the tune and the beat, the emotion in her voice.   I love the beautiful progressions and the key change is just right, perfect, in fact.

I listened many more times.  Then I looked it up on the internet.  It is about the death of a loved one. Who knew? This is such a joyful song.

Check out the words - they are very insightful and comforting. Here is a link to the words:-
https://genius.com/Janet-jackson-together-again-lyrics

When you play the song, diminish the drumbeat, if you can.

I challenge you not to cry. I cried.

 

So,

How come music make us cry? For me, to make me cry, a tune has to be familiar AND well sung, but there also has to be a delightful surprise.

For example, I was driving once, and the radio announcer said next up “Silent Night” sung by Sinead O'Connor.  I thought ‘ho hum’.  However when it came on - sung beautifully, quietly and slowly, I dissolved into tears. I was driving. It was tricky.

 

I've decided to have “Together Again” at my funeral.

Knee Posture

When you think about it, we take our knees for granted, except when they are bothersome.  Just as good postural habits can help our spine and neck, good positioning of the knees may forestall problems in the knee joint.

How the knees are supposed to work
Moving 
Our knee is a simple hinge.  It can bend and straighten and brace.  There can be no sideways movement or twisting without issues arising.  We can strengthen bending and flexing and we can strengthen bracing. We can ensure joint health by doing stretches, in this one plane of movement.

We must guard against twisting the knee, especially while loaded up with body weight.  Think of those careful Tai Chi steps.  When we place our foot down angling the toe outwards, it allows us to easily step to the diagonal.  Similarly side stepping, when we place our foot toe-down first of all, we can load up with body weight without compromising the knee.

Sitting Knee Posture

Consider what it is like sitting at the desk, completely absorbed in work.  We already know how to keep our spine happy - stack sit, "behind" behind you. What about our feet and knees?  If your legs are tucked under the seat and your ankles are crossed, it would be bad news for the knees and the circulation of the legs altogether. It will also cause our spinal positioning to suffer.
Ideal seated-knee posture means both feet are on the floor and the knees are at 90 degrees

Standing Knee Posture 

Unlock your knees, simple.... 

Try this experiment. Stand up with your legs straight, now tighten the leg muscles so that your knees hyper extend, you can also call it locking the knees. They seem to poke out the back a little. This has effects upon the the posture - your spine will extend and your head comes forward.  Two things you don't want.  Certainly, it is easier to lock out the knees - you hang from your skeleton instead of relying on muscles.  This is only a short term advantage, though.  

Our head forward posture costs us a lot of energy and possibly neck and shoulder pain.  Maybe even a sway in our back starts to ache. So let's unlocked those knees stay a little more agile; allow for better circulation,and  make it easier to stand strong and straight. 

An idea from Japan to Manage stress Shinrin-Yoku Words of Wisdom - Wow

The physio from

Shinrin-Yoku, Japanese Forest Bathing.  It was an idea to help me manage my shoulder 

pain, when it was quite acute. The idea is that being in a forest, is like meditation. 

It quietens down the stress associated with pain.  Here are the basics. 

Forest bathing basics

• Find a suitable place that's easy and pleasant to walk on, has places to sit, and ideally with access to natural waterways and different aspects. It also helps if it's close to home.
• On arrival, notice the place you are in, notice your body, and tune in to your senses.
• Walk slowly with steady step-by-step pace, while silently noticing what is in motion in the forest. If you start to feel distracted or rushed, come to a complete halt.
• Make friends with the forest. Notice the trees, stones, plants and flowers. Listen to the forest. Let the natural world make an impression on your mind.
• Sit down. Find a comfortable place to sit, staying still for up to 20 minutes, cultivating awareness.
• Give back. Quietly acknowledge everything the forest gives you.

Source: The Nature and Forest Therapy Association

Don't you just love it?

Postural Habits all Click Together - Habit of the Week, HOW

As we start to implement our postural habits, we don't need to remember them all.  Our habits all work together, so if we remember one of them, we are easily able to practice many. Let me illustrate:-

While we are walking
For example, if our head is stacked above our body, it is easy to spread our chest triangle.  While we are there with our head in an easy neutral position it is easy to look into the longer distance for our safety sake.
With our chest triangle open and lifted, it is easy to swing our arms or roll our shoulders up and  back and down. Delicious!

While we are sitting

Why not stack sit, nice and tall, with our "behind" behind us.  This allows us to easily, place the head directly over the body.  A simple shoulder rolls puts our arms in the correct place.  

These are familiar habits. You know them as well as I do.  These habits make our movement and sitting more efficient i.e. less energy wasted. Beautiful posture helps reduce stress and aches and pains.  Our posture assists us in breathing better, and digestion.

Let's put our posture habits to good use. 

How Boring - Words of Wisdom - WOW

Are only boring people bored?  Is it a reflection of your character if you are bored? It is the way we cope with boredom that is the real question.

The Dopamine System.

There is a reward centre in our brains. It could be called, more correctly, the "desire centre". It is here that the chemical dopamine operates.   It could be regarded as the motivation system, without which, we wouldn't even be motivated enough to get a drink of water when we are thirsty. 

However, the corporate digital world exploited our reward/desire system to keep us clicking on the internet or Facebook, or playing on screen games searching for the reward.  Before we get all high and mighty about those young people, the digital gen y and their phone addiction - let's think about our own guilty pleasures, food, gambling, alcohol, the internet. 

Let 's also consider how TV uses the reward centre to promotes itself  "coming up next". We are given an exciting teaser and we are hooked. 
As with any reward - like any addiction or compulsion - as we become habituated, the level needs to be greater and greater, because our dopamine receptor "down regulates" that means we need more and more for the same reward.  They have also discovered that random rewards are more attractive than a reward every time. For example, if you were to glance down at your phone and see a text message every time, it would not be as thrilling as not knowing whether you have a message or not.

However, there is something exciting you can do. I should say "boring" you can do.  You can have one boring day per week.  The idea is have an entire day without your particular guilty pleasure.  This resets the dopamine levels.  So that boring hard work, can become more interesting. To illustrate this, imagine that a man were to be served gourmet meals every day,  if he were then to be offered a bowl of steamed rice,  it would not be attractive.  However, if the same man were starving, that bowl of steamed rice would be delicious.

We live in a high stimulus, short-attention-span environment. Maybe our circuits need a break.
Go bathe in the forest - Shinrin-Yoku. 

"shinrin-yoku" is Japanese forest bathing.  It is a thing. There is no water involved, though. "Japanese research has identified measurable health benefits from a stroll in the forest"  (ABC Life)  

I also recommend Cal Newport's two books "Deep Work" and "Digital Minimilism"

Here is a link to the dopamine story on Youtube:-

Dopamine Detox by "Better than Yesterday"

Breathing through your nose is a good trick - Smelling the roses

Patrick McKeown is the oxygen man:-  The Oxygen Advantage is his program
He has devoted his career towards educating us all about the benefits of nose breathing -compared to mouth breathing.

There are around 30 tasks that nose breathing performs. You would know a few already. Nose breathing:-

• slows down the breath
• Warms the air
• Sterilizes the outside air before it enters the lungs against virus and bugs
• Transports nitric oxide into the lungs thus the bloodstream.
• slower breath goes to the lower parts of the lung, towards the diaphragm.
• allows for optimal exchange of gases with the blood vessels of the lungs
• The tongue can stay on the roof of the mouth, the correct position
• Therefore better body posture
• better sports performance
• much more efficient and so better sports performance

Mouth breathing on the other hand:-

• Speeds up the breath. 
• dries out the airways
• mainly goes to the upper part of the chest
• faster breath impairs the exchange of the gases oxygen and carbon dioxide
• the tongue is positioned incorrectly and not at the roof of the mouth
• This means Head-Forward posture.. oh no. 

I was a mouth breather when I was younger.  I had allergic rhinitis for years.  This could account for my own head forward posture. 

Nose breathing has big implications for exercise.  For vigorous exercise, nose breathing is a little more difficult.  However, because exchange is gentler and slower in the lungs, it becomes more efficient, it should pay an efficiency dividend and be worth the effort. 
I've tried to stick with nose breathing on my morning walk. Truthfully, I don't know if it is the placebo effect, but it actually feels easier and I recovered better  

This idea turns everything on its head.  How often have we been told to just take a deep breath?  According to Patrick, no no no.

We should seek to take a slow long breath through our nose, of course. When we breath incorrectly, and we take a big breath we send air to the chest, the upper part,  and  because the air is travelling so fast and forcefully, it cannot be exchanged properly, you know, oxygen into the blood stream, carbon dioxide out. We can actually train our management of the carbon dioxide levels. That is exciting. 

As well, during the proverbial big gasp inwards, with an open mouth, the all important nitric oxide  enters neither the lungs nor the blood vessels. Nitric Oxide has the capacity to relax and soften the blood vessels, therefore lowers our stress levels. It is an anti inflammatory. We miss out on this with mouth breathing

Patrick McGeown says that we should experience a breath hunger. We are still safe, there is plenty of oxygen in the blood stream. There is a breath "pacemaker" in the brain, which is governed by carbon dioxide levels in the blood.  We can train ourselves to slow down our breath rate - which is not only more efficient, but is a way of reducing stress - modern life is equal to faster breath. 

Talk about smelling the roses. He claims that to smell that rose, if we try a much gentler breath - our experience of the scent would be better.

This week's habit is try to breathe through the nose, breathe more gently and slow down.  You might be surprised at the difference.  I was surprised.

Here is the link to the benefits of nose breathing 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oftuk0FrlCo


and 
Here is a link to Patrick's Ted talk:-

 Ted Talk Patrick McKeown

Where to look? Lift up your head, and turn to smell the roses. Habit of the week

Let's take our gorgeous upright posture out for a spin. 

About 6 year ago, I did some safety and self-defence training with a policeman, Phillipe.  This is his safety perspective.

When you walk take into account the long distance view, the middle distance and the immediate view -  all three.  You can do all that if you look into the longer distance, and use the peripheral vision for the rest.
He was an observation savant. His focus was incredible. He would,for example tell me to look around. I would notice that there was someone across the road, bravo me,  but then he wonder if I had seen what was in the person's left hand.
Did I not see that?  Me? no sorry. 
Just like when a bird flicks by, Don says "Did you see the golden eye on that bower bird?"  I say "oh, Birdie".

Anyway, keeping your line-of-sight up, not down, keeps you safer.  You notice more. 
So I tried it on my morning walk.  I can report that I definitely remembered my posture  I hadn't realised that when I am deep in thought or listening carefully, my head drops down. Then having lifted my head up, glided my chin in correctly, I noticed a lot more of my morning walk surroundings. In fact,  I felt secure enough to turn my head a few degrees from side to side as I walked.  A positive result. 

Swing your arms - Habit of the Week

Even though it is cold, let's uncross our arms and start revving up by actually using our arms. There are lots of benefits.

I have been experimenting on my morning walk.. I  have been purposefully moving my arms when I go up that dreaded hill, and the hill seemed easier.  Then.at the top of the hill, using more arm movement, once again, a bonus - I recovered better.

But why?

Circulation is improved.  The moving of the arm muscles assists the "venous return" - the flow of blood back to the heart relies on the pump of muscles, not thebeat of the heart.  So moving the arms is a way of ensuring more blood returns to the heart and the brain.

Posture is improved, especially if you allow your arms to swing towards the back, as well as the front. Remember, the wind changes and you stay that way. Better to have your arms gently behind than hanging in front like a gorilla.

This effort of swinging your arms requires very little of our energy. 

Curious?  Well, what is the energy-cost of swinging our arms? 

I had a hunch. So I looked it up.  Very exciting news, indeed.

"Researchers found that normal arm swinging actually doesn't use much energy from the arm muscles. Simply walking causes the body to sway in a way that makes the arms move naturally, like a pendulum."

"So when you walk, your arms begin to swing naturally without much effort from your arm muscles. The natural movement of your arms also helps to offset a part of the force caused by your legs hitting the ground, keeping your torso and hips from wobbling and twisting too much. This results in your legs using less energy"

The article also says that keeping the arms still while you walk costs 12% extra energy.

I found a fun website Wonderopolis.     These quotes are from Wonder of the day #1538.

Here is the link;-  wonderopolis.org