Tag: self-help

#21 the movement class lesson four

This time, its your spine.

Last class we discussed the importance of maintaining your core and what it means to have a strong core and the life impacts that having a strong core has overall. Today we’ll discuss your spine and how fueling your spine will have an impact on your life.

  1. Predatory movement, Think about the motion of a shark swimming, or the dynamic movement performed by a predatory cat mid hunt. You should not remove yourself from these predatory motions, but that is all we do, we sit in unnatural positions at desks stretching out our lower spine leaving it stationary for hours on end expecting it to perform when we ask it to.
A predators spine is healthy and resilient

2. Our bodies will become good at what we ask from them, so if you ask your body to sit at a desk for long periods of time it will become sore, at first, to challenge itself and then once it realizes that this is normal now you will remain in that position, when standing, and when operating as a human. Diversify your movement; don’t let your body think that sitting, hunched over a computer, is normal.

3. Your spinal column is organized to send information from your brain to the rest of your body using that thing sitting at the top. If you neglect the attachments, like an under used peripheral on your computer your spine will react, whether it be pain or worse. You must keep your spine in action and if you are ever wondering what is possible look at the flexibility of top performing humans at the Olympics and see, your range of motion sucks and it all starts from your spine.

I think I’ll revisit the spine because I am not done with its utility, this was mostly based on spinal health but I think that mental health can be tied to the spine as well.

Your Canadian Brother

#20 “Just turn it off and turn it on again”

Three steps to press your body’s reset button.

Wouldn’t it be something if you could “turn off” and turn back again, resetting all your settings, clearing all your memory and becoming ready for whatever tasks that you’re exposed to on a daily basis. What a great idea, unfortunately that’s not going to happen. Here are three steps you need to take to reset your body and mind and start on the newest freshest page of your life book.

  1. Sleep. The best and only real medicine is when you allow yourself to recover deeply and fully with sleep. After a period of intensive work, whether it being a long string of late shifts or a week of extra difficult workouts the chemicals in your body and mind will be exceptionally damaged, you can overcome this with sleep, and enough of it in the right conditions, we know all the factors that affect sleep so don’t be stupid and curse your sleep by drinking and sleeping longer, it wont help you in fact it will put you farther behind your goals.
  2. Exercise. Strong mind, strong body, ah the old adage rings true today. The physiological benefits to being fit contribute to general health and ensure that all circulatory systems are in check (and lymphatic and cardiovascular blah). Think of rinsing a straw before you use it, the longer you go between washes the more junk you might find in that straw, naturally accumulating.
  3. Exhaustion. It might be controversial to think that you need to exhaust yourself, but you do, your bodies love being in a steady state (homeostasis) so your body will have no issues, in fact it wants you, to become a couch-bound television, video game, etc. addict, it is predictable, your body does not have to react to things that trigger flight or fight and you are in a very comfortable position for a long time. Exhaust yourself with work, or study or exercise somewhat regularly, allow yourself to fall on the other side of exhaustion, but always remember to hit the reset, with sleep and exercise.

Your Canadian Brother.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke