Like the Yin-Yang, Eastern Martial Arts and Western medicine are two halves of a whole. My mission is to preserve the ancient mind-body tools and pass them on to you.
We finish up our Office Exercise Series with a guide to using sound to relieve stress. In particular, we're using the sigh sound to relieve pent up stress and emotion in our chest. Works equally well in your office as it does on the top of a mountain. Try both!
Also, thank you to everyone who has been subscribing to and watching my Youtube videos! I have over 100 subscribers now, let's see if we can hit 200 with your help. Happy stretching!
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
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.
And that's it! Good luck with increasing your stability!
This week we give you a 3-way stretch to help out that lower back soreness you've been getting from all that sitting. This move, the "3 Musketeers," helps relax the muscles around the lumbar vertebrae, the largest and least mobile area of the spine. Remember to set a timer, or you just might fall asleep!
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!
Everybody knows that wall you hit around 2 or 3 pm at work. Your lunch energy has worn off, but there are still a few hours left before you can call it quits for the day. Most of us grab a coffee, or a cup of tea to keep us going, but we all know that extra caffeine isn't good for us, and can even hinder our ability to sleep at night.
Instead, why not try this simple exercise! All you need is a chair and enough space to stand up straight. This gets the heart pumping, wakes you up, balances muscles, and even increases bone density in the legs. Good luck!
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.