Rami's Blog

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.

 

Increase the Flexibility of your Hips

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: your hips are an incredibly important area of your body. Maintaining proper hip strength and flexibility is key to extending your life's maximum mobility and balance years. This stretch is one of my 12 Body Markers, a system I developed to set clear benchmarks for people trying to regain and maintain their body's natural flexibility and strength. Find your number (0-10) and start stretching!

Relaxing the Body

We have talked about meditation frequently on the blog, but there is a step everyone must take before we meditate that is just as important as doing the proper meditation.

We must properly relax our body.

We must let go of unnecessary tension throughout the entire body, because where there is tension, our qi circulation is inhibited.

While sitting in a chair, slowly relax your body. One-by-one, relax your face, shoulders, arms, torso, belly, hips, legs, and feet. Become aware of the up and down forces within in the body that must be maintained for proper meditation.

Experience the spine, rib cage, and head being gently pulled up, as though suspended on a string from the sky. Feel your abdomen, shoulders and face relax as the tension in your soft tissue melts away.

You can visualize ice melting off into running water from the site of these down forces, to help you experience the release and relaxation.

And remember! Do not slouch. If you collapse forward at all, even a little, you will compress your internal organs. When breathing deep, these organs need space to move so they can benefit from the internal massage. If they are under pressure to begin with, the massage won't do you any good.

Here is the .pdf version of the up and down forces chart. Feel free to print it and hang it up where you meditate, so you can remember them easily.

Sexual Health: Hip Circles

This week we are starting our Sexual Health vlog series, where I will show you exercises to maintain and improve your sexual health functions and performance. Today: two hip circles. I do these circles (and a few more) in many of my classes because the hips are such an important joint for overall health. Do this regularly for a few months, and you will see a great many improvements in your health and sexual performance.

Come to My Meditation Workshop This Sunday

Do you want face-to-face guidance on meditation? Do you want to lower your stress levels, increase your energy, stabilize your mood, and unify your mind and body in health?

This Sunday I am teaching a workshop on meditation at Yang's Fitness Center in Andover, MA. It requires no previous experience with meditation, and is open to everyone of all fitness levels. At this workshop, we'll work on:

The workshop is this Sunday, January 18th, from 11am to 2pm at Yang's Fitness Center in Andover, MA. To register, call: 978.475.2020.

I hope to see you all there on Sunday!

I am also giving a talk at the beginning of the Natural Healing Aids and Therapies Conference at Boston Medical on January 29th, which is open to cancer survivors, patients, and their families. Check out this flyer for all of the details. I hope to see some familiar faces!

Lastly, I've decided to extend the FREE offer on my 15 Minute Mind-Body Workout course on Udemy.com until midnight on February 1st. Hundreds of people have already signed up, so don't miss your chance! Send the links to everyone you know who could use my mind-body teachings.

Happy stretching!

The Windmill Challenge

There are a lot of very strange challenges out there on the internet. This one isn't very strange, but it is very challenging. The Windmill Challenge is about health, flexibility, and martial arts performance.

Do NOT attempt this challenge unless you are sure of your stability and hip flexibility already. This can be used to improve hip flexibility and speed, but it requires a good amount of skill to even begin, so please use caution.

The challenge is to be able to do ten full circles without touching the ground with your swinging leg, and then repeat using the other leg.

Think you are up for the Windmill Challenge? Be safe, and if you can, give it a try.

New Year's Health Resolution: Getting Off Medication

There is nothing wrong with prescription medication. Some people, especially in the alternative health fields, have an unwarranted grudge against medical drugs. Everyone reacts to each treatment differently, and where one patient may have their life nearly ruined by a bad reaction to a pill, many other patients's lives are revolutionized for the better with the same medication.

Before you can take control of the role that pills and potions play in your treatment, you have to take a few facts to heart. First: Just because an option didn't work for you, doesn't mean it won't work for someone else. We all have the right to select what treatments we want to try or avoid.

If you started reading this post, or this whole blog, hoping to throw away all those bottles in your medicine cabinet, you are already in the WRONG mindset. You need to listen to your body, and make small adjustments, one at a time, as you and your doctor feel comfortable with them. This brings us to the second fact: Getting off medication may mean simply reducing the number of medications you take, not being medication free. 

Everyone can agree that the fewer medications you have to take on a daily basis, the better. More pills floating around means a greater chance of mixing up or forgetting medications. That can be dangerous. Not to mention, certain medications can have such severe side-effects that they really come in pairs of two: one pill to medicate, and another pill to reduce the first pill's side-effects. This kind of medication-for-medication drug use can be a vicious circle. So what should we do about it?

If it's an emergency, take the pill. I believe exercise and meditation can improve or fix almost any ailment, but you can't exercise your way out of an infection. Don't let pride in the healing abilities of your body prevent you from properly protecting your body.

Ask your medical professional about alternative treatment options, and alternative treatment specialists you can talk to. Doctors are always going to offer what they think will help you most, while also being the least stressful for you to incorporate into your life. Often, that is a pill. But you should feel safe telling your doctor that you are up for a little more work if it means fewer pills and potentially fewer side-effects.

Always get a second opinion. And remember that your doctor isn't trying to work against you if he or she disagrees with your pursuit of different treatment options. Take what your doctor says to heart, but take it with a grain of salt. There is too much medical knowledge out there for a single person to have it all.

Never go cold turkey. Start your replacement treatment before stopping your current treatment whenever possible. I have done research showing strong support for the effectiveness of Tai Chi to treat rheumatoid arthritis in the knees. But, I would never suggest going off your medication right as you begin a Tai Chi routine for your knees. Keep in constant contact with your doctor, and figure out at what rate you should reduce your medication intake given the improvement you feel (if any) from the Tai Chi, or other treatment option.

The same goes for emotional and mental treatments. I believe that anxiety, depression, and many other disorders can be greatly improved by a meditation and mindfulness practice incorporated into your daily life. However, I insist that people trying new routines STAY ON their antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications until they feel, for an extended period of time, like they are in a position to reduce or eliminate them from their treatment plan.

Good luck with all of your heath resolutions for 2015! Happy stretching!