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.
This vlog gives you, your family, and your children three methods for meditating together. It is important for children to meditate starting from a young age to develop solid emotional skills later in life. I included some videos to practice below!
Videos to use for practice!
The energy that flows through our bodies moves in and our of us via gates. We have five major energy gates in our body, and many other smaller ones. In fact, each of your skin's pores could be considered a tiny gate. The five major gates are:
Four Gates Breathing just works with the four hands/feet points, as well as the lower energy center.
The Four Gates - The palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet.
Moving the Energy to the Four Gates, the Simple Way
In order to succeed with the Four Gates visualization, you should first practice visualizing the lower energy center by itself. That energy center is at the crossroads of these four gates, and you must have a solid grasp of it before you start.
Next, we divide the gates into upper body and lower body sections, and practice their visualizations separately. We begin with the two palm gates, because they are the easiest. Next, we visualize only the two lower (soles of the feet) gates. Finally, we incorporate all the separate parts into one practice.
We'll talk about each of these steps in more detail in the following weeks.
P.S. I have two Meditation Workshops happening soon over at Yang's Fitness Center in Andover, MA. One is on March 1st, and the other is on March 15th. They are 3 hour sessions, which give you a great introduction into morning meditation (Mar 1st) and evening meditation (Mar 15th). You can register for one or both of them using this form, or by calling 978.475.2020.
Don't wait! Today is the last day to get the early-bird discount for the workshop on the 1st. And the early-bird deadline for the second workshop is March 5th, right around the corner.
Feel free to check out the testimonials of people who attended my last workshop back in September, if you are still unsure.
Hope to see you all there!
In this vlog, you get four excellent arm motions for relieving arthritis in your fingers, hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and more. Do them with 40% effort and you'll reduce that inflammation in no time.
"I can't exercise, I'm in too much pain."
This can be true sometimes, like when you've just broken a bone, or if you just began treatment for cancer, among other things. But 99% of the time that you say this to yourself, you are tricking yourself. Or, you don't know the right exercises to do.
I have done research in both fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, two of the leading causes of chronic pain. In both cases, regular exercise helped the patients experience less day-to-day pain.
"But I've tried exercise! It hurts too much, trust me."
I believe you. But I can almost guarantee that the exercise you were doing was too intense. In America, when we hear the word 'exercise' we think of running, or lifting weights, or doing jumping jacks. It's true, those are all exercises, but they are only one kind of exercise: fast and hard. They get your heart rate up, they make you sweat, they make you lose your breath.
There is an entire category of exercises that Americans are missing out on: the slow and gentle exercises. These exercises should be done using between 40% and 80% of our effort. Something like walking is good, but it doesn't get your mind and body working in sync.
Yoga is good too, but it can be very challenging at the beginning for people with chronic pain, or joint issues.
The best place to start is with Tai Chi. The nature and speed of Tai Chi movements is exactly what the body needs to relieve chronic pain and restore joint tissues.
Trust me, sitting and doing nothing will make your chronic pain worse. I've seen arthritic inflammation get much worse from inactivity. I've also seen symptoms get worse due to too much activity.
Tai Chi provides the balanced approach that these conditions require to improve.
In this week's vlog, I remind you of the last forearm strength exercise I taught you, and then show you another exercise using a staff (or broom, mop, etc.) Happy stretching!
Most medical and media discussion of mindfulness and meditation these days is about adults. People in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. These countless articles and studies shine a light on how to reduce stress from your job, your marriage, your kids, your health, and so on. That is all great, and all very important.
But what needs to be talked about more is how mindfulness and meditation help you make better decisions, rather than simply deal with the stress of decisions you've already made. Being quiet and mindful and honest with your feelings is a skill, not a tool you can just pick up and put down. The more you develop that skill, the more often and more efficiently you can utilize it.
So why start later? Don't tell yourself "I'm young and free, I don't have stress right now. I'll meditate later."
That's not the right way to think about mental health and stress. It's like they say about water in the desert: If you feel thirsty, it's already too late to drink.
Meditation helps develop your relationship with the true you. You may be unsure about this inner you, or embarrassed by it, or worried by what you might find. That's okay. Not all meditation has to be active, like the Taoists do. Over the years, I have found that sitting in a place of "thoughts of no thoughts," or Buddhist, Zen meditation, is just as important. Just sitting and experiencing the universe and my inner spirit are healing and grounding.
Don't wait until after you've made your major life decisions in your late teens and early 20s to start paying attention to how you really feel, and what connections to the world you really need. Let the times of quiet contemplation guide your life, not just react to it. It's like stretching and strength training and cardio: they prevent future physical illness. Practicing meditation and mindfulness when you are young are key to preventing future stress.
