Last year my wife got Lyme disease. This disease has affected millions and is sometimes very hard to combat. Luckily my wife found a very good specialist in infections diseases. She helped my wife adopt a multi-faceted approach to help her combat the disease. Along with the usual traditional treatments, she urged her to strengthen her immune system and to reduce stress. Part of the program was daily vitamin and mineral supplements.
Now, I've been taking a daily multi-vitamin every day for years but didn't really know much about one vitamin supplement versus another, except that some were made without certain additives that probably weren't that good for you. Little did I know. My wife's specialist gave her a handout on some research that had been done of various brands of supplements. Apparently some supplements are absorbed easily by the human body (up to 90%) and are highly effective while others have absorption rates as low as 10% and don't really do much for you unless you take huge quantities.
Anyway, my wife selected the brand that was most highly effective according to the report and began taking the daily essentials along with some larger doses of the more specific vitamins and minerals that she needed. At the same time she took steps to eliminate as much stress as she could from her life and made sure she had plenty of rest each day.
We were both amazed that within a few weeks she noticed a marked improvement in her health. This was enough to convince me to switch my brand of vitamins too, and within a few weeks, I also noticed I had more energy, was eating less, and generally felt better overall.
If you would like a copy of the report, email me at: michael@pryt.com and I'll send you a copy. My wife and I were also so impressed with our brand of vitamin that we became distributors and will be happy to offer you discounted prices on these high quality nutitional products if after reading the report you decide you might want to use them too.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Get Outside and Enjoy the Fall
One of the best ways to reduce stress is to get outside and take a walk. (Every day if you can.) At this time of year the fall color here in the North East is a great inspiration for being outside and enjoying what nature turns on for us. Follow the foliage report for your area and make sure to get out there and enjoy it. Here is the guide for Maine in case you have any vacation time right now. Many areas will be at peak here this week.
The Weekly New England Travel and Vacation Gazette: The Latest Maine Fall Foliage Updates
The Weekly New England Travel and Vacation Gazette: The Latest Maine Fall Foliage Updates
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
BEWARE OF THE EXPERT
CAUTION: DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ as an absolute truth, including material on this blog. There are many people out there these days that claim to have the “truth” about everything. They will tell you that their particular technique or system is the “right” one for you and will be your salvation. You won’t find that attitude here on this blog. What you will find is material that the author has found to be true for HIMSELF. That doesn’t mean it will always be true for YOU. What you can do, just like he did, is try it on and see if it works for you. If it does, it’s yours. If not continue searching. One thing that the author does believe is this: Each and every one of us can find the answers that will work for us. But at the same time each one of us is beautifully different from all others. So what might work for one, may not work for another.
A SIMPLE BREATHING AND YOGA ROUTINE TO BEAT STRESS
Did you ever notice how your breathing changes whenever you are under stress? It does. For me, it becomes shallower and more rapid. When I’m not stressed, my breathing is deep, full, and slow.
I also believe the opposite is true. For me, if I’m under stress and begin taking full deep breaths, I am able to alleviate the feeling of being stressed. Now if that is the case, it makes sense that if we change the way we breathe, we will experience less stress. Like all things though it takes some practice. You don’t just all of a sudden become skilled and mindful enough to start taking full deep breaths when under stress. Your body needs to learn to do that and it takes some practice and some time. This week we’ll begin with a short morning routine that will help your breathing and carry over into your day and hopefully provide a less stressful experience throughout your day.
The following routine is one I use frequently. It’s my bare minimum of movement and breath on a daily basis and helps me maintain my capacity to handle whatever stress I may face in any given day.
ROUTINE: DEEP FALLING OUT BREATHING WITH BODY MOVEMENT
TIME REQUIRED: 10 Minutes
FREQUENCY: Practice daily, preferably first think in the morning on getting out of bed.
EXERCISE 1: Swinging Twist
This exercise is meant to be done with a “who cares” and a “let loose” approach. Begin standing with your arms hanging loosely by your sides and your feet planted firmly on the floor a little wider apart than your hips but not too wide, and your knees slightly bent. Take a deep breath and let it fall out. (Notice we do that a LOT and always at the beginning and end of posture or exercise.) Begin to SWIVEL from your HIPS - to the left as far as they go and then back to the right as far as they go and then back and forth, left and right, in a slow swiveling movement. As your hips swivel let your arms follow the motion and begin swinging in the same rhythm as your hips and wrapping them around your body as they go. Next, bring the breath into it as well by letting out a loud “Haaaaahh” as you fully exhale every time end a swing to either the left or right. (Notice that you are being encouraged to MAKE NOISES in your yoga practice. Sound is a perfectly natural accompaniment to body movement and particularly to anything you are doing that helps you to RELEASE any tension that your body may be holding. So go for it. Make some noise. . So you are now swiveling your hips left and right, swinging your arms across the front of your body on each swivel movement and you are letting out a loud “Haaaaahh” with each out breath every time you swing one way or the other. There is one more thing. As you swing also follow the movement with your head and eyes turning it all the way around to the left as you swing left and right as you swing right. Look back into the far corners of the room behind you seeing how far around you can look each time. This brings your neck into the exercise along with your torso. What is great about the Swinging Twist from a physical perspective is that it rotates your whole spine on its axis from the pelvis all the way up to the neck. Remember, a “who cares’ as well as a “let loose” attitude.
So keep going with the Swinging Twist for about twenty complete rounds and then begin to slow it down, taking another four or five swings to do that. Let it end by standing in stillness with your eyes closed and noticing your breath. Observe what’s happening now for you – your breath, your feelings, and your thoughts.
EXERCISE 2: Buckets of Paint
This exercise can be modified to suit your level of flexibility. If it’s too much for you as described here, simply modify to suit your body by lessening the amount of movement but keeping the same deep level of breathing.
Stand with feet a little wider than hip width apart. Bend forward and bend your knees so your hands can come to about a foot above the floor. Imagine that either side of you, just in front and to the side of your feet, is a bucket of paint. Imagine you are picking up a bucket in each hand by its handle. Raise each bucket up and above your head, standing to straight up standing position as you do. Take a deep breath in. Then as you continue to hold on to the buckets, let them drop back to where they were on the floor as you exhale a huge breath with a “Haaaaaa” sound. Then start another cycle. Breathe in as you lift the heavy buckets above your head and exhale as you drop them forward, bending your knees as you go. Continue for about 10 cycles then return the buckets to the floor and slowly rise up to a standing position. Be still with eyes closed for a moment or two and notice what’s happening now for you – your breath, your feelings, and your thoughts.
EXERCISE 3: Monkey Side Bends
Have you ever seen a monkey rock from side to side while scratching under each armpit? Well this exercise is a variation of that. Begin by standing with feet a little wider than hip width apart. Imagine your body is being flattened slightly by being pressed between two panes of glass and will stay in this plane as you move from side to side. Let you body bend over to the left side as you bring your right fist up under your right armpit. Then come up to standing as you transfer the right arm down towards you right knee and your left fist comes up under your left armpit. Continue going from side to side but there is one more very important piece – in fact it’s the most important part. As you raise each fist up under each armpit breath IN though your nose, and as you come through the vertical position in transition breath OUT through your mouth with a “Haaaa”. This results in fairly rapid but deep breathing as you “monkey” from side to side. Continue for 20 repetitions once you’ve established the breathing with the movement.
EXERCISE 4: Supported Forward Bend with Falling Out Breath.
Use your bed or a chair or table for support. Reach forward for the bed, table or chair and let your body hang forward but supported by your hands on the prop in front of you. For the first SURRENDER part of the posture, bend your knees slightly so that you can just HANG in a relaxed way without any stretch happening. For the ENGAGEMENT of the posture simply straighten your legs to engage a hamstring stretch at the same time straightening your arms by walking back a little from your support. You may also notice a stretch around your shoulders as well as in your hamstrings.
Bring BREATH into the exercise by breathing IN as you straighten your legs and engage the stretch and by breathing OUT with a “Haaaa” as you release the stretch. Continue for 10 repetitions.
Then, just hang again for a few breaths before slowly returning to a standing position.
And THAT’S ALL!
Do these four little exercises each morning for a week and see if it makes a difference to your days.
I also believe the opposite is true. For me, if I’m under stress and begin taking full deep breaths, I am able to alleviate the feeling of being stressed. Now if that is the case, it makes sense that if we change the way we breathe, we will experience less stress. Like all things though it takes some practice. You don’t just all of a sudden become skilled and mindful enough to start taking full deep breaths when under stress. Your body needs to learn to do that and it takes some practice and some time. This week we’ll begin with a short morning routine that will help your breathing and carry over into your day and hopefully provide a less stressful experience throughout your day.
The following routine is one I use frequently. It’s my bare minimum of movement and breath on a daily basis and helps me maintain my capacity to handle whatever stress I may face in any given day.
ROUTINE: DEEP FALLING OUT BREATHING WITH BODY MOVEMENT
TIME REQUIRED: 10 Minutes
FREQUENCY: Practice daily, preferably first think in the morning on getting out of bed.
EXERCISE 1: Swinging Twist
This exercise is meant to be done with a “who cares” and a “let loose” approach. Begin standing with your arms hanging loosely by your sides and your feet planted firmly on the floor a little wider apart than your hips but not too wide, and your knees slightly bent. Take a deep breath and let it fall out. (Notice we do that a LOT and always at the beginning and end of posture or exercise.) Begin to SWIVEL from your HIPS - to the left as far as they go and then back to the right as far as they go and then back and forth, left and right, in a slow swiveling movement. As your hips swivel let your arms follow the motion and begin swinging in the same rhythm as your hips and wrapping them around your body as they go. Next, bring the breath into it as well by letting out a loud “Haaaaahh” as you fully exhale every time end a swing to either the left or right. (Notice that you are being encouraged to MAKE NOISES in your yoga practice. Sound is a perfectly natural accompaniment to body movement and particularly to anything you are doing that helps you to RELEASE any tension that your body may be holding. So go for it. Make some noise. . So you are now swiveling your hips left and right, swinging your arms across the front of your body on each swivel movement and you are letting out a loud “Haaaaahh” with each out breath every time you swing one way or the other. There is one more thing. As you swing also follow the movement with your head and eyes turning it all the way around to the left as you swing left and right as you swing right. Look back into the far corners of the room behind you seeing how far around you can look each time. This brings your neck into the exercise along with your torso. What is great about the Swinging Twist from a physical perspective is that it rotates your whole spine on its axis from the pelvis all the way up to the neck. Remember, a “who cares’ as well as a “let loose” attitude.
So keep going with the Swinging Twist for about twenty complete rounds and then begin to slow it down, taking another four or five swings to do that. Let it end by standing in stillness with your eyes closed and noticing your breath. Observe what’s happening now for you – your breath, your feelings, and your thoughts.
EXERCISE 2: Buckets of Paint
This exercise can be modified to suit your level of flexibility. If it’s too much for you as described here, simply modify to suit your body by lessening the amount of movement but keeping the same deep level of breathing.
Stand with feet a little wider than hip width apart. Bend forward and bend your knees so your hands can come to about a foot above the floor. Imagine that either side of you, just in front and to the side of your feet, is a bucket of paint. Imagine you are picking up a bucket in each hand by its handle. Raise each bucket up and above your head, standing to straight up standing position as you do. Take a deep breath in. Then as you continue to hold on to the buckets, let them drop back to where they were on the floor as you exhale a huge breath with a “Haaaaaa” sound. Then start another cycle. Breathe in as you lift the heavy buckets above your head and exhale as you drop them forward, bending your knees as you go. Continue for about 10 cycles then return the buckets to the floor and slowly rise up to a standing position. Be still with eyes closed for a moment or two and notice what’s happening now for you – your breath, your feelings, and your thoughts.
EXERCISE 3: Monkey Side Bends
Have you ever seen a monkey rock from side to side while scratching under each armpit? Well this exercise is a variation of that. Begin by standing with feet a little wider than hip width apart. Imagine your body is being flattened slightly by being pressed between two panes of glass and will stay in this plane as you move from side to side. Let you body bend over to the left side as you bring your right fist up under your right armpit. Then come up to standing as you transfer the right arm down towards you right knee and your left fist comes up under your left armpit. Continue going from side to side but there is one more very important piece – in fact it’s the most important part. As you raise each fist up under each armpit breath IN though your nose, and as you come through the vertical position in transition breath OUT through your mouth with a “Haaaa”. This results in fairly rapid but deep breathing as you “monkey” from side to side. Continue for 20 repetitions once you’ve established the breathing with the movement.
EXERCISE 4: Supported Forward Bend with Falling Out Breath.
Use your bed or a chair or table for support. Reach forward for the bed, table or chair and let your body hang forward but supported by your hands on the prop in front of you. For the first SURRENDER part of the posture, bend your knees slightly so that you can just HANG in a relaxed way without any stretch happening. For the ENGAGEMENT of the posture simply straighten your legs to engage a hamstring stretch at the same time straightening your arms by walking back a little from your support. You may also notice a stretch around your shoulders as well as in your hamstrings.
Bring BREATH into the exercise by breathing IN as you straighten your legs and engage the stretch and by breathing OUT with a “Haaaa” as you release the stretch. Continue for 10 repetitions.
Then, just hang again for a few breaths before slowly returning to a standing position.
And THAT’S ALL!
Do these four little exercises each morning for a week and see if it makes a difference to your days.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
STRESS OR BLISS?
The following is an excerpt from Michael Lee's book "Turn Stress into Bliss"
If you like what you read you can order the book online at www.theyogashop.com
What is Stress? What is Bliss?
Lets deal with the second one first. I have a friend who is a chiropractor and sees a lot of people who have chronic back pain of one kind or another. When he first sees a patient he likes to find out more about them so he can determine the best course of treatment. He asks several questions including the one “How long is it since you had some REAL FUN?”. He tells me there are basically three categories of response he gets to that question. Some people say something like “Oh, just last week I took my kids to an amusement park and we had a blast.” With these folks he knows that they will be easy to treat and the problem is most likely just a temporary physical dysfunction. Others might say something along the lines of “Well doc, its been a while since I had any real fun”. With these folks he knows there could be other things going on in their life as well as what is manifesting physically that could be contributing to their problem. Treatment won’t be as easy and may take longer. His third category is the most interesting. These are the folks that respond abruptly to his question with a statement like this. “Fun? What is that? What do you mean by “fun”? Could you define that for me?” With these people he knows he has real problems on his hands. They most likely have removed themselves psychologically from any genuine experience of their own life. They are probably not very well connected to themselves physically or emotionally and they tend to live their lives from their mind. They prefer to have their lives defined for them by an external authority rather than trust their own unique experience of life.
If you think about it, fun is different for different people. But anyone who ever has fun knows what it is. The same could be said of bliss. I recently experienced one of those magical days that will be unforgettable. When I write, I like to come to my simple lakefront “camp” in the North Woods of Maine. I have a beautiful view of Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, with the lake in the foreground. In the morning, the air was still and the lake was the calmest I had ever seen it. The water shimmered like glass. I was so awestruck by its beauty that instead of doing the next thing, I paused and sat down and simply took in the beauty of what was in front of my eyes for the next 10 minutes. It was so quiet and yet so majestically beautiful. Later in the day the sunset was even more beautiful. A real “Golden Pond” moment when scenery, feelings, and connection to life all seem to come to together in one instant to create an overall magnificent experience of life - a sensual and spiritual orgasm without sex. On both occasions, I was in “bliss” - at least according to my experience of it, and if anyone wanted to define it differently it would not affect my experience of it. It simply was what it was.
Now, I believe that my capacity to experience that bliss has a lot to do with what is happening overall in my life. If my life had been recently stressful for a prolonged period, would I have been able to notice the lake and the view? Or would my mind have been so busy with my “to do’ list that I would have not taken the time to notice, or if I had noticed, would I have ignored it in preference to rushing to do the next ‘important’ thing? Does this mean that if I am stressed, I am unlikely to be able to experience bliss?
Perhaps this is so. It certainly seems the chances of having any fun are much less if I am too stressed out to recognize a blissful moment or to be too busy to enjoy it. So what is stress?
My simplest experience of stress at its worst is to liken it to a “fish out of water”. Whenever we position ourselves in life to the extent that it places us in unknown and uncomfortable situations for long enough we become like a fish out of water. So in response we flap vigorously to try to regain what we have lost but trying to swim on dry land just doesn’t work. Something is missing. The water isn’t there. We think we can get by without it if we can just swim harder and faster but the result is the same. There is no progress and we don’t get back to where we want to be. Whenever we create situations in our lives that defy our deep inner wisdom and continue to do things that are not in our best long term interests, we begin to remove ourselves from the “water”. It can happen in very subtle and unnoticeable ways. It can also happen by doing more than we can handle at any given time. I recall reading a stress check list that listed many significant life changing events that we all experience from time to time and each one had a score so you could calculate your stress level. The way it worked was that if two or more significant life changing events were happening at the same time you had a good chance of being seriously under stress. For example a new relationship accompanied by a change in residence or death of a loved one accompanied by a change in career or arrival of a newborn or any similar combination would most likely be enough to put most of us over the edge with stress in our lives. Why does change produce stress? Because change requires us to adapt – to do things differently from the way we have grown accustomed to doing them – and doing things differently is not always easy. It can put us on edge. Remember the dinosaurs and why they disappeared? The climate changes that they had to face were too stressful so they died. They could not adapt. Are we in danger like those dinosaurs?
If you like what you read you can order the book online at www.theyogashop.com
What is Stress? What is Bliss?
Lets deal with the second one first. I have a friend who is a chiropractor and sees a lot of people who have chronic back pain of one kind or another. When he first sees a patient he likes to find out more about them so he can determine the best course of treatment. He asks several questions including the one “How long is it since you had some REAL FUN?”. He tells me there are basically three categories of response he gets to that question. Some people say something like “Oh, just last week I took my kids to an amusement park and we had a blast.” With these folks he knows that they will be easy to treat and the problem is most likely just a temporary physical dysfunction. Others might say something along the lines of “Well doc, its been a while since I had any real fun”. With these folks he knows there could be other things going on in their life as well as what is manifesting physically that could be contributing to their problem. Treatment won’t be as easy and may take longer. His third category is the most interesting. These are the folks that respond abruptly to his question with a statement like this. “Fun? What is that? What do you mean by “fun”? Could you define that for me?” With these people he knows he has real problems on his hands. They most likely have removed themselves psychologically from any genuine experience of their own life. They are probably not very well connected to themselves physically or emotionally and they tend to live their lives from their mind. They prefer to have their lives defined for them by an external authority rather than trust their own unique experience of life.
If you think about it, fun is different for different people. But anyone who ever has fun knows what it is. The same could be said of bliss. I recently experienced one of those magical days that will be unforgettable. When I write, I like to come to my simple lakefront “camp” in the North Woods of Maine. I have a beautiful view of Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, with the lake in the foreground. In the morning, the air was still and the lake was the calmest I had ever seen it. The water shimmered like glass. I was so awestruck by its beauty that instead of doing the next thing, I paused and sat down and simply took in the beauty of what was in front of my eyes for the next 10 minutes. It was so quiet and yet so majestically beautiful. Later in the day the sunset was even more beautiful. A real “Golden Pond” moment when scenery, feelings, and connection to life all seem to come to together in one instant to create an overall magnificent experience of life - a sensual and spiritual orgasm without sex. On both occasions, I was in “bliss” - at least according to my experience of it, and if anyone wanted to define it differently it would not affect my experience of it. It simply was what it was.
Now, I believe that my capacity to experience that bliss has a lot to do with what is happening overall in my life. If my life had been recently stressful for a prolonged period, would I have been able to notice the lake and the view? Or would my mind have been so busy with my “to do’ list that I would have not taken the time to notice, or if I had noticed, would I have ignored it in preference to rushing to do the next ‘important’ thing? Does this mean that if I am stressed, I am unlikely to be able to experience bliss?
Perhaps this is so. It certainly seems the chances of having any fun are much less if I am too stressed out to recognize a blissful moment or to be too busy to enjoy it. So what is stress?
My simplest experience of stress at its worst is to liken it to a “fish out of water”. Whenever we position ourselves in life to the extent that it places us in unknown and uncomfortable situations for long enough we become like a fish out of water. So in response we flap vigorously to try to regain what we have lost but trying to swim on dry land just doesn’t work. Something is missing. The water isn’t there. We think we can get by without it if we can just swim harder and faster but the result is the same. There is no progress and we don’t get back to where we want to be. Whenever we create situations in our lives that defy our deep inner wisdom and continue to do things that are not in our best long term interests, we begin to remove ourselves from the “water”. It can happen in very subtle and unnoticeable ways. It can also happen by doing more than we can handle at any given time. I recall reading a stress check list that listed many significant life changing events that we all experience from time to time and each one had a score so you could calculate your stress level. The way it worked was that if two or more significant life changing events were happening at the same time you had a good chance of being seriously under stress. For example a new relationship accompanied by a change in residence or death of a loved one accompanied by a change in career or arrival of a newborn or any similar combination would most likely be enough to put most of us over the edge with stress in our lives. Why does change produce stress? Because change requires us to adapt – to do things differently from the way we have grown accustomed to doing them – and doing things differently is not always easy. It can put us on edge. Remember the dinosaurs and why they disappeared? The climate changes that they had to face were too stressful so they died. They could not adapt. Are we in danger like those dinosaurs?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
To purchase your copy of "Turn Stress into Bliss" and for a description of the book, go to http://www.theyogashop.com/
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