Accidentally got caught between a hammer and the table? I hate when that happens.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sancho
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Accidentally got caught between a hammer and the table? I hate when that happens.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sancho
Haha!
Wierd, huh?
Gracias, Calidore!Quote:
Originally Posted by Calidore
Or perhaps, Sancho, it fell to the ground while you were walking and you accidentally trod on it?
Oh, good news! Congrats, Qimi. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by qimissung
Thank you, Snowqueen!
Also, one of my teachers said that moving your body in usual ways was a very good way to help prevent alzheimers (moves into downward dog). That is somewhat motivating. :D
My yoga diet is a mix of a lot of a few different disciplines. Aikido, movements and breath exercises, a couple of Tai Chi exercises, and one very wonderful Kundalini one. The Kundalini one is an extremely simple, and extremely effective one. . I've been surprised at how good it is, and also how simple it is. It's similar to a Tai Chi one where you stand akimbo, and move slowly looking forwards to backwards, but with this one you just have your arms outstretched, and do the same thing... I'll try to find a video later!
The kundalini exercise sounds interesting. If you can find the video, I might give it a try.
I did listen to a hypnosis tape once and fell asleep in the process. So far I've lost 1 pound. That is, I've seen the scale hit 184 rather than 185-187 more often than not in the morning. I don't think the hypnosis tape did that, but that is beside the point of losing a pound. My goal is 175 more or less.
I wasn't able to find it - it was a few years ago, and there's too many videos for me to locate it now, it would seem.
No need for Tony Horton today. I just spent an hour shoveling snow, and that looks to be only the first installment of several by tonight. And tomorrow I've promised to help my friend deliver a pinball machine, though at least it's an old one and relatively light.
Yeah, the snow is coming down. It's kind of beautiful. I plan to walk to the library after lunch.
Regarding Kundalini exercises, I may try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCpeQhEQQZw I like their yoga mats as well.
By the way, I weighed myself this morning and I might have lost another pound. (!) I'm now 183. I have no explanation for this. I don't want to become like Walter White in the final season of Breaking Bad when he was hiding in Vermont. I checked the scale. It is one of those mechanical ones that do not require batteries nor connectivity to an app. It seemed to be OK. I suggested to my wife that we get one of the more modern scales and she reminded me that if I ever actually do lose weight the old one should register it just as well.
Moving things is one of the best ways to stay in shape, I've found..
YesNo, have you ever heard of the trick of drinking a glass of water before eating? I've heard it's a useful thing to do if you're trying to lose weight. Another variation, one which I would probably prefer, is to eat an apple before dinner - the reasoning is that it takes a while to eat it, and also, there's plenty of water in it.
Much love and all the best in your endeavor. I really wish my grandfather and others I have known had cared more about their health. To me it's always been on of the most important things, and among other things, I've spent much of my life on the question of how to have perfect health - primarily preventatively, so that I will never be sick. :-) My grandfather lived in your city; he was very intelligent but very addicted to alcohol, and he was a very talented pianist, although I only heard him play a few times.
There's a nice thought about health I sometimes recall - "keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the cosmos" (slightly paraphrased), from Hanh
I usually drink a lot of water in the form of coffee and herbal teas. It sounds like a good idea. I agree with the quote about gratitude.
The library is closed today because the weather is quite nasty, snow all over the place and still falling. I was hoping to take a walk.
Something health related I've been doing is juicing two lemons in the morning and adding the juice to a four litre milk-jug of water and drinking the entire thing throughout the day. Lemon is good for you and it zips up the water making it nicer to drink, it's also easy to keep pouring from the jug while you read, or sit at the computer etc, until it's all gone.
We do something similar with apple cider vinegar and honey. Heat a cup of water. Put in one tablespoon of honey into the heated water and stir it until it dissolves. Then add one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and pour it into a larger container. Add cold water, perhaps a quart or so more, and drink throughout the day.
Ya that's probably really good. I was thinking of adding a bunch of stuff, I still might. Apple cider vinegar is a good idea.
Also it's so cute how you refer to almost everything as 'we' ^.^
Lemon water is tasty. I've heard Apple Cider Vinegar is good for you. I have a rather creepy story concerning it. A couple of years ago I was drinking a glass of water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in it each day. Then one day I noticed that a small cyst I'd had for a while had gotten quite a bit larger. I know you're not supposed to do this, but I put a hot pack on it. I touched it and stuff started to come out. It got quite a bit smaller over the next several days. I had stopped drinking the acv, but started again, then noticed that the cyst was getting larger again. I stopped and started over several more days, but always the same thing happened. When I stopped, the cyst quit growing. When I drank it, it grew. Shades of Alice, I guess. Anyway, I stopped drinking it and the cyst is gone now.
The "we" is my wife and I.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clopin
I hadn't heard of any problems with cysts, qimissumg, but if it causes problems one shouldn't drink it.
I know it is! That's why it's so sweet.
Well, the thought did cross my mind that it was pulling out toxins. I quit anyway.
aaggghhhhhhh!!!! I just found the "myfitnesspal" app. Talk about feeding my numbers obsession!! Soooo in addition to counting the number of steps (it can sync with fitbit), I can count calories with the push of a button (or two). I input what I eat and when I exercise and it spits out calories consumed, calories burned for exercise, and nutritional info like amounts of vitamnins and minerals consumed.
I wish I never met this app, I've been obsessing about my Calcium intake since I found it. Imagine all the charts and graphs I can create.
This is bad.
I've followed this Kundalini yoga video twice so far. I think I'm going to continue with it. It is not as easy as it looks. I haven't been able to complete all the exercises. I also can't sit in the lotus position which seems to be a required part of some of these exercises.Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
I've read warnings that "raising Kundalini" might increase schizophrenia. I haven't noticed that I am any more schizophrenic than usual, but I've only done the exercises twice so far. Hopefully something interesting will happen.
Warning: long rambling post and not all that interesting.
Hehe, yes, Kundalini is an interesting one for that reason. . from what I understand, it's just something you want to do in the proper stages. There's a really wonderful book I read quite a few years ago - Kundalini: Path to Higher Consciousness, by Gopi Krishna - I definitely consider a worthwhile read, if only for the philosophy of it. .
Yesterday I decided, while out in the air doing a bit of stretching, I would go ahead and describe the movement I do, even though I wasn't able to find the video for it. The reason being, it's actually a simple enough one that words could probably describe it well enough. .
So, all it is, you stand in a natural posture - I believe, a little sturdy pose - and then you have your arms stretched out to either side - not rigid, but pretty well fully extended. Then, you turn your body from front to back, first to your left, then to your right - going from looking ahead to looking 180º behind -
I do it loosely, a principle taught in Aikido, Tai Chi, and others. . . I sort of try to lead with my head's motion, so that the whole body moves smoothly. One thing I notice is that without this and all the other practices, there's a tendency not to move smoothly - I guess that's the physical equivalent of every time we work against ourselves -
I'm nowhere other than a novice - though I've been learning how to move my body as well as possible all my life, I wouldn't want to be anything other than one -
But I can say that this little exercise is truly fantastic. One thing I noticed fairly early after I had started doing this, is that it seems to strengthen a lot of the muscles in your body - some I didn't even use all that often, that you won't if you only walk, ride a bike, etc. - so, it had a wonderful sort of effect. . . hard to describe - it was hard to describe then and still is now, but that basically, it strengthened those muscles but also in a connected way - like, it
it really is hard to describe, lol! But it's the one exercise that seems to do more as far as reaching all kinds of good muscles, and bringing them together in a natural and smooth way -
It's hard to say why, but it's like the one exercise I would ever need to use, a long with a couple basic stretching ones, to stay in good shape. Kind of to the body as Zen is to the mind. .
But I'm sure Tai Chi in its entirety could be better - I've experienced that nothing seems to be as holistically healing and strengthening than that - It also seems to take more of an attention span than almost anything, even Zazen - but that's just for me, I also do believe doing these things that work like this - the most healing, although at the beginning most difficult - is the best way to do anything, for me personally I've gone a little different way, which is just a mix of breath meditation, Yoga/Aikido/Tai Chi disciplines, and the rest. Vipassana or Zazen whenever possible, sometimes staring at trees on the horizon, sometimes watching a bug or a spider, sometimes climbing trees, sometimes running, sometimes walking, sometimes doing stretches and working out - of all the exercises I do, the least natural it seems, and truly the one where I am not focused on finding peace. . .
But then, it could just as well as be said that I am a lazy person, and I do all of smattering of disciplines that I do because they are the way of least effort - being sick is so much bother - so I stay healthy. And then to stay healthy, I do the least amount of effort, which involves staying healthy using the best possible methods. It's funny, but it's true.
That's why laziness is considered a virtue by those who are most wise, and business is consider a vice - busyness is good for someone if they know what they are doing, but since most people do not know what they're doing - laziness would be better, so they would not be making messes in the world.
Even for someone who knows what they are doing - laziness is generally better, because laziness occurs when there is nothing left to do - when everything runs naturally, by itself and supervision.
This is the great truth at the heart of several religious, or wisdom traditions, although it is seldom said so bluntly.
And also, anytime you have the working out mentality - which I do, sometimes, because I am lazy. . . I mean, I am too lazy to do it the right way: in the whole of the earth, you will find nothing which "works out" - no animal which engages in an activity solely to strengthen muscles, to somehow make oneself more than one is. . .
All of the good results of things in nature are the results of actions that come naturally to that critter - Apes are so strong, because they climb trees and eat bananas; or alternatively, and equally true, they are so strong because their DNA tells them to be that strong.
Oh, and this Kundalini exercise is also exactly like one of the Tai Chi warming up exercises, although the later involves one standing akimbo, and doing the same motion to 180º left and right, but with a very, very slow movement, and also with a very slow inhalation and exhalation (exhalation when one is turning towards looking back, and inhaling when one is turning towards the front).
It seems like there's an app for just about everything. Even scales have them.Quote:
Originally Posted by papayahed
I even found an app that when I point the phone into the sky it will give me the name of the stars I would see there if it wasn't cloudy and the streetlights weren't so bright. If I point it at my feet it would show me the stars down there if the earth vanished. There's an app to let me know where my wife and kids have been throughout the day.
I'll see if I can find it.Quote:
Originally Posted by NikolaiI
Something like that is in the video. It is one I can do. There's one that has one's hands extended and then one inhales and bends one's knees. On the exhale, you are supposed to stand up. That and the lotus position are my major challenges. I've done it three times so far.Quote:
Originally Posted by NikolaiI
In the video she has us picking up speed, but I can see the benefit of doing it slowly as well. Good point that we are the only animals who "work out". I probably also practice laziness more than I care to admit.Quote:
Originally Posted by NikolaiI
In the Tai Chi warm-up exercises, all of them are like that too, and the instruction I remember is, "as slowly as you can do it, yet still be moving - with one long breath through the whole motion." - this interesting formula, for moving meditation with a long slow breath - seems to be one of the simplest and most effective self-healing exercises. . but it also seems to take more concentration, for me at least, than even sitting breath meditation.Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
Breath exercises are also interesting, Aikido has some good ones.
That would be cool. It might be interesting to do something like that in conjunction with a sensory deprivation tank of some kind. .Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
Some of these exercises could be modified to run in slow motion.Quote:
Originally Posted by NikolaiI
I'm following this video daily until I get a better feel for the motions. Although I don't think my butt was made for the lotus position, I suppose it will get used to it. I keep falling over and so use a pillow in the back.
I've recently read in two reputable places that chocolate milk is actually a terrific post-workout recovery drink, because it has pretty much the ideal protein/carbs ratio. I'm finding this a remarkably easy change to adopt.
I wonder if chocolate ice cream would work as well. Probably not.
I started a Bikram hot yoga class this week. It is the first formal yoga class I've had. It does seem to help me breathe better.
At Costco today, I walked right by a 4-pound jar of Jelly Bellies on sale without even hesitating. Willpower!
Congrats, Calidore!! Wonderful feeling, isn't it? :)
One thing I learned, or became familiar with at least, a little while back is a study about which foods we enjoy. . . what the research found was that to a large extent, the foods that we love are because of the feelings that we had when we first had them. . I found this very interesting and useful - seems like knowing this would help to re-define what foods we love to eat..
I have decided to lose a bit of weight this year. The diet I have chosen is to eat a little less.
I think my weight has stabilized to around 175 pounds which was my goal and now I wonder what caused it to drop those ten pounds. Initially I did listen to a free hypnosis app I downloaded to the phone by Elizabeth Hartford, "Lose Weight Now Hypnosis". However, I listened to this only once while lying in bed and fell asleep before I finished it. I usually think causes require more discipline and repetition than that.
Later when my weight started dropping, I tried Kundalini yoga and most recently Bikram yoga. There is a lot of sweating in Bikram yoga, but my weight was already about 178 when I started that. Whatever benefit yoga offers, unless causation goes backward in time, that may not be the explanation.
Karen Kingston suggested something interesting in "Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui" that I read last night. She wrote (page 24): "A curious fact I have noticed over the years is that people who have lots of clutter in their homes are often overweight."
The reason I started reading Kingston's book was that I have also been in a cleaning mood at home. I don't know why, but it feels good, almost as good as losing ten pounds. The main room I use has lost a lot of clutter. She also takes clutter beyond the stuff we hang onto around us. Clutter is in our bodies, our minds and our emotions as well.
The clutter and weight are disappearing, but the mysteries remain.
Here is today's (typical) thank-you from my elderly next door neighbor for shoveling her snow. This is why I have to keep working out.
http://www.online-literature.com/for...3&d=1427162462
One of the good things about getting those pecan treats is that one almost has to eat them since they were a gift. One would not want to offend the elderly neighbor.
I think my weight has stabilized so that 175 pounds is the top level. I've seen it as low as 170 pounds which I would not have believed possible five months ago. Also I finished cleaning out the junk in the basement. For those unaware of this feng shui position, I consider clutter in the house to be symptomatic of the weight problem of the inhabitants.
My extremely thin mother with the extremely cluttered basement (which I am currently helping move nearly everything around in to prepare for waterproofing) would beg to differ.Quote:
Originally Posted by YesNo
Yes, I do feel obligated to eat the chocolates (and cookies, her most common thank-you gift), so I just try to be responsible about it--two a day works.
You're right. There are plenty of counterexamples. One of my relatives is so neat and clean we like to label her as having some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder. She could test the upward limits of a scale.
Another thing I am looking at as part of a diet is pH balance. I understand this should be about 7.4. There are paper strips one can use to test saliva and urine for pH. Sort of like a scale for weight.
I re-listened to the hypnotism session and heard it all the way through this time telling myself I want to be 170 pounds. Being somewhere between 170 and 175 already, if I do get to a more or less steady 170 pounds, I don't know if I could credit hypnosis with it.
I've got a coworker who beat cancer and swears that maintaining his body's natural PH through the food he eats was instrumental. He told me his diet before his diagnosis was way too acidic and may have opened the door to cancer, something about his body always fighting to bring the PH back up to 7.4 and thereby taxing the immune system.
Sounded plausible to me. Anyway he only drinks Evian water now. Most bottled water is a little acidic and hence quenches the thirst better but Evian is at 7.4 PH (I think) and prints it right there on the nutrition label.
There might be something to it. Donno. I'm a tap-water guy.
Oh yeah, it was some sort of stomach cancer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sancho
If you're eating healthy foods; fresh fruits and vegetables, more soy protein and less red meat protein, less dairy products, stay away from caffeine, less processed sugar, eat certain types of seafood, drink fresh water (not tap water!), and exercise daily... you will automatically keep a proper PH balance.
I drink four to eight litres of water a day, I would go bankrupt drinking bottled water I had to pay for!