The Perfect Posture Program

Posted: 21st February 2009 by Lucy in WHO AM I
Tags: , , ,
1

    These exercises are an antidote to civilization. Most of daily activities of civilized people bend them forward. One of them, the most devastating, is sitting, because virtually all of us sit in a way, that bend us forward. At school, at desk jobs, on soft furniture at home, in car seats – we’ve forever bent over. Is it any wonder that nervous system overload has such an easy time trapping us into an awkward, forward-bent posture?  A combination of ancient wisdom and modern science, this program will get you standing tall and healthy again, no matter what age you are.

The Ball Bearing

(You will need a six- or ten-inch ball, available for a few dollars in most toy departments)

  • Sit comfortably on the floor and position your ball so that when you lie back, the ball rests between your shoulder blades.
  • Take a breath (concentrate on your breath throughout all exercises); as you slowly exhale, lie back on the ball.
  • Let yourself relax, and feel your body sink down toward the floor. Imagine that you are at the beach, that your body is made of wax, and that you’re melting over a warm beach ball on the sand.
  • If it’s comfortable, raise your arms over your head for more of a stretch.
  • It’s a short routine – five slow, deep breaths, and you are through. It only takes a minute, but goes a long way toward reinvigorating your posture and energy level!

The Back Loop

(.The Back Loop reverses forward bending. The key is that it utilizes the back’s erector muscles, which become stretched and weak in most members of our slumping society)

·Lie face-down on the floor, with your hands resting close to your shoulders. Raise yourself up slightly, so you can comfortably touch your chin to the floor

·Take a deep breath, and as you slowly blow it out, raise your torso up off the floor while looking straight ahead.

·Try not to push up with your arms; use your back muscles as much as possible.

·Come up only as high as is comfortable. Because we use these muscles so little, it’s best to take it easy on our first Back Loops. As our back muscles get stronger, you’ll be able to lift higher off the ground.

·Do five Back Loops. On your fifth attempt, hold your highest position and slowly breathe in and out through your nose. The first time you attempt this won’t be easy; you may only be able to hold the position for a few seconds.

·Be gentle with yourself, and increase the last part of the exercise until you can hold the position and slowly breathe in and out three times.

The Wall Slide

(The Wall Slide is designed to counteract our slumping postures. It’s easy to do, and all you need is a wall, or door, to lean against. The “slide” stretches the curves in the low back, mid-back, and neck, refreshing the muscles along the spine while aligning ears, shoulders, hips, and ankles)

·Stand with our feet shoulder-width apart, about six inches out from a wall(door). Lean back.

·As you take a deep breath in, bend your knees and slide down until your knees are comfortably bent.

·Now press the lower part of your back, your shoulders, and the back of your neck against the wall.

·After you are flat against the wall, exhale slowly while sliding up. (You may not be able to get your back completely flat against the wall; try your best, but do not strain.)

·Do the Wall Slide four times. Also, repeat it throughout the day to refresh your spine and posture. When finished with a set of slides, keep your erect posture and step away from the wall, maintaining this near perfect stance as long as you can (at least up to thirty seconds)

The Wall Slide helps remind our nervous system what it’s like to enjoy good posture, conditioning our bodies into a more youthful stance!

The Chest Breath

(This exercise opens chest and tones the muscles between your shoulder blades, which are crucial to maintaining an upright posture)

  • Sit or stand erect, your chin level with the floor, your hands and elbows just below shoulder level, with your fingers intertwined and your palms facing away from you. The backs of your hands should be resting on your chest.
  • Take a deep breath, and tighten the muscles between your shoulder blades. Feel your chest expand.
  • As you exhale, let your back muscles relax and push your hands out in front of you as far as possible. Feel the muscles along your arms and around your shoulders stretch as you let out all the air.
  • Hold for a count of two, then inhale again, tightening the back muscles, filling your chest.
  • Repeat eight times.
  • If you work at a desk all day, this is an excellent exercise to relieve muscle tension and help keep you from slumping.

The Seagull

(This routine helps combat the rounded shoulders that so many of us develop from bending forward all day. You will be strengthening the muscles at he tops and backs of your shoulders in order to pull your torso up and back)

  • While kneeling, lay your head and the top of your chest on a chair or low table.
  • Extend your arms straight out from your shoulders, with your hands pointed up toward ceiling. Be sure to hold the hands in this position, or you won’t be able to isolate proper muscles you want to strengthen.
  • Breathe normally and, keeping your hands pointed, raise your arms slowly up toward the ceiling, raising them as far as is comfortable; then slowly let your arms down.
  • Concentrate on tightening the muscles across the tops of your shoulders in order to raise arms. Repeat ten times, then turn your head and do another set of ten.

The Turtle

(The Turtle helps keep and restore the neck’s natural curve, decreasing the stress on the muscles at the back of the neck and relaxing the entire spinal cord)

  • Sit up straight in a chair or car seat. Level your chin or eyes with he horizon – you should not be looking up or down, but straight ahead.
  • Bring your chin back, keeping it parallel to the floor.
  • Do the exercise slowly and STOP if you experience pain. Also the natural tendency is to tuck the chin, but don’t do this. Retract the neck back over the shoulders as you exhale Do this 10 times.
  • Next, with your neck retracted over your shoulders, lift your chin one to two inches up toward the ceiling. Your natural tendency will be to tilt your head back over your shoulders, but avoid doing this. Keep the back of your head as stationary as possible while you lift your chin. This motion isolates the muscles you need to work. Repeat ten times. Use caution not to strain the muscles at the back of your neck.
  • At the end, take a deep breath in; as you exhale, release a long sigh, letting your chin drop to your chest. Feel the muscles at the back of your neck get a good stretch.

EATING FOR ENERGY

Posted: 15th February 2009 by Lucy in WHO AM I
Tags: ,
1

The following eating practices will help extract maximum energy from your food, decrease stress on your digestive tract, and in the process clear up many common digestion problems such as excess gas and indigestion:

  • Eat less. Stuffing yourself strains your system’s ability to digest what you eat. Also, overeating drains energy. You may have noticed that after a large lunch or dinner, nothing is more appealing than a long nap. That’s because after meals your nervous system diverts blood to the stomach and intestines from other areas of your body, including your brain. As calorie intake per meal is increased, mental performance afterward drops sharply.
  • Eat in a peaceful atmosphere. As Deepak Chopra writes in his best-selling book Perfect Health: “Your body is tremendously alert while you are eating. Your stomach cells are aware of the conversation at the dinner table, and if they hear harsh words, the stomach wlill know the distress.”
  • Eat in a comfortable position. Consuming food while you are standing, walking, or driving leads to indigestion, because you’re not concentrating on eating.
  • Eat only when you’re hungry. Sure, esting chocolate might feel good when you’re tense, but it’s a sure way to put on pounds and produce belching and intestinal gases.
  • Avoid ice-cold or very hot food and drink. This will alter your stomach’s normal action . Moreover, repeated exposure can trigger cancer growth.
  • Chew your food slowly and thoroughly. Digestion starts in the mouth, so get it off to a good start by turning you food to mush before you swallow it.
  • Limit how much you drink with your food. drinking a lot of water or other beverages with yoy food dilutes the juices your stomach produces to digest your food.
  • Bless your food.An “attitude of gratitude” when it comes to the food we eat helps us digest it better.
  • Work within your natural cycles(rhythm) for taking in, breaking down, and eliminating food.These cycles are usually, as follows: 1. Roughly noon to 8p.m. Time for eating and digestion. Try to not eat anything after 8 p.m. If you can finish dinner by 6p.m., your body will be able to rest better at night. You will also sleep better, if you avoid meat, dairy products, and other proteins at dinner. 2. 8p.m. to 4 a.m. The time for complete absorption, digestion, when body using food for its own reparation and storing energy for the next day. 3. 4a.m. to noon. The eliminating wastes time. It’s best to eat something that’s easily digested for breakfast. Fresh fruit is the best choice. They are not only easy to digest, but also good sources of fiber, helping to keep your food tube clean and fresh.
  • Most of the food we eat should be 70% water. Your body is 70 % water, and it’s make sense to eat food of same water content. Thus fruits and vegetables should be the main diet. Only 30% of what we eat should be concentrated, low-water foods like meat, bread, grains, and dairy products. Even though these foods provide essential nutrients, eating too much of them saps us of energy because they are much harder to digest. Substitution fruits and vegetables for high-fat foods +exercising regularly=slim down with ease!
  • Avoid combining foods that confuse your stomach. Meat and potato, for example have different scenario of digestion. When they are swallowed together, your stomach produces two opposite chemicals, which neutralizing each other. This leaves undigested food far longer than necessary, consuming energy you could use for other purposes. Some other off-limits combos include fish and rice, chicken and noodles, eggs and toast, cheese and bread, and cereal and milk. (see Fit for Life, by H. and M.Diamond for complete explanation). The best food combinations are meat, potatoes, or pasta with vegetables and a salad, or a salad with cheese.
  • Avoid eating a lot of protein at a time.Try to limit protein intake to one serving each day(about the size of a single chicken breast). Protein takes more total digestion time than any other food.
Newer Entries