Gravity Fx Fitness

A just-published study suggests the practice of meditation may bring cardiovascular and mental-health benefits.

The research, followed close to 300 students, half of whom practiced transcendental meditation for 20 minutes once or twice daily over three months. A subgroup of subjects in the meditation group who were at increased risk for hypertension significantly lowered their blood pressure and psychological distress, and also bolstered their coping ability.

The average reduction in blood pressure in this group — a 6.3-mm Hg decrease in the top (systolic) number of a blood pressure reading and a 4-mm Hg decrease in the lower (diastolic) number — was associated with a 52 percent reduction in the risk of developing hypertension in the future. Meditators who were not at increased risk for hypertension saw a reduction in psychological distress, depression, and anxiety as well as increased coping ability.

As the new year begins and you resolve to make healthier lifestyle choices, I strongly encourage you to add a few minutes of meditation to your daily routine.

Just 20 minutes a day can begin to make a big difference in how you feel mentally, physically and emotionally.

When your mind is calm and your emotions are within your control, you’re in a much better position to tackle all your normal responsibilities plus the goals you’ve set for yourself.

Feelings of stress and overwhelm that keep you stuck in unhealthy behaviors can be greatly relieved by a regular practice of meditation. As the clouds in your head clear and your anxiety is minimized, you’ll be amazed at how energized and capable you feel.

Set the Stage for a New Beginning

All the changes you make in your life begin in your head.

Meditation has the power to actually alter the way your mind works by strengthening the areas of your brain that regulate attention and memory.

When you’re better able to focus and concentrate, you can perform routine tasks quickly and efficiently, leaving yourself with the time and energy you need to take on new goals and challenges.

Rather than doing the same things the same way, with the same mindset and the same disappointing results, meditation allows you to set the stage for the changes you want to make in your life.

Managing Your Stress = Managing Your Life

Every human illness is stress-related on some level.

Since meditation works so well to relieve stress, it can also prevent and help heal illness. Not only can meditation reduce blood pressure and hypertension risks, it has also been shown to help relieve:

• Chronic pain, including headaches
• Respiratory problems such as emphysema and asthma
• Sleep disturbances and fatigue
• Gastrointestinal distress and irritable bowel syndrome
• Skin disorders
• Mild depression and premenstrual syndrome
• RA (rheumatoid arthritis) symptoms

Conditions like these can rob you of your ability to live a full, satisfying life. When you’re weighed down with stress and the physical complaints that go with it, just getting through each day becomes a chore. Your stress is in control – you aren’t.

What could be better than a cure for feelings of stress and stress-related illness that is all natural and free except for a small investment of your time?

That’s what meditation offers you. It’s a foundation upon which to build. That’s why I recommend it as a place to start before you attempt to make other positive changes in your life.

Three-Legged Stool

Imagine meditation and other stress management tools as the third leg of a three-legged stool of good health.

One leg of the stool is proper nutrition. Another is exercise.

Without all three legs, the stool can’t stand up. That’s how important meditation can be to your overall health. Your ability to handle life’s stressors is just as important for your survival as the food you eat and the condition of your body.

Getting Started

To test your meditation wings, give this a try. Sit quietly, perhaps put on some soothing music, and close your eyes.

Breathe rhythmically and focus — on your breathing, a flower, an image, a candle, a mantra or even just being in the moment. If you find that your mind starts to wander, direct it back to your focus point and continue from there.

Ideally, set aside 15-20 minutes a day to practice meditation. You can also try it in shorter segments, but ultimately try to work your way up to 20 minutes.

I’m also a major fan of brainwave entrainment technology. We offer the Insight CD System here on our site. The Insight CD is set up so you can do a 20-minute quick session or longer 40- or 60-minute sessions.

By listening to the CD you can literally train your brain to function at a high level of synchronization, opening up the way for a flood of positive effects. When the left and right sides of your brain begin to work in concert with each other, electrical activity and energy patterns become more widespread throughout the brain instead of remaining confined to certain areas.

Research has indicated this type of “whole brain synchronization” is present at times of intense creativity, clarity and inspiration.

Whether you use the Insight audio CD or meditate on your own in a quiet, undisturbed place, make sure you make the practice a priority of your daily life. It’s a simple step that can have a lasting and profound influence on your physical health and mental well-being.

Use this quiet time to focus on whatever you want to.  You can use it to pray if you wish.

I like to do joint mobility movements and really focus on what my body is feeling as I go through the various patterns – kind of like meditation in motion.  Works well for us ADD types.  Besides relieving stress it increases the quality of your movements, which is always a good thing.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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(article from Mike Boyle)

Imagine you are sixteen years old and your parents give you your first car. They also give you simple instructions. There is one small hitch, you only get one car, you can never get another. Never. No trade-ins, no trade-ups. Nothing

Ask your self how would you maintain that car? My guess is you would be meticulous. Frequent oil changes, proper fuel, etc. Now imagine if your parents also told you that none of the replacement parts for this car would ever work as well as the original parts. Not only that, the replacement parts would be expensive to install and cause you to have decreased use of your car for the rest of the cars useful life? In other words, the car would continue to run but, not at the same speed and with the efficiency you were used to.

Wow, now would we ever put a lot of time and effort into maintenance if that were the case.

After reading the above example ask yourself another question. Why is the human body different? Why do we act as if we don’t care about the one body we were given. Same deal. You only get one body. No returns or trade-ins. Sure, we can replace parts but boy it’s a lot of work and it hurts. Besides, the stuff they put in never works as well as the original “factory” parts. The replacement knee or hip doesn’t give you the same feel and performance as the original part.

Think about it. One body. You determine the mileage? You set the maintenance plan?

No refunds, no warranties, no do-overs?

How about this perspective? One of my clients is a very successful businessman. He often is asked to speak to various groups. One thing he tells every group is that you are going to spend time and money on your health. The truth is the process can be a proactive one or a reactive one. Money spent on your health can take the form of a personal trainer, massage therapist and a gym membership or, it can be money spent on cardiologists, anesthesiologists, and plastic surgeons. Either way, you will spend money.

Same goes for time. You can go to the gym or, to the doctors office. It’s up to you. Either way, you will spend time. Some people say things like “I hate to work out”. Try sitting in the emergency room for a few hours and then get back to me. Working out may not seem so bad. Much like a car, a little preventative maintenance can go a long way. However, in so many ways the body is better than a car. With some good hard work you can turn back the odometer on the body. I wrote an article a while back ( Strength Training- The Fountain of Youth) that discussed a study done by McMaster University which showed that muscle tissue of older subjects actually changed at the cellular level and looked more like the younger control subjects after strength training.

Do me a favor, spend some time on preventative maintenance, it beats the heck out of the alternative. Just remember, you will spend both time and money.

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What if you could increase your health and reduce your chances of getting the flu at the same time? Would you be interested?

With all the talk about the swine flu and healthcare reform, breaking a sweat can help strengthen your immune system and lower your risk of serious illness.

The effects of being overweight include greatly increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer, yet we hear little talk in Washington of wellness and prevention.

Studies have shown that for every corporate dollar spent on wellness there is a return of two to three dollars, or more.  How much money would we save with a renewed focus on prevention, instead of trying to fix people after they have broken down?

Sweating gets rid of toxins in your skin and the increased rate of breathing with exercise gets rid of even more toxins in your body.  Unfortunately, many people would rather take a pill than put in the work.

This weekend I was at a presentation on flu prevention.  The focus was on what you can do to avoid it without getting a vaccine shot, including chiropractic care and supplements like Vitamin D.  I was in the back to talk to people about coming into my studio for a free week and a vendor with an alkaline water product was also there.

More people seemed interested in taking the water to try and improve their health than in the exercise – maybe because one is passive, while the exercise actually requires some physical effort.

I think many of us have gotten “soft” because of all the modern conveniences we have available.  For thousands of years we have had to work hard to provide food and shelter.

Now, it seems people just want to take a pill for their health, but there is no pill that takes the place of exercise.  Our bodies are designed for movement and function at a higher level when we get adequate movement.

There is no replacement for sweating when it comes to your health and you don’t have to spend hours exercising to see results – you just have to find the right program.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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If you’re eating the wrong foods and don’t even know it, you might be screwing up your hormone levels – causing your body to store more fat!

Items such as low fat, reduced fat, diet sodas, and diet drinks, are often unhealthy foods in disguise.  If its something highly processed and/or containing high amounts of high fructose corn syrup or sodium, it could increase the size of your waist.

“Foods” containing trans fats (artificial fat) can slow down your metabolism, as your body doesn’t know what to do with these and stores them in your fat cells.

If it says low or reduced fat, it usually means they replaced the fat with carbs, which isn’t typically a good thing.  Extra carbs tend to get stored as bodyfat – not what you want!

Are high cholesterol levels really a bad thing?  Trainer and nutrition specialist Mike Geary has a new book that addresses all these issues and helps you fuel your fat-burning furnace, instead of slowing down the fat metabolism.

If you would like some info on Mike’s Fat Burning Kitchen, click here.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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Somebody give Madonna something to eat, please!  Recent photos show her looking anorexic, dehydrated – scary.

I know we have a fixation with six pack abs in this country, but Madonna’s new look isn’t healthy – for her or for the many teenage girls who might end up with an eating disorder, in trying to keep up with the trends seen with celebrities.

In recent years, we have seen many young women in the spotlight, who look downright anorexic, like they haven’t eaten in a week.

Yes, we have a “growing” problem with two thirds of adults being overweight or obese, but this isn’t the answer.  We need some time-efficient exercise solutions and need to eat a lot less processed food.

I know she likes to be a trend-setter, but that’s one trend that needs to go away.

Besides starving herself, she is likely exercising too much, burning away her muscle tissue, instead of building lean muscle tissue through a sensible strength training program.

By the way, you can find several stars who are lean and feminine, but lift weights heavier than 2 or 3 pounds.  Resistance training should enhance your natural curves, not eliminate them.

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So, does my frisbee end up in the creek because I subconsciously long to be in the water or near the beach, or is it just over-confidence in my aim, or lack there of.

Mixing in different Summertime activities is a great way to keep your body and mind fresh.  Indoor workouts are fine, but nothing beats the great outdoors….

especially if you can’t get outside to exercise in the Winter.  With cold weather and limited amounts of Sun, I’ll take every chance to catch some rays.

Disc golf and biking are my activities of choice this time of year since the ocean is so far away.  After doing a 30 day resistance training program that was fairly intense, I’ve decided to ease up a little bit to let my body and mind recover.

Normally, I do short workouts that are about 30-40 minutes, sometimes an hour.  You’ve got to mix things up a bit or you’ll get stale or risk injury.

Sunday I went for a 3 hour bike ride along a flat trail.  I took it easy and just enjoyed the relatively cool weather, stopping to take a couple pictures here and there and enjoy the river views.

Yesterday, it was a casual round of disc golf.  Had to try out my new disc, only to discover that my old one, called the Shark, seems to fly a little straighter.

Of course, towards the end of the round, I tossed my new frisbee in the creek.  Since it had rained the previous day, the water was deeper than normal and pretty muddy.

As I stood at the edge of the creek, waiting to wade in, hoping to get lucky, a rat-like creature dove in on the other side.  Just what you want to see as you reach blindly under the water, amidst the rocks and vegetation.

Did I mention that I love water?  Needless to say, the disc wasn’t found and I was mostly dry when I got back to the parking lot.

The whole point is to be outdoors doing something relaxing while getting in some needed activity.  Variety is good when it comes to exercise.  Doing the same things over and over can increase your risk of overuse injuries.

Find something relaxing and enjoyable to do.

Get moving!

Brian

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- asked the slightly chubby teen check out clerk at the grocery store.  I was purchasing a protein powder called Muscle Milk.

The low carb diet combined with the exercise program, has really made a difference in my physique in just under 3 weeks.

I currently look as I did 15 years ago, which feels pretty good.  I’ve also done very well in avoiding sugar, which has been a big weakness for me.

I told her, “if only it were that easy.”  Unfortunately, there is no pill that makes you lean and muscular without exercise – not even steroids!

Many of the different diet drugs and pills from the last ten years or so, have been taken off the market and/or shown to have bad side effects.

Once again, there is no health in a bottle – though different supplements can have some positive effects.  Ultimately, you have to learn to eat correctly and sweat a little.

I’ve done very well on the fat loss program that I’m on and the biggest factor is learning to eat less and get used to doing that.  Most of us eat until we are full, and then some!

I’ve been learning to get by on less food and for many, this is a mental issue – mind over matter, or food, if you will.  I believe this new found discipline will carry over to other areas of my life.

The weight loss plan I’m following doesn’t require you to spend 2 hours at the gym, but it does require some hard work.  Nothing worthwhile comes without some effort.

I actually enjoy pushing my body past its comfort zone, but I know that makes me slightly warped, in the eyes of some -

which is why I have a vibration platform in my studio.  By combining it with other exercises I can give someone a good workout in 25-30 minutes.  Most people can do the brief, but intense exercises off the platform when they know the workout will be over soon.

For others, slightly less intensity can still get some results, when combined with a change in your eating habits.

What do they say…. it takes 21 days to make a habit?  That’s about where I am in my new way of eating.

If you need help staying accountable with your eating and exercise plan, go over to our free forum and make a post.  I’ll try to help as much as I can.

Get moving!

Brian

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So what happens when you put someone like me on a low-carb diet?  Well, so far, a little bit of cheating, but overall I’ve been able to greatly reduce my intake of carbs.

Right now I’m 11 days into a very low carb eating program and have done surprisingly well.  I haven’t really had any major cravings, but have wanted to eat certain things that I know I shouldn’t.

Basically, I’ve ignored those little voices and they’re starting to speak softer and softer.  Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t been perfect, but I have made some changes that hopefully I will stick to.

Some of you may be thinking that someone in my field shouldn’t have any problems with sugar, but I got my early fixes long before I decided on this career.  I can remember having to sell World’s Finest chocolate bars (yes they were!) for a school fundraising event.

Being introverted, the idea of approaching strangers wasn’t appealing to me, so they sat in a box in my room, calling out to me.  Needless to say, I spent the Summer mowing the grass to pay for them all.

While in college 20 years ago, I would sometimes go to a donut shop at night.  After 8pm you could get a dozen donuts for the price of a half dozen and I would polish off 4 of them with a glass of milk right away.

So while I’ve never really been that overweight, I’ve never been “ripped” either, and the extra sugar has been a big reason.  Besides really wanting to break this habit, I know that its not a healthy addiction.

I think that a big part of my success so far on this diet is all the healthy fats that I am taking in – lots of olive oil, almonds, chia seeds, fish oil, and ground flaxseed.  I’m not positive, but I believe that these fats are good for your brain and help reduce sugar cravings.

At least they make you feel full, which certainly helps when trying to lose weight.  The fiber in some of these doesn’t hurt, either.

So while I’m not following the Warp Speed Fat Loss plan to the letter, I am making progress and the long-term changes are what matter the most.  After all, its not about losing the weight, its about keeping it off!

Without regular exercise I would probably be fairly over weight, but the resistance training helps keep my metabolism elevated.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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One study has shown that snacking on almonds helped participants lose twice as much fat as those who snacked on complex carbs.

This group also had a greater decrease in waist size.  This was part of a low carb diet program.  Almonds are a healthy snack that is easy to take with you.

I buy them in a bag and break them out when I need to.  Its not always easy to carry certain foods with you when trying to lose weight, but almonds, walnuts, and pistachios are good choices.

I got this info from nutritionist Mike Roussell, the co-creator of the Warp Speed Fat Loss Program that I am on.  These nuts have some fiber, which can help fill you up, but also are healthy fats.

While I love pistachios, cracking the shells open can be a bit of a hassle, which is one of the reasons  Roussell says they can help with weight loss, it slows you down and apparently you can eat more of them, without worrying about your waistline.

For convenience and no mess, almonds work well for me, but I am going to try walnuts to mix things up a bit and give my taste buds some variety.  There is a little protein in these along with the good fats.

The fiber can help you feel full, also.  Either of these can be eaten with an apple and it won’t affect your blood sugar too much.  Feeling full can help you avoid eating too much, or so they say.

In any case, I’ll be eating plenty of almonds and walnuts as I am on a lower carb diet, as part of this fat loss program.  As always, if you have been too sedentary,

Get moving!

Brian

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What is “creep” and how does it affect your low back pain?  Glad you asked.

Creep occurs when you sit for too long with poor posture, when you let your back, neck, and shoulders become rounded.

When you stay in this position for too long without moving, your connective tissues (fascia) becomes stretched, causing an imbalance between the muscles on the front and back of your body.

Creep occurs when tissue is stretched and held at a constant length – you get a slow elongation of the tissues.  This involves a time factor where you are in one position for a length of time.  So this stretch may be a small one that goes unnoticed, but has an effect on your body none the less.

Your connective tissues (fascia) surround your muscles and provide a framework for them.  They have a combination of elastic and strength properties in the fibers that are viscoelastic in nature.

Meaning, they provide a degree of stiffness, as well as spring-like qualities.  If held in a stretched position for a length of time, the fibers will tend to stay stretched.

When you spend too much time sitting in positions of poor posture, your body adapts to this position.  It will stay in this stretched position unless you do something to remove this stretch.

I understand that many of you are required to sit for your jobs.  I also understand that it is near impossible to sit upright all the time when working on the computer or writing.  

So what’s the solution you ask?

One is to get up and stretch briefly every so often, at least once every 40-50 minutes.  Ideally, you would walk around for a few minutes while remembering to stand up straight.

Another thing would be to shift your weight often while seated.  Try not to stay in the same position for more than 15 minutes.  Push your chest forward a couple times, as you exhale.

You can also slowly squeeze your shoulderblades together and hold for 3-5 seconds.  Just enough to keep your body from remaining stuck in the same position.

You can also shift your weight side to side, as well as doing some simple movements for your neck, such as lightly rotating from side to side and gently tilting your chin up a few times.

Basic movements for basic maintenance.  It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Ideally, you are sitting in a chair with good support, that allows you to be in the best posture possible.
Physical therapist Robin Mackenzie advocates using a lumbar “roll” for chairs that don’t have good support. These rolls are placed behind your low back to help keep you in good posture.  You can find these and various lumbar cushions in many stores, often at your local shopping mall.

Obviously, you need to spend some time away from work doing movements to keep your muscles and joints from getting stiff.

Joint mobility movements, various forms of stretching, or even simple walking will get the job done.

One solution you might try is the Unbreakable System for chronic pain.

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