I believe that what we each believe is most important in regards to the quality of our Life, health, happiness, relationships, and so on. If we believe we can stay young and healthy we improve our chances of same. More simply put, whatever we believe in is what we get.
During my stay on Earth I believe my body is a temple, a resort, and never anything less than a luxury hotel, and deserves my every attention to detail. Health is enjoying my body when I don't feel it, and paying attention to it when I feel an imbalance. The prevention and the cure are the same discipline. In order to maintain this precious Life, I attend to diet, exercise and rest in the management of my mind, body and soul.
DIET
The word diet is from Greek diaita, mode of life, regimen, diet, which is from diaitan, to lead one's life, so a diet is more than just what we eat. It has been said that we are what we eat. Biologically we are what we assimilate. Metaphorically we are also what we do not eliminate. What we put in our bodies (bring into our households) does make a difference.
From the biological sciences we learn that the gut length of an herbivore is about eleven times the animal's body length. In comparison, the gut length of a true carnivore is only three times body length. We humans have a gut length of about eleven times our body length, so we are designed by Nature to be herbivorous. You have liberty to find what diet works best for you.
EXERCISE
I practice what I call Intrinsic Reregimentation and Contortional Differentiations Through Conceptual Augmentation and Diaphramatic Eugenics, or Energy-balancing Yoga, or Bending and Stretching and Breathing and Relaxing for Mind and Body and Soul, and I lead classes through very simple movements and postures. I have found my own methods and practice, and I can help you find a routine or discipline that will work for you if you don't want to find it on your own.
What I practice is primarily breathing, or diaphragm control, stretching and aligning the spine for good posture, and relaxation. If you want more of these kinds of exercises then email me.
REST
When I looked for the origins of yoga and the martial arts I found something amazingly similar, in as much as yoga postures and gung fu exercises both have animal names, but I figure that ancient monks who spent years sitting in contemplation of God (or Dog) probably used yoga to be able to get up and around better, perhaps even developing martial arts at the same time. In contradistinction, we Americans, who are probably the fastest moving bunch of humans on Earth, can use the same set of exercises to slow down and rest. Rather than use tensing exercises I use gentle movement, and then I employ controlled (slow) breathing and total stillness in order to get the most out of rest time. It is the same technique I generally use in preparation for meditation.
Please know that OUR GREATEST POWER IS OUR POWER TO CHOOSE, and that the word intelligence is literally "to choose between." Learn as much as you can and make choices for health and well-being based on as much information as you can get.
Sometimes it's not what I do that makes a difference in my life, it's what I STOP doing.
The most intelligent thing I ever did was buy a dictionary to investigate the word intelligence.
Practice personal discipline, energy conservation and balancing measures for physical health, mental well-being, and emotional security. We can figure it out for ourselves.
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rhenry@uark.edu
1/4/2007