EXCITING TIMES IN SWEDEN

Happy Thursday from Halmstad, Sweden!

The Swedish people have a long tradition of beginning their day with a morning swim, even in the winter when the water is dangerously cold! The water is currently in the high 50’s but when you jump in, you certainly know you are alive ;-).

Here you can see Eric, Madeleine, Gunnila and Lennart Blomberg and I just before jumping in.

Lennart brought the golden hat as kind of a friendly joke because we were all discussing and practicing some of the methods of non-violent communication around the dinner table the night before.

I’d taught them the method called “going under the hat” during our talks together and we all got kind of a kick out of it because it can look and feel silly sometimes.

Going under the hat is a method used when you feel someone is triggering you and you need to regain composure before spouting off and making things worse for everyone involved, including yourself!

I had asked if they had a hat I could use to show them the technique and Madeline came out with a handful of very interesting and colorful hats. The gold one was quite funky and Lennart brought it to the beach under his morning gown and surprised me by placing it on my head before going into the cold water; “do I really want to freeze my balls off this morning” is my inner-dialogue under the golden hat.

These beautiful Swedish people are as tough as nails when it comes to dealing with extreme cold. Last time I was visiting them, the ocean was frozen and the water was 36º! This trip the water has been just below 60º, which is actually pleasantly shocking!

Here you can see us coming out of the water after a nice jump-start of a swim. Lennart carried the golden hat out into the sea to put on my head; he’s got quite a sense of humor. I got to meet Dorthia, one of Madeleine’s beautiful friends too. She went in with us and she’s the one holding the camera. I’d show you her photo here but I don’t want to cause a stampede of men chasing her down because like Madeleine, she’s a Swedish Babe!

Here you can see me giving a demonstration during the lecture portion of my weight lifting for enhancing performance and preventing injury workshop at the Eleiko Sports Center. I’m demonstrating how to activate latent muscles on a lady who is a nurse in the Swedish military.

This is me teaching the group what they need to know to do our next exercise.

Here you can see me teaching the group how to perform a partner squat while holding a pretty steep angle, which makes it quite challenging.

The point of the exercise is to practice being fully present with your partner so you can move in harmony with them.

The girl I’m working with here was quite an impressive woman. She’s a beautiful Swedish yoga teacher that is also an Olympic weight lifter; quite a combination I must say!!

The group really had a lot of fun with the exercises and instruction. They really enjoyed learning some fresh approaches.

Here you can see me performing manual therapy on one of the student’s ankle. He had a injury some time ago that has stopped his ankle from dorsiflexing properly, which causes him to have an asymmetrical squat pattern. I was showing him and others how to mobilize the subtaylor joint. He could squat noticeably better when I was done. He was grateful for the help.

All in all, the Weight Lifting course was a great success. There ended up being about 54 people for most of the day and that was about all the sports center could take without it being too crowded.

I had fun with everyone and tomorrow, I’m gong to celebrate the finish of my Swedish seminar tour with a great massage.

I’ve got to see patients starting tomorrow after my massage and the next day before heading off to London Sunday.

I’m excited though because I’m almost half way home!

Love, Love, Love my home and look forward to the day I don’t have to get on airplanes any more to get back there!

I hope you are all happy and well!

Love and chi,

Paul Chek