PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION and PROCESSED VEGETABLE OILS…

Good Thursday to You!

Well, I had another productive, but very busy day yesterday.

I managed to get in a nice pushing circuit workout, and two tai-chi sessions.

I finished the day with a PPS Success Mastery coaching call, a nice Vidya-made dinner, a little art and was off to bed to get ready to do it all again!

PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION

Today, many people are challenged to relax.

Our lives have become so busy that we often forget how to relax our minds. Because the mind and body are one functional unit, if our minds don’t relax, our bodies can’t either.

We tend to hold tension in the areas of our body that correspond to the issues we have pent-up mental-emotional energy around.

Some of us have a tendency to carry our stress in our heads. Some of us carry it in our necks. Others carry it in their stomach, back, or feet.

A simple, effective way to induce relaxation it to magnify the tension in any region of your body that is challenged to relax.

If your neck is tight for example, you can lay on your back on the floor or an exercise mat, and take a series of deep belly breaths.

Let your body sink into the floor to the earth is carrying all of your weight.

Then, increase the tension of any tight muscle progressively until you feel you have a good firm contraction and hold that for five seconds.

Then, completely relax for ten seconds to allow improved blood flow and waste removal. Do that three to five times for each tight area and you will soon feel these regions relaxing.

If you want a general total-body relaxation, you can start with tightening the muscles of your feet, then calves, then thighs, then butt, then abdominals, then back muscles, then arm muscles, then neck muscles, and finally, your facial muscles.

Use the same five-second contract/ten second relax format.

When you relax, it is important to completely let go of your thoughts and be present with the area you are relaxing.

By agreeing with yourself that you deserve to feel good and relaxed, you can go deeper into relaxation.

If you are tired and having a hard time napping or sleeping, this method is very helpful for inducing a deep sleep or rest state.

PROCESSED VEGETABLE OILS!

The current edition of “The Ecologist” (my favorite periodical for keeping up on ecological issues in the world) has an important article about growing crops such as rape seed, soy and others used to make vegetable oils.

The article highlights the impact of removing native crops and deforestation to grow cash crops to support the vegetable oil industry and the impact this is having on native forests and wild lands.

The report describes the progressive deforestation in areas that is displacing both natives and a wide variety of endangered animal species, not to mention the loss of plant and tree diversity.

Processed vegetable oils, regardless of the health benefits touted, are very hard for most people to digest and I’ve personally seen them cause a wide variety of health problems.

They range from skin problems, joint problems, digestive challenges, and eliminate challenges.

The key thing to remember is that each of is has unique genetic needs and that our individual capacity to integrate processed foods and oils of any kind must be constantly monitored.

If you can use any of the so-called “healthy” vegetable oils sold in the markets without any sign of trouble, your body may be able to tolerate them.

If not, you should avoid them altogether!

Most of them are not compatible with the human body and tend to clog our cells.

They seem to act more like plastic in the human body that living molecules that can be effectively integrated into our physiology and body.

If you’d like to read the article I’m referring to, you can cut and paste this web link in your web browser:
https://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/food_and_drink/1376979/how_green_are_vegetable_and_rapeseed_oils.html

I hope you all have a beautiful day eating real food and finding balance in your output relative to rest or “in-put”.

Love and chi,
Paul Chek