My message of health
I always think about the message I'm giving to my kids about health and movement without realising it. And now that I’ve learnt so much through my training and research I think my conscious message would be to not follow blindly, but to QUESTION EVERYTHING. To strive for real health out of a conscious choice - not to because you have to, but because it's empowering to feel comfortable in your own skin and in your own mind.
So much of what we do is driven by our daily culture. If you take the typical day of the average city working person it's not dissimilar to that of an animal in captivity. So is it a wonder that there's so many people feeling broken, unfulfilled and disengaged from really 'living'?
Let me give you an extreme example:
Wake up with an alarm - from you phone, next to your head.
Shower with a selection of chemicals.
Put on more chemicals, deodorants, hair products and makeup
Get dressed in restrictive clothes and heeled shoes (this includes men’s shoes!)
Eat 'breakfast' - likely toast, sitting in a chair staring at a screen.
Sit in a car. Drive to work.
Sit at a desk staring at screen for 3-4 hours barely moving in artificial light and conditioned air.
Eat a lunch from processed foods like a cheese and ham sandwich, sitting at your desk staring at a screen barely moving in artificial light and conditioned air.
Spend 3-4 hours at your desk barely moving in artificial light and air con.
Drink something from a bottle full of coloured sugar liquid.
Drive to gym. Sit on a stationery bike staring at a screen in artificial light and conditioned air.
Shower with more chemicals.
Eat a protein bar sitting in the car on the drive home.
Order a pizza or takeaway and eat it sitting on the couch watching TV programme until it’s time to roll into bed tired and wake up aching.
Ok, so yes that's an extreme and rather generalised scenario - BUT it's not too far from the truth, certainly for many of the clients I've had over the years. When you look at it - we are not feeling healthy because we’re not living and moving as we should, we're unbalanced and not enjoying the environments we should be living and moving in, and we're not eating foods that help energise and heal us.
Every single thing listed above creates a negative stress on the body. If you name a problem I could bet a lot will have to do with your regular daily habits and environment.
Joint pain, headaches, constipation, depression, weight gain, high levels of inflammation in the body, tight muscles, bladder weakness, poor balance, restricted joint movement, poor circulation, broken sleep, chronic stress, short tempered, regular colds and flu’s due to poor immune function….and on and on and on….
So where do you start???? Well, start by really looking into your life and change the things that can control first. I did this a few years back and now here's what I try to get into my everyday as much as possible:
Shoes off for most of the day and then flat shoes when needed.
Moving and changing positions as regularly as possible. Any position you can manage pain free.
Eat more natural foods and limit packaged/processed foods with too many processed ingredients.
Hydrate with water throughout the day.
Sit on the floor more.
Stretch and foam roll regularly.
Do nothing for 5 minutes - I lay down on the floor in the quiet for 5 minutes.
I started walking more and hurrying less.
I just play - climb a tree, play tag, crawl around. With or without the children!
Get outside for fresh air and natural light as much as possible.
Limit technology time and turn it all off at 11pm, yes even the WIFI!
It's really not rocket science... and we can all make some changes for the better, you just need to want to... and I bet that if you add more of the above to your everyday - you will start to feel quiet different.
Thanks for reading!
Rich.
