Reducing excess body fat is a common goal with exercisers. It turns out that down-regulation of stress hormones is the highest priority when looking to reduce excess body fat, in particular when it is around the belly. Cortisol is a stress hormone, that, when chronically elevated contributes to the storage of body fat (in particular,...
In 1960, research began at the University of California, Berkely, by Mark Rosenzweig on rats. He compared single rats in normal cages, with other rats that were raised with toys, ladders, tunnels and running wheels and also in groups. Rosenszweig found that growing up in enriched environments helped neurodevelopment, cerebral cortex thickness and greater synapse...
If you exercise hard all month, but have no recovery and down-regulation strategy in place, did the training happen? Well, of course it “did,” the time was “spent” and the work was done, but what about the important part – is there a result? Is there the “super-compensation,” or the improvement*? Many like to blame...
Attention is not concentration. J. Krishnamurti spoke of this at some length. In his model, concentration creates a divide. It is focused and creates a barrier between the “concentrator” and the environment or surroundings. It is a “pushing away” of the rest of existence. When we concentrate on just one thing, we cannot take in...
Our output, physiological load, or “stress levels” and the relative amount of time we spend in each state of being or state of productivity can be represented by a normal distribution curve (or bell curve). The “grey zone” is common in both the workplace, as well as in athletics: Typical 9-5 day in a cubical,...
To do the complicated, intense or advanced variation once or twice? Or to do the simpler variation consistently? Almost in all cases, the second is preferable. When the basics are done well and consistently, the acute highs will not feel as lofty. There is less gossip afterwards, less inflation, but, the long term progress is...
My focus is on the opposites – the down-regulation, awareness, breath awareness, meditation. BUT, this is in the sense of restoring balance in an out-of-balanced society. When this is understood and is adopted into a lifestyle, then my focus is on the effort. The strength, the power, the speed, the catharsis. While I discuss the yin,...
When you meet with friends, you choose to do an activity. It’s usually (always?) something that one person is somewhat OK at. Why? We love to do what we are good at, OR We love to follow instructions or a dogma, or be told what to do However, to meet in the middle, at the unknown,...
