Hey, Good Men Project readers, Factor offers fresh, ready-to-eat meals for health-conscious folks on the go!
Thousands of books and articles have been written on the subject of taking care of your body, and hundreds more will be written this year. And yet, I am writing about it because there might be a message contained here that someone needs to hear or hear again, and maybe this is the perfect time and place to hear it.
This is a subject that I am passionate about because I’ve had the experience of being in excellent health and having that change suddenly, dramatically without any notice, when everything came crashing down and the body and good health that I had always known, escaped me. I’ve experienced struggling to regain perfect health, trying many healing modalities with no success, and finally surrendering into what was. Going deeper within than I had ever gone before and letting go of the need to control it. It was precisely then that I found an alternative medicine doctor who helped me heal slowly but surely. As some of you may know, a life-altering sports injury while I was traveling in Australia resulted in my experience of extensive chronic pain for a number of years. Yet, it was that accidental injury that was the catalyst that gave me the greatest gift, the greatest adventure of my life—my spiritual journey.
The body-mind-spirit connection is miraculous and mysterious; the body is innately intelligent. It’s been said that pain has the ability to purge the ego. In going through pain, one tends to become stronger, real, transparent. You’ve heard the expression that “a setback is just a set up for a comeback”, and I can attest to that. I don’t think that I would have found my voice and become a singer and musician if it hadn’t been for that accident that opened the door to my creativity and passion for singing and music. I created a rock band called My Silent Bravery. My Silent Bravery symbolizes persistence, perseverance and inner strength to overcome obstacles in the face of adversity.
Deepak Chopra, M.D., F.A.C.P. is the co-founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, the Co-Founder of the Chopra Foundation, and a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. He is board certified in internal medicine, endocrinology, and metabolism. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and a clinical professor in the Family Medicine and Public Health Department at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of more than 85 books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His recent books include You Are the Universe, co-authored with Menas Kafatos, Ph.D.; and Quantum Healing (Revised and Updated): Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine. Deepak says, “At the most fundamental level, our minds and our bodies are just pure spirit. In fact, everyone in creation is spirit. So, at the basis of all creation, there is already a field of perfection on all levels. We are already perfectly healthy, perfectly happy, perfectly successful. The only problem is, we’ve forgotten this, and so we live lives filled with struggles and a lack of fulfillment. The whole focus of mind/body medicine is to restore the memory of spirit in our lives. When our bodies reawaken to spirit, we re-enliven our own inner healing mechanism and activate our internal pharmacy to create and maintain a state of perfect health.”
Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized leader in bridging science and spirit. He is the bestselling author of The Biology of Belief, and he has been a guest speaker on hundreds of TV and radio shows, as well as the keynote presenter for national and international conferences. Dr. Lipton has said, “there are 50 trillion cells living inside our skin in peace and harmony. Each cell, which has a specific job and contributes to the whole, is like an individual being and even though they are different and have diverse jobs, they are able to work together in unity and cooperation”. Imagine if that peace and harmony was happening outside of our skin around the world!
Dr. C. Norman Shealy is one of the world’s leading experts in pain and depression management. He was the first physician to specialize in the resolution of chronic pain and Founder and first President of the American Holistic Medical Association. He has said, “We have billions and billions of sparks of the God Force within each of our cells. This is the temple where the God Force will meet us.”
When we think about honoring this miraculous creation, our body, that we’ve been fortunate to receive for this lifetime, there are some key areas that require our consistent attention. If you don’t already have one, perhaps you might consider designing a customized self-care routine that is just right for you. It might include food choices, sleep, exercise, prayer and meditation, conscious breathing, connection with friends and family, journaling, being in nature, reading books that inspire you, detaching from technology for a few hours every day, and doing whatever makes you glad you are alive.
Dr. Norman Shealy, who has dedicated over 60 years to the practice of holistic healing, has written over 312 publications including 23 books, who has lectured worldwide and received numerous awards, has determined that you can add 22 years to your life by following 5 key principles: no smoking, have a Body Mass Index (BMI-measure of body fat) of 18-24, eat 5-7 servings of vegetables and fruits daily, get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every day, and do 30 minutes of physical exercise 5 times a week. Only 3% of Americans have all four of these healthy habits.
Food
Choosing foods that are fresh and pure and filled with life-giving prana is vitally important. Think about it…why would we want to put “junk food” into our innately intelligent bodies that have been beautifully referred to as the temple for our soul?
Your body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.
~BKS Iyengar
“The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” ~Ann Wigmore
As a musician, when I’m on the road and performing, I always make it a point to find restaurants that offer healthy choices that will give me energy rather than deplete me, and I drink half my body weight in water. Eat organic as much as possible.
Sleep
Getting adequate restful sleep is vital and I find that it provides a “soul reset”—we get the opportunity to reset each day after getting nourishing sleep. Harvard Medical School has reported that chronic sleep deprivation can contribute to weight gain, high blood pressure, and a decrease in the immune system’s power. Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat. Studies done by the National Sleep Foundation reveal that at least 40 million Americans suffer from over 70 different sleep disorders and 60% of adults report having sleep problems a few nights a week or more. Most of those with these problems go undiagnosed and untreated. In addition, more than 40% of adults experience daytime sleepiness severe enough to interfere with their daily activities at least a few days each month. So, do whatever it takes to ensure that you get enough deep sleep!
Exercise
When I’m on the road performing with My Silent Bravery, I always use fitness rooms at the hotels where I stay, and I make exercise a priority when I’m home. Exercise is essential to living in a happy, healthy body. There are four main types of exercise: strengthening, stretching, balance, and aerobic exercises. Harvard Medical School says that “aerobic exercise helps relax blood vessel walls, lower blood pressure, burn body fat, lower blood sugar levels, reduce inflammation, boost mood, and raise “good” HDL cholesterol. Combined with weight loss, it can lower “bad” LDL cholesterol levels, too. As we age, we lose muscle mass. Strength training builds it back. Strengthening your muscles not only makes you stronger, but also stimulates bone growth, lowers blood sugar, assists with weight control, improves balance and posture, and reduces stress and pain in the lower back and joints. Stretching helps maintain flexibility. We often overlook that in youth, when our muscles are healthier. But aging leads to a loss of flexibility in the muscles and tendons. Muscles shorten and don’t function properly. That increases the risk for muscle cramps and pain, muscle damage, strains, joint pain, and falling. Likewise, stretching the muscles routinely makes them longer and more flexible, which increases your range of motion and reduces pain and the risk for injury. Balance— many gyms offer balance-focused exercise classes, such as tai chi or yoga.” It is recommended that we exercise 30 minutes, five days a week minimum.
Laugh Every Day
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Prayer and Meditation
Daily prayer and meditation are my lifelines. I make these spiritual practices a daily priority. They give me my foundation, help me stay grounded, connected, and feed my soul. I can’t imagine a day without them. Find what resonates with your spirit and do it regularly.
I leave you with this thought provoking message from bestselling author and teacher, Neale Donald Walsch. Neale’s work has taken him from the steps of Machu Picchu in Peru to the steps of the Shinto shrines of Japan, from Red Square in Moscow to St. Peters Square in Vatican City to Tiananmen Square in China. And everywhere he has gone — from South Africa to Norway, Croatia to The Netherlands, the streets of Zurich to the streets of Seoul — Neale has experienced a hunger among the people to find a new way to live, at last, in peace and harmony, and he has sought to bring people a new understanding of life and of God which would allow them to experience that.
On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know…that life offers you an amazing opportunity in every single moment to see and experience Who You Really Are.
Watch yourself this day. Just watch yourself. Look at what you are doing moment to moment…and why. Ask yourself in the midst of it, “What does this have to do with my real reason for being here? Is this what I have come all the way to the Earth to experience?”
If the answer is a resounding Yes, keep doing it. If the answer is No, ask yourself, “What in the world am I doing?” Look at the words and consider them literally. What-in-the-world-am-I-doing? What am I involved in every day, and what does this have to do with my soul?
It’s just a question…just a question…
Connect with me on my website at http://mysilentbravery.com and join me every Tuesday evening for my weekly Facebook Live program on MSBTV. I can’t wait to meet you there!
Hey, Good Men Project readers, Factor offers fresh, ready-to-eat meals for health-conscious folks on the go!
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Photos: Pexels and Pixteller