Air and Water

Health & Wellness

Air we Breath: Filter the air in our homes and take big deep breaths.
We are mostly air, and we are porous.
We need this air to flow in and out of us as completely as possible.

Water we Drink. Filter our water and sip water throughout the day.
Next we are mostly water.
We need this water to flow in and out of us regularly.

Quote from Wayne Fields

"The best six doctors anywhere, and no one can deny it, are sunshine, water, rest, and air, exercise and diet. These six will gladly you attend, If only you are willing. Your mind they'll ease; Your will they'll mend and charge you not a shilling" - Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields

Quote by John Maeda

"Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful" - John Maeda

Hygiene

Hygiene...I am a big believer in water. We should apply water, inside and out. Drink plenty of fresh clean water. Plus rinse the outside of our bodies daily; I like a warm shower in the morning, and/or a hot bath at night.

I'm not a big believer in harsh chemicals, but some natural detergents do clean better than just water alone; but use them sparingly in and on our bodies. We can use a little stronger levels to clean our homes, I suppose.

Oral hygiene effects the inner workings of our bodies too, I'm sure. We can rinse our mouths...Brush our teeth...Floss...brushing our tongue can be good too.

I use a hot compress on my eyes, and a wash cloth in my ears. I've heard of some yogi who pass cloth through their nostrils but I've never gone to this extreme.

Nutrition

Certainly our earlier post on 'variety' applies here. Good nutrition comes from obtaining a variety of nutrients that we need. The consensus always seems to come back to basing our diet on Whole Grains, Vegetables, and Fruits.

Moderation in all things has been always been taught. Though a moderate amount of poison could still kill you; so I suppose we need to decide how much of any one thing.

So Eat a balanced diet. Balanced means not equal amounts, because we need to give different weights to different things. Especially if they are toxic their weight might need to be zero and have none of those things that are toxic. So we need the right amount of everything to complete our nutritional needs.

I also believe that most of us don't drink enough water. Water can be a great cleanser (inside and out). Sometimes we think we're hungry but we're just thirsty.

I like teas, but they can stain your teeth and some are better than others.

Vegetable Juices can give us a boost of some nutrients if we need a boost of those;
Fruit Juices, too, can give us this boost; but like their whole counterparts we need to be weary of the amount of sugar they contain. Still if we have a sweet tooth Fruit can help satisfy it much more nutritionally than a candy bar or donut.

Those of us on Vegetarian diets need Soy Products and Flax, espcecially if we're vegans with no diary. Vegetarians probably need to monitor the amount of dairy they take in so as not to give this category too much weight.

Nuts and seeds are a wonderful compliment to a vegetarian diet, as well.

We need to make sure we include the categories of Legumes, and Green Leaves in with our vegetables, as well.

A variety of colors, shapes, and textures is nice.
Eating locally and seasonally can be great, especially if the variety in the area is enough.

But I think the main points we all know. Drink enough water, Eat Whole Grains, Vegetables, and Fruits. Eat a variety...and eat the right amounts of the right stuff. The trick is not knowing it, we all know it; the trick is to make sure we do it.

Exercise and Health

I believe that exercise is important. Even a walk around the block can help us wind down and loosen us up, and improve our health.

In my uneducated opinion, we should begin the day with light stretching and work ourselves up into a fairly vigorous exercise routine, like lap swimming or running, to earn our breakfast.

Aerobic exercise is particularly good I think. Alternate each day with some resistance exercise so that each is done 3 to 4 times per week is ideal.

SLEEP

Thursday, January 14, 2010
Meditation
The most active interferer with our sleep is stress. Not the stress a simple challenge brings that can bring us health, for this challenge can be a help to us. But the stress of worrying about the things where nothing is yet to be done. If there is something to be done, do it. If there is nothing that can be done, let it go.

This is often easier said than done. Meditation is the proven method to learning how to let go. Each gap in thought that we can embrace brings more peace to that moment. These moments begin to infuse themselves into our lives, if we but let them.

Meditate: every moment counts. Find a few moments every day. Find the gaps in between our thoughts, and simply sit with those empty spaces instead of the thoughts... just let the thoughts go. If they come, just let them go... find instead the void... and let the void grow.

From the void all things come, so only in the void does everything exist.
In the west we say that everything comes from somewhere; but in our teaching Everything comes from nothing. In the nothing there is potential for everything.

Friday, December 25, 2009
Quote by Edmund Vance Cooke
"Don't fight with the pillow, but lay down your head
And kick every worriment out of the bed" - Edmund Vance Cooke

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it" - John Steinbeck

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
"May sleep envelop you as a bed sheet floating gently down, tickling your skin and removing every worry. Reminding you to consider only this moment" - Jeb Dickerson,

Friday, November 27, 2009
There are some herbs that have been reported to help us get to sleep: valerian, chamomile, lavender, hops, and passion-flower.

I use the chamomile...red chamomile with milk and honey are quite tasty.
The warm milk seems to help too.
The honey? probably doesn't help sleep;
but honey is a food with wonderful properties.
Though it is a sugar, so we should be careful how much.
But you don't need much, and I'm told honey never spoils?

Lavendar petals in a hot bath are very relaxing...

Have a good night sleep...

zzzz.....zzzzz....zzzzzz....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Exercise and Sleep
I believe that exercise is important. Even a walk around the block can help us wind down and loosen us up.

In my uneducated opinion, we should begin the day with light stretching and work ourselves up into a fairly vigorous exercise routine, like lap swimming or running, to earn our breakfast.

Aerobic exercise is particularly good for sleep I think. To participate in an exercise routine during the day will help us sleep at night.

During the evening and night, I like Tai Chi, Yoga, and mediation.
These prepare us physically to loosen up, and also serve to reduce stress levels that might hamper our sleep.

Friday, November 13, 2009
James Allen Quote
The dreamers are the saviors of the world. James Allen

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Breathing
The most basic element of our health, and therefore our sleep is breathing. Our Breathing should be complete. The breath should both expand our rib cage out, and move our diaphragm down. The in breath fills us completely...we are so full there is no room for anything else...naturally the air must leave...we allow it to go...slowly, slipping away. When we are completely empty a vacuum is created and naturally the air rushes in.

Practice this way of breathing consciously until it becomes unconscious, until we do it in our sleep.

Health
I think our general health effects our sleep. If we're carrying extra pounds, it's best to shed those. If we're not getting enough nutrition we'd better take a look at that too.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
quote from Dalai Lama on Sleep
"Sleep is the best meditation." - His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
eating before sleeping?
Obviously, if I don't recommend reliance on TV, Radio, or even books, I don't recommend reliance on alcohol either. Of course, we should avoid caffeine from coffee and chocolate and other stimulants too.

Sometimes a heavy meal can make us sleepy, but I don't think a heavy meal before bed is a good idea. Turkey, I've heard, has something in it that can make us drowsy...would a small slice work. Warm milk too seems to help some people. I like chamomile tea with a little milk and a dollop of honey, this seems to do the trick for me.

But if you eat before bed, eat light.

sleeping Habits
It's important to build sleeping habits. That's why the established time works so well. Slowly we get used to being in bed at that time, and eventually we get the idea it's time to sleep. The more successful the habit is, the more ingrained it becomes and the stronger it is. The less we follow it the less it works and the longer it takes to find what does. Some people go a whole life time without good sleep; but with good sleep habits, in time...we will sleep.

Other rituals work too. Even some like the TV, radio, or a book can work; But, as mentioned earlier, I think it's best to not rely on those; but again, if they work, they work. Maybe those can be done in the other room and you can slip into the bed? Those rituals are usually done as we fall asleep, and it's better to sleep in our bed. But some rituals can be done outside of the bed. Establish an order; ie...Write in our journal, drink a cup of warm milk, take a hot bath, brush and floss our teeth, meditate, turn down the covers...and slip into bed...lay our head on the pillow and sleep. Whatever you believe will work; but prepare well what you think will work and establish a pattern to follow.

Sleeping Environment
It's best to have soothing colors on the wall. Un-clutter the room. It would be best, in my opinion, to just have a comfortable bed, and only enough on the walls to make you feel cozy. Keep things simple, warm, and clean.

I know many of us like to listen to the radio or watch TV to put us to sleep. If it works for you, I guess it works. I suppose if there's no one with us, it helps us feel like we're not alone. But if it's not working anymore, try taking them out. The less electronics the better.

A book before bed is a habit many of us have too. It's better than the TV or radio. Again if it works, it works. But if it doesn't, see if you can just lay and wait for sleep to come. Even you have to wait, don't be anxious; this is the problem many of us have, is instead of laying there waiting to sleep we worry about the sleep we're not getting, this just makes it worse...If you're going to worry, and can't meditate...then maybe you have to try a soothing routine again...hot bath...reading the book. But this much I can tell you worrying won't put you to sleep, this is guaranteed. If you can meditate (any kind) lay there quiet and silent watching your breath go in and out...if you sleep, you sleep; if not, your meditation practice is getting well ingrained.

To fall asleep during meditation is not really meditation, as I learned it. But if we can't sleep, and it's time to sleep let's use it to get us there anyhow. We can learn other mediation methods that are 'real' later if we like.

Sleeping Schedule
I'm no doctor. so I suppose if we're really having trouble sleeping the Doctor could give us a prescription. But I don't care to take pills. Sleeping issues run in my family, but I sleep well almost all of the time. I think it's because I followed the stuff I'm going to write down for so long. But it does take time for the effects to be felt; 3 days, 3 months, even 3 years to take full effect. but if nothing is putting us to sleep yet, maybe these will give some life long sleeping habits.

Rule number one for me was to establish what my sleeping hours would be. Whatever we choose we need to stick with it, till it's established. I recommend 8 hours total with a combination of sleep and some from of meditation. 4 hours straight for sleep is a minimum...though I like 6 hours of sleep and two hours of meditation. The meditation can be done in one set of 2 hours or I like one hour as I awake and one hour before I sleep for most people; or 4 30 minute segments throughout the day is good too. Personally I now fall asleep too quickly to do the one before bedtime, so I do a morning set and then afternoon and/or evening set.

I now sleep from midnight to 6am; but I used to do 10pm to 4am; and 10:30 to 4:30. It depends on how you function best. If you're not into formal meditation, you can just lay in bed quiet and still...even if you do that for 8 hours without sleep, if you stick to the time schedule, you'll eventually go to sleep in there... just stick to the plan to build sleeping habits.

Response from Dr. Loo

Here is Dr. Loo's response to my earlier blog:

Well, a proper diet is something lots of people are concerned about. My take on the whole issue is not to exclude on one type of food or another, but rather to eat a variety of foods to get a good balance of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. If losing weight is the main focus, then the total caloric intake of your meals is what is important.

The reason for this is because the body has a huge number of biochemical pathways to convert basic building blocks (proteins for example) that it has in excess, to building blocks that it is lacking in, that what you eat in particular doesn't really matter.... if you eat more than what your body needs, it will tend to pack away the excess in the form of fat tissue.

But you still should eat a variety of foods because there are certain essential nutrients that your body can't make from other "basic building blocks", and if they aren't in your diet you'll eventually develop a malnutrative disease. Also, I haven't looked into it very closely, but from what was described to me, the atkins diet seems to cause weight loss through inducing ketosis, which in turn causes you to lose body water. This doesn't seem healthy to me, plus most people don't want to lose water weight, they want to lose fatty weight.... Read More

We were taught to encourage regular exercise to promote health, but anyone that has run a a treadmill will realize that you don't burn many calories at all. (ie. you run for 3 hours, but the amount of calories that you burn is replaced in excess by just eating a piece of toast...)

But: exercise promotes good cardiovascular heath & changes the cholesterol ratios in you body to prevent heart disease. In addition, one should also exercise with weights to increase or maintain muscle mass. This is important because it helps fend off osteoporosis (esp. in women and older folks), and muscle tissue has a higher resting metabolic level than fat. So, if you have a bit more muscle mass, you tend to burn more calories per day without doing anything differently.

I guess the long and the short of it is:
1. eat a good variety of things for proper nutrition.
2. watch what you eat (ie. less cholesterol & fats)
3. watch how much you eat (again, total caloric intake versus what your daily metabolic rate can burn off will determine weight gain or loss)
4. And exercise regularly (cardio and weight training)

At least, that's my take on it. Hope its helpful...
Wed at 1:33pm · Delete

Healthy ideas

I'm no doctor, so all the health stuff I write is just my own ideas, or derived from stuff I read or heard. I wouldn't advise taking any of the things I write too seriously. It's just ideas for thought.

If a doctor reads any of my ideas, perhaps you can comment on what is hogwash and what might have some scientific evidence to substantiate it.

But let's at least think about, what is healthy? and what is not?

In fact that's one of my ideas about diet. It seems that most of them work for a bit, at least. Some of the ideas I've heard for dieting are opposites of others, yet they are often stated as working, but those who try them.

I lose weight if I eat a vegan diet, but doesn't the Atkins diet say to eat high protein, which often means meat. Both of these diets work for different people. So it could be just that different people respond to different diets. Or what if just paying attention to what we eat has us so careful about what we eat that we eat better and less? Smaller quantity, and less sugar? It could be?