OBSTACLES TO HEALTH
Some simple straightforward decisions can significantly improve the foundation of our health. Making uncomplicated choices at pivotal moments can result in remarkable benefits surprisingly effectively. This article reviews how three different general perspectives can be transformative if we have the wherewithal to take action.
- Inflammation: Reduce inflammation physically through diet, eating more fresh produce and less prepared foods. Reduce mental or emotional distress through meditation and reducing tension in our environment. Reduce spiritual inflammation through meditation, prayer, giving. See Inflammation for more information.
- Toxicity: Reduce toxicity by exercising, drinking lots of water, sweating, fasting. Eat a non-inflammatory diet to reduce the toxins put into your system. Remove yourself from toxic personal situations. Pursue positive relationships and avoid people who act out in toxic ways. See Toxicity for more information.
- Blockages: Increase circulation to reduce physical blockage. Pursue groundedness to reconnect to natural health and reduce the effects of negativity. Deep breathing dissolves blockage caused by stress.
How blockages obstruct our health, directly and indirectly:
These three are interrelated and it is very valuable to think of our problems from any/all points of view. The solutions to these three are so simple and easy to follow, if we have the wherewithal to decide to change. But it is this third phenomena that I want to delve into more deeply. Blockages can take many forms and be caused by lots of different things. Here are several examples. In each case the blockage has negatively influenced health.
- Our arteries literally get blocked by cholesterol, narrowing the blood vessels and placing the heart under stress.
- An injury we received in childhood compromises our body today because of memories of trauma.
- We reduce blood flow to the feet by as much as 50% through extended sitting, lowering oxygen absorption to our extremities and exacerbating any foot or leg (or lower back) problems we might otherwise have.
- We block ourselves from emotional health when we dwell on difficult feelings for prolonged periods without seeking resolution. Fear and anger in particular impede our health.
Looking more closely at two of the most serious problems:
fear and inactivity.
1) How fear blocks our health:
Fear is an enemy: Fear in particular has a very real physical and psychological effect on our lives, transforming it negatively. Decisions made out of fear are often spectacularly wrong. Our feelings can literally block us from sensible thought. As we age, we experience fear over health, loss of loved ones, financial distress and we especially become fearful of having a fall. The natural response is to limit ourselves in one way or another. In the case of fear of falling, limiting our activities to prevent falls ultimately results in the reverse. Our balance, strength and coordination decline because of more limited activity, resulting in a greater risk of falling.
Fear is a terrible advisor!
Physically, fear causes the chest to compress, raising the center of gravity, hunching the shoulders forward and restricting the breath. The brain receives less oxygen as a result and thinking is compromised. Our connection to the ground is strained. We become ungrounded, leaving us in a vulnerable position. Fear literally causes us to fail. As Franklin Delano Rosevelt said: "There is nothing to fear except fear itself."
|
Fear places obstacles to well being in our bodies, minds and souls. Dissolving those blockages as they appear is a wonderful and easy way to resolve what are often difficult and complex and even life long issues.
|
2) Inactivity blocks us too:
Most of the problems we encounter as we age really has more to do with inactivity than getting older. There are two areas particularly affected by inactivity:
- The legs loose significant ability when we sit so much more. They lose strength but in particular they lose agility. The muscles on the back of the legs become very tight. The knee joints stiffen. The lower back often becomes compromised. But the biggest effect of inactivity is that extended sitting reduces blood flow to the feet by as much as 50%.
- The rib cage: Sitting relaxed in a chair results in the chest depressing and stiffening with resultant shallower breathing. The neck is no longer supported and bends uncomfortably.
|
Inactivity in particular causes blockages in the legs with huge resultant effects everywhere. The knees are a central obstruction point for the human body. We often stiffen there first when challenged. We can as well relax those joints at the first sign of difficulty instead.
|
Fantastic remedies that help dissolve any kind of block as well as keep them from forming in the first place:
- Getting grounded: The natural flow of life is the most healthful. We tend to get in our own way to prevent the phenomenon. The easiest way to reestablish natural positivity is to get reconnected to the ground. This goal brushes obstacles to the side.
- The most important remedy of all time for any and all health issues is to first improve the breath: Include 5 minutes of deep breathing exercise in your daily routine. Use breathing exercises whenever stress is taking a toll. If an emergency situation arises, first take a deep breath. Deepening the breath causes more oxygen to be absorbed by the body including the brain. We think better. It always helps no matter what else is going on.
- Improve your circulation: In effect, that is our overarching goal. Ultimately, the better our circulation, the healthier we are. That's why it is so important to remain active as much as you can. Movement reduces any block regardless of cause. Sometimes it may be temporary, but regardless, it is always a good idea.
- In stressful times, soften your knees: One of our first responses to tension from any cause is to tighten the knee joints. Locked knees restricts blood flow to the feet and exacerbates any feelings of anxiety. Loosen the joints just enough for them to easily move. Shaking the legs out helps.
- Use imagery to dissolve blocks: Imagine rarefied air coming in through the top of your head, flowing down your body and exiting through your seat and feet into the ground. Imagine energy flowing freely through areas compromised. Imagine the breath as we deepen it, nourishing everything it touches inside our body.
- Improve your diet: Strive to eat an anti-inflammatory diet.
A superb exercise, how strong emotion can affect our health:
Notice how strong feelings affect you physically:
- For example, if you are engaged in a heated argument, notice where in your body you feel any kind of tension. Perhaps your neck tightens up. Maybe your chest does too. Or perhaps your stomach gets a knot in it. Strong emotions cause physical response. Awareness is the first step toward resolution.
- Think of the tension response as a blocking agent. Concentrate on dissolving it through imagery and/or exercise.
- Stretch the muscles in the area that have tensed up.
- Notice how much more grounded you feel in your discourse now.
Some simple examples of impactful decisions:
- When ill for other reasons: Reduce intake of inflammatory foods. Eat strawberries instead of chocolate. Vegetable soup instead of pizza. Chicken instead of beef.
- When feeling blue, take epsom salt baths to remove toxins from the body and mind. Read a history book instead of the news. Call a friend instead of posting on FaceBook. Reach out to help someone in need.
- Reduce blocks to desirable action by making a simple decision to exercise more. Take up singing to improve breath function and decrease tension that blocks it. Improve circulation through areas that are chronically stiff.
Related Articles from BALANCE NEWS:
|
The root of all illness.
Reducing its effects. The basics. The solution for our times. The physical affects the mental. We all become stubborn. So self defeating yet so common. We live in difficult times. Deflecting political anxiety. |
Published October 17, 2022.