REVERSING SELF SABOTAGE
We sabotage ourselves all the time and our health suffers greatly as a result. These same obstacles can be removed, opening up new pathways of growth for ourselves as we age. The benefits are endless.
Physical, emotional and energetic blockages in the body, mind and spirit prevent us from experiencing the natural flow and rhythm of life. Those blocks create inflammation and tension. Circulation is reduced and health is impacted. Unfortunately many blocks are held for long periods of time, often many years and perhaps even lifetimes, creating areas in the body prone to chronic difficulties. There are a number of ways to dissolve these obstacles and reverse their effects generating overall health, happiness and well being.
In a series of BALANCE NEWS articles, causes of blockage along with suggestions for their removal will be discussed with this first article focusing on the most common and significant causes:
In a series of BALANCE NEWS articles, causes of blockage along with suggestions for their removal will be discussed with this first article focusing on the most common and significant causes:
Inactivity, Fixed Attitudes, Shallow Breathing, Fear.
If you are a consistent reader of BALANCE NEWS then you have heard about these elements often. What is different about today's approach is how the issues are framed. When thought of as obstacles or blocks it gives us a deeper understanding of these pernicious factors. A number of other issues like stress, habit, procrastination and substance abuse also create obstruction to health. Old injuries create physical obstruction, as do conditions like arthritis. Poor diet creates very real blockages in the blood, weakening the heart. These secondary causes will be discussed in the next BALANCE NEWS article.
Why do blocks get created in the first place?
For the most part we are not aware of blockages and obstacles within ourselves: mind, body and spirit. And we are often unaware of how they affect our feelings or health. The blocks get placed there for a myriad of reasons including:
- Trauma, current or past including accidents, previous illness and abuse: Abuse is a particularly powerful cause of blocks that are devastatingly deep and difficult to address. Blockage is caused not only physically but emotionally and spiritually as well, with effects that often last a lifetime. How past trauma gets stored in the body can be better understood by looking at a type of massage which is called Deep Tissue Massage. Licensed practitioners release deep tension knots and scar tissue to restore health to chronically inflamed areas. In the process it is not unusual for the client to suddenly have memories of past even forgotten events from long ago. That memory is stored and persists in the nerves and muscles of the area originally affected.
- Stiffness is in essence a block: At its core stiffness is probably the most important physical consequence of modern life and affects us all regardless of age but has particular consequence for those older. Getting stiff when you are older is a common complaint. There is reason for that. We tend to be less active and sit more and as we age it takes less inactive time to generate stiffness.
- How we think can generate physical obstacles: Fixed attitudes are very influential in generating both physical and mental blocks. It can be thought of as stiffness of the mind.
- How we feel can also sabotage ourselves: Fear, depression, anxiety, worry, guilt, anger, envy all create conditions that restrict our lives both physically and emotionally. Those restrictions are in effect ways that we block ourselves from health.
The most important acts of self sabotage:
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1) Inactivity:
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Inactivity is as bad for your health as smoking or obesity. It shortens and tightens the muscles and joints, causing reduced circulation and nervous system activity. Just one half hour of sitting causes as much as a 50% reduction in blood flow to the feet. The major consequence of inactivity is stiffness. Stiffness is a far bigger problem than most realize. It is so common, as is shallow breathing, that we have become accustomed to it. We think it is a natural product of aging. It isn't.
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Move for at least 5 minutes of every hour. Doing a few moves while sitting will do the trick, as will getting up and getting a glass of water, taking a bathroom break or simply stepping outside to take in a breath of fresh air. Try not to become a 'sack of potatoes' on your lounge chair. Aim for keeping your body gently moving instead of being stationary for long periods of time.
If you are stiff getting up off the sofa, it is not because you
are getting old, it's because you sat too long.
are getting old, it's because you sat too long.
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What happens to our body.
Inactivity causes much of aging. Inactivity is not declining. |
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2) Fixed attitudes:
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Perhaps the most pernicious manner in which we block ourselves from health and happiness has to do with our attitudes, especially our attitudes about aging and our attitudes about the concept of exercise. In my own observations, only about 90-95% of those older take action to deal with these issues. An example of fixed thinking: "Getting older is automatic and nothing can really be done about it. Even falls are to be expected." Nothing about that quote is true.
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Inactivity and fixed attitudes go hand in hand. The less you do, the less you want to do and the more stubborn you get about it. Inactivity causes stiffness in thinking as well as in the muscles and joints. We loose the ability to be flexible in our thinking. Logical analysis can help break through. After all, many of the ideas recommended here have been shown to dramatically improve health and reduce illness. Facts and research show that. But logic does not always overcome mind stiffness. Sometimes the best approach is to simply throw yourself into a 30 minute per day exercise program and not think about it. Just do it.
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Why do so many refuse health?
How our minds confuse us. |
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3) Shallow Breathing:
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Breathing shallowly occurs when tension is present from whatever source. Lung capacity is reduced. Even slumping while seated causes a 30% reduction in breath capacity. When lung capacity is reduced, less oxygen reaches our body's cells to nourish them. This causes a huge obstruction to our health, handicapping our body's abilities to do anything.
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In many ways, this is the simplest and most direct route toward improving health. Daily breath exercise for as little as 5 minutes a day carries the potential to improve our natural breath patterns significantly, with resulting benefit to overall health and vitality. The breath can also very effectively be used to dissolve blockages in specific areas affected by prior injury for example. Targeted relief is very simple to administer and effective at reducing obstruction, especially when used with visualization as described in The Miracle Breath. Not everyone can perform breath exercise due to conditions like asthma. The benefits, however, can be obtained using other methods as detailed in When Breathing is Difficult.
The breath is truly the door to health and happiness!
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The basics.
A great breathing technique. Lower tension other ways. |
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4) Fear:
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As we age, we often become afraid: fear of falling, fear of dying, aging, becoming chronically ill. That fear often restricts our behavior, in the process narrowing our world and our aspirations. Fear itself creates the same physical effects as inactivity, tightening muscles and joints. It affects the upper body in particular, causing tension in the neck and chest and restricted breathing. Fear significantly reduces the quality of our life.
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Here once again, the breath is often the path toward resolution. But there is an additional aspect to the phenomenon. Every fear has a legitimate source. Fear can be used as a positive motivator toward healthful change. We have a choice: we can live in fear and close in or we can take steps to improve. For instance, if you are afraid of falling, instead of staying at home more, take balance classes to make sure you are less likely to fall.
The other detrimental emotions - anxiety, depression, guilt, worry each act in their own way to block health. Magnified emotional response also compromises health. The breath and exercise are routes toward health with each.
The other detrimental emotions - anxiety, depression, guilt, worry each act in their own way to block health. Magnified emotional response also compromises health. The breath and exercise are routes toward health with each.
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Differences between the three.
The great debilitator. Stop them in their tracks. An unproductive feeling. |
How does intense emotion affect our health? Powerfully felt emotion can compromise health significantly. Here are 2 influential clear physical effects:
- Emotion affects balance: Strong emotion throws our balance into a tizzy. There is such a strong inverse relationship between balance and emotion that if you are unsteady today, check out whether you are upset about something. If so, take a few deep breaths to steady your vestibular system. Yoga classes make it obvious. When practicing standing single foot balances, students often experience a strong variance in how their balance is today. Often the variance is due to current emotional experience. When upset, balance is one of the first things to go.
- Emotion affects pain: While recovering from a painful shoulder break early in 2021, I quickly became aware that when I was feeling upset, the pain level would quadruple! To such an extent that the most effective pain reliever became calming the mind. Far more effective than drugs.
The bottom line is that emotional expression can block us from the
path to health when feelings are overwhelming.
path to health when feelings are overwhelming.
Techniques worth their weight in gold:
There are many systems and ideas that counteract the consequences described in this article. The following are of particular value: all benefit physical as well as mental health.
- Breath practice: Daily breath exercises improve all aspects of health and alleviate disability and difficulty. It is the single most effective use of your time in the pursuit of physical and psychological health.
- 30 minutes of consistent exercise per day: Kaiser Permanente's groundbreaking 2008 research revealed that half hour of moderate exercise daily reduced Alzheimer's risk by 33%, heart disease by 40%, diabetes by 50%, high blood pressure by 50%, recurrent breast cancer by 50%, colon cancer by 60% as well as significantly decreasing depression. (See the Rohin Francis quote below about the value of exercise.)
- Structured meditation: Improves mental health dramatically and has been shown to significantly reduce chronic anxiety, pain and depression. One form, Mindfulness Meditation, is commonly accessible in the United States. This is an excellent avenue to pursue if you tend to get thrown off by strong feelings.
- Anti-inflammatory diet: High levels of inflammation in the body is the predecessor for illness. Lowering those levels improves health universally. Refined sugars and highly processed foods are inflammatory by nature. Their reduction is recommended.
- Yoga, Tai Chi, etc: There are a number of physical disciplines that have mental health benefits. In addition Yoga is wonderful for stretching, strengthening and using the breath to enhance. Tai Chi is fantastic for improving balance. Chi Gong strengthens the spirit. All are highly recommended. There are also seated versions of each.
- Stretching: Since tension is at the root of much discomfort, the act of stretching takes on more prominence. Stretch out your muscles and move your joints. The result is health.
We believe the myths about aging.
But age is not the enemy.
Inactivity and everything that goes along with it is.
Fixed attitudes, shallow breathing and fear.
Rohin Francis, MBBS, 9/10/21, MedPageToday.
"Most medications on the market actually offer a fairly modest benefit and often come with a long list of side effects. Yet, there is one drug that is readily available and offers the following list of benefits. It increases your lifespan, increases your quality of life, and reduces your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure. It improves your mood, can be used to treat depression, and best of all it has barely any side effects. It's absolutely free. Well you've probably heard this fairly glib comparison before because, of course, the "drug" in question is exercise."
Good things to do while sofa sitting:
Circle your ankles.
Flex and point your feet.
Stretch your legs and flex your feet.
Stretch out your lower back.
Stand up and sit down 3 times.
Get up and get a glass of water.
Take a bathroom break.
Published September 20, 2021