EXERCISE NATURALLY - DENNY WAXMAN

 

Do we need to exercise? I often wonder. I watch my children play, they are having fun. Are they exercising or just making balance for what they are eating? When they eat foods outside the macrobiotic diet their play and behavior changes. When they eat macrobiotic foods they play nicely together, not much fighting. After sweets at school they fight and whine more. Maybe they are just trying to burn off the excess. Without concepts, they naturally make balance.

 

Everything is balance. When we are close to the center we are naturally attracted back to the center to create a balance. However, once we get too far off center there is a tendency to go to the extreme first before returning to a balance. I have often observed this in the way people choose food.

People who are too yang often choose more yang foods rather than the yin foods, which would return them to balance. The same is true in reverse for yin people, they like more yin foods. With exercise it is the same. Yang type people are attracted to more yang types of exercise, which make their condition increasingly more yang. Yin type people tend to choose more yin types of exercise and make themselves more yin. When they finally reach the extreme of yin or yang, they make a radical change toward the opposite to create balance.

There are three basic types of exercise:

1. Harmonious or life-related.
   Whoever does this type of exercise returns to balance. Walking is the most universal, harmonious exercise. If you are tired, walking will energize you. When anxious, walking calms you down. If you are depressed walking will pick you up. Walking clears a cloudy mind. Cleaning, housework, gardening, singing, social dancing and hobbies are other examples.
2. Ki-related exercise.
   This type of exercise develops your Ki energy. It is mentally and spiritually refining and creates greater sensitivity and awareness. Martial arts, yoga, Do-In, breathing exercises, chanting and meditations are in this category. They are generally yin but can still be divided into yin and yang. Tai-chi is a more yin type martial art, Karate is a more yang type and Aikido is balanced. In Do-In there are stretching, rubbing and pounding movements. Stretching is balanced, rubbing is yin and pounding is more yang.
3. Physically, emotionally related exercise.
   This type exercise stimulates blood circulation and muscles. It makes you warm and develops physical strength. All types of sports and calisthenics are in this category. Jogging, aerobics, tennis, golf, baseball, swimming, etc. are a few examples. Exercises you do for fun are more yin, competitive exercise or sports are more yang. Exercises you do in a group are more yang than exercise you do by yourself. This type of exercise makes you feel good physically and emotionally. It’s nature is yang. Jogging is very centering and grounding, tennis is more harmonizing and football makes you very yang.

Diet controls our need for exercise. The more we eat and the richer the foods, the more exercise we need to return to balance. Consider your diet before exercise. This will ensure the best results with the least effort. A grain and vegetable based diet such as macrobiotics is best.

 

To get the best results from your exercise program start with life-related exercise. Make your daily life more active. In addition choose exercise you truly enjoy. Exercise should be like good food, you crave it and can’t wait to enjoy it. Try to choose exercise that is appropriate for your condition.

If you are more yang and socially oriented try some Ki-related exercises. Stress is very yang. To overcome stress, harmonious and Ki-related exercise are more helpful than jogging or sports, which are also yang. If your are a more yin, mental type person and need to strengthen, try the physically oriented exercises. Here jogging, aerobics, tennis or skiing would be appropriate. Choose group type activities to become more socially oriented.

Your mental image while exercising is also very important. To become more yin keep a happy, peaceful bright image in your mind. To become more yang focus on a goal.

Also consider your surroundings when exercising. Outside is more open and yin. For alleviating stress, outdoor exercise where there is grass and trees produce the best results. Don’t push yourself to the limit though. Stop at 70-80% of your capacity. Build up gradually and try to be consistent.

Health is natural, we don’t have to work at it. First, understand your present condition, then set a direction. Review your progress, are you reaching your goals? If not, try a different exercise. And most of all have fun.

Link: http://arizonaenergy.org/Analysis/MakingSense/exercise_naturally.htm

Language Instruction Improved With Fun and Games

Apr. 16, 2013 — Playing simple games using words and pictures can help people to learn a new language with greater ease, researchers from The University of Nottingham have shown.

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Their study, published by the scientific journal PLOS ONE, revealed that using fun, informal ways of learning not only helped complete novices to acquire a new language but also made more traditional methods of language learning more effective.

PhD student Marie-Josée Bisson of the University's School of Psychology, who led the study along with Drs Walter van Heuven, Kathy Conklin and Richard Tunney, said: "The results of this study have implications not only for language learning and teaching, but also for anyone interested in improving their knowledge of a foreign language.

"They show that informal exposure can play an important role in foreign language word learning. Through informal exposure, learning can occur without intention, in a more effortless manner. Anyone attempting to learn another language would benefit from activities such as simple games using foreign language words and pictures, or foreign language films with subtitles where they can enjoy the activity without focusing on trying to learn the words. The results of this study suggest that these kinds of informal activities can facilitate language learning, even days afterwards."

There are many advantages to learning a foreign language, such as a better understanding of another culture or better employment prospects in an increasingly multilingual society. However, picking up another language can be a difficult process.

Many language learners believe that informal learning -- for example, watching a foreign language film or spending time in another country immersing oneself in the culture -- is helpful for learning the lingo.

This has now been validated by the results of the Nottingham study, which used spoken and written foreign language words along with pictures depicting their meaning to measure foreign vocabulary learning in complete novices.

In the first phase of the study, English speakers who did not know any Welsh, viewed Welsh words on a computer screen and were asked to indicate whether a particular letter appeared in each word. While viewing the word, they also heard the word being spoken and saw a simple picture showing its meaning. Importantly, the pictures and spoken words were irrelevant to their task and they had not been asked to 'learn' the Welsh words.

In the second phase of the study, English speakers were explicitly asked to learn the correct translations of Welsh words. They were presented with pairs of written English words and spoken Welsh words and had to indicate each time whether the English word was the correct translation of the Welsh. Information about whether or not their responses were correct was provided so that they could learn the correct translations. Importantly, half of the Welsh words had been presented in the first phase of the study.

Results indicated that participants performed better on the Welsh words they had previously been exposed to, indicating that during their informal exposure they had started to learn the meaning of the Welsh words.

Better performance in the explicit learning task was found immediately after the informal exposure as well as the next day. The researchers found that participants retained knowledge unintentionally learnt during the informal phase even as much as a week later following further explicit learning of the Welsh words.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130416085302.htm

5 Ways To Achieve Big Goals

All of us have dreams we’d love to make reality, and stretch goals that we’d love to accomplish. I have a friend who wants to learn how to play piano, proficiently, at the age of 55. Another is just dying to find some time off a grueling schedule to backpack China for a month. These dreams and goals are of course challenging exactly because they are stretches. Our life’s routine, and more tricky, our habits, tend to get in the way of actually achieving them.

Here are five things you can do to actually increase the likelihood of reaching your dreams and stretch goals.

1. Collect, Collect, Collect

You should have a central place where you track and manage those goals you have that are not for today. This can be in a notepad, in an Evernote notebook, or in a project in your ToDo list manager. Are you seeking to enrich yourself and find stretch goals? Look at popular websites like StumbleUpon, Pick the Brain, Guy Finley, Lifehacker, and our own TaskCurrent. When you come across something that inspires you–a goal or dream you wish to implement–make sure to write it down.

2. Out of Sight is Unfortunately Out of Mind

For your dreams and goals to be taken seriously, you must schedule a monthly review of your list. Try and keep the items on your list organized by how badly you really want to do them. Each month weigh the goals. Consider them. You will probably find that many of them are not actually top priority. Those that consistently float to the top of your list are the keepers, and it’s those we want to focus on turning into a reality. Over time, toss the dregs, and start highlighting the cream that’s floating on the top.

3. Make an Actual Plan

After a few months of keeping and reviewing your dream and stretch goal list, sit down with your calendar (and significant other if relevant) and start cobbling together an actual plan. If your dream is travel, set aside a piggy bank for some extra savings, and book time in a year. If you have a stretch goal–i.e., waking up and writing three mornings a week–start thinking about what it will take to actually achieve that goal. Importantly though, pick only one or two items to work on at a time.

4. Automate

To accomplish one of your dreams or stretch goals you’re going to need some help. Once you’ve decided on the item you want to pursue, and sketched a basic plan, use a reminder service like Remember the Milk, or even Google Calendar to keep it front and present. Remmeber, out of sight is out of mind. For fun, you can set a Monkey on Your Back [http://monkeyon.com/], which will nudge you until you do it.

5. Get Even More Help

Sometimes you need outside pressure to achieve a goal. Research shows that phone calls from real people are very powerful motivators. Therefore, ask a friend or family member to work with you to actually deliver on your goals. Moreover, ask them to be tough with you – reminding you regularly and pushing you to deliver on the commitments you’ve made to yourself. If you like, ask them if you can put a monkey on their back to help them remember. Most importantly, don’t get annoyed if they’re reminding you to do something that’s hard. That’s what you want!

You can accomplish dreams and stretch goals, but it’s not easy. Remember though, if you will it, it is no dream, and if you do it, then it will happen! The discipline above will help position you to be more successful in pursuing dreams and stretch goals. Let me know how it goes so that I can send a big congratulations to anyone who uses this to make a dream come true.

Source: http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/5-ways-to-achieve-big-goals/

Aharon Horwitz is the co-Founder of TaskCurrent [http://www.taskcurrent.com], an iPhone/iPad application [http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/taskcurrent/id501131814?ls=1&mt=8] aimed at helping you discover and implmenet actions worth doing from across the web.

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