Side Crow (Parsva Bakasana) – Getting to know your body inside and out; left to right – is key.
“The body you do have to listen to is the quiet one inside. That’s the one that sits there observing your bad habits (but not necessarily taking part in them), often as not muttering under its breath. (Oh what a fool inhibits me, I imagine mine saying.)
The quiet body is the one that stretches when you arise from a period of stasis, for example, because it knows that the longer (in length) you are, the longer (in time) you can go on; that the longer you are, the longer you live; that when all of your soft parts are pulled out to their optimum operating length are you really ready to do anything.
The quiet body is in charge of all of your set points: not just the one that maintains your weight but the ones for respiration and sleep and sex and everything else. The quiet body is stubborn and slow, slow to move (but not necessarily slow to react, if you’ve done the training). It is the body that knows when to quit and when not to start, in everything from exercise sessions to bedtime snacks. But you can seldom hear it from the noisy one.
You may have to motivate the quiet body, to apply a little conscious direction to get it moving — but it, too, is mutable, and it had great momentum.
That’s the thing that nobody knows clearly enough about exercise; how it gets things humming, gets the energy levels up,the systems working, everything cooking.
Just do that part and the quiet body will start carrying this new energy and momentum over into your daily life — whether your’re listening to it or not. You’ll find yourself doing things with a little more flair, more pizzazz, more reward. And all you have to do to reap these rewards is give a little kick to the momentum wheel every now and then.”
The Elements of Effort: Reflections on the Art and Science of Running by John Jerome
An excerpt titled “The Quiet Body” from the book “The Elements of Effort” by John Jerome. Simon and Schuster Pocket Books, New York, NY (1997).
Published by Whole Heart Whole Health Registered Kinesiology and Sport
As the founder of Whole Heart Whole Health, I am specially registered to practice Kinesiology as a regulated health professional. I am also soon to be fully certified as a York University Post-Grad Certified Professional Health Coach specializing in Therapeutic Interventions for Lifestyle, Wellness and Chronic Disease Management. This Professional Health Coaching Certificate includes comprehensive Care Planning for Chronic Disease along with Fundamental Cultural Health Safety Skills.
My services are your very own lighthouse navigating you beyond the basic Gym Membership, Personal Training and Fitness Classes. My Whole Heart Whole Health policy is to ensure you are on the right path because at all times I'm the light looking out for you. My ultimate goal is for you to recover faster from surgery or injury and to feel better after a life setback such as a mental health crisis or diagnosis of a serious chronic condition. My navigating, planning and programming will ensure you get stronger, move better and move well and able toward and often beyond your very best.
From helping you regain your fitness, to building upon what you already have, to connecting you to the right specialist, to working with your current specialist, to guiding you toward the most effective evidence based health and fitness related information, I am dedicated to your whole health. My services are suitable for all populations, including special populations and those with special needs.
Now, how did I get here? On a more personal note, I have always been fascinated with lighthouses. No doubt, my father served in the Royal Canadian Navy for just over 8 years until he met my mother in Digby, Nova Scotia back in the 1960's. Both of my parents passed long before our standard North American lifespan, and this broke my heart so badly, I pulled myself out of a corporate lifestyle in the area of Wealth Management to study Kinesiology and Health Science.
I've never looked back because I knew at the time what research was beginning to confirm even back when mom and dad's chronic illnesses began, that our current healthcare system can do better to help US find our way to optimal health. Our current system is built to guide us toward illness and death, as this is the only was we can have access to services and advice - when we are sick.
This is why my policy at Whole Heart Whole Health is completely opposite of this - I am your guiding light to HEALTH and your lighthouse to guide you away from illness and death.
"Il n'est rien creu si fermement que ce qu'on sçait le moins...
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know." Michel de Montagne
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