Katy, the Director of The Montrose Clinic, was stretched thin in the best of times. Her clinic served Houston’s swelling poor, uninsured, and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) communities. Now, New Orleans’s gay, lesbian and HIV community swarmed to the clinic and Katy was in hyper-drive.

Far under the radar screen of the relief efforts going on across town at the Astrodome, suddenly, new patients at the Montrose Clinic, with no medical records, no homes and no funding, needed care, and more importantly, expensive medications. The clinic’s dedicated doctors and staff worked over the Labor Day holiday to welcome patients.

Katy scrambled to find the money for their meds. Two weeks of this kind of pressure had taken its toll on. She came through the door needing a spa get-a-way to unkink her body, soothe her anxious nerves, and calm her ricocheting mind. She was already looking forward to next month’s birthday gift to herself-a spa vacation to rest and relax.

These are extraordinary times. We are called upon to stoke the brightest light of our selves and to shine brilliantly into the world, especially into the darkest crooks and crannies of our human condition. We are called to vision the very best that humanity has to offer and live fully into that vision.

But the task of lifting the world from darkness can feel daunting. The evening news is a steady stream of war, tragedy, horror, and violence. The specter of every “ism”
known to society: sexism, racism, classism, poverty, hate, and greed can zap the energy, along with all the good intentions, from many a spiritual activist.

Yet we are born for such times. We are called to fortify our truest selves, to marshal our physical, emotional, mental, moral and spiritual IQs and to direct them for all that is right and good in this world.

In the scope of all the work needing to be done, it’s easy to exhaust ourselves in the process; to run on fumes; or worse, flat out of gas. This is where practicing the simple “Power of the Well Intentioned Pause” comes in handy.

The very nature of energy is to expand and contract. It’s one of the few constants in the universe. The stars and their moons rise and set, waves of water crest and fall, electricity pulses, hearts contract and then pulse, lungs rise and fall, orgasms come and go.
Energy may be constant but it oscillates. The energy keys in our bodies are the same.
•    Physically we have times of effort and times of rest and
sleep.
•    Emotionally we balance our sense of individuality and
our need to connect with the people around us.
•    We can be mentally muddled and confused or focused and
clear.
•    We can pursue lives and ideals we don’t truly want for
ourselves or we can live our deepest values in the world.
•    Spiritually we can remain dormant or we can sparkle and
thrive.

There is a fine line between efficiency and burnout. The fulcrum that makes the difference is respecting your body’s need for pause and rest. This simple directive sounds, well too simple. But in these times of over stimulation, hyperactivity and multi-tasking, our bodies consume tremendous amounts of energy that we simply must restore.

If we are to continue to thrive we must learn to balance performance with pause.

A prime example comes from the laboratory of pro sports players. For thirty years sports psychologists Jim Loeher and Tony Schwartz have helped professional athletes define what it takes to succeed at the most competitive levels under the highest pressures.

He discovered the key difference when he focused on what the players did between the points, not during the points.

Rituals of rest and recovery dramatically boost balance & performance

The topped ranked players, each and everyone, had a personal ritual for calming their breath and heart rate, sharply focusing their attention, and preparing for the next point. These rituals might last only ninety seconds between points, but practiced often where highly effective.

“A well intentioned pause” is an extension of Loeher’s discovery with tennis players. A strategic pause becomes a practice for everyday life. It is simply remembering, on a regular and consistent basis throughout the day to completely unplug from the all-consuming tasks at hand:

a chaotic workday fraught with calls, meetings, and deadlines; demanding children, navigating the stresses of family and relationships; driving in traffic; balancing the demands of personal life and community service, or fighting for social justice.

It is our focused intention that sets this kind of pause apart. The power of our intention is source of tremendous energy in, and of itself. When I turn my intention to rest, restore and refuel my energy; when I turn my intention to calm and soothe my feelings and mind, life naturally responds. Possible pauses can be just about anything that unplug us from the consuming thoughts of our day and refuel our energies. Anything you consciously do to disconnect from the intensity of your day and nourish your energy will make a big difference.

They include:

•    a few minutes of breathing or meditation,
•    a brief set of stretches, sit-ups, or push-ups
•    going to the gym,
•    a dance, yoga, or aerobics class,
•    reading a juicy novel,
•    a phone call to an inspiring friend or a loving family
member,
•    a walk outdoors in nice weather is mighty helpful,
•    a nap,
•    savoring a healthy meal.

A well intentioned pause can last ninety seconds, ten minutes, one hour, a day, or a week. Don’t underestimate the power of a deliberate ninety-second pause. Remember the tennis pro’s in Loeher’s study. Between points, they each had a ritual that rested their energy, calmed their breath and heart-rate, and then focused their attention to the next point.

It was this consistent rest and recovery, brief as it was, that separated the top-ranked players from the rest of the pack. The key is to train your mind and body to relax and restore energy in concentrated pauses. Our bodies respond quickly when these ritual pauses become a well trained habit.

The ten to twenty minute pause is a good place to start for beginners. This is ample time to unplug from the demands consuming your attention, soothe frazzled nerves, and to refuel spent energy. Ten minutes of focused breathing is excellent. Train the people around you to respect your pauses. A ten minute pause interrupted by a phone call and an officemate poking their head through the door is barely a pause at all. You’d have to be as skilled as a tennis-pro to get much benefit from such a pause.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Katy was tired, her body exhausted and her mind scrambling to keep up. Refugees from Hurricane Katrina teemed through her doors like hordes at the gates. The Gulf Coast reeled from the one-two punch of the killer storm and the flooding of New Orleans. The whole country jolted as rescue efforts spiraled into mayhem and chaos. The botched response from the ill-prepared and devastated city governments and the achingly slow federal response shocked hearts across America.

Katy, the Director of The Montrose Clinic, was stretched thin in the best of times. Her clinic served Houston’s swelling poor, uninsured, and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) communities. Now, New Orleans’s gay, lesbian and HIV community swarmed to the clinic and Katy was in hyper-drive.

Far under the radar screen of the relief efforts going on across town at the Astrodome, suddenly, new patients at the Montrose Clinic, with no medical records, no homes and no funding, needed care, and more importantly, expensive medications. The clinic’s dedicated doctors and staff worked over the Labor Day holiday to welcome patients.

Katy scrambled to find the money for their meds. Two weeks of this kind of pressure had taken its toll on. She came through the door needing a spa get-a-way to unkink her body, soothe her anxious nerves, and calm her ricocheting mind. She was already looking forward to next month’s birthday gift to herself-a spa vacation to rest and relax.

These are extraordinary times. We are called upon to stoke the brightest light of our selves and to shine brilliantly into the world, especially into the darkest crooks and crannies of our human condition. We are called to vision the very best that humanity has to offer and live fully into that vision.

But the task of lifting the world from darkness can feel daunting. The evening news is a steady stream of war, tragedy, horror, and violence. The specter of every “ism”
known to society: sexism, racism, classism, poverty, hate, and greed can zap the energy, along with all the good intentions, from many a spiritual activist.

Yet we are born for such times. We are called to fortify our truest selves, to marshal our physical, emotional, mental, moral and spiritual IQs and to direct them for all that is right and good in this world.

In the scope of all the work needing to be done, it’s easy to exhaust ourselves in the process; to run on fumes; or worse, flat out of gas. This is where practicing the simple “Power of the Well Intentioned Pause” comes in handy.

The very nature of energy is to expand and contract. It’s one of the few constants in the universe. The stars and their moons rise and set, waves of water crest and fall, electricity pulses, hearts contract and then pulse, lungs rise and fall, orgasms come and go.
Energy may be constant but it oscillates. The energy keys in our bodies are the same.

•    Physically we have times of effort and times of rest and
sleep.
•    Emotionally we balance our sense of individuality and
our need to connect with the people around us.
•    We can be mentally muddled and confused or focused and
clear.
•    We can pursue lives and ideals we don’t truly want for
ourselves or we can live our deepest values in the world.
•    Spiritually we can remain dormant or we can sparkle and
thrive.

There is a fine line between efficiency and burnout. The fulcrum that makes the difference is respecting your body’s need for pause and rest. This simple directive sounds, well too simple. But in these times of over stimulation, hyperactivity and multi tasking, our bodies consume tremendous amounts of energy that we simply must restore.
If we are to continue to thrive we must learn to balance performance with pause.

A prime example comes from the laboratory of pro sports players. For thirty years sports psychologists Jim Loeher and Tony Schwartz have helped professional athletes define what it takes to succeed at the most competitive levels under the highest pressures.

He discovered the key difference when he focused on what the players did between the points, not during the points.

The topped ranked players, each and everyone, had a personal ritual for calming their breath and heart rate, sharply focusing their attention, and preparing for the next point. These rituals might last only ninety seconds between points, but practiced often where highly effective.

“A well intentioned pause” is an extension of Loeher’s discovery with tennis players. A strategic pause becomes a practice for everyday life. It is simply remembering, on a regular and consistent basis throughout the day to completely unplug from the all-consuming tasks at hand:

a chaotic workday fraught with calls, meetings, and deadlines; demanding children, navigating the stresses of family and relationships; driving in traffic; balancing the demands of personal life and community service, or fighting for social justice.

It is our focused intention that sets this kind of pause apart. The power of our intention is source of tremendous energy in, and of itself. When I turn my intention to rest, restore and refuel my energy; when I turn my intention to calm and soothe my feelings and mind, life naturally responds. Possible pauses can be just about anything that unplug us from the consuming thoughts of our day and refuel our energies. Anything you consciously do to disconnect from the intensity of your day and nourish your energy will make a big difference.

They include:

•    a few minutes of breathing or meditation,
•    a brief set of stretches, sit-ups, or push-ups
•    going to the gym,
•    a dance, yoga, or aerobics class,
•    reading a juicy novel,
•    a phone call to an inspiring friend or a loving family
member,
•    a walk outdoors in nice weather is mighty helpful,
•    a nap,
•    savoring a healthy meal.

A well intentioned pause can last ninety seconds, ten minutes, one hour, a day, or a week.

The power of a well intentioned pause

Don’t underestimate the power of a deliberate ninety-second pause. Remember the tennis pro’s in Loeher’s study. Between points, they each had a ritual that rested their energy, calmed their breath and heart-rate, and then focused their attention to the next point.

It was this consistent rest and recovery, brief as it was, that separated the top-ranked players from the rest of the pack. The key is to train your mind and body to relax and restore energy in concentrated pauses. Our bodies respond quickly when these ritual pauses become a well trained habit.

The ten to twenty minute pause is a good place to start for beginners. This is ample time to unplug from the demands consuming your attention, soothe frazzled nerves, and to refuel spent energy. Ten minutes of focused breathing is excellent. Train the people around you to respect your pauses. A ten minute pause interrupted by a phone call and an officemate poking their head through the door is barely a pause at all. You’d have to be as skilled as a tennis-pro to get much benefit from such a pause.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Alan Davidson is the author of the Free report “Peaking Your Five Vital IQs–Physical, Emotional, Mental, Moral, and Spiritual–to Launch Your Health, Success, and Happiness” available at http://www.throughyourbody.com.

Alan’s also  the author of Body Brilliance: Mastering Your Five Vital Intelligences, the #1 Health and Wellness book and Winner of Two 2007 Book-of-the-Year Awards.

=> http://www.ThroughYourBody.com

Spirit Aware

1. An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.

2. Frequent attacks of smiling.

3. Feelings of being connected with others and nature.

4. Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experience.

6. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

7. A loss of ability to worry.

8. A loss in interest in conflict.

9. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.

10. A loss of interest in judging others.

11. A loss of interest in judging self.

12. Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything.

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.

"We are stardust."~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. That’s kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson

“We are all connected; To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe atomically.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson

It’s not that people don’t know about this, it’s about the beautiful way in which Dr Neil Degrasse expressed it, and the way in which this beautiful video brings out an emotional response. Even though I knew this fact, I never thought about it in this light.

New research reveals surprising facts about our changing bodies.

You Can Stop ‘‘Normal’’ Aging.

From your body’s point of view, “normal” aging isn’t normal at all. It’s a choice you make by the way you live your life. The other choice is to tell your cells to grow—to build a strong, vibrant body and mind.

stuck in the corporate world of stress, long hours and doughnuts.

Let’s have a look at standard American aging. Barbara D. had a baby when she was 34, gave up exercise and gained 50 pounds. Exhausted and depressed, Barbara thought youth, energy and optimism were all in her rearview mirror. Jon M., 55, had fallen even farther down the slippery slope. He was stuck in the corporate world of stress, long hours and doughnuts. At 255 pounds, he had knees that hurt and a back that ached. He developed high blood pressure and eventually diabetes. Life was looking grim.

Jon and Barbara weren’t getting old; they had let their bodies decay. Most aging is just the dry rot we program into our cells by sedentary living, junk food and stress. Yes, we do have to get old, and ultimately we do have to die. But our bodies are designed to age slowly and remarkably well. Most of what we see and fear is decay, and decay is only one choice. Growth is the other.

After two years of misery, Barbara started exercising and is now in the best shape of her life. She just finished a sprint triathlon and, at 37, feels like she is 20. Jon started eating better and exercising too—slowly at first, but he stuck with it. He has since lost 50 pounds, the pain in his knees and back has disappeared, and his diabetes is gone. Today, Jon is 60 and living his life in the body of a healthy 30-year-old. He will die one day, but he is likely to live like a young man until he gets there.

The hard reality of our biology is that we are built to move. Exercise is the master signaling system that tells our cells to grow instead of fade. When we exercise, that process of growth spreads throughout every cell in our bodies, making us functionally younger. Not a little bit younger—a lot younger. True biological aging is a surprisingly slow and graceful process. You can live out your life in a powerful, healthy body if you are willing to put in the work.

Let’s take a step back to see how exercise works at the cellular level. Your body is made up of trillions of cells that live mostly for a few weeks or months, die and are replaced by new cells in an endless cycle. For example, your taste buds live only a few hours, white blood cells live 10 days, and your muscle cells live about three months. Even your bones dissolve and are replaced, over and over again. A few key stem cells in each organ and your brain cells are the only ones that stick around for the duration. All of your other cells are in a constant state of renewal.

You replace about 1% of your cells every day. That means 1% of your body is brand-new today, and you will get another 1% tomorrow. Think of it as getting a whole new body every three months. It’s not entirely accurate, but it’s pretty close. Viewed that way, you are walking around in a body that is brand-new since Christmas—new lungs, new liver, new muscles, new skin. Look down at your legs and realize that you are going to have new ones by the Fourth of July. Whether that body is functionally younger or older is a choice you make by how you live.

You choose whether those new cells come in stronger or weaker. You choose whether they grow or decay each day from then on. Your cells don’t care which choice you make. They just follow the directions you send. Exercise, and your cells get stronger; sit down, and they decay.

This whole system evolved over billions of years out in nature, where all animals face two great cellular challenges: The first is to grow strong, fast and fit in the spring, when food abounds and there are calories to fuel hungry muscles, bones and brains. The second is to decay as fast as possible in the winter, when calories disappear and surviving starvation is the key to life. You would think that food is the controlling signal for this, but it’s not. Motion controls your system.

Though we’ve moved indoors and left that life behind, our cells still think we’re living out on the savannah, struggling to stay alive each day. There are no microwaves or supermarkets in nature. If you want to eat, you have to hunt or forage every single day. That movement is a signal that it’s time to grow. So, when you exercise, your muscles release specific substances that travel throughout your bloodstream, telling your cells to grow. Sedentary muscles, on the other hand, let out a steady trickle of chemicals that whisper to every cell to decay, day after day after day.

Men like Jon, who go from sedentary to fit, cut their risk of dying from a heart attack by 75% over five years. Women cut their risk by 80%—and heart attacks are the largest single killer of women. Both men and women can double their leg strength with three months of exercise, and most of us can double it again in another three months. This is true whether you’re in your 30s or your 90s. It’s not a miracle or a mystery. It’s your biology, and you’re in charge.

The other master signal to our cells—equal and, in some respects, even more important than exercise—is emotion. One of the most fascinating revelations of the last decade is that emotions change our cells through the same molecular pathways as exercise. Anger, stress and loneliness are signals for “starvation” and chronic danger. They “melt” our bodies as surely as sedentary living. Optimism, love and community trigger the process of growth, building our bodies, hearts and minds.

Men who have a heart attack and come home to a family are four times less likely to die of a second heart attack. Women battling heart disease or cancer do better in direct proportion to the number of close friends and relatives they have. Babies in the ICU who are touched more often are more likely to survive. Everywhere you look, you see the role of emotion in our biology. Like exercise, it’s a choice.

It’s hard to exercise every day. And with our busy lives, it’s even harder to find the time and energy to maintain relationships and build communities. But it’s worth it when you consider the alternative. Go for a walk or a run, and think about it. Deep in our cells, down at the level of molecular genetics, we are wired to exercise and to care. We’re beginning to wake up to that as a nation, but you might not want to wait. You might want to join Barbara, Jon and millions of others and change your life. Start today. Your cells are listening.

~~~~
Dr. Henry S. Lodge is on the faculty of Columbia Medical School and is co-author of “Younger Next Year” (Workman).

Faces of the Goddess

music- “Golden Bowls” by Karma Moffet

Good. You realize that you need to change, set yourself goals and when you hit them you’ll feel better and want to set more. Just as laziness is a vicious circle so is success and when you get success you want more, when you’re lazy you just fall deeper and deeper.

7 Habits that will help you live longer (and better)

We’re all aging. And this much I’ve figured out: The challenge isn’t how to stop it. It’s how to do it.

When I turned 50 a few years ago, it became unnervingly clear that changes had to be made. Post-menopausal pounds were creeping on, my blood pressure and cholesterol levels were rising, I wasn’t moving my body enough and my energy was waning. All of this was making me feel invisible, old and ready to give up — believing aging like this was inevitable. Looking around, I saw that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. What’s worse, when I envisioned what my life could be five or ten years hence, I got really scared.

That’s when I took control and took action. I researched and wrote The Best of Everything After 50, and five years later, I am in — for me — perfect health: weight is down, health check numbers down, intake of unhealthy foods down, and my daily activity level is way up. These simple changes turned my health, outlook and life around, preparing me for the natural progression of aging.

Dr. Lester Breslow lived to be 97 following his own advice

This week I read the New York Times obituary of Dr. Lester Breslow, a public health leader whose research offered proof that people can live longer, healthier lives by changing habits.

In a seminal study, Dr. Breslow followed the behavior of 7,000 people in Alameda County, CA, for 35 years. He concluded that seven simple daily health habits can predict how long people will live and how healthy they will be during their lifetime.

The study showed that following the recommended habits not only predicted lower mortality, but those who lived longer also suffered fewer disabilities. In a news release, Dr. Breslow said, “What was surprising to me was how these seven habits were so strongly predictive of mortality.”

The “Seven Healthy Habits” — as Dr. Breslow referred to his key tips — are:

1. Get a good night’s sleep of seven or eight hours.
2. Exercise 30 minutes at a time, several times a week. Walking vigorously is a top choice.
3. Forget the scales. Eat moderately to maintain weight in relation to height.
4. Eat breakfast every day.
5. Eat regularly, whether that’s two meals a day, three or five. Whatever you do normally, keep it up because it’s the regularity of life and moderation in eating, sleeping and exercising that makes all the difference.
6. Don’t drink at all or drink moderately.
7. Don’t smoke.

The statistics from Dr. Breslow’s study are astounding. As The New York Times article stated:

A follow-up study showed that those who followed better habits were less likely to become disabled. Of those with four or more good health habits, 12.2 percent were likely to be disabled 10 years after the study began; those with two or three, 14.1 percent; and those with only one or no positive health habits at all, 18.7 percent. Dr. Breslow found that a 60-year-old who followed the seven recommended behaviors would be as healthy as a 30-year-old who followed fewer than three.

To Dr. Breslow’s excellent advice, I would add the following:

• Embrace your age with grace, dignity, and humor.
• Be fearless.
• Stay connected to friends and family.
• Stay engaged with the world.

The anti-aging industry wants us to believe that we can actually turn back the clock. We can’t. But what we can do is be responsible for our own health by following Dr. Breslow’s simple steps to healthier living. There is no magic amulet, but there is magic in living life to the fullest, and the best way to do that is to take charge of your health — today — no matter what your age.

According to The New York Times, Dr. Breslow, who lived to 97, practiced what he preached: “Dr. Breslow himself did not smoke or drink. He walked regularly, practiced moderation in all things and enjoyed tending his vegetable garden.”

Barbara Hannah Grufferman is the President of Best of Everything Media, Inc., author of “The Best of Everything After 50″, a guide to positive aging, and is at work on her second book, “Fifty Rules” which will be published in late 2012. Visit www.bestofeverythingafter50.com for more tips on living your best life after 50. She can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Mark Joyner: Body-hack tip for super energy

There are some things I’m about to tell you about water that will not only blow your mind, but will also have an almost immediate impact on your energy.

First – most of the advice you get about drinking water is dangerously wrong.

No one really knows for sure exactly how much water you should drink, and the blanket advice we get is pure hogwash.

For example …

“Drink 8 glasses a day.”

Now, that may look like sound advice, but further analysis shows it’s an overly simplified “wives tail.”

To be more blunt: “8 glasses a day” is actually a well established urban legend.

As recently revealed by the American Journal of Physiology, there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support the popular 8-glasses-a-day theory.

Now, none of these scientists at AJP are saying we don’t need water (that would be silly). It’s just that these overly simplified platitudes are not helping anyone’s health.

What’s needed is real scientific information and not half-truths.

What we do know is that “8 glasses a day” by itself is not good advice.

First, you need to drink water regularly throughout the day. Drinking 8 glasses in the morning and thinking you’re “golden” for the day is actually dangerous.

You should, in fact, hydrate every single hour.

Drink a glass, or even 1/2 glass of water, every hour

Many people who simply take up the habit of drinking a glass (or even half a glass – more about that in a minute) every hour notice their energy levels skyrocket.

Why?

Because most of us are chronically dehydrated.

If you don’t think you are, try what I’m advising here for 48 hours and see what happens.

Again, this is a statistically valid “safe bet.”

Another safe bet: you’re tired all the time and you can’t figure out why.

Dehydration making you tired?

You bet.

Dizziness
Chronic fatigue
Impotence
Hair loss
Headaches
Low back pain
Constipation

And more …

Dehydration has been shown quite clearly to be linked to all of these. (Merck Manual of Health)

OK, so you want to fix this …

What next?

Before you start gulping down, you need to know that “how much” depends on a lot of factors.

It depends on your body size, how much you exercise, the climate in which you live, and more …

Obviously if you live in a hot climate where you’re sweating all the time (a lot of the sweat is invisible – you don’t have to be dripping to be rapidly losing water all day long), you need more – a lot more.

If you exercise even mildly – same thing.

But there’s something important here.

You may think drinking more water by itself is enough, but if you drink too much you can actually “overdose” on water.

It sounds crazy, but there was even a widely publicized case where people were “holding their wee for Nintendo Wii” for a radio contest.

The contestants were ordered to drink a high volume of water and hold their “wee” for as long as they could.

One of the contestants died as a result.

True story.

Too much water can harm you by either “water intoxication” (as the above Wii casulty, may she rest in peace) or by “electrolyte” imbalance.

Ah, electrolytes …

Listen to this:

See, the more water you drink, the more you need to replace your electrolytes.

But before you go thinking you’re going to need to purchase some expensive fancy “electrolyte replacement” sports drinks, here’s the real deal:

add a pinch of salt to every gallon of filtered water

All you have to do is add a tiny pinch of sea salt to every gallon of filtered drinking water you drink and – voila! – you have all the electrolytes you need.

Of course, the sports drink peddlers won’t tell you that. They’d have to sell you a whole lot of sea salt to make the same profit off your back!

Not bad, huh?

If you were simply to apply what we have shown you so far my “safe bet” is that you’d see a pretty significant bump in your energy.

But will you actually do it?

It’s a damn good question.

The thing about this kind of information is that hearing it is one thing.

Applying it to your life is a whole ‘nother animal.

My wish is not just to inform you, but to transform you.

+++++

Note from Alan Davidson: As Mark Joyner colorfully says above, there are many wife’s tales about how much water you should drink. I live in the hot and humid south, and exercise outside regularly. So here’s my calculation…

I take my body weight, divide by two = how many ounces of water I drink a day.

So if you weigh 200 lbs, divided by 2 = 100 ozs of water per day. I do space my drinks of water throughout the day. And I’m adding a pinch of gourmet salt called Fleur de Sel, which literally translated means “Flower of Salt.” It is harvested from the very top of the salt ponds in the traditional Celtic methods. It is high in trace minerals from the ocean.

Guilin, Southern China

GUILIN, China, June 1992: “Heaven and earth,” I called out. Together the group moved in silence. When our hands came to our hearts in prayer position and then separated, tracing the line of the horizon, I felt a growing sense of awe. The ancient city of Guilin lay beneath us. The massive islands of stone and trees piercing through the mists from the river below had inspired artists for thousands of years. Our rooftop perch, five stories above the city, gave us an easy view. It was truly beautiful. Adding to my awe was the juxtaposition of cultures. I was teaching a group of Chinese graduate students a simple tai chi form. “Fire,” I continued. Hands slowly met at our navels, we stepped out lifting our palms to the sun. “Water.” Our palms slowly pulled the mists down over our heads.

I traveled to Hong Kong and Guilin with Ray Wright, my philosophy and world religions teacher. He was returning to China to teach a three-week class in English for graduate students at Guangxi Teachers University. Four students from the University of Houston, Downtown, myself included, joined him to attend those summer classes. We were each assigned a graduate-student host from the Teachers University: Wei, Benjamin, Sophie, and John Paul. They acted as translators and guides to help us with our senior-project papers. My research paper involved interviewing students and townspeople to gauge “The Effects of Communism on Taoism and Buddhism in Chinese Culture.” The graduate students were terrific and generous hosts.

I quickly fell into a trio with two of my fellow Americans, both named Sharon. Our dormitory was off campus near the central city. We often walked through town exploring and were quite a sight together. Sharon Attra was a short, wiry woman with a butch, blue-black, flat-top haircut. Sharon Holder-Coleman was a round, dark black woman from Jamaica with beautiful long braids. I was six foot, four inches, two hundred-plus pounds, and towered over everyone. The hordes of Chinese bicyclists would slow to a crawl to gawk at the unusual sight of us walking through town.

Wei was being groomed for membership in the Communist Party. The wounds of Tiananmen Square were still fresh; our new friends were cautious of the government and careful of the sanctions imposed on all university students afterward. They could only speak honestly with us in Wei’s absence. Our student hosts were each well versed in United States culture. Their grasp and depth of knowledge was incredible. They knew every bit as much about American sociology and psychology as we did (in some cases, more).

However, our Chinese hosts did not know much about Taoism or tai chi; they considered the practices quaint and old-fashioned. I was surprised by the paradox. Our hosts could rattle on about the differences between Faulkner and Hemingway, but I met only one student who had read the Tao Te Ching. I was fascinated with this ancient Chinese classic text and the movements of tai chi. A few mornings I got up very early and rode a bicycle through town to see the old men and women “dancing the Tao” in the parks.

On a bike ride one afternoon through town, a handsome, well-dressed young man named Benjamin pulled up beside me. He asked if he could practice his English while we rode. Benjamin spoke fairly good English. After riding and talking for a while he invited me to his apartment. I was surprised to learn he lived alone in a one-room efficiency; most Chinese lived with their extended families. He worked part-time as a truck driver, and most of his money went to pay his rent. I learned soon enough why his little apartment, a seeming extravagance, was a necessity.

Benjamin was gay and needed the privacy. He opened my eyes to the plight of gay people in China. Most Asian men with homosexual feelings married women to preserve the status quo of family and society. Very few identified themselves and lived openly as gay. Once arrested for indecent behavior, a gay person in China could expect years of imprisonment and hard labor. It was easier to pass as “straight” with your own wife and family. Chinese homosexuals frequented “gay hangouts” and had clandestine male love affairs on the side. Benjamin felt tormented because he knew he was gay. He didn’t want a wife and family. He longed to live openly.

The day before I left Guilin, he begged to go with me. My heart ached. I knew his tears weren’t for our little tryst. They were for a life of courage and freedom he dreamed of in the West. Even if he could get a visa, I knew I couldn’t afford the thousands of dollars in sponsorship fees. And I couldn’t afford to support him back in Houston. I was working two jobs to pay my own way through college. I did send money back to him several times to help with his junior-college tuition and so he could have some fun. A hundred dollars, what I earned giving two massages, was most of a year’s salary to him.

“Wood/wind,” I called out. Our little band of Chinese and American friends turned to face the river. Pushing off we each slowly opened and made the three-quarter turn, taking in the setting sun. “Metal,” I called. I focused inside myself as my scooping hands compressed into my center the beauty of China, the pleasure of my new friends, and the thrill of an adventure come true. “Tiger returns to mountain” I whispered as we wound down our exercise.

We lingered on the roof, laughing, talking and sitting on the ledge of the building as the sun sank behind the ancient mountains. Later we trailed down the steps to our final Chinese feast to wish us farewell.

I started my studies in tai chi in the fall of 1983, when my friend J.D. and I met Tory Fritz and Kim McSherry at a store named the Aquarian Age Bookshelf. We took beginners classes through their Houston Institute of Astrology. Kim studied regular tai chi classes taught by Jane Shorre in a lovely Montrose studio, and J.D. and I were soon regulars too. We would dance our tai chi moves across the after-hours dance floor of Rich’s Disco downtown (not what most tai chi teachers have in mind for practice).

Jane was a student of Chungliang Al Huang, a dancer and tai chi master. Chungliang is known for his love of laughter and for dancing the tai chi forms. He seeks the inner life and spontaneity in all things.

There is a tendency in spiritual practice to focus on the minute details of a form. The forms, in turn, can become static and rigid. Chungliang tells the story of a German aristocrat who became so obsessed with his tai chi that he lost any and all spontaneity in his movement. One day while practicing in the park, a dog walked up to the aristocrat’s leg, sniffed, and hiked its own leg and peed. The man’s practice was stiff as a fire hydrant.

I included the Five Elements of tai chi in Body Brilliance to inspire you to explore these ancient Chinese principles and exercises, as I was inspired. In describing the Five Element forms, I have been as specific about the movements as I can. There is no instruction on breathing through these forms. Let your breath happen naturally as you move, finding its own rhythm. Once you feel comfortable with the forms, let them dance through you. Play with them. Jane once called tai chi the “Dance of the Tao.” Make it so.

Tai Chi Chu’an
Five Element Series

The five forms of tai chi illustrated on the following pages are deceptively simple. The ability to perform them gracefully usually takes longer than one would think. And while the repetition of five forms might seem boring, every practice can be a new experience, like the subtle changes of the colors on the horizon. As with the other exercise routines outlined in Body Brilliance, to receive the greatest benefit you have to pay attention. The five forms are called:

• Tiger Returns to Mountain
• Heaven and Earth
• Fire and Water (which I have shown separately)
• Wood/Wind (demonstrated in two parts)
• Metal
• then Tiger Returns to Mountain again.