Most of us are aware of a vast difference between “fast food” – mass produced food stuff that is highly processed, brought from far away, frequently “improved” with artificial ingredients, and the food that is prepared locally, with attention, from natural and fresh ingredients. The latter is sometimes referred to as Slow Food. There are also other similar approaches that introduce certain changes to our daily life in order to improve some of its aspects. Slow Living – aiming at improving the overall quality of our life Slow Cities – trying to improve the experience of living in the city Slow Money – dealing with investing into local, sustainable, eco-friendly projects. And many, many more. As easy as it is to understand the difference between fast and slow food, the principles of Slow Health are quite self-explanatory. Slow Health approach recognizes the necessity of our active participation in the process of determining the level of health and well-being that we experience. It doesn’t expect “quick fixes” and through understanding of our systems’ mechanisms and the interconnectedness of body and mind, it concentrates on creating qualities in our life that are stable and long lasting. Slow Health does not dictate us what we need to eat or how we should exercise. It merely shows us how important it is to pay attention to our moving habits (or their lack of) or what, how and why we eat what we eat. Slow Health is a concept according to which we begin to take responsibility for ourselves, we begin to learn about ourselves which results in better understanding of our own needs, goals and aspirations. Practicing Slow Health we realize the need to regularly challenge both our mind and our body in order to maintain their functionality as long as it is possible. SLOW in Slow Health is an acronym for: S – sustainable and simple – we choose practices that are possible to easily continue for an indefinite amount of time. L – local – the practices and exercises can be performed wherever we are without a need for any special, elaborate equipment or space. O – organic – the practices are natural and aligned with our predispositions W – whole – the different exercises address various aspects of our health and well-being. ...
Two sides of the coin.
Yin and Yang or the aspect of duality is present in everything. Male/Female, Day/Night, Dark/Light etc. etc. It is no surprise then, that our daily cultivation includes both elements. We are not trying to find some imagined quality of neither Yin nor Yang. Quite the opposite – embrace both as an integral part of life. As long as they remain proportional to each other and our particular needs, we will remain in balance. When trying to instill healthy habits, we need to remember about both sides of the coin. For example: Yang Yin Exercise, move with intensity, speed. Exercise, move gently, slowly. Eat abundant, nutritious food. Rest from food, fast. Breathe deeply, with intensity. Breathe slowly, practice breath holding. Spend some time in the city. Spend some time in nature. Get used to, practice with the heat. Get used to, practice with the cold. Think, use your intellect. Meditate. Work. Be active. Rest. Sleep. Etc. The list never ends. Both sides are needed. Be creative. ...
Eustress and Distress – Yin and Yang of health cultivation.
There are many different aspects of our health and well-being. Mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, social, environmental. Our cognitive and intellectual abilities. Our physical functionality. Our mental and emotional attitudes, patterns, habits, conditioning. Our social interactions and exchanges. Our environmental influences: the water we drink, the food we eat, the place we live in, the area we are surrounded by, attitudes and expectations around us. They all influence our physical and mental condition. We all have our strong and weak sides. Sometimes our strength is our mind, or memory or mental agility. Sometimes our weakness is our lack of physical stamina or flexibility or strength. Or the other way around. There is a vast number of possible combinations. Usually, we are inclined to do the things that are easy for us. Things that we’ve trained ourselves for in the past. Unfortunately doing only what we are already good at will only lead to further imbalances. Just like only doing the crossword puzzles will not be enough for the mind, a little bit of yoga or tai chi or weight lifting might not quite do it for the body. We need to address our whole being in a complex way. Develop our creativity, push our limits, and find new challenges. So, let’s start learning about ourselves. It is important to assess our predispositions, cultivate our strengths and really focus on improving our weak areas, achieving much more sustainable balance overall. It is often difficult to admit to ourselves that we are lacking in some areas of our lives. The first step is to acknowledge that there are aspects of our being that can use some work and improvement. In the physical realm, we are often tempted to prioritize activities we already feel comfortable with. For example, we’ve already achived a measure of coordination or flexibility and we tend to dismiss the need for some strength or speed work to be done, finding numerous reasons and explanations for not doing it. The same goes on in the mental sphere of our development. If we’re good at math we frequently like to excuse ourselves from being familiar with more abstract areas of knowledge. We often argue that we can not master everything and it is true as long as it doesn’t become just an excuse not to challenge and develop our adaptive capabilities. At this time and age, most people are familiar with the concept of stress and the negative consequences that can come with it. Unfortunately, very few of us have ever heard of Eustress – the positive stress which stimulates, motivates and generally contributes to the development and strengthening of our abilities to function in the most effective and optimal way. A well documented and researched example of Eustress is the influence the physical exercises have on our body development. Gradual and systematic training leads to a harmonious growth and development, improvement of many biological markers, and positive changes taking place on the mental and physical level. Regular mental training leads to a similar efficiency and an accelerated ability to absorb, process, interpret and utilize new data. All of these findings point out to the realization that we should not be avoiding challenges in our lives. Self-imposed challenges prepare us for the challenges that life will surely present us with sooner or later. By regular practice of things that are difficult for us we inevitably become better equipped for dealing with them at the time of need. It is obvious that if we experience difficulties with our joints, special attention needs to be directed in that direction. If we experience lower back pain issues, we should take an extra close look as to what the causes could be. If we feel overwhelmed by some mental tasks we need to face, this ought to be an area of a special interest for our training. As soon as we begin to practice this kind of perspective, we realize that the opportunities for work and improvement are very abundant in all aspects of our life. As soon as we begin to implement the knowledge of how beneficial the difficulties can be for us – a new realm of possibilities opens up! Do you notice the blessings that come with every challenge you face? Are you aware of the opportunities coming with every challenge? ...
Happiness in Simplicity.
Minimalism has been a fashionable trend lately. Many blogs, youtube channels, and websites capitalize on the wave of interest in simplifying our extremely complex lives. I like it. I hope more and more people realize the value of restraint. Especially in the material sphere. For me, personally, minimalism is about efficiency, optimization, and contentment. We own too much, eat too much, stress out too much, worry too much etc. How do we eat just enough? Own no more than we need? Work or exercise in an optimal way? Of course, there is no one, simple answer to these questions but the very fact that we start asking them can potentially lead us in the right direction. We all have the responsibility of looking into ourselves and learning about our real needs, about how we can function in the best possible way, about our natural inclinations. When we begin to get rid of clutter in our lives and by clutter I don’t mean only the stuff that we own but also negative people we spend too much time with, old habits that lower our quality of life, thinking patterns that cater to experiences from the past that are no longer applicable etc etc, – only then we have a chance to see clearly what holds real importance to us. What gives us a long lasting satisfaction and contentment. What it means to be happy. ...
Use it or lose it!
Maintaining health is similar to riding a bike. You cannot ride a bike and then just stop and expect you will maintain balance. The moment we stop moving our balance is compromised. The moment we stop practicing healthy habits, our health, sometimes unnoticeably, starts declining. The moment we stop using our muscles – they start getting weaker and weaker. The moment we stop stretching – we start getting tighter and begin losing our mobility. The moment we stop making a mental effort to remember, to create solutions, to recognize and react – our mental capabilities’ decline begins. The main weapon we have to prevent this from happening or at the very least, to slow it down, is our effort to continue performing or maybe even improving our ability to perform various actions so that we maintain this ability as long as possible. WE DO TO BE. Idle pleasures like watching television or playing computer games, while ok in small doses, can quickly turn into “preferable” way of spending time, developing strongly addictive habits that do not challenge our mental or physical capabilities, thus contributing to the decrease of our well being. The gradual limiting of our social interactions, relying on patterns and solutions that we are very comfortable with, even practicing the very same practices without seeking improvement can and frequently does bring a slow decline. Is it only because we are getting “older”? Or is it because we are getting lazy? If we look at examples of those in later stages of their lives, who continue working in their field, studying, practicing, researching, it is easy to notice that their abilities do not correspond to their chronological age. In a positive sense. One more reason not to stop DOING! ...
Every day is a test.
Whether one is a lawyer, doctor, worker in the factory or an artist, black or white, poor or rich it is of little consequence for the level of happiness that can be experienced by that person. It only determines the kinds of challenges our soul/personality/character will face in the course of one’s life. Challenges and difficulties that have a potential to shape the essence of what we consider our core being. How do you choose to react to your daily tests? Do you realize that you have a choice whether you react one way or another? Do you know that you can train these reactions?! What you practice is what you develop! We don’t want to concentrate on what we don’t want to do or be. We want to concentrate on what we want to do or be. It doesn’t matter that you can’t do this or that. The very act of trying activates our body and mind in the ways we cannot perceive yet but already significantly changing our reality. ...
