BrickhouseBodymind.com is a mind body fitness blog, encouraging personal transformation and bringing about total fitness through informative articles on integral lifestyle issues such as stress relief, sexuality and relationships, and transformative practices like strength training, meditation and yoga. The website is designed to help you train your body, sharpen your mind, and unleash your spirit, making total fitness a reality for everyone.
Anyone who owns a dog knows the amusement to be had when one of them takes off on a slumbering romp through dream-land. Even just five minutes watching their paws flutter in a sideways “jog-in-place” and their lips flap and furl in an attempt to pursue some imaginary squirrel beats the hell out of a whole night of American Idol. I find myself wondering what forest he’s sprinting through, what stream she’s swimming across, or what mailbox he’s pissing on.
Last week I was reminded of all this while listening to this story on NPR’s All Things Considered. The basic gist was that college students everywhere are awakened in the middle of the night by dreams of failing their last final and being unable to graduate, or of tripping on their way across the stage at their graduation ceremony, or of arriving at the show naked altogether.
This sort of dream, according to the story, seems to be stress-induced, triggered by anxiety surrounding the event of graduation, an event looked forward to and toiled over for many years. But these dreams don’t just pop up in the midst of the experience. They can show up years and years later. The theory behind this is that college in general and graduation specifically can be very stressful, so when we encounter stressful situations later in life, and our brains try to sort those situations out, our dreaming selves return to the images of college and graduation in an archetypal way.
Just in time for summer, one of the best flat-tummy core exercises I know - the spinal rock. In this episode I explain some tips for getting better results from the killer ab exercise, the spinal rock.
Special thanks go to Becca Davis for the production photos, Robert for his camera work, Signal Path for the intro music, and as always my wife for allowing me to spend time on this exhilarating diversion. Please let me know how you like the video content by commenting below, and don’t forget to subscribe via e-mail or rss so you don’t miss the next great recipe, article or video on integrating mind and body fitness.
Here’s a tasty recipe my wife and I adapted last night. It’s cheap and relatively easy to make. It is also fairly modular in that it can fit into pretty much any meal plan. If you’re on a low-carb type plan, just add your favorite veggies to the side. We added spinach and (since we don’t mind a few whole-grain carbs) a package of Near East’s Roasted Pecan and Garlic Whole Grain Blend.
A couple notes here – 1) If you’re not so much into the vinegar taste, you could cut that with something sweet, like honey or maple syrup, or you could add a bit of your favorite stock; 2) At the end of simmering, you could also stir in a bit of flour to thicken the sauce. Try it for yourself and leave a comment below telling us how you liked it and if you did anything differently to adapt it to your tastes.
This episode is a video response to James’s recent comment about asymmetry as it relates to joint mobility programs. I want to thank James for his comment, and I also want to make clear that this drill as well as the one in Episode 1 come from Andrey Lappa’s Dance of Shiva system, not my own head. I only present these exercises to give you an idea of the types of movements I work with everyday to improve my long-term health. If you’re interested in detailed instructions of this extremely complex system, I strongly suggest picking up his DVD.
In this episode I demonstrate the power and challenge of asymmetry in the vertical arm movements of Lappa’s system. These movements work the arms through their entire range of motion - internal/external rotation of the humerus, pronation/supination of the forearm, flexion/extension of the elbow, and flexion/extension of the shoulder. As you work with these movements, be careful not to let your shoulders become tense and creep toward your ears. These movements should be fluid and free. Try also to activate the bandhas as you get more comfortable with the practice. Enjoy!
If you haven’t already, be sure and subscribe via e-mail or rss, so you don’t miss the next episode. Thanks a ton to Robert for the use of his garden and his nice camera work, and thank you for watching!
Okay, so a lot has been happening. I got sick, my precious 12-year-old golden retreiver, Grace died the middle of last week, and I have been assimilating some new training techniques. Long story short, I’m still working on the mindfulness in your workout article. However, I have the chance to watch a few more talks on TED.com, introduced in the last blog entry, and I thought it might be fun to share a couple of my favorites with you. This is, of course, a two-way street, so I’d love for you guys to share your favorite talks in the comments below. And the article on bringing more mindfulness to your workouts is coming soon, so stay tuned.
