Tai Chi

Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers refuse to sit back and accept the limitations of aging. This group is redefining what aging is all about, making a powerful statement and setting a new definition of what life is like beyond one’s 50th birthday. This is the mission statement that is declaring the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s are being the new 40.

Here are some tips that can help anyone look and feel better in a short period of time, and can be easily be incorporated into the busiest lifestyle. Maximum results with minimal effort, an equation that works for me!

1. Every day make a juice from equal parts cabbage, carrots, spinach and blueberries or blackberries. For tea add goji berries and chrysanthemum flower to green tea. The berries and chrysanthemum can be purchased at any Chinese grocery/herb store in China town. Full of anti-oxidants, and the benefits of green tea, goji berries have been widely reported in the press. Chrysanthemum is known to benefit and brighten (beautify) the eyes, as well as being somewhat calming and good for headaches
2. Eat a variety of dark green leafy vegetables, fruits, incorporating seaweed, apricots (dry of fresh) and season your food with fresh ginger. This helps in the digestive process, but don’t overdo because too much ginger is not recommended. The Taoist concept of “The middle way” works best. Green vegetables are alkaline in nature and this is extremely beneficial not only for digestion, but for prevention of degenerative diseases.
3. Drink several 8oz glasses each day of boiled water. It may take some getting used to, but the benefits you will feel and see very shortly will far exceed the effort in adapting this habit.
4. One of the major causes of premature aging, and well as causing premature and accelerated aging is stress. One of my teachers believes that stress is the cause of all disease. Yes ALL disease! One of the best remedies is to adapt a few breathing exercises each day. I recommend qi gong, which are easy to learn and fit into the busiest lifestyle.

(It can even be done in a sitting position and be extremely effective). Tai Chi is also highly recommended, but does require a greater learning curve. The benefits of these ancient exercises are practically immediate; you will feel yourself winding down and adapting an objectivity that allows you to deal with stress in ways that will create a greater sense of calm, not effect the body.

• Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Imagine a string from your spine exiting out the top of your head holding you upright.
• Breath from the area below your navel (dantian) slowly and deeply.
• Relax the knees and raise your arms straight up over your head with palms facing upward. Imagine energy, essence from heaven going through the top of your head going down through the body to the soles of your feet.
• Turn palms toward each other and slowly move hands down to the area below the navel.
• Feel the energy between your hands as if there is an energy ball. Move the ball between your hands so the right hand is under, left hand is above the “ball”.

Take the ball and bring to the face, massage the face with the “energy ball” clockwise 10-36 times. You will feel heat or a “static” sensation.

You can use this to beautify and revitalize the face, eyes, skin and hair. This energy ball can also be used on the body above the knees. When you are ending the exercise, return the energy ball back to the area below the naval, the Dantian.

With the wisdom and discernment that the tomatoes have acquired over the years, with a sprinkling of a little Taoist philosophy, these simple tips can easily be incorporated for a lifestyle that lends itself to “REJUVENAGING”. Which is what I like to call the process that counteracts and slows the aging process. These are some simple tips that can be easily incorporated into a busy lifestyle, that will produce excellent results!

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Dieting can seem like the never ending battle. As people strive to lose weight, it can be frustrating when the results are slow to come or not at all. Weight fluctuations can seem insufferable as your inner desires to loose weight and the need to change your eating habits. Diets usually involve changing your food intake without increasing your self awareness. By changing your food intake, you can inadvertently do away with the foods that you like and need. Most diet trends don’t encourage you to discover what is really best for you. One diet does not fit all. This is where Qi Gong comes in, by presenting a sustainable, self-directing approach to cultivate the knowledge of how your body works. Qi Gong nurtures who you are instead of inhibiting your dietary needs.

The knowledge and practice of Qi Gong unveils how the body can regulate itself so you can gain the power to have control over your own weight and health. By using simple exercises on a daily basis, you can greatly improve your digestion rate, increase your metabolism and encourage weight loss. The students of Qi Gong learn to use exercises that combine the posture, gravity, breath, mind and movement together to cleanse the Qi (the vital life force). When the Qi is in balance, all the systems in the body become harmonized therefore improving digestion and metabolism and relieving any ailments. As a self-healing practice that has been widely documented in China, Qi Gong has been proven to improve digestion and the overall health of the one who practices it. The efficacy of the use of Qi Gong has also been recognized in the United States by The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the NIH and is currently doing further research to document the long term weight loss effectiveness.

Most people in today’s world do not digest their food efficiently enough and the food remains in their intestines and stagnates, inducing many problems. This is where the practice of Qi Gong comes in to increase the rate of digestion and effectively improve any digestive disorders. By practicing Qi Gong regularly, a person can be free to eat as they wish while achieving a desirable weight. Weight loss is not just about the food you are eating, it’s about how food is processed and digested through your body.

Here are some exercises, which if practiced on a daily basis after each meal, can substantially improve your digestion and promote weight loss.

Exercise #1

By using both hands, bring your hands down with palms to the floor, to the level of your solar plexus. Have your fingers pointing toward each other, almost touching. Then easily start to move your hands away from your body to become parallel with your solar plexus (stomach area). You may feel a sensation that you are pulling something out of your solar plexus as if the tips of your fingers are connected by an invisible elastic cord. As you are feeling this, move your hands apart, as far away as possible without losing the awareness of the connection. Hold this position until you feel like you are about to lose the connection and then return your hands back to the starting position. When returning your hands to the starting position, you don’t have to think much on the action, just do what comes naturally. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t experience the sensations at first try, sometimes the more you practice this exercise, the more likely to feel the sensation with little effort.

Exercise #2

Begin by repeating the first exercise, but this time you will bring your hands to different areas of your midline. Normally there are five areas that need treatment after eating. These areas are: the solar plexus (stomach area), the area half way between your navel and your solar plexus, your navel, the small area below the navel and the stomach area above the pubic bone. As you work these lower areas, you will need to change your starting position to palms up. This change will normally occur at the navel but it can be done at what ever point is more comfortable.

 

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