Are you fully harnessing your Chi energy when you exercise? Here are some things to consider to make your exercise routine more focused, skill-oriented, and mindful. It’s January at any gym across the globe: people are running on treadmills in front of big screen T.V.’s, on elliptical machines wearing headphones, reading magazines on stationary bicycles. They’re taking classes filled with loud music and instructors yelling encouragement, “You can do it!!” But you can’t “conquer” the body. In this atmosphere the body and the mind are completely disconnected; the mind is distracted, se ..read more

Is it possible to learn compassion, loyalty, or even being angry? Generally, we learn from those around us – we naturally imitate the people we interact with. As children, we don’t have any choice regarding who our parents or siblings are or even our teachers. Children of doctors often become doctors because they’re encouraged in academics exposed to discussions about science and medicine. Medical terms become like a second language. If your house was full of canvas, paints, and brushes, you might experiment with all these resources just out of boredom. So it might come as no surprise when cre ..read more

Human beings are naturally judgmental and this quality has served us pretty well. Our ancestors had to negotiate their environment, constantly assessing the people they encountered, determining if their intentions were friendly or malicious. They had to learn to adapt to harsh conditions to endure and outlast all adversity. The best proof of their success is our existence in the world – because they survived we could be born. But you could question our ancestors; were those people just lucky, or were they smart to survive in a world where at every corner something or someone was just waiting t ..read more

With the holidays approaching, we’re receiving countless messages that steer us toward consumerism. Buying more “stuff” that makes us even more stuffed. This really doesn’t make us happy. Instead, it makes us feel heavy, dissatisfied, living in an environment of clutter and chaos.  ... To view the full content, please sign up for the membership. Already a member? Log in here. The post Being Above the Noise appeared first on The Happy Body ..read more

Since birth, we’re given structures to develop and grow within. Parents, teachers, and coaches impart their knowledge and wisdom and we become a reflection of their teachings. A big part of how we change and evolve lies in mimicking, and if we’re lucky, we encounter good role models. As adults, we’re largely on our own. While we still have structure at work—bosses and deadlines—we also have the gift of freedom to become exactly what we want to be outside of it. But many of us don’t take this opportunity, especially in the area of lifestyle. We can choose not to challenge ourselv ..read more

When I was twenty, at the beginning of my marriage, I was preoccupied with saving money to eventually own an apartment. I opened a bank account and every month I’d set aside a small amount from my modest income instead of going to restaurants or on vacations. Jerzy laughed at me. He was already in school, pursuing a higher degree in fire engineering to reap the benefits of a better income and housing—he thought my plan was silly. At the rate I was saving, he predicted it would take decades for us to save enough to purchase an apartment. But I had the last laugh because in five yea ..read more

How to Lose Weight You’re on a fast-moving train, comfortable on the plush seat, gazing out the window, embarking on an adventure. You have your ticket, your itinerary, and are confident in your destination. You’re excited and eager to see what this day on the journey will bring you. But what if your destination shifts to something you hadn’t intended? What if, somewhere along the way, the train goes off the track and you’re speeding off in the wrong direction? You feel incapable of stopping the train or of disembarking—it’s now going too fast. Passively you start to watch y ..read more

How Not to Lose Weight (part 1) You’re probably familiar with BMI (Body Mass Index), but you may not be aware that it’s an outdated measurement. It was invented in the 1830s by a Belgian astronomer using calculations involving weight and height. But this formula doesn’t account for gender or the relationship between fat and muscle. So a track and field athlete can have an “overweight” BMI due to their muscularity while still being extraordinarily fit and healthy, for example. Similarly, a woman can have an underweight BMI if just 100 pounds, but she may be obese if her fat perce ..read more

Many of us have been there, it’s a feeling that life is pressing you down. Sometimes it’s feeling overwhelmed by what’s happening around you. Anxiety is easier to recognize because we’re aware of our fears. The expression is more in the open, whereas the numbness of depression is camouflaged and can be functional. Sometimes there’s even a misunderstanding that reality itself is supposed to be depressing. We’re conditioned to be responsible: pay bills, care for children, plan for retirement, but we can pass days, months, and even years without experiencing true joy or laughter. We don ..read more

It is our ritual to start our classes with a question to our students: Use one word to describe the most important thing that you want to get out of our class. We write a list of these words on a blackboard: mindful, energetic, flexible, lean, etc. It’s usually an interesting list filled with physical, mental or spiritual qualities that people need to function well in the world. Then we juxtapose them with the antonyms, which reveal what they lack. They feel scattered, sluggish, stiff, overweight. This one word makes them focus on what they’re going to master first. The focus takes th ..read more