Having opened up your mind to some extent as many have, it seems there may be a natural inclination to open up your body too, be more active, flexible, what have you. Does this make sense? Have you noticed this kind of correspondance with yourself, wanting to "be all you can be" as it were? I'm intentionally avoiding words like strength and toughness, because the idea is being open, to let that energy come through - rather than a resistive kind of dynamic..
Mental and physical fitness for exJWs
by Markfromcali 6 Replies latest social physical
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Odrade
... thinking about taking wing chun kung fu. I've decided that I'm totally bored with Qi-gong. hehe.
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Markfromcali
Nothing wrong with doing both internal and external training, the idea is they eventually meet anyhow, you close the gap. Wing Chun sounds good from what I've heard, and I guess there should be some good schools up your way. My brother was studying with a reputable guy for a while and there is an internal element too though not really directly addressed - it may very well be when you get to a certain level in your training you naturally discover that.
I'm thinking about bad lip syncing as a metaphor for this gap, and given the martial arts context... "So, you think your kung fu is better than mine? You must be tired of living!"
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Odrade
Yeah, well, I came to this perspicacious decision while spending the last several days lying on the couch, reading hack fiction and eating smokehouse almonds. Geez did I need a break. Plus my acupuncturist said it might be a good idea to do something a little more active until I can disperse some heat. I guess I'm too serious lately. Me. Serious. Riiiiiight... who is this anyways?
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chrissy
I've pretty much always been aware of my body and keeping it healthy and fit. Even as a witness. I participated in a work-study program through a yoga studio at a time when I was burying a lot of un-dealt with feelings, over beliefs. No longer in it, yet, not ready to profess to the world...I tried to ignore it altogether. But as I got more involved in kripalu yoga and deep meditation I began losing consciousness and blacking out in the middle of class. I lost all of my energy and would completely fall over. After brushing it off the first few times, my instructor sat down with me and asked questions about my spiritual life and suggested my black-outs were due to emotions surfacing that were unrecognized.
After much hesitation, I finally blurted out my suspicions of being raised in a cult and that I was now trying to get on with life the best way I knew how. I was glad I confessed! It turned out she had a best friend that was raised a jw, a former gilead missionary, now a former witness. The first exjw I'd ever met! She ended up helping me a lot.
Today, I still practice yoga some, but try to meditate, even if for five minutes, everyday. I find the mind-body connection to be essential in staying healthy.
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Markfromcali
That's what I'm getting at O, responding to that natural impulse.. I think the fittest I've been in the last several years was when I was on a meditation retreat. Granted the food was good (basically vegetarian) but the only thing you are scheduled to do is sit and walk, which doesn't exactly make for great exercise. I got tired of it and just climbed the mountain to sit up there, but then the bugs found me real interesting so I came back down. But the point is there was that natural inclination to be active and I came out with a significant reduction in body fat percentage.Chrissy that's an interesting story, just goes to show how we hold things in..
I find it funny that they coined a phrase such as the mind-body connection. The idea is clear enough, but we don't talk about the arm-torso connection for example. You can see how if it is really viewed and functions as one, the idea wouldn't even come up as a concept in itself.
We all know exercise is beneficial for your health, but as far as physical exercise is concerned it's good when you're still working through things too, maybe vent the anger and frustration on one level. In the long run you have to deal with those issues too, as Chrissy's experience show. For some it will be easier and for others harder or a longer process, but meanwhile it certainly doesn't hurt to use that energy to improve your physical health.
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jeeves
i took up rockclimbing, and it helps alot... a good lifestyle...