Center of Gravity

The mindfulness challenge this week is to become more aware of your center.  By this I mean your center of gravity. This particular mindfulness practice will yield  immeasurable returns if you are currently struggling with balance or mobility problems. No medicines are required. No visits to healthcare practitioners are necessary. The treatment is free and offers benefits which are immediate.

This is an exercise for everyone even if you are not currently experiencing mobility challenges.  Athletic superstars are intimately connected with the center of their gravity.  Ballerinas, performers and all other individuals who have to be physical in all respects know where the center of their gravity is.

I suspect you are well aware that the center of gravity is not at the tip of your little finger or the tip of your little toe. It is certainly not at the extremities of your body and it is certainly not in our head (which is where many of us prefer to hang out all the time). The center of gravity actually resides for most people a couple of inches below their belly button.  This place has a name called the tan tien.  It is a point in the body that does not have an affiliation or an identity with any specific organ like a heart or a lung; it is an energetic place in everyone’s physical body.

Martial artists are very familiar with this place known as the tan tien for it is where their power resides.  I suspect many of you have seen martial artists swaying a person from one corner of a room to the other by the flip of their finger.  How do they do that?  They don’t do it by the strength of their finger. They accomplish such an amazing feat by marshaling a power that resides from this place of the tan tien. It is the source of all martial art’s magic.

Using your intention locate your tan tien two inches below your belly button. It is is in the middle of your body between the front and the back. Now fire up your tan tien with the color red – as red as it can possibly become. Fire it up.

  • Feel the red.
  • Experience the heat.
  • Connect with the center of your power.

Become aware of its presence and its existence.  When your tan tien is fired up with the frequency that is equivalent to the color red you become centered. You are balanced.  It will be quite challenging to fall or to freeze or to confront any mobility challenges whatsoever.

Become more aware this week of the center of your gravity which resides in your tan tien two inches below your belly button in the middle of your body.

  • Know it.
  • Feel it.
  • Sense it.
  • See it
  • Experience it.

This same mindfulness practice works for super athletes. You also can access the limitless power that resides in that energetic spot of your body known as the tan tien. Become familiar with your tan tien and you will see miracles happen for yourself this week. Challenge yourself to derive instantaneous benefits. Celebrate the ability to move effortlessly as you fly across the stage of life just like a star ballerina.

You may be thinking – there is no way this can be true. Accept the invitation so you can witness the result. You do not have to confess to anyone that you were wrong! Instead, celebrate the benefits that this mindfulness practice offers.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

Food Indulgences

The challenge that I extend to you this week is to become mindful of the signals that your body sends to you when you eat food that is good and nutritious for your body and when you get food that is not nutritious and is not good for your body.

In order to be able to take the challenge this week and run with it, you will need to take a little extra action.  I fully understand if some of you refuse to take on the mantle of the challenge this week, but let me explain it anyway by way of emphasizing the signals that your body sends to you when you are giving it the nutrition that it needs and when you are not.

What food do you eat that you know is bad for your body, that is unhealthy for your system?  The foods that I know I love to eat but are bad for my health and wellness turn out to be chocolate or vanilla milkshakes and macaroni and cheese.  Now, I make no bones about it; I love, absolutely love to eat each of those foods.  There is no doubt about the temporary pleasure I derive when I eat them. There is some trigger of pleasure that sets in that must come from a place long ago and far away.

Of course, once I finish eating those foods, it is also the case that I feel absolutely horrible.  I get sleepy. Sometimes I have to take a nap. I become depressed.  I say to myself,

Oh well, it was worth it, I haven’t had macaroni and cheese and a chocolate milkshake for a long time and I loved it.” 

Of course when I really look at the decision that I made the pleasure winds up lasting a mere 10 or 15 minutes.  The aftermath winds up lasting as long as one or two days.  And yet, most of us continue to eat food that dampens our life force and deflates our overall health and wellness.

The challenge I offer to you this week is the following.  I know that the foods that you probably truly love and know are not bad for you probably not macaroni and cheese and chocolate milkshakes, but I do know that you are well aware of foods that you absolutely love to eat, but try not to eat too frequently because you know they are not good for your body.

This week I give you permission to indulge in a food that you know is bad for your body. Choose at least one food that you know is not good for you and eat it!  The additional challenge however is to make very careful notes about how you feel after you eat food that is yummy to your soul and yet bad for your body.  In other words, eat the food mindfully. Taste it. Treasure it.

Maybe – just maybe – it is not giving the pleasure that you thought it would. Most importantly, monitor how your body feels after you eat.  Monitor how you feel several hours after you eat if not for the rest of the day.

Do this (if you wish to take on the challenge) just once. Obviously it is not a smart idea to eat food that you know is not good for you so I will fully understand if you decide to pass on this particular challenge.

Let a little time pass. The companion challenge that I extend to you is to eat nutritious food that you know is exactly what your body needs.  Consider eating fresh, live food that contains a vibrant colors. Sometimes nutritious foods come in the form of salads or perhaps smoothies; you know what food is good for your body.  Select nutritious food to eat and follow the same process as you followed when you ate food that was bad for your body.

Eat it mindfully, taking notice of what it means to eat each and every bite.  Then, track how your body feels moment to moment, 30 minutes, an hour, two hours afterward and for the rest of the day.  Be mindful of the signals that your body sends to you.

You already know the foods that are bad for you and the foods that are good for you. That is what determined the selection of what you wanted to eat under each instance.  The power of this exercise is to become much more aware of the consequences when  you eat food that is not in your best and highest good. I suspect that you will be amazed and excited about how wonderful you feel and how much energy you have when you eat food that is in fact good for your body.  You may also marvel at the difference between the two.

Of course it may be that when you are eating fresh food, it is not exactly your cup of tea as they say. It may taste more like medicine than yummy for your tummy goodies. It may not exactly be food that you would typically choose to eat during the day.  It is not the steak and potatoes that many people treasure for a meal. The reality is that fresh food, the food that has colors, the food that is live, is the food that your body needs in order to be able to return to full health and wellness.

To summarize, you have an official invitation to indulge – some people might call this “sinning” – and you also have an invitation to have an experience of eating good food that will nourish your body. Contrast the two experiences. Become more mindful of the consequences of each and every bite that you take of the foods that you choose to eat.

May you have an exciting and intriguing time as you indulge and challenge yourself this week with becoming more mindful of what it means to ingest food that is not good for your body versus food that is in fact, precisely the nourishment your body needs to heal. Neurons are very sensitive tissues. They need a lot support to become healthy.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery