|
|
|
Love and Light
Seems that everyone who writes to me signs their letters "love and light." It has such a bright uplifting sound to it. Lightworkers are being taught to hold the energy of the light and to equate love with a warm white light that heals and...
SPIRITUALITY: The Bottom Line
Whadda ya know?
Seriously. With absolute certainty, what do you know? Put aside all opinions, beliefs and theories for a moment and address this one straight question: What do you know for sure? Or, as Thoreau put it:
"Let us settle...
The Alchemy of Real Romance
When you connect with and experience your own feelings while, at
the same time, taking in the feelings of the one you love, you
are walking straight into the open heartspace of real romance,
into the special connections you make with one another,...
Toxic Friendships
This article is as much about life lessons as it is about toxic friendships. I learned an interesting truth about myself recently, and I just wanted to share it. In this life, we are all here to learn lessons, and we will keep being presented with...
Worldly Balance
Take a look around; do you think things are balanced in our world?
Balance, now here is a topic that has been hounding me since the day I was born. An understanding of balance seems to be a very important idea when it comes to living a happy,...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fit for What?
Copyright 2005 Tanja Gardner
Unless we’re talking about our bodies, and the amount of exercise they can do, we usually talk about being fit in relation to something. An object is ‘fit for use’, clothing is ‘fit to be worn at work’, and food is ‘fit to be eaten’. My parents used to have a running joke that they were fit – fit to drop! Everything else is fit 'for something'. So why do we insist on describing ourselves as ‘fit’ or ‘unfit’ without relating the concepts to anything else?
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
It’s a basic truth that the human body wasn’t made to sit still for any length of time. We spent tens of thousands of years evolving in an environment that required us to move – to find shelter, to catch food, and to keep ourselves safe from predators. We’ve only been living lifestyles that allow us to be sedentary for the lesser part of a hundred years – not nearly enough time for evolution to adapt our bodies to this new environment. We see this constantly reflected in modern rates of heart disease, atherosclerosis, chronic aches and pains, and muscular and bone deterioration in people who have become inactive as they age.
On top of this, activity has a very real effect on both stress and energy levels. Our bodies have a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ way with energy – if we don't constantly use and then replace energy (with activity, followed by rest and good nutrition), we start noticing our energy levels gradually draining away. We feel tired, lethargic, and as though any amount of effort is just too much to be worth it. And if we’re also under stress – for example, at work, or in a difficult relationship – we feel the energy loss and the stress even more intensely.
These are general principles that seem to be true whoever we are. But different lifestyles require different amounts of energy, and exact different prices in terms of stress. We enjoy doing, and our bodies are suited for, different kinds of activity. It makes sense then, that the amount and type of activity that will help us reach our optimum fitness, will be different.
DIFFERENT STROKES
If that’s the case, then getting ‘fit’ without a frame of reference seems like a meaningless concept. Unless we know what we want to be ‘fit for’ – what
fitness means to us – there’s no reason for us to get or stay that way. If my life is basically calm, quiet and easy-flowing, and I’m quite happy to keep it that way, my ‘optimum fitness’ is going to be very different to someone who’s discovered a deep fulfillment in setting themselves a goal and achieving it. Someone who’d just like to go for a walk with friends without getting puffed is going to have a different optimum fitness level to someone who wants to discover how it feels to finish a marathon.
On top of this, what people want often changes over time. Perhaps at one point in your life, you enjoyed spending a couple of hours a day exercising, but now you’re finding there are things you’d like to do far more with that time. Alternatively, when you first started creating your optimum life for yourself, it might have been enough for you to just keep your body healthy. As you tried new activities though, you might have discovered you were actually enjoying some of them for their own sake, and wanting to get fitter so you could do more of them. So at different times in your life, you’d have a different optimum fitness level.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE “FIT FOR”?
Which brings us back to our original question – can we talk about being fit, without knowing what exactly we’re ‘fit for’? The way we see it, your optimum fitness level depends completely on what you want to be able to do in your daily life, how you want to be feeling, how much energy you’d like to have and how exercise fits in with the rest of your life. So your first step in moving closer to optimum fitness needs to be to make that all-important decision “What do I want to be fit for?”
About the author:
Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Stress Management Coach and Personal Trainer whose articles on holistic health, relaxation and spirituality have appeared in various media since 1999. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. For more information please visit check out http://optimumlife.co.nz,or contact Tanja on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz.
|
|
|
|
|
| Spirituality.com: from the Christian Science Publishing Society |
| Christian Science Publishing Society presents spirituality.com -- practical spirituality and healing prayer explored through feature articles, ... |
| www.spirituality.com |
|
| Spirituality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. The spiritual, involving (as it may) perceived eternal verities regarding ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| SFT - December 2006 - Home Page |
| Spirituality for Today is an interactive monthly magazine dedicated to a variety of current themes and questions concerning the Christian faith in this ... |
| www.spirituality.org |
|
| Spirituality & Health |
| Ideas and advice about practices, products, self-tests, news and essays, and a virtual community dedicated to leading a more spiritually fulfilling and ... |
| www.spiritualityhealth.com |
|
| Indiatimes - Spirituality |
| You can consult our panel of experts on spiritual and mental probems. ... Jagjit Singh: Spirituality is a way of life I have faith in a Higher Power, ... |
| spirituality.indiatimes.com |
|
| NATIVE AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY |
| A general overview with quotes, essays, and links. |
| www.religioustolerance.org |
|
| NEW AGE SPIRITUALITY |
| In-depth article defines the New Age movement and some of the core beliefs, explains the traditions from which it is rooted, describes the confusions caused ... |
| www.religioustolerance.org |
|
| Spirituality - kabbalah inspiration prayer |
| Add inspiration to your life by discovering jewish spirituality, kabbalah and prayer on aish.com. Read a daily lift and be inspired. |
| www.aish.com |
|
| All Things Spiritual Directory |
| A searchable directory of thousands of spiritual and religious websites. Includes all major topic areas relating to spirituality and religion, ... |
| www.allspiritual.com |
|
| Holistic Spirituality -- Beliefnet.com |
| Holistic Spirituality Homepage. ... Holistic Spirituality. The Past Life of Your First Kiss. Interview by Laura Sheahen. With a new book on reincarnation, ... |
| www.beliefnet.com |
|
| Beliefnet.com |
| Features articles on God, faith, prayer, the nature of spirituality, society and ethics, with numerous resources. All religions respected. |
| www.beliefnet.com |
|
| Religion and Spirituality in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Yahoo! reviewed these sites and found them related to Religion and Spirituality. |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| About - Religion & Spirituality |
| Get information and resources on spirituality and world religions from Christianity to Islam to Judaism. Our religious experts offer insight on where ... |
| about.com |
|
| Spirituality |
| The Orthodox Church proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Greek language, the word for Gospel is Evangelion which means literally "the good news. |
| www.goarch.org |
|
| reasoned spirituality a logical exploration of life |
| A philosophical exploration of spirituality, human behaviour, and the quest for the meaning of life. |
| www.reasoned.org |
|
| Spirituality - AllAboutSpirituality.org |
| Spirituality - Learn about the spirit world and why people are fascinated by mystical experiences. Discover a real and personal spirituality. |
| www.allaboutspirituality.org |
|
| Spirituality |
| The three foundational characteristics of spirituality are Faith, ... Join forces with others who have a healthy spirituality in their own lives. ... |
| www.coping.org |
|
| .:: Jesus : spirituality::. |
| This section of rejesus.co.uk focuses on prayer and meditation offering resources for daily prayer, learning about spirituality and a virtual labyrinth to ... |
| www.rejesus.co.uk |
|
| Science of Spirituality |
| An organization committed to a spiritual way of life based on meditation and service to others. News, events, and resources. |
| www.sos.org |
|
| Spirituality: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
| See all blog posts tagged with spirituality on Technorati. |
| www.technorati.com |
|
|