Taking steps to improve your well-being need not be big, dramatic or require re-arranging your life. Below are a few suggestions. Pick one and do it, or use them as inspiration for some ideas of your own. One small shift done over a period of time can provide great benefits. As the new behavior becomes familiar, add another thing to your routine. Today is the best time to get started.
1) Think of your plate of food as an artist’s palette of beautiful colors and eat a colorful diet.
Reds and purples from berries, cherries, plums, beets, red cabbage, peppers, radishes
Greens and blues from kale, chard, broccoli, mustard and beet greens, spinach, cabbage, pistachios or gooseberries
Yellows and orange from the milk of grass-fed cows, eggs, squashes of all sorts, yams, sweet potatoes, yellow potatoes, carrots, golden beets, yellow plums
Browns, tans and brick red from beans, grains, meat and nuts
2) Be a real artist and make something with your hands. Paint, doodle, draw, sculpt, whittle a stick, knit, weave, work with metal or wood. Activate a part of your brain that may be underused.
3) Take time during your day to close your eyes to all visual stimulus and breathe. Cover your eyes if necessary to create true darkness.
4) Spend time outside everyday. Walk around, visit the neighbors or neighborhood shops, enjoy the greenery, touch the earth, wonder at the marvel of the hummingbird. We are people, not houseplants. Embrace the weather, no matter what it is.
5) Hydrate. We are 80-some percent water. Your tissues will move more smoothly with much less crabbiness if you are well hydrated. Carry a water bottle with you when you commute, go for long walks and especially when you travel. Avail yourself of the drinking fountains of the world. Soda, tea, coffee, juice and alcoholic drinks don’t count. Plain water is what’s needed.
By Barbara Dick
Barbara is an observer of movement. Whether it’s during a GYROTONIC®
session with a client or out in the world at large, she’s looking at the energetic pathways, the freedom and flow of the movement. Since 1996 she has been teaching and watching movement and fitness students in the water and on land. Her students have ranged from teens to folks in their 90s, from free and happy movers to those in pain or disabled by disease or accidents. She enjoys helping clients appreciate their own movement potential, say good bye to unhelpful patterns and have fun while learning. Barbara is a GYROTONIC® Instructor at Seattle Center for Structural Medicine
GYROTONIC is a registered trademarks of Gyrotonic Sales Corp and is used with permissions.
