Spark Your Day

Let Go and Let Health

January 4, 2018 By John Du Cane 2 Comments

“In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.”—Buddha

It’s odd isn’t it, how often we can be reluctant to relax and let go of our pain? It seems we sometimes feel safer with the dis-ease we know than the ease we don’t. We sometimes cling to the familiar just because it IS familiar, however risky it may be to do so…

In these early days of the New Year, we can encourage ourselves to be bold and to let go of what may be holding us back in our quest for a healthier, stronger recovery. To use a technical term here, we may be holding on to “lurking crud”. Lurking crud has an emotional component but here we are referring to all those toxins silting up our tissues. The body’s primary janitor for cleansing crud from our system is called the lymph system.

When we don’t move or breathe well—and as we age—the lymph system fails to do a competent job, becoming more and more sluggish. However, the good news is that by simply breathing in a certain manner, we can re-energize that lazy janitor and get him back into action.

Here’s all you have to do right now to let go and let some health happen:

While standing, place both hands on your stomach just below your navel and put your attention in the same area. Gently inhale into the stomach and feel the stomach inflating under your hands. As you exhale feel the stomach subside of its own accord. Do 10 to 30 repetitions.

Notice, perhaps, the rather delicious feeling of relaxation? That’s another wonderful benefit of an energized lymph system—it induces an automatic relaxation response…

It is feeling so good to shake up my sleepy janitor—and to let go of my lurking crud!

My Mood, My Posture

January 3, 2018 By John Du Cane Leave a Comment

“Posture is the key to life.”—Mark Twain

Our self-respect took quite the hammering in those difficult old days of chemical and other abuse… And the dark shadows of our past insanities can still cast their spell on our sometime fragile serenity. One way our past shows up in our present is often in our carriage. Many of us, for instance, have slumped shoulders and sunken chests. While our deskbound culture and attachment to mobile devices has created an epidemic of poor upper body posture, our careless disregard for our bodies while using contributed often to this look of resigned defeat.

Modern research, however, has shown a strong correlation between our moods and how we carry ourselves. More specifically, scientists have proven that we can often positively affect our emotions simply by modifying our posture. And it can happen within minutes of taking action. How wonderful is that!

So, for today, we will help our self-respect by performing a set of movements to release and improve our shoulder placement. This exercise can help strengthen our upper back muscles, restore mobility, reduce discomfort and—over time—improve both mood and posture. You may feel a tingling, buzzing sensation as fresh blood floods into the area. Enjoy the pleasurable feeling, as it’s a welcome sign of healing.

Stand with feet at shoulder-width, arms resting by your sides and your butt tucked gently forward. Circle your shoulders up, forwards, down and backwards, making a full 360-degree rotation. Repeat in the opposite direction. Do up to 20 repetitions in both directions.

Next, pull your shoulders back and down, bringing your shoulder blades together as close as possible. Keep the chest area as relaxed as possible. Tighten the muscles in the upper back and hold for five seconds. Relax. Repeat five to ten times. And enjoy the boost to your mood!

I am excited to have changed my mood for the better, by changing my posture for the better.

My Body, My Art Work

January 2, 2018 By John Du Cane Leave a Comment

“The human body is the best work of art.”—Jess C. Scott

It’s helpful and healing to think of our bodies as ongoing works of art. We are all creators of the flesh that carries us through life. We can choose to further refine the natural beauty of our bodies through graceful movement, toning exercise and the infusion of energizing breath. We can be proud of our creative play—and delight in our ever-changing shape and form.

All too often though, our recovery is bogged down by shame and self-disgust at what we perceive as our ugly bodies. We despair at the state of our physical beings and would prefer to hide rather than display our “goods”. This can be a risky, slippery slope for those of us in recovery. A self-defeating cycle of revulsion can tempt us to medicate our distress. An attitude shift of acceptance can change all of this in a heartbeat. Let’s take the art work we have in front of us—and today take a step to making it stronger and more appealing. Let movement and breath be our medicine…

A fine body needs a fine pair of legs to present itself on and to move around with confidence. Let’s work on those all-important pistons today—with the Full Bodyweight Squat!

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Cross your arms over your chest and squat down as low as you can, preferably below parallel and eventually with your thighs touching your calves. Keep your knees from bowing in by aligning them with your feet. Keep your back as straight as possible. Come back up and lock out your legs and hips completely. Squeeze the muscles in your legs as tightly as possible for a second, relax and repeat the squat. Inhale and hold the breath as you descend. Exhale as you ascend. Do ten repetitions—and feel the energizing rush to boot!

I am proud to be recreating my body, each day anew, as an ongoing work of art.

My Body, My Temple

January 1, 2018 By John Du Cane

“Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed. The mind and the body work together. Your body needs to be a good support system for the mind and the spirit. If you take good care of it, your body can take you wherever you want to go, with the power and the strength and energy and vitality you will need to get there.”—Jim Rohn

Yes, it’s that time of year again when those pesky resolutions rear their heads—clamoring to be fulfilled. And no resolution clamors harder than the Fitness Deity. Her temple is a mess. She cries at her neglect and disrepair. In our hearts, we know we owe her. For who wants to worship at the altar of dirt and clutter?

Yet those of us in recovery often shudder when we feel forced from our procrastination into the challenge of change. “We’ve seen this movie before”, we think, “and we don’t like how it always ends.” Our terminal uniqueness can make us squeamish in the face of what we see as an inevitable decline into failure and disappointment.

Well, let’s resolve to take a different approach to our fitness for this new year. Instead of jumping in hog-wild—and flaming out within a couple of weeks, let’s do what we know to do best: take it easy, one day at a time, with our fitness goals. Let’s start by acknowledging the essential beauty of our body, the temple—and begin to care for it, one small cleansing at a time. Slowly and gently, let’s clean away the crud to reveal the beauty beneath…

Release The Neck

Want to get your first day of this New Year off to a fast start? Then nothing much beats releasing the tension in that stiff rod which links your torso to your head. When we crimp the hose, the cleansing, nurturing gush becomes a miserly dribble. When we crimp our necks, there’s less fresh, oxygenated blood getting to that hungry brain of ours—and the brain can’t signal back its healing messages to the parts that need it.

One of the very best ways to release the neck, is through this simple movement:

Turn your head to the left as far as you can without pain, keeping your head level and your shoulders down and still. Now, turn your head slowly all the way to the right. Inhale softly through the nose to the left, exhale softly to the right. Do from ten to twenty rotations in each direction, depending on your comfort level. That’s it!

Oh, by the way, don’t worry if you hear some snap-crackle-and-popping as your neck rotates—your head’s not about to fall off! It’s something called crepitus, created when air releases within the tissues. Perfectly ok.

I am excited to have started cleansing my body, my temple—with this one simple action for the day.