Strengthen Your Core This Holiday Season

The Utah SWEAT Spot

A Blog for Sports & Wellness Therapy

POST #10

MONTH: December

WEEK: 1

TOPIC: Health Spot

Spot of the Week:      

Strengthen Your Core This Holiday Season                                                                                                                                                                                  TAKE THE ‘6-PACK CHALLENGE’          

                                               

I’m back- and so are you! Thanks for your patience during my hiatus in November. Though I was Turkey and near sugar free flying solo for the Holy Day, I did get the opportunity for a solid workout on Black-n-Blue Friday fighting crowds with my girls from sun-up to sun-down. More for the experience, we covered the gamut. Surprisingly, we had the store to ourselves at Stop 1. By noon, I waited in a check-out line for nearly an hour. We closed out the evening with a festive trolley ride around downtown, sitting in traffic through City Creek Center from hurried crowds. I was thankful that our day was crime and violence-free, unlike nationwide reports.

With a New Year blooming, I’ve taken time to dust off some books on creative measures to enhance our health given today’s standard American Way. Whether we bring stress upon ourselves by choosing to face crowds of Black Friday rather than relaxing, or we battle a chronic condition called Work-a-holism that dates generations in our family, life on our planet is far from what it was meant to be Day 1 when heaven and earth were created.

Whatever your beliefs, we can likely agree that each of us came into the world with a set of blueprints that had some level of commonality, as well as authenticity.  Since, we have likely conformed to the environment(s) we’ve been raised, in some way. Theoretical and scientific testing is done world-wide that replicates original blueprints, as well as the path of change. Just like evidence and assumption about the evolution of the universe.

The Sweat of the Matter

My ‘Gift of Health’ to you this Holiday Season is a Strong Core! You have a few weeks to work at it so your New Year arrives with definition.  What may seem as worthwhile as a lump of coal in your stocking, this present involves you accessing and assessing one of the most basic attributes that differentiates us human folk from other species to develop deeper levels of strength and stability at the root of your core. And I’m talking a well-defined ‘6-Pack’!

Let’s first touch on the health of our nation’s core on a planetary scale before we focus on the human cellular level…

In September 2012, ‘C3 Headlines’ shared new evidence in response to the predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and NASA’s James Hansen regarding Global Warming. Their hypothesis as follows:

“…human CO2 emissions would increase atmospheric CO2 greenhouse gas levels; the increase of gases would allow more radiated heat to be retained; this heat would warm the atmosphere; and, the atmosphere would then warm the world's oceans and land surfaces. This warming would set in motion a "runaway tipping point" that would produce catastrophic climate disasters and a doomsday for civilization. “

http://www.c3headlines.com/global-warming-evidencefacts-against/

Further evidence from ‘C3’ has shown that satellite measurements of the Earth’s microwave emissions have shown a slight cooling trend since 1997, after a modest warming period from 1980-97. Some call the effect ‘Global Cooling’, and I’d say in more ways than one.

Not just our planet, but our culture has experienced a global cooling trend. Human interaction has become colder. Communication is impersonal, and value is placed on efficiency and economy at the expense of human warmth and genuine presence. We feel these voids when we face day to day stressors that set our tipping point in motion. Symptoms can look and feel like stomach ulcers, anxiety-driven heart palpitations, weight gain, and worse.

Scientific research confirms that kind people are healthier and live longer, are more popular and productive, have greater success in business, and are happier than others. Do you notice feeling healthier when you’re acting kind? Try this:

6-PACK CHALLENGE

I. ASSESS (1=low to 5= high)

1. Rate your current health condition, including psycho-, physio-, spirituo-…

2. Rate yourself as a kind-giver, practicing for the simple mission of being kind, rather than       with intentions other than the simple desire. (1=ulterior motives, 3=unaware, 5=master)            

II. ACCESS

3. High Scores?

·         Spread global warming with those in need- teach others how to access this core attribute

·         Add bodywork to your mind exercise and note another ripple forming in your 6-pack

4. Not So High?

·         Practice with intention six kind acts each day for one week and see if you feel a warming trend.

·         True Kindness includes offering warmth, trust, patience, gratitude, love …

Given that our 6-pack is where we typically hold toxic stress in the form of a tire, it’s a simple sign and an easy spare to lose.

Express Love before it turns to hate.

Feel Joy rather than depression.

Give Thanks regardless of receiving.

Be Kind and Reveal your Six-Pack!

Wishing You Well in Life & Sport This Holiday Season!

Cari Junge

Nutrition & Therapy Director

Utah Sports and Wellness