Peak Performance Dec Newsletter

Dec 2007 Newsletter

Edited by:
Timothy Marris DO MSCC
Registered Osteopath and Life/Business Coach

In this bumper issue:

Holiday of a lifetime – could this be for you? (photos of this event can be found on the Tropical Island Retreat aspect of the website).

Inspiring quotes

Health tips – Increasing vitality

Conditions corner – Asthma, Abdominal and Pelvic Breathing

Coaching – special free initial consultation

Holiday of a lifetime!

How would you feel, if you could see yourself on a beautiful tropical island, having a fabulous holiday, gaining knowledge and experience of how to improve your health and wellbeing and accelerating your personal self development?

One of my patients (Michelle), who has attended a Peak Performance Self Development Seminar, has just immigrated to an idyllic island just of the island of Lombok. When she mentioned this, my first question was – where on earth is that? Well, Lombok is the next island to the east of Bali, in Indonesia. Like Bali, its more well know neighbour, Lombok also has amazing stunning beauty.

Michelle asked me if I could run a Self Development Course to be part of a wonderful holiday retreat at the hotel which she will be helping to run there. When seeing the photos (some of which below) I immediately said ... yes!

We met up a few times and have organised a wonderful opportunity for next summer: a 2 week holiday with self development :

23 July till 1st August 2008.

The timetable will be about 4 mornings each week of self development classes and leaving the rest of your time to chill out, explore or do whatever you wish in such a wonderful location.

If you only wish to participate on some of the course, that is ok too. If your spouse or children do not wish to participate, that is also fine. The important thing is for everyone to have a fabulous and enriching time!

The venue is located on the Gili Islands– just off the North East of Lombok. How to find it? Go to ‘Google Maps’ and type in ‘Lombok’. Look to the North East of the island and you will see 3 small islands just off shore. These are the ‘Gili Islands’. Trawangan is the 3^rd island off from the main island. The temperature that time of year is about 30 degrees C and is in the dry season.

The venue is one of the best sites in the world for snorkelling and diving, and has a kayaking/ diving school (Karma Kayak) next door. The sea is safe to swim. There are no cars on the island - so boat, horse and cart or walking; are the means of travel!

The beaches are white sand and accommodation is in beach front traditional bungalows.

Amazing sea life

The area is renowned for its atmospheric sunrises and sunsets.

We are offering:

Accommodation, breakfast, and the course

for a set inclusive fee.

We do not arrange flights as they are not included in the price (see below). We will arrange transfer from the airport on Lombok to and from the venue.

Click here for full Retreat details

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Last month one of our newsletter readers emailed me and asked for more on breathing with respect to asthma, as she has been a sufferer for a while.

If you have any condition which you would like to ‘bring into the open for discussion (maintaining anonymity in the newsletter) please email me on …

info@peakperformanceforyou.co.uk

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Vitality

Vitality is an essential component of any successful life. It is intertwines with our relationships, health, happiness and life path — here are some tips to increase your vitality.

We get energy and vitality from doing that which inspires us.

For example would you find it ok to get up at 5.00am to catch a flight for a wonderful holiday?
That is an easy question for most of us. Would you find however it just easy to get up at 5.00 to mow the lawn, wash the car or vacuum the house – or whatever chore you can think of? Unless you have shift work and you love to do such things in the early hours – I think not!
What is the difference —motivation! We get energy from doing things which inspire and motivate us! This is one of the reasons why life coaching can be so wonderfully transforming, as it helps us get into a more motivated lifestyle – living the life and work we feel enjoy and are motivated to do, bringing more energy into our life.
How would you feel if your work was even more aligned to the things you enjoy doing, was even more successful and rewarding.

Cup half full

Are you a cup half full or a cup half empty type of person?
This is a very important issue as our mental outlook affects our energy and vitality levels quite dramatically.
Negativity attracts negativity and drains your energy.
Positive people are more energised and have an energising effect on others.
If you can culture a greater sense of gratitude for your life and the direction you are capable of taking it, then your energy and vitality will rise in response. This does not mean going around with a ‘plastic smile’ all day long – this would be insufferable to your inner self and to others!
Be genuine, and be genuinely looking for the good in yourself and others. This generates a genuine smile.

§ Did you know that if all the muscles of the face, are truly relaxed you would be smiling?

§ This shows us that smiling is the true natural state of our psycho-physiology.

§ When we are in a smiling relaxed state (not the effort required for the plastic smile) our vitality levels are higher.

§ This is why people who spend much of their day doing things which they enjoy – and therefore smile (inwardly or outwardly) more develop greater vitality and energy in their lives. – See life coaching!

If there are things in your life which need to be amended or improved, don’t dwell on the negative of what is wrong, instead look to the positive of how it will be when you have followed your plan and attended to what is necessary.

Look at your diet

I am not going to go into any detail regarding specific diets here as each and every on of us has their own views on differing approaches. However here are some common sense rules which we often overlook.

Over eating makes us sluggish and can often reduce our energy levels.

§ How often have you ‘pigged out’ and felt tired or heavy afterwards. We have Christmas coming upon us so let’s remember last year… did you over eat and did you feel sleepy in the afternoon? Yes, the parents of young children can rightly say it was because they were “up doing ‘magical activities’ – or waiting for the opportunity ‘because ‘they weren’t getting to sleep’ ”! Anyone who has ‘been there’ knows these experiences, but the after lunch fatigue is also physiological, due to all spare blood going to the digestive system and not to the brain.
§ If you can leave the table as if you could still eat more (some experts say only eat to 75% capacity) your energy levels will rise. Sometimes this can be awkward if socialising as your host may wonder if you don’t like their cooking! So do be tactful and occasionally ignore this rule if you find your self in these situations.
§ As with all things in life, it is what you do most of the time that counts, not the odd occasions.
§ If your circulation frequently has to be focussed on your digestion from over indulgence, then it takes you energy away from other aspects of your psycho-physiology (I purposefully am keeping these conjoined).

What do you eat

§ If your diet has a high ‘non-food’ content (biscuits, sweets, chocolate, sugary based foods, etc. etc.) then it will not be surprising if your vitality levels are lower that they could be. Your pancreas will be having to work overtime balancing your blood sugar levels by insulin production and this affects energy levels, (ask any diabetic).
§ Do you eat a good balance of protein carbohydrates and fats? (Yes, some fats are necessary but only in the right amount)!
§ If you are over weight find a weight loss diet / regime which you feel comfortable with. Go for the long term approach. Avoid the quick fix—this often results in a yoyo effect! With weight loss then back on again as the diet cannot be sustained.

What and how much do you drink?

In previous newsletters (see newsletters on the website) I have discussed the importance of drinking lots of water. Many advocates recommend 2 litres of water as a drink, plus the liquid in your diet. Black tea (as opposed to green tea, not just tea without milk) coffee chocolate drinks, soft drinks and all aspects of alcohol will increase your ‘true water’ requirements.
Water is the ‘stuff of life’. It is one of the key things that makes this planet hospitable. Our body is made up of over 70% water –so we need to keep replenishing it and replenishing it with good quality hydration. Sugary water, alcoholic water, caffeinated water, ‘oxidant (opposite of anti-oxidant) flavoured water – toxicity flavoured water’ will inevitably reduce our health and vitality levels.
If you can keep a glass of water on you desk at work - (and keep drinking from it), you will work better and feel better at the end of your work day.
As an osteopath the majority of my patients have ‘dry sticky and partially dehydrated tissues’. This is common to all of my colleagues with whom I have discussed these issues.

§ dry tissues become more ’sticky’ gliding less against their neighbours.
§ this leads to stiffness and toxic tissues
§ this results in inflammation states - the rest as they say… “is history”.
§ Think about it—which is easier to purify through a filter: a good solution which is very liquefied, or a much thicker fluid such as treacle? Our kidneys are our filters – help them to help you!

Drink plenty of life giving water.
Good fresh water is always best – get the tap running well before pouring into a cup. Agitate/ shake the bottle if mineral water before drinking. This oxygenates it even more before putting into your body. Think why does ‘white water’ of a waterfall or fast mountain stream always look so refreshing? Because intuitively we know that it is highly oxygenated and high in negative ions.

Breathing

Along with water these are the two most important ‘elements’ of life. We can live for over a month without food but only about 3 days without water and … how long can you hold your breath?
For those of us living in rural areas like Cumbria we are very fortunate to be living where, generally speaking the air is of good quality. Even so, if your house of office is stuffy – do remember to open the windows and let some of that revitalising fresh air into the room and so into your lungs. As we are now into the time of central heating and ‘keeping out the cold’ do allow some windows to be slightly open if possible when you are at home.
Get out for walks and ‘get some fresh air’. Aerobic exercise is great for increasing vitality as it strengthens our heart and cardiovascular system but it also gets that all important good quality air into our lungs.

In previous newsletters I have discussed diaphragmatic breathing and I will expand on this in the section on asthma below.
How fast are you breathing?

§ If your breath rate is a bit on the quick side then it means that your metabolism is demanding a lot of oxygen from your lungs. This can be due to both physical and emotional demands (emotional demand cases physical demands of the body). We all breath faster after physical exertion as the body gets back to its ‘resting state’ as quickly as possible and ‘pays back the oxygen debt’ caused by the demand of the vigorous action’. We use up our reserves and when we stop the action, we have to refill those reserves.
§ Take time out to take some deep breaths filling your lungs from the lower areas. As has been already discussed in previous newsletters deep breathing leads to relaxation. Relaxation leads to less oxygen demand and our breath rate then slows down.

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Inspiring, Humourous Comments and Quotes

– do you know any good ones, if so do send them in for sharing in the next newsletter

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.

- Voltaire

Coffee isn't my cup of tea.

- Samuel Goldwyn

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up.

- Jesse Jackson

Only from the heart can you touch the sky.

- Jalaluddin Rumi

Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.

St. Francis of Assisi

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

- Elizabeth Kubler Ross

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

- John Wooden

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Conditions Corner

– I have decided to rename this section as many conditions are common to both adults and children, and even where not, are still of interest to all!

Asthma

This month a friend asked me to comment more on breathing as she has asthma. This is a very common condition and sadly one where the UK has one of the highest levels of incidence in the world (see below). It is common in both adults and children and has a number of factors which influence it.

Quoting from the from the Asthma UK website (an excellent starting place if you wish to know more):

http://www.asthma.org.uk/

In the UK:

5.2 million people receive treatment for asthma
1.1 million children receive treatment fro asthma
1 in 5 households have an asthma sufferer

These are quite staggering statistics!

What is asthma?

Asthma is a reaction by the ‘pipe work’ of the lungs to some form of irritant which causes them to swell up internally as they become inflamed. This reduces their internal diameter so reducing the capacity to bring air into the lungs and cause the feelings of being short of breath. Sometimes fluid can build up in the tubes giving a ‘rattling’ aspect to the breathing. Cough, tightness in the chest, shortness of breath and ‘wheezing’ are common symptoms.

Again quoting from the above website there are a number of triggers which can spark off an attack and each person has their own unique set of triggers. Here are some possibilities:

Animals, air pollutants, colds and viral infections, emotions, exercise, food, house-dust mites, medicines, fungi, pollen, smoking, and weather.

As you can see that list alone covers most aspects of our life.

It is interesting that emotions are included in the list. I once knew a patient whose son developed asthma when they went to visit her mother. Granny had a cat and it was naturally assumed that the cat-mites were the culprit for the asthmatic onset. However mother noticed when being a bit more observant that often the asthma was developing in her son on the way to Granny’s house - before contacting Granny’s moggy! When the issues about going to Granny’s house were ‘brought out into the open’ with her son, much of his asthma disappeared!

Although there may be aspects beyond our control which may trigger asthma, there are factors which we can control and reduce the incidence. If we can strengthen our psycho-physiology then perhaps we may find that previously causative factors no longer induce the condition. Some people for example have said to me that they are allergic to house dust it causing their asthma. Well in reality no matter how efficient your vacuum cleaner is and how fastidious you are, there will always be house dust in every house (or work-dust at work)! Yes, it can be reduced and we don’t want that grey layer on our surfaces, but it is naïve to think we can eliminate it. This could only be possible if we lived in a plastic bubble (and that is ‘existing’ not living). As well as looking to medication (if necessary) also look to strengthen as aspects of your (your child’s) health and vitality (see section above). Why does a tissue get irritated in person A and not B when subjected to the same irritants? Again a multi-factorial answer but just as we are more susceptible to colds and flu when we are ‘run down’ on a poor diet and all other factors described above when having a low vitality— so our tissues become more susceptible to being irritated, as they are less calm!

If you are calm and relaxed with good vitality and energy reserves, are you less irritated by other people or situations around you? Yes, of course. The same goes for the body tissues, including the lungs and their airways. Keeping your health levels and vitality levels higher is always the first approach to restoring and maintaining health. The greater the vitality of the body, so the better will be its response to medication.

N.B. if on any medication prescribed by your GP do consult them before making changes to your prescription.

Osteopathy and Asthma

The osteopath’s view of an asthmatic patient apart from the above advice would be to examine the function of the thorax and breathing from a mechanical point of view. Are the ribs working efficiently? Is the spine too rigid and tense? Is the shoulder girdle too tight? Are the neck muscles interfering with the upper ribs? Is the nervous system working as efficiently as possible or are there signs of stress being expressed in the body tissues? Are the ‘autonomic nervous systems’ in balance? (These are the aspects of our nervous system which control those parts of our body beyond our conscious control). Having evaluated these aspects along with any other mechanical factors which are lowering the overall vitality, a regime of treatment would be discussed to bring the physiology back to better overall balance and greater respiratory health.

Coaching and Asthma

Interestingly the ‘body’ is the realm of our ‘unconscious mind’. In other words any stresses which will develop from an imbalance between our conscious and unconscious will get laid down in the physical structure of the body. In the example of the ‘grandson and granny’ there must have been an imbalance between his wanting to go to see Granny and his not wanting to go and see Granny (one conscious and the other unconscious). Many areas of the body and especially our breathing can be affected by such conflicts. Life coaching can have a powerful effect on resolving such conflicts where they exist.

Abdominal breathing

I have discussed the importance of abdominal breathing in earlier editions of the newsletter, but here I will outline and further comment in relation to asthma suffers.

Focus on the out-breath rather than the in-breath. If the lungs are emptied of air the natural air-pressure will cause the air to want to enter the lungs.

Air pressure is quite a strong force so use it!
If the lungs are not well emptied, then they are at a similar pressure to the air-pressure and then we have to work our muscles hard to get more fresh air in.
The increasing muscle workload to breath in more increases our requirement for more oxygen, setting up a ‘vicious circle’. This can then lead to more serious forms of asthmatic attacks.
Practice ‘bucket handle breathing’:

Place your hands over the lower ribs just below where your ribs meet at the bottom of your breast bone.
Fingertips of each hand should be touching their partners from the opposite hand at full out-breath position.
As you breathe in feel the fingertips being moved away (sideways) from each other rather than up and down and coming back to meet each other as you breathe out.
As this happens you will also feel your stomach and abdomen being ‘massaged’ as you breathe in and out, as the diaphragm muscle moves towards and away from abdomen on breathing in and out respectively.

Pelvic Breathing

***N.B. ***

This is for those of you who have already explored the benefits of abdominal/ bucket handle breathing.

It should not be done consciously unless you have already been regularly practicing the above methods for at least 3-4 weeks.
It is best done with guidance.
If you wish to come for help and advice on this please give me a ring and we can make a suitable appointment.
If you have not practised the above approaches and those of previous newsletters regularly please do so before the following approach.
If you were to do the following exercise without good experience and familiarity it could result in confusion and consequent possible imbalance of the physiology.

***Only if you fulfil the above criteria would I recommend you do the following exercise.

Set aside some time each day when you can do these exercises. They can be done standing, sitting or lying.
As you start to breathe in tighten the pelvic floor muscles a little.

What are the pelvic floor muscles I hear some of you ask.?

Women who have children and went to anti-natal classes may be very familiar with their pelvic floor muscles as they are often asked to exercise them during pregnancy.
For those of us of the male species, and women who have not been to anti-natal classes, these are the muscles which you use to stop yourself from ‘peeing’ mid-flow’, or when you need the ‘loo for a pee’ but have to wait a bit longer before you can get there (now we all have had those experiences)!
Just tighten those muscles a little bit, not to ‘full scrunch’, but sufficiently that you can feel it happen, with the start of the in breath, and relax them as you breath out.
This can be done with your hands in the ‘bucket handle breathing’ positions, so you can coordinate the pelvic ‘lift’ to the separation of the fingers on the in breath.

Continue for about 5 minutes each day.

Benefits of the Bucket Handle and Pelvic Breathing Exercises

This powerful but innocent exercise has the benefit of exercising the ‘pelvic floor’ muscles and assisting the pumping of venous blood from the legs to the heart. It will reduce or delay the onset of varicose veins, haemorrhoids and keep the pelvic organs healthier. Blood from the pelvis abdomen and legs, has to return to the heart at very low vascular pressure. There is no heart muscle pumping the venous blood and it has to flow against gravity. We have valves in our legs to assist this process and when these leg valves fail we get varicose veins.

The bucket handle breathing and especially when combined with the Pelvic Breathing, will assist the pumping mechanism in the same manner as the old fashioned (now historical) village pump (or for the real ale addicts - the pull lift pump at the Pub). The muscular action of the above exercises assists in creating partial vacuums in the abdominal and pelvic regions thus effectively ‘sucking’ the blood back toward the heart. This therefore reduces stasis or ‘pooling’ of blood. Static blood becomes more toxic and less beneficial to tissues.

I could go on for many pages regarding the literally hundreds of benefits of these two exercises but to save your boredom and my time, I will leave it at this point, and may return in a future issue.

If you have any queries please email me (include your phone number) and I will answer you by email or phone personally, and perhaps (with your permission) anonymously in a future newsletter article.

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Free Coaching Session (this is limited to December only)

When a number of people have asked me about life coaching, there still appears to be some confusion regarding the significant benefits to be gained.

Consequently I am currently offering a free introductory life coaching session in Ambleside or Keswick, for anyone who has not experienced the benefits of life coaching before.

In this 30 minute session we will explore your short, medium and /or long term goals and look at ways in which coaching can help you achieve them more easily by overcoming the blocks and recurring patterns which may have held your life back in the past.

Look at the updated web page on life coaching:

http://www.peakperformanceforyou.co.uk/

Phone 01539 729444

for your free life coaching appointment.

(Remember when phoning, to inform my receptionist

that you are looking for a free initial Life Coaching appointment)

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Do please send in your own comments on any of the above or your favourite quotes by emailing me directly via: info@peakperformanceforyou.co.uk

Warm regards and may I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and healthy, successful New Year!

Timothy Marris