tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56969318535189797352024-02-19T01:45:39.991-08:00Maurice SenterIntegrative and functional medical practice. Check them out.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.comBlogger248125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-15890402324060082882016-11-04T05:39:00.001-07:002016-11-04T05:39:13.784-07:00The Way to Finding Powerful Human Connection<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>As I write this, I’m sitting in cloud-filled rainforest at a retreat in Ecuador, surrounded by the calls of thousands of tropical birds and creatures, dense lush greenery, and some of the most open-hearted human beings I’ve ever met.</p>
<p>Before I came here, I had some anxiety about meeting everyone, worried what they might think of me, worried that I would be awkward at talking to everyone or not fit in. This anxiety made me not want to come. That would have been a huge mistake.</p>
<p>I realized that I was telling myself a story about how bad I am at public speaking, at meeting new people, about how unworthy I am of others liking me. This story was not helpful, and was getting in the way of me doing something with the potential to be amazing. So I asked myself if it was definitely true, and the answer was, “I don’t know.”</p>
<p>That “I don’t know” scares me. I decided I had to look at the “I don’t know” in a different way — so I told myself instead, “I don’t know, and I would love to find out. Who knows what I’ll discover?”</p>
<p>This helped me to get on the plane, and then I was forced to meet an entire group of 24 strangers. And I could see them as 24 people who were potentially going to judge me … or I could see them as fellow human beings, who have aspirations and who struggle, who have love for others and frustration and anger, who want to be better people and who are disappointed in themselves that they are not, who want to make a difference in the world and feel guilty that they procrastinate, who are beautiful but who judge themselves, who are so different from me in many wonderful ways but who at their core have the same tender heart of humanity beating with strength and fragility, just like me.</p>
<p>I met them, and smiled. I felt the anxiety coming up again, but I turned with curiosity to them. I felt myself wanting to run away and be alone and comfortable, but I tried to find their aspirations and struggles.</p>
<p>I opened my heart to them, and they came in with kindness. And changed me. And made the effort of overcoming my fear and anxiety of being judged and failing completely worth the effort, a thousand times over.</p>
<p>Human connection is not so common in our age of connectivity. We see lots of people but find our little cucoons to hide in. We don’t realize we’re craving a deeper connection with others until we find it.</p>
<p>It’s hard to connect, because cultural norms get in the way — we’re supposed to talk about the weather and sports and the news, but not our deepest struggles. We’re supposed to say cool or witty things, but not share our greatest hopes for our lives or the person we want to become.</p>
<p>It’s hard, but human connection is one of the most powerful forces available to us. We don’t realize we thirst for it, but we do, and the thirst is deep. When I find real human connection, it nourishes my soul, changes me, moves me to tears. I can’t count how many times I’ve cried this week. My heart feels raw, in a way that opens it up to further connection.</p>
<p>So how do we connect, when it’s so hard? I’d like to share some thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Put yourself in a place with people with your interests</strong>. This retreat is filled with people trying to change their lives and interested in mindfulness. That’s such a rare thing, to be with a group of people like this, but we each made the intentional choice to come here. Find a group like that — at a small conference, a retreat, group meetings, a running club, a tech meetup, anything. Do some online searches for ideas, but say yes to at least one.</li>
<li><strong>Overcome your resistance</strong>. I always find resistance to meeting up with people, and big resistance to coming to give a presentation and meeting with a bunch of strangers. The resistance can keep us from ever getting out of our comfort zones. Don’t let it. The benefit of connection is so much greater than the resistance that you should push through it.</li>
<li><strong>Smile, and be curious</strong>. When you meet these scary strangers, open yourself up. Smile, ask them about themselves, try to find out more. People often appreciate a good listener, and questions can start a conversation and keep it going.</li>
<li><strong>Share when you can</strong>. While listening is better than talking, I’ve found that when I can be vulnerable and share my fears and struggles, people feel they can do the same. This is when you make a real connection, getting below the surface. It takes a little skill to know when you can open up, and how much you can share — you don’t want to share your deepest secrets as soon as you meet, but you can slowly open up, as the other person does the same. Some people are not comfortable opening up, so don’t push it too deep or expect everyone to want to make this kind of connection, but be open to it.</li>
<li><strong>Open your heart</strong>. These are other human beings in front of you — and they have tender hearts and pain and hope just like you do. Open your heart and see who you find in front of you and appreciate who you find. Be yourself, and trust that you are worthy of others’ love as well. Let others in. Give hugs.</li>
<li><strong>Connect in groups and one-on-one</strong>. If you’re at a conference or in a big group of 20 or more people, it can be hard to really find connection. I much prefer one-on-one, so I’ll try to turn to someone and start a private conversation if they’re open to it, getting to know them better. I also value small group conversations, from three to six people, and think they can be great bonding experiences and a lot of fun.</li>
<li><strong>Don’t hide in your phone</strong>. Many of us have the tendency these days to use our phones when we’re in crowded public spaces, but when you’re going somewhere (like a conference) that has a lot of people, it’s a big mistake to shut yourself off. Instead, seek interaction, even if you feel awkward about it. I like to start off with a simple question, or sometimes with a simple joke that diffuses the tension.</li>
<li><strong>Practice makes you better and more comfortable at it</strong>. I’m certainly not the world’s best conversationalist, nor the most comfortable talking in a group. However, I’m better now than I have been in the past, because I’ve been purposefully practicing over the last decade or so. I still have a long way to go. But it’s amazing to see the progress I’ve made, and the more I do it, the less nervous I get.</li>
<li><strong>Use each other do dive deeper and find clarity</strong>. If you can have good one-on-one conversations, or even small group talks, challenge each other to go deeper into your struggles and challenges, aspirations and life purposes. You’ll often find a lot of clarity in these talks.</li>
<li><strong>Use each other for continued support</strong>. I often offer to give someone accountability if they say they’ve been struggling to deal with a habit. Or if we’re both struggling with something, we might try to support each other’s efforts to overcome the struggle in the near future.</li>
<li><strong>Make an effort to keep in touch</strong>. If you make a real human connection, find a way to keep up the conversation, and even meet again in person if it’s possible. If it’s not possible, make a skype date so you can talk face-to-face.</li>
</ul>
<p>I don’t pretend to have all the answers, nor to be any kind of expert. I still get nervous and awkward. But these ideas have helped me, and I hope they help you. Because simple connections with wonderful human beings have changed my life this week, and the power of the love from these connections has left me completely devastated.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits https://zenhabits.net/human/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-59257247284213614372016-11-03T09:54:00.001-07:002016-11-03T09:54:09.593-07:00Parents: How to Instill a Love of Fitness in Your KidsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-23642857410113904772016-11-01T06:16:00.001-07:002016-11-01T06:16:50.611-07:00Soaking in the Wonder of the Emerging Moment<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>Lately I’ve been using the image of an empty cup to find a more peaceful state of mind.</p>
<p>One of the most peaceful, meditative states is when you’re just open to noticing what’s around you and happening in the present moment. You’re just receiving the world around you (yourself included), soaking in the light, colors, shapes, sounds, touch sensations, just noticing.</p>
<p>When you’re completely open to noticing this moment, it can be amazing — you notice things you wouldn’t have if you were in your normal dream state, you start to appreciate little details of everything around you. Most of us miss this almost all of the time. We all walk around in a trance, thinking about what we need to do, spinning stories about what’s happening.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing: if our minds are full of thoughts and stories already, we actually <em>can’t</em> notice the present moment. We can’t see what’s all around us, when we’re caught up in our normal dreamlike state.</p>
<p>You can’t fill a cup up with the present moment, when it’s already full.</p>
<p>So I have been practicing emptying out my cup.</p>
<p>I notice that I have an emotional state or story that has filled my mind and is blocking me from noticing what’s in front of me.</p>
<p>I let all of that flow out of the cup of my mind.</p>
<p>And then I soak in the present moment, noticing the physical sensations of everything around me. Noticing my body and how it feels. Noticing what’s flowing through my mind.</p>
<p>Then, of course, I get caught up in my thoughts again. When I notice this, I empty my cup. I soak in the moment. Then once again, I get caught up, I empty my cup, I soak in the moment.</p>
<p>Over and over, I empty my cup. And that leaves me open to whatever is happening right now, the wonder-filled beauty and joy of the emerging moment.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits https://zenhabits.net/cup/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-12108562585862985792016-10-28T09:56:00.001-07:002016-10-28T09:56:24.929-07:00Relax Into the Moment<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>You might be surprised how often we’re resisting life.</p>
<p>If you assess your body right now, I bet you can find some kind of tension or tightness. For me, it’s often in my chest, but sometimes it’s in my jaw, face, neck or shoulders.</p>
<p>Where does this tightness come from? We’re struggling against something — perhaps we’re irritated by someone, frustrated by something, stressed or overwhelmed by all we have to do, or just don’t like whatever it is we’re faced with. This causes a resistance, a hardening or tightening. Everyone does it, most of the day.</p>
<p>It’s normal, but it causes unhappiness, an aversion to the present moment, struggles with other people or ourselves, struggles with the task we’re faced with. What I’ve found useful is the idea of <em>relaxing into the moment</em>.</p>
<p>Try this:</p>
<ul>
<li>Notice where the tension is in your body right now.</li>
<li>Notice what you’re tightening against — it might be someone else, or whatever it is you’re faced with.</li>
<li>Relax the tightness. Just let yourself melt.</li>
<li>Face the same situation, but with a relaxed, friendly attitude.</li>
</ul>
<p>And repeat as often as you can remember, throughout the day. Just use the phrase “relax into the moment” to remind yourself.</p>
<p>What this does is helps us to face the day with less tension and greater contentment. We struggle less with how other people are, and instead might open our hearts to them and see that they, like us, are struggling and want to be happy.</p>
<p>We might face a task with less resistance, and instead do it with a smile. We might just notice the physical space around us and start to appreciate it for the unique gift that it is. And in the end, we’re changing our mode of being from one of struggle and resistance to one of peace and gratitude.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits https://zenhabits.net/relax/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-75285745086160410682016-10-26T12:59:00.001-07:002016-10-26T12:59:04.069-07:00Little Changes Can Make a Huge Difference<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>When I’m feeling down, I make a list of what’s contributing to the down-ness:</p>
<ul>
<li>Didn’t get enough sleep</li>
<li>Overwhelmed by too much to do</li>
<li>Not exercising or eating well</li>
<li>Got in an argument with someone</li>
<li>Feeling uncertainty about something</li>
</ul>
<p>So there might be five different factors contributing to a funk. That’s a lot of things to deal with at once, and so it can be depressing to think about all the things I need to fix in order to feel better.</p>
<p>I can’t fix everything at once, so I just start with one step. I meditate for a couple minutes.</p>
<p>Then I take on another step: I make a list of what I need to do. Pick a few I can do today. A few I can do tomorrow. Vow to focus on the first one on the list.</p>
<p>Another step: go for a walk, get my body moving.</p>
<p>Then another step: talk to the person I had an argument with, in a loving, compassionate way.</p>
<p>Suddenly, with these small steps, I’m starting to feel better.</p>
<p>I spend a little time with my son, playing with him, reading with him.</p>
<p>I take a nap.</p>
<p>I eat a healthy meal.</p>
<p>I meditate on my uncertainty, staying with it as long as I can, with compassion and friendliness.</p>
<p>I go to bed early, and try to get a good night’s sleep.</p>
<p>I focus on one small work task at a time.</p>
<p>And with each step, my mood improves. One step at a time, I help myself feel better.</p>
<p>These are small steps, taken one at a time, with as much presence as I can muster. And they make all the difference in the world.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits https://zenhabits.net/little-changes/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-81638185523573276062016-10-25T09:44:00.001-07:002016-10-25T09:44:06.546-07:00Rings and Handstand Superpack is Now Open (until Friday!)<p>It’s here! Pop the confetti!</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1361713" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/dance_giphy.gif" alt="dance_giphy" width="480" height="360" /></p>
<div class="m_5755193774370887585definition-parent">
<p>I’m super excited to announce that our new easy-to-follow bodyweight training system — <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/rings-and-handstands-superpack/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.nerdfitness.com/rings-and-handstands-superpack/?utm_source%3Daweber%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3Dtuesday-launch%26utm_content%3D1%26utm_campaign%3Dlaunch&source=gmail&ust=1477424855808000&usg=AFQjCNEhbU-KMWeHz6E0jL1AxEbFekBlGg">The NF Rings and Handstands Superpack— is now open! </a></p>
<p>I’d love for you to check it out and decide if it’s right for you! We’ll be showing you, step-by-step, how to gain complete control over your body, look like a gymnast, and perform like a Jedi — in your home or at the gym.</p>
</div>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1352267" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/handstands-logo.jpg" alt="handstands-logo" width="536" height="132" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/handstands-logo.jpg 536w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/handstands-logo-300x74.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/handstands-logo-160x39.jpg 160w" sizes="(max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px" /> <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1352264" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/rings-logo.jpg" alt="rings-logo" width="536" height="132" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/rings-logo.jpg 536w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/rings-logo-300x74.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/rings-logo-160x39.jpg 160w" sizes="(max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px" /></p>
<p><span id="more-1364567"></span></p>
<p><strong>Remember Rule #1 of The Rebellion:</strong> “We don’t care where you came from, only where you’re going!” Young, old, big, small, male, female, or robot, the skills we’ll teach you in Rings and Handstands Superpack know no bounds, gender, age, or level of artificial intelligence.</p>
<p>We’ll meet you exactly where you’re at — whether you’re a beginner who’s nervous about training with rings or a super-advanced fancy person — and show you how to move your body in ways you never thought possible.</p>
<p>You CAN get in the best shape of your life, starting now. And we can help.</p>
<div><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1364600" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/product-image-1.png" alt="rings and handstands" width="709" height="573" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/product-image-1.png 709w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/product-image-1-300x242.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/product-image-1-160x129.png 160w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px" /></div>
<div class="m_5755193774370887585definition-parent">
<div class="m_5755193774370887585paragraph">Here’s just a small taste of what we have waiting for you in the Rings and Handstands Superpack:
<ul>
<li><strong>80+ HD individual video lessons:</strong> We’ll guide you through an effective and fun exercise system using rings and your own bodyweight — starting with VERY basic exercises that anyone can do — and help you progress to some amazing new moves!</li>
<li><strong>An easy-to-follow skill tree system:</strong> The problem I’ve found with other bodyweight programs is they don’t actually tell you when to level up to the next step! That’s why we’ve created skill-trees that update as you check them off — so you’ll always know your next step. No matter where you’re starting from, we’ll show you EXACTLY what moves to work on first —and we’ll guide you to the next level in your own time.</li>
<li><strong>Professional goofball guidance:</strong> Me and Jim (aka Master of the Fitness Universe) walk you through a step-by-step system for building muscle, increasing strength, and losing fat — using only your bodyweight. Jim has 15+ years of experience learning and teaching this stuff.</li>
<li><strong>Special Private Bodyweight Training Facebook group:</strong> The Nerd Fitness Rebellion rocks. (Of course, you already know this!) Getting healthy and leveling up your life can at times be a little lonely – especially if you’re training in a different way – but it doesn’t need to be. That’s why you also get access to a special, private “bodyweight training” group where you can ask questions of other jedi-assassin-ninja-robots in training.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<p><a class="m_5755193774370887585validating" href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/rings-and-handstands-superpack/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.nerdfitness.com/rings-and-handstands-superpack/?utm_source%3Daweber%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3Dtuesday-launch%26utm_content%3D3%26utm_campaign%3Dlaunch&source=gmail&ust=1477424855808000&usg=AFQjCNGbtX-DFfxr7rvWF2pZKp_00oUf6w">Here’s the link to see the full details.</a></p>
</div>
<p>Me and the rest of Team Nerd Fitness are so excited to help you get started with these movements. We want to show you how to level up your fitness, get control over how your body moves, and surprise the heck out of yourself and your friends — all in the comfort of your home (or a gym if you prefer).</p>
<p><em>(Important: This is the ONLY time we’ll ever offer the Rings and Handstands Superpack at one affordable price. It’s open until this Friday at 11:59 PM Pacific — after that, we’re not sure when we’ll release either course again.)</em></p>
<p>If you want to find out just how much your body is capable of (hint: it’s a LOT), now is the time to act.</p>
<p>Training with a system like this has been one of the greatest surprises I’ve had with for MY personal physique, strength, and happiness. I am a different person now than I was 3 years ago, and training with a system like this been a game changer. I want the same for you.</p>
<p>Jim, Staci, and I can’t wait to hang out with you in the community with this course!</p>
<p><a class="m_5755193774370887585validating" href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/rings-and-handstands-superpack/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.nerdfitness.com/rings-and-handstands-superpack/?utm_source%3Daweber%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3Dtuesday-launch%26utm_content%3D4%26utm_campaign%3Dlaunch&source=gmail&ust=1477424855808000&usg=AFQjCNFeyVurKa28uiRi8E-7OcsBYqEeMA">Let’s get weird!<br /></a><br />
-Steve</p>
<p><strong>PS-</strong> I’m sure you have lots of questions, so I took the liberty of answering a whole bunch of them (including a question about teleportation…) here on this page: <a class="m_5755193774370887585validating" href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/rings-and-handstands-superpack/#QA" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.nerdfitness.com/rings-and-handstands-superpack/?utm_source%3Daweber%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_term%3Dtuesday-launch%26utm_content%3D5%26utm_campaign%3Dlaunch&source=gmail&ust=1477424855808000&usg=AFQjCNEths6rU6CfSG_JcIKem29YEfqK4w">Click to get all the details.</a></p>
</div>
</div>
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from Blog – Nerd Fitness http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/10/25/rings-and-handstand-superpack-is-now-open-until-friday/<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-18457088635354457302016-10-20T11:50:00.001-07:002016-10-20T11:50:10.108-07:00Ultralight: The Zen Habits Guide to Traveling Light & Living Light (short read ebook)<p><img src="https://zenhabits.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Ultralight3-2.jpeg" alt="ultralight3" width="480" height="422" class="alignright size-full wp-image-17881" srcset="https://zenhabits.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Ultralight3-2.jpeg 480w, https://zenhabits.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Ultralight3-2-300x264.jpeg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /></p>
<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>I’m excited to announce the latest “short read” ebook that I’ve written: <strong>Ultralight: The Zen Habits Guide to Traveling Light & Living Light</strong>.</p>
<p>Traveling light has become one of the joys of my life, shedding the extra weight in return for freedom, lightness, and energy.</p>
<p>This book contains my recommendations and methods for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Breezing through airports</li>
<li>Cutting back on clothing</li>
<li>Minimizing electronics, toiletries, and more</li>
<li>Finding restaurants, apartments, recommendations for where to go</li>
<li>What you don’t need to pack</li>
<li>Developing a flexible mindset</li>
<li>My packing list</li>
<li>My favorite travel apps</li>
<li>Ultralight backpacking</li>
<li>And lots more</li>
</ul>
<p>I also talk about applying these ideas to simplify the rest of your life, in a “living light” section of the book:</p>
<ul>
<li>Living without too much stuff</li>
<li>Cutting back on clothing, books, papers, everything else</li>
<li>Finding digital simplicity</li>
<li>Dealing with the urge to buy</li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve found that living simply and traveling light are wonderful ways to live, and I hope you’ll find use out of this book as I’ve tried to put as much useful information as I can.</p>
<h3>The Short Ebook & the Package Deal</h3>
<p>I’ve written this intentionally as a “short read” … and so I’m pricing it low ($4.99), so more people will be able to buy and use it.</p>
<p>You can buy just the ebook here (in PDF, Kindle & iBooks formats):</p>
<p><a class="styled-button" href="https://zenhabits.memberful.com/checkout?product=2749">Buy the Ebook</a></p>
<p>But I’ve also created a <strong>package with three videos</strong> to go along with the ebook:</p>
<ol>
<li>My favorite travel gear</li>
<li>A packing video that shows what I bring and how I pack it</li>
<li>How I wash clothes simply while traveling</li>
</ol>
<p>You can buy the package with the video downloads and the ebook in 3 formats here:</p>
<p><a class="styled-button" href="https://zenhabits.memberful.com/checkout?product=2750">Buy the Package</a></p>
<h3>Contents</h3>
<p>Here’s the table of contents:</p>
<p>Introduction: Why Travel Light? Freedom From Burden<br />
<strong>Part I: Ultralight Travel</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Chapter 1: Traveling Light Isn’t a Competition</li>
<li>Chapter 2: What It’s Like to Travel with One Bag</li>
<li>Chapter 3: Why We Pack Too Many Clothes, & How to Cut Back</li>
<li>Chapter 4: Clothing System</li>
<li>Chapter 5: Electronics</li>
<li>Chapter 6: Toiletries</li>
<li>Chapter 7: Water & Food</li>
<li>Chapter 8: What You Don’t Need</li>
<li>Chapter 9: Don’t Pack Your Fears</li>
<li>Chapter 10: What Bag?</li>
<li>Chapter 11: Getting Through Airports</li>
<li>Chapter 12: Apartments & Hotels</li>
<li>Chapter 13: Getting Around Cities & Where to Go</li>
<li>Chapter 14: Longer Trips</li>
<li>Chapter 15: Flexible Mind, Flexible Travel</li>
<li>Chapter 16: Useful Travel Apps</li>
<li>Chapter 17: Travel Miles & Cards</li>
<li>Chapter 18: My Packing List</li>
<li>Chapter 19: Ultralight Hiking</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Part II: Living Lightly</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Chapter 20: What It’s Like to Live Without Too Much Stuff</li>
<li>Chapter 21: Less Clothing</li>
<li>Chapter 22: Books & Papers</li>
<li>Chapter 23: Less Other Stuff</li>
<li>Chapter 24: Electronics & Digital Simplicity</li>
<li>Chapter 25: Dealing with the Urge to Buy</li>
<li>Chapter 26: A Final Word on Living Lightly</li>
</ul>
<h3>Book Formats</h3>
<p>I’ve written the book in PDF, Kindle (mobi) and iBooks (epub) formats. You can buy them all in one compressed file here for $4.99:</p>
<p><a class="styled-button" href="https://zenhabits.memberful.com/checkout?product=2409">Buy the Ebook</a></p>
<p>If you just want to buy the book from the Amazon Kindle store, <a href="http://amzn.to/2en9fIz">you can buy it here for $4.99</a>. That will only be the Kindle format, though. I would love it if you gave me a good review and/or rating! (Note: It should be available in all of the global Amazon stores.)</p>
<p>If you just want to buy the book from the Apple iBooks store, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ultralight/id1166355209?ls=1&mt=11">you can buy it here for $4.99</a>. That will only be the iBooks/epub format, though. And again, I would love it if you gave me a good review and/or rating! (Note: It’s available in all of the global iBooks stores.)</p>
<p>Finally, I have the three formats (PDF, mobi, epub) plus a package of three audio guided meditations for $9.99 that you can buy here:</p>
<p><a class="styled-button" href="https://zenhabits.memberful.com/checkout?product=2411">Buy the Package</a></p>
<h3>Table of Contents & Sample Chapters</h3>
<p>If you’d like to see the table of contents, plus the introduction and first two chapters, you can download/open the PDF here:</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://zenhabits.s3.amazonaws.com/Ultralight%20sample.pdf">Table of Contents & Sample Chapters</a></strong></p>
<h3>Questions</h3>
<p>You have questions, I have answers.</p>
<p><strong>Q: What do I get when I buy the ebook?</strong></p>
<p><strong>A</strong>: If you buy it using the blue “<a href="https://zenhabits.memberful.com/checkout?product=2749">buy the ebook</a>” button above, you’ll get a compressed zip file … when you decompress it, there will be a folder with the PDF, epub (for iBooks) and mobi (for Kindle) files.</p>
<p>If you <a href="http://amzn.to/2en9fIz">buy from the Kindle store</a>, you’ll just get the Kindle book.</p>
<p>If you <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ultralight/id1166355209?ls=1&mt=11">buy from the iBooks store</a>, you’ll just get the epub version.</p>
<p>And if you <a href="https://zenhabits.memberful.com/checkout?product=2750">buy the package deal</a>, you’ll get the three formats plus links to download three companion videos that I’ve recorded.</p>
<p><strong>Q: Is there a print version? What about an audiobook version?</strong></p>
<p><strong>A</strong>: No, sorry. This is only being released as an ebook.</p>
<p><strong>Q: I bought the package, but where are the video files?</strong></p>
<p><strong>A</strong>: Open the “Read me” PDF file in the folder you downloaded … there are links to download the video files in the Read me PDF.</p>
<p><strong>Q: Did you do the design yourself?</strong></p>
<p><strong>A</strong>: No, I wish! The cover was designed by <a href="https://spyr.me/">Dave of Spyre</a>, and the interior was designed by <a href="http://www.shawnmihalik.com/">Shawn Mihalik</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Q: I’m hugely disappointed and want my money back!</strong></p>
<p><strong>A</strong>: I’m sorry to hear that. There’s a <strong>100% money back guarantee</strong> on all my books. Just email <strong>support@zenhabits.net</strong> and we’ll give you a full refund. I don’t want unhappy customers.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits https://zenhabits.net/ultralight-ebook/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-56304981840843883392016-10-19T08:18:00.001-07:002016-10-19T08:18:17.521-07:005 Common Push-Up Mistakes to Avoid<p>Push-ups!</p>
<p>Maybe the most primal and basic of all exercises. We all know what they are. We all try to do them and know that they’re good for us.</p>
<p><strong>But like <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/10/14/5-common-mistakes-when-doing-a-proper-squat/" target="_blank">squats</a> and <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/10/12/5-common-mistakes-when-doing-a-pull-up/" target="_blank">pull-ups,</a> 95% of the people I see doing push-ups do them wrong. Ruh roh.</strong></p>
<p>Right now you might be wondering whether you’re in the 95% or the 5%. You might also be wondering what the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is.</p>
<p>Well, I can help you with both of those. The answer to the second question is 11 meters per second.</p>
<p>As for the first question, I’m going to make sure you are in the 5% by the end of this article. Here are the five most common mistakes I see when people do push-ups. If you are concerned at all about your shoulder health or longevity of your muscles and building functional strength, read on!</p>
<p><strong>Watch the video below, read the accompanying cues, and start doing correct push-ups today!</strong></p>
<p>Build an incredibly solid foundation, and you’ll be on your way to attempting more complex bodyweight movements in no time. But like the foundation of any house, you need to start with a solid base.</p>
<p>That solid base means doing functionally correct squats, push-ups, and pull-ups.</p>
<p>Let’s put the “fun” back in “functionally correct push-ups!”</p>
<p>(Yes I realize that’s not a “thing” but trust me, the jokes are only going to get worse from here on out.)</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-11606" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-Shot-2012-01-20-at-12.19.07-PM.jpg" alt="Steve Ostrich" width="588" height="323" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-Shot-2012-01-20-at-12.19.07-PM.jpg 588w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Screen-Shot-2012-01-20-at-12.19.07-PM-300x164.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px" /></p>
<p><span id="more-1350412"></span></p>
<h2>5 Mistakes People Make with Push-ups</h2>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8V-ZUMvQKr0?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.nerdfitness.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>Click the video to play, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V-ZUMvQKr0" target="_blank">view here.</a></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Mistake #1:</strong></span> Flaring your elbows out wide. In a correct push-up, hand position and elbow position are crucial. Your elbows should be tucked in slightly, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APWXorE6h8U" target="_blank">not out like a chicken</a>!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong><em>Solution:</em></strong> Imagine you were trying to give someone a light push. You wouldn’t squeeze your elbows directly into your side, and you wouldn’t lift your elbows up to your ears (hopefully). Instead, you will likely fall somewhere halfway between that.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">In other words, when you drop into your standard push-up, your upper arms should be at your sides at about a 45 degree position to your body. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder width apart.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Be sure to set yourself with a good starting position, with your hands about shoulder width apart on the ground or just slightly wider. Too wide will allow those elbows to flare outwards!</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Mistake #2:</strong></span> Not doing a full rep (and not knowing what a full rep really looks like).</p>
<p>Not sure if you are doing a full rep? You should be able to pick your hands up off the floor at the bottom (called a hand-release pushup in the CrossFit world). You don’t actually have to lift your hands up, but if doing so at the bottom of your pushup would require some <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx2zLgdkJpk">Wingardium Leviosa</a> action (i.e. you are not all the way to the ground) then you can stand to go lower!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Touch your chest to the floor. (And check your ego at the door.) If you can’t touch your chest to the floor and do a proper repetition, see Mistake #5.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Mistake #3:</strong></span> Not maintaining a straight line from head to toes. Don’t do the worm! Your whole body should move up and down together. We often see this when people get tired or do too many reps: your upper body comes up before your lower body! Your body should basically be in a plank position from head to toe: core tight, butt clenched, through the entirety of the reps!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> “Tight gut, tight butt.” First, simply make sure you aren’t doing the worm, and if you are, squeezing the midsection and hips is an easy to remember cue.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Mistake #4</strong><strong>:</strong></span> Your head/nose touches the ground first. Your chest should be the first thing to touch the ground, not your nose – unless you’re Pinocchio and you’ve been telling lies.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Stop lying. ALSO, keep your head tucked back slightly to prevent the chicken head. If you follow the other cues to make sure you are achieving a full repetition, poor head alignment will be obvious (it will hit the ground!).</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Mistake #5:</strong></span> Trying a variation that is too hard, with too little strength. When we load too much weight on an exercise, try a bodyweight variation that is too difficult, or attempt more reps than we have the strength for, form breaks down in all sorts of weird ways. If you try the solutions we’ve presented above and STILL can’t manage a pretty push-up, then an easier push-up variation is the best course of action.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong><em>Solution:</em> Easier pushup variations!</strong> If you can’t do a push-up with proper form, work up to them! If you need to, start with knee pushups. If you need to start with something easier, try doing push-ups with your hands on a stable elevated surface. You can also combine the two and do knee push-ups on an elevated surface. Set good form now, and you will make progress much faster. It is far better to do easier variations with proper form than to do shitty regular push-ups.</p>
<p><strong>Start doing better pushups today!</strong></p>
<p>There you go, my dear rebel friend, you now have everything you need to get started down a healthier path to crushing push-ups.</p>
<p>To recap:</p>
<ol>
<li>Ensure proper hand and elbow position</li>
<li>Make sure you’re completing full reps</li>
<li>Keep your body straight</li>
<li>Keep your head in line</li>
<li>When in doubt, build up your strength with easier push-up variations</li>
</ol>
<p>And make sure you’re on our email list for an announcement about a special bodyweight-related project!</p>
<p><em>What are some other problems you have with push-ups?</em></p>
<p><em>Feel more confident to give them another shot after today?</em></p>
<p>Let us know!</p>
<p>-Steve</p>
<p>###</p>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-35781779916400217282016-10-18T10:01:00.001-07:002016-10-18T10:01:27.106-07:00End of Busy: A Deliberate Life vs. Reactive Life, with Jonathan Fields<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>Every day, we get caught up in busyness — reacting to what comes at us, lost in the thousands of tasks and emails we have to deal with, and we are so busy dealing with all of it that we get stuck on autopilot.</p>
<p>What if we could get out of that trap, and live a more deliberate life?</p>
<p>This is what I recently talked about with my friend Jonathan Fields, who is releasing his new book today: <strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Good-Life-Surprising/dp/1401948413/">How to Live a Good Life: Soulful Stories, Surprising Science and Practical Wisdom</a></strong>.</p>
<p>You can read Jonathan’s responses to some of my questions below, and watch us talk about mindfulness, uncertainty, and living a good life in this video:</p>
<p><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/186346860" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<h3>Living a Deliberate Life</h3>
<p><strong>Leo: A lot of us get caught in the trap of busyness — reacting to what comes at us. And often it feels like a status symbol, being busy. But this busyness isn’t a part of the Good Life prescription, is it? Can you talk about why it’s a problem?</strong></p>
<p><img src="https://zenhabits.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jfields-bw-1-150x150.jpg" alt="jfields-bw-1" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-17860" style="float:right;margin:10px;" /><strong>Jonathan</strong>: Busyness has become a bit of a lightning rod. In one camp, we’ve got busyness as a status symbol of hustle and achievement (though, often it’s neither). In the other, we have busyness as a signpost of failure and surrender.</p>
<p>Truth is, I’ve come to see busyness as more of a symptom of a bigger problem, rather than a cause. Being busy, alone, need not be a bad thing. What makes it good or bad is why we’re busy, what we’re busy with, and what we’re giving up along the way.</p>
<p>Being busy as a reaction to the compounding agendas others, to what they’ve chosen to heap into our lives, without considering whether any of it matters to us, that’s a problem. It drops us into a state of mindless autopilot busyness, reacting rather than responding. It leaves us watching our lives fill with unrelenting pace, screaming past us, without ever stopping to choose what matters, be present, cultivate meaning, joy, connection and vitality, and experience each moment through the lense of choice and presence. We end up busy without a cause, and it leaves us utterly gutted. Empty.</p>
<p>Being busy from a place of meaning and intention, though, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If our days, weeks, months and life are populated by a stream of experiences, activities and people that keep us engaged much of every day, including things like moving our bodies, sitting in meditation, expressing our voices, engaging our strengths, deepening into service and meaning, working and playing with people we cannot get enough of, choosing only what truly lifts us up and matters deeply, we end up crafting a life of intention, joy, vitality and meaning. Are we busy along the way? Yes! But, that type of busyness leaves us full, not empty.</p>
<p>And, that adds to a life well lived.</p>
<p><strong>Leo: You tell the story of a woman you had in mind while writing the book, a woman who is overwhelmed by a sense of busyness, who reacts to other people’s agendas, who realizes she’s living an “autopilot life.” How do we seem to slip into these autopilot lives?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Jonathan</strong>: This is where it gets a little scary. The challenge is that we never really choose to live reactively. Instead, it just kind of happens. A little bit, every day. Until, one day, we wake up and realize, “my life is not my own.”</p>
<p>Think about it. Did you choose, “I will begin checking my email first thing before I get out of bed, and then respond to what everyone else says is important today?” Was there a moment where you said to yourself, “I will respond immediately, in real time to every email that hits my inbox, every to-do I’m tasked with and every status update on Facebook?”</p>
<p>Not likely, you just started doing it, and the technology that supports this behavior is the perfect intermittent reinforcement machine. In short order, it becomes habit. And, it all went down, bit by momentary bit, by surrendering to seemingly innocuous prompts that end up adding up to autopilot, reactive mindlessness.</p>
<p>There’s no blame here, it’s become the social norm to build a life this way. But, just because it’s the norm, doesn’t mean it’s good.</p>
<p>Question is, now that you know, what will you do moving forward? Choose with intention, or continue to surrender to a life of default reactive busyness, bundled with the annihilation of agency and intention?</p>
<p>Leo: What’s the alternative to the reactive, autopilot life of busyness that you recommend for a good life?</p>
<p><strong>Jonathan</strong>: Awareness and intention. We need to break the cycle of mindless, reactive living and reclaim a sense of choice, agency and intention. We need to step back into the driver’s seat of our lives. To say, “I get to choose. My days, my years, my life belongs to me. Other people’s agendas, stories and will are not the primary driver of where I place my attention, my gifts, my love and energy.”</p>
<p>If we want to fill our days with activities, experiences and peoples, so be it. But, let’s start making those choices actively and proactively. Mindfully, from a place of filling our lives with connection, vitality and meaning. Not reactively, because we’ve never stopped to own the responsibility and the blessing of choice.</p>
<p><strong>Leo: How do we start to move from autopilot to this direction?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Jonathan</strong>: Step one, own that we’ve got a problem. Step two, begin to cultivate a daily awareness practice. For me, it’s a sitting mindfulness practice, bundled with daily prompts that keep me “dropping into” the moment. These train your brain to become increasingly more present and aware of what’s really happening in life.</p>
<p>One you become more mindful, you start to see the opportunities to swap intention for reactivity all around you, and you begin to choose choice, rather than succumb to pace and mindless surrender.</p>
<p>This is so important, it’s actually why I’ve devoted an entire chapter to it in my new book, and even created guided audio practices to help you begin the practice.</p>
<p><strong>Leo: What might a day of awareness and intention look like, just so we can visualize what this might mean?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Jonathan</strong>: This’ll be completely different for each person. It’s so important to honor the very real-world demands of your life, and not hold yourself to the opportunities and constraints of anyone else. But, here’s an example.</p>
<p>You wake and, wait for it, do not check your device. Not email. Not instagram. Not facebook or snapchat. Not even texts. Just lie in bed, place one hand over your heart, the other over your abdomen, eyes closed and breathe for a few moments. Note how you’re feeling as you enter the day. Calm, stressed, energized, fatigued, focus, distracted? No need to change it, just notice, and know that is going to play into the way you move through the day.</p>
<p>You roll quietly out of bed and find somewhere to sit comfortably, eyes half-closed, allowing your attention to rest on your breath for a brief, seated mindfulness practice. Anywhere from 3 to 30-minutes. From there, maybe you’ll close by setting an intention for the day. I always close my morning practice with a brief loving-kindness or “metta” incantation. This is how I’ll bring myself to the day. Then, you write down the single most important thing to accomplish, the one that actually is meaningful to you.</p>
<p>You head into the kitchen, grind some coffee and make a cup, or a pot if you’re brewing for more than one. As the coffee brews, you take single action, spend less than 30-seconds, that connects you with someone you care about. Maybe you text a friend to say, “just thinking about you and sending wishes for a great day.”</p>
<p>While you sit with your coffee, you know that the next few hours are your peak creative time, your window to get your most meaningful work done first. Especially, if it’s your most challenging work. But you also know that you need to get the “checking siren” out of your head, so you quickly spin through email and more. Still, you cap it at 5 minutes, and commit to only responding if there is true urgency. Everyone else can wait. This is your day, not theirs. They may be renting space in your device, but not your heart and head. You then come back to your computer and spend the rest of the morning creating, not consuming or managing.</p>
<p>Then comes a little movement break, just 10 or 15 minutes, because you know it’s good for your body and brain, followed by a lunch break. After lunch, you feel great, because you’ve already accomplished what matters most, so you settle into more of a managing and socializing and meeting mode. Catching up online, but still limiting time to 30-minutes and starting with the things that matter most. In the late afternoon, you walk-n-talk with your colleague or anyone else who wants your time, leaving your phone in your pocket the whole time, giving them your attention. Later in the day, you exercise for 40 minutes, then settle in to read or relax, spend time with friends and family and start to ease toward dinner together.</p>
<p>After dinner, more relaxation or creative time, and, if you need, catching up with any lingering tasks that really matter. Then you spend the evening in a wind-down mode, journaling a bit, reflecting on your day, how it went, how you feel, what you learned, what can bring into tomorrow, writing in gratitude, sharing conversation with an intimate partner, family or friends, and settling in to read, watch a movie or whatever else you enjoy.</p>
<p>Now, does this sound somewhat Utopian? Sure. But, many elements of it, on any given day, can become mindful anchors, moments that allow you to touch back down into your life. The idea is simply to make it yours. To keep finding ways to be present, mindful and focus your attention and actions on the people and activities that fill your Good Life Buckets, rather than empty them. Those will shift on any given day, too, so be open to the possibility of unforeseen experiences and the need to adapt on the fly.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Good-Life-Surprising/dp/1401948413/"><img src="https://zenhabits.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/HTL-3D-Cover-1-crop-247x300-150x150.jpg" alt="htl-3d-cover-1-crop-247x300" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-17867" style="float:right;margin:10px;" /></a><strong>Leo</strong>: Thanks for the amazing info and inspiration, Jonathan! To everyone: I highly recommend checking out Jonathan’s new book, <strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Good-Life-Surprising/dp/1401948413/">How to Live a Good Life: Soulful Stories, Surprising Science and Practical Wisdom</a></strong>.</p>
<br />
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-84087474894206228932016-10-17T08:44:00.001-07:002016-10-17T08:44:05.284-07:00A Beginner’s Guide to Handstands<p>I bet you’ve always wanted to do a handstand.</p>
<p>It’s okay, you can admit it.</p>
<p>It demonstrates balance and control over your body, something we happen to put great importance upon here at Nerd Fitness. It’s also one HELL of a party trick, something you can work on without a single piece of equipment, builds functional strength and muscular endurance, and it’s a skill you can work on in just a few minutes every single day.</p>
<p>How do I know this? Because I’m typing this while in a handstand <em>RIGHT NOW. Okay, I can’t do that. But Jim, Master of the NF Fitness Universe can:</em></p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1344095" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_typing-338x600.jpg" alt="jim typing" width="338" height="600" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_typing-338x600.jpg 338w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_typing-169x300.jpg 169w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_typing-768x1365.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_typing-90x160.jpg 90w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_typing.jpg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px" /></p>
<p>I love working with <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/10/10/lord-of-the-rings-how-to-get-in-great-shape-using-gymnastic-rings/" target="_blank">gymnastic rings</a>, because they have such a great tutorial level. Handstands are exactly the same way: it’s a great skill to work as a beginner, but also is infinitely challenging depending on your skill level.</p>
<p>Plus, in addition to Jim, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YkbgvRMpW0" target="_blank">Luke Skywalker</a> does them. It’s time to stop looking at other people doing cool things and start today saying “hey, I can do that too!”</p>
<p><span id="more-1342745"></span></p>
<h2>Why handstands are awesome</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-618005" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Jim-Bathurst.jpg" alt="Jim-Bathurst" width="600" height="324" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Jim-Bathurst.jpg 600w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Jim-Bathurst-300x162.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Jim-Bathurst-160x86.jpg 160w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></p>
<p>Team Nerd Fitness member Jim Bathurst (Aka Master of the Universe) has been training and working on handstands for years. From humble beginnings, he self taught himself with handstands and eventually worked his way up to one-handed tricks like the photo above.</p>
<p>Now, you won’t be doing this anytime soon, but it doesn’t mean you can’t start today learning how to go inverted.</p>
<p>Fun fact, I can’t say the word inverted without thinking of Top Gun’s line “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUZxSf_P2r0" target="_blank">because we were inverted</a> ,” but that’s only because I used to watch that movie with my brother every day from ages 3 to 5.</p>
<p>I’ve fallen in love with handstands for a few reasons:</p>
<p><strong>Like other bodyweight training, there’s no excuse.</strong> If you have room to stand up, you have room to practice handstands.</p>
<p><strong>It recruits DOZENS of muscles in your body.</strong> From arm strength to wrist mobility to core strength to shoulder mobility and muscular endurance, handstands do it all. When you are trying to balance, it makes your body work as one complete unit.</p>
<p><strong>It scares you – yes, that’s a positive.</strong> We grow outside our comfort zone and for many people, just the thought of a handstand is enough to make their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yhyp-_hX2s" target="_blank">palms sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. Vomi</a>… nevermind. The point is that the handstand is just as much of a mental challenge as it is a physical one. How scared do you think this guy gets on a regular basis?</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1342786" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_chair-713x533.jpg" alt="jim chair" width="713" height="533" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_chair-713x533.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_chair-300x224.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_chair-160x120.jpg 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/jim_chair.jpg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<h2>The biggest challenge with handstands isn’t what you think</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1342892" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/egg-583163_1280-713x593.jpg" alt="fear egg crush" width="713" height="593" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/egg-583163_1280-713x593.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/egg-583163_1280-300x250.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/egg-583163_1280-768x639.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/egg-583163_1280-160x133.jpg 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/egg-583163_1280.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>Sure, we need to build strength to support ourselves upside-down, but even that hurdle is overblown.</p>
<p>A proper handstand actually starts to feel <em>easy. </em>That’s because once your balanced and aligned, it becomes uber efficient. Just as you don’t exert yourself much if you stand straight with good posture, a good efficient handstand is the same way… it will soon start to feel effortless.</p>
<p><strong>Actually, the biggest hurdle to overcome – especially at the beginning – is the mental fear.</strong> The voice/feeling in the back of your head that says “you could get hurt doing this!” SCARY!</p>
<p>And I won’t sugar-coat things, you can hurt yourself working these skills… but it’s no different than if you walked into the gym first day, slapped 315 lbs on the bench press and gave it a go. Or went out and tried to run 13 miles without training. The exercise itself isn’t dangerous. Only if you approach it too fast.</p>
<p>If you wouldn’t load up a bar to 500 lbs your first day, why do so many people just kick and fling themselves up into a handstand, failing repeatedly, hoping one day they’ll “get” it? There is a smarter way!!</p>
<p><strong>How do we overcome this fear and keep ourselves safe?</strong> Just like you learn anything: slow, easy, successful steps! These small victories accumulate overtime to bring us to our goals safely while having a lot of fun.</p>
<p>Are you ready to learn?</p>
<p>Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Read on for ways to safely progress to handstand mastery!</p>
<h2>The Safe Way To Start: Wrist and Shoulder Handstand Warm-up</h2>
<p>For any handstand exercise, there is going to be a significant amount of stress on the hands and wrists… you’re not Cap! So, it’s important you stretch and warm things up.</p>
<p>Here is a video going over some of our favorite wrist stretches to prepare to get upside-down. Go through each stretch about 10 times.</p>
<p><script src="//fast.wistia.com/assets/external/E-v1.js" async="" type="text/javascript">
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<p>The shoulders are another stressed area in the handstand. There are several ways we can prepare them for work, but a few rounds of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4DAnQ6DtF8" target="_blank">jumping jacks</a> or even just <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=140RTNMciH8" target="_blank">arm circles</a> will get the blood moving and the area ready.</p>
<h2>Beginning Handstand Progression: Start Small and Level Up As You Get Stronger & More Confident</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1343009" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk2-713x372.png" alt="wall walk 2" width="713" height="372" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk2-713x372.png 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk2-300x156.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk2-768x400.png 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk2-160x83.png 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk2.png 1408w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>For the first two weeks of your handstand journey, we’ll have you work with some balance drills and some positional drills. Nothing too crazy, in fact some of these might seem TOO EASY. That’s fine! That’s what we want, remember?</p>
<p><strong>We’re using small victories to motivate us.</strong> Dropping you on your head in the quest for a handstand is not a way to motivate anyone. Well, maybe <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSOJZeyFLc8" target="_blank">this guy.</a></p>
<p>We recommend you focus on with four exercises: the wall walk,hollow body, quadruped rock, and crow pose:</p>
<h3>Wall walks</h3>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1343000" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk-713x403.png" alt="wall walk" width="713" height="403" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk-713x403.png 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk-300x170.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk-768x434.png 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wall-walk-160x90.png 160w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>In this drill, we’ll get started right away working toward something that actually looks like a handstand! If you’re like me, you’ll probably get excited and start to overreach a bit at this point. But I believe in you: don’t let the enthusiasm and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oci1CuCht7E" target="_blank">suspense</a> get the best of you!</p>
<p>All we’re trying to do with this exercise is support our bodyweight on our straightened arms (just like the front plank or pushup).</p>
<p>So, the first level of this exercise is to simply get yourself up into the top of a pushup and holding.If that’s too hard,put your hands up on an elevated surface and/or rest on your knees and hands instead.</p>
<p>Once this is mastered, level up by simply lifting your hips in the air into a down dog position!</p>
<p>From here, it’ll be a matter of getting your feet onto a higher and higher surface. Note: putting your feet up something (I like <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o13J5NHI6fE/UnzOi_RjNEI/AAAAAAAAA_I/B9Dj8wjbHEU/s1600/How%2BMany%2BBumper%2BPlates%2BDoes%2Ba%2BNew%2BGym%2BNeed%3F.jpeg" target="_blank">bumper plates</a>) even a few inches off the floor counts – small steps! As you progress, add more bumper plates (or whatever you’re using) so your feet are higher and higher.</p>
<p>Once you are supporting yourself with your feet on a high box, try walking your feet up the wall. (Think of it like a really tall box!)</p>
<p><strong>Be careful at this step:</strong> Be sure you have enough energy to walk back down safely and second, and that you don’t walk too close to the wall and risk flipping onto your back!</p>
<p>With any of these variations, we’re looking to build up to a solid 15 seconds under control before moving forward.</p>
<h3>Hollow body</h3>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1342951" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/hollow-body-713x396.png" alt="hollow body" width="713" height="396" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/hollow-body-713x396.png 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/hollow-body-300x167.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/hollow-body-768x427.png 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/hollow-body-160x89.png 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/hollow-body.png 956w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>The hollow body is one of the best ways to to engage the midsection and stabilize the body. It will help to give your handstand a good shape. Do you need to master the hollow body to master the handstand? Not necessarily, as there are plenty of handstands out there that are a bit <a href="http://www.beastskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Picture-089-Trellis-Bay.jpg" target="_blank">banana-shaped</a>. But the hollow body will help you create a more efficient position.</p>
<p>Start by laying down a yoga or exercise mat on the ground and laying on the ground face up. Think about pressing your lower back down into the ground and engaging your midsection like you’re coughing. You should still be able to breath!</p>
<p>Once the midsection is set, tuck your knees to your chest and hold your shins like you’re getting ready for a wicked <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGuhRsAEPDw" target="_blank">cannonball</a>. Holding the shins will help you maintain that lower back and midsection position.</p>
<p>Still feeling good? Then try rocking! Rock your body forward and back slightly from the upper back to the lower back, like a rocking chair. Head and feet stay off the ground. If you are stable then you should move as one unit.</p>
<p>If you need more of a challenge, reach your arms by your ears, keep the knees tucked, and rock some more. Without the hands holding the shins, the midsection really has to keep engaged in order to give you a smooth rock.</p>
<p>Again, with any of these positions, build up to be able to rock for a full 15 seconds under control.</p>
<h3>Quadruped Rock</h3>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1343003" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/quad-rock-713x376.png" alt="quad rock" width="713" height="376" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/quad-rock-713x376.png 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/quad-rock-300x158.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/quad-rock-768x405.png 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/quad-rock-160x84.png 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/quad-rock.png 953w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>You may be thinking that feeling the balance of a handstand is going to be brutally difficult. Not so! We can start quite easily on our hands and knees in the quadruped position.</p>
<p>From here, we will simply rock forwards and backwards on our hands. Seem familiar? If you did the wrist mobility we described above, it’s the same motion! Isn’t that handy?</p>
<p>As you are rocking back and forth, feel where the weight rests in your hands. When you rock back, it sits more in the heel of your hands. When you rock forward, you’ll feel it in your knuckles and fingertips.</p>
<p>Where do we want it in the handstand? Right around the knuckles. This is a balanced spot – similar to the balance you find when standing. You don’t sit all your weight on your heels, and you don’t lean all your weight forward, gripping your toes hard into the ground, do you? Find and feel that balance when you rock.</p>
<p>Ready for the next step? Try Crow Pose.</p>
<h3>Crow Pose</h3>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1342949" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CrowPose1-713x393.png" alt="crow pose" width="713" height="393" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CrowPose1-713x393.png 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CrowPose1-300x165.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CrowPose1-768x423.png 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CrowPose1-160x88.png 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CrowPose1.png 955w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>To enter Crow Pose, move forward from the Quadruped Rock position so that your knees are on the outside of your arms. You can even bend the elbows a little and rest your legs on them.</p>
<p>Rock forward in the same manner as before, putting a little more weight on the hands and a little less weight on the feet.</p>
<p>Important: this isn’t Assasin’s Creed… <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAEm8gRyqcc" target="_blank">We are not making a leap of faith here!</a> Don’t jump!! We are simply looking for less and less weight on the feet. Take things slow and easy – rising up on the toes when you can. When you are ready to pick the feet up and hold yourself off the ground on just your hands, it should come naturally.</p>
<p>Be sure to grab into the ground hard to hold and control yourself, and feel free to put down a pile of pillows or mats in front of you if you should fall!</p>
<p>All these rocking and balance drills can be done for several sets of 5-10 reps. Listen to your wrists and give things a rest as needed.</p>
<h2>Tips and Tricks</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1343038" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tipstricks-713x400.png" alt="handstand tips" width="713" height="400" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tipstricks-713x400.png 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tipstricks-300x169.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tipstricks-768x431.png 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tipstricks-160x90.png 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tipstricks.png 940w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>Nothing beats patience and hard work, but there are a few tips and tricks we can provide that will allow you the best chance for success.</p>
<p><strong>Make sure you go through a proper warm-up:</strong> We’ve given you several options for the wrists and shoulders. Not only will a warm-up help prevent injury, but it will get the muscles and joints properly prepared to get the most out of your training.</p>
<p><strong>Prioritize Your Handstand:</strong> You can work the skill on its own time, and it won’t interfere or be interfered by anything else, but what if you’re doing other exercises during your workout? When do you handstand?</p>
<p>The best time to work the balancing drills is at the beginning of your workout, after you’ve warmed up. These skills require concentration and a fresh focus to really benefit and progress with them. Trying to balance after you’ve exhausted yourself with a tough cardio session is a recipe in futility.</p>
<p>The best time to work the positional drills would be sometime during your strength session, and before your cardio. These drills are not as dependent on completely fresh muscles, but we still don’t want to try and hold ourselves upside-down after a grueling workout.</p>
<p>Too much, too soon.</p>
<p>We’ve mentioned this a million times because it’s so important. Taking on too much too soon is a way to develop bad habits and possibly injure yourself. Take your time! Enjoy and really master each step!</p>
<p><strong>Take it Easy:</strong> In the same vein, we want to look for success. What do I usually see when people practice handstands? Someone kicking up 100 times and kinda getting a handstand once or twice. How much sense does that make? While we might not be batting 1,000 with all our attempts, but we should be looking to successfully complete around 8 out of 10 attempts. If we’re not? Then we might have taken on too much, too soon!</p>
<h2>The 5-Minute Rule: Practice Handstands Every Day and Be Amazed at What Happens</h2>
<p>Commit to 5 minutes a day. That’s it. But do it every day.</p>
<p>I’ll see a lot of people go all in for a single handstand session, and then not touch the skill for a week or more. Dan Gable once said, “If it’s important, do it every day.” Now this is a simplification, but with handstands, this is ESPECIALLY important.</p>
<p>When you first start out, your arms and shoulder may only be able to do 5 minutes before they are DONE. Doing them for a short time each day is the best strategy to improve strength, endurance, and balance.</p>
<p>And if you’re interested in diving deep into handstands, we have something awesome for you next week. Stay tuned!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Have you ever tried to kick up into a handstand?</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>What’s the one thing holding you back?</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>What questions can I answer?</em></p>
<p>-Steve</p>
<p>###</p>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-12542298711503423062016-10-14T09:59:00.001-07:002016-10-14T09:59:55.914-07:006 Practical Ways to Practice Being Present<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>There are a lot of amazing benefits to being more present and mindful, but one of my favorites is this: you’re not missing the beauty and joy of the present moment.</p>
<p>Being present also helps you to see when you are feeling fear or resistance, uncertainty or the urge to procrastinate, anger or resentment … and then to work with those difficulties mindfully.</p>
<p>That’s all great, but how do you remember to practice being present? It’s so easy to get caught up in our thoughts and distractions, and forget to practice.</p>
<p>The honest truth is that no one is perfect at this. Me least of all. It’s a continual learning process, not something you figure out and then you’re good. It’s messy and beautiful.</p>
<p>So with that in mind, here are some practical ways to practice:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>A Small Regular Practice</strong>. Form the simple habit of meditating for just two minutes a day (to start with). After you wake up, simply sit comfortably and try to focus on your breath for two minutes. When (not if) your mind wanders, just notice it and label it “thinking.” And gently return to the breath, without harshness. Set a timer, and when the timer goes off, you’re done! If you feel like expanding it by a minute every week or so, feel free to do so, but you don’t have to expand. The benefit of this regular practice is that you learn skills you can take and practice in other parts of your day.</li>
<li><strong>Work with Others</strong>. Having a regular group or partner to meditate with is helpful. You support each other continuing to practice, and can talk about struggles and things you’re learning. If you don’t have a practice group in your area, you could find people online to talk to regularly about practicing.</li>
<li><strong>Have Mindfulness Bells</strong>. You could have a chime regularly sound off on your phone or computer (numerous apps do this) to remind you to pause and be mindful of what’s going on right now. I’ve also found it useful to see other things as mindfulness bells: seeing my child’s face, a traffic light, hearing an alert from an appliance or the computer. Each of these can be a reminder to be present when I notice them.</li>
<li><strong>Set an Intention Before an Activity</strong>. If you’re about to do a work task, process email, read a book, cook dinner … you can pause just before starting, and think for a second about what your intention for that activity might be. What are you hoping to do with this activity? For me, I might cook dinner out of love for my family or myself. I might write a blog post (like this one) out of love for my readers. I might do a workout out of love for myself (and to set a good example for my kids). I process email out of responsibility and consideration for those trying to communicate with me. By setting an intention, it reminds you to be mindful of that intention as you do any activity.</li>
<li><strong>Reflect Daily</strong>. At the end of each day, or at the beginning, take a minute to journal or just reflect on how your day has gone. How have you done with practicing being present? What have you struggled with? Have you been using your mindfulness bells and setting intentions? What resistance has come up for you, what <a href="http://zenhabits.net/narrative/">stories are you telling yourself</a> about all of this? Daily reflection is one of the most useful habits for continuing to practice and getting better at practicing.</li>
<li><strong>See Everything as a Teacher</strong>. This method admittedly sounds a bit corny, but it’s actually amazing. When you’re feeling frustrated with someone, feeling stressed out by work, feeling upset or grieving about the health of a loved one, feeling anxious about a national election … pause and see this person or situation as a teacher. What can you learn from them about being present? What <a href="http://zenhabits.net/attachments/">attachments</a> can you see in yourself that are causing this difficulty? What stories are you forming that are causing you to feel this way? What can you practice letting go of? What can you appreciate about this moment that you are taking for granted? In this way, every difficulty, every person, everything that arises in the present moment can be a loving teacher that is helping us along the path to being present.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Mindfulness for Beginner’s ebook</h3>
<p>If you’d like help with mindfulness, check out my new <strong><a href="http://zenhabits.net/mindfulness-ebook/">Zen Habits Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness short ebook</a></strong>.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits http://zenhabits.net/presence/<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-30497279593604981432016-10-14T07:41:00.001-07:002016-10-14T07:41:18.582-07:005 Common Mistakes When Doing A Proper Squat<p><strong>Can you do a bodyweight squat? Great!</strong></p>
<p><strong>Now, can you do a PROPER bodyweight squat?</strong></p>
<p>Right now you’re asking, “What’s the difference, Steve you weirdo?!”</p>
<p>Today I’m gonna drop some bodyweight squat knowledge bombs on you. Don’t worry, they don’t hurt! Instead, they’ll make your body feel good, and you’ll say: “OOHHHHHHHH, that’s what a squat is!”</p>
<p>Like other basic movements like the pull-up and push-up, most people <em>think</em> they know what a bodyweight squat is, and they think they’re doing them right… but are they?</p>
<p>Judging by the people in my gym, 80%+ of people are actually making some major mistakes in their squat, making the movement inefficient at best and dangerous at worst!</p>
<p>If you have any interest in ever being able to do a barbell squat, you need to first nail the mechanics for a proper bodyweight squat.</p>
<p><strong>We got you covered:</strong> the end of this article you’re going to know exactly what to do and how to remind yourself to keep good form.</p>
<p>We were recently at Camp Nerd Fitness, and NF Team members Staci and Jim along with myself put together a quick 5 minute video for you explaining the ins and outs and the problems people have with bodyweight squats.</p>
<p>Watch the video and check out the mistakes most people are making with bodyweight squats below.</p>
<p><span id="more-1329808"></span></p>
<h2>5 Common BodyWeight Squat Mistakes</h2>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cB0cOX7gePg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.nerdfitness.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>Click squat video above, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB0cOX7gePg" target="_blank">view here.</a></p>
<p><strong>Mistake #1: You stance is too wide or too narrow!</strong> Everybody is genetically different, with different sizes, leg and torso lengths, etc – but even still – there are a few key points for any squat that we want to achieve.</p>
<p>We see people often stand too wide or too narrow with their feet, and thus their squat suffers by failing to get low enough or being off balance. A big part of this comes down to hip mobility – sometimes our bodies can’t yet get as low as we should be able to.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Set your feet about at shoulder width apart, with feet turned slightly out (15-30 degrees). Not parallel with each other like railroad tracks – this can prevent proper depth, twist knees, or mess with your balance.</p>
<p><strong>Mistake #2: Your knees don’t track over your feet!</strong> Imagine you drew a line from your heel to your toe, and extended that line in both directions for infinity. Your knees should bend and flex over that line.</p>
<p>If the knees collapse inwards (the most common issue) then you may very well be able to squat low, but you are going to be putting a lot of undue stress on the knees. Your knee is supposed to be a hinge. Putting sideways stress on your knee is a bit like hanging off of a swinging door. Sure, you could do it, but it just isn’t built to take that kind of beating!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Start in a good position! Before you even start to descend into the squat, think “knees out!” Turn your kneecaps out so they track right over your feet. Your feet and body aren’t moving – just the legs and knees! Try it right now wherever you are sitting or standing: keep your foot stationary, but aim your knee like a flashlight to face different directions.</p>
<p><strong>Mistake #3:</strong> <strong>You don’t squat deep enough (a power curtsy!).</strong> Some people think squatting below parallel is dangerous for your knees. If that’s true then your knees would explode every time you went for a run, climbed a step, or sat in a chair. Your knees actually get STRONGER and healthier when you squat deeper. Deep squatting makes for a complete movement that recruits all muscles in your legs. When you only squat a bit, you’re not recruiting all leg muscles, and that leads to imbalance and injury.</p>
<p>We are not advocating that you squat into a range of motion that causes pain. The first rule of exercise is “do no harm!” But we often see a host of people not squat low enough either out of fear, misinformation, ego (too much weight on the bar!), or just because they’ve made another mistake on this list.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Squat like a toddler. Ever see a toddler squat down? How low do they go? Until the backs of their legs touch their calves, right? If you can do this, congratulations! Many have lost the necessary mobility or strength to be able to do this.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">If you lack the strength, try grabbing onto a door, squat rack, or workout box to assist you into a deeper range of motion. If even this doesn’t help you, then mobility is your weak point. Practice the assisted squat as seen in the video and spend time pausing in the bottom and you’ll be on your way to improved mobility in no time (note: this will be difficult at first).</p>
<p><strong>Mistake #4: You don’t keep your back straight and core tight. </strong>“Straight” doesn’t mean that your torso should remain straight up, perpendicular to the ground like a telephone pole. That’s not how the body moves naturally. We naturally lean a bit forward as we drop down into the squat.</p>
<p>By “straight” we mean that the natural curvature of the spine should be maintained for the entire squat movement. If you drop to the bottom of the squat and look like Gollum hunched over the One Ring, then we have a problem if you ever want to squat with extra weight.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Think: “chest up”. This doesn’t mean “head up” – chest means your chest. Don’t let your head fool you. Puff it up a bit in your squat, like Superman. Did you know that the S actually stands for squats? Yeah, true story.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Be sure to keep your midsection tight and engaged. It should feel like all the muscles around your middle are tensing a bit – like when you cough, or if you were Neo bracing from a punch from Mr. Smith.</p>
<p><strong>Mistake #5: You get up on your toes.</strong> Keeping your feet on the ground is essential for a strong and balanced squat. It is your foundation! If you are just squatting down to grab something or look under something, then popping up on the toes a bit is of little concern, but if you are training your body to eventually move weights around (whether in the gym or everyday life), it will benefit you to keep the feet on the ground during your workouts.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution: Keep your heels down.</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>Bonus Mistake #6: You’re overly concerned with your knees going past your toes on your squat.</strong> This is an old wives tail bro myth that makes a lot of people freak out over nothing! Depending on your genetic makeup and physiological makeup, your knees may very well go past your toes on a deep squat. This is not the end of the world!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Let the knees and ankles flex how they were designed! It is a combined effort the hip, knee, and ankle closing that will get you in a deep, strong squat!</p>
<p>Any preexisting conditions or knee pain notwithstanding, there is no risk to the knees by allowing them to go forward of the toes. There is not a magical field that lives in front of your feet that destroys knees that drift too far. If this were the case, we’d see legions of crippled olympic weightlifters – where the knees <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=olympic+weightlifters&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkhcng29PPAhUDbT4KHVF6CJEQ_AUICSgC&biw=1536&bih=752#tbm=isch&q=olympic+weightlifter+squat" target="_blank">go WAY past the toes</a>– heck, they even wear shoes with elevated heels so that they can get their knees forward more!</p>
<h2>Start doing better squats today!</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-21703" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/squat_child-713x475.jpg" alt="squat child" width="713" height="475" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/squat_child-713x475.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/squat_child-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/squat_child.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>There you go, my dear rebel friend, you now have everything you need to get started down a healthier path to crushing pull-ups.</p>
<p>To recap:</p>
<ol>
<li>Your stance is too wide/narrow</li>
<li>Your knees cave in/don’t track over feet.</li>
<li>You squat too high.</li>
<li>Your backs rounds</li>
<li>You lean forward on your toes</li>
<li>Bonus: You worry about your knees going past your toes</li>
</ol>
<p>Check back later this week for more articles and videos on how to improve your favorite bodyweight movements. And if you’re not already signed up for <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/email-signup/" target="_blank">our email list</a>, make sure you are so you don’t miss email-only bodyweight information this month!</p>
<p>-Steve</p>
<p>###</p>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-51223982850708764162016-10-12T07:24:00.001-07:002016-10-12T07:24:21.117-07:005 Common Mistakes When Doing a Pull-Up<p><strong>Can you do a pull-up? How about a chin-up?</strong></p>
<p>Whether you can or you’re working towards your first, are you suuuuuuure you’re learning how to do them the right way?</p>
<p>As someone who has been training in a commercial gym for the past 15 years, I see people every day doing “pull-ups” and “chin-ups” … but probably <span style="text-decoration: underline;">90%</span> are doing them <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>wrong.</strong></span></p>
<p>It’s like watching Joffrey <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzfTf8S86IU" target="_blank">sword fight</a>. Yeah, he’s putting a lot of energy into it and moving around, but anyone watching can tell that it’s not terribly effective.</p>
<p>Whether you can string together 10 pull-ups already or are <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/04/25/do-a-pull-up/" target="_blank">still working towards your first one</a>, today we’re going to cover all of the big mistakes people make when doing a pull-up or chin-up, and how to make sure you’re doing them right.</p>
<p>Your shoulders, back, and arms are complex pieces of machinery – do proper pull-ups and you’ll be building uber strength and mobility in all the right places. Do them improperly and you might be setting yourself up for an injury.</p>
<p>Zoiks!</p>
<p>I can tell you’re awesome, so I went ahead and made a video for you too to walk you through all of this stuff. Watch the video below and read about the mistakes underneath it to make sure you’re training your pull-ups correctly!</p>
<p><span id="more-1331573"></span></p>
<h2>5 Mistakes People Make with Pull-ups and Chin-Ups</h2>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IwlDSQx5u3A?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.nerdfitness.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Mistake #1:</span> You don’t extend low enough or pull high enough. </strong>Full extensippppppon and full range of motion are major problems for many people training pull-ups and chin-ups. Most people I see in a gym are doing half pull-ups. Either not pulling high enough, not dropping low enough, or both! It’s not a full rep, and it’s robbing your body of effective work.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Leave your ego at the door! Yes, pull-ups are tough, but half effort gives you half results. With each repetition, you want your body to be in a straight line at the bottom – keep your elbows extended and your shoulder relaxed slightly up to your ears. Full range of motion for the win! Better to do a few proper pull-ups than more half-rep ones.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Mistake #2:</span> You don’t engage your shoulders at the start.</strong> Another problem I see with people is not setting one’s shoulders properly when they start their pull-ups, which can put unnecessary strain on your joints/tendons/muscles. It can also be the difference between being able to get your first pull-up or chin-up and flailing around on the bar!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution: Imagine pinching a pen in between your shoulder blades, then do the pull-up.</strong></em> In other words, pull your shoulders down and back before you bend your elbows to pull-up. This puts us in a far more efficient position. By not using our back and shoulder muscles fully, and over the long run we’ll be weaker and at a higher risk for injury.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Mistake #3:</span> You’re doing too hard of a variation.</strong> Whether it’s lack of strength or too much body mass, you should choose a variation that allows you to have great form while getting stronger. Use a box, an assisted band, or an assisted pull-up machine to start at a low weight and build up your strength.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Always do proper pull-ups and chin-ups. Get your chin over the bar from a hang with every rep, and maintain good form. If you find yourself committing the mistakes on this list, make your variation easier.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Mistake #4:</span> Not engaging your shoulders at the top.</strong> Many people will get a good extension at the bottom of their chin-up and start off with great form. But then as they perform the movement, will find their shoulders in a poor position at the top.</p>
<p>A classic sign this is happening is if the chest/neck doesn’t touch the bar, or the body curls inward significantly at the top. Is your shoulder elevated to the ears or rolled forward? Are you shrugging your shoulders as you’re struggling to get above the bar?</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Make your variation easier by working on an assisted chin-up and maintaining a strong shoulder position at the top. Keep your shoulders down and back and engaged through the movement.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">A chin over the bar is a chin-up – we aren’t trying to take away your chin-up if you aren’t getting your chest to the bar. But consider this a progression to even better form so you can eventually work on harder skills like pull-up variations or the legendary muscle-up.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Mistake #5:</span> You use violent kipping motions to do your pull-ups or chin-ups.</strong> We know CrossFitters use the kip to get more pull-ups in a short amount of time. NOW, it is the humble opinion of our team that you should only be kipping AFTER you are capable of doing perfectly functional and safe pull-ups and chin-ups first (in fact, many CrossFit gyms require qualifying strict pull-ups before you can kip).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Solution:</strong></em> Build strength and good position (the foundation!) before you worry about speed. You want to know how to drive a car before you learn how to race it!</p>
<p>Start doing better pull-ups today!</p>
<p>There you go, my dear rebel friend, you now have everything you need to get started down a healthier path to crushing pull-ups.</p>
<p>To recap:</p>
<ul>
<li>Not full range of motion</li>
<li>Shoulder not engaged at the beginning.</li>
<li>Shoulders not engaged at the top</li>
<li>Too hard a variation.</li>
<li>Kipping before strict.</li>
</ul>
<p>Check back later this week for more articles and videos on how to improve your favorite bodyweight movements. And if you’re not already signed up for <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/email-signup/" target="_blank">our email list</a>, make sure you are so you don’t miss email-only bodyweight information this month!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Can you do a pull-up? What was or is currently your biggest challenge?</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Any pull-up or chin-up related questions for us?</em></p>
<p>-Steve</p>
<p>###</p>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-2382577681960577582016-10-11T11:23:00.001-07:002016-10-11T11:23:11.744-07:00A Method for Dealing with Feeling Stressed & Overwhelmed<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>I have an overwhelming amount on my mind today, and with that feeling of being overwhelmed, my stress levels have gone up significantly.</p>
<p>This is a wonderful opportunity to practice being present.</p>
<p>We all experience stress, we all get overwhelmed, and we can drown in it and let it rule our lives … or we can practice with it. Learn from it.</p>
<p>So here’s what I’m doing today to deal with my stress:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Recognize the signs</strong>. When my stress levels go up, two things happen: I have stress hormones flooding my body, and I tend to rush around and jump from one task to another really quickly. These are great signals that something is going on! So the first step of this method is to realize that I’m overwhelmed, and that I need to pause.</li>
<li><strong>Pause and notice</strong>. I stop moving, and notice what’s going on. Just sit still and look inward. Feel the stress in my body. It feels like waves of electricity flowing from my head and chest toward my extremities. Just notice this physical feeling, notice how rushed I feel, notice how I am feeling like the world is crashing down on me.</li>
<li><strong>Notice the urge to be in control</strong>. The feeling of being overwhelmed is so strong because I don’t feel in control. When I can do one thing at a time and have a manageable amount on my plate, I feel in control. <em>This is simply an illusion</em>. I’m never really in control. I make lists, I create systems, I develop routines, I have goals and mark my progress, I have accountability … but I’m just floundering in the dark like everyone else. I don’t know where I’m going, nor am I executing an exact plan to get anywhere. I’m just trying to make my way in an uncertain, uncontrollable world, without falling on my face too much. So now I notice this urge to be in control of my life, and don’t act on it. Just see it, acknowledge it.</li>
<li><strong>Give yourself love</strong>. As I see this urge to be in control, see the stress flowing through me … I can send love to myself. It’s like putting a warm hand over my heart. Then putting a warm hand over the other parts of me that are stressed, that want control. It relaxes me a bit, makes me feel less anxious. It’s like a mother’s love calming an upset child.</li>
<li><strong>Narrow my scope</strong>. This is my concession to my desire to be in control. I can’t do everything at once. Nor can I do in a single day all of the thousand and one things I need to do. I can only do a handful of things today. So I make a list, then pick a few things I can do today. The Today list ends up being too long, so I have to renegotiate my commitments and acknowledge that I only have a limited capacity. I narrow down my Today list. This is now doable. The rest I’ll have to do once I’m done with this smaller list.</li>
<li><strong>Focus on one thing</strong>. All I can do is one thing. I want to do a hundred right now. But I can only do one. So I pick one, clear everything else away, and just focus completely on that one thing. Yes, there’s still stress in my body, and I can be aware of that stress and the urge to be in control that remains, continue to give myself love, as I do my one thing. This is the best I can do. So I do my best at it.</li>
<li><strong>Relax into the moment</strong>. As I do my one thing right now, I can feel the tension in myself. My chest is tight, my neck is tense, my arms and legs are tensed up. So I tell myself to relax into this present moment. I just let myself relax and accept what’s going on, relax and be here with this moment instead of fighting against it, relax and see that there’s beauty and joy to appreciate in this moment, even in the midst of chaos and stress. There’s so much in this one moment that I don’t need to focus on everything else — I’ll get to those things later — but instead can relax into the warm embrace of the goodness of this moment.</li>
</ol>
<p>I am practicing this method as I write these words, and hope to practice it all day today. I offer it to you in hopes that you’ll find some beauty, joy, and appreciation with it as well.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits http://zenhabits.net/stressedout/<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-20025879759863971222016-10-10T07:52:00.001-07:002016-10-10T07:52:55.517-07:00Lord of The Rings: How to Get in Great Shape Using Gymnastic RingsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-35783165335696223832016-10-07T12:42:00.001-07:002016-10-07T12:42:31.580-07:00A Primer on Understanding & Compassion<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>A reader wrote to me that he is frustrated with himself — he hasn’t been as compassionate to people as he’d like recently.</p>
<p>Lots of us experience this: we’re judgmental, quick to snap at people, getting frustrated with how other people act, judging people who have different beliefs than us.</p>
<p>The reader who wrote to me is actually aware of being judgmental — most of us don’t even realize when we’re doing it. We think we’re right to judge others, to be frustrated with them, to snap in anger.</p>
<p>This reader, in contrast, sees the less-than-friendly actions he takes and sees that they’re not aligned with the good person he wants to be, the compassionate person he is at heart. He sees the less friendly actions and wants to change them. That is worthy of celebration.</p>
<p>In this primer, I’d like to talk about how to be more understanding, and then how to be mindfully compassionate on an everyday basis. Of course, I am as guilty of being judgmental and less-than-compassionate as anyone else, so I don’t want to convey the impression that I’m above anyone. I’m not!</p>
<p>That said, I think this is important: when we are judgmental, it hurts our relationships with others, and makes us frustrated and unhappy. We can dissolve all of that, and be happier and more loving with other people and ourselves.</p>
<h3>The Basics of Being Understanding</h3>
<p>When we’re feeling frustrated with others, when we notice ourselves judging others … we can use this as a signpost that it’s time to try understanding them instead.</p>
<p>We judge people all the time:</p>
<ul>
<li>They are acting badly, so we’re frustrated with them</li>
<li>They eat differently than us, so we think they’re wrong</li>
<li>They live differently than us, so we think they are dumb</li>
<li>They have different political views than us, so we think they’re deluded</li>
<li>They’re overweight, poor, have a different religion, speak poorly, dress badly, are on their phones all the time, taking too many selfies, have too much sex, are too prudish, etc. etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>We don’t recognize all of this as being judgmental, but it is. So when we’re doing it, let’s use it as a mindfulness bell.</p>
<p>Here’s what you can do when that mindfulness bell sounds:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Seek to understand</strong>. Instead of having an instant opinion about someone, challenge yourself to be curious instead. See if you can try to understand the person rather than thinking they’re wrong. If we are judging someone, we’re not understanding them. We have a <em>lack of knowledge</em> that’s causing us to be judgmental.</li>
<li><strong>Ask how you can see the good-hearted explanation</strong>. Ask how you can explain the other person’s behavior in a good-hearted way. There’s an explanation that makes the other person seem inconsiderate, ignorant, wrong. And then there’s one that assumes the other person has good-hearted intentions. This isn’t always easy, but if someone is doing something irritating, we might assume they are just trying to be happy. When someone lashes out at you, they might be experiencing fear. We might assume this fear means they want to protect their tender hearts. There’s always a good-hearted way to explain an action, even one we might think of as evil. We don’t have to condone that action, but we can see the tender heart that lies beneath it.</li>
<li><strong>Remember what it’s like to go through that difficulty</strong>. We have all experienced fear, frustration, anxiety, uncertainty, wanting to go away from discomfort. If we see the good-hearted intention behind the action, we can see the difficulty they’re having that goes with that intention. And we can remember what it’s like to have a similar difficulty — remember the pain, fear, frustration, anger, grief that goes with that difficulty.</li>
</ol>
<p>Once we start to understand the person and their actions, see the good heart behind the actions, empathize with their difficulty … we can start offering compassion.</p>
<h3>A Simple Compassion Method</h3>
<p>If you can empathize with the other person’s difficulties, then you can offer them compassion:</p>
<ul>
<li>If they’re suffering pain or stress, you can simply wish for an end to that pain or stress.</li>
<li>You might also wish for them to be happy.</li>
<li>You might even send love from your heart to theirs.</li>
</ul>
<p>A good daily practice is compassion meditation. Try this for just a few minutes a day:</p>
<ol>
<li>Simply sit still and picture yourself in pain or stress (from your actions, or from other things). Feel it in your body.</li>
<li>Wish yourself happiness. Wish for an end to your difficulties. Give yourself some love.</li>
<li>Now repeat this with a loved one, picturing them in pain. Wish for an end to their difficulties, wish for their happiness, send them love.</li>
<li>Repeat the process with a good friend, a colleague, a neighbor, and a stranger.</li>
<li>Finally, picture everyone in the world, and wish for their happiness and an end to their difficulties.</li>
</ol>
<p>This meditation can just take a few minutes a day. It helps cultivate compassion inside of us. When you see other people struggle, you’ll notice this more often, and wish for them to have an end to that struggle. It will take awhile, but if you do this daily (or as close as you can), I believe you’ll see a difference.</p>
<br />
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-89624300935479981552016-10-06T07:08:00.001-07:002016-10-06T07:08:59.501-07:00Work Out At Home, At the Office, Or Anywhere You Want: How to Get Started With Bodyweight Training Today!<p><strong>Today you take your first steps towards becoming a ninja/jedi/assassin/superhero, without needing to foot in a gym.</strong></p>
<p>Interested? Of course you are!</p>
<p>That’s 4 amazing things all combined into a nerd mecha-robot.</p>
<p><strong>Here’s the deal:</strong> It doesn’t matter if you’re a 300-pound guy who wants to lose weight and get back in the dating scene; it doesn’t matter if you’re a mom of three who wants to drop a little fat and gain a little muscle; it doesn’t matter if you’re an in-shape twenty-something who’s just looking for a new workout challenge.</p>
<p>Right now — right in front of you— are all the tools you need to get into amazing shape and live a healthier, happier life.</p>
<p>So…just where the heck are these tools? Check the mirror! Seriously go look in the mirror.</p>
<p>Did you go look? That’s okay if you didn’t. But keep reading.</p>
<p><span id="more-1310713"></span></p>
<h2>Bodyweight Training Can Change Your Body — And Your Life.</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1310947" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Rings.jpg" alt="camp rings" width="680" height="415" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Rings.jpg 680w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Rings-300x183.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Rings-160x98.jpg 160w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /></p>
<p><em>“Use your body to improve your body.”</em> <em>– Something some zen master said at some point probably</em></p>
<p>Bodyweight training means doing any exercise that leverages your own bodyweight to build strength and muscle, burn fat, and become more resilient. Now, you might think that’s just basic stuff like push-ups and squats. And those things ARE bodyweight movements, and absolutely crucial to building a healthy foundation.</p>
<p>Hidden in plain sight, your own bodyweight is actually a complete training system waiting to be used. +5 points to Gryffindor for you being a complete training system. Go you!</p>
<p>Whether you want to use your bodyweight as a centerpiece in your training routine for decades to come (like <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BK6C54KDkoN/?taken-by=stevekamb">me</a> or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/beastskills/?hl=en" target="_blank">Team Nerd Fitness Member Jim Bathurst</a>), just build a foundational strength before you move to barbell workouts, or mix in some bodyweight training to compliment your yoga/swimming/running/dancing/international jewel thievery, today we’ll take you through exactly how to get started.</p>
<p>The best part: since bodyweight training scales in difficulty and has plenty of variety, it truly can be used from Level 1 to Level 50.</p>
<h2>How Bodyweight Training Can Help You Build The Body You Really Want</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1310965" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pushups_kid-713x475.jpg" alt="pushups kid" width="713" height="475" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pushups_kid-713x475.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pushups_kid-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pushups_kid-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pushups_kid-160x107.jpg 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pushups_kid.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p><strong>Your body is a complex piece of machinery that has been fine-tuned over thousands of</strong><br />
<strong>generations.</strong> Think of yourself as Human Ver. 100000000.0.0.1. We’ve been doing “bodyweight training” as a species since our days as cavemen and cavewomen – except back then it wasn’t called training, it was called “life” and there were no spandex in sight:</p>
<p><strong>Things like:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Sitting in a deep squat around a campfire with our tribe.</li>
<li>Crawling under and over things as we encountered obstacles in nature.</li>
<li>Pulling ourselves up into a tree or over a cliff to escape danger.</li>
<li>Pushing ourselves up onto a ledge or platform to get a better view.</li>
<li>Swinging from vine to vine as King of the Jungle. (Okay maybe not this one).</li>
</ul>
<p>Because we’ve had to adapt to do all of those things to survive, our bodies LOVE the idea of working with all of our muscles and bones and joints in unison to accomplish movements or overcome obstacles.</p>
<p>It’s the reason we <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/01/24/rage-against-the-machine-how-to-switch-from-exercise-machines-to-free-weights/" target="_blank">rage against the machines</a> in the gym – cue <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L4YrGaR8E4" target="_blank">“bulls on parade”</a> – they often create imbalances and other weird problems through isolation and non-functional movement. Think of it this way: Cavemen didn’t pick up various rocks to isolate their triceps muscles or do “curlz for the cavegurlz.” And they certainly didn’t lie on a bench at a 30-degree angle while doing log presses to emphasize their upper pectoral muscles before going to kill a gazelle.</p>
<p>Instead, men and women did whatever they needed to do in order to survive — and their bodies adapted as a result.</p>
<p>If you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness for a while, you know I’m a fan of this quote from the trainer of the actors in the movie 300: <em>“Appearance is a consequence of fitness.”</em></p>
<p>Bodyweight exercises tap into our full, natural anatomy. Movements like squats, push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and rows recruit all the muscles in our body and teach our body to work in unison. When you do bodyweight training, your body becomes more efficient working as a unified organism: all of your muscles, tendons, joints, and bones get strong as hell together — and safely.</p>
<p><strong>Plus, you get to master your body like a freaking Jedi.</strong></p>
<p>We know that strength training — with your bodyweight or with free weights — also happens to burn plenty of calories and builds muscle and strength. So it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, young or old — bodyweight strength training can help you build a body that looks good and feels good. In fact, as you get older one of the best ways to feel young is to stay strong! Just ask our <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/04/19/am-i-too-old-to-get-in-shape/" target="_blank">older rebels</a>.</p>
<p>Period. Exclamation point! Loud noises!</p>
<h2>Bodyweight Exercises Can Be Done Anywhere</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1310962" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pullup_bar_forest-713x401.jpg" alt="pullup bar forest" width="713" height="401" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pullup_bar_forest-713x401.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pullup_bar_forest-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pullup_bar_forest-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pullup_bar_forest-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>Read that headline one more time. Crap, there goes that excuse for not exercising! You always have your body with you, which means you always have the ability to exercise, even if it’s just for a few reps here and there.</p>
<p><strong>You can always improve yourself physically. Anytime. Anywhere. Whether you’re:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/12/09/how-to-fly-35000-miles-visit-4-continents-9-countries-and-15-cities-for-418/" target="_blank">Traveling around the world</a></li>
<li>Hunkered down in a bunker <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/01/17/how-to-survive-a-zombie-apocalypse/" target="_blank">during the zombie apocalypse,</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/03/10/angry-birds-workout-plan/" target="_blank">Stuck in a cubicle</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/12/20/the-20-minute-hotel-workout/" target="_blank">Living in a hotel</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/" target="_blank">Training in your living room</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/04/12/playground-workout/" target="_blank">Near a playground</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.space.com/34210-elon-musk-unveils-spacex-mars-colony-ship.html" target="_blank">On mars</a>. Once Elon Musk sends me there.</li>
</ul>
<p>Seriously, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">right now</span> you can just drop down and do some (knee/wall) push-ups.</p>
<p>I’ll wait.</p>
<p>You didn’t do them, did you?! You sandbaggin’ son of a biscuit… you SAILOR you.</p>
<p>Even if you DIDN’T do them, you weren’t completely overwhelmed at the idea of doing a few reps!</p>
<p><strong>My point is this:</strong> You don’t need access to a gym to get in great shape. You simply need to know a few moves — which we’ll teach you below — and you can train anywhere.</p>
<h2>You Can Make Bodyweight Exercises As Easy — Or as Challenging — As You Need</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1310945" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Handstand-713x475.jpg" alt="camp handstand" width="713" height="475" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Handstand-713x475.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Handstand-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Handstand-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Handstand-160x107.jpg 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Camp_Handstand.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>Although bodyweight exercises are a bit more tough to visualize as a scalable activity compared to weight lifting (where you just put more weight on the bar), with just a little bit knowledge bodyweight training is like improving a particular skill tree in video games.</p>
<p><strong>For example, in the pushup you might start on your knees or with your hands on an elevated surface.</strong> Over time, by slowly adjusting the angle you are manipulating your bodyweight, you can effectively change the difficulty of an exercise to make it more challenging. With a tougher angle, you have to move a higher percentage of your bodyweight, and thus more strength is needed!</p>
<p>I guarantee you can train with just your bodyweight for the next 20 years and you will not reach a “MAX LEVEL” screen.</p>
<p><strong>Here’s what an oversimplified progression tree for the pushup might look like:</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Wall push-ups -></strong> Knee push-ups -> push ups -> feet elevated push ups -> pike push ups-> <strong>handstand push ups.</strong></p>
<p>Show me somebody that has advanced to the end of one or more bodyweight skill trees, and I’ll show you somebody that is in peak physical condition (and looks damn good too!).</p>
<p>Once you learn the progressions, it’s just like adding points to a skill tree or leveling up a skill to unlock the next one in a video game. You start at the base exercise, get stronger and better, and then rank up when that movement becomes too easy. Gamification ftw.</p>
<p>There’s always a new skill to work on, a new challenging variation, the next level in the skill you’re working on.</p>
<h2>Bodyweight Exercises Build Great Physiques (Plus, They’re Great Party Tricks)</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1310833" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jim_Handstand-450x600.jpg" alt="jim_handstand" width="450" height="600" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jim_Handstand-450x600.jpg 450w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jim_Handstand-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jim_Handstand-120x160.jpg 120w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jim_Handstand.jpg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /></p>
<p>If you’re like me (and the other 7.2 billion people on the planet), you might look at gymnasts or see what Jim Bathurst is doing in that photo above and say “holy crap I wish I had a body like that” or “dang, would be cool to do that, but not me.”</p>
<p>If you happen to be somebody who is stockier or heavier, you might look at bodyweight-training-jedi and say “I can’t train like them, because i’m not built like them. I need to lose weight first before trying to those things” You’ve got it backwards.</p>
<p><strong>They look like they do precisely because they train like that!</strong></p>
<p>In fact, we have TONS of success stories from people in our community, male and female who have transformed thanks to bodyweight training. Yours truly included!</p>
<p><strong>Some people use the training to slim WAY down, others like me, use it to pack some muscle on (click on each photo for the story!):</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/02/08/how-tiny-changes-transformed-me-from-steve-rogers-to-captain-america/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-332191 size-large" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Steve_Before_During-674x600.png" alt="Steve Before During" width="674" height="600" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Steve_Before_During-674x600.png 674w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Steve_Before_During-300x267.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Steve_Before_During-160x142.png 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Steve_Before_During.png 852w" sizes="(max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px" /></a><br />
<a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/01/18/10-months-128-pounds-lost/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-18975 size-large" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/joe-713x522.jpg" alt="joe" width="713" height="522" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/joe-713x522.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/joe-300x219.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/joe.jpg 860w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/10/09/veronica/"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-18982 size-full" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Veronica-Before-After.jpg" alt="Veronica-Before-After" width="590" height="365" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Veronica-Before-After.jpg 590w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Veronica-Before-After-300x185.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px" /></a></p>
<p>Now, not only do ninja/assassin/gymnasts look good, they can also do some pretty cool party tricks – <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jim_Handstand.jpg" target="_blank">like Jim doing handstands on chairs above.</a></p>
<p>I don’t think I’ll be doing handstands on stacked chairs anytime soon, or busting out one-handed handstands, but it’s amazing to know what our bodies are capable of when we train them with conviction and follow the right progressions!</p>
<p>If you’re somebody who scrolls through Instagram far too often (like me!), use motivation properly and follow people that inspire you to be stronger, fitter, and better.</p>
<p><strong>May I suggest:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHPoSoBD7D2/?taken-by=matstrane" target="_blank">Mats Trane:</a> 53 years young!</li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHCvD-7hj_8/?taken-by=andrii_bondarenko">Andrii Bodarenko:</a> your jaw will drop.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/maddelisk_workout/?hl=en" target="_blank">Madeleine Leander</a> – Starcraft 2 female champion with a PHD in math who has mastered the muscle up!</li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BJySN-MBVX0/?taken-by=minneninja" target="_blank">Jennifer Tavernier</a> – Dang!</li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/nerd_fitness/">Nerd_Fitness</a> – hey that’s us! You’ll definitely want to follow us this month.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/beastskills/" target="_blank">Jim Bathurst</a> – Master of the Training Universe at Nerd Fitness</li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/staciardison/?hl=en" target="_blank">Staci Ardison</a> – Ring enthusiast, Deadlift addict at Nerd Fitness</li>
<li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BK9MoOnjG26/?taken-by=stevekamb&hl=en" target="_blank">Steve Kamb (me!)</a> – all around goofball working on becoming a monkey-ninja-assassin- gymnast-jedi.</li>
</ul>
<h2>How to Get Started With Bodyweight Training</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1310968" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Steve_squat-713x352.png" alt="Steve Squat" width="713" height="352" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Steve_squat-713x352.png 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Steve_squat-300x148.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Steve_squat-768x379.png 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Steve_squat-160x79.png 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Steve_squat.png 951w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p><strong>At this point, you’re most likely nodding your head at your computer and saying “okay fine Steve I get it, I’m going to make bodyweight training a focal point of my training!”</strong></p>
<p>Seriously, I can see you. You look nice today, and those shoes go great with that shirt.</p>
<p>But you might think you’re too overweight or too old or too [something] and that’s all nonsense. Hogwash. Poppycock. Balderdash. (Here’s that <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHPoSoBD7D2/" target="_blank">53 year old Gymnast</a> again who is in better shape than 99% of people 20 years younger.)</p>
<p>If you’re brand new to Nerd Fitness, we recommend you get started with the <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/" target="_blank">Nerd Fitness Beginner Bodyweight Workout</a>. Read the article, and watch the video below, featuring me about 30 pounds lighter and with helmet hair:</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qvhHhDNjtxM?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.nerdfitness.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>(Fun fact, this is our <em>most viewed video</em> on Youtube at 700,000 views, and my shorts are on backwards. Professionalism at its finest!)</p>
<p>If you’re feeling particularly feisty, check out our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZKysm4oAvU" target="_blank">Advanced Bodyweight Workout</a> too.</p>
<p><em><strong>Quick note:</strong> If you’re looking for more structure and variety and a boss battle system, you can check out the <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/academy-overview-page/" target="_blank">Nerd Fitness Academy</a>, our flagship program with boss battles and a leveling system with 7 levels of Bodyweight Exercise Routines (and video demonstrations!) to follow along with as you level up.</em></p>
<p>But you can get started with the basic stuff right, now, equipment and cost free! Start today by <a href="http://www.nerdfitness.com/create-your-character">creating a free character</a> and start working your way through the Assassin Quests which are primarily bodyweight focused!</p>
<p><strong>Here are the three moves I want you to master:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/02/15/proper-push-up/" target="_blank">The Push-up</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/03/03/strength-training-101-how-to-squat-properly/" target="_blank">The Squat</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/04/25/do-a-pull-up/" target="_blank">The Pull-up/Bodyweight Row</a></li>
</ul>
<p>If you can do a workout with 3 sets of 10 push-ups, 3 sets of 20 bodyweight squats, and 3 sets of 5 pull-ups, you will be in better shape than 95% of your peers.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Are those movements too easy for you?</strong> We have more advanced stuff soon…</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Struggle with these movements?</strong> Don’t worry, more articles coming this month to help you perfect each of them!</p>
<p><em>Speaking of this month…</em></p>
<h2>It’s Bodyweight Training Month at Nerd Fitness!</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1310951" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/lego_push-713x400.jpg" alt="lego push-up" width="713" height="400" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/lego_push-713x400.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/lego_push-300x168.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/lego_push-768x431.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/lego_push-160x90.jpg 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/lego_push.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p>In case you missed it, this month we’re trying something different here at Nerd Fitness: We’re declaring October <strong>Bodyweight Training Month!</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>(Funny story: Our bodyweight guild at NF is the “Assassins’ Guild,” but for SOME REASON our lawyers didn’t think “Assassin Awareness Month” would go over well with the general public. But you and I will know the REAL name. Wink wink nudge nudge.)</em></p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if you’re a complete beginner or a super-fancy advanced person: We have lots more bodyweight training articles, tutorials, videos, and other surprises planned for you this month, so make sure to keep up!</p>
<p><strong>And coming later this month…</strong> we’ll unveil our newest top-secret project: An easy-to-follow bodyweight training system for serious Rebels who want to look like a gymnast and perform like a Jedi (zing!) — without stepping foot inside a gym.</p>
<p>I mean, I’m pretty excited about it. Okay I can get excited about pretty much anything, but this especially.</p>
<p><strong>But for now… answer me this:</strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>What is the BIGGEST thing holding you back currently from getting started with bodyweight training?</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>What’s one reason you are going to add bodyweight training to your routines this month?</em></p>
<p>Leave your comments and questions below and we’ll do our best to answer them.</p>
<p><strong>-Steve</strong></p>
<p><strong>###</strong></p>
<p>Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/43322231@N07/4652185729" target="_blank">Leg0Fenris:Lego Pushup</a>, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29442760@N00/29109785286" target="_blank">Exile: Pull-Up Bar</a></p>
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<br />
from Blog – Nerd Fitness http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/10/06/work-out-at-home-at-the-office-or-anywhere-you-want-how-to-get-started-with-bodyweight-training-today/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-22365335258721064842016-10-04T12:20:00.001-07:002016-10-04T12:20:17.719-07:00How to Write Every Day<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>I write every single day. I do it for a living, of course, but I think writing daily has allowed me to do it for a living.</p>
<p>I journal, I write blog posts, courses for my <a href="http://seachange.zenhabits.net/">Sea Change program</a>, <a href="http://zenhabits.net/books">books and ebooks</a>. For fun, I’ve written 50,000 words of a novel for NaNoWriMo, and another year I wrote 110,000. For years, I wrote newspaper articles and opinion columns. None of this is to brag, but to show the kind of writing I do when I write daily.</p>
<h3>The Benefits</h3>
<p>Writing every day has helped me in so many ways. Just to name a few:</p>
<ul>
<li>My writing skills have improved with the years.</li>
<li>I’m able to write faster, type faster, with so much practice.</li>
<li>I can clarify my thinking better because of writing regularly.</li>
<li>I’m able to think from the reader’s perspective, which helps me in lots of life situations.</li>
<li>I am forced to reflect on my life, which deepens my learning.</li>
<li>I am forced to figure out how to motivate myself to write regularly.</li>
<li>I learn to create a regular practice, as I do with meditation, exercise and eating healthily.</li>
<li>I learn to overcome perfection and put things out there to be judged, which helps me to embrace failure and messiness.</li>
<li>I learn to overcome distraction and procrastination.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are many more benefits too, from embracing uncertainty to find a way to express the soul of my being. Not small feats, I think.</p>
<p>So how do you write daily? I’ll share a few ideas that work for me.</p>
<h3>How to Write Daily</h3>
<p>What works for you will be different than what I do, but I thought I’d share what has helped me:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Most important: Have a great reason</strong>. The rest of this doesn’t matter if you skip this step. Answer this question: Why do you want to write every day? If it’s because it sounds fun, sounds cool, sounds nice … you’ll abandon it when you face discomfort. If you want to do it to help someone else, to make the world a better place, to lift someone’s spirits, to reduce your pain, to find a way to express your deeper self … then you can call on this deeper reason when things get difficult.</li>
<li><strong>Block off undistracted time</strong>. All you need is 10 minutes a day. But you have to block off those 10 minutes, and treat them as an unmissable appointment. You wouldn’t tell your doctor that you’ll get to your appointment with her “after checking your email and Facebook just one more time” would you? Then don’t do that to your writing appointment. This is undistracted time, so shut everything down, and treat this space as sacred. Have a place you write, treat it like your daily prayers, and be ready before the appointment starts.</li>
<li><strong>Don’t let yourself forget</strong>. What would you do if you absolutely couldn’t forget an appointment? You might write it on your calendar, set an alarm, even put up a note where you couldn’t miss it. You might ask someone else to remind you. Do all those things.</li>
<li><strong>Do it in a sprint</strong>. Some people think they need to write for an hour or two to make it count. But a task that big will seem daunting. Instead, write for 5 minutes. Or 10. Something small and doable. Then put your full focus and write your ass off for those 10 minutes, like you’re running to the love of your life after a long separation.</li>
<li><strong>Practice mindfulness</strong>. You can treat writing as a meditation — it’s a way to put everything aside but you and the writing, to let your thoughts become words on the page, to see your urges to run, the stories you’re telling yourself about yourself and your life. Don’t simply rush through the writing process and treat it as a chore — notice when your mind is complaining, notice the texture of the room around you, notice how your body feels as you sit and write, and embrace the moment.</li>
<li><strong>Practice gratitude</strong>. As you practice mindfulness, notice the awesomeness of this moment of self-expression. It’s so easy to take this for granted, and want to go do something else. But instead, pause and see what you can appreciate about this writing time. What is beautiful? What are you taking for granted? For me, I am grateful just to have the opportunity to write, to help others, to share what I am learning about this world. And having a roof over my head, not starving and not being in incredible pain, being able to see light and colors and hear the music of the world … these are simply incredible!</li>
<li><strong>Embrace imperfection</strong>. Writing is about letting go of our ideals, and just doing anyway, even if we can’t have perfection. If we only wanted to write amazing things, instead of sucky first drafts, we’d never write. So we have to be messy, let ourselves not be good at something, put it out anyway, and embrace the imperfection of life.</li>
<li><strong>Don’t let your mind run (for a little while)</strong>. Your mind will want to run from the writing. This is normal. The mind doesn’t like uncertainty and discomfort. You’ll want to go check email, check blogs, check social media, check news, go clean your kitchen. Notice this urge, and then sit with it. Don’t run.</li>
</ol>
<p>So that might seem like a lot, but in truth it’s pretty simple. Have a big reason, block off the time, set unforgettable reminders, do it in short bursts, and be mindful, grateful, and focused.</p>
<p>Practicing this on a daily basis helps you form some incredibly useful skills of staying with something and not running to distractions, learning to express yourself, sticking to a regular habit, and being mindful and grateful. These help in all areas of life, and I highly recommend you start today.</p>
<h3>The Create Daily Habit Course</h3>
<p>If you’d like to join me, I’m offering a Create Daily Habit Course in my <a href="http://seachange.zenhabits.net/">Sea Change Program</a>, starting today.</p>
<p>What’s in the course?</p>
<ol>
<li>Twice-weekly video lessons</li>
<li>A challenge to do a 5-minute Create Daily habit every day</li>
<li>Daily challenges on the forums</li>
<li>Discussion threads for each lesson</li>
<li>Optional daily email reminders</li>
<li>A live video webinar with me where you can ask questions</li>
</ol>
<p><strong><a href="http://seachange.zenhabits.net/">Join Sea Change today and get started with this great habit!</a></strong> (Free for a week, $19/month after that)</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits http://zenhabits.net/daily/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-4280539064621769542016-10-04T01:12:00.001-07:002016-10-04T01:12:44.512-07:00The Next Bali Adventure<p><span class="_4n-j fsl">I would like to invite you to join me on my next <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1664349497227946/" target="_blank">Bali Retreat Adventure this November</a>. Following on from the posts I wrote from my last Bali Retreat (<a href="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/2016/07/11/the-beauty-of-detox-in-bali/" target="_blank">The Beauty of Detox in Bali</a> & <a href="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/2016/07/26/truly-madly-healing/" target="_blank">Truly, Madly, Healing</a>) I am excited to share the new retreat format with those who would like to take their retreat experience a little deeper.<br /></span></p>
<p><span class="_4n-j fsl"><a href="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Bali-Rice-Terraces.jpg"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-6512" src="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Bali-Rice-Terraces-300x200.jpg" alt="Green Rice Terraces Landscape On Mountain Background" width="408" height="272" /></a></span></p>
<p>From my many years of traveling to Bali to run my healing retreats, I have fine-tuned and expanded my program to bring in the very best that Ubud has to offer. Ubud has developed into a central healing mecca – with the most incredible raw food, juices, teas, tonics, and elixirs available – as well as an abundance of world-class practitioners to call on to facilitate certain aspects of the retreat. The development of my own practice has called me to take the retreat to a new level, and I am answering that call with the depth of knowledge that comes from my own experiences, which I have woven into the retreat in a way that will empower you beyond anything you have encountered before.</p>
<p>I’ve put together a very select and detailed program which is nurturing and supportive, and will take you on a journey that is not just healing, but indulgent and inspiring as well. You will have the opportunity to go deeper than in the past, exploring not just the physical aspects of healing, but having the option to explore hidden elements that can affect emotional and spiritual health. With the retreat being held in the most beautiful of locations, you can relax into the experience and enjoy the visual beauty that surrounds you.</p>
<p><span class="_4n-j fsl"> </span><strong><span style="color: #ec098d;">A summary of what is included in the program:</span></strong></p>
<p><span class="_4n-j fsl">• Nine nights in Ubud, Bali from Thursday 10th November to Saturday 19th November<br />
• Seven-day juice fast combining specific medicinal elements<br />
• Raw vegan restaurant tour of Bali for meals after the fast<br />
• Chinese medicine tea designed for building chi energy<br />
• A myriad of support supplements, tonics & herbal medicine<br />
• Daily yoga synergy with the incomparable Oksana Sokol<br />
• Four colonic hydro<span class="text_exposed_show">therapy sessions with Putu Hatari<br />
• Alternating days of detoxifying clay wraps & Boreh saunas<br />
• Four therapeutic massages with above treatments<br />
• Three hour breathwork session with Senaja<br />
• Sound healing session with Shervin Boloorian<br />
• Energy meditation with Ernest Hariyanto & the option for individual clearing sessions which are profound if you are looking for major life insights & shifts.<br />
• Fermentation and raw food workshop with Ben Richards from Seeds of Life<br />
• Optional Mt Batur sunrise hike / climb<br />
• Accommodation and airport transfers to and from Kori Ubud<br />
• Luxury accommodation – single or twin share available</span></span></p>
<p>This is going to be a very exclusive and special experience, and as November is not that far away, if you have any interest at all please send a quick email to info@embracinghealth.com.a<wbr />u so that I can register you immediately. I only have ten places on this retreat, so you will need to act quickly if you would like to join me.</p>
<p>Deluxe twin share – two single beds, shared bathroom: $3295 only four places available</p>
<p>Deluxe king room – single king bed, luxury bathroom: $3795 only six places available</p>
<p>I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to share this experience with others that I believe will really appreciate the depth of healing we will go to in this retreat experience. I look forward to hearing from you, if you are up for the challenge and ready to rediscover your best self.</p>
<p>With love always,</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 26pt; font-family: 'Bradley Hand ITC';"><span style="color: #ff00cc;"><strong><em>Leisa</em></strong></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><img title="eh_slogan" src="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/eh_slogan-300x40.jpg" alt="eh_slogan" width="300" height="40" /></span></p>
<div><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=257&uid=155799104453451#!/pages/Embracing-Health/134574176565919" target="_blank"><img title="Facebook" src="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Facebook1.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="44" /></a></span></div>
<p> </p>
<div class='yarpp-related-rss'>
<p>Related posts:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/2013/05/11/bali-detox-retreat-released-october-2013/" rel="bookmark" title="Bali Detox Retreat Released – October 2013!">Bali Detox Retreat Released – October 2013!</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/2016/05/30/bali-bring-a-friend/" rel="bookmark" title="Bali “Bring A Friend” Offer!">Bali “Bring A Friend” Offer!</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/2016/07/11/the-beauty-of-detox-in-bali/" rel="bookmark" title="The Beauty of Detox in Bali">The Beauty of Detox in Bali</a></li>
</ol>
</div>
<br />
<br />
from Embracing Health | Holistic Healing & Lifestyle Blog http://www.embracinghealthblog.com/2016/10/04/the-next-bali-adventure/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-33956626490698580942016-09-30T09:16:00.001-07:002016-09-30T09:16:39.983-07:00Kickstarter Bonus: Dealing with Struggles Video Course<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>As I get closer to the goal for my <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/532372598/habit-zen">Habit Zen app on Kickstarter</a>, I’ve decided to add a new bonus reward: <strong>a video course on dealing with life struggles</strong>.</p>
<p>It’s for anyone who is struggling with:</p>
<ul>
<li>Frustration</li>
<li>Feeling overwhelmed</li>
<li>Stress and anxiety</li>
<li>Feeling down or unmotivated</li>
<li>Unhappy with their direction in life</li>
<li>Feeling bad about themselves</li>
</ul>
<p>I won’t be able to give you all the answers to turn your life around, but we’ll look at dealing with these difficulties and easing them.</p>
<p>It’ll be a four-week video course with:</p>
<ol>
<li>Twice-weekly video lessons</li>
<li>Exercises designed to help you build skills</li>
<li>The ability to submit your struggle – I’ll do a video or article addressing your (anonymous) case</li>
<li>A live video webinar with me, where you can ask questions</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m planning on launching this video course in November, and I will sell it for $200 at that time. But if you <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/532372598/habit-zen">back my project on Kickstarter at the “Dealing with Struggles” level</a> (campaign ends Tuesday morning), you can get it for $150. Plus more: beta access to the Habit Zen app, the Habit Guide ebook and videos, and access to a series of habit webinars. And a deep thank you from me!</p>
<p>Note: If you have already backed the project at a different reward level, you can <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/backer+questions#faq_63083">update your level</a> to get this reward (if you do the $150 level and select Dealing with Struggles reward level)</p>
<p>Guys, I am opening my heart to anyone who joins this Dealing with Struggles course. I’m not doing it for money, but because I know what it’s like to struggle. I have found some mindfulness techniques that have helped me and a lot of other people I’ve coached, and I want to help. It won’t necessarily be easy — you’ll have to put in some work — but it can be life-changing. And I’ll be there with you.</p>
<p>My friends, I am so close to meeting my goal with this Kickstarter project! I’d like to not only hit the goal, but surpass it. That will enable me to pay the Kickstarter fee plus taxes, plus hopefully get the phone app development going soon. I would be incredibly grateful if you could help me — there are only a few days left!</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/532372598/habit-zen">Back the Habit Zen app on Kickstarter today</a></strong>.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits http://zenhabits.net/kickstarter-struggles/<br />
via <a href="https://ifttt.com/?ref=da&site=blogger">IFTTT</a>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-33624283016586588942016-09-28T09:09:00.001-07:002016-09-28T09:09:35.832-07:00How a 330 lb High School Dropout Lost 140 lbs and Turned His Life Around<p><strong>Talk about an Origin Story straight out of a comic book!</strong></p>
<p>At 330 lbs, Joe was unemployed and a highschool dropout. Living rent-free with his grandfather, Joe would sleep all day and wake up at the start of the evening. Having grown up with unhealthy habits, Joe says he’d been binge-eating as long as he can remember. He developed a hypothyroid issue as a teen, and hadn’t bothered to take care of it.</p>
<p>Many of us feel trapped by our situations, and so we do what Joe did for years. Instead of using this as an impetus to change, we make ourselves feel better by falling even deeper into these negative habits. Joe says he would eat “entire loaves of bread with peanut butter or entire 2 pound boxes of chicken fingers” at night. “I’d have to use two baking trays to make them all. I’d stay up until 5-7am watching Turner Classic Movies or Buffy. Sometimes I had the energy to play videogames.”</p>
<p><strong>He wasn’t taking care of himself physically, or mentally. Things felt dire:</strong> “Every night I went to bed thinking/hoping I’d die. I was a total wreck. It’s hard to remember.”</p>
<p><em>But – spoiler alert – Joe turned things around… this is a Nerd Fitness success story after all.</em></p>
<p>Joe is now 28 and has lost 140 lbs. Like many of our success stories, he used fitness as a gateway to change his entire life: Now he’s finishing a Masters in Library and Information Science and completing an 8-month work term in a special library dedicated to atmospheric and meteorological sciences.</p>
<p>Let’s hear some more from Joe to hear how he looks, feels, and acts like an entirely different person than he was a few years ago.</p>
<p><span id="more-1284320"></span></p>
<h2>Joe’s Journey</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1284451" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Joe_Before_After-713x277.png" alt="Joe Before and After" width="713" height="277" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Joe_Before_After-713x277.png 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Joe_Before_After-300x116.png 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Joe_Before_After-768x298.png 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Joe_Before_After-160x62.png 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Joe_Before_After.png 1168w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p><strong>Steve: Joe, thanks for sharing your story and your low points so honestly. I think many of those in the Nerd Fitness Rebellion are either going through or have some experience with these moments. Let’s go back to the starting point. Do you remember the moment that things started to turn around?</strong></p>
<p>I’d gotten to the point where I could barely socialize. The photo of me at 330 is one of the rare times I went out to see people. I ended up drinking an entire forty ounce bottle of vodka and eating two bags of chips. Walked home in the snow, got home and vomited orange goo… And so it continued like that for a while.</p>
<p>It was the worst time in my life and I basically wanted to die.</p>
<p>I don’t know why something changed. Or how it changed. I just remember one night I was watching a movie by John Huston called “Fat City” (nothing to do with being fat – it’s a boxing movie with Stacey Keach and Jeff Bridges). After the movie I put on my headphones and went for a walk at <span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_344801308"><span class="aQJ">3am</span></span>. It was raining. I could barely get down the block. And I just kept it up. Walking at night. Hiding but working at it. And slowly but surely I just walked more and more. I started seeing friends again. Went to my doctor, started correcting my thyroid (blood work twice a month). I got to the point where I walked 1-2 hours a day.</p>
<p><img class="alignright wp-image-1287563 size-medium" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-280-age-23-274x300.jpg" alt="me-at-280-age-23" width="274" height="300" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-280-age-23-274x300.jpg 274w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-280-age-23-146x160.jpg 146w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-280-age-23.jpg 469w" sizes="(max-width: 274px) 100vw, 274px" /></p>
<p><strong>Steve: A journey started by simply walking. Love it. Reminds me Frodo taking a first step out of the Shire. In fact, it was even inspiration for our <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/07/23/walking/" target="_blank">Walking to Mordor</a> and <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/11/01/morning-mile/" target="_blank">Morning Mile challenges</a> – tools to help people find their way in to the beginning of the game. What happened next? </strong></p>
<p>Eventually I got down from 330 to 280, finished high school through Distance Education and enrolled in university. I remember finding a pair of dumbbells in my aunt’s basement and borrowing them. I didn’t even know how to work out. I just did curls and what turns out to be overhead presses. I kept that up. Didn’t see much of any result from it since the dumbbells were only 10 pounds. But it began the habit.</p>
<p><em>Some time after I googled workouts and somehow found Nerd Fitness.</em></p>
<p>It was an earlier article you <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/15/how-to-build-your-own-workout-routine/" target="_blank">wrote about how to construct a workout.</a> The basics of push/pull/legs/core. And I started doing bodyweight circuits. I could barely do knee push-ups.</p>
<p>I wasn’t transformed, but things were different. I was accepted to a university with scholarship, but I was still eating like a death-row inmate on suicide watch.</p>
<p>I’d often go get a footlong steak sub and a full-sized bag of Dorito’s and 1L of diet coke…and it eat it all before a single episode of Community was over. But I was walking an hour a day and starting strength training. I was a lot healthier emotionally and mentally too. This was huge progress.</p>
<p><strong>Steve: It sounds like your journey of a thousand miles happened slowly, one step at a time. Walking each day, learning strength training, and just trying to take positive steps each day is an incredible difference from where you were at a year prior. So, how did you go from there to the “Joe-today” we see in this post?</strong></p>
<p>Starting with the bodyweight workout from the Nerd Fitness article, I eventually got a kettlebell (although at first, I could barely do knee push-ups).</p>
<p>Throughout this time I was kind of active on the NF Forums, but struggled to achieve my goals.</p>
<p><strong>However, I did keep the habit of working out.</strong> I get more motivation, I think, from just surprising people with my accomplishments. Eventually I could do a few push-ups (along with rows, lunges, and planks) and it gave me a lot of confidence.</p>
<p>I ended up at a boxing gym nearby, and learned from people in real life what good form looks like. My diet was still just total bullshit, but I managed to get down to 235-240.</p>
<p>One day I’d just sort of realized I’d gained muscle. People started commenting on how much better I looked.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-1284455 size-full" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-190-age-28.jpg" alt="Joe 190 After" width="540" height="540" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-190-age-28.jpg 540w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-190-age-28-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-190-age-28-300x300.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-190-age-28-160x160.jpg 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Me-at-190-age-28-180x180.jpg 180w" sizes="(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px" /></p>
<p>I’d always read new posts on NF and try things out diet wise. Paleo for a few weeks. Then back to non-stop binge eating.</p>
<p>So, when I hurt my knee and stopped boxing, I ballooned back up to 260. It was only when I put a focus on diet that things really changed for good.</p>
<p><strong>Steve: Diet is so damn hard for all of us, but as you know, the central driver of progress. How did you break through?</strong></p>
<p>I started doing flexible dieting (roughly counting calories) and weighing myself almost every day. Diet-wise this is what, and still, works for me.</p>
<p>It’s enjoyable and I can be totally consistent. And it helped me mentally that I can eat what I want, just as long as my calories are around where they need to be. When I started cutting, I was losing weight on 3200 calories a day. This blew my mind.</p>
<p>I was also using <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/08/06/a-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting/" target="_blank">intermittent fasting</a>, which saved me a lot of calories at night. Basically, I accepted that I enjoyed eating a lot of calories at once, and built my strategy around this fact.</p>
<p>As my diet was getting fixed, I began working out at a normal gym with a really basic workout routine: OH Press, Chin-ups, Front Squats, Trapbar Deadlifts, Rows, Push-ups and even started doing a bit of isolation work, which I’d never done before. Today I use a similar minimalist routine, and focus the rest of my attention on diet.</p>
<p><strong>Steve: Wow, an incredible journey. I bet it’s hard to look back and say it was easy or a smooth ride. What was your secret?</strong></p>
<p>Ultimately, what was my issue was psychology and strategy. I never gave up. I <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/12/02/fallen-off-the-wagon-today-is-national-respawn-day/" target="_blank">kept respawning</a>.</p>
<p>I tried a lot of different things to figure out what works for me and what lets me be consistent. I like working out and enjoy the zen aspect of training and hiking/walking. Dieting took A LONG time to figure out for me. I had to deal with a lot of binge eating issues, childhood crap and who knows what. A lot of mental demons were slain along the way.</p>
<p>Nerd Fitness was always there and it was the first place I ever went to for advice. If I’d ended up on another site or fitness forum, who knows where I’d be today! Probably doing curls in the squat racks and 3 different bench variations for my chest… The <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/success-stories" target="_blank">positive success stories on NF</a> always kept me going. I also discovered <a href="https://gmb.io/" target="_blank">GMB</a> through NF and I love them: their attitude was a huge influence on how I mentally approach training.</p>
<p><strong>Steve: Slaying personal demons around food sounds like it was your final boss battle. Do you have any other thoughts to share for someone reading and struggling with the same thing?</strong></p>
<p>Weightloss is thermodynamics. It is simple math that is terribly clouded by our emotions and mental gymnastics.</p>
<p>Food shouldn’t be a cult and it shouldn’t be avoided unless you’re truly allergic to something or you just can’t control yourself around it. I’m not saying don’t eat healthy – I love fruits and vegetables – but I finished an Angus Bacon and Cheddar Burger with fries from McDonald’s before writing this response.</p>
<p>Do I eat that every day? Hell no. But I do eat it maybe once every week or every two weeks. And I know it’s about 1200ish calories, so I save my calories for it by eating lighter throughout the day.</p>
<p>Eating a cheeseburger doesn’t make you a bad person. Robbing old people in an alley does. For years I attached my emotional self-worth to the types of food and this mentality made me binge eat out of guilt to punish myself. It’s a vicious cycle.</p>
<p>Short Answer: I roughly count and estimate my calories.</p>
<p>Long Answer: To stay at my weight with my activity level, I know I need about 3000ish calories. It takes some practice, but you get the hang of it. I fast. I also use carbonated drinks like sparkling water to make meals feel more filling without adding excess calories. I try to eat at least 100 grams of protein a day, a few servings of vegetables and fruits, around 30gs of fiber…after that, it’s all good and delicious. I don’t obsess over ingredient labels; I eat sugar, I eat fat, I eat dairy and I eat grains.</p>
<p>And I avoid buying foods I can’t control my consumption of, like ice cream or cookies. If it’s in the house, I’ll eat it all. So, if I want ice cream, I’ll go to a nice ice cream place and get some. If I want a cookie, I’ll find a bakery or a café. Eat it, enjoy it and move on.</p>
<p>DIET LIKE EXERCISE REQUIRES PRACTICE!</p>
<p><img class="size-large wp-image-1287577 alignright" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20160821_104133-1-338x600.jpg" alt="Joe After" width="338" height="600" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20160821_104133-1-338x600.jpg 338w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20160821_104133-1-169x300.jpg 169w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20160821_104133-1-768x1365.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20160821_104133-1-90x160.jpg 90w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/20160821_104133-1.jpg 1494w" sizes="(max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px" /></p>
<p><strong>Steve: Love it. These are incredibly practical tips, and it sounds like you’ve not only learned a lot about yourself, but also integrated that knowledge into your life and built intelligent habits to boot with a healthy relationship with food</strong></p>
<p><strong>Any particular mindset struggles?</strong></p>
<p>I used to say, “Oh, I’ll start again tomorrow. So, I may as well just eat my face off today.” I did that for literally years. I’m not kidding. YEARS. Every day!</p>
<p>I mean, it’s basically insanity. Doing the same thing and expecting different results.</p>
<p>It’s like I lived the same day every day in some ways like Groundhog Day. I even made <em>several</em> different NF accounts over the years because I’d ‘want to start fresh’. It’s basically like deleting your saved game and starting over and expecting that somehow you’ll make it further the next time because you wished you were a chaotic neutral dwarf, not a chaotic neutral Halfling.</p>
<p>Changing your mindset and attitude is hard. Now I think, “I’ll do the best I can do today with whatever is going on.” If I go out drinking at eat a little too much, I might gain a 1/4th to ½ pound of actual fat. But I know it’ll come off in a week.</p>
<p>I don’t define myself by my mistakes, but my success. And I let myself be human.</p>
<p><strong>Steve: Tell me about how you tracked progress. </strong></p>
<p>I started out counting calories pretty accurately using an online calculator. But I found it really stressful and counterproductive for the type of personality I have. Which is obsessive-compulsive if I’m not careful. So, I started eyeballing it and felt a lot less stressed.</p>
<p><em>I believe that estimating your calories works on one condition:</em> you assess yourself some other way too. I weighed myself nearly every day, so I knew if my calorie strategy was on track or needed adjustments. And for some reason, weighing myself daily didn’t stress me out like it does others.</p>
<p>I also kept in mind that if I ate something high in sodium, I’d weigh 2-3 pounds more the next day, even if I ate far less than normal the week before. I got good at not attaching too much emotion to the numbers I saw on a daily basis. It became about the weekly or monthly trend. Did it go up? Did it go down? Did it stay the same?</p>
<p>Clothes were also a great motivator and measurement tool. I used to wear a 4XL and a 56” waist. That is not a lie. Now I wear a medium shirt and a 32” pant size. And in fact, I find the 32” a bit loose these days. Which could suggest I’ve lost a bit of fat while gaining a bit of muscle. OR, they’re just old and worked in, haha.</p>
<p><strong>Steve: What do you feel was the single most important change you made?</strong></p>
<p>Get your head on straight. Take it seriously, but take it easy. Keep moving forward at a pace that works for you. Progress is always progress. And sometimes it may feel like nothing has happened, but you may be down 2 pounds that month. Or maybe you added five pounds or a rep to a lift. That is how progress works. A piece of advice Chris Pratt gave about losing weight, which I’ll always remember is: time moves at the same pace whether you’re doing good or doing bad.</p>
<p><img class="size-medium wp-image-1287575 alignright" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-300x169.jpg" alt="Joe 190-plain-light" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-713x401.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-160x90.jpg 160w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light.jpg 1594w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p><strong>Steve: What would you tell somebody in your situation right now to help them? Somebody who’s tried and failed but ready to try again?</strong></p>
<p>If a 330 lb. high school dropout can do it, then so can you!</p>
<p>If you still keep trying, it means you want it. And eventually, you’ll figure out a way inside your mess of a mind to make it work for you. It’ll click and it’ll groove and a few months down the line, after years of suffering, you’ll be lighter, or stronger, or bigger and go, “Holy Shit! I did it and I’m making progress.”</p>
<p>And it may be cliché but it’s cliché for a reason: success breeds success. And step by step, battle by battle, ledge by ledge, you’ll forge the person you thought you could be on the outside and on the inside. In fact, the confidence gained by doing what I’ve done is more important than how I look. Nobody has every hurt me like I hurt myself, but nobody has ever pulled myself up to reach lofty goals like myself. The same person that made you a fat blob is the same person that’ll make you fit and healthy.</p>
<p>And without any irony, I say this: love yourself.</p>
<p><strong>Steve: Your physical appearance has changed…what else has changed about you?</strong></p>
<p>I like clothes way more. Which seems to be a common theme for people that drop lots of pounds. I used to hate going clothing shopping. Even when I was in the low 200s, because I’m only 5’9, it was really frustrating to find clothes that fit. But, it’s become a lot easier.</p>
<p><em>(Editor’s note: if this sounds like you, here’s <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/12/16/how-to-level-up-your-wardrobe-a-primer-on-first-impressions/">how to not dress like an idiot</a>!)</em></p>
<p><strong>Steve: As someone studying Library and Information Science and atmospheric and meteorological sciences, I don’t think you actually NEED more nerd cred. But, we still need to know: </strong><strong>Star Wars or Lord of the Rings?</strong><br />
Indian Jones. Yeah, you heard me!</p>
<p><strong>Steve: Ha. <a href="http://officequotes.net/no4-08.php" target="_blank">I will allow it.</a></strong> <strong>Favorite video game of all time?</strong><br />
Bushido Blade for Playstation. Best fighting game ever. I can’t figure out why they only made two (other than the rights being sold off by Square at some point). If there are any game developers reading this. Please, for the love of God and all things Holy (or for the love of Satan and all things unholy) make a realistic, one-hit-kill sword fighting game with three planes of movement.</p>
<h2>Why Joe Was Successful</h2>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-1284448" src="//www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-2-713x401.jpg" alt="190 Joe" width="713" height="401" srcset="https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-2-713x401.jpg 713w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.nerdfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/190-plain-light-2-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /></p>
<p><strong>The changes in Joe’s life are unbelievably epic, and hopefully can help inspire many of us needing to make daunting changes in our own lives.</strong></p>
<p>Remember, no matter how bad things seem: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84AVYn0ZELI" target="_blank">There is always hope.</a> But so many of us fail to translate this flicker of hope into real life… So, how did Joe do it?</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Joe took imperfect action.</strong> He did something right now. He had the courage to step forward even when his world seemed to be in its darkest hour. When everything in the world seemed against him (he was a dropout, living at home, overweight, and mentally down), he still got started anyway. He did what he could. He walked. It wasn’t the end all be all solution to all of his problems. But it was something. Something that eventually led him to a complete transformation.</li>
<li><strong>He experimented.</strong> When he tried new workouts, diet, or made changes in his life, he wasn’t satisfied with “<a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/06/11/good-enough/" target="_blank">good enough</a>.” Instead, he kept trying new things. Kept tweaking. It was this experimentation and openess that helped him learn about himself and what his deepest habits and challenges were. He kept <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2015/05/18/why-having-to-start-over-again-is-great/">respawning</a> and trying and failing differently.</li>
<li><strong>He made his diet work for him, n</strong><strong>ot the other way around.</strong> In the course of learning about himself, he understood that he couldn’t change everything at once. So he used intermittent fasting and other flexible diet strategies to go with the flow, rather than oppose one of his most powerful habit patterns. He knew he liked eating a lot of calories at once, so he used intermittent fasting. He knew he struggled with the stress of always making perfect diet choices, so instead trying to eat only kale and chicken breasts for 6 months, he gave himself a break through flexible dieting. He aimed to eat healthy generally, but let himself be human.</li>
<li><strong>Joe understand the importance of mindset.</strong> Our <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/06/20/a-nerds-introduction-to-mental-health/" target="_blank">mental well-being</a> is so incredibly important. Whether we need to give ourselves a smarter framework to think about our health, or whether we need to address an underlying issue, we can’t change our lives if we are still stuck in a mental rut. If we are still doing and trying the same things over and over and never spend the time to critically examine our lives and try something different, it’s no wonder we wouldn’t see results.It’s scary to look at the world a different way. But sometimes if we want to achieve our goals, there isn’t any other way. <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/01/20/why-you-need-to-do-sh-that-scares-you/">We have to do shit that scares us</a>. Changes requires something different to occur. It <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2014/07/24/growth-happens-at-our-limits-embrace-it/" target="_blank">happens “at our limits,”</a> whether we like it or not. Whether you are eating the same things month after month and wondering why you aren’t losing weight, or dieting over and over and regaining weight every year, or working your ass off on a treadmill and never seeing progress: be aware when you need to make a change.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/success-stories" target="_blank">Nerd Fitness Success Stories</a> come in all different shapes and sizes. Everyone takes a slightly different path to getting healthy, but every success has one thing in common: They finally hit the start button and did their best once the game started. When things didn’t go right, they respawned. They made tweaks, they kept <a href="http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/go-right/82488987/" target="_blank">moving right. </a></p>
<p>Whether you start with the free <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/" target="_blank">Beginner Bodyweight Workout</a>, <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/04/12/playground-workout/" target="_blank">the Playground Workout</a>, or <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/12/20/the-20-minute-hotel-workout/" target="_blank">Hotel Workout</a>, or need a little extra help and dive into the <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/academy-overview-page/" target="_blank">Nerd Fitness Academy</a>, you need to start now.</p>
<p><strong>-Steve</strong></p>
<p><strong>PS – Looking for more success stories? Learn how <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2015/06/29/how-ron-the-lay-pastor-lost-100-lbs/" target="_blank">Ron the Lay Pastor lost 100 lbs</a> (and counting) with <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/academy-overview-page/">the NF Academy</a>, or how <a href="https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2015/04/16/maya-ss/" target="_blank">Maya the aspiring aerialist transformed her body</a> and started trying new things.</strong></p>
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from Blog – Nerd Fitness http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/09/28/how-a-330-lb-high-school-dropout-lost-140-lbs-and-turned-his-life-around/<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-89846775692232488422016-09-27T08:14:00.001-07:002016-09-27T08:14:23.143-07:00A Short Guide to Starting, if You’re Struggling<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>I know a lot of people who fall into a slump, losing the habit of exercise, procrastinating with work, slipping into a bad diet, and generally not feeling motivated.</p>
<p>It’s hard to get out of a slump like that.</p>
<p>It’s hard to get going again, to get started when all the forces of inertia are against you.</p>
<p>Here’s how to get started, in just a few easy steps.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Pick one thing</strong>. Pick just one change. People who want to change their lives usually want to change everything at once. But trust me, one change is enough for now: go for a short walk, do a few pushups, eat a fruit for breakfast, do a 5-sentence journal every morning. Not all of these, just pick one! Focus on it for the next month.</li>
<li><strong>Send a friend an email</strong>. Just a quick email, asking for help. Tell them you’ve been slumping, but you’re going to stick to one change. Ask them to keep you accountable — if you don’t do what you promise every day for a month, you owe them something big (or embarrassing). Make it something powerful, so you <em>definitely</em> won’t allow yourself to fail.</li>
<li><strong>Promise to do something ridiculously easy</strong>. Tell your friend you’re going to do something every day — but something super easy. Again, go for a 5-minute walk. Do just a few pushups every morning. Do a journal of just 5 sentences each day. The easier the better. Again, trust me on this one. You want it so easy you can’t say no.</li>
<li><strong>Create unmissable reminders</strong>. Put a huge sign somewhere you won’t miss it. Reminders in your email, calendar, phone. Ask people around you to remind you. Put a rubber band around your wrist. Don’t let yourself forget!</li>
<li><strong>Build trust with a single step</strong>. Every day, you just need to take one step. Just write one sentence in your journal. Just do one pushup or yoga pose. When you take that step, do it mindfully and with gratitude and joy. Smile. Enjoy that tiny victory. With that step, you’re building trust in yourself. When you see yourself want to put it off, pause. Breathe. Stay with the urge to run away but don’t let yourself run. Smile, and do the habit anyway.</li>
</ol>
<p>With every single step, you’ll feel better. When you finish that step, take the next one. You’ll trust yourself more and more, and eventually you’ll be able to add another small habit, then another the month after. And soon you’ll be kicking butt, happy you’re moving in a good direction, smiling with gratitude with every good thing you’re doing for yourself.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits http://zenhabits.net/start/<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-24343539530156181902016-09-23T12:13:00.001-07:002016-09-23T12:13:41.569-07:00What’s the Most Loving Thing You Can Do?<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>The question I’ve been asking myself lately, before I do anything, is a deceptively simple one: “<strong>What’s the most loving thing you can do in this situation?</strong>“</p>
<p>Now, that might sound corny to some of you, might seem irrelevant to most of you. But give me one minute of your time to explain.</p>
<p>I’ve been experimenting for awhile with <a href="http://zenhabits.net/flexible/">letting go</a>. Not running when I have uncertainty, fear, discomfort. Not acting on my fears or frustrations. Not letting these things drive me, but sitting still with them instead, and facing them with courage.</p>
<p>That’s wonderful, but what if you actually <em>need to act</em>? You could sit still all day, but then you’d never help anyone, never create anything, never <em>do anything</em>.</p>
<p>So there’s a <strong>need to not act</strong>, to sit still … and there’s a <strong>need to act</strong>. How do we determine which is which?</p>
<p>By asking that question. “What’s the most loving thing you can do in this situation?”</p>
<p>When you’re about to take an action (including running away, going away from uncertainty to comfort, procrastinating, going to distractions or comfort food) … stop and sit still.</p>
<p>Turn inward and see if fear or stress is coming up, see if you’re feeling uncertainty and wanting to cope by getting control. See if you’re trying to comfort yourself, or to lash out, to close down.</p>
<p>In this case, <strong>the most loving thing you can do is nothing</strong>.</p>
<p>The most loving thing you can do, for yourself and others, is to sit still. Face the fear and uncertainty. Not act out wanting to control these emotions, wanting to comfort yourself.</p>
<p>But in other cases, you want to take action. Doing your work, for example, could be something that helps you or your team or the world. Taking care of someone, talking to them, being there for them, serving them … those can be very helpful things to do.</p>
<p>In these cases, <strong>acting to help yourself or someone else is the most loving thing you can do</strong>.</p>
<p>If I’m going to read with my kid, take a walk with my wife, clean the kitchen for my family, write a book for my readers … these are loving acts.</p>
<p>If I’m running to check email or social media because I want something easy to do instead of writing that book for my readers … the loving act is to sit still and face this discomfort, fear and uncertainty.</p>
<p>When I’m talking to someone out of frustration, the most loving thing I can do is to refrain from trying to criticize or control them or be defensive. Instead, I can face this frustration. When I calm myself down, I can talk to them in a loving way and try to help them, try to empathize with them, try to be there for them.</p>
<p>Each time I’m about to act, the best thing I can do is ask that question: What’s the most loving thing you can do in this situation? I might not always remember, but when I do, it is always a helpful question.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits http://zenhabits.net/loving/<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-21891779549667376452016-09-21T11:16:00.001-07:002016-09-21T11:16:23.421-07:00Habit Guide Ebook, Habit Mastery Video Course, and Mindfulness Seminar Available<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>I told you guys earlier about the Kickstarter campaign for my Habit Zen app, but today I wanted to share three special rewards that I included in that campaign: a habit guide ebook, my new Habit Mastery video course, and a one-day mindfulness seminar with me in San Francisco.</p>
<p>These are three new products I’ve been creating, and I’m offering them in this campaign for the first time.</p>
<p>I think they’re some of the most important things I’ve created, so I’m going to share some details about each so you can grab them before the campaign ends (in less than 2 weeks) if you want.</p>
<h3>Habit Guide Ebook</h3>
<p>Similar to the <a href="http://zenhabits.net/mindfulness-ebook/">Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness short ebook</a> I released last month, this is a concise guide for beginners — the mechanics of how habits are formed, the common obstacles to sticking to a habit and how to solve them, and some key habit skills. This is something you can read in a couple of sittings, but put the exercises into practice over a month to learn the fundamentals of creating new habits.</p>
<p>I’m writing this book now, and hope to finish it by next month, and release it either at the end of October or sometime in November. It’ll be sold separately as a regular short-read ebook at $4.99 here on Zen Habits, or as a package for $9.99 with some additional instructional videos. But you can reserve your copy of the ebook and videos now by <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/532372598/habit-zen">supporting my Habit Zen app project on Kickstarter</a>!</p>
<h3>Habit Mastery Video Course</h3>
<p>I’ve been working on this course nearly all year, and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever made, I believe. It’s pretty much all written, and now I just need to shoot the videos and package it together as a course.</p>
<p>Why is this my best product yet? Because it’s intended to take you into the intermediate and advanced stages of habit mastery, not just the beginner level. Because it’s guided by video lessons and a series of exercises designed to give you the skills you need to create all kinds of habits, if you do the work. And because it’s focused on the meta skills of habit creation (and quitting habits), not just specific habits (like exercise or meditation).</p>
<p>I’m really excited to offer this video course. I plan to sell it early next year for about $300 (or $400 for the premium level), but again, you can get in on it while <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/532372598/habit-zen">supporting my Kickstarter campaign</a> (and I could use the help!).</p>
<h3>Habit Webinars</h3>
<p>I didn’t mention this in the title, but <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/532372598/habit-zen">in the Kickstarter campaign</a>, I’m offering a series of webinars on creating habits. Similar to the habit guide ebook, these webinars (you could get just one, or the whole series) is intended to give you the basics of forming habits, and to help you overcome common obstacles. The difference? These webinars will be live, online, and I’ll answer questions you can ask in the chat.</p>
<p>I find the webinar format really useful — I offer a 25-minute (or so) talk, and then answer audience questions, which is always an enlightening process to watch, even if you don’t ask any questions. But I encourage you to ask questions, because that’s when the real learning happens. I love doing webinars, and I hope you’ll join me (note: you’ll get access to these webinars if you choose a higher reward level).</p>
<h3>One-Day Mindfulness Seminar (in person)</h3>
<p>OK, this one is really special. It’ll be a live seminar, in person, in San Francisco. For one day, next Spring (date will be determined by a poll of all attendees).</p>
<p>I’m limiting this reward to 15 people for now, but I might sell a few more spots in this webinar here on Zen Habits later this year or early next year. I want to keep the group small.</p>
<p>Why is this special? It’ll be the first seminar I’ve ever created like this. I’ll work with the small group of attendees to develop some powerful mindfulness skills over the course of a day, using hands-on exercises that I’ll be supervising and offering feedback on. This isn’t just about being present or living in the moment — it’s about dealing with fears and procrastination that might be holding you back, struggles with frustration and anxiety, finding more focus to do the work you love and are meant to do.</p>
<p>In addition to the mindfulness training, we’ll eat some of my favorite vegan food in San Francisco, have a tea tasting, and eat some world-class chocolate. Yum!</p>
<p>I hope you’ll join me by <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/532372598/habit-zen">backing my Kickstarter</a> at the appropriate level.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits http://zenhabits.net/available/<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13271993136384074441noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5696931853518979735.post-857305515074428772016-09-19T15:16:00.001-07:002016-09-19T15:16:07.907-07:00Developing a More Flexible Mind<h6>By <a href="http://leobabauta.com">Leo Babauta</a></h6>
<p>It’s my belief that a flexible mind helps us to deal with chaos, loss, big life changes, small frustrations, and all that life throws our way.</p>
<p>A flexible mind leads to more peace. You’re not as stuck in your ways, and can adapt to change. You don’t always think you’re right but are curious about other people. You can take on new challenges with a smile.</p>
<p>I don’t always have such a flexible mind, to be honest. I’m working on it.</p>
<p>When I’m not flexible, I can feel it: my mind starts to feel rigid, I feel frustration, irritation, anger, disappointment. There’s a feeling of not wanting things to be the way they are, feeling of being wronged, attacked. It’s the result of <strong>being caught up in whatever story you’re telling yourself</strong>.</p>
<p>So here’s what I’ve been working on, to develop a more flexible mind:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>See the tightness</strong>. If I notice myself getting frustrated, hardening up, feeling a tightness … this is the sign that I should practice. And the good news is that practice helps me get better, so I should celebrate! This is a lesson that life has gifted me, and I try to say thank you.</li>
<li><strong>Don’t act</strong>. The most harm comes when I act out of my frustration, actions that might include shutting down and not talking to someone. So when I notice the tightness, I try not to take any harmful action. Instead, I try to turn inward to face whatever is arising.</li>
<li><strong>Stay with the feeling</strong>. Turn towards the feeling, and just observe it. See it as something that is arising, but isn’t necessarily me. It’s a feeling, a cloud passing across the sky, not a big deal. What does it feel like, physically in my body? Explore it with curiosity.</li>
<li><strong>Give it some space, and compassion</strong>. If the tight feeling that is arising is a cloud, then I try to give it a big, expansive blue sky to float across. Instead of being immersed in the cloud, I try to widen, open up an expansiveness. And then I give the feeling some compassion. It’s OK to feel this! And it’s good to give it some love.</li>
<li><strong>Relax, and loosen my grip</strong>. The tightness comes from wanting something or someone to be a certain way. I’m holding on tightly, and I really want this. Instead, I try to loosen my grip on whatever it is. It doesn’t really matter that much, I can flow around this. Instead, I try to relax into the moment, and be with whatever is going on. Notice the world around me, right now, instead of being caught up in my story. Relax, and be grateful for what’s around me.</li>
<li><strong>Saying “I don’t know.”</strong>. Here’s the key to it all. Once I’ve relaxed a bit, I can now tell myself, “I don’t know how things should be. I don’t even know how they are now.” So this gives me space to not know, and to investigate. What is the truth about this moment? What would it be like to allow the future to unfold without knowing? What is it like to not know how other people should act, but be curious about why they’re acting that way? And to give them some compassion too?</li>
</ol>
<p>Not knowing. A flexible mind is one that doesn’t really know what <em>should</em> happen, and is not even sure what will unfold in this next moment. It is curious, like a baby exploring the world afresh. When we sit in meditation, or take each moment as it comes, we allow ourselves to not know, and to be interested in whatever arises.</p>
<p>That’s what I’m working with, imperfectly and forgetfully, and I find it helpful.</p>
<br />
<br />
from zen habits http://zenhabits.net/flexible/<br />
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