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Happy New Year!
In this issue:
Thank you,
Dr. Cailliet
Last month, we
talked about the possibility of reducing the need for pain-relieving
substances or preparations like Vioxx, recently taken off the market.
I mentioned that improving body alignment will reduce stress and
strain on the muscles and joints, thus preventing or relieving (if it
hasn't gone too far) pain at its source.
That very day,
someone forwarded me an email from another health practitioner
concerned with posture. In it, the writer spoke about one
specific aspect of body alignment, the head-forward posture.
It's easier than ever to check yourself for this with today's
technology. Just have a friend take a side-view digital photo of
you. Your ear should line up over your shoulder. If it
doesn't, you're developing a head-forward posture.
The writer of
this article mentioned a particular book, The Rejuvenation Strategy,
by Dr. Rene Cailliet. I've read some of Dr. Cailliet's other
work and found it quite useful, so I was happy to add this volume to
my ever-expanding library. In just a moment, I'll summarize the
first few chapters for you. Before I do, though, you should
understand Dr. Cailliet's credentials. He is a Medical Doctor
(M.D.). Furthermore, he was, as of this book's publication date
in 1987, the director of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Santa
Monica Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of
Southern California School of Medicine. He's well-credentialed.
Dr. Cailliet is a
big fan of posture. In fact, he identifies posture as being the
second most significant factor in maintaining a youthful body (I still
haven't found the factor he places first!).
In a very short
space of time, he clearly and succinctly explains how "adaptive
shortening" of muscles and connective tissue causes progressive
degeneration of the posture over time - unless we do something to
change it. In a nutshell, it is the nature of collagen tissue to
contract. Our connective tissue is made of collagen. It
surrounds and infiltrates all of our muscles. Unless we do
something to counteract this natural effect, we will shrink and
shrivel up - losing moisture, circulation, oxygen, and flexibility a
little bit more each day.
Dr. Cailliet
continues, "Regaining good posture should be a primary objective of
anyone who wants to reverse the effects of aging - functionally as
well as cosmetically." Aside from the effect poor posture has on
our visual appearance, Dr. Caillet reminds us of four categories of
functional loss it produces:
- Loss of vital
capacity (breathing, oxygen distribution, circulation).
- Loss of proper
function (digestion and other organ function).
- Loss of range
of motion (as in reaching for things, turning your head to look
behind you).
- An increase in
discomfort and pain (for more on this, read our free special report
on How Structural
Bodywork Works).
Restoring proper
posture is the primary goal of Wellness Images' structural bodywork
program. Because the muscles and connective tissue directly
control posture, a specially-trained soft tissue therapist is in a
unique position to support a postural change process. You'll
need to address two other factors as well:
- Some sort of
regular movement and flexibility practice.
- Maintaining a
relaxed and flexible state of mind.
Please don't
underestimate the importance of these additional factors! We do
offer resources to assist you with creating that relaxed and flexible
state of mind, and within the next several months, those resources
will be increasing even more.
The
secret weapon you need to create change in the material world
(i.e. your life):
I thought it
would be appropriate to include my weekly "words of wisdom" for our 15
Wellness Challenge participants in this general format. After
all, don't we all deal with the same challenges?
Here's where we
are. The 15 Wellness Challenge participants have each created a
project goal and a plan to reach it. In the last week, they've
started carrying their plans out. (At least I think they have!)
This is where,
typically, a person's "Inner Saboteur" really starts to act up.
You see, it's not terribly threatening to your saboteur to have you
sit down with a paper and pencil and plot out a scheme to accomplish
even your wildest dreams. Why not? Simple. A scheme
(even a very grand one), when confined to the world of your
imagination, won't change a thing in the material world.
I've suggested to
the Wellness Challenge participants that when they reach the moment
when they're tempted to put off whatever they need to do to make their
project real, that they WRITE DOWN the reason they hear from that
little voice in their head. You can do this, too. Once you
do it enough, you'll start to notice patterns emerging. If you
want some real ammo for dealing with your saboteur, this is the point
where Word Cures can come in very
handy.
But there's
something else you need, too, and I'm about to tell you what it is.
Follow this. Sir Isaac Newton's first law of motion tells us
that inertia requires an object in motion to continue along its
same path and an object at rest to stay at rest until some outside
force acts upon it and compels it to change. Think of your
old habits as either that object in motion along an old familiar path,
or an object at rest (nearly comatose for some of us!).
Here's the
clincher. You have to provide the outside force that acts upon,
in this case yourself, and your worn out habits. You have to
compel yourself to change!
What does it take
to do that? I'm glad you asked. It's the secret ingredient
you've been looking for. Will. Will that, in this
case, translates to action. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary
defines action as "an act of will." It defines will
as "the power of control over one's own actions or emotions."
So in order to
"do" something different than what you're familiar and comfortable
with (which brought you the results you have now), you need to take
action. And taking action requires will.
You need enough
will to overcome the inertia of ineffective habits that created
results you don't like. You need to be able to tap into that
will just long enough to see that by doing differently,
you can start to get results you like better. Keep it up for
just a little while, and you'll start to form new, more productive,
habits.
It isn't always
comfortable at first. Your saboteur would have you think that
your very survival is at stake if you take that brave next step!
News flash. The only survival that's in danger is the survival
of your old habits (the ones that got you into the state you're in
now). So the choice is simple. Tell Mr. Saboteur "Thank
you for sharing" and make a different choice.
Simple, huh? |
