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Some long-distance walking trails can be religious or spiritual in nature such as the Camino de Santiago in Spain or the Kumano Kodo in Japan. They can also be a great way to get fit and lose weight or to simply decompress and re-center as part of an inward and outward journey. For history buffs, and/or lovers of all things Roman, there’s one that stands out from all the rest and it’s called The Hadrian’s Wall Path – an 84 mile coast-to-coast trail in northern England that follows an ancient Roman wall that was built in AD122 by the Roman emperor Hadrian [...]
So, ever since your very first PE class in elementary school, you've heard that stretching is important; right? Most of us don't really dedicate enough daily quality time to stretching. If you look at animals, you'll notice that a total body stretch is the first thing they do when waking up. They also keep stretching throughout the day. Most physical therapists and stretching experts agree that everyone has imbalances and mobility restrictions. We sit too much and don’t put our bodies into enough various positions. Stretching helps tremendously with flexibility, range of motion and injury prevention. It keeps our muscles [...]
We are a society addicted to our phones and devices. Today, we’re checking our social media constantly, which disrupts work and everyday life. We’ve become obsessed with how many “likes” our Instagram photos are getting instead of where we are walking and to whom we are talking. A study from the University of Illinois found that addiction to, and not simply use of, mobile technology is linked to anxiety and depression in college-aged students. Now, constant connection to the Internet via smart phones and laptops has changed long-established rhythms of human thinking. There used to be times when we were [...]
Laughter, it's said, is the best medicine. It's one of the best tools we have for dealing with stress and relieving discomfort. You see, when we laugh, it improves the flow of oxygen to the heart and the brain, which helps to improve our immune system and uplift our mood. Research has shown that laughter also has an anti-inflammatory effect that protects blood vessels and heart muscles from the damaging effects of cardiovascular disease. And laughter appears to burn calories, too! Vanderbilt University conducted a small study in which they measured the amount of calories expended in laughing. It turned [...]
Endorphins can be your own private "narcotic!" They can affect us like codeine or morphine, but without the addiction. Understanding this can then help you increase a sense of euphoria in your life. Endorphins are neurotransmitters, chemicals that pass along signals from one neuron to the next. They originate in various parts of your body and interact mainly with receptors in cells found in regions of the brain responsible for blocking pain and controlling emotion. While endorphins block pain, they're also responsible for our feelings of pleasure, and these feelings of pleasure exist to let us know when we've had [...]
I'm excited to announce my new book "Fitness and Anti-Aging Secrets: Cracking the Code to Looking and Feeling Younger in Mid-Life and Beyond" In my new book, I draw on my almost 20 years of experience as a professional health and wellness coach to offer you invaluable insight into many of the daily best practices and holistic strategies myself and my most successful clients have use to look and feel young and vital. I like to think of it as a health and wellness Roadmap and Guidebook for those of us who aren't spring chickens anymore! The e-book and [...]
America’s National Parks are a unique part of our country’s identity and cultural heritage. No matter who you are, where you live, or how you live; the national parks welcome everybody as one and seem to strip away our differences and bond us together as admirers of the majestic outdoors and mother nature. Our national parks can be a force for health, healing, joy, and unity. Our group’s goal was to find a high volume of national parks within a fairly close radius of each other and do some hiking in each one over a week’s time period. We found [...]
More than half of our body is water. Our body uses water in all its cells, organs, and tissues to help regulate temperature and maintain other bodily functions. Because we lose water through breathing, sweating, and digestion, it's important to rehydrate by drinking fluids and eating foods that contain water. Your skin will look healthier and you'll have more energy when you are properly hydrated. The Mayo Clinic recently came up with a nifty formula to determine how much water we should be drinking per day: Step 1: Take your weight (in pounds) and divide it by 2.2. Step 2: [...]
For thousands of years, a venerated Shinto Buddhism shrine in the Kii mountain range of Japan has been a place to visit for millions of pilgrims. All levels of society, including retired emperors and aristocrats, have made the walking journey to this shrine. The walk itself was an integral part of the pilgrimage process as they undertook rigorous religious rites of worship and purification. These pilgrims used a network of routes, now called the Kumano Kodo, which stretched across the mountainous Kii Peninsula in Western Honshu. In 2004, the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes were registered as UNESCO World Heritage, and a twinning program [...]
Many of us are well aware of the spiritual and psychological benefits of fasting. But modern science is now confirming that fasting is beneficial to our physical health in many remarkable ways. HERE ARE 11 REMARKABLE HEALTH BENEFITS OF FASTING: 1. FASTING CAN BE A SAFE AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT. Studies show that fasting increases your resting energy expenditure- how quickly you burn calories at rest. It has been shown to be a more effective way to lose weight than dieting. 2. FASTING IMPROVES HEART HEALTH. Studies show that fasting decreases triglycerides, cholesterol, and blood pressure. 3. FASTING IMPROVES [...]