Dusty was right - Make It Easy On Yourself

I know for a fact that I'm way harder on myself than other people. I've recently decided to stop expecting so much from myself and I'm a LOT happier. You can't do it all and you can't have it all. Simples!

My favourite source for recent research is the New York Times, which says......  " research suggests that giving ourselves a break and accepting our imperfections may be the first step toward better health. People who score high on tests of self-compassion have less depression and anxiety, and tend to be happier and more optimistic. Preliminary data suggest that self-compassion can even influence how much we eat and may help some people lose weight"

Read full article here

Exercise and Socialise

I found this really good article in the New York Times online which makes the link between exercise-shy people sticking to some sort of "moving" routine if there are ancillary benefits to be found, such as making new friends, socialising and broadening their horizons.

Extract from the article:

"“My research suggests that we have misbranded health behaviors such as exercise,  The ‘health’ and ‘weight-loss’ brand of exercise doesn’t create desire in people to exercise on a daily basis. It makes the behaviors feel like a chore and a ‘should,’ which undercuts our desire to do them.”


Dr. Segar likened this approach to telling young children, “Eat your vegetables; they’re good for you,” which almost never accomplishes the desired goal. “We’ve based our promotion of exercise on a medical and logical model,” she said. “And people don’t necessarily behave in a logical manner.

“We’ve made exercise feel like a chore to most people, not like a gift we give ourselves.”

Full article here  [link to associated article "Even More Reasons To Get A Move On" here]

The article draws on the experiences of retirees but I can talk from personal experience that even younger folk can gain ancillary benefits from an exercise regime. 

When I first started training for the London Marathon 5 years ago I put up an ad on Runners World online looking for a training buddy.  A Women's Running Network trainer got in touch and we agreed to meet up for a run around Canary Wharf.  She then invited me back to hers for a coffee and I went onto join the network.  We trained and ran the London Marathon together and I couldn't have done it without her.  Even though I've moved out the area she's still one of my closest friends.

I met another good friend when I walked up to a stranger at a half-marathon and asked if she could keep an eye on my bag for me.  Turned out we ran at the same pace and we ran the half-marathon together.  Seven years later and we're still in touch. 

Over the years I've come into contact with lots of people, from all walks of life that I would never have otherwise encountered.  I can truly say that running has enriched my life way more than just making me fitter.

What sort of exercise can make you smarter?

Regular readers of my blog will know that I regularly expound the virtues of group exercise.  I can never understand people who do the same gym circuit over and over again, sometimes never increasing their time or reps.  What's the point?

Needless to say I was delighted to read that research has shown that a particular sort of exercise makes you smarter and here's the important bit - pushing yourself further than you normally would makes you even smarter!  I'm always pushed a lot harder than I might normally push myself in an exercise class, thats why I love them.

Here is an excerpt take from a New York Times article:  "For some time, researchers have known that exercise changes the structure of the brain and affects thinking. Ten years ago scientists at the Salk Institute in California published the groundbreaking finding that exercise stimulates the creation of new brain cells. But fundamental questions remain, like whether exercise must be strenuous to be beneficial. Should it be aerobic? What about weight lifting? And are the cognitive improvements permanent or fleeting?"

To find out which exercise is best for the braincells click here

Eddie Iz Running

Update:  Eddie has finished the challenge CLICK HERE for full story

I listened to the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show on Radio 1 yesterday and he was talking to comedian Eddie Izzard, who is doing an amazing challenge for Sport Relief.

He's running 6 marathons a week for 7 weeks!

I baulk at the idea of running a mere one [snivel] and he's doing this?  I didn't even think he was remotely sporty.  Just shows you what the human body is capable of.

To follow his progress click here.

To sponsor Eddie click here

Follow Eddie on Twitter

Hip, Hip Hooray for Matt!

My "celebrity" client Matthew Callow's fame continues to grow......

Click here to read the article which appeared in the Luton/Dunstable On Sunday newspaper.

He sets off next week - GOOD LUCK MATT!!!!

I'll have my hands at the ready upon your return to tend to your aching limbs.

Between The Wheels with Matt

Matthew Callow - a client of mine - appeared in The Sun today to tell his story of overcoming incredible odds to attempt the London to Paris bike ride in three weeks time.

Regular sports massage has helped to ease his aching muscles after punishing training sessions and aided his recovery time - meaning he can get going again much sooner.

Click here to read his story.

Good luck Matt and I look forward to easing those aching muscles when you get back!

Matt's website: Between The Wheels

Matt's charity: Action Aid

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Victoria and Saul who ran the Flora London Marathon on Sunday. They'd both done excellent training and their legs were in great condition afterwards. This is testament to what consistent training and putting in the miles can achieve. [Along with having massage of course!].

If you've been inspired to enter for next years race then you'd better get ya skates on. For 2009, the ballot has moved to online only and they have allocated 120,000 ballot places. By Monday evening the first batch of places - 80,000 - had already gone! You'll have to wait until Monday 21st April to try and bag one of the remaining 35,000 online places. There are 5,000 paper entries allowed [for those without access to a computer] but you need to call them to request a paper form.

Flora London Marathon 2009

Good luck!

World Peace?

If half the world were giving a massage and the other half receiving one ... we would have peace on earth.

It's all in the beat

I'm a long time fan of running to dance music. I was pleased to read over the weekend that my penchant isn't just a hangover from my wayward youth but actually has some sound scientific basis. After all what's good enough for World Champion Haile Gebreselassie is good enough for me!

This article in the International Herald Tribune says "studies have shown that listening to music during exercise can improve results, both in terms of being a motivator (people exercise longer and more vigorously to music) and as a distraction from negatives like fatigue. But are certain songs more effective than others?"

Read further to find out what motivates Haile to run like the wind.

Give yourself permission to be lazy

My running is a hit and miss affair at the moment. Due to demand for massage increasing [thank you my lovely clients] the spare time I have left for training is decreasing.

Therefore, to be realistic, I doubt I'll be training for the 2007 London Marathon after all. Which moron said that writing down your goal was the answer ;-)!

This dawning realisation could have made me decide not to go for a run this evening. The gathering clouds were a pregnant grey and the wind was chilly. Nevermind, I thought - I want to run anyway - no marathon goal and horrid weather aside.

Before I set off I gave myself permission to be lazy. Even if I ran for 20 minutes it was better than nothing. Even if I plodded along slower than normal, it didn't matter. I went out with an open mind, expecting very little from myself.

Lo and behold - helped along with banging techno on my shuffle - I completed a joyous 45 minute run along the canals and through the parks of Milton Keynes. At certain junctures on the run I told myself "you can turn back now if you want to" but that just seemed spur me on even more!

Allowing myself to be a slack ass had the opposite effect. I'm not sure this approach will work every time but I intend to apply this to other situations and see what happens.

It doesn't interest me .....................

Taking a break from doing a rather tedious task I looked on my favourite site "Healthypages". On it I found a poem - The Invitation - which really spoke to me. I think it's quite famous now but it was the first I'd heard of it.

It made me look up a bit more about the author Oriah Mountain Dreamer - who I immediately assumed was an American-Indian or someone with pretensions to identify themselves as one. Lo and behold a picture came up of a pretty, petite, blonde WASP-like North American, who wouldn't look out of place on Days Of Our Lives. I know nothing else about her besides this poem and I think I may want to keep it that way.

She went on to explain what had prompted her to write The Invitation and this made me love it even more. In the celebrity obsessed, materialistic, surreal, unreality in which we live this says it all.

THE INVITATION

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

This is what inspired Oriah to write the poem:

"In the spring of 1994 I went to a party-an ordinary party-and I made an effort, a real effort, to be sociable. I asked and answered the usual questions: What do you do for a living? How do you know the host? Where did you study? Where do you live? And I came home with the familiar hollow feeling of having gone through the motions. So, I sat down and did what I often do to sort out what is going on--I wrote.

Using the format of a writing exercise that had been given to me by poet David Whyte I wrote about the party conversations--what really did not interest me and what I really did want to know about others, about myself.

I went to the centre of the ache for something more between myself and the world and the prose-poem, “The Invitation”, poured onto the page".

Lunch Project

The cows were all having a siesta, the sheep were suspicious and uncooperative and the swans were swanning around on the very far side of the pond. Therefore my photos are all of inanimate objects this time. I'll have to stalk the animals on a daily basis to shoot them at their best.

In the absence of the big boys I found myself looking elsewhere for inspiration. Such as noticing the snail on a creeper and the ladybird on the dry grass. Things I would normally pass by without seeing.

There's a saying which says "don't sweat the small stuff", which is a truism, however in nature, the small stuff counts!

Cow licks and lunch time pics

I was out walking around around Woughton Park in Milton Keynes today and a gorgeous, black cow came up to the fence and licked my hand. Cows are possibly my favourite animals in the world and this lovely, gentle creature inspired me to think about how fortunate I am to be able to commune with nature on daily basis. Aaaah - this is what I moved out of stinky, smelly London for. No more jostling with hordes of tourists around Piccadilly Circus every lunch time. Bliss!

Today I made a promise to myself to take a proper lunch break EVERY DAY - no matter what I'm doing, how busy I am or how tired I feel.

Here's what I propose to do. This coming week I'm going to take my camera out walking with me and take pictures of what I see. Be prepared for cows, sheep, swans, herons and wild flowers. My very own Milton Keynes springwatch.

I encourage everyone to literally "stop and smell the roses" during your lunch break. Do whatever it takes to drag yourself away from your desk and go for a walk. Engage with the world instead of focussing all your attention on a computer screen. Get the blood moving around your body. Absorb the natural light. You will also be a more focussed and productive worker for the rest of the afternoon.

The physical and mental benefits of making this small change will be both subtle and powerful.

I encourage readers to let me know what they did at lunch time today and even better send in a picture. I'll post them for all to see.

It's raining outside ....... but there's sunshine in my heart

Hey ho...... spring bank holiday and it bucketed down for three days solid. Well, it did here in Northall anyway. The sheep outside my window are water-logged and look positively sorry for themselves and I'm grumpy that I've had to spend three days indoors. Wearing my winter coat on a blustery trip to Sainsbury's was MOST depressing.

Tomorrow is a work day and many of us will be firing up our computer's tomorrow feeling less than enthusiastic about the week ahead.

There's website I've come across which will send a "thought for the day" to your in box every day. Now..... sometimes we're in the mood for a little philosophy and higher thought and sometimes not. If not then just hit delete. However, there may be the odd occasion where you read the thought and it hits the spot. If feels like the message was meant just for you...... right time, right place kind of thing.

Here's a link to Thought For Today