Friday Challenge: News Diet, Brainstorming and Squats
We have almost completed two months of 2015. In two months you can really transform your life through experience and habits. Keep grinding away. In the meantime, here are three more week long challenges to improve your well being. 1. Go on a no news diet. Ralf Dobelli, author of The Art of Thinking Clearly gives reasons why we should stay away from the news. As March approaches, spring and the approaching fiscal year will be full of forecasts, tragedies and the ominous doom t
How to Assess Your Fitness Level
The concept of "fitness" has transformed over the past few decades, as we've developed more metrics to test, more conceptual ideas of what human fitness really is. In a biological sense, "fitness" refers to an organism's capacity to survive and reproduce. I think this is important to keep in mind, especially in this day and age. As we keep progressing towards "faster, higher, and stronger", we seem to be putting in jeopardy our survival and fertility. Mark Sisson's recent pos
Mobility Monday Episode 14: Anders Jacobsen
This week will feature Olympian Ski Jumper Anders Jacobsen. A departure from the other videos that have been posted, I was compelled to share this. This is a cool GoPro video which shows Anders taking flight. Note how relaxed he is, on take off and landing. A smooth push and extension of the legs, combined with very fast vertical speeds allows him to fly around 100m. #mobility #movementpreparation


Friday Challenge: Breath, Eyes, and Smoothies
Having a daily practice so powerful, as your progress is automatic while your effort is imperceptible. Keep building on your habits and use them to enhance your lifestyle. Here are a few more challenges if you need ideas. 1. Start every morning with 10 deep breaths. Be conscious of this - breathe in and fill your lungs, letting your rib cages expand and allowing the oxygen to exchange with the carbon dioxide that you will expel. Exhale slow. This will really help you relax an


Balancing Out Your Addiction to Success
The ultimate paradox in self-development is the interplay between pushing forward and hanging back. The forces of expansion and contraction are essential to life, part of the natural processes in our life cycles. In ecology, scientists will refer to the process of succession, where the species in a community changes over a long period of time. While we always look at our progression as being positive or negative, upwards or secondary growth is transient, inevitably undone by
Mobility Monday Episode 13: Sergei Polunin
Take the most popular song of 2014 - a deep, soulful cry against intolerance by religious institution - and pair it up with an equally soulful performance by Russia's finest ballet dancer and you are left with an almost perfectly complete expression of Hozier's idea. There is strength, grace, and athleticism as the powerful Sergei Polunin takes flight. It is interesting to note that Sergei had a short gymnastics background before entering ballet. #ballet #movement #mobility #


Friday Challenge: Friends, Water and Stretch
Before I list the challenges for this week, I'd like to encourage you to keep going with any of your previous challenges if you feel their benefit. Once these become habitual, you won't have to think about them. Our Friday Challenges for the week: 1. Reconnect with one friend every day. Reach out to someone from the past and just say hello, no need to ask them too many interview questions or require a long response back. Touch base. Dig your wells before you're thirsty. 2. Dr
Pattern Recognition
Do a quick Google search on Pattern Recognition and you'll find complex statistical methodology and theories which create models for how we should build pattern recognition into technology. Pattern recognition has applications in computer science, trading stocks, epidemiology and chess, among others. When we apply pattern recognition to health and wellness, its easy to see that certain movements and concepts will emerge throughout the process. When you see high level athletes
Mobility Monday Episode 12: Capoeira
A combination of dance, acrobatics and music, Capoeira is Brazilian martial art said to have been developed by the African slaves as a means of survival against the cruel Portuguese colonists. The moves can be quite intricate and complex; however, the basic underlying principles of movement still apply. The warm-up seen here is simple but very much related to the moves that they will be performing. #movement #movementpreparation #mobility
Friday Challenge: No Blue, Throwbacks and Decluttering
Hopefully last week's challenge went well and you decide to extend the challenge another week/month/year. Here are three more challenges for you to attempt. Try one or try all. 1. Stop using all blue light emitting screens one hour before you go to bed. This includes cell phones, iPads, laptops, TVs, and e-readers. You'll most certainly sleep better for it. 2. Pick one of your favorite songs and listen to it to begin the day, in the middle of the day and when you start windin