I went in last Wednesday and did 40 minutes on the treadmill and during this time you can grab on to these handles and it'll measure your heart rate - which I did - and my heart rate was up in the 170s or something. The next day I went to the initial consultation and the guy put me on some pretty low level work outs - the idea being to ease me in and work on form instead of lifting heavier weights and causing myself serious pain. I was all for this. I don't like pain. Anyway I did these various cardio things and my heart rate was consistently 152 to the high 160s. This was on level 4 on the machines.
I've managed to go for 6 straight days (I'm proud to say) and when today when I hit the cardio machines my heart rate didn't go above 135! I didn't believe it. I actually switched machines three times to make sure it was right.That's amazing. 6 days and it appears my heart has become much stronger already. How incredible is that? I mean if that kind of improvement is possible in 6 days what's possible in 6 months? Also, if that kind of consistent effort pays those kind of dividends in that area how could that kind of thing help in others? I'm inspired.
I just watched a show on TV called "Alternative Therapies" about meditation. It was a show by a physicist who was trying to determine the benefits of meditation. Most of the show was interesting but at the end of the show it touched on the whole issue of neuro-plasticity which is another way of saying the brain can stretch and change as we train it. I ran into this in a book that called "The Elastic Brain." This is possible all through life. This physicist when through the whole show trying to find if there was an actual link between meditation and better physical and emotional health because there are so many claims that it does. It wasn't until the end of the show that she finally found one scientist who measure the cortex of meditators and non-meditators and found a significant difference. The cortex is the thin layer around the brain in which the processing of emotions takes place. In the group that meditated regularly there was an 0.1 mm in increase in the thickness of this layer. They all had a thicker layer with which to control their emotions. Meditation is primarily a process of focusing our thoughts. This then means that we can PHYSICALLY change our brains with our thoughts. This is also borne out by the previously mentions neuro-plasticity theory.
This then also connects to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy focuses on the distorted thoughts that go through our mind that cause us to feel depressed, anxious or angry. By changing those thought we can change our mood. For example if a person thinks "Nothing good ever happens to me" over and over again in their head they'll believe it. If you write this down, examine it and think about it then it is obviously not true. By refocusing your thoughts on what is good that happens to you your mood changes. If this "recording" you play in your head goes long enough...based on the findings with the meditation this could mean the part of your brain that makes you depressed would actually get stronger! Good news is...you can reverse that!
This also connects to work in Drama, I believe. Drama is so much about unblocking yourself that you inevitably get into this stuff when you're doing the work. In fact - it seems that all creative endeavours inevitably wander into this realm because ridding yourself of the fears and self defeating blocks enable you to do the work. You just can't do much if you can't over come those things.
Then there's Yoga!
I've been hesitant to type this but ah...to hell with it. I've been feeling pretty down lately and
I know it's the voice in my head running me down. I hate it I really do. That negativity that just plays endlessly and is so self defeating. I've done a lot of stuff to overcome this over my life time, in fact a lot of people do. So I was considering the 'ol Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, then I thought about this book "The Artists Way" which is brilliant. I thought of meditation which made me think of daily affirmations and stuff like that...and by the way the affirmation thing has never worked for me at all. Try this - think of something you're think you're bad at and then tell yourself you're good at it 10 times. Like say, try "I am the greatest teacher in the world." Your brain immediately starts arguing in the opposite direction. Cause no matter what I know I'm not. I don't think affirmations work...but I'm off on a tangent.
Anyway this all lead me to motivational speakers. This lead me to the famous Tony Robbins - who I have never had any interest in before. I watched some You Tube stuff and thought hmm....maybe he's worth a look. Then - and most importantly I think I found a website that showed that listening to motivational tapes for like 20 - 40 minutes a day or something actually resulted in mood elevation that lasted much longer than just the duration of the tape and resulted in increased mood and confidence over all. I thought that this made sense actually because it connects to CBT - it's about focusing your thoughts on the positive for 20 -40 minutes which would hopefully keep going longer than that and eliminate the negative recordings and core beliefs you had.
So I downloaded some of Tony Robbins stuff and I've been listening to it. The stuff he talks about connects to CBT, all the therapies I've been talking about, the process your brain goes through with meditation so I think he actually makes sense. But most importantly...I feel better! The exercise has made a HUGE difference, I've been eating well and I haven't had a drink in over a week...I actually feel great.
Whew. I just typed a whole lot. You can tell I'm on vacation when I start philosophizing and pontificating. Why did I type all this?
Maybe, just maybe it IS possible to create positivity and happiness in your life. Maybe the way you think and feel - and thus act and achieve IS within your control
Amazing.
