Exercises

KEEP it SIMPLE

• Exercises should be done sensibly - warm up slowly before exercising vigorously.
• Exercise is only dangerous when it is forced upon us suddenly and when we are not rationally prepared for it.
• Exercise upon rising each morning or midway in between meals. Never exercise just before or just after a meal.
• The best place to exercise is in the open air, exposed to the sunshine.
• Exercises are best done lightly clad – in this way you receive a sunbath, an air-bath and exercise simultaneously.

-Kevin Hinton

Exercises for Play and Exercise for Purpose

It has been well said that exercises that are performed routinely and unthinkingly are almost valueless and become a boring drill.
• Find your space and fill it with movement that touches every part.
There is no need to listen to what someone else has to say about your movements – move according to your own rhythms.

Henry David Thoreau said - “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears; however measured or far away"

Unfortunately nearly all occupations force us to act one-sidedly.
• They cause some parts of the body to become too relaxed or weak while other parts are too tender or hard.
• This causes the stronger parts to pull the weaker parts out of shape.
• When this happens they function imperfectly

An exercise program should be simple and capable of performance by all people without undue difficulty.

-Kevin Hinton

It seems as tho the topic of EXERCISE has popped up and so lets devote a few posts to this.
Of all the adjustments that can be made toward better health - it seems as tho 'exercise' is one of the ones that is promoted - sometimes above other factors.
I will take as my thesis, Chpt 5 in my book...A Lifestyle for Health and Happiness

EXERCISE

“Life is Activity”

Better to hunt in fields, for health unbought,
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught,
The wise, for cure, on exercise depend;
God never made his work for man to mend.
John Dryden

Exercise is simply a normal biological requirement along with food, relaxation, sunshine, fresh air, pure water and a positive mental attitude.
Therefore, like these other biological requirements, it is part of a natural lifestyle.
However, our attention should only focus on exercise after we have provided the body with the best nutrition available.
Exercise is for everyone – young, old, male, female - and it is not necessary to have special apparatus or access to a gymnasium.

The purpose of exercise is to:
1. Achieve normality of the body structure and function.
2. Accelerate the flow of blood, lymph and nerve force.
• Exercise activates the tissues.
• It assists the metabolic processes of anabolism and catabolism - the building up and breaking down of tissues.
• More blood flows into a tissue when it is active than when it is resting.
The best exercises are those that train the body and mind to co-ordinate their actions to the highest degree.

-Kevin Hinton

RHYTHMIC and DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING

Exercise and breathing go hand in hand.

The correct way to breathe is:
• rhythmically 
• diaphragmatically
• through the nose
• slowly

To breathe rhythmically means to breathe isochronously (in equal times)
The breathing rhythm should be such that you breathe IN and OUT at the same rate.
Ideally, you should also pause between each breath and hold your breath.
Here is how to breathe rhythmically to a count of three seconds.
• Breathe IN for a count of three seconds
• Hold your breath for a count of three seconds
• Breathe OUT for a count of three seconds
• Hold your breath for a count of three seconds.
This completes one complete cycle of rhythmic breathing.
The ideal breathing rhythm is the maternal breath, the one you were born with.
Every healthy baby is born with a breathing rhythm of seven seconds. This is what we should strive to achieve.

-Kevin Hinton

It is also necessary to breathe diaphragmatically. 
This means that you use the diaphragm rather than the chest. 
When you breathe IN your ribs should expand just sufficiently to allow the lungs to drop onto the diaphragm.
The diaphragm in turn, depresses the abdominal contents and the abdomen swells outwards. 
When you breathe OUT your abdomen should sink in - thus pressing the diaphragm upwards, which in turn forces the lungs upwards expelling the air. 
The lungs are intended to slide up and down in the chest, not in and out as is commonly done by chest breathers.

If you combine diaphragmatic breathing with a correct rhythm you will have the correct breathing procedure.
Here is the maternal breath, the one you should strive for:
• Breathe IN for a count of seven seconds - Breathe in slowly.
• Hold your breath for seven seconds - Do not breathe in or out.
• Breathe OUT for a count of seven seconds - Breathe out Slowly.
• Hold your breath for seven seconds - Do not breathe in or out.

-Kevin Hinton