Exercise your Body - Exercise your Mind

By Gordon Duffy

Forget everything you've ever heard about fitness. In today's frenetic world, with its constant barrage of messages and images, we sometimes are led to believe that attaining optimal fitness is only possible if you are constantly working out, dieting and subscribing to the latest fitness fad.

I'm going to show you that everyone has the ability to gain control of their body and develop a level of fitness that can be maintained for life. The secret to this fitness lies in exercising physically, and also exercising mentally. You will see that as I share my secret, found in over 3 decades of intense study of kinesiology, that this will harness your energy and create a sense of well-being and simple joy in your life.

Bruce Lee stated that "as you think, so shall you become". In my experience, stimulation of the brain, during exercise, adds to the success of the fitness regimen, while sharpening mental capacity. This positive experience is then logged in your memory, and when repeated, translates to higher energy, and more successful work-outs.

It is a simple way of enhancing your life, while developing fitness disciplines that are part of your daily routine.

Unlike meditation, which teaches one to empty the mind of all thought and images, my process engages and encourages pleasant thought and uses the Ancient Arts of the meridians of your body in a combination of movement and concentration. If a constant flow of controlled physical exercise is maintained, along with regulated breathing, the body reacts by eliminating all tension, thereby promoting emotional health.

Here are some basic tenets to follow:

• Develop a regular time and place to work-out.
• Wear comfortable fitting clothing.
• As you begin to exercise, remember to breathe slowing and fluidly.
• Pick a series of 5 places that you have enjoyed visiting in your life. Each day, as you work-out, go to one of the places in your mind, and remember all the details of that visit.
• Include the smells, feelings, colors, sights, and tastes.
• Repeat these visits, every day, until you can feel that you are actually there.

Combining this cognitive stimulation, along with physical movements will enhance your mental fitness and strengthen all around performance of your entire body. This is the beginning of creating harmony and happiness and achieving success both physically and mentally for the rest of your life.