It’s not necessarily easy to find something that puts you into the flow state, but, once you do, it’s a key stress reliever. This may just be because it’s a mini-vacation from all that yakking and worry that usually floats around the conscious mind.

It sounds like zoning–the state best described as watching television you don’t like for hours because it’s too much trouble to use the remote–but it’s the precise opposite. Instead of drugging your conscious mind with continual input, it’s a state of perfect focus on what you are doing.

I recommend it highly.

This includes people, which are often the hardest things to look at objectively. Don’t let yourself be drug down by people who bring themselves up by making everyone else feel worse. They have the ability to undermine EVERYTHING written above.

GREAT post

I’m really glad you mentioned stretching and yoga. Yoga improves flexibility, core strength and balance, which are often overlooked even though they are crucial aspects of preventing falls and injury and in improving day-to-day function as well as sports performance.

Walking is a fabulous exercise. Do not, however, walk long distances in running shoes (I have made this mistake and it was painful). Walking shoes are fundamentally different from running shoes in their construction. They may not feel different if you only move in them for a few minutes at a time, but if you do any significant amount of exercise you will notice. It’s worth the time to go to a shoe store and get someone who knows what they’re doing to help you find the right shoe and size. You can write down the shoe and size and buy it from the Internet if you don’t feel like you are getting the best deal in the store. I walked, ran and hiked for years in whatever shoes were cheapest. I was finally persuaded to go to a local shoe store for a real fitting, and the shoes I ended up buying were thirty dollars more expensive and a half-size smaller than the pair I’d planned to buy; but they significantly reduced my discomfort and made it possible for me to exercise longer and more intensely. So please, invest in good shoes. It’s certainly a frugal investment because your joints and quality of life are at stake.

If you are going to lift weights, you should really take the time (in a class or with a trainer) to learn proper form with lighter weights, and then increase your weights enough to challenge yourself but not so much that you have to break form to keep lifting. Lifting with poor form increases your chances of hurting yourself and decreases your chances of working the muscles you are actually trying to work. As for the appropriate reps and weight, more and lighter is not always better. It really depends on your goals.

Don’t forget there are loads of great strength exercises (push-ups, dips, squats, reverse crunches) that don’t require any equipment at all!

Cheers,

It may not be realistic for everyone to do something like that, but an evening or Sunday to devote to “me time” is sooo important!

Lisa

This has been the best article in this series so far.