How To Exercise Without Moving Your Body

How To Exercise Without Moving Your Body

Skin Exfoliation is important
Skin Exfoliation is important

By Amelia Harris (reblog)

Staff Writer for Wake Up World

Wouldn’t it be nice if we lived in a magical world where we could simply imagine whatever we wanted to happen and *poof* it would appear? For thousands of years, people have claimed that the mind alone has great power to affect real-world change. But to what end? Those who believe in the Law of Attraction already have faith in this concept. But now, scientific research is proving that the mind can indeed directly impact our physical reality. 

Hope For Dieters And The Bed-Ridden

Hospitals and homes around the globe are filled with immobile victims of accidents, aging, or health disorders. Ranging from paralysis to feeling a little stiff, many people are in pain and unable to move around freely. As a result, the longer they remain unmoving, the further their muscles will atrophy. Conversely, at any given time, droves of people worldwide are working to get fit. They diet, exercise regularly, and often feel frustrated at hard work that brings slow results. Luckily, there is good news for everyone – scientific studies offer great hope that just thinking about exercise can lead to actual changes in the body.

The Studies 

Although philosophers and spiritual leaders throughout history have taught that a person’s thoughts create their reality, many people remain skeptical. Various scientific studies have finally put this theory to the test, and the results are undeniable. 

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic – Lerner Research Institute studied whether merely thinking about physical exercise, without actually doing any exercise, would cause physiological changes. They discovered that strength increased by 35% in the part of the body the subjects imagined exercising. (1)

At the University of Washington, researchers studied the brain. They looked at the way brains were impacted when subjects thought about exercise vs. actually did exercise. Their research proved that the same part of the brain is activated in either scenario. (2)

Lead researcher Brian C. Clark of Ohio University tested healthy volunteers to see if and how their brains would impact their bodies. The volunteers were split into three groups for four weeks: a group with wrist-hand immobilization to induce weakness, a group with wrist-hand immobilization who also thought about strong muscle contractions 5 days/wk, and a control group with no interventions. At the end of the study, both immobilized groups lost strength in their writs, but the subjects who visualized wrist exercises showed profound changes. Their wrists were twice as strong as the wrists of the group that did not think about exercise. (3, 4) 

The Mind-Body Connection 

These studies demonstrate scientifically what spiritual teachers have been claiming all along: there is a direct correlation between the mind and the body. Simply put, what affects the mind affects the body. (4)

For all the people who are struggling to move their bodies, be it due to age, an unfortunate life event, or a medical condition, these studies reveal a crucial path forward: thinking about physical movement causes similar effects as actually moving. So, if you can’t get yourself moving, better get yourself thinking! Muscles can get stronger, joints can become more flexible, and the body can move with greater ease just through the power of thought. And for people who want to get fit, it can’t hurt to think about exercising each day. No matter who you are, the results of thinking positively might just be miraculous. 

Article sources: 

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14998709
  2. https://www.pnas.org/content/107/9/4430.abstract
  3. https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jn.00386.2014
  4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25274345

About the author:

Amelia Harris is a writer and eco-activist, interested in health and all things esoteric, with a passion for sharing good news and inspiring stories. She is a staff writer for Wake Up World.

 

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What I Learned From My Inner Child.

 

Love your neighbor as yourself.  A very familiar command. It’s obvious that so many people get discouraged and frustrated learning to love friends and family let alone trying to love themselves. My belief is that you must first love your self unconditionally before you can truly love someone else.  A huge life epiphany was when I discovered that to find my own true happiness,  I needed to find my way back to loving myself first. I am my humble priority. When I am in love with myself, my world is at peace.

With this discovery, I found that I had to look deeper inside. What I saw was that my inner world had separated from its core self.  My inner child no longer connected with my middle and adult self. And with the separation along came all the negativity, lack of confidence, lack of self-worth, and loss of hope. It started at the disconnect. re: Joseph Campbell and The Heroes Journey (separation, initiation, return)

The flood of advice we get about love includes my favorite…embrace and love your inner child. Great advice. However, what if there was much more to it than that? What if your inner child is the eternally wise all-knowing one within and not the smart adult self that you think you are? What if your inner child is the ‘perfect you’ before life began to happen? What if your inner child is the one who knows that there are no boundaries and every dream is possible beyond the wildest imagination? What if that little person inside remembers everything you are here for?  What if your inner child is waiting for your return? Be still and listen. What if that child is standing in the fountain of true wisdom?  What if your child holds the KEY to unconditional love and everything you need to know?

This is a new way to look at embracing your inner child. Think about it this way.  A long time ago, in another dimension known as childhood, is a place where our child is keenly aware of who we are and why we are here. However,  with the first ‘NO’ we hear, the first slap on the hand we feel, the first time we come face to face with a bully, and with the first teardrop of anger and disappointment, we began to forget everything we knew.

And on it goes. The older we grow, the more life’s dirty laundry continues to bury us. It gets harder and harder to remember who we are and what we came here to do.  Our parents, our playmates, the television, magazines, and pop culture begin to weave a story that’s not our own. We are bombarded with the proselytizing mainstream narrative about what we should think and who we should be.  Before we know it we are blind to our purpose and birthright. And then one frustrating day we wake up, look in the mirror and we no longer know who we are anymore. We barely recognize ourselves.

Then in our quest for self-discovery, we find ourselves knee-deep in self-help, drugs, medication, illnesses, depression, mental illnesses, apathy, going along with the crowd,  all the ‘isms’.  We aren’t even aware that we’re thinking someone else’s thoughts.  Original thoughts are rare.  ‘Who am I’ is the eternally unanswered question.

However, there is hope. Know this. Your inner child is waiting to be rediscovered by the adult you.  Not in the way we’ve  been taught to think and not as the adult speaking to the child. But as the child speaking to the adult.

After years of disconnect,  we’ve been separated into three parts.  These three parts of you must come back together as one. The three parts of you are this…

  1. Your ‘young‘ inner child, the one before the ‘knowing that you didn’t know’ began. The innocent you
  2. The ‘middle‘ inner child, the one that experienced all of the things that caused the separation from yourself. Trauma/Drama
  3. The now ‘adult‘ you that is trying to figure it all out.

This is the Trinity of you. These three parts must become whole and connected again. You must become ONE with yourself in order for you to find your way back to the Garden of Self.

7 Things You Need to Know to Get Started:

  1. Sit quietly in meditation and prayer and listen to what your inner child has to say to the present you
  2. See your present self from the inner child’s perspective (inside out or from the past forward) to the present you
  3.  Listen to what your child has to share with you
  4. Know that your inner child loves you unconditionally and let your child tell you what you need to know about your journey
  5. Your inner child knows exactly what you had to go through to get you to where you are today.
  6. Your inner child has all of the answers
  7. Listen closely to hear your inner child tell you how proud they are of you

Again, be still, listen for your child’s voice, make friends again, and trust the journey back. What did you dream about as a child? What did you love to do? What were your favorite stories? Let your child remind you 🙂 that real truth and ageless wisdom are found in this paradox.

This Trinity or tri-reality is as real and alive as your breath and they all exist together in parallel dimensions. The beginning, the middle and the present.

This is the primordial secret to raising ourselves the right way. As long as we plug back into our real self, everything will become more clear. What we want is what we were born for. When we master that which is within, we can then master that which is without. As above, so below. As within, so without.

And so the journey goes…love your self unconditionally. This is where the wellspring of all love lives. It begins with you.  This is the way back way back to an unconditional love of self!! Our mission is to return to our inner child where love and light, innocence and unconditional love live. Heaven on earth, eternal truth, wisdom, confidence, and unconditional love are found right here!

You truly had the power all along!  Let the healing begin!