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Post by free71 on Jul 1, 2004 4:59:42 GMT -5
Hi Steven,
I have just purchased your 5 minute miracle tape which I am looking forward to receiving. I am in the process of rehabilitating my lower back which has given me a lot of problems over the last 2 years. It has also put me on a mission to regain total health. I am currently practising neigung & a short form of wu taichi (Bruce Frantzis' system), Coach Sonnon's 'be breathed' program, Pavel's 'power to the people' & 'naked warrior' program as well as various calisthenics. i think your program will round things off very nicely. How do you personally mix your various practises for minimum training time & maximum benefit?
kind regards,
Mike
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Post by Steven Barnes on Jul 1, 2004 22:29:58 GMT -5
Howdy, Mike! Welcome to the clan. First of all, you're making the right decision to play in a pond defined by giants like Coach Sonnon and Pavel. I consider their work extraordinary. However, it is vital to be an informed consumer, and know what you want! Back rehab is a touchy thing. The 5 tibetans are good basic back work, but I hope you're working with a therapist as well!
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My own schedule:
Six days a week, first thing in the morning, the first hour or so is MINE, and I fight for it like crazy. I start with meditation, to clear my mind (get that signal/noise ratio under control!)
Then I go out to my workout room, and listen to a tape from THE TEACHING COMPANY--college-level classes on CD and DVD. Superb. As I do, I start warming my body up. I use the 5 tibetans, but if you have short form Wu (I learned the 108 Wu Style back in the 80's. Good stuff!) you might want to use this. Once my body is warm, I work martial arts stuff. I don't want to be completely warmed up--after all, any technique you need to warm up an hour for is pretty useless in the street! But I don't want to be completely cold either--a good way to accumulate microtrauma. After the M.A., I do my "real" work--raising my overall fitness level, removing Fear-Reactivity, flushing my lymphatic system. Right now, I'm doing that with three different workouts, each repeated twice a week. Mondays and Thursdays, I do low-level endurance work on a treadmill. Not going for any crazy intensity, just flushing the lymphatic system, which carries toxins from the lungs, and also just pumping the old heart. 20-45 minutes, depending on how I feel--I have full permission to take it easy. Tuesday and Friday, I'm using the 45-lb clubbell for Bruiser Density training. If you are unfamiliar with this, just know it is the most devastating application of the Be Breathed/Body-Flow protocol imaginable. Savage. You really CAN'T do this more than twice a week. Get your hands on Coach Szolek's work on the Bruiser for more info, but Density training can also be done profitably with lighter clubbells. Note: I like Sonnon's 100-rep "Century" program, for multiple reasons I'll go into another time. Wednesday and Saturday, its another easy day: Yoga, Body-Flow, Bioenergetics.
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After this workout, it's 10 minutes of Warrior Wellness drills. Total time: 50-70 minutes. I'm ready for the day!
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During the day, my 5MM might only be a little Be Breathed. If I'm feeling froggy, I might do some clubbells--but the Bruiser Density training is SERIOUS work. You must be very, very careful not to overtrain!
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At night, I do WW, and a little easy Yoga to prepare myself for sleep. This is critical: one of my body's tendencies is to bind up and keep me awake if I've been working out hard. The Yoga is usually just front bends and spinal twist-type stuff, things I can do in bed, if I'm tired. I work it slowly, going for that Breathing-motion-alignment minor miracle, until I can feel the yawns coming.
Total time? Between 1 and 1 1/2 hour. Thus, over the course of a week I get d**ned fine aerobic work, strength work, coordination work, daily meditation, removal of fear-reactivity, basic health maintenance, postural work, joint health, intellectual input...the whole magilla.
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That's the way I play. I think that we should fight like hell for one hour a day that belongs to US. Not our job, not our family. US. If you're gonna chop wood all day, better spend some time sharpening your axe!
I say: steal that first "GOLDEN HOUR" and then have fun being creative to figure out how to get the very very most out of it. If you have more time, great! If you occassionally don't have all the time you want--well, note that I've prioritized so that the most vital things (meditation, intellectual input, basic health [Tibetans] come first.)
The "GOLDEN HOUR" concept is going to be critical to this board. The thought is: if your life got so busy that that was the ONLY time you could rely on in the day for exercise, sports practise, meditation, reading, goal-setting, whatever, what would you do, dude?
Let's explore possible answers together!
Steve
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Post by steelyglint on Jul 2, 2004 2:43:35 GMT -5
I was so interested in reading Steven Barnes' morning routine I thought I would post my own for feedback:
I wake up and, after a quick shower, I do the Five Tibetans. It seems painfully dull just doing five, but that's where I've been told to start and I'm not about to risk hurting anything.
I haven't yet mastered heartbeat meditation, so at most my meditation ranges around five minutes.
I launch into my work out which consists of some yoga stretches, mainly the Triangle and Warrior 2. Then I do some forward bends. Since I'm taking my time and running through the cycle twice, it can take about half an hour. I also sit down and do some stretches, mostly left overs from my running days. Regaining flexibility is one of my goals, and thus far I think I've made real progress.
Then I do "circles" which is something my martial artist friend told me to do which involves isolating and rotating parts of your body. I'm not sure if it helps, but it doesn't seem to be hurting.
After that I do my sets of pushups and dips, from a chair, which each consist of four sets of ten. This is where I get the warmest in my workouts. Then I do 70 crunches, and then 70 bicycle crunches, and then two sets of leg lifts where I rotate my legs in circles.
The pushups are especially hard. I think, right now, the workout is probably taking too long, I think it is pushing two hours because I'm pretty slow. But at the moment I don't have any pressing time concerns in the morning so it doesn't seem like that big a deal.
I also try and read a chapter a day from Joseph Campbells' Hero of a Thousand Faces, write in my journal, and practice on my guitar. I've had varying degrees of success, but I think I can make it work.
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Post by free71 on Jul 2, 2004 4:27:58 GMT -5
Hi Steve,
many thanks for your reply. Your program sounds great!
I am getting treatment for my back (deep tissue massage), though most of the improvements have come from my own work. I have taken it as a strong signal for change as last year was one of the lowest ebbs in my life. I had moved from Australia to London in 2001 to spend a few years working & travelling. Last year I spent 9 months out of work, broke, living in a room in a hostel barely able to move because of chronic back pain. The flipside of this was it has got me focused on health, as I had previously been very active (martial arts, cycling, hiking etc) & was very depressed at my poor condition. I feel I'm almost there! And I have people like pavel, coach sonnon, bruce frantzis, yourself & even matt furey to thank. Without this knowledge I don't know where I would be. Thank god for the internet!
My workouts normaly start off with neigung (cloud hands, swings), then I move into some type of lifting (deadlift, sidepress) though usually only 1-2 sets of 4-5 reps, then follow with bodyweight exercises like hindu squats, pushups, handstand pushups & chins/pulls which I perform in different ways - sometimes with maximum tension (ie naked warrior) or as relaxed as possible. I follow this with the 'be breathed' program, then I wind down with some yoga sun salutes, taichi & standing chigung. I'm looking forward to incorporating the 5 tibetans & also plan to get warrior wellness & clubbells. I have been intrigued by coach sonnon's circular strength training concepts & believe that he & pavel are on the cutting edge when it comes to physical training. BTW Those bruiser clubbells look like killers!
Do you practise any specific type of meditation? I am learning taoist meditation at present & have studied transcendental medititation previously (a good method though I didn't like the cult-like organisation of the maharishi).
kind regards,
Mike
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Post by Steven Barnes on Jul 3, 2004 13:03:49 GMT -5
"Do you practise any specific type of meditation? I am learning taoist meditation at present & have studied transcendental medititation previously (a good method though I didn't like the cult-like organisation of the maharishi). "
I start by feeling my heartbeat, and then move that light/sensation through each of my chakras in turn. Sometimes I do a "yoga sleep" (Yoga Nidra) meditation, rotating consciousness through my entire body. A fascinating and powerful exercise. But the most important thing is to remain centered and calm and energetic all day long--which means taking the heartbeat, making it the living core of the "Be Breathed" exercise, and then remembering to "Be Breathed" multiple times during the day. If you only hit that state while sitting in a pose, you're missing the benifit. It must translate to life, to work, to study, to intellectual activity, to sports, to driving. You need "Perpetual Exercise" "Perpetual Meditation" and "Perpetual Focus".
Steve
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