Our Ultimate Path... and it's ok.

I have an announcement:  I am dying.  Yes.  Sad, but true.  But, I have good news:  It isn't because of Cancer, or liver failure, or due to some accident.  No, I am dying because that is what living entities do.  They live and they die.  I have been living for 33 years and my clock is ticking away as we speak.  Now... let us hope, myself especially, that the end of that clock is many years from now.  Because while I am dying, I don't plan to leave anytime soon.  I am dying, you are dying, everyone is dying... and that isn't a sad thing.  It is a part of living.  Please, watch this amazing video!



This amazing video looks at dying from a beautiful perspective.  We automatically think of dying as a bad thing.  And I don't blame our culture.  I have no interest in dying.  I like living.  I want to be here for my wife.  I want to be here for my beautiful daughters.  I enjoy listening to music, watching my favorite sports teams, laughing with friends, helping individuals get healthier and live a better life for the themselves.  I don't want any of these things to stop.

But what many of us do is fear what we cannot stop.  And that fear keeps us from really living.  Many times I get individuals who come into my office who are frustrated that their body isn't the same as it was 20 years ago.  Well of course it isn't the same.  No one's body is the same from 20 years ago.  Every time you injure the body you lose a percentage of physical integrity.  Your body is a machine.  You need to take care of it the best you can.  Give it the best fuel you can.  Take it out and exercise it.  Be happy!  Your body is the greatest instrument you have ever owned.

And... one day... your machine will be fully decommissioned.  And that is ok.  It was pre-destined the day you were conceived.  SO... until that fateful day... live life.  Be happy.  Strive to do great, and amazing things!  One more amazing video, a scene from Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium where one of my favorite actors, Dustin Hoffman, gives an absolutely beautiful scene with Natalie Portman.  The simplicity and beauty of Mr. Hoffman's character's words are inspiring.


Live Happy, Healthy, and Ready for Anything!

- Adam Hewitt

Do you really truly think about what you're being told?

Time to get healthy.

Ummm... where do you start?  Go to google, type the phrase "Let's get healthy" and it literally gives you 71,500,000 results.  No problem, just sift through the fads, gimmicks, and money making schemes and only focus on the real ways that work.

Good luck finding that.

So how do you wade through the greed, ignorance, and egos of the world trying to get you to buy their products?  First, you must wake up.  The vast in which you think about your health has been conditioned through media, word-of-mouth, and plain ignorance.  If you want to start seeing your health from a beneficial side, it is time you reflect on many popular beliefs that swarm our culture.  Time to question the relevance and lack of commonsense many are governed by.  Shall we take a look at a few???

-Let's start this smorgousborg with our good ole friend... milk.

When's the last time you saw a full grown cow, out in the pasture, politely ask Bessy if she'd tilt to the side so he could grab a quick drink?  When is the last time you saw a full grown ANYTHING drink milk in the wild?  And while I'm there... when was the last time you saw a full grown ANYTHING drink milk..... from another species???

In the animal kingdom, the animals get significantly higher amounts of calcium from the vegetation that they consume.  The carnivores, of course, eat the animals who in turn eat the vegetation.  Nice circle of life going on there.  Not once, though, do you see a full grown animal go and drink milk.  (If they only knew that they could use milk, flour, eggs, and so forth to bake a cake!  Oh how they're missing out!)

Studies are showing that not only is milk causing a plethora of health issues with the digestive system, but that the milk, hormones, and chemicals in the milk are acidic to the human body's pH, thus forcing the body to absorb minerals, like calcium from your bones, to help bring the pH levels back to a healthy alkaline state.  Did you get that?!?!  Drink milk, because they say it will help in preventing osteoporosis... but now independent researches are finding that it actually helps to speed up osteoporosis.  It's like an evil villian in a bad superhero movie.

Want calcium?  Put the milk down.  Toss the yogurt away.  Ditch the vitamins.  EAT YOUR VEGETABLES!!!

-For fun, since we're on the topic of diet, let's look at how we eat.

Name me an animal that eats multiple types of foods at one time.  And, just for fun, name me an animal that not only eats multiple foods at the same time, but each one of those multiple types of food is from different parts of the planet.  And while you search your brain for an answer, exclude any animal that is being fed either by human hands or the trash of human consumption.

Tough, isn't it?

We are the only species on this planet that mixes their meals with multiple types of food.  AND having the food come from all over the world, too!  I'd like to introduce you to Trophology, or "Food Combining".  It changed my world!

 Please, watch this video... it might blow your mind.

Now, I swear by the lives of my precious girls, this lifestyle of eating works.  I do it and have seen the amazing results.  It makes sooooo much sense that it is almost impossible to ignore it.  The funny thing, the Western Medical world has only done ((( 1 ))) study on food combining and have stopped since.  Showing, in their study, no such claims of quality health came from it.  (ask anyone who has done this for a serious amount of time and they'll kindly disagree!)  Find a cheap way to keep the body healthy... and science wont back it up for the most part.  Can't make money in the medical world if people are healthy.  (so sad)

-How about a topic about the body.  I get this perspective a lot:  "My hamstrings are tight because I run."

Well... that makes sense.  Doesn't it?  But if that is a true statement, then quite simply your body is telling you to never run.  Tension in a muscle is a warning sign that your body is not in the position to be as physically active as you would normally want at that present time.  A warning that if you take the muscle and ask it to stretch or fire too quickly you could tear it.  So why would running or using your muscles, since a muscle's job is to create movement, be the reason you are tight?

What about the back?  Many believe their back is tight because they've been using it all day.  So does that mean we just lay down forever and not move?  If movement creates tension then, just like the perception of our tight hamstrings, our body is simply telling us to not move.  How many times have you assumed that your dominant arm is tight because you use it?  Many people do.  And the funny thing is that many don't even question the thought nowadays.  If you'd like to know why your hamstrings are tight and why your dominant arm is tight and why your back is tight, I'll be more then happy to show you during a shiatsu session.

But one thing I can promise you right now:  Muscle movement is NOT the culprit!


How about "good posture"?

"Oh, come on Adam, you can't attack "good posture"!  Everyone in the country knows having "good posture" is important."  Let's diagnose this proper posture while sitting.

This is how they want you to sit at your desk.  THIS is what our culture believes to be "good posture".  And it is!  This IS good posture.  Sitting like this allows joints and muscles to work without impinging nerves, "over stressing" muscles, etc..  There is only one problem with what our culture deems to be "good posture" and how it is good for us:  the focus of "good posture" to prevent back pain (for example) and all the other problems that most deem to be due to "bad posture" is a one dimensional perspective on the body.  To stay in this "good posture" you must limit your movements and constantly contract muscles throughout the body to hold this posture.  And while many believe that firing these muscles all the time helps to "stabilize" the core, guess how many people can do this for more then a few hours at a time without pain, stiffness, and prone to multiple other problems?  Zilch.  Nada.  Cero.  Zero!  Your body was never meant to sit for long periods of time.  It doesn't matter the posture you're in.  You're doing something you were never meant to.  And that always comes with consequences.  How long would you survive sitting for 10 hours a day when we didn't have all of our technology that allowed us to make a living doing very little movement?  

When you put your body through this type of movement... or lackethere of... you shut down the natural and healthy flow of circulation to the entire body.  It is in that circulation that you will find your relief from the vast majority of muscular problems that exist today.  Again, that is what we do in Shiatsu.

Quick thought... when you sit at a desk or in a car too long... how do you feel when you finally get up?  If you think the body enjoys not moving for long stretches of time... ask yourself how well that would work for the animals in the wild.  They wouldn't be living very long if they didn't move at all.  Understand though, that rest is not the same as sitting for long periods of time.  Though resting in one position will cause your body to be stiff.  Believe it or not, a healthy sleeper tosses and turns over 200 times a night.  This is how our body keeps the blood flowing while we sleep.  Your body wants to move!!!

And our society's paranoia with movement of the spine!

Everyone in our culture is afraid, it seems, to move the spine.  "Keep the spine stright up and down", is something many of my clients tell me they've been instructed to do.  Keep from bending over, it will cause your back to go out!  I've never seen that problem with dancers, performers, gymnasts, etc. as they are performing.  In fact, back problems only seem to kick in when someone ISN'T moving a whole lot and then ask the body to move suddenly.

The spine has 33 bones, and depending on how you want to define how these bones moves as joints, you're looking at roughly 30 joints.  What are joints meant to do?  MOVE!  So to ask the core of your body to be straight up and down (which in itself is silly because a healthy spine has four major natural curves) is flat out crazy.  The spine is meant to twist and move and shift and contour all day long!  Your body wants movement... plain and simple.  Trying to find the right way to sit at a desk is like trying to find the right way to eat glass.  Or trying to find the right way to cross the street blind folded.  Just because it can be done, doesn't mean you were meant to do it.

If you HAVE TO sit at a desk for your career, understand that as you sit, you pool the blood throughout your entire body.  Might as well be as relaxed as possible while you sit.  Why do you think people naturally slouch and don't realize it?  The body is saying, "oh, we're not moving... ok, let's rest."  If you have to be at a desk, get up and walk around as much as possible to help the blood circulate.  Read emails as you walk around the block for a few laps.  Shake your body out.  Get shiatsu to help de-constrict what you have constricted.  If you don't take care of your circulation... well, let's just say your body has plenty of fun things in store for you as a reward.

I don't have all of the answers to life and I never will.  And I don't want to sound like I don't believe anything the Western World of medicine or way of thinking is saying.  But what I have learned has taught me that the vast majority of our society has been conditioned to believe in specific ways of living and thinking and as such, because it has been shoved into your subconscious, you don't even question them.  But if you really start to think about what you inherently believe in, you just might realize how crazy some of it is!  

START QUESTIONING IT!!!  

The only way things change is if we, collectively, notice there is a problem and demand a change.  Nothing changes if nothing changes.  Our culture is dealing with epidemic problems involving back issues, muscle pain, headaches, cancer, sinus problems, digestive issues, and fertility inefficiencies... just to name a few.  But nonetheless you are being bombarded by the same 1 dimensional thinking that brought these symptoms to the forefront.

Simplify your life.  Simplify your diet.  Eliminate Sugar, caffeine, drugs, any type of chemical that isn't natural from its natural source.  Eat basic and smart (look up trophology for a graph on what goes with what when you eat).  Get enough sleep.  Decrease your stress... I repeat... DECREASE YOUR STRESS!  You can't live a healthy life if your stress never comes down.  And that's on you.  You have to make that choice.

Your body is your guinea pig.  Listen to it and listen longer then a few days.  Making changes in your life takes time for your body to clean, adjust, and repair the damages of your previous lifestyle.  There is no fountain of youth out there nor a real quick fix without side effects.  Make the changes in your life and let your body fix itself!  That is the true nature of what Shiatsu is all about.

Don't be afraid to question what you see, read, or hear.  Even what I say.  If it doesn't compute with your way of thinking, questioning it is ok.  Learn more about these things.  Don't just take people's word for it.  Don't just take my word for it.  You are the only one who can truly help your body to be healthy.  Take responsibility for it.

On a side note, I have been away from the blog for a while, but that is going to change significantly.  I now have the time needed to really keep the blog updated now that I am transitioning into a new and exciting time of my life.  More on that to come!  Until then... Live Happy, Healthy, and Ready for Anything!

-Adam