#LiveWholeHealth

When you hear music playing do you automatically find yourself swaying, toe tapping, or feel like bursting out in dance? Well – you are not alone! Studies have shown that moving to the beat is built into our nervous systems.

If sitting meditation is not for you, yet you want the benefits that come from these practices, you may want to try a gentle movement practice such as “Brain Break.”

When we work towards improving our health and well-being, we often focus on making substantial lifestyle changes such as eating more fruits and vegetables, becoming more active, dedicating time to meditation or yoga, or building our social support system. While all of these are valuable, we can also improve our health through smaller actions. For example, by sitting down.

On this #LiveWholeHealth exercise, we talk about playing and moving our bodies for fun. Think back to when you were a kid and you spent your days bike riding, climbing trees, playing tag, and simply running around the neighborhood with friends. Try to imagine what it felt like to use your body in all these ways. Can you recall climbing into bed after a long day of swimming? Remember that feeling of pure exhaustion?

Why do we stop using our bodies for fun? When did we decide that moving our bodies was too much work, too painful, or a waste of time?

Our bodies need a break. We need to rest and recharge from too much time on computers, devices, driving, and sitting. These activities are causing our bodies to suffer from stress and fatigue.

what if there was a different way to manage headaches? Would you give it a try? Acupressure can be useful for all types of headaches, including tension headaches, sinus headaches and migraines.

Living with low back pain can affect every aspect of your daily life, and it is a common complaint among Veterans and the general population. Research shows that movement is essential for reducing most low back pain. Follow along with this acupressure video to help manage your pain.

When it comes to yoga, we hear these often: “I can’t do yoga, I’m not flexible,” or “I don’t know what all the fuss is about yoga,” or “My daughter does yoga, but she’s young and fit,” and “You won’t catch me in yoga pants!” But what about chair yoga?

Have you ever heard the saying, “the issues are in the tissues?” Stress is something that we all face, and often when that stress builds up, we can feel it in our muscles and throughout the whole body. When you feel stressed, does your body feel relaxed and at ease? Or does it feel tight and tense? I tend to feel tighter and more tense when I’m stressed, and I often feel this tightness and tension in my shoulders and neck. This can even lead to pain.

As we enter spring and see signs of the earth blooming, we should think about ways we wish to grow and bloom in our lives. Spring is a great time to bring to life our vision and to set goals for our health and well-being. Taking time to pause allows us to consider the ways.

When was the last time you paid attention to your right big toe or thumb? Like really paid attention to it? We often move throughout our day without really noticing our body or its various parts unless we are dealing with acute pain, it’s almost like we are on autopilot. When we really pay attention to what our body is experiencing in the moment, we can be more present, and we can notice how our physical experience is often connected to our emotional experience. This is called body scan.

You may think of yoga as a practice only done by the young and flexible, but all of us can do it. After a recent knee surgery, I was unable to get around without crutches, but I was still able to do breathing practices, meditate, and even do some yoga postures in a chair.