Most people catch up sitting down. They drive to the gym to get some exercise and if there is still time they do social media to sign a petition for some authority to make us (including themselves) stop wasting life on earth (including our own). Why not combine it all, save time and make us happy and real healthy?
Be creative, think out of the box and be healthy not “normal.” We did.
At our retreats we have a scheduled time for exercise as most people in their daily planning. As everything else it is personalised to fit each and everyone, but always outdoors to breathe fresh air. Or rather, to breath and breath and breath – a forgotten aspect of our health. Thank you lungs!
We often go to the beach to walk, some to run. Some go bare footed to get the negative charge the Earth gives off (equally forgotten as the breath) that is so healing and missed out as most of us walk in rubber shoes all day long.
Logically we walk/run for a while and then turn around to go back. That’s when my small storage of bags come handy. I always carry plastic bags (Yes, they still have them in Thailand and far too many) in my Thai cotton bag hanging on my shoulder, which I offer to each and everyone to build strength while doing squats. I show everyone how to squat down and return to standing while using the pelvis and the pyramidal muscle (the Yogi Bandhas) to protect the lower back, how to let the legs do the heavy pushing up, and then how to walk a few steps and reach down again. That’s a great exercise!
Hmmm….while we are squatting down we might as well pick up the trash we see, anything that can harm life forms of all sorts, everything from the smallest plankton to the biggest whales. In New Zealand a whale was found dead with 800 kgs of plastic in it. F* that makes me furious, and don’t think I want to stop the anger. On the contrary, it’s the energy I need to pick plastic, feel good about myself for having done something, maybe even encouraged others to do something too?
While we pick plastic we exercise, build muscle strength, talk and talk, build friendships, build awareness, and maybe most importantly for our health is to feel gratitude to ourselves for doing good things.
Others see us at the beach. We notice how we get them thinking and some start picking plastic themselves or even come up to us to help us. It’s fun, timesaving (doing 3 things at the same time) and simply the right thing to do.
Next time you want to go to the gym why not call a friend, meet in a park instead or on a beach and start picking trash.
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