It’s a steep learning curve that you never fully conquer
Your Body State is Your Mental State
The 3 Most Powerful Words
“A subsystem cannot know the system that is meta to it” -Ram Dass
2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Ephemerality
click here for this edition's table of contents
Ephemerality
- Ephemeral - lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory;
1) “There are many forms of ephemeral art, from sculpture to performance, but the term is usually used to describe a work of art that only occurs once, like a happening, and cannot be embodied in any lasting object to be shown in a museum or gallery.”2) “Because different people may value the passage of time differently, "the concept of ephemerality is a relative one".[3]3) One of the things I like most about hiking is the ephemerality of it. Depending on the time of day, the weather, the season, the animals, and the people, it’s different every time. It is constantly altered by time and perspective. And on a bigger scale, with the soaring trees, wrapping vines, flowing rivers, and tectonic shifts, the natural world could be considered the greatest ephemeral “art”.4) 21 Examples of Land Art5) Ephemerality is a practice in accepting impermanence.6) Andy Goldsworthy is incredible. He is “is a sculptor and photographer whose site-specific artworks directly engage with the environment, incorporating natural specimens and found objects into semi-permanent sculptures, which are then extensively documented in photographs” He doesn’t use any tools or glue. It’s a transient act of pure quality.
“The energy and space around a material are as important as the energy and space within. The weather--rain, sun, snow, hail, mist, calm--is that external space made visible. When I touch a rock, I am touching and working the space around it. It is not independent of its surroundings, and the way it sits tells how it came to be there."
(Sycamore leaves edging the roots of a sycamore tree, Hampshire, 1 November 2013 Andy Goldsworthy : image source)7) Wheatfield - A Confrontation by Agnes Denes8) The practice of physical therapy is ephemeral. There is a constant flux in the plethora of variables within practitioner and the patient, as well the interaction between them. It’s being able to realize this dynamic system and listen to the transient states for the right phase shift that can create a positive ephemeral state. Blindly clinging to a permanent variable by either the practitioner ("this exercise or manual technique always works") or the patient ("I am not someone who gets injured and needs to work on myself") can create a negative ephemeral state. 9) 8 types of Ephemeral Art10) Our body is ephemeral. It’s not going to stay the same forever (or even a few hours). It’s going to constantly change. Our physical and mental actions have both immediate and long term effects on our collective physiology.11) I think the ephemerality of our body and mental states is how some can practice the same thing over and over and still find enjoyment each time. Because even if you perform the same yoga poses everyday, it’s never the same. Attention and awareness of the subtle, ephemeral, differences in our individual-environment-task relationship is what helps bring one into a flow state. This transient goal of the mastery of our internal focus is much more rewarding than living in the future trying to attain some external physical goal.12) Chris Jordan’s art isn’t necessarily ephemeral. But the reason behind it may be. He uses visual representations to bring awareness and change to our current cultural issues. In other words, Jordan uses his art as a visual doorway to the “slow motion apocalypse”.
For example, “Whale” is made with 50,000 plastic bags, the same number of of floating plastic per square mile in the ocean.
Or “Caps Seurat”, which depicts 400,000 plastic bottle caps, equal the the average number of plastic bottles consumed in the US every minute.
His art is hopefully ephemeral in the sense that these issues will be resolved in the future and they will become a mere piece of history. Most of all, his work also reminds us that small acts matter and can make a difference.
13) Food is ephemeral. Both in the short term of preparing and eating it, as well as the long term of satiation and effects on your health. However, what you eat will drastically alter those timelines. What kind of ephemeral state do you want your body to be in now? Tomorrow? In 30 years?14) Check out the ephemeral rock balancing of Kokei Mikunihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46I5V51yH5815) Ephemerality is one of my favorite things about music. Both as a fan and as a guitar player. Sure, there’s enjoyment from recording a song and the creative process of making a permanent track. And hitting play to hear a song just the way you remembered it can feel good. But I find much more pleasure in the jamming. It’s when all the variables come together, just right, to create a moment that can only be felt while immersed within it. This is why people follow bands like the Grateful Dead around. This is why playing with other musicians is so much better than recording on the computer. It’s for the ephemeral moments where the music is alive.16) “Janet Echelman reshapes urban airspace with monumental, fluidly moving sculpture that responds to environmental forces including wind, water, and sunlight”. How is our own environment changing our perspective?17) Giovanni Anselmo demonstrates an ephemeral art piece in “Untitled (Sculpture That Eats)”. What energy would we have to keep replenishing to hold the granit together? What will we be letting go of when it finally runs out?18) Check out Christo and Jeanne-Claude. It’s not photoshopped.19) To be aware of your ephemeral state, you have to be in the moment. After this, you can work to shift the ephemeral state into a flow state. It's an intention of the mastery of the now. It’s a timeless meditative process.
(image source)20) Felix Gonzalez-Torres uses ephemeral art to help us feel the impermanence of our relationships and to raise awareness for human rights (gay rights).
In “Untitled: Portrait of Ross in L.A.” he creates an artwork meditating on the 1980s AIDs crisis/prejudice and the heartbreaking loss of losing a loved one. This piece “comprised of 175 pounds of candy, corresponding to Ross’s ideal body weight. Viewers are encouraged to take a piece of candy, and the diminishing amount parallels Ross’s weight loss and suffering prior to his death. Gonzalez-Torres stipulated that the pile should be continuously replenished, thus metaphorically granting perpetual life.”
In “Untitled: Perfect Lovers” he makes us think about the different time scales in which we all exist and the inevitability of death. We each have our individual ephemerality, even our loved ones, thus making all relationships inherently ephemeral. The Dallas Museum writes, “Two clocks are placed side by side; one will inevitably stop before the other. The date of this work corresponds to the time during which Félix González-Torres’s partner, Ross Laycock, was ill, and it embodies the tension that comes from two people living side-by-side as life moves forward to its ultimate destination. González-Torres once commented: “Time is something that scares me . . . or used to. This piece I made with the two clocks was the scariest thing I have ever done. I wanted to face it. I wanted those two clocks right in front of me, ticking.”
21) Brian Eno created his own dynamic system-type of music generating app that creates an ephemeral musical piece each time you listen to it. Fascinating. 22) Dance more. It's ephemeral.23) Ephemerality is something we should all practice more. Sometimes we try to cling to more materalistic permanent things. Houses, furniture, clothes, cars, electronic devices, social media, achievements, professional titles, plans, etc. Rarely do any of these things bring us lasting happiness, or even contentment. If we embrace ephemerality we may start to learn that joy and fulfillment is realized in the moment. Whether it’s art, music, food, movement, or mindfulness, we should all try to cultivate a healthy ephemeral practice.
- “Only the ephemeral is of lasting value.” -Eugene Ionesco
*special thanks to Ryan Swanson for the great conversation on ephemerality and for directing me towards many of the artists mentioned above
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
[subscribe2]
2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Other Good Stuff
click here for this edition's table of contents[subscribe2]
Other Good Stuff
- “Complexity is the enemy of execution” -Tony Robbins
1. More bad news for our phone addicted society. Using your phone at night decreases your alertness the next day. 2. You should watch the documentary, Minimalism, on Netflix. You don’t have to start throwing away stuff, but you might want to utilize their concepts: true values, needs vs. what we can afford, seeing through capitalism's traps/brainwashing, and spending time where it matters. It’s definitely worth the watch.3. “As a maker, you tend to do too much, because you’re there with all the tools and you keep putting things in. As a listener, you’re happy with quite a lot less.” -Brian Eno4. This 10 second video explains why our country is having so many problems. 5. Singularity, when artificial intelligence escalates to a point of runaway technological growth and change the word, is a very interesting concept. Maybe it’s what needs to happen to save our species and our planet?6. Look into your dog’s eyes. It will release oxytocin and make you both feel better.
“98.2 percent of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewable sources in 2016.”
10. This guy gets it. The next I industrial revolution is in the form in AI. Watch this if you want a glimpse of the future. 11. “Use common sense, and don’t be seduced by the details. Eventually, someone will discover the errors in those details.” -Jared Diamond12. “The transactional mindset of self-interest is the problem of the modern world. If you were to let go of the pursuit of happiness, what would you do? To put it a bit more dramatically, suppose you were told that no matter what you did, you would never be happy. Never. What would you do with your life?”13. "Why does music, being just sounds, remind us of the states of our soul?" -Aristotle14. “In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.“ -Jimmy Carterhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCOd-qWZB_g
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
[subscribe2]
2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Intermittent Fasting / Time Restricted Eating
click here for this edition's table of contents
Intermittent Fasting / Time-Restricted Eating
- Definition: intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating is an umbrella term for diets that cycle between periods of fasting (no eating) and periods of non-fasting (eating)
I’ve been experimenting with intermittent fasting for several months now. I first heard about it when I was in grad school. One of my clinical instructors quoted a study that showed the only proven way to prolong life was through fasting.Recently, I’ve been seeing more and more studies, blogs, and people talking about intermittent fasting. My friends Seth Oberst and Jeff Ford have both told me about the profound benefits of this “diet”. So like all health interventions, I thought I’d take a look at the best study out there...an experiment on myself.At first I was skipping breakfast and only eating from 12pm-8pm. This was terrible. It really threw my system off. I didn’t feel great. I didn’t have any energy. And I gained weight. But I was responsible for a big part of this failure. By the time I got home from work around 5:30 I was starving. I started eating a ton of pre-dinner snacks as I was cooking dinner. Then I’d over serve myself for dinner and finish it. I was essentially eating most of my calories between 5-8pm.Then I read some studies on the circadian cycle and how important it is when it comes to diet and weight loss (future post on this in Vol. 2). So I started trying to simply cut down the hours of eating per day. I started to trim the hours back from the latest meal. I tried to make my last meal earlier in the day.An 8 hour cycle isn’t socially possible as a physical therapist. I can’t eat my breakfast eggs while working on someone’s shoulder. Well, maybe if it was a breakfast burrito, but that wouldn’t be good for business.So instead I try to eat my last meal before 7pm. It usually ends up being a 10-11 hour feeding time. I also try to prepare a shake a couple times a week and skip dinner to cut the feeding time down even more. With this type of early time-restricted feeding I’ve had a lot more success. It allows me to reap the benefits without sacrificing my social life or developing orthorexia nervosa. I feel better, have lost some weight, and have more energy.And another important benefit...it makes day-drinking much more acceptable!1. Some of the general benefits of Time-Restricted Feeding:
Weight loss, improved health, decreased morbidity, increased mortality, and more freedom in diet
The last benefit is worth pondering. By using time-restricted feeding as the global focus, it allows for individual variability in the details. In other words, it doesn’t limit specific foods or cause a purge from prolonged suppression. It allows people to use whatever diet works for them (paleo, vegetarian, ketogenic, etc.) in a more efficient manner.
2. Here’s a list of some of the specific benefits
Increased human growth hormone, improved insulin sensitivity, better cellular repair, improved gene function, increased metabolic rate, reduced inflammation/inflammatory markers, reduced LDL cholesterol/ blood triglycerides//blood sugar/insulin resistance, increased BDNF, increased rate of nerve cell growth, and improved resistance to oxidative stress
3. It can prevent heart disease, cancer, obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases (alzheimer’s), and increase lifespan.Think about how many lives could be saved, how much quality of life would improve, and how much money our country could salvage if everyone understood and implemented this...4. Intermittent fasting or early time-restricted feeding/eTRF (only eating 8am-2pm) helps with weight loss.
“The human body has an internal clock, and many aspects of metabolism are at their optimal functioning in the morning. Therefore, eating in alignment with the body’s circadian clock by eating earlier in the day may positively influence health...Researchers found that, although eTRF did not affect how many total calories participants burned, it reduced daily hunger swings and increased fat burning during several hours at night. It also improved metabolic flexibility, which is the body’s ability to switch between burning carbs and burning fats.”
5. Skipping dinner is better than skipping breakfast for intermittent fasting.6. Listen to Rhonda Patrick. Here’s a quick summary of some of the research.“Recent studies suggest that…
Eating within an 11-hour window was associated with a decreased breast cancer risk and reduction in recurrence by as much as 36%.
Earlier meal timing associates with improved effectiveness of weight-loss therapy in overweight and obese patients.
For each 3-hour increase in nighttime fasting duration was linked to a 20% lower odds of elevated glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), which is a more long-term marker of blood glucose levels.
For each 10% increase in the proportion of calories consumed after 5pm there was a 3% increase in the inflammatory biomarker c-reactive protein otherwise known as CRP.
Eating one additional meal during the day (instead of the evening) was associated with an 8% decrease in CRP.
Eating within a 12-hour window improved sleep and increased weight loss in normal weight people.”
7. The Authority Nutrition always has good stuff:
10 evidence-based health benefits
8. Jess Miller has a thorough article covering the benefits of fasting, the different types, and some example protocols.9. Keep in mind it’s not for everyone. The human species has a ton of variability. Interventions need to be tailored to the individual's variability. A one-size fits all approach never works when it comes to health.10. Bill Lagakos recommends caution with intermittent fasting:
“Can some people benefit from intermittent fasting? Sure, but best choose your fasting/feeding schedule wisely; keep in line with circadian rhythms as meal timing is an important zeitgeber. That means eating when the sun is up; frequency is up to you.”
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
[subscribe2]
2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Diet
click here for this edition's table of contents
Diet
1) Eat spicy food. Live longer.2) Addictions come in many forms.
“Cravings for gambling, food, sex and drugs all seem to activate the same brain networks, according to new research published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology.”
3) 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day will help you live longer4) Mushrooms are the best. They’re the 3rd food kingdom we rarely think about. They’re biologically distinct and nutritionally unique. Eat more of them. It s good for everything.5) I will always support coffee research.
“These results suggest that caffeine has a specific benefit for memory during students’ non-optimal time of day – early morning.”
And they're now finding it helps to block chronic inflammation.
6) Diet and mental health are very interconnected.
“New research finds that increasing fruit and vegetable consumption may improve psychological well-being in as little as 2 weeks.”
7) Over 90% of serotonin is produced in the gut. How you eat affects your mental health. One method of improving gut and mental health is using probiotics:
“According to researchers, probiotics can help relieve symptoms of depression, as well as be beneficial in helping to treat IBS.”
8) Drinking more water is one of the easiest things we can do to improve our health. Here’s 7 benefits, plus ways to help others gain access to clean water.9) This is a phenomenal concise summary of the dangers of processed foods by Robert Lustig. Here’s just one of the many gems:
“Furthermore, 11 nutritional properties distinguish processed food. (1) Too little fiber. When fiber (soluble and insoluble) is consumed within food, it forms a gelatinous barrier along the intestinal wall.This delays the Intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients,instead feeding the gut microbiome. Attenuation of the glucose rise results in insulin reduction. Attenuation of fructose absorption reduces liver fat accumulation.”
10) Medicine is better understood through a historical lens. The Case Against Sugar.
“Thinking of obesity as an energy-balance disorder is as meaningless as calling poverty a money-balance problem”
“obesity is not an energy-balance disorder but a disorder of excess fat accumulation and so, clearly, a hormonal and metabolic disorder – the result of an ‘endocrine disturbance’, as it was phrased in the 1930s by Eugene Du Bois, then the leading American authority on metabolism. By this logic, the foods we eat influence fat accumulation not because of their caloric content but because of their macronutrient content, the proteins, fats and carbohydrates they contain. This paradigm attends to how organisms (humans, of course, in particular) orchestrate the careful ‘partitioning’ of the macronutrient fuels they consume, determining whether they will be burned for energy or stored or used to rebuild tissues and organs.”
“By this way of thinking, refined sugars are indeed toxic, albeit over the course of years or decades. We get fat and diabetic not because we eat too much of them – although that is implied tautologically merely by the terms ‘overconsumption’ and ‘overeating’ – but because they have unique physiological, metabolic and hormonal effects that directly trigger these disorders”
“Bauer argued that fat cells are clearly being driven by these factors to hoard excessive calories as fat, and this in turn would deprive the rest of the body of the energy it needed to thrive. In this hormonal/regulatory conception, excessive fat-accumulation causes hunger and physical inactivity, not the other way around.”
“if insulin is a fat-forming hormone and Type 2 diabetes is a disorder of insulin resistance, it then follows that high circulating levels of insulin in the blood, rather than insulin deficiency, could be the cause of the disease and obesity as well.”
“Perhaps the obese get that way not because they eat too much or exercise too little, but because they have elevated levels of insulin or their fat tissue is excessively sensitive to the insulin they secrete”
“The sugars and refined grains that make up such a high proportion of the foods we consume in modern Westernised diets trigger the dysregulation of a homeostatic system that has evolved to depend on insulin to regulate both fat accumulation and blood sugar. Hence, the same dietary factors – sugars and refined grains – trigger both obesity and diabetes. By focusing on the problems of eating too much and exercising too little, public health authorities have simply failed to target the correct causes.”
11) Obesity is one thing. Diabetes is another. The sugar epidemic is going to cause ALOT of problems in the future. Not only for our health, but also for our economics.
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
[subscribe2]
2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Social & Communication
click here for this edition's table of contents
Social & Communication
1. Social interaction is an important aspect of health. Specifically, the people you are around the most influence your decisions more than any health practitioner can in one visit. Researchers are starting to wonder if this social support is an easy change that healthcare is not taking advantage of. Here in this article they introduce a 5 step ladder to social support. 2. Tell people in pain to find a social circle and get optimistic.
“An optimistic outlook, positive coping strategies, and strong external social support are common characteristics found in individuals who returned to sport after hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement.”
3. Nature AND Nurture.
“When preschoolers spend time around one another, they tend to take on each others’ personalities, indicates a new study by Michigan State University psychology researchers.”
4. Read this one. Why facts don't change our minds.
“sociability is the key to how the human mind functions or, perhaps more pertinently, malfunctions”.
5. When you have expectations on how it should be, you'll never see how it is.
"Research on marriages with high levels of conflict finds that more than half of the couples in these marriages have disputes involving the failure of one or both partners to conform to unspoken expectations. (Philpot 2001)"
6. I heard Carl Jung say all of his patients were in psychotherapy due to a secret that they had not been able to tell anyone. #Communication #CloseFriends #SomeoneThatListens7. We shouldn't normalize ridiculous behavior.
“People appear to have a systematic tendency to focus on the possibilities they see as normal and to ignore the ones they see as abnormal.”
8. Eric Barker and Robert Cialdini on Motivation
“There’s a study of epilepsy sufferers who were having trouble being regular with their medication regimen. They were given an “if, when, then” statement to make, such as, “If it’s eight o’clock in the morning and I’ve finished brushing my teeth, then I will take my prescribed medication.” That statement increased compliance with the regimen from 55 percent to 79 percent. The key is to be specific about the place and time that serves as a cue for you to take the step that you want to take.”
“The best persuaders become the best through pre-suasion— the process of arranging for recipients to be receptive to a message before they encounter it.”
9. We’re wired to unconsciously mirror other people. It’s a complementary behavior. If someone is nice, we’re nice back. If someone is angry, we’re angry back. But sometimes if we want to change the course, we should try non-complementary behavior. Think about this next time you’re in an argument or an uncomfortable social situation.10. Vulnerability is important. Especially in conversations. It's important to know the magnitude of what we're saying at an emotional level.
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
[subscribe2]
2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Exercises & Movements
click here for this edition's table of contents
Exercises & Movements
- “The more voluntary suffering you build into your life, the less involuntary suffering will affect your life.” -Tim Ferris
1. A nice way to use the wall to progress lateral loading during a lunge. 2. I like this external cue to assist with spinal dissociation in quadruped.3. The great Pete Hwang displays a nice quadruped sit out exercise.4. Sam Hodous shares a 4 part physioball anterior core exercise progression (1, 2, 3, 4).5. I like this quadruped hip extension lift off. And I like it even more that it's the general population in the video.6. Christine Ruffolo expands on hip internal rotation mobility7. Solid hamstring eccentric progression from a simple bridge walk out to a single leg slide out. 8. I like this bird-dog row progression from Zack Long. Building strength on stability is always a good idea.9. Low reciprocal cable row10. Dan Pope shares 4 exercises to improve the anterior pelvic tilt, focusing on decreasing lumbar extension: foam rolling, q-ped sit backs, rabbit pose, wall roll-outs.11. 4 Exercises to reduce Upper Trapezius Tone12. A bottoms-up coaching cue for teaching the single leg deadlift. Find the bilateral deadlift position, then lift one leg.13. Make sure you’re following Dynamic Sports PT on instagram. Tons of great stuff including this advanced single leg hip exercise combo.14. A novel way to integrate trunk control with throwing15. These are some great get up variations16. A very creative bird dog variation from Ruffolo. Taking away the distal anchors to make it more proximal. 17. This looks like a fun rotational drill from Don Reagan
Exercise of the Month
The Bowler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4XAl2OTuvwI saw Chris Johnson performing this exercise and thought it was a missing piece to my single leg training. I enjoy the increased proximal stability demands, the novel vector forces, and increased range of tension. But I really like that it challenges the frontal and transverse plane control of the pelvis at a high level. Many patients have difficulty with trendelenburg/hip drop-type movement compensations. Especially when using hip and knee flexion/extension patterns (running, jumping, stairs, etc.). This exercise trains the ability to turn uncontrolled movement into controlled movement.I progressed with slide boards, to tapping the foot down, to elevated open chain on an uneven rock with water around me.
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
[subscribe2]