Month: December 2016

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Year End 2016

Hello All!

Thank you for a great first year of Organic Iron.

I began thins Blog in January of this year with the intent of writing a post every week.

In general I was pretty good, However – I missed the last 3 weeks …

There are many excuses; new business, new clients, less time, new dog not to mention this nagging cold etc

But I am NOT complaining! (accept about the cold part)

 

I Love my new business, my dog and all that as well as the new experiences that came along with them.

I Accept Life, as it is, and go with the flow.

There is a struggle – more like a fine balancing act or tight rope walker -between Acceptance and ‘going with the flow’ on one side, and Action and freewill on the other.

Too much ‘acceptance’ and you become Sloth, basically denying your ability to choose and act freely.

Too much ‘action’ and you risk stirring up Karma, specially if you start to confuse your wants for your needs.

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Obviously, when I feel inspired my posts are at their best, However in the coming year I plan on posting only ONCE per MONTH.

The reason being : I am in the process of writing a Book – 5 actually!

They will be Ebooks and I will sell them for as cheap as I can because the important thing is the information that is inside these books become common knowledge.

The things they are discovering right now in the field of Neuroscience has practical applications that can help improve everyone’s quality of life dramatically.

Best thing of all is that you can do it yourself, no equipment needed, just a desire to know and the intention to act.

The topics are as follows:

  1. Posture
  2. Breathing
  3. Vision
  4. Balance
  5. Harmonious Movement (tying it all together)

Each will explain:

  • what it is
  • how it works
  • what happens when it works well
  • how to improve yourself – via ‘exercises’

If you are interested in being a guinea pig please contact me – colangelo.mart@gmail.com – What would happen is you would do some baseline testing – a few days maybe weeks of a certain exercise – then you would retest.

* if you have diagnosed ‘issues’ in any of these areas you may not be eligible, but don’t hesitate to contact me anyway 🙂

Well, That is all for now.

I wish you all the best in this up coming year,

and all the following years as well!

 

 

 

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Posture during Mobility

Hello!

This is going to be quick.

Posture – as in the proper alignment of your joints – is IMPERATIVE if you want to do any movement efficiently, and this includes ‘mobility’ movements

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Assume mobility is posture specific

  • as soon as compensation mechanism kick in the effectiveness of a ‘mobility’ exercise decreases
    • this is because the body conditions itself to ‘be mobile’ ONLY in that compensated position

When you body is in a good postural position the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, allowing you and your muscle to relax – which is key in ALL mobility exercises.

You want to be ‘loose’ enough to get right into your end range of motion, but ‘tight’ enough to maintain proper joint alignment (i.e. Posture).

Posture should be First and Foremost in your mind when you think of movement practice.

Good Posture facilitates a host of other human abilities, and is the most obvious sign of Strength and Longevity.

 

Cheers 🙂

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B.R.E.A.T.H.E your way to a coherent mind

Hello everyone,

In this post I pull together much of what you need to know about the work of Alan Watkins.

More specifically, this post will talk about

  • Heart Rate Variability – what / why?
  • Neuroscience behind breath control / meditation
  • 12 different ways you can alter your breathe
  • the Performance Ice Burg
  • Emotion and Performance – how they interact
  • and more!

 

 

Alan Watkins literally wrote the book on how to master your mind and ensure a successful future.

The TED talk below, and information found therein, is just the tip of the ice burg when it comes mastering your mind.

He starts out talking about Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and what it reveals:

  • Can predict illness and death.
  • Quantifies energy levels and levels of dynamism which is crucial to performance
  • Linked to brain function and is crucial to effective decision making
  • Relates to individual identity which is highly relevant to authentic leadership

Find more information here – HRV: the white paper

 

 

Dr. Watkins mentions that there are 12 different ways that the breath can be adjusted – however he only talks about three of them (the important three b/c they “hold the key to coherence”):

  1. Rhythmically
  2. Smoothly
  3. Location of the focus during the breath (in the center of the chest / heart)

But What are the other 9?

Well, I did a little digging and found them,

Here they are:

4. speed / 5. pattern / 6.volume / 7. depth /

8. synchronization /9. resistance / 10. mechanics /

11. “flower” pattern / 12. special techniques

Find a summary of his Book ‘Coherence: the secret science of brilliant leadership’ here – Coherence

 

 

Dr. Watkins enlightens us on a few misconceptions, including the mislabeled  ‘performance pyramid‘ –

it is actually an ICE BURG

  • Performance / Results
  • Behavior / what you do

——————————————————-

  • Thinking
  • Feeling
  • Emotion
  • Physiology

The ‘water level’ divides the internal and external worlds

how you ‘Think’ and how you ‘Feel’ LOOP with each other in a cycle – as does ‘Emotion’ and ‘Physiology’ – an it is the interaction of these two loops or cycles creates your behavior.

Watkins mentions that you CANNOT alter your thinking just by thinking about it – to solve a problem you need to come at it from a different level or angle.

You can however change what thinking emerges out of i.e. Biology/Physiology and Emotion.

He attempts to demonstrate with a live example by pulling a random member out of the audience and putting him through some tests.

This TED talk is long, and jam-packed with info. You can find a kind of follow along guide here – be brilliant every day

Also found in this guide above is the X-Y axis Graph which has “adrenaline” and the top of the Y axis and “relaxation” and the bottom.

the ‘misconception’ that being “hot” or being “cold” is all their is to performance is also cleared : What must be considered further is the X axis of Emotion

  • a ‘negative’ emotional state is on one side of the X  axis
  • a ‘positive’ emotional state is on the other side.

Thus the ideal place to be is in the quadrant of POSITIVE – ADRENALINE (but not too ‘hot’ b/c there is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to Arousal and Performance)

 

 

Some Concluding tid-bits:

 

B              R                       E            A       T                       H        E

Breathe. Rhythmically. Evenly. And. Through the. Heart. Everyday

= the keys to cultivating a coherent mind

 

 

Why focus on the heart?

> The heart generates 3.5 watts of energy, that is 50% more than the brain.

> The heart also produces 5000 times more energy than the brain (correct me if i heard that wrong – now you have to watch the video!)

> The heart is the center of LOVE and feeling, if you focus on the heart / chest will assist in altering you at an emotional level, to a more positive state (which effects feeling, thinking, behavior and thus performance).

 

here is the TED talk:

“Be Brilliant Every Single Day”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFDFH7BcXng