Nordic Walking Classes Coming to Sun Oaks Fitness Center

I will be teaching Nordic Walking Classes at Sun Oaks Fitness Center starting in the March/April time period. This is good for members and non members alike. There will be a discount for Sun Oaks members. It is an ideal setting, as there is the Clear Creek Preserve and McConnell Foundation Ranch trails very near by to learn the art of Nordic Walking on many different terrains. So if your heart is into a different type of walking that takes the stress off your body joints, i.e. knees and lower joints, losing weight, straightening your upper body and enhancing back health, building better bone density, burning up to 40% more calories, pumping up your cardio by 25%, then this is a class you should try. Scanned article will give you some additional information about Nordic Walking. Click on the image and it will expand for easier reading.

The only requirement is that you have a good pair of walking shoes, comfortable clothing and a positive attitude. I furnish the poles and take you on the different trails. Be ready to sign up, as classes will be limited in size due to a limited number of poles. So be watching for the announcement that will be coming out soon and be ready to enjoy a different type of walking. Once you try it, you will see why so many people are taking a trek with the walking poles. Hope to see many of you in the near future.

Energy Follows Thought (2010)

Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. King was a person with a vision that he strongly believed in. He believed and practiced non violence. In the end he died by a violent act, as he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee by the bullet from a man made weapon. Mr. King gave many speeches during his short time on this planet. Many of the speeches are played over every year, especially the "I've Got A Dream". Today I listened to a speech that few of us remember or maybe we were to young and not involved at this stage of our lives, in how as a Nation we were going down the wrong path by invading Vietnam, and escalating it to an undeclared War. I am a Vietnam veteran and sitting and listening to this speech of Dr. Kings', so many things that were thought to be true at that time turned out to be false as we have since found out, and Dr. King was right on in regards to how bad the war would become and how it would lead our Nation down a terrible road against many of our beliefs and the beliefs of our forefathers. Dr. King had this vision of the many pains and atrocities that this war would cause. Whether you were for, or against the war does not matter, as we are all responsible as citizens of this great nation for acts and actions that have been carried out in the name of Democracy and Peace by our leaders.

Now more than ever it is time to look at the strife taking place around the world. The devastating earthquake in Haiti that took many innocent lives and some people have used to make remarks that should never have been said, these are negative thoughts. Our hearts need to go out to all of these people and we need to keep them in our thoughts and prayers, positive thoughts. There are two wars taking place in name of "Democracy", one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. There are acts of genocide taking place in several Nations in Africa and elsewhere. All of these involve violent acts. If everyone would practice non violence at the same time around this world of ours, many positive things could and would come about. There would be a long lived peace and people would treat each other with love and respect. There could be many new strides made in health, global warming, energy conservation and many other things that maybe we can not even imagine as possible at this time. So I have put another YouTube video up for viewing. It will leave you with many ideas of what some people believe, that practice good thoughts and send good out energy, will be bringing about to this world of ours, through their predictions of 2010.

So it is important to remember that energy does follow thought. So on this special day of honoring Dr. King, we can also think of Mother Theresa, Gandhi and others that have all received recognition for practicing non violence. If we all think good positive energy thoughts, anything is possible. Especially bringing about Peace and a good quality of life for every human being on this planet. So join me as I send out positive energy thoughts to all of you for everyone else, for as I said Energy follows Thought. If you pay close attention you and everyone else will see a major change as we precede through the coming year and new decade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3zJm98UXzQ

Enjoy it and feel free to pass it along.

Nordic Walking

We are now almost halfway through the first month of the new year 2010. We have made it through all the major holidays and parties and dinners that go with this time of year. For many people it means heading to or joining a health club to work off the extra pounds they put on or to meet one of their New Year resolutions. There are always other options other than paying health club fees to get your exercise in, such as running, biking and Nordic Walking.

Nordic Walking is outdoors and the fee involved is for a class to learn all about it. A person does not want to just pick up a pair of walking poles and take off with out knowing how to properly use them as they could cause some pain and possible injury. There are many benefits to Nordic walking, among them, is improving balance, bone density, relief of stress on joints while walking, building up your cardiovascular system, burning up to 40% more calories along with strengthening your upper body and back. All you need is some comfortable clothes and a good pair of walking shoes. The next class is scheduled starting on January 25, 2010, from 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. and will meet once a week for six weeks. I provide the equipment and take you on six different type of walks during the class. Cost is $75 and pre registration is required and can be accomplished at Fleet Feet Sports at 1376 Hilltop Drive in Redding or by calling 221-0600, as the class is limited to ten students. So if you want to learn a wonderful and healthy new way of walking then sign up and learn what it is all about. After all over 500,000 Finns and 10,000 Americans who walk this way can't be wrong.

So if one of your predictions is to get outdoors and enjoy a healthy way of walking and at the same time lose weight, and improve your body, Join the fun of a Nordic Walking class. You will not go wrong and you might even find that it was one of the best resolutions you made.

Love

Happy New year to all of you. As we enter a new decade and here we are only three days into it, I was sent a you tube connection for me to consider and send on. It is titled "Love Is All You Need". Think about what the message is. It took place on December 7, 2009, in 156 countries with people singing and playing instruments at the same time. Think of the coordination that it took to get all these different groups of people to share their message of love and for all the filming for this video and then to put it all together. It is a strong message, as with people spreading and thinking of love it will inspire people around the world to love one another, be they enemy, friends, co-workers, neighbors, homeless people, and you name it as the list can go on for a long time. Everyone in their heart are a good person, remember this when you look into their eyes and their hearts, and ultimately bring about world peace. It never is to late to think about a better world full of love and peace. Enjoy the video as I send my love and peace to all of you as we start a new decade together with everyone around the world.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh7D2g5v-Sg

Peace

It comes without saying that we are now two days away from the special day set aside for Christmas. Christmas over the years has had a dramatic change in part I believe due to Mr. Macy's and Mr. Sears doing their best of trying to convince all of us that we must buy or need this particular item, and the more we buy and or receive the better off we are for it. It was never meant to be a mass commercial holiday as it has become. This puts a hardship on many people that are not able to buy these gifts for their own family due to fiscal restraints. This year is especially hard as so many people have lost their jobs, homes and whatever savings they may have put aside. The number of families needing assistance by adopting them so that may have a Christmas is especially high this year.

Yes, I did my part to help out Macy's and Sears (actually Target) due to adopting a family in need so that the children would have something under their tree on Christmas morning. Remember my last blog was on empathy, here is where it comes into being important. After all when I think of Christmas, I always thing of children. When you look around or community you see so many other organizations thinking of children also. Several groups gave bicycles away, Rotary had 250 brand new bikes for deserving children. I also read where a couple of other organizations also gave bikes away. Every child remembers receiving their first bike, and I am sure the children that received them this year will remember the Christmas of 2009 when the year they received their very own first bicycle.

So what is my gift to everyone this year? Is it a package that's wrapped in gift wrap with ribbon and bow attached? It could be. Is it something that was obtained at a commercial establishment? No, no way. Does it cost anything (No) or is it a special, priceless gift that is free for the taking and or giving? Yes it is. If you take a look at the picture you will see many symbols, are they my symbols that I made. No, I discovered them as I was browing some reading material, they are being scanned in and passed on to everyone of you that take the time to come to this blog site. My gift to all of you is P-E-A-C-E. If everyone of you took my gift and practiced it with the people that live in our community and then passed it on to other communities and we worked our way around our State, Nation and World, we would end up forming a star for humanity for a world at Peace. As we enter Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, take my gift. This is a very special gift that I am giving to each and everyone of you. Pass it on, it is free, it costs nothing and is a very special gift indeed, and we can all use a world of Peace and Peace in our own personal lives. If you click on the symbols, they will enlarge so that you are able to understand my gift of Peace. Merry Christmas.

Empathy

Empathy, is it a new word? Not really, but it has made headlines this year due to President Obama's pick to the Supreme Court. He felt that we should start using a little empathy in making our decisions. I want to take this time to work on empathy and what it means to each one one us and how we can put it to use. Empathy is described as having feelings of , sympathy, love, thoughts or attitudes of another person, etc., for our fellow human beings and even animals by which we are influenced. There have been acts described over the years that go into great detail how man has helped his fellow man in times of need, sorrow and pain. All you have to do is go back to 9/11 and it was very evident. As the firefighters entered the building to do rescues and to conduct an orderly evacuation, many of them knew they were walking into their own deaths. Was it because they had a job to do or was the real reason because their hearts were going out to the people who were trying to escape the inferno of crumbling buildings that were about to collapse. It is the later, their compassion was truly for their fellow human beings. Another example is the soldier who puts his body in the line of fire to protect one of his wounded comrades. We always feel pain for someone when they are hurt or have lost a loved one, this is empathy.

As we enter this holiday season, I believe it is very important that we all practice a little empathy. We have been doing it for centuries, but there are those of us that do not realize we are doing it, or even some that are not sure what it is or if they know what it is, just do not want to show any type of empathy. As we get ready for this season, look around and notice the number of homeless people, people without jobs, people that are losing their homes, people that are truly in a great deal of pain and suffering. We often drive by these people without even noticing, thinking that someone else will take care of the problem. We all have a responsibility to mankind and society, and it is built into out nature, we are programmed to be kind and considerate. We are a very social networked community, we are concerned and share in times of need. So as you go about each busy day leading up to the twenty fifth of December, notice the people around you as you go about your tasks. Is there someone that could use a little of your empathy? Is there a family that might need to be adopted for the Christmas Season, I'm sure there is, it might even be in your personal setting and or realm of influence, take note, as you will receive back more than ten fold what you hand out in empathy. I also ask that once you notice what this is I'm talking about and you practice it, I would like to see everyone carry it through the rest of their lives. It will indeed bring, peace, calm, and happiness to our lives and make our world a better place to live.

Giving Thanks

We are just a couple of days away from Thanksgiving. Many of us take this day for granted, it's just another Holiday, maybe with paid time off, or another day of eating a lot of turkey and trimmings and watching football games, the usual, Detroit Loins who lose all the time and the Dallas Cowboys which you never no which way they are going. This Thanksgiving is special for me as I will explain.

I was a pedestrian and stuck by a vehicle on January 14, 2003 at 5:14 p.m., you may say boy is he exact or what! Yes, I am, when you are struck by a vehicle and able to live and tell about it, it is a great deal indeed, especially when it happened so very fast, but at he time it was like slow motion as you were watching your life go by. I have had a lot of surgeries and other procedure's on my back to keep me mobile since this accident happened. I have lived at a pain clinic ever since, one and half years of physical therapy, had back fusion and many other items to numerous to list, and I just keep going. There is one thing that has never left my body though through all these different items. This is pain. I have lived in a pain level ( pain scale is 0-10, with 10 the worst) averaging about 8+ for five years. Today, after having what I believe to be my final surgery on October 27, 2009, I can say I'm pain free. What brought this about?

Science is a marvelous subject. There is always inventions to help prevent all sorts of maladies. In 1995, a device was invented which blocked pain going to the brain. It was not widely used until the past few years. The device is called a Spinal Cord Stimulator System. The device is implanted in your body with wires attached to your spine in a location which is pre-determined through a trial run. This procedure is only done after you have failed at all other means to reduce your pain. Then you must get insurance approval, hospital approval, etc. Until three years ago, you had to have the device replaced every nine to fifteen months which required having a surgical procedure done to take out the device and have a new one put in. The new ones now have rechargeable batteries and are guaranteed for five years, but they figure they will last fifteen plus years. A much better system. The generator continually sends out impulses to the brain to block it's telling you that you are indeed in pain. So this is what I will be saying I am thankful as we sit around the table on Thanksgiving Day.

It is always good to think about what it is you are Thankful for on this day. If you have not done it in the past, maybe it is time to take a time out, hold hands as you sit around that beautiful table setting with all the food and tell each other as you go around the table what it is you are especially thankful for this year. It is a nice tradition to start if you do not already do this. So on this Thanksgiving Day, give thanks for something, someone, or some other item that may be only special to you. As you give your thanks, pay attention as to what it is you just said you were thankful for and see what returns to you in a very special thankful way. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you that happen to read this blog.