Top Ten Ways to Live a Long Life

Today the series on longevity concludes with the video above on the top ten ways to live a long life.

You’ll instantly recognize the music – it’s the Beatles’ “When I’m 64.” Of course, from a longevity perspective, 64 is still just a babe in arms, but I guess when the Beatles first wrote the song, since they were in their early 20’s, 64 seemed really old.

But as you’ve seen from all the masters of longevity featured during this series, 64 years of age is just the beginning.

So enjoy the above video, and don’t forget to sing along while you learn the top ten ways to live a long life. All of them, in case you haven’t figured it out by now, are also ways to live a Low Density Lifestyle.

In other words, as I’ve pointed out during this series, if you live a Low Density Lifestyle, you’re also going to be a master of longevity, just like all the folks profiled in this series.

See you next time with a new series…this next one will be on Relationships, Love and Sex – now those are some hot-button issues.

Lessons for a Long Life From the Island of Ikaria, Greece

On the tiny island of Ikaria, off the coast of Greece, there is much to learn about living a long and healthy life, because a large percentage of the population of this island do so.

During the course of this series on Longevity, I have introduced you to various people who have lived a long and vital life, from the late Joe Rollino, to Jack Lalanne, yoga teacher Bette Calman, Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, and Mimi Kirk (whose three-part exclusive interview with me ended yesterday), among others.

But with the above video, you can be introduced to an entire population of people, as opposed to individuals.

The above video is based on the work of Dan Buettner and the Blue Zones team, researchers who have identified certain regions of the world where people live longer.

They found that in Ikaria, and especially in the northeastern end of the island, that over one-third of everyone in the northeastern end reaches age 90. They suffer 20% less cancer and half the rate of heart disease. And there’s virtually no dementia.

In other words, they’re living the good years many people are missing. Years we could possibly have by just adjusting a few simple habits, including:

1. Wild Greens – Greens are abundant in fields and roadsides, Ikarians frequently eat wild green salads and pies. Some contain more antioxidants than green tea or wine.
2. Herbal Teas – The common herbal teas consumed here contain compounds that lower blood pressure and decrease the risk of heart disease and dementia.
3. Low sense of time urgency – Feeling less obligation to one’s schedule and day is shown to lower heart-harming stress hormones.
4. Daily naps – Taking a 30-minute nap at least five times a week can decrease the risk of heart attack by 35 percent.
5. Mountain living – Here, every trip out of the house occasions a mini workout. People get their daily exercise without thinking about it. Studies show the mountain people have lower cardio vascular disease.
6. Strong sense of community – Family and village support create strong social connections, which are proven to promote longevity.
7. Goat’s milk – 80 percent of all people over 90 have consumed goat’s milk many times per week throughout their life. It is rich in blood-pressure lowering tryptophan and antibacterial compounds.
8. Ikarian diet – The Ikarian variation of Mediterranean Diet is high in vegetables, beans, and low in meat and sugar. Uniquely, though, it’s lower in grains and fish, but high in potatoes.

In the U.S., cancer costs almost $250 billion per year, heart disease another approximately $500 billion and dementia yet another $175 billion. If people of the U.S. could live Ikaria’s lifestyle, rates could be cut in half and half a trillion dollars could be saved.

People of Ikaria are clearly living a Low Density Lifestyle, and living long and vital lives because of it. There’s a lot of life lessons for living a long life that we can learn from the people of Ikaria, Greece, if only we can heed the call.

One of the biggest lessons to be learned is that living a High Density Lifestyle will surely affect the quality of your life both in terms of health and your lifespan.

Top Ten Ways to Start Living a Low Density Lifestyle Now

In yesterday’s article I explained What the Heck a Low Density Lifestyle Is.

When you read the article, you should be able to wrap your mind around the concept pretty quickly, and I think you’ll agree with me that it makes a lot of sense.

Tomorrow I will begin the first series of the year, and it will be on Longevity. As you probably know, once I begin a series, I spend a few weeks looking at the theme of the series at an in-depth level. So in a couple of weeks, you’ll know more about Longevity than you ever thought you did.

But before I begin the series on Longevity, let’s examine the top ten ways you can start living a Low Density Lifestyle right now.

Yes, right now. Not tomorrow. Now. So let’s begin…

1) Open your mind. When you talk to someone, do you have a knee-jerk negative reaction to what they say? Open your mind to the possibilities that are out there, because it could cause you to change your thinking and expand the way you see the world. When you are closed minded, you shut off 99% of the world.

2) Listen to others. Don’t just be the one talking…listen to what others have to say – you will learn a lot that way.

3) Watch your expectations. It’s easy to expect others to do what you think they should do, or what you think is the proper way for them to behave and act. But everyone is different, and you should never impose your beliefs and standards on others. If you think someone is acting improperly, be aware if your perception is clouded by the way you expect them to act.

4. Beware the Curse of Knowledge. Don’t act like an expert, even if you know everything about the subject at hand. This ties in with the first point, to open your mind. The Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” You may know a lot about a subject, and may be the go-to person on the subject, but at the same time, it’s best to be humble about your knowledge, because there is never an end to what can be added onto the subject. For instance, the Nobel-prize winning physicist Richard Feynman once said, “I was born not knowing and have only had a little time to change that here and there.” And if anyone had the right to claim firm knowledge on a subject matter, it was Richard Feynman.

5. Laugh. A lot. We all have a tendency to take ourselves too seriously. When you laugh you start feeling lighter of body, mind and spirit. You can just feel yourself open up.

6. Move. As often as possible. Especially in ways that accentuate flow. Try this: when you’re home, turn some music on that has a good beat to it, and start moving to it. In whatever way feels right. It doesn’t matter if you have two left feet, just visualize you’re channeling your inner Fred Astaire. Or inner Michael Jackson. Or better yet, inner you.

7. Dream. Dream big. Or even dream small. But just dream. John Lennon once said, “The dreamer lives forever.” And Mick Jagger, in Ruby Tuesday, said, “Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind.” We all have great dreaming capabilities, but it gets suppressed. You can dream at night during sleep, or during the day, in what gets misnamed daydreaming. It’s not daydreaming you’re doing when your mind wanders during the day. Instead you’re doing what we all have as an innate quality: seeing ourselves in a greater capacity, seeing ourselves in the life we were meant to live.

8. Think abundantly. It’s easy to think from a scarcity perspective, in which you see a world in which it’s every person for themselves, and you have to get yours before someone takes it from you. But what if you perceived a world in which it was ok to share and be generous and be compassionate with others? Remember the popular best-seller called “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” by Robert Fulghum? That was the gist of the book, that what we all learned in kindergarten – to share, to play, to have fun, to enjoy each others company – are really the true lessons of life.

9. Live and practice a healthy lifestyle. Eat a whole foods oriented diet. Breathe deeply and relax. See a health provider who helps you to cultivate and enhance wellness. Don’t take drugs, or take as bare minimum as possible, and see them as a temporary bridge that you take only until your health is much better. Instead of drugs, take herbs and supplements.

10. Sign up for the free email course on this site. See the sign-up box on the upper right, below the video, or you can put your name in the pop-up box that shows up when you first come on the site. The course will help reinforce everything written about in the above list. And keep coming back to the site to read the articles. There are new articles on this site four days a week – Tuesday through Friday – on different aspects of living a Low Density Lifestyle. The different aspects are covered in a series format, and each series is written about for a few weeks. You’ll be glad you did.

Ok…So What the Heck is a Low Density Lifestyle?

Having started the new year off with poetry – which was the nature of all the articles last week, from the poetry of David Tucker, to Susan Jefts, to the odes to the New Year, and finally, to the poetry of Leonard Cohen, I will be beginning a new series, on Longevity, in just a couple of days.

But first, we interrupt this message to give you an important message from our sponsors…

Ok, it’s not exactly from our sponsors, the message is from me. You see, it’s almost a year now since I started the Low Density Lifestyle website. I’m starting to do radio interviews, and here’s the schedule of them; and my book The Low Density Lifestyle will be coming out in the near future; but…

People still want to know, What the Heck is a Low Density Lifestyle?

The concept is amazingly easy to grasp, but allow me to explain it to you…

Have you ever had a time in your life when everything seemed to be going just right? When everything flows and you feel like you’re clicking on all cylinders? Maybe it was when you were on vacation, or when you did something you felt passionate about. Maybe it was when you were absorbed in nature, listening to music, or perhaps even in the middle of a crowded city street.

Ultimately, where you are when you experience this isn’t so important, because in the end it’s really a state of mind.

This state, which occurs when your body, mind and spirit are in such resonance that you feel like you are in the zone, is called a Low Density Lifestyle.

When you are living this way, you are living in a more relaxed, less stressed, and calm, clear and focused manner on an everyday basis. It can lead you to better health and happiness, along with a more fulfilled, successful and enlightened life.

When you live a Low Density Lifestyle, you have less density, rigidity and tension in your body, mind and spirit—this means there are fewer blockages obstructing the dynamic flow of energy circulating throughout your body. You are more fluid and flexible, and less inflexible, rigid and uncompromising.

Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist, said, “Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.”

In essence, this is the formula for living a Low Density Lifestyle: if you let go of your densities and rigidities, and overcome your blockages, you will be like a fountain. You then become a circuit of energy, flowing infinitely, much like an unimpeded electrical circuit in which the electricity freely courses throughout.

How do you achieve a Low Density Lifestyle? Like anything in life, it takes a commitment, but the investment you put into it in terms of time and energy pays itself back with tremendous dividends.

You can start just by doing some simple things—eat more vegetables, grains and whole foods, and less animal foods; turn on some music and let go, moving and swaying to the beat as you feel it move through you; stop doing the same routine that you always do, instead doing something different everyday.

For instance, brush your teeth with your right hand if you always brush with your left, or sleep on the other side of the bed, or take a different route to work.

Make room for quiet time everyday, whether via meditation, walking in nature, or sitting quietly in your living room; and say “yes” instead of always saying “no.” See the Jim Carrey movie “Yes Man” to help guide you.

I have put together a 12-step guide to living a Low Density Lifestyle, which explains how to do it.

If this 12-step guide sounds complicated or overwhelming, let me distill it down to its essence: a Low Density Lifestyle is about being fluid and flexible of mind, body and spirit. From that starting point, all the benefits—better health, happiness, self-mastery, more joy and passion, fulfillment, success and inner peace—ensue.

Ultimately, the key to fluidity begins in the mind. How unbending are you in your beliefs? Are you a flexible thinker or someone who can be stubborn and dogmatic? Even if you eat the best vegetarian diet in the world, if you do it out of a rigid and holier-than-thou sense of what’s right, you may be doing more harm than good.

Now I’m not saying not to eat well, because that is an important component; however, a fluid and flexible mindset is what’s most important. It’s really the most important aspect to living a Low Density Lifestyle.

If you don’t live a Low Density Lifestyle, you may find yourself trapped in a High Density Lifestyle, a realm in which the burdens of stress and feeling overwhelmed can lay heavy on you and cause you to feel dense, tense and rigid.

If you feel heavy, and weighed down in your body, mind and spirit because of stress, poor eating, lack of exercise, a rigid belief system, unethical behavior, or a negative world view, then you are caught in the treadmill of a High Density Lifestyle. Billions of people on this planet are now caught in the trap of a High Density Lifestyle, and the increasingly fast-paced lifestyle of the modern world is to blame.

According to a survey by the American Psychological Association, in 2008, more people reported stress-related physical and emotional symptoms than they did in 2007, and nearly half of adults said their stress has increased in the past year.

A High-Density Lifestyle causes people to become physically ill, as well as mentally, emotionally and spiritually dense and rigid. This is evidenced by many of the common ills plaguing people today—weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and numerous other chronic and degenerative health problems.

So which would you rather live? A Low Density Lifestyle or a High Density Lifestyle? I think the choice is obvious. I invite you to be a part of a Low Density Lifestyle world.

And if more people lived a Low Density Lifestyle, we could then imagine the question, What Would a Low Density Lifestyle World Look Like?

What Would a Low Density Lifestyle World Look Like?

Over the next few weeks, and leading into the holiday season, I want to explore a pretty big and dynamic topic.

I will be exploring the question, What Would a Low Density Lifestyle World Look Like?

What I mean by this is, What kind of a world would we live in if a majority of people, or at least a solid minority of people, were folks who lived a Low Density Lifestyle?

These would be people who were light of body and mind, who understood and embodied the concept of flow, who understood how to relax and not let stress overwhelm them, and who were passionate about what they do in life.

They would also be people who lived by the 12 step guide to living a Low Density Lifestyle, meaning they:

***Eat a healthy, whole foods oriented diet.

***Understand how to take care of their health, and are proactive in doing so.

***Are active and move, especially in ways that accentuate flow.

***Are flexible of body and mind, and don’t allow themselves to get caught up in rigid and dogmatic thinking.

***Are mindful of their actions and reactions, meaning they are fully aware of how they interact with others.

***Carry themselves with integrity, and maintain their authentic nature.

***Do their utmost to keep a positive attitude about life, and make

sure their emotional well-being is tended to.

***Have an abundance mindset, as opposed to a scarcity one. In other

words, they know there is enough to go around and they willingly share, as

opposed to believing that it’s every person for themselves and you have to

get yours before someone takes it from you.

***Have a great sense of humor, don’t take themselves too seriously, and

laugh easily.

***Are creative people, and are capable of using their creative intelligence

and can easily think outside the box. Where problems might bog others

down, they can come up with creative solutions.

***The work they do is something that they love and feel passionate

about it.

***Feel a strong connection to the spiritual dimension of life.

So what kind of world would it be if it was a Low Density Lifestyle world? It would be a tremendous and magnificent one!

It would be a world of peace; a world of a sane health care system; a world where people helped one another without thinking, what’s in it for me; a world where people lived their dream and answered to their calling; a world where people could overcome their fears and take bold action; a world where people didn’t let things impede them from finding what it is that they loved to do; and a world of forward-thinking visionaries.

In other words, it would be one amazing and mighty world.

So I invite you to take a trip with me over the next few weeks and dream along with me of what this type of world would look like.

It will be fun, it will exhilarating, and it will be inspiring: so over the next few weeks put it on your radar, and we’ll all take this ride together.

And who knows: when this series is over and we all have a good feel for what a Low Density Lifestyle world would look like, we can all then resolve to make it happen.

And happen soon.

Movement: A Key to a Healthy, Happy Life: Part 2

Yesterday and today are introductory articles to this series on Movement and Exercise – the theme of this entire series on movement is that movement is an essential key to healthy and happy living, and to living a Low Density Lifestyle.

I discussed in yesterday’s article on movement and exercise, part 1, how  movement of and by itself is important, and that the best approach was one that focused on a number of things: the body, the mind, the energy system, the breath and stillness.

I concluded the article by saying that whether you’re seeking spiritual harmony, soulful pleasures, or just want to sweat, training the body is as important as training the mind and spirit—you can’t have one without the other, and they are deeply interconnected.

Now, that is not to say that you have to have abs of steel to attain good health and a Low Density Lifestyle; instead what is important is an approach to movement that focuses on flexibility and strength, and touches on the components that help to make us FREE (FREE=Flow/Relax/Effortless Effort): the body, the mind, the energy system, the breath and stillness.

You may wonder why stillness is mentioned when it is movement I am talking about. Stillness gives the body a chance to rest and regenerate, and for the internal computer that runs our body and mind to reset the hardware and software within us.

You can’t just push, push, push all the time—we do too much of that. Taking the time to be still and to relax helps the body get into the effortless effort mode, and when we are in that mode we are more capable of feeling the pulse of the universe vibrating deep within our soul.

We also can’t ignore the importance of the breath, and when we practice stillness we become more cognizant of the breath and our breathing patterns. Breath is essential to all the processes that occur in the body; in Eastern traditions breath is essential because it is known that being in tune with your breath connects you to your deepest inner knowing.

The breath also signals both the beginning and end of life. If you have ever been present at the passing of a life, you would have witnessed that the final sign of transition is a deep and freeing gasp. In contrast, if you have ever had the pleasure of being witness to a new life about to begin its journey, you would have seen that the first sign of life is the cry of a newborn baby as they claim their place in the world.

Author Tarthand Tulku in his book Tibetan Meditation notes that we have both an outer and inner breath: the outer breath is our physical respiration, while the inner breath silently moves through the body and is smooth and full of feeling, and as it circulates throughout, has powerful effects on our energy centers.

If all you ever do is push, push, push all the time with your movement approach, and for that matter in your everyday doings, and never practice stillness and awareness of breath, your body will just become tighter and more rigid.

That is not the way to be if you want to live up to your peak abilities and enjoy the bounty of life. There is a certain lightness of spirit and soul that is desired in order to live a more zestful life, and so your movement philosophy should make sure that is what is represented in your approach.

That’s not to say that at times you won’t sweat and strain and feel sore all over, but you should also make the time to do something kinesthetic that has a different orientation: one that encompasses stillness, quiet and awareness of breath, so that you can feed and nourish the soul.

There also are many times when your movements are just natural extensions of life. Gardening, walking, hiking, biking, baking, playing with your friends or kids, and many other things that are part of the everyday aspects of life are all important ingredients to a healthy life because they are part of the ebb and flow of the cycles of nature and the changing seasons.

Thomas Jefferson understood this very thing when he once said, “walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.”

And the Zen proverb “chop wood, carry water” is a reminder that in the daily routines of life, we can find harmony, increased awareness, stillness and flexibility of body and mind – all of which are essential to living a healthy, happy and fulfilled life that will help point you towards living a Low Density Lifestyle.

Movement: A Key to a Healthy, Happy Life: Part 1

For the next few weeks I will be writing about the subject of Movement. Movement comes in all shapes and sizes, but the common unifying denominator of it is that it is an essential  part of living a healthy, happy and fulfilled life.

It is also an important ingredient for living a Low Density Lifestyle. The inverse of that is that a sedentary life is not conducive to living a Low Density Lifestyle.

We are born to move. Movement is essential to life—it helps get the circulation of blood and energy in your body flowing better.

Nothing in nature stays the same, as change is the only constant of life. And we are in constant motion in the dance of life: the world is a dynamic environment of energy exchanges.

Movement of and by itself, no matter what type, by virtue of its ability to get the heart pumping and blood flowing, can help to take lactic acid and other toxins that build up in the muscles, organs and connective tissue and assist the body in metabolizing and excreting them. This can help to dissipate the blockages and densities in the body.

But there is an art to movement. Even though we are always in motion, and always doing things, there is a certain approach to movement that can greatly enhance being in the flow state – which is the state of heightened awareness, a state where the mind is still and you are activating more of your potential.

The type of movement I am talking about can be any type of movement that touches your soul—what your passion is may be different from someone else. But the key is to do something that is aimed at the mind-body unison.

What would be best is if the approach focused on a number of things: the body, the mind, the energy system, the breath and stillness.

Granted, there may not be one approach you’re doing that may fit the bill and meet all these needs. But that’s ok. The trend nowadays is cross-training, to do a number of things that touch on each of the key areas that need attention.

The best philosophy in approaching what type of movement to engage in, in order to achieve a better chance of overcoming blockages and density in the body, and allowing you to attain a Low Density Lifestyle, is to practice an approach or approaches that both elongate your muscles and strengthen them. You need both—one creates flexibility and the other strength, and they go hand in hand in helping to create a dynamic flow in the body and mind.

There are many approaches that aim for this: from the East we have Tai Chi, Aikido, Kung Fu and other martial arts, along with Yoga; from the West we have Pilates, resistance work using a ball or bands, and strength training.

Then, of course, there are the various sports, which can put you profoundly in the zone when you become deeply immersed in them; and there is also dance, a modality that has its origins in the primal rhythms of the universe.

Some people mistakenly think that living a Low Density Lifestyle means having a body without muscle tone; they picture the image of a blissed-out wandering mendicant who has not a care in the world.

That is because many spiritual traditions caution followers to turn away from the body because they believe it to be a trap set by the ego to hinder transcendence.

But this is far from the truth. Whether you’re seeking spiritual harmony, soulful pleasures, or just want to sweat, training the body is as important as training the mind and spirit—you can’t have one without the other, and they are deeply interconnected.

To be continued tomorrow…

How Well Do You Sleep?

Now, She is a Great Sleeper! Do you sleep as well as that?

(Please note: YouTube has embedded ads in the video. If you don’t want to see them, below the video on the right it says “Ads by Google” and then there’s a little box with an “X” in it. Just click the “X” and it will shut off the ads.)

One of the signs of being stressed out is not sleeping well. Sleeping well is crucial to relaxation, stress management and healthy living.

Many people have trouble sleeping. They use all kinds of sleep aids/medications to help them. But taking drugs for sleep is not an answer if you’re interested in health and wellness. The answer is learning good stress management approaches.

Do you have trouble falling asleep, or do you have trouble staying asleep? If so, the stress if getting to you.

If you want to have stress management and experience stress relief, then review the articles on 30 Ways to Relax Part 1 and Part 2. The suggestions on ways to relax are also relevant for ways to help you sleep.

The ideal is to sleep like a baby. To hit the pillow and be out like a light. Then you know you have no worries, you have good stress relief techniques, and you’re well on your way to healthy living.

Sleeping well also keeps you in the land of The Low Density Lifestyle.

If you want to see some really good sleepers, see the video above and check out the pictures below for some uncanny good sleepers.

Nighty-night to all!! See you in the the land of dreams!

Let others know about this article by posting it on Twitter! It’s easy – just click on the “tweet it” button below.

Want to Relax? Then Go and Play!

Over the last two days I told you about 30 Ways to Relax, Part 1 and Part 2. Another way to relax and have stress relief is to let loose, have fun and Play!

When we think of play we think of kids, because we believe that kids should have time to play. But we forget that kids aren’t the only ones who need to play—we tend to think that as adults, we should forget our childish ways and be serious and not play.

Wow, what a boring way to live. And also, what a stressful way to live. No play = living a High Density Lifestyle. No play, no stress relief. No play, no joy.  And no play, no health and wellness, for that matter either.

Play is necessary, no matter your age. Play is so important, in fact, that Dutch historian Johan Huizinga (1872-1945) once described it as the defining characteristic of our species. For Huizinga, humanity is notable not as Homo sapiens, “wise people,” but Homo ludens, “playful people.”

So, what is play good for?

Absolutely everything, as it turns out.

Play is good for healthy living. Play helps manage stress, easing us into relaxation mode. Play releases a whole range of beneficial brain chemicals, which not only make play fun but relieves tension and allows for stress relief.

Play opens up your mind and allows you to think different. Play stimulates the brain in nonlinear ways, causing your creative intelligence to be heightened. This changes the way you see things and allows you to think different. In this mindset, nothing is just what it seems – things take on new forms, problems seem not just solvable but trivial, and we feel empowered to take on the world.

Play unites the mind and body.  In play, the gap between physical sensation and mental sensation is bridged, as both your mind and body enter into heightened states of awareness. As the mind is stimulated from play, so is the body, and as the body is stimulated from play, so is the mind. It becomes a two-way street, and play helps to make you more in touch with yourself.

Play creates social bonds. When you play with others, a bond arises from it. You don’t think about what your differences are and let that get between you – instead you form a camaraderie due to your commonalities. Play unites us as humans – everyone likes to play, and so we bond over it.

Children bond with other children quickly, and the bond is based on playing. “Can you come out and play?” is the common refrain one child will ask another.

So when’s the last time you played?  I mean, really, really played. You know, having fun, letting loose, blowing off steam type of play. Not play in which you work out your tensions and aggressions at the expense of someone else, but good, old-fashioned play that’s fun and is a meaningful manner of stress relief.

When you find that kind of play, that’s when you really feel like you’re living a Low Density Lifestyle and you’re on the path of health and wellness.

If you’re not sure where to start, try this: Stand in front of a mirror, and make really ridiculous faces. Turn your eyelids out, stick your tongue out, snort, chuckle, and make weird noises. Truly embarrass yourself.  That’s right, really make a fool of yourself.

We all need to lighten up.  Being serious, heavy and dense all or most of the time isn’t good.  When you’re like that, you’re caught up in the High Density Lifestyle mode and taking life way too seriously. Chances are when you’re like that, you’re also getting stressed out way too easy.

So, now you know how to manage stress and find stress relief and start on the path to healthy living: Go out and play!

And actually, by making time to play, you become better at dealing with all the serious stuff in your life. You’ll feel better, be more relaxed, have better health and wellness, and enjoy more creativity – and all this will help make the rest of your life better.

And you know why?  Cause then you’ll be living a Low Density Lifestyle.

Let others know about this article by posting it on Twitter! It’s easy – just click on the “tweet it” button below.

30 Ways to Relax: Part 1

Last week I was discussing stress – what stress is, stress and teenagers, 10 warning signs, and a video of life in the High Density Lifestyle lane.

This week I will talk about the opposite of stress: Relaxation. When you relax, you manage stress better and you get outstanding stress relief.  If you relax well enough, you get yourself into the Low Density Lifestyle mode.  And you also get yourself in the mode of feeling FREE.

Relaxation is such an important part of life, and it is something that cultivates healthy living.  Relaxation recharges the batteries, restores energy reserves and allows you to be healthier, happier and live a better quality life.

So, how good at relaxing are you?

In today and tomorrow’s articles, I will give you 30 different things you can do that will allow you to relax. Once you start implementing some or all of these, you will feel lighter and you will be living more in the Low Density Lifestyle.

Don’t forget: relaxation will help you to manage stress and give you stress relief, and will help you have a greater sense of health and wellness.

So, here we go with 30 Ways To Relax. Today, numbers 1 – 15.

1. Complete Your Project. Whatever it is you’re working on, if you don’t have much more to go on it, it’s better to finish it than to keep thinking about it when you should be relaxing. Don’t start another big project that you know you won’t finish, until after you’ve completed your relaxing, in order to keep your mind on the present.

2. Massage, Sauna, & Hot Bath. When was the last time you rewarded yourself with the gift of relaxation by taking time out to concentrate on blissful restfulness? Get a one-hour massage, sit in a wet sauna for awhile, or make yourself a bath at home while listening to some nice and relaxing music.

3. Beat Your Tension Out. Beat the tension out at the gym, on the treadmill, or with the punching bag. You can do this without music or accompanied by some high-intensity music that will get your heart pumping. This might not sound too relaxing at first, but once you’re done exercising and the endorphins have overtaken your mind, you’ll be nothing short of relaxed.

4. Block the Time Out. In order to alleviate guilt about taking the time off, go ahead and schedule in a block of time during which you can hang loose, and not worry about anything. This way your mind knows it can chill, and that when the time comes you can get back to 100% efficiency.

5. Turn Off Distractions. Turn off your phone, door bell, computer, internet connection and anything else that can distract you. If no one can reach you it’s fine, they can always leave a message or call you later.

6. Dress for Relaxing. If you’re going to relax, do so in the right clothes. Sweat pants, pajamas, and loose hoodies are perfect to lounge around in.

7. Get ‘Extra’ Clean. We’ve all slothed around on a weekend morning without showering. We’re supposed to be relaxing, and no one is going to see or smell us anyway, right? Wrong! Before you set out on a day of relaxation, make sure you get extra clean, shower, shave, brush, floss, rinse, and put on clean clothes. You’ll feel like a million bucks!

8. Drink Soothing Tea With No Caffeine. Have a nice cup of herbal tea, and sit with a good book or mood music.

9. Journal. Carry a journal with you during your relaxation time, and write whatever is on your mind. You might come up with some great insights or ideas, or maybe you’ll write poetry. It might be a work-related thought you have, which you’ll be able to jot down so that you can stop thinking about it for now.

10. Write. Write a story about your life, or a piece of fiction – writing can be very relaxing.

11. Release Your Tension. If there’s a problem and it’s on your mind, don’t let it get you all bound up. Get out your journal and start writing. Feel free to vent, and write down exactly what’s wrong. When you’re done, toss what you wrote into the scrap heap, and with it the stress.

12. Visualization Exercises. Without ever having to go anywhere, you can visualize anything you want or any place you want. It can be a white sand beach, snow-capped mountain, fjords and streams, and on the other end of the universe. Sit down, close your eyes, and let your mind wander wherever it wants to go. Put on nice relaxing music if that helps you get in the mood.

13. Giving Appreciation. Take the time to think about people in your life that deserve appreciation and gratitude. You can write them a letter, or send them a card. When you do this, write it from your heart.

14. Bake. Baking can be a pleasurable and meditative experience, and can fill your house with wonderful smells. And of course, once it’s baked, you can eat it!

15. Read a Novel. Find a novel that you know will be interesting and intriguing, and delve into it, letting it take you into another world.

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