Spotlight Fitness/The Eco-Living Institute

2007-06-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

Opening up to the Muse

Have you ever sat down to create, whether writing a song, an article or painting and just felt that you had nothing? Experiencing writer's block or just not feeling it. Well all is not lost, there are techniques that can help you set the appropriate mood for being creative.

Let's do a little background work on your brain. Most often, when we are creating, we are using the right side of our brain, the feminine, creative and being side. You can generally tell which side of the brain that you are inclined to use by simply checking to see which nostril you are primarily breathing from. The left nostril is in charge of delivering oxygen to the right side of your brain and the right nostril is in charge of the left side of the brain. Breathing from the right nostril, feeding the left side of the brain with oxygen encourages the masculine, analytical and doing side of your brain, which is just not as conducive to being creative. If you are breathing from your right nostril and you just don't feel creative, it may be time to set your endeavor down for a couple hours. Chances are good that your left nostril will open up in the meantime.

At other times you may feel that you are just thinking too much. A good technique to address this situation is to switch back and forth from thinking as you work to taking small breaks in between to meditate. Meditation is a great practice to take up in order to cultivate the skill of not thinking. To be able to sit in stillness and just watch as everything passes. To be able to feel the subtle nuances; be sensitive to, be aware of, or possess the ability to express delicate shadings of meaning, feeling or value. To witness yourself and watch.

Contemplative Art, the technique of free writing or the collective consciousness are excellent avenues to follow to bring yourself to a creative place. According to Salvador Dali, Surrealism has given us a gift and that is faith in the unseen. Free writing is the technique of sitting and writing without holding any rigid ideas as to what you write or don't write. Allowing yourself to move into any direction that appeals to you at the moment. Allowing the flow. Tapping into the collective consciousness, knowing that you have access to all that was and ever will be thought. Being guided by your intuition, picking up on a gut feeling located in your solar plexus or just letting go of your judgmental thoughts. These things slow you down, allowing for a glimpse of a reality that is more palpable and manipulative.

So whether you take note of your breath, take time to meditate, or dive into the area of art, free writing or the causal realm, I feel these techniques loosen you up. Opening your mind to the infinite possibilities of your potential. How do you think that I wrote this blog.

Then again, maybe I'm being to analytical, let me check my nostrils...

For more information on basic meditation instruction, check the meditation section of spotlightfitness.com at www.spotlightfitness.com//2_meditation.html .

2006-07-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

Being personally responsible for our own wasteful habits, in my mind, has to be the most important and easiest environmental issue we face. Whether getting a cappuccino at the corner Starbucks, peeling an orange in your kitchen or buying groceries, you have choices. The idea that you have a choice is one of the most important facts when looking at environmental sustainability. You have choices. Here are a couple things to consider:

When choosing a product to purchase, take the amount and type of packaging into consideration. The less packaging and less toxic the packaging, the better. Preferably no packaging.

Is this product recyclable? Will I recycle it? Does my community support this type of recycling?

Can I make a choice that changes my habit? Bring your own travel mug into the Starbucks for a refill. Compost the orange peel. Use canvas shopping bags instead of accepting paper or plastic from the store.

I am not suggesting that we all change in every appropriate way immediately. As ideas come to you, consider making different choices. You will move into them smoothly when you are ready. Pretty soon, you will become so aware of the possibilities around you that you will wonder why you didn't see them before. No worries, this all comes in time.

What you are eventually doing is precycling. An act, a choice that leads to the elimination of the need to recycle. What does this have to do with my health you say? What we waste or throw in the trash eventually goes into the air as incinerator smoke, ends up in the landfill or gets dumped into our oceans, polluting our air, soil and water. Landfills brew a toxic soup called leachate, the product of the decay and breakdown of all we throw away. This eventually reaches our groundwater and soil it if is not collected properly.

So the next time you "throw something away", think about the fact that nothing ever goes away. A cow eats grass in the pasture, you drink the milk and soon can find the calcium originally from the pasture in your bones. I am breathing in the air that has circulated through countless beings over millions of years. You have a choice and the choice is yours.

"The natural world is the larger sacred community to which we belong. To be alienated from this community is to become destitute in all that makes us human. To damage this community is to diminish our own existence." Thomas Berry

2006-07-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

These days one of my most welcoming thoughts are the times when I sit for meditation. Finding a quiet area to just let my mind go. To go inside for a time that I give to myself. As I settle in, the usual thoughts trail along. One by one I gently push them aside and come back again to a deep concentration. For me, meditation is something that I give to myself. Just the very act of setting aside time to apparently do nothing is one of the biggest lessons. The fact that you value yourself enough to devote quiet time for contemplation. Personally it clears my mind and rejuvenates my spirit. Maintaining equanimity while you meditate, neither experiencing aversion to anything that may come up or craving the end of your meditation. Just simply being, with no need to quickly get to the next moment. Neither regretting the past or fearing the future, meditation allows you the incredible opportunity to sit, deeply grounded in what is, right now. When you are in the moment, present and aware, you are timeless.

"The past is history, the future is a mystery. But today is a gift...that's why they call it the present. So cherish every minute of it."
---Elvis Stojko

For more information on meditation, visit the meditation page in the Axis of Wellness area of the site.

2006-07-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hello and Welcome to Spotlight Fitness. My name is Tamara Scott-Bogard and I have been a personal fitness trainer since 1992. Health and fitness are a constant in my life. I love to share what I know with others. I will be discussing exercise, meditation and the environment as it relates to your health. I truly believe that we all have an innate sense of how to keep our body and mind healthy. It is my passion to help others discover this in themselves.