Energy is everything

Imagine your body is like a battery – one of those typical orange and black ones – positive at one end, negative at the other. When you wake up in the morning, step one leg at a time out of bed and stand up… you may just feel a bit low on energy, like your own battery has not yet fully re-charged from the day before. Sound familiar?

It’s a common experience, especially these days where most people have so much going on in their lives. As Ramana Pemmaraju, an Indian film producer, so succinctly puts it

Energy is everything – it’s the essence of life.

Ramana Pemmarju

Did you know our bodies have an inbuilt energy system (or biological battery) that must be re-charged every day? If you don’t know how to ‘plug in’ this battery and recharge it, you will have to ‘pay’ for your energy. For example, a common reaction to daytime tiredness or low energy is to grab a coffee or sugary snack as a ‘pick me up’. Unfortunately, these quick fixes or energy payments only serve to drain the body even more deeply.

Look after yourself. It’s the only body you have.

Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn is absolutely on the money here. We should respect and honour our bodies, just like an expensive car or house or any treasured object. If you owned a Ferrari, would you fill it with cheap fuel, or run the engine into the ground risking it’s very worth? Probably not, even though a car is really just a thing, an object that could be replaced (with enough cash!). So how do we treat our bodies, that can’t be replaced? Do we carefully refuel and keep them in top condition?!

Do you charge your death-force or your life-force?

These rather dramatic terms, coined by Paul Chek, clearly describe the two ends of your biological battery, and the consequences of enough or not enough energy.

This article will explore in more detail how we drain our batteries, and then how to re-charge them back up – including 8 practical tips you can start doing TODAY – so that we can all enjoy optimal health with enough energy to do everything we choose and more. I will also talk about working ‘in’ as opposed to (the more traditional) working ‘out’ and some energy boosting exercises.

UTILISATION of energy = Yang

ACCUMULATION of energy = Yin

In Chinese philosophy Yin and Yang are opposing forces – black and white, hot and cold, positive and negative; those activities that use up energy have yang qualities – which often causes cells to tear or breakdown.

You can’t spend (use) energy if you don’t have the energy first! 

Paul Chek

Are you charging your death force?

In a busy lifestyle, there are many demands on our bodies (physically, mentally and emotionally) that quickly utilise energy and drain our biological battery (pushing it into a negative state). Bad stressors include:

  • Lack of (or poor quality) sleep
  • Dehydration
  • Food allergies
  • Eating processed foods (4 ‘white devils’ – flour, salt, dairy and sugar)
  • Skipping meals
  • Over/under exercise
  • Over-work
  • No love
  • Lack of creativity

The body cannot identify individual stresses so they all go into one ‘bucket’, causing cell breakdown, reduced immunity and can, if left to run over a long-term period, result in serious illnesses.

However, just a few simple changes can turn everything around for the better.

Are you charging your life force?

Thankfully, there are many ways to help accumulate energy and get that internal battery back to a positive level! These all have Yin qualities – rest, repair and recovery of cells, and include:

  • Active lifestyle
  • Organic/ free-range foods
  • Quality mineralised water
  • Managed finances and goals
  • Daily focused breathing
  • Love yourself
  • Bed by 10.30pm

Our chief source of (free) energy accumulation is sleep!

Paul Chek

A good night’s sleep cannot be underestimated and so many healing processes happen between 10pm and 6am to rebuild physical cells and physiological pathways that will help to accumulate energy back into the body and recharge that internal battery.

Working ‘out’ vs working ‘in’.

Traditional cardiovascular exercise like walking or running, and also strength training and lifting weights, result in an increased heart rate and respiration (sweating and breathing) and are most normally described as a work OUT. As the blood and air are pumped round the body to facilitate movement of the arms and legs, energy is used and expended out of the body. Finding the right level and amount of exercise is crucial to ensure good health. Too little or too much exercise (or the wrong type – hill running with a weak back for example) will most definitely charge someone’s ‘death force’. There is simply too much energy going out.

A working IN program is the exact opposite – bringing energy into the body through slow and controlled movements. Also developed by Paul Chek, working in exercises are designed to not increase the heart rate or respiration (no sweating or heavy breathing); they can be performed on a full stomach and will in fact help the digestion process, by keeping the energy of the body (and blood flow) in the core. A moist tongue will also indicate a working in exercise (a dry tongue is a sign of dehydration and fatigue so definitely a by-product of working out).

The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well. 

Hippocrates

I recommend working in exercises every day to clients (and use them in my own weekly program) as an antidote to a generally busy and stressful lifestyle. Just a few minutes a day of slow and controlled movement focusing on breathing, posture and relaxation, has so many benefits. For me the main one is allowing myself to slow down, take some time out to reflect and relax. This in turn helps the body to repair and regenerate, and recharge even just a small amount of energy for improved ‘battery power’, leading to a happier and healthier you! As we heard Ramana Pemmaraju say at the start of this article: Energy is everything!

Here are 3 ‘working in’ exercises that I recommend you include on daily basis:

  • Prone to Child’s Pose
  • Superman or Superman Dynamic
  • Energy Push

8 practical ways to boost your energy and help recharge your battery!

  1. 5 mins of ‘working in’ exercises each day
  2. Drink veggie juice (easier to absorb and digest than a smoothie with the fibre), especially if you are feeling run down. Make your own if possible as store bought juices are often loaded with sugar and preservatives
  3. Walk at least 15 mins each day – an essential mix of fresh air, gentle exercise and headspace.
  4. Drink an extra glass of water 30 mins before each meal to keep you hydrated.
  5. Eat chia seed pudding for breakfast – full of essential fatty acids that will enhance sleep and boost brain power.
  6. Keep a daily diary with positive thoughts and write down your (SMART) goals to help keep you focused and motivated.
  7. Take a B12 vitamin supplement each day to support energy production and keep your blood cells happy and healthy (natural sources of B12 include wild caught salmon, grass fed beef, eggs and sardines).
  8. Be in bed by 10pm with a good book, and lights out by 10.30pm. Sleep well 😊

I know just what it’s like to have a busy lifestyle, juggling to fit everything in.  And I also know how easy it is to let your own health and fitness keep falling down the to-do list! So I created the 21 Day ‘Small Steps, Big Difference’ Challenge – a three week program designed to help you feel fitter and have more energy through simple & manageable daily actions.

For your own personalised 1-1 health & lifestyle assessment and personalised ‘working in’ exercise program, contact me.


References

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