Tai Chi for Older People

There are many choices we can make in our journey through life. Some people may seek fame or fortune while others may seek spiritual fulfillment. How do we know if the choices we make are the ones that are right for us? Since life offers no guarantee we will not know if decisions we've made are the right or wrong ones. But one concern we should have is for our health. As we grow older our body becomes less agile. Via the internet and many books written on martial arts people all over the world know the health benefits of Tai Chi for older people. With regular practice it helps you develop both physically and emotionally and is suitable for all levels of fitness.

Tai chi is based on a combination of flowing movements and meditation which gives you balance and harmony and improves metabolism and energy level. It has been used for centuries by the Chinese to enhance their well-being through its calming and meditative qualities. If you are looking for a way to improve your health and fitness there is no better method than Tai Chi. More people from all over the world are looking to learn Tai Chi as it makes it easy for losing weight, meditation and improving posture. It does all these things as it is a personal discipline. Many people think it is a martial art but it is more of a mediation that connects your mind and body in harmony.

Once your mind and body is in harmony you will be able to generate more energy and your mind becomes more focused. One way to describe it is a moving form of meditation and yoga when combined increases your personal power. The posture in tai chi for older people is designed to target the energy centres in your body. The people who practice them experience improved posture, less muscle tension and better reflexes. The spiritual and mental benefits that you get from this discipline are a more tranquil mind, a higher state of consciousness and less stress. This will enable you to work rest and play better.

The practice of Tai Chi for 20 minutes each day will enable you to respond to challenges in our busy and demanding life while developing or personal power known as (chi). The philosophy of the teachers is a belief that people are basically good but the nature of society causes people to develop bad habits. The aim of Tai Chi training is to eliminate this weakness so we can return to our better nature. Some practitioners of the art claims that the greatest form has no shape which is the ultimate goal as it is so deeply ingrained in form it becomes unimportant. Energy will naturally flow wherever the mind takes you to. This is the highest level of the art of Tai Chi.

Discover the amazing powers of Tai Chi, and enhance your well-being. [ http://bit.ly/jN7cbi ]

View the original article here

Stimulants Make Strong People Weak

All stimulants are 'sweet' when ingested but 'bitter' in their effects. You can become addicted to them without even recognizing your dependency. If you are used to drinking a few cups of coffee a day, try this: Go on a 'coffee fast', which means having no coffee for an entire day, and observe how you feel as the day progresses. After a few hours you may notice a dull sensation in your head and a feeling of weakness and lack of energy throughout the body. Some people develop headaches in the afternoon; others yawn and feel downcast.

These effects may seem to be due to the absence of coffee in your diet that particular day, but it actually reveals the weakening impact the coffee has been having on your heart.

You may argue, "But drinking coffee is normal; everyone does it." Most people in the industrialized nations will also fall seriously ill at some stage in their lives. For example, one in every two people in the U.S. will develop cancer at some stage of his or her life. This is now considered to be an almost 'normal' experience, too.

Stimulants, as contained in coffee, tea and cigarettes, seem to be welcome and fast-acting substances for those who feel the need for a boost of energy, to wake up their mind or to feel more buoyant and alive. But since these stimulants have no real energy on their own, where is the energy boost coming from? Obviously, the body provides it. Stimulants are nerve toxins that trigger a powerful defense reaction in the body. When you smoke a cigarette or drink a cup of coffee or power beverage, the resulting boost in energy occurs because of this immune response. Therefore, the experienced increase in physical energy is actually an energy loss for the body.

Many people now drink decaffeinated coffee in the belief this protects them against the addictive effects of caffeine. Consumer Reports recently tested cups of decaf coffee ordered six of the most popular coffee shops in the United States. A regular cup of coffee has from 85 to 100 milligrams of caffeine, while decaf coffee has from 5 to 32 milligrams of caffeine (about the same amount contained in 12 ounces of cola). In addition to still getting a significant amount of caffeine, drinking three cups or more of decaffeinated coffee may cause an increase in harmful LDL cholesterol by increasing a specific type of blood fat linked to the metabolic syndrome, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2005.

Decaffeinated coffee is made from more acidic beans than regular coffee. These strong acids have shown to increase the incidence of heartburn, osteoporosis, Glaucoma and rheumatoid arthritis. Decaf coffee can, in fact, quadruple the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in three months, compared with people who drink regular caffeinated coffee or tea. In other words, if you feel you cannot do without coffee, it is far better to drink a properly brewed cup of real, unprocessed coffee or better still, healthy organic coffee that is made from real coffee beans and infused with ancient mushrooms, but without unpleasant and harmful side effects of regular coffee. It's more like a relaxing health drink that boosts immunity.

There are other causes of energy depletion, such as overeating or ingesting unnatural foods. Natural food, although it has a stimulating effect, provides balanced doses of physical energy and helps to support all functions in the body. This kind of natural stimulation maintains physiological balance or homeostasis. Eating too much of any kind of food, on the other hand, causes over-stimulation, and so does regular snacking. Excessive sexual activity, overworking, stress and fear also cause continuous over-stimulation. Thus, the body, in an attempt to deal with the increased demands placed upon it, begins to over-secrete its own stimulants. These are the stress hormones adrenalin, cortisol, epinephrine, cortisone, endorphins, prolactin, etc., which are needed to sustain the body's most essential activities.

Yet, abusing the stress response day after day and thereby wasting the body's energy resources take their toll on both the body and the mind. One of the undesirable side effects of excessive adrenalin secretion, for example, is a constriction of important blood vessels, including those that supply the intestines. This greatly diminishes the body's ability to digest food and eliminate harmful waste products. Consequently, destructive bacteria begin to decompose the waste matter while producing powerful toxins. Many of these toxins enter the lymph and blood. Toxins have a strongly stimulating influence on the body, which may drive a person into a mode of hyperactivity. The body's energy reserves become depleted further, and a toxicity crisis or acute illness becomes unavoidable. The toxicity crisis can weaken the body to such an extent that it is hardly able to perform. Thus, the body allocates energy only to those functions that are absolutely vital.

Given this condition, feeling faint, nauseous or weak is perfectly natural. This helps the body to preserve energy and use it to break down the toxins and eliminate them from the area of congestion. If the energy-depleting causes are discontinued, the body will regain its balance. But if they are not, the body may enter one crisis after another until the person falls seriously ill. Through constant over-stimulation, even a strong and healthy person may eventually become weak, frail and chronically sick.

[This is an excerpt from the book 'Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation' by Andreas Moritz]

Andreas Moritz is a writer and practitioner in the field of Integrative Medicine. He is the author of 13 books on various subjects pertaining to holistic health, including The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush, Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation and Cancer Is Not a Disease. His most recent book is titled Vaccine-Nation: Poisoning the Population, One Shot at a Time.

Moritz is also the creator of Ener-Chi Art (http://www.ener-chi.com/) and Sacred Sant?mony.

Much of his life's work has been dedicated to understanding and treating the root causes of illness, and helping the body, mind, spirit and heart to heal naturally.

Connect with Andreas at: http://www.facebook.com/enerchi.wellness

Copyright ? 2011 by Andreas Moritz

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andreas_Moritz

View the original article here

Old People Get All the Best Gadgets

When people think of getting old they often think of jumpers, sitting with a tartan rug on a park bench and death. Luckily for the new generation of elderly people, technology has come to their aid and devices galore are either available or are becoming available to make their long lives that little bit easier.

Gadgets are fun but some older people find them too tricky to get their heads round as they have not been used to using computers and other technologies in their lives. New older people are much more adept at adopting and utilising gadgets, so now companies are pumping money into producing new stuff for the new older generation. Here are some of the things they (or maybe you) have to look forward to...

Computerised Medicine Cabinet

Medical science is not quite advanced enough yet to allow older people to avoid taking medicine quite often for various ailments that come with an aging body. To help avoid any mistakes when taking medicines, a new computer controlled medicine cabinet is being developed that will keep track of what you are taking, make sure you take what you need to at the right time and will stop you from taking something at the wrong time or in the wrong dose: like having your own pharmacist in your bathroom.

Pavement Go Karts

Mobility scooters used to be clumsy and hard to manoeuvre. The new generation of motorised scooters are highly manoeuvrable, can go off road, come with GPS and Sat Nav technologies and even have phones built in. This will allow older people with reduced mobility greater freedom to go out and about.

Lifts

A common problem for older people is that they struggle to get up and down stairs when their bones and muscles start to feel a bit old and achy. To help the next generation cope, new home lifts are now available that can be fitted into any home (with more than one floor) and can carry people upstairs with the flick of a switch. A through floor lift can be a godsend for older people for their practicalities but are also just a lot of fun.

Smart Bed

To go with your smart medicine cabinet, older people can now get their own 'smart bed' to match. To help loved ones or doctors monitor the health of older relatives without having to come round and take their vital statistics all the time, a smart bed uses sensors built in to the mattress that transmit data on life signs back to doctors in real time. That way they can sleep in comfort and you can sleep soundly too knowing that they are being remotely looked after.

View the original article here