Lower blood pressure, reduce stress and fight stubborn belly fat, without exercise

First let me say I love exercise and heartily recommend it, provided a person has the blessing of their doctor.

But even before you start exercising, you can do something today that will help you get healthier and feel better and even lose weight.

A simple practice of meditation, as little as five to ten minutes a day, can have wonderful benefits to your overall health and well-being.

Meditation works, and it's not difficult to learn. Google "benefits of meditation" and the search will return glowing reviews of its value in lowering blood pressure, reducing stress, improving creativity, empathy, and concentration.

To make a real change in your health and fitness, start with a change of outlook

Any real fundamental change in our happiness and well-being starts with a change of attitude.

This simple exercise will boost your energy and your motivation, but it takes a 30-day commitment.

Buy an inexpensive notebook at The Dollar Store or Target, or reuse a half-filled one from the top shelf of a closet.

For the next 30 days, at bedtime or in the morning when you wake up, write two paragraphs, in long-hand, in your best handwriting, about what you are thankful for that day.

If you haven't got time for exercise and hate the gym, do this

First light a candle, because it initiates a feeling of ritual and it's an invitation to the sacred.

Turn on some of your favorite music, either Pandora, your I-pod, cassette tapes, the radio, whatever you have.

Then dance. Let go of the compulsion to "do it right" and simply get moving to the music.

If you allow yourself, in 30 minutes you will be exhilarated and drenched with sweat, opened up to your sensual side, freed in body and soul.

A prayer of a warrior of light

I am thankful for dilemmas, because they point the way to my true path. I am thankful for gnawing disappointment, because it is the music of the heart, refusing to be muffled out. I am thankful for frustration, boredom, and irritation, for they are the persistent voice of destiny and the pangs of spiritual hunger, an itch that can't be physically scratched, the unquenchable desire for illumination, wonder and transcendence.

I am thankful for the fierceness within that refuses to settle for the commonplace, that yearns for stillness, reflection and insight. I am thankful for a warrior's inborn passion for a just battle, the insatiable thirst for mission, quest and purpose.

Reduce stress and incorporate more movement into your day by thinking incrementally

  

A couple of ideas you may be able to use--(I apologize if you've heard these before)

A busy, stressed person who is juggling multiple overloading responsibilities has to be creative about getting more exercise and incorporating more movement into their day.

Something I've been doing is that I take a 20-minute walk at lunch (even 10 or 15 has a significant cumulative benefit. I'll walk with an apple or a handful of nuts). 

I usually call Vicki when I get off work, before I start the car, check in say hi, see what we're doing, if I can pick up a bottle of wine or a movie. Instead of making that call from the car, I walk around the building. We can have a nice decompressing conversation, and I'm in motion, getting 10-15 minutes more exercise. If there's nothing pressing I'll take one more circuit, and I've added a 25-minute walk in without any lost time for changing or going to the gym, and I've made a refreshing transition from work mode, collected myself for the rest of my evening.