In Shape And Being Healthy
There’s a big difference between being in shape and being healthy. You can be healthy but not be in shape, and you can be in shape but not be in good health. When I was training for the circus I was in great shape. I was a lean 165 pounds, ripped to the core, training 8 to 10 hours a day. I’d start the morning with handstands and finish the day doing chin ups. Three times a week I would train MMA style at the local fighter’s gym and teach self-defense at night. This went on for four years.
But I was not healthy, despite my fit appearance, acrobatic agility, and intense physical lifestyle. I’d start the morning with a chocolate muffin and milk and finish the day eating instant Ramen noodles. Most of the week I was in pain – a rotating kind – where each day the suffering would migrate to a new part of the body. I had severe back issues for most of my second year in training, sprained ankles for most of my third, and uncountable cuts, bruises, bumps, and scars for the entire duration. I fought the flu at least 2 to 3 times a year. I ate randomly, whenever I wanted, and almost always the food contained sugar and white flour. I slept late, woke early, trained hard, and slept late again.
The outside projected pristine health – the glowing physical prowess of an athlete in training, full of youth, well-oiled body parts, and a fully revved engine. I was hitting red line RPMs with a smile on my face and eagerness in my heart. The totality of training was a way of being extreme, young, and fully alive.
I was definitely in shape but not healthy. Slowly, my body was falling apart. This youthful race car was starting to hiccup and limp to the finish line. By the time I completed my training I was strong, skilled – and injured. My grand denouement or final act at the circus school was a pulled rib cartilage that rendered me incapable of even sitting up on my own. I was condemned to four weeks of shallow breathing, slow walking, and much time to reflect.
There was a gradual dawning that although I could make the packaging look good, the contents inside were rotting. I needed to invest in better foods, wiser training habits, and more sleep. Health was an elusive benefit that not even a professional acrobat was privy too. You had to work for health too.
Although today I may not be doing the same number of flips, jumps, and spins as I did during my training, I consider my current state as one of the healthiest ever. I am mostly without pain, with the exception of the occasional intense workout. I eat well and allow myself to be indulgent when I want to be. When I’ve had enough of Thanksgiving turkey, apple pie, and cider beer, my body tells me and I naturally bounce back to eating fresh, organic foods again. My body knows health, and is attracted to it.
I’m not at my performance weight but not far from it. I train when my body feels like moving – which is almost every day, but not always. I sit and watch Friends reruns and then get up and hike in the desert. The definition of health has changed for me over the years and it is by far the healthiest yet.
I used to never drink, fast for days, do week long herbal cleanses, and exercise religiously. It was a regiment of to do’s to align myself with what I thought was true health. I felt great for a while, but in the end, lost the rhythm of the cleanse, changed exercise programs, and gravitated to a new type of fast. It wasn’t consistent.
My current understanding of true health is the ability to carefully listen to the needs of your body and act upon them. Over-training is as dangerous as not moving at all. Severe diets, cleanses, and fasts can be as detrimental as junk food for breakfast everyday. There is only one book that can give you the recipe for greater health, and that book is written by you.
To drink in consciousness, to eat ice cream in consciousness, and to watch football in consciousness is a greater sign of health than exercising because a sheet of paper, handed to you by your trainer, tells you to do so. Developing consciousness is the greatest catalyst for developing sustainable and natural health, because you already know what you need. All you have to do is listen for it, and then act upon it.
Alvin Tam is a Human Touch Health & Wellness council member and enjoys relaxing in his HT-7450 Zero-Gravity massage chair.
“I notice that using the massage chair has helped to radically reduce tension in my neck from all the computer work I have to do. I also have an overall sense of well-being by not having any back tension at all during the day.” – Alvin Tam
I just love it when a visitor to our showroom (and previously my clinic) sits on a 
Ahh, and then there comes the message, the why, the how, the reason to it all. For me at this time I became aware that I was due to shift gears…yes, become an Artist. It was my body and mind’s way of balancing out the amount of exertion and energy I had been channeling into merely one place. When we neglect the creative capacities of the mind by predominantly depending on the physical strength of the body, then the mind tends to become neglected. The same goes for when the mind is flooded with obstacles and mental challenges and there lies no form of physical release to express emotion, detox, sweat and move the body into a state of freedom. With this bit of insight, I continued with my path as an Artist. I carried my creative vision to college, upstate New York at Suny New Paltz and then to JCU, Queensland Australia, where my physical health and mental health intertwined quite naturally. I became very involved with a West African dance troupe and later a flying trapeze company that taught me how to fly high in the sky. It was like my muscle memory as a gymnast never went away. The trapeze was like gymnastics in pure open space while, landing on my 2 feet was supplemented for falling onto my spine with an open heart in a lofty net. I began to adapt very well with the nature of movement of my body and the academic capacities of my mind. It seemed as though my right brain and left brain actually became good friends and the nature of expression and mindfulness were like that of a Libra, in good harmony and at peace. That esssence of balance is often discovered, appreciated and honored when we find it. It also inevitably becomes lost and found again, like a walk on a tight rope, wavering from side to side. Fortunately, I have listened to my mind and body and found that in doing so I can gage my edge, my limits and also become my own healer by applying preventative medicine, rest, recharge and positive thought to my every transition and shifting of gears. This is something we all do and can do, by simply taking the sacred time to check in and find it. I have found that practicing yoga has served me a bright and healthy means of bathing in the balance of the mental and physical aspects of my temple. Although I’ve learned all things practiced in moderation, even a yoga practice! Achieving the balance can be quite difficult as we live in a time when there is a high demand to conquer, complete, embrace, solve and find, all that we are here to do on the planet. So the question is, do we have to work so hard to see it all balance out? Sometimes we think that it is necessary to work out in a physical way more than 2x a day. Some work out sessions can run a few hours long or longer and leave the exerter exhausted. The same goes goes for taking on too many tasks, agenda and weight in the mind. Is there such a thing as small doses and keeping it light? Less is more, this is certainly true. As for a physical practice, I have adapted to doing what I love, expressing myself, releasing endorphins through yoga, dancing, hiking and biking. Yet I choose to not overdue like I have done in the past. I have found that little bits done consistently go a long way. 3 enjoyable practices of movement a week or 20 minutes a day beats an extreme training once every 3 weeks. The same goes for a big hearty meal at the end of a long day, opposed to grazing, eating green and passing fluids through the body all day long. Little bits of nutrition taken all throughout the day is very invigorating to our body’s digestive system. Keeping it active, not overworked!
with the needs and requests of your mind and body is really the only way. Only you know your limits and your edge more than anyone else, just as You are the one who can heal from within. My blog today suggests that we avoid overexhertion, do less and know that acting small and consistent can really bring big results. Afterall, I can still do cartwheels, and fit in my highschool jeans.
It is nearing the end of the year and many of you need to use up your flex money so that you don’t end of January 1, 2010 cursing the fact that you just lost it all. A 
Ok its time for me to go sit in my 
