Plato used to walk the markets of ancient Greece to see how much stuff he didn’t need. One of the richest and most vibrant characteristics of a deep sense of well being is a profound simplicity. When our bodies, minds, and hearts are restfully vibrant, we realize we don’t actually need much stuff at all.

As I write this I am sitting on a bench in south Carolina at some retail outlets. I spent the last hour walking the place and going into stores. Sure, there is lots of “stuff” that in a moment I might want, but not much at all I really need. As I walked, I would see something that drew my attention. The “wanting mind” would find an object it wanted. I’d feel the sensations of excitement in my body. Then I take a deep breath,asking the question, “do I want this, or do I really need this?” Nice sunglasses, cool shoes, summer shirts, a pair of pants for my summer trip with Lynn. Not a bit of it did I actually need.

Because I do this practice often, I have socks with many holes. So I was grateful for the Goldtoe store where I finally got some new dress socks. I really needed those!

Then I simply asked the question, “how can I be a radiant light of compassion for someone here today? How can my presence here lift someone’s spirit?” and I just go about being here, right now, in this retail outlet mall teeming with activity and energy. On the inside, though, my being feels so simple, so delightfully uncomplicated. It was not always this way for me.

Wellbeing can mean a lot of things. Right now for me, it’s just sitting, needing nothing, resting in the preciousness of the moment. Appreciating the people around me, especially those that maybe haven’t felt any sort of well being In a long time. Emulating Plato feels great.

What always amazes me is how exactly what we do need shows up with so much less effort when we are resting in this state. I was so thirsty walking in this southern spring heat. I needed water. There is no food court here. No place to get water except vending machines. All I had were large bills and no coins, but I figured I would check it out. As I approached the vending machine, 2 cold fresh waters were there waiting for me at the bottom. No one was even near the machine, let alone visible. I don’t buy into magical thinking. I know, however, that coincidence and serendipity is God’s way of remaining anonymous. Even in challenging times, life can be effortless. What we need shows up. It’s ok to relax and trust that. I love to work as hard as anyone, and I love to relax and allow, too.

One of the things I have noticed with Network Care and the 12 Stages of Healing is that as the work progresses and takes deeper and deeper roots inside of ourselves, there is a very deep sense of inner calm, of a presence that is at once ready for anything, very authentic, and yet deeply peaceful. The lens of our awareness is clear enough to see the needs of those around us, and we can respond in presence, depth, kindness, and simplicity.

Wellbeing is living in and resting in a deep and sustained sense of optimal physical, emotional, and mental health. Today, wellness is emulating Plato. And with my new socks, I am emulating Plato in style.

With love,

Dr. Matt Lyon

For thousands or years, the wisdom of India has stated that the vital life force, called Prana, of the human person courses through the human spine and nervous system and energy channels called “Nadis”. In China, similar understandings of “qi” or “vital energy” abound. IN fact, In Chinese medicine, the “Governing Acupuncture Channel” runs through the spine. Qi runs through the nervous system and surrounding connective tissues.

Modern cell biology through epigenetics and through understanding cellular communication is giving us an evidence-based way to understand innate intelligence. These modern understandings of the body’s communication networks also support that the human nervous system is the master commander and controller of life. What we often say and teach in a vitalistic chiropractic model (similar to a vitalistic approach to acupuncture, ayurveda, and other powerful body work techniques) is that when this energy flow is disrupted in any way our “health” on every level suffers. Said another way, when there are distortions in the communication network of the human body, our ability to “adapt and evolve” in our environment and life breaks down. And if we can’t keep up with the demands of life we get sick – we experience dis-ease in the form of mental rumination, emotional distress, depression, anger, jealousy, physical pain, tight muscles, poor sleep, low energy, feelings of despondency, apathy, worry, and poor immune function. Researchers are finding that decreased cellular communication is a core factor in chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes.

Our nervous system is ultimately how we relate to others, how we experience compassion, how we develop meaning in our lives. It is where and how we experience hope, joy, connection, and the ability to see the big picture in life. And, as the system becomes “stuck in arrested development” as the result of undigested stress of any type, we are limited in our ability to manifest our greatest human potential: to be the embodiment of love, compassion, creativity, purpose, vital action, and spiritual wholeness. That is truly the greatest healing. This healing is very different than just curing an ailment. In fact, one can heal deeply without curing anything. One can cure a disease or problem and not heal at all. In the best of worlds, we can accomplish both.

So, back to Narada. What the Bhakti Sutras imply is that everything is Love. Everything is intelligence in motion. And everything is potential intelligence arising from rest and stillness. Thus, the experience of stress, of dis-ease, is actually a “distortion of love”. Stress, and the pattern stress shows up as in our lives, is a distortion of love. This is actually very powerful, because it implies that through healing our stress we can reconnect to something very, very big. We can reconnect to our very essence. And in the healing journey we therefore have the capacity to not only heal the “effects of stress” but to also heal the roots of distortion. As a result, we can heal ourselves and our world on every level.

Getting in the Gap is an answer to procrastination, reactivity, projection, and toxic thinking patterns. It is an answer to feelings of stress, fear, and overwhelm. It is soothing balm for troubled relationships. It heals your body more than any day at the spa can even come close to.

Getting in the Gap is like scuba diving. On the surface of our experience things can seem so turbulent, choppy, and unstable. However, once we learn to just put on our mask and breathe through the regulator and drop below the surface, we experience an instant silence, a brand new perspective and an instant access to a whole new living world of possibility. Time stands still and we see things as they are, not as we are. And there is usually a massive difference.

The “magic” of the gap is that we learn to to get into that space between what we perceive, what we then feel, what we then think, and what we then do. It is the power to actually slow down our life and our minds and our reactions enough so that we get to consciously choose. Choose what? How we respond. Our life. How we feel. How we show up in our relationships. How we cultivate the love we want to experience. The choice is ours and enlightenment, in this sense, is simply a thought away. This is how you can, bit by bit, moment by moment, wipe the “stress response” clean. Your body, mind, and spirit will thank you.

When we can little by little live more and more in that gap, there are no limits on life. There are no limits on who we can become. All the stories about who we thought we were melt away like snow in spring. The reality, if you are really honest with yourself, is that very very very few people act freely. Sure you are free to go to a movie, to delete this blog, to eat a cheeseburger, but very few people are awake and actually consciously choose their life and their responses, moment by moment. Driven by visible and invisible forces seemingly out of awareness and control, we live, but very people live free. We are fragmented. Stressed. Frazzled. And all of that energy of a fragmented life absolutely affects our spines, muscles, nerves, emotions, thoughts, relationships, dreams, and abundance. Tremendously. In the end we are highly constrained by this “sleep-walking” and therefore sell ourselves so short on what we can become and the joy, abundance, trust, and passion we can actually feel.

So, we are asleep at the wheel and then our life takes the shape it takes when we are fragmented, disconnected, and largely unaware. Life in its amazing Wisdom *will* snap our attention back. A lot of the times this comes in the form of physical or emotional or mental “symptoms”. They are uncomfortable for sure. Just remember that the bodymind has pain for a reason and that pain is meant to interrupt your life. Your “pain” is trying to get you to wake up from the pattern you are caught in.

So often, we want to go back to sleep as quickly as possible and seek therapeutics that are more than happy to do that. In reality, our “pain” is not really our “pain”. The real “pain” is sleepwalking. I love what my mentor Donny Epstein will say to people he entrains: “I have no intention of making you more comfortable.” It sounds tough, but its actually one of the most loving things I have ever heard. When we see your potential enough, when we see what’s real, the real crime would be helping you stay comfortable in your sleepwalking. Its not about getting comfortable in your bad dream. Its about opening your eyes and waking up.

Lets get down to it. Here is a powerful exercise for getting in the Gap. Start by getting into a relaxed position. Take some deep breaths. Be on the spot, on the dot. Take some more deep breaths. Now, lets dive in. Go slow with this and stay with it. You’ll get it. I’ll chunk this down into NINE steps so you can follow easily:

1. Go back to a painful experience you had with someone. One of those rotten, yucky experiences where something occurred and you felt hurt, angry, confused, sad, irritated, or any similar response.
2. Go back to the exact moment the “incident” occurred -to the words that were said, to the things that were done.
3. Now, like an old time movie reel, slow down the reel and see the picture frames one by one. Slow it down more. Wind it back. Go to the moment just before it happened.
4. Feel your state. See and feel what was happening. How was your body holding itself. Where did you feel that? In your gut? Your chest? What was your breathing doing?
5. Run through a couple of frames just after the incident. Not too far. Look closely. You’ll notice you have a GAP before anything arose in your awareness. There was a GAP before the sensations, emotions and thoughts started to come up. There was a GAP before we went into battle, armed with our stories and defenses.
6. What did you feel right after that Gap? What were your sensations? What did you feel? What were your thoughts? What were the instant emotions? Then wind forward. What did you do? Usually we can see that our habitual patterns of defense arise and we go with it like a dog being called to dinner. There was actually very little choice in the matter, yet it felt so real, and we usually feel so justified.
7. Now, lets wind the reel back again. Right to the moment of the GAP. Here is your infinite moment of pure potentiality. You get to CHOOSE this time.
8. What emotion(s) would you choose instead? Its your choice and it can be anything. And you don’t need to pick something because its how you are supposed to act? What would have been the authentic, heart-centered response? Courageous? Compassionate? Calm? Dignified? Gracious? Empathic? Nonjudgmental? Strong? Self-reliant? What would you choose this time? What would like to experience instead. The slate is blank. Go for it!
9. Now with this empowered emotion that you choose, what action would you take? How would you see the situation? What words would you share, or not share? What would you feel? What would your body feel like? How would you hold yourself? And what if your emotion, thought, words, and action were about choosing to broadcast more of what you want in the world? What if you were consciously choosing connection, redemption, compassion, peace, understanding, and empowerment?

Mind the GAP, my friends. This exercise above is a powerful tool that can transform and shift consciousness in a massive way. Its fast. And when we do this more and more, we cultivate the habit of living in the GAP. When we are in that GAP we get to choose our responses. Responsibility is the art and practice of becoming more and more “response-able.” And the happiest, most effective, most successful people I know take 100% of responsibility for their life, their choices, and what they feel. The oppressive forces are the ones we cultivate on the inside. And we can re-write that script anytime we want. Its not easy, but its the most amazing journey I know of. Its the journey of literally waking up to each moment in its luminous grandeur. Its not some foo-foo woo-woo concept. Its real. Its your destiny.

As we do this more and more we become so much sharper, so much more able to effect real change in the real world in whatever roles we play. By taking full responsibility for the Gap, we can be more powerful in the world with more energy, more resourcefulness, and more joy. And believe me, the world needs that. Badly.

There are great tools out there to cultivate this. Network Care and Somato Respiratory Integration are incredible ways to undo the build-up of stress. More importantly they teach us, step by step, stage by stage, level by level, to become so much more empowered and resourceful in our bodies, emotions, thoughts, perceptions, and actions. In other words, they help us live more and more in the GAP. We know from research at the University of Southern California that NSA completely helps the neural circuitry become much more organized, coherent, and consciously evolved. And when that happens, its so much easier to live in the GAP. Its your destiny, remember?

Other tools I cannot recommend highly enough are having a mentor, guide, or coach, daily meditation, conscious and mindful exercise such as yoga or “focused intensity training”, learning communication skills, and writing daily in a personal journal.

If you want to learn more about what we do at the Network Wellness Center of Charlotte, please feel free to check out one of our many workshops this winter and spring. Please don’t hesitate to share your feedback or to call us if you need help. We are here to serve.

Love,

Dr. Matt Lyon
Charlotte NC Chiropractor

Dr. Matt Lyon Charlotte, NC Chiropractor

Congratulations! Its 2012 and you are alive, you are reading this, and you possess a completely blank slate moving forward. Anything is possible, limited only by your imagination and your willingness to change your mind about your mind.

Its a beautiful paradox – you are an infinite, eternal child of God with nothing to improve upon and a simple feeling of joy, gratitude, bliss, and connection is the very fabric of your existence. AND, at the very same time, you are called to create your life, moment by moment into a masterpiece. You are called to bring for that Innate Wisdom resting in you, as you, into form in your life. This is the great gift, as far as I can see, of life. We get to consciously co-create our life and our world. Wow. In the mystical Jewish Kaballah tradition, there is an angel over every blade of grass saying, “Grow! Grow! Grow!” If its over a blade of grass, you have an entire legion of angels over you encouraging you to evolve and become!

To me, a masterpiece life is as follows: an ever-evolving optimal state of well-being of mind, body, spirit with an ever expanding contribution to the world I live in. As I cultivate this optimal masterpiece life I continue to grow in excellence, wisdom, love, and service on every level. The very act of becoming helps me realize, moment by moment, the truth that I, like you, am an irreplaceable, infinite, eternal Child of God. And, in the great paradox, the more I realize this, the more I desire to become, to grow more, to serve more, to more greatly manifest this Infinite Abundance in the world. The conscious act of this day by day, moment by moment, creates the very field where Authentic Happiness bursts forth. Nothing external needs be attained, rather, the act of living and playing full out itself creates the happiness that is sought. In fact, there is really nothing to “seek” anymore. There is just the beautiful dance of becoming and being.

Pretty much all the research on happiness is consistent that at best, 10% of our happiness comes from external factors such as wealth, fame, beauty, and stuff. Yet our culture, our media, and our consumption driven marketplace has completely brainwashed us into thinking that this is 99% of the game. Not even close. Even worse, we are fed loads of disempowering junk about quick-fixes, magical bullets, and “secrets of abundance.”

So, lets make this simple. You want to become the best version of you possible. How do I know this? Because after meeting with thousands of people and getting to the bottom of what they think their “pain” is, all of us what to be happy and become our best. It may be layered over with stress, trauma, and self-hatred, but I am pretty certain it is there in your heart. Its 2012, and I am going to bet, you want to set goals, you want to fulfill your resolutions. You are resolved into somehow growing in your life, improving some aspect of yourself, and becoming healthier, happier, and more productive. And if you are not, I suggest this is a GREAT time to think about that. Then BIG question is: HOW?

Lets get something straight. Change does not equal transformation. Just because you change something in your life or want to change something does not equal the deep transformation that leads to an optimal life. To me, transformation means significant, sustained, and lasting change on a bunch of layers of our life. So, its one thing to workout a few times a week for a couple of months in your flurry of enthusiasm, yet no real transformation results from that. Its one thing to start with something like Network Care, rock out a few visits, start to feel better and quit. There is no real transformation in that. Transformation helps us fundamentally re-pattern ourselves and our lives in a big way. In a “Transformational” model, we moving in the direction of greater wholeness, virtue, and benefit for the greatest good of the most people. As the process unfolds we are simultaneously cultivating a consistently higher “stage” of optimal well-being of mind, body, and spirit. As we do this, we are living at our full potential. And this feels AMAZING. No, it is not easy. Yes, it is the most wonderful feeling in the world. Its real. And everyone, EVERY ONE, is capable and blessed to make this happen. Its all about choice, focus, desire, and your actions moment by moment and day by day.

In this article, I want to talk about the art of setting goals from the perspective of TRANSFORMATION. In the next article we’ll break down where most of the problems arise in our journey of becoming – or, better said, where the wheels fall off the wagon in our efforts to live our “new years resolutions”.

For now, lets start with Goals and Authentic Happiness. Before I get going, let me say this works. Every time. It works because I have used this model for 20+ years. I know it works because the scientific research on it says that it is proven to work. And this is great news because in a world of quick fixes, magical thinking, failed resolutions, get rich instantly formulas, and fast fitness scams, its GREAT to know that something is real and will work. In fact, there is nothing new under the sun here. This is just simple applied philosophy.

Most people make their goals about external stuff. There is nothing *wrong* with that, it simply won’t yield what we are really looking for. And what we are looking for is deep happiness, life satisfaction, and a sense of well-being that transcends circumstance. So, when we set goals for wealth, fame, beauty, and the like we have to realize that its going to take a LOT of work to attain them AND that unless we commit to the process in a very different way, it will not make us any happier in the end. Yes, you may have $1 Million in the bank, yes you may have that chateau in Italy, however if you have not *transformed* in the process you will be the same person with the same insecurities and same endless desires once that “thing” or “accomplishment” arrives. Remember, the science is clear, 10% of happiness has to do with money, looking great, being famous, achieving the “numbers” of life.

Instead, lets turn this around. Completely. First, lets set our goals on how we want to contribute to the world. How do we want to use our gifts, talents to contribute to others? As Stephen Covey states in his GREAT book the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, we are going to begin with the end in mind: that we want to flourish on every level of our life and that we are going to accomplish that through full engagement and contribution. The act of this will make you irresistible to the world and therefore the fulfillment of the external goals will happen as a by-product of living a masterful life.

So, set 10 goals for your life in how you want to contribute to others. How do you want to use your work, your interests, your skills, and your passions to build and create? How can your passions help others? And how can you use this as a way to grow as a human being, to flourish on every level? And, as you pursue these goals, how can they help you become healthier, wealthier, and more wise? And if you do have external goals, how would these help you grow? How would these help you contribute? If you say you want a million bucks just because it would alleviate your fears, insecurities, and help your life be perfect you are SORELY mistaken. These goals have to be placed in a larger context of becoming and real transformation. They are merely byproducts of your hard work devoted to something MUCH bigger than yourself.

Lets take a living example: you want to start a set of yoga studios that empowers the community, helps people get healthy while awakening to their full potential, creates a great place for amazing people to work, and makes the community a better place. As a result of this you then write that in 5 years you would like to gross $1 Million and then sell your businesses that you built. Notice that this is a totally different game and mindset. The person you must become to make this happen requires transformation and in the process of making it happen I promise you if you stick with it and have great coaching you will become authentically happy on every level. It won’t be easy – in fact if you are doing it right it will stretch you and work you in ways you never thought possible. And like the martial artist transformed by discipline, hard work, and challenge, you too will earn your black belt in life as a fully alive, self-actualized, radiant, vibrant, happy being. You will have become your full potential. See the difference between this and just wanting a million bucks?

I’ll give you some personal examples: I want to cultivate more energy in my body so that I can serve more people and have more sustained energy in my creative production (writing, books, blogs, etc) and so that I can be more inspiring and clear when I lead workshops or teach. Thus, I then created, based on this goal, a routine to build strength + energetic focus in the gym, energy with my food, deepened my commitment to my meditation practice, and committed to more entrainments for myself every month. In the process of serving others, I’ll gain the externals of energy, happiness, and greater joy as a side-benefit, as a by-product of hard work focused on a goal bigger than myself. As you’ll notice, once that goal is set, it makes it really easy to see the actions that have to happen.

Maybe your goal is to knit a quilt for someone. Maybe your goal is to become a better more centered mom. Maybe your goal is to start a new company. To make more money. Its all grist for the mill when done in a larger context of becoming your full potential and having the goal by the by-product of your commitment to playing full out.

Here are the SEVEN KEYS of Optimal Goal Setting for 2012:

1) Go inside your heart. How do you want to contribute to others this year? Begin with end in mind! What kind of life do you want to lead? How do you want flourish in mind, body, and spirit? What do you want to create in your life, in your body, at your workplace that will make the world a better place? Get the big picture first and everything flows easily after that.

2) Who do you need to become to make that happen? If you want to get fit and stay fit the WHOLE year, you must then become the kind of person who loves to exercise and who has the discipline to get it done regardless of the stories in your mind that tell you otherwise. If you want to have a full waiting list massage practice, you must become a master of your art, learn to empathically communicate with others, study business, be totally committed to healing others to make the world a better place, and have the discipline and work ethic of those who have done it before you. You want to have, grasshopper, but you must first learn to BE – then you will learn to DO based on that and then you will HAVE what you need and want. You will also BE a happy person who DOES happy things and as a result HAS a happy life on every level. And you will have cultivated profound strength of spirit and character so you can gracefully weather any storm life throws your way. Go ahead, write about this.

3) Now, set your goals. I do 10 year, 5 year, 12 month goals, 9 month goals, 6 month goals, 3 month goals, monthly goals, and weekly goals. Write them. Start with how you want to contribute. You can add in the external stuff, too. Now its wrapped inside a bigger context. In fact, you need the externals so you can measure your growth and success. If you can’t measure it, we are only getting 50% of the gifts of your goals. Its fun to see your growth!

4) Recognize that no goal, however simple, is without challenges. That is why they are called resolutions – because they require your resolve to commit to the process. So, get real and get honest and acknowledge that it won’t be easy. If it was easy, it would not transform you! Write these challenges. Get them down on paper. Now go back to your earlier steps – I know there will be days when I am so busy at my practice and will have given so much that the thought of working out will suck. The idea of eating a big salad when what I would rather do is woof down some cupcakes will come. I will make mistakes. I will have days that are really challenging and thoughts will come that maybe I am not up to the challenge. Get real, we all have them. So, when you recognize this you will cultivate the RESOLVE to act anyway. You will be acting in congruence with the person you said you must become in #2. And in acting the part, you will begin to see the world from the eyes of that person. You will feel liberated! Your spirit will soar! You will draw in and attract exactly what you need to make that goal happen. Luck happens when we are working hard! In Steven Covey’s 7 Habits book I mentioned before he states that another habit of the greats is to BE PROACTIVE. This is being immensely proactive in a way that scientifically drives you towards success.

5) Success, growth, and flourishing are not an accident. Yes you are perfect just the way you are, yet if you remain just as you are without growth you will wither and dry up. Write your goals. For each timeframe, 12 month, 6 month, etc write 5-10 goals (or more). Write everything. Dream big. You are limited by your imagination only!

6) Build a network of people who will support you AND, most importantly, have cultivated success and are flourishing in life on the levels you want to flourish on. You can sit by yourself in the woods with two flints and try to start a fire or you can go hang out next to some burning bushes. I suggest the latter. They are out there. Find them. When the student is ready, the teachers will appear. We are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with in terms of happiness, finances, and accomplishments.

7) Have patience. Its your life. Remember, it is not about the destination, its about the path, the act of walking, the joy of becoming. And as you go deeper into this you will realize that for every step forward you make you will be ecstatic to know that there are 10 steps in front of you. And every step will polish your heart into a radiant diamond if you will surrender to the process. When challenges and perceived failure comes, thank God for it, and endeavor to do better and keep on moving forward. Often these “failures” are exactly what we need to shift course, meet an important person, humble ourselves, or clear out some old junk from our hearts and life. NO PERSON OF EXCELLENCE AVOIDED CHALLENGES AND HEARTBREAK. So, I lovingly tell you to get over yourself, make zero excuses, and get on with the life you were born to live.

There was a whole lot of hype (and I use that word intentionally) around the so-called “Secret” years back. So many authors and “teachers” jumped on the bandwagon teaching about the law of attraction and the secret. There are no secrets. The Divine keeps no secrets whatsoever, we bind ourselves to illusion by consistently not seeing what is there all the time. By your very makeup you are a vast field of infinite potential whose deep and driving nature is to become your full potential moment by moment.

Here is to rocking out your best 2012 yet. Next post we’ll look at the most common obstacles and how to transform them and overcome them.

As always, wishing you loads of health and true well-being today and the rest of this year. You are worth vastly more than you think you are!

Love,

Dr. Matt Lyon, DC

Life is difficult when we are consistently taking the path of most resistance without the tools to do anything about it and to create a new reality for ourselves. Life is difficult when we don’t have resources. Once we get a clear picture of where we are at and how we can make a complete mess of things on so many levels then we can start to change. We start to get free when we get that all the things in our life that are difficult have one thing in common: us.

Now about posture. If you read my last post you read about my thoughts on the relationship of emotion and our body. And, if you read the whole thing you got to my story about my own healing with sciatica and some very painful memories around being bullied for a couple of years. I really enjoyed writing that, although it is always hard to be vulnerable to such a large audience. My story for years was that I would never let that violation happen again. So I worked really hard in my life, got a bunch of degrees, created success in a number of ventures, and tried to be really smart. I reasoned that if I did it all right then I would not have to feel all that pain. And yet, the energy required to maintain that “posture” in life was actually exhausting. Being fake sucks. Literally. It sucks the life out of us. And being fake isn’t just a facelift and an augmentation. It is the way we concoct a “sense of self” that defends us from the world. It keeps us from feeling vulnerable. It keeps us, we think, safe. And my posture literally mirrored this.

This “posture” we carry in our life is literally the “posture” that shows up in our bodies. Why is it that as kids we can move in thousands of directions, have supple spines, happy faces, bright eyes, and great postures and then as we age we move in a few directions (if we are lucky), we tighten, we harden, and our posture mirrors that. Your unresolved life is evident in your posture. We shrink in our life and we shrink in our posture. Your stress of a lifetime is “worn” in your posture. Your story about yourself and your life is in your posture. So, what if you want to change your story in life and the story of who you are? Posture is a great place to start. I have a way to do that. I did it, and I think it saved my life.

Posture is connected to just about everything in your health. Mood, blood pressure, pain patterns, headaches, blood pressure, cardiac function, lung function, and digestion are scientifically tied to posture. The worse your posture is, the more likely you are to have health problems. Or, to have problems that don’t go away on their own and then we go for the drugs. Or we just think its normal. And we push on. We get by. I know that one well. I got by. It was lonely. And I hurt. A lot. I had nearly daily headaches for three years. You know my story about sciatica. And I tried so hard to make it all go away. Where is “away” anyway? Can anyone tell me that?

I see this as a Charlotte NC chiropractor so commonly in headaches, neck pain, and back pain. When you really ask people what they think is going on what they think is causing it, 90% of people will tell you it is stress. And they are right. Remember, we wear that stress and the whole of our life experience in our posture. Think about it – a couple of car accidents, a head injury when you were 7, a job you feel unhappy with, problems with your spouse, worries about your kid, stress about how much money you’ll need to retire – all of this adds up. It accumulates. And our body tells the story. Your spine tells the story of you.

When I was in middle school we still had the old school system in the Library. Mrs. Archibald taught it as the Dewey Decimal System. I’ll never forget her as I was in perpetual trouble with her! It tracks and categorizes all the information in the form of books in that library. And our nervous system does the same thing. This is why a really good practitioner of Network Spinal Analysis can, with refined hands and an intuitive heart tell you so much about your life simply by feeling your spine. All that information is categorized, stored, and organized by our brain and spine. Mostly, we categorize it so it won’t hurt and the pain we felt emotionally or physically will never happen again. The more we do that, though, the tighter we get. It blocks off movement. It solidifies a posture of defense. It actually changes brain function so that the highest parts of ourselves can’t shine. If we really want to be “holistic” in our approach to healing any pain, I personally feel we *have* to look at this. We may make one symptom go “away”, but just like the game “whack-a-mole” at the Champlain Valley fair another will spring up in its place. If we are unaware, which most of us are, we probably won’t connect the dots. And then we get by. We make do. And we miss out on our own heroic journey of being fully alive and fully human.

So looked at that picture of myself at the beach in Southern California. I was with my dad. The guy I had, unconsciously, always tried to emulate and please. If I could just get his approval then I would be OK. Just for the record, he didn’t create this story. I did. I was a grown up at this point and the only wish he had for me was that I could be happy. But that was not the story in my posture. My story was that I was not enough. EVER. I wasn’t a “real doctor”, I was weird, I did not fit the mold (just for the record, Chiropractors are doctors. For me, I was raised to think only Medical Doctors were “real doctors”. I no longer hold that view.). Thank God all of those things were and are true. But from that sense of self that was defended against the world, I felt I had to fit in and I could never see the gift in my life. I felt I needed something from him, and just about everyone else to be free. If only things would have been different. And until that story changed, I would be as tight as a drum in so many ways. I looked at the picture on the beach and I felt that contraction. That anger directed inward. That literal resentment (resentment means to feel the same thing again and again) towards myself and the world was so obvious in the way I carried myself. Head forward. Jaw tight. Top of my spine curved forward. Shoulders forward. Lots and lots of energy. Just no where for it to go. Because it was invisible to me through years of suppression. No surprise my back “gave out.” No surprise that I had headaches almost every day. No surprise that I had to “work so hard” to be and feel happy and successful.

Even though I had had pretty deep spiritual experiences as a kid and even continued to do so, they were not going to fix the problem. I had to get real. I had to get into my body. I had to. Network Spinal Analysis in many ways saved my life. through the different Network levels of care My spine and life unwound decades of crud. And in the process I started to finally feel free. And wouldn’t you know it, that rigid sense of self I had that would fight through life started to melt. And when my spine cracked open, something moved through. The light and energy and wisdom that had been there all along. Yes my headaches healed. Yes my sciatica healed. Yes my “irritable bowel” healed. Yes, my TMJ pain healed. But you know what, the greatest healing was that I could finally, at long last, just be me without a story. I didn’t need anything from anyone anymore. I could love my dad just because he is a human being and is 50% responsible for this remarkable life of mine. My marriage changed as I stopped projecting all of that unconscious crap onto my wife Lynn. My friendships changed. My relationship with every moment changed. My intuition blasted open. My self-worth become whole again. Oh, this is what I felt as a kid sledding down that hill. This is what I had been seeking all those years. And what I was seeking, I was actually seeking with. I had just locked it away. I had studied philosophy and spirituality for years trying to fix myself. Now it got real.

As you can see, one of the reasons I am so passionate about Network Care and the 12 Stages of Healing is that it healed my body – more importantly it healed my life. The healing of my life is what healed my body because my body and all of its hurt was just the externalized form of my inner world. The incongruity of my inner world just showed up in my body. If you read the testimonials on our website you’ll see a pretty consistent trend: healing of body and mind and spirit. So, if I can help you, or someone you love, don’t hesitate to call me. I’ll be there. And if I don’t think I can help, I’ll be the first to let you know. If I can help, I’ll be the first to let you know.

Here is a little video I did talking about some similar stuff. Enjoy.

Just as we can create so much pain and struggle for ourselves, we can totally create so much joy, authentic happiness, health and true “awakening” in our life. Its a choice, moment by moment. And that choice can get a whole lot easier when we look into the source of a lot of our pain and we have a reliable trusted path to help us. Even after years of Network Care for myself, its still a choice moment by moment. There is a Native American story – A chief is telling his son that we have two dogs living and battling for control inside of us: love and fear. The son wisely asks, “which dog gets control?” “The dog,” the chief replied, “that we feed the most.”

So here is to feeding the dog of love, courage, wellness, happiness, energy, and growth. And yes your posture is a big part of that – not as an end in of itself, but as a guide and a compass. This is the deeper dimension of posture. Thanks for playing with me.

Much love,

Dr. Matt Lyon
Charlotte NC Chiropractor
Network Spinal Analysis Practitioner

So, we all know on some level that emotion is a powerful aspect of our lives and our health.

I’ll make this so very simple. Emotion is nothing more than energy in motion that we perceive as feeling. We might perceive it as an experience of joy, anger, depression, sadness, excitement, grief, expansiveness, silliness, boredom, nothingness, exhilaration, affluence, etc.

Emotion is a blip on our nervous system’s radar. Remember, its just energy in motion and as such it needs to be fully experienced in a moment. When we really look at the function of emotion, it simply tells us what to do next. If we are sensitive to our emotions, we can feel them without a story and then take appropriate action. When we do this, we engage in our lives in an immensely powerful way. Lets say you feel fear about your job. Well, that emotion lets you know that something needs to be done. Either we take action to change the things we can or we do what needs to be done to accept what we cannot change. If we feel anger we now have the choice to authentically and empathically communicate with others our true feelings. As a result we show up in relationships in a very authentic, healthy, and kind manner. It doesn’t mean ream someone out in an uncontrolled rage. We feel the feeling, move through it, and take the most empowered action. This, then, keeps our lens of perception clear, whole, and kind.

When emotion is avoided, repressed, or projected it creates all kinds of problems. Every painful life experience we have that we do not fully experience and move through “leaves a mark” in our nervous system. IN order to protect itself, or so it thinks, less evolved parts of brain will wall off painful experiences in our bodies. Our muscles harden, we experience less range of motion, spinal segments become habitually fixated, our breathing diminishes, and our capacity to feel emotion easily becomes less and less. Parts of our brain that are associated with felling connected decrease and parts of our brain associated with protection, stress, and contraction increase. Remember our equation. Emotion = energy in motion. When that energy does not move, it gets stuck. When it gets stuck we experience pain – physically or mentally.

We erroneously believe that happiness equals having no “painful emotions.” Truly, there is no such thing as a painful emotion unless we label it as such. Remember, it is there only to tell us what to do next. We might create mental stories or physical holding around an emotion that is painful, but this is not the same thing as saying emotion is painful. In reality, the healthiest people have great self-awareness of their emotions and therefore have tremendous healthy self-regulation. When we do this we tend to have great discipline, healthy relationship, healthy lifestyle choices, we can delay gratification, we tend to save more money, and we tend to be authentically happy people.

Here is a clip of a talk I gave at Myers Park Baptist Church right here in Charlotte, NC on the interface of emotion and the spine. Enjoy.

Most of us have experienced a whole heck of a lot of hurt in our lives – physically, emotionally, and chemically. Its no wonder then that emotion can be a challenge. And yet it is a profound opportunity to heal ourselves on every level. As we grow, our responsibility we have to take for our own emotions grow – and as we do this our levels of joy, happiness, compassion, empathy, intuition, focus, discipline, and self-worth grow. This is the epic human journey embodied.

I’d like to close with a story. For 3 years I had pretty bad back pain – I mean pain shooting down my right leg, waking up in the middle of the night with my right leg completely numb and “dead”. I had tremendous fear that this would ruin my marriage, completely stop my ability to be active, and render me worthless in my career. I tried everything and was diagnosed by a number of people – all great practitioners. However, nothing seemed to help. I felt depressed, angry, and fake – after all I was an “expert healer.” This was when I was beginning my transition away from “traditional chiropractic” into Network Spinal Analysis.

I was being “entrained” by a Network practitioner (Jim Stone from Dallas – great guy). My body was undulating on the table and I felt I could not stop it. Muscles along my spine were rhythmically contracting and I “could not control it” – this was tough as a former control freak Jim then held my sacrum (lower part of the spine) so that I could not move it and told me that there was something when I was an early teenager that I had not fully expressed, that I was still hanging onto.
As he said that and held my spine still, a lightening bolt of energy shot through my spine and I began to bawl. Memories of the intense bullying I endured for about 18 months of my life flooded back. I cried and cried and cried. For years I had been holding back anger, grief, saddness, helplessness and it had affected my muscles, my posture, my nerves. No amount of adjusting, acupuncture-ing, cortisone-ing was going to get at it. The only way out was totally through.

It was a watershed experience. My sciatica disappeared by about 95% after that. I could touch my toes for the first time in years. More importantly, I felt more whole, more connected, more courageous, and more authentically forgiving then I had ever felt in my life. The energy moved. I saw what needed to be done. I realized for 20 years I had been stuck frozen in fear and anger. No wonder even after 20 years of meditating I still felt like I had “anger issues.” I saw so clearly the power of emotion, how our spine processes it and how it could affect everything in my life – my body, my perceptions, my muscles, even my “connection to God.” It took so much more energy to avoid the emotion all those years than it did to just be real. And in that moment of authentically being with myself I was healed.

So, there you have it. Emotion is huge. Be with them. If you have challenges and you relate to this, come and see me. I can help you, and if I can’t I’ll make sure you get somewhere we you can get the healing you were born to experience.

With love,

Dr. Matt Lyon

So, we all know on some level that emotion is a powerful aspect of our lives and our health.

I’ll make this so very simple. Emotion is nothing more than energy in motion that we perceive as feeling. We might perceive it as an experience of joy, anger, depression, sadness, excitement, grief, expansiveness, silliness, boredom, nothingness, exhileration, affluence, etc.

Emotion is a blip on our nervous system’s radar. Remember, its just energy in motion and as such it needs to be fully experienced in a moment. When we really look at the function of emotion, it simply tells us what to do next. If we are sensitive to our emotions, we can feel them without a story and then take appropriate action. When we do this, we engage in our lives in an immensely powerful way. Lets say you feel fear about your job. Well, that emotion lets you know that something needs to be done. Either we take action to change the things we can or we do what needs to be done to accept what we cannot change. If we feel anger we now have the choice to authentically and empathically communicate with others our true feelings. As a result we show up in relationships in a very authentic, healthy, and kind manner. It doesn’t mean ream someone out in an uncontrolled rage. We feel the feeling, move through it, and take the most empowered action. This, then, keeps our lens of perception clear, whole, and kind.

When emotion is avoided, repressed, or projected it creates all kinds of problems. Every painful life experience we have that we do not fully experience and move through “leaves a mark” in our nervous system. IN order to protect itself, or so it thinks, less evolved parts of brain will wall off painful experiences in our bodies. Our muscles harden, we experience less range of motion, spinal segments become habitually fixated, our breathing diminishes, and our capacity to feel emotion easily becomes less and less. Parts of our brain that are associated with felling connected decrease and parts of our brain associated with protection, stress, and contraction increase. Remember our equation. Emotion = energy in motion. When that energy does not move, it gets stuck. When it gets stuck we experience pain – physically or mentally.

We erroneously believe that happiness equals having no “painful emotions.” Truly, there is no such thing as a painful emotion unless we label it as such. Remember, it is there only to tell us what to do next. We might create mental stories or physical holding around an emotion that is painful, but this is not the same thing as saying emotion is painful. In reality, the healthiest people have great self-awareness of their emotions and therefore have tremendous healthy self-regulation. When we do this we tend to have great discipline, healthy relationship, healthy lifestyle choices, we can delay gratification, we tend to save more money, and we tend to be authentically happy people.

Here is a clip of a talk I gave at Myers Park Baptist Church right here in Charlotte, NC on the interface of emotion and the spine. Enjoy.

Most of us have experienced a whole heck of a lot of hurt in our lives – physically, emotionally, and chemically. Its no wonder then that emotion can be a challenge. And yet it is a profound opportunity to heal ourselves on every level. As we grow, our responsibility we have to take for our own emotions grow – and as we do this our levels of joy, happiness, compassion, empathy, intuition, focus, discipline, and self-worth grow. This is the epic human journey embodied.

I’d like to close with a story. For 3 years I had pretty bad back pain – I mean pain shooting down my right leg, waking up in the middle of the night with my right leg completely numb and “dead”. I had tremendous fear that this would ruin my marriage, completely stop my ability to be active, and render me worthless in my career. I tried everything and was diagnosed by a number of people – all great practitioners. However, nothing seemed to help. I felt depressed, angry, and fake – after all I was an “expert healer.” This was when I was beginning my transition away from “traditional chiropractic” into Network Spinal Analysis.

I was being “entrained” by a Network practitioner (Jim Stone from Dallas – great guy). My body was undulating on the table and I felt I could not stop it. Muscles along my spine were rhythmically contracting and I “could not control it” – this was tough as a former control freak Jim then held my sacrum (lower part of the spine) so that I could not move it and told me that there was something when I was an early teenager that I had not fully expressed, that I was still hanging onto.
As he said that and held my spine still, a lightening bolt of energy shot through my spine and I began to bawl. Memories of the intense bullying I endured for about 18 months of my life flooded back. I cried and cried and cried. For years I had been holding back anger, grief, saddness, helplessness and it had affected my muscles, my posture, my nerves. No amount of adjusting, acupuncture-ing, cortisone-ing was going to get at it. The only way out was totally through.

It was a watershed experience. My sciatica disappeared by about 95% after that. I could touch my toes for the first time in years. More importantly, I felt more whole, more connected, more courageous, and more authentically forgiving then I had ever felt in my life. The energy moved. I saw what needed to be done. I realized for 20 years I had been stuck frozen in fear and anger. No wonder even after 20 years of meditating I still felt like I had “anger issues.” I saw so clearly the power of emotion, how our spine processes it and how it could affect everything in my life – my body, my perceptions, my muscles, even my “connection to God.” It took so much more energy to avoid the emotion all those years than it did to just be real. And in that moment of authentically being with myself I was healed.

So, there you have it. Emotion is huge. Be with them. If you have challenges and you relate to this, come and see me. I can help you, and if I can’t I’ll make sure you get somewhere we you can get the healing you were born to experience.

With love,

Dr. Matt Lyon

Flu? No. Back pain? Close – but not the most common. Fatigue. That is right – the #1 complaint to doctors in the United States is fatigue and “feeling run down.” For sure, there can be some serious organic causes for fatigue. However, 95% of the time, fatigue comes from overall stress, nutritional imbalance, poor sleep, emotional imbalance, and a distorted + contracted nervous system (spine, nerves, supporting muscles, and connective tissues).

I practice, as most f you know as a Wellness Doctor and Network Chiropractor in Charlotte, NC. I agree with this statistic….one of the most common things I see in the cascade of stress related problems is feeling too tired to live with vibrance, flourish on every level, and play full out.

The problem here is that to do the work required for healing, growth, and living an amazing life means we need to have the energy to do it.

So, feeling tired? If it is Wednesday, and you are hoping that Friday 5pm will just get here SOON you know you are in the “red” when it comes to the function of your nervous system. We don’t have enough reserves in the brain and nervous system to sustain function. What that *feels* like is sluggishness, tiredness, brain fog, poor energy, slow recovery from exercise, getting sick often, feeling like you can’t quite get started in the morning, or that around 2 or 3pm you need about 4 espressos via an IV. If you are throwing back “5 Hour Energy” to *survive*, you are not thriving. You are just getting by.

Here is a clip of a talk I gave at Myer’s Park Baptist Church right here in Charlotte on the Gift of Function and Life Energy. Enjoy. Continue reading below:

Fortunately, there are 5 gifts of the human spine + nervous system, and the first gift we get to “unwrap” as we get healthier through Network Spinal Analysis and Somato Respiratory Integration is “Function + Life Energy”. As the spine unwinds from its habituated contracted “posture” and “tone” the nervous system can no actually communicate freely, without obstruction. When this happens, your body naturally moves into self-healing, self-regulation, regeneration, and re-creation. You never lose what you are, we naturally come back into balance when the stress is healed. Said another way, when we undo the damage stress (mental, chemical, and physical) has done to the nervous system, we move into balance, harmony, and radiant health.

Life gets really fun when we stop creating problems for ourselves by completely. changing the stress response from within…more on that later.

So, here are 10 signs that let you know your function + life energy is rocking:

1) You leap from bed in the morning with zest, excitement, and gratitude for the day ahead of you. It is especially easy to get up with the sun.

2) Your energy is balanced all day long. You honor a natural slight energy decrease in the afternoon as your circadian clock moves into rest mode.

3) You don’t need caffeine or sugar to get through anything.

4) You have energy to exercise + you recover quickly.

5) You are not struggling with constant and chronic injuries. This is so important for athletes. Many athletes over train and move into a life-energy bankruptcy!

6) You have a focused mind and a clear attention. You can dwell in the unknown and uncomfortable without chaos and drama. You are like bamboo – flexible yet so very strong.

7) You crave healthy foods – vegetables, whole grains, water, fruits – basically you crave living foods. You reject and know that processed foods just “don’t feel right” and there are no cravings for them.

You fall asleep easily and stay asleep.

9) If you have an exercise regimen you can easily stick with it and if you miss it, need to change it, or are traveling, you don’t feel like you are “off”. You lose any dependency on rigid inflexible exercise routines to help you feel “OK”.

10) Your eyes and skin radiate a calm vitality – a centered energy that people around you can feel and that helps them feel more energetic, peaceful, and happy just being around you.

Yup, vitality is pretty much the fuel of a happy life. At the same time it is the result, just like a beautiful garden, of conscious, intentional, and consistent work. Even better, the more we do it, the more effortless it becomes, and vitality springs from our eyes, our skin, and our very personality. Who we are radiates and shimmers hope, joy, steadiness, and energy to those we come into contact with. Vital people inspire vitality. As Gay Hendricks, PhD states, “they are good times waiting to happen.”

The art of chiropractic, especially as I practice it in Charlotte NC, is the art, science, and philosophy of allowing our innate vitality to flow. We simply find the backlog, the log jam, remove it and vitality does what it always does: it heals, corrects, re-organizes, evolves, and promotes life.

Here are some simple tools to help you become an artist of vitality in your life:

1) Be vertically congruent. Know what you are here for. If you were to die today, would you have regrets? If so, begin at once to make life choices that will clear those regrets. Write your own eulogy. What do you want to be remembered for? Write the 3-5 things that are the most important to you in this life (hint, it ain’t about money and bling and stuff). Then write your 10 year, 5 year, 3 year, 1 year, 6 month, 1 month, and weekly goals. All the short term goals you set help you literally create the big stuff you dream of. The person you want to become is the fruit of how you act and think NOW. Here is the vitality gem: in the process of doing this, of embodying virtue, you create so much vitality. You can go from a 20 watt light bulb to a rockin’ 10,000 bulb just by getting really clear on who you need to become to create what you want.

2) Develop rich relationships that are long term and able to go through many cycles of growth.

3) Take regular rests/naps everyday. From virtuoso violinists, to pro athletes, to Thomas Edison, to Norman Vncent Peale, all agree that regular rest is critical to vitality. Relax, you don’t have to be a hyped starbucks addict. Don’t mistake groundless frenetic energy with sustainable vitality.

4) Eat vital foods. Start your day with a salad. Have fruit be your fast food. Drink half your body weight in water every day. Eat 12 or more veggies and fruits every day. Eat local farmers foods. Eat less meat. Eat more raw stuff. Get rid of processed foods 100%. Allow yourself to splurge on something 2-3 times per month. Drink less alcohol or give it up all together.

5) Learn to meditate. The science on this is profound: its basically a magic bullet with ALL positive side effects. TM has the most research. Sahaj Samashi and Primoridal Sound are basically the same, just 1/10 the cost. They are all great. You can google them for more info. 20 minutes of meditation is equal to 4 hours of sleep. I meditate twice per day, every day and its one of my greatest resources for well-being. Its like hitting “Control – Alternate – Delete” on your mind every day.

6) Be kind. Be one less dweeb on planet earth. Be one more peacemaker. Be a compassionate heart that touches everyone you come into contact with. When you are down and low on vitality, turn your thoughts and heart to someone you can help. With email, skype, and technology, we can reach anyone in the world pretty much instantly. Volunteer. Become a smile millionaire. Practice mouth yoga and smile.

7) Put down that damn phone! People spend more time staring into a 3 inch by 4 inch box than they do actually relating to the real world and relationships around them. Social media is cool, but it does not even come close to real, lifelong relationships.

Be selective and specific on how and when you use the internet. I can get a ton done in 5-10 minutes per day.

9) Move your body every day. In some way. Exercise. Park your car as far from your destination as possible and walk the parking lot. Joyfully bound up stairs. Skip elevators and escalators. Vitality is a choice moment to moment. You don’t have to be a fitness freak or a gym rat. Just don’t be lazy. Make a choice, and take an action. Don’t feel like it? What does that have to do with it? When feeling down, ACT like a vital person would act. Actions wag the tail of perception.

10) Get your spine checked – your nervous system is your master blaster life engine. Let stress build up like a back alley dumpster and you’ll feel your body’s energy dissolve faster than the water I just spilled on my Charlotte NC driveway in this 100 degree heat. Personally, I love Network Spinal Analysis. If you want to find a good chiropractor, ask your friends, everyone knows a good one.

11) Be outdoors. Being in the sun and the air and with trees is amazing. A study showed that exercising outdoors was better at boosting fitness than the same exercise for the same time interval indoors. Sunlight is one of your body’s needs. Get it. Going from your giant Escalade to your air conditioned home to your cushy office and back again is a recipe for some serious existential boredom. Its hard to feel vital if you are bored with your life.

12) Laugh. It is so so so important to not take ourselves too seriously. Having friends who can see the big picture is key. And have friends that have what you want emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. They’ll call you into a grater degree of accountability. Laughter is great medicine.

13) Our quality of life is going to mirror the questions we ask ourselves: so ask really great questions! How can express my courage now? How can I be love? What can I be grateful for right now? Where is this gift in this? How I can I express my soul? What do I need to prepare for what I know I must create? How can I be ready?

14) Notice when you want to avoid pain – physical or emotional. Pain is a great thing, a sign of health. Its a call, a directors “CUT!” from deep inside your heart to stop and take stock. Its a call do do a re-take. Mistakes are only truly mistakes when there is no re-take. Like all great athletes know, pain is one of your closest friends. Its our comfort and ease obsessed culture that has labeled it as something to avoid. The courageous heart asks for challenges and obstacles as it knows that is what will polish the diamond of the heart.

15) Learn a new and challenging task. Crochet. Learn a language. Take a dance class. I learned the didgeridoo. I love it. It stimulates my passion, my creativity, and builds my brain – literally. Again, if you prefer to have no vitality, become bored with your life. Do the same things all the time.

16) Love being alone. If you can’t stand being alone, how do you think people feel around you? If you are bored by yourself, how do you expect others to feel with you?

17) Eat superfoods like Goji berries, blue-green algae, Maca, Chia Seeds, and many more. Find someone who knows super food nutrition and get a consult. I help people in Charlotte NC super charge their lives by eating super vitality producing superfoods. They are awesome.

18) Practice a random act of kindness – AND DON’T GET CAUGHT. Stay anonymous. Be a miracle in someone’s life.

19) When you think of someone, call them. Let them know you are thinking of them.

20) Have some unresolved relationships? Some old resentments? Some irritation with someone you love? Clean it up. Being free and clear in ALL your relationships is fast-track to sustained vitality and a brightness in your eyes nothing can shake.

Love,

Dr. Matt
Charlotte NC Chiropractor

If there are 3 or 4 things that make up the foundation of a healthy life they are, I believe, as follows: 1) A healthy nervous system – this is the megacenter that controls everything (and no I am not talking about Wal-Mart). Without your amazing nervous system your body and mind can’t do much of anything; 2) Eating to live – eat simply, eat locally, eat lots of stuff that grows from the earth and don’t eat anything processed; 3) Some daily practice to drop into regenerative and re-creative rest – namely meditation/prayer; 4) EXERCISE.

I am a chiropractor in Charlotte NC practicing Chiropractic – that means that I honor the inborn capacity of every living thing to express intelligence as it naturally moves towards greater and greater levels of health and optimal living. And boy oh boy, if we exercise we are cranking that up in a great direction.

We’re going to talk about the art and beauty of exercise – very simply. Like nutrition, this topic can spin out of control quickly by the different camps who feel their way is best. Whether it is the endurance folks who claim that endurance training is the magic panacea to long life and health, to the cross fit folks who think the world would be a better place if we were doing lunges up a steep hill chasing armadillos in bare feet while doing pull ups to avoid being eaten by a sabre tooth tiger. Running is great some voices cry. Running is awful others counter. Weight training is the key to reversing the aging process and preventing osteoporosis. Weight training produces injuries and is unnatural, cries another. And you know what, they are all right. ANY EXERCISE IS GREAT EXERCISE.

Like I have said before, the mark of emotional and psychological health is to learn to see the *partial truths* in everything – taking the best, and leaving the rest. In every exercise approach there is a nugget of powerful truth, because the reality is that our body is built to move. your *nervous system* requires movement to feed itself and grow. Your brain use movement to process emotions.

Did you know that even an hour of being sedentary makes your cells less sensitive to insulin? What that really means is that when we don’t move we start moving in the direction, even if only by an inch of diabetes, obesity, and degeneration.

Did you know that exercise before a challenging activity will make you more creative?

Here is the absolute truth about exercise – DO IT. And whatever you do, it will make you healthier, more vibrant, and scientifically happier.

And here is a key that is worth a $1,000,000 (at least) – its all about consistency, not intensity. Its WAY more important to be consistent with 20 minutes of some movement and exercise that brings you joy, energy, and pushes you than the 3 hour power run as you hack through a weekend warrior half marathon.

A great time to exercise – EVERY DAY. An even better time to exercise – when you feel you don’t want to. Try it – you can completely master your moods.

Today I had a challenging morning. I came home for lunch and did NOT want to exercise or meditate. I did both. I had an amazing afternoon. Exercise turns on the life force. Drink it up.

NOT exercising is basically like taking a depressant medication. Exercise is better than any antidepressant medication out there.

And what would it be like to do it because you love to live, rather than trying to maintain a certain body shape or look a certain way. What if you were just out moving to live, and then live some more. And in the process you were enjoying yourself and life more. What if that allowed you to start to beam from the inside out, your eyes shining life force + vitality? And in the process, without being afraid, you reverse the risk of all the nasty diseases.

SO, get out there and, in the words of Young MC, bust a move.

Just to give you some ideas, and to let you know what my current favorite forms of exercise are that I practice daily:

1) Running – I love to run, but not your average running. I have run 7 marathons and completed the Ironman triathlon. I can tell you scientifically 80% of runners are injured every year, and the more expensive the running shoes, the more likely people are to be injured. When I ran ignorantly, I trashed my feet and my spine. SO – learn an efficient form of running. Chi Running is awesome. And get some shoes that build your feet. Basically, minimalist shoes. Read Born to Run. You’ll love it. I now run in a way that builds strength, sharpens my nervous system, and has no downside.

2) Weight training. Most of the time I use body weight type resistance training. In the winter I use a gym. Get a great trainer and bust it out. If you are up for a real challenge and want to exercise in a group that will push you farther than you think you could go, do Cross Fit. I try to do this outdoors when I can. I like to weight train 2-3 days per week. Weight training works when you push the limits. Learn to love the burn. Learn to love the edge. And then see if you can stretch that into other areas of your life. Like your goals. Like your dreams. Like your relationships.

3) Swimming: Getting in a good pool or lake or pond or non shark infested ocean body is GREAT. If you are going to swim in a pool – try to avoid chlorine. Swimming is amazing.

4) Yoga: I am less and less interested in yoga practice per se in terms of yoga postures, and that is just my own personal preference. Yoga in the deepest sense is being totally engaged with whatever you do. However, for many, yoga as a practice is an incredible form of exercise that really helps so many slow down, get into their body, learn to breathe, and build community. In terms of yoga, the one style that really resonates with me is Anusara yoga. In Charlotte NC, I like Sarah Faircloth and Brooks Haislip. Yoga teachers are becoming a dime a dozen, and these two are amazing.

As you can see there are SO many things you can do. These are just a few. And when I want some new things to do, I feel totally free to change the above stuff up. After years of rigid training, I have learned to love the act of movement of exercise more than the outcome, and I invite you to fall in love with your own body and life in the same way.

Dr. Matt Lyon
Charlotte NC Chiropractor