| "With
my retirement getting close, I decided to get this aged body back in
some type of shape. After joining the 'e' , I had a doctor's
appointment with my cardiologist where I weighed 286 lbs. and my lab
results were: LDL (bad) 118, HDL (good) 39, Total 183, Trics 128.
After six months, my doctor found I had dropped 8 lbs, and my
labs were: LDL 80, HDL 42, Total 147, Trics 127. I have not felt
this good since I was 21. My goal is to continue to lose the
weight and continue to strengther my heart. Thanks to the 'e' I
know I can do it!" -Mark Blackmon "There is good and bad stress –before I knew it I found myself in a very bad stress mode. When I was growing up I wasn’t taught about stress. There was no text book pointing out, “HA you are stressed and you had better handle it this way before it gets out of hand.” None of my instructors or family discussed stress that I recall. You just learned to deal with things the best way you could, find a friend to talk to, or your Pastor. A lot of times I would go out my barn and talk with my horse, that was a relief because she wasn’t critical and didn’t talk back, she just listened. Times have changed. Now you can put a label on your emotions, anxiety, and .anxious feelings (STRESS), and now there is help out there. I found helpful guidance and methods in the Stress Management Class I attended. It gave me a few more arrows to add to my quiver, so when I find myself anxious, upset, aggravated or my blood pressure elevated I can pull out one of arrows put it to use and in a few minutes I feel myself relaxing; literally one muscle group at a time just letting go. To me stress management and yoga are 1st cousins, in that I have to practice what I learn to reap the benefits. I learned quite a few methods to help manage my stress and how to apply them while at work or where ever I might be, even while horseback riding. I am learning to discover what issues or areas of my life I am able to control and not control and to let go. It doesn’t mean not to care or not to have empathy. It does mean you can shut the door if you feel you have to. Mindfulness, practicing stillness –learning to quite the internal chatter, to focus, to become wholeheartedly present in the moment, it is worth the challenge to learn how to do this. My meditation and visualization techniques, as well as my yoga breathing and yoga exercises have also helped me to relieve my stress. LIFE happens, like a flowing stream you never touch the same water twice, this is what I remind myself of each and every day that God gives me on this earth." -Jenifer Husley |