Your Personal Diet And Training Plan

Most people who want to lose weight, usually start by going to the gym or getting a personal trainer. These things can help but without controlling their diet, they will find it hard to lose weight.

The first thing that you need to do if you want to lose weight, get fit, improve your martial arts or look younger is check your life. Which of your habits are good and which are bad? Where are your weaknesses? Also, what about the weaknesses of your environment? You need to be aware of them so you can deal with them and not become a victim of them.  For example, if a person smokes or drinks and at the same time they want to lose weight and train, the first thing they need to do is stop smoking and drinking then they need to start training lightly to detoxify their body. 

Someone who eats a lot of junk food or cakes or drinks a lot of sugar drinks like Coca Cola needs to stop. A  person who has a very stressful job with a lot of responsibility, has to tell themselves worry can not change anything. They have to train themselves to be relaxed. Shaolin training helps us to relax and let go. It effortlessly shifts us into a positive frame of mind.

People are always searching for the best diet for health or to lose weight. They do the same with a training programme, how can I get maximum benefit for minimum effort? They spend hours on the internet researching but they don't realise that no one can give them an exact diet or training programme because everybody's mind and body is different.

For me, I listen to my body and follow what it says. If it tells me I need to eat apples today then I eat apples. Each person needs to try and find their own diet and their own training programme. I eat a high carbohydrate diet, this works for me, but for other people, low carbohydrate and high protein works better. Neither is right or wrong, they have found out what works for their body and I have found out what works for mine. 

The one thing I would say is that everyone should cut out sugar. This has no nutritious value and is not good for blood sugar levels.  The other rule is, always eat breakfast. People who eat breakfast tend to eat less throughout the rest of the day. Also, drink green tea. Green tea doesn't contain enough caffeine to spike cortisone levels but research has shown it helps boost metabolism.   

My advice when you embark upon a training , diet or health plan is don't be too ambitious. Start with a small step that is achievable then build on that small success. A diet and training programme is not just for eight weeks or 28 days, it is for the rest of your life so make sure it's one that is right for you and you can stick with it so it can become a part of you, enriching your life experience.  

For information on Shifu Yan Lei's training DVDs and books please visit http://www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/dvd_latest_release.html

Instant Buddha: Progressions On The Path Of The Warrior

It is vitally important that we train intelligently and with awareness, always keeping our beginner's mind. 

When you walk to your training hall or go home to practice your martial arts, do walking meditation. Walk at your normal pace and be aware of  your steps and your breathing. When thoughts come up, simply let them go. This walking meditation helps to ground and prepare you for your training.

When you start to do the Qigong and Kung Fu forms, you repeat them over and over again for years and years until they become a habit.  In the beginning, you have to think: where should I breathe? What is the next movement? Is my posture correct? This is a process we all go through. Then, as you progress, you forget about your practice and move into non-thinking. 

As martial artists, we use our body to abandon our body. We let go, forget the ego and follow nothing but the wisdom of the universe. Then the thinking comes from the body and no longer comes from the mind. When you experience this you experience freedom. 

If you open your hand you can take hold of anything, if you close your hand, nothing can enter. You need to open your hand and allow the practice to enter you. 

To enable this you need to have the confidence to commit fully and get out of your comfort zone. Stop saving energy for a future time. Only when you are empty can you be re-filled. 

You must concentrate 100% on your movement and your breathing. If you do that, your practice will remain fresh and not go stale. You must practice not only in your training but in your day to day life.

This is why the meditation aids I brought back from China are every day items like tea and key rings and Buddha bags. When I was at the Shaolin Temple, the environment was a constant reminder that I was on the path of the warrior but here in London, I can easily forget and I need reminders to come back to the now. Now never returns to us, now is all we have. The Warriors appointment with life is in the present moment.

When you practice in this way, your practice becomes The Way. Only then can it penetrate the marrow of your life. 

• www.shifuyanlei.comhttp://www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/

Flowering Green Tea - Instructions On How To Use

Part of traditional Chinese medicine is the drinking of green tea, modern science has discovered that green tea is rich in antioxidants, aiding our path to longevity. Green tea also balances the metabolism, boost the immune system, and has anti-ageing benefits for the skin. 
If we drink our green tea mindfully then this has even more of a beneficial effect. Click here to learn  how to have a Zen Tea Ceremony in your own home. 

How To Use Flowering Green Tea

1) Put the tea ball in a glass cup or tea pot.

2) Pour boiling water into the cup.

3) Watch the flower blossom and release its fragrance. It usually takes about five minutes.

4) Drink and enjoy.

Do not throw away. As with all high quality green teas,  the tea can be used at least four times. Simply pour water over the blossomed flower and continue to enjoy.

Click here to purchase this premium Flowering Green Tea

A Zen Tea Ceremony

At the Shaolin Temple, novice monks are taught to be present in everything they do. In our fast paced modern life this is impossible.  If  we are always fully present then our mind will overload so we need to perform some actions automatically. But if we are always mindless and our mind is always on the run we will become increasingly burnt out, stressed and unhappy.

We rest and look after our body, so why do we not take as much care with our mind as we do our body? 

Bringing our heart and mind into the present moment is the Zen Masters secret to real happiness. There are many ways we can do this. And one way is to have a simple Zen Tea Ceremony.

Zen Tea Ceremonies, alongside calligraphy and martial arts are tools that Shaolin Temple disciples use to hone, focus, and sharpen their mind.

The Art of Tea was born in the Zen Temples of China. But you don't need to be a Buddhist or go to a temple to experience this profound art, you can have a Zen Tea Ceremony in your home.

It's good to do a drinking tea meditation on a daily or weekly basis. You can do it on your own or with other people.  If you do it with other people then practice in silence.

Six Simple Steps To Having A Zen Tea Ceremony In Your Home

Put aside a set time

If you're doing it every day then let's say fifteen minutes. Switch off or silence your phone so you will have no distractions.

Set your motivation

Tell yourself: For the next fifteen minutes every time I get distracted I'm going to bring myself back to the present moment.

Boil the kettle

You can use English tea but I use Flowering Green Tea. This is the tea we use in our tea ceremonies at The Shaolin Temple and the fragrance immediately invokes a feeling of well-being and wisdom.

Watch The Lotus Flower Bloom

Pour the water over the tea ball and sit with the tea in front of you.

As I watch the tea ball unfurl, I think of the lotus flower and the inner potential we all have to be peaceful urban warriors.

It takes about five minutes for the flower to unfurl, during that time, sit and watch your breathing.

Drink Your Tea Not Your Thoughts

Once the flower has blossomed, cup both hands around the cup, and drink your tea slowly.

Inhale the tea, taste the tea, feel the sensation of  the tea and what effect it has on your mind and body.

If you drink tea while thinking about your worries then you are not drinking tea, you are drinking your worries. Live only for this moment.

Observe

Once you've finished, as with any good quality green tea, you can continue to make at least four cups.

I always feel refreshed and at peace after performing this simple tea ceremony. I feel more connected to myself , the Shaolin Temple and the great Zen masters who even though I may never have met, I take as my masters, and hope they accept me as their disciple.

Try it and let me know how you feel. 

It's great to do at the end or beginning of your Qigong session.  

To learn more about Flowering Green Tea click here or to purchase click here.

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The Truth About Fitness and Needs to be Done and is Prohibited

Everyone wants the body-conscious suits to the modern fitness equipment health, do to keep your body in shape. In modern life, people eat fast food, so I'll do some work. Now fitness equipment that is most suitable for the present life. In the gym, exercise is prescribed to people for their weight and physical condition of the person, and also show their age. Some use a wide range of fitness equipment and will soon violated and suffer great pain. You should be careful while doing this exercise because it is important to human health. Satisfaction obtained after training. People go to the gym or those who want to go to the gym, they know and do not do fitness.

Warm-up exercises:

People are starting to warm up for training only. While people need to exercise to warm up to people to avoid warm-up exercises. People can warm up your muscles. Make sure your muscles, you have to walk several steps, the size of muscles and exercises you can do with fitness equipment.

If the muscles stretching:

Stretching is an art. Stretch your muscles can help provide flexibility. Keeps muscles and tense muscles, but damaged. Person to stretch the muscles after training was completed.

Take a water bottle at the gym:

After exercise, thirst, and my throat is dry. So people should be wise to bring a water bottle. After exercise, drink water often thirsty after exercise.

Try to certain habits of fitness equipment (not supplied) to avoid:

The lifting of the load:

People need to find the fitness plan perfect. This should eliminate the coach must train the person. If you're lifting weights, would be to manage stress. You can easily lift the load from 12 to 15 times. This is another way to keep the body fit to make. After this step, you can use a little weight. If you lift weights that fatigue and provides exposure for the body and take care of his body exposed.

People should take over the machine:

People will think of fitness. The host clock, such as elliptical trainers, treadmills, fitness equipment elliptical trainers is different, it is used for the body lean and fit to open it. So that's the truth about the controls and prohibitions.

People should take over the machine:

People will think of fitness. The host clock, such as elliptical trainers, treadmills, fitness equipment elliptical trainers is different, it is used for the body lean and fit to open it. So that's the truth about the controls and prohibitions.

Physical Exercise and Diabetes Type 2

One of the most difficult of the amount of blood and feasible to reduce the sugar, eliminating the risk of heart disease, make health and general well-being and exercise. In addition, today's world, where almost every line of work required, you can make the ergonomic chair in front of a machine to the computer line, fax or mail can sometimes be difficult subject to win.

Weight training.
Everyone should exercise, but health experts tell us that only 30% of the population of the United States proposed to thirty minutes of exercise per day and 25% work at all. In fact, inaction is considered a major reason for the increase in diabetes type 2 in the United States, where inactivity and obesity promote insulin resistance. The good news is that it is never too late to move, and sports one of the easiest ways to start controlling your diabetes. For people with type 2 diabetes, in particular, exercise can improve insulin sensitivity reduces the risk of heart disease, and promote weight loss.

Diabetes Type 2.
Diabetes increases. The number of people diagnosed with diabetes each year has increased by 48% between 1980 and 1994. Almost all new cases of type 2 diabetes or adult onset diabetes, the kind that moves in the middle of the century. The symptoms of type 2 diabetes are thirst, loss of appetite and urination, abnormal fatigue, anxiety, stomach pain, vision, tingling or numbness in hands. The cause of type 2 diabetes are complex and still poorly understood, although research to find new clues at a rapid pace.

There is evidence that the reason for the increase in type 2 diabetes to expand the band and the trend towards the office of lifestyle related to inactivity and the United States and other developed countries. In America, the movement has been involved in 1990 alone, 61% increase in obesity and diagnosed diabetes by 49%. For this reason, to encourage health professionals who have diabetes type 2 to start with the wonders that can be applied to them. Without exercise, people tend to be overweight. Once they are obese have a greater chance of accumulating diabetes type 2.

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services, over 80% of people with type 2 diabetes are clinically overweight. It's time to protect people, whether due to type 2 diabetes or not, began to take the plunge and stretching activities.

Get Start.
The first order of business training program, especially if you are "dyed-in-the-wool" sluggish, consult your doctor. If you have cardiac risk factors, providers of health care for a stress test levels safe exercise for you. Some difficulties also determine what type of exercise program you can. Can activities such as weight, high impact aerobics or jogging may pose the risk for people with diabetic retinopathy because of the risk of blood vessel damage and possible additional separation of the retina.

Were you involved in sports or work regularly, continue to enjoy your life to talk with your doctor. If you use insulin, you must take special precautions to prevent hypoglycemia during exercise.

Start Slow.
For those with type 2 diabetes, your exercise routine as simple as changing the night. If you are not active for some time slow start "and work your way up. Walking the dog or the yard and rake. Take the stairs instead of elevators. Park in the lot and back. There is every little thing helps so much. A minimum of 15 to 30 minutes a day for exercise, the heart pumps large differences in glycemic control and risk of diabetes complications. One of the easiest and it is free to move to start a running program. All you need is a good pair of good shoes assembly, and guide one another

In fact, it costs too much to spend on membership in a spa, or a medical device to start pumping grease to date. All it takes is the will and determination to start exercise for health, diabetes type 2 without life. The result is a sweet fruit of the efforts that are unique.

Causes Muscle Get Pain

With age, they begin to complain more pain in muscles and joints. They seem more rigid with age, and the daily work of the newspaper may be the case, WinCE. This pain can be so loud that I'm sure it begins deep in the bone did. But the real cause of stiffness and pain can not be found in the joints or bones to move, according to a study by the Johns Hopkins Medical and muscles and connective tissue, joints.

Friction will have two joints, the bones rub against the surfaces are small, even if the joints damaged by arthritis. Flexibility is the medical term for a series of joint resolution of the movement in one direction, to describe the change in the other. Increased flexibility, agility. If you lean forward at the hips and touch your toes with your fingers, you have good flexibility and mobility, and hip joints. But if you turn slightly to the least expenditure of energy and power? Effort for the common flex is just as important as any possible movement.

Several factors limit the flexibility and ease of movement in different joints and muscles. Elbows and knees, contains the bone structure itself, a certain limit. In other areas, such as the ankles, hips and spine, soft tissues, muscles and connective tissues, limiting movement. The problem of stiff joints and muscles is similar to the difficulty of opening and closing ports, because they are rarely used and rusty hinge is hard.

So, if people do not travel regularly to the muscles and joints through a full range of motion, they lose some of the possible. Therefore, if these people are a common after a long period of time trying to move, feel the pain and a further reduction in the use. What happens is that you shorten your muscles to use the time and produces spasms and cramps, which can be irritating and can be extremely painful. Immobilization of muscles, the researchers showed that experimental animals, biochemical changes in the tissue. Also be other factors, the muscle injury. Some of them:

First, too much exercise.
They have always believed in saying "no pain, no gain?" If you do not, this is not so surprising if you felt muscle pain. The problem is that people think too much money that it is the fastest and safest way to lose weight. Until not too bad, tend to flex their muscles and connective tissue, ignore it, but they are literally holds the body together.

Another aging and inactivity.
Connective tissue binds bone tendons, binds bone to bone, ligaments, and covers and connects the muscle sheath called bands. Age, tendons, ligaments, fascia and less flexible. Tendons and fibers are densely packed, it is difficult to achieve. The tapes are the easiest way. But if they did not design, improve joint mobility, age, and exercise great pressure on the nerves of the fascia. The pain is the result of nerve impulses travel through the printing process.

Immobility third.
Muscle pain or muscle pain can be excruciating, as the reactions of a cramp or pain. This reaction, called the splinting reflex, the body turns against the compact with the immobilization of a muscle. So, muscle pain out of the vicious circle of pain. First, muscle soreness or unused, education was considered unusual. The body reacts splinting reflex, shortening the muscles. This leads to more pain, and eventually the whole area is painful. One of the most common problems is the lower back.

The fourth theory seizure.
In the laboratory of physiology at the University of Southern California, went to a few more details of this vicious circle of pain. The use of an appliance or less, it's electrical activity of muscles. The researchers knew that normal, well-relaxed muscles relaxed no electrical activity, while the muscles are not fully show significant activity.

In one experiment, the researchers measured the electrical signals in muscles with sports injuries, first fixed with the muscle, and when the muscles have been stretched. In almost all cases, exercises, created or reduced in order to prolong abolished the electrical activity and muscle pain in whole or in part. These experiments led to the "spasm theory," an explanation of the development and continuous muscle for no apparent reason, such as trauma.

Used according to this theory, the muscle that is overworked or in a strange position, tired and aching muscles. And therefore extremely important to know to prevent the limits and possibilities of muscles sore. This suggests that telling the truth" no pain, no gain. The important thing is how people use regularly to be healthy remain normal, but lowers than the rigid routines.