A New Year’s Commitment to Improve Your Life (Using The 8-Step Path)

A Method to Pursue Mind, Body & Spirit Harmony – The 8-Step Path

Quite often I hear people talking about wanting to pursue a better understanding of the mind, body and spiritual (or self-awareness) relationship. Usually, most people have little understanding of this concept beyond repeating someone else’s words. Understanding of this relationship cannot come from someone else, but rather grown or cultivated in oneself from personal knowledge, experience and wisdom. There are no books, shortcuts, seminars, gurus or masters that can do this for the individual, however they may help guide one to reach self-realization. I am sharing here what I have learned and have tried to live as part of my daily life. Spirituality and religion are often lumped together but have rather distinctly different meanings. With this article, I look at spirituality more as a level of self-awareness, purpose and life direction and not necessarily a membership to any particular religion or belief system.

A long-understood method of achieving harmony between one’s mind, body and spirit, is this 8-Step Path. It has its origin in the ancient Chinese philosophy of Daoism but is highly relative to modern culture. The figure “8″ is important to understand that as the infinity circle, there is no beginning nor end to entering into this process. It is a journey of self-awareness that can be entered into at any point throughout one’s lifetime. Life is a challenge, and so is staying on this path of self-improvement. The reward is at the end of one’s journey, knowing that they have pursued a meaningful life with direction and purpose.

The graphic immediately below shows how the 8 steps are all interconnected. Below that are the brief descriptions of each of the 8 steps. This is by no means the only method to find this harmony of mind, body and spirit. It is a time-proven method that I have learned and have tried to cultivate for many years.

Qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga are not the only methods that can be used within this formula but have proven the test of time as methods to cultivate harmony of the mind, body and spirit. These exercise practices offer a wide spectrum of physical wellness benefits, stress relief as well as means of self-awareness. Not all teachers nor students practice these for the same goals.

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For more info, contact Jim Moltzan at info@mindandbodyexercises.com, 407-234-0119 or through my site at http://www.mindandbodyexercises.com

I started my martial arts training at the age of 16, starting with Korean martial arts and evolving into BaguaZhang, Tai Chi, and Qigong. I have been training, studying and teaching for almost 40 years effectively educating hundreds of students.

As a recognized master instructor, I have trained with a diverse group of masters and high-level martial arts teachers of many different disciplines. My specialty is teaching exercises to improve chronic conditions, working with people of all ages, especially senior adults. Offering guidance and instruction, I have also worked with Parkinson Disease patients through Florida Hospital. I offer regular lectures as requested by AdventHealth (Florida Hospital) regarding the benefits of Eastern practices.

I am the author and graphic artist of numerous journals, graphic charts and study guides relative to the mind and body connection and how it relates to martial arts, fitness and self-improvement.

I continue training and teaching in the Orlando, Florida area conducting classes, seminars and lectures as my schedule allows. I balance my teaching and businesses with my own personal cultivation and time spent with my wife and two college-age kids.

You can only give out what you yourself have an abundance of.

I have learned a bit about energetics over the years from my massage therapists as well as my martial arts/qigong teachers. During a massage, energy is depleted by the practitioner from the physical effort as well as the mental energy in trying to help and often heal the patient. This is very similar to emergency room doctors, nurses and others that can find themselves very run down or ill, while attempting to treat others. My understanding is that you can only give out what you yourself have an abundance of. If massage therapists and various other health-related professionals continue to draw from their well (life force, qi, prana) but fail to replenish it, they will soon have their own health issues. Exercise, diet and lifestyle choices all affect the practitioners’ own well-being to replenish or retain their innate life force.

My understanding is that it really comes down to any occupation or activity that one individual loses some level of energy while trying to help another. It can be a parent taking care of a child; caretaker of a parent, teachers, etc. It is all about intent and energy expelled and received. This can lead to the topic of energy vampires and energy suns. We have probably all meet people who when walking into a room, drain the energy of all in their company. Or conversely, the person who comes in and brings up everyone energy and puts a smile on everyone’s’ face. Yin and yang in all things!

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Be well, get healthy, be wise.

I am currently available for health and wellness lectures and classes for group, & private instruction in the Orlando, Florida area. Mind and Body Exercises on Google: https://posts.gle/aD47Qo

Jim Moltzan

407-234-0119

www.MindAndBodyExercises.com

https://www.facebook.com/MindAndBodyExercises/

https://www.youtube.com/c/MindandBodyExercises

https://mindandbodyexercises.wordpress.com/

http://www.umareg.com/masters-council/

Weak People Create Hard Times – and here we are! Yin & Yang in All Things

A new year comes, another new cycle begins. I think most would agree that this is true. Nature demonstrates patterns (universal truths) that have been around before humans and will be here after, such as seasons, weather patterns, natural disasters, etc. Humans being part of nature are subject to its patterns.

Hard times create strong men (people)

Strong men create good times

Good times create weak men

Weak men create hard times

Study and contemplate my graphic below, representing relationships between the universal truths of nature, whether manifested in the time of the day, time of the year, phases of the human lifecycle and consequently, how human nature (behavior) is often dictated by the natural environmental that we all exist within.

I feel we are all experiencing a watershed event, where we are just working through the above cycle. Some people may dispute this theory or cycle but I think it holds true as compared similarly to the sun rising and setting, or the seasons of the year. So I feel we are exactly where we are supposed to be whether viewed as a time for major political, societal and cultural changes, re-evaluation of our moral compasses, world health crises or the advancement of technologies – everything exists within cycles, and it all connects back to nature on some level.

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Be well, get healthy, be wise.

I am currently available for health and wellness lectures and classes for group, & private instruction in the Orlando, Florida area. Mind and Body Exercises on Google: https://posts.gle/aD47Qo

Jim Moltzan

407-234-0119

www.MindAndBodyExercises.com

http://www.amazon.com/author/jimmoltzan

https://www.facebook.com/MindAndBodyExercises/

https://www.youtube.com/c/MindandBodyExercises

https://mindandbodyexercises.wordpress.com/

http://www.umareg.com/masters-council/

The Greatest Gift You Can Give, is a Healthy You

Gifts like diamonds, iPhones, clothes, and maybe even food on the table, all might be very nice and thoughtful gifts. But really, … let’s get real. Time with those you love and care about, is priceless. How can someone spend time with another when they are not healthy enough to be alive in the first place? Or, if one’s life is consumed with managing their own ailments, the consequences of poor health and well-being may affect all in their presence.

While it may seem selfish to put your own health and well-being first, it is actually the most giving of oneself to be a living vessel of love, compassion and knowledge to those around you, for as long as possible.

My understanding is that you can only give out, what you yourself have an abundance of.

Soldiers, law enforcement officers, firefighters and others need to be in good physical, as well as mental health if they are to be of service in protecting and preserving human life. Similar to emergency room doctors, nurses and others that can find themselves very run down or ill, while attempting to treat patients. Others may be a parent taking care of a child; caretaker of a parent, teachers, etc. It is all about intent and energy expelled and received. One individual loses some level of energy while trying to help another. When we continue to draw from our well (life force, qi, prana) but fail to replenish it, we will soon have our own health issues. Exercise, diet, stress management, attitude, and other lifestyle choices all affect our own well-being to replenish or retain our innate life force.

Health Management

I have found (and teach) the following methods as being extremely beneficial for many people, regardless of age or current health conditions:

Diaphragmatic breathing
Progressive muscle relaxation
Guided imagery
Mindfulness
Physical activity
Limiting exposure to triggers
Mind and body exercises such as yoga, qigong and tai chi

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Be well, get healthy, be wise.

I am currently available for health and wellness lectures and classes for group, & private instruction in the Orlando, Florida area. Mind and Body Exercises on Google: https://posts.gle/aD47Qo

Jim Moltzan

407-234-0119

www.MindAndBodyExercises.com

http://www.Amazon.com/author/jimmoltzan

https://www.facebook.com/MindAndBodyExercises/

https://www.youtube.com/c/MindandBodyExercises

https://mindandbodyexercises.wordpress.com/

http://www.umareg.com/masters-council/

Strive to have a “relationship with your physical body”

Strive to have a “relationship with your physical body”. I think often times people hear about the mind, body and spirit connection but really have no idea, plan or methods on how to achieve this state of being.

From what I have learned from my teachers of martial arts & qigong is that by becoming aware and understanding how the physical body exists and operates (kind of from like a mechanical or physiological perspective) one can begin to better understand how their own mind works. For example, if holding a particular yoga, qigong or kung fu posture for say 1-5 minutes, the muscles and the physical body begin to fatigue. The process of the mind trying to keep the body in the correct position engages the thoughts to express emotional traits of patience, frustration, determination, focus and other levels of awareness. This can also be similarly developed from other mind/body practices such as archery, painting, singing, playing an instrument, carpentry or other trades that all require repetitive engagement of the thought process and the control of the body to accomplish a particular task. These types of activities can be viewed as various types of sitting, standing, or moving meditations all in their own rights.

Background music can be a pro or con depending upon the goal of the practitioner. Some martial arts or dance styles utilize drums to keep a beat that coincides with the pace of the movements. Others moving meditations like tai chi or qigong might incorporate music that consists of specific tones or tempos to help to coincide the breathing and heart rates to slower paces, thereby hacking the parasympathetic nervous system and reducing stress. Certain tones can either help elevate the heart rate (like maybe Led Zeppelin) while others might lower the heart rate (maybe jazz or instrumentals), where as in TCM specific notes are associated with wood (liver-gall bladder), fire (heart-small intestines), earth (stomach-spleen), metal (lungs-large intestine) and water (bladder-kidneys).

Be well, get healthy, be wise.