It’s natural in these uncertain economic times to want to keep our budgets as lean and fit as possible. Unfortunately that sometimes means cutting back on many of the services that keep us happy, healthy and sane. Message, chiropractic care, personal training, spa days and gym memberships are often the first to hit the chopping block as we begin to liposuction our budget. Going without these proactive health services can be a real drag and also have a negative impact on our overall well being. Read on for tips on keeping the good health rolling.

Cut back, not off

Reduce your services from weekly to bi-weekly or monthly. You will maintain the relationship with your provider as well as the commitment to your health, while saving lots of dough.

Negotiate

Most everyone in the health and wellness industry is feeling the pinch and your practitioner may be willing to see you at a discounted rate.  Sure, it can be uncomfortable to bring this sort of thing up, but its better then just disappearing without a trace. Ask if they have a sliding scale or tell them that while your financial situation has changed, you still really value them and would like to figure out a way to continue. More then likely they will be willing to work with you, so swallow your pride and ask.

Throw a sweat meet

Have an exercise equipment swap with friends or strangers who are vulnerable to late night fitness infomercials. Frank’s never used treadmill for Linda’s nearly brand new Solo-flex or Georgia’s trampoline for your punching bag. Trade for a little while or forever. Equipment that’s new to you will keep your workouts fresh without working out your wallet.

Tone up those angel’s wings

This is a particularly good idea if you are un or under employed. Many places including yoga and Pilates studios, private gyms and YMCA’s give complimentary classes or free memberships to good Samaritans who volunteer a few hours a week.

Three’s company

If you have been working one on one with a trainer, find a friend of similar fitness levels to join your workouts and you’ll save considerable bank. If personal training is still too much, group classes might be better for your budget. Just make sure you connect with the instructor and your workout mates. It’s possible to create similar bonds of accountability and motivation in this setting, though you will have to work a little harder to get feedback and attention.

Join a cheaper gym

Be careful with this one though because if your new gym is inconvenient/unfriendly/loud/oddly smelling etc. you won’t go and then you might as well just quit all together and buy a jump rope.

Stay tuned

For the poor man/woman’s massage day, a relaxing and rejuvenating experience that can be enjoyed on the cheap.

Go to any gym or place of exercise and you will see that most people are not following a written plan or documenting what they are doing. To make matters worse, Joe Dumbbell is probably doing a workout he has done six million times before or making it up as he goes along. This haphazard workout style ignores three of the pillars of fitness; progression, documentation and variety. With a few simple and easily implemented habits Joe D. can go from average to extraordinary.

In my own workouts I have also found that the freedom of no plan can turn into a curse. If I show up at the pool without something on paper I inevitably struggle mentally and do fewer yards then usual. The problem is that I am forcing myself to be both coach and swimmer at the same time and I usually end up not doing either job especially well.

It is the coach’s job to select an appropriate, challenging and progressive workout for his or her athletes’. It is the athletes’ job to execute that workout to the very best of their abilities, asking questions for clarity, but not questioning the coach’s plan. If you don’t bring a daily plan to the gym, pool or track then you will also have to bring your internal coach or trainer along. Your attention will be subdivided between coaching and playing and you will do neither activity at full strength.

You can certainly be your own coach and many great athletes are self-coached. Problems occur when you try to be both coach and athlete simultaneously. It is impossible to think critically when you are winded or to think of your next exercise while you are counting your own reps. Trying to accomplish both roles at the same time often results is a disorganized, less effective workout and a stressed and prematurely exhausted athlete. Get a plan, write it down and bring it along; you will free up loads of physical and physic energy for your workout.

Tips for the self-coached athlete:

Buy index cards and a plastic index card holder. Write the basics of your workout including date, time, sets and reps and keep the old ones in the case. If the index card system isn’t your cup of tea try a small note pad in your workout bag or a spread sheet on your computer. Keep trying until you find a system that works for you. This is also an invaluable tool if you decide to hire a coach or trainer.

Keep your old workouts saved and handy so that you can use them again when you don’t have time to create something new. No need to reinvent that wheel every time you get sweaty.

Review and make changes every 3-6 weeks. This will help you realize what is working and what is not. If you don’t enjoy planning your own workouts hire a trainer or coach to create something new for you on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.

The benefits of meditation are remarkable and continue to be documented. The practice has been shown to reverse heart disease, enhance the immune system, reduce pain and create feelings of calm and general grooviness. The problem is that sitting meditation requires the ability to sit still; which for many people can be a real obstacle to success. If you are stressed out and haven’t found a regular relaxation practice that works for you, perhaps a journey into the labyrinth is just what you need.

I had my first labyrinth experience on a breezy afternoon in San Francisco’s Duboce Park, making sure I was nice and pre-stressed by illegally parking to get there. Labyrinths have been used as a meditative tool by many cultures including Celtic, Mayan, Greek and Native American since prehistoric times. I already felt more connected to humankind as I thought about the mega stresses that people were dealing with thousands of years ago and was impressed that such varied cultures had caught onto this practice.

Labyrinths are often confused with mazes, but there are a couple of key differences. A labyrinth has only one winding path, you can’t get lost (physically anyway) and there are no minotaurs waiting to eat you. Also, labyrinths are flat and the path is never concealed. They can be made of almost any material but the most common are stone, masonry, tile or canvas. The labyrinth at Duboce Park is sandblasted into the concrete and includes a table-top finger labyrinth for the vision impaired. The typical practice is to walk from the outside to the center, pause for contemplation and then retrace the path back to the beginning.

The labyrinth adds some action to the quiet and focus of meditation and asks you to observe yourself on the journey. There are lots of different ways to approach the process of walking a labyrinth, from focusing on your breath, the feel of your feet (bare or not) on the path, your God or something else in your life that needs attention. You can see the labyrinth as a metaphor for the many journeys of life and also as adding some helpful structure to your meditative practice.

After my walk I felt calmer, more connected to my own body and more in the moment. I wonder what that the labyrinth has in store for you?

All stressed out with no where to go? To find a labyrinth near you visit the world wide labyrinth location.

http://wwll.veriditas.labyrinthsociety.org/

More information on walking Meditation (no labyrinth required)

www.wildmind.org/walking/introduction.com

Online labyrinth tool (no walking required)

http://www.gracecathedral.org/labyrinth/interactions/index.shtml#

Yoga is supposed to make you feel good. It is supposed to clear out tension blockades, release energy to flow like fresh mountain spring water and open up, relax and harmonize the body. It is true that the practice of yoga can accomplish corporeal and spiritual magic, but if the yogis around me have their feet twice wrapped around their heads while I struggle to bend over, angst becomes the order of my day.

Yoga is not supposed to be a competitive sport (though I have heard of yoga competitions).  If only taking off my westernized, capitalistic view point was as easy as taking off my shoes and socks at the studio door. I bring my perspective with me and it causes me to suffer and because they keep reminding you to be in the present moment, I am much more aware of this suffering then I would usually be. From my vantage, most of the people in my yoga classes are “better” then me. They are more flexible and more balanced. They can do the poses as shown without the support of the three bricks, two blankets, a strap and a crane. I know that I should love and honor my body where it is at, but it is difficult when it appears that the bodies around me are in better places. Sometimes the flexy bodied people make inane comments and then I feel a bit better. “They may be more flexible, but they are a bit idiotic.” It is a small and dark comfort.

I see them in headstands, their bodies taut and balanced, their shoulders limber and strong and I try not to hate them. I resist the childish urge to knock them over like a stack of blocks. I try to distract myself with sexy thoughts of the instructor, something I am an experienced expert at. Sadly even that leads to pain as I realize that a yoga instructor would want to have superhuman, inverted, levitating yoga sex. I probably wouldn’t be up for it and who wants all those yoga blocks in bed anyway?

And then, when I have myself worked up into a respectable tizzy I remember who I should really be comparing myself to; my neurotic family. They are charming folk, all of them, and they can’t help it if they make more money then me, drive nicer cars, vote Republican and only recycle if a hippy stars knowing on their legs. All of them, with the exception of my 2-year old nephew, are stiffer then me. They have superbly tight and knotty hips and hamstrings and practically have to UPS their socks to their feet in the morning. They have more energy blockages then the 405 Freeway at 7:30. My father who has taken up yoga in his 60’s cannot sit in simple cross legged pose without several assistive devices.

When you are dating someone you can look at their parents to see what you might be waking up to in 25 years. In this way I look at the members of my family, particularly the older ones, to see the conditions and maladies that I want desperately to avoid. I’d like to avoid osteoporosis, limited movement, pain and the inability to have a conversation without quoting conservative talk radio. I try to keep my eye (both inner and outer) on this prize as I twist and strain and attempt to transform my body into a flexible, harmonious playground.

I know, I know, I’m not supposed to compare myself to other people, even my own family, but I consider this a stepping stone on the long path to enlightenment. I often dedicate my practice to my older self. The self that I hope will be more enlightened, agile, and active for a very long time to come.

     Sports movies can captivate and inspire us at anytime, but they are especially potent when we are 12. Our kiddo selves don’t pick apart obvious plot twists, feel manipulated by overly dramatic musical anthems or stop to wonder about the improbability of certain scenarios. “Vision Quest” is a movie that I loved as a much younger, aspiring athlete and I hoped with the innocent heart of a child that my old favorite had not aged as badly as an old wrester’s knees.
     I’m happy to report that Vision Quest is everything a 1980’s sporty melodrama should strive to be and more. It takes place in Spokane, Washington and stars a very young and super fit Modine in one of his first leading roles. Modine plays Louden Swain, an unassuming 18-year-old who wants take on “Shute”, the state’s best wrester. Shute is rumored to eat kitten ears for breakfast and likes to train while balancing telephone poles on his back. As Louden’s wise short-order cook mentor says so well, “This might be the sort of move that a reasonable man would want to avoid.”
     Indeed the odds are stacked against our questor as he tries to lose an obscene amount of weight (to make the 168-pound category), dodge the advances of a gay tai chi master, score the hot she-drifter who happens to have moved into his bedroom (see above for improbable scenarios) and get his article on the clitoris finished for the school paper; all while preparing for the wrestling match of a lifetime.
     Luckily, Louden does not have to do it all alone. A quirky cast of characters and some of the most inspiring hair music of the 80’s are there to help him through the rough patches. We can’t help but be lifted as Survivor and Louden, sporting his shiny silver and red rubber track suit, run together through the dark city streets. Heat stroke, dehydration and metabolic failure be damned! Together we can do this.
     The wresting sequences are beautifully shot and do justice to the incredible strength and fitness of any solid high school wrestler. These guys (and now girls) demonstrate the awesomeness that can be achieved with basic equipment like a jump rope, a pull up bar and a person’s own weight (check out the scene of them doing sit-ups on each other’s backs). These are functional athletes who balance strength, flexibility, endurance and the confidence to wear man leotards while going through puberty.
     I’ll skip being tossed like a sack of potatoes on a regular basis, but it is important for all of us to be fit enough to avoid and recover from falls. And working out with a purpose and a vision, it sure beats the alternative. Training like a wrestler is not a bad idea, just skip the singlet and cauliflower ears.

“Dangerous When Wet” is a film from a simpler time; a time when you could call a family film “Dangerous When Wet” and nobody thought anything dirty was going on. DWW chronicles the adventures, both aquatic and musical, of country girl Katie Higgins, played by sassy water diva Esther Williams. Our reluctant hero is part of the Higgins clan, a vigorous bunch who rise early each day to partake in synchronized calisthenics and rituals involving wheat germ. The family certainly has their health, but what they don’t have is a prize winning bull. When an opportunistic traveling huckster rolls into town Katie seizes the opportunity to land her stud (in more ways then one).
           
Her quest leads her to Europe, where with the assistance of a handsome Frenchman, she begins a valiant attempt to swim the English Channel. As far as settings for light hearted aqua comedies go, this icy and treacherous body of water is certainly a unique pick. Swimming the channel is serious business. Its 20 miles across and even further when tides and navigation are factored in to the mix. I was amazed that women were even allowed to attempt the treacherous swim back then (the film was made in 1953). Keep in mind that it wasn’t until 1967 when a woman first completed an official marathon. The swim across the channel is brutal and can take upwards of 16 hours. In her weaker moments Katie isn’t sure she’s up to it.
          
It isn’t difficult to get swept up in her valiant, Technicolor voyage. Will she save the farm? Will she give in to the advances of the charming Frenchman? Will she make it across the unforgiving channel? And all without ever wearing pants.
           
I love this movie because it shows a strong athletic woman being supported by a cast of adoring and inept men. Nobody would fault Katie if she dropped out, married a farm boy and became the female equivalent of that prize winning bull. Her delicate bare feet tip toe along between the lines of the feminine ideals of the day and athletic excellence. The film isn’t slap sticky like some of her others and includes an animated underwater scene featuring Tom and Jerry (man, can that cat swim!). Esther’s gorgeous stroke, not too much music and a story of underdog triumph make this a film that is difficult to resist.