The last Buddhist

I rarely bring in religion in my public space. But with covid19 pandemic, fake news especially from religious groups are making their way. My world views are greatly shaped by Theraveda Buddhist teachings as well as my husband’s sharing of Taoist and Mahayana tradition. Taken from Piya Tan’s fb post

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157197008676325&id=744266324

When we finally know and see.

Worse than not knowing about Buddhism is when we know sufficiently about Buddhism, or any religion, for that matter, and clearly see how it is used as a VIRUS to infect others. We only need to see how so many people suddenly regress into Dark Age mode and think that religion, even religion alone, can save us from the Covid-19 (Wuhan virus).

Even some powerful politicians are deluded enough to believe that it is a hoax to bring them down. Perhaps for such people, the pandemic Virus has not really affected them or their significant others, or they don’t really care about others, or, we must admit, they are deeply deluded or worse. Which is worse than what the Virus pandemic can do us to—we are already seriously infected even before and without the Virus.

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FAR FROM THE VIRAL CROWD

From the start, religion—a system of belief in some Holier than Thou figure that demands our faith and controls all our speech, actions and thoughts¬—is a virus. It is an outside agent that takes over lives, making us see a reality that is different what is truly out there.

The Buddha’s teaching started with LETTING GO of worldliness by truly seeing that everything changes (impermanence). In this way, we disinfect ourself from the suffering that our wrong words, wrong acts, wrong thoughts, infect us with. By disinfecting ourself by giving up from false views and being caught with viral persons and the unhealthy crowd.

We enjoy GOOD HEALTH by keeping a wholesome space around us. This is what the lone Buddha radiantly meditating under the Bodh tree constantly reminds us: stay healthy within and without.

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THE REAL VIRUS

Yet we notice how Buddhists (but this is true of most religious people) do not really know what the Virus is (IGNORANCE). They run around panic-buying (CRAVING) this and that: they follow every robed Guru and titled/entitled Teacher, seeing THEM as the solution of their self-made problems.

Panic-buying is the CAUSE of food shortage: panic-buyers cause they very thing they fear! It’s just like us running after Gurus: it’s our ignorance that sustains and prospers the Guru. Gurus prey on us who we pray to them.

PRAYER means we are not in control. For this reason, the Buddha, in his last days, declare that the greatest prayer is our own practice of the true teaching (reflecting on impermanence in our meditation, seeing impermanence in our lives).

Good health—physical and social—has nothing to do with praying to Others or worshipping anyone. In this sense, early Buddhism is about TRUE HEALTH (of speech, body and mind). This can only happen when we heal ourself of the Virus (Ignorance/Craving) that are even now infecting us.

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VIRUS-FREE

The Buddha’s teachings begin by reminding us:

LOOK AT OURSELF — what do we really see? We are simply body and mind.
WHAT IS THE BODY? — our eye, ear, nose, tongue, body.
WHAT IS MIND? — our seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching.
WHAT IS WISDOM — seeing all as impermanent; true health and happiness

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THIS WILL PASS?

Gurus teach us to be spiritually lazy and emotionally dependent on them. They pretend to succour us by saying: All this will pass. Yes, this will pass, but not our Ignorance and Craving. The Buddha says: work with our inner darkness and burning fire. Turn the fire into seeing light; advance in the light.

Then, we will see that, yes, the Virus will pass, but it will merely take a different form, something hidden from us, but always there. Only our Wisdom can see what the Virus really us, and that way, we avoid them, immune to them; thus, we remain healthy and help others to stay healthy.

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Like those deluded politicians, maybe we need to truly SUFFER real pains and losses. Then we will see the Virus for what it really is and does. Imagine what the Virus can do. It may not take us, but it may take all that we love, stop us from going where we want, and from doing what we enjoy doing. We may lose everything because of the Virus (and his human form, the Guru).

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MARY SHELLEY

Mary Wollstonecroft SHELLEY (the first 2 names were he mother’s) had philosophers for mother and father, and she married one of the great Romantic poets, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary’s mother died less than a month after she was born. Mary’s first daughter was born prematurely and died. After her 2nd and 3rd children died in Italy, she decided to write her futuristic novel, FRANKENSTEIN (a novel about the possibility to creating life) (1818). She was only 18 when she started writing it, after seeing Galvani’s famous “frog-leg” experiment. She was also familiar with Charles Darwin’s evolution ideas.

In 1822, Shelley himself drowned in a sudden storm in the Gulf of La Spezia, off Italy’s western coast. Her husband, Shelley, and their good friends, Lord Byron, were Romantics (a form of literary individualism inspired by feelings and a sense of the transcendental characterized by “Eros and Chaos”). Mary, on the other hand, came from a family that was “socially engaged.” Her works reveal her passion for family, cooperation and compassion in a reformed civil society, especially for women). Such ideas were, in fact, a direct challenge to those of the Romantics and Victorian morals.

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THE LAST MAN

Suffering the loss of practically all whom she loved, the lone Mary, went on to write an apocalyptic novel, THE LAST MAN (1826). In Victorian England, polite society did not see it fit for women to write novels, much less publish them. The book is about a future world ravaged by a plague (like our own time) that practically decimated the human race.

Although Mary was a great writer, her father-in-law, Sir Timothy Shelley, banned her from writing Shelley’s biography. This, of course, did not stop her from writing. In fact, THE LAST MAN is also a veiled biography of the people significant in her life.

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BIOGRAPHICAL

“The last man” Lionel Verney, for example, is largely an autobiographical figure for Mary Shelley herself. Adrian, earl of Windsor (the last king of England) was based on Percy Shelley. The ambitious Lord Raymond is based on Lord Byron. She was also a great literary scholar in her own right, and is even today the main source for the study of the poet Shelley.

Her life-story itself is an inspiration reminding us that we may lose everything of this world, but so long as we see our own true potential and goodness, we will see the potential and goodness in others, too. She rose high above the Victorian polite society and religion of her day, living with great love and compassion for those less fortunate than she was (despite all her worldly losses).

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fb 200318 ©piya

FlowCoach

For quite sometime, I have been looking for program that includes movement, breath work and to some extend, life coaching to boost ones overall potential. Last year I signed up for FlowCoach Course. In this blog, I am sharing some excerpts form the FlowCoach y Nirvana site.

What is Flow State? Athletes call it “runner’s high” or “being in the zone” and others call it a “heightened state of consciousness”. Flow is a state in which the person performing an activity is fully immersed, experiencing the feeling of energized focus, complete involvement and deep enjoyment.

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Reference:

https://flow.nirvana.fitness/

https://youtu.be/NRCgmy-YxtM The FlowCode

The “not so perfect nutrition” for new mamas

Some short cuts to health for postnatal ladies from Girls Gone Strong Team.
Following these five tips from Jessie Mundell will make a tremendous difference in the life of a new mom.

“There are a couple main nutrition challenges that new moms commonly face:

First, it can be incredibly difficult at times to simply remember to eat, or to eat enough, when you’re caring for a tiny human that demands the majority of your attention.Moreover, any eating you do typically has to happen quickly and easily, so consuming high quality, nutrient dense food can go by the wayside quickly.

If you’re a new mom, I’d encourage you not to strive for perfect nutrition.

Eat in a way that makes you feel good in your body and satisfied after eating. Choose food that tastes delicious, is mostly nutrient dense, and that is easy to prepare.” – Jessie Mundell

#fitmamas #girlsgonestrong #postnatal #icoachwomen

An ideal training ground

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kavithatan_fitnessbydesign-onlinetraining-sgfitpro-activity-6566894655017971712-yFCx

Diastasis Recovery Month – Release

July is International Diastasis Recti Awareness month. This intiative is brought to you by The Center Method for Diastasis Recti Recovery™, founded by Carolyne Anthony. In this FB post, Carolyne shows us a release technique of the pelvic floor.

Diastasis recti awareness

July is DR awareness month. Here I am sharing the link to Jenny Burrell FB video.

Hope this video gives you some understanding.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2360174950692461&id=168158486560796

Oh my glorious dimpled skin!!!

Dimples look great when you have them on your face. The other day as I was on my downward dog position, I saw my not so cute dimpled cellulite skin on my thighs and hips. They disappeared when I came out of the pose. Thank goodness!

Love my thighs!

As much as I pass on body positive, love your body messages, I wanted to find out if certain diet and exercise plays any role in reducing its appearance. I am told lighting and and posing at a certain angle reduces the appearance magically.

Firstly, cellulite are harmless. And mostly appears on women. Thin, fat, mascular, young, old…sigh! Even the fittest person has them! Personally, I did not see them as a “flaw” until the cosmetic industries started advertising on miracle creams and lotions. Suddenly, we learned what “orange peel” really mean! And oh those stretch marks and spider veins ! Now don’t get me started! Is or are there ways to reduce them? My answer, not totally.

Female hormones play a big role. Estrogen, water retention, insulin, carbs rich food etc… makes each fat cell look larger and lumpier especially around our thighs and buttocks. When we balance our diet with a healthy mix of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, we can reduce insulin concentrations. Reduce sugar, salt, alcohol and simple carbs

When it comes to exercise, train full-body strength training sessions, which incorporate upper and lower body movements in one workout. PHA or Peripheral Heart Action Training, you will alternate from lower body to upper body with very short rest periods between exercises. The goal is to maximize blood flow between the upper and lower body while the shortened rest periods keep your heart rate up for cardiovascular and fat-burning benefits training. Here, when you recruit more muscle fibres, you create greater metabolic effects. And there has been research done that training with #whole_body_vibration does help reduce the appearance of cellulite.

Some video ideas on PHA training:

As always ladies, we are much “bigger” than these cellulites. Much bigger than what the media tells us (that we are not perfect). Eat well and don’t stop moving!

This article is adapted from Girls Gone Strong blog

Link to Whole Body Vibration research can be found here.

June Holidays Heartland Fitness!

Whole Body Vibration Workout

The fitness industry has been mostly dominated by men. From yoga, to pilates to research on diet until recently, not much research has been studied on female subjects. And because the focus has been more towards instagramable physique, there is a gap in a huge market that needs our attention. A fitness and wellness education catered for women, by women backed by Science.

I have been lucky to have the time and support to study and research on hormonal changes that effects both physically and mentally. I only wish such information was available to me much earlier. I say earlier because I did not understand what my mother was going through when she hit her menopause; how one of my siblings had to have a uterus removed and how another of my sibling who had been trying to get pregnant hit menopause and affecting her both emotionally and mentally. As we move away from a communal family setting to a nuclear family setting, people now lack the support we get from a community.

Not all is lost. Social Media has given opportunities to connect women globally creating a virtual community. In terms of women wellness, I have studied under The Centre for Women’s Fitness, Studio Pilates, Girls Gone Strong and Burrell Education both online and on-site. They are my go-to community when I have questions related to research findings. This let me to learn more about WHOLE BODY VIBRATION or WBV for short. If you google on wbv for women, you will see a whole list of links on research done. Honestly, I was a skeptic on wbv but was convinced on the benefits it had on post natal and 3rd age women. You can read more from this link: https://www.ptonthenet.com/articles/vibration-training-for-the-postnatal-client-3318.

Most people think that WBV workout entails one to be in a static position. There are lots more one could. Adding functional tools, integrated functional moves can be performed. I recently did a promo video of me utilising Power Plate wbv. You can watch it here.

My choice of continual education courses I study in the field of fitness is the journey that follows my unique feminine needs. I say unique because my experinces are not the same with a another. All the aches, pains and hormonal changes that are visiting me, I am truly humbled by them!

My coaching program provides body-positive, evidence-based information women’s health, re and post-hab, professional referals and much more. I offer solutions to help women reach their goals in a realistic, sustainable, and compassionate way. WBV is my latest offering catered to post-natal and women in their 3rd age.

Carolyne Anthony’s Teaching Tip of The Week

The physical body is the one we can all see and the body that we all agonize over. Appearance can sometimes be the driving force behind the need to exercise. Mobility, strength and health in general may sometimes play second fiddle.

As instructors we can help clients calm down and respect and honor the body they inhabit right now.You may be able to hand them the tools that could help them change their perspective towards exercise

The physical body,as with all the subtle bodies- is made up of energy. The energy at this level is the densest and has the slowest vibration. This is what we can see. It is the vehicle that contains all the other subtle bodies- the emotional, mental and spiritual bodies.The connection between all of these bodies is the etheric body, which projects slightly away from the physical body. I look at the etheric body as being the fascia- the connective tissue that holds it all together.

What we need to understand is how to facilitate a balancing of these subtle bodies to create that stillness and calm within.You know how you feel at the end of a good workout. You feel energized yet peaceful,bright yet relaxed,strong and flexible. How do you achieve this? A big part of it comes from breath work.

Joseph Pilates said it was the most important principle. Much can be accomplished with breath be it deep breathing,rhythmic breathing or percussive breathing. All breath work helps, the secret is to be aware of your breath.

The fast shallow breath,in and out of the mouth is a stress breath and will keep you at the level of fight or flight. The slower, deeper breath is the rest and digest breath that will clear your mind, focus you and calm you enough to be able to see the bigger picture of your life. It can create the stillness within while you exercise with concentration, quality, precision and total body integration. It will create the space for your physical body to move and your etheric body to lengthen and recoil to create that movement.

-Carolyne Anthony

The Centre for Women’s Fitness