The Importance of Stability for Long Term Health

Stability is extremely important for long term health. But what does stability mean in this context? If you think about your exercise or yoga practice, you might think about stability as being able to exercise without having chest pain. It may mean walking one block today if that is all that you can manage without worrying about how far you will be able to walk tomorrow. It means focusing in on your body and being gentle with yourself. If you practice yoga, it means stretching in a pose without adding too much stress to your joints and muscles. It doesn’t matter if can contort your body in an extreme pose. If you bend forward and can’t reach your toes, who cares. The fact that you stand tall, raise your hands over her head and bend at the waist, however far you can bend, is the important thing to remember.

But stability for long term health goes beyond exercise. If you are suffering from some chronic condition, stability means taking your medication and living a healthy lifestyle to insure that your condition doesn’t get worse or managing to do all that you can to stay as healthy as possible.

How does stability help us in other ways? What about inner stability? Ah. Getting off the emotional roller coaster of life and sailing along through life on an even keel. This is the hard part. Many of us go through life unable to find peace and tranquility. Our society seems to thwart us at every turn. There is no one path to achieve a sense of contentment. Some follow a particular religion, some move to the mountains and commune with nature, others find it after kicking and screaming through life until they’ve had a life threatening moment. Those individuals have literally and figuratively seen the light.

I guess I’d put myself in the later category. My transformation, as I truly believe it was, happened more slowly. But one major tool I used to help achieve inner peace was my breath. Being conscious of my breathing, not just three or four times a day, but every moment. Noticing when I breathe deep from my abdomen vs. shallow from the top of my chest. When my breathing is deep and full, I have peace. When it’s shallow, adrenaline and stress are crawling up my spine. The sooner I am able to catch myself breathing shallowly, the easier it is to calm my breath.

Self-expression also contributes to stability. When we find something that we are passionate about, we feel alive and energized. If we go through life doing only what we think we should do or what others tell us to do, we lose track of what is important.

There are two books by Julie Cameron “The Artist’s Way” and “Walking In This World” that I found very helpful when I was trying to reconnect with my passion for writing. These are good books for those who are interested in journaling as a means to find inner peace. She has a “free-writing” exercise to do every day. Take 15-20 minutes and write on the page whatever is going through your mind. Consider it a brain dump, whether it’s your to do list for the day, your angst over your heart disease, or your problems with your children or spouse. Get it all out. After a few weeks of doing a daily brain dump, you may find that you write less about the stressful situations in your life and start focusing on your passion.

These are just a few of my thoughts on how stability leads to long term health. What are your thoughts on the subject?