Imagine this: Seventy seven million boomers make a pact to take back their happy healthy image and birthright, and ALL become healthy and wealthy within the next year or two!

Seriously, look at this now! Boomers are a gigantic brain trust of information, experience, and know how. They have been down – raised by “depression age” parents and grandparents. They have been up – lived through some of the very best of economic times, great freakin’ rock music, comparative castles for homes, waged war on everything from terrorism to drugs to cancer, and are still better at most jobs than their children and grandchildren will ever be. They are world travelers, can do most anything you can come up with;they are gym rats, social media marketers, and can learn a language in 90 days. Baby Boomers went back to school online and became honors students with Masters after age 50 or 60!  They have lost all their money once or twice and made it back on the next entrepreneurial venture or two without passing out in the sweat – even if they did lose a house or two in foreclosure. They are experts at picking themselves up, dusting themselves off and getting right back in the game.

Boomers have survived layoffs, divorce, child support, custody cases, 9/11, and a few lyin’-cheatin’ presidents, and they’re not dead yet! They changed jobs like sweaty gym shorts, made it through the dot.com boom and bust while changing hats as frequently as needed. Boomers have tried every religion on the planet from Tibet to Rome to Utah. They are as self- developed and natural health-ed as anyone will ever be. They have been medicated and meditated.

They – WE – survived it all. What else is there?  Really?

What if: Boomers decided to act on all that knowledge and stop buying into  the massive programming about prescriptions, high blood pressure, weight loss programs, motorized scooters, guilt about the end of the world, and spending the grand kids inheritance! What if they said “NO MORE!” to terrorists, politically correct speech, being robbed by drug using grandchildren, illegal aliens, and handing out money they busted their asses to make, and bailouts paid for with our tax dollars? What if they quit banks and bought gold?

What if they said “N-O!” to the media mind set about the boomer health image promoted and paid for by the drug companies and instead decided to prove them all wrong? What if: Boomers decided to walk every day, eat whatever makes them feel REALLY good, work as long as they want to, and said “to hell with social security just give me back everything I invested!”

It can be done, you know! It can. We can. There is a SEVENTY SEVEN MILLION strong mindset that says we can do anything we put our minds to if we want to.  Who wants to join me? I am game if you are!

Start here: Do what you can do. Make your list and check it twice.

1. New mental image.
2. Walk daily morning.
3. Filtered water every hour.
4. No more red meat.
5. Lots of fresh veggies and fruits.
6. Daily protein powder drinks.
7. Daily gym-you got to move to improve.Do something to first strengthen your upper body-arms-back. Start light then build.
8.Meditate daily. Just clear your head of all the chatter for 15 minutes so you can tell when its actually you thinking and not another instant replay.
9. Acknowledge God’s life in you many times daily. Feel “the Light that never fails” no matter what name you call that Light.
10. Be gratitude-filled daily.
11. Reduce medications gradually as you feel better.
12. Stop making excuses.
13. Stop thinking  of yourself as an old fart.
14. Stop acting like an old fart.
15. Go on vacation as often as you can.
16. Discover IntraMax liquid vitamins by Dr.Drucker. (the best I ever found!)
17.Start treating yourself like today is the first day of your future.
18.Fall in love with first with yourself and then with your spouse again.
19.Walk daily evenings after dinner. (beach, park, school)
20. Hang around younger people and raise your energetic vibration to match theirs.
21.Be positive.Think positive. Act positive. Speak positive.
22. Focus only on what you can do. Forget what you cannot do. You’ll get there or you won’t.
23. Buy a mini trampoline and use it. (they come with handrails if needed).
24. Learn to increase your oxygen via all the above methods.
25. Mean it!
26. If you live near the ocean go sit in the water as often as you can. Take your chair and get 20 minutes of sun too.
27. Get 20 minutes of sun daily anyway. (you need the vitamin D)
29. Write about your life and find the passion, the experience, the purpose. If you don’t want to write, record it.
30.Make an endless list of all the things you still want to do and start doing them.
31. Do something you have always wanted to do and do NOT be afraid and if you are, feel the fear and do it anyway!
32. Get your teeth fixed, have your eyes done, whatever; just do something that makes you feel good that maybe no one else thinks you should “waste your money (their inheritance) on!”
33. Buy that boat, collectible car, beach house or whatever it is you used to promise yourself you’d have one day and celebrate your new beginning!

34. Garden. Sing. Dance. Ride a bike.

35. Find a Core Health Workshop and get your “will to live” back up to 100% asap.

36.Find a Heart Forgiveness Workshop and forgive yourself then everybody else -  from your heart not your head. Take back your life!

Most Important-Find a friend and support each other. Start a Meetup group and make your lists. Make a plan and see it through. Live like each day has meaning the way one does when one is looking toward the FUTURE not at the PAST. Face forward and walk toward the sun!

See you in a year! Good Luck and Have Fun!

I Am Alexandra Barrett and I am a healthy, wealthy boomer!!!

Are You READY for Amazing Health?

Have you been thinking about lifestyle changes that will get you physically healthy again? Are you one of the 1 percenters ready to shift?

Lots of Baby Boomers are thinking about it. If you’re really ready, quit thinking and start doing.

We are looking for the 1% of all Baby Boomers on the tipping point – ready to tip over into a new, robust healthy lifestyle. Ready to let go of belief systems that don’t work any more and do not serve us mentally, emotionally or physically – and probably never have.

Why are we looking for you? Because if you’re ready, we know you’ll get involved and we know that we can help make a difference.

This is not a network marketing plan either. This is the primary Healthy Wealthy Boomer theme: How to make the 2nd 50 years Better than the 1st.

Getting in shape and FEELING GREAT does not have to be a trauma event. It should be fun – like baking cookies with our grand children. It doesn’t require making a huge change in your life to get started. Making incremental changes is easy as it should be. When things are both complex and not fun, human nature is such that we won’t do them – or at least we won’t stick with the program long enough to make a difference.

Who am I to buck human nature?

Where the 1 Percenters Can Start…

Start with simple things you can do right away that don’t require effort and do not cost money.

For example, if your morning ritual is meeting your friend for coffee at your favorite espresso shop,  maybe you can start by walking to meet your friend for coffee every morning. Maybe you can cut your latte down from a grande to a tall. Start eating carrot and celery sticks 3 times a week (as a snack in the afternoon) and cut back the number of times you eat fried food.

Start cooking at home more and learn how to make delicious, simple and healthy meals. If you don’t cook, take a cooking class or get together with friends and start cooking healthy recipes together.

Buy a blender and start making awesome healthy ice blended drinks or fruit smoothies. It’s a great time for smoothies since it’s summer time.

This is not about Jenny Craig or The  Biggest Loser. It’s about making a choice to enjoy your life better, to be happier and to LIVE LONGER.

Jamie Oliver has started something awesome that he calls the Food Revolution. He’s traveling around the US trying to get people focused on children’s  nutrition in schools and bring enough attention to it to get something done about the horrendous nutrition quality in school food programs for kids. It all starts at home and even if your kids are grown, you can get involved with your grandchildren’s food.

Awareness is a good place to start.

Here is a video of Jamie Oliver talking about how much sugar there is in commercial fruit juices.

A recipe for smoothies as an alternative follows. Here is a smoothie recipe from Jamie Oliver: Frozen Fruit Smoothies.

Many Baby Boomers realize that it’s time to do something different. The online estimates are huge – somewhere in the nature of ~23 million Baby Boomers are obese depending on the stats you read.

Obesity defined: Source: answers.com/topic/obesity

Obesity traditionally has been defined as a weight at least 20% above the weight corresponding to the lowest death rate for individuals of a specific height, gender, and age (ideal weight).

More recent guidelines for obesity use a measurment called BMI (body mass index) which is the individual’s weight multiplied by 703 and then divided by twice the height in inches. BMI of 25.9–29 is considered overweight; BMI over 30 is considered obese.

Harv Eker, founder of Peak Potentials – says,

“Clarity is Power.”

And I agree with him. Clarity can be power. Part of achieving clarity is knowing what it is you are going to do and why you are going to do it.

To some degree, clarity comes from the commitment to follow through on what you are talking about doing. To restate that what I am saying is:

Action is required for clarity to be power.

Otherwise it is just talk.

It’s funny, really, how we do things over and over that don’t work. We choose physical patterns that are are rooted in dysfunctional emotional stuff without being aware that we do it. It has become – for whatever reason – the default. When something becomes a default in human consciousness, it is no longer a conscious choice.

It is an unconscious choice.

At some point, we accept that default and get used to living with it. Sometimes clarity comes through waking up or snapping out of it – out of a walking dream state of semi-conscious behavior – a type of comatose that we have grown to accept as normal. To my way of thinking, anything but vibrant health is not a natural default, although it may be normal.

The greatest obstacles to overcome regarding health are belief systems.

What makes me an authority on this? This is an aspect of what we teach in Core Health workshops. Over and over again we see that this is true. We show people a way out of the rut and how to make new energy choices and it works.

The media and mainstream medical systems love to reinforce our dependency on the need to confer with them about everything related to our health.

Why?

Being healthy’s up to each of us. It’s part of our autonomy – part of our authenticity. We don’t need anybody’s permission to be healthy. Create your own clarity and clarify your power. It is such a great sense of release and a sense of in-powerment to take control of your health.

Choose your own perspective on health – choose a new version that suits you better and start challenging what the powers that be say to you over and over again.

Choose CHRONIC WELLNESS instead. Be a 1 percenter and jump in, if you’re ready for health.

I AM Michael Barrett and I AM a Healthy Boomer and I AM a Core Health Facilitator.

Please excuse any inconvenience…

Blog about healthy cookie recipe moved here:Oatmeal Cookies

Thanks,

Have a fabulous day.

I AM Michael Barrett

Another follow up with the Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge:

Reminder ==> Being Healthy Is A Lot of Fun

So often – as a culture – we make drudgery out of exercise and working out. My friend Trever McGhee said something in a video today that made a lot of sense.

Trever came up with his new word of the day: “Livit”, a contraction of the two words “Live it”.

He asked the question, “Who ever came up with the word “diet” anyway? Ever time you say the word, your body contracts because the word “die” is in it – so your body thinks it’s going to die and it associates it with the food around die-ting. No wonder the body doesn’t want to loose wait, it’s afraid to release anything or it might die. So instead of talking about a diet, he chooses to focus on a LIVIT.

I like that Trever. Quite brilliant actually.

Back to ‘drudgery’ and a work-out. I’m choosing to use the word play-in.

Various aspects of this:

You may have noticed that the word ends with “in”. I chose this because it implies within us instead outside of us – whereas outside implies separation.

Play-in makes a game or fun out of the experience – one of internal playfulness and joy.  Just say the word “PLAY” to yourself, out loud a few times, and see if your energy doesn’t shift. “The idea of play” makes me feel more relaxed and like I should smile and anticipate having a good time. It makes me think of kids and enjoying myself. I think about laughing and making noise and all the things we used to do when we were kids.

Adults for the most-part are lousy at playing. Life is serious, after all. We must take life seriously or we aren’t being responsible, right?

If we’re having fun, we can’t be taking it seriously.

WHO SAYS SO?

If you’re like me, you agree we can have fun and still take our duties and obligations to heart, responsibly.

Work is not a word that makes people feel all warm and fuzzy (unless of course you’re a Core Health Facilitator or a successful internet marketer – where work is pure pleasure). In general terms when most of us HEAR AND SAY THE WORD: WORK, it makes us feel tired.

And just to prove a point, I had Alexandra energy measure me personally for the word:

I said the word: WORK and it made me go weak.

I said the word: PLAY and I tested strong.

This is interesting and it follows what Dr Ed Carlson teaches us in Core Health about the power of language and choosing words carefully. Thats why, for example, he calls work-shops ==> play-shops. And that’s why Dr. Ed uses the word:

Re~Treat instead of retreat. Think about it for a second: We get to RE -”TREAT” ourselves (we get another treat) or we can retreat (run away)…

Kind of interesting , yes?

Anyway, this is the idea behind looking forward to PLAY-in instead of doing a WORK-out.

Your health and your body are a joy and a miracle. Start digging it and expressing that internal self-love. It’s healthy and thinking it and saying it are good for your health.

Make the Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge fun for you. Take a yoga or pilates class, start learning ballroom dancing, ride a bike everyday, take long fast walks, swim or all of the above.  Take up martial arts or qigong. Start having fun and concentrate on doing things you love – that make you feel good.  Become a healthy wealthy boomer too. You have the brains and you have the experience, you’re a Baby Boomer. Go for it.

BTW, anyone can participate, not just baby boomers.

That’s the way to get a six pack.

I AM Michael Barrett. I AM a Healthy Boomer and I AM a Core Health Facilitator.

Day Three of the Healthy Boomer 6 Pack Challenge – what an amazing day at Siesta Key beach.

It’s interesting what happens when we challenge each other in a healthy way – striving for excellence on a collective level. It’s a really positive thing to do on many levels. First and foremost, there is so much negative in the press, over the airwaves and in most conversation that counter balancing that negative with uplifting language, visuals and thoughts is so refreshing and empowering – in-powering actually. That is creating power from the inside out versus getting our power from a source outside ourselves.

By always speaking in language that enhances, we make a healthy contribution to the people and events around us. It costs nothing and it is contagious.

People like to feel good and it stands out clearly against so much negative.

Being a healthy boomer starts with thinking and speaking positively. All that is required is a choice. Making a habit out of it is what takes diligence. This is the fundamental precept in my challenge. Become a healthy baby boomer.

Start Thinking Healthy.

Start Speaking Healthy.

Start Acting Healthy.

Start Being Healthy.

This does not require a PhD in Physical Therapy or that you are working out like a professional athlete. You can start right this minute. Get up and stretch, take a walk, have a glass of water, smile about something, quiet yourself and enjoy the sunrise or go out and look at the moon for a while.

We can do many things to improve our health easily. Diminishing and virtually eliminating stress is a really good place to start. Make a choice to remove anger from your life. Smile and laugh more.

Watch a funny movie and laugh hard – often.

Quit sweating the small stuff.

If nothing else, take up the challenge strictly from the standpoint of making the determination within yourself that in 90 days you will be laughing more. That’s a huge step in the direction of health.

Whatever reason works for you – use it.

Maybe you have high blood pressure and you’re under a lot of stress and you have kids. Think about them being without a dad or a mom five or ten years down the road if you do nothing about your current situation. That’s a good motivator for many.

Think of it this way…

Life can be a lot more fun than it has been. Where do I start having fun?

Ask yourself:

Isn’t life more fun when I feel better physically?

Remember the tireless energy as a kid?

What happened to that?

Focus your attention on that to start with. Simply go into a place when you were small (in your mind and heart) and remember what that feels like. Think about what it used to feel like when you would sleep at night as a child.

How comfortable and safe you felt.

That memory and that knowledge is still locked deep within you – so you already know how to do what I am talking about.

Summon it forth.

Choose to start having fun and get a  new start enjoying your health.

Change what you think about health and take up the Healthy Wealthy Boomer: Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge whether you want six pack abs or not.

Choose to be a Healthy Wealthy Boomer and Make the Second Fifty Years Better Than the 1st. There is no asset of greater value than excellent health –  so starting developing that asset again and be a wealthy boomer too.

I AM Michael Barrett, I AM a Healthy Boomer and I AM a Core Health Facilitator

The Healthy Wealthy Boomer: Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge begins just as we officially enter into summer…

It’s kind of weird being in Florida – experiencing the complete seasonal transition for the very first time in its entirety. Know why? It’s because our bodies are used to a different winter cycle - I think - and on some level our bodies are still waiting for winter to come – even though it’s already officially summer. We moved here in the summer in 2009 and as far as our bodies are concerned we haven’t had winter yet.

Funny how the body works – not really funny actually, more like interesting – how we can be such biologically driven creatures and not even be aware of it on a conscious level. We certainly do have biological clocks – cellular clocks – that are synchronized with our attitudes, the weather and our environment – even when we don’t realize it. And this becomes more and more obvious as we get older.

In many ways, that is what this challenge is about.

The Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge is both about the outcome – a baby boomer six pack – and also becoming really conscious about our internal clocks, how we approach our health as healthy boomers, having fun being conscious of our physical condition and how we express ourselves physically in the world around us.

Five years ago, my life was a mess. I made the choice to change it and I have. It ’s been turbulent at times and I’ve made a ton of mistakes along the way since that time.

Just the same I did it…

In spite of huge issues that came along in life, we stuck it out.

As they say at Harv Eker’s Enlightened Warrior Training Camp:  “Never give up.”

And although we almost threw in the towel a couple of times, every time we got knocked down we got back up and got back into the arena. And we made it through – both tempered and strong – in one piece operating, at full capacity for the first time in a long time.

And after all the years of confusion, I KNOW WHO I AM 100% again and I AM 100% Healthy. 

It was impossible to be healthy carrying around all the emotional baggage, the self anger, anger at others and all the layers of confusion accumulated over a life time – childhood, a family, divorce and all the other life events that offer challenges and open the door for miss-takes and confusion to set in without being aware of it.

Coupled with the years of qigong practice and all the positive things I have done over the last 40 years to enhance my health,  the last 12 months we’ve done the work to clean out the energy, dump all the layers of confusion and remove all the energy glitches that made us go weak.

And now they don’t…

They’re gone now. Now comes the work of naturalizing the results and healthy behavior patterns as the new defaults. So I’m going for it and by the end of summer I am going to have a baby boomer six pack and that’s a personal promise.

Healthy Boomer Six Pack Abs Challenge

I CHALLENGE YOU to take up the Healthy Wealthy Boomer: Healthy Boomer Six Pack Challenge and join in. Play with us and re-discover that natural core of health you were born with.

Imagine how great you will feel in 3 months, 6 months and a year from now - if you get started right away. 

How about 10 years from now?

Remember what it felt like to be a kid?

NANNY NANNY NANNY, I’m healthier than you are…

Tag, you’re it.

You know you’ve been thinking about it for a long time.  Another 20 years will go by – fast – before you know it.

Get up, put your walking shoes and start…

What’s holding you back?

I’m going to make it happen, how about you?

I AM Michael Barrett, I AM a Healthy Boomer and I AM a Core Health Facilitator.

Healthy Wealthy Boomer: June 1 – Healthy Boomer Challenge

The Health Wealthy Boomer definition of health is being healthy mentally, emotionally, Spiritually, energetically, physically and financially. Inherent within this definition is the premise that total health is the single most important component of being a wealthy boomer – our most valuable asset.  Let’s look at this idea and expand it.

First a couple of statistics…

The U.S. Census Bureau says that by 2030, after all baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) have turned 65, more than 71 million senior citizens will be living in the USA.

Currently, more Americans than ever are obese: one-third of the adult population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-05-obesity-age_x.htm

Whatever your personal situation is, far too many Baby Boomers are putting on weight and don’t exercise. Many of us who used to be in the 15% body fat (or lower) category are creeping up to the 25% range. There are much more in-powering choices and life patterns we can make than obesity, particularly as we age.

Many Boomers have decided that it’s  too late to do anything about it and believe they are stuck permanently with sore joints, weak legs and being tired all the time – because that what happens after 50.  Collectively, this is what we have been taught to accept as truth.

I disagree.

If you left a new car out in the elements and never waxed it from day one, eventually the paint would peel off. Who would ever treat a nice car that way – particularly at $25-40K+? You wash it and wax it regularly to protect the paint and to prevent oxidation. You change the oil and get the transmission serviced so it will last as long as possible.

Bodies need love too. If you are not already doing so, start loving your body and yourself. Treat yourself like an honored guest.

If you wait until 2030 to take action, it may be too late. On the positive side, you still have 20 years to become a healthy boomer. A few years ago at a Peak Potentials Train the Trainer 1 Certification intensive, Blair Singer made an interesting point via demonstration that puts 20 years into perspective.

Before I describe what Blair did, let me tell you a little about who Blair Singer is (in case you don’t know). Blair Singer is close friends with Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad Poor Dad,  a real estate investor and all around entrepreneur). Blair is a Rich Dad Adviser and a highly respected “sales trainer” – the guy companies call in to get results in sales by training their staff. Blair was also a student of Marshall Thurber, a genius in his own right and a protege of Bucky Fuller.

By the way, Blair Singer is a healthy wealthy boomer…

Here is a short video entitled Blair Singer: Secret Formula For Business Success that will give you a sense of how dynamic and talented Blair is and why he is such a successful trainer:

So back to my story…

Blair called volunteers to the front of the room ( we had about 600 attendees of which I was one) and had them line up facing the audience across the entire width of the room – and I would guess it was about 200 feet across. Then he had the volunteers stretch out a single rope all the way across the room each person in line holding the rope and keeping it level. He said that this rope represented a “whole lifetime”.

Next he talked about how a person can learn almost anything they need to in 90 days – with the right instruction, information and diligence.

Then Singer had another volunteer attach a piece of red string 3 feet long to the “life rope” and he asked the group,

“What do you all think that 3 feet of red string represents?”

He got all kinds of answers – and everybody’s attention.

Blair finally said,

“That 3 feet of string represents 90 days of your life. You can learn how to do just about anything in 90 days. And look what a tiny portion of your entire life that time really is. If you think about it, no matter how hard the challenge or how uncomfortable it makes you feel, you can both learn:

• whatever you want to learn, or
• need to learn or
• have to learn

and you can stand whatever it is for 90 days knowing it is such a small percentage of the total. Don’t you agree?”

He got absolute consensus from the group. In the big scheme of things, the time period is truly insignificant relative to your entire life. It really was an effective visual – and we often learn easier visually.

In this case, I certainly did.

Here is my Baby Boomer challenge to you:

Take the next 90 days and do something to improve your health.

Be realistic.

Take a step and start creating new habits.

Here are my basic suggestions:

• Start walking more…  Use the stairs at work, park in the far corner of the parking lot when you shop, walk to the store to get the paper or buy a quart of milk instead of driving 5 blocks. You get the idea. Start taking a walk everyday – intentionally. It relaxes you, it stretches your muscles and it activates your metabolism. Walking for health is something all of us can do.
• Keep a journal of what you do.  Keep tabs on what you are doing everyday so you can look at your progress on your self improvement journey. Not a big deal – maybe: “I walked 15 minutes today.”
• Find out about meditation – take a class or watch You Tube videos, or meet with a friend -  and if you already know about meditation, start doing it again.  Meditation is one of the best things you can do for your health. It improves so many things by default. And if nothing else, just sit quietly on the back porch for ten minutes (no phones, television or noise) and watch the sun come up or enjoy your garden or look at the moon. Getting quiet is a very good thing to do on a regular basis.
• Drink more clean water. Learn how to hydrate your body better.
• Stretch every day.
• Start going to bed earlier.

Do this for 90 days and you will feel significantly better than if you continue to postpone that period of time represented by the 3 feet of red string.

Why wait?

The purpose is to create new habits or re-create them…

If you choose to go further with this, we have created courses  and workshops that really work and help people learn how to walk their talk. Get in touch on our contact page and let’s move forward.

In 20 years, you can actually be healthier than you have been in a long time and you can still become a healthy boomer. Why wait any longer to get started? You can do this incrementally gradually increasing the distance you walk and the intensity with which you exercise. Cut back on fried foods and start eating more Omega 3’s.

Start gradually and work up and in no time at all you’ll look forward to talking a brisk walk and having a tall glass of water. Think how much more energy you will have in 20 years compared to what you will feel like physically if you don’t start now. Many of the effects of aging can actually be reversed, so why wait?

Speaking of Boomer Health: What is your health worth to you?

As far as being healthy goes in 2030:

• what will that health be worth to you then? Or said differently,
• what will it be worth you in 2030 to get your health back?

To my way of thinking, being a healthy boomer is a really good investment in your future – and in your wealth – because the root of real wealth is based in pure health. It is one of those intangibles that you can control in your life. And in time, the results will become tangible – one way or the other.

When you are healthy, you have more creative energy, more energy to work, start new projects and build your wealth along the way. On the other hand, not only is it hard to work and be creative when you feel lousy, it’s no fun. How can you distinguish between wealthy boomer and a healthy one? Do you agree that health an essential component of abundance and wealth?

It’s amazing how many people I have met in the last couple of years – in their mid to late 60’s that wish they had taken better care of their bodies when they were younger. I have also met a number of people who are healthier now – in their 60’s and 70’s than many people I know in their 40’s.

• Will you be getting healthier all the time by the time you are 65?
• And will you be actively building your wealth and living the life you want, or
• Will you be working every day to pay the rent and eat like so many people in their 60’s today?

There’s no time like the present.

In fact there only is the present. The past is history and the future hasn’t come yet.

Wake up, tune it and get with it.  I double dare you…

The choices you make today will determine what you become in 20 years. When the time comes, don’t say “nobody told me”. Are you really too busy to care of your health?

Get started now on the Healthy Boomer Challenge.

I AM Michael Barrett and I AM a Core Health Facilitator and Boomer Health Coach

Update on the Baby Boomer Six Pack Blog…

A few weeks ago, I declared my intention to get into training mode physically and mentally targeting SIX PACK ABS by my birthday.

I hereby announce that I have to postpone this for two months – maybe three.

I am still working on re-establishing my daily routine and implementing the system I created in “Look Better and Feel Better in 60 Days“. However, I will hold off on the intense workout routine until I complete some “corrective training” to re-align and reduce the compensation effect related to the information that follows.

Note the operating word : Postpone – not BAIL…

Here’s why…

When I spoke to my mentor (Dr. Ed Carlson) about it at lunch in Gulfport, Fl the following week, he took a good look at my posture and suggested that before I go into training mode, I should go visit Randy Clark in Clearwater, Fl. Randy is partners with Paul St John (yes THE Paul St John – founder of the Paul St John Method of Neuro-muscular Therapy) at the St John-Clark Pain Treatment Center.

Dr Ed Carlson (my mentor) and Paul St John are old friends and have worked together for many years. A few years ago, Paul St. John and Randy Clark became partners.

Smart People Listen to Good Advice…

I had heard Randy speak at the Core Health Facilitators Update several weeks preceding this conversation and found his work to be fascinating. Over the years – although stubborn and resistant at times – I have learned that smart people listen to good advice. In 11 1/2 months Dr. Ed Carlson has never once given me a bad piece of advice. So I went to meet Randy.

Here is my take on how integrative neurosomatic therapy works…

Basically what these guys do is manipulate the muscles to release contraction. And recently they have learned something new. It is actually easier to get the muscles to relax by massaging and manipulating the “organs” associated with different muscles groups and associated meridians. Apparently this is far more effective than working on the muscles directly and in a very short period of time, by manipulating the organs the muscles relax automatically.

As therapy progresses, and the muscles relax to a normal state, many skeletal alignment issues correct naturally as a function of releasing the tension in the muscles.

While it is far more complex than this, this description is basically the idea. There is a lot that Paul St John and Randy have learned about the relationship between the neural net and muscles – and how they “interact and fire”.

In a nutshell, contracted muscles that stay that way for an extended period of time actually create a “lock” and significant tension in the surrounding muscle groups, associated meridians, organs and connecting tissues. This muscle contraction often creates tilts in the skeletal systems and can create long term complications if not treated.

My Personal Physical Situation Right Now…

In my personal case, Randy Clark showed me that this muscle contraction (and compensation) has created a head tilt to the right as well as a pelvic tilt to the right and several issues related to the neck and shoulder.

Unresolved this could transform – over time – into a permanent physical pattern for me and this is unacceptable.

So…

In addition, my primary front abdominal muscle is “not firing”. Apparently when the surgeon cut through that muscle for a hernia operation in 1977, the neural connection to that muscle shut down. What that means is that when the brain sends the signal to “fire” that muscle, the message never gets there through the neural net. From their clinical experience and observation over a long period of time, this is quite a common problem after surgery – for many types of abdominal surgery for both men and women.

The rub is that most physicians are not aware that this is the case and 9 times out of 10 they recommend physical therapy as the post operative treatment. What this means (if these guys are right and I think they are) is that the recommended post operative therapy (which is exactly what the doctor ordered) is often exactly what is not needed for the client. What they need instead is to relax the muscles, where the physical therapy actually induces muscle contraction.

Anyway back to my situation…

No wonder doing 2500 ab crunches a day (I worked up to that because as my friend Holly says, ” I tend to be an overachiever”) in a workout program several years ago did nothing to help my front abdominal core. The ab muscle itself was not firing. So all the surrounding muscles had to take up the slack and “compensate”. Needless to say this can create numerous issues – like a chain reaction in the body. I have a high pain thresh hold, so over time my body adjusted to the contraction and the compensation and – in time – this became normal.

Dr. Ed Carlson often points out that:

“There is a difference between normal and natural. Natural being the most healthy and normal being what MOST of us do, most of the time.”

My personal challenge to everybody who wants to change their life (and particularly Boomers) from normal to natural:

“I intend to set the bar high as a healthy boomer challenging all Baby Boomers to move from being NORMAL to NATURAL and I invite all of you (whether you are a Boomer or not)” – to participate.”

In 2003, I broke my left wrist in 7 places . In 2005 and 2006 there were additional injuries. The first was when I did a one point landing – full body weight – on the side of my neck and right clavicle. From 2005 until 2010, the clavicle was partially separated the whole time (until an amazing man, Grand Master David Harris reset it). I also sustained a knee injury, landing on a piece of steel full body weight in 2006.

I mention these experiences because they exacerbated the issues that had existed within my body without my knowledge for many years.

So here’s the deal…

When I get:

all the “coiled and contracted” muscles in my body relaxed and normalized and then naturalized

and when we correct the mis-alignments

get the ab firing again and

build muscle in the right places – correctively – to hold everything in alignment, the way it should be

Then I will actively take up the abs challenge again. Maybe the new target will be September instead of July, not sure yet. I am really glad that I found these things out because building significant muscle mass and more tension would have potentially compounded the problems and created serious negative long term side effects.

Thanks Dr. Ed and Randy Clark…

Future Baby Boomer Six Pack Updates

From April 28-May 2, I attended the annual Silent Re~Treat that Dr Ed Carlson has been facilitating for over 25 years. During that 4 1/2 days of Unceasing Meditation, I learned a good deal about what else has been going on in my neck – not just the “what”, also the “why” and what to do about it.

This is part of the solution to my situation and the physical expression of who I AM.

I’ll talk about the emotional and “feelings” aspects of this and how it integrates into my overall personal solution in further Baby Boomer Six Pack Updates…

I AM Michael Barrett, I AM a Healthy Boomer and I AM a Core Health Facilitator.

Baby Boomer Six Pack – All You Can Drink…

Gotcha. I’m talking about six pack abs – not beer. You know the kind of sexy abs that look great at the beach. I’m on a mission and I could use your support. Will you help me?

First A Little Personal History

Back in November 2008, I was talking to my close friend on the phone who said that he and a mutual friend of ours had decided to lose weight together. So on that call, I committed to my friend to join in and get below 200 pounds by my birthday the following July (2009). Along came July and I was under 200 pounds for the first time in a number of years.

This year, I’ve made a different commitment with less time to accomplish it. What’s the commitment?

6 PACK ABS BY MY BIRTHDAY IN JULY.

This is on the radical side – time wise -and a tough target but I’m confident that I can do this. Last time I lost the weight almost exclusively as a result of increased physical activity – initially by walking 5-7 miles a day in the mountains of Pennsylvania and later by adding back in Tibetan Rites, Qigong and reduced food intake to my daily routines.

I’ve tried the six pack abs thing before unsuccessfully. I even blogged about it in 2008: Why Can’t I Get Six Pack Abs?

Why Will I Be Successful This Time?

My plan will succeed because I’m refining my physical routine again plus adding a significant focus on raw foods and being specific about getting enough of the right kind of fat.

This is my physical regimen between now and July:

• Walking 3-5 miles a day aggressively
• Tibetan Rites every day
• Qigong 3-4 times a week
• Free weights: (to build up my upper body to strength level that preceded my broken wrist in 2003) 3- sets of 12, 10, 8, 6 alternating on each arm with starting with 10 pound weights and working my way up to 40 pound weights.
• I will also be using diet suggestions and core exercises recommended in Mike Geary’s incredibly successful e-book: The Truth About Abs.

Note: Personal Recommendation – Over the last couple of years, I’ve been following Mike. I think he is the genuine article and really walks his talk. I always read his newsletter and the more I read it, the more I realize that our health philosophies are really in alignment. Lots of things I have been saying for years keep coming out in his newsletters. Nice to get validation from a certified personal trainer and certified nutrition specialist. I highly recommend Truth About Abs for anybody serious about health and getting in shape – and the bonuses that come with his – e-book are really awesome.

Something else is different too.

Combined with Geary’s core strength recommendations I’m adding another tool: Core Health. Coupled with my physical regimen this creates a Baby Boomer Secret Weapon – and if I am right – the tools for a Baby Boomer Six Pack.

In 2009, I found Core Health. I liked it so much that I moved from Montana to Florida to study it with the founder, Dr. Ed Carlson, and after months of study and multiple joyful, expansive weekend intensives, I received my certification as a Core Health facilitator last December.

While the physical aspects of exercise and diet are very important, there are other things that are just as important and perhaps even more so – attitude and energy. From what I have learned in Core Health during 2009, I am convinced that when I lock in my commitment to succeeding at creating 6 pack abs using the DTQ techniques and making new energy decisions, I will succeed 100%.

The proof is in the pudding. Results are all that matters.

I am going to blog about this process the whole way and post videos and blogs about my routines from now until my birthday. I’m looking for some support. Just an occasional “atta-boy” and blog comments along the way would really help. Are you with me?

Away we go…

Watch as my baby boomer six pack materializes before your eyes between now and July.

I Am Michael Barrett. I Am a Core Health Facilitator and I Am a Healthy Boomer.

Strength is an important topic, particularly for Baby Boomers.

The good news is that age and genetics do not determine nor limit strength.

Look at the old gentleman in the following video. If he can do that, we can most certainly walk 3 miles a day – or whatever it takes – to get the metabolism going again and to get the job done. Watch this guy, it’s quite impressive.

Size and gender are not limiting factors either.

Have you ever seen a mother protect a young child?  Have you ever tried to take something out of a little baby’s hand when they get a grip on something – like an expensive earring?  It’s hard to take it out of their hand.

The baby can do this because they use all of the energy in their body and their consciousness at the same time. It is life force (chi in Chinese). As western adults, most of us have forgotten how to use our life force as the core of our strength. The old gentleman in the video hasn’t forgotten. And the infant knows nothing else but full expression of self.

Anyone can choose strength.

Strength is a Key Ingredient to Long Lasting Health

Strength is essential for physical alignment and daily life, yet is often overlooked as a key ingredient to long lasting health. As a rule, we tend to take strength for granted – until we don’t. In most cases, we miss strength most when we no longer have full command of it. Two common examples of the loss of strength are:

• trauma from injury or
• an illness that forces us to be sedentary or bed ridden during the recuperative time

More commonly, we become aware of the need for strength when we bend to lift something and twist and find ourselves struggling with both the load and the execution of the range of motion. Or when we notice how sore our lower back muscles are after we rake and bag the leaves in the back yard.

Muscle tone and adequately strong muscles make life easier as we age.

If we have been inactive for some time, we can reactivate our physical tone fairly easily by becoming active physically again. It does not take much to get the body awake and alert. It does take persistence.

The body actually likes it.

More than that, “waking the body back up” takes a new decision to do so. Once you focus your attention on the result and create a mandate for yourself – clearly and definitively – it will begin to manifest itself in physical form.

Bill Bartmann, a Healthy Wealthy Boomer from Tulsa, made that choice a long time ago. He is a martial artist and takes care of himself although he wasn’t always in good shape.

Earlier in his life, he lay in a hospital bed after breaking his neck falling down stairs and was told by doctors he would never walk again. He made up his mind there and then that was not acceptable. Months later, he walked out of the hospital on his own. He used his determination to walk again and he used it to turn his life around from alcoholic, gang member, homeless high school drop out to billionaire and one of the wealthiest men in America.

Bill does not set goals:

“I don’t set goals. Instead I make promises because in my experience, we are far less likely to re-neg on a promise than a goal. The results are consistently better.”

This is a good approach. When it comes to setting up a personal set of protocols to get back in shape, Bartmann’s idea makes sense because not achieving a goal is one thing, breaking a promise is another.

When you make a promise to yourself – or someone else that you care about – you are more thoughtful about what you are committing to. When you treat your self as your best friend, you are less likely to promise something you do not intend to keep.

Treat your body as Your Best Friend.

This is the basis of health and strength – to love your body and groom it, care for it, feed it really good food and attend to it with loving attention – in the same way you would care for a championship show dog or a horse.

In many ways, strength is a measure of vitality and physical consciousness – a sort of gauge for aliveness. You can use it as a self-measurement tool for alignment and clarity.

Strength is what provides the support for the skeletal system in our body. It is an integral component of physical and postural integrity, and provides for efficient mobility. As such, it is our best natural defense against many common injuries.

Strength, coupled with flexibility, is the most effective counter measure against general aches and pain. These aspects of strength are valid at all ages but are particularly important as we get older.

Like the Baby, True Strength is Rooted in Life Energy

And strength is – in large part – the primary physical coordination function for the body. In general, a real misconception is that size is the key determinant of strength. True strength is a measure of the individual’s ability to use the entire body as a single unit – as opposed to muscle mass.

Strength in this context is integrated use of the skeletal system, connecting tissue and powered by “life energy” running through the whole system – simultaneously.

Once we achieve flexible strength, we rarely get sore when we use our muscles and our body.

What Prompted The Post…

Last month a baby boomer named Arnie started a new thread in our Facebook group Baby Boomer Health and Wealth: Healthy Wealthy Boomer, by asking this question:

“Hey what do you think is the best approach to maximize physical strength as we age?”
Here is what I wrote about to Arnie…

• Physical activity is essential we are too sedentary in today’s lifestyle.
• Walk everyday, stretch every morning, learn and practice the Tibetan Rites at least 3 times a week.
• Be physical again. Walk up the stairs at work. Park the car further away from the entrance at Costco and walk both ways.
• Take dance lessons and PRACTICE – it’s so much fun.
• Ride bicycles again.
• Learn Qigong or Tai Chi or one of the soft Kung fu systems from a qualified master. Take up yoga.
• Swim again.

When you choose an activity that’s fun for you, you will do it more often. Exercise should be an enjoyable experience, not a chore. Add the “fun back into it”. For example, take long walks with people whose company you enjoy and who you find interesting.

The key is activity:

• use your body,
• use your muscles.
• achieve a healthy tone over time.
• treat your body like your best friend.
• balance your exercise to match your lifestyle and vice versa.

Strength is a component of longevity and is a great anti-aging tool. It is a metaphor for the quality of life. Baby Boomer Health is all about choices.

Be healthy. Choose strength.

It is a better choice than choosing the alternative. Quit listening to the media and think about the old man and the bottle. You are never too old.

If you have been thinking about it, now is a good time to get started. You can do it.

I AM Michael Barrett. I Am a Healthy Boomer. I AM a Core Health Facilitator.