The UltraMind Solution (105 page)

Balances hormones,
including boosting testosterone and growth hormone, and balances swings related to estrogen and progesterone, which cause symptoms of PMS or menopause.

Prevents cancer.

Prevents dementia.

Something.

For the six-week program I ask you to commit to this: walk vigorously for thirty minutes every day. That is the only exercise you need to do for the UltraMind Solution.

More is better. But anything is better than nothing, which is the habit of about half of Americans. About 40 percent never exercise, about 30 percent exercise only sporadically and only 12 percent do regular vigorous exercise. That means that 88 percent of Americans are not getting enough exercise.

Exercise is necessary for our brains to work properly. And the side effects are great—weight loss, increased energy, better sleep, and happier mood (not to mention better sex).

I personally hate to exercise.

But I love to play.

If you don’t like going to the gym, there are many ways you can exercise without really “exercising.” You don’t have to go to the gym, run on a tread-mill, and pump iron to stay in shape. Just start moving around more.

Go for walks with your friends or family. Go out and do some gardening. Play Frisbee in the park with your kids. Pick up a tennis racket and just knock a tennis ball around. You don’t even have to play a real match if you don’t want to.

Anything you can do to get out and move your body can be considered exercise. So don’t think that you absolutely have to go to the gym to get fit. Just use your body more.

A fun way to check in with how much you are exercising is to get a step counter. These devices are relatively inexpensive and they are a great way to get a sense for how much you move around every day. If you buy one, see if you can get up to ten thousand steps per day.(See Resources in
The UltraMind Solution Companion Guide
for information on where you can purchase a step counter.)

Whatever you do, just get moving!

Keeping physically fit is essential for keeping mentally fit.

On the six-week program I recommend you walk for thirty minutes a day every day. This is what you need to do to get your brain and body to start thriving again. That’s it. Just do that—thirty minutes of vigorous walking a day.

Each of us must find a way to bring meaning, purpose, peace, and serenity into our lives in an active and deliberate way. Stress will find you. Don’t worry. Relaxation is more elusive...

The odd paradox is that you must “actively” relax (and that doesn’t mean sitting on the sofa with a bowl of chips or ice cream watching TV). Remember the stress response is automatic and designed to protect us from danger. But deep relaxation does not happen automatically. You have to work at it.

There are hundreds of ways to turn on the relaxation response, and no one way is right or wrong. But to thrive, protect your brain, and heal the damage from a chronically activated stress response, you must find the antidote. Most of us don’t need any help finding our alarm button. That button gets pushed dozens of times a day. But we
do
need help finding the pause button.

Here are a few recommendations on how you can do that. You will find many more in
The UltraMind Solution Companion Guide
, which you can access by going to
www.ultramind.com/guide
.

Where is your pause button? Do you know how to find it? Most of us don’t. It is not something we ever learn.

Healing, repair, renewal, and regeneration all occur in a state of relaxation.
So how do we find the pause button and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, otherwise known as the relaxation response?
¹

Dr. Herbert Benson, of Harvard’s Institute for Mind Body Medicine, calls it “remembered wellness.” Studying Tibetan monks with decades of meditation experience, he found that their brains were different,
²
and they could quickly slow down their physiology, breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure, and produce calming brain waves.

This is something ancient and familiar to all cultures—except ours. The relaxation response or deep relaxation is activated with human connection, community, love, sex, prayer, celebration, music, dancing, chanting, and meditation,
³
even laughter.

The simplest is often the best.

SoftBelly Breathing

James Gordon, M.D., of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (
www.cmbm.org
), has used this simple and ancient technique to transform trauma and build connections in war-and disastertorn areas such as Kosovo, the Middle East, and New Orleans.
⁴
It is called “soft belly.” You can do it anywhere, anytime.

During the program try doing it five times a day. Do it when you wake up, before you go to bed, and when you sit down to each meal. Your life will change.

Here is how to do softbelly breathing:

1.
Put your hand on your belly and allow your abdomen to relax.

2.
Close your eyes or soften your focus, looking at the floor a few feet in front of you.

3.
Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.

4.
Breath deeply into your abdomen and feel it expand to the count of five.

5.
Pause for a count of one.

6.
Exhale slowly to a count of five, allowing your body to relax and release tension.

7.
Repeat for five breaths or until you feel relaxed.

The UltraBath

My next favorite way to push the pause button is the
UltraBath.
I like it because it is passive. Just fill a bath with hot water, two cups of Epsom salt, a
half cup of baking soda, and ten drops of lavender oil. Then get in and soak for twenty minutes. If you want to enhance your experience, light a candle and put on some quiet rhythmic music. It is helpful for both relaxation and detoxification.

You need to do nothing more to push the pause button.

But you
can
do more, if you choose to.

Many Ways to Push the Pause Button

Personally, I find I like variety, and I have found many ways to activate the pause button. My favorites are exercise, massage, yoga, saunas, journaling, deep breathing, and the UltraBath.

We each may have a different route to achieving the same thing. The route we take may be spiritual, emotional, intellectual or physical, but all lead to the same results. Find the pause button and heal your brain.

The key is to do something every day—even if it is just for five minutes. Profound, deep relaxation for thirty minutes a day will transform your life.

There are more resources and suggestions for activating the pause button in
The UltraMind Solution Companion Guide
. Go to
www.ultramind.com
/guide and download the guide for more ideas.