Maintaining and Improving (Mental) Health and Condition(ing)

Most people are conditioned to think that the rules of health and condition(ing), are different for the brain than they are for the rest of the body, and so think that the best way to improve that functioning, is by "mental" exercises only, rather than traditional movements that improve the circulation to every other part of the body -- through the directed action of the muscle acting as a pump, in the familiar action of the heart, which is the full contraction alternated with a full relaxation, in a rhythmic, persistent movement.

Even with the heart, a contraction not alternated with a relaxation, is meaningless and unproductive; the one give meaning and value to the other -- but some advocates of one thing or another, think that only the contraction has value and the rest is a waste of time or nothing to be concerned with, or they think that the relaxation, is the only "effort" of great value, and ignore what a contraction entails -- rather than appreciating that they are both equally of value, and most importantly, the ability to change from one to the other. Those extremes of focus on one phase, are isometrics at one end, and yoga, or relaxation techniques at the other extreme -- often warning against the hazards of the other.

But really, fitness would logically be best expressed as the range of movement from one extreme to the other, and the ease by which that can be accomplished -- so as to be seemingly effortless, as appropriate to the situation. If one is too tense, relaxation is the greater benefit; if one is constantly and perpetually torpid, a few efforts of intense muscular action (contraction), can change that impression as well as condition immediately -- because that is what the body is designed to do -- change.

That action of "change," is unfortunately not taught, while "states" and "status," are -- in a conditioning program preferring one state to the other, and not appreciating, that it is the one that gives value to the other. And thus, to be a complete and healthy human being, is to be the greatest range of expressions and possibility, and not the unvarying one, that of course makes life boring, tedious, and unhealthy, because of a failure or reluctance to adapt easily and appropriately.

So the problem of those who are not in the favorable condition they wish to be in, is their conditioned resistance to change, so even if they do anything, it is largely to reinforce their present condition(ing), rather than to change it. And this is why, changing the understanding, is more important, than charging out and doing anything, and any amount of anything -- thinking that that makes a difference, or any difference, while thinking that their understanding is fine, and what they need is just more effort, time and money -- and everything will be perfect.

So when I told the head of research for studies on dementia at a leading university of my observation that those with those condition seldom exhibited head movement also, I was shocked by her response, that one shouldn't move their head or they would get whiplash, which was her interpretation of head movement -- as she further stiffened her head to show that such a thing was not possible.

But the circulation to the brain, is governed by the same rules that govern the circulation to every other part of the body, of which the heart plays an undoubtedly essential role, but is complemented, by the action of the voluntary muscles that push the blood (fluids) back towards the heart and filtering organs, and by that process, health is maintained and increased because optimizing that effect, naturally empowers growth beyond the present state (condition).

For that reason, people become healthier by simply functioning better in that way. Every person I've ever seen in deteriorating health and condition, showed this notable atrophying of the muscles and condition at the neck, hands and feet -- as the sign of the suboptimal circulation to those critical areas of the human body, that attended to, assures the health of the rest -- because that defines the range of the health maintenance that can be circumvented otherwise.

So that must be the foremost consideration in any conditioning program -- beyond all else, because a fully enabled and empowered brain, automatically takes care of the rest of the body, because attention has been directed there first -- and not at the expense of the brain, as in most conventional conditioning activities, movements and practices.