A former serviceman of some twenty-four years, having been trained as an engineer I had a variety of jobs whilst serving including training, course design and management. On leaving the forces my career path followed a similar trend, without the engineering element.
I have always liked to help people, this last twenty-five years have seen me working as a volunteer for a national charity committed to helping serving and ex-service men and women and their families.
A number of years ago I decided to try to improve the way in which I could help people, deciding to do so by using the internet. As a result I gathered a number of books and DVD’s on a wide variety of subjects, but took no action.
About nineteen years ago I suffered a baby stroke, this made me sit up and take notice of the way in which I was treating my body. When I went to the Doctors’ he said “Do you still smoke?”, when I replied “No”, he smiled and said “ Didn’t think you did, as I wouldn’t be talking to you now”.
This really made me sit up and take a long hard look at myself, to be honest I became just a little careful without going mad on a health or fitness kick.
The day finally dawned when I decided to launch a website, it was obvious that it should be about health, but which part of this vast area should I concentrate on.
One day I asked my twenty-one year old Grandson if he was still growing, to which he replied with a grin, “it’s you Granddad, you are stooping”
On reflection this was a light bulb moment. Using a number of differing methods, I now walk upright, almost marching with my arms swinging while breathing correctly.
This is the reason that I decided that this website should be on Yoga and Pilates, you do not have to do back breaking gymnastics to carry out either of these disciplines, but as you get older the body does need a helping hand.
As a way of introducing them, they both have similar benefits, the execution in the practice of them is different.
Yoga is not only gentle but the focus is on breathing, which is very important. As an example, I also suffer with neck pains and have adapted an exercise to help overcome the discomfort, whilst also practicing deep breathing to help me relax. When in France with a party of veterans, the coach driver suffered from severe neck ache, I taught him my method and it helped him to be more comfortable.
The exercises used in Pilates are usually done on a mat.
Over the coming months I will be posting blogs on the differing types of both Yoga and Pilates, their exercises and how they can help you improve your health, reduce your stress levels and in some cases even help you lose weight.
Whilst writing a blog on meditation for this site, I realized just how much material I had on the subject, as a result will be launching a sister site to this in the near future this will be found at https://meditatingonline.com
Should you have any questions do please let me know.
Here’s hoping that reading these blogs does in fact help you to lead a fitter and healthier life.