Is Your Retirement Plan for Money or Health

Most of us spend a lot of time planning for our financial future, but what about our health? 

Some people do nothing and hope for the best. Some measure their health based on their  cholesterol and blood sugar levels and think that because they’re walking three times a week,  they’re covered. 

On paper, it sounds like a good plan. 

But let’s get rid of the paper for a moment. I want to talk about how I see the body working and  healing. 

Here’s a basic way to look at the body: 

Think of it as a building with support systems. You have your foundational and corner supports,  as well as inner and outer structural supports. 

If the foundation on your house is weak, your house will shift, and the structure will have  pressure points. Those points will need to be corrected over time or your house will eventually  fall down. However, you wouldn’t merely patch up the cracks in the hopes that it holds. You  would start with the foundation. 

The body is very similar. 

When the structure becomes weak and/or damaged, the body has to compensate by finding  another way to move and support itself. Over time, the body will have restructured so many  times, it starts to forget what the real foundation looks and feels like. 

I see clients as they age starting to feel those issues, so they decide to take their health one  step further by going the alternative medicine route. They know in their heart that this is the  right decision for them, especially because the western model becomes very limited as we age.  Unfortunately, they end up with results quite similar to the ones they might have experienced  with western medicine. 

This is due to the fact that a lot of alternative medicine works from the perspective that the  body is toxic so, therefore, it is sick. And while I don’t totally disagree with that, this is a band aid solution just like western medicine. This method doesn’t start with the structural issues that  are so desperately crying for help. 

Clients try supplements, diets, saunas, you name it! But none of those things seem to fix the  root issues. Some people feel better, others remain the same, and some even seem to get  worse.

If the body is a structure, like a house, and has supports, then the spine  is definitely the main support. 

Connected to the spine is the nervous system which tells the body how to do everything: walk,  sit, balance, even detox. 

If the spine miscommunicates with the nervous system, there are a litany of things that can go  wrong. Someone might experience new allergies, asthma, auto-immune disorders, cancer,  fatigue, unhealthy aging- any number of things can go wrong, even if you’re doing everything  else right. 

From my experience, the reason people don’t detox in general is because their foundation is  not communicating with the rest of the body correctly. This can happen for a number of  reasons: wear and tear, injuries, weak posture, genetics, working out too much or too little,  sedentary lifestyles, etc.  

At the end of the day, though, the question we should be asking ourselves is not “Why does  this happen?”  

But instead we should be asking, “How can I become more aware of  my body’s foundation so that I can start to change things?” 

As you walk, each vertebra rotates in many different directions in response to how you’re  moving. Then, the nervous system tells your arms to swing. 

This is part of how your body propels forward. (This is a super simplified explanation, I know. In  reality, there’s a lot more that goes on, but stick with me for the sake of the example.) 

When your arms swing naturally (and not because you’re focused on making them swing), it  sets off a series of events internally. 

Each swing contracts your abdominal muscles and massages your organs. I call this  “squishing your sponges for health,” and it’s also how your body detoxes naturally. You don’t  need pills or any other specialty product. All you need is normal movement patterns that most of us were born with but never paid any attention to. 

If you take that theory and try to add supplements, etc. to detox, you’re not going to get the  results you desire. It might even make you ill at first because the supplements are stirring things up but without proper movement it does not yield the results you are looking for.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to see if this practice needs to  be part of your plan: 

How is your posture? 

How is your balance? 

How strong is your core? 

Do you have old injuries or dysfunction inhibiting correct movement? 

Do you have chronic pain? 

As a retirement plan, it’s important to look inside and start to connect with your Body Within to  learn how your body moves and if/where it needs attention. 

Learn more about yourself! Forget what serves the masses, and discover which exercises  serve you. Learn which behaviors weaken you and which make you feel strong. See if you need  to jump start your body a bit. 

If we continue, as a society, to dismiss getting to know our bodies and the innate healing we  are born with, we are setting ourselves up to age at the mercy of the limitations of society. 

The Body Within knows you better than you know yourself, and it will guide you through aging  gracefully. 

This cannot be accomplished in a day. It’s about starting with a strong foundation and building  on that. From there, many of the issues I mentioned will resolve themselves. 

Connecting to your Body Within is about you becoming more actively involved in your health  and wellness- now and as you age. 

My Posture for Life program wakes up those muscles and patterns while alerting you to where  you need change. 

If you’re participating in another program that addresses your core, make sure they address  movement, as well. This work is not just about a fixed exercise to give you six-pack abs. 

You and your health are so much more.