Two Are Better Than One

2008.07.07 - “FOR BETTER HEALTH WITH LONG YEARS”

(2008.09.19 - A friend of mine in Minnesota pointed out that my original instructions for the use of the “rebounder” were not clear. So this portion on the rebounder has been rewritten. I trust that it will be clearer now. My friend was right - the original instruction were not only not clear, but they were wrong also!)

I have a 9-fold regimen for good health. Two of these activities have to do with exercises. I have been sharing with others through the years. .

Recently a friend of mine returned after a number of years from Hawaii, and remembered hearing from me some 10 years ago or so of these, and asked if I might write up for her the details how to make use of them.

Because it takes a bit of time to do so, I felt that it is no more effort on a computer to do this for 900 than for one – so – here goes!

Many years ago Dr. Norman Vincent Peale – famous for his book “The Power of Positive Thinking,” was lecturing in Switzerland. Two psychiatrists were so helped by his lectures, that they felt inclined to return a blessing to him. So they asked him, would you be open to our returned blessing? He assured them that he was. So they next asked, “Do you know how to walk?” “I think so,” he replied. “But we mean, do you know how to walk scientifically?” “Tell me,” he responded. Following is approximately what they told him.

When you walk, try for at least a mile a day. Whether you are walking up or down hill, do not change your pace. If you share your walk with another, stop when either wants to talk. Continue on with the above pace without further talking.

As you walk – breathe in through your nose as your left foot strikes the ground twice. Then breathe out through your mouth as your left foot again strikes the ground twice. This will increase your blood circulation, your lymphatic system will be activated, and you will strengthen your lungs.

Dr. Peale followed this routine daily up to his 95^thyear – enjoyed extraordinarily good health, and had such a clear mind that he finished writing his last book the year of his death!

I have been following the above routine, and this morning experienced more ease in walking briskly up steep hills, and more sense of strength in my lungs than in many a year. I passed my 85^thbirthday July 5^thof this year.

Number Two. Some twenty years ago or so I was purchasing some Vitamin Supplements at a Health Store in Puyallup, Washington.. One of the owners asked me, “Do you know how to use a “Rebounder” (mini-trampoline) scientifically?” “Tell me,” I invited him.

“Well,” he said, “when you use the Rebounder, don’ttry like young folk to see how high you can bounce! Instead, don’t let the soles of your feet leave the matting. Only rise and lower with your heels! Also, use weights in both hands, starting with 3 #, up to 5 #, or even up to 10 #.” (I am sticking with the 3 #!)

Following is the routine I have used myself for the past 20 years or so:

1. I breathe in to the count of 3, while lifting my weighted arms straight up and then back to my shoulders, twice.

2. Then I breathe out to the count of 3, while stretching my arms straight forward twice, bringing my weighted hands back to my shoulders each time.

3. Next I repeat 1, but for

4. I breathe out to the count of 2, but stretching my arms sideways this time, out and in to the shoulders to that same count.

I do the above 4-fold routine 5 times with my left eye closed, to strengthen the muscles of my right eye, which happens to be weak for the past 81 years.

Next I repeat the above with both eyes open 5 more double times.. .

Then, with my weighted hands extended fully sideways, I rotate them backwards in a circular motion, breathing in to the count of three, and then while continuing the circular motion, I breathe out to the same count. I do this routine again bouncing only with my heels, while retaining the soles of my feet on the matting.

I do this double exercise 11 times. I then repeat the above routine 11 more times, but now moving my weighted arms forward in a circular motion.

For me, I like to keep my Hebrew alphabet up to date, so I repeat the first 11 letters of the alphabet for the backward circular motion, and the last 11 letters to the 11 forward circular motion.

This also wonderfully strengthens your eyes. Just last month I went to my optometrist after a 4-year break, and he said, “Your eyes at your age are so good, that I am not prescribing any change this time in your lenses for your glasses. You do have incipient cataracts, but they are so under control, that they will actually be a help to you!

Good news, and a saving of money!!

All the above only takes about 6 minutes, and it not only causes better blood circulation, but it also causes the lymphatic system to be optimally activated. The lymph system has no heart to move it - only exercise does this. Out of the 22 major sports of America (walking, jogging, bicycling, swimming etc.), “Cross Country Skiing” does more for the body than any of the other 21 sports. But “Rebounding” is one percent even better for the body than Cross-Country Skiing! – And you can do it indoors good weather or bad!

The lymphatic system brings food to the trillions of cells in the human body, and removes wastes. If the lymph is not activated by exercise (think of couch-potatoes!) your body becomes like sludge, and your brain gets headaches and feels bad – and no pep physically.

There are a number of books on “The Miracle of Rebounding,” which you can locate by a “Google” search.

I broke my back severely on a motor-cycle accident in 1947. I crushed 2 thoracic vertebrae which then fused with the 3^rdand 6^th. I fractured the two lower cervical vertebrae, and severely injured 2 of the lumbar ones. Dr. Portnuff of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, said it was a miracle that I did not sever my spinal cord; for not knowing my back was broken, I rode another 100 miles in great pain. I was in a cast for 6 months. 10 years later I started to experience severe pain and stiffness in my total back area. By the late ‘40’s, I despaired of being able to continue adequately in life. God then led me into a number of stretching exercises which I continue to do to this day. My daughter said, “Dad, if you don’t keep up these, plus the others you do, you’ll become like a board.” She got my attention!

I can honestly say, because of the severe back injury I received when 23, God has used it to keep me in better health at my age, than I would have been apart from the back injury. I frankly would not be wisely looking after my body the way I do, had I not been severely injured!

Because of the exercise systems, I have a clear mind to do the extremely difficult preparation for Panin’s Interlinear Greek New Testament (approximately.2000 pages). I am now using the Berlitz method of Hebrew phonetic pronunciation for tourists, and will soon start putting on our Website Psalm 91, in the same Interlinear format I am using for the Greek New Testament. I hope to complete the entire NT within 3 years, plus much more, and put all of this on a revised Website now being prepared by one of our 6 grandsons.

“Mens sana en corpore sano!” A sound mindin a sound body! You don't have to be a wreck like I was up to 47 – You can voluntarily learn “Scientific Walking” and the scientific use of the “Rebounder” – and be like Norman Vincent Peale and me – writing books joyfully right up to your golden, diamond and platinum years.

Jim Watt