The best time to stretch

There has been a long standing debate among athletes, coaches and sports physicians  on when is the best time to stretch ... before exercise or after exercise?

This latest study from the Archive of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine published November 7, 2011, supports the theory that neuromuscular warm-up training (NMT) before  a game reduces lower extremity injury.
The group was composed of 105 girls' soccer and basketball teams from all Chicago high schools.
Half of the teams were asked to perform a prescribed 20-minute neuromuscular warm-up while the other teams stuck to their standard methods including no warm-up exercise at all or simply jogging around the track on their own.
Overall, there was less lower extremity injury in the group that performed the prescribed neuromuscular warm-up compared to the other teams.
There was a forty-four percent decrease in acute non-contact lower extremity injury and a thirty-four percent decrease in non-contact ankle sprains among players who performed the NMT warm-up.
Seven athletes in the group with no warm-up sustained anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries and six of them required surgery. Only two sustained ACL injuries in the warm-up group and both girls did not need surgery.
This theory is not new to us. It just further supports the idea that NMT warm-up may have a role in preventing injury.
Coach Binky Favis, the former coach of professional basketball teams Coca-Cola and Ginebra has this advice "Make sure your warm-up program consists of agility, balance and biometric exercises. Widen your stance, don't let your knees bump each other and always, always land on flexed knees and hips."
Here is an example of a 20-minute warm-up program before engaging in exercise or sports ( visit www.usfsa.org/content/Exercises.pdf for the complete instructions with images)
1. Jump Rope. Using a fast twirl, rapidly jump up and down, using spring in the feet and ankles, not in the knees.
2. Ankle Bounces. Rapidly jump up and down using spring in the feet and ankles not in the knees.
3. Jumping Jacks. Jump feet wide and together while bringing arms over head then down to hips.
4. V-Jumps. Start with opposite arm and foot to the front. With small jumps, quickly alternate the lead foot and arm on each jump.
5. Walking Quad Stretch. Bring heel to butt and press hips forward.
6. Walking Lunge Stretch. Keep belly button facing straight ahead.
7. Side Step Lunge. Step directly to the side, keep head, knee and toe in straight line.
8. Standing Hamstring. Keep hips square.
9. Kneeling Hip Flexor. Keep belly button facing straight ahead.
Do all exercises 16 counts each for 2 repetitions.

Source: yahoo news

This Christmas... Give Love

Give love, and you give strength. Give love, and you give life meaning. That's the real essence of Christmas in each of us.

When you desire to truly make a difference, let your actions be guided by love.

Remember that even when all else fails, love grows stronger.

When love surrenders, that is its greatest triumph. Could anything be more miraculous or powerful or enduring?

Give love, and align your world with the highest and best possibilities. Expect nothing of love and you will have everything.

Love can never be fully comprehended. And so, it is an endless source of delightful and joyous discovery.

Give love, again and again. For you can always know it even better and experience it even more.

The Joy Of Giving

It is a blessing on Christmas Day and in everyday to be able to give. For it is through giving that life's greatest joys are created.

Sincerely give of yourself today, with no agenda other than to celebrate the pure spirit of giving. And truly experience life in all its richness.

When you give, you open your heart to life and allow great measures of abundance to come pouring in. What could possibly bring more meaning and fulfillment to life than making a difference in the lives of others?

Giving is more than merely offering objects. When you give, give your time, your attention, your love, compassion, consideration, patience and respect.

Give a part of yourself, and you will not ever lose it. That part of you takes on greater influence and value as it touches other lives beyond your own.

On this day, simply give because you can. And know the unmatched joy that giving brings to life.

Everything You Have

Here is so very much available to you. In reaching for your dreams, make use of everything you have.

Don't be dismayed or embarrassed by what you have to work with. Instead, work with whatever you have and it will grow more useful and effective with each effort.

Don't place a judgment on your abilities before you even put them to use. Go ahead, get to work, and see how quickly your skills increase.

Look back at the good things you've accomplished in the past. That power of accomplishment is still with you, so choose now to put it to use again for even more exciting and compelling purposes.

Think of all the great ideas you've had but have never followed through on. Now is when you can make the best of them come to life.

The challenges are great and yet the value that flows through your life is far greater. Use everything you can, and you can accomplish anything you choose.

Get Here

Artist: Oleta Adams 
Song: Get Here (Written and originally performed by Brenda Russell)

Lyrics:

You can reach me by railway, you can reach me by trailway 
You can reach me on an airplane, you can reach me with your mind 
You can reach me by caravan, cross the desert like an Arab man 
I don't care how you get here, just - get here if you can

You can reach me by sail boat, climb a tree and swing rope to rope 
Take a sled and slide down the slope, into these arms of mine 
You can jump on a speedy colt, cross the border in a blaze of hope 
I don't care how you get here, just - get here if you can

There are hills and mountains between us 
Always something to get over 
If I had my way, surely you would be closer 
I need you closer

You can windsurf into my life, take me up on a carpet ride 
You can make it in a big balloon, but you better make it soon 
You can reach me by caravan, cross the desert like an Arab man 
I don't care how you get here, just - get here if you can

I don't care how you get here, just -- get here if - you can

Marriage

Married or not… you should read this.
Marriage.

“When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? 

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her! 

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now. 

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again. 

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage. 

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request. 

I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully. 

My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office. 

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her. 

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger. 

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. 

Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head. 

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day. 

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore. 

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart. 

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband…. 

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.

So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage! 

If you don’t share this, nothing will happen to you. 

If you do, you just might save a marriage. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” 

I saw this on the internet.. I thought I would share this on tumblr to my followers and randoms.
(Source: nathanpersuasion)

The Meaning of Snakes in Your Dreams

It has been 2 or 3 consecutive nights that i am dreaming of sneaks more on sneaks and sneaks everywhere, so i try to look over the net what does dreaming of sneaks mean, and i found some interesting meaning on it

Snake, is a Powerful Totem Animal!   The Symbol of Death and Rebirth, of Life-Changing Transformation, Snake Might Well be the Mascot for the New Age!

The Symbolism of Snakes

 Snakes, a Symbol of Sexuality.

I had snakes (cobra) in my dreams for 4 days continuously. I would like to know that this signifies.

Well, generally snakes are predominantly a symbol of fear and also a sexual symbol.  They say every woman dreams of snakes at least once in her life and the interpretation is often fear of a rival or fear of the male gender.  I suggest this may be speaking to you of the fears around sexual expression and fullness that you may have.  The serpent stands for physical drives and if something is not quite right in that area of life, the snake dreams can come. Now often by the time the dreams come, it is also signifying healing of this area or the desire to heal and balance this area of life.

Something in you has been oppressed.  This could be by outside forces, societal rules or inner oppression of true desire.  Something quite important is happening in your subconscious and will eventually give rise to a new dimension within your outer life.  I will also say that sometimes the snake images do warn of danger, but mostly of hidden truths coming up for healing and often around sexual energy.  The danger warnings are about not heeding the call to heal a particular area and so making the issues "worse" somehow.  However, the predominant images do speak of a healing of fear surrounding the sexual expression area of life or fear surrounding men or a male in your life. Ponder on these thoughts and feel if there is any connection with these symbols inside of you. Take care. Mary-Anne

And Also of Change and Transformation...

Snakes speak to transformation, death and rebirth, the taking on of a new skin, new roles, responsibilities and even attitudes... and the cobra would speak to the fact that you may be afraid of the changes you feel coming.  Lotsa LLLove, Danielle

Very often the snake can be symbolic of a message coming to you from a higher plane. As this is a cobra my sense is that you are being "challenged" in your life by the circumstances of your birth and family. I have this further sense that you are getting ready to "break free" in some way. Listen to your inner self for the Wisdom messages that the snake may have. Geri De Stefano, Ph.D.

Usually when you dream of Snakes, it has to do with some form of the Kundalini (sexual grounding power)  You need to look at what the snake was doing and if you were frightened of it, than likely you would be subconsciously dealing with something of the sexual nature that makes you uncomfortable.  Or if you were not afraid of it, maybe a part of you is breaking free and developing new strength.

Another meaning of snake is letting the old go and accepting the new. Because snakes shed their skin.  You could be afraid of something new coming to be or you may be stepping into something new with ease.  It does feel however  that with the Cobra and it being so big to protect itself with the way it is built that you are trying to protect yourself from things that are happening around you.  It feels like you want to accept some new things but are afraid of being hurt, and thus you can sometimes attack and get your back up instead of just accepting. I hope this has helped. Love n' laughter Kimmi