Hydration, not just a physical situation

Newsletter 2021, Issue #3

Fluid Like Water

By Amar Fuller

“They both listened silently to the water, which to them was not just water, but the voice of life, the voice of Being, the voice of perpetual Becoming.”― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

The human body’s level of hydration has an incredible impact on every aspect of its health—the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Every sip of water can bring us closer to a fulfilled life. Are you providing an adequate amount of water to your body tissues? The answer to this question may have more bearing on your current health and well-being than you realize.

At the heart of water, there is an essence that connects this aspect of nature with the sacred. Water, as sustainer of all life, is a sign of the presence of spirit moving through and nurturing all beings. As a great connector, Earth’s water flows through the planet in a cycle that unites all of life.

 During a lecture at the Hippocrates Health Institute, I learned that many children suffer from autism due to dehydration of their brain. I will never forget this outstanding nugget of wisdom, as it is what helped me begin to understand the critical importance of the relationship between a well hydrated body and its health and a dehydrated body and disease, even diseases of the brain. A properly hydrated brain is about 75% water, so it stands to reason that dehydration will take a toll on mental performance. Moreover, hydration affects our blood volume as well. When our bodies are dehydrated, our blood volume is reduced, and our blood cells cannot deliver oxygen and nutrients to the brain as efficiently.*

The more hydrated our bodies are, the more fluid, like water, we become. When life’s inherent obstacles show up on our path, instead of greeting them with the rigidity and stiffness of dehydration, where we can easily crack or break under the pressure, perhaps we’ll have the adaptability to gracefully flow around them. In this way, we can form new paths that lead us to our goals and dreams.

*Adan, Ana. “Cognitive performance and dehydration.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition 31.2 (2012): 71-78.

Pross, Nathalie. “Effects of dehydration on brain functioning: A life-span perspective.” Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism 70.Suppl. 1 (2017): 30-36

  • Health & Wellness Insights

    Seventy-five percent of Americans are chronically dehydrated, and most of them don’t even know it. Dehydration is a lot more than just not drinking enough water. The side effects of being dehydrated involve numerous body systems, and symptoms can range from mild to life threatening.

    Six Steps to Support Hydration

    Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink. When you feel thirsty, you are already slightly dehydrated.

    Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day. Plain and simple—water is the number one drink for hydration. Clear herbal tea and green juice can count towards that.

    Add a quality electrolyte to your drinking water to help stay hydrated. The flavor can make drinking more enjoyable. Remember this in the summer and winter months when the more severe climate can be dehydrating for our bodies.

    Eat plenty of sprouts, fruits and vegetables which are foods with a high water content.

    Increase your daily water intake accordingly when you; do a strenuous workout, take a sauna, or eat dehydrated foods.

    Avoid coffee, sugar sodas, and alcoholic beverages. These drinks remove water from the body and, subsequently, cause dehydration.

  • Recipe Corner

    Hydration Exaltation Salad

    It’s easy to stay excited about eating salad because there's so many different kinds! Here is a delicious salad recipe that is perfect for good hydration. Every single vegetable has at least a 90% if not higher water content (per 100g.) Quite a healthy meal.

    Link to recipe

 Check out what our friends are offering in the world of health

As we age, it is typical to feel changes and challenges in our ability to move with ease and grace. It is also common to have the belief that we are bound by this seeming inevitability of decline. But in my 41 years of practice as a Feldenkrais Method teacher/practitioner, I have witnessed (and experienced) the possibility of maintaining (or returning to!) what we call a “natural dignity” by learning to move in ways our bodies were designed to move…naturally, movement nature meant.

The first step in this process is becoming curious, asking ourselves questions like: How can I move more simply and with more ease? With more grace and less effort? Can I improve this movement over the last one? What is it like if I move this way? Or this way? Where is the weight on my feet? More to one side? More forward or back? Do my jaw, neck and shoulders become tense when I stand up as I am getting out of a chair? What areas of my body are not included in my self image? 

The next step is embracing an openness to lying on the floor, learning interesting movement sequences we have never done before, being present with learning and our discomfort of not knowing where the movement is taking us next. With this, we begin a process that has the potential to transform not only one's physical state but our whole being. 

Growing older doesn’t need to mean more aches and stiffness. Growing older does not need to mean becoming shorter. Growing older doesn’t mean we have to limp or walk slowly. We can walk briskly and with a dignified stature. Or, if we have limitations that result in walking with a limp, we can find a way to walk with dignity and awareness that leads to the most efficient use within the challenges we have. 

This learning takes place in the brain.

With our amazing brains, we can tap in and change the brain itself through gentle movement processes developed by Israeli physicist and engineer, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. By becoming more attentive to what we are doing, by learning to detect small differences through slow movements of discovery, we can begin to make new distinctions. Making new distinctions leads to new learning which leads to an ongoing and spontaneous process of new discoveries. We begin to learn to move with more ease and less effort, with more joy and less pain… we begin to access a new method to continue learn and apply throughout our life. We begin to understand there are choices. This process takes us  beyond our habits and habitual ways of moving that are not serving our well-being. Yes, pain and movement limitations make us more aware….and likely more motivated to improve. And yet, Feldenkrais Method is not only designed or effective for those who are aging. There are plenty of 20 and 30-year-olds, even children and teens who have challenges that respond beautifully to the Feldenkrais Method of learning how to learn. We all want and deserve to move with ease in ALL of our years… and to be able to be flexible, graceful and agile into our later years.

Since we all benefit from breaking out of habitual movement patterns that may not serve us, especially in the age of increased sedentary time and excessive computer and cell phone use, here are a couple of tips you can begin to explore with: 

  • As you sit, look with your eyes up and down many times SLOWLY. Each time, ask yourself can you allow the movement to be easier than the last time, and then even easier still? Pause. Then allow your head to move up and down with your eyes…SLOWLY. Easily, gently. What is it like for you to try to move your eyes and head together? Can it become easier/ smoother? You can do this with open or closed eyes.. Let your eyes work less, let your eyes be softer. Pause. Then move your head up and down and your eyes down and up, in the opposite direction. Slowly. How smoothly can you do this? Then move your eyes and head up and down together at the same time. Is the movement becoming smoother? Easier? Nicer for you? Then allow your whole torso to join the movement. Then stand up and notice how you feel, how your walking is. Look for small differences, small improvements. (This is the beginning of a longer movement sequence.) 

We can choose to be curious and to explore new ways of moving… actually, learning how to learn. With this way of thinking, we are blessed with the ability to move with more ease and grace. 

Victoria Ahrensdorf, Live in Your Best Body! & the Northampton Feldenkrais Studio 413.563.7553 www.FeldenkraisNoho.com In addition, Victoria and Amar are now working together with affordable, natural stem cell activation patch technology. Explore how much better your body can be with more activated stem cells… information is available at: https://TheWisdomOfLight.com & https://StartX39.com