My Take on "Sitting is the New Smoking"

So I just read this article, “Sitting is the New Smoking” referencing that sitting too long can lead to cancer and other ailments, going to the length of saying that even if you work out an hour at the gym it isn’t enough to offset the debilitating effects of being on your hinds all day.

Being a martial artist for over 40 years seguing from hard karate and kickboxing to the softer and esoteric Tai Chi and Qigong, I knew that I needed to do something about my health. I knew I had to stay active or kaput, adios muchacho. It’s my nature to be active and wary to realize that I can no longer jump off roofs, play full court basketball, fight six rounds in the ring, or chase after grandchildren without suffering physical consequences but the truth is that my job is like others where I spend a lot of my time staring at a computer or reading volumes of documents. It’s what I do, what a lot of people do. So the sitting sickness is valid especially for us baby boomers who don’t have the spring in our legs like our younger (brat) counterparts.

What I’ve read that makes a lot of sense is the need to get out of our chairs at least once every hour to walk around and stretch.

As a Qigong expert, qigong or CHEE GONG is an ancient exercise that promotes internal energy or Chi. From a scientific point of view, chi is the electrical frequency in our body that needs to move or continually flow to maintain good health. Any exercise stimulates chi. No exercise and the chi lays dormant and this, according to the wise kung fu masters that sit for hours chanting vibrational “OHMMMMMMMMS,” says that this is the "root cause" of why we're so dog gone sick all the time.

Story is that Shaolin monks found themselves unable to pray or meditate for any length of time no matter how devout or hard they tried. Siddhartha who later became Buddha was said to have prayed for eight years straight to achieve pure enlightenment, compassion and self actualization. Now I don’t know how true this is or if it’s possible, but the Buddhist monks were supposed to follow this practice, but came short...couldn't do it...n'ga happen. Not easy being a devout acetic. So this one monk who watched animal movements decided to emulate their moves and within a certain time created kung fu (not the t.v. show) and had the priest exercise these movements between their prayer sessions. What it did was not only provided a way for them to defend their temples from invaders it also provided a way for them to develop the strength to maintain long meditation or prayers.

Okay the moral of this story is that we need to practice kung fu.

You wish.

As a non-Shaolin monk but Qigong practitioner, I know the value of chi and why we need to keep the flow going.

Our body is a nothing buy a big battery. One of my educated buddies said that if we were dehydrated to our chemical parts, our material cost would amount to be around $18.75 depending upon market value. The rest of it is water and the electrical signals that move throughout our body.

Now let’s address the term “breathe grasshopper breathe.”

There’s books on the subject on something we do each and everyday; however, it’s not the subject on breathing that requires focus but, rather, on how we breathe. The more we breathe filling our diaphragms like imagining air flowing in through our belly buttons (in qigong it’s our dantien) the better. While in front of our computer we tend to take shallow breaths filling our upper lungs or chest level. Since we aren't chanting monks, the need to breathe heavy is not a requirement to tap away on a keyboard.

Results: Double whammy: Sitting prevents chi flow and natural breathing.

Moral: Every hour, get up, stretch, walk around and breathe: This, I guarantee you, will help cure the dreaded "sitting sickness disease."

I feel better already. Now, don't you?

(picture courtesy of nexusconsultancy.co.uk)