I have Moved!

I have been blogging here for only a few short weeks, and I have received some very nice comments too.

But as much as I like it here, I have started to get itchy feet so I’m off.  Well actually I am moving to a new domain that I actually own and so I will have more freedom of expression.

So here’s my new address:

www.preparingfor2012.info

So you all run along and bookmark my new blog, look forward to seeing you all there.

Take Care

Jay

Up a Mountain with Jack and a Paddle

I found these videos on youtube for Jack Mountain Bushcraft, from what I can gather they run Bushcraft courses over a period of 10 weeks.  They seem to know what they are talking about, and their videos are with a certain amount of humour, maybe it’s not intentional though.

I have included some of their videos as they relate to the topic of this blog and can offer a good overview of bushcraft to those with no experience of it.

Kelly Kettle is here

woohoo, my kelly Kettle arrived this afternoon!

Within 10 minutes of the Kelly Kettle arriving at my home I was out in the garden giving it a test drive. Ok, I know what your thinking…that guy really needs to get out more!

Anyhow, I was really impressed with the build quality of the Kelly Kettle, it even came with a nice green cover to store it in.

Now as for the first use it didn’t go as smoothly as I thought it would, took me about 15 minutes to get the fire going. Of course my helpful partner queried if I had read the instructions…hmm there’s a thought.

So in the end it took about 20 minutes including fire starting to boil 2.5 pints of water.

Now the second test was a different matter all together, with the fire already well established we managed to get 2.5 pints of cold water to the boil in a rapid 3 minutes!

That’s pretty impressive, I shall give it another test later and see if I can get the whole process down to 6 minutes or less.

Overall Review:

Pretty damn good, despite the fact that I can’t seem to read instructions to well!

The New Visualization Breakthrough: Mental Training Tactics For Health And Fitness Success

By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
www.BurnTheFat.com

Understanding the mind’s role in motivation and behavior is one of the most critical elements in fitness success. If you struggle with changing habits and behaviors or if you can’t get motivated, then even the best training and nutrition program is not much help.

A fascinating fact about your subconscious mind is that it’s completely deductive in nature. In other words, it’s fully capable of working backwards from the end to the means. You don’t need to know how to reach a goal at the time you set the goal. If you “program” only the desired outcome successfully into your “mental computer,” then your subconscious will take over and help you find the information and means and carry out the actions necessary to reach it.

Many people are familiar with affirmations and goal-setting as ways to give instructions to your subconscious mind. But perhaps the ultimate mental training” technique is visualization. In one respect, affirmation and visualization are the same, because when you speak or think an affirmation first, that triggers a mental image, being as the human brain “thinks” in pictures.

You can use visualization to plant goals into your subconscious mind. You simply close your eyes, use your imagination and mentally create pictures and run movies of your desired results. For example, in your mind’s eye, you can see the “body of your dreams”. If repeated consistently with emotion, mental images are accepted by your subconscious as commands and this helps with changing habits, behavior and performance.

Although there are some new and creative ways to use visualization, (which you are about to learn), this is not a new technique. Visualization has been used formally in the fields of sports psychology and personal development for decades and philosophers have discussed it for centuries:

“If you want to reach your goal, you must ’see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.”

- Zig Ziglar

“The use of mental imagery is one of the strongest and most effective strategies for making something happen for you.”

- Dr. Wayne Dyer

“Creative visualization is the technique of using your imagination to create what you want in your life.”

- Shakti Gawain

“Perhaps the most effective method of bringing the subconscious into practical action is through the process of making mental pictures – using the imagination.”

- Claude Bristol

“There is a law in psychology that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you keep and hold that picture there long enough, you will soon become exactly as you have been thinking.”

– William James, 1842-1910, Psychologist and Author

Despite these glowing endorsements and a long track record, some people can’t get past feeling that this is just a “hokey” self-help technique. Rest assured, however, that visualization is an effective and time-tested method for increasing personal success that has been used by some of the highest achievers the world.

The Soviets started to popularize visualization in sports psychology back in the 1970’s, as detailed in Charles Garfield’s landmark book, “Peak Performance.” They dominated in many sports during that period, which validated visualization anecdotally.

In the last 10-15 years, there has been some groundbreaking new brain research which has validated visualization scientifically. Here’s something that was written recently by Dr. Richard Restak, a neuroscientist and author of 12 books about the human brain:

“The process of imagining yourself going through the motions of a complex musical or athletic performance activates brain areas that improve your performance. Brain scans have placed such intuitions on a firm neurological basis. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans reveal that the mental rehearsal of an action activates the prefontal areas of the brain responsible for the formulation of the appropriate motor programs. In practical terms, this means you can benefit from the use of mental imagery.”

So much for visualization being a “cheesy” self-help technique.

Although visualization is widely used today, even people who are familiar with it often don’t realize its many applications. Arguably the most common use of visualization is by athletes, musicians and other performers as a form of “mental rehearsal.” Research shows that “practicing in your mind” is almost as effective as practicing physically, and that doing both is more effective than either one alone.

A common use of visualization in the fitness context is “goal visualization.” In your mind’s eye, you can see yourself having already achieved your physique goal or your ideal goal weight. You can also visualize a specific performance goal such as completing a difficult workout or a heavy lift like a squat or bench press.

One creative way you can use mental imagery is called “process visualization.” Once you’ve set your goals, it’s easy to come up with a list of the daily habits, behaviors and action steps necessary to reach your goal. So write down the action steps and visualize them – the entire process, not just the end result. See yourself food shopping and grabbing fruits, vegetables and lean proteins, ordering healthy foods from restaurant menus, saying no to sodas and drinking water instead, and going to the gym consistently and having killer workouts. Some people visualize their entire “perfect day” as they would want it to unfold. When you do this as vividly, emotionally and in as much detail as you can, you will be neurologically priming your brain to carry out those behaviors.

The least known of all mental imagery techniques is called “physiology visualization.” An example would be picturing the fat burning process in your body or seeing the muscle fibers growing larger and larger. Using this technique, could it be possible that you might be giving subconscious instructions to your body’s cells, organs and tissues?

Well, consider the work of Dr. Carl Simonton, a physician and cancer researcher who taught his patients (as one part of a comprehensive program), how to visualize powerful immune cells devouring the cancer cells. I’m not suggesting that you can cure cancer or materialize a lean and muscular body just by visualizing, (there’s a step in between thought and manifestation – it’s called action – a step that many self help ‘experts’ forget to mention). However, thoughts and mental images are the precursors to action and the fact that a mind-body connection definitely exists makes this an exciting prospect.

Scientists have established the mind-body link in many contexts, and not just by the existence of a placebo effect. There’s also direct evidence as in the way emotional stress can contribute to physical disease. The mind does influence the body! The mere fact that a branch of science has been devoted to this area is proof that it deserves critical investigation and is not just the domain of infomercial self help gurus. The science is called psychoneuroimmunology.

Using “physiology visualization,” you could, even in the middle of a workout, imagine the fat burning process taking place, and visualize fat being released from adipose tissue storage in your abdominal region or elsewhere. You could see the free fatty acids entering your bloodstream, being carried to the working muscles and being burned for energy in the muscle cells. You could also visualize the physiology of muscle growth.

To make your imagery as accurate and detailed as possible, my best suggestion is to refer to an anatomy & physiology textbook that shows pictures of fat cells, blood vessels, myofibrils, motor units, sarcomeres, and cell organelles like the mitochondria, so you know what the structures look like. You could also get more details about the processes by looking up lipolysis, hypertrophy or beta oxidation.

Even if you had no idea what the internal structure and workings of the body were like, you could still use this method. Your body responds to mental imagery even if it isn’t anatomically correct. We know from the field of hypnosis that the subconscious mind responds well to metaphor – maybe even better than literal suggestions. Facts and logic are the domain of the conscious mind, while emotion and metaphor can slip right past the conscious and into the subconscious. Dr. Simonton often wrote about his young patients who created (metaphorical) mental images of immune system cells as “knights in shining armor”, slaying “the dragon” of cancer cells.

One of your greatest mental powers is imagination. You can visualize anything you want and you can embellish and exaggerate your imagery as much as you want. For example, you could imagine the free fatty acids being burned for energy in the “cellular powerhouse” – the mitochondria – and you could imagine the mitochondria as a fiery furnace… “incinerating” the fat! I think it’s a pretty cool idea to “see” your fat cells shrinking and visualize your body as a “fat burning furnace.”

Should you not believe that there’s anything to the physiology visualization technique, that’s ok, because we know that the subconscious is deductive. Just give it a goal, tell it what you want and it will get you there automatically by altering your attention and behavior. Therefore, we can be confident that physiology visualization will be effective even if only as a subconscious directive about your desired goal. If science someday provides us with conclusive evidence that visualization actually does cause cellular – physiological changes in the body, well, that’s just all the better.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

Best Foods for Fat Burning

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

I couldn’t be any simpler with my nutrition recommendations for fat burning. You will get have the most energy and the best body and fitness level possible if you eat whole, natural foods. I always ask Dr. Chris Mohr, author of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss Nutrition Guidelines if I ever need help with nutrition information.

You must avoid processed foods, which is pretty much anything in a bag or a box. So cut out muffins, donuts, pre-packaged cereals, white bread, pasta, chips, crackers, cookies, etc.

We need to return to a time of simpler eating, focusing on fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean proteins, and healthy fats. It will take some “bad habit breaking” to rid yourself of your addiction to processed foods, but in your journey you will learn to appreciate the taste of REAL food again.

You don’t have to eat meat to lose fat and build muscle, but it’s not unhealthy to eat beef, chicken, and fish. In fact, fish contains essential fatty acids we can’t do without.

You might have heard about the importance of healthy fats, which is a big turn-around from the low-fat mentality of the 80’s and 90’s. We now know eating fish and nuts won’t make us fat, but will in fact make us healthy and help control our appetite.

So just focus on foods that haven’t been processed, and you’ll start to see changes in your body and energy levels in a matter of days. Get rid of the processed foods and you won’t be tired anymore!

I strongly believe nutrition is the MOST important factor in fat loss and in health. If you’re eating processed foods, trans-fats, and too many calories, you won’t get maximum benefits from your exercise program, no matter what you are doing. Nutrition can either heal you or kill you, so choose wisely. Fortunately, the right choices are the simple choices.

I’ve had clients that switched to whole, natural foods and almost overnight they’ve reported changes in their bodies and huge increases in mental energy. So stick with the simple nutrition approach for fat burning.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

The Taoist Art of Weight Loss

How can a Taoist help you lose weight!

What is this madness, how can a Taoist help me lose weight! I thought all Taoist’s live in a monastery on nuts and berries? You don’t want really expect me to live off nuts and berries, just so I can lose 20 pounds do you?

STOP!

No, I don’t suggest that you go and make such a drastic change to you nutritional habits, although many ‘health‘ gurus out there do expect that sort of a change and they will throw every bit of Scientific Research at youthey can find to justify their new book or DVD.

Today everything is put into two categories ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’. We have Good people, and we have Bad people, we have Good fats and we have Bad fats. Back in the days of the Taoist things were a lot more simple, the Taoist new that to lead a healthy and happy life he had to live in harmony with nature.

So what does it mean to live in harmony with nature?

Well before you say it, No you don’t have to sell your house and build a hut in the middle of some forest. Nature or Gaia has given us everything we need to live a healthy life, but we have forgotten how to listen to Gaia. Today Gaia’s richness has been replaced with the super sized Big Mac meal and the 3 Gallon diet coke for only a few cents extra! Well, forgive me if I am wrong but MSG and Aspartame are not natural products, hence they are totally against everything that Gaia stands for.

The junk food industry’s against everything that the Taoist lives for, they do not teach people how to be responsible for what they consume, they do not make people aware of what people are consuming in their ‘Restaurants’.

So what does a Taoist suggest to help me lose a few pounds?

Well the key word here is simplicity, by simplicity I am mean Natural. Each time you eat something ask yourself this question, is what I am consuming Natural? One brief check of the ingredients and you can tell instantly if it is natural.

Try this little experiment for a week and see how you feel, I would love to hear how you got on with this experiment, please feel to post a message on this blog.

1. Keep your stimulants to a minimum (i.e. caffeine, that means those diet soda’s too)
2. Consume about 70% Fresh fruits and Vegetables (Yes, you can juice them too)
3. The other 30% should consists of about 20% Organic Meat, and 10% Fats
4. Remember to drink pure mineral water; stay away from tap water (contains many bad chemicals!)

It’s easy when you know how

James Gilliland on Google Video

I came across the work of James Gilliland a few months back, I like what he has to talk about. He seems like a man with a big heart.

Here is a video of him filmed at his sanctuary in Washington State, USA. Here he discusses about the return of the feminine energy.

Find out more about James and his work on his site: http://www.eceti.org

Health and You

I have spent the last few days listening, listening to my feelings, listening to others but something still nags at me. I may have been listening, but nobody else was. I have been shown over and over again, that what is said is very different to what a person hears. Either a person is not interested, or maybe they have not been taught how to listen.We live in a sick society, we are taught that as soon as you’re ill you have to visit your doctor, if you need to lose weight you have to go out and buy the latest ‘Scientific’ book on how to lose weight and change your life too. I’m sorry, but why do you need to spend money on a book/dvd on a subject that is so simple?

OK, before people start moaning that not all people who need to lose weight are able to. You are totally correct, there are a small number of people out there who have a medical condition that makes it very difficult to lose weight.

The sad fact of the matter is this, most people who are obese are totally unconscious of what they are shoveling into their mouths. If you confront these types of people, they will give you a hundred different reasons why they can’t. They are suffering from massive denial!

How many people still have no understanding of the human body that they inhabit, they abuse their bodies mentally and physically and then to add insult to injury they have no idea why it stops functioning. “Quick phone the doctor, I am too lazy to do anything myself!”

Most illnesses has it’s roots in emotional problems, it is only when the emotional issue has not been dealt with that the body has to give you a huge kick in the butt. Nothing in this world happens without a reason, there are no ‘grey’ areas.

Are you going to get in touch with how you feel? Or do you need some ‘magic’ pills from the Doctors?

The big ‘Health & Fitness’ craze that has been around now for a number of years really makes me laugh, we are sold the benefit of joining a health club, sold a membership to run on a treadmill getting no where fast. We are sold the latest books, DVD’s and gadgets for getting super ripped abs. Spend $39.99 and in less than 20 minutes, 3 times per week you too can look like Cindy Crawford. Just don’t look in the mirror because you may realise you’re not Cindy and put that super gadget under the bed, next to the last gadget you brought.

Sorry if any of this is making you angry, but I get emotional when people refuse to take a long hard look at themselves. Yes I know that seeing yourself for who you are will be very painful, but don’t you think you owe it to yourself to be honest after all these years of neglect?

Throw away those silly gadgets that you never really wanted anyway, and stand tall as the creator of your universe.

Take a deep Breath and…………

Declare:

I am (Insert Name Here) and I am the creator of my universe, and I love myself for who I am.

How to Achieve Freedom in the 21st Century

Are you trying to tell me I am not Free? Well, the citizens of the western world are Free, well to an extent, as long as you pay your Taxes and don’t say anything bad about the ‘embarrassment’ that is your President or Prime Minister. What I am referring to is the Freedom of your Emotions, Finances and your ability to Love humanity and Gaia.Lets look at how Freedom affects the following:

1. Emotions
2. Love of Humanity and Gaia
3. Financial Freedom

Emotions.

We are so scared of being who we are, we are scared to cry in front of other people, men are scared to hug other men out of fear of being considered Gay (unless these men are on a Sports field!). Most men can demonstrate one emotion very very well. Anger, most men seem to have a huge problem with anger, and it’s not always men, women are starting to get in on the act too.

I understand why most men are angry, they are taught from being children, their Uncles, Fathers and Grandfathers teach them anger as something Holy and Good. Son, you have to teach a woman her place, just give her a smack and she will soon learn her place!

I am not suggesting that anger is bad, what I am saying is that when anger is manifested in the ‘outside’ world it turns into pure violence and hatred, if you don’t believe me just switch on CNN.

When was the last time you stopped and listened to what your emotions had to say to you?

Love of Humanity and Gaia.

As a British man I can speak from first hand experience of how cold humanity is capable of becoming, the average British person will only communicate with you if they can get something from you. On the outside people can give the illusion of being really nice, but what are their motives of being this ‘nice’ mask? Just don’t disagree with people, when their nice mask falls off you may not like what you see.

We live in a world of Political Correctness gone totally nuts, since when was it bad to hold an opinion that was totally different from the rest of collective? What has happened to respecting other people’s opinions, doesn’t Freedom means Freedom to express what you believe, right or wrong.

The British person has next to zero respect for Gaia or anything else, this country is so dirty and dark. Britain is a major consumer based society, everything is ‘what can I buy, how cheap can I get it!’ People generally don’t care if their Nike shoe’s are made in a sweatshop in the far east, and the employees (slaves) are paid barely enough to live!

We have the power to change this path of destruction, but as much as I live in hope of wakening to a New World based on Love and Compassion, somehow I get the feeling this is futile when you are surrounded by people saying ‘wow, I brought this sweater from GAP and I saved £5.00!’

Wake-up People!

Financial Freedom.

How can you be Free when you work at K-Mart for $5 an hour? The human race is financially controlled by 10% of the world, these people are known as the ‘Global Elite’. These people are taking (taken?) all of our wealth and telling us that we are not worthy. This would not be possible of we were taking responsible for our own Financial Freedom! Instead we put are Resume/CV into K-Mart trying to justify that we are worth the minimum wage.

We have given away our Financial Freedom for too long now, that vast majority of the world is wrapped up in debt, and who are we paying this debt to? Yep, you guessed it, the Global Elite.

Money is a tool, a tool to be used to experience life here on this beautiful planet. Instead we use what little money we have left after paying the mortgage that we can’t afford, just to live!

Slavery still exists, the only difference is the shackles have been replaced with Car/house payments that you can’t really afford to pay, but then again you can’t afford not to.

You are not living, you are surviving!

The Return of the Spiritual Warrior

The Definition of Spiritual is a person concerned with or affecting the spirit or soul; “a spiritual approach to life”; “spiritual fulfillment”; “spiritual values”; “unearthly love”

The Definition of Warrior is ’someone engaged in or experienced in warfare’

So the true Definition of a Spiritual Warrior is someone who has declared a personal war for Spiritual values and Love. By declaring war, I don’t mean in the external world. The Spiritual Warrior fights his/her battles on the inside, unless there is a true need to go externally and then it is done with true love and strategy.

The Spirituality of the Warrior resides in each and everyone of us, we all have the knowledge and the power of the ancient Spiritual Warriors. The time is coming when we can no longer sit back and watch, the destruction on this planet is progressing at a faster and faster pace. The cogs of Control and Manipulation are turning faster and faster. It is not the place of the Spiritual Warrior to fight violence with violence, the power of the Warrior lies in his/her warmth and subtle power.

The systems of control and it’s fat controllers can’t overcome the subtle power of a population of a Town, City or Village who has come to the realisation that they have immense power and that there is nothing that they can’t change.

The true warrior does not blame others for what is happening in this world, he/she knows that he/she is responsible for reality that he/she manifests. What is seen everyday on TV and in the other media is the direct result of the individual denying their part of the destruction and rape of this planet and it’s children.

Isn’t it time that you stopped playing victim? How many more children have to die, how many more women have to be raped? If you don’t have the courage to change this world, then who does? I know it’s scary, infact it is utterly terrifying. The thought of watching the news and seeing another child missing their limbs, lying face down in the dirt, and then to realise that YOU have a part to play in their death is a very bitter pill to swallow.

Please I beg you, don’t wait till tomorrow to act. Deep down inside you know what needs to be done.