Summer - time to unwind

Summertime and a lot of us feel the pressure to lose weight, tighten up those loose areas, squeeze into bikinis or swim trunks and not feel self-conscious about it. This will come as a surprise to many of you --- the best place to start is not with your outside appearance, but rather start from what’s going on inside the Nervous System.
The nervous system is where it all starts. In simple terms, if your body was a car, the exterior is your skin, muscles, bone, etc. The nervous system is that complicated computer that starts up when you turn the key. Imagine for a second that your nervous system (computer electronics) were to malfunction. How well would your car work then? Your lights wouldn’t work, your brakes could fail. It’s the same grave situation with your nervous system malfunctioning. So let’s talk about what we can do to better serve (or service) it, because this will lead to a healthy summer body functioning at it’s optimal level.
First, I will start with how we harm our nervous system and the repercussions of such abuse. Excessive exercise, little- to no-rest between intense exercise sessions; lack of sleep (ideally 8 hours); too much caffeine, sugar, processed foods, alcohol, drugs; over-eating; loud and chaotic lifestyles; over-working, over-scheduling. These actions fry our fragile nervous system, making many of us feel wired, anxious, angry, impatient, irritable, others feel constantly tired, depressed, apathetic. Eventually, a tired and fried nervous system leads to excessive body fat and being overweight; chronic aches, pains and tightness; a run down immune system; mental fuzziness, emotional numbness and/or overreacting. I don’t know about any of you, but I think I’m going to be paying more attention to this subtle, fragile system. For when actually listened to and cared for, it can achieve powerful results.
How can we enhance our body’s command center? Many things we already know. Consistent exercise (cardio 4 to 5 days a week for 20 to 30 minutes; strength training 2 to 3 days per week; flexibility 4 to 5 days a week for 10 to 15 minutes); a clean and nutritionally balanced meal plan daily; recuperation such as regular massages, easy yoga, meditation, slow walks in the mountains and parks, sitting at the ocean; focussing on your breathing throughout the day and some type of stillness and inner reflection time daily is also a nervous system recharge.
So, before we all consider how we look on the outside, let’s not forget it can’t be done without paying attention to the inside. I encourage us all to be more sensitive to the subtle powers of this amazing body we live in that is run by this super complicated computer system called the Nervous System.