Jamie Fellrath | Practical Mindfulness

Today's post is going to be a little bit "out there" for some of you, but it's a technique that I've found to be particularly helpful in reducing a lot of pain and stress in my life.  This is not some sort of new-age guru type stuff - this is practical relaxation of the body and mind. This week on MorningCoach.com , our mentor J.B. Glossinger has been discussing stress and peace.  And that made me think that this would be an excellent time for me to share the way that I've been meditating (though not with any sort of regularity until this week) for years. I learned this technique from Matt Furey when I was doing his Combat Conditioning program (which, if you're into good hard workouts that don't take long and you can do anywhere, is absolutely first-rate).  Matt is not only a top-notch fitness expert, but he also has experimented with a ton of different visualization exercises, Chinese wellness techniques, and more.  His recommendation is as follo...

What are your values? It seems like an easy enough question.  Everybody has them, we all know what they are, so what's the big deal with discussing them? So do it. Write them down, and explain a bit about WHY you have those values. Done yet? Not as easy as it seems, is it.  And that's a big reason that many people never do this simple exercise (notice I said simple , not easy) - it's hard!  But I would be willing to wager that the people who are struggling the most with finding happiness, success, prosperity, or any number of other trajectories in their lives have never taken the time to sit down and do this simple little step. And that's a mistake. "Don't work harder, work smarter" is a catchphrase we hear a lot from efficiency and productivity experts, the folks who look at how things are being done and how they could be done better.  And that's great for places like factories and organizations with built-in systems to get things done.  B...

Autism is hard not only on the people who have it, but also on the families who love them and are trying desperately to help them.  And it sometimes seems that with each discovery about it, the treatment is confounded by another facet of the affliction. Photo by sdminor1 via Flickr Case in point: Autism Speaks posted an article yesterday on a study about sleep disorders among autistic children .  And yes, as most parents of autistic children can attest, autistic children have a higher prevalence of sleep issues - getting less sleep and frequently less-productive sleep. But here's the deal:  if we look at the recommendations for improving sleep, we frequently come across suggestions to reduce or remove stimulation from electronic devices such as TV, computers, iPads, etc.  But in many cases these are the very items that autistic children are the most attracted to, not to mention the very items that they use for simple communication, for filtering out the mass ...

As many of you probably know, I love my obstacle course races (or mud runs, as many call them).  I talk a lot about them, because I love the feeling of getting outdoors and really testing your entire body with a good obstacle course.  I even liked the obstacle courses we were "forced" to go through at my two Army ROTC summer camps - because they were fun and they let you do stuff that you didn't get to do every day. Thus far, in my short obstacle course race career, I've run a bunch of fun races:  in 2011 I did the Warrior Dash and Ruckus races; in 2012 I ran the first Mud Ninja race and the Hell Run ; and this past summer I did the Savage Race and the second Mud Ninja race.  And it was at Mud Ninja 2013 that I had the best time I've had so far with a race as I went through it with a team of friends. So now I want to take it a step further and take part in what many consider to be the granddaddy of all obstacle course races:  the Tough Mudder .  ...

Photo by Traci Auerbach (Note: I had written this for another purpose closer to the race date, but after it wasn't used I decided to add it here.  Hope you enjoy! -- Jamie) Last year's inaugural Mud Ninja was, by all accounts, a success. And amazingly enough, the 2013 iteration was an even greater one! To start, the size of the Train 4 Autism: Columbus Chapter team went from four to eleven. Joining the 2012 team of Jamie and Jenn Fellrath, Joe Auerbach, and Joy Beer were (Train 4 Autism: Columbus sponsor) MovNat Ohio owner Lori Crock, Chris Muczyk, Stacey Mustard, Ryan Jewell, Jaye Puckett, Amy Dorris, and Eli Brickey. Monthly technique and training sessions with MovNat Ohio leading up to the event were definitely a great help as the day began. And for several, the Mud Ninja was their inaugural attempt at a mud obstacle race! It should be noted that starting one's obstacle racing experience with the Mud Ninja is akin to beginning one's musical pursuits ...

Don't hold it for too long! Image by michitux via Flickr I always like it when different parts of my life come together in a common theme or idea.  That's been happening a lot lately, particularly after reading Mark Sisson's The Primal Connection: Follow Your Genetic Blueprint to Health and Happiness , and comparing it to what I've learned via MorningCoach.com .  The ways that J.B. Glossinger and many other success coaches and personal evolution gurus teach us totally jibe with the ancestral instincts that we've evolved with as per Sisson and others.  It's really amazing. Case in point:  today, J.B. told us the story of a lecturer who came into her lecture holding a glass of water.  Expecting this to lead into a glass-half-empty-or-half-full story, the audience was surprised to hear her discuss just how that glass is like stress. Holding that glass out for a minute would be no big deal.  It really doesn't weigh that much, and no one would have troub...

I've been running a lot of blogs over the years - this one at Fellrath.com; PaleoMental and MyPrimalTrek, and a few others.  And honestly, they've all been fun to do. But I'm going back to the beginning a bit now, and combining all those posts back into one place here at Fellrath.com. Why?  Because they're all me.  They're all facets of who I am, what I'm interested in, and what I'm trying to do in the world and for the world.  I want people to be more healthy, body and soul.  I want people to have fulfillment.  I want to share what I'm doing in the world with a lot of people and hopefully help them move forward in their personal evolution. Trying to split all that out into the various "topics" via separate blogs was just getting too scattered.  I didn't feel the freedom to explain how health is a personal development topic, or how MovNat practice improves more than just the bodily health aspects of life. Here I can talk about ALL...