We build rituals around everything we do. When we want to create change in our lives we need to consciously craft those rituals so the result we want is simply the default reaction, not something we have to expend creative energy to reach.

In Essentialism, Greg McKeown narrates the race ritual of Micheal Phelps, the most decorated American Olympian of all time winning 22 Olympic medals. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing China we set a record for most first place finishes by any athlete in a single Olympics, eight gold medals.

Two hours before a race Michael Phelps would conduct the exact same warmup swim every time, in the exact same order.

After the swim he dry off, put on his headphones and sit on the massage table. Always sitting, never lying down.

From this point forward he would not speak to his coach or anyone else until after the race was over.

At 45 minutes before the race, he would get dressed for the race. At 30 minutes he would go to the warmup pool for a 600 meter swim.

At 10 minutes before the race we would walk to the ready room and find a place where he could sit alone. He would place his goggles on one side and his towel on the other.

When his race was called, he would walk to the blocks. He always approached the blocks from the left side. He would dry the block every time, and perform the same two stretches, in the exact same order, always with the left leg first. Then he would remove the right earbud.

When his name was called he would remove the left earbud.

Phelps also had a routine for what to think about every night before […]

For the purpose of this program, when we talk about spiritual energy renewal we are talking about our actions being consistent with our values.

When we do things we feel good about, that are in line with our values they become a source of spiritual energy which can extend our physical and emotional energy.

But when we do things that are in conflict with our values, they become a drain on our physical and emotional resources.

In the movie Promised Land, actor Matt Damon portrays a character who purchases land for gas exploration. He sometimes misleads people to get them to sell, but he has great conviction in his work and is spiritually driven because he believes he is right. He had grown up in a small town and seen first-hand the devastation that occurs when the jobs leave and the last hold outs are left with nothing.

Once his character has a change of heart about the company he works for, he can no longer lie to get people to sell. Once his actions were inconsistent with his values they became an overwhelming drain on his energy.

In this story we can see how our values can have a great impact on our energy and motivation. They can either provide support and longevity to our physical energy or they can drain us and drag us down.

But in order to make use of our spiritual energy we have to be clear about what provides our spiritual energy to begin with.

Asking the question, “how does healing our metabolism and finding health line up with our values?” This question will help you organize your motivations and keep yourself focused through the changing process.

What are your personal values? Values are action based, […]

Mental energy is our ability to focus on a task, undistracted for a period of time. It is our willpower. And it functions like a muscle. For our minds to best direct mental energy, it needs to be driven hard for short bursts and then given sufficient time to recover.

Imagine a sprinter on a track. The sprinter gives it his all for a short period of time then takes an equal or often longer, period of time to recover. When the sprinter is ready for their next performance the results are directly tied to how well sprinter was able to recover.

Our best mental performance comes when we are able to fully engage in a task for a short period of time, then take a break that allows our brains time to recover.

Now consider that our brains make up just two percent of our bodies weight, yet consume an astounding twenty-five percent of our calories. This is critical to understand because it underlines our immense needs for physical energy. If the physical energy needs are not being met we have the additional deficient in our mental energy.

Additionally, physical movement directly stimulates our mental energy. In “A Few Good Men” Tom Cruises’ character was in trying to solve a problem and said he needed his bat. He said he thought better with it. After taking a few swings and walking around the answer came to him.

Many of us get our best ideas taking a walk or in the shower when we are moving around.  This is because the brain is fed from bottom to top and back to front. About 800,000 signals per second enter our sensory cortex, they are consolidated and only about 200,000 are […]

The brain is at the center of all we do, and it needs three things in order to operate. Glucose, oxygen and activation through movement. Over the last two days we have addressed the brain and body’s need for glucose, as well as oxygen. Now we are going to look at activation, or the brain and body’s need for movement.

The quality of our movement has a direct impact on the quality of brain function. Because neurons must be regularly activated in order to keep them functioning, if we go for extended periods of times with stimulating them we lose control over them.

Let me give you an example. Think about all the things we used to do on playgrounds as children. Climbing on monkey bars, spinning and twirling, or how about just running back and forth playing tag. Those are all skills we developed which have faded without use.

The more sedentary our bodies become the less control we have over them. The physical loss of control, and results in decreased activity of the brain further impairs other brain functions such as problem solving.

Because our brains are fed from bottom to top and from back to front, the more active our brains are as a whole, the better the performance of the pre-frontal cortex. This means if we move more throughout the day the more productive and creative we become with intellectual tasks.

So along with glucose and oxygen, movement becomes the third way we can restore or extend brain and body performance. Walking, playing and working out are all great ways to relieve stress, and improve brain and body performance. And the more varied and interesting an activity is the more stimulating it is for […]

Before we get started with breath and respiration, we’ll take a minute to discuss the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle between the thoracic cavity and the abdominal cavity.

When the diaphragm contracts air is pulled into the lungs. This is important because the lungs themselves do not exert any effort in the breath cycle. When the diaphragm relaxes the breathe is naturally expelled meaning there is no muscular tension necessary to naturally exhale.

It is worth noting here that western lifestyle habits contribute to very bad posture for a lot of people. It is worth the time to sit up straight with good posture. Since people are constantly hunched forward and flexing at the abdomen it is more difficult for the diaphragm to inhale without the use of auxiliary breathing muscles.

When a person is breathing through the use of auxiliary breathing muscles such as in the neck and chest it is inefficient and a sign of stress. This is undesirable for several reasons. First it exhausts these muscles which produces stress, and inflammation. Second it increases the likelihood of hyperventilation.

So, physiological respiration is the exchange of gases through the act of breathing. The lungs contain millions of alveoli that transfer gases between the lungs and blood.

Generally, people understand this to be the inhalation of oxygen and the exhalation of carbon dioxide. But of course there is more to it than that.

The amount of air exchanged in the lungs in a single breathe while the body is at rest is called the tidal volume and it requires about 12 percent of our lung capacity. In fact humans require both oxygen and carbon dioxide.

The air on earth at sea level is about 21 percent oxygen and […]