A natural way to release tension

As part of my yoga therapy journey, I attended YogaFit's Mind Body Fitness conference a few weeks ago in Minneapolis. I spent four days with an incredible master trainer who introduced ways that we as yoga teachers can help people heal their physical and emotional trauma. It was a powerful learning experience for me; I was so excited about the material that I promptly ordered 6 books that I want to read. One of the books, "The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process" by Dr. David Berceli, is a self-help manual on how we can help the body release chronic tension that is stored in our muscles.

Here's where it gets really interesting: When I got back from my training, I had an email from a kind reader of the Wisconsin State Journal who shared with me that she enjoyed a series of stories I wrote about veterans and PTSD. She said that she is a big fan of a doctor who travels the globe and trains traumatized people how to release built-up tension, and in fact she's going to be at a training that he's leading in Madison this month.

I followed up with her, and a week later I was on the phone with Dr. David Berceli, who explained to me his Trauma Releasing Exercises, in which the body is allowed to shake out all the tension and trauma stored in the muscles. I'll be writing a story for the State Journal on what his technique might mean for holistic health care. He was an absolute joy to speak with; his enthusiasm about empowering people to take charge of their own healing process is admirable. I'm beyond excited to witness his training this week!

And if you're interested in my book order, here are the other five that are in my queue:

"Core Awareness" by Liz Koch
"Meditation as Medicine" by Dharma Singh Khalsa
"Yoga and the Twelve-Step Path" by Kyczy Hawk
"Yoga for Emotional Balance" by Bo Forbes
"In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness" by Peter Levine

The 7-minute workout

There's been a lot of press lately about a study from the American College of Sports Medicine that posits that we can give our bodies all that they need, exercise-wise, in a mere seven minutes. I'm skeptical. Which is why I'm compelled to give it a whirl for a month to see what all the fuss is about.

My friend Jess (she's the master of fun over at Madison-School Community Recreation) thinks that this workout has potential, but she says she needs proof. So she and I have recruited some guinea pigs to try it for a month to see if it has any impact on their fitness level. I encourage you to play along with us by doing this circuit twice (fine, it's a 14-minute workout, you're already sweaty so stop whining) every day that you don't already have a workout planned. So, if you're running three days a week, do the 14-minute workout on three other days, and take a day for rest. There's even an app to download that leads you through the workout, or you can use this nifty timer.

What have you got to lose?