Flowing with Nature Movement, Breathing, and Biorhythms

FLOWING WITH NATURE MOVEMENT, BREATHING, AND BIORHYTHMS 

Remember Mary, whom we met in Chapter 4 Although changes in her diet combined with supplements had enabled her to cut her daily dose 

Gradually, Mary gained strength and her posture improved. She also found that she could move without pain, until she was eventually able to do a combination walk/jog of one and a half to two miles a few times a week. Stretches and strength-training exercises were also a key part of her routine. 

Three months later when Mary came to see me, she was positively beaming. Well, doctor. I ve got a bone to pick with you, she said, barely able to keep the grin from breaking through. I ve lost so much weight that I ve got to go out and buy all new clothes. It s going to cost me a fortune to get a smaller wardrobe Mary felt lighter—physically, mentally, and spiritually—than she d felt in thirty years. 

Exercise has so many benefits in combating depression and improving brain chemistry that the following advice—while true—may sound like a cliche Find a form of vigorous movement that appeals to you, practice it three to five times a week for twenty to forty minutes, and watch your mood improve. In fact, there s so much powerful research on the health and mood benefits of exercise that I sometimes wonder why they keep funding more studies If a new drug came on the market that helped depression as much as exercise does, you can believe that patients would be clamoring for their doctors to prescribe it. Yet exercise is free, avail- 

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