“I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.”

Meet The Sapeurs–members of the Congolese society, a group of men united by style but bonded by an underlining moral code of inspiring others by example. I came across an article about them on Co.Create. The Sapeurs are “all about defying your circumstances through inner conviction–something which though small, is totally unique to human beings and extraordinary in its own right.” I like that mentality, not just for style, but for living a healthy life. I like the idea of celebrating people who put more into life to get more out of it. That’s the type of coach I want to embody everyday–a person who inspires their athlete to put their all into their effort, not because they’ll win but because they’ll get more out of life by going outside their boundaries. And as The Sapeurs remind us, it doesn’t have to be a big effort. It can be a small moment, a microsecond during competition where you think, “huh, why not change my frame of mind; do it not to be better personally, but to inspire others around me to be better.”

Here are a few tidbits from their life and how they succeed in living it:

1. you have to mix it up
2. look up to your elders
3. it’s not about money
4. it’s not the cost, but the man inside
5. respect others
6. be polite, not vulgar
7. peace

When there is peace, there’s The Sape. When there is peace, there is life. You can always choose who you are.

Groundbreaking work in #stemcell development; Japanese researchers have discovered an easy way to turn ordinary cells into multipurpose stem cells that can be used to create any living mammalian cell. They’re calling them STAP cells for Stimulus triggered acquisition of pluripotency. Great news for research since harvesting stem cells is a difficult and costly procedure. With the ability to easily change ordinary cells to a pluripotent stem cell state, research can proceed at a much faster rate and we could see advances in research and human development and care much faster.

It’s a simple procedure–bath cells in a low ph of 5.7. Drop cells in citric acid. Normally this would completely erase everything in the cell, but extraordinarily instead of killing itself, the cell self organizes and is able to be pluripotent–create embryonic cells AND extra embryonic stem cells for placenta. Most stem cells are unable to make both–but these pluripotent cells can.

Nearly every person who suffers from chronicfatigue syndrome, heartdisease, cancer, chronicinfections, autoimmune disease, diabetes, autism, Alzheimer‘s disease, Parkinson‘s disease, arthritis, asthma, kidney, liver disease and more is missing the functional ability of the GSTM1 gene.

Shayna Robinson

1) Change your diet: Eat anti-inflammatory.

There are certain foods that reduce inflammation and cause positive cell turnover. I try to eat a diet rich in spinach, kale, blueberries, coconut water, olive oil, agave and peppermint. Watermelon and cantaloupe can be great during the summer. The best athletes will also supplement their diet with vitamins and minerals. My essentials include a proprietary blend for liver detoxification (NOW brand Liver Regenerator and Detoxifier), Thyroid health (NOW brand Thyroid Energy), Raw B Complex (Vitamin Code Brand), Undernatured Type II Collagen (NOW brand UC-II) and a hair, skin and nails proprietary blend (Nature’s Bounty Brand).

2) Sweat: Work out hard enough to detox.

Some argue sweat causes breakouts, but that’s only if you don’t shower immediately after a workout. Sweat is your bodies natural detox process, and it also helps maintain body temp and water balance. When you sweat, your body causes your metabolism to adjust to a burning mode. It’s struggling to maintain the internal body temperature, and your thyroid is engaged producing endorphins that make exercise feel easier so your body is more efficient. Sweating should be part of your goals in exercise to maintain healthy organs.

3) Electrolytes: Refuel the right way.

Both muscle tissue and neurons are considered electric tissues of the body. Muscles and neurons are activated by electrolyte activity between the extracellular fluid and intracellular fluid. Electrolytes work to aid the body in transferring water in and out of cells. Without proper electrolytes the ability of muscles to contract is weakened and can cause muscular contractions (such as cramping). It’s important to maintain this electrolyte balance when exercising so that there is proper contraction of muscle and nerve fibers in addition to maintaining the proper strain on the kidneys. In terms of aging, constantly being dehydrated can lead to cell death and a diseased cell turnover. Keeping yourself hydrated results in healthy cell turnover, muscular strength and correct rapid firing of the nerves. I love coconut water for it’s hydrating benefits. It makes my skin glow and unlike other sports drinks, it has a natural electrolyte component, as opposed to synthetically added electrolytes in Gatorade.

4) Regimen: Set your routine.

Your body functions better and more efficiently when it knows what to expect from your level of care. When you nourish your body with good food, exercise, sweat and electrolytes, it responds in the best possible way–glowing skin, a young complexion, a body that rivals a teenager and recovery from the common daily routine. Send your body a positive message in these three ways on a daily basis and it will function better and look better in 4-8 weeks.

Ever wonder why you can’t change certain parts of your body when you exercise?

Tips for improving body awareness:

1) Start With Pressure; Notice where your body contacts the earth. For example, in this bow pose, my foot is in contact and is supporting my entire (5’10!) frame. That’s a lot of strength in that little foots. It’s all because I am applying pressure evenly across the four corners of my foot, and I am able to do this because I am cognizant of the muscular contractions in my foot.

2) Change Your Posture; Until you feel the proper activation, keep moving your body to a different position. For example, on my body, my left abdominal wall is weaker than my right, so I need a different angle to properly engage all my obliques and anterior abs. If I change the angle I am working in while engaging my left side, I get the same work done as my right.

3) Engage Your Multifidus; Remember those tiny muscles that support your spine I spoke of so lovingly last week? Yep, they’re integral in allowing you to engage all your muscles eloquently. Instead of over using the major muscle groups and getting bigger and bulkier because you lack the foundational strength of the multifidus, try working on pelvic tiles and engagement FIRST before you do any other exercise. I start my day with my multifidus pelvic tilts and ab exercises, then move on to other exercises that engage the larger muscle groups.

1) Without them, our spine would have problems!

The multifidus muscles help to take pressure off the vertebral discs so that our body weight can be well distributed along the spine. Additionally, the superficial muscle group keeps our spine straight while the deep muscle group contributes significantly to the stability of our spine. These two groups of multifidus muscles are recruited during many actions in our daily living, which includes bending backward, sideways and even turning our body to the sides. Studies have shown that the multifidus muscles get activated before any action is carried out so to protect our spine from injury.

2) The key is training your body to breathe while engaging your multifidus!

One of the reasons so many people have lumbar back pain is a result of not taking full breaths using their diaphram muscle in their lower abdomen. So often we take short quick breaths using our upper back and neck muscles because this is the most efficient way to get oxygen to our heart quickly. But when not in quick need, it’s important to contract that diaphram so that the multifidus learns it should be engaged all the time. Taking long sustained breaths in and out retrains your body to use your diaphram rather than your upper neck and shoulder muscles to breathe. You can imagine the tightness and pathology you may sustain by breathing from your neck, shoulders and back rather than from your deep abdomen–The upper extremity muscles get tighter and more bulky (theoretically causing lactic acid buildup and reduced oxygenation). This can result in a compression of the cervical spine and a weakness in the lumber multifidus.

3) Key exercises for keeping this muscle strong:

Pelvic Bridge: Press back flat into floor, raise hips towards ceiling. Hold for 2-3 seconds. Repeat 10x.

In an article