Chapter 9 focused on HEALTH. Healthy bodies endure longer and those who endure longest often win out in the end. Health is very multi-layered. He main point is that the body needs to be clean, well-fed (not full of junk), illness-free, and well-rested. People who are sick or tired, have a harder time enduring, defending, or even doing magic. So, eat healthy foods regularly, drink lots of water, and get adequate rest. "Your body is a temple. Care for it!"
This also means stress. People who are over stressed become very drained or can end up very ill. Health mean in body, in mind, and in spirit. Meditation and connecting with the gods (by whatever name you call them) help develop and maintain a healthy spirit.
Avoid such things as alcohol, drugs, and sedatives. They upset the balance in the body.
Maintaining a healthy body also means keeping in limber. The body was built to be in motion, so get it moving! Do some form of exercise. This helps with the flow of the blood and the chi as well.
I try to eat healthier and to get some sleep. But my job is sometimes very stressful. It is hard to turn off my brain at night to get to sleep. I have always been that way. It helps when I center and ground and do a short meditation before bed. I used to be in professional and competitive dance but took some serious injuries in an accident that has greatly interfered with my love of being active. So I do light yoga, some walking and some cycling. It was suggested that I get into Tai Chi, but I have yet to find a teacher I feel good about training under. Come September, I will do a tour of all the Tai Chi places of training and see if I can find a teacher. In the meantime, one of my coveners and I are getting into swimming 2-3 times a week. I am excited and nervous. I haven't done swimming in like 20 years and I wasn't very good back then. I suppose doggy-paddling is still exercise in the water!
Chapter 10 focused on GROUNDING. This is a chapter that was nothing new to me as I teach most of these techniques to my students and coveners. My favorite is touching the ground and sinking hands into soft rich black soil. Or, simply walking barefoot on the soft grass.
I found that the techniques in this chapter all referred to getting rid of excess or negative energy and totally neglected to address the other aspect of grounding. Grounding can also be used to establish physical balance. It is a two-way conduit, like the roots of a tree. Just as we can and do send down into the earth, so to can we draw up from it. We can pull cleansed energy up through us from the earth to help us recharge ourselves and to help us achieve an inner balance that is akin to the feel of the earth below.
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