The Joy Of Laziness

[rolandbeauregard]

Check out this article British Newspaper The Telegraph at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/01/09/nlazy09.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/01/09/ixhome.html about The Joy of Laziness: How to slow down and live longer.
I think CST and Waging Fun (see
Max's post http://circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4689 on the healing power of fun) could be just as effective.

What do you tribe members think?

[Scott Sonnon]

Interesting article. Active recovery (play) and passive recovery (rest) need to be appropriately balanced to the circumstance and individual.

[Coach Gostnell]

I liked the point the article made about the importance of laughter to good health "a good training session without the negative side effects.

Per Dan Kieran in the article:
...it is very important to just lie down and do nothing sometimes," he said.


He's got that right! But I think people have two hangups with that: They don't recognize when their body needs to do it, and they have trouble committing to the idea. It does take committment! And dedication! And hard work! No, I mean soft work! No, I mean NO WORK at all! :wink:
(And doing NO work for a couple hours, or even a couple minutes, is sometimes most challenging of all for many people.)

My advice: Get a cat if you don't already have one. Study their body positions when they're completely relaxed. Imitate those positions. Repeat as often as necessary until you can successfully reach the same state of relaxation. 8)

[SteveB]

Laziness is great. Naps are one of my favorite thing in the world. the article covers its butt by saying: "EXCESSIVE exercise..."
##
Well, of course. Excessive anything is bad, by very definition. As is excessive rest, or oxygen, or water. The question is: what is excessive? Playing sports is almost always taking physical movement out of the "health" range and into the "competition" range, where one performs not to increase a given internal sensation (health and well-being) but to measure against an opponent. Of course, it is possible to use competition as a healthful thing, but how many of us do that? "Playing through injuries" and crossing the "red line" of intensity is absolutely normal for competitive athletes, especially those who are professional. Free radical generation is also normal for these high-intensity activities. Learning how to balance intensity and recovery is vital.
##
However, "excessive" exercise has to be contrasted with "excessive" rest in order to gain any kind of valid comparison. One must contrast apples and apples. In that case, one would have to contrast an "exercise fanatic" with a "morbidly obese" person in order to have any kind of true picture. Those espousing the lazy lifestyle are seldom honest enough to do this--they contrast the "exercise fanatic" with the person who, perhaps, takes a healthy walk or works in their garden. This is a 2nd-year debate "Straw Man" argument, and I have nothing but contempt for it.

[Scott Sonnon]

Steve,

Precisely my point as well, amigo. People lack an understanding for the art of moderation, and understanding how moderation over a lifetime happens. I wrote about this in Living Balance (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4611). Moderation over a lifetime is achieved from exploring both poles.

I do not respect laziness. Rest does not equal laziness, nor relaxation equal lethargy. R&R are skills, like play, like anything else.

[Connie Brown]

There is a parallel also to what Scott wrote in RMAX: Evolutionary Art (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=26890&highlight=peace+war#26890):


War and Peace are two wheels of the same cart, trudging along unstable in its anthropocentricity, ignorance, and doom
"Lazy" and "excessive training" are two wheels of the same cart.

Just last night I was watching Doug Szolek's Two-Handed CB DVD. He says, people always ask me how to use CBs to gain size in a body part. I die a little inside every time I hear that.

Same thing for the lazy-overdoing it dichotomy. I say, oh get off that cart and onto RMAX: intuitive training and continuous progression.

Sez me, who has been called lazy by the ignorant.

Jean I love your cat analogy. I'm all over the relaxation part and lying around taking care of hair and nails. Next up: being able to, one fine spring day, race up a tree.

[Scott Sonnon]

Amen, Connie. Couldn't be better stated.

Jean, anyone who knows our cat Max (aka "Superfly") would not call him "lazy" but rather... "preparing." :twisted:

[Coach Gostnell]

anyone who knows our cat Max (aka "Superfly") would not call him "lazy" but rather... "preparing."
You bet. Maybe that's why Buddhists describe it as "actively doing nothing." :D