Positive Impact Living: 20/05/2007

Saturday 26 May 2007

Ultimate Fitness

Picture - I said I would climb a mountain and I did! Top of Pigne d'Arolla Swiss Alps. I'm far right looking a bit weird but funnily enough I wasn't thinking about how I looked at the time. One of the instructors said it might help to walk slower on the ascent, I said if I went any slower I'd stop, which was about the sum of getting up there.

Ultimate Fitness
Why should it just be the Armed Forces and Athletes who get to be Ultimately Fit? In the past an outdoor lifestyle was rigorous enough to make people extremely fit - think of Mountain Men. Unless you're an explorer or adventure sports enthusiast there is little motivation to have a fitness goal let alone maintain fitness over and above the requirements for using the remote control, computer and the microwave. I'm not very fit - we'll start with that shall we. I'm not nearly as fit as I'd like to be and my goal isn't just to get fit enough but to get as fit as I possibly can.
Why? When I was a teenager I got an unhealthy bout of depression - I read that exercise was good for this so instead of just taking up regular exercise I attended a selection course to learn to be an Adventure Sports Instructor - amazingly (to me) I passed this weekend course. Then for three months I forced a superficial, positive attitude with fake smiles, fake jokes etc until one day I actually laughed, completely spontaneously and un-prepared!
Of course nobody knew this at the time except me.

Unfortunately I then contracted the dreaded Glandular Fever when I was twenty and this turned into M.E. or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which wasn't diagnosed for few years. To heal this I went to see a Doctor trained in Tibetan Medicine, and after a year and having noticeably gradual benefit from the treatment (acupuncture and herbs etc) I began to study this subject as an apprentice.

I wasn't a very good apprentice, stopping and starting in rather a dramatic fashion. In fact having M.E. made me lose any sense I had had about integrity and keeping comitments. I continued in this fashion for Four years of the Twelve year course, ( I still want to complete this training). It is difficult with an illness if you consider yourself better to understand that there are degrees of better and degrees of worse, and more difficult still to communicate this - especially if you want to please people.

For me having M.E meant fighting wasn't an option, it exhausted me mentally and physically so I just had to accept, and in a sense accede to all and any events. It has been eight years since I contracted this virus, and in the last eighteen months I noticed a fog lift from my mind for the first time allowing me to concentrate and memorise things and remember things better.(A symptom of M.E. is poor concentration and memory loss).

Now I want to attain my goal of being as fit as I can be. For the simple reason that I want to know what that feels like in my lifetime. I have learnt a Tibetan form of exercise (Kum Nye) which is remarkable in its ability to heal you and make you incredibly fit. It takes a great amount of determination to do this and next to it I find traditional western exercise easy. So to begin to get a routine I am going to follow Adrian Weale's Fighting Fit Programme for the next four months, (from his excellent book 'Fighting Fit'- the complete SAS training course). After a two month preparation period that takes you from 'Desk Driver' to 'Semi-pro', you begin the Fighting Fit Programme; following this you can begin the SAS Selection Programme which aims to get you fit enough to pass the SAS selection.I am going to journal the exercise I do everyday so that you can follow my progress and I may even add some video diary's. I will call these Progress reports. I hope that they will inspire you to be as fit as you can be!

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• UMF Manuka Honey
• Raw Food Healing
• Be the Wolfe Within
• The Renegade Health Show
• My Secret Stash
• The Yoga Challenge
• Damien Walters speaks for himself
• Bill Mason Waterwalker
• Histamine Patches
• 'The Shaolin Workout'
• Essiac or Caisse Tea the Cancer Cure
• 'The Benefits of Hiking and Climbing - Becoming a Human Animal

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How do I reduce my Ecological Footprint?

What is your Ecological Footprint? - Answer these questions:-

How much rubbish do you throw away?
Where does your rubbish go?
Do you recycle?
What can you recycle?
Where does your water come from?
How does it get cleaned?
Where does your waste water go?
Where does your electricity come from?
How is your electricity made?
What electrical appliances do you use?
How much electricity do they use?
What are the biggest guzzlers of electricity?
How do you heat/cool your house?
What is your house built from?
What transport do you use?
How much petrol/diesel does your vehicle need if you have a vehicle?
Where does your food come from?
How far does your food travel?
How much fuel is used getting your food to you?
What is the nearest edible plant to your front door?(This question does NOT suggest that you go and try all of the plants growing near your door - it does suggest that you use field guides to find out)?

Knowing the answers to these questions will help you understand the connections between your lifestyle habits and your impact upon the earth, that is collectively multiplied with everyone elses. It will also give you an insight about the bridge between living directly from nature using Bushcraft skills and living in a modern manner using all of our conveniences.
Also if you know these answers you can learn how your lifestyle can cost you less; how you could have no more bills to pay and how you can save money and even earn money from changing some of these habits to ones that have a POSITIVE IMPACT!

My future articles will show you how to reduce your outgoings to a minimum - How to build some simple sustainable technologies to produce energy - How to conserve and reuse water - How to switch to locally produced food and grow some of your own. I will also cover making Veg diesel or Bio fuel (Build your own vegetable oil converter) and an indepth article into the use of Living Machines and what these are. I will discuss using Cob, Strawbale and other materials. On this site though I really want to help people who are stuck in renting property particularly; who may have difficulty reducing their ecological footprint without the permission and/or help of their landlords. This is why I'm also going to talk about different ways of owning property. I'm going to try and root all of this in the practical understanding of bushcraft which is our most direct and pure relationship with the earth; so that we can learn to gain a handle on what being totally independent could really mean AND why interdependence may be closer to the truth.

If you have enjoyed reading this site please help me to keep raising the standards by leaving a donation

Related Articles:
Grow your own Forest Garden
The Backyard Bushcraft Experience,
free medicine, free health
Return of the Tribe,
Motivation to do anything!,
Progress is Process - Training program
How to put up a Tarp and How to put up a Hammock
Learning to Identify Plants
Be Your Healthiest You
Living machines, composting

To join my newletter, with the latest Positive Impact Living Methods and News and please fill out your information in the box below (it's confidential), it will arrive once a month and you can easily unsubscribe, thanks Louise

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tags - ecological footprint, motivation, going green, sustainable, sustainable living, sustainable technology, ecology, voluntary simplicity, green electric, solar power, practical sustainablility, sustainable solutions

Thursday 24 May 2007

Return of the Tribe

I'm seriously looking forward to seeing Macintyre's Edge of Existence after watching the Return of the Tribe. It highlighted so many perceptions about our society that I have always held and share with the Papua New Guineans who came to visit. No wonder living in the West fits me like an ill-fitting suit. So the Chief says after his return from the UK 'There will be no development here', his village Sagap will remain as it is, (except for a new doctor and some medicine supplies); that was the bit that made me smile - hearing him talk about how everything costs money and in his village they have everything they need without it.

I am at the moment living in a part of France that has a good balance between the built environment and the natural one. There are small holdings scattered apart, surrounded by woodlands, heath and lakes (a lot of these are manmade to collect water). In the back garden there are many birds (Herons, Hoopoes, Swallows, Magpies, warblers, Coal Tits, Wrens, Hummingbirds, Long Eared Owls and Nightingales, as well as the occasional pair of Mallards) and five minutes walk away I can find deer and many water birds like the heron, the comon tern and visitors like the odd looking Hoopoe. Everything costs money here too, thought there is a strong tradition of hunting (actually for food rather than just sport) and many people have horses/sheep/goats/chickens etc. It isn't an affluent area, its hard to get work and property prices are rising due to the influx of new redsidents from other countries. In this village there are Dutch, Suisse, Canadian, English, Scottish and German residents and its a very small village. We have been made welcome and the mayor welcomed us personally on arrival and everyone pretty much knows everyone else.

It is so peaceful here, it's only a few times a day that a car will pass the house. Dogs take themselves for walks along the verge and you only hear the traffic of crickets and frogs. Slowly I've forgotten what it's like to live in all the noise of the city. I am discovering a lesson in bushcraft that is often left unsaid, that of the Tribe. It is one thing to learn to make fire, using bow drill or hand drill or spark;or to learn tracking,navigating by the sun and setting traps and hunting and fishing techniques. We might harvest a bit of food by ourselves or craft a knife or some moccasins. But what we do by ourselves often seems insignificant and the idea of actually living like this for any period of time seems exhausting and impossible. This is where the 'Tribe' comes in. In a group collecting food becomes easy - you can have a balanced meal; because one group went fishing and another went foraging and put their wares together and shared them. I am beginning to think that mastering your purpose within the concept and reality of a tribe, may be more important than learning everything to do with bushcraft. There is proof that having a strong social network can make you live longer and reduce you're chances of heart disease. (See Nature's Cures by michael Castleman).

There have been masters of everything and I'm sure we aspire to such heights but in a tribe there are specialists - the bootmaker, the weaver, hunters and healers and so on. I am searching for a bridge; you could say it's a bridge to the past in that once we were all hunter gatherers, and you could say its a bridge to the future because somewhere there is a balance between both worlds. Society now is breaking at the seams. I don't have my own house because I don't want a mortgage, don't want to pay rent to a landlord and at present I don't have a spare quarter of a million pounds, sitting around collecting interest. A millionaire might have the capability to solve these problems but they might not have the knowlege or the will and those are two very prescious things that all of us can have if we choose.

So here am I sitting on someone else's hummock of earth with a scruple for a roof. I know there's a way through and I'm very determined to find it. Finding my place in our 'Tribe': this melting pot of nationalities and religions, this cyber world, this planet defined by intellectual borders; has been a struggle. I want to come out I want to say 'Mum, Dad - I think I'm human'.

The following filmclip brings ancient history right into the modern world, thanks to Ray Mears

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Related Articles:-
Course Outline,
An Introduction to Shelter,
Habitat-Shelter from the Skin Up,
The Backyard Bushcraft Experience,
What is my ecological footprint?,
Progress is Process - Training program
How to put up a Tarp and How to put up a Hammock
Learning to Identify Plants
Be Your Healthiest You

To join my newletter, with the latest Positive Impact Living Methods and News and please fill out your information in the box below (it's confidential), it will arrive once a month and you can easily unsubscribe, thanks Louise

tags - return of the tribe, Sagap, Macintyre, Edge of Existence, hunter gatherers, tracking, sustainable living, heart disease, longjevity, social network

Tuesday 22 May 2007

Vision Quest - motivation

These are some nice friends of mine that I met in 1997, some time ago I know. They are Barb and Milt (on left) and two volunteers who ran the then Ecovillage Headquarters of Canada. It was the first place I had been to that was teaching self-sufficiency. They had solar and wind power and a generator. The house was renovated so that it made use of convection currents to take heat from wood stoves around the house. They grew their own food, canned it themselves and also had cows and chickens.

That's me sitting on the corner of the platform in red eating as usual

My Motivation to do Bushcraft and anything else:-

It was an inspiration to live with Barb and Milt; the first place I ever stayed at where the only bill they had was council tax or land tax. Minimal bills, no electricity bills; though they had a washing machine, computers, shower, stereo etc. To me this was amazing.

To my mind Bushcraft is the epitomy of self sufficiency. It is the knowlege that has brought us here. The fact that we have removed ourselves so far from nature as to have undermined our own independence and freedom is evident in colossal housing prices, massive debt and stress related illnesses. I know that learning Bushcraft isn't an overnight solution. It is an ongoing process. This is the same for self sufficiency; for adjusting our lifestyles to use sustainable technology and resources, and for the awakening of our own awareness. I sometimes feel like I'm struggling along in a swamp carrying a lot of useless knowlege that weighs a ton but doesn't get me anywhere. On this site I'm putting all of the useful things I've learned down and I'm sharing my knowlege and my progress and my pitfalls.

I'm not yet self sufficient. I like to pick wild food and camp out a lot, but I don't yet own my own house and I haven't got a very good income. But the biggest lesson I'm learning is that in order to adopt new and healthy habits I musn't kick myself if I don't do the right thing. The biggest obstacle to my having a positive impact in this world is my own guilt at not having one.

Yes, I've filled up a good percentage of landfill sites with my rubbish. Yes, I've undoubtedly contributed to the hole in the ozone layer; to drought in Africa from our emissions in the west causing global dimming. I haven't boycotted Chinese or Japanese products because they've been supplying the weapons to warring African countries like Uganda and Darfur; that have resulted in the awful genocide there.

I think at heart people want to be good, and somewhere in all of us is a kernel of purity that is unsullied by any of our actions or circumstances; a refuge if you like that means we can always be a little kinder, or turn a blind eye or forgive someone or especially forgive ourselves.

I've been very idealistic in my life and in the past have not considered the emotional repercussions of what learniing about nature and sustainable living can bring. In Bushcraft there are thresholds of comfort, to living outdoors, that you must go through, and they operate on all levels; physical, spiritual and mental. The same goes for changing the world you live in, for 'being the change you wish to see' as Gandhi nicely put it.

Transfromation, REAL Transfromation starts with a day dream; begins with a nagging feeling saying you're not dreaming big enough dreams. When we want to become healthy, we just think about getting rid of the excess weight, or the annoying spots or headaches. We react, we don't pro-act. When do we think 'Wouldn't it be nice to be the fittest I could be?' or 'Wouldn't it be amazing to be the richest person in the world' or 'I wonder how many people I could help in my lifetime' (help to stop starving, help to stop violence, help to bring peace)?. We're rarely specific enough or determined enough; so the spots return, the excess weight comes back and Africans remain with a life span that is half that of the rest of the world.

To love ourselves enough for the suffering of others to stop causing us suffering, we must forgive ourselves everyday, until we're feeling good enough that it can overflow.

My reasons for learning Bushcraft are as wide as they are broad, but I have always hoped that one day my best dreams would start to show up in my reality and they are, and I know that they will for you too.

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• IN the beginning

• ‘A Beautiful Mess Inside’

• Losing self - finding self

• Applying for University

• RIPA Centre – Europe

• A Series of Unfortunate Events

• Lectures/Workshops

• Commissions

• The Alliance for Middle East Peace

• A soul famine

• The Thinking Blogger Award!

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Sunday 20 May 2007

How to Remove a Tick or real Aliens!

As you can see it was a very small tick at first

This tick was one of two that had the cheek to blag a free dinner from me with out asking. Both of them went for the same leg and I had to wait until they were big enough for me to get them out with the hook, it's best for getting their heads out otherwise you risk the infection from Lymes Disease. Also if a ticks in over twelve hours or you have more than one tick or if it gets fully engorged (nice) then you're more likely to get it. Even if you do find a tick on you this doesn't mean it's got Lymes or that it's transfered it to you. The symptoms to look out for come later (days) and include one or all; feeling drowsy like you've got the flu, muscle cramps and nausea. There are also these noticeable large blotches like a big red rash in a circle over an inch wide. So try and see a doctor if this happens.

It wasn't yet nine o clock on this sunday morning and already the little creatures have invaded. First it was the ants who seem to be using our bathroom as a freeway, we think their nest might have been disrupted when the outside wall was resurfaced. Then I found a cricket on its back, waving its legs around, so he got relocated. then my mother said, "Lou can you have a look at this bite", which unfortunately was on her backside "Is it a tick?" she asks a bit worried. up until now she's thought ticks only went for animals. At first I thought no but then I got a little closer. It's little orange bottom was sticking out and its legs were wriggling. 'Oh dear' I thought.

My dad said that up until he came to this part of France, he'd never heard of ticks. Why do you have to be careful? Ticks carry Lyme's Disease and although the chances of catching it are slim, I mean first you have to get a tick, if one stays in for longer than 12 hours then its more likely but you really don't want to get Lyme's Disease. Anyway, to get a tick off you don't want to just pull it because its head might stay in and that's when its most likely. So here am I staring at a Ticks bottom and my mum's bottom first thing on a Sunday morning, nice... Well there's lots of stories about how to get them out, but the easiest way I've found is t

his fancy hook they sell here. (see pic). You just make the skin around the bite taut, slip this thing on pressing firmly turn it a few times and pull hard. It came out with a satisfying pop, just like that. The last time I encountered a tick on a person was someone on a course and they spent about three hours labouring with needles to get it out in an unsuccessful and painful manner. Good idea to have one of these in your first aid kit.
The way that my mum realised she had one was because she went to scratch what she thought was a mozzi bite and felt something tried to pull it and all her skin lifted up with it. Nice detail I know, but good it's to know these things.

If you have enjoyed reading this site please help me to keep raising the standards by leaving a donation

Related Articles:-
The Backyard Bushcraft Experience,
Return of the Tribe,
What is my ecological footprint?,
Progress is Process - Training program
How to put up a Tarp and How to put up a Hammock
What to do about sports injuries
Learning to Identify Plants
Be Your Healthiest You

To join my newletter, with the latest Positive Impact Living Methods and News and please fill out your information in the box below (it's confidential), it will arrive once a month and you can easily unsubscribe, thanks Louise

tags - how to remove a tick, ticks, removing ticks, getting a tick off, tick remedy, tick tratment, treating animals for ticks, tick remover

Positive Impact Living