Happy Feng Shui Friday.  Arapahoe Basin ski area opened last weekend and lines of snowboarders and skiers were wrapped around the mountain to experience the first fresh snow in Colorado.  That got me thinking about being active.

Just like Mrs. Chi moves consistently through our homes and offices, yards and cars, chi also moves through our bodies.  Because chi either gets stuck in clutter or avoids it all together, removing clutter from our bodies encourages positive chi flow which means balance and harmony.   Here are some tips on body de-clutter the feng shui way.

Mrs. Chi and Muscle.  Whether it's muscle to move all those boxes of clutter or muscle to move calories and fat, we need muscle.  One of the things my doctor explained that I appreciated (and it sort of made me feel better) is that I'm not alone in this weight thing. After menopause all women lose muscle mass and that makes it increasingly difficult to lose weight. Especially if you're not athletic, sedentary, or don't regularly participate in strength and stamina activities. Muscle burns calories.  No muscle, hello stubborn weight.  So if I do nothing else, I ought to be excited about doing some weight lifting, gain some muscle, and burn more calories.  So I'm calling Mrs. Chi and asking her to include me in her meanders around the house and the yard. If she can move, so can I.   I've asked her to get me up and get me active again, baby steps.  But exercise is hard work. 

You can't make me.  For some time I've felt like a rebellious teenager. When it comes to exercise, that ugly "E" word, I dig in my heels and say "I don't want to and you can't make me."  Even though I like water aerobics and I actually enjoy the fresh air, this weight and lower back pain make it difficult and painful to be active.  Using different words instead of exercise seems to help: move, be active, dance, swim, walk, play with the grand-kids, shop, run errands, clean house, declutter closets, stand up from computer work and stretch, park further away when running errands, meander with Mrs. Chi.  In one of the Hay House World Summit interviews this week, Iyanla Vanzant talked about commitment to her daily spiritual practices.  She said she was a student of Yoda, "There's no 'trying'.  You do it or you don't do it."  She explained that when you're committed you just do it!  "You practice every day with no expectations of reward or return...None! You don't allow for conditions [doesn't matter what's going on and if you're having a good day or a bad day]."  So this week I am practicing moving more--making a commitment to just do it. 

Younger Next Year is a great book by Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry S. Lodge.  I read it several years ago and found its philosophy pretty interesting, so I picked it up again this week for a quick review.  The thing I remembered most was we have a choice every day to grow or decay (I think that's in all things--body, heart, mind and spirit--decluttering ourselves or our stuff).  Dr. Lodge explains that "nature balances growth with decay by setting your body up with an innate tendency toward decay.  The signals are not powerful, but they are continuous, they never stop and they get a little stronger each year....in our forties and fifties our bodies switch into a 'default to decay' mode, and the free ride of youth is over."  But we can keep ourselves from decaying (and all that stuff packed in boxes in our basement or storage shed); we can actually decide each day to grow rather than decay by "changing the signals we send our bodies."  And one of the key ways to change that decay is daily exercise.  We can declutter the body and declutter aging by moving every day, taking a walk with Mrs. Chi, building muscle.

This week join me in finding one way to move more.  I love to read. While I could sit and read in a big cozy chair until the end of days, sitting all day is not a balanced feng shui life.  Move with me this week. Dance to your favorite playlist, walk to the library, winterize the gardens, clean out the closets and switch summer clothes to winter, or ski.  Let's declutter the decay and build something we love, use and need - a healthy, de-cluttered body.