Dr. George L. Dixon - "Talking Fitness"

SPRING TONIC

Fellow went into a store. "Need some long underwear." Clerk, eyeing his long legs, "How long do you need them?" " Well, til March at least." Ah, springtime.

Sap rising, plants germinating, awakening from sleep, budding trees. A time of possibilities. In spring a young man's fancy turns to what the girls have been thinking about all winter!

Actually a very ancient concept. Most cultures have some kind of "rites of Spring". Pagan festivals, the Maypole in Scandinavia, even MardiGras, before Lent. The Christians tried to take the season over with the festival of Easter, with the death and Resurrection of Jesus. If the truth be known, the barefoot slave children in pagan Rome were purged spring and fall with Jerusalem oak seed for their ever present worms!

Our mothers and grandmothers translated this concept into tonic and cleansing. Usually a laxative to clear away the leftovers from winter in your gut. The tonic was often a bitter tea or spoonful of whatever was the popular herb mix in their culture, to give energy and wash away the doldrums.

In present day, magazines and health food stores, such as Moses and Wild Oats sell tinctures and herbs singly and in mixtures for the same end. Cleansing and/or awakening all or at least some of our various organ systems.

I belong to a sizable group of people who think that the "tonic" and "awakening" effects can be best brought about by insisting that your body be active. I think the best "Alternative Medicine" is that over which you have fairly complete control. That is, by moving your body, you can effect many of the great things that are needed by your whole body.

The hardest thing for most of us to do is to get started. The next hardest thing to do is to keep moving. Getting outside is the best; walk, jog, bike, dance, run the rapids, tennis, garden. ACTIVE is the key word. Try a switch from the chemical cleansing and stimulating to the alternative treatment of physical activity to "cleanse the heart, lungs, blood and bowel".

More help is available in "Exercise a la Carte", here, at your bookstore or call 800-624-4952.