Look In The Mirror-5 Steps To Preparing Yourself To Survive

by Les Rogers of http://www.wildernesssurvivaltechniques.com

To the extent one has “looked in the mirror” will determine whether or not they can survive being lost in wilderness or jungle conditions or even in an urban grid down situation. Here are five questions we should ask ourselves when “looking in the mirror”.

 1. Can we regulate our heart rate?

There are oodles of breathing exercises out there from different traditions of Yoga, Martial Arts, and Qi Gong.  I would encourage the prepper to at least try at least one out to explore the possibilities of controlling their heart rate.

During times of stress your heart rate goes up.  This impairs your ability to think straight and could cost you your life.

Tom Seabourne, Ph. D, a certified strength and conditioning specialist writes in his blog,

“One breathing strategy is to pay attention to the sensations as air passes through your nostrils. Inhale through your nose. Notice the point just inside your nose where you have the most powerful sensation of air flow. Exhale and feel the sensation again. Focus your attention on this spot. Use this single point to keep your attention fixed. Don’t try any specific breathing techniques. Just watch your breath. Although you control the pace of your inhalation-exhalation cycle, let your breathing proceed at its natural pace. Sometimes it slows, speeds up, is deep, short, or choppy. Just observe. And watch how thoughts inadvertently affect your breathing. Each time though, come back to the object of your focus–your breath.

At the beginning of your inhalation, follow your breath just for that inhalation. Then, at the start of your exhalation, follow your breath just for that exhalation. Focus on a single breath cycle. Forget about the last breath, and don’t think about the next one.

There are a variety of psychological and physiological factors that affect your heart rate. The pace of your heart is unique to your body. It is self-regulating. You don’t have to do a thing and it keeps beating. It maintains its own rhythm to keep you alive. But your hormonal responses and your central nervous system (CNS) and autonomic nervous system (ANS) can affect the speed and rhythm of your heart. Your hormones send chemicals into your blood to affect your heart’s pace. And your heart beats faster or slower depending on how your nerves stimulate your heart.”

2. Can We Pull Our Body Weight Up? (can we do a pull up?)

Practicing hanging from a pull-up bar for a minute a day.  Gradually increase the time you can hang there.  This will increase the tendon strength in your fingers, wrist and hand as well as stretch the joints in your shoulder.  When you feel able try to pull yourself up.  If you can only go a quarter of the way do as many repetitions as you can a quarter of the way.  Eventually you’ll build the strength to pull yourself all the way up.

Hanging from a pull-up bar is also a wonderful stretch for your back.

We need to develop a regular exercise routine that increases cardiovascular endurance, tendon strength, and coordination.  Muscle strength will come if you’re taking care of those areas.

3. How long can we run continuously without stopping?

Check with your doctor before starting a routine, especially if your knees and back are in bad shape.

Start by walking at a fast pace for an hour after dinner.  After a week or so include a little jogging in your walk.

Join a running club to help motivate you.  Typically running clubs train for marathons.  This accomplishment would be the ideal in “survival gear”.

Try to deal with any major orthopedic problems right away.  General Patton would order his soldiers to inspect and clean their feet thoroughly every night.  A soldier with sores on his feet can’t fight.

4. Do We Have Peace of Mind?

We all have our demons.  Best to exorcise these demons now before The Shit Hits The Fan.

It has been clearly demonstrated by science that being addicted to alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs impairs your ability to think and act decisively.  Start taking steps to get yourself under control, whether it’s AA, your minister, or your spiritual advisor.

We need to develop peace of mind.  The ability to remain relatively cool headed in times of strife has always a prized trait of Generals.  Refer to Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”

Daily prayer or meditation will accomplish this or simply being somewhere and being still.

Learn to feel OK being by yourself.  We need to learn to be our own best friend.

Be a friend, develop strong social bonds where there is an understanding that if something goes down you can rely on each other to pool resources and skills.

On your own it’s not likely you’ll survive too long.  We need other people working cooperatively to survive.

5. Can we defend ourselves without a weapon?

Developing a strong martial arts practice will strengthen your body and give you more peace of mind.  It also will develop your cardiovascular strength without having to go jogging everyday.  If your like me you absolutely hate running.

A word of advice; keep it to yourself when you begin training.  Peers tend to want to test you when you are at the beginning stages of learning.  This could result in you getting discouraged or embarrassed if your technique doesn’t work out for you.

Learn to use your peripheral vision when walking around town.

Learn to feel when people are in close proximity around you.

Avoid areas of congestion and chaos.  If you know which areas to avoid, avoid them.  Don’t try to be the hero.

All in all survival is starts with you.  Start where you are or you’ll never be anywhere.

Are you in good enough physical fitness to do what will be required of you if the SHTF?  Please leave a comment down below that tells us what you do to train your body and your mind.

This has been a guest post by Les Rogers of http://www.wildernesssurvivaltechniques.com be sure to check out his site and sign up for his updates via email!