Concepts of Fitness and Health

The word fitness means "suited to the circumstances, proper," and more specifically in relation to physical condition it means "in condition, properly trained for action."  Keeping our bodies in a condition properly trained for the actions we demand of it is a component of health.

The world Health means "wholeness, a being whole, sound or well."  It refers to being sound, well, whole in physical, mental and spiritual function.

The following article is based upon a 1943 Women's Army Corp Physical Fitness Manual.  The concepts it expresses are nevertheless as useful today as they ever have been.   Quotations below are taken from FM 35-20 W.A.C. Field Manual Physical Training, 1943.  Let's look at the concepts shared in that manual and how the women of WWII prepared themselves.

A SHORT Descriptor of the Mayan Calandar

Click to enlarge

The Tzolkin, or as I like to imagine it, the Sol-counter, or Day counter (this is probably an inaccurate translation, but IS an accurate descriptor), is the name of the 260 day Day-counter of the Mayans. There are 20 seals or "characteristics" described and 13 tones or descriptions of cosmic energies. 

Each day a new seal, set of characteristics, is "cycled through" and each seal used once in each 13-Tone cycle making a chart of 260 unique combinations that cycle through the years presenting an ever changing portrait of "things to think about."

Here is a very brief overview of how the Mayans kept their timekeeping system:

Stories for the Spring Equinox

The Great Bear and her
 “Little Dipper”

The Spring Equinox honors one of the two times of the year when day and night are of equal length. Equinox comes from the Latin ‘Aequus” (equal) & ‘Nox’ (night). At this time, the Sun is directly above the Earth’s equator between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. It is the beginning of astronomical Spring. 

Here's a bit of trivia you may not know.   There are two constellations in the northern sky that reference bears, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor – The Big and Little Dippers.  The "dipper" portion of the constellations is said to reference the bear's body and the "handle" portion of the Big Dipper the bear's tail.