Personal Growth, Yoga

Movement and Meditation – Dance of Energy

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Light streams through the window. In that ray of light, the dust in the air, ordinarily invisible, dances. There is a dance going on around us constantly–a dance of energy. The leaves on the trees dance in the wind. Our thoughts in our mind.

Imagine for a moment that nothing in this world is solid. It is all a big field of dancing golden particles of light, like the dust in the sunlight. You are surrounded by energy in motion even as you think you walk on solid ground.

Close your eyes and imagine this dance of energy. The more you think this way, the lighter you become and the more energy you feel. You begin to discover you can dance with things, events, and relationships. The dance is a perfect metaphor for human relationships and for life.

In different situations, ask yourself, “How can I dance with this?” This difficult person, your car breaking down, waking up tired in the morning. Hold out your arms to your partner of the moment, whatever or whomever it may be. Follow the rhythm of the moment, the music of the day.

It’s a great practice to sit and meditate, feeling the energy pulse within you, being with it until that very energy lifts you up. You may find yourself dancing, spontaneously moving into a yoga posture you have been doing for years, or dropping the ball into the basket with unexpected precision, but now it’s coming from deep inside. Also try the reverse: dance your heart out, and then sit down and feel the silence reverberate around you. Notice how you settle into meditation more easily: feel the tingle and rush of energy throughout the body. Movement and meditation go together; they enhance and support each other.

Sometimes people ask, “what can I do with my anger? My fear? My grief?” Dance with it. Truly, literally, dance with it. It’s what people have always done. Put on some music and move, by yourself, in your room, in your garden. Dance your anger, your fear, your love, your longing. As you dance, you become one with primal energy.

~ The Vibrant Life

Athlete, Diet, Eating

Workout recovery with walnuts

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Walnuts help you recover from intense workouts!

We all know that working out (intensely) can be very stressful.  And while working out is a good “stressor”, we still need to be mindful of helping the body to recover.  When we are speaking of foods to help us recover, we are talking about providing the body with macro nutrients (calories, fats, proteins, etc) AND MIRCO NUTRIENTS (vitamins a, b, c …. etc).  These micro nutrients are crazy important.  For this article we are focusing on antioxidants.

All forms of stress increase production of free radicals, a metabolic by-product of the body from utilizing fuel to create energy.  These charged atomic particles bounce around your system causing little sparks of damage.  Antioxidants neutralize these micro invaders.

Nutrition Journal – January 2014, has shown that consuming walnuts is an effective way of reducing this oxidative stress.

Walnuts contain nutrients that help reduce the stress caused by intense workouts.  This means that you will be able to recovery faster, leading to faster repair of lean muscle.  Feeding your body in this way allows you to safely trainer harder and more frequently.

Walnuts are slower to digest.  My suggestion is to eat 1 to 2 ounces at night.  In addition to being very high in antioxidants, they are stellar for the brain, have beneficial fats and are a nice CLEAN source of protein.

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Education, Personal Growth, Yoga

My Girl Boxer has EMOTIONAL TOURETTES

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I rescued this boxer from the pound about a year or two ago.  I’ve always had a girl dog.  Makes my soul smile.

She was terribly flawed.  Abused.  Anxious. Crazy hyper.  Tongue way too long.  Crocked jaw.

I knew she was a soul mate though the moment I saw her.  You know how those things go sometimes.

It got worse.  Boy oh boy does she have some issues.  She ate a couch.  Mild, compared to some of the behavior issues.

Today though, as I struggle to get my hands around some of the dog issues …. I can’t help but see myself in her.

….  like a carbon copy.  My thoughts travel to how we sometimes deal with things (the misbehaving dog for example)  Maybe this is how we do a great disservice to ourselves (and  human beings in general) …. give up, give ourselves away, pass the issue to someone else …. (ignore, drink too much, go on meds to numb ourselves, etc)

EMOTIONAL TOURETTES

This thought has been stuck in my head for quite awhile.  Behaviors that pop up seemingly out of no where.  There are lots of fancy words in all different systems to define this.  I like the term “emotional tourettes” myself.  Not to excuse the behavior but to provide understanding and hopefully INSPIRATION and EMPOWERMENT to do something about it.

In my dog’s case. She has abused.  Who really knows what happened that caused her to be wired up in some undesirable ways.   We see the resulting behaviors now though.   She gets unsure of herself.  Scared.  Feels as if she needs to protect herself.  Becomes aggressive, etc.

Can anyone else relate?

EMOTIONAL TOURETTES

Sometimes we don’t clearly understand what triggers us to act like this or that.  And maybe we get real attached to the results of the behaviors.  Lose sight of that INSPIRATION and EMPOWERMENT to do something about it.  Get confused on whats to do.

What I’ve learned from dog training.

1.  Focus on positive.  Make it DESIRABLE for the dog to pay attention to you.  LOVE LOVE LOVE them  (so love yourself).  Play games with them.  Positively re-enforce the good.  Do your best to not focus on the bad behavior, which does not help.  Set up your dog for success.  SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS.  (get help if you need it)

2.  Consistency and Practice.  Give your dog successful opportunities to learn.  Make sure they are getting enough exercise.  For the humans.  Exercise.  Meditate.  Practice calm mind activities. Sometimes focusing on positive mind practices can help our (hearts, minds, soul) heal organically, in the background.  Without really needed to attack the issue head on.

3.  Boundaries.  If the dog needs a time out, give one.  Humans too.  For the dog, establish who’s boss.  For humans, figure out for you “Who’s boss”.  😉

BELIEVE THAT ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.  (though might not be easy)

ALSO BELIEVE inside of that dog is a wonderful and valuable piece of the earth.  Worth the effort.

IN YOU TOO!

Personal Growth, Yoga

FOCUS on what matters most, put the rest in the backpack

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When it’s really tough, you don’t always have to go at it HEAD ON!

Jane is going through a divorce.  There is a lot at stake.  Finances.  Children.  Logistics of rebuilding a life.  Internal grief, lose, doubt … Jane is struggling with smiling at her children, figuring out how to move forward.  Her sleep sucks.  She feels as if shes drowning.

It can be overwhelming.  Leave you breathless.  Feeling lost.  Unsure.  Unsettled.

Divorce.  Job changes.  Illness.  Struggles within the family.  Life.  Any of these can make things just a little more interesting.

All of this can lead to taking the necessary next immediate steps difficult.

Sometimes we get stuck in the thought that we need to fix everything.  All at once.  Meet the challenges head on.  Feel like we’ve accomplished something because all the messy ends are taken care of.  One reason we trend towards this way of working through things is that we get super uncomfortable with the “unknown”.  So we work hard to find another “known”.

DOES THE WORK WELL ALL THE TIME?

We can get into a habit of forcing the situation, to get out of the “uncomfortable”.  That forcing action can be stressful, inefficient, less than optimal.   Detrimental to our health.  And maybe we miss a lesson we are set to learn.

Perhaps if we had waited in the “unknown” for a bit.  Experiencing the uncomfortableness of it, we find a different “solution”.  OR …. the “solution” comes to us organically.  We have faith and the situation works itself out.  Like magic.  And we learn how to be “more OK” with uncomfortable.  More flexible, less rigid.

WHEN IT GETS INTENSE:

1.  Write down on a sticky WHAT MATTERS MOST.  3 things.  Put that sticky(s) right in front of you.  FOCUS.

2.  Emotionally, mentally put the stuff NOT on the list in your backpack.   Intentionally leave it in the backpack until something on the WHAT MATTERS MOST list demands something out of the backpack.

WE ARE NOT HIDING, just focusing on what matters most, what we have control over, what we have energy and strength for.  We aren’t putting it in a box in the basement …. after all, the backpack is so very close to the heart, just not in our immediate sight.   Just on the backburner.

You’ll find that you gain strength.  Give yourself room to breathe and think.  Room for FAITH to work it’s magic.

So Jane, she’s really struggling with understanding why her ex-husband would do x,y and z.  And also struggling with his behavior, the choices that he’s making in regards to his children.  The first, is there really any answers that help and the second, can she control his behavior?  So she works everyday to put those things in her backpack.  Intentionally put the thoughts in her backpack EACH time they come into her mind/heart.  She works to FOCUS on herself, telling herself that the situation doesn’t change the fact that she is a ROCKSTAR.  This helps her to smile at her children.  Later on down the road she finds that she doesn’t need to understanding why he did x,y and z.  Perhaps she gains more self worth through it.  Maybe her actions that stem from that knowledge are visible to him, he organically changes as well.

HAVE FAITH
BREATHE
LET GO
BELIEVE IN THE NEXT AWESOME PLACE
(repeat)

Personal Growth, Yoga

2 Flavors of Fear

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Fear comes in TWO flavors.

Physical Fear and Irrational Fear

A bite of physical fear might taste something like the feeling of a near miss car accident or running from a wild animal.  Clear and present danger.  Fight or flight.  Get  your tail in gear or else.

Now irrational fear might taste the same, except that there is no danger, it’s all in your head.  The main causes of irrational fear come from assumptions, projecting, worrying about some future event.

Irrational fears can plague us, wreak havoc on your bodies, minds and souls.  Being in this constant state of trauma, drama and negativity.  (lack of faith)

We need to understand the difference between Real Fear and Irrational Fear

One keeps us alive.  One keeps us a prisoner, promotes slow death.

Homework:  develop awareness of when you taste fear.  Ask yourself … where is the fear coming from.  If it’s irrational, practice self love, acceptable and faith.

You are PERFECT just the way you are.

Diet, Education, Essential Oil, Prevention

Naturally Avoid Mosquitos and other yucky bugs (ticks)

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OH MY GOSH.

I get bitten all the time by mosquitos while my friends don’t.  Irritates me.

I LOVE EVENING OUTSIDE TIME

I really am not a big fan of DEET.  It’s an insecticide for heaven’s sakes.  Would you eat it straight????

So what’s to do.  To LIVE CLEAN.

Let’s nutshell it.

WHY:  There are 150 species of mosquitos.  They are all unique.  Yellow fever and Dengue fever are transmitted by Aedes mosquito.  Malaria – anopheles mosquitos, very climate based.  In general mosquitos locate us by chemicals (the smell) of l-lactic acid, ammonia, etc.  Interesting, carbon dioxide helps mosquito noses work better, so if you’re in trees ….

It’s not sweat (sweat is orderless) they are attracted to, but the by-product of the bacteria on your skin metabolizing our sweat, into other components, ammonia, etc.

GREAT and Interesting.  What does that mean for me? If you enjoy the evening outside and don’t want to get bit, get sick, have our dogs get heartworm, babies get something … how do we accomplish this CLEANLY and with ease.

PROBLEM:  DEET is an insecticide.  A neurotoxic for humans. Possibly carcinogenic when in clothing and nets.  Your skin absorbs everything you put on it.  That means it takes it into your body.   As if YOU HAVE EATEN DEET.  Does it have a warning label for ingestion?

HA!

SOLUTION:  Plants.  They have developed a natural deterrent for bugs.  (this also works for TICKS.)  Lemongrass, cinnamon, citronella, eucalyptus, etc.  Essential oils.   Works for your FURRY FRIENDS as well.  You can buy or make a spray.  Easy peasy.  For your dogs, put a bandana on your dog with drops of lemongrass and cinnamon on it.

Solution #1:  Dr. Mercola’s Bug Spray  Or other products.

Solution #2:  Delve into the world of essential oils.  Sounds complex and maybe a bit weird but its just CLEAN LIVING.  100 years ago this was the #1 Solution.  The reason to go this way …. if you have a small bottle of lemongrass in your bathroom and you’re an athlete and you mess up your knee, your health coach might tell you to apply the lemongrass to the knee to help heal the ligaments.  SUPER COOL!  Connect with me for more info.

lemongrass-w-my-words

Diet, Eating, Education, Prevention

Strong Bones … the rest of the story!

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GOOD AFTERNOON!

I was reading an article in a big magazine by a nutritionist.  And I was shocked by two things.  I’ll get to that.  First a nutshell of the article.

“Should I try the alkaline diet?”  Alkaline diet.  By the way, this means just eating more fruits and veggies.  Limiting meat, skipping dairy, sweets, alcohol and caffeine.  Banishing processed foods.  ALL GOOD STUFF.  You could also call this …

CLEAN EATING

So really no magic there.  No need for the word “diet”.  “alkaline diet”, “clean eating”, “eat like it was 100 years ago”.

So her conclusion was that maybe it’s not a “healthy” move, as there really isn’t “scientific evidence” that eating more fruits and veggies, A.K.A, an “alkaline diet” is good for you.   Even though … we all know that grandma was right.  Eat your fruits and veggies.  An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Point #1:  PLEASE don’t get hung up on the word “alkaline” and needing “scientific” evidence or proof that it words.  YOU KNOW IT WORKS.  There is no money in proving it, so you probably won’t see much proof.  Especially if it decreases sales of …. I digress.

Back to the article for point number 2.  “The Theory behind it is that our Western diet (rich with saturated fat, simple sugars and sodium and lacking in potassium, magnesium and fiber) produces acid, driving your body’s pH down slightly, making it more acidic.  So the thinking goes that having an acidic pH fuels chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and obesity and promotes aliments like bloating and chronic fatigue.  Eating a diet makes makes your body more alkaline staves off those health problems.  Nice theory.  The reality is that your body, especially your kidneys and lungs, maintains a steady pH regardless of what you eat.”  Then goes on to talk about “another rub” where it’s not intuitive to understand that while a lemon might sound acidic forming, it’s really not because it’s actually the metabolic waste that we are talking about, not the food themselves.

HERE’S THE REST OF THE STORY

Yes your kidneys and lungs are a big part of pH balance.  Ask yourself this question.  Where do the kidneys and lungs get the micronutrients to accomplish this task.  If you are eating REALLY CRAPPY, it certainly is a big TASK for your body to do.

It’s CRITICAL, this balance of pH levels.  Your blood pH has to be spot on, if not, you D I E.  So …. I’ll just get to point #2.

Point #2:  Your BONES are the biggest reserve for alkaline components that your body uses to maintain ever important pH levels.  Your kidneys and lungs might do the job.  If you are not suppling your body with the appropriate nutrients ON A DAILY BASIS, it will take the reserves from your

B
O
N
E
S

Which can lead to a whole slew of issues related to bone health.  You might not need more calcium pills.  Maybe just some fruits and veggies with less soda.  It’s simple science, chemistry 101.  Common sense.  You don’t need fancy words.  And do you need scientific evidence?

Eat more fruits and veggies.  Because it’s not like there is any negative side affects.

Well, you might poo more.

And have clearer skin.

And smell better.

And be stronger, healthier, calmer.

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