Month: November 2017

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Healthy Activities Healthy Living

Yoga for Weight Management

Kind of thought about this subject because with Thanksgiving coming up, everyone seems to be rather caught up in how to curb the calories and burn fat … in anticipation of the turkey day around the corner.

While I have ranged in (non-pregnancy related) weight from 115 lbs. all the way up to 145lb; I probably look and feel the best at 120lb to which I am 10 lbs. over this year – I call it the “Freshman 15” ish affect of going to Yoga Therapy program which has entailed so much reading and HW that studies ironically takes away from the actual practice of the yoga that I used to. the luxury of practicing 1-2 hours a day was … a luxury and now with that gone, I find that my weight has creeped up and up as I am eating as much as before. But I am not worried as I know, after this program, when I again have more time, I can practice more and regularly like before. Even though I am 15lbs. over the so called “ideal” weight I had maintained pre-studies, I am

Still, not fat? Compared to those days when I dieted and aggressively went about doing pure Cardio and caloric burns, my weight is down because … yoga manages the level of cortisol which affects our eating and sleep. When we don’t get enough sleep, we tend to gain weight; and when we don’t manage stress well, we also gain weight – so no matter how much cardio and sweating you do, ultimately the first two factors contribute to our weight management success. So again, ironically, when I stopped the incessant, feel-high rat running in the cage mode of exercise and actually went off to softer side of yoga … funny, I lost the last 10 lbs. I always wanted to shed. Yes, that’s the 10 lbs that like a yoyo creep up or drops down for me – all dependent on the amount of rest and restoration coupled with mindful exercise.

Thanksgiving can be a lovely holiday but it can also be a stressful time for many – I have a dear family friend, a beautiful mom who her sons called their “SUN” for her sunny and bright disposition – so sorry – who had a cardiac arrest day after Thanksgiving. She was carried to ER on an ambulance but … I got a call of her departure and attended her funeral – this is couple of years ago. Did you know that Heart Disease is the number one cause of death for women? It’s not all overweight men with metabolic syndrome. So … I did not know that…back then. She collapses. This, despite the fact that she engaged in regular aerobic exercise, vigorous cardio workouts at a gym and frequent walks … I wish I had shared my knowledge back then to give her more ease … but back then, I didn’t have that knowledge. Myself too, going along with the hype, beating myself up, whipping myself into shape. A bit of challenge is good as we all want to have the motivation and the drive to improve ourselves – that striving BUT really, how much of that do we really need. Don’t we have enough of that already?

It behooves us to find that softer side of yoga where you balance the effort and ease to calibrate a program where you are no longer agitated. Your nervous system is humming harmonious, your hormones are at an optimal level, your immune system is strengthened and body/mind connection strikes a homeostasis. Surprisingly, the scale will then give you results you would not have expected. I am not saying we should be sedentary and just breath; we do need to exercise, yes. But how do you want to engage in that exercise? The body can be whipped into shape, you can beat it up into shape but in my experience, why beat yourself up? Why not dance or belly laugh into health? I’ve found that our body-temple actually responds really well to positive affirmations, kindness, tenderness and most especially to acceptance.
With Abundance of Love all around – to HEART health! Namaste:)

Categories
Healthy Living Yoga

Yoga for Chronic or Persistent Pain

is this weekend and this month’s module with Tianna Meriage-Reiter PT & YT and BK Bose, our Director as teachers – counting our blessings! Pain busting yoga studies so that we can do more yoga safely.

I attended Yoga for Chronic Pain given by Neil Pearson, PT, MSc(RHBS), BA-BPHE, C-IAYT, ERYT500 (phew, are there enough initials of credentials for Neil?) when he was hosted by Niroga Institute last year. To go over this subject again with 2 additional highly respected teachers is such a treat and … so needed in this day and age where there’s so much controversy over the Opioid epidemic. I think we are all eager to explore the ways in which yoga can really serve to alleviate and share the techniques. Best to consult a well qualified PT or the case may be your doctor to rule out anything needing more acute or immediate attention.

Yoga Prescription is not by any means, a miracle drug but consistent and regular practice will make a difference for the better. Surely not an over night cure – in fact, maybe the pain does not go away … but suffering could. Yoga therapy as a way we learn to heal, first by knowing ourselves and then applying the Yogic Therapy techniques whether it be specific asana/poses and breath techniques, mindfulness practices … customized to bring to the forefront our body’s inner natural wisdom to fully employ the healer within.

Our Honey is suffering from …Pain! Drugged for Pain ! Immobilized in stuper, legs shaking and refusing to lie down or sit … just standing… Poor Honey I’m fixed! Gratitude for lots TLC and loads of love:)

Categories
Healthy Living

Summer Time’s Over – Autumn is HERE:)

Fall back by an hour our clock to Fall into …this Golden Season of abundance and gratitude – harvest the fruits of your labor with that intention:

“Inside of us, there’s a continual autumn. Our leaves fall and are blown out over the water.” – Rumi

Happy Monday:) We are entering into the Metal or Gold 金 season …It’s a time of transition this week and next. So interesting that there’s overlaps and common wisdom between Rumi, who is Persian poet from 1200’s and … ancient Chinese medicine and … Ayurveda … Ultimately it’s all connected and shared knowledge :

Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed.
Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings.

Rumi

While Fall season showcases the theme of cornucopia of abundance and generosity … like falling leaves, there’s that element of losing something, letting something fall and going … bare.
For some, rather than the sense of abundance and golden harvest, Autumn season may be when we are reminded of losses and diminished energies … shorter days, longer nights, crummy weather reports, dreary, dry, grey with chills… some may even experience sadness, even grief dwelling in the past.

How does one transcend the impending darkness of Winter? Do we simply ignore unpleasant emotions, feelings, internalize and carry on ? OR ? It’s time for exercise and eating well better than ever – it’s about supplements and support. It’s about managing our energies, surrounding ourselves with people and things and nature – beauty – that boosts our energies, avoiding toxic or negative energies that saps our already depleted energy. It’s about heart warming slow cooked soul foods that truly nourishes. It’s about recharging and regenerating more with compassionate self-care.

Next post – all about being courageous, authentic and finding … acceptance. To face what scares us squarely; feel the pain; maybe even – gasp – suffer …but resolved to grow more resilient, but not hardened – while remaining open, receptive and kind. Pretty soon – we will rediscover that spark … chakra jewels within us will sparkle and shine. With yoga, we practice to peel away layer by layer those muffling veils what dims and clouds that crystalline pure light within. The power, the beauty, the truth … JOY … all that’s precious is within like that gift we unwrap with anticipation and wonder.

It’s all within if we learn to just … be.