Category: Healthy Living

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Healthy Living

I don’t get bored.

– Haruki Murakami

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Missing my super early morning ritual of quiet reflection to prepare for a class, affects the class outcome – obviously. Teachers take sabbaticals because unless the class is continually progressive, it can get boring – less so for the students as they are embodying the experience, the sensation – but not the teachers -and so they themselves need to refresh. After a blank period and getting over the holiday vacation haze, I felt I was on auto-pilot – and one student reminded me how much she liked what I “used to do”. It’s true I had not incorporated more of what I know and stuck with what’s simply comfortable. Maybe I got a little complacent…

It will be different next week – why? Because I have now set an intention. Pressed the “refresh” button for the new year:) Students hold the mirror. Not the studio walls (and this place, there’s no escaping it with 3 out of 4 sides covered …:). Thank you for reminding me what it is about my class that keeps you coming, N – that expectation. I had forgotten it momentarily. I will share more and hold back less. It’s just a practice. We are not trying to prove anything.

practice is about repetition – repeating over and over – I don’t get bored either. New ideas and discoveries. New Year … renewed resolve … repetition is not boring. unimaginative mind is.

zennishstonesFinding that “balance”…while we are at it.

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Beautiful People Healthy Food

Michio Kushi

Quoting Michio Kushi:

“Yoga breathing control is practiced to influence our thinking. The lungs correspond to our fore brain and can influence our consciousness.”


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“As you know macrobiotics has helped thousands of sick people; but this is kindergarten. The purpose of macrobiotics is to become free to change all of this world into what we want – unhappiness to happiness, sickness to health, war to peace, misery to love. When you attain this freedom you become the children of the Kingdom of Heaven.”


New York Times coverage on the passing of Michio Kushi is linked – Click Here.
Please rest in peace… Hope to be learning from some of your students.

We all have to die physically some day of something & since I am putting away Haruki Murakami books into storage, this Murakami quote seems appropriate:

“Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.”

Sad, yes, but he lives on & I love the way he is remembered – His words quoted from his memorial page is so touching. Click here.

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Healthy Activities Yoga

frozen & stiff shoulders…

When angel wings stop flying for too long… base of the wings stiffen and freeze up. Then the neck area gets stiff and sore. Keep that area, between and across the scapula – you know, where we once had our wings, soft by gentle stretches and keep your “angel wings” fluttering:) Some specific arm movements can help but first find out the root cause to rule out anything serious – such as actual Injury, Diabetes, Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism), Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), Cardiovascular disease, or Parkinson’s disease – with a visit to the doctor if the discomfort is persistant and prolonged. Usually, it’s not serious but resulting from lack of use or limited use confined in preset pattern, i.e., a restricted range of motion over a long period of time.

Try Warm/hot bath up to and over the base of the neck, to cover the shoulders (unless its acute inflammation then ice), or use heating pads… roll out your shoulders into a posture that does not collapse the rib cage, and deeper breathe rather than shallow clavicle breathing … may be a less invasive remedy. If you don’t use them, you lose them. So if still too painful, use them with doctor approved meds for temporary pain relief – until they defrost. Once defrosted, perhaps not use pain medication and continue the gentle stretching in a methodical slow way… By no means do not aggravate by forcing anything – The motto would be gentle and kind… you can regenerate your angel wings back in place:) Your body is intelligent and wants to heal. It knows what to do.
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