Starting anew
mindfulness, mindset
22nd Oct 2009
No Comments »
I see this day as a new beginning. (It’s never too late to have a new beginning.)
Today and tomorrow can be very different from yesterday if you can let yesterday go and focus on today.
Today and tomorrow are about your NOW vibration, and you have complete control over that.
Look for things to feel good about, and watch how everything in your life will unfold to reflect that good-feeling vibration.
Live richly – have more fun
fun, mindfulness, self care, wealthy wednesdays
23rd Sep 2009
No Comments »
Free Bouncy Rides
It’s ok to be silly sometimes. Or enjoy watching other silliness around you. After all, you know what they say about all work and no play. You don’t want to become a dull girl or boy.
If you’re not in New York, you may be saying to yourself, “Oh, that’s something that would only happen in New York.” Maybe. But hang out in the areas of town where the artists live, and I bet you’ll find more amusement and silliness than you would expect.
I saw this guy for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, this performance artist has been hanging around a few different subway stops offering “free bouncy rides” to riders. For the record, I did not take him up on his offer. Snapping this photo was enough amusement for me as I couldn’t wait to get home after a long day.
Finding your om
fun, inspiration, mindfulness
29th May 2009
No Comments »
Getting centered and balanced – that’s difficult for many people to achieve. We’re never actually totally balanced or centered. When we stand still, or what we experience in yoga class when trying a balance posture, our body is always correcting and moving slightly. We sway forward, and then back, trying to keep ourselves in balance and centered. These micro movements are normal and part of life.
But for someone practicing meditation, this idea of balance can be frustrating. And intimidating if you think you need to sit for hours to achieve it.
But according to Thom Knoles, Vedic Meditation expert, practicing only takes 15-20 minutes and involves sitting in a comfy chair with your eyes closed at the start and end of the day.
If you’d like to learn, take an intro to meditation class – there are courses currently scheduled for New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Austin. Or contact them to learn how you can get classes set up for other areas.
Found on Vital Juice Daily
Beat the recession snacking blues
mindfulness, news, self care
15th May 2009
No Comments »
The recession may be shrinking wallets, but for some it’s expanding waistlines.
A couple of months ago, the NY Times reported that candy sales were up – not fancy candies, but corner store and nostalgic varieties. And a recent survey by Career builder showed that people were snacking more due to worries about the recession.
This is alarming in many ways.
First, eating candy is only a temporary relief of stress. Once people get on the blood sugar roller coaster that inevitably happens when they indulge in large amounts of sugar, they will alternate between euphorically happy and weepily depressed.
Second, sugar encourages many diseases to flourish in the body. It contributes to imbalances and helps create a highly acidic environment, perfect for viruses and pathogens to thrive. It weakens the immune system so that your body will have a harder time repairing damage being done to every area.
I could list about 100 different harmful things that sugar does to you, but what’s more important is finding better ways to deal with stress if it is causing you to eat massive amounts of sugar. So…
Go on a media diet – turn off the news, stay away from the gloom and doom. You will not miss anything, I promise. If something really big happens, someone will tell you about it.
Take care of yourself – make time to do things that you love to do. The things that give us the most joy don’t cost much as all to do. For example, I love to read novels, walk around my neighborhood, and listen to music. None of those things cost a lot of money but I get a lot of joy from them.
Be grateful – if you’re feeling poor and thinking poor, then you are poor. But if you start appreciating all that you have in life, you’ll never feel poor again. Keep a journal of all of the things that you are grateful for – write down a short list of 3-5 things per day.
Do this every day for a month,and I can guarantee that you will have forgotten about your fear and lost the need to snack it away.
Being present with your food
food, mindfulness, self care
1st Mar 2009
No Comments »
This week, I’ve been reading “The Healing Secrets of Food” by Deborah Kesten. In the book, she talks a lot about the mind-body connection and how being mindful of consuming not only makes your eating more pleasant but also makes it a more nourishing experience.
In the chapter about mindfulness, she notes several studies that showed how being mindful improved digestion and cardiovascular health. In one study, meditation before eating increased salivary minerals. Another showed that relaxed people were better able to digest fatty foods, lowering the likelihood of clogging vessels with fats and therefore lowering the risk of heart attack.
How do you get mindful when eating? It’s simple, but not easy.
First – you need to have the intention of becoming mindful. This means that you focus your attention on your meal and your eating.
Second – you need to commit to mindfulness. If you find your mind wandering, gently let your thoughts go and come back to the task at hand – eating your meal.
Third – you need to focus your attention solely on your food. Notice how it looks on the plate. Enjoy the smell of it. Create the intention of taking some food on your fork and lifting it before you actually act. Note that you are lifting food to your mouth when you do. Then when you take the bite, make sure you savor all the flavors, chew well and enjoy the texture before you decide to swallow. Be with the food the entire time that you’re enjoying it.
Watch your language
inspiration, love, mindfulness, self care
30th Dec 2008
No Comments »
“If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
That’s what my mom used to say to me and my sister – usually when we were fighting or complaining about something. This oft-quoted saying used to just annoy me. But now I realize how important it really is, especially when it comes to what you say to yourself.
Have you ever heard that voice in your head that criticizes your every move? You know, the one that favors sarcasm and often has choice names for you? This self-talk is one of the most destructive things you can do to yourself. It’s bad for your confidence and self esteem. It makes you fat and broke. And it can make you sick, break out and lose your hair. Think I’m kidding? It’s true.
Instead, cultivate a warm, kind, encouraging voice. Praise yourself for everything you do right instead of dwelling on minor mishaps. Give yourself pep talks when you’re feeling down or discouraged. And celebrate all wins.
Once you start changing the way you talk to yourself, you’ll see how your whole outlook changes – and how good things naturally start flowing into your life. Don’t wait to start this new habit – start today and watch your life bloom.
Renew and revitalize with a cleanse
cleanse, food, mindfulness, self care
29th Dec 2008
No Comments »
If you feel like you’ve had too much to eat over the holidays, it’s fine to take a break from eating. As long as you have no serious medical problems that would prohibit you from doing so, taking a day or two to cleanse your body with a fast is a healthy way to give your body a rest from processing large amounts of heavy foods, sugary treats, and strong alcoholic and caffeinated beverages.
If you have truly overindulged, you may want to do a pre-cleanse before you cleanse. You can take a few days or more to eat low-fat meals – consisting of light foods such as steamed vegetables, whole cooked grains, lean proteins, and fresh fruit – and cut out alcohol and coffee. Pre-cleansing will make your cleanse that much easier because you will likely not experience the more extreme symptoms of cleansing and detoxification – headaches, flu-like symptoms, and generally feeling ill – since your body will have already started discharging toxins.
If you are interested in doing a guided cleanse, contact me for details.
7 minutes to Zen
love, mindfulness, self care
18th Dec 2008
No Comments »
Is the holiday whirlwind driving you insane? Emotions running high? Thinking about finding an escape? Try something different – breathe through your stress.
Give yourself at least five to seven minutes to go through this exercise.
Slow down and find a quiet place to go. Try focusing on your breath. Breathe in and out and observe.
Allow yourself to feel whatever it is that you’re feeling – anxiety from crowds, anger about anything, fear about the economy, sadness about the time of year. Feel any reactions that come up – food cravings that may help you escape your feelings, a desire to run away forever, the need for a nap or a retreat away from it all.
Know that whatever it is that you’re feeling will go away. Watch your mind as you ride this wave of emotion. Watch the wave crash on the shore and then retreat backwards.
See your emotions calm and dissipate. Feel the quality of your breath. How has it changed? What’s different now that you’ve observed your breath instead of reacting to your mind? This exercise will take some practice, but it’s a worthwhile pursuit if you can do it on a regular basis.
Eating with your mind
food, love, mindfulness, self care
17th Dec 2008
No Comments »
Ok, it’s the holidays and there are plenty of parties and treats to go around for everyone. So maybe you’ve fallen off your health wagon a little bit. Or a lot.
Don’t despair. You can start again wherever you are – even at your next meal. Just decide that you’re going to eat healthfully. Decide because you know that it is in alignment with who you really are. Changing your mindset is essential to cultivating life long health.
In his book Nourishing Wisdom, Marc David notes that it’s not just what we eat but how we eat that impacts our health.
If you mentally punish yourself for everything that you eat that you consider to be “bad,” you’re actually doing more damage to your body than if you simply enjoyed the treat. The bad mental feelings that you get from indulging can transform into headaches, backaches, indigestion and other ailments. Not fun, and not helpful for you.
And, if you continue to punish yourself, the next time you slip up, you may start thinking thoughts like, “Oh, what’s the use? I’m a failure, so I might as well just keep going.” What’s that going to do for you except make you think about eating more junk food and then feeling crummy about yourself – and feeling sick from eating junk food! On the other hand, if you’re good to yourself when you indulge, enjoying your treat with others, you cultivate a much healthier mindset and a healthier body as well.
So if you’re going to indulge, acknowledge it and enjoy it. Treat yourself with love and see how your health improves.
Recover faster after your workouts
exercise, mindfulness, self care
14th Dec 2008
No Comments »
Your muscles worked hard, and your body needs some recovery time before you run off and do other things. The best thing you can do for yourself after your workout is stretching. By incorporating stretching into your regular routine, you ensure that your body stays limber and gets some recovery time, allowing it to repair more easily after all the hard work that you’ve done in your workout.
There are two types of stretches: static, or those that you hold, and ballistic, continuous movements that stretch you out. I like to do a combination of both. The static stretches help get some muscles that are hard to stretch otherwise – for example, the quads are most easily stretched by standing on one foot and grabbing the other foot behind you. Ballistic stretches work out the kinks and give you more energy at the same time. An example of a ballistic stretch is twisting – standing upright and turning your torso from side to side, letting your arms swing as you twist.
If you’re familiar with yoga, you know the Sun Salutation. This series of postures is a great way to either warm up before exercising or cool down afterwards. It works everything, massaging your internal organs and stretching each part of your body. If done rigorously, you can do it as aerobic exercise that will keep you flexible, train you to breathe properly (as long as you’re timing your inhales/exhales with the movement) and clear your mind.
Designed by 