I love, Love a good back bend.  It wakes me up and puts me into a peaceful state.  A back bend has many helpful benefits; It opens up and stretches the chest, upper back, shoulders, and abdomen. It creates mobility and flexibility in the spine. It’s also energizing, and builds stamina and strength.  Which is why I never do one at night.  You should also never do a back bend without warming up your body first.  Want to get into this position and impress your significant other?  Here’s how…

Lie on your back.  Place your hands by your ears, fingers pointing toward the feet. Hands are shoulder width apart. Bend your knees and place your feet hip width apart and parallel.  Press down evenly on all the edges of your feet. Press down firmly with each finger as you lift your pelvis.  Don’t let your legs splay out.  It’s helpful to place a block in between your thighs and squeeze together. This will take pressure off your knees and protect your back. Let your head hang and soften your neck.  Draw your elbows toward each other and keep lifting your pelvis.  To come out, tuck your chin into your chest and bend your arms slowly.  

Enjoy

Through all stages of life we have teachers.  In kindergarten through high school and for some of us college, we had our fair share.  There are only a hand full that we remember and its usually the ones we really connected with.  These days my teacher isn’t one that lectures for an hour, or hands out homework.  My new teacher happens to be a one year old Puggle.  One that is teaching me patience, kindness and a whole new way of keeping my shit together.  He has welcomed himself into my life and totally turned it upside down.  Because of him I’m learning a whole new way to communicate and to deal with my frustrations. I’m understanding my mistakes and am able to put my ego aside to fix them.  When he tests me I stay strong and try not to give into his sweet face.  This boy is teaching me how to be a stronger and more compassionate person.  This teacher is going to be one to remember.

Namaste little guy… namaste

Since I already posted my thoughts on the flu in the previous blog, I might as well share some info on how to give yourself a vitamin C boost.  All natural.

Cram the following into your juicer…

3 apples

2 celery stalks

1 red bell pepper

Cut apples and bell pepper to fit into your machine, then add the celery stalks.

Once ripe, red bell peppers are very rich in vitamin C, and according to my Wellness book, they actually have more vitamin C than citrus fruits.  Apples help in the aid of digestion, and celery helps balance the function of the heart and aids in the elimination of carbon dioxide from the body.

The flu is real, that’s for sure, and it seems to have gotten everyone in a state of panic. But as I look around at the majority of New York with their hand sanitizers and masks (I have seen a few people downing masks, it’s quite freaky) I wonder what happened to the art of getting sick?  When did we become a society of germ a phobes?  Now don’t get me wrong.  I wash my hands at every chance I get and I love the vitamin C punch of Emergen-C, but when I get sick I’m not going to run out and overdose on antibiotics or the flu shot.  I’m going to allow my body to get the rest that it is obviously telling me that I need.  I will allow myself to take shelter onto the living room couch and watch bad day time television and I will allow my body to rest.  Not just for one day but two, or however many days its needs.  I will not worry about work and constantly call my co workers to see if the building is still standing in my absence.  That is not resting fully.  I will not step foot into work until I am feeling 100% better.  But we don’t do these things.  We live in fear of getting sick and not being able to perform our best.  We look for quick answers in the medical world and then wonder why we keep getting sick.  And we run our bodies to the max until we need more couch time and bad day time television then is necessary.  So please…this flu season.  REST! Allow your body to take the break it needs,  And don’t come into work until you are feeling better!

I found this recipe from The PH Miracle, which is a great book.  It basically leads you to a life without dairy or meat, which as you know I am against.  But there are some great recipes in this book and the following is one of them.

1-2 c cooked rice or grain, I use organic brown basmati or quinoa.

juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime

1-2 t Bragg™ Liquid Aminos

1-2 t flax oil

1/2 avocado, sliced

1 small tomato

Cook rice or quinoa according to directions. Slice avocado and tomato and place on top of your rice. Then drizzle Braggs™, oil, lemon juice on top.  Enjoy.  I add a little hot sauce to this because I like most things spicy.  This also makes a great lunch or dinner.  But I love it for breakfast.

Last week I was taking  Tylenol almost every day.  I had a sinus headache and cramps and Tylenol was the only pain killer I had available.  I’m not much of a pill popper especially Tylenol since taken in large doses can do some damage to your Kidneys.  If that information is new to you then you should stop reading.  On second thought, I realize that we’re not born with all this information about products but I figure if you’re going to put it into your body, no matter what it is, you should be educated on the benefits and harms.  Although maybe you’re reading this blog so I can provide you with that small stuff.  If that’s the case, carry on…

Anyway, from all my pill popping (by the way, Tylenol was working great, that is a fast acting pain killer, kudos McNeil-PPC) I decided to bump up my Kidney function and found out from my Dietary Wellness book that the following veggies are great for just that purpose.

Asparagus, stimulates Kidney function. Don’t cut off the tips until after cooking.  This preserves the nutrients.

Celery, aids kidney function. (it also controls dizziness and headaches, and stimulates sex drive.  Who knew. Watch out Viagra)

Fennel and Parsley, also help the function of the kidneys.  Fennel is a good tea for nursing mothers to increase their milk.  Parsley is amazing, not only is it known for keeping your breath fresh but you only need a small amount to get a big dose of vitamins A, B1, B-complex, C, potassium, manganase, phosphorus, calcium, and iron.

By the way, my aches and pains are gone and my refrigerator is full of the mentioned items.

Please Note: I am not a Nutritionist or a Doctor,  these statements are o f my own personal education and are not approved by the FDA.

Travel can be hard on the body and mind.  It can make a person feel imbalanced.  At least it does to me.  The following are a few postures that will help you feel grounded again.

Lie on your stomach with your forearms on the floor.  Elbows under your shoulders keeping your hand’s shoulder width apart.  Engage the muscles of your legs. Press your thighs and knees down, scoop your tailbone,  and root your pelvis down onto the floor. Stay in this position for five deep breaths.  

I also like to lie on my back with my feet up the wall.  Bring your bottom as close to the wall as possible and then swing your legs up the wall.  To feel grounded you can place a folded blanket over your feet or put an eye pillow over your eyes and lie with your palms facing up.  

This is my favorite.  Not only does it get the blood flowing which is important after a long flight, but it’s very relaxing and grounding.

For those of you sitting on the edge of your seats, I slept on the last flight and avoided the yoga/looking like I was about to get sick position.

Every time I practice yoga I start out with setting an intention.  For example:  May this practice free me from self judgment, or this practice is dedicated to a friend who is in need of my energy. However, sometimes there are days when I don’t feel like rolling out my mat, and then no intention is set.  But I realize that I don’t need to be on my mat to set an intention.  I can just wake up and decide that today I’m going to free myself from judgment.  Judgment on myself and judgment on others.  Today, even though I’m not practicing yoga on my mat I’m going to send kind thoughts to a friend or family member, or even a stranger on the street.  Today I’m going to take care of myself.   Yoga practice isn’t just about getting a great workout in Lululemon attire.  (Which by the way, I don’t own any.  I still practice in an old tank top.  However, if someone would like to make a donation so I can buy myself something I’m not going to argue.)  It’s about being able to find that flow in the everyday.  Its setting an intention all the time.  Today I will not judge myself or others.  Today I will practice yoga off the mat.

The world is a confusing, beautiful place full of mystery, happiness, and sadness.  I just found out that my Yoga teacher, the one who inspired me to transform my life by making room for yoga, killed herself.  This is the person who got me to love the practice.  The person that taught me to take risks with my strength while respecting my body,  and to always have fun.  I love yoga because of her.  She is gone.  Its leaving me very confused.  We lost contact for a while when I moved across the country, but she was always in my heart and mind whenever I practiced.  It was only a while ago that we were able to reconnect when I told her of my news to get my 200 hour certification.  The news of her death was very sad and very disturbing.  I’m struggling with this because Yoga teachers don’t just run out and kill themselves.  At least in my world they are not supposed to. Yoga teachers inspire us to live a more balanced existence.  Our teachers are there to help us find peace within ourselves, and to not take the world so seriously.  She was a Yoga teacher.  She taught people how to find peace within themselves.  She loved music.  She loved the ocean.  She loved yoga.  I suppose just not enough.

Yoga is not easy to do on a plane.  In fact the most physical practice I can get during flight is a forward fold.  So after a few hours I walked to the back of the plane in my pill/alcohol induced sense of calm and proceeded to stretch.  (by the way… I’m a very healthy person, but as you can tell from my last entry I don’t like flying and therefor all healthy lifestyle bets are off.  I say drink all you want, eat whatever fast food you desire and if your doctor has given you the green flag, take a Valium to top it off)  Anyway, back to my story.  I had been sitting for quite a while and needed to get my blood moving.  I walked to the back of the plane and lifted my arms above my head in a mini sun salutation and folded over my legs.  This felt amazing.  I was feeling a great stretch in the back of my legs, my blood was now starting to wake up my body and I could feel my feet again.  Everything was going well until I open my eyes to find that a barf bag had been shoved under my face.  “M’am are you alright?  Let’s get you to lie down”  Said a very nervous voice.  I immediately snapped out of my zen and looked at the guy like he had two heads and proceeded to explain to him what I was doing.  Obviously embarrassed he apologized and gave me a package of animal crackers.   So needless to say it was a win, win situation for me.  I love animal crackers.

Namaste Jet Blue