01.24.10
Posted in Yoga at 4:23 am by Jennifer
What a beautiful day for a yoga practice. I feel so calm even though the class I took this morning was a bit of a challenge. I am so grateful I was able to quiet my mind and open my heart so even though I felt the “discomfort” I could move right through it. Its funny how one day I’m not making the connection and some days its like “oh! I get it!” I can hear something over and over in a yoga class (or in life) and my body might not respond to the cue but then one day the teacher says it again and it clicks. That is where I am today. The mediation part of my practice “clicked”. I was able to stay in the moment. And I must have gratitude of my awareness within this moment, for tomorrow I might have the ahha moment again for this or another awareness that will deepen my practice, that today I’m not yet conscious of.
If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.
- Tao Te Ching
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01.21.10
Posted in Health & Wellness at 9:45 am by Jennifer
Motivation can be hard to muster up sometimes. Especially when you are feeling in the dumps. How can you find those things that inspire your spirit when your entire body is telling you to rebel? Sometimes I think inspiration just happens. One day you decide that you are ready and nothing will stop you and there you have it your motivated. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you will stay motivated but for the time being your good to go. That is always a good thing when that inspiration just “hits” you but what happens when your waiting for inspiration to hit and it just doesn’t? What do you do then?
My favorite path to inspiration is to find books that are on the topic of the goal I am trying to reach. If you make no other commitment except for reading about it, I think that is a step in the right direction. Another helpful hint towards motivation is to begin talking or writing about what your goals are. Sometimes just putting it out in the universe that you begin to spin those wheels towards making a move.
Ok, so what if you have the motivation going, how can you stay motivated? Goal setting is extremely important! So you want to begin an exercise regime? Set a goal, like running a 5k or playing on a team of some sort. Even if you set the goal in the distant future, just holding that goal can motivate you to stay on track. Also make sure the goal you set is something that you are really interested in attaining. Writing or reading on reaching this goal can help keep you motivated.
Take the pressure off. I think it is important when trying to attain a goal to allow yourself to make mistakes or get off track. Just by forgiving yourself if you eat that donut allows yourself to be able to get back on track and not to get caught up in guilt or disappointment. Guilt, disappointment and beating yourself up is the quickest way towards giving up on your goal. Also believe in yourself. See yourself attaining your goal and believe that you can do it. If you don’t believe it, it won’t happen.
Change your attitude. Positivity will keep you motivated. If working out or getting healthy is a chore, then it will get harder and harder to stay motivated. Change your way of thinking by empowering your mind, say, “I am choosing to exercise because I know it will make me feel great!” or “I am choosing to __________ because I want to see myself do ___________” These positive statements will breed more positivity and keep you going. Negative statements (“I don’t feel like exercising” ;”I hate this”) will keep you stuck.
Rewards are always a good thing. Reward yourself for all of your hard work and acknowledge your successes.
Surround yourself with supportive people and motivating images. Watch movies that pertain to your goals or read books, magazines, find people that are interested in what you are wanting to do and find inspiration in them.
These are the things that help keep me motivated, I hope they help!
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”
- Nelson Mandela
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01.20.10
Posted in Life & Spirit at 3:45 pm by Jennifer
Sometimes the smallest things can throw me into a tizzy. I don’t have much patience for the things in my life that aren’t in line with what I’m doing (or think I’m doing) in the moment. Today I had a moment when my smoke detector declared its low batteries. All and all not a major catastrophe, but my smoke detector is located on my high vaulted ceilings out of my reach even when perched on a chair balanced on top of a toy box with a screw driver in my finger tips. And to make matters more the detector chirped a high pitched ping every 60 seconds making my 2 large dogs seek cover from their terror directly at my feet. I started to panic with overwhelm.
I called the maintenance office and they instructed me to go get some 9V batteries and then come in to submit a written request for the work order and they would come to assist me. But, the baby is sleeping, my dogs are out of control they just won’t go lay down and now I have to go to the store? I pictured coming home to a ripped up couch and some baby toys mangled on the floor from the neurosis of my poor animals. My overwhelm was now paralyzing me.
I sat down on the couch to think about my next move and I realized I needed to take a moment. I pulled out my journal and began to write. At first the entry was a flood of emotions. I realized that this tizzy was more than just the smoke detector. In a nutshell, ” I miss my old life, I want something different, things are not okay, I’m overwhelmed, unsure and insecure”
And suddenly as if my guardian angels began to speak through my pen, “You are exactly where you are supposed to be,” the pen moved across the page, ” it is just hard to see clearly from here.”
My inner voice replied, “My intention is clarity, openness, acceptance…acceptance, not resistance.”
Aaha! I’m resiting what”is” in my life. I must surrender to all of the life-y things that make me squirm and that includes being grateful for those things because that is what encourages my growth. . My relationships, my mothering, my household duties, my daily life, that is the practice. Practice being in the moment.
And then I suddenly realized my body had relaxed. The smoke detector’s pings still bounced through my house, but in the divine timing of the universe, my perceptions had changed. In that moment I began to float the current of the river. I quit swimming upstream. It was an amazing feeling and I could see why I felt so tired. I laid down on the couch, feeling tired enough to drift off to sleep but taking a few more moments to write, “I accept who I am today. I see myself letting go of the resistance to life. To live adventurously is to not resist the flow of what is. The flow of my life is honorable. I trust where it wants to take me. I am grateful.” as I drifted off to sleep.
Jack Kornfield talks about in his lovely book After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, “Where we are going is here.”
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01.17.10
Posted in Health & Wellness at 12:31 pm by Jennifer
There are hundreds of toxins we are exposed to everyday in our environment. Toxins are in what we eat, wear, the mattresses we sleep on, the soap we use, household chemicals for cleaning and gardening, not to mention the air we breathe. These toxins have to be broken down by our liver, which can get overwhelmed and the toxins can end up being stored in the fatty tissues in the body. Some toxins mimic hormones or can cause inflammatory disorders and cancer. There are safer alternatives to our everyday household products and making small changes in your environment can make big differences in your body.
Most common household cleaners that you can get at your supermarket, contain toxic, caustic and non-biodegradable chemicals. It has been shown that it takes 26 seconds after exposure for these chemicals to show up in your body. Some people have reactions to this exposure, such as burning, itchy, watery eyes, trouble breathing or burning in the throat and lungs, gagging, nausea, migraines, headaches, and achy joints. Reactions are the body’s signal of overload and really telling you to “get away!” To prevent disease the body must manage the burden by eliminating the toxin. If the load is excessive, symptoms occur as a response to the disturbance of the body’s immune and detoxification functions. Everyone varies on the amount their body can handle based on overall health and genetics. We humans have created a toxic world, but awareness can make a big difference.
It is the accumulation of toxins over time that leads to an overwhelmed and toxic body. Studies have shown asthma rates in children have increased 118% from 1980 to 1993, as well as lung cancer in adults. Since World War II over 75,000 new synthetic chemicals have been developed and released into the environment; fewer than half have been tested for their potential toxicity on humans and even less have been tested for their toxicity on children. However times are changing, the American Environmental Health Foundation has published research and is educating physicians, politicians and others about these issues and we are learning just how crucial it is to take care of our environment and make the changes to protect our health.
There are some steps you can take to decrease your body’s exposure to unnecessary toxins.
- Do not use herbicides, pesticides, fungicides or fertilizers. Pesticides are neurotoxins, which mean the effect the central nervous system. Pesticides do not know the difference between the pest and you. Neurotoxins can cause short-term memory loss, loss of circulation, imbalance, and flu like symptoms, depression, and changes in mood, fatigue. A healthy alternative to those pests would be diatomatious earth, boric acid, and nematodes. You can get these at health food stores.
- Eat organic foods. These foods are grown without any use of pesticides etc. Avoid processed foods (foods with colors and dyes, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup)
- Avoid aspartame and artificial sweeteners. Aspartame breaks down in the body as formic acid and methanol. Splenda has still not been studied long enough to know how the body processes it.
- Avoid storing food in plastic or drinking water from plastic bottles. Use glass jars/bottles. In 2002 the FDA named plastics “indirect food additives”, chemicals in the plastic do infiltrate food. It is hard to completely avoid all plastics, since most food comes packaged in plastic. The key here is to cut down. Most importantly never microwave your food in plastic containers. Microwaving not only “zaps” the nutrients from your food but also releases the chemicals from the plastic containers into your food.
- Use natural, biodegradable cleaning products. Get rid of those toxic chemicals sitting under your kitchen sink. The best thing to do is to find out the safe and proper disposal of these products and get them out of your home. There are many eco-friendly products at health food stores and even now at most grocery stores. White vinegar and water or dissolved baking soda makes a great alternative to ammonia-based cleansers. Baking soda or Bon Ami on a damp cloth is an effective abrasive cleaner that is good for you and the environment. 60ml of baking soda and 125 ml of vinegar mixed together makes an effective drain cleaner. For finished wood polish use 3 parts olive oil to one part white vinegar. Mineral oil works great for unfinished wood.
- Same goes for natural, nontoxic personal care products. Cosmetics are full of chemicals. Avoid parabens, urea, sodium laurel sulfate, propylene glycol and fragrance. “Avalon Organics” and “Jasons” is a brand that makes shampoo, lotion, soaps etc. It is inexpensive and safe to use. A great website with more information about safe cosmetics to use is www.safecosmetics.org
- Open your windows as much as possible. Even in the most polluted cities, the air outside has been found less toxic than indoor air. Certain houseplants have been found to detoxify the air. Philodendrons, spider plants, aloe Vera, English ivy, golden pothos. Plant mint around your house to keep mosquitoes away.
- Use safe cookware. Avoid Teflon; it is made out of chemicals. The best alternatives are glass, stainless steel or cast iron.
- Limit installation of new carpets, plywood, wallboard and adhesives. All contain chemicals that will gas out in your home for a long period of time.
- Participate in guided detoxification for your body at least once a year. The simplest way to detoxify is to do an elimination diet. It only requires eliminating common food allergens (such as wheat, dairy, corn, sugar and processed food) that allows the body to get out of its inflammatory state and release stored toxins.
- Exercise, sweating, YOGA, drinking plenty of pure water, and getting good nutritional support assists your body in detoxifying.
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01.07.10
Posted in Life & Spirit at 4:37 am by Jennifer
It is so important for me to take the time every so often to nurture my body. It is easy for me to push myself to get stuff done or push through my day. I don’t realize the stress on my body taking care of a one year old, two dogs and a household, my business and even trying to do good and fit a workout in can some days feel like the tipping of my delicate balance. Today I took the time to get a massage with Jody at Healthy Life Unlimited and it was so wonderful. I could feel during the massage, my body releasing and even the fog lifting from my brain. I felt in my body and in the present. What a gift!
After my massage, I committed to myself that for the rest of the day I would try to remain relaxed. I floated into the grocery store and casually shopped for yummy items to make a delicious chicken veggie soup. Came home and with loving intention and lots of serenity, created a nurturing lunch that made a leftovers dinner for my family. What a perfect day for honoring myself, giving myself the gift of serenity and the nurturing soul healing that comes from a delicious, nutritious bowl of chicken soup!
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01.02.10
Posted in Life & Spirit at 6:05 am by Jennifer
“The soul is here for experience, not security”
That quote has been taped to my desk for a couple of years, but today I read it with an entirely new perception. I am finding that my soul must release all of the old patterns that I have held onto in my life so far. It is a lifetime of survival of the experiences of this earth. My parents and their limitations, friends and their influences, school and the immense pressure to get in line and follow their lead…but where was I led? To find myself gone, searching and when I had no idea who I was I reached out for anybody that could define that for me.
My whole life, I struggled with all of the people, places and experiences that were socially acceptable but defied my soul. I couldn’t understand why, so I ran from those feelings of consciousness. I ran until I ran myself into a corner. It took 12 years of my “adult” life to find myself burdened by the heaviness of denial and the disappointments of what never was, I found myself in a depression. The depression was hard to label, because maybe I was not comparable to the worst case scenarios, but I knew something had to change.
When I began to see that my ship was sinking, and that now was the time, it was unclear to me how to jump ship. It seemed that 2009 was my year to summon courage, to retreat to a deeper soul level, to allow the current of life to sweep me downstream to it’s preferred destination. In my fledgling steps towards surrender to the Universal flow, I created a vision board. On a cold Colorado February day, in a sun warmed room, as my newborn infant slept I eagerly paged through magazines, newspapers, pictures looking for the words of encouragement, for the images of peace, for the glimpses of who I wanted to create of my self. As I pasted my vision onto the paper I could feel my spirit begin to lift. The images, the words weren’t forced, they were me. I hung my board at the foot of my bed. Every night falling to sleep and waking in the morning my eyes immediately drawn to the large print in the middle of the page, “courage”.
I had to let go everything I knew, all my belongings, all the people I had known, my home, my cats, my life with my 9 year relationship. I was terrified. It was so hard. I had a new baby, I had to move to Texas to live with my family for a couple of months, I had no money and insurmountable bills, nothing seemed solid. But somehow the universe provided. At each moment that I reached forward God appeared. Sometimes I could not see him. But in retrospect he was there.
I still sometimes struggle with fear of the unknown. I still wonder what is solid? But my soul is here for experience, not security. And that is my soul. My soul has experienced such growth and this past year I could measure that growth. My 2009 vision board still hangs on my wall. It is still inspiring growth, still summoning courage to face my fears, to let go and dance.
Today I feel like a snake shedding it’s skin. Today I can see myself and I am in reach. So clearly I understand it is not who stands beside me, but who stands within me. I see my big-ness and I also see my hurts and wounds that so desperately need my attention. But today I am brave enough to look at them, I am strong enough to accept them and proud enough of myself to allow them to become apart of the patchwork of experiences that my soul is here to grow from.
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