Tapping Into Possibilities

Baby, You Can (‘t) Drive My Car

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The average car has 30,000 parts, requires a certain kind of fuel to run efficiently and preventive maintenance (oil change, tire rotation, engine tune up, etc.) at regular intervals to avoid major breakdowns and to ensure the engine runs well as long as you want it to. Don’t like the car, want a bigger, faster model, trade it in but take good care of it, keep that engine tuned and it will serve you well  for a very long time.

You can neglect the outside but take care of the inside and your car will still get you where you want to go but if you only wash, polish and buff and neglect to do the inside work, well,  that baby will not see much action.

Your body has 300-350 bones, 640 muscles, 214 nerves (bundles comprised of 100 billion neurons), 78-100 trillion cells.

Think of those cells as little engines, also requiring the right fuel to run efficiently. Our fuel is the food we consume. You wouldn’t consider putting diesel into a car that requires premium; you’d probably kill it. You know putting regular into a car that requires premium will still let it run but it may sputter, smoke and jerk

So why do we treat our cars better than our bodies?

Why do we spend so much time on the body work and not enough, or any for that matter,  on the inner work?

Don’t make decisions from fear, make them from knowledge. You need to be part of the process; you need to do the work.

DIY Health & Wellness is the only way to get where you want to go.

Don’t give your car keys to just anyone.

Enough of the car analogies for now…….

Disclaimer: The information provided here is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

 

Potholes: Hit Many Lately?

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I saw a pothole in front of me on Connecticut Avenue this morning and I hit it. Even though winter is long behind us, the roads are still a mess from the cold, the freezing and contracting, the salt.

If you focus on a pothole, you will hit it. If you’re not aware of it, you may still hit it but if you focus on where you want to go, you won’t hit it.

“Often things happen to race cars in the heat of the race…..perhaps a clutch fails. Brakes go soft from overheating. ….When faced with one of these problems, the poor driver crashes. The average driver gives up. The great drivers drive through the problem…..They figure out a way to continue racing…..It makes one realize that the physicality of our world is a boundary to us only if our will is weak; a true champion can accomplish things that a normal person would think impossible.” 

“In racing, they say that your car goes where your eyes go. The driver who cannot tear his eyes away from the wall as he spins out of control will meet that wall; the driver who looks down the track as he feels his tires break free will gain control of his vehicle.”

“Your car goes where your eyes go. Simply another way of saying that which you manifest is before you.”  The Art of Racing in the Rain (2008) by Garth Stein

What you focus on is what you’ll get. Be well. DIY.

Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it, because action has magic, grace and power in it. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

 

Disclaimer: The information provided here is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

 

 

Nine Ladies Dancing (and one brave dude)

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What a thought! What a sight! What a joy!

Today happens to be the 9th day of Christmas, the day of Nine Ladies Dancing. From 1558 until 1829 Roman Catholics in England were not able to worship openly. Each day of the carol had a hidden meaning. Nine ladies dancing referring to the Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.

But that’s not exactly what I’m writing about.

It’s my NIA class. NIA? Never heard of it? Check out http://www.nianow.com/practice

Several nights a week I dance NIA. Why? For joy.

What I love about NIA is that it’s not about perfecting a move or mastering a step, it’s about feeling joy.

The late American Dancer and Musician, Gabrielle Roth (1941-2012), wrote, “Dancing, singing, storytelling and silence are the four universal healing salves”.

My dance practice is as important to me as my meditation practice is for being present. When I am dancing there is no past, no future, only now.

Several weeks ago I wrote about my favorite poet, Rumi. The essence of Rumi is that through music and dance one travels a mystical journey, abandoning the ego, growing in love and arriving at truth.

“When you dance the whole universe dances. All the realms spin around you in endless celebration. Your soul loses its grip. Your body sheds its fatigue. Hearing my hands clap and my drum beat you begin to whirl.” –Rumi

 

Dancing offers the same benefits as a regular exercise routine, but can be a heck of a lot more fun.

Benefits include: Improved mood, memory and attention, stronger bones, a healthier cardiovascular system. Dancing also strengthens muscles and stabilizes joints. Dancing counts as a weight bearing exercise which slows bone loss and it naturally strengthens the core and activates almost all muscles.

“If you just set people in motion, they’ll heal themselves.”  –Gabrielle Roth

Dancing and music modulate brain chemicals i.e. activate the pleasure center of brain. So boogie until you laugh and grin.

“If we’re not supposed to dance, why all this music?” From “To Be Alive” by Gregory Orr

 

 

 

Disclaimer: The information provided here is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

 

 

Make Room for Rumi

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This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and attend them all: even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of all its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whatever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

If you don’t have The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks on your bookshelf consider this book of poems a gift to yourself.

Rumi was a 13thc (1207-1273) Persian (now Tajikistan) poet, theologian and Sufi mystic. In 2007 he was considered the “most popular poet in America”.  If you’re familiar with Rumi, you’ll know why.

Rumi wrote prose and poems of fear, anguish, joy, sadness, anger, longing and love. In 25 years he wrote 70,000 verses. The Guest House quoted above was one of his teaching stories.

Apparrently translating Rumi from New Persian in to English is no easy job. Some of the earlier translations in the early 20th c by R.A. Nicholson and A.J. Arberry are very literal and the later translations by Barks and Nader Khalili are much more poetic.

Shahram Shiva, a Rumi translator and performer wrote, “ Rumi is able to verbalize the highly personal and often confusing world of personal growth and development in a very clear and direct fashion. He does not offend anyone and he includes everyone”.

Rumi wrote from his heart and what Rumi wrote 8 centuries ago is so timeless that it speaks to the hearts of the whole world, even today.

 

 

12 12 12

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Not the date and not an alternative to Herman Cain’s 9-9-9…..

Simply, in the 12 months of 2012, the 12 favorite books (actually 12 authors, 15 books) I’ve read…..in no particular order.

I read to laugh, cry, learn, explore, wonder, question, escape, grow and ponder.

The Invisible Bridge (2010) by Julie Orringer

Tiny, Beautiful Things. Advice on Love & Life from Dear Sugar (2012) and Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Navigating the Collapse of Time (2011) by Dave Cowan

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (1962) by Joan Aiken

The Presence Process (2010) by Michael Brown

The Hunger Games Trilogy (2008-2010) by Suzanne Collins

Learning to Breathe (2011) by Pricilla Warner

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman (2008)  by Nora Ephron

A Simple Thing (2012) by Kathleen McLeary

When the Killings Done (2011) by T.C. Boyle

Choose To Be Happy: The Craft & Art of Living Beyond Anxiety (2001) by Swami Chetanananda

The Language of Flowers (2011) by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

I usually have 3 books going at once. Some take longer than others to finish. Some just days, others weeks. I like to learn something new every day, something that stirs my imagination or makes me have an “ah ha” moment. Reading is about taking flight in your imagination, observing, discovering and exploring your world, both inside and out.

My morning books are my books for personal and spiritual development. Ones that help me expand my world, my appreciation, my awe, that affirm or rock my belief systems that make me grateful that I am here in the here and now. My evening books are are often fiction, but always for relaxation, entertainment, escape, that take me across the world, across time, that explore human nature. And the mid day reading (books/journals/articles/studies) are for personal and professional development in my field (and sometimes not) because there is always more to learn and better ways to communicate and share what I know.

Some might say it’s a luxury that I read so much. Rather, I think it’s a necessity.

I think of reading as part of my anti-aging regimen and definitely as a component of keeping my mental body healthy.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. Henry Ford

What I’m reading this week: The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope, The Beginners Goodbye by Anne Tyler and The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks.

“There is something called the rapture of the deep, and it refers to what happens when a deep-sea diver spends too much time at the bottom of the ocean and can’t tell which way is up. When he surfaces, he’s liable to have a condition called the bends, where the body can’t adapt to the oxygen levels in the atmosphere. All of this happens to me when I surface from a great book.”  Nora Ephron from I Feel Bad about My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

 

 

The information provided on this website is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

 

 

WHITTLE YOUR WATTLE

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Wattle: a fleshy, wrinkled, often brightly colored, fold of skin or growth hanging from the head or neck of certain animals.

You’re probably giving some thought this week to ordering your turkey and making that wonderful gravy with the giblets and turkey neck.

But what about that other “turkey neck”? Do you give it any thought at all?

The neck may be one of the least favorite body parts of women of a certain age but it got that way because it’s one of the most neglected body parts in the skin care regimen of all women, regardless of age. This is the area where those fragile, crepey (is this even a word) lines and liver spots appear first (now you know why turtlenecks have never gone out of style!).

Skin on the neck and chest is thin with little connective tissue and the area has fewer stem cells which promote skin renewal. The neck and chest area lose elasticity more easily (earlier) and are dryer because of changing hormones, sun exposure and less attention.

Building neck muscles not only reduces tension, reduces pain and reduces stress but also makes wrinkles less apparent.

Here are things I do to reduce tension and pain in the neck area and reduce wrinkles; what you might call “killing two turkeys with one stone”!

Posture: pay attention to it and keep your chin up. Don’t tilt your head to one side or the other while on the phone.

Line of vision: change it. Don’t look down while reading or looking at the cell phone or tablet.

Pillows: sleep with less. Too many pillows forces your neck down.

Water: Just make sure you’re adequately hydrated and water is your drink of choice. Water carries nutrients to all cells and removes toxins from all cells.

Silica: consider a bioavailable silica supplement which helps strengthen the skin as it plays a part in the synthesis of elastin and collagen. Silca is a trace mineral which decreases as we age. Consider, BioSil, JarroSil or Cellfood Essential  Silica from www.iherb.com (couponcode BOT164 for discount on first order).

Excercise: 1) Tilt head towards ceiling and pretend to chew for 2-3 minutes 2) Cat & Cow pose.  See Neck exercises in 2012 Articles above.

Sunscreen: need I say more.

Tightening Skin Masks:  My favorite is 1 egg white, 1 teaspoon each of honey, lemon juice and olive oil. Whisk egg white and other ingredients. Pat on skin of face, neck and chest and leave on for 15 minutes. It will still be liquid but it will dry and tighten.  Wash gently off with cool water then gently rub on coconut oil. Google for other ideas using ingredients you already have in your house.

Coconut Oil: There are many neck specific skin care products out there but a jar of virgin coconut oil from your health food store is my favorite and has multiple uses. Before bed gently massage the neck and face and anywhere else in small circles. Coconut oil will relax the skin, minimize wrinkles and moisturize the skin. There are many health benefits of coconut oil both topically and internally including increasing blood circulation which helps generate new cells. Try Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil from www.iherb.com

Disclaimer: The information provided here is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

 

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GLUTEN FREE, NOT A FAD

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John Kelly’s mocking of food intolerances may make him laugh but not so to the estimated 20 million Americans with non-celiac sensitivity and 3 million with celiac disease, a genetic disorder.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/waiting-for-word-that-im-food-intolerant/2012/03/02/gIQAb9RErR_story.html

Gluten is what gives kneaded dough its elasticity. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley and some oats due to contamination during transportation and processing. If you have Celiac disease any gluten is a problem and there is a wealth of information at www.celiac.com and other sources online.

The winter wheat used for American bread flour has a higher gluten content in order to make our soft, fluffy breads and huge bagels. American wheat is also hybridized i.e. selectively bred to have a higher gluten content unlike European wheat. The difference between heavy, dense loaves of bread and fluffy,light bread is the gluten content.

There are many surprising products and foods that contain gluten including lipsticks, play doh, beer, “natural flavors” and malt. I was very unhappy when I had to give up my favorite movie theater candy, Malted Milk Balls!

Many doctors who specialize in auto immune disorders (lupus, MS, RA) suggest their patients eliminate gluten. “Gluten often causes the body to flood with inflammatory chemicals called cytokines which send an already wound up immune system in to hyperdrive, attacking tissue”, says Naturopathic physician Brooke Kalanick, N.D..

What you need to know: A gluten sensitivity isn’t just a gut problem. The New England Journal of Medicine reports 55 diseases that can be linked to gluten ranging from osteoporosis to depression, to migraines to fatigue, to balance problems.

Dr. Mark Hyman, founder of The Ultra Wellness Center in MA and author of one of my favorite books, The UltraMind Solution, considers gluten sensitivity an auto immune disease because it causes inflammation through the body. He recommends treating the cause (gluten) rather than the disease first.

So how do you treat the cause? Simply,but not always easily, by eliminating gluten from your diet for 2-4 weeks and see how you feel. No expensive blood tests needed.

Is it worth trying? You bet. Many parents report that learning and behavioral problems, even some symptoms of autism, are reduced or disappear with a gluten free diet.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

Cast in Stone or Just a Blueprint

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My great grandfather was both an architect and a builder in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s in Washington DC. I like the idea that while he designed the structure and drew up the plans, those plans were not cast in stone. As the house evolved, he could make changes and the finished home could look significantly,or just slightly,different from the original plans.

Everybody’s talking about DNA and your genes these days. Do you have this marker or that predisposition? Everybody’s talking as though this blueprint is cast in stone.

Or is it?

Nurture vs Nature? My money’s on the Nurture, again.

Like my great grandfather, I want to be able to alter those blueprints if I want to and I’m glad to report I can.

Research shows that lifestyle i.e. how you live and what you eat is 3 times more important than what your genes “say”. 30-40% of who you are is determined by your genes and the rest is up to you (60-70% are pretty good odds to me).

While your DNA may be passed down, it is NOT fixed. Your lifestyle CAN modify your genes.

Research from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State shows that cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage and spinach can protect a baby’s genes in utero from mutation and toxins such as BPA. You really are what you eat.

What we hear about is Genetics: the study of genomes (our chromosomes and the inherited DNA they contain).

What we don’t hear much about (yet) is Epigenetics: the study of epigenomes which is the cellular material on top of your genomes that can be altered.

Think of genomes as the hardware in your computer and epigenomes as the software.

And how do I rewrite that software? Well, I think we all know the answers; now we just need to make them a priority. Real Food. Exercise (walking and dancing do count) and Stress Reduction i.e. figuring out how to create “ease” in your life which for me is more breath work, meditating and getting rid of stuff.

The world would have you agree with its dismal dream of limitation. But the light would have you soar like the eagle of your sacred visions. Alan Cohen

NURTURE YOUR HEART

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Nurture: to feed and protect, to support and encourage, to educate and train.

My father had a heart attack at 44 playing tennis (he was overweight, smoked and drank martinis at lunch); 30 years later (he was his ideal weight, he didn’t smoke or drink martinis at lunch) he had a pacemaker installed and 10 years later died of a heart attack on the golf course. Current “medical” wisdom may say, I am “predisposed” to heart disease but I put my money on Nurture not Nature.

There are many heart healthy foods and many not so heart healthy foods. You can find lists and list of foods that will explain all the reasons you should eat them but the important thing is to find foods you love that also love you.

Just because a food loves you (take Mackerel for instance) doesn’t mean you’ll love it or even eat it for that matter so enjoy as many of the foods listed below as often as possible.

Foods I Love that Also Love My Heart
Sweet Potatoes – high in carotenoids which protects the heart from free radicals
Dark Chocolate – contains phenols which are anti-inflammatory keep arteries unclogged
Walnuts – rich in omega-3 ALA which appear to have blood thinning benefits
Garlic – a fresh clove a day will keep that doctor away
Green Tea – loaded with anti-oxidant polyphenols which block LDL absorption in gut
Oatmeal – soluble fiber which helps eliminate LDL (bad) cholesterol & fatty compounds
Tumeric – eat lots of curry as the curcumin stops artery clogging fatty deposits and cellular waste
Papaya – full of potassium which is needed for a healthy heart beat
Oranges – high in flavonones which decrease LDL, increase LDL
Dried Plums aka Prunes – high in soluble fiber and antioxidants & frozen make a great dessert for dieters
Asparagus – high in saponin which reduces LDL
Wild Caught Salmon – omega 3’s which help prevent oxidation of LDL
Olive Oil – rich in monounsaturated fats that lower LDL
More Foods Rich in Soluble Fiber: lentils, apples, strawberries and black beans

Foods which You May Love (but I don’t) that also Love Your Heart
Cayenne – capsaicin improves circulation, lowers cholesterol, prevents blood clots
Mackerel & Herring- loaded with omega 3’s that reduce plaque & risk of arrhythmia
Flax seeds – vegetarian omega 3’s

The thousand mysteries around us would not trouble but interest us, if only we had cheerful, healthy hearts. Friedrich Wilheim Nietzsche, 19th c German philsopher

Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not intended to substitute for medical counseling. Intentional Health does not treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose any disease or ailment.

HEART 101

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Textbook biology teaches us that your Cardiovascular System pumps blood around the body and consists of the blood, heart and blood vessels (arteries, veins and capillaries). The Heart is a hollow muscle made of two pumps side by side in your chest and is responsible for pumping blood, oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body and removing wastes and toxins.

We have been told forever that the heart is a pump. The father of “modern cardiology” was William Harvey, an English physician who in 1628 (“modern”/1628? Go figure!) wrote An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and described in detail the circulation of the blood being pumped by the heart to the body.

Your Heart is about the size of a fist and weighs less than one pound. Every day your heart beats about 100,000 times and moves approximately 1900 gallons of blood through your body. It only takes about 60 seconds for your blood to travel the more than 60,000 miles of veins, arteries and capillaries in your body.

Your Heart is vital to everything that goes on in your body; it works 24/7 and it doesn’t ever take a vacation. Talk about pressure and stress!

Even though we are still taught, and modern medicine accepts, that the heart is a pump, scientists don’t actually know how this small organ can generate the pressure to move the thick blood uphill and with so much resistance.

Tom Cowan, MD, explains in The Fourfold Path to Healing, that “the heart is best described not as a pump, but as a hydraulic ram, a device engineers use to push fluids short distances up hills.” Cowan goes on to write, “the heart does not pump, what it does is listen. This amazing organ senses what is in the blood and then calls for the necessary hormones so that homeostasis is maintained and the cells can function optimally. The heart serves the cells not by pushing blood toward them but by balancing and integrating the blood’s chemistry. The heart also senses and integrates our thoughts, our emotions and our will to carry out tasks. The heart, then is not a mechanical pump, but actually a sensitive integrator of all our experience.”

And we take this Miracle for granted?