You Don't Have to Be a Yogi...

…to meditate. Many people are surprised to learn that meditation merely augments natural, positive body processes that occur many times during one’s waking hours.  During meditation, alpha brain waves, typically 7 to 14 cycles per second, are prominent.  Everyone, whether formally meditating or not, enters this state many times each day, based on the brain’s need to rest (as with the muscles or any other part of the body).  A typical cycle of prominent alpha wave brain activity occurs naturally every 1 ½  to 2 hours.  For 10 to 20 minutes at regular intervals, the cognitive brain shuts down.  During sleep, this brief (but potent) interval manifests as dreaming.  During waking hours, this interval causes lapses in attention that range from barely perceptible to overtly obvious.  This lack of focus is often commonly called daydreaming.

Especially with people who push themselves without accommodating the brain’s normal physiological cycles, even one correctly performed daily meditation session helps the brain de-stress and provides needed rest.

In Western culture, we have become so out of balance emotionally, mentally and physically, that a daily meditation session may not be a luxury, but a necessity. The main components of meditation are a quiet environment, comfortable position, receptive attitude and an auditory or visual cue.  Some people meditate as part of their spiritual practice while others do it to simply relax.  I will address the physical, mental and emotional clarity and leave the spiritual component to personal choice.

One of the most widely known meditation techniques is Transcendental Meditation programs or TM for short.  The TM technique utilizes a silently voiced mantra, consisting of a one or two syllable Sanskrit word.  TM is promoted as inducing a settle, peaceful mind and imparting physical benefits that include decreased heart beat rate, increased skin resistance to electrical current, decreased blood pressure, an increase in alpha brain waves and decreased blood lactase levels.  Over time, people enjoy faster reflexes, increased perceptual ability, better motor coordination, a need for less sleep and generally improved health.

During the past few decades, considerable research has been conducted on TM.  The official TM website is packed with dozens of citations of articles from such respected publications as Scientific American, American Journal of Physiology, Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology and International Journal of Neuroscience.  The authors publishing in these journals have PhD and MD degrees and some of them work in prestigious universities. I read a number of studies on the web.  One study reported on the medical effects of TM on two thousand people across the United States who practiced regular meditation and the more advanced TM Sidhi programs found a marked decrease in the number of medical services required over the course of five years.  Their rate of overall hospitalization was an astounding 56% lower than average.

When sorted into specific conditions, the meditators, compared to the control group were impressive.  The meditators rate of hospitalization for cardiovascular disease was 87% lower, for cancer, 55% lower, for conditions of the nervous system, 87% lower and for noses, throat, and lung problems 73% lower.  No one could possibly rationalize these figures as statistical accidents! Meditation can also profoundly affect pain levels.  In a 2006 study, using imaging techniques of the brain that highlighted its structure, function and pharmacology scientists found a 40 – 50% lower brain response to pain in long term meditators.

The most basic form of meditation is giving your full attention to whatever you are doing, be it preparing a meal, driving a car, or simply talking to another person. Another word for this focus of being in the present is mindfulness. Our culture does not encourage us to slow down and be mindful.  If we were so focused, we would naturally gravitate towards holism.

Whatever definition of meditation you prefer, distressing and becoming more mindful are imperative in order to function in today’s world.

Here is a link to the TM website. http://www.tm.org/ Here you will find easy meditation sessions that you can download. You can even ready Oprah’s article on the benefits of TM meditation.  If you are an iPhone user, there is an app for that.  iPhone has applications for mediations that you can do anywhere – while waiting for an appointment, 10 minutes on your lunch break or on an airplane.

Remember it’s no longer a luxury to meditate; it’s truly a necessity.

Green Energizer

Serves 2

Combine...

• 6 chopped romaine leaves 
• 4 chopped kale
• ½ cup of fresh parsley
• ½ cup of chopped pineapple
• ½ cup of chopped mango
• 1 inch fresh ginger (peeled and chopped)
• 1 ½ cups water

...in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Brush and Glow

The skin is without a joke THE largest organ in the body and is responsible for one-fourth of the body's detoxification each day, making it one of the most important elimination organs. More than one pound of waste products are discharged through the skin every single day! Toxins from everyday soaps, cleaners, antiperspirants/deodorants, lotions and cosmetics can gather beneath the surface of the skin and contribute to a variety of skin conditions as well as prevent the skin from breathing properly. If the skin becomes inactive with all its clogged pores full of dead cells and chemical residues then all these impurities end up remaining in the body.

When you brush your skin you activate your lymphatic system, jump starting it and reminding it to rid the body of these toxins. The natural fiber bristles of the brush will improve the skin's surface circulation and help keep the pores of the skin open allowing your body's toxins to discharge the accumulated waste products and making your skin look and feel healthier.

Benefits of Dry Skin Brushing:

• Tightens the skin 
• Helps digestion 
• Removes cellulite 
• Stimulates circulation 
• Increases cell renewal 
• Removes dead skin layers 
• Aids lymphatic system in detoxification 
• Strengthens the immune system 

Ok, so now that we have gone over the benefits package, let's have a look at what kind of brush you should be purchasing:

1) A natural bristle brush (no synthetic hair please)
2) A brush that has a long detachable handle so you can reach even the most difficult spots

Once you have bought the brush, here are some tips on when and how to brush that beautiful body of yours:

1) Get naked
2) Do NOT wet your skin (remember it's all about dry brushing)
3) ALWAYS brush towards your heart
4) Brush each part of the body several times
5) Start by brushing the soles of your feet
6) Then move on to the ankles, calves and thighs
7) Move on to your stomach and buttocks
8) On your abdomen, brush in circular counter-clockwise strokes
9) Lastly brush your arms and hands

Once you have completed your little brushing session, hop in the shower or take a warm bath. If you are consistent over the course of a few weeks and you have made brushing a habit you will notice a huge change in the health of your entire body. Truly!

How to Uninvite Mr. Montezuma

Diarrhea or Montezuma's Revenge, can ruin your vacation, keeping you in bed for days on end. Travelers diarrhea is usually caused by bacteria, parasites and viruses. The microscopic bugs at the top of these rather gut wrenching charts are E Coli, the staphylococci, shigella and salmonella species, campylobacter jejune, cryptosporidiosis, and hepatitis A.

Infected food is the biggest culprit, with water coming in second. Ice cream, cocktails served in re-used coconut shells, raw seafood, ice, and food from street vendors are potential risks that can interrupt your adventure with less salacious memories to pass on to family and friends.

If you take a few precautions however and observe some simple guidelines along with having the right remedies in your suitcase, you may be able to avoid a case of Mummy Tummy and enjoy every minute of your vacation.

Tip1

Drink only bottled mineral water when you travel and avoid drinking local tap water even for brushing teeth or ice in your drinks. This is the most important thing you can do to help protect yourself from ingesting organisms that may be in the water wherever you vacation.

Tip 2

Eat only cooked foods. Many raw foods, especially fruits and salads are washed in the local tap water, which may leave deposits on the skin containing organisms that can give you traveler's diarrhea. If you eat fruit, only choose those that can be peeled.

Tip 3

Include hand sanitizer gel and wipes in your suitcase when you travel. Use the wipes before eating or whenever you feel you need a cleanup to prevent the spread of germs while you're out and about.

Tip 4

Watch what you eat. Even cooked foods may contain local products that may be contaminated or merely processed locally, exposing them to organisms native to that environment. If you are not used to eating the local foods, you may get ill.

Tip 5

Take homeopathics and spagyric botanicals such as Colo Chord, Amoeba Chord and Core Olive Leaf from our Energetix product line with you to prevent you from getting sick.

Pineapple Kiwi Colada

The list of ingredients (scroll to the bottom for the list and recipe) is straight forward but contains some great healing properties.

Pineapple:
Pineapples contain a special group of enzymes called bromelain, which function both as a digestive aid and anti-inflammatory compound. Pineapple is also an excellent source of manganese – an essential co-factor in a number of enzymes important in energy production and antioxidant defenses – as well as vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that protects against oxidative damage to cell structure.


Kiwi:
You may be surprised to hear that Kiwi’s actually contain more vitamin C than an equivalent amount of orange! Their rich concentration of vitamin C, combined with the health promoting carotenoids and flavonoids provide powerful antioxidant protection against the oxidative damage caused by free-radicals.


Lemons and Limes:
As a medicinal agent, lemons and limes are truly remarkable. They have a cooling effect so they are good for fevers. Lemons/limes aid digestion by stimulating the flow of saliva, easing the work of the liver. Their juices act as laxative and diuretic and have antiseptic and antimicrobial properties. Lemons benefit bile formation and therefore support liver function; they improve the absorption of minerals, cleanse the blood and are extremely alkaline.

So how about that Colada? Are you thirsty yet? 


Ingredients:
1 cup of fresh pineapple
1 kiwi
Juice of ½ a lemon
Juice of ½ a lime
Small handful of fresh mint
1 cup of ice
½ cup of coconut milk (we used SoDelicious)
Agave to taste/if at all needed


Preparations:
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend away until smooth.
Serve!

The Heart Truth

Reading the latest statistics on heart disease and stroke truly made me cringe the other day as according to Canada’s Heart and Stroke Foundation heart diseases and stroke take 1 in 3 Canadians before their time.

Believe it or not, cardiovascular diseases are relatively new to human history. Prior to 1910, heart attacks were a rarity. Today however, they have reached epidemic proportions. Over the years, medicine has been improving their ways it can help keep heart patients alive – provided that their first attack is not fatal. Since no one, obviously, wants their heart attack to be fatal how about looking at reducing our exposure to the factors that cause arterial damage such as loading up on daily amounts of supplementary vitamins and minerals that may have cardio protective effects? Or how about looking at making dietary changes to help reduce arterial plaque? Or better yet, how about trying both?

Let’s assume you took these new statistics to heart and you opened yourself up to making dietary changes and wanted to start adding supplements. What would it take and how would such a change look like?

According to David W. Rowland, PhD., a cardio protective diet relies on a wide variety of natural, unprocessed foods:

•          Emphasize on eating vegetables and fruits (4 cups daily). They provide a number of protective factors, including fibre, folic acid, potassium, saponins, phytosterols, vitamin C and flavonoids.
•      Emphasize on eating oats and whole grains to get adequate dietary fibre. Choose whole wheat, whole rye or whole spelt over refined fibreless grains.
•      Consume fish regularly (twice per week) and favour cold water fish such as Chinook, Norwegian salmon, mackerel, orange roughy and trout.
•      Consume fresh garlic
•      Restrict your total fat intake to 30 per cent of calories. Trim excess fat from meat and favour non-fat cooking methods such as baking and poaching.
•      Avoid cured, smoked or processed meats containing nitrates or nitrites.
•      Minimize alcohol and sugar intake
•     Emphasize monounsaturated fats, especially olive oil.

and the following daily vitamin and mineral supplements:

Vitamin C

Vitamin E

Folic Acid

Vitamin B6 and B12

Calcium

Magnesium

Potassium

Chromium

Selenium

Zinc

Many of these suggested changes seem fairly straight forward to me, don’t you think?

How to Tame the Bulge

New Year’s Eve has always been a time for looking back to the past and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It’s a time to reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and resolve to follow through on those changes. Incredible as it may seem, water is quite possibly the single most important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off. Here is why…

Water suppresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat.
Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits. Why is that you may ask? The kidneys can’t function properly without enough water. When they don’t work to capacity, some of their load is dumped onto the liver. One of the liver’s primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. But, if the liver has to do some of the kidney’s work, it can’t operate at full throttle. As a result it metabolizes less fat hence more fat remains stored in the body and weight loss stops.

Drinking enough water is the best treatment for fluid retention.
When the body gets less water, it perceives this as a threat to survival and begins to hold on to every drop. Water is stored in extracellular spaces (outside the cells). This shows up as swollen feet, legs and hands. Diuretics offer a temporary solution at best. They force out stored water along with some essential nutrients. Again, the body perceives a threat and will replace the lost water at the first opportunity. Thus, the condition quickly returns. The best way to overcome the problem of water retention is to give your body what it needs – plenty of water. Only then will stored water be released.

The overweight person needs more water.
Larger people have larger metabolic loads. Since we know that water is the key to fat metabolism, it makes sense to say that overweight people need more water. Water helps to maintain proper muscle tone by giving muscles their natural ability to contract and by preventing dehydration. It also helps to prevent the sagging skin that usually follows weight loss – shrinking cells are buoyed by water, which plumps the skin and leaves it clear, healthy and resilient.

Water helps rid the body of waste.
During weight loss the body has a lot more waste to get rid of – all that metabolized fat must be shed. Again, adequate water helps flush out the waste.

Water can help relieve constipation.
When the body gets too little water, it siphons what it needs from internal sources. The colon is one primary source. Result? Constipation, being unable to eliminate toxic waste. Constipation is nothing to laugh at really as it is the root cause of most chronic diseases. So don’t forget to drink up for normal bowel function to return.

How much water is enough?
On average a person should drink eight 8-ounce glasses every day. That’s about 2 quarts. However, the overweight person needs one additional glass for every 25 pounds of excess weight. The amount you drink also should be increased if you exercise briskly or if the weather is hot and dry.

So far, we’ve discovered some remarkable truths about water and weight loss, don’t you think? I showed you that water may be the only true “magic potion” for permanent weight loss when battling the bulge. But what about the psychological aspect of being overweight? According to Louise L. Hay, metaphysical teacher and lecturer, “overweight” represents a need for protection. In her opinion we seek protection from hurts, slights, criticism, abuse, sexuality and sexual advances; from a fear of life in general and also specifically. Take your choice.

To help with your weight loss goal it is important to be persistent and stay focused. I am including an affirmation in this article that you can practice daily. Stand in front of a mirror and read it out load once or twice a day. This, together with your increase in water intake will assure you to stay on track so you can embrace the changes you see in yourself and become the new you!

Daily affirmation:I am willing to release the pattern in me that created these conditions.
I am in the process of positive changes.
I have a happy, slender body.
I experience love wherever I go.
I appreciate all that I do.
I love and approve of myself.
I trust the process of life to bring me my highest good.
I deserve the best and I accept it now.