a note for me

As Thanksgiving rolls around this year I start to appreciate all the people in my life, the people that are no longer in my life and the people who were taken away too soon from life. If there is one person that comes to mind this Thanksgiving it is my grandfather. The vision of strong, a provider, an innovator and when I walked in the room his heart would melt, his stubborn ego would all melt away.

While he was in my life he was the perfect example of love, a love that I have strived the rest of my life to find. My parents, showed me a love that is from the tough love category, to them I owe a lot more than just a blog post. A lover, ends in love lost, time lost and wounds open. But my grandfather taught me of a love so deep and profound that can only be given from a grandparent to their grandchild. It is an unconditional love that can only happen between two people that are so profoundly opposite; me in my innocence and him in his wisdom.

Roll out my mat, see my practice today, the frustrations that I have. I realize that I have hit a place where it is time to start a new chapter of my life. It is a shift that looks like this, my life is starting to reflect how I feel inside. What is the attitude that you have toward yourself? Do you reflect outward what is going on inward? A clean car, a clean diet are all reflections of how you truly think and feel about yourself. If you think your going to fail, then you set yourself up to fail. If you look at yourself with the greatest intention, a goal to achieve and a set of shoes that you will grow in to, patience, faith and trust is all that is standing in the way of your success.

As I come in to this holiday season I think back to my Grandfather, who saw all the possibility of who I will grow up to be. A love so deep, it has taken me 25 years to understand. A love I should have for myself, the belief that I am enough, that I want to see myself the way my Grandfather saw me. So here's to Grandpa, to spoiling myself with love and positive thoughts. To being thankful for my body, my life, my dog, my job and life exactly the way they are. 

the other 7...

Yoga is meant to clear out and open up the physical body, the mental binds that have kept us closed off for so long. Letting go of old habits; eating habits, drinking habits, over-spending habits and habits that ultimately leave us sad, alone and crying out for help. As we start to practice yoga, those habits start to loosen. We decide to eat clean, healthy food. We drink more water. We even let people cut us off in traffic and smile. How does this happen? And more importantly, will it last? Do we want it to last or is it another temporary fix for a much deeper issue?

Yoga does involve physically rolling out your mat, becoming present and keeping the body healthy. But yoga is more than just being flexible, in fact it has nothing to do with flexibility, stretchy pants or even a yoga mat. It is about having the awareness of what your body needs, giving yourself everything that it deserves. Making this a habit, a part of your being, who you are. That you desire to eat healthy, to speak the truth and to do good in all that you put your hands to.

We are all smart. We all have the ability to discearn what is real and unreal. Everyone must know who they are, where they are, what they are doing and what they should do.

When we start to examine the practice of yoga, it devours our bad habits and it asks us to be true. To be true to ourselves, those around us and to live a life of integrity. This is what yoga really is, people who are working on this, call themselves a yogi and it has nothing to do with standing on your hands, being flexible or wearing black stretchy pants.

Listed below are the 8 Limbs of yoga, they are equal in measure, in work and when applied, balance you out to be the true essence of you. Practical, Rational and Real.

1. Relationship (Yama) to yourself and to others. How are you conducting yourself, is it honest and true? Do you want too much from others, even from yourself? Are you being honest, in relationships both personal and professional? Are you being genuine, true to yourself and making yourself happy with the decisions you make.

2. Lifestyle (Niyama) involves cleanliness, contentment, practice, self-reflection, self-surrender. What is the attitude that you have toward yourself? Do you reflect outward what is going on inward? A clean car, a clean diet are all reflections of how you truly think and feel about yourself.

3. Body (Asana) is all about keeping your body in tune. Keeping the body in working order, correcting any mis-alignments and keeping the body in physical shape is important in a long and happy life.

4. Breath (Pranayama) keeps the body calm, through the nervous system. Breath (oxygen) keeps the systems of the body in working order. The breath reflects the state of the mind, thus when you can control the breath, you can clean the body and keep your mind in the present moment.

5. Senses (Pratyahara) are hard to control, especially in an enviroment so driven by being stimulated. We can be stimulated by so many images and sounds. Even touch. That to withdraw from those, to turn towards being still, makes our senses that much stronger, our intuition that much more stronger to discern right from wrong.

The last 3 limbs are combined into Mind (Dhyana, Dharana, and Samadhi), they involve meditation and becoming more in tune with a deeper part of us, the spiritual aspect, the layers that are so deep, so in tune, that we must quiet everything else in our lives in order to hear it. Samadhi can be explained as that moment when all space and time is lost no matter what activity you are doing, getting so lost in the joy and beauty of the moment that all time is forgotten.

When we change the self, develop the self and work on the self, the world and all the problems it faces seem so much more tangible. Our self is truly the work that needs to be done, if we all focus on being true, honest and pure then the world will be better.

I will be leading an intensive 2 week detox program that starts Decemeber 1. If your interested in learning more about nutrition and wellness please e-mail me at giving.living.loving@gmail.com

ready, set.....goals!

where you are

vs.

where you want to be

goal setting is all about a healthy push in the right direction. I write on my bathroom mirror a quote that is inspiring me this week, an intention that I want to hold myself accountable for. I see it in the morning, mid-day and before I go to bed. It holds me in the space that I want to be in. And when it is no longer doing that, I erase it and write something else. That is the essence of goal setting. Write it down, look at it everyday, achieve what you can everyday and then cross it off and start over. What do you want to accomplish in your life? Why? What for? What steps are you taking to achieve these goals? 

Every week I sit down with this question of what I want. I have dreams, a vision of who I will be in 10 years and it starts with each day, holding myself accountable, renewing my sense of purpose. I have to ask myself what I really want in life. Is it money, travel, a family, will those things make me happy? Am I happy at all with nothing? Do I really know who I am? Setting goals allows you to explore who you are, what you enjoy, what you think you enjoy and the reality comes when you can cross out a goal that you thought you wanted and realized it was never your goal but someone else's.

Where do you want to be tomorrow? I want to be happy, I want to feel secure and confident in who I am. The actions of today affect that. The actions of right now are putting my dreams into reality. I set my foot down and I say YES I CAN! I can do anything I put my heart and soul into. I set out to accomplish all that I want in this life. 

Start here....
1. sweat, walk, move my body, each and everyday
2. eat clean food
3. learn something new every week, challenge the brain
4. travel

Then become more focused on what really drives you:
1. save $10,000 for the trip to Africa ($200/week)
2. drink water, only water all month long
3. buy only organic foods
4. teach myself a new pose every week (or a variation of a pose)

Goal Setting will become something that you crave, that you know you need. I will be having a really bad day, go home and whip out my journal or iPad and just start writing. You have to open yourself up to an empty page, a page that has no judgement, no comments or criticism for you. It accepts you, then you begin to accept yourself and transform into the being you were created as. Enjoy the process, enjoy learning about yourself and you will find that people enjoy you when your doing what you love, 100%, with no apology. 

Spirulina

Spirulina is a blue-green algae that is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals and carotenoids, antioxidants that protect the cells against damage. High in B Complex, beta-carotene, Vitamin E, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, selenium and gamma linolenic acid.

Started adding Spirulina into my diet about a year ago. Adding it into smoothies was the first step, adding it into water was step 2 and now I put it in my cookies as well (shh!)

Smoothie

1 Banana

handful of raspberries

1 cup Almond Milk (or water)

1 heaping Tbsp. of Spirulina

1 Tbsp. of Bee Pollen (California blend for allergies, otherwise, any will do)

I also make Spirulina cookies that are great post workout. I add bee pollen and avocado as well. It is my quick pick me up mid afternoon as well as a great source of protein. 

Note to new Spirulina lovers: use only organic and trusted brands for Spirulina that tests the quality of each batch. I posted the Health Force Spirulina above as that is what I use and trust. 

A poem

The more I study, the less I know. 

The more I study, the less closed off I am. 

My ego takes a backseat.

I see with a clear mind

Where I am,

Where I want to go.

Do I stay,

Do I run far, far away.

The boys, the bottles, the pills

so alluring, so easy to turn to.

Sober. Alone. Alive.

On my mat

Out in nature

Walk.

Breathe.

Smile.

This is life so simple.

Beautiful.

Grateful for this day. 

For freedom. 

For sacrifice. 

For this life I was so blessed to live!

to infinity

however far we go, we can always go further. 

A task that seems daunting, overwhelming and stressful. But who set the bar for working too much, for loving too much? We did. We set it based on what we saw the world around us doing. We see how our parents loved each other and that formed how we loved in our life. We saw how many hours our parents worked, or lack of, and we set that forth as our standard of a work ethic. Somewhere along the path, that idea may of shifted and our standard was changed. So I ask you, how far are you willing to go in life? How much love can you give into this world? Set your own standard.

It is with a new mindset, a new outlook that I write this. Life can be as simple as a breath. It is from that breath that life was given to us. And everyday I continue to breathe, I continue to put my feet down and step into this life I was given. I approach each day as its own and I step into the possibility that I am here not just as a being occupying space in this world but that I was given a reason for being here. I am here to create, to love and to give all that I can each and everyday.

Here is to infinity, to the belief that when I change, the world will in turn will be changed. Here is to the belief that I am a work in progress, never finished growing, always open to new ideas, new challenges and new possibilities!

independent of labels

Gluten Free. Raw. Vegan. Pescetarian. Dairy Free. Paleo.

 (BULLSHIT!)

I feel like moving to Los Angeles bred this new philosophy about nutrition. Everyone had a special diet it seemed and I was stared at for eating a hamburger. I did start to investigate after several months of being grilled on the topic. Last year, I decided to do a 21 day cleanse that involved weaning out certain food groups. The first one being meat and dairy. I went 7 days vegetarian, 3 days vegan, 3 days raw, 3 days vegan, 5 days vegetarian (after going raw you can continue doing raw food, go back to vegan for the rest of the 8 days).

I stayed vegan for the following month adding caffeine back in almost immediately. I tried a juice cleanse and that lasted an entire morning. But I did notice a change in my diet after that. For the past year I have experimented with my food and I started paying more attention to how my body felt after I ate. I noticed that certain foods made my energy drop and I felt tired, while others (mostly veggie based) gave me more energy. I started writing down what I was eating, how it made me feel and started to discover a whole new side of eating. You can go ahead and label yourself all you want, but here is my new label anad it reads:

                                                              I eat to feed my body. 

I eat to heal and energize my body.

I eat to stay alive.

I realized I did not need to label myself into a category or explain to anyone what or why I was eating. So here I am, after trying every fad in Los Angeles, whether it was good or not, laying down the truth. Every single label (vegan, raw, gluten-free and so on) has a valid reason behind why people have those allergies or intolerances, some are choices and they all have nothing to do with you. Your an individual with your own set of rules, eating food is a choice, you can choose anything to eat. Question is, at the end of the day is it helping you to live a longer life or is it just making you full?


**Allergies to food explained: Lactose intolerance results from a deficiency of the enzyme lactase, which is needed to digest the sugar in milk. At least one out of 10 people worldwide shares this deficiency and develops bloating, abdominal pain and, often, diarrhea when consuming milk. Gluten intolerance is caused by an abnormal immune response to the major protein in wheat and some other grains.

the greens

I recently started making salads with this beautiful lettuce and have been in love ever since. As always I want you to see how nutritional it is for you and what is entering your body. As a yogi that practices everyday it is so important to know what is in your body and how your feeding the body that supports such a beautiful practice.

I like to prepare mine raw with red onions, heirloom tomatoes, yellow beets (for color, any will do) and my new favorite dressing (Zukay live foods salad dressing) I like the cucumber mint and red pepper cilantro. They are fermented, raw and gluten free so there are natural probiotics in them, raw enzymes and packed with vitamins and minerals for easy digestion. There is no vinegar in it as well for those of you with acid and low pH levels. So delcious and super nutricious! Enjoy yogis :)

to me.

This week had been a beat down. A let down not only of friends but of their ability to just let me be. I was surrounded by people who told me that there are worse problems in the world, in fact I told myself that. The fact was, everything that could go wrong was going wrong and as my defense I just could not speak. I had nothing to say and when I did it was filled with rage and anger. I had no time to get on my mat, to move my body and clear out the negative outlook I was experiencing. I relied on my yoga practice to heal me, to help me but I had no time to get on my mat.

I was granted this day to tackle these problems. They are mine. I own them. But that gives me the ability to change my circumstances. To let my problems rule me or to rule my problems.

I need time to feel furious in order to feel thankful. 

This is my way of telling the world that I am human. I can feel every emotion. I need to feel betrayed in order to feel loved. I need to be down in order to experience the richness that life has to offer. We have to FEEL, we have to experience all these range of emotions and life experiences. I am still becoming me, I am still a student and I am still trying to find my way. When we surrender the outcome and enjoy the journey, this week of a beat down will be forgotten. Staying true to myself, speaking from my heart I write this week.

soak up the green!

One of the most interesting aspects of chlorophyll is how closely it resembles our red blood cells. The hemoglobin of the red blood cell and the chlorophyll of the plant are virtually identical in molecular structure, with the only difference being the center atom. Chlorophyll is even often referred to as ‘the green blood of plants.’ Which is why I find it so important to write about increasing the intake of chlorophyll in our diet.

The extreme similarity in the molecular structure is what makes chlorophyll so beneficial to our health because it’s such a powerful blood cleanser and blood builder. Chlorophyll delivers a continuous energy transfusion into our bloodstream, replenishing and increasing red blood cell count. And since hemoglobin carries oxygen to our cells, increasing hemoglobin thereby increases the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen and delivers us increased levels of oxygen – and this is a very good thing.

Disease-promoting anaerobic bacteria cannot live and thrive in the presence of oxygen. It’s also known that disease can’t thrive in an alkaline environment either. Chlorophyll is both a potent oxygenator and helps alkalize our blood, it thus helps our bodies fight off disease. All these benefits direct effects on strengthening our immune system and enhancing overall energy levels and wellbeing.

Healthy blood flow and an abundance of oxygen also help the body to cleanse itself of toxic impurities, lending to chlorophylls detoxification properties. Chlorophyll has also been shown to improve the detrimental effects of radiation, and has also been linked to cancer prevention. Chlorophyll binds with toxins like heavy metals and helps remove them from the body. Chlorophyll can also stimulate bowel movements and is a great aid in colon cleansing.

The numerous health benefits of chlorophyll:

• Cleanses and oxygenates and builds the blood
• A powerful detoxification effect on the body
• Rich in enzymes that promote quick rejuvenation of our cells
• High in Amino acids
• Extracts toxins form the liver and improves liver function
• Regulator of calcium
• Helps break addiction
• Alkalizes the body
• Anti-inflammatory
• Wound-healing properties
• Fight infection
• Anti-oxidant – neutralize free radicals
• Promotes healthy intestinal flora
• Helps reverse protein-deficient anemia
• Protection from cancer
• Helps skin disorders

Essentially, any green plant that you consume contains some level of chlorophyll as this is what gives it its green color. But some foods are higher in chlorophyll than others. Generally speaking, the darker the green color, the more chlorophyll, so dark leafy greens are a great source, especially dino kale and other kale varieties, swiss chard and darker greens like arugula. Adding herbs like parsley and cilantro are also great ways to spruce up your salads and increase chlorophyll content in your diet. Blue-green algae such as spirulina and chlorella are also especially high in chlorophyll, as are all sprouts. Wheatgrass has one of the highest sources of chlorophyll available. Juicing it on a regular basis can have powerful detoxification effects.

So eat, drink and soak up all the green you can get!