Category: Health & Wellness Monday

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New Moon Sound Bath

My first experience with a sound bath was at a yoga class in downtown LA years ago.  During shavasana at the end of class, suddenly there was this incredible, roaring hum.  It pushed all of the random thoughts out of my mind and filled the now hollow cavity at the top of my neck.  It was amazing.

After class, I learned that the big gong in the corner wasn’t just for show, it was the source of this wonderful, mind-clearing noise.  I would make a point of going to that class even when I really wasn’t in the mood just to experience the gong at the end.

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.  – Nikola Tesla

Last month I joined my dear bar (method) friends for a new moon sound bath event.  The organizers schedule these events to coincide with the moon cycles – either the new or the full moon.  I made sure to get myself on their email list so that I would always know when the next one is coming up and was so thrilled when they did it again last week.

The organizers are these really lovely women, Consuelo and Arvindjeet.  Consuelo leads us through the yoga postures at the beginning with her sweet, smiling voice.  When she speaks, she sounds like she is just so full of love and happiness for her fellow human beings that it can’t help but pour out of her.

Arvindjeet is very soft-spoken, but in a very grounded way.  She leads us through three oms with power and confidence and is responsible for all the sounds in the sound bath.

Side note: the practice of chanting om in yoga class has fallen out of fashion in recent years and I wish that it would come back into style, it really is centering and helps to focus the energy of the group.

The workshop begins with a bit of restorative yoga – just a few gentle postures held for a while, yin style.  Interesting things happen when you hold an easy, comfortable yoga posture like child’s pose for two minutes or longer.  The poses help work out some kinks, relax the body, and quiet the mind.  Then into shavasana for the sound bath.

Arvindjeet has these beautiful singing bowls, different chimes, this wonderful drum that sounds like rain, and an amazing gong that she will use to make different sounds.  It’s called a sound bath because the sound feels like it washes over you.  You don’t just hear the sounds, you feel vibrations all throughout your body.  Consuelo and Arvindjeet refer to the sound bath as, “giving sound healing.”  If you go back to what Tesla said about frequency, vibration, and energy, these sounds could be the keys to the secrets of the universe.

I know that I always feel different/better after one of these experiences.  Keep your eyes open for an opportunity near you and don’t be shy to check it out!

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Flabdominals Follow-up

Flabdominals (noun): flabby abdominals, particularly the kind that jiggle when participating in high-impact exercises and/or solicit congratulations on a person’s non-existent pregnancy.

A month ago, I wrote about my quest to vanquish my flabdominals. My daily exercise plan was not overly ambitious but potentially effective.  I’m sure that you are on pins and needles for a flabdominals follow-up. So, how did I do?

I have a six-pack of course!

Or not.  Sigh.

The blame doesn’t lie with the plan or the exercises.  It falls squarely on the execution.

What?  Am I telling you that I didn’t go from never doing ab work outside of exercise classes to doing it on my own, at home, on a daily basis?

Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you.  Sad, but true.

Things started off well.  The series that I had prescribed for myself was challenging but not overly strenuous.  It was quick but I felt like I had accomplished something when I was done.  All good things. 

One bonus benefit that I hadn’t expected was that it required more articulation in my spine than I was in the habit of doing.  Of course I had to engage my abs to do that.

The first five days were a piece of cake!  I was going to be un-flabdominal-ified in no time.  I was adding reps an feeling the exercises more deeply.  I felt like I was standing taller.  My shoulders were more relaxed because my core was more solid and they could relax on top of that.  This was going to be great!

And then…

I don’t know.

The bottom line is that I didn’t accomplish my goal.  All told, out of 28 days, I’m going to say that I did eleven days of abs.  Not even half. 

What now?  I could decide to tell myself that I’m a failure and give up on my quest to vanquish my flabdominals.  Why even bother?  I didn’t do it perfectly the first time.

Or, I could give myself credit for trying and acknowledge the difference that I noticed from just doing a little bit.  Something is not everything but it is more than nothing after all.  I didn’t do everything that I wanted to, but I did something and I noticed the difference.

This next month, I’m going to see if I can double that number.  I know that eleven days of ab exercises make a difference, let’s see what happens.

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Restorative Yoga

As I get older, I gain more and more appreciation for restorative yoga.

When I was younger it felt like a waste of time.  Why would I want to spend time relaxing in comfortable postures when I could be sweating?  I usually found myself spending those last few moments of class in shavasana (corpse pose, the traditional last posture of yoga class) thinking about what I was going to eat after I left.

In my previous post about yoga, I mentioned that I am more interested in doing less strenuous yoga these days.  I still like my regular yoga practice to include a good sweat and at least a few moments of “yikes!”  But I also have an appreciation for the occasional restorative yoga class.

My neighbor around the corner goes to the same gym as I do and one day we were chatting about our various workouts and the different yoga classes that our gym offers.  He mentioned that sometimes he likes to take this one restorative yoga class that uses lots of bolsters and blankets – it was like having nap time.  I admitted that I have fallen asleep in restorative yoga classes before.  One time I am pretty sure that I was snoring!

Usually restorative yoga classes will move through a few postures in a slow and gentle manner, then transition into an extended shavasana (or, as I seem to think of it, nap time).   Substituting a quick nap for your workout is not the point though.  The ultimate purpose of any style of yoga is to prepare you for meditation.  Restorative yoga just chooses to go about this in a different way than more active, physically strenuous styles.

Props

A restorative yoga class will tend to make extensive use of props such as blocks, bolsters and straps.  As someone who was once young, aggressive and extremely flexible in yoga class, I have only recently developed an appreciation for using these kinds of props.  Using props in various postures as a sort-of bridge to connect your body and to the ground isn’t about making something “easier.”  The connection enables the body to release tension and you can experience a posture more fully, if not more deeply. 

Yin Yoga

One restorative yoga class that I would take from time to time was a yin yoga class.  In yin yoga, you hold each posture for at least two minutes.  Fortunately, the postures are not balances or inversions, but mostly seated and laying-down positions.  It is a really interesting practice because you when you spend so much time in a posture, you really have the opportunity to look into all the dark corners that are easy to ignore when you aren’t holding the position for as long.  I discovered things that I didn’t like about postures that had been my favorites like baddha konasana (aka bound angle pose, or butterfly stretch).  Even holding child’s pose for two minutes can be intense.

When I don’t fall asleep in shavasana, I do still find my mind wandering.  But another advantage to restorative yoga for me is that it doesn’t have to be done on an empty stomach, so I can often coax myself out of obsessing about food for at least a few minutes.

Wisdom, kindness, and love. Namaste.

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Coconut Oil Pulling

This is another topic that we can credit to my holistic guru.

For some reason, I kept seeing posts about coconut oil pulling on my Pinterest feed.  It looked interesting but also disgusting.  I couldn’t imagine putting a spoonful of oil in my mouth.  Period.  But when I talked about it with my guru friend, she convinced me that it would not be too horrible to just try it and easy enough to get out of it if I was totally grossed out.  So, I decided to give it a shot.

Full disclosure: this information is all my own personal experience OR things I learned from reading various random Pinterest posts.  This is not scientifically proven or professional advice.

First, I guess that you could use different kinds of oils.  I know someone who does this using sesame oil.  I tried and really like using coconut oil because that was what was big on Pinterest and also because I generally find anything coconut wonderful.  It makes it interesting because the consistency will change depending on the time of the year.  For me, I like putting a spoonful of solid coconut oil in my mouth and sort of chewing it until it melts.

So, what you do is you put a spoonful (it doesn’t have to be a very full spoonful) of oil in your mouth.  Then swish it around for 5-20 minutes.

According to Pinterest this is detoxifying because the blood vessels in your gums are very close to the surface.  Allegedly the oil will pull toxins from your bloodstream.  Also, according to Pinterest, it takes 15 minutes for your blood to circulate through your whole body, so if you do it for at least that long, you will have cleansed your whole blood stream.

I will do my coconut oil pulling first thing in the morning before I go to the gym.  I shove a spoonful of oil in my mouth and then go about my business getting ready for the gym.  I will usually keep it in my mouth for 15-20 minutes before spitting it in the trash, brushing my teeth and heading out the door to the gym.

Public service announcement: do not spit coconut oil down the drain.

Here is what I feel are noticeable results for me from coconut oil pulling:

  1. My dental cleanings are easier.  My teeth are cleaner, and the hygienist doesn’t have to go to town as hard on my gums.
  2. I feel like it helps clear my sinuses.
  3. I think that it makes the skin under my eyes and across my cheeks smoother and clearer.  I know, weird, but I swear, if you do it for 5 days in a row for 20 minutes, you will notice a difference.

I also think that having the oil in your mouth and swishing around is probably good for your face because you are working your face muscles.  I haven’t spent any time seriously trying to measure this, but it makes sense, right?

Have you tried this before?  What was your experience like?  Are you thinking about trying it now?

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Foam Rolling

foam roller

Again, I have to credit my homeopathic guru for introducing me to foam rolling.  She actually gave Mr. Man a foam roller for Christmas many, many years ago (it might have been before we were married).  Since then, foam rolling has gotten sort-of mainstream.  It is something that I appreciate and am always happy to have done, but something that I certainly don’t do as often as I should.

The cool kids these days are referring to foam rolling as “self-myofascial release” because it is a type of deep tissue massage that you do to yourself.  Fascia release is becoming a big thing these days, just watch, you’ll start hearing a lot about it.  I met someone through my homeopathic guru whose entire chiropractic practice is dedicated to myofascial release.  It is a really interesting modality, no neck cracking involved.

I would certainly rather have a professional myofascial release me, but it is nice to be able to do it myself at home.

My favorite foam rolling position is to lay on top of it with the roller positioned along my spine (head resting on one end and tailbone at the other, knees bent and feet flat on the floor).  I will roll side to side a little bit but prefer to articulate my lower spine a few times until I feel that arch in my lower back flatten out.  Then I like to do cactus arms (elbows in line with shoulders, hands in line with ears) and just hang out.  Some days it is REALLY painful because my trapezius are too tight/overdeveloped, whatever you want to call it.  There was a good stretch of time (get it, stretch, ha-ha) that my elbows wouldn’t even reach the ground.

Boy, do I feel better, taller, and straighter once I spend a few minutes like that.

That position is also a convenient opportunity to do some ab work.  I can really feel my spine connecting to the roller easier than the floor.  I will sometimes do crunches as well as heel lowers (a balance challenge) from this position.

I have to admit that I am not a fan of actually foam rolling my whole body.  Because it hurts!  Sure, you feel great when you’re done.  I’m just a wimp.  Will do hips/glutes, sometimes.  The other week, I was SUPER sore from Glutes, Guns, and Guts and decided to foam roller my quads.  It did not feel good.  After a few passes, (not that many, maybe 4-5 times) I could actually feel the muscles loosening up.  It really, really helped!

I did some research about foam rolling to make sure that I wasn’t giving you any bad information.  The big thing to be careful about is your lower back.  While you can put the foam roller perpendicular to your spine and roll out your upper back/shoulders and your glutes, you should not roll your lower back.

Do you foam roll?  Do you actually roll or just lay on it while watching TV like I do?

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Flabdominals

Flabdominals (noun): flabby abdominals, particularly the kind that jiggle when participating in high-impact exercises and/or solicit congratulations on a person’s non-existent pregnancy. Also, a word that Cynthia made up.

I have lovingly referred to my tummy region as my flabdominals for several years now.  I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point, my daily abdominal exercise habit evaporated and the era of flabdominals began.  Up to that point, I had been used to having a toned middle; it was not one of my problem areas that I needed to dress around.  Quickly, I had to learn to dress around the fluff that had invaded my middle.

Currently, I am feeling that I may be at a point with my fitness that I can conquer the flabdominals and reclaim an at-least moderately toned middle region.

And so, I am going to issue a challenge to myself to do 10 minutes of abdominal exercises everyday (in addition to anything that happens in any workout class at the gym) for 30 days.  I don’t want to turn it into a big thing that is going to become another block of time to schedule; I think that I can fit 10 minutes in either in the morning when I get back from the gym or as part of my bedtime routine.  I know that I will see some difference, I’m interested to see how much.  Also, I’m curious to know if it will stick, if I can get my daily ab exercise habit back.

One of my barriers to re-forming a daily ab habit (cough *lame excuse* cough, cough) was deciding what exercises to do.  So, this time, I’m going to set a series that will be my daily go-to.  Afterall, I do like to eliminate that whole having to think business whenever possible.

I think I’m going to go back to good old-fashioned Pilates mat series.  These are the exercises that I kept up for years after college.  Yes, I took Pilates as a class in college, that’s what dance majors do.  It was two units, we had a text book and tests and everything (of course I got an “A”).  The full series takes more than 10 minutes, I’m going to start with just a few.

The Pilates Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning by Friedman and Eisen
Pilates text book from college

10 (ish) Minute Ab Series

  • Heel lowers (10 reps)
  • Pilates 100s
  • Roll Up (3-5 reps)
  • Roll Over (3-5 reps)
  • The Vacation Special (10 of each):
    • Single Leg Stretch
    • Grand Battement
    • Double Leg Stretch
    • Cross Over (Bicycles)
    • Leg Lowers

Do you already have a daily ab habit?  What are some of your go-to ab exercises?  The one you love and/or the one you hate so much but you know it works.

If you don’t have a daily ab habit, do you want to play flabdominal boot camp with me this month?  We can do a check-in at the end of the month (no measurements!) just to see how we did with doing the work, if we noticed any difference, if we are going to keep doing/do more/do better/do less.

Let me know if you want to play along at home!

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Try Castor Oil

I know what you are thinking.  I would be thinking the same thing.  But trust me, Castor Oil is good for all sorts of things and you don’t have to ingest it.  So, no need to panic.

I have a very dear friend who is my homeopathic guru.  I solicit and trust her advice about ANY health/personal care type things.  Several years ago, we were talking about this lipoma (a non-cancerous, fatty tumor) that I had which I was hesitant to have removed surgically.  Since it was fat and since she knew that Castor Oil dissolves xanthelasma (those little yellow cholesterol deposits that some people get under their eyes) she suggested that I could try Castor Oil on it.  She didn’t promise that it would get rid of the lipoma, but she knew that it wouldn’t hurt anything to try.

It did not shrink or dissolve my lipoma, but it did make the area feel better, so I kept using it for that for a while.  I also started using it for other things (since I had it out anyway):

  1. It helps strengthen and grow hair (I use it on my eyelashes and eyebrows).
  2. I like to use it as an under-eye night cream.  It is very thick and emollient, and I think it helps with fine lines and puffiness.
  3. It can be used topically on your tummy to get the same results that you would by ingesting it.  Rub it onto your tummy clockwise (down on the left, up on the right, end on a downward stroke) before bedtime for results by morning.

I looked around on the internet to see what other people have to say about Castor Oil and I found some other uses for it. The most interesting to me was that Castor Oil has anti-inflammatory effects and can be applied topically reduces inflammation and relieve pain.   This is probably the benefit that I was getting when I would apply it to the area of my lipoma; when I would wake up in the morning, I would notice that the area always felt noticeably less achy.

One very popular internet application for Castor Oil is for promoting hair growth.  I’ve tried it on my eyebrows and eyelashes, and I think that it maybe, sort-of works.  I mean, you’re not going to look like Mr. Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street.  What I noticed is that, for example my eyebrows seemed smoother and fuller, not as wiry as before.  It could just be that the hair follicles are plumper and smoother because they are moisturized.

Because it is so thick, it can be messy, you really have to take your time to rub it in.  It has a sort-of nutty smell; it’s not delicious smelling like coconut oil, but it also isn’t offensive.  A 6-ounce bottle of food-grade Castor Oil at the drug store is under $5.  I think that it is great for specific applications.

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Strength Training Works

I’ve been spending my Mondays with Adam doing glutes, guns and guts for a few months now.  I am still the wimpiest gal in class, but I have a workout buddy who I partner up with every week and she helps keep me motivated.  The workout still makes me sweat my brains out and feel like I’m going to die but I’ve learned to keep a towel tucked into the back of my pants like a little tail so that I always have it handy as we move through the circuit.

Here’s the thing that I want to tell you: strength training works.

Ok, so that isn’t a shocking revelation.  I’m just saying that with the rest of my weekly activity staying pretty much the same, I’ve lost three inches from my waist and hips since I added this into my week. 

Every week is a mash-up of a bunch of various exercises using dumbbells, barbells, TRX, steps, Bosu, and any other random stuff Adam finds laying around the gym. When I started out, I would always pick the lightest weight so that I could do more reps and not take breaks (who knew that one minute could be so long?).  I remember Adam telling me that he would rather see me doing less reps with a heavier weight and thinking he was crazy. 

As the weeks went along, I would pick at least one exercise on the circuit to try a heavier-than-I-wanted weight.  Sometimes I would surprise myself with being able to manage it.  Sometimes I would notice that the exercise felt more effective because other muscles were being recruited to provide stability.  I’ve learned that using heavier dumbbells (20lbs) for exercised like walking lunges forces you to engage your core and helps you keep your balance more than a lighter weight will. Sometimes I would just have to stop after a couple of reps and find a lighter weight.  C’est la vie!  

My favorite development over the past few months is the improvement in my posture and my shoulder strength.  I really took for granted having a strong upper back from all those years of ballet training.  Sitting at a desk, staring at a computer all day has that sneaky way of building that permanent hunched forward posture that is neither attractive or comfortable.  Eventually, I hope to get everything evened out; it’s nice to see and feel the progress so far.  It made me really happy when I could see the line of my shoulders more closely matching the line of the barbell when we were doing back squats last week. I am not a fan of the over-developed trapezius look.

So even though I suck at it and it hurts, I keep showing up and trying my best.  I’m never going to be the ripped girl in the belly shirt, but I am optimistic that if I keep it up, eventually I will be able to do a proper push-up (and maybe even crush some 10lb dumbbells for bicep curls).

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2019 Suggestions

New Year, New Suggestions

Here we are again.  Facing a new year that is so full of potential and opportunities.  We are going to jump up and be everything that we have wanted to be, right?  Ok, probably not. But we are going to make an effort to do something new, aren’t we?

After I told you about my 2018 Suggestions list, I felt a lot of pressure to come up with a good list for my 2019 Suggestions.  There were probably 20 things at least.  I didn’t write them down.  I’ve decided to take a different tack this year.  I’m going to start the year with six suggestions for myself that fall into one of four categories:

  • Keep doing
  • Do more
  • Do better
  • Do less/Don’t do

I give myself permission to revisit my list at any point during this year and revise as I see fit.  Maybe I’ll nail it on all these suggestions and will add some other things.  Maybe I am going to need to reframe something to try to get a better handle on it.  We’ll see how it goes.

The four categories idea came out of something I was reading on the internet somewhere.  The gist was, “rather than resolving to do more things, resolve not to do some things…” something like that.  I thought that was a good point.  Why try to pile on a bunch of new stuff without looking at what you’re already dragging around with you and thinking about what you can let go?

my 2019 suggestions
improve handwriting didn’t make the list

Here are my 2019 Suggestions for myself:

  • One thing that I want to keep doing is getting to the gym 5+ times a week.
  • Another keep doing is working on my writing (tada!).
  • Something that I want to do more is getting my steps in.  Santa very kindly brought me a Fitbit Versa so now I have my activity tracker strapped to my wrist and I can’t use the excuse of, “well, I didn’t have my phone with me, I don’t know what I did,” to justify not achieving my activity goals.
  • Another thing that I want to do more is call people.  Like actually picking up the phone (quaint, I know!) not sending a text. A friend of mine called the other day out of the blue and it was such a treat to just chat for a few minutes. I felt so appreciated that I immediately resolved to add it to my suggestions.
  • One thing that I want to do better is use my time more effectively. This is going to be a big one.   I have some ideas about tactics that I want to try. Ultimately, I would like to feel that I’m getting the most out of each day.  The trick is going to be being realistic about how much time that I need to devote to any one thing because everything seems to take longer than I want it to.
  • My do less/don’t do is waiting to find a buddy to do things with. It is always fun to get to share an experience with someone, but sometimes a girl just has to go for it.

What are you thinking about suggesting for yourself for 2019?  Anything to keep doing, do more, do better, or stop doing?

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2018 Suggestions

As we approach the new year it seemed like a good opportunity to look back at my 2018.  This has been a fairly significant year for me, there have been so many milestones and changes. My friend who is in to numerology would tell me that it is because I am in a whatever number year (I can never remember the formula to figure out what # year you are in).  Whatever number year this was, a lot has happened.

I was flipping through a notebook that I’ve been using this year for various notes and lists and I found a list that I had made for myself in January.  I’m not a big “new year’s resolutions” girl, but I remember wanting to give myself some things to focus on for the year.  I called it “2018 Suggestions”.

I had forgotten that I had written these things down (the way that most of us forget about our new year’s resolutions) and it made me smile to read it with fresh eyes. Even if my handwriting makes me cringe. 

Nine suggestions for 2018

I recently participated in a webinar about goal setting.  The presenter said that there are three levels of increasing effectiveness. The first is to think it. The second is to write it down and share it. 

A few of the items that I had written down penetrated my subconscious and have gathered some steam over the year, specifically:

  • Wear less black
  • Walk more
  • Less shopping
  • Write some things down (tada!)

Some rattled around in my brain but didn’t really gain much traction:

  • Be pulled together (my cheat for this is wearing lipstick)
  • Send birthday cards (it’s hit-and-miss)
  • I need a better reminder to make more cream puffs!

“Spend some time on abs” didn’t get off the ground although Mondays with Adam has been helping that whole issue. This will be a topic for another day. 

That I was able to get four of my nine suggestions to stick makes me happy.  The good thing about good habits is that they become easier to maintain which frees up some mental energy to add new ones.   I think that I’ll try giving myself some suggestions again for 2019.  I’m going to replay a few, think about what else I might want to add and see what I can get to stick (hopefully cream puffs and birthday cards at least).

The third effectiveness boost for accomplishing goals is to report your status regularly.  It doesn’t matter who you are reporting to.  Just the fact that there is someone who you are going to tell how (or what) you are doing to make progress on your goals makes you more likely to take some action.

So, I was thinking that I will share my 2019 suggestions here with you in January.  And if you have something that you want to suggest for yourself, you can put it in the comments.  Then every so often, we can have a check-in and share what/how we are doing.  What do you think?  Do you want to play?