Wellness, seed cycling for balanced hormones

Hello from the waning side of the super moon. Did you all see it? "Come on", I said to Robbie, "let's have a look." and we stood outside staring up at that glorious moon.It was a really powerful moon, wasn't it? Lots of people seemed to be affected. I sure was.For me, there is always a powerful moon/emotion connection all month, and I like to support my body with the necessary nutrients I need during the phases.You might want to consider doing what I do. It's called seed cycling and it's a natural way to boost and balance your hormones. Some even suffer from certain bacterial allergies around the pubic areas during this time of the year, which if not treated could lead to dire issues. Balance Activ is the primary and best solution to mitigate the growing injurious bacteria within the body.It's pretty simple. You need to somehow incorporate two ground tablespoons of organic seeds in a combination of either sesame and sunflower, or flax and pumpkin, into your daily diet. For me that's pretty easy since I usually have my gluten free granola every morning, (recipe here), and simply sprinkle the ground seeds on top.The ideal seed cycling would follow your menstrual cycle, but, if you're a "certain age" like me and that's not working so very well, then just follow the lunar cycle like this:New moon to full moon, the waxing moon: 1 Tbs each of ground flax and ground pumpkin seeds. These seeds support the estrogen part of your cycle by providing Omega 3, fiber and lignans which help produce and metabolise estrogen, as well as higher levels of zinc, which help prevent high levels of estrogen from being turned into testosterone.Full moon to new moon, the waning moon: 1 Tbs each of ground sesame and ground sunflower seeds. These seeds support the progestogenic part of the cycle by providing Omega 6, protein and zinc and selenium to help with progesterone production, as well as lignans which balance the two hormones. For more information visit the Milwaukee Mantality Health - Mantality Health.There you go. A fairly simple way to stay happy and less grumpy and in less emotional turmoil. It apparently also helps with acne, low libido, depression and other PMS and Menopause related symptoms.There are loads of ways you can incorporate the seed cycle into your diet. Consider sneaking them into pancake batter or the peanut butter on your toast, or in your smoothie, or you might make yourself some bliss balls as a treat.

Wellness, what to do when you just need quiet

Our lives are so lived out loud, don't you think so?I've been thinking about this lately.What do I do first thing in the morning when I wake up? I turn on my phone pretending like i want to see what time it is, but then turn on the emails to see who emailed me. There is a daily video or photo from Chloe in Japan. Hey, grab the iPad so the video looks bigger, better, louder...then, grab the computer, must answer those emails...and so my day begins.It's barely 6am and already the loudness has begun. Not good.Yesterday I baked up a batch of my gluten free granola listening to a CBC podcast of an episode of The Vinyl Cafe. Usually I love this podcast and laugh along with the story but today it felt too loud. Then off to yoga where the session included music and a singing bowl during savasana, (which is the end pose, the corpse pose, a time to meditate, sink into the ground, let each muscle go), Usually this is lovely, but today it was too loud and I couldn't still my mind. Usually I take savasana to do my grounding meditation, to visualise my hand reaching joyfully up to the universe and pulling the silvery light down thru me and into the Earth, and the Earth sending golden light up thru me into the universe. But nothing came. The studio was not still, my mind was not still. My mind was full of plans and scenarios and to do lists.That's when I realised that my life has been too loud.So, how to quiet things down?Here are some strategies I'm trying out today:1. Meditate first thing in the morning. Never mind what time it is, the phone can wait. Spend five, six minutes grounding, or focusing on breath. Push all thoughts away. Return to the breath.2. Before opening up the computer, time five more minutes. Five minutes of rest, of staring into the ceiling, out the window, just delay the on-line for five. Do that each time.3. Set an on-line limit. One hour, half hour, only in the morning, twice per day? What ever works, set a limit. Get stuff done in that time frame.4. Create space before a reaction. Stop, think, then speak.5. Simplify your life. On line, unfriend if it feels right, unsubscribe to anything annoying, loud, repetitive or if it makes you feel guilty or jealous. At home, block calls, turn things off, (media, appliances and lights) you probably don't want to turn off the fridge, but how about the coffee machine which only gets used in the morning, or the microwave which has that brilliantly blue LED light? Declutter. And I should talk, but I'm working on it.6. Don't watch the news! Just don't do it. It's probably nothing to do with you anyway, and the important information will filter in from everywhere (sidebar on FB, your radio station in the car, people talking at the coffee shop). The noise never stops, so don't add more of it on purpose, and, believe me, if you did miss something, there will be 20 million channels available for you to catch up.7. And finally, reflect. Journal, draw, write morning pages, keep lists, take the noise out of your mind and put it down on paper.There, peace at last.Now lets get on with our calm day. :D

A sanity break at Lighthouse Park

There is a lovely park near me at Point Atkinson in West Vancouver. Lighthouse Park.There's a storybook lighthouse......and a little home for the lighthouse keeper......and a little, well tended veggie garden. It's such a lovely, bucolic spot to visit and take photos.But the real magic of this park is the surrounding 75 hectares of old growth rainforest.That's pretty rare to find in a city, and so necessary for recharging.And at this time of year, after days and days of rain, walking thru the forest is so magical. Everything is wet and green and dripping and alive.You can stay in the forest here, or walk down to the ocean and the rocks and beaches and lovely little private coves.And a new vista to the lighthouse and Vancouver just across Burrard Inlet.The best thing to do is find a comfortable space and just stay a while.And then walk back out thru the beautiful forest and get on with your day. :D

Wellness, the good and bad of smoothies

Hi everyone, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about getting enough fruit in our diet and the crazy popularity explosion of the smoothie.Everyone knows the benefits of fruit and everyone knows we should probably be adding way more fruit into our diet than we are eating, and there is an easy way to do this: smoothies.However, not all smoothies are good for you. There is such a thing as very bad for you smoothies. According to my nutritionist at the wellness centre, there are smoothies loaded with sugar, either with the addition of sugar, sweetened frozen fruit, sweetened juices or yogourt, or those commercial smoothies you buy which come in a huge cup and cost a fortune, (probably just to justify the huge cup).The trick with healthy smoothies is to blend them yourself, keep the sugar out, and only make it out of as much fruit as you would normally eat in one sitting.Think for a minute. Would you really eat two bananas, a whole apple, an orange, three handfuls of berries and a cup of protein powder in one go? Well, maybe if you're training for a marathon...but if not, keep it to a reasonable serving.I usually buy or grow organic fruit in season, and freeze it for future use, like these cranberries I got at the cranberry festival in Fort Langley a couple weekends ago.I also got myself a small blender. This one is called the Magic Bullet and was on sale at the local Canadian Tire, (really, three commercial smoothies and you will have paid for this!), but there are plenty of other small budget blender options out there. The reason I got it is because it's easier than a regular blender, which is a pain to dismantle, wash and put away, but primarily because a small blender like this will help to keep your portion of fruit to a reasonable amount.Now go grab some favourites. I try to imagine the fruit on a plate. I think I would happily eat a banana, a slice or two of apple, three strawberries, 10 to 20 blueberries, and maybe 5 or 6 cranberries in one go.And then have a little think. What can you sneak into that smoothie which is healthy for you and you won't even notice? Is it a kale leaf (anti cancer phytochemicals and vit C) from the garden? Is it small scoop of flax seeds (Omega 3, antioxidant lignans)? Sneak it in. I also love a leaf or two of peppermint. Maybe you can sneak in something you hate the taste of. For example, I hate the taste of ginger, but ginger is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent and I can't really taste that strong, gingery taste in the smoothie. Be present in your own body and decide what you need.Stick your selection into your blender. Now add a little water...maybe 1/4 cup. You don't need sugary yogourt, you don't need fancy vitamin infused, ion generated, reverse polar, stream gathered at first moonlight water! Just clean water.And blend it up.I really love to pour the smoothie into my favourite Sbux to-go mug.Then I take it with me sipping it for a nice, long while, savouring the fruity goodness.Try it guys. Do you have a favourite smoothie recipe? Share with me or in the FB wellness group. :D

Wellness, Mediation, the mind-body link

Hi everyone,Now that I've given you an introduction and now that we’re all trying not to step on landmines, I wanted to talk to you about an important aspect of wellness and that is the mind-body link which is achieved in meditation.This is such a crucial habit to get into. I’ll tell you what works for me and then give you some suggestions and resources you can check out.Most of you know that I practice meditation, and, while it’s easy to advise you to go forth and practice meditation, it’s not always that simple, or it may not be something which will work for you, but maybe we can find something which will work for you in order to bring you calm, clarity and healing.My mind-body link practice started in my childhood. As a serious figure skater, I not only skated every day, went to stretch and strengthen and dance classes, but also visualised my routine and my jumps in meditation. That is, I was instructed to run thru them in my mind off the ice, landing them perfectly, gracefully, and I was told that if I did that, I had a much better chance of performing them flawlessly on the ice. As children, we just believe what our coaches/parents/teachers tell us and in that belief, a true mind-body link is developed and we become better for it. If you didn’t grow up figure skating and going to stretch classes, never mind, you can learn to meditate easily.My meditation:I basically have four mediation methods which work for me and I’ll describe them to you starting with the quickest and easiest.1 The pink balloon...Don’t laugh...lol.If I have an overwhelming problem, I visualise myself rounding up that problem in a pink balloon and letting it go out into the universe trusting that the universe will handle it for me. This is a great little meditation to do on the fly. You can do that wherever you are in about two seconds. You don’t need to be lying down, you don’t need quiet, you don’t need an altar...you just need to visualise a pink balloon with that problem in it and then you need to release it and watch it ascend into the sky. And maybe your balloon is blue, or green, or purple. You choose. (I’ve no idea why mine is always pink) Maybe your problem is so huge that you need seventeen balloons to scatter it. It’s up to you. So the next time anxiety grips you...say you have no idea how you will be able to do something...anything... put that into a pink balloon and let the universe take care of it.2 The grounding meditationI’ve sat for hours in doctor’s offices waiting on unpleasant results. I’ve been scared and immobilised, unable to breathe properly, trapped in the face mask made to immobilize me for radiation therapy. I’ve been laying in Shavasana at the end of my yoga practice with a mind full of stupid things, like that guy who unfairly honked at me in traffic, or that unsatisfactory convo I had with the builder next door. The script runs on repeat and I end up playing it over and over again, taking up the precious few minutes I have for this restorative pose. Some evening I have trouble calming down enough to rest. Some nights I wake up at some ungodly hour and am unable to get back to sleep easily. At this time, my mind tends to run scenarios of all the stupid decisions I’ve ever made and then, when I will myself to stop, my mind says, “not so fast, we haven’t discussed all the stupid decisions you’re likely to make in the future!” This is the time for a grounding meditation.My grounding meditation looks like this:I visualise myself standing, sitting or lying on the earth. Usually on grass. Slowly white silvery light showers down from the universe. It showers softly, like fairy dust, it touches me and enters my body. It circulates all thru my body and then begins to enter the earth. Then a deep golden light rises up from the earth and enters my body. It mingles with the silvery universe light circulating everywhere. I feel it in my fingers and toes, it's in my lungs, my heart, my nervous system, then the deep golden light exits and rises up into the sky and into the universe. The silvery light showers down as the golden light rises and I am the conduit for this light of the world.This is a great meditation for restoring calm.3 Healing meditationsThese are rather made to order.My healing meditation #1:I get a lot of headaches and used to get loads of migraines. As I’ve aged, the migraines have settled down, but as a child, when I couldn’t take pain meds and still skate or think, I was taught a healing meditation to ease the pain. Now I use it for joint pain, stress pains, lower back pain...wherever it hurts. It’s a bio feedback sort of thing and feels a little kooky but works really well for me, and since we’re all in the spirit of sharing, here it is. It might work for you too.The steps, (do them in this order and don’t miss one)1 Find the pain. Close your eyes and specifically pinpoint where the pain is. Be as exact as possible. Feel where the edges are, feel the centre.2 Give it a shape. My headaches tend to be spiky balls with sharp thorns. Backaches tend to be hard solid rolls, like a small, metal washboard piece wedged right in there among the muscles.3 Give it a colour. Really. You’ll be surprised. These shapes will have a colour. My headaches tend to be purple.4 Decide how much water it would take to fill the pain space up. Imagine a measuring cup. Fill it with the right amount of water needed to fill the space.5 Now fill that space. Mentally tip the cup of water till it begins pouring out, and fill that space right up.After you do this, you may be surprised to find the pain much diminished; even gone altogether.Healing meditation two:This is really a good one for healing cuts, operation sites, infections, and even pain if the above doesn’t work well for you.Visualise that golden light I talked about before, but this time visualise it knitting the cut skin back together. Visualise it passing over the operation site, or infection, and as it passes, it leaves nothing but clean, clear skin. Sometimes it’s helpful to think of the golden light acting like a zipper zipping up, leaving a tiny, thin line, and later the golden light taking that line away as it passes. Do this several times per day. It only takes a few minutes. Especially do this last thing at night just before we let our body restore in sleep.I can tell you that my doctors were amazed at my fast healing after any operation. I really believe that this meditation aided my body in healing much more efficiently than any creams or medications could.4 Mindfulness- awareness meditation, a Shambhala Buddhist practiceThis one’s simple, but at the same time rather difficult guys. I learned it a few years ago in the local Buddhist meditation group. It’s designed to train your mind to remain calm no matter what. You practice it for blocks of time, like 20 or 30 minutes.This is how to practice it:Take your shoes off and sit comfortably. I usually sit on a big bolster pillow, but on a chair is perfectly fine. Pick a point just in front of you to focus on. So far so good, right?And now the difficult bit, empty your mind.Maybe listen to your breathing, concentrate on your breath, but don’t let your mind wander.Inevitably, your mind will wander. Your mind will do this: Five minutes into meditation, your mind will suddenly say “must remember to buy cat litter” and start writing a grocery list, followed by, “Ooo, is that a fire truck or ambulance?....maybe it’s a police car” and then, ”that spot on the floor...it looks like Big Ben” and so on. Every time you catch yourself thinking of something, say “that’s interesting” or “mind chatter” to yourself, and let it go and focus on your breath again. Don’t get mad at yourself, don’t criticise, don’t think that you suck and you’re the worst Buddhist in the world. Just forgive yourself, say “mind chatter” and pull your mind back again.After your block of time, get up, cup your hand at waist height in front of you as though you are carrying an apple, and walk around slowly, again with an empty mind, but this time concentrating on each foot fall. Do 10 or so minutes of mindfull walking, come back to your seat, and go for 20-30 more minutes.There you go guys. A quick introduction to meditation as a mind-body link.There is so much more out there that I don’t practice. Some people like to evoke their religion and instead of the universe, offer themselves up to God. Some people like to build a small sacred altar, get fresh flowers, burn a candle. Some people like to visualise themselves on a beach, mountain, cloud...it’s all good. Some people like chanting and some like singing.Whatever you decide on, I hope it helps you as much as it helps me.Do give it a try. And please share your thoughts.Links:One of my first meditation teachers has been Shakti Gawain. She has loads of books available and her web site is here. I’m not a fan of her guided meditation because I find her voice not calm enough for my liking. You might feel differently, but either way, she has loads of good info.One of my favourite mantra singers is Deva Premal. Her clear voice is amazing. Find her here. My favourite mantra the Gayatri Mantra here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d63COahIpVMNot sure why I chose Alfons Mucha's paintings to illustrate this post except that I connect so much with him and with my childhood in Prague. It's all about comfort. :D

Wellness, stepping on landmines

It’s time to start taking exquisite care of ourselves and of our one and precious life.With that in mind, right away I thought that we have to address the elephant in the room guys, and right away thismight alienate some people.But it has to be said.You cannot be well while stepping on landmines.Now there are landmines and there are landmines. Some kinds of landmines WILL blow up under your feet and rip you apart.These land mines are: cigarettes, drugs and alcohol.If you are smoking, fooling with recreational drugs or drinking habitually, you must stop it at once. I don’t have any experience or advice to give you, but I know there are agencies who are dedicated to helping. Reach out. Get help. Do whatever you must, whatever you can to stop.But there are also the landmines which will blow up after a time delay, ticking away slowly underneath your feet while you keep standing on them.These land mines are: processed foods, sugars and a sedentary lifestyle.The good news is that there are ways you can lift your feet off those landmines and walk away.It isn’t easy and it will take more of your willpower and precious time and energy than you might think is worth it, but believe me, it will take a whole lot less energy than the energy you will need to fight back from a cancer, diabetes, or other unwell and aging related diseases.How do we begin to turn things around?I do know a few ways but the truth is I don’t know everything.I suspect the best way is to not subtract. I really don’t think that the answer is to deprive, starve, or withdraw all at once. For me the answer is to add something healthy every day. To add something healthy so that there is less room for the unhealthy. To slowly begin replacing.Say you want a sandwich. Buy a fermented bread, like sourdough rather than a refined flour white bread or a commercial multigrain. If you like cheddar cheese, then buy a white cheddar which doesn’t contain orange colourants. If you like meat slices, go for roast chicken rather than cancer causing nitrate rich hams and salamis. And then, stick some veggies in that sandwich. (Even if it’s only a tomato slice and a leaf of lettuce...not iceberg) You get the idea.Tell me what you like and I’ll find you a healthier alternative.Consider that processed meats, artificial colours in foods, anything sugar, glucose, fructose...actually anything ending in _ose, artificial flavours, corn syrups, palm kernel oils, hydrolyzed anything, refined anything, enriched anything, white anything, is all unhealthy and potentially cancer causing.Go for a walk, join a walking club...start a walking club. Take up yoga, join a gym, do some gardening.Buy some spelt flour spaghetti noodles, a real hunk of Parmesan and make your own tomato sauce without sugars, corn syrups and artificial colours. You can do it!And now you might be saying, “but, but, I like white flour noodles and I like Kraft type shaky in the container Parmesan cheese, and I like the convenience of opening a jar.” All that may be true, but at what price do you want those things? Do you want white flour noodles which turn directly to sugar in your body making your insulin spike and bringing on weight gain and diabetes? Do you want Parmesan cheese which is actually 40% cellulose filler? Do you want tomato sauce which has been artificially coloured red and has corn syrup (which has the same effect as the white noodles) and preservatives to make it last on the supermarket shelves?Try making this tomato sauce; which you can freeze very easily for next time:Pick up some local (organic if you can) tomatoes at your market. These days so many communities have local markets which pop up on weekends.Right now tomatoes which are not perfect, are perhaps a little over-ripe, have some blemishes, are at their peak and are being sold off rather inexpensively. They're often called "canning tomatoes". Go get some! Get lots! Invest one day worth of work in your wellbeing.Get some garlic, shallots if you like, and a wide range of fresh herbs. I love rosemary, sage, thyme and parsley as well as basil.Pour a drizzle olive oil into a roasting tin (the body can only absorb lycopene from the tomatoes in the presence of some fat, so olive oil is ideal), slice up the tomatoes and put them in the pan. Tear up a bunch of herbs and put around the tomatoes, crush a few cloves of garlic and put those around too. Now sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and roast for about 40 minutes.Do you have time to can the tomatoes? If yes, then process for 40 minutes, if no then go ahead and divide the roasted tomatoes into containers for freezing.There you go. One day invested for many Thursday night healthy spaghetti meals. (I do Thursday night spaghetti.)So let's do this.Begin taking your feet on those landmines little by little, gently, softly, until you are well and truly standing as far away as possible. And don’t turn back.Next week, let’s talk about emotions, meditation and the mind-body linLearn more about diabetes prevention at https://www.culturalhealthsolutions.com/prevent-diabetes/.

Wellness, it’s in our hands and we’ve got this. Our journey starts here.

I know there was a reason, in the BIG LIFE picture, (you know, the one out there with the moon and stars and aura vibrations and aroma therapy candles lol), why I procrastinated about taking you on this wellness journey.That reason might be because this week had to happen.Specifically two things happened. Thing one was I had to have a check in with the oncologist on the horrible and gloomy conveyor belt that is the Vancouver Cancer Agency.And thing two: I was invited to an expressive art therapy group session at my wellness centre.Let me tell you about the latter and a revelation I had.OK, I can safely say that I’ve done, or tried, all sorts of expressive art forms, but transferring gestures (where you mimic the one you received from the person on your right and send a new one to your left) round a circle of 10 people was a new one on me...lol. As it turns out, I’m not much of a performance artist. Good to know!Anyway, I survived three go-rounds, and on the third I must admit that transferring a gesture came more comfortably. Then my second task was to pick three colours of oil pastels and write an entire page of words describing my body.I was surprised...wait...that’s not the right word. Not surprised because the words came easily, naturally. Maybe the word is happy. I was happy to have this perspective because almost every word was positive, and every word was honest. Mixed in with the predictable words like: healthy, sexy, original, talented, flexible, strong, poised, and hopeful, were unexpected words like: wobbly, cold, worldly, golden, merciful, fractured, and wise.The next task, and the most exciting one, was to take a slab of clay and build a sculptural representation of my body.I took the slab into my hands and started warming it up. My hands became silvery grey and cold as the heat of my hands began to transfer into the clay, which started to become pliable, and I started forming something...I had no idea what that should be. A complete vacuum in my brain, pieces of clay being torn, rolled, folded, torn again and suddenly the shape of my hands was emerging from the clay in my hands.It was the most bizarre thing guys. I was sculpting my own hands from that clay.But this began to make complete sense to me. My wellbeing, my health is in my own hands.Our wellbeing is in our own hands. How amazing is that? It’s all up to us, and we can do it. All we have to do is draw from our collective pool of knowledge.Who am I to be any kind of authority on this you may ask? Well, I’m not really, but I am intelligent, well read, and have invested a great deal of time and effort in my own health.I’m the daughter of two prominent medical doctors and my first line of defence growing up was medical intervention. There was never even a thought of non-medical means.I’m the partner of a Zen philosophy practising son of a naturopath doctor, whose first line of defence growing up was bed rest, homeopathy and a strict fruit diet.I’m the mother of three grown children, whose first line of defense was natural health, that is no sugar, no processed foods, and plenty of outdoor activity, and the second line was medical intervention.I'm the survivor of a very rare and possibly unstoppable type of wonky cellnossity which no one seems to know much about...read about it here if you like, but don’t go looking it up, you’ll only depress yourselves.So here I am in my mid 50s, and my dedication to wellbeing has been strong for the past 15 or so years and I’ve come this far with a humongous wealth of information, which I’d like to share with you.In the next while, and possibly over years, there will be more of a focus on wellness on my blog. We will discuss and discover information to physical and emotional well being.Hope you come along with me and share your ideas and tips.Together we can do this. We can make this one and precious life that we have a happy and healthy one.