Two weeks ago I went up to New York City and attended the Yoga and Raw Food Expo by New Life. It was a good opportunity for me to further my knowledge of why we should eat raw foods and living foods. Also, I got to take a few yoga classes. I do have to say once in a while, it is nice to practice and learn yoga without having to teach.

Anyway, I do my best at eating healthy all the time. It is no doubt different for each person how natural and how much raw or organic food they eat on the path of healthy eating in their own lives. For me it has been a process of getting healthier and making better choices gradually. I did not notice the changes at first; but, after you adopt these choices as a constant and they become part of your life style the benefits of eating this way are undeniably received by each person.

The Benefits of Eating Raw/ Organic/Live Foods can be:

• Feel Lighter
• Having More Energy
• Feel Better
• Heal the Body
• Boost the Immune System
• More in sync with the Environment
• Create a Connection to the body so that it speaks to you about what type of foods it needs.

It is hard to eat organic or even fresh food for a lot of people. It is another task to fulfill in your weekly chores. To eat fresh food weekly might send you to the store 1-3 times a week. Some people can’t find the time, the resources of money or choices to get to the “right” food choices. I often find eating organic hard and expensive. I would like to increase the percentage of organic food I eat daily. I probably eat 30-50% organic on a weekly basis. I do better when I visit local farmer’s markets. Although there are a lot of them around Philadelphia I still can’t seem to make a lot of them regularly. So, I sympathize with everyone’s hardship on the path of organic, raw, healthy food eating and realize there is no other solution other than to “just do it.”

Raw foodies tend to eat 75-100% of their food uncooked, un-processed and organic. Most are total vegans and others are raw vegetarians (meaning they can eat a portion of fish, eggs and dairy).

Eating food in their original, un-heated state means the food is raw and alive. Live foods contain a wide range of vital life foce nutrients in them. Live foods provide: live enzymes, vitamins, minerals, oxygen and amino acids. All of these properties are ones that the body needs for the proper maintenance of human bodily functions.

It is definitely recommended you research the foods you would like to consume for nutritional content and food sensitivities. It is NOT recommended to completely “go raw” at one time and it IS recommended to go see a nutritionist or teacher that will help you transition safely and healthily.

While I was at the Expo I went to a lecture with Brenda Cobbs of the Living Foods Institute. In 1999 Brenda was diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer. She healed herself without radiation, chemotherapy or surgery and now dedicates her life to helping others. She spoke about how right mental thinking, emotional healing and to nourish the body at a deep cellular level, reverse aging and detoxify the body through organic, raw foods.

Hopefully, you will encourage and challenge yourself to incorporate more live, organic foods in your daily diet and feel the many benefits of a rich, diverse, fresh plant- based diet. I am with you though; it takes effort!

Here is a Juicing Recipe:

1 Large Mango
1 Ripe Banana
4 Strawberries
2 Tbspn Flaxseed
2 Tbspn Coconot Shavings or Coconut Milk
6 Ice Cubes
1 Cup of Milk or Water

Serves 2

]]> http://www.totallyzen.com/live-raw-foods-yoga-in-nyc-everyday.html/feed 1 http://www.totallyzen.com/getting-green-is-a-continual-process.html http://www.totallyzen.com/getting-green-is-a-continual-process.html#comments Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:50:40 +0000 Stephanie http://www.totallyzen.com/?p=185 Continue reading →]]>

Greeenfest Philly will be holding their annual Greenfest this Sunday, September 7th, 11am-6pm, 2nd & South Street. In 2006 Urban Green Partnership started to bring people together to become more connected and aware of the environmental issues facing the city and Delaware valley. 6,500 people & 40 vendors took part in the day long festival. In 2007 they decided to repeat their efforts and the festival grew to 14,000 people, 130 vendors. This time the focus was on joining with the Delaware Valley Building Council to accentuate the need for Philadelphia to build and be greener. The festival then became part of the Green Plan Philadelphia.

All I can say is: What a way to create community! What a way to turn people on to becoming, embracing or supporting the Green Movement!

What is Green & Why is it important?

Green is a way of living, thinking & acting. Recycling & re-using everything you can, conserving all resources, making more green decisions, refusing to use products & services that are not green & supporting greener ones instead! Once you raise your awareness you will want to make changes by consuming in a more conscious way.

Detoxification of the planet is essential for all species health and continued longevity. Can’t you sense the planetary shifts and see the toxic materials building in our supplies of natural resources? What will we do & where will we turn for natural, clean essentials if we pollute all our Earth?

“There is a very common mind-set right now which holds that all that we’re going to need to do to avert the large-scale planetary catastrophes upon us is make slightly different shopping decisions,” said Alex Steffen, the executive editor of Worldchanging.com, a Web site devoted to sustainability issues. “The genuine solution, he and other critics say, is to significantly reduce one’s consumption of goods and resources. “

I found a website, http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/4990/index.html, that gives some startling statistics, suggestions & information on going green : 

• The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.

• 99.5 percent of all fresh water on Earth is in icecaps and glaciers.

• Each gallon of gas used by a car contributes about 19 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. For a single car driving 1,000 miles a month, that adds up to 120 tons of CO2 a year.

• A single polystyrene (Styrofoam) cup contains one billion billion molecules of CFCs–that’s 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.                                                      

• Once a CFC atom reaches the ozone layer, it can take over 100 years before it breaks up and becomes harmless.

• About 110 million Americans live in areas with levels of air pollutants the federal government considers to be harmful.

• Americans dump 16 tons of sewage into their waters–every minute of every day.

• Although water covers two-thirds of the surface of the Earth, all the fresh water in lakes, streams, and rivers represents only one-hundredth of the Earth’s total water.

• Each year, 1 million sea birds, 100,000 marine mammals, and 50,000 fur seals are killed as the result of eating or being strangled in plastic.

• A plant called the rosy periwinkle, which grows in the rainforests of Madagascar, has been used to make a drug that can cure some kinds of cancer.

• Americans throw away 25 billion Styrofoam coffee cups every year, and 2.5 million plastic beverage bottles every hour.

• Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars to fill the 1,350-foot twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center every two weeks.

• Americans throw away about 40 billion soft drink cans and bottles every year. Placed end to end, they would reach to the moon and back nearly 20 times.

• Eighty-four percent of a typical household’s waste–including food scraps, yard waste, paper, cardboard, cans, and bottles–can be recycled.

• Using recycled paper for one print run of the Sunday edition of the New York Times would save 75,000 trees.

• If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25 million trees a year.

• Each year, 40 million acres of tropical rainforests–an area larger than the state of California–are destroyed through logging or burning.

• Only 10 percent of the 35,000 pesticides introduced since 1945 have been tested for their effects on people.

• It takes only one-twentieth as much raw materials to grow grains, fruits, and vegetables as it does to raise animals for meat.

• The typical American home uses about 300 gallons of water a day.

• A 1/32″ leak in a faucet can waste up to 6,000 gallons of water a month, or 72,000 gallons a year.

• America’s refrigerators use about 7 percent of the nation’s total electricity consumption–the output of about 25 large power plants.

• By turning the heat down, Americans could save more than 500,000 barrels of oil each day–that’s over 21,000,000 gallons.

• A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to two million gallons of fresh water.

• By the year 2000, U.S. businesses will need the equivalent of all the office space in Pittsburgh, PA, to store the paper it uses in just one year.

• Driving an average of 1,000 miles a month produces about 120 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

• If all the cars on U.S. roads had properly inflated tires, it would save nearly 2 billion gallons of gasoline a year.

We can no longer wait until tomorrow to embrace this challenge! We need everyone’s commitment! Hopefully, we’ll see you there &/or inspire you to Get Greener everyday!

The Greenfest Philly will revolve around the theme of water. As an upcoming exhibitor for the event I was challenged to find the correlation between water and what Totally Zen could offer to the subject.

I had heard water was a healing tool some time ago. Sometimes you here things in passing and don’t put much attention to them and other things in life we take for granted, like our health. When I had the opportunity to delve into the meaning between health and water I jumped on it.

I found a book called, You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty! , by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj. This scientist has some very interesting research, findings and explanations as to the connection between human health and hydration levels.

For two and a half years, in the late 70′s, this doctor was being held in an Iranian prison as a political prisoner of the Islamic revolution. While there, he began to treat prisoners for stress induced peptic ulcer disease by drinking two glasses of water. He effectively treated over three thousand such cases and wrote a scientific explanation that would be published in the Iranian Medical Association Journal while still in prison and later restructured for the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology in June of 1983.

The doctor presents a need for an entire paradigm shift to the way modern medicine looks at health and disease. He claims that chronic dehydration can change molecular and electrical structure of cells, which affect the chemical balance in the body thereby altering their effectiveness in the body. Once your cells are not acting, responding and receiving information in the body correctly or efficiently there begins imbalances in the organs and internal systems. Once this happens pathology, disease, sets in to the body.

Dr. F. Batmanghelidj claims, “the current commerce directed, health- maintenance system”, does not want to educate people as to this finding because the pharmaceutical industry would suffer at the knowledge that most chronic disease could be cured by hydrating or preventatively keeping the body hydrated from the start.

He states that modern medicine has made four mistakes that confound to cost society dearly. Here are the four premises:

1. “The whole structure of modern medicine is built on the pitifully flawed premise that dry mouth is the only sign of dehydration.” They have confused the symptoms of internal, localized droughts and has identified them as different disease. Dry mouth is the last indicator of dehydration of the body.

2. Water has primary functions in the body; water is life- sustaining and life- giving. This is why dehydration can cause life-threatening processes. Understanding this can save your life and health- naturally.

3. Another serious error is that, “the human body can regulate efficiently its water intake throughout the lifespan of the person. As we age our perception of thirst diminishes and we fail to drink adequate amounts of water.” The cells become plum-like in vital organs and we cannot sustain life. We need to recognize the onset of dehydration and its manifestations to prevent the irreversible damage.

4. He says, ” the fourth nail in the coffin of present-day medicine is the thought that any fluid can replace the water needs of the body.” This is a major problem because of the use of manufactured beverages. He notes, “Caffeine, soda, alcohol and tea actually dehydrate the body. Most of the beverages today contain the dehydrating substance of caffeine.” Therefore, you need more water after you drink them than before because you excrete water when you use them.

There is so much interesting information about the different effects dehydration has on the body. In fact, come out to Greenfest on Sunday, September 7th, 11-6pm. The event takes at Headhouse Square, 2nd & South Street. Find the Totally Zen booth to read the to learn about the Forty-Six Reasons Why Your Body Needs Water Every Day and to say Hello! If you are not local or do not make it out I will post the list or summary of the educational information after the event.

Dr. F. Batmanghelidj suggestions for water usage:

• In the meantime remember to drink water 30 minutes before a meal to prepare the digestive tract.

• Water should be taken any time you are thirsty- even during meals.

• Water should be taken 2 1/2 hours after a meal to complete the process of digestion and correct dehydration caused by food breakdown.

• Water should be taken first thing in the morning to correct dehydration produced during long sleep.

• Water should be taken before exercising to have it available for creating sweat.

• Water should be taken by people who are constipated and don’t eat sufficient fruits and vegetables. 2-3 glasses in the morning acts as the most effective laxative.

The body uses up to 6-8 glasses of its body water for essential functions. It needs on average upwards of half its weight in ounces of water per day – a minimum of 8-10 glasses. Water should be taken in 8-16 oz portions throughout the day. Just like you don’t want your car to run out of gas; don’t let your body become dehydrated before you drink!

Drink, drink, drink – WATER!!!!!                                                        

*********All of this educational information was provided by the book,You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty! , by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj.

A link to buy his books:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Dr.+Batmanghelidj&x=10&y=24

Find out more about the Greenfest:

http://www.greenfestphilly.org/

There is conscious breathing, which is the type we practice in Eastern Arts and meditation, and then there is unconscious breathing that is regulated by our brainstem and keeps us alive. Ideally, we train the unconscious breath to become a deep, “clean” conscious and then we do not have to work so hard to behold a restorative breath.

There are tremendous benefits to be gained by developing our deep breathing skills. Think of the deep breath as the nourishment for the entire self. Energizing the body with the breath helps the body become more alive. We can strengthen the body with sleep, nutritious food and breathing alone.

As we develop better breathing habits we increase our breath capacity and breathe strength. Deep breathing helps reduce stress by calming the nervous system, strengthens the circulatory system, increases lung capacity, lowers blood pressure and improves cardiovascular health. Physically, we have more energy and are more relaxed when we practice regular deep breathing. With ALL those amazing benefits, I wonder why I didn’t start deep breathing earlier!

The result of better breathing on the mind is increased concentration, focus and clarity. We will delve further into these components in the next installment of this series, which is meditation.

Spiritually, when we nourish our bodies with our breath then our bodies relax and our minds open. The result is the beautiful rays of pure, white light that shine from our souls!

In Daoist breathing, we can heal our bodies channeling the breath to send the healing white light (breath energy) to our bodies to cleanse and nourish the self, internally and externally.
It just makes sense to spend time consciously breathing every day!

Here are a few breathing exercise to try every day:

Deep Breathing

A long, slow, deep breath that draws all the way into the belly and back and then slowly releases from there. Inhale is shorter than exhale: try inhaling for three seconds and exhaling for six seconds.

This is a great way to calm the nervous system!

Challenge yourself to just nine deep breaths every day, once accomplished that task; then try nine deep breaths morning, noon and night.

Eventually, you will be able to fill in the gaps to truly energize and calm the self.

Daoist Breathing , Qi (Chi) Energy Breath                                                           

Try sitting tall in lotus position or lying on your back, corpse pose, with your hands on your belly.

In the beginning, it is much easier to identify the deep breath if you lay on your back. A good way to cure insomnia is: corpse pose while counting the deep breaths until you drift off. If you count your breaths, you can’t think and this is usually the problem!

To begin the deep inhale: breathing in through the nostrils, imagine the breath as white light drawing down into the body from the nostril all the way to the root, right underneath the belly button. (The root is 3 inches underneath your belly button, 3 inches into the body.)

Once the breath is expanded into the root; then, exhale from the root to the crown (or nostrils.) This action of root breathing expands the belly and back and then contracts it.

This is the action of expanding & contracting your energy, or chi.

Training this breath will help you identify then build the life source, which is the root power. You can use this chi energy to heal and cleanse you and others.

Breath of Fire , Kundalini Breathing

Practice short, rapid breaths that take the energy into the diaphragm and then contract the abdomen to slightly force the exhale out of your nostrils.

Repeat in short increments until you get the strength, pace and endurance to sustain breath for longer periods.

Breath of fire seds bursts of oxygen to the whole body and nourishes the blood and strengthens the organs. Feel invigorated!

Alternate Nostril Breathing , Nadi Sodhana

Place your right index onto your third eye. Begin by placing the thumb on the right nostril, inhaling up the left nostril. Cover the left nostril with your middle finger and exhale out the right nostril.

Once there, alternate between lifting and lowering your thumb and middle finger until you perform nine rounds of breathing. Then you reverse the direction of the breath work for nine more rounds.

Thefresh oxygen revitalizes the mind and nervous system, activates the pituitary and thyroid glands and evens out the two hemispheres of the brain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breath

Head massages, Shiro Abhyanga, are a perfect end or beginning to any day. In the Ayurvedic medicinal system from India this treatment is said to maintain health and wellness. They can be given in the traditional way massaging the shoulders, (arms, hands), neck, scalp, face and ears. Also, a scalp massage can be incorporated into a body massage or even used as part of a self-healing modality.

I have long hair and because I am active and sweat a lot I tend to pull my hair back often. Because of this constant tying of the hair and restriction I felt at times my hair had become weak and fallen out excessively. Hearing my story, my friend recommended head massage and since then I have been doing scalp massages weekly in the shower. You can find many products that will help you in stores. Or you can make your own oil with the recipe I give you at the end of my post .

Hair loss can result from stress, illness, poor circulation, genetics or age. Head massages are a way to prevent or restrict hair loss. Not everyone will benefit from this practice; results will depends on how far along hair loss has developed before you begin the treatments, how often you engage in this massage, how thoroughly it is undertaken and your body’s unique composition.

A healthy scalp should be encouraged from childhood and head massage techniques can be taught to calm the mind, body and spirit.

I incorporate a head massage from time to time while teaching yoga and people love it! A nice head massage provides relaxation and eliminates fatigue from mental and physical stress. Working along the top three charkas it helps put the whole body in alignment.

Other benefits of head massages are increased energy and mental clarity and better sleep. As with any new practice give yourself time to repeat the process to experience all the benefit.

There are many different herbs you can add to your oil to promote healthy hair. Such as: the essential oil of rosemary, which is invigorating for the scalp or sandalwood, which is warming. Choose one of the two since they are not good in combination. Henna helps create shiny hair. Brahmi herbs help to revitalize nerves and brain cells.

You want to gather a few items for your head massage:

• Any kind of vegetable oil; such as: coconut, olive, almond or sesame. Sesame oil contains phosphorous and calcium that benefits the hair shaft and is the traditional oil used in India.
• Any of the herbs that were aforementioned
• Towel
• Low back chair

To Begin your Head Massage:

You want to sit up tall in the chair with the spine aligned properly.

The massage starts at the top of the crown using small, circular motions with your thumbs and fingers. You can apply varied pressures finding something suitable for you. Work your way slowly down and out each side of the skull. Go back to the top of the skull and keep moving down and out until the entire skull is invigorated.

Next, you can apply pressure with the base of the palms and then massage the temporal lobes which relaxes the senses of hearing and vision.

You can pull the hair from the root upward which loosens the scalp and increases the circulation at the scalp.

Next you would work down the base of the neck on both sides.

Continue with the shoulders, warming the trapezious muscles. Then you will move out along the arms and down into the hands.

*Take your time and massage with the intention of relaxation it will greatly increase the enjoyment and effectiveness of your massage.

*This can be a self-massage: you would use one hand for the opposite side at a time.

*Most treatments last about a half hour.

http://www.geocities.com/mistysounds/indianheadmassage.html

Since taking up more practices in the healing arts I have learned about the necessity of detoxing your body. In fact, you can detox your mind and spirit too!

Every day stress, toxins and pollution enter into our bodies, our temples, and what happens if it doesn’t come out, it stays inside to accumulate and rot. The key to continued good health is continual detoxification and purification.

On a daily basis I feel the physical stress of life bearing down and into my body. I usually try to practice yoga or work out at the gym to move through a lot of this stress. Even yoga or working out can add strain to the body if it is weakened or ill aligned.

Mentally, we all have so many things on our plates: family, friends, work, social structures that take constant care and attention to keep them on track and healthy relationships.

Spiritually, in our lives we encounter people, concepts and situations that we are forced to deal with in our daily lives that cause us to feel unsettled or challenged.

From the food we eat, the water we drink, the environmental pollution and all the other chemicals we ingest directly or indirectly in life our bodies are being taxed heavily.

How do we keep up with the detoxification we truly need to stay ahead of the curve?

Detoxification and purification are such encompassing subjects I will have to break them apart a little at a time. But for now, I am reminded of a simple practice that does my mind, body and spirit a world of good! Yesterday I had a challenging day and it got to be late in the day and all I could think about was a long, hot shower.

I have learned that cleansing the body through bathing is an effective tool to physically remove toxins from the body. This is intuitive; but once you connect that knowledge to that actual practice you might find your elevated consciousness really seeing or feeling the toxins washing away. Taking them out of your being in mind, body and spirit.

I steam in the shower or bath a long time to saturate my body with water. Allowing my body to feel relaxed and open from the new energy I am being provided with through this element. The cleansing, healing water has the ability to wash away the impurities of daily living.

Next, I use the water that flows out of a hand held showerhead, I direct the old energy out of my body using warm/hot water. Using my mind, I connect or pick up the old energy with the flow of water and release them out of my body. I go over my entire body.

Through time I have been able to strengthen this association or connection through continued practice. A long, hot shower can take me from one tense, tired place to a nice, easy one.

I strongly recommend connecting to water as a healing, nurturing source for your enjoyment and health!

Remember a happy self is a healthy self in mind, body and spirit!