Valentine's Day Retreat...

Yoga Therapy Class for MS...

“I felt like I became steadier and stronger in my core,” Meltzer said. Prior to yoga, she described herself as a “wall walker,” someone who felt safer holding onto the wall in order to get around. “To be able to stand on one leg and feel balanced is amazing.”

Meltzer, out of a wheelchair and walking without a cane, was one of 14 women with moderate disability due to MS who participated in a pilot trial conducted by the Rutgers School of Health Related Professions. A specially-designed yoga program for these MS patients not only improved their physical and mental well-being but also enhanced their overall quality of life.

quote from an article on www.yogauonline.com

Beginning in January I am teaching a Yoga Therapy class for people with MS.  If you know anyone with MS please share this information with them. 

Are you ready to receive?

I’ve said from time to time that yoga starts when you take what you learn on the mat off the mat into your everyday life.  Over the past year it has become clear what my gifts are and who I am meant to serve.  I know that I need to get out into the community and spread my message of Yoga AS Therapy.  To do this I started calling other providers like chiropractors and various Integrative Medicine providers offering to speak to their clients and patients about Yoga.  But, no one is calling back or responding to my follow up emails.  I feel like I have been forcing things so I spent some time over the past few days asking questions around what I can do reach and help more people.  I also backed off a little on the DOING, and instead focused on being open to receive.  I began to think about what it is like when I practice my yoga.  I am fully present in my body.  I listen to it, feel it, and enjoy it.  I noticed that when I was calling and “doing” I was thinking about the end result rather than being present in each conversation.  I was striving and grasping for that end result.  Today after backing of on the doing and being more present in each moment, with each client and in each class, some connections came to me effortlessly and in unexpected ways.  A good friend talked with her hairstylist and he may become a client.  Another client of mine talked to her chiropractor yesterday and today that chiropractor called her to get my information so he could refer a patient.

I wondered how many of you have experienced something similar in your life.  You work hard and grasp for that end result only to find yourself exhausted and wondering why after all your work it hasn’t come.  But then when you decided to relax around how you expected it to come, all of a sudden it arrived just not in the way you had imagined.  Maybe if what you are grasping for hasn’t arrived yet it is because there is something you are meant to witness, learn, absorb or process in order for you to be fully ready to receive. 

Do you have a mental list of “good” foods and “bad” foods?

                         

           GOOD FOOD                     BAD FOOD                             

I’d really like to have some discussion about this. 

Do you think about and crave the bad foods more because you tell yourself that you can’t have them?  

When you eat the supposed “bad” foods do you truly enjoy every bite? 

After you eat the bad food do you feel good about allowing yourself the indulgence or do you feel guilty? 

Food is not inherently good or bad it is neutral.  We label a food either good or bad based upon our programming by the media, so called experts, our own experiences, etc.  Think for a moment about a food you label as bad.  Do you fear it, fight it, sometimes crave it and maybe even label anyone eating this bad food as a bad person?  For me a bad food is chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven.  I would say I fear it because I know I can’t just eat one.  After I eat one the craving for more kicks in and I give in.  Then I feel guilty and I won’t make them at all even though my husband loves them.

I have been reading the book Nourishing Wisdom by Marc David where he talks about the implications of labeling food as good or bad.  He states that when we do this we “instantly suppress the natural flow of biological information.  We cut off the rich and complex messages that the body would otherwise feed back to us about the food we are eating.”  He uses the following example to illustrate his point.  “Say, for instance, that a person you have never met walks into the room and I say to you, “Avoid that man.  He is a bad person.”  Chances are, you will believe me.  You will never get to know him, understand him, or experience his depth simply because of this initial judgment.  The same is true with food.”  

I want to suggest that you take a food from your bad food list and eat as much of it as you want for a week without any judgments.  That you enjoy every bite of the food while remaining open to what your body tells you.  Here are a few suggestions for questions you may want to ask yourself after eating the so called bad food.

How does this food affect my energy level?

Does this food give me a headache?

Do I feel bloated after eating this food?

Do I feel drained an hour later?

Does a certain amount of this food work well for me but anything more than that cause undesirable effects?

Does the food work well for me on some days but not on others?

My hope is that this experiment will help you to release all your rules around good and bad food and begin to rely on your own body’s feedback rather than blindly following a book or diet expert.  Let me know if you are going to try the experiment and then comment your experience.

Free yoga and workshop "Happiness is an Inside Job"...

Yummy bean spreads a healthy alternative to butter...

I have been playing around with ways to incorporate beans as a healthier option for protein and also more fiber.  This is a quick and simple spread I made using canned white beans mashed and then I added non-dairy mayo and mango habanero salsa...mmmm mmmm yummy!  I used the spread here on a slice of flax bread.  You could use the spread as a dip for tortilla chips, a spread on crackers, in place of sour cream on a baked potato, in place of mayo in a sandwich or wrap... I could go on and on.  Experiment with beans this week and share your favorite spread recipe in the comments or email me at janetgolow@gmail.com.  I will compile all of the recipes and share with everyone.  

What is your story and are you willing to give it up?

What is the story that keeps playing in your head?  What is the story that keeps you stuck?  What is the story that keeps you from living the life of your dreams?

These were just a few of the many stories that kept playing in my head…

Work is hard.  Work that pays well is not fun.  Get a job based upon what is in demand.  You can’t make a living in the field of art or doing anything really creative.  

These stories and beliefs kept me from being truly happy.  Oh, I had numbing moments of happiness … like watching a movie, eating chocolate, spending a day with a friend, exercising endlessly for that high I would get.  I did all of these things to numb the fact that I was not happy with how I spent most of my life.  And where do we spend most of our lives?  At our jobs or in our careers.  I was so afraid to face my unhappiness and confront my story that I almost lost my health and my relationship with the man I love.  Why do we think it is easier to stay in what we know even if we know it is slowly killing us?  I finally listened after hitting the wall and being so desperate that I knew I had to face my fears in order to get healthy and live again.  I trusted my inner guidance with the support and encouragement of my husband, many friends and two wonderful women who became my life coaches.  The steps I took did not at times make logical sense, but in the end they lead me to discover my gifts, talents and desires.  I am now a yoga therapist and health coach working with women and men to navigate life change, manage health challenges, or just learn tools to create a healthy body that moves with ease.  I love my life!  I love every minute of every day.  I wake up feeling so grateful and so blessed.  So I encourage you to look at the stories that keep playing in your head.  Ask yourself if they are serving you.  If they are not serving you then let them go and start creating a new story based on what you would love.  I am here to talk or help you in any way I can.