Health & Vitality - My Ongoing Search

There are just six posts left in this 365 day blog challenge now.  I'm thinking in these final days that I'll consider highlights of my experiences in this past year, particularly in the areas that led me to doing this in the first place. One of the ongoing areas that I've addressed is the various influences on the quality of my sleep.  What I have learned in this last year is that inadequate sleep is a widespread problem, and as is typical for a widespread concern, there are many many experts and solutions on offer for resolving it. It currently takes me about half an hour to get ready to bed if I'm going to attend to all the steps of the routine I have developed.  Does anybody out there just fall into bed after brushing their teeth, and rest soundly through the night any more?  For those of us who don't there are a variety of what are called sleep hygiene protocols. Some of these are related to what you consume in food and drink and how soon that occurs befo...

As I start this post it is 8:30 p.m.  Our two year old grandson just went to sleep a little while ago.  We are taking care of him overnight, at his home, for the very first time, while his parents have a little anniversary get away. It probably won't be long before we are ready for bed ourselves.  Being with a two year old is a pretty steady flow of action from one thing to another.  He kept us busy this afternoon using the couch for somersaults, playing various falling down games with toys and showing us the many ways toy vehicles can go down a spiral car track. Dinner time is another fun event, whereby we encourage bites of nourishing food between his nibbles on the buttered crusty bread which accompanies the great pea soup his mom had prepared for us before they left. Oh, and he's also potty training, so he was very happy to oblige a few trips upstairs to the potty to show us how it is done.  He wanted us both in the bathroom and even had me reading sto...

Looking for a couple of missing items this morning led me down another rabbit hole, which I scurried out of as soon as I could. A membership card, which should have been with other cards in my wallet, but was not, sent me looking into the last couple of purses I had used before my current one.  I don't always completely empty them out when I do a switch, because I'm frequently trying to lighten my load, and make do with less.  Of course, once you're in there, you have to look everything over and decide whether you really want to keep it, use it or need it.  Some things were tossed, others were put away elsewhere.  By the way, I still didn't find the card and got on the phone to request a replacement. The second adventure, into the junk drawer, started with an extra key that needed to go somewhere.  I thought I already had a spare set in that drawer, as there are keys belonging to other people kept in there.  I rooted around and did not find that either....

You are probably familiar with the black and white circular symbol of yin and yang which has its roots in ancient Chinese philosophy.  Yin is the dark part, associated with femininity, receptivity, going inward and contracting.  Yang is the white part, associated with masculinity, going outward, being expansive and active.  They are complementary and interconnected aspects of life.  For example, from the perspective of Chinese medicine meridians, each meridian has a yin time of day, when its energy is at a low point and a yang time of day when the energy is highest. The principle of yin and yang is found in many energy medicine practices, in martial arts and in yoga.  Last night I had a class in yin yoga.  We have had a substitute teacher at my yoga class recently and she has led us in some different kinds of classes.  Yin yoga is a more passive practice, whereby you assume a supported pose and remain in it for three to five minutes, in order to stre...

That was the catchy title of the cover story of the women's magazine to which I subscribe.  I was interested in reading it, because the cover photo was one of Jann Arden, a singer I very much admire, who is now 57.  Arden however, was just one of eight women who were interviewed about aging and also had featured photos.  They ranged in age from 43 to 61, with the majority being in their forties.  That makes sense I suppose since the main demographic of the magazine's readers is probably women in their 30's, who think of 40 as old. In any case, some interesting points were made from each woman's perspective on life changes associated with aging.  The two older women were very clear on the importance of now listening more to the needs of their body, such as for adequate sleep and less intake of toxins like alcohol, in order to be able to function the way they would like. With every passing year, our lives give us reality checks on the impacts on the body of too ...

Here is another approach to health and wellness to consider.  It is a holistic approach called Ayurveda, which was developed over 5000 years ago in India.  The guiding principle of ayurveda is the interconnection of all things - body, senses, mind and spirit. Although the basic recommendations for health and vitality include the familiar ones of sleep, meditation, movement, healthy emotions, nutrition and grounding that we have heard about before, the balance of these is unique to our individual type.  Our state of health is a dynamic balance between mind, body and environment. There are three mind-body types, or Doshas, described in Ayurveda.  They consist of a particular balance of the five elements of space, air, fire, water and earth.  We each have aspects of all three doshas, but one or two tend to be dominant. The Vata dosha is associated with space and air elements.  This dosha likes movement and change, is high energy and has a very active min...

One of the things that has captured my interest and excited me over this past year of listening to interview after interview with people in newly emerging approaches to health and vitality is how I'm beginning to hear similar messages from a variety of sources.  It is fascinating to see a convergence of understanding from people from widely variant backgrounds, whether it be the areas of addiction, psychiatry, neurology, nutrition, fitness, yoga, life coaching, meditation, or body-mind medicine approaches. This makes me hopeful that, as a collective, we are starting to wake up to the possibility that we have more influence over our health and environments which influence it, than we perhaps previously thought. Science, and the ability to relatively easily measure physiological impacts of change now, is bridging the gap between what used to be considered as merely anecdotal story telling or random remissions from various kinds of health issues. One of the persistently hot button...

Well, it's officially fall now, seemingly a couple of days late.  But, this is the day when the length of daytime and nighttime are equal, so there we have it.  Although the weather is still quite warm, it's time for gardeners to start cleaning up, finish harvesting vegetables, plant fall bulbs and generally prepare for the coming cold days.  I'll be saying goodbye to the overgrown and sad looking begonias which are in my balcony pots. Being a very early riser, the delay in sunrise has been very apparent to me.  In fact, this morning it was still pretty dark  at 7 a.m.  That would be blissful for those lucky souls who are able to sleep until daylight awakens them.  Alas, I am not one of those. Now that we are moving into increasingly darker and cooler days, it's a time of moving inward again.  Before too long, we will be putting away outdoor furniture and spending more of our time indoors.  Thus, it's a good time to consider again how we ...

Something else to consider when we are drawn to explore what might be impacting our health and vitality is whether we have given ourselves permission to listen to our own inner guidance.  Because we can so easily be immersed in the ideas and recommendations of others, we can decide to give that priority and to put our own inner sense of knowing on the back burner. In order to create an environment for wellness and healing, we need to make space for it in all aspects of our life, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and energetically.  We won't be successful if we simply try to override our body with our mind, or vice versa, or if we let others take over (with the exception of emergency interventions of course). Since our body holds the energetic signature of all our experience, we can consider that we think with our body as well as our mind.  Reactions in our cells, organs and systems send feedback to our brain.  As well, what we think about or focus up...

It's September 21, which is the International Day of Peace.  There are many global events occurring to facilitate our awareness of and contribution to the experience of peace in our world.  There is no better place to start than in our own hearts and minds.  If we are not at peace within ourselves, it is challenging to have any kind of sense of peace around or beyond us. There are various in person or online activities which we can participate in, if we like to have a sense of community as we focus on peace.  But, if that does not fit into what's going on with our day, even just spending a few minutes doing the little practice recommended by the Heart Math Institute can contribute to the energy vibration of global peace. Simply place one or both hands over your heart, close your eyes and imagine that you are gently breathing in and out through your heart.  When you feel peaceful within, then imagine radiating that out to the world like a radio signal.  ...

Another wellness summit has begun, with the interesting title of  Love Is Medicine.  Of course I was intrigued, so I signed up.  I watched a few episodes.  The format is the usual clips of the host interviewing a variety of professionals in the health and wellness field.  What might be somewhat different about this one though, is more emphasis on using various approaches which I expect will be described in subsequent episodes, to connect more to self. The premise being presented as the over arching theme of the series is that most of our modern diseases are due to some kind of disconnect with self, nature and environment.  Most illness has as one of its causative factors an emotional or relationship component, whether that be our relationship to work, family, partner, friends or self.  Our relationship to everything impacts our health.  The ultimate relationship is the one we have with ourselves. If we approach healing of an ailment with just ...

Well, at the age of 65, I'm going back to work!  What?  It's only a very casual part-time job, maybe one day every couple weeks.  I'm trying it out to see how I like it.  I have not actually done any real paid work in several years, since we moved from our home to our apartment.  But, I'm ready to dip my toe into something different again. As has been the case for me with most of the jobs I have taken, this one easily fell into my lap, with a recommendation from a friend.  There was no intensive resumé building or interview process required.  Instead there was a simple online application followed by attending a group recruitment session to be oriented to the program and to do a brief presentation. This job is something that I had hoped to get involved in a year ago, via the university health sciences program.  However, other than attending one orientation session, it did not result in other work offers.  They simply have too big a data ba...

In a little video teaching by Pema Chödrön, a statement she made caught my attention.  It was something to the effect of  'wherever you are, that's your path'.  What she meant was, that our practice of mindfulness, or whatever quality we are pursuing, can occur in our everyday life, no matter what we are facing.  It's kind of another take on the 'wherever you go, there you are' statement, and a call to use our life circumstances, as they currently exist for our growth. It's nicer to imagine that if I can just get away from whatever I perceive as my biggest obstacles in life, then I can achieve what I think I'm looking for.  Instead, Buddhist and other teachers advise that we practice qualities such as generosity, virtue, patience and joyful endeavor in whatever arises on our path of life. It certainly can help to develop our discipline for this by studying, going on retreats and meeting with like minded people.  Ultimately though, we want to see ho...

It's been one of those days when the 'to-do' list took priority.  I think this happens to all of us at some point or another.  A variety of seemingly small items call for our attention in a timely manner.  When that happens, to avoid stress about having a backlog or missing deadlines, I just focus on getting them done and checking them off my list. You know how it goes.  You need to register for a class or update your membership somewhere.  It's time to order some supplies that are running out, in my case, some supplements that I take. I spend time online looking at different options. An appointment needs to be made and takes longer than I expected.  Materials for an event I'm participating in mid-week need to be reviewed in advance.  I need to practice my song for my singing class which resumes tomorrow night. Then, there is food prep to make a nice meal for our son who will be visiting this evening. Before I knew it, the day was slipping away fro...

I'm not quite sure how this post will go because a bunch of ideas have been circling around in my head today, looking for a place to land.  They relate essentially to issues of vulnerability, safety, boundaries and courage. As a child of the 1950's, I grew up in an era where we were taught not to challenge authority figures, to follow all rules, tow the line and to accept that we deserved punishment 'for our own good' if we received it.  While many rules of conduct were exercised for general order, the cultural expectations around authority allowed for bullying, shaming and dominance behaviors by those who often had more of their own interests at heart than those in their charge.  The primary influences for me were church and school, though families also followed those ideas, as it was the norm. When I was a fairly young kid, maybe seven years old, there was an older boy that we would sometimes meet as we walked to school.  He would take the opportunity to punch ...

It's been another day which is slipping by without a significant inspiration for writing.  Sometimes, when that happens, I just go do something else, instead of sitting at the computer perusing possible subject matter.  Off to the kitchen I went, to wash and spin some greens so we could have a nice salad with our dinner. Our kitchen drain has been slow lately.  Though we are pretty good about not putting excessive bits and pieces down the drain, because we use a lot of loose tea leaves, there is some residue in the strainer even after you empty it into the garbage.  Maybe there has just been an accumulation of that kind of thing in the trap of the drain. I partially filled the sink to wash my greens, but, when I was finished it was very slow to drain.  Being the resourceful person that I am, I decided to use a plunger.  We have one of those fancy plungers with a pump cylinder, kind of like a bicycle pump.  It's quite effective if you get a good sea...

It's the Harvest Moon today, or was overnight to be technical.  The Moon is in the sign of Pisces, counterbalanced by the sun in the sign of Virgo.  Since this is the last time in this blog series that a full moon occurs, I'm giving myself permission to talk once again about the influence of astrology in life. There are many planetary influences which could be discussed, but the main ones to keep in mind during this time of the full moon are Neptune very close to that moon in Pisces, and Mars and Venus being very close together in Virgo with the sun.  Neptune in Pisces at the time of the full moon amplifies our dreaming and intuition, making it a great time to pay attention to dreams and to desires that you have perhaps put on the back burner.  It can be a very spiritual time too, one where we feel a strong connection to the divine. Mars and Venus in Virgo along with the sun ask us to use our energy to be of service, as that is Virgo's emphasis.  Along tha...

For those of us who love chocolate, particularly darker chocolate, you may have wondered about the terminology used to describe what is in your chocolate bar or other product.  In the wellness world, there is lots of promotion of the benefits of what is described as raw cacao (pronounced KA-COW) versus regular cocoa (pronounced CO-CO). Chocolate is made from cacao beans, which are actually the seeds contained in pods which grow on the Theobroma cacao tree.  Choclatiers use the word cacao to refer to the pod and beans before they are fermented and dried.  After that they call it cocoa.  It's still a bit confusing, right?  It helps a bit to know what the typical processing entails. The first step is fermentation for a few days of the beans after they are removed from the pods.  Then they are dried, followed by roasting.  After roasting the beans are crushed, which results in what are called cacao nibs.  Then, grinding produces cocoa liquor, whic...

The wisdom card I chose today is titled, Don't be trapped in the body.  It goes on to say:  You are trapped in your body when you are ignorant of the soul.  Your body becomes a tool of infinite creation only when you become aware of the existence of the soul. I've been pondering this a bit today.  There are times when I do feel trapped in my body, even though I believe in the existence of my soul.  My body ailments are minor compared to what so many people with chronic illness or disability contend with every single day.  It also got me to thinking about how an individual's sense of happiness or fulfillment in life may not have a lot to do with the status of their body.  We've probably all seen stories say, of people who have been paralyzed from an accident, living a very fulfilling life. There seems to be a continuum at play here, I think.  Of course, if you are in incredible pain and suffering physically, it's going to be a challenge to ...

When we have persistent irritants of any kind in our lives, it can be helpful to consider them from a different perspective.  Looking at the situation from another point of view can shift the feeling of being in a rut or feeling like nothing you are currently doing is improving things. In the case of something like a physical symptom of malaise, perhaps we have tried a variety of remedies, such as taking medication, resting, moving, stretching and the like with no substantial change.  We just want to feel better.  Perhaps using the technique of applying our awareness in another way could shift our approach. If we zoom out our perspective, we might be able to see what in the bigger picture may be contributing to our malaise.  Think of it like watching yourself go about your day as if it is on a movie screen.  Do you see what seems to worsen or improve how you are feeling , thinking about or experiencing your symptom.  Does it prompt you to make a change?...

I was recently in a conversation with a few friends, some younger than me and one older, about the impact of aging on body image.  There was a brief discussion about how the visible changes which occur with the hormonal changes of perimenopause and menopause affect how we feel about ourselves.  I've been pondering one of the concerns raised, which was that one person felt there was not a lot of public acknowledgment, or 'people talking about' this.  In essence, she was feeling loss with changes and a sense of that not being recognized. This discrepancy as we age, between how we look on the outside versus how we feel on the inside is definitely felt.  While it may not seem as though this is being addressed in a helpful way, I believe that a variety of women's mentors do.  It's just that the dominant cultural ideals of youth, beauty and perfection tend to override the support that is available if you look for it. For example, the speaker in an interview on the...

Today, I'm still riding the wave of bliss from my birthday celebrations, enjoying the flowers, reading the cards and tasting the treats I received as gifts. Some people I know have birthday weeks or even a birthday month, meaning that they stretch out their celebrations with special outings, meals with friends or otherwise treating themselves in a manner that's not part of their usual routine.  Impressive! My husband took a nice photo of me yesterday holding my new porcelain tea mug with botanical art on it.  I just cropped it a bit and made it my new profile picture on social media.  It's quite nice, if I may say so.  My face is lit up as I gaze upon my grandson. The mug is a great accompaniment for some fabulous tulsi tea blends given to me.  I tried one this afternoon and am enjoying it very much.  Of course, I also had one of the chocolate treats which were a gourmet version of a popular turtle like treat.  Mmm, mmm.... I did my grocery sho...

Well, the party's over, and soon I will call it a day, like the song says. (I'm writing in the evening.) When our two year old grandson comes for a visit, it's pretty much a whirlwind of activity the entire time.  How quickly we forget the energy level of a toddler!  We prepare for it though and enjoy our time with him so much.  He's so curious, playful and full of wonder.  He keeps us all hopping, needing eyes on him all the time for his own safety or to respond to his garbled queries.  He shows us all just what beginners mind is, flowing with ease from one thing to another. We get down on the floor with him to play with the toys we keep here for him, or follow him around from room to room when he goes exploring.  One of his games today was going into a bedroom and closing the door, saying hello and goodbye.  He loves dancing to music and also plunking around on the piano. The rest of the family was here too, with a lively and enjoyable visit ha...

Happy Birthday to me!  If you are reading this on September 7th, I am 65 years old today and an official senior citizen.  Benefits I can expect from reaching this milestone are being eligible for my Old Age Pension (doesn't that sound decrepit?) and also for any and all senior discounts on offer.  I think I have already been eligible for other senior programs since the age of sixty or even 55, such as those at our local seniors recreational center. I  celebrated by starting my day attending my NIA dance class, followed by going out for breakfast with my classmates at our usual haunt.  I treated myself to a fancier breakfast than usual. In the afternoon, our family will be coming for a visit.  It will be lovely to have everyone together to mark my special day. We will get take out Thai food for dinner and we have a cake that was ordered for dessert. I will enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. There are several cards that I've been given or received by ma...

When I think about mental toughness, my first impression is the ability to grin and bear it.  Apparently, there is more to it than that, from a psychological research perspective.  An article about a questionnaire to assess your mental toughness caught my attention.  My initial reaction was a negative one as I was thinking it was going to be yet something else about putting additional pressure on ourselves to excel and achieve high societal expectations for performance.  Frankly, I feel like a lot of us have had to tough it out for far too long, with unhealthy consequences. However, research has linked higher levels of mental toughness with being better able to cope with stress and less likely to be depressed.  I was interested in reading more about what their definition of mental toughness entails. A psychology researcher, Peter Clough, characterizes mental toughness as being a composite of four components, all beginning with the letter C.  First there...

Something got me kind of excited yesterday.  It was a YouTube video shared on social media of a tiny apartment in New York.  I mean very tiny, as in 90 square feet!  The tenant, a woman who works as a professional organizer, had made it quite livable. Now, I have no desire to live in New York City.  I've never even visited there.  But, I loved how she made the space her own, and also very functional. I have never lived in my very own place, unless you count having a private room in residence for one year during university.  Prior to that, and since, I have always shared living space with family members, roommates, and my husband.  Though there can be lots of positives about sharing a home with others, I think it's nice to have personal space to call our own. To that end, in the past couple years I've decorated our former guest room space as a room of my own.  It was fun to chalk paint old furniture in pleasing colors, to choose throw pillows a...

I've always admired the apparent serenity of images of the Buddha, saints or meditating monks or yogis and envy their ability to be still for long periods.  My assumption is that they have achieved nirvana and no longer have to deal with the insufferable monkey mind.  This may or may not be true, but it's my fantasy. Stillness is not one of my strengths.  There are times, when I'm totally absorbed in something, or soundly asleep that I might be still for longer periods.  But, even in sleep, unless I've taken my U Dream supplement, which is only once a week, I toss and turn much of the night with some discomfort or other. Even when I'm sitting still, trying to meditate or relax, my mind is usually busy, busy, busy.  That can get pretty tiresome, so I am usually better off just being up and doing something. Although I sometimes fantasize about going on a long meditative retreat, thinking of an endpoint of peace and serenity, I imagine the journey from point ...

Here we are at the beginning of another school year for parents and teachers (where I live anyway).  Even if you are not in one of those roles, of teaching students or being one, this time of year tends to push us all back into productivity mode.  That's true for us retirees as well, as it's just a generalized energy in our culture. As much as I love the idea of learning new things, making lists and getting things done, I find myself feeling a certain level of resistance towards this pervasive but subtle demand that we get back to striving for perfection, in whatever phase of life we find ourselves.  When I get hooked on that, I find myself comparing my progress to others and maybe not feeling like I'm 'doing enough'.  You can choose just about any category to assess, whether it's work, health, relationships, family, spirituality or even hobbies. What I want to point to here, is something similar that came up in a few things I've read just today.  I now ...

It's hard to believe that it's September already.  The angle of sunlight and the length of our daylight has changed so much lately.  Evenings, and even some daylight hours are getting cooler, making me wonder how much longer I'll be wearing sandals and Capri pants.  The season is changing before our eyes. This post will be a sort of omnium-gatherum, a 'word' meaning a miscellaneous collection, which showed up awhile back in my word of the day from Merriam-Webster.  My hope is that I'll be able to pull the various ideas together in some meaningful way. It started more than a week ago, but for most of September we are in the zodiac sign of Virgo, my birth sign, and an earth sign.  It just so happens that there are six planets in earth signs at present, giving us lots of support in getting grounded.  This is a time of harvesting, both literally and personally.  On a personal level, it's related to healing of the body, mind or spirit by getting at ...

You may have heard before that we generally only use a small portion of our brains, mainly the logical intelligence and linguistic parts, which are the areas where development is amplified by traditional teaching methods in school.  Other areas of our brain, such as the visual-spatial, kinesthetic, musical, and so on, tend to operate at more of a subconscious level.  We used to activate all our brain potential when we were little kids, but by adulthood we usually are not, at least at a conscious level. As has been described in other blog posts which refer to the mind-body connection, our thoughts and feelings influence our physical well being and the reverse, that our physiological responses, though experienced at a more subconscious level, influence our thoughts.  Our bodies become conditioned to respond in particular ways, based on our past experiences and personality. Hypnosis and self-hypnosis are powerful tools to help us unlearn old patterns and replace them wit...