What happens when your body lets you down?

On my City to Shore MS bike ride this year, I witnessed two events that gave me pause to stop and reflect.

The things you can’t prepare for.
The first was an accident, a lapse of attention. Someone ran into the wheel of the cyclist in front of him and down he went. The guy was scraped up and bruised pretty badly, but nothing broken, on his body anyway. His bike was damaged, but that can be fixed. If we could be mindful and fully present all of the time, these things wouldn’t happen. But, that is easier said than done. I read somewhere that the average person loses their attention an average of six times a minute!

Reflection: Bicycling can be a dangerous sport. It is important to pay attention to your surroundings as you ride. Just like driving, you need to ride defensively.

And the things you can.
The second event, could have been an accident, except that there may have been other contributing factors to a rider who suffered from heat stroke. Was this a condition of this man’s body letting him down? Or was it him not listening to his body? Had he trained for this event, or had he just willed his body to participate in it? Riding 75 to 100 miles is not something you can do on a whim. You need to prepare for it.

Through my work personally training dozens of people over the years, I have heard many times people complain that they can’t do something and they wish that they could. They often feel frustrated and that their body has let them down. Very few people understand how their body works. It seems as if they want their body to perform by imposing their will over it rather than doing what is necessary to have their body function optimally.

Our bodies talk to us all of the time. Unfortunately these messages are non-verbal and you have to know how to interpret them. Often pain, discomfort and unease are the body telling us that something is wrong. The next time your body doesn’t perform the way you want it to, instead of wondering how your body has let you down. Ask how you may have let down your body.

We all know how important the following things are to our health:
Sleep
Food
Hydration
Movement
Relationships
Spirituality
Connection to Community

But there are two questions to ask yourself about these things.  First what is the quantity of each item on the list.  Second is what is the quality?

Reflection: You don’t play the game to stay in shape. You stay in shape to play the game.

Making Choices to be Healthy

What do you really need to do to be healthy?  Is it the food you eat?  Exercise?  What about your creative health?  Financial health? Spiritual health?  Do you find time to relax or meditate?  I think all of these factors come into play and contribute to your health and sense of well being.  Lissa Rankin, a physician, speaker, founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute, and mystic depicts your health as a cairn, a human made pile of stones, with each stone representing an aspect of your health.

Medical Intuitive Caroline Myss has spent the last 35 years learning about how people can heal and why they don’t.  In many of her talks, I have heard her say that food and exercise don’t matter as much as the power of the choices we make on a daily basis.  She often says that you can eat cat food and still be healthy provided you are able to live in present time; that you don’t spend your energy rehashing the past and worrying about the future.  Her work centers on where we are losing energy.  Just like a financial debt, if you continue to drain your resources pretty soon you will have nothing left.

This sounds very much in line with the teachings of yoga and mindfulness.  We need to learn to live in the present moment. What does that mean?  Live with integrity.  Pass on your wisdom, not your woe, learn from your mistakes.  Make a choice to take risks.  How many risks have you already taken in your life to get where you are today?  Make a list of them to help you remember. Don’t wait for proof that your actions will turn out successfully, not all of them will.  But, as famous guru Shri Wayne Gretzky-ananda said, “I didn’t make 100% of the shots I didn’t take.”

Don’t look backwards for guidance.  The reason you are where you are is because that part of your life is over.  Look forward to new adventures.  Trust that your resourcefulness that brought you this far will continue to serve you.

Caroline Myss says that we need to pay attention to our words; our words are universes unto themselves.  Each word we use has the power to shape our world.  She teaches that there are toxic words and that these words should be banished from our vocabulary.  Ms. Myss suggests that there are three toxic words that we should banish from our vocabulary: blame, deserve and entitlement.

Blame.  You have probably all heard the expression that no one has the power to ruin our day unless we let them.  We are responsible for our own happiness.  Other people may do things that intersect with our lives, but they are acting upon their own ideas and principles.  If we blame them for our unhappiness we are giving away our own power.

Deserve.  There are a lot of things that happen to us that we don’t deserve, stuff just happens. My mother didn’t deserve to get Alzheimer’s, it just happened. People don’t deserve to win the lottery, it’s just chance.

Entitled.  We really aren’t entitled to anything.  We often just think we should be.

The practice of banishing these words from your vocabulary is very similar to the complaining fast I invited students to go on a while ago.  Think of this as an elimination diet where you eliminate a food from your diet to see if your symptoms go away.  Try giving up one of these words for a day or a week and see if it has an impact on your life.  Just like a food, it may take longer than a day or a week to get it completely out of your system, however, so be patient and give it time.

At the end of her TED talk, Caroline Myss asks us to make this choice to be healthy.  She says, “Make the choice everyday to get up every day and bless your day.  Don’t be grateful for the things you have because these things can change.  Wake up every day and bless the fact that you are alive and things will never be exactly this way again; these people, this situation will never be exactly this way again.  Appreciate the gift of being alive.  If you can wake up this way every day, this shapes your life with grace and beauty."

What choices can you make to live a happier and more fulfilled life?

Overcoming Your Fears

Medical Intuitive Caroline Myss has spent the last 35 years learning about how people can heal and why they don’t.  In many of her talks, I have heard her say that food and exercise don’t matter as much as the power of the choices we make on a daily basis.  She often says that you can eat cat food and still be healthy provided you are able to live in present time; that you don’t spend your energy rehashing the past and worrying about the future.  Her work centers on where we are losing energy.  Just like a financial debt, if you continue to drain your resources pretty soon you will have nothing left.

This sounds very much in line with the teachings of yoga and mindfulness.  We need to learn to live in the present moment. What does that mean?  Live with integrity.  Pass on your wisdom, not your woe, learn from your mistakes.  Make a choice to take risks.  How many risks have you already taken in your life to get where you are today?  Make a list of them to help you remember. Don’t wait for proof that your actions will turn out successfully, not all of them will.  But, as famous guru Shri Wayne Gretzky-ananda said, “I didn’t make 100% of the shots I didn’t take.”

Don’t look backwards for guidance.  The reason you are where you are is because that part of your life is over.  Look forward to new adventures.  Trust that your resourcefulness that brought you this far will continue to serve you.

Caroline Myss says that we need to pay attention to our words; our words are universes unto themselves.  Each word we use has the power to shape our world.  She teaches that there are toxic words and that these words should be banished from our vocabulary.  Ms. Myss suggests that there are three toxic words that we should banish from our vocabulary: blame, deserve and entitlement.

Blame.  You have probably all heard the expression that no one has the power to ruin our day unless we let them.  We are responsible for our own happiness.  Other people may do things that intersect with our lives, but they are acting upon their own ideas and principles.  If we blame them for our unhappiness we are giving away our own power.

Deserve.  There are a lot of things that happen to us that we don’t deserve, stuff just happens. My mother didn’t deserve to get Alzheimer’s, it just happened. People don’t deserve to win the lottery, it’s just chance.

Entitled.  We really aren’t entitled to anything.  We often just think we should be.

The practice of banishing these words from your vocabulary is very similar to the complaining fast I invited students to go on a while ago.  Think of this as an elimination diet where you eliminate a food from your diet to see if your symptoms go away.  Try giving up one of these words for a day or a week and see if it has an impact on your life.  Just like a food, it may take longer than a day or a week to get it completely out of your system, however, so be patient and give it time.

At the end of her TED talk, Caroline Myss asks us to make this choice to be healthy.  She says, “Make the choice everyday to get up every day and bless your day.  Don’t be grateful for the things you have because these things can change.  Wake up every day and bless the fact that you are alive and things will never be exactly this way again; these people, this situation will never be exactly this way again.  Appreciate the gift of being alive.  If you can wake up this way every day, this shapes your life with grace and beauty."

What choices can you make to live a happier and more fulfilled life?

Three things to do when your yoga teacher goes on vacation

I know students get attached to their teacher and are disappointed when there is a sub.  I'm the same way.  Especially if I travel to take a class with specific a teacher.  But if I practice being flexible (which is what we are trying to do in a yoga practice anyway - aren't we?) I find that I am usually pleasantly satisfied with what the unexpected has to offer me.  Often the struggle is just with myself.

Sometimes I won't go to a class if I know there is a sub, but if I show up for the class, I'll take it.  I think it is very rude to walk out once you are there and it is uncomfortable for the substitute teacher.  I know how I feel if someone walks out on my class.  I've watched people turn around and walk out if I ask people to grab a chair, or find a partner.  I've learned to let it roll off of me, though.  I'd rather not have the negative energy.

That's a roundabout way to say that I won't be teaching next week.  I will be spending some time away with my family.  The way I see it is you have three choices:

1. You can show up as usual.  You have a routine and it is important to stick to it.  If you do go, leave your expectations behind and be open to a new experience;  you may be pleasantly surprised and find you get exactly what you need.  If you do go to class, here is a list of who is subbing for me.  All of these teachers are wonderful.  Take the time to appreciate their offerings.

2. You can take the day off.  Sometimes the body needs a break in order to rest and recuperate.  Perhaps there are some things you have been procrastinating about at home.  This could be a good opportunity to get some things checked off your to-do list.

3. Practice by yourself at home.  Have you ever tried it?  Set aside some time - try the same amount of time you would normally spend in class.  Because you don't have to drive over to the yoga studio you will need less time than you do when you go to take class.  Set out your mat, put on some music and start.  If you follow this routine, you can easily get in an hour or an hour and a half practice. Remember 80% of the work is simply showing up.

   1. 5 minutes Ujjayi breathing or Mantra practice

   2. Seated warm up stretches and/or a couple of cat/cow movements

   3. Three (at least) Sun Salutes

   4. Standing poses.  It helps to know which pose is your peak pose.  Do poses that will help you warm up for that.

   5. Standing Balancing Poses

   6. Inversions or Hand Balancings.  Things like Crow, Handstand and Headstand are perfect here.

   7. Hip Openers

   8. Backbends - prone and supine

   9. Twists

   10. Forward Bends

   11. Shoulder Stand - If you choose to do it.

   12. Meditation

   13. Savasana

Let me know how it works out, with whichever option you choose.  You can leave a comment in the section below.  I'll be back to teaching my regular schedule on Monday, July 17th.  Until then....

Pain and Yoga

Occasionally the topic of pain comes up in yoga class.  I find this distressing.  I never want students to experience pain during or after their yoga practice, but sometimes it does happen.  You can experience soreness after a good workout, but what is the difference between soreness and pain?  And how do you tell them apart.

The Role of the Breath in Yoga Class

During practice, the breath should be paramount.  Calm, steady breathing as you move through the poses is an indicator of yoga - the yoking, or union, of the body, mind and breath.  Breath that is held, ragged or worse, it sounds like a steam locomotive, is the sign of imposing your will over your body.  So, the first question to ask is: “What is your breathing like during your practice?”  If you can stay focused on your breathing and keep it calm and steady, you are less likely to hurt yourself.

The next time you are in class, pay attention to your breath.  There is a common breathing technique in yoga called Ujjayyi, which means “upwardly victorious breath”.  This is where you breathe in and out through your nose with a slight constriction in the back of the throat (the glottis). This creates a breathing sound deep in the back of your throat that some say sounds like Darth Vader.  I like to say it sounds like the ocean or the wind in the trees.  The inhalations and exhalations should be of equal length, about five seconds each.  The breathing itself should not feel strenuous: it is possible to overdo even breathing exercises!   The sensation of the breath over the duration of an inhale or and exhale should be even.

The purpose of the breath is threefold:  First, is meant to keep you present.  In order to constrict the glottis, you have to stay attentive to what you are doing.  The moment you lose the sound of the breath, your mind has drifted off into the past or the future and you are no longer paying attention to your body.  Second, it is meant to build heat in order to increase circulation and promote flexibility.  And third, it is meant to keep you safe.  Accidents happen when our attention wanders. If the attention wanders away from the breath, it is also wandering away from the body.

What are you feeling while you do your yoga practice?

I often wonder what people are feeling during class.  Sometimes, I will have the class do a pose on one side and then I will ask the question: “How does that side feel different that the other side?”  This part of the practice is meant to prime the pump of turning your attention inward to experience what you are feeling.  Although I am no longer amazed when people say they don’t feel anything, I do these inquiries to send people inside to train them to pay attention to how they feel.  Our primary way of interacting with the universe is to experience it through our body and our five senses.  If you don’t feel anything, you can’t differentiate between what is good or bad for your body.  If you don’t know how you are feeling, who does?

Sensation and pain. 

How do you differentiate between sensation and pain?  First of all, you do not want to feel pain in a joint when working into your yoga poses.  Generally speaking, you should feel stretch in the belly of a muscle, not in the attachment site, which is usually at a joint.  Pain is something that does not subside as you stay in a pose; it often intensifies.  Discomfort is something that changes as you stay in a pose.  When you release any held tension anywhere else in the body, the discomfort lessens

If you have pain in the body; let’s say you have an injury that you are trying to heal, follow this protocol:  Assign your pain a number between 1 and 10.  Let’s say it’s a 6.  As you do your practice, the number may go up to a 7, but not to an 8.  (Rehabilitating an injury can be painful.)  When you stop the pose, or exercise, you are doing, the pain should drop back down to the original number.  If it doesn’t, maybe you went too far.   But, here is the important point: If you pain does not drop back down to a 6 or lower, then you went too far.  You only know this through hindsight!  It is very important to pay attention to how you are feeling during your workout.

There is also a big difference between chronic pain and acute pain.   Acute pain is the result of an injury and needs time to heal.  Chronic pain is serving a psychological purpose.  This is the subject of a different blog post.

Recovery and Over-training

When you were twenty, you could work out every day, stay out all night and get up and do it again the next day.  As you age, that doesn’t work so well anymore.  Up until I was 50 I felt I could do almost anything I wanted to do.  After 50 the rules changed: I need to nap sometimes, I need a day off to recuperate. And, at the same time, I need to be very consistent. I work out almost every day each week. But, I don’t do the same workout every day.  Sometimes I do yoga, sometimes I lift weights, for cardio I run, swim or ride my bike.  While I need a day off from time to time, I also need to commit to working out consistently each week.

The Signs of Over-Training

How do you know you are over doing it?  Over training affects your sleep; it may cause insomnia.  It is also fine to be sore after a workout, but after a while, as your body becomes conditioned your soreness should go away.  If you are consistently sore, you may be over training.  Also, if you body and your limbs feel heavy and lethargic, that may be a sign that you are hitting it too hard.  If you are feeling these things, back off, vary your workout and maybe take a day or two off to rest and recuperate.

When I did my yoga training, we were encouraged to have one day a week set aside for a restorative practice: meditation, pranayama, supported poses or yoga nidra.  Do you have rest built into your workout schedule?

Pain and the Ego

Often students push themselves too hard because they want to be seen as more advanced.  In a public class, sometimes the ego gets in the way.  Imagine you are a newer yoga student and you come to class and set up your mat next to somebody who has been practicing yoga several times a week for years.  It would be unreasonable to expect to do what they can do.  If you were new to lifting weights and saw somebody lifting 100 lbs and tried to do that, too, you might hurt yourself.  You might want to try 5 lbs. at first and slowly work your way up from there.  The same thing with yoga; in all of my classes I offer modifications for the range of abilities and limitations.  It is up to the student to accept where they are and work with what they’ve got.  That can sometimes be hard to do.

It is also important to make sure you are in the right class.  Often people come to class because it fits their schedule, not because it is the right class for them.  How can you tell if you are in the right class?  You should be able to do about 75% of the class.  If you can do less than that, find an easier class.  If you can do 100% of the class, you might want to stay there if you are comfortable, but if you want to improve you might want to find a more challenging class.

In choosing which class you go to, I recommend you take a long and honest look at yourself.  Are you in good shape?  This means that you work out regularly and feel fit and strong.  Or are you de-conditioned?  If you are de-conditioned, you might want to start at a very gentle level and work there for a while until you feel you are up for more of a challenge.  Do you have good proprioceptive sense?  Proprioception is knowing where your body is in space and what it is doing, even without looking at it.  While this is something that yoga enhances, if you are lacking this sense a beginner class is where you start to learn it.  Are you injured or do you have any other physical limitation? If you are injured, take it easy by starting with the basics and allow yourself to heal.  If you have a physical limitation, it is still possible to do yoga, but it takes some time to learn how to modify for your specific issue.  Also, if you have to modify more than 25% of the class, you might be in the wrong class.

Remember to keep the ego in check; stay connected to your breath and take the time to feel the sensations in your body.  If you get hurt in class because you were pushing too hard, you will be the one who doesn’t show up to class the next day.  While accidents can and do happen, the sign of a more advanced practitioner is someone doesn’t hurt themselves doing yoga.

There is a story in yoga where a student asks the teacher how long it will take before they can touch the floor in a standing forward fold.  The teacher asks them to bend over and reach as low as they can with straight legs.  The teacher then puts a stack of papers on the floor tall enough that the student can just touch the top of the stack with their fingertips.  The answer is: “Practice every day and remove one sheet of paper a day.”

That is the essence of yoga.  As Patthabi Jois was famous for saying:  “Practice, practice, all is coming.”

Do you have any questions about pain and your yoga practice?  If so, leave your comments below.  While I cannot guarantee that I can answer every question, I may use your question as a future topic for a blog post.

Recommendations for Yoga Books and Mats for New Students

People are always asking me for which yoga mats they should buy and which books should they read to learn more about yoga.  Here are some recommendations to get you started:

Books:

How Yoga Works by Geshe Michael Roche.  While this book doesn’t describe any asanas, it does touch on some frequently asked questions such as:  “How long should it take for me to be able to __________ (fill in the blank)?  What it does very nicely do is describe the inner workings of yoga and progress on the path.  The story is a bit simplistic, but sometimes I need my philosophy distilled down.  It’s an easy and enjoyable read.

The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V Desikachar.  This book provides an introduction to yoga practice with some basic asana instruction, including breathing practices.  It also introduces introductory philosophical tenets, including the entire Yoga Sutra (an important yogic text).

Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar.   This book is considered to be the bible of yoga postures. It is a reference book; something you flip through rather than read.   The first 50 or so pages describe yoga philosophy, although it is very dense and filled with a lot of Sanskrit terms that can make it difficult to comprehend by those newer to yoga.

Moving Toward Balance: 8 Weeks of Yoga with Rodney Yee, by Rodney Yee.  This book  has pictures of poses with modifications to make them more accessible and it gives examples of sequences to create a sustainable home practice.

As a side note, if you are ever interested in deepening your personal yoga practice, these books are part of the required reading of my course: “The Foundations of Yoga”.   While this course is part of my Yoga Teacher Training Program, it is not just for teachers.  It meant for the serious student who wants to learn more about than you can get in a public class.

Yoga Mats

Jade:  The complaint that most students have about yoga mats is that they slide on them.  You will not slide on this mat.  These mats are very sticky.  Jade proudly claims that these mats are made of natural materials: rubber.  But that means if you have a latex sensitivity, you may find these mats irritating to your skin.   This also makes them photosensitive.  If they are exposed to the light, the outer surface becomes crusty.  You still won’t slide on the mat, but the mat can slide on the floor.  These mats should be kept in a yoga bag when not in use.

Lululemon makes a nice mat.  You can pick one up in a store, or buy them online.  I have never owned one, but I have tried them.  I think they are good mats.

I also like Manduka.  If you go to their site, you can take their quiz and they will help you pick a mat.  My dog chewed my Manduka mat :(

If patterns are your thing, try out Gaiam.  They have a great selection and people like their mats. I have never tried one. 

In general, buy a regular sized mat which measures  24” x 68”.  Longer mats are for people over 6’ tall.  Wider mats aren’t necessary and are heavier to carry around (and may be too big for a standard mat bag).  A standard mat is about 5mm or 3/16” thick.  If you want extra cushion you can buy a thicker mat, but they are heavier and bulkier.

Expect to pay anywhere from $60 to $120 for one of these name brand mats.  They are excellent fitness equipment and worth the price.  However, it is possible to buy inexpensive mats at places like: Whole Foods, Target, and Home Goods, even The Dollar Store sells cheap mats.  But be careful, some of those mats are cheaper because they are shorter, narrower and thinner than brand name mats.  I have had cheap mats that have worked as well as the more expensive mats. I started buying cheap mats after my dog chewed my most expensive mat.   If you find that you don’t like a mat you purchased, you can always use it as a pad under an area rug, let the dog have it, or, I use my old mats in the back of my car.  It is easier to shake out the mat when it gets dirty than it is to vacuum the rug.

(I do not get any compensation from any company for recommending yoga mats.) 

What's your favorite mat?  I know there are a lot of other brands out there.  What have I missed Share your opinions in the comments below.

Happy Memorial Day!

It seems an oxymoron to wish someone a "Happy Memorial Day" if you know the true meaning of the holiday.  To most of us it is the unofficial start of summer.  It's when swimming pools open and we fire up the backyard barbecues.  While I hope you do enjoy this holiday weekend, I invite you to remember why we have this holiday: to remember those who have died in wars for our country.

Here's the background and history of Memorial Day:

Now observed on the last Monday of May, Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and dates back to the years following the Civil War. At the time, groups would decorate the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers, a practice still acknowledged with people often visiting cemeteries to decorate veteran graves.

While the tradition existed throughout the U.S., in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York - which had commemorated the day since May 5, 1866 - the official birthplace of Memorial Day. In 1868, May 30 was set aside as a nationwide Decoration Day, with the date selected because it didn't correspond to the anniversary of any particular battle.

After World War I, the day became known to honor veterans of both the Civil War and the more recent conflict. It remained on May 30 until 1968, when Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May to create a three-day holiday for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971, the same day Memorial Day was designated a federal holiday.

Namaste,

Karin

Dealing with Change

My mom and I in 2013

“Problems often occur because we are grasping onto something we want to keep or to keep from changing.”

As many of you know, my mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had been in declining health over the last several years.  She passed away this past Friday.

It was ironic in that as much as I have prayed for her release from the ravages of this disease, it was hard when the final moment came for me to let go.  I wonder how hard it was for her to let go?   As one of my students wrote to me:  “One dreads this moment of deep loss and then, suddenly, you have to step through it.”

During this week and in the coming weeks I will be stepping through it.

Many of you have told me that my sharing my journey has helped some of you who may be on similar paths and conversely, many of you who have already been through the loss of your parents have helped me through this stage.  And I thank all of you for that.  As Ram Dass said, “We are all just walking each other home”.

This week, I walked my mother home.

Tolerations and My New Year’s Resolution to Give up Sugar and Alcohol

On January 1 this year I decided to give up sugar.  I quite frankly was tired of the yo-yoing effects I experienced when I ate sugar.  I would crave it, I’d eat too much, I’d feel kind of wired and scattered in my energy and then I would crash.  Then I would complain about how I didn’t like the way it made me feel, only to give in to the craving the next time.

I did the same thing with alcohol.  I liked to have a glass of wine every night with dinner.  Sometimes it would lead to 2 as my husband and I would relax and catch up with each other’s day.  After the dishes I would find that I was too tired and unfocused to get anything done.  The next day I would have some guilt about that.  Sometimes I would have trouble sleeping.  I would fall asleep pretty easily, but I would often wake up around 3:00 am.  That time, according to Chinese Medicine is when the Liver Meridian is most active.  Since alcohol is metabolized in the liver that seemed to make sense to me.  The next morning I would feel a little tired in the morning and not motivated to get up.  I would complain to my husband that I felt hung over.  He would tell me that I could not possibly be hung over on 2 glasses of wine that were drunk with a meal.  All I know is that I didn’t like how I felt when I woke up but that I would probably give in to the craving to have another glass of wine that night at dinner.

In November of 2016, I took a Vision Board Workshop about setting intentions and manifesting your dreams.  In the workshop, the teacher talked about things she called “Tolerations”.  These were things in your life that were a little out of whack, but you got so used to them that you just tolerated them.  They could be anything, like the light switch cover you forgot to put back up after the living room was painted and then you became accustomed to it and now you don’t even see it.  She also talked about the things you do that you don’t want to do and the things you don’t do that you should.  She said that all of these tolerations were undermining your efforts to shape your life the way you wanted it.

So, I decided to work on those things.

Sugar and alcohol were clearly big tolerations for me.  So, I gave them up.  So far, it hasn’t been too hard.  The third day was the worst when I had a mild headache all day long.  I knew it was a withdrawal reaction and that if I caved in, it would be all over.  I haven’t given up fruit, so I was able to appease my sweet tooth a little with a Clementine or two.

My main reasons for giving up sugar were to feel my best all of the time. I was also interested to see if what people say about giving up sugar is true: I will have less inflammation, my energy will be calmer and I won’t have to worry about my weight.  Not that I worried that much about my weight before, but I have noticed that I have had to be more careful about my weight after menopause.  I’ve been told that it will take about 6 months to feel some of these other effects.

But the most important reason for wanting to give up sugar is that it is implicated in many diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s.  Since my mother has Alzheimer’s and I have been witnessing the effects of this disease first hand, I will do whatever I can to make sure I don’t get it.

So far, it has been 15 days and I feel pretty good.  Last night was especially gratifying.  It was my birthday and friends had invited us over for dinner.  We stayed pretty late, later than I usually would have if I had drunk a glass of wine or two.  I did not feel sluggish.  I did not feel tempted to have any wine at all. (Often when I have a glass of wine, I get sleepy pretty easily.  Cheap date, I know!)   I got up early the next morning to take a yoga class and I felt great!   I was not sluggish at all.   My friends were also very supportive about my sugar abstinence.   Instead of birthday cake they made a giant fruit salad filled with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and all the good fruit that you usually don’t get enough of when you buy a fruit salad in a store or a restaurant.   They had ice cream to go with it.  Usually ice cream is my down fall.  But I knew that if I had any that it would unravel the whole thing, so I stayed content eating my fruit salad.

We’ll see how this goes.  My plan is to try to make it permanent, but my short goal is to get through January.   I have cut out all added sugar.  I do not eat cake, cookies, ice cream and such.  I haven’t changed all of the other things I am eating, yet.  There is sugar in the protein shake that I have in the morning.  I will either phase that out by eating more whole foods or, I will change it to a protein powder that has no sugar in it.   I was able to find a hemp protein powder that is pure hemp with no additives.    I don’t like the highly processed nature of the protein powder, but it has been part of my morning routine for a year now and it has worked for me.  Baby steps for now.  I will revisit the protein powder in the future.

I have a friend who does not eat any sugar and she has been very supportive.  She has applauded my efforts to go against the norm.  Sugar is so pervasive in our society that to not eat it feels like an act of rebellion.  The average American eats 66 pounds of sugar a year!  Sugar is addictive and its consumption contributes to obesity, diabetes, liver damage and heart disease.

I have found it helpful to re-read the book The Sugar Blues by William Dufty.  Hearing about how bad sugar is from an environmental, social and political point of view just reinforces my resolve.

Have you ever given up sugar?  If so, share your success.  If you want to join me, I will be happy to share my progress and all I am learning.

What do Aparigraha, minimalism, not eating sugar and the chakras have to do with writing your Personal Vision Statement?

I know of several people who shared with me that they were writing their Personal Vision Statements for 2017.  What I don’t know is how many of them are first timers or, how many Have done this before.  If you are a seasoned writer of vision statements, you may have been prepared for what happens when you open your statement and read it.  If this was your first time, it might have been challenging to read it.

Writing out a Personal Vision Statement is a lot like making a New Year’s Resolution.  Some people do it, but a lot don’t because there is a high rate of failure.  There is a lot of enthusiasm in new beginnings, we want to make positive changes in our lives, but sometimes making new habits stick is hard.

I have read a few blog posts about how difficult it can be to read a vision statement when some of the things you dreamed about didn’t happen.

In writing your Personal Vision Statement you are encouraged to aim high and see your life as you want it to be in your dreams.  When I opened my Personal Vision Statement from last year, I was pleasantly surprised about the things I did accomplish, but I have to admit I was pretty deflated by the things that did not happen.  There were some big dreams of mine that never got 1 millimeter off the ground.  Hmm…  But, as I always say, “There is a lesson or blessing in everything.”  So, what’s the lesson?  What’s the blessing?

Here’s the lesson:

I stumbled upon one of my favorite blog posts from 2014 called:  Warren Buffett's "2 List" Strategy: How to Maximize Your Focus and Master Your Priorities.  By James Clear.   The article shares one of the strategies Mr. Buffett uses to be successful.

The gist of the strategy is to make a list of the top 25 things you want to accomplish.  It could be career goals, household projects or anything.  After you make that list, you go through it and come up with the five most important tasks.  These are the things you need to focus on and accomplish.

What about the other list?

You get rid of it!

Wait, what?? 

I know!

It seems that a lot of us spin our wheels by spreading ourselves too thin.  Focusing on anything but our top five goals dilutes our efforts.  It causes us to be inefficient with our time and impedes our progress.

List #2 is not the list of things you do when you have a few extra minutes. It is the list of things to avoid at all costs.  These are often things that you do want to do, but they dilute your efforts at the other, more important things you want to do.  Those things pull at you, so you have to carefully avoid them.

In yoga there is a personal practice called Aparigraha which translates as non-hoarding.  Most people usually apply this to not hoarding things.  But the more you contemplate the meaning of non-hoarding you can apply it to many things:  you can hoard a conversation, by not giving others a chance to speak, you can hoard time by trying to get too many things done at one time and then causing yourself to be late.

Did you ever find yourself saying something that you know you didn’t mean?  Or, commit yourself to something you didn’t really want to do by talking too much?  In my 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training we were talking about how important it is to be precise and careful with what you say.  One of the students shared an acronym that helps her with this:  WAIT – Why Am I Talking?

So, maybe in my Personal Vision statement I put down too much, or maybe I put down things that really weren’t important to me just like what happens when you talk too much and over commit to things.  Maybe those things are only “List #2” important and because I didn’t have enough time to go around, they just didn’t get done.  Maybe I should have made the two lists before writing my vision statement.  Was I hoarding goals and accomplishments?   Should I have focused on fewer things but spent more time on other things?

That’s the lesson I’m taking away from this experience: non-hoarding of goals and accomplishments!

What does this have to do with chakras and sugar?

The first chakra has to do with your tribe and where you came from.  It’s the group, or groups, you belong to.  When you are little, your group or family provides food, clothing and shelter, your basic needs.  If these weren’t provided for you, or there was any kind of instability in your early childhood, you may have fear and contraction in this area. When your first chakra is clear, you are secure in your ability to make it in the world.  Hoarding is a contraction in the first chakra; it’s not trusting in your ability to take care of yourself and have your basic needs met.

If you are curious about your chakras, I am offering a seven week workshop on the chakras starting this Thursday evening, January 13th, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm at the Treehouse.  We will cover one chakra each week.  This Thursday, we will discuss the first chakra.  You will learn about: its properties, how to recognize the energy of this center, how it influences your life by whether you have any unfinished business at this level and how it affects the choices you make.  You will learn about the chakras through asana, journaling, meditation and breath work.

I have been slow to learn about chakras.  I’ve had some resistance to working with something that I cannot see:  energy centers aligned along the spine?   But, I have taken some courses on the subject that have powerfully influenced me.  I am a firm believer in gravity although I cannot see it, either!

One of the things I know about working with energy is that there are a lot of things that affect my energy.   What I eat influences my energy; sugar being one of the strongest energy disrupters.  My plan, as I dive deeper into these energy centers, is to fine tune my own energy to become more adept at sensing it without interference.  I have given up sugar.  If you are interested in working with your energy, I recommend that you pay attention to your energy and take care of and cultivate your energy through good food choices, adequate exercise and sleep, as well as working on your mental and emotional states.

As I craft my Personal Vision Statement for 2017, I will start off by making two lists and carefully selecting the 5 most important things to work on for the year.  I will be working on improving my health through better diet and continued exercise.  And I will be working with the energy of my chakras to find balance and remove the obstacles in my path!

What will you be doing for 2017?   Join me either in the giving up of sugar or in learning about the chakras. 

Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha 
(The chant to Ganesh, the remover of obstacles)