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You Know You Really Need It When You Don’t Have Time for It

By Marianne Elliott (@zenpeacekeeper) / May 7, 2013

Recently one of my online students wrote a post explaining why she was signing up for my course again. She wrote:

I need this right now. Because I don’t have time. Because I’m too tired to make the effort on my own. Because I feel weak and I know it’ll hurt. These aren’t excuses not to take care of myself, these are reasons I need to.

Which is exactly how I felt about going to yoga class recently. I was in San Francisco at the time, spending a couple of days in a city I think of as my second home on my way back to New Zealand from New York.

This particular afternoon for various reasons (including a lot of travel in the previous week, an unrealistic work plan for the morning, sleep deprivation and forgetting to eat breakfast) I felt overwhelmed. Despite a rising sense of panic at my lack of progress on the to-do list, I rushed into the city for a meeting. As I left the meeting, I noticed there was a yoga class about to start right at the bottom of the building.

And because I felt sure I didn’t have time for the class, I decided to stay. I borrowed a mat and slipped into the back of the class just a few moments before the opening OM.

I knew I needed it because I didn’t have time for it.

A sure sign that I really need a walk is when I feel way too busy to go for a walk. And when I’m too busy to do yoga, well – that’s when I need it the most.

So for the next hour I forgot about my to-do list. And when I left I felt renewed, reminded why I do yoga – and why I teach it. I was also reminded that the times when we are convinced we are too busy to take care of ourselves are the times we need it the most.

I know that sometimes you really don’t have the time (or the money) to go to a yoga class.

But even then, I know you can learn to do your own simple, short but powerful yoga practices at home. Ten minutes of energizing poses in the morning. Five minutes of grounding practice in the middle of a crazy day. Fifteen minutes of relaxing yoga before bed.

My own experience has taught me, and now research is emerging to confirm that experience, that a small amount of yoga done daily will have more positive impact on your physical and mental health than a longer class or practice once a week. One UCLA study found that 12 minutes of yoga meditation per day decreased depression in participants. And I’m convinced that anyone can find 12 minutes a day for a little bit of yoga, even if it means waking up 12 minutes earlier than usual.

Since so many people don’t have time for yoga, I’ve made it my mission find an approach to yoga that would fit into their busy life. I created a course just for people who are “Too Busy To Do Yoga,” with yoga practices you can do anywhere, even practices you can do at your computer (although I do encourage leaving the computer if possible).

So here are four ways to fit in some yoga when you really need it but don’t have any time for it:

1. Lie down and do nothing for five minutes
In yoga this is called savasana, or corpse pose and for a lot of people it’s the hardest pose of all. One of my students told me that first time she tried a five minute savasana she caught herself getting up to send an email in the middle of the pose three times in a row, and each time had to talk herself into lying back down by promising herself she’d write the email as soon as she was done. It’s not easy, but it is powerful. Give your body a five minute rest and see how much more energy you have in your day. My tip: set an alarm for five minutes so that you don’t have to check your phone every minute to see how much longer you have to go!

2. Breathe deeply
It’s the oldest stress-beating advice in the book, and it still works. Take five minutes to slow and deepen your breath. The best way to get a deeper, fuller breath is by extending your breath beyond the chest into the full diaphragm – so that you feel the breath filling your belly, and then your ribcage (back and sides as well as the front) and then your chest. Important tip: don’t force this, you don’t want to feel any strain or constriction in the breath. Deepen your breath as much as you can while still feeling soft.

3. Sun salutes
This one requires a little bit more yoga knowledge, but most people who have been to a few yoga classes will have learned this basic series of poses. The beauty of the sun salute is that it uses your whole body, strengthening, opening and releasing tension in your arms, shoulders, back and legs. Three to six sun salutes every day will make a difference to your body and your mood, guaranteed.

4. Yoga at the computer
You can do a few simple poses to relax your shoulders, wrist and neck at the computer. Add in some deep breathing and you’ll be calming your mind as well. I put together a simple ten minute yoga routine for people who spend most of their day at the computer.

When you are most convinced you don’t have time for yoga, try one of these ultra-quick yoga fixes and notice the difference it makes to your day!

Marianne Elliott is an acclaimed author, human rights advocate and yoga teacher who writes and teaches on creating, developing and sustaining real change in personal life, work and the world. She is the creator of the popular “30 Days of Yoga“ courses and author of Zen Under Fire, a memoir about doing good and being well in war-torn Afghanistan.

Teas Me

By Jill Grunewald (@JGrunewaldHNC) / April 25, 2013

Tea is cool again. Walk into any modern teashop (many are cropping up around the country) and you’ll likely find an elegantly-lined wall of beautiful earth-toned tea leaves, all waiting to be steeped and savored. The image of well-to-dos sitting upright, pinkie finger curled, is a thing of the past (at least for most of us), and these hip hangouts are here to stay.

The Bud or the Bean?

When it comes to variety, these walls of tea put many a coffee shop to shame. But it’s not just the assortment of flavors and choices that is drawing many coffee lovers to experiment with “the other hot drink.” With the health benefits of tea broadcast far and wide in the recent years, it’s difficult to have missed all of the fuss it has garnered. Because of these benefits, many people have turned to tea as a nourishing alternative to coffee. Whether you’re reducing caffeine intake, or still need your morning buzz, tea is a delicious and refreshing change of routine.

Tea is grown and processed on large plantations throughout China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan. According to tea expert Sebastian Beckwith, “All tea comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis. The differences in the many teas we have––whites, greens, oolongs, blacks, and pu-erhs––is in the specific varietal that was used, the local environment the tea was grown in, and the way it was processed.”

People have been drinking tea for as long as they’ve known how to heat water and recent scientific studies are proving what ancient cultures have known since before recorded history––drinking tea is really good for you. The benefits are quite remarkable:

Enhances immune function
Lowers LDL cholesterol levels
Increases HDL cholesterol levels
Reduces blood pressure
Thins the blood, reducing the risk of a heart attack
Lowers the risk of stroke
Reduces the risk of cancer
Boosts longevity
Aids digestion
Prevents dental cavities and gingivitis

Of the four types listed above, green tea has attracted the brightest spotlight due to having the richest polyphenol content, the antioxidant compounds that tackle free radicals and keep degenerative disease at bay. What many folks don’t realize is that while they’re getting this mighty dose of antioxidants (also found in other teas), what they’re drinking is also providing them with a healthy host of vitamins and minerals. Tea contains carotene, vitamin C, thiamin (vitamin B₁), riboflavin (vitamin B₂), vitamin B₆, panothenic acid, folic acid, manganese, and potassium.

Herb Friendly

Although herbal “teas,” such as mint, chamomile, lemon verbena, and jasmine often look like tea, are packaged like tea, and are steeped like tea, they are actually herbal infusions, or tisanes. These caffeine-free versions are made from other plants and flowers and derive their health-giving benefits not from the antioxidant-rich polyphenol compounds found in true tea, but in properties indigenous to the plant or flower, such as calming and relaxing effects. One newcomer to the spotlight is rooibos (roy-boss) “tea.” Rooibos means “red bush” in Afrikaans and originates from a shrub native to South Africa. Unlike herbal tea, rooibos contains antioxidants and has been shown to treat insomnia, headaches, allergies, and hypertension.

So forget Lipton; there is a whole world of teas (and “teas”) out there for you to get lost in. With more varieties than you can shake a stick at, you owe it to yourself to quiz your local teashop expert on what they have to offer.

Jill Grunewald is a Holistic Nutrition Coach and founder of Healthful Elements.

Are Your Life Choices Creating Vibrant Energy In Your Body?

By Heather and Damian Dubé (@e3EnergyEvolved) / April 23, 2013

There are more aspects to creating health energetically in the human body than just movement and nutrition.

You could be consuming an amazing nutrient-dense food profile, and still not absorbing the nutrients properly in the gut if you’re stressed, if you’re moving too much or multi-tasking while you’re eating, if you’re not masticating your food enough through chewing to break it down for absorption, for example.

So let’s touch quickly on a big energy enhancer or detractor in life: being truthful with yourself

Because in this crazy non-stop world many people rarely take time daily to reconnect internally themselves, they’re constantly looking and focused outwards.

Look inside – what are your deepest truths, desires, dreams? Are you living with integrity in your word, your work, those undeniable truths of yourself? This is a hugely under-estimated part of creating “health”. If you’re not living from a place of integrity, you’re creating emotional & spiritual imbalance in your being that leads to physical illness.

You may think you’re avoiding this, but your body always creates a counter-balance naturally in an attempt to adapt & return itself to balance as a reaction to what you’re doing to it. For every action there is an equal or greater reaction.

So you’re living the consequence right NOW, most people just aren’t connecting the dots that they’re chronic skin issues or their headaches could possibly be the fact that the life choices they’re making are dishonest or untruthful.

You cannot disconnect the mind & body.

Are you working a job you hate?
Are you being forced to do unethical things in your life?
Are you unsure who you want to show up as in this world so you’re faking it by trying to be someone else, instead of just becoming a better you?
Are you lacking integrity in your word, your commitment to yourself, or your loved ones?
Are there things you’ve always wanted to do that you keep putting off until next year?

It all matters ….stop kidding yourself that there are no consequences to “creating stress” or energetic unease by disconnection from your inner being or truth.

Live with integrity, speak your truth, share your passion and watch the wellness in your physical mind & body soar to a new level of vibrant endless energy everyday that you’ve never knew was really possible. True story.

Part Of My Naturally Healing Of My Hashimoto’s Disease & Adrenal Fatigue Had Nothing To Do With Physical, & Everything To Do With Taking An Honest Look In The Mirror At The First 35 Yrs Of My Life.

We speak from experience, having left our entire lives behind after healing my auto immune illness, Hashimoto’s disease, and adrenal fatigue naturally, and making the hard choices and doing the hard work to recreate our lives and begin our e3 Energy Evolved mission for others together.

It’s also how I’ve managed 70 + hour work weeks building e3 Energy Evolved, coaching clients, while training to prepare to compete naturally as a natural national level athlete for over a year.

Part of my healing from Hashimoto’s disease and chronic fatigue was not just nutrition, environmental or integrative health.

It was also taking a very deep honest look at my life and the choices & who I was being that was making that were draining my energy. This was a big one.

I had to face the mirror and look at Heather in her early 30′s for the first time.

I had to realize my adrenal-draining fire drill ad agency job was not healthy for MY body. Maybe someone else’s – but not how MY BODY handles stress. And the only body that mattered at that definitive moment if I wanted to heal naturally was MINE.

I had to stop trying to place the expectations on myself as a women that I could do it all, I should be able to do it all as a newly married, and I should be 200% perfect at all of it to be a “worthy wife”, no matter what I had to sacrifice of me to do it. I was worthy right now, even if my house wasn’t spotless clean all the time. We are united in our imperfections, not the illusion of perfection.

I had to realize that just living for a successful career and 401k’s was leaving some HUGE things out of the picture that weren’t resonating in my heart, that I knew deep down I was put here to serve people in coming to a greater naturally healed and balanced understanding and experience of the human body, and I had to be willing to sacrifice whatever it took, and take action to give that gift back to the world. I couldn’t go on holding the skills, experience and knowledge that Damian and I were gifted with because they weren’t ours alone to have or know. We had to speak up for the human body.

I wasn’t being fully honest or transparent with my mind or spiritual side, & my body was talking back.

Now, I’m not saying that there weren’t huge physical aspects to why I experienced this level of physical imbalance I did – there most definitely were.

What I AM saying is, the path to healing a stress or energy related illness requires we look at all the ways our mind and body are using energy, and we adjust to place our bodies health and ability to create energy #1 above all else.

Part of how Damian and I made it back naturally drug-free was changing how we lived our lives as we began to learn more about these areas of human body health & energy.

So I left a stressful, successful career behind, I started using my gifts everyday creating and educating freely, I began working to serve others for more than a paycheck & for a long time that meant letting go of ANY paycheck, I let go of what I had once believed were needs that were nothing more than possessions realizing what living this way was costing me, we completely changed our life goals and how we viewed money, we let go of our financial safety net & the security of things like insurance, savings & retirement planning for awhile to start a business in our purpose, we returned to school to further our education in our passion & teach, we starting placing what creates health daily on the TOP line item in our budget every single month, we brought back a regular spiritual practice, and I now use everyday to experience my own unique self and develop that more fully.

Ask yourself honestly right now – where are you denying your truth? …which is nothing more than denying the one thing of greatest value you’ll ever have a change at knowing & that’s who you’re meant to be in this world.

Are you feeling this way as a women? Are you pushing yourself too much, over doing, over compensating, not giving enough self-care to your own mind, body, spirit, over working, not creating breathing room? Ask yourself… who is that serving? what are you sacrificing? who else expects it other than you (no one!)? …and are you ready to let go of those choices to allow the space for health in your life?

Everything Is “Energy”, And We Are Either Creating Or Negating It. Pay Very Close Attention.

And be honest with yourself, and share your thoughts & comments below.

Here’s a huge one…. are you ASKING VERBALLY FOR THE HELP & SUPPORT YOU NEED?

Because before I became sick, I wasn’t. However, after I became very skilled at clearly communicating regularly to Damian what I needed help with for the household, what I needed in my life that created health and how he could support me to have that as a team, and he stepped to the plate.

But many women often are not saying verbally what we need. Instead we’re doing it all, not expressing our needs, expecting our spouse to understand what we need without asking, and getting stressed out and pissed off that they’re not mind readers helping, or that they don’t have the same expectations as we do.

Guess what – they never will. So stop expecting that. That’s the first step. This is part of living your truth too.

Here’s the catch: Time is not a guarantee, so you better get to figuring it out quick. But you don’t have to do it all today, have patience with yourself – however, you do have to START taking daily committed actions towards these changes. And remember, the things in life that give us the greatest joy always require the greatest sacrifice and work. This is something Damian and I started in early 2008 and we are still recreating our story and working at, it’s taken us over five years so far, but we have ZERO regrets, it’s been the hardest, yet the BEST choice we’ve made for our lives ever.

Everything is “energy“, and we are either creating or negating it. Pay very close attention.

Your health and energy will never be defined simply by movement & nutrition.

In energy for improved natural health, fat loss & fitness,

Natural Metabolic Recovery & Conditioning Specialists

Creators of the e3 Energy Evolved™ System | www.e3EnergyEvolved.com

Spring Cleanse: It’s All in Your Mind

By Marianne Elliott (@zenpeacekeeper) / April 9, 2013

Throughout human history, spring has been a time when we transitioned from our winter diet of starches and preserved foods, toward the fresh greens, fruit and vegetables that become available as temperatures rise. It was a time to clear out the cellar, start making room for the new harvests.

These days, our lives are driven by so many factors that have little – or nothing – to do with the cycles of nature. The sorts of things we want to ‘clean out’ in spring are more likely to relate to workplace stress or overloaded social media feeds than to the storage of root vegetables. So my spring cleanse offering this year is a simple meditation – a way to clear some mental space in the midst of the mania of modern life.

This beginner’s meditation practice is very simple. I promise, you can do it. And there’s really no way to get it wrong. The only secret is to actually do it. If you are doing it, you are doing it right.

So find a quiet, comfortable place to sit. You don’t need to sit cross-legged on a cushion if that isn’t comfortable. Sit on a chair, but still a little forward – if you can – so that your back is unsupported and long.

Set an alarm so that you don’t have to keep checking the time. If you have one that will sound with something melodic rather than a jarring siren, all the better. To start, try setting it for five minutes. If you’ve done this before, you might want to extend it out to ten minutes. But five is a great place to start.

You can practice with your eyes closed or with them gently open, gazing softly at the ground in front of you. Either is fine. Try both, and see which you prefer.

Take a few rounds of breath to feel your body. As you inhale feel the length and space in your spine, feel your stomach rise, feel your chest expand. As you exhale feel the weight of your body release down into the ground or the chair. Feel the support of the earth or chair beneath you. Inhaling feel space and expansion, exhaling feel release and support.
I find it really helpful to take this time to ground myself in the sensations of my body. It begins to draw my attention in towards center. Being aware of physical sensations also requires paying attention to the ‘right here and now’.

Now, let your mind rest on your breath. Pay attention to your breath. You are not trying to control your breath, not trying to make it different in any way. Simply pay attention to it.

When your mind wanders away from the breath, and you come to your attention in the middle of a blow-by-blow replay of your latest argument with your husband/wife/child, simply notice that you have drifted into thought and gently return your mind to the breath.

When you next wander from the breath, and realize that you are halfway through a thirty item mental grocery list, simply notice that you have drifted into thought and gently return your mind to the breath.

Do you see a pattern here? It really is as simple as that. Your mind will get busy, that is what thinking minds do. Your work here is simply to notice and to realize that you can choose not to go on that journey with the mind. You choose, gently and without judging yourself, to return to the object of your meditation, the breath.

When I first started meditation practice I felt like my mind was a puppy dog. As many times as I gently returned it to the breath it would race off again. Training a puppy takes extraordinary patience, gentleness and perseverance. My mind is much the same.

Once you set aside the time to sit and practice in this simple way every day you will no doubt find, as I did, many ways to worry about whether you are “doing it right” or not. Know this: If you have carved out the time and you have sat down and you are practicing some form of simple meditation then you are doing it. You are not doing it wrong. You are doing it.

You already know how to be still, you already know peace. Everything is already within you. By making this time every day you are finding your way back to what was already there. And, as with any good spring cleanse, you are making space to savor the beauty that is coming to life all around you.

Marianne Elliott is an acclaimed author, human rights advocate and yoga teacher who writes and teaches on creating, developing and sustaining real change in personal life, work and the world. She is the creator of the popular “30 Days of Yoga“ courses and author of Zen Under Fire, a memoir about doing good and being well in war-torn Afghanistan.

Cooking Is a Revolutionary Act

By Mark Hyman, MD (@markhymanmd) / March 12, 2013

The cure for what ails us — both in our bodies and in our nation — can be found in the kitchen. It is a place to rebuild community and connection, strengthen bonds with family and friends, teach life-giving skills to our children, enrich and nourish our bodies and our souls. Yet, in the twenty-first century, our kitchens (and our taste buds) have been hijacked by the food industry. In 1900 only 2 percent of meals were eaten outside of the home; today that number is over 50 percent.

The food-like substances proffered by the industrial food system trick our taste buds into momentary pleasure. But our biology rejects the junk forced on our genes and on our hormonal and biochemical pathways. Your tongue can be fooled and your brain can become addicted to the slick combinations of fat, sugar, and salt pumped into factory- made foods, but your biochemistry cannot handle these foods, and the result is the disaster we have in America today — 70 percent of us are overweight, and obesity rates are expected to top 42 percent by the end of the next decade (up from only 13 percent in 1960).

Today one in two Americans has either pre-diabetes or diabetes. In less than a decade the rate of pre-diabetes or diabetes in teenagers has risen from 9 percent to 23 percent. Really? Almost one in four kids has pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes? Yes, and, perhaps even more shocking, 37 percent of kids at a normal weight have one or more cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high blood sugar, because even though factory food doesn’t necessarily make you fat, it does make you sick! The food industry taxes our health and mortgages our children’s futures. Obese children will earn less, suffer more, and die younger.

It is time to take back our kitchens and our homes. Transforming the food industry seems like a gigantic undertaking, but it is in fact an easy fix. The solution is in our shopping carts, our refrigerators, and our cupboards — and on our dining room tables. This is where the power is. It is the hundreds of small choices you make every day, choices that will topple the monolithic food industry.

We need a revolution. Cooking real food is a revolutionary act. We have lost the means to care for ourselves. We have now raised the second generation of Americans who don’t know how to cook. The average child in America doesn’t know how to identify even the most basic vegetables and fruit; our kids don’t know where their food comes from or even that it grows on a farm. Cooking means microwaving. Food comes in boxes, plastic bags, and cans. Reading labels is supremely unhelpful in identifying the source of most foods — the ingredients are mostly factory-made science projects with a remote and unrecognizable lineage to real food.

We are brainwashed into thinking that cooking real food costs too much, is too hard, and takes too long. Hence, we rely on inexpensive convenience foods. But these aren’t so convenient when we become dependent on hundreds of dollars of medication a month, when we can’t work because we are sick and fat and sluggish, or when we feel so bad we can’t enjoy life anymore. The average American spends eight hours a day in front of a screen (mostly the television) and spends more time watching cooking shows than actually cooking.

Convenience is killing us.

In fact, real food can be inexpensive. Choosing simple ingredients, cooking from scratch, shopping at discount club stores, and getting produce from community supported agriculture associations (CSAs), community gardens, or co-ops all build health and community and save money. Europeans spend nearly 20 percent of their income on food, Americans only about 9 percent. Food is the best investment in your health.

I believe in the power of collective intelligence. Within my community are hundreds, if not thousands, of unheralded chefs experimenting with food and creating extraordinary meals and recipes. Within our individual and our national communities is the cure for what ails us. We are the answer. We are the revolutionaries who will change the face of food in America and around the world. The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook is the product of this collective intelligence. Truly, the community is the cure!

Yes, we need to change policy in order to change the food we grow and to subsidize real food instead of the walls of processed fat, sugar, flour, and trans fats that line our grocery and convenience stores. Yes, we need to end food marketing to children. We need to make schools safe zones for kids with only those products and activities that support healthy minds and bodies. There is no room for junk food or factory foods in schools. Period. Yes, we need all that and more to take back our kitchens and our health. But each of us can start at home with a kitchen makeover. Three simple actions can change everything:

Do a fridge makeover.
Do a pantry makeover.
Do a shopping cart makeover.

This book gives you advice on what to keep and what to discard from your fridge, pantry and shopping cart. It also provides recipes — gathered from our own community of health and cooking revolutionaries — to delight your palate, stimulate your senses, and nourish your body and soul. The recipes are designed to be made, shared, and enjoyed with friends and family. Think of this book as a roadmap to pleasure and health.

Once you have taken back your kitchen, then you can start something really revolutionary. Find eight (or so) people you would love to know better or spend more time with. Invite them to start a supper club — once a week or once a month. Rotate dinners at one another’s houses. Share the cooking by creating a potluck, or take turns choosing some favorite recipes from this cookbook and preparing a feast for all. At each dinner pick a topic — about food, health, or community — to discuss. Then let the juices flow. The stew of food and friendship will nourish you deeply. In this way — one by one, kitchen by kitchen, community by community — we will take back our health together!

Get started today! Get a copy of The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook today. When you purchase this book from this link you will gain access to these exclusive bonuses:

An invitation to join Dr. Hyman on a live online webinar on March 27^th, 2013. Open to the first 500 buyers only.
In the Kitchen with Dr. Hyman – a “how to” online video series where Dr. Hyman shows you how to shift from a “factory food” diet that’s making you sick to meals that make you healthy. Featuring 90 minutes of entertaining how-to videos.
A 1-week Gluten-Free meal plan, with all new recipes.

** Pilar Gerasimo and her 101 Revolutionary Ways to be Healthy inspired the idea that cooking is a revolutionary act. To learn the other 100 revolutionary ways to be healthy, go to revolutionaryact.com or check out the app.

Mark Hyman, MD is family physician, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in his field.

Versions of Happy

By Maggie Lyon (@MaggieLyon) / March 5, 2013

“Are you happy?” This is our toddler’s favorite question these days, and what a vital one it is. That I am three and a half months post-partum, and just getting back into the saddle, with body projects, work projects, family and life projects all splayed and projected out in front of me, it’s sort of uncanny how great the timing of her query is.

Why? Because each time she asks my foggy nursing mama self, I am sucked directly back into the present moment, into the most immediate and direct experience of life at hand, as is, unadorned by fantasy or airbrushing. The most shocking thing about all this is that no matter how tired or crabby or overwhelmed I might be feeling, my answer is always yes.

Seriously, when I really absorb her three little words, when she’s found me daydreaming on the breast pump, or nursing Liam on one side while I write the shopping list or scroll through emails or jam a rice cake into my mouth with my free hand, it’s like I collide head, heart, and spirit with the jewel of the present, and inside this glowing jewel exists nothing other than love and glory and bliss at just being alive.

Given how much time I spend wandering around consumed by how stellar life will be once I lose the last 5 pregnancy pounds, get my book written, get the baby to sleep through the night, that to realize quite suddenly that I am happy right now is miraculous. It stops me in my tracks and completely dissolves the whole happiness with a capital H as being far off, over theresomewhere.

Sound familiar?

I urge YOU now, in this precious moment, to stop for a sec and really look around. Receive what is deeply, intricately happening inside and outside of you. And do this multiple times throughout the day—if you want to use my daughter’s cue as a spark, go for it! Ask “Am I happy?” and pause, let it reverberate and guide you.

There are so many gems of happiness right underneath your, my, all our noses.

If you’re into journaling and I haven’t quite convinced you, make a list each day for a week of all the opportunities you come across to seize the inherent wonder and delight of NOW. I call this exercise Today’s Versions of Happy.

Here’s an example of one of my lists:

*Baby on belly, me bleary-eyed, legs unshaven, sun not yet up

*Kids drumming on bongos, Sesame Street on, TIRED, mug of coffee and hot rice milk

*Crazy workout, sweat dripping down and soaking through my clothes

*Falling into restorative yogic trance, blessed sliver of peace

*Huge salad and plate of garlicky greens on table just before digging in, THANK YOU

*Connecting with hubby about life and everything in middle of night, only pocket of time

Get the picture? For all you other happiness seekers out there, if we begin to document, to accumulate and pay attention to our little moments of bliss, we begin to see that 1. We are a whole lot happier a whole lot more of the time than we think, and that 2. We need not spend so much time imagining and pushing for something better down the road.

Letting go of all this searching for greener grass and replacing it with simply being is huge. It is a profound breakthrough into grace and enables us to commune with our deepest selves and with the divine, so big, so encompassing; and infusing of every single thing around and within us with a cosmic version of happy in the ever present.

Maggie Lyon is a writer on wellness and spirituality, a motivational speaker, and a holistic lifestyle consultant.

Ayurvedic Approach To Natural Fat Loss & Energy

By Heather and Damian Dubé (@e3EnergyEvolved) / February 28, 2013

The science of life

Ayurveda is an ancient long-standing mind body health approach traditional to the Indian culture. Translated the word “Ayurveda” means “the science of life”. Ayurveda focuses on our bodies’ unique energy vitality, and teaches us to live in harmony with nature.

Ayurvedic medicine believes the answer to healing is quite simple: harness your bodies’ natural ability and internal power to heal itself. They believe that personal health is an evolutionary, creative process that we must be engaged in at all times to create our best health and life through balance.

Furthermore, we need to seek balance in all of the areas that affect our ability to be well: mind, body, spirit, connection, community, and on and on; not only movement and nutrition. The Ayurvedic philosophy focuses on bio-individualism (the unique nature of each body) with an emphasis on numerous forms of natural energy creation and management.

Because all aspects of the science of Ayurveda are too detailed to cover in one article, we will focus on Ayurvedic holistic nutrition. Ayurveda teaches that nutrition nourishes our mind, body and spirit on multiple levels; food is the foundation of our journey to experience our body. Ayurveda believes and teaches very simply that “food is life”; food becomes our body and mind, and it is how we create our health and energy.

So many Americans go from one diet to the next, only to crave the foods that the diet told them to eliminate. The result; the inability to stick to the diet and gaining back all the weight they lost. Ayurveda suggests that it is best to eat according to season, and foods harvested in that respective season. It also makes suggestions on when to eat and how to eat.

What to eat

Winters are generally cold, so traditionally, our bodies are going to crave more warming foods like soups, stews, meats, grains and fats. This is the time of year we should be focusing on foods high in protein and fat.

The spring warms up slightly, the rain starts falling, and our allergies kick in, so our needs are going to change accordingly. During the spring months, it is preferable to eat a diet low in fat and rich in foods that are naturally mucous reducing, fat burning and detoxifying. Leafy greens, sprouts, berries and root vegetables are the perfect foods for this time of year.

Come summer, the weather changes again, and so should our dietary habits. Because of that summer heat, our bodies are naturally going to crave more cooling and hydrating foods like fruits and veggies, helping to keep us from overheating.

Rather than focusing on what foods to eliminate, which inevitable causes cravings for those foods, focus on which foods to eat more of. By eating more of those foods that are in season, we will be naturally brought back into balance. Ayurveda also suggests that to balance unnatural cravings, we include all tastes in at least one meal per day; sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, salty and astringent.

When to eat

We’ve been taught in recent years to eat multiple meals and snacks throughout the day, yet we continue to have elevated blood sugar levels, and are unable to lose and keep of that troublesome body fat. In most other countries, where obesity is not so prevalent, they rarely snack, and stick to eating only meals.

By eating only three healthy meals, you will stabilize your blood sugar, and begin burning stored fat between meals, which is a more sustainable energy source. When we constantly snack, there’s no need for the body to dip into those fat stores, as it will rely on that immediate energy from the snacks you’re constantly eating.

In addition, we require most of our energy earlier in the day, so most of our food should be consumed earlier in the day. The word “supper” is derived from the word “supplemental”, or soup. Eating a smaller meal at dinner will give your digestive system a rest during the nighttime hours, and allow the body to focus more on detoxification.

How to eat

Sit down and relax when you’re eating. Unfortunately, we’ve created such a fast paced society, that we’ve become disconnected with our mind/body relationship. Continuously eating on the run is extremely stressful. When eating, we should be in a relaxed state, removed from those stressful environments.

When eating in a relaxed, stress-free environment, we allow our digestive process to be more effective; the mind and body are both being nourished and we can better experience the mental, physical and spiritual benefits of the food we’re enjoying.

Ama

According to Ayurveda, another concept that attributes to weight gain is ama (toxins), caused by the accumulation of impurities in our bodies due to poor diet, chronic stress and environmental pollutants. Water-soluble toxins are removed from the body much easier than fat-soluble toxins, which are stored in fat cells.

The accumulation of ama in fat cells causes them to expand, making it more challenging to lose body fat, especially around the stomach, hips and thighs. Over time, as the ama accumulates, it becomes more difficult to remove the impurities from fat cells. This is why it becomes more difficult to lose weight as we get older, and why daily detoxification programs are recommended.

If the ama is not removed, it could affect digestion and mental clarity, cause constipation, physical and mental exhaustion and joint pain, and negatively impact one’s immune system. A simple daily strategy to help combat ama is to consume detox teas, which can in itself, have a positive affect on burning body fat.

Ayurveda foods for weight loss

There are a number of foods used in Ayurveda that can help with weight loss.

Cabbage helps to inhibit the conversion of carbohydrates into fat. Moong dal is a bean sprout full of vitamins and minerals as well as protein and fiber helping to stabilize blood sugar and aid in digestion.

Consuming a tablespoon of honey in hot water in the morning helps to mobilize deposited fat, allowing it to be burned as energy. Buttermilk is somewhat sour and contains probiotics that aid in digestion.

Spices for weight loss

Turmeric contains curcumin, which tells the liver to produce mRNA, helping to flush LDL from the body. Turmeric also binds to capsaicin receptors, aiding in thermogenesis. Chillies also contain capsaicin, thus increase fat burning. Cardamom is also a thermogenic herb causing an increase in metabolism and helps to soothe the digestive system, improving digestion and nutrient absorption.

Garlic contains a sulphur compound, allicin, which has great anti-bacterial properties, helps reduce cholesterol, and increases fat burning. Curry helps flush toxins and fat from the body, aiding in the reduction of stored fat.

Cinnamon helps reduce blood sugar by altering the way the body uses glucose, causing it to be burned rather than stored. Cinnamon also causes an increase in insulin production, aiding in cellular metabolism.

In energy for improved natural health, fat loss & fitness,

Natural Metabolic Recovery & Conditioning Specialists

Creators of the e3 Energy Evolved™ System | www.e3EnergyEvolved.com

Honoring The Ebb And Flow Of The Female Body

By Heather and Damian Dubé (@e3EnergyEvolved) / January 3, 2013

Lets be honest, it’s not the same in a women’s body as a mans, it’s just not and it never will be.

As women we are simply built to be and function differently as a human body.

I have an amazing husband who supports me 200% in my goals and motivates me to no end with his example of natural conditioning at 40 years of age, but my body and his body are not equal and as women if we do not work to develop a different understanding of and expectation of our bodies, then we are simply missing the point and failing to honor their natural way of being.

I have learned over 39 years to see us both differently, and to develop my own unique expectations of my body, that are not equal to his of his body, because that is what achieving balanced wellness requires of us.

So many women athletes, competitors and fat loss seekers put up this inappropriate expectation on their body in my opinion as women. They demand of it to be in impeccable metabolically pushed conditioning year round and year after year, and frankly they pay for it with internal health imbalances and metabolic damage.

A women’s body is built first and foremost for the survival of the human race.

That is a black and white truth there is no way to get around, and no matter whether you’re prioritizing – fat loss or your athletic goals – internally your body is always calls the shots with your endocrine system in mind and the survival of the human race as #1, whether we want to admit it or not, whether we put our intention inward into our body enough to recognize this or not, it’s going on all the time underneath the hood.

Our sole purpose is ultimately to create human life. Man cannot do that, only we can, and we have a very hormonal endocrine system and reproductive system naturally built-in to make that very amazing act possible.

We also have naturally built-in monthly cycles or ebb and flow by which our bodies as women continually move through, over and over, round and round.

We are not stagnant, we are not straight-lined like men – we are up and down all the time – which is exactly why men are built as consistent and steady, to balance us women out in a very natural, foundational and healthy way.

What does this all mean to you? What I’m saying is step back and consider your health and body and the demands you set on it as well as the expectations you set on it. Also, question whether you are recognizing and honoring this natural cycle of your body in a multitude of ways.

Where are you not honoring your bodies natural ebb and flow?

Where could you do better to “go with the flow” than fight against it, and just let nature “be” as its meant to in your life as a women, and in your body?

Your body is brilliantly programmed to do what it needs, but often it requires us to get out of its way so it can lean towards its natural work and tendencies.

Here’s an example. For me right now, I’ve taken some more internal time and backed down my energy output through changing up my training frequency, workouts & intensity at times. Much of my energy is focused in my mind and creation of e3 Energy Evolved for you, and so that is drawing away from the creative energy and force in some ways I can redirect into my body with high intensity training…for now.

So I’m changing up my workouts and training in ways to adjust for that, fully know when I can release my mind and creative energies back into my body more fully again once more after e3 Energy Evolved is fully complete & launched for you, I will return to more heavy energy output training goal again that I also love and crave as an Ayurvedic pitta, when its time. Right now I am focused on the goal at hand which is creating a mission greater than ourselves to heal this world, and that effort is significantly harder and more demanding than it is to train naturally for NPC national level athletic competition frankly was for me.

Do I love being in very lean, strong physical conditioning naturally, do I love pushing my metabolic boundaries to grow them, do I love tapping my potential as a physical and mental being? Sure I do.

But do I believe that’s a healthy goal to have all the time in a women’s body without creating space of recovery time, without backing off, with out energy and balance restoration and recovery time, letting go of that outward push of energy for a bit?

At 39 years of experiencing and learning about the women’s body through competing at the national level as a natural figure athlete in NPC with advanced natural fat loss goals and beating rare chronic illnesses naturally over years, no I most definitely do not, because that is ignoring our natural ebb and flow.

Our bodies as women are so hormonally charged, we have an energy that is meant to go internal every 20 days or so with our cycle, going again in and out, energy in, energy out.

Keep in mind if you constantly “give give give” your energy out to others or to other creative or athletic processes with no energy in restoration, there are consequences.

Women again have unique needs of restoration with our bodies that men simply don’t have at the same level because the purpose of our bodies & how they are built differs, in my opinion.

We go through our journey in cycles, being into certain forms of training, then evolving into others, needing shifts. We move from self-focused fit times to selfless times of motherhood and caring for family, and we once again return to our fitness. We are strong and powerful, we are dominant, and then we may find for a bit we need to admit our weakness and softness again for a short while and seek that strength in our husband or someone we love nearby to bridge the gap til we find our strength again, while we rebalance.

We are women in a very unique body in a lifetime of natural ebb and flow, ebb and flow, ebb and flow.

I’ve come to a place in my life at 39, through naturally healing a life-changing & life-threatening auto immune illness in my body involving metabolic damage, that I now understand my bodies purpose and how to work in harmony with that purpose at all times, so much better, and it’s a gift to know.

It’s something for 30+ years prior I never felt or knew because of how society and the medical industry teaches us to numb our experience of the natural flow of the women’s body, with birth control pills and ignorance. That are natural flow is “evil”, “annoying”, and “inconvenience” we must eliminate, when in actuality it’s a deep part of our being, knowing our truest self, tapping into our power to create life and experiencing the feminine body in a healthy, balanced way.

It is part of celebrating the amazing gift we’ve been given with a body uniquely built to generate human life.

And unless you’re recognizing and honoring that ebb and flow as part of how you’re experiencing your body, you’re missing a big part of the gift, and a healthy balanced journey of what it means to be well.

What thoughts or ideas does this topic bring to your mind about your body experience so far as a women? We’d love to hear from you. Share your comments below.

For more of our unique approach to natural health, fat loss & fitness, become a part of our e3 Energy Evolved community by signing up for our e-newsletter, gifts & giveaways. If you’re experiencing challenge in this area and need support, we support distance and in person natural health, fat loss & fitness seekers in creating a better natural result and human body experience for their own unique body.

In energy for improved natural health, fat loss & fitness,

Natural Metabolic Recovery & Conditioning Specialists

Creators of the e3 Energy Evolved™ System | www.e3EnergyEvolved.com

What Napping and Fat Loss Have in Common

By Heather and Damian Dubé (@e3EnergyEvolved) / December 13, 2012

Recovery (sleep, naps & rest activity) improves not just human body, but brain function.

How we use our energy throughout our day carries over to our cognition, motivation, focus, creativity & mood.

“What do Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, Salvador Dali, and John F. Kennedy all have in common? All of them were brilliant thinkers and leaders, and all of them took daily naps. Napping increases focus, memory and energy. A recent NASA study revealed that a 20-40 minute nap boosted cognition by almost 40%.”

Many high performance athletes whose lifestyles most people don’t get the chance to observe, and some of whom we’ve worked around when we were competing naturally at the US national level in the sport of figure, build naps intentionally into their day for good reason: improved results. Napping and added recoveryimproves everything from performance to speed to reaction times to muscle growth to natural healing.

Your brain & body do amazing natural healing & growth work while you sleep, WHY? Because it’s the one time all day that all your energy is being focused internally into your body to do good work. You’re not thinking, you’re not moving, you’re not stressing, you’re not digesting… you’re just recovering.

Most people only perceive that they are “using energy” when they exercise, but that is an incorrect understanding of the human body. This was something we began to understand further when we successfully naturally healed my own battle with adrenal fatigue & Hashimoto’s disease drug-free; all the ways the body uses, produces, and conserves energy.

In fact, our bodies and brains use energy all day long, for thinking, talking, internal pain management, processing food we eat, and so on. The amount of energy we use just increases during an exercise session (hopefully!).

Consider the human lifespan & how we naturally integrate rest & recovery into that cycle from birth to death when we just allow our bodies to lead us to do what they’re naturally built to do as a brilliant machine driven by natural instinct.

Small children take naps naturally because at that time in our lifespan the human body and brain has so much amazing growth work to do, significant energy conservation is needed for this purpose, and so we nap, or should be napping as children.

As we age, and energy levels naturally decline unless we work to counter that naturally, we tend to also take more naps in the name of energy conservation.

But naps are ALSO for adults who seek better natural health & fat loss results, better productivity and clarity, or even just a better overall human body experience.

There is an excellent book called, The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr which I read around 2008 that discusses research studies on the most effective ways to use our bodies energy for improved physical & mental performance. In the book they noted studies done on corporate workers and found that those who used their energy in a cyclical fashion, working in 2 hour or so spurts with recurrent breaks throughout the day in this pattern, had the most effective productivity levels through body energy and mental focus.

Now, don’t misunderstand us and think, it’s all about rest, when in actuality what we’re sharing with you is that improving your natural health, fat loss and fitness results is all about improved cycles of energy output and energy input. This is a completely different statement then, hey, just go take naps, already!

This is why one of our five core values of e3 Energy Evolved is “Efficiency”. These are essentially ways we improve our human body and brain energy efficiency, and THAT always leads to a better result. Mark our words, naps are making a come back!

To stay updated on our unique e3 Energy Evolved ™ natural healing, fat loss & fitness philosophy, updates & tips, make sure you also become a part of our e3ee community.

In energy for improved natural health, fat loss & fitness,

Natural Metabolic Recovery & Conditioning Specialists

Creators of the e3 Energy Evolved™ System | www.e3EnergyEvolved.com

What Eating Chocolate Taught Me About Feeling Just Right

By Sheila Viers (@sheilaviers) / December 11, 2012

Last weekend was my first real taste of the holiday spirit. We went to Seattle to visit my Dad and on Saturday we went downtown, to Pike Place Market (you know, where they throw the fish) and it was bustling with Christmas shoppers, fresh pine wreaths, and holiday music.

We did all the touristy things like visiting the Space Needle and went to Chihuly Garden and Glass (highly recommend), but then we spent some time out in nature too.

We also took a tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory. Being the chocolate lover that I am, I was in heaven. Their chocolate bars are amazing and they had samples of everything.

Going into the tour I set the intention that I wanted to feel good afterward, so I didn’t want to O.D. on chocolate. My prayers were answered.

The Proper Way to Eat Chocolate

During the tour, our tour guide showed us the proper way to eat quality chocolate. First, you place a small square of the chocolate bar in your mouth.

Then you bite it a few times. Then you let it sit on your tongue and melt. This is when all of the flavors are released.

I’ve heard this before, but having this reminder as I was eating the chocolate was so helpful! What a difference this makes.

Eating the pieces of chocolate in this way was so satisfying and the pieces last so much longer. I was much more present in what I was doing and was able to enjoy the flavors and textures of each piece of chocolate so much more.

Once the tour was over, I left feeling completely happy with the amount of chocolate that I ate. I didn’t feel sick and I didn’t feel deprived, I felt just right.

Set the Intention to Feel “Just Right”

I think this is an important thing to practice during the holiday season, whether you are eating chocolate, cookies, or mashed potatoes.

You don’t have to feel deprived, and you also don’t have to overdo it just because it’s the holidays. It’s possible to go to your holiday parties, eat, enjoy, and leave feeling just right.

Set the intention when you wake up in the morning, before you bake your holiday cookies, go to the party, or before you put the food on your plate.

You want to feel good. You want to make food choices that leave you feeling not overly full, not deprived, but just right.

What’s one holiday event that you plan to set this intention for?

Sheila Viers is an Emotional Eating Expert, Holistic Life Coach and co-founder of Live Well 360.

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