Tara Stiles | yoga & winter blues

Andreas Moritz | 10 sec read on health benefits of coconut oil

Coconut oil is also a wonderful detoxification agent. It cleanses the body of toxins, keeps the digestive tract healthy, and nourishes the cells in your body. All of this is essential on the road to restoring your body’s optimal weight.‌

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Andreas Moritz | 10 sec read on the digestive process

The digestive process actually begins in your mouth. Here, food is pre-digested by saliva, which also signals to your pancreas and small intestine that a meal is on the way.These organs then release the appropriate types and amounts of digestive enzymes and minerals needed to break down the food into the smallest nutrient components. ‌

Andreas Moritz | 10 sec read on why butter is good for you

Butter provides your body with essential fatty acids, it keeps your hormones in balance, it is good for the heart, it sharpens vision, and it keeps skin moist. So when you eliminate butter from your diet, you are also harming your health.Butter, used in ancient cultures as an offering to the gods, is a natural food - organic, raw butter is the best form of butter.‌

 

Chopra Blog | How Do You React to Stress? Learn How Your Mind-Body Type Affects Your Stress Response

“Making your doshas happy will make you happy. This is the secret to balancing the whole mind-body system.”
– Deepak Chopra

Your mind-body type (known as your dosha in the ancient healing science of Ayurveda) plays a great role in how stress affects you. In Ayurveda, the three main doshas are Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.

• Those with predominantly Vata constitutions have the greatest tendency toward anxiety and worry. Normally creative and lively, in the face of stress, Vatas tend to blame themselves for their problems and become extremely nervous and scattered.
• Pitta types are usually warm and loving, but if they’re out of balance, typically react to stress by finding fault with other people and becoming angry.
• The most even-tempered dosha is Kapha. Kapha types are usually easygoing and gentle, but when faced with overwhelming conflict or stress, they may withdraw and refuse to deal with the situation.

Take the Dosha quiz

Knowing your mind-body constitution will help you understand your own response to stress. Ayurveda offers specific recommendations for each mind-body type, including the most effective ways to cope with stress. To learn more ayurvedic tips for stress relief and mind-body healing, sign up for our free online Agni Newsletter.

Dr. Weil | What's a whole grain?

Most people - including your average health-food enthusiast - consider whole-grain breads to be examples of "whole-grain foods."  But in terms of glycemic load, only intact, unpulverized grains should qualify as whole grains. Here's why:




Andrew Weil, M.D. - What's a Whole Grain? from Andrew Weil, M.D. on Vimeo.

Dr. Weil | To sleep better, get more exercise

Here's further proof that regular aerobic exercise can help middle aged and older adults overcome insomnia. Researchers at Northwestern University recruited 23 sedentary adults, mostly women of ages 55 and older, who had problems falling or staying asleep, to take part in a 16-week study. The participants were divided into three groups; the first group performed two 20-minute sessions of aerobic activity four times per week; the second group completed a 30 to 40 minute workout four times a week; the third group did not engage in any physical activity, but instead took cooking classes, attended lectures at museums or took part in other recreational or educational programs three to five times a week. Those who exercised reported that their sleep quality improved from "poor" to "good" and that the duration of their sleep lengthened as well. What’s more, the participants reported fewer depressive symptoms, more vitality and less daytime sleepiness than they had in the past. The study was scheduled for publication in the October, 2010, issue of Sleep Medicine.
Hate to exercise? Here's my advice.

Andreaz Moritz | Animal Proteins – do we need them?

The diet of a most Americans consists of meat and dairy products - steak, beef, mince pies, chicken and super-sized juicy hamburgers. Sure it’s tasty, a taste the meat and poultry industry taught us to acquire. Did you know that Western societies consume at least 50 percent more protein than they actually need?

By filling up the connective tissues in our bodies with unused protein, we turn our bodies into overflowing pools of harmful acids and waste, thereby laying a fertile ground for disease. It also congests the digestive tract and overburdens the lymphatic system.

The fact is that animal proteins, unlike plant proteins, are difficult to digest. The human body is not able to adequately break down meat protein into amino acids. A healthy digestive system is in fact able to metabolize only 25 percent of the animal protein it ingests.

Chunks of undigested meat may therefore remain in the small intestine for as long as 20–48 hours, where they literally begin to rot. This generates the meat poisons, cadaverine, putrescine, amines and other highly toxic substances, which apart from causing disease also contributes to lymph congestion, fluid and fat build-up, first in the mid-section of the body, and eventually throughout the body.

The remnants of undigested meat can accumulate in the large intestinal for as long as - hold your breath – 20 to30 years or longer. Rotting meat also burdens the kidneys in the form of nitrogenous wastes. Even moderate meat-eaters demand three times more work from their kidneys than vegetarians do.

Here is something else to think about. Putrefaction and bacterial growth start immediately after an animal is slaughtered and are very advanced by the time the meat reaches most grocery stores or meat markets.

Destructive enzymes immediately begin to break down the cells in the cadaver’s flesh, which leads to the formation of a degenerative substance called ptomaine that causes diseases.

Meat is also acid-forming and creates even more acidity when undigested. This, in turn, leads to a loss of minerals and other nutrients. Contrast this with plant proteins that the human body was designed to ingest in the course of evolution.
It is but a misconception that unlike meat, vegetables do not provide you with complete proteins - all the nine essential amino acids - that the body is unable to produce.

If you eat a variety of vegetables, you can get exactly the same amino acids as you get from meat - with added health benefits such as minerals and fiber that meat does not contain.

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Dr Weil | 4 healthy beverages!

1. Green tea. My beverage of choice, green tea is a potent source of catechins - healthy antioxidants that can inhibit cancer cell activity and help boost immunity. Replace your morning coffee with a cup of tea for a healthier wake-up.
2. Cranberry juice. Cranberries are a rich source of vitamin C and contain a substance that hinders the attachment of bacteria to bladder walls, which can help prevent urinary tract infections. Instead of cranberry juice cocktail, opt for unsweetened cranberry juice concentrate and dilute with still or sparkling water.
3. Red wine. The antioxidant activity of red wine has been linked to heart health benefits, reduced stress and even preserving memory. If you enjoy an occasional drink, limit your intake to 1-2 glasses a day. If you don't drink, don't start - there are other ways to get antioxidants in your diet, including fresh, whole fruits and vegetables.
4. Pure, filtered water. Staying well hydrated is essential to optimal health and overall functioning. Drink as much as you want throughout the day, and in the warmer months be sure to drink water when exercising to avoid dehydration.

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Debbie Fords Audio Affirmations | short 40 sec clips for you (for free!)

Are you feeding yourself with the thoughts, ideas, and words that will add to your self-love? Listen now to one of the self-esteem boosting affirmations below.
The audio affirmations contained in this section are really a blast of love. Each 30-45 second recording offers a quick way to encode your consciousness with new thoughts and beliefs that will build your confidence, raise your vibration, and reflect back to you the gorgeous light that inherently resides within you. I hope you will thoroughly enjoy them and share them with the people you love.
Listening to these affirmations is an opportunity to do what we call "positive mirroring". It allows you to select the words you want to insert more deeply into your consciousness and then have me mirror those same words back to you. For example, Debbie would say: "You are loved and cared for." And then you would say: "I am loved and cared for." Simple as that! Clicking on the audio control arrow for streaming your recording of choice will send you on your way!

	Letting Go of the Past
	Loved and Adored
	Magnet for Money
	You can do anything you want
	Love is looking for you

Go directly to Debbie Fords website to listen to these audio affirmations, click this link. (I coulnd't copy the links, so I will redirect you directly to them)

Andreas Moritz | Painkillers - The Beginning of a Vicious Cycle

“Drugs never cure disease. They merely hush the voice of nature’s protest, and pull down the danger signals she erects along the pathway of transgression. Any poison taken into the system has to be reckoned with later on even though it palliates present symptoms. Pain may disappear, but the patient is left in a worse condition, though unconscious of it at the time.”

~ Daniel. H. Kress, M.D. 

  Taking painkillers, unless it is absolutely necessary for extremely painful conditions, is an act of suppressing and destroying the healing intelligence of the body. When ill, the body may require pain signals to trigger the appropriate immune response for the removal of toxins from a localized area and to prevent the individual from further harming himself. Pain is not a disease and should therefore not be treated as one. Pain is the body’s natural response to congestion and the subsequent dehydration and malnourishment of the cells and tissues. It occurs in the presence of toxic material and is often accompanied by infection. In most cases, a pain signal occurs when one of the brain’s first aid hormones, called histamine, is secreted in large amounts and passes over the pain nerves near or alongside a congested area.

  The body also uses histamines to reject foreign materials such as viral particles or toxic substances and to direct other hormones or systems in the body to regulate water distribution. The latter function of histamine is very important, for where there is a buildup of toxins, there is also an acute water shortage (dehydration). When the pain signal becomes suppressed, however, the body is confused over how it should deal with the congestion and subsequent increase of toxicity. Painkillers also prevent the body from learning about the progressive condition of cellular dehydration. In addition, in order to process painkillers, the cells of the body have to give up even more of their precious water.

  Usually, the intensity of pain rises with the concentration of toxins and materials such as blood proteins trapped in the fluid surrounding the cells. This liquid substance is called interstitial fluid or connective tissue, and it is drained by the lymphatic system. When the lymphatic system is congested due to digestive problems or other reasons which I will explain later, the escape route for these blood proteins and toxins is closed. To prevent the immediate destruction of the cells by these highly acidic and reactive proteins and toxins, the body surrounds them with water.  This in turn causes further obstruction and prevents the proper oxygenation of the cells. Pain directly results from this lack of oxygen. Research published in December 1964 by one of the earlier journals of the American Medical Association, Today’s Health,  proved that blood proteins naturally leave the bloodstream and enter the connective tissues, but if not instantly removed by the lymphatic system, they can cause disease and death in as little as 24 hours.

  The body certainly knows about this danger and acts accordingly. The brain produces the perfect amount of natural painkillers, i.e. endorphins (endogenous opioids), in order to keep the pain tolerable but still strong enough to maintain a powerful and active immune and cleansing response. Synthetically derived painkillers on the other hand cause an electrical short circuit of the pain signal. The brain and the immune system, though, need to receive this signal to be able to attend to the endangered area. The sudden suppression of pain can be likened to cutting the wires of an alarm system that is protecting a house. When a burglar enters this house, nobody will notice it. By cutting off its communication with the brain, the body is unable to remove all the trapped toxins and blood proteins, and their destructive effect may go unnoticed. What is so disturbing about taking pharmaceutical drugs, such as pain medication, is that they need blood proteins to carry them to their destinations. Since the blood proteins are trapped in the connective tissues of an organ, these drugs become trapped there, too. This causes the serious side effects and frequent deaths for which these drugs are so well known. The pharmaceutical industry, of course, does not want you to know that by taking their drugs you are gambling with your life.

  Pain medications not only keep the body ignorant about a particular physical problem, they also sabotage its healing efforts. The regular use of painkillers suppresses endorphin production in the brain, thereby causing drug dependency. This also lowers the body’s tolerance level for pain, making even minor problems of congestion very painful. Some people have abused their bodies in this way to such an extent that they suffer from excruciating chronic pain, although the causal problem may actually be only a minor one. When painkillers are no longer effective enough, some people may even wish to take their lives to obtain the desired relief.

  If you have been on painkillers for arthritis or other painful conditions but now know that taking drugs such as Vioxx, Aleve, Celebrex, and aspirin dramatically increases your risk of heart attack and stroke, you may want to switch to natural alternatives until you have eliminated the root causes of your pain (as this book recommends that you do). According to the New England Journal of Medicine, “anti-inflammatory drugs (prescription and over-the-counter medications which include Advil, Motrin, Aleve, Ordus, aspirin, and over 20 others) alone cause over 16,500 deaths and over 103,000 hospitalizations per year just in the U.S.” The amount of five major painkillers sold at retail establishments rose 90 percent between 1997 and 2005, according to an Associated Press analysis of statistics from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Even the smallest amount of aspirin triggers at least some degree of intestinal bleeding. Regular use of aspirin has serious consequences. Nearly 70 percent of those taking aspirin daily show a blood loss of ½ to 1 ½ teaspoons per day, and 10 percent lose as much as two teaspoons per day.
A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that use of NSAIDs such as aspirin and ibuprofen increased the risk of high blood pressure (HPP) by nearly 40 percent. Similar use of acetaminophen was found to increase HBP risk by 34 percent.

The following list provides you with alternative solutions to pain management without interfering with the body’s own efforts to heal itself: 

• Boswellia (Boswellia serrata) is an Ayurvedic herb. It alleviates pain and improves mobility in people with arthritis. It also has anti-carcinogenic, anti-tumor, and blood lipid lowering activities.  Dosage: 1,200 to 1,500 mg of a standardized extract containing 60 to 65 percent boswellic acids two to three times daily.
• Bromelain, an enzyme derived from the pineapple stem, has anti-inflammatory effects. Dosage: 500 mg three times daily between meals.
• Cayenne (Capsicum annuum) cream. For pain relief, apply to the affected area two to four times daily.
• Devil's claw (Harpagophytum procumbens) may improve knee and hip pain.  Dosage: 1,500 to 2,500 mg powdered extract daily, or 1-2 ml of the tincture three times a day. Do not take devil's claw if you have a history of gallstones, heartburn or ulcers.
• Evening primrose, black currant and borage oils reduce joint inflammation. Dosage: Up to 2.8 g of Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) daily. Avoid any refined oils or margarine.
• Fish oils to reduce joint inflammation and promote joint lubrication. Dosage at least 1.8 mg of DocasaHexanenoic Acid (DHA), an omega-3 fat  and 1.2 mg of Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), an omega-3 fat.
• Ginger (Zingiber officinale) tea made with fresh ginger. Eat fresh ginger before and with meals, take 1 to 2 grams of ginger powder in capsule form two or three times daily, or use 1 to 2 ml of the tincture two or  three times daily.
• MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) - organic sulfur - has natural anti-inflammatory properties. Dosage 2,000 to 8,000 mg daily. Start on a small dosage and build up gradually. 
• SAM-e (S-adenosylmethionine) prevents the loss of water in cartilage, which keeps the joint more flexible. Dosage: 600 to 1,200 mg daily for two months, followed by 400 to 800 mg daily as a maintenance dosage.

  Caution: If you take any of the above, be sure to avoid non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin or ibuprofen to avoid adverse reactions.  

  Besides taking supplements, there are of course, other options for pain relief that you may wish to explore. These include dietary adjustments, exercise, physical therapy, stress management, massage therapy, acupuncture, acupressure and yoga.

Stress and dissatisfaction in life is the main cause of heart problems

If you ask a man in the street whether he is satisfied with his job and happy, depending on his answer, you will be able to make a prognosis about whether he is at risk of developing heart disease or not. It would be too simplistic to assume that heart disease is only caused by stress, cigarette smoking, overeating, alcohol abuse, etc. These risk factors are not the ultimate causes of a dysfunctional heart, but rather the effects or symptoms of plain dissatisfaction in life. The cause behind the major causes of heart disease, which is nothing but the plain lack of happiness and contentment in life, may still be there after all the other risk factors or causes have been eliminated. A large number of people have died from heart attacks with perfectly clean arteries and no other tangible, physical reasons. Many of them have never smoked, abused alcohol, or led a particularly stressful life. However, they were unhappy within themselves. 

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Chopra Blog | Stay Healthy and Balanced During Vata Season

In Ayurveda the fall season corresponds to two major doshas: Pitta and Vata. Autumn is considered Pitta as long as hot weather prevails, and Vata as it becomes cold. Late fall and winter are known as “Vata season” because they are marked by some of the same qualities that characterize Vata: cold, dry, light, clear, and moving.

As long as these qualities are in balance, a person whose dosha is predominantly Vata will be healthy, creative, and exuberant. But when too much Vata accumulates in the body and mind, the imbalance may manifest as physical or emotional disorders, including insomnia, dry skin, arthritis, constipation, high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression.




All body types are vulnerable to Vata derangement during autumn and winter, but those who are predominantly Vata types need to be particularly vigilant about staying in balance. Here are some practical ideas to keep you grounded and vibrant during the cold months ahead.

 

Follow a Vata-pacifying Diet 

• Eat foods that are warming, fresh, and well cooked; avoid dry or uncooked foods (especially salads and raw fruits and vegetables).
• Drink lots of warming liquids such as hot water and herbal teas to prevent dehydration. You can prepare a fresh ginger tea by placing a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger into a pint  thermos  bottle and filling it with hot water.
• Eat more of the sweet, sour, and salty tastes and less of the bitter, astringent, and pungent ones. Avocados, bananas, mangoes, peaches, lemons, pumpkins, carrots, beets, asparagus, quinoa, rice, mung beans, almonds, sesame seeds, and ghee are a few excellent Vata-pacifying foods.
• Don’t worry if your appetite seems stronger than usual as this is a natural tendency in winter and helps pacify Vata. At the same time, of course, don’t eat to the point of discomfort.

Nourish Your Senses

• Wear clothing made with soft fabrics in earth tones and mild pastel shades, which calm Vata.
• Stay warm. Vata is a cold, dry dosha, so it’s important to make sure that your home and work place are well heated and that the air has enough humidity. Since Vata is extremely sensitive to moving air, it’s wise to avoid drafts or sitting near fans or ventilators.
• Give yourself slow, gentle self-massage in the morning or before bed. Use a nourishing, warming oil such as sesame or almond. You may also want to gently rub a drop of sesame oil inside your nasal passages, which tend to become dry during winter. Find  instructions for performing an ayurvedic self-massage here.

Sleep and Restful Awareness

• Get enough sleep! This is vital for Vatas, who tend to push themselves to the point of physical or mental exhaustion. Read more about creating a restful sleep routine here.
• Learn to meditate. For the overactive Vata mind, meditation is one of the best ways to find calm and stillness. The Chopra Center recommends and offers instruction in a powerful practice called Primordial Sound Meditation, a mantra-based meditation rooted in the traditions of ancient India.


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Couch Yoga with Tara Stiles

Yes yes yes!!! Go Tara!

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