Unplug to Get Connected

I’m not the savviest of technology-versed individuals.  In fact, it tends to be a joke not to let a phone or a computer get into my hands or I might break it for whatever odd reason.  However, I still live and function in the world of technology and I can tell you that it’s nice to take a break every once in a while.  Unplug.

Unplug from technology, unplug from the grind, unplug from your goals, your tasks, and everything that must absolutely get done before 5 pm.  And then everything that that must absolutely get done before midnight.  And then the everything that could have gotten done, may need to get done, and in those half-awake half-asleep dreams that everything that twists itself into things that you must absolutely get done even though you have no idea why.

photo credit: overcake.com

photo credit: overcake.com

What was that?  Unplug?  Right. More

The Art of Conscious Living

Where are you heading?  Do you feel fully capable and like you’re on the path you want to be?  If so, keep chugging.  If not, read on.

conscious-living More

The Alchemy of Mr. Hyde

Findings suggest that populations which drink pure water of high quality experience greater longevity of life.  The question is: what is pure water and where can it be found?  What is the safest form to ingest it and what can we do to make sure we are adequately nourished by it?  Water, one of the most nourishing elements on this Earth, has taken on such toxic properties with the pollution of our environment that it has become the Mr. Hyde of what it could be: an evocative fountain of youth.

He looked down into the rushing water, into the transparent green, into the crystal lines of its drawing, so rich in secrets.  …With a thousand eyes, the river lookedat him, with green ones, with white ones, with crystal ones, with sky-blue ones… Love this water!  Stay near it! Learn from it!  …He who would understand this water and its secrets, so it seemed to him, would also understand many other things, many secrets, all secrets. 

-Hermann Hesse, Siddartha More

Splashing into Summer

Over the past week the temperatures in Chicago have been at all-time high, the hottest in 42 years.  With this heat wave descending over Chicago, I feel like I may as well be in India, though I think the humidity may be a bit higher here in Chicago.  And what can serve us best in a heat wave like this?  Water, perhaps?

Ice. Cold. Glass of water.  Or submersed in ice cold water.

photo credit: Clark Little

Right?

Close, but no cigar. More

Holographic Cancer and a Journey into Narnia

The other day I was exploring the grocery store, trying to find myself a suitable snack to have in the interim of my classes.  As I did, I was reminded of how alarming the “food” we eat can be in terms of its effect on our health, with ingredients such as BHT, a cancer-causing agent, tagged on to a long list of ingredients.

This got me thinking about what, in fact, causes cancer and illness in general in the first place.  In the classic model of biology, we are taught that certain stimuli are known to “turn on” cancer genes and everyone carries in them some number of cancer cells.  Only when this cancer cell production is uncontrolled does cancer itself become more rampant and destructive in the body.  More

I Am Because You Are

In the news recently is highlighted yet another trial, yet another tribulation, yet another reason for the native peoples of the Amazon, in this case the Kayapo, to be violently ousted from their home.  The reason today?  Electricity.  The reasons in the past?  Logging and cattle farming are two of the most prominent.  In the past, this sort of news has been fairly inaccessible to the general public though the truths have been even more shocking than currently, stretching to include even the genocide of Amazonian native people.

photo credit: The Washington Post

This sort of truth is not unique to Brazil, to the Amazon, though its result and its root are just as heartbreaking.  In 2010 native people in Vancouver, Canada were forcibly removed from their homes in order to make way for Olympics-related industries, such as new strip malls and larger hotels for Olympics visitors.  Similarly, in the US legislative battles still occur in order to protect and expand upon native peoples’ rights while the country also wavers in its significant issues with both institutionalized racism and racial profiling. More

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting

(An Ayurvedic Exploration)

photo credit: Aquarian Bath

Last month I made Guinness cupcakes with Bailey’s frosting for my brother’s birthday.  In honor of St. Patty’s Day I’m going to share this recipe with all of you fine folk trying to get healthy.

Uhhh… how can I get healthy with Guinness cupcakes? More

Holi Health!

I have celebrated two Holi’s in India with some of the most beautiful people I have met.  My first Holi- colors flying everywhere, dancing under a rain shower to Bhangra music with a large group of laughing, exuberant people from various states in India and various countries around the world.  Holi, in its array of colors has many stories to share, and my thoughts turn to many possibilities and interpretations of its message.  Holi- what is it really?

Those of us in the West who are familiar with Holi, even vaguely so, think of a rainbow of colors, the Indian version of Spain’s tomato fight, La Tomatina.  The throwing of colors, as fun as it is (an understatement!), is only one aspect of the festival. More

Seeing Clearly

I know what it is like to be misread, to be labeled, to hold a superficial vantage point in another’s eyes.  I also know what it is like to be seen clearly.  More importantly, I know what it is like to see myself clearly.

photo credit: Phoebe Jaspe

Clear sight, the kind that goes down to the bones, through which one can see another’s heart, is something I often think about.

Having lived in a few countries, I have sometimes been only too well aware of the changing perceptions directed towards me.  White, woman, American accent, traveling alone.  Even with a few more details added in, sometimes the superficial assumptions still continue.  In all this I became more aware of my own identity, the truths and integral parts of who I am, who I was where I was, and who I am where I am now.

What I know is this: self-discovery is the ultimate journey.  Forget the Himalayas, forget the Bermuda triangle.  You.  Yourself.  That’s where all the beauty and all mystery awaits. Discovering yourself lends boundless freedom

Why do I say this?  …what does this have to do with health?  Everything. More

The 6 Secrets of Leaping

I like the idea of leap years.  Unless you are something like Mr. Groundhog, running away if circumstances don’t suit him (the February version of the Grinch, if you ask me), you probably do too.  Yes, the calendar is technically just a measurement.  Yes, one extra box doesn’t necessarily actually add up to an extra day of life… but there’s still something a bit exciting about the idea of one EXTRA day.  And one day dedicated to LEAPING, at that.

What does it mean to LEAP? More

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