I just finished up a new short video – my speaking reel. Know of someone looking for a speaker for a conference, event or workshop? Pass this and my speaking brochure along. Enjoy!
Since I’ve been blogging regularly, I’ve somewhere, somehow gotten on the radar of a number of book publicists. As a lover of books and authors, I’ve been overjoyed, and have a stack of the latest greatest by my bed. Sadly, there are not so many that I can recommend to you, my beloved tribe. Yet I read on, and there are definitely gems coming out every day.
Here’s one! Curvy Yoga. Love. It is beautifully produced, good to hold, well-written, contains needed messages, and features a great author.
As a nutrition clinician for decades, I’m seeing body hatred on the rise. It seemed that there were a few years when women (and men!) were feeling better about their bodies just as they are, but the last few years have felt like a bit of a backlash of the media-perfect. Too, I’ve crossed the 50-year-old mark and going through menopause was a powerful experience, not only within my own body, but sensing (while I feel fantastic and at the top of my game) that I was plopped into some less valuable category by…many. So I am sensitive, yet not too, methinks.
It takes no small amount of courage to show up as you are these days, but Curvy Yoga is a manual to do just that. If you find yoga too….whatever, here’s a read for you. In fact, if you’ve been injured in a yoga class, or can’t find a yoga class, please take a read before giving up on yoga. If you wonder if you belong in the spandex-wrapped perfect-yoga-body competitive yoga world (you don’t!…neither do I….or most people for that matter) here’s a book for you. And if you, like me, used to be a flexible yogi, and find yourself less so, but still interested in having yoga in your life, check it out.
Curvy Yoga focuses mostly on the integrative how of practice, focusing on accessibility from a physical, mental and energetic perspective. You’ll get to know the author, with personal stories of how yoga has impacted various areas of her life. As an author of a book in a similar genre (Every Bite Is Divine – it’s the food companion to Curvy Yoga) I feel a definite kin-ship sisterhood with this author. This book, as I think of it, is a lovely companion to Yoga & Diabetes.
Ms. Guest-Jelley provides a collection of aids for doing various yoga postures with a round goddess body and using props including (my favorite) a wall to support your safe and effective practice.
If you haven’t purchased a yoga book in a while, and you’d like a lovely and accessible guide written by a fresh voice, here you go.
I’m happy to let you know that in 2017, I’ll be reaching beyond my beloved teaching home of Kripalu, and working in different ways with different organizations. You’ll still find me there, teaching and offering programs, just a little less this year.
One offering I’m thrilled to tell you about is that I will be opening a telehealth private practice this spring. Telehealth means that I will beam into your home via the internet. While I am still evaluating partners in this (there are a number of groups that offer HIPAA-secure platforms), I’m happy to see how reimbursement has evolved in the last few years.
I am planning to take Medicare (I believe you’ll need an MD referral, details to come), and right now I am thinking I may put off taking other insurance (though I will use what they call a superbill, so if you get the OK from your primary care doc, it should be easy to get reimbursed through your insurance).
How could I as an RDN not be aware of the wide coverage for nutrition now available?! I believe (I am still learning) that through Obamacare (while we have it), one or 2 well-care nutrition visits are covered by insurance. Many nutrition-related diagnoses are covered, from eating disorders to high cholesterol to weight.
In order to get reimbursed, you will need to be referred by your primary MD. I’ll have step-by-step how-tos on my site with everything you need to get referred, and to make submissions for reimbursement easy.
I’ll be offering my unique blend of whole foods, plant-based systems-oriented mind-body nutrition with a little yoga therapy rolled in when called for. Read more about my health and healing philosophy here. I plan to initially offer a schedule of two afternoons plus one evening weekly, and we’ll see how it goes from there.
The Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics (AND) has done a good job reporting about how cost-effective Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) is for Medicare. It clearly reduces health care costs and improves the lives of people who use it. MNT is an evidence-based process of addressing health and medical conditions with nutrition.
So, you’ll be hearing more about MNT and how it can benefit you as my practice takes shape. A few of you have asked me how to make appointments – I’ll let you know that too, as soon as I decide on my system.
Let’s make 2017 the year of nutritional skill for health and healing.
Happy New Year! It’s that time again!
Time to review the year that was, and reset our course for the possibilities ahead. I honestly don’t know too many people who had a stellar 2016, but I know you’re out there. Here’s a round up of the top whole food & nutrition memes I see out there.
Prediction: 2017 will be the year of the skillful – we will be challenged! For those who are clear about who they are and what’s real, and roll up their sleeves to serve others and have a good time, it will be a good year.
So, let’s eat! The mega-trend is AUTHENTIC. REAL is in.
Here are my top whole food memes to watch:
How is your winter holiday unfolding? If you’ve participated enthusiastically in the bacchanal this year, it’s not too late to hop on a little holiday health recovery.
This year, I tried something that felt a little like swimming against the current – improving my level of fitness through the early winter and holidays. I always have a special place in my heart for people who take Kripalu nutrition programs like Detox, Mindful Table/Nutrition & Cooking Immersion, or Integrative Weight Loss between Thanksgiving and the winter holidays – something about it seems brilliantly counterintuitive, but people who do take these programs later say their holidays are more mindful, less stressful and less filled with candy and rich food & drink.
My holiday fitness plan involved a “Get Fit” program at my local community center that met twice weekly until last week. Calisthenics! Running and skipping and lifting weights was the order of the day, and while I may or may not have lost a little weight (while partaking in holiday cheer), I certainly feel stronger, have more energy and feel better. I recommend launching health and fitness right before or in the middle of the holidays if that appeals to you in the least. Just keep your expectations in check. I find it manages the stress of the season, and I just feel good doing it.
As the holiday season winds down, remember to savor the magic of this special time of year. This is the week to take stock of your hits and misses in the game that was 2016, and visioning and dreaming the year to come. May your 2017 be filled with health, happiness, and basking in the brilliant light of your own true self.
Not MDMA (though I do understand that when used skillfully, it can be a healer). I’m talking about life. Transcendent moments are our birthright. Moments of everyday ecstasy and wonder.
Everyday ecstasy is why I do yoga. It’s why I meditate and why I enjoy/suffer through the ups and downs of these long-term contemplative practices as my body ages, coming back over and over and over again. To taste that nectar of a momentary unitive state. The sweetness, the soma that is our birthright. Mind-body practices like yoga build resilience, in part because of how good a moment of unitive consciousness feels.
It’s why I’m studying plant spirit healing and plant initiations. I learn about how plants heal through (in addition to the regular study of plant medicine) non-ordinary conscious connection. My apprenticeship in plant spirits taught me how to listen deeply to plants and nature. To find and follow the golden thread that connects us.
One definition of mindfulness is focusing on something (almost anything) to the point of complete absorption. We fall into deep wonder with whatever we are focusing on, allowing ourselves a moment of ecstatic clarity. When we practice mindfulness or communion with a moment, it gives us the ability to transcend. We can transcend the muddy muck of the day and see things in a different light. Transcending is excellent for supporting healthy behavior change. And it’s fun.
Ken Wilber says altered states become permanent traits through repetition and integration. I have journeyed in alchemical divinations and I have journeyed with the breath and music, with shaman and with plants. Each route is sweet and lovely and challenging and took me face to face with the wonder of this one wackily precious and miraculous life. No polluting drugs are necessary, and that’s a bit of a secret. You have everything you need to transcend right inside your own sweet little body. In fact, I find as I get older that I’m so sensitive to substances in general, that it’s just easier to go au natural.
My shamanic study with plant spirit healing has been key to a certain awakening. Through this work, I’ve gotten to know a number of plants personally. To me, Tulsi is a red-haired woman with flowing green robes, a sister I go shopping with at the celestial power object store. To me, she is the full pantheon of goddesses of the yoga tradition. Yes, she’s Durga AND Lakshmi AND Kali and everyone else wrapped into one beautiful mega-goddess that if we give half a chance, might just save the entire planet, or show us the way. St. John’s Wort is golden light. If light could be a food, it would be St. John’s Wort for me. I can use the nourishment of this ally, particularly in the dark months of winter. Please be advised that what each of these plants is for me is not what they will be for you. I am not recommending them for all. This type of experience, however, getting to know a plant on a personal energetic level, bestows a different type of healing. It is a type of healing much needed today: earth-centric energy healing.
If this sounds a little “out there” to you, yes it is a bit. For many of you, sensation seekers and those who already talk to plants, for example, it’s not at all. There is a growing body of science to support the healing power of everyday ecstasy.
Later this year I will be offering an opportunity for you take a taste – to experience this work more deeply and see for yourself how it supports health and healing…stay tuned.
Happy Holidays and remember to fall into reverie whenever you get the chance!
