Primal Dance Therapy

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I had a chance to attend the Sustainable Cosmetic Conference in New York City last week and took the opportunity to stay for the New Life Expo , http://www.newlifeexpo.com/newhome.php , on the following weekend. I am a big fan of the Whole Life Expo, http://www.wholelifecanada.com/ , here in Toronto and love walking through to discover useful healthy food and time proven alternative therapies. But most so called "Health & Wellness" Shows are too “fringe” for me with the usual psychics and esoteric healers selling "miraculous" supplements and unattractive wire pyramids and other questionable devices.

My perusal of the program ahead of attending the show made the New Life Expo seemed heavy on the subject of “energy” with seminars like “I put a Spell on You and Now You are Mine: I put a Spell on You and It is Strong” and “Lemurian Seed Crystals, Sacred Tools for Personal Transformation“. When I entered the Expo, I felt visually crowded by the small, unattractive booths of mostly “snake oil” type products.

But I am glad I visited the Expo, as my picks for seminars helped to increase my personal awareness. My first class was “Primal Dance.” This dance therapy was taught by Heidi McClure of Spirit Freedom, http://spiritfreedom.net/about.html . She is the dancer in the photo above.

Based on the belief that our bodies hold emotional memories from our experiences starting from the womb until the present, Heidi lead us through dances where we released our physical body parts. These exercises helped us become aware of which areas were negatively affected by past emotions. We became aware of how the effects of past experiences affected our postures and our movements. In that short hour, I understood how the emotional affects on the body lead to a legacy of illness. I love the idea of how fun exercise like dance could also improve my knowledge of my emotional life. I didn’t even mind dancing to Madonna’s “Like a Pray”. As one who loves a good "2 for 1", I plan to use my next vacation learning from her in NYC.

In my next blogs I will intend to share with you other interesting seminars like "Yoga and Digestion" with Dee Dee Benray, the Yoga Master in the book, Aveda Rituals , http://www.amazon.ca/Aveda-Rituals-Natural-Health-Beauty/dp/0805058001 , and how a lower body temperature can cause you illnesses like Cancer, Diabetes, and Thyroid Disease with Dr Tasumura Hillyer, http://www.cancercontrolsociety.com/bio2008/hillyer.htm . If you like, I can also report on how you can use semi-precious and prescious gems for self transformation and to protect you from negative energy. Let me know your interests.

Aging Gracefully but Really Slowly

I am on my way to New York City to attend the Sustainable Cosmetic conference but what I am really looking forward to is my Korean Body Scrub booked at Yi Pak.

I have been suffering from extreme peri-menopause. My PMS has escalated with an increase in the duration and number of hellish symptoms and along with the increased incidences of brain fog and intolerance from internal heat.
I look like I am tired even when I am not.

I know from experience and research that this is caused by the dance of poor circulation and dehydration. So the thought of a wet hot sauna and then a vigorous body scrub spelled relief.

Constance Gaud, author of “The Energy Prescription” – (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dus-stripbooks-tree&field-keywords=The+energy+prescription&x=10&y=21) a shaman and pharmacist wrote that. “…what is dry is dead”.

This seems to be the story of my physical body. As I age, I struggle more to keep my body from drying out. My skin needs more attention to stay healthy and hydrated warning of internal dehydration. My mucous membranes are more irritated by the lack of moisture in my body. Even my eyesight is affected by my hydration levels.

What causes this increasing drying of our bodies. I found that my hot flashes or the less dramatic but constant higher heat in my body causes increased dryness. The lower circulation brings less moisture and nutrients to our skin cells, especially the ones at our extremities like our head, hands and feet.

So what can we do about this?

We can take more care in making sure we eat more moist foods like vegetables and fruit. Fruit is especially good if you are in a hot spell as sweet tastes cools down the body. Reaching for a chocolate bar or a piece of cake - even a slice of Dufflets - is temporary with side effects.

Body treatments like massage can help our body’s circulation and relax us (less heat).

Making sure your skin is moist and warm will help maintain or increase circulation to those areas.

I have been receiving Intense Pulse Light Treatments and Sea Salt Microdermabrasion to help me look more youthful. Both of these treatments increase collagen production and the Sea Salt Microdermabrasion was a great treatment to increase the skins ability to appear more hydrated.

But Georgeta one of our senior estheticians has a following of clients that received only micro current facials and the occasional Sea Salt Microdermabrasion to look their youthful best.

A month ago, my long time client Alice showed me her NuFace hand held microcurent machine for home use. She claims it help her facial skin to tone up. While the results were minimal, she was satisfied.

In the fall, I had been crazy busy with moving a spa and then I was off for PanchaKarma. When I got back I had to start preparing franchise plans for an interested party from China. So I was way past the ideal time to do my annual course of Sea Salt Microdermabrasion and Intense Pulse Light Treatments.

So I gave the less used micro current a try. A great decision because I found that the treatment increased circulation so that my sinuses were released and my eyes were less puffy while my skin looked more toned, radiant and dewy. While we have offered this treatment to clients for years, as a Vata, the results were not fast or dramatic enough. Also the more frequent treatments required to keep results were not attractive to my more change-oriented nature.

I am not alone. When we help our clients choose and plan their skincare maintenance, the possibility of multiple monthly treatments were not a time or budgetary commitment they were ready to make.

I am in the third week of my treatments and to keep up the improvements I need to have a micro current facial here in NYC. I want to find a good one so I can bring back something new for our staff.

But my seven weekly treatments end soon so when I get back I will be exploring the market of hand held micro current machines. I have a call into NuFace but it is not in my nature to take the first option. I am looking for the best one.

This will give an viable alternative for those of us who want to age gracefully but slowly to be able to benefit from Micro current treatments by extend our professional treatments to monthly. Sure the results may be less and of course it’s not as enjoyable but we lean to trade off in our time insufficient world. Wish me luck as I am finding lots of crazy concepts for thses hand held units.

Eating for Your Health + Beauty

Becoming Vegetarian has revolutionized my life. It was not my first time at eliminating flesh from my diet, but this time it felt less about following a diet. While my vegetarian fast had proven the benefits of better physical energy and mental clarity, I was wise enough to customize it to my allergies to common vegetarian sources of protein like legumes and dairy and intolerances to some grains.

My commitment to change my diet was greatly influenced by my two week visit to the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico for PanchaKarma. Unlike my other entries into vegetarianism, fear was not my companion. Instead I planned the changes in my life to maintain this diet that was giving me better life energy and a better opportunity to contribute positively to my community.

The biggest change was cooking for myself. Focusing on developing my business left me eating out and trusting strangers to nourish me. Cooking for myself was not just healthier but I finally was giving myself time to nurture myself. My trip and my new diet strengthen my emotional detachment. It was changing how I perceive my relationships and interactions with others without losing my passion in life. Instead my love for others increased and deepened.

My life right now is in chaos as I am still experimenting with different foods and recipes as I try to create routines. When I indulge in my old ways, I treat myself to a couple of meals at Kale Eatery at 2366 Yonge Street north of Eglinton. The food is vegetarian and delicious. All of the dishes are labeled with ingredients for us who need to avoid allergic ingredients. I have eaten vegetarian in old favourite places but the experiences just increases my tendency to choose to eat at Kale.

And for a healthier alternative to Starbucks, I meet friends for “coffee” at the Organic Oven at http://www.organicoven.com/. Gluttonfree bake goods with organic beverages make this freindly time healthy as well. And while I still cannot eat as much bread as I would like to, the goods from the Organic Oven help me keep my home meals interesting and satisfying without causing me any adverse reactions.

After decades of herbal remedies from Naturopaths, Traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic Doctors; numerous detoxification fasts, my body has become intelligent enough to decide what was the best nutrition for it.

In this second half of my life I have finally embraced "food is the best medicine". Eating well is about prevention but best of all it means optimum health daily. An ancient Chinese sage once declared that the best doctors are ones that can keep us healthy with just food and lifestyle.

You can do this for yourself by using Ayurveda to help you monitor your health and your external environment and help you balance your mood, health and productivity with food.

But I am not a Vegetarian Evangelist. Eating for your health does not mean a philosophy of eating by principles as in vegetarian, low carbohydrate or raw food diets. It is about eating to contribute to your overall health. No one diet is perfect for everyone.

How can you discover your perfect diet?

It is a combination of self discovery and experimentation. Ayurveda's individualized diet recommendations for different body types is a great aid for those who do not know where to start. For thin Vata Types eating rich foods like meat, oils, dairy and nuts are excellent. Avoiding dry crunch foods is advisable. I avoid uncooked foods and gassy foods like cabbage and broccoli as a Vata and especially in Winter. Grazing is an excellent way to get all your nutrition without over working the stomach.

Pittas can indulge in bitter foods like greens and sweet foods like dairy. They should avoid fatty foods like meat and oils and acidic foods like citrus and vinegars. Hot temperature as well as hot spicy foods. In summer a raw food diet would be an excellent chose for fiery ambitious Pittas.
Kapha types can eat warm light crunchy spicy foods. These foods help to keep Kaphas alert and energetic. Heavy sweet foods like dairy and sweets and fatty foods like meat and nuts can slow down Kapha metabolism and energy.

For more information on the Doshas, you can read my earlier blogs or get a book on Ayurveda. For those who want more indepth information on Ayurveda and diet I would recommend Jennifer Workman’s “Stop Your Cravings” (http://www.amazon.ca/Stop-Your-Cravings-Satsify-Sacrificing/dp/0743217063/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268522035&sr=1-2 ) this book offers advice on common food issues of cravings, food sensitivities, weight management and protein versus carbohydrate

But that is just a start. As you gain more awareness of your relationship with food you may want to explore other ways foods affect you. “The Body Ecology Diet” by Donna Gates (http://www.amazon.ca/Body-Ecology-Diet-Recovering-Rebuilding/dp/0963845837/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268522230&sr=1-1 ) Here you will learn how to care for your digestive system along with the healing treatments and foods for the areas of concern.

Robert Thayer’s “Calm Energy” helps you find foods to include in your diet that can help you find harmony in our stressful overly ambitious society.

While I use Ayurveda as the basic structure of how I stay healthy and happy, I am open to any positive influences. I take what I find suitable for me and I may also pass on any information I feel may help another.

One such source is Dr Peter D’adamo’ “Eat Right for your Blood Type” Find it at http://www.amazon.ca/Right-Your-Type-Peter-Dadamo/dp/039914255X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268522456&sr=1-1

What ever your goals are food can have a great influence in your success. To help our clients achieve the beautiful skin they covet, our estheticians find that diet advice increases their success.

My Vegetarianism is reinforced by my desire to grow more connected to my world. This time with the role model of Dr Lad from the Ayurvedic Institute along with David Frawley's book "Yoga and Ayurveda" (http://www.amazon.ca/Yoga-Ayurveda-Self-Healing-Self-Realization-Frawley/dp/0914955810/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268523649&sr=1-1) I found my path to self discovery is aided to by a vegetarian diet and mindful exercise like Yoga and Chi Kung.

If you are interested in Vegetarianism go visit the the Toronto Vegetarian Association site at http://www.veg.ca/. It is great for encouragement, recipes and important health news not reported in the mainstream media