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Get Clean with Spring: Give House and Body an Eco-cleanse

What exactly is an eco-cleanse? Take a section of life, such as eating habits, and how it is done every day. Now, how can it be made better in relation to the environment and health? Using different methods and incorporating them gradually to make them become the new daily activities.

There are seven areas that can be made over to be more organic, healthy and eco-friendly: plastic and paper; electricity; food habits; drinking habits; schedules; automobiles; and consumerism.

Knowledge is Power

Before any of these changes are implemented, research and another daily habit should be in place. For research, venture through a few green Web sites such as Treehugger. Also scour the Internet for green books, but don’t buy them — at first! Right down the titles and search at the local library for copies, which will save on resources. If they are not available at the library, use a book swapping site to get a used copy. Research does not require a new book, and then these books can be re-swapped once done, saving money and the environment. Click here to get more info about the best cleaning service in your area.

Another way to stick with the eco-cleanse is establishing a green journal. Begin with observations, and they do not have to be long. Sit in a local park and observe the landscape. Are there ducks or birds? Is the grass green or brown, or maybe some other weird color? Once becoming aware of the surroundings, reporting about changes in habits or noticing changes in the environment will be easier as concentration and observation has been building. Continue to use the journal to talk about the struggles of the eco-changes and to brainstorm on how to make it work better.

Cleansing Body and Mind

After the groundwork has been put into place, it is time for the eco-cleanse. Try each one of the tips for a few days before starting the next, in order to incorporate all at some point in the future. Some tips also may take some planning ahead of time.

  • Fast from electricity. Before going to bed, shut off the television, the computer and any electronic device not needed to wake up in the morning. Wake up early to start the coffee machine instead of leaving it plugged in all night. If a television is needed to sleep, turn a timer on for an hour or bit more so it will turn off automatically. Also, choose one day to go completely off the scale and be electricity-free, using this time to read, spend time with family and friends, exercise or any other non-electronic activity.
  • Try being vegetarian, or vegan. This is one of the most green ways to help the environment, and a great way to help the body. If vegetarianism is a new idea, try adopting the method to one meal a day. Once that seems comfortable, try two meals or see if a whole day can be planned minus meat. If the vegetarian diet has already been adopted, try going vegan with the same method. This type of change requires planning and preparation but once implemented for awhile, it becomes almost second nature and it does such a huge help to the body and environment.
  • Change drinking habits. As this ties in a later tip, ban the plastic bottles. Buy a water filter instead, or just drink from the tap, which is actually pretty well filtered water (unless you live somewhere where it’s not.) There are other ways to get juice, once of which is buy items in glass bottles. It can be pricey, so why not make juice? A juicer, electric or otherwise, can create a quality product and possibly a better product. Try to look for products that use recycled material.
  • Make one day of a week a slow week. By slowing down, it can help your health. Life can be a stressful mess and that stress has a negative effect on the body. In the long run, it can have a negative effect on the environment when the easiest way to get things done is through disposable products. But these products really harms the Earth. Slowing down means embracing family meals (maybe try a vegetarian dish), an organization of papers (recycle them!) or some meditation.
  • Try breaking the plastic and paper habit. Start with recording how much plastic and paper is used every day. After a day or two, start reducing that consumption. Stop buying plastic bottled drinks and water, be conscientious of the packaging items have around them and buy fruits and vegetables not in plastic. Carry reusable bags everywhere. Print two-sided or don’t print at all! If items need to be bought, recycle what is left. Really think about the item being bought before buying, and if it can be bought without the plastic or paper surrounding it.
  • Give the automobile a break. The United States have become a nation of car drivers and many other nations are following suit. Instead of driving around the block to drop off mail, walk to the nearest mailbox. Get out and walk or ride a bike to the grocery store, bringing a backpack or large bag easy for carrying. If driving is necessary (obviously for food or medicine,) plan out trips in order to cut driving all over town for a variety of items. If another mode of transportation to work is unreasonable, try a carpool.
  • Become an un-consumer. If something is needed (other than food and medicine,) buy it second-hand. Resolve to buy nothing new. This may sound like a crazy idea, but it helps to cultivate if certain items are really needed and if they can’t be bought for cheaper and just as good condition as a new item. By reusing an item, it doesn’t sit in a landfill and gets a second life. It’s not only about being frugal but reducing consumption of natural resources and stepping away from the culture of never-ending consumption.

Being a Green Person

These tips can cleanse the body, mind and environment. By taking steps to be conscientious to the surroundings, a person can make their body and environment as one.

Get Clean with Spring: Give House and Body an Eco-cleanse

Women, their mind and body and the men who love them

I’ve been spending a lot of time at the beach lately. Of course I can do this quite a bit in the summer. I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Kelowna, BC and this city is full of beautiful bodies – men and women alike.

All that aside, for the last 10+ years, I’ve been observing all the different shapes and sizes we women come in and I’ve come up with this. It doesn’t matter what age or nationality or how much money you make or how much time you spend at the gym, your hair length or colour, or stature. It all boils down to this one thing. We don’t love and accept ourselves for who we are. Accept it or not … deep down we know it’s true and that’s a fact!

How do I know this? Well first, personal experience. I’m a woman and I fall into at least one of the categories below, and secondly, I’ve talked to so many women and their men over the years. We are our own worst critics.

In our 20’s

Now these are some fabulous years, n’est-ce pas? It’s about hanging out with the girls and the guys. It’s about school and a little work and a lot of play. It’s about having fun and dancing at the clubs with our hands in the air screaming, wooo hooo, we love everyone, we kiss our girlfriends and our guy friends and say and do things we never would do without…. Liquid Courage, LOL. We feel pretty darn hot but aren’t we still always looking over our shoulders to see what ‘she’s’ wearing, or if ‘she’ has nicer hair or is wearing nicer clothes or has bigger boobs, looks better in those jeans, has whiter teeth, am I skinnier than her? And, last but not least, do I look better than her?

In our 30’s

If we were successful in finding ‘the one’ in our twenties, we’re already married with at least one or two babe’s. Life is good, good, good.

We fulfilled our childhood dreams of the fantasy wedding and no one sings it better than Shania Twain. “ Am I dreamin or stupid, I think I’ve been hit by cupid, but no one needs to know right now. I want bells to ring, a choir to sing, the white dress, the guests, the cake, the car the whole darn thing, but no one needs to know right now. We’ll have a little girl, a little boy, a little benji we call Leroy, but no one needs to know right now.”

If we chose to follow a different path in our twenties we might just be starting to feel our biological time clocks ticking.

So here we are, 30 something, great career or family, maybe we have a little mommy tummy – we deserve that, right? After all we did carry those beautiful babes for 9 months, and we did nurse them probably just about as long. Standing in front of that mirror, all by ourselves, we convince ourselves and tell ourselves, hey! I look good for my age and what I’ve accomplished. You know what? You do! But aren’t we always looking over our shoulders to see what ‘she’s’ wearing. Does ‘she’ have firmer boobs? does ‘she’ have a mommy tummy? Is ‘she’ prettier, or sexier? Is my husband looking at her? And, last but not least, do I look better than her?

In our 40’s

We’ve either never been married and have no children because we chose to pursue travel and/or career over husband and children or any variation thereof, or we’ve been married for 15 – 20 + years. Our children are older now and we’ve got a bit time on our hands now. We don’t have our girlish figures that we had in our 20’s and 30’s. Things are falling south, right?

You fall into one of these generations and regardless of what you have done, are doing, or want to do, you are not the exception, you are the rule and the rule is that you are 40 something. Maybe you’re divorced looking for a new Mr. Right? Or still with your Mr. Right, or still looking for ‘the right’ one. It doesn’t matter. Aren’t we still always looking over our shoulders to see what ‘she’s’ wearing. Does ‘she’ have fake boobs? maybe a tummy tuck? Is ‘she’ prettier, or sexier? Are the men checking her out? And, last but not least, do I look better than her?

I won’t go into our 50’s because I’m not 50 yet but I’m inclined to think, based on conversations, that by the time we women are 50 and beyond, we don’t care about the same things we did in our 20’s, 30’s and 40’s’. We are not so concerned about what ‘she’ looks like anymore because it doesn’t matter.

Along the way, we are who we are, we look the way we look, we feel the way we feel, we love the way we love and guess what? The whole time you were looking over your shoulder asking yourself if you look better than she does, she was also looking over her shoulder wondering if she looked better than you. If this is the case in your life then we suggest speak with Chicago life coach and maybe they can help you balance your mind and body.

And here’s the last thing. Take a look around! It doesn’t matter if you’re tall or short, skinny or chubby, have long hair or short hair, blond, burnette, or red headed, have a mommy tummy or a flat tummy, big or small boobs, big or small bum.. The men… you know what they love? … They love women! In all their beautiful shapes and sizes.

So go out there, love yourself. Don’t wonder if you look better than she does because she’s wondering the same thing about you too!

Women, their mind and body and the men who love them

Yoga for All Ages and All Levels of Fitness

The great thing about yoga is that it can benefit anyone and everyone. From older people who are looking to keep fit and healthy to younger people and athletes who are looking for more challenging exercises to strengthen their body and mind.

Many people start yoga in order to help improve their health, whether that is as simple as digestion or more serious illnesses such as osteoarthritis. And that’s the great thing; Yoga is an exercise technique which can easily be adapted for whatever your capabilities, and from which many people can benefit. Obviously the exercises need to be performed regularly in order for them to have an effect, but with more and more people taking up yoga every day, why not try it yourself?

Take a Yoga Holiday

When thinking about where you would like to go for your next holiday why not consider going on a yoga retreat. After all the whole reason for getting away is to enjoy some rest and relaxation time and what could be better than yoga.

As you would expect, these retreats are set in peaceful and tranquil locations with many retreats situated in mountains, forest areas and even on secluded beaches. The retreats run on a timetable basis where in a typical day meditation and yoga normally compromises the morning activities. The afternoons are usually where you get free time and then the evenings are taken up with chanting.

Most of these activities are optional so you can choose what to take part in, so ultimately your holiday is still your own.

If you want to come away from a holiday feeling fully relaxed instead of feeling like you need another holiday in which to recover, then a yoga retreat could be just what you need.

Laugh Your Way to Health

If you feel better doing regular yoga exercises then you might want to combine laughter with it and reap even further benefits. It is said that laughter makes your chances of experiencing happiness much greater and new yoga classes combined with laughter aim at helping with this.

Throughout these yoga classes you will experience laughter eruptions from members of the class. Some of them are scripted and others are just spontaneous and usually in response to the scripted outbursts.

It has been documented that laughter helps with giving you a sense of well being but it has also been used in the past to help with pain relief as some people have found that just ten minutes of genuine laughter can leave them with a few hours pain relief often helping them to sleep better.

Although there are still not many classes which employ this technique it may be worth reading up on the technique and trying it out yourself.

Pregnancy and Yoga

Being pregnant is no reason to stop doing your yoga exercises. Of course you will not be able to perform some of the more advanced extreme body contortions but as long as you take the correct precautions you can continue to benefit physically and emotionally from your yoga practise.

Some of the exercises to avoid when pregnant are those that involve stretching your body too strenuously, in particular your abdominal muscles. Also, be sensible; If any particular pose is causing you discomfort then do not continue to perform it. Throughout your pregnancy you will probably find that you need to adjust your exercises in line with your changing body.

Yoga exercises can benefit both you and your baby, as long as you remain aware of your limits.

Teaching Your Children Yoga

Yoga is something that most adults take up, but it is never too early to start, and can children can really benefit from the exercises. In today’s world even children suffer from stresses, whether it’s with exams or homework, and yoga is a great technique to help them cope better with these things.

Some people are even going as far to say that yoga should be included as part of the school curriculum. Yoga can not only help with getting children to exercise is this world of video games and watching TV, but can also help them to control their feelings of anger and frustration. Bullying can be a big problem in school playgrounds so teaching children to think and stay calm and controlled during times when they might otherwise get very angry can only be a good thing.

Yoga for All Ages and All Levels of Fitness

Chi Kung for Health: A Tradition of Fitness

The wisdom of Chi Kung (also spelled “Qigong” and pronounced the same way with either spelling: chee gung) is the source of the martial arts and of Chinese medicine. Both traditional and always evolving in its styles and methods, Chi Kung is spreading worldwide. In translation Chi means living energy; while Kung means skill or method. So, Chi Kung is the skill of cultivating vital energy. As an art of self-healing, it includes movement, meditation, sound and visualization. A modern interpretation is that Chi is the biologically generated electricity that flows throughout the body. Then Chi Kung is the way to recharge your own batteries.

This spring, build up your health and vitality with Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang’s Primordial Qigong. It is a powerful method from the Taoist healing tradition of China. This series of gentle movements blends the creative energies of Heaven and Earth with the personal energy within each individual human body. Primordial Qigong recharges you from the abundant life energy that flows all around us in Nature. It promotes physical endurance and peace of mind. It greatly helps people with many different ailments, including stress, fatigue, headaches, fibromyalgia, arthritis and rheumatism.

Metabolic Efficiency (classical signs: faster growth of hair & nails, better digestion)

Spiritual Effects: Bright Eyes, Intuition, Creativity, Meaningful Dreams, Synchronicity

China’s culture has included Chi Kung fitness skills for over two thousand years. Modern Chinese educational and medical institutions include this health training in their treatment programs. Individuals also learn Chi Kung for its many physical, emotional, mental and spiritual benefits. The temples and martial arts schools have preserved these skills in Asia. Now each of us in the West can enjoy them with regular practice to restore, refine and build our Chi.

In traditional terminology, Chi Kung enables the student to feel, circulate, and store the three living internal energies:

Shen – the Consciousness

Chi – the Physical Energy

Jing – the Physical Essence

Collectively these three are called the “Three Treasures of Life”. By building and circulating the Chi, we increase vitality, prevent or overcome illness, and promote healthy longevity.

Acupuncturist Eli Jacobe first learned Chi Kung meditation and Taiji movement from Master Mantak Chia in 1982. That inspiring vision of Chinese health philosophy and its personal benefits led him on to study Chinese medicine. He graduated from the New England School of Acupuncture in 1985. In Chi Kung his primary teachers include: Thomas Tam, Lic.Ac. (Oriental Culture Institute, Boston), Mantak Chia, Kenneth Cohen, & Dr. Wan Su-Jian (in Beijing, China). In 1987 after diligent daily practice and continuing instruction, he received a teaching certificate from Thomas Tam. In 2006 and 2009 he earned certificates in Taoist Medical Qigong from Dr. Wan Su-Jian, including authorization to teach Master Wan’s system, called BaGua XunDao Qigong. Before discovering the Chinese healing arts, Eli had taught restoring fertility yoga, meditation and stress management since 1974, having trained with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The field of Chi Kung is diverse, including lineages of many styles and methods. With development extending over thousands of years and in many regions of China, there are innumerable moving exercises targeting all the systems and structures of the body. There are meditation methods using the breath, sound, or visualizations. Chi Kung meditations can be enjoyed seated, standing, lying down, or even walking.

Chi Kung for Health: A Tradition of Fitness
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