Exercise with the Seasons

Exercising with the Seasons

As a fitness enthusiast, thankfully I enjoy to 'work out'. However, the term has gotten more loose and  playful over the years. In my earlier days, the athlete in me had a competitive nature and although, it still exists, my perspective and goals are different.

Physically, I'm in a different place not bad, good just different.  I honor the changes, ebb and flows and cycles, not only during the year but within the quarters, solstices and moon cycles (the literal moon and the feminine moon cycles too).  Just like a plant that blooms certain times of year, we all have seasons in which we shine bright and feel more energized, strong, motivated and fit. Life would be boring if we did the same thing every day. Change up your fitness routine and stimulate the body and mind like cycling the foods you eat, driving a different route, traveling to a new place (physically or in your minds eye) and more!


We are approaching the summer, hot summer days so balance the hard core exercises with slower paced ones too to cool the body down!  During the woman's moon days, take time to honor the body, rest, reflect, be one with nature. Typically, we will not perform at the same level of intensity or vigor during this time.  Many people choose to ignore this concept, wonder why they don't have as much energy and then get disappointed with themselves instead of embracing the changes. Think of the signs the body shares with you leading up to the menses, so wouldn't you think other aspects would be affected too? Additionally, if you are going through times of stress (doesn't always have to be bad stress), it is helpful to use exercise to release stress or anxiety, however, sometimes too much hard intense exercise may be too much and counterproductive if you are in a weakened state. So, exercise is good but a lower intensity workout may be more beneficial.

Cross training, incorporating strength and flexibility and getting the heart rate up is a good, well rounded regime.  This could be a power walk on the beach or walking your dog to swimming, cycling, plyometrics (for example jump squats) and much more. Each is a different approach and not all exercises are appropriate for every body!  Also, although I am a Personal Trainer and Pilates instructor and I'm not using this as a sales pitch, I do highly recommend working privately with a professional or in a small group, at some point, so you can get individualized attention and direction on the proper exercises for your body and techniques.  Nothing worse then performing exercises incorrectly and injuring yourself.  If you ignore the body's communication, you may end up with chronic pain.  If you address any discomfort by ice, rest, massage or physical therapy from the beginning, you will recover faster. It could be something very simple!  Please listen to your body! When your car makes a funny noise, do you ignore it?


In your workouts, challenge yourself but understand the limits for longevity. I continually am evolving and finding various ways to exercise. Sometimes, I focus more on cardiovascular and make sure to add in a day or two of strength training and other times it's visa versa always with flexibility and rest days too.  I am fortunate to have access to the Pilates Equipment and Aerial Swings and although I like to exercise without always using an 'apparatus', I will admit, I am thankful and enjoy the challenges they have to offer.  Both modalities help me to incorporate flexibility training which used to be on my back burner.  Using hand weights and bands is another good challenge for strength and may also be incorporated for flexibility too (done properly).  I can't stress enough the importance of staying flexible so your body and mind can work efficiently and with ease (a tight body lead may lead to tight and restricted mind) and the strength for everyday functional tasks. Be open to trying to things and even taking a new class! You never know what doors may open or friends you may meet.

I encourage you to balance with cardiovascular exercise, strength, balance and core training along with flexibility. Some exercise modalities combine a few of these such as Pilates and Yoga which, in addition to strengthening the body, also strengthens the mind. Stay creative, change and challenge your body and mind in various ways throughout the year. Keep yourself stimulated and make sure you're having some fun such as working out with a friend or family member, at a club, go out dancing, or look into vacations including hiking, water sports, bike riding etc.

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Using the 5 Senses Seasonally

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Using the 5 Senses Seasonally

Happy Spring! 
Do you use the 5 senses to 'sense' the seasons: Hear, See, Touch, Smell, Taste. Probably yes and you may not realize it!  Recently, I've been hearing birds chirp loudly and hear other people comment about them tweeting too (old school 'tweeting')!  I've seen birds, along with many people, enjoy the great outdoors in springtime. The greens, fruits and fresh vegetables this season are tasting crisp and delicious!  This time of year, I like to touch different plants. You can pick up on the energy from  feeling and smelling (woodsy, floral). This is a great time of year for gardening whether it's herbs, vegetables, flowers, succulents. We have many great gardening events in the Tampa Bay area and coming up on Arbor Day is the Green Thumb Festival in St Pete, FL and many Earth Day Celebrations! Gardening is an organic way to use your senses. 

As fate would have it, naturally, we honor the season with our senses. In Chinese Medicine, the 5 Elements including fire, wood, earth, water and metal, relate to seasons, color, sounds, emotions, organs and more.  Read more for information on Chinese Medicine.  Spring is about cleaning (for example 'spring cleaning' your home, workplace or body) and rejuvenating your body, mind, garden and/or life. Spring brings a tasteful crop of fresh fruits and vegetables. In Florida, we're going strawberry crazy and greens and more greens!  Spring relates to the color green and wood element. This is also a good time to add the lemon to water to help cleanse the liver.

Cleansing the mind includes meditation, breath and other activities that get your mind out of your head or get your mind out of the way. At Kapok Pilates and Wellness, we offer guided meditation, gong bath meditation and other ways to quiet the mind and recharge including Healing Sessions and various workshops. There are various ways to meditate including a walk on the beach or hike in the mountains or forest. Create more space and time within your mind. 

Many ways to cleanse the body include feeling the salt and spring water and minerals, eating seasonal foods, drinks and more!  Eat your greens and drink herbal tea such as milk thistle and dandelion. You may also 'tighten up' on food choices and intake to 'tighten and tone' the body for beach and summer weather. You may be sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. Cleansing inside and out is important. Ways to detoxify the skin include dry brushing off dead skin cells, exfoliating and exercise (sweat, stretch) to declutter the body of tight muscles.  We are offering our seasonal fun Spa Event Wednesday April 6th 7:45pm at Kapok to create a spring batch of handcrafted Spa Products for your skin tailored with your own herbs, oils and essential oils. Products including body scrubs with dead sea salts, clay masks to dry out toxins from the skin and facial toners. 

I enjoy each season and continue to learn the significance, depth and beauty of each one.  It's fascinating to see which seasons resonates within each of us, ways to support our spirit, what color and food presents itself at the proper time and more. When we cleanse the clutter inside the head and on the body you will function more optimally. Hopefully, you will be inspired to start your own cleansing program!



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Ceremony and Rituals

Recently,  I had the pleasure of attending the Florida Herbal Conference in Lake Whales, FL. It was a fun, inspiring weekend of herbal information and being one with nature and friends of like mind. Many classes I gravitated to related herbs to the body, mind and spirit.  This is the direction of my passion.  There also was a common theme of ceremony and ritual and various ways and levels to incorporate and honor. 

Closing Circle at the Florida Herbal Conference

Rituals
I invite you think about rituals you currently have such as your morning routine, going to a 'church' on a weekly or regular basis, your fitness schedule or meditation.  You may have a ritual with friends or family on a regular basis. Rituals can be something you do daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. There is no right or wrong. Honor this special time or union within yourself or with others instead of just going through the motion.

Ceremonies
At the Herbal Conference, we had a Fire Circle! I've participated in the past but this one seemed to have more significance to me. Mz Imani led the Fire Circle and earlier in the day, I attended a class about building the fire circle and the significance. We walked around the circle and set the intention, viewed the circle from a far and visualized the evening events. People participated in the 'circle' in ways that felt right for them.  Some stood around the outside of the circle and 'took it all in', others danced around the circle feeling the vibration of the drums (me, me, me!) and others created the drum beat and music - all played an important and special role.  We also do the 'shaking and drumming'  in Qi Gong which I learned with Shifu Orlando of the Sadana Center.  This shaking and drumming was stimulating Mother Earth in a positive way.  She could feel the love, joy and gratitude.  Individually, we were all benefiting from the ceremony and ritual by releasing things into the fire and taking what we needed.  Collectively, we were giving thanks to Mother Earth raising the vibration.  How often do you go out in nature including the beach, park and mountains and give thanks!  We need to do this and take care of the planet for generations to come. I could literally feel Mother Earth smiling down on us. I thank everyone across the world, events, festivals that create ceremony to continue these kinds of traditions passed down from our ancestors.

Equinox's
A few times a year, we honor the change of the season such as the Spring and Fall Equinox, Summer and Winter Solstice just to name a few. These are good times to check in with yourself. They each contain their own rituals. The upcoming Spring equinox is a rebirth good for cleansing and planting (sounds like things you may do naturally).

Moon Cycles
The New Moon and Full Moon are times when people have ceremonies or rituals, individually and  collectively. Pay attention to your own rhythms and you'll be amazed such as emotions, physical changes including headaches or pain, chaos, goal setting and intention, cleansing and, for women, the menses.

Mother Earth gives us these ongoing gifts to create ceremony to honor ourselves, others and 'her'. Continue to be good to yourself and create special ways to celebrate and give thanks!  See and feel how exponential this is beginning with yourself, your sacred circle, community, state, country, continent and world. Make a positive impact.



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Using The Power of the Mind Overcoming Dis-Ease

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February 2016

Using The Power of the Mind Overcoming Dis-Ease

This is a story about courage, perseverance, fear, sadness, inspiration and much more. I knew my mom was a special lady, but didn't know just how strong and determined she was. I'm not sure she had ever been tested this much to know the depths of these traits. When the sh?!*t hits the fan, how would you react?

In the summer and fall of 2014, my Mom, Jill, had been ill off and on. Didn't seem too out of the ordinary based on the roles she was juggling and wearing herself out (giving much of her time caring for others as her own health was being compromised). In the fall of 2014, she felt more tired and as she was recovering from a heavy cold, her voice seemed different. Jill has always had laryngitis whenever she got sick or worn down, but this was different. Her voice became slurred and the speech was slow, with a deeper tone. She started going to various doctors. There was no signs of a stroke. As her speech continued to deteriorate, her mother (my grandmother, who my Aunt and Mom were caring for) passed away. Without much time to grieve, we were going to multiple doctors including neurologists, ear nose and throat doctors and practitioners learning about their approaches. We ruled certain things out, but there was still was a lot unknown. She would get some relief with Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs along with one western medicine for Myasthenia Gravis.

This time last year we could still understand her slowed speech. While still going for various opinions without answers, speech therapy was put on hold until we had a diagnosis. Early May, one of the testing showed a cancerous nodule on one of her lungs. The doctor indicated by removing it, this may be a ticket to her speech based on the possibility of Lambert–Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome. So, she underwent lung surgery and it was removed successfully. However, to our dismay it didn’t help the speech and at this point she was mainly writing to communicate. In some opinions, they are thankful through these various tests that they found and removed the nodule. In my personal opinion, I believe with time and ways we were working on getting her well, the nodule would have shrunk and gone away.  But….the fear of the unknown rushed the decision.

Over a decade ago, I began my own journey of health and wellness overcoming an auto-immune disease.  After being highly medicated and told I’d be on medication for the rest of my life, my GI doctor recommended to have part of my colon removed. Thankfully, those suggestions were an inspiration to my awakening to ‘alternative’ health care. After many months of weaning off medication and not agreeing to the surgery, I took matters in my own hands. I began to learn about so many ways we can heal the body, remember there is a divine purpose and continue to have gratitude. Sometimes easier said than done. There are times I get sad thinking of my Mom suffering, but I let it go knowing this is her journey. She is riding this wave like a champ, experiencing and learning what she is supposed to.

Thankfully, as a family, we are all working together to support each other in many ways. Mom, Dad, my sisters and their families, her twin sister and others close to her are having a relationship in a different way- not necessarily good or bad, but just different. Along with Mom, we are all experiencing interesting and profound new things in life that have presented themselves under these circumstances. My sister’s and their families live out of town, so facetime is invaluable.  We’re learning additional video chat ways so they can see each other and my Mom can still type to communicate with them or else she writes on her ‘board’ and holds it up to the camera.  In an Ipad application, she types words and the application speaks them out.  So if, for example, we are in the car together, we can still carry on a conversation. Without the Ipad, she also uses a Boogie Board to write and erase with a touch of a button. (the kids love it!) She misses being able to speak with her grandchildren, nieces and nephews. They all have been amazing in making her feel loved and included. It’s not easy for some people to know how to communicate with her and direct questions and conversation to those of us with her. Our best advice is to speak to her not around her.  Give her time to write and respond.  It’s hard when the conversations move quickly and she’s unable to participate.

Mom has seen top neurological specialists in the Tampa Bay Area, as well as the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The neurologist in Tampa suggested to get her affairs together with no hope and little direction.  They said there was a 5% chance of her turning this condition around. With that, dazed and confused, my parents and I walked out of there hand and hand saying, “We will be that 5%.” The Mayo Clinic diagnosed it as a motor neuron disease called Pseudobulbar Palsy said to, “Enjoy and live life.” I was dumbfounded. Still no direction was offered from these highly regarded doctors. Although we choose not to identify my Mom with a specific title/diagnosis so she doesn't 'own' it, it  has helped to release some fear, provide us direction on certain modalities to explore and ways to explain to practitioners.

This experience made me more confident in what I'm doing today with Kapok Pilates and Wellness exposing people to many ways of healing and living well while strengthening our own body and mind. We can make a major impact and contribution on our own health and wellness by being aware of our minds and ways to use this incredible tool.  I was more determined and confident to continue down the ‘alternative’ approaches we were already doing.

At this point, she stopped taking the western medicine but stayed on the Chinese Herbs and Acupuncture with Bob Linde of Acupuncture and Herbal Therapies and ear acupuncture with Patrick Purdue, Acupuncture Physician of Purdue and Nielsen Wellness Center. My parents attend gong meditation with Travis Lacey, guided meditation with Shifu Orlando and crystal bowls meditation with Alex Nadeau at Kapok Pilates and Wellness. This is something they had never done before. Mom also listens to weekly inspirational calls from Alison J Kay.

Mom has regular treatments of Reiki and Energy Healing from Dr. Alison J Kay. She receives Cranial Sacral Therapy and Energy Healing from Elasa Tiernan of solTERRA. These ladies have not only done unquantified ways to maintain Mom’s health, but have given us hope in priceless ways and raising her awareness and vibration.  This “voodoo stuff” to some people is hokey pokey, but her special wellness team is doing everything they can to get her in balance for the motor neurons to function again.

Thankfully she is determined! The energy work helps to clear blockages, balance, raise her vibration (vibrating high is a good thing, remember the Beach Boys….Good Vibrations) and more on a deeper level. During her sessions, she sees colors and sometimes has visions. Mom is trusting her intuition more than ever and making decisions in her highest good, instead of putting others before herself all the time.  She is working with Dr. Julie Hunt of Mayer Chiropractic, who specializes in Orthospinology, Upper Cervical Care.  Mom has done an extensive amount of testing at St. Pete Health and Wellness with Dr. Cole where he put together a protocol of nutrients and supplements to build the cells and overall wellness for the motor neurons to function optimally.  My parents also worked with Sharon Kistler, a Life Coach, helping to find better ways to communicate and live together during this change.  

The tongue has many responsibilities we don’t realize and take for granted. It is very challenging to get food from the front of the mouth to the back without the function of the tongue, therefore, swallowing saliva and food is very hard and timely. She carries a hand towel to help control the saliva.  Simply drinking from a cup or a straw without the tongue is almost impossible. On a positive note, Mom continues to do things she enjoys such as traveling to visit her grandchildren, cook (especially since she is on a specific Paleo diet making sure she keeps weight on), garden, play tennis and exercise and spend time with family and friends.  

 

My Mom is continuing to try new approaches but also takes time to be in the moment as the observer. This experience has certainly touched our lives in many ways and reminds us to be grateful. She's learned to use the chakras, the energy centers of the body, and as she visualizes symbols, colors, uses stones and crystals to support the body. She is beginning to add more sounds. I do Reiki on my Mom and Dad. My two sisters live out of town but keep her spirits lifted (and sometimes visa versa!) and continually supports her in creative, positive, amazing and powerful ways. Her twin sister, Judy, and soul sister, Sharyn, give her massages in their incredibly healing way. My Dad has been unbelievably supportive during the hardest challenge in his life (and they have three girls!). We all call the home phone to hear her on the phone message.  Sometimes speaking to her twin sister, my Aunt, enables me to ‘feel her voice’.

 

We all have a life purpose and our experiences, young or old, are teaching us lessons and also inspiring and helping others. I share this, with my mom's permission, so if you or someone you know, is faced with the unknown, don't give up. Dig deep. Believe! I have a passion, more than ever, about what more is out there and my personal belief system on how powerful and amazing our body and mind are. I've learned more to trust my intuition, that gut feeling, and be more open to receive guidance and pay attention to the signs.

I'm so proud of Mom for being strong and determined, without ‘fighting’ this but accepting where she is today. She is ready, open and willing to sing loudly. We've had an amazing amount of support from family and friends which helps in tremendous ways that words can't express, unquantifiable. We are becoming more involved with a non-profit organization, Embracing Life Through Love which supports people and families of motor neuron disease.

I write for a few reasons: If you or someone you know has a story or symptoms to this and we can help each other, please share. Keep believing. With the power of her mind, determination and support of her family and wellness team, we are confident she will tell speak her story. She has already inspired others! We also want to reiterate the importance of surrounding yourself with positive influences. In reality, we are energy.
Body and Mind Enrichment. A unique way of exercising your body and mind!