Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to healthier living. Tuesdays are our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to more pills and the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits.
Morning yoga with Tara Stiles…
5 steps to radiant health
Wouldn't it be nice to live vibrantly healthy, have loads of energy, an envious body, and feel fantastic all of the time? Totally, right! We often forget that we have more control than we might allow ourselves to believe over many aspects of our lives, including our health. Things might happen that are out of our control, but how we handle our lives is completely up to us. We can live long lives with good health, abundant energy, and ease if we choose to live consciously. The more space we create inside our bodies, and the more attention we turn towards treating our lives with respect, the more we can live with ease. Continue reading…
Wouldn't it be nice to live vibrantly healthy, have loads of energy, an envious body, and feel fantastic all of the time? Totally, right! We often forget that we have more control than we might allow ourselves to believe over many aspects of our lives, including our health. Things might happen that are out of our control, but how we handle our lives is completely up to us. We can live long lives with good health, abundant energy, and ease if we choose to live consciously. The more space we create inside our bodies, and the more attention we turn towards treating our lives with respect, the more we can live with ease. When we bring awareness to our habits we have the ability to gain perspective and hopefully muster the courage to make a change for the positive.
A lot of us face similar challenges that affect our health negatively. We think we don't have any time to take care of ourselves, and we often feel that taking time for ourselves is selfish. Thankfully we can connect, empathize, and support each other to elevate to a clearer state of being. We all have to do lists that are a mile long, jobs, families, obligations, and goals. Life builds stress. Stress will never go away. How we deal with it can make all the difference in our lives.
1. Breathe. When we stress we hold our breath. You've probably heard it loads of times, but it's something that we all need to be reminded of. Just breathe. Long, deep inhales and exhales expand our bodies, clear our minds, and make room when we feel like there is none. Try just for a few moments to rest your attention on your breath. When you notice yourself thinking, guide your attention back to your breath. Focus on watching the quality of your inhales and exhales. When we take the time to make space for something other than following the hamster wheel that is our thoughts, our intuition and awareness have an opportunity to surface. Meditation is useful for good health and can be something that you fit right into your day whether it's 5 minutes in the morning, when you're in the shower, making breakfast, or at work. 5 minutes makes worlds of difference.
2. Pay attention. We can learn so much from paying attention to our habits and our way of being to ourselves and each other. Food diaries don't work when it comes to weight loss because so many of us live mindlessly and actually don't know what we ate, let alone enjoyed our meal, or snack, or remember to write it down. When we realize there is no destination but the present moment, our lives crack wide open. There is a lot of common sense to "be here now." Hint * the breath can help bring us into the moment. This helps with enjoying our lives, easing tension, and everything else.
3. Be easy on yourself. Compassion starts with the self. From ourselves we move into the world. It's hard to be easy on ourselves. When we drop our fears, and insecurities (this takes work) we can begin to understand that the universe is on our side. Have you ever had one of those days where you felt like everything was going your way and things were set up for you? We can have more days like that when we work to dissolve whatever is holding us back from living our best lives. There is only one YOU on the planet for a reason.
4. Be easy on others. We have a better chance of getting along with others if we are able to get along with ourselves. Once we make time for ourselves we have the space to allow others to exist in our presence in peace. We snap at others when we are tight in our bodies.
5. Cultivate balance. Trees can teach us a ton. They live for a very long time and have a few elements that we can adapt to help us also. Strong roots, flexible branches. When we work to strengthen our bodies through mindful exercise, whether that's yoga, running, or something else, we carve out strong roots. By moving mindfully we do the same in our lives. Strength creates boundaries and keeps us stable. From this strength we can extend ourselves (flexible branches). Branches can blow easily in the breeze because they are connected to a strong core. We can be the same through practice. In yoga we work to build strength and flexibility equally to create balance in the body and mind. Use what you need. Rest what you don't.
Bonus Step! Practice. We've never arrived, and always have work to do. That's why they call it practice. It should be enjoyable to practice. Whether your practice is meditation, gardening, yoga, running, or something else, it should bring you back to you, where all the good stuff is. Try out this gentle morning yoga routine to lengthen your body, calm your mind, and set you up to live a healthy day. Enjoy!
Read this week's full
Prevention Not Prescriptions line-up.
Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday.This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to healthier living. Tuesdays are our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to more pills and the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits.
Eat Like Michael Pollan
Sneak Peek at “Food Rules”
This week's Prevention Not Prescriptions guest blogger is Michael Pollan. He gave us a sneak peek of his latest book Food Rules: An Eater's Manual. What follows below is an “appetizer” of the sixty-four food rules he’s urging everyone to live by. Continue reading…
Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to healthier living. Tuesdays are our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to more pills and the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits.
Christiane Northrup, M.D.
The Wisdom of the Heart
The vast majority of cardiovascular disease begins in childhood and progresses very slowly. Many different factors influence whether or not it progresses. For example, it’s well documented that the presence of a pet lowers blood pressure and is relaxing. And listening to your thoughts and emotions, and acting on the tough ones, will have a long-term, profound, positive effect on your cardiovascular health, too. Read more…
Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to healthier living. Tuesdays are our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to more pills and the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits.
Dr. Malynn Talks Cleansing
Keeping the body in tune
A colleague of my husband’s recently asked me about doing a gallbladder cleanse.
This got me thinking about all the misinformation floating around about cleansing and what it really means to keep our bodies in tune. As a physician, I see cleansing and light fasting as powerful tools to reintroduce us to our bodies’ natural biorhythms. Instead of eating whatever is available whenever we have time, a cleanse allows us to ask, “Am I really hungry and what am I hungry for?” Quieting yourself down, you may also learn what has made you feel empty over the years. Read more…
Mid-December I had the pleasure of interviewing Tara Stiles and it was one of my most enjoyable interviews of 2009. (And that's saying a lot in a year packed with Maya Angelou, Michael Pollan and Sir Ken Robinson.) But I decided to hold off on blogging about this particular interview until the New Year because it's now that most of us our looking for creative ways to take charge of our bodies and our health.
And it's also nowthat we need to find new ways to reach and inspire the younger generation (otherwise known as Gen XL) to get up and off the couch. To do that, we need to be open to speaking their language because the same old same old ain't workin'.
Why I interviewed her? Tara's different. She's using her gifts of humor, authenticity, exceptional fitness, (and yes, her natural and sensual beauty) to get the word out about getting strong and healthy. And her utilization of the internet and social media to do these things (Twitter, Facebook, blogging) allows her to reach the young and old on their terms. I also love that Tara's quirkiness and fresh approach helps bust the myths that exercise and yoga are so damn serious. They're serious for some people. But we need to excite more than some.
Can you actually be a better, stronger runner by running LESS? The answer is YES, and Bill Pierce can show you how. This professor, author and running expert shares how he got into running back in the 70's and experimented until he found the ideal regimen to improve endurance, speed and fitness—all scientifically proven through his work at Furman University.
Bill talks about the strategies outlined in his book, Runner's World Run Less, Run Faster and explains how it’s not the mileage, but the quality of your workout that has the most impact. With a combination of speed runs, tempo runs and endurance runs—plus cross-training—you can give your current routine a kick in the pants and earn a whole new personal best.
And although runners of all ages are setting new records with this routine, Kathleen has noticed that it seems particularly well suited for her 'maturing' body.
Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to better health.
It's straight forward and simple. Tuesdays will be our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits. Sound like something you want to be involved with? Here are the details on how to participate each week.
Once again, a big thank you to all of the contributors below who got involved this week—the last post until after the New Year. When we come back in 2010 we'll be blasting out of 'BETA' with a brand spanking new design and even more great health and wellness info. (Stay tuned for more on what’s in store for Prevention Not Prescriptions in 2010.)
Until then, enjoy the latest edition of Prevention Not Prescriptions which will have you thinking twice about what you’re putting on your face, and learning a thing or two about cholesterol (turns out it may not be as bad you thought). Enjoy!
And this isn’t your typical Prevention Not Prescriptions post, but this week we’re kicking things off with this disturbing video report. It serves as a critical reminder that we have to be thinking about the food we’re eating…
Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to better health.
It's straight forward and simple. Tuesdays will be our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits. Sound like something you want to be involved with? Here are the details on how to participate each week.
Once again, a big thank you to all of the contributors below who got involved this week. This edition of Prevention Not Prescriptions has everything from the low down on what’s in the H1N1 vaccine to the must-have health products you’d want if you were stranded on a deserted island (or at the very least in your cabinet at home). Enjoy!
And we’re starting things off this week with one of the most intriguing interviews we’ve had on the show…
Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to better health.
It's straight forward and simple. Tuesdays will be our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits. Sound like something you want to be involved with? Here are the details on how to participate each week.
Once again, a big thank you to all of our contributors. This edition of Prevention Not Prescriptions is packed full of health questions that will keep you above ground and vibrant. We also have a very interesting discovery about BPAs in organic food, a recipe (and video) for kale chips and a call to action for parents.
Now, in case you missed this must-read article, we’re kicking things off this week with a little satire from Mark Morford (warning: get ready to laugh out loud)…
I'm a filmmaker, writer, and talk radio host. After a decade of schlepping drugs for big pharma, I finally got the ovaries to walk away from my career as a pill pusher and share what I knew on the big screen. I wrote and directed the feature film Side Effects (starring Katherine Heigl) as well as...(Read full bio)
The making of Side Effects starring Katherine Heigl
