Tony Robbins Meets Bamboomoves

The worlds most famous life coach, Tony Robbins is coming to Seacacus New Jersey this November! Since the owner of Bamboomoves, Michael Baez is a big follower of Tony, we had the lovely privilege to have a guest speaker visit our studio for free. The amazing Joshua Wenner came to Bamboomoves last Saturday to introduce some folks to the Power of changing habits, setting goals and unleashing the power within. I myself have been a fan of Tony Robbins for years, and believe in his approach to helping people overcome negative habits and create positive change. Our minds, our thoughts both work to create our body and create our lives. If our mindset is one of scarcity, and negativity, that will be our surrounding situation, however, if our mindset is one of abundance, and positivity, the sky is the limit. Many people think that it is mumbo jumbo. Try for yourself, think of a time when you felt sad, depressed, overwhelmed with grief, and check how your body posture is, now switch it, think of a time when you felt on top of the world, lucky, loved, creative, prosperous, notice how your whole body is smiling. When our body smiles, our life does too! If that didn't work, sit quiet, and imagine yourself cutting into a lemon, is your mouth starting to water? Habitually we associate lemons with sour, with taste, similarly, we make associations with situations/people/jobs and our lives. Wouldn't it be great if we could change all the negative associations we have made and succeed? This is similar to the Yoga practice in the sense of uniting Mind, Body and Spirit. For those of you interested in attending the Tony Robbins Unleash the Power within, visit his website for more information.

Thank you Joshua for taking the time to share such a wonderful workshop with us. Thank you Denise for sharing the lovely picture!

21 Day to Wellness Graduation

The Bamboomoves 21 day to Wellness Challenge had its graduation! The challenge encompasses weekly meetings/workshops, trips, books, guest speakers, tons of guidance and information, and most importantly a commitment on their part. The group committed to taking out processed/packaged foods, reducing/removing sugar, reducing/removing caffine, regular exercise, daily food journals, and most of the group took out meat and dairy. What they learned was to embrace the benefits of a healthy diet, to experience increased energy, and a wonderful way to lose inches and pounds. The act of journalling our food intake is a great way to see if we are eating enough of the "right foods", and also to note what makes us eat certain things. Sometimes it takes a challenge like this to realize how much our relationship with food is habits, and emotions, rather than for optimal health. All the ladies admitted to feeling better, having more energy, and losing inches. To celebrate the 21st graduation day, the group received certificates, roses, books, bracelets, and we enjoyed some yummy Vegan Chocolate Cake. It was so wonderful to be part of this challenge. These ladies are remarkable, inspiring and supportive. The funny thing is, when the weather changes it affects peoples energy, and changing diet can be challenging, but we did it!!! Congratulations ladies, keep up the good work.

Pictured: Martha, Denise, Ambria, Doris, Margie, Jody (missing was Michelle)

Why Not Breast Cancer Prevention Month?

With people wearing pink, walking in pink, and purchasing products with pink, should we have what's called Breast Cancer Awareness month? Or should it be breast cancer prevention month? My passion for understanding and preventing cancer is also because I have lost some dear loved ones to the disease. I have also unfortunately came across some incredibly wealthy individuals, who shall remain nameless, who enjoy the tax benefits of creating a Non-For Profit company in the name of Cancer research. It is no secret that cancer is an industry now. Factory farms, pharmacy, Various Cancer Research Charities and facilities, and products that charge more for pink products all gain monetary avalanches of income because of this awful disease. And yet, cancer rates are still growing rapidly, no longer hereditary but affecting people of all ages. So should we look for prevention opportunities? YES!!!!

Now, onto prevention. We need to understand the causes which are deficiency and toxicity. So if you haven't watched the film documentaries Food Inc., The Beautiful Truth, or Tapped already, maybe you should. Sometimes documentary films are a quick and easy way of getting informed. Changing the foods that we eat is the first step in cancer prevention. We have gotten accustomed to eating unecessarily hight amounts of white flour based foods, white sugar, table salt and various chemically laced packaged foods that all have no nutritional value for our body. We also eat meat products and dairy products that are filled with hormones and toxic preservatives during the factory farming process, that inevitably affect our health. So lets talk changes:

• Throw out the foods that have toxic chemicals inside. Read the labels, investigate the ingredients.
• Eat a diet rich in vitamin C (Kiwis, Oranges, berries, tomatoes which also have lycopene)
• Eat an antioxidant rich diet (vitamin C, Vitamin E, Glutathione, CoQ10)
• Eat Diet rich in phyto nutrients (Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, Collard Greens, Spirullina)
• Eat Watercress (phenylethyl isothiocyanate) is a chemical compound in Watercress said to prevent the HIF (Hypoxia Inducible Factor) which is a protein that is released sending a signal to normal tissues to grow blood vessels into a turmour. Therefore, the phyto nutrient in Watercress specifically can impede the growth and oxidation of new cancer cells.
• Eat foods hight in flavenoids (Red Beets, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Kale, Bok Choi, Blueberries)
• Eat Asparagus (the highest source of Folic Acid and Glutathione)
• Have a good amount of Omega 3 (Flax Seed, Chia Seeds)
• Eat Fennel (Fennel bulbs, fennel seeds and fenugreek have compounds that create healthy breast tissue, and are often used for women who have issues producing milk for breast feeding)
• Eat Mushrooms (Shitake, Argaricus Blazei Murrill, Maitake, Turkey Tail just to name a few) these mushrooms are medicinal and can help in cancer prevention.
• Take a Daily Vitamin D3 (we in the west are Vitamin D deficient, this is an excellent way to improve our health and wellness)
• Get a juicer - We can juice our veggies and the nutrients will go into our blood stream quicker than anything, this is part of the famous Gerson Treatment that has helped many people cure the cancerous tumours in their body.
• Ditch the regular table salt for iodized Sea Salt
• Avoid GMO foods, especially GMO Soy (unfortunately most Soy is GMO in North America, and it has been linked to Female related cancers) GMO=genetically modified
• Read the label of your beauty products and avoid parabens, sulfates, and toxic chemicals that actually cause cancer. Many top beauty products have sprays, lotions, soaps that have these toxic parabens, polysorbates etc that absorb rapidly in our skin and alter our body cells.

I love to wear pink, I love to walk, so if you want to combine the two, wonderful! Daily exercise like yoga and meditation is also a plus. If you want to prevent cancer, be more aware of what you put in your body. Overall, if you were to eat a daily diet which included the foods I listed above, you would also look and feel younger.

Yoga For Dudes

Last Sunday at Bamboomoves we had our first Yoga For Dudes (Gentlemen, Guys, Bros etc). An all mens yoga experience, aimed at introducing the practice to new guys, and deepening the yoga practice for existing members. The reason why I wanted to have a yoga workshop for men, was to dispell the myth that yoga is for chicks, and to create a comfortable environment for men to grunt, groan and Om in peace. People forget that yoga was originally intended for men only, it was for the elite men in the upper class of India. The practice trains men to have Warrior Strength and flexibility of mind, body and spirit. Originally, I wanted a man to co-teach the experience, just to create a balance in energy in the room, but all my man yogi friends were obligated to other classes or on the West Coast. So with the encouragement of the guys who take my classes regularly, I taught on my own. We had a wonderful turn out. The vibration of the Om alone was magnificent. I had the men sweating, chutturungaing, and various other poses to improve balance and arm strength. The amazing thing was, every challenging aspect of class was recieved with an "I can do that" testosterone filled reaction, while when I teach ladies, it is very common for ladies to say, "Well I just don't do that pose". As an instructor, this experience taught me compassion, because I noticed how delicate the male ego can be even in an all male yoga class, I cannot imagine the mental challenge for men when they take a co-ed yoga class, especially for men who have never done yoga before. It was so awesome to be part of this workshop.

Thank you to all the brave guys who participated, and the brilliant guys who participated in the Yoga for Dudes Commercial, shot by Owner/fellow Yogi Michael Baez. We hope to make this workshop an ongoing class. While yoga benefits all people, of all ages, men espeically gain strength, peace of mind, balance, flexibility, restoration from injuries, and much more! Many famous men have adopted the yoga practice into their regular routine including LeBron James, Evander Holyfield, Russell Simmons, The entire Lakers Team, Sting, and many more! Please encourage the men in your life to be more concious of their health and wellness. If you haven't seen the hillarious Yoga for Dudes commercial, please check it out!

We took a great group video after class, but no still snap....so pictured is Michael Baez, with new Yogi behind during the Bamboomoves Teacher Training.

Water

"There is enough water for human need, but not enough for human greed" ~ Gandhi

Water is essential to human existence. Our bodies are primarily made up of water, close to 70-75%. The need to replenish the body with this vital fluid is an obvious requirement. It helps to maintain body temperature, metabolize fats, lubricate and cushion joints and organs, flush out toxins and transfer nutrients. Some experts recommend drinking up to 64 oz of water a day, and if you exercise or are overweight even more. Water makes up 90% of our blood, so we need to replenish. It also is key for the function of our liver and kidneys, so when we are dehydrated, we are actually overworking our liver and kidneys, and impeding the toxin flush process. So when water is important to our body, does that mean we should drink bottled water?

Our world has a surface area of bout 75% water, but only 1% is drinkable. I recently watched a brilliant film "Tapped" which exposes the giant bottle water industry. The monopolization of our bottle water industry by Nestle. Basically, the regulation for the water bottle industry has no requirements, and the FDA is ok with this. Poland Springs will drill water in local areas, and bottle it. This water has no required standard, and worst of all it is kept in bottles that leach BPA (a cancer causing toxic chemical). BPA alters our hormones, increasing estrogen, and thereby contributing to the mutation of cells. The amount of toxic chemicals found in the water itself was beyond belief. Have we ever asked if there are any benefits to drinking bottled water? Now, we even have celebrities endorsing bottled water. Beyond the damage the unregulated bottled water, and the BPA bottles do to our bodies, the industry does not put in recycling agendas. Many states do not enforce recycling of water bottles, so these bottles wind up polluting our lakes, rivers, and oceans. Tiny particles of plastic can be found in beaches where we once had sand, and sadly the particles are being injested by the marine life, and they are reeping the rewards of our greed. When the bottled water industry was under investigation by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the leading brands had over 38 hazardous chemicals in them, that affect our liver, kidneys, nervous system, and increase the risk of cancer. Are we really spending money on bottled water that is basically the same as the water from our taps?

So what are some other alternatives? Some people carry the stainless steel water bottles. I know my dad likes to boil the water. Some people purchase home filters or purifiers. And Some may say tap water, but then there is the question of flouride in the water. Flouride is a real issue in our tap water. So maybe investing in a good water filter? Berkey is a water filtration company that I have come across and even used. It makes filters in stainless steel containers (therefore no BPA), and it gets out many toxins. This company makes filters for the shower head as well. There may be other water filters that work wonders as well, so if you know of any, please feel free to comment and share the knowledge. Whatever you decide, get informed, and make the best decision for your body. Sometimes we blindly follow what is popular, convienient, heavily marketed and celebrity endorsed. We need to think, what is the benefit for my body, my finances (long and short term) and my global environment.

Shoulder Stand

Shoulder stand also called Saravangasana is known as the "queen" of the yoga poses. This pose requires you squeeze the shoulder blades together, invert the legs up the the sky, gaze to the toes, and balance on the shoulders while protecting the cervical spine. This is a lovely inversion pose to do with benefits that include healing the thyroid, letting blood flow to the brain, relieving constipation, and strengthening the muscles in the neck and shoulders. It is said to have anti-aging benefits. For instructors, a wonderful way to adjust someone deeper into the pose, includes squeezing their elbows closer with your own feet, and a gentle lift of the legs to get the yoga student higher in the pose.

Pictured: Shoulder stand pose & Instructor adjustment (photo taken by Jody Concepcion)

Asparagus cure for Cancer

So as my girls and I at Bamboomoves embark on the 21 days to wellness, my brother recently sends me an email about how Asparagus is a cure for cancer. My brother is in no way a vegetarian, but since we lost our mother to Cancer we are both interested in the natural cures out there, so I was really happy when he shared this with me. I LOVE ASPARAGUS! It is loaded with vitamins and minerals including Folic Acid, B Vitamins, and Glutathione (which is an antioxidant and anticarcinogenic phytochemical). Glutathione helps in detoxification by binding fat soluble toxins (metals, solvents, pesticides) and converts them into a water-soluble form that can be excreted in Urine. Asparagus has a good supply of a protein called "histones", which are believed to be an active part in controlling cell growth. The Glutathione content in Asparagus is good for anti-aging as well. Our natural foods are so full of nutrients, so before you reach for the package of food with an Ingredient list full of chemicals you don't recognize, eat some asparagus, eat an apple, eat some green beans, eat some melons, eat some spinach, kale, collard greens, avocados, walnuts...the healthy choices out there are endless. While many believe that it is expensive to eat healthy, find a bodega, or by your fruits and veggies at a local farmers market, because the cost of your health is and should always be greater. Think long term. I was telling my lovely yoga students, they spend millions of dollars marketing "Coke", "McDonalds" "Milk" and various other foods loaded with sugar, sodium, hormones, various cancer causing chemicals and most importantly...no nutrients, but you rarely see a commercial for Kale. All these companies have serious stock in Pharmaceuticals, so lets claim our wealth back, by taking over our health. EAT HEALTHY FOLKS!

This is just one case from the article my brother sent me:

Case No. 3, a man who had lung cancer. On March 5th 1971, he was put on the operating table where they found lung cancer so widely spread that it was inoperable. The surgeon sewed him up and declared his case hopeless. On April 5th he heard about the asparagus therapy and immediately started taking it. By August, x-ray pictures revealed that all signs of the cancer had disappeared. He is back at his regular business routine.

21 Days to Health & Wellness Challenge

21 Days to Health and Wellness Challenge starts today at Bamboomoves, BX. Participants are guided on healthier eating options, cleansing options, guest lectures, field trips to healthy markets and restaurants, FREE Vegan friendly literature and books, and MUCH MORE! People who have done this program in the past have lost from 17 to 70 pounds either during the 21 days or after keeping the commitments from what they learned. People feel healthier, learn better options, lower cholestorol & BP, and LOOK GREAT!!! While this is with the guidance of the Yoga Principal of Ahimsa, it is not mandatory to be Vegan, but it is encouraged. While I have been one of the guest lecturers in the past, introducing people to the world of Ayurveda and Dosha types, this time around, I will be leading the journey! So very excited! As being a Vegan is pretty much the norm for me, I am considering a fast. This is an amazing chance for people to learn, grow, detoxify and get healthy!