Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Diwali - The festival of Lights


Just wanted to wish a Happy Diwali to all the people worldwide who celebrate the awesome, five day, festival of lights. The small clay lamps (Diyas) are lit to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. This is a celebration primarily for Hindus, Sikhs, people who practice Jains. Family's get together, people light lamps and lanters, they eat sweets, and even light fireworks.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Weekend


I had an outstanding weekend at the UPW event in New Jersey with Tony Robbins. Myself and my yoga students/friends attending this high energy event, jumped and danced out butts off, and made the commitment for massive change in our lives. I have studied Tony's methods for years, and even studied the people he studied. I tend to use his techniques with other people, in my yoga sessions, and I know that it works. However, I never used it on myself, because I had a limiting belief that I was not worth it. This weekend, I was not afraid of the fire walk, physical challenges excite me, and I know that my mind is the one that conquers them. For me, the breakthrough came at a personal level, which I know many people share. We can live our lives with the certainty of our job, of our finanaces, of our significance to our family or workplace, but if we have limiting beliefs on them it can impact our love. At the root of everything, we are all LOVE. While I have lived life with an abundance of love for everyone, I never realized how my love for myself was in need of improvement. I held on to negative circumstances, and negative words from people in my life, and allowed that to control my perception of my self worth. Which inevitably carried itself over in other areas of my life. I won't get into details, but let me just say, it was a true breakthrough. Now, while I have made changes, the world (negative people) will most likely tempt me to go back to the old me, but I torched that Sh*t this weekend, and feel brand new, I feel OUTSTANDING. If you know that you have been through a negative situation: Abusive relationship, rape, alcohol/drug addiction, food addiction, family members who verbally abuse you, job loss, business collapse, people who tell you that you can never achieve your dreams, know that these are roots that have affected many areas of your life...they are BS (a negative belief system).....and they can change in an instant. We cannot change the negative people, their comments etc, but we can change our reactions to them, which is power. Sadly, many times these negative people are our own family members. If you are in need of change, if you desire happiness, if you want to have the life of your dreams, then buy Tonys book, buy his CD Sets, or even better get to an event! And the people who say not to, well, misery loves company.

From a Yoga perspective: The principal Ahimsa: of non harming to all living beings- well it begins with YOU!, and Tony will get you there. The Principal of Santosha: Contenment/Joy - The weekend is like an amazing ROCK Concert, you will ooze santosha from every cell, and Tony even touches upon Diet and the need for an alkalized diet. This is information we all need, as healthy as my diet is, even I learned.

We live in a world, where many of us have family members who have had cancer, friends, and if not, you know someone who has had cancer. We know people with diabetes. This is toxicity. This is a situation that is an industry, created so pharmaceutical companys and the medical industry and government make BILLIONS, at our and our loved ones expense.

Do you want to live a life free of disease, body pain, headaches etc? You will learn how disease is the body's way of telling you that you are toxic, and need a cleanse. For me, I have loved an alkalized diet for a long time, never get sick, and healed myself of a major neck/back injury just weeks ago.....because I eat the right foods, do deep breathing (Pranayama), and yoga. What I never understood was peoples complaint, that "I don't like the way it tastes", when I would ask them to eat the greens. WELL THAT IS BECAUSE their body is so acidic it is craving more acid. Parents, when you use the excuse that your kids don't like the taste, you are responsible for that child, you are helping make them acidic which can lead to diabetes, cancer, and so many health problems. If this is something you can avoid, wouldn't you like to? Do the test for yourself, maybe test your Blood Ph, or eat a dark green salad....if you don't like the taste, you my friend are ACIDIC. Acidity brings on disease folks. If you don't like veggies, green foods, or drinking water, and you primarily eat white breads, sugars, sodas, meats, milk, junk foods that are marketed to you and your family's, you are actively choosing a slow suicide. One thing I hate, is the greed of our governments, pharmacy and medical industry that would rather feed people more drugs that create further acidity, contaminate and promote acidic foods, rather than inspire health and wellness. Even perscription drugs have commercials? Come on people? Lets wake up. The science behind yoga, the principal of Ahimsa non harming goes far beyond what we could dream. They did practice that diet to remain healthy and disease free.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Ohashiatsu Advanced DVD


Soon to come on DVD will be the Ohashiatsu Advanced Technique DVD, starring ME!!!! The reason I love the Ohashiatsu technique so much, is because this gentle touch on the meridians is so similar to yoga, and nadi lines/marma point theraphy. I am so grateful to have been asked to participate in the making of this latest DVD project with Ohashi himself. We spent one remarkable day together filming. He had asked me to bring all solid color yoga clothes, and when I arrived, he decided to put me in a snug, black, spandex-full body cat suit (something I never imagined to wear in my life). The energy of the filming process was amazing. I would get into various advanced/intermediate yoga poses (wheel, tortoise, bridge, downward dog, etc) and he would do Shiatsu treatments on me. The director was amazed at how myself and Ohashi just flowed from one treatment to another, without any prior planning or scripting involved. Our energy was so amazing. Ironically, my neck and back were sore due to a recent injury, the body suit I wore had attached feet and hands which made for no traction on the slippery carpet, and as you can see from the pictures our sizes are very different, and yet the filming was seamless! Thank you Ohashi for inviting me to be part of this amazing experience.

Ohashiatsu Advanced 1 class















Last friday my Ohashiatsu class invited 4 special guests to come and enjoy an Ohashiatsu treatment. The four guests enjoyed a 50 minute treatment, and after the session provided feedback to the class. Everyone seemed to enjoy, and the students who observed learned a lot too. Afterwards as part of a special bonus, EVERY student worked on the four guests! That means multiple hands were crawling on the meridian lines, and Tsubo points of the guests, to bring relief to the body and awaken the energy. Special thanks to all the guests, my classmates, and teacher Millie for creating such a beautiful experience!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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)

Monday, October 25, 2010

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.