You want my hands to go where?

I've likely mentioned this before, but I am shocked at the lack of flexibility in most of the kids I work with.  The kids that take gymnastics or hip hop seem to be somewhat more flexible, but the bulk of these kids can't touch their toes!

I was a chubby kid.  I wasn't really active (I'd much rather spend my afternoon with a book or a drawing pad than playing a sport or something like that).  I wanted to do gymnastics, I remember being really discouraged when the instructor told me I was too tall.  My mom tried to force me into softball in junior high. That didn't last long (I think I made it through 2 or 3 practices). I wanted to take ballet, but we didn't have the money.

But even with all of those things going against my athletic prowess, I was flexible.

I don't remember ever having a time I couldn't touch my toes. I don't ever remember saying it hurt trying to reach those toes.

I sure as heck never said "I think I threw my back out".

Starting back at spring break, I've been trying to do yoga with the kids at least a couple of times a week.  When we were doing it regularly (2-3 times a week), I saw a marked difference in their ability to practice.  Not necessarily the physical side of it (still not a lot of toe touching going on), but in the mental side of things.

The first few sessions were disasters; everyone touching each other, rolling around on the floor, interrupting me, laughing at the poses.

After the first week, the kids started settling into the routine. They even started asking for yoga.  I'm not doing anything wild and crazy with them. Just some simple sun salutations and breathing (they love dragon breath and trying to do ujjayi breathing).

Trying to get this practice in with the kids is two fold for me.

First, it is a great opportunity to teach the kids to be present and mindful.

Secondly, it is allowing me to ease back into a practice. I had to give up yoga in 2010 when my shoulder problems became so bad it hurt to move my arm. I have been told I will never be able to do yoga again.

In the before time, my plan was to be a yoga instructor and freelance artist/designer with a small organic farm.

There was a time this was NOT a problem for me.

It's been 3 years. I'm managing my inflammation issues through diet, orthopaedic massage and acupuncture.  I am now able to complete several sun salutations. I take it slow and easy. I know I have to respect the limits of my shoulder.

Even 3 years out of practice though, I can still touch my toes. And the kids seemed shocked to see that. There was a lot of "look! she's touching the floor!"

Hopefully I can help the kids reach the floor. And beyond.

Yoga has been such a vital part of my life after stumbling upon a class at my gym when I was 20. It crushed me to give it up, but even that was a teaching tool. I learned about being gentle with my self. I learned to respect my body and what it is saying. Between taking time out of my life to care for my brother (the best choice I could have made - also in 2010) and my injury, I learned to slow down. Other than a paycheck, there is no reward for endless hours at work being miserable. Were it not for my injury, I don't think I would have reached that place. I would likely still be working (out) like a mad woman and pushing my self to go, go, go.

As counter-intuitive as it seems, try slowing down. Skip your P90X or Insanity for a while. Go for a long walk. Connect with nature and your self.  Take a break from the punishment of chronic cardio.  And listen to what your body is telling you.

Waging a war.......... on YOU

I've been really terrible at updating the blog lately.

I've been busy with work, school, wedding prep and projects.

We finally got the invitations done and mailed out.  It was the perfect excuse for me to buy a craft cutter and now I just need to find enough time to work on .svg files for paper crafting as well as creating jewelry designs and finishing out the semester :)

I've noticed that weight loss/health has taken sort of an angry path these days.  Everyone is intent on getting ripped, demolishing fat, getting their asses kicked, etc. I'm not sure why every woman thinks they need to get below 20% body fat and needs six pack abs. I really don't want to "kill it", whatever "it" may be. I'm sick of the screaming commercials for some new ass kicking workout.

Does it really have to be that way?

Don't get me wrong. I don't think there is anything wrong with being strong.  I don't think there's anything wrong with being muscular. I've worked plenty of jobs in my life that required me to be strong.  But really, do we need to look like body builders (I've always been rather grossed out by them personally).

Is this necessary? Or attractive?

I'm not sure what people are into killing, but if killing it equals the above, I'll let it live.

I have to say if I've learned anything in the last 3 years its to be gentle with myself.  I didn't get that principle in all the years I did yoga. I pushed myself to be the most flexible in a class. I pushed myself as hard as I could. Which is totally NOT what yoga is about. I pushed my body by working out 3 hours a day, 7 days a week.

My shoulder injury has taught me to be gentle with myself. I have learned my limits. I may not like my limits all of the time, but I accept them.

I don't need to destroy fat. I don't need to punish myself for my food choices by spending an extra hour at the gym if I eat something "bad". Hell, my entire diet is "bad" by the standards of most of the diet industry. I eat fat. Lots of fat.  I eat protein, a pretty good amount of protein. I eat veggies, probably more than I ever did as a vegetarian in my youth.

As much as it pained me, I threw out everything I thought I new about health and fitness and I've changed my life for the better. Without supplements. Without shakes. Without punishing my body. Without punishing my spirit.

Take a second to think about it before you wage another war with yourself.  Take a second to think about being gentle and kind to yourself.  It might make all the difference in your life and in the world. Our lives are full of enough crap - everyone's a warrior, everything needs to be destroyed, killed, ripped, etc.

Think about the impact those words have. Affect a positive change in your mind and you will see positive changes in your body.

Back to the Basics

After four months, I thought it was about time to start reintroducing foods. I had pretty successfully ended my runny nose, congestion and sneezing and it had been a while since those symptoms had been present. I also lost 30 pounds since the beginning of the year.  

Also, the wedding is rapidly approaching and I wanted to be able to have a few less restrictions on what I can eat by then.  (No eggs and no nuts makes it hard to make a good cupcake.)

A couple of weeks ago, we had some wonderful fresh eggs (from my aunt's chickens and from Ray and Rebecca's chickens). I didn't really notice any issues after eating those delicious eggs. (I'm not sure if you've ever done a side by side comparison of pastured hen eggs and grocery store eggs, but the difference in color is AMAZING.)

Last weekend, we went to dinner at a friend's house and they were gracious enough to try to accommodate my dietary restrictions (The whole meal was amazing). Rod and Judy bought an assortment of raw goat and cow milk cheeses and raw cream to make whipped cream for dessert.  

That was the first time I had dairy other than butter since November. OMG! It was divine. I did not have any noticeable reaction to the cheese or cream, which gives me hope!  

They also made an amazing hummus from zucchini (I'm still not eating legumes) and tahini.  It was AWESOME. I have some zucchini in the fridge now. I just need a bit of down time to make it! 

I wanted to do some baking to see if I could at least work out some combination of coconut flour/tapioca flour cupcakes since I haven't reintroduced nuts (I usually use almond flour for cupcakes), so I picked up some organic eggs at Costco the other day. 

I was excited at the prospect of bacon and eggs for breakfast.  That did not work out so well.  

I have been sneezy and runny nosed (and have had terrible sinus pressure) for several days now. The only difference in anything has been the eggs.  

Time to reset.  No eggs until my symptoms go away again and then try to get some eggs from Ray (or some other pastured eggs).  

Its amazing how much food effects us. It's also amazing how much food effects our food.  

It's also amazing how long it took for me to realize that the way I felt was not normal, even though it was normal for me (at least adult life normal for me).  I never had allergies as a kid.  I hit my 20's and fell apart.  I was discussing this with my chiropractor and a lot of it started after developing an allergy to latex as an EMT. It was an interesting correlation, but I also look back at several other factors that may have played a part. 

I was on low dose antibiotics for years as a teenager to try to clear up my acne.  It didn't help my acne very much, but that whole time it WAS killing off all of my good bacteria in my gut. Then I was switched to the pill to help with my acne. Again, messing with my gut.  I also have been on and off of NSAIDS and various anti-inflammatory medications since about the age of 20. 

All of those things can destroy your gut, resulting in permeability of the intestines, which allows microscopic food particles into the bloodstream.  Those microscopic particles are seen as invaders and your body tries to fight them off.  The end result - a variety of symptoms that include allergic reactions and inflammation.  

While my diet has been a pain in the ass, I can see marked differences in how I feel.  A big part of healing is to remove the "offending foods" (which may seem like EVERYTHING at first) and getting a good amount of bone broth (which soothes and heals the gut lining) and ferments (living food - kombucha, sauerkraut, fermented veggies) to rebuild.  

Some people say they've reversed their food allergies through these changes and can now enjoy most foods they thought they would never be able to again.  I haven't reached that point, but I have changed how I feel. 

Sovereign Silver Part II

Okay, after a ton of sleep (and Sabrina The Teenage Witch) yesterday afternoon and last night, I feel doubleplusgood.

I know sleep is an integral part of the body's healing process, but I also think the Sovereign Silver nasal spray had something to do with it as well.  I had been masking my symptoms with cold medicine all weekend, which did me no good and I kept feeling worse.

I used the nasal spray 5 times yesterday (7 times is the recommended for short term immune support - being sick).  By the time I went back to bed last night (I spent most of the day in bed), I was able to breathe through both nostrils and the crud was making its way out of my body.

I had been trying desperately to netti pot for days with no real luck getting anything through.  Well, it started moving yesterday evening after 2 doses of Sovereign Silver.  By the late evening the crud was no longer chartreuse, it was only a pale green.

This morning when I woke up, I could actually breathe.  Through both nostrils. I didn't wake up all night long due to congestion.  I felt well enough to go put some seeds in the ground (only some chard seeds this morning) while walking the dog.

Oh by the way, I did another round of Lavender essential oil/cotton in my ears when I went to bed.  My ears do NOT hurt at all today.

Seriously, I feel doubleplusgood today.

I'll keep track of how I feel for the rest of the week.  Sovereign Silver may be worth adding to my usual arsenal of immune builders that includes ferments, cod liver oil, coconut oil and honey.

Sovereign Silver

I don't get sick often, but I have been fighting something off for more than a week.  I have to say over the weekend, I lost the fight.  Hard.

I had been feeling under the weather (mostly congested) for about a week and then over the weekend the congestion increased even more and spread to my chest.  When I was first feeling ill, everything was still clear... over the weekend it turned green.  I had homework to complete and worked diligently through the weekend even though I was exhausted, cranky and just didn't feel good.

This morning I woke up with a wicked ear ache. I'll suck it up most of the time when I'm sick, but when my ears hurt, I am a baby.  I did some looking around online and found some herbal/natural earache remedies.  I didn't want to take the time to infuse olive oil with garlic or place half a clove of garlic in each ear (there were also some smelly onion based remedies as well).

I finally found a suggestion of putting a few drops of essential oil on cotton and placing that in your ears.  I used lavender (still pungent but not quite garlic).  I put the cotton in my ears, put on a hat to cover my ears and went to work..

I have to say that my ears hurt slightly less by the time I got to work, but overall I was feeling entirely worse.

I left work to go home and rest, but first I made a stop to the vitamin shop in Redwood City.  I picked up some Sovereign Silver nasal spray.

I've heard good things about colloidal silver, especially when it comes to fighting infection, in the natural health circle.  Sovereign Silver is a silver hydrosol.  Here is what their website has to say about it:

"A Bio-Active Silver Hydrosol™, such as Sovereign Silver or Argentyn 23, represents the ultimate refinement and purity of the colloidal silver category. It is the suspension of a high content (96%) of ultra-fine, positively charged silver ions (Ag+) in only pharmaceutical-grade purified water. This is not to be confused with ionic silver, an inferior form of neutral silver/silver salt that is in solution (dissolved), rather than in colloidal suspension. The positively charged silver ions (cations) in a Bio-Active Silver Hydrosol™ remain in suspension, maintaining their fully active state for use within the body."

A dose is 20 sprays for an adult up to 7 times a day depending on your needs. Here's the dosing schedule:

20 sprays x 7 times a day for short term immune support (when you are sick)

20 sprays x 5 times a day for long term immune support (long term stress on immune system)

20 sprays x 3 times a day for immune building (when you are surrounded by sick people)

20 sprays x 1 time a day for maintenance (otherwise healthy)

I took the first 20 sprays in the car before I left Redwood City.  

It started to feel like I was getting some of the crud moving, but I just assumed it was because I sprayed a liquid up my nose.  

I came home, made some tea and went to bed still feeling awful.  After an hour or two, I got up to use my netti pot (which really hadn't moved much mucous in the last few days).  The crud started breaking free.  

I used another dose of the Sovereign Silver spray and went back to bed. I've spent the entire afternoon/evening in bed, which I detest.  

I have to say that by about 8 p.m. I am breathing a bit better, the mucous is a far less toxic shade of green and my ears hurt far less than they did this morning.  

I'm not sure if it's placebo effect or what, but I definitely feel better than I did when I got up this morning and when I got home from work this afternoon. 

The plot thickens

The other day we spent a bit of time in the garden (we being Justin, Pi and I).

This was my space on Sunday after it was assigned.

I finished weeding for the most part (those clovers are hard to get rid of!) and pulled the old kale plants.

Speedy's Hardware is just around the corner so I sent Justin over for some Black Gold to amend the soil.  Justin surprised me with a cute little gardening bag and some new pruners.  Pi was overly excited about being in the garden and ran laps for a bit.

Here's Pi sitting like a nice girl while I weed. 

I must have missed the tool shed code during the meeting, but Justin made do with a T post to till the soil and mix in the Black Gold.

Doin' work! 

I still haven't planned out my plants, but we got some weeding done and added some nourishment to the soil.  I also took some coffee grounds to the plot as well (I've got some vinegar-y Kombucha that may be headed over there too).

Speaking of nourishment, I've started a hydroponic garden at work with the kids. I'm having them chart the progress of Tomato and Purple Tomatillo seeds.  We'll be allowing them to grow large enough to transplant and hopefully start a small garden in the back courtyard.  In another week or two, we'll start some lettuce and spinach seeds as well.  I think the kids may be of more interest than the tomatoes/tomatillos because they take off a lot faster.  I do have the kids asking to observe and take notes each day. It's so exciting to me that they are getting interested in our "garden" and they are learning to track data.

I'm testing out Smart Gardener and a few of the add ons.  The overall website is free to use to plan your garden (or gardens if you are lucky enough).  It can recommend plants based on plot size, location, personal preference and the like.

I got a SUPER shady plot and Smart Gardener doesn't do recommendations in the free version for shade. Since my plot is SO shady, I thought it was worth it to add on the "Smart Shade" bundle for $1.99.  I've been a bit on the busy side with school and work this week, so I haven't been able to play with it as I would like (and I've been under the weather for the last week), but it did make noticeable changes to recommendations based on the shade factor.

The other add on I purchased was the "Smart Squares" for $4.99.  Smart Squares allows you to plan for square foot gardening by calculating using the square foot method.  You can also choose between spacing methods when you add a new plant (square foot v. standard).

I've got to start doing a bit of planting.  We've (well, Justin) turned the soil and pulled the clovers.  The lemon tree looks lovely (but has no lemons).  Based on the shade, I know I don't have a ton of options.  But really, I just like to play in the dirt.

I've got dirt!

I'm so excited.  Today I was assigned a plot in the community garden at Victoria Manalo Draves Park!

This is a park about 1/2 a block away from us.  We take Pi there every day to play.  There had been no changes to the bulletin boards for a couple of years (I think the last postings were from early 2011), but I always would check to find out where to sign up for the waiting list or who to contact to find out how long the list was.

Most of the community gardens in San Francisco have wait lists that are several YEARS!  So when there was finally some updated contact information on the bulletin board in January, I practically ran home to email.

When I got an email saying there were 6 plots opening up (and there were only 5 people on the email list), I was practically jumping for joy.

We had our first garden meeting this morning.  It was a good chance to meet some new people with common interests in the neighborhood.

Here is my plot.  It's pretty shady, but I have
a lemon tree!  

I am a bit under the weather and I had a horrendous amount of homework to finish today, but I allowed myself 2 hours at the garden including the meeting.  I did some weeding (okay, a LOT of weeding).  There were a couple of kale plants in that jungle and I even ended up pulling a few tiny carrots out of the ground.

Here I am with Pi and my plot
(only a bit more clover to pull out!)

So at the moment I'm not entirely sure what I'll be planting. I have to do some research, I think this garden has even more shade than my last garden.  I know that greens will do well, so kale and chard are a must (and I eat a lot of both!).

I'm going to try out using www.smartgardener.com to plan my garden.  I haven't reintroduced any nightshades to my diet, so a lot of things I normally grow are out (peppers, eggplant, etc.) plus we don't have much of a hot growing season here.  It's basically cool aside from a few weeks in July and August here.  I have to say, based upon the recommended plants, I'll be growing greens and lettuce.  Lots of greens and lettuce.

I just found some add ons to Smart Gardener that I am going to try out.  They are the Smart Squares and Smart Shade.  My garden is only about 8x3 and is in the shade most of the time.  I think these would be worthwhile add ons to try out.

I'll admit though, my excitement isn't because I think I'm going to have loads of veggies or fruits.  It's more because it's a ray of sunshine and nature in this grungy place. It felt awesome to be outside, in the sunshine and getting dirty (actual dirt not all the other stuff that makes this city dirty).  It was nice to be with people who feel the same way.  I've never really had a substantial harvest of anything in all the years of gardening, but I love to do it.

And Pi is going to love basking in the garden while I work.  It's fenced in and there is plenty of room on the opposite side of the garden that gets sun for her to enjoy.