Eat Dance Live

In our fast-paced society, we're always on the go whether physically or emotionally. It doesn't help when you are the kind of person that always needs to be active and doing (and when you have the kind of mind that is always thinking and analyzing and bouncing up and down). When you hear that your friend is opening up a yin yoga practice, that sounds great but the style itself is not necessarily something that you deem to "for you." That's exactly why I decided to go cheer on the awesome Devin Johnstone on tonight by attending his opening session. Yin yoga is named as such because it follows the Taoist concept of yin. If you had to compare it to another yoga style, it's of a similar (but slower) pace than hatha yoga. It often holds poses for five minutes or longer. It is a perfect complement to more yang style activities (like ashtanga or power yoga, or like the cardio sessions I usually do). It targets connective tissue, ligaments, and wants you to just be....

Man, am I feeling good today! I don't know which of the many variables I've recently changed in my life is causing this (it might be all of them), but I'm truly feeling amazing. I'm happier than I've been in days, I'm awake, alert, and am finally finding some much needed inner peace. Because this is a longer post about today's Chakra, I'll simply say that herb-wise, I've taken all my Gaia Herbs as required and the taste doesn't affect me nearly as much as on Day 1: The heart Chakra (or Anahata in Sanskrit) is, well, associated with the heart but also with the thymus. The thymus keeps your immune system and more specifically your endocrine system functioning. In other words, it helps to fight against disease both physical and emotional. And your heart, well, it's kind of a big deal. The main work people usually do on their heart chakra is to heal from emotional hurt and to foster greater love and compassion from and for others. Today's ch...

It's Mansday again! Tune in today, for your weekly words of wisdom by my one and only: "My life is blessed in so many ways. This last weekend was my first time teaching a Reiki course. My mentor and friend David Gleekal allowed me to assist him in teaching his Level I Reiki course to a group of six wondrous individuals. Of course, professional ethics forestalls me giving any specific details, but let me just say that each of them went on an incredible journey; no one leaves one of David's classes as the same person who entered. I felt deeply honored to have been able to witness, facilitate and take part in those journeys. Both teaching and Reiki share a common aspect (other than "things Andrew intends to spend the rest of his life doing"). Reiki healing calls upon the practitioner to remove their ego from the equation. You're not making anyone well. Reiki energy flows to where it is most needed and it does the healing, you're just the conduit through w...

I know some people find it distracting or sub-optimal to listen to music or read magazines while working out because it takes your attention away from your body and your workout. For the most part, I can understand that, one should be focused on their workout not watching a TV screen, reading about the new shoes they want to buy, or cramming for an exam. However, I also kind of disagree with music part of it mainly because I use music as a trigger to get my workout going. Music has always really helped me get in the mood for a good run or a good weight lifting session. In this case, it's positive reinforcement, not a distraction or a negative contributor. I do want to stress though that by creating distractions for themselves in the gym, a lot of people are actually choosing to surround themselves with negativity, and by that I basically mean by reading trashy tabloid and/or lifestyle magazines, which you see more than half of women do at the gym. Not only does this make you lose f...

Ever since I've been a kid, I've always fasted to some degree on Ash Wednesday and this year was no different. I have been giving a lot of thought about why I do this or why people fast in general (for religious or spiritual reasons anyway) because I've had increasingly mixed thoughts about why I do this. Am I just doing this to feel like I'm a bigger person? Is this just making ego feel self-important by making myself suffer for a day and feel really good that I could get through it? I don't think so... I've come to the conclusion that it can also serve a much greater purpose than merely feeding your ego (haha, feeding your ego, by not feeding your body...). What was bothering me was that I do recognize that I'm extremely privileged (as many if not most of us who have time to spend reading or writing blogs are) and that not eating for 24 hours is not going to make me understand what it's like to be starving or disenfranchised or needy. However, I thin...

Food for the Day 1. Warm lemon water w/ raw honey (my throat is feeling a little funny) 2. A very citrus-alicious Pink Grapefruit & Lemon Splash from Le Pain Quotiden and some stolen berries from Andrew's Berry Cup 3. 1/2 a clementine on the way to the gym 4. 1/2 an orgasmic gala apple (I go through phases where I'll obsess over one type of apple for a little while and then move on to another one) 5. Chef tastings (I know...) of a chocolate mint tofu pie I made for Andrew (made with chocolate crust, raw tofu, mint & mint extract, agave, sea salt, vanilla, and mint chocolate shavings... I'm experimenting with sprouting spelt rather than using oat groats for part of my crusts all the time) The reason I love surfing around the blogosphere (yes, I still feel silly using that word) is that I often come across life-altering articles, amazing people, or more selfishly and egotistically, wonderful justifications for my own life choices. Tonight was one of those nights, whe...

"Hi my name is Chantal, and I have 'sticking-to-fasts' aversion..." "Hi Chantal." As a lead up to my post, here are my two shout-outs of the day: I have to say that Heather (and her blog, Adventures of Raw Goddess Heathy ) has definitely been one of the biggest inspirations in my choice to go raw (the other one being Meredith Frantz and her awesome blog, the Raw Seed ). In short, both of these women pretty much exemplified what I was looking for when I first wanted to turn to raw foods: emotional and physical health, fitness, happiness, all resulting in inner and outer beauty. Seeing them, I thought, hey, if they can do it and seem so wonderful, than I can too! After reading Heather's post today, I decided that I too have a confession to make: I've always been really enamored by the concept of fasting. Since my childhood, I had always conveniently been able to take the period of Lent very seriously, a seriousness those around me just saw as some kind...

I just recently posted about one of my recent experiences doing Bikram and alluded to Eckhart Tolle's conception of consciousness and the importance of living in the present, or as he calls it, "The Power of Now". Recently, at the movies, they've been playing this Coke commercial, which I actually find to be the most tragic thing I've ever seen: All I see when I watch this is a guy who is such a Coke junkie that he completely misses out on what's happening around him. He doesn't ever join the snowball fight. He never actually smiles until he gets his fix. There is such joy and fun and laughter happening all around him, and he misses it all completely. All he can think about is getting his bottle of Coke. When I saw it for the first time a couple weeks ago, it just made me so sad. To think that someone can have so much happiness and child-like glee around him and for him to be completely unaware of any of it. Dodging snowballs aside, he appears completely ...

... and by "me", I mean little "me" or "i", my ego, my pain body, rather than who I actually am: "Me", the big "I", or my higher consciousness (check out Eckhart Tolle 's works to give you incredible insight into that kind of vocabulary). Today's Bikram class was yet another experience in my personal path to Enlightenment... I get surprised every time it happens, even though it's happened every time I go. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around how much this is doing for me. Today was an experience in letting go, letting go of a portion of my pain body that I still struggle with today: self-image. I woke up this morning feeling wonderful; physically, emotionally, I was just as happy as could be. Within 20 minutes of my Bikram practice, having taken in the heat, starting to release my usual toxins, I began to slip. I was getting progressively more upset, my thoughts were clouded, my attention unfocused, my position...