Out With the Old, In with the New

... and other stuff.

Hey, gals and guys, today is Saturday, and I haven't written in here for a while. A few things just kept me away. One was sales, and such on certain books, so I always go to Muse for blogs about those. I had some nice reviews, too. I'm waiting on the first one for "Party to a Murder", but it'll come. I just hope it won't be harsh (like a 3-star or worse!)

I've been busy this week, since I was on "spring break" from my work, and I needed to not only concentrate on my writing of the second book in the Lainey Q. books, but also, here I am heavy again! I'm so sick of diets that get you there, but you tire of the food quickly and really, I know that I've got flab even when I do loose ten or twenty pounds. Like most women I have it on my gut. It never goes away. What is the solution? I needed to find something. I was just listening to some wonderful music on UTube one day, and before it began they put on one of their commercials. Now, normally, I skip them--hit that skip button--and continue listening or watching a show. This time it caught me my surprise. This young lady with an amazing body was willing to share her secrets with anyone, and give away a video as well. Her name is Danette May. I went and watched her video, and did the exercises and did some others I found. Oh my god! I was sore for 3 days--still am, but I did them again, today, and found a few other moves for different part of the body--glutes, and arms. Anyway, here is the link, if you're interested. I highly recommend her, she's very energetic, and her exercises look easy, but once you do them you see that these work the muscles!

Danette May

Now, keep in mind I'm 62, going to turn 63 at end of summer. If I can do these, and I don't say I do them as well as her, or as many counts on everything, so can you. I'm in good health, but I'm so out of shape it's just horrifying to me. I used to be thin. I don't like feeling the way I do, and I don't like looking the way I do. I've been looking to add something to my program, something also to get me psyched up, and this little gal has everything from what to eat to exercises that don't have you do crunches like a man, but these easy movements that you WILL feel in the areas you work.

There's also things to eat that help you lose weight, and lately, if you've seen it on Dr. Oz, or just somewhere in a magazine, they say eating certain fats can help you slim down too. Danette called them "Fats to burn belly fat" in this video. Non-fat is no longer good for you. They usually add more sodium and a few other things that are not good for you.

Here they are:
1). Coconut oil -2-4 teaspoons a day (you can supplement it for olive oil in cooking)
2). Raw & unsalted nuts--I prefer walnuts because of their many benefits.
3). Avocados (which have good fats in them, like "good" monounsaturated fat. If used in place of other fats, it can help against hypertension.

I've been buying avocados lately, and want to use them more, because of the benefits. I slice them into salads.I'd like to try making my own ranch dressing out of them. Because of the mild flavor, you barely notice them in a salad. You don't even have to have tacos to enjoy them!

Well, I'm going to go into my summer feeling better, and hopefully looking better. I've got 8 weeks to get tighter abs and everywhere else I'll be working on. I'm determined to keep this up. I've tried yoga but it wasn't getting it done for me. I needed something more aggressive and I think I've found it.

Well, I've got a lot to write this weekend, and hope to get further toward the climax of "Invitation to Kill", and I need to do other things as well, like go to the grocery store. We're lucky that a HyVee is one of our stores we go to, and they have a dietitian who is very friendly, and we talk to her all the time. I've found out what to take for fiber, and also probiotics. I've talked Dennis into taking probiotics, because he has so much trouble with his gut (angry gut), and we're at the point we no longer think it's the gluten thing any more. I've discovered a drink as well, called Kefir,(the video here explains why it's better than yogurt), which is touted as having the best source of probiotics. I asked Lisa (nutritionist), and she showed me the bottles in their health food department, and even opened one so I could try it. At first it's really somewhat sour, because it's fermented. But once I got past that flavor, the strawberry in it came through. I was able to drink it while we shopped thanks to Lisa.

Well, I think I've covered too much here. Even if you check out just one thing, please do, I think you may benefit from something I've covered today.

Have a good weekend!

Discovering Oneself through Hatha Yoga

Or, as in my case, Re-discovering myself.

I can't get over the fact that it's already July. Mid-summer, and yes, I'm still relaxing. Or learning how to do this. The rediscovering part came a few weeks ago. I don't remember exactly what brought it all on, but I opened up an old notebook, which I put together in 1992, with a variety of things, including Rune study, my thoughts on religion--Christian, Native American and pagan. Also I've written down dreams and a few metaphysical events.

Somehow this, and the show "Kung Fu" all led me to Yoga. That and I'd been suffering back pain and stiffness. I'd lost elasticity of my youth, and I really hated this. More to the point, my whole left side hurt, and was stiff, and working or even walking was difficult. I have scoliosis, and so there's little I can do, except keep excess weight off, and doing stretches. But I needed to know how to do these correctly, and thought of yoga. Thus, I thought of this book:

Yoga, youth, and reincarnation

by Jess Stearn 1965

It's an old book, but the instructions are good, and there are figures to show how to do the stances. Jess Stearn, the man who wrote it, lived in the yoga instructor's house with her family in Concord. Middle aged, and somewhat dubious about the claims of yoga, he wanted to write a book on the subject, and wasn't sure what he was getting himself into. What better way than to live in an ashram? It's an interesting read, and since I have not opened it since I'd bought it--and that was so long ago I still had my maiden name scribbled inside, it might be 30+ years ago since I'd purchased it. I surely don't remember too much of the contents, because some of it really caught me by surprise. Did you know that Alcot, Thoreau and Emerson studied the far eastern practice of meditation and Yoga? Thoreau made the trip to Walden Pond--the poem he is so famous for, among other things--as a "pilgrimage".

Well, I didn't get into this for history lessons, but the read was good in these first chapters. And, so, returning to the other more important things about Yoga, it's true that the stretches are very tranquilizing. And, it is said after a time of practicing, you become ageless. A neck roll I'm doing should get rid of the rings (wrinkles) around my neck. We'll see. I've only just begun them, and they do relieve the neck tension.

There's also one thing to do for sinuses. Lie out flat on your bed, on your back, and head over the side of it, and gradually lower your head to the floor--possibly with someone holding you so you don't fall. I haven't tried this one, for that one reason.

But one for the spine was simple and I could hear it pop as I did this. I call it the Rocker, and I do it after the head rolls, and some other stretches. Lie on your back, pull knees up to chest, clasp hands under knees, or around them, and gently rock back and forth. I think this one helped a lot.

One thing that I like about Hatha Yoga is there is never any hurry, nor do you force anything. It would seem that a person who does calisthenics would be able to do these things no problem, but the author of this book--who went to the gym regularly--noted that many of the stances were difficult, and to hold them very long took practice.

Also, there are claims that certain ailments can be righted by the practicing of Yoga. Some people claim to hardly ever be sick. Eventually you have greater control of specific parts of your body, and you learn how to breath. Yes. We breath wrong! We breath shallowly, and we never really get enough oxygen to the brain. I've begun extending my stomach when I breath in, and tighten it as I breath out. I'm trying to understand when to breath in or out during these exercises.

The simple ones are the ones I'm on, but I do some form of others. Standing on one leg to do the Tree Pose is harder than you think and will take practice. Try closing your eyes and doing this. Yeah. Right. I can't even do this for more than two seconds. But I try it every time to get the hang of it. I'll eventually do it. The whole thing about yoga is you act deliberately and with control.

The child's pose is simple. When I do this one, I can feel the spine move. Especially the first time. It's a very relaxing pose and I leave myself in this position for ten or more seconds.

Other stretches are the side ones, like this:

And then you do the forward and backward fold. Always doing the opposite bends to relieve the pressure.

Then, while I'm already into position I go into what's known as "Dog-Down":

Then, I like to get down on my knees and do the "Cat-Cow"... only I don't moo or meow.

Now, you can do a number of other poses, like the Upward facing Dog...

This next one I can do, but it took me two weeks to get it down. I remember doing this one easily, back when I was much younger. I know, it looks confusing, but it stretches the spine nicely. You do one side and then the other side.

Well, I'll leave you now with this quote from the above book: "...with self-knowledge comes an awakening, as to both our limits and our potentials. You must know where you are, before you know where you are going."

As for me, I think I'll brave the mosquitoes and heat/humidity and go for a walk in our park. Here's hoping you are having a great day!