Becoming Empowered
When the “baby boomer” women hit menopause we refused to sit quietly and sweat. We educated ourselves and applied what we learned. I hope that this same generation will look at the looming Alzheimers threat and refuse to fade into a nursing home without doing everything we can to maintain and even improve our health. Though I’ve been combining Traditional Oriental Medicine with Functional Nutrition, and seen first hand the improvements in people’s health, I honestly didn’t know if this same approach would work for brain health. There is so much doom and gloom around Alzheimer’s disease that I didn’t question my own assumptions.
I studied Dr. Pearlmutter’s book, Grain Brain, and found hope in his ideas, but when I read Dr. Breseden’s book, The End of Alzheimer’s, and his success with early cognitive decline, I decided to invest my time into helping people with their brain health. I studied with Dr. Breseden and became an MPI Qualified Practitioner. I am combining that with years of experience using Traditional Oriental Medicine and offering these tools to my clients.
Now, more than ever, it’s time to become empowered with information. It’s time to question the niggling voices in our head that tell us, Oh well, see, you’re starting to lose it; Being in pain is just a part of aging; or Your mother has Alzheimer’s Disease, so it’s inevitable.
If you think that you’re going to get Alzheimer’s Disease, and nothing you do will make a difference, then you won’t see a reason to incorporate the lifestyle changes that are being shown to help with cognitive decline. If you understand that your genes are not your destiny, then you will see a reason to take the next step, and the next step, and the next step… You will become empowered to live a healthy life.
In this blog I want to share the pearls of knowledge that will help you have a healthy brain, but, reading is not enough. You must apply this information to make a difference.
I hope you enjoy
Bringing Light Into The Longest Nights of the Year
This is the Holiday Season and for many people it is filled with joy and reunions, but for other people the idealized images that surround them on TV, social media, and in the shops tends to exagerate a deep loneliness and isolation. What can we do to bring some light into this world? First, I think is to get in touch with our hearts.
Scientists thought they fully understood the functions of the cerebellum, an ancient part of the brain that is also found in fish, lizards and mammals, so mostly they but it in a conceptual box. It has long been thought to make sensory-motor functions, such as walking, smoother and faster.
According to Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann at Harvard, “Isn’t only involved in sensory-motor function, it’s involved in everything we do.” “It’s been woefully understudied,”
When the “baby boomer” women hit menopause we refused to sit in the back of the room and hide our sweat. We educated ourselves and applied what we learned. I hope we will also look at the looming Alzheimers threat and refuse to fade into a nursing home without doing everything we can to maintain and even improve our health. There is so much doom and gloom around Alzheimer’s disease that its easy to assume there’s nothing we can do.
What Do You Expect?
IN 1981, Ellen Langer and her colleagues drove two groups of men in their seventies and eighties to an old monastery in New Hampshire that was decorated to look like it was 22 years earlier. Photos from the 50’s lined the walls and shows from that era played on the TV. In her words, “These guys were old. Not like 80 is the new 60 old. Some of them used walkers.” They were also treated like younger men.
According to Dacher Keltner, author of a study on emotion from the University of California-Berkeley, awe, wonder, and appreciation reduce the level of inflammatory cells in our body. This suggests that what we do to promote those experiences such as beholding a sunset, basking in music and listening to waves crashing on the beach has a direct influence on health.
This is the season of the liver and an ideal time to stop and appreciate the elegant design of this hard-working organ.
Loss: the fact or process of losing something or someone.
“avoiding loss of time”
synonyms: mislaying, misplacement, forgetting
Language is incredibly powerful. Often when something is lost there is the possibility and even hope that it will one day it will be found. Unfortunately this is often the case with weight-loss. Where did it go? Is it playing hide-and-seek? Will I find it again on my thighs,
“Kaela closed her eyes and felt her breath slowly moving up and down with the rhythm of the butterfly’s wings… Up and down – in and out. Awake or asleep, happy or sad, her breath was moved by some unseen hand, up and down, like the wings of a butterfly softly stroking her heart.”
~ Excerpt From: Barbara A. Mahler. “The Hole in the Sky.” Sea Turtle Publishing.
On February 8th we begin The Year of the Monkey. According to Chinese Astrology monkeys burst with energy, humor and motivation. This is a year to uncover creative solutions to old problems. Monkeys are not burdened with self-consciousness, so tell someone you love them. Businesses tend to flourish in a monkey year. Break out of old thought patterns and let your creativity and wit shine. It’s also a good year to increase exercise to burn off some of that excess monkey energy and calm the “monkey mind’.
Happy Chinese New Year
On February 19th we enter the year of the sheep (or any horned-ruminant mountain animal). These animals embody a Yin energy, a symbol of peace, harmonious coexistence and tranquility. The sheep is the symbol of the Arts. It is an ideal time to get in touch with the place of peace that lives in our hearts, and bring that into the world. Success will follow.
We are having a lot of spring-like days and once again dark green leafy veggies are the ideal food to support the liver.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The next best time is now.
~Chinese Proverb
Spring is the time of planting and new growth. Consider setting your health intentions now when exercise is as easy as walking around your neighborhood and enjoying the blossoming flowers.
I recommend for 10 days eating a diet of fresh vegetable, healthy fats (such as coconut,