Positive thought patterns heal the body

Just believing you will get better can make you better. Unfortunately, many conventional scientists believe that if something works by eliciting the placebo effect, it doesn’t count. but most patients just want to get better, so if chanting a mantra--like you might do at the beginning or end of yoga class or throughout a meditation or in the course of your day--facilitates healing, even if it’s just a placebo effect, why not do it?

The mind is very powerful. It is the mind that causes illnesses, it is also the mind that can cause  wellness. It doesn't matter how long we’ve had negative thought patterns. We can begin to make a change today. The thoughts we’ve held and the words we have repeatedly used have created our life and experiences up to this point. That is past thinking. What we chose to think and say, today, at this moment, will create tomorrow and the next day and the next week and the next month and the next year, and so on. The point of power is always in the present moment. I almost always give my thai therapy clients a thought pattern to help with their healing, it is powerful.

It is true “Whatever you say, you speak into the existence”, whether it is positive or negative.
I have a friend who’s mother had dementia. All his life, his thoughts were, I don’t want to have dementia, or, I hope I don’t have dementia like my mom. “Whatever you say, you speak into the existence”.  He is now in his sixties and was just diagnosed with dementia. I have another friend whose father has high blood pressure, he has spent his whole life telling himself he will probably be like his dad and have high blood pressure. I could go on and on with people I know. I counsel my thai therapy clients to change their thought patterns to  “I am strong and healthy”, “it is normal to feel good”, “I am safe at all times”, “I am loved”.

Positive language heals the body, negative language brings illness. Dis-ease can be reversed by simply reversing our mental thought patterns. The word incurable, which is so frightening to so many people, really only means that the particular condition cannot be cured by “outer” methods and that we must go within to effect the healing. The condition came from nothing and will go back to nothing.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

and Ayurveda Consultant

These are my own thoughts. I sometimes take writings from others to support my own ideas.

“Ultimate Forgetting”

Occasionally  I put together a yoga class that is amazingly invigorating and inspiring. Everyone’s mind is totally focused on our breath and body during the whole class. When class is over we are all so relaxed, we just sit and bask in the quiet. Then slowly we all start to roll up our mats, not wanting to say anything for fear of losing the peace that is permeating the room.

We feel centered, balanced, in touch with ourselves. We vow to never let this feeling slip away. But then we get busy with work, with the kids, and we completely lose the connection and the composure we had. Even more disturbing, we have no idea how to get it back.

In the midst of doing, there’s a sense of enjoyment, fulfillment, and alignment with a deeper current of aliveness. But as soon as you position yourself behind the wheel of your car or sit down in front of your computer, you  tense your shoulders, hold your breath, and lose touch with yourself. What happened, you wonder. How did I lose my balance.

We all do this, we read books that help center us, we meditate, we do yoga, and we vow to implement it all into our lives. And then without realizing it, we return right back to our old habits and routines: Over booking our schedules, filling our time with texting, and other technological devices, completely forgetting to stop, and breathe, and be present.

There seem to be powerful inner forces at work that induce this “Ultimate forgetting” and sabotage our genuine attempts to create balance and peace. I find this even in my own life. I put off my morning meditation, thinking I will do it later, then I “forget”. then the next morning I have lost my balance already, and I forget again. Then everyday gets busier and busier because I have forgotten to center myself with meditation, and instead, I hit the ground running like it is a race to see how much I can get done.

I pride myself on being able to take care of myself, emotionally, spiritually, and physically, so when I start to feel my neck tense up, and my shoulder start to ache, I know I have lost my balance emotionally. All physical pain starts with an emotional pain. The physical pain is the nervous systems way of giving our body a wake up call, that all is not well emotionally.

In today’s world there is an enormous incentive to work harder and faster but hardly any encouragement to slow down, do less, and enjoy life more. If we really slowed down to a more balanced pace and took time to enjoy life, what would happen? I find when I take the time to start my day with a meditation, I feel more connected to what I am doing during the day, I get more done, I feel more peace, relaxation, and a pleasant current of energy. life becomes more enjoyable. I feel balanced emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

and Ayurveda Consultant

These are my own thoughts. I sometimes take writings from others to support my own ideas.

Find Stillness in the moment

Can we learn to be and do at the same time? If you are flowing down the river, you are just being, yet you are moving downstream. the present moment is like that. If you concentrate your attention in the moment, you are totally present, yet it is not stagnant or fixed. The stillness is the state of mind that observes the movement. Where do we discover this stillness? In the timeless moment, the eternal Now.Time is merely a creation of the mind, only the Now exists. Usually we are so caught up in the doing, that we don’t pay attention to the Now.

Yoga and meditation is the continual refinement of staying present with the mind so time stops, when you are just being, you lose the aspect of time, but you don’t lose movement. when the mind stays steady of the moment, there is no time.

Sometimes we hear meditation called “just sitting.” There is no attempt to achieve some particular state of mind, but merely a steady presence in the Now. You do not need to be confined to sitting, you can be “just walking,” “just eating,” “just driving,” total absorption in every activity without separation.

During this busy month of December, treat your family to a walking meditation, the idea is to pay attention to the walking itself. This sharpens your awareness and trains the mind to concentrate, pay  close attention to the physical act of walking, the way you take one step after another.
I teach the 10 and 11 year old girls in our church. I took them for a hike this past summer, during the hike I had them stop occasionally  and listen to their heartbeat, I had them pay attention to the way their breath changes. When we got to our destination, the place we had planned to have our lunch, I asked the girls to sit and just listen to all the different sounds, with their eyes shut. After about ten minutes I asked them to open their eyes. As they opened their eyes they all sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction, and one girl said “that was awesome.” Even children can discover the stillness, in the timeless moment, the eternal Now.

Walking meditation encourages the development of mindfulness in ordinary daily life. If you can learn to establish awareness during walking meditation--that is, while you are physically moving with your eyes open---then it won’t be difficult to awaken the same awareness during other activities, such as washing dishes, and of course practicing yoga,

If, while walking, you become aware that your mind has wandered away, clearly note the distraction and gently but firmly bring your attention back to your steps. Experiencing the simplicity and peace of being with one step at a time--with nothing else to do and nowhere to go--can be liberating.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

and Ayurveda Consultant

These are my own thoughts. I sometimes take writings from others to support my own ideas.

Noise Is Pervasive

Silence. a word that evokes scary images of aloneness. Silence we are afraid terrified of it. In our media-drenched culture, silence is intimidating.

A typical day in the life of an American begins with the TV flicked on to the morning news. our drive to work is then soothed by music or our favorite talk show. At work we are off and running, with meetings, deadlines, and phone calls. We unwind on the way home with more music and radio, and end our day with more TV, music, video, and family talk.

Noise is pervasive, in the past, we encountered silence, by puttered around the house: washing, cleaning, repairing. Today the house vibrates with noise: we wash dishes by machine, we vacuum by machine, we mow by machine, we even rake leaves by machine.

We have lost our contact with ordinary, everyday silence. It has become a stranger. We yearn for more spirituality in our life, yet we deny it by avoiding one of the most important elements--silence.  we know that in order to pray, we need to quiet ourselves, yet that is the very thing we fear most.

Who--or--what--is silence that we fear it so much? Silence is more than turning off appliances. It is stilling the inner chaos of the body. Stop running from noise to noise. Turn off the dishwasher, turn off the TV. Listen to yourself pass through time--hear the knife chopping vegetables, and the spatula scraping the skillet, Sweep the kitchen floor and listen to the bristles touch the floor.

At first, silence may seem like nothing but the tick-tick-tick of a clock on the shelf. However when you take the time to listen to your body, and meet silence with a prayer,  time will be forgotten, the tick-tick-tick will get lost and at last solitude can speak.

These are my own thoughts. I sometimes take writings from others to support my own ideas.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

And Ayurveda Consultant

How do we trace stress back to its roots?

How do we trace stress back to its roots?

The roots of stress almost always go back to our childhood, a trauma, or perceived trauma. A trauma doesn’t have to be huge, or life threatening, in fact some traumas may be considered very small in the eyes of an adult. However, when we are children a trauma of any kind can seem like the world is coming to an end. When Adam was five he was at a family picnic, his mother made a hamburger for him and gave him half. Adam thought he was big enough to have a whole hamburger and began to cry. Adam’s uncle noticed something was wrong and came to help, when his uncle saw how upset Adam was about his hamburger he made Adam a whole hamburger and brought it to him. This seems like something very small and insignificant however it was a big deal to Adam at the time.

Have you ever noticed the way the smell of bread or the sound of music can remind us of happy times, so can events and places. Experiences can remind us of stressful or traumatic times as well as the happy times. Stressful experiences get stuck in our subtle body (an energy field around our physical body) as impurities that can cause disease. Adam’s experience could have left lasting effects, creating the trauma over and over again every time he went to a picnic, had a hamburger or ever felt that he wasn’t enough. (this is the root of the stress). Fortunately, for Adam a kind uncle who saw that a little boy was distressed tamed the trauma. Most often we don’t even realize our emotions have gone back to the root of the stress. We are so focused on the anger, jealousy, and depression (or however stress manifest itself in you); we never think to look for what it was that triggered our imbalanced emotions.

What are lasting ways that can be used to reduce stress and change the pattern?

Brandon is six. Almost every day just before lunch Brandon would get very cranky. by the time his mom had his lunch ready he would be so mad he wouldn’t eat. This would make his mom angry and she would just send Brandon to his room. Brandon’s Mom read my blog about how Pittas can become very mean if they don’t get their meals on time, most of the time Pittas don’t even realize what it is that’s making them so mad, THEY ARE HUNGRY!  She decided to try feeding Brandon lunch a little earlier, so he wouldn’t get overly hungry. That did the trick. Brandon’s mom followed stress back to the root, and then found a lasting way that can be used to reduce the stress and change the pattern. She then explained to Brandon why he gets so cranky at lunchtime. She asked him to let her know when he feels like he is going to turn into a monster so she can get him some food right away. A few days later on the way home from church Brandon told his mom she better feed him as soon as they get home so he doesn’t turn into a monster. Brandon’s mom changed the pattern before it even got started, just by being aware.

Becoming aware of what it is that started the stress is half the battle. Once you are aware of why you are stressed, that alone will start to calm your nervous system, and then you can focus on lasting changes. If you are a Vata stress could lead to insomnia and/or make it hard to get anything done during the day. If you are a Pitta stress, as with Brandon could make you angry. If you are a Kapha stress will most likely make you feel lethargic and depressed. Be aware of how stress manifests itself in you. Ask yourself what the reality of the stress is, not what you believe it is. Then follow it back to where it originated.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

And Ayurveda Consultant

Trace stress back to its roots

Does stress leave you too anxious to eat or too lethargic to get off the couch? Using the ancient science of Ayurveda, you can determine you unique stress type and take skillful action to bring your body and mind back into balance.

For some people, worrying distracts them from getting anything done during the day, and insomnia keeps them up at night. Others become consumed by anger and blame their spouse, coworkers, and clients. As their stress mounts, so does their blood pressure. Still, others feel powerless to change anything. They stay home, snacking in front of the TV. Their lethargy leaves them with feelings of depression, and eventually leads to weight gain and aggravated respiratory problems.

In the West, we don’t usually dwell on the distinctions between our reactions to stress—we tend to focus on general coping solutions applicable to all, such as a hot bath, a long walk, or a day on the beach. But in the ancient Indian healing system of Ayurveda, stress reduction hinges on a complex understanding of each person. Since no two people handle stress the same way, everyone requires a different stress-relief strategy: what might work for Anne could aggravate Heidi, and what might work for Natalie could prove ineffective for Joe. Ayurveda provides specific lifestyle, dietary, herbal and yogic solutions for each individual that can not only diffuse tension but also help build a foundation for lasting peace of mind. Ayurvedic theory takes nearly every conceivable stress influence into consideration—from seasonal and planetary changes that effect our well-being to subtle bodily impurities that can precipitate disease. Ayurveda theory also sheds light on the thought patterns and physical tendencies that make stress either a constant stumbling block or a non-issue, depending on how well we understand ourselves.

We often speak of stress in terms of the situations we find ourselves in—traffic jams, looming deadlines, getting laid off. But Ayurveda holds that stress actually originates in the mind. Our predominant dosha shapes who we are, what we look like, and how we think; it influences everything from our career choices to our favorite foods. For the purposes of stress management, our doshic imbalance can prove even more revealing. It’s not so much which dosha most shapes our constitution but rather which one is out of whack. Stress manifests itself in the body as a vata, pitta, or kapha imbalance, depending on the person. For instance, a person may have a strong kapha constitution, being grounded wise, stable, and compassionate. But at his worst, he may display a classic pitta imbalance, being irritable, judgmental, and quick-tempered. A pitta type might have a kapha imbalnce, becoming overly sentimental and possessive at times. A vata person who’s normally creative and lively might also have a vata imbalance, meaning she can become flighty, easily distracted, and prone to anxiety. Either way the imbalance governs how the person will respond to stress. Imbalance comes when you’re out of harmony, either with your own personal rhythm or that of nature. This can show up in the body as a condition like arthritis or in our emotions, such as jealousy or anger.

Ayurveda might seem like a lot to take in. but when it comes to managing stress, Ayurvedic concepts can be boiled down to a basic idea: trace stress back to its roots, then find lasting ways to change the patterns that cause it.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                                 And Ayurveda Consultant

Align Yourself With Your Ayurveda Clock

 We tend to break our day into work time, our time, and sleep time; with work time allotted the most number of hours. Ayurveda (India’s traditional healing system) sees the day differently, breaking it into six four-hour zones—one-day zone and one night zone for each of the three doshas.

According to this symbolic time, the day starts at sunrise, with the cool, heavy, earthy kapha dosha dominating from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. The middle of the day belongs to pitta,

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. And light, dry, airy vata rules the afternoon, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

And then the cycle begins again.

To stay in sync, you should wake up before sunrise, when vata is transcendent. Once the sun is up, we begin to fall under kapha, earth and water spell. Hitting snooze when the alarm goes off at 6 a.m. may feel delicious, but if you don’t get up until 7, the dull heaviness of kapha will have started to weigh you down. So waking at dawn, just before the birds, is ideal. That way you will start off the day in rhythm with nature’s light and will benefit from vata’s mobile, clear, ether like qualities.

Ayurveda encourages us to eat our primary meal in the middle of the day, when the fire of pitta dominates. Pitta supports our ability to digest all things—food, thoughts, and feelings. The digestion does its best work at midday. Eating latter in the day will make it more difficult for your body to process your meal. The same holds true for eating a big meal in the evening. Ayurveda recommends a light supper instead so your body can finish digesting your food long before bedtime.

At about 6 p.m. we move again from vata to kapha dosha. The same kapha energy—dull, slow, stable, heavy—that makes it difficult to wake up with ease after sunrise now supports our move into sleep. If you tune in, you will start to feel the body and mind’s fatigue and recognize your desire for a good night’s sleep.

At about 10 p.m., the pitta takes over from drowsy kapha. The body uses this four-hour period from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. to digest experiences, emotions, and any remaining food form earlier in the day, and to repair and renew itself. Because pitta is fiery and hot, if you fight through the drowsiness of kapha time and stay up too late, you will catch a second wind that will keep you up all hours of the night.

When you finally do doze off, staying asleep can be challenging because, as pitta time gives way to vata time, the doshic qualities become lighter, subtler, and more filled with movement. According to the ayuvedic clock, we start the process of “rising” around 2 a.m. If we continue with restlessness until dawn, we miss the benefits of sleep that support body, mind, and our deep vitality.

Aligning our hectic modern-day lives to the ayurvedic clock can prove challenging, to say the least, but making the effort can lead to a big pay-off. Many of today’s health problems—insomnia, heartburn, anxiety, and depression—are directly linked to the lack of balance in our lives. Staying in tune with our ayuveda clock will help restore balance and our good health.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                              And Ayurveda Consultant

The Skin is the first layer of Intelligence

 This is the time of season to really take care of your skin. The skin is a highly sensitive organ. If you are a Vata your skin is already dry, in the fall and early winter it becomes even drier. Giving yourself an oil massage with sesame oil every day before your shower will nourish and protect the skin. An average square inch of skin contains more that a thousand nerve endings, when something touches the skin, our consciousness is awakended and enlivened. When oil (pure oil, not lotions or baby oil) is absorbed into the skin, it dislodges toxins, which otherwise impede the flow of life force in our system. Most of us think the brain is the only place where intelligence and perception occur. This view devalues the innate intelligence of the body—the yogi’s vehicle on the path to stilling the consciousness. Intelligence can be cultivated in every cell of the body. The skin is our first layer of intelligence, and nerves in the skin feed information to the mind. A self-massage will stimulate and calm the nervous system, balance the Vata, which is very high in everyone this time of year, and enliven your consciousness.

The breath is also essential to rejuvenation, increasing our breath capacity brings in more life force to nourish the physical tissues of the body. As the nervous system becomes more confident there is ample breath, it relaxes. While regulating the breath is necessary for Vatas, inducing a calm state is healing to everyone’s cells, bodies, emotions, and thoughts, during this high Vata season.

How to do a self-oil massage: Start with your head Using the flat of your hand and fingers, massage the oil in vigorously. Cover your entire scalp with small circular strokes, as if you were shampooing. Move to your face and ears, massaging more gently. Gentle massage over the temples and backs of the ears is especially good for settling Vata dosha. Apply a little oil to your hands and massage your neck, front and back, then your shoulders. Use the flat of your palm and fingers.

            Vigorously massage your arms. Using a circular motion at the shoulders and elbows and long, back-and-forth motions on the long parts.

            It is important not to be too vigorous when you get to your trunk. Using large, gentle circular motions, massage the chest, stomach, and lower abdomen. Moving in a clockwise direction. A straight up-and-down motion is used over the breastbone.

            With oil on your arms reach around without straining to massage your back and spine—use up-and-down motions, or whatever you can do.

            Vigorously massage your legs as you did your arm—circular at ankles and knees, straight back-and-forth on the long parts.

            With the remaining bit of oil, vigorously massage your feet and toes.

            Washing off the oil: Keeping a thin, almost undetectable film of oil on the body is considered very beneficial for toning the skin, balancing Vata, and keeping the muscles warm during the day. Therefore, you should wash yourself with warm, not hot, water and mild soap.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

And Ayurveda Consultant

The mind is a mystery

Ayurveda can seem exotic. But in truth, resting deeply, eating healthful foods, following a regular schedule, moving at a gentle pace, stretching all our limbs, taking deep breaths, and limiting stimulation are all the basics of good health. (These are some of the things I lectured about at our yoga retreat; I will be posting those lectures for the next few weeks) There is nothing exotic about these practices. What is unusual is that we live in a society where we have to make an extra effort to practice them and resist the pressures that lead us to neglect self-care. Following the Ayurvedic and yogic techniques seems unfamiliar at first, but when you practice them, your body recognizes them. As modern Americans, we may have forgotten how to care for the human being, but Ayurveda remembers and can remind us of what we once knew.

The mind is the greatest of all mysteries. When unveiling this mystery, all mysteries are unveiled. The mind is the source of all misery and happiness. It is the source of both bondage and liberation. The more you know about your mind, the grater the mastery you will have over the world around you. Help your mind out with a Thai Therapy session.

I want to offer you a great deal. For all new Thai Therapy clients (never having received Thai Therapy before) the first person to schedule an appointment with me, receives their two-hour Thai session for $30. YES THIRTY BUCKS!!!!!! The next two people to schedule an appointment with me receives their Thai session for $40 the next 3 people to schedule an appointment receives their session for $50 and the next 4 people receive their session for $60 the regular price is $80

If you are a client (having received Thai Therapy before) you can still take advantage of this offer by buying a gift certificate for a friend or relative. AND!! As a thank you to my clients the first 4 people (those who have had Thai Therapy) to schedule an appointment, receives their Thai session for $20 off.

For those of you that are worried you have to be undressed for Thai Therapy, let me put your mind to rest. In Thai Therapy you are fully clothed (except for shoes and socks) in stretchy clothing.

Email me for your appointment at yogastrongtherapy@gmail.com

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

And Ayurveda Consultant

Thoughts fall away

Many of my Thai Yoga Therapy clients, and some, of my yoga students come to me with physical pain caused by emotional trauma. I know that the way to healing is through meditation; my job is to help them know that as well. Thai Yoga Therapy is a type of meditation, that’s why it is so effective. Most of my clients have minds that chatter, they get frustrated when they meditate because they can’t stop the chatter. They then loose patients for it and won’t try. The most important part of Thai Therapy treatment is the daily meditation. Even if you are not in Thai therapy treatment, you will find peace and wellness in meditation. Meditation takes you deeper and deeper inside yourself, until you reach that area untouched by illness. When you discover the silence in your mind; you no longer have to pay attention to all the random images that trigger worry, anger and pain.

 

I recommend that my clients meditate every day, they always do really well when I am there to guide them, but I can’t be there every day. I remembered, when I have a substitute for yoga, my yoga students would tell me that every time they were led into a pose by the substitute teacher, they could hear my voice in their head guiding them in that pose. How wonderful, I thought, if this same thing could happen for them during their meditation. I took this concern to my own meditation mat, and because silence is the birthplace of happiness, and where we get our bursts of inspiration. A new meditation was born. I call it “Thoughts Fall Away”

 

In my meditation I heard my Self (remember our true Self is our Soul) telling me to let my brain float. With each exhale I felt my brain float higher and become lighter. I felt myself go deeper and deeper into silence. This is the silence we want to bring into our awareness through meditation. After doing this for a few breaths, I felt my thought fall away. I felt my brain grab for the thoughts, and immediately heard my Self say “let them go for now, you can pick them up when you drift back, for now let’s rest”. This brought me back to my awareness. Now I knew, what my clients need, is to know how to let their brain rest. Now I know how I need to guide them.  Back at my meditation I let my brain float, every time I felt my brain grab for my thoughts I said to myself “let the thoughts fall away”. I gave my brain permission to let them go for now, and that it could pick them up when I drift back. On each exhale I said to my self “let the brain float”. As it became easier, when I felt my brain grab for my thoughts, I just said “rest”. I felt myself being led effortlessly and naturally to ever more subtle levels of my thinking. As I reminded myself to “rest” on each exhale, I began to seek still subtler levels of thought until eventually all thought was left behind. This is the place where the mind is actually learning to heal itself.  This is the place where meditation is taking you deeper and deeper inside yourself, until you reach the area untouched by illness.

 

I saw my self guiding my clients, and my students, knowing that if they heard me guide them in meditation often enough, they would hear my voice in there head every time they sat to meditate. I now start my Thai Therapy sessions, and end some of my yoga classes with a guided meditation.

You can try this meditation by following the outline above.

 

 

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                                 And Ayurveda Consultant

Loosen the grip of anxiety part two

Does stress leave you too anxious to eat or too lethargic to get off the couch? Using the ancient science of Ayurveda, you can determine your unique stress type and take skillful action to bring your body and mind back into balance.

For some people, worrying distracts them from getting anything done during the day, and insomnia keeps them up at night. Others become consumed by anger and blame their spouse, coworkers, and clients. As their stress mounts, so does their blood pressure. Still, others feel powerless to change anything. They stay home, snacking in front of the TV. Their lethargy leaves them with feelings of depression, and eventually leads to weight gain and aggravated respiratory problems.

In the West, we don’t usually dwell on the distinctions between our reactions to stress—we tend to focus on general coping solutions applicable to all, such as a hot bath, a long walk, or a day on the beach. But in the ancient Indian healing system of Ayurveda, stress reduction hinges on a complex understanding of each person. Since no two people handle stress the same way, everyone requires a different stress-relief strategy: what might work for Anne could aggravate Heidi, and what might work for Natalie could prove ineffective for Joe. Ayurveda provides specific lifestyle, dietary, herbal and yogic solutions for each individual that can not only diffuse tension but also help build a foundation for lasting peace of mind. Ayurvedic theory takes nearly every conceivable stress influence into consideration—from seasonal and planetary changes that effect our well-being to subtle bodily impurities that can precipitate disease.

It also sheds light on the thought patterns and physical tendencies that make stress either a constant stumbling block or a nonissue, depending on how well we understand ourselves. Ayurveda might seem like a lot to take in. but when it comes to managing stress, Ayurvedic concepts can be boiled down to a basic idea: trace stress back to its roots, then find lasting ways to change the patterns that cause it.

We often speak of stress in terms of the situations we find ourselves in—traffic jams, looming deadlines, getting laid off. But Ayurveda holds that stress actually originates in the mind. Our predominant dosha shapes who we are, what we look like, and how we think; it influences everything from our career choices to our favorite foods. For the purposes of stress management, our doshic imbalance can prove even more revealing. It’s not so much which dosha most shapes our constitution but rather which one is out of whack. Stress manifests itself in the body as a vata, pitta, or kapha imbalance, depending on the person. For instance, a person may have a strong kapha constitution, being grounded wise, stable, and compassionate. But at his worst, he may display a classic pitta imbalance, being irritable, judgmental, and quick-tempered. A pitta type might have a kapha imbalnce, becoming overly sentimental and possessive at times. A vata person who’s normally creative and lively might also have a vata imbalance, meaning she can become flighty, easily distracted, and prone to anxiety. Either way the imbalance governs how the person will respond to stress. Imbalance comes when you’re out of harmony, either with your own personal rhythm or that of nature. This can show up in the body as a condition like arthritis or in our emotions, such as jealousy or anger.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                                And Ayurveda Consultant

Loosen the grip of anxiety part one

It is an ordinary day. Perhaps you are at the office, walking down the street, or reading your email. All of a sudden, you think about a task you haven’t finished. Or you think about your friend who hasn’t called in several weeks, or your college roommate who is doing so well in his law practice (much better than you!), or about the fact that you have to give a presentation tomorrow. Suddenly, your shoulders seize up. Your neck tightens. Maybe your breath constricts or your belly starts to hurt. The tendrils of anxiety—that most modern of afflictions—have wound themselves around your body and mind like the arms of an octopus. And if you are like the rest of us you think it is…. normal.

Anxiety is often so ingrained in the body and nervous system that we live with it for years without noticing how much it drives us. Anxious people often have real worries. That’s why merely telling yourself “there’s nothing to worry about” usually won’t help you feel less anxious. Instead, it’s much more useful to own your anxiety—to observe its patterns, to look at what might be setting it off, and then to find ways to work with it.

It’s only when you are willing to bring consciousness to your anxiety—to pay attention to the bodily sensation it brings, the thoughts that trigger it—that you can begin to learn from it.

Anxiety is mostly about the future. The woman who is worrying about her upcoming mammogram is not actually sick. She’s anxious about something the doctor might discover. The man whose palms sweat when the flight takes off is just anticipating that something might happen to the plane. If you keep nourishing your anxiety by letting worry feed on itself, your anxiety becomes like a motor with no off button.

The first step to loosening the grip anxiety has on your body and mind, is simply to become aware of it. See if you can become aware of how anxiety feels in your physical body. What part of you tightens when you feel nervous? Do you hunch your shoulders? Does your throat get constricted? How about your lower back? The next time you notice these physical symptoms, notice what kind of mental dialogue you are having with yourself.

In the process of working through anxiety in the present moment, you can, eventually become familiar with the sensation, thoughts, and emotions that trigger your habitual anxiety. It often takes a while even to be able to pick up on the physical sensations and to recognize the negative thoughts. But when you practice with your habitual reactions to anxiety, its tendrils will start to dissolve. Your shoulder will become more relaxed, your inner dialogue will become kinder, and your emotions will be less reactive.

Nancy Adams Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                            And Ayurveda Consultant 

Yoga’s Many Benefits

Whatever your age or current physical state, yoga can improve your overall health. Moving your body, focusing your mind and opening your soul on the yoga mat transforms your life off the mat. Yoga's many benefits include stress management, breathing efficiency; awareness, bone strength, and improved posture just to name a few. Yoga is not only for the young and flexible—yoga poses can be modified to suit every body type and level of ability. In fact, studies have found that 2.9 million American yogis are 55 or older.

Stress management: Yoga quells the fluctuations of the mind; it slows down the mental loops of frustration, regret, anger, fear, and desire that can cause stress. Since stress is implicated in so many health problems—from migraines and insomnia to lupus, MS, eczema, high blood pressure, and heart attacks—if you learn to quiet your mind, you’ll be likely to live longer and healthier.

Breathing efficiency: Yogis tend to take fewer breaths of greater volume, which is both calming and more efficient. A 1998 study published in The Lancet taught a yogic technique known as “a complete breathing” to people with lung problems due to congestive heart failure. After a month, their average respiratory rate decreased from 13.4 breaths per minute to 7.6. Meanwhile, their exercise capacity increased significantly. As did the oxygen saturation of their blood. In addition, yoga has been shown to improve various measures of lung function, including the maximum volume of the breath and the efficiency of the exhalation. Yoga also promotes breathing through the nose, which filters the air, warms it (cold, dry air is more likely to trigger an asthma attack in people who are sensitive), and humidifies it, removing pollen and dirt and other things you’d rather no take into your lungs.

Awareness: Yoga increases feelings of compassion and interconnection by calming the nervous system and the mind. It also increases your ability to step back from drama or your own live, to remain steady in the face of bad news or unsettling events. You can still react quickly when you need to but you can take the split second to choose a more thoughtful approach, reducing suffering for yourself and others.

Bone strength: It’s well documented that weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and helps ward off osteoporosis. Many postures in yoga require that you lift you own body weight. And some, like Downward-and Upward-Facing Dog, help strengthen the arm bones, which are particularly vulnerable to osteoporotic fractures. In an unpublished study conducted at California State University, Los Angeles. Yoga practice increased bone density in the vertebrae. Yoga’s ability to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol may help keep calcium in the bones.

Improved posture:  Regularly practicing yoga increases the ability to feel what your body is doing, where it is in space, and improves balance. People with bad posture of or dysfunctional movement patterns usually knee problems and back pain. Better balance could mean fewer falls. For the elderly, this translates into more independence and delayed admission to a nursing home or never entering on at all. For the rest of us, postures like Tree Pose can make us feel less wobbly on and off the mat.

Nancy Adams Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                            And Ayurveda Consultant 

Skillfully Take on whatever Life brings

Yoga is not about stretching it’s about consciousness. Yoga techniques, whether they focus on body, breath, or brain, seek to cultivate an expansive, quiet state of mind. When we practice the main thing on our mind is often the intense sensation of the stretch, it can be hard to get beyond that to experience the postures as anything more than physical exercise aimed at wrestling an uncooperative body into unusual positions. But you are awakening your ability to feel what’s happening in your body, heart, and mind.

Awareness becomes more refined; it can guide you in all areas of your life. You begin to observe which foods make you feel best, which work you find most fulfilling, which people bring you joy—and which ones have the opposite effects.

In the high-stress environment the fight or flight response is triggered over and over and becomes chronic. Meditation is mindfulness and will help you process this agitation; part of the processing happens simply by holding what is called a spacious mindfulness. To create this state, you must first recognize the way anxiety feels in you body. As you breathe, tune in to the way it feels in your muscles, the different sensations it creates. Once you recognize it, you can practice releasing stress on the exhalation. As you do this, talk to yourself, coach yourself by saying, “it’s ok” “let go a little” don’t feel that you need to get rid of your anxiety all at once. Release little by little.

When it comes to transforming your own response to stress, it’s tempting to search for that one pose or breathing exercise that will work its magic. But there isn’t one magic pose. The process is a gradual exploration rather than an easy solution.

When fear comes up ask the fear what it wants then listen to what it has to say to you. Tell the fear that you know it is trying to protect you, and that you appreciate this, but that you would like it to back of a bit for now. Then sit in meditation a little longer. When you soften the fear and treat it kindly—not trying to get rid of it—you make space for fear to relax.

If you’re practicing yoga every day, you’re preparing for what life brings. You don’t have to have a strategy for what yoga technique you’ll use in a difficult situation. When challenges arrive, they will begin to flow through but not overwhelm you. You’re not so caught up in the stress of it, but you’re present for it.

This is the real story of how yoga can help you manage stress. It doesn’t just provide ways to burn through stress or escape from it. It doesn’t only offer stress-reduction techniques for anxious moments. It goes deeper, transforming how the mind and body intuitively respond to stress. Just as the body can learn a new standing pose that eventually becomes ingrained, so can the mind learn new thought patterns, and the nervous system can learn new ways of reacting to stress. The result:? When you roll up your mat and walk out the studio, you can more skillfully take on whatever life brings.

Nancy Adams Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                              And Ayurveda Consultant  

The First Spiritual Law of Yoga Pure Potentiality

At the core of your being you are pure awareness. This realm of pure awareness is the domain of all possibilities and underlies creativity in all its forms. Pure consciousness is your spiritual essence and the source of your joy in life. The realm of pure potentiality is the home of knowledge, intuition, balance, harmony, and bliss.

The silent ever-present witness is your true Self. The experience of the Self, or self-referral, means that your internal reference point is your soul rather than the objects of your experience. The opposite of self-referral is object-referral. In object-referral, you are influenced by what is happening outside the Self, which includes situations, circumstances, people, and things. In object-referral, you need and therefore are constantly seeking the approval of others in order to feel comfortable and worthy. Because in object-referral your thoughts and behavior are always in anticipation of a response, it is a fear-based state of being.

The ego is your internal reference in the state of object-referral. The ego, is not who you really are. Rather it is your social mask, the role you are playing. At one moment you play the role of a friend, in the next the antagonist. You play the role of child in the presence of your parents and the role of the parent when you are with your children. You play one role when speaking with you supervisor and another with those you supervise.

Your social mask thrives on approval, strives to control, and is sustained by power.

But you true Self, your soul, is completely free of the things your mind is telling you. It is immune to criticism, fears no challenge, and feels neither beneath nor above anyone.

During the practice of yoga, the Law of Pure Potentiality reminds us that every movement emerges from the silent field of infinite possibility, the more powerful the silence, the more effective the movement. Every movement is a vibration, a wave on the ocean of life. The deeper the connection to the depths of the ocean, the more powerful is the wave that arises.

                                   Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                               And Ayurveda Consultant

Reminding you how to Balance the Kapha

Kapha people tend to be loyal, grounded, and patient. Their inner sense of stability and contentment shows up as compassion and warmth toward others. In a state of imbalance,   kapha’s becomes stubborn, lethargic, and possessive. A kapha person likes to go slow and steady, and prefers any life changes to happen slowly as well.

Those with a kapha imbalance need to be careful to monitor their quantity of food. Stress is a vibration. Kaphas try to deal with this vibration by adding volume—essentially gaining weight to handle stress. It’s an intuitively wise approach, but it gets them into trouble. Light, slightly heating, spicy, and astringent foods will help balance kapha, as these add the elements of heat and mobility to this dosha. Pungent and bitter vegetables (artichokes, eggplant, broccoli) will invite movement. In general, kaphas should avoid nuts, which add heaviness, and sweets.

Kaphas need exercise that is both strenuous and heat producing. The kapha-imbalnced person often finds vigorous physical activity challenging and unpleasant, despite the fact that it will actually reduce stress in the long run.

Whether we have a vata, pitta, or kapha imbalance greatly influences the course we take to address overall stress. Adjustments that work for one dosha, might leave the others more aggravated than before. Harmony and balance aren’t fixed ideas; our achievement of these often lasts only but a moment. The good news is that guided by Ayurveda, we can choose to meet life’s challenges consciously and from on place or strength, rather than being at the mercy of our weaknesses. 

Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                           And Ayurveda Consultant

Reminding you how to Balance the Pitta

For those with a pitta imbalance, stress tends to appear as shades of anger. Extremely focused, driven, and goal-orientated, pitta types become easily stressed in situations they can’t control. Their natural alertness, intelligence, and perseverance that they use to achieve their ambitions can turn caustic when pitas become imbalanced or under stress, resulting in sharp words and health problems such as ulcers, and inflamed skin. Their fiery natures make them prone to outbursts and criticism, as well as migraines to burning hands and feet.

To address this eat a pitta-pacifying diet that favors cooling foods, such as cucumbers and watermelon, rather than spicy, salty foods that will only fan the fire. Melons, dates, and other fresh, sweet, juicy fruits will balance pitta. Cranberries, grapefruit, and tart fruits in general will aggravate it. Pitas benefit from eating most vegetables as long as they avoid pungent or acidic foods, like tomatoes, chili peppers, and radishes.

Pitas should try not to create more heat in the body when they exercise. And avoid exerting themselves at the peak-heat time of midday.

Pitta-imbalanced people can sustain longer sessions of meditation, provided they don’t get overheated in the process. Cool down with alternate nasal breathing by closing your right nostril and inhaling and exhaling through the left, switch side closing your left nostril and inhaling and exhaling through the right. Repeat this 6 to 8 times.

Make sure to meditate daily, do your daily self-oil massage, and yoga along with the dosha pacifying diet. This can help to bring balance to any or all of the dosha’s.

See my earlier posts on balancing each of the dosha’s for more information.

Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                             And Ayurveda Consultant

Reminding you how to Balance the Vata

So how do we know when we have an imbalance? It’s good to find an Ayurvedic consultant some times if you try to reduce stress using an incorrect diagnosis you could make matters worse. But, doshic imbalances do have certain general mental and physical symptoms, which we often can recognize in ourselves. Under stress, those with a vata imbalance tend to be climbing the walls and making imappropriate comments, speaking without thinking. Those with a pitta imbalance exhibit excessive acidity, anger, skin conditions, and high blood pressure. Those with a kapha imbalance will eat until they become rotund.

I’m going to give you some common stress reactions—and solutions—for each doshic imbalance. Starting with the vata.

Vata’s who are highly creative, quick thinkers at their best, when imbalanced can have difficulty settling down long enough to actualize their visions. They’re prone to distractions, free-floating fear, and worry this state of mental agitation leads to a variety of physical symptoms, including weight loss, teeth grinding, insomnia, and constipation. Vata-imbalanced people can actually find their stress subdued by calm, quiet, grounded activity.

If you have a vata imbalance, you need to be eating food that are grounding, warm, and soothing, and avoiding cold, raw foods like salads. Dry, light food like popcorn aggravate the vata. Heavy, high-quality milk products, rice, nuts, and warming herbs, like ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom, will help calm vata’s nature.

As much as vatas like movement, they should be mindful of their exercise choices. Vatas need to calm down, slow down. They are usually just stuck in the mind. They need to take the body along, doing exercise that brings them inward. A slower more restorative yoga class is best for them. This helps ground this dosha and alleviates stress.

Meditation provides immense benefit for calming vata, though sitting presents a challenge to those constantly in motion. Adding elements such as soft music or a guided meditation CD will help get a vata to that quiet place.

Remember to do a self massage with sesame oil before showering and on the soles of your feet before bed, this also helps bring excess vata into balance.

                                              Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                            And Ayurveda Consultant

Late fall and early winter aggravate Vata

I know it seems early to be talking about fall but it will be here before we know it. And with the weather so messed up, sometimes we get chilly winds and cold weather early in the year. We live in a vata-infested world; we are over worked, move to quickly, are Erratic/compulsive, to intense, and are living in our head. Any or all of these things will cause an imbalance in the system, mostly to the Vata. But that is not all; change in the season or in the weather can also cause an imbalance in the vata. 

          

As the cool chill of winter descends, do you find yourself more anxious, flighty, or forgetful than usual? It could be that your vata dosha is out of balance. The most likely of the doshas to slip out of balance in any season, vata is especially prone to aggravation during fall and early winter, when nature delivers an abundance of vatalike qualities in the form of blustery winds, cool temperatures, and dry air.

Composed of the elements air and space, vata is the subtlest of the three doshas. Travel, weather changes, insufficient sleep, fragmented schedules, and excessive mental or sensory stimulation of any kind can all challenge vata’s stability.

Vata is in charge of all movement in the body and mind. It enables our fluids to flow, our nerve impulses to fire, our thoughts to process, and our wastes to pass. Vata keeps all of our systems going and contributes to great vitality.

Because of the vata’s association with the nervous system, its state is often reflected in our mental health. When vata is in balance, we tend to be enthusiastic, imaginative, funny, quick to learn, and spiritually minded. But the excess vata of late fall and early winter can leave us susceptible to feeling more fearful, scattered, or worried than usual. Physically, pain is the most obvious indication of excess vata; other common signs are variable appetite, insomnia, dry skin, and constipation.

Keep a nurturing lifestyle, stick to a daily routine, scheduling in more down time than usual. Aim for lights out by 10 and get a full eight hours sleep.

Prepare warm, moist foods and sit sown to eat at regular times. Sweet, sour, and salty tastes calm vata. Cooked whole grains, root veggies, and savory soups are good dietary mainstays.

A few times a week, perform a full-body massage with warm oil, to nourish and protect the skin, a highly vata-sensitive organ.

Moderate, consistent exercise regulates vata’s mobile nature. In your yoga practice, include simple seated forward bends, and some supported back bends. If you’re feeling over stimulated or fatigued, do restorative posed to encourage deep relaxation.

                                    Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                And Ayurveda Consultant

Unlearning Chronic Pain, Part Two

 Your mind and body have build-in healing responses that are just as powerful as their protective pain and stress responses. Whether it’s a meditation on gratitude, a relaxation pose that puts the body and mind at ease, or a breathing exercise that strengthens the flow of energy in your body. Another exercise I like really well is called breathing the whole body—they all share the benefit of bringing you back to your natural sense of well-being.

Gratitude meditation: This is one of my favorites and my students like it as well. Sit quietly, quickly bring to mind every thing that you are grateful for (spouse flowers, talents,) set a timer for five minutes before you start if you run out of things to be grateful for, start over.

Relaxation Pose: When I ask my students what their favorite relaxation pose is, most of them will say legs up the wall. This is just what it says: Scoot your butt up to the wall swing your legs up the wall and rest for 10 minutes.

Breathing exercise: The best breathing exercise for strengthening the flow of energy is “breath of fire” take a deep breath in inhale and exhale quickly until you are out of breath then start over. Do this four to six times to energize your body.

Breathing the whole body: You will want to lie down for this one. Place your hands on your belly. Notice the belly rise and fall, and notice the breath moving in and out of your body. Imagine that you can inhale and exhale through different parts of your body—as if your nostrils were moved to that part of the body. Start with your feet. Imagine the breath entering your body through the soles of your feet, and exiting through the soles of your feet. Feel the energy in your feet as you breath. Repeat this visualization for other parts of your body: Your lower legs, knees, and upper legs. Your hips, lower back, middle back, and upper back. Your belly and chest. Your shoulders, upper arms, elbows, lower arms, hands. Your neck. Your forehead and the crown of your head. When you get to the area that feels tense, uncomfortable, or painful, don’t skip it. There are several things you can try that may make you feel more comfortable. First, stay with the visualization and direct the breath right at the sensations of discomfort or pain. Imagine that the breath is dissolving or massaging the tension and pain. Imagine the solidity of the tension or pain softening. Find the space inside the pain. Second, try moving your attention back and forth between the uncomfortable area and the comfortable area. For a few breaths, breathe into the painful area; for the next few breaths, breathe into another area, switching back and forth like this can teach the mind how to give the uncomfortable sensations less priority. You are practicing a healthy kind of distraction: intentionally shifting your focus while still being present in your body. When you have worked your way through the whole body, let yourself feel the breath enter the body through your nose, mouth, and throat. Imagine the sensation of breathing through your whole body, as if the were gently expanding as you inhale and contracting as you exhale. Feel, or imagine, the flow of energy through your whole body.

Consistent relaxation practice teaches the mind and body how to rest in a sense of safety rather than chronic emergency.

                                    Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                And Ayurveda Consultant

Unlearning Chronic Pain

People tell me all the time that their doctor tells them “your pain is in your mind”. Chronic pain is in your mind. That doesn’t mean the experience of pain is not real. For year’s doctors thought that pain could be caused only by damage to the structure of the body. They looked for the source of chronic pain in bulging spinal discs, muscle injuries, and infections. However there is a second source of chronic pain, the very real biology of your thoughts, emotions, expectations, and memories. Chronic pain starts with a trauma of some sort, and is sustained by how that initial trauma changes not just the body but the also the mind-body relationship. Knowing this is good news. It means that trying to fix the body with surgeries, pain medications, or physical therapy is not your only hope. By first understanding chronic pain as a mind body experience and then using Ayurveda’s toolbox of healing practices—including breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, Thai Yoga Therapy, and a dosha balancing diet—you can find relief from pain and begin to reclaim your life.

Here are the basic steps of the pain response: sensation, stress, and suffering. The protective pain response begins when the body experiences some physical threat (trauma), such as a cut, a burn, or an inflamed muscle. This threat is detected by specialized nerves and sent through the spinal cord and up to the brain. Where, among other things, the threat signals are transformed into pain sensations. Emotion-processing areas of the brain also get the message, triggering a wide range of reactions, from fear to anger. Combined, your thoughts and emotions about the physical sensations of pain make up the suffering component of the full pain experience.

An emergency stress response triggers a cascade of physiological changes that give you the energy and focus to protect yourself from life-threatening danger. Even after the threat is gone, the pain response is not over. The mind and body are very interested in making sure you know how to protect yourself from this threat in the future. So the nervous system begins the process of learning from this experience. Any kind of injury or illness, even one that is short-lived or appears to be fully healed, can change the way the nervous system processes pain.

Through the repeated experience of pain, the nervous system gets better at detecting threat and producing the protective pain response. So unfortunately, in the case of chronic pain, learning from experience and getting “better” at pain means more pain.

Learning from past experience are the memories of the body and mind that influence how we experience the present moment. Memories of the body and mind keep you stuck, felling the same emotions, thinking the same thoughts, and even experiencing the same pain. Memories of the body and mind do not always lead to suffering—they also lead to positive change. Just as trauma, illness, pain, and stress leave traces on the body and mind, so do positive experiences. What you practice, you become.

Learning is lifelong, and none of the changes you’ve learned have to be permanent. Your mind and body have learned how to “do” chronic pain, and your job is to teach it something new.

Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                           And Ayurveda consultant

It’s “corny” but true

I feel like I should write something about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In Ayurveda we talk a lot about diet, and how some foods that are good for Pittas are not so good for a Kapha. And if they are good for a Kapha they may not be so good for a Vata. And so on. I also encourage you to stay within your dosha diet because you will feel better.  HFCS IS NOT GOOD FOR ANY OF THE DOSHAS!! I believe HFCS is the sole reason why there are so many obese children in the US today. The TV commercials would have you believe that it is no worse than sugar. And even try to imply that it is somehow 'natural', with this phrase: "It's made from corn, has no artificial ingredients, has the same calories as sugar and is okay to eat in moderation” High-fructose corn syrup starts out as cornstarch, which is chemically or enzymatically degraded to glucose and some short polymers of glucose. Another enzyme is then used to convert varying fractions of glucose into fructose. High fructose corn syrup just doesn’t exit in nature. The deceptive advertisments by the Corn Refiners Association have basically been LYING to you with their propaganda that "HFCS is no worse for you than sugar".                                         

In terms of your health and your waistline, neither one is good for you. Over time, with excess consumption of either HFCS or sugar, they can both lead to diabetes, obesity, and other mayor health problems, including premature aging, and a bulging belly! My husband and I avoid HFCS at all costs and we use a minimal amount of organic sugar. This is not easy HFCS is in EVERYTHING. Ketchup, Mayo, Ice Cream, Ice Cream toppings Soda Pop, the list goes on. If you buy it, it probably has HFCS. We read the labels; you can find the things you want with out HFCS it just takes time (accept ice cream topping, so we make it). They probably still have sugar but I still think sugar is better for you than HFCS. The two things that I avoid like the plaque are HFCS and hydrogenated oils. They are the food additives that cause the most damage from a biochemical standpoint internally in your body.

Even though both sugar and HFCS are bad for you I avoid HFCS more because your body DOES NOT know how to process HFCS.

Princeton researchers found that rats given water sweetened with HFCS gained significantly more weight than those given water sweetened with plain sugar, despite calorie intake being the same between both groups. According to professor Bart Hoebel, “When rats are drinking HFCS at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese—every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.

I hope I have given you food for thought, for you to at least try to fully avoid HFCS from now on. Knowing this, why in the world would you ever want to touch another soda again! This doesn’t mean eating loads of table sugar is good for you either. When I make a treat for Gary and I it is always made with all wholesome foods (so they must be good you, right? That’s what Gary says as he is eating his fourth cookie). But, a cookie is still a cookie. So take it easy.

                            Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                            And Ayurveda consultant