Tadasana – Finding Roots to Reach Great Heights

As the new year is quickly moving along take a minute to remember new goals and aspirations.  A Mountain can symbolize an ascent towards a goal one wants to attain.  Use Tadasana (Mountain Pose) as  way to reground, recenter, and remember.

Tadasana begins first by rooting into the earth below our feet and then reaching upward. 

• Stand with your feet hip width apart
• Feel the four corners of your feet — the ball of your foot and your heel 
• Ground your feet as if you are rooting towards the center of the earth
• Lift upwards as if feeling yourself wrap your muscles around your bones
• Place your arms at your side or in prayer position
• Breathe

In Tadasana your muscles should be active.  Take care to ensure your knees are not locked.  Find your Tadasana.

Hmmm…Walking & Eating

Ever wonder whether eating a cinnamon roll while walking cancels out the calories of the roll?  Afterall, walking is exercise.

According to Calorie King a small, frosting-free cinnamon roll has 223 calories, which is easily burned in 62 minutes of walking or just 26 minutes of jogging!

Finding Balance

It begins with breath…

Using Vrksasana (Tree Pose) to find balance is a great place to start.

• Begin in Tadasana (Mountain Pose) with your feet rooting towards the center of the earth, imagine wrapping your muscles around all the bones in your body, activating your core.  Place your hands in prayer position. 
• In Tadasana, find your breath — slow, steady inhales and exhales through your nose.
• Find a fixed gaze in front of you.
• Begin to pour your weight into your left foot while slowly “walking” your right foot up your leg until your foot is planted on your left thigh.
• With your gaze fixed and breath steady, hold the pose.  Should you lose your balance, come completely out of the pose and start over.
• Repeat on the opposite side.

For more of a challenge, raise your hands overhead or close your eyes.  Practice Vrksasana while standing on a sofa cushion. 

As your balance gets better, start to link balancing poses together. 

I find that when I feel a bit out of whack, stopping to do Vrksasana creates balance in my otherwise chaotic life.

New Breast Cancer Planner

Every now in then we are faced with a life we did not plan.  Cancer has a way of being one of those stumbling blocks.  When Julie Grimm was diagnosed with breast cancer, she took a vacation from her regular work to concentrate on healing.  What she found in doing so was not only a healing of body, but of mind and spirit.  During the months of chemotherapy she designed and developed a planner so specific to breast cancer it will guide any woman through diagnosis and treatment.  For Julie, this was her way to give back.

The Definition of Courage

Last year I received one of the most devastating phone calls.  I learned that one of my dear friend’s best friends had lost her husband and two of their three children in the Haiti earthquake.  In the aftermath of heartache Emily created the Kenbe La Foundation.  Kenbe La means “Never Give Up” in Haitian Creole.  She exemplifies courage and grit and embodies love.  The Kenbe La Foundation provides educational opportunities to disadvantaged children in Haiti.  To find out more click here.

I am not my cancer!

Somehow picking on the bald babe with no boobs is just plain taboo!  I went along thinking everyone thought I was strong and capable.  So much so I believed it, too, and maybe that’s what got me through cancer quickly and relatively painlessly. 

But now that it is over, it is not forgotten.  I have to check the box “cancer” in health questionnaires.  Anytime medical conditions come up it’s all about cancer all over again. 

I am no more defined by the cancer I had than I was by the boobs I no longer have or the short spiky red hair I currently have.

I am a woman and I am strong.