The things you absolutely must do: read here…

(via justhungry.com)

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

(buddha)

First of all I love the name of this company, and I love what it represents! Organic cotton tees with positive sayings…what better way to spread love! Positivitee.com

I love the energy these pieces bring…and they are eco-friendly!

Made by Dinosaur Designs. Love everything on their site!!

If one of your resolutions for the New Year is to take better care of yourself, may I suggest that you start with your feet? Your feet are the key to balance and alignment, to feeling grounded and to leaping to great heights. Since we know that body and mind are one, I’ll let you play with the metaphor. Meanwhile, here are a few excellent ways to attend to your feet – on the go, at rest, and as focused exercises.

Stretch: sit on your heals, with the toes tucked under and the weight on the balls of the feet. The more you allow the weight to fall towards the big toe and the torso to sit upright atop the heals, the greater the stretch. Be prepared for intense sensations if you haven’t done anything of the sort recently! Stay as long as you can bear it, breathing deeply and keeping your focus parallel to the floor and your peripheral vision wide. When you need to rest, un-tuck your toes and sit back on the heals again, stretching out the front of the foot. Alternate like this for 2-5 minutes (or more if you so desire : ), keeping the focus and the relaxed breath as you change from the one position to the other. You can do this as part of a stretching routine (recommended), but you can also do it while watching TV or a DVD.

Massage: You’ve probably all rubbed your feet with your hands at least once: do it often! Use your elbows, too – if you sit cross-legged on the floor, or in a chair with one leg crossed over the other, the elbows can be used to drop a lot more weight than the hands, and they can give your hard-working hands a break. The key to releasing tension in the feet is not so much kneeding as it is focused pressure and traction. Think of stretching the bones of the feet and toes apart, and circle the joints of the ankles and the toes to lubricate their movement. If you have bunions, do extra some extra stretching for the big toe. And tennis balls and foot rollers are always good props. Keep one under your desk or kitchen table and roll the foot out while sitting.

Walking Meditation: Since us New Yorkers have the priviledge of walking so much, and since we love to multi-task, here is something to do while transporting yourself from place to place. First of all, keep your focus parallel to the ground (vs. dropped) and your peripheral vision wide. Move your head around every once in a while to make sure it’s not stuck in any one place. Allow your internal focus to drop down to your feet and notice the texture of the ground – how hard or soft is it? How bouncy? Then choose a texture and imagine you are walking on it: i.e. dry sand (I’m headed to the beach right after this!), wet grass, melting snow (unless you’re by the beach like me, perhaps this one doesn’t require as much imagination these days : ), etc. Notice how your feet respond to the suggestion! Switch it up, don’t get stuck on any one texture too long, and then come back to trying to feel what the ground you are walking on “really” feels like.

This blog is the weekly tip of the month from Force and Flow Integrated Body Work, in Brooklyn NY.

I am going to start introducing 1 new spice/herb/oil a week to you all.  The best things for your well being come from Mother Earth, let’s learn more about them! This week I want to highlight one of my favorite spices…TURMERIC!  It is a natural liver detoxifier, prevents cancer, and is said to prevent Alzheimer’s disease by removing amyloyd plaque buildup in the brain. It is a natural anti-inflammatory, and has been long used in Asian medicine to treat depression. Turmeric also speeds up recovery of damaged skin including acne, psoriasis, and melanoma.

You can find turmeric in several different forms….It’s the orangey-yellow stuff you find in curry powder. In its original form it looks like an orange tinted ginger root. It is also available in capsule form as a dietary aid. I prefer to use it fresh in cooking cause it just tastes so good…It mixes nicely with cinnamon, creating a sweet tang flavor for your dishes. Toss vegetables or potatoes in turmeric, cinnamon, sea salt and olive oil or coconut oil, roast, and yummmm easy, delicious and most important HEALTHY dish.  Boiled in hot water, by itself or add ginger, lemon, and cilantro, you can make a turmeric tea to ward off any evil colds coming on. Boil turmeric down to a paste and you can apply to skin as a mask which cleanses, tones, and detoxifies the skin, and adds a beautiful glow. (WARNING, your skin will be yellow tinted if you have light colored skin, so do this at night, rinse with milk and then wash as normal in the morning) DON’T DO THIS BEFORE A HOT DATE OR JOB INTERVIEW…LOL.

Find some recipes and tonics here, and enjoy this new discovery!

Ohhh how I wanted to sleep in this morning. But I know that the earlier I wake up, the more I can accomplish. What are you going to do with your day today?

“The journey of one thousand miles is done by the simple step, one step. You cannot take two steps at one time. Step after step, just a single step can be stretched to ten thousand miles or to infinity.” (osho)

While we all would love to own delicious, expensive body scrubs from Sabon, Origins, and the likes, you can make your own delicious body scrub for pennies. A few different recipes are listed here, courtesy of tipnut.com:

Recipe #1 – Brown Sugar Scrub

1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of almond oil
1/4 cup of liquid Ivory hand soap
1/4 tsp of vanilla

Recipe #2 – Lemon Sugar Scrub

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 TBS lemon zest (grated)

Recipe #3 – Lavender & Rosewood Scrub

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup almond oil
1/2 tsp vitamin E
6 drops rosewood essential oil
4 drops lavender essential oil

Recipe #4 – Coffee & Brown Sugar Scrub

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
3 TBS fresh coffee grounds
5 tsp almond oil
5 tsp jojoba oil
2 tsp honey
1 tsp vitamin E
1 tsp vanilla

Recipe #5 – Tea Sugar Scrub

2 cups white sugar
1 cup honey
2 TBS tea
5 drops vanilla

Recipe #6 – Yogurt Sugar Scrub

3 TBS baby oil
1 TBS yogurt
1 TBS white sugar

Directions:

• Mix ingredients and use as a body scrub/exfoliator.

These can make great inexpensive, homemade gifts for the holidays too!