Doing Yoga While Grocery Shopping

I heard a story about a man who was lost at sea in a raft for nearly 3 months. He was able to catch all the fish he wanted, and he ate it raw. After some time he could not get himself to eat anymore of the fish meat, but other parts were starting to look good to him. The man started eating the skin of the fish, the eyes, the liver, and other internal organs.
There is only so much nutrition in just the meat of the fish, not enough to keep a person alive. So at this desperate point of survival this guy’s brain was telling him where the vitamins and minerals were that he needed. Something made the fish eyes and raw liver look good; the mind was telling the body what it needed to survive without him being aware of it.
A new way of grocery shopping can come from this story, we can call it yoga shopping. I know it sounds weird to try this, but I bet you end up with a much lower grocery bill. Next time you go to the grocery store do not go on your usual route through the store. Walk around for a bit and see if you can connect with the right sensations with the food you pick. If it doesn’t seem right, put it back! Organic Ice Cream might work because we need the calcium, your body might be craving the proteins meat has to offer, but remember to grab these items because it feels right, not because old ways of shopping and thinking are telling you to select it.
Also don’t grab anything just because it is faster and easier to cook, make the cooking part of the meal just as nourishing for you as the eating part. Add the little extra touches that seem right to add and make each meal a special treat, and remember to cook and eat with awareness. No television, magazines, or newspapers.

My body eating itself..

I watched a show on the Discovery Channel last night about the human brain being pushed to its limits. It was a great show because it made the complex physiology understandable for everyone. It helped me understand what my body and mind were going through at the end of last year when I decided starving myself was better then going to the hospital over and over and getting CAT scans, tubes up my nose, needles stuck everywhere, and worst dealing with doctors. Even though it was not the smart choice somehow I decided not eating was the best way for me to survive. My mind went into emergency mode and decided that I was going to still get my nutrients, but it was by consuming my own body. It started eating what little fat I had and went on to breaking apart the proteins in my body by taking the nutrition from my muscles. This went on until the start of 2008 when I stepped on a scale and it showed I was at a weight that I haven’t seen since I was around 12 years old. I had to face what was happening.
Thank God I decided that I am not ready to die and that my body living off itself was not the answer. When I started eating again food that was making me sick became healthy pleasures that my body soaked up. New items like organic yogurt smoothies have become part of my everyday life while yoga and exercise have built my muscle back. It is amazing how we can go into these survival modes when things hit the worst of times and we think it is all over. I am reminded of Deepak Chopra’s words about how are life is like the weather. Sometimes there are terrible storms with major devastation and destruction that takes place. But we can trust one thing about the storm; it will come to an end. We will rebuild from the worst of storms while getting to enjoy some sunshine.

Feeling Our Restrictions

When I look at the actions I make that are still not good for my health, I let my ego step in and tell myself I will change and improve taking away the feelings I had for a second about not choosing something good for myself. As soon as I told myself I would change I am more at ease without ever having to feel the sensations brought on by my original thought.
I’m learning recently that an important factor in actually keeping my health is to let go of my ego wanting to make everything better and just spend some time being aware of my unhealthy ways. I let the feelings of what I am doing sink in while looking at how my automatic choices are destructive and keeping me from a strong healthy life. At this time I will not make any choices to change, but I will just let my body feel the restrictions.
It seems like this would be easier then telling myself that I will take action and change, but it’s the opposite way with me. Just being aware and accepting my faults let me face my demons without my tough ego making up excuses. I get the chance to see how these demons or bad habits are keeping me from being where I want to be. Once it sinks in deep I can start to look at all the different choices that are available to me, the healthy choices.

Do I really accept?

I have been doing some deep thinking on the thought of acceptance for the reason that there has been something about accepting that has been bothering me for several months now. I believe I can take responsibility for my actions or even for my condition at a point in time, but I am not sure I can say I accept where I am. I can’t accept but am willing to take responsibility almost sounds moronic now that I type it out and look at it. Instead I see my ego getting in the way of me thinking I don’t accept a certain situation when deep down I must have if I am taking steps to change things around. Maybe I don’t like the situation I am in, but I do accept it so I can make my life better.
Part of dealing with acceptance is to spend time witnessing and becoming aware of the restrictions that are going on in our bodies. As I was doing this I started to realize that my biggest restriction is not about bad habits or toxins I take into my life, but is about a fear I have. It is the fear of becoming a successful person, a person actually able to support myself and a family. Too many times my health destroyed any success I was gaining that I’m not sure I can accept the thought that yes I can be a successful person and what has happened in the past is just that, the past. I feel like I can take steps to move in the direction of success, but not sure I can accept it. Yes I can see how that sounds dumb, but it is the way I feel right now. Should I look at my ego to see if that has anything to do with it? No, maybe just all my experiences added up have let itself become this real thought of not being able to accept success and happiness.
So how can I change this way of thinking? The change actually becomes a lot easier now because of my most powerful tool, awareness. Now that I am aware of my fear I can start to let myself change my views. I can take things one step at a time instead of trying to look ahead at the big picture that scares me, and then as my new experiences change, so will my reality.

Video - Commit to Freedom

I was playing around with making a video yesterday based on

The Chopra Center's 10 Commitments.

Control your health by committing to freedom