TIPS

Last night I had the privilege of being 1 of around 2,000 people listening to Deepak Chopra right up in Flint! The CRIM Foundation brought him in, we had to register early but we got in free and they paid for all the parking downtown so that was free too. AMAZING!!! I need to review my notes and I will write a little more at a later time about the actual lecture, however on each seat there was a brochure with some "Things you can do to become a healthier you" that I wanted to share with you. I think the brochure originated from CRIM and Deepak Chopra and this is word for word right from it.

"Things you can do to become a healthier you:

1. Work out regularly! Do something for your cardiovascular health, your flexibility and your strength at least 4 times per week. Walk, run, swim, bicycle, skate, play tennis...Do Whatever Moves You! You'll feel better, look better and have more physical and mental stamina.

2. Eat to live, don't live to eat.

3. Have an empowering social network. Invest your time with those who are inspired by life and have a greater purpose to fulfill - you'll find that you are more inspired as well.

4. Control the chaos; make your home a sanctuary. Be selective about what you bring into your home - not just in terms of physical things but also the computers, music, television, and other forms of electronic entertainment that compete for attention.

5. Start a daily meditation/prayer/quiet-time practice. This can be as little as 10-20 minutes but research has proven the stress-relieving and health benefits. Not to mention, it's been proven to extend your life.

Personal Commitment Statement:

Starting today, I commit to working toward a healthier me and to helping my family be healthier. I know that by doing so, I am also contributing to a healthier community - physically, socially, and economically."

Good stuff, huh? Simple too! Health is a choice that we have to make every single morning when we wake up. We may as well choose to be healthy since we only get one chance...

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY CHARLEI MAE!!!

Yesterday marks 1 year since my precious little niece, Charlei, entered into this world and captured the hearts of my entire family. She really is a precious little girl. She has a big personality and laughs a lot. She is almost always smiling and very easy to be around. This past Saturday we all got together and celebrated her birthday. I love that we all live so close because those small celebrations are the best! Charlei has been very busy lately exploring the world and has taken a few steps so far. She will be running around everywhere before too long, which I am looking forward to. It has been a long winter and Charlei has mostly been spending her time at home. In the summertime, we all hang out at my parent's home on Runyan Lake and I am really looking forward to watching her discover the water and beach and sand and all that good stuff. It is going to be great fun. Happy Birthday little one!!! I love you! -Aunt E

DAY 15

Today begins the last week of this 3 week cleanse that follows the book "Clean". It has been an interesting couple weeks so far. Easy at times, difficult at times, impossibly to continue at times...anytime I am working hard to change habits, it is difficult. I think that is human nature. The first week was a challenge with detoxification headaches. I live a pretty clean lifestyle however that first physical detoxification symptoms were pretty intense. I experienced a nagging headache for about 2.5 days. Most people wouldnt think that is "intense" however it is so rare that I ever have a headache that it did feel a little overwhelming at times because of the length of time it lasted. Last week I experienced more of just emotional cravings for food. This cleanse is done in a way that you really don't have to walk around feeling hungry all the time. It is a peaceful contentment inside with enough nutrition to keep from feeling hungry but never an overload (overloaded tends to be the American way). Last week was free of physical symptoms but more of a feeling like I wanted to be done. The longest cleanse I have ever done was 10 days so I think it was a part of me inside that was making those requests. The great thing is that there are about 10 people doing this cleanse along with me and having those people to reach out to has been key. This past weekend was full of parties. Seems like I was at one gathering or another with food and drinks all over the place. I had beans, almonds, apples and water and had to skip the chocolate cupcakes, macaroni and cheese and other foods that are usually around when people gather. It is difficult at first however there is a piece of me that refers back to my time running the marathon. By the time I was to 22 miles, I knew I had to just finish though everything in my body was ready for me to be done. I knew that in order to get to 26.2 miles, if I didn't do it in that moment, I would have to run 22 miles again and add 4.2 more and that it was going to be easier to continue than to start all over from 0 again. So now that I am at day 15, it is better for me to just stay strong and complete the full 21, otherwise I will have to do 15 days again and add another 6. Its easier to continue doing what I have been doing and allow my body the full spectrum of benefit, than to start all over again at a later time when I "feel like it". So I am pushing on....I look forward to checking back in with all of you at the end. :)

EVERY YEAR...

...around the birthday time for the Cafe of LIFE, I ask people for 3 words that describe their experience here. That small piece of paper is then entered into a drawing for some gift certificates, shirts, bags, etc here at the Cafe of LIFE. Last year I decided to post all the words on here so that I had a place to remember them since knowing that people describe the Cafe using these words is a HUGE compliment to the staff and I.

...positive, professional, friendly, relaxing, comforting, peaceful, welcome, kindness, easy, convenient, personable, healing, compassionate, laid-back, cool, friendliness, caring, wonderful, pleasant, fun, calming, helpful, healthy, hopeful, welcoming, complete, calming, enlightening, healthy, friendly, awesome, nice, relaxing, positive, altering, happy, healing, peaceful, wonderful, I love Erica, I love Teri, fun, great people, serenity, practical, makes me feel good, everyone makes me laugh, great experience, relaxing, hopeful, life-changing, convenient, expedient, amazing, fun, life change, positive, exciting, P.S. everyone is friendly, relaxing, rejuvenating, therapeutic, sense of well-being, uplifting, inspiring, amazing, relief, comfort, relaxation, release, healthy, re-aligning with LIFE, enlightening, growth, encouraging, healing, welcoming, did I say healing?, peace, health, calmness, thankful, rejuvenated, health, relaxing, friendly, refreshed, energized, relaxed, relief, learning, comfortable, invigorating, healing, fun, relaxing, stress-release, calming, wonderful, helpful, hopeful, relief, refresh, fun, painless, peaceful, restoring, cheerful, healing, grateful, new, me again, straight, relaxing, new, feel better, friendly, always smells good, relaxed, clear, energized, educational, serenity, rejuvenating, delightful, awareness, awaken, alive, relaxing, inviting, efficient, calming, relaxing, comfortable atmosphere, understanding, gentle, kind, relaxing, helps, relieves pain, wonderful, pleasant, fantastic, relaxing I love Erica, friendly I love Angie, awesome I love Teri, good health, peace, calming...

There were another 20 or more of the word "relaxing" but I didn't want to keep writing it.

Bottom line...I think we are doing our job and we are looking forward to many more years to come. Thank you to all of you for adding to our Cafe of LIFE community!!!

YOGA TRAINING UPDATE

It is amazing to me how much time lapses lately before I get back on to my blog. My intention is to blog more often that I do however doesn't time just fly by! Anyways we are a month into yoga teacher training and I wanted to give you an update about how things are going. It has been an interesting process to start the day with meditation, become vegetarian and have an asana practice (that means practice yoga) everyday. It has been a good change and addition to my life however I have also noticed that besides the three things listed above, my life is still the same. I am having to do a lot of reading and journaling on a schedule now to make sure it all fits in, however it is what I do on a daily basis anyways. I haven't had anything really profound or any "ah-ha" moments happen just yet, though I also know that during this process, the transition can be really subtle and unnoticable on a daily basis. Today begins a 21 day cleanse from a book called "Clean". An MD designed the plan and wrote the book to allow a way for people to use his system. He comes from a mindset that our internal environment and our overall health come from the building blocks that we put in our bodies and that we never allow our bodies a chance to switch into detox mode. His program is designed around drinking breakfast and dinner (smoothies/soups or fresh juices) with a food meal for lunch and allowing 12 hours between dinner and breakfast so the body has time to get past the digestion mode and into the detoxification mode. It seems like a real simple and easy-to-follow detox/cleanse program that I am looking forward to seeing how my body does. So far so good but it has just been one meal so far. :-) Spring cleaning of the house is such a mainstream idea, I often like to do spring cleaning of my body at the same time to wash away the sluggish-ness of the long winter months.

If you are not interested in doing a detoxification program full force, how about some other simple ways to detox:

-take 10 minutes out of your day to lay and do some deep breathing

-increasing the amount of water you drink

-adding fresh squeezed lemon to your water

-finding time to sweat everyday - working out, sauna or steam room

-skin brushing - light bristle brush used all over the skin prior to showering or bath

-cleaning up your diet and include lots of raw, organic fresh fruit and vegetables

If you haven't started already, it would be really wise to become a little more conscious about what we put in our bodies. Every decision we make has ripple effects into the future...and we only get once chance.

BEAUTIFUL LAKE TAHOE

It is a place that I had always wanted to go, Lake Tahoe. I had only seen it on movies and pictures. This year I got the perfect opportunity to meet up with friends out there and so I took it! Many of you have heard of my Lake Tahoe stories since I have been back but I thought I would write a little bit about it so that you could get an idea of the scene out there. The weekend before I went, my girlfriend, Lana, sent me a message that said "we better start doing a snow dance, there isn't barely any snow out there"...you do not have to tell me twice, I LOVE TO DANCE...and so the dancing began. On Monday that week the forecast called for a big storm on the way. I think Tuesday is when it started and it never stopped until late Saturday morning. I flew in to about 2 feet of snow and closed roads all over the place. We were actually really lucky to be able to get through to the cabin at all. Some of the group spent 5 hours sitting on a road unable to move. The weather reports actually said "...if you have to go out, bring food, water, blankets and flashlights in your car...". I have never seen a report say that before and mind you I lived in Alaska over 3 years. Friday it snowed another 2 feet, Saturday the same. It was the most snow I had ever seen in my entire life...and mind you I lived in Alaska for over 3 years :) On Saturday we went to a resort called Kirkwood. It was a bit south of Lake Tahoe and around that area, we heard they got the most snow in the world checking in at 13 feet in 24 hours. It was completely unfathomable!!! So the snow was great. The people that were on this trip were super fun and it was so wonderful to have time with my girlfriend and meet her daughter that was just 3 months old. There are not many words to describe the scenery to you, but the pictures do it a little justice. The area around Lake Tahoe is pretty mild and so the lake doesn't freeze over. It stays that deep blue color and framed by so much snow, it is so beautiful! Pushing that much powder around a mountain is a lot of work on a snowboard. In fact one time I fell on my snowboard and it took me 10 minutes to just stand up. People were falling and almost disappearing. One woman said it took her between 2-3 hours to hike back to to a run after falling in the powder...now that makes for a long morning. It was truly a winter wonderland. Hopefully these pictures do some justice. In the future when Lana and I do a snow dance...maybe we will have to tone it down a little...I am glad to have made it to Lake Tahoe and to have experienced that much snow. Seize the opportunities...we only get one chance.

YOGA TEACHER TRAINING

As many of you know, I practice yoga...a lot. I have been committed to cultivating my inner yogi for the past 4 years and spend 2-3 nights at Ethos Yoga Studio in Holly http://www.ethosyoga.net/.

It is one of my passions and helps to make me a better person in this world. My usual classes are Monday and Wednesday night over at Ethos and Friday afternoon either there or down at Center For Yoga in Birmingham http://www.centerforyoga.com/. It is therapeutic for me; mind, body and spirit. It is absolutely one of the greatest things I have added to my life and spend a lot of time talking about it during the day at the Cafe of LIFE. In order for the body to be and stay healthy, it needs to move. I haven't found a better way to move the body than to flow and twist and turn in a yoga class and would highly recommend it in some way to everyone.

Tomorrow starts a new phase of yoga for me. I am always on the hunt for rich, rewarding experiences and I will begin a Yoga Teacher Training course over at Ethos Yoga. The course is 3 months long and is designed to immerse trainees in the yoga philosophy. We will be practicing yoga on a daily basis on our own or in a class. We will develop a personal meditation practice on our own and in class. We will change our eating habits to vegetarian or vegan. So this is going to be in addition to what I already have going on which is running a really fun chiropractic practice, hosting an amazing Book Club, giving Half Hour to Health lectures, participating in an awesome Walking Club, being a dog mom, and a runner amongst many other activities I am involved in. It means getting up an hour earlier and time managing a little better. It means studying and spending a lot of down time reading and writing. I look forward to it. I will keep you posted during the process.

(pictures are right off Ethos website; Kel Leigh Coale photography)

POISONING

I will be posting some wonderful pictures from my past weekend in the next post but I wanted to discuss a little about a situation and a lesson I learned about the body. This past Monday, my flight went from Reno/Tahoe to Denver to Detroit. My connecting flight in Denver was delayed. Usually I am running around trying to find a protein bar or something on these types of travel days but since I had an almost 3 hour delay, I decided that I would take the time to sit down at a restaurant and have something healthy to eat. My choice was a salad with mango, strawberry and salmon atop a bed of beautiful greens. When it arrived at my table, it looked appetizing enough to dig in so that is exactly what I did. One fork-full at a time, I was noticing a little tinge of brown on the greens, maybe a little dried out, the strawberries hadn't been run under water in a long time and the mango, though tasted really good, was maybe a little extra slimy and weird. At that moment I thought to myself that since I was at a nice restaurant, it should be fine and I am not one to complain much about what I am served so I finished it all...and everything was good until that evening when I finally reached my destination, I was starting to get a nagging headache. Sometimes a headache will come on if my blood sugar is low so didn't think much about it and continued on to have dinner, Thai food. I went to bed and slept well but was woken up at 5:00AM with nausea, 7AM started the vomiting and my body was so drained and exhausted. I couldn't pull things together to make it to the Cafe that morning and slept for about 3 more hours. When I woke up I proceeded to get ready and made it in to work to serve people for the afternoon. I always feel better when I am helping other people feel better, but that is where it ended. Tuesday evening as I was laying down to bed, my entire body hurt. It was food poisoning for sure, my entire body was poisoned and working overtime to improve the environment. Many people in that situation would have tried to find something that would stop the vomiting and take away aches and pains. If the body is poisoned and trying to get something out, don't you think it is a good idea to let it do that? If it is food poisoning and the body recognizes that, or anything else for that matter, let it do what it is designed to do. Because I let it run its course, my body took care of it and in the long run is better off for it. When symptoms arise, instead of reacting to them, let's watch them and as long as they are not life-threatening, let's let the body do what it is going to do. We will all be better off.

WINTER'S END

I love the warm weather we are having and it makes me giggle when I see people out in flip flops. It is really amazing how having to wear socks and boots everyday can make one feel really confined and flip flops are so liberating after a couple months of winter. Having been born and raised here in Michigan, I know better than to think that these warm temps are spring. This is not spring just yet and is merely a teaser. I really do love winter. You all know my love for snowboarding and I have found it one of the greatest ways to enjoy the white fluffy stuff. This past weekend I spent snowboarding up at Crystal Mountain, snowshoeing at Sleeping Bear Dunes and playing in Traverse City (what a great area of this beautiful state). This coming weekend I am meeting some girlfriends out in Lake Tahoe...and then my winter comes screeching to an end the beginning of March. What does that mean? The first week of March marks a beginning of a wonderful journey into yoga teacher training at Ethos Yoga Studio in Holly http://www.ethosyoga.net/. It is a serious commitment that I will discuss in a later post, but the class meets every Friday night for 3 months. Being that I work Mon-Thur, during the winter months I spend those long weekends traveling north or out west chasing great snow. Once this class starts, the commitment to it will not allow me to sneak out of town under the radar. I do plan one quick trip to Boyne with my family in March, but other than that, I will be putting my snowboard up for the year and rolling out my yoga mat and living on it for 3 months. I am looking forward to it. Taking yoga teacher training will only add to what I do as a chiropractor. I do not even know if my plan is to really teach classes at all...this process will add to my knowledge of the body, movement, breath, postures, leadership, peace, compassion, nutrition, relaxation, meditation and so much more. I will be updating you through the process as I am going. Til then...RIDE ON!!!

ICE ICE BABY!!!

My brothers are pretty neat (neat is such an under-used word). I didn't always feel that way and as were were growing up, I actually "dis-owned" them. We never made it official however it was true in my mind. Its hard being a girl with 3 brothers and no sisters. Take a guess at how many times I found myself on the slim side of 3 against 1? Exactly, it was pretty much daily.

As the years have passed, I have grown to have a deep love and appreciation for them, their individual quirks, and all the wonderful ways they add to my life. Fortunately all 4 of us currently live in the Fenton area. It is wonderful to be able to spend so much time together and even better now that they come along with sister-in-laws for me:-) I am number 2 in the birth order and the brother next in line after me is named Garrett. If you have met Garrett, you know that he has a very low sense of self-preservation (that is a nice way of saying he is a bit of an adrenaline junkie). One of his passions is climbing, rock climbing and ice climbing. In the state of Michigan and particularly in this region, there is not a lot of either of those and traveling over long distances is necessary to feed that passion of his...until just a few years ago. We grew up on an apple orchard and some of the old equipment that was used around the farm is still there...including a drag line, which for the sake of simplicity, is kind of like a crane. In the summer, they can get their "climbing-fix" at one of the rock gyms that are close by. In the winter...that doesn't work so well. So he and a friend decided they would start farming ice to be able to have a winter version of a rock gym...and I am in awe everyday over what they came up with. My other two brothers are were able to come together and offer their gifts of construction knowledge and entrepreneur-lism and came up with this brilliant invention. There is nothing like it anywhere close to here. Friends of theirs drive in from all over to spend a weekend doing what they love to do and training on this ice. I just thought I would share a few pictures because I think the ice tower is pretty neat, and my brothers are pretty neat. I am glad to share this lifetime with them...and have learned so much from our relationships that I am grateful for. If I had this life to do all over again, I would pick these same 3 guys. They have help shape me into the person that I am today, and for that I have so much gratitude. Love your family...we only get this one chance.