Now is the time to set your intentions for our new year 2019. Take a minute (or 5) and sit with your thoughts of health and well being for the upcoming year. What can you, in reality do this year to feel better — to have vitality? Take a moment and visualize yourself feeling happy, energetic, pain free, and healthy as you move through your 2019.
The biggest mistake people make in setting intentions is expecting too much of yourself, making your intentions hard to stick with as we fall back into our busy schedules.
Sadhana means a practice; it is your personal individual practice — when literally translated it means “That Which You Can Do!” As you set this intention, let’s keep it real. Set your intentions for your practice, body movement, and mental and emotional well being at a level you can actually do knowing your schedule and commitments.
There are many different options; here are a few suggestions:
- This one is nice for those who have desk jobs, it is important to break up the day with movement, this could be your intention for work days:
5-15 minute morning breathing and meditation practice to start off with a clean mind
10-20 minute lunch walk outside
30 minutes after work yoga, movement, exercise, etc. - Or it could be 1 hour per day of a structured program that includes meditation, movement and breathing, and de-stressing tension relieving stretching of some type …
- Or … just get OUTSIDE for as long as you can! Take a walk in nature, in a garden, near trees any place you can connect with nature, take a bike ride, go for a hike, garden …
- Or even, just standing up and doing a 15 second stretch or exercise every 15 minutes while you are working at your desk.
- And some of my favorite activities include community and group classes of people exercising, breathing, and moving together. This builds community, a network of support, and friends. This is perhaps one of the best ways to improve health. Build communities of caring people.
- What do you enjoy doing? Mix it up! One day get outside, one day do a quiet exercise with yourself, one day go to a community class for movement, plan movement with friends you get together with …
Another very important aspect of our health today! Prevention … Truly an ounce of prevention is more than a pound of cure!
In todays world we are bombarded with threats to our health from all sides; from big scale farms and CAFOs that kill our beneficial bacteria raising food, to food corporations that make cheap food that poison their customers while giving them lots of profit, to toiletries that are loaded with endocrine disrupting and cancer causing chemicals, to household cleaners and detergents that make our indoor atmosphere polluted, to big pharma’s unnecessary over medication of the population.
We need to protect ourselves, family, and friends from the pollutants that we are now more exposed to than ever before. We need to education ourselves about cleaner toiletries, household products, and especially foods. Support clean food! And support green companies that care about our environment and reducing poisonous chemicals.
Want an interesting fact on our best detox pathway? You think its your colon or bladder, or maybe sweating? It’s not. We detox 70% of the toxins we are exposed to through our … EXHALE!
Breathe deep all year long 🙂
And finally a biggie — one of the most important aspects of your health? WHAT IS ON THE END OF YOUR FORK!
Vegetables! Eat your vegetables! Do your best to get organic vegetables, and you get extra credit if they are in season and local 🙂
The #1 most important intention you can set for a year of good health and vitality is to eat vegetables every day … 3-9 cups of vegetables per day to be exact! 1-3 cups each of leafy greens, cabbage foods, and non-starchy vegetables .. some cooked and some raw (best to cook cabbages).
Eat your Vegetables. Iss Dein Gemuse, Jezte Zeleninu, Pojedo Zelenjavo, Mananca-ti legumele, Zjedz swoje Warzywa, Eet jou Groente, ‘ai i kau mau mea’ai
I have tool to help you on this journey — Yes, we all need to spend some time in the kitchen … or have a close friend/spouse who enjoys cooking!
And remember the importance of having a PLAN, especially a meal plan.