Gee, Think.

I’m not much of a gardener, but I have managed to grow wheatgrass!  All you have to do is let it germinate in water, and then place it on the top of the soil, keeping it moist for the first several days.  Of course you must water it often thereafter, but following those simple instructions will give you a great crop of highly nutritious grass to add to your vegetable juices.

My brother in law is an avid juicer.  He actually has supplied me with all of my wheatgrass see to date, which is four plantings.  I’ve been planting my wheathgrass in gardening containers up until today.  I made the switch to soil because I noticed the pot planted wheatgrass would only produce one crop while the grass my brother in law planted re-grew after each clipping.  So today I dug my first gardening plot.  This was quite satisfying.  I turned the soil, and discovered what I think could be mycelium:

I first heard of mycelium in a TED talk by Paul Stamets, which I have to say was truly amazing.  If you think you know what fungus is, think again and watch his presentation.  I’m a fungus newbie, but I’m excited that maybe this is the amazing organism that he describes.  I found it just an inch under the soil while turning it over with the shovel to create the planting bed.  There was a lot of it.  At first I thought it was merely decomposing leaves clumped together, but when I peeled one apart, that distinct mushroom aroma told my nose otherwise.

So I ended up with the little plot you see here:

One day, I plan to be raising my own vegetables on an acre or more of land, so this is the first step and I’d like to commemorate it.  In addition, maybe it will encourage others who have yet to start gardening, but always thought of it as something they’d like to try.

My wife and I recently completed a three day cleanse using a product called “So Easy Bio-Diet” which is made by a corporation called INS.  You can visit their webpage here: www.insbioscience.com, but beware the techno music that plays as soon as the page loads.  If you’d liketo skip that, head to this link:   www.insbioscience.com/ins_bio/index.html.

We bought our three day supply of the product at the New Life Yoga and Raw Food Expo, which was held at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan.  We were there only for Sunday, but really expereinced a lot in that short time.  Since we bought the cleansing supplies at a booth, there wasn’t really a place to call once we started the cleanse, which was two weeks afterward.  My main purpose of writing this post is to try to compile a bit more information on the product for other people who might be out there trying it as well.  At the time, we had a hard time finding any information, and didn’t really know what you google for either.  searching for the name of the company listed on the box, INS, did not return many relevant results.  In addition, the website on the box was not working.

So for anyone out there doing the cleanse or thinking of starting it, here’s a link to a pdf that has a lot on information on what’s in the powder packets.  It has details of what nutrients are provided and why each pack is important to the cleanse.  In fact it also has instructions on what to do if you do not have any bowl movements by the second day.  That would have been useful to read at the time, since I did not eliminate anything until I started eating when the cleanse was complete.  In fact, I was a bit disappointed because I did not eliminate any mucoid plaque.  In fact, it was the shocking pictures of mucoid plaque that got me thinking that I should do the cleanse.  So to have gone through it with no unusual eliminations leaves me wondering about two possibilities.  One, is it possible that I did not have any mucoid plaque to be eliminated?  I have been slowly changing my diet to be more and more vegan over the past several months.  I rarely eat meat.  Does that mean that I could have eliminated or greatly reduced some of this material already?  Two, does this product work for other people?  I have read testimonials and seen pictures but I still have to wonder.  In the pdf document below, it is emphasized to drink even more water if you do not have a bowel movement.  I do not think that I could have been dehydrated during the cleanse.  Drinking all the water in the prescribed supplement shakes provides 120 ounces of liquid at the least.  That’s just under one gallon, and I definitely drank a lot of water in addition to that.

Without further ado, here’s the link:

http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/custommusic/bryantmeyers.pdf

During the first day of the cleanse I had abundant energy.  I could hardly sleep on the first night.  The energy boost ended quickly.  By the second and third days I was feeling pretty droopy. I experienced a woozy and dizzy feeling almost everytime that I stood up.  For that reason I would recommend keeping a low profile and activity level during the cleanse.  Surprisingly, I was rarely hungry during the cleanse.  The supplement shakes really provide enough to keep your stomach full.

Additionally, here’s a link to someone that’s selling the product:

http://shop.shii-inc.com/product.sc;jsessionid=8624D37763E0EAA6929A3431E758BA22.qscstrfrnt02?categoryId=10&productId=6

I hope that this page will help someone who may be out there working on the cleanse themselves.  I plan to continue cleansing for the rest of my life, but I’m not sure that I’ll try this particular product again.

I am one of the newest members of the veggie juicing community!  I’ve been juicing for roughly a week now, and enjoying raw vegetable juice several times a week for maybe a month before I got my own juicer.  I’ve been testing out my own recipes.  So far I’ve juiced Carrots, Celery, Parsely, Cilantro, Watercress, Beets, Cucumber, Kale, Bok Choy and for the first time tonight, wheat grass.  I think I’ve found what could be a keeper recipe:

4-5 carrots
1 Handful Parsely
1 Handful Wheatgrass
5-6 Leaves Watercress
1 Medium Beet
1 Cucumber
3-4 Celery Stalks

This recipe is packed with nutrients from each vegetable.  I think that Wheat Grass and Parsely may contribute the most potent supplies in that regard, but they all have a lot to offer.  This is a good combination of the bitters in parsely, wheatgrass and watercress with the sweet carrots and beets, and the soothing cucumber and celery.  I think this has a real winning combination of those three tastes, bitter, sweet, and soothing.

This is a call to personal trainers out there on the interweb.  Who are you?  How did you become a personal trainer?  Why did you choose that path?  What led you to it?  Looking back at it now, would you choose personal training again?

Over the past several months I have become increasingly interested in physical health and wellness.  I feel naturally drawn to learning more about these subjects.  I feel this naturally attraction to it. I can’t completely explain why.  It sparks my interest and curiosity.  I like the idea of learning how to be more healthy.  Wellness is a state that I am happy to enjoy most of the time, and I would love to know how to increase the likelihood of staying well.  I’ve been making small gradual changes to my lifestyle recently.  Some of these changes include alterations to my diet.  On a daily basis I include more fruit by drinking a smoothie of bananas with berries, soy milk, flax seed, and wheat germs.  Sometimes I include or substitute peaches or melons too.  I’ve also started to eat more soy products, more fish, more vegetables, and less red meat.  I cut down on caffiene as well.  I used to drink several cups of coffee each day.  Now I may have one, but usually I stick to green tea.  This morning I actually had two shots of homemade espresso, but I regard that as a once in a while treat that I enjoy.  There was a time where espresso was the norm.

Since making these dietary changes, I feel much better.  I think my digestion as a whole has improved.  I have more energy and vitality.  I’ve also been exercising more and more through my training with Yee’s Hung Ga Gung Fu association.  There’s no doubt that gung fu has also contributed to my health.  There are also meditative practices that go along with gung fu practice.  Some of these fit into a category called “Hei Gong” in Cantonese.  I have seen greater mental clarity, less stress, and more even emotional shifts since undertaking these practices.

So to sum up, I’ve been making these changes in my own life.  I have seen the results and I’m excited about them.  I feel much more alive and well.  I’d like to devote more time to understanding health and well being, mental, phsycial, and spiritual.  My inituition tells me that the personal training occupation could allow me more time to do this.  So personal trainers, I’m reaching out to you.  If you’re reading this post, please send me some information on the path you’ve taken.  Thank you.

I’ve recently started reading “Awaken Healing Light of the Tao” by Mantak Chia.

What a wonderful book. I really enjoy the discussion of Chi that extends over the first 50-70 pages. Chia goes into great detail explaining the Taoist theories of the universal energy (known as Chi), its role in the cosmos, as well as our individual well-being and health. I am personally drawn to the idea that we are all connected, and I think the explanation of that theory here is beautiful. This book would be great for anyone who wants to get a better understanding of the concept of Chi, which is often heard in relation to the martial arts. However the idea of Chi is applied to many more circumstances and situations.

The first exercise in Chi flow mentioned in the book is the Inner Smile. I have only attempted this exercise twice. I am a novice in the general practice of meditation. My only other experience with meditative practice is the Chut Gum Moon (7 Golden Passages) of Hung Ga, and Jam Jong (Zhan Zhuang). I think that these practices have helped to prepare me for the Inner Smile meditation, but that I still have a long way to go. Basically, the Inner Smile consists of drawing positive energy into your body, and systematically focusing it on various internal organs. In the Taoist theory, each organ is associated with specific character virtues and emotional states. The goal of the meditation, as I understand it, is to bring positive energy into your body in order to make your own virtues stronger and positive emotions more abundant.

Both times that I attempted this practice I did go through my day with much more positive energy. I think that it had a great affect on my emotional disposition. I felt more relaxed, happy, and able to deal with the hustle and bustle of my daily life. Specifically I was much more at peace during my commute to and from NYC. I hope to make the Inner Smile a frequent part of my meditative pratice. Maybe with time, I will feel the effects grow stronger.

Every morning I make a fruit smoothie for myself. There’s always at least 1 banana. Definitely some Omega-3 enhanced Soy Milk. Then comes the frozen fruit. I’ll add any combination of tropical mix (honeydew melon, cantelope, grapes), strawberries, pineapple, or berry mix (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries). In order to give the mix some fluidity I’ll add orange or cranberry juice. There’s also two secret ingredients that I add, the first is ground flax meal. The second is wheat germ.

I think this is a really nutrituous way to start the day.  It gives a good boost of energy from the natural sugars in the fruits, but also delivers a good dose of fiber.  The bright fruits also contain important phytochemicals and anti-oxidants that help prevent cell damage.  The ground flax meal is a great source of essential fatty acids, which are used by the body to construct tissues and membranes, as well as increase good cholesterol while reducing bad cholesterol.

I honestly feel much better since adding these smoothies to my daily routine.  They don’t take that long to make either.  And the ingredients may add up to a couple dollars per smoothie, but that’s about a liters worth.  It’s cost effective, nutrituous, and quick.  What more could you want?   Plus, they’re delicious!

Daily dedication is my most recent exploration. Hung Ga training has taken my mental focus to a new level. Every day, as a member of Yee’s Hung Ga International, I am instructed to perform several Hei Gong exercises. Sometimes these exercises are also referred to as Chi Gong. Their purpose is to build internal power. I believe that eventually they are meant to create a better flow of Chi within the body.

There are several sets of Hei Gong exercises but currently I only know of and pracitce one, the 7 Golden Passages. This is a set of 7 stances. In each stance, the method of training is to remain still while flexing certain muscles. In a way, these exercises are deceptive. Aside from breathing, there is no movement. However, each stance is designed to target a specific set of muscles. The stances are not common body positions and so beginners may have difficulty holding each stance for 1 minute.

I have noticed a great change in my physical health and strength since I started this regimen. It has been emphasized to me over and over again that it is absolutely imperative to do these exercises each and every day. With that in mind I am taking the challenge of making time for it everyday.

So I have taken it upon myself to study Mindfulness.  This is the teaching of the Buddha.  In a time where I feel that my life has become too hectic I feel that mental training is in order.  So far I am in the information gathering and beginning application stage.  I’ve read a book and a bit more on the topic so this is still very early for me yet.  My goal is to apply these simple techniques to my everyday life in order to make better use of my time by being more effective.  I would rather work 8 hours efficiently than 10 hours in a disorganized manner.  This is my effort to improve my professional skills, but also my attentiveness to all aspects of my life.

A funny anecdote:

One day last week, while reading “The Heart of Buddhist Meditation”   I left my umbrella on the PATH train.  Whoops.  I guess I could really learn a thing or two about it!  However I was reading Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness  and in the introduction the author describes an incident where one of his students was reading his first book “Mindfulness in Plain English” while crossing the street, and was subsequently hit by a car!!  At least my little lesson in mindfulness was not one inducing misery!

I look forward to understanding more about the concepts of Bare Attention and Clear Understanding.  I plan to put into practice Mindfulness of Breathing as often as I can.

I have started a new physical training discipline. It is a martial arts tradition called Hung Ga. The teaching lineage includes famed gung fu master Wong Fei Hung, and is descended from the Shaolin (Seiu Lum) temple of Southern China. I have only been training in this form for approximately 3.5 weeks. 25 days or so. Already I have seen great results. The school I’ve joined is based on the traditions and discipline of the old style. The class is formal, challenging, serious, and entertaining. It is similar to yoga in that the body gains a lot of strength without the use of weights. I continue to be amazed at what can be gained from holding a single stance or posture. Yoga first showed this to me and know I am experiencing it again in another form.

This is the start of a long career. I sincerely hope that I will be able to train with these people for a long time to come. I learn so much with each class, I can hardly wait to practice it on my own.

My work schedule is demanding. The work load has increased recently.  My work day lasts about an hour longer each day, which translates into an hour less at home enjoying the domestic scene. Is it worth it? Is it necessary? Will sacrificing those extra hours now pay off for me and my family in the future?  These are the questions I’m asking myself. I have not yet come to the conclusions. There is no doubt that the extra hours result in extra compensation. In certain ways, that makes our lives easier. At the same time, although I am compensated additionally for the extra hours, I am not as able to keep up with the household chores or get enough rest.  This puts strain on my relationships and health as I become less rested, less energetic, and have less time to get everything done. So how do I find the balance? I expect there to be some amount of sacrifice and toil in my life. From
what I hear, life is not just a walk in the park. Actually it’s quite hard to get by, even in a land of opportunity. So the question really is: how hard is too hard? I don’t want to sacrifice my health, physical or mental, for success and
comfort. I don’t want to sacrifice my realtionships either. Those things are worth much more than a salary. That’s definitely true. At the same time I accept gladly that life is not all peaches and cream. I take my work seriously and work hard to get it done. But how will I know when I am working to hard? I’m guessing it’s like love; when you know you just know. It’s nothing someone can give you a formula for. For the time being I am going to keep on working hard because I don’t think I’ve quite reached that danger point where work and personal life are imbalanced. I’m going to
be conscious of the trade offs and strains that I see forming. If I get too wrapped up in it I hope I’ll see it before it creates problems.