YogaGlamGirl's Weblog

Health and Wellness on Glam.com

A few weeks back I alluded to some pending changes for me around work and career.
I am elated to announce that I will be helping to bring health and wellness to Glam.com, the largest women's website in the U.S., as it's new Wellness Editor. Look for wellness content (After Aug 7th) in the Lifestyle section of the site.

I will also be the author of a new blog called GlamSpirit. GlamSpirit is a blog dedicated to nourishing mind, body and spirit.
Please come visit me there. I look forward to hearing from you and continuing our conversations.

Update on 7/31: I will be focusing on GlamSpirit and will stop posting here for now. If you're interested in updating the link it's: http://blogs.glam.com/glamspirit/

Beauty Is Everywhere

I really liked Rita's "Letter from the Editor" that I found in Fit Yoga.

I recommend reading the full letter, but here is a little snippet:

I devised a very private practice: For one week, my task was to find something that was truly beautiful about every person I came in contact with. Here's what I discovered: The check-out girl at the market has the most beautiful green eyes; the gentleman who pumps my gas has the kindest smile and always reminds me to drive safely; my daughter looks spectacular in periwinkle blue; the security guard in my office building happily greets everyone by name; my yoga teacher has the most amazing ability to explain the subtleties of asana with melodious ease; the faces of my students smiling back at me fill me with joy; my grandmother's hands are fragile and lovely; the woman practicing next to me has really gorgeous feet... and so on and so on.

More about Healing Touch with Margie Ford

A few days ago I raved about a particular healing modality that left me glowing, as if I'd just had a facial. I could feel as though I was literally radiating from within. I went back to Margie Ford, the woman who gave me the session to find out more.

Margie is the founder of Healing Touch Energy Therapy, a group of practioners who are trained in Energy Therapies that are blended to suit client's needs. Their common platform is Healing Touch. In addition to Healing Touch, Margie is also a Tera Mai™ Reiki Master, Angel Therapy Practitioner®, Quantum Angel Therapist, and Life Coach. This heart centered energy work is an integral component of the healing equation; where conventional medicine treats a specific issue, energy therapies treat the entire energetic system of the body. This holistic remedy encourages healing, nurturing, balance and rejuvenation to one’s emotional, physiological and spiritual health.

1) How has Healing Touch Energy Therapy helped your clients? Can you share some examples of transformation?

I see people who are suffering from emotional stresses and very physical ones as well. Some examples of physical changes include relief from the side affects from chemotherapy such as neurapathy or tingling in hands and feet. HT has been especially helpful in the healing and recovery process when provided before and after procedures or surgeries (oral and physical). I have several clients whose Doctors are amazed at both the speed of recovery and the reduced meds required. On the emotional level those greiving or deep in loss feel as those something has been lifted. The results are not always dramatic, it can be quite subtle, but it is very freeing.
The common aspect that occurs in all sessions is a very deep relaxation, a letting go of stress from the deep within. This allows for other areas of their life to transform.

2) What are the ancient practices that Healing Touch is derived from?

Janet Mentgen BSN,RN, the founded Healing Touch in 1989 by embracing shamic teachings and aborigine traditions as well as the concepts and teachings of Brugh Joy, Barbara Brennan and Rosalynn Bruyere. Healing Touch can be used in compliment with other modalities like Reiki, which again is a tradition that is thousands of years old. Like Healing Touch, Reiki is based on the belief that all life depends on a universal, nonphysical energy that needs to be balanced withouth the individual for optimum functioning. The combination of these two modalities would allow for the best possible outcome through a skilled practioner.

3) How many sessions are required or recommended?

This really is not a flash in the pan kind of experience. Those who seek this work want to come regularly. I recommend once a week for at least 6 weeks ( I have a discount program for this) and at that point I like to discuss the next steps with the client. However, there are those that like coming once or twice a month.

4) Why healing touch? In other words, why might someone benefit more from this work than other healing modalities?

The beauty of Healing Touch is that you really dont have to choose it over another modality. It works in compliment with other modalities beautifully. For example, a number of my clients have seen accupunturist while they see me. They found the two modalities supported one another. What I get from Healing Touch that I have not found in other modalities is that very deep healing, it is phyiscal. emotional and spiritual. It's also important to note that when you start working with a HT practioner, you set long term goals, and in each session you set a short term goal for that session. The client really is in charge of this.

5) What kind of work can be done (either during the session or afterwards) to augment the healing process?

During the session it's important to clarify with your practioner what the goals are for that session. Afterwards, if there is something that came up in the session there is space for that to be discussed as well. And, since there is a lot of energetic flow taking place it's important to drink lots of water. Take note of physical releases that may take place, there are a whole range that are quite norma. Also, meditation and being in nature assist in the work takes place in these sessions. If you are familiar with meditation feel free to ask your practioner how to get started,

6) How does one find a Healing Touch practitioner either nationally or internationally?

You can find certified Healing Touch providers and more information about Healing Touch by going to: http://www.healingtouchinternational.org/. If you'd like a listing of local providers (California, Bay Area) you can email me at htet4u at gmail.com

7) Are there any other thoughts/comments you'd like to share?

I'd like to add that all practioners are not the same. Not that one is better than the others, but if you take me, for instance. I am blending my angel work along with the Reiki and Healing Touch and end up doing a bit of coaching as well. A session with me may be different than another practitioner who does Healing Touch and another modality. The key, like with any modality is find someone you connect with and trust. I also wanted to mention that men give and receive healing touch.

***Special Note: Healing Breast Cancer: There is currently a program through Stanford University where Margie and other Healing Touch providers volunteer to pair up with a breast cancer patient for 6 mos. Breast Cancer patients need not be Stanford patients and can be within one year of having gone through surgery and chemo. If you or someone you know suffers from breast cancer in the Bay Area, you can learn more about that program by emailing Kathy Turner: healingpartners at sbcglobal.net

Margie Ford can be reached at: htet4 at gmail.com and 650-968-1239

Facial? Nope, Healing Touch

At work yesterday a friend asked if I just got a facial. Your skin is *glowing* she said. I was surprised. No. How strange. Just yesterday I'd been thinking that I desperately needed one. But then it occurred to me. I had just received 2 totally intense bodywork sessions the day before. One of the sessions was something called Healing Touch.
The work is so subtle, so gentle, and yet so incredibly powerful that I left feeling like I had been pumped with light, energy and love.
The truth of the matter, is the fact that this light, energy and love was there the whole time, but I wasn't accessing it because my energy centers had been "bolted shut" to put it mildly. So in the session, Margie carefully worked to open me up a little bit and help me allow more of myself to shine through. Wow.
Prior to this experience the whole concept of working with the chakras just felt too ambiguous and unlcear to me. I did not have my own tangible experience or appreciation for this type of thing to think that it actually worked or could be useful to me. This session was so profound that I feel compelled to learn more. Thought you might be curious too, so an interview with Margie Ford about Healing Touch is coming soon...

Good Blogger Advice

I just stumbled upon some wisdom and insight from Christine Kane's blog. Although she doesn't mention it in this post, you'll notice that she carefully responds to all comments and commenters who've taken the time to respond to what she wrote. Wow. What a difference that makes.
Thank you Leah, for pointing her out to me.

Tagged..by I Still See a Spark in You

I’m it. Regina from I Still See a Spark In You tagged me. Here goes…

“INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.”

J’s Thoughts and Musings
TeaTime Ramblings
SusieJ
I Still See A Spark In You
Yogaglamgirl

Next select five people to tag:

GlamNest
Mom’s Buzz
Just Breathe
Om Bites
Creative Everyday

Now for the hard part — the questions:

“What were you doing 10 years ago?”

Let’s see, 10 years ago I was finishing up college, drinking legally, and ready to embark in the world of business.

“What were you doing 1 year ago?”

A year ago I started my practice as a Zentherapy® bodyworker. I was teaching yoga and going on yoga and wellness retreats. I was doing Biz Dev for a fast-growing media company. In my free time I was watching tomatoes grow like crazy in the garden of my new home and giving giant zucchinis away b/c they grew faster than I could harvest them. I was also discovering that I’m mildly allergic to tomatoes…they make my tongue itchy and stingy.

Five snacks you enjoy:
Edamame
Banana Smoothies with Chocolate Chips
Green tea served with mochi/adzuki Japanese tea treats
Mashed Potatos
Whole Radishes with a pinch of salt

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics
Closer to Fine (Indigo Girls)
Daybreaker (Beth Orton)
There’s a Hole in the Bucket (dear Liza, dear Liza…)
Duh duh duh-da duh duh duh-da, duh da duh-da duh-da duh-da
Happy Birthday to you

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
Buy a cottage in the woods or on the beach
Give my brother the bedset that he’s itching to own but can’t afford
Send my other brother to Hawaii for a long, well deserved retreat
Build a healing center
Spend a year studying at a Zen Temple
(funny, I don’t really need to be a millionaire to do most of these things, do I…)

Five bad habits:
To do lists
Perfectionism
Procrastination
Lead foot
Short temper (you’ll have to forgive me, I’m an Aries!)

Five things you like doing:
Nature hikes
Making Jewelry for my friends
Playing with puppies
Wine and cheese while watching the sunset
Bodysurfing

Five things you would never wear again:
Parachute pants
I think that’s about it.

Five (or 3) favorite toys:
Anything that plays music
Hot water maker
Rice cooker

Changes and the Power of Intention

Back in February I wrote a post on Pursuit of Passion: Creating Fulfilling Careers. I wanted to tell you, my friends, that an opening and a change in my career may be coming to fruition for me very soon. Will keep you posted....
Kris wrote a bit about Laws of Attraction and thinking positive. What she's talking about really reasonates with me right now.

It occurred to me that I might be PMSing when…

I started to make a banana, soy milk, and chocolate chip smoothie for breakfast. Well, it was actually my breakfast’s dessert. The actual breakfast was heated rice noodles with a teency bit of butter and some vegenaise. The funny thing is, I would eat rice noodles and vegenase normally. It was just the chocolate chips that tipped me off…

Trash talk: A lesson in kindness

This weekend I attended weekend #4 (out of 5) of ZenBodytherapy® Training in California. For those of us reviewing the work, it was yet another incredible way to receive more work, practice zazen and come together in the spirit of growth and health.
One of the highlights of training for me (always) is the opportunity to listen to our teacher, Audrey Nakamura, while she tells us a few stories. This one, that I'd like to share, is about the home of her recently deceased mother in Hawaii.
Each week since her passing, Audrey goes to her mother's home to tend the garden and check on the house. A new family moved in next door to the house a few months ago. Shortly after they moved in, Audrey went to the house and discovered a plethora of beer cans, cigarette butts and other trash spilled onto her mother's yard.
Each week she would quietly and tediously pick up each cigarette butt off her mother's yard and off of the street. This continued for a time. The other neighbors thought she was crazy. "Why are you picking up all their trash? Why don't you yell at them and tell them to stop?" No, no, Audrey replied. I'm just going to clean this up.
So the trash continued until one day, a 20-something youngster from the house saw Audrey, came out and said, what are you doing? You don't need to clean all this! Audrey responded gently..."Do you see this little cigarette butt? It does not disintegrate. All the gunk that went into that filter is still there, and it is not going away."
The following week, there was still a lot of trash, but it lessened. Then another member of the family saw her picking up beer cans from the yard and felt embarrased. The following week there were only 2 cans sitting in her mother's yard. Another teenager looked over the fence and said, I'm so sorry, I'll come right over and get it. "That's okay," said Audrey. "I got it." and she smiled.
In just a few weeks the entire street and space around the new people's home was clean. The other neighbors were shocked. Audrey came again and was pleased. The new family said "Audrey, you must come inside and have some food and sweets." The patriarch of the family told her that he would take care of any heavy lifting around her mother's house. The teens offered to mow the lawn.
Audrey smiled and ate food and sweets with them.

Ironically, it turned out that a few weeks back, one of the other disgruntled neighbors angrily went to the neighbors to complain about the mess. The two families do not speak to each other. Audrey, on the other hand cannot stop by without being welcomed with open arms and treated like part of their family.

Today I went to the grocery store, picked up some lunch and sat outside. My stomach knotted up, there was a cigarette butt sitting on my seat, and trash blowing around the legs of the table. People watched me, a little dismayed while I picked up the butt and all the trash around my feet and walked over to the trash can (just a few feet away). I thought of Audrey and smiled.

Words of Wisdom from an Incredible Woman

I generally hate getting chain mail. But maybe I'm getting softer these days b/c I just read something from my Mom that made me smile.

Photo: John Engstead /mptv.net
Below is a wonderful poem Audrey Hepburn
wrote when asked to share her "beauty tips." It was read at her funeral years later.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness...
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone... People,
even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed,
and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Wow. What an incredible woman.