Wednesday, November 19, 2008

DO YOU HAVE "TOXIC MUSHROOMS" IN YOUR LIFE?


In the rainy season in Newlands forest near where I lived in Cape Town, it was "mushroom time" after the rains. Dedicated gourmands and day trippers indulged in the gentle sport of… mushroom hunting, going into the moist leafy places under the trees, ferreting for the fungus that tickles the fancy and fuels the tastebuds.

One day I heard an obvious novice who had just picked up a huge white saucer of a mushroom, stop a passerby for advice. “Oh don’t ask me, “ he said, “ask my wife – she’s an expert in mycology (the study of fungi)”
“Is this an edible one?” he asked her.
“Well…” she said, giving it an expert twirl, “it’s only poisonous if you don’t cook it properly!”

I couldn’t help chuckling to myself as I continued my brisk perambulations that day. As I came across a few interesting specimens myself, I wondered: “When in my life have I eaten potentially “toxic mushroom?” A situation, a person – “potentially poisonous” and all the warning bells go off – but my thinking mind disregards the reality and plunges in for a toxic taste…potentially lethal!

How often do we put off making a change – because we have built up a tolerance for the toxicity of the situation? Like the frog that jumps into the cold pot of water that starts to warm up to a boil – we don’t notice the damage until it’s – almost – too late! We tell ourselves that the pain is only “slight” and we can manage it. After all, there’s some safety and protection in the pot – while jumping out means facing the cold and unknown.

I remember a time – only a few years ago – when I felt I had no choice… and stayed in what became clear to me was an increasingly toxic marriage. It took a fire (which symbolically started in the 20-year marriage bed and destroyed the whole top floor of our home) and physical and emotional breakdown on both sides, before we could stop ingesting the “uncooked” mushroom of our marriage.

After many years of deeply challenging emotional de-toxing to find my authentic self – and my soul – again, I have been given a second chance at life and seven years later remarried to live my perfect life. Day to day, I check out options, knowing instinctively what will serve my well-being and what is poisonous – cooked or uncooked! So ask yourself today: “where in my life am I eating potentially poisonous mushroom? And what action can I choose to do right now to change for my own well-being and peace of mind?

Monday, November 17, 2008

LAUGH YOURSELF WELL

A chapter from my upcoming book reminds us to laugh, chortle and chuckle through today! Doctor's orders!

LAUGH YOUR TROUBLES AWAY

Did you know you can laugh for no reason, feel upbeat fast and save a fortune on medical bills? You might feel a bit silly at first but the benefits are proven and worth it. For instance,did you know that 20 minutes of hearty laughter is equivalent to 10 minutes on an exercise bike? It's also a wonderful way to erase lines and look younger.

No joking, you can laugh your way to fitness and health of mind, body and heart, like thousands of people worldwide who take the “laugh-a-day” prescription of medical doctor Madan Kataria, famous for pioneering his Laughter Yoga therapy world-wide.

I trained with him as a Laughter Yoga Leader and for two days we belly-laughed till I ached. What a tonic!

I interviewed Dr Kataria and he told me:

"Laughter yoga is a perfect way to laugh and get exercise at the same time. It treats laughter as a body exercise so it’s easy to laugh even if you’re depressed or in a bad mood," he says.

Dubbed the “giggling guru” by The Times of London and featured in Time Magazine, CNN and National Geographic, Dr Kataria, with his wife Madhuna, founded Laughter Yoga more than 12 years ago and they've since seen it spreading like a tonic to more than 50 countries where people practise it in more than 5000 Laughter Clubs, Yoga studios, corporate boardrooms, as well as schools, hospitals and prisons.

The Singapore police have introduced it for their staff,” said Dr Kataria who believes that learning to laugh "for no reason" is the modern day cure-all for both stress - and crime - reduction.

Scientific studies prove the benefits of regular uninhibited laughter for your immune system, heart, energy and vitality. People who are sick or who get sick often should laugh more as medical research shows that laughter strengthens our immune system and helps us to fight off disease, colds, flu and even cancer. Hearty laughter provides an aerobic workout that exercises the heart, diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory and facial muscles.

Laughter yoga workouts include flexing and exercise of the arm, leg, and back muscles. The exercises strengthen facial muscles and reduce wrinkles. Laughter yoga sessions stimulate the lymphatic system and boost our immune system, and can reduce levels of stress poisons in our bodies by 50% or more within an hour. Benefits include improved cardiovascular health and reduced blood pressure. Laughter is used in old age homes and in hospitals around the world to speed healing and improve patients’ mental outlook. It can be especially beneficial to cancer patients.

Growing up one of eight children in a small rural community in India, Kataria says people laughed spontaneously and often, but when he went to Bombay to study medicine, he found that city people need a reason to laugh… a mental understanding of why something is funny.

I call it the difference between happiness and joy,” he says.

Happiness has adult conditions attached and lies in the past or future. By contrast, joyfulness is childlike and present moment." Children laugh 300-400 times a day during their important formative years, but adult laughter has reduced to just 5-10 times a day," says Dr Kataria.

Laughter really is the best medicine because it reduces stress and conflict, within and without, and it is important for ourselves and our modern society that we find ways to laugh more to cope with stress,” he says.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

DR JOE VITALE AND ME

Miracles do happen - dreams do come true. I not only met, hugged, and spent a wonderful two days with Joe Vitale and his co-speakers and a wonderful audience at his Miracles Awakening weekend - I also got to be in his Mastermind Group for a memorable evening and ask him to write the foreward to my book, which is currently being edited for its upcoming launch.

For five years I have followed Dr Joe Vitale from across continents, admiring his writing, ideas and spiritual marketing I always visualised how wonderful it would be to sit with him in a mastermind group - real or virtual. To meet and network with him.
But I was in South Africa all this time and he was in the USA.
DREAMS DO COME TRUE - and to prove it: here's the picture on the balcony at the fabulous Catamarin Spa in San Diego taken in September.
I also loved his presentation which I got some of on my Flip and thought his co-presenters on this Miracles Weekend were great...
Generous - talk about giving more than we paid for!! It was like an early Christmas as Joe lavished us participants with gifts of his CDs, courses and books. What a great visionary and wonderful icon in the self-help field. Thanks Joe I love you
Posted by Picasa