About this column:
Tips on how to foster personal health and wellness, right in the neighborhood.I love the ways in which I get inspired to write my weekly Patch column. I usually wait for an interaction in the neighborhood to give me the nugget of an idea and I go from there. This week’s wellness inspiration is about “taking action,” which is one of the foundations of yoga and Buddhist philosophy. You may have heard of the statement, “taking right action,” which basically refers to the idea of not just doing something but doing the “right thing.” More on that later. I’m a new bike owner. As such, one of my neighbors asked me if I was going to attend a meeting about bike lanes in …
Last year I participated in the Charlestown Open Market. It was a wonderful blend of entrepreneurs and brick and mortar businesses in Charlestown. I had a booth set up with yoga mats and spent the day engaging people in yoga poses as they passed by and answered a lot of questions about yoga. It was fun to be a resource to the community about this wonderful way to exercise body and mind. I’m often asked about yoga when I’m in the neighborhood. That, and the questions and inspirations people shared with me during last year’s Open Market, represent some of the common questions that many people …
I was walking the dog recently and crossing the street. It’s busy in the morning and someone was waiting to make a left turn. He proceeded into the intersection and was greeted by the sound of a horn and the sight of a woman’s face yelling at him as she was driving. There also was a key hand gesture involved. Ah, the morning drive to work. It’s so relaxing, isn’t it? We’re a bundle of reactions, and our ability to break free of being reactive is tied to, in part, our ability to stay grounded and to let go of our need to be right. It’s hard though. “He was wrong; he should have waited for me …
You know you’re on the right track for writing your column on wellness and community when you’re eating lunch in your local neighborhood coffee shop and someone starts talking to you about their meditation practice and you were just thinking about writing your next column on meditation! I figure that’s as big of a sign from the universe that I’m going to get this week, so I’ll go for it. “Meditation” is always an interesting word to bring up with people. Usually the first thing people say when someone brings up the idea of meditating is, “I can’t meditate. My mind is way too busy.” Well, the …
Years ago, a friend of mine was speaking about memories from her childhood. We were talking about her shyness now, as an adult. She was reminiscing about being 5-years-old and one of the first times she dressed herself. So proud of her clothing selections, she ran downstairs and was greeted by a yelp from her mother, who exclaimed, "You can't possibly wear that to school!” She remembered it as if it were yesterday and had further memories of avoiding dressing herself, for fear of what her mother might say. Who knows if that was her mother’s intent, but she took to heart the idea that she …
I read in the paper that Fidelity is closing one of its offices and moving to New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Without getting into any of the business reasons or politics behind this, it made me angry. I thought of the employees that are affected and what they’ll need to do to accommodate for this change. I’m not a controversial writer nor an expert about this decision, or the business decisions that employers make about reorganizations or closing offices. I also recognize that employers need to make hard decisions, especially in this tough economic climate, to keep a company solvent. A …
I’ve written before about kids and how they are such wonderful teachers. Kids practice yoga with a spirit of "I can" and even when you offer something up and they say, “I can’t do that,” with a little encouragement, they usually try. I’m sure most of us could use a little infusion of that kind of spirit. I didn’t initially think I’d teach yoga to kids but now, it’s a huge part of what I offer. The other interesting thing I’ve found about doing anything “yoga-inspired” with kids is that you often don’t know if you’re making an impact until days later. I’ve taught some kids classes where I’ve …
Have you ever wanted to start a new habit and you just do it? Let’s say for instance, you want to stop smoking. You wake up one day and just decide you’re not smoking anymore and bam! that’s it, you’re done. Maybe you know someone that successfully did this and you’ve been struggling to give it up for years. Maybe you want to stop drinking coffee or soft drinks or lose 10 pounds or start yoga. Maybe you want to run a marathon and you haven’t even run a mile in a few years. Where to start? Spring is going to be here (soon, I hope!) and with it, will come many more opportunities to be outside. …
Over the past weekend, I had chocolate mousse for dessert on Friday at Legal Sea Foods, tiramisu for dessert on Saturday at Paolo’s and dark chocolate after my Chow Thai dinner Sunday night. By then I was feeling like a slave to my desires. What was wrong with me? Desire is a funny thing. We want something; it feels good, looks good, tastes good, will look good on our body... it’s a fun place to go. We somehow know in the back of our minds that it might not be the best choice for us, but we don't ask the relevant questions: do we have the money? Is it really healthy? Do we really need it? We…
A friend of mine wrote an article about technology and spirituality and it got me thinking about my own use of technology and my own spirituality. There really isn’t anyone that hasn’t felt the impact of technology on their life, be it through email, use of the smart phone and social technology platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other social application. My cell phone is constantly at my side, I use Twitter and Facebook for social as well as business reasons. I’ve talked on the phone in the train (bad), texted someone while walking down the street (silly) and yes, even texted …
By the time you read this, Valentine’s Day will be done. But as I sit here and write, it’s on the horizon. Valentine’s Day is either a holiday you love or one you consider a Hallmark holiday -- created by the media and a card, gift and floral industry focused on pressuring you to spend money you don’t have and buy greeting cards with someone else’s loving sentiments inside. February also happens to be American Heart Month, where we hope to bring greater awareness to the fact that heart disease is the nation’s number one killer and the number one killer of women. So, between Valentine’s Day …
I walked around the block today with the dog. No small thing, as these days just the simple act of walking for her has become a challenge with all the snow. As we walked around the neighborhood, the first day in several where we actually saw the sun, I realized that it’d been weeks since I’d driven my car. I started to think about my schedule and how, over the past several months, my life has shifted to primarily focus on what’s immediately under my feet (or at least accessible by public transport). Over the past four months, my life and schedule has shifted dramatically as I’ve moved from …
When I worked in the corporate world, my idea of “worksite wellness” was avoiding eating at my desk. I spent over 20 years in the corporate world and while I took a break for a few years to teach yoga full-time, I returned several years ago and stayed for another four before leaving to open my own business Bare Bones Yoga. Working in a corporate job can be one of the biggest challenges to overall health we have to face. We spend about eight hours a day at our jobs, if we’re lucky. These days, most people would welcome an eight-hour day. Once you consider that you’re at work for at least eight…
If someone told you that you could take a pill that would: Strengthen your body Increase your flexibility Decrease your stress levels Heal your injuries Increase your balance Help you lose weight Focus better Make peace with past pain Increase your lung capacity so you can breath better for life, running, cycling and other athletic activities Improve your posture Help you digest your food better Would you take it? Once a day? Maybe three times a week? I’ll bet you would. Well, those are just some of the benefits of a yoga practice. But if you have never tried yoga, or tried it once and didn’t…
I recently picked up a great book that I’ve read in the past: “ The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” It was a great read then and remains one of my favorite books on personal development. One of my yoga teachers, Rolf Gates, had us dissect it in a teacher training and I will never forget how impactful it was. There are often things that hit you a certain way when you’re open and hungry for learning. Time goes by and you develop a certain skill and as you get more skillful, you often lose that sense of wonder and hunger for learning new things. I picked up the book looking for a …
I live on a busy street. On any particular day, there are hundreds of people walking past my house. Last week, as I left to walk the dog, I noticed it: A leaf. It was big and red and caught my eye because in the winter, well, leaves are scarce. The next morning, I opened the door to walk the dog and there it was again. "Wow," I thought. "That’s strange. All the people that walk past my house every day and that leaf is still there." Throughout the day, I really noticed it. Each time I’d leave the house, there it’d be, outside to greet me. I started to think about it and the more I thought, the…
When I was a little girl, I used to visit my grandmother, Nanny, in Hoboken, N.J. It was a tightly knit community, similar to Charlestown, and people walked to many of the local shops. I remember walking to the corner store and there was a gumball machine. One of my favorite things was to get a coin from Nanny and put it into that machine and wait for the gumball. Those were good times. Well, the corner store is long gone and sadly, so is my grandmother but the wonderful memories remain. I often think of her and think of the impact a community has on its children when I think of those …
Ah, the beginning of a new year. Time to make a list of resolutions, get back on the exercise bandwagon, and get your diet back on track. With the approaching of every New Year, we have the perspective of looking back, as almost every major news outlet provides us with a list of who's died as well as powerful pictures from the events of the past year. We also have the idea of moving forward, expressed through advertising encouraging us to "drop those holiday pounds" or "start planning for your January fitness goals!" These polarizing perspectives give us a sense of looking back and looking …
I don't think there's anything more recognized than the word "Facebook" right now. Facebook has changed not only how we relate to one another, but how we keep in touch, meet new people and let people know what's going on in our life. If you're a small business owner, like me, Facebook provides you with an easy-to-use interface to promote, educate and invite people to join your community. If you're a mid-sized to national business, Facebook gives you a way to broaden your following along with reaching out to people that wouldn't otherwise have found you. For all businesses, the key to Facebook…
If you had all the time and money in the world, what would you be doing with your life? This question was posed to me by a yoga teacher I worked with very early on in my teaching career. Maybe he heard it from someone else, or maybe he was asked this same question by a teacher that mentored him. But I'll never forget how it struck me as a wonderful question to ask yourself on a regular basis. At the time, I was a corporate executive, working long hours and coordinating a departmental re-structuring. At the same time, I was investing all my "free" time in the study of yoga, both as a student …
