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Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Take Care Of Yourself
August 16, 2017
— 3 Comments
Compassion fatigue is the stress of caring too much… The post Are You Suffering From Compassion Fatigue? Here’s What You Should Do About It appeared first on BayArt.
via Are You Suffering From Compassion Fatigue? Here’s What You Should Do About It — BayArt
Healthcare/Wellness/Insurance
October 2, 2013
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healthy food
The way words are used has a big effect on culture and expectations. The words health care have come to mean prescription drugs and medical procedures. Wellness has come to mean any kind of body work, cleanse, or restrictive diet. What is even more debilitating to the public health is that insurance policies determine the care most people use. There is abuse on both sides, by wellness quacks and medical losers. Wellness or health coaches are essentially practicing counseling in everything from nutrition to psychiatry. The unhealthy American population is vulnerable and guilty, willing to jump to all kinds of conclusions, buying into all kinds of cures and programs. The market is so crowded the consumer has been confused by all the possibilities. Now the public will need to understand how health insurance functions. This is a giant leap for the citizens, a shock to the system.
I made a living teaching and promoting health and wellness through water for many years. I have enjoyed waters and spas all over the world and had the pleasure of teaching many wonderful students. I have a strong healthy body that I treat to the best food and body work I can afford to give it. Since I love movement, I move. I don’t take any prescription drugs; my plan is to avoid them. The reasons I am keeping my insurance policy as it is, and not vexing myself trying to read all the options are:
- In two years I will have Medicare, which I do understand well from the parental care I did.
- My policy allows me to go to any provider I choose
- If I change I will undergo an unknown medical exam requirement I do not care to do
- I am satisfied with the service when I do have a transaction with the company
- I am guaranteed to get a rebate under the new laws because I use far less than 20% of my premium costs each year on covered services.
- My senior care experience taught me that it is very difficult to know what will and will not be covered; the only way to find out is to need something, then be denied.
- My senior care duties showed me the many entities out there financially abusing seniors by swindling Medicare. I am sure this has not improved since my parents died.
- I am convinced that the shopping on the exchanges will damage my wellbeing.
- My time is better spent in the pool increasing my core strength and flexibility.
- Staying away from the crisis in health care is healthy.
Communication Loop
May 16, 2013
— 4 Comments
Butterfly convo
“The single biggest problem in communication
is the illusion that it has taken place.” GB Shaw
Are you in communities? Are you a leader? Do you create valuable content? Does the internet make you compulsive and lonely? I have read several posts lately about the brains of depressed people, and the effects of loneliness on health. It appears that insomnia, which seems to afflict most Americans now, can be a result of altered and damaged circadian rhythms. Depression makes the day/night self timer malfunction. Isolation from live social contact proves to be as damaging to overall health as smoking or obesity. It destroys the self monitoring abilities we learned in elementary school to survive in a social world. Now that social order has been redefined, healthy relationships are less likely to evolve. Human lovingkindness is essential for mental and physical health and well being.
Time spent with screens is not without merit, but if life is to be lived fully screen time has to be secondary to real human interaction. Screen communication increases the chances of faulty assumptions on everyone’s part. We normally present ourselves in the best light possible, keeping the shadow issues away from the public forums. We know others must edit along the same favorable lines to give a spin on their life and times that makes them appealing. How much noise is generated and how much valuable exchange? The answer is never final. It is a mix of magical electronic connections and spammy, even dangerous, invasions of privacy. Caveat emptor, gentle reader. The internet is what you make of it.
Food Coop Flashback
August 26, 2012
— 1 Comment
About 40 years ago a legendary hippie named Steve Gold was instrumental in starting food coops in Tucson, and later on Mt Lemmon (a mountain neighbor to Tucson). I was a founding member of both. The coop on Mt Lemmon flourished and died after a few seasons, but was good while it lasted. The Food Conspiracy is still alive today, although in an altered form. I am a member of that coop, which operates as a well stocked health food store downtown. I shop there when I am down there, but have been avoiding the place while they build our streetcar line. Eternal construction is jamming the area. Eventually I will be a happy shopper directly connected to this fun transportation option, but all of us have had to deal with a favorite part of our city being “revitalized” through massive construction.
In the first months of the Food Conspiracy, about 1970, we met in an alley with baby scales and weighed out wheat berries and the like which we purchased as a group. Steve pulled up in a pick up truck, and we did our distribution behind the store that is on 4th Avenue today on the bed of the truck. We didn’t even have a table. We became popular enough to rent the building for storage, later opening as a store. We all had to work from the beginning, but after the store opened, non members were allowed to shop, and years passed, the IRS eventually intervened to make the “coop” part a big taxation problem. I am happy the business has survived and serves the population interested in organic health food.
As a consumer I have a nearly obsessive desire to spend my money as close to my home as possible. “Keep the money in the ‘hood” is my motto. This practice flows from a conscious desire to support the people who own businesses near me. I want my immediate area to thrive and stay vibrant. I think I inherited this from the Swiss. I have spent lots of time with them and admire the way they make provincialism a good thing. I drive very little, loving to find everything I need and want without spending time in my car. I have become very proficient at internet shopping, which is a blast to me. Delivery suits me perfectly. Imagine my thrill when I learned that a food coop was making deliveries very close to home. Yesterday was my first day as a member of Bountiful Baskets Coop.
It is run as a true coop, with the help of the internet. Now it is easy to track orders and account for everything. My first impression is excellent. I paid extra to upgrade to an organic surprise produce box, and bought a couple of extras. In the extra category the bread and the fajita packages were of excellent freshness and quality, and the 20 pound box of tomatoes arrived at a perfect ripeness. I do like everything in my produce box, and think the freshness is pretty good. I normally do not buy iceberg lettuce, but this is a chance for me to knock off P F Chang. The coop sends out an instructional e mail about shopping, making sure you use all your produce, and shifting your family diet to a more plant based selection. The emphasis in the educational materials is on saving money, therefore it stresses new shopping habits and mindful planning. I could not be more thrilled to have this new food option. I like everything about it. The surprise is even fun for a person who is crazy about reading recipes. The best part is that I prepay, show up and instantly leave with my boxes and bags, organized and perfect. The meeting spot is in a parking lot of a school, not so unlike our back alley, but so much more high tech. I simply bring my confirmation number from the e mail I receive as a receipt, and off I go with my food. I am in the mood for fall now as I roast my veggies and fill the house with aromas of fresh vegetables. If you live in the area in which they operate I highly recommend this organization. The value is outstanding. It is easy to evaluate and feel good if you regularly shop for food in grocery stores. The value pendulum has swung back in my direction, and I could not be more pleased. This is the most pleasant of flashbacks…..a food conspiracy indeed, about 2 miles from my house.
fruit
Fajita mix
produce haul
Yoga Sutras
June 12, 2012
In ancient India the practice of yoga developed as taught from guru to students. The Yoga Sutras were written by Patanjali including some aphorisms and wisdom from the past with his own observations. Modern schools of yoga can be traced, in many cases to one man, Krishnamacharya, whose son, TVK Desikachar is teaching yoga today. The voice of Krishnamachayra accompanies BKS Iyengar in this video from 1938.
The student was not only physically challenged, but also was a scholar of ancient texts. Sanskrit chanting was part of the daily discipline. It is possible to attend the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram today.
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