GURU, MASTER & MENTOR: ARE YOU IN THE HABIT OF VERIFYING THE TITLE? (ISSUE 76)

By Diane Gold

Are we so in the habit of using the words Guru, Master, Mentor with every teacher who advertises a class on a social media network that the words no longer hold their traditional meaning? Do we wonder what these words mean and how a person gets the title?

In 2013, these words of distinction are similar to the word, “natural” in the early 1980s. The word “natural,” according to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is a generic word that misleads and misrepresents. It can refer to anything that is minimally processed and not manufactured. It can be animal, plant and made from a substance that is naturally occurring in the earth such as petroleum. So its original intent is worthless. The words guru, master and mentor seem to be going in the same nebulous or altered direction.

I realized that the words guru, master, mentor had special meanings in the 70s when I started learning meditation from a 30 year master. But, at the time, there were lots of hacks because meditation was then the rage.
It must have been in the 1980s when I was charging $40 to give a one-hour piano lesson. I had been paying $80 for the best teachers on the planet, Norman Gold and Sanford Gold (no direct ancestral relation to me or each other). And THE ever-popular, all-in-one New York music store offered the same duration piano lessons for $12 a pop.

It must have been in the 1980s when I was charging $40 to give a one-hour piano lesson. I had been paying $80 for the best teachers on the planet, Norman Gold and Sanford Gold (no direct ancestral relation to me or each other). And THE ever-popular, all-in-one New York music store offered the same duration piano lessons for $12 a pop.

They had students as teachers. But the idea of “master” musician had already crossed my radar, and I knew these students did not have decades of training in them. I knew I had learned from two masters. Sandy had 50 years training. Norman had 30. That’s how it was supposed to be. Right?

I had earned a Bachelors and a Masters in Music, and I had had lessons for over 15 years. Teaching harmony was my forte because Sanford laid out the simplest, most ingenius approach to it; and I was fortunate to have learned it from him, personally. I was a beginning teacher, and that was a supervised part of my lessons.

But there were people out there teaching after having played or having taken lessons for 6 months or a year. (It’s not as serious as having surgery done by a medical student, but there should be some public differentiation between teacher and student.)

Next, from 1995 to the present, I’ve been in the martial arts business. And the same thing has happened. Throughout my martial arts career, I have seen people who trained for a year or two or people who trained for three months and won one tournament, open a school and hang a sign that said “Master Smith’s Martial Arts.” I have also experienced teachers along the way who were called “master” but did not possess the honesty, integrity, knowledge, skills or humanity to hold the title.

Many people whose careers have soared because they were charismatic, good at business, connected to celebrity or just plain well-marketed use the titles. Their seminars or conventions sell out; they teach hybrid versions of their subject, and they are not master teachers. But they use the title, anyway.

To this day, I have a debate with myself regularly,

“Is it better to have people out there teaching half-baked versions of a subject or is it better to have them withhold that information because their qualification is limited on their subject? Meaning, should we restrict teaching to 20-year veterans who may have mastered their material, or should we marvel at clever entrepreneurs who create education systems for the quick fix, abridged lesson or certificate program? Then there are the good, old honest people who just love their subject and want to pass it along, so they teach it.”
I am concluding, more and more, definitely that there is merit to all learning, but the public should have a method of distinction. Much like educational institutions give different degrees for different training, it might be helpful to have some qualification next to the titles of guru, master and mentor, so that the general public can understand the intent.

AN EFFICIENT METHOD OF LABELING

It could be as simple as placing two dates next to a teacher’s title, the chronological year studies began and the chronological year teaching began. This would create a transparency that everyone could understand.

Below is a sample of what I mean:

As a martial arts teacher [1986/1996, additionally, 1971-1976], it is my role to provide a peaceful way of resolving issues as well as the physical skills necessary for this to happen and as a personal protection regime should peaceful encounter fail. In doing so, I have to instruct students to call me something. “Teacher” has been the word of choice for the past several years, especially since every internet marketer who makes six figures is deemed a guru.
____

In 2013, with our shrinking world, we have much information at our fingertips, both accurate and inaccurate, much to build consumers rather than for academic knowledge or creative culture. Are there “gurus, masters and mentors” leading classes just because their publicist billed them as such? Of course, but the info may be useful, just the same. Or are these lessons being taught to keep us mediocre? Maybe.

PERSONAL STANDARDS

We each use our own standards to discern the master dilemma. It is easy to parrot knowledge, even easier to regurgitate tiny bits of it. Not so easy to “master” a subject in such a profound way as to interpret it and make it useful in a creative or scientific way.

It is not common knowledge that the black belt in martial arts is a symbol of a dedicated student who, if very conscientious, has learned no more than 10% of her subject. All over the world, though, because we can acquire testing fees and sell uniforms to go with new belts, this very fact is rarely emphasized or understood.

The black belt is symbolic of the dirt on the white cotton belt of the Chinese rice farmer whose belt got dirty from years of labor. (The farmer’s belt then frays from wear and tear and becomes white again with time, symbolizing that, after the student becomes the master, the master is always and becomes the student.)

We all have our own method of evaluating mastery. It could seeing a PhD after a name, which is a common academic standard. It signifies study in one particular subject in great depth. Another measure could be to evaluate a teacher by the number of people who gather to listen to the teachings.

In the 70s when I was following the meditation training of the philosophy, Radha Soami, the leader was named guru. He wore a turban as those in his tribe did before him, and he taught people how to live happily in the world. The word “guru” was not bandied about for every successful seller of wares. He studied the teachings of his teacher and his teacher’s teacher and was chosen to be the one disciple upon death of the previous guru. We didn’t buy T-shirts, cups or pens.

And then, in that very era, probably due to the Western thirst for knowledge, more gurus popped up, many with T-shirts and uniforms.

CONCLUSION

Should we abandon the words guru, master and mentor from meaning true studiers?
In my opinion, there’s no need to feel anger at the overuse. Language is alive, and it changes as we change it. There’s no need to delete any words. They have taken on a more casual meaning, but they also maintain their original meanings. Here’s what I think.

ACTION STEPS

 

1) When you see the word guru, master, mentor in front of a name; look at the person’s biography and check for study time in (years of study) and “teaching since” year. Then evaluate whether it’s the old word or the new. If this is information is not plainly spelled out through video, audio or print (or any newer technology); chances are the title is being used the new way.

 

2) When you see the word guru, master, mentor in front of a name; it’s important to evaluate for yourself whether you resonate well with the person. Even if the guru has 50 years, we are all different and have to choose what teaching will work for our own learning mechanisms.

3) When we see the word guru, master, mentor in front of a name; and we discover the title is the new millenium title, we may be quite satisfied with the teachings this person has to offer.

4) Be happy we can choose from whom to learn.

5) Respect the words guru, master and mentor as words as meaningful words whose depth vary.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She has been in learning situations through Sound Yoga and Martial Arts where the words guru and master are used. She says,

“Throughout my training, there are distinctions between the standard teacher and the guru. However, along came internet marketing. This field overused the words drastically, and now, aside from Guru, the rapper, each person with the ability to teach a money making technique online is known as a guru. And many start off their pitch by mentioning the abuse of the word “guru” and that they are not abusing it.

“We are habitual. We tend to trust a title without verifying expertise. Some gurus have studied long and deeply to procure the title they hold. Others made money with a great product, and they are the new gurus. It is our responsibility to discern the difference. To do so, we need to take a peek at credentials, just so we clarify terminology. Someone who can help someone make money is a valuable asset. 20 year veterans who can teach meditation, instruct in martial arts, teach plumbing to junior plumbers and paint a masterpiece that will be shared for centuries are gurus of the rare and olden kind.

“Our habit of trusting must be adjusted to be a habit of verifying. Then we can live with this language of our day. “

TAI CHI, WALKING & OTHER FITNESS TRAINING: TURNING EXERCISE INTO HABIT (ISSUE 75)

By Diane Gold

Tai chi, walking, fitness classes, playing baseball, dancing, whatever the physical activity is, we want to make it a habit, if we really think about it.

A habit is defined as something whose cue causes a behavior that brings a reward, similar to an endorphin rush from the absence of pain, the joy of sex, walking around the lake or the thrill of completing a tai chi session. Yes, it’s nice to go and do a physical fitness routine. And it’s great that we intellectually “know” that it’s good for us. But, it’s superb if we turn our exercise into a habit.

When a little itch (the cue) causes us to go do tai chi or go walk or go to the gym (the behavior) because we want that amazing endorphin rush (the reward) that follows from the behavior in which we have engaged, we have created a habit. And we can see it’s not the exercise itself that is the habit; it’s experiencing the feeling that follows it.

It’s difficult to see sometimes because we enjoy the exercise. Just doing it doesn’t mean it’s a habit. If it doesn’t become a habit, our dedication to it will probably go away.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

[It's easier to see with drugs or alcohol. Look at taking drugs, for a minute. The taking of the drug is the precursor to the pleasure we get from taking the drug. We usually don't separate that behavior from the reward, since the actual reward comes so quickly after the behavior.
It's a little easier to see with drinking alcohol and its reward. Since taking a drink doesn't give the physical reward instantly, we have time to realize that it's not the drink but the reward that follows that causes the habit of drinking. It should be noted that the alcoholic is busy socializing or being a recluse, but waiting for the effects of the drink, from the moment of the intake of the first drink.

These are the opinions of this writer, from study and from experience.]

REWARDS

The rewards we experience can be “how in touch with ourselves we feel” from tai chi, how good our body looks  from weight bearing exercise, how many ounces we may lose because our appetite has decreased from taking a walk, how sexy we feel from being healthier and more mobile.
Wouldn’t it be supremely wonderful if we loved doing our exercise as much as we loved our favorite dessert?

WORLD TAI CHI DAY IS THIS SATURDAY. April 27, Saturday, at 10:00 am.

WORLD TAI CHI DAY IS THIS SATURDAY

World Tai Chi and Chi Kung Day is April 27, Saturday, at 10:00 am.

There are events all over the world. It’s free and fun, for newbies or experts.
If you are in Boca Raton, I’m coordinating the Sanborn Square event, my 14th year in Boca. I would be honored to have you attend. Spread the word!

If you’ll be elsewhere, I will look for an event for you if you contact me.
Click HERE for a map to the event in Boca.

WORLD TAI CHI DAY IS ONCE A YEAR. JOIN US!

DOPAMINE

All studies about habits confirm that the production of dopamine has been connected to reward and motivation. According to Journal Of Neurophysiology, 1998, July, Volume 80, abstract by W. Schultz, it provides a teaching signal for new behaviors.

According to much research, the centers in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the middle brain near the hippocampus, produce the dopamine that is connected with reward signals.

There is another production center in the substantia nigra, also near the hippocampus, whose underproduction is related to movement issues such as Parkinson’s Disease.

I believe, in terms of reward and motivation, we can learn to influence the regulation of hormones such as these by faithfully repeating 1-step strategies that create new habits.

It should be noted that dopamine production is hugely complex and that self-correction for some of its functions would be a giant breakthrough.

THE WAY WE EXERCISE

Let’s look at the wide variety of ways people exercise.

There are all the ball games: volleyball, baseball, softball, basketball, football, racquetball, soccer, tennis, golf, croquet.

Then we have the mind/body group: tai chi and other martial arts, chi kung, yoga, dance, meditation. I know, you may be saying.

“How can we consider meditation an exercise?”

Here’s the answer. We usually assume a simple position for meditation whether it be seated or standing. This physical posture consumes calories/energy/chi in order to maintain the position, even though we are not moving on the outside.

Then there are a slew of other activities that people do like walking, bike riding, running, weight training, machine training, fitness classes, boating, swimming.

WHAT MAKES IT MIND/BODY TRAINING?

Many of the activities not listed in the mind/body category can very definitely be categorized as training for the mind and body, together. It truly depends upon how the training is done.

When we repeat a system over and over again, we gain a better understanding. When we become adept at a particular physical activity, enough so that we become one with the activity, it becomes mind/body training. In 1980, a then 37-year-old comedian, Chevy Chase, was giving a golf lesson to a 20 year-old caddy in a movie called Caddyshack. He said,

“There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it. Stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.”

In 1980, Eastern philosophy in a United States comedy sounded like comedy, rather than a serious lesson. Chevy’s words above and his saying,

“Hear nothing, feel nothing,”

echoed what happens when we become one with what we are doing. This is one-pointed mind and can happen when we repeat our lessons, whatever they are. (Here’s the scene: youtube.com/watch?v=LGKkmpbhv9k.)

In 2013, it is fairly common for people to meditate and do yoga. Some practitioners do the work as it was meant to be done: as a long term study. Most people just want a quick fix, that quick endorphin rush or the stress relief achieved from reduction of the stress hormone, cortisol, and turn their activities into drive-through exercise, similar to drive-through food. It happens with tai chi and chi kung, too, age old traditions. Schools create quick fix certifications whereby no true foundational learning takes place, and students are allowed to drop in and out of classes as if this method is preferred

CONCLUSION: TURNING EXERCISE INTO HABIT

In the fast-paced world, it is rare that people hunker down and train in one area for any length of time. We usually engage in pinball education, meaning we don’t focus on one type of exercise before we jump to the next one. This type of learning reduces the chance that the exerciser will turn the training into a habit. It just stays as entertainment or the quick fix.

It takes a lot of effort to stick with any one exercise long enough so that we get any proficiency at it. If we do, we will start to get the itch (the cue) to exercise which causes us to train (the behavior), so that we can achieve the reward of personal growth. That’s turning exercise into habit.  It takes knowing ourselves which we usually get from studying one exercise for a while.

Part of learning the skills to an exercise is developing the attitude necessary to be part of it. Otherwise, we’re just entertaining ourselves. Entertainment training is good.  Essence training is better, as I see it.

ACTION STEPS

1)  Consider whether you want entertainment or to add a skill to your life. (Remember Neo’s thrill in the Matrix when he had mastered kung fu in a flash? True satisfaction.)

2)  Once you know which you would like, proceed with that knowledge.

3)  Pick a type of exercise you’d like to do.

4)  Engage in it every other day for as long as you want. When you think about stopping, ask yourself why.

5)  Notice whether your conclusion in 1) has changed. Sometimes, just considering a question such as 1) leads us to new, essential territory.

Some of us like to stay free, and be open to change the type of exercise we do on a regular basis.  Others of us like to dig in to one type of training. As long as it works to support our lives, it’s a good thing.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She has studied people’s duration patterns in physical fitness and mind/body exercise through survey of over 1,000 students in her kung fu/tai chi school. She says,

“Any exercise we do is great. It rejuvenates us and makes us better people. Many of us have been introduced to a variety of activities with the idea that we would become well-rounded. This is good thinking on one hand, but we often miss out on becoming adept through chaos.

“The way we have been raised depends upon the philosophy of our families and caretakers as we grew up. They all meant to enrich our lives.

“Being too strict is repressive. Being too permissive omits discipline. Some families let us jump from one sport to another because it is good to be free in our youth. Others decide we will train in one sport so that we learn focus and how to strive but may start us at age two.

“However we were raised, we have the opportunity now to make a choice. Whatever we decide is OK. It has to fit our lifestyle. It has to support our growth. As long as we keep a good, hearty amount of exercise in our daily lives, we will meet our responsibility and fortify the life that we live.”

WHAT MARTIAL ART IMPROVES BALANCE, GETS RID OF STRESS, FEELS LIKE DANCING AND HELPS CHANGE A HABIT? (ISSUE 72)

By Diane Gold

Okay, you knew. It’s tai chi, the system of movement that looks like rolling liquid that never stops. It teaches personal protection and awareness, creates relaxation of both mind and body (yeah, spirit, too, but there are too many discussions and interpretations on that subject that we won’t mention again in this piece), improves health, feels good and looks good.

In order to talk about how tai chi helps change a habit, let’s define the different aspects of the training, similar to what happens when someone joins the United State Military Service or a dance troupe.

According to Staff Seargent Curtis Osburn, USMC, San Diego,

“…from the minute recruits get off the bus, they are guided through physical challenges, mental challenges and moral challenges.”

So far, this sounds like any martial art. We get strong  of mind, body and moral fiber by going through the physical demands of the movement system. The physical regime prepares us to be flexible of mind as well as body.

According to New England Journal Medicine, Feb. 9, 2012, tai chi helped Parkinson’s patients with balance more than stretching and weight training.

But tai chi has other functions. There is scientific evidence that tai chi also improves flexibility, focus, respiration, muscle response, memory, mental attitude.

To the tai chi player (as the rest of the world says it), it feels similar to dancing or swimming because each movement is connected to the previous. I like to call it “air surfing.”

So, how can this change a habit?

Okay, remember that we build habits by receiving some signal (THE CUE) which leads us to do the same BEHAVIOR over and over to receive a REWARD. We eat 3 pieces of pie so we can say,

 

        “Yum.”

 

We take chemical or recreational risks because we like “the instant stimulation or rush” or because someone prescribed it. Sometimes we get stuck repeating the behaviors over and over again in a habit.

Where it used to be unusual for us to eat 3 pieces of cake, now it is normal to do so and seemingly impossible to stop. We crave it regularly.

Where it used to be occasional to drink champagne at New Year’s Eve, now it is normal to skip dinner and drink alcohol. It is seemingly impossible to stop. We crave it regularly.
The once exceptional event has become the standard way to act. Those brave souls among us who want to change a habit to support their lives in the best way possible want to reverse the process.

Tai chi can help. Here’s how.

In order to learn tai chi, we have to concentrate on the actual movement we are doing. We do the same movement over and over again until it becomes familiar to us. Sounds a little like a habit, right? It is different from jumping rope, doing a dance routine, going to the gym because every time we do it, it is different. Tai chi movement involves every single part of the body. And we are different of mind and body every day. That is why it is different. As with any martial art, the movement is a tool for training and changing the mind. However, the physical way we execute the motion is related to our mood at the moment, what we choose to express, how relaxed our body is and whether we are working on warding off a potential attacker. These factors affect the movement and make it unique in the world of movement arts.

The fact that tai chi involves mind, body and the way we live our lives, but all we have to do is watch our moving hand or foot to grasp our own attention is the very reason it can help change a habit. When we get the CUE, that urge, craving, onset of desire to behave habitually, we can

CHOOSE ANOTHER BEHAVIOR!

We just have to plan it!

I’m being a bit dramatic here because this statement is all we have to do, even though thinking about it may make it seem impossible. Of course, it may not be easy or we would have done it already. But it’s doable. I’m living proof many times over.

TAI CHI AS IT APPLIES TO CHANGE OF HABIT

Here’s where tai chi comes into play. And these are the sequential steps that allow us to change a habit using tai chi:

1) Tai chi teaches us to take our time with movement because understanding the movement takes time.

2) In order for us to be successful at tai chi, we learn patience.

3) This patience with learning tai chi, a martial arts system, translates to patience in our lives and more control over what we do, including our impulses and the cravings that appear out of nowhere and demand some type of behavior.

4) This control translates into having the strength to do a new behavior, different from the old one, that also creates some type of reward.

At the beginning, meaning for 3 to 4 weeks, if possible; it’s a good idea not to look at the new reward or evaluate it or compare it to the old reward. We have to remember it took lots of repetition to learn the old behavior, so give the new behavior some time to become beneficial to our lives before deciding to judge it. Otherwise the mind will play the old trick that the new behavior doesn’t work for us (which is. most of the time, a self-con so that we can go back to our old behavior).

Just like with tai chi, the reward of a new behavior takes time to learn, time to appreciate, time before it becomes a habit.

PRACTICAL ACTION STEPS TO CHANGE A HABIT

So once we have decided that we have a habit that is not supporting our life, here are some simple suggestions to start moving toward success:

1) WRITE IT DOWN!

When you are not craving, urging, desiring your old behavior – which may only be for a quick minute at a time – get out a pen and paper and write down what new behavior you will do instead of the old one. This way, you are contracting with yourself.

 

2) GO TO THE MIRROR

Go to the mirror and tell yourself that, when you get your next cue, you will do your new behavior.

3) BE PHYSICAL

Consider doing something physically exerting for your new behavior, like walking around the closest building or house, so that using your physical body has a chance at calming down your urges through the release of new hormones or neurotransmitters that feel good to the body. to   so that It should be physical and in a different location from the one where you do the old behavior.

4) CHANGE LOCATIONS

Make sure that you go in the opposite direction from the place where you did your old behavior. Sometimes if you travel away from the source, you will be too lazy to go toward it, or, by the time you get part way toward the location of the old behavior, your urge will be gone.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE:

It’s simple distractions such as these that keep us focused on our new behaviors.

5) CALL SOMEONE

Find a friend, a stranger or an association where you can call and tell someone you are traveling away from the source, or you are walking around the building. You are more likely to talk yourself down (talk yourself out of falling back into the old behavior) if you have a supporter.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE:

If you don’t know who to call, call 211, option 3, to talk to someone. As of February, 2013, this free service is available in 50 states (39 of them with 100% coverage) and Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico (100% coverage).

CONCLUSION

Tai chi is a beautiful system of movement that makes our minds more flexible to succeed at our goals. That’s why it is so helpful when we want to change a habit. It’s also another alternative we can choose instead of our old behavior. We can write about it, do it in a mirror, it’s physical, we can do it far away from our old behavior location, and we can call someone else who does tai chi.

It’s a great preparer for life’s changes. We become rooted physically from the actual movement we learn as our legs gain strength. We begin to see a glimmer of understanding about why it’s called an art – because each of us creates our way of doing it. Our will power grows and can support us when we change a habit.

PUBLISHER’S DEDICATION

This article is dedicated to the art of tai chi and what it does for those who do it. It’s also a good place to announce WORLD TAI CHI AND CHI KUNG DAY, April 27, 2013, a free event where close to one million people all over the world do tai chi and chi kung in public events starting at 10 am local time in the first time zone and continue in most time zones across the globe to create a wave of peace and harmony.

As the organizer of the Boca Raton event, we welcome you to participate. It’s the 14th year for Boca. We’ll be in Sanborn Square, Boca Raton, Florida 33432 to celebrate. Details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/148699685298664.

If you are not local to Boca Raton (which most of you are not), we may be able to help you find an event in your city. Bottom line, If it sounds good, put it on the calendar. It’s free and fun. If you can’t make it, think tai chi at 10 am on April 27, 2013.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She has seen how tai chi helps change a habit. She has watched people balance their weight, their emotional state, their physical habit of falling, their appetite. She says,

“Tai chi gives us a foundation, a root, like the root of a tree. When we have this infrastructure, we can require of ourselves new behavior by using tai chi principle. While doing tai chi, we do tai chi. We don’t think of shopping, finances, family feuds. In this same way, when we get our cue which used to cause the old behavior, we can do the new behavior by not thinking about it. We will just do it. That’s how we do tai chi: we just do it.If we are thinking about it, we’re not doing it. So we don’t think about it when we’re doing it.

“Similar to the scientist who can apply the scientific theory anywhere in the universe, the tai chi principle of “just doing it,” with no thought or mind deliberation, can be applied to changing a habit or any situation in life.”

MARTIAL ARTS OF THE MIND (ISSUE 71)

By Diane Gold

Martial arts are a group of disciples known throughout the world as the art of war. This article will mention 1 such discipline specifically, kung fu, which is the term that has been associated with Chinese martial arts, but the article’s focus is generic. It is about using the method that is used to train the body to train the mind. This is martial arts of the mind.

What many outsiders (meaning people who are not practitioners or people who learn bastardized versions that are one-sided fighting technique) do not consider is that this “art” very much includes discipline of the mind and spirit. An example of this would be that we learn that quickest is not always best. Of course, when someone is looking to hurt us and we can outrun the aggressor or execute a physical technique more swiftly, this is good and to our betterment. But the physical aspect is secondary, even though we spend hours training the body. It is to train the mind and spirit, for the most part.

Because of this training, we have the ability to consider taking the longer path if it is more strategic to get where we are going because we know patience, the first lesson in any martial art. We learn to take time out to consider, meditate, evaluate, even if, in physical combat, it is only a split second.

Another example of using the martial arts mind would be that we allow a hostile, aggressive person to beep her horn at us on the parkway and we let her go ahead of us. We are secure in ourselves so there would be no need to fight for “control of the road” just because someone wants to advance in front of us. Some would say that giving up position is cowardice.

To the kung fu artist or other martial artist, there is no sense in acting with impatience, hostility, irrationality unless the behaviors of the other affect us. If our self-esteem is intact and does not depend upon how others see us or treat us, we have no need to pump ourselves up like peacocks on display being macho to find a mate or bearded dragon lizards who puff their necks to make themselves bigger when they sense a threat.

Let’s look at the yin and the yang of things, yin meaning giving and yang meaning taking, more or less. If person 1 yells at person 2, person 1 is showing yang qualities, taking and aggression. Most people would react to person 1 by yelling back, giving it back to her. If person 2 does this, she is meeting yang with yang, like the standoff between 2 wolves, 2 rhinocerii, 2 warthogs. This causes friction, fighting, discomfort and rarely ends positively.

If person 2 is a skilled martial artist, she is trained not to develop aggression from someone else’s aggression. She maintains her own balanced nature. Often times, if person 2 lends an understanding ear and shows the yin, nurturing quality; person 1 will calm down. That is the nature of yin-yang. They balance each other everywhere, all the time. That separates us from wild animals.

Here’s a common scenario and a breakdown of possible action steps in response:
I have a conversation with my friend, and we disagree. My friend yells at me, insults me and walks out on me. I have 2 options:

A) I can choose to call my friend back later or the next day because I want to see how she is doing. Since I do not need to keep score of my friend’s poor behavior, I do not shun my friend because she shunned me. I take on the role of nurturer toward my friend. It usually ends up putting me in role of teacher, not that that is my intention, but that’s what happens when I call and communicate well.

B) I can choose not to call my friend because I am keeping score. Who does this serve?
When we are young, we say,

“I’m not gonna be your friend because you said this to me, and you didn’t apologize.”

This is expected because we work from our feelings alone.

When we are older, acting the way of the child does not utilize our reason and the wisdom from our experience we have taken so long to gain.

During kung fu training, we study and learn who we are. We do focus training which is mental and physical. We learn not to react because someone reacts. (We may act if we are in danger, but we act in the way that best suits the situation, not the way someone else acts.)

We don’t have to defend because someone has offended. If our personal space or that of someone we want to protect is not violated, we don’t have to take an action. Part of this is because we have physical confidence. But, mostly, it’s because we have a greater capacity for patience, tolerance and understanding because we have taken the time to look inward. We also have developed an attitude of responsibility to communicate clearly to others, because we have learned the right way to be.

CONCLUSION

Most of what kung fu or any true martial art is is a systematic approach to living our lives with temperance, forgiveness, honor, respect for others and respect for ourselves. So, before we go on with a few action steps, here is A SECRET, which is only an interesting fact, not known by many who haven’t studied kung fu.

The words “Kung” and “Fu,” together, refer to work successfully accomplished over time. Here’s the secret: What’s fascinating to most of us is that kung fu can refer to any work where someone has applied mastery. That means a chef, a hair stylist, a chemist, a firefighter, a writing professor can all be doing “good kung fu.” which is the translation when we say ho kung fu to someone other than a martial artist studying the Chinese variety.

What this means is that people who master their craft are kung fu artists. They use the same focus, patience, examination, reason, integrity, perseverance, creativity and self-discovery used by the kung fu master. So, the secret is not really a secret, as you see. But, it defines people and process and the fact that the study of kung fu is parallel to the study of music, dance, invention, psychology, masonry, cooking, surgery, oral presentation. And martial arts of the mind is studied by all who train in every martial art.

ACTION STEPS

Consider taking these action steps in the spirit of martial arts of the mind. You may find, if you haven’t already, that reducing aggressive behavior we show due to sadness or anger is not as hard if we give up our own behaviors that do not support us. These methods do not work 100% of the time, but they give us great opportunity.

1) Next time someone yells at you, decide whether the someone is important enough for the relationship to continue. If the answer is yes,

a) if the person is inconsequential, let it go completely.

b) if the person is valuable to you, tell the person s/he is hurting your feelings. When we personalize that what someone has done hurt us, this usually makes the someone stop, take note and change attitudes or even apologize.

c) if the person has value, gently have an internal dialogue with yourself. Recognize that the someone’s being nasty to you usually means you have struck some insecure bone in that person or the person is in pain on her own. Be compassionate of that insecurity or pain by not macho-ing out (yelling back to be the big cat on the mountain). Reach out to the person and ask how you can help and alleviate any bad feelings.

2) See how it feels to withhold aggression. Does it make you feel good or bad? If you feel good, great. Continue it. If you miss the anger conjured up by retaliation, at least you will know what you like. And you will have martial arts of the mind to think about since we can all learn it and implement it in our lives.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She believes that martial arts of the mind is something each one of us can cultivate. This comes with proper contemplative training. She says,

“The training must be systematic, so that we learn 1 step, then another, then another, leading to mastery of our own selves. The martial training applies in all walks of life, no matter what we are doing. We use the principles of empty mind and building a foundation that we employ in the physical training to learn martial arts of the mind.”

CHANGE A HABIT: HOW THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM HAS TAUGHT US BAD HABITS (ISSUE 70)

By Diane Gold

CHANGE A HABIT is an expression that can refer to making an adjustment to just about anything we do. It refers to habits that are both good for us and bad.

According to Chris Brogan, CEO of Human Business Works and New York Times Best-Selling Author,

“Habits come from repeated practice and some sense of reward (negative or positive) for the actions we take.”

When we think of habits, we often forget some of the great ones we have like drinking water, brushing our teeth, meditating, exercising, writing or shaking hands or bowing when we meet people. We don’t usually think about these because they complement our lives and preserve our health and self-esteem.

What we often think about when the word “habit” comes up are overindulgence in eating, drugs, drinking alcohol, gambling, etc. These habits are behaviors we have repeated so many times they now require a considerable effort to stop, different from what would happen should we find out that a good habit, tooth brushing, did harm to us.

Our behaviors of habit, whether supportive or not, have been learned on our own or with the help of our families. What I didn’t think of until I watched Escape Fire last night, a CNN documentary about the U.S. health care system crisis, is that many of our poor health habits have been taught to us through the misinformation given to us by the health care providers we trust with our lives.

Some of what we have been taught by these care givers is:

1) We need animal protein because plant-based protein is not a complete protein.

2) We need a portion of animal based foods in our diet.

3) The more tests and procedures, the better.

4) Going to our medical professional to get drugs is what we do when we are sick. Nutritional counseling is not part of going to the doctor. Why? In our current health care system, there is no reimbursement for our doctors’ talking about food.  What’s even more disturbing is that some 40% of medical schools only require 1 small course in nutrition. We have been trained that this is right, and we trusted this model until our rate of disease continues to soar.

5) Accepting a 5-15 minute medical visit is acceptable for full payment. This is all we’ve ever experienced because doctors and medical practitioners get paid by procedure and not for counseling us or how much health we achieve because of them. We are trained to accept this.

6) Living our lives without worry because new procedures, medications and technology will help us when we get sick has been a precept we have learned, especially since 1997, when the drug manufacturers in the United States got permission to broadcast prescription drug ads.

Unfortunately, we have lived our lives learning these habits. We have built habits around the idea of eating meat/poultry/fish/eggs/dairy for nutrition. The fact that there are a plethora of studies showing that these foods cause cardiovascular and chronic diseases means we will have to consider changing our habits and changing our knowledge to maintain health and, possibly, reverse sickness.

An example of reversal is Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn’s study on telomeres, protective protein caps at the ends of DNA strands that protect its deterioration. She discovered that they wear down from age and stress. With 30 minutes of exercise a day and a vegetarian diet, she was able to reverse this deterioration in her subjects. Wow!

Another MD in Escape Fire, Pamela Ross, comments,

“We have become a society where you drive up and get what you want; and you drive off.”

The habits we have developed of eating fast food is a direct result of the health care system’s misguidance through non-guidance so that we believed it was okay to indulge in greasy (oily and fried) food, sugary food, salty food, processed animal food.

The sad thing is, for the most part, we are not aware, especially in the poorer communities, that the nutritionally calculated value of drive up food is reduced to almost nil because of the negative health side-effects from eating it. The other equally devastating issue is that those of us who know that fast food is bad don’t know what to eat as an alternative for the same shoestring budget expense. Fortunately, children are learning plant-based alternatives and ways to budget for healthy food through their elementary schools. And they are bringing this information home. Go early ed teachers!

Dean Ornish, MD and Head of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, in Escape Fire, mentions the habits we need for good health: diet (meaning nutritious food and water), exercise, love and support and a healthy lifestyle. He has a strong reaction to those in the “system” who consider acupuncture and meditation for pain as well as lifestyle changes for health radical intervention. He says,

“Radical? Compared to cutting a chest open? Give me a break.”

His comment is made so that we realize to think twice about those in the medical field who continue to support the “sickness model” we have built in the United States and are leery about accepting the “preventive & integrative model” of health care even though the evidence
for success is apparent.

Ornish started his work in 1977 to establish that lifestyle changes (meditation, yoga, plant-based diet, personal support) can stop and reverse coronary artery disease. In 1998, he published research showing that comprehensive lifestyle changes turned gene expression on and off in 3 months. Holy moly!

CONCLUSION

If the habits we have collected regarding medicine, treatment, food, lifestyle choices have been based on misinformation, it’s time to take a look at the foundation on which they were built. This is going to mean changing some habits. It’s also going to involve re-educating ourselves as to which medical professionals know what. Of course, it’s difficult to change doctors. But, if the ones we have are not integrating the necessary health habits into the mix, it might be time. At least, we need to do our own research about some of the things in this article.

Why? Because we don’t want to wait until we get a disease to act. We want to act now so we don’t get a disease.

If we already have a disease, we might want to look at all options available to work with it. There are many choices between drug therapy and choosing to take no drugs. With more knowledge, we can become proficient at changing habits that do not support us. The aura around doctors, that they can do no wrong, is gone, even if we want it to be there. We must be more responsible for understanding our health. Hopefully, we can do this with the help of dedicated medical professionals, who will be open to our wanting to look at integrating lifestyle, nutrition, love and support and exercise.

ACTION STEPS

1) Increase your amount of daily exercise by 5 minutes. If you do not exercise yet, start slowly with 5 minutes of dancing, tai chi, walking or stretching. You can scroll down to the 4th video on this page to start: dianegold.com/tai_chi.html.

2) Add 1 new plant-based main dish to your weekly meal plan.

3) Call someone you know and talk about your excitement over your lifestyle changes. If you do not yet know anyone to call, you can go to askew2u.com and click some answers. Or your local librarian is a place to make contact.

4) Take 5 minutes a day for a week to research any habit you have that you would like to change.

5) Drink an extra glass of water daily for a week.

6) Continue, at least, 3 of these steps for a month. Enjoy!

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She believes we can learn much by taking responsibility for ourselves. She says,

“Although we have been led to believe that our total health is in the hands of our doctors, they have not been trained in nutrition, for the most part; and many discoveries that would impact the profit margin of the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and new equipment who supply doctors with their wares, have been withheld or not covered in doctor’s continuing education.

“Further, to satisfy lobbyists in the meat and dairy industries, nutritional discoveries do not make it to mainstream media, usually. As a result, we have been eating incorrectly, using pharmaceuticals instead of lifestyle changes as our medicine and have not been reaching out for the support we deserve.

“Until now.

“From now on, let’s make an effort to eat well, exercise well, meditate well and support each other. Let’s consider pharmacological regimes second, if possible, and changes in lifestyle first. Let’s get the new knowledge we need to make important decisions about our own lives.

“Special note: I truly believe in the wonders of drug therapy and its magic, when appropriate. And congratulate the drug research that has gotten us where we are. I also congratulate all the pioneers who are taking the time to research and report on plant-based nutrition and mind/body modalities to make these part of our new and improved U.S. Health Care System.”

SPROUTS: 7 REASONS WHY. With Commentary By Jason McCobb, aka Farmer Jay (ISSUE 69)

By Diane Gold

Sprouting is a process that we don’t think twice about, most of the time. We put some sprouts on a sandwich and that’s it. We know they are good for us so we eat them when someone adds them to our restaurant plate. I said usually. Some of us know more, but we can all learn to sprout by reading the HOW TO part of this article, simple as that.

When we sprout a bean or a seed, protein increases by more than 10% by the conversion of starch to fiber. Certain vitamins are produced, essential fatty acids are increased and, in seeds, some minerals merge with proteins increasing how they function. Antioxidants, substances that protect against damage that lone wolf electron oxygen molecules( free radicals) can cause.

And then there’s alkalinity. Sprouts alkalize the body which, like a swimming pool, balances its contents. Studies have shown that certain cancer cells, viruses and bacteria cannot live in an alkaline body (so sayeth Dr. Otto Warburg, Nobel Prize Double Winner).

 

We had the good fortune of interviewing Jason McCobb, known as Farmer Jay. He gave a simple explanation of how to sprout, why to sprout and tied his work into sustaining our planet.

 

 

 

FOSSIL FUELS IN TRANSPORTING FOOD

When asked why we should support local farmers, Jason immediately mentions the petroleum consumption and how when we buy local goods, we eliminate the need for this fossil fuel for transportation. He also considers its being used up for unnecessary programs.

An astounding statistic from sustainablelafayette.org, a California sustainability group, says,

“In the United States, food travels an average of 1300 miles to reach you.”

Farmer Jay also mentioned that, for every calorie of food grown in the United States, we expend 7 calories of fossil fuel.

The organization peta.org gives this juicy statistic,

“It takes 11 times as much fossil fuel to make 1 calorie from animal protein as it does to make 1 calorie of plant protein.”
If we don’t develop a plant-based nutrition diet, at least we can buy locally grown produce.

 

WHAT WE NEED TO SPROUT

Here is the simplest set up for sprouting:

 

 

   a container for water,

     beans or seeds

     water & an area for rinsing & draining

 

HERE’S HOW TO SPROUT

I’m always looking for the simplest, easiest, “don’t buy anything you don’t have to” approach to life, so I’ll have more time (or money) for other things. Farmer Jay’s interview helped me understand a lot more about sprouting varieties. To begin, I came up with this formula with Farmer Jay’s guidance and help:

1) Place a cup of garbanzo beans (chick peas) in your container. Many beans and seeds can be used, but these work easily.

WARNING: Kidney bean sprouts are known to be toxic. Choose another variety.

2) Rinse well.

3) Drain the water.

4) Cover the beans with enough filtered water to submerge 2 inches. This way, the beans will continue to be covered when they expand. I have seen 4 parts water to 1 part beans.

5) Rinse the beans after they sit 8 hours or overnight, and return them to the container. No water. The 8 hours of soaking activates growth. It’s amazing.

6) The beans don’t need light. Light will not hurt them, though. They do need to breathe.
I have covered my container with a moist paper towel to replace the cheese cloth I didn’t own so the cats would keep their noses out, but a cover that allows aeration is the only one to be used.

Many U.S. supermarkets sell cheese cloth, a mesh-type fabric that offers aeration. You can place it over the top and fasten it with a rubberband. Then you can turn your jar upside down and let any moisture drain. A plastic colander works well, too, after the soaking phase.

7) Re-rinse the beans 3 X the next day.

8) On the morn of the following day, you may see the beginning of tails. This is good.

9) Re-rinse 3 X that day also.

10) In the morning, rinse the beans again. The tails will be 1/2 inch, give or take.

Farmer Jay says, ”

“You can eat [them] any time once [the] seeds pop open.”

WHY SPROUT?

1) HEALTH. Sprouts are alive. Live food produces enzymes, vitamins and minerals that are necessary for the body. In sprouted form, these powerful nutrients are easier for the body to absorb (bioavailable). Sprouts also increase the protein content in the bean or seed, which is easily digestible as a sprout.

2) SUSTAINABILITY OF SELF AND PLANET. When we grow our own sprouts, we control the process by which this food is grown. We also assist our community in increasing the food stores by creating new food sources that contain rich nutrients for us. Finally, we cut down on the transportation needed to ship sprouts from the grower to us.

3) PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. By sprouting beans or seeds, we become closer to plants and the land and develop a deeper connection to how they affect our life. Instead of depending upon others to provide all our food, we can experience a small taste of independence from our robotic trip to the food store. We also develop a great respect for the farmer or grower by involving ourselves in this mini-process of growing food.

4) FAMILY ACTIVITY. Growing sprouts is a great process in which to involve the whole family. It brings up many topics of conversation; it is an education process that everyone should experience at a young age and it’s an experience for all ages, from toddler to great grandma.

5) TASTE. Sprouts taste good. The texture of sprouted beans is interesting, and they seem sweeter than the beans from which they come, possibly because the cell wall (starch) breakdown produces the enzyme, amylase, which breaks the starch down to simple sugars. It could also be my endorphins kicking in at the thrill of eating what I have grown.

When biting into a sprouted bean, it is soft enough to be pliable but firm enough to be crunchy.

6) ECONOMY. When we sprout on our own, we save money. We also save the country money. One cup of beans or seeds ends up being many cups of sprouts. The amount we pay for the beans is considerably less than the amount we pay for sprouts. By growing our own, we contribute to cutting down the need for transportation for sprout delivery, too.

7) WEIGHT LOSS. These tasty little nuggets of nutrition are an excellent snack for weight loss regiments. Calorie sparse and nutrition rich. They can ward off the biggest craving because it’s difficult to overeat them. They are filling and, when grown at home, always available for craving emergencies.

CONCLUSION

After speaking with such a passionate farmer (this is my first interview with any farmer), I see the joy he feels in working the land. I am grateful to have met Farmer Jay who believes very much in his work. He uses my fruit and veggie waste for his animals and his compost pile. I know it goes toward animals who are loved and crops that are farmed with love. Now, if I can get my neighbors to save their fruit and veggie waste and drop it off, that would be progress.

In conclusion, I asked Farmer Jay what he would tell people if he could get one message out. As with most of his other

answers, it was simple and to the point. He said, without hesitation,

“GROW SOMETHING.”

The message was clear: he wanted people to experience how special it is to grow something, to know that we have the ability to sustain ourselves for our health and for Earth. Or that’s what I heard. And I might have been right. Because when I asked him how he wanted to be remembered, this is what he said,

“I want to be remembered as a steward of the earth.”

Or did he mean “steward of Earth?”

We can all be stewards of Earth through sprouting. Are we ready?

ACTION STEPS

1) Choose a bean or seed that you would like to sprout.

2) Follow the directions above, and sprout your bean or seed.

3) Do a little gratitude dance after you have eaten what you have made. OK, you can clap your hands or exclaim the satisfaction, but dancing for joy is a huge uplifter.

4) If you see any mold in your beans, discard them and start again. Water in the beginning. Air after that.

5) Enjoy the process.

6) Tell someone.

7) Send us a photo. We’ll post it.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment and LIKE us.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She believes we can learn new things at any time in our lives. She says,

“Although many of us have not grown our own food, it is something to think about. It has never been so obvious that we, the people, each need to take responsibility to stabilize how we live on Earth. 1 small stride is to sprout. Even if it’s only 1 time, it’s 1 step toward self-sufficiency, it minimizes transportation costs, we become a good example for the next generation and we honor the planet. Not bad for an act that takes less than 5 minutes for 2 or 3 days.”

JUICING AT HOME vs. JUICE FROM THE HEALTH FOOD STORE (ISSUE 62)

By Diane Gold

Let’s start with a nice quote from The American Cancer Society.

“…whether organic foods carry a lower risk of cancer because they are less likely to be contaminated by compounds that might cause cancer is largely unknown,” but “vegetables, fruits, and whole grains should form the central part of a person’s diet, regardless of whether they are grown conventionally or organically.”

The compounds in this quote are the pesticides, herbicides and artificial additives that go into our food that might be carcinogenic, the testing of which has had definitive negative outcomes that are largely untraceable in mainstream media lest the publicity poorly impact the financial success of the food manufacturing industry.

ORGANIC, NATURAL OR VEGAN?

The above info leads us to speak about organic food. In order to do so, we have to clarify how organic, natural and vegan are different. One is not the others, and the others are not the 1.

 

ORGANIC

Organic food refers to how the food is produced and that it has been produced without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Unfortunately, foods that are 95% organic can be labeled organic. Also, very unfortunately, pesticides that are “not synthetic” are permitted to be used on products that are labeled organic. This includes petroleum oil as a pesticide, since this is a naturally occurring substance that comes from decayed carbon-based life forms. Lime, sulfur, tobacco water and household natural dish soap are also used as pesticides in organic food as well as a variety of other materials that may not be completely safe.

It’s difficult to farm produce without encountering nature’s little bugs that want to eat. In order that these natural organisms don’t eat all the produce, some form of protection in the form of a pesticide, either non-synthetic in organic food or synthetic in non-organic food, must be used.

Except for the few organic farmers who are using the food chain successfully (such as spraying a blend of garlic, onion and red pepper, water with a touch of vegan, non-chemical, non the degreasing, mild dish liquid).

The best way to get our food is to grow our own. Not practical for most of us, and this leaves us with having to dispose of the solids from our juicing. I have happily just connected with a local organic farmer who is willing to take my food waste since I am not a composter. WHOO-HOO! This succeeds in satisfying the responsibility we all have to diminish valuable waste. I am by no means taking a large step toward helping the planet in this regard, but I have taken 1 step.

Call your local farmer to do the same, or see if your community has a compost drop off.

When I lived in Greenwich Village in the 70s, (yes, that’s right, the 1970s) the owners of a demolished building across the street who knew they were not going to build for 5 years, gave our community the rights to grow veggies and flowers on the land. This created happy socialization and good solid productivity as well as beauty on a construction site.

There are also window box gardens, for those with no land or outside water supply.

NATURAL

People often misunderstand the word “natural.” Anything that is processed minimally and does not contain a substance that does not occur organically (this is the scientific reference to organic meaning the way it grew) in the food is natural. That means pig’s feet are natural, fish broth is natural,  apple sauce that does not have other ingredients that must be identified is natural.

The word “natural” is not regulated, other than when it refers to meat or fowl. The word “natural” doesn’t identify much. Often, it confuses the public rather than providing any information about healthy food.

VEGAN

A much misunderstood word, vegan refers to a type of eating that does not include using animal products. That means no honey, no eggs, no dairy, no milk ingredients, anywhere, including in cake or bread or broth, no fish, no poultry, no meat. It does not mean organic. And, as we have mentioned, the word natural is non-specific.

ORGANIC, NATURAL, VEGAN SUMMARY

The words are not the same. It’s important to remember that, even though the advertisers and media groups prefer that we would not.
___

Now back to our original issue: is it better to have juice at home or at the store?

JUICING OUT CONS

1) Whole Foods, for 1, talks about all the organic fruits and veggies they supply. Their produce changes from day to day, based upon availability and growing season, and it’s easy to confuse the physical locations of organic and non-organic food (termed “conventional food” so that the negative connotation from the word “non” is avoided). Their juice bar, as of the writing of this article, does not label whether their juice is or is not organic, so that the less informed customers will assume the juice is organic.

This is not transparent, which goes against the philosophy of an ideal food provider that values food education. All other stores do similar things; I just happened to ask Whole Foods, which is why I am mentioning it by name. So, there is no education happening when purchasing juice at the local health food store, if there is not full disclosure.

2) The next thing about having juice out is that it costs more than it would if we made it at home.

3) We don’t know how fresh the ingredients are that are being used in store-bought juice. Did you know that fruits and veggies only retain their nutrients for a set amount of days? And when some stores, usually supermarkets, get their produce truck; the produce is usually many days or even weeks old?
How many times have you asked the produce manager in a supermarket how old a particular vegetable was? Do you recognize the answer,

“Just got the truck this morning, and I just put ‘em out.”

The irrelevance to an appropriate answer might shock us.

JUICING OUT PROS

1) A benefit of having juice out is that no juicer is needed.

2) When we juice out, we save on our water and electricity bills: electric to run the juicer, water to wash the juicing ingredients at the beginning and the juicer, itself, at the end.

3)  Another benefit of juicing out is that we don’t have to have the ingredients in our refrigerator.

4) Finally, having someone serve us means no work for us, and yes pampering for us. Both great. Unless we think of juicing as a fun, joyous activity, which it can be. I just juiced some red cabbage. The color that came out of the juicer made me massively happy instantly. The color seemed so alive that it was much worth any “work” I had to do.

JUICING AT HOME CONS

1) We have to plan ahead and buy the juice that we want without purchasing too much that some will spoil before we use it or too little that we’ll have to go out to get more in order to finish our juicing process.

2) We have to buy a juicer. This is costly.

3) We have to wash the juicer ourselves and compost or dispose of the fruit or vegetable remains. This means work.
Although I’ve always cleaned the juicer immediately after using it, I’ve heard that it can be very uncooperative if any length of time passes between use and cleaning.

JUICING AT HOME PROS

1) We know whether we have purchased organic produce because we inquire when we buy, and we use grocers we can trust. Hopefully, the suppliers of these grocers we trust follow organic protocol in their farming.

2) We know how old the produce is since we can see the new sitting next to the old in most markets.

3) We can have juice when we want, in the combination we want, more economical than juicing out.

4) We take responsibility for our own health by juicing at home. Plus, juicing is more likely to become a frequent habit when we are hands on and do it ourselves.

5) We can socialize with our family or relax in our own environment as we drink.

CONCLUSION

As I see it, it’s better to juice at home because we are taking a good part of the responsibility for our own bodies. Getting juice for regular juicing outside the home leaves too much to chance. It certainly makes sense to get fresh juice out of the home some of the time, especially when traveling. But, remember to ask whether the juiceria supplies organic produce and know that when the answer is that it is organic, there are many variations on what constitutes “organic.”

ACTION STEPS

1) Invest in a juicer, even a basic one.

2) Decide on a particular juice that makes your mouth water, and experiment with combinations, like PEPPER-TOMATO.

3) Go shopping for juice ingredients after you have had a meal, so that, when you shop, you are not hungry. That way, you will have a less emotional time choosing which fruits and vegetables to get for juice.

4) Check out the website whatsonmyfood.org. When we click on a food, it tells us the average amount of pesticide that is in it. It’s scary, but it’s telling. And we should be aware of what pesticides we are ingesting.

5) Find your favorite food, and leave a comment at the bottom of this link’s page to let us know how many pesticides are in it and whether you are surprised or not.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying plant-based nutrition.

She feels fortunate for her life. She says,

“Those of us who know how beneficial juicing is are fortunate. To receive the maximum reward for our efforts, it’s always a good idea to get the most out of the least work so that we will have energy left for other productive action.

“Many of us know we can get juice at the health food store. Now that we are more informed about what could go into our juice, we can be more investigative about what we are actually drinking. This process improves the service the retailer is giving because their image is at stake. They want it known that they are informative to their customers. They also want it known when their juice is organic.

“Happy juicing and using this knowledge for your health.”

DANCING FOR WEIGHT LOSS: A FUN WAY TO FIRM IT, MOVE IT, REMOVE IT (ISSUE 54)

By Diane Gold

Dancing, by its very nature, can get us moving. As a musician and tribal music lover, I know how it feels to be consumed by the music. It can easily get us in a state of heightened energy. It has to be just right, though.

How many times have you listened to a song that gets you moving and foot tappingly grooving only to share it with a friend who is falling asleep to the very same song.

All we have to do is look at drivers in cars who are happily singing to music or runners and walkers with music players happily gyrating to their workout. When we survey what they are listening to, all the music is diverse. Some of us like any kind of music. Others of us are pretty picky. We have to listen to specific music at a specific time or enjoy our silence. I am in this last category. My strong attitude about what I listen to may come from having studied all genres of music to get my music education degree. Or I like what I like when I like it.

The music we listen to has to feel right at the time. Otherwise, as my music therapy training tells me, the music can be counterproductive. So, let me start off by saying

MAKE SURE YOU LIKE THE MUSIC!

It will affect you on many levels. When I listen to tribal dance music, I get calm and inspired. It’s the only music I can listen to when I need to concentrate. Many people I know would never listen to it. Different strokes for different folks.

So, how can we embrace dance in our weight loss regime? Happily, dancing is free. It is there for us just for the doing. It lives in our bodies.

EXCUSES

Here are the excuses we might use for not dancing.
1) Many of us are shy. We don’t even want to see ourselves.

2) We would never dance in public.

3) We don’t know what to listen to.

4) We have no time. See action step 1 below.

5) We don’t feel comfy in our bodies, so we don’t like to dance.

REPLIES TO EXCUSES

1) Combatting shyness: We can dance in the dark where no one can see us and we can’t even see ourselves. It’s very freeing.

2) Combatting being in public and dancing: Well, here’s the big news. We don’t have to leave our houses to dance. And we might want to dance outside the home after a while.

3) What to listen to: Pick something. The joy is the next day, we can make a new selection.

Most of us have access to a TV, interconnected phone or computer. Music is just a click away. We can flip a channel or go to www.live365.com and choose the genre of our choice. We can also go to www.pandora.com and make our own listening station based on 1 song or artist that we like. The free Pandora software will find other songs like our 1st song. Both Live365 and Pandora are free. Or you can pay a little and get rid of ads. Ask me for help if you don’t know what to do with them.

4) Making time: It’s important to make time for moving the body by dancing, especially if we are working on weight loss. Once we start with Action Step 1, it will be easier to become consistent.

5) Combatting not liking to move: With dancing, we are moving the body. This means burning calories, firming the body and building strength and energy. These are all good reasons to make a go of dancing.

ACTION STEPS

So here are the action steps for this week.

Hopefully, 1 of them will appeal to you.

All you need is 1.

 

 

1)
MUSIC PLAYER IN THE BATHROOM

Decide you will take some type of music player into the bathroom first thing in the morning. Just to get the day started off right.

 

It’s a great time to dance. It will immediately take a little of your hunger away, and it will make the body feel great. It will be your kind of music, so you will like it and respond to it. As I see it, anything is danceable, from Bach to Bartok to Country to Tribal. But starting is the big thing. The next big thing is continuing. Those are the biggies with everything. Begin and continue!

 

Because you are beautiful, fantastic, worth it and in need of shaking yourself out. Making this dancing on a daily basis will take 3 minutes or less.

1 minute is enough if that’s all you have the time for.  And listening to music close up, that is, in headphones, makes you feel as if you are in a music world of your own. And, guess what? You are. The trick is to make it consistent.

2)
TELE-DANCING

Tele-dancing is just what it sounds like: going to the phone and getting on a conference line and dancing. Beginning on Thursday, December 6, 2012 and Tuesday, December 11, 2012; tele-dancing begins at 7:00 pm Eastern time, Thursdays and 6:00 pm Eastern time on Tuesdays.

It’s a 5-minute program that will get you moving to the music and taking the opportunity to free yourself through dance. 5 minutes. You owe it to yourself. No one will be watching. No one will be judging your moves. This is for you. Try it, you’ll like it. Think about how exercise will decrease your ghrelin hormone to lower your food cravings.

Call-In Details: HERE.

3)
TRANCE TAI CHI

Trance Tai Chi is a method of moving the body to a progression of relaxed music>mellow music>excited tribal dance music>then mellow music again>then ending with relaxed music. It includes short instructions where we suggest tai chi-like movements. The instruction allows people to have a basis from which to move and leads up to free form dancing. The purpose is personal freedom.

I do sessions by appointment through trancetaichi.com. But you can find dance similar to this at yoga schools across the United States. They call it trance dance, ecstatic dance and breath dance.

4)
5RHYTHMS

5Rhythms is a dance method where there is specialized instruction to notice your body parts. No actual specific way of moving is recommended. The instruction suggests ways of becoming aware of the body. After an awareness warm-up, the facilitator coaches the group into a series of rhythms which the founder delineates through which meditation can be achieved. It’s very free form dance with a direction: yours.

Look up a 5Rhythms teacher in your area. We don’t have one in South Florida, except occasionally when a super-charged session occurs. Amazing stuff.

CONCLUSION

I remember lunch time when I was in 5th and 6th grades in New York. We had a record player outside in the school yard. Every day, I would bring my 45 RPM records to class so that we could dance. True, there were so many people singing rhythm and blues and rock and roll, so it was much easier to keep track of the latest and greatest records, as opposed to present day when there are hundreds of new artists coming out every minute because of the ease of technology. It’s great to have such technological access!

Dancing is great. It can jump start the day or be a superb ending to it. Incorporate it into the day to feel free, and to reduce extra weight.

5)

ACTION STEP 5

If you have a particular type of dance that you like and you want to go out of your house to do it, check out www.meetup.com for a local group. Type the kind of dancing you are curious about, and see how close one is.
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Dancing for weight loss is not a novel idea. It remains a good one, though. 1 minute a day makes a difference. It will start you in a direction of being consistent and caring for self. Enjoy the experience, whichever one you pick.

FEEDBACK

Please leave  a comment and LIKE.

DIANE GOLD, AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Moms For Healthy Daughters, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert and a dedicated mom.
She creates simple strategies that cost little time and little money that lead to a personal shift that secures an objective. She says,

“Moving the body is a metamorphosis. When we dance, we can easily shake out stress at the same time as we are speeding our metabolism and making ourselves healthy. There are many ways to dance, in public or private.

1 minute’s worth will do the trick, every day. And the best time to start is now.”

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This week, our main article focuses on the use of the words “guru, master and mentor.”

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Tai Chi, Walking & Other Fitness Training:Turning Exercise Into Habit

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What Martial Art … Helps Change A Habit?

by Diane Gold on Apr. 1, 2013.

This week, our main article focuses on tai chi and how tai chi principle can help change a habit.

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Martial Arts Of The Mind

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This week, our main article is about martial arts of the mind. This article transpired as a discussion for a kung fu student who needed to understand that the physical exercises are the tools for the accomplishments of the mind. This article is a reminder of that truth.

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Change A Habit: How The Health Care System Has Taught Us Bad Habits

by Diane Gold on Mar. 18, 2013.

This week, our main article is about how the U.S. Health Care System has led us to need to Change A Habit.

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Sprouts: 7 Reasons Why. With Commentary By Jason McCobb, aka Farmer Jay

by Diane Gold on Mar. 11, 2013.

This week, our main article is about sprouting, with guidance from Farmer Jay of Farmer-Jay-Pure-Organics.

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Juicing At Home vs. Juice From The Health Food Store

by Diane Gold on Jan. 21, 2012.

This week, we talk about juicing, the pros and cons to juicing at home vs. the health food store. We also define organic vs. natural vs. vegan.

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Dancing For Weight Loss: A Fun Way To Firm It, Move It, Remove It

by Diane Gold on Nov. 26, 2012.

This week’s main article is about using dancing for weight loss with 5 action steps from which to choose.

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Fitness By Influence: How To Motivate At Home Fitness By Example

by Diane Gold on April 30, 2012.

Our main essay talks about how we can be the example our daughters need: in fitness and in health.

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Tai Chi: How Tai Chi Can Position Us To Change The World

by Diane Gold on April 23, 2012.

Because World Tai Chi And Chi Kung Day is this coming Saturday, April 28, our main article talks about its true purpose, and, more than that, the real mission of doing tai chi. This is an impactful subject, and comments are requested.

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Let’s Move, Even When It’s Hard

by Diane Gold on December 26, 2011.

Let’s Move, Even When It’s Hard, stresses the importance of moving every day. It includes a few easy 30 second movements that we can do in bed, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in our chair. I remember when John F. Kennedy started his physical education program in all schools. And today, Michelle Obama has her letsmove.gov program, which emphasizes how crucial and how much fun it is to put movement in our lives, starting when we are young.

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