Standing Upside Down

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:11

This morning was a very rare one in my house.  I woke up earlier than usual and my children slept later than usual.  It was nice to have two hours to myself to relax for a bit and to do some household chores without being summoned to fetch something for someone or to mediate a argument.  When the girls finally woke up I had already accomplished a lot.  And since we don't have plans until much later today I was able to spend some time just playing and being silly with my girls.  This entailed a lot of tickling and hugging and laughing.  And somehow we found ourselves lying on the floor with our legs bent up on the couch.  We laid  there for several minutes just looking back and forth at each other and laughing until Allie declared that she wanted french toast. Off I was to the kitchen to whip up a batch of french toast.  While the girls ate their french toast in the family room, I headed back to the kitchen to clean up and was feeling really happy.  Not just happy. . . carefree.  As I  stood in the kitchen this incredible urge to do a handstand came over me.  Right there and then in the middle of the kitchen I reached down to the ground and scissor-kicked my legs up and down.  I didn't really achieve a full handstand but when I stood back up, after acknowledging that what I had done was somewhat insane, I realized that I felt energized.  And I REALLY wanted to do a full handstand.  So I went into my living room, placed my hands on the floor, and kicked my legs up against our coat closet door.  And there I was, a 35-year-old mother of two, doing a handstand for the first time in 20 years.  I brought my legs back down, stood up and then bent down to do it again.  In fact, I did it over and over again.  It felt amazing.  The rush of blood to my head, the lengthening of my back, the engagement of my shoulder and back muscles.  I Googled the benefits of handstands afterwards. I know that there are many inverted Yoga poses and I wanted to read about them and find out their benefits, as well.  I texted my sister to let her know that I had just done a handstand.  I thought that she would find it amusing especially since she is the person who I handstood with the most throughout the course of my childhood.  She, ever being the big sister, asked me if Google had anything to say about the benefits of doing handstands for a person with a history of lower back problems.  But it actually made my lower back feel great!!  There were actually several articles that listed the benefits of handstands.  Here is one of them: http://www.livestrong.com/article/178371-the-benefits-of-handstands-for-the-body/.  Several of them stated that handstands are a way to calm yourself and that many people will do handstands before starting their meditation practice.  I find that fascinating!  Especially since as children we just naturally felt inclined to stand upside down. . . just for the fun of it!!  And it made me think about children.  So much of the time we are telling them what to do or what not to do. We want to keep them safe.  We want them to be happy.  We want to teach them ways to stay safe and be happy.  But we seldom stop to think about the lessons we can learn from our children.  My husband often jokes about the fact that children primarily use running as their way to get from point A to point B.  We laugh together at the thought of adults racing each other to the conference room or to a table in a restaurant.  But so much of what kids do naturally are the things that we should all be doing.  Kids find joy in things that make our bodies healthy. They run, skip, climb, balance, hang, and stand upside down.  Just for fun.  And are building healthy bodies while doing it.  Perhaps it is time for us to learn a lesson from our children and resort to some of our chidish ways and just stand upside down once in a while.

Connecting with Nature

Human beings crave connection with nature.  The first sunny, warm day after a long, cold winter usually brings people out from hibernation and headed out for walks, time in the park, bike rides, etc.  When people vacation, it is usually someplace that is more connected to nature like the beach, a lake, the mountains, or the country.  Even in the middle of Manhattan, a small strip of land that is mostly covered with concrete, is Central Park - an oasis for the people who live or work there covered with grass and trees and ponds.  Feeling connected with nature has great healing powers.  It is very therapeutic.  Often when I am feeling stressed or down or just contemplative I will head to one of the reservations near my home and take a long walk.  The silence of nature, the smells of nature, the fresh air, the beauty of my surroundings and the simplicity of it all help to quiet my mind and get a new perspective.  When I am on vacation at some beach locale, I love sitting on the sand facing the ocean and listening to the waves crash, the wind blow, the seagulls cry, and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.  I know I am not alone here.  Everyone loves nature - to be outside and to decompress.

I just finished reading Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead - a book by an Australian man named Joe Cross.  The book is about Joe's 60-day juice fast that he completed as a way to reclaim his health.  He had been overweight and suffering from a chronic illness called urticaria that would cause him to inexplicably break out in painful welts from the slightest touch.  Doctors had no idea what was causing his ailments and, therefore, could not effectively treat him other than giving him a high dosage of Prednisone to ease the symptoms.  Joe decided that his unhealthy lifestyle of fast food, Coke, and alcohol could be to blame and decided to do the 60-day juice fast as he roadtripped across the US.  At the end of the book (which is also a film) Joe has lost a ton of weight and was able to wean himself off the Prednisone without any flare-ups from his urticaria.  In the book, Joe made an observation that his juice fast was the ultimate in connecting with nature.  That statement hit me like a ton of bricks.  I've always known the benefit of healthy eating and have never been one to indulge in much fast food.  But, nonetheless, his story and his revelation really struck a chord with me.  When people want to connect with nature to unwind and forget about the responsibilities of life, they usually do the things that I mentioned before - go to the park, head to the beach, go for a hike.  Seldom do people think of eating more fruits, vegetables, nuts, or seeds as a way of connecting with nature.  But just as connecting with nature on the outside has therapeutic effects, so does connecting with nature on the inside.  Most people do not consider food to be a healer - but it is.  Look at Joe Cross.  The juice fast healed him.  Now I am not suggesting that everyone embark upon a 60-day juice fast.  But by incorporating more plant-based foods, and less lab-based foods into our diets, we can cure ourselves of a lot of our ailments - even those that seem unrelated to our food intake such as stress or depression.  There are, in fact, studies that show that junk food can contribute to depression symptoms.

I have made a commitment to myself to connect with nature through food.  I am trying to incorporate fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes into each meal.  I am having fun being creative with my food and sharing recipes with friends.  And I love that my children understand the importance of fruits and vegetables in their diet.  Though they may not eat all of the vegetables I make, they are being exposed to them daily which will hopefully leave a lasting impression on them for the rest of their lives.  So the next time you feel the need to connect with nature, take a look at what you have been eating recently and see if you can make a change to become more connected with nature on the inside, as well as on the outside.