MyLifeYoga

Why is the China Study important for me?

This is study that gives us scientific information on which foods are healthy to eat and which are not. It does so by means of a well designed scientific study done on large number of people over many decades.

It is the most comprehensive study on diet, lifestyle and disease ever done with humans in the history of biomedical research. This study was jointly arranged by Cornell University, Oxford University, and Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine.

What is the main finding of the China Study?

People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. People who ate the most plant based food were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease.

This study is very important for those who suffer from chronic diseases. It also points to the danger of excessive animal protien in our diet.

Another significant finding of the study is that diet and health are closely correlated and that food can and should be viewed as medicine.

What are the most extraordinary claims in the book called The China Study?

Change to a plant based diet can reverse or suspend heart disease, cancer, and MS.

Most Diabetics can get off insulin by changing diet.

Countries with least amount of dairy consumption have the least incidence of osteoporosis.

Why China? Continue reading →

Most every day, I receive emails from women who resonate with the Curvy Yoga message. And more days than not, I talk with at least one person who is interested in or in process in Curvy Yoga certification.

And here’s what I’ve learned from these conversations: NO ONE thinks their body is “right” for yoga. No one!

The Not Quite Right List
Of course, these conversations often begin with the two of us discussing a shared experience of feeling “too big” to be in a yoga class. Many, many people have this experience! The funny thing is that people of every shape and size feel this way.

And then the even funnier thing happens — people also aren’t sure if they’re curvy “enough” to take or teach Curvy Yoga.

And after hearing different iterations of this over and over, it hit me: we really do all have body baggage. Too many of us (myself totally included!) spend our time worrying. If we’re not worried we’re too big, we’re worried we’re too small (especially in the “right” places). If we’re not worried we’re too old, we’re worried we’re too young to be taken seriously. And the list goes on and on and on. Continue reading →

Candy Chang is a pioneer in the innovative use of public spaces that promote sharing. She lives in New Orleans that has the highest number of abandoned properties in the US. She has championed the cause of turning this liability into an asset. She does this by turning these abandoned properties into shared spaces that brings the community together.

In 2009, a loved one passed away suddenly and this made Candy think more about death. She feels that thinking about death provides perspective to life. But faced with increasing number of daily distractions we tend to lose this perspective. So she decided, with a group of friends, to turn an abandoned property into a giant chalk board with stenciled sentences: “Before I die I want to…”. The wall was quickly filled out and kept growing. An abandoned property soon turned into a thriving community space where neighbors shared their deepest hopes and aspirations. The space became a place for contemplation and reflection. It became a place to learn and grow.

The success of this project has had a snowballing effect. There are now similar walls around the world, from Kazakhstan, to Argentina, to South Africa. Candy provides a toolkit if you want to start a wall of your own: http://beforeidie.cc/site/build-your-own-before-i-die-wall/

Don’t have a wall around you? You can now express your wish on this wall on the internet: http://beforeidie.cc/site/blog/category/responses/. This space keeps changing as people sumbit their entries. Here is one that has been posted recently: “Before I die I want to make a profound difference in somenone’s life with my art”.

Credits: This is a TED talk released on You-tube by TED.

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