Great work this week! We saw some great changes in your form during your mat work out. I hope everyone stays healthy and does their homework. Here is what we did this go around:
Mat Class:
We incorporated the overball which was used for keeping the neck supported and for assisting with alignment. Some people treated it like a pillow and you know who you are....exercises we accomplished are listed below and the ones in bold were new:
coccyx curl w/ball at knees
bridge w/ball at knees
upper body curl w/ball at chest and then at knees
double knee folds w/ball at knees
100's w/ball under neck
seated curls back with ball at knees
balance w/ball at knees
rolling w/ball at knees
Knee stir/modified leg circle w/ball at opposite ankle
Single leg stretch - ball at head
Double leg stretch - option of ball at head or ankles
Spine stretch - use ball to roll away from center
Corkscrew modified with ball at ankles or knees
Swan using ball under hands for leverage
Swimming kick stabilizing ball w/arms/back
Side kicks w/ball - clam w/ball at ankle, straight legs double leg lift w/ball at ankle, place ball under top knee and lift/lower then circle bottom leg for inner thighs
Our nutritional counseling session was really interesting in that we discussed sweet & root vegetables, but we also got into a discussion about Yin/Yang how it relates to food as well as acidity in our bodies. I hope you can follow my notes!
In the beginning of our session we went over what we had tried during our week and Alice said we should all incorporate good quality fats into our diet as our bodies will streamline these.
Sweet & Root Vegetables include:
Sweet potatoes
Yams
Carrots
Beets
Onions
Parsnips
Daikon Radish (a blood cleanser & fat burner)!
Spaghetti Squash
Delicatta Squash
Butternut Squash
Alice recommended we pick 2-3 of these and either roast them or cook on stove. The oven could be heated to 425 degrees and we can place these veggies which should be cut into small pieces in the oven. Another option would be to saute in olive or sesame oil with a few inches of water for 10-15 minutes.
This would be a high fiber, complex carb snack which would stabilize your blood sugar. When your body gets sweet, it doesn't crave sugar.
Several of the squashes we discussed are shaped like women and have seeds in the middle and help balance hormones.
In Chinese medicine there is a 5 element theory of:
Fire
Water
Metal
Earth
Air
Different organs are associated with each element.
We look at our diet as 5 elements as well:
Whole Grains
Vegetables
Fruits
Oils/Proteins
Primary Food (vacation, sleep, family etc.)
At this point we began discussing Yin (of the heavens, expansive) and Yang (of the earth (contracting) and how it relates to our lives and what we eat.
A standard american diet consists of salt which is a contracting mineral (yang). Excess salt contracts the organs. For example, if our livers are contracted we are often angry.
The salt we eat is poor quality. The purpose of salt is minerals. Table salt is just sodium chloride which is void of minerals. Integrate high end salts like sea salts.
Primary foods are both yin and yang.
Living in a city is yang
Living in the country is ying
In the middle is movement, sleep, sexuality, breathing
We lead yang lives and we crave yin like sugar and alcohol which are expansive. Vacation to us is yin. We are also balanced to the extremes. In the morning we want caffeine and sugar and in the evening we want meat and cheese. Where we need to be is in the middle where whole foods such as fruits, grains, beans and tofu exist.
We decided that Fish and Chicken are more Yin and Beef is more Yang.
Eating whole foods cleans out mucous in our intestinal linings. More acidity in blood exacerbates joint pain.
We were given recipes which incorporate sweet and root vegetables as homework.
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