Discoveries with Yoga and Nutrition:
Well it was the summer of 2014 and I was feeling much better than I was 5 months earlier. I went from 215 pounds to 185 pounds, but it seemed as though I was a little stuck with my weight loss again. I had reached some kind of barrier with my routine. As I was starting to enjoy my power yoga workout more and more, I think some seeds of overall awareness were growing at this time because it was around then that I suddenly became fixated on coconuts. (Here’s a coconuts video I made).
I don’t know if you believe in destiny at all, but I’ve had a lot of dreams from 10 years in the past that in some ways seem to be merging with reality these days. I mean dreams that hinted of a kind of healthy transformation for myself, of becoming some kind of yogi believe it or not. If you check out my “Ocean of Love” story here, which is listed in my “soul stories” section, you’ll notice that the main character, who’s basically me, in some new day, new age, was happily opening a coconut. It’s funny because that story came to me suddenly back in 1996 and the story itself is all about “vision,” as matter of fact, it’s based upon the eye and the different ways that people see.
So, as I was stumbling upon coconuts I was marvelled about how delicious they were and they have since become a staple part of my diet, in a way that suggests a kind of positive growth forward. My Ocean story is all about humanity being brainwashed and as I looked around my house, I think I became aware of just how dreadful factory made foods were. Things like breakfast cereals, wheat products, sugar-loaded juices, etc. It was around that time in the summer that I met a nutritionist at my son’s soccer game and she recommended I check out “Dr. Mercola’s Channel on Youtube. Even Dr. Mercola will tell you the number 1 killer in America is the medical association itself. You might also be shocked to hear that both my brother and sister died in some ways or directly from the Canadian Medical system. It’s very tragic, but true.
To summarize this story in just a few sentences, I came to really love the simple beauty of Yoga while simultaneously becoming increasingly aware of nutrition. I tell you Yoga is one great series of exercises and a ‘soulful’ meditation. Anytime you’re doing something truly great for yourself, it falls into the same category as “healthy meditation”. Interestingly, even this last winter after I sprained my ankle on one side of my body and got a pinched sciatic nerve on the other side while jogging, the first and only exercises I was able to do was Yoga! If I didn’t have Yoga, I might have lost my whole body fitness in that injured duration, like many times in the past.
As for nutrition, I suddenly dreamed again one night that “I should be eating pumpkin seeds”. Lo and behold hundreds of website will tell you how awesome these little seeds are for our health. Is it surprising that this idea came in a dream? Perhaps there truly is an innate wisdom inside, which we can utilize. As a Psychology Graduate and a dream studier of 20 years, I can honestly tell you dreams have given many important and timely messages to me. So try tapping in yourself and see what can be learned. Some of my dreams have appeared as allegorical parables full of undeniable insight.
The next great thing I discovered as the winter months wore on was the nutritional information provided by Dr. Fuhrman and particularly his book entitled, “Eat to live”. He really clarified some remarkable nutritional concepts. For example: over consumption of meat is one of the biggest causes of cancer, heart disease and consequently death in our cultures. See his unbelievable chart below. That was a shocking discovery given that our society has been so programmed to eat meats for the essential proteins we need! How surprised I was to learn that vegetables actually contained protein. For some reason, I could even fathom that, thinking veggies were only for vitamins. In fact Dr. Fuhrman argues that broccoli actually contains more protein than steak if you compare equal caloric portions. In short, I highly recommend his book because it was this new information that I was able to transform my diet, become less of a meat-eater, and immediately dropped another fifteen pounds.
That is basically my story in a nutshell. I am still a “work” in progress. I have a million more things to say about healthy change, but don’t know how to minimize it. Two other fascinating and influential books were, “The 30 Day Heart Tuneup” and “Wheat Belly” -Lose the wheat and lose the weight! Getting as natural and fresh as possible with foods is key. Fresh foods contain thousands of phyto-nutrients which are like “magic pills” as Dr. Fuhrman says. How else do you explain the incredible “just picked freshness taste?” Yoga too is an unbelievable, mysterious wonder. It’s not just getting healthy. It’s the awareness, meditation and spirituality component that intrigues me along with thousands of years of tradition.
Here’s a funny video I made as I discovered the concept of phytomins last summer:
I’ll probably update this story as it progresses and while I learn more things. I’m a guy who’s been in touch with that “Chi” energy phenomenon in the solar plexus area since his 20’s. I consider it a good sign that you’re on the “right path”. You decide for yourself.
Yoga Philosophy and Meditation
As a little update to this ongoing heath story. It’s been about a year since writing this story. I would say that third part of the story has much to do with inner awareness. As I progressed with health and my studies in Yoga, I eventually began looking at the philosophy of yoga as well as meditation. There’s a bit of story here too.
One day I was looking at some kind of Yoga app on my android smartphone. What I read didn’t really connect with me. So I went to bed. Later that night however, I woke from a very powerful dream where I heard a meditation Gong sound and the feeling was like really intense powerful meditation waves were hitting me from way off in the future. This stuff is unbelievable. And this story sounded and seem to incredible to believe. But a few days later, I stumbled upon the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, an (audio book and translation which I will link right here) and I was really blown away by what I read and discovered. Firstly I came to the realization that my favorite, cherished brand of Psychology known as the “Jungian Perspective,” was actually based upon Yoga Philosophy. The connections and similarities are too many to note, but I had the distinct feeling that I was getting closer to the original source of wisdom. I also started doing the “Om” meditation around this time with some very interesting results. I strongly recommend reading the above mentioned book. It has really influenced me and helped me along my journey. Namaste.