8 WEEKS TO OPTIMUM HEALTH: WEEK 8

"The eight-week program consists of small steps that build on each other until, by the time you complete it, you have laid the foundation for healthy living. You can then decide how much of the program you want to maintain on a permanent basis. It's all about changing behavior." -Andrew Weil, author of 8 Weeks To Optimum Health

I found this book on my mothers bookshelf... or it found me. - M-Z

WEEK EIGHT (of Andrew Weil's Eight-Week program)

CONGRATULATIONs! YOU HAVE ALMOST MADE IT TO THE END OF THE EIGHT WEEK PROGRAM.

Projects:
-Review the changes you have made in your lifestyle in the the program so far and think about how many of them you wish to make permanent. Develop a realistic plan that you can stick to over the next eight weeks. The question this week is how can you carry this plan forward. Following all the instructions and then going back to your old ways of living is not the point.


Diet:
-Think about how you can continue the dietary changes of this program in coming weeks.

Supplements:
-Start taking your tonic. Make a commitment to give it a two-month trial to see what it does for your energy level, resistance, and outlook. All you have to do here is remember to take your antioxidant formula every day. That means having a daily routine for taking three vitamins and selenuium and making sure you do not run out of any of them. You can and should take them for the rest of your life.

Exercise:
-Reach your goal of a forty-five minute walk, five days of the week.

Mental/Spiritual:  The prescriptions I gave you under this heading are the most distinctive elements of the eight-week program, and they are absolutely essential to it.
-Continue the breathing exercises. Start using the relaxing breath whenever you feel anxious or upset, and be sure to do it at least twice a day.
-Maintain your news fast for the whole week. At the end of the week, think about how much news you want to let back into your life in coming weeks.
-Think of people who have hurt you or made you angry. Try to bring yourself to understand their actions and forgive them. Can you express forgiveness to at least one of them?
-Reward yourself with especially beautiful flowers for completing this program. Why not also buy flowers for someone else?

Optional (but highly recommended)
 -Try a one-day water fast this week. You can have herbal tea with lemon if you like, but nothing caloric.
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Good luck, have fun, see ya next week !


Love,

Maryam

8 Weeks to Optimum Health: WEEK SEVEN

"The eight-week program consists of small steps that build on each other until, by the time you complete it, you have laid the foundation for healthy living. You can then decide how much of the program you want to maintain on a permanent basis. It's all about changing behavior." -Andrew Weil, author of 8 Weeks To Optimum Health

I found this book on my mothers bookshelf... or it found me. - M-Z

WEEK SEVEN (of Andrew Weil's Eight-Week program)

Projects:
-Do some kind of service work this week, such as volunteering for a few hours at a hospital or charitable organization or helping some-one you know who is disabled or shut in -any activity in which you give some of your time and energy to help others. Your new project this week sounds simple, but it touches on a profound subject that is very relevant to health: your sense of self in relation to others. Human beings are highly social, communal animals. We are meant to live in families, tribes, and communities, and when we lack those connections we suffer. Service work is a way of developing and demonstrating your sense of universal connectedness with other human beings. It is, truly, its own reward. It is considered one more piece of the whole picture of health. 




-Continue the steam baths or sauna twice this week. Use it for up to twenty minutes one day. It should be hot enough to make you sweat freely; be sure to drink plenty of pure water to replace lose fluid. The value of sweating: It allows the body to rid itself of unwanted materials and also highly salutory for our minds and spirits.




Diet: -Continue eating as before: at least two meals of fish, two of soy protein, generous servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, ginger, and garlic, and cook greens twice this week.
        



Supplements:
-Continue the supplement/vitamin regiment offered in week one, two, and three.

Exercise:
-Increase your aerobic walk to forty minutes, five days of the week.

Mental/Spiritual: *Recommendations that fall under this heading are most important.
-Reach out to resume connection with someone from whom you are estranged. Practice forgiveness. Human relationships are complex, often marked by upheavals. The joy of intimate connection is often balanced by the pain of separation and estrangement. Healing relationships, emotional pain, and the sense of isolation that is at the root of much human disease is a necessary step in helping the healing system perform most efficiently. To take the first step toward reconciliation is difficult, requiring emotional maturity and skill, it can also put you more in contact with your higher self.
-Make time for flowers, music, and art.
-Increase the relaxing breath to eight cycles, twice a day.

Optional (but highly recommended)
Eat nothing but fresh fruit one day of the week, and drink as much water and herbal tea as you want. Take vitamin C but skip the other supplements on this day. Limiting your diet to just fruits and vegetable juice is a way to give your digestive system a good rest.
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Good luck, have fun, see ya next week !


Love,

Maryam

Saturday.

Lyrics to Love: If it makes you Happy

"If it makes you happy" -Sheryl Crow

I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen

Well, o.k. I made this up
I promised you I'd never give up

[Chorus]
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad

You get down, real low down
You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train
Well who hasn't been there before?
I come round, around the hard way
Bring you comics in bed, scrape the mold off the bread
And serve you french toast again

Well, o.k. I still get stoned
I'm not the kind of girl you'd take home

[Chorus]

We've been far, far away from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos
And everywhere in between
Well, o.k. we get along
So what if right now everything's wrong?

[Chorus]

Lyrics to Love: Fast Car

"Fast Car" -Tracy Chapman

You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Any place is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living

You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
I say his body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way

I remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a big house and live in the suburbs

You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way

Collectible Matter. The Scavenger Hunt

"Today I see beauty everywhere I go, in every face I see, in every single soul." -Kevyn Aucoin

Today, I challenge you to see your world through different eyes.

The March 13' Collectible matter Scavenger Hunt List:

-love/joy
-pain
-an artist
-a couple
-a business card from someone who can help you in your career or personally.
-a statue, memorial, or dedication
-your reflection
-a piece of advice (written down)
-a piece of art that speaks to your heart
-something old
-red
-fungus among us
-Now I'm confused
-too many
-just had to share this with you

Love,
Mz