Jane Kerrison

A friend of mine lent me a book called Insight Yoga: An Innovative Synthesis of Traditional Yoga, Meditation, and Eastern Approaches to Well-Being by Sarah Powers. This book is what I’ve been using to explore Yin Yoga, a type of restorative yoga which involves holding poses for an extended period of three to five minutes.

The book includes a number of different sessions created to stimulate different organs, as well as providing various meditation and breathing techniques. Also included are a series of yang routines meant to balance the slower yin practice.

I found the book to be a useful introduction to yin yoga, as well as an interesting read. As for yin yoga itself, I’ve found it extremely effective in helping me relax before bed. Additionally, it helps to stretch out some of the deeply tense muscles in my body.

While yin yoga does not necessarily require and interest in meditation, I’ve found it a helpful precursor to seated meditation, as it helps me to quiet my mind.

Another thing I like about yin yoga is that it is not vigorous. This lack of required energy means that I can do a yoga practice even when my fibromyalgia symptoms are extremely heightened.

Humidity can really spark fibromyalgia symptoms, and wouldn’t you know that there is a record breaking level of humidity and heat occurring this week. It’s not the best way to spend the last week of my summer break. I’ve literally been hiding in the basement for the past three days. It hasn’t been all bad, as I’ve had fun tv to watch and a good book to read. However, I’m not too pleased that it keeps lingering. Hopefully the weather will break soon…

I’ve had a lot of people ask about how to subscribe to my blog. On the right hand side of my web page, there is a square orange symbol with some white lines in it. This is the RSS button, and if you click it, it will notify you every time I update my blog.

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For awhile now I’ve been writing (and talking and thinking) about how great yoga is. So when I got a yoga dvd out of the library that focused on detoxing the liver, you would think I’d do it with caution, realizing how well it would work. You would think that…but no…

I’ve been loving the Kundalini yoga dvd’s by Ana Brett and Ravi Singh, so I borrowed a few from the library. One of these was called Lighten Up and Purify, and as I mentioned, it focused on detoxing the liver. Detoxing can be a powerful experience, and should usually be approached carefully and gently. However, I decided to do the entire one hour workout, despite the fact that it was laid out in two separate sections.

While doing the dvd I noticed how deeply it was working, but I just kept thinking how cool that was. What happened next was what some people call a healing crisis. What that means is that as my body worked to get rid of deeply embedded toxins in my body, I felt rather ill for a few hours (and a bit of the next day).

While I wish I had realized how effective the workout would be, and been a little more gentle with myself, I am glad to have found such an efficient tool for detoxing. As well as the impurities from food and environment that everyone has, I imagine that stored deep in my body are traces of old medicines that I’ve had to take – remnants that I would rather do without. So I think detoxing is important…I’ll just be more gentle in the future!

On a similar note, I am pleased to say that I have inspired a number of people to try Kundalini yoga. However, if you feel it is a little too much for you, but are still interested in trying a different style of yoga, I have a useful tool for you! Check out www.yogajournal.com/stylequiz it takes about two or three minutes to complete, and it may help give you an idea of which of the many styles of yoga might be right for you.

The last two books that I read were wonderful, heartfelt and inspirational. Here are some tidbits to encourage you to pick them up:

Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist is the second autobiography by Michael J. Fox. In this instalment, Fox talks about living with Parkinson’s, and explains how he has managed to remain happy, fulfilled and optimistic despite his illness.

The book is divided into four sections, Work, Politics, Faith and Family. Fox highlights these as the fundamental sources of strength in his life, and in each section, he discusses how Parkinson’s has altered and sometimes enhanced his relationship to these important ideals.

As someone looking to move forward through chronic illness with a positive attitude, I found this book inspirational and heartfelt. At the same time, it managed to maintain an honesty about the reality of his situation – Fox does not ignore his illness.

One of my favourite moments in the book comes in the prologue, when Fox says, “For everything this disease has taken, something with greater value has been given – sometimes just a marker that points me in a new direction that I might not otherwise have traveled.” What delights me about this statement is that I finally feel the same way about my own illness. The book is well written, funny and moving – definitely worth reading.

Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World is the latest book by social activists and brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. You may know Craig as the founder of Free the Children, the largest network of children helping children (a group he founded when he was just twelve years old). Together, he and his brother Marc have also founded Leaders Today, which works to promote youth leadership. The list of their achievements is considerable, and stretches across the entire globe.

In this book, they discuss the philosophy of living Me to We, and outline steps that one can take to facilitate this changing perspective in your own life. It is filled with inspirational stories of single people sparking significant positive change, as well as memories from the brothers’ own travels across the world. Author contributions included consider Dr. Jane Goodall, Kim Phuc, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Oprah Winfrey.

With straightforward and personable writing, Craig and Marc explain the necessity for a global community, and provide numerous ideas for creating positive change in your own life and the lives of those around you. This book is wonderful, and has left me informed and inspired.

One of my favourite quotes chosen to be a part of this book is from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”

Check out the conversations and actions inspired by this book at www.metowe.org

Okay, okay! I’m back and ready to fill you in! Yesterday I mentioned that I’ve been having a lot of fun lately – let me elaborate…

The health food book I’ve been referencing over the summer has the subtitle “The Plan That Will Change Your Life”, the meditation book I’ve been using repeatedly speaks of changing your outlook, and the yoga dvd’s constantly site Kundalini as the yoga most potent for transformation and fulfillment of inner potential. It’s easy to laugh those kind of comments off, or put them down to promotional garbage, but honestly, I really do feel like my summer has changed me.

When I say that I’ve changed, I don’t mean that I’m a different person, I’m not, but there are a lot of differences to myself a few months ago.

My health has improved so much that it is kind of unbelievable. While I liked cooking and food before, now I am incredibly conscious of what goes into my body. I’m also becoming quite knowledgable on issues of nutrition. My eating habits have done a 360. I physically cannot even eat most of the food that I lived off of a few months ago.

My outlook has also changed dramatically. I was never a particularly negative person before, but through what I have learned this summer, I am now much more conscious about my reactions and responses to situations. As a result, I am able to take the time to find the positive part of most situations. This constant shifting of attitude has made my day to day life a lot more fun! I find myself enjoying small moments that I took for granted before. Using meditation ideas, I try to bring focus to each moment, which can transform chores like cooking and cleaning into opportunities for fun.

I’ve also loosened the restraints on my creativity, which has been so exciting. Whereas before, I would often hold back due to fear of failure, criticism etc. now I tend to just kind of follow my creativity and see what happens. As I result, I’ve started playing guitar (which I have always wanted to do, and which I LOVE), singing a lot more (with my lovely new guitar!) and even writing my own songs! Writing and music have long been the two dominant passions in my life, but I’ve been scared to try and bring them together. For me, finally starting to write songs is a huge achievement; I really love it, and it is so fun and fulfilling.

This summer I also started drawing (I need a lot of practice – don’t expect to see anything any time soon!) and playing my flute again. I’ve been playing a lot more piano, and even making up my own stuff (which I was too hesitant to do before). In general, I’m just more spontaneous (albeit in small ways). Being sick made me a very cautious person, and while I still am very careful, I am more willing to do little fun things where the fun will outweigh the risk of a negative outcome (ie. climbing a tree with a friend or skinny dipping at midnight).

Another benefit of my summer experiences is that I have started to shift my response to stressful situations. It’s going to take me awhile to undo years of habit, as well as all the stress tendency of fibromyalgia, but any shift in the right direction is a positive one. I’m working to try and notice situations that really shouldn’t be causing me stress, and approach them as challenges. This idea makes me see the situation as more fun, and can totally transform how I respond. It may sound a little silly, but it’s helped to remove some of the small stresses from my life.

The result of all these changes is that while I’ve been having a bit of a rough time lately (not sleeping well, and a number of storm induced headaches) I’m still having fun with the parts of my day that I can. Even if it’s only for a few moments on a bad day, it gives me something positive to focus on and keep me going. Also, it’s resulting in a lot of nice music :)

(Do me a favour, when you read the title of this post, read it with Soup Nazi emphasis! Don’t sweat if you have no idea what I am talking about, it’s really not important. Ok, to the important stuff!)

For some unknown reason I have not been sleeping well for the past few nights. One of the contributing factors is that out of nowhere, and for the first time in ages, I’m experiencing restless leg syndrome every night. Basically it amounts to your legs cramping and twitching every so often during the night. If you’ve ever experienced it, you know it’s about is much fun as someone dumping cold water on you every time you’re almost asleep. It’s incredibly annoying. PIcture this: you are comfortable and relaxed, drifting off into a pleasant sleep…when suddenly your legs twitch violently and jerk your whole body awake. Not cool. Not cool.

What’s annoying me more than anything is the fact that I have no idea why it is suddenly a problem again! On some advice I received, I’m going to try taking an Omega 3 supplement before bed to see if that helps. I’ll let you know how it works. Despite some rough nights of sleep, I’ve been having a lot of fun lately, but I’ll save that for tomorrow’s post… (haha, now you have to come back again! :) ) G’night.

I did something stupid the other night: I decided to eat fish and chips. After about three months of eating nothing but healthy food, my body did not respond well to deep fried fish and french fries. I spent the next morning sitting beside the toilet feeling like I was about to vomit. Luckily I didn’t…though I felt awful all day :S

Note to self: DO NOT do that again.

The party was fun, so I didn’t leave as early as I meant to…but I still got home before midnight. So I probably would have been fine, except that I got inspired to start writing a song…and stayed up until 1:00am. Again, I could have probably got a decent night sleep at that point. However, I decided that it was too late to do my nighttime routine of yoga and meditation and just hopped into bed. I then spent the next hour trying (unsuccessfully) to ignore the spasms and twitching that kept happening in my legs.

So it wasn’t a very restful night… however, I was reminded of the importance of my new routines, and I started writing a song (my first!) which I have almost finished today. So there’s a bright side there (I may feel differently by the end of the day as my energy runs out).

The party last night was a barbecue, but I decided to eat before I went. Red meat has not been sitting well with me lately, and I can’t eat veggie burgers because of the tofu. So I ate before I left. There ended up being some mention of why I wasn’t eating, and for a minute I worried that it was going to be hard to maintain my healthy habits and socialize normally with others. Later on, I realized that had it not been for all my healthy habits, I may not have been able to go to the party at all. So once again, my resolve fell apart and then was restored.

The night also reminded me that people are convinced that there is nothing I can eat! So I’ve decided to start telling you about some of the foods that I am loving and expoloring at the moment. Rather than feeling as if I can’t eat anything (though I did feel that way for quite awhile), I feel like there is so much for me to eat. In all honesty, I’ve never had so much fun with food!

Three foods that top my favourite list at the moment:

Coconut: Buy the un-sweetend kind, because you really don’t need the extra sugar. Then put it on salads, on top of cereal or fruit, in oatmeal, or my new favourite, on top of peanut butter. Flavourful and delicious :)

Salmon: I always sort of liked fish before, but as I started to eat healthy, I’ve been craving fish on a regular basis. Salmon is a good choice because as well as being delicious, it has tons of omega 3, and is one of the more environmentally sustainable fish populations. My favourite ways to eat it are baked, mixed with mayonnaise for sandwiches, or on top of salads.

Canary Melon: Have you seen this melon?! I found one at the grocery store the other day and in all honesty, I bought it because it was so pretty! It is bright yellow on the outside and white on the inside. The taste is somehow both milder and sweeter than cantaloupe. Cut it up for a fresh summer snack, or mix it with granola for a delicious breakfast.

Mmm…. now I’m hungry :P Happy munching!

Apparently I got a little ahead of myself in my congratulations. The past two days I’ve had a bit of trouble with fibro. I really do mean a bit, nothing catastrophic, but I’ve been achy, tired, not sleeping great and have had an on and off kind of headache. Apparently I’m snapping at people too, which is not nice…

I’m trying to take the day in stride, as I really am doing sooooo much better than before, but constant headaches tend to make me a little agitated.

I’m supposed to be going to a party tonight, and as much as I probably shouldn’t, I want to go. I think there’s going to be a fair amount of people there, and I tend to become less social the less well I feel, so the situation could be unpleasant. I really need to try not to stay too late either, because I need to come home and sleep. Hopefully I will have a good time.