Change Your Brain; Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman

I just listened to this podcast. Wow, it was really good. It is Rich Roll's Channel on Youtube. I have been subscribed to Rich's podcast for several years now. I discovered Rich when he spoke at the Cleveland Vegfest in what 2016, maybe 2017. He was one of the keynote speakers, and his wife Julie Piatt co-taught the yoga class the kicked the vegfest of with my teacher, Marni Task. Mostly because via the Esselstyn's I knew he was a vegan ultra marathoner, but when I heard his story at Vegfest it was his story of recovery from addiction that really hit home with me (I'm a recovering alcoholic of 25 years) and the connection to a whole food, plant-based diet.

2019 Intentions - Part 2: Meditation

updateI started this last week and am finishing it today. Just so you know.

This morning I'm hanging out at Starbucks while I wait for my Mom's testing to get done. She has about two hours of testing with the Neuro-Psychologist to see where she is at. She has already had some preliminary tests done with the neurologist and a MRI scan of her brain. We have a wrap up meeting next Wednesday with the gerontologist again. We should have a good baseline of where she is at and can more accurately evaluate any steps we need to take.

so while I'm waiting I thought it would be a good time to start my post for my next set of intentions for 2019. As I mentioned in my Part 1 post, I have about 10 goals for this year that I want to try and achieve but some of those are the same as last year. Overall, they are all related to making lifestyle changes that I hope make me more mindful, kind, and healthy in mind, body and spirit. Even if I don't achieve them all the goals and the journey are worth it. As mention in the previous post, my dabbling in journaling over the last year and half led to a some benefits, realizations, and ah-ha's that motivate me to make it a more consistent, bigger part of my lifestyle. Similarly, many of the items that are "rolling over" from last year have provided some benefits or enough of something to think I want to keep trying. Some I did fairly successfully, some I failed at. In this and upcoming posts I'll take about what I'm trying and why.

Following journaling first up is Meditation.

2019 Intentions - Part 1: Journaling

Like every year, I hope to get back to blogging more. I'll touch on the why of that for this year in a later post - assuming I ever make more than one or two posts. This post is intended to be a post about just one intention or goal I have for 2019. I have about 10, many of which are interrelated. I am hoping that by delving into each one I'll get a little bit more traction towards accomplishing them this year.

So my intention is to journal every single day of 2019. At least once a day. Now, I'm not going to freak out if I miss a day, I've done enough all or nothing resolutions to know they don't work if you are really trying to create a change. My focus is to set an intention(s) or goals that I want to achieve by the end of the year. So when I say I'll journal every day I mean by the end of the year journaling on a daily basis will be an establish part of my day-to-day activities.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #28

UPDATE: I have now I idea how this got published with Verse 26 and 27 in it instead of Verse 28. Verse 26 and 27 were already posted here. I am updating this post with Verse 28.

What a busy week this was! We finished the Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue, at work we did planning for the quarter, worked with one of my teams to do an agile assessment that should help them create their OKRs for quarter one. I subbed at Hyland for the wonderful Colleen Alber on Tuesday night, had dinner with a friend on Wednesday night, taught my sober yogis class at Soul Stretch Yoga on Friday night, and Fitworks on Sunday. I got home late Friday night having a long talk with one of the people who came to the yoga class and discussion our. I overslept and missed Marni's class but I made it at Cleveland Yoga on Sunday morning.

But Tuesday and Thursday were the days I was really jazzed about. On Tuesday, some participants got their "after blood work done and we met at lunch for the results reveal.

Here we are with the peace sign of Rip's "Peace, Engine Two, Plant Strong" mantra. Can you see who joined us for the lunch? Yup, Jane Esselstyn of Health Care is Self Care and Rip's sister, more importantly my friend.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #26 and #27

So I missed a week. Thank goodness it wasn't an resolution for this year or I would have already failed. Luckily, I don't really do resolutions anymore. I am going more for intentions. A friend of mine shared hers with me they were really well constructed. I still am working out doing mine right. For now they are more like a task list. I will share them in detail at some point, just not today. They are all centered around two main things with a little 12 steps stuff. Those to main things should not surprise you if you know me; Yoga and Whole Food, Plant Based eating.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #25

Happy New Year!

So we have entered 2017. I will continue to post once a week until I have posted all 81 verses.

This last week was slow at work due to most folks haven taken PTO to spend time with family and friends over the holidays. Due to the fact that Arisa and I used most of our PTO on going to Japan this year we worked most of the week. Which was kind of too bad since my oldest, Elly, is in town for the week.

Luckily I was able to find time to organize with the Dietitian at the Hyland Wellness Center an plan to participate in the Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue. We'll be starting it a little after the official start simply due to the corporate calendar. We'll start with a "launch" on Jan. 5th, and the challenge will begin on the 10th. For those opting to, we'll have biometric screenings with simple blood work at the start and end of the challenge. It should give participants a good snapshot of how quickly a plant-based diet can improve your health. The really great thing is we already have 20 people signed up and this is with most employees out on holiday. I am confident we'll get to close to 25, maybe more. Which is pretty darn amazing since it was all planned at the last minute.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #24

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hannukah, or Happy Kwanzaa. Or whatever other holiday floats your boat this time of year. Although I no longer consider myself a Christian, I do celebrate Christmas since I was raised Christian and family traditions around the Christmas Holiday.

I taught my last "community" class at 3Sisters at least on Friday nights because it will conflict with my Sober Yogi class I teach at Soul Stretch in Westlake. I also taught my weekly Fitworks class as well as subbing on Wednesday night. I am now over 50 hours of teaching since getting certified. Still have a long way to go as a Yoga instructor but so much better than when I was first certified. Still need to find my voice in terms of expressing and talking about themes. Well themes with a spiritual bent anyway.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #22

This weekend started off with my Sober Yogi Hour followed by a Life Is Good discussion. Spent most of the rest of the weekend taking Gina Schatz's Anatomy class for Marni Task's YTT program. I skipped out early on Sunday to take my fellow YTT grad Kim Hackman's restorative yoga class at Confluence. I may or may not have snored.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #21

This weekend started off with my Sober Yogi Hour followed by a Life Is Good discussion. Took my weekly infusion of Marni Task goodness on Saturday morning before teaching at Fitworks in Highland Heights. Sunday I headed out early to take Lori Palmer's yoga class at Soul Stretch in Westlake.

Sober Yogi Yoga at Soul Stretch Yoga in Westlake

So if everything goes according to plan, Soul Stretch Yoga in Westlake will open its doors for business this Friday Dec. 2nd. I am also happy to announce the inaugural Sober Yogi class on Friday at 6:30pm where we will begin the journey of exploring the integration 12 Step programs, the 8 Limbs of Yoga, and a whole foods, plant based diet in recovering addicts lives. After 60 minutes of an All Levels Vinyasa flow we'll have an hour long Life is Good discussion recapping all the good things that have happened in the last week because we are sober.

The class is a donations based class, and we are suggesting a $5 donation. All donations received during the month of December will go to The Lantern Center for Recovery in Cleveland (http://www.thelantern.info/) . The Lantern Center's mission is to provide quality sober living to chemically dependent men and to educate and assist people with recovery from drug & alcohol addiction. So if you want to donate more please feel free!

I am a recovering alcoholic of 21 years, a recovering smoker of 4 years and a SAD (Standard American Diet) recovering addict. My class is open to addicts of all persuasions with the only caveat that your are committed to your recovery process.

I do get a lot of questions about classes for friends and family. While the Sober Yogi class is for recovering addicts only, the Roots of Recovery classes are open to everyone impacted by addictions - friends, families, and the addicts themselves. Check the Soul Stretch Website or Mindbody for the schedule details.

If you know someone who may be interested, feel free to share this post.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #20

So this was a "long" weekend since it was Thanksgiving. I subbed on Wednesday night at the Highland Heights Fitworks which was pretty fun. For Thanksgiving, I pretty much cooked all day long and took it all down to Mom's apartment and Judson Manor .and we had a really good time. We had an extensive conversation with Mom about how she is struggling with the transition to her new abode. As nice at it is it's not the house she lived in for 25 or 30 years of her life. It was really good to get "real" with her.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #19

Started the weekend off doing a triple upping the ante from last week. I took a class at work and then two at 3 Sisters. Taught my class at Fitworks and spent most of the day reading and planning for Thanksgiving. Sunday Morning I started re-reading the Big Book after 20 something years. I recently finished Yoga and the 12 Step Path by Kzcy Hawk. Then later Sunday morning I went to my teacher's, Marni, class at Cleveland Yoga.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #18

Started the weekend off doing a double at 3 Sisters followed by Marni on Saturday morning. Taught at Fitworks after Marni's class at Cleveland Yoga then subbed for a friend at Stat Crossfit in Avon.

In the afternoon I was Metrohealth auditorium for PlantBasedCLE's screening of Food Choices. And we had a great panel discussion including Dr. Pam Popper, Jane Esselstyn, Brian Hart, and Patricia Slimbarski.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #16

I spent my weekend volunteering at the Engine 2 sponsored 2Forks Weekender here in Cleveland at the Downtown Marriott hotel. The amount of information was absolutely staggering. There were times that I felt such a disconnect to the rest of society, that such critical, lifesaving information is not more widely known. There shear amount of data demonstrating the overwhelming benefits of a whole foods, plant based diet is almost overwhelming.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #15

So I started off the "weekend" doing a yoga triple, one class at work and then two at 3 Sisters Yoga + Fitness; one class was with one of the sisters (Courtney) the other was a community donation class with Jen teaching.

I taught one of these classes a few weeks ago and will be teaching it again. It's a great opportunity offered by 3Sisters. We get practice teaching, people get to try yoga very inexpensively (for free if you don't donate), and any funds raised get donated to a local charity. What a great win-win opportunity. Thank you 3 Sisters.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #13

On Saturday I was having trouble figuring out what do do with my day (too many choices leading to indecision) when I randomly posted a question on PlantBasedCLE's closed Facebook group if anyone had any recommendations for a spiralizer. The response was great with some great recommendations and a link to one site's ranking of spiralizers.

More importantly, though, one friend (thanks Victoria!!) reached out and mentioned that her friend's dad had one he wasn't using. So I jumped at the chance and Victoria offered to deliver it that same day! Thank you universe.

Sunday was also my first staff meeting for Soul Stretch Yoga where I will be teaching Friday nights at 6:30. I missed the Browns game which isn't so much a loss but was bummed the Indians game was rained out.

Welcome to this week's Tao Te Ching verse. See here for what this is all about. 

Verse 13

Success is as dangerous as failure.

Hope is as hollow as fear.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #11

This last weekend I was able to get three of my teacher Marni Task http://www.marnitask.com/ classes in! And don't tell anyone but we bought a car.

Welcome to this week's Tao Te Ching verse. See here for what this is all about. 

Verse 11

We join spokes together in a wheel,

but it is the center whole

that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,

but it is the emptiness inside

that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house, 

but it is the inner space 

that makes it livable.

We work with being, 

but non-being is what we use.

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #10

This last weekend I spent Saturday volunteering at Health Care is Self Care's Wrapping Our Heads, Hearts And Hands Around Plant-Based Eating at "The Knob". Fantastic learning experience and love the #hcisctribe!

Welcome to this week's Tao Te Ching verse. See here for what this is all about.

Verse 10

Can you coax your mind from its wandering

and keep to original oneness?

Can you let your body become

as supple as a newborn child's?

Can you cleanse your inner vision

until you see nothing but the light?

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #9

I had an incredibly full weekend of volunteering, attending yoga/spin studio openings, my first staff meeting at 3 Sisters Yoga + Fitness, the one year anniversary of starting Marni Taks's YTT program. Oh yea, and a little yoga here and there.

Welcome to this week's Tao Te Ching verse. See here for what this is all about.

Verse 9

Fill your bowl to the brim

and it will spill.

Keep sharpening your knife

and it will blunt

Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #8

Happy Labor Day! I teach at Fitworks in Highland Heights this morning but will be back for breakfast by 9.

Welcome to this week's Tao Te Ching verse. See here for what this is all about.

Verse 8

The supreme good is like water,

which nourishes all things without trying to.

It is content with the low places that people disdain.

Thus it is like the Tao