The Amazing Benefits of Hot Water

I write about this in my book," Yoga to the Rescue: Ageless Beauty", but it is worth emphasizing again because it's so beneficial to the body.  Sipping hot ionized water has a profound cleansing effect on your body tissue (a place where many toxins get stored)—it helps reduce overall toxicity and improves circulation.  This simple method can also shed many pounds of body waste in a short period of time.

Here's how it works:  When you boil water for 15 to 20 minutes it becomes charged with negative oxygen ions;  taking frequent sips of this water throughout the day helps eliminate—from your tissue—positively charged ions associated with harmful toxins and acids.  Health guru Andrea Moritz says it best in his book, "Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation"—"Most toxins and waste materials carry a positive charge and, thus, naturally tend to attach themselves to the body, which is negatively charged overall.  As the negative oxygen ions enter the body with the ingested water, they are attracted to the positively charged toxic material.  This neutralizes waste and toxins, turning them into fluid matter that the body can remove easily."

I do this anytime I am feeling overly fatigued and after a decadent holiday.  When I sip the hot water, I feel my body purifying with every sip.  I also set a timer to help me remember when to sip!

Directions:
Boil 24oz of filtered water for 15 to 20 minutes.
Store in a large thermos (my favorite is a glass-lined large pitcher by Japanese company, Zojirushi)
Take 1 or 2 sips every 30 minutes (drink while it is hot, like a cup of tea).
The water will stay ionized for up to 12 hours in a thermos.

Use this method anytime you don't feel well, need energy and clarity, after the holidays.  You can do it for 3 to 4 weeks or ongoing.  It is so beneficial that it makes sense to do it every day if you can, but do what feels right and works for you!

Migraine Relief

I have a friend who suffers from severe migraines, so I'm always on the lookout for good resources for her.  I just found this excellent article by a yoga teacher who suffers from migraines, so its pretty darn thorough—multiple yoga sequences from various sources, preventive breakfast, herbs and more are suggested to relieve and prevent migraines (I hope it will help some of you migraine sufferers!):  http://paulbuschyoga.com/node/110

Curing and Healing with Yoga

Radhika Khanna, fashion designer  and author of Pose

I just heard that Lady GaGa may be suffering from the debilitating autoimmune condition, lupus.  This is very sad news...although I won't miss her music.

I then heard from a new friend, Radhika Khanna (she tweeted me and the rest is history) who sent her lupus packing with a daily yoga practice—to say this in a somber medical tone, "her lupus is in remission" which is pretty amazing and very inspiring!   Lady GaGa needs to hook up with Radhika.

After Radhika started following me on twitter, naturally I stalked her before I "followed" her back.  And the more I read, the more I love her.  Not only has she sent her lupus into remission (a full-time mission in and of itself), but she's written & illustrated a useful yoga book for busy people called Pose: Yoga for Ambitious People.  She's also a successful fashion designer.

Excerpted from the Huffington Post: "Beginning with a 10- to 12-minute long set of exercises first thing in the morning, Khanna prescribes a series of three- to five-minute exercises that enhance one's sense of well-being using terms that are immediately understandable and readily applicable. She clearly

and concisely explains the benefits of different postures and breathing exercises that create a better balance of energy. Each heading is helpfully illustrated and illuminated with quotes from inspirational practitioners like Dr. Deepak Chopra who Khanna looks to as a spiritual guide."

Radhika's book is available on Amazon.

Can you Change a Bad Habit?

I think this chart is not only cute, but a pleasantly appealing way to begin to change a bad habit.  Click graphic or click here for full size printable chart.  I just printed this out and put it on my fridge.  I'm going to try and change one of my lesser vices—staying up late.  I often stay up until 2am contemplating the universe, worrying, watching movies etc.  When I go to bed early (10pm), I wake up refreshed, the day seems much longer, and by joe I get more done!  Also between the magical hours of 11pm and 2am your liver and other important organs are busy detoxing, so if you're watching Tales From The Crypt (like me) at 2am, you are really doing a disservice to your body and spirit.  So download this chart and see if it helps you get rid of a bad habit.  I wish you much luck!

Work in Progress...

When I started my TinyMischief store on Etsy I drew this wild-haired redhead and I just loved her, so I put her in my store banner and on my gift bags and now I've put her on a necklace that will be available for sale soon (I need to find and add a few more bits and bobs).

I Love Ribbon!

Just having ribbon around my office and home makes me happy.  Ribbon has a rich history and is one of the oldest embellishments used by both nobility and commoners alike.  What I love most about ribbon is the unique beauty it can give an item, from a piece of clothing to a gift.

I labored over and finally ordered a batch of ribbons to adorn my new Tiny Mischief bookmarks.  The ribbon arrived yesterday and I'm assembling bookmarks today!

Orders ship in a Tiny Mischief cotton bag...I'm still practicing stamping!
These reusable bags are sturdy and great for travel, odds&ends, and more.

My new Etsy store rubber stamp just arrived and I'm SO excited.  I plan to stamp just about anything that isn't moving!  It has a great Emily Dickinson quote that makes one ponder the bigger picture and I like that very much.

My new store on Etsy!  I'm really excited about this because for years I've been thinking, breathing, illustrating, and dreaming YOGA, but I have so many other ideas in my head that I want to share.  

My shop is small, but will continue to grow as I add new gifts.  

Use code: Mischief8 for 25% off your order! 

FREE RescueGirl Greeting Cards!

Just a few of my Greeting Cards (recycled, super-thick, come with a pretty pink envelope!

I'm giving away lots of my fabulous RescueGirl Greeting Cards until March 5th, 2013!

Here's the scoop:

GET 5 FRIENDS TO JOIN my RescueGirl Newsletter and get 6 RescueGirl greeting cards...FREE!

How?

You & your friends sign up here: http://eepurl.com/sR2Zb
(yes, you'll be included as 1 of the 5 if you have not signed up already!).
Please have your friends add your name to the "How Did you Hear about RescueGirl" field).  And that's it!

I’ll be keeping track and I’ll let you know the scoop March 6th!
Thank you for your support!

RescueGirl Greeting Cards come individually wrapped with a pretty pink envelope.  Super-thick recycled cardstock, blank inside for your own message.

Offer Expires: TUESDAY, MARCH 5TH, 2013

Thank you for sharing!

I Used to Think MSG was a Designer Like DKNY

OK, so I'm joking about the designer snafu, but I DID think MSG was just a flavor enhancer and not something too harmful;  I also used to think that MSG was only in Chinese food.  Oh, how silly and wrong I am!  I stumbled upon a brilliant site called "Truth in Labeling" (not the prettiest of sites, but very informative) and it gave me a window into a world I had no idea existed.
"Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) literally stimulates neurons to death, causing brain damage to varying degrees."
-Russell Blaylock, M.D. Board Certified Neurosurgeon
"Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills"
Now, I do know corporate food is a bit evil because their only purpose in life is to get you to stuff your face with their processed junk, from Doritos to Cheetos, but I didn't know that they disguise MSG in their foods by calling it all sorts of different names like "natural flavoring".  What I find even more shocking is that MSG is also in a lot of "natural" foods, as well.  For example, my all-time-favorite, quick, go-to bouillon, Rapunzel's vegetarian organic cubes, contains "yeast extract" which is a polite way of saying, "MSG".  Another excellent site is MSG Exposed.

The following list was taken directly from the Truth in Labeling website:
Names of ingredients that ALWAYS contain processed free glutamic acid (MSG):

• Calcium glutamate (E 623)
• Monoammonium glutamate (E 624)
• Magnesium glutamate (E 625)
• Natrium glutamate
• Yeast extract
• Anything “hydrolyzed”
• Any “hydrolyzed protein”
• Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate
• Yeast food, Yeast nutrient
• Autolyzed yeast
• Gelatin
• Textured protein
• Soy protein, soy protein concentrate
• Soy protein isolate
• Whey protein, whey protein concentrate
• Whey protein isolate
• Anything “…protein”
• Vetsin
• Ajinomoto

After reading the above list I foraged through my "healthy" kitchen and was shocked, Earth Balance to Tofurky is littered with MSG!  No wonder they have that other-worldly tasty punch.  Into the trash they went....well, almost; I finished up the Tofurky slices and will never buy them again and the Earth Balance was in the trash, but then I quickly retrieved it as visions of buttered toast danced in my head.  It's still in the fridge and once it is gone, I will never buy it again either!

I think the big lesson I learned is to eat whole foods and this is pretty much what I do now.  I thought it would be daunting, but it gives me a greater appreciation and connection to my food.  I now laugh when I think I used to buy cartons of almond milk which tasted pretty horrible and now I whip up raw, soaked almonds and water in my high speed blender with a dash of vanilla and sea salt and it is dangerously delicious.  I also make my own salad dressings.  I cannot believe I used to buy that stuff.  Now I have total control of what goes into my concoctions and they taste better than anything I could ever buy in a jar at the store.

Never a Dull Moment

It's just me—no employees, no elves!  This is often how I spend my evenings, assembling my yoga decks and other RescueGirl products for customers.  This one was for the fabulous Golden Door Spa in Carefree, Arizona.  My adorable Isabelle who looks a bit possessed in this photo is always by my side, unfortunately she never offers to help, occasionally she licks a hangtag though.

Donuts

Tara Stiles: What's a donut?

My issue with Tara Stiles...
Tara has a blog called "Tara Eats" and I think she needs to rename it "Tara Needs To Eat".  I don't mean to bash lovely Tara, but I do think she could benefit from a donut or two and if that is too extreme perhaps she could start off with a few modest donut holes and work up to a whole donut.

Why Do Yoga?

Marilyn Monroe said that yoga made her legs sexy and fabulous.  That would be enough of a reason for many to jump on the yoga bandwagon, but the main reason I do yoga and always will is because it makes me feel better.  I get so stressed, depressed, freaked out, overwhelmed, resentful (why do I have to do laundry? Pay bills? Do dishes?).  And if that isn't bad enough, life feels really dull sometimes, like I'm stuck in some bad movie.  If I can convince myself to stop in that moment of madness and lay down and float away in corpse pose or stick my legs up a wall (legs-up-the-wall pose) and breathe and just stay there for a few minutes, my energy and mood usually radically shift which always amazes me—completely amazes me--like I'm someone who just found out they won the lottery—"you're kidding, ME? I just won 6 billion dollars?  Woo-ha!"  So do a little yoga and feel better!