Yogi Tea Quote for the Week

Courtesy of my Kava Stress Relief tea

"You can run after satisfaction, but satisfaction must come from within."

To me this means that we can look outwards to be fulfilled with our lives but first we really have to look within ourselves to understand what we need.  Self-reflection to understand our passions and what makes us satisfied is the first step.  What are you thoughts about this quote?

Below is a great tool to guide this process.  Want your own "Circle of Life" evaluation?  Contact me to set one up!

Chat with me!

I am so excited to introduce a new feature on the blog that I learned about from my friend Adam!  It is a chat functionality (see to the right) that allows you to chat with me right from the blog. You don't need to have a Google account.  Just click on "Chat with Lisa Chin, HHC" and your message will be delivered right to me.  You can use it to contact me with questions, comments or to schedule your health consultation with me.  I'm at your service :)

For instructions on how to put this on your website, visit Adam's post.

What's Greener? Take-out vs. Eat-in

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Part of our vitality is the earth's vitality.  How we treat ourselves is often a reflection of how we treat the earth.  The people who recycle and compost are unsurprisingly people who also take care of themselves through their diet and lifestyle.  From my observations, the "hippie-ness" of someone is highly correlated to the amount of love for the earth someone has.  I don't think it's a coincidence that the weather for the past couple decades have been off kilter.  Global warming is a reflection of our society.  Not just in how we are physically abusing the earth but also how we are polluting it with our mindsets.  Our focuses on making money, being innovative, and being gluttonous have heavily contributed to the condition of the earth.
As I improved my diet (moving to more local, plant foods) and started meditating, I definitely noticed that I feel more connected to and appreciative of nature.  For that reason, I thought I'd post occasionally on how we can become greener.  I'm going to state upfront that I'm not expert on the environment but want to grow more awareness of it through this blog.
Today I wanted to talk about eating out. From a nutritional standpoint, it is always better to make your own meals and eat at home (or eat at someone else's home cooked food at their home).  But we live in a busy world where sometimes that's not an option and also splurging on a meal that you don't have to cook for yourself is nice.  Did you know that thirty-two percent of meals in the US are eaten outside of the home?  That's about one a day.  That's not to say 68% are cooked at home.  A large percentage if that number includes take-out meals. 
I admit that I like the occassional take-out from the local Thai restaurant.  On one of my visits, I thought about take-out vs. eat-in and which is greener.  To me, all of the steps taken to take-out or eat-in are all the same except the use of take-out containers.  This is the factor that, in my opinion, makes eating in a restaurant more green than eating take-out at home (unless you bring your own containers).  So be greener and eat in the restaurant instead of taking out.
What are you thoughts on taking out vs. eating in?  Any tips on being greener?

Homeward Bound Vacation

I've spent the past 4 days in New Jersey with my family and friends.  While I've been here, I've done some work for my personal business and saw some clients, but all in all, it's been a wonderful escape from "real life."  Heading home is blissful as I get to enjoy mom-cooked food every meal and spend time with my brother in the house we grew up in.  And, for some reason, I almost always fit in a yoga class or two when I'm home. 
Although I didn't travel far nor did I get to do anything exotic, this vacation is always the most nurturing for my soul.  It's actually very grounding as well - bringing me back to my roots.  To me, vacation does not require traveling to an exotic location or spending tons of money on a lavish hotel room. It's about having time to relax and spending time with myself and with family and friends.
Did you miss an opportunity to take a vacation this summer?  Why not invest in some time for yourself?  Take the weekend off from chores or to-do's.  Bring your family or friends to a park and hike for an afternoon or take a whole morning of yoga classes without a worry in the world. There are so many ways we can integrate small vacations into our lives, even when times and money are tight.  What do you think you can do this upcoming weekend to integrate a little vacation into your life?

Quote courtesy of Lotus Yoga

I had an amazing yoga class this morning at Lotus Yoga in Montclair, NJ.  Jennifer Kohl, the studio's founder and one of its teachers, taught the class.  I love when yoga classes integrate the philosophy of yoga into the class.  After all, it's not just a physical practice but a mental one.  She said something that really stood out to me.  It was "Rejoice in Your Goodness."  This came about from a theme about being good to others so that good things happen to us. 
Take time to realize all the good we do and celebrate it.  I think that when we celebrate our goodness, we want to continue those actions and in turn, the world becomes a better place.  What have you done that is good and how do you feel it has served you?

Week of Tips: Ground Yourself: Hibernate

It's the last tip of this week of tips on how we can ground ourselves this fall! I hope you have had the opportunity to read the tips from earlier this week.  If not, here's a recap: Fall Cleaning, Fall Eating, Grounding Meditation,  Getting in Touch with Nature, Visiting a Tree, and Grounding Ourselves.

So if you haven't gotten the trend this week, it's learning and implementing tips on how to ground ourselves in the fall, after a warm summer spent outdoors.  Fall in the Northeast is usually fairly pleasant. Not a depiction of the brutal winters at all.  But as a mammal, my warm blood can feel that winter is right around the corner.  As you look around, you can see nature's plants shedding their summer leaves and retreating to their roots for the winter.  Animals also prepare for the winter.  Birds fly south to warmer climates.  Mammals forage, harvest, and stuff themselves silly for the winter because in winter A) there is no food, B) even if there was food, they don't want to go out to get it or C) they are hibernating, sleeping away the winter in a cute little curled up bundle in a cave somewhere.

Now I am by no means telling you to forage, harvest and stuff yourself silly.  We have the modern convenience of having food readily available year round.  But I would like for all of us to take a cue from the animals and start preparing our bodies and homes for the winter during which we want to hibernate, as the bears and squirrels do.  

The sun is rising later and setting earlier.  Nature is telling us to go home and rest.  Listen to what the world is telling you and skip that happy hour, have an early dinner and get to bed. Our bodies naturally want to rest in the winter. There is no need to run it ragged.  Hibernate from 10 to 6. Trust me - your body will thank you.

Week of Tips: Ground Yourself: "You're Grounded"

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"You're grounded."  As a kid, that wasn't such a good thing to hear.  When we were "grounded" as kids by our parents, we were sent to a corner in the room for "timeout" or our room, which, back in the day, was not equipped with flat screen TVs or laptops with wireless capabilities, heck, I didn't even have a radio in my room!  Getting grounded was a time for us to go to a quiet place and reflect on our wrongful actions.

You can kind of say that "getting grounded" spiritually encompasses the same idea.  The difference is that we are grounding ourselves (which we voluntarily do) vs. having the grounding imposed on us (which is a punishment).  A great way to ground ourselves is to retreat to a quiet place and reflect.  This can be our room, a getaway to a meditation center, or visit to a house of worship.  Dedicating time to reflect with the purpose of learning and moving on is a powerful form of grounding ourselves.

The weekend is right around the corner-TGIF!  Take the time as a perfect opportunity to ground yourself.  This is a great time to visit a spiritual center, a yoga studio or just our rooms to reflect on our experiences of the summer, learn and move forward with brilliant intentions for the fall.