Spring Awakening For Your Brain: Four Wellness Must-Reads

Posted by Amina AlTai on

By Resha AlTai

It’s that time of year again! The trees are beginning to bloom, birds are singing outside windows, and parkas are finally shed. With all this physical renewal, it can be easy to forget that our minds also need freshening up. Allow your heart and mind to flourish with these four incredible reads for Spring:

1) Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders This quick, informative read delves deeply into the workings of our digestive system, including its effects on our mental well-being. The language is totally accessible to those of us with a basic understanding of anatomy and physiology and makes wonderful use of illustrations (drawn by the author’s sister) to complement her explanations.

2) The Places That Scare You by Pema Chödrön In our current age of anxiety, Chödrön is both a refreshing and challenging voice — she encourages us to see problems as spiritual opportunities. Instead of trying to run from discomfort, she advocates staying put and learning about ourselves. This a wonderful read for those of us who are facing uncertain or difficult times and looking for a little spiritual boost!

3) The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit It starts off with a basket of apricots sitting on the authors floor and morphs into an allegory. The gift of apricots that Solnit’s estranged mother gives her starts to decay, much in the the same way as her mother’s mind (she is suffering from Alzheimer’s) is doing. Through the observing of the apricots, she makes sense of her mother and her relationship with her. Solnit reminds us of the importance of empathy in our lives in this brilliant work of non-fiction.

4) Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation by Sharon Salzburg While this work is technically a 28-day program, it can totally be used as a reference guide for your existing or burgeoning meditation practice. Don’t let the self-help sounding title scare you away from this book, Salzburg shares incredible insights best illustrated by this quote:

"Real happiness depends on what we do with our attention. When we train our attention through meditation, we connect to ourselves, to our own true experience, and then we connect to others. The simple act of being completely attentive and present to another person is an act of love, and it fosters unshakeable well-being. It is happiness that isn't bound to a particular situation, happiness that can withstand change.”

Happy reading! 

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Healthy Almond Butter Cups

Posted by Amina AlTai on

When i'm not working from my home office, I can often be found at the local healthy coffee shop, typing away, and occasionally indulging in any vegan treats they might have that day,  

Cleverly, the checkout counter is also full of other craving-inducing goodies such as lollipops, rice krispy treats and chocolate peanut butter cups.  But it's the peanut butter cups that seem to taunt me the most.  Having both a chocolate and peanut allergy, I haven't tasted the perfect balance of sweet and salty like that in years.  Well this week, I decided I was going to be taunted for the last time and figure out a way to make tasty and healthy replacement.  Enter: Healthy Almond Butter Cups with Strawberry "Jam" Filling.  

Ingredients:

5 ounces of almond butter

3 tablespoons of melted coconut oil

1 scoop of vanilla protein powder

A dash of salt

Filling:

1/2 a cup of mashed strawberries, simmered in 1/4 cup of water

1 scoop of vanilla protein powder

1 sliced strawberry

Instructions:

Melt the coconut oil on the stovetop and whisk in the almond butter.  Once you've achieved a well-mixed consistency, whisk in the protein powder.  When it's all melted together nicely, separate the concoction into two, then spoon one tablespoon into silicone molds and pop in the freezer for about 20 minutes.  Set the remaining half aside.

For the "jam" filling, add the mashed strawberries to the water and simmer until the strawberries breakdown.  They whisk in the protein powder to thicken up the filling and add some extra protein.  It's not a gorgeous color, but it tastes great!  

Remove the frozen base from the freezer and spoon on the jam.  You want a small amount, about the size of your fingertip, then top with a fresh slice of strawberry.  Then cover with another tablespoon of the almond butter mixture and pop back in the freezer for another 20 minutes.  Remove them and eat right away.  I dare you to try and stop at just one!  : )

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Five Must-See Wellness Gurus in NYC

Posted by Amina AlTai on

NYC is veritable wellness haven.  In fact, I believe it's the capital of the current wellness boom.  It seems that everywhere you turn there's a yoga studio, chiropractor, or massage therapist, and each one is as good as the next.  But sometimes, there are a few that are so extra special they deserve an honorable mention.  Here are five NYC wellness gurus you cannot miss on your next trip to NYC.  (And, spoiler alert, some even offer remote services!)

 

Sarah Sajdak: Aquarius Acupuncture:

80 E 11th Street, Suite 309

New York, NY 10003

(917) 496-5481

A scholar of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Herbology, Sarah is an intuitive healer and acupuncturist who gets straight to the root of disease.  You walk into her celestial blue office and a calm immediately washes over you.  And when you're greeted by Sarah, whose kindness is almost disarming, you get the overwhelming sense that everything is going to be okay.  And it is.  From healing neuropathy to GI diseases, to migraines and more, Sarah is fearless and quickly targets the cause of problems.  I've seen more success in a few months with Sarah than in a few years with traditional doctors.  Plus, she's a wealth of knowledge on all things wellness and never tries to sell you anything.  She’s attentive, compassionate and a real joy to be around.  Each visit feels like a therapy session where I emerge an even shinier version of myself. 

 

Deganit Nuur: Nuurvana Wellness

80 E. 11th Street, Suite 314

New York, NY 10003

After working with Sarah for over a year, she suggested I meet with Deganit to dig a little deeper into my healing work.  Since what Sarah says goes, I quickly reached out to set up an appointment and boy oh boy did this not disappoint.  Before you see Deganit, you can hear her happy laughter echoing the halls.  It's the warmest laugh I've ever heard and felt kind of like sunbeams if that makes any sense?! Deganit is licensed acupuncturist, certified herbalist, clairvoyant intuitive, and meditation instructor.  Whooh, that was a mouthful, but the moment you see how each of these talents converge with one another to deliver an experience that is, let's just say, otherworldly, you'll be so happy you sought this multitalented lady out.  I visited Deganit for acupuncture and an intuitive reading.  We started with a health history where I rambled off my autoimmune issues and scratched my head at my seemingly perfect wellness regimen that wasn't always serving me.  Then she put me on the table, popped in a few needles and launched full speed into the intuitive reading.  When I tell you it was scarily accurate and that she knew things I had told no one, I'm not exaggerating. She helped me heal old wounds and "release" them in an effort to achieve more perfect health.  I left feeling illuminated and lighter than I've ever felt before. After my session, I returned to Sarah where she delightfully exclaimed that my "tongue had finally lost its curl"...a big deal in Chinese healing.  If you have nagging health issues that you can't seem to get to the bottom of, Deganit is the healer for you!

 

Nicole Weigl: Natural Healthy NYC

NY Wellness Center (Chelsea)

289 7th Avenue #4

New York, NY 10001

(646) 504-3726

 

After years of visiting traditional doctors who would barely pull back the covers on my confusing health concerns, I found the wonderful office of Naturopathic Doctor, Nicole Weigl.  She immediately knew how to treat my GI condition naturally, without obliterating my healthy gut bacteria, and put me on a sustainable plan for long term health.  Knowledgeable in the field of epigenetics, she suggested genetic testing to get ahead and even avoid particular health conditions.  Her practice offers in-office visits as well as phone and skype sessions making her a favorite of the busy, well-heeled Manhattanites.  If you're tired of traditional western medicine and want to get a real grip on your health, call Nicole.  

 

Kadam Morten: Kadampa Meditation Center 

127 W 24th St,

New York, NY 10011

(212) 924-6706

If spirituality is your thing, you need to go to the Kadampa Meditation Center in NYC on a Sunday to listen to Kadam Morten.  He's hilarious, which you wouldn't expect from the spiritual set plus, he's easy to follow, even when sharing something profound.  And remarkably, his lectures are always timely and relevant, as if he could read my crazy lay-person thoughts.  It's no wonder his lectures draw a crowd ranging from A-list celebs, to yogis, to financiers.   

 

Carey Davidson: Tournesol Wellness

26 E 36th St,

New York, NY 10016

(646) 395-1114

Tournesol Wellness is a jewel in the midst of Manhattan's busiest center.  Carey Davidson, the center's founder, is an intuitive healer, who like Deganit, can read into your health without you even uttering so much as a word.  I went there to try vibroacoustic therapy, which, like deep tissue massage, helps you achieve harmonic flow.  Carey put me on the table and immediately tuned into issues with my stomach and set the frequency of the table to target that area.  The harmonic sound helps to reduce pain, stress, anxiety, insomnia and felt like being in a cocoon.  When the treatment was done, I could barely stand as I was in a state of complete and utter relaxation.  I floated home and told all my friends to put Carey & Tournesol on the "must visit" list. 

Got any of your own favorite healers?  Share in the comments below.  xx

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5 Yoga Poses to Help You Beat the 2pm Burnout

Posted by Amina AlTai on

By, Resha Altai

We’ve all been there. You’ve been productive all morning only to hit a screeching halt post-lunch with a pestering cramp in your back and thoughts flying everywhere.

Good news! You can do yoga pretty much anywhere at any time; most especially at your work desk and the benefits are not just physical. These 5 grounding asanas will surely help you get over the 2pm slump and back to your laser-focused self:

1. Seated Cat/Cow

This pose can be a wonderful headache remedy in addition to stretching the spine and opening up the back. Our desk jobs tend to misalign the spine, hunching the shoulders down and protruding the head and neck forward. Do a couple cycles of cat/cow to relieve tension and ground your thoughts.

Sit with knees over heels and place hands on knees. Inhale, bring chest forward and drop head back. Exhale, turn chest in and roll shoulders forward. 

2) Seated Twist

Seated spinal twist has a gold mine of benefits attached to its practice. Not only does this posture open up the chest, relieve mid-back tension, stretch your hip flexors and strengthen your abdominal muscles but it has also long been attributed to massaging the abdominal organs, detoxifying your liver and kidneys as well as stimulating digestive fire. Salud!

Inhale and twist spine from side to side during exhale. Look in the direction that you are twisting.

3) Mountain Pose Side Stretch

As a general rule of thumb, all side stretching postures increase flexibility in the spine, open the side body, and stimulate the liver and breathing muscles. Mountain pose side stretch in particular will bring a grounded sense of balance back into your day. 

Bring hands up in a prayer position above your head.and keep feet planted on the ground. Bend from side to side, bringing down the corresponding arm. Keep the stomach muscles engaged.

4) L-shape at Desk or Wall

Let it all go with this deeply heart-opening posture.

Place hands on a surface such as your desk or the wall and fold body into a 90-degree angle. Bend and straighten the knees with the breath. 

5) Standing Forward Fold

Sometimes we just need to change the way we are looking at things… literally! Refresh your outlook by sending blood and oxygen to the brain in this gentle inversion.

Bend over and interlace hands behind the back. Keep stomach on thighs and slightly bend knees. Relax neck, hang arms and gradually straighten legs. Slowly roll body up to standing on an inhale.

How do you beat the 2pm burnout?  Share your go-tos in the comments below.  

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Travel Well, Arrive Sexy

Posted by Amina AlTai on

Who doesn't love to travel?  But it can be such a challenge to stay healthy while we do.  Business travel is forecast to hit an all time high and it’s one of the biggest ways that healthy professionals lives’ get sidetracked. We reach for convenient foods, stay out late, and drink more than we probably should.  Additionally, when you’re out of your routine it can be harder to hit the gym, find healthy spots to eat, and avoid the temptations that work dinners pose. 

Even when it comes to vacations, it can be hard to stay on track.  Holidays are often synonymous with overeating, drinking too much and an absence of workouts. So what's a busy gal/guy to do?

This well wanderlust has spent a lot of time in the air (and on busses, trains, rental cars) and have perfected my routine.  Now there's no need to arrive feeling and looking anything less than stellar.  K?

 

Pro tips:

Airports have come a long way in the last few years in terms of healthy options, but they still have a long way to go.  Try and prepare as much as you can ahead of time by bringing your own food and snacks and make sure you hydrate more than usual.  My go to?  A gluten free wrap with hummus and hormone-free turkey and lettuce, or vegetable quinoa.  

Moisturize your skin in-flight so you dont arrive dried out and inclined to a breakout.  I've even been known to do a full on face mask in-flight.  But no need to be ridiculous.  You can simply use a hydrating mist, or your regular lotion.  

Bring detox tea in-flight.  Nothing is worse than landing with cankles or with hands so swollen you can hardly type.  Choose a tea that has dandelion root, which acts as natural diuretic. 

Clean your area: Airplanes are a breeding ground for germs and you dont have time to get sick.  Wipe down the arm rests, screens, remotes and tray tables. 

Bring a portable workout: Hotels are getting more healthy (Thank you, Even for paving the way!) but in case you’re tight for time and there is no gym, bring a jump rope, or simply do some HIIT in your room.  

Map out healthy places to eat: A fellow health coach and marketer once told me that he mapped out the healthy restaurants and groceries stores near his hotel on every business trip.  It’s super smart and it keeps you from making poor decisions when you’re hangry. 

Get a massage on arrival.  If you’ve been flying for a while, massage can be a great way to reduce aches and pains as well as anxiety.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!  Drink water before, during and after your flight to keep your body hydrated.  Flights can be extremely dehydrating and that can worsen jet lag.  

Take digestive enzymes.  Flights can slow your digestion.  Keep things moving by taking digestive enzymes during your flight.  

•Limit the booze.  Alcohol at high altitudes impacts your body even more than at sea level.  Keep alcohol to a minimum (avoid it all together if you can) to keep your body detoxing at it's optimal levels.  

How do you stay well while you travel?  Share your tips in the comments below. 

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