Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live Like You Mean It! (37 page)

There is great power in giving blessings, not just for the recipient but also for the giver. To bless someone is to enchant them, as unconditional love is transmitted energetically from one body to another. Through blessing another you transform them into a holy being by becoming a channel for love—and in the process you become blessed, because the blessing in a psychic way moves through you first. Over time, with patience and practice, your whole world becomes populated with holy blessed beings.

Uttering the name of someone gives you tremendous power. Most people can’t help but respond when their name is called. When as part of your
sadhana
you daily give a blessing along with someone’s name, the specificity of the action yields positive results that over time can transform you and the people in your life into holy beings.

Here is how it works; I call it the blessing meditation. Set aside some time (morning is usually best for most people), find a comfortable seat, and sit down. Close your eyes and become aware of your breathing, breathing in and breathing out. Silently say the words “Blessings to” as you inhale, and as you exhale say the name of someone you know and love, as it is easier to give a blessing to them. Continue for several minutes, extending your blessings to include your family, friends, past boy- or girlfriends. You will find that as you say their names, their image will appear to you. With consistent practice you will be able to not only see them but also feel their presence when you name them. Over time difficult issues that you may have with them will begin to resolve; when they make an appearance in your dreams, it will be as a benevolent positive presence. Over time you will find that when and if you do encounter them physically, your relationship with them has magically and dramatically changed—you will feel that there is a new ease in your interactions. They will seem friendlier toward you. The feeling that they are coming at you will be lessened.

No matter how many good deeds you do or how many profound and intelligent words you may speak, what people will remember most about you is how you make them feel. If you really want to live a life of service to others, it is helpful to learn ways to make others feel good. Learning how to give blessings in an anonymous way is a powerful means to transform your world and that of others. Because it is done anonymously, you don’t run the risk of inflating your ego, which could happen if you were to give the blessings in person. Indeed, trying to actually contact each person every day to tell them you love them and bless them would probably prove impossible, and even become annoying. Since they live inside you anyway, the most direct means to contact them is to go within your own heart. When you say their name in a sincere loving way, you both fall into love—dissolved into the universal heart—your own true eternal being.

But don’t expect immediate results. Patience is important when you are cultivating your new reality. Every action, whether it is as subtle as a thought or formed as a word or deed, is like a seed being planted in the soil that is the ground of your being. Seeds take time to grow. But it isn’t only time that ensures healthy growth; a seed must also be nourished by the right foods. Consistent loving care will yield positive results. When the seeds you have planted begin
to sprout, you will enjoy watching how those around you begin to blossom into the people you wish them to be. And you will discover yourself as the person you always knew you could be.

“The practice of yoga
focuses on purifying the physical body, which is comprised of vibrations—of sound arising from our inner mental environment. Yoga should push you over the edge a bit. It must be physically challenging enough so you question who is the doer. Let God come in and do the work,” says Sharon Gannon (who you just met).

I began studying Jivamukti yoga (my favorite form of Hatha yoga that incorporates spiritual practice and activism) with Sharon and her partner and cofounder David Life in 1992. Back then I was a dancer with lots of injuries and few solutions. A friend suggested I try yoga. Yoga? I wanted something hard-core, not gentle stretching for aging hippies. But I trusted my friend and reluctantly trucked down to a first-floor walkup in the East Village. What happened next transformed my life and planted the seeds for the self-designed healing plan I would create eleven years later when cancer came.

Roll out your mat and tend to your temple. When the great swami stretchy people created yoga, they weren’t interested in a rock-hard middle or toned booty. These sages knew that the ultimate hot spot waits for us in our mind. But as you’ve already learned, the only way to get into the club is to meditate regularly. However, if your body is frozen and squeaky, it can be wicked painful to sit in lotus position while trying to clear your mind and focus. Let asana—yoga positions—thaw you out.

There are many forms of yoga available to us today, and each of us gravitates toward a particular style for our own reasons. Check out
yogajournal.com
to find a school near you and
amazon.com
for endless videos that allow you to have a yoga session in the comfort of your own home.

Of diet, meditation, and exercise
, which do you think is the most important for a vibrant God pod glow? Whichever one you’re not doing. Zoinks! All three are important for a well-rounded, healthy state of mind and body. The one I seem to skip the most is exercise. Lots of my gal pals have the same problem. Here’s an awesome statistic I learned from Dr. Brian Clement: The body heals eight times faster when you exercise regularly. Eight times! Exercise floods the body with our favorite friend, oxygen. If you recall, lymph is circulated by a pump called move your ass! Your tissues depend on lymph to provide oxygen and carry off wastes. If the lymph doesn’t circulate, then the tissues suffocate in their own acidic waste products. Gross!

Sweating is sublime. It’s a perfect time to practice a new language of healthy messages sent to yourself and others. Walk and affirm positive things in your life. Dance and affirm. Fly through the air on the trapeze and affirm. “I am healthy, I am strong, I am focused, I am powerful, I am lean, I am confident, I am whole.” Infuse your hip shake with the sacred spark. Sweat and reprogram! A phenomenal method to help you do this is called Intensati by Patricia Moreno. OMG! Check out her Web site, videos, and book. You will be amazed and uplifted (mind and ass cheeks). Patricia combines martial arts, aerobics, and yoga with the power of intention. Build your strength as you shout your intentions. Go to
patriciamoreno.com
for the deets.

Get moving in whatever way works for you. Experts suggest we get our hearts pumping three to five times a week for at least thirty-five minutes. You can do that! This may seem like a big commitment, but it’s not. It takes much longer to watch reality TV train wrecks while sucking back a saketini. I’ll share a guilty pleasure with you. I love what I call “shit shows”—you know, the
Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight
gossip fests. And though I really try to limit the amount of gossiping I do myself, I can’t help but tune in from time to time. Now my rule for celebrity media indulgence is simple: If I want to know who broke up with who and why they went to rehab I can only watch it while sweating on my home elliptical (perfectly placed near my flatscreen). In fact, I watch lots of films, TV shows, and documentaries this way. Before I know it, forty-five minutes have gone by and my workout was fun and highly entertaining!

Throw on your “I’m a goddess” tracksuit and start training, lady. Buy a hula hoop, install a stripper pole, gyrate to your
Flashdance
record, take up karate, round up your posse and do some double Dutch, or hit the streets or fields for a brisk walk, gentle trot, or all-out run. Some of the best workouts happen outside, in nature. Hike and bike your way through the sunshine. Fill your lungs with oxygen, your eyes with flowers, and soak in the majesty of the mother. Now, that’s a workout!

Now that you’re sweating out
the toxins, let’s make sure you don’t lather them back on! As much as possible, you want to use natural products on your sexy epidermis. Your skin is your body’s largest organ. What you put on your body, you literally absorb. So if you wouldn’t drink a bottle of drugstore moisturizer, then don’t put it on your body, because your skin will literally sip it in.

Today we live in a world full of substances that are potentially harmful. Because we’ve all been exposed to thousands of chemicals over our lifetimes, starting when we were still in the womb, we all carry many of them in our bodies. This is what’s known as your body burden. How big is our body burden? According to researcher Randall Fitzgerald in his book
The Hundred-Year Lie
, pretty big.

He writes, “In 2001 scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta surveyed 2,400 people and searched for 148 specific toxic compounds in their blood and urine. Every single test subject’s body contained dozens of these toxins.” Each toxin by itself might not be so dangerous. But what happens when you mix all these toxins together? Nobody really knows because the dangers of most of these chemicals haven’t been tested alone, much less in combination.

The average consumer babe uses dozens of personal care products per day! Many of those products contain hundreds of dangerous synthetic chemical compounds. Unlike (most of) the food and drugs we ingest, the cosmetics industry requires no premarket safety tests, monitoring, or labeling. Due to massive loopholes in federal law, companies can
put nearly any ingredient into your products. There’s no need to be a makeup-free hippie to be healthy. These days there are many unbelievably gorgeous, nontoxic products on the market. Browse online for the latest brands that are guaranteed and clearly labeled chemical-free, natural, and organic.

Another everyday chemical hazard to stay away from are antibacterial products. Dr. Junger touched on this a bit in
chapter 6
, but let’s take it a bit farther. Most Americans have been indoctrinated to believe that a sterile world is safer. Sure, antibacterial soaps and cleaning products kill germs—but germs are not always the enemy. And guess what? The tougher, more dangerous germs are often left behind. Overuse of antibacterial products has actually helped create the antibiotic-resistant superbugs that are now widespread. Today the antibacterial craze is expanding into everything. Triclosan, the most widely used antibacterial additive, is even found in children’s toys. In fact, an Environmental Working Group study found that 97 percent of breast-feeding mothers had triclosan in their milk. Paradoxically, you’ll be healthier if you’re not as clean.