SoulPancake: The Rainn, The Park & Other Things

Last week we watched Taking Woodstock, an Ang Lee movie about the guy who played a pivotal role in bringing the Woodstock Music Festival to Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, NY. It was a fascinating look into the time period, with wonderfully quirky characters and amazing attention to costuming and set detail that left me feeling like I had traveled through time to see the whole event unfold.

While I know that in reality those times were filled with social and political upheaval, I’ve always had a bit of 60s envy, feeling that I would have enjoyed living in the idealized version of that time with its love, peace, buy-the-world-a-home-and-furnish-it-with-love vibe.

And so when I come across a community, a gathering place for kindred spirits, that espouses that we’re-all-in-it-together-the-world-is-a-pretty-cool-place energy, I tend to gravitate toward it.

Three years ago, I wrote a post on one such community. The then newly-launched SoulPancake, an interactive online community, was created by actor Rainn Wilson as a positive place where people can come together to ask and answer questions about life, philosophy, spirituality, creativity and more. The site is filled with community members’ videos, photos, musings, and other creative expressions.

Serendipitously, the day after I watched Taking Woodstock, I received an email from Nicole Ro at SoulPancake letting me know that they will be launching a premium YouTube channel on July 23. Since I had blogged about SoulPancake in the past, she wondered if I would be willing to help spread the word about their new YouTube channel. I told her that I would be happy to!

The purpose of the SoulPancake YouTube channel is the same as their website – to create a stream of positive, uplifting, thought-provoking, and creative messages. With so many negative messages and images coming at us all the time, it is nice to have a place to turn to see the brighter side of humanity.

To give you glimpse at their content, I’ve included one of the SoulPancake videos at the top of this post. It’s silly and simple. It left me feeling happy and optimistic. It has an updated Woodstock feel, complete with VW van, but without the hallucinogenic drugs.

SoulPancake’s ultimate goal is to reach 50,000 subscribers by their launch date. They are up to about 20,000 subscribers. When they hit 5,000 subscribers, Rainn Wilson offered to meditate in a field wearing only a Speedo. As an incentive, 6 new subscribers will be randomly chosen to hang out with Rainn virtually in a Google Hang out for a half hour to talk about anything. Anything at all.

I highly recommend that you visit the SoulPancake YouTube channel. You can also get updates on Rainn’s Facebook fan page.

Here’s a brief intro, which gives you an idea about the vibe of the channel. Enjoy!

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Namaste

photo copyright Dancing Mind Yoga

The following post is by guest blogger, Kia Guarino.

Yesterday morning I woke up pleasantly sore, feeling it in muscles I had forgotten about, and thanked our newest discovery, a local hot yoga studio! On Tuesday, we tried out a Baptiste Power Vinyasa yoga studio located in downtown Falls Church and were thoroughly impressed. Dancing Mind Yoga uses a heated (90-95 degrees) yoga studio and the Baptiste style of flow yoga, a relatively fast-paced class that works to create stamina and improve overall health and wellbeing. The high temperatures are designed to increase the benefits of yoga, and to improve circulation and eliminate toxins from the body. It also reduces the chance of injury during the class by keeping your muscles loose. The difference is undeniable – I have found that practicing power vinyasa without heat does not leave me feeling as strengthened and healthy.

I really enjoyed the class, and the studio itself was very pretty and relaxing. The walls are a beautiful, serene turquoise color and their lotus flower symbol captures the feeling that yoga inspires. The instructor was attentive about correcting mistakes, which I enjoyed. There are a lot of benefits lost if the poses are done incorrectly, and she was very good about making sure my arms, legs, and back were positioned for the best results. I really felt good in the morning, enjoying the soreness in my lower back from the Locust pose. We bought an unlimited pass for this month so I will be going as much as possible!

Bikram yoga is a different form of hot yoga in temperature and in structure. Bikram yoga is a series of 26 poses that are very demanding, the first half standing and the rest on the ground, in an intensely heated studio. Bikram yoga was designed for the Western yogi and aims to release stress and help with chronic diseases and injuries. It helps increase focus, stamina and clarity while adding the benefits of exercising (weight loss, increased energy, etc.).

In Connecticut, about 6 years ago, we discovered a Bikram studio in South Norwalk and regularly took classes. Our favorite teacher was Dan Markowitz, who would sing James Taylor songs to us during savasana 🙂 I have attended a number of classes over the years, including in New Haven, Norwalk, and Danbury, CT, as well as in the Boston area. I have learned that the temperature ranges from about 100-105 (usually) to 115 at one studio (which was VERY intense). When I was able to take Bikram classes a few times a week, I felt great overall and found that I had toned muscles that would have been very difficult to get even with strenuous gym workouts. However, if you are not prepared, it can leave you with a pretty intense headache. As they mention online, it is very important to drink a lot of water before entering a Bikram studio and not to eat for a few hours prior.

While the poses and flow of the classes differ, I find that hot vinyasa does have many similar benefits. There is something extremely relaxing about yoga, even in high temperatures. I am very excited to be getting back into it.

Reducing Holiday Stress

Recently I found myself behind a car whose license plate read: “IMEDIT8.” I couldn’t help but smile. I had been thinking about how stressful the holidays can get – it seems that everyone I speak with mentions in the same breath how the holidays are coming up so quickly and how busy they will be as a result. Quite often, it’s said in the tone of someone bracing for a huge undertaking.

Every year I find myself taking on a lot of extra responsibilities around the holidays, so I work hard to make sure I don’t overextend myself. I do this by continually reassessing what is necessary and what isn’t, what is possible and what isn’t. For example, during my first holiday season in the DC area after moving from Connecticut, I ended up driving for several hours there and back for Thanksgiving and Christmas. While it was wonderful to spend time with friends and family, I found myself exhausted, and not spending enough time in any one place. This year I chose to limit my travels to just Christmas, but for a longer period of time. So, while it would have been wonderful to spend time with close friends and family at Thanksgiving, avoiding the stress of too much travel will allow me to enjoy the time I do have with them that much more. Plus, I had a wonderful first Thanksgiving in Virginia!

In addition to trying to do too many things in too short a time, a large source of stress around the holidays comes from our expectations (even if only subconsciously) that everything should be perfect – our family will gather in peace and love, everyone’s wishes will come true and everyone will sing in perfect harmony. However, this Norman Rockwell ideal is generally not in line with the reality of the holidays. Often we become stressed striving for perfection that is neither attainable, nor even necessarily desirable.

It is important to be alert to signs that you are under too much stress such as irritability, anxiety, inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, headaches, neck and back pain, or stomachaches. If you are experiencing these symptoms, it is probably time to take a breather, delegate, or drop the things that aren’t really necessary. Simplify.

There is an organization devoted to promoting the idea of simplifying our lives by de-emphasizing the material. The mission of New American Dream is to offer resources that make it easier to live consciously and buy wisely. Last year I attended an alternative gift fair that they sponsored, in which several local non-profit organizations were selling donation gift cards, which make great gifts for the people on your list who “have everything.” There is a Holiday Survival Kit that you can download from their website that includes a booklet on ways to make your holidays more simple and more enjoyable. It also features Gift of Time vouchers to print out and give to people instead of physical gifts, tips for a less stressful holiday season, and much more.

Here are some ideas on how to reduce your holiday stress:

1) Don’t demand perfection. Instead, focus on what is most important to you, and be realistic about what you can accomplish given your time and budget. Remember, the holidays are supposed to be joyful!

2) Set boundaries around how you are willing to allocate your time. If you feel overextended, realize that you don’t have to please everyone. It’s okay to spread out your visits, or have shorter ones.

3) Many experts recommend humor as one of the keys to surviving the holidays with family. On a physical level, it lowers blood pressure, releases endorphins, and diffuses tension. And from a mental perspective, it helps you to keep things in perspective – if you can laugh off your quirks and your family’s idiosyncrasies, potentially annoying situations will go more smoothly for you and those around you.

4) Take time for yourself. Make time for fun and relaxation: take a walk, play a game, read, meditate. It’s also important not to let exercise fall by the wayside. Exercise helps to reduce stress, improve sleep, and increase your energy and stamina by increasing levels of mood-enhancing, energy-promoting neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine.

Happy Holidays!

Update on NIH Mind-Body Week: The Science and Practice of Stress Management Modalities

Image ©NIH Mind-Body Week

Heart disease and cancer may be our top killers, but it’s a lack of stress management that is really hurting our nation’s health. In response to this epidemic, the National Institutes of Health will be holding the first annual Mind-Body Week from September 8-11, 2009. This event is dedicated to the science and exploration of stress management topic, and all events are FREE and open to the public.

There will be four days of stimulating lectures, workshops and classes covering topics such as Interpersonal Neurobiology, Mindful Parenting, the Science of Yoga and Yoga Therapy, Meditation for Stress Management and much more.

There will be over 100 featured teachers and lecturers (details will be on the official website in July 2009!). Some of the keynote speakers include Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., Myla Kabat-Zinn, James S. Gordon, M.D., Tara Brach, Ph.D., Timothy McCall, M.D., Roger Jahnke, Ph.D., Sat Bir Khalsa, Ph.D, Dan Siegel, M.D. and Josie Briggs, M.D. And yours truly will be presenting a talk on “Striving Toward that Elusive Work-Life Balance” on September 9.

Besides my talk :), I’m especially looking forward to talks by Jon Kabat-Zinn’s on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Karen Soltes and Robin Carnes on how the iRest® Yoga Nidra protocol is being used to help US Military personnel suffering from combat stress, and Esther Sternberg on how stress makes you sick.

The program will be held at the Natcher Building and other buildings around the NIH Main Campus (Building 45), 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892.

2009 NIH Yoga Week: Exploring the Science and Practice of Yoga

my lotus flower candle holder

Mary’s Note: See my new blog post for an update on the schedule and location of NIH Mind Body Week 2009.

The week before last, I was fortunate to be able to attend a day of programming at the National Institute’s of Health’s (NIH) first annual CORE Week, where I heard wonderful speakers on Reiki, stress reduction, excercise and meditation, from the perspective of pracitioners and researchers. 

I was eager to attend after having experienced the first annual NIH Yoga Week last May, which was the first of this type of event to be held by the NIH. It was a truly groundbreaking event in that the NIH, a 120-year-old US government agency, endorsed a practice that 30 years ago, would have been considered very alternative. The first yoga week, in May 2008 received national attention with over 1300 participants – it also resulted in National Yoga Month, a National Health Observance being designated for every September from now on.  

If this sounds good to you, mark your calender from September 8-11, 2009, when the NIH will hold its second annual Yoga Week. Highlighting the science and practice of yoga, this four-day series of events is open to the public. You will not only learn about the benefits of yoga but also experience them first-hand through hands-on instruction. Yoga Week will focus on yoga, yoga therapy, yoga research, and presentations on meditation, stress management, and other mind/body modalities. There will also be an opportunity to gain Continuing Education credits through Yoga Alliance and several other health education partners. And it’s all completely free!

This week of events will take place in Bethesda, MD. I encourage you to be a part of this innovative and enjoyable event. For more information, contact Dr. Rachel Permuth-Levine at levinerac [at] mail [dot] nih [dot] gov.