When most people think of exercising, the first thing that comes to mind is the gym.  Whether it’s a campus rec center or an extravagant all-in-one facility, most workouts are performed indoors on equipment that uses massive amounts of energy.  But what about the great outdoors?  Exercising outside is not only a great workout and free of charge, but it’s also great for the environment!  How much wattage does a walk with your dog take?  Now compare that to a 30-minute walk on a treadmill.  Hmm…

There are many earth-friendly workouts, and it goes beyond a simple walk.  Consider riding your bike outdoors rather than taking that spin class.  Why not go for a hike instead of climbing on the Stairmaster? Remember those park games you played as a child?  Bring back the Frisbee, football, kickball, and soccer games!  It’s a fun and social way to get in a workout without even thinking about it!

To enhance your eco-friendly workout even further, trade in your free weights and lifting bench for things that are already in your home.  Water bottles, canned goods, and detergent are just a few items that can be used for an effective weight-lifting routine.  Furniture like a couch, ottoman, chair, or staircase can be used for things like balances, step routines, or for that bottom-busting Stairmaster workout!

Any way you slice it, exercising outdoors rather than the gym will still give you a great calorie burn, and it’s great for planet Earth.  What are you doing to green your workout routine?

While the world waits for a comprehensive international agreement on climate change mitigation, there are steps we as individual citizens (and college students!) can take today to limit our carbon emissions and waste in an effort to move towards a greener society. According to the World Water Council, one out of six people on our globe lack access to safe drinking water. Every day, 3900 children die due to water-borne diseases. Population growth and effects of climate change, particularly desertification, are only exacerbating this lack of global water resources. The nations that are hardest hit are those that are already struggling to provide for their citizens. And don’t think these water issues are continents away. Here in our own country, citizens have difficulty accessing clean water sources. What can you do? Responding to this water crisis doesn’t require huge lifestyle changes; in fact, helping the environment can even be cost effective for the individual. One of the smallest steps we can take is to use reusable water bottles, instead of purchasing plastic ones. It is absolutely unnecessary to pay for packaged water when we can access clean and safe drinking water for free, right from our own taps. Tap water has been given a notoriously bad name over the past years, a campaign led by bottled water companies themselves. But, the U.S. federal government ensures the cleanliness of tap water under the Safe Drinking Water Act. In fact, only seven years ago, it was revealed that two of the world’s largest producers of bottled water, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, were using tap water as their water source. Today, reusable water bottles are stylish and cost effective. I paid $15 dollars for my klean kanteen aluminum water bottle at a local sporting goods store and have used it daily for a year. I’ve taken my water bottle overseas during study abroad, although I don’t recommend drinking Syrian tap water. They’re perfect for frequent flyers that dislike paying inflated airport prices for water. These bottles can be refilled anywhere there is a tap or water fountain. Increased use of reusable water bottles means less plastic is being placed in land fills, production and shipment of plastic bottles are decreased leading to fewer emissions, and getting your water from local, renewable sources is smart for your wallet and for the environment.

The classroom walls could have suffocated me this morning. Maybe not literally, but it sure felt that way. As my professor droned on about financial statements, net income, and other things my mind wasn’t ready for at 9 a.m., my coffee driven jittery fingers held just barely to a pen, scratching words and numbers onto a page carelessly. The shades were closed good and tight, in a dark room as we watched the flashing images of a power point covering all things accounting. All the while the walls closed in. It may sound a bit dramatic, but the reality is, even as a morning person, there is no part of me that is ready or excited for number crunching in the early hours of the morning. It’d be easy to find myself unmotivated and lose hope in this kind of environment.

So how exactly did I get through it? Simple. I wore a t-shirt this morning. Sound surprising? Maybe not if you live somewhere warm, but after a long winter in New England, a t-shirt was just the symbol of hope I needed. It reminded me that behind those closed shades was a warm day, with a bright and shining sun. I could already envision myself out on the grass with a guitar carelessly strumming away, ignoring my responsibilities. Suddenly, accounting took a back seat as I filled with excitement over the free time I’d have after class. It gave me the strength to carry on through lecture.

This is my time of year. This is when I really pull everything together. With my overwhelming close of the semester workload, the sun is just what I need to be reinvigorated, to raise my spirits to continue to work hard, knowing summer is just around the corner. The better I work, the more time in the sun I have. Simple inspiration.

Maybe today I can take a walk in the park, or play my guitar, or even just lie out on the grass and read a book. I honestly don’t care what I actually end up doing. I’ll enjoy doing it. With gas prices so painfully high and income painfully low, even just the idea of not driving anywhere today is a relief. Do I need something from the store? A several-mile walk sounds pretty good today. In fact, everything sounds pretty good today.

Point being, things are better in the sun. For that matter, life is better in the sun.

It is easy, in this modern age of technology that we live in, to forget how much humanity used to rely on nature for its survival. Long ago before the advent of electricity, there was no light save for that given from the flickering glow of a candle. The horse was as much of a best friend to man as the dog, serving as the primary mode of transportation. If one were to live by the sea back in those days, than their ally would be the wind, which caught in their sails and allowed for swift and easy travel over the waves. But in terms of preserving culture and cultivating the essence of humanity, there was one element of nature that has, sadly, nearly faded completely from the world that we live in now.

How many stars do you think you would see tonight if you went out and looked up at the night sky? The answer really depends on where you live. If you’re in the city, you would be lucky to count over two hundred of the tiny, twinkling specks of light. If you live in a smaller town then you might get near a thousand. That sounds like a large number, doesn’t it? However it is miniscule when compared to the six thousand visible stars that are within human eyesight from our planet (that is without the aid of a telescope). Six thousand bright glimmers of light that, through the pollution of the age we live in, have been extinguished from view.

If you are reading this article in a city, step outside after you’ve finished. Hopefully it will be a clear and pleasant night with just the hint of calm and soothing breeze. As you relax and enjoy the cool night air, look up. Look up and observe the colorless world above you. There will be plethora of shining lights. Indeed the only illuminations likely to pass by your field of vision would be those of the blinking tips of an airplane. You would be staring up into a void, an empty world of unfathomable depth, a parallel to the murky waves of our own oceans. You would see nothing, save for a glimmer of one or two resolute stars, the last remnants of an age gone by.

But why do the stars matter? Yes they are visually pleasing, and yes, they make for a nice contrast from the pitch black of the deep night, but beyond that what purpose do they serve, especially in today’s world? The sailors on today’s ships have supplemental technology for navigation and no longer need to rely on the above astral body for guidance. Yet there is an even greater purpose that the stars serve: they were the first storytellers for humanity.

In every night sky, Orion’s belt is visible even if the rest of him is not. The big dipper still glitters above most every rooftop. Many of us know the names of these groups of stellar spheres, but we have never thought beyond that. Orion’s belt is simply three stars. The big dipper looks like a giant saucepan. But there is so much more beyond that. There are eighty-eight officially recognized and documented constellations, and each one relays a significant tale from our past.

They are eternal reminders. What is written in books can be lost or burned away in the track of history, but the stars, from our perspective, are eternal. These stories have been seared into the night sky and will last for millions of years, whether seen by the human eye or not. They have been preserved in a way that no other information has. And by being maintained in their absolute purity, they insure that the culture and society of our civilization survives. Even if in some future all record keeping is banned and barred, the stars will remain.

To the open and creative mind, a star is the simplest tablet necessary for history. Any person, event or legend can be immortalized within them if the proper imagination is applied. Yet there can be none while our own illumination imitation keeps them from view. We are painters without a brush, scribes without a quill, and filmmakers with no cameras in this well-lit blindness that we have created for ourselves.

That is why I make two simple requests. First, I encourage you to step outside on the night of this upcoming Earth Day when, for one glorious hour, the heavens are allowed to glow once more in their original brilliance. And last, I ask you that you keep the lights out when the clock strikes 9:31 and continue to gaze upward. See the world in its entirety and become the artist of your own history. Create a constellation. If we could only keep on the lights that we absolutely need at night, than the world would be a little dimmer, yet we would all see just that much better.

I’ve never really considered myself to be a “health freak,” but I suppose I might come off that way to some people. I start everyday with a perfectly balanced meal of whole grains and fruit, consume specific multivitamins, drink green tea three times a day, stretch every morning, work out every night, read every label on every food product, make sure I have vegetables and fruits every day, walk to the grocery store, run regularly. Every action I take, every food I consume, I’m thinking about what it will do to my body, and if it’s worth it. Ok, when it’s all written out like that, I kind of sound like a psychopath with no life and a twistedly ‘unhealthy’ obsession. But really, I’m a pretty normal college student (at least in every other aspect). I love hanging out with my friends and going out at night, need to pull the occasional all-nighter. It sounds crazy, but for me, it all comes down to one word: routine.

Think about your week. There are some things you do every day, at the exact same time. You  wake up, go to class, study, maybe throw in a gym workout, a few trips to the dining hall. Maybe every Friday you go to Happy Hour at your favorite bar with friends or go grocery shopping every Monday. My point is that structure, routine, is naturally wired into our brains. Start a routine and, more than likely, it’s going to stick. So in terms of your health, why not start a routine?

Start small; starting with too much, too fast is a recipe for failure. For me, all through high school, I had been an athlete, so I was used to lots of physical activity- it was wired into my brain. So when the sports’ seasons finally ended, my body still craved the activity it was used to, and it was easy for me to transition into a nightly workout. Pick a simple exercise- a nightly walk, twenty pushups, morning stretches- and commit to doing them every day, every other day, every week, etc. Pick something that you know will be possible to accomplish everyday at that time, no matter what, (i.e. don’t promise yourself a 2 miles run every day, if you know some days you might not have the time to do so). Then do it, consistently, and wait. Building a routine takes time. I’m not saying that, instantly, your body will crave the lifestyle changes that you’ve made, but after a couple of months or even weeks, you’ll start to notice a difference.

The same tactic can be applied to food. I actually read an article a few months ago in a magazine that explained the science of routine and what we consume. Did you know in as little as a week, your body can adjust to a high fat, high sugar diet? Once your body has adjusted, it will crave exactly that- fatty, unhealthy calories that are doing you no good for your health. To switch back, it takes a little longer, but the same theory applies. Start eating lots of fruits and vegetables, and you, literally, will crave fruits and vegetables. By consciously eating and paying attention to the routine you set for yourself, you’ll even start to notice the effects that certain types of foods have on your body. For me, I can tell when I need carbs, proteins, fruits, even sugars, depending on how my body feels and what my plans are for the remainder of the day.

Basically, if you make small changes now, but commit to them consistently, you’ll wire yourself for health. You may not become a crazy health-freak all at once, but before you know it, you’ll be addicted to the amazing feeling that follows when you treat your body right. Start small, but expect great things. Add in more as it becomes easier. Before you know it, you’ll be working out and eating better without even having to think about it! And it all will have started with your simple, daily routine.

What’s the secret to a long, healthy life? To be perfectly honest, most of your health is determined before you are born. A large part of your medical health is genetic-  weight, height, body type, hair, etc. To further extend on this idea, a huge amount of your life is predetermined at birth in a non genetic sense, as well. Chances are, if you are born into a certain class, you won’t stray too far. The type of family you are born into plays an enormous role in the life you’ll live and the opportunities you’ll have.

But that being said, there are still ways to ensure you have a healthy, successful life. Sound contradictory? Perhaps, but suspend your disbelief for a moment and follow me on this one. Despite the fact that genetics may dictate a large extent of your medical well-being and that background can determine much of your opportunity, you can still better your life- but only as soon as you can accept that there will always be aspects of your life are beyond your control.

You can never plan for everything. Some things in life will more than likely come as a surprise, and not always pleasant surprises. These truths are not just ideas to keep in mind when facing reality, but they are ideas that affect your health too.

In the fast paced, keep up or step aside lifestyle that most people are living today, stress levels are high. Many things in life that cause stress are manageable, but sometimes it’s not so easy to see how manageable things really are. That is, of course, if you are busy worrying about things which are beyond your personal control. To keep stress levels low and enhance overall health and well-being, try embracing the things which work out in your favor. Learn from the things that don’t. Move past the things which you have no power over.

So, what exactly is the secret to a healthy, successful life? It’s really quite simple. Realize that success is dictated entirely by happiness, and happiness is dictated entirely by outlook. So in order to achieve success, improve your outlook and banish the negative thoughts you have in relation to the uncontrollable. Worry less. Accept and embrace imperfection. Do your best, expect nothing more than the best you can do, and be happy with what you achieve. Mental health is just as crucial to well-being as physical health. Both are easy to achieve- if only you stop worrying.

1. What do you find most inspiring about combining electronic music and yoga?
Music itself has the ability to inspire; that combined with a practice that connects mind, body , and spirit has the ability to eliminate all the “outside distractions”.

2. What do you hope your students take away from this experience?
I hope they leave with the sense of self pride and realize they have always had it.

3. What kinds of music do you most identify with as a yoga instructor?
I primarily listen to Low-Lounge, Chill Out, House, good ol’ Blue Grass, and anything with a synthesizer, HAHAHA

4. What first drew you to yoga?
I had an amazing friend take me to my first class. It was – a last attempt to save my life from self destruction, and it worked.

5. What message do you most try and convey to your students?
To let go of preconceived notions of what they thought they could or could not do… ON or OFF the mat.

6. In one sentence how would you describe yoga?
A systematized approach of balancing mind, body, and spirit against the challenges one faces in their lifetime

In one word?
7. Brahma

What is it that you most love about yoga?
8. Having an opportunity daily to return to my “True Happiness”

What is it that you most love about music?
9. Same as Yoga- there’s a style for everyone.

Join Steven for his class or sign up for any of our other Spin In Balance Events.

I cannot express the joy and pride I feel when I enter a Yoga studio with two of my boys and husband in tow.  I feel so incredibly blessed as I waited a long time for this to happen. And though I have been practicing for many years now, there was a time in my life where I was searching for some answers.

I went to see my Rabbi, who thought I should start Karate. He felt I needed more secure boundaries because I wasn’t reserving enough of ‘me’ for me.  Instead, I walked into a Yoga studio and never looked back.

Yoga became my refuge, where I went alone each morning and practiced in a very small group, doing Mysore. Everyone in their own space, movements and pace.  Peace. Silence.  Then heading home afterward to a very young and busy household of 4 young babies, feeling ready and so happy to be back in the fold of the action.  I thrived on this contrast. Yoga does that for you, gives you clarity and the understanding of your place in the world.

Understandably, I wanted to share this with my family, but my four sons and very athletic husband met me with strong resistance, not understanding that Yoga isn’t about how much weight you lift or how many push ups you can do, but instead about the total package, mind, body and spirit. Not to mention that the body strengthens itself quite beautifully with Yoga.

It took my youngest son’s Lacrosse coach calling me and telling me my son needed Yoga.  He said that the stretching would strengthen and lengthen his muscles – so that when he came into LAX season after completing basketball, his injuries would lessen. They wanted him performing hard. And when the coach speaks versus the mom, things happen. And so – Kevin was sold, and one of his older brothers became interested as well (insert glorious choir chant here!).  I called on my long time friend and beloved Green Monkey instructor – Amy Rabin to work with my boys. To make them fall in love with Yoga. And she succeeded. I have no idea how she managed it so quickly and so thoroughly but they are true Yogis now. Kevin now wants, when his schedule allows, to become a certified Yoga instructor and now I see Michael opening up to a more spiritual side of life.  Now you’ll see them around the Tree House regularly during school and sport season breaks.

So, please know that when they walk in with me my heart is feeling so full, and I am so filled with love. My husband – seeing us all with mats in hand, raring to go – threw in the towel and now joins us. And now each time he comes along, I am so grateful and bursting with an increased love for this man that I adore.  So this past Valentine’s Day I paid tribute to my Yoga studio, to Amy, my fellow Yogis and mostly to these gorgeous men I get to claim as my own. And my family – stronger, spiritually synchronized and beautifully aligned. I am blessed.

Happy Valentine’s Day (and month) to the beautiful Green Monkey community. I am honored to be a part of it.

Ginny Simon is a Certified Integrative Holistic Health Counselor (Institute of Integrative Nutrition, New York City), Drugless Practitioner and Life Coach, based in Miami Beach, Florida. Ginny can help guide and educate you and your family to incorporate healthier choices and habits into your daily life by consuming healthier, minimally processed, whole and organic foods and making time for fitness. For more information visit www.mindfulorganics.com.

“Love. Love is.  It is our universal connection to one another.  It is the fuel of our creative being. It is the spark that catalyzes us into the unity of the sacred heart.”  These are words I wrote recently for a book I’m writing with several additional authors on where we are headed as a global society.  No sooner had I written these words than I received a lesson on the universality of love.  It is the drum beat that can be felt around the world.  When we feel it, all separation dissolves and the magic of love is revealed.

First let me tell you about the sacred heart.  Imagine: your heart is where love is created and expressed out into the world.  It’s as if you have a love “container” within your heart that fills with love, pours out into the world, and then, fills again.  The supply of love is endless.  Our container always becomes full again.

Every human being has the same heart that can create and express love in endless supply.  How amazing is that?!  Think about this the next time someone hurts your feelings in some way.  You share the same heart.  Many have forgotten this and don’t know to fill their love container.  Now that you know, fill your container and give away as much love as you can.  It’s free and infinitely abundant.

One of the easiest ways to know the feeling of “free” love filling your heart and releasing into the world is through a good friend.  A dear friend of mine is travelling through Brazil in search of life purpose and healing.  She emailed me the other day about some of her recent experiences.  As I read her words, tears began to flow.  I was overwhelmed by the feeling of love.  It not only filled my heart, it burst my heart open.

I felt love for her journey that she did on behalf of herself and her family. I felt love for myself and my journey for a similar peace and happiness.  I felt love for all human beings as we have put our best efforts forward from small to large measures to find meaning in life.

As I cried more and more happiness filled my heart.  I recognized that my friend’s journey affected my life too.  Her journey is my journey and her healing is my healing, because we are all one.  It is universal law.  When the winds blow across the sand dunes of the Sahara, the Caribbean beaches are built.  Everything is intricately connected.

While I was still reveling in the love I felt for all people and things I made a drive to do some errands.  On my way home I was stopped by a beautiful sight of four graceful, strong deer standing in the middle of the road.  Their stately eyes peered at me for a minute as if to convey a message that I did not yet understand.  Then, the moment of stillness was over, and they dispersed.

Certain that there was a message for me in the appearance of the deer, when I returned home I looked up the meaning of the deer spirit.  Many indigenous people, including Native Americans, pay attention to animals as nature’s spirit messengers.
I have found that animals not only carry messages for us from the spirit world, they are the embodiment of aspects of ourselves wanting to get our attention.  This is what I read,

“Deer has entered your life to help you walk the path of love with full consciousness and awareness…the balance of true power lays in love and compassion….only when we move through life in the spirit of love for all beings can we melt the barriers that separate us from others, from other life forms, and from the beautiful mystery which is our own magical and spiritual gift.”

These words summed up the feeling of love, fully awakened in my heart, which I was experiencing.  Love without barriers moves freely from one human being to the next.  It started with my friend’s love pouring from her heart to mine.

Then, the ‘magical’ gift arrived.  I emailed my friend about my reaction to her email and the arrival of the deer.  She emailed me back later that day.  Soon after sending her initial email to me she went outside, and there was a rainbow in the sky.  With this she knew her intentions for love and healing were confirmed.  Simultaneous magic!  As she was peering at a rainbow, 4 pairs of eyes were staring at me with the same confirming message.

The universe responds to love.  Love was heard around the world because my friend and I connected our hearts.  Love brought on my tears.  Love connected me to the deer.  Love created my friend’s experience with a rainbow.  Love showed me that the sacred heart that connects us all is real.  Love is teaching me to trust.  Love is telling this story.  Love is finding its way to you.  Love is filling your “container” now.  Love is pouring out of your heart.  Love is circling the world again.  Love is finding another.  Love is filling their container.  Love is unfolding again and again and again and again.  Love, is.

Corrina Steward is a life coach, sustainability consultant, writer and spiritual seeker.  Her e-book Be an Everyday Humanitarian: Powerful and Sustainable Life Practices to Change the World from Home teaches us how to live from our personal power and to discover our authentic selves for a more sustainable, transformative world.  She hosts New Humanity Radio on BlogTalkRadio.  You can read more of Corrina’s writing and join her on her quest for spiritual and life purpose on her blog.  Corrina can be contacted at: corrina@beaneverydayhumanitarian.com.

Thinking about writing this article made me look at this subject more deeply.  Surely, the definition of LOVE is not something we could all agree on.  Love comes in different “colors and flavors” and means many different things to many people.  The Beatles sang:  “All you need is love ….” Another song sings “…Love makes the world go around” and I Corinthians 13:13 says “Faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” All these LOVE references relate to different kinds of love. Yet what all the different meanings have in common is that they all raise your vibration by making you feel good.

Now we have just celebrated Valentine’s Day this month.  First of all, I “love” the fact that among all the holidays we celebrate in the U.S. we have one that celebrates LOVE, and romantic love at that. Romance is the nice, fuzzy feeling that connects strangers who have “fallen in love” and have become lovers. Merchants are very good at encouraging these sentiments with promoting a variety of gifts: flowers, chocolate and romantic dinners have become the most associated gifts for that “special Valentine.”

It’s great to celebrate Valentine’s Day in all its glory, and I hope you did.  I did, too!

Some of us like to include into this “love bubble,” family members and friends, and maybe even expand to people we do business with or meet every day.  You might include also those who have performed a service for us; maybe even strangers.  A token of love, a hug, a note, a telephone call, or even a smile goes a long way.  Spreading love around lifts everyone’s vibration; so don’t be afraid to be generous.  I “love” this quote:  “Practice daily random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.”  Such sentiments spread out like ripples in a pool of water and lift Spirits wherever they land.

Spinning the Love theme further, I realized that Valentine’s Day is merely a reminder, not an end in itself.  Those we really love deserve to be loved all the time.  Gifts are nice, but treating the people around us with kindness and with respect is what really counts and what creates uplifting bonds and relationships that cushion the stress in our lives.

Making someone feel loved is a great gift.  My husband of 52 years knows how reluctant I am to get up in the morning so he reminds me several times by rubbing my back that it’s time to rise and shine.  When finally I do rise but fail to shine, he has coffee ready for me.  You bet I feel loved and I do favors for him daily to recirculate his love.  Chocolates, flowers and gifts are wonderful, but love can be expressed in many little ways that cost nothing but mean a lot.

I hope that you enjoyed Valentine’s Day! My desire is that you spread your love into all directions, and perpetuate the feeling into the days, weeks and months to come.

Happy Valentine’s Day (and month)!

© 2011 Britt Mittemeijer

Britt Mittemeijer has been interested in health and wellness for herself and others all her life.  She has always followed the “green” lifestyle principles before it became a popular buzzword.  Her website, Easy Health and Wellness, presents “green” products for everyday living and she maintains two blogs, Britt’s Green Blog and Bottled Water Costs Too Much. Britt lives in NC with her husband of 52 years, a son and daughter and 4 grandchildren.  She is a Reiki II practitioner.