Hello my friends!

 Welcome back to Satori Yoga + Yoga Therapy!

As you are reading these words I’m exploring yet another remote corner of the great Canadian wilderness with a couple of friends and a backpack. Over the years I’ve come to know that spending time with Nature is indispensible nourishment our bodies need in order to SURVIVE and THRIVE.

I am passionate, beyond what I can express with words, about healing and mountains. When I put my backpack on, these two passions converge: backpacking without health is impossible, health without walking is improbable. I see walking in the wilderness as a type of laboratory, a chance to see how humans lived eons ago, before the advent of agriculture, the rise of industrial revolution, and before stresses of our information-driven age. To me, being in the bush is an opportunity to experience, even if for a few short days, the primordial forces that shaped our skeleton, posture, and physiology over thousands of years. You can call it the PALEO LIFESTYLE experiment.

I am not inviting you to strap a heavy pack on and dash into the wild blue yonder… Far from it (well, unless you want to come along for a hike)! Instead, I’m inviting you to take a look at your lifestyle through a PALEO lens.

You probably at least heard of, and maybe even tried the Paleo diet.  Most of us understand that health of our cells is dependent on a variety of balanced nutrients in our food. You are what you eat, right?

Well, what about your movement diet?

Just like healthy cells are dependent* on the variety + quality of nutrients from foods you eat, the health of your muscles, bones, joints AND your cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive and elimination systems are dependent on the quality + variety of everyday FULL - RANGE MOVEMENT.

*Just a note here: actually, health of your cells is as much relies on correct alignment and movement, as it does on appropriate nutrition. I know, yet another good reason to get on your yoga mat!

1. Assess your MOVEMENT DIET – does it look like you are feeding your body the movement equivalent of McD’s? Sitting much?  Did you know that sitting is one of the greatest risk factors for cardio vascular disease (and low back pain, and pelvic floor dysfunction, and digestive issues, and, and, and…..)? And not to scare you or anything, but our fellow Canadian researches proved that exercising 1 hour X 3 times a week DOES NOT counter the detrimental effects of everyday sitting.

2. Commit to daily walking: I’ll write more on why walking, but for now – would you please trust me and just do it, while the weather is great? Start with 10 – 15 minutes and gradually increase.

I am continuously astonished by what human bodies are capable of and how much we underestimate our resources: 15 years ago I sat in cardiologist’s office short of breath, not being able to walk up a set of 5 stairs; this summer I walked 72 km in 4 days with 30 pounds on my back up and down steep mountain sides. And, as you are reading these words, I’m walking some more.Our bodies are capable of much, much, much more than we can ever imagine. Want to feel better? All you need to do is start putting one foot in front of the other. Now!

3. Join a yoga class: for your joints to work properly, your muscles need to be just the right length. Targeted stretching is the key!