Start your day right with gut healing & strengthening cruciferous vegetables: purple cabbage, green cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and a refreshing combination of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lemons, seasoned with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, feta cheese, parmesan cheese & a splash of balsamic vinegar!!

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In this video, after 30 minutes of light exercises, all of the students were able to feel Chi! The reactions and descriptions each student shares about what they experienced is priceless! This was only their second class with me (For some, their first!) and what they were able to accomplish is astonishing! At the end of class, we practice Toushou, a version of pushhands that my teacher and I have been practicing for over 15 years! It's a great way to experience the exchange of energy between two people upon physical exchanges. Also, the importance of centering and grounding is able to be understood on a deeper level when practicing with a partner! Check out the video & practices from home!! https://youtu.be/Cd7UQNZPhrM?si=TNiVgcPX-fi3w0yehttps://youtu.be/Cd7UQNZPhrM?si=TNiVgcPX-fi3w0ye

🌿 The Science of Why Nature Works So Fast To understand why nature calms us so efficiently, picture your nervous system as a two-lane highway 🛣️. In one lane is the sympathetic nervous system—your internal gas pedal 🚗💨. It revs you up for action, flooding your bloodstream with cortisol and adrenaline whenever your brain perceives a threat. In modern life, that “threat” is just as likely to be a calendar notification 📅 as a predator. In the other lane is the parasympathetic nervous system—your brake pedal 🛑. This is the “rest and digest” pathway. It slows your heart rate ❤️, softens muscle tension, and signals to your body: It’s safe now. You can repair, digest, and replenish. Most of us are flooring the gas all day long—even while sitting perfectly still at a desk 💻. Meditation, practiced regularly and patiently 🧘🏽‍♀️, can absolutely guide you back toward that calmer lane. But for many people, it begins with a steep climb: sitting still, focusing on the breath, detaching from racing thoughts. For an overstimulated mind, that can feel like asking a hummingbird 🐦 to land on a windowsill and stay there. Nature takes a different approach 🌲. Instead of asking the mind to calm the body, nature speaks directly to the body—often before the mind has time to argue. 🌬️ How Nature Calms the Nervous System (Without Effort) 👀 Visual Softening When you look at natural patterns—branching trees, rippling water, layered hills—your eyes shift away from the tight, effortful focus used for screens. This wider, softer gaze sends a quiet “all clear” signal to the brain, dialing down stress responses. 🎶 Sounds That Soothe Birdsong, rustling leaves, distant water create what researchers call soft fascination: stimulation that gently holds attention without demanding it. Your prefrontal cortex—the overworked center for planning and worrying—finally gets a break 🧠✨. 🌳 Biochemical Gifts From Trees Forests release phytoncides, aromatic compounds plants use as part of their immune systems. In humans, inhaling these compounds has been linked to lower cortisol, improved immune function, and increased natural killer cell activity 🛡️.

The reason you feel better when you smile and take a slow deep breath is actually well studied in psychology, neuroscience, and physiology. It involves three systems working together: your nervous system, brain chemistry, and body feedback loops. Let’s break it down: 1. Deep Breathing Activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System When you take a slow deep breath and exhale slowly, you stimulate the vagus nerve, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the system responsible for: Relaxation Lower heart rate Reduced cortisol (stress hormone) Better digestion Mental calm Think of it as the body's “brake pedal” for stress. When you lengthen the exhale, your brain receives a signal: “The environment is safe. You can relax.” That’s why many meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, and martial breathing practices emphasize slow exhalation. Physically this causes: Heart rate to drop Blood pressure to lower Muscles to relax Brain activity to shift away from threat detection 2. Smiling Sends a Feedback Signal to the Brain There is a psychological principle called the Facial Feedback Hypothesis. It means: Your face doesn't just express emotions — it also creates them. When you smile, muscles called the zygomatic major activate. These signals travel back to the brain and can trigger: Dopamine release Serotonin increase Reduced stress hormones Even forced smiling can produce this effect. Researchers have found smiling can: Improve mood Reduce stress responses Increase pain tolerance Your brain basically interprets the muscle signal as: “If the body is smiling, things must be okay.” 3. Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Balance Deep breathing also improves the oxygen–carbon dioxide balance in the blood. When breathing is shallow (which happens during stress), the brain interprets it as danger. Deep breathing: Increases oxygen to the brain Stabilizes CO₂ levels Improves blood flow to the prefrontal cortex (the rational brain) This helps you move out of fight-or-flight and back into thinking mode.