The other day a dear family friend brought me bake sale leftovers. Unfortunately for me I have reached my set point. My set point is the limit I give myself when I batten down the hatches (my mouth) and eat really clean to rid my body of the fun 3-5 pounds I recently gained.

To overcome the food craving for the chewy, buttery, chocolate chip cookies I smelled the heck out of them. Literally! I open one of the five bags (5 cookies per bag in case you are wondering) and stuck my nose inside and inhaled, multiple times. It works!

When you inhale through your nose odor molecules enter your nasal cavity, and reach the smell center in your nose. There is a filter in your nose that connects to an area in your brain called the “satiety center.” The satiety center sends signals to the brain that you ate your craving (awesome).

A Scientific study from the 90′s revealed weight loss from those participants that inhaled a “neutral” sweet smell three times in each nostril. The inhalation of vanilla, peppermint and other “neutrals” curbed the cravings of those studied.

So the next time someone puts a cupcake, cookie or big fat steak in front of you and you know you shouldn’t, here’s something you should: Smell it, and I mean smellllll it, get close, super close. Freak you say, sure I’m a freak, in my size 6′s!

I was able to open the bag of cookies and take deep breaths. I was able to say no… until later, much, much later. The bags of cookies are in my freezer. When I get down a few lbs look out cookies… you… are … mine.

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When I say she hated I mean she hated.  She, the very intelligent outgoing five year old, hid in the corner of the changing stall immobilized by her absolute terror of being seen in a wretched ware.  She looks really cute in the zebra, to me.  To her, well words can not describe a feeling that most of us have felt.

I saw and felt her pain.  At that moment a memory flashed before me; trying on multiple outfits before going out and my husband waiting, waiting, waiting for me to find something in my department store (ah thrift store) of a closet.
If I can not find an outfit that makes me feel good, feel pretty, feel happy in my own skin, well I’d rather stay home and cry in my closet.  Those outfit moments don’t happen often but when they do it’s not the outfit; it’s the crap mental state I am in.  That wave let me see, know, and understand just what my five year old was going through.  She too has her moments.  She too is a chick that wants to feel good, feel pretty and happy in her own skin.

Draping her in her towel and walking with her to the pool didn’t help.  She sat on the pool deck crying, like me in my closet.  I commanded her to stay on deck while I searched for goggles.  Fortunately in my search for goggles I found a suit, a worn suit, but an option.

I quickly, like a paramedic to a person with cardiac arrest, came to her rescue.  I hand motioned her to come to me, and quick.

She changed and got out of her maze (see previous posts about the maze to understand the maze).  Being stuck in your closet sucks, the closet in your head or your actual closet.  My heart breaks for the mental anguish she went through tonight.  She’ll go through it again  just as I will too, I just hope I am there to burn that zebra.

For sale the dump: zebra swim suit, very worn and disliked by one two people

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1. Never blame anyone for anything you are being, doing, having or feeling.
2. Do not blame yourself.  Anything that takes away your power or your pleasure makes you a victim.  Don’t make yourself a victim of yourself!  Don’t be upset about your past or present behavior it’s all apart of the learning process.  Be patient with yourself.
3. Be aware of when and where you are not taking responsibility so that you can eventually change.
4. Handle the chatterbox.  The chatterbox is in your head.  It’s the little voice that may fill your mind and your heart with negativity.  If you hear negative chatter, which will turn you into a victim of your thoughts you need to turn off the chatter.  Think of a positive image of yourself.  Visualize you doing the positive opposite of the bad chatter.
5. Be aware of payoffs that keep you “stuck.”  Is what your doing making you feel stuck.  Are you happy in your job?  Are you happy in your relationship?  Like a pro and con list the cons are payoffs that you are living with making you feel stuck.  To unstick yourself you must take a risk.  Staying with your boyfriend because he lives in a cool part of town is a horrible payoff.
6. Figure out what you want in life and act on it!  Set your goals and work toward them.  Just like the pain to power chart.  Draw a picture of you and your goal.  To get there write the steps you need to do in order to get there, and then don’t stop until you do!
7. Be aware of the multitude of choices you have in any given situation.  It’s your choice.  It’s your choice if you shower in the morning.  It’s your choice to eat a healthy breakfast.  At every moment of every day you are choosing the way you feel.  It’s not what happened, it’s how you reacted to what happened.

This information is from an awesome book by Susan Jeffers, Ph.D entitled Feel the Fear Do  It Anyway.  This information is taken from Chapters three and four.  Think yourself more powerful and wha-la, you are!  Ah the power of the mind; it’s the only thing holding you back!

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I can not speak for men because I am not a man.  Yet I have never heard my husband complain about his muffin top or the that his jeans are too tight.

Nor have I ever witnessed him do the make my pants fit dance: squat twice, kick one leg out to the side then the other.  When I do this dance it always evokes his smile.

The title “As a Man Thinketh” from the literary essay of James Allen published in 1902 is influenced by a Bible verse from the Book of Proverbs.  This verse is also the dark cloud that is looming over the heads of most women prohibiting them from being “skinny.”

About two months ago I was in a fat funk.  Now I am not a big woman but like you my chatterbox in my head was in a fat funk.  I didn’t feel good about myself.  I felt fat so I was eating fat; snacking on processed foods and eating too much sugar.  I had to shift my thoughts to that of a skinny person.

How does a skinny person think?   First let’s clarify the term skinny.  Skinny is not a bag of bones.  Skinny for the context of this post is just feeling good about oneself. To ENTER: A Skinny State of Mind all you need to do is think and act skinny.

How does one think, act and look skinny?

1. Replace I can’t with I choose not to.  Replace “I can’t have that doughnut.” with “I can have that doughnut, but I choose not to.”
2. Walk taller.  Yes posture is everything.  Notice when you slouch how your stomach forms a pooch.  Yuck.  Pooches suck.  So sit up and when you walk walk slowly and as tall as you can.
3. Green; eat, live, be.  Your diet must be rich in bold colors.  No I’m not referring to the bold color of a Cheez-it cracker.  Think green, red, yellow.  Eat as many fresh vegetables as you can.  Whether you cook or eat the vegetables raw does not matter.  Eat two salads every day!
4. Go vegan for two days a week.  I recently visited an ashram.  At the ashram no one consumed meat products.  Since my visit I eat mostly vegetables and I can tell my body is less inflamed.
5. To be thin (thinner) you must think yourself thin.
6. To be thin you must shift your negative self image mindset tothat of a positive one.  If you mess up and eat poorly don’t spiral into self blame.  Big deal, do better at the next meal, and the next one, and the next one.

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When you feel as though you are slipping into the maze you have two options: slip in or fight for the light.  Once you are in the maze you are warped; you forget the good of the other person, you loose perspective and become clouded.  When you are in The Maze, life passes you by.

The way to get out of the maze is to hold onto a glimmer of light.  Fight for the light.  The light is your way out of the maze.  When you fight for the light you can only seek the answers from within.  Asking others their opinion may soothe you short term but it will not get you out of The Maze.  You must look within yourself and reflect on the “wrong doing.”

If find that when I ask for help my inner voice guides me to the light.   The light enables you to see windows in the walls of the maze.  The windows are opportunities.   People, situations, lack of communication, many things can create a maze that you can easily slip into.  Repetitive negative thought raises the walls and traps you deeper in. You’ve heard it before look for the positive in everything and everyone.  Sometimes it is hard to find the positive – but you’ll find that if you do look within and seek the positive you will stay out of the maze and open many, many windows.

May putting a name to this psychological state enable you to notice it immediately, thanks to “The Tools.”  KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE: You have the strength to stay out of the maze!

“The Maze” is a term referenced in the book entitled, “The Tools” by Barry Shultz and Phil Stutz.  The Tools is an awesome book.  The phrase “seeing walls” comes from the book You’re Stronger Than You Think by Dr. Les Parrot.

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PITAIYO™ GOES DEEP.

I compare PITAIYO™ and it’s depth to that of my recent Yogaville experience.  In yoga and in all it’s beauty the practitioner is welcome to do just yoga or dive deeper and live within the eight limbs of yoga.  True yoga is a derivative of the Hindu religion when the eight limbs are practiced, yet we must not be overwhelmed by yoga and all that it can encompass.

The PITAIYO™ Instructor trainings have had to be trimmed in recent years.  Just like that of other yoga specific trainings.  For example: you can attend a weekend training through Yogafit and learn the basics; mountain pose, triangle pose and how to create a flowing practice.  Through Yogafit, PITAIYO and any other exercise trainings you have the option to deepen your practice, sharpen your skills and learn more about the discipline.  You can also submerge yourself in a week or 6-month training to see how deep the yoga practice can go like those offered at Yogaville.  This is really the truth in all we do.  You can skim the surface or go deeper.  That is the beauty of life; we have choices.

Trying to explain the “it” in PITAIYO’s acronym: PUT IT TOGETHER ALL IN YOUR ORBIT used to leave me tired.  I have discovered through maturity and practice of Christian and Yogic beliefs that people will get it, instructors and PITAIYO practitioners, when they are ready.  One that practices PITAIYO can choose to skim the surface and attend a class or two a week; or they can dive deeper and work towards their it.

If you want to go deeper climb the ladder and walk to the end of the board …. and read on

PITAIYO THE “IT”

1. “IT” is an action, what you need to do; the other meaning of PITAIYO™ is something to achieve (you must do an action to cause a reaction to the action).
2. “IT” is the result (the reaction) of Pitaiyo. The result of PITAIYO™ is: positive mindful thought and actions, and enhanced body composition.

Your orbit is where you are physically and mentally. PITAIYO™ gives you the enthusiasm to get to where you want to be. In order to get to where you want to be you have to be mentally ready for the physical to take place.PITAIYO™ offers wellness to the beginner and enhanced sport performance for the elite athlete. “It” could vary from day to day. Today you may be searching for relaxation, or perhaps today you feel like working as hard as you can.
“It” the sustainable level you are aspiring to which makes PITAIYO™ unique and perfect.

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ICE ICE BABY

Hold an ice cube in your hand and at first it is easy to handle. As the ice cub melts in your had so does the pain of the freezing temperature of the ice. Hold on to the ice. Do not put the cubes down.

Keeping the ice in your hand will symbolize a situation that will arise that has you feeling pain, unease and in search of a way to abort! Hang in there. Feel the ice. It is cold yet manageable.

This ice experiment called ICE ICE BABY proves that you can endure just enough pain to enable a breakthrough. Too many people drop the ice, or an uncomfortable task too soon.

You can handle the ice, you can handle the task.

Push through once and it is difficult.

Push through again and it is easier.

A thrid time and the ice memory is yours to help you with all things that appear difficult. Your situation melts, not you!

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I wanted to “check out” of my daily tasks and thoughts to “check in” with myself.  This morning I find myself mentally going back, which I am sure I will do often, and continue to do with practice.  This morning I’ve thought about the breakfasts served at Yogaville: yogurt, fruit, potatoes, whole grain breads, oatmeal, wheat barley, organic cereals with a selection of almond, soy or rice milks.

I’d like to continue my practice of meat and somewhat dairy free diet.  It will be hard considering my mom has a flock of chickens and my household has a freezer full of organize red meat.  Despite my fortunate food obstacles I want to give, giving up meat a try. Hence “meet potatoes.”  I like challenges of all types, mental, physical, food related, etc.  This will be my little challenge; meeting potatoes.

Breakfast was a healthy 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 2 tbs chopped pecans and 1 tbs raisins and 1/2 cup of blueberries.  While I ate my oatmeal I searched the pantry for vegetable stock to make a batch of cauliflower soup, found some!  I used too much water in the stock so I had season with parmesan – there goes giving up dairy!  Mornings at the Ashram were filled with tea, I wanted coffee this am, and feeling like I had personally rung the chickens neck, by drinking coffee (at the Ashram caffeine is considered a drug, by some), I was not being disciplined, and in my mind I was not only eating the chicken but killing it.   I did however not use my sugar free french vanilla coffee creamer – I instead used almond milk and stevia, the coffee did not taste as good – it will be easier to give up tasting like this.

So why vegetarian – it’s part challenge, part test to find out if my skin clears up and if my mind can clear up to.  Mouth > meet potatoes!

MEET POTATOES – ALEX IN FRONT OF THE LOTUS ASHRAM IN YOGAVILLE

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To make my long story short.  I’ll be going back to Yogaville physically some day soon.  Mentally, I’ll be going back to Yogaville on a daily basis.  Like a New Year’s Resolution, we can change if we practice.  Well, I can implement the weekend’s many take-a-ways with practice: vegan/vegetarian eating, breathing more deeply, meditating, seeing with my third eye.

I met amazing people that helped grow my yoga practice – and the growth I experienced is deeper than asanas.  I look forward to sharing all that I learned – that is my living yoga.  There were a lot of remarks this weekend about life’s purpose and calling.  With Pitaiyo I am living my purpose.  Sharing for me is my calling (my yoga) and a way to enrich the lives of others.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Translation:

“O God, may we be protected from these obstacles that are beyond our control”

“O God, may we be protected from people and surroundings”

“O God, please remove all inner obstacles”

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If you were to poll women and men that maintain their weight and look lean all the time they would tell you that they watch portions and moderate their food intake. I happen to be one of those persons. If you read my previous posts you have realized that I am a recovering sugar addict. Not really but when I start eating sugar, like my Nana’s infamous Christmas Sugar Cookies, I can’t stop.

I can remember it like it was yesterday…. well it was last week… I was standing over the bag of Christmas Cookies. There were four left. I thought to myself, two now and two with coffee in the morning. I had two and left the kitchen. The next morning I had the remaining two. The last two. Hallelujah!!! I was done with the cookies I could now start eating clean and get back into my pants. That’s a lie, I can always fit into my pants – this is a trick I call my “set point theory.” I’ll educate later.

Back to the cookies….

Mind you I had finished the bag, yes the bag of cookies. And here I am writing about moderation.

1. I plan on eating loads of my Nana’s sugar cookies every Christmas. I mentally prepare myself to feel great for the first one or two, the sugar high. I can never prepare myself for the aftermath, the sugar low. By aftermath I mean the side effects of sugar. If you are saying to yourself there are no side effects of sugar – you are wrong, wrong, wrong! You might just be too doped up to notice it! Watch the documentary: Fat Sick and Nearly Dead Moderation.
2. How do I moderate my Christmas Cookie binging, easy I do it annually. I don’t eat bags of cookies every month – that’s how I moderate. I permit myself to go to my highest set point and that’s it. If see a certain number on the scale the alarms go off and I abort the ‘eat cookie mission’.

This act of moderation has to be practiced every day. Sometimes I wish I were in a place that had no bad choices, I wish that when I am coming off of a sugar high. My book club is reading a book called +The Power of the Habit by +Charles Duhigg, this is the second time I have mentioned his book in a post. Reading about habits has made me aware of my bad habits, needing something sweet. Well in place of the sugar cookie I eat a chocolate rice cake or an apple.

Changing Your Bad Habit:
The initial feeling of not rewarding myself with a sweet treat: chocolate or cookie, or ice cream is not a good one. But the next feeling of empowerment and surpasses the previous feeling and I am proud of myself for making the right choice. Duhigg says there are three elements to a habit:

1. The Cue
2. The Routine
3. The Reward

Every night I get the cue to eat something sweet. If it is Christmas my routine is Nana’s cookies. I reward myself with the cookie and unfortunately the sugar high and low. I break this habit a few ways: 1. I get rid of or don’t purchase cookies and other junk. 2. I make myself aware of the routine and catch myself by asking; why am I going for this food item… fear, loneliness, anxiety, boredom (flab) and in being aware I can walk away, and 3. I replace the bad item (cookie, chips) with something healthy.

Set point theory – in science it is said that our body’s have a set point theory. It is thought that the human body has a weight range it is genetically predisposed to maintain. I partially agree with this theory. I think we all have to work at our set point. I mentioned earlier that my set point is a pair of my pants. When a particular pants get too tight I have reached my weight gain limit. It was fun putting it on, drinks, cookies, pizza, but now it’s time to get back to clean living. It it my personal belief that we are all tempted – some of give in to temptation often and others practice self control. Our bodies have an amazingly disgusting way of expanding out of control do you have a set point? How much bigger or smaller do you want to get?

Set point theory is not an excuse, I’m overweight because I have a higher set point – no you have no control. Want to change, get the book and be more aware of what you are doing and find out the why you are doing it!

So to summarize – Get set….moderate!

And yes i agree the chick on the scale is should not be upset by her weight but rather slapped to reality!

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