Bigger on the Inside

For most muggles and non-Whovians, Bigger on the inside is an impossibility that doesn’t exist, and barely, if ever crosses someone’s mind. HOWEVER, if you’re familiar with Doctor Who or a true die hard fan of The Doctor, Bigger on the Inside means something more, as you can see in these two clips:

In short, Time Lord Science is amazing.

Or perhaps you’re more familiar with the wizarding world of Harry Potter, and like Harry in the clip below you just “love magic.” For you, Bigger on the Inside is a little more like this:

Yet for most of us, both Time Lord science and magic aren’t readily available, and so Bigger on the Inside can’t literally be applied to our homes or our cars or our offices. BUT, that doesn’t mean that we can’t make our living spaces FEEL bigger on the inside. 

Is this possible you ask? With basic Feng Shui it is!!

One of the basic principles of Feng Shui is de-cluttering living spaces allowing for more energy flow. In fact, in Feng Shui, before you can even begin to truly transform your house, you have to de-clutter it first.  I recently started going through clutter from as small as papers and unread mail to pieces of furniture I just didn’t need, and the impact on my apartment and my life has been amazing!

Why live like this: 

When you can live in a home that clear of clutter, like this:

So What is Clutter Exactly?

Feng Shui defines clutter as blocked energy that drains energy from you while lowering the quality of your life. 

For the average person, clutter is anything that you don’t use, like or have a place for.

For sci-fi fans, think of clutter as space junk that’s somehow found a way to attach itself to your ship. It’s slowing you down and is only going to cause problems. Nothing good every really comes of space junk...

What to do about it

So in order to honor, or attempt to figuratively mimic Time Lord science and wizarding magic there are three easy rules to get started on de-cluttering your home or office.

IF YOU DON’T USE IT, GET RID OF IT. If you haven’t used it in the last 6 months to a year, do you really use it? When is the last time you did? If you haven't ever used it or used it recently, it should probably go. However, getting “rid” of something you might need in the future doesn’t have to be definite. You might be able to lend such an object out to friends or family, and then borrow it back if you need it later. Or if you’re feeling extremely giving, you might give it to someone who has much more need of it that you.

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT, GET RID OF IT. This may sound silly, but sometimes we hold onto things because people gave them to us, or we haven’t had the time to go through it. But if you generally don’t like something that is just adding to the clutter, get ride of it. Again, you don’t have to throw it away, you can give it away or donate it.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A PLACE FOR IT, DO YOU NEED IT? IF NOT, GET RID OF IT. People tend to acquire things. Or at least I know I do. But that doesn’t mean you want, need, or have room for the things you acquire. But what if you actually do need it? Yes, that is an extremely valid argument. but the truth is if you really need it, you’ll find a place to put it, even if that means moving or getting rid of something else in order for it to have a place.

By following these three steps, you really can make a big difference in your home, and in your life. Bigger on the inside, really is a big concept, and capable a great and wonderful things just like magic and Time Lord science. And if you’re really interested in taking the next step in de-cluttering your home you can find more information and links here, and a year long, little by little monthly plan here.

So get out there and start de-cluttering! Allons-y!

Holy House Plants, Batman!!!

Last week, in an attempt to preserve one of my finicky house plants, I took it to my office so that I might pay more attention to it, since technically, I spend more time during the week at my office than at home. During the time I spent nurturing my water hog of a plant back to perfect health, I start digging around and researching the health benefits of plants. 

And they’re pretty much superheroes. 

Turns out, if you don’t have plants (real, not plastic) in your office or your home, you should really consider adopting some, and here are some (10, like my favorite Doctor) reasons: 


1.  They purify the air.  Yes, you already knew this, but sometimes it’s more fun to play Captain Obvious. Athough I’d prefer quality time with Captain Tightpants.

Sorry Buddy!

2.  They create an optimistic environment. Sure enough, studies show that having plants and being surrounded by living things just makes you happier.

3. They decrease your chances of catching a cold. This is because they filter out all the dust in the air. No more Sneezing!!

4. They cause greater attentiveness. Somehow, plants tend to help people focus better and access the smarter parts of their brains. Perhaps, this is because plants instinctively remind us of being in the wild, where predators can jump out from behind the bushes, or house plants. Or, it could just be a rabbit. Either way, alertness and attentiveness is A - Game.

5. They prevent drowsiness. This amazing feat is accomplished by the ability of plants to decrease the amount of CO2 in the air, which coincidentally can cause drowsiness. The CO2, not the cleanliness of air...

6. They can help prevent allergies. Not 100% guaranteed, but exposing children to plants at an early age can reduce the probability of them being allergic to plants and pollens as the get older.

7. Plants help with headaches. A point that wasn’t intuitive for me, but research suggests that musty, stale air can help cause headaches. Plants filter the air, and decrease your chance of feeling like your head is going to explode (as is wont to happen for many telepaths).

8. Plants can help improve sleep. By increasing the amount of oxygen in the air, plants can actually aid your sleep quality. The more clean air and oxygen you have, the more likely you’re going to get better quality zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... Sorry, dozed off there.

9. Plants can help with dry skin. How do they do that? They increase the humidity in the air. Way to go plants.

10. Plants are sound filters. I never saw this coming, but it turns out that plants can act as filters for background noise. Want to drown out your neighbors? By some plants, there are at least 9 other potential benefits.

Amazing! But where I hit a snag when I want to buy plants, is I have no idea which plants I can keep indoors without killing, or rather which ones are the most common houseplants, and have a healthy chance of surviving. So by doing some more research I found this article and discovered the 10 (allons-y) common house plants below:

1. Aloe Plant - Good for your home, your office and your skin.

2. English Ivy 

3. Rubber Tree

4. Peace Lily - My experience with these plants is that they’re extreme water hogs, and will instantly droop without water and perk up within 15 minutes of receiving it. Peace, my eye!

5. Snake Plant - Which my family calls Mother-in-law’s tongue....

6.Bamboo palm - Comes with extra Luck.

7. Philodendron

8. Spider Plant - These are actually really cool because they grow baby plants on extended tendrils. If you remove the babies and place them in a pot, they’ll grow into another full sized plant. BE CAREFUL, THESE ARE LIKE TRIBBLES. And we all know the Trouble with Tribbles.

9. Red-Edged Dracaena

10. Golden Pothos - A plant that also does well outside in the right conditions. I’ve seen leaves of this plant (when planted outside) a size larger than elephant ears. Makes me wonder how powerful the plant is, or if someone buried a dead body beneath it....

But the next question, then, is how many plants is a good number? I would suggest not too many. Don’t go overboard like Bruce Wayne’s good friend, Dr. Pamela Isley:

However, if you want to get technical, it is suggested that a living/working space should have an 8 inch (or larger) potted plant for every 129 square feet.  This will help purify your air, as well as grant you some, if not all, of the benefits listed above.

And how committed am I in my belief in the holistic benefits of plants? I’d like to think more plants in my life couldn’t hurt. In fact, I just adopted a new one for my office:

No, this is not my office, it is a staging area for the plant's relocation to the office.
Yes, that is a hula hoop in the background.

I’m hoping the pointy leaves will keep out grouchy co-workers. Yet another added benefit of indoor plants.

Really REALLY Great Hair.

And if you’re a Whovian, you know that the 10th Doctor has it, and it’s a really big deal. 

People want to interact with it:

People and birds try to recreate it:

And there’s also a who population who consider taking care of such hair to be their dream job:

 or dedicate their blog to it (Oh Yes! There's more than one...):

http://davidtennantsawesomehair.tumblr.com/

http://davidtennanthairporn.tumblr.com/

http://davidtennantshair.tumblr.com/

Yet, for me at least, trying to obtain and manage really REALLY great hair can be difficult. When you’re holistically aware, shopping for shampoos and hair products can be as difficult as shopping in a grocery store (without a tricorder), particularly when you consider ingredients. There’s also the issue of cost. Like groceries, going organic or requiring products to be free of certain ingredients CAN be pricey.

Now there are many theories and schools of thoughts about hair: How often do I wash it? When is it too dry? Why is it too dry? How important is conditioner anyway? How do I get rid of the dandruff?... and so on and so forth. However, I think that one of the biggest debates when it comes to health and shampoo is the subject of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) - the stuff that makes all the bubbles- and similar derivative ingredients. 

The Debate

The traditionalist side of the argument is that SLS does not lead directly to cancer. Shampoo is shampoo and we’ve used if for years. If there is a threat, its only a mild one with SLS acting as an irritant to skin or the scalp. Most studies support this argument, and unless you eat 16 pounds of it, or let it sit in your hair for 12 plus hours, you shouldn’t really be worried. The bottom line: Life’s too short to worry about the marginal probability of potentially hazardous shampoo ingredients.

However, no one has yet carried out long term studies of the effects of SLS, so in the short run, it appears that SLS doesn’t cause cancer, but for the long-run, people only really have theories. There’s no real proof, and at one point in recent history, there was a big Sodium Laurel Sulfate scare, and large numbers of people swore off of SLS products. The hardcore anti-SLS fundamentalists will swear up and down that SLS is toxic, and directly contributes to cancer.  Sodium Laurel Sulfate is what is commonly used as a chemical to clean industrial floors. The bubbles aren’t worth it. LUKE[I AM YOUR FATHER] WARM members of this side believe that SLS may not be a direct cause of cancer, but as an irritant may lower the body’s defenses against other negative stressors. Their bottom line: Life’s probably too short because of hazardous shampoo ingredients.

So Now What? Do I stay away from Sodium Lauryl Sulfate? Or is it okay? 

According to research, you should be okay if you use products that have SLS. Especially if you’re not eating your shampoo (or your toothpaste... Yes, the bubbles in toothpaste are sometimes created by SLS too).

In my personal opinion, however, I try to stay away from SLS products. I just can’t bring myself to buy shampoo with SLS in it, especially not when I have a choice. I find the LUKE[I AM YOUR FATHER]WARM anti-SLS rationalization to be practical, and therefore, I stay away from the sulfates, although I DO like bubbles. And if I’m staying at a hotel and forgot my shampoo, or am borrowing someone else’s, I don’t let it bother me because 90% of the time I’m being proactive about protecting myself from an unnecessary hazard. But I can’t pay money for it. I can’t.

But here’s the good news, and the reason why I’m sharing info about Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (besides the opportunity to blog about The Doctor):  It’s QUITE easy to be sulfate free. Now more than ever! You don’t have to pay outrageous amounts or only order shampoo from the interwebs to get it. Yes, you may pay more than you would for some of the more common shampoos, but then again maybe not, and you don’t have to pay $20+ per the bottle either (although you most certainly can if you want).

 Most stores now also carry sulfate free shampoos including stores such as Target and Walmart. Both of which carry Organix shampoos, and Aveeno’s sulfate-free line. 

No BUBBLES!

So when you are on your quest for Really REALLY Great Hair (which is important because Really REALLY Great Hair really is Wibbley Wobbley Sexy Wexy), remember that you are also responsible for protecting your scalp, and your health (and the universe). Next time you’re picking out your hair products, try out the sulfate-free shampoos. Who knows, you might be contribute more to your overall health, or someone may start a blog about your Really REALLY Great SULFATE-FREE hair.

Superman Starter Set

When I began my adventure into holistic health a few years ago, I started with eating organic foods according to my metabolic type. About a year into my new eating habits, I began working out with one of my best friends who is a CHEK practitioner (i.e. the most awesome and holistic kind of trainer who does way much more than train), with a focus on corrective exercises and improving my posture. Thus my journey into another realm of holistic health commenced.

And I’ll be completely honest, when I started these corrective workouts I had the worst posture ever! If any posture at all. I also had no muscles whatsoever in my core, back, arms or anywhere else. My first couple of workouts, while comprised of simple (but not always easy) exercises left me completely exhausted. They also helped me start to develop better overall posture.

The name of one of these FUNdamental exercises:

The Superman.

Works out perfect for us superhero nerds.

My goal of this post, however, is to share more than just the Superman corrective exercise, but to share three exercises that remind me of Superman, that will not only help to improve posture, but will also activate muscles on just about every part of the body. 

The three exercises that I wish to share are most commonly known as:

1. A Superman
2. A Cobra
3. A Wall Push-up.

Translated into the holistic health nerdspeak, these exercises become:

1. A Superman
2. Another pose of Superman flying
3. Superman stopping a train.

All three of which I will try to explain here. But a caveat before we begin: Don’t give up because you think you look or feel stupid. The first time I did most of these exercises, I felt ridiculous. When I had pictures taken for this post, I felt stupid. But the perks from doing these exercises outweigh feeling silly or stupid. So, in that frame of mind, lets begin.

The Superman.

I love to do this exercise because I really just like that it’s called a Superman. But then again, that’s exactly what it looks like:

The How to:

Start by lying on the ground on your stomach with your arms straight out in front of you, and your legs straight out behind you. Like so:

Next pick up your arms and legs as straight as you can and as far as you can off of the ground. While you do this tighten three things: your stomach, your butt and the area between your shoulder blades. Keep your thumbs pointed towards the sky and your toes pointed behind you. Should look like this:

Now reset back to the starting position and repeat.

The Cobra (Another superman flying pose).

These pictures proves that Superman doesn’t just fly one way, and this pose is really just another Superman themed exercise. The cobra, however, is also one of my favorite exercises. Ever. I say this having spent many seconds painfully holding the best form of this pose that I could. The longest I have held a cobra is 90 seconds. One day I’ll make 5 minutes. Can’t wait!

The How to:

Start lying on your stomach on the ground legs behind you. This time, keep your arms to your side, mostly parallel to your body. You should look/feel like this:

Now, once again, pick up your arms and legs off of the ground, and try to pull your chest off the ground as well, keep your head up. Again, you’ll tighten three things while doing this: Your stomach, your butt and the area between your shoulders. If it’s difficult for you to multi-task and do this all at once, just remember it only takes practice. When your holding this pose you should look like this:

Then reset back to the starting position. Repeat.

Superman Stopping An Oncoming Train (or a Wall Push-up)

This is a relatively simple exercise, and I really do like how it looks like you’re practicing to stop a train, a car, or some heavy, moving vehicle or object (think Sisyphus)... For superheroes, this could be practical, as stopping trains is a thing:

The How to (and this one’s easy):

Start with your feet shoulder width about and firmly on the ground, leaning towards a wall. Your arms should be straight and your palms should be flat on the wall. Like so:

Now, lean your body towards the wall, keeping straight posture, bending at the elbows, just like a push-up. Remember to  keep your stomach (core) tightened to get more out of this exercise. And voila, you should look like this:

Then return to the starting position. And repeat.

Repetitions, Sets and the 4th Dimension of Time

The best thing about these exercises is that they’re relatively simple, they use only your own body weight and don’t require any more equipment other than floor space or a wall, which in most cases are easy to find. In my opinion, they’re an easy starter set of exercises, at least to start correcting posture and activating muscles. But I did want to briefly cover the role of repetitions, sets, and how long to hold each pose.

If you’re a beginner (NOOB!) then I would try to do at least 10 repetitions of each of these exercises. If you can easily do that many, do 3 sets of 10 repetitions and go forward from there. 

If you’re relatively or extremely fit or want to move on from just increasing your reps, you can play with and change the difficulty of the first two exercises (The Superman and The Cobra) by changing the length of time you hold each pose. The longer you hold it, the more difficult the exercises become. If you can hold a perfect one for 60 seconds, AMAZING.

Do a couple of those, and you will be sore.