Do you know about FreeRice.com?

For every correct answer to the FreeRice online vocabulary game, the site donates 10 grains of rice to its official humanitarian partner,  the United Nations World Food Program, who in turn donates it to needy families. About 25,000 people, mostly children, die every day around the world due to hunger.

Go on, check it out!

I made this my Daily Discovery today on the home page of my website.  I am posting new “discoveries” every day.  The categories rotate and include, nutrition, exercise, emotions, relationships, relaxation, leisure, money, career, spirit and service.

Today is a “service” day so I selected FreeRice.com .  Check back frequently for more Daily Discoveries!

I’m back.

Last week I turned off my computer for seven days.  I completely stepped away from the Internet.  For someone who telecommutes and communicates at least 90% of the time on-line this was a big deal.  I was beginning to forget what life was like beyond my computer?

When I began to identify a little too closely with this Internet Overdose Song I. Had. To. Stop!

After all, I’m the one who is out there teaching and writing about health and balance.  Umpteen hours on-line every day was becoming an antithesis to what I teach.  I willingly put myself on a self-prescribed Internet Detox Diet.

Since I didn’t have my computer (I literally gave it to a friend so I wouldn’t log on) one of the things I did was I returned to music.  Jonathan Goldman’s sound healing CD’s have been part of my music library for awhile.  When I studied Healing Touch a couple years ago, sound and music were an intricate part of the practice.  Music can have healing effects on the body, mind and spirit.  Certain sound vibrations are thought to bring harmony and equilibrium to our organs, tissues, cells and even DNA. Last week I needed equilibrium.

Goldman is a leading expert on sound and healing.  He has written numerous articles about the therapeutic and transformational uses of sound and music.

For a comprehensive overview on his work, music, books, and trainings go the healing sounds website.

I like Goldman’s Healing Sounds: The Power of Harmonics book.

De-Stress is one of my favorite Goldman CDs.

I’m also a HUGE fan of the Liquid Mind music series.  In fact I’m listening to this CD right now.
Liquid Mind VI: Spirit

Liquid Mind music is soothing and relaxing. Chuck Wild was in the 80′s rock band, Missing Persons.  He was strung out, he couldn’t sleep, he had panic attacks and he took prescription drugs to cope.  Chuck finally dropped out of the rat race and created the Liquid Mind Music series.

Explore and find sounds that resonate with you.  We need to relax and disconnect from the over-stimulation in our environments, i.e. the Internet, and the rapid pace of our lives. Last week I remembered and I intend to keep using the healing benefits of sound and music as a way to relax and disconnect.

I recently found a new Healthy Discovery, it is called the 29-Day Giving Challenge.

The 29-Day Giving Challenge is a unique way to stimulate volunteering and/or giving in your own life.

The Premise: Give one thing away each day for 29 days.

Cami Walker created the 29-Day Giving Challenge. She says, “I was in a very dark period in my life dealing with a chronic illness (Multiple Sclerosis) as well as a major move. One of my mentors suggested that I give away 29 things in 29 days in an effort to get outside my own struggle for a few seconds each day.”

Click here to watch Cami talk about:

• How it works
• How you can give (including something you think you can’t live without)
• The rules
• What happens if you miss a day
• If your gifts need to be valuable
• Giving cash
• Why 29 days is important
• Examples of things she’s given
• What she has received since she started giving

I end all my Wellness Wheel Classes with this quote“Today I will do someone a good turn, if I am found out it will not count.” I think volunteering your time, money and/or talent is one of the many important components for good health and balance.

In the past I have mentored young girls in a detention home, I’ve volunteered to rock premature babies in the NICU, and provide support for cancer patients. However, I haven’t volunteered my time recently, nor have I consciously thought about giving something every single day. I like this idea and I have added The 29-Day Giving Challenge to on-going list of Healthy Discoveries.

The other day, on the car radio, I heard an NPR interview that made my Healthy Discovery antenna go up.

Diane Israel is a former world-class triathlete. She won the Pikes Peak Marathon and several other major races. At the age of 28 Diane retired from professional competition. She collapsed from “athletic bulimia”- purging through extreme and excessive exercise. Her bone density was the equivalent of a 70 year old. She didn’t start her menstrual cycle until she was 30 years old because of her addictive training. She ran with foot fractures for years.

Diane made a film called, Beauty Mark. The film examines:

*Diane’s own story.
*How our families and society influence our weight and body “standards”.
*When working out actually makes us sicker instead of healthier.
*Interviews with other exercise bulimic athletes.

I went to the Estes Park Film Festival and saw Beauty Mark on Sunday. There are so many take home discussion points in this film. The teacher part of me wants to show this 75 minute film in a Body Image Class and then spend the next two hours breaking it down in a group discussion. It’s full of rich, raw revelations about how we portray and objectify beauty in this culture.

One scene that stayed with me was watching a former Colorado Body Building Champion teach a spinning class in Boulder. Her body is incredibly sculpted, thin and toned, yet the emotional pain and tears in her eyes brought tears to my eyes as she spoke. She hates her body! She abuses herself with extreme exercise every single day. This becomes a slippery slope because unlike other addictions; compulsive, regimented exercise is glorified and honored in our culture.

Diane Israel did a great job exposing the sociological, psychological, and family links behind body image, addiction, obsession, control, abuse, and perfection. After the film Diane was there in person to take Q&A from the audience. She is now a psychotherapist in Boulder and is still on her own healing journey. She gave us all a Beauty Mark Rock.

Instead of assessing people by “how thin they look”or “how pretty they are” she challenged us to look for the beauty in what people say and do! When we witness authentic internal beauty she encouraged us to pass our rock onto that person. It “marks” and lays claim to the real beauty in the world.

This is one of those movies that a college student could spend 20 pages analyzing. I encourage health educators, personal trainers, and anyone who struggles with body issues or addiction tendencies to watch this movie. Surprisingly, it’s the first of its kind. In my opinion it’s a very important contribution to the fitness world, addiction studies and behavioral psychology.

To listen to the NPR interview that piqued my interest in the film, scroll down to Tuesday September 9Th, then click on Boulder Filmmaker Explores Compulsive Exercise and Body Image

Click here to watch the trailer for the Beauty Mark movie. DVDs will be available on the Beauty Mark website soon!

For more information on Diane, the film and an abundance of resources on eating disorders go directly to the Beauty Mark website.

Dr. Jay Wilson gave a lecture at BoulderFest called; The Systematic Approach to the Complex Patient. He spoke about hormone assays, nutrient assays, food allergy sensitivity, heavy metal toxicity, detoxification and more.

I soak it up like a sponge. I never tire of these lectures! It’s fascinating and insightful in regards to answering the question of why people feel tired, depressed, can’t lose weight, can’t sleep, etc.

Jay then switched gears and ended his biochemical lecture with the emotional side of illness. Jay believes, and I agree, that trauma is an insidious and profound stressor. Jay has been in private practice for over 25 years and he has seen tens of thousands of patients in his Boulder office. He currently has a four month wait list.

Jay has found that his patients who have had severe trauma, whether it be physical (accidents) or emotional (psychological, physical or sexual abuse), have long-term effects on the endocrine and immune system. A high percentage of chronically ill and “non-responding patients” heal and become healthier when they begin to release past emotional/energetic trauma.

Jay highly recommends using Somatic Therapy which focuses on releasing stored memories and negative emotions in the body.

Waking the Tiger : Healing Trauma : The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences is the pioneering book by Peter Levine that explains Somatic Therapy. Jay also recommended these websites for more information: Trauma Healing and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.

After the conference I was talking to Kay Adams M.A., L.P.C. Kay is a psychotherapist, author, and Director of the Center for Journal Therapy. I asked her what she thought about Somatic Therapy. She too, has a high regard for this therapeutic technique. Coincidentally, Kay was preparing to interview a Somatic therapist on her radio show, Journaling for a Better Life, that afternoon.

Click here to listen to that interview about post traumatic stress disorder, somatic and journal therapy, and how it has been used to specifically help Iraq War veterans.