Yoga And Wellness On The Ranch - A Lovely Time Had By All!

Yoga session at the end of the day with Patti Cocciolo of the Goodness blog

Wow! What a day we had on Sunday at the first ever Marin Agricultural Land Trust/Healing Farm joint retreat at Stemple Creek Ranch! I was so thrilled that the event sold out and we had forty people join us for a day of relaxing and learning about how our bodies connect to this incredible agricultural land.

Thank you to our participants for taking the time to spend a day at the ranch learning practical solutions for your every day health! Also to Loren and Lisa Pocia for hosting us on your gorgeous land. Overall, Loren's talk about the history of the ranch and carbon farming was a highlight for everyone. Thank you also to Stacy Lauer for the wonderful organic food, MALT for partnering with THF to put this incredible retreat on, Jennifer Cooper for your nutrition talk and movement class and Patti Cocciolo of The Goodness blog for ending our day with such a relaxing all-level yoga session and to our surprise guest, Jay Holecek  (dubbed "the chocolate cowboy") for our afternoon dark chocolate tasting.

I could go on and on in words, but since I'm also a photographer want to show you more in pictures:

Early morning at Stemple Creek

Check in and welcome.....

Loren teaching us about the soil

More with Loren....

Therapeutic movement with Jennifer Cooper....

Picnic on the hill!

After lunch loveliness....

Jennifer's nutrition talk....

During the afternoon break, therapeutic chef Jay Holcek dubbed "the chocolate cowboy" by me and my hubby joined us for a little dark chocolate tasting. Guests also enjoyed time to loll in the sunshine. I especially loved the ladies knitting and lying down on a hay bale while chatting. A perfect image from the day:

and to end the day, yoga in the barn (too warm on the deck!) with Patti Cocciolo...

THF | Top Ten Tips For Help Alleviating Chronic Back Pain

I'm inspired to write this post as a succinct way to respond to people who ask me all the time how I got rid of almost %100 of my chronic back pain. I was in pain for almost seven years and I would say I felt pain at various levels 80-100% of the time. It was exhausting, frustrating, depressing and expensive. I spent a lot of time and money seeing various practitioners, doing research, getting an MRI, getting a cortisone shot (something that didn't work for me and I considered a bandaid anyway). I stopped short of back surgery because I was self-employed and my insurance was not very good and a lot of what I read about back surgery for chronic pain was not very inspiring. It's very invasive surgery and often doesn't work. I do know back surgery has worked for others and certainly what worked for me may not work for you, but I want to help get information out there that might help without too much trouble and expense!

I also had a whole slew of other chronic conditions in addition to the back pain: indigestion, fatigue, sinus headaches that were near migraine, restless leg syndrome (RLS), low libido and fluctuating weight (most of these other conditions I suffered with for over twenty years). When I was deciding about the back surgery, I figured I should give a natural approach one more shot. It didn't even occur to me that what I would do would also alleviate most of my other chronic conditions, but here I am to tell the tale!

#1 - Read Chris Kresser's Book: "The Paleo Cure" (no I'm not 100% paleo) 

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Chris Kresser by a friend of mine and he took me on as a patient. I'd heard of a Naturopathic alternative to Western medicine and figured I would give it a shot. Functional Medicine is now the terminology used to describe Chris' approach and I respect that it's not a bandaid. The approach tries to get at the root of the problem (often a whole slew of problems) and then to work at curing these problems in natural ways. There seems to be some controversy about the validity of Functional Medicine on Wikipedia, but it worked for me, so that's what counts in my book. I won't get into all of what we did to work through my conditions but the short list is:

• Getting rid of a parasite in my gut
• Rebuilding my gut flora
• Replenishing vitamins d and b12 (I personally attribute the lack of b12 in my system for the RLS - a month into the protocol I completely stopped getting restless legs - and if you've ever had it you know how miserable it can be. I've only felt it a handful of times in the three years since my treatment and I just pump up my b12 and voila! It's gone!)
• A Paleo Reset************

******** The Paleo Reset. I think this was the key to reducing my back pain to almost zero. If you have a whole slew of conditions like I did, you may want to visit a Functional Medicine practitioner like Chris, but if you can't afford it, or you're just trying to test out getting rid of your chronic pain before considering something more serious and invasive, read Chris' book. Really it's about doing an elimination diet to reduce chronic inflammation in your body. Inflammation is often the root of many conditions. The idea, is that if you eliminate common inflammation causing foods or foods to which your body is sensitive, you will likely reduce the inflammation in your body that might be causing your chronic conditions. After your month-long journey (not easy!) you start adding back into your diet certain foods and listen to your body about what then produces the pain again. In my case it's a sensitivity to gluten and dairy. I also keep mostly clear of nightshades (like tomatoes and eggplant), eggs, peppers, etc.

So no, I'm not 100% paleo (I could never give up corn and gluten free bread!), but I am almost 100% organic and grass-fed and mostly steer clear of what I now know causes inflammation. And Seriously, I have a direct reaction almost every Christmas and every time I go to the midwest for my annual family vacation in Wisconsin and go overboard on gluten, dairy, alcohol, etc. - it starts with crackly ears, then I get the sinus headaches, then a full-on cold, indigestion and last Christmas, I went so overboard, I actually "threw out" my back. I was laying almost flat for a week and that didn't even happen the first time I hurt my back! Thankfully, I quickly recovered and I am still almost 100% pain free.

#2 - Superfeet!

If you can't afford to go to a podiatrist or chiropractor, try Superfeet! I now have custom orthotics, but it was the suggestion of a friend who had similar foot issues to mine that suggested I try Superfeet - easy to pick up at REI or online and inexpensive compared to custom orthotics. If you want to see if better foot support helps your back, this is a good way to start. Put them in your workout shoes first and if it helps, go on to put them in your work shoes, slippers, etc. If it really does help, you may want to get checked out for custom orthotics for the long-term just to make sure you've got the best fit. Not cheap, but it was worth it for me.

#3 - The Gokhale Method - Eight Steps to a Pain-Free Back

This book really helped me when I was in acute pain. For the most part, I sleep and sit differently after reading this. Every once in a while I find myself rolling over onto my stomach when sleeping and have to correct myself (I was always a stomach sleeper). If I don't correct myself I'll really pay for it. Same with getting lazy on the couch. It's WAY better if I sit according to the direction of this book (and no, it doesn't mean you can't lounge when watching TV - there's just a better way to do it!). Bending over and picking things up correctly is also helpful and I'm forever correcting myself with my posture when sitting and standing, but for the most part my posture is auto-corrected by habit. The Gokhale Method does have extensive paid workshops, but they also offer free workshops all over the place if you just want a taste of it.

#4 - Strengthen Your Core!!!

I know you've heard this a million times, but REALLY - STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE. It's one of the best things you can do for yourself. This should almost be number one, but every one of these tips will lay your foundation for a pain-free back, so there really is no order of importance. If you are in acute pain, check with a physical therapist for some very basic core strengthening exercises so you don't injure yourself. but here are some (at home) core strengthening tips:

• Beginner Power Vinyasa Yoga - I have been doing yoga on and off for 25 years so picking up a beginner yoga video seemed odd for me, but I was considering going to a Core Power yoga studio regularly and since it's REALLY hard, I figured I would try it at home first for a while so I wouldn't embarrass myself again at the studio (I almost passed out). What I found was that although the video is really basic, it's really a very good overall yoga workout with a focus on the core. After doing this video many times and memorizing the sequences, I ended up shortening the routine to fit with my schedule since I didn't need the extra coaching on getting the positions right. I never did go back to the studio and don't go regularly to another yoga studio either because it's expensive and time consuming and I do fine on my own, but once in a while it's a real treat to go to a yoga class - it's just not Core Power when I do. Too hard! Ha! So I just looked and it looks like you can't get this video anymore! I think we should all write to Lisa Richards and ask her to re-make it for a download!!! 
• Once you feel strong enough, you can add in more intense core workout videos and alternate them in with your yoga practice. I continue to workout at home because I (and THF) am all about building practical and affordable wellness solutions into my everyday life. I find Jay a little annoying, but the J-Core videos are really good core workouts. Jillian Michaels also has some good ones. Just be careful and don't overdo. Do your core power yoga on alternate days so you don't hurt yourself!
• Now that I'm almost 100% pain free (and running two businesses) and have a super strong core, I now stick with the New York Times Seven Minute Workout followed by a short stretch routine that I've developed based on all of the work I've done and been exposed to over the years. Stay tuned for a video of this workout which I hope to produce within the next month or so! This routine along with the seven-minute workout fits in with my crazy life, maintains my core strength and is short enough that I don't dread doing it four to five times a week. It's really good for maintenance - but not for weight loss!

#5 - Lose weight

Ugh. This is something I continue to struggle with, BUT in my quest for a pain-free back, I lost 25 pounds through diet and exercise. I have since gained about 15 back, but because I was successful in doing all of the other steps to alleviate my back pain, I have not gone back to the chronic pain despite the weight gain. I'm willing to bet if I were really good about being 100% gluten free and could shed that 15 pounds again I would likely be 100% pain-free all the time. Some habits are just REALLY hard to change permanently. Really, there just is no magic formula for losing weight. It's reducing calories and increasing exercise. Bottom line. Here's what helped me:

• Controlled portions through boxed diet meals - there are a lot more organic and healthy options these days. This is an easy and inexpensive way to start to learn to control portions. 
• When you plateau you might step it up to Weight Watchers for a while.
• The Jillian Michael's 20 minute workout is really hard, but it really helped me shed the pounds. Plus she's really cool and it's only 20 minutes! Remember, the Seven Minute Workout is good for maintenance but to lose weight you're going to need to step it up for a while.

#6 - A standing desk

I don't stand all the time, but I would say I stand the majority of time at this point. I already had an old Ikea Fredrik desk (sadly it doesn't look like they make them anymore) that Brennan adjusted for me to make a standing desk, but there seem to be lots of options online. I also wear supportive shoes (think orthotics, danskos, superfeet insoles, etc) and I bought a thick standing pad like the ones they use for grocery store checkout clerks. Someday I may convert to a treadmill desk, but I'm not quite there yet. I still do a lot of retouching for my photography business and there's too much finessing to be walking at the same time. Plus it would be a bit more complicated to switch out for the chair when I want to sit. The chair I got is a drafting chair with supportive back. The office supply stores have not wised up yet on the standing desks so they don't really offer any of this stuff so online if your best bet.

#7 - Walk and ride your bike as much as you can for errands!

Seriously, unless you are in acute pain, build as much movement as you can into your everyday routine. I know you've heard this one before too, but it really helps to keep moving.

#8 - Pay attention to your vitamin and mineral intake

Build up your immunity and find out what will help reduce inflammation. Omega-3 high quality fish oil supplement is important if you don't get enough omega-3 through your regular diet. I try but don't succeed so through a recommendation by Chris Kresser I use a supplement. I've used the Green Pasture formula for a few years, but noticed when writing this that there has been some recent controversy. Please read Chris' recent article on what he now recommends.

#9 - Stay Hydrated

Seriously. Drink a lot of water. I have a friend who says when she gets a "crick" in her shoulder, she drinks a ton of water and it goes away. I don't have such direct and immediate results as she does. but I do notice a difference in a lot of things when I'm dehydrated. 

#10 - Change Careers

So, not only did I have all this inflammation in my body and even though I thought I was healthy - obviously I was not before I did all this, I also am in a career that is VERY hard on the body - both mentally and physically. This is why I'm so passionate about starting The Healing Farm and yelling from the mountaintops about not needing to live with chronic pain! I've been a photographer on and off for twenty years and a wedding photographer for almost fifteen years. It's a killer on the body and although everything I've done to strengthen my core and all the other things have helped, my body is still trashed the day after I shoot a wedding. It's time to change careers and do something that's better for my body and mind. It's what I will be passionately working on in the present and near future. I hope through The Healing Farm and The Healing Farm | Retreats that I will be able to share practical wellness solutions for so many people who need to know these simple solutions! Good luck to you and let me know if you have any questions and come to our Paleo Reset Retreat , listen to Chris Kresser talk about his approach in person and kick-start your reset with this week-long retreat!

The Healing Farm - Cultivating Practical Wellness.

Testing my own routine - The New York Times Scientific 7-Minute Workout!

The New York Time Scientific 7-Minute Workout 

It's been a tough few weeks for my regular routine and I'm trying my hardest to practice what I most want to preach which is practical wellness solutions we can make into every day habits - "CULTIVATING PRACTICAL WELLNESS!"

Running a full time wedding photography business while at the same time testing the waters for a new business with phase one of The Healing Farm is proving to be more challenging than I anticipated. I'm pretty good at juggling but this is a lot to juggle. Plus the whole point of a career change and building practical health habits into my everyday life is so I DON'T have to spend the rest of my life juggling things, being stressed and losing site of my daily health habits! 

Two things I've been pretty successful at keeping in my daily routine are my morning smoothie and The New York Time Scientific 7-Minute Workout. Seriously. This is the best. Check out Gretchen Reynold's original post on The New York Time's well blog for details.

If you're trying to lose weight, unless you also significantly cut your portions, the 7-minute workout might not be enough, but for maintenance and stress relief, this is the best. Even if I weren't REALLY short on time like I am these days, this workout is easy enough (it's only seven minutes!), short enough (it's only seven minutes!), no excuse enough (there's almost no way you can say you don't have time when IT'S ONLY SEVEN MINUTES!) and you really see results, so why not let it be your go to workout? No expensive gym membership, almost no time commitment, no equipment needed except a chair, some all-purpose workout shoes, maybe a yoga mat and you feel great afterwards! It's kind of a no-brainer! I pretty much do it every weekday morning and sometimes on Saturday morning before a shoot.

Because of my chronic back pain (which is still significantly reduced through my work with Chris Kresser), I add a daily ten minute routine of stretches after my 7-minute workout. This is crucial to keeping my back and hips healthy. But even with adding this, I'm still done and in the shower and ready to start my day within half an hour! I have a friend who said she and some of her co-workers do this workout during the 2:00 - 3:00PM lull time in the office to wake them up and get them motivated to finish the day.

If you are one who really needs to get out and de-stress with a run or if you just really enjoy the camaraderie at a gym, this might not be for you, but I for one am a total convert. Now, that all said when things settle down a little I'm going to have to tie in that extra workout or two and cut my portions because I need to once and for all lose that final ten!

Holistic Healing Mini Retreat, Stinson Beach - Take Two!

Early December is not a good time to hold a retreat! The Holidays are wonderful, but everyone has a million things to do, so please join me in our make-up retreat to kick-off the new year and your new path to health. Learn practical ways to improve your health in a beautiful and non-intimidating setting. Space is very limited for this intimate retreat so contact me at julie@thehealingfarm.org for more details and see the invitation below to get an overview of the day’s events.

The Healing Farm Concept

The Healing Farm – Retreats will be a series of tasteful and affordable holistic wellness retreats held at various retreat centers around the country. Eventually I aspire to open The Healing Farm as a permanent retreat center with possible franchise opportunities long-term. To gain recognition of The Healing Farm name, experience in the field and interest in my talents I will offer one-off retreats in existing retreat centers of varying affordability. Each retreat will have a goal of cultivating attainable and enduring simple solutions for our participant’s long-term health and wellness goals.

Follow along my blog and read about my first Healing Farm aspirations in the beginnings category. Let’s learn together holistic health practices that will help us heal in our everyday lives and keep track of the latest retreat offerings!

Announcing the First Healing Farm Retreat Featuring Talks and Application of Holistic Healing for Everyday Life!

Beginning Power Vinyasa Yoga - Core Power Yoga

OK. So I have done yoga on and off for over twenty years. Why would I choose a beginner video??!!!! Because I was a beginner in Core Power Yoga for one and secondly, I still needed to be careful with my back.

I realized I missed yoga, but still could not afford the luxury of going to a yoga studio once or twice a week and by getting used to the Jillian Michaelsvideo, I discovered I really liked the ease and low cost of working out at home. It was about this time that I was shooting a somewhat regular gig at a glorious place called Rancho La Puerta. This is a spa in Mexico and I’m lucky enough to do photography for their marketing materials.

I was down there for a week of shooting and my client told me the Core Power Yoga people were there that week. I had never heard of Core Power but was curious because I knew building my core was essential for continuing my quest to end chronic back pain. I didn’t have the chance to try a class while I was at the ranch but discovered a Core Power studio near my home so tried it out.

Sheesh was it hard. Nothing like any yoga class I had ever been in. We even used weights. I liked it, but needed something a little less intense and didn’t want to commit the time and finances to going to a yoga studio every week so I bought their Beginner Power Vinyasa video taught by Lisa Richards.

LOVE it and still do it to this day. It’s an amazing full body yoga workout and really does work the core. I’ve found over time that Lisa dwells a lot on some of the positions because she is teaching, but I’ve done it often enough that I know how to cut it down to about 45 minutes and still feel I get a terrific practice.

Read on to discover a trick to committing to exercise almost every day!

Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred!

Now that I had lost 25 pounds, I wanted to keep it off and really wanted to lose ten more. I was stuck again and terrified of re-gaining.  I needed another change-up. Increasing my exercise was what I needed to do!

It was about this time I went to visit my parents for the holidays (almost one year into my weight loss program) and I saw my 70+ Mother doing a Jillian Michael’s video. I don’t watch TV so didn’t know who Jillian Michaels was and that she was associated with the show “The Biggest Loser” which I had heard about but never had seen. My mother told me that there were three workouts on the video and that they were only 20 minutes each. I LOVED that idea and it seemed to be helping my mom stay in shape too.

Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred!

I bought the DVD and loved the idea of losing another ten to twenty pounds in 30 days! Alas, I could not keep up with it six days a week for thirty days and my weight didn’t budge, but I was gaining strength and endurance so committed to doing it at the various levels (depending on my energy level) two to three times a week. I also continued to run errands on my bike, walked with my husband and bought a Core Power Yoga video so I could alternate exercise, keep it interesting and stretch my poor muscles!

Read on about building in a regular exercise program and the importance of doing what’s best for you and keeping it diverse!

Developing a Weight Loss Program That Works for You

A couple of years after my sabbatical I realized I needed to try once more to get rid of my chronic back pain. I decided a good first step was to lose weight. I didn’t think I was THAT overweight and didn’t own a full-length mirror to be able to see what I really looked like on a day-to-day basis. I can’t remember if I even owned a scale. BIG mistake!

I bought a mirror and this is probably when I bought my scale, and was in shock when I discovered I was almost 170 pounds (5’6”)! I went into the living room and told my husband that I needed to seriously lose weight and was shocked when he agreed with me (normally he tells me he likes me just the way I am). This was the AHA! Moment. It was devastating and I broke into tears. I immediately started planning and told my husband I needed to do it my way and didn’t want to hear any push-back about how I was doing it.

The first ten pounds:

I decided I wasn’t going to do any fad anything this time and needed to start reducing portions. I started looking into various home meal deliveries and realized I couldn’t afford even the cheap ones. It was at that point I decided I could create my own system cheaply by going and buying the pre-packaged diet meals at the grocery store. I’m incredibly picky at this point about eating whole and non-processed foods and was a little bit back then so didn’t want to put anything in my body that was too fake, too much salt, etc. I did a little research and found the lean cuisine food wasn’t too bad. Neither was my local grocery store brand. Here’s how I ate almost every day for the first ten pounds:

• Pre-breakfast: ½ grapefruit
• Breakfast: three egg whites scrambled with veggies and coffee
• Mid-morning snack: an apple or ½ banana
• Lunch: a boxed diet meal plus a salad or carrots to supplement
• Mid-afternoon: a square of dark chocolate and coffee or tea (decaf)
• Pre-dinner snack: cut up cucumber
• Dinner: another boxed diet meal plus salad
• After dinner: (mid-evening ) an small mandarin or another square of dark chocolate
• If I was really dying (or PMS) I would eat a bag of Trader Joe’s organic single serve popcorn

I lasted about 1.5 months on this system and lost my first ten. I was also learning to run errands on my bike and was walking more with my hubby for increased exercise.

Next ten pounds:

I was stuck and sick of the diet meals  and needed to change it up! On to Weight Watchers!

Weight Watchers is still an amazing system for losing weight especially now that you can keep track electronically.  I stuck with WW for about three months and slowly lost the next ten pounds. I made all of my own food or supplemented with Lean Cuisines when I didn’t have time to cook BUT STAYED AWAY from anything that was fake (no skinny cows!).

Final five pounds

After three months and ten pounds I needed another change and was used to cooking for my new portion control so I picked up my exercise program and lost the last five pounds in another couple of months.  My next post will  be about the increased exercise!

Fast Forward Three Years!

Hi all! Wow! It’s been three years since my little healing sabbatical. It was back to work and not a word of writing since. Shame on me! That does not mean I haven’t been working on my healing, but it does mean I would like to start sharing again as I have so much to update and so many ideas percolating!

As of three years ago, here were my problems:

• Overweight: Female, 5’6” and 167 pounds
• Chronic back pain: It’s now been six years since my initial episode
• Chronic indigestion: About twenty years
• Chronic sinus headaches: About fifteen years
• Chronic fatigue (moderate)
• Joint pain: On and off for ten or so years

Sheesh. Overall I was fine and functioning and still looked pretty good despite my weight (I was thinking I hid it well), but I wanted to feel better. My biggest problem was my chronic back pain, which is what prompted my healing sabbatical and this blog.

I took a six-week sabbatical three years ago. During that time,  I wrote about my progress and health, I didn’t work (I’m a photographer and didn’t want to do any heavy lifting), I practiced yoga or walked every day, rested, saw a chiropractor and acupuncturist and watched what I ate. Almost nothing changed.

Fast forward three years and I have done the following:

• Weight: Lost 25 pounds
• Back Pain: Went from chronic back pain an average of 80% of the time to 0-20%
• Sinus headaches: One recent bout, but about 100% clear for two years
• Indigestion: One bout almost a year ago, but almost 100% clear for two years
• Chronic fatigue (a little less)
• Joint Pain: Less, but still there

Please follow the next few weeks of writing to find out what I’ve done during my SLOOOOOOOW  and continuing route to recovery! In the meantime, here is a before and after (scary to post the “before”)!

Before

After