I am looking for a nutrition and body conditioning expert. I am 50 years old, 5'10 and weigh 266 lbs.

My goal weigh is 200, and would like to reach that goal before the end of this year.

Michael from Riverside

Hi Michael,

Today’s question:

If someone has a friend who is in good shape, who is willing to give them exercise advice, why is it still a good idea to hire a personal trainer?

-Rob in Texas

Besides exercise, many factors can play a part as to why a person is in shape, particularly diet and genetics. 80% of what a person looks like is caused by their diet.

(10% genetics and 10% exercise). Therefore, a person may "look" in shape but not have any clear understanding of exercise. Also, a friend may have learned how to 

workout by watching other people or by hiring a trainer themselves. A trainer will teach a person how to workout based on what they find that particular person needs, 

which may not be what you need. For example, your friend may have a "flat back" posture and may have been given exercises to create more of a lordotic curve. If you

happen to have hyperlordosis (excessive low back curvature), you would be aggravating a situation by making your lower back worse, not better. A good personal trainer 

will do a structural assessment on your body and will determine what muscles need to be strengthened and what muscles need to be lengthened (stretched). A personal 

trainer will take the guess work out of exercising - often getting you to your goals faster. To find a qualified trainer or nutritionist in your area, go to www.chekconnect.com.

To this day, I get triggered when people try to slow me down.  It makes my heart race, my pulse rise, and I feel like all my cells are vibrating.  I am fully aware now that this is due to this childhood cellular memory.  I don’t feel it is a bad memory to have – I think it is partially responsible for my successes in life. I want to prove that I can do things and I feel like it is a challenge when someone says that I can’t or that I need to wait.

However, there are times when I find this cellular memory uncomfortable.  This week I had jury duty.  I know that is a civic duty and that jury duty is one of the fairest ways to have a trial. However, it hits that cellular memory of mine that says “Stop. You can’t work at your business anymore. You must do this instead.” That “Stop” just drives me nuts!  (Just ask Wilma and my staff!)  This week is super busy at Angie’s World.  We are FINALLY getting ready to open the doors to our new expansion.  The new floors are being sealed and waxed, the inside windows and doors are being installed, and  the furniture will go in by Friday.  This is such an important time for me and the business.

George Yates sealing the new floor.

I found myself feeling like I was in prison all day Monday.  Having to go through scanners and have my purse x-rayed, then told not to leave until they said it was okay.  Then having to wait, and wait, and wait.  Thank goodness I had a few good books on my kindle and Words With Friends installed on my iphone!

The funny thing is, the more I seemed to resist being there, the more things started happening to me. The security guard made me remove my key chain and put it in my car (that was parked on the 5th floor of the parking structure, four blocks away) because it could be used as a weapon, the Kombucha drink I had couldn’t be drank inside the waiting room because it was in a glass bottle, and finally I was told I had to come back today (Tuesday) because the judge didn’t have enough time to select a jury properly.

After spending Monday night, calling clients and clearing my schedule, I endured round 2 of jury duty.   After another three hours, I was excused from jury duty. The last step was to go back into the other court room and report to the jury room that I was excused.  As I approached the security scanners, the guard thought there was something in my bag that resembled a bomb!  My purse was completely checked inside and out – all the contents were removed.  He finally found the culprit – I carry a gratitude coin with me wherever I go.  The coin apparently looked suspicious under the x-ray machines.   I just looked up at the guard and smiled and said, “Well, gee, I am really grateful that you completely checked out my purse!”   Then I wondered how I was able to get by the other five or six security screenings I endured in the last two days.  (Every time you leave you have to be re-checked.)

I sit here happily at my computer, working on calling contractors and ordering more stuff for the store.  Grateful that the universe has allowed me to get back to my store expansion.  I send love out to all jurors that are sitting on trials right now, perhaps dealing with their own personal cellular memories that are causing their bodies to stir and wishing they, too, can get back to their lives.  Until next year, jury service!

Sunday I had the great opportunity to stack rocks in Paul Chek’s garden.
I must confess, I had never stacked rocks before! But, I have always loved the look of stacked rocks- how they seem to defy gravity in their miniature sky scraper forms.
My initial thoughts about rock stacking were:
A) It will be a great workout
B) it will be very meditative
While it was indeed both of these, it was so much more.
What I discovered is that in order to create a balanced stack, you must also be balanced from within. You can literally feel the rocks energy and can sense when two rocks are connecting properly. If you try to go too fast, the rocks will tumble. So intuition and your sense of touch is more important than your mind.  If you try to think it out, you can become lost in thoughts and find yourself just staring at a pile of rocks!
As an energy worker, I discovered that rock stacking can make me a better therapist! I really enjoyed how your sense of touch needed to be heightened to get a feel for any movement in the stack. If you aren’t feeling the slight movements going on in the other rocks as you place a new stone on the pile, you will soon find yourself with a stack that is going down fast!
Stacking rocks also made me think about our spinal cords and how the vertebrae are stacked upon each other. You can clearly see how one vertebrae at the top (your neck) can affect another vertebrae towards the base (I.e lumbar spine). Rocks will show you that if your center isn’t straight (like analyzing someone’s posture using a plumb line), a twisting motion will occur to offset the imbalance.  You may be able to keep stacking on an unstable stack, but any slight ground movement or wind will cause the fragile rocks to crash down too. -Which can also help us better understand when a client shows up at our door telling us that they “Just bent over to pick up the newspaper.” and now they can’t walk or stand up straight.
What I found the most intriguing was that if you are patient and take the time to build a strong foundation, it is possible to stack bigger rocks on top of smaller stones; which can be translated into real life with weight lifting – if you have a strong core, you can lift up some pretty heavy weights without hurting yourself.  :)
Spending a day in a rock garden will definitely make you more grounded, more centered. It will heighten your senses and will allow you to feel subtle changes in your environment. If you are a massage therapist, a chiropractor, holistic lifestyle coach, an energy worker, or are in any field where you are using your hands to feel or understand what is going on in someone’s body, rock stacking is an absolute must! But don’t take my word for it, sign up for a future “Day in the Garden with Paul”. He will teach the basics, safety tips, and everything you will need to know to become a successful rock star!
I am planning on starting a small rock garden in my backyard and I hope that you will consider this too!

Maggie sitting in the center of the rock garden

Here is a short video of the female dancers:

Margaret and I decided that we needed to try out this dancing as well.  Here is our grand performance after our one hour session:

I don’t know about you, but I think I did better at dancing than gamelan playing.  Margaret says she will play and I can dance.  Geez, if we can find a few more people, we might just have our own show!  ;)

The Barong and the Monkey

Young Balinese Dancers

Rangda and the soldiers

And this is our attempt:

Sounds just like them, huh? I thought so.

In order to go a temple, the proper attire must be worn: cabilla (blouse), sarong without fringes, and a sash or belt.  Men have to wear a sarong as well. 

So far, I have only visited two temples! Based on my calculation, I need to spend another 19,998 days! (Just kidding, Wilma! I’ll be back soon to start working again!) 

Here is a picture of me, Margaret, and Gay wearing our temple attire after being purified by a priest.  We were bathed in holy water and then rice was place on our temples, third eye, throat, and head.  We were giving a headband to display to the community that we had been purified.

Here are a few pics of a temple, Pura Champuan Ubud:

When you enter a temple, you will notice that the entrance looks like it is cut away. It is meant to look like you are traveling through the walls, entering another dimension:

Here are a few pics from pura Gunung Kawi:

The light beam in this picture couldn't be seen with the human eye.

Here I am at the waterfall just below the temple:

Batik is a traditional art form for patterning cloth to produce beautiful and varied effects.  With origins in China, India, and Japan, the techniques of Batik were introduced to Java early in the last millenium at the time of the Chinese Tang Dynasty.

Batik is a technique to apply patterns of different colors to cloth by dyeing in several stages and by applying wax after each stage to protect areas of unwanted color. 

Today we ventured to to try Batik painting with Ubud artist I Nyoman Suradnya and  his son, Tuadi, and his apprentices.  We took a four hour course on basic Batik painting.  (Courses are offered that take up to five days. )

First you start with a plain white, cotton canvas.  You are given a pencil and an eraser to start  drawing an outline of your painting.  Our teacher, David Patten, has become quite ill so I decided to paint a whale for him because it is his power animal. 

Once you have sketched your outline, you take a special metal pen that holds hot wax and you dip it into a big kettle of wax that is bowling on a flame.  You fill the ink reservoir with wax and then you use the wax to trace over your outline.   Once you have traced over every penciled in line, you can begin to color in your work. 

There are only a few primary colors available so you have to get creative to create other colors.  (like yellow and blue make green) Then you can change the intensity of the color by adding water to your painting.  The water softens the colors and makes them lighter.  

First layer of paint

Once your colors are in, you coat the colors with wax to lock in the color.  You can choose the regular wax or a special wax that creates a crackled effect on the color. 

Here my picture is drying in the sun after applying the regular wax and crackle wax to all objects except background.

Here is my picture completely covered in wax.

After it is dry, you then use your hands to scrunch it up.  The areas where the crackle wax is will create cracks in your painting.  The painting is then put into a solution to treat the colors.

After the solution, the picture is washed with soap to remove any residues.

The painting is then boiled to remove all the wax.

Into a pot of boiling water

Once all the wax is boiled off, your Batik painting is complete!

My finished product!

Of course this is a very general statement and doesn’t apply to all churches. I know we have a few good churches out there. But it indeed reflects overall how different our mindsets are.

First you sit down with your chanang and light a stick of incense. Then you wave your hands in the smoke to clear them, wash them.
With your empty hands, you bring your hands together in front of your face in a prayer gesture. This is to represent the two universes connecting. In this gesture you become mindful to connect and be present, putting all your drama aside.
Next you pick up some green from your chanang and place it in your hands. The green represents the one and only. Your God or Shiva. You then release the green and wash your hands in the incense smoke.
Next you pick up a red flower. The red represents Life and Death, and the Division. You then let that go too and wash your hands in the smoke.
Then you pick up a yellow color or mixture of colors. This represents prayer to all gods or deities – those you know and don’t know. Again you release the flowers and wash your hands.
Finally you take your empty hands again and ask God to be there, to tend to you, while you are in the temple.
Such a beautiful ritual.
Tomorrow we will go to our first temple and practice this ritual.
In order to go to temple, you must wear the proper attire, which consists of a serong, a blouse that covers your shoulders, and a sash/belt.
We went to the flea market today to purchase these items. The ladies in the market custom make your blouse, and they have them ready in less than a day. Wow!
I will write again tomorrow about my experience at temple. Till then.
Namaste.