Way of Earth
Ancestral Health for the Spiritual Path
In The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, Alan Watts tells a story that he characterizes as a myth for children. God gets bored, he says, and when God gets bored he plays games to entertain himself. God’s favorite game is hide-and-seek.
It’s true that there are tremendous health benefits to intermittent fasting. And it can be an effective weight loss strategy as well. But as with any dietary protocol, it’s important to know what you’re dong to optimize results and avoid potential pitfalls.
A few years ago I read an article in Elephant Journal about a young American woman who’d journeyed to Peru to work in an orphanage. In the States she’d practiced yoga and at the behest of her teachers had become a committed vegan, believing that it was the most “spiritual” diet. Shortly after her arrival …
The best advice I can give to current ADAPT health coaching students is to make passing the PSA the central focus of the practicum, from the beginning.
Biological life evolved from the sea. The consistency of our blood bears a remarkable similarity to salt water. We are salty folk. Salt is essential to life.
The ADAPT practicum, as the word practicum implies, put more emphasis on experiential learning. Where the pre-practicum equipped us with foundational knowledge, the practicum was designed to put that knowledge into practice.
I find that there is a lot of confusion among the general public about what exactly health coaching is. The health coaching I do is based on the principles of motivational interviewing and is centered around behavior change.
Virtually all approaches to sitting meditation incorporate four foundational elements – posture, stillness, silence, and breath. In this article I consider the optimal ways to work with each.
I’ve been thinking for a while about what I might say about the ADAPT program at this, the midway point. Following is my review of the pre-practicum.
The highlight of the month was a series of lessons in weeks 23 and 24 on lab testing. Chris Kresser provided an inside look at what tests he typically runs in his clinics and how they differ depending on the circumstances of the client.
I consider both Ken Kraybill and Robert Biswas-Diener to be master coaches and love the fact that they contradict each other on this.
It’s ironic that a practice touted as a tool for stress management so often produces anxiety. To understand how this can be the case, it’s necessary to understand that there are two levels of stress in the body.
The first week of September was a break week, so the month only consisted of three weeks of content. It was an interesting month nonetheless, particularly in the Functional Health track, as we covered a number of dietary variations within and out of the paleo sphere.
It was a crash course in nutrition basics, much appreciated, and a little overwhelming in terms of the amount of information to retain.
So the only real drawback to being an international student is the difficulty of attending instructor sessions live. That and the fact that one’s options are limited when choosing which mentor coaches or teacher assistants to session with.
In week three of the Functional Health track, we studied macronutrients. This week we took the consideration a little further with a look at macronutrient ratios in paleo-style diets.
I found Keith’s enthusiasm for online marketing strategy inspiring. And I say that as someone who’s been around the block a few times and is not so easily inspired. But there’s no fluff in Keith’s stuff. He knows his subject inside out and is directly on point with his message.
Week three is almost in the books and did not disappoint. As hoped for, the Functional Health track went more in depth this week and has me excited for what’s to come. So much so that I’m going to make it the sole focus of this week’s entry.
The highlight of the week for me was participating in my first 90-minute mentor coach session. It was kind of an intro session, facilitated by Shelley-Anne McKay, but gave a good sense of what this element of the curriculum will entail.
The highlight of the week was a 90-minute Zoom webinar with Chris Kresser, key faculty, and administrators. Betsy Salkind, the lead mentor coach, was there, as well as Tracey Long, the lead teacher assistant. Chris gave a 5-minute welcoming speech and then the other staff and faculty took turns introducing themselves.
As stated in my previous journal entry, I’ve found Chris Kresser’s From Busy to Balanced Program to be one of the most useful aspects of the ADAPT pre-course. In today’s post I will share how I’ve been using it.
I signed up for the ADAPT program on April 2nd, a week after the enrollment period opened, which has allowed me to spend plenty of time with the pre-course material. I’ve found it valuable in multiple ways. In today’s journal entry, I’ll do a quick unpacking for you.
With the ship having sailed on my Bikram career, I found myself stranded on the docks, at the age of 52, wondering what my next move could possibly be.
As your body of attention grows, and as you gradually learn to accept your mind as it is, you will find that the mind likes to be observed, it needs to be observed, is soothed and calmed by being observed.
