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Archive | September, 2018

Create optimal health during the transition of seasons

By on September 27, 2018 in Healthy Living, Self Care

Everyone loves summer, with the long days, lots of outdoor time and communing with nature. As we bid farewell to the high heat of summer, we begin to mindfully transition to Autumn. We mentally and emotionally prepare ourselves for the more internal reflective state of mind that the eventual winter will bring with the change of seasons and the gentle turning of the earth.  Ayurveda teaches us how to create optimal health and take special care of our bodies during the transition of the seasons.

The cool fall air was nectar…
~Stephen Connella

This is because these transitions are delicate and unstable times, we are neither here nor there. We are no longer at the place we were, nor are we established in the new situation. This is called sandhi, the junction, the joint/the in-between place. In the same way, the joints of our body are more delicate than the long bones.  If we don’t promptly eliminate the excess that the previous season brought to us, (in this case, excess heat) this excess will cause problems, the root causes of disease…
In this way, Ayurveda teaches us to live in harmony with nature, working hand in hand.

“We have our part in the preservation of our health,
the prevention of disease, we can promote longevity
and Ayurveda shows us how!”

The high heat of the summer subjects us to an accumulation of heat in our bodies (even though we naturally tend to favor cooling foods in the summer, such as watermelon, juices, and salads.) Ayurveda texts teach us how to eliminate these excess ‘doshas’ or heat and stay out of the doctor’s office. Symptoms of excess heat can be; irritability, prickly heat rash is common, loose stools, rashes, irritability, anything with an ‘itis’ indicates inflammation, acid indigestion, and acid reflux to name a few. Which is why the end of each season is the best time eliminate the build-up from the previous season and to receive Pancha Karma if we can. Ultimately we want to promptly eliminate the ‘heat of summer’ so it doesn’t cause damage.

Create optimal health during the transition of seasons…

I will give you two lists, the first list contains a few simple, easy things you can do to eliminate some minor excess heat, the second is more of the warrior path, it’s not for everyone, but those who are really motivated, really need it or are superheroes of their own health and well being.

Simple (armchair want to be healthy) tips to eliminate excess heat, prevent that Summer heat from lodging into your system:

(Do these only for the next 2 weeks during this transition)

  1. Drink celery juice over the course of 3 days, celery juice is extremely anti-inflammation and pulls extra heat out of the liver and intestines. you can mix it with apple which is also cooling, and dilute a bit too.
  2. Add cilantro, or juice it! Cilantro is supercooling to the system!
  3. Have a few raw salads (at lunch) with organic coconut oil, nothing spicy for a few days.

Superhero, warrior, protector of your health, tips:

Do this for 5 days ASAP
Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet or doing the salt water cleanse.

  1. Use the power of routine. The ayurvedic routine is an influential tool in itself – and allows you to harness the power of daily cycles of Nature. Wake up before 6 AM, eat your main meal at midday, go to bed before 10 PM – all are very important points for balancing the three fundamental mind-body principles of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha.
  2. Kitchery Mono diet
  3. Daily Abhyanga
  4. On day 4 do a salt water cleanse, email me for instructions.

If you need more specific help or guidance, I have a few spaces available for consultations in the next 2 weeks.

I care about your well being, let me know how this goes for you!
With warm aloha,

 

 

 

You may also enjoy:

  1. Clear your Head! Neti reduces brain fog!
  2. An Ayurveda Consultation with me, HealthConsultant808@gmail.com
  3. Cleansing Toxins Through Breathing Video

How you can help build the Hanalei Playground!

By on September 27, 2018 in Kauai and Spa News

We are building the first Public Playground in Hanalei in over three decades.
On October 14, 2018, the Hanalei Initiative is hosting the Hanalei Playground Fundraiser.

Purchase Tickets Now

A great playground not only provides children with endless hours of free play and exercise. But it can also help tie a community together by serving as a common space for families to gather. In relaxed setting residents and visitors can connect and interact. As a result, new friendships are formed and community ties are deepened through feelings of belonging.

The Hanalei Initiative is in discussions with the County of Kauai to design and build the first Hanalei public playground in over three decades! We have a design committee with participants from the community beginning the design phase and for feedback once we get a few ideas. This is a legacy project that will fill the community with pride for years to come.

Playground2.jpg
Tickets to the fundraiser are open to anyone. If you cannot attend, we will assign your ticket to someone in the community who might not otherwise be able to afford to attend, such as a teacher at Hanalei School.

We are not certain of a site just yet, but we have a few ideas! We are hopeful that The Waioli Corporation will consider a playground being built behind the basketball court in the Waioli Town Park.  Other locations are being considered and a list of pros and cons has been developed. If you would like to participate, have concerns, or want to support please reach out anytime.

Will Hanalei Pier area open soon?

By on September 26, 2018 in Kauai and Spa News

Updates on Hanalei Beach and Pier Repairs
Four months ago, an historic flooding wreaked havoc in Hanalei. We received a historic 50″ of rain in April which quickly washed away a lot of Black Pot Beach, at Hanalei Pier. As part of the disaster, the heavy rain washed away a huge part of Black Pot Beach. A report from the Department of Public Works was issued in July. It shows that the major damages to the area are: the erosion of Weke Road & Black Pot Beach and the destruction of the ‘Comfort Station’.

 

Drone image, aerial view of Hanalei Pier area

The county continues to salvage the ruins. One such rehabilitation area is the plan to revamp the Black Pot Beach Park.  A University of Hawaii study showed erosion at Black Pot Beach of up to 12 feet in some areas and that April’s flooding eroded 70,000 cubic yards of sand in the area. This was recently quoted in the Garden Island News Paper. The project is to bring the sand and fill in the eroded areas. – such as the Black Pot Beach pier and Weke Road.

This project seeks to put ‘Black Pot Beach’ on the map again!

One neighbor says “If no action was taken, we wouldn’t be able to access the pier or Black Pot.  I’m glad they are trying to give us our pier and park back. They are attempting to bring the sand back around the beginning of the Pier and then also back to black pot so that area is accessible and can be “black pot” again, hopefully, In the process, it will be deeper at the end of the pier and maybe we can jump off it again someday.”

Known as the ‘Emergency Declaration Funding’, the project is only for repairs rather than redesign. The first stage of the project is dredging of the Bay, which is currently underway and is illustrated in the images. Estimated at about a million dollars, predictions show that the project is due for completion in the last quarter of 2019.

Furthermore, the repairs should withstand further devastation in the future. As Weke Road is the only land route to access the Beach Park, rebuilding the road will involve dredging of sand from the bay. Afterward, the area will be erosion-proof by adding a layering of geo-fabric and rocks that can give such resistance.
Erosion is fast becoming a threat to life and properties, we must curb erosion! The mechanism of erosion results from the constant changes in the rising of the sea level.

Photo Terry Lilly, Barriers to keep silt from moving into the ocean float
near the pier in Hanalei Bay, part of the ongoing construction project on Weke Road.

“The yellow barriers around the dredging site are silt curtains, and their purpose is to minimize silt migrating out of the work area,” said Lyle Tabata, acting county engineer.

I interviewed a long time resident recently. He said: “Erosion is a natural occurrence and so is rising water, however, it’s actually very complicated. The river is a living phenomenon, which moves from time to time, there are many factors, including; current Buffalo farm, the wetlands prior, there were taro and rice before that, water was always welcome then. Another factor is that the Hau bush prevents erosion on the side which it is growing, yet constricts the river and pushes the water to the other side (where it is not growing). The river used to be 50″ wide and now it’s 30″. Nature and people have changed the terrain. Surf season will definitely change the terrain once again.”

Hanalei Valley is an uplifted coral reef

From time immemorial volcanic islands wash down into the sea. Hanalei Valley is an uplifted coral reef, covered by mud from mountain erosion. Every heavy rain brings down more layers of mud. Ancient Hawaiians, never really lived full time on the beach, it was the ‘beach house’.

The rebuilding project has begun in order to restore peace, tranquility, and beauty to the region. The changes in the floodplains of the Hanalei River are under corrective procedures to preserve what once looked like Hanalei.

Kauai is an amazing place and we need to have more people helping to make real (positive) change.  Participating in the process is important and we can all do more to help.

The good news is if you would like to help, you can. “Hanalei Initiatives”, is a group of people committed to identifying challenges and completing solutions to Hanalei’s most pressing problems. We are community driven and supported, and we work in partnership with government.

 

Please take a moment to let me know how I can help you with this brief survey

DIY Hanalei Day Spa… At your home!

By on September 26, 2018 in Healthy Living, Self Care
Here’s a way to bring the spa home with you while you exfoliate those
dead skin cells this week with DIY Day Spa at home!
This scrub leaves your skin clean, fresh and moisturized!

Supplies needed:

1/8 – 1/4 cup of salt
1/4 cup of Coconut oil

Optional a few drops of essential oil

It is nice to get a body scrub at the spa, but you can also give yourself one at home!  The purpose of an at-home body scrub is to exfoliate the outermost layers of dead skin cells, revealing softer, younger cells just below.

Doing a body scrub at home is different in that you have all your creature comforts at home, but it might not feel as luxurious (or pampered) as a spa treatment might feel. DIY definitely has it’s benefits though! It is a lot less expensive, and you can give yourself one any time! You can make your own or pick up a body scrub or even use exfoliating mitts!

Personally, I like to use more oil than salt in my body scrub.

How To Give Yourself A DIY Body Scrub At Home

  • It is always nice to soak in a nice hot tub first. Try adding lavender essential oil, ylang-ylang, or geranium-rose to make it more relaxing. Dry off.
  • I sometimes just sit in the tub. Put a little bit of the scrub in your hands then start with long or circular strokes on your lower legs.
  • Spend 5 minutes on your whole body, more than that, you might get irritated.
  • When you stand up to do your backside, make sure you dont slip.
  • With your back reach under your arm to get the mid-back, use the back of your hand to get between shoulder blades, then for the upper shoulder use the opposite hand. A side benefit is that doing this home scrub will keep you flexible too!
  • When you’re done, take a shower, you may want to use a washcloth to pull some extra oil off.

  DIY Scrub Tips

  • Weekly body scrubs are a great way to keep your skin clean and exfoliated.
  • If your skin looks irritated at any point, stop.
  • Smaller grain salt is gentler than the large salt. At Hanalei Day Spa, we finely grind our Hawaiian Sea salt with a vita mix.
  • You can also use the exfoliating mitts.
  • Soothing aromatherapy; lavender, rose, geranium
  • Avoid using on the face, it can be too harsh.

Therapeutic Body Scrub Tips, Ayurveda Kitchen Medicine

  • If you’ve had a cold or flu, you can make your scrub more healing add 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
  • 3 drops of eucalyptus, lemon, or orange oil
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon or 1 tsp coffee grounds to increase circulation
  • add 1/2 tsp charcoal to absorb toxins. (see our serious cleanse body mask for a more effective treatment)

You may also enjoy:

  1. Clear your Head! Neti reduces brain fog!
  2. An Ayurveda Consultation with me, HealthConsultant808@gmail.com
  3. Cleansing Toxins Through Breathing Video

Please take a moment to let me know how I can help you with this brief survey

You are the BEST VERSION of yourself that you can possibly can be right now

By on September 24, 2018 in Healthy Living, Self Care

In a recent newsletter, I mentioned observing our self-talk and how we talk to ourselves. Are you kind to yourself? Do you get frustrated, or angry quickly with yourself and or others? How we think of ourselves is really important.

In his work, Dr. Emoto and his team taped typed words to different glasses of water from the same source of pure distilled water. Samples of each were then flash frozen, and the crystals were photographed with a dark-field microscope.  Consistently, the water exposed to positive, loving words or images of beauty produced brilliant, complex and colorful snowflake crystals. Conversely, the water exposed to negative, dis-empowering words or sad, ugly images consistently produced fractured crystals or distorted, discolored blobs with no crystalline structure at all, much like water from stagnate or polluted sources of water.

His work powerfully and eloquently shows us how our thoughts, words, and intentions have a literal and direct effect on our physical world and our overall state of health and well-being!

Similarly, our whole being hears everything we say!

I recently met a woman in her 20’s, we were on a line and started talking. We were talking about health, spirituality and working out.  (it’s amazing the depth that we can get to while waiting for the bathroom!) I’m a little bit of an intuitive savant and I said something that touched and surprised us both. I said, “You are the BEST VERSION of yourself that you can possibly be right now, I hope you can realize that and relax into yourself and life.” She took a deep breath, teared up and thanked me.

I hope we can all realize this.
What are we striving for?
What are we running from?

You are the BEST VERSION of yourself that you possibly can be right now.
The next time you find yourself beating up on yourself or being hard on yourself, take a breath and relax into that truth for a moment.

I found these water blessing labels on a trip to Topanga canyon many years ago. We offer water in them at Hanalei Day Spa.
Each one has a special word a blessing for you. You may have noticed.
https://thespiritofwater.com/water 

 

Please take a moment to let me know how I can help you with this brief survey

Think kindly of yourself.
Warmly,

Darci Frankel

 

 

Image of Dr. Emoto water experiments, can you tell the difference between the ones that were loved?

Kauai’s North Shore likely to be closed through the end of the year. Sigh

By on September 9, 2018 in Kauai and Spa News
After disastrous flooding struck Kauai’s North Shore in mid-April 2018, causing damage to the highway and bridges. Initial estimates had the North Shore reopening to the public around October 2018. Access to the North Shore is still closed to the public past the town of Hanalei. The damage and repairs are extensive. Then, Hurricane Lane struck the island at the end of August 2018.  Bringing new flooding and damage to the area, which setback the timeline. The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) recently updated the time estimate for the road closure. They said “Kuhio Highway, the road to the North Shore will be closed to the public until the end of 2018”. This is the only only land access. The closure includes access to the popular Kalalau Trail, Ke’e and Tunnels and Lumahai.

HDOT reports:

LIHUE – Tropical Cyclone Lane brought additional repairs. The timelines and estimated costs are still unclear. These emergency repairs to Kuhio Highway from the April 2018 flooding are being reassessed following the recent flooding.

Before the cyclone, HDOT had an estimat for the repairs. The goal was to be completed in October at a cost of $80 million.

Flooding on August 27 and 28 inundated Kuhio Highway at Hanalei Bridge and between the Waikoko and Wainiha checkpoints. Saturation from the heavy rains also compromised the slope. The location of the compromised slope is at mile marker 1.0 leading up to the Hanalei Bridge. This also resulted in rockfall and a fallen tree. HDOT is performing rock scaling on this slope today. This will prevent additional material loosened by the rains from falling onto the roadway.

In summary, there were setbacks due to additional flooding. Once, we complete the in-depth assessments, we estimate that the project completion date is closer to the end of the year.

Visit Emergency Repairs project website for a full a full list of additional work/estimated costs.
https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/2018-kuhio-highway-emergency-repairs/.
-Photo: Hawaii Department of Transportation

 

Please take a moment to let me know how I can help you with this brief survey

Move more, live longer

By on September 9, 2018 in Healthy Living

Americans are so sedentary!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image Source: Washington.edu

James Levine, MD is a leader in sitting research. he opines that “Growing evidence suggests that the health impact of sitting may overall be greater than that of smoking. This is because the human harm associated with excessive sitting is extensive. This includes obesity, metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer risk, and psychological harm.” He also says that “physiological and molecular data suggest that sedentary lifestyle can explain, in part, how modernity is associated with obesity, more than 30 chronic diseases and conditions and high healthcare costs.”

Look, a new disease. The Sitting Disease!

– Insufficient physical activity is one of the leading risk factors for death worldwide.
– Insufficient physical activity is a key risk factor for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes.
– Physical activity has significant health benefits and contributes to prevent NCDs.
– Globally, 1 in 4 adults is not active enough.
– More than 80% of the world’s adolescent population is insufficiently physically active.
– Policies to address insufficient physical activity are operational in 56% of WHO Member States.
– WHO Member States have agreed to reduce insufficient physical activity by 10% by 2025.

 

Here’s what we do!

Sleeping 8 hours
Work 8 hours
Commute 1 hour
Home computer 1.5 hour
Eating 2 hours
Watching tv 1-2 hours
Active 2-3 hours

 

We’ve got options, Let’s get our asses moving!

I take frequent movement breaks to parenthesize tasks, this keeps me very productive and IN GREAT SHAPE too!
Just above, I share one of my 5 minute desk workouts with you.
Try these ideas, let me know what you are doing to get moving!

  1. Find more ways to incorporate activity in your day.
  2. Set a timer, at the top of each hour, get up and move, take a call standing, do some exercises…
  3. Take a call standing, have a meeting, while walking
  4. Do 3-5 minutes of exercise at your desk, see video above!
  5. Activate/flex the muscles of your quads, hamstrings and abs at your desk, or on your commute.
  6. Walk to lunch,
  7. Sit up straight
  8. Rock your baby and do lunges
  9. Instead of watching tv after dinner, go for a walk
  10. Have a simple exercise routine that you can do on a call or webinar (they wont even know). Push ups, lunges, triceps extensions on your chair
  11. Half time at a sport event or or Intermission of the school play is a great time to take a power walk for 5-10 minutes.

let me know what you are doing to get moving!

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