Green Options

Craft show season is getting close, and that means all of you green crafty biz owners are probably working overtime to get merch ready for the upcoming fall shows! Any sort of repetitive action is tough on your body, and crafting is no different. Rather than pop an over the counter pain medication, why not take some time to relax and stretch the soreness away with some yoga poses targeted at the places that take the most abuse?

As with any new exercise, please be cautious and consult your doctor before trying anything too terribly strenuous.

Since I’m not a soapmaker myself, I hit up my pal Tracy Perkins of Strawberry Hedgehog for tips on soapmaking aches and pains. She said that what gets her after hours of making soap is carpal tunnel pain, sore feet, and an achy lower back. Never fear! Here are some poses to help balance that out.

With all of these poses, the idea is not to push yourself to the point of pain. You just want to gently stretch and strengthen your muscles. If something hurts, back off a bit until you get to a comfortable place. You’ll get much better results if you listen to your body.

Craft show season is getting close, and that means all of you green crafty biz owners are probably working overtime to get merch ready for the upcoming fall shows! Any sort of repetitive action is tough on your body, and crafting is no different. Rather than pop an over the counter pain medication, why not take some time to relax and stretch the soreness away with some yoga poses targeted at the places that take the most abuse?

As with any new exercise, please be cautious and consult your doctor before trying anything too terribly strenuous.

This week we’re taking a look at the aches and pains that come with hours of knitting or crochet. From what you guys had to say on Twitter, it sounds like all that yarn work hits ravelers hardest in the wrists, fingers, neck and chest. Never fear! Here are some poses to help you recoop a little bit.

Yoga can be a fantastic family activity, a wonderful thing to do for playtime and a good example of the importance of exercise to your children.

Stronger Bodies

• Build developing strength and natural flexibility to minimize injury
• Improve body awareness and coordination
• Experience the joy of movement free from competition
• Improve breathing safely

As my wife and I write about in ECOpreneuring, if good health is important – and it should be for everyone – then a regular exercise routine along with eating right becomes a feature in our sustainable lifestyle, whether you walk around the block, do yoga or work out three times a week at a local YMCA like we do.  Or go for a hike in the woods instead of watching more TV.

Remember the last time you had the flu or a lingering cold? Get much done? When we’re healthy, we take our good health for granted. Despite what our politicians and healthcare providers might suggest, good healthcare does not necessarily provide good health. Our lifestyle and daily habits contribute to feeling great just about every day of the year.

Some companies provide a good healthcare plan when it comes to physician access and medical coverage. But what does that matter when the stress-filled, unhealthy environment in a cubicle – with no access to the outdoors and fresh air – ends up giving us poor health? The American healthcare system is great – perhaps the best in the world – if we crashed in our car. It’s designed for treatment, not prevention. It’s a healthcare system based on the poor health of relatively well-off people who can pay (by credit or otherwise) for the services it provides.

Given all the debate on a national healthcare plan offered by the United States, below are a few promising trends many people are discovering.

[Downward Facing Dog Pose. Creative Commons photo by Lululemon Athletica]

Craft show season is winding down here in the South, now that the weather is getting warmer. Those long days tending your booth take a toll on your whole body, for sure! Between hauling a heavy tent, tables, display, and merch and the 10+ hour days, your muscles take a beating. Rather than take over-the-counter medications, why not relieve your muscles a little more naturally with some yoga poses targeting the body parts that take the most abuse at a craft show?

If you have a lull at the show during the day, you might try this quick five-minute chair yoga routine around the middle of the day. A little stretching throughout the day can make a big difference on how you feel at the end of it! You can also do your body a big favor by trying not to stay in the same position all day. If you tend to sit, make sure you get up once every hour or so and walk a little bit, even if it’s just inside of your tent. If you’re more of a stander, have a seat or a squat just to give your knees and back a little break.

Whether you’re able to take some preventative measures or not, you’ll probably have stiff legs, back, and arms to deal with in the evening or next morning. Here are some poses to help you out!

Today was the end of the year awards ceremony at my daughter’s school. A seventh grade boy, whom I love dearly, read a persuasive essay he had written about why they should have physical education class for 60 minutes a day every day.  His arguments ranged from health to curricular requirements, and the crowd of parents cheered his speech.

Unfortunately, recent studies in Europe have concluded physical education in schools makes no difference at all.

Studies have shown that many illnesses (including several types of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease) are largely influenced by chronic inflammation in the body.

Prolonged inflammation causes the immune system to become off balance, and can result in damage to healthy tissue.

Poor diet is a main contributor to chronic inflammation, but several lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise, and excessive stress can promote inflammation as well.

Many health and nutrition experts are now starting to emphasize the importance of following an anti-inflammatory diet.

Here are a few tips to get you started on your way to less inflammation and better health:

Tired of being tired?  It tends to go with the season.  Everyone is still catching up from the holidays and getting ready for spring.  With work, school and social lives who has time for sleep?

With a little help, you can still look your best even if you are running on less than a full night.

The cover story of the latest Ode Magazine details Dr. David Servan-Schreiber’s battle with cancer.  In “Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy:  How Diet, Exercise, and a Positive State of Mind Can Help Prevent Cancer”, he describes the mental, emotional, and  physical trials of becoming a patient, rather than the healer.

He advocates for holistic treatment of cancer, including diet, exercise, meditation, and positive state of mind, but also touches on the lack of true scientific support for these therapies.  He does an admirable job of advocating for an ounce of prevention, but misses a terrific opportunity when addressing the economic implications of prevention and treatment.

True scientific studies require large budgets and willing participants, both of which are hard to come by for alternative therapies.  Big Pharma can fund studies on potential blockbuster drug therapies, but who would pay for a study involving the effect of meditation on cancer patients?  Doctors, for their part, are very cautious not to promote therapies that are not based on scientific studies, and since most of us trust our doctors as the most knowledgable source of information about our health, it typically takes a leap of faith or true desperation (when the cancer has eluded conventional treatments) for people to give alternative therapies a solid try.

Sarah Smarsh and Simran Sethi are writing a series on the impacts of everyday things. They will be posting previews on Green Options before launching the posts on Huffington Post. Here’s a sneak peek on sneakers.

With ye olde cobbler long dead (re-soling Jesus’s Birkenstocks in forgotten profession heaven) and cheap production methods shortening the lives of shoes, Americans have gotten into the habit of pitching worn out (or simply undesired) kicks and buying new ones. Shoe-shopping has become something of a fetish, a joke, an emblem of the spoiled housewife who fills her emotional void with Italian suede.

We could go into Manolos, but we’ll focus here on sporty treads, not just to stay on-topic but because they account for a third of the U.S. shoes market.

The production of athletic shoes is infamously shady, from a human rights perspective. Historically, manufacturing giants such as Nike have followed cheap labor, exploiting workers in developing countries so that they might enjoy enormous profit margins. (Nike has really turned itself around in recent years, however, and is now one of the greener players on the field.)

…and Calls In Sore Tomorrow

Helmet? Check. Water bottle? Got it. Metro bus pass when we poop out halfway to work? You bet your aching glutes. Today’s the day many Californians bike the walk and not just talk the talk. It’s Bike to Work Week 2008, and boy, do we need it.

In its thirteenth year, California’s Bike to Work Week officially encourages bicycling as the best form of transportation to decrease [...]