Feel Good Guru

Daily yoga is a big part of my life and something I consider to be an integral piece of the “feel good” package. I’ve been wanting to incorporate more yoga wisdom, on and off the mat, here at Feel Good Guru and have finally got some help to do so. I’m honored to introduce to you our first and most awesome contributing writer, Helen Duggan. Helen is a very good friend and a woman whom I admire deeply. I studied yoga with Helen while on Vancouver Island years ago and have been learning from her ever since.

She is an amazing, beautiful woman who embodies her practise in every thing that she does. We are lucky to have her as an ongoing resource of inspiration. Without further ado…Here she is! (more…)

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This is not your showgirl Vegas. This is not mindless entertainment, self-indulgent fun and games, nor a place to place a bet. In an odd way, this is the most narcissistic hour or two you might spend in Sin City - but it’s time so well spent you’ll walk away with a great deal of respect for yourself in the morning. You’ll see yourself in a brand new way, and “body beautiful” will take on a whole new meaning…

Bodies…The Exhibition is an intimate and fascinating look under the hood, or under the skin, of the human body. Real human specimens are used, giving viewers access to their intricate selves normally reserved for med students. (more…)

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…If You Ran the World? That’s the question Shelly Rachanow asks in the title of her book. It’s a great question. I’d have Barak Obama as my Press Secretary, Michelle as my Head of Education, David Suzuki as my Minister of the Environment, Bono as my Human in charge of Humanitarianism, Richard Branson as my Consumer Affairs Minister, Nelson Mandela as my Elder Council Advisor, Michael Pollan as my Secretary of Agriculture, Oprah as my Advocate for Women and Children, Paul Watson as my Warrior for Wildlife and Gene Baur as my Head of Animal Welfare… (more…)

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How many times in your life have you had a dream only to be told that the reality of fulfilling that dream would be “impossible”? How many dreams have you given up over the years because of obstacles placed in front of them from perceived enemy forces? How many times in your life have you dared to dream big only to be consumed by paralysis at the sheer enormity of it?

How do we get inspired to take the action needed to go beyond our dreams to our dreamed reality? (more…)

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All vegetarians, unless they’ve been vegetarian since birth, have a defining moment in their life where they stopped eating meat.

For myself, it was when I lived in Paris at sixteen as a “jeune fille au pair” and was fed twice a day with horse meat. Three months later, I looked in the mirror and realized I’d embodied the axiom “You are what you eat!”

For hundreds of thousands of people back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, that moment came from reading John Robbins’ “Diet for a New America”. (more…)

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I’m struttin’ solo down the boardwalk in vintage cowboy boots and ragtag tassles, past the vendors of t-shirts, toerings and tattoos, off to see some crazies singin’ songs and recitin’ poetry over a plastic cup of chilled California Chardonnay. Howdy! It’s several blocks of rolling incoming Pacific tide headin’ north, so I smile, and say to the guy glidin’ by on his purple air-brushed beach cruiser blastin’ reggae for children Eensey Weensey Spider, “Hey dude! Double me to Seven Dudley?” Dude smiles and blows me a kiss through his headphones, “Hey girlfriend! Lookin’ good girlfriend! Bonjour Paris!” (more…)

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When I’m not doing “Feel Good Fast”, I have a tendency to grab breakfast in a bar en route to the gym. Or when I’m travelling far away from my kitchen and great restaurants, bars are often my main source of energy. I know, not very healthy. That’s why I do “Feel Good Fast” four times a year.

Until recently, there hasn’t been a bar that I feel really good about. So many of them have hidden sugars, unnecessary preservatives, are a wimpy 52 grams, and are processed beyond looking like any kind of real food…Then along came ProBar… (more…)

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I want to share with you another great story from the world of social media, just in case anyone still thinks it’s nothing but a bunch of geeks self-promoting and tweeting into the wind. David Armano, or @Armano on Twitter, an influential blogger, last night posted a plea for help to his 8,300 followers. His Romanian friend, Daniela, and her three children are staying with he and his wife after separating from an abusive spouse. They were in a desperate situation with no money and in need of living space. David asked his followers for $5,000. What happened over the next 24 hours is phenomenal. (more…)

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Who wants to feel good fast?

Everyone, whether you’re male or female, young or old, vegetarian or carnivore, can benefit from a break in the toxic overload that has become the Standard American Diet (SAD). There’s no better time than now, the beginning of a new year, to turn a new leaf.

If you’re like most people, you’re fighting a losing battle against stress, insomnia, fatigue, depression, time constraints, responsibilities, obligations and that ever-present, ever-expanding bulge around your waist. (more…)

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Who wants to lose weight?

If you’re like most people, you’ve gained 5 pounds over the holidays, and now that all that indulgence is over, you wish they’d magically melt away.

You probably wish you could clean out your body, get rid of toxins, fat cells and bad karma and start the new year fresh in a younger, slimmer, happier version of yourself.

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably tried some kind of a “diet” at some point, perhaps even a drugstore “de-tox” program in the hopes of fitting back into your grade 8 jeans. (more…)

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On January 4, I’m a little late getting to my New Year’s resolutions. I landed in Venice a couple weeks ago and it’s been non-stop party-going, funeral-attending, Christmas TweetUplifting and New Year Day party-hosting.

My new year officially begins tomorrow, Monday, the 5th, when I’ll be back into yet another “Feel Good Fast” program for 21 days - to help the guinea pig get back on track as well as to de-tox my own body after two weeks of wine and martinis, coffee, chocolate, sugar, restaurant food and late nights. You probably feel the need to clean up a little too, no? Yes? Then follow along for “Feel Good Fast ~ the 3rd edition”! (more…)

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