Why am I so passionate about something that many people (wrongly) feel ashamed to talk about? Because I would rather talk about this disease and pay attention to this disease than die of it, which is what my mother did just about 30 years ago at the ripe old age of only 47. So, listen up, people.

If caught early, colon cancer is a curable disease. If not caught early, it will kill you. Sometimes very quickly. My mother had months not years, and not very good months considering what they did to try to save her. So, for your health, for your family, for anyone who cares about you, go get a colonoscopy as soon as you can if you are over 50 and have never had one, or if you are under 50 but have a family history of colon cancer or any diseases of the colon. It is not as bad as you would imagine. Really. I’ve had four so far and the advances they’ve made in the prep work that needs to be done is remarkable. The first two experiences were like night and day, and I can honestly say that I no longer fear the next one, which, I am happy to say, has been moved out from every two-to-three years to every five years, thanks to my sterling record.

In addition to getting a test to makes sure you don’t already have colon cancer or the polyps that can lead to cancer, you can also take some steps to try to prevent colon cancer. Increase fiber, decrease meat. Yes, that’s right. Cut down on meat. It’s something I need to remember. There was a time I was a vegetarian precisely for this reason, but now I’ve gotten lazy and complacent and pile on the animal fat with abandon. Not good. Red meat, especially, is no friend to the colon. Cut it out or at least cut it down. High fat diets aren’t so great either. Click HERE to read about dietary suggestions for colon health.

If you want more information on the signs and symptoms of colon cancer, testing, prevention and more, go to the American Cancer Society by clicking HERE. Now, go call your doctor and make an appointment before I put up photos of someone’s unhealthy colon just to scare you.

The post Have you hugged your colon today? appeared first on Not Strictly Spiritual.

Which brings us to this past weekend, when severe pressure in my chest and shoulder and neck had me checking into the ER at St. Peter’s Hospital — the first time I have ever gone to an ER for myself for anything other than childbirth check-in. Between the pressure and my family history, I felt like I couldn’t take a chance. I ended up spending the night in the cardio unit for observation, and, although the cardiologist doesn’t think it’s my heart (I’ll be going for more testing this week to be sure), it certainly served as a wake-up call to me, because whether it’s a heart issue, a gastro issue (suspected at this point), a stress issue, or all of the above, the fact is that I did this to myself. An expensive way to learn this lesson, but I guess if it causes me to rethink my habits, it’s worth it. I was NOT being so philosophical about this when I was going through it, I’d like to add. Just ask my husband, Dennis, who was holding his head in his hands (literally) as I threatened to remove my own IV and check myself out after nine hours in ER and the prospect of an overnight stay looming. (Gee, I wonder why I have chest pain?)

But, on this morning after, when I’m still not feeling 100 percent and I realize this was not just some passing anxiety attack and is probably going to require medicine, treatment of some sort, and lifestyle changes, I am grateful that my miserable hospital experience has caused me to pull out my juicer and my favorite health book (Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr), check out a few more clean eating cookbooks from the library, and start looking for a way back into exercise and yoga. For the record, I did sign up for a five-week meditation class three weeks ago, in part because I knew I needed a way to balance my life and calm myself down, so on some level I recognized the fact that I was speeding toward a health crisis on multiple levels: physical, mental, and spiritual.

So, I’m here now as a way to not only return to blogging, which is something I have always loved, but as a way to hold myself accountable. Last December, I formed the Cravings Tribe for those who wanted to journey through my own book with me toward a saner relationship with food and a more peaceful life in general. And while that lasted a few weeks, I’ll admit that I did not practice what I preached. I hope some of you did. It’s time I join you.

When I told a work colleague that I had landed in the cardio unit of the hospital, he said, “You’re too young to end up in that ward.” Not true. At 55 years old, I am exactly the right age to end up in that ward, but I don’t intend to go back any time soon. I’m hoping the doctor is right and my heart is still healthy and this is just some diet and stress issue I can handle with minimally invasive help, but, I have no intention of sitting by passively and waiting for others to figure things out. I’m going to reclaim the pieces of my life I gave away in a misguided attempt at being an above-and-beyond type of worker. The email can wait. The phone call can wait. My health cannot. (I only checked work email twice during the writing of this blog post on my sick day. That’s progress!)

If you’re dealing with similar stress and health issues, chime in. We can work through this together.

The post Self-care: Getting an expensive wake-up call appeared first on Not Strictly Spiritual.

I am not “leading” us down this path toward transformation; I am walking right alongside you. I know from personal and powerful first-hand experience that the practices I’ve outlined in Cravings can make a difference, not only in your waistline and on your dinner plate but in your mindset and mood and perspective. Over the past 18 months, however, ever since I went to work in an outside office rather than writing from my home office, I’ve had trouble finding the new “normal” in my eating, exercising, praying, mindfulness routine. Where I used to spend time each morning over my bowl of Mindful Oatmeal, a practice that grounded my day and gave me balance, I now throw a yogurt in my bag and usually don’t remember to eat it until halfway through the morning — at my desk as I work. (And then I swing by a friend’s office to grab some always-at-the-ready candy.) Where I used to consciously strive to get away from the multi-tasking mindset that wreaks havoc with our serenity and, by extension, our eating habits, I now regularly do about 10 things at once and almost always end up eating my lunch at my desk as I answer emails and keep up with various projects. Sometimes I just plop my lunch container down on top of the pile of folders and newspapers. I’m here to tell you that eating that way, operating that way is a recipe for disaster in terms of both physical and mental health.

Which is what brings us to where we are today: Cravings, Chapter 1: A Deeper Hunger. What is your deeper hunger for 2017? Surely it’s more than taking off a few pounds. I’m guessing that if you’re anything like me, underneath the surface hunger for a slimmer waistline or stronger abs is a desire for inner peace, self-acceptance, and a transformation that will lead you to a place where you are not defined by the number on the scale or the size of your jeans.

As we begin our journey, some aspects may feel a little unusual since we’re talking about eating habits and diet but we’re not actually going on a diet. I’m not going to give you a list of foods you can’t eat or foods you must eat or an amount of exercise you should do. This is going to be a much deeper and interior journey than the typical kind of health plan. If you follow this path, your newly restored relationship with food will naturally bring things into balance because you won’t be stuffing or starving based on feelings of inadequacy or because of stress in your work or home life or because you’re trying to fill a void of some kind. You will be learning to move mindfully through your meals, through life, doing things with attention and INtention, which is what sets this apart from any old diet. In order to do that, we have to drop down into our heart center and make a spiritual connection.

From Chapter 1:

“When we begin to connect prayer lives to physical lives, when we look beneath the surface, we often discover just how deeply intertwined the two are and how our food issues are wound around our spiritual needs and longings. We’re not hungry for a carton of ice cream or a bag of chips. We’re hungry for acceptance — from ourselves even more than from others — for love, for fulfillment, for peace. We’re hungry for a life we think we don’t deserve or can’t have, for the person we know we can be if only we’d give ourselves the chance.

“Often it is not the fear of failure that holds us back but the fear of success. We cling to the comfortable rather than step out into the possible. So we sit at home with a container of Cookies and Cream rather than take a chance on getting our heart broken again, or we down an entire bag of chocolate-covered pretzels rather than work on that resume that might get us out of a dead-end job. Or we eat cold pasta right from the refrigerator rather than sit down in silence and listen for the whisper of the Spirit speaking to our hearts.”

Practice for the week: Rather than counting calories and fat grams, this week we’re going to try to add one spiritual practice to our daily routine. It can be five minutes of silence and deep breathing at the start of the day, or a meditative walk out in nature, or daily Mass, or a few minutes with Scripture — whatever suits your spiritual style. Do your practice daily for one week, and at week’s end, notice if there were any changes. How did it change your mood, attitude, habits, hungers, if it changed it at all? Was it hard to do? Can you keep it up, or even increase you amount of prayer time? (You’ll find some questions to prompt reflection at the end of Chapter 1, along with a meditation.)

Journaling: If you haven’t already started a journal, now is the time to begin that as well. A simple spiral notebook is fine. Again, no calorie counting. This is about noticing more than what’s on your plate. Yes, jot down what you eat, but, just as important, write down how you feel on any given day — physically, emotionally, and spiritually. What’s going on in your life that might be making you scrounge around in the pantry for cookies or stare into the fridge for a magical food that will make the pain going away?

Prayer: If you’re looking for something to serve as a spiritual touchstone, spend some time with Psalm 139, which you’ll find on pages 13-14 of Chapter 1 (or in your Bible). Focus on these words:

“I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works!”

Can you see yourself as wonderfully made, loved unconditionally by God? This is our starting point. And our ending point. It can be hard work to get there, but we’ll tackle it together, and share our struggles here in the comment section. I can tell you with all honesty that yesterday morning, as I faced my own backsliding, I did not feel wonderfully made. Not even close. But because I’ve made this journey before, I know what that means: It’s time to slow down, to take time for some self-care, to spend time with God, to shut out the noise of our chaotic world and recapture my balance, to become more mindful. (If you’re struggling with mindfulness over multi-tasking, you can find a post on that topic HERE. We’ll talk more on that topic in the weeks ahead.)

Thank you for joining me on this journey. Feel free to ask questions, share stories, or start discussions in the comment section, and you can always find me on Facebook as well.

Upcoming radio interviews on the #CravingsTribe:

Monday, Jan. 2, 8:20 p.m.: Busted Halo, the Catholic Channel, SiriusXM 129

Tuesday, Jan. 3: Currents, NET-TV

Musical inspiration for the week ahead: Colours by Margo Rey

The post What are you craving in 2017? appeared first on Not Strictly Spiritual.

No one likes to talk about colon cancer or colonscopies. OK, no one but me and Katie Couric. Be thankful I limit my coverage to still photos. Why am I so passionate about something that many people (wrongly) feel ashamed to talk about? Because I would rather talk about this disease and pay attention to this disease than die of it, which my mother did just about 26 years ago at the ripe old age of only 47.

If caught early, colon cancer is a curable disease. If not caught early, it will kill you. Sometimes very quickly. My mother had months not years, and not very good months considering what they did to try to save her. So, for your health, for your family, for anyone who cares about you, go get a colonoscopy as soon as you can if you are over 50 and have never had one, or if you are under 50 but have a family history of colon cancer or any diseases of the colon. It is not as bad as you would imagine. Really. I’ve had three so far and the advances they’ve made in the prep work that needs to be done is remarkable. The first two experiences were like night and day, and I can honestly say that I do not fear the next test, which will come up again in November. (I’m on a two-to-three year cycle of tests. Thanks, mom.)

In addition to getting a test to makes sure you don’t already have colon cancer or the polyps that can lead to cancer, you can also take some steps to try to prevent colon cancer. Increase fiber, decrease meat. Yes, that’s right. Cut down on meat. Do you think that’s just some vegetarian propaganda? Think again, and then read this article. Red meat is no friend to the colon. Cut it out or at least cut it down. High fat diets aren’t so great either. Click HERE to read about dietary suggestions for colon health.

If you want more information on the signs and symptoms of colon cancer, testing, prevention and more, go to the American Cancer Society by clicking HERE. Now, go call your doctor and make an appointment before I put up photos of someone’s unhealthy colon just to scare you.

The post Have you hugged your colon today? appeared first on Not Strictly Spiritual.

I am a Catholic yogi, a title I wear proudly. Yoga makes me a better Catholic. Always has. When I do yoga, I am more in touch with Jesus, more sensitive to other people, and more aware of the things I say and do. But after reading this article, I guess I’ll need to re-evaluate because maybe I’ve been doing it all wrong. Here, read this:

Adding on to the individual benefits, there are often attractive cultural aspects of yoga: it helps people meet beautiful people, so that they can become more beautiful themselves.

What’s all this about beautiful people? Clearly this guy hasn’t seen me on my mat at the 5:45 am. yoga class at our local YMCA. I am more Bride of Frankenstein than beautiful at that hour, and I’m guessing the folks on the mats around me probably feel the same way. We’ve just rolled out of bed. The most stalwart among our class have actually clocked miles on the elliptical machine or indoor track before they get to their mats. The room is dark. We have our eyes closed half the time. We start with an intention and end with a prayerful reflection. Yoga, for those who take it seriously, is not about sidling up to outer beauty but uncovering inner beauty — in ourselves and the people around us. At least if it’s done right, but that’s where this writer seems to get it really, really wrong.

He thinks he’s letting us in on some big secret: “Yoga, however, is more than a physical exercise with social benefits.” Well, I hope so. Otherwise I’ll just lift weights or run on a treadmill.  OF COURSE, yoga is more than physical. As a Catholic, that’s precisely why I do yoga, and why I should do more yoga. Yoga calms my mind and settles my soul and allows me to enter more deeply into prayer and to recognize Jesus in the person sniffling and sneezing on the mat next to me, or cutting me off in the parking lot, or emailing me about how I’ve opened a door to Satan because I do yoga. Yeah, that’s not made up.

“…whatever their intentions may have been, many people experience yoga as a gateway to a spirituality disconnected from Christ.”

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that if practicing yoga turns you into a Buddhist or makes you shave your head and join a cult or causes you to renounce Jesus Christ, you probably had some issues going in. Let’s put the blame where it belongs: People become “spiritually disconnected from Christ” sitting in the pews of our Catholic churches every week, no downward dog pose required. They become disconnected from Christ because no one is feeding their hearts and souls, because dead liturgies and mind-numbing homilies have left them adrift. So perhaps we should take a good look at ourselves if we want to figure out why people feel disconnected from the faith of their birth. Yoga has nothing to do with it.

Let’s get one thing straight, yoga is not a path to godlessness. Yoga is a path to peace, love, and compassion. Funny, that sounds likes something else I’ve heard before. What is it? What is it? Oh, yeah, THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. (And you can tell by the fact that I’m using all caps here that I didn’t get to yoga class this morning. I would be much more Christian right now if I’d been on my yoga mat earlier today.)

You know what this is about, people? Fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of something different from what we’re used to, fear of our own inner struggles and weaknesses and what we might do if we’re not always on guard. If our faith cannot withstand some yoga classes, well, I think maybe our commitment to our faith was already a little shaky at best or our mental or emotional health was previously compromised. Sure, yoga can become an idol but so can any number of Catholic spiritual practices if they are used in a way that is more about the ritual or exercise and less about the heart of Christianity. For those of us who know without a shadow of a doubt that our hearts belong to Jesus whether we’re kneeling in church or bent like a pretzel on a mat, there is no contradiction or danger. There is a seamless and beautiful symmetry, one that allows the best of what yoga has to offer to reflect back the best of what Christianity teaches.

If I had my druthers, we’d all do yoga, and, if we did, we’d all be a lot nicer to one another, because in that silent space on our yoga mats we’d come face to face with the Divine light that lives deep within each one of us. And that awareness coupled with our Catholic faith cannot help but transform us and, in turn, transform the world around us.

So I’d like to thank Father Ezra for making me more resolute about my yoga practice. This was exactly the reminder I needed to get back to class regularly, although I don’t think that’s what he was going for. And since this story is the first in a series, I’m assuming I’ll be writing more on this topic in the near future.

I’ve actually written about yoga and its role in my Catholic prayer life before. If you’re interested, you can read “Where Amen Meets the Om” by clicking HERE.

The post Of course yoga is spiritual. That’s the point! appeared first on Not Strictly Spiritual.

To the editors,

I recently subscribed to Spirituality & Health. I was so excited to get my first issue (May/June 2013) — until I opened it up to the Rabbi Shapiro piece and was stunned to see wildly inaccurate and incredibly offensive statements regarding my Catholic Christian faith. I was so upset I almost called immediately to cancel my subscription, but I tried to let it go, assuming (hoping) it was an isolated incident. I have to admit, however, that I could not read the rest of the issue because I was so turned off by what I’d seen up to that point.

Then the July/August issue arrived. Well, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know that I was beyond stunned this time. The anti-Catholic bias wasn’t even hidden, just right out there again and again. (Too many places to list individually, but we can start with “In Good Faith” and “Sacred Sex.”) I would like a refund of my remaining subscription since I purchased this product under false advertising. I thought it was a magazine open to all spirituality and health, intent on bringing people of all faiths — or no faith — together in a positive way. I didn’t realize there was an agenda at work here, one that is actively trying to turn people against the Catholic faith.

I find it so sad and frustrating that a magazine that purports to be all about peace and love and tolerance is so filled with divisiveness and hatred and outright lies. I wear a cross around my neck and mala beads around the wrist. I sit in church on Sundays and do downward dog in yoga class three mornings a week. I love and respect my atheist friends and my Jewish friends and my Muslim friends and my Buddhist friends (you get the idea) just as much as I love and respect my Christian and/or Catholic friends. But that is the heart of Christianity — to love my neighbors as myself and to treat others as I would want to be treated. The editors and writers at your magazine would do well to take a few lessons from the Catholic Christians you denigrate with such regularity.

Please cancel my subscription immediately and refund my money. I would like to put it toward a subscription for a Catholic publication or charity. And I will be asking my family members and friends — and the readers of my blog — who might subscribe to your magazine to cancel their subscriptions as well.

Mary DeTurris Poust

The post Why I’m canceling my subscription to Spirituality & Health magazine. I hope you will too. appeared first on Not Strictly Spiritual.

Ingredients

2 cups farro (or barley, but we like farro)

2 tablespoons EVOO

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups cherry tomatoes (In a pinch I have also used small regular tomatoes quartered. Worked fine.)

12 ounces baby spinach, washed well

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Cook farro in salted boiling water until tender, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat EVOO in larges skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until onions begin to soften, about five minutes. Add garlic and cherry tomatoes and saute just until tomato skins start to burst, about three minutes.

When farro is cooked, drain and stir into tomato mixture along with the spinach. Stir to combine. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for about one minute, or until spinach is wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Serves five really hungry Pousts as a side dish, or eight normal people.

The post Foodie Friday: Warm farro salad is a hit at our house appeared first on Not Strictly Spiritual.

I say “unexpected” because we often don’t hear doctors talking so openly about the role of faith in their daily practice and because seeing a feature like this on PBS is especially unexpected, so very welcome but unexpected for sure. Watch this beautiful love story — the love of an upstate N.Y. doctor for the people he cares for each day, the love of a doctor for the God who informs everything he does, the love of the patients who are so grateful to the man who treats them with such dignity in a world that often can’t see beyond their disabilities.

Here’s a small snippet from the interview, but please be sure to click the link below and watch the full interview:

FAW: Treating so many young disabled patients might shake a person’s faith in a merciful God. (To Dr. Dutkowsky): Do ever ask yourself why did God let that happen?

DUTKOWSKY: No, I don’t, because what I see when I see Omer, I go in that room and I feel love. It’s an energy from outside that draws me in.

FAW: There are bodies that are, forgive me, misshapen, malformed, twisted, crippled, and you see in that the likeness of God?

DUTKOWSKY: Yes, I do. I see the image and likeness of God in every one of those individuals.

FAW: For Dr. Dutkowsky then, faith and medicine intersect, complement one another. Seeing affliction, he also finds something meaningful.

DUTKOWSKY: There are days I go home with tears in my eyes because suffering is real. But sharing suffering is a gift. The depth of that love, the depth of that commitment, the depth of working with individuals like that, that’s the privilege.

Watch Medical Ministry on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

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Because our local YMCA is refinishing the wood floors in the various studios, including our early morning yoga studio, our teacher decided to hold class outside in a pavilion back near the woods. I trudged off to class this morning at 5:20 a.m. and arrived as my teacher was pulling a wagon full of mats through the parking lot to the pavilion, which could not be seen at that point because of heavy mist and fog. If I hadn’t checked to see where the pavilion was beforehand, I never would have found it. Yeah, that foggy.

I settled my mats (I always use two for extra cushioning) down on the concrete slab and sat down to face a stand of enormous pine trees, rising majestically through the misty morning air. Breathtaking. So breathtaking, in fact, that I have now vowed (Finally!) to get an iPhone because I really would have liked to capture a “View from My Yoga Mat” photo for you today. (Instead I’m using that beautiful photo above from Now & Zen. I’m linking to them here, so I hope they don’t mind.)

As class began, the sound of birds chirping, an occasional woodpecker, and a distant train whistle turned that little concrete slab into an outdoor monastery. It was beautiful in every way — the sounds, the smell of wood chips, the dampness on my yoga mat from the mist, the gray of dawn giving way to the light of morning.

We did several Sun Salutations just as the sun was coming up. I felt like I was lifting the sun with my arms, and all the while I was thanking God for his beautiful creation, for the glorious morning, for the people around me on their mats, for my teacher. I found myself smiling through the poses because at almost every turn I was surprised again by the beauty around me, right there in the back of the Y parking lot.

When I returned to the Y later that day for a Zumba class (I’m a woman of many talents), I told the manager how much I liked the outdoor yoga class and asked if they would please let that happen again, even after the floors are all dry. I hope they go for it because it really shook things up in the gentlest, most beautiful way.

If you have a patch of grass or a patio or a balcony, take your mat outside one morning and see how it feels. Even if you don’t have space, just go out there and do a few still poses — Tree, for example, which we did this morning, reaching our arms toward the sky like all the other trees around us. Spectacular. Even in the tiniest space you could do Tree or Mountain or Chair or Eagle or whatever strikes your fancy.

Change your view and you just might change your day.

The post Yogis in the mist appeared first on Not Strictly Spiritual.

The other night, for example, as we neared the last few minutes of class and prepared for savasana (corpse pose) and a little meditation and relaxation, the teacher specifically asked that anyone who might be leaving early or needing to move around do it BEFORE the meditation began. She asked that any jangling keys or ripping velcro be fastened and clipped and silenced so the rest of the class could enter more deeply into the stillness. As I laid there with my eyes closed, focusing on my breathing, I could hear — about two mats away — a non-stop stream of exactly the noises the teacher had asked everyone to avoid. I could hear keys jingling and jangling for who knows what reason. I could hear the same person opening and closing some sort of Velcro fastener. I could hear someone milling about, and someone else saying, “Shhhh!” over and over, which was almost as annoying as the jangling keys.

All through this, I was on my mat attempting to relax and enter into meditation but really focusing all of my energy on the noise and the fact that no one seems to be able to be still and shut up anymore. Yes, I was in yoga class thinking, “Shut up, just shut up.” Which is really not what you’re supposed to be doing with your energy when you’re in a yoga class.

Fast forward to this morning’s 5:45 a.m. class. I found my usual spot in the back row, over near the corner, and settled in. The lights went out and the teacher asked us to lie on our backs, close our eyes, and focus on our breathing. (In those early morning classes, the meditative part often starts the class rather than end it.) Anyway, I was breathing and focusing when along came a latecomer, rolling out her mat, kicking off her shoes, and jangling around just a foot or so from my head. Sigh. And not the good kind of sigh.

She then proceeded to cough and sniffle and blow her nose and struggle for air for an hour. What was running through my mind was not “Om” or “Shanti” but “Really?” and “Are you kidding me?” and some other unprintable but colorful silent thoughts. When I should have been focused on keeping my Tree pose upright or my Warrior pose strong, I was focused instead on how quickly I could get home and get a shot of Vitamin C to ward off whatever was making this person so miserable. The most positive thought I could muster was the slim chance that it was allergies, despite the 35 degree temperatures outside.

As I felt annoyance and a teensy bit of anger rolling around in my head while I moved from pose to pose, I was confronted with the uncomfortable reality that maybe, just maybe, the lessons I’m supposed to taking from yoga are not necessarily about whether to face my palm up or down or tuck my chin on specific poses but about how to accept what’s going on around me and let it go without frustration, without feeling put out, without feeling as if my right to a spot on that floor outweighs my sniffling neighbor’s right to be on that floor.

This is the real work of yoga, as any yogi will tell you. Everyone else thinks it’s about the poses and what’s happening on your mat, but it’s really about the interior movement and what’s happening in your heart. The poses just help you become still enough to realize that. Although if we could all put our keys and Velcro away for one hour, it would really help. Power to the Om.

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