Posts from — June 2008

Jeanine Mackie, a singer and mother of a nine year-old boy, is sending her son to camp this summer in efforts to unplug him from the TV and computer screen so that he can experience the joy of active play.

“Jake is going camping for two weeks overnight”, Mackie says. “There’s no TV, no email, no powerboats, it’s all green. They use sail boats, kayaks and canoes. Three of those nights they paddle the canoe out to an island to go camping and play. When TV’s not an option kids don’t even ask. Then they’re creative and swim and build forts.”
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In yoga class, some students experience more than increased strength and flexibility when going deeper. Novices who go deep in Ashtanga yoga, an advanced branch of the practice, can tap a well of unacknowledged emotions and experience a spontaneous emotional release of forgotten sadness, anger and grief causing them to suddenly sob on the mat.

“Yoga can be like working in a garden,” according to Scott Davis, an instructor and owner of Octopus Garden Yoga Centre in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, who says the emotional impact of our experiences are imprinted on all our bodies.
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Fat is good.

If you’re thinking I’m the donut devil tempting you off the diet wagon, save your seat. In the battle of the bulge, fat can be one of the enemies. But you need to know what kind and how much body and dietary fat makes them friend or foe. Because too much of a good thing is bad. Confused?

Dietary and body fat is both a health concern and a necessary health component. We need to eat a certain amount of fat and have some fat on our bodies for a purpose, just not excess of either one.

Body fat is a tissue we all have that’s needed by the body for a variety of vital functions. Depending on its quantity and location, body fat can be good or bad.
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