Month: November 2015

The Holiday Hugging Challenge

/ Crystal / Leave a comment

KHPhoto_0848I’ve had an aversion to touch for as long as I can recall. I’m not quite sure where it came from; my best guess is a traumatic early childhood memory. I can still vividly remember sitting in the back seat of my parent’s car as a child not wanting my thighs to touch my sibling’s. This was pretty difficult to accomplish mind you,  as I have three brothers, so the car was crowded.

I assumed that others did not want to be touched either based on my own paradigm, so I just went through my young adult life avoiding physical contact with anyone that I wasn’t really comfortable with. I would hug and kiss my boyfriends of course when I started dating, but I would receive complaints from some that I was not affectionate enough. Still though, I never enjoyed hugging much, it just felt expected. It may be the introvert in me, the jury is still out on that.

kuzco

This was me!

Then of course, I had a baby. All of a sudden my world was filled with snuggles and cuddling all the time, and I loved it! There is no fear of rejection with a child, they are so full of love. I felt so at peace hugging my baby boy. It made me wonder why I found it so easy to be affectionate with him but not with adults.

In more recent years I started to come to the realization that this fear of rejection and intimacy is holding me back in life. There’s this little child inside that says, “Hey, it’s easier to not do anything than to try and be horribly rejected!” Sadly, I listen to this voice far too often! When I joined the yoga community and saw how friendly everyone was, I almost felt like an outsider looking in at all the happy squealing women embracing each other. I longed to be part of that world. So here is where my challenge began. I would force myself out of my comfort zone and hug people! It has taken a lot of mental work to push myself to get over my fear of hugging random people, but I have been doing really well so far.

So, I propose a hugging challenge for the month of December! Anyone can join me at anytime. My goal is to try to hug at least one person every day. Hug everyone and anyone this holiday season and spread some joy and love. Tis’ the season of giving hugs! If you’re already a big hugger then some other random acts of kindness will work too. 😉 Spread the word and let me know in the comments if you have ever been afraid to be intimate with someone.

Advertisement

The Best Holiday Gifts for Yogis 2015

/ Crystal / 2 Comments

The holiday season is upon us, and some of you may be scrambling to find the perfect gift for that special yogi in your life. Here are some of my favorite things this year:

Holiday gifts

  1. Yummi Yogi Yoga Cookie Cutters
  2. Lotus Peace Petals spoon ring by Alex and Ani
  3. Mama Ganache fair trade organic chocolate truffles
  4. Manduka PRO Mat – Limited Edition
  5. Dr Bronner’s Organic Unscented shaving gel
  6. Suki face exfoliate foaming cleanser
  7. PWNXMAS ‘Ugly Christmas Sweater’ blue yoga leggings
  8. Lifefactory glass bottles
  9. Yogitoes towel
  10. The Magic Path of Yoga by Upside Down Games

A Perfect World

/ Crystal / Leave a comment

Love

My coworker said something to me today that inspired this post. “You really want to live in this perfect world. That is never going to happen.” Well, why couldn’t it ever happen? I believe it could, but it starts with how we treat each other and raise the children.

I want to live in a world where doctors treat the patient, not the symptom.

The world where dentists do not use mercury to fill teeth, and hand out samples of toxic toothpastes, rather using ozone and nutrition to heal the body, and give out samples of natural toothpastes like Earthpaste or Auromere.

Where drug companies don’t own the government and the AMA, and every other commercial isn’t a drug advertisement for a pill that will cause you more harm than good.

A world where war no longer exists because people love and respect each other enough to leave one another alone when they disagree on their beliefs.

A world where people aren’t out to make each other miserable by gossip or betrayal.

A world where people do not poison their food and pollute the land, air, and water that nourishes them.

A world where people love to read and learn, not spend their lives mindlessly watching football or the Kardashians. (A little television is ok, but the average American spends 15 YEARS of their life watching TV.)

A world where everyone enjoys exercise and the beauty of nature.

A world where there is no hate, no bullying, no greed, no abuse, no homelessness, no one starving.

A world I would like for our children to live in. This world begins with each of us, it starts with controlling our own egos. When we work on ourselves, we create ripples of change that affect everyone around us. Small acts of kindness create great things in our world!

Am I the only one who feels this way? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments!  🙂

Orbit Baby Travel System G2 Review

/ Crystal / Leave a comment

IMG_6170

Original post written 4/20/14

I did a ton of research when picking out what type of baby car seat to buy for Rafe. I knew he’d be spending lots of time in it from birth, and I am very motivated to keep his life as chemical free as possible. The only one that I kept coming back to was Orbit Baby. It’s the greenest travel system I could find. Orbit Baby’s seats use materials certified free of BFR (Brominated Flame Retardants). These certified fabrics make Orbit Baby the world’s first convertible car seat system certified healthy and clean by Oeko-Tex. Perfect! It is exactly what I was looking for in a travel system.
We have been super happy with the Orbit system so far. The infant car seat with the dock is so quick, easy, and convenient to install and use. The car seat doubles as a stroller seat by snapping right into the stroller frame, and it has a UV sunshade with Paparazzi Shield™ extension that I love! It kept snooping strangers away from my newborn when we had him out and about. Now that he is getting bigger we decided to upgrade him to the G2 stroller seat. It has the same awesome materials as the infant seat, with the addition of a one-hand lengthening footrest and a ventilation system in the back. The UV sunshade is nice and large on the stroller seat, I just use a light blanket to shield his legs from the sun. It also has a convenient snack tray that snaps on when he is big enough to eat solids, but in the meantime I just keep the padded cover on the bar with some colorful toys for him to play with.
Now I am looking at toddler car seats since we will have to purchase one before we know it the way Rafe is growing. He has almost doubled his birth weight and he is only approaching his three month birthday next week. I think we will end up going back to Orbit Baby again for the Toddler Seat G2, which will also dock on the car seat base and stroller frame.
Overall, the Orbit Baby system is very well made and eco-friendly, which makes me a happy mommy. It is well worth the money invested to know that my baby is safe and comfortable. Also, prepare to field lots of questions and receive tons of compliments while you are out with this stroller. Almost everywhere we go someone asks us about it. I’ve literally had a woman run across the street to ask us, “Where did you get that stroller?!” The design sells itself.

Update 12/10/15:

We have been using our Orbit system for four years now, including the Toddler Seat G2. The stroller seat had a little snafu about a year ago, the clip would not work to disengage the seat from the base. I immediately contacted Orbit and they asked me to send documentation of the problem. I emailed it to them and they sent me the new G3 seat right away! We experienced great customer service from this company, which I think is super important. I really wish they would make a booster seat next! *hint hint *