Got a minute? It's all you need!

I've been ranting on about different ways to cope with SAD or general winter glumness for the past few days and thought, well why not just keep ranting?!

I mentioned in my post regarding ayurveda that meditation can help balance your kapha during winter, when kapha is notably out of sorts. Regardless of the season, I think we can all agree that taking time to relax your mind and meditate is always beneficial. Long days at the office or in class, crowded malls, tensions with loved ones, Whole Foods running out of cilantro, all of these things frustrate us year-round. The exciting thing {yes, really} about frustrating events is that they provide us with an opportunity to hone our stress-relieving skills and come out the other end brighter and calmer. Conversely, if we let minor frustrations rule our lives, they can make us truly yicky people. Let's avoid the latter option, shall we?

Over the years, I hope that we've all found ways to cope with an irritating day. Exercise is an obvious option, as is a nice glass of wine at the end of the day -- hey, sometimes, you need it! Another option that is a little more difficult to tackle in our busy, crazy, noisy world, is meditation.

I, for one, have historically been terrible at meditation. I've tried it on my lonesome periodically since high school, I've tried it in yoga classes, I've tried it in health class at the bequest of my instructor, I've even tried it with friends and for years, always failed.

Maybe you're like me and could use some serious help quieting your mind and chilling the heck out. Maybe you're like my old roommate in New York, who could get totally zen on the West Side Highway running path listening to chanting on her iPod. {I know, I'm jealous too}

Either way, you probably struggle to find time to truly relax and let go. Enter One-Moment Meditation from Martin Boronson, who has also written a book on meditation and has created a series for Oprah.com and you know Oprah doesn't mess around. His website features a darling little animated video which will guide you through a quick, one-minute, period of meditation.

And can I be honest with you? For the first time I can recall, I was able to actually only focus on my breath, let go of my worries and my to-do list, my past and my future, and meditate. For a whole minute! I was so excited I've now become a meditation junkie. Can't stop, won't stop.

Have you ever attempted meditation? Any success/failure stories?
What are some other methods you employ to relax?

*disclaimer: no one asked me to praise one-moment meditation, because really, why would anyone?! I just happened upon it and love it.

Don't let January get you down!

I am famous, or perhaps infamous, for my yearly meltdowns. I become so grouchy and terrible to be around during the months of January and February that I wonder how I've kept any of my friends, any at all. I always wonder why it is that I'm feeling so generally awful about life when I look at a calendar and realize, "oh, yes, that's right, I do this every year, I hate winter."

One of the reasons I think I've recently been so affected by SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is that, growing up in St. Louis, while the weather was certainly sub-tropical during winter months, I still had sufficient sunlight and the dreariness didn't hit levels that would totally destroy my spirits.

Heading off to college in Maine, however, was an entirely different story. My school has a special short January term during which students take one intensive class or have the opportunity to take on an internship or study abroad for the month. My freshman year, I took a very interesting class on film and gender in the 1960s, which I loved. What I did not love was that my class went from one to four pm. Being a wild and crazy college kid, I found myself in a routine that would get me up at about 11 am just in time to get ready, eat lunch, go to class, get out of class, and woops! It's 4 pm, dark already and you want to cry. The following January, I spent the month in Costa Rica. I would recommend that particular path to anyone trying to avoid SAD.

In the event that you aren't in college and have a 'job,' a 'budget,' and 'responsibilities' (ew, ew, and ew), I have found a few tactics to stave off suicidal/homicidal tendencies that I'd like to share with you:

1. Vitamin D supplement - I take it every morning with breakfast. This time of year means less sunlight, and therefore less Vitamin D which is a definite cause of mopeyness.

2. Sticking to a regular routine. I know it's dark outside, but wake up anyway! Enjoy a hot beverage and if you can, get a quick walk in before work in the morning. The chill will certainly wake your face up!

3. Don't sleep so much! It's so tempting to sleep in and take naps when the weather is gross and, as mentioned about 12 times so far, it's really dark outside. But don't! It'll only make you feel even more sluggish than if you had just gotten up and powered through the day.

4. Exercise! Even if you are stuck on a treadmill, do something - it'll help you feel more energized. I highly recommend taking a hot yoga class, whether it's a Bikram class or a Hot Vinyasa class. The cold winter air will feel amazing afterwards! Also, so long as it's not snowing/sleeting/icing, running outside in the cold is quite refreshing and easier on your bod than running in a heat wave. Remember August? Gross.

5. Eat healthfully. Don't allow your hibernating tendencies to make you think you actually need to fatten up - you are not a bear, my friend. Eating excessive sweets or fatty foods might be comforting, but again, they will slow you down. Resist!

I'm going to address further ways to handle this yucky season with one of my favorite methods of holistic healing later, Ayurvedic Yoga, so get excited about that!

Crisis of Charity

For nearly two years, the American Cancer Society's charity endurance athlete program, "DetermiNation," has been an important part of my life. I have raised money for it through at least one endurance event each year, I have discovered my love of half and full marathons through the program, I have made wonderful friends, I have taken joy in spending my time giving back rather than focusing {even more} on myself, and I have felt that I am contributing to a cause very dear to my heart - the fight against cancer.

I have recently discovered through Charity Navigator, however, that the American Cancer Society devotes more than the recommended 25% of its income to overhead expenses. At 28% it is only slightly over the generally accepted limit for an efficient charity, however, even 25% is pushing it in my opinion.

I cannot in good faith continue to ask my friends and family to donate to an organization that, while it does significant good, will not administer their donations as efficiently as possible. I have already attended one event hosted by the St. Louis area DetermiNation chapter at which I learned that their numbers for the upcoming Go! St. Louis Marathon and Half are considerably lower than their expectations. I feel guilty to not pledge myself to run on their team, but knowing that I wouldn't feel comfortable fundraising, how could I? As I am registered to run the race, I feel that I cannot continue to attend DetermiNation meetings knowing that they need more runners on their team, but that I refuse to be one of those runners.

Have any of you experienced such a crisis of charity? Do you have other recommendations for a charity I can get involved with in the Midwest -- giving back is so important to me and I don't want to let that go, just because I am moving on from the ACS.