Spiritual Super Health

Back on the yogamat after what feels like absolutely forever. Since I got back to Ibiza I've only been swimming which feels much better for the body than yoga in this time of already stretching the body to its limits, but I don't feel ready just yet to take that plunge. So after dropping Pi at the kindergarden (early today!) I was back home early, and had a shanti practice by the fireplace in the kitchen. Well- as shanti as can be when you're coughing, hacking your way through it. I can't really take a deep breath- partly due to the pregnancy but mostly due to the bronchitis and the cough. Oh well- it's a start, and the slow way back to recovery. Still feeling very lightheaded and ungrounded though and I know I need to eat very nourishing food now. 
Last night I was googling "spiritual meanings of disease" and came across a lot of stuff on the internet. There's a whole lot of people who seem to know what they're talking about when they say what the reason for different illnesses are. Look at this copy-paste from www.katyhadleylifecoach.com

Gallstones: Bitterness. Hard  thoughts. Condemning. Pride.

Gas: Gripping. Fear.  Undigested ideas.

Gastritis: Prolonged  uncertainty. A feeling of doom.

Genitals: Represent the  masculine and feminine principles. Worry about not being good enough.

Gland Problems: Represent  holding stations. Self-staring activity. Holding yourself back.

Gout: The need to dominate.  Impatience, anger.

Glaucoma: Stony unforgiveness.  Pressure from longstanding hurts. Overwhelmed by it all.

Gray Hair: Stress. A belief  in pressure and strain.

Growths: Nursing those old  hurts. Building resentments.

Gum Problems: Inability to  back up decisions. Indecisive about life.

I don't know whether to punch this person in the face or to take it with a grain of salt or to actually listen to it. I did google it for a reason, right? I used to believe in everything to do with angels, crystals, healers, aromatherapy, you name it so of course I was reading this stuff too, and the easiest was always telling others what their problem was and why they were sick in a specific part of their body because telling yourself that you have a cough because you "have a desire to bark at the world" is kind of hard to grasp. 

But now that I've been suffering from this cough and lingering cold since the beginning of December last year, I'm starting to think about it. What is it telling me? 

Apparently the immune system goes really weak when you're pregnant. Also, it's winter. Also, we were travelling around a lot in the last two months. Also, my grandmother died. Also, I have 22-month-old who is a little bacteria-herd. Also, I don't rest like I could/should because of said bacteria-herd. 

There are many explanations to my being run down for more than two months, and the winters were always hard for me- almost every winter I go through something physically or mentally. But the coughing is so annoying and it really feels like it is trying to tell me something. It's definitely a recurring thing in my life, since many years, to have a cough that just barks away and won't stop. 

Another thing on my mind is this trendy superfood stuff. I follow David Wolfe on Facebook, and the woman behind Passion Cafe Ibiza Lana the passionate health nut, adores him and learns from him and swears by him and is very inspired by him. He came to visit her here in Ibiza a few months ago and my husband was their photographer for the day. David told my husband about the five foods that all the people who live long healthy lives, eat a lot of: chocolate, honey, cinnamon, garlic and olive oil. And yesterday one of my favourite Swedish journalists, Malou von Sivers was talking about old age and health and longevity, and in the show dark chocolate, blueberries and broccoli was mentioned to be the ultimate superfoods for health and long life. 

But if you look at the real superfood trends going on right now, it's a lot of extreme green juicing, berries and powders from all kinds of faraway corners of the planet, and very very expensive different substances. It makes me wonder... Do we really need to make acai supersmoothiebowls that DO cost the earth and are transported from the Brazilian rainforests to our cold European health shops? Aren't there any local produce that are as full of healthy goodness? Why do we have to, again and always, consume?? 

I do love the feeling of going to a trendy juice-bar like Passion cafe, ordering a huge colourful juice that promises me many health benefits. Or, a coconut, drinking it fresh, direct from its natural cup. But we pay so bloody much for this... and it makes me wonder if it's really the right thing. 

In my heart, I do believe that we should eat local and seasonal. I do believe that each season in each place provides us with exactly what we need. We don't need to drink fresh coconut water from an organic farm in Sri Lanka, when we are actually living in the Mediterranean winter of Ibiza. It's just nice to do it. But there are things here, growing right now, that are so much cheaper, that are being pulled out of the earth just outside our windows. It might just not be as cool as organic coconut water in a trendy package. 

I do think that unfortunately all these trends are just that... trends. And that we have too much money to spend. 

My grandmother who died at 99, was super healthy up until the age of 95. She never ate any superfoods from a trendy bio-shop or followed a health guru. She started each morning with black, strong coffee, one boiled egg, and two toasts with real butter, thick slices of cheese, and orange marmalade. She didn't each much vegetables; her diet was a very traditional Swedish one of meat, potatoes and sauce, and one or two seasonal vegetables like carrots and brussels sprouts, but always with a few condiments: one of them pickled lingonberry, which I do believe is a kind of superberry, just not that trendy unfortunately. Since the age of 50 she drank red wine and ate dark chocolate almost everyday as this is what her doctor had prescribed her for her blood. 

I think it's mostly in the attitude, actually. I just saw this video yesterday about the world's oldest yoga teacher, Tao Porchon Lynch. I love her attitude of not postponing!!My grandmother had the same kind of energetic view on life. 

Ok, back to bed for me! He he :)