Happy Friday to You!
I hope you are all excited for your weekend and that you have some time to play, to “smell the flowers” so-to-speak .
In my blog today, I share:
1. A vblog on the connection between diet choices and hormones in your body-mind.
2. I share an update on my current painting.
3. We’ll finish with a look at some amazing quilt art by Level 4 CHEK Practitioner Amy Andrews.
Lets get into it ah!
1. The Diet Hormone Connection
Today, my vlog looks at some of the essentials regarding the connection between the diet we choose to eat and hormone production in our body-mind.
There are, as you well know, many diet philosophies today. There is often confusion and fighting about “what way is the right way” both between camps, and within camps.
In my vblog today, I share:
1. How dietary consumption plays a major role in our hormonal health.
I begin by breaking the hormones into three classes or categories based on their molecular construction (see diagram above). After explaining that the resources to make hormones come from our diet, I explain that a diet deficient in any of the essential building blocks needed is likely to create hormonal imbalances.
I also highlight a seldom-appreciated fact; you can be eating perfectly, but if your digestion is compromised, you may not be capable of absorbing and utilizing the nutrients in your foodstuffs.
2. Why sugar or “sweet” cravings are commonly experience by people who are protein deficient. I share what I learned working with chronic migraine headache suffers in this regard.
3. The connection between cholesterol levels and stress in your life. This is seldom appreciated by most medical professionals, and unfortunately, a significant percentage of those practicing what is now referred to as “functional medicine”.
I finish my presentation by suggesting the resources listed below, and encourage you all to come enjoy learning how to effectively eat, move and be healthy at any of the CHEK Institute’s HLC 1 trainings; my instructors are “excellent” and all practice what they teach.
I hope you enjoy my vlog today:
Supportive Resources For Your Healing, Education, and Growth:
1. How To Eat Move and Be Healthy – book
2. Identifying Your Primal Pattern Diet – MP3 Download
3. Your Body Never Lies – MP3 Download
4. The 1234 For Overcoming Addiction, Obesity and Disease – MP3 + Workbook
5. Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 1 – Course
My Current Art Project Continues
Here you can see the first photo I shared a little while ago on my blog. I’ve been chipping away at it in the evenings after work, and on the weekend when I can find a block of time to be still for a couple hours or more.
I’m having a lot of fun and hope you feel inspired to get some color and start creating. Don’t worry about “how good it looks”. That’s really not the point of the spirit of art.
Art is a chance to add life to life. When I paint or draw, I feel as though I’m creating something new, something novel, and something that tells a story. I feel so good when I create playfully.
I can’t imagine how bottled up my creative energy would be if I didn’t express it; it could come out crooked and I could end up being a crazy man…
Amy Andrews Amazing Art
In my life as a teacher of all aspects of holistic health, I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting many amazing people.
I’ve had the opportunity to watch their creativity blossom. I’ve watched as people who you only knew were “a doctor”, or “a coach”, or “a trainer”, etc., have become incredibly expressive through art.
Amy Andrews is someone that has amazed me for many years. Amy finished her training with me as a CHEK Practitioner Level 4 many years ago.
Since, she’s gone on to master many things. She became one of the best therapists to ever touch my body. Her cranial work is second to none!
Even when she was a student, she’d work on me between workshops when I was in Chicago, and her intuition, accuracy and ability to integrate my body-mind were incredible.
Recently Amy sent me some of her art, and needless to say, I was blown away; but I should have known better! I asked Amy to share some words with us about her process, her inner experience of creating her art. I wanted you to know more about her, who she is. She’s an incredibly talented therapist, and as you can see, “artist”!
Thanks for sharing your beautiful art, and “being” with us Amy!
Amy Andrews — Mandalas, June 2014
These mandalas are visions of my Self and my relationship to All that is. The lessons I gained in PPS Success encouraged me to create art from this deep knowledge, for the joy of it! I create in the quiet of transition, I ask myself “what’s next?” in life, work, play, I go to nature, and receive Spirit images. Inspiration arrives in fleeting, memorable moments.
I receive perpetual inspiration from Paul, I feel a connection that transcends time and space. I am inspired by his honesty, synthetic thinking and by the blessings given to all who cross his path. The heart mandala was a download I received while listening to Paul teach as I considered the path of functional medicine and played with fibers in my studio/library, was it Scientific Back training for the 16th time? These visions take form in fabric and are stitched together as art quilts.
Sacred geometry inspires me, it’s the symbol of love in all dimensions, space and time. It reveals the beauty in me and I remember who I Am. I see it in the night sky, the gifts of my gardens, the trees, the wisdom and gratitude of our rescued senior dogs (who assist with gardening, quilting and bone broth), the joy I feel in nature, the open and loving hearts of all who came here to serve as I did: to love and be loved.
When I ask myself “how can I serve?” the image of heart waves comes to me; this image is a projection I hold with clients as I silently ask: “If you could show me your health today, what would that look like?” The client begins to unfold their unique radiant health, and I am witness to miraculous transformations. I get to facilitate and guide, to hold a space of love as they heal themselves. This work (play?) is a health resource for me on a daily basis, because it heals me too!
Mandala: “When All Are One and One Is All”
Love (energy) is all that exists. This quilt expresses the coherence of our universal heart. The spiral center and radiating lines suggest energy moving in sacred geometry. The microcosm reflects the macrocosm: we are holograms, here is a portrait of you!
The heart-shaped fabric was fused to the purple field, embellished with Angelina sparkly fibers and stitched with metallic threads to express light and movement.
The heart-shaped nautilus fossil was collected after a snowshoeing date with my husband when I saw how maple trees share their love: tapped maple syrup! The heart-shaped fossil reminds us that we are made of energy, fast and slow, you and I, rocks and galaxies, fields of color and coherent hearts, we are all the same. In nature it’s common for me to find heart-shaped rocks, I think a grateful thought and look down—there it is!
This mandala cheers on a dear friend who I believe is “creating world peace” by helping leaders embrace humanity’s reconnection to our values and the natural world. Doug Paxton says this heart mandala is a powerful reminder of what’s important. He facilitates sustainable organizational change (helping business operate from love), and supports vision quests for others as they remember who they are–we are all a part of nature!
If this mandala speaks to you, place a copy in your home or workspace to support you in your work, family life and spiritual growth. Thanks for creating world peace! I love you.
Mandala: Tree Energy
I communicate with trees, especially a magnificent oak tree that gives and receives gratitude at the end of my favorite mountain bike trail. We exchange a big hug (just like we practiced during Level 4!) and I release old stuff and open my field to receive loving energy from the Happy Tree. One root that emerges at her base is in the shape of a huge grin—lips, teeth and all! The tree was cut freehand from a single cloth to highlight the negative space, then fused and energized to the background fabric with metallic threads and Love.
Amy Andrews has been helping clients transform their health and fitness for 21 years. Amy is a holistic health and fitness expert, a health detective, hormone whisperer, coach, mentor, educator, speaker, artist, quilter and author. Amy empowers people to get independently healthy, to thrive and feel good again!
Amy Andrews, CP4, HLC2, Feel Good Again Health
Author of the forthcoming book Gluten-Free Happiness: How to Lose Weight, Feel Better and Live Longer
Kalish Method of Functional Medicine, FDN Practitioner, CMTA
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, Integrative Bodywork
Mandala Art Quilts
Amy sees clients near Chicago and southern Wisconsin and by phone and video.
www.feelgoodagainhealth.com
feelgoodagainhealth@gmail.com
847-361-6238
I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog today and that you have, or are having a lovely weekend.
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
