Clapping Palms
3/18/01
Yesterday, we had the final day of our workshop, including our final Luau. I so love being here! There was a strong wind blowing yesterday, causing the leaves of the palm trees to clap together. They appeared to get synchronized, so the whole grove of them them were going 'clap clap clap' together. It was pretty amazing.
Today I woke up early--possibly because of the real (Kona! Mmmm!) coffee I had last night, and possibly from the Irish coffee I had later in the bar. Soon I need to hop to packing and getting ready to head home.
This group of people from all over the world who come together to study the ancient Hawaiian ways are almost like family by now. And what an interesting group, to boot!
A number of people are getting contacts in Kona, and actually paying their way here. A massage therapist and acupunturist from Oahu actually saw several clients here--she picked them up just talking to the hotel staff and other locals. A hypnotherapist will be staying here in September with a friend of a friend in exchange for several sessions. The same woman met a couple around the swimming pool who are flying her to Philadelphia in May for a week!
I've actually spent some time with a hypnotheripist at the conference who is an expert in weight control, and appears to be very successful (she guarantees her results, which impressed me). I'm strongly inclined to work with her, because she is experienced and I just plain trust her. Unfortunately, she lives 500 miles from me, so it will be a challenge... We agreed to think about how to make it work, and talk it over when she comes to the San Francisco area in a few weeks.
One thing she said really blew my mind. One of the things we discuss here is the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The ancient Hawaiians had a number of techniques that encourage you to function from the parasympathetic system, which is where most healing takes place. Most of us, living high-paced lives, live mostly in our sympathetic systems.
So, according to her, if you are breathing through your nose, you are operating out of your parasympathetic system. If through your mouth, the sympathetic. In the parasympathetic system, you burn fat for energy--in the sympathetic system, you burn carbs.
I've always breathed through my mouth, largely. And always had a weight problem (...er, largely). Especially when I'm asleep, my mouth falls open (it's hard to snore with your mouth closed!). She recommends nose strips. Seems like an unusual method of weight control, but I'll try them, especally if they will keep my mouth from feeling like a floor tile when I wake up in the morning.
She is also a big fan of drinking water. She suggests that people drink half their body weight every day (!). If we drink caffine drinks, even more... I think of myself as drinking a lot of water, but this is a LOT of water, even by my standards.
Anyhow, I'm excited to be taking some steps to deal with my weight that don't involve ingesting drugs or other noxious substances (I don't consider water in that category...). And also don't involve battering my psyche with lots of "do's and don'ts". We'll see how this plays out...
I'm off to the Aloha Theatre Cafe (a wonderful place!) for breakfast, followed by packing my ipu heke to withstand the plane flight, and then the flight home. It will be a long day, I fear.
Thank you for reading.
Copyright © 2001 Pete Stevens. All rights reserved.
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