About marja

Marja is a certified eRYT 500 yoga instructor. For over twenty years, her experience, passion, and sense of humor keeps her approach to teaching yoga and mindfulness light and entertaining. As an educator and freelance writer, her background in health science and community nutrition combined with her studies in India serve to enrich her understanding of the mind/body connection. Since retiring as a performing songwriter a.k.a. Marge Calhoun, Marja and her husband, John, live part time in Colorado and Australia. While in the US, she is an instructor in Summit County, Colorado.

Genetically Modified Crop Assessment

Let’s start with the bottom line, buy organic. True, it’s more expensive than the conventional and genetically modified alternatives, but it’s safer and cheaper than a pill. Physical and mental malfunctions caused by pesticides, genetic transmutations, and growth hormones are surfacing. Think of organics as health insurance. The safety of genetically modified (GM) crops for human nutrition and health has not yet developed a satisfactory approach in evaluating risk for long term effects. Currently, GM sources are compared to conventional crops only for nutritional performance and growth in animals. This measurement is called “substantial equivalence,” and it’s not an effective risk assessment for many reasons. One is the [Read More]

2020-07-13T21:20:15+00:00February 26th, 2010|Health|

Manage Stress & Restore Internal Harmony

  5 Ways to Give Stress a Rest. Your body and mind are meant to be whole and connect through a network feedback loops. In other words, the body collects information from the environment and reports to the mind. The mind listens and responds. Make no mistake, every cell gets the word about something stressful and it’s expressed in chemical reactions in the form of hormones instead of words.  Real or imagined, the messages come through loud and clear. When it comes to managing stress, awareness is the key. People with heart health concerns should be especially mindful about managing stress. The [Read More]

2021-08-20T17:03:15+00:00January 6th, 2010|Health|

Exercising Increases Brain Power

The more you work your heart and lungs, the more efficient they become at delivering oxygen to the body and brain. With increased blood flow come the chemical cascades that may very well be your fountain of youth. As we age smoking, inactivity, and eating poorly are root causes of disease. Lifestyle also influences the mental hazards that come with getting older. “The same things that kill the body kill the brain” states Dr. Mark Mattson, of the National Institute on Aging. Diabetes increases the risk of developing dementia by 65 percent, and high cholesterol increases the likelihood by 46 percent. The good [Read More]

2020-07-13T06:45:59+00:00September 20th, 2009|Health|

More Tips on Healing Foods

Think Outside the Pillbox   The growing popularity of medicinal plants is increasing due to the legitimate research supporting them. Even though many have been used for hundreds if not thousands of years, both the government and the private sector are now funding the investigation of plants and their healing properties. The outcomes have been mixed for some, but others are fairing so well that many healing foods are preferred to prescription drugs and over the counter pharmaceuticals. This doesn’t mean to stop taking your medicine, but to inspire a different approach about what to eat. In this way, many conditions and their medicines can [Read More]

2020-07-13T07:06:47+00:00August 12th, 2009|Health|

Food Enhancers are Counterintuitive

Think again when you’re preparing for a meeting or studying for a test over chips and soda. The consequences of ignoring MSG and artificial sweeteners can be devastating. The list includes brain damage, impairing the nervous system, and emotional disorders, just to name a few. Despite complaints about headaches and heart palpitations, supermarket shelves are scattered with products that contain MSG and many consumers wrongly assume it’s not present. Not only that, but MSG sales are hard to track. The Glutamate Association said it didn’t have sales figures when questioned by NBC correspondent Micheal Hull, but Ac’cent, Aji-no-moto and Sazon remain staple ingredients in many American, Asian and [Read More]

2020-07-13T20:48:47+00:00July 26th, 2009|Health|

Soothe Bug Bites Naturally

  During the summer season on those muggy, buggy evenings, if youre going to spend anytime outside dont wear skin lotion and/or perfume, mosquitoes LOVE it. While its important to reduce the risk of getting bitten, many OTC products contain toxic chemicals such as DEET. Instead, try some great smelling herbal insect repellents straight from your porch or backyard. The same thing goes for your home garden, instead of spraying poisons all over flowers and veggies, use natural alternatives. Soothe Bugs Bites Naturally Insect Repellents : Helpful Herbs  Courtesy of Annies Remedies Basil For a quick insect repellent, just rub some crushed basil leaves on your skin, or add the essential oil to a [Read More]

2020-07-13T07:10:51+00:00June 26th, 2009|Healing|

The Power Inside Good Posture

We know that siting up straight is good for us and correct posture relieves back pain, improves breathing and conveys confidence, but there is so much more that should be revealed. Physical posture affects health, vitality and awareness. David Frawely, an expert in the science of yoga, has researched the subject of anatomical posture in relation to yoga asanas (poses). He found that the mind/body complex consists of various interrelated channels of energy traveling throughout the body that are supported by the musculoskeletal system, the shape of which, is determined by ones posture. It is an intricate network that carries everything from [Read More]

2021-10-17T17:14:12+00:00November 4th, 2008|Uncategorized, yoga|
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