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OMG – this season’s allergies are SO Bad! I can’t even imagine how much I’d have to spend on OTC sinus headache, etc. medications if I didn’t have my Neti Pot to help reduce the severity of the experience. If you suffer from any sinus headaches, allergies or stuffiness at home or on the course, or smog sensitivity from the lovely brown haze that settles over Toronto in the summer, you may want to pick up a Neti Pot and start using it today.

As a Recession Buster – there are only two days left on this sale on Neti Pots at all Shoppers Home Health Care Canadian locations

http://www.shoppershomehealthcare.ca/english/home_health_care/store_locations/index.html

(click here for store locations) until May 10th, 2008.
$12.99 sale $16.99 regular FREE $3.99 250g bag of brine with purchase of neti pot
(I paid nearly $30 for mine, and it didn’t include non-iodized salts so this is an excellent deal!)

UPDATE: Here’s a US-based supplier online for our readers south of the border:

http://www.arnoldsupplements.com/Neti_Pot_p/him-001.htm?gclid=CPqc2ILovJMCFQoRswodGAmUCA

After suffering for YEARS with sinus headaches, I bought a neti pot last winter & have developed a bit of a romance with using it habitually, about every second day. For a long time, they were hard to find, understandably since a lot of people don’t like the idea of a ‘nasal douche’ or nose wash, but recently Oprah & Dr. Oz had an audience member who had never tried it before demonstrate on stage how to use neti pot:

http://www.oprah.com/health/oz/oz_20070426_350_106.jhtml

no, it is not messy and you don’t need to make any special preparations to use it & LOVE it!

Further information and instructions are available all over the web, including here:

http://www.healingdaily.com/exercise/neti-pot.htm

Think of it like this – imagine the state of your oral health if you were NEVER to brush your teeth… Especially if you breathe through your nose at all (which we all do), your nose & sinuses act as a first defense for your body against airborne pollutants, and especially with air-quality dropping rapidly for city-dwellers, you’ll need to help keep your personal air-filter system tuned for peak performance by “cleaning the pipes”. Even if you only use it a few times a year, during allergy season, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been amazed by how it helps reduce the need for sinus/nose medications.

Please let me know your thoughts – Yay? Nay?

I’ve recently been reevaluating my beliefs on money (stimulated by the Prosperity Podcasts available FREE on iTunes) and I’m really enjoying seeing how resourceful I can be, as well as SHOCKED at how much money I really have, when I’m not spending it mindlessly

In good GolfLogic form, maintaining ourselves as the online space for FREE local golf deals, anytime I see a good deal I think you might be interested in, I’ll be posting notice of it here for you. Please respond to each one – in your own thumbs up/down sort of way, if you like each opportunity we post.

Let’s share the abundance! There’s certainly more than enough to go around.

Mental toughness is personal characteristic I didn’t begin to fully understand until recently – I’m now learning with a deepened yoga practice that includes meditation (just focusing my thoughts; no chanting for this lady!) how to focus my thoughts on the task at hand (my yoga shot) and the tools I have (my feet, legs, hips, arms, torso & head, as well as my golf clubs) to create in reality the success I am visualizing in my mind & FEELING in my body. THIS is mental toughness!

The largest obstacle to manifesting in reality that clear, focused mental image of success are the unnecessary distracting thoughts of the past (I still feel so good about that birdie on the last hole… can I make a joke to my friend about it before I take my shot?) and future (I can almost taste the beers my buddy’ll buy me for winning… mmmm, beer. what am I in the mood for today?).

Without mental clutter (thoughts about past & future) 100% of your senses are able to focus on the present moment, this instant, the task at hand. Really, we manifest whatever is in our minds at that instant of action – if your mind is cluttered with unnecessary, repetitive or compulsive thinking, the result you manifest in reality, this moment, will be an erratic, irrational mess. Not really the kind of results you want in golf, work, life, love, parenting….

It is HARD not to think about past & future. You’re probably doing it right now (because we brought it up). This is why we focus in Yoga For Golfers on breathing… Probably the easiest way to not think about past & future thoughts is to distract your mind with much more tangible, real thinking – observing the present moment and what is required of you right now at this instant. Vigilance is not required.

Try this next time you address the ball. Acute awareness of your body and the world around you can be created when you learn to focus your thoughts on something else – the present moment, how different parts of your body feels, how the environment is flowing around you (wind, sunlight, rain), how your equipment feels, feeling your feet grounding down into the soles of your shoes and the earth below).

Start by observing only your breath for a few seconds. Close your eyes, removing the sometimes distracting sense of sight, and check in with your body as you breathe deep – check in with each of your other senses touch, smell, taste and hearing to focus your thoughts only on the present moment. Now, using everything you’ve learned about the present moment, open your eyes and add observing with sight to the present moment you are focused on. When the time is right, continuing to breathe and observe and make adjustments as necessarily, take your shot.

Whether the shot was “good” or not, it is almost entirely a direct reflection of the state of your mind at the instant you took the shot. It is now in the PAST, and you need to move your awareness forward into the present moment, now, clearing away thoughts of past & future so that you can practice mental toughness again and apply it to the next shot. This is a lifelong practice you can apply to improve in any area of your life – with practice, you’ll become more consistent in the results because you are more consistently able to stay present in your game.

“There are good people who are in politics, in both parties, who hold this at arms length because if they acknowledge it & recognize it, then the moral imperative to make big changes is inescapable.�
Al Gore
An Inconvenient Truth

Maybe it’s not the government we should be looking to for these sweeping changes – we can make a significant change and at the same time enjoy our lives more with socially and environmentally aware businesses that not only provide higher quality food, products and services to us, but also to many families and communities around the word (through responsible business practices).

This Earth Day I am considering the effect of supporting really responsible business in every area of my life, including my own living. While I develop the mental image of the perfect, enlightened advertising agency I can work for and feel good about what we do in business and how we do it, take a look at these two environmentally and socially responsible businesses:

To order chocolates online, I recommend trying out the really yummy, eco & socially friendly, enlightened chocolate from Vosges Haut-Chocolat www.vogoseschocolate.com All the purest, finest, organic ingredients are used to make world-class chocolates with unique flavour influences like Bacon + Chocolate (It is a miracle—these pigs can fly! The new Flying Chocolate Pigs have arrived to further quench the cravings of adoring bacon and chocolate fans. Each solid chocolate pig combines applewood smoked bacon, Alder wood smoked salt and deep milk chocolate.)
Their facility and production processes have been approved as an organic manufacturing facility – organic farms do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment, some of which have the potential to harm local wildlife. Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.

in the San Fransisco Bay area: Chocolate Dividends www.chocolatedividends.org says happy chocolate comes from happy rain forests and happy communities. Chocolate Dividends devotes their time and profits to growing communities, including:
- Organize Tasting Circles that bring good chocolates to good friends.
- Help small social enterprises like Yachana Gourmet connect with markets in the US.
- Contribute all profits to the Chocolate Dividends Donor Advised Fund, managed by Calvert Foundation to invest in social enterprises.

Its honestly not that often that I am excited or inspired by seeing a recently-developed variety of yoga practice; something that I look forward to trying myself and that I believe could offer a unique option to advanced yoga practice:

Click HERE to read the article.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid452319854/bctid1487554922

Jason Magness meditates in full-lotus posture balanced on a slackline over the Arizona desert.

O-M-G!!! Imagine what that kind of CORE STRENGTH could do to your ability to consistently drive with accuracy???

OK so not everyone thinks Tiger is an appropriate role model (some of his verbal outbursts may not be appropriate for children), but I’ve always thought it would be SO COOL to live on the golf course (with kids), and never even have to think about getting in the car to head for the tee box. Maybe I’m a lazy golfer, but I prefer to expend my energy on my game, not getting there & back home!

If you agree, and can afford to invest in a luxury vacation property (yes, my inner shop-aholic is showing!) this may be the opportunity for you!

(following edited from www.golfcourserealty.com)
The Freedom Realty Exchange (www.FRE.com), has just announced the launch of an online auction campaign to sell eight brand-new, grand estate homes at Amelia RiverWalk in Fernandina Beach, Florida. The area offers recreational activities including miles of pristine waterways and beaches and, of course, golfing – Amelia Island offers three championship courses designed by Tom Fazio, Bobby Weed and Pete Dye, plus the newly opened 18-hole Amelia River Golf Club (formerly known as Royal Amelia), crafted by Tom Jackson.

These luxurious homes feature 4 to 5 bedrooms and 3 to 4.5 bathrooms, and range from approximately 3,000 sq. ft. to over 4,300 sq. ft. Each home includes attractive features like a covered front and rear patio, hardwood and ceramic tile floors, solid-surface countertops, an energy efficient central air conditioning and heating system, recessed lighting and walk-in closets. Though originally priced at an average of over $500,000, these homes will be offered on FRE.com with minimum bids as low as $223,000. Also included in the online home auction is the exquisite fully-furnished St. Augustine model. Previously priced at $1,000,000, this 4,334 sq. ft. home has a minimum bid of only $1!

If you’ve been looking to purchase a vacation or retirement home in Florida, this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. The bid deadline is Thursday, May 1, 2008.
For more information and to register to participate in the online auction, go to www.FRE.com/206G7.

This little local website out of Montgomery, Alabama may not be much in the style department but what they were reporting on sure made me smile!

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080331/SPORTS/803310325/1002/SPORTS

What would normally be considered a 6 MILLION TO ONE odds shot for DOUBLE-EAGLE has occurred (WHOOT!), as well as 3 more hole-in-one’s over the past Easter long weekend.

Who’s going to email us this year to take credit on your amazing shot? Can we see that in Toronto this year, please? (I like pictures! …please, with your clothes on!)

My experience, reading Ekhart Tolle’s “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” has been like an argument FOR a whole mind-body approach to Golf performance training:

We all know if there are hundreds, if not thousands, of products that can claim to have a dramatic improvement on your game, then probably all of them work to some extent and none of them would work very well if you did nothing else other than use that one product.

As much experience as I thought I had from training your mind for golf through yoga, I implemented a very important mental change shift recently that has resulted in some unbelievable physical improvements. One of the things I’ve come to realize is that whenever I step on the golf course, up to the tee (or anywhere, for that matter) my body is being physically limited by the burden of emotional/mental weight I am holding on to.

Even though I hope most people would see me as a generally happy person, I’ve realized it really is easy to ‘put on a happy face’ to cover up my ego taking over. Some of it is really old sadness & fear from my childhood and some of it is old pain from injuries (still with emotional links, I am sure) and some of it is pain from fear of my future. No different from you, I know.

All of that, I have decided to LET GO, like the ANCHOR I am cutting, now I can float to the surface and live life without resistance. When I look back, I have been able to achieve anything I ever put my mind to, but I have to wonder – how much of a STRUGGLE was it to achieve? Do I HAVE to struggle to achieve? Can’t I just open my arms and my heart and WELCOME love, happiness, health and abundance into my life?

What will this do to my yoga practice? So far, I am seeing amazing changes – emotionally, I am more confident to just try new poses, even if I don’t think I’m physically ready for them, just trying the pose is a LOT of fun and stretches me emotionally & physically at the same time. Following an amazing chiropractic adjustment at Vita Integrated Health Clinic on Wednesday, I felt like I was FINALLY able to access the benefit of all the yoga over the years — I have NEVER experienced my body so balanced, stable, strong, flexible, mobile, functioning at 100% of all major systems… it was euphoric. I can hardly wait to see how this will benefit my golf game!

Even though I know I started this process of change years ago, I can see it has been picking up speed & intensity in the past six months and what started as a simple holiday project “purge my apartment of junk� has turned into an amazing change of life – I would use the term “flowering�, but don’t want to scare off any of you alpha-males out there.

I don’t think anyone would experience the exact same things as I have with this book, but I would like to know what anyone else thinks if you’ve read it, or even if you haven’t (your significant other, sibling or friend probably has chatted about it). Also, I enjoyed this book SO much I have purchased an additional 5 copies to put out there, one of which I’ll send for free to someone who posts a comment

I can’t WAIT for this golf season to start!! SO EXCITED!!!!!

I think in the end it all comes down to knowing yourself, and listening to the quiet whispers of your body; I know that if I drink any less than 3 litres of water (minimum, per day) on top of all other food & liquids, I just don’t feel right. 

Here’s an interesting article in Yoga Journal on the myths & facts of how much water we should actually be drinking (including the real effects of caffeinated drinks and the value of water in food, like spaghetti, which is 60% water)- it’s especially timely considering the exceptional heat & dryness many of us are currently enjoying.

Liquid Assets

Water is good for body and soul, but you don’t need to drink as much as you might think. Here’s the truth about what’s enough, plus five other myths about water.

I’m proud of this one… On the eve of the Live Earth events I’ve made the switch with ease, to ensure ALL my home & business electricity dollars support 100% sustainable energy sources.  Not only will this benefit the environment, but I believe this is the future of stronger world economics – smart individuals and corporations that are willing to pay a little more green for a LOT more quality of life - and, I sleep better at night.  Also, a few simple habit changes (like switching off lights when you’re not in the room) will offset the increase in electricity fees.

The switch is easy – http://www.bullfrogpower.com/

Live Earth will air on CTV tonight & Green Toronto Street Festival at Yonge/Dundas will coincide with the concerts.

I was happy to see the number of Golf Courses in Arizona taking green measures in maintenance of the courses… Now, to support Ontario courses to do the same we’d certainly have to incorporate higher green fees for environmentally sustainable course management.