Tag: wellness

Discover Wellness Now With These 4 Pillars

There are 4 pillars of wellness.. Did you know, with them you possess the key to your own well-being? That’s right, you have complete access to living a healthy lifestyle and being your best self! Wellness can be broken down into these four pillars: Nutrition, Mindfulness, Exercise, and Prevention. Here’s a little breakdown of each pillar.

Nutrition

Whatever you put into your body is considered your fuel. Your brain and body need healthy, non-toxic, real foods full of nutrition to function properly.

Mindfulness

Bringing your attention to the present moment allows you to focus, as well as reduces stress, sadness, and anger. It can also improve physical problems. The benefits of mindfulness include reduced overeating, procrastination, and depression.

Exercise

Activities that require physical movement to improve not only your physical but mental health. Through exercise, you will grow stronger and see improvement throughout your day to day life.

Prevention

There are thousands of toxins and chemicals in products you use every single day. By making small changes in what you purchase to use on your body, or put into your environment, you can prevent unnecessary health problems. Hashimoto’s, Celiac’s, sluggish thyroid, unexplained weight gain, mood, and behavioral disorders, infertility.

 

Problems Solved with this 5 Minute Meditation

There is a special style of meditation that I practice. 5 minutes of it a day can help to minimize stress and improve your overall wellness. Over seven years ago I embarked on a journey that changed my life forever: Vipassana.

Vipassana (Insight Meditation) was first taught by Buddha 25 centuries ago and now can be practiced all over the world. I encourage everyone to go through a vipassana practice at least once. Being 10 days with yourself in silence is one of the best things you can do for yourself and those around you: http://www.dhamma.org/en/vipassana.shtml. The gist of Insight Meditation is to use your own breath and become aware of the daily sensations (vibration or frequency) your body transmits. Through this you can relieve yourself of misery, pain, disappointment, expectation, impatience, jealousy, to name a few. It allows you to become capably aware when you are about to subject yourself to these feelings merely by witnessing sensations. Considering we are one big bundle of energy made of stardust, Vipassana enables you to feel those vibrations inside of you, while cleansing the mind.

meditation

It took me 5 years until the time was right for me to attend the retreat. However, after seeing 6 other friends complete the course and witness a positive change in their lives, my curiosity prompted me to go. And next to childbirth, it was the most painful, yet most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.

Just to get an idea of what it’s like. Try being by yourself all day. You want to flee, you want to give up, and some do. Your body starts making excuses for sitting 10-12 hours a day. Then suddenly, you finally feel exactly where the breath from your nostrils touches your face. I had been breathing all my life, 20,000 times a day, and it took a silent meditation retreat and 36 years for me at that time to actually be aware of the location of my exhalation.

To Summarize What I Gained

  • All conditioned things are in a constant state of flux.
  • Everything is impermanent, nothing ever stays the same, so observe it and enjoy life.
  • Letting go of attachment paves the way for a flow of love and compassion I was unaware of obtaining through the devotion of my own breath.
  • If you recall something that has bothered you or angered you in the past, you discover that these feelings stem from longing, craving, or attachment to something or someone.
  • We are obsessed with our own ego.
  • We want recognition for our efforts, our skills, our talents.
  • We want money, love, and we want more and more and more of it.

Once you are able to release this mainstream conditioning, the misery dissipates. Of course, it’s not that simple. But sitting 12 hours a day focusing on your breath for 10 days while remaining silent, and not eating dinner, definitely brings you back to the real essence of being.

Meditation is beneficial for everyone, regardless of whether it is TM, Zen, in between your yoga pranas, or whether a mantra is used. But vipassana is different. Think of a tree- when the branches become unruly, you prune it to keep it calm. Meditation is a pair of shears used on the mind. But with vipassana, the tree is not only trimmed, but it is also uprooted so that a new sapling can grow. Perhaps you can’t tear yourself away for 10 days, but give yourself the gift of 5 minutes a day, which perhaps can be lengthened as you continue your practice.

balance

How to Reset Your Brain in 5 Minutes

  1. Find a quiet spot, I normally wake up and go straight to my meditation stool. However, you can simply roll out of bed and sit up straight.
  2. Close your eyes and allow any thoughts to come in, do not suppress them. But think of them like helium balloons- let them come in, and let them float away.
  3. Focus on your breath. Take a deep breath in your nose fill your abdomen with air, and exhale to push all the air out of your abdomen. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Start there.

Once you are able to go a few more minutes, add it to your alarm.

Then start focusing on your vibration. The easiest places for you to feel yourself vibrating is at the crown of the head and in the feet and fingertips. Once you have gotten comfortable with sitting in silence, focusing on your breath, focus on those vibrations.

I promise, if you invite meditation to your day, everything will begin to flow smoother. If you’re ready to take your mindfulness practice to the next level, I’d love to connect, contact me today!

3 Ways To Find More Alignment In Your Life

It is possible to bring alignment to your life, even with today’s busy schedules. Unfortunately, our digital commitments (be them necessary or not), family events, parenting, and our social agendas tend to get in the way. This leaves us with the question, are we ever taking the time to enjoy the silence?

As a Wellness Professional, I’m committed to reminding you to do everything with a purpose, simply put, with mindfulness, whether it is washing clothes or putting food in your mouth.

The thing I love the most about the relatively new Marie Kondo craze (if you don’t know who I am talking about, have a gander at her book) is her Buddhist emphasis on finding a spark in everything. The more you find a spark, the happier you are.

Your happiness creates a trickle-down effect on our happiness. See the pattern?

I Implement These Tactics in My Own Work with Clients

In addition to keeping people fit and injury-free, their mind must also be in alignment, not just their posture. And, even more important are your surroundings, not only people, but products, chemicals- they all influence your mood and behavior. The more balance you have in life, the happier and more productive you are. Ever noticed how much more energized you feel after a great night of sleep and how that affects your day?

gathering thoughts to become more aligned

 

3 Easy Ways to be More Mindful in Today’s Hectic Life

1. Start Your Day With Belly Breathing

Lie on your back. Then while on your back imagine a balloon in your stomach. Take a deep breath in. Pay close attention and notice as your stomach rises when you inhale. Then push all of the air out as you exhale. Repeat this style of breathing 10 times. This breathing routine is how you should be breathing regularly. PRO TIP – If you are ever having difficulty sleeping at night, do this. It’s a great relaxer.

2. Give Yourself 10 Seconds to Respond

It’s inevitable, in life you will experience hostile situations. The worst thing you can do is react right away, full of emotion. Instead, take 10 seconds to gather your composure before you respond. PRO TIP – This is a perfect time to focus on your breathing. It will calm you quickly and take your mind off of your heightened emotions.

3. Gratitude is Key

At least once a day, take a moment to write down or tell someone 3 things you are grateful for. This will take your gratitude to a whole other level. PRO TIP – Here’s your chance to take full advantage of text! Find a go-to person, and use them daily to text your 3 things.

 

These 3 things will help you to become more mindful, leading to more alignment in your life. Are you ready to take it beyond breathing? Let’s connect so I can help you to live your best life.