Do you have chronic pain in your body that just won’t go away? Or is your body prone to acute painful accidents? Have you considered that this is a physical manifestation of emotional pain? Let’s talk about the causes of pain from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and why you should consider intense emotions to be the likely cause. Better yet, I have a suggestion for the best therapy to process the emotional root of your pain so you experience it less often.

Before we get into it, you may want to pause and download this free guide that contains my favorite acupressure points to relieve stress.  If done consistently, this could be another way to relieve or even prevent pain.  Get it now, you’ll love it! 

Then, either watch the video or read the article below to learn more about how to recognize when physical pain has an emotional root, and my suggestions on how to release it.

Causes Of Pain

Pain can obviously be caused by outside influences such as getting in an accident, or someone hurting you. Most people also recognize that pain can have an internal cause – lack of activity, too much work, and most importantly (because it’s often overlooked) is intense emotions showing up as pain.

In Chinese Medicine, we acknowledge that pain is the sensation we feel when the body is telling us that our Qi – or vital energy – is blocked, stagnant, or deficient in an area. The quality of the pain can indicate an acute or chronic condition, and whether it’s just energy involved or also affecting blood circulation.

How Emotions Cause Physical Pain

It’s not necessary to know exactly which emotions are causing an energetic imbalance and why before you can release the emotions & pain. But it is interesting to note how our Qi is affected by certain emotions, especially if this is a habitual way of being for you. In Chinese Medicine, this is also related to the Yin Organs of the body, which we can then target with acupuncture, acupressure, Qigong energetics, and Yin Yoga.

The 5 Emotions and Their Energetic Imbalances:

• Anger: Liver (Wood Element) – Causes Qi to rise
• Excitement: Heart (Fire Element) – Slows down and relaxes Qi
• Worry: Spleen (Earth Element) – Causes Qi to stagnate
• Grief/Sorry: Lungs (Metal Element) – Obstructs the flow of Qi
• Fear: Kidneys (Water Element) – Causes Qi to descend

There are clues to the physical manifestation of these imbalances that are more obvious with some more than others. For example, Qi rising from Liver/Wood anger causes obvious headaches, red race, and neck tension. Also, certain emotions get held in the body along the organ channels. Like with Fear, this can cause Qi to become imbalanced in the Kidney channel, causing low back pain.

Having this knowledge is helpful, especially for TCM practitioner. But we can still release emotional and physical pain ourselves simply by being present in our bodies. My favorite way to do this is with Yin Yoga.

Yin Yoga For Physical and Emotional Pain

With Yin Yoga, we use long-held postures, breath, and intention to stimulate Qi flow. We’re not able to experience this depth of flow with other types of Yoga or movement practices. It’s basically like a self-administered acupuncture practice. But Yin Yoga weaves in mindfulness meditation that can completely alter the way we view ourselves and the world.

When spending time in the Yin shapes and encountering discomfort, I suggest you go through these steps. Do them over an over again until you can completely let go of the held physical and emotional tension:

1. Recognize the emotion is coming from inside you (stop blaming others and take responsibility)
2. Name the emotion
3. Release it with the exhalation
4. Infuse the space with more Qi as you inhale, bringing in more love and acceptance

You can seek out a Yin Yoga teacher in your area so help you move through this process. You can learn from me through my online courses. Or consider my 1:1 Holistic Health Coaching, where we can break down negative beliefs that may be contributing to your emotional and physical pain.

In Conclusion

I hope this gives you more to think about! You’re more in control that you may realize with the chronic or acute pain you’re experiencing. Hopefully you’re now determined to get to the root of it and seek help if needed to fully let it go.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments! I would also love to hear if you’ve been able to release pain consciously, what that was like for you. Well wishes friend…

Do you feel betrayed by your body? Has an injury, trauma, chronic illness, or cancer scare left you feeling confused about how to take care of yourself and what your body can handle? Let’s talk about how to regain trust and begin to heal holistically, on all levels.

Did Your Body Fail You?

Many people have had experiences that threatened their belief in their body’s ability to stay strong and heal. I started thinking about this a few months ago when someone close to me was polling her friends on Facebook, asking them whether she should get the Covid-19 vaccine or not.

Instead of giving her this advice, I asked her why she wants her friends to tell her what to do. She answered that she’s had a few experiences that have left her unable to trust her body: 2 emergency C-sections and also has chronic asthma. She doesn’t understand how this all came to be and so needs a lot of help making medical decisions.

I had an emergency c-section too, which was fairly traumatic. Afterwards, I felt like a failure and was paranoid about building up my baby’s gut flora and immunity, knowing that a vaginal birth is what establishes it. I didn’t understand how I could be strong & flexible with Yoga, but not be able to birth a child. But there were many things that were in my power afterwards that helped me heal my body, heart, and mind around this experience.

How To Befriend Your Body Again

Have you had a similar experience like this too, where your body disappointed you? Did it lead you to stay in your power as you got help to heal? Or did it leave you feeling lost and confused about whether you could ever trust it again? If it’s the latter, I have a few steps you can consider (this is what I did!) to strengthen your relationship with your body so you can continue to make empowered decisions for yourself.

1. Accept That Your Body Needed Extra Support

First, it’s important that you accept what happened to your body. It’s likely that at the time, it wasn’t in your control. Or you may never really know exactly why it happened.

I was hard on myself initially when I had my C-section until someone reminded me that another being was involved who has his own karma. Perhaps my son really needed this birth. Or maybe he just needed more time, but our circumstances wouldn’t allow for that. These things were not in my control and it stopped my obsessive thinking about it.

2. Take Responsibility For Your Body’s Condition

On the flip-side though, there MAY a reason for what happened that you still need to work on. For example, if it’s being around a lot of toxic chemicals that may have caused cancer, or poor gut health that led to a chronic disease; your lifestyle does need to change in order to prevent another occurrence and to help your body heal. Your body may be desperately trying to communicate with you. Sometimes illness, injuries, and disease needs to happen for us to finally listen! Maybe it’s a wake up call to attend to your health better.

Going back to my birth experience, there were clues telling me that my hips may be misaligned which may have affected my son’s position and ability to descend. Even though I’ll never really know what happened, I’m now clued into the fact that my body is limited in this region and attending to it is helping to reduce back pain, digestion issues, and other things I have been experiencing. So I’m very thankful that I finally listened to my body’s message that it was off balance!

3. Recognize The Importance Of Your Wellness Journey

When we can accept the situation and take responsibility for it at the same time, we step into a powerful, aware state that can help you heal on a much deeper level. Recognize that this is the beginning of a wellness journey for you, and that there may be many layers to it.

4. Get Help To Befriend And Heal Your Body, Heart, Mind, and Spirit

The final step here would be to actually get the support you need to heal. Who you go to for help depends on the situation you’re dealing with, of course. Maybe you need a medical doctor or psychiatrist if it’s serious. For most situations, its most empowering to avoid drugs, so to seek a more natural or therapeutic approach. I recommend choosing a practitioner who gives advice while respecting your ability to make informed, independent decisions for yourself.

If you’re interested in working with me closer, I love helping women (especially moms) resolve stress, anxiety, and trauma with holistic wellness coaching and empowerment. I pull from many eastern healing traditions and can offer you energy medicine, yoga & meditation, natural health education, and intuitive guidance to help you find inner harmony again. Reach out to me if you have any questions!

In Conclusion

Hopefully this information reassures you that it’s possible to relate to your body well again in a more deep and meaningful way, and that you can fully heal. I would love to hear if this help you!

Let me know about it, and ask any questions, in the comments below. Well wishes!

Do you love to spend time on long hikes in the forest, sitting by a gentle stream among trees, or having picnics in beautiful meadows? Like me, you may enjoy the sounds of nature, the company of the fauna, and the clean air that you exchange with the flora. There is a huge positive impact on our physical, mental, and emotional health when we spend time in nature. This is true, especially with forest bathing. However, it’s not always possible to retreat to nature when we need it in our everyday stress-filled lives. There are many things you can do to bring forest bathing indoors, to replicate it at home.

Forest Bathing Benefits

Forest Bathing, or Shinrin Yoko as it’s called in Japan, is a very popular lifestyle practice in Asia and Europe. Many peer reviewed studies show the benefits of forest bathing. The results are so positive, that it’s actually prescribed to people who are overworked and dealing with stress and anxiety.

Regular forest bathing results in:

• reduced blood pressure
• elevated mood
• reduced stress hormones
• increased focus and concentration
• increased natural killer cells which boost immune health
• and much more…

As I’ve mentioned before, spending time in nature can deepen your spiritual connection and is even more potent in ancient forests!

Unfortunately, many of us are not able to go walk in a forest at the end of each workday. And for some, it’s hard to go at all because they don’t have access; are sick, disabled, or injured; or are afraid (seriously, this is the case with some people, and that’s okay). And for this reason, it’s a good idea to try to reproduce forest bathing at home, bringing nature indoors to promote holistic health.

How To Forest Bathe At Home

There are many aspects of forest bathing that you can do at home if you’re not able to engage in the real thing.

Whenever you’re feeling stressed out, or as often as you like to prevent anxious feelings, try one or more of the following:

Diffuse Essential Oils

The visual beauty of a forest is a major reason why so many people experience a greater relaxed state. However the aroma of the forest may be even more powerful in affecting one’s mood. That’s because when we smell, we’re stimulating the limbic area of the brain which processes emotions and holds memories. Inhaling the natural essential oils in the woods or the essential oils extracted from plant parts, are equally effective in enhancing your mood!

To experience the benefits of forest bathing, simply diffuse the essential oils of trees that are present there. Try using:

• Cypress
• Fir trees (Siberian, White, Douglas, Balsam)
• Juniper Berry
• Spruce
• Frankincense
• Cedarwood
• Eucalyptus
• Tea Tree
• Myrrh
• Sandalwood
• Copaiba
• Arborvitae

DoTERRA is my favorite brand of essential oils because of their commitment to quality and purity, their sustainability efforts, and their close relationship with indigenous farmers around the world. Learn more here.

Listen to Forest Sounds

Close your eyes and imagine you’re in the forest as you listen to tracks of birds, wind through trees, a bubbling stream, and other woodland sounds.

Watch Calming Nature Videos

Viewing scenes of nature is better than nothing! Soothing scenes can definitely relax you. Research shows however, that these effects are more temporary than real-life experiences. You’re also dealing with the effects of an electronic device, so I recommend this option the least.

Do Guided Meditations Set In A Forest

The mind is a powerful force! You can use guided meditations set in the forest to create a space for very deep healing. This is whatI often do with coaching clients to support their mental, emotional, and spiritual health. If you do an online search, you’re sure to find a few helpful audio or video tracks. Feel free to reach out to me if you’d like my personal help.

Communicate With Trees Near Your Home

You don’t need to explore a whole forest just to experience the benefits of this nature therapy. Opening up your senses and connecting to the trees around your home may be more convenient as is still very effective. I like to combine grounding with a meditation:

1. Find a comfortable space outside near a tree.
2. Take off your shoes & socks and allow your feet to sink into the earth.
3. Consciously relax your body, letting it sink further with gravity.
4. Imagine that you’re sending roots down through the center of each foot.
5. See these roots connecting with the tree(s) around you, like you’re holding hands/roots with them.
6. As you breathe fully & deeply recognize how you’re exchanging life energy with the tree and how you have a symbiotic relationship with it.

Bring More Plants Into Your Home

Adding lovely ferns, orchids, and other forest plants to your home can create the visual appeal of time in the woods. If you’re serious about stress management, it’s a good idea to surround yourself with plants, especially if you work from home.

In Conclusion

Of course it’s best to experience the forest in real life! I’ve had so many amazing downloads, breakthrough, and moments of deep peace among the trees. But the home lifestyle practices I mention here can still be transformational if you don’t have access to nature on a regular basis.

I’m curious, do you forest bathe? What do you think of these at-home substitutes? Let us know in the comments how these nature therapies support your holistic health!

There’s an epidemic happening right now that I feel needs to be talked about since it’s continuing to grow: Spiritual poverty.  Why is lack of spirituality bad? How do you rise up out of it? Here’s my thoughts about why you need to take care of your spiritual health right now.  I really believe everyone will benefit from this, especially if the words spirituality and religion leave a bad taste in your mouth.  

Recorded Live in my Falcon Healing Arts Holistic Lifestyle Community on Facebook.

What Does Spirituality Have To Do With Health?

We tend to forget in the natural health field, the word “holistic” means whole. It refers to the different layers of being: body, breath/energy, emotions, mind, and spirit/soul. It means that you’re acknowledging every aspect of life, the obvious and the mystical, the tangible and intangible, with equal importance.

With this larger experience of life comes an appreciation of death as well, where one can regard it without fear. There is comfort knowing that your spirit lives on to some degree (details depending on your belief system). And this constant reminder of how precious and temporary our physical life is here on this planet reinforces how passionately we live.

Does it feel like people are living passionately these days?

No, it doesn’t look like it to me. On the contrary, many people seem to be terrified of both dying and living.

The Coronavirus pandemic has been a big test of people’s faith and belief systems. While we’re seeing a lack in spiritual faith, there’s an increased faith in human ingenuity. People are looking to intellectuals, scientists, politicians, and doctors to help them make life decisions instead of trusting in themselves and their connection with nature and spirit. And as a result, they’re ruled by anxiety and self-doubt. This, of course, is very damaging to one’s emotional, mental, and physical health (it’s all related!).

Why is lack of spirituality in our communities a problem?

I first started pondering this last week, when I realized I hadn’t been doing one of my favorite spiritual practices. It was sad to me that I had let go of this mantra meditation with my mala beads. Was I just too busy to do it? Or, is it because I’m uncomfortable bringing it into my teaching practice? I know that not many of my students are interested in spiritual health – maybe fear of offering them more is holding me back to a degree.

This was very concerning since I actually find chanting and mantra repetition very valuable! And yet I was unconsciously letting it go and in doing so, losing an important aspect of myself.

The biggest consequence of spiritual disconnection is the loss of self guidance and security.

When you’re not connected to your inner knowing, guided by your soul & spirit, then you are vulnerable to being taken advantage of. The divisive techniques (by politicians, the media, and certain educational institutions) are only working on those who don’t really know themselves. They let these agencies bribe, coerce, and threaten them because they’re so dependent. But this seems to be more comfortable than spiritual and personal development.

Connection to spirit can help you see the problem and move beyond it to continue to evolve. Enlightenment is worth the effort find it! There’s no way I would have been able to see the little snag I’m in right now with my spiritual practice if I didn’t already have a strong connected root to it.

How Do You Reconnect With Your Soul And Develop Spiritual Health?

The sticky history of many religions forcing their beliefs on people has brewed a sense of distrust in spirituality. It requires a lot of maturity to look beyond that to the essence of religions and the bigger message they’re trying to teach. Still, you don’t need to go to church and adopt the practices of a certain religion to reconnect with your soul!

I have a very deep spiritual life even though I don’t have a particular religion. I chant Hindu mantras, practice Buddhist meditation, talk to Jesus in my Shamanic journeys, appreciate channeled messages from the spiritual community, and celebrate Pagan seasonal ceremonies.

Whatever way we make sense of the world through our spirit body should be developed. What you do and how you do it is completely up to you!

Here’s some ideas you can explore:

• go deeper with the essence of your religion
• explore other religious practices
• read ancient spiritual texts
• engage in spiritual practices like chanting, prayer, and meditation
• being open to spiritual guidance with mindfulness practices like Yoga & Qigong
• sitting with your “higher self” or evolved consciousness
• heal your “inner child” with meditation and journaling
• spend more time in nature, which is a wonderful way to see what your place is in the world
• write down your dreams and explore their meanings
• listen to and develop your intuition

Let me know if you have questions about anything from this list. I could go deeper with future posts and videos. If you love the idea of personal and spiritual development, then check out my course Yoga and Self-Healing Practices for Holistic Health.

I personally believe that we are all eternal spirits having a physical experience. So, I really hope that this post helps you to connect with your authentic, soulful self. Many blessings to you friend…

We all have our own reasons for doing a diet and lifestyle detox cleanse program.  Personally, I want to get to the root of some unpleasant symptoms, bring my autoimmune thyroid condition back into remission, reduce inflammation, and manage my weight better. 

I developed Nourish To Heal after years of trying many detox programs and elimination diets.  After 12 days into it, I can say that it’s definitely worth the time and effort  because of all the positive results I’ve noticed.

If you’re on the fence about doing such a program, you may want to read on and/or watch the video below.  I hope that it will inspire you to commit to yourself, making longterm changes that can benefit your life on all levels.

In the Nourish To Heal program, I suggest that participants keep a daily journal. We’re eliminating processed foods, sugar, alcohol, gluten and caffeine (and optionally dairy, corn, and soy as well). In the journal, you’ll note meals eaten and any symptoms that come up while eliminating the inflammatory foods just mentioned. I ask that you note any social events and how you’re feeling emotionally too.

This daily diary is important to see how you’re progressing and if it’s worthwhile to continue, for I really believe that it’s healing for people to be eating like this MOST of the time!

That was my case.

So even though there’s an initial commitment of a week, I will be sticking to it for at least a month and possibly longer if I continue to progress.

Here’s what I’ve noticed about myself so far, 12 days into the program. The results positively impacted me on more layers than just my body. Read on if this interests you!

7 Of My Personal Detox Cleanse Program Results

1. Inflammation Culprits Identified!

Since my diet is already pretty clean, there’s less puzzle-work to get to the root. The major changes for me in this cleanse were to remove ALL processed junk food that contain inflammation-inducing polyunsaturated vegetable oils. I also omitted dairy and all added sugar. Everything else I keep out of my diet on a regular basis, and I only eat organic foods.

Just with those changes I’m losing some water weight. I’ve also noticed that I’m not as achy in the mornings when I wake up. Plus, my digestion and elimination is way quicker, easier, and has made my body feel light and free!

2. I Know What My Food Addiction Is

Now just because I have less to work to remove foods in the dietary portion of this cleanse does not mean it has been easy for me! I am acknowledging that I have an addiction to dairy, especially cheese. I love the flavor, the texture, and that it’s so easy to snack on! But being that it is likely one of the culprits causing the inflammation and disrupting my digestion, I am happy to take it out, at least temporarily, until I feel like I can bring it back in to test in small amounts without gorging.

This has also made me be more careful having healthy snack foods around the home. There’s plenty of nuts, dips, veggies like carrots & celery, and fruit that I can easily nibble on when I’m hungry in between meals.

I highly recommend you do a cleanse like this not only to free up your body, but to help create more healthy habits that include confronting addictions.

3. Stress Made My Symptoms Temporarily Worse

I made the mistake of doing too much during this cleanse. There are no mistakes though, only life lessons! And the big lesson here was that it’s best to just focus on myself doing something like this and not trying to lead a cleanse for the first time when doing it! I had a viral breakout on my lips and felt very run-down for a few days as a result. But it forced me to slow down and not obsess over adding content to the cleanse program. It got done, just a little behind schedule.

So you may want to take note too! It’s best to do this cleanse, at least the first week, when you don’t have much else going on. And make sure you’re prepared!

4. Lifestyle Cleansing Was Helpful For My Home And Finances

The fine-focus on my diet also helped me see more clearly other areas of my life that felt clogged and unpleasant. I noticed the clutter around the home and was able to commit to making small changes every day to clear it. I also created more movement around my finances to get my taxes organized so there’s less work for me later. I did some reflection on my business as well and committed to focusing on certain aspects while letting go of what hasn’t been working. All of these areas of my life now feel like they have greater flow and fresh energy around them.

5. Social Media Detox Came Naturally

The journal work in this program helped me to stay in-tune with my emotions. With this mindfulness, I felt less compelled to listen to political news shows that often get my blood boiling. I temporarily stopped listening to a few people on Instagram (again, who have inflammatory messages). And I got very quiet on my own social media channels.

This lull helped me see clearly that what I’m consuming through my eyes and ears is just as important as what I’m eating. It felt so good to have a healthy break from social media, I almost made the decision to stop building my business there altogether. But instead, I just decided to start posting again in a more healthy way. Now, I’m only going on to post content and engage a bit, not get sucked down any rabbit holes. And I’m still only engaging with other people’s content if it makes me feel good.

6. I’m More Emotionally & Energetically Free

The journal work also helped me to see how I was holding on to other people’s emotions and energy. This happens to “empaths”, and especially body & energy workers. Even those who are aware that it can occur are not always mindful of what “belongs” to them or not. I incorporated clearing exercises and essential oil protocols to help me consciously cut any energetic cords connected to others.

If you have similar issues and want to learn how to release them, reach out to me and I can help you.

7. I Learned I Want To Continue To Help Myself & Others This Way

Overall, this has been a very helpful and enjoyable experience! I love how focusing on my personal holistic health is helping me be a better guide for others. This program is now complete and available for anyone to purchase. I’d love to help you out as you go through it. But I’m also opening up some spots for health coaching too since I’m exploring an interest in that direction. Feel free to sign up for a free 15 minute call if you’re interested in working with me!

Have you done a cleansing program before? What did you learn about yourself? Did you make an permanent changes because of it? I’d love to hear more – please share in the comments!

Detoxifying and cleansing the body is more than a trendy practice to help you lose weight.  Did you know that it can actually initiate the beginning of an empowering wellness journey?  Did you know that you can heal holistically – in body, heart, mind, and spirit – when doing a cleanse gently and mindfully?  

Knowing that you can much more out of a cleansing program makes a huge difference in your ability to stick with it and get results.  So if you’re interested in doing a cleanse but not ready to commit yet, this information will hopefully get you off of the fence and preparing your kitchen & body!

What’s Your Intention For Cleansing?

When starting a cleanse, a detox diet, or whatever you want to call it – I believe it’s important to go into it with the right intention. This will help you choose the program style and to stay as objective as possible as you’re moving through it.

In my opinion, the best intention is to want to HEAL. Healing means that you’re moving from a place of disconnection, imbalance, or disease to a state of joyful well-being and acceptance.

This is important to distinguish from the negative intentions that motivate many people to cleanse. Feelings of disgust, disappointment, or inadequacy can lead you to choose extreme diets under the disguise of a therapeutic cleanse. That could cause further imbalances with metabolism, gut health, and muscle loss. Going into a program with a negative attitude is definitely not going to help you experience mental and emotional benefits. It will just continue the cycle of self-criticism.

Whereas if you go into a program with the intention to heal, you’re looking for positivity. You’ll make decisions based on self-love. And even if the physical results aren’t super profound, you’ll likely experience other benefits that are well worth the time and effort.

Holistic Benefits Of A Cleanse

Here’s what you may experience on all levels if you approach a cleanse with self love and the desire to heal. This is assuming that you’re choosing an organic, whole food cleanse with balanced macrobiotics, avoiding the major inflammatory foods & oils, and if you’re actively avoiding toxins.

Physical Benefits of a Detox

• As your body releases toxins more efficiently, you’ll able able to assimilate nutrients easier, fueling and hydrating all your cells
• By decreasing inflammation, you’ll lose weight, find more ease in your muscles & joints, and reduce symptoms of most chronic diseases
• Better sleep, allowing time to restore cellular health and energy
• Balanced hormones (purging excess estrogen) – this helps with emotions too!
• Clear skin
• Smooth digestion

Mental Benefits of a Detox

• Bringing more mindfulness into preparing, eating, and digesting your meals will help you appreciate these experiences more
• Notice which foods are best for you and your constitution (especially if using a food journal)
• Helps you prioritize eating healthy meals (time to shop & prepare – less likely to pick up junk food)
• The discipline of a cleanse can help you with mindfulness meditation too, cleansing your mind of stressful thoughts that impact your body and emotions

Emotional Benefits of a Detox

• Release emotions stored in the body as you let go of toxins and tension
• Experience more pleasure during eating rituals
• See more clearly if you’re dealing with any addictions that are keeping you unwell and develop the courage to release them

Spiritual Benefits of a Detox

• Enlightenment is more possible if you’re body, heart, and mind are clear (this is why cleansing practices are so important in Yoga)
• Experience self love and the deeper spiritual connection that stems from that

Here’s A 7+ Day Cleanse You Can Try

If you resonate with this list of holistic cleansing benefits, then you’ll also enjoy the program I just created called Nourish to Heal! It’s organized as a course in Teachable that you’ll have lifetime access to. Check out the details below and sign up when you’re ready! Note that I’ll be leading us through it April 5-11 and am offering it at a discounted price until April 11 (but it will still be available for purchase afterwards).

This program is the result of my combined work over decades to heal my own autoimmune thyroid condition as well as guide my TCM clients to nourish themselves in accordance with nature.⁣

Commit for a week for a simple reset, or for longer if you want to make serious lifestyle changes! ⁣ Hope to see you in the course…
⁣

Owning and wielding your personal power is a very important part of human emotional and spiritual development.  And yet many people don’t realize that they are lacking a true connection with this inner strength which can help them traverse life’s challenges more smoothly. 

Do you need to power up in your life?  Read on to learn why it’s important to embrace your power and some tips as to how you can harness it. And watch the video below where I share some personal experiences of when I’ve had to power up.

What is personal power?

Personal power is that force inside of you that allows you live with freedom and confidence.

It is not violent, as some people equate the word “power” with. It’s not a force that you hold over other people. This power is all good, and when fully embraced, can help you with healthy boundaries and solid connections.

Even though we often say that our inner power needs to be built up or developed, it’s more precise to say that needs to be revealed and wielded. This is because personal power is within each and every person. This innate energy is connected to our spirit, our will, and to our motivation for following our dreams.

When someone has issues connecting to their personal power, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have enough of it. It means that something is preventing them from seeing that they have it and using it. In a sense, they have consciously or unconsciously given this power away.

Signs That You Are Disconnected From Your Power

Like many aspects of the self, it’s often easier to notice when you’re disconnected from your power than when you’re fully embracing it.

This negative feedback is really helpful in recognizing that there is room for you to grow! So don’t feel bad if you find yourself caught in these patterns that indicate you’re not in your power:

• Always deferring to “experts” to guide what you think, say, and do
• Being afraid to share information with people that you think will help them because you’ll be criticized or judged
• Avoiding new things because you’re afraid of looking out of place
• Dissatisfaction with how life is unfolding in the moment (life is happening to you, not for you)
• Fear from holding beliefs that are outside the accepted norm (in politics, work organizations, society in general)
• Seeking approval from others, especially if you’re pretending to act a certain way to gain it
• You allow people to talk down to you when you feel they’re smarter, have more experience than you, etc.
• Complaining about how people treat you (as a victim)
• Having a hard time accepting someone else’s success or free ways of being (crabs in a bucket mentality)
• Projecting shame and blame on other people as you judge their choices

There are certainly more examples. Anytime you are fixated on someone else’s issues, or living under the influence of ideas that are not your own, you are not fully in your power.

How do you get your personal power back?

Remember that your power is always present, just may not be valued or used fully. So there’s little work in building it up.

Instead, you need to break the bonds that are making you feel incapable of standing in your power, and find you dependent on others.

Tips for Powering Up Your Life

• Know what you value
• Focus on what you can control
• Stop hanging out with people who make you feel bad
• Hang out with powerful people
• Stand up for yourself
• Speak your truth
• Journaling and mirror work
• Mindful Yoga & meditation

I go into detail about each of these points in the video at the top or here and share some of my slightly embarrassing personal examples!

If you want to dive deeper with me on how to work within your power, consider joining me on the Full Moon January 28, 2021. We’ll be focusing on personal power through mindful movement, meditation, journaling, and ritual to help you along this transformation path. So if you’re reading this before then, please consider signing up here!

Living fully in your power is a process.

It’s not going to happen immediately as soon as you bring your mind to it, but make take some time to build courage and feel comfortable being uncomfortable.

It is well worth the effort once you realize that you are no longer under the influence of other people’s ideas. You’ll walk through life feeling confident to make your own choices, not caring what people think of you. I did it for myself, so I know it’s possible for you too.

I hope you have more insight as to how you can be living in your power. Please let me know about it in the comments below!

My health mindset is what guides me when dealing with challenging issues for myself and my clients. However, the same mindset permeates into other areas of my life too. In this post (and the video below), I share with you the five aspects of this mindset and how it can help you take charge of your health and master it by the end of the year!

Also be sure to grab this free health mastery blueprint that will help you flesh out your own health mindset!

How to Take Charge of Your Health

I do not have perfect health (few people do), but I am healthier than many. What helps me stay well is a constant movement toward health mastery. The health challenges that I’ve overcome are what make me successful as a wellness practitioner too.

The major challenges that stick out as I reflect on them are my healing journeys around Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, emergency Cesarean birth, and my son’s eczema and gut health issue as a baby.

The following are aspects of my health mindset when working toward healing , which is the goal of any health challenge. As I introduce these, I’ll share how I applied them to putting my thyroid disease into remission.

1. Holistic View

In order to heal completely, it’s important to look at your situation with a holistic view. Holistic means that you’re embracing the physical, mental, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects that may be contributing to un-wellness. It also means that you’re looking at the situation from all angles.

I knew that there was much more to my Hashimoto’s diagnosis than what my doctor was telling me. I wanted to know the underlying cause and how my lifestyle might have contributed to the outcome, not just take medication for the rest of my life while my thyroid was quickly destroyed.

Branching out from this narrow Western view is what led me to approach healing from many different angles: whole food organic diet, detoxing, energetic clearing with acupuncture & essential oils, and meditation to manage my stress. Without this broach approach, healing may not have been possible.

2. Natural Approach and Support

I’ve come to realize over time that much of the health issues we deal with in this country are due to us being far removed from nature. We have unnatural sleep/work habits, and unnatural diet of franken-foods, we dope up on medications that are highly purified that the body has a hard time recognizing and processing.

Whenever I’ve taken a natural approach to health, things have fallen in place. I’m not just talking about using natural therapeutics, though they are also key. But even beyond that, I feel like I’ve always been offered the best wisdom from nature and practitioners who are aligned with it.

Of course this is what we learn in Traditional Chinese Medicine, that we’re microcosms of nature. So when I started this thyroid healing journey quickly after I starting TCM school, I was set up with both a natural approach, but also teachers who saw me as a whole person. All aspects of me were embraced as a patient. That, on top of the self love I was already experiencing, was deeply healing.

3. Take Responsibility as You Take Charge of Your Health

I know this is a tough one for people.

When you are unwell, or especially if you’re a parent of an unwell child, it is upsetting to think that something you did or did not do is contributing to the situation. But it is important to take responsibility for where you are now because that means that you also have the power to get yourself out of most health challenges.

When I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, I knew I had been burning the candle at both ends. I was extremely stressed out, my sleep was messed up, I lived on coffee, I was getting lots of sinus infections with rounds of antibiotics, my diet was not the best, and I worked around toxic chemicals in my lab.

There was no way I could just turn a blind eye to this disease and continue living as I had. I took responsibility and changed what I could. Those simple actions, built over time, are what helped me heal.

4. Adjust Expectations and Take Action

Quite often people delay their self healing work because it doesn’t seem like the right time, or they feel they don’t have enough money or resources. Truly, there is no perfect time and if you really want to heal, you shouldn’t delay. Our time here on this planet is uncertain, so everyday is precious! Embrace life and work toward wellness now!

It’s really important that you have realistic expectations. Be open to stalled progress. Be open to pleasant surprises like the perfect blood work I eventually received after years of lifestyle changes. Just keep moving forward.

Trust that your body is constantly working toward balance and want you to survive and works in it’s own timing.

5. Prioritize and Focus on Your Health and Healing

If it’s really important for you to manage your health issue, you will prioritize the work needed to do so. You’ll also

I started working to heal my thyroid immediately. It was so important to me, that I didn’t care how long it would take or if it would even work at all. I just had to do whatever I could, not just for myself, but as a wellness practitioner I wanted to understand this disease for others too.

This drive for health mastery is what has made me stick to a gluten free diet for 6 years, to put filters on our water supply, and to remove our home of toxic products. So prioritizing and focusing on your health also means to remove the things that are distracting you or keeping you from healing completely.

I hope my health mindset is giving you something to think about if you’re wanting to commit to mastering your health. It has worked for me and my clients time and time again, so I know it can help you too.

If you need more help, get my Health Mastery Blueprint below which has prompts that can help you flesh out what needs to be done to promote self-healing. Please let me know how it works out for you and if there’s anything you’d change. You can share in the comments below.

Well wishes!

If you like this blueprint, then you’ll love my new 6 week course I’m offering: Yoga and Self Healing Practices for Holistic Health. I’ll teach you traditional healing practices that are both practical and deep.

Are you stressed out and want to do something about it that greatly improves you life? If yes, then you’ll want to keep reading because, not all stress relieving methods are the same. Here’s 5 aspects to stress management techniques that I’ll share with you to keep the negative effects of stress at bay.

Everyone experiences stress. Yet since stress is a response to what is happening from someone’s individual perspective, the experience of stress is difference for everyone!

It’s known that as stress accumulates over time, your health can really suffer. So it’s a very good idea to try to relieve it every day. Some ways to relieve it are worlds better than others though, so it’s really important to talk about these five aspects to look for.

Before we get into this list, take a moment to think about or write down your favorite ways to relieve stress. When you’ve had a bad day, what do you do to relieve the stress that results?

After you go through this list, you can decide if your stress relieving method makes the cut or if you think you need to make some adjustments

5 Aspects of the Best Stress Relieving Methods

1. Is It Holistic?

When you’re doing something to relieve stress, does it benefit your physical, mental, and emotional health?

It’s common for people to just prioritize their body, relieving stress that shows up as physical tension. So in the case of a tension headache, they might just take medication to remove the pain, the symptom. But this ignores the fact that there’s likely emotional or mental stress that is manifesting as the physical headache! So to completely let go of stress, the work needs to be on an emotional and mental level too.

Spirituality comes into play as well. When one is not feeling supported in life, like they have no purpose, that is a spiritual issue. So stress might have a root that is even deeper than the heart and mind.

It would be best for you to choose stress relieving activities that are holistic, which means that you give equal attention to body, heart, mind, and spirit.

Yoga is an excellent example of a holistic activity that has a potential to relieve stress on every level. Just be careful here, that you’re not making assumptions about a certain class. The depth of your experience is dependent on the teacher, if you’re doing a led-class, but also on your approach.

You may want to check out Yogic Approach to Stress Relief to make sure that you’re making the most of your stress-relieving practice.

2. Are You Checking Out Or Checking In?

Choose an activity where you’re constantly checking in with ourself. 

Watching TV is an activity that many people like to do because they no longer experience the stress of the day while they’re doing it. But this is because they’re completely focused on something else. They are “checked out”. 

The stress will still be there when the show is over though. Nothing has changed or shifted!

It’s best to choose an activity like journaling with which you can check in with yourself and actively process what’s going on.  In fact, just writing down how you feel can shine a light on how stress is showing up in your life and it will be easier to see how you can avoid or release it.  Typically, once our feelings are acknowledged, they shift into something less intense and the physical tension shifts too.

I hope you’ll try it! Here’s more information on how journaling can help you.

3. Does It Support Your Health?

Some people reach for alcohol, drugs, or engage in addictive habits when they’re stressed out. This is a way of checking out and unconsciously disconnecting from the source of stress.

This is important to talk about, especially right now when we’ve had continuous stress from the Coronavirus pandemic for six straight months. Obviously, it’s not the best idea to rely on a stress relieving method that harms your health when done multiple times, every single day.

So sorry moms, I’m not laughing at your memes anymore about how much wine you’re needing to deal with your kids who are learning at home. Yes, believe me, I know it’s stressful. But there are much better ways to handle it that actually improve your health.

You can try this breathing practice, for a relaxing start to your day.

4. Does It Offer Short-term Or Long Term Effects?

Yes, sometimes we need to do something to take the edge off quickly.  But typically these are not the things that will lead to long-lasting effects. 

Engaging in stress management practices like deep breathing, mindfulness, aromatherapy, journaling and yoga can actually develop you to a degree that you can avoid stress or you’re just less affected by possible stressful events.  This cannot be said for quick pampering activities like getting a massage or your nails done.

Believe me, I LOVE to pamper myself.  I am not at all knocking these activities and recommend you keep doing them. But I would be clear that it’s for self-love, not as much for stress relief. The reason I don’t like that association is because, again, stress needs to be managed daily, so the way to relieve it needs to be simple and accessible, daily. It also needs to be something you can do for yourself.  

5. Does It Strengthen Your Connection To Others? 

Whatever you choose to do to manage your stress will be even more impactful if the effects are noticed and felt by other people in your life in a positive way.  It is very clear that when I’m meditating regularly, my home life and my relationships are more harmonious. 

What about meeting with friends – going on hikes, going out to dinner, or meeting for drinks? Those meeting can be extremely positive and supportive!  Or they can be detrimental and useless. It really depends on whether you’re having deep conversations that help you grow or if you’re just drinking wine and complaining about how life sucks! See, it’s what you do with the time that matters.

Conclusion

I hope this information is helpful and that is doesn’t trigger you!  I’m only going to recommend the stress management techniques that work effectively and consistently.

If you want to learn more about self-healing stress relieving practices, join my free 5-day Stress Less Holistic Health Challenge that is beginning on Sept. 28, 2020. 

This challenge will also help you with consistency and accountability if it’s just hard for you to make the time for these stress relieving activities.  We have a Facebook group that you can join, so we all support each other. 

What is your favorite way to relieve stress? Are you still thinking this is the best way to manage it now that you’ve reviewed this list? Please let me know in the comments!

Are you looking for natural, impactful ways to tame stress?  Is it becoming more challenging to manage it since we’ve been bombarded with one event after another this year?  Want to stay ahead of stress and learn how to release it quickly?  (Remember, there’s still U.S. elections to come!)  If so, then you’ll want to join my free 5-day Stress Less Holistic Health Challenge starting September 28!

You see, mini vacations and beauty treatments will only do so much in helping you deal with the challenges of our times. And dropping back several glasses of alcohol, taking drugs that relax you, and loading up on sugar can provide temporary relief, but damage your health in the long term (which creates another huge layer of stress).

The most calm, composed, resilient people right now are those who are fully awake and aware of what’s happening in them and around them. And they manage stress daily by natural means, constantly trying to improve their holistic health.

Who Will Benefit From This Challenge?

This challenge is perfect for you if you want to:

• Relax your body with natural, nourishing self-care practices
• Clear your mind in order to focus on what’s really important
• Open your heart to experience more love, patience, and understanding (with yourself and others!)
• Learn how to take life in stride regardless of what is coming at you (thanks 2020 for the opportunity to practice this ?)

You can’t control what’s happening around you, but you can control how you respond! I can teach you!

How Does The Free Health Challenge For Stress Work?

The challenge begins on Monday Sept. 28. Each morning (7:00am PDT) of the challenge, I’ll give you a practice that you can work on throughout the day to help you approach it in a more easy-going manner. Then in the evening (7:00pm PDT), I’ll be coming on LIVE in our community Facebook group to do a self-healing practice with you to help you release any stress that may have accumulated throughout the day.

If you’re not on Facebook, that’s fine. I’ll be emailing out these practices too. (The evening one will just be a little delayed since I’ll need to process the video replay to share with you).

I’ll be pulling from my expertise, sharing practices including yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, qigong, acupressure massage, aromatherapy, journaling, and more!

We’ll take some time to compare how your stress level has shifted throughout the week. You’ll then take what worked well for you and integrate it into your daily & weekly routine.

I know you will see a significant change! Your friends and family will probably notice too!

I look forward to working with you!

I know this free health challenge is going to help many people manage their stress and find more joy in their lives! If you have any friends or family members who could use help releasing stress, who are open to natural healing practices and willing to do the work, please share this post with them and encourage them to join!

The world needs this shift in perspective, how we see and manage the challenges before us in a positive way. I’d love for you to join me in modeling what that change looks like!