Wellbeing
Finding Your Joy in Challenging Times
03/01/21
"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home."
Gary Snyder ~ American poet
Some say that our planet and all beings upon her are in the midst of a great shift, a great awakening. Others would deny this, but I think we could all agree we've entered a period where the norm of our daily lives has become disrupted, where political polarization is at an all time high, a time where our livelihoods feel tenuous and our lives feel fragile.
Whether we view this as calamitous, or the byproduct of enormous birthing pains, we're challenged to hold onto our center, stay grounded and find ways to nourish ourselves, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Read More…
Gary Snyder ~ American poet
Some say that our planet and all beings upon her are in the midst of a great shift, a great awakening. Others would deny this, but I think we could all agree we've entered a period where the norm of our daily lives has become disrupted, where political polarization is at an all time high, a time where our livelihoods feel tenuous and our lives feel fragile.
Whether we view this as calamitous, or the byproduct of enormous birthing pains, we're challenged to hold onto our center, stay grounded and find ways to nourish ourselves, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Read More…
The Power of Breath
12/29/19
"The importance of breathing can hardly be stressed. It provides the oxygen needed for the metabolic processes; literally it supports the fires of life."
Alexander Lowen ~ The Voice of the Body
Our breath is our companion, accompanying us from the time we first enter the world, to the time we leave it. Yet, how many of us take our breath for granted, forgetting that awareness and regulation of our breath can reduce stress, improve health, increase vitality and even slow down the aging process.
When you observe infants and very young children, you can see their breathing is diaphragmatic and their inhalations and exhalations are full and natural. But soon, due to trauma or simply to familial and societal conditioning, often shallow, more constricted patterns of breathing begin to develop.
As we age, feelings of anxiety and stress continue to create suppression of our breath. And the repression of our emotions, as well as our sedentary life styles add to this pattern. How many of us have noticed, when we put our attention on it, that we have been holding or suppressing our breath at various points throughout the day?
Read More…
Alexander Lowen ~ The Voice of the Body
Our breath is our companion, accompanying us from the time we first enter the world, to the time we leave it. Yet, how many of us take our breath for granted, forgetting that awareness and regulation of our breath can reduce stress, improve health, increase vitality and even slow down the aging process.
When you observe infants and very young children, you can see their breathing is diaphragmatic and their inhalations and exhalations are full and natural. But soon, due to trauma or simply to familial and societal conditioning, often shallow, more constricted patterns of breathing begin to develop.
As we age, feelings of anxiety and stress continue to create suppression of our breath. And the repression of our emotions, as well as our sedentary life styles add to this pattern. How many of us have noticed, when we put our attention on it, that we have been holding or suppressing our breath at various points throughout the day?
Read More…
The Healing Power of Water
09/12/19
If it is said that breath is life, then surely it should be said that water is life also, for our very survival depends upon them both. We live on an incredibly beautiful planet, sometimes referred to as the Blue Jewel, and seventy one percent of Earth’s surface is covered in water. Our own bodies, with our trillions of cells, are also comprised of up to seventy percent water.
Just as we are able to use our awareness to regulate our breath in order to release stress, modify mood and to energize and oxygenate our system, we can use water more consciously, not only to cleanse ourselves, but to enhance our health and well-being.
We have been fortunate in the Western world to enjoy fairly easy access to running water, even if much of it has been chemically treated in ways that can’t be called healthful. Yet, compared to many other parts of the world, where running water and water in general is scarce, we should count ourselves lucky. Read More…
Just as we are able to use our awareness to regulate our breath in order to release stress, modify mood and to energize and oxygenate our system, we can use water more consciously, not only to cleanse ourselves, but to enhance our health and well-being.
We have been fortunate in the Western world to enjoy fairly easy access to running water, even if much of it has been chemically treated in ways that can’t be called healthful. Yet, compared to many other parts of the world, where running water and water in general is scarce, we should count ourselves lucky. Read More…
Energy Medicine
06/25/19
"In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy."
– Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, 1937 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine
Daughter of a physician and a nurse educator, I grew up in a household where dinner table conversation often consisted of hospital talk. My father, an anesthesiologist, gave spinals to women in labor, a practice more commonly used in those days. Although he claimed he had given over 50,000 spinal injections, and while I'm sure he was there when some of the women gave birth, I don't ever recall him mentioning that wondrous miracle. Instead he spoke of all the things that had gone wrong at the hospital that day.
My father, a German Jew who had escaped Nazi Germany and whose own parents hadn't, was a highly cultured, intelligent man prone to guilt, overwork, dissatisfaction and complaint. Given his challenging history, it makes sense that he might focus on the negative, but I have to admit our dinner table conversations did little to inspire my confidence in hospitals or in allopathic medicine.
While there have been remarkable advances in the field of allopathic medicine, and I'm certainly glad to be living in an era where so many aliments people would have have previously died from are now manageable, treatable and often curable, I've always gravitated, perhaps based upon my personal bias, toward what I broadly refer to as Energy Medicine.
Read More…
– Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, 1937 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine
Daughter of a physician and a nurse educator, I grew up in a household where dinner table conversation often consisted of hospital talk. My father, an anesthesiologist, gave spinals to women in labor, a practice more commonly used in those days. Although he claimed he had given over 50,000 spinal injections, and while I'm sure he was there when some of the women gave birth, I don't ever recall him mentioning that wondrous miracle. Instead he spoke of all the things that had gone wrong at the hospital that day.
My father, a German Jew who had escaped Nazi Germany and whose own parents hadn't, was a highly cultured, intelligent man prone to guilt, overwork, dissatisfaction and complaint. Given his challenging history, it makes sense that he might focus on the negative, but I have to admit our dinner table conversations did little to inspire my confidence in hospitals or in allopathic medicine.
While there have been remarkable advances in the field of allopathic medicine, and I'm certainly glad to be living in an era where so many aliments people would have have previously died from are now manageable, treatable and often curable, I've always gravitated, perhaps based upon my personal bias, toward what I broadly refer to as Energy Medicine.
Read More…
Learning to Live in the Now
11/05/18
"To be aware of little, quiet things, you need to be quiet inside. A high degree of alertness is required. Be still. Look. Listen. Be present."
- Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle makes me laugh. Not just because he is funny, which he is, but because he sheds such clarifying and humorous light upon the human condition. Here we are, frantically trying to escape ourselves, desperately wanting to flee and/or resist the present moment.We are always looking to get to the next moment, which is futile and paradoxical, of course, because it is always the now.
Our overactive minds are always judging, evaluating, criticizing, commenting. We spend our time reviewing the past or projecting ourselves into the future, fearing what could happen, or imaging the next wonderful thing we might attain. Clouded as we are by our history, our conditioning, our unresolved wounds, experiencing our lives in the present moment without constant, continual mind chatter, is an experience that remains elusive.
Lighten Up Your Life
03/10/18
Think of a time when you felt light, clear, carefree, unburdened and expansive. Remember how good it felt, and how perhaps it reminded you of times as a child when you were more fully present, when your senses were heightened and you felt more alive.
As an adult living in a complex, stressful, demanding, often chaotic world, how nice it would be to have that experience more often. So, what are some things one can do to streamline, simplify and lighten up one's life?
Let's start with the external. Think of your living environment. Is it cluttered or clean? Are your closets full of clothing you never wear, your bookshelves full of books you no longer need, your kitchen cabinets filled with dishes and plates you never use? Clearing your living environment of unwanted items is one way to bring fresh energy into your life. One way to create more clarity, simplicity and flow. Read More…
As an adult living in a complex, stressful, demanding, often chaotic world, how nice it would be to have that experience more often. So, what are some things one can do to streamline, simplify and lighten up one's life?
Let's start with the external. Think of your living environment. Is it cluttered or clean? Are your closets full of clothing you never wear, your bookshelves full of books you no longer need, your kitchen cabinets filled with dishes and plates you never use? Clearing your living environment of unwanted items is one way to bring fresh energy into your life. One way to create more clarity, simplicity and flow. Read More…
Feng Shui and Flow
09/12/17
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art and science that was developed over 3,000 years ago. Practitioners of this discipline seek to create harmony and balance by optimizing the flow of Chi within our living spaces, as well as within our external environment. The words Feng Shui mean wind and water, two forces of nature which beautifully express the powerful energy of flow.
We are living in a most challenging time upon the planet. Great tumultuous shifts are occurring, and we have recently witnessed the potential for the fluid elements of wind and water to unleash chaos, disruption and destruction. In these unsettling times, it is more important than ever for us to find ways of creating more stability, harmony and balance.
We are being asked to let go of outdated beliefs and mental constructs we may still be clinging to that no longer serve us. We are being asked to pare down and simplify our lives. The principles of Feng Shui, which essentially have to do with the enhancement of flow can be applied to many aspects of daily life. Read More…
We are living in a most challenging time upon the planet. Great tumultuous shifts are occurring, and we have recently witnessed the potential for the fluid elements of wind and water to unleash chaos, disruption and destruction. In these unsettling times, it is more important than ever for us to find ways of creating more stability, harmony and balance.
We are being asked to let go of outdated beliefs and mental constructs we may still be clinging to that no longer serve us. We are being asked to pare down and simplify our lives. The principles of Feng Shui, which essentially have to do with the enhancement of flow can be applied to many aspects of daily life. Read More…
Living a Compassionate, Heart Centered Life
06/08/17
We are moving into a time on the planet when people are becoming increasingly aware of the importance and the grace that comes from living a compassionate, heart centered life. But in our often too busy and stressful lives, how can we foster and nourish our capacity to live more mindfully, more lovingly?
Because love and compassion are such powerful forces, they can ripple out in exponentially increasing circles, touching those within the intimate sphere of our life, as well as touching many beyond. But compassionate love has to begin at home, in the center, within us. It starts with our own self love, our own compassion for ourselves. Read More…
Because love and compassion are such powerful forces, they can ripple out in exponentially increasing circles, touching those within the intimate sphere of our life, as well as touching many beyond. But compassionate love has to begin at home, in the center, within us. It starts with our own self love, our own compassion for ourselves. Read More…