Tag Archives: stress reduction

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Simple Ayurvedic Tips for Bliss & Beauty

Ayurveda is an ancient healing modality that uses natural remedies to help you become your most healthy, peaceful self. It also has a strong emphasis on achieving bliss and creating beauty in your life for yourself and all the people around you.

Follow these tips to experience more joy, freedom and blessings in your day-to-day life.

Drink A Glass Of Water

First thing in the morning, drink a glass of room temperature water or a glass of hot water with lemon. This is an age-old secret for reducing toxins. The warm water stimulates the digestive and elimination tract. Over time, you will see your skin clear up because your body is better at pushing out the toxins.

Enjoy A Walk

Go for a walk with a friend, co-worker or even your dog. A daily moderate walk benefits the cardiovascular system, tones the muscles and balances the mind, body and spirit. We all have a natural rhythm to which we walk. That rhythm calms the mind and stimulates our respiratory system to breathe deeply thereby filling us with more oxygen which aids in bringing a positive balance to our mind, body and spirit.

Take An Ayurvedic Lunch Break

Take a break from processed, canned, frozen or packaged foods. These foods are really harsh on the body and create a build up of toxins in the system.

Instead, treat yourself to a fresh, warm lunch (avoid leftovers because they have less nutritional value and contain dullness). A nice, wholesome salad with green leafy vegetables is the perfect way to nourish your body. If you can, eat at a local café that serves fresh organic foods. Silence your phone, shut off your laptop, and devote all your attention to the meal you’re about to consume. Let your mind think about how this food will bring nourishment to your mind and body.

Manage Stress With Breath

We tend to overbook ourselves quite a bit. Take a moment during the day to pause and do some deep breathing for 2-3 minutes. You can do this anywhere: in your car, at your desk, in the rest room.

Allow the deep breaths to help you melt away any stresses that may be harboring in the mind or body.

Give Your Emotions A Boost

If you’re hungry, eat a pear instead of a Hershey’s bar. When you stay away from candy and super sweet, salty or sour foods, you help your body stay balanced through the day. You can still have your dessert. Focus on something yummy like a pear, an apple, pineapple or watermelon. These are naturally sweet and good for your body.

Drink A Glass Of Milk

At bedtime, drink a glass of warm almond or coconut milk. I love to add a pinch of cardamom or nutmeg to aid digestion and help induce sleep.  Light a candle and play some music when you sit down to enjoy the warm, comforting beverage. This is a delightful way to begin a routine that will help your body to get ready for slumber.

How do you find your bliss? Visit http://www.freegiftsfromRochele.com to get “21 Tips to Instantly Reduce Stress” for more ideas.

Wishing peace to your mind, wellness to your body and tranquility to your spirit!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

Host of “Blissful Living”

Author of : “Intro to Holistic Health, Ayurveda Style”

Co Author of:  “Answering The Call, ” “Rapid Change For Heart Centered Women”  and “The Live Sassy Formula”

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.doublewidenetwork.com/index.php/Shows/detail/blissful_livng

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10 Ayurvedic Secrets To Uplift The Emotions And Create Inner Peace

The power of the Ayurvedic approach is all about simplicity. Keeping things simple can be somewhat deceptive, but it can also be extremely powerful. We work to make some lifestyle adjustments to form a powerful package that will support emotional balance.Within this powerful package, there are a lot of simple things we can do to uplift our emotions and create inner peace. Try some of these secrets today and see what a difference they can make.

Secret 1: Go to bed at a consistent time. Be sure to be in bed by 10 pm every night. If you can get to sleep a little earlier, that’s fine, but the key is to make sure that you’re getting the right amount of sleep for your body. If you know you need 7 hours, plan for that. If you need 8, make that a priority. Getting enough rest is essential for emotional health. When we have a consistent sleep schedule, we are able to fall asleep more easily: our melanin knows when to kick in and our sleep process begins before we even get in bed.

Secret 2: Wake up with the rising sun. Now that you’ve gone to sleep at 10 pm, I suggest waking with the sunrise. That varies during the season, but right now (early summer) the sun comes up about 6 am. Waking up early is important for emotional health. If we sleep too long, we build up toxins, or Ama. If we don’t sleep enough, the mind won’t be fully rested.

Secret 3: Walk outdoors. Breathe deeply when you go for a walk outside. Focus on taking in fresh air and stimulating your respiratory system. The perfect time to go for a refreshing walk is as the sun is rising: just as it brings energy to the earth, it activates the energy centers in the body.

Secret 4: After you go on your walk, eliminate. Sometimes people suffer from constipation that causes headaches or a feeling of dullness. Low moods and a sense of sluggishness often accompany constipation as well. Drink some warm water with a little bit of lemon essential oil or lemon juice to get the digestive system moving. If that doesn’t help you to eliminate, eat some prunes, figs or even cooked apples at night before you go to bed to get that sludge moving along.

Secret 5: Eat intelligent foods. These are organic, unprocessed, non-GMO foods that are quickly digested because there are no toxic chemicals that the body has to sort through or filter out. These foods give your body natural fuel and boost immunity. Apples, pears, almonds, yogurt, walnuts, cloves, almond milk, kale, spinach and broccoli are just a few examples of intelligent food.

Secret 6: Give yourself a nice daily body massage with yummy oils. Coconut oil, sesame oil or even almond oil is perfect. A massage increases circulation and helps clear toxins from the tissues. It will invigorate the body, calm the mind and sooth the emotions.

Secret 7: Practice yoga. Even as little as 5, 10 or 15 minutes in practice of asanas or yoga postures will stimulate the digestive fire within and cleanse the colon of toxins. Yoga is also great for uplifting low moods.

Secret 8: Add spices to your intelligent food. I love cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Spices help the body assimilate food and create less toxic buildup in the colon.

Secret 9: Spend a few minutes by yourself in peace and gratitude. Think about something for which you are grateful. This can be done any time through the day, maybe even during your morning walk. Allow yourself to be completely wrapped up in that feeling of gratitude. When you do that, the anxiety dissipates and you welcome in a warm, loving and positive energy, creating a sense of inner peace.

Want more tips to reduce stress, naturally? Visit http://www.freegiftsfromRochele.com to get “21 Tips to Instantly Reduce Stress” for more ideas.

 

Wishing you much health and wellness!

 

Namaste,

 

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN, AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

Host of “Blissful Living”

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

www. youtube.com/rochelelawson

Twitter: @rochelelawson

info@healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.doublewidenetwork.com/index.php/Shows/detail/blissful_livng

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Beginner’s Guide to Aromatherapy – Part 2: How to Use Essential Oils

In the last blog [https://ayurvedahealing.org/2014/05/20/beginners-guid…essential-oils], we talked about what essential oils are and how they can be used to support the body and mind. Today, we’re exploring some common essential oils, how you can use them, and where to get them.

Where To Buy Essential Oil

It’s important that you purchase the most highly therapeutic grade of essential oil available. When you go to the grocery store, it’s possible that you will see essential oil on the shelf for sale, but that’s not the grade you want and it shouldn’t be taken internally or diffused into the air. Generally, grocery store grade oil also contains fillers in addition to the pure oil and those fillers are not conducive to promoting health and wellness.

My favorite companies that specialize in essential oils are Young Living and doTERRA. Mountain Rose and Banyan Botanicals are also good options; these two companies specialize in herbs but they do offer highly therapeutic grades of oil. You can order oils online with any of these four companies.  

Common Essential Oils and How To Use Them

Lavender essential oil is fabulous for enhancing relaxation. If you’re feeling stressed, lavender is a great essential oil to diffuse in the air or put on yourself topically.

Lavender can also be ingested internally, so you can put a drop of oil in your water to feel the effects that way. Often you will smell lavender in a spa setting because it is so relaxing to the mind, body and spirit.

Lavender is also used to cleanse and sooth minor cuts, burns and skin irritations. If you have a bug bite or itchy skin, you can put a drop of lavender oil on it and the itching will stop. It is also healing for acne.

Lemon essential oil is an excellent source of something called D-Limonene, which is helpful in boosting the body’s natural defenses. It has a wonderful fresh citrusy smell, and it’s great for promoting energy and mental clarity.  

Lemon essential oil is a great jump-start for detoxifying your liver. Place a drop of pure lemon essential oil in warm water in the morning before you drink anything else to awaken your immune system.

When you go to the gym, put a drop of lemon essential oil in your water bottle to get natural, sustained energy. It also helps prevent that dry, cottonmouth and stinky breath that often accompanies exercise!

Peppermint essential oil is used to ease tension and promote a healthy respiratory system. It also combats mental fatigue and physical fatigue.

Peppermint essential oil  is oil that you can take internally. Keep your palate cleansed by putting a drop of peppermint essential oil in a glass of water. To relieve a tension headache, you can place a drop of essential oil on your temples and on the back of your neck to get instant relief. If you have muscle pain, rubbing a drop of peppermint oil on the area will instantly relieve the tightness and the discomfort.

Peppermint oil is very awakening and refreshing, so if you find yourself on a long drive, just take a sniff to awaken your senses and bring back mental clarity.

Essential oils are a great way to enhance your quality of health and wellness. I like to carry around tiny sample vials of lavender, peppermint, lemon, rosemary and basil for those times when I need a little boost through the day.

Which essential oils do you use, or are you interested in trying out? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts.

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

Twitter: @rochelelawson

http://www.stressassessmentmagic.com

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Beginner’s Guide to Aromatherapy – Part 1: What Are Essential Oils?

In Ayurveda, one of the natural modalities that is used to help a person achieve wellness and balance is called aromatherapy. Essential oils play a specific and very important role in our lives because they’re all natural and very healing.

The essences of the oil are extracted from the plants’ leaves, roots, seeds and flowers. When we use these highly concentrated molecules on our bodies, they interact with our bloodstream, either when we inhale them, absorb them or take them internally, and we benefit directly from the nutrients in the plant.

Keep in mind that plants and humans have evolved alongside each other for thousands of years and we basically have somewhat the same chemistry. However, when we extract the essential oil from the plant, we’re taking part of its critical survival mechanism and its immune system. That, when ingested, helps our bodies achieve health and well-being.

Aromatherapy

The beautiful thing about utilizing essential oils is the science of aromatherapy. This is more than just the smelling of essential oils, it goes way deeper.

When we inhale these wonderful essential oils, the sensory palate within our brain is stimulated. The reaction can seem subtle, but different oils activate different aspects within our body to promote a state of equilibrium and synchronicity. This manifests outwardly as less stress and anxiety, and an increased sense of happiness, joy and creativity.

So Ayurveda uses essence, or the science of aromatherapy, for many multi-dimensional facets of healing, depending on what the client’s needs may be. Sometimes it is best to ingest certain essential oils directly, which looks like taking a drop of oil just as we would take a spoonful of honey.

Prayer and Meditation

Essential oils have been utilized for thousands of years during prayer and meditation. The Catholic Church specifically uses incense such as frankincense and myrrh, which dates back to Biblical days. This is a great tool to enhance spirituality and bring us closer to God and Spirit.

In the simplest terms, aromatherapy is the therapeutic use of pure essential oils to enhance the skin, the body, the mind and the soul.

Today, try rubbing a dab of oil on various parts of your body, such as your forehead or your third eye, your temple, your ear lobes or behind your neck. It also feels good to rub it into the bottom of your feet. It will take about 20 seconds to absorb, and about 2-4 minutes for your body to begin processing the benefits of the oil. You will notice your anxiety decrease and feel your mood uplifted.

Now you know what essential oils are and how you can use them to support your body and mind. Next week, I’m going to talk about which oils to use, where to get them, and how they can improve your quality of life.

Did you find this article useful? Please share it with your loved ones and comment below.  

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

Twitter: @rochelelawson

http://www.stressassessmentmagic.com

 

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Natural Tips to Help You Fall Asleep Faster

Most people have an idea of what to do in order to get a peaceful night’s rest, but for one reason or another they still find themselves tossing and turning. Their mind won’t quit – it won’t shut off.

We all know that lack of sleep can cause many significant health issues and increase stress levels. And yet, for about 50% of the nation’s population, getting a good night’s sleep is harder than mining for diamonds in Africa!

In Ayurveda, sleep is one of the three pillars of health. In order for our bodies to have perfect health and well being, we need to have time to relax and rejuvenate ourselves. With the intention of decreasing stress and reducing its effect on our bodies, here are some simple tips for falling asleep that have helped my clients and myself tremendously.

Lavender Essential Oil

Put a drop of highly therapeutic lavender essential oil on the bottom of each foot and massage it in to your skin. Use your finger to rub it in about 8-10 times. The oil will be absorbed into the body very quickly, and you can use the remaining oil on your shoulders. This will help to cool the winds of the mind and move into a relaxed state.

Make Your Diet A Routine

Eat three cooked meals a day, preferably at the same time of day. This will help the mind fall into a normal routine or pattern to decrease feelings of chaos and unpredictability. As much as you can, keep things stable and regular.

Choose A Bedtime

Ideally, go to bed by 10 pm and wake up by 6 am to set a predictable pattern for the mind. Use the lavender oil on your body about 15 minutes before you’re ready for lights out to relax your body. 

Remove Electronics

Turn off the television and any electronic equipment in your room! The electromagnetic energy and radiation that comes from these devices keep your mind alert, especially if your cell phone makes a sound every time you receive a message. Ideally, turn off the TV at least 15 minutes before you go to bed and keep all electronics away from the area where you sleep.

Drink Warm Milk

Make a nice, warm, yummy drink to help relax your body: warm 4-6 oz. milk and put a pinch of nutmeg in it. Allow the nutmeg to be absorbed and enjoy. If you’re lactose intolerant, this recipe still works great with other kinds of milk (coconut, almond, soy, etc.).

Nutmeg is a natural sleep inducer because it allows melatonin to release naturally, but be careful not to add too much as it can be harmful to the body.

Diffuse Essential Oil

A diffuser is a container that you fill with water and a couple drops of essential oil. It works similar to a mister or vaporizer to add essential oils into the atmosphere, and is a lovely way to help your body relax. Let it be part of your 15-minute ritual before you go to bed.

Meditation

Try a 5-minute meditation to calm the mind. It doesn’t have to be formal, it can be as simple as laying in bed with the lights off and giving gratitude for the things that happened during the day.

When thoughts come up, repeat the word “calm” to yourself. Say, “I am calm, I am at peace, I am relaxed and I’m being restored.” Repeat this phrase and allow the rambling thoughts to disappear. Eventually you’ll fall off into slumber and have a great night’s sleep.

Are you ready to create more relaxation and peace in your life? Visit: http://www.stressassessmentmagic.com to discover the best ways to promote health and vitality for your body type.

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

Twitter: @rochelelawson

http://www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

 

 

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Ayurveda Herbs for Dissolving Stress

In Ayurveda, we understand that there is a need to create inner calm without diminishing our alertness and awareness of our surroundings. Herbal remedies are a great way to support this naturally without creating brain fog (which is often a side effect of pharmaceutical drugs).

When herbs are ingested, your body receives the natural medicine right from the plant. Pharmaceutical drugs are also created from flora, only the drug companies extract the natural medicine from the plant and tinker with the chemical composition in ways that can have harmful side effects.

Scientific research has shown that utilizing herbs can reduce stress and anxiety as well as create a sense of calm and heightened alertness. They allow us to build up Ojas, the essence that helps keep our immune system strong.

There are several herbs that I like to call the “worry-free” or “stress-free” herbs because they enhance the power of mental processing. The herbs I’m about to talk about have a special nature: they relax the anxiety in the mind, bring us a sense of awakening and enlightenment, and help us to feel connected with Mother Nature in a natural, nourishing way.

Jatamansi, Greater Galangal and Ashwagandha

These herbs help enhance the mind’s overall ability to fight stress. They’re thought of as the cleansing herbs because they clean out the toxins of the mind and help open up the gap for understanding and awareness.

Between stress and calmness is a gap where our intelligence resides. We always want to tap into this intelligence to heighten our level of clarity and enlightenment.

How to Use Them

I suggest making a tea with these three herbs. You can combine all three of them together, or use the one at a time.

Place ½ – 1 tsp herbs into a tea steeper with boiling water. Allow the tea to sit about 3-5 minutes. The longer you let it steep, the stronger and more effective it will be.

You can use natural sweeteners like agave nectar, but the tea will be delicious without any sweetening as well. Sip on the tea and watch what happens with your mind: you will find yourself becoming more clear, focused, stress-free and anxiety-free.

How to Buy Them

Often these herbs are already formulated in tea bags, but you can also get them in capsules at different health food stores.  The capsules are basically the dried herbs that is crushed and put in the gel caps.

I recommend purchasing the best quality, organic, non-GMO herbs online from Banyan Botanicals or Mountain Rose Herbs. Sometimes these herbs are imported so you’ll have to wait a little longer; often there may be a wait for Jatamansi and Ashwagandha because they are such potent and powerful medicines. You can also contact me at info@healthhealingwellness.com] for help in purchasing the products.

If you’re ready to improve your health in a meaningful and natural way, visit                              http://www.stressassessmentmagic.com] for some easy and free ways to enhance your well-being.

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

Twitter: @rochelelawson

http://www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

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How Stress is Affecting Your Health

In our modern world, being in a stressful state is often regarded as normal or even laudable as a sign of hard work. The reality is that when you’re under stress, no matter how well you handle it, eventually you will begin to see the affects on your physical, mental and spiritual health.

 Fight or Flight

When our bodies are in a stressful state, they release endorphins, the fight or flight stress hormone, as well as adrenaline, epinephrine and norepinephrine. When you’re in a constant state of stress, the hormones and steroids that should only operate when you’re truly in a fight of flight situation are constantly being released into your body.

When this happens, the weakest part of your body will be affected first. You may begin to develop high blood pressure or have kidney issues. You may suffer like I did (https://ayurvedahealing.org/2014/01/13/ayurveda-honor…ndividual-body) from digestive challenges or have problems in the mind, such as intense anger, depression or extreme anxiety that begin to affect the way you treat others.

When all these things are going on constantly, the body shifts into a frantic and panicked state.

How to Tell if You’re Under Stress

It’s not unusual for someone under prolonged stress to get so used to it that she or he begins to think that’s just how life goes. They may not realize something is off until another person points it out to them, or they’re suddenly dealing with a crisis that forces them to change their ways. So how can you tell if you’re living with the kind of stress that will affect your health?

Pay attention to the signs. Physically, people under tremendous stress being to experience chest pains or more frequent migraines. Rapid weight loss or weight gain is also common, depending on how the person is dealing with stress.

Another sure sign of stress is the state of your relationships. When you’re stressed, you interact with your friends, co-workers and loved ones differently. For instance, when I am under a lot of stress, I become short-tempered and have a sharp tongue. I don’t care what I say or if I’ve hurt your feelings, and I become vindictive. That’s not normal for me, and when I act like that it pushes people away and it’s a clear sign that something is out of balance.

What You Can Do Today

If you’re feeling a lot of stress, or if you recognize any of the symptoms above as your own, there are several things you can do right now to replace stress hormones with feel-good hormones, and they’re all very easy!

Take a walk in nature. Let yourself be pulled away from the everyday stresses at work and with your family.

If you can’t do that, turn on some music you like – blast it! If you’re driving and you feel yourself getting angry, turn on some nice music on the radio and just chill, relax.

Spend time with uplifting friends. Even just sitting down for a 40-minute cup of coffee with someone you like can make a great difference in your stress levels.

Stress is definitely very present in our 21st century lives, but it is also manageable and doesn’t have to make you miserable. Have you tried any of these simple tricks to relieve stress? Share your experience in the comments below.

Wishing You Much Health and Wellness!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

Twitter: @rochelelawson

http://www.youtube.com/rochelelawson

http://www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

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Do You Have Resilience?

I’ve always thought that I was a pretty resilient person however after recently reading an article on resiliency; I realized that I have some work to do. Let me explain. You see there was a 40 year study conducted on the island of Kauai and it involved the development of children. During this period close to 700 children were observed in the area of their development. What was observed was that 1/3rd of the children grew up to be contented, successful and caring adults. The conclusion for this was that it was due to their great resiliency. These children had the ability to not let things get them down and to find happiness despite adversity.

Psychologists have discovered that resilient people share some of the same characteristics. It is based on this information that I discovered that I needed to do some more work in this area. Take a look at the information below to see if you have the characteristics of resiliency.

1)    Emotional control: Changing from a negative state of mind to a positive state

of mind is not a challenge for highly resilient people.

2)    Considered behavior: Resilient people are not easily distracted. They pursue

their goals with concentration and discipline. They do not give into their whims.

3)    Causal analysis: In negative situations they ask “why” instead of indulging in

being angry.

4)    Empathy: They are able to see things from another person’s point of view

and can change their perspective based on this information.

5)    Realistic optimism: They harbor no illusions about reality. ( It is what it is).

They have an optimistic outlook on life.

6)    Goal orientation: These people are always setting new goals and work at these

goals consistently.

            7)  Self- belief: They believe they can change themselves and their lives.

Now that you know some of the qualities of a resilient person, how many of these qualities do you exhibit or do you need improvement in areas?

After looking at these qualities and realizing that I needed to do some work in some areas to improve my resiliency, I decided to examine my practice of wellbeing to see how I could improve my resiliency. What I discovered is that I have some tremendous tools that I use and share with my clients to improve their health that can actually be used improve resiliency too. I have decided to share some of the tools that I use that are geared toward overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles and bounce back after a crisis.

Use the little irritations and challenges in your daily life as opportunities to train yourself to become more resilient.

Often people wish the world would change to suit them but in reality it just does not work that way. It is much easier to change yourself because you posses the ability to interpret and evaluate incidents in many different ways. You have the ultimate control over how you think and feel. If you have difficulty in this area here is something that may help you.

Find out which attitudes and convictions are responsible for your negative emotions. Once you do this ask yourself why you feel this way. Feel free to write this down in a journal or on a piece of paper. Writing it out helps you to see it in a more realistic and personal manner. Then write a new conviction opposite of what you have just written down that identifies how you want to feel. Cross out the old one and keep the new one with you where you will come across it frequently such as in your pocket, purse or wallet. Each time you come across it read it silently and once out loud.

While you can’t expect to change your old convictions immediately, when you realize how fabulous your new thoughts make you feel you will want to make the new thoughts a permanent part of your life. What is important to note is that as you do this you are increasing your flexibility while becoming more resilient.

Another tool you can use to increase your resiliency is to understand and question your negative emotions. Let me explain. The same situation may trigger different emotions in different people; the key is to understand what this reveals about you. When you know what makes you respond the way you do, it will become easier to control your emotions. For example, if you are often angry, ask yourself if it is because you feel someone has violated your rights or if it is something else. Being aware of this can be the key in permanently changing your convictions to a more positive state.

In Ayurveda, the goal is to keep the mind and body in a state of balance“bliss” as much as possible and increasing your resiliency is a great way to help your mind and body stay in a state of “bliss.”

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochele Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

www.rochelelawson.com

www.meditationsforbliss.com

twitter:@rochelelawson

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

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Using Your Hands To Reduce Stress

Did you know that stress relief is in the palm of your hands or rather within your grasp? As the old saying goes “sometimes the answer is in your hands.” We have all heard of the various spa treatments that are aimed at relieving your stress. In fact many spas now offer 3, 5 and 7 day spa retreats designed to decrease your stress and improve your well being however I am here to tell you that you do not have to go to a spa or go on a spa retreat to relieve your stress, in fact you can do it everyday as often and needed and the best thing of all it is “free.”

 

 

I am so excited to share this with you because I know how much damage stress can do on the mind and body. When I work with a client, one of the first things that I do is an assessment on them. I take a look at every aspect that is important to my Ayurvedic assessment of the person. As part of my assessment I examine the hands. I look at the nails, the shape and width of the hand and I look at the fingers. I can tell a lot about a person’s wellbeing by doing this. The reason I share this with you is to help you to bring awareness to how fabulous your hands are, how much your hands say about you and your wellness status.

 

 

Because our hands are so important to us it only makes sense that we should be able to use them as healing tools for the body and the mind. By now almost everyone has heard of reflexology. Reflexology is a specialized foot massage focusing on various points on the foot that correlates to organs within the body and bodily functions. It is believed that when you massage certain points, that particular area of the body and be stimulated and if there is any blocked energy it is able to be released. If you have not had a reflexology treatment, I highly suggest that you do. Reflexology is not just a foot massage, it is so much more.

 

 

I mention reflexology as a way to let you know that it is not just for the feet alone. Giving yourself a hand reflexology treatment is a sensational way to relieve your stress and can be done just about anywhere. . In Ayurveda we believe that each finger represents one of the 5 elements as well as corresponds to a particular organ. For example, the thumb correlates to the element of ether and the brain. When the thumb is massaged it helps to balance the ether quality within the body and the brain. Below is a method that I use and share with my clients to help them stay joyful and calm.

 

 

The sequence outlined applies to each finger starting with the thumb. You can choose to do either the left hand first or right hand first, it does not matter. Just remember to follow the sequence for each finger on one hand before moving to the next hand.

 

 

1)    Start at the thumb. Very slowly pin the tip of the thumb with gentle pressure.

 

Then pinch the side of the thumb with your finger tips.

 

2)    Moving from the base to the tip, rub the tops and bottoms and then the sides of the thumb, using a vigorous back and forth motion.

 

3)    Next grasp the digit at its base and tug firmly with your opposite thumb and index finger, then loosen your grip slightly and move along the length of the digit to the tip, then release.

 

4)    Again using the thumb and the index finger of the opposite hand grasp the webbed between each digit. Tug gently for a couple of seconds, then release. Repeat for each finger.

 

5)    Now rest whichever hand you are working on palm down and use your opposite thumb to massage the back of the hand. Start by leisurely manipulating the knuckles and work downward.

 

6)    Turn your hand over and cradle your wrist inside and massage the inner wrist very gently with the opposite thumb.

 

7)    Next massage the palm, starting at the base of the fingers and working downward.

 

8)    Finish by pressing the opposite thumb deeply into the center of the palm of the hand that you are working on, holding the position for a few seconds. Let your hand hang by your side gently shaking it out and taking a few cleansing breaths before moving to the next hand.

 

9)    Repeat the above steps for each finger and then for the opposite hand.

 

 

This little hand reflexology treatment will do wonders for your mind and your body. You will immediately feel a relief in your stress level and your hands will feel great.

 

 

Wishing you much health and wellness!

 

 

Namaste,

 

 

Rochéle Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

 

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

 

 

I would like to share with you some more fabulous ways that you can relieve your stress.

 

You can pick them up here: www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

 

 

 

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