ayurveda, blissful living, health and wellness, healthy eating, healthy living, stress reduction, Uncategorized

Deep Listening For Success

Every successful individual that I know or have worked with has gone through life with intention and a clear sense of purpose. I have also come across those individuals that say they don’t know what their intention or purpose is. I tell these people that often the reason individuals don’t know their intention or purpose is because they simply haven’t spent enough time listening to themselves, carefully and in silence.  I often get that look like “What????”

Deep Listening is a practice of stopping and listening without judgment or advice. All you have to do is sit down, rest your mind and ask yourself in silence: What do I really want? What is my life for? And if you go deep enough, intention will emerge. I would definitely call this a form of meditation. In fact I would say it is a must for success, no matter what you want to do.

With Deep Listening, you have an opportunity to honestly evaluate yourself. When you’re reflecting on a habit or an action, such as something you perceive as an obstacle or something you think you’ve accomplished, take the time to ask yourself, “ Am I being deceived or is this really happening the way it seems to me?” This helps us on our path to Bliss because when you listen to yourself, you put yourself in a better position to listen to others.

When we listen deeply, we can observe and investigate a habit or action without being identified with it and without pushing it away or pulling it in. This puts us in a position to be able to observe and then ask ourselves “What would happen if this is true?”

Deep Listening is not just for the mind and spirit; it’s also perfect for the body. This is something that I like to emphasize. The body is always talking to us and many of us fail to listen to the whispers of our body.  Here is what I suggest that you do: stop and listen to your body, surrender to being with what is. Ask yourself: “What is my body trying to tell me? What should I be paying attention to here? Have I been overdoing it? Have I been going too hard or too long?”

Your body is like a broadcasting station. Learn to listen and to trust that still, small voice inside, the voice of self- knowing, and the voice that will never lead you astray. You may slow down for a little while but in the long run it will keep you healthier and active.

As you learn to practice deep listening to yourself and your body, you will find that you’re listening skills get fine-tuned and allows you to listen to others better. When you are able to listen to yourself without judgment, you are able to listen to others without judgment and really hear what that person is trying to say to you. This my friends, is a true key to success in life.

Wishing you peace, wellness and tranquility!

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

Host of Blissful Living Show

www.rochelelawson.com

www.healthhealingwellness.com

www.blissful-living.net

www.youtube.com/rochelelawson

www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

www.stressassessmentmagic.com

www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

www.linkedin.com/rochelelawson

 

 

 

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ayurveda, blissful living, health and wellness, healthy eating, healthy living, stress reduction, Uncategorized

Healthy Ways to Stop Headache Pain

Did you know that almost a fifth of the people presenting to the emergency department go there for headache pain and for women between the ages of 18 to 44, I jumps to a third of the visits. Wow when I read this it was mind boggling to me.  You see severe headaches and migraines can leave you in agony, but even mild headaches can be painful enough to negatively affect your life. And stress, hormones and life can play a major part in bringing a headache on.

Instead of focusing on the headache pain and causes, I am going to focus on natural treatments for your headache pain.

The first remedy that I would like to talk about is the Boswellia tree. This ancient tree contains a resin that has potent anti-inflammatory properties. This tree resin has been included in studies treating people with cluster headaches, which occurred over the course of weeks, month, or even years. Cluster headaches are so intense that they have often been called the “suicide headaches.” The wonderful thing is that the Boswellia tree resin has been shown to provide long –lasting pain relief and has also been shown to decrease the intensity and frequency of these headaches.

Next there’s Butterbur. This is a perennial shrub and has been used to treat pain relief and headache prevention. This beauty has been shown to prevent migraine headaches, in clinical research studies. Butterbur taken twice per day has been shown to decrease the frequency of migraine headaches.  Please note that some Butterbur contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which may cause liver damage, so be careful when selecting your supplement to ensure you get a supplement that’s free of these harmful compounds.

Lastly, I want to share this goody for decreasing headache pain and you are going to flip when you find out. Ready? Well it is the good old vitamin B complex. B vitamins have become a popular treatment for the reduction or the severity of migraines and headaches. B vitamins contain riboflavin that has been deemed effective for the prevention of migraines. In addition vitamin B-6 has been shown to decrease headaches associates with the menstrual cycle.  Vitamin B-6 may even help decrease headaches associated with oral contraceptives.

All of these are available as supplements at your natural health stores. It is always suggested that you check with your healthcare provider for the correct dosage to take for you.

Wishing you peace, wellness and tranquility!

 

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

Host of Blissful Living Show

www.rochelelawson.com

www.healthhealingwellness.com

www.blissful-living.net

www.youtube.com/rochelelawson

www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

www.stressassessmentmagic.com

www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

www.linkedin.com/rochelelawson

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ayurveda, blissful living, health and wellness, healthy eating, healthy living, stress reduction, Uncategorized

Releasing Overwhelm By Establishing a Daily Routine

How does your day start off? When you wake up and step out of bed do you go into full gear? Wake up, check the cell phone, shower, grab a quick bite to eat, a cup of coffee, pack up the kids, rush out the door, drop the kids off at daycare or school and then drive in bumper to bumper traffic to get to work, hoping that you make it on time? Do you ever ask, why do I always feels to rush and overwhelm? If so stay tuned, I have a gift for you.

While it may be difficult to find time for yourself, Ayurveda promotes the vital need for certain daily activities to keep you at your healthiest. One of the most prominent ancient texts of Ayurveda, the Caraka Samhita, describes in detail a lengthy daily routine to keep one free from the ravages of imbalanced doshas, illness and poor aging. This can be simplified for the modern lifestyle while still reaping many of the life enhancing benefits.

In this article, I will give you 10 steps that have allowed so many people to take control and positively manage the hustle and bustle of daily life. The components of this routine come largely from the more detailed routine as taught in Ayurveda. Even if you cannot follow it exactly adapting it in whatever way you can will bring a noticeable difference to your day and to your well being.

The importance of a consistent daily routine can’t be underestimated. It sets the tone for your entire day, bringing a sense of calm and nourishment. It give the mind, body and spirit the chance to ground and cleanse, to start afresh Routine itself brings harmony, especially to a vata natured person; it also reminds pitta that there is need to put aside the drive to continuously “Go, Go, Go!” in order to rejuvenate oneself, and routine asks kapha to push past the inertia and laziness to not do anything for oneself. Routine allows you to rid the system of foreign materials that could otherwise become problematic, resetting any potential imbalance in doshas on a daily basis. Elements of the daily routine support a number of the bodily systems, including the nervous system, respiratory, circulatory and digestive systems.

Does this sound like something you would like to do for yourself? Then go ahead and get started, what are you waiting for? If you can’t incorporate the whole routine to begin with then pick one or two steps and move forward on your Ayurvedic journey to wellness; then slowly incorporate another step at a time, as you feel more comfortable.

  1. Wake up at a routine time early in the morning preferably before or at sunrise.
  2. Clean the eyes, mouth and face.
  3. Have a bowel movement.
  4. Brush your teeth.
  5. Clean your tongue.
  6. Perform a self-massage (Abhyanga) with warm oil.
  7. Take a warm bath or shower.
  8. Take 30 minutes for a self-enhancing practice such as meditation, pranayama, yoga, prayer or journaling.
  9. Eat regular meals.
  10. Keep a regular bedtime.

If you are in need of some spontaneity outside of this routine, Ayurveda makes room for that by accepting the fact that the spirit needs to revel in creativity and freedom. Select opportunities that bring you this joy and leave you feeling richer for having had the experience. Ayurveda asks that you indulge in moderation so as not to overwhelm your system and allow you the chance to rejuvenate following the departure from your daily routine.  And to do that you simply return to step 1 of your daily routine.

Wishing you peace, well-being and tranquility!

Namaste,

 

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

www.rochlelawson.com

www.healthhealingwellness.com

www.blissful-living.net

http://www.stressassessmentmagic.com

Twitter: @rochelelawson

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ayurveda, blissful living, health and wellness, healthy eating, healthy living, stress reduction

Feeling Constipated? These Tips Will Help

At some point in their lives, everyone has experienced issues with constipation and elimination. Here are some Ayurvedic tips you can use to help get your system flowing naturally and more consistently.

Become Aware

Constipation and elimination tend to be sensitive topics that people don’t normally like to talk about. Even if it’s embarrassing, it’s important to become aware of your elimination patterns. Are you someone that goes every day? Once, twice, three times a day? Are you someone who goes once every other day or every couple of days? Notice the timing in your cycle.

It’s also important to notice the consistency. If you only go once a day, is there a large amount of stool? Does it float? Does it sink? Is it small? Is it hard?

Stay Hydrated

It seems simple, but a major cause of constipation is dehydration. Make sure you’re drinking 8-10 glasses of water per day. I recommend 8 oz. every hour. If you drink more than that per hour (some people like to guzzle it down), you will urinate it all out probably within 30 minutes and your body doesn’t have a chance to absorb the liquid into your digestive tract.

If you’re drinking plenty of water and it doesn’t seem to help, add a little bit of oil to your water. You can add coconut, sesame, almond or even olive oil. Just a tiny bit will make a huge difference: it will help moisturize the colon and enable your body to absorb the oil. Since the colon is a dry part of the body, it’s important to make sure it has some degree of moisture so the stool can flow through easily.

Alternatively, you can also just take a tablespoon of whatever oil you choose in the morning or at night before you go to bed.

Get Moving

If you’re constipated due to a mobility problem, that is, if your colon is slow or sluggish regarding moving things through, then you want to increase your exercise. You core muscles, or your abdominals, are especially important: when they contract and expand, that will help the stool move along the colon instead of getting stuck, stagnant and dried out.

Eat Intelligent Foods

Leafy green vegetables (lettuce, kale, spinach and broccoli) act as a colon sweep and are great to help the colon get the stool moving along. My recommendation is to incorporate a leafy green vegetable into every meal, particularly dinner. When you’re eating, consume the leafy greens last. So if you’re eating a pasta dinner and there is spinach on your plate, eat the pasta first and the spinach last. This will help move the stool through your body because raw vegetables are generally cool so you want to eat them last. This way your digestive fire stays stoked through the meal.

Was this helpful? What other tips do you use to help yourself stay regular? Leave a comment in the area below.

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

info@healthhealingwellness.com

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

http://www.youtube.com/rochelelawson

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Yoga Goodness

Benefits of Yoga

 

Over the last several years yoga has emerged to a new popularity here in the west but it has been practiced for thousands of years in the east, particularly in India where it originated. It is believed that yoga is the sister science of Ayurveda and the two sciences work wonderfully together.

As yoga has become increasingly more popular in the western world, scientist have armed themselves with new tools that allow them to look even deeper into the body allowing to see what happens physiologically when a person practices yoga- not just asana or postures but pranayama and meditation. The doctors, neuroscientist, psychologist and other researchers are uncovering fascinating evidence of how the practice affects us mentally and physically and may help to prevent and assist in the treatment of a number of the most common ailments that jeopardize our vitality and wellbeing.

Dozen of studies are being conducted at places like Duke, Harvard and the University of California San Francisco in an effort to establish how truly beneficial yoga is for the mind and the body. While the studies of the impact that yoga has on our health and wellbeing are in the early stages, patterns are beginning to emerge that indicate that the knowledge that we have about how yoga keeps up healthy and well are just the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the benefits of yoga are:

·      Relief for certain types of chronic pain

·      Decreasing anxiety and depression

·      Less prone to emotional outburst

·      Positive moods, equanimity and emotional resilience

·      Helpful in treating insomnia and other sleep disorders

·      Helps your brain to stay sharp and work better

·      Better sex

·      Helps to reverse the aging at the cellular level

·      Fortifies the body’s ability to ward off illness ~ Immune booster

·      Helps to decrease stress

·      Lower inflammation or inflammatory levels within the body

·      Reduction of risk factors associated with heart disease

·      Helps to keep joints lubricated which allows them to move more freely

·      Healthier and stronger spine

·      Decrease back pain

·      Effective for maintaining a healthy weight

If you have been on the sidelines trying to figure out what yoga really is or if you should indulge in a yoga class, I say let the above benefits be a motivating factor for you to jump in and explore yoga. There are yoga studios popping up all over the place and I’m sure you will find one in your city or in a city close to you. Yoga is a great way to do something good for your body and mind that has lasting beneficial affects. So don’t be shy jump in and let your body and mind enjoy the benefits of yoga.

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

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