Category: Self Love

The people who change the world around them – for themselves, their companies, communities, and families – rarely act from a sense of obligation. In fact, the people who act as leaders almost always act from a sense of incredible opportunity. They don’t interact with the world around them because they have to. They do so because they want to.

Mark Sanborn: You don’t need a title to be a leader

Once upon a time, there was nothing.

Then came covid..

Then, 2020 became the year about a pandemic. 2021 became the year about living with a pandemic. 2022 became the year about getting out of a pandemic. What if 2023 does not become part of this sequence? What if, in your own little world, 2023 does not become another year about a worldly intense event? What if, in your own little world, you allow 2023 to become the year about you? About your own internal process, about your own internal growth, about your own internal healing? Just in your own little world, regardless of any event happening in the universe?

Would you allow 2023 to become the year about you?

It is so easy to get distracted with a worldly disaster and become engaged with matters which are not really yours, staying away from your own internal heavier issues which await to be tended by you. Easy, but not very effective, as these issues will never disappear, and as they linger, they might create bigger problems. And yet, why would you bother with something that is not causing you too much trouble at this moment? Why would you get out of your comfort zone when you are not facing anything that is life threatening yet? Why would you tend to your own little world when so many other important things are happening in the universe?

The simple, but not always popular answer would be, because you have the choice to do so. You can choose to do what works for you. You can choose to allow or not to allow anything to enter or not to enter your life. But how can you know what is the thing that would promote your highest good? How can you know that what you’re doing now is or is not the best choice for you at this moment?

To gain this knowledge you might need to slow down and maybe take a little break…

Slowing down and taking a brake can provide an opportunity to allow yourself to make observations about how your life evolves. When observations are not accompanied by judgment, they become assessments.

What can you assess? Here are some examples as a starter:

Starting with the Physical aspect. Is everything ok here?

• Do I have the energy for all the activities I want to do?
• Do I feel any discomfort anywhere in my body?
• Do I find time to move through the day?
• Do I find time to relax through the day?
• Do I feel nourished?

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Continue with the Mental aspect. Is everything ok here?

• Do I know why I am doing every activity I do?
• Do I want to do all the activities I do?
• Am I running in circles? Do I feel that everything will always be the same and nothing will ever change?
• Do I feel that I am being heard? Do I want to be heard?
• Do I listen to my own advice? Do I follow it?
• Do I feel more committed to others than I am to myself?
• Do I feel the need to be in control all the time?

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Then, checking in with the Emotional aspect. Is everything ok here?

• Do I like all the activities I do? How do I feel about them?
• Do I make my decisions out of obligation to others, feeling that I might hurt others if I say no?
• Do I feel that I am being led into a place that I don’t necessary want to be in?
• Do I wake up in the morning eager to start my day?
• Do I feel appreciated (by me, spouse, siblings, parents, friends…)?
• Do I feel cared for (by me, spouse, siblings, parents, friends…)?
• Do I feel fear or anxiety of what is beyond my control?

What if you discover that one or more of the issues you have assessed are not exactly to your liking? Would you be willing to do something to make the issue/s be different? If you would, then no major acts are needed. Starting with a minor shift in your thinking – appreciating the opportunity to set an intention to create a change. Then everything opens up – you will become aware that you have the choice to do whatever serves you best.

Now, where can you start this shift?

Starting with the most basic action – Breathing. There is no doubt in my mind that you are constantly breathing. However, is your breathing slow and deep, feeding your relaxed state of your central nervous system, or is it fast and shallow, feeding your survival mode? If you are not sure, you can take a glance at your lung reflex in your feet. The lung reflex is located on the balls of your feet and can be a great indicator to the state of your lungs:

• Is the reflex small?
  Your breathing might be shallow.
  
• Is the reflex high – hogging the base of your toes?
  Your lungs might be hogging your throat to a point you feel suffocating most of the time.
  
• Is the reflex swollen?
  Your lungs might be filled with unprocessed events which patiently wait for an opportunity to be processed.
  
• Is the reflex tender?
  Your lungs might be calling out for help.

So much information can be gathered from one little spot in your feet. If your lung reflex shows one or more of the above, you might want to check for tightness in your diaphragm, which is a primary muscle in your breathing. Put your fingers beneath your last rib, just above your belly, and feel what is happening there.

Is your diaphragm muscle tight? Is it tender?

Why would your diaphragm tighten?
Maybe as a result of a long habit of shallow breathing which leads to a minimal use of the muscle? Or maybe as a result of constant stress which keeps the muscle tight? Whatever the reason is, when your diaphragm is tight, your lungs may feel “caged” and may have a hard time expanding to their fullest capacity. Releasing the diaphragm will accommodate space for your lungs to expand, allowing your breathing to deepen and slow down.

How can you release your diaphragm?

Surprisingly enough, a Castor pack can do wonders. Applying the castor pack on your abdomen (see instructions here), conveniently touching your diaphragm (just below your ribs), the heat and the oil will soften the tissue. In addition, castor packs have the amazing power to bring your central nervous system to its relaxed state. This is explained in my article: “The real reason I love castor oil packs“.
Yes, a castor pack might be messy. Yes, it might be another chore in your busy day. And yes, it is probably outdated and not very popular. But IT WORKS!!!

My adventures with castor packs began in 2011, when we were forced by a school assignment at the naturopathic school to do them at home. No matter how much we read about the benefits of the castor packs or how many testimonials we heard, none of us was willing to try them! Who is crazy enough to go to sleep with a sticky oil on their belly, messing up all the sheets/cloths/floors? And thus, it turned into a graded assignment, to propel us to try the packs.

Feeling obligated, I reluctantly went to sleep with a castor pack. To my astonishment, the next morning I woke up feeling rested, happy, and ready to start the day!! Then I saw Amit slowly dragging himself down the stairs looking as if he did not sleep for a whole week. I asked him what happened, and he could not believe that I didn’t hear anything from the busy commotion of the kids through the night. We have 3 kids, and sure enough they were very young back then, but by his description, it sounded like we had 100 of them that night!!!

At that moment, my school assignment turned from an obligation into an incredible opportunity! The only thing I could think of was that I have to remember to put another castor oil pack that night!!!! Because this was the most accurate reflection of how we both looked and felt like every morning heading down the stairs. Grabbing this opportunity to witness the difference between a restful night sleep and a hectic one, I immediately ordered hot water bottles and oil for all of us, and peace came to our nights. Or so I think… As I keep doing the packs almost daily since, and do not hear a thing;)

Back to your breathing – When you slow and deepen your breath, your brain understands that “war is over” and that there is time now to breath. Then, your nervous system can shift to its parasympathetic state, where it can allocate resources to detect and correct what needs some adjustment in your body. Would a simple routine as a castor oil pack worth a try to enhance your breathing? It’s only for you to decide.

Now that you can breathe, you might want to assess how well-nourished you are. Nourishment means that every cell in your body gets the materials it needs for its most efficient function. Nourishment is not about a certain trendy diet. It is about eating real food, at least in one of your daily meals. Real food has not been processed or changed by human hand. Real food has been around for thousands of years and is not new. This type of food is familiar to your cells, and they know how to process and use it. Some examples of real food could be Fruits (preferably organic), vegetables (preferably organic), grass-fed / organic meats, Free range chicken /eggs, chicken soup/bone broth, pickles, sauerkraut, avocado, full fat grass-fed dairy / butter….

If you feel that today your plate does not include real foods – DO NOT ELIMINATE A THING! If you’d like, you can start ADDING nourishing foods – maybe a bone broth or a root vegetable soup – and eat it before you eat what you regularly eat. Allow your body to get accustomed again to the tastes of real foods, and soon enough, your body will not carve what you were used to eat.

When your body is nourished, it can release the need to be in survival mode. You will then feel relaxed and secured. You will not feel hungry, and cravings will lessen.

Once you can breathe and nourish your cells, you might want to take a walk outside. Walking in nature has a meditative effect on your brain. Studies show that walking in the nature can boost your immune system and lessen your anxieties and stress. As a physical activity it improves circulation and lymphatic functions. Being surrounded by nature activates all your senses and revives your creativity.

Maybe you can take another assessment while you walk. Maybe now you are able to contemplate the assessment questions with deeper answers. Maybe now you are able to remove yourself a bit further from your situation and get a wider view of what is happening in your own little world. Again, allow yourself to be just an observer. If you encounter the need for judgment – slow down again and check if there is a way you can turn any unliked event into an opportunity. Maybe now, that you have more insight into your internal world, you can set your intention to elevate this found opportunity for your own growth and healing.

If you cannot do it at this moment – it’s OK! The understanding that any obligation or unliked event has the potential to turn into an opportunity can create a major shift by itself. And this shift might inspire you to allow 2023 to be the year about you.

And if you need any help in your process, you are always invited for a session with me. In my Initial session you will receive a wide understanding about what is happening in your body – physically, emotionally and mentally – and most important, we will discuss what you can do at home to promote your own health and healing. Because it does not matter how big is the miracle that can be created in a one-hour session, as it is just a fraction of the miracles you can create in the rest of the twenty-three!

To a Happy, Healthy, Full of Opportunities New Year,
and Cheers to Allowing This New Year To Be All About You!!!

Whole healing has become a term that involves all aspects of life: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Meaning that, when all of these aspects are balanced we should be experiencing a complete healing. But is this actually happening?
Or are we missing a very basic component to bring ourselves to a real whole healed state????

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Many times, we fear to touch or attend areas that may be too painful or may have been through some type of medical intervention, as we feel that we may cause harm. Then, we become disconnected from these parts of our body, compromising their efficient function. Disconnecting may seem the easiest way to deal with pain or discomfort. Erasing what we don’t want to remember – and it’s gone. What we cannot see – does not exist. Right? But if something finds a way to leak and come out, we fight it with much resentment, as we are ready to eliminate it upon earth.

Disconnecting eventually leads to anger and hatred that are directed to our own body and do not serve us. Healing cannot come out of hatred. And the most malicious of all is self-hatred. We all have it to some degree – some of us feel it only rarely, and some of us feel it every moment. The only way to lower our engagement with self-hatred is to learn, practice and increase our self-love.

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When I talk about self-love, I do not mean the superficial stuff that we do and mistake it for self-love, like taking time to do our nails, sit in a coffee shop with a friend, go to the gym or go for a massage. All of these are great, but they are above ground. I am talking about much deeper levels. About falling in-love with each and every one of our own cells. I am talking about the deep love and appreciation we feel when we look in the mirror and all we see is this wonderful, beautiful person looking back.

Falling in-love with my own body has a different energy than loving my body. When I fall in-love with my body, I do not critique it as much. When I fall in-love with my own body, I do not talk as many harsh words. When I fall in-love with my body, I accept, I forgive, I have compassion to my own body. This does not happen with just love. We have to be In-Love.

When my body feels my compassion, my acceptance, my soft words, it starts blooming. My body will want to exist because now it feels “home”. My body feels supported and appreciated. Every memory and information that closed up and tightened in my cells, due to my unreasonable expectations to be like someone else, will start surfing up.
Yes, it may require a process of dealing and accepting memories that we preferred they will disappear, but once we learn to compassionately accept them, they will make space for healing information to come up. Our cells contain much information and wisdom, coming down from generation to generation for thousands of years. And this knowledge has the power to heal and restore almost every issue in the body. But we have to allow access to this information.

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Falling in-love with our body will open everything up. I believe that healing comes from within, and that we are our own healers. This work cannot be outsourced. We consult with experts about our condition, but they cannot heal us. If we are not willing to create this environment for our body to start healing itself, no one can do this for us. And the best way to create this environment is by falling in-love with our own body.

As I am witnessing, again and again, the understanding of the damage we cause to ourselves with our own self-hatred, I am amazed, again and again, how powerful this realization is. And this understanding is immediate. It takes only one second of experiencing this in-love energy to understand the distance between love and hate. And this second has the power to change lives. This is why teaching how to fall in-love with our body became one of my goals through my sessions. 

Falling in-love with our own body is not a chore. It is a privilege to be a companion to such a hard-working and caring entity. And, as we discover all these little actions (which we never took the time to notice being busy scolding ourselves for other actions), we slowly fall more and more in-love, understanding that without these actions, we may not be still alive.

So, how can we fall in-love with our own body?

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Simply by doing everything as if we really mean to be kind to our own body. These are some examples, but never limited only to them:

• Eating, as if we really mean to nourish our body.
• Exercising, as if we really mean to heal and not to injure.
• Talking, as if our words actually come from our hearts.
• Touching, as if we really mean to care for our body.
• Committing, as if we whole heartily want to do what we commit to.
• Friending people, who we whole heartily want to be around.
• Showing gratitude and appreciation to our body, instead of showing constant disappointment.
• and yes, castor oils packs, as they can bridge the physical and emotional gap. Being mindful to apply the packs as if we really mean to heal our body.

Our body strives to keep us alive with everything we bring on it. When our joints suffer, it may be a sign from our body that we may have exceeded its abilities and it is time to slow down. Taking medication or herbs can help with the pain or joint function, but should we  just remain at the support level or should we check deeper for what really goes on?
When we gain weight, it may be a sign that there is a dissonance between our actions and our real will, which is causing our body to add more and more layers to hide our deep wishes. Losing weight, without understanding the reason for gaining it, cannot be a long term solution. Weight will come back at the moment of uncovering what we want to hide.

Whole healing comes out of very deep sense of love and appreciation to our own body. Our body will never turn against us. Everything it does comes from hard work to incorporate what  we give it and trying to make the best to keep us breathing. When we learn to be thankful and appreciative to our body’s work, we actually fall in-love and become our greatest fans of our own selves. And then our body can smile. Not the superficial smile on our face, but the smile that comes from its deepest cells and spreads naturally all over our body.

And when our whole body smiles, we are truly experiencing whole healing.

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At one or more points in our lives, we may have wished or have been wished: “may all your dreams come true“. Meaning it from our hearts, and yet, this sentence sounds very general.

What does it mean to make our dreams come true? What does it take to make it happen?

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First and for most, it takes the courage to dream!

We live in an era that we need everything to happen in the moment and, when it takes longer to achieve something, we become frustrated. This creates a very fast and superficial pace of life. We tend to care for what we can do now, and do not invest energy in a venue that may take longer to achieve visible results.

This fast pace has a toll: We become exhausted and can get stuck in the hardship of the daily life, which may be filled with worries, fears, disappointments, and we may have a hard time to lift our heads up to see the light. This toll prevents us from finding time or space to dream or to create a vision for how we would like our lives to be.

Moreover, since we are surrounded by people, who conduct very similar way of life, it would sound weird to share with them a vision or a dream. We would probably be dismissed with a note like: “Stop dreaming and come back to reality. Those things can happen only in fairy tales and not in our world. Stop wasting your time on nonsense”. And we get discouraged and maybe even afraid to dream or talk about our dreams in public.

How can we make a shift? How can we create a dream or a vision without being afraid of dismissal or mockery?

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In his inspiring books “Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind” and “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself”,  Dr. Joe Dispenza explains the power of our thoughts to create a different physical state. He shows how thoughts can create chemical reactions that keep us addicted to patterns and feelings, including ones that make us unhappy. Dr. Bruce Lipton, in his groundbreaking book, “Biology of belief”, also talks about the powerful effect of environment on our cells, and how our believes and thoughts affect every cell.

We have an enormous power to change our lives and to fulfill our deepest wishes. Understanding our roll in this process will bring us to a state of action, a state of desire to look into and then shift our deepest believes. Those believes that we “inherited” from our surroundings and may not necessary reflect our individual thinking.

Taking the time to touch these believes and look into them, discovering our own exclusive path and finding the courage to move away from those believes if they do not support our own, will initiate the process of fulfilling our dreams.

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As 2019 is slowly moving towards its closure, many of us are probably engaged with thinking about their New Year’s Resolutions. New Year’s resolutions became very popular in the past years, and it represents actions, which are believed to bring us to the ultimate great state of health once we commit to follow up with them. Many times, New Year’s resolutions will include activities, that we do not usually engaged with, in our current daily life. But, because these actions had a fast influence on others around us, we believe they will promote us to a better health state.

Resolutions carry a statement that we are about to make a very big change to our lives. Our society values power, strength and fast shifts. Anything that would not be perceived as that would be regarded as weakness. Committing to make very big changes, or actually to becoming a different person than we really are is much valued.

But… Is this really what we want to accomplish?

Have we stopped for a moment to understand what we deeply want to achieve?

Have we dared dreaming?

Have we dared to verbalize our dreams within our family or friendship circle?

Or have our dreams still stay hidden in our hearts since they do not match society’s expectations from us?????

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In 2010, we started a new tradition in our house. Sitting together on the last day of the year, each one of us would write down their personal resolutions for the new year to come. Then, we would hang the family’s resolutions on the wall to follow through the year. By the end of the year, we would sit again, reading through the year’s resolutions, viewing what we succeeded to do, and writing down new resolutions for the following year.

Few years later, we realized that “Resolutions” is too external of a word for us. We do not wish to announce any major transformation to the world, but we wish to talk and uncover our dreams and visions, and bring them to the surface. No matter how small or different they are. So we started seeking a softer, more internal word.

We came up with the word “Intentions”. Our intentions come from our hearts and remain within us. We are the ones responsible to do whatever we wish with our intentions. They are personal, internal and definitely belong only to us. Our intentions are not limited to actions. Our intentions can represent thoughts, hopes, dreams, wishes that cannot always be quantified, and might not even be realistic at that moment. But once we verbalize them, they get a chance to come true.

The beauty with the word “Intentions” is that we do not need to wait for the end of the year to set them. Intentions can be set whenever we feel that we are ready to commit to move another step up on our own journey. They don’t have to be a big extravagant action. They don’t have to be announced to everyone we know. One fitted step – as big or as small as needed – will be perfect.

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Shifting internally, while taking the time to learn and appreciate our unique thoughts, ambitions and aspirations, will pave our trail to start dreaming. Dreaming will then direct our journey to shift our lives in the direction our heart really desires. And when we follow our heart’s desires, we can truly make our dreams come true.

And yes, a Castor oil Pack would be imperial in this process…..

May 2020 be Tailored to our Dreams & Intentions, and May our Thoughts & Perceptions Lead us to the Outcomes we really seek.
Happy, Healthy and Dreamy 2020!!!!

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Additional readings:

Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind, Dr. Joe Dispenza

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Dr. Joe Dispenza

Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton

 

 

“Healing Resides At The Roots of Nature & Touch,
and Is Drawn Up By The Eternal Flames of Our Traditions”

~Traditionally Empowered Healing~ 

 

As living beings, nourishment is a fundamental need. However, as living beings in our era, we may all be deficient of it. Either deficient of nourishing foods or deficient of nourishing touch.

Nourishing foods are rich in materials that feed our cells and help them function efficiently. But what is nourishing touch? How would it benefit our body?

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Exactly like foods, touch comes in many varieties and not every touch is nourishing. Nourishing touch is most naturally associated with parental (=unconditional loving) touch, as we tend to refer to our parents as nourishing entities. If you want to create such a touch, simply imagine the person you are touching to be your kid, and touch them exactly as you would like your child to be touched.

This kind of touch is not only physical. It is mostly emotional and mental, as we allow our cells to open. Everything we kept closed inside, suddenly has the permission to come to light: Every feeling that we buried,  every thought that we concealed, and even memories that we dismissed without processing. Once these memories / thoughts / feelings start to flood us, we have the choice to hide them again or to accept them into our lives.

Any issue we are dealing with requires lots of energy from us. But hiding that issue (mainly from ourselves) requires much more energy, which eventually can deplete our vitality.  The wiser (aka older) we grow, the more energy our body requires for daily functions and we have less energy to spare for other purposes.
As we grow wiser, we may feel more exhausted and sense that our body is not servicing us as before. Physical check would be a great venue to take to see what is happening, but along with that, it is imperative to take a deeper look and watch for hidden burdens. Since we are so accustomed to keep moving through our routines, it is not very obvious to us that we may disregard our feelings. When we learn to use our energy in the most efficient way for our body, healing can rise.

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This is a process. A whole new world of inner discoveries. Nourishing touch should be regarded as a practice, like yoga or meditation, in order for our body to start trusting and letting go. The more we nourish, the healthier we get. The closer we are to real things  – real food, real touch, real outdoor activities, real relationships, real emotional expression, real/honest reactions – the faster we can approach real healing.

Nourishing our Emotional, Mental and Spiritual aspects is essential. Simply because Physical nourishment is not enough. And Touch will probably cover them all…