THE HOLIDAY SEASON
A Gratitude Practice at New Years
The New Year is often a time when people look ahead and make resolutions around what they want to change in their lives. However, most people do not look back and acknowledge where they have come from and the shifts they have made over the last year. I have found that taking stock of the year before is extremely beneficial and helps me move forward in directions that are more gentle, wise and aligned with what I most love and consider important. Most people I meet do not spend much time acknowledging the ground they have covered. I notice this in my practice a lot. People make these amazing changes in their lives and move through major transformations and yet rarely take the time to appreciate how much they have learned, changed and healed. When you fully acknowledge how much you have grown since last year, you will likely be amazed. And from that place of appreciation and gratitude for yourself, you might find that your resolutions will be different. May your new year be one of gratitude for what has been and what is!
Holiday Expectations
Shift from expectations that pull you down to gratitude for what is! As the holidays approach, notice your expectations. It is wise and wonderful to intend for peaceful gatherings, joyful celebrations, deeper connections with friends and family; however, having unrealistic expectations can make us feel disappointed when things don't work out just as we wanted them to. Have clear intentions of what you want for this time and then let go of the expectations...Then, see what shows up and enjoy it. The more we can just meet what is right in front of us and embrace that, the more we are able to relax, celebrate and enjoy what really matters.
A beautiful energy exercise that I love is Heaven Rushing In. It fills you with universal healing energy and is a great way to return your inner compass towards gratitude (and away from expectations that deplete you...).
Heaven Rushing In: Stand with your hands in a prayer position at your heart. Breath! As you breath in, reach up with your arms and look up, taking in the beautiful energy of the cosmos, take several breaths. Then, as you breath out, bring your arms back in to your heart centre. Do this several times, bringing in the radiant, loving energy of the cosmos into your heart.
May you welcome in love, joy and laughter!
Holiday Support
'Tis the season...for celebration! And that often means indulging in rich food and festive drinks. There are ways that you can support your body so that you don't have to make New Year's resolutions to lose weight or detox for ages afterwards.
To help you metabolize your food, tap your Spleen points before and after you eat. These points are below your nipples on your ribs.
You can support your Liver by massaging the source point on your Liver meridian, Liver 3. Liver 3 is in the web between your big and second toe, about a thumb width up (usually it hurts). The source point sends energy directly to your liver.
Further support your liver by squeezing half a lemon into warm water and drinking this first thing in the morning.
Most of all, eat slowly and enjoy the nourishment of each bite!
Cheers!
Holiday Essentials to Stay Calm
The holiday season is around the corner and my sincere wish is for you to be energetically grounded and calm as you prepare for the holidays, to support your body (and liver) while enjoying the rich food and libations, and to invite in the Spirit of this time of year so that you feel enriched by this season. And if you are one of the many people who find this time of year difficult, I wish for you to be gentle and loving to yourself...to honour where you are at and to learn how to support yourself a little more this season.
To start, Spoon Your Feet! Use a stainless steel spoon and rub the bottom of your feet. Doing so will balance the polarity of your entire body and correct for irregular energies. What this means is that you will then be attracting the Earth's energy up into your body and not repelling it. You need to be attracting Earth energy so that you can draw that energy up and feed yourself energetically and be grounded.
Staying grounded and remaining relatively calm as you prepare for the holidays will make the whole journey so much more enjoyable. It is the holiday season after all, a time to enjoy and be grateful! Here are some energy exercises to keep you in your body, to relax, and to be much more able to handle what can be overwhelming for many.
To stay grounded, massage your Kidney 1 points on the bottom of your feet, right in the middle at the deepest part of your foot. Rub those points and even push out in all directions from that point to open it up.
Firmly plant your feet on the ground, place your hands on your thighs and breathe deeply into your feet. Imagine or feel your exhaled breath moving into the Earth to root you down. Then imagine or feel the breath or energy moving up from the Earth, feeding your entire system.
To help calm your nervous system, practice breathing deeply into your lower belly. Inhale for a count of 3 and exhale for a count of 5. Do this for at least 5 breathes.
If you are overwhelmed or feeling anxious, do the Triple Warmer (TW) Smoothie. Hold your hands across your eyes and breath. Breathing out, smooth your hands to your temples with your fingers. Breathing in, gently smooth around your ears and to the back of your neck/shoulders. Take a deep breath here. Then on an out breath, smooth down to your heart centre.
Bring a sincere intention to fully enjoy this holiday season while remaining grounded and calm!
Those Pesky Resolutions
Did you make a New Years resolution that inspires and energizes you? Or did you make one that feels like a 'have to' or a 'should'? When we make decisions in our life about what direction to go in or what action to take, it would be wise if we came from a place of knowing what is true for us, what is right for us, instead of imposing someone else's belief on our lives. Yet we often make decisions from our head, from our psychological conditioning, and we don't listen to our small, quiet voice inside that speaks our truth. I have found that when I have heeded that soft voice, my life works out much better. Sure, I am often led to making choices that do not always make sense at the time; however, in retrospect, it was the wiser decision. That small, quiet voice is our inner knowing, leading us to be more aligned to our soul's journey. One way to deepen our ability to listen and actually hear our inner knowing is to balance and strengthen the Central Meridian. In Chinese Medicine, the Central Meridian is called the Ren Meridian or Conception Vessel. It starts at your perineum and goes up the mid-line of your body, ending at your bottom lip (it actually goes internally and ends at Stomach 1, but for the sake of tracing it, we will end at the bottom lip). Tracing this meridian daily will help you stay grounded in your truth and aligned to your soul's path, to what is yours to do in this life. Starting at your pubic area, slowly move your hands up your mid-line to your bottom lip. Do this three times.
May you be aligned to your truth and serve in your own unique way!
In Gratitude on the Holidays
May all of you have a joyful holiday season! May you be gentle and kind to yourself and may you have radiant health and well being this year and always! Thank you, to all my clients! I am deeply humbled by your courage to show up and by your commitment to your health - mind, body and spirit. I am grateful for your trust in me to walk this sacred journey with you and I am immensely touched by each and every one of you. It is such a privilege to witness your beauty.
Destressing the Holidays
Are you stressing about the holiday season? Many people find this time of year particularly emotionally charged and difficult. Here are a couple of ways to help make these next couple of weeks enjoyable:
Expectations are brutal. Take a close look at what you are expecting of yourself. Assess what you really enjoy and what no longer works for you. I used to cook a big turkey dinner that took all day. In reality, I just wanted to go skiing with my family and eat a wonderful, quick meal at the end of the day.
Take some time to do what you enjoy - hot chocolate and a book by the fire, a bath, playing a board game with your kids.. Each day, take even 5 minutes to unwind.
Be in gratitude. Every morning and evening, take a couple of minutes to bring to mind 3 things that you are grateful for and feel that in your body. This practice is extremely healing for your body and mind. We have so much to be grateful for - where we live, what we have, our health, friends and family.
Christmas is about giving and yet most people I see in my practice have a difficult time in receiving. So practice receiving this season. When someone gives you a gift, take a moment and allow yourself to receive that expression of love.
And finally, there are usually many wonderful meals to eat over the holidays, so enjoy them. Eat slowly, appreciate the tastes, colours, smells. Not only will you find the food more delicious, but you will digest them more easily!
Enjoy! I wish you radiant health and happiness!
Breathing Life into Old Traditions
Are you stressed about the holiday season? So many people find Christmas to be a difficult time. Often people feel obligated to do the same holiday traditions that they have always done, even though the meaning has been diminished or lost. There is great power in being discerning about what you are doing and with whom. You can either decide to do away with old rituals and bring new, meaningful ones into your life or you can choose to stop resisting something and bring a beginner's mind to it. So if you have to go to that office Christmas party that drove you nuts before, let go of the resistance and bring new eyes to the situation. How can you partake in a new way, fully accepting your choice in being there? And if there is a family tradition that never resonated with you, can you create a new one that has meaning for you and your family? This is a wonderful time for breathing life into the holiday season that ought to be filled with joy, gratitude and love!
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is such a beautiful reminder to consciously recognize all that we are grateful for in our lives. Gratitude is a profound power that heals you physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Being grateful activates your Radiant Circuits (the extraordinary channels in Chinese Medicine). When you feel gratitude, joy or love, the Radiant Circuits literally light up and jump start the healing in your body. Simply take the time, each day, to notice three things that you are grateful for and see if you can sense that gratitude in your body - it will change your life. Develop a practice to write them down in a Gratitude journal or offer them to the Universe in a prayer of thanks. We have so much to be thankful for - and I thank each and every one of you for being the lights you are in this world.
