Drugs do not heal. Lifestyle changes do.

Self Healing has been an important part of who I am and what / how I live and teach since I was a very young adult. And, quite frankly, I intuitively knew this growing up. I was the kid asking Mom to buy me the "brown bread" not the fluffy white, Millbrook bread. Remember that stuff?! 

Nursing school was a HUGE wake up call that what our system of medicine actually does is generally not about healing the body. Modern Western Medicine covers up a person's ill health symptoms with medications. 

Let me explain briefly & simply, using blood pressure medication as an example. When a person takes blood pressure medication, and there are many types using different mechanisms in the body, the medication makes the numbers on the blood pressure cuff or machine go down. All looks well. Life goes on as per usual. But, if nothing is done to change what actually contributed to the high blood pressure developing:

• unhealthy food choices over years of living

• stress

• excess body weight

• sedentary lifestyle

• lack of contact with the Natural World, remember You ARE Nature…

then the damage that these above lifestyle habits wreck on the body are still happening. Yes, the medication may make your blood pressure look as if it has changed, and the numbers have changed, but what you do in your daily life that causes bodily harm and damage, down to each and every body cell, is still happening.

If you want to heal your high blood pressure or other health symptoms, issues, and diagnoses (and there is a *never ending list of lifestyle diagnoses)… You have to change your life.

Now let me explain another point: Western Medications have had very life saving impacts in many, many instances over the years & decades. Yes, Western Medicine is less than 100 years old. Natural Medicine - Herbs & Naturopathy - are thousands of years old. Let that thought sink in for a bit.

Western Medicine is amazing Emergency & Trauma Medicine. When there is an acute, gonna die right now or a trauma issue (think broken bones), Western Medicine can & does save lives and limbs. Using medications and medical skills for life saving moments is a VERY beautiful thing.

If you want to invoke real healing right down to the cellular level… this takes Lifestyle Medicine, Natural Medicine: changing the way you eat, live, and function in this world.

When You live and function as Nature intended, You will blossom with Vibrant Health & Longevity as Nature intended.

It IS that simple. Drugs, taken over the long haul, cannot heal your body.

Your body heals itself. That is what Nature does and You ARE Nature.

No one has deficiencies of chemical drugs. Illnesses are not caused by deficiencies of these drugs.

Change Your Lifestyle & Change the Way You Live.

Because Food DOES Matter in How Your Body:
Feels,
Functions,
Self Heals, &
Ages.

Free Natural Health-Lifestyle Medicine Information: Yes, click that blue link and change your life, heal yourself, make your life a better place to be!

*Just some of the diagnoses in the *never-ending list of diseases contributed to by one’s lifestyle habits:

• high blood pressure

• type 2 diabetes & obesity

• anxiety

• depression

• ADD / ADHD

• atherosclerosis, heart disease, and stroke

Wikipedia’s Lifestyle Disease Page:

Lifestyle diseases are defined as diseases linked with the way people live their life. This is commonly caused by alcohol, drug and smoking abuse as well as lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating. Diseases that impact on our lifestyle are heart disease, stroke, obesity and type II diabetes.[1] The diseases that appear to increase in frequency as countries become more industrialized and people live longer can include Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, atherosclerosis, asthma, cancer, chronic liver disease or cirrhosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, chronic renal failure, osteoporosis, stroke, depression, obesity and vascular dementia. In the UK the death rate is four times higher from respiratory disease caused by an unhealthy lifestyle.[2]

Some commenters maintain a distinction between diseases of longevity and diseases of civilization or diseases of affluence.[3] Certain diseases, such as diabetes, dental caries and asthma, appear at greater rates in young populations living in the "western" way; their increased incidence is not related to age, so the terms cannot accurately be used interchangeably for all diseases.[4]

My 18 Year Pilgrimage Back To The Weight Room

Wait, I think...

For 12 years, from age 23 to 35, I lifted weights daily. Gym rat I was: bench pressing, dead lifting, squatting... yes, all of it. Eventually I purchased home equipment consisting of a bench, barbell, weight plates, and dumbbells. 

At 35, I was bored and looking for change. I decided to start a Yoga asana practice. I had been doing Yoga Conscious Connection work (Mindfulness) for 9 years. It was time to add in the poses. Then, after a year of every other day weight lifting & every other day Yoga asana practice, I completely bagged the weight training. The bench and paraphernalia was hauled to the top of my street and left on State Rt. #56. Before I could return with trunk load 2, the bench and barbell were gone. The decision was final, no going back. 

Here I am at 53 and contemplating doing the gym rat thing again. How I wish I still had that equipment. Home fitness routines are my best bet. The hassle of running to a gym doesn't excite me. 

So why do I contemplate going back? Well, I am not getting younger and I can see the impacts of age creeping towards me: muscle strength and size diminishing, tone is sliding earth side... damn aging and gravity!

Heading back to the gym and doing some weight lifting / strength training will provide these benefits:

• Body composition that retain muscle mass and keeps fat stores in check

• Keep up muscle strength

• Prevention of estrogen dominance (see the body comp info above). When we age and go through the menopausal years, our bodies produce less & less progesterone because we no longer ovulate. Body fat tissue produces estrogen. Excess body fat contributes to estrogen dominance. Yeah, I don't want that.

• Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue. So I can eat more (100% body nourishing whole foods, of course!) without gaining weight as I age. Yeah, ok, I'll take that side benefit.

• My mentor, as I went through my Holistic Health Coaching Certification, was Michelle Smith of Forever Fit With Michelle. This gal is 10 years older than me and rocks the world of fitness, weight training, & body building competitions. Yup, she's a champion! Her anti-aging services include whole food education (sound familiar?) and weight training. If she can do what she does at 63, I can reach my lesser goals at 53. Nope, not looking to be a body building champ but I am wicked proud of my mentor Michelle!

• Bone strength is important to me. Weight training keeps bone mass building, maintains a healthier osteoclast vs. osteoblast functioning. Look that stuff up if you want to learn some fun bone biology / physiology.

I have been doing pull ups / pushups / reverse pushups (think back bend pushups / chin ups / Yoga squats & lunges. But I think I need more and I keep injuring my left shoulder, trapezius muscle, doing pull ups. 

I will continue to do yoga, 5 days a week. My 2 days in the gym, pumping iron, will be simple and concise workouts. As a former fitness trainer, I have my plans already created. My weight training moves will be Yoga poetry in motion in the weight room:

• slow movements with conscious intention

• breath work

• inner steadiness & peace

I made it back to the weight room, June 27th, 2019

Nick, Me, & Eli (My Son)… committed to growing our muscles!

UPDATE 6-27-2019 Things I’ve noticed about how Yoga has improved my weightlifting:

• I am conscious of my breathe moving through my body as I lift and no holding my breath when I am in exertion mode.

• I take a 5 slow deep abdominal breath “savasana” in between each set.

• I have better consciousness around the alignment of my joints to prevent injury.

• I’m working from a heart space physically, energetically, emotionally, & spiritually. My Sacred Circle Mentorship Students will understand this. ; )

Please make comments below on your favorite local gym & why:

• SUNY Potsdam,

• SUNY Canton,

• SLU,

• Clarkson, or

• one of the privately owned gyms in the Potsdam - Canton area.

I am not looking for fancy aerobic equipment, in fact I won't use any, as I prefer to be outside wandering the woods with my dog. I am a simplicity seeker: I am looking for the nuts and bolts for weight lifting to build strength. No frills.

More Anti-Aging tips for you: 

• 40+ FaceFix Skin Therapy for Mature & Sun Damaged faces & necks.

• Voluptuous V for vaginal care as we age to keep vaginal tissue plump and healthy. Perfect for sensuous glide at any age.

My Books:

• Hands On Health is your lifestyle primer. You have to take care of your body, from the inside out, for true anti-aging benefits.

• Weaving Healing Wisdom (co-written with Jenny Kenny Morrill) supports your healing of body, mind, & spirit - this IS powerful anti-aging magic!

Grounding Yourself for Emotional Healing

1.    Remind yourself that you are in complete control of you.

2.   Start your day with an AM grounding experience. I do a blended visualization / meditation that takes 5-7 minutes and grounds me for the day.  I sit on the stone steps in my back yard with my feet in contact with the ground. (Urban dwellers, sit and visualize your feet in the grass, connected to Mother Earth!) I close my eyes and visualize white light coming from the ground, up through my Chakras and Nadis, then turns around at the crown Chakra and goes back into the earth taking all negative (dark light) energy back into the earth to be absorbed. I visualize white light coming from above, through my crown Chakra, and circling back up at my root Chakra taking negative energy back into the atmosphere. I do both of these twice.  Next I visualize white light coming from the earth again, up through my root Chakra.  When It turns the corner at my crown, this time it goes back into the earth and creates a root system from my tailbone down into the earth. Now visualize white light from the crown Chakra, turns at the root Chakra and turns again at the crown Chakra to go back into the earth.  Again, visualize the roots coming from your tailbone deep into the earth to ground you for the day’s challenges. Finally, I swirl white light energy around my body, from feet to head, like a twister moving up my body. This is to protect me from negative energy and other’s stress.

3.   Create peace in your life with a regular yoga practice. The benefits of Yoga are profound.  You will intuitively move towards healthier choices in your life. Your mind will become calm. Your body will respond physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually to the beauty of yoga.  Your body will be in the flow of life. This is true mind -body -spirit healing.

4.   Nourish your body with 100% whole foods. To get started on whole food eating, pick up a copy of my book, Hands On Health: Take Your Vibrant, Whole Health Back Into Your Healing Hands. Read the Free info on my website: Principles of Whole Food Eating,  Whole Health Lifestyle Choices, & more Free Health Info

5.   Get to bed and be asleep before 10 PM.  When your body is asleep before 10 PM, the level of stress hormones in your body drops. When you stay up late, burning the midnight oil, your body pays through higher levels of cortisol hormones. This is stress.  Sleep, sweet dream sleep, before 10 PM and your body’s glandular system works for you in a balanced manner, making happy feel-good hormones!

6.   Get outside every day, preferably moving your body. Yes, I mean exercise. Call it movement magic that heals the divine you!  Something as simple as a brisk paced walk in the fresh air and natural light can do much to reduce stress, create feel good hormones, help you sleep better at night, and ease the challenges of daily life so you can think clearly and make healing choices around food and your health habits. Get outside in sun/wind/rain/snow/fog, walk barefoot, sit on ground, hug a tree, rest your spine against an old growth tree… just breathe in the world around you. Your body, mind, and soul will thank you for this grounding, earthy experience.

Positive, holistically-minded, lifestyle choices make for healthier, happier living.  For a full list of lifestyle choices I recommend to my holistic health coaching clients, click here.     More Free Health & Self Healing Info, click here.

7.    Create a grounding habit you can return to, in a moment's notice, for immediate calming energy. Here is how...

• Find a body motion (hands in Namaste or prayer position or a Yoga Mudra that calls to you),
• a "saying" or mantra* (Amen, Namaste, Blessed Be, Mitakuye Oyasin, Om mani padme hum), and
• a visualization of a space in nature that is sacred to you.

When you close your eyes and do all three you will bring yourself to a place of inner calm. Proceed forth from a space of thoughtful action as opposed to emotional reacting.  The ideas in parenthesis are just that, ideas. Create a 5 second ritual that is your special way of coming into your calm. Use it daily. Use it in any moment that you need to stop and think rationally before you proceed forward in your next step or choice. This is a quick grounding experience.

Be Well; Very, Very Well, Paula   ; )

Extra posts on creating calm, grounding, and healing eating/health habits: 

• Create Constant Calm
• Why I Love Yoga and Other Thoughts on Whole Food, Whole Health Healing

To find more related posts do a search on my blog for: yoga, weight loss, &/or mindfulness.

*Saying or Mantra meanings, they are all Blessings

• Amen: So be it, the well wishing of your prayers & meditation being sealed for integration and to come to fruition in the world
• Namaste: Sanskrit, the Divine in me honors the Divine in you
• Blessed Be: Wish good and positive things upon self & others
• Mitakuye Oyasin: Lakota, we are all related, interconnectedness of everything, we are all brothers & sisters (all beings on Earth, not just humans)
• Om mani padme hum: Buddhist, No literal English translations, jewel in the lotus, invokes compassion

10 Body Healing Benefits of Yoga

1. Blood pressure: a regular yoga practice reduces blood pressure.

2. Mindful body and breath work cultivates peace that lingers and weaves its way through your day.

3. Aligning your breath with your body's movement aligns body, mind, and spirit. See peace info above.

4. Got gut health issues? Try some yoga poses that are guaranteed to bring digestive tract relief.    

Pose images from an online article at Yoga Journal, I urge you to check out this Yoga Journal gut healthy, better digestion article, click here. While you are at it, just check out the whole Yoga Journal!

5. Body Weight Balance that is healthy for you & your body: When your spirit can move through the world with grace, because your physical body is a comfortable place to be (physically, emotionally, AND spiritually) your life and life force energy just flows better.

6. Asthma Relief: Yoga breath & body work creates healthier lungs, better lung capacity, less asthma symptoms, and lowered stress. 

7. Stronger Bones, stronger muscles, stronger body-mind-spirit.  You gain better flexibility & balance in body-mind-spirit as well. Bonus!

8. Yoga is healing to all body systems. Yes, I said healing! Your cellular metabolism will balance out, because your mitochondria will be happy, making you feel light and energetic.

9. Yoga is your daily happy drug lifting mild depression and making neurotransmitters flow. Yoga literally lifts the corner of clouds so you can always see the sun.  As my youngest son said, 6 years ago, "when you lift the corner of the clouds, the sun is always shining!"

10. Yoga helps you relax and sleep better as it engages your para-sympathetic nervous system, the rest & digest system, taking you out of the constant stressed out, fight or flight mode (your sympathetic nervous system on over drive). This reduces inflammation in your whole body.

I could come up with another 90 healing benefits of Yoga in about 10 minutes time. I love to chat about Yoga, if you are interested.

I love to share Yoga...  http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/yoga/

                               Namaste

Translated roughly, it means

"The Spirit within me salutes the Spirit in you"

knowing that we are all made from the same                     One Divine Consciousness.

The Path To Easy Weight Loss

Magical path in the woods

Yes, I said easy.

Before you click the X in the upper right hand corner of your computer screen and end this pseudo conversation (or before you want to reach out and slap me upside the head)... read on, add comments, and create a dialogue.

What is this path you ask? Mindfulness I say, mindfulness around your eating habits but more importantly, mindfulness around your life.

Mindfulness defined from Jenny Kenny Morrill (Colton, NY) 3 Marigolds Mindfulness Tutoring services:

Why Mindfulness?
Mindfulness teaches us to be present-minded and grounded in our professional and personal lives from a foundation of inner (my word) connectedness. A mindfulness practice involves a small amount of time devoted to re-setting.  This re-set allows us to be in the moment, make decisions, reflect, and communicate from our innermost - authentic voice.  

End Result: You make decisions based upon what is best for the growth of your higher self and the greater good not impulse based decisions to satisfy immediate gratification on some level or another.

Thank you Trillium Yoga for posting this Yoga wisdom picture on FB.

You have heard me speak of how my 16 year, daily yoga practice has created mindfulness in my life.  I also hope you have enjoyed my earlier post on Walking the Red Road... I remind you of these things, and previous posts, because I want to show you that all of this is within your grasp and you will start creating a healthier you (including that weight loss you have been intending on).

Pick a mindfulness habit that works for you and start watching your life look like this:

• Thinking thoughtfully around your day... "Oh, I have a big dinner tonight. I will mindfully eat very lightly the rest of the day to not over food, over stuff myself, in this 24 hour period.
• "Wow, that family celebration was heavy last night." Mindfully I decide to fast a bit longer today, skip break - fast, and breathe deeply knowing I am fine without food for a few hours more.
• You realize that hunger signals from the brain and belly do not always need to be immediately gratified. "Hey, I hear you speaking awesome body but I am going to pass on any food right now and I know I will be ok. This hunger pang too shall pass and I can wait until breakfast, lunch, dinner..."
• Working through the ending sugar addiction becomes a practice of self-love wrapped in gorgeous, mindfulness gift paper and ribbons. Gently reminding yourself:

                      "If I stop feeding the gut bugs that thrive on sugar and refined carbs what they want (more sugar and refined carbs) they, the sugar craving gut bugs, will die."

                      "Yup, starve the 'lil buggers to death. My whole food diet will re-establish the amazing gut bugs I do want in my digestive tract. These wanted gut bugs will not be begging me for sugar, they will not scream from deep inside my belly to run and find that hidden ice ' cream in the freezer or that bag of chocolate chips I hide from the family."

                     "Goodbye soda, other sugary drinks, and packaged refined foods... my gut bugs don't want you!"  

Seriously, have these dialogues with yourself and your gut bugs. Good inner dialogue keeps you mindful AND makes you chuckle (laughter is healing my friends!) as you move through your day on this magical path of mindfulness.

Use mindfulness to improve any aspect of your life, make those whole health lifestyle changes you have been meaning to, and support the kissing goodbye of all of the habits that are not cultivating your higher self or the greater good.

Need extra help?

• Find a yoga teacher and/or class in your area. Here in Northern NY: Trillium, Yoga Loft, Five Elements, Northern Light Yoga
• Call Jenny for mindfulness tutoring, see above.
• Try meditation: go to Five Elements Living and check out the offerings with Sarah Jane, check out the upcoming classes: Cultivating Ease & Liveliness
• More meditation in the Potsdam-Canton, NY area: Northern Light Yoga, Trillium Yoga, St. Lawrence University, SUNY Potsdam, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton
• Find what works for you in your area: tai chi, qi gong, tae kwon do, prayer, walking meditation...
• Read a book on yoga or mindfulness and teach yourself... then practice every day.
• Go to my blog page (hey, wait... you are already here!) OK, then just do this for some added loving support: in the search bar type in Yoga. You will get many posts on supporting your mindfulness practice. Now type in weight loss... yup, more support 'cuz friends, that's what I do... work to support your health and healing needs. I am hoping that a word or two of wisdom will spark some sort of change in you to help you find your natural path, find you, again.

BIG HUGS (filled with mindfulness of course) , Paula

PS... Hey, I just remembered, I wrote a book and Jenny & I wrote a book together to help you cultivate your mindfulness and turn your life into a blissful existence. 

Currently unavailable. I have a few copies and am working on a re-publish. Contact me.

Available on Amazon or from me

I wrote another book to help you navigate lifestyle changes to restore your natural health and lose that weight. See, I do have your back 24/7!

Order at Amazon.com

Join My Home Study Courses, The School of Self Healing

To Mindfully Restore Your Health From The Ground Up

OR

Start learning with Divine Weight Loss to taste test

how I can support your health.

Find your path and walk in peace.

Junk Health Food

My Advice:  Be Wary... Be Very, Very Wary

I was inspired to write this after shopping in a health food store a couple of hours from home. I am a people watcher and a health educator. I can't help but notice the things people buy. The person in front of me at the checkout had a cart loaded with what I call Junk Health Food: [I observe from a space of love... wanting so badly to reach out and do some community education... but only when asked Paula, only when asked! :) ]

• organic, refined, white flour bread and rolls
• chips of every kind
• natural soft drinks and fruit juice flavored drinks
• organic, sugary cereals
• organic pop tart™ type toaster pastries

Be wary of anything that comes in a box, bag, can, jar, etc.  If it is a packaged food product, made in a factory and not your home, be a savvy shopper and consumer. Just because it is sold in a health food store does not mean it is cell nourishing food.

WHY?

1.  Most food products are manufactured for the corporate bottom line, not your health.

This means that the cheapest ingredients go into the "product" so the company manufacturing this product can make the highest profit margin.  Profits before people is the name of this game.

Now keep in mind, there are companies out there creating quality products.  Real food, in packages, that are healthy alternatives to what you would make in your own kitchen.  These products are sold on the shelves of health food stores, food coops, and in the healthy section of grocery stores.

BUT, just because a product is on the shelves in these healthier places, do not assume that the product is healthy (see below on being self-responsible).  Even products you have found to have healthy, 100% whole food ingredients; be aware... the ingredients can be changed.  Big corporations love to buy out these smaller "health conscious" companies because the healthier products are money makers.  Most people do want healthy food and healthy bodies so the sale of organic, whole, non-GMO foods has soared. Corporate America wants their piece of this pie. But... as soon as a larger corporation owns the food, the food label, the product suddenly changes.  Cheaper ingredients are now used to make the very same products. This "ingredient switch" pads the bottom line of the large corporation, not your health!.

You have to be the responsible one in the grocery store... this means reading labels very, very carefully.  (This is what I teach in my book and in my workshops; self responsibility around your own health restoration... you healing you!)  Read the ingredient list, on anything you are contemplating purchasing, that comes in a package.  Your health, your life, depends on this.

Ask yourself questions about the product:

-Is every ingredient in the product a whole food? (organic? non GMO?)

-Could you assemble all the ingredients, in your own home, to make this same food item?

Answering yes to these questions? Then move forward, feeling comfortable that the food will nourish, not deplete, the health of your body cells.  Depleting body cells means you are depleting you; creating degeneration in your body.

Answering no to these questions?  Put the "product" back on the shelf; your health and your life depend on this.

2.  Most manufactured products are full of fake stuff:

Fillers (to enhance textures without using real food, i.e. whole food ingredients. MOST Greek yogurts are one of these filler enhanced foods, read more here: 13 Health Foods That Are NOT So Healthy),

Preservatives,

Artificial colors and flavors,

Fake sweeteners,

GMOs

Fake fats...

the list of fake things, that go into factory made food, is never ending.

Bottom Line:  Fake ingredients, factory made substances, do not belong in the human body.  They do not create cellular health. Cellular health IS created when we eat whole food.

   Fake Food     vs      Real Food

Have I convinced you to nourish each and every one of your beautiful body cells with 100% whole foods?  

Be well; feed your body well.    You will lose weight, feel better every day, and restore your body's natural health!