Create Constant Calm

Anxiety and panic attacks are a common health concern. The ages of affected people range from young elementary kids to our wise seniors. Anxiety seems to be across the board and a common denominator in many of my client's health struggles.

I will not tell you there is a quick fix, a silver bullet, or magic wand answer.

I will tell you there are some self-help triage habits you can put into place, now, while you work on the long-term lifestyle changes that will weave and create an inner magic of calm and bliss.

Yes, I know, there is some eye rolling going on here. I cannot tell you often enough how you are in complete control of your own health: body, mind, and spirit. You have the personal power to make every change necessary to create vibrant health, inner calm (even when the world around you is spinning out of control - remember, we can ride the merry go round, we just don't have to get carried away with the ride), and radiant self healing. 

Quick Fix Triage:

This is to help you get on with your life right now BUT please realize you need to work on the long-term solutions below for creating true, lasting calm. Healing body (physical) - mind (emotional) - spirit (soul) is key to whole health.

• Teach yourself to deep breathe right now. Yes, right now. Sit, relax, and close your eyes. Now deep breathe way down low into your belly. Remember the "take 5-10 breaths before you knee jerk respond in anger" advice. It is a truth. Do this deep breath at least 5 times in a session. Repeat several times daily.

• Deep breathing habits, doing while in yoga poses is fun as well, supports toning of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is a large nerve in your parasympathetic nervous system, your rest & digest - “Constant Calm” branch of your nervous system. Constant stress keeps the sympathetic nervous system branch activated, your fight-flight-freeze branch of the nervous system.

• Create a grounding habit you can return to, in a moment's notice, for an immediate calming energy. Here is how... Find a body motion (hands in Namaste or prayer position), a "saying" or mantra (Amen, Namaste, Blessed Be, Mitakuye Oyasin), 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 calm. Use it daily.

• Chamomile tea is a blessing. Add some passion flower, calendula flower, peppermint or spearmint, lemongrass, lavender flowers (use lavender in small amounts)... there are many tea blends offered by many companies. Buy 3 or 4 and use a different one each time. This prevents developing resistance to the plant medicine's affects. (Teas: Yogi Tea Calming, Tazo Chamomile Calm, Traditional Medicinal's Cup Of Calm, Yogi Relaxed Mind, Yogi Stress Relief, Celestial Seasoning's Tension Tamer - this tea is in glued tea bags so cut the bags open and use the loose herbs to avoid steeping glue into your tea. How to steep medicinal infusions: click here.)

Paula's Tea, below, is available at the Potsdam Food Co-op.  It is a simple, calming, medicinal tea recipe I threw together to create a video with Shelby Connelly of Five Element's Living, Colton, NY. 

• Magnesium: this is a body, mind, spirit relaxing mineral. Think Epsom's salts baths. Try a product called Natural Calm by Natural Vitality. Available at Nature's Storehouse in Canton. The 2 teaspoon dose is 325 mg. I recommend 400 mg at bedtime. This is magnesium citrate and will assist if you are constipated. If constipation is not an issue, this could create loose stools. Pay very close attention. After 1 week, up the dose to 500-600 mg daily by using Calm in the morning and at bedtime. If your bowel movements get too loose try using magnesium glycinate for part of your daily dosage. Magnesium deficiency is common in many people and contributes to tension and anxiety. Taking Vitamin D uses magnesium for integration into the body and can contribute to magnesium insufficiency/deficiency. Pure Encapsulation brand is available in citrate and glycinate form as well as magnesium malate.

• Herbs Etc. Brand Stress ReLeaf tincture or gel caps. This is the link for the tincture because it has the reviews of the product: http://www.herbsetc.com/stress-releaf-1-oz/ I would buy it in the gel cap 60 bottle; 120 bottle if they had one.

• Create a habit of gratitude for everything. This is both an in the moment triage habit and a long-term lifestyle habit, much like the take a deep breath advise above. When we cultivate a true attitude of gratitude in our lives it helps to bring inner peace.

 

Are You Ready for Lifestyle Changes to Create Vibrant Health (and prevent & heal anxiety)?

1. Food is the foundation of your health. If you are eating a whole food diet you are doing these things for your body:

• Creating vibrant body cells that retain their level of health with each new regeneration of cells (degenerative disease, including anxiety, is a degeneration of body cell health contributed to by eating food that is not real, not whole)

• Feed your gut microbial population for health and well being. Whole foods feed the gut bugs you want living in your body and starves the ones you want to see less of in your life. The reverse happens with junk, packaged, processed foods.

• Feeding neurological health by creating healthy neurons (see cell health info above) and healthy neurotransmitters (those feel good hormones manufactured by your gut microbes - see advice above).

• I could go on & on about the impacts of whole foods on each and every body system. If you want this info; please, give me a call and we will chat.

2. Get rid of sugar and caffeine in your life. They both feed poor mood health. Sugar is a get rid of completely issue. Yup, bye-bye sugar.         (I have a donation based online class to help you kiss sugar goodbye for good. Click & Scroll down to Sugar Addiction Be Gone.)

If you drink one cup of coffee a day, and it does not interfere with your sleep at night, don't deprive yourself of this pleasure. Life is about pleasure and the morning, calm & peaceful coffee ritual is a daily self gift.

3. Sleep, my friend, sleep. You know how much sleep you need to function at top notch capacity and feel happy and energetic. So do this! Keep in mind: sleep needs change with monthly cycles, seasons of the year, and your age. Pay attention to you and your individual needs and fulfill those needs! Lack of sleep causes stress. This sleep deprivation just feeds into the cycle of anxiety. Get off this particular merry go round ride.    : )

4. Move your beautiful body. Exercise (that is not a dirty word) fuels your body with energy, feel good hormones, and helps you sleep at night. Move yourself outside so you get the added benefit of...

5. Natural sunlight (even on cloudy days): the sun does really recharge your personal batteries. Remember to get plenty of sunshine that is not interfered with chemical sunscreens. You need healthy levels of vitamin D, manufactured by your skin, to prevent anxiety. Be smart; don't overdo it and burn your skin but get out there and manufacture some vitamin D. If you need sunscreen for extended outdoor time: use a natural one. Chemical sunscreens are toxic to the very body cells you are feeding whole foods to create vibrant health. Why do counter-productive things in life?

6. Get your digestive health in order. You body needs a well functioning digestive tract to digest food and move nutrients to your body cells. Healthy digestive tracts have a gut microbial population that manufactures mood hormones that keep you happy and calm. 

7. Yoga is a gift you give yourself to reclaim your body, mind, and spirit for a peaceful presence in this world. Any body, mind, spirit exercise will do here if yoga is not your thing: Tae Kwon Do, Tai Chi, Qi Gong...  If you want to learn more about the benefits of yoga: go to your right on this page, type yoga into the search bar, and click. You will pull up many posts I have written about the healing beauty of yoga.

I have many more suggestions to alter your lifestyle and create vibrant health for anxiety prevention. Check out my WHOLE HEALTH LIFESTYLE page and make your sense of calm and peace soar to new heights.

A Yoga blog post to deepen your wisdom around creating inner peace: Why I Love Yoga and Other Thoughts on Whole Food, Whole Health Healing     More yoga posts from a search on my blog: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/search?q=yoga&f_collectionId=539c849de4b01d9b6dd2fef4

Grounding Yourself for Emotional Healing

My books below were written to support your path of healing.

Hands On Health is a lifestyle primer to support your making healthy choices across all aspects of your life.

Weaving Healing Wisdom is a book on mindfulness and how to create it in your life with activities, food, yoga, herbs, essential oils, and lifestyle habits. Jenny Morrill, of 3 Marigolds Mindfulness Consultation Services, and I co-authored this book. Enjoy with love from Jenny & I.

My work in this world is to support true health and healing for everyone who is interested in making personal Lifestyle Medicine changes. When we grow and heal ourselves… we heal family, friends, our communities, and the world.

Coffee & Donuts not currently available; publisher's issues.

Embrace Your Sacred Cow

Cows gracing peacefully at The Lands At Hillside Farm, Shavertown, PA

Cow? Really Paula... where can you possibly be going with this? Get as big as a cow? Be gentle like a cow? Have gorgeous, long lashes like a cow? 

Nah, something much more practical! Chew like a cow people. Chew long, luxuriously, peacefully, and gently. 

95% of the clients and students I work with have some sort of GI Tract upset. Their digestive tract is struggling to do the job of, well, digesting. So many more of your bodily processes (all of them really) rely on your digestion so the rest of your body's functions can happen effortlessly. Yup, the bottom line is that efficient digestion is what creates the downstream effects of well nourished body cells or not so well nourished cells. Good digestion and a healthy digestive tract lead to:

• food well broken down into usable nutrients that are
• absorbed through that health 1 cell thick gut lining and then
• circulated effortlessly through the blood stream until these nutrients
• arrives safely at each and every body cell's doorstep and then they
• move across the cell membrane with ease and peace to be
• utilized by every intercellular organelle to make the miracle of you happen in each and every moment.

Digestion IS a sacred and beautiful thing. 

Just because these below images leave out the mouth and esophagus... don't fall for the same foolishness. Both are very important parts of your digestive tract... as is your brain and nervous system! Mouth to brain to gut communication is so key for release of your digestive juiciness.

So I ask... why do we, as a culture, shovel food (or worse yet: food products) into our mouths with no thoughtfulness around what we are eating say nothing about how we are eating it. We then expect our bodies, minds, and spirits to soar with great health and carry us through our days effortlessly and with ease?

I have written numerous times about the sacredness of food, meal times, and chewing. Is anyone listening to me? I know my kids are not...

Here's a suggestion: 

So many of us do realize that bedtime routines/rituals are so beneficial to creating deep and peaceful sleep every night. (Although, many of us are in need of embracing this bedtime sacredness as well.)  My suggestion is to start seeing meal time rituals as important and sacred. Relax, breathe deeply, and chew well. Maybe light a candle to remind yourself how important you are and how important it is to slow down and nourish your body, mind, and spirit with food and eating (chewing your food well much like the cow does instinctively and intuitively with every bite and every mouthful of grass!). 

For my PDF handout on chewing your food well click this link: http://issuu.com/paula754/docs/chewing_with_pictures

Blessings of Happy, Healthy, Peaceful, and Nourishing Meals To You!

Why I Am Not Vegan Anymore

I am asked these questions around food and eating quite frequently:

• What is the healthiest way to eat?
• You aren't going to tell me I have to be vegetarian or vegan to heal my health problems?
• What happened to you?!... You were vegan, you had it so right, why did you change?

Just what is healthy eating? Ask that question of 10 different people and you will probably get 10 different answers... some spewed forth with the enthusiasm of a food fanatic. Hey, I only say this as I know, I could be mildly fanatic in my hey day.     

I am grateful for age, wisdom, and my more laid back attitude (Thank you very much yoga). I am now more careful where and when I say my famous quote:   "I wouldn't feed that crap to my dog."               Which honestly is an insult to my dog, any dog. I have since replaced dog in that statement with my compost pile fully realizing it is an insult to my compost pile's amazing bio-diversity and work on this planet. *Why feed my compost pile junk food, GMOs, non-organic crap? I don't want that cycling back around into my garden plot OR worrying about the wild animals who eat out of the pile (including my dog!) and would be getting less than whole food choices. Yup, see I can be a zealot.

20+ years ago when I returned to Northern NY, my home (I grew up in Brasher Falls), I was vegan and had been for 5-6 years. Truthfully, I thought I would starve to death up here.  I quickly found Nature's Storehouse, The Potsdam Food Coop, and Birdsfoot Farm (I believe Birdsfoot was the only organic produce farm in the area at the time).

So, what made me toss aside my vegan ways, turn back the clock on my omnivorous eating? It was a circling back of wisdom I already held within. 

1. I was pregnant, 33, always hungry, and dreaming of my Mom's roast beef dinner, venison stew, and chicken and dumplings. Listen to your body. I did! Our bodies have a wisdom as deep and pure as the earth is old. I listened (with a little encouragement from my Dad that I would not rot in hell for eating meat AND he was worried about his grandson who was hanging out in my uterus at that time). Even my 100% whole food vegan diet, no packaged fake meats and cheese... processed food is processed food, was not supporting my pregnancy well.

2. A Wise Woman Native American made a simple statement to me one day (this was before I was pregnant), as we were talking about vegan eating, that brought me full circle back to the wisdom I already held within: "Everything you eat must die for you."  

Over the years this statement has held strength with me. Everything on this planet holds spirit in its being: plants, animals, the water, air, fire, the Earth herself. When we pull a carrot from the ground we are essentially birthing that carrot from its Mother, Mother Earth. That carrot is alive, alive with life force energy. The carrots roots are its umbilical cord to the uterus that was sustaining it, again, Mother Earth. Life force energy is spirit. To eat we must take a life. Who am I, as a human, to be placing higher value on one life over another. In the great web of life, all beings on this planet are required to balance out all others, all beings are equal.

Eating, actually everything we do on this planet, is a gift we receive from the Earth. Gratitude, deep and sincere gratitude, is a gift we give back to honor all the beings we use for food, medicine, building homes, driving cars, stuff we buy and own, etc. all which comes from Mother Earth. 

Yes, there is more to the story but this is enough for now.

As a kid, I knew this deep life force energy of all things. Kids just do. Trees and plants have always held special energy for me (they do for everyone). I spent hours of my summer up in trees: reading books, eating meals and snacks, lounging back against a sturdy trunk to drink my quart of Homestead Dairy's chocolate milk after school, and taking naps sprawled belly down across the length of a branch with my arms and legs dangling. I had favorite maple and white pine trees for climbing and "living" in. I had a favorite white pine for napping under: the years had piled brown needles under her branches and she faced south. Who could resist such a warm and fragrant bed? I would take my faithful friend Buster (a lop eared beagle), books, and water and head through the fields and woods to get to this pine tree a few miles from my home. Buster and I would camp out: me reading and napping in the fragrant, warm, brown pine needles with the south sun shining on me and Buster terrorizing the small animals of the woods until he was tired and napped next to me.

This deep life force energy of all things... we are culturally trained to forget it. So it was easy for me to think that the only lives I was eating that mattered were the animals. Coming full circle... the life force energy, spirit, in everything matters. (I still eat, enjoy, and am grateful for many vegetarian & vegan meals every week. Is not a meal of butter vegetarian? A meal of dark chocolate vegan?)

What are my healthy eating recommendations?

• 100% whole foods
• Grown and raised as close to home as possible, this means eating seasonally
• Eat only what you need to sustain yourself, over indulgence of anything is over indulgence
• If you know a food does not make you feel vibrant... don't eat it
• A food that makes you soar with happiness & energy? Eat it... well, if it is whole. Dunkin Donuts® do not count here.
• Be deeply grateful for every bite: grateful to the food, the Earth that nurtured the food, the farmers that worked hard to bring that food forth to your plate, fork, & table, the person shopping & cooking for you...
• Show your gratitude by eating in peace, chewing slowly & thoroughly so your digestive tract can do the work to bring the Earth's nourishment to every cell in your body

As We Express Our Gratitude,

We Must Never Forget That The Highest Appreciation

Is Not To Utter Words,

                              But To Live By Them.     John F. Kennedy

Native American Gratitude Prayer

We thank Great Spirit for the resources that made this food possible;

we thank the Earth Mother for producing it,

and we thank all those who labored to bring it to us.

May the wholesomeness of the food before us, bring out the wholeness of the Spirit within us.

*Any food you eat should have been grown with healthy, sustainable, biodynamic principles in mind:  How was this food fed? If a food, plant or animal based, was fed healthy food... its cells will be well nourished and therefore capable of nourishing your cells. If a food you were eating was fed less than whole food, that food will have less than whole nourished cells, and will be incapable of fully nourishing your body. 

For deeper diving into this feeding your food issue:                                                                                     What Does Your Farmer Feed Their Cows, Chickens, Pigs, Goats, Vegetables, Fruits...?

5 Easy Ways To Shift The Energy Of Your Life's Path

Easy is a relative word and is subject to much subjectivity. 

1. Practice being mindful in every moment.  

Excerpted from an article I wrote in 2012 for the Potsdam Food Coop's newsletter, {in my day, you know the uphill both ways to school - barefoot AND in the snow, mindfulness was simply called yoga,  ; ) }      

I have always urged and supported others to practice some form of mind, body, spirit "exercise" to bring a centered awareness into their life as this daily habit makes the process of healthy lifestyle change flow with ease & grace (seriously my friends, I am not pulling your yoga leg here): 

When we stop the constant chatter inside our heads and still our minds through mindfulness activities (yoga and other body awareness exercises), we tend to make choices that are in alignment with what is best for our health without feeling deprived.  This is because we have learned to live in the present moment and are aligned in body, mind, and spirit.  That is the awareness that Yoga brings to our being.
A cluttered "chattery" mind and a body that is not aligned in mind, body, and spirit tends to make decisions based upon impulse and cravings without regard to what is best for long term health.

2. Practice daily mindlessness!  Zone out. Stop the chatter. Pay attention to breath only.  

When we are so bent on living a life of being mindful in every moment we forget to just let go and be... be mindless for a bit. Literally people, NOTHING, going on in our heads!

Check out this Daily OM post by Madisyn Taylor. It was fitting to this thought of mindlessness.

3. Sign up for someone's daily email or social media posts that are positive and inspirational.

Read them. Reflect on them. Allow the words to weave their magic into your body, mind, and spirit. Live the words for your own peace and for the peace of all who walk your path with you.

Hey... I wrote a book on daily reflections and inspirations. This book will gift you a year's worth of body, mind, & spirit magic. Go ahead... cast a spell for yourself.

4. Revel, truly revel, in who you are and your life's purpose on this planet.

Let your true self shine, shine, shine.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."

Check out this youtube link for a bit of musical inspiration. 

5. Offer kindness and compassion every where you go to everyone, every being, & everything. Seriously.

The natural - spiritual law of 3 fold:

"For all that we say and we do "for good or for ill, shall be returned to us threefold."

What goes around comes around baby!  Make your karma & dharma shine, shine, shine! See the above song link for another deep dose of musical inspiration.

May Your Life Be Full Of Wild & Fun Adventures

&

Free From Ordeals.  

: )

Calming Digestive Tract Woes With Your Mind

Meditation - Visualization for Healing Your Gut Health

All Disease begins in the gut.                                                                                                                                                                           Hippocrates

Health begins in the gut. The reverse is also true: disease begins in the gut. Taking steps to reduce the angst in your life reduces the angst in your gut. Over the long haul of life... this is a gut healing gift to yourself!

1. Grab a blanket or two, maybe a yoga mat, and some pillows or props to make yourself comfy.
2. Lie down on your back supporting your head and knees to keep your lower back happy.
3. Take at least 5 slow deep breaths. Simply focus on your breath moving into and out of your body. Relax. Let go. Be at peace.
4. Take 5 more slow deep breaths sending the breath directly to your digestive tract. Feel your breath enter and exit the digestive tract. Feel your breath's energy swirl within the digestive tract.
5. Relax and just breath normally letting your mind stay calmly without thoughts.
6. Slowly bring your body, mind, and spirit back to the room. When you feel like returning to life... get up and get going keeping this peace and relaxation with you. 

When we are stressed, tension happens. This tension in the gut slows and impairs digestive function. Over time this gut tension, angst, contributes to ill health symptoms in your digestive tract.

When we calm the mind and bring healing energy (breath) to the gut, we relax the angst that builds up in the gut and the body as a whole. Relaxation, meditation, visualization, breath work... all ways to bring healing energy to your gut (to your whole body, mind, & spirit!).

Going Deeper with Gut Healing Visualization

Practice the above simple visualization for several days. When you are comfortable with the above technique... try this:

1. Gently observe and learn the above chakra chart. Simply remember where each chakra is located (top of head, between eye brows, throat, heart center, belly button, just below belly button, under pubic bone).
2. Lie down on your comfy blanket or mat, supporting your knees and head.
3. Take at least 5 slow deep breaths, quiet your mind, relax.
4. Breath deeply now and each time take your full breath (inhale & exhale) to your chakras, one chakra/one breath at a time. Start at the crown chakra (top of head).
5. Take a deep breath directing the flow of breath (in and out) to each chakra down your body.
6. Relax.
7. Finish with a few more slow, gentle breaths.
8. Slowly bring your body, mind, and spirit back to the room. When you feel like returning to life... get up and get going keeping this peace and relaxation with you. 

To create a bit longer calming the gut angst session:

1. take 2 breaths directed at each chakra.
2. swirl the breath, life force energy, at each chakra.

Another Deep Relaxing Gut Healing Technique

Are you a reiki person?  If so after finishing the above relaxing visualization try this:

1. Visualize yourself on a massage/reiki table.
2. Do a mini reiki session on yourself through visualizing yourself on the table and standing next to the table doing the reiki. Hold your visualized hands over each chakra (reiki hand positions) for one or two long, deep breaths.
3. If you have the time... flip yourself over on that table and do the back side hand positions as well, finishing the visualized reiki treatment in the traditional reiki practice sequence.

Try this visualization (or either of the above relaxing visualizations) when lying in bed and unable to sleep. Conscious breathing and relaxing visualizations are a fine way to calm down your body, mind, and spirit for better sleep and better moving through your daily life.

Healing the gut is a great first step in healing so many health challenges. For natural Gut Healing Guidance & support, check out my online course:

Healing Your Gut For Lifetime Vitality

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.