Back To School Stress Free!
Creating Back to School Flow
The return to school, fall schedules, can bring on a bit of stress. Summer has its go with the flow, easy kind of existence. Easing back in to fall can be made simple and stress free by taking a few mindfulness steps.
1. Remind yourself that fall, and the return to school, means a return to an organized, set schedule. Knowing where you need to be, 5 days a week, can bring a level of comfort after the chaos of spontaneous, summer living. Revel in this return to harmony.
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, soul 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.
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. 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.
Be well; very well, Paula ; )
Stalking the Wild Nettle
Nettles are my favorite healing herb. This fact about me is something I do not hide. Now I have plenty of other herb friends, both cultivated and wild, that run a semi-close second in my favorite herb department. Nettles are #1!
Nettle seeds
In the above picture you are looking at the beautiful tiny seeds that dangle in strands from the nettle plant. These seeds are powerhouses of nutrition for nourishing thyroid health. The dose is 1/4 teaspoon daily. I would take this as 1/8 teaspoon, twice daily.
To dry nettle seeds I cut the entire stalk at the base and hang them upside down in a warm and dry space. Make certain you have a screen or something similar underneath the hanging plants to catch any falling seeds. When they start to dry, I carefully cut each strand from the stalks. I put them in a paper bag, poked with a knife to make many air holes, and hang the bag to completely dry the seeds. Leave the top of the bag wide open for better air flow. You can also use a very fine mesh bag to hang and dry the seeds.
The remaining stalks can be left to dry out the leaves. Again, trim the completely dried leaves off the stalks and store them in an air tight container. You now have dried nettle leaves for adding to soups, stews, sauces, and for making healing tea.
The beautiful nettle plant displaying her seed strands.
Looking straight down at the nettle plant. The seeds strands form a whorled pattern about this beautiful, healing plant.
Nettle's many healing gifts to your body:
- strengthens the kidneys and adrenal glands
- builds natural energy from the inside of the body (which is the opposite of coffee's effects in the body, coffee wears out the adrenal glands, nettles builds and heals the adrenals
- nourishes the hair and skin making you shine with vibrant health
- is an adaptogenic herb, helps a living organism adapt to stress (adrenal health!)
- rebuilds and restores the body cells as nettles is a powerhouse of nutrition
- great for reducing allergies on its own or make an herb honey with raw, local honey and nettle puree, take 1/4 teaspoon twice daily (This is basically making a tincture using honey as the base.)
- great for nourishing the male and female reproductive tracts
- nourishes thyroid health and contributes to body weight balancing
This is but a partial list of all the benefits nettles has in the human body. I suggest you become friends with nettles and learn all you can about her healing ways.
What you are observing, below, is a chicken nettle salad sitting on top of a romaine lettuce, carrot, and cucumber salad. In the upper left corner is a big dose of my late spring, wild leek infused sauerkraut. I got carried away and made 8 quarts! 5 quarts down, 3 quarts left to enjoy!
Chicken Nettle Herb Salad
- left over chicken breast from dinner at the ADK Cafe in Keene, NY. If you are ever passing through here, stop and eat. The food is divine, the meat is local and pasture raised!
- sprigs of fresh rosemary
- fresh chives
- nettle top leaves
- homemade mayonnaise made with 3 tablespoons whipped heavy cream, 1 small egg's yolk, and a dash of yellow mustard. I whipped the cream well, added in yolk and whipped some more, then added mustard. The cream and eggs were both from local, pasture raised animals cared for with love.
The chicken was chopped up, mayo blended in, added in the chopped herbs and nettles, and stirred all together. I plopped this decadent chicken salad on top of my veggie salad (all local veggies from Martin's Farm Stand) that was dressed with my homemade herb vinegar dressing. The finishing touch: wild leek sauerkraut!
Eat healthy, eat whole... your body cells with thrive with vibrant, radiant health!
Cook Book...
Cook Book...
To write or not to write,
That IS the ???
So I have hit the 100th person to ask me: Are you going to write a cook book?" or "When are you going to write a cook book?" I am celebrating this milestone (like celebrating the 100th person to cross the threshold of a new store or business) by chatting about it here.
Cook book or not?
I have to say, "nah, not in my plans." I thought about it for a bit and here are my issues... issues, we always have issues!
1. I am a "just throw it in a bowl" kind of gal. For example, foods like cakes, cupcakes, cookies, muffins, and pancakes all have the same basic ingredients. Some have more liquid, i.e. pancakes, while others have more flour, i.e. cookies. What I throw in the bowl depends on the consistency of the batter or dough I am trying to make.
So, to make a chocolate cake I do something like this (and hope for the best!):
- 2-3 eggs whipped up and add 1/2 to 3/4 cup melted butter (these two ingredient amounts depend on whether I am making a one or two layer cake)
- 1/2 cup sugar, unrefined, of course (I may use 3/4 if making 2 layers and it is not for my kids, most people like sweeter cakes.)
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 1/2 to 1 cup milk, again depending on the layers
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 to 3 tbsp. baking powder depending on the flour (oat flour and I use less b. powder, if it is millet / quinoa / teff / amaranth flours I use more b. powder)
- 3-6 tbsp. cocoa powder depending on # of layers and how chocolate flavored I want the cake
- Enough flour to create a cake batter consistency, which is thicker than pancakes but more liquid than cookies
Set batter aside for 5 - 10 minutes to see how the flour soaks up the liquid. After 10 minutes, if the consistency is cake like, good to go. If it is too runny, I add flour a tiny bit at a time. Too thick? I thin with a bit of milk.
So, that is how I cook everything. A little of this and a little of that. Who wants a cook book written like this? I would get boo-ed and rotten tomatoes thrown at me! Most people want exact measurements.
2. Meal cooking is a process of looking at the local, seasonal produce on hand and having fun with it; playing with the ingredients, herbs, and spices. When you play with food for long enough, cooking and creating in the kitchen becomes second nature.
I suggest picking up a couple of good vegetarian cook books* (cook books that show case seasonal produce) and then read them like novels. Next, get cooking. After a bit of practice in the seasonal kitchen, I will say it again, cooking becomes second nature. It is an art work. Relax, breathe deeply, and let your creative nature just flow.
Add your favorite protein sources and whole grains to the yummy seasonal veggies and voila'... you have dinner (suggestion: make enough for lunch leftovers!).
If you have blood sugar control challenges (diabetes) eat whole grains in serious moderation, not at every meal, and up the intake of veggies instead.
3. I visited the SLU book store and checked out the cook book section. It was scary! There were 5 shelving sections of cook books with 7 shelves in each section. 35 shelves of cook books and only 2 of the cook books on the shelves had more than one copy. One was the original MoosewoodCook Book the other was a smoothie "recipe book", I believe. All of those 35 shelves were loaded with single copies of cook books on every topic and health promoting diet imaginable! That was a huge wow for me!
The 5 rows of cook books at the SLU Book Store:
3. I am all about making food an art form. The kitchen is your studio, food is your medium, and the kitchen utensils are your artist's tools!
Watch for my follow up post: How to Cook Like an Artist
Be well, have fun in the kitchen! Paula
*Cook Books you might find useful:
- Home Gardener's Month By Month Cookbook, Marjorie Page Blanchard
- From Asparagus to Zucchini
- Recipes from the Root Cellar, Andrea Chesman (She also wrote Serving Up the Harvest)
If the cook book uses refined ingredients (refined, all-purpose flour, bleached or not)... use your whole food kitchen skills and swap out the refined ingredients and add in 100% whole food ingredients. Need help with this? Give me a shout, read that section in my book (Hands On Health: Take Your Vibrant, Whole Health Back Into Your Healing Hands), or zap me an email and I will send you my educational handout.
If you do not like the high fat ingredients in the Home Gardener's Cookbook, swap out for ingredients with fat contents you are comfortable with. Myself, hey, bring on the butter! (From Pasture Raised Cows, Please!)
Get cooking like the seasonal kitchen artist you can be!
PS My second book, a book of inspirational words to help you put the action steps in my first book, well... into action, was picked up by a publisher yesterday! Stay tuned as I keep you informed of the publishing process!
I call this book of words my "yoga poses" for the body, mind, and spirit book. No, that is not the book's title... that secret will be released at a later date!
Today, to celebrate, I am off to climb a high peak in those amazing ADK Mountains!
White Face from last summer's hiking ... today I am going up Dial!
Eat Several Small Meals A Day... or not?
Are you a grazer like this sweet "lil goat? Aradia is quite sweet as well!
I do not agree with this current health trend, health advice.
Now I will tell you, as always... figure out what works for you, in your life, so you feel your very best, vibrant self every day.
So back to the several small meals a day advice... that I do not agree with, my diet myth buster:
Why?
1. If a person struggles with over eating, this only gives license to over eat more times in a day.
2. If one eats well balanced meals: fruits and veggies (fruit in am, veggies with lunch & dinner), quality protein, and quality fat... you will be well satiated for a good 4 to 5 hours. No need to snack or eat several small meals in a day.
3. Eating several small meals trains your blood sugar to want to be "up." When we get used to meals that sustain us comfortably, without overeating, our bodies get used to feeling gently full and then feeling empty, gently empty. Empty is good. Revel in this feeling as you innately know you are not going to starve if you feel hungry for a while. We live in a culture with ample food. Pick 100% whole foods to fill yourself at meals.
4. Eating constantly will leave you feeling hungry all the time. It is the blood sugar is "up" constantly issue. Once your blood sugar goes down, even just a little, this triggers the "Oh my, I am hungry" feeling again. Feeling empty is ok.
5. If you constantly are giving your body fuel, calories, when will it have a chance to go into fat burning and use up your stored fat calories?
6. Do you really want to spend all your time preparing food and doing dishes?
7. The digestive tract needs rest. If you eat every 2-3 hours, it never gets a rest. Your digestive tract will always be working to digest and eliminate food. Would you want to be working your skeletal muscles constantly, no rest, no sleep?
This is my thoughts, using common sense and wisdom gained from years around food and as an eater myself! Use this in any way that works for you and makes your life a better place to be!
Cheers & Blessings! Paula
Self Healing Lung Disease
I love this tree "lung" picture as it is so symbolic of life, health, vitality, healing, and breath!
The human body is an amazing healing organism. Our RNA and DNA are constantly repairing. The immune system is a very busy system: searching out breaks and abnormalities in our RNA and DNA, scouting out unwanted micro-organisms in our bodies, repairing cells... the work of the immune system is amazing.
For me to say the word heal in regards to your lungs, I am only telling you what you innately know: Your body is capable of self healing any and every challenge it faces. Healing comes from within.
It is as simple as this.
Now, I will admit, sometimes the immune system is just plain exhausted. When this is the case, healing may have a hard time happening. Healing may not happen. This is the scenario when a person has seriously not taken whole health care of their bodies for years. The body, the immune system, is: worn down, malnourished, and exhausted. It just cannot rise to the occasion and do the healing work necessary.
Let's take a step back and focus on healing, focus on the fact that healing can and will happen!
What heals the lungs?
Removing all habits that are toxic to the lungs and the body as a whole.
Working on liver health is essential as the liver is your main organ of detoxification. The liver is involved in all healing and needs to be functioning at top notch health. Burdock is a good liver herb to learn about.
Add in 100% life giving, whole foods.
Add in Whole Health Lifestyle choices.
Add in herbs specific for healing the lungs. (More about this below.)
Make use of holistic healing modalities* that speak to you:
Acupuncture or acupressure
Reiki or any form of energy healing
Yoga or any form of mind, body, spirit exercise
Many, many more natural healing arts
Herbs to Heal the Lungs: (These herbs have even more benefits than the few remarks I will make.)
Mullein helps to strengthen the lungs
Lungwort promotes lung and respiratory health and clears congestion
Chaparral for lung detoxification and respiratory health support
Elecampane clears mucous
Eucalyptus soothes and promotes respiratory health
Lobelia (one of my favorite herbs) opens the airways to promote ease of breath and harmonizes the other herbs in a formula to work better
More research information on Lobelia: https://www.herballegacy.com/Lobelia_King.html
Osha root increases circulation to the lungs
Coltsfoot clears mucus and strengthens the lungs
Licorice root soothes inflamed lung tissue so the immune system can get to work healing and licorice harmonizes the other herbs in a formula to work better
Thyme is a powerful aid in congestion and a powerful anti-microbial
Oregano is a decongestant and natural antimicrobial and contains nutrients / anti-oxidants that directly nourish lung cells
Sage dispels lung congestion and soothes tissues
Peppermint, and all mints, relax and soothe the respiratory tract making breathing easier
Plantain soothes irritated mucus membranes, is an anti-microbial and anti-toxin herb
Echinacea is an immune booster to help fight infection
Horehound is an expectorant and lung healing herb
Grindelia flowers are an expectorant and sedative, calming
Pleurisy root is an expectorant and anti-spasmodic, good for coughs
Passion flower calms and eases respiration and circulation
Yerba Santa leaf relieves excess mucus and is used for asthma and all lung conditions
Yerba Mansa root is a mucus membrane tonic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, stimulates circulation and relief of lung congestion
Ginger root warms the body increasing circulation and loosening mucus
That's a lot of herbs to heal the lungs!
So my interest in lungs and healing? Well, I am interested in healing the body... the lungs are part of this glorious organism.
My youngest son, Eli, was born 3 months early. It was a long haul in the neo-natal intensive care unit before he could come home, in my arms, 3 months later. Because of his pre-maturity, his lungs did not fully develop. He had respiratory distress syndrome and came home with severe asthma.
The first few years were rough and tough. A cold or the flu was seriously hard on his lungs (and his Mom!) and made the viral illness hang in longer than it would in a non-asthmatic person.
I used 2 herbal formulas to heal his lungs. I chose to not use any of the prescription medications or respiratory treatments prescribed: steroids, asthma drugs, inhalers, or nebulizers breathing treatments.
The formulas:
The Lung tonic is taken daily to heal chronic lung conditions. Asthma is one of these. I keep it on hand, at my Hands On Health Healing business, for clients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Emphysema, Asthma, and other chronic lung conditions.
The Respiratonic is used in acute moments: "I cannot breathe right now!" It helps to open the airways and ease breathing. I kept this handy when Eli had a cold or the flu. I keep a supply, at my business, for clients with lung conditions.
I also used a lobelia tincture with Eli. Lobelia is also for acute, "I CAN NOT breathe NOW" moments when he turned blue or I was preventing him from turning blue. It works very quickly to open up the airways and ease the tightness of asthma and lung breathing conditions. I kept this next to my bed, in my purse, in the kitchen, and a bottle on my body most of his first 7-8 years of life. There were many times, when Eli was young, that he needed it now. When he was an infant, I carried it in the front pack or sling that I was carrying him in. I slept sitting on an incline, with Eli on my chest, for the first 4+ years of his life with a bottle in my hand as I slept. No, I kid you not. This made so much more sense to me than the hospital prescribed apnea machine attached to my kid sleeping in a crib in the next room over... WTH?
MORE Lobelia information: https://www.herballegacy.com/Lobelia_King.html
One Lobelia products I used, Dr. Christopher's was another brand
By the time Eli was 5, the asthma was almost completely healed. By 7 years of age, it was essentially gone. I continue to give him the Lung Tonic, from time to time, just to add in healing nourishment for his lungs. I usually give him 2 daily over the hardest winter months. He is 15 now and his asthma is healed.
Got lung health and healing concerns? Looking for a more natural approach? Give me a shout, I would love to support you on your healing journey.
Sending healing love, Paula
Treating whooping cough from an MD
* Please feel free to contact me, I would be happy to help you find practitioners in the area who work with Plant Spirit Medicine, Massage, Shamanism, Acupressure, Yoga, Tae Kwon Do, and many more healing arts, to help you on your healing path.
The Final Tip: Divine Weight Loss
This is it... the final weight loss tip coming to you with LOVE.
Truly, I could write many more. I want to inspire you and not overwhelm.
Final Divine Weight Loss Tip:
Gratitude: An attitude of gratitude for everything in your life and all you are as a divine human being does wonders in the quest to make healthy choices. When you see yourself, truly for the divine spirit you are, the natural tendency is for TLC towards self.
Practice gratitude for you.
Every AM, wake up and make your first thought about what you are grateful for today. Make something up if you have to and stick with it. Every PM, as you are shutting your eyes for the day, visualize one thing that happened today that you are grateful for. Anything counts, even that you made it through the day. Heart centered thanks to self for that fact. Each day, finding 1 thing to be grateful as the sun comes up and again, as the moon shows her face, will get easier & easier. It is a practice.
Remember: There is no perfection and yet you are perfection.
If this sounds counter-intuitive to you, try practicing honoring your divine being every day in everything you do. Let me know how this changes your attitude about you and your actions towards yourself. I love to hear people's amazing stories about their health and healing.
I often have people say to me things like: "I can't be as perfect as you, Paula, around food choices and exercise." Trust me... I am not perfect. But, I do make choices from this space:
Is this natural for my body?
Will it feed my cellular health?
Will this choice inspire my highest good on this planet so I can best serve myself and others?
I move on from this space and make my choices. This attitude, coming from my mind,heart, and soul, makes it easy for me to choose healthy lifestyle options. Then I slather my choice with gratitude! Much as I slather my life with butter. But that’s another story.
Strive for Purr-Fection: Ever notice how cats are Purr-Fectly content in just about any situation? Approach life from a cat mentality and make the situation Purr-Fect in the moment!
I wish you calm and peace as you heal mind, body, and spirit and re-balance your weight and health.
Cats being Purr-Fect:
Dogs are Purr-Fect too but in a totally different way. ; )
Divine Weight Loss Tips 1- 7&8&9&10
https://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/8/2/divine-weight-loss-tip-1
https://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/8/4/divine-weight-loss-tip-3
https://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/8/5/divine-weight-loss-tip-4
https://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/8/6/divine-weight-loss-tip-5
https://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/8/7/divine-weight-loss-tip-6
https://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/8/9/divine-weight-loss-tip-7-8-9-10