Great Easy Holiday De-Stress and Energizing Ideas

Hi All,

Seasons Greetings...I hope your holiday season is shaping up to be a good one.  Things are pretty good here in Phoenix.  It's an amazing and beautiful time of the hear here.  Whether you celebrate Christmas (as I do), or whatever holidays...I hope they're happy and blessed.

Earlier this evening, a friend of mine shared these images with my wife and myself.  She thought I might find them helpful...and I agree.  These are nice little ideas for relaxing, energizing and letting go of stress and tension.  These are from Dr. Oz's "The Good Life," magazine, and also on line at www.DrOzTheGoodLife.com.  Check it out.

Below are some very easy to to beginner yoga moves that can help you de-stress during this hectic Holiday Season, or anytime.  Enjoy...

Peace,

Tom

Stress Kills - How Are You Dealing With Stress?

Hi All,

How are you all doing today? I've been thinking lately about how stress or managing stress fits into an holistic lifestyle.

It occurred to me that among a lot of health conscious people, there's a lot of emphasis placed on eating right, (sometimes all organic or a vegan diet).  Exercise is also a big focal point as well.  Both are important, of course.  However, I wondered how many times do people put a lot of effort into all of that and yet neglect their own mental, emotional, and spiritual health? 

Dealing with stress is key for good health and a healthy lifestyle.   I've talked to many people who are very health conscious about meditation.  So many times, the response it, "I've tried, but I can't do it."  We live in a fast paced society and most everyone works hard, has a lot going on all the time, and can have a hard time relaxing the body and mind.  Many people worry about the future or spend a lot of time reflecting on regrets or events of the past.  All of these can lead to stress...and a lot of it.  We all get caught up in these occasionally; so what are some practical things we can do?

First - take time to relax and/or meditate every day.  My grandmother knew the power of meditation, but she didn't call it that.  When I'd help her on the farm as a kid, we would "take a rest" after lunch for 30 minutes, every day.  We would also do a devotional reading.  Both are good for de-stressing the body and feeding the spirit.  A period of meditation every day is good for you on every level.

Reducing Stress...It's all a balancing act.

 There's many ways to meditate.  Find one and practice.  It's as easy as reclining in a comfortable position and relaxing the body.  Start with a few deep breaths and then relax into a nice easy rhythmic breathing...monitor your breath and relax.  Bring your conscious mind back to the present and continue to relax and watch your breath.  I know, sounds easy, right?  It takes practice, but will pay major dividends, so don't give up.  With practice, you will get better at it and it will get easier.

Add a little mindfulness into your day.  Be present.  Don't worry or think too much about the future or the past.  Keep coming back to present moment...enjoy whatever you're doing.  Whether you're at work or washing the dishes.  It doesn't matter - come back to now....and be grateful for wherever you're at or whatever you're doing.  Remember the saying, "it's all an inside job."  

How about feeding your soul?  Do you have a church or spiritual community?  Do you have not only a weekly practice, but how about a daily spiritual practice?  Like Grandma - the daily spiritual practice is a great way to keep you feeling good and will feed your spirit as well; great for keeping things in perspective and keeping the stress level down.

Of course eating well and exercise are both great for stress busting as well.  Here's a twist though.  Sometimes we may fall short of our goals.  We may not eat as well as we'd like or meet our exercise goals.  Don't beat yourself up.  Do your best and if you fall short, be happy with what you're doing and move on.  You'll do a little better tomorrow.

My Holistic Nutrition teacher in school would talk about nutrition and noticed how everyone would get excited and wanted to really make big changes.  He'd tell us if you can't eat organic locally grown produce, don't beat yourself up, just eat good non organic local.  It that wasn't available, eat non-local.  If not that, eat what you have...and be grateful and bless the food.  Be happy you have something to eat.  Same with exercise - set goals and work hard, but boost yourself up - if you don't meet your goals always, don't beat yourself up.  Do what you can and be happy about it.

It sounds a little simple and easy right?  There's a lot to be said for eating right, regular exercise, and proper rest.  It's good to have fun, get out into nature, spend time with pets and friends, and so many more things that help also.  But remember - an holistic lifestyle is taking care of the whole person.  Taking care of our internal self is just as important as taking care of the physical body.  It all works together.

Have a great day.  Be kind to the people around you today.  That's good for all of us.  Enjoy.

Peace,

Tom

Tom Kreienbrink, LMT
web: www.HolisticTherapySolutions.weebly.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HolisticTherapySolutions

Taking Care of Ourselves

Hi All,

I hope you're all doing great things out there today.  I'm working on it - and yet, I'm a work in progress, (but I keep learning).

I saw this photo (I'm sharing here), on a social media website and it prompted me to think about the many ways we take care of ourselves, or not.  Many of us take care of ourselves in some ways, but may neglect ourselves in others.

Why do we take care of ourselves?  The obvious - it's good for us, good for our health, and it's the right thing to do...I'm sure you can think of other reasons too.

The basics: we take care of the body - nutrition, exercise, adequate rest.  We want to feed ourselves spiritually, and mentally as well.  Most of us try to take care of the body - and may or may not always do a good job of it.  In this path we walk here on Earth, I keep discovering and learning various ways that I can take care of myself.

One of the key ingredients for me is to reduce stress in my life.  I like Thoreau's quote, "Simplify, simplify, simplify."  The less complex my life  - the more I stay in the present - the less stress.  With less stress, I feel better.  Easy, right?  Well - sometimes, yes - and I can flow with life like a river of love.  Other times there's nothing simple about it at all.

Saying "No" can be one of those ways of caring for myself.  Many times in the past I've found myself agreeing to do something, when I really didn't want to, or didn't have the time.  But, out of guilt, or maybe even low self esteem, I said yes.  Typically - this adds stress to my life.  I may obsess about now being committed to something I had neither the desire or time to do.  This can manifest in the body - maybe keeping me awake at night,  tight muscles from stressing, even possibly causing my immune system to be compromised and getting sick, (if you believe in mind-body connection).

You may read this and think I have a selfish attitude, but I would disagree.  Of course, it's a good thing to help when we can.  The act of serving others with love, can be such a powerful force in our lives.  I like to be of service as often as I can.  I like to say "Yes," as well.  However, in the past, my tendency to say yes has caused me to spread myself too thin, on many occasions.  When I do that, I'm not taking care of myself - and the spirit of service turns into a commitment I regret and don't feel good about at all.  It leaves me out of balance and ineffective.

I like the analogy of the oxygen mask on the airplane.  The flight attendant giving the emergency instructions tells us, when the plane loses pressurization and oxygen masks come down, put your mask on first, then put them on people around you.  When I take care of myself first - then I'm much better for those around me.  I need to feel worthy enough and love myself enough to say No, when necessary and let the chips fall where they may.

When I take care of myself in this way so many other good things follow.  Number one - I don't obsess with worry or regret about fulfilling what I agreed to.  This helps me sleep better at night.  This reduces stress in my life and helps me feel better about myself and the world around me.

So take care of yourself - physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Cultivate love in your like and be of service to others when you can.  But - love yourself as well.  Say no when you need to.  It's ok.

Have a great day.

Peace,

Tom

If I can help with your self care with massage, reflexology, hypnotherapy, or energy work like Reiki or CranialSacral therapy - let me know.  I'm here to serve.

www.holistictherapysolutions.weebly.com - or follow Holistic Therapy Solutions on Facebook.

Mindfulness - Meditation Wherever You Are

Hi All,

I hope your week is off to a great start.  Mine is starting well.  I'm meeting with a Scottsdale business owner who may be a source of some extra therapy work for me.  We did have a pretty nice relaxing weekend, too.  Life is good and today is going to be a great day.

I had an interesting experience recently.  As I've written about, I have a regular meditation practice and I also teach/facilitate a weekly meditation group that I started at work.  I got a FB message from a friend of mine in Southern Cal about a week ago, telling me how she just read an article in Time magazine about Mindfulness.  She was nice enough to send it to me.

Let go of the stress....be mindful.

The article talks about how in our society today, we're under constant attack from distractions.  Most people are stressed, have a phone or pad on them all the time and many are answering calls and emails for work, just about 24 hours a day...even when they're on vacation.  We attempt to multitask (really just having several projects going and getting a little of them done at a time)...TV, Radio, and and the list goes on.  We live in a fast paced world with a lot coming at us all the time which keeps us from mindful serenity.

The article also discusses what mindfulness is and talks about some studies being done and some people that are teaching mindfulness at retreats, corporations, and even to the military.  Studies have shown that being mindful can have an impact on a persons health -- helping them to stay healthy.  No big surprise there, right?

So what is mindfulness or being mindful?  First of all, it's being in the present moment - mentally.  Not thinking about what's going on later or what happened 10 minutes ago or anytime in the past.  It's being completely engaged in whatever you're doing, without judgement.  Drinking in the experience of whatever you're doing without any TV or music - just being present and observing.  For example, people in the article talked about commuting on the train and just observing the other passengers and surroundings fully.  You could take a walk or do the dishes, and just completely be - quietly - while doing this activity.  Of course you can meditate by relaxing and being mindful as well - just relaxing, observing, being present, and the part I like to add - doing this while having love and gratitude in my heart.

This may seem very basic or even goofy or hokey to some people.  I get that.  But, how many people out there can't relax for 10 or 15 minutes, without getting overrun in their mind by obsessive thoughts about some situation in their life, work to do, etc, etc etc...

So what can we do?  Start practicing every day.  Take time to put the phone down and turn everything off.  Train the mind to just be present, quiet, and observe life without judgement.  Quieting the mind like this is like working a muscle; the more you work it, the more positive results you'll see.  Do this while relaxing with eyes closed and also try it (eyes open), while at work or walking or doing another activity.  You can make just about anything a meditation.  If you feel it would be helpful, take a meditation class or meet up with a meditation group like mine.

As I mentioned, there have been quite a few studies on this by universities and also some funded by the NIH.   Results have shown that practicing mindfulness is a great aid in preventing and helping to release
. depression and anxiety.  It reduces stress dramatically - and we all know stress can cause lots of harm to our bodies, minds, and health.  Basically it can be a great way of keeping things in balance.

So here's my challenge to you.  If you are like most people, and have some stress in your life, for the next 30 days, try to take a little time every day and practice mindfulness.  Even if you can't find time to close your eyes and meditate, put this into practice at work or commuting; where ever you are.  See if it doesn't help.  If it doesn't help - you've really lost nothing.  My guess is you may find yourself a little more up-beat, perhaps even having a little more energy or a little more relaxed.  See for yourself.

I hope you all have a great week.  Enjoy the challenge.

Peace,

Tom

I'm owner of Holistic Therapy Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona.
www.HolisticTherapySolutions.weebly.com