The phenomenon of being grounded involves being centered, focused, embodied, and in better control of all of your faculties. It is a helpful state of being for reducing anxiety, dealing with depression, and addressing trauma.

Walk in the Grass in Bare Feet

Take off your shoes and allow the soles of your feet to come in contact with the sand, grass, rocks, or soil.

People who talk about the phenomenon of earthing describe the electron transfer between living systems and the electromagnetic field of the earth. That may sound a bit esoteric, but research does confirm the antioxidant effects of walking barefoot on the earth. Some of the additional benefits include stimulation of reflexology points on the feet as well as articulation of the joints of the foot and the benefits of the massaging action of walking barefoot on the fascia and other tissues of the feet.

Forest Bathing

The Japanese name for this practice is Shinrin-Yoku. Distinct from hiking, forest bathing is the practice of simply spending time in nature without any agenda. You can be in a remote area or even a park or urban forest to experience the benefits. Find a spot you love that is easy to access and just go outside. Refrain from text messaging.

Proven stress relief comes from spending unstructured time in nature. There is a growing body of research that confirms the benefits, which include: stress reduction, improved immune system function, and a reduction in anxiety and depression.

Gardening

Just like it sounds, gardening (called horticultural therapy) has benefits in addition to eating the fresh tomatoes you have grown.

Gardening is shown to reduce depression, uplift mood, and improve memory. Some of this may be related to the effects of being outside in the sunshine and fresh air, as well as enjoying the benefits of moving and getting exercise. There is also a body of research that reveals that being exposed to soil microbes actually has a similar effect on the brain and nervous system as some anti-depressants.

Sometimes there is not a word for what I want to describe. I have made up many words for my own use like, Thrival, Beditation and Heartfulness.

Expansion and contraction tend to be considered opposites. From my experience there is something other than contraction I call INSPANSION.

Expansion is often an increase of growing wider and larger.
Contraction is generally considered a decrease, restriction or withdrawal.

Just like how we can have an expanded awareness usually related to the mind, we can also have an inspanded awareness with our heart.

INSPANSION is inward growth, going deeper inside, coming more into yourself. Inspansion is manifest oneness.

Inspansion is not a limitation like contraction. It is complete and all inclusive acceptance.

When your mind and heart are truly open abundance will flow to you effortlessly and easily.

Right now the push to control the latest surges in Covid have focused on three things that have gained around-the-clock publicity: masks, distancing, and vaccines. Relying on them has given people hope in the face of the pandemic. But there are sources of hope, including a new one just added to the mix, that everyone should know about.

These sources of hope are based on an aspect of daily life that is ordinary and at the same time extremely complex and mysterious.  Every day your body goes through a healing cycle. This cycle is the product of billions of years of evolution, setting in place many cycles, clocks, feedback loops, and chemical messaging. But the upshot is a total reset of the mindbody system every day. Anything that has gone out of balance is reset, and all the parts of the system once again mesh as they were designed to.

Dietitian, Bari Stricoff, and Nutritionist, Sophie Bertrand - authors of the much-anticipated, no-nonsense guide to health & nutrition, Forking Wellness: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Health and Nutrition, & co-hosts of the Forking Wellness podcast - give us the low-down on getting through the holiday without IBS ruining play. 

It’s normal for our eating patterns to change over the festive season. We eat foods we’re not used to eating year-round, such as mince pies, and our alcohol consumption may increase. Routines change, and depending on our holiday situation, we may have less control over our food choices. And that’s okay… food is a normal part of celebrating with friends and family! But, for those suffering from IBS, a disruption to your routine and eating habits may lead to exacerbated symptoms. Here are 10 tips that can help:

Lifestyle is all about the daily habits you inculcate in your life for the long term salubrity. In case your goal is to achieve wellness, you must find a reliable natural supplement. One of the best supplements to consider for your daily life is CBD. Also, it stimulates the neurological processes and interacts with various receptors in your brain. With CBD therapy, you can achieve a healthy and peaceful life. It aids in enhancing the sleep routine and enables you to start your mornings better.

Here are the top ways in which you can improve the quality of your life using CBD.

5 Ways to Turn Seasonal Sad Into Seasonal Glad

With daylight hours growing shorter, and daylight savings time ending for most of us Nov. 1, many people have difficulty adjusting to the colder, darker months. An estimated 10 million Americans struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and women are more than four times as likely as men to have it.

As a mental health issue, SAD is more than just being down about the cold and gloom of the winter months — it actually tends to keep you down and affects you day after day. If you suspect you might have this disorder, you should talk to your doctor about it.

If you’re wondering how to beat those common winter blues, or looking for a way to improve your outlook (whether you have SAD or not), here are some things you can try:

You are Adorable!

When the sun shines upon you
You are adored

When you breathe
You are adored

Things I do to get unstuck

Writing my most recent book Healing Trauma with Yoga forced me to get stuck and unstuck. A project that has not only consumed a lot of time, but obviously forced me to deal with a lot of my own issues around my own personal life experience and trauma. We all have ways that we distract ourselves, some healthier than others. Even with awareness, we can still participate in unhealthy behaviors. Here are some of the things I do to get unstuck that might also help you.

1. Mantras on YouTube going constantly in the background at my home—sound waves permeate your walls, your space, and you. Hav­ing mantras playing is calming and clears the space, infusing positive energy. I play the Bhagavad Gita a few times a week, and mantras almost every day and sometimes even while I sleep.

2. A long walk with my dog or a trip to the dog park to just enjoy dog joy. There is an unbridled joy that animals bring. They exist in the now, don’t get distracted by social media, and are very present and alert. The act of caring for a pet that gives unconditional love will bring immense joy (especially if you rescued the animal). I love walk­ing with Bentley and taking him to play as it forces me to be present.

By Beth Shaw, founder of YogaFit and author of Healing Trauma with Yoga

You don’t need to practice yoga to bring the healing benefits of Ayurveda into your life. The phenomenon of being grounded involves being centered, focused, embodied, and in better control of all of your faculties. It is a helpful state of being for reducing anxiety, dealing with depression, and addressing trauma. Here are nine things anyone can do today to begin a journey to wellness.

Walk in the Grass in Bare Feet

The Alchemy of Tragedy

I wasn’t born an optimist.

In fact… quite the opposite.

I was a moody, sullen, often seriously depressed child and young adult.

One night, at age 26, I decided that I was going to find the secret of happiness.

I was at a party in Coconut Grove, Florida, at the waterfront home of a millionaire, surrounded by people seemingly having a great time. I felt like such an outsider amidst the laughing, smiling party-goers. I had never felt so alone.

I wanted to have a great time, I just didn’t know how.

I thought it was something that just “happened” to lucky people.

In that moment, as I stood on the dock overlooking beautiful Biscayne Bay, I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to discover the secret to happiness.

During the next several years I went to therapy, read a lot of books, attended workshops and discovered that most of the time happiness is a choice. Even when really bad stuff is happening!

I found out that I am an HSP – a highly sensitive person and essentially very shy. I had to break through my fear of people and really make an effort to learn how to connect, make small talk, and allow myself to “be seen.”

Coping with Emotions from Pandemic and the Past

Identify and let go of emotional baggage from difficult times

Life is full of emotional ups and downs. Sometimes the hardships we experience can be so overwhelming that they leave us stuck with feelings that can hamper our happiness or even harm our health and well-being.

The impact of negative emotions from traumatic and difficult events is a growing concern during the challenging times we now face. One new study, for instance, finds the emotional well-being of most American adults has been “broadly and substantially affected by COVID-19 and the related changes in life and society.”

Emotional distress related to COVID-19 is associated with higher frequency of clinical levels of anxiety, depression, and general life stress, along with lower reported levels of overall happiness, according to the U.S. National Pandemic Emotional Impact Report from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard Medical School.

Prolonged and/or intense negative feelings can have effects long after the events that precipitate them. They can take a toll on emotional, mental, and physical health and compel people to behave in ways that damage their relationships or impact their ability to have healthy, long-lasting bonds.

COVID-19: Are You Trusting Yourself or Trusting Authorities?

We are all blessed with access to an infallible source of truth and guidance. If you tune into your feelings – which is the main way the aspect of your your soul that is within you communicates with you – while listening to or reading the news, you can actually feel what is true and right, and what is false and wrong. The problem is that many people have learned not to trust these feelings – to listen to ‘authorities’ rather than to the truth that comes directly from our soul within.

We also all have our soul that is all around us – our higher self.

Our soul is way too big to fit into our body, so some of our soul is within and some is all around us. We are within our soul and our soul is within us. The part of our soul that is all around us is also an infallible source of truth and guidance, and it pops the truth and the loving actions into our mind when we are open to learning about the truth, and about what is in our highest good.
When I see news (I don’t watch it but I do scan it), I tune into my gut feelings and I also tune into my higher self, asking about what is true and what isn’t, and what is loving to me, and I can feel and hear what is true and right.

EVERYTHING IS A GIFT. We only need to appreciate what we have, to have enough.

The Gift of who you are is a precious gift of Life. The gift of life is unmerited, undeserved, unearned and generous beyond measure. We do not earn our breath; it is a gift.

HEARTFULNESS is a process to restore our natural state of harmony, creating a lifestyle of being who you are and becoming more of all you are.

Heartfulness and Mindfulness are both aspects of Awarefulness. Meditation in a pure sense is being with the source of Life.

The experience of harmony is personal. You have to do it yourself. The awareness of Harmony is always available as life expressing as us.

"Giving love to someone is like trying to give them a breath, when they can only breathe for themselves. You can breathe with others but you cannot breathe for them." Will Hale 2-11-15

The Surprising Success of Wholeness

As the notions of “holistic” and “wholeness” became popular in recent decades, they also turned into a paradox. People who focused on holistic health, diet, and wellness found themselves to be cut off from people who didn’t care about such things (which is the majority). Trying to be holistic wound up making you separate, which is the opposite of being whole. The meditation/wholefoods/yoga people are a splinter group from the McDonald’s/Monday Night Football/TGIF people.

Perhaps a misunderstanding lies at the bottom of this situation. Wholeness people tend to feel that they are waiting for non-wholeness people to catch on, a little like non-smokers and teetotalers waiting for chain-smokers and beer drinkers to catch on. This divide disappears, however, once you realize that you cannot make yourself whole, while on the other side of the coin you cannot make yourself unwhole. Everyone is whole already.

A simple observation is enough to clarify why wholeness is inescapable. Imagine someone sitting at a computer doing a task. You cannot see the monitor, so you don’t know what their task is. The physical body you see is a person; the thinker responding to the computer screen is a person. The two must co-exist, uniting two sides of reality, physical and mental.  This union defines everyone’s existence. You were born whole, and the only thing that separates you from a random stranger is what you decide to do with your wholeness.

Here we are looking beyond lifestyle, although that would seem to be the most glaring difference between people. Instead, how you use your wholeness primarily centers on something else: awareness. Someone in the meditation/whole foods/yoga group can be miserable, conflicted, and anxious while someone in the other group is content, loving, and secure. Clearly awareness is involved in this difference, but how? 

Switching from Lifespan to Healthspan

Some pessimism has been circulating about lifespan recently. In the modern era lifespan has increased every decade, and dying before you turn seventy would now be considered a premature death. Three score and ten is no longer a destination for a normal life, and average lifespans among people who are not underprivileged could easily top ninety in the near future.
 

The difference in quality of life is now more important than lifespan on its own, because the health status of two seventy-year-olds can vary wildly. The concept to keep in mind is healthspan, defined as the years you spend without infirmity, chronic disease, and dementia. Right now healthspan is a hit and miss proposition.
 

While we are told that our genes determine how we age, this needs to be clarified. Research on identical twins reveals that it’s not your genes that determine your healthspan but your lifestyle, nutrition, and gut microbiome that play a much more important role.  Identical twins are born with the same genes, a fact that will not change over the decades, but by age seventy, many identical twins are as unalike in their health status as two people chosen at random.