What we do every day is key to our health and happiness. It is the small steps in life when taken consistently that really get us where we want to go. Daily incremental change is powerful and doable. Embrace our suggestions below or create some of your own to enhance and nourish your soul heart mind and body everyday.
1. Morning pages.
This is a truly beautiful way to greet your day that I discovered after reading Julia Cameron's book "The Artist's Way". The idea of writing three pages by hand each morning before you do anything else is a powerful tool for freeing up your creativity and putting you in touch with your heart. It doesn't matter what you write or whether you feel like writing , the practise of just free flow writing about anything that comes to mind is a great way to get rid of nagging repetitive thoughts. After a few days you will feel lighter, less burdened and more in tune with your truth and your real desires.
2. Movement
Our bodies are designed to move and move often. Take time everyday to be in nature, the local park will do, but get outdoors and feel alive every day. You will gain perspective on your life and allow yourself to consciously notice the beauty in nature around you. Even a 5 minute dance in your garden to your favourite music will set you up for a great day and send those sluggish feelings on their way.
3. Chant
Whether you are chanting in an ashram, yoga class, or driving in your car, you are affecting your body-mind by the sound vibrations that resonate throughout your body. According to research done by Alfred Tomatis of the French Academy of Science and Medicine chanting has a therapeutic effect on the individual by activating the body’s natural healing process. He recommends chanting as an aid for overcoming addictions such as smoking, drugs and alcohol.
Other research conducted by Dr. Alan Watkins of the Imperial College London, reveals that while chanting the heart rate slows and blood pressure lowers; and while just listening to other voices chanting the adrenalin and cholesterol levels in the body begin to normalize.
Living in a stress filled world many people are conditioned to seek release in mind altering substances or activities when the simple act of chanting can calm the nervous system relieving stress in the body-mind and replacing them with feelings of well-being and often times pure bliss. Here is one of my favourite chants " I love my heart and soul, I love all humanity, join hearts and souls together, love peace and harmony, love peace and harmony." Try it out loud or silent the positive effects are just the same.
4. Contribute
The simple act of being kind to another or lending a hand to someone is actually the most powerful thing we can do to lift our own mood. We are hard wired to help others but often we avoid this natural impulse because we don't want to be burdened or often because we confuse service with exhaustion and commitment. Reaching out to help your fellow man or woman with a smile, a kind word or spending time doesn't cost us anything and helps us to realise we are all connected. When we help another we also help ourselves in more ways than one.
5. Smile
Studies suggest that smiling, forced or not, can have a positive effect on your mood,decrease stress levels, and even make everyone around you feel better. Because of complex brain activity that occurs when you see someone smiling, smiles are contagious. When recovering from a stressful situation, study participants who were smiling had lower heart rates than those with a neutral facial expression.The next time you’re feeling stressed, just try smiling to calm yourself down. Smiling can help you manage stress and anxiety by releasing endorphins, chemicals that makes you happier. Endorphins are the same chemicals you get from working out or running. A study in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that smiling actually makes you more attractive to those you smile at. Smiling even makes your immune system stronger by making your body produce white blood cells to help fight illnesses.
1. Morning pages.
This is a truly beautiful way to greet your day that I discovered after reading Julia Cameron's book "The Artist's Way". The idea of writing three pages by hand each morning before you do anything else is a powerful tool for freeing up your creativity and putting you in touch with your heart. It doesn't matter what you write or whether you feel like writing , the practise of just free flow writing about anything that comes to mind is a great way to get rid of nagging repetitive thoughts. After a few days you will feel lighter, less burdened and more in tune with your truth and your real desires.
2. Movement
Our bodies are designed to move and move often. Take time everyday to be in nature, the local park will do, but get outdoors and feel alive every day. You will gain perspective on your life and allow yourself to consciously notice the beauty in nature around you. Even a 5 minute dance in your garden to your favourite music will set you up for a great day and send those sluggish feelings on their way.
3. Chant
Whether you are chanting in an ashram, yoga class, or driving in your car, you are affecting your body-mind by the sound vibrations that resonate throughout your body. According to research done by Alfred Tomatis of the French Academy of Science and Medicine chanting has a therapeutic effect on the individual by activating the body’s natural healing process. He recommends chanting as an aid for overcoming addictions such as smoking, drugs and alcohol.
Other research conducted by Dr. Alan Watkins of the Imperial College London, reveals that while chanting the heart rate slows and blood pressure lowers; and while just listening to other voices chanting the adrenalin and cholesterol levels in the body begin to normalize.
Living in a stress filled world many people are conditioned to seek release in mind altering substances or activities when the simple act of chanting can calm the nervous system relieving stress in the body-mind and replacing them with feelings of well-being and often times pure bliss. Here is one of my favourite chants " I love my heart and soul, I love all humanity, join hearts and souls together, love peace and harmony, love peace and harmony." Try it out loud or silent the positive effects are just the same.
4. Contribute
The simple act of being kind to another or lending a hand to someone is actually the most powerful thing we can do to lift our own mood. We are hard wired to help others but often we avoid this natural impulse because we don't want to be burdened or often because we confuse service with exhaustion and commitment. Reaching out to help your fellow man or woman with a smile, a kind word or spending time doesn't cost us anything and helps us to realise we are all connected. When we help another we also help ourselves in more ways than one.
5. Smile
Studies suggest that smiling, forced or not, can have a positive effect on your mood,decrease stress levels, and even make everyone around you feel better. Because of complex brain activity that occurs when you see someone smiling, smiles are contagious. When recovering from a stressful situation, study participants who were smiling had lower heart rates than those with a neutral facial expression.The next time you’re feeling stressed, just try smiling to calm yourself down. Smiling can help you manage stress and anxiety by releasing endorphins, chemicals that makes you happier. Endorphins are the same chemicals you get from working out or running. A study in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that smiling actually makes you more attractive to those you smile at. Smiling even makes your immune system stronger by making your body produce white blood cells to help fight illnesses.
