allison keli ~ books & blogs

Traveling Professionals Can Do These 4 Things to Stay Healthy on the Road

By Guest Blogger Zack Spring

Pursuing a career that demands a lot of traveling can be both fulfilling and stressful. When your work gives you the opportunity to visit amazing places and meet a wide variety of people, you gain valuable life experience that most others might only dream about. However, it can also feel like your travels are taking a lot from you. It is easy to lose track of the hours while on the road, and before you know it, an entire day goes by without tending to many of your physical and mental needs. When planning your travel schedule, keep a few healthy ideas in mind so that your body and mind can stay in good shape wherever you go.

1. Practice Good Safety Habits

It goes without saying that safety is paramount when driving long distances or using other forms of transportation. However, many travelers tend to overlook critical safety practices when staying at a hotel. You should always make sure to keep your luggage locked when you leave the room, use your door’s deadbolt for added security, and avoid staying on the ground level if possible.

Organizing and guarding your travel documents is another form of exercising good personal safety. You might even consider saving your important documents as PDF files on your phone for quick and convenient access. Sharing PDF files is a simple matter, and you don’t even need Wi-Fi access to pull up documents that are saved directly to your device.

2. Maintain an Exercise and Meditation Routine

Daily exercise is vital for maintaining a healthy body, and meditation can help calm the mind during stressful business trips. Feel free to take advantage of a hotel’s gym or communal spaces for your wellness routine while traveling. There are even great workout routines that you can complete from the comfort of your own hotel room.

As an alternative to yoga for meditation, you might seek out reiki treatment as a form of stress relief. Nani Lotus Bodywork can walk you through the many benefits of various holistic therapies.

3. Find Time for Hobbies

Traveling for work can make it feel like you are “on the clock” every minute of the day. There is much to do and a lot of ground to cover, so you might think that you have to spend your free time being productive.

Hobbies boost your mood and contribute to your overall mental health. There are even some great hobbies that you can take with you on the road. Keep a collection of ebooks on your tablet for easy reading, start a journal, or start practicing photography.

4. Travel With an Animal Companion

Hitting the road with a dog can be a great boost to your mental health, and can encourage you to stay active while traveling as well. Solopreneurs and freelancers can especially benefit from the companionship on what might otherwise be a lonely journey. Keep in mind that smaller dogs may be easier to travel with.

Be sure to pack plenty of toys and comforting items for your dog, and consider investing in a GPS collar as well. The best collars come with real-time mapping features that allow you to track your dog from your smartphone in case of an escape.

Neglecting one’s own health is a common pitfall among traveling professionals. If you make sure to prioritize personal wellness and staying safe while traveling, though, you can enjoy great experiences to the fullest while plying your trade.

Zack Spring works as a tech consultant which requires him to travel frequently. He also enjoys running and cycling – staying active as possible. He created TravelFit.info to encourage his readers to stay active while traveling.

Louise Hay vs Julia Cannon

When I had my QHHT <quantum healing hypnosis therapy> session (read about it here), my sister-in-law handed me a book the daughter of Dolores Cannon had written. As always with receiving a book, I was excited to explore its contents.

Initially, upon learning what the book was about, I was thinking it would be similar to the Louise Hay Heal your Body book. Hay’s book is a great little companion to learning about various body parts, its dysfunctions, and what could theoretically be causing the problems. (I’m not going to lie — stress is the culprit of most dis-ease, right?) I even hand this book out sometimes to my Reiki students because I think it’s such a great addition to the conversation. (Mind you — Hay has written a lot more detailed books as well, and offhand, I don’t think I’ve read any.)

When I heard that Julia had written a book, too, I immediately thought about Louise Hay’s book. Which, interestingly enough, Julia tackles head-on within the first pages of her offering — this fact that so much is out there on this topic already. I found the mention humbling, if maybe not entirely sincere/authentic. After all, she is the daughter of someone who has made this her life’s work.

But honestly, it doesn’t really matter.

What matters to me, is that I actually enjoyed the book. It’s succinct, but it’s not an index of body parts and ailments like I thought it was. The chapters are divided into body systems, and the book describes, as a whole, what ailments in these areas mean. It also gives you layman’s understanding of these body systems, which I loved. As a massage therapist, anatomy is obviously very important.

There are a few things that didn’t sit well with me, though. For instance, she says Alzheimer’s is a way to extend life so you can give your family members more time to say goodbye to you. To this, I say nice try. Anyone who has dealt with this insidious disease would probably have issues with this assessment. I can see how someone may be so sad in how their life played out, they may in fact “check out” before their bodies give up. But nobody would deliberately drag their family members through that. My grandmother’s demise, via Alzheimer’s, was traumatizing to the entire family, and things happened that shook our family’s core and changed the direction of many lives because of it.

So… no.

This description also reminds me of the fine line practitioners have to walk in their assessments of other people, especially when we have no personal connections to the issue at hand. I can empathize all day with someone; but if it’s never happened to me, there is a level of understanding that I just can’t achieve for that other person.

Mostly, it doesn’t matter.

Other times, it’s a hurdle almost impossible to overcome.

The very end of the book does have an index of body parts and possible meanings. Jaw, throat, stomach issues are about the same as I’ve read before. Inability to speak your truth, or speaking your truth too loudly. Having problems digesting what’s going on in your life. Allergies are supposed to be from a past life — that doesn’t resonate with me so much. Asthma — someone or something crushing you, not giving you space — I suppose that could make sense. Elbow and arms — failure to embrace love.

There’s also an interesting section called The Process. She details simplistic instructions for how to heal yourself. Find a quiet space; figure out what’s ailing you; ask why; take steps to fix the why. It’s that easy.

(HA! If only!)

Both Hay and Cannon offer value and insight into this arena of health and healing. I can’t remember if Hay suggested that not all of her work may resonate with each person, but Cannon took the time to say she did not always understand what was being given to her to share.

As a reader, sometimes I’d like that conviction. Even though, as a practitioner, I live in the unknown all day long! Maybe that’s why I’d prefer this conviction somewhere else.

Interested in either one?

Louise Hay’s website is here.

Julia Cannon’s website is here.

Swell as He|| Homemade Granola — For Real

I just scoured other blogs of mine to see if I had ever made a granola-recipe post — and as it turns out, I have. However, I can see there are some differences between what I did before, and what I did *just today*, and I assure you, today’s recipe is FAR. MORE. SWELL.

I can’t say it’s the healthiest, but it has to be healthier than the ones in the grocery store. Right?

INGREDIENTS

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1.5 cups of nuts, seeds, etc.
2/3 to 3/4 cups of dried fruit
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
a smattering of spices: nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, etc.
some salt
topping of cacao nibs

INSTRUCTIONS

Crank that oven up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit!
Take a large cookie sheet (not a flat one) and line it with silicone.
Grab a bowl and combine oats, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, salt and spices.
- I layered it first before mixing it; first oats, the nuts and seeds, then the fruit, and then the spices and salt. I used allspice, cinnamon, cloves, orange zest and nutmeg on top of dried Montmorency cherries, blueberries, golden raisins, sunflower seeds and unsalted peanuts. I scooped the mixture up, around, down and beyond with a rice spatula to combine the dry ingredients.
Pour in oil, vanilla and maple syrup. Using the spatula, continue to mix it up! Make sure the oats are all covered with wetness and spices.
Take the oat mixture and spread it across the cookie sheet. Smooth it over with your spatula, trying to make it an even, thinnish layer. (About 1/4 thick.)
Place it in the oven, set your timer for 11 minutes. Take the mixture out, and mix it up and around and down and over on the cookie sheet. Please don’t burn yourself. Place it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Take the mixture out again, mix it up again, and then place it back inside the oven for another 11 minutes.
Remove it from the oven. If you’re adding cacao nibs, let it cool for about a minute or so before taking the nibs all across the layer, pressing them gently into the mixture with your spatula. It should not melt.
Let it cool completely before storing it. It should have pieces that break off in clumps, and a bunch of looser pieces. I used glass storage for my mixture and will *only* put it in my fridge if I feel like it’s losing some of its freshness. Otherwise, I’ll keep it tightly secured on my counter until the entire amount is eaten! The next time I make this mixture, I will be freezing some for future use.

You can also use coconut flakes, other types of nuts, chocolate, pepitas — choose your own adventure, every single time.

This granola is great for a snack, for mixing with yogurt, or for whatever you need it for.

Happy Munching!

I Tried QHHT, and This is How it Went

Let me preface this post with three words to describe me: heavily discerning skeptic. Or perhaps a healthy, discerning skeptic. I’m not quick to trust things just because of how amazing something sounds. I try things; if it works, fantastic. If it doesn’t, I didn’t lose anything but time. Maybe some money.

I’m in the woowoo field because it’s an external way for me to share my internal world. I guess. It’s not that far of a leap from who I was growing up, to who I am now. I was always intrigued by things I couldn’t fully understand, or things I couldn’t fully experience. ‘Daydreaming’ was a healthy part of my reality.

I grew up around people who believed in God, but didn’t believe in the other things they couldn’t see. So with a healthy, discerning eye, I began to explore all things God and beyond. First was through a relationship with nature; then academically in college (which I highly recommend); and then the rest came through real-world experience.

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of weird shit happen to me. I don’t let them define me, or rule me. They’re fun little antidotes for my memoir. (HA.HA.HA. Can’t wait, can you?)

I got hypnotized over ten years ago, because a fellow woowoo person had just studied how to do it. This was my introduction into being hypnotized. I didn’t really have anything I wanted to correct or fix; I just wanted to try it out, and help out a friend who needed to practice. It was fun, and weird, and to this day, I still haven’t listened to the recording of that experience.

But since I had Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique (QHHT) performed on me (just yesterday!), I’ve found the old CD that session was recorded on, and I’m going to try to upload it to listen to it. What I remember from my original hypnosis was feeling this childlike happiness, but also being all alone and in the dark. Not scared, not sad, just alone.

I enjoyed it so much, however, that when I was attending massage school, I was hoping I could follow it with a hypnosis class to learn how to do it myself. (Alas, that did not happen.)

Fast forward ten years or so later, and my sister-in-law tells me about this hypnotherapy she was going to try out. And afterwards, she had had such an amazing experience, she wanted to share it with others by training to do it herself.

How was it different from the traditional (non-clinical) hypnotherapy I’d already had? Well, I still haven’t listened to my old recording, so this is going off of memory here, and my memory isn’t always that stellar. Both therapies relax you, both put you in a state of where your ego-mind takes a step back and allows another part of you to take over. It’s not scary; you’re fully in control, and you’re even more in control if you relax enough to witness what you “see” and “feel”.

From meditation and all of the inner work I’ve done (and the fact that I’m a fairly visual person, I suppose), this was not hard for me to tap into. The hardest part for me was to describe what it was that I was seeing when I was seeing things. Or it was hard to answer a question when there just wasn’t anything there, or there were emotions present, but it was hard to describe. I felt like language was my hurdle, not the process itself.

First, there’s an interview process between practitioner and client. After the interview, I was lead into relaxation (basically through a guided meditation). I was then asked to jump onto a cloud. (I had a little too much fun jumping on this cloud!) The cloud then, purportedly, took me back through time to another life. I saw the cracked dry earth, described my surroundings and shoes (archway on the left, ox in front of me with a cart). I was then moved forward in ‘time’ and asked to experience happy moments. I described what I saw. Then I was asked to visit the end of that particular person’s life.

After that, she brought me back to myself, and then asked questions about my current life. If there were answers, I gave them. From there, she asked permission for my higher self to do a body scan and then heal the problems I had.

Basically, that was it.

The difference between this session and my previous one–at least from what I remember–is that the previous one wasn’t as long as the QHHT one. Before, I didn’t deliberately tap into a “past life” to glean information from. It seems like that was the process for this experience. Previously I don’t remember asking questions about my current situation, and I definitely don’t remember asking for my higher self to heal a physical problem in my body.

So, if you have time (and money, I think it’s costly) and have an interest in past lives–do the QHHT. If you just want to experience hypnosis, find a regular ol’ hypnotist. From my understanding, there are many, many different types to choose from. Whichever one works best for you, I say, throw caution to the wind and just try it.

I don’t claim that what I saw was an actual past life. I don’t know. I have no proof. I don’t know why I saw what I saw. I know I saw the things I saw, and I know I felt real emotions in my real body when I was experiencing things that I saw in my mind’s eye.

I did in fact get some emotional and mental clarification. The biggest take home for me was assimilation. My logical mind doesn’t really care if I’m assimilating past lives, current life, planetary bullshit, holographic energies, whatever. My job is to assimilate all that I am and know, so that I can be of better service. Through providing bodywork, writing, talking, parenting, whatever. For myself, and for others.

I asked Siri to define assimilation for me. She showed me this:

assimilation — noun. 1. the process of taking in and fully understanding information or ideas. 2. the absorption and digestion of food or nutrients by the body or any biological system.
New Oxford American Dictionary

I have digestive issues. Boom.

There were other things, but one of the more notable moments happened to be funny. My “higher self” was having a good time at this point. I’ve had issues with my right foot. It’s off and on. It hurts, and walking/running makes it worse. It came on again late last fall, and it’s still bugging me now.

What did my higher self say about it?

It’s a running joke.

Wow. Double entendre for the astral plane/spirit world. WOW. 🤪🤪🤪

Form & Flow: Final Thoughts

(Round One)

Before I ramble on about how much I loved this training, I’d like to do some housekeeping as well. Firstly, as I stated on my Instagram account, I’m going to be taking at least a month hiatus from penning on this blog. I need to work on some other writing/editing/designs that I’m doing (and maybe a podcast?!?). No worries, however, as I’ll be scheming about new ideas to share on the blog in the future. And who knows, I may throw in a couple of random posts along the way, or finally convince some others to write their own posts! (Hint, Hint!)

I’m calling this post “round one” for a very specific reason–I definitely plan on taking these classes/instructional sessions again. I may not be able to do most of the harder poses Grant has been working us towards (I am neither flexible nor adventurous), but I’m starting to think that maybe I am actually moving towards being able to do my own version of some of these advanced poses! For the first time, I’m feeling a difference in my body and how it’s holding itself. I can now logically understand why my body has started to open up during each Kula-style class. It’s starting to click, this goal my body is apparently attempting to achieve.

What I’ve achieved is strength, mindset, and a certain knowingness/understanding of the physiological makeup of my body through experience. I can feel things I couldn’t before. A path has been created not only in my brain, but also in my body. I can see where continuous practice of Kula-style classes would forever alter my home yoga practice. All of those photos that people post with their ‘before and after’ of crazy shapes? Your own “perfect” version really does exist somewhere within the confines of your own experience. It may not look like others’ forms, but it will look different than when you first started, so long as you really focus on changing your form through function.

Form follows function; function follows form. That’s Bodywork 101.

How awesome is that? This simple knowing that I can get stronger and more efficient is amazing. This knowing that at some point I’ll just FEEL a previously unachievable milestone without trying to DO it (whatever asana it might be in the moment I’m working on).

What a nice reminder that, at any age, you truly can learn something new.

This training has also offered insight into teaching yoga. While I may never take my personal and professional training to do face-to-face sessions with people, my goal is to produce some videos online for someone to follow. Not because I think I have amazing insight or skillset (I certainly don’t–my body isn’t a pretzel body, never has been), but because if I could just help one person find the courage within themselves to stop for 20 or 30 minutes a day to breathe through movement, then it’s worth it to expose myself online. It’s not about me. It’s about anyone else.

A Spring session is in the works! It will be short, an unfurling of a seed beginning to sprout during this season of waking up. I’ll be sure to share a quick post about the class once I’ve posted it.

If you *ever* have a chance to take a class with Schuyler Grant, you simply must. Either through the Commune website, or in person, you will not be disappointed. Her style, her charm, her aura–it’s all very inviting and encouraging. It was a wonderful 5 weeks that I’m grateful I was able to experience.