self-care – Page 5 – Swellness Vibes

These Smart Choices Can Help You Create A Daily Blueprint for Wellness

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By Guest Blogger Zack Spring

Navigating through life’s daily challenges often means health takes a back seat. Yet, incorporating straightforward changes into your daily routine can dramatically influence your holistic wellness. By embracing these practices, healthy living becomes less of a chore and more of a delightful habit. This article, courtesy of Nani Lotus Bodywork, unfolds simple yet effective strategies for improving your well-being from head to toe. Let’s take a look.

Stay Hydrated

Drinking a glass of water upon waking up sets the tone for a well-hydrated day. Aim to maintain this habit and consume at least eight glasses of water as the day unfolds. Proper hydration not only enhances skin complexion but also assists in flushing out toxins and improving mental alertness. Familiarize yourself with the symptoms of dehydration so you’ll know what to look for, both in yourself and your family members.

Supplement Your Nutrition

While maintaining a balanced diet remains a top priority for health, there are times when nutritional gaps are inevitable. A daily multivitamin can serve as an insurance policy, ensuring that your body gets the essential nutrients it needs. This is particularly important for individuals who have specific dietary restrictions, such as vegans who might lack sufficient vitamin B12. Talk to your doctor before starting any new regimens.

Be a Conscious Consumer

When it comes to making purchases for your family, considering the health factor is crucial. Whether it’s buying grocery items or personal care products, one should take a moment to read reviews and understand what they are adding to their cart. For instance, opting for organic fruits and vegetables can make a substantial difference in your journey toward healthy living, while some workout gear is better suited for different needs. Making informed decisions will ensure that you and your loved ones are getting the best possible products for your overall wellbeing.

Embrace Nutrient-Rich Carbs

Opting for whole grains over refined grains is a simple yet impactful step toward healthy living. Grains such as brown rice and whole-wheat bread are rich in fiber and are crucial nutrients that enhance digestive health. Additionally, they provide sustained energy, eliminating the highs and lows that come with processed options. For instance, substituting white rice with quinoa in your dishes is just one simple way to incorporate whole grains into your diet.

Organize for a Peaceful Mind

Tidying up your environment can work wonders for your mental health. Decluttering and moving your documents to a digital format such as PDFs can offer a serene space and improved accessibility, and you can use a free online tool to do it. This could help both your mental and physical well-being. For example, turning a cluttered desk into a well-organized workspace can instantly boost your productivity and decrease stress levels.

Pursue Lifelong Learning

Keeping your brain active by engaging in lifelong learning is a stellar way to boost mental health. Whether it’s an art class or an academic course, continued learning can be truly revitalizing. Obtaining an MBA degree can progress your career, and the process is made much easier with the online programs that are available today. If your current job is more stressful than it is enjoyable, consider looking for a job in a different sector and find out what qualifications you’ll need to break into the industry.

Break the Chains of Inactivity

Long periods of sitting can lead to a range of health issues. It’s advisable to break the chain by getting up, stretching, and moving around at regular intervals. Even something as simple as a five-minute walk can improve circulation and prevent potential issues linked to a sedentary lifestyle. For example, using a stand-up desk can encourage more movement and less prolonged sitting.

Prioritize Physical Activity

Incorporating a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week is a cornerstone of healthy living. This commitment provides more than just physical benefits; it also serves as a natural stress reliever and mood booster. Options for staying active are numerous, ranging from a refreshing swim to a rejuvenating jog in the park. Overall, the objective is to maintain an active lifestyle for holistic well-being.

The journey towards healthy living doesn’t require a drastic alteration in your daily routine. Instead, the incorporation of these straightforward strategies can gradually build up to a lifestyle that resonates with wellness. Let these tactics serve as your guide in fostering a balanced life, enhancing your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

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.

Ayurvedic Nutrition

I’m taking this course as part of ongoing training for my Yoga Alliance membership recertification. In the future, I don’t foresee me keeping this recertification up–not because I don’t love learning, you know that–but I don’t think it’ll be necessary for my future as a teaching yogi. We shall see.

Either which way, I’m taking Ayurvedic Nutrition through My Vinyasa Practice. I’ve had my eye on this company for a long while now–I had even considered doing my yoga training through them! They also have several other courses I look forward to taking in the future, and apparently I can even apply to work with them at some venture! That might be fun. But for now, let me wrap up this ramble and move onto some of my take-homes in regards to the course.

At this point in my training (a little more than halfway), my biggest AHA! is how imperative it is for future clients–as well as myself–to develop a better relationship with ALL foods. The instructor says ALL foods have some sort of nutritional value. In the past, I’ve poo poo’d certain foods by saying the exact opposite. The creator of the program is right, though–all foods are made out of something.

I’ve already tried to correct the language in my own house. I’ve had this line for years with my kid about how certain foods, that is, junk food, has zero nutritional value. He’s looked at me cross-eyed as I’m now trying to convince him otherwise. I hate that he thinks of junk food as a reward. I’ve always asked him if he was still hungry before embarking on the junk, but now I’ve started to ask him what nutritional needs he is trying to get out of the food. He’s playing along, but again — cross-eyed.

I think a big part of becoming an Ayurvedic Nutritionist means becoming a guide for others through the lens of Ayurvedic notions. The most major idea is to recreate one’s relationship with foods by simply considering a food as nourishing rather than good or bad. Another major idea is to tackle one’s relationship with nutrition by discovering which doshas, or rather, disposition, you were born with, which one you lean towards now, and how to bring them all into balance. There are three major doshas to choose from and generally speaking, one will be a little more glaring obvious than the others. Yes, as humans, we are a blend of all three.

I have such a wide and varied knowledge base at this point. I always say, master of none, but lover of all… and so I feel like I can really create a unique experience creating plans of enrichment for clients. About 15 years or so ago I created a holistic health questionnaire and never went anywhere with it. I think with the nutrition part added to it, now, I can really combine my offerings together into a cohesive document that clients can bring home and expand upon. I’m excited to look into this more over the coming months.

If anything else, it is always fun and enlightening to discover more about oneself.

Stay tuned! Only good things.

The Ultimate Guide to Looking and Feeling Your Best Every Day

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By Guest Blogger Zack Spring

In today’s society, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the seemingly endless demands of life. With busy work schedules, social obligations, and personal responsibilities, it can be difficult to find time and energy to focus on our own well-being. However, neglecting our mental and physical health can lead to negative outcomes in all areas of our lives. That’s why it’s essential to have strategies that help us look and feel our best every day.

Shared by Nani Lotus Bodywork, here are some tips that can help you on your journey toward optimal health and wellness.

Limit Your Caffeine Intake

Many of us rely on caffeine to fuel our mornings and stay alert throughout the day. However, consuming too much caffeine can have negative effects on our well-being, including sleep disturbances, anxiety, and increased heart rate. To reduce your caffeine intake, try alternative options such as tea or decaf coffee. You could also experiment with herbal supplements like ashwagandha, or ginseng, or fruits and vegetables like bananas or sweet potatoes to boost your energy levels without relying on caffeine.

Invest in Quality Footwear

We all know that comfortable shoes are essential for a good walk, jog, or workout. But did you know that wearing the wrong shoes can cause serious injury over time? Investing in quality footwear is a key strategy for looking and feeling your best every day. Make sure your shoes fit properly, have good arch support, and are designed for your specific activity. Invest in brands that have been thoroughly studied for their safety.

Entourage Yourself with Positive People

The people we interact with each day can significantly impact our sense of well-being. Surrounding yourself with uplifting and encouraging people can boost your mood, lower stress levels, and improve overall health. You can nurture positive relationships by joining a supportive community, volunteering, or simply spending time with friends and family who make you feel good about yourself.

Online Education

Self-improvement is a powerful tool for boosting confidence and well-being, and this may help in pursuing online education or acquiring a degree in education. Going back to school can provide a sense of accomplishment and open new doors to fulfilling careers. Although challenging, the benefits of learning new things can greatly improve our mindset and enhance our lives.

Practice Gratitude

Practicing gratitude is a simple yet powerful way to increase well-being and happiness. Taking time to focus on what we’re grateful for can help us shift our perspective toward the positive, even during difficult times. Start each day by thinking about something you’re grateful for, whether it’s a person in your life, a work project, or simply a beautiful day. Write down at least three things — no matter how small or big they are — every day, and read them over before going to bed.

Laugh Often

Laughter is truly the best medicine. It has been shown to reduce stress levels, boost the immune system, and promote positive feelings. Watching your favorite comedy sketches, reading humorous books or articles, or spending time with loved ones who make you laugh can all be excellent ways to incorporate more laughter into your life. Make it a priority to find ways to laugh every day, even if it’s just a quick YouTube video or a silly text exchange with some friends.

These strategies are simple yet powerful ways to help us look and feel our best every day. By limiting our caffeine intake, boosting confidence through online education, practicing gratitude, etc., we can improve our overall well-being and lead happier, more fulfilled lives. Remember that taking care of yourself is not selfish, it’s necessary. Start small and work your way up, you’ll be surprised how much of a difference these simple tips can make.

Taking Your Yoga Practice to the Next Level

Photo Credit: Avrielle Suleiman via Unsplash

By Guest Blogger Zack Spring

Taking Your Yoga Practice to the Next Level

Practicing yoga is a wonderful way to improve your balance, increase your flexibility, and develop your core strength. It is also very beneficial for your mind as it helps you be more aware and focused. So if you’re trying to incorporate more practices into your busy life, here are three strategies you should implement right now, courtesy of Nani Lotus Bodywork.

Create a Stress-Free Zone

Practicing yoga is best done in a quiet and comfortable environment. If you feel that your house is too chaotic to really get into a deep state of relaxation, or too messy to be able to fully engage in mindfulness meditation and really obtain any benefit from your practice, consider decluttering a space just for yourself.

Find a spot in your home where you’ll have enough room to stretch out, as far away from the hustle and bustle of the common areas as possible. Turn that spot into a calming sanctuary by removing anything that doesn’t belong there and organizing the space so that you won’t have any visual distractions during your practice.

You can paint the walls in a color that relaxes or inspires you, and even add drapes, room-darkening shades, or blinds if you prefer to practice yoga by candlelight. The idea is to create a space you want to spend time in, where you can be fully focused on your breath and your flow.

Carve Time Out for Practice

If you work from home, it’s easy to forget about taking breaks throughout the day. But spending all your time hunched over your desk – or worse, slouching on the couch while typing on your laptop keyboard – will do a number on your back, neck, and shoulders. So make sure to break up your workday by incorporating yoga exercises into your routine.

Take a few minutes to practice poses that promote good posture and strengthen your core. Not only will it be good for your body, but it will be great for your mind as well. You’ll have better focus and clarity, and regular practice can even lead to better emotional balance and resilience. Stepping away from your desk for a handful of minutes and taking a few cleansing breaths or doing some yoga stretches may be all it takes to give you a renewed boost of energy that will help you get through the day.

You can also set up an appointment with Nani Lotus Bodywork for guided yoga, massage, or reiki to refresh your body and mind.

Make Use of the Latest Technologies

Digital technologies have allowed us to take our practice anywhere, and they can even let us learn new techniques from the comfort of our own homes. If you don’t have time to go to a studio, you can sign up for online yoga classes and virtually meet up with a teacher.

Look for a teacher that is not only passionate about yoga but is also able to clearly explain how to direct your body for every asana. Your yoga teacher should be safety-conscious and ask you if you have suffered an injury before starting a class.

You can also download apps that will keep track of your progress and monitor your sessions as you practice. Choose an app that is easy to use, has valid and current information about poses and their benefits, and that will allow you to give and receive feedback. Some apps even suggest reading materials and videos you may enjoy and learn from, as well as healthy foods and supplements that can enhance your practice.

Let Tech Enhance Your Yoga Practice

Yoga offers many benefits for the body and the mind. So find the time and space to practice regularly. And take advantage of the latest technologies to help you maintain your mental and physical health!

Here’s How My Harmonic Egg Session Went

Wait, what in God’s name am I referencing?

An egg?

An egg that is harmonic and can create a session?

Okay. So if you’ve listened to my podcast, you know that, along with my friend, we consider ourselves skeptical of woo woo ideas, notions, services and talismans. And since I’ve been inside the World of Woo for so long, I recognize the fact that my level of skepticism has waned and I’m far more open to try new, random things without needing to take a deep dive into believability.

And also, because, at the very least, these things create an experience of the senses, which ultimately is what life is about.

This is how I found myself resting inside a giant, sacred geometrical wooden egg with a soft, whitish lavender light above me, cushy zero gravity chair below me. I was covered underneath a sky blue and white plaid blanket, squished between two soft pillows, and had speakers pumping tunes from each side of the egg.

That’s right.

I sat inside an egg-shaped dome contraption thingamabob for 50 minutes to relax, and “heal”.

Here’s some info from Harmonic Egg’s main website:

An ancient technology rediscovered – Ancient Egyptians and Greeks used the healing properties of sound in their healing rituals, and the Aboriginal people of Australia to the present day still use their didgeridoo and drums to heal broken bones and muscle tears.

In the Harmonic Egg three powerful elements are combined. Energy frequencies of light (color) and music brought together in a geometrically shaped space with the aim of balancing body, mind, and soul with each other. This stimulates the self-healing ability of the body.

As of the herbal world, I have a tendency of believing combinations of – whatever – have a more lasting impact than a single entity. Theoretically speaking, combining the right music (scientifically proven to chill a person out), light therapy (again: science is backing the healing effects of certain tones) and the sacred geometrical shape of this egg could activate healing.

Alright: I’m unsure if science is backing this one, but I KNOW in my heart of hearts, there is magic in the shape of a perfectly formed water droplet, in curvatures of a leaf, a sea shell, the perfect dimensions of… an egg?

Okay, maybe I need to research that one.

The website further tells us that:

Data suggests that energy therapy balances the Autonomic Nervous System, detoxes the body, reduces inflammation, increases circulation, and clears trauma at a cellular level.

The resonant frequency used by the Harmonic Egg^® / Ellipse^® has an ability to detect the vibration of your body and any imbalance. That imbalance is harmonized with the exact opposite frequency.

And as an aside, the creator of the egg had an experience inside another type of chamber, has a background in engineering, and TA DA! She created this Harmonic Egg.

Back to my Egg-sperience:

I was brought into the egg room by a technician-in-training. I was introduced to the person who co-owned the egg–a hypnotherapist, Reiki master and psychic among other things–and she introduced herself and plainly asked me to tell about myself to her.

Prior to this, I had to fill out loads of paperwork and disclaimers. She was quick to tap into my energy by looking around my body, sort of said to herself, “I see what’s going on here” and gave me a very quick spiel about the egg. (To which I replied that yeah, I was very tired. I wasn’t thrilled about the assessment without more fanfare, but then again, assuming she had read my paperwork, she must have known about my profession. Still a bit alarming, though.)

The Egg-owner also made mention of smells I might encounter inside the egg — she suggested woodsy or lavender — as this was my “odor” and what my “detox” would smell like.

She also mentioned my past bouts of mono. (So yes, this is truly something asked on the paperwork — and I have a whole slew of feelings regarding EBV, but I won’t go into that here.) I laughed it off (it’s been about 10 years since I had my last flair-up) but she was quick to say not to negate the virus which I house.

She told me she had sobbed inside the egg only yesterday (and due to the wooden nature of the egg, it purportedly doesn’t absorb others’ energies, and is thusly self-cleansing by nature). She said I may sob too — I did not. She also told me I may feel more tired when I left, and how every time is different. I’ve been in this field long enough to know that this is the lingo for many modalities.

I took off my jewelry and shoes, popped into the chair. The technician adjusted it for me, pushing me back, lifting my feet. She gave me the pillows and blanket, had me figure out where to press the bell in case I needed something. The door slowly closed after they made sure the sound was on, and I was alone.

It took me about 5-minutes to calm down; I was excited, I was nervous. I felt my energy being tapped into again, and I assumed it was a part of the process.

Maybe that “tapping into” is more of an opening on my part?

The egg itself is rather spacious — I am a little claustrophobic, but there was so much room on either side of me, and in front of me that I felt fine. The music had a trickle of water running just beneath the tunes, and it seemed like generic, soothing music. As I mentioned, the light was a lavender white, plenty bright to see, not so bright to be bothersome. I closed my eyes and turned on Reiki.

I had expected the colors to change in the egg; they did not. I had expected the music to be louder and more vibratory; it was not. I suppose, overall, it was less a kick-in-the-psychic-ass, and more of a subtle soothefest.

With ten minutes to go, the music slowly fades out. You’re left alone with your thoughts and tinnitus. I wasn’t aware of this part of the session, so I half-wondered if they’d forgotten me (I’m often too timid in making sure I haven’t been forgotten), or if the music had shut off by mistake. But I told my thoughts that they were a wad of nothing, and tried to relax again.

SEE. I saw waves of purple/indigo with my eyes open. With the coloring of the egg, it was easy for me to see the waves of energy, be my own or not. I asked to see another color, and an orange came in, but it wasn’t bright. I’ve seen brighter colors before.

TASTE. Nothing.

HEAR. Just the tunes and my own tinnitus!

SMELL. I did have a short burst of cedar appear; but it certainly could have been MAJORLY influenced via the power of suggestion. But if that’s my detox scent, I dig it!

FEEL. I felt a bubble of joy burst up forth from my heart center at one point. While my intention was to relax, I projected a sense of openness to receive. I imagined my grandparents on either side of me, and told them this space was simply for love. I imagined their hands in mine.

Did I feel like I was inside a spaceship at times? Why yes, yes I did.

Did I have to go to the bathroom? Why yes, yes I did. I decided that since I was detoxing, this meant I was releasing stored fluids of emotions. Like what I did there?

I stepped out feeling rested, but I had questions.

Was this particular shade of light chosen for me and my paperwork and assessment?

Yes.

Was this music chosen for me as well?

Yes. It’s chosen to work with my system where I am in the moment, as opposed to force an outcome.

I’m guessing this means my paperwork was assessed in advance and a plan was made prior to my arrival. Perhaps she would have changed the tunes and light had I been completely different than she had thought. I don’t really know. It looks like owners who are listed on the main website need to keep up with training for the listing.

I am interested in learning more about the process.

Would I try it again? Sure, why not. We all need quiet space at times. It’s close by. I have a feeling there’s a world of Egg Culture out there that I’ve only begun to scrape.

If you want more information, the original website can be found here. Located across the world, you can search to see if one is located near you.