The #1 Thing Blocking You from Optimal Health

Think about all the trillions of cells in your body for a minute. Just image the intelligence that is required within those cells to, for example, multiply and create a new life; a whole new human with all of its’ complexities. Our body knows how to do that…without ANY of our conscious help – isn’t that mind blowing? The point here being, our cells know what they are doing, they have enough divine intelligence within to know what healthy is, and in fact the natural state of our cells and our body is well being. That well being, is what we call homeostasis or being in balance.

The trillions of cells in your body know how to be healthy.

Okay so why are so many people in the world sick or struggling with physical ailments? There are a number of external conditions that throw us out of whack or off balance, the food we eat, the environment we are exposed to, our close relationships, but the one that is actually the most powerful and the one you have the most control over is what goes on between your two ears everyday.

What you think about your health makes a difference.

If you are here reading this article, I am sure you have heard before, there is a direct connection between body and mind, and if you are reaching for some element of greater physical health without attending to what goes on in the mind, you are missing half of the answer. Your reality is a reflection of what you believe to be true. You actually create your own reality based on your individual set of beliefs.

Have you ever taken a step back and asked yourself what you believe to be true about your physical body health or does it just feel like an automatic response based on what you have experienced and observed? Everybody gets sick in the winter; healthy food is expensive, it’s normal to get sick when you’re older, losing weight is hard.

These are all ideas that have been conditioned and accepted within us as facts. But I guarantee you these ideas are not true for every person in the world. There are people who go through winters without being sick, people living happily and healthy well over a century, and there are people at a healthy weight without sacrificing what they want, so what’s the difference?

What you say to yourself on a consistent basis about anything becomes a belief.

Beliefs are formed within us by years of repeating the same thought over until it becomes engrained, becomes a physical pathway in our brain, as well as our default. What most people don’t realize is their power in choosing a belief. Every individual has the power to choose to believe something or not – you are the one in control. And when you being to understand the connection between what you believe and what you experience in life, you suddenly start paying more attention to what you belief about health.

A belief is simply a thought you keep thinking.

New beliefs take time to take hold and it happens through conscious awareness and practice, but you can make a powerful decision right now and decide to be the one that chooses your beliefs about health. Start by asking yourself the question: What do I want to be true about my health? Actually make a list. You will be surprised at the invisible power that pulls you forward when you gain clarity on what it is you want to experience. How do you want to feel about your health? Do you want it to feel easy or stressful? You get to choose.

Our physical bodies are one of the most wondrous creations on this whole planet and you have the power to fully nourish or impede the healthy balance through your thoughts. What will you choose?

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Guest blog by: Ginny Gane

Ginny GaneGinny Gane is a shiny, fun Law of Attraction expert for people who crave more out of life and are ready to realize their full potential. She was raised with the belief anything is possible and we always have a choice.

Being involved in competitive athletics for twenty years allowed her the ideal opportunity to develop and practice the mental strength required for success, which lead to her passion for helping others understand their true potential as creators of their own lives. While backpacking around Australia for a year in 2009, she read Esther and Jerry Hick’s Emotions and felt a complete resonance with their teachings and message. From then on, everything could be explained and understood in vibrational terms and the possibilities of potential opened up even more.

Ginny lives her life based on the principles of The Law of Attraction, and inspires you to honour your own values and follow your dreams. Her wish is for individuals to break away from what one is “supposed to do,” tap into what one really wants to do, and let it flow easily into one’s experience. “I would love everyone to wake up in the morning and feel excited and in love with their life,” she says and holds the unwavering belief it can be done! Ginny knows that wherever you are, you can get to where you want to be, and the path can be as easy and as fun as you want.

Through her fun and easy courses, ebooks, and personal coaching, she reminds you of your incredible personal power while making it all feel like having an ice cold beer on a hot day. Ahh. Her rockstar followers and clients have called her “uplifting,” “a light,” and one woman even said “After a session with Ginny, you’ll honestly feel as though you can accomplish anything!” When she’s not playing with LOA or co-hosting the popular podcast Manifest It Now, you can find her indulging in sunshiny outdoor adventures, fun fitness exercise and practicing singing…along to the radio.

Find Ginny at

www.ginnygane.com

https://www.facebook.com/ginnygane/

Put A Little Namaste In Your Life

Namaste in your life yoga

If you are like me, I’ve often been intimidated to go to a public yoga class because of all the yogi terms that I’m not familiar with. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, as I floundered on my mat, attempting to mimic what the teacher was doing.

Instead, I’ve always opted to do yoga in the comfort of my own home. Thankfully, I’ve learned a lot of the “yoga talk” by now and could probably follow along in a public class but I have to admit, the first few times I did yoga, I felt like a fish out of water. There was a whole new vocabulary that I wasn’t familiar with and it made me wonder if others feel the same way. 

Yoga has offered me a new way of life. My online teacher always talks about the healing benefits of yoga, and in the moment, I didn’t really feel like it was doing much for me. But I persevered. After a couple off months of a consistent yoga practice, I started to get what she was talking about. I felt like I was processing my feelings differently, and I was more in tune with my body.

The Sanskrit language is often used in yoga practice to describe the poses or postures that are done. We are going to break down some of the most common terms used, to hopefully make you more comfortable in a yoga class.

Guru: The English language has adopted the use of this Sanskrit word to indicate someone who is an expert in their field of study. For example, he/she is a technology guru.  However, when used in a yoga class, guru refers to a person who is a spiritual mentor or teacher.

Mantra: A mantra is an instrument of the mind, where a sound or phrase is used to enter a state of meditation or intention.

Mudra: During a yoga practice different hand gesture or mudras are used. Two very common mudras are anjali mudra, where the palms are pressed together and are positioned in front of the heart and gyana mudra where the index finger and thumb are touching.

Savasana: This is a yoga pose that is usually performed at the end of the yoga practice. It is also known as the corpse pose, where you are lying flat on your back, legs are extended and palms are at your sides and are facing upwards. This pose is meant to ignite total body relaxation so you can assimilate the benefits of your yoga practice.

Namaste: This is usually said at the end of a yoga practice and it literally means, I bow to you. Much like a prayer is ended with Amen, a yoga class normally ends with Namaste.

Prana: Prana describes the life force in the body.

Pranayama: Yoga utilizes the breath to inspire motion, and pranayama defines the control of the breath. It is a conscious control of breath inhalation, retention, and exhalation.

Now that you are familiar with some common yoga terms, it’s time to put a little Namaste in your life. Roll out your mat and get comfortable with your yoga practice.

Exercises to Help Improve Your Posture

Virtually everything we do requires us to hunch forward – typing, cooking, driving, etc. When we slouch, our chest muscles shorten, our back muscles weaken, and our abdominal muscles grow slack. This muscle shortening is a cause of a wide range of uncomfortable symptoms. Fortunately, however, being mindful of our posture can prevent back pain, help us feel better, and even assist in projecting more confidence.

We hear a lot about “core” strength, but what exactly is the core? Put simply, it is the series of abdominal and lower back muscles that connect to your spine and pelvis. These muscles are involved in virtually every movement we perform, but like any other muscle group they can become unbalanced from lack of consistent use. Imbalances in strength and use can cause them to grow fatigued, get overstressed, and wither over time.

In order to improve posture, we must strengthen our core muscles through consistent, periodic training, without overdoing it. Finding routines which use resistant bands or dumbbells can be a great way to improve strength and flexibility but it’s important to realize the differences between resistance bands and dumbbells before incorporating them into your fitness routine.

Having the right routine to strengthen your core will assist in reversing the feeling of “tight” muscles, strengthen little-used muscles that have atrophied through lack of use, and keep consistently-used muscles from growing fatigued.

Try the following simple exercises on alternating days with one day off in-between. You may feel a bit sore on the first few days, but being consistent with this quick and easy routine will improve your posture and fortify your core and back muscles.

Core Exercises:

Lying Leg Raises

Lie down on your back with your legs straight. Put your hands by your sides or under your glutes with palms facing down (to support the lower back). Press your lower back to the floor as you lift your legs off the ground until they make a 90-degree angle from the floor. Slowly lower your legs back down towards the ground.

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Curl Up/Crunches

Lie down on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Put your hands across your chest or pointing forward by your sides. Keep your lower back pressed to the floor, slowly roll your head, shoulders, and upper back off the ground. With control, slowly roll back down.

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Plank

Start with your elbows on the ground with palms facing down and fingers facing forward. Make sure that your shoulders are right above your elbows, and they are away from your ears (no shrugging). Your toes should be tucked under towards your shins. Keep your core tight and leg rigid. Try squeezing your thigh and glute muscles. Hold in this position for as long as you’re comfortable. You should not be feeling your lower back.

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Back-Focused Exercises:

Superman:

Lie down on your stomach with your arms out overhead and your legs straight behind you. Lift your arms and legs off the ground simultaneously as you contract your back and glute muscles. Keep the motion slow and controlled. Your neck, head, and spine should be aligned. Slowly lower your arms and legs back down on the ground.

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Shoulder Blade Pinch:

Stand or sit with your shoulders back, down, and relaxed. Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you open up your chest. Hold the pinch for 10 seconds.

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Cobra Back Extension:

Lie on your stomach with your hands by your shoulders. Straighten your arms as you contract your back muscles in a back bend. Hold this pose for a second before slowly lowering back down.

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Trainer’s Tips:

Pull ab muscles in and up toward your spine – try not to use your hips to move your lower core.
Use slow, controlled movements—don’t jerk your body through the movement.
Breathe evenly throughout the movement—don’t hold your breath.
Stop doing any activity that causes pain or makes pain worse!

 

 

Blog by Guest Author:  Sally Leung – a fitness coach, certified personal trainer, fitness instructor, and nutrition and wellness specialist who is committed to helping others live their healthiest lives. She is also the host of Get Fit, Get Strong on Rogers TV and the creator of her signature program – The Bikini Body Method. Sally believes in sustainable changes, and she is passionate about helping everyone discover how to permanently improve their lives. For workout ideas, fitness tips, and recipes, check out her website www.SallyLeungFitness.com and follow her on social media: www.Facebook.com/SallyLeungFitness and www.Instagram.com/SallyLeungFitness

Meditation isn’t Supposed to be Frustrating!

I don’t know about you, but whenever I sit down to meditate, I have instant anxiety! I have got a to-do list that is growing by the minute, I have so many balls in the air that I feel like if I take my eye off of one just long enough to take my first meditative breath, they are all going to come crashing down.

Which is EXACTLY why I need to meditate!!!

So I am going to start meditating more regularly, and actively trying to turn off the panic that rushes toward me whenever I take a mini-break for myself to recharge.

I encourage you to join me in daily meditation!

Because really, what better way can we spend just 5 minutes than bettering ourselves!!

Meditation is an excellent way to reduce stress and improve your focus (once you get past the panic!! just kidding.)

It is particularly important for people who feel daily stress and find themselves in a routine that they can’t quite keep up with. It is an excellent way to quiet your mind and clear your thoughts of trivial issues to make room for more meaningful ideas to surface.

The best part is, you can carve out time for meditation any time you’d like throughout the day. Some people prefer to meditation first thing in the morning, to set the tone for their day, while others prefer to take a break over lunch, and find a quiet spot to meditate mid-day. It can also be quite nice to spend some time in the evenings meditating before you get ready for bed. This can be very helpful in turning off the days’ thoughts, aiding restful sleep, and calming your mind.

Here are some tips to make your meditation productive and enjoyable:

1. Find a comfortable place to relax. If sitting cross legged on the floor doesn’t do it for you, find a comfy chair. Make sure you are warm enough, because as you are not moving and potentially calming your heart rate, you may feel chilled. Throw on a warm sweater.

2. Make your new comfy spot a place that is relatively quiet. Especially for beginners, it is so easy to get distracted by others talking or moving about. If you can have a quiet room with a door that can close, even better!

3. It’s okay if you have racing thoughts. Part of the whole point is to take some time separating yourself from those racing thoughts to position yourself to be able to just observe them. Rather than connecting with them and feeling like the pressure of whatever you are thinking about, simply take the vantage point of looking down upon your thoughts and watching them float by. With no attachment, you can hover above them and not be affected by them.

4. What are you supposed to think about?? Well, nothing and everything! A great way to just let thoughts come and go is to focus on your breath. Be still and be one with each inhalation and exhalation. Notice how your breath feels inside your body. Notice the pause you take between inhaling and exhaling. That is really how you are in life while meditating – embrace the pause!! Feel the rhythm of your breath and imagine it is like the ocean waves. In and out, powerful and strong. Feel the gratitude that comes with feeling this moment of just being alive!

5. Guided meditations are a very nice option to listen to a recorded voice that will guide you along a visualization meditation. There are many on YouTube that you can enjoy that also have beautiful music accompanying your visualized journey.

Most importantly, the best tip is to try to meditate daily. The more consistent you become with your practice, the more you will look forward to this time you spend benefiting your whole being.

Just remember, an athlete doesn’t just work out when they’ve gotten out of shape – they work out every day to be their best self. It’s the same with meditation – we can’t just meditate when we feel stressed already – it should be part of our daily schedule.