Natural Health & Well-Being
Soulful Living
Our greatest means of fulfillment comes through how we live our daily lives. What kind of activity we engage in and how we orchestrate our routines to include enjoyable activities that nurture us at the deepest levels of our Being. How we spend our time, what we make priorities, and the attention and effort we into the things that mean the most to us.
Make your Home your Private Sanctuary
Make ordinary tasks more enjoyable by turning them into an art. Giving them attention and enhancing things about them that would make them more enjoyable to do.
Think of your home as your sanctuary, your private place in the world. Make it beautiful. Decorate it with your favorite things. Include rich colors and fabrics, comfortable furnishings, Artwork and Sculpture, fresh flowers, candles and potpourri, play music regularly instead of the TV, or whatever it is that would make your home more inviting, relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable place to be.
Make more time for the things that are truly important to you. Create new routines that allot extra time for pleasurable activities, and time that can be turned into a bonding experience with family and friends.
Turn Bedtime into a relaxing ritual that everyone looks forward to and enjoys. Include cuddling, caressing, reading to each other, or talking, sipping warm tea, and include loving words with kisses and hugs. :-)
Mind – A Sense of Well-Being
While many people pay close attention to what they put into their bodies, few take the same care with their minds. To detoxify the mind, is to be selective as to what you allow into it, what you expose yourself to, and what kind of unconscious habits you develop that effect your ability to relax, think clearly or control your own thoughts and state-of-mind.
Engage in regular practices that are designed to improve your mind by expanding your consciousness.
Meditate and pray for a calm, peaceful and relaxed mind, and stimulate your creativity to become proficient in being able to use your imagination in a variety of ways. Take time to reflect and review your life and the nature of your experiences.
Include relaxing times during your day where there is silence, natural sounds or beautiful music playing.
Pursue a subject or activity that you find interesting or have curiosity around. Keep yourself engaged in situations where you are learning something new, doing something new, trying something you’ve never done before, problem-solving or creating something with your hands.
Body – Your Sacred Temple
Your body is your temple, your sacred home. The Mind, Body and Soul are connected and play off of each other. When we are healthy and feel good, our mood is better, we think clearer, are naturally relaxed and can readily enjoy a variety of activities. Take time to build into your regular routine practices that honor your health and promote feelings of contentment and inner peace.
Eat ample amounts of fresh produce – fruits, vegetables, natural nuts and grains
Exercise everyday in some way – make exercise enjoyable and creative activity that is fun to do as well as fulfilling.
Walk whenever possible – walking is the best exercise there is, while also being the most relaxing.
Get or give a massage on a regular basis using warm ‘natural’ oils. Remember the skin is a digestive organ, what you put on your skin, you assimilate into your body.
Make normal activities more pleasurable and relaxing by creating the proper environment or ambiance that will change how you do them, and they feel as a result.
Wash your body with your hands in stroking smooth motions. Touch is nurturing.
Allow more time for activities. Be present in them and do them as a form of concentrated intentional effort.
Spend time relaxing every day.
Diet – You are what You Eat
Make fresh fruits and vegetables the bulk of your diet. Bring a sense of awareness to what you eat. Don’t take an attitude of eating “junk” because it’s convenient, cheaper or easier. Make your health a priority that you are not willing to compromise. Plan out lunches or dinners that you can prepare ahead of time and take to work with you when you go to the grocery store. Buy airtight contains for packing lunch. Either prepare at night before bed, or in the morning before work. Take fruit and nuts for snacks.
Eat raw fruits and vegetables whenever possible or desirable. They maintain their full nutritional value and their natural enzymes remain “alive” and active.
Take fresh water in glass, paper cup or stainless steel containers. Do not drink out of plastic bottles. Avoid purchasing food products of any kind that are packaged in plastic.
DO NOT microwave food. It changes the bio-molecular structure of food by shattering and killing the cells of the food. The body can’t digest “dead” food, and so it stores it in fat cells causing “cellulite” as orange-peel like dimples in the fat of the body. Micro-waves are a form of nuclear power that effect all living organism within near proximity of them when they are being used.
Keep time talking on a cell phone to a minimum. They have nuclear filaments which are a form of radiation, that when held to the side of the head, internally heat the interior organs of the head with radiation. Try to avoid talking on your cell-phone at least two hours before going to bed, as they have been proven to cause insomnia as the inability to “turn off” your mind.
Exercise – Mind, Body, and Emotions at the same Time
Make Exercise enjoyable and relaxing. It should be emotionally soothing and refreshing as well as physically invigorating.
Exercise outside in the fresh air, sunlight and in a natural setting whenever possible. Park, open-space, beach, community areas, along rivers, in the country or foothills. Avoid exercising on heavy-traffic roads with high amounts of exhaust, dust and debris and various air pollutants.
Walking, bike-riding, swimming, gardening, rowing, rollerblading, and making love, are some of the best exercises you can do. Avoid exercises that impact joints, cause you to gasp for air, or are extreme in nature.
Stretching, yoga, gymnastics, dance, creative movement, Ti Chi, and floor exercises are very good for strengthening, toning muscles, and staying flexible and limber.
Relaxation – Pleasurable Activities that Soothe and Relax Your Mind and Body
Get Massages regularly. Or give and receive massages from your spouse or lover. Use warm, scented natural oils. Take warm bath, with soft lighting, sensuous aromas, beautiful music, and a glass of wine. If your tub is big enough, take one with your lover and after soaking and having a relaxing conversation, wash each other with bare hands in long, deep, penetrating strokes to simulate a mini-massage.
Sit quietly at the end of the day in your favorite lounge wear, comfortable and warm, play soft music and either have a relaxing conversation with family or spouse with soft lighting, or read a book or magazine.
Herbs & Foods – Nature’s Medicine
Herbs are some of Nature’s greatest treasures. They can be used naturally for their rich aroma and spicy flavor, or as warm & soothing or chilled & invigorating teas, or as a potent medicine chest of healing remedies. They are a superior form of medicine because they are organic, natural and contain the full ecology of chemistry, rather than concentrated amounts of singularly extracted aspects that are synthetically created and then deemed to have medicinal properties. In nature all living organisms exist in a holistic form that enhances each property making it fully digestible while maximizing assimilation, distribution, effect and providing the full range of chemistry as a whole food item. They are natural, grow in nature and usually can be purchased in the grocery store at minimal cost.
Garlic – Nature’s Wonder
Medicinal Properties:
Garlic is nature’s most prominent antibiotic. Yet it maintains healthy intestinal flora and does NOT kill healthy desirable bacteria.
Used for: Immune system support; antiviral; antibacterial; anti-fungal; ear infections; high blood-pressure; candidacies; and high cholesterol.
Garlic reduces “bad” cholesterol while increasing “good” cholesterol. Regular use significantly reduces stomach and colon cancer.
Uses:
Garlic is a wonderful herb for cooking and flavoring. It has a spicy, oniony type flavor and goes well with just about any kind of food. It can also be baked or sautéed by itself with olive oil, lemon/lime juice and pepper.
Cooking is recommended; it has a very strong flavor raw and can cause heartburn and flatulence.
May cause digestive upset.
Ginger – The Spice of Delight
Medicinal Properties:
Ginger is a natural digestive tonic. It is soothing and beneficial to the throat, stomach and intestines. It is very soothing for sore throats.
Uses: Reduces intestinal gas; soothes sore throats; colds; anti-inflammatory; stimulates digestion; dizziness; fever; treats food poisoning; IBS; motion sickness; parasites.
Uses:
Ginger makes a very light cooking herb that goes well with most vegetables, fruits, rice dishes and pasta’s. It has a slight licorice taste. It is commonly used in Oriental, Middle East and Mediterranean dishes.
It has a soothing and sweet taste when used in hot teas. Sipping Ginger and lemon tea soothes any kind of sore throat, and aids in digestion as an after dinner tea.
Gingko – Go with the Flow
Medicinal Properties: What it Treats
Poor memory; attention deficit disorder; improved circulation; intermittent claudication; depression; high blood pressure; impotence; PMS; radiation toxicity; tinnitus; stroke recovery/prevention; macular degeneration; cataracts; retinopathy; vertigo; Meniere disease; migraine headaches. One of the best herbs for improving circulation.
Use as: Tincture, capsule
Possible side effects: headache, digestive upset; blood thinning
Sensual Pleasures – Intimacy and Romantic Moments
Make romance, private time, and love-making special and pleasurable. Nothing is more fulfilling in our lives that intimate moments with those we love and cherish. To often when we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we begin ignoring our partner and lover, and a kind of longing & loneliness sets in. The passion is lost in the wake of boredom. Yet romantic, playful, cozy and sensuous activities restore us at our deepest level and keeps the fire burning with abundant coals that radiate long afterwards.
Time together, should be a special time set-aside without interruption or distraction. We should be fully present with each other, and give our full attention to the interaction. No cell-phones, blaring TV or bringing work into the privacy of the home.
Romantic moments should be planned and anticipated. Attended to with great attention to small details. We should create a “setting” for a relaxing experience. Then we should clear our minds, center ourselves in the moment, and realize what it is that we could do that would provoke the mood, and response we desire. You could light candles, burn incense, put on relaxing or sexy music, dress appropriately, and initiate through expressions, how you talk, how you touch and by always giving a welcoming greeting that sends the appropriate message.
Never compromise or be willing to give-up your private time together whether its a quite and relaxing dinner, cozy conversation, popcorn and a movie, cuddling and affection, soft lingering love-making, or a walk together, playing or some kind of favorite activity that you enjoy doing together. Just make it “Your time” where nothing else is more important or takes your attention away.
Keep it special and something you both look forward to and anticipate with a feeling of pleasure and relaxation.
Art – The Magic of Beauty
Art stimulates the mind and enlivens the emotions. Beauty is euphoric. It stirs positive emotions that bring a feeling of relaxation, pleasure and a calm alertness to the mind. When we are surrounded by art of various sorts we feel more content to be there.
Notice the difference in how you feel when in a place that has artwork, as opposed to one that doesn’t. Beauty as art is very gratifying to the heart and soul. It speaks the language of nature, of the imagination. It takes the mind on a journey into the imagination.
Rooms seem richer, fuller and much more interesting with art on the walls and with tasteful furnishings and decor.
In a business office or waiting room, Art, deep colors and relaxing music will sooth and comfort your clients who will be much more content waiting for longer periods of time. In fact, they will find the wait refreshing because it’s relaxing.
Creativity – Self-Expression and Playing at Life
Creativity is best activated through a playful attitude and open mind. When we cut loose, do fun and silly things, laugh a lot and feel amused, our mind relaxes and expands. We feel a sense of joy and lightness.
Find some form of creative activity or hobby that you really enjoy doing. Set time aside for it, and engage in it on a regular basis.
