Angel Meditations

Healing Whispers: Communication with Your Spirit Guides and Angels
Within this course, you are invited to explore ways you may use your innate intuitive gift to communicate with your spirit guides, angels, and deceased loved ones. You may be delighted to discover how easily you can cross the spiritual bridge between worlds and enrich your life with love, guidance, healing, and wisdom. Intuition is a Divine gift, and communication with your spirit guides and angels may be enhanced by “fine-tuning” your psychic intuition. It can serve as a guiding force in your daily life. [Learn more]

Angel Meditation: Meet Your Angel or Spirit Guide Today
By Linda Pendleton

Begin this angel meditation with an open heart to receive the messages of love awaiting your recognition and acceptance.

Ask God/Spirit/the Divine…
Surround me in white light and for messages of love and purity for the highest good and growth.

With pen and paper in hand, close your eyes for a moment and imagine you are sitting on a bench under a shade tree in a beautiful garden, filled with colorful, fragrant flowers, lush deep green grass, and singing birds. As you open your eyes, imagine that a beautiful angel, male or female, walks toward you and joins you on the bench.

Say hello, and ask, “Do you have a message for me?”

Listen for an answer, any answer, and write it down, without judgment, without filtering what you hear, or what you might have previously imagined an angel would say.
Close your eyes, and softly thank the angel.

Then open your eyes and read what you have written. Does it have meaning for you?
If so, then write out what you believe the meaning and/or purpose to be in your journal. You might want to try this once or so a day, to see what messages filter through your mind and onto the paper.

Keep your daily writings and read them over again in a day or two, and see if any new perspective or understanding occurs to you.

Excerpt from the online angel course Healing Whispers: Communication with Your Spirit Guides and AngelsCopyright © by Linda Pendleton. All rights reserved.

Healing with Herbs & Food: Recipes & Ingredients to Keep on Hand during Flu & Cold Season

Creating Your Own Healing Herbal Blends with Confidence Whether you wish to be the Family Doctor for yourself and those closest to you — or — develop and hone your skills towards creating or expanding your own healing practice, this course is intended to help you pave a path so you may step into whatever role you desire with confidence. This herbalism course provides herbal recipes and blends for specific diseases that may be troubling you, principles of growing and using herbs, and suggests paths you could take in the wonderful world of Herbalism. Embrace natural healing herbs today! [Learn More Now]

By June Soyka Cook ©

---

Cold Flu Concoction with Thyme

1 ripe pear, cored and chopped

1 inch (or more) of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

½ teaspoon of dried thyme (use high quality non-irradiated green leave thyme)

1 ½ cups unprocessed apple juice

Combine ingredients in a small pot with lid and simmer 5-8 minutes. Pour in bowl or cup and consume. Take three to four times per day as needed. Ideal prior to bedtime — put on an extra layer of clothing and get under warm covers.Pear is soothing to the throat and contains antiviral caffeic acid, which is an immune stimulant. Ginger possesses ten or more antiviral compounds. Thyme contains thymol, which is an antimicrobial agent containing more than a dozen antiseptic compounds. (Do not use this recipe if you’ve a stomach flu.)

---

Ginger Tea

If you’ve a common cold, flu, headache, or upset stomach, sip some ginger tea for healing. An easy recipe: cut a ¾-inch piece of fresh ginger root. Peel the brown skin off and chop. Steep a teaspoon of chopped ginger root in a cup of boiling water then sip. You can also drink this healing tea before a trip to avoid motion sickness, or sip to calm a queasy stomach or menstrual cramps. Ginger has many healing properties including anti-inflammatory properties that are said to lessen the pain of rheumatoid arthritis. To your health!

---

Miso Soup Recipe (Serves 2)

4 cups water 1–2 cups chopped organic vegetables (Choose organic vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, scallions, celery, onions, bochoy, daikon. Vary vegetables each time. Include leafy greens often.)

1.5 tablespoons of dark organic barley miso

Firm tofu (dice into ½-inch cubes)

3-inch piece dried wakame seaweed (found in most health food stores)

2 shitake mushrooms - organic dried. Can pre-soak per package instructions.

1. Boil the water in a small pot. Add chopped vegetables and mushrooms to boiling water. Lower heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender (about 8 -15 minutes depending on the vegetables used). After vegetables have simmered for about 5 minutes, place a ¼ cup hot vegetable broth from the pot in a separate bowl. Add miso to bowl and mix until miso becomes a wet paste. Add tofu to bowl of miso mixture and set bowl aside until vegetables are tender. Tear seaweed into small pieces and add to the pot.
2. When vegetables are tender, add the miso mixture from the bowl to the pot. Let stand for 3 – 4 minutes. Don’t heat miso on high heat, as it will kill the living microorganisms that aid in digestion and healing.

Holistic Expressions Holistic Expressions ~ free monthly ezine sign-up Ezine includes holistic articles, meditations and special offers. (Privacy policy – we do not share this information with others).

Miso soup is great to help you maintain good health and to recover from ill health. Miso soup has long been known for its healing effects. A smooth and dark puree, miso is made from soybeans and has many health benefits. Miso soup is even thought to deter cancer cells from multiplying. This recipe also includes shitake mushrooms and seaweed, both considered powerful immune system boosters. One teaspoon of seaweed daily is said to boost the immune system. If you’re feeling under the weather, you might want to muster the energy to make this miso soup recipe yourself. Trust your body to guide you to the nutrients it needs for healing and health. Remember making this healing soup is intuitive. You can try more or less miso and different vegetable combinations. Honor your body’s wisdom as you experiment with this miso soup recipe.


We hope you enjoy these healing recipes!

Loving and Caring for Self

By Arna Baatz, Excerpt from her book I am Inspiration: Emotional Intelligence; The Key to Success

The best teachers are people with high self-esteem.

The way you care for yourself as an adult is connected to how you were cared for as a child. Another contributing factor to self-esteem is what we witnessed as a child; how did your parents care for themselves? They looked after you but did they look after themselves?

Children who grow up being cared for by parents who care for themselves, are in an optimal position for a lifetime of great self-esteem.

If you experienced a caring environment, chances are you take care of yourself. If you didn’t, you may neglect some of your needs without even realizing it.

If you have habits of neglect for yourself, no matter how much you love teaching and how hard you try, you may be unintentionally reflecting a lack of self-care behavior.

Here are a couple of simple pointers and techniques to help you discover how much you actually like yourself, how to adjust your perspective and bring to your classroom a stronger foundation of self-esteem:

• On waking in the morning take deep breaths, slowly and softly
• Make an intention, a strong heartfelt statement to yourself, along the lines of “today I will do what I can to truly love myself more.”
• Before you have coffee or tea, slowly sip a glass of fresh water, acknowledging your body’s needs and bringing your awareness to the miracle of your bodily functions.
• Remember to breathe deeply whenever the thought of self-love arises
• Be aware of the thoughts that travel through your mind, don’t try to change them as yet, but do notice them. These are the thoughts that are creating the emotions and the stress levels in your body.
• You may be surprised at how nasty or self-defeating some of these thoughts can be. Once again, it is not the time to change these thoughts but simply to acknowledge and accept.
• Feelings may arise as you discover this “programming” and that’s okay. Simply feel the feelings with the intention to do what you can to start to love yourself more and more every day.
• With strong intentions, gentle acknowledgement and self-acceptance, your self esteem will grow; the natural natural evolution of the human mind is to heal and change.

You may notice as you continue your journey of self-awareness that you will begin to see more synchronicities in your daily life. This is a sign that you are working toward truly loving yourself. Your mind has accepted your intention and is responding by alerting you to healing opportunities in the form of books, things people say, television moments etc.

The decision to grow self-esteem and open your heart to yourself is an exciting and important step to take, not only for the benefits you will see in your own life but for the lives of the little ones you have pledged to nurture.

To look at it simply, there are four major areas of self-care:

• Mental
• Emotional
• Physical and
• Spirtitual Health

They are intertwined and you can start in any area at any time, it is never too late.

Make an intention to do something from each area every day, until you begin to feel your self-esteem and self-care rising. This may take a little while but if you deliberately and consistently change your patterns of thought you will develop more positive neural networks in your brain so don’t give up, you are worth it!

About the Author

 Arna Baartz is a writer, educator and award winning Artist with an enduring love of the visual arts as a method of expression, personal growth and communication.  She is the author of I am Inspiration: Emotional Intelligence; The Key to Success. Helping educators and parents elevate self esteem in children is the focus of this book. Her book contains a program with effective strategies for helping children to succeed, both personally and academically. Arna lives in the beautiful Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia with her loving partner and eight wonderful children.

Feng Shui ~ Front Door Meditation

Feng Shui Soulutions: Your 30 Day Home and Life Makeover Feeling stuck in a rut? Each lesson in this 30 day Feng Shui makeover provides proactive steps you may take to balance, open, release, or shift energy in your home. Once energy is shifted and vibrational levels lifted on the home front, you could well notice a series of positive, unexpected and almost magical events occurring in your life! This could include attracting new opportunities, improved relationships, better health, increased abundance and greater success.Learn more now!

Feng Shui ~ Front Door Meditation

By Deborah Redfern

A door is a metaphor for transitions. The front door marks the transition between the outer public world and your inner private world. Your front door is the threshold between these two worlds. Consider that…

• All the energy of your home enters through the front door; it is the mouth of Chi.
• It is the first thing you, and everyone who comes to your home notices.
• It makes lasting impressions about who you are.

 Read on and listen to audio.

Health and Mobility: Fit for Life with Nia

By Deborah Redfern, Nia instructor and Feng Shui Practitioner

Nia teacher Deborah Redfern
Photo by: Rachelle Polsom

A year ago last spring, I found out I was a diabetic. It was discovered during a routine checkup, but I wasn’t entirely surprised because my weight had been climbing steadily for a few years, even though I thought my eating habits were good. Since I wanted to avoid taking medication for diabetes (or anything else) I knew I needed to make a dramatic lifestyle change. I made two. No surprise, diet and exercise greatly help control diabetes (and a lot of other ailments too).

My first step was to become a vegetarian. I already cooked healthy meals, rarely ate fried foods or desserts, and didn’t drink alcohol or soda. Since I seldom ate meat, I wasn’t that far from being an ovo-lacto vegetarian, but dropping the dairy made a huge difference.

My body weight dropped steadily by a pound or two a week. Mind you, I was not “dieting.” As my weight dropped, I noticed my energy levels went up and the mid-afternoon drowsy slumps disappeared.

The second big life change I made was to fully commit myself to movement. I was active in my twenties and thirties in dance and yoga, but in my forties things fell apart. I moved to Victoria when I was 45 and it took a long time to find my bearings. Eventually, I found Nia and attended a weekly class for about six months before the diabetes diagnosis.

Nia is a no/low impact fitness technique that combines dance, martial arts and yoga postures. Uplifting music accompanies each class and the moves are adapted for people of different fitness capabilities. Debbie and Carlos Rosas developed Nia in the United States about 27 years ago, and classes are currently offered in about 35 countries.

Through Nia, I met a teacher who in her early seventies clearly had a younger “body age” than me (I’m in my early fifties). Her agility and grace was beautiful and inspiring, and I decided that would be me - starting now.

Modern science allows us to disguise much of the outer signs of aging, but a body conditioned by conscious movement, one that is strong, agile and flexible can defy age more than any cosmetic, dye or procedure on the market. So, I committed myself to Nia and signed up for the next training course held in Victoria. My goal: to teach.

When I went back for my next checkup, my blood sugars were normal. My doctor didn’t use the words “reversed diabetes,” but she said I was managing the condition through my lifestyle.

Now, I am a certified and licensed Nia Technique Instructor. I teach a 50+ class at the Monterey Recreation Centre in Oak Bay, as well as classes at the Burnside Gorge Recreation Centre and the Fairfield Gonzales Community Recreation Centre.

At times, it is difficult for me to grasp that leading Nia classes is really my job because it is so much fun. On a philosophical level, I am motivated by my belief that moving, whether through Nia, yoga, or something else, is (unless our work is physical labour) our real “job.”

Our bodies were designed to move. I advocate a new vision where play comes first. Like having your dessert before your main course; like saving money by paying yourself first, we become fit for life by putting fitness first. If each of us did this, we could enjoy the world and improve the world at the same time, since there would be less disease and disability, and more productivity. We could turn our attention from the business of disease care to global health care.

Tips for staying fit:

1. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you get moving. Walk, swim, bike, hike, golf or dance: it’s all good.
2. Choose something you enjoy. If you aren’t having a good time, you’ll fall off the wagon. It has happened to me many times, all my good intentions swept aside.
3. Moving has to be thought of as a priority, not something you do when you can fit it in. Commit to it.
4. One way to commit is to make it your own. If you only walk when you have someone to walk with, or you play a partner sport, you’re giving your power to someone else. Make your primary way to keep fit something just for you. You will then have more energy for partner activities.

Health and Mobility

A study conducted on what made people happy as they get older revealed that money or lifestyle wasn’t the most important - it was health and mobility. It is possible the two are related - that those who have a certain level of wealth and a certain lifestyle have more time to spend on keeping fit. But it needn’t follow. It is more about an attitude.

I want to stay healthy for rest of my life. Doesn’t everyone? Through conscious eating and conscious moving, it is a goal within reach.

To learn more about Nia, visit www.nianow.com

Saying Goodbye to Beringer

A Different Grief: Coping with Pet Loss

Are you anticipating or mourning the loss of your pet, and surprised and even overwhelmed at the depth of your grief? The lessons in this course are designed both to help you understand and cope with the grief of losing your pet, and to guide you towards meaningful growth, healing and inspiration. Come to a better understanding of the emotional upheaval caused by the shock, disbelief, anger, guilt and sorrow that are commonly experienced when a beloved pet is lost. Learn meaningful ways to memorialize your faithful friend. You deserve to feel comforted, understood and acknowledged as a person in grief, and reassurance that you are normal and healthy in loving your faithful animal friend so deeply. [Learn more now]

Sadly, the below message was posted on Marty Tousley’s grief blog this August. Our hearts go out to Marty and her husband as they grieve the passing of their beloved dog, Beringer. Marty has helped so many of us walk the difficult path of grief over the years and she continues to do so in her eCourses, eBooks and discussion forum. Our heartfelt condolences to you, dear Marty, as you yourself walk this difficult path once more.

Love,

Saying Goodbye to Beringer

By Marty Tousley, Bereavement Counselor

Dear Ones,

I’d like you all to know that this morning, August 22, 2011 we said our final farewell to our beloved Tibetan terrier, Beringer. He was born August 15, 1996, and came to us eight weeks later as the most precious and adorable puppy we’d ever seen. Over the years he wrapped his furry self around every aspect of our daily lives, and has been for both of us the source of the most exquisite form of love: complete, pure and unconditional. He has always been everything a dog should be: our most loyal and constant companion. He will be sorely missed.

My heart is too broken to say any more at the moment, so this will have to do:

Drawing in Your Soulmate

Discover how to draw in true love through spiritual means

Find Your Spiritual Soul Mate
Are you ready to meet your soul mate? Let the romantic résumé show you how! Put a casting call out to the Universe for a co-star! This inspiring course guides and supports singles towards clarity in their quest for a healthy loving relationship. Be guided towards clarity about the love you desire while tapping into different spiritual tools to draw in your beloved. Learn More Now!

Drawing in Your Soulmate
By Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway ©

For those spiritual singles in quest of their soul mate, the Romantic Résumé is a creative and fun process designed to help you draw in your beloved. It very much requires the “inside job” of assessing what you truly want. But you can also “consciously” utilize the world around you to further clarify your goals.

In day-to-day life, the simple act of looking around this great big universe, and noticing people you are attracted to, sheds light on how you get drawn into relationships; who you are drawn to, and for what reasons. Don’t be afraid to become a great observer; be a girl watcher or boy watcher; pay more attention to the men or women who enter your every day world, and to date when appropriate. Just try looking at the romantic arena through new eyes and, from that perspective, create new opportunities and experiences.

Exercise the powers of observation.

Without making judgments based on good or bad, look around, and notice if you can identify men or women who are your type. As you are out and about in the world, pay attention to people who:

• Have something about them that you like
• Have a scent or essence that appeals to you
• Seem so perfect for you
• Draw you in some way
• Have the look you love
• You would like to get to know
• Seem to have something to offer

See if you can gather insight on the kinds of things that really turn you on in potential mates, and the kind of people you are attracted to.

Mingle with others, and “practice date” as appropriate.

Instead of searching for the one, go with the natural flow of the universe. If someone nice happens to come along, go out on a date but date differently than you have before. Imagine it this way: instead of making your dating and socializing experiences all about trying to impress people and getting them to like you, consider yourself an interviewer or a talent scout in search of the person who will play a very important role in your life! Be respectful to the other person, but be cautious and be a smart romantic consumer.

• Depending upon where you are in your own personal evolutionary cycle, it may be appropriate to experiment with a variety of types of people as you open to meeting a potential mate.
• Interacting with a number of different men or women — on dates, in social situations, while out and about — can help you further clarify the kind of person you would like to share romance with and the type of relationship that’s right for you.
• You may find, over time, that what was important when you first started this process changes as you gain more insight through experience.
• Treating your love quest like a love project at first can give you a framework and an edge of emotional distance that may prevent you from getting too involved with inappropriate people, or involved too fast to establish a foundation with an appropriate person.
• It’s a good idea to interact with others in a leisurely fashion until you have a good grasp of who and what you are looking for. Sometimes the urge to merge moves us quickly into situations that are not appropriate or authentic.Think back: Have you ever been seduced by a person’s packaging - their looks, charm, outward attitude and attention - only to find the partner-from-another-planet emerging as soon as the initial honeymoon stage faded?
• The clarification process may seem like a lot of work. But when you search for love without first defining what love looks and feels like to you personally, you risk falling into familiar pitfalls. And you can end up in relationships that are even more work to extricate yourself from. That why it is important to stay conscious about old patterns and be conscious about creating new ones as your follow this process and try a new approach.

Excerpted from Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway’s popular soulmate ecourse Find Your Spiritual Soul Mate. Copyright © Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway. All rights reserved.

Getting Ready for Love

Find Your Spiritual Soul Mate
Are you ready to meet your soul mate? Let the romantic résumé show you how! Put a casting call out to the Universe for a co-star! This inspiring course guides and supports singles towards clarity in their quest for a healthy loving relationship. Be guided towards clarity about the love you desire while tapping into different spiritual tools to draw in your beloved. Learn More Now!

An interview with Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

(Find Part 1 of this interview here.)

What do you mean by “getting ready for love”?
As you explore a new pathway to love, intimacy and partnership, it’s important to know what you are really ready for and looking for. For example, some people say they want to get married, when what they really want is to be proposed to or have a wedding. Some believe they are ready for true love, when they have yet to heal enough from a broken heart or pain from the last relationship. It could be that ultimately you want love, marriage and a baby carriage, but that in the immediate future it would serve you to focus on your own personal growth and healing; that you need to make yourself ready for love.

What is one spiritual way to attract our soul mate?
Say a little prayer. Studies show that prayers help heal those who are suffering and that people who pray live longer, happier, more balanced lives. Why not say a little prayer in the name of love. Do it every day for 30 days and see how you feelings about love change. I guarantee that if you focus on love you will be feeling love, closer and closer, everyday.

Do people get anxious during the process of getting ready for love?
Transformation is a process. Like the beautiful butterfly that begins as a caterpillar, it is so important to honor the nature of change in your life. People may be anxious to meet their true love, and maybe even antsy to get to the end of my Soulmate eCourse. But there may be a time period, between the start and finish of creating your romantic resume that you find yourself in a stage of incubation. That is because when you are in the process of transformation, you do not always see the transformation that is occurring; and sometimes you feel as if nothing is happening.  In fact, you may be the last person to know that your life has truly changed!

What is your stand on romantic fantasies?
I am all for them, if they are healthy and move your love project along. But, do “a reality check” on your own head! Is it filled with certain images of what love is, or what it can be, based on unrealistic fantasies that you wouldn’t even want to live out in real life, even if you could? For example, would you really want to be a princess trapped in a tower and rescued by a handsome prince? …Or, a toad that is transformed by one kiss from the “right girl?” Probably not. So double check outdated fantasies about love and rescue.

How can you know when you are ready for true love?
Everyone’s needs, desires and motivations are personal and individual. Ask yourself:

• Are you up for a monogamy and commitment?
• Are you just interested in shopping around at the moment?
• Do you want to just have some fun and attract some “test drive” relationships so you so you can get “practice?”Do you want to be “in love”, but not engaged in the reality of a day-to-day relationship?
• Do you know there is a difference?
• If true love knocked on your door, would you recognize the knock? Would you really, really, really want to open the door?

If you are honest with yourself about where you are now (your starting point), it will lead you onto a path that occurs naturally and at the “right” time for both you and your yet-to-be-known beloved. It gives you a chance to transform, evolve and make changes that make you more ready for real love.

Do former relationships count?
Of course. They give you insight into how you are hardwired. You have to understand your own worldview of relationships. This includes your personal view of what a relationship is, what a relationship can be, and what a relationship has been. This is as personal as a fingerprint. Until you identify it, it can be a subconscious road map that draws certain relationships to you - for better or for worse. Identifying your point of view brings it to light in your conscious mind and allow you to see your own relationship M.O. [modus operandi] and any unconscious repetitive patterns that drive you.

Should we dwell on past relationships to try to figure them out?
The past is a stepping stones to the future. You need to go back in time a little bit, but as an observer. Why? Because it is not uncommon for people to initiate new relationships based on long-running relationship patterns, or to choose mates based on the ones that came before–and, originally, based on our parents! Recognize what you loved about former mates, as well as what went awry in your romantic past, and utilize those insights to make appropriate new choices. You might just find that this process gives a whole new sense of direction to your love life.  You can begin to create a new vision for how you will experience your next relationship–including any desired alterations of your behavior!

What if you’ve been hurt a lot?
The first step to healing yourself from the pain and disappointment of relationships past is to shine a light on these things. Letting go can always be a bit sad but you must remember that in each ending dwells a new beginning.  The Romantic Resume process helps your assess and admit the problems you faced, and, ultimately, make a choice about how you want things to be in the future. This is not an exercise in self-judgment or in judging your ex’s. Acknowledge the emotions that arise - your feelings also provide a lot of information - but hold the intention that you are moving through this and you will come out of this truly ready for new love!

© Laurie Sue Brockway. All rights reserved.

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway is an author, teacher and contemporary clergy person who specializes in matters of the heart and soul. She has spent almost three decades researching the elements of successful relationships - attraction, sexuality, romance, commitment, love and the urgings of the soul. Her teachings focus on: how to get ready for love, finding your soul mate, as well as leading couple’s in love to the altar.Her Soulmate eCourse, Find Your Spiritual Soul Mate, is available exclusively through SelfHealingExpressions.com. She is also author of Your Interfaith Wedding, Wedding Goddess, The Goddess Pages, Pet Prayers and Blessings, and the a number of eBooks including, Rituals for Love and Romance and Just Ask Lakshmi.

 Get ready for love with these free Soulmate Workbooks here.

Drinking Water: The Ultimate Health Drink

The Healing Power of Food: Conscious Eating
by Julianne Koritz, a registered, licensed dietitian. — Learn how food can heal your body by strengthening your immune system and increasing your energy level — create a plan for boosting your immune system. Lessons address common health complaints and offer up remedies for issues such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, memory loss, joint pain, depression, anger, and weigh loss. Make food your best friend to energize, nourish and heal your body!
[Course Overview] [Enroll Now] [Course Reviews]

Drinking Water: The Ultimate Health Drink
By Julianne Koritz ©

With oppressive summer heat at hand in much of the U.S.A and droughts in parts of the world, a tall glass of ice water is a true gift to your body and senses. Have you considered the actual role fluids play in your overall well-being? What you drink effects how you feel the rest of the day. Are you the person who craves caffeine in the morning to get started? You may have two cups of coffee before you leave for work in the morning and then after you get to work you may have another cup or two. Then to combat the afternoon drags, do you have a diet soda with caffeine or another cup of coffee to get you through the rest of the day.

Are you thirty right now?
Consider what you had to drink yesterday and jot it down. Now, how much water did you have? Most of us are aware that the health experts state we need 8 fluid cups daily to prevent dehydration symptoms but that can include other beverages. However, if you are thirsty right now, that means you are already at a dehydrated state. Being dehydrated causes your metabolism to malfunction and leads to dehydration symptoms, such as being lethargic and not motivated to work, play or workout.

Dehydration Symptoms include:

• Headache
• Constipation
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Depression
• Weight gain
• Water retention
• Dry skin
• Skin blemishes
• Toxicity (in blood)
• Bladder infections

Caffeine Robs Your Body of Fluids
Beverages with caffeine such as coffee, ice tea, and soda are not going to help our body with hydration. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it makes your body flush out fluids. Yes, you go to the bathroom soon after drinking beverages with caffeine. While it is “okay” to drink these beverages, remember they do not help keep you hydrated. To hydrate yourself, it takes 24 hours. Just to drink 16 oz of water when you are thirsty does not bring your body to a state of proper hydration.

Tired? Try Drinking Water!
If you are thirsty, that means you have lost about 2-3% of your body fluids. Remember your body is 70% water. If your weight is 150 pounds and you are thirsty, that means you lost 3 pound of fluids. Just losing 1 - 3% of your body weight causes such symptom such as chronic tiredness, headaches, grouchy and hunger that leads us into another area of concern. What do you do when you are tired? Many people eat when they are tired as taught by their mother while very young. If you have children, you may find yourself feeding your cranky child and noticing that they become more reasonable after being feed. Food does provide some needed fluid but not enough. Eating when you are tire may also contribute to unwanted weight gain. So next time you are feeling tired, try drinking water instead.

Water: Essential for the Body
Now go back and recall how much water you drank yesterday. Congratulations, if you did drink 2 liters of water. For those of you who did not drink enough water, commit to honoring this essential nutrient for your body. Keep a LARGE cup or bottle of water on your desk, take bottled water on your commute, and to the gym. Make it a habit of drinking 20 ounces of water 4 times a day. During periods of extreme heat and humidity, drink more of nature’s greatest health drink.

Copyright © 2003, 2011 by Julianne Koritz. All rights reserved.

Julianne Koritz a licensed dietitian, is the creator and instructor of The Healing Power of Food: Conscious Eating.

Spring into Life with the Wood Element and Feng Shui

Feng Shui Soulutions: Your 30 Day Home and Life Makeover Feeling stuck in a rut? Each lesson in this 30 day Feng Shui makeover provides proactive steps you may take to balance, open, release, or shift energy in your home. Once energy is shifted and vibrational levels lifted on the home front, you could well notice a series of positive, unexpected and almost magical events occurring in your life! This could include attracting new opportunities, improved relationships, better health, increased abundance and greater success.Learn more now!

Spring into Life with the Wood Element and Feng Shui

By Deborah Redfern, Feng Shui Practitioner ©

Did you know that each of the Five Elements used in feng shui are related to a season? The season for the Wood element is spring. Spring is the time of growth and movement. With the return of longer hours of daylight and warmer temperatures, seeds begin to sprout, sap fills the trees and leaves begin to grow. In other words, after a period of dormant energy, there is a lot of action! What does it mean for people? We are affected by longer daylight hours and warmth. We become more active, spend more time outdoors, make plans and begin new projects. The sun brings optimism with it and dreams that have been growing deep roots over the winter begin to blossom. We get busy with those projects, ideas and plans.

Wood Element Symbols

One of the ways you can work with the seasons and elements is by using feng shui symbols (or enhancements) in your surroundings. And why would you want to? Working with the elements helps to bring balance into your life; to bring forth certain qualities or to tone down any qualities that have been less than helpful. As an example, imagine three trees:

1. The first one is a healthy tree with abundant growth. It is well proportioned with a strong trunk and the leaves are a vibrant shade of green. It represents balanced Wood element energy.
2. The second tree has stunted growth. It has a strong trunk but it never seems to get any larger and it never blooms.  It represents under-active Wood element energy.
3. The third tree has out of control growth. Although it looks like it is doing well at first glance, the roots and trunk are weak and can’t hold the weight of the tree. The branches are numerous but spindly where they are reaching too far to find the light and the growth is pale. It represents over-active Wood element energy.

We can have the same emotional states: healthy growth is when we are well balanced. Stunted growth can show up as resistance, fear, depression. It is a general inability to act - sometimes not even having the energy to dream. Out of control growth can manifest as scattered energy. The dreams are there but the roots and foundation are not in place to help them blossom. There may be too many dreams without a clear focus, or perhaps a certain staying power is lacking: just when the dream is about to mature some obstacle gets in the way halting all growth. Emotional states can, and often do overlap. Well thank goodness for that! It means we are strong and balanced in some respects but perhaps have under-active or over-active energy in certain situations or particular facets of life.

So we use the symbols of the elements as reminders of how to expend our energy. Out of control growth? Pull your energy back. Concentrate on the basics - a solid foundation and organization. A Zen-style garden might settle your energy more than an overflowing English cottage garden. For someone with under-active Wood energy, I would give the opposite advice. No minimalist Zen gardens for this person, which could represent control and stunted growth! I’d advise them to surround themselves with light and images of things coming to fruition.

As you can imagine, the strongest symbol for Wood element are plants and flowers which are symbols of growth: healthy green plants, potted trees, flowering plants and vases of flowers.

Some plants and flowers are considered better than others: the number one criteria to look for are healthy plants and flowers. Silk foliage and flowers are an alternative if the area you want to put the greenery in does not receive enough light to maintain a healthy plant. It is a better feng shui practice to use silk plants than to try to nurse sickly plants in the locations you want them, but you could also use fresh cut flowers in these locations and replace them as needed.

Other symbols that are really great to bring in Wood element energy are shapes that look like the trunk of a tree: tall rectangular shapes, long narrow stripes (wall paper or a long wall hanging - even a scarf hung on the wall), columns and tall lamps (especially uplights).

The colors for the Wood element are green for foliage of course, but also blue and purple are considered appropriate symbols for the Wood Element. The patterns we use in feng shui to represent the Wood element are stripes and floral patterns.

There is another level of symbols which will be uniquely personal to you and represent your own personal story. There is no “rule” that the only feng shui enhancements you can use in your home must be the ones from the traditional Chinese culture of feng shui and I believe that in feng shui “one size does not fit all”. I encourage you to find and use Wood element symbols which have personal meaning for you and fit where you are in your life right now. The trick with the all the elements is in: 1) figuring out where you are, 2) what your challenges are, and 3) to take a look at what you have in your surroundings. Are they helping to balance your energy or holding you in the status quo?

Copyright © Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.