Shedding Light On Ourselves - Parts That Don’t Want To Heal
July 12, 2007
In almost every case, we know what is best for us in our lives, from the relationships we create to the food we eat. Still, somewhat mysteriously, it is often difficult to make the right choices for ourselves. We find ourselves hanging out with someone who leaves us feeling drained or choosing to eat fast food over a salad. We go through phases where we stop doing yoga or taking vitamins, even though we feel so much better when we do. Often we have no idea why we continue to make the less enlightened choice, but it is important that we inquire into ourselves to find out.
When we choose that which is not best for us, the truth can be that there is a deep seated part of us that does not want to heal. We may say it’s because we don’t have the time or the energy or the resources, but the real truth is that when we don’t take care of ourselves we are falling prey to self-sabotage. Self-sabotage happens unconsciously, which is why it’s so difficult to see that we are doing it. The important thing to realize is that this very part of us that resists our healing is the part that most needs our attention and love. Even as it appears to be working against us, if we can simply bring it into the light of our consciousness, it can become our greatest ally. It carries the information we need to move to the next level in our healing process.
When we recognize that we are not making healthy choices, we might even say out loud, “I am not taking care of myself.” Sometimes this is the jolt we need to wake up to what is actually happening. Next we can sit ourselves down in meditation, with a journal, or with a trusted friend to explore the matter more thoroughly. Just shining the light of our awareness on the source of our resistance is sometimes enough to dispel its power. At other times, further effort is required. Either way, we need not fear these parts that do not want to heal. We only need to take them under our wing and bring them with us into the light.
Finding the Technique for Perfect Breathing
July 7, 2007
by Travis Wright
Back in 1995, I noticed that I was breathing incorrectly. The more I noticed it, the more that, it seemed, it got worse. Little did I know, the Law of Attraction was in full effect. Energy flows where attention goes. My breathing got worse. Then stress began to prevail in my neck and throat, and for the last 12 years, I have been inflicted by this stressful inconvenience.
As a result of my poor breathing, I put on about 60 pounds. Obviously, without as much oxygen in the system to help with burning of calories, weight gain will take place. Exercise would become more of a chore, because when you are breathing incorrectly, it puts more strain on everything.
The more you notice something like this, more it takes over your thinking. I began to think that the stress in my throat and poor breathing might end my life prematurely. This is a scary thought. The more focus I put on it, the worse it got.
According to many sources, they say that 40-60% of people breathe incorrectly. So, I’m not alone, I thought. Factor in that most people nowadays, spend numerous hours sitting incorrectly at a PC, and that makes everything worse. In fact, most people who breathe incorrectly, do so by having the ‘Goose Neck’ effect, which is a posture of extending the head forward.
So, I had the opportunity to listen to the Vocal Coach audio series, and they had a visual exercise that really helped me out:
HOW TO CORRECT POOR BREATHING
Imagine a string on the back of the top of your head, and imagine two strings on each side of your collarbone. These strings are then pulled tight to the ceiling, and you stand upright, like a marionette. This lifts up your head and chest and allows for proper diaphragm breathing, as opposed to shallow chest breathing. DO NOT hold your stomach in, let it flow in and out, expanding and contracting. Instead enjoy the feeling of your tummy. Ahhhh.
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18 Tricks to Teach Your Body
June 18, 2007
by Kate Dailey
1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear!
When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, but you’re more discriminating. Take that tickle in your throat; it’s not worth gagging over. Here’s a better way to scratch your itch: “When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. “This spasm relieves the tickle.”
2. Experience supersonic hearing!
If you’re stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. It’s better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you’re trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.
3. Overcome your most primal urge!
Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won’t feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” video.
4. Feel no pain!
German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.
5. Clear your stuffed nose!
Forget Sudafed. An easier, quicker, and cheaper way to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you’ll feel your sinuses start to drain.
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Why it is Important to Heal your Inner Child [Inner Awareness]
June 2, 2007
Why would anyone want to delve into their past, dredging up old memories long forgotten, so that you can relive them in an endless masochistic exercise? I wouldn’t and neither should you. The only reasons you should undertake any journey of self exploration is for the freedom and healing of your awareness.
Unfortunately, most people wait until these issues become stronger than their ability to hold them at bay and they (their sense of who they are or their ego), collapse’s in surrender. Sometimes they confuse this feeling with the feeling of defeat. Sometimes it is so big that death feels like the only option. Those that do surrender often experience a euphoria, a sense of freedom, of the world made anew.
This process is a natural cycle. The problem is that we have forgotten how to embrace this type of growth. Instead we fight to the death to keep this horrible monster of surrender to the self at bay, so great is our fear. In our culture, we have little in the way of role models to observe, so that we may KNOW from first hand experience that this is ok, and maybe we could support each other. Could you imagine an ego death party where we celebrate the death of who we are, so that we might step into our present self, music played by the Grateful Dead.
Many times it is our inner child frozen within by some trauma this life, or sometimes other lifetimes, that leads us into these times as it seeks healing or just simply acts out in self destructive behavior.
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