Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Exploring the power of the Root Chakra
Exploring the power of the Root Chakra
“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul”.
– Simone Weil
The Root Chakra, (Muladhara) is located at the base of the spine, and connects us to our sense of survival, security, and independence. When the root chakra is in balance, we feel stable, secure, full of energy, health, and stability. When the root chakra is off balance, we may feel easily angered, ungrounded, and low energy.
How to get grounded:
There are few ways to clear, heal, and energize the root chakra. Using crystal therapy is a beautiful way to become grounded. Bloodstone, garnet, ruby, jasper, and smoky quartz are very grounding stones that will allow you to feel more calm and centered. Try carrying around one or two of these stones to become more connected with the earth.
Nourish your root chakra:
Nutrition is another way to nourish the chakras. To balance and recharge your root chakra, try incorporating red apples, raspberries, cherries, strawberries, pomegranates, beets, and watermelon into your diet.
Ground down with yoga:
The best yoga poses for connecting you to your earth chakra are Tadasana (Mountain Pose), Uttanasana (Forward Bend), and Virabhadrasana (Warrior 1). Each of these poses connect us to the earth and help bring our awareness back into the physical body.
Connect with the earth:
The root chakra’s element is earth, so simply getting out into nature and sitting in a quite place where you can feel the earth below you will have a very healing effect. Allow the vibrations of the earth below you to travel up your energetic spine and flow out into all your limbs.
When meditating on your root chakra, imagine a beautiful red ball of energy gently glowing at the base of your spine. Allow that energy to radiate up the body, and repeat the mantra “I am. I belong. I am calm and centered. May the energy of the earth restore my vitality”.
– Simone Weil
The Root Chakra, (Muladhara) is located at the base of the spine, and connects us to our sense of survival, security, and independence. When the root chakra is in balance, we feel stable, secure, full of energy, health, and stability. When the root chakra is off balance, we may feel easily angered, ungrounded, and low energy.
How to get grounded:
There are few ways to clear, heal, and energize the root chakra. Using crystal therapy is a beautiful way to become grounded. Bloodstone, garnet, ruby, jasper, and smoky quartz are very grounding stones that will allow you to feel more calm and centered. Try carrying around one or two of these stones to become more connected with the earth.
Nourish your root chakra:
Nutrition is another way to nourish the chakras. To balance and recharge your root chakra, try incorporating red apples, raspberries, cherries, strawberries, pomegranates, beets, and watermelon into your diet.
Ground down with yoga:
The best yoga poses for connecting you to your earth chakra are Tadasana (Mountain Pose), Uttanasana (Forward Bend), and Virabhadrasana (Warrior 1). Each of these poses connect us to the earth and help bring our awareness back into the physical body.
Connect with the earth:
The root chakra’s element is earth, so simply getting out into nature and sitting in a quite place where you can feel the earth below you will have a very healing effect. Allow the vibrations of the earth below you to travel up your energetic spine and flow out into all your limbs.
When meditating on your root chakra, imagine a beautiful red ball of energy gently glowing at the base of your spine. Allow that energy to radiate up the body, and repeat the mantra “I am. I belong. I am calm and centered. May the energy of the earth restore my vitality”.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Updating your Internal Operating Manual
How to Update Your Internal Operating Manual
We all have one—an “operating manual” of our subconscious—however, we often don’t know that it’s there. Rules, values, the definition of right and wrong, and our view of relationships, love, work, and even ourselves often is programed by other people since birth. I always say “children learn what they live and live what they learn.”
The problem is, that your operating manual containing the rules and values that you live by—including the subconscious messages that drive your choices, your actions, your behaviors, and your thinking patterns—may not be serving you anymore. It may not be correct or appropriate anymore, and it may never have been. Yet, it still guides your choices and your behavior, and causes you to stand in your own way of achieving exactly what it is you desire.
We often stand in our own way, not realizing we are doing it. In my case, raised in a household that believed in their “station in life” (part of the old English Class system), I was taught that “people like us” don’t go to University, don’t become managers, don’t own their own businesses. So guess what? I didn’t do any of those things—until I became aware of my internal operating manual and realized just how ridiculous that particular chapter was!
I was also taught that in order for people to like you, you have to be perfect. Well … you can imagine the pressure that puts on a child. It wasn’t until I was 32 years old that I figured out that “rule” was wrong and, not only was it not serving me anymore, but it never had been of service to me. It, as well as many other parts of my internal operating manual, had enabled me to stand in my own way.
So here’s my question to you: What does your internal operating manual say?
The problem is, that your operating manual containing the rules and values that you live by—including the subconscious messages that drive your choices, your actions, your behaviors, and your thinking patterns—may not be serving you anymore. It may not be correct or appropriate anymore, and it may never have been. Yet, it still guides your choices and your behavior, and causes you to stand in your own way of achieving exactly what it is you desire.
We often stand in our own way, not realizing we are doing it. In my case, raised in a household that believed in their “station in life” (part of the old English Class system), I was taught that “people like us” don’t go to University, don’t become managers, don’t own their own businesses. So guess what? I didn’t do any of those things—until I became aware of my internal operating manual and realized just how ridiculous that particular chapter was!
I was also taught that in order for people to like you, you have to be perfect. Well … you can imagine the pressure that puts on a child. It wasn’t until I was 32 years old that I figured out that “rule” was wrong and, not only was it not serving me anymore, but it never had been of service to me. It, as well as many other parts of my internal operating manual, had enabled me to stand in my own way.
So here’s my question to you: What does your internal operating manual say?
5 Steps for Updating Your Internal Operating Manual
- First, recognize that you have an internal operating manual. We all do. It’s those deeply held values and beliefs that drive your everyday behavior. Start to watch yours.
- Identify what is in your internal operating manual. If you can practice “dual awareness” and watch and listen to yourself as you go through the day, you will begin to identify some of the unspoken rules that you live by. Perfection? Control? Fear? Self-loathing?
- Once you have identified some of the principles of your internal operating manual, ask yourself: “Are these rules or beliefs serving me? Or are they getting in my way?” For example, my deeply held value of freedom serves me well. My deeply ingrained beliefs that I have to be perfect and I have to be all things to all people all the time do not serve me. They get in my way, and they make me ill both emotionally and physically.
- Next, prioritize your beliefs. Which are the beliefs or rules that get in your way of finding happiness, peace, and success?
- Tackle your beliefs one-by-one. Find evidence of why a belief is wrong, change it from a negative to a positive, or just refuse to allow it to guide you anymore. I know the first one I dealt with was a belief that I was worthless. I looked for evidence every day of why this wasn’t true. I refused to believe it anymore and, eventually, it stopped guiding my choices. Fake it till you make it is the saying, and it works.
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