May 19th, 2012

If you follow my Facebook page you know I have been doing daily tips on how to improve your brain.

Number one thing that comes up over and over - 30 minutes of walking every day, together with a good daily multi vitamin and fish oil, helps the brain in a myriad of ways. Especially if you have the dreaded gene for Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s appears to start 30 or more years before it becomes a problem (that amazed me!). So start walking today.

….and the weather is so beautiful right now that it is just a glorious activity.

Enjoy!

Gay

 

This article was written by Gay Landeta with the intention of helping you to Create the Life you Want to Live! All rights reserved 2012.

January 20th, 2012

Happy Year of the Dragon everyone! Another New Year opportunity to look at where you are and where you might like to head towards. This booster is one my Create your Year Workshop participants always love – Maori Drawing.

I published this as my first blog, go the this link for part one. Take your time and do the process.

Once you are complete go to part two. to discover what your subconscious is telling you. Many find much hidden gold in this process to use to inform your goals, intentions and growth for the year.

Enjoy!
Gay

 

This article was written by Gay Landeta with the intention of helping you to Create the Life you Want to Live! All rights reserved 2011.

This booster is used in yoga and many traditions to calm and relax the system.

First stop, place one hand on your chest and the other on your tummy. Just notice how you are breathing. Which parts of ribs are moving? No judgements here, just notice. Are you breathing into your tummy or are your shoulders going up and down?

Relax and focus on the hand on your tummy. Breath in and imagine that you have a balloon in your tummy that you are gently filling with air. Exhale quietly and completely and then allow the breath to enter again filling the balloon with air.

You can lie down and put a pile of books on your tummy to help focus your breath but remember you are not using your muscles to move the books, you are simply using your in breath.

Go back and how you are feeling, how is it different? By noticing we start the process of positive change.

Enjoy and have a great month!

Gay

 

This article was written by Gay Landeta with the intention of helping you to Create the Life you Want to Live! All rights reserved 2011.

What does Astrology, an ancient tool used for insight and guidance; Meditation used to create calm and develop focus and Psychological Profiling, modern systems used to understand human behavior and help develop potential (one of the best known would be Myers Briggs) all have in common?

They help us to develop the quality of observation of the self.

The ability to observe the self in a detached yet connected manner is an important step in our evolution as a human being. The ability to observe the emotions, thoughts, feelings and sensations of our daily existence is something that can be cultivated to help us become less attached to our daily dramas and less caught in the stories of our life.

In spiritual traditions meditation is used to learn to observe the self. The process of regularly sitting with the thoughts, feelings and sensations that drive our human existence without being caught within them creates a calm yet focused mind and allows us ultimately to access more of our intelligence. Research shows regular meditators have a more developed frontal lobe, the area of critical reasoning, than non meditators.

How can astrology and profiling be used in a similar manner? By using the information attained to help to detach from the drama of life instead of excuse our behaviour.

The more we step away from the situation, the clearer the best and most appropriate response becomes. Offering advice or support to a friend is often easier than giving it to ourselves because we have a bigger perspective and less emotional attachment to the outcome.

As we become the observer we start to develop a bigger perspective. As we learn more about ourselves, through a profiling system, astrology or similar, we see patterns emerge of who we are and can learn to navigate our behaviour in a different manner.

For example in my life I do my best to focus my perfectionism to aim for excellence while listening for the clues that I am falling into nit picking. My stubbornness supports the persistence that is needed to be a successful business owner and I am getting better at seeing when I am hitting my head against the concrete wall! And my sensitivity helps me to tune in to others but learning how to manage it and see the bigger picture was the key to being able to work effectively and not become overwhelmed.

So, while I don’t agree with becoming slavish about anything, I do suggest experiment with using any information that rings true with you, whether astrology or numerology or Disc profiling or Myers Briggs to help you to see yourself from a greater perspective and refocus out dated behaviour into a new and improved version.

This month I invite you to explore some patterns of behaviour. Sit with them, perhaps in meditation, and observe how they impact in your life, positively and negatively.

Once you see clearly how this is impacting start to make some conscious choices of other, more appropriate ways of reacting.

 

This article was written by Gay Landeta with the intention of helping you to Create the Life you Want to Live! All rights reserved 2011.

Many people mistakenly think meditation is about stopping thoughts.

Trying to stop thoughts is a little like trying to stop breathing. It is the brains job to think and think it does. If you watch it  and see it for what it is, a stream of consciousness, it becomes apparent how it just rabbits on, hopping from idea to idea….  Write the booster… oh it’s raining… What will I have for lunch… do I have to go out … Green trees and grass… Heaters nice…. Miss having a dog… etc

Seeing the gap between the thoughts , words and ideas is a lovely way to see through the minds busyness and find the peace behind.

Focus your attention on the gaps between the thoughts, the pauses in the concepts, the empty blue black space between and behind the images.

When I do this I find time slows, peace descends and I am less attached to outcomes.

Practiced often it becomes a wonderful tool in times of stress.

Start by doing it for a few seconds at a time and build it up. You may like to make this a regular time of meditation or just find space during the day. However you do it I trust you will find a greater sense of spaciousness in your life.

Enjoy it and have a great month!
Gay

 

This article was written by Gay Landeta with the intention of helping you to Create the Life you Want to Live! All rights reserved 2011.

September 14th, 2011

this booster is from my last eZine… Hope you find some gold in it!

Passion and purpose. When these are missing life loses its meaning.Purpose may be difficult to find but it will find us – when we become passionate about life. This booster helps you to explore how you can develop more passion in your relationships and your life. Something we all want!

This will be a bit of a process… You might like to grab a pen and paper, a cup of tea and get comfy.

First think about times you feel passion. This may be while you are being creative, at work, with your kids, while being intimate with your partner, etc. Identify a passionate time for you.

Now identify your most dispassionate or lost place in your life. Consider some of the negative things you tell yourself. Perhaps I should be doing something else (ie this is the wrong place for me) or I don’t know what to do next (Ie I feel lost and have no direction) or I should do this next (Ie according to someone else, society or my culture I have to do X next), etc. Have a listen to all the negative and limiting language you use, much of it to try to keep you keeping on or taking the next step you think you SHOULD take.

Next imagine if you used those same phrases at your passionate time. If you tried to tell yourself what you should be doing next while playing with the kids, second guessing your next move in your next intimate encounter, or feeling hopeless and lost while involved in creating something. It just would not work. Same as in that part of your life.

Your challenge? Recognize the limits you put on yourself through language and practice reframing those negative phrases. Eg it is absolutely fine to be doing this right now or I will know what to do next when the time is right or Who knows what the next thing is to do, I will open myself up and just see.

Have fun!
Gay
PS if the old patterns are too hard to break come in for a session, let’s see what blocks we can break!

 

This article was written by Gay Landeta with the intention of helping you to Create the Life you Want to Live! All rights reserved 2011.

This is a goodie when you are just wanting a quick ground and centering.

Start by putting two fingers of one hand under your nose – just where your moustache would be and two fingers of the other hand where your tail would be. Hold these points for a few deep breaths, exhaling fully. Swap hands if you like.

Then put two fingers of one hand under your lips in the crevice above your chin and two fingers of the other hand on your belly button. Again hold for a few nice deep relaxing breaths. If you swapped before continue to swap hands in this step and the next.

Finally place the palm of one hand on your  tail bone and the other palm on your belly button. Breath a few more brreaths and relax fully.

By taking the time to re-centre like this your energy has a chance to re-find its flow and you will too.
Enjoy and have a great month!
Gay

This booster is inspired by Pranayama (Yogic breathing). I often use this one, I find it a lovely way to reconnect to my inner rhythm.

First stop and notice how you are breathing. Which parts of your lungs are you using? No judgements here, just notice. Are you breathing deeply or shallowly? Are you accessing the 4 parts of your lungs, the belly, the ribs, the back and the top? Which is longer, your in or out breath? Are you holding your breath at any stage or breathing easily. Just notice.

Relax and focus on your breath. Breath in through your nose to the count of 4. Hold for the count of 4, breath out for the count of 4 and hold for the count of 4. Repeat 4 times.

Go back and notice your breathing and how you are feeling, how is it different? By noticing we start the process of positive change.

Enjoy and have a great month!
Gay

June 19th

Ok, Sunday night and the start of a big week – how can you get through it without feeling depleted? Well, yes, eating well (see all my recent blogs on that!) but also create some rituals in your week that give you space, the kind of space you feel on holidays….

This booster is simple. Find time mid-week to have some holiday time. Do the kind of things you do on the weekend or on holidays and make it a not-to-be-broken ritual.

For example, Tuesday is my midweek holiday. Even though I do long days Monday to Wednesday.

How do I do that? Well, it evolved… I go to yoga Tuesday morning at 630. I love yoga – it always makes me feel relaxed and focused. It is a strong practice so one week I came home and knew I better have an epsom salts bath otherwise I wouldn’t be moving later in the week.

I felt so great after that bath that now my Tuesday morning holiday is yoga followed by a essential oil and epsom salts bath with all the body butter I want after. I just chill and take my time and am still at work by my 10 am start time. It feels like forever since I was last in the clinic, instead of just a sleep before.

Another ritual I used to have was a cup of tea before bed each night on my balcony overlooking the city. The silence once everyone was in bed combined with the twinkling lights and the peace of the night left me relaxed and chilled. Always the best way to get a good nights sleep.

So what’s your ritual – do allow it to evolve. Trying to think it through is like trying to plan a holiday, sometimes the best bits happen per chance.

Notice what you really enjoy and see if it fits in each week to give you extra space to just be!

Enjoy!

 

 

June 1st, 2011

more on food……. these tips were written by my client Rod Williams of Bodyworx. In Chinese Medicine the spleen is responsible for just about everything…. I love this cos it is so easy to incorporate this into your life! So if you are experiencing fatigue, low appetite and immunity, weakness in your limbs or even loose stools your spleen might need a bit of a boost. And, if you like this article and ideas email him on rod.bodyworx@gmail.com for the full article or friend him on his soon to be published Facebook like page.

The Spleen likes:

- Warm, nutritious, nourishing foods / drinks (ginger tea, rice porridge, soups and broths, dahl, etc)
- Regular meal times  (eating every couple of hours)

The Spleen dislikes:

- Cold raw foods / drinks (salads, cold fruit out of the fridge, cold water, etc)
- Irregular eating (having long breaks between meals)

The most important meal of the day is breakfast, so if you only make 1 change, then this is it. According to Chinese Medicine, between 7-9am is the time when the chi is strongest in the Stomach meridian, and 9-11am it is strongest in the Spleen Meridian.  Therefore, we should aim to eat our breakfast between 7-9am so  that we can best digest and converted it to energy.  Below are some meal examples in line with nourishing the Spleen:

The Ultimate Breakfast!

3/4 cup Organic Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Blueberries
1 tbsp LSA mix (linseed, sunflower, almond) / Chia seeds
1 scoop WPC (whey protein concentrate powder – this is a great tonic, high in immunoglobulins also!)
1 tsp Cinnamon (great for the Spleen)
Rice Milk
Grated ginger (optional)
Honey to taste

Soak the oats over night in water or rice milk.  In the morning add warm water or rice milk and mix all the ingredients together.

Quick, tasty, nutritious, cheap, prepared in 5 mins…

Eggs and Mushroom on Toast

Self explanatory, but use a good quality heavy bread like rye or sour dough.  Add spinach, tomato or anything else that you like.

Lunch and Dinner Examples:

Rice Chicken and Veges

Steam some organic, australian grown basmati rice in chicken stock in a rice steamer (Foreign grown rice is fumigated when imported and is therefore a dead food, unlike Aust grown rice which will actually seed!)

BBQ some organic free-range chicken breasts and shred up,

Stirfry your favourite many coloured veges,

Add all cooked ingredients together and eat with a smile!

Congee (rice porridge)

Add rice, veges, chicken / meat / fish to a deep saucepan, along with onion, ginger, garlic, etc and simmer for a couple of hours.  Consistency should be thick, liquidy like porridge.

Savoury Mince Wraps

Use lean organic mince, add some beans / lentils and vegetables, and spices to flavour.  Wrap with lettuce in a quality bread wrap such as mountain bread.

Dahl – popular Indian lentil dish

Add some ghee and black mustard seeds in a frypan and heat until the black mustard seeds pop.  Add some Garam Masala, chopped ginger, onion, asafatida. Stir until aromas released.  Add washed red lentils, water to cover over the lentils, 2 barks of cinnamon, 2 bay leaves.  Simmer for 30-60 mins, topping up with water as needed so that lentils remain covered.  Add Turmeric and Himalayan Rock Salt before serving. Serve with Basmati Rice and a side of steamed veges.

enjoy!!!

Gay