Your Weekly Booster – Find your Authentic Peace

This is the best remedy for the rush and chaos of the 21st century. Connecting up with your authentic self just brings such a feeling of peace and contentment.

Stop and sit. Breathe. Look around.

Recognise the support that we all can access by just being.

Whether this is the Universe, God or Guardian Angels; faith in our own ability to get things done or to think things through; trust that we always have and always will … be with whatever it is that sits at your core and helps you to know that it WILL be OK.

Sit with that and just breathe.

Enjoy!

Gay

Blue Star Meditation (from TK)

Imagine a small blue star in the middle of your brain. Gradually make it grow larger and larger until you are in the centre of a wheel of blue light. Feel your emotions, thoughts, organs and body be flooded with the blue light. Imagine that blue light becoming smaller until it is again a tiny blue spark in your head.

Enjoy the peace.

Gay

Cross Crawl Sit-ups from Brain Gym – for more information about Brain Gym have a look at www.braingym.org

Cross Crawl Sit-ups are one of my favourite crossing the midline movement because they take a good amount of focus to do them well. They also help keep your tummy trim – always a bonus after holidays! You may have done these at the gym, read carefully for little variances that turn it into a focusing movement.

You will need to lie down for this movement. There are different levels of difficulty with this – make sure you stay at each level until it feels really easy before you proceed onto the next. By feeling easy I mean you should be able to do the movement precisely and with ease and carry on a conversation. Your core is staying switched on. The aim of each level is to feel the connection between the opposite shoulder and hip through the movement. Your internal X. Don’t move to the next level until this feels very clear.

First level. Lie down with your knees bent. Put your hands towards your ears but don’t hold your head. Reach your right elbow towards your left knee and vice versa, lifting your upper body as needed. Once you can do this movement comfortably and hold your upper back and head off the ground with ease you are ready for the second level.

Now, start lifting the knees towards the elbows as the elbows are reaching for the knees. Once your elbows and knees are meeting comfortably you can move onto the next level.

When you are working at this level of integration you will start, still on your back, but with your lower legs lifted and parallel to the floor. As your knees and elbows touch and activate your internal X you will be doing a rhythmical bike movement. Make sure you can keep talking and that your core muscles (tummy muscles) are nice and tight (not bulging).

Once you are feeling nice and focused then you can get back to work! Or play!

Have fun!

LAUGH!

Yup, laughter is the great healer. What do you like to do that makes you really laugh….. maybe a movie or karaoke, trading silly jokes with a friend or perhaps playing in the park – with or without the kids – or something else? What gives you that natural belly laugh high?

For me Zoolander is one of my great all round fixers…. perfect for ‘one of those days’ or just because. = ) Figure out yours and make sure you do it!

Have fun!

Gay

Gravity Glider from Brain Gym – for more info see www.braingym.org

Start by noticing how well you can express yourself right now…..

Sit comfortably on the edge of a chair, extending your legs and crossing your ankles. Cross your arms gently on your chest. Relax your knees and exhale, bending forward, head first, allowing your arms to glide forward, lengthening towards the floor.

As you inhale glide your arms upwards towards your chest, coming gently upright.

Do this three times to the front, to the left and to the right.

Finally notice what feels different, does it feel easier to express yourself; or maybe the push to say something has lessened or changed, celebrate that more relaxed place.

Have a great week!

Yoga Breathing

I love this focus on my breath when I am feeling a little anxious or stressed about something. It helps me to get back to the present quickly and quietly….

Sit or lie down. Start to breath filling your lungs from the bottom to the middle and then finally filling the top, just reverse the process to breath out, top, middle and then bottom. Like filling up a glass and emptying it out.

When we get stressed most people start shallow breathing, just filling the top part of our lungs. Instinctively we may know that a big breath to the diaphragm relaxes us but most of us forget, except maybe those who enjoy their stress releasing cigarettes…. If you are a smoker wanting to give up try yoga breathing fresh air before having that cigarette. You may not want it anymore.

Have a great week.

I was reading a blog at ‘Katy says” the other day about tight hamstrings. The writer was asking whether her tight hamstrings could be just a accident of her body, she was very flexible in all other areas. As I have suffered these for my whole life I was most interested in the response. Katy’s response was that no part of our body is ‘born’ to feel tight and by working and loosening up the area there will be a definite improvement in the mental / emotional as well. Her recommendation to the writer was to practice forward bends twice an HOUR each day to encourage them to loosen. She said the gain was worth it.

I decided to give it a go. I know from yoga that forward bends are about relaxing and letting go and backward bends (I am quite good at these!) are more about action in the outer world. Definitely a reflection of my ‘normal’ way of being!

So a few days into this I am already feeling more relaxed through the back of my body. The sense of connectedness and relaxation I feel after I do it is often profound and perhaps that sense of balance is permeating the busy part of my day a little more.

So your weekly booster  is a suggestion to find a tight part of the body and just practice lengthening it gently a couple of times an hour and notice the results. In Brain Gym we discuss lengthening rather than stretching – the image and practice of lengthening is far more gentle on the body. And there is no need for the body to spring back after being stretched!

Love to hear your results!

Enjoy, Gay

PS and have a look at ‘Katysays’ blog for heaps of great ideas to support balance in the body.

Micro Movements

Micro movements are tiny movements that can wake up parts of the body you may not know exist!

To do these you need to find a quiet place and allow your mind to still.

Listen to your body and let it move. Follow that movement, very slowly and minutely. Allow it to develop a life of its own.

Your mind may start to take over – to try to go fast or make it into a movement you understand – if this happens slow down even more and let the movement lead the way.

This process is very meditative. Try spending 2 or 3 minutes following your quiet self when you are stressed and notice how you feel. More than likely you will experience feeling more relaxed, calm and back in touch with your True self. Nice quick fix!

Have fun!

Earth and Space Buttons from Brain Gym

In Brain Gym we like to start by noticing where we are, that means we can feel the changes that take place more easily and we are more likely to do what is good for us next time we feel out of whack.

So start by noticing how peaceful or chaotic you feel. Physically, emotionally, mentally and through your senses.

Place two fingers below your lower lip and the heel of the other hand just on your navel pointing downward. Breath the energy up the centre of your body. Look down and then let your eyes track a vertical line up (ie floor to ceiling in a corner).

Then place two fingers under your nose – where your mustache (sorry girls!) is – and the other hand over your tailbone. Breath the energy up your spine. Look up and let your eyes track a vertical line down (ie ceiling to floor).

Finally, borrowing from Touch for Health, place one hand on your navel and the other on your tailbone and take a few more breaths to centre yourself.

Now stop and notice any changes.

You may like to make a resolve to do this simple process whenever you are feeling chaotic and out of sorts!

Enjoy

SIT IN THE SUN AND DREAM

Do you need instructions for this? Probably not! Just find a spot in the sun, under a tree, beside the sea, wherever you feel comfortable and allow yourself to rest.

Let yourself be there until you have relaxed. Feel the sun, experience the outdoors and refocus. And if your mind refuses to stop then try last week’s meditation!

….

“I have a body but I am not my body.
I have feelings but I am not my feelings,
I have desires but I am not my desires,
I have a mind but I am not my mind.
I am a centre of pure self consciousness, capable of mastering, directing and using all my psychological processes and my physical body.”

Have a great wwek!