3 Simple Yoga Poses for Beating a Bad Mood
There are so many postures in yoga that help with depression and mood.
That said certain poses in particular have unique energy and mood shifting properties. I like the following…
Practicing the Four Agreements: A life changing Journey
In his book “The Four Agreements” Don Miguel Ruiz proposes four principles to practice in order to create love and happiness in your life. Actually living these Four Agreements in your daily life is not always easy. But it can be one of the most life changing things you will ever do.
The Four Agreements are:
1. Be Impeccable with your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the Word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your Word in the direction of truth and love.
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.
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Natural treatments to sleep better
So you can’t fall asleep? Your thoughts float or spin in your head, even if you feel very tired?
Or you can’t stay asleep as long as you desire? You wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes several times, you go to the bathroom, you think, you stare in the dark, your mind starts racing again, you worry about something, you mentally review your to-do list for tomorrow, you brainstorm about the presentation you are working on?
If it has been going on for several days already, you can’t wake up either, because your system does not rest and rejuvenate properly and is exhausted. You feel sluggish, sleepy, unable to focus or memorize easy things, experience muscular and mental fatigue. You might even feel irritable and depressed, have double vision, hallucinations.
Sleep deprivation and sleep of poor quality (= not reaching stage 3 or delta sleep which has restorative properties) are to be taken very seriously. Insomnia is actually both a sign and a symptom that can accompany several sleep, medical, and psychological (even psychiatric) disorders.
About one third of adults complain about occasional insomnia and 10% suffer from true insomnia. This disorder is more common among women and the elderly. So you are not alone. It is a major health issue.
Firstly, try to figure out what could be the cause(s) of your sleep problems:
- Changes in the sleep environment or the timing of sleep?
- Stress? That is usually culprit #1…
- Another disorder? Magnesium deficiency or low levels, restless legs, sleep apnea, excessive night time urination, major depression, all alter your sleep. You may need the help of (a) professional healthcare provider(s) to nail it down.
After you figure this out, you can try to work on the causes if you have control over them.
In the meantime, you need to sleep, fast.
Of course, the easy path is to use hypnotic medication. But that should be your plan B and only for a very short period of time (a few days) because the body develops tolerance to its hypnotic effects, and because this medication is known to be addictive (think Marilyn Monroe, Heath Ledger, John Galliano, Robbie Williams, Michael Jackson and so many more…).
Some people turn to alcohol but who likes to wake up hung over? Not to mention the potential addiction.
I won’t even talk about marijuana. It’s illegal, makes you stupid and it fries your brains on the long run.
Melatonin is a human hormone that is increasingly popular as a supplement to promote sound sleep, especially in people who travel between time zones or who work odd hours. People report mixed success with this product; some people find real benefit and others feel nothing from its use, while a smaller percentage of users experience side effects such as nervousness and increased insomnia.
Your plan A is natural solutions, that address the cause of the problem (see above) and beyond. Many have proved to provide long lasting improvement to insomnia.
HERBS:
Valerian is recommended for those type of people who have a hard time falling asleep, because it shortens sleep latency. It also reduces nighttime waking. (Note: Valerian can cause horrible nightmares)
Chamomile is a very well known sedative herb.
Chamomile tea is commonly used in Europe and South America for insomnia and restlessness combined with irritability. It is safe for children and adults alike. Try 1 cup two or three times per day. Chamomile oil can also be put in bath water (5-6 drops) to calm nerves, diluted to 2% to make an excellent massage oil, or used as an inhalant.
Lavender is a gentle strengthening tonic for the nervous system. It can be absorv=bed in different ways:
- infused in water (1 cup two or three times per day).
- 3-10 drops of lavender oil added to a bath before bedtime are recommended for persons with sleep disorders.
- the oil may be used as a compress or massage oil (10 drops essential oil per ounce of vegetable oil).
- the oil can be simply inhaled.
Hops (a major flavoring in beer!) has been used as a sedative since the early 1900s, specifically for insomnia due to worry or nerve weakness. Try 1 cup two or three times per day.
Hops pillows are sometimes used for mild insomnia.
Passion-flower is an important herb for insomnia caused by mental worry, overwork, or nervous exhaustion. It is an excellent sedative with no side effects even when used in large doses.
WESTERN THERAPIES:
Relaxation therapy and EEG biofeedback are efficient to reduce stress. A major pro with relaxation therapy is that once you learn relaxation techniques, you can use them for the rest of your life.
Cognitive behavioral therapies (changing maladaptive thinking to change effect and behavior) are good treatments too.
But they all require the help (and paying of) professional practitioners.
EASTERN THERAPIES:
Numerous clinical studies show that acupuncture is efficient, even months after the treatment, to cure insomnia. Consult an acupuncturist. Several sessions might be necessary. The benefits of acupuncture is that it is a holistic medicine and it works on the deep levels of your system.
However, if you:
- can’t find the right herbs or essential oils,
- don’t have time to make herbal teas,
- don’t have the budget to pay for therapists,
- don’t like having needles inserted in your skin,
then rejoyce: acupressure is your solution. Acupressure uses the same points as acupuncture, only you press on them instead of inserting needles. So the beauty of acupressure is that you can apply it to yourself!
Of course you need to be told what points to stimulate and how to locate them on your own body. Get that information directly from a certified source (practitioner, TCM official website, etc), not from a Pinterest board or a Facebook friend of a friend of a friend.
Should you be interested to give it a try, that book gives simple explanations and clear illustrations and you can learn in a matter of minutes, to sleep better and finally get the rest you need and deserve. All you need is your hands.
Joy
“Joy is in everything. One only has to extract it.” • Confucius
How To Boost Your 3rd Eye
Chakras are wheels of energy, so they respond extremely well to sound waves & energy. Listen to the video below for 3rd Eye boost and Consciousness connection. (I would suggest to start by a few minutes and then extend little by little, because it is VERY powerful).
Are your 7 Chakras in shape? Test them!
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Work That Makes You Happy
What you love, What you do well, What the world needs, What the world will pay for
Best fitness exercise: Laughter !
A genuine smile takes up to 12 muscles (2 muscles to crinkle the eyes, 2 to pull up the lip corners and nose, 2 to elevate the mouth angle, and 2 to pull the mouth corners sideways). Beware, a fake smile takes only two muscles…
On the other hand, a frown needs 11 muscles.
Laughter uses muscles on the face, plus your abs and other stomach muscles. When having a really good laugh, you can be using up to 80 muscles!
Laughter activates the immune system, decreases “stress” hormones, relaxes the muscles, reduces pain, strengthens the heart, regulates blood pressure, increases respiration.
So the best facial exercise, abs exercise, and well-being exercise is to LAUGH !
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Acupressure for Asthma & Bronchitis
These acupressure / acupuncture points are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat asthma and bronchitis.
Work the points by pressing the pulp of your finger (third finger or forefinger or thumb, depending on which one is the most convenient) on it. If The point is sore, release some pressure. Pain is not necessary!
[This information is given for educational and recreational purposes. Consult a healthcare practitioner if you are sick].
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Yoga Postures Chart
A handy Yoga postures chart, to save on your devices and print to carry everywhere.
Alternative Ways To Treat Arthritis
Osteoarthritis sends millions of people to the doctor every year.
When suffering from osteoarthritis, one or more joints in the body are painful, swollen, inflamed. Every movement and gesture hurts, farewell to games and exercise! Some people cannot even climb up or down stairs. Others are completely immobilized.
Anti-inflammatory medication, cortisone and chemical painkillers work well at first. You take them, and you can open a new jar of jam, crack nuts, and garden! You rediscover the small pleasures of life for several months, maybe even years.
Then comes a crisis of osteoarthritis more violent and durable than usual. Trusting, you swallow pill after pill for a week, ten days, fifteen days … and you realize that not only the effect is not so effective, but your digestive system is upset: diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain and bleeding. You wonder if you should continue to take these medication, if pain is not preferable!
Unfortunately, you’re right to wonder. Osteoarthritis is caused by the inflammation of the cartilage, that cushion that protects the ends of the bones and makes them rub against each other smoothly. With osteoarthritis, inflammatory agents in the joints destroy cartilage, that cracks, and may disappear completely, leaving the bones bare. When you move, the ends of your bones rub directly against each other, that is what hurts and aggravates inflammation even more, and thus the swelling.
Current medication, including the newest ones, just block pain. They have no effect on the cartilage, which continues to deteriorate. That is why they are effective in the short term. In the long term, their efficiency drops until it becomes non-existent when all your cartilage has disappeared. And only the side effects are left (and they can be serious and dangerous).
Recent scientific research shows that natural medicine offers very interesting solutions against osteoarthritis. In fact, many people have managed to totally get rid of their pain with natural solutions.
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To Kill Pain: HARPAGOPHYTUM
Harpagophytum is now sold everywhere. This plant is harvested from the sandy deserts of South Africa and Namibia. The roots are used to make capsules that contain the principal active ingredients: harpagoside, harpagide, procumboside, procumbide, anti-inflammatory and analgesic substances.
For people suffering from rheumatism, treatment with this herb usually brings rapid relief and can help to dramatically reduce the doses of drugs. Many say they no longer can do without it.
Harpagophytum is said to be as effective as medication to relieve osteoarthritis -induced inflammation and pain, according to all the studies conducted on the topic
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GINGER, an unknown anti-inflammatory
Removing the pain is not enough. It is also necessary to reduce the inflammation, because inflammation is produced by agents that destroy cartilage (interleukins).
Ayurvedic medicine describes ginger (Zingiber officinale) as the plant of reference to fight inflammation of all kinds. Very recent research has confirmed the anti-inflammatory compounds of ginger. In fact, some researchers believe that ginger could be on par with the most recent drugs.
Inspired by its ancestral use, researchers had the idea in 1992 to test ginger powder for osteoarthritis. After 3 months of use, the condition of three-quarters of the patients had improved.
However, we are only at the beginning of studies on ginger in osteoarthritis, and have to wait for conclusions to be confirmed to confimr its effectiveness.
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Slow down the disease with OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS
The third strategic weapon against arthritis is a substance that can slow down the disease: omega-3.
The efficiency of omega-3 is now indisputable and recognized by conventional medicine. These are fatty acids (constituents of fats) that are found in green leafy vegetables, nuts, fatty fish (anchovies, herring, mackerel, sardines, salmon), flaxseed, rapeseed oils, nuts and flax. Once absorbed, these fatty acids give rise to substances that have powerful anti-inflammatory properties.
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To repair the cartilage: Glucosamine and chondroitin
Finally, two natural substances may even help reverse the process of osteoarthritis, ie repair the cartilage and rejuvenate the joints of several years.
In cartilage can be found “sponge-molecules ” (proteoglycans) that attract and retain water, thereby ensuring the flexibility and elasticity of joint tissues. Without them, the cartilage is unable to absorb shocks: it creaks, cracks and may wear out completely.
For the cells of our joints to produce these molecules, they need two ingredients: glucosamine and chondroitin. Normally, the chondrocytes synthesize glucose from food after several biochemical reactions. But with osteoarthritis, the chondrocytes, even well fed with glucose, can no longer complete their task properly. Researchers found out that it was much more efficient to provide the chondrocytes directly with preformed glucosamine and chondroitin (in the form of supplements to take orally). These substances may in some cases stimulate the production of proteoglycans and normalize cartilage metabolism. Not only does it not degenerate anymore, but new cartilage can be created!
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Sources:
Health and Nutrition
Wegener T: Treatment of patients with arthrosis of hip or knee with aqueous extract of year Devil’s Claw (Harpagophytum procumbens DC.). Phytother Res 2003, 17 (10) :1165-1172.
Leblan D: Harpagophytum procumbens in the treatment of knee and hip osteoarthritis. Four-month results of a prospective, multicenter, double-blind trial versus diacerhein. Joint Bone Spine. 2000, 67 (5) :462-427.
Chrubasik S: A randomized double-blind pilot study Comparing Doloteffin and Vioxx in the treatment of low back pain. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2003, 42 (1) :141-148.
Kiuchi F: Inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis by gingerols and leukotriene and diarylheptanoids. Chem Pharm Bull 1992, 40 (2) :387-391.
Srivastava KC: Ginger (Zingiber officinale) in rheumatism and musculoskeletal disorders. Med Hypotheses. 1992, 39 (4) :342-348.
Altman RD: Effects of a ginger extract on knee pain in patients with osteoarthritis. Arthritis Rheum 2001, 44 (11) :2531-2538.
Vangsness CT Jr, Spiker W, Erickson J. A review of evidence-based medicine for glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate use in knee osteoarthritis. Arthroscopy. 2009 Jan; 25 (1) :86-94. Epub 2008 Sep 30. Review. PubMed PMID: 19111223.
Reginster JY, Deroisy R Rovati LC, Lee RL, Lejeune E, Bruyere O, Giacovelli G, Henrotin Y, Dacre JE, Gossett C. Long-term effects of glucosamine sulphate on osteoarthritis progression: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Lancet 2001 Jan 27; 357 (9252) :251-6.
Pavelka K, J Gatterova, Olejarova M, Machacek S, G Giacovelli, Rovati LC. Glucosamine sulfate use and delay of progression of knee osteoarthritis: a 3-year, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study.Arch Intern Med 2002 Oct 14; 162 (18) :2113-23.
Uebelhart D: Intermittent treatment of knee osteoarthritis with oral chondroitin sulfate: a one-year, randomized, double-blind, multicenter study versus placebo. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2004 Apr; 12 (4) :269-76.
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The information provided in this article is solely for informational and educational purposes and should not be considered as personalized medical advice. No treatment should be undertaken based solely on the contents of this article, and it is strongly recommended that the reader consult licensed health professionals for any matter relating to their health and well-being.
