HOW MY NECK PAIN HAS DIMINISHED (part 4)
MEDITATION & SLEEP
Last week I talked about toxic free home and personal care and how it was the second lifestyle-change that my family and I made to achieve more vitality and energy. I also listed ingredients to use more of and ingredients and products to use less of (and even better to avoid). If you haven’t read part 1, part 2 or part 3 yet, I recommend that you read it.
This week, I’ll talk about meditation and sleep because this was our third lifestyle-change. When I became a mum, I realised how important rest and sleep was to my health, my mood and energy level. I also realised how much my mind was running the show and how I needed to get out of my head and instead stop and tune into my body. My health and vitality was a wreck due to years of over performing, perfectionism and living up to expectations that I created in my mind. The “last straw” that made it hard for me to function was lack of sleep and time to myself.
No doubt, it was the toughest time in my life and my vitality was the lowest it had ever been, but somehow intuitively, I knew that I couldn’t “talk” or “think” myself out of my struggle cycle. Instead, a little voice inside of me whispered that I had to connect to myself in a new way and this journey taught me to get out of my head and into my body. I started to “check in” on my feelings, listening to my body (e.g. gut feeling) and be more gentle to myself. I also prioritised more time for rest and sleep and I started to practice meditation every day.
In my meditation, I focus on the energy centers in my body and I enjoy tuning into areas in my body that feel blocked or tense. As I relax and breathe into the blocked or tense areas they soften or it feels like they melt away. Another thing that has helped me, is to allow unwanted feelings that arise to simply just be instead of suppressing them as I would do previously. I allow the unwanted feelings space and focus my attention on breathing deeply and they’ll also melt and dissolve. I started noticing that most days, I would feel blocked in my throat and neck area but after my meditation the area would feel much lighter and unblocked.
I was amazed how these small practices came with so many benefits and after a few months, I suddenly noticed that my view on life had changed. From feeling like life was mostly a struggle and working against me to a life with much much more flow, trust and gratitude. As a bonus, my neck pains decreased as well as the frequency of a slight sore throat that I would feel from time to time decreased.
Below, I’ve listed things I recommend that you do more of and things to do less of to get out of your head and into your body.
MORE:
Rest
Mindfulness
Deep breathing
Listening to you body
Gut feeling
Awareness in your body
Presence in the moment
Allowing
Being gentle and kind to yourself
Self care
Self love
Gratitude
“Being” instead of “doing”
Freedom
Align your sleep-wake cycle with the natural rhythm
LESS:
Being in your head
Unconscious thinking
Need for control
Restrictions
Achieving
Perfectionism
Expectations
Busy
Stress
Late nights
To get my best tips and tricks to experience better sleep check out 6 THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY TO SLEEP BETTER TONIGHT and THE HARDEST STEP TO GET ENOUGH SLEEP
Learn more about how topical magnesium can help you achieve more and better sleep using TOPICAL SLEEP ELIXIR
Stay tuned for PART 5.
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