walking lightly on earth
I’m over half way in my second pregnancy (29 weeks). It’s going really well. So far not much has changed. My everyday routine and lifestyle is the same as before I was pregnant. I can still move around fairly easily and there are no complications […]
I’ve been making my own gelatine gummies but now I’m also getting my hand into making homemade marshmallows using grass fed gelatine powder. It’s a great way to make nutritious treats but it’s still a treat so only consume these homemade marshmallows occasionally. Stay tuned for […]
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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I’ve just made another batch of magnesium body butter, which I apply to my feet and legs most nights when I go to bed. I also made a batch for a friend’s colleague who suffers from restless legs syndrome (RLS). RLS is a disorder that causes a […]
This magnesium body butter from Wellness Mama is great to help sleep, boost magnesium levels and is also great apply on sore muscles. If you add essential oils it will also smell divine as well as supporting rest/sleep or help with sore muscles. Lavender, cedarwood and/or […]
Most of us have heard that the skin is the largest organ but not many of us know or think about the skin as one of the fastest and most efficient ways to feed your body as everything that is applied to the skin is absorbed into the bloodstream, circulates to our cells and mingles with our mitochondria. This is both good and bad. It’s good when you give your skin natural, beneficial and nutritious substances as you can literally feed our immune system and skin cells but on the other hand, it’s bad when your skin absorbs toxic chemicals from your environment and beauty products.
Most of us know about the importance of minimising exposure to toxins from food but what you put on your skin might be an even greater risk for toxin exposure than what you put in your mouth. A healthy digestive system is better equipped in dealing with toxic chemicals utilising it’s detoxifying pathways. Think about the digestive system as a long tube that separates what’s inside from the rest of your body. Substances can be past through your digestive system without reaching your bloodstream. That’s genius, right! I’m not saying that no toxic chemicals will reach your blood system through your digestive system but a healthy digestive system is a strong barrier from the outside world.
We’ve evolved this way, over millions of years before the industrial revolution, when we were more likely to only encounter natural toxins through what we ate (as we’re living in a natural and a very low toxin environment). It’s therefore very important to look after your skin, naturally. You want everything that goes in and on your body to benefit your cells and your skin.
Healthy, intact skin helps our bodies to retain moisture by “waterproofing” it. Your skin provides a protective barrier from physical stress and strain as well as from environmental pathogens with its slightly acidic pH that neutralises invading bacteria and other contaminants. Beside being your defender and protector, your skin is also your biosensor to the world around you that harmonises with your environment and with nature, for example seasonal environmental challenges.
Your skin’s ecosystem is established at birth and its development is heavily influenced by the method of your delivery. Even healthy human skin hosts a diverse ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, viruses, mites, and archaea (single-celled microorganisms) and it’s estimated that our skin harbors approximately 1 billion microbes per square centimetre.
If you find it difficult to fall asleep or get deep restorative sleep, I highly recommend that you apply topical magnesium oil that’ll quickly be absorbed through your skin and into your bloodstream and circulated to your cells. You can easily make it yourself from magnesium chloride flakes and by adding essential oils for a calming and relaxing effect, you’ve a natural sleep elixir 😃. Apply the magnesium after your shower and/or during your bedtime routine onto your feet/legs and it’ll help improve your quality of sleep.
Shawn Stevenson says that magnesium is a bonafide anti-stress mineral that helps optimise circulation and blood pressure, balance blood sugar, relax tense muscles, reduce pain, and calm the nervous system. Yet, because it has so many functions, it tends to get depleted from our bodies rather fast. Magnesium deficiency is likely the #1 mineral deficiency in our world today. And getting your magnesium levels up can almost instantly reduce your body’s stress load and improve the quality of your sleep. The best sources are from food like green leafy vegetables, superfood like spirulina and chlorella, and supplements like topical magnesium
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup magnesium chloride flakes
1/2 cup distilled water
A glass spray bottle
Essential oils (optional) like lavender, vetiver, frankincense and/or cedarwood
DIRECTIONS
Boil the distilled water. It is important to use distilled to extend the shelf life of the mixture.
Put the magnesium chloride flakes in a glass bowl or measuring cup and the pour the boiling water over it.
Stir well until completely dissolved.
Let cool completely and add 25 drops (in total) of one or a mix of lavender, vetiver, frankincense and/or cedarwood.
Store in the spray bottle and I keep in my bathroom to use daily.
Shake the bottle before applying and you can use coconut oil to moisturise with about 5 minutes later.
It may tingle on the skin the first few times it is used but this is normal. It should fade after a few applications, but you can dilute with more water if it bothers you.
It can be stored at room temperature for at least six months.
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SIMPLE STEPS TO RECONNECT WITH NATURE DURING YOUR BUSY DAY (part 3) This post is an extension of the two posts THE MISSING LINK, PART 1 and PART 2, where I talk about how to reconnect with nature and rewilding your modern family. As I […]
There are so many small things that we do each day that are just as easy to do as they are not to do, yet stepping up and doing them can have a profound impact on what your life looks like today as well as […]
You might have noticed that my tips and go-to’s are often around connecting with nature and the patterns of the earth as many of us has moved away from nature and barely get in contact with it on a daily basis.
I believe that nature easily can be the missing link for you to experience great energy, sparkling eyes and a vitality that lasts all day. I also believe that many of our modern deceases and conditions are related to us disconnecting from our natural habitat and diet.
This missing link, reconnecting to nature, I like to call rewinding and I’m all about REWILD YOUR MODERN FAMILY 🙂
Nature and the wilderness have been our natural habitat and foundation for millions of years. It has provided us with a natural diet that we’ve been adapted to for millions of years and it has a huge impact on our circadian rhythm, the feeling of belonging and mental health.
The circadian rhythm roughly follows a 24-hour cycle and it’s influenced by your local environment like light and temperature. This is not just some “fluffy” science as researchers have identified genes that direct circadian rhythms in people, fruit flies, mice, fungi and several other organisms.
The circadian rhythm can influence our sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, and body temperature and an abnormal circadian rhythm has been associated with insomnia, obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder.
By disconnecting from nature and it’s patterns, we experience circadian disruption like exposure to artificial light at night, not enough natural light exposure during the day and not getting enough sleep due to an abnormal sleep-wake cycle.
MY TIPS TO REWILD DURING YOUR BUSY DAY
If you want to learn more about each of these tips, I’ll be posting more “how to” the next couple of weeks so keep an eye on this space.
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It has now been three years since we cleaned up our diet and toxins in our home and most importantly we staying consistent. I would like to share with you the “everyday” improvements I’ve noticed with my health and vitality. Prior, we tried to stay […]
