Nourishment is commonly connected with the body and the food we put into it. However, a holistic approach to nourishment encompasses nourishing your mind, spirit and soul as well. Nourishing your whole being.
Nourishing the mind
The mind is the tool that enables us to interact with this material realm and function in it, executing the daily tasks and routines. The best nourishment for the mind is to get itself to work out of it’s comfort zone on a regular basis.
Like any muscle that is made to work incrementally higher than it’s existent limit, the mind becomes stronger and sharper when made to think out of the box, different than the mundane routines, on a regular basis.
When made to think in unusual ways, the mind seeks to gain new information and learns new ways of utilising that information for it’s benefit and growth. This is exactly why, it is imperative that we push ourselves out of our comfort zone almost daily.
Nourishing the spirit
The spirit in each one of us is a part of the whole, the Universal Spirit. The best nourishment for our spirit is it’s connection with the Spirit (with a capital S). This is where the importance of a daily spiritual practice lies.
A spiritual practice cannot be defined since it is something very personal and unique. Any act or situation that brings us into the present moment, keeps us there and clears the mind so we can observe with detachment, is a spiritual practice. It could be meditation for some, simply listening to music for others and crocheting for yet others. So, find out what is a ‘spiritual practice’ for you and schedule in time for it in your daily routine.
Nourishing the soul
Our soul is really who we are. More than our personality, our soul is the most authentic essence of who we really are. Hence, the best nourishment for the soul is to allow it to be who and what it is. When we’re made to be someone we’re not, live the life that is not ours, our soul is crushed.
It takes courage, in today’s world, to be who we really are however, that is one of the most powerful and empowering acts. Accepting who you are, loving who you are and believing in yourself for being who you are – these are the ultimate superfoods for your soul.
Nourishing the whole being
To nourish our whole being, we need to eat most natural foods, strive to experience the new, connect with the Spirit and be our authentic selves – every day. How to achieve this?
When we connect with the Spirit, we realise who we really are in this human existence. When we honour who we are, it is easy to challenge ourselves to go and grow out of our human comfort zones. Our connected spirit, honoured soul and stretched mind can then support us make wise and informed decisions about how we nourish our body.
The nourishment comes full circle. Accepting and loving ourselves unconditionally is essential for the nourishment of our souls. Self-esteem is an intrinsic part of this puzzle.
If you struggle with low self-esteem, how about a self-esteem tool-box to give you a self-esteem boost?
Accepting and loving ourselves unconditionally is essential for the nourishment of our souls.
Self-esteem is an intrinsic part of this puzzle. If you struggle with low self-esteem, how about a self-esteem tool-box to give you a self-esteem boost?
Radhika is currently offering a free video series – Magic of Believing in Yourself – that shares powerful information and empowering techniques that will support you in transforming the way you think about yourself.
Magic of Believing in Yourself, is being launched on 14th February. Fall in love with yourself this V-Day!
Enjoy the first 15 minute trailer of the feature documentary The Connection: Mind Your Body that uncovers the latest science in mind body medicine and proves we have much more to say about our health than we thought possible.
Please note: to watch the full 15 minutes you will be prompted to offer your email details.
As a special offer for our upcoming Embrace Life Festival – Blue Mountains, you can receive your own copy and 2 x general admission tickets to the festival for a special offer of $40 by visiting www.embracingbluemountains2017.eventbrite.com
More details about the film can be found: https://theconnection.tv/ and their recently released book, “The Whole Health Life: How to get healthy, find balance and live better in this crazy, busy modern world.”
The Connection: Mind Your Body features scientists, researchers, writers and doctors, as well as remarkable true stories of people adding mind body medicine to their healing toolkit to recover from severe back pain, heart disease, infertility, cancer and multiple sclerosis. While the science is complex, the solutions for people suffering with illness are astonishingly simple.
The film shows that we can counter the harmful affects of stress with an equally powerful relaxation response triggered through specific techniques such as meditation. It shows that emotions can impact the course of an illness for better or for worse and could even be the difference between life and death. The film explains the mechanisms behind belief, which scientists now know contributes 30 to 50 percent of the effect of any known biological cure and explores how scientists at the cutting edge are now learning that the mind can even influence the expression of genes and the rate at which we age.
Jon Kabat Zinn, Ph.D.
Founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
This is a film for people who have tried everything. It offers answers and proves that you can change your mind, change your health and change your life.
A beautiful Metta Meditation: Loving Kindness with Yasmin
To practice loving-kindness meditation, sit in a comfortable and relaxed manner. Take two or three deep breaths with slow, long and complete exhalations. Let go of any concerns and take a few minutes, to feel or imagine the breath moving through the centre of your chest – in the area of your heart.
Metta is first practiced toward oneself, since we often have difficulty loving others without first loving ourselves. Sitting quietly, mentally repeat, slowly and steadily, the following phase:
May I be well
May I be happy
May I be peaceful
May I be loved
Then connect with someone that is your life, and then repeat, extending it to other relationships. Allowing your heart to expand each time, imagining these words washing over them.
If you are reading this, and are a subscriber or follower of these pages, then in many ways I am preaching to the choir. The message of Love and Compassion as the foundational energy of unity, transformation and wellbeing does not need to be explained.
Healers, empaths, yogis, spiritual leaders, seekers, meditators, the wounded and healed, parent and child, friend or lover…..we all know Love and Compassion is the ultimate balm and state of being to cultivate, inhabit and radiate.
With the convergence of spirituality, science, mysticism, relational psycho-neurobiology…..and quantum physics even….they are all not only beginning to agree but are also providing research and proof that the practices of Love and Compassion hold the answer to relieving much of life’s suffering, war, disease and pain.
I wonder then, what is stopping us? What is blocking us from practising Love and Compassion? How come we find it hard to do, or at least, to do it in a sustained way?
Teaching, celebrating, healing and holding with love and compassion is the ‘bread & butter’ of my work as a life & love celebrant, relationship coach and consultant at end-of-life. In the context of my work, I often will approach Love and Compassion as an intentional skill set and an ‘explicit’ mindfulness act. Love and Compassion can indeed be a ‘practice’; a muscle we ‘exercise’ and ‘develop’; a daily ‘habit’ and ‘ritual’ that we must deeply embed. My therapeutic goal is to support the ability to lead with Love and Compassion as a default setting.
But that is not the full picture. We must always remember and trust that Love and Compassion are also ‘implicit’ in our being. At our core, we are co-regulatory beings. We NEED each other for surviving and thriving. If we can get out of our own way, and evolve beyond our ‘learned programs’ about competition, individualism and separateness, our very human nature and instinct truly does gravitate towards coherence, symbiotic union, collaboration and love.
Our very biology will also lead us to Love and Compassion.
In truth, Love and Compassion aren’t hard and elusive. They are not commodities, abilities or things that you have to ‘get’, ‘earn’, ‘seek and look for’ or ‘create’. They are simply states of being; an energetic frequency to tune into; an arrival at a specific consciousness – ‘remembering’ or ‘recognition’. Consider Love as Rumi’s drop of water that can’t be separated from the whole of the ocean. It just is. One with everything.
A powerful ‘light-bulb’ moment for me was when I dropped my beliefs framed in ‘duality’ thinking and began to look at the world in terms of ‘polarities’. Duality thinking suggests an either/or reality. A polarity worldview accepts the undeniable ‘wholeness’ of life that can move along a spectrum of infinite possibility. Everything is, and exists, within one container of limitless possibility.
I think of Love as being that container. There is nothing that is not held within the expression of Love. It is just whether we choose to see it, feel it, focus on it, tune into it, reflect it, express it, be it. And that is a matter of consciousness.
Compassion, when you look at the Latin root of the word, means ‘suffer together’. We are all an expression of the possibilities within the container of life & love. We are not separate. We are all drops from the one ocean. In this way we cannot not all ‘suffer together’ – be in compassion – we just need to be more consciously loving with ourselves and each other and mindful of where we are on that spectrum of infinite possibility.
Much love, Sarah.
Sarah Tolmie – Life & Love
Holistic Celebrant, Coach & Consultant
Sarah Tolmie is a holistic celebrant, therapist and coach; a volunteer hospital chaplain and end-of-life consultant. Sarah brings a unique approach and diverse professional competencies to care for individuals, couples and families through all their life & love passages, changes, challenges and transitions.
Her focus is on supporting and nurturing relationships; teaching love-based skills & communication; cultivating personal authenticity & emotional resilience; and celebrating life & love.
To find out more, visit: www.sarahtolmie.com.au
Love And Compassion Through Yoga
Yoga is a self-care practice. Every time you connect and flow through the process of yoga, you are using tools, which assist your mind and body into clarity and contentment. The act of self-care is a form of love.
So every time you practice Yoga, you are connecting to that nurturing energy of love and compassion.
Whether it is a short 20-30 minutes or an indulgent hour of yoga which then hopefully influences every moment of your daily life, you are changing habits and patterns of behaviours by cultivating the energy of love and compassion through self-care.
This can offer you an experience of giving to yourself, creating that deeper relationship with one-self and connecting you inwards into your heart, where you can then also offer the gift of love and compassion to others.
“It is in our Purusa that our heart is the seat of love and compassion for the self and others”
This month, we are offering you a heart centered breathing yoga practice, where you can flow and surrender into the space of your sacred heart. By taking the time to stop and to utilize the tools of yoga, this can offer an experience of how you can connect to your sacred heart – our Purusa (pronounced pa-ru-sha), our pure inner light of awareness.
Patanjali’s teachings of yoga in the Yoga Sutra’s, speak of our Purusa. It also refers to how we can use the tools and techniques of yoga for this particular purpose. Through these teachings they are meant to clear our heart and mind for the single purpose of connecting to our Purusa, which resides within our heart. Where our divine light of awareness illuminates our truth – it is in our Purusa that our heart is the seat of love and compassion for the self and others.
As you move through this heart centred yoga practice, allow your heart’s intention to guide each breath. Allow the sound and the quality of your breath to settle and still the mind, drawing you inwards, connecting you to your sacred heart, your purusa.
Each sequence invites you to move dynamically with your inhale and exhale as you use your breath to initiate each movement so you can access that deep connection towards your hearts intention.
Use this practice as a morning routine if you choose, or if you would like to cultivate the energies of love and compassion, move through the practice of Connecting to your Sacred Heart so that you can embody and emit your intentions of love and compassion.
When you’re ready, join me watch the video so you can practice in the comfort of your own home a nourishing heart centred breathing yoga practice, which will then finish off with a guided Metta meditation of loving-kindness, and while you’re doing the practice remember this quote:
“The heart is the hub of all sacred places – go there, and roam” Bhagawan Nityananda
What could be different if you allowed yourself to live energetically and vibrantly radioactive by pressing play on the present in 2017???
Even if its just for a moment …..
As I woke on the first day of this New Year, I could hear one of my most favourite songs playing … Radioactive, by Imagine Dragon. It was the most magical way to welcome in 2017 as I truly feel this song represents many of our missions on this earth at this time.
Its about waking up, stepping off the prison bus of complacency and normalcy, and living radioactive by welcoming in a new age as we press play on our dreams and unique creative purpose … filling our life with the levels of energy, liberation, freedom, passion, empowerment, happiness and LOVE, greater than we could have ever imagined.
You see many of us were brought to believe that our unique gifts, and who we are is not enough. We were encouraged to get on a certain bus, to fit some artificial mould, to try really hard and to tick very specific (and often boring) boxes.
I’m guessing though if you are reading this today its because some of those boxes… no longer feel comfortable, and might even feel depressing. You see depression, very often, comes form the suppression and repression of our unique creativity, of who you were born to be. And so now that a part of you knows that the bus you’re on is heading in the wrong direction, it feels like it’s crushing your creative, passionate, enthusiastic, excitable, free spirited soul, which makes it even harder to stay on board.
Well this is what it was like for me!!!
That was until I chose to stop the bus and take a big leap of faith. To “become radioactive” in my own life by opening my heart, following my purpose, passion and dreams, and making it my mission to create the positive impact in the world I always knew was inside my heart.
To wake up though, we have to be willing to break the rules, break out of our comfort zone, break old habits and beliefs and break free from the bus we were put on as kids.
The first thing to break down or dissolve is this belief that you, and your life isn’t enough right now. Which can often be disguised as DISTRACTION, and cured through PRESENCE.
Sometimes the busyness of life’s distractions, get in the way of loving what is right now.
I often find the easiest place to begin to practice presence is in nature. When in nature my heart opens, I feel joy and I am reminded how nothing in nature has to TRY to become what it was born to be.
A seed slowly, gently, naturally grows to become a tree, a bird fly’s just as it was born to fly, a river of water flows in the direction it is guided and rocks, just remain stable, secure just as they were created to be.
So often we forget this for ourselves, and TRY to force life, with busyness and distractions. We allow our crazy busy mind to take us out of the precious EXTRAordinary ordinary moments already occurring in our days. And we become focused and maybe even obsessed with what’s next, or what’s missing. These thoughts take us out of the present and we miss out on the pleasures and gratitude’s of life, right now.
So our challenge to you this new year, new month is to remind yourself that the greatest prize in your life is this very moment … And then schedule time daily to open your eyes, mind and heart to seeing what is already EXTRAordinary in your life???
Our mantra this week … “I give myself permission to be present, and in this presence I awaken the gift of my life and my soul.”
Our inspirational song … RadioActive, Imagine Dragon
I look forward to playfully extending our radioactive journey together at the upcoming Your Best Year Yet Conference in Blue Mountains and supporting you to manifest your greatest life in 2017. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
Till then, may you open your heart and mind to magical magnetic dreams being created in your life everyday.
Immense love, Kyla x
Why, can we want an updated kitchen, new paint on the walls but when we would like a change in our intimate life and relationship it is like someone is WRONG! What if nobody is wrong and what if we all need a change, an update, a new lick of paint to keep ourselves invigorated, interested and in style.
Are we wrong for wanting an update, some fresh learning, some time just together. Who brings it up?
IF you are the one that brings it up is it then the other person who is wrong. If the other brings it up is it you who is wrong.
What if nobody was WRONG? Interesting concept I know!
As a Relationship and Sex Educator who specialises in relationships, it always interests me that when couples walk to me at a Festival or Expo, they look at each other and one says “we don’t need this” the other has to agree! Sometimes being dragged away by the hand……
How about a paradigm shift, we know we are good together, foundations are solid, communication is clear, the heart is full for each other and what they bring and we still would enjoy some time to ourselves to practice, to learn, to enjoy, to explore with each other, to celebrate our depth, joy, happiness and love.
What else could we learn? How could we have more pleasure? How could we grow as individuals and a couple? How many more orgasms could we each have? What are the latest techniques and practices?
In society we are taught not to have pleasure, we should be happy with what we have. We are made to feel bad for wanting more. Is it bad? What do you notice in your body as you read this sentence?
Where do you hold back pleasure, I invite you to write a list of the things that give you pleasure from the simplistic to the sophisticated (at least 10).
A cup of tea, sand between your toes, deep kissing and connected love making. Then over the next two weeks tick off how many of those things you did and how many times you did them, could be an insightful exercise……..
Where are the areas you are making do? Why do you need to make do? Why can you not have it all and more? Are you putting up with holes in your socks, the door that is squeaky or not quite hung correctly?
Those “pebbles” in our shoes may be ok for a short time but very quickly they become the things that irritate us and make us unhappy, closed, cranky and limit our well-being on all levels.
What if we moved beyond society and took our pleasure and relationships to the next level? What would the next level be for you?
Myola works with couples to enhance intimacy, pleasure and connection through developing skills and techniques. She will meet you where you are at, make a plan and move towards a juicier life and living. If you have had enough of mediocre, contact Myola today www.eroticcoaching.com.au
It’s January! The start of a New Year! It’s an opportunity to recreate yourself and to make those changes you have been putting off for so long. You may also see it as an opportunity to bring more of yourself to the world each day.
Whatever your intention, I’m sure you would agree that this year feels lighter than the last somehow – spacious, buzzing, vibrant, fresh and even colourful.
So how can we harness this potential and bring it to life in the best possible way?
We all know that when we bake a cake, the batter is the most delicious part, but the cake tin plays an equally important role, providing shape and containment, allowing us to mould the batter to match the outcome we desire. When we paint an artwork, the paint provides us with creative liberty, colour, expression, texture and substance. Yet without the boundaries of the canvas or paper, our work would be lost in space.
Balance is created when we have the correct proportions of different elements, allowing them to exist harmoniously with each other. Within us, this balance may take numerous different forms, including our masculine and feminine energy. By masculine and feminine energy, we are referring to the two polarities that exist within us and are independent of our gender.
So we could have a female who spends a lot of time in her masculine energy, or vice versa. It is my experience that we each have a unique and optimum balance of these energies within us. Movement between these energies takes place numerous times each day, yet we may move consciously from one to the other in order to restore balance when needed.
Masculine energy encompasses the structure in our lives, the action steps, feeling in control, feeling determined, achieving, being organised, precise, focused and setting clear, strong boundaries – I’m sure you’re getting the picture.
On the other end of the continuum, we have feminine energy, our intuition, flow, flexibility, receptivity, healthy vulnerability, gentleness, trust, creativity and emotion, just to name a few.
So take a moment to look at the different facets of your life and do a little evaluation of the masculine/feminine energy balance within each:
- Career
- Primary relationships
- Finances
- Social life
- Health
- Spirituality
- Home
- Any others…
For Your Journal
- Which areas need to move into more flow and more allowing?
- Which need greater structure, stability and healthy responsibility?
- What are the action steps you need to take, in order to bring these changes to life?
As you go about your year, keep checking in with yourself through this lens and see how you are tracking. Do you need more structured time or more free time? More time spent on your internal world or is your external world calling you out? Can you let go of the situation at hand and surrender, or is time for you to really take the driver’s seat and move straight towards your desired destination?
By checking in with the most appropriate balance of both energies as they apply in each situation, you will open a new space of harmony and synergy that may have been missing before. By honouring both these elements and polarities within you, you will ensure that the cake not only tastes delicious, but that it fits the platter and is beautifully presented. You will find that the canvas could be seen as a limitation, but it also allows the ideas you have to unfold within the most practical frame, displaying and highlighting the colours within, in the most magical way.
So have fun! Play, explore and then take action, moving consciously in the direction of your dreams. May 2017 emerge in alignment with the balance that already resides naturally within you.
Jeannine is a holistic practioner who specialises in restoring fractal patterns in a persons energy field. Just as you have a unique finger print, you also have a unique flow of energy that makes you who you are. This can be imbalanced for many different reasons such as trauma, stress, loss, relationship issues etc.
Through a balancing process, Jeannine brings greater balance to your energy field which translates into greater balance in your life. She is a holistic counsellor, works with balancing businesses energetically and also uses the Forensic Healing Protocol.
Please feel free to browse her website or email her directly on: essencepower@live.com.au
Too many festive meals since Christmas? Feeling you need a cleanse or detox after all the celebrations?
I love a good vegetable juice in the morning. But I have a husband that isn’t that comfortable with the green taste and he only wants fruit in his juice. So in the end I came up with a happy medium so that we both enjoy the taste and the health benefits of a good juice.
You may have the same situation at home where your children just can’t stand the taste of celery or kale. There are few tricks to mask the taste and yet give them the great benefit of a good veggie juice!
Here are some of my favourite recipes, feel free to modify to suit your taste. They make about 2 servings each. Enjoy!
Happy Green Juice
1 – 2 Oranges
1 cup Baby Spinach
1 Cucumber
1 Apple
1 inch of Ginger
1/2 lemon (no peels!)
(I prefer to blend the spinach at the end with the juice to get more fibre in!)
Green Lemonade
1 Cucumber
1 -2 Apples
1 Pear
1 lemon (no peels!)
3 cups Baby Spinach
(Serve with some ice for a hot summer day!)
The Ultimate Asian Women Beauty Secret
I learned this one from my Chinese aunt. She actually lost inches around her waist and much improved her skin texture from drinking this juice in the morning. It cleanses your gut, reduces constipation, lowers cholesterol, detoxes your body and lowers the “heat” in your body. This juice is so popular in Asia that you can actually buy them in powder form. I love the sweet and bitter taste but my husband won’t touch it. So it is not for everyone but it is my absolute favourite! I also came across some articles that mentioned the tremendous benefit of bitter melons in relation to diabetes and cancers. You can find them from Harris Farm super markets or farmers markets.
1 Cucumber
2 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1 Green Capcisum
1/2 – 1 Bitter Melon (start with 1/2 if you are not used to the taste)
Happy New Year! Wishing you a year filled with beginnings and transformations. Because this is a ‘1’ year, the energy this year is very supportive for starting new things or making the changes you’ve been meaning to do for a while.
I would like to invite you to take a moment (or a few) here to think about (and maybe write down?) what are the top 3 things you want to start or change this year?
Now that you have taken the time to set your top 3 goals for the year, let me ask you this. What were the factors that influenced you to choose these 3 things as something you would like to work towards in 2017? Most of us set our goal to something that we feel is achievable – maybe slightly out of our comfort zone but still achievable. So now let me ask you, what is ‘achievable’? What defines for each of us what we can achieve, what is possible?
Infinite possibilities
Once we are born in this human form, we start observing and absorbing our surroundings – the people, their habits, their behaviours, their reactions, their talk – and that is what defines ‘achievable’ or ‘possible’ for us, most of the times. However, the scientific discipline of Quantum Mechanics has shown us that in the Universe, there is nothing impossible.
The Universe – the space-time fabric, in Albert Einstein’s words – is a field of energy, of infinite potential and hence, infinite possibilities. So what makes certain things or scenarios become reality and others not?
As you may have guessed, it is the ‘consciousness’ – human or otherwise. If you want more explanation on how this works, simply Google ‘double slit experiment’ and you will find a few videos and a lot of articles explaining it.
Can science explain the Spirit?
So why am I writing about science in the Spirit section? Because science is a human pursuit. Science is a human way of acquiring knowledge about the world and the Universe.
Although there are many other ways of accessing the Universal wisdom, they have been blocked away, for various reasons, for most human beings of this day and age. However, science – with it’s very human and material ways of acquiring knowledge – has come a full circle to acknowledge the existence of consciousness – individual, collective and universal.
It has gone a step further to form disciplines like Noetic science, Quantum science, Epigenetics and more, and has been actively researching the union of material and spiritual world. Having made the transition from a nuclear scientist to holistic wellness professional myself, I am very passionate about spreading the knowledge about this science-meets-Spirit type of research going on around the world.
Power to the individual
The thought I want to leave you with is this: If your consciousness is what defines what is real for you, can you fathom how greatly powerful you are? Each one of us is a Creator. With every single thought that each one of us thinks, we’re collapsing the wavefunction – defining what will become our reality.
The Spirit is nothing but an infinite field of possibilities and you, with your consciousness, are a Creator. Sit with that for a moment (or a few).
Radhika also offers a 6-week online course titled “Love Yourself to Your Ideal Weight”, with a special promotion price of $111 (standard price $333).
For more details and to purchase, please visit her website.