Back to Basics –

8 Tips For Optimal Health, Weight Loss

and Happiness (Part Two)

July addresses part two of 8 basic health tips to help you attain optimal health, weight loss, and happiness (part one was in last month’s newsletter). During their metaphysical sessions my clients explore and discover deeper parts of themselves by staying present to what their mind believes, the resulting emotions / feelings and how it all manifests in their bodies. Last month we discussed how eating for our blood types, staying hydrated, exercising, and moving our lymphatic system contributes to our health. This month we will discuss the importance of Metaphysical colonics, deep breathing, practicing gratitude, and choosing joy.

• Metaphysical colonics –

o   As a Metaphysical Intuitive Healer, metaphysical colon hydrotherapy is a significant part of my work. Clients connect the unhealed emotions stored within their body to the physical dysfunction causing pain and discomfort. Working with the Wisdom of the Body clients share issues in their lives causing stress and unhappiness and subsequently release trapped gas and stored waste.

o   Our emotional states determine how open or closed our energetic bodies remain depending on our willingness to process our feelings. Many clients dealing with weight issues experience weight loss as they learn to release long-held, inaccurate beliefs and the corresponding inflammation created as physical and emotional protection. As clients discuss personal issues during their colonic, they understand how their beliefs inform their choices and these choices create feelings relating to their level of self-worth and self-love.

o   All our experiences help us understand who we believe we are and encourage shifts regarding our self-perceptions and self-perspectives. What is the truth of who we are? Every one of us is a child of the Universe and worthy of love and joy.

• Deep breathing –

o   Breathing deeply throughout the day is a vital part of maintaining health. Doing so grounds us, moves our lymphatic system both superficially and muscularly, stimulates our colon and expels waste from our lungs (the lungs and colon are related so deep breathing helps this co-relationship as well).

o   Most of us respond to stress with shallow breathing. Practicing present mindfulness helps to remind us to breathe when the going gets tough. Deep breathing grounds us and brings us back into our bodies when ‘being in our heads’ is not the helpful option.

o   We overeat or eat unhealthily when we feel anxious or depressed. This can lead to unintended weight gain. Deep breathing can calm us as we notice feelings of anxiety or stress. It’s human nature to grab food to distract from uncomfortable feelings, but the added weight gain creates further unhappiness, leaving us in a Catch 22. Substitute unhealthy foods with deep breathing for a healthier alternative.

o   Breathe deeply, feel your feelings and reassure yourself that you will be ok, life supports you, and you will receive the help you need. Staying positive results from healthy and loving self-talk. All of this begins with deep breathing.

• Practicing Gratitude –

o   Anxiety and depression affect about 40 million Americans per year according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Most clients I see suffering from physical dysfunction and illness also have anxiety or depression or both. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I find it interesting that many of these clients do not practice gratitude. Their day-to-day focus remains on their illness or anxiety, and this leads to depression. I believe our experiences come from what we focus on. If someone focuses on how terrible they feel daily, this will naturally lead to fear they may never heal. Fear creates anxiety. Prolonged anxiety leads to depression (and vice versa). Anxiety and depression negatively impact the immune system necessary to heal. Thus, a vicious cycle is created.

o   Practicing gratitude is integral to happiness. My clients and I often trace their physical issues to inaccurate beliefs, leading to emotional discomfort. As they recount the various healing modalities and supplements, they’ve tried, the one thing I notice missing is gratitude.

o   Try this experiment:

• Think of something in your life that is creating fear or anxiety and really focus on it. Allow your mind to go to the worst-case scenario and notice where your body is reacting to this thought. Have you experienced physical discomfort in this area of your body before?
• Now, shift your focus to 3 different areas in your life where you can express and feel gratitude. Immerse yourself in these grateful feelings. Again, notice what is happening in your body that was reacting when you focused on fear? Did the tightness and discomfort abate?
• Notice what happened to your fear and anxiety when you focused on gratitude. Were you able to feel afraid and grateful at the same time or did the gratitude relieve the fear, even for a moment?

o   I intend this experiment to help you:

• Connect worry and fear with physical dysfunction
• Experience how fear and gratitude cannot co-exist
• Choose joy –

o   Is it necessary to point out we need to choose joy for optimal health, weight loss and happiness – isn’t it obvious? Not always. When we stop to think about it then, yes…choosing joy is a positive choice with positive outcomes. Do we live with present mindfulness that we consciously choose joy daily?

o   Let me share a few ways I consciously choose joy:

• When asked “How are you?” I always answer–“I am great! (or fantastic or life is wonderful”). Someone recently commented that she normally hears “Good” but rarely “Great!”. I say this because I genuinely feel great and life is wonderful, mostly because I live in gratitude most of the day.
• I include daily activities that bring me joy. For example, I love connecting with people, rom-coms, Pilates, reading and laughing. I endeavor to include at least one of these activities every single day of my life.
• I notice when my mind is slipping down the “dark path” to negativity, judgment, or fear, I will stop it and counter with a belief that is accurate and positive. For example, sometimes my mind will worry about something that has not occurred in the present. The fear is trying to inform me and potentially protect me from perceived hurt or emotional pain. I will then say this mantra “the outcome will be for my highest good”. All I need to do is trust that life wants and provides what is in my best interest so I can let the worry go and focus on my joy.
• Choosing joy by trusting that life has my back helps me let go of fear and worry. In the past I would take part in emotional eating leading to weight gain. Staying present and mindful helps me choose joy and not choose unhealthy actions or behavior that put me back into a vicious cycle.
• Choosing joy and shifting my beliefs floods my body with endorphins, which strengthen my immune system and offers natural healing against dysfunction and illness.

Practice these 8 basic health tips daily and observe how much healthier and happier you feel. If incorporating all 8 at once feels overwhelming, start with the easiest and add the others in when you can. The journey towards optimal health is as important as the destination.