Blog

With stress out of control these days, focusing on self care has become more important than ever. Too many people are trying to power through the stress instead of making time for themselves. The result is poor health - both physical and emotional. It may not be easy to make the time, but you’ll never regret the way you feel when you devote time to your self care. Why do we have such a hard time giving ourselves enough time to take care of our physical and emotional wellbeing? For most of us it’s about time. When we don’t have enough time to get everything done, we run out of time for ourselves. Part of the problem is that we don’t make ourselves a priority. We allow everything else to monopolize our time. Every time we do that, it compounds the stress we already feel. And as we all know, stress causes most illnesses. If we really want to take care of our health, we must devote time to it. We can’t allow our busy lives to interfere with our ability to stay healthy. How much time you spend on this will depend on how much time you are willing to devote to taking control of your health. Not enough people think proactively about their physical and emotional health because of the way we’ve been conditioned. The food industry is less concerned with healthy ingredients and more concerned with taste. The more we like something, the more we’ll buy it. The problem is, most of our food has been processed and contains toxins and unhealthy ingredients and over time adversely affects our health. So until people make a conscious decision to change the way they eat, the problem will continue. Of course that’s easier said than done, so making incremental changes over time will increase your chance of success. In addition to food toxins, our bodies are adversely affected by environmental and other types of toxins. Over time these toxins become problematic for our liver. When your liver is overworked, it can’t properly do its job. But when your liver is working the way it’s meant to, you’re not going to have as many health problems. Body and mind health not only keeps us healthy, it keeps us in balance. In order to stay in balance we must focus on the amount of stress we allow into our lives. We allow too many people to put us into “fight or flight” because we don’t know how to say no. When we start taking control of our stress and practice self care, we begin to want more peace in our lives. This is where self care becomes important. When your nervous system is stuck in “fight or flight”, it can be difficult to get back to homeostasis. This is what self care does for the mind and body. But it needs to be a modality that energetically works on the nervous system. Having your nails done is not considered self care. However a massage is considered self care. What are some self care modalities to look into? Here are some that I recommend: Yoga is an excellent way to wind down at the end of the day because it helps to loosen up tight muscles. But yoga is most effective when combined with breathwork so I recommend learning from a teacher who explains how to breathe properly during each pose. Immerse yourself in the soothing frequencies of a sound bath. Instruments such as crystal bowls, flute, and chimes calm the nervous system and may help to bring you out of “fight or flight”. Sound and light therapy is another way to calm the body. The Harmonic Egg combines music and color to shift the body out of “fight or flight” and into homeostasis. It is an effective way to reduce stress, while experiencing soothing music and color. Now is the time to prioritize your health. By making a few small changes to your busy schedule, you will give yourself the gift of self care. When you care for your health in positive ways, your life will begin to improve. Jean Hanson is co-owner of Realign Your Life Wellness Center in Mesa, AZ. The Center offers sound and light therapy with the Harmonic Egg. Steve Hanson is a sound healing practitioner and offers bi-monthly sound baths. Appointments can be booked online at RealignYourLifeAZ.com or by calling 480-613-9137.

We’ve all heard the expression “stuff your emotions”. And unfortunately, that is what most of us do - especially when it comes to negative emotions like anger, frustration and shame. So instead of finding a way to release the emotions, we tend to bury them deep inside. You may wonder why releasing emotions is so important. Isn’t it better to hide our emotions - especially negative emotions - rather than expressing negativity out into the world? Of course it’s never a good idea to direct your emotions at other people. Instead, try to find ways to deal with your emotions privately - scream into a pillow, hit a punching bag, vigorous exercise. Letting yourself express your emotions privately may seem odd, but allowing yourself to let it out is a good way to release tension as well. It will allow you to get over whatever it is you are feeling, faster. But when you keep holding onto those emotions, it becomes more and more difficult to let them go. You may end up ruminating over the situation and stir up even more negative emotions. Because most people don’t fully express their emotions, the energy of those emotions become stuck in the body. This is what is referred to as “emotional baggage”. We all have emotional baggage that we carry around with us. And the energy of those emotions can, over time, contribute to physical discomfort and dis-ease. Stress, as most people know, is the cause of most illnesses and diseases. But it all starts with emotions. Negative emotions that get stuck in the body energetically, need to be removed energetically. But most people don’t know where to begin. There is an energy healing modality called the Emotion Code that allows you to energetically remove trapped emotions. This is a simple process that anyone can do. But you must first identify each emotion before you can release it. There is a book called “The Emotion Code” by Dr. Bradley Nelson that explains the process. Another option for releasing trapped emotions is to work with an Emotion Code Practitioner. That way you will be able to identify when you experienced the emotion and where it is stuck in your body. Emotions can be difficult to fully express, so why not try these tips for a while to see if it makes a difference for you. You may notice that you don’t seem to hold onto anger or frustration for as long as you used to. Or you may notice that things that used to bother you no longer trigger you the way they used to . The more you can manage your negative emotions, the more calm you will begin to feel. To feel peace and calm in the midst of chaos is a better way to live. And if you can do that, you can lead a more positive life. Jean Hanson is co-owner of Realign Your Life Wellness Center, in Mesa. She is an Emotion Code Practitioner and author of Trust Your Higher Guidance: Align Your Life to Manifest the Joy and Success You Deserve. For more information, call 480-613-9137 or visit RealignYourLifeAZ.com .

I don’t know about you, but some days I just seem to get triggered by things that happen during the course of my day. Luckily for me, I’ve gotten so much better at dealing with my triggers, which means it doesn’t take me long to get over it. It’s not always been that way for me. In the past, I used to get angry and then ruminate over even the smallest of things. For example, when an issue would come up with my computer, I would fly off the handle and allow it to ruin my entire day. Now when a computer issue happens, I feel mildly irritated at first, but then I immediately shift into a calm state, reasoning through a solution. How did I do it? With daily meditation. Every morning I devoted the first 10 minutes of my day to my meditation practice. That’s all it took, but it didn’t happen right away. It took many months of daily commitment. The reason I chose early morning is because my mind hadn’t yet fully awakened, so it was easier to keep my mind clear before my day officially started. After a few months, it dawned on me one day that a subtle shift happened that I hadn’t even noticed - I didn’t get triggered when my computer decided to act up that day. When I thought about it, I realized that I had stayed calm so I could think rationally about how to solve the problem. After that I started paying more attention to the things that usually triggered me and confirmed that a shift had indeed taken place. Another way to keep myself from reacting so strongly to triggers is Harmonic Egg sessions. The Harmonic Egg helps to calm the nervous system, which means it becomes easier for us to deal with stressful situations. Clients who come for regular sessions often tell us that at some point, they come to the realization that they no longer react so strongly to triggers and that they are able to let go of the anger much faster. What would it feel like to live your life without constant triggers disrupting your day? This is what can happen with consistent meditation. It can also happen with consistent Harmonic Egg sessions. Isn’t it time to let go of the disruptions causing stress in your life?