Nanci

Image by wespark.org

Thanksgiving is over, but the overeating, bloating and sugar-filled cranberry, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie may still be with you. Did you know that some food can remain in your system for up to four days? This can make your body constipated, your mind foggy and your overall energy and mood sluggish. But with some simple steps, you can detox and cleanse your post-Thanksgiving system and revive it back to its healthy state.

A detox program can help your body’s natural cleaning process by:

1. Stimulating the liver to release toxins from the body;
2. Promoting waste elimination through the intestines, kidneys and skin;
3. Improving circulation throughout the body;
4. Refueling you with healthy nutrients.

Not that we are fans of using a cleanse to lose weight; nor do we recommend partaking in a diet void of food, vitamins and minerals (like the Lemonade Diet), but we do like the idea of incorporating more natural methods into the day in order to help release toxins from the body. If you are still feeling the effects of your Thanksgiving feast, here are some tips to naturally cleanse and detox your system:

Awaken the toxins. When we consume unnatural foods, they can leave behind a dense residue in our cells, according to nutritionist Marlena Torres. This residue turns into excess weight, body odor, wrinkles, cellulite and aging. Torres says we can awaken and loosen these toxins by consuming alkaline substances such as fresh vegetable juice, raw vegetables and fruits. Apparently, the negative ionic charge of these foods are opposite of the positive ionic charge of toxins in our cells.

Release the toxins. Once they have been awakened from our cells, toxins are then moved into our bloodstream and organs. They then need to be flushed from our bodies through natural elimination (going to the bathroom). Drinking at least two quarts of water a day will help, as will eating a diet rich in fiber (like the fruits and vegetables mentioned above).

Go clean. Eliminate other toxic-producing things like alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, refined sugars and saturated fats, all of which will just create more toxins and become obstacles to your cleanse. You should also try to minimize use of chemical-based household cleaners and personal beauty products (shampoos, deodorants and toothpastes), and substitute with natural alternatives instead.

Eliminate stress. Stress triggers your body to release stress hormones into your system, which in large amounts can create toxins and slow down detoxification enzymes in the liver.

Incorporate daily yoga. Yoga is not only an effective way to reduce stress, but it’s a natural way to detox your liver and other organs, while also helping to relieve constipation.

Practice hydrotherapy. Take a very hot shower for five minutes, allowing the water to run on your back. Follow with cold water for 30 seconds. Do this three times, and then get into bed for 30 minutes. This can help to stimulate your circulation and organs to help flush out toxins.

Sweat. Sit in a sauna or steam bath so your body can eliminate wastes through perspiration.

Article by Deborah Dunham of blisstree.com

Meet sweet Katie, owner of Be Free Yoga. She started practicing yoga at 17 as something to do to keep active. Starting off primarily with hot yoga, she loved the challenge of the practice, but more importantly loved the way she felt after. It didn’t take long for the effects of yoga to trickle into the rest of her life. Her mat was a safe place to land, to process, and find peace.

We are stoked to be collaborating with Katie on her retreat this year in Fernie, BC, Canada July 17-20. She will not only be teaching yoga but also working you through the desire mapping workshops that Danielle Laporte trained her in facilitating.

Learn more about this beautiful soul in this interview:

What to you is the most essential quality in a teacher?

The most essential quality in a teacher is connection. To really see every student that shows up, and let them know they matter, and their journey is important. To connect with your students by making the class accessible for who shows up, no matter, ability, or beliefs, yoga is for everyone whatever path you are on. To connect with students by making eye contact in class, giving adjustments if they are welcomed. Connecting with clear concise language, and cues. Making an effort to talk after practice, to get to know them on a personal level, and to really, really listen to what they have to say. Connection to themselves so they are teaching from a place of authenticity and truth. 

What are the biggest challenges yoga has brought you?

The biggest challenges I have faced since practicing yoga is learning to be still. When ever I would face any type of discomfort or turmoil in my life I would either deny it, avoid it, or run from it. Through yoga it has taught me to face it, to sit with it, to become still and allow myself to feel it and then move in which direction is best. I still struggle with this almost everyday, I feel the urge to run when things get hard, and to quit when I feel challenged. Yoga has forced me to be awake and be present in my life, and its honestly one of the hardest things to do but also the most rewarding thing about my practice. 

Other than people, what has taught you the most in your path?

Nature, her perseverance, her strength, her beauty. Particularly pine trees. The way in which new seeds are planted is through extreme heat, a forest fire is the only way to crack open the pine cones allowing the seeds to fall to the earth. Its a metaphor for life, in order to plant a new beautiful seed that will bring great beauty and ease into your life, sometimes you need to go through extreme situations, and preserver through what seems like devastating circumstances to be reborn. 

And horses, I have spent my whole life around horses and they have been my biggest guide and anchor. They survive in the wild by sensing energy. So when you are around horses you have no choice but to be grounded, calm, present, and confident. If you are not present or feeling anxious they too will become un easy, and won’t fully trust you. Horses were my first meditation teachers, and still are my favourite teachers. They have the ability to heal, and they are givers of unconditional love. 

As a teacher what is the core of your message?

To listen to your self. Whether its listening to your body in what it is needing in a particular pose, listening to your heart, and your feelings and notice them, what are they calling for and craving. You have the answers you are searching for, and we need to trust ourselves. We are the ones living our life, so only we know what is truly best and what is going to make us feel great. Sometime we need a little help to get there but all the great teachers I have been blessed to work with have just allowed me to see and sometimes given me the courage to admit what I already knew deep down.  

Why do you believe in the magic of yoga?

As a teenager I struggled with anxiety and a bit of depression, never really finding silence (except on my horse). And when I stepped on to my mat for the first time I had connected my breath and movement of my body for the first time and for a moment I let go of everything. On my mat I felt safe, I was able to discover who I was, and found some healthy love for myself.  Where previously my inner critic ruled the roost and I was never really sure who I was, constantly trying to be like other people I looked up to. Which can be healthy to admire different qualities in people, but not to try and be them. Its the only place besides with my horse I felt strong, and confident, and proud of who I was. Connecting breath and movement truly is a powerful, magical force, that changes lives. I honestly don’t know a ton about philosophy and history, its not my strong point, I just love the simplicity and power of breath and body right here, right now, in this moment, in this body. 

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I remember sitting down last year at this exact time feeling an urge to write something a little bit personal for the Breathe in Life blog on my birthday, but I felt self-conscious about expressing my true self publicly. It is inspiring for me to sit here now and wrap my head around how much growth has occurred in one year. I feel I have peeled back many layers and although it has been a roller coaster, I feel more confident, vibrant, healthy, and happy than ever before.

30 years old! I love getting older! Bowie says it best:

“Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.”

When I look back at my 20’s I have to laugh, it feels good to laugh at it. It was such a wild ride of highs and lows, extreme self-discovery, and lots of lessons learned. If any of you knew me in my early 20’s I am sure you would say, “that girl was a wild card!” (hopefully in a good way..haha).  I was out to have a good time, to live fully, to laugh as much as I could, and to push the boundaries of what people considered a ‘normal’ life. And what a perfect platform life handed me… at 21 I began working as an adventure backpacking tour guide/manager throughout South East Asia and Central America!

My life was filled with adventure, travel, life changing experiences, and way too much partying! The life of a tour guide in those days was so care free, I didn’t worry about much. I was living in the moment as a travel rock star and wanted nothing to change.

This all came to a halt around the age of 24/25. The universe was consistently giving me slaps in the face to wake up, to pay attention, to realize this was not the be all end all of my existence. I became very ill because of the way I was abusing my body on those trips and had been in and out of numerous hospitals through out my travels. I dealt with the passing of Nate Renaud on one of my trips, and then lost my best friend Ben Trompetter, as well as numerous other personal matters that were quite devastating.

I believe your outer world is a direct reflection of your inner world and when I finally came to that conclusion I made the decision to step up and step out of the dark hole I felt I was in. And because of that darkness I experienced I felt this deep compassion and urge to help those in need. I can almost pin point the day I made that choice to be a better person and looking back it is amazing to see how many amazing things fell into my path after that.

I met the love of my life, Chris Elliott. My boss at the time (Curtis Smith of Free and Easy Traveler) gave me a life changing opportunity to guide and par take in a 200 hr yoga teacher training with one the best teachers I have ever come across (Suzanne Faith). I was asked to guide and cook on yoga retreats in all sorts of amazing places, I started diving head first into everything about health and wellness and how to be good to my body and so much more! I was now living from a place of love and it showed in these new amazing changes and opportunities.

I truly believe everything changed for the better when I threw my arms up and stopped stressing and just decided to be happy, do things that made me happy and trust that life would be all good. I gave myself the space on numerous vacations to just sit in a hammock or lie on the beach to brainstorm ways that I could create a health and wellness travel company. And then the right people came into my life at the exact right time to piece together this beautiful puzzle that is my life. And with a statement given by my mom in a dream, the name Breathe in Life came to be and I love it!

I could not have done it without my brother David who helped get things started, got Free and Easy Traveler on board and gave me the huge push I needed to be confident in this new venture. I was lucky enough to have my closest friend, Jordan jump in as Co Founder and an endless fountain of support and love. And of course the 3rd Co Founder, my fiancé Chris, who I truly feel made this all possible with his faith in my big ideas, his drive to make things happen and his steadiness and chilled approach to life, which definitely balances out my fire.

Since the launch of Breathe in Life Health + Wellness Travel a lot has changed within me. I feel each day I take a step closer to who I really am. I have made the commitment to be good to my body and take a lot of me time for the health of my mind, because what good am I to others if I am not good within. This year I decided to do a year of zero alcohol or substance abuse of any kind to go deeper into self-discovery and clarity. I pledged to live a life of giving from the heart and to steep in gratitude for all the beautiful people and surroundings in my world. To laugh more and not take life so seriously!

I know this blog is a short story but I truly realize that I am no longer these stories. I am not my memories from the past. I am more then what I’ve done, what I’ve been or what I have been taught by others, and more than what has been done to me. In this moment I am Melissa and I am so inspired to live to my full potential and to stand in my truth of who I really am; a humble and compassionate soul who is slightly introverted and thoroughly enjoys being still and quiet, a lover of living a meaningful life full of adventure and laughs, and a care giver and healer to all.

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Think you don’t have time for yoga—much less 3-minute pose holds? Yoga Medicine teacher Shannon Stephens makes a case for why yin yoga may be the best practice for your busiest times.

As a full-time yoga instructor with a demanding schedule that has me running between classes and private sessions most of the day, my personal yin practice has become essential to recharge and give back to my body, mind, and spirit. Yin is an introspective practice that offers a chance to turn inward and nurture the calm, quiet center that is innate in all of us. It is a practice in stillness, patience, and non-reactivity. Through yin yoga we become adept at self-care. We become better listeners with practice tuning in; we become wiser as we get to know ourselves from the inside out; and we become more curious about the world through the exploration of our own inner worlds.

To practice yin is to relinquish control—such a novel and therapeutic concept in our modern-day lives. On the surface, the yin practice might appear uneventful. But if you are able to tune in, you will encounter some pretty fascinating events occurring in the layers beneath the skin. Not convinced? Dig deeper into 10 nourishing qualities and therapeutic benefits I’ve encountered both with my students and through my own practice of this form of medicine like no other.

1. The yin practice can help the body restore range of motion.

For healthy range of motion, layers of connective tissue must allow muscles to glide over each other. But injury, habitual posture in daily life, and aging, among other factors can bind these connective tissues together, creating so-called adhesions and restricting that movement between the sliding surfaces of the muscles. Like a traffic jam, adhesions block the flow of nutrients and energy through the body, causing pain and limiting mobility. Holding poses that gently lengthen the muscles and fascia helps break up adhesions, and applying mild stress to joints and connective tissues can increase their range of motion.

See also Free Your Front Body: A Flow for Your Fascia

2. Yin yoga revitalizes the tissues of the body.

Our body’s tissues can be revived by a good long soak the same way that an old, stiff sponge can. As you hold a yin pose, the subtle release that takes you deeper into the pose is the tissues lengthening, hydrating, and becoming more pliable. If you pay close attention, you can sense the tissues being stretched, squeezed, twisted, and compressed. A yin practice can leave you feeling as though you’ve had a massage.

3. Yin offers a unique opportunity to cultivate gratitude for the body.

The simplicity of a yin practice allows us to return to our bodies and to see clearly just how remarkable we really are. Journeying into the deeper layers of ourselves, we tune into our inner workings, connecting to respiratory and circulatory functions, internal organs, and sensations within the muscles and joints. This heightened awareness of the physiological processes of the body ultimately moves us closer to santosha, or contentment.

See also Free Your Back Body Like Never Before: A Flow for Your Fascia

4. The yin practice forces us to slow down.

Yin poses’ long holds offer a chance to marinate in stillness. When you allow yourself to stay present and experience the near-imperceptible shifts that occur while holding a yin posture, time opens up. Deadlines, commitments, pressing matters, and to-do lists fade to the background, leaving tremendous space for rest and renewal.

5. Yin yoga teaches self-compassion.

The ability to tend to all facets of ourselves (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual) is fundamental to our wellbeing. The yin practice provides an opportunity to observe, nurture, soothe, and calm ourselves. The act of carefully taking a posture and tending to your body’s unique set of needs for the duration of the hold is a form of self-care and lovingkindness.

See also 10-Minute Guided Meditation for Self-Compassion

6. The long hold times of a yin practice offer the chance to sit with our emotions.

Our bodies store emotions, and it’s not uncommon for sensitive thoughts, feelings, and memories to surface while practicing any form of yoga. Yin teaches us how to be gentle, patient, and nonreactive. When emotions bubble to the surface, the conditions are safe.

7. Yin yoga can help us become more resilient to stress.

Holding a pose for several minutes can provoke anxiety. But when we approach it with tenderness, the body acclimates. Surrender is a common theme in yin yoga, and giving up the need to control a situation is a lesson that we can carry with us into our day-to-day lives. The ability to adapt to the ups and downs of life and to manage change with grace can lessen our predisposition to stress.

8. Yin yoga can help us tap into the parasympathetic nervous system.

Diaphragmatic breathing, or belly breathing, is a powerful way to trigger the parasympathetic nervous system. You may have heard some of the reasons activating the parasympathetic nervous system is beneficial (stress, tension, blood pressure, sleep, digestion, immune function, hormones, etc)—and that most of us don’t do it often enough. Instead, we spend our days locked in sympathetic nervous system overdrive, constantly being pulled from one overly important deadline to another. Belly breathing can be a quick and easy way to change this. Pay close attention while breathing from the abdomen and in no time you will notice a significant shift. It may feel like a wave of relaxation washes over the body. The deepest layers of the belly soften, the forehead tingles, and the brain relaxes. It’s as if the whole body takes a prolonged sigh. As you move deeper into the yin practice, the breath slows down significantly drawing you deeper and deeper into this parasympathetic, or relaxation, mode. This is where the internal organs get a chance to catch up on their to-do list (digest, eliminate toxins, heal, repair).

See also 7 Yin Yoga Poses to Cultivate Gratitude

9. The stillness of a yin practice primes us for meditation.

Meditation is not necessarily something you have to find; sometimes it finds you. The yin practice sets us up to tap into the meditation bandwidth. We rarely see who we really are because the cloud of thoughts and distractions block the view. When we create opportunities for physical stillness in a yin practice, we also create the perfect conditions for the brain to become clear. In these precious moments, we are able to see our true selves.

10. Yin yoga cultivates balance.

Your own health and wellbeing is a balancing act. If you look at the yin/yang symbol you will see that the white and black forms are in perfect balance. Many of us live very active (yang) lifestyles and leave little or no time to foster the quiet, introspective side. Over time this can be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. Through the yin practice we can restore equilibrium and feel whole.

Blog written by Shannon Stephens from The Yoga Journal 

It is clear that our thoughts and emotions affect our bodies. The body may even react violently to stress and depression. However, how do our thoughts and feelings affect those around us? According to Dr. Masura Emoto, quite a bit.

Masura Emoto was an author, researcher, and entrepreneur. He believed human consciousness had a recordable effect on water. Emoto’s conjecture evolved over the years, and his early work explored his belief that water could react to positive thoughts and words, and that polluted water could be cleaned through prayer and positive visualization.

He believed that the emotional “energies” and “vibrations” could change the physical structure of water and published several books with pictures of ice crystals that formed while different emotions were directed towards them.

Dr. Masura Emoto work is amazing! Also, the peer-reviewed studies also performed on the subject shine more light on the topic.

An experiment was done at the Institute of Noetic Sciences titled “Double-Blind Test of the Effects of Distant Intention on Water Crystal Formation”. The hypothesis that water “treated” with intention can affect ice crystals got serious attention from the scientific community from the results of this experiment when the water was pilot tested under double-blind conditions.

A group of approximately 2,000 people in Tokyo focused positive intentions toward water samples located inside an electromagnetically shielded room in California. Ice crystals formed in both sets of water samples, yet only certain kinds of formations were present within the water they were concentrating on. That group was unaware of similar water samples set aside in a different location as controls. (Spirit Science and Metaphysics)

The results were fascinating. The ice crystals that formed were vastly different for each water sample.

“Ice crystals formed from both sets of water samples were blindly identified and photographed by an analyst, and the resulting images were blindly assessed for aesthetic appeal by 100 independent judges. Results indicated that crystals from the treated water were given higher scores for aesthetic appeal than those from the control water (P = .001, one-tailed), lending support to the hypothesis”, concluded the team lead by Dr. Radin. (Spirit Science and Metaphysics)

Blog via DavidWolfe.com

Photo by TinyBuddha.com

COMPASSION: THE HIGHER ROAD.

This month is all about turning our focus away from anger, blame, self-judgment, hopelessness, frustration, fear and worry. These are all attitudes and emotions that belong to a lower vibration and they do not serve us at this time. We need to be turning ourselves in the direction of the higher vibration of COMPASSION if we are to be effective in our lives, with ourselves and with others.

The definition of COMPASSION is: “Sympathetic consciousness of others’ (or personal) distress together with a desire to alleviate it.”

COMPASSION is a state of being that helps us all remember that we are not separate, that we are all in this great game of life together and that going about it alone is not effective or rewarding.

COMPASSION is best practiced from a neutral state of non-judgment and a perfect follow up from November’s theme of forgiveness. With everything that is going on out there in the world today, the best way to use your time and energy this month is to focus on yourself with COMPASSION for all the ways you have judged, blamed, suffered, and felt powerless and ineffective.

If you truly want to “alleviate the distress” on the planet, you need to start with yourself. All change begins at home. When was the last time you were truly kind to yourself? Not just rewards and gifts, but true kindness?

KINDNESS is another theme this month that goes along with COMPASSION. It is easier to be kind when you have compassion and it is easy to be compassionate when you practice kindness. So they go along hand in hand.

As the big wheel of evolution slowly turns away from the young soul, goal oriented, combative struggle where there are winners and losers, it is the masculine energy in each one of us that needs the most compassion, kindness and healing. We are emerging from a cycle of over 2000 years where the masculine standards of production, success, taking action, winning competitions and doing whatever it takes to get to the top have been our guiding principles.

In this process the masculine in each one of us has taken a beating and needs a lot of kindness and compassion to heal its battle wounds. Many of us have turned away from our own masculine in reaction to the negative aspects we see being played out by the masculine out in the world. The masculine within is suffering and needs compassion and kindness, not judgment and rejection.

Healing the masculine is a theme that begins for us this month and will continue into next year and probably into the next several years.

As you reject the masculine and what it represents, you also reject the positive aspects of generosity, protection, boundaries, action, focus and appropriate will. These positive aspects of the masculine are necessary if we are to be effective in the world. So the work starts at home with yourself in healing your own masculine, your relationship with the masculine and reconnecting with all the positive aspects so you can be whole. If you are whole, it will be easier to be of service where and when needed.

Remember that evolution only goes in one direction and that we are in the process of completing one cycle and transitioning into the next. Our task this month is to hold the bigger picture, to take the higher road of compassion, to practice kindness, and to do what we can to begin the process of healing the masculine beginning with ourselves.

How the month shows up:

YOU PERSONALLY

This month is all about helping yourself first.  If you don’t have compassion and kindness for yourself, you cannot possibly practice it for others. So start with yourself this month. Review all the ways you have judged yourself for not being good enough, smart enough, known better, ineffective, not successful enough, not strong enough, not brave enough, not powerful enough, not perfect enough, not useful enough, the list goes on and on.

How have you judged yourself for not showing up, for feeing fearful, for missing opportunities, for not getting your life together, for staying in bad situations for too long, for being weak, for being indecisive, for not setting good boundaries, for not protecting yourself or putting yourself first?

This lack of compassion and kindness for yourself will keep you mired in this lower vibration especially if it includes blame, anger and resentment. This is the month to turn all of this around. There is much work to do on the self. It is easy to be distracted with “what is going on out there” in terms of injustice, negative behaviors and bad choices. You cannot do anything about that. You cannot change what is “going on out there” but you can change what is going on in your own home and your own life.

So this is a month to focus on personal change through compassion and kindness and the healing of your own masculine. (help with this on our monthly Mp3)

After reviewing all the ways you believe to have let yourself down, focus on the changes you wish to make. You might start with a simple commitment to set better boundaries or to speak up around your own truth or to make a plan of action to improve your life. It is also very important that you practice being in a higher vibration as much as you can. Beauty, wonder, awe, love, and of course compassion and kindness will always lead you to a higher vibration and a higher centered experience. After all this is a higher centered time when we have the opportunity to experience the lowest of the low and the highest of the high. You decide.

RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships with others take a back seat to the relationship you have with yourself. “Me first” is the motto this month. Of course your other relationships will all benefit from the work that you do on yourself. Relationships in general have been challenged lately and fraught with a lot of projection, blame and confusion. Larger scale issues are being worked out and relationships are taking the hit.

It is important to remember that there is so much work going on now at a personal level that everyone needs a bit of space. Especially as we enter into the agreed upon social holiday time, don’t be afraid to say no and to limit your social interactions if you are needing time to yourself.

Treat all your relationships with compassion and kindness.  This month kindness will go a long way to keep relationships from unnecessarily imploding. Give people room to grow, to change, to heal, to express their truth and to be creative in their own way. There is a lot of energy right now for change and it will be affecting some relationships. Stay out of fear and judgment and allow change if that is where the wind is blowing.

HEALTH AND THE PHYSICAL BODY

Compassion and Kindness, Compassion and Kindness, Compassion and Kindness. Our bodies have been through a lot and carried much for us. Mostly this month the body needs rest and rejuvenation. We don’t even know how exhausted we are. There has been so much work in the dreamtime collectively as our conscious personalities and bodies are “asleep”, that we don’t feel rested. We have been psychologically and psychically hypervigilant, holding a very big container for positive change and evolution and we are afraid to put it down. It is time to take a break and let what has been put into motion play itself out. The path is clear ahead of us and it is all about the personal healing we need to do on ourselves.

Health challenges this month could include fluctuations in energy levels with periods of great fatigue mixed with sleeplessness, physical agitation and restlessness. Knee and joint issues from the waist down are working out our masculine traits of moving forward and energetic mobility. Intermittent nausea and digestive issues are related to our will and the masculine energy of how we choose to show up in the world.

Take care of yourselves this month. You only have one body this lifetime and it deserves your kindness, compassion and love.

ENVIRONMENT

Being a very personally focused month, your personal environment is the most important thing on your “to do” list. You will experience a sense of power and accomplishment and purpose in changing or improving or fixing what is in your power to do. You cannot change what someone “out there” does or decides. But you can make changes and good choices and improvements to your own space and environment. When was the last time you took control of your personal environment, cleaned out the clutter and improved something that needing to be fixed?

Pace yourself this month both in your expectations as well as your physical output of energy in all the doing and fixing and changing you are inspired to do. Allow yourself to be guided by the environment you are in. If it is snowing outside, stay warm indoors if that is what your body wants. If it is sunny and warm, go out for a walk. If it is rainy or windy, honor the environment in the ways that it can support your own process of change, cleansing, or letting go of something. Practice working intimately with the environment instead of against it. This goes for all aspects of “environment”: physical, emotional, political, psychological, intellectual, global, personal and collective.

We are still in a highly creative period of time and although the creativity may seem to be very underground and hidden at this time, it may come out in the environment as weather anomalies, unexpected events, extreme temperatures and wild weather systems. Enjoy it!

BUSINESS/PARTNERSHIPS/PROJECTS

This is a good month to focus on the foundations of your business and projects. What was the inspiration behind your ideas, choices and action? Is there anything that needs to be revisited or changed or refined? Take and inventory of everything that is working and serving you best as well as what is not serving or needs to be changed or eliminated. This is about acknowledging what YOU need and how your personal business, partnerships and projects will serve YOU first.  Is your life task being supported?

As you inventory be careful not to judge or blame and remember that compassion and kindness goes a long way to healing what may not have been addressed that needs some clearing. It is a good month to tell the truth to others about what it truly important to you, and to tell the truth to yourself about what is not important to you that may be important to others.

There is great support for working on details, sealing up energy leaks and setting good boundaries. There is a fine line between functional community involvement on a project, and a dysfunctional free for all with no boundaries. I am reminded of the various experiments of the late 60’s with the communes, free love, and the break-down of social and economic boundaries. We are in a similar time but with hopefully more maturity and spiritual consciousness. These are indeed interesting times and it should be inspiring to all of us to think about the possibilities of what we can collectively create for our future.

DATES AND TIME FRAMES

December 1-7: It is a week of self-focus and taking care of the body, mind and spirit. The best use of this time is to keep your eye on the small goals you can easily accomplish as well as to practice being on that higher road of compassion whenever possible. Whether you are in the grocery store becoming irritated at the incompetency of the cashier or the confusion of the person in line in front of you, or witnessing an argument or inappropriate aggression among others, stay in the field of kindness and compassion. No one WANTS to be like that. But many are lost. If you can practice being in a higher state and a higher center, it will have a ripple effect.

Another good practice during this week is the “inner smile”. (this is covered in our monthly Mp3). If you heart can smile and you can radiate that smile outward, that is the inner smile. It is effective, can bring you joy and possibly even a desire to smile outwardly. And it will certainly support a higher vibration and a higher centered state.

December 8-15: This could be a week of confusion, depression, energetic ups and downs, one day feeling hopeful and good about your practices and the next day in despair about all the things you cannot change. The only way past these challenges is through. The only way to navigate is to acknowledge the feelings and then do your practices of compassion, kindness and taking care of yourself anyway despite how unmotivated you feel.

Keep your tasks small and doable. Set boundaries when appropriate and protect yourself from the conjectures, projections and negativity of others. This is a good week for one on one interactions that are meaningful and to make plans and set intentions about how you want to feel in your life in the future.

Even though the month is very much about you personally and much of the energy is focused within, there are times that support community. The powerful time around the Full Moon moves us into a more expansive picture of sharing our vision and prayers with others on the same page and compassion and kindness are the magnetic force that will bring people together for a common cause.

Don’t underestimate the power of prayer.

December 13: Full Moon is Tuesday, December 13 at 5:06 PM Mountain Standard Time (MST). The themes for this full moon are truth, community, inspiration, creating new vision and of course compassion and kindness. The paradox is being able to hold a very clear vision of what you wish to create in the future at the same time as keeping a true “don’t know mind” and being unattached both to the process and the outcome.

Spend some time today being inspired by your own life. Forget about what others are doing for a moment and focus on what you are doing and what you wish to do.  Are you true to yourself, your spiritual and moral compass, and your true desires? If not, why not?

Acknowledge all experiences as useful even if uncomfortable. For things happening in your life that are less than “great”, adopt the following attitude: “Do I like it? No. Does it feel good? Not really. Is it necessary? Probably.”

And most of all, have gratitude for all of it. After all, it is a great ride.

December 16-22: This is a time frame to work on relationship. Relationship with your body, with yourself, with your masculine, with your right work, your right action, with your unique personality and with your personal environment. Have you had enough gratitude for yourself and your life lately?

Stay close to home and pay attention to the details that may come up during this time that require your attention especially in the area of your personal environment. This is the time that supports fixing, changing, refining and improving what you can and have the power to do. Instead of worrying about what you can’t change, focus on what you can.

Mercury goes retrograde on the 19th to support even more focus on detail and clear communication. Set good boundaries around your time and energy and work on eradicating the habitual energy leaks that tend to surface around perceived obligations at this time of year.

December 21: Winter Solstice is Wednesday, December 21 at 3:44 AM. Solstice time is always a good reset and transition time. We move from the darkest time of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere) to the first day of bringing back the light. Especially this year, the significance of bringing in more light is palpable.

Honor this solstice by anchoring something you are transitioning into. It could be a new relationship, project, practice, or way of thinking. There is much that remains the same as we enter into a new cycle but what can change is the foundational patterns underlying all the judgments of the past. The way we see and perceive the world can be radically different if we allow it to be. This is the bigger picture that wants to seduce us to be more inspired, more creative and more hopeful. It is all possible.

December 23-31: The focus of this time is on clarity. Clarity of truth, clarity of what brings you joy, clarity of your direction, clarity of what needs to be complete and what needs your attention. This is a good time of year to make an inventory of anything that just does not feel right and decide what you are going to do about it. Watch for health issues around joints and bones during this time as the main “structures” supporting your body.

Part of your inventory should include an assessment of all the structures in your life and whether they are supporting you in ways that serve you or not. Structures are also containers and you might find that some have leaks, some are too small and some don’t hold together because they are just not meant to be. The categories are anything from relationships to work to study to personal environment to new projects, old projects, health support, where you get your knowledge and information and who you go to for any kind of support. When you find something lacking, instead of getting upset or self-judging about it, practice the compassion of the month and be kind to yourself and to others that you perceive to have “let you down”.

The New Moon on the 28th will be a good time to make choices and commitments and set goals about how you will be changing what needs to be changed.

December 28: New Moon is Wednesday, December 28 at 11:54 PM Mountain Standard Time (MST). This is a great day to bring in new expanded ideas about how you can improve your life. Remember to include kindness in all of your interactions with others not only on this day but throughout the whole month.

In your goal setting and new intentions be sure to include how you will use your inner masculine to support how you want to show up in the coming year and what action you want to take to improve your life and stay in that higher vibration and the positive aspects of the higher centered times.

Have a great month!

Lena

What’s green, enjoys the sunshine, drinks water and can improve the quality of air in your house? If you guessed a houseplant, then you are correct!

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), indoor air pollution is one of the greatest risks to public health. On the surface, it may not look like anything is taking place, but, when the air is stale, pollution can build up and attach itself to items around your house. If this goes untreated, your health can be at risk.

You do not have to start an entire garden, still, adding a few houseplants throughout your home can significantly improve indoor air quality. Here’re 9 houseplants that eat up pollution.

Spider Plant

Besides its cool name, the spider plant is a great place to start for beginners. All these plants need are water and indirect sunlight, and they will flourish. Once they store up enough energy, they will begin producing flowers that turn into baby spider plants aka spiderettes. Soon you’ll have tons of spider plants all over.

Peace Lily

One word sums up the peace lily, and that is “beautiful.” This houseplant is darn near impossible to kill and will improve the quality of air in your house. To keep the peace lily healthy, provide it with water and damp soil. The plant will do the rest of the work, removing ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from the air in your home.

Snake Plant/Mother-in-law’s Tongue

You’ll see this plant in many offices, restaurants and homes because they are easy to take care of, impossible to kill and don’t need much sunlight. They remove benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene and xylene from indoor air.

Garden Mum

NASA named this houseplant as one of the most air purifying plants in existence. They are relatively easy to maintain and cheap to buy. They remove ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and xylene from the air in your house.

Dracaena

The dracaena is a great plant for your house, unless you have pets, as they are toxic to both cats and dogs. There are over 40 different kinds of dracaena plants that all remove benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and xylene from the air. The hard part is picking which kind you like best.

Ficus

The Ficus houseplant typically stands between 2 to 10 feet tall and can be grown both indoors and outdoors. The ficus removes benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde from indoor air.

Boston Fern

Are you looking for a way to clean up the air in your bathroom? Then the Boston fern is the perfect thing for you. This houseplant grows best in chilled places with high humidity and indirect sunlight. They remove pollutants like xylene and formaldehyde from the air.

Bamboo Palm

If you are looking for a houseplant that doesn’t grow too big or tall, then the bamboo palm plant is not for you. They can grow to be up to 12 feet tall! However, with their length and reach, they are excellent air filters. They remove benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from the air.

Aloe Vera

You might have encountered aloe vera lotion or shampoo while browsing the aisles of your favorite supermarket. The base ingredient comes from aloe vera the plant. This plant is small it stature but is a powerful air filter, and grows wonderfully near windows throughout all seasons. It is even an excellent choice in New England, Canada, and Northern Europe — when the weather is icy outside, aloe vera will help your home looking beautiful and your air clean, inside.

Blog via David Wolfe