Seasonal Wellness: Spring | Part 2

In my previous post we learned about seasonal wellness, living in tune with nature’s natural rhythms, and what the season of spring has to teach us.  Likewise, we reviewed “spring cleaning” along with some of my favorite tips for cleansing your physical space.

It’s not just our physical space that we can cleanse. We all have a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual body. Spring is also a good time to look at cleansing not just space, but our minds, emotions, spirits, and bodies.

A quick note: Because our mind, emotions, spirit, and bodies are all connected, when we cleanse one aspect, we often begin to see benefits in the other.  For example, cleansing the body through exercise and diet, helps us to clear our minds and boost our emotions.  When we feel emotionally and in our physical bodies, we also “lift” our spirits.

The following is a few suggested practices for cleansing. In my own practice, I typically pick one or two areas to focus on. Spring has a sense of effortlessness to it; plants don’t strive to grow. Naturally, with the lengthening of the days, we become more active, and absorb more Vitamin D. So look at these practices as a welcomed boost, not as a struggle.  Use your own good discernment and judgement on a cleansing practice that feels right for you. I do not recommend any extreme “dieting” or exercise regimens, and please consult with a primary care physician before embarking on any extreme dietary cleanses.  Remember, spring is about releasing and making way for new growth. A mantra at this time is: I release old energy and make way for new growth and beauty in my life.

Mind

A-typical to the majority of folks, I tend to put forth new annual goals and intentions forward in spring as opposed to the New Year. Nothing says “no thanks” to new goals like another 3.5 months of winter, here in Minnesota. I keep winter for more of the inner work.  Come spring, it feels like the best time for me to focus on what’s ahead. I have found that the best way to “cleanse” my mind is to give my mind something to focus on. For some, spring is an excellent time to meditate and clear the mind.  For active exercises, I recommend:

• Creating a new vision board
• Writing out your intentions for the next 6 months and year ahead
• Locating a new area of interest and pursuing self-study on that topic

To make room for new ideas and mindset, it’s important to first clean out the old.  In my last post, I wrote about clearing out old books, papers and information. When we clear out the old, we make room for the new.  If you are a student, be sure to weed through books you intend to keep or those you can donate. Be clear about the notes you want to keep. Spring is an excellent time to get a new journal or notepad.

To clear the mind, I also recommend working with the body. Active, rhythmic exercise is a wonderful way to drop out of the head space and move back into the body.  We can actually clear the mind through this process.  Some recommendations are gardening, running / jogging, yoga, or active meditation.

Body

For the last 8 years I have done a spring cleanse every year.  This has changed in intensity, from “The Master Cleanse” to simply cutting out stimulants and meat. As a longtime runner, it just felt right to prepare my body for the outdoor running season by hitting the reset button on my diet.  Each person is different. I intuitively feel what is right for my body each year. Some years, my physical activity is too great to support a calorie-restrictive cleanse. Other years, I Vitamix soup and smoothies, with restorative exercise.  If you intend to do a body cleanse using diet, I recommend taking an honest look at what is doable for you personally, and aim to set an intention of self-kindness and restoration, over intensity.  Remember, spring is about renewal.

Interestingly, when we cleanse the body, often times we may notice anger, resentment, and even sadness rise to the surface.  Cleansing the body is a great way to also release emotions. The gut is referred to as “the second brain.”  Our repetitive eating patterns reflect the way we feel about ourselves and those feelings are stored in the gut. By cleansing, we are releasing ourselves from physical patterning that can result in emotional release as well.  So be kind, loving and gentle during any dietary cleansing.

If you would like to cleanse the body, but prefer to not to do it through diet, here are a few other helpful recommendations:

• Epsom salt baths
• Massage - you can also do this on your own, such as an Ayurvedic sesame oil practice
• Tapping
• Qigong active exercise
• Exercise paired with salt baths or steam rooms

Spiritual / Emotional

For purposes of my recommendations, I am going to link the spiritual and emotional bodies.  Here are 3 recommendations to reset your spiritual / emotional bodies for spring:

Smudging:

In my last post we talked a great deal about space cleaning. Another way to space clean is through using sage smudge sticks to clear your office or home.  I house this under emotional / spiritual because we are actually clearing energy from a space and old, stuck emotions when we are “space clearing” with this method.  There is plenty of information in books and on the internet on how to do this, so I won’t go into detail  However, I always recommend that smudging is done with intention.  Typically, I recite an intention while I smudge a home or office.  Here is an example: All negative energies, emotions, and beliefs leave this space and this home, now. Thank you.

Essential oils:

For many of my clients, myself included, I recommend using essential oils to clear negative emotions or to boost emotions.  I use a diffuser throughout the day to diffuse small amounts of essential oils into my office and home. I test which oils are best for me at a given time, however, most essential oil companies have blends  or information on what emotions each essential oil is helpful in releasing or boosting.  When going this route, I recommend doing some research into the quality of ingredients and where they’re sourced.  Some oils can be expensive, but in this case not all oils are created equally.

Emotional healing:

Well, of course, I had to outline my favorite source of emotional and spiritual cleansing, emotional healing.  Emotional healing is unique in that it can impact all areas of self: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Springtime is a wonderful space to cleanse your energy. Likewise, pairing emotional healing with another form of active cleansing can create magnificent results in your overall wellness.

Here's to springing forth new energy and new beginnings!

Solar Plexus: Accessing Our Inner Power

It’s time to explore our own inner power and there’s no better place to look than the solar plexus chakra.

*To get an overview on the seven chakras, you can visit my earlier post here: Chakra Crash Course

The Solar Plexus

This chakra is located right in the stomach area below the sternum.  This is the home of our self identity, the ego, and energetic vitality. The solar plexus governs liver, pancreas, digestive system, spleen, and gallbladder.  

FAST FACTS:

• Color: Yellow
• Essential Oils: Lemon, grapefruit, and other citrus scents
• Music Note: E
• Element: Fire

Lessons from the Solar Plexus

The solar plexus is in the chakra of the Self, our: esteem, worth, identity, and instinct. Individuals who have a healthy solar plexus walk the planet with the ability to generate personal power and confidence from within. This is an inner reservoir of strength and vitality, propelling will and intentions into actionable reality.

The solar plexus is where the ego resides. Often there can be a misconstrued beliefs about the ego.  Some might think that the ego is harmful and needs to be destroyed. I myself have found, corroborated by a few respected mentors, that the ego has a purpose to serve.

Think about it, our ego essentially differentiates our energy from the energy of others.  

When we discern what is our energy, our body, or our thoughts we’re at the same time taking responsibility for our health, our energy, thoughts, actions, and outcomes. In many ways the ego helps us to take ownership over our lives.  

Imagine a great garden without ownership:
Who would make sure the seeds were put in the ground in this area?  
Who would do the weeding on the south quadrant?

The ego helps us to establish what part of the great garden is ours to plant, care for, and reap harvest.  A healthy ego is much the same: we accept the areas of life where we can use our personal power to create change.

If our ego is underdeveloped, we’re often in other people’s gardens, pulling up weeds, while our own garden is malnourished and unattended.

If we’re too much in our ego, then we’re harvesting fruit from gardens that are not ours and that we did not help to plant or maintain.

Patterns of Imbalance

The solar plexus governs our digestion, our ability to receive and process vital nutrition.  This chakra also governs mental thought. Scientific studies have found that young people in school perform better when they have access to healthy, nutritious lunches. Proper nutrition impacts our ability to absorb nutrition and new information. When we are not nurturing ourselves, we are not learning or growing. The stomach and the brain are connected.

The following can be indicators of a solar plexus imbalance:

• Low vitality / sluggish
• Pessimism / moodiness / depression
• Digestive issues and food sensitivities
• Liver issues
• Excessive worry and nervousness
• Mental confusion / “clouded thinking”

As we have explored in other chakras, patterns of imbalance happens on a continuum. Sometimes this center is under energized, and at other times we are in excess of energy, holding onto and stagnating the center.

As an a facilitator, here are some of the emotional imbalances commonly seen in the solar plexus.

If we have an over-exercised solar plexus you may notice the following in yourself or others:

• Unhealthy competition
• Deep entrenchment in right or wrong, black or white, all-or-nothing thinking
• Close-mindedness, singular thinking
• Perfectionism, inflexibility
• Judgement and criticism
• Exaggerated sense of self-esteem; excessive focus on self
• Using power to control others
• Shape-shifting, wearing social masks

When we do not have enough energy in this center, you might notice in yourself or others:

• Lack of personal responsibility, low willpower
• Victimhood / self victimization
• Damsel in distress energy
• Low energy, feeling incapable or weak
• Low self-esteem
• Indecision / compulsive distraction
• Lack of energetic boundaries
• Loss of personal identity

Healing the Solar Plexus

In an emotional healing session, we are clearing old belief systems and games (patterns of control) that no longer serve us. This clears out emotional blockages in our chakra system, including in the solar plexus.

When healing this chakra with my clients we are often visiting teenage years when our identities are being formed and expressed in the world.  The decisions we make about ourselves at this time play out in our 20’s, 30’s, 50’s and beyond. If we decided at a young age that we are not good enough, we repeat this cycle of belief in our actions and the circumstances we create in our lives.

In addition to emotional healing session work, there are a few practices I often recommend to help boost the solar plexus, and consequently our personal power and vitality:

Nurturing the Body

Nurturing our bodies creates clarity of mind and is a practice in self-love. Consistent, small changes can create dramatic results. Begin to pay attention to how you feel with what you eat and drink.  
Do you feel heavy and lethargic after eating a certain food?  
Or flighty and chaotic?
What does your body need more of?

I have found Ayurvedic medicine to be an enlightening place to learn about a holistic approach to eating well.  Deepak Chopra’s “Perfect Health,” is a great place to start. An even simpler method is to bring awareness to diet and self-nurturing.  Asking the question: “What best serves my body and spirit today?” and making eating choices from this perspective can create tremendous healing.

Nurturing the Mind

Another way to nurture ourselves is to bring awareness to how we feed our minds. We are absorbing millions of bits of information every second of every day. Often we do this unconsciously. We spend time on social media, watching the news, or absorbed in the same conversations with the same people.

When we feel stagnation, frustration, and uninspired, I typically recommend my clients take a look at the information they’re taking in. Simply be aware.
How do you feel streaming social media sites or watching the news?
What’s the last book you read? Was it inspirational or in a new area of study?
Who do you spend your time with? Big-thinkers or complainers?

I challenge my clients to nurture their minds as well as their bodies. Surround yourself with big-thinking people, read books that inspire growth, and put your attention on the good and growing in the world. After all, when we feel good we do good.

The solar plexus teaches us that the way to experience light, vitality, and strength in the world around us is through the nourishment of our own bodies, minds, and spirit. Our only responsibility is to live in the full power and expression of our own inner light.

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Resources:

Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide, Revised and Updated Edition

By M.D. Deepak Chopra

A great intro to nutrition through Ayurveda:

Seasonal Wellness: Spring

Okay, I might be just a tad late to the party on this post.  Spring comes quickly in Minnesota, and with it a short window for me to turn gardens, re-build fences, and other projects before my seedlings turn into teenagers and hit the garden bed. Luckily, we have another month in the Northern hemisphere before we technically start summer.  So let’s get crackin’:

Seasonal Wellness explained

It’s been my experience that we can learn a great deal from nature.  We are a unified whole, meaning we are reflected in nature and nature is reflected in us. This is referred to as “mirroring.” Living in Minnesota, I get the full taste of every season, and in every season there is a natural rhythm that I find reflected in myself:

• Spring brings cleansing, intention, and rebirth
• Summer is growth, action, and extroversion
• Fall is the great harvest, a time to celebrate, take inventory and release the old and dying
• Winter is the unconscious, a time of inner reflection, and rest.

Seasonal wellness simply means that you live in rhythm with the cycles of nature. We can tap into and use this energy to live in balance with the natural cycles of wellness that nature provides. All we need to do is look to nature for guidance.

Cleanse, Release, Rebirth

Spring is the energy of rebirth. Although, in my experience, it’s mighty difficult to spring forth something anew, if you’re still swimming in old stuff.  And I’m not just talking about holey socks. I’m really serious about spring cleaning in my world. To me, the more that I am willing to cleanse and release, the more space I am making for new growth to take place - just ask my grapevines.

To jump start your own season of new growth here are some of the most powerful spring cleaning practices I use. We’re going to start first with clearing space: this is your home, apartment, room or office. In following posts, we’ll be exploring cleansing the mind, body, emotions, and spirit.

Space Cleaning

This one is the most obvious, and yet the most misunderstood.  Quite frankly, I could write a series of blog posts on this particular practice alone, but I’ll cut to the good stuff.

After two of my dear friends were fundamental in helping me land into my first house, I gifted each of them with a book on Feng Shui. I am a big proponent of Feng Shui. I believe that our consciousness is reflected in the space we keep.  After both reading the book, I got multiple calls and emails telling me just how much they appreciated the gift and the huge difference it made in their homes and in their lives. Like our minds, our homes unconsciously collect stuff and after weeks, months, even years of occupying a space it’s easy to allow bad energy to collect and go unnoticed.

Think about it: Have you ever stepped into a space and just felt good? Energy flows really well through the space.  Plants grow, fresh air and light, happy people, beauty all around you.

Ever stepped into a space that made you feel bad, ill or confined? Energy feels trapped, stagnant and even oppressive. Think about that space.  Was anything growing there?  Were the people happy?

Whether we’re aware of it or not, the space we keep deeply impacts our feelings in everyday life.  Just check-in with yourself and the space you keep:

Can you start and finish projects with ease?
Do you feel joyful, optimistic and light-hearted?
How are the relationships within your home?
If it’s an office, how do people feel when they arrive compared to when they leave?
What grows in your home?

Now that we’ve created a bit of awareness, let me offer some of my favorite tools for cleansing your space:

Creating Space by Decluttering

Sounds simple.  Essentially, decluttering is donating, fixing, or finding the proper place for your items. Because this is a fairly straight-forward method to space cleansing, let me offer a few things you may not have considered when decluttering space in the past.

Joy: Ask yourself honestly when considering an item: Does this bring me joy? Often times we are gifted with something or held onto something for so long, we don’t ask ourselves how an object makes us feel. We can even feel obligated to hang onto something that was a gift. When we let go of items that don’t bring us joy, we release our own sense of obligation, and create an opportunity for that item to bring joy in someone else's home.

Defining ourselves by the past: Old, outdated photographs are a big one. Look at the images and art that surrounds your house.  Do you have positive, loving feelings with the people in those images? Or are you surrounded with mementos from old relationships, jobs, or painful experiences?  For me, books are a big one.  I am a big reader.  I look on my shelves and ask the question: Are these books I would read now? When I clear out old books and information, it creates space for me to be inspired by new ideas and inspiration.

Symbols: I remember catching a clip of a reality TV show where a very sick woman was bedridden and above her headboard were preserved, dead butterflies. (Butterflies are usually considered a the totem of transformation - think about what having a dead butterfly would then imply).

If you were to walk into the space you occupy and look on your walls, not knowing anything about the person living there, what information would you learn about yourself?  Symbols speak to our subconscious mind. If we surround ourselves with images that evoke feelings of lack, limitation, loneliness, and sadness then that is a good indication of the information we are feeding our subconscious mind.

In your office, ask yourself: Are the photos and items indicative of the place I want to be in my career or livelihood?  
In your bedroom, if you’re seeking a relationship: Are the images of one solitary person? Or are they of two love birds or images that support your desires?  And if you are married, or have children: Are the images in your bedroom supportive of a loving couple and romance?  Or are images of friends, children, or work surrounding and infringing on your personal relationship space?  

Be intentional, and release anything that isn’t the truth of who you want to become.

Quick tips:

1. Remove anything dead from your home, particularly plants.
2. If you have difficulty growing plants, well-placed silk plants and crystals (especially in windows) can bring good energy and flow to a space.
3. Closets, basements, and book shelves typically collect a lot of stuff.  A thorough sweep in spring is a great way to refresh these areas.
4. Clear first. If I know I’m in need of new clothing, I go through my closet first to see if there is anything I haven’t worn in awhile. Likewise, I clear my yard before I plant. By clearing out first, we create space for new growth.
5. Bless and release.  Before dropping off a donation, I always give thanks for the items I have to give, I also intend for these items to be a blessing into the lives of someone else. When you send good energy out, good energy flows in.

It’s a wonderful feeling to physically cleanse a space, you can feel the opportunity all around you, the ultimate gift of spring.  In the next blog post, I’ll give some tools for taking this same energy to the mind, body, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our lives.  Until then, happy spring and happy cleaning.