8 Reasons why you need an Energy Healing Yoga Retreat in Spain

The Importance of Loving Yourself

“Love yourself like your life depends on it, because it does.”

“Our feelings about ourselves are actually the most important barometer for determining the condition of our lives.”

Anita Moorjani

 

The energy of Love is the most powerfully healing energy of all.  For this reason, when we raise our own vibrational frequency to that of love, we find profound healing on all levels, especially the soul.

The truth is by learning to love yourself, you are more able to find love in others and in everything around you. It makes sense if you think about it. How can you truly love anyone or anything else, if you cannot first love yourself? Or more to the point, how can you expect anyone else to truly love you if you cannot love yourself? The whole idea of loving others more than you love yourself is energetically out of balance. Energy likes to move in circles and likes to be balanced. Your giving and receiving need to be equal if you are to feel true peace and happiness within your soul. If you give more than you receive, you will end up giving from a place of lack and this doesn’t help anyone. I like the analogy with the oxygen mask on an aeroplane. You are always advised to fit your own oxygen mask first, so you can attend to others from a place of strength. There is nothing to be gained by depleting yourself to help others. There is what I call the Selfish jump to get over. It is important to nurture and love yourself and cater to your own needs first. This may seem selfish at first. But it is not selfish. It provides you with the energetic resources you need to give more of yourself. You are, in fact, helping others to a greater extent and able to give more to more people, if you first receive what you need. So, you owe it to others, to put yourself first!

So now you have decided to put yourself first and start showing yourself some much needed love. But where do you start?  More often than not, you have put your own needs on the back burner. You have probably forgotten about them and lost sight of them.  How can you start on this journey of self-Love?

Remember it is all about making yourself feel good. It’s all about surrounding yourself with the energy of love.

In my opinion, the first thing to do is find yourself a few powerful affirmations to repeat, write, recite every morning, noon and night. I recommend learning your affirmations by heart, so you can repeat them while washing the dishes, cleaning your teeth, while taking the dog for a walk, driving to work…you get the picture. I always think eight is a good number for affirmations. Too many at once and you won’t remember them all and too few and you won’t transform so quickly.

Now for a quick lesson in Sway Testing so you can test how much you resonate with certain affirmations and beliefs. Affirmations are basically beliefs. So, standing upright with your feet shoulder width apart, arms by your side and your shoulders relaxed, close your eyes and turn your attention to the subtle, slight, involuntary movements of your body. Take deep, slow breaths as you focus on tuning into your body’s natural flow of energy. Repeat the affirmation “I love and accept myself completely”. Wait a few seconds for the energy of the words to penetrate your energy field and see which way you sway.

You may need to focus on the muscles in your feet as you do this at first.  Obviously the muscles in our feet are well trained to keep us upright so focus on whether you are subconsciously using the muscles in your feet to stop you from swaying forward or backwards. Repeat the belief again. Try and connect with the energy of the words you are saying. Where do you sway? If you sway forwards, you already resonate with this belief. If you hover, then it’s an affirmation you could certainly use and if you sway backwards, then it’s an affirmation you need to add to your list.

The classic “I love and accept myself completely” should always be in your list, even when you test positive to it. Once you resonate with the energy of really, truly and unconditionally loving and accepting yourself, you will find it an absolute joy to repeat these words to yourself so enjoy it!

However, if this classic “I love and accept myself completely” affirmation doesn’t resonate with you at all yet, then why not try “I’m willing to love and accept myself”. Even if you haven’t mastered the technique of sway testing yet, you can usually “feel” how much the energy of an affirmation resonates with you. Some people feel a lump in their throat as they repeat the words. This is the body wanting to release whatever sadness, or other negative emotion, it is that is stopping you from loving and accepting yourself completely. Some people want to cry which is great because this is your body releasing the negative energy stopping you from loving yourself. Some people burst out laughing as they say these words, which, of course, is a defence mechanism to the negative emotions coming up. Saying your affirmations in front of a mirror will be more powerful. It really is a process so please don’t give up.

Other super healing self-love affirmations include:

• I am lovable
• I deserve to be loved
• I am worthy
• I trust myself
• I accept my imperfections as opportunities to learn valuable lessons in my life
• I have confidence in myself

See how these affirmations make you sway or feel. Remember, the less you resonate with them, the more you need them in your daily list.

Repeat your list of affirmations at every opportunity.  Write them down. Especially at the full moon. Make them part of your daily behaviour and routine. Soon you will begin to enjoy them. They will start feeling more comfortable. Keep going. This is seriously one of the most healing things you could do for yourself.

Expressing gratitude is also an effective route to self-love. Give gratitude for all the things in your life that you love. Write a list of everything you love about your life, your job, your friends, your family, your home, your pets, your health etc! Keep this going until you feel “fluent” in pouring out your love. Then progress to writing a list of all the things you love about yourself. No one is going to read it so just go with it. Even if they are not strictly true yet. Maybe they are your desires. Write them down anyway, as if you really loved those aspects of yourself already. As if they were fact. Keep it going….you will soon see a difference.

Another way to express love for yourself is to think about what you would like to receive from others as signs of love. Maybe buy yourself a potted plant. Treat yourself to a meal in your favourite restaurant for no reason except you love yourself and you are worth it. What else do you associate with being treated?  A massage maybe? Give yourself permission to book in regular massages or other treatments usually reserved for special occasions. Show yourself the same level of love, respect and kindness that you would show a loved one. Be your own best friend.

Self-massage infused with love really works wonders on building one’s Self Love. Using your favourite aromas and essential oils, massage your body slowly and lovingly remembering to give gratitude and love to each body part as you go. Allowing yourself the time to do such acts of Self Love sends a signal to your subconscious that you are worthy and deserving which, in itself, is healing. The infusion of love and gratitude energy will raise your vibrations. It’s a relaxing, healing and healthy way to express self-love. Say lovely things to and about yourself as you work around your body. Even if the compliments are half-hearted in the beginning, it will get you in the energy flow of appreciating different aspects of yourself. It’s all about that energy flow!

My final suggestion here, to raise your self-love, is to show random acts of kindness to others. I love this one. You don’t need to receive anything in return and in some cases the recipients may not even know the kindness came from you. Try it and see. Just offer random acts of kindness to the next person you see that would benefit. This is one of our Soul’s main purposes in life and one of the best ways to heal it. Giving, receiving and sharing the energy of love.

***

If you would like help with installing the life-changing belief of loving and accepting yourself completely, then please do get in touch to book a private PSYCH K healing session with me. Or maybe you need to install more positive beliefs surrounding money so you can attract your financial abundance?

I offer a Free 30 minute Consultation Session by phone or Skype to discuss your personal needs and which healing path is best for you at this stage of your spiritual journey.

Love and Blessings

deborah@deborahjanesutton.com

The Evolution of the Soul: your path to greater Forgiveness and Acceptance

Forgiveness and acceptance seem to be a stumbling block for many people on their healing and spiritual journey and there has been much written about the need to forgive others and/or accept situations.

Of course, forgiveness is not about condoning the behaviour of others, nor is it initially about making the perpetrators feel better – although, this can be a worthy second step to forgiveness.

The first step to forgiveness, is, however, all about you, your health and your energy. When there is a need to forgive, the chances are that there are trapped emotions of anger, resentment, bitterness, heartache, guilt, blaming, frustration, jealousy, humiliation, betrayal, abandonment……the list goes on. It is these trapped emotions that are the problem – releasing these is where you will find the relief and energetic shift you seek.

As Mark Twain said,

“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”

So, step one, releasing trapped emotions.   What is a trapped emotion?    The Emotion Code

Step two to Forgiveness and Acceptance comes from Understanding.  Understanding raises Awareness. Awareness puts everything into perspective. And I believe this awareness can be found at Soul Level and comes from understanding the Soul, its journey and its evolution.  Understanding the different stages of Soul Evolution shines a new light on, not just your life, but the world around you.

There are many versions of the different stages in life. Some referring to the stages within a single incarnation. Others referring to the stages of the Soul throughout all its incarnations. And some referring to both. Some relate to the Chakras of our energetic body. Some relate to levels of consciousness.

The Soul Age Stages here relate to stages of the soul throughout all its incarnations.

We first incarnate as infant souls and through a series of choices, lessons and experiences over the course of many life times we evolve. We haven’t always been nice people which some people don’t like to hear but it makes perfect sense as we have been learning and growing from our experiences and choices along the way and that’s what it’s all about. There is no judgement here – of yourself or others.  You wouldn’t judge a baby for not being able to feed itself and you wouldn’t expect a toddler to be able to drive a car. Keeping this idea in mind will really help you understand some of the difficult people you encounter in life.

As Jesus said,

“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

 

Infant Souls deal with issues of survival. Life is primitive and usually focuses on fear.  These souls flourish in simple environments close to nature. Infant souls focus on being alive and their learning experiences include survival, physicality, mortality and environmental awareness. Infant souls have no concept of wrong doing so without the loving guidance from older souls who can teach them right from wrong, they may react violently to perceived threats and commit anti-social and immoral acts. They are purely instinctive. Untarnished by culture. Without conscience and fearful of life.

Baby Souls have a need for structure and they tend to follow beliefs based on dogma.  They love following and enforcing rules, such as religious rules. Baby souls focus on belonging to a culture and their learning experiences include rules, roles, law and order, crime and punishment and social awareness. They are typically moral and law-abiding citizens but suffer from rigid thinking. They thrive when surrounded by like-minded souls and can be very community orientated but have difficulty accepting others who do not follow their dogma and can become judgemental.  They are conformists.

Young Souls are very success orientated and set high standards of personal achievement. They are goal setters and goal getters. They recognise their personal power and are very assertive. Their experience of life is competitive, industrious, restless and independent. Winning is important to them and they want to leave an impact on society. They value their personal power but view it as something unique to them and tend to separate themselves this way. Young souls focus on being a free agent and are here to learn independence, self-advancement, personal achievement and free will.

Mature Souls are emotional and relationship orientated. Their focus is on their inner world and exploring self-awareness. They are empathic and reflective. Their experience of life is self-aware, emotionally dramatic and intense.  They question everything, have a growing understanding of self and are literally soul searching. Mature souls tend to focus on co-existence with others and their learning experiences include interdependence, relationships, empathy, intimacy and self-awareness. These souls are far happier when they can be good, and share good and they crave to live in a loving world.

Old Souls seek the bigger picture and tend not to be materialistic.  They are more detached and have a live and let live approach to life. Their experience of life is relaxed, philosophical and spiritually minded.  They are a source of wisdom. They appear untroubled and stable although they can have problems integrating into a society that does not follow Divine laws.  Old souls focus on being part of all that is and are here to learn, among other things, autonomy, non-attachment, wise counsel and spiritual awareness.

Soul ages and levels of consciousness are not two of the same. You can be a mature soul, for example, stuck at a certain level of consciousness. It’s all about what you came here to experience. However, the levels of consciousness can be characterised and summarised in a similar fashion. This serves the purpose of raising your awareness so that you can, not only, better understand yourself and your present path but also better understand those around you. This, in itself, helps develop tolerance, forgiveness, acceptance and non-attachment. It also helps to not take things personally which, in my experience, opens the door to greater inner peace and happiness.

Levels of Consciousness

Our consciousness can be compared to a lens through which we view and perceive the world. As we raise our consciousness we change the lens and our perceptions change causing a change in our reality. The perceptions, beliefs, mindsets and values we hold right now are a result of the consciousness we are operating in. Whenever we experience a shift in our consciousness, we are actually breaking away from our old consciousness and as a result, away from our old belief systems and attitudes.

Your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values and actions reflect the level of consciousness that you are vibrating at. While the object you are observing, whether it be your life, world events, a person or a situation, can remain the same, just having a different consciousness level, and therefore perception, causes your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values and actions to be widely different. This explains the famous quotation by Dr Wayne Dyer, about changing what you see by changing the way you look at it. For example, what do you see when faced with the playground bully? Do you see a nasty piece of work who needs to be taught a lesson by having a taste of his own medicine? Or do you see an angry and hurt child who is just crying out to be accepted and loved?  How do you view failure? Something to bring you down and shake your confidence? Or something to learn from and raise your motivation?

 

Adapted from Dr David Hawkin’s Scale of Consciousness

 

Level/Emotion	Level of Vibration
Enlightenment (Purple – 7th Chakra)	700 – 1000
Peace/Bliss (Indigo – 6th Chakra)	600
Joy/Serenity (Indigo – 6th Chakra)	540
Love/Reverence (Blue – 5th Chakra)	500
Reason/Understanding (Blue – 5th Chakra)	400
Acceptance/Forgiveness  (Green – 4th Chakra)	350
Willingness/Optimism  (Green – 4th Chakra)	310
Neutrality/Trust  (Green – 4th Chakra)	250
Courage/Affirmation  (Yellow – 3rd Chakra)	200
Anger/Hate   (Orange – 2nd Chakra)	150
Desire/Craving  (Orange – 2nd Chakra)	125
Fear/Anxiety  (Orange – 2nd Chakra)	100
Grief/Regret   (Red – 1st Chakra)	75
Apathy/Despair  (Red – 1st Chakra)	50
Guilt/Blame  (Red – 1st Chakra)	30
Shame/Humiliation   (Red – 1st Chakra)	20

 

Where someone falls on this chart will depend on their over-riding emotion. That is to say, their natural state of being.  We can all feel angry sometimes or even guilty but that does not mean it’s our over-riding state of being.

So at the bottom of the chart we have shame and guilt; the two emotions with the lowest frequency.  People with this level of awareness will experience a lot of blame and humiliation in their lives. Moving up the chart you can see apathy accompanies a feeling of despair. Apathy being, of course, when one doesn’t care about anything. People at this stage of the chart are usually depressed and struggling to take action. They feel like life is against them and they are often stuck in victimhood. Anger comes considerably higher, which surprises many people but if you think about it, you have to care about things to get angry. Caring is good! We often view anger as such a negative emotion, but on reflection, it’s a very healthy stage to go through.  It shows you want to change things and leads the way to courage, willingness and optimism.

I have found, while running the Heal yourself to Happiness Retreats, that my guests usually fall in this green area. That is to say the Heart Chakra area.  Often, just the intention and action of coming on the Retreat is healing for them.  It clearly shows they are both willing and optimistic and have dragged themselves out of a state of neutrality. This becomes very evident when what they are working on is very often acceptance and forgiveness. This paves the way for them to move into the blue level, that of the throat chakra where they find themselves with a need and a desire to express themselves. Not only verbally by being assertive and authentic but also at soul level by acknowledging and using their gifts and innate soul characteristics.  This is where the journey within really begins. At least, on a conscious level.

As we approach the level of love and joy on the chart, we start to see the world with new eyes and a heart full of love and compassion for all living beings of consciousness. We see beauty and miracles everywhere.  We can reason. Understand. Accept. And forgive. There is a peace which resides within. The peace and bliss at level 600 and above is found in the likes of the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Eckhart Tolle and Mother Theresa to name a few, although it should be pointed out that, as energy, we are always changing and thinking and it is therefore possible to move both up and down the chart at any given time. Each thought has a frequency as does each action.  According to Dr David Hawkins, Adolf Hitler went from 450 to 45 during the course of his life time.

Without judgement, you can now hopefully, not only see where you are on your Soul’s journey, but also understand that others do not and can not have the same view point, beliefs and goals as you do.  As I said at the beginning – you wouldn’t expect an infant to have the same priorities as an adult. We readily accept that young children don’t share our abilities. We don’t judge them – we just offer them love to help them grow. Likewise we can forgive ourselves and accept love from others to help us grow.  It really is the same thing.

Looking at this chart really brings it home, the importance of raising your vibrations. Not only for your own health, happiness and success but also for the sake of the planet. Dr David Hawkins provides some interesting figures in his book Power vs Force (1994). He says that the overall level of human consciousness tests as being just over 200, and only 4% of the population test over 500 and 1 in 10 million over 600. He goes on to claim that just over 2% of the population generate 72% of society’s problems. However, here is the best motivation to raise your vibrations: one individual at level 400 counterbalances 400,000 individuals vibrating below level 200. One individual at 500 counterbalances 750,000 below level 200 and one individual at level 600 counterbalances 10 million below level 200.

So now you can see that by pouring anger and other negative emotions onto wrong doers will only serve to keep their vibrations low as well as lower your own vibrations.  What’s the point of that?  Only love can help them raise their vibrations. And only love will help you raise yours.

So you can also see that raising your own vibrations and keeping yourself feeling good is paramount if you want to heal the world. Look after yourself, do what your heart desires and make yourself feel as good and as excited as you can as often as you can.  It’s not selfishness. It’s love. And it will help raise the consciousness of the whole planet!

In my conclusion on the subject of the Stages of Soul Evolution and Consciousness Levels, I relate each level to a corresponding belief.

 

1. A belief that the world is not a safe place and that it operates on a dog eat dog basis.
2. A belief that there is a higher power but that it is separate from you and you have no control over it. eg. most religions/fate
3. A belief in your own power to change things but that power is your own personal, individual power.
4. A belief in the power of love.
5. A belief in one’s higher self and a power that comes from its connection to the Universe.
6. A belief that we are all pure consciousness within our individuated human bodies.

 

“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.”

Rumi

Or, as I like to think, we are the whole universe in one body.

This is a summary of Chapter 3 from my second book Heal your Soul: A Simple Guide to Understanding and Healing yourself on a Spiritual Level to create greater Health, Happiness and Success

Deborah Jane Sutton

Heal yourself to Happiness

How to Change the Way you Think (with PSYCH K®)

Everything is energy. I know I’ve said it before and I’m sure it won’t be the last time I refer back to this fact.  Why?  Because when we view everything as energy, it makes healing, especially energy healing, so much easier to understand. Greater understanding leads to greater awareness and greater awareness leads to greater healing and abundance.

So everything is energy including our thoughts and beliefs. Negative thoughts and beliefs vibrate at a low frequency and are toxic to our bodies. Positive thoughts, on the other hand, are high vibrating and, by the law of attraction (“Like attracts Like”) attract more positive energy to you in the form of people, experiences, desires etc

Sometimes we are aware of our negative thinking, especially when we’re beating ourselves up with negative self talk. However, much of the time we are not aware of our deep rooted beliefs.  These are the beliefs we take for granted and have never questioned and these are the beliefs we were programmed with at an early age by parents/teachers/society etc.  These are the sub-conscious beliefs.

Psychological Kinesiology (PSYCH-K®) is the simplest and easiest way to reprogram your subconscious mind in order to change the negative beliefs and habits that are not serving you and thus creating positive beliefs and opportunities to improve every area of your life.

Our beliefs are the foundation of who we are.  These beliefs are the result of lifelong “programming,” and represent a powerful influence on human behaviour.  It is from our beliefs that we form attitudes about the world and ourselves, and from these attitudes we develop behaviours and habits.

Beliefs have far-reaching consequences, both positive and negative, in every area of our life. They affect our mood, relationships, job performance, self-esteem and even physical health. It is so important that we learn how to identify beliefs that are limiting us and how to change them into beliefs that support us.

Our beliefs (or attitudes, values, etc.) are drawn from past experiences and stored in the subconscious mind. While we may be mostly unaware of their influence on us, they “direct” our actions and behaviours. These subconscious beliefs create a perceptual filter through which we respond to life’s challenges. They form the basis for our actions and reactions to each new situation in our lives.

The ability to perform effectively, both personally and professionally is profoundly affected by such beliefs as “I am good enough”, “I am safe”, “I am worthy and deserving” or “I am prosperous”.  Beliefs establish the limits of what we can achieve. As Henry Ford famously once said, “If you think you can or if you think you can’t…you’re right!” This is especially true when the beliefs are subconscious.

 

“If you think you can or if you think you can’t…you’re right!”

                                                                                                                              Henry Ford

 

Why are beliefs so important?

 

Because our beliefs establish the limits of what we can get!

Gandhi said …

• Your beliefs become Your Thoughts
• Your thoughts become Your Words
• Your words become Your Actions
• Your actions become your habits
• Your habits become your values
• Your values ​​become your Destiny

 

Most of us agree, and behavioural scientists confirm, that our behaviours are a direct reflection of our beliefs, perceptions and values, generated from past experiences. Scientific research has also found that the human cell actually stores memory and is capable of being reprogrammed. This is where the PSYCH-K® process does change lives.

Developed by Robert M. Williams, M.A in 1988, it was tested extensively for 10 years before being offered to the public. Using Kinesiology, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Acupressure, and various healing systems, PSYCH-K® is a safe, non-invasive, effective way to dissolve resistance to change at the subconscious level.

How does Psych-K® work?

Basically, PSYCH-K® increases the “cross-talk” between the two brain hemispheres, thus  achieving a more “whole-brained” state. This is ideal for changing subconscious beliefs and facilitates communication with both the conscious and the subconscious minds to change old sabotaging belief patterns into supportive ones. The subconscious mind accumulates and records information at over 40 million bits per second, storing memories in a timeless manner while the conscious part of our brain processes data at only 2000 bits per second and has a limited, 20-second memory capacity.

So if you have a subconscious belief that “you’re not good enough” or “you’re not worthy of the best that love and life has to offer,” it’s generating at 40 million bits per second. The conscious mind, running at 2000 bits per second, usually cannot compete. It then creates conflict between the conscious and subconscious minds resulting in stress in the cells. This stress compromises the immune system and creates dis-ease in the body. Through a series of specific balances, strategic body positioning, affirmations, and visualizations designed to bridge the right and left hemispheres of the brain, the self-limiting belief is re-scripted at the level of the subconscious until reprogramming is complete.

This process is rooted in biological mechanics. If you want to read more about this and the science behind PSYCH K®, Dr Bruce Lipton, PhD, in his book The Biology of Belief, has scientific data linking the biology of beliefs and the psychology of change.

 

Using Muscle Testing (Kinesiology), we can identify which positive beliefs are not in alignment with the subconscious mind.  People don’t always know which negative beliefs they are hanging onto that are most sabotaging their success in life.  Being able to identify these is key. Obviously, as they are subconscious beliefs,  people are not aware of them. The first step of identifying the most limiting negative beliefs is, in itself, a major eye opener for some.

I have seen first hand at our Heal yourself to Happiness Retreats, on a number of occasions, the power of installing positive beliefs with this method.  It can be quite emotional because at every stage of the process you are, quite literally, releasing the energy of the negative belief that has been denying the counter positive belief.

This is especially healing and life changing when installing the beliefs “I am worthy” and “I love and accept myself completely.”

 

Message me to book your appointment now and change your life through the power of self-love and PSYCH K®

Deborah Jane Sutton

deborah@deborahjanesutton.com

 

 

¿Qué es PSYCH K®?

La kinesiología psicológica (PSYCH-K®) es la forma más simple de reprogramar la mente subconsciente para poder cambiar las creencias y lo hábitos negativos que no nos están ayudando, y crear en vez, creencias y oportunidades positivas para mejorar todas la áreas de la vida.

 

Nuestras creencias son la base de quienes somos. Estas creencias son el resultado de la programación de toda una vida, y representan una potente influencia sobre el comportamiento humano. Son nuestras creencias las que crean nuestra actitud ante la vida, y ante nosotros mismo, y de esta actitud desarrollamos nuestro comportamiento y nuestros hábitos. Las creencias tienen consecuencias a largo plazo, tanto positivas como negativas, en todas las áreas de la vida. Afectan a nuestro humor, a nuestras relaciones, al rendimiento profesional, a la auto estima e incluso a la salud física. Es muy importante que aprendamos a identificar las creencias que nos limitan, y a cómo transformarlas en creencias que nos apoyan.

Nuestras creencias (actitud, valores, etc.), son extraídas de experiencias del pasado que han sido almacenadas en la mente subconsciente. Aunque no seamos conscientes de su influencia sobre nosotros, dirigen nuestras acciones y nuestro comportamiento. Estas creencias subconscientes crean un filtro a través del cual respondemos a los retos que nos encontramos en la vida. Ellas forman la base de nuestras acciones y reacciones a cada nueva situación de la vida. La habilidad para actuar de forma efectiva, tanto personal como profesionalmente, está en gran medida afectada por creencias como “soy suficiente”, “Estoy seguro”, “Soy valioso y merecedor de cosas buenas” o “Soy próspero”. Las creencias establecen los límites de lo que podemos conseguir. Como decía la famosa frase de Henry Ford, “Tanto si crees que puedes, como si crees que no puedes… tienes razón” Esto es especialmente cierto cuando las creencias son subconscientes.

 

De acuerdo con Bruce Lipton PhD, biólogo celular y reconocido autor de, “La Biología de la Creencia.” Y “El Efecto Luna de Miel”, el mayor obstáculo para obtener el éxito es la programación subconsciente de creencias que nos limitan.

 

¿Por qué son las creencias tan importantes.

 

¡Porque nuestras creencias establecen los límites de lo que podemos conseguir!

 

Gandhi dijo …

• Tus creencias se convierten en Tus Pensamientos.
• Tus pensamientos se convierten en Tus Palabras.
• Tus palabras se convierten en Tus Acciones.
• Tus acciones se convierten en Tus Hábitos.
• Tus hábitos se convierten en Tus Valores.
• Tus valores se convierten en Tu Destino.

 

La mayoría de nosotros estamos de acuerdo, y los científicos que estudian el comportamiento están lo afirman, que nuestro comportamiento es un reflejo directo de nuestras creencias, percepciones y valores, generados por experiencias pasadas. Los estudios científicos también han demostrado que las células humanas tienen capacidad para almacenar información y también tienen la capacidad de ser programadas. Aquí es donde entra el PSYCH-K® y su capacidad para cambiar vidas. Fue desarrollado por Robert M. Williams, M.A en 1988, y lo probó durante 10 años antes de hacerlo público. Usando la kinesiología, la Programación Neurolingüística (NLP), Digitopuntura, y otros sistemas de sanación, el PSYCH-K® se convierte en una forma segura, no invasiva y efectiva de disolver la resistencia al cambio a nivel subconsciente.

 

 

¿Cómo funciona Psych-K®?

 

Fundamentalmente, el PSYCH-K® incrementa la comunicación entre ambos hemisferios del cerebro, consiguiendo así un estado más “integrado-mental”. Esto es idóneo para cambiar creencias subconscientes y facilitar la comunicación entre la mente subconsciente y la consciente para cambiar viejos patrones de creencias perjudiciales, y convertirlas en creencias que apoyan a la persona. La mente subconsciente acumula y guarda información a una velocidad de 40 millones de bits por segundo, y almacena esta información de forma permanente, mientras que la parte consciente de nuestro cerebro que procesa la información va a 2000 bits por segundo y tiene una capacidad de memoria de 20 segundos.

 

Así que si tienes una creencia subconsciente que dice: “No eres lo bastante bueno.” O “No te mereces lo mejor que el amor y la vida te pueden ofrecer”, se está generando a 40 millones de bits por segundo. La mente consciente, que va a 2000 bits por segundo, no puede hacerle frente. Entonces crea un conflicto entre la mente consciente y la subconsciente lo que produce estrés a nivel celular. Este estrés pone en peligro el buen funcionamiento del sistema inmunológico y crea enfermedad en el cuerpo. A través de una serie de equilibrios específicos, posiciones estratégicas corporales, afirmaciones, y visualizaciones diseñadas para crear un puente entre los dos hemisferios cerebrales, las creencias limitantes se pueden re-escribir a nivel subconsciente hasta reprogramarlas por completo.

 

La kinesiología puede ser muy precisa a la hora de detectar verdades subconscientes, como también para detectar estrés en el cuerpo. Ya que la mente subconsciente controla el sistema motriz del cuerpo, como el movimiento de los músculos, este mecanismo “integrado” nos proporciona información muy acertada sobre si el subconsciente está o no de acuerdo con una afirmación sobre una creencia concreta. Este proceso nace de la biología mecánica. Dr. Bruce Lipton, PhD, posee información científica que une a la biología de las creencias con el cambio psicológico. El PSYCH-K®  permite y proporciona la capacidad de tomar control sobre la vida. Cambiando la programación, creas la vida que deseas, de forma rápida, sin esfuerzo y sin la necesidad de tomar medicamentos o psicoterapia.

 

Cuando Bruce Lipton conoció a Rob Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcq0Of5k8nA

How The Emotion Code Changed my Life

Physically:

The first of my “physical” issues to be healed by The Emotion Code (Energy Healing System) was my underactive Thyroid Gland.  I had been told 8 years previously that I would need to take medication for the rest of my life to raise my level of Thyroxine.  With one session of The Emotion Code and with the release of 5 trapped emotions* my Thyroid Gland was balanced and from that day on produced “normal levels” of thyroxine.

Personally I found it a real relief to be drug free – it has saved me a lot of time visiting doctors, repeat prescriptions and going to the Pharmacy!  We should all strive to avoid pharmaceutical drugs if we can, don’t you think?

(*For further information on “What is a Trapped Emotion” and “inherited trapped emotions” click here.)

The second “physical” issue was eczema.  I have written the word “physical” in inverted commas because as we can see, these “physical” ailments actually had an “emotional” cause.  Anyway, the eczema would flare up when I was overtired or stressed and would appear in little patches on the back of my neck.

Well, while using the Emotion Code to release the underlying cause of the eczema a few trapped emotions came up as well as an inherited trapped emotion* from my maternal gene line which is no surprise really because both my mother and grandmother suffered from the same eczema patch when they were stressed.

Another “physical” issue healed with the Emotion Code was one of weight.  We can use The Emotion Code to release the underlying causes of weight too.  I should point out that there are many ways to release trapped emotions but in my opinion The Emotion Code is the fastest, most thorough and most effective.  A session of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), however, helped me release some intense emotions which kick started my weight loss and further sessions using The Emotion Code enabled the weight loss to continue – 20 kilos in total!

It’s not so much weight loss that occurs but rather I lost the need to eat so much – I became very aware of when I had eaten enough and was physically full whereas before I had been trying to satisfy my emotional hunger not just my physical hunger and I couldn’t tell the difference.   Now, if I find myself overeating I realise it’s an emotional issue and can use The Emotion Code to release the relevant trapped emotions.

 

Emotionally:

Sometimes we are aware that we have trapped emotions, for example, of grief when someone we love dies.  We have all seen (and some of us felt) the process when grief takes its course but when we think we may not have processed it all completely The Emotion Code is ideal for releasing emotions still trapped and lodged in our bodies long after our loss.  Also, from any traumatic experiences we know we’ve been scarred from eg divorce, war (PTSD), violent scenes, bullying.

 

I have used The Emotion Code to release unprocessed emotions from traumas in my life including grief when my father died.  Sometimes we don’t know we’ve trapped emotions from certain events in our life and often I find people deny they have trapped emotions, almost as if it’s some kind of weakness to have them.  EVERYBODY has trapped emotions – you can trap an emotion after losing your favourite toy as an infant, from anxiety on your first day at school, from a parent or teacher raising their voice at you – everybody has them!  And once we’ve trapped one, other emotions of the same vibrational frequency will be attracted so causing a blockage to the natural healing energy of the body.  This is how mal-function and illness occur.

I used to experience panic attacks whenever I got on a plane or found myself in places where I couldn’t get out.  This issue took a few sessions to heal completely and was finally resolved after releasing trapped emotions of Panic and Shock from previous lives.  (Weird but true!)

I’m going to include The Heart Wall here – under “Emotionally”.  Once bitten twice shy.  We all protect ourselves by building a Wall around our Hearts.  They can be very effective at keeping pain and heartbreak out but unfortunately they work both ways and keep us from feeling TRUE love and joy and this, by the Law of Attraction, prevents us from attracting TRUE love and joy into our hearts.

Once I had released my Heart Wall using The Emotion Code I learned how to love myself (this is a BIG one for anyone who wants to Heal anything and move forward with their life) and with this new raised vibration of love and joy I attracted my, now, husband into my life!   I have seen this happen for so many of my clients too, when their Heart Walls have been removed.  I love it!

 

Releasing blocks to moving forward in life:

When using the Emotion Code we can ask simply if there are any blocks to receiving, having, earning, keeping money or any blocks to moving forward, fulfilling our purpose, realising our dreams etc  Sometimes we may need to refer to The Body Code as these can often be limiting subconscious beliefs that we picked up in childhood eg I’m not worthy, money is the root of all evil, I can’t………………….etc  But very often it is FEAR which holds us back and this can be released with The Emotion Code.  Fear of the unknown, fear of trusting in the process of life, fear of failure – there are many kinds of fear holding us back.

When I wanted to give up my day job to concentrate on my passion, my calling which is to Heal and teach Healing techniques I was overwhelmed with “fear”.  How will I make ends meet?  What if I fail?  I used The Emotion Code to release this inevitable fear and other trapped emotions when I took my “Leap of Faith”.  It was exciting, challenging and I felt the need to stay focussed but I wasn’t fearful and I have certainly NEVER regretted it!

The Emotion Code really has changed all areas of my life for the better.  I often turn to it to raise my vibrations or in times of need and not just for me.  My family members have also improved their health with Emotion Code sessions. Even the dog is no longer scared of the vet!

 

for more information on The Emotion Code and how it can help you, please get in touch deborah@deborahjanesutton.com

Love and Blessings

xx

3 Steps to Releasing Emotional Energy (and not trapping it)

As an Energy Healer who specialises in Emotional Healing with The Emotion Code, I talk a lot about trapped emotions:  in particular,  what they are, how they get trapped and how to release them.

However, I have also been asked by many clients, who have cleared a load of trapped emotions, how they can prevent trapping more emotions in the future especially when “life just happens”.  This is an interesting and practical concept and one that I have found a need for myself recently so here is my simple but essential 3 step guide to avoiding the energy of negative emotions from lodging in your body somewhere, causing you blockages, mal-function and illness.

1.  Acknowledgment

We’re here to express ourselves at Soul level through our humanity and that involves embracing life and all it has to offer. You can read extensively about how we can prevent a lot of negative energy and emotions in the first place by choosing our friends carefully, learning to meditate to maintain more peace within and by generally avoiding negative situations and drama etc.

This is all very well but sometimes negative emotions still creep in and you know what, sometimes, even, they are meant to.  Life is not about avoiding negative emotions all together – some, eg: grief,  go hand in hand with positive emotions – so they cannot be avoided. It’s about knowing how to deal with them when they arise so their energy can pass through you and not get stuck.

Like all energy (including us) emotional energy wants to be acknowledged.  It wants to be noticed, appreciated, maybe learned from, maybe acted upon but whatever else you do with it, it wants to be acknowledged.

Too often in our culture we are encouraged to hide our emotions – big boys don’t cry, stiff upper lip and pull yourself together etc.  This is exactly how we stop negative energy from passing through our fields and causing it to lodge somewhere within us – only to cause us issues later in life.

Maybe we feel we shouldn’t feel a certain way because other people have it worse or maybe we judge ourselves too harshly by believing we shouldn’t feel a certain way.

But you know what – it doesn’t matter what other people are feeling or not feeling – comparing ourselves to others is never a good thing.  And judging ourselves is just another form of self criticism, is it not?  Another form of self-abuse and beating ourselves up. Definitely to be avoided at all costs.

Sometimes we just don’t want to admit to feeling a certain way eg: jealousy. Or maybe we just don’t like the feeling negative emotions give us and we choose to bury them so as not to feel them. But that’s the whole point of negative emotions – they have come to us to be felt.  They have come to us for us to process. They have come to us as a message from our bodies, from our hearts – a message we need to heed in order to grow.

“Denying yourself the experience of pain is denying yourself the

experience of growth.”

 So allow yourself to feel the emotion.  Don’t pretend for whatever reason that you’re not feeling them – they are part of your humanity. Give yourself permission to feel the sadness, the grief, the heartache, the jealousy, the pain whatever it is.  Be kind to yourself.

Self-love here – always important.  Give yourself the time, the solitude and the situation in which you can just sit and be so you can feel and acknowledge the sensations within.  Verbalise it.  Use an affirmation to focus your intention.

I allow myself to feel this pain. 

I give myself permission to truly feel this pain. 

I am ready and willing to feel this pain.

I am ready and willing to listen to my body now.

Please note that I am not suggesting a prolonged state of “wallowing” in one’s negative emotions here but a healthy amount of acknowledgement before moving onto the next step.

2.  Process it.

Like all energy – our emotional energy wants to move, it wants to flow. Like water it will go stagnant and bad if it is prevented from flowing.  This is why it’s best to be on your own for this part.  Most good friends, however well meaning they are, will encourage you to stop crying and it’s exactly this stopping of crying that is suppressing the emotional energy.

I often see my clients and guests crying – and, to be honest, I think of it as something to be celebrated – after all, the negative energy is coming out – it’s the most healing practice our bodies have – having a good cry. It’s literally energy in motion and that’s what we want. The energy moving out – passing through our energy fields.

So crying is the number one way to process the pain. Encourage the tears as you visualise the negative emotions moving through your body and releasing.  There are a number of other ways we can process our negative emotions.

Writing in a journal is a favourite for many.  Just find yourself a pen and paper and start writing.  Write how you feel. Describe the emotions. Vent any feelings around the situation onto the paper.  You can do it in the form of a letter to a specific person or even a letter to the Universe.  Keep going, writing anything – whatever comes to mind. As you feel a wave of emotion, write it all down.  As you feel the emotions begin to subside you can turn your writing into a gratitude list and start focusing on the positive.

In addition to writing your emotions out of you, you can also sing them out!  Or dance them out – or in my case, Yoga them out!  If you set your intention (sankalpa) before your yoga practice of processing these negative emotions you will find that, firstly, you may feel the need to cry during your practice and, secondly, that you will feel heaps better afterwards. Very cathartic.

Of course, all sports and physical activity can be cathartic as is painting, drawing etc  So find your preferred outlet to process your negative emotions and you’ll even find it enjoyable to do so.

3.  Release it.

Releasing your negative emotions is pretty much dealt with during the processing stage but you can use affirmations and gratitude to confirm the release of certain emotions.

I release all negative energy from past experiences and let go of any toxic conclusions made.

I release all feelings of fear, sadness, grief, heartache, anxiety, despair…….now and set myself free.

I am grateful for the release of “this” emotional energy

Gratitude is a powerful energy.  And as “time” is just a wibbly wobbly line in reality, we can use Gratitude in Advance which is super powerful.

Thank you for the release of this emotional energy. Thank you for the lessons and growth from this pain.  I am grateful for its release now.  All is well in my world.

                                                                                             And so it is.

 

Let me know how you get on.  Please share your comments below and get in touch if you’d like help with releasing trapped emotions or coaching in how to do it for yourself.

Love and Blessings

Why we need to love unkind people – The Bigger Picture

I had this quote (Be kind to unkind people, they need it the most) on the wall of my classroom for years in my primary school teaching days. When focusing on the school playground and its bullies, this quote was very effective.  When faced with an unkind comment, I encouraged the children to turn to the unkind speaker and give them a hug!  I think it was the embarrassment of the situation that stopped the young bullies in the end rather than seeing the error of their ways but either way, it was effective!
People realise now that most bullies are unhappy and inside they are hurting. They lack self love, love for the world around them and lack self-respect too. Most of us can take all this on board and let their comments go over our heads choosing to believe and understand that their comments are not really personal to us and that they say more about them than they do about us.
But where is the line here? How bad does the bullying have to be before we stop being so understanding? Is it when the bullying gets physical?  Or does it depend on the reaction of the person being bullied? Whether they are affected by it and to what extent?

In the clip below, Prince Ea takes this concept to the extreme with his comments and title on Why I Love Terrorists. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so easy to apply this “Be Kind to Unkind People” idea, eh?  although terrorists are surely just the playground bullies all grown up, no?

Prince Ea

What I’d like to do, though, is to explain how all this loving unkind people really works – it might help you react more lovingly to challenging situations in the future.

If you haven’t come across it before, I’d like to introduce you to Dr David Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness.

 

The number relates to the frequency at which that particular emotion vibrates. So basically, negative emotions vibrate at lower frequencies than positive emotions, which is why releasing low vibrating trapped emotions is key to raising your vibrations. Obviously, we can feel a range of emotions but this relates to our overriding emotional state (or rather it’s the overall average of our emotions that determines our consciousness level). So which emotion on this chart best describes your feelings the majority of the time?  It gives us a good indication of what frequency your body is vibrating at (we can actually measure this with our muscle testing skills)
As we know, like attracts like. So, we attract experiences, people, situations and emotions that resonate with the same frequency as us. If we radiate anger energy we will attract anger energy. Again, that’s why we want to literally raise our vibrations as much as we can so we naturally attract a better quality of life in all areas.  Keep in mind that every moment of our day we are either moving towards health or sickness depending on the emotion we are feeling and that explains why it is so crucial to think – and feel – positively.

Right, here’s the really interesting bit – which I also found in Dr David Hawkins’ book Power vs Force. 
In 1994, when the book was first published, the overall average level of human consciousness stood at 207. I’d like to think it’s slightly higher than this by now. Human consciousness was dangling at below the 200 level (190) for many centuries before it suddenly rose up to 207 some time in the mid 1980s. For the world to stay at levels below 200 over a prolonged period of time would cause a great imbalance that would undoubtedly lead to the destruction of all humanity. The power of the few individuals at the top of the chart (ie: those with a higher frequency) counterbalances the weakness of the masses.

And here are the most interesting facts.

• 85% of the human race calibrates below the critical level of 200 where their overriding emotion is negative. If you look at the world today, you can see this. Even a lot of do-gooders are angry, right?
• 1 individual at level 300 counterbalances 90,000 individuals below level 200
• 1 individual at level 400 counterbalances 400,000 individuals below level 200
• 1 individual at level 500 counterbalances 750,000 individuals below level 200
• 1 individual at level 600 counterbalances 10 million individuals below level 200
• 1 individual at level 700 counterbalances 70 million individuals below level 200
• When one’s consciousness falls below 200 at any given moment they start to lose power and thus grow weaker and more prone to being manipulated by one’s surroundings.
• Everything calibrates at certain levels from weak to high including books, food, water, clothes, people, animals, buildings, cars, movies, sports, music etc.
• A lot of music today calibrates at levels below 200. Hence it leads to behaviour associated with lower energy levels of consciousness.
• Most films will weaken people who watch them by bringing their energy levels down below the 200 level of consciousness.

So, you can see now, how looking after yourself and raising your vibrations will raise your consciousness level and therefore counterbalance more people with a lower level frequency. This in turn will help raise the overall level of consciousness of the planet creating more world stability and peace. So this is how you owe it to world peace to do whatever you can to raise your own vibrations and make yourself feel as good as you can. Self- care not only feels good, but IS good for you, those around you and the whole planet.

This also explains why I refuse to watch cruelty to animal videos.  It’s not because I am a hypocrite and want to pretend it isn’t happening – that’s not the case at all.  But watching a heart breaking clip will only result in lowering my vibrations, filling my head with negative images and thoughts and how will that help the animals? Whatever I choose to do about animal cruelty will be more effective and helpful to them with my vibrations and consciousness level as high as it can be.

In addition to this, responding to bullies and other violent perpetrators with anger and revenge will not only result in lowering your vibrations but also result in lowering those of the planet as a whole. Sending love, however, will help raise both the offenders frequencies and those of the whole planet. See? After all, we are all connected, right?
This does not mean we are accepting, condoning or approving of violent behaviour – of course not – but love really is the answer here and sharing it with everyone, especially those who need it the most, really is the way forward. This becomes clear when you can see the bigger picture.
If you’d like to find out how you can actively raise your vibrations – get in touch to arrange your free 30 min consultation with me.
deborah@deborahjanesutton.com

Where does Happiness come from?

Where would you say happiness comes from? Are you happy? If so, where does your happiness come from? Many would say money played an important role in the creation of happiness. Although we often see images of poor children in poor countries playing happily in the streets. We also see, unfortunately too many times, wealthy children from wealthy countries unhappy, distracted by trivia and sometimes even suicidal.  So we can count money out as a factor causing or creating happiness.

I’m sure it’s got more to do with the poor kids playing outside in the fresh air, concerned with genuine and worthy tasks like collecting water for the family compared to the western world’s teenager stuck in their bedroom in a closed flat, in a polluted city playing violent games on their device……..etc. Extreme scenarios, I admit, but you get the picture.

Health will also be seen as a happiness generating factor for many of you and, yes, it is hard to feel happiness while in severe pain, I understand. However, pain aside, we can see from examples such as Nick Vujicic (https://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/) with his tag line “no arms, no legs, no worries” that physical health is certainly not the overriding factor to finding true happiness.

Some would cite Love as being relevant as to where happiness comes from and to some extent I have to agree.  The love of others is important as is loving others. But these are not as important as loving the self. Where does that come from? Loving the self? If you run an inner dialogue of self loathing with yourself then you clearly do not love yourself and are clearly not truly happy. Changing these negative thoughts about yourself into positive ones will help but many will say that’s easier said than done.  Thoughts are, therefore, an interesting topic.

So, before we explore the subject of happiness further, I would like to discuss thoughts. After all, happiness can be subjective, right? We may think we’re happy. Or we may think we’re not happy.  We may compare ourselves to others. But who can ever measure happiness anyway? How do you even know if you’re happy or not? Is there a scale of happiness?  How do we know how far up the scale we are or, more importantly, how high does the scale go and how can we get to the top of it?

Thinking is important, right? We all know we have to think positively.  So let’s start there. Our thoughts.  Where do they come from? Where do your thoughts come from? Think about it.

Our thoughts are such a massive part of who we are (and what we create) and they are so personal to us – so where do they come from?  The obvious knee jerk answer is that they come from our mind.  So, where is our mind?  Think about it.  Where is your mind?  We can lose it, we can change it, we can speak it and it can wander – but where is it? Some may say in our brains.  We know where our brains are.  Our brains are physical. Within our skulls. Our heads. Our craniums.

So, does a dead man (woman, human..) have a brain?  Yes, of course. Does he have a mind?  Does he have thoughts?  I think not.

Let’s take this dead man and compare him with a live body and ask a few more questions.

How does the live body see?  Through his eyes I hear you say. But the dead body also has eyes but he cannot see.

How does the live body hear? For the dead body has ears but cannot hear.  He has a mouth and tongue but cannot speak.

If I asked you to raise your hand in the air and then asked you how you managed to do that, you’ll probably say with the use of your muscles and yes,  you’d be partially correct but what about the dead body.  He has muscles too but cannot lift his arm.  He also has a heart, but cannot feel.

If I asked you where you get your energy from you’ll probably say “food” which, I guess, to a certain extent is true but the dead man has the remains of his last meal in his stomach yet he has no energy.

The dead man also has no intuition, inspiration, creativity, personality or dreams. He cannot make any decisions – negative or positive.

So what is the overriding difference between the live body and the dead body?

Physically, the only difference between the two bodies is that one is still breathing and the other one isn’t.  One is inhaling and exhaling and the other one isn’t. But it’s more than that, isn’t it?  Because one is still thinking, dreaming, inspiring, digesting, feeling, seeing, hearing, deciding, caring, loving……….being.

So, although the only difference between these two bodies is that one is breathing and the other one isn’t,  with that breath comes all the other differences: health, ideas, thoughts, intuition, dreams, love, joy, awareness, visions, consciousness, happiness, personality and oxygen. That’s why Yoga teachers, Energy Healers, Energy Psychologists and the like call it our Life Force energy and not just breath.

If our thoughts come to us through our breath, then so do our ideas, our decisions, our intuition, our visions, our positivity and our creativity. And from these come our choices, direction and subsequent success, right? All from the breath. This is our guidance. We follow the guidance we receive with each breath.  We follow the ideas and answers we get from our thoughts which come via the breath. When we want to clear our minds we go outside and breath more deeply. We go to the sea to feel healthier. We all feel better having spent time in nature and fresh air.  We know all this but most of us never really acknowledge that the Native American Indians and Bob Dylan had it so sussed. “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind!” This is how our life force energy comes to us: through the energy we breath (and the energy we take in through our chakras but that’s another story!) So our energy is ultimately coming from the Universe – consciousness itself.  It creates our connection with Source Energy. The Divine. The Creator. Whatever you want to call it. This is where we get our guidance. Following our guidance in the form of ideas and intuition (and for some in the form of more direct communication from their guides) leads us to being better able to creatively fulfil our life purpose. Our gifts and life purpose are usually things we feel passionate about. Using our gifts and fulfilling our life purpose, therefore, makes us feel good. It raises our vibrations. Brings us success. And makes us happy!

The Life Force Energy is also (full of) love. It is this energy of love that heals the body. It detoxifies our cells. We have seen this with Dr Masaru Emoto’s work on Water Crystals (http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/water-crystal.html) His work shows how the energy of love and gratitude, among other positive energies, can cleanse, purify and detoxify water molecules.  Let’s not forget that we are 70% water and everything is energy, right? So we can also use the energy of love, gratitude, appreciation etc to heal ourselves.  The Life Force Energy is full of love. Visualising this love entering our bodies with every inhale is so simple yet so powerful.  The sub conscious mind cannot differentiate between reality and imagination so if you imagine the healing, it will become your reality.  After all, images in a horror film can make us scared. Images of a sexual content can make people feel sexy. So images of your life force energy healing you with love can, quite literally, heal you with love!

We also use the breath to help us meditate. Focusing on our breath helps us clear the mind, relax the body and go within where we can find any amount of peace and joy.

The breath also brings oxygen to areas that need it. It is well documented that cancer cells thrive in deoxygenated environments and they do not multiply in well oxygenated environments. Why is this? I am not a doctor and don’t claim to be. I am not qualified in conventional medicine and don’t purport to be. I’m just making the point that our breath needs our respect. More than we give it. Our breath is so much more important than we realise. Our breath brings with it our healing.

This also explains why Pranayama (Breathing Techniques) is such a major part of Yoga and one of the 8 limbs of Yoga according to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Pranayama uses the breath to control the body – it’s relaxation, health, fitness, balance and ability to meditate. Powerful stuff!

Everyday we see sports people using their breath to strengthen, not only their physical bodies, but also their resolve. We see divers using the breath to maximise their diving experience. Stage performers and speakers will intuitively take a deep breath before entering the stage.  Likewise, fear and panic are associated with drawing in quick, short, shallow breaths – that lack love and life force.

Ultimately, it is so simple and so easy to change so much of what we perceive as wrong in our lives. Most people think their feelings and emotions affect their breathing but we can turn this around and see that our breathing can affect our feelings and emotions. That’s a better concept, don’t you think?  More empowering. It gives us more control over our feelings and emotions. We can breathe ourselves to happiness!

We should point out here too, I guess, that we, as humans, can go weeks without food, we can go days without water but we can go only a few minutes without breathing. Our breath is more than just our oxygen. And it does more than just keep us alive. As we have seen, it is our whole life and the basis for everything in it. Our breath is our Soul and, as such, it is the basis of who we are and who we want to be. Who we can be. Most importantly, our breath provides us with everything we need: our health, our guidance and our happiness.

So go on and breathe yourself to Happiness!

4 Ways you Can Practice and Benefit from Yoga without Getting Up!

In my attempts to encourage people to take up Yoga, I hear so many crazy excuses as to why they (think they) can’t, from “I can’t sit on the floor” to “I haven’t got time” to “My shoulder/knee/back/foot hurts” to simply and, more honestly, “I can’t be bothered.” Well, today, I’m here to tell you that you can STILL practice Yoga despite all of the above excuses! And, of course, these 4 ways are ideal for anyone chair bound to still enjoy some benefits of Yoga.

According to the Sacred Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, there are 8 limbs to Yoga and the physical postures, known as “Asanas” are only one of the 8 limbs.  So, I’ve picked (or adapted) some of the other 7 limbs for you to try. Can I point out too, please, that they can all be done anywhere and everywhere – so no excuses!

As Yoga is essentially a preparation for meditation, the “limbs” begin with preparing ourselves in some way and then our surroundings and then they focus on the physical body (asanas) and later moving into the breath (pranayama) and then the last few limbs relate to the different stages of meditation and connection. For any experienced Yogis out there, I apologise for the simplification I am about to provide but my aim here is to show those new to the practice how we can easily benefit from other aspects of Yoga practice.

1. Yama

Yama is the first limb and is broken down into 5 smaller sections, which basically relate to being a good person.  So the first way is, in fact, 5 ways! The first being Ahimsa which is the practicing of non-violence.  Sounds easy, eh? I’m sure you are not physically violent in nature but it also refers to our thoughts and not just our deeds – and beating yourself up with your inner talk is definitely not Ahimsa. So back to those positive affirmations about self love here – to help you avoid any negative thoughts about yourself or others.

Other Yamas include Satya which is about being honest with yourself and others and Asteya which translates as non-stealing.  When we think of stealing we easily relate the word to possessions and money but it can mean so much more than that. Bullies steal the confidence and self esteem of their victims, chronic complainers steal energy from their listeners, manipulators take what is not readily given to them.

If you take something which is not willingly given to you, then you are not practicing Asteya.

Brahmacharya is usually translated as continence meaning to “hold in” and relates to conserving your energy (in all its forms) and only directing it where it is needed to go. It includes self-control and also not wasting time and effort.  The last Yama is Aparigraha which translates as non-covetness and relates to not being greedy and taking only what you need at that time.

On reflection, to fully live by these Yamas is not as easy as it initially sounds but just making progress in these 5 areas of life can make a huge difference to our health and happiness. After all, it’s all about the energy – and everything is energy, right?

2. Niyama

This is the second limb of Yoga and also breaks down into 5 sections but, don’t worry, we’re not going to go through all of them.  I am only focusing on the areas of Yoga you can practice when it’s too hot to do anything else or you are feeling too lazy to do anything else!  So I am just picking the fourth Niyama today which is Svadhyaya. Svadhyaya refers to studying scriptures and self study but can be related to everyday life as reading/listening to inspiring words and writing some sort of journal or gratitude list. There’s plenty on the internet these days to inspire us so just set the intention to be inspired and start surfing!

Writing freely is also a great way to release “stuff” and gratitude lists are an excellent way to help us see what we have and what we desire and basically where we’re at (self-study). Reading back over these journals is a great way to acknowledge your progress especially on those days when you need a little extra encouragement.

3.  Pranayama

This is the breathing limb!  Prana is often translated simply as “breath” but it is SO much more than that so I prefer to use the term “life force energy”. The word yama translates as control or technique so together pranayama relates to the control and techniques used in breathing in the life force energy. There are so many different techniques to help us focus on inhaling prana (breathing) but, don’t worry, I’ll just include my favourites here.

Ujjayi

This is the deep breath, often accompanied by a raspy sound from the back of the throat, which concentrates on taking the breath all the way down to the belly and allowing the belly to comfortably expand with the inhale and relax with the exhale.

Most people when taking a deep breath sub consciously hold their bellies in and extend their chests. Try it and see if you do the same. This subconscious act deprives the lower abdomen of receiving its full quota of vital life force energy. By allowing the breath to come all the way down and by not worrying about the belly expanding as far as it naturally wants to you can really nourish this lower abdominal area (sacral chakra). This is particularly healing for any digestive or gynaecological problems. Try it and see – let me know how you get on with it.

Nadi-Shodhana

This is one of my favourites and works with balancing the right and left sides of the body by balancing the prana flow through the right and then left nostrils in turn. Block one nostril and inhale slowly (allowing the belly to expand), hold for a second or two, and then block that nostril, unblock the other nostril and exhale slowly. Inhale again through the same nostril that you just exhaled from and hold for a second or two before exhaling out of the other nostril. Repeat for as long as is comfortable for you.

This balances our feminine and masculine energies, our ida and pingala, our yin and yang – whatever language you prefer!  By the way, this practice is excellent for easing menstrual and menopausal symptoms!

Kapalabhati – often called fire breath.

This technique takes some practice but is so worth it.  We focus on our exhale and almost force the breath out using our abdominal muscles to ensure we have exhaled completely. Allow the inhalation to happen naturally before focusing on the next exhale.  With practice you can get faster with this breathing pattern and it’s super energising!

4.  Meditation 

As stated earlier, the last 4 “limbs” of Yoga all relate to Meditation or the preparation of meditation. Pratyahara refers to the withdrawal of our senses as we begin to focus within.  This is the aspect of Yoga that allows monks to meditate for days on end without moving, eating or drinking.  It focuses on detaching from the physical body and therefore the  physical senses. Needless to say it would take a life time or two to master this one.

On our Yoga teacher training course, we practiced Yoga a few times in the park with an army of flies that were determined to distract us – they gave us the perfect opportunity to practice our pratyahara. The deeper into meditation we went the less these flies could bother us!

Dharana refers to the concentraion stage of the process and Dhyana is the actual meditation before you get to Samadhi which Google translates as “a state of intense concentration achieved through meditation. In yoga this is regarded as the final stage, at which union with the divine is reached (before or at death).”  This is where most of us struggle with our Yoga practice so let’s bring it back to a level we can all relate to.

For those of you who read my first book Heal yourself to Happiness, you will know I dedicated a whole section to the topic of meditation.  Meditation simplified, in my opinion, just means putting your conscious mind to one side for a while and letting the subconscious come to the fore. We do this naturally without thinking so many times during the day yet we don’t realise this is the beginning of meditating.

Do you ever “drift off” in thought while driving a familiar route alone? Or while doing the dishes? It’s like day dreaming. That moment just before you fall asleep or that moment you awaken.  We often experience this relaxation of the conscious mind during exercise, painting, doing crafts, puzzles, gardening, cooking……….in fact, usually when we’re doing something we love that we find relaxing. That is the feeling we want to create which is why it’s so important to spend time relaxing and doing the things you love.

If you can nurture this feeling and deepen it then you’re well on your way to meditating.  This is when you get all your bright ideas, creativity, inspiration, intuition and guidance for this is when your spirit guides can communicate with you more clearly.  This is why meditating is so healing because it gives you the answers you need through your own intuition. Your own inner guidance system. Perfect!

So there you have it.  Four ways you can practice Yoga without even getting up!  Let me know how you get on.
Love and Blessings
xx