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10/6/2020 0 Comments

Member Spotlight: Deborah Brodey

This week's spotlight is Deborah Brodey - Transformation Guide, Yoga Teacher, Vocal Sound Healer and Ceremonial Artist. We invite you to learn more about Deborah as she shares her take on her work, as well as some tips and advice for a healthy, fulfilling, and happy life.

Stay tuned for a follow-up article this Thursday, showcasing our Community Engagement Coordinator's personal experience receiving Deborah's services!
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Deborah Brodey
Transformation Guide  Yoga Teacher
Vocal Sound Healer
deborahbrodey.com
Contact Deborah
1. How would you describe your work, to somebody that doesn't know anything about what you do? ​
I am a Transformation Guide, Yoga Teacher, Vocal Sound Healer & Ceremonial Artist and I guide healers & Changemakers who are out of alignment with their self care to come into Radical Self Nourishment so they can unleash their full power, potential & creativity.

My passion is to create transformative learning/healing spaces and experiences that are co-creative and facilitate:
  • Radical Self Nourishment
  • ​Access to your own wisdom & knowing
  • Your healing
  • Your truth
  • Your presence
  • Your unique Voice

I am the founder of the Radical Self Nourishment Program which I am currently teaching online through my Free 5 Day Challenges and my 7 Week online course.

I also support people in helping them to find their voices through individual Find Your Voice sessions or in workshop series called Embody Your Voice which I co-facilitate with Sound Healer/Composer Wendalyn Bartley.
2. What kinds of issues do you have a particular gift with supporting people through?
  • Healers & Changemakers struggling with their Self Care.
  • Self betrayal
  • Overwhelm and stress
  • Exhausted, fatigued from over-giving
  • Grounding
  • Breaking through core Limiting beliefs
  • Blocked creativity and self expression​
  • Self doubt  and building confidence and self trust
  • Strong inner critic
  • Boundary issues
  • Self worth
  • Embodiment - Helping people come into their bodies.
  • Hiding and fear of shining their light in the world.
  • Fear of their own power
3. What is the most fulfilling part about working with this specific healing modality?
I love creating powerful co-creative containers of love and magic that can hold my clients in deep honour, love, acceptance, so that they have full permission to be themselves and to uncover those parts that may have never been voiced. I love empowering others to uncover who they are, to find their voices and stand in their power and to Love, accept and trust themselves fully.
4. What are some of your go to pieces of advice to help someone cultivate more self love. 
  • Dialoguing with your heart through journaling.
  • Moving your body. mindful movement- yoga, tai chi, dance.
  • Meditation
  • Chanting
  • Sounding
  • Ceremonies with the cycles and with the earth and elements.
  • Creative expression - drawing/painting etc...

Some of my greatest healing experiences have happened when I spend time in Nature, walking, sitting with a tree and just observing Nature. Since we are a part of Nature we can learn much about ourselves by simply being with Nature. A Tree does not have an issue with whether it is worthy of love. It is love. There is no worthiness to get. 

5. How does somebody find out if you are a good fit for your services or not?

I offer a free 30 minute consultations. I also run an online Free 5 Day Radical Self Nourishment Challenge a few times a year now so people can have a deep experience with me. The next one is Tuesday October 13 - October 17, 2020 at 2 pm Eastern.
5 Day RSN Challenge
6. If you were to write a self-help book, what would the topic be, and why? 
I am writing a book all about 7 Principles of Living Reciprocity. Reciprocity is about living in right relationship with ourselves, the Earth and our communities. As humans we are very out of balance with our true nature. Reciprocity is an ancient teaching that is Universal to all Indigenous, original and earth loving peoples around the world and is key to preserving life and living in alignment and right relationship with the Earth, and all of our relatives.  It is the key to our survival and our thrival on planet. 
7. Do you have a daily self-care practice or ritual that is helpful for you? 
Yes I have a number of practices I do every day. The first thing is having gratitude every morning and giving thanks for being here another day. I especially like to honour Mother earth and all of life and the elements and the directions everyday. I align with the earth and its cycles. I find it very powerful to align with the bigger forces.  I then will do a movement practice to get in my body usually yoga or dance. I often incorporate chanting and sound into my movement practices and breathing practice. ​
8. What do you think are the key ingredients to living a happy life? 
The key ingredients for me are cultivating a loving relationship with your self through the cultivation of friendliness, compassion, goodwill to others and equanimity. These are yogic qualities when in balance support our relationships with ourselves and with others and that support us to develop Peace of mind. Other ingredients are good health and energy hygiene, Loving relationships, reciprocity, creative expression, finding meaning and living our purpose, abundance in all of its forms, laughter, fun, playfulness and joy and community.
9. What is a quote that you resonate with, which reflects what you believe in & what you practice?
Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things. Lao Tzu
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4/23/2020 0 Comments

Quelling Fear

By Melanie-Dawn (Ollenberg) Bessa

The outbreak of COVID-19 can be stressful and overwhelming for both adults and children. According to the Centre for Disease Control, stress during an infectious disease outbreak can include:
  • Fear and worry about your own health and the health of your loved ones
  • Changes in sleep or eating patterns
  • Difficulty sleeping or concentrating
  • Worsening of chronic health problems
  • Worsening of mental health conditions
  • Increased use alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs 
(https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html)
​
Did you know that elevated levels of cortisol also interfere with our capacity for empathy, learning, and memory retention? Daniel Siegal, psychiatrist and leading world authority in the fascinating field of interpersonal neurobiology, explains:
The release of stress hormones leads to excessive death of neurons in the crucial pathways involving the neo-cortex and limbic system - the areas responsible for emotional regulation (Siegel, 1996: 106). 
Left unchecked, millions of brain cells in the hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex are destroyed - the areas of the brain responsible for human empathy and impulse control. (Wright, Camden-Pratt, and Hill, 2011). So many of the short-sighted, competitive, violent tendencies prevalent in our society are actually symptoms of a system that teaches fear, shame, and aggression rather than amity and collaboration. Be it the authoritarian, competitive ranking system of our school system, the deluge of "bad" news in the media, or the economic disparities maintained in our societies, it is easy to live in a constant state of self-focused anxiety and shame. 

Tips and Solutions to Quelling Fear

Thankfully, we are innately a people of emotion and relationship. Social researchers Miburn & Conrad confirmed that individuals raised under punitive parenting styles tend to prefer harsher law and order policies domestically, and support war as a foreign policy, and oppose pro-environment policies (1996). If we are to take back our own minds and hearts, and create a better future, what can we do?
Sound Healer  Valerie Moysey explained to me that the key is coming into coherence: "By introducing / reintroducing a resonant field, we come into coherence". By coherence, in this case, Valerie was referring to the Heart Math Institute's work, which describes coherence as a measure of the pattern in the heart's rhythm, which reflects an orderly and harmonious synchronization among various systems in the body such as the heart, respiratory system, and blood-pressure rhythms (Heart Math Institute,  https://www.heartmath.org/support/faqs/research/)
"While a number of techniques can be used (grounding, sound, breathwork, nature, prayer, etc) to come into coherence, the result is an activated parasympathetic nervous system and slowed fight-flight response." explains Valerie. 

1. Grounding

When we are afraid, anxious, or overwhelmed, we are ungrounded - we lose our sense of center, get swept off our feet, and lose our ability to make decisions clearly.
Grounding is a process of dynamic contact with the earth, with its edges, boundaries, and limitations. It allows us to become solidly real - present in the here and now - and dynamically alive with the vitality that comes from Earth. (Judith, A. in "Wheels of Life", p. 66)
When we are grounded, we can a sense of inter-connection with life, which brings clarity through stillness, and ultimately enhances our ability to make decisions easily, expand our consciousness, and manifest our goals. In this sense, grounding is quite literally "foundational" to all of the practices suggested in this article. But how do we get there? Valerie Moysey shared a number of easy strategies with me which one can do:
Drink water
Eat something nourishing
​Rest
Go for a walk, feeling your feet
Pet your animals
Take time away from screens
Garden or put your feet on the earth
​Exercise (eg., do 20 jumping jacks)
Stand with a tree
Valerie also speaks to the matter of "Entrainment" that happens when you spend time and proximity with a person who is grounded. Entrainment describes the way the body gradually syncs up with either a biological or external rhythm. In this case, when one who is in fear is with somebody who is not in fear, and that person is grounded, the fearful person will eventually become more calm. In this way, it is important to choose your company wisely, and ensure you give yourself the chance to resonate with others who are grounded and not in fear. This could be a friend, a family member, or even a paid practitioner. If you'd like to explore or discuss this further, please don't hesitate to connect with Valerie.

2. Take Heart

Human affection produces a biochemical mixture that creates growth in the brain's empathy centers (Gerhardt, 2004), literally building a more empathic brain. ​According to Heart Math Institute, approaching fear with ease and self-compassion rather than with mind struggle, is key. Heart-based practices for reducing fear:
In prayer or meditation, I would visualize love from my heart streaming into my mind and into all my cells to change my old fear imprints. While breathing, I would hold a conscious intention in my heart to change my old programs of fear and anxiety into feelings of intelligent concern (managed-concern)—which is a much more objective and less stressful attitude than the feeling of fear. (Heart Intelligence: Connecting with the Intuitive Guidance of the Heart, p.223-227).
Take a look at this brief video on the
​HeartMath Quick Coherence Technique
For more resources, the Heart Math Institute has some really great tips for managing fear from a heart-based space here: ​https://www.heartmath.org/calendar-of-events/coronavirus-technique-for-reducing-and-overcoming-fear/
Coincidentally, in the middle of writing this blog, I came across an Instagram post by sculptural fibre artist Marina Dempster, whose craft is a transmutation of materials, thoughts and emotions. Marina's work explores human paradoxes: comfort and discomfort, stillness and action, acceptance and change. Her "Dear Friends // Near Enemies" series of tufted cushions explore the paradox in language and get us thinking more deeply about our unconscious beliefs, urging us to go within for our answers. The cushion that caught my eye was F/EAR, pictured below. I reached out to ask if she could describe for me her take on this piece, and how we move through fear, and her response really resonated with the need for self-compassion, kindness. This is what she said:
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F/EAR by Marina Dempster http://www.marinadempster.com
​When we have the courage to listen deeply to our fears we may just expose a blind spot or a tricky self-betrayal...we may discover ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’ or we may choose to ‘Face Everything And Rise’. We have an opportunity to ask ourselves if there may an unconscious belief which is the source of our perceived   threat that may no longer serve us. A shift in perception may help us to find self-compassion rather than a judgment toward our feelings. By meeting our shadow selves in kindness, we may just find the comfort we seek. If the threat is real, all the more reason to honour your feelings and reach out for empowerment, empathetic support and protection. (Dempster, M.)

3. Breath

At a time when so many are struggling to breathe, it's easy to get caught up in the fear and forget to breathe ourselves. I mean REALLY BREATHE. We are always breathing, but doing so consciously gives us constant access to the sacred, and a tool to shift our attention to what is sustaining us. ​
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Michele Meehan
​Registered Psychotherapist and Shamanic Practitioner
​If you would like to explore more ways to work with you breath to help quell your fears, increase your energy level, or clear emotional energy, please contact me.
Email Michele
​Breath offers a powerful, natural way to transform our emotional state. Michele Meehan is a Registered Psychotherapist and Shamanic Practitioner who offers support for integrative healing to bring body, mind, heart and spirit into harmony using shamanic practices, integrative breath work, relaxation and visualization and rituals. In a conversation with her about how breathwork can help us move through fear, she emphasizes that the breath is the connector between body, mind, heart and spirit. This natural function provides us a gateway for transformation. She explains:
Working with our breath gives us a natural way to help mitigate the effects of fear or anxiety. When we feel fearful or anxious, our breathing tends to become shallow – this is a natural response, but it perpetuates the state of anxiety.  Deepening the breath helps to shift our mental/emotional state.  (Michele Meehan)
Michele explains that the first step is to bring awareness to the breath, noticing the sensation and movement. Then gently slowing and deepening it, we can activate a relaxation response. With practice, a slower, fuller breath will start to become a habit.

4. Vitamin N

Weather you are going for a walk or doing a grounding meditation with a tree, connecting with Vitamin N (N is for nature) has amazing effects on our health generally. Among the health benefits that are being researched, include the impact of nature on fear, anxiety, anger and depression. Researchers in Sweden have found that joggers who exercise in a natural green setting feel more restored and less anxious, angry, or depressed than people who burn the same amount of calories jogging in a built urban setting. Shinrin-yoku, the process of taking in the forest through our senses, was developed in Japan during the 1980s, and is now practiced across the world to reduce blood pressure and stress, while improving immune function, mood, sleep, energy, the ability to focus, and recover more quickly from surgery or illness. No matter your technique, getting outside and really experiencing the natural world can do wonders for releasing and moving through fear and anxiety. Take a look at the video offered here for an introduction to Shinrin-yoku, and consider it an invitation to give it a try!
Enjoy this introduction to Shinrin Yoku

5. Cleaning

While living in a culture that teaches accumulation, it is important to also spend time clearing the physical, mental and emotional debris that we collect. Creating space for the sacred, we bring awareness to the foundation of our being and learn to sift through and release what no longer serves. 
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7-Week E-Course for Healers and Changemakers with Deborah Brodey April 29-June 10
Outer and inner cleaning belong to the foundation of spiritual practice, and as the monk's broom touches the ground, it has a particular relationship with the Earth. We need to create a sacred space in order to live in relationship to the sacred within ourselves and within creation. 
(Vaughan-Lee, L., and Hart, H., 2017)
Whether it's a daily ritual bath, tending to the feng shui of your home, doing a body detox, saging your home, clearing the thoughts that no longer serve you, dusting a shelf, or doing your laundry - it is important to extend your love to clear the clutter (physical, mental, emotional or energetic) as a regular daily practice. In one of her workshops, Deborah Brodey (Transformation Guide, Vini-Yoga Instructor and Sound Healer) emphasized the importance of "saucha", one of the first nyamas in Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga, which translates to cleanliness, and there are a number of techniques to help do this. If you'd like to explore this and other Nyamas further, I highly recommend her Radical Self-Nourishment Program, designed for change makers.

6. Sounding Through Fear

When the vagus nerve in our bodies is overstimulated (eg., due to stress or fear) or inactive; the right frequencies can bring it back to normal working order. 
“In your ear, there’s the vestibulocochlear nerve, which connects to the vagus nerve, the major parasympathetic nerve in the body. Your parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for relaxation and digestion such as reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and relaxing muscles. (Dr. Martinez-Perez). ​
"Sounding for a minimum of 5-9 minutes is one way to do this", explains Sound Healer Valerie Moysey. She has offered this simple process / technique to help us all sound through fear:
  1. Get Grounded
  2. Set your intention (to receive support through your fear, to move through fear, to release fear, etc)
  3. Start with a monotone vowel sound (aaa; eeee; ooo; etc), beginning with the outward listening of the sound
  4. When you're comfortable, begin to listen to the sound from within - it will actually become a multi-layered sound. Listen to it being made from inside, and it will carry you through all sorts of intense emotion.

Note: If you are experiencing intense fear or are having a difficult time getting grounded, it's important to have support. It could be a friend or a professional, depending on your situation - somebody you can feel safe with, and who is also grounded and not in fear, themselves. For guided support, contact Valerie: vmoysey@gmail.com. 
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Valerie Moysey
Sound healer and palliative support
If you would like to receive some guided support in sounding through your fear, Valerie is available for remote sessions.
Email Valerie

7. Prayer / Intention

The coronavirus pandemic is indiscriminate, affecting lives across races and religions. This global angst has simultaneously inspired interfaith unity and solidarity. There are examples around the world of leaders coming together across faith groups as well. On April 22nd, in fact, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze religious leaders in Israel were set to hold an interfaith virtual prayer Wednesday afternoon amid the coronavirus pandemic (The Times of Israel). In a Statement from the Parliament of World Religions, it invokes in us the need to "find new ways to bring comfort to one another, to cooperate with one another, and to overcome the ravages of disease and death." Meanwhile, the The Canadian Interfaith Conversation was pleased to participate in the development of the statement, "Hope, Gratitude and Solidarity: A Message to Canadians from Religious Leaders in Canada in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic," released March 30, 2020. They also offered an interfaith message for spiritual and religious leaders to be beacons of support during these difficult times. "Together with over 80 leaders of religious communities, we pledged to "witness hope to each other and so become beacons of light during these uncertain times." 
While we witness this outpouring of support and solidarity from spiritual and religious leaders around the world, many of us are also turning to prayer more and more in our own daily practices, to ask for support in with our fear. When we bow our heads, bring our hands to our hearts, or kneel on the ground in prayer, we open up to the invisible world and the intangible presence of our heart, mind, and soul. When we listen with all of our senses from this place, we connect, participate with, and witness the Divine and attune to the sacred. 
Valerie also strongly recommended prayer: "Set a strong focus / intention for help, ask what is it that you need to move through this time, and listen to what comes through". It reminded me of this quote by Rumi, which seems to thread all of these tips and strategies together. 
Make everything in you an ear, each atom of your being, and you will hear at every moment what the Source is whispering to you, just to you and for you, without any need for my words or anyone else's. You are - we all are - the beloved of the Beloved, and in every moment, in every event of your life, the Beloved is whispering to you exactly what you need to hear and know. Who can ever explain this miracle? It simply is. Listen and you will discover it in every passing moment. (Rumi)
This quote really touches me, and the words can carry all of us through each of the practices recommended throughout this article.

​May you be blessed by these medicines as you listen to, navigate, and learn from your fear, into a place of beloved expansion, compassion, and hope. And through all of this, please know that you do not need to navigate this alone. You are supported and loved.
​Living Seasonally
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Self-Care Tips for Spring
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Sigil Making
to focus and manifest intention
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4/15/2020 0 Comments

Spring Reflections

By Melanie-Dawn (Ollenberg) Bessa

The shift from winter can now be felt as the streams thaw, life reawakens, and the buds emerge. Since the Spring Equinox in March, when the day and night were of equal time, the light has been gaining momentum. We can feel the effect in our own restlessness as the seeds and buds make their way to the surface. 
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Life emerging at the Rosseau Sanctuary
Historically, there are many myths and archetypes of reawakened life. Here are a few examples:
  • The return of Persephone from the underworld
  • Flora, the Roman goddess of Spring and flowers
  • Cerunnos, the Celtic god of nature and fertility
  • Ashanti the fertility goddess and Nyame the sky god in Ghana
The return to life has so many qualities that we experience in our own lives when we live seasonally. ​Renewal takes strength, endurance, and eagerness in order to amount to an abundant harvest. Just look at how hard yet how calm that seed has to work to reach up through the mud to the surface. Like those seeds, we need to root around in the dark, make mistakes, and clarify our boundaries. With the heightened energies abounding, fears and doubts also emerge as a barometer for change, exposing opportunities and processes to bring you us closer to peace, or expose an area in our journey that is being called to grow. Renewal also requires discernment around what to keep and what to release, to make room for the new - it's the perfect time for Spring cleaning, both inside and out. 

5 Personal Reflections for Spring

Developing confidence in your innate ability to shed and rise up will both strengthen your connection to yourself as well as your ability to trust and surrender to your soul's yearnings. To help you on this road this season here are some personal reflections to consider:
  1. Spring is a great time for asking Who Am I? Who WAS I? What makes me happy? What do I want to nurture? Let the questions pour out of you, paying attention to the guidance that you encounter in your daily life. This is the time to redefine and realign - what comes up for you?
  2. What animals are crossing your path these days, and what do they have to tell you about what you're working through right now? You might check out Steven Farmer's "Animal Spirit Guides" book, or do some searches online for the metaphysical meaning of the animal that has crossed your path.
  3. Allow the inspiration and creativity that is sparked within you at this time, to nourish your soul. What are you being inspired to do this year? Tune into the rhythm of your soul and trust the pace that your inspiration requires to express itself. While clarity will help you make a plan, remember that you can't rush the river, or a hurry a seed to bear fruit. 
  4. Do a chakra cleansing, and an energetic cleansing for your home. This will allow you to become more receptive, intuitive, and aligned with your core essence and how it is manifest in the temple of your body, mind, heart, and home. 
  5. Make a mind map of the following key words for Spring, how they are taking shape, and notice which are qualities stand out as priorities, areas to nurture, what needs to be cleared away, and what are the areas to heal:  
  • Activate
  • Life
  • Awaken
  • Light
  • Beauty
  • Renewal
  • Beginnings
  • Calm
  • Innocence
  • Fertility
  • Purification
  • Youth
  • Gentleness
  • Healing
  • Hope
  • Increase
  • Rebirth
Blessings of Growth, Healing and Renewal, 
​Melanie-Dawn
Read more about Living Seasonally, by Melanie-Dawn
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Interested in a palm reading or Reiki session with Melanie?
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Click here to read more about Melanie and her services.
Session Info
Renew your heart and home with this PWYC palmistry workshop 
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April 26th, 1-4pm
Info and Reg
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5/8/2019 1 Comment

Hormones and Burnout: What you need to know (by Hillary Webster)

Feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, low or irritable?
Not feeling like yourself?
You’re not alone.

Burnout is the new epidemic. Social media is full of articles describing different kinds of burnout in different ages and stages of life. Article upon article retells the same theme: how the thirty-something can’t send the piece of mail that’s been sitting on his kitchen table for 3 months, how the working mom-of-three can’t bother to cook home meals for herself, how the CEO has been making irrational decisions that puts the company at risk.

The solution touted by wellness experts is to do more yoga and meditation, to practice self-care, to ask for help, to take more vacation time. While I advocate these techniques for my patients all the time, unfortunately, they’re just that: techniques. These tactics often fall by the wayside when huge work project deadlines are looming, or when the kids need to get from school to activities, or when an aging parent needs extra care.

Our medical and social support systems need to recognize burnout from all facets. There are physical, mental, emotional and economic aspects to burnout. Until things change in our corporate and family lives, until we have flexible work schedules and don’t feel enslaved by our smartphones; until we don’t feel obligated to respond to emails at all hours of the day and night, until we have enough reasonable, affordable child care, or can afford to spend time with our children, and until we feel not only like we have a safety net, but enough support, all we can do is help ourselves manage the damaging effects.

Health care providers like myself can offer help to get you through and repair the systems damaged by stress until some room is made in your life for true rest and healing. Here is how stress and burnout affect your hormones and what you can do about it.
Stress and burnout rob you of energy
There are a few mechanisms by which this phenomenon occurs. First, stress blocks thyroid function at two different levels: at both the level of the brain and the thyroid, which leaves you feeling cold, tired, depressed, and overweight, among other things. Second, chronic stress and burnout means a lowered Cortisol Awakening Response, which is how your stress hormones rise in the morning to help wake you up. If you can’t drag yourself out of bed in the morning, that’s chronic stress and burnout at work!
Stress and burnout throw your hormones off balance
Horrible pre-menstrual symptoms, from anxiety and depression to bloating, swelling, cramps and cravings, are zero fun. I’ve seen stress disrupt the delicate balance between estrogen and progesterone—a phenomenon called Estrogen Dominance which is responsible for unpleasant symptoms such as mood swings, headaches, and breast tenderness. Stress also makes the transition into menopause a much bumpier ride; hot flashes, mood issues, and dryness tend to be much worse when you’ve been stressed for a long time. If you want to see the effect that stress has on your hormones, take note of your cycle 3 months after an extremely stressful period. Since hormone receptors take about 3 months to respond to hormonal fluctuations, your period can be heavier, lighter, or even absent 3 months after a stressor.
Stress and burnout ruin your sleep
Most of my patients struggle with their sleep in some way. Some can’t fall asleep, some can’t stay asleep, and the poor unlucky ones have trouble on both sides. Chronic stress disrupts your stress hormone, cortisol, which has its own natural rhythm: it’s meant to rise in the morning to help get you out of bed and fall in the evening to helps you relax into sleep. When you’re burned out, your natural cortisol rhythm is reversed and you’re wide awake at night. If stress has robbed you of progesterone as mentioned above, you’re missing an important anti-anxiety, sleep-promoting metabolite that comes from this sex hormone.
So, what’s the solution?
Quitting your stressful job or ditching your toxic family members aren’t always feasible solutions but there is help anyway. Natural remedies from herbal medicines can help calm down and rebuild the body’s stress axis and reset hormonal rhythms to bring the whole system back into balance. Naturopathic Doctors work to help the body find it’s own natural rhythm again. I like to talk stress and hormones; I offer a short free chat about what can be done in the face of chronic stress, hormone health, and burnout.

Visit https://calendly.com/drwebsternd/hormone-reset-assessment-call to see how you can take steps to combatting the effects of stress.

About Hillary
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Dr. Hillary Webster
This is a special guest blog by Dr. Hillary Webster, ND. Dr. Hillary is a naturopathic doctor who practices in Toronto with a focus on Women’s Hormonal Health. She helps burned-out and exhausted women uncover and repair their hormone and nutrient imbalances to get their world-conquering energy back.

To find out more about your hormones, including detailed testing, analysis, and treatment, book a free Hormone Reset Assessment call with Dr. Webster here.
You can also find her on Facebook, Instagram (@drwebbynd), and websternaturopathic.com.
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4/4/2019 1 Comment

Self-Care Tips for Spring (by Melanie-Dawn)

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Melanie-Dawn
Reiki master, Palmist, & community Steward
Melanie is founder of the Inner Arts Collective, and practices Reiki and Palmistry through her company, KoreChanges.
About Melanie
Over the last few weeks, a theme has emerged among my reiki clients. I’m sure the season has a role to play, with people emerging from their wintry hibernations and sensing some changes necessary for the journey ahead. I’ve never seen such a thirst for self-care and rejuvenation through. People are tired, and feeling a bit TOO tired to embrace the changes that are beckoning. And so it is, that about 7 out of 10 of my clients this month have been asking Reiki to be directed to replenishing them, and providing fuel and courage for the road ahead.
 
While every body responds in it’s unique way to Reiki, this common intention has brought forward some themes in the messages and insights which emerge across sessions. It is my assumption and hope that some of these insights might be helpful for you as well, as you search for the energy and rejuvenation needed for the shifts awaiting your embrace this Spring.
 1. Give your Body Permission to Receive
Whatever you have been through, whatever has made you tired, try having a conversation with your body to let it know that you hear it. You understand that it's tired and worn down. You are listening. Speak to it with compassion, letting it know that it's held it together for a long time and you're grateful...and that you give it permission to soften now, to receive. Like the trees in their thaw at this time of year, allow your body to thaw as well...allow it to soften just enough to be able to receive what it needs - and if it tells you what it needs, respond with a plan to make it so.
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2. Understanding, Using, and Releasing Anger
As your body softens, emotions may rise to the surface. You may feel your sadness, anger, and frustrations are closer to the surface. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking this means you are digressing. Far from the truth. These feelings are your body speaking to you - telling you what lies beneath the surface. What is it telling you about your situation, what needs to change, and what resources you have to make it happen. Oftentimes, when we are most tired, it is the warrior that emerges to help and set things right. So, take time to understand the seat of your frustrations, and use it to light the pathway to set things back on course. 
3. Take inventory of your accomplishments and celebrate them. 
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When you don't take the time to celebrate your many accomplishments, you have a high probability of burning out. When you celebrate, endorphins are released inside your body and you feel incredible. When you accomplish something and don't take the time to celebrate, you are robbing yourself of an important feeling that reinforces your success. On the other hand, a  lack of celebration will lead to a feeling of emptiness that will result in less focus and decreased performance over time - not things that will help you to move forward!
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4. Surrender Fear and Enjoy your Sensuality and your Passion
Change can be scary, and it is immanent. Many clients over the last several weeks have been stuck in a state of fear and yet, there is some excitement lingering about the unknown and the happiness that feels right around the corner. Black Panther has come through when matters of fear or a block to joy emerges, as medicine. Panther is here to remind us that for our personal and spiritual growth, we need to face our fears, surrender, and let the future take care of us. When we make room for the unknown, we open up to our potential, to possibility, and create a pathway for joyous manifestation.
5. Finding your Strength and Power in your Core, and sending that power down your feet into the earth to anchor it in the web of support that is gaia. With Spring comes the time to reconnect with the feeling of the earth beneath your feet, and the realization that we are not separate from the earth - but an extension of it. The earth is here to support you. Feel your power in your belly, send it down your legs into your feet, like roots into the earth. Sway your hips, feel your center, touch in with your anchor. Breath, walk and dance from that place.
While individual Reiki Sessions always have their sacred and unique energy, it is fascinating when there are themes across sessions, and I can't help but think about the impact that our individual healing efforts have on group consciousness. Perhaps individual sessions can give us a glimpse into the collective consciousness, and when we work towards a brighter future for ourselves, we are setting into motion healthy changes on a systemic level. At any rate, I do hope the insights gleamed through others will also support you in your path this Spring. 

Many blessings,
Melanie

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1/9/2019 1 Comment

The Best Sleep Habits for Good Mental Health (by Sheila Olsen)

Good sleep can be hard to come by for many people. For some, falling asleep can take hours because they just can’t turn off their brain; for others, staying asleep is the problem. There are many factors that can contribute to a sleepless night and many different ways that a lack of rest can affect you, both mentally and physically. Many people are unaware of just how much sleep deprivation can take from them and what those effects can do over time.
 
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help yourself get better rest. Creating a sleep routine that you can stick with is a great start; it might include changing your diet, getting daily exercise, or making lifestyle changes that will help you relax and reduce stress or anxiety. The way you feel can have a huge effect on your ability to unwind at the end of the day, turning your rest habits and your mental health status into a cyclical pattern.
 
Keep reading for tips on how to get better sleep for the sake of your mind and body.

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Photo via Pixabay by Xiangying_yu
Get Active

When you get daily exercise, your body prepares itself more easily for rest at the end of the day. Not only that, getting active on a regular basis helps to release hormones in the brain that make you feel good, meaning you’ll get a boost of confidence and motivation that can keep you going even when you’re feeling tired or stressed. Start a new workout plan that will get your heart rate up every day, whether it’s brisk walking or yoga or something in between, and keep up with it.
Set Some Rules

It’s important to make your sleep health a priority, and sometimes that means setting some rules about who can sleep there. Young children and pets may like to snuggle, but when they climb into bed with you at night, they’re likely keeping you awake or preventing you from getting good sleep. Train your pets to sleep in their own bed, and set some ground rules with the kiddos about staying in their own beds — for everyone’s sake.
Get Your Room Together

Your bedroom should be the best possible place for you to get some rest, which means it needs to be quiet, relaxing, and free of distractions. If you have a television in your room, consider moving it. Invest in a noise machine and blackout curtains or blinds to keep the sun at bay. Make sure the temperature, colors, and smells are all to your liking so you can drift off peacefully each night. It’s also important to make sure your bedding is nice and soft.

Change Your Diet

Your diet could be holding you back from getting good rest, especially if you tend to snack or eat late at night. Cutting caffeine from your daily routine is a good start, but you should also avoid large meals later in the day, or those that include red meat, since that can be harder for your body to break down and can affect your metabolism. Stick to dark, leafy greens, proteins, and fruit as much as possible, along with whole grains and lots of water.

Getting the right amount of sleep can be tricky, especially if you’re a busy professional or if you have existing health issues. Talk to your doctor about the best ways to get rest if you’re still having trouble after making some changes, and keep him informed on your lifestyle so he can help guide you down the best path for incredible sleep.

Sheila Olsen

Sheila Olson has been a personal trainer for five years. She believes the best way to achieve physical fitness and good health is to set and tackle small goals. She encourages her clients to stay positive and incorporates mindfulness and practices for reducing negative talk into her sessions.

She created FitSheila.com to spread the word about her fitness philosophy.

1 Comment

9/6/2018 1 Comment

A Better Tomorrow Starts with How You Treat Yourself Today (by Sheila Olson)

Wake up. Eat breakfast. Get dressed. Go to work. Stress until midnight. Repeat. If that sounds like you, keep scrolling for ways you can beat the humdrum while keeping yourself healthy and happy. The best part is that you can do these things every day for a quick pick-me-up.

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Image via Pixabay
  • Wake up 30 minutes early. If you’re not typically one to rise with the roosters, you’re missing out on a host of health benefits. Waking early affords an opportunity to prepare a healthy breakfast and can improve the quality of sleep you get each night. Health Ambition also reports that waking up early can boost your productivity, so you will have more time to do the things you want since you’ve completed your to-do list.
 
  • Stop your bad habits. This is pretty simple and it’s mostly common sense. If you smoke, stop. If you drink more than a Viking warrior, stop. All of the negative things you do to your body can add up to health problems that can cut your life short by years. Likewise, cutting out your bad habits has far-reaching positive effects. According to Healthline, it takes just three days for your lung capacity to increase after your last cigarette. A month after your last gin and tonic, your liver fat level is slashed by about 15 percent and your belly may show signs of slimming down.
 
  • Turn your home into a mini spa. “Me” time is essential for your overall health and well-being. But if you don’t have the time or money to sneak away or pay for a babysitter, consider turning your home into an R & R retreat. Angie’s List recommends a hot cup of tea, some soothing music, and a warm shower for starters. If you’re feeling especially creative, you can DIY a hot stone massage or learn how to make your own skin care products for a customized experience.

  • Have a drink (of water). Drinking water is about the best thing you can do for yourself, and as a bonus, it costs just pennies to fill up your water bottle. Drinking plenty of water will hydrate your skin and flush your system of toxins. One blogger from Well and Good also claims that drinking water in the morning can give you an energy boost and combat nighttime dehydration.

  • Exercise before bed. If you’re a morning person, go ahead and knock your physical activity out before the rest of your household lifts their heads off the pillow. But if you’re like the rest of is, don’t believe the old wives’ tale that nighttime exercise will keep you awake. In fact, studies have shown that people who exercise for more than half an hour just prior to bed sleep just fine.
 
  • Read a book. You might not consider flipping through the pages of Great Expectations beneficial for your health, but reading books – yes, actual printed, paper books – is good for the mind and body. Paper is easier on the eyes, which can reduce strain caused by staring at a computer screen day in and day out. Plus, flipping pages is a much better way to wind down for the evening than scrolling through your social media feeds.
 
  • Add some color to your diet. You have to eat well in order to maintain your health. It’s not enough to pop a few supplements; the best way to intake nutrition is to chew it. If you are not a vegetable person, you need to reframe the way you think about garden fare. Find a vegetable you like and use it as a gateway food to other orange, green, red, and yellow fruits and vegetables.
There you have it, simple and effective ways to keep your mind and body in top shape. From waking up early to hitting the gym after dark, taking care of yourself today will ensure you have a better tomorrow.

Sheila Olson

Sheila Olson has been a personal trainer for five years. She believes the best way to achieve physical fitness and good health is to set and tackle small goals. She encourages her clients to stay positive and incorporates mindfulness and practices for reducing negative talk into her sessions.

She created FitSheila.com to spread the word about her fitness philosophy.

1 Comment

8/30/2018 0 Comments

What is A Womb Blessing & Why Would You Want One? (by Zahra Haji, Yoga Goddess)

A Womb Blessing is a hands-on energy healing similar to reiki, but focused on the womb and 5 key points related to fertility and the womb energies. It was developed by Miranda Gray, author of Red Moon and creator of the Worldwide Womb Blessing.
 
The main purpose of the Womb Blessing is to reconnect a woman to the sacredness of her womb and her divine feminine essence. But physical healing is a common byproduct of this reconnection: babies miraculously conceived, menstrual cycles coming back after up to 1.5 years of absence, and various other menstrual irregularities healed.

The Womb Blessing is an especially powerful tool for women trying to conceive, because it offers the opportunity to heal the heart-womb connection and allow new fertile energy into the womb space.
 
For the month of August, I’m offering Womb Blessings at the Inner Arts Collective for $50 off.
 
If you’re yearning to go deeper into your sacred feminine connection, I want to let you know exactly what you can expect when you come to me for a Womb Blessing.
 
Here are a few frequently asked questions:
 
Q: What actually happens during a Womb Blessing?
 
A: When you book a Womb Ceremony, you receive a 25-minute consultation, a 5-minute visualization to connect with the moon and your own womb, and two treatments: a Womb Blessing + a Womb Healing.
 
Treatment 1: Womb Blessing (35-min)
The Womb Blessing is a physical prayer that brings healing to your femininity, womb and life. Together, we work with the energies of these key areas of the body in an energy sequence:
▪ Brow
▪ Heart
▪ Womb
▪ Yoni (your beautiful vagina)
▪ Head
▪ Womb & Ovaries
 
Q: What happens in a Womb Healing?
 
Treatment 2: Womb Healing (30-min)
Part II of your Womb Blessing is a Healing. The Womb Healing portion concentrates on healing and activating 3 energy centres and on the flow of energy between them:
 
1. Pituitary Centre: Helps the hormonal & menstrual cycle and opens your spiritual awareness
2. Heart Centre: Heals the heart on issues of love, loss, forgiveness, caring, giving and receiving.
3. Womb Centre: Works on the physical and emotional patterns you hold around your hips and belly.
 
Plus, I will energize the following 5 points of your Womb Centre that correspond to your 4 feminine energies and your complete womanhood:

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Q: Do I have to DO anything during a Womb Blessing?
 
A: No, you just need to relax and receive the energies! I’ll guide you through the Womb Tree meditation to help ease you out of thinking and into receiving.
 
Q: Where are your sessions located?
 
A: At the beautiful Inner Arts Collective, conveniently located at 257 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON M4K 1N2–across from the Big Carrot!



If you have a question that will help you decide whether a Womb Blessing is right for you just email me at iam@yogagoddess.ca and I’ll sort you out!

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Zahra Haji

Zahra Haji is a Toronto-based psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and fertility coach passionate about women’s reproductive health and reconnection to their feminine essence. Her signature fertility yoga program Moon Goddess has helped hundreds of women conceive in over 25 countries. To learn more about Zahra and her work visit www.yogagoddess.ca.
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8/23/2018 1 Comment

The Nightmare of Pregnancy Loss and the Hope to Heal (by Zahra Haji / Yoga Goddess)

In my work with women struggling to conceive, I’ve recently seen 3 different clients who have each suffered 5 or more miscarriages.

It breaks my heart every time to hear about a woman losing her child, no matter how early on. It’s not only the loss of a baby but the dream of becoming a mother, of caring for and nurturing that child, that doctors and even loved ones don’t always understand.

There’s this idea in the fertility world that we need to keep pushing through like female warriors on the quest of making a baby.

And that’s a problem.

Because the heart and the womb don’t work that way. They can’t be pushed into doing what we want. You can’t make your heart love any more than you can make your womb reproduce.

But you CAN nurture them.

That’s the message I shared with my client Shelena, who has lost 5 pregnancies all before 6 weeks. Making her heartbreak even worse, her doctor doesn’t consider them “real miscarriages” because a heartbeat was never detected.

So after her most recent loss, she came to me for a Womb Blessing.

A Womb Blessing is a hands-on energy healing similar to reiki, but focused on the womb and 5 key points related to fertility.

I was amazed at how Shelena’s body responded. I have never felt such a physical thirst from a woman’s body. It’s as though her womb was drinking in the energy, starved for the Divine Feminine reconnection.

On some level, we all are. We’re starving to reconnect with our feminine nature because in our daily lives we’re told to just “pick yourself up and keep going.”

Like Anya, who also lost 5 pregnancies. When she came for a Womb Blessing I suggested we light 5 candles to represent her miscarriages.

Afterward she said:
I resisted doing anything to commemorate them myself because I was afraid to revisit the experiences, but I found that small, ceremonial gesture so moving and very effective. It was the first time that I truly acknowledged these souls and said goodbye.
That night she felt relaxed and at ease. She told me,
Now I feel lighter about my efforts to become pregnant and more at peace with my past experiences.
In our own way, I think we all are longing for acknowledgment and healing. Because if we just keep pressing forward and never stop to acknowledge our pain, healing can’t happen.

And you can “push through it” up to a point. But at some point you need help.

Help that isn’t medical. Help that isn’t trying to “fix you.” Help that’s healing for you.

If you are struggling to conceive and carry a pregnancy, I want to extend that help to you with a Womb Blessing Ceremony.

Because a Womb Blessing is a direct reconnection between the earth, your heart and your womb.
And to help you begin that reconnection immediately, I want you to have a special meditation called the Womb Tree meditation.

Just click HERE and you’ll be taken to the
Womb Blessing page where you can download the meditation
–AND if it feels right you can book a Womb Blessing with me too.

Connection with the Divine Feminine is your birthright as a woman. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to claim that birthright and begin healing your heart-womb connection.

Download the Womb Tree meditation HERE and begin healing.

Womb Tree Meditation
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Zahra Haji / Yoga Goddess

Zahra Haji is a Toronto-based psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and fertility coach passionate about women’s reproductive health and reconnection to their feminine essence. Her signature fertility yoga program Moon Goddess has helped hundreds of women conceive in over 25 countries. To learn more about Zahra and her work visit www.yogagoddess.ca.
1 Comment

10/30/2017 3 Comments

Tapping Into the Heart (with Jennifer Polansky)

"I believe that if we can let the outside influences fall away, turn inward toward the voice of our heart and follow its guidance then we will find more ease in life, more love, and better health.

Tapping Into the Heart is more than a workshop - it is a space to connect and to listen. It is a space to strengthen the connection to our inner voice and to see ourselves reflected in other women as we gather with a shared intention to collectively heal.

We will begin with asana exploration and guided meditation, and then move into informational discussions about the cycles of the moon and her effect on our own cycles. We will journal, have sharing circles and connect as awakened women

As we step into the power we hold as embodiments of divine feminine energy, we allow space for the masculine aspect to show up with integrity (both within ourselves and outside through relationships and situations). This supports us in creating balance and equilibrium, leading us to a fuller and more whole way of living.

I hope to see you there!"

Join Jennifer for her "Tapping Into the Heart" workshop this Sunday, November 5th, from 12:30-4:30pm at the Inner Arts Collective.

Register in Advance by contacting her at:
Jennifer@JenniferPolansky.ca

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Jennifer Polansky

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As a Certified Nutritional Practitioner, Reiki healer, and yoga teacher I work to guide women toward health from all angles, body mind & soul. The foundation of this journey is learning how to tap into the infinite knowing of the heart, and our power & potential as embodiments of the feminine energy.

Jennifer@JenniferPolansky.ca
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