Inner Focus Reiki

Perkins

We were returning from a family vacation and were hungry so we decided to stop at Perkins. It was an easy on, easy off for the two road warriors plus une petite bebe.

We sat at a table like every other table. Our server was sweet and efficient. We entertained our daughter with crayons and cheerios. She, then officially one year old, entertained us by throwing everything within her reach.

She smiled at an elderly gentleman and he smiled back. His energy was kind and gentle. He played peek-a-boo with her from his table. She giggled and giggled and kept looked over her shoulder at him.

I was worried our daughter would annoy him as she kept smiling and pointing. He was enjoying dinner with his misses. Well, I assume it was his wife as they had an easy cadence about them. The kind you can only get after 50 some years of daily life together.

Each and every time I snuck a peak in his direction, he was smiling and playing peek-a-boo with her. She was thoroughly enjoying herself and it appeared he honestly was, too.

As our meal ended and theirs continued, I was struck with a thought that we needed to buy their meal. This is not uncommon for my husband and I as we often practice random acts of kindness like this. I said to my husband, “I think we should buy their meal.” His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly and he stammered, “I, I was having the exact same thought! But I was wondering if we should just buy their drinks or do the whole meal with tip.” I said, “If we both had the same thought at almost the exact same time, there must be a reason. No coincidences, right? Let’s buy their meal.”

We quietly told our server what we wanted to do. She looked surprised and then broke into a smile and said, “That is SO sweet. How nice of you!” We paid for our meal and for theirs and left the restaurant feeling really, really good. There’s something about secretly doing something nice for someone that makes you just feel good, you know? It’s also nice to wonder how good the recipients of your random act will feel and if they’ll pay it forward.

About five miles down the road, out of the blue, I was struck by a thought that our daughter orchestrated the whole, “you should buy them their meal” business. Nahhhh, the logical side of me said, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t have told us both to buy their meal. Could she?! How could she do that?! She’s just a year old (tsk, tsk, Melissa…like chronological age has anything to do with anything except on the physical plane). As I thought about it, it was the only thing that COULD have happened. It was the only thing that made sense. And I’m pretty sure my earlier ‘thought’ was really an intuitive ‘hit.’

My eyes widened, my hand went to my mouth and I said with wonderment, “I think love bug did that! Back there at the restaurant. I think she told us to buy grandpa and grandma their meal. Think about it. We both had the same thought at almost the exact same time and she was having so much fun with grandpa. It HAS to be her.” He was quiet for a few seconds and then he said, “Yep. I agree.”

Almost immediately, his voice broke into a smile and he said, “What are we going to do with her when she’s a teenager? Is she going to telepathically tell us that she wants a pony and you and I are going to be powerless to stop her? Or what if she telepathically tells us to forget about her curfew? What then!?”

He was joking, of course, because mind-control is not part of telepathy, unless you’re in an X-Men movie. But really, what do I know? I was just schooled by a sweet little, unassuming one year old that hadn’t even uttered her first intelligible word.

Control

I once told a new client I was a recovering Control-a-holic. Her face whitened, her eyes widened and her posture changed. She said, “You mean, you’re going to use handcuffs or tie me down during session?!” Blink. Blink. Whaaa!??? NO! Oh my! What I was trying to communicate is that I would thoroughly explain what was to take place during her intuitive Reiki session. Yikes!

My early spiritual growth was intensely painful only because I didn’t listen the first 947 times God gently tried to get my attention. I was determined (read: stubborn), self-motivated (read: impatient) and enthusiastic (read: obsessive). Therefore, I respectfully overlooked (read: ignored) a lot of what could have been much easier lessons for me to learn.

I believe there are several stages God (or the Universe or whatever you want to call it) goes through in order to get your attention. It may start with the “Soft, Gentle Whisper.” If you repeatedly ignore that, you’ll get the “Loud Booming Voice.” Ignore that and you’ll hear the “Banshee Yell.” Then it moves on to the “Punch in the Gut” and to what I like to call, “The Fetal Posish.” I like to think that last one was created just for (or because!) of me.

Because of the aforementioned attributes, I have personally experienced the “Fetal Posish” several (hundred) times. {Cough} I didn’t know then if I would have just dealt with the ant hill the first or even the ninth time I heard the whisper, I may not have had to deal with the seemingly insurmountably painful mountains later on.

In hindsight, if I had simply (simply?! Pishaw!) given up control, I might have been living on Spiritual Easy Street. Instead, I spent a fair amount of time living on Agony Avenue because I tried (‘tried’ being the operative word!) to control people, situations and outcomes. Hey! It’s what I knew. It’s how I was raised and it was comfortable. Change can be scary.

As my girl Susie often said directly to me (ahem!), “Control is an illusion.” Man, I just didn’t get it. What do you mean, it’s an ‘illusion’??! I didn’t even begin to understand the truth of that statement until years later. I mean, in the physical world, if I worked hard, I was promoted. If I was promoted, I earned more money. If I earned more money, I could afford nicer things. Wellll…..in the spiritual world, it doesn’t quite work that way.

If you’re trying to advance or grow spiritually and you’re a control freak, you’re going to have to go against what you’ve done your entire life. If you push and push in the spiritual realm, you can bet on a whole lot of nothing, except frustration, coming your way.

You see if you push, you muddy the spiritual waters. This makes it harder for you to see what needs to be done and for your Astral ‘Managers’ to do their job, which is manifesting your wants/needs/desires. Think of it this way. Trying to force things to happen in the spiritual realm is a lot like trying to push a string; it just gets balled up and snarled.

So what do you do? Well, here’s what works for me.

Get out of your way. Whatever that means for you. Maybe it’s letting go of ego. Maybe it’s being kinder to yourself. Maybe it’s practicing forgiveness (that comes up a LOT in sessions!). Maybe it’s stopping the pity-pot meltdowns and foot stomping when stuff doesn’t appear or happen on YOUR timeline.
Trust. You can’t see oxygen but we need it to live. Same with Trust. You cannot advance spiritually unless you know how to trust. Trust in yourself, trust in others and trust in things you can’t see, hear, touch, or smell.
Let your Universe know exactly what you’d like, not what you don’t like. Believe me, there is a difference. Write it down. Post it on your fridge. Make it your computer password.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 as needed and repeat step 3 every now and then. The Universe HAS heard you.

There it is! These four items, in my opinion, are the backbone of it all. Let go of control. It ISN’T real. Seriously. The only person you can control is yourself and sometimes we don’t do a good job of that, either. If you want to try to control something, maybe take a look at how you express your anger. Does that need to be changed or tweaked?

I’ll leave you with this. If the thought of letting go of control fills you with fear, panic and/or anxiety, then you may be in for a lifetime (insert echo here) of “Punch in the Gut” and “Fetal Posish.” And what’s worse? I believe if you don’t learn the lessons you came here to learn, you’ll have a least one more lifetime in which you get to repeat the same (or worse) mistakes. The same (or worse) experience that result in the same (let me hear it! OR WORSE) hurt/frustration/agony. And you may not start out with the ‘Soft, Gentle Whisper’ next time. Nope. You may start out with the ‘Banshee Yell.’ Lovely to think about, isn’t it? NOT!

Do what you need to do to grow. Don’t worry about anyone else, as they’ll need to deal with their own set of illusions, whispers and gut-punches.

Insomnia

Insomnia is my kryptonite. It wrecks me. In one short night, I go from rested to spastic. I get out of bed crabby because, you guessed it, I couldn’t sleep. Gone is the positive, optimistic, up-beat, glass-half-full person. Instead, I morph into something barely human. I literally growl like a small dog. My Temper Flare-Up button is stuck in the on position and a pity pot meltdown is just one misinterpreted comment away. No. I do not do insomnia well, Sam I Am. I do not like it, not even with green eggs and ham.

I’ve always been an ‘8 hours of sleep a night’ kind of girl. I inherited my sleep gene from my dad, who was a Master Napper, by the way. Anything short of eight hours, and I’m a little off. Anything way short of eight hours and I’m a lot off.

Lately I’ve noticed my nighttime rest isn’t, wellllll, restful. I’ve talked with others who are experiencing insomnia and as I’ve said before, when one or five or 15 of my clients are experiencing something, there’s usually more people who are and it’s usually an energetic thing.

Something that has saved my insomnia-riddled brain in the past was my nappies. Before I used to think of my nappies as a decadent luxury. Now I think of them as basic survival. To be clear, my use of the word ‘nappies’ is not the same as the UK term, which means diapers. 😉 I used to feel guilty about napping, as if it was just for ‘old people.’ Now to get a nappy in is bragging rights and I usually herald it from the mountaintops. If the Girl Scouts had a badge for napping, I’d proudly wear it.

I’ve been off the nappy-train for about six months now. There’s just too much that needs to be attended to, including writing these labor-of-love blogs. Speaking of that, I’d like you all to know I got my bum handed to me on a platter earlier this week by my Guys. When Susie and I were working on each other (Reiki), she saw me as a sunflower that had been pulled out of the ground. My ‘roots’ were drying up. I told her I was feeling good. She said I was withering from the roots (feet) up. She said I had literally been uprooted because I wasn’t getting ‘nourishment.’

Nourishment? Whaaa??? I heard, “Nap.” No sooner did I hear this word than Susie said I was being told to NAP! Bam! There it is!! Oooooh yes, I understand how my napping provides spiritual nourishment and physical replenishment. I get it. I really, really do.

So if this latest energy thing is all about insomnia, how are we supposed to cope? Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer. I wish I did. Maybe if I wasn’t so dang tired I could stumble upon something. I guess we just go about doing what we can and wait for this to pass. I mean we don’t have much of a choice.

For me, I know what I have to do. The message was clear. I need to cut back on some of my activities and reintegrate my naps at least until this energy has worked its way through. That may mean cutting back on my blogs. I didn’t realize how much time is spent composing, proofreading and re-writing. I’m really enjoying these blogs and I know you guys are too, but when the Guys speak, I need to pay attention. I’ve ignored Them before and I do NOT want the smack-down I KNOW would be coming if I repeatedly ignored Their messages. I’ve been down that road before, don’t want to go back and I’ll blog about that another day.

Nighty-night. Sleep tight. Pray Mr. Sandman comes tonight.

Progesterone

Several years ago I was talking with my bestie about how lucky I was to have short periods. She, who was getting her Masters in Nutrition at the time, showed me a different side to that thinking.

She said if my periods were short (meaning under 5 to 7 days), then my body may not have enough progesterone. At the time I didn’t care. I mean, 2 to 3 day periods!? Hells to the YEEEEESSSSSSS please!

Au Contraire! Turns out not having enough progesterone can affect more than just Aunt Flo. According to the book, “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause” by Dr. John R. Lee, Estrogen Dominance can cause a whole bunch of health issues such as:

Allergies Anxiety Breast Cancer Low Libido Depression Weight Gain Fatigue Fibrocystic Breasts Headaches Irritability Insomnia Miscarriage Migraines Thyroid Uterine Fibroids PMS Hair Loss Strokes Infertility Cold Hands and Feet

So you can see when you have more estrogen in relation to progesterone or when estrogen is not balanced BY progesterone, a while bunch of hurt can happen.

Let’s talk about progesterone for a minute. Progesterone is one of the primary hormones made in the ovaries. It’s necessary for the survival of a fertilized egg. Progesterone is a precursor to so many other hormones. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why being Progesterone Deficient/Estrogen Dominant can really mess with a girl!

While I am by NO MEANS an authority on this stuff, I do know enough to be mildly dangerous. Let me put some of this in layman’s (ahhhhh, layWOMAN’s) terms for you. For me, being Progesterone Deficient meant that for the two weeks following ovulation, I couldn’t concentrate, sleep or make decisions. I was irritable and unbelievably physically fatigued (well beyond what happens with a night or two of insomnia) as well as headaches that increased in intensity as I neared my period.

I can remember planning my first wedding and trying to decide when I’d be ovulating and when I’d have my period. I knew our wedding had to be during the first two weeks of my cycle as I would be a mess the last two weeks. This was back in 1996! I don’t even know how long I had been feeling like that prior to ‘96.

Fast forward to circa 2003 and cue my girl, Charmaine. At the time she was my personal trainer and as personal trainers do, they often help you with so many other things than building muscle. A deep and profound friendship grew from our personal training sessions. Eventually, I confided in her how I’d been feeling and she thought I might benefit from being on a progesterone cream. She said this might help level out my hormones and it might help my body prepare for a baby.

Step back for a second. Remember what I said earlier? About how progesterone is critical to the survival of a fertilized egg?? Uh huh… Maybe this part should have been included in my “Miracle” blog as I KNOW it helped.

So, let’s see…how old was I….41, 42 maybe? Yeah. I’ll try this progesterone cream. I mean, what did I have to loose besides gripping headaches and overwhelming fatigue?

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. I felt better. Maybe not the first month or the second month, but by the third month of applying the cream, I felt semi-human after ovulation. My symptoms were diminishing and I could actually function. I was sleeping better, had less severe headaches and I handled conflict more easily than before.

Flash forward to 2011. Pregnant. No need to be on progesterone cream as my body was hormonally balanced. In fact, I felt better pregnant than at any other point in my life (hormonally speaking, that is). I didn’t have mood swings or food cravings (although I tried to pass off my increased process sugar eating as an intense craving!) and I was sooooooo calm. I felt really, really good.

How do I know this progesterone thing isn’t bunk? You know, something made up by pharmaceutical companies to sell a product to us aging women? I know because I was not able to use my cream for five months after I gave birth. My intense Estrogen Dominant/Progesterone Deficient symptoms came back after two months. I was a little slow on the uptake and didn’t realize what was going on until month four. After confirming it was safe to start using my progesterone cream, I began again and viola! My symptoms diminished.

If you think you might have issues with progesterone/estrogen and you don’t have a bestie like Charmaine in your life, she suggested you check with your doctor and/or In Health Pharmacy (http://www.inhealthcompounding.com/). They do hormone level checks. Now, granted, your hormones can change hourly (sometimes by the minute!?!) so their test will only be a snapshot of your levels. But it’s a starting point, right?

For me, I still use and love what Charmaine recommended all those years ago. It’s “Serenity Bio-Identical Progesterone Cream” in original formula. I get it on-line from: http://progesterone.com/store/serenity-progesterone-creams/serenity-progesterone-creams/

Ladies, I’m not saying that when you get a headache or feel extreme fatigue or experience any of the above listed symptoms, the ONLY cause is low progesterone/high estrogen. No way! I’m not a doctor and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, either. What I’m saying is maybe by me writing this blog, I’ve opened up another (hormonal) avenue for you to explore towards better health. Who knows! Maybe you’ll find the help you may not have known you needed. 😉

Miracle

You crazy cats! I’ve gotten two emails today stating you are waiting in suspense for the next installment of yesterday’s blog! Whatta hooot! I love it! Thank you. Wait no more……..

(NOTE: This blog is a continuation of yesterday’s “Vasectomy” blog.)

We used birth control until well after we were married. I kept saying, “Honey. I really want to give birth to your little girl” and he kept mumbling something about, oh I don’t know, not being ready or something silly. I, being 6 (or is it 7?) years older than him (he jokingly calls me ‘cougar.’ I do NOT find humor in it), didn’t have a huge window of time to wait. I mean, HELLO!

Even as we still practiced safe sex (giggle), Susie kept saying, “You’re going to be pregnant in xxx.” Then “xxx” would come and I wouldn’t be pregnant. I didn’t give up hope though, as I know how these spiritual timelines can be juked. My husband still wasn’t on board with us having a baby. Ahhh, kind of crucial, don’t ‘cha think?!

Then one night as we were having dinner out, he looked up at me and in little more than a whisper said, “I think we should try.” GULP! Whaaa??! Now it was my turn to get my freak out on. Here, all my dreams were coming true and I was scared beyond scared. I think I chewed off all my fingernails in about 2.2 seconds. If we weren’t in public and in a restaurant, I may have taken off my shoes/socks and started on my toenails!! Not kidding!

Those five little words, “I think we should try” wrecked me. I think I was 44 at the time he said this. I had been so independent my entire life that now that having a baby was a real possibility, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get pregnant. How’s that for a shocker?! I mean, for a lifetime, I knew how many pregnancies/children I would have and I had wanted our baby girl for so, SO long, that now, when I was presented with the remote chance we’d have her, I was not sure I wanted to try! Sigh.

Susie had been telling me I’d get pregnant with an egg released from my right side. Me, knowing my body pretty well, knew exactly when I was ovulating and what side I was ovulating on. It had been a joke for months between my husband and I that I couldn’t get pregnant as I was ovulating on the left side. Well, guess what? Left side ovulation? Pregnant.

Now you should know when people do intuitive work, there is ALWAYS room for us humans to change what we are being told. I trust and respect Susie. She has saved my life in more ways than one. She is spot on with her intuitive information. She is a beautiful and gifted Healer. She married my husband and I. I love her. I would not be who or where I am today without her gentle mentorship and fierce friendship.

So I’m wondering why she heard, time after time after time, that I would become pregnant from an egg released from my right side. You know what I came up with? I think I was subconsciously stopping the pregnancy from happening each time I ovulated on the right side. Yeah, I do. Looking back, my energy was just different in the months where I didn’t think I could get pregnant (i.e. left side ovulation) versus the months I thought I could. I know there are no coincidences and I believe our Guys told her that information because They saw the bigger picture.

Now let me add some more color to this story. If I had conceived on my right side, my body would have aborted our baby. I’ll say it again, if I would have had our baby implant on my right side, she would not be here today. None of us knew this until our little stinker decided to go breach the night before I gave birth. It turned out that during my emergency C-section, it was discovered I had a ‘deviated uterus’ meaning, my uterus is split in two, uneven halves. The right side was the smaller side and would not have been able to sustain growing life.

Even the fact that baby girl went from being in the correct birthing position to breach all within 8 hours of the start of my labor, is not without significance. Her umbilical cord had been wrapped around her neck and I was told she may not have made it through the ‘normal’ birthing process alive.

Are you starting to see that there truly are no coincidences? That everything DOES happen for a reason? You may not be aware of that reason for 50 years, but there IS a reason.

Our little girl coming to join us is nothing short of a miracle. Just look at all the dynamics that went into bringing her here. Look at everything that needed to happen. “The Miracle of Life” has a whole new meaning for us.

I wrote this story for those of you who desperately want a baby. DON’T. GIVE. UP! Look at all the groundwork that needed to be laid in order for our baby to happen. Do what you need to do for you, whether it’s balancing your hormones, taking fertility tests or maybe just taking some pressure off of yourself. When the time is right, IF it’s right, it’ll happen for you, too.

Vasectomy

Even as teenager, I knew how many pregnancies/children I would have and I knew what order they would be born in. I never really wanted kids during my starter marriage. In fact, I didn’t even think about having children until I was around age 38.

I wasn’t sure how the whole having children thing would work out since my marriage had gone down in flames, I was single once again and in my early 40’s.

Well! Low and behold, one day the medical community told me I had a disease that needed surgery. If I had the surgery I wouldn’t be able to have children. Well, I freaked the HELL out. Surgery wasn’t an option. I wanted children. Then I found Susie and Reiki.

Without going into specifics as it’s a story for another day, my condition – the one the medical community told me the only solution was an operation – was healed. My disease was gone.

A few years later, I was Reiki II trained and dating my husband. In our early days of dating, he decided he didn’t want any more children so he scheduled a vasectomy. There was little discussing this even though we were in a committed relationship. His mind was made up. I begged him not to do this as we both knew we were headed down the marriage path.

I had been crystal clear our entire relationship that I wanted children. I repeatedly told him I KNEW my next pregnancy would be a girl. I KNEW it. You see, he had wanted a baby girl for so, so long. He would talk about braiding her hair and having her run to him as he came home from work. He wanted a little girl that would like to be outdoors and fish along side of him. He wanted her to reach her arms out and say, “dada.” He was already manifesting her, but my stubborn, beautiful husband had the vasectomy anyway.

The night of his snip-snip, I prayed to God for help. Here I had met The One and I felt I could no longer continue our relationship. He knew I wanted children and he had taken steps to ensure that would never happen. I felt betrayed, dismayed and gut punched.

I woke up several times during that night. At one point, I heard, “Your miracle has been delivered.” I saw, in my mind’s eye, a small shoe box sized present wrapped in white, opalescent paper with a beautiful deep pink ribbon and bow sitting outside my apartment door. This was so real that I actually got out of bed and opened my door. Nothing was there of course, but let me tell you, the ‘gift’ HAD been delivered. In spades.

I didn’t hear from my honey the day after his surgery. I had made it clear to him we couldn’t go on dating if he went through with his vasectomy. It tore me up. Can you imagine?! IT TORE ME UP!!! I had already lost this man once (he dumped me!) and now I had lost him again. I KNEW I was suppose to have a child(ren) with him. It was almost too much to handle. I was completely beside myself.

The next night, after spending most of the day freaking out on the phone with Susie, I asked, out loud, “What in the hell am I suppose to do?! WHAT!?!” I heard, softly, ‘Walk the path a little longer, Little One.” To be clear, this was in the really early days of my intuitiveness. But bless whomever’s heart for saying what They did as it got through to me.

That night, my guy called. He confirmed he went through with the vasectomy and said, “You made it pretty clear if I did this, we were finished” and I said, “I need to walk the path with you a little longer. Can you do that with me?” He said he could.

I was still waiting for the miracle I heard had occurred. I mean, did I really hear those sweet words or did I just want it so badly, that I said those words and then believed they came from a Higher Power?? I just wanted that miracle SO badly, you know? And he’d had the damn vasectomy!

Well, here it is folks. Here’s the miracle. My husband’s vasectomy DID NOT WORK (insert a sly smile). Miracle, anyone?! Yes, please and thank you! He told me his son, whom he gets custody of only one night a week, decided to sleep with him the night of his surgery. This is something his son (then 5 or 6) hadn’t done for months, but that night…..no coincidences, right?? And as his son slept, he thrashed and kicked my husband in parts that should NEVER be kicked. Miracle delivered in the disguise of a sweet, six year old little boy. Vasectomy undone!

Now, I knew that just because he was physically able to have children once again, didn’t mean he was mentally open to it. At this point in his life, he was learning about spirituality and was on board with me doing my Intuitive and Reiki Work on him. After grousing around for weeks (or was it months?) that he was going to have another vasectomy, he bashfully said to me, “Maybe you’re right. There are no coincidences, so maybe my vasectomy not working is telling me something.” Gee, do you THINK?!! He is a hard nut to crack, I’m telling you! Stubborn German. 😉

But our journey towards having a baby isn’t over yet. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog: ‘Miracle.’ 😉

Vegetarian

**WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT!!**

People are usually curious as to why I decided to become a Vegetarian. It wasn’t one thing; it was a lot of things. Before you continue reading, you should know the ‘tone’ of this blog is different from my other writings. Continue at your own discretion.

Several years ago, I watched a DVD entitled, “Earthlings” that literally revolted and repulsed me. I saw things that changed my life. The movie had an astounding impact on me. **HERE COMES THE GRAPHIC MATERIAL!** I can still see the little lamb that was hanging upside down, blinking and baa’ing, but had all of his skin removed. And the little chicks who were tossed into a grinder ALIVE because they weren’t female. And the turkeys that had their beaks ripped off, RIPPED OFF so they couldn’t peck at the million other in-humanely confined turkeys. I could go on and on, but for those of you still reading this, I think you get the point.

I was so disgusted by the mistreatment of these animals that I thought twice about eating meat after that. I thought even more about how we waste meat. I started to pay attention to the amount of meat that was left on people’s plates at restaurants. It occurred to me these animals were being killed, some very inhumanely, so that we can throw their meat in the garbage. Hummm.

I was incredibly disturbed by the wastefulness of our society and the unbelievable, brutal way these animals were raised and slaughtered. These practices just didn’t fit with the person I was becoming.

Then, there is the whole adding hormones and antibiotics and other crap to their feed in order to fatten the cows up quicker or make the chicken’s breasts bigger. Those hormones/antibiotics do NOT do our human body any good. They cause early puberty in girls. They mimic estrogen dominance in women, which can literally make us infertile* and let’s not forget the direct correlation these hormones have on cancer.

I was still eating meat when I ate some bad eggs and got e-coli poisoning. By the time those eggs were finished with me, I was finished with meat. I figured if I had purged my body from all meat sources, I wasn’t going to start putting hormone-filled, unethically raised/killed, and early puberty inducing meat back into it. Let’s face it…the meat we buy today is just not the meat I was raised on.

It was a completely personal decision and one that fits my lifestyle. I wasn’t much of a meat eater anyway so it wasn’t that big of a leap for me. If I could have found organic or ethically treated/killed meat, I would have gone that route. But I didn’t, so as they say, the rest is history.

Now, don’t think making the switch was easy. Nooooo, sireee Bob! I mean, all my life I had eaten and cooked meat. Now what do I do? I was lucky enough to have a bestie who was willing to tutor me in the ways of all things Vegetarian. She was getting her Masters in Nutrition and, as usual, had been a huge source of help. She showed me that being Vegetarian was so much more than eating tofu (which I LOVE, by the way! Yum YUM!).

As the months rolled on, I was excited to have the medical community tell me my cholesterol was dropping. It never was medically high, but it was high according to my bestie. And drop it did. In six months, I had lowered my cholesterol by 50 points. Yeah! 50 points! I didn’t change anything about the way I was eating EXCEPT eliminating meat.

A year later I noticed I could eat more food (read: processed sugar) and not gain weight. No longer did I need to exercise more often or at a higher rate of intensity in order to compensate for those empty calories. I was easily losing weight. Cha CHING!!!

As a side note, let me tell you about my husband. He was a total carnivore. He’d eat red meat 4 or 5 times a week and sometimes twice a day. His cholesterol was through the roof at 450+. He used to say, “Nothing I can do about it, it’s genetic.” Now he’s changed his tune on that whole song and dance. He decided to become Vegetarian about a year after I did. Guess what? His cholesterol – without any cholesterol lowering medicine – is now 147.

There are so many excellent meat replacement items out there ranging from ‘meat impersonators’ to beans, eggs, legumes and soy products. In the coming weeks, I plan on posting recipes or alternative meat ideas for you to try. Again, becoming a Vegetarian was a personal decision and one that I do NOT and will NOT push on anyone. If meat still resonates with you, then eat it. You won’t get any judgments or dirty looks from me. For me, eating Vegetarian is treating me healthy.

*For more information on Estrogen Dominance: http://www.drnorthrup.com/womenshealth/healthcenter/topic_details.php?topic_id=118

Hips

As I work with clients, reoccurring energetic themes often pop up. What I mean by this is sometimes I see/hear the same information for a multitude of clients. This usually signals me to take notice. If it’s happening to 3 or 5 or 15 of my clients, it may be happening to you and I as well.

Sometimes these energetic ascension symptoms affect thousands of us. Sometimes they affect millions and yet, sometimes they only affect hundreds. It all depends on where you’ve been, where you’re going and where you are, spiritually speaking.

Before I continue, I need to paint a picture for you. This picture was painted for me years ago and one that I’m kind of squeamish about painting for you. (Big breath) Ok, here goes….Imagine yourself in a tight, restrictive space. No, tighter. Noooo, tighter yet. Ok, here comes my squeamishness and the picture…Ready? Envision a birthing canal.

K, so let’s say your spiritual body is being forced through a birthing canal of sorts. Most of us can only imagine how restrictive that might be, as I doubt any of us can remember going through it physically. Maybe, but I doubt it. This canal is, of course, spiritual in nature but it may play havoc with your physical body.

Imagine what your physical body might be going through to accommodate your spiritual advancement. You may, for instance, experience headaches or earaches if you’re just entering this energetic birthing canal. If you’re of the ilk that has been in the canal for a while, you may feel discomfort or malaise in your tummy or hips. For those individuals who are almost done with this chamber and chapter, your knees, ankles or even feet may be subjected to soreness of varying degrees.

So let me repeat. Even though this is a spiritual thing, your physical body may experience uncomfortable, roving symptoms. I will caution you that if you are at all concerned about any of these symptoms/issues, see your medical doctor. You’ll know it’s something energetic if the soreness or pain moves around.

Now that I’ve laid the groundwork, so to speak, the trend I’ve been seeing for the last few months is this: I’m noticing a lot of energy around everyone’s hips. It started out with ‘balance’ issues in the head area and then moved to ‘not speaking your Truth’ issues in the throat. Then to the heart where relationships (addictions/marriage/emotions/habits/friends/jobs) which were no longer in harmony with you, ended. Then on to the lungs, tummy and well, redundantly, the hips.

Have you noticed your hips/thighs/lower back feel tight? Maybe you’ve felt ‘stuck’ or like you’re not going anywhere. Have you felt bloated or had intestinal discomfort? Maybe you’ve recently had some lower back issues.

How long does this ‘birthing’ journey take? It depends on a lot of things. I’m hearing about six months from head to toe. Then the whole process may start over almost immediately. What a wet blanket I am, huh?

Now that you know this information, try to pay attention to your body a little bit more. See if you can tell where you are in the spiritual birthing canal.

Melissa’s Note: I can’t believe I typed, ‘birthing canal’ so many times {eye roll}. Good LORD!

Breathes

Ok, so yesterday I wrote a blog entitled ‘Breathe’ and promised you some ways for slowing down your breath. Here’s one technique that I just love. It’s super easy and yes, a caveman DID do it!!

For those of you who have had Reiki sessions with me, you know I often start out by instructing new clients to Belly Breathe. I find myself doing a form of Belly Breathing (Yoga Breath) during most of my sessions. It’s just something that feels natural and I love the energy I get by doing so.

The directions below were adapted – and Melissa-ized – from livingbydesignonline.com.

Belly Breathing. This is a great place for chronic Rabbit Breathers to start as it has a calming effect on your mind. Belly Breathing is very good for releasing anger and anxiety. It can also be used for pain relief (I used it during childbirth!) and relaxation in general. Needing to calm your mind? Start here!

Place your right hand upon your chest and your left hand on your tummy. Take in a slow, deep breath (HEY, shallow breathers, fear not!! The ability to inhale deeply is buried in your DNA!) and exhale through your mouth. When you exhale, pull your tummy in slightly to squeeze out every last drop of that nasty carbon dioxide.

Notice if the hand that’s on your stomach rises higher than the hand on your chest. Did it? If so, jolly GOOD show! You’ve successfully inhaled life-giving, Fountain-of-Youth oxygen deep into your lungs. If that didn’t happen? Wahh wahhhh wahhhhhhhh. Do not pass Go and do not collect $200.

No, I’m being silly. Just try it again. Now that you know your little tummy should swell on each inhalation, try it. And try it again. Try it until you hyperventilate (kidding!) or your body starts to remember what it’s like to take a deep, whole, full breath.

Repeat this process as often as you need. If you’re like me, you’ll forget about this breath when you need it the most (eye roll). Once you’re comfortable expanding your belly, you can stop using the hand position portion of this exercise. You can always visualize a color on your inhalation and/or add some words like, “calm, peace” or “relax” when you exhale. It’s not necessary, but what you tell your mind is what you’ll believe. Let me put it this way; it can only help.

Try this type of breath when you’re driving (don’t do the hand position portion, though! 10 and 2 people! 10 and 2!) or out for a walk. Maybe even when you’re huffing and puffing and your face is turning red in some cardio gym class (yes, that one was pointed directly at me). 😉 Try this when you want some calm or conversely, when you want some energy.

Let me remind you again of a few (there are literally hundreds!) of the benefits Belly Breathing/Deep Breathing can bring about. Ready?

Reduction in cancer as cancer cells can’t thrive in an oxygen-rich environment.
Reduction in mental/physical fatigue plus more energy.
I wasn’t kidding when I called Belly Breathing the “Fountain of Youth.” It really does reduce wrinkles and improves skin tone!
Reduction in the workload for your heart, which means lower blood pressure and less heart disease. No studies were done on trying to mend a broken heart, though. Sorry.
And rounding out the Top Five: Relaxation for the mind and body. Ding, ding! Winner Winner!! Slow, deep, rhythmic breathing causes muscles to relax and the heart rate to slow, thus allowing the mind to calm.

Let’s ditch the Stress Breath and opt for some good old oxygenated lungs. See what happens. To me, it sounds like there isn’t a downside to Belly Breathing. Well, unless you don’t want to be around to walk your daughter down the aisle, kiss your grandchildren or watch the next season of “The Kardashians” then, maybe…..

Breathe

Back in the caveman days, we used our lungs to capacity. With the advent of cars, corporate buildings, and air filtration systems, we now use only 1/3 of our lungs. Betcha didn’t know that, did ya? I didn’t see it coming either.

When we become stressed, we shallow breathe or as I like to say, “rabbit breathe.” Shallow/rapid/rabbit breathing can contribute to stress-related disorders such as PMS, headaches, migraines, insomnia, high blood pressure, asthma, back pain and allergies. These are just a few, folks. There are a ton more disorders out there.

According to some websites (two of them being: livingbydesignonline.com and breathing.com), oxygen is the most vital nutrient for our bodies. In fact, your brain needs three times the oxygen your body does. Oxygen is essential to maintain the brain, nerves, glands and internal organs (part of me wants to say, “LeDuh! See #1 below). One of these websites states, ‘virtually every health condition can be improved with Optimal Breathing.’

Here’s something to think about:

We can do without food for weeks, without water for days, but we will die in a few minutes without oxygen.
If the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen, it will start depriving all vital organs (read: Depression, sluggishness, irritability, negative thoughts, anxiety, chronic pain, etc.).
GET THIS: The lack of oxygen has been considered a major cause of cancer. In 1947, work was done that showed when oxygen was withdrawn; normal body cells could turn into cancerous cells. Similar research was done with heart disease (a disease that plagues my gene pool, unfortunately). It showed that a lack of oxygen is a major cause of heart disease, stroke and again, cancer.

ObVIOUSly oxygen is beyond critical to our well-being. It’s been said that any effort you can take to increase your oxygen supply will richly reward you (long, healthier life, anyone???).

Yogis realized the importance of an abundant oxygen supply thousands of years ago. In fact, my favorite yoga teacher just said to me, “You know, your yoga breath is good. Why don’t you try to implement that in other cardio classes and see if you become less tired?” What the WHAT?! Yep… again, it was a case of not seeing the trees through the forest. I’ve been a gym rat for longer than some of you have been alive and yet I totally got schooled by someone 18 years younger than me.

Let’s talk a bit about Stress Breath (Huh. What do ya know? I just came up with that. Pretty clever! I must be getting enough oxygen.) How come it happens? Here are some ideas:

We’re in a hurry most of the time and have increased stress. No, really?!
We get hyper (agitated, angry, worry, etc.) too often. Can you feel your body/lungs constrict just by reading those words?? I can.
We don’t need to catch our food anymore (well, sometimes we do, but we don’t have to run for miles and miles with spears and then worry that we will become the food). In essence, we don’t need to breathe frequently anymore. Knock knock. Who’s there? It me!! Your shallow breathing habit. Let me in!
Most of us work indoors where we are actually exposed to more pollution. The body, thinking it needs to protect us, instinctively inhales less air.

So what do we do about this? How do we make deep breathing a habit? How do we reap the benefits? Well, I’ve got some ideas on that, too. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog, ‘Breathes’.