How I balance stress

Speaking first hand stress management is challenging. When you break it down stress creates anger, aggression, judgement, hate, anxiety, depression, sadness and eventually when your body has had enough it will suffer with disease which is what happened to me. I was in denial that I was stressed out until it wreaked havoc on my body. Not to mention, I really disliked the person I was when stress was winning. The side effects are different for everyone except our bodies can only be in fight or flight mode for so long before the crash happens.

I remember when working at my stressful corporate job I couldn't change the way the work was coming at me. After getting sick I had to find a way to manage my reactions to the stress. You cannot heal in the environment you get sick in which meant I had to make BIG changes. This is when I would take my self-care practice serious and make it routine. You may be thinking you don't have time for adding some self love into your life but you do. To get started commit to make the time, want the change and envision the benefits. Years ago when I first became a new mother someone said "nap when your baby naps the housework can wait." Being a new mom the advice was welcomed and napping was made a priority when the baby was sleeping. Today, with two teens in my home it isn't much different I'm telling you "take care of yourself first so you can be happier, more joyous and loving for the people around you."

To begin, keep it simple. There are many things we can do mentally to take care of our self as well as physical activities we can do to show ourselves love. If it's too overwhelming to do every day, commit to starting with once a week and gradually work in more activities but COMMIT to something. I aim for at least two to three a day with the exception of eating organic I practice daily. Things may change in the future but my personal commitment is to a morning routine of meditating before getting out of bed, journaling and then 20 minutes of movement or exercise.

Some of my other favorite ways I treat my body with love:

-Morning and Evening skin care routine using natural ingredients

-Eat Organic, Non GMO food

-Meditating

-Nature Walk

-Yoga

-Colon Cleanse (future blog coming check out YouTube to learn more)

-Massage (every other month)

-Chiropractor (monthly)

-Visit a garden, museum, library or park

-Dry brush yourself before a shower or bath to remove environmental toxins

-Take a bath with Epsom salt and your favorite essential oil

-Infarred Sauna

-Try Cupping (it relieves stress)

-Establish a prayer routine and stick to it. Light candles and sit in silence

-Discover your passions or learn more about them by reading books (I heart the public library)

-Start a gratitude journal list 5 things you are thankful for everyday (warning: life changing)

-Take yourself on a date (get comfortable being with yourself alone it's good for re-charge)

-Sage smudge your home and bless it with love

One thing I have learned about myself through my awakening is I thought that I had to be physically exercising a lot burning up extra pent up energy from stress. Through meditation and yoga I have discovered to take that energy and focus within and quiet the mind. I feel just as healthy if not more then when I was doing extreme cardio work. It's a much more balanced feeling. When I finally stopped making life be about losing weight and focused on healing myself the weight after all the years I had been trying finally melted off. Because my body is strong inside so too is my stamina when mountain biking, hiking or other physical activity.

My friend Christine introduced me to Kundalini yoga about 8 months ago. I have been practicing hatha, vinyasa and hot yoga for 9 years. This was a practice I hadn't ever heard about. She encouraged me to try it and can I say wow I blown away. Amazed at how I felt after the first session I have been practicing ever since. Anyone can do it, most of the poses focus on breathing, opening the heart, strengthening the nervous system and building stamina. I haven't been able to find a studio close to my home that offers this practice. My preference is the yoga streaming service by Gaia.com. You can select Kundalini (Guru Jagat is wonderful energy teacher) and even a video as short as 12 minutes. My promise to you is you will feel different and more vibrant after you complete a practice.

-Love and Peace,

Amber

Picture Above: Zen Garden Nature Walk this past Spring

Picture Below: After first cupping treatment