Author: belle

Posted on

6 benefits of massage you may not know

1) Massage is the Anti-Dote to sitting

 

Most people in this modern world exist in a desk-bound, car-bound life-style. The pressure this puts on our spinal column causes all kinds of tension and pain in the neck and shoulders. 

However if you are sitting in a desk most of your waking life (9-5pm full time office workers beware) then more serious forms of stress will start to manifest in the lower back area too.

Research has shown, however that regular fortnightly massage can help re-balance your back muscles and keep you in your job and off compo! So just be sure to schedule your massage as this is an integral part of a healthy work/life balance.

2) Massage eases back pain

The Touch Research Institute (TRI) in Miami, FL has shown that regular massage increases blood flow to the muscles and alleviates the sensation of pain felt by patients. So if you stand up after a long period of sitting, and reach to your lower back and feel stiff and sore, then a “prescription” of fortnightly remedial massage is just what the doctor should be ordering you (NOT anti inflammatory drugs and endone). 

Massage increases blood flow to muscles and helps to break up fibrous tissues (which cause pain). Increase blood flow improves flexibility in the muscles and reduces the chance of muscle spasm (felt when you “put your back out” reaching for a shoe on the floor) and muscle tearing (this isn’t good, and this alone should be your reason for booking preventative massage!)

3) Massage eases anxiety and depression and stress

The benefits of soothing, supportive nurturing touch are the basis for any good relationship – including with your massage therapist. With the right therapist, you can receive “body counselling” as well as physical stretching, and massage. Regular visits with your massage therapist creates more than just a good feeling in your muscular body – it creates good feeling in your brain as well.
Positive touch  – especially for people who are not in close intimate relationships – can boost mood and improve overall feelings of happiness.  
 And for pregnant women, the news is even better: the TRI has found that just 20mins massage each week over 12 weeks significantly reduced the rate of depression in their pregnant patients, and also reduced the amount of stress hormone – cortisol – that was in the mum (and bub’s) body! DOUBLE win!

Depression is a major ailment affecting around 1 million Australian adults , and over 2 million have anxiety. Research has shown that teens and adults who receive regular massage have lower stress levels and report feeling much more relaxed and happy. (Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry). Considering anti-depressants are being handed out like lollies, and have a heap of side effects, surely a visit to the massage clinic fortnightly would be a better way to manage depression?

When you combine massage therapy and energy healing and counselling your experience becomes much more than just a “feel good” appointment. Belle offers deep healing and transformation appointments, because she combines the best of three worlds: talking therapy and energy healing and massage therapy. Her appointments are in hot demand, because her clients walk in stressed, angry and frustrated with pain in their neck and shoulders and back, and walk out lighter, calmer and pain free. This is because when the emotional body is stressed it gives you physical symptoms. Remove the emotional stress and the physical pain ease.

 

4) Massage improves sleep habits

Massage helps to sedate and soothe the nervous system. Most adults aren’t getting enough restful, deep sleep every night. We call it Sleep Hygiene, and to be honest the majority of the population are filthy according to sleep standards!

You’ve heard of the “fight or flight” response of your nervous system? And no doubt you have felt that second wind you get around 11pm at night….that moment during GoT where your eyes are getting heavy and you know you should turn the TV off, but it is so engrossing, and you really must keep watching to see if Tyrion is going to be killed, and then the plot changes suddenly and WHAM! you are wide awake again. You nudge your partner and say “want to watch another ep?” 
Suddenly you are so awake you feel amazing and you grab some chips from the kitchen and a cuppa and then you can’t get to sleep until 1am when your eyes finally start to droop (and have watched another 3 eps). 
Don’t tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about! 

This is a huge disruption in your circadian rhythms and if you miss your sleep cues you are screwed for another few hours. 
Massage will help your nervous system to re-boot and relax, meaning it will help you to settle yourself easier later in the night -it doesn’t matter what time of day you have a massage – but only YOU can make a choice to get up and turn the telly off at 9.45pm and start getting ready for bed. 

Game of Thrones aside, massage improves sleep for both the young and old alike! This is music to every new mum and dad’s ears! Baby massage has long been used to help new parents bond with their newborn, but the possibility of helping their child sleep like…ahem…”a baby” is even more of a reason for learning baby massage. Don’t you think?

Soothing massage with pure lavender or chamomile oil can help ease tummy pains, and has been shown to improve digestion and sleep/wake cycles. So it is worth starting off early with your kids and spending some time each day giving them a quick tummy or foot massage. 

Massage also encourages a restful sleep for those who can’t otherwise comfortably rest. Oncology massage is a perfect way to help clients who are undergoing treatment, or just finished treatment. The technique is softer and more gentle and the emphasis is on pure comfort (both Tamara and Ange are fully qualified Oncology Massage Therapists).

5) Massage boosts immunity

In this, our worst Flu season in YEARS, this is music to your ears right? The prevention for flu is a regular massage? Possibly. Cedars Sinai conducted research that showed Swedish or “light touch” massage improves the immune system function after just 45mins massage.

This is exciting news, because it proves what we already know – there is a time and place for deep tissue massage – but NOT when you are feeling under the weather. In our clinic our policy is: If you are feverish, sneezing or coughing, you cannot come for massage (you will pass on germs), but if you are Post-Viral, or just feel like something is coming on, then a Relaxation massage is definitely what the doctor ordered! 

6) Massage eases PMS

SHOUT IT OUT LADIES – this is your MASSIVE EXCUSE to tell your partner you need to dedicate some of the household budget to fortnightly massage therapy! I bet you that he will agree to anything you want, if he knows massage will help put the T-Rex in it’s box!

Joking aside, massage therapy twice per month decreases anxiety, depressed mood and pain associated with cramping and the longer term effects of massage therapy included a reduction in pain and water retention and overall menstrual distress. (Hernandez-Reif, M, Martinez , A., Field, T., Quintino, O., Hart, S., & Burman, I. (2000). Premenstrual syndrome symptoms are relieved by massage therapy. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, 21, 9-15.)

 

 

Posted on

Emotions are your guide post

Not all physical sensations are from a physical place. They are quite often from the emotional body. Let me give you an example:


 You know that sinking feeling you might get when you think of someone who might be in trouble? 
Or that feeling of butterflies right before you have to do public speaking?

What about the sensation of tightness in your chest and you feel like you are going to have a panic attack?

Have you ever had a friend that made me so frustrated you could feel all tight across the chest and hot flushes going up the neck and face?

Do you ever experience times in social situations when you feel totally drained?

I have learned how to work with my “felt sense” – that part of me that feels everything. If you can learn to understand the “language” of your body, talking to you and relaying your emotional body, then you can learn how to let it guide you. 

So what can you do to start becoming aware of your emotional guidance system?

    1. Start by making a choice to become more aware of how your day to day emotions feel in the physical body.
      You can practice this by starting on the GOOD FEELING emotions. So, when you are happy, stop for a moment and ask yourself “where am I feeling happy in my body the most?”
      Then when you are feeling sad, ask yourself “where am I feeling most sad in my body?”
      This isn’t hard to do, but may take some practice before you feel confident identifying the feeling area. 
    2. Once you can identify the feeling you are feeling and where it sits in the body, you can ask why it is there. Only do this for the negative emotions, or the ones that feel more difficult. This way you can almost “make friends” with them, and they wont seem so heavy or oppressive.

 

With practice, you will start to recognise the feeling of the emotion in your body, long before you recognise it in your brain! Then you can make decisions from this.

Invited out with a friend, and you feel heavy in your belly?
Then simply decline with grace, as your body has said “the timing is not right on this one today”.

Offered a promotion at work but you feel immediately tight in your chest? Possibly this is your usual response of panic setting in (self-sabotage?), and you need to work on your self-confidence?
(Book in an energy clearing session to correct this).

Can you imagine how more genuine and heart-centred, your life will become when you learn how to listen to your emotional feedback system, and live from this centre?

If you approach life from your head too much, you may over-think – and think things that aren’t actually there! But if you go from your “feeling sense” you will never go wrong. You will free yourself of negativity and drama, and allow peace and good feeling to grow!

Posted on

Shit Happens….


One morning I was laying on the couch and the sun was barely peeking through the clouds, and I was hating my life and hating the fact that I had to endure another day with two kids at home and one at school, and juggle everyone and try to get thru the day without losing it.
My body was exhausted, and my mind was in a permanent state of cranky.

I was drowning in housework day in day out, trying to get the kids out the door to school/kindy on time (never happened two days in a row), trying to run a fledgling biz on no longer than 3hrs of sleep at a time, feeling like I was walking in mud all day long, dealing with total food intolerance and being on a permanent Elimination Diet ( which meant I ate mostly air, as anything else I ate gave me hives or aching muscles or a headache or IBS.) I really was at a low point in my life, and I was fairly certain that it couldn’t get any worse.

Their father had already left for work (he later informed me that he was so tired that he tended to leave early and then park his car on the side of the road and have a sleep on the way to work …. did I mention I am now divorced from this man?)


On this particular morning I had stopped trying to tell the kids to go back to sleep, or to wait until Mr Sun pops thru the clouds (which I say in a gritted teeth “sing song voice”) – resigned to the fact that my sleep time was over and I knew there was no alternative but to get up. I thought I would be smart and clever and put the t.v on for them to sit quietly and watch for another 3 hours so I could lay on the couch and sleep right near them, whilst they sat transfixed by Teletubbies or Dora the Bloody Explorer. Except at their age, they wouldn’t watch the damned thing, but terrorize the house from the moment they woke up until the time they were ordered into their room after 7pm.

My eyes just wouldn’t stay open and I was somewhere in that zone between sleep and awake and could hear everything my kids were doing far far off in the distance. I could hear rustling of cereal boxes in the kitchen (good, Yes I know they are in the next room and not wandering out the front door). I can hear talking in muffled voices and giggling ( good, yes they are planning a terrorist attack on me for later in the morning, but for now I will listen to their “naughty laugh” and prepare myself accordingly) and I did think for a moment “I should get up and investigate and get them some food”, but my body just wouldn’t move.
Besides I knew EXACTLY what they were up to, for I am super mum and my ears are awake and my brain is functioning, even though this dream I am having feels awfully real too.
Another thirty minutes on the couch couldn’t hurt. Right?

I had completely nodded off and was woken by my darling one year old girl patting my face and sticking her fingers into my nose and mouth. This went on for a while. I was able to zone out and steal those last few minutes of rest/sleep before I had to sit up and let the day officially begin. However I could smell the sweetness of the cereal on her fingers and my mind started becoming more alert and I was thinking “what cereal has she got into?” I prided myself on only giving my youngest oats for breakky, and I was feeling a little disappointed that she had tried her first commercial cereal while I was sleeping, and this made me an inferior mother, and I had probably let her down, and ruined her future success (I did mention I was incredibly tired and my brain didn’t think logically or straight in this time of my life).

Try as I might, I just couldn’t remember which cereal it could be. Mainly because the ones I usually bought weren’t that sweet. But then I remembered that I had put the cereal up high on the shelf the night before, because I was trying to limit what the older kids were getting into each day when I was laying on the couch, catching those last minutes of sleep. (I did this a lot!)

And then I sniffed a little, and her fingers pushed into my mouth and then I opened one eye and saw my baby girl was putting one hand into her nappy and then pulling it out again saying “yuck yuck yuck” and then poking me in the face with the same finger!

Suddenly I was wide awake and I realised that she hadn’t been eating cereal at all, (and yes my idea to hide the cereal had worked! She hadn’t gotten into it  – result!) and that her fingers had been in her nappy and then up my nose and in my mouth.

Eyes open wide awake! Run to the sink and wash my face and mouth out. Gagging. Blowing my nose. Yes I am bloody awake now! Washing some more. Making guttural sounds that started to scare the children. Washing hands. Blowing nose. Gagging again.

So when I mentioned earlier, I was at a low point and life couldn’t get much worse….well I guess I was wrong. The moral of this story?

Shit happens. And then you wash yourself off, and get on with it. And live to tell the story five years later to your new husband and his children, and have them in fits of laughter and gross-out, and realise that you are stronger than what you think you are in the moment. And that all things happen for a reason (still waiting for that reason) and that you can literally eat a shit sandwich and still go on to have a great life.

Never give up. This “young children” season you are in, will only last a few years.

Posted on

The Importance of Being Selfish

“Selfish” isn’t a dirty word…in fact it may be the most healthy character trait you can have…..as long as it is accompanied by kindness and love.

 

Taking the time to look after your body regularly through exceptional food, pure water and regular exercise are the first three pillars to good health – you probably already know this as these three pillars have been drummed into those of us born after 1970.  As a society we have come to believe that taking care of these three areas is the best – and most sufficient way – to care for yourself. However, there is a fourth pillar of health that is often forgotten, hidden or shunned – that is the pillar of Emotional Wellbeing. 

This clinic is not just a massage clinic, we are more than that. We are therapists who recognise the importance of emotional wellbeing, and we understand the signs and symptoms that crop up in a body that is not in emotional balance. We call this the Mind Body Connection, and Belle is a leading expert in her field on recognising that every physical symptom has an emotional cause underneath. 
Regular self care is the ONLY way to ensure you are in emotionally balance – and this will look different for everyone. 

Emotional Wellbeing (EW) is the practice of listening to and being guided by that inner voice that speaks to us when things feel a bit “off” and when things feel very right. You can think of EW as being like a rudder on a boat. It helps us to steer and stay on course. I’m not much of a boat person, but I this is a good analogy that can describe the idea:
When you are in a boat and the rudder is slightly turned in the wrong direction it takes a moment or two before you realise you are headed slightly off course. The good thing is you can correct your steering by taking the helm in two hands, and tuning your attention to where you are going. You will get back on course quickly when you recognise your mistake, but it takes a little longer if you aren’t paying attention. And sometimes you can get into serious trouble if you really don’t recognise you are way off course.
Are you with me so far?

Our body has a feedback system that is always helping us to steer in the right direction, it gives us signs and an a “a-hoy there” if we are off course. I prefer to call the gut my “inner wisdom” but you can call it your gut instinct, or intuition too. For many women, they ignore this feedback system because they are so busy caring for other people and making themselves too busy to take time out for themselves. Our modern society prides itself on the ability of a woman to get shit done and to be superwoman. I know countless women who just keep going and going and going…until they fall apart and have to stay in bed for a day or so, and then get up and go and go and go again!

But I am here to tell you that this is the BEST way to start feeling aches and pains in your neck and shoulders, recurrent headaches, sinus infections, persistent coughs and colds and to feel sad or apathetic in your heart. For many women they report feeling like they have “no direction” or “no purpose” even though they have a job, they have a family, they have a partner, they have a house (etc etc) and they don’t see any real reason why they feel so flat, or low or un-energised or just a bit blah.

This is REALLLLLYYYY common in the years after having a baby. Clients will often present with aching in the neck and shoulders, and possibly lower back, but they will put it down to having a very heavy bub, or that they are still breastfeeding etc. Whilst yes, that may be true, there is an underlying emotional imbalance that is weighing heavy on you too. Problem is, when you have babies close together, you get too busy to care for yourself and correct some of the things that start to hurt and feel bad, because you are too busy caring for tiny humans. And so the problems compound until you have more serious aches and pains, and possibly many conditions and diseases to manage.
Often when I ask the simple question “How often do you engage in self-care?”
I get answers such as:
“ummm….”
“not very often”
“what do you mean by ‘self care’?”

Self Care is the act of attending to and caring for the self. It can be through making small choices such as what to eat or what to drink, that is life-giving and energy supporting. Or it can be through making huge life choices such as removing toxic relationships from your life, moving to a new town, changing jobs, or beginning a meditation / fitness program on a weekly basis.

Emotional Wellbeing is reliant upon your ability to put the focus on yourself for a while – especially if you are feeling achey, or despairing, or just a bit “nothingness”. Getting selfish means you are taking the time to look after your own needs, and put yourself first. If anyone has a problem with you putting yourself first simply say to them:
“So you are saying that you have a problem with me looking after myself, because it means I can’t look after you? And that makes me selfish?”

LOL – they have no where to go with this argument. (You’re welcome xx)

So here are my tips for getting selfish with kindness and love, follow them and you will be on the road to feeling better in mind and body:

The food you eat can have a huge impact on your emotional wellbeing. Sugary foods often put you on a high, but then you go through a low a few hours later and you wonder why you feel so irritated with a husband who works long hours and leaves you alone with the kids all day.
Drinking lots of coffee all day – “just to get you through” – has a taxing effect on your adrenal system (your energy system lets call it) and can actually make you have less and less energy as the weeks and months go by. Then you may find yourself with zero energy by the evening, and getting crankier and crankier with the kids (who ALL have a witching hour in the evening!) and with a partner who has no idea he has walked into Jurrassic Park and found a T-Rex in his kitchen.
(Now I am not giving your partner any excuses for his behaviour – it may be crappy, and your crankiness may be justified….but that is a blog for another day.)

Darling, I want to speak to YOU and help you to control the things about YOU that are making your life harder. And you can be sure that skipping breakfast, reaching for toast for lunch (cos it is easy) and eating off your child’s plate (cos it is quicker than making your own lunch) and downing copious amounts of coffee or chocolate all day (cos it makes you feel good) is only adding to the T-Rex Effect each afternoon/evening.
Now I am not saying eating good, clean food in a balanced and healthy way is the be all and end all, but I am yet to meet a client in my clinic who has a clean diet and poor emotional health. Just saying.
Self-care starts with food.

The next thing you need to address follows on from food……drinking. Make sure you limit coffee and tea (unless it is pure, organic and gorgeous tea from a tea maker, not the rubbish in tea bags in the supermarket!) Swap this out for water water and more water. Get your 2L per day and then talk to me about drinking coffee. Water is life. You need it. Drink it. Purified if you can.

The next thing you need to do is breathe more. Consciously, not shallow and hurried, but long deep breaths that fill you up and slow you down. If you don’t know how to do this, then get your bum to a meditation or yin yoga class immediately! YES you can put the kids in care or ask a sitter, or go later at night (don’t do yin in the day time, that’s not what it is for). You CAN do this, and you CAN make changes to your schedule once per week. It is your CHOICE to do this. Breathing deeply helps to soothe your nervous system and will quiet a busy mind. There will be less T-Rex activity when you are feeling more quiet and subdued…and then you can handle the Witching Hour with more grace and self control.

Journal often. This is so good for the soul. It gets things out of your mind and when you re-read what you wrote, it can be a revelation. Practice “Appreciation” for the little things around you. Notice the weather when it feels good to you. Notice your favourite jumper or boots or hat. Be thankful and appreciate you have a nice watch or jewelry that makes you happy. Just notice the things you have around you such as a nice tv or a lounge chair or maybe you have a Thermomix that makes your heart sing? Just notice the material objects you have that make you happy. Avoid noticing what you don’t like, and don’t focus on what you don’t have…that’s not the purpose of this exercise. Just become more Appreciative of what you do have and what you do like.
It is life changing to do this.

Engage in regular bodywork therapies. Choose from massage, Aromatouch therapy, Reiki, Emotion Code, facials, foot treatments and hand massage. Try different things every once in a while and see a new therapist, just for a change. Every therapist you see brings something new to the table (pardon the pun) so treat your body work as a “must do” and intuitively book in a session that interests you and you are curious about.

Body work helps you to unwind, and to find stillness. If you are a talker, try not talking for your next session and see how that feels. Let your therapist know you want to try something different because you are trying to get more in touch with your inner voice. She will be able to support you in this, and maybe guide you into deeper relaxation.

Make this next month all about YOU. Get inward focused and be selfish in a kind and loving way towards yourself. Who knows how you will feel at the end of it? Maybe less aches and pains, or maybe more clarity about what you need in life going forward? Be patient, be consistent and go get selfish!
You deserve it Darling xx

Posted on

Dragging in energy? Choose 3 basic steps to feeling better!

Is your energy lagging?
Do you wake up often feeling like you are dragging yourself thru your day?

Sure, you may get some energy moving AFTER coffee, AFTER a shower, AFTER exercising..but how would it feel if you felt good BEFORE doing anything?


There are 3 EASY and available changes you can make to your daily lifestyle and see benefits NOW!

 

The food we eat, the air we breathe and the water we drink all hold chemicals and pollution that our body needs to process – this takes energy.
Let’s break this down:

 

1. The food we eat – come on, be honest, the food you eat isn’t always actually food is it? The stuff that comes out of a box is HIGHLY processed, sometimes in a lab, and so contains synthetic ingredients that your body doesn’t even recognise.
Your body needs to process this – and that takes energy.
If you are fighting a cold or flu or some other infection, and you eat food that takes effort to process….even “real food” that is heavy and stodgy takes time to process, it takes energy away from your immune response……so TIP: when you are sick, eat lighter, lightly cooked food in smaller amounts. Give your body the fuel and nutrients it needs without the loading.

2. The air we breathe – pollution is part of life. Some people sit in doors in air con 38 hrs per week. Others are in traffic driving (or exercising) for an hour or so per day. Others smoke. (no judgement here.) So to counteract the effect that breathing this air has on our bodies, it is good to support the liver (the organ that filters your blood) and the lungs (this organ is obvious – right?)
Getting out into nature – AWAY from cars, is the best remedy! Into the countryside, or the beach or lake areas. Breathing deeply, expading the lungs, allowing the body to take a FULL and CONSCIOUS inhale – ahhhhhh I’m relaxed just writing it!

3.The water we drink – if you are anything like me, you need to force yourself to drink more clean, pure water! This is a hard one for people who are busy, or people who use their hands for work (massage therapists! typists, drivers etc). I like to get a big jug and fill it with water and a drop of lemon oil to purify it…and then I have a little competition with myself to see how much I can drink before I go home! (hey, whatever works!)
I love Earl Grey tea…and so sometimes I will drink 2 cups in the morning, before realising I haven’t had any water yet.

When I was really unwell with glandular fever, I could hardly be bothered to drink – I had ZERO energy, and a really sore throat. But what I did find is that some days were a LOT better…when I realised it was the days I drank over 2L of water, I was able to sit at the dinner table with the kids, or engage in conversations where I actually smiled (smiling and talking took too much energy on my worst days).
But I digress…..if you have excuses such as “I don’t like the taste of water”…I’m sorry – get over it. That excuse is for kids. Your taste buds will adjust – TBH you probably have too much sugar in your diet which is dulling your taste buds. That excuse is ridiculous. You don’t drink water for taste, you drink water to hydrate your body. Your body will not function properly – it will be sub-par – if you don’t drink enough water. If you don’t care for the taste, that translates to me as “I don’t care enough for myself, to do basic – minimum – things to help myself get to a better place of wellness.”
Water is readily available. It is a no brainer – if you want to feel better – drink purified water – and reduce the coffee/tea and sugar and milk.

PERSONAL STORY:
I was never a fan of taking supplements until I got really sick. I remember laying on the couch writhing in full body agony (glandular fever was a horrible illness!) and I started to think about what I could possibly take to make myself feel better. I started to look up doTERRA’s Life Long Vitality range of supplements. I’m traditionally not a supplement fan – I prefer to eat balanced meals and drink water. However I did lots of reading and realised that if I am out of balance – clearly I was very unwell – then I should be doing everything I can to get myself into wellness and stay in wellness (EVERYONE was telling me I had to be careful I didn’t develop chronic fatigue).
So being an Oily doTERRA girl already, I thought I would give the LLV supplements a try – I mean, what did I have to lose? They arrived 4 days later and I started taking the max dose advised every day. I recovered from my second attack of GF and I took a before and after video of my progress in a month! It was quite telling the difference in my entire being.
I’m not saying LLV cured me, but I am saying it helped strengthen my body to fight a virus that was taking me down.
I believe taking supplements for at least 3mths is the best option. Then you can truly track your progress each month, and see if you have different sleep cycles, cravings, menstrual cycles, mood states and energy levels. For me, I was able to see a marked difference.
GOOD NEWS – Aussies can NOW order LLV from our Aussie warehouse each month (translation: it is cheaper postage and no exchange rate!).

 

Are you ready to make HUGE changes just by taking 3 supplements per day? I can help you! ORDER HERE

Posted on

Sooth your tummy (and your emotions)

Digestzen is doTERRA’s product of the month for April 2017…..but to be honest, it should be “Product of the Year”!

 

There is a huge correlation between your mental health and your gut health. If you have been struggling with moods that resemble a roller coaster ride, or IBS-type symptoms in your belly here is what you need to know about your GUT and the connection it has with your MOOD!!!

 

DID YOU KNOW….that stress causes tummy pains? bloating? cramping? constipation? diarrhea?

HAVE YOU NOTICED…that when you feel uncomfortable about something, sometimes your tummy will get upset too (shock, grief, surprise, nervousness, anxious)….?

DID YOU KNOW …. that the gut is called the “second brain” because it contains the same neuro-receptors that the brain has – meaning we can literally FEEL our emotions in our gut?

 

The gut has a mind of its own, the “enteric nervous system”. Just like the brain in our head this system sends and receives information via neuro transmitters, notices and records experiences and responds to our emotions. Its nerve cells are influenced by the same neurotransmitters, and it interprets them with the same neuro receptors. The gut can upset the brain just as the brain can upset the gut.

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? It means that when you feel sad in your head, you feel sad in your gut (cramping, pain, bloating, upset digestion etc) and when you feel upset in your gut, you feel upset in your head (anxiety, depression, brain fog, moody)!

HOW CAN YOU FIX THIS? Well doctors have been prescribing anti depressants for years now, and seeing a link between tummy issues settling down, when mind issues settle down. So if you want to go halfway (or more!) to helping your ENTIRE body and mind to feel better, you need to address your GUT!!!

Of course I believe that a diet rich in plant based foods, probiotics, pre biotics and loads of pure water is the FIRST step in maintaining gut health and mind health. However sometimes the effect of the food chemicals and water contamination can wreak havoc in our body – so we need a little extra help.


That is where Digestzen comes in….it is a blend of tummy-taming oils such as ginger, caraway, fennel, peppermint..that helps to restore balance and soothe even the most irritable of tummies. 

Take 1 drop of Digestzen daily for at least 10 days to jump-start your gut into feeling more balanced and calm. Then if you see improvement use 1 drop as needed at first sign of tummy upset. (Ps also VERY helpful for burping / heart burn type issues).

You can also rub 1 drop on your tummy at first sign of pain due to food you’ve eaten causing upsets. (Remember that even healthy food can cause upsets – it is your body’s way of trying to tell you something is out of balance!)

For kids, dilute 1 drop in 10ml carrier oil and rub in a clockwise direction on their tummy.
You can also do a soothing foot rub on the soles of the feet with Digestzen too (in reflexology the large and small intestine points are located on the space between the heal and the ball of foot).

Posted on

Re-Ignite Your Passion

What is the #1 thing that makes a woman’s vitality fade?

Answer: Not living and enjoying her passion!

 

When you heart is “just not in it” you will experience more aches and pains, more headaches and more colds and flu. 
This is your body’s way of trying to get your attention. When you are sick, or sore, you spend more time laying or sitting – essentially slowing down, and thinking more.We start to re-evaluate our life and we easily prioritise what is important (sleep more + eat nourishing food + ask for help +gentle movement + quiet cuddles with family). When we feel better again we get over loaded and attempt to do too much, and lose the ability to prioritise the important stuff because we feel that we have to “get everything done”.

As women we have MANY different hats to wear – friend / sister / mother / employee or employer / partner / entrepreneur / supporter / counsellor / volunteer / carer….I could go on. 
Issues start to arise for us when we lose time for ourselves and we start to put everyone and everything else first…..and leave yourself very last. 

When you find your passion – in family or career or hobby or recreation or sport – you will begin to come alive. It is a gentle fire that burns brightly within, lighting you up and fueling your energy. Suddenly you can work (or play) all night, and the more you pour into your passion, the more invigorated you feel! However distractions and responsibilities and external demands can start to weigh you down, and sometimes get the better of you – despite having found your passion.

Personally I have felt my vitality fade – even while I am working in my passion business (ie: the clinic!) It was always an ebb and flow, but I identify losing my vitality when having very young kids, struggling with financial issues from divorce, relationship problems and being a single mum (although the first year was amazing as I re-found Me again!) and learning how to navigate my world as a single woman. Even though I was working in my passion, I still had “life” to deal with. 

So how do you navigate those seasons when life feel a bit “blah” or as I like to say “too vanilla”?

SELF CARE – and knowing how to self soothe is a skill, it takes courage, and commitment. It takes humility and grace. 

I believe this is where self care is of utmost importance. Learning how to take some necessary time out just for YOU, will help to revitalise you from the inside out. Things like gentle yoga, meditation, inspiring workshops, craft classes, enjoying gourmet food, a gorgeous bottle of red, girl-time with friends, alone time with a journal and a bar of Lindt chocolate, a reiki massage or reflexology session. Self healing with EFT and energy balancing – these are all the things I did to help bring me back to my centre, and help me to find the inner fire within again. 

What do you choose to help you find your centre again? What are your special go-to’s that make you feel better?

 The following exercise will help to put things in perspective for you. Put your favourite essential oil on, play some soothing music, take a few deep breaths and then take a moment to write down the answers to these questions:

  1. If money wasn’t an issue, what would you do for your career?
  2. If you had unlimited income, and lots of free time what would your hobbies / recreations / sports be?
  3. If you didn’t have housework to do, how would you spend your free time?
  4. If it was your last week on earth, how would you spend your time?
  5. If you were ordering your last meal, what would it be?
  6. If you could spend time with anyone on this earth, who would it be? Why?

    Your immediate answers to these questions (don’t think too hard), will help you to see more clearly where you are excited and where you need to put more focus in life. If you wrote “jump out of a plane” …but your finances don’t allow this, then what you are really saying is “I want to have more thrills in my life!” So begin to add more thrills in daily life…..
    If you wrote “I want to play professional sport”…but you don’t have the skill, or maybe your body won’t do it anymore, then what you are really saying is “I am passionate about this sport and it lights me up”…so maybe think about how you can bring this sport into your weekly or monthly life in a different way?
    Adulting is hard. There is need for compromise. There is need for patience. But the GOLD comes when you learn how to adapt and make the best out of every situation, in order to learn and to grow. 


I created this clinic to be a refuge for women in a busy and demanding world. Little did I know that in my own dark seasons it would be my refuge too. I want to give a very public “thank you” to my team of therapists and practitioners who helped bring me back to life after my recent struggle with glandular fever (an illness with an emotional cause of “extreme overwhelm and exhaustion, of wanting to hide and retreat”.) My “girls” were gentle with my body during massage treatments (my fav was reiki and foot treatments) and I loved having energy healing sessions with Kali Devi – which helped release the underlying issues that I had no idea were wreaking havoc.

My personal yoga practice of vinyasa yoga came to a stand still, but I was able to employ some yogic principles of very relaxing yoga poses such as Waterfall pose (legs up the wall) – propped up with pillows, and listening to healing meditations from Inna Segal on my iphone.

Most importantly I used my doTERRA essential oils to help gently bring life back to my body. I used Oregano, Frankincense, On Guard daily in veggie capsules (to fight the virus in my body), plus Basil and Vetiver on my feet for adrenal support. I took a tablespoon of coconut oil daily to soothe (or attempt to soothe) my very sore throat. I used peppermint oil to help with my fevers. Lavender and Bergamot in epsom salt baths to soothe my intense body pains. And wild orange to uplift my mind, in my diffuser for days when I just couldn’t get off the couch or bed. My oils gently work on a physical and energetic level, giving me the space I needed to fully heal – not just a bandaid approach, but a truly deep and long lasting healing.

If you feel like you need some help with finding your vitality again – igniting your passion – then book in with Me (Belle) for a Clarity Session – these are FREE 20min phone calls to help you get a deeper understanding of what is dulling your inner fire, and how you can make changes to improve your life!

Posted on

Feeling Stuck? Practice Thankfulness & Gratitude daily

 

Who is feeling stuck??? You know the feeling…it is icky, you feel strangled somehow, like you are in a straight jacket and cant wiggle free.
Feeling stuck is the SIGN you were waiting for!!!
Feeling stuck means that it is becoming too uncomfortable for you to stay where you are…and that means things MUST change!

 

Only problem is, we can wriggle a little, wrestle a little, and then we have a bit more breathing room, and then we think “oh, this is all too hard, i think i will just be happy with what i have got” (or similar).
Problem is, we will run out of room again, and again, and again….until the pain of this cycle becomes too much!

I have totally been there! MANY TIMES. It is the sure sign that things can move in the direction of your dreams…if only you will have the courage to keep going.

So HOW DO YOU MOVE THRU YOUR FEELING OF BEING STUCK?

You start writing in a journal….asking these questions daily:

“what do i need to feel fulfilled?”
“what does being fulfilled FEEL like?”
“what is my biggest, most daring, most audacious desire?”
“what would it FEEL like to achieve this?”
“what would my life LOOK and FEEL like if I achieved this?”
“how can i live my BEST life?”
“how can i GIVE BACK?”
“what kind of money do i need to be making each month in order to fulfill my dreams of blessing others and giving back?”

“Universe / God / Divine – please open the door to opportunity and help me to see opportunities as they come to me. Allow my eyes to be opened to joy, to help me be thankful for all that I have, and to have a heart that is wide open to receive all the love possible in this world.”

Practice writing down 3 things you are thankful for in your life every day! Make them small things, make them BIG things….just do this – EVERY DAY for at least a week, and see how your attitude changes.

BE PREPARED for people or situations to try to drag you down! It is a TRAP, and it a privilege to experience the trap because it means that we get to PRACTICE looking for the positive, or things to be thankful for. Only when you can start to see the positive in everything…most things…(looking for the SILVER lining) can you be assured that your mindset is shifting.

Life can be hard for people when we are trained to look for the crappiness,. It is like we are hard wired, from our parents, grandparents, extended family, teachers and social circle, to expect hardship. So often entrepreneurs are faced with negativity from those closest to them (hint: they aren’t entrepreneurs, and they think differently to you!) and it can drag you down. Be sure to practice your thankfulness and positive mindset daily, to ensure that you can be the shining light in this dark and moody world!

Manage your stuck-ness, BREAK THRU and be a light to others! Don’t expect others to follow you, or copy your mindset at first. Just be thankful they are noticing and realising their own “stuckness” too. You will realise when this happens cos people will say “gee you’re always so positive!” (with a tone that infers they think you are weird!)
BE POSITIVE ANYWAY!

If you REALLY want your life to change and look and feel better, you have to make a daily commitment to practice new skills of THANKFULNESS, REFLECTION, and ASKING in order to get there.

Posted on

Love Your Body again…..(or for the first time)


Essential Oils for emotional healing…..


DoTERRA’s metabolic blend “Slim n Sassy” contains Grapefruit oil which has long been used to nurture self love and respect for the physical body. It supports those who struggle to honour their body and are caught in patterns of physical or emotional mistreatment.

Grapefruit oil can help:

Negative emotions – hate for the body, obsession with food or dieting, anxiety over appearance, eating issues
Positive Properties – respect for body, meeting physical needs, body-acceptance, nourished, healthy relationship with food.

These forms of abuse may include severe dieting, judging one’s body weight or type, and abusing the body through negligent behaviours or violence. These acts are often motivated by hate and disgust buried within the psyche which gets directed towards the physical body. Though the individual may obsess over how they look, they know deep down they will never feel good enough, nor look good enough.

Grapefruit oil is often misused in overly strict dietary and weight loss programs. The reason this oil helps to curb emotional eating is because it encourages a positive relationship with one’s body, based on love, tolerance and acceptance. Grapefruit encourages integrity by respecting one’s physical needs. This oils assists the individual in listening to their true physical needs and impulses. It also assists one in taking responsibility for what they feel.
Grapefruit teaches that no amount of food can fill a hole in the heart – only love can do that.

As the individual takes ownership of their feelings and gets the help they need to hide their feelings behind food, body abuse, strict regimes, eating issues or other forms of obsession.

During pregnancy a woman will go through many changes of loving and not loving her body. This is normal, however it becomes abnormal when a woman will restrict her food, or keep up an exhausting exercise regime that would put a non-pregnant person to shame!

Pregnancy is NOT a time for losing weight (unless of course you have been instructed by your doc to lose weight). It is not a time for being strict, and it is certainly not a time for obsessing over your weight gain.


Pregnancy IS a time for learning how to “go with the flow”, of how to eat in a way that nourishes AND satisfies – so that you and your baby can be as healthy and happy as possible. There is a direct correlation between the food you eat and your mood and emotional state – so if you are smashing the donuts and coke, you can imagine your emotional state will not be entirely stable….which will then send you down the rabbit hole into self loathing, guilt and shame afterwards. Believe me, this is a vicious cycle, and one you will find it hard to get out of.
Using this oil blend, or just grapefruit on its own during pregnancy, can help you to remain loving and caring whilst observing the changes your body is going through.

 

 

If you would like to have a deeper love for your body, feel self acceptance, and develop a healthier relationship with food, then use this oil daily as part of your “self care” regimen. Dab behind the ears, or (if not pregnant) drop 1-2 drops across your belly, whilst holding the intention “I love and accept myself”. 

To order Slim n Sassy CLICK HERE

To book an Emotional Clearing consultation with Belle email belle @ thebelleflowersclinic.com.au