The Rash That Won't Stop

 Written by Don Shetterly

At the slightest hint of anything, the rash picks up.  It changed from being constant to giving me moments of reprieve.  However, in exchange for this, it kicks up harder and with more fierceness than ever before.  The itching may subside after some moments, and if I’m lucky, the burning sensation doesn’t start in because it can last for a long time.  Most of the time lately, I’m not so lucky on that.

It doesn’t take much.  It can be fabric touching it.  It can be something touching me emotionally (good or bad).  It can be a conversation with someone.  It can be stepping outside in the warm summer weather or trying to wade in the pool.  It can be a phone call that I’m on or even listening in on these days.

When it picks up with intensity, I care barely sit still.  I struggle to keep my fingers from clawing at the rash.  Sometimes it won’t let me stop and sit down.  It keeps me pacing the floors screaming out in agony as if it won’t ever let me go.  Sometimes I find myself hitting and pounding my body just to numb it, as if I was doing what I once used to do as a kid.

My breathing gets shallow during these times.  Sleep is like something a million miles away.  My brain begins to run incessantly as if it must solve every issue known to man.  I find no relief – only distraction.  Most don’t understand.  In fact, it is almost too difficult to explain.  I feel ostracized by virtually everyone, but I want NO ONE to touch me or come close to me.

The images flood my mind of being held down while boiling water is poured upon me.  I know what they want me to allow them to do, but on that day, I’m fighting them.  I know I shouldn’t fight them for it will only get worse.  I just don’t want them to today.  I’m tired of enduring this.  I’m tired of them doing it to me.

Regardless, bad boys that don’t do as they are told suffer the consequences, and so the boiling water is poured on me as a punishment.  It seems boiling.  It could be hot water.  I can’t recall.  My body screams in pain.  My body shivers as the cold air of the winter in a drafty old house touches me.  I shiver and shake.  I tremble.  Just like in the days of the seizures.  I couldn’t control those either.  I would shake and tremble and flail around until exhaustion hit.  It went until I numbed and disconnected enough that I no longer was aware of what was happening.

But good little boys don’t have these images of their fathers and brothers.  Good little boys should never think about these things happening.  After all, God will torment and punish me forever for thinking this way and not obeying their every command.

My body wants some rest and relief.  It wants to numb at the same time because it is just too much at the time to deal with at this moment.  It is much too much even to want to deal with at this moment.  It seems like it has been an eternity that is has been happening when in reality, the rash only started last Christmas.

I try to tell my mind and my body that it will get better.  It laughs at me like a pack of hysterical hyenas.  It scoffs at me with ludicrous thoughts as if there is any way to get beyond this.  I try to have hope.  I try to have hope.  I know I’ve been in similar darkness before, but it is of little use because I feel too worn out and exhausted to care.

By the time anyone reads this blog post, I will have had some Unified Therapy sessions to hopefully help me get past this.  So, stay tuned for the follow-up blog posts.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Financial Pain In The Neck

One of the things that I’ve struggled with over the years is finances.  Even when I’ve had money in my bank account, I get nervous about tomorrow.  I get nervous if it will be there.  I get the feeling that it will all be gone and there will be no more and I’ll be hungry and homeless. 

While all of those fears may be irrational and they don’t happen, they almost did at one time in my life.  That’s a part of my past, I’ll withhold from more detail because it is a dark part that I wish would have never happened. 

Then there is the part that when I was growing up, food was scarce.  I remember the free school lunches that sometimes were the main meal for my day.  I remember the government handouts of dried powder milk, dried eggs, and peanut butter.  No, they didn’t taste good but hunger outranked taste.

We went to bed hungry many times.  We shivered in the cold rural farm houses we lived.  Our boots that we trudged through the cold frozen snowy ground had holes in them.  Our mittens were thin.  Probably at one time, I could have packed all the clothes I had in one suitcase.  So some of the fears are real, even if they are from the past.

Abundance and financial security...

Abundance and financial security are concepts I still struggle with no matter what I do.  I’ve made progress, but then I got hit front and center with this latest trigger that messed with my head.

As I finally got up the courage to check my bank account and pay bills that I knew were coming due, the anxiety was so high.  In fact, I almost had an anxiety attack just getting myself to do the regular financial routine.  I wasn’t able to do too much because it was just overwhelming, so I did what I could and closed things down.  I didn’t think any more of it – until I went to bed.

My neck began to hurt...

Laying my head on my pillow and drifting off to sleep or trying to sleep, my neck began to hurt.  Now, as I’ve went through tremendous healing, there is one part of me that I still struggle with and that is my neck.  Often I have a lot of neck pain and if it isn’t every day, then it occurs frequently in the week depending on my physical activity.  At times, it is better.  At other times, it is worse.

Dr. Canali has a difficult time working with my neck and trying to get it and my shoulders to release.  Even if he distracts me, the minute he gets close to touching my neck, my entire body freezes on the treatment table.  At times, he has been able to work with it, but most of the time, it is hands off or I freeze approach.

So, as I was laying in bed, my neck began to hurt.  Often I can breathe a little and work on some relaxation and it will go away.  Tonight, nothing worked for me!  A few hours earlier, I struggled through the anxiety of the finances, but had not even considered the connection at this point.

The pain was escalating... 

Finally after I was not able to get the pain and tension to reduce, I ended up getting up out of bed.  The pain was escalating and the headache was increasing.  My neck muscle area felt cold and lifeless.  Yet, I could feel the intensity of the pain in a way I had never felt before.  I gave up and took an Aleve to try to bring the pain down a little.  I’m not a person that likes to take pills for pain.  For me, its about solving the issue – not masking the issue.  In this case, I could not alleviate the pain.

The Aleve did help and some more attempts to relaxing this area and breathing into it started to ease things a bit that allowed me to go back to bed.  I slept for several hours before waking up, but the pain and tension were still prevalent.  I was so hoping that with some sleep, they would improve.

After I got up, I almost took another Aleve, but I didn’t want to do that.  I knew that masking the pain was not going to help.  Most people turn towards the pain relievers, but I’m not one of those that do this.

I plugged in the Resperate...

So I finally got on my own treatment table, plugged the Resperate in and started to do the deep breathing connection with my body.  I went through two full cycles of this.  It was interesting to note that my pulse was actually lower, almost as if the anxiety and stress were weighing hard on my nervous system.  As I continued with the Reperate, I saw my pulse drop down, my breath slow way down and I felt the tension leave my body.

It was in that moment that I saw the little boy cowering in the corner of the room with his head down and his arms covering his head.  As things flew overhead, I was ducking and trying to keep myself from getting hurt.  My parents were at it again, fighting and screaming and throwing things – all over the family finances or what my Dad had spent when we had no money.  It felt like a war zone in those moments.  It seemed like it went on forever.  It seemed like it went on every day.  I cringe at the thought of what that little boy went through.  That little boy was me.

I saw the connection between what happened in my neck with the pain and tension and having to hunker down and duck from the things being thrown across the room.  I’ve never remember this one until now.  I wish I could forget.  I wish it never happened. 

At this moment, I’m really not sure what I do with this.  How do you recover from something that happened so long ago, but yet this most likely has a strong impact on how I view finances.  Finances are a war zone to me, where you just try to avoid them and duck so you don’t get hurt.  This isn’t really a good message to attract abundance or financial stability into my life.  In fact, the obvious statement is that it is the complete opposite.

I’ve struggled for a long time with neck issues.  Maybe I’m beginning to see what is fueling them.  Maybe it is more than just normal tension and stress.  If I had to sit down and create a movie about these experiences, it would not be hard to do.  The images and scenes feel so vivid and real.  They feel like one right after another.

I know they are challenges that I’ll find a way to overcome the financial pain in my neck.  I don’t get swept up into feeling like there is no way out and I don’t just do the doom and gloom.  I write these words so I can learn and process and find my way through it so that maybe they have less impact upon me.

I know of no other way to heal from them at this moment.  It is the beginning of trying to find healing and I’ve got a feeling that as I heal, so many other things in my life will stabilize more.

 #FinancialStruggles

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Resperate and Deep Autonomic Breathing

This is one of the tools I use to help keep my mind and body connected.  It is called the Resperate.  While it is approved by the FDA for helping to lower blood pressure, that is not the way I use it.

Please refer to the owner manual and precautions that may affect how you use this product.  I am not giving medical treatment advice in this blog post.  It is merely how I use this product for my own personal way.  Please adjust it to meet your life's situation.


The Resperate is a great way to help work not only on the Mind Body Connection, but to help deepen the autonomic nervous system breathing.  Autonomic nervous system breathing has to do with allowing your body to go deep into rest and repair healing.  It is where you truly connect with your mind and body using the breath to help you become more aware of the felt sense.

Using the Resperate and pulse meter together, I can fully evaluate on my own, the health of my nervous system.  I am one of those people that sometimes struggles with a high pulse rate due to daily stress and triggers.  It is one area that I continually work on with the Pulse Meter.

The pulse meter not only shows the pulse rate at that moment, but it gives you a reading for the oxygen level of your blood.  For me personally, I try to get my pulse rate down to a consistent rate in the 60's or 70's when I am laying on the table in a rested state.  I watch the pulse waves that I can see on the pulse meter and I'm looking for a gentle flow of waves that are consistent from one to the next.  The waves should have some substance to them, but be gentle rolling waves is how I picture it.

Here are a few tips that have helped me use the Resperate more effectively.  One of the things that I have found is that it is better if I use it in a quiet room where I won't be disturbed.  Since I have a massage table, I often lie down when I'm working with the Resperate.  One of the best things I've found is that I use a pillow under my head because if I am propped up a little, it is easier for me to let go and get into the deeper breathing.  The pillow helps me feel more in control.

I've found that instead of placing the band on my chest, that I place it on the upper side of my belly and it feels like it works better.  I was struggling to get the thing to work if I put it too high on my chest.  I'm sure with each person, it is different and you'll have to explore what location works best for you. It most likely depends upon your breathing pattern.

Before I turn the machine on, I have it all ready to go and then I just lie on the table for a few moments.  I take a "before" reading with the pulse meter and just allow my breathing to quiet down a little.  If I don't do this, it seems like the machine starts out with too many quick inhalations and exhalations which sort of frustrates me more than it helps me to start relaxing.

In the early days, 5 minutes was a lot for me to do on the Resperate.  It took me time to acclimate to the constant breathing inhalations and exhalations.  As I've gone, I find that the full 15 minutes is really ideal.  It helps me to go deep into the process.  If I use less time than that, it is like I'm startled out of the relaxation process before I get that deep and then I wake up with results that are not as good.

I will usually monitor the breath rate on the Resperate in the middle of the time I am using it to see how well I'm doing and how far my body is dropping down.  I'll check the pulse meter to also measure just how far my body is dropping into the rest and repair mode.


Another thing I do is that I hold my hands on my stomach, free and clear of the sensor band.  When I do this, I am holding the thought in my mind that I want to feel and sense every part of the movement in my body as I breathe.  I want to feel the rise and fall of my abdomen and lungs.  This can be very therapeutic and healing once you start to connect it with your mind and body.

Some days I can do better with using the Resperate than other days.  Sometimes I use it every other day and other times I go several days without using it.  It all depends and you just have to listen to your body on what works for you.  You will have to find the frequency of how often you use it.

My overall goal is to work on deep autonomic nervous system breathing so I can connect my mind and body with the felt sense.  I know that the more I do this, the more I can go into rest and repair and physically alter the stress, anxiety and triggers on my life.  The pulse meter is essential in my view to help monitor this because if things are working, the pulse rate should drop down.

At times, I have had headaches and other tension in my body, but after 15 minutes working with the Resperate in the manner described above, I notice that things ease up.  Maybe it isn't 100% better by the time I get off the table, but as the hours go on, I physically feel better.

When  you do the deep autonomic breathing where you slowly exhale, you invoke the vagus nerve.  The vagus nerve is one of the largest nerves in the body and it helps relax you, find balance in your mind and body, and gets you into the rest and repair mode especially if you feel and sense through the felt sense mechanism.

There is a great deal of physical and emotional healing that we can do on our own.  Unfortunately we numb and disconnect with a million reasons of why we don't engage the mind body connection or we keep ourselves so busy that we don't take part in our own healing the way we should.  This is one tool that I've been playing with for some time and the more I experiment with it, the more healing and effective it is for me.

The more we keep our body and mind tuned up, the greater our life will be and we will be able to more effectively connect with peace and healing.  The more we do this on a regular basis, the more life becomes one that we have greater control over in our physical and emotional moments.

The items I use can be purchased on Amazon and I have listed them on my page, Health Products I Love.

Please feel free to ask me questions on how I use this.  I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences if you are using the Resperate.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Healing Progress And Then I Slipped Back

A common question I've seen come through applies to many that I've seen go through the healing process.  I'm sharing this tonight in hopes that it will help further the understanding of what the healing process is.  These are questions that we need to keep open in discussion so that we all can learn and grow.

The question that I received recently is about someone that has made considerable progress in healing and then felt like they slipped back.  So here's the question.

I felt like I was headed in the right direction and made progress, but then I slipped back.  Will I ever heal and get past all of the stuff I'm dealing with?  I feel like I went from 100% to 60%.

Here is my answer in regards to healing and Unified Therapy work.

Most of the time when we go through intense healing work, we come out of some of those experiences feeling like we are riding on cloud nine. It could almost be like climbing a mountain.  You got your first great glimpse of all that is out there.  So, in many ways, you're climbing through the mountain range.  It may mean you get to hike for awhile on the ridge and you can see for miles, but at some point to keep going, you head back down into the valley to go up the next mountain range.

Feeling about 60% would seem normal in my mind.  In fact, I doubt you could stay that high up for very long.  The important thing to remember though is that allow the 60% part to be okay.  Do the breath work, movements - the things you all worked on that have helped - and it will pass.

Surrender into it and ask it what it is trying to show you or teach you or help you see.  That might not be real easy at first and believe me, sometimes I resist rather than surrender.  It is part of the process because it teaches us and it helps prepare us for the next stage of growth, awareness, consciousness.  It may not even be identifiable at this moment, but that's okay - just let it be there knowing that the more you surrender into it, the more it will dissipate and pass.

Going through this healing work, we are inviting in an inner consciousness that is always there and giving it life.  It is a step by step process just like learning to walk.  When we've been shut off to it as long as we have, it doesn't wake up completely all at one time.  It comes in stages so that we can handle it.  If we tried to wake up fully all at one time, it would be overwhelming and that gets pretty tough.

There will be good days and days that aren't as easy.  Even with all the work I've done, it doesn't mean my life sails by in a calm fashion - I get the calmness and peace, but I also get the rough choppy waters.  The thing is, I know that even when the waters of life get rough, I can remember that there is a place of calmness and peace within me.  Sometimes it helps me to recall what it felt like on the table.

I use the Resperate to help me go into deeper breathing.  It took me some time to get accustomed to using it and how to use it.  Now though, in 15 minutes - I can really bring myself down with the breath work and with connecting physically.  I never used to be able to do that on my own.  It's a more recent development.

Its okay to feel like things dropped back.  Sometimes I think we need it. It is like sitting down after a long hike to rest but when you do, your legs feel the tiredness of the hike.  It isn't that there is anything wrong with your legs feeling tired, but they just need time to rest so you can continue the hike.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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5 Minute Mind Body Exercises

So, going back to yesterday's post, we are all too busy to take care of our mind body connection, right?  Wrong!  After all, it doesn't take hours or full days.  You can do so much in just a few minutes.  In fact, if you gave yourself 5 minutes, you could do a lot!

Are you with me?  Can you take 5 minutes out of the 1440 minutes you have in a day?

Here's some things you can do in those 5 minutes that will help your own mind body connection.  No, they aren't a replacement for more involved stuff, but these little 5 minute exercises will at least help.  Once you start to see the difference, then you can move on to the big stuff.

Mind Body Exercises in 5 Minutes

Exercise #1 - Breathing

Where ever you are at, (even if standing in a long line or sitting at your desk), take a few minutes to just focus on your breathing.  You're not trying to breathe a certain way or do deep breathing.  You are just noticing your breath - the rise and fall, the deepness or shallowness and the speed and duration.  You're just observing and being at one with your breath.  You can leave your eyes open and focus on something peaceful or you can quietly shut your eyes.

Exercise #2 - Walking Outdoors

Take a few minutes throughout your day and just walk outside.  Walk out and feel the sun on your face and your body.  Notice the warmth and see how that makes you feel.  How does the sun feel upon your body?  Is it warm?  Is it uncomfortable?  What happens if you find a shady spot and go from the sun to the shade?  How does that make you feel?  Notice what it does to your mood, your emotions, and your stress in that moment.

Exercise #3 -Easy Stretches

Have you ever watched a cat get up from a nap and they do a few little stretches?  It really is that easy.  You don't have to get on the floor and do yoga posses or stretches that you would do before a workout.  I'm talking, light gentle stretches to the ceiling or a gentle twist turning with your back.  Make sure you don't overstep the bounds here and stretch to hard that you injure yourself and by all means, only do some of these things if you're not restricted by your doctor.  It could be a shrug of your shoulders up into tension and then let them drop down.  It could be a stretch of your legs from your office chair.  It could even be an easy walk to the restroom and back or outside for exercise #2.  Whatever the form may be, connect with it and try to feel it.  It isn't a race or marathon.  It isn't a strenuous workout.  It is something that is simple and connected.

Exercise #4 - Being With Your Body

What if you just sat there and thought of how your arm felt if you let it hang down to the floor?  Maybe you could just notice how you felt with your arms folded and then unfolded.  You might stop and think of how your neck and head rest comfortably on your spine as if it were a flag waving in the breeze and balanced steadily on a flag pole.  Find some way to just notice a body part and see how it feels.  See how you could move it to make it feel different.  Sometimes taking a body part into tension and then backing it off in to comfort can dramatically change how we feel.  It is the true mind body connection.

Exercise #5 - The Big Sigh

Have you ever had one of those days when you are just dealing with so much and at some moment, you let out a big sigh. Why not take a deep breath and then as you let it out, you just let the big sigh come out.  Let it come out forcefully in the beginning if you need to, but then do it again where you let it come out as gently as you can.  Most likely you will see how this lets go of so much tension and stuff that you are carrying.  Notice the tension as well as the feel of relaxing because the difference of those two things is where the mind body connection is located.
 

So...... Pick One!

Pick one of these and try it.  If it doesn't work, pick another.  If that doesn't work, change it up and make it work for you.  We're all different creatures and what works for one person, may not work for someone else.

The important thing that matters is that you choose to do things that will help your mind and body, not claim you have no time.  We all have 1440 minutes in a day and it depends on us what we choose to do with those minutes.  We can use them for our own good or we can waste them and they pay with our lives later.

Get rid of the tension and stress in your body!  Enjoy these exercises.

Feel free to leave a comment and let me know which one worked for you.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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The Importance Of Breathing

I'm sure you may be wondering why I am writing about this topic in this way.  After all, we know as humans, that if we don't breathe, we don't function.  We all know how important breathing is and if you haven't figured out what breathing is all about by now, you're probably not able to read what I'm writing here. 

However, breathing is very important and not just from a breath in, breath out perspective, but in how we function and how we deal with stress and pain in our life.  Through our breath, we can relieve so much stress, tension, and pain.  Unfortunately, all too often in our lives, we pay very little attention to breathing and our breath.  We function in our day from our brain, instead of our body.  When we function in this way to get our daily tasks completed, we are shutting down the vital part of our body that makes us human.

Getting More Out Of Your Workout

I know we all go to the gym or fitness center for different reasons.  One thing I normally see though as I watch people workout, is just how disconnected they are to the task they are doing in the moment.  You can see it in their attention or whatever else they are doing.  You can also see it in observing how quick and fast they go through one exercise.

For me, I'm very aware of movement and I feel each individual muscle fiber as I go through a workout exercise.  Sometimes, as I am working on a certain machine, I isolate and feel individual parts or muscles in my mind.  While I'm sure there are others that can do this at the gym, what makes a big difference is how I focus on it.

Helpful Tips For Fainting

For background information, you may want to read the following blog posts before reading this one. The blog posts are "Fainting At The Sight Of Needles" and "Fainting From More Than Needles".

If you are like me, don’t feel alone! There are many of us out there. In my case, I know I’m a highly sensitive person (see blog post 01/20/11) and this adds to the situation.

Here are some tips that may help you in dealing with this situation but most of all, don’t beat yourself up for it! Keep looking for ways that will help you overcome and deal with this situation.

If you have helpful tips to share, please feel free to leave them in a comment so you can help others.


Tips To Manage Fainting:

1. Let the person or office know where the medical procedure is being done that you easily faint. Many times this will help you feel a little more comfortable and safe plus it helps alert them to be a little more gentle and careful with you.

2. Try not to think about or look away from what is being done to you. Think about a song or something you want to do. Talk to someone that you trust about anything other than what is going on. Do anything you can do to get your mind off of what is going on.

3. Close your eyes so you can’t see any of the needles or medical instruments.
4. If you have a close and trusted friend that can go with you, sometimes that is a big comfort to you as long as they are able to function in that situation.

5. Insist that you lie down when things are being done. There have been many times that medical staff feels this is a waste of time and I usually just let them know that either they can let me lie down or they can pick me up off the floor. Most of the time, that conversation is enough to convince them.

6. Trying to focus on your breathing can be very helpful but even I know that when I get in this situation, that is like trying to drain the ocean with a single gulp. It does help but for me, the fear and anxiety often take over before I can get myself focusing on breathing.

7. Doing intense healing work on yourself is helpful but not always easy. Going into the pain head on can be liberating in the end but often we shy away from this because we are too afraid to do it.

8. Try to limit yourself in eating a lot of sugar or caffeine or other stimulants before having any of these medical procedures done. It just adds fuel to the fire. The more you can relax before something is done, the better the chance of you making it through without fainting.

Further Reading:
1) Afraid Of Needles? Why Some Faint At The Very Sight (MSNBC)
2) Fainting At The Sight Of Needles (June 9, 2011)
3) Fainting From More Than Needles (June 10, 2011)
4) Fear Of The Dentist (July 6, 2010)
5) Living As A Highly Sensitive Person (Jan 20, 2011)


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Blog Post & Images (c) 6/7/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

If any part of this post is used or shared, a link back to this site is required.
http://mindbodythoughts.blogspot.com/
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Fainting From More Than Needles

For background information, you may want to read the previous blog post, "Fainting At The Sight Of Needles posted on June 9, 2011.

For me, it is more than just needles that makes me faint and pass out. Often, it is perceived pain long before any pain or procedure might take place. Just writing this is enough that I can feel my anxiety level is very high. It does not even have to be something I experience but someone close to me that is going to experience a procedure.

I remember my father telling me that when he was younger, he would pass out easily. It wasn’t until he went through a time where he got so angry and screamed and yelled that it began to change. I’m not sure he was ever cured and I do know that he found other ways to take his anxiety and fear out, rather than passing out.

To someone that says “Man up!” or just get over it, this phobia is not that easy to deal with. It isn’t like I sit there waiting for the room to get warm and the lights to begin going dark. It isn’t like I think about it as I try hard not to think about it. Fortunately though, I have not fainted for several years which is in part because of the intense healing work I’ve done on myself and learning how to manage this better.

For me, I’ve learned how to go in and really become one with myself, including all my fears, pains, hurts and traumas in life. It has not been an easy process. While going through some of these sessions with Dr. Paul Canali, I’ve often experienced feeling like I was going to faint or pass out on the table. It has been a frequent occurrence that we have had to work with. Dr. Canali has learned how to work with me to take me to the edge of this feeling and then back me off from it. My nervous system is no longer revved up with a pulse rate of 99 (see blog post April 1, 2010) and above constantly since going through this healing work. That in itself has allowed me to handle more situations and not faint or pass out.

One situation though that is still extremely difficult is that of going to the dentist. (see blog post of 07/06/10). I do take a sedative so I can get into the dentist office but the thought of scheduling an appointment is enough to make me faint. If I don’t faint, the anxiety and heart rate skyrocket! Hopefully there will come a day for me where I can do something as simple as booking an appointment to the dentist without having to take a sedative.

For a continuation of this topic, read the next blog post on June 11, 2011, Helpful Tips For Fainting.

Further Reading:
1) Afraid Of Needles? Why Some Faint At The Very Sight (MSNBC)
2) Fainting At The Sight Of Needles (June 9, 2011)
3) Helpful Tips For Fainting (June 11, 2011)
4) Fear Of The Dentist (July 6, 2010)
5) Living As A Highly Sensitive Person (Jan 20, 2011)




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Blog Post & Images (c) 6/7/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

If any part of this post is used or shared, a link back to this site is required.
http://mindbodythoughts.blogspot.com/
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Fainting At The Sight Of Needles

If you have experienced fainting to the degree that people with phobias have, it isn’t a pleasant experience. In fact, if you are like me, just writing about this topic is enough that I need to take frequent breaks from. Just the topic about this can almost make me feel like I’m going to faint. So, if you’re one of those, go gently on yourself when you read this.

According to an article on MSNBC.com, Afraid Of Needles? Why Some Faint At The Very Sight, seeing a needle in a medical setting is enough to make even the toughest of us faint. People who are terrified of needles get the same heart racing, shallow breathing and nerve jangling reactions seen in other intense fears. But the tendency to faint is what sets some medical phobias apart from, say being petrified of heights or spiders.

Ever since I can remember, I fainted at just about everything. Let’s see, there was the time I was in the waiting room of the doctor’s office when my brother was getting his cast off and I heard the sound of the saw cutting the plaster apart. There were many times when I would get a cut on any place on my body and the minute I felt it or saw the blood, down I would go.

I used to get a lot of splinters and my parents would take the sewing needle to get them out. More often than not, I’d be passed out before they were done. I can remember getting all of those shots you get in school as a kid and either crying every time or passing out.

There were times that I have had to have medical xrays or procedures done which required no needles and have passed out. Far too many times, I’ve passed out in dentist offices and often it was before any work was scheduled to be done. Even one time when I had an MRI done, I passed out.

Watching veterinarians do medical procedures on animals has brought me to my knees on more than one occasion and in college, I was an Animal Science/Pre Vet major. Imagine trying to do some of these things and learn in college labs but passing out so easily.

I still remember when we were doing blood types in a college lab and I told the lab professor about my dilemma. She quickly excused me from lab and prevented me from having to go through that experience.

For a continuation of this topic, read the next blog post on June 10, 2011, Fainting From More Than Needles.

Further Reading:
1) Afraid Of Needles? Why Some Faint At The Very Sight (MSNBC)
2) Fainting From More Than Needles (June 10, 2011)
3) Helpful Tips For Fainting (June 11, 2011)
4) Fear Of The Dentist (July 6, 2010)
5) Living As A Highly Sensitive Person (Jan 20, 2011)




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Blog Post & Images (c) 6/7/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

If any part of this post is used or shared, a link back to this site is required.
http://mindbodythoughts.blogspot.com/
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Embrace The Pain - Part 3

This is part 3 of a three part series. Please read Part 1 and Part 2 as background information to this post. Suggestion #1 and Suggestion #2 (click on the links)


Suggestion #3:

Find a quiet place away from distractions. Get comfortable like on a massage table or somewhere where you are supported and it feels good. Begin by just allowing yourself to sense your body and do a scan of all that you are aware of or may not be aware of at this point.

If you have body pains that are surfacing, take a moment to just be there with it and allow your mind to focus on it. If you don't feel any body pains at the moment, just continue to explore your body with your mind and see all that you can pick up. What is tight, tense, soft, hard, cold, warm, heavy, light, and so on and so forth. Just allow yourself to be there in the moment, sensing and feeling and discovering every part of your body that you can find. It may take a few minutes before you start really sensing and feeling anything. Early on, when I began to do this, it took me considerable time to start sensing things in my body.

As you begin to feel whatever it is in your body, use your breath to help you connect with that area of your body. You can picture your breath filling up that area of your body including every cell, tissue and muscle fiber. Allow yourself to focus your attention here and just be here in this moment. Keep focusing and sensing in your body.

Whatever you are picking up, especially if it is pain or an unease, these things may intensify. Often before they dissipate, they will intensify. If it gets too intense, just focus your attention on a place in your body that feels safe or focus on a sound close by or even focus on the space between your eyes.

Some of these things are not always easy to do alone because having a safe person that you trust and that can just hold the space open is very helpful. You can do a considerable amount on your own but if you need a trusted safe person to hold the space for you, by all means invite them into your time of connection.

Remember, our minds are very protective of our bodies and usually the mind knows what the body needs and the body knows what it needs. It is not going to take you further into this process than you are willing to go. Fear may come up as a result of this and as long as you allow yourself to face the fears, than you can continue focusing and moving through whatever it is that you feel.

During all of this, emotions may or may not come up. It is possible that you will feel trembling, shaking or vibration throughout your body. You might feel intense heat, cold or other changes. Your nose might feel very stuffed up. There could be an intensification of the pain in that moment but remember, that often it can intensify just before it dissipates. All of these things are okay and even though it may feel rough in the moment, if you allow them to run their course and dissipate, there will be peace on the other side. It sometimes feel much more intense than it really is and that is usually the fears which are blowing things into a greater proportion than what is truly happening. Keep in mind that this is normal and okay.

Allow the process to unfold and continue. If it gets too intense, just take yourself back to a safe place in your body or focus on a sound or even focus on the space between your eyes. You don't have to do this entire process all at once. Give yourself the necessary time to do what it needs to do rather than pushing or judging the process.

As you continue to allow the process to unfold, your body will experience a deeper connection to your own awareness and healing. Keep your body moving if that means nothing more than stretching and contracting your arms or legs. The more you can get your body to do slight and slow movements during this process, the more all of this potential energy will dissipate from your body. You want the movements to be connected with your mind so that you can feel every part of that movement.

When you get through the moments that have kicked things up inside of you, you will get to a point where the breath will correct itself and often give you a very deep breath like a big sigh of relief almost. You will notice your body dropping down and becoming more relaxed and more peaceful. When you reach this point, allow yourself time to just be in the moment and experience all of this. For the hard work that you go through, the peace is the point that really allows the healing to come in and take hold within your body. It is the time when you process all that has happened and your awareness and consciousness opens up in ways you most likely have not seen.

Remember, don't judge how far you get into this process or if it is right or wrong. Just experience all of it and allow it to be there. What I just described here may take you considerable time and different sessions with yourself to actually get into things and connect with your body. There is no race to the finish because as you become more aware of yourself, you will discover many more layers that you can go into. It is like peeling the layers of an onion. When you peel off one layer, there is another layer below it but you can't see that layer until you peel off the first layer.



Further Reading:
1) Dr. Paul Canali, Evolutionary Healing
2) Fear Of Dentist posted on July 6, 2010
3) Embrace The Pain - Part 1 (Posted 1/28/11)
4) Embrace The Pain - Part 2 (Posted 1/29/11)



Blog Post & Images (c) 1/28/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Embrace The Pain - Part 2

This is part 2 of a three part series. Please read Part 1 as background information to this post.

When you experiencee body pain, keep in mind that pain is the body's messenger. Don't try to ignore it or rush to the medicine cabinet in your house. Instead, take a moment and stop, allowing you to go within yourself.

At this time, consider all that is going on in your life and the events leading up to when you began noticing the pain. The events I am referring to include the emotional stressors or other events that you have experienced. Usually there is a connection between the two and going within to connect this awareness is a powerful healer and game changer.

In the following explanation, here are some things that you can do to help connect your mind and body together. You can be as creative as you want to be and by no means are the following procedures the only way you can do this. This is just a guide and a framework to help you connect your mind and your body. I have included suggestion #1 and suggestion #2 in this post. Come back tomorrow for part 3 of this series where suggestion #3 will be discussed.

Suggestion #1

This is an easier way of quickly connecting the mind to the body and you can do this anywhere you are at. It could be in a chair at your desk, standing in a line at the store, lying in bed at night or just about anywhere. A quiet place can help but I have done this in many places and no one even knows I am doing it.

If you are feeling some pain in the body or just wanting to give yourself a moment of deep connection and relaxation, try this easy method. Focus on the body part and begin directing your breath to that area. You can visualize that you are filling the body part up with your breath as you bring good things into it. Then you can visualize using your exhale to take that which you don't need in your life away. It only takes a few minutes of really focusing your breath with intention to an area of your body and you can bring great change to those areas. I have walked many people through this on a massage chair in a few minutes while getting a chair massage. It is not as hard as it may seem and the more you try it, the easier it will be to do.


Suggestion #2

I got this idea from listening to Eckhart Tolle speak with Oprah about his book "A New Earth". In the short exchange he had with all the listeners, he had everyone spend 30 seconds and just focus on their breath. That was it! We know 30 seconds is not a long time but if you truly just focus on your breath for that short period of time, it will center you and bring you back into your body. You can do this just about anywhere.

Many people never pay attention to their breath and so often, we don't breathe like we need to. We barely pull enough oxygen into our bodies to run our cells and muscles, yet we expect our bodies to perform, nonstop stressful paces during our day. So as you are reading this, take 30 seconds and just focus on your breath. Let me know how you feel after you did this.


Remember, come back tomorrow for part 3 of this series and suggestion #3.


Further Reading:
1) Dr. Paul Canali, Evolutionary Healing
2) Fear Of Dentist posted on July 6, 2010
3) Embrace The Pain - Part 1 (Posted 1/28/11)
4) Embrace The Pain - Part 3 (coming tomorrow)




Blog Post & Images (c) 1/28/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Meditation Time

Ahhh, those quiet moments of our day where we just stop in our lives. Not a care or concern to think about. No tasks to be completed in this moment. All is at rest and at peace. A time where this one moment is all that we are concerned with in our lives.

I used to think that a time of meditation meant a person was to sit cross-legged and chanting some om's or something. Before then, I thought it was called "quiet time" where you read your bible and prayed. To be very honest, neither practice really did much for me. When I tried to do these things, I got bored and gave up. There never seemed to be time in my day for them.

After hearing people tell me time and time again, how important meditation was for my life, I finally found something that worked for me. This time though, I created what I felt I needed to do and what would be most beneficial. My goal was to make it into something that worked so well for my life, it would be a moment in my day that I looked forward to and enjoyed. I knew if it was not something I looked at with anticipation, then any practice would be short lived.

Fortunately, I have a very peaceful backyard with a screened in pool. The weather is typically nice enough to allow me to be outside most of the year. There are enough birds that come to visit me and talk to me. This is the space that renews and refreshes me.

In order to make this work, I set my alarm so I can spend 30-45 minutes in the morning as soon as I wake up. I head down to my quiet space where I bring a fresh glass of water. The water feels so grounding, calming and refreshing to me. I've got some comfy patio chairs and now I have a snuggie to help keep me warm on the cool mornings. I've created a safe, comfortable space that just allows me to be there in the moment and let go but not fall asleep.

When I get in my meditation time, I hold no expectations for anything to take place. I allow each morning to unfold in the way it needs to. Each meditation time is different and sometimes I just am more focused than other times. My hope for the meditation time is that I allow myself time to stop and listen.

I may be listening to birds at times or focusing on my breathing. There are days that I listen to all the sounds around me or take in all the beauty that my eyes see. Most of the time, these moments of listening help draw me into myself so that I can listen to everything going on in my life. I notice that when I stop and allow this to happen, that the messages and information are in abundant supply.

Every day, I take a blank piece of paper and I give myself the opportunity to write whatever it is that my hands wish to write. Some days it is more elaborate and other days it is short personal thoughts. I never think about what I need to write as the writing just happens. It is as if the words flow from my hands as a source of information for my day. I do limit myself to one sheet of paper so that I hold boundaries within my day and respect my schedule. It helps to keep me more focused in my meditation time.

It is amazing what shows up on the blank piece of paper. It is as if the words are meant to be. The words are a communication as I listen to all that is around me and that which becomes a part of my meditation time. The words tell a story as they give moments of clarity, moments of asking the question, inspiration and encouragement. Often, the words become answers to questions weighing upon my mind.

Instead of my meditation time becoming something that is boring to me, it is exciting and refreshing each day. While I try to do this every day, I try not to be demanding upon myself. Instead, I allow my body to have permission to rest or to rise and spend this time.

Most of the time, I am out of bed when the alarm clock goes off and ready to heal towards my peaceful space in meditation. When I give myself this time of meditation in the morning, I notice that my days are more centered and grounded. It is truly a moment where nothing else matters and life is so full and abundant.

(c) 11/12/10 by Don Shetterly - use by Permission only

Fear Of The Dentist, Part 3

**Note: For full details please read PART 1 and PART 2 **

Today I made it.

Today I did it.

Without any xanax, I managed to get myself into the dentist office and into the chair and allow them to take x-rays and examine me.

Sure, I know there are many people who think, hey I can do that. What’s the big deal? The big deal is that I suffer from an intense fear of going to the dentist. That previous statement was a big understatement. For the fear, is much worse than I can even describe here. When the dentist asked me what my fear of coming in there was, I replied without hesitation and told him it begins when I try to walk in the door and make an appointment. The procedures are just more layers of anxiety that I have to deal with.

However, today I didn’t pass out and I didn’t hide. I faced myself and my fears and went in there. I asked for what I needed and explained what the very difficult moments were for me. And I breathed and I breathed and tried to stay focused even through the tears flowing from my eyes. Fortunately, everyone was very supportive and compassionate but by the time I was ready to leave, it felt like I was in a furnace reaching well over 1000 degrees. It was time to exit stage left.

I wish it was a simple fear that I could just easily let go of. However, to walk in to the dentist office and surrender to the will of what someone needs to do to you is frightening beyond belief for me. I’m very sensitive anyway, so a little bit of discomfort or pain is enough to push me over the top. You throw on top of that, someone putting objects or their fingers in my mouth and now you’ve triggered memories that have haunted me since I can barely remember.
Anytime something is put in my mouth, it feels as if someone is “STUFFING” something in there and forcing it in which I don’t want. If you suffered childhood sexual abuse, you will most likely understand what I’m referring to. If you haven’t suffered through this, use your imagination a little and you will quickly see why I’m so afraid of these things. When I first got my partial plate several years ago, it was all I could do to put it in my mouth and keep it in there without almost gagging and choking to death. Of course, I’m sure there is more to this story but when you’re so young and when your memory doesn’t process things well, all you’re left with is the horrors you are forced to face.

Several years ago, when I finally faced the courage to do major reconstructive work on my teeth, I faced insurmountable fears of just walking into the dentist office. One of the things that I did to help me get there, even with the use of xanax, was playing some of my favorite songs. The song that helped me the most was “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty. In it, the words state, “you can stand me up at the gates of hell but I won’t back down”. In my mind, that sums it up pretty good.

While the remaining procedure is still yet to be completed, I’m glad that I made it through as much as I did today. It was a difficult day and I’m feeling very exhausted. However, I’m quite proud of myself for what I accomplished today. And I can only close this part of my process with the thoughts of the “Fear Poem” by Joy Harjo, an inspirational piece of poetry to put fear in perspective.

And just writing this 1 page piece, I feel that furnace of a thousand degrees. The room has become very warm. Hello Anxiety - so we meet again today.



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

How Do I Quiet My Mind?

From my morning meditation time on June 28., 2010. As I was sitting there in my refreshing, cool and simply peaceful surroundings, my mind was racing. There were many thoughts swirling around as to what I needed to accomplish, someone that was struggling with pain, and just about everything else that I could think of. So my thoughts turned to the question of "how do I quiet my mind? ". While I realize, there are many ways to do this, the ideas I am listing here were what came to me during this time.

1) Keeping perspective for this moment.
2) Recognize fears and worries.
3) Honor the unknown
4) A conscious decision to let go
5) Noticing my body and my breathing
6) Feeling all of my body including the areas of discomfort
7) Realizing that this is a sacred time
8) Making the conscious choice to just be in this moment
9) Loving myself enough to give myself permission to quiet my mind
10) Gently breathing in and breathing out
11) Noticing the joys in my life
12) Knowing that all things will work out as seen by my path to this point
13) Offering myself a new day to create, mold and shape it as I desire and sense that it needs to be done.

Focus On Breathing - Exercises and Awareness

If you have read the past two posts "Focus On Our Breathing" and "Focus On Our Breathing - 30 Second Exercise", than you will already have understood why focusing on breathing is important and a quick way that you can do this. If you have not read these two entries, please check them out.

Breathing is so powerful and I'm sure each person reading this blog post is aware of that. However, we often forget and neglect the most basic thing we do outside of pumping blood through our veins. All too often, we go through life just assuming we are breathing as we need to but we never stop to check to see how we are actually breathing. I remember sitting through many counseling or bodywork sessions and having people remind me to breathe. At first I was startled by their comments for me to remember to breathe because I thought I was. However, as I have since found out, there are times that I almost hold my breath or I just don't breathe! It may sound strange but I have witnessed this in not only myself but in many others.

As a massage therapist, I have used breath work to help people really go in and release deep, long held pain within in their bodies in a very short time. Having people use their breath as I work on them in a very directed way is powerful and makes my job much easier and their results more profound. It is important to note that each one of us can go deep within our own bodies using our breath and release tension, pain and long held somatic memories.

Here's some thoughts about how you might actually go about working with breath on your own. These are additional methods to the 30 second exercise I shared about in a previous blog post.

1) Find a comfortable place such as a bed, massage table or maybe a lounge chair on your patio. Get yourself comfortable and make sure the place you are lying on has much support but is also soft and gentle on your body. You could also sit up in a meditative style if you want but I find that the body really lets go when it is not trying to hold itself up. It doesn't make sense to me to sit up, having tension in your body while trying to let go of that tension. Maybe it makes sense to some but not to me in my experiences.

2) If you have a pulse meter, check your pulse before you begin and establish a baseline of where you are at. This helps greatly because then you will truly know what is going on within your body and you will see through measurement what effect it will have had upon you. There will be no second guessing or having your mind trick you into thinking that something happened. There is too much of that in our society and in our healing world where people think something happened, when in all reality, very little if anything at did actually happen. I use the Finger Pulse Oximeter. The reason I use this pulse meter is that it tells me in real time what my pulse is and how the wave forms of my pulse appear. It gives me some very good and helpful information. Plus, it shows me exactly what is going on, not what my mind maybe tricking me into believing what is going on.

3) To begin, just get comfortable in the place you have chosen and lie there for a few minutes doing nothing but just sensing what it is like to lay on the table. I'm going to use the word "table" referring to a massage table to make this easier to explain. What does it feel like to lay there on the table? Are you completely comfortable or can you add a pillow or change your position to feel more comfortable? Just sense all of that and take it in for a few minutes. Focus on allowing all your busy thoughts and things that you need to accomplish, to just stand outside the door of the room you are in. You can always pick them up at the door later if you so choose but for now, they are not needed.

4) As you begin to feel the comfort and support of the table, begin to focus in on your breathing. Notice the inhale and exhale, the rise and fall of your breath. This is not the time for judgment but just observation. Observation which allows you to look at it through caring, loving and accepting eyes. Take note of the depth or shallowness of your breath as well as the speed of it. What is it like? How deep is it or how shallow is it? Maybe even trying to sense this is difficult at best for you and if it is, take note of that. Consider giving yourself the option of just allowing that feeling to be there and to be ok with it, not expecting anything more than is happening.

5) Continue breathing and then see if there is any change within how shallow or deep it is, how slow or fast it is and any other qualities you may find. Keep noticing this and focusing upon your breath. While you are doing this, you may begin to notice things within your body. This could range from minor shaking and trembling to maybe a body part is moving on its own. You might also notice an itching sensation or tingling as well as you might notice areas where it is almost a numb feeling. Emotions such as crying and laughter among other things may be showing up. There may be unexplained pains or stiffness that is present. You may see colors or feel all kinds of sensations within your body. Accept and honor all these things for they are your messages and your gifts to bringing about greater awareness within your body.

6) Keep your focus on what is happening within your body and with your breath. While all the experiences may be exciting and it could be easy to get lost in those, keep your focus on what you can sense and feel within your body. For this is where the true healing will take place and lead you to a greater awareness. If you begin to find areas of discomfort and pain or strong emotions coming up, begin to shift your breathing to these areas and imagine filling yourself up with the power of your breath. You may notice that your breathing speeds up as if you were running a race and that is perfectly ok. Allow your breathing to go where it needs to and then keep observing to see how things change in your body. Are areas less tense, less painful? Have emotions changed that maybe you were feeling and experiencing? Maybe some of the things you noticed have shifted from one area to another. Maybe you're feeling heat rise from your body. Welcome all these things and just continue to observe everything that is taking place. Continue to allow yourself to be with what is happening and just allow it to take place without trying to control, change or manipulate it or judge it.

7) As your body moves through the feelings and as you begin to feel and sense more of your breathing, allow your body to just sink down into the table and find a moment of peace and rest. Know that you do not have to solve everything in your life that may be showing up in your body at one time. Sometimes, short bursts of doing this type of exercise is healing far beyond comprehension. So just allow your body to come back down to a moment of stillness and rest on the table, giving it honor and thanking it for being there for you.

8) After laying there for a few minutes, you might check your pulse again with the pulse meter we discussed above. How did your pulse change? Is it significantly lower? Is the wave form more pointed and even? Then match that up with how you feel now versus how you felt before you started. What changed in your body? What changed in your mind?

Honor all these things and take them all in. Treasure them as gifts of awareness for they will connect together the more you do exercises like this and they will yield so much to your life. For you have the power to do so much within your own body. Yes, there may be some difficult challenges in which you want a safe and supportive person there with you to help coach you through them. We are all much more powerful than we realize and we can do so much on our own that will give us so much in our lives.

If you have found this helpful and you're working with it, I would love to hear your experiences. If it was possible, I would most likely ask to share them on this blog. For I know in my own life, some of the basic things above that I described have helped me push through so much in my life and helped me heal in my own awareness. My hope is that as a result of this exercise, that your life will grow in a more rich awareness and it will help you further your own journey of self discovery and healing.



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Focus On Breathing - 30 Second Exercise

As you can see from the previous article "Focus On Our Breathing", stopping to check out breathing out in our day is very important. While it may seem that this is something where you don't have the time to do nor the place, I am here to tell you that you you can do this at anytime or in almost any place. It is simple and yet it can be profound for our day.

Of course, you probably do not want to do this if you are in a car or in a situation that requires your constant alertness and awareness of what is going on. Please use your judgment in what place is appropriate and what places are not appropriate. Sitting at your desk or in a break room or even outside on a park bench would all be great places for this scenario. Even standing in a line waiting for an event or at a checkout in a store would work as well. There are many places and many different moments that you can do this. Your willingness and imagination are the key to finding them.

So now that you've found the appropriate place or time, let's get started.

Try to find a comfortable way to sit or stand so that you're body is in a relaxed position as it can be. Let your arms rest comfortably by your side or in a position where you can just let the tension go. Drop your shoulders a little and just recognize any tension that is there. Feel throughout your body for a moment and just recognize any tension that may be present and that you can sense. Give yourself a moment where you just focus on your body letting go and feeling it sink down into the floor or chair or where ever you may be.

Now as you do that, take a moment and only focus on your breathing. For the next 30 seconds, you want to do nothing else but focus on breathing. No thoughts or tasks or appointments that you need to get done are needed for this time. This next 30 seconds is just for you and you can give yourself permission to just let those things wait patiently away from you.

Take a moment and close your eyes. Begin by feeling your breath as you inhale and notice the depth of your inhale. Feel the exhale and how far the air is released through your body. You're not trying to influence anything at this point, just observing and acknowledging what is going on without any judgment. Just continue to focus on this and be with your breathing, honoring it and respecting all that is there. This is your life blood and what keeps you going through your day. It is there for you to support you and give you all that you need for your life. Just continue to observe your inhale, your exhale. Feel what it is like for your body to inhale and exhale and what your breathing is like when you do this.

After about 30 seconds, begin to open your eyes and note the depth of your breath, the pace of it and all that you could feel. Did it change as you continued to observe it? Did it slow down and become deeper? If not, don't worry but just observe and note what took place. The more you do this, the more connected you will become to your breathing. You'll be able to monitor it much easier as you do this more and you will become more aware of it throughout your day.

Take note of how you feel after this. Do you feel more centered and more focused? Maybe you just feel a sense of peace and rest or relaxation. What about tension in your body? Do your shoulders or neck or back feel a little less tense? You may or may not be able to notice these things but if you do, take note of them.

Hopefully after 30 seconds of focusing on your breath and your body, you will be much more aligned with your day and ready to focus what lies ahead. If you did this little 30 second to 1 minute exercise each day or even twice a day, your day would go so much differently. My challenge to you is to try this and see what happens and then try it for a month. Find out what is possible from doing something as simple as this focus on your breathing exercise. I have a feeling that it will greatly impact your life in ways that you didn't even realize were possible.

Come back tomorrow for the followup post on "Focus On Breathing - Exercises and Awareness".


*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Focusing On Breathing

How often do you stop throughout your day and focus on your breathing? Is it shallow and rapid, slow and deep or is it hardly existent? Can you even tell that you are breathing or sense the qualities of it?

Yet, breathing is what gives us our life and our energy in a day. Without it and without the oxygen it provides, we would not be in a good state of being. So, why is it that we fail to pay attention to something that is so vital to our existence.

Most likely we are so busy and hurried in our days that stopping to pause for a moment is not on our calendar. Stopping to check in with ourselves to see how we are breathing is not something we most likely feel we have the time to do. This is sad, because it only takes a minute and our awareness of what is going on with this vital process can give us so much more fulfillment in our lives and replenish our body in ways that we may not think about.

Sometimes what may be the most obvious, simple things in life, end up being so difficult. We are much more concerned about getting to the next meeting, completing a task that the boss is hammering us on or competing for a deadline. While those are all noble and worthy tasks for our day, if we fail to take a moment and check in with our body, especially in regards to breathing, we may just be forcing ourselves through our day with more difficulty than is needed.

Consider for a moment that if you check in with your breathing and realize that your operating out of stress and from a frantic pace but you're able to slow yourself down for a moment, just think of what that would do to help you accomplish all that you need to. One moment of checking in with your breathing may help you make corrective changes that will empower and give you a boost into what needs to be accomplished. Otherwise, it is like adding water to your gasoline tank. While it may keep the engine running at a minimum, it won't get you as far as the ultimate fuel source.

Checking in with your breathing isn't as hard as you may think it is and it isn't as time consuming as you might think either. There are some simple things you can do during your day at just about any moment and if you do them, you'll be much better off in the long run. You'll be more productive, more centered and much more full of life.

Come back tomorrow for the next post on this topic, "Focus On Breathing - 30 Second Exercise", when we discuss a quick way of checking in with your breathing that you can do at almost any time and in almost anyplace.



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Your Security Blanket

While this may be a comic and seem quite cute, the message in this Peanuts Cartoon Strip is very accurate and true. View the cartoon strip as the "security blanket" is a symbol for feeling safe from fear. Then the rest of it speaks volumes about what fear does in our lives. While fear can be overwhelming, its purpose is to help us move forward in our lives and to grow and become more consciously aware of ourselves.

(Click on the cartoon strip to see the entire piece)

Mindless Humans

Often in our day, we have so many influences that determine the course of our actions, our thoughts, our consciousness and in general just how we view our day. Yet, we fail to see the totality of these individual events as they dramatically impact our lives. We often see them as unconnected events without any significance to the higher purpose of our self or of the universe as a whole.

What events am I referring to? These events are the moments in our every day existence that we barely notice yet they account for the many tasks we do. They are things we have to do in order to take care of ourselves or family members in any given day. It may be a job that we go to, running our kids to daycare or after school events or dealing with a myriad of mundane tasks. Yes, all these tasks are important and critical to our lives. For if we stopped doing them, there would be serious repercussions for us. Even watching TV shows and news, while appearing to inform or entertain you, may actually result in you being disconnected and not conscious or mindful.

So if these mundane tasks are important than what is your point? When was the last time, you walked out the door in the morning and just listened to the birds sing with joy? When was the last time you went to lunch in your day and stopped to pause for a moment to feel the sun hitting on your face giving you a warmth and energy that felt so invigorating? When was the last time, while taking your child to daycare or an activity that you truly listened to what they were saying and not just thinking about all the things you needed to get done? When was the last time, you just stopped for a moment and noticed your breath and your body and just how good it felt to do that?

We all have our mundane tasks in sometimes our mundane life that we have to do. That is a fact of life unless you are a lottery winner and can pick and choose everything you do in life. However, even people who are wealthy have mundane tasks that they must do. All of us have to get out of bed at some point during the day and eat, groom ourselves and do whatever it is that we feel is important. No matter how fortunate or wealthy we are, these things are a given for our day. Since we can't escape these normal tasks, can we not enjoy them in a mindful way?

As stated by Ellen Langer in her book, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity (page 11), "In many small ways we have learned to become mindless without questioning why we do so.". This is a powerful statement and is what I'm referring to as I talk about being mindless during our mundane tasks that we do each day. We all do it, no matter who we are or how advanced we are. Some people are better than others at bringing mindfulness into their days instead of just being mindless.

So what can we do? One of the things that each of us can do is just taking a moment out of our day and being with ourselves. We can do this by spending a few moments (30 seconds would be enough for this exercise) and noticing our breath. Feeling the rise and fall of our breath, how shallow or deep it is and even how rapid or slow it is will connect us to our breath. By connecting to our breath, we will connect our mind with our body and if you stay with this exercise for a few moments, you'll begin to feel the effects of it on your body in how centered you feel, how at home you feel and even the tension within yourself. You need not pay anyone for an experience like this because you can do it with yourself at any time of the day or night. It is simple but effective. Eckhart Tolle in his book discussions with Oprah Winfrey on A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61) did a very powerful example of this. He just had everyone sit there for 30 seconds wherever they were at and focus on their breath. It was an amazing experience for many and I once again saw the power of something that was this simple.

Another simple thing we can do is when we are walking out the door in the morning, just stop and listen to all that we can hear. Some of you may have many noises such as cars and city sounds but see if you can listen beyond that. How many different birds do you hear singing? How fast are the chirps coming from the birds? Is the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees and how does that sound? You may hear a dog barking in the background or a cat meowing. What other sounds do you pick up?

If sounds do not work for you, try picking up on the colors you see as you walk out of your house. Can you notice the different colors of the landscape around your house or your neighbors? What if you look at the trees and see all the colors on the tree? How many different colors are there and how many different shades of the color green can you see? I'm only scratching the surface with all that you can see because the same things can be applied if you just look at the sky and clouds.

There are many ways you can be mindful in your day including feeling the warmth of the sun as you step out of a building or staring at the clouds and creating cloud images in your mind. You could even take a moment when you're in the shower and feel the sensation of the hot or cold water on your skin. Giving yourself plenty of time to eat so that you can actually taste and enjoy your food without having your daily tasks flooding your conscious mind. These are a few examples and if you practice being mindful instead of mindless, you'll find many more.

Please don't stop here thinking this is all that mindfulness is for it is much more than that. Try to take all that you pick up in these exercises and see how it makes you feel within your body. Do you get a warm glow or tingle? Do you feel goosebumps on your skin? Do you feel your body sink down into a state of relaxation? Do you sense your breath slowing down and becoming fuller?

There are so many ways that we can be impacted by becoming mindful and when you feel it in your body, you have truly crossed over from being a mindless human to being mindful of your life, your day and your moments. At this point, life will be much more rewarding and abundant for you while becoming more conscious.