1. Cover your eyes with your fingers. Inhale. Exhale.
2. Inhale with your eyes still covered. Exhale while dragging your fingers across your eyes and out to your temples.
3. Inhale while dragging your fingers up over your ears. Exhale while dragging  your fingers down behind your ears to your shoulders. Hang your fingers on your shoulders at the neck.
4. Inhale as you cross your arms, placing your fingers on the opposite shoulders. Exhale, smoothing your hands down your arms to the forearms.
5. Inhaling, place your hands flat across the ribs under your bust area.
6. Exhale while sweeping your fingers down your legs and off your feet at the toes.
7. Inhale while sweeping your fingers back up your legs to under your arms.
8. Exhale while sweeping your fingers down and off your body at the sides of your waist.

Ahhhhhh……….

Besides being delicious, it’s health benefits:raises alkalinity, detoxifies and builds immune system

This refreshing detox cocktail has become infamous at Grail Springs Health & Wellness Centre, served daily to guests on our health & wellness programs, as well as at our travelling Detox Beverage Bar offered up at many celebrity functions.  The Grail Detox Elixir reduces acid and raises the alkaline levels of the body as Grail Springs is all about teaching the importance of maintaining a pH balanced to ensure good health. Though lemons are thought of as highly acidic, when they mix with digestive juices, they turn alkaline. Maple syrup is also surprisingly alkalizing for the body, an excellent substitute for white sugar, and ginger is a fantastic digestive cure and immune booster among other things.  We recommend using all organic products, and Perrier is a great choice for the added bubbly because it contains no addictives.  You can make the infusion ahead of time and even store it for days in the refrigerator.  This is a wonderful and refreshing and healthy drink that the whole family with love. Excellent served with hot water in the winter too.

juice from 2 to 3 organic lemons
¼ cup finely chopped organic ginger
1/3 cup organic maple syrup (or to taste)

infuse the above three ingredients for at least 30 minutes to a day. Stores really well for days and days:

just before serving add 2 tablespoons of mixture to glass:
top with ice cold Perrier
garnish with blueberry and mint leaf
stir well

You can also serve it with hot water in the winter….  Serves 4

Other recipes for boosting your systems:
Boost-a-licious Drinks

How do they fit together for you? Are they mutually exclusive or do they go hand-in-hand? And what about the unknown factors? I’d venture to say that if they go hand-in-hand for you, you’re stuck in a rut. Or at the very least at an impasse regarding new thought.

Think about it. If you are in your comfort zone you are most likely repeating patterns over and over – you know them, they’re comfortable, you know what the outcomes are likely to be. They work for you. You can count on them. There’s comfort and security in that. Your ego is happy. You feel safe, in control and good with the world.

But if you hold on to your comfort zone AND you step into leadership, what can you likely assume to be true? Perhaps that you can lead as long as you know what the rules are and what the likely outcomes are so you can be a successful leader in your own mind?

But what if you are playing in this world of rapid change (and  you are) so that the old way of doing things, anything, won’t work so well. What do you do then? There’s the choice to keep things small, manageable and controllable, pretending you can keep them that way.  There’s the choice to go more deeply into a need to control which means that you need to reduce the size of your world to a manageable and controllable size (which will need to continue to shrink as you continue to need to control). And you might even get sick in the process depending upon how much of it you internalize.

Or you can learn to stand in your confidence while you embrace humility and uncertainty as a new model of leadership. Think about it. Our world is changing at an ever increasing rate and what we learned in school is obsolete. What we learned a few years back is obsolete! Where does this leave us?

Either in accelerating stress levels or learning to embrace and work with uncertainty.

What do you choose? I choose uncertainty. When we can stand in the knowledge that we have and be open and receptive enough to embrace uncertainty, we open ourselves up to creating those things that haven’t yet been created. New ways of being. New ways of working together. New ways of creating a world that matters, that cares, that seeks quality over quantity.

Think about it. And in the meantime, I wish you harmless mischievous adventures, uncontrollable laughter and a lightness of spirit. You are on the journey of your lifetime. Make it count!

P.S. I will be writing more on this and yes, coaching can help with this.

Related Blog Posts:
Is it Time to Embrace Risk?
Is it Time for You to Lead?

We think: If only my circumstances were different, then I’d be able to have and create what I really want in life. How often have you said to yourself, “If only I had more money, more time, a better education, a better job, more support, more love etc. then I’d be able to live the life that I was born to live”?

Yet, the obstacles to the full flourishing of your life are not outside of yourself!

The barriers to the realization of your dreams, and deepest desires are internal, not external. And, more importantly, the source of power you need to fulfill them lies within you, and is just waiting to be awakened.

Feminine Power Practice:

• Make a list of all the reasons you are telling yourself as to why you can’t live your best life, realize your highest creative potentials and make your greatest contributions to the world (i.e., I’m too busy, I don’t have the money, I’m too old, etc.).
• Notice how many of them are external reasons. Just for today, let go of any and all reasons outside of yourself as to why you are not realizing your highest potentials and making your greatest contributions.
• Close your eyes and take a deep breath, allowing your awareness to drop into your body. Move into a place of listening and receptivity, becoming aware of your deeper knowing and connecting to the part of yourself that holds wisdom and has access to power. With a sense of authentic interest and curiosity, ask yourself: “How am I the source of my current experience of life?,” “What choices am I making that are contributing to my current experience of life?” (eg. I say yes to things I don’t want to say yes to because I want others to like me, I choose to not focus on money because I don’t really care that much about it, I no longer put myself out there because I don’t want to risk rejection, etc.)
• What’s one new choice that you could make today that will give you access to creating a different experience right away?

The above guest blog is from Katherine and Claire at http://femininepower.com/blog

So in honor of all that spring awakens in us, here’s a soak to unwind and relax your entire body. You may want to use it for a couple of days if you were particularly enthusiastic:

• 4 drops Lavender essential oil
• 2 drops Juniper essential oil
• 2 drops Rosemary essential oil
• 2 drops Peppermint essential oil
• 1 cup Epsom Salt

Add the essential oils to the Epsom salts before adding to your bath (oil and water doesn’t mix). Then sprinkle the salts into a full bath of hot water and stir with your hand to disperse. Soak for 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!

It is important to use medicinal grade essential oils. Perfumes don’t work, they are toxic and just aren’t good for you. Mountain Rose is a good source if you don’t have one already.

And while you’re soaking, why not provide your face with a gentle exfoliating mask.

• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 3 tsp yogurt
• 1 TBSP aloe vera juice or honey

Combine and apply to clean, dry face avoiding eye area.

Ahhhhhhh …………

“Oh My God” Points

With simple Energy Medicine techniques you can reprogram your nervous system to no longer set off the crisis response in the face of daily stresses. Holding your Neurovascular points returns blood to your forebrain and reconditions your response to stress.

Try this simple technique the next time you are hit by stress, feel overwhelmed, or highly emotional:

1. Lightly place your fingertips on your forehead, covering the frontal eminences, the “Oh my God” points (p. 234).
2. Put your thumbs on your temples next to your eyes, breathing deeply.
3. Sink deeply into the emotion and stress as you hold the points for three to five minutes.
4. As blood returns to your forebrain over the next few minutes you will begin to think more clearly.

It is that simple!

From EEM Newsletter. Page references to Donna’s Book Energy Medicine, 2008 Tarcher/Penguin.

You’re healing along fine from an injury, and all of a sudden the progress stops. You aren’t getting better, nothing is helping and the pain and limitations are still there. You’re doing all the “right” things; physical therapy helped, massage helped, other things have helped, until now.

You’ve been stopped dead in your tracks. Do you have to live with it the rest of your life? Maybe it’s just that you’re getting older and this is just what happens. Do you have to settle for increased aches and pains as the days and years pass by?

I had a client that had been in a collision and was taken to the hospital, unconscious. She was tended to and sent home, with a prescription for physical therapy. She followed the protocol and received benefit from it, but now she was stuck. She wasn’t getting any better – the pain, limitations and poor bone healing was causing a lot of stress in her life. She didn’t know what the problem was, she didn’t know what to do and she didn’t know where to get help.

How frustrating is that?!?!

It is common for some trauma to remain in our bodies after an intense experience. Drugs, while necessary, can cement over the trauma locking it into our tissues. Now when there is an opportunity for that trauma to release, it will, however it is common to close the door on it and lock it away. We just want to forget about it and move on with our lives. This route can lead to movement limitations and pain.

So now what?

There are things you can do to release it on your own. With all of these, breathe deeply and slowly. Let me share a few ways to do that.

• Be Present. Rather than trying to get away from the pain, sit with it, feel it and invite it in to see what it has to show you. I have a friend who invites those uncomfortable parts to “come, sit, have tea and let’s talk” to open the dialog deeper with her Self. You can sit in silence or journal your communications. You may be surprised at what you learn.

• Dance with the Edges. Any kind of gentle, safe movement that goes to the edge of the pain, but doesn’t force its way in can unlock the trauma. Yoga, slow meditative dance or gentle jiggles can all be effective.

• Bypass the Physical with Energy Work. Whether you work on yourself or enlist the help of another, this can be very effective. By bypassing the physical structures and going deeper into the subtle fields and pathways you can create an opportunity for full healing and release of the trauma. Often it is easier to get someone to help you if you’re feeling very stuck.

It may take a bit of practice to become comfortable with these techniques, but like anything, practice helps to develop your skills and increase your awareness. You’ll get better and it will be easier the more you do it.

She chose to call me for help. During our session, in a flash, she returned to the point of collision between herself on the bicycle and the deer. The impact was so forceful that the deer died from that collision, but fortunately she healed. The memory came up and it left. It was quick and simple – the trauma released as soon as it had an opportunity. She was then able to move forward with her healing.

Sometimes it only takes a moment of being present for trauma to release.

No one enjoys pain or feeling limited in their movements. Your body will always choose movement and healing over non-movement – we are designed to move. When you’re stuck, there is a reason. Rather than trying to avoid the pain, work with it. Get involved and communicate with your Self. Dance on the edge. Or call for help. We all need help now and then.

Where do you put your time, focus and energy? On worry, fear, escape? On joy, optimism, contribution? Do you see possibility or road blocks? Are you saying “YES” to life with the willingness to experience the richness that exists?

Dr. William K. Larkin says “We are heliotropic in our nature. That means literally that we are sun-seeking, but it really means that we are made to go toward growth and light, toward uplifting and encouraging. We are made for life and living, not for fear and withdrawal and a life of caution.” I believe that is true.

So if you like to read the news before bed – or first thing in the morning with your coffee or tea, try some uplifting news…

• Happy News
• Positive News
• Good News Network
• Gates Notes
• TED Talks

The TED Talks are full of “ideas worth spreading” and are coming to Portland March 31st. Here’s one -

Abundance is our Future: Onstage at TED2012, Peter Diamandis makes a case for optimism — that we’ll invent, innovate and create ways to solve the challenges that loom over us. “I’m not saying we don’t have our set of problems; we surely do. But ultimately, we knock them down.”

Good Morning Beautiful meditation

And may your brilliance light up the world!