Butterfly Balance Wellness Center

Helping Me to Help You

Several months ago I had posted about some of the training that I had gone to in New York for more advanced Health Kinesiology courses, and how life changing that work would be for me. (First post is here, and continued here.) When I arrived in my classes in April 2013 I had NO idea how things were going to shift in the next year for me! Probably a good thing. :)

The more work I did on myself, the clearer it became that it was time to end my 16 year marriage.  It was a very scary time for me, filled with a lot of mixed emotions. Mostly fear and guilt. It's hard to make a decision about your own life that is going to so totally affect another person, and they don't have a say in it. He and I remain the best of friends, for which I'm grateful. But I had a LOT of growing and healing to do before, during and after our separation and divorce.

I became close friends with one of my HK class colleagues - who is a very gifted practitioner - and I asked him to do some Health Kinesiology sessions for me to help me through this time of transition. I can do sessions on myself, but sometimes I prefer to reach out to other practitioners to help me get into the really tough things that I'm dealing with. Others can be a lot more objective! He was immensely helpful to me as I went through some of my lowest lows, and helped me out on the other side in a much better place. I am truly grateful to him and for Health Kinesiology.

It reminds me of why I started learning HK in the first place, because of just how powerful and life-changing the work can be. Without it, I know the whole process would've taken longer and been much more difficult than it was. I'm grateful for HK in my life, and the opportunity to help others as it has helped me.

Note: Due to FTC guidelines, I am now required to disclose that if you click on a link in this post (or any other post or link on my blog) and purchase Young Living Essential Oils, books/products through Amazon.com or nutritional supplements through AIM Companies, that I will receive a small commission as a result of those purchases. Thank you for your support.

Reawakening

My apologies for my erratic postings here over the last several months.  I've been regrouping and reevaluating things after my recent separation and divorce, moving, and all the "fun" stuff that goes with changes like this. I'm in a much better place now, but for a while I was focusing so much on myself and my own healing that it felt best to lay low for a while. After all, I believe that someone in in the health/healing field needs to really be in a good and healthy place themselves in order to effecively help others.

Having made myself a priority for a while now, I'm doing better than I've done in years. I'll be posting a bit soon about how Health Kinesiology and other healing helped me through this though time in my life, in the hope that it can help you as well. Sometimes it's helpful to know you're not alone in your struggles.

I'm recommitting myself to building my practice up and having more of an internet presence. My scheduling is much more full than it's been, and I plan on starting up monthly talks again on a variety of subjects. I have missed connecting with all of you.

Note: Due to FTC guidelines, I am now required to disclose that if you click on a link in this post (or any other post or link on my blog) and purchase Young Living Essential Oils, books/products through Amazon.com or nutritional supplements through AIM Companies, that I will receive a small commission as a result of those purchases. Thank you for your support.

A Marathon of Training - Part 2

Earlier this week I began a story about some of my Health Kinesiology training back in April. Please take a moment to click here to read that post if you haven't already.

The description of a Free Form correction didn't really sound all that daunting at first. For most of our Health Kinesiology corrections we find the steps we need to take for the correction, and then do them. This one starts out the same way - we use muscle testing to determine the stressful topic that needs to be talked about. The client talks out loud about what is troubling them on this topic while acupuncture points are held (or other alternative tools are used), so that it is no longer stressful to the energy system.

But this is where this correction differs - instead of finding one stressor and correcting it, the correction keeps changing. When the topic is less stressful and there's not much to say about it, the practitioner muscle tests for "trigger words" and will toss one into the mix. It's kinda like tossing a log onto a smoldering fire - it can start things up again and send it in a different direction. The acupuncture points usually change as well, and the practitioner quietly does the corrections/changes while the client mulls over the topic.

In a practitioner's office it'll just be client and practitioner in privacy doing this correction. In my case, it was in a classroom setting, so I had about 9 students all sitting arond my massage table while the teacher did the correction on me, the "client." It's kinda like doing therapy in front of an audience - LOL!

My topic started out in a not unexpected way, about the fact that I have issues with being heard. I am often surrounded by people who don't really listen to what I have to say - especially in a family dynamic - and it can be frustrating. It's definitely been a life-long stressor for me. We started out with some pretty expected things that I had to say about it, and when it came time to throw out some muscle-tested trigger words, I was surprised at how angry some of these words were that my body was coming up with. Those triggers would send me in an entirely new direction of my ranting about something and some perceived injustice in my life. Another trigger word, another direction.

This went on for about 40 minutes. By that time I barely even noticed my classmates sitting around me - I was just so focused on these things that for so long had stressed me out. And then the correction came to a conclusion with it coming full-circle and my coming to the realization that the reason why people don't listen to me is because I don't listen to myself. I often put myself on the back burner and neglect self-care. I ignore my own needs in favor of others. If I don't take care of ME, why should I expect it of anyone else?

This was one of the most emotional corrections I've ever experienced. I won't lie - it was some hard stuff I went through. But while the revelation was at first shocking, it also wasn't. And because we did this in the framework of Health Kinesiology (as opposed to all the work in therapy that I've done on this very topic), we were able to not only reveal the issue, but correct the stress around it.

This Free Form correction -  and Health Kinesiology in general - has been life-changing for me. I will share more on this in a future post, and how my life has changed since then. I am so grateful to be able to unburden myself from something that has plagued me for so very long.

I would love the opportunity to help you do the same!

 

Note: Due to FTC guidelines, I am now required to disclose that if you click on a link in this post (or any other post or link on my blog) and purchase Young Living Essential Oils, books/products through Amazon.com or nutritional supplements through AIM Companies, that I will receive a small commission as a result of those purchases. Thank you for your support.

Failing to Keep Resolutions: It's Not About Willpower!

I always find it interesting to watch the marketing of New Years Resolutions. I walked into Costco a few days before New Years last year, and the entryway was lined with diet programs, exercise machines, scales, stop-smoking systems, books on health and fitness - you name the typical resolution, and there was an alleged solution right there for the taking.

On January 1st of every year I can remember, I'd be watching TV, and not 10 minutes into turning it on, I'd be greeted by a commercial about how you need to start the New Year off right by having weight loss surgery or a new diet program. (Uh, no thanks!)

Sure, I've made my share of Resolutions in my lifetime, and there's such a high failure rate on them if you talk to people in February each year. It wasn't until I tried applying the concepts of Health Kinesiology to New Years Resolutions that I started to understand why that might be.

You are a unique, beautiful individual. You can come into my office with the same issue as another client, but your body will have an entirely different, unique way to deal with that issue. And sometimes an issue that sounds like a "no-brainer" in terms of benefit to someone/everyone will have all kinds of issues tied up in it for you that make it not the best thing to pursue without doing other work first. Let me explain.

Essential Oil Testimonial Database, and My Own Crisis Averted!

I discovered an absolutely wonderful website called Oil Testimonials. I've been using Young Living Essential Oils for a while now, personally and in my practice, but there is so much to learn about what they can do for your health and wellness. I have to admit that it's still not an automatic response to pick up an oil for a health crisis; most of us were raised with medications in mind, and that's the first thing we think of and rely on. There are a few oils that I really know in terms of what they're good for, but this website has been a huge help to me in learning more about them.

There are multiple memberships to this site, and I use the free option which gives you most of the functionality of the site. It clearly explains the benefits to upgrading to Silver or Gold memberships on their FAQ page, but there is a wealth of information available with a free membership.

Oil Testimonials is a essentially a database of testimonials from members about their usage of Young Living Essential Oils for various needs/issues. You can enter an issue in the database (like "headache," "bronchitis," "pain," etc.) and multiple testimonials pages will come up. You can read what the member had to say about the issue, which oil(s) they used, and the outcome. It's really opened my eyes to what is possible with the oils.

Last night I was doing some cleaning and noticed that my right ankle was swollen. I pulled up the leg of my pants to take a look at it, and noticed that my lower leg was extremely red, swollen and much harder than usual. It was also a little bit painful and had a tingling feeling, and so red that it looked sunburned against my pale foot.  I elevated my leg and decided to do some Reconnective Healing on it. When I placed my hand on my lower leg, I noticed there was so much swelling and fluid under the skin that my hand actually left an indent. I won't lie - I was a bit alarmed. When you google those symptoms you get all kinds of awful things looking at you on the computer screen, most of which tell you to go to the emergency room. Uh oh!

Review: Life Juice Cleanse

I recently completed a 3-day juice cleanse/fast from Life Juice and wanted to share my experience with it. 

I'd never done a juice cleanse or any other type of fast before, unless it was a fast for a medical procedure. And during those fasts I always felt awful and was starving, so the idea of fasting for the heck of it didn't sound too appealing. I follow the blog of Chef Amber Shea and she was doing a review of various juice cleanses that she had received and done. I was intrigued, and in a moment of temporary insanity, decided to order a 3-day Juice Cleanse from Life Juice in New York.

The juice is shipped frozen via overnight courier and must be used within 3 days of defrosting, as the juice is not pasteurized and will spoil after that time, and lose nutrients even if it didn't spoil. There are 18 pint drink bottles - 6 for each day of the cleanse (the drinks do not vary daily).

Drink #1 is called Himalayan Sea Salt Solé, a mixture of Himalayan sea salt, water and lime, and it is recommended to drink it warm on an empty stomach at the beginning of the day. This was a surprisingly nice drink - very refreshing and light, and the warmth of the drink was very soothing. A nice start to the day.

Drink #2 is called Alkaline Blend, a mixture of apple, carrot, cucumber, lemon, celery, beet, spinach, kale, parsley, and ginger.  A very tasty, sweet juice with beautiful red color, it was probably my favorite of the juices.

Drink #3 is Oh My Green Goodness, a mixture of apple, cucumber, celery, lemon, spinach, kale, parsley, and ground ginger. A very "green" tasting juice from all the vegetables, but still sweet from the apple. I enjoyed this juice, which is a good thing since it repeats later in the day. :)

Drink #4 is Energizer Bunny, a mixture of apple, carrot, lemon, and ginger. I do not generally like carrot juice, so was not looking forward to this. I was surprised, however, how the carrot was not overpowering, despite the bright orange color. I really enjoyed this juice.

Drink #5 is a repeat of #3, Oh My Green Goodness.

Drink #6 is Toasty Spiced Almond, not a juice, but a mixture of filtered water, raw organic almonds, dates, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg, and they recommended warming it up. I'll admit it was not my favorite drink - it was a bit grainy and thin - but not unpleasant. The fiber content was very high from the almonds, and - at the risk of TMI - was a bit of a shock to my system, if you know what I mean. :)

Solé Drinking Therapy (no, not fish!)

Have you heard of Solé (pronounced "So-Lay") Drinking Therapy? I hadn't, until a few weeks ago.

I had done a prepackaged 3-day juice fast right after Thanksgiving (I'll review that in the next week or so), and the first drink of the day was a Solé drink - ingredients of Himalayan Sea Salt, water and lime. The instructions were to drink first thing out of bed, on an empty stomach. I was not excited to start out my day with a glass of salt water. Honestly, it sounded disgusting. <grin>

However, over the 3 days, it became a wonderful ritual. It actually wasn't as salty as I imagined it would be. Then I thought I would look online to find out why one would want to drink solé anyway; what were the health benefits?

Apparently, the Himalayan sea salt is filled with minerals that the body needs, and the process of making it into solé energizes it so that our body can take in the vibration of the elements for a 24 hour period, stimulating the digestive track, metabolism, and nourishing our bodies. Here are some other benefits I've read about solé:

• Supplies the body with a natural energy that can last up to 24 hours
• Effective in balancing irregular heartbeats
• It harmonizes the alkaline/acidity balance in your body and normalizes the blood pressure
• It dissolves and eliminates sediment deposits which can lead to stones and various forms of arthritis, kidney and gall stones
• Vital to making the structure of the bones firm
• Helps to clean our lungs of sticky phlegm and excess mucous, as well as a cleaning of our sinuses
• Vital to the nerve cells and the communication process of our cells
• Helps the absorption of food particles through the digestive tract
• Drinking sole aids in the prevention of muscle cramps, and helps with sleep regulation. Sea salt is a natural hypnotic.
• Vital for maintaining sexuality and a healthy libido
• Natural antihistamine that helps you breathe better

I've been drinking solé daily for about 3 weeks now in the morning to start my day and one thing I've noticed is that I had an eczema patch on my hand that was flaky and very rough that was not responding to conventional treatment, and after drinking this daily, it has improved drastically. I have not read it yet (I just ordered it), but there is a book called Water and Salt by Barbara Hendel and Peter Ferreira that talks more about the benefits of solé.

Making your own solé is very easy. You probably all know that salt dissolves in water, but did you know that if you keep adding salt, you'll eventually come to a point where it is fully saturated and will no longer dissolve? That's what you're going for with this recipe:

Put 2 or 3 large Himalayan salt stones in a glass container with lid. (I bought a solé kit locally at East West Bookshop which was a container of stones and the recipe.) Cover the stones with a good-quality water (about 2-3 inches above the stones), cover the container and let sit for 24 hours. If the salt is all dissolved, add another salt stone and wait another 24 hours. If salt remains at the bottom, it has reached the 26% saturation rate and you're ready to go! Add 1 teaspoon of the solé mixture to a glass of water and drink slowly on an empty stomach, before breakfast. I usually add some squeezed lime to mine.

Please let me know if you try this and what benefits you may receive from it!

Important Info: None of these statements have been evaluated by the FDA. This product and post are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, nor should anything be considered a prescripton or guarantee of any health benefits. Please consult with your physician or other health care provider before starting solé drinking therapy if you have issues with sodium and/or other health concerns.

 

Note: Due to FTC guidelines, I am now required to disclose that if you click on a link in this post (or any other post or link on my blog) and purchase Young Living Essential Oils, books/products through Amazon.com or nutritional supplements through AIM Companies, that I will receive a small commission as a result of those purchases. Thank you for your support.

Wednesday Wellness - 12/19: Dealing with Holiday Stress

What are you doing next Wednesday evening? Wednesday Wellness is a series of free monthly talks that I offer on a variety of wellness topics, and is held on the third Wednesday of each month, with the next one this coming Wednesday, December 19th, from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. at Butterfly Balance Wellness Center, 3515 SW Alaska Street, 2nd Floor, in West Seattle.

The December 19th topic will be Dealing With Holiday Stress and I'll share with you some holistic methods for dealing with stress and finding joy in the holiday season. (I'll let you in on a secret: these work for non-holiday times too <grin>) Space is limited, so please call or email to reserve a spot as the talk is subject to cancellation if there are no advance RSVPs.

If you have any ideas for topics you'd like to see covered in upcoming talks, please contact me. Hope to see you on the 19th!

 

 Note: Due to FTC guidelines, I am now required to disclose that if you click on a link in this post (or any other post or link on my blog) and purchase Young Living Essential Oils, books/products through Amazon.com or nutritional supplements through AIM Companies, that I may receive a small commission as a result of those purchases. Thank you for your support.

What is Earthing?

A Health Kinesiology colleague of mine mentioned Earthing on Facebook recently. I had never heard of it before, so I looked over the website at Earthing.com and decided to check out of the library the book Earthing - The Most Important Health Discovery Ever? by Ober/Sinatra/Zucker to learn more.

Earthing is described on their website:

Throughout history humans walked barefoot and slept on the ground. But modern lifestyle, including the widespread use of insulative rubber- or plastic-soled shoes, has disconnected us from the Earth’s energy and, of course, we no longer sleep on the ground. Fascinating new research has raised the possibility that this disconnect may actually contribute to chronic pain, fatigue, and poor sleep that plague so many people.

The remedy for the disconnect is simple. Walk barefoot outdoors whenever possible and/or sleep, work, or relax indoors in contact with conductive sheets or mats that transfer the energy to your body. People who do on a regular basis say they sleep better, feel better, and have more energy during the day.  This simple practice is called Earthing, and it is both a technology and a movement which is transforming lives across the planet.

Earthing is safe and natural, for people of all ages, young and old, but it is not medicine or a substitute for medical treatment. If you have a medical condition, see your physician or healthcare provider.

 HOW TO EXPERIENCE EARTHING…NOW

Go barefoot outside for a half-hour and see what a difference it makes on your pain or stress level.  Sit, stand, or walk on grass, sand, dirt, or concrete.  These are all conductive surfaces from which your body can draw the Earth’s energy.  Wood, asphalt, and vinyl won’t work.  They are not conductive surfaces.  Experience for yourself the healing energy of the Earth at work. 

I found this particularly interesting, as I have some health issues involving inflammation (which they claim can be helped by Earthing), and I have NEVER enjoyed going barefoot. Especially outdoors. As a child, if my mother put me in the grass with bare skin touching it, I would scream and cry. So, if this was true about earthing, I was NEVER getting grounded from the earth and enjoying the benefits of its energy, as I never touched it! Even at the beach, I was the geek wearing sneakers on the sand. :)

The website sells products that facilitate earthing, but as they mention in the quote above, you can do it for free by standing outside barefoot (it's just not always practical in certain climates or situations to do so, which is why they sell products as well). I was on vacation a few weeks ago in a warmer climate and decided to give it a try - standing outside barefoot on the patio, and even venturing briefly into the grass, which was HUGE for me. (I'm sure there's a health kinesiology correction needing be done there - ha!) I did this every single day for maybe 5-10 minutes, and every day that I did it, I realized that when I went to bed that night, I actually slept straight through, and felt refreshed when I woke up. I was very intrigued.

Knowing I was not going to be walking barefoot in Seattle in winter, I ordered the Earthing Universal Mat. The mat ($59 plus shipping) comes with a copy of the Earthing book, an outlet checker (to see if the ground is properly working in your outlets), a ground cord, the rubber mat and an optional cover for the mat. You plug the cord into the ground hole on a 3-prong outlet, and then attach it to the rubber mat. You can put any bare skin on it - whether it's your feet (which is what I do), or put it under a keyboard and rest your arms on it, or put it in your bed while you're sleeping. The mat arrived the day I returned from vacation and forr about 10 days I noticed that my sleep continued to be restful and uninterrupted, and I find I have far more energy. It's been easier to get out of a chair (which can sometimes be a challenge with arthritic knees). I think it's too early to make any judgments on the use of the Earthing product and it's effectiveness on my health, but the preliminary results are promising.

I also decided to purchase a small Earthing Body Band Kit ($20 plus shipping) which allows me to hook into the earthing/grounding energy while sitting at the office. I have the orange band around my ankle at the office, although I do have to remember to disconnect myself before walking away. :)

I will share with you in a few weeks about my continued experience with Earthing. Have you heard of it before or tried it? I would love your feedback as well if you've done it, whether the experience was good or not. And remember, you can try it for free by simply getting outside and connecting with nature barefoot!

  

Note: Due to FTC guidelines, I am now required to disclose that if you click on a link in this post (or any other post or link on my blog) and purchase Young Living Essential Oils, books/products through Amazon.com or nutritional supplements through AIM Companies, that I will receive a small commission as a result of those purchases. Thank you for your support.

No Mistakes?

There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go.

Richard Bach

Do you agree with this quote? Do you think we need to have unpleasantness in our lives just in order to grow?

I think some of the choices I've made at the forks in the road of my life, and/or challenges I've endured, have been necessary to become the person that I am today. But there are others I could've done without, and which have changed me in ways that are not necessarily beneficial, and some that have been downright harmful to my wellness and well-being. This is where Health Kinesiology and Reconnctive Healing been helpful to me personally, in healing some of fall-out of those less-than-helpful belief systems and experiences.

I would love to share these healing systems with you, to help you follow the path that is most beneficial for you. You can make appointments online by clicking here:

 

or feel free to contact me for more information.

Note: Due to FTC guidelines, I am now required to disclose that if you click on a link in this post (or any other post or link on my blog) and purchase Young Living Essential Oils, books/products through Amazon.com or nutritional supplements through AIM Companies, that I will receive a small commission as a result of those purchases. Thank you for your support.