Butterfly Balance Wellness Center

Will That Help You Reach Your Goals?

Goals. We all have them, don't we? Things we want. Things we don't want. A list of things (often in our head) that we wish to achieve. But sometimes it takes work to get them. And it's easier not to do the work. So the goals are there, but ignored. Not being reached for nor achieved.

I had some loose goals roaming around in my head and made some major changes in my life to get closer to reaching them. I made progress, which pleased me. But then I got lazy and took the easy way out which was more preferable than actually doing the work that was required to reach those goals. Then it's easy to actually forget what those goals were to begin with. How can you reach a goal if you're not even clear what that goal is or why you want it?

I spend my time with clients helping them to discover what is holding them back and how to get rid of it. I've seen some great success stories. So, after farting around for a very LONG time on my own, I decided to take some of my own advice. I do Health Kinesiology sessions on myself, and I travel up to Canada once a month to see my own practitioner. But there were certain recommendations that were being made to me (from my own body using muscle testing) and I was pretending I didn't actually hear them, because they were "hard to do." I finally realized that having health issues is "hard" too. And if I wanted to change things in my life, then I had to change things too.

I made a list of actual goals that I had related to my health and well-being, and why. Then I made a list of what I needed to do to reach them. Rather than trying to make a huge bunch of changes at once, I decided to start small. Although when you're dealing with addictions and habits, none of it really feels small, I'll admit.

One of the first things I did was to eliminate coffee. I determined quite a while ago during an HK session that I am allergic to coffee, and my body has absolutely no desire to correct that allergy; it simply wanted me to avoid it for my best health benefit. I conveniently decided to ignore that for well over a year. Well, 10 days ago I went cold turkey off coffee. I was finally ready. I won't lie, it was hard. For a week I was trying to find every justification on earth that it was okay to have coffee. You know, just a tiny bit. Just this once. Every time I had a choice to make, to give in and just do it, or to continue avoiding it, I asked myself:

Will that help you reach your goals?

Keeping those goals in mind really helped me to keep my focus on what I was doing and, more importantly, why. It's made a big difference in helping me to make the right choice. Or, if at some point I choose to do something differently, at least it was an informed choice, knowing full well that it's not serving my goals, and in this moment, that's okay.

Do you have goals you'd like to reach for? Write them down. Make a list of what you need to do to get there. Look at those lists regularly. Look at the things you do (or don't do) and ask yourself how they will help you reach your goals. Keep your eye on the prize.

I'm happy to say that even in this short amount of time I've made noticeable progress on one of my goals. If you're not sure of your goals, or want some help getting over those blockages that keep you from reaching them, make an appointment today. I understand the "hard stuff" and can help you on your journey.

 

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.

Emotional Stress Release

I've been having a repeating conversation lately with my Health Kinesiology clients and my friends about events and issues that are stressing them out - problems with their jobs, relationships, money, health, etc. While a personalized Health Kinesiology session would be helpful in these situations to deal with the exact issues and how they affect your body, there is a simple HK technique that you can do on your own called Emotional Stress Release, or ESR.

I've done a number of ESR corrections on clients in sessions and shown people how to do it, but I discovered a video online that explains and demonstrates the technique, and I wanted to share it here:

I usually suggest that you think about the issue that's stressful, and explore it as vividly as possible while holding the ESR points, and rate it on a scale of 0 to 10 (where "0" is no stress and "10" is the most stressful it could possibly be).  Hold the points as shown in the video until the number reduces at least a few points. Sometimes that can be 10 minutes or longer. This can be repeated again at another time to continue reducing the 0-10 rating until the issue is far less stressful to you.

You can also have someone else hold the acupuncture points for you (or do this for a friend or family member).

Please let me know if you try this, and what your experience is with it. Clients have found it to be very helpful in dealing with job interviews, tests, and temporary stressful situations. If you find that the stress continues, you may consider booking an appointment to look into other causes and how we may correct them. 

 

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.

Wholeheartedness

This is one of the most powerful videos I've ever seen and immediately knew that it was something I wanted to share with all of you. Thanks to life coach Andrea Owen for letting me know about it and introducing me to Brené Brown.

This is a part of the description of the YouTube video to explain:

Dr. Brené Brown is a researcher professor at the University of Houston, Graduate College of Social Work, where she has spent the past ten years studying a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness, posing the questions: How do we engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to embrace our imperfections and to recognize that we are enough -- that we are worthy of love, belonging and joy?

The video is 20 minutes long, which I know in today's fast-paced, social media world is long. But you owe it to yourself to listen to this. You are absolutely worthy enough to spend that 20 minutes on yourself.

 I would love to hear how and if this video speaks to you. Please share!

 

Balancing Butterflies?

A question I've been asked recently is what Butterfly Balance means.

I originally started out my practice as West Seattle Wisdom. I liked the idea of a location identifier (West Seattle) and the Wisdom referred to the wisdom we gleam from muscle testing in Health Kinesiology. But I decided that was too limiting of a name (suggesting incorrectly that only West Seattleites need apply, and wisdom was often thought of in terms of education, not energy work), and one night the name Butterfly Balance (and the logo) came to me.

Butterfly: Butterflies start their lives as caterpillars. It then form a chrysalis around itself (what we think of as a cocoon, although I understand cocoons are technically for moth caterpillars, not butterfly caterpillars) and they emerge transformed into a beautiful butterfly. Caterpillars are a worthy insect/being in their own right, but they transform into another existence, reaching their true potential of what they were meant to be all along.

That's how I see people: we are all beautiful, worthy beings right now. But we have so much potential in us that is crying to get out. We may not even realize all the things holding us back from reaching that potential. With Health Kinesiology, we use muscle testing to determine what YOUR body wants and needs to get there, and we work together to follow that path. You emerge from the process (and from Reconnection work as well) uncluttered from those burdens, fully stepping into your power. Others can see the beauty within you once you've gotten rid of the junk holding you back. You can see it too. You've become the beautiful butterfly you were always meant to be.

Balance: a multi-faceted word. This blog started as the Health/Life Balance Blog. When I think of balance, I think of yin and yang from traditional chinese medicine, and the yin yang symbol is "used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only exist in relation to each other."*

I also think of the concept of life balance - trying to balance our work with our home life with our health and obligations, etc., etc. Not always easy to do in my experience, but worthy of striving for, to protect our sanity!

Finally, and most literally, Balance is what we're doing in Health Kinesiology: balancing the meridian system of the body. We find out what stresses the meridian and energy system and put it out of balance, and we correct those imbalances in a session.

Are you living your life in a chrysalis/cocoon, not living up to your potential? Would you like to discover your butterfly beauty and live a live a life in balance? Make an appointment today to see how we can work together to change your life. 

 

*Courtesy of Wikipedia

Hungry for Change

I just saw an interesting trailer for a film called Hungry For Change, from the producers/directors of Food Matters, which you may have heard of.  I really support the notion of food being very powerful and being a vital part of our wellness and balance. This movie looks to discuss the diet and health industry and the lies that we are being told about what we allegedly nourish ourselves with in terms of food.

The trailer appears below, and you can then go to the Hungry for Change website to sign up for a link to view the entire movie for free from March 21 through March 31, 2012. From the website:

 "HUNGRY FOR CHANGE exposes shocking secrets the diet, weightloss and food industry don't want you to know about. Deceptive strategies designed to keep you craving more and more.

Could the foods we are eating actually be keeping us stuck in the diet trap?

In this free online premiere event you'll discover:

• How to navigate your supermarket - what to buy and what to avoid

• The real truth behind "DIET", "SUGAR-FREE" and "FAT-FREE" products

• How to overcome food addictions and cravings

• Why fad diets don’t work

• What food additives to avoid and how to read labels

• What is fat and cellulite and how do we get rid of it for good

• The most effective detox and cleansing strategies, and

• How to eat for clear eyes, glowing skin and healthy hair

Find out what's keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever.

Featuring interviews with best selling health authors and leading medical experts plus real life transformational stories from those who know what it’s like to be sick and overweight.

Learn from those who have been there before and continue your health journey today."

Here's the trailer. Let me know what you think after you watch it, and don't forget to sign up to attend the free online preview at the end of March.

 

 

Rethinking Mondays

It's still morning here in Seattle on Monday, and nearly everyone I've spoken to has had something negative to say about it being Monday.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't do the same thing this morning upon hearing that alarm go off at 6 a.m.

What is it about Mondays that seem to invite such dislike? Dare I say hatred?

I have decided that today I'm going to be happy that it's Monday. It's the beginning of a new calendar week. A new week to take on the world! More opportunities! More excitement! Come on, get excited with me! What are you going to do to celebrate Monday today? To celebrate those opportunities and excitement about the things to come this week?

I'm thinking that I need to revisit the reasons why I felt negative about Monday to begin with. Is my calendar full of too much stuff that I "need" to do versus things I "want" to do? (Yes) Am I over committed? (Yes) Do I have too many expectations of what a "great" weekend is and then feel as if I came up short if I took time for myself and didn't accomplish those ten billion things? (Uh, Yes) And therein lies the key to Mondays: If we're not doing things we truly love, and feel stuck to fill our lives with too many obligations or things we don't truly love, we're going to be dreading those days.

I don't want to dread Mondays anymore. Are you with me? What can you do to wake up loving Mondays?

 

Butterfly Balance Featured in Seattle Natural Awakenings

I was recently interviewed for an article in the January 2012 issue of Seattle Natural Awakenings Magazine about Health Kinesiology, along with my friend and fellow HK practitioner Bobbie Rice of Sacred Elements in Minnesota.

Right now, to my knowledge, I am the only HK practitioner in the Seattle area, so unless you've met me, seen me as a client, or read this blog, it's likely you haven't heard of it before. I absolutely love the work that I do and the results I've seen in my clients, and I'd like to make Health Kinesiology a household name in Seattle!

I love this quote from Bobbie in the article:

“[Health Kinesiology] helps
people go inside themselves
and clear out those things that
are keeping them stuck, so that
they can move forward without
extra junk holding them back.”

I hope you'll take the time to read the article, learn more about my practice and the Health Kinesiology work that I am so passionate about. Click here to download the pdf of the article:

Download Health Kinesiology Article in Seattle Natural Awakenings (pdf)(1066.6K)

Please contact me with any questions you have about Health Kinesiology after reading the article, and I'd be honored to work with you as a client. You can book an appointment now by clicking on the button below. Ask me about my new client special and multi-session discounts.

 

 

Compassion for Everyone? How About You?

One definition I found online for compassion says "Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it." That's a pretty nice quality, don't you think? We can do a lot of good in the world if we're mindful of what others are going through, being kind and supportive and helping them with what they are going through. And I think the average person who thinks of themselves as a "good person" strives to do just that. As Thich Nhat Hanh said, "With compassion in our heart, every thought, word and deed can bring about a miracle."

But what about you? What about self-compassion? Why is it that we can be compassionate towards others without blinking an eye, but we can be so hard on ourselves, saying things in our heads that we'd never take from anyone else? Where's YOUR miracle?

Many years ago I was taking some verbal abuse from someone, and a friend said to me "what is it in you that lets you allow her to talk to you like that?" It was a hard thing to hear, and actually made me cry - because it was an extremely caring thing for someone to reach out and say that to me, and let me realize that I deserved better.

So, I say to you now: "What is it in you that allows YOU to talk to yourself like that?"

Would you like help getting rid of the internal blocks that keep you repeating that same pattern? Health Kinesiology can help you get to the bottom of that junk holding you back and make lasting corrections to it. Don't you deserve the same compassion that you so readily give to others? Click the BookNow button below to set up an appointment today.

 

When Good Resolutions Aren't Good

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

On January 1st I was watching TV, and not 10 minutes into turning it on, I was greeted by a commercial about how you need to start the New Year off right by having weight loss surgery. (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.

One of the most popular New Years Resolutions is for people to change their eating habits and choose "better" food. What exactly is "better" foods? Sounds pretty reasonable to think that "everyone" would be better off if we ate more vegetables, for instance. But what if you're allergic to a certain vegetable and don't even realize it? You'll eat it, not feel your best, and then stop trying to eat "better." Or you might have tried to diet many, many times (like I have) and gained all the weight back. Your self-critic might be telling you that you'll fail this time like you always did. Or perhaps a friend or relative was unkind to you regarding you giving up on your diet in the past, so the thought of dieting is stressful to your energy system, putting you out of balance.

Not every seemingly "good" resolution is good for everyone. Want to ask your body some questions about what would be good for you? Or do some work to clear out the junk holding you back from achieving those goals? A Health Kinesiology session might be just what you need to find out what your body is telling you it wants and needs to be the best person you can be in 2012.

 

 

Reframing and Reconnecting

I've just returned from a vacation in New York City, which is my birthplace and the area in which I lived until I moved to Seattle in 2004. I don't believe I've talked a lot about it here on my website, but the events of 9/11/01 were a huge catalyst in my moving away. I was in Manhattan that day, and being as energy sensitive as I am, I took on a lot of the negative energy of that time from those around me, and my own experiential trauma. As you might imagine, this was a difficult time for me.

I have done a lot of work with Health Kinesiology in dealing with the stressors of the days' events, as well as just living in New York City in general. I try to return to New York once a year or so to visit with friends and family, and in the past it has triggered those same feelings, and it was difficult again.

This visit was profoundly different, for which I am very grateful. I've spent a lot of time dwelling on the stress of New York (physically, mentally and energetically) in the past. But this time I decided I would fill my calendar with things that bring me joy. I used to work across the street from Central Park and found serenity on its winding paths. I enjoy the quiet and museum-quality art of St. Patrick's Cathedral. The United Nations' meditation room is a very special place of quiet and peace. And, of course, surrounding myself with loved ones that I have missed visiting with. I realized that through Health Kinesiology corrections I was finally ready to reframe my experiences and reconnect with the things I truly loved about New York City, finally finding peace and the ability to move on.

Is there something you would like to reframe and reconnect with? I would love to work with you towards those goals, knowing from personal experience how it's helped me.