Stress……some of us deal with it better than others, some have more stress than the rest of us, and some have stress thrust upon them!  Stress can show up in many different ways; upset stomach, tension headache, acid reflux, neck pain, eye strain, panic attacks, feeling frazzled, high blood pressure, forgetfulness, sadness, anger, overeating, undereating, increased smoking or drinking, worry, depression, skin disorders, sleep problems and ultimately heart disease and autoimmune disorders.

“Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger – whether it’s real or imagined – the body’s defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction, or the stress response”, says healthguide.org.  We all have some version of stress.  Some is ok, stress can help you in times of emergency or when life requires you to be on your toes.  Chronic stress and emotional stress are the triggers for health problems.  The body doesn’t know the difference between physical and psychological stress, so it will react the same way to everyday stress as it would to a life or death situation.  

How do you react to everyday stress?  Do you hold it in, you know, way down in your stomach, do you react or do you respond to the situation?  There is a difference between reacting and responding.  Reaction is just the way it sounds….you react.  That could be with anger, frustration, yelling, blame, or any of the symptoms listed above.  A response is a conscious solution to the problem.  When something frustrating happens, taking a deep breath, looking at the problem and thinking…”OK, this just happened.  What am I going to do now”? 

But it doesn’t always work that way, does it?  The body responds to stress quickly.  Negative thoughts creap in, the tension starts.  So how about some alternatives for the moments when the answer isn’t there right away?  Here are some things that I always work for me for those “life’s uncertain” moments. 

Change your mind:  Change your mind, change your life.  Positive thinking can go a long way.  Fake it till you make it.  Change the negative thoughts in your head to positive ones.  Yes, you can!

Laughter:  Watch a classic comedy movie.  Laughter can stimulate your organs, soothe tension and stomachaches and activate and relieve your stress response.

Have a good social support: Friends and family who are there to give you a sense of belonging, self worth and your friends can be there to alert you to potential stress situations.  Be grateful to your friends and family for “being there” for you.

Relaxation techniques: Yoga, meditation, and tai chi can slow your heart rate, lower blood pressure, increase blood flow, improve concentration and reduce anger and frustration.  If you can’t make the time for a class, just sitting still and closing your eyes and counting will help. That old saying, “count to ten” when you are ready to explode, is a great way to go.

Exercise:  A simple 20 minute walk can go a long way to relieve stress and its effects.  I just got back from my walk and my mind is fresh for writing. 

Healthy eating: Wheatgrass juice will clear the mind, clear the fog of the day.  Eating a living food diet gives the body the energy to heal. 

Understanding your sources of stress can lead you to the solution.  Will the above work for you or do you need something more?  Seek help from a physician or therapist when it seems life’s ups and downs are just too much for you to handle alone. 

Here are some natural alternatives to take for stress relief:

Nux Vomica: can help with irritability, sleeplessness and headaches.

Bach’s Rescue Remedy:  Natural stress relief.  I always have this on hand.

Find out what works for you.  Daily stress can be reduced in intensity.   Listening to a stress reducing cd in your car on the way to and from work can help to alleviate the stressors of the day.  When you arrive home, changing out of your work clothes and just spending 5 minutes or more sitting and breathing. 

Relax, breathe….I wish you peace

I just realized that I haven’t had a canker sore since I started my raw food lifestyle almost three years ago!  One of the big benefits of eating more living food is that your body chemistry becomes balanced in minerals, acidity, and alkalinity.  (You can do a self-test to determine whether your body fluids are either too acidic or too alkaline by following the test in the book, Prescription For Nutritional Healing on pg. 65).

What else causes canker sores?  Canker sores can be brought on by fatigue, stress, fever, menstrual cycles, nutritional deficiencies and sensitivity to certain foods.  They can be small, or large as a quarter with a red border and white center.  A well balanced, nutritious diet is vital.  As I said previously, I was a vegetarian and eating healthy, I thought, but still getting canker sores.  Once I turned to a living food lifestyle, not only did canker sores disappear, but allergies, stomach aches and headaches also diminished.  Some foods that contribute to canker sores are cherries, chocolate, citrus fruits, nuts, tomato products and animal protein, which produces excess body acid.  When you have an outbreak, eating a bland diet with no acidic fruit, salty or spicy foods, or sugary foods should lessen the discomfort.  Plain yogurt is helpful or taking acidophilus tablets.

Studies showed that some canker sore sufferers were deficient in iron and B vitamins.  These two seem to be deficient in many people.  Vitamin E applied directly to the sore can lessen its duration.  Using baking soda or table salt on the canker sore will temporarily relieve pain.  I tried this many times and it didn’t work for me.  Reducing acidic beverages like orange juice always helped me, and reducing stress in your life….that’s another common cause of many of the dis-ease in the body.  Try yoga, meditation, any form of exercise where you can shut off the mind and go into the body to feel, is great for stress reduction.

Some folk remedies for you.  Aloe vera gel, moist tea bag (red raspberry, sage, chamomile, goldenseal, or strawberry), antacid tablet or a swish of milk of magnesia in the mouth may reduce the inflammation and garlic capsules act as a natural antibiotic.

Here’s what Louise Hay says about canker sores in her book Heal Your Body….Festering words held back by the lips. Blame.  A mantra to help you?  I create only joyful experiences in my loving world.

Take what resonates with you.  Assimilate it into your life and eliminate the rest.

Experiment with what works for you.  Be proactive about your health and well being.

Sores that last more than 3 weeks should be evaluated by your physician.  This information should not take the place of your primary doctor.

The saying “Less is more” means that when something is understated or done in a low-key manner it is much more effective.  Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, furniture designer and architect, is often associated with the phrase and a proponent of simplicity and clarity leading to good design.   Let’s first get out of the way when less is definitely NOT more….like love, kindness and gratitude.

Seven years ago I was just about half way into a month long yoga teacher training.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner consisted of a wonderful buffet line of healthy food options.  I was practicing yoga about 5 hours a day and participating in experiential workshops the rest of the day. So why was I feeling bloated and most certainly not healthy? Not to mention, my physical body was saying “stop working me so hard”!  I made an appointment with a wonderful body healer and his words to me were “Stop eating so much”.  What? Don’t I have to eat three meals a day?  “Try this”, he said, “Instead of a tray, two plates, and fork, knife and spoon, just take a small bowl and one utensil”.  So I believe I put people in front of me that I’m meant to learn from and I took his advice.  And yes, you guessed it, it worked.  I felt 100% better in no time.  My first experience with “less is more”.  The less I ate, the more my body could use its energy to help me get through this very long month of yoga and learning.  I not only ate less, I ate slower, allowing my body to digest, assimilate and eliminate to its optimum efficiency.

I’ll explain why this works.  Eating less allows your body to spend less energy digesting food and more energy healing.  It’s what your body wants to do…HEAL ITSELF!  Taking this one step further, digesting cooked food demands much more energy than the digestion of raw food.  Raw foods contain enzymes which aid in digestion, giving the body’s own enzymes a better chance to regulate the body’s metabolic processes.  Cooked foods deplete these enzymes, making digestion more difficult, which could lead to toxic build up in the body, obesity and chronic disease.   Raw food is not only good for physical body healing, but also for emotional body healing.  Having that extra energy gave me time and clarity to hear my own voice.   It wasn’t always a kind voice, that voice inside my head.  But at least now I could hear it and do something about it.

I’m a very bland raw foodist.  Simple and less is what’s best and what works for me.  I do eat some cooked food, but I don’t need or want as much as I used to.  And when I start to feel bad, physically or emotionally, the first thing I look at is what I’m eating.

Another lesson I learned at my month long training was the one of silence.  An extreme example in “less is more.”  At anytime you could choose to spend the day in silence.  There’s not enough space here to explain to you what happens when you do not speak.

I use “less is more” often during the course of my day.  I ask you to try it too the next time you are having a “discussion” with a loved one or with yourself.

Donna Bergonzi-Boyle

A good question right?  I’m not just talking about excercise or eating right.  I mean pampering yourself.  Gentle yoga, breathing, a great bubble bath, sitting in front of the fire, meditating, singing, dancing. How about we take a moment to just breathe?  Sit upright, plant both your feet on the earth, and place your hands, palms up, on your legs.  Close your eyes.  (C’mon, this will only take a moment…turn your phone off, take a five minute break from your busy life)  Bring your attention to your belly and how the belly rises and falls with each breath.  Relax your jaw, soften your eyes and allow your shoulders to drop away from your ears.  Start to bring your breath into your lungs.   Belly then lungs expand with the inhale and lungs then belly deflate with the exhale.  Do this a few times and just keep your awareness on your breath.  Try to keep a wave like motion with each breath.  Now you can start to lengthen your exhale and let out a sigh when you do.  Open your mouth and let out a long sigh.  AAAAAAAAAA.   That’s nice.  Now that you’ve read HOW to do this….go ahead and do it.  When you are done, notice how you feel.  Then go ahead and get back to whatever you were doing.  You took five minutes to pamper yourself.

We are human beings…not human doings.  How can we stop doing and start being? Well, obviously we have to continue doing things.  There’s our work, our children, our pets, the daily chores, to name a few.  In these days of upheaval and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to take care of yourself.  This could just mean doing the above breathing exercise a couple times a day.  Eventually this exercise becomes part of your daily life.  Breathing will open your heart and slow you down, putting you right into the present moment.

Slowing down……let’s start here.   Yoga was a good start for me.   My first few years of practice I was your “type A” yoga student.  Moving fast through what the instructor asked us to do and definitely NOT breathing.  In my quest to “do” everything right, I was actually hurting myself and was most certainly NOT in the present moment.  Only when I woke up one morning and couldn’t move my neck, did I realize something was wrong with my way of thinking regarding the well being of my physical body.  This took me on a long journey through many types of healing modalities from accupuncture to x-rays.  It eventually led me to some great body work and to the raw food lifestyle.  And to practicing a more gentle form of yoga.  Now my yoga practice is more about what my body wants and not what my mind or the instructor wants.

What can you do today to start pampering yourself?  How about these ideas:

Cooking your evening meal during the day in a crock pot saves time.  Instead of slaving in the kitchen at night, take a few moments to do your breathing.  This will give your body the time to let go of the day, which will give you a clearer mind when it comes to choosing what and how much your body needs to eat.

I have only a very small space in my house to lay out my yoga blanket.   But I do this as many mornings as I can.   I also do some yoga before I even get up.  Set your alarm for just 10 minutes earlier and stay under the covers.  Breathe, stretch….and don’t forget to make sound on your exhale.

At night, I love my heated neck warmer.  Relieves the tension of the day.  I just close my eyes and put on some great soothing music.

I live in the northeast, where winter brings many sunless days. On the days the sun is in the sky, I put myself right in its path. Sitting in my window or laying on the floor to absorb the rays.

What are you going to do today that’s just for you?  How are you going to slow down during this very busy time of the year?  I am sending you light and love…….

Donna Bergonzi-Boyle