December is upon us and once again doesn’t it feel like it has come around quickly?

As we enter into the end of year festive holiday season, it is a great opportunity to pause and reflect on the choices (our lifestyle choices and all others) we have made throughout the year and how all those choices have affected the quality of year we have had, where we are at and how our bodies are feeling.

One of the biggest realisations that we have had this year is the power and joy of self-appreciation, and how when we cultivate self-appreciation in our life – not so much for what we do or achieve, but rather for who we are, what we bring, our qualities, commitments and values – how this grows and opens up a flood gate of appreciation not only for ourselves but for others, all the small things in our lives and the world around us.

We personally have embarked upon a program where we have buddied up and shared via text message with each other twice daily something that we appreciate about ourselves. It can be something as simple as appreciating the quality in which we choose to walk or put ourselves to bed, to allowing more space in our day to simply be or our growing ability to refuse engaging in self-sabotaging activities or thoughts. Our daily appreciation can be anything that we truly value and appreciate about ourselves.

We have been committed and doing this daily for over a month and there has been much beauty in the unfolding nature of this program. It is very simple and offers much richness and rewards in opening up appreciation of yourself and then to others. The key was to do it consistently and daily so that self-appreciation naturally becomes your new normal.

It seems that numerous studies have been conducted on the benefits of appreciation including around brain functioning, corporate efficiency and as a health tool. What we have learnt from our little experimentation is

1. Self-appreciation is not about being positive nor is a mental construct, rather it is a sensation that is felt in the body

2. The importance to actually express, voice out to someone our self-appreciation

3. There is always something to appreciate about ourselves each and every single day even on the days when we are feeling a bit down and out

4. When we appreciate ourselves, we then automatically appreciate others and our lives more

5. It is heart opening and it felt deeply supportive to our health and wellbeing to appreciate ourselves and others on a consistent basis

You may want to experiment with giving yourself and all in your life this gift of appreciation in December and feel the difference in how you see yourself and others. A great way to end this year and prepare you for the new cycle that lays ahead as we approach 2016.

Alexandra Plane and Donna Nolan offer Yoga, Meditation, Cancer Support sessions and Esoteric Healing at their clinic in Balmain  Northern Beaches (Balgowlah) and Cammeray. Contact them for enquiries or bookings.

You may also like to read Donna’s blog Appreciation – A Pathway to Love

The post The Gift of Self-Appreciation appeared first on Yoga & Healing | Therapies Massage Exercise Corporate Wellbeing | Sydney, Balmain & Northern Rivers.

The focus for our last couple of blogs has been around our sleep and evening rhythms, therefore in this blog we felt to bring some awareness around the importance of establishing a nurturing, self-loving morning rhythm when looking at deepening our health and overall well being.

The quality we choose of how we are with ourselves upon waking can set ourselves up for the type of day we are about to embark upon. Have you ever noticed that if you get out of bed grumpy or racy, then that can easily become the flavour of your day?

Here we are sharing some simple rituals that can support you when waking up and how establishing a caring and nurturing morning routine can make a real difference to how you feel into your day. These simple and practical tips offer support in how to start the day reconnecting with yourself and how to hold this connection into your day ahead.

1) Upon waking, pause and spend a moment re-connecting with you, your breath and body. How are you and your body feeling?

With the busyness of our lives, it is common and easy to jump out of bed and race straight into the day. Or even upon waking, turn our phone on and get caught up in emails, Facebook etc before we even land our feet on the ground.

What if, upon waking we created space (just a few minutes) to be with ourselves and held a gentle conversation with our body through awareness of feelings/sensations and a commitment to keep our mind with us/our body (conscious presence). Then and only then, get out of bed, holding and nurturing this precious connection with self. Could this be a different start to our morning that would lay a solid foundation for a more harmonious, gentle and joyful day?

2) Meditate a few minutes upon waking when/if feeling out of sorts

Having checked in with your body and how you are feeling, if there is a raciness in the body, mind and/or physiology, nervous tension or an emotional overwhelm – sadness, anger, frustration etc – 3 to 5 minutes of Gentle Breath Meditation will help you come back to a precious place of centredness, gentleness and support the clearing of stress/disharmony held in your body. You could also enjoy our 13 minutes free online body awareness meditation .

3) Enjoy being organised and getting ready with ample time

Allow yourself plenty of time to get ready so that you don’t end up rushing. Is it really worth sleeping in those extra 15 minutes, then to have to rush to get out of the door and deal with the created nervous tension? Planning in advance for your day ahead, getting up earlier and making a priority to take the time and be gentle/present with yourself in your daily preparation (preparing breakfast, showering, getting the kids ready, exercise etc) offers a deep support for carrying a connection with yourself into the day ahead. Being present in what we do allows for spaciousness in our life that can be tangibly felt in our body.

4) Develop awareness around what and how you eat for breakfast

Is coffee and/or sugary food a must to get your mood picked up and your brain functioning? Are you gobbling breakfast before you zoom out the door or on the go to work? What about experiencing making breakfast a nurturing moment for both your body and whole being and observe how this can support you through your day.

5) Nurture, celebrate yourself and have fun getting dressed

Be present and enjoy getting ready and dressed for your day – for you . How often do we dress in a hurry in an effort to rush out the door, to impress, or cover up how we are actually truly feeling? If we come back to everything being energy (which it is), what if we took the time to be precious, tender and playful with ourselves as we dressed in the morning for our day ahead? When we put energy into truly caring for/honoring ourselves as we get ready, it feels lovely and this loveliness naturally nourishes us throughout the day.

The way we feel in the morning is strongly linked with the quality of our sleep, our evening rhythm and all the daily choices we make – you may find it valuable to revisit our prior blogs on those topics. 

It is not about getting it all perfect at once, rather about ongoingly developing our awareness and commitment to ourselves. Celebrate each baby steps you take to develop a loving foundation from which you begin your day. It is precious and powerful.

Donna Nolan and Alexandra Plane offer Yoga/Yoga Therapy, Meditation, Esoteric Healing and Massage at their clinic in Balmain, Cammeray  and Balgowlah

Contact them for enquiries or bookings.

The post Self-love: A morning rhythm appeared first on Yoga & Healing | Therapies Massage Exercise Corporate Wellbeing | Sydney, Balmain & Northern Rivers.

We come across many clients in our clinics and at our yoga classes who have difficulty sleeping, insomnia being the most common form of sleep disorder complaint. They may find it hard to know how to get to sleep, or they may be able to get to sleep however then wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to fall back asleep.

Good quality sleep is super important for our overall health and wellbeing. 

We all know how much better we feel when we have properly rested with regular or even one good night sleep. It makes a world of a difference as to how we feel, relate to others and approach all areas of our day.

WHY falling to sleep or staying asleep can be a problem?

How we live throughout our day has a direct relationship on the quality of sleep we get at night. The majority of us – whether we are a busy mum, white/blue collar, students etc – live our days in intense busy-ness with our minds always racy, full of thoughts and with little body connection.This way of being holds a particular quality of energy that affects our body.

Then, when we go to bed, the momentum of our day is still there in the body (i.e this busyness of the day, its associated mental, emotional and physiological racy-ness, overwhelm and/or other disharmony). The body may be tired and wanting to rest, however the physiology is still stimulated, racy, and the mind still thinking of all that has been and may still be going on.

The above scenario is the most common one experienced by people having difficulty falling to sleep or staying asleep – putting aside the occasional jet lags, changes in sleeping environments, medical illnesses etc -. They can’t get to sleep or fall back asleep because their nervous system is overactive, their physiology still racy and their minds super busy, unstoppable with lots of thoughts and activity going on.

The key here to return to getting good quality sleep is to look at the quality of being/energy of how we are living throughout our day, as this directly affects the quality of our sleep.

If we can develop the habit to align, focus, place our mind with our body in all that we do throughout the day and hold a quality of gentleness, when we put the body to bed at night it is ready for sleep, and the mind too can follow, allowing our whole being to properly rest and rejuvenate.

This means developing conscious presence – ie. having an awareness of feeling our body in all that we do, say and think. When we develop this quality of being in our day-to-day activities, any stressful and disharmonious momentum already built in our body will begin to clear, and the draining, uncontrollable chatter of the mind will reduce and gradually stop.

Tips for developing conscious presence – mind and body in union together

1. Make the choice to put your attention with the activity that you are doing throughout your day as you are doing it. Rather than being lost in thoughts whilst you are doing something, give the mind something to do, a point of focus, that is, to be with the activity you are doing.

2. Choose to do the activity in a quality of gentleness. By giving yourself the task of doing it gently, it gives room for your awareness to expand and brings an energetic connection to the mind and body.  Maintaining an awareness of your body posture as you go through your day – keeping it open and alive  – will support your quality of awareness, gentleness and the prevention of various muscle tensions/ body aches.

3. Maintain an awareness of the quality of your breath and choose a gentle breath. Awareness of the breathing process is a simple technique that can be done anywhere anytime to develop/maintain body connection and is sufficient to kick an overall relaxation response in your physiology. A gentle breath in and out your nose will help to clear stress and disharmony built in your body, and bring you back to centered state of mind and being.

4. Choose a couple of activities to begin with that you can playfully practice conscious presence each time you do them. For example, every time you shower, eat, brush your teeth, pick up the phone, get into your car, stand up and sit down, open a door – the list is endless, make it fun, playful and loving. Do these gently and with presence, rather than mechanically and being checked out in your head. Once you have mastered a couple of activities, choose another to add to your repertoire and continue to build on the number of activities that you deliberately practice conscious presence with. This will gradually develop conscious presence over time throughout your day.

5. Try doing the Gentle Breath Meditation daily. This guided meditation will give you a marker in your body as to what it feels like to be connected with you and your body. Then take this feeling of connection into the next activity that you do.

Meditation is simply a tool for reconnection with self. Meditation is simple and only requires a few minutes. Learning how to meditate will help you bring yourself back when you are feeling completely off  – emotional overwhelm, anxiety etc.

Our Yoga Classes, Esoteric Healing Therapies and Massage Therapies are also a great support in assisting with sleep problems, your re-connection back to you and for developing conscious presence.

In our next blog, we explore our rhythms and cycles around sleep and how these can prepare us for a quality of sleep that is both deeply rejuvenating and healing. In the meantime, if you haven’t already, why not try playfully practice conscious presence in your daily activities, include the gentle breath meditation as part of your daily rhythm and see how that feels in your body? It is about developing our ability to make self-loving choices, not about discipline.

Donna Nolan and Alexandra Plane teach Yoga, Meditation and assist people in their healing via Esoteric Therapies, Massage, Yoga and Meditation. Contact them at info@yogaandhealing.com.au

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