Category: health

9 good habits for dealing with stress

Posted on by Fiora Touliatou

Article by Fiora Touliatou

We are going through a challenging period that forces us to face unpredictable situations beyond our control. It is normal to be stressed and anxious. However, there are many things that we can control and, if we focus on them, we can lift our mood and energy levels. So be careful to stick to the good ones that lift your mood! It is in your hand, you can do it!

First of all, let’s explore some common bad habits that deplete our energy levels and drop our mood. We have all done them and it is very tempting to keep doing them:

  • Overthinking and constant worrying: they take us nowhere while they deprive us of peace and joy from the present moment.
  • Inconsistent sleeping patterns: they cause imbalance to our nervous system which can lead to depression.
  • Eating junk and processed food: we may temporarily think that they relieve us of stress (comfort food) but all the toxins they they contain are actually increasing it.
  • Frequent/excess consumption of alcohol or substances: although we temporarily feel better, once their effect wears off we feel even worse. Furthermore, their harmful toxins deplete our body at all levels.
  • Negative people: they drain our energy and drop our mood.
  • Watching negative news: they bring us despair and anxiety.
  • Social media: their excessive use absorbs us and we end up wasting a lot of time. Furthermore, many times we are tempted to read negative posts or even get involved in debates and arguments with people we don’t even know.

The first step is to acknowledge the bad habits, realise that we fall for them and break the cycle. The second step is to replace them with good ones. Here is a suggested list with good habits that will help you deal with stress as they lift your mood and increase your energy levels:

  • Drink plenty of water!
  • Eat a balanced healthy and nutritious diet!
  • Schedule your bedtime routine: try to go to bed early so you can wake up early.
  • Enjoy time with animals: they give us love and we need it!
  • Spend time in nature: walk in a park, beach, forest, whatever you have available near you. Nature has healing properties; she absorbs our negative energy and fills us with positive!
  • Exercise, dance, yoga: movement generally increases our endorphins, the hormones of happiness!
  • Switch off from everything and listen to your favourite music. Create a space where you won’t be disturbed and dedicate this time to yourself.
  • Connect and communicate with others, especially positive people. Isolation fills us with despair while feeling part of a group/community gives us meaning and motivation.
  • Watch positive news, inspiring podcasts, positive articles, self-help books: feed your mind with positivity!

Photo by Public Domain Pictures from Pexels

The link between emotional stress and pain

Posted on by Fiora Touliatou

Article by Fiora Touliatou

In the universe, everything is energy and vibration. In a previous article, we analysed the healing power of positive words. In today’s blog post, we will talk about the power of emotions.

Whatever we feel is a vibration, an energy that we create. It affects not only our energy system and physical body, but also others around us. We essentially become a source of energy; we emit and vibrate what we feel, think and say. Of course, positive emotions create positive vibrations and strengthen us on all levels. But how do negative emotions affect us?

Whatever negative emotion we have, it creates a negative vibration firstly in our aura (our energy field) and then in our physical body. Having negative emotions is part of life and we all experience it daily. But problems arise when a negative emotion becomes constant due to circumstances or negative thinking. Essentially, this negative energy that vibrates becomes an embodiment and appears as pain or even as a health issue.

Our different energy centers (chakras) and parts of the body are “responsible” or otherwise represent and store different emotions. So let’s see what the different physical pains mean depending on the part of the body that they appear.

  • Headache – when we constantly think about the same problem or do not find solutions to a problem or situation. Also, over-analyzing a problem traps energy in our head and creates an imbalance in our energy field.
  • Neck pain – when we are stubborn and fanatical about our beliefs and behaviours, without accepting other people’s differences, opinions and beliefs.
  • Shoulder pain – responsibilities or emotions that weigh on us. It can either be a pain from the past that we carry in the present or problems of others that we tend to solve and become drained to our disadvantage.
  • Upper back pain (between the shoulder blades) – Lack of emotional support or love from family and our environment.
  • Lower back pain – Lack of financial support. Lack of emotional support from family and close relationships. Also lack of sexual satisfaction.
  • Elbow pain – Difficulty and rigidity in life’s constant changes.
  • Wrist pain – Fear of life’s changes. Inability to take and give to others.
  • Hip pain- Fear and resistance to and move on and go with the glow of life. Fear of the future.

So how do we get rid of these pains and what can we do to prevent them? The solution is to follow a holistic lifestyle. This means following practices that balance our wholeness, the connection of our mind-body-spirit. Some of these practices are:

  • Positive affirmations
  • Meditation
  • Yoga
  • Tai-Chi/Chi Kung
  • Martial arts
  • Dance
  • Holistic therapies such as massage, reflexology, acupuncture and Reiki (energy healing) and crystal healing

If you like to learn more and improve your life and health, you can book for a Holistic Lifestyle Coaching introductory session.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

The 3 main benefits of the Legs-up-the-wall yoga pose

Posted on by Fiora Touliatou

Article by Fiora Touliatou

Would you like to know a quick tip for refreshing your tired legs, sore back and rebalancing your energy levels after a long day? Practice the Legs-up-the-wall yoga pose every day!

Legs Up the Wall Pose, also known as Viparita Karani in Sanskrit, is a restorative (passive) inverted yoga posture with amazing benefits.

The 3 main benefits of this pose

Firstly, it refreshes your legs especially after long hours of standing up or sitting down (especially if you are jetlagged). This happens as it assists lymph and blood circulation to flow from the legs towards the main body. Therefore, if you have swollen feet, varicose veins and tired legs, this pose will relieve and refresh you, give you a gentle boost, and rebalance your energy levels.

Secondly, it relieves headaches.The introversion of the pose with the head located lower than the feet and legs, wil help the blood to flow better to the heart, will lower the blood pressure and will increase blood circulation to the head. Therefore, it will lower the heart rate, quiet the mind and even relieve any headaches.

Thirdly, it relieves lower back pains.While the pelvis is placed against the floor, the lower back muscles will get stretched out and will be relieved from any pressure. Therefore, the pose will relax the lower back and relieve it from any pains.

How to get in and out of the pose

Start by finding a comfy spot next to a wall. You can either lie with your back on the floor or on a bed. If you choose to lie on the floor, you can place a yoga mat or folded blanket for extra comfort. Next, shimmy your hips as close to the wall as possible. Afterwards, stretch out your legs up the wall until your body is in an L shape. Make any adjustments if needed i.e. place a pillow under your head, rest your arms on your belly, out to the sides or behind your head.

At this point, focus on your breath; the best would be to try the belly breathing technique. For maximum results, try to keep the pose for at least 5 minutes.

To come out of the pose, bend your knees and simply let your legs lower to one side. When you completely lie on your side, push yourself off the floor and slowly sit up. Be careful not rush to get up quickly as your blood pressure has lowered and you might get dizzy!

Five top benefits of dry brushing

Posted on by Fiora Touliatou

Article by Fiora Touliatou

Have you heard of dry brushing?

Dry brushing is an ancient Ayurvedic technique which combines exfoliation and massage. It’s daily practice has many health benefits:

  • removes dead skin cells,
  • reduces cellulite,
  • improves skin texture and condition,
  • encourages lymphatic drainage,
  • increases blood circulation.

The most important benefit of dry brushing is the stimulation of the lymphatic drainage, also known as lymph node drainage. But why is this so important and why is dry brushing so effective?

First of all, our lymphatic system is responsible for eliminating cellular waste products. Thousands of lymphatic tubules collect waste and toxins from our tissues and then they transport them to our blood and kidneys for elimination. This process is known as lymphatic drainage. When our lymphatic system is not working properly, waste and toxins build up. This can lead to lymphatic congestion which is a major factor of inflammation and disease. This is why we need to stimulate our lymphatic system and help it release those toxins. And that’s why dry brushing is such a powerful detoxification aid.

Dry brushing should be incorporated in our daily routine, ideally before our morning shower. Firstly, choose a wooden, natural fibre body brush with a long handle. Start by using long, smooth stokes, and brush your skin from the feet upwards towards your heart. Then brush your arms, starting from the hands and again towards the direction of the heart. Include the shoulders and neck but not the face (facial skin is more sensitive and could be irritated). Overall you can dry brush for 5 minutes, then take a shower and finally use a moisturiser.

Photo by Cottonbro from Pexels

Walking meditation

Posted on by Fiora Touliatou

Article by Fiora Touliatou

Have you heard of walking meditation?

Walking meditation is a form of moving meditation. Precisely, it is a mindful walking practice that has its origins in Buddhism and can be used as part of a mindfulness practice that involves movement and periods of walking between long periods of sitting meditation.

It can be practiced regularly, before or after sitting meditation or at any time, such as during a lunchbreak, after a busy day at work or on a Sunday morning in the park. In walking meditation the experience of walking is used as the focus. Traditionally, there are several different kinds of walking meditation, such as kinhin, theravada and vipassana, if someone wants to get more into the practice.

Walking meditation is more than a simple stroll in the park as it is usually done in a much slower pace than a normal walk and it usually involves coordination of the steps with the breathing. Techniques can be as detailed as breaking down each step into 2,4 or 6 parts. The general aim, as in any mindfulness exercise, is to keep the mind in the present moment.

Walking meditation can make a difference especially for people who are doing seated work for long hours or those who spend extended periods of time for daily commuting. Some of the benefits are:

  • Boosts blood flow and raises the energy levels as the walking practice helps to get the blood flowing, especially to the legs.
  • Improves digestion (especially after a meal)
  • Reduces anxiety and depression as it is a form of gentle exercise which releases endorphines, the happy hormones
  • Improves sleep quality
  • Increases clarity and focus which in turn can stimulate creativity.

The pace of walking meditation ranges from slow to extremely slow. You can let your hands and arms swing loosely by your sides, hold them behind your back or clasp them in front of your body around the height of your navel. Your gaze should be looking towards the ground just a few feet in front of you.

You can start by choosing a path or setting a time that you won’t be disturbed or you will have to rush. Once you decide the route, you can stat by observing your body and how it moves, then setting a slow walking pace. Afterwards, you can focus on your breath and synchronise your steps with the inhalation and exhlation. For example, you inhale and perform two steps, you exhale and perform another two steps. Gradually, you slow down your breath and inhale while performing for four steps, then exhale for four steps. Later on, you increase to six steps during inhalation and another equal six steps for the exhalation. The more often you practice, the more mindful you will become and you will start noticing the benefits of this wonderful yet simple mindfulness exercise.

Image by Tobi from Pexels

Belly breathing aka diaphragmatic breathing

Posted on by Fiora Touliatou

Article by Fiora Touliatou

Photo by Metadata

Breathing is the function that keeps us alive. Since ancient times, different spiritual practices have considered breathing the connection of our body-mind-soul and what brings our awareness to our bodies and the present moment.

Diaphragmatic breathing is the proper way to breath. Also known as belly breathing, it is a fundamental bodily function that mammals do instinctively. The process of breathing is facilitated and relies mostly on the thoracic diaphragm, the dome-shaped muscle located just below the lungs and heart, which contracts and expands continually during respiration.

During inhalation,the diaphragm contracts (flattens) so that the lungs fill with air. During this contraction, the diaphragm pushes down the abdominal internal organs causing the belly to expand. During exhalation, the diaphragm relaxes, thus the organs go back to their initial position thus the belly contracts. This bodily function is mostly done involuntarily.

However, because of several circumstances in our daily modern lifestyle, we unfortunately disrupt this natural process and we have developed a shallow breathing habit during which the diaphragm doesn’t move to its full capacity and the breathing is done with expanding the chest instead of the belly. Consequently, this causes several health issues such as stress, anxiety, panic attacks and even depression and severe mental health issues.

So what causes shallow breathing?

First of all, bad posture! For most of us nowadays, daily life involves sitting down in front of a computer. Even while using mobile phones, we tend to lean our hear down to look to our phone instead of lifting the phone higher to our eye level. Bad posture causes the shoulders to drop, the head to lean forward, the chest contracting and putting enormous pressure on the lungs and the heart. Consequently, as we cannot take deep breaths in, we start breathing shallow and faster which causes our heart rate to increase as well as the cortisol (the stress hormones) levels in our body. Moreover, we are inhaling less oxygen so our brain gets less oxygen too which lowers our concentration levels and while increases the possibility of headaches and migraines.As mentioned above, having a habit of shallow breathing creates chronic stress and anxiety disorders, even leading to mental health issues.

To reverse this shallow breathing and bring back the harmony and balance to our body-mind-soul, we simply need to connect to our breath. There are several ways to practice and relearn how to breathe properly. For a daily practice on your own, dedicate 5-10 minutes. Focus on your breath and your belly:

  • take a deep and slow breath in from your nose
  • let your belly rise/expand
  • count for 10
  • take a deep and slow breath out from your mouth
  • let your belly flatten/contract
  • count for 10

This can be practiced any time in the day, especially when you feel stress and you need to reconnect with your body and mind.

If you like to further your practice, you can start with holistic practices such as hatha yoga, meditation, taichi, chikung or/and internal martial arts which teach this principle as an essential practice for our energy system and overall welbeing.

The healing power of silence

Posted on by Fiora Touliatou

Article by Fiora Touliatou

“Listen to Silence. It has so much to say.”

Rumi, 13th century Persian poet
Photo by VisionPic from Pexels

Since ancient times, ascetics from different spiritual practices have spent significant amounts of time in silence and isolation, either with prayer or meditation. Even nowadays, monks and spiritual practitioners retreat themselves for days without socialising or talking to anyone. Throughout history, artists and musicians always had the tendency to spend time on their own in order to connect to inspiration and creativity. Nowadays, many meditation teachers advise that frequent meditative pauses throughout the day have poweful healing effect to our body, mind and soul regardless of our spiritual beliefs. So what is the significance of silence in our lives?

Modern science has proved that noise is destructive to us while silence is healing us. Various studies have shown that noise has a powerful physical yet destructive effect on our brains, because it causes the release of stress hormones. Actually, not only our brain, but our whole energetic field, our aura, receives noise as disruptive sound waves. Even when we are sleeping our body receives noise as intrusive and threatening to our system, therefore it reacts with releasing stress hormones. Consequently, living in a consistently noisy environment causes high levels of stress and can even lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, tinnitus and insomnia.

In 2006, physician Luciano Bernardi studied the physiological effects of noise and music. He surprisingly made a very important discovery. During the study, the participants were not only exposed to noise and music, but also to random stretches of silence in between. These pauses were far more relaxing for the brain of the participants than the relaxing music. In fact, these ‘irrelevant’ pauses became the most important aspect of the study as they had the most powerful and relaxing effect.

In 2011, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that the root cause of 3,000 heart disease deaths in Western Europe was due to excessive noise.

All these facts and other important studies and practices are a proof that taking time to switch off is crucial to our wellbeing and our lives in general.

According to the “attention restoration theory”, when we are in silence, the brain can recover some of its cognitive abilities. Moreover, according to Imke Kirste, a Duke University regenerative biologist, two hours of silence per day can initiate cell development in the hippocampus, our brains center of our memory and senses.

Unfortunately, in our modern digital world, our brains have minimal time to switch off as we are exposed to enormous amounts of information. Modern life demands our brains to be in constant attention and consequently a lot of stress. This mental overload leads us into difficulties with making decisions, solving problems and daily functions. However, when we switch off and ideally spend time alone in silence, our brain is finally able to relax, release this constant focus and start its healing process.

To conclude, silence replenishes and nourishes our cognitive powers, raises our concentration levels, increases our motivation and helps us connect with our centres and balances us emotionally. Hence, as ancient spiritual masters always taught, silence is healing as it connects us deeply into ourselves and balances our body, mind and soul. The simple yet ancient practice of silence might be the healing balm we all need to cope with our modern lifestyle.