I know I keep harping on about the relationship between our health, our emotions and stress levels, but it’s a point that has really hit home to me lately because I’ve been in the middle of experiencing it.

There’s nothing like learning something really well by going through it yourself, and because I had a bit of stress earlier this year, I noticed a direct relationship between it, and a decline in my usually quite good health.

I do have a bit of a tricky adrenal and thyroid system that needs lots of support - but even with doing that AND eating really well and exercising regularly  - during the times I felt the most challenged, I had quite a number of negative physical changes.

My skin broke out a bit, I gained a few kilos, my hair was falling out, I was tired, and had lots of aches and pains.  It wasn’t until I resolved the emotional component and got back on track, that my physical health then naturally improved.

It just goes to show what a huge impact how we feel has on our physical health - and I am beginning to count this area as being just as important as what we eat, and maybe even more so.  I don’t believe that we can eat well and do everything else right - but leave our emotional garbage unresolved, and still be healthy. 

Our mind / feelings / emotions live in every cell in our body and we cannot separate them.  To be really healthy we need to heal the body and the mind, not just one or the other.  I see my best results in clinic, when someone embraces the physical side of healing, and also works on resolving their emotional issues as well.

With the launch of my Embracing Life! Six Day Detox, Healing and Renewal Retreats, I’ve found a new passion and have become very excited and enthusiastic about it all - and these feelings have resulted physically in a new-found energy, clear skin, healthy hair, a few kilos dropping off and a brighter outlook.

We never stop learning, and the best lessons are the ones that we experience ourselves. The power of observation in our own lives can be a powerful tool for significant insights and healing experiences.

For most of my life I have had a passion for not only physical healing, but for healing on an emotional and spiritual level as well - and that has led me to all sorts of discoveries and insights over the years.

One area that I have had enormous trouble with myself though, is learning to feel and indentify my true feelings - versus what I think I “should” feel in a certain situation.

For various reasons that I won’t go into here, I grew up doubting my own feelings and always believing that what I felt was “wrong”.  So getting back in touch with my truth and not doubting what I feel, is a continuous journey that at times I travel well, and at other times I definitely don’t.

Just lately it came up again where in a certain circumstance I have ignored my true feelings and pushed them aside, in favour of choosing to believe what someone was telling me about a situation, rather than trusting in what I was feeling about it.  As it turned out, my feelings were spot on, and it was another reminder to not ignore those physically based sensations that you might call intuition, sixth sense, or just a feeling.

So rather than beat myself over the head about it, (well OK, when I stopped beating myself over the head about it!) I decided to explore the realm of Equine Facilitated Therapy - where horses are utilised to help us connect with our more authentic feelings and emotions - horses do not allow us to mask our truth.

Having grown up with horses and having a deep connection with them, I have been interested in this area for quite some time.  Horses are very good at picking up what is called “emotional incongruity” a term used to describe the act of hiding one emotion by trying to feel something else.

The horse will not let you get away with that, and will sense the truth behind the mask and will feel off balance and unsafe in your company.  When working with a human facilitator who is experienced in the nuances of equine behaviour, they can assist in translating the horses interactions with you, to assist you in recognising your patterns of incongruence.

It is a fascinating area and one that I could write about in depth - but suffice to say that I had my first experience of this work yesterday, and it was very interesting.  Already I have gained some insights that are quite valuable and I felt a raise in my energy that came just from interacting with such magnificent creatures.

Of course there are many ways / techniques / therapies to help us connect with our feelings, but I just know that this is going to be one of the most enjoyable! 

I will keep you updated on my progress with my equine tutors, and will write more about this area of healing in the future.

In various situations either in clinical practice or just in my daily interactions with people, I invariably get asked - “What can I do about X condition?”  It might be arthritis, or diabetes or one of any number of chronic health problems.

Unfortunately, this is a question that I find really hard to answer, because there isn’t just one simple quick fix pill that someone can take and heal themselves of their problems.  To really heal, not just cover up the symptoms with medication, or even push the body in a certain direction with high dose herbs or supplements, takes a change of eating and lifestyle habits that most people are just not willing to do.

When someone is in a desperate health situation they often say they would be willing to do ANYTHING to get better.  Yet “anything” comes with conditions.  “Anything, except change the food I eat, the drinks I drink and the lifestyle habits I’ve become accustomed to.”

The crunch is though, that the food and lifestyle habits that the person is engaging in has led them to develop the chronic condition in the first place, so continuing to do the same things and expecting different results, is completely irrational.  Even when you do use alternative methods to treat the problem, often once the treatment is completed, slowly the same condition or another one appears because the underlying causative factors haven’t been addressed.

Chronic health problems are not just a “disease” we catch, or an isolated problem in one area - they are a whole body condition and because of that, the whole body needs to be treated.  You can’t just say “I’m really healthy except for this pesky arthritis”.  To have created the arthritis in the first place means that there is an imbalance in the body that just taking glucosamine is not going to fix.  Of course it can help, but it is not the full picture.

So when I am asked that question “What can I do to fix X ?”  I hesitate. 

How can I, in just a few minutes, explain how the body needs lots of fresh whole living food, full of an abundance of nutrients, to function at its best?  How do I tell busy people that they need to make real food one of the priorities in their life and that they need to give up convenience, packaged, processed, and takeaway foods? How can I tell them that a 30 minute stroll a couple of times a week is not enough exercise?  How do I say that they need to address their attitude, their outlook on life, their limiting beliefs, fears and thought patterns?  Where is the quick fix in any of that?

The real answer is that there’s not.  Healing chronic illness does mean a change in all of these areas and more, but that doesn’t mean that it needs to be viewed as a punishment or as a life full of deprivation, because that’s not what a healthy lifestyle is meant to be.

Embracing changes in habits can be daunting at first, but once new habits are in place, then they are no more difficult than the habits we already had, they are just different!  And because the benefits are so enormous, once someone FEELS the improvements within themselves, then they wholeheartedly take it on.

Exploring new food choices (you can do so many yummy things with raw food!), learning to get in touch with your physical body again, and working through your emotional issues, brings with it such self-empowerment.  The confidence you gain from treating yourself with care and respect, flows through into all areas of life.

So if someone is really searching for answers and not just a quick fix, then I love nothing more than guiding them towards the simple truths about food and lifestyle that can make profound improvements in their health.

Just being here reading this shows you that you one of those special, open-minded people willing to explore these ideas. 

Welcome to the club!.  I hope I can keep inspiring you and encouraging you to keep on this path of creating extraordinary health!

Just last weekend my partner and I took my Mum for a weekend getaway to the Sunshine Coast.  It’s only a two hour drive away, but the whole change of scenery and taking scheduled time out to relax, gave the weekend a holiday type feel. 

It is so important to take those short breaks, especially those of us that have extremely busy lives and don’t know when to put the work aside and just switch off.

During those quiet hours it is also nice to spend some time reflecting on our lives.  I happened to be reading Joe Dispenza’s book Evolve Your Brain over that weekend, and some of the concepts in there really got me thinking.

When it comes to looking at yourself and asking questions about who you really want to be and how you want to feel in your life – physically, emotionally and spiritually – it is worth exploring the lifestyle choices you need to make to get you there.

I often ask people in my lectures, to envisage their ideal self, or a role model with attributes they admire, and to make a list of what you think that person would do every day to maintain their lifestyle.  What would their routine look like, what would be in their fridge, what would they do in their spare time, what things would they always make sure were in their schedule, what books would they read, how would they react in a certain situation?

Doing this simple exercise can expand people’s concept of what sort of choices they would need to make to achieve their personal goals.  If you were a slim, fit and healthy person, what would your day look like?  And there is no reason that you can’t start doing the things that a slim, fit and healthy person would do, right now.

Many people get caught up in short term thinking.  That if they lose X amount of weight by dieting and exercising – then their lives will change.  It is great to have goals, but I always ask people, once you have achieved that goal, what will you do the very next day?  Stop eating well?  Stop exercising?

It’s the changes that become a regular part of your day to day life, that have the most impact on the person we are now, and the person we evolve into.

From my time away last weekend immersed in some valuable “me” time, I’ve identified a few areas in my life that could do with some changes.  It is an empowering feeling to know that you have the ability to make choices that can enhance your quality of life, and that of those around you.

Take some time out for reflection, but please don’t use that as an excuse to judge yourself harshly.  Instead, use whatever insight you gain, to gently support and shift those areas that may not fit with the highest vision you hold of yourself.