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.

Here is a great article from the Food Matters newsletter:

“Why superfoods?

Superfoods are a category of foods found in nature, they are superior sources of essential nutrients - nutrients we need but can’t make ourselves. We all may be adding more salads and vegetables to our diets, but concern for the quality of foods grown on mineral depleted soils makes superfoods popular.

They are nutritionally more potent then regular foods and are wonderful food sources of anti-oxidants for healthy healing. Superfoods are nutrient dense and calorie sparse.

Superfoods can be divided into 5 main groups:

Green Superfoods
Bees Superfoods
Seaweed Superfoods
Herb Superfoods
Fruit and Nut Superfoods”

Superfoods are a very important part of any diet, raw or otherwise. To find out more and to continue reading about the numerous benefits of these different types of superfoods you can go to the full article here: 

http://www.foodmatters.tv/superfoods.html#Green

This is a great idea for people who don’t have the time to read, or would like to read a comprehensive review of a book before they purchase it.

Mike Adams from Natural News and Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health have put together a site called Health Book Summaries to provide exactly that - a summary of some of the latest books on health and fitness.

They’ve already got some great books in their library for you to check out, and you can join for free to receive e-mail alerts when they add a new book to their catalogue.

Have a look www.healthbooksummaries.com  

With stress being the causative factor in so many degenerative health conditions, part of my philosophy on healing is to lower and manage stress through various techniques.

I talk to people about the benefits of regular exercise in stress reduction, we talk about resolving and working on the emotional aspects of stress, we can look at using herbs and supplements that support our body and help us adapt to stress - but one tool that I think is essential, is meditation.

Now when I say that to most people, they have a vision of having to sit cross legged on the floor, eyes closed, and “OM” for a half an hour while the mind races and reminds us of all the other things we could be doing.  For most people this style of meditation doesn’t suit, and causes more stress that it relieves.

There are many people who do have the discipline and interest to study and learn these type of techniques, such as Transcendental Meditation, yet for many of us, we try, we get bored,  and we’re not really that interested.  We may practice that style of meditation for a while, and then we give up and move on.

Because the benefits of meditation are so numerous - physically, mentally and spiritually - it is important to include in out lives - but we need to find a style of meditation that suits us, and that doesn’t mean sitting cross legged on the floor.

All sorts of practices can move us into that meditative state, where our mind has switched off and we have a heightened but peaceful awareness and connection.  Often that comes doing something we love that we are so focused on that we lose the racing mind and enter another state.

I realised that yesterday when I spend some time with some horses - my mind was still, I was immersed in what I was doing, and I was definitely in a meditative state for quite a while.  When I had finished with the horses I felt rested, alert, energetic and very calm.  That is the state that helps us be healthy, and the more often we can access that, the better for our stress levels.

So meditation doesn’t have to be a cliche.  We can find that meditative space doing all sorts of things - surfing, horse-riding, gardening, walking in nature, yoga - often it will be found when you are doing something you love.

Being healthy doesn’t mean we have to do things that are difficult that we don’t enjoy just because we think they’re good for us.   Happiness keeps us healthy, and if we are aware of what brings us to a peaceful, joyous space, then that is what we need to do.

I know I’ll be spending a lot more time with horses - what is that you will do?

I regularly receive a newsletter from Matt Monarch, raw food guru, and in his latest e-mail he links to a great radio show, “Vitality” on Tribeca Radio.

He was interviewed by the hosts of the show, about raw foods, cleansing and his spiritual experiences with the raw diet - it’s great to hear about other people’s experiences and philosophies.

The radio show also has some other great interviews with people such as David Wolfe and Fred Bisci with links to many more programs on health and wellness.

Check it out here!