10 Winter Self-Care Tips to get you through the Colder Months

The winter months can be a challenging time both physically and mentally with your health. Self-Care strategies are needed to get through the colder months to boost immunity and support your mental health. Here are 10 Winter Self-Care Tips to get you through the colder months:

1. Get some Sunlight Everyday. The lack of sunlight can negatively affect our health and mood. Try to get some time outside during the daylight hours everyday. It will help to boost your mood and sunlight directly on the skin is important for vitamin D production.

2. Stick to Regular Eating Patterns. It is common for people to gain weight over the winter as they eat heavier food. Irregular or unhealthy eating can contribute to negative moods and poor immunity. Aim to keep to a regular eating pattern with meals with the focus on eating lots of vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale, and silverbeet.

3. Enjoy a Hot Bath. Great way to warm up and relax tense muscles. A warm bath make the blood flow easier and allow you to destress . Taking a hot bath or spa can improve immunity and relieve the symptoms of cold and flu.

4. Exercise. Going to the gym, a walk, or a yoga class can help boost circulation and lymphatic flow to remove toxins from the body. Exercise can be challenging in the winter as we can be tempted to isolate and hibernate. Set a goal to move your body daily.

5. Meditate. Winter is a good time to establish a daily mindfulness or meditation practice. Create a daily habit by starting a meditation practice at home for 5-10 minutes.

6. Breathe. Long deep breathing is so simple and so good to oxygenate the body. The lungs clear waste from the body. When we slow the breath down and breath from the diaphragm it calms the Nervous System to relax the body and mind.

7. Make a Cup of Tea. Herbal tea is a great way to therapeutically heal the body and create warmth within. My favourite is Yogi Tea with ginger, cardamon, peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon: https://goldenyogi.co.nz/blog/yogi-tea-recipe. This tea creates a lot of internal warmth and supports cleansing the body.

8. Listen to Your Body. If you feel like you are getting sick stay at home and take care of yourself. Make a big pot of vegetable or chicken soup and get some good quality rest. When you feel like you are getting sick start taking some more vitamin C to help clear the infection and boost immunity. Vitamin C in megadoses (1000mg / 3 x per day) relieves and helps with reducing the duration of cold and flu symptoms.

9. Read. Curl up with a good book in bed or on the couch. Quite often we get tempted to be on the phone or watching TV but reading books can be great way to relax. Simply opening a book and reading can change your mind and stress levels for the better.

10. Take a cold shower. While it may seem counterintuitive to hop in a cold shower when you are feeling cold but hydrotherapy has been used for hundreds of years to rejuvenate and boost circulation. Having a cold shower every day can improve skin problems, boost circulation, strengthen immunity, and allow you to feel more energised.

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4 uses for Selenite Crystal for Healing

Selenite Wand

All crystals have different properties and are formed naturally to give and recieve specific energy frequencies. Our bodies and crystals both have energetic vibrations, which means our bodies are receptive to the frequency of aligning our vibration with crystals. Our bodies have free-flowing energy, so the crystals can be used accordingly to re-align, unblock and re-charge areas of our body.

Crystals are a tool to help align the energy of our conscious manifestations to our body. They can be powerful when used to realign our thoughts with our energy field i.e. when using affirmations or intentions. Thoughts can be powerful because they also have energetic frequencies. Crystals can help magnify and transmute those thoughts.

In my Reiki practice, I use Selenite on almost every client. I find it incredibly powerful in clearing energy, cleansing chakras, and helping unlock blockages. It also brings high vibration to an area of that body that could have slow or low energy vibration.

You can use your Selenite Crystals to:

• Absorbs stagnant energy. It is especially beneficial

• Clears blockages. Selenite is also known as ‘liquid light’ and is used for cleansing and for light protection

• Can be used to clear spaces in homes. Keep Selenite (or a Selenite lamp) next to your bed to help clear unwanted energy while you sleep

• Helps to connect with third eye and crown chakra. Helps to increase purity and positive energy

You can purchase Selenite and lamps online and in most crystal shops.

Love, By Olivia

A Wellspring of Healing

The term spiritual healing can be quite ambiguous, and can leave most wondering exactly what that means. With such a plethora of healing modalities out there it can be overwhelming and hard to know which one to choose and how it will benefit you. Healer Susan Okeby shines the light on Natural Spiritual Healing and how it can help you.

The art of energy balancing draws upon gentle, yet powerful, healing energy to bring balance and harmony to the whole being. We all have our own way of taking care of ourselves, however with the outside influences of the world we live in we can still be affected by the, environment, stress and emotions - all of these of these factors can upset our equilibrium. 

During a healing, the gentle energy can help re-establish this essential symmetry by providing a positive boost of energy to help us to become more able to deal with whatever the need is at the time.  This can have a very real and assured effect on our body mind and spirit, our mind is able to be more at peace and consequently can be more effective in managing emotional issues and stress more effectively.

Healing treats the whole person not just the dis-ease. We do not even have to be ill to have healing.  Regular healings are very beneficial as they help us to nurture and sustain ourselves and to promote optimum health so that we may function to the best of our ability, as it works on the inner most level of our being.  Natural Spiritual Healing helps us to develop spiritually and experience more contentment and fulfilment – a beautiful, nurturing way to ensure our ongoing wellness and progress. The spiritual or deeper levels of our being are nourished, helping us to feel more in touch with our higher self, others and the world around us. This promotes real health.

For this work, a high standard is required. The practitioner must have a mature outlook on life, be committed to their own spiritual progress, and bring light, love and understanding to all they contact. There must be the knowledge of how to let the healing energy work, without any hindrance by, or manipulation from the practitioner. An understanding is also needed of how imbalance leads to dis-ease; how healing may take place and the many ways that a person is supported in this process.

Healing Depression Through Mantra

 

We’d like to share with you a tale from the heart, from mantra singer/songwriter and formidable talent Franko Heke.  This self-confessed former “wayward youth” discovered how kirtan can help to alleviate depression and bring healing and joy to all!

MIND FULL...

As someone who has wrestled with bouts of deep depression and anxiety since I was a young boy it felt like I have always been searching for a “remedy” or “way out”. Throughout my adolescence and in my 20’s that remedy came in the form of partying and living a rebellious “bad-boy” lifestyle. Forever chasing that elusive high, when you’re riding the wave it’s amazing but when that wave comes crashing down, it crashes down hard and fast. I was a pretty lost and wayward young lad, just trying to numb the pain of being me. Now I can see that it was all just a means to fill a void of loneliness and a yearning to “fit in.”

Yet there has always been a common thread throughout all of these times – music. During my many highs and lows, music has always there with me like a familiar friend. I’ve loved music ever since I was a kid, I grew up in a household where music was really integral and my parents had great taste! And they often took me to concerts and this is where my earliest inspiration began.

I have done it all, Rap, Rock, Techno and Pop. Well I thought that I had done it all…until I was taken by the hand during what I called a “self-committed” solo monastery retreat to a Satsang and Kirtan. It was a Friday night and I vividly remember walking into this particular family’s home, whom I had never met before and feeling completely welcomed by their smiles and open heart. Everyone sat down and one person at the front started playing their guitar whilst launching into singing a line of mantra then everyone around me sang that lyric back in response. I’d never heard Sanskrit before or heard mantra sung like this in call and response, I was captivated and mesmerized. The power of that response sent shivers right through my whole body, I knew then that this was what I needed to experience.

So there I was, die-hard party-boy on a Friday night in Auckland singing, albeit sober with a whole bunch of strangers sharing smiles, energy, food and music. I loved every minute of it, I completely forgot about my inadequacies in those moments because I was at one with the mantra. My days of playing covers in bars and pubs are now over, I spend a lot of my time holding kirtan nights just like the one I experienced all those years ago in yoga studios around Auckland. I also write and compose much of what I play, and I’ve never looked back, because I understand how lucky I am to know firsthand the tremendous healing qualities of singing and mantra.

The thing I love to do the most on this stunning planet is bring people together and sing so I look forward to sharing this with you at Golden Yogi’s “Project Your Destiny” event on Sunday 22, May!  

MIND EMPTY.

 

Written by Franko Heke

Yin vs. Restorative - What's the Difference?

A very common question we hear a lot of from students is “what’s the difference is between Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga”? Senior Yoga teacher and teacher trainer, Jennifer Allen sheds a little light on these two separate approaches making it easier to distinguish one from the other.

As yoga continues to grow in popularity on a global level, it’s becoming clear that to enjoy a successful career as a yoga teacher amidst the diverse ‘shopping-mart’ of yoga styles now on offer, we need to be well-versed in not just one but at least several different styles of practice.  For me, it is reminiscent of my days as a professional dancer, when work opportunities would be limited unless you learnt to trade in your point shoes for tap shoes at any given moment!  Now, as a full-time yoga teacher, I have found that I encounter the very same scenario – I have needed to diversify my skills.  It’s not unusual for me to have to flow seamlessly from a 6pm dynamic, Vinyasa Flow class followed by a 7.30pm gentle, Restorative Yoga class.  As a result, when asked that ubiquitous question - “what style of yoga do you teach?” - my answer has quickly become “it depends on the day!”

Under the umbrella of Hatha Yoga reside many different sub-branches of yoga that share a common lineage of postures and principles. The difference between these various hatha yoga sub-branches lies in the stylistic execution of the practice or the approach to the practice. The word ‘Hatha’ means a balancing of universal polarities.  ‘Ha’ means ‘sun,’ ‘tha’ means ‘moon.’ Hatha Yoga therefore works to restore balance and equanimity in all aspects of the body, mind, breath and energetic space. The same Hatha principles that may be executed in a meticulously aligned and more static Iyengar Yoga practice, might flow more fluidly to music in a Vinyasa Yoga practice, or may be slowed right down and propped-up in a Restorative Yoga practice. The common thread woven through the core of all of these practices is: balance. 

In response to the hustle and bustle of today’s society, with its prevalence of ‘busy-ness disease’, the need for an approach to yoga that focuses on balancing our ‘yang’ lifestyle is on the rise.  Work stresses, traffic, parenting, keeping house, social expectations, and managing a busy calendar all contribute to the ‘yang’, or harder, more ‘masculine’ and more active aspects of our existence, leaving us with little, if any, time for quiet internalization. Therefore, the ‘yin’, or softer, more feminine, passive aspect in our life is left grossly out of balance.

Don’t get me wrong, there will always be a time and a place for the more dynamic, yang yoga practices - when the fire of our ‘tapas’, our austerity needs to be rekindled. However, balancing our yang approach to yoga with a practice that has qualities of yin is absolutely essential in restoring equanimity and therefore our health, wellbeing and vitality.  There are two particular yin-balancing practices that are finding their way to just about every studio timetable, Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga.

So often I am asked - “What is the difference between Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga?” These practices may have aesthetic similarities to the naked eye, but in truth, the only thing that these practices have in common is their quality of yin- balancing. Their overall intention and execution are actually very different. 

Restorative Yoga: the art of healing the nervous system

Based on the teachings of B.K.S Iyengar, Restorative Yoga at its core is a practice of passive healing. It is intended to carry the student into a deep state of relaxation by completely supporting the body in propped-up asanas, or postures.  This allows the practitioner to surrender completely, allowing prana, or vital life energy, to bathe the body in nourishment.  The kind of experience we are seeking when practicing restorative yoga is very subtle.  The physical sensations the student should feel are minimal as the body finds space to gently open into the support of the props. This is unlike other styles of yoga where the student may be asked to use their breath as a coping mechanism for intense sensations as tight musculature begins to release. I like to remind my students during a Restorative practice that it is an act of doing, without doing. In other words, through the use of props as support, one is able to surrender completely any holding or tension in the body, exerting absolutely no effort in this process. 

The physiological benefits of the practice are immeasurable. One of the major benefits of Restorative Yoga is the effect it has on the nervous system. The nervous system functions on two planes: sympathetic and parasympathetic. When the nervous system is in its plane of sympathetic function, the body enters its ‘fight or flight’ mode of survival. All of the systems of the body that are not needed for basic survival from say, running away from a saber-toothed tiger, temporarily cease functioning. Unfortunately, in today’s busy, stress-ridden society, more often than not, people are living prolonged periods of their daily life in their sympathetic nervous system! As a result, the body loses its ability to carry out basic daily functions, like proper respiration, digestion, and elimination. This concept causes me to ponder: did the caveman suffer irritable bowel syndrome, or just the high-powered businessman?  Restorative Yoga, as its name would indicate, ‘restores’ the body to its long-term plane of parasympathetic nervous system function, the function of ‘rest and rejuvenate.’ It is in parasympathetic nervous system mode that the systems of the body can restore balance, allowing the body, breath, and in turn, the thinking mind and internal energetic space to heal and function at their highest potential.

With its balancing, healing qualities for the nervous system, Restorative yoga is therefore a panacea for every body!  It also has many specialized applications, supporting those with conditions like anxiety, exhaustion, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, hormonal imbalances and recovery from illness and surgery.   

Yin Yoga: deep release

Introduced by Paul Grilley in the late 1980s, Yin Yoga is based on the ancient, Taoist concepts of yin and yang – the opposite and complementary principles in nature. It works synergistically with the principles of traditional Chinese medicine to shift ‘chi’ through the body - what we know in yoga as ‘prana.’  In this traditional context, the quality of ‘yin’ can be described as stable, sturdy, feminine, passive, cold, and downward moving. The quality of ‘yang’ is understood to be changing, mobile, masculine, active, hot, and upward moving. From a physiological perspective, the muscles of the body are more yang in quality - warm and pliable. Whereas, the bones, connective tissue, joints and fascial network of the musculature are said to be more yin, cold and rigid in quality. Yin Yoga works with these more immobile areas of the body to create a gradual, long-term release.

It is a myth that Yin Yoga is passive, as the length of time in postures combined with the intensity of sensation make this practice everything but! The yogi’s boundaries of patience will truly be tested as she employs the tools of gravity, time, and breath to unravel the tangled web of energetic blockage manifested in the form of physical tension.

In the average 75-90 minute Yin Yoga practice, only a handful of postures will be on offer. Each posture will be held for up to 5 minutes, depending on the surrounding joint space and its level of stabilization. For instance, classical Yin Yoga postures that open the area from the naval to the knees focus their attention on the hip joint, which has a deeper and more stable encapsulation. Yin poses that focus on opening the upper body focus on the shoulder joint, a much shallower and less stable joint space. We would need to hold these poses for less time to avoid over-loading the already fragile shoulder joint space. Most Yin Yoga poses are done supine (on the back), prone (on the belly), seated, or from tabletop, still allowing this practice to maintain its overall intention of grounding, and its quality of quiet internalization.  Similar to restorative yoga, Yin Yoga postures sometimes use props, but very often they don’t involve any support at all. 

Unlike Restorative Yoga, there may be a percentage of yogis for whom Yin Yoga is not appropriate. Pregnant women, for instance, need to be particularly mindful in Yin Yoga due to the strain it may put on their already vulnerable joints. Where the average yoga student may benefit from a healthy amount of strain on their joints through the gradual release of Yin postures, pregnant women carry a hormone called relaxin in their body throughout the entirety of their pregnancy and the period of breastfeeding, which when settling into their joints spaces, allows for a hypermobile range of motion to that joint. Additionally, anyone who is suffering from chronic or acute injury in or around a joint space could potentially do more harm than good if they overload that joint for a prolonged period of time. Lastly, yogis who experience hypermobility in their joints and therefore tend to ‘hang in their joints’ in a way that makes the joints vulnerable, could be adding insult to injury by taking the body into dangerous depths with a practice like Yin Yoga, stressing the ligamentous and connective tissue around the joints potentially to a breaking point.

I believe that both of these yin-balancing practices – Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga - hold their own weight and value, and in terms of choosing a style of practice that suits your needs, it is important to remember that because of the differentiation in intention and execution of these practices, you may find that one may be more appropriate for you than the other. It is safe to say that Restorative Yoga is appropriate for EVERY BODY. If you have the ability to breathe, there will be an aspect of Restorative practice that will suit your needs, no matter how limited the body may be. However, this may not be entirely true for Yin Yoga.  

In summary, Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga both work in differing ways to restore balance to our lives by bringing us more into a natural state of ‘yin’, and in the crazy ‘yang’ world that we live in, the value of an hour and a half of self-nourishment, energetic healing, and quiet stillness is, well…priceless!