Spinach and Yoga

Mental Bloating is REAL!

How is you mental and emotional digestion?

We all know that digestion in our stomach is crucial to our well-being. No matter what we eat, if it is not assimilated and digested well, our body won’t be able to build new healthy cells. Ayurveda says that even a nectar can be poisonous to a person with a poor digestion, while someone with strong digestive fire can turn even poison into a nourishing nectar. So it is not only about what we eat but also how we digest and assimilate the nutrients!

But let’s come back to the emotional and mental digestion. Similar to the physical one, it can make us feel light and happy or bloated and constipated if we are not digesting our relationships and our environment well.

Signs of a healthy emotional digestion are:

• feeling of ease when making decisions
• good self-image
• contentment
• sense of fulfillment in relationships
• clarity on what you want
• confidence

Poor emotional digestion shows up as:

• self-criticism
• indecisiveness
• feeling of emptiness and not belonging
• constant dissatisfaction
• reluctance to accept change
• mental fog and inability to make sense out of the situation.

If your head feel congested or bloated sometimes, yoga and ayurveda can help!

Enkindling Emotional and Mental Digestion

We use spices to stimulate physical digestion. Ginger, cinnamon, cumin, and black pepper enkindle digestive fire and help to absorb nutrients better.

Certain things, let’s call them ‘emotional digestive spices’, can help us feel clear and comfortable in any situation that we have to deal with. They help to make the best even out of a poisonous relationship or the most confusing situation.

Here they are:

• Smile. No matter what is happening around you, smile back at the world. Share this gift of happiness and people will smile back at you! Smile for yourself and your entire body. We often smile to others but rarely smile to ourselves. I think it’s unfair and needs to be corrected!
• Let go of expectations. No one owes you anything. If someone is nice to you, be grateful. If someone is mean, ignore and move on!
• Meditate. Even a few minutes a day will make a huge difference. Meditate with your eyes closed and a smile on your lips. Focusing on your breath and internal sensations will build up your awareness and create a sense of clarity. Fog be gone!
• Get active. Physical movement improves physical digestive fire and will do the same for the emotional digestion as well. It will get your endorphins flowing and it will make the world seem like a better place. It will help to boost creativity and get new ideas flowing.
• Find people that you click with. It is similar to finding foods that work for your stomach. Someone likes cheese and others will get feel heavy and bloated from its sodium. It is a matter of trial or error. If you like someone, spend time with them! If you don’t, decrease your interaction instead of trying to change the person. It might be a difficult decision at times but it will make your heart feel lighter.

What do you think about the concept of ‘emotional’ and ‘mental’ digestion? Do you ‘digest’ your environment and relationships well?

Nadya

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It’s Time To Stop Feeling Rushed

How many times did you feel rushed today? Whether it’s working non-stop to finish a project, running to to a meeting, or to rushing to a yoga class, it seems like we’re almost always short on time. If only the day had an extra few hours, we say. I think even if it had another 10 hours, we would still be in a rush because we forgot how not to be.

We stretch the capabilities of every hour, trying to save a minute here, a second there, our calendar is full with appointments one after another. Too bad we didn’t start including appointments for taking a breather yet.

If we have to wait in line and waste the precious time, we dive into emails, check on facebook updates, or read, no skim, through a magazine. Multi-tasking is a good skill and everyone wants to put it on a resume. Of course doing 10 things at a time is better than just one, right?

Well, maybe not really. Take a look at what Japanese call karoshi. In Japanese work-till-you-drop culture death from overwork is a commonly recognized phenomenon. In Britain stress replaced backache as the leading cause of absenteeism since 2003. In the US. The National Safety Council estimates that stress causes a million Americans to miss work every day, costing the economy over $50 billion annually. Still in a rush? read more here

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New Post on Mind Body Green – An Easy Trick to Reduce Anxiety and to Boost Your Diet

Every day we face many choices that were created by the society of abundance. We have a choice in most things that we do. These choices, whether you realize it or not, are a luxury. Most people in the world don’t face a hard choice between Chinese, Indian, or Italian cuisine for dinner.  It might sound surprising, but over-abundance of choice is one of the reasons our stress levels are so high. It’s too much self-inflicted decision-making.

One of the easiest ways to simplify life is to simplify the menu. On days when your calendar is packed and you are more likely than usual to be stressed, choose to simplify your menu to reduce anxiety level. As adults one of the area where we have the most choice in and the most control of is food. 3-5 times a day we are facing a choice of what to put in our body. A favorite quick-to-make, easy-to-digest staple meal can go a long way to create a more peaceful life…. read more