As you know I have spent some weeks now researching how to get a good nights sleep and dealing with sleep deprivation.

There are good sites with useful tips and information on sleep.  The one I would recommend is the Royal College of Psychiatrists  http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfoforall/problems/sleepproblems/sleepingwell.aspx  

I followed each of the tips to see if they had any effect.  I personally found the use of earplugs useful as I am clearly sound sensitive. Also the use of thick curtains at the window to prevent light creeping into the bedroom.  Items such as mobile phones, TVs etc have long since been banned from our bedroom but I was startled by how many of my friends (especially those who also had trouble sleeping!) keep their mobiles by their bed.  Another simple tip was not to engage in anything overstimulating before sleep such as a scary movie, computer games, even the late night news - how many of us do that though?

For me. however, I needed to get to the bottom of why I was such a light sleeper and sort it out!

A hypnotherapy session was the turning point for me.  Some of you may have read Duncan's helpful blog last week.  I was quite sure the problem stemmed from the three years I lived in a ground floor flat near Gatwick Airport where my bedroom was right next to the entrance door.  I think it is safe to say I didnt have one good night's sleep the whole time I lived there!  But how was I to get past this?  A very simple session lasting about 1hour seems to have done the trick.  My sleep has improved greatly and I am due to have another session this week which, I hope, will finally put this matter to bed (pun intended!)

I hope my story has been useful to you.  We would love to hear from you if we can help you in anyway.

Following on from Amanda's search for a good night's sleep I'd like to talk to you today about how hypnotherapy and other mind therapies can help. As Amanda said in the last blog her use of meditation has helped a great deal in dealing with her lack of sleep. There is another side to the meditation, in that it can also give you a wonderful peaceful place to settle off to sleep.

Now let me ask you a question, do you have difficulty in staying asleep? Waking a number of times during the night? Or having difficulty in settling again when you wake up? Do you have difficulty in getting off to sleep in the first place? Switching your mind off? If that is the case then learning meditation, or self-hypnosis techniques, can certainly help. Both these techniques help you to relax deeply and find that tranquil place in which to drift off to sleep.

If these sort of techniques aren't working for you and you just can't switch off then that's where hypnotherapy can help. The great thing about hypnotherapy is that it bypasses all the logical concious mind and gets straight to your unconcious. This may be a good time to briefly talk about the difference between the concious and unconcious mind. If you can imagine an elephant with a rider on its back. The rider is like the concious mind and the unconcious mind is like the elephant. Now imagine if the rider wants the elephant to go off to the east, but the elephant smells bananas off to the west I'm sure you know where they're going to end up!

Now if you think your concious mind is telling you to go off to sleep but your unconcious mind has things it needs you to think about or problems in your life you "just can't switch off", imagine where you're going to end up! Now imagine if you could deal directly with the unconcious mind, give it a choice to be able to switch off. Now there's the keyword, choice. That's what hypnotherapy, neuro linguistic programming, is all about, giving you choices! The reason these types of mind therapies work is that they bypass the logical part of the mind and deal direct with your elephant. That's also why meditation and self-hypnosis work, they quiet the concious mind and allow the unconcious mind to really relax.

I apologise if I've gabbled a bit here, I get so passionate about helping people to find their choice, once I start typing it just all kind of rushes out before I can conciously stop it. I believe that is a good thing though as it comes from the heart without being editted. Spellchecked yes, but editted no (If you hadn't guessed)!

Why not let us at Ananda Healing help you to find choice? Email me or call on 01342 842098 to have a chat about your choices. We don't charge for chats here, so you needn't worry.

Now as many of you are aware, I am on a journey to good sleep at the moment and meditation has played an enormous part in keeping me going when lack of sleep has prevailed.

My gift to you this week is this lovely chakra balancing meditation, guaranteed to improve your feeling of wellbeing!  Whether you are suffering from winter blues, feeling a bit under the weather or sleep deprived, this easy to do meditation is like a ray of sunshine!

Let’s start with a very brief overview of the chakras and their function.

Chakras are energy points that reside in the 3 bodies that make up the human being - the physical, the astral and the mental.  Their function is to move energy, increase it or check it.

Each chakra lies in a particular location of the spine from the base to the crown and is responsible for different emotions, personality traits and body parts.

Good emotional, mental and physical health relies upon these chakras being in balance.

Below is a diagram of the chakras, their location and colour to help familiarise yourself.

So, let’s begin. 

Find yourself a nice quiet place, you can either lie on your back or sit, as long as your spine is straight.

Close your eyes and take some deep, slow breaths. Breathe in, hold for a few seconds and then breathe out slowly until you feel yourself begin to relax.

Now, take a deep breath in and visualise the breath as a red healing light and image you are taking that breath down to your pelvic area (root chakra).

You may find initially that it helps to lay your hands gently on the area you are taking the breath too). Exhale slowly.  Take the red breath down to the root chakra for 5 breaths.

Move your hands to your belly button - Sacral Chakra.  Take a deep breath and visualise the breath as a vivid, glowing orange and take the breath down to the naval area and exhale slowly.  Repeat your glowing orange breath to your naval 5 times.

Move your hands to your ribs, just below your chest.  This is your solar plexus chakra and is yellow in colour.  Take another deep breath and make it a warm, sunshine yellow this time. Take the breath to the solar plexus and then gently, slowly exhale. Repeat 5 times.

Move your hands to the chest and heart chakra.  Your breath now should be a bright luminous green - the colour of spring. Take this deep, slow green light to your chest and exhale slowly. Repeat 5 times.

Move your hands to your throat (remember to be gentle) and fill your breath with beautiful blue light and fill your throat with its energy.  Exhale slowly and repeat 5 times.

Move your hands to your 3rd Eye/brow chakra, on your forehead between the eyes.  This chakra is indigo in colour so make your breath a vibrant indigo healing light. Take a slow, deep breath to the brow and exhale slowly. Repeat 5 times.

Finally, move your hands to your crown chakra (top of the head). This chakra is purple. Take a deep breath filled with purple energy and light and take it to the top of your head and exhale. Repeat 5 times. Feel your connection with the universe and its energy. Feel yourself being nourished and energised.

When you are ready, slowly open your eyes.

I hope you enjoy this little meditation.

If you would like to know more about the chakra system or meditation I would be delighted to hear from you.

As you will have seen over the last couple of weeks, I have become a woman obsessed – with sleep! Or lack of it.

For some years now I have become a very light sleeper, which occasionally leads to periods of insomnia.

Fortunately, as a long time meditator I have escaped many of the unpleasant side-effects of sleep deprivation.  However, I have decided now is the time to deal with this particular ‘issue’.

My journey to good sleep starts here.

Do you suffer from the same or similar problem?

Why don’t you join me and we can find our way together?

Today, following research from BBC Science, The Royal College of Psychiatry and V.Culprin the Research Director of Ashridge, I have put together a list of actions we can apply.

So let us try them for a week and see how we get on.

• Avoid eating too close to bedtime
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine for 4-6hours before bedtime
• Exercise regularly but not directly before bedtime
• Create a calm bedroom environment (no TV, computers etc)
• Try meditation/breathing exercises
• Maintain a regular bedtime and waking time
• Block out as much noise and light as possible
• Keep the bedroom well ventilated

Don’t forget to let me know how you get on.

I will let you know next week and will also be giving you a meditation to try.

Remember if the actions don’t help initially, its OK. We will get there

Simple but true. 

See what West Sussex Chiropratic has to say on the subject

http://westsussexchiropractic.blogspot.com/2012/01/eat-more-veggies.html

As a Holistic Therapist I am often asked who looks after my health and wellbeing? 

Well, to answer that question, in the first instance, I do!  In other words, I have learned that ultimately the person who is responsible for my wellbeing is me.

Having taken responsibility for me, I then decide to exercise daily, even if it is only a walk with the dogs.  I also meditate daily (essential in my opinion).  I eat healthily and drink plenty of water.  I laugh often and choose my company (thats a blog for another day!).  I also visit a chiropractor regularly (Dr Luke Mulvihill of West Sussex Chiropractic in case you were wondering), regular massage, and deal with any "issues" using hypnotherapy and NLP (Duncan - obviously).  It is important for me to use health and wellbeing professionals with similar beliefs and practices as myself.

So, in a nutshell, I take responsibility and choose my lifestyle and healthcare wisely.  And above all, I take the best from everyday.

But what does wellbeing mean to you?  Perhaps you think me a little simplistic?  Why not let me know you thoughts?

I’m sure pretty much all of us have made a New Year’s resolution in the past. I’m also pretty sure that the vast majority have failed at them too. But just why do we fail to keep to our wonderful plans? What stops us from achieving our wildest dreams? Why are we so successful at failing to reach our goals?

Firstly how do we set our goals? Have you made your goal Specific? Measurable? Achievable? Realistic? Timely? By setting a S.M.A.R.T goal you are far more likely to succeed at it. I’d like to expand a little.

Specific - When you set a goal make sure that you are specific about it. How much weight are you going to lose? By when? What size waist are you going to have? What dress size will you be? When will you have quit smoking by?

Measurable - How are you going to evidence to yourself and others that you’ve achieved your goal? How will you now when you have truly quit smoking? Lost the weight and kept it off?

Achievable - Is your goal too hard to achieve? Is it too easy?

Realistic - Do you really think you can lose a stone of weight in a day? Make sure that your goal is realistic.

Timely – Do you have a timeline for your goal? When will you reach your goal? Do you have any milestones on the way to achieving your goal? If you’re going to lose weight how much will you lose each week?

So that’s dealt with the SMARTness of your goal, now let’s deal with your motivation. It’s easy to think about how it would be great to lose those pounds, give up smoking etc and be dispassionate about it. But why not dare to be different? Be passionate about what you want to achieve. Imagine how great you’ll look when you’ve lost those pounds, now REALLY imagine it. Build a picture in your mind, add some sounds and make the colours more vivid, imagine how you’ll feel looking in the mirror knowing that you’ve truly reached your goal. How will you feel when you congratulate yourself? Make the sounds bigger, bolder and clearer. Imagine the feeling growing until you’re totally bursting with pride for having achieved your goal. Ask yourself right now, how do you feel about your goal? Write down your goal, write down how it makes you feel so that every time you read it you’ll remember! Write down why you want to achieve your goal.

So now you’ve got a SMART goal that you’re passionate about. Are you passionate about it yet? If not then go back to the previous step and GET PASSIONATE. Once you are totally passionate, I’d be willing to bet that you mind with start coming up with a whole load of ideas to help you get there. So start writing! This is how I’m going to achieve my goal: ………….

Fantastic job, you’ve achieved a massive amount already. So now you’re motivated, you’ve got your goal written down and it’s a SMART goal. Publish it as a statement. Take some action that is really going to put it out there. Do you have a vision board? Pin your goal on there. Tell your friends, tell your family and especially tell your partner. By putting it on a vision board and telling other people about what you’re going to do, you are far more likely to achieve it.

But let’s face, let’s be realistic here. We’re British and we don’t do that sort of thing. That’s just too bold and brash for us Brits. I mean, what if we fail? We’re going to look a bit silly in front of our mates aren’t we. All the more reason to GO FOR IT! If you want to achieve something you’ve not achieved up until now, you’re damn well going to have to do something different to normal! Don’t want to tell your friends? Tell me. Send me an email and tell me what you’re going to achieve, when you’re going to achieve it, and why you just HAVE TO! What have you got to lose?

My goal for 2012? I am going to write a seminar on goal setting and start motivating people to reach their goals. Oh and get a golf handicap of less than 20 (and if I do that by the end of March, then I’m going to get a handicap of 10)! If I fail? Well, I’m not going to fail because I don’t do failure! Do you?

If you still feel that you need help in achieving your goal then contact Duncan at Ananda Healing and ask him about Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnotherapy and Goal Setting.

We all know that diet, probiotics, fibre and drinking plent of water all have a positive effect on our digestion.  Whether it is the occasional bout of heatburn, constipation, diarrhoea or bloating that bother you, or more severe symptons of say IBS, there is much you can do to improve the situation.  But did you know that massage can help?   Massage is often overlooked but can be a very effective way of improving your digestion for several reasons.  General massage will reduce relax the muscles of the body and reduce your stress levels.   Stress is a great inhibitor of an effective digestive system.   However, a correctly performed tummy massage will not only relax the muscles and reduce stress but will also encourage peristalsis (the involuntary contractions that move food through our system).  It also increases the production of natural digestive ensymes which breakdown the food.  Massage to the colon can improve the symptons of constipation and bloating but speeding up the elimination of toxins and waste. 

If you woke up this morning feeling uncomfortable and bloated why not give it a try? 

It is important to remember that massage is not a cure for digestive conditions and professional medical opinion should be sort for severe and/or recurrent symptons

OK, so you say "There is nothing I can do about it - the bills need to be paid, the family needs taking care of, there just arent enough hours in the day"

Well all of those things may well be true, but if you cant change the situation you are in, what can you change?

YOU!

Look very closely at your habits, attitudes, your language, how do you describe yourself? "its always hectic around here" for example.  Who do you think is responsible for your stress? you? others? events?

Think about it. Write it down if it helps to identify.

Having given these things some thought, you have now identified who is responsible, how your react, who you blame.  These are all helpful clues on how to move forward and start managing your stress.

Now is the time to take responsibility and control - to become the master instead of the slave of stress.

Here are our top 10 tips for a less stressful Christmas and the rest of your days!

1.  Learn to say "NO"

2.  Write lists - put down what needs doing and prioritise them.   Then take a look at the bottom of the list and ask yourself - "Do these really need doing?" and delete if the answer is anything other than a resounding yes.

3.  Do not spend unnecessary time with people who cause you stress. You know who they are!

4.  Express your feelings (in a respectful way) - Bottling up doesnt do anyone any good

5.  Learn to focus on the positive in every situation rather than the negative.  It is a cleche but it is true - What doesnt kill you makes you stronger!

6.  Learn to forgive.  Nobody is perfect.  The only person you damage with anger and bitterness, however well founded, is YOU.

7. Make yourself aware of damaging habits induced by stress, ie, unhealthy eating, smoking etc.  See what triggers them and see what you can do to change them. - A brisk walk instead of a cigarette or chocolate?

8.  Get enough sleep!  If you can't sleep then get help. 

9.  Dont set yourself and others unrealistic standards and targets.  Again - No one is perfect, not even you

10.Set yourself time (block it out in your diary!) to do something just for you. A walk, an exercise class, a massage (We can help you with that :-)) read a good book, try meditation (we can help with that one too)

Ananda Healing wishes you all a stress free and enjoyable Christmas.

For your own in depth help and advice with your personal stress programme - call us today on 01342 842098 or 07917 730944

WHAT IS A KNOT IN THE MUSCLE?

Well the medical term for a knot is a "myofascial trigger point" ,but even though the medical profession has give it a fancy name, surprising little is know about them.

Biopsied (cut out) pices of muscle knots have shown some abnormal protein deposits.  It is also widely believed that there may be excessive connective tissue in a knot, however, there has been very little in the way of studies done to confirm this.

The one thing we do know is they cause a great deal of pain and discomfort!

WHY DO THEY FORM?

In normal movement and activity our different muscles swith on and off as necessary.  However, in some activities, for example, heavy lifting, the same muscle remains "on", something it is not designed to do.  The same, continuous movement performed over a prolonged period overloads the muscle and a knot forms.

HOW CAN WE EFFECTIVELY TREAT KNOTS AND RELIEVE PAIN?

There are several recommended treatments including hot and cold packs, electrical stimulation, ie, ultrasound, accupuncture etc.  All of which should be under the supervision of a professional healthcare practitioner.

One of the most effective treatments is massage.  Massage calms the knot and although some pain can be experienced at the time, most people report a relief from pain afterwards.  A massage can also be relaxing and very beneficial to your sense of wellbeing as well as effective pain relief. 

It also does not have to be expensive.  Here at Ananda Healing we are offering a full body Swedish masage for just £35 between the 01st and 23rd of December 2011!.

If you are suffering with muscular pain and would like a no obligation discussion, please call Amanda today on 01342 842098 / 07917 730944 or email her at amanda@ananda-healing.co.uk