Do you feel like your batteries are running low?  Would you like to have more energy?
 
We think we get our energy from just our food.   However have you noticed how much more energised you feel when you have been walking in nature?   It feels good, doesn't it?
 
The Chinese say that we receive our energy through the following routes:

• enjoying nature (walking, swimming, gardening)
• eating healthy food slowly
• drinking water
• breathing properly
• cultivating our energy through the practice of chi kung

Lets look at each one of these for a few minutes....
 
When I talk about enjoying nature, I mean really enjoying it.   It is no good walking through a park and thinking about your grocery list - you are not really there.    It works when you really participate with and enjoy the nature around you, like a good walk on the beach with a sea breeze and waves crashing on the shore.
 
Did you know that you can increase your energy levels by eating your food slowly?  Paul McKenna says in his book "I Can Make you Thin" place the food in your mouth, put your knife and fork down, taste the food, chew it 20 times, swallow and then take the next piece of food.  You will find that a) you eat less food and b) you will have more energy.  Try it and find out for yourself.
 
Breathing... stop a moment and notice how you are breathing.  Are you breathing in your upper chest, or do you breathe deep breaths right down to your belly?    Oxygen gives us energy.  Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and notice the difference in your energy levels - you will feel more relaxed too.   
 
Opening your energy system through chi kung.   Wikepedia gives this definition of chi kung: "Qigong, qi gong, chi kung, or chi gung is a holistic system of coordinated body posture and movement, breathing, and meditation used in the belief that it promotes health, spirituality, and martial arts training".   Tai chi is a form of chi kung and so are the martial arts - you remember the Karate Kid movie?    There are many forms and schools of chi kung, so you can choose from something very easy, to a full on exercise programme (although its much more than that!). 

​You can recharge your batteries without a hard workout and learn about your unique energy system.     
 
Elayne 

If you are a woman, dealing with moods are part of your life.   

Our hormonal cycle, health of our organs, stress levels, past experiences and
state of mind all have an impact upon our moods. Being  able to experience the highs and lows of life can be quite a ride. Emotions are  part of being human and make up the tapestry of life.   There are times when it is appropriate to be angry, it moves us towards making positive change in our lives.   Other times its okay to be sad - grief is a natural process of letting go.  But sometimes we get stuck, and this "stuckness" can stay with us for years.  Unresolved issues of the past
takes away our enjoyment of the present moment.   
 
Prolonged moods, such as depression, anxiety, fear or anger can affect the chemistry of our body.  Once our chemistry is out of balance it then feeds into accentuating our moods.  Likewise, if our chemistry is out of balance through poor diet, alcohol and drug use, then our emotions will be affected.

What helps our moods:-

Firstly we need to balance the chemistry in our bodies.   A healthy diet  (avoid alcohol), along with herbs which calm our emotions, tone the organs and balance the hormones.  Very often if we experience prolonged stress our adrenal glands become exhausted.   Licorice tea acts as an adrenal gland tonic (not to be used with high blood pressure).Calm the mind.    This could be through meditating, using visualisations, deep breathing practice, or doing an ascetic activity that requires your concentration i.e. gardening, painting, sewing or dancing.

Deal with the issues.     If you have problems or work, suffer from long term grief or anxiety, feel constant fear - get help.    Sometimes all we need is a trained listening ear to unravel how we feel and some new skills for dealing with feelings when they
arise.

Learn Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).   We are always going to have issues and feelings coming up.  So why not learn a tool which you can use whenever you want to deal with them? This is a marvellous skill which can shift negative feelings very quickly.  
Love yourself.    Often our health and well-being is out of balance just because we beat ourselves up with our words and thoughts!    Imagine if you were an employee doing the best job you could and your employer said you were no good.  How would you feel?    Crushed...Deflated....Discouraged.      Now imagine if that employer said you were "awesome".   Would you feel Excited...Enthusiastic...Keen....Proud?  In chi kung we use a practice called The Inner Smile where we send loving thoughts to our inner self and develop self love.  Its simple and easy to do.

Learn how to breathe.    Put a hand on your chest and one on your tummy and take a breath.   How do you breathe?  In the upper chest or tummy?  Do you breathe shallow or deep?   Rapid shallow upper chest breathing causes anxiety.  Slow deep tummy breathing causes relaxation.  Our breath is related to our nervous system.

Transform your emotions.     There is an ancient practice I use called the Six Healing Sounds.    It uses movement, sound and colour to transform negative emotions into positive ones.  Let us say our body is like a garden in which plants grow.  The
weeds are like negative emotions and the vegetables are like the positive ones (virtues).    Like weeds, negative emotions contain energy and nutrients, and if we compost them in the garden, then the energy and nutrients from the weeds can be used to enable the vegetables to grow.     Likewise when we use the Six Healing Sounds, a composting of emotions happens and good feelings/virtues are able to  develop.