Center Yourself and Relax

Managing stress is a leading concern for many adults. While taking time off work and getting away for a quick vacation may not be on your immediate agenda, nonetheless, there are a number of ways you can manage your stress level while still keeping up with your daily obligations. The following are some tips for achieving a state of deep relaxation regularly in order to keep your body and life flowing optimally.

Watch what you put into the body and when

Your diet actually has a lot to do with your overall well-being and stress level. Certain foods are more stress-producing than others, and it is important to note how much and how often you eat. The first of the stress-producing culprits are coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks and other caffeine-and-sugar-laden beverages. Caffeine is known as a powerful stimulant that affects the nervous system directly and daily comsumption may compromise your body's ablity to relax properly. The same goes for chocolate, black tea, yerba mate, and even green tea, so consume these stimulants at times when they will not intensify the already excited activity of your adrenal glands. In other words: avoid them during times of peak stress, such as when you're rushing out the door to get to work in the morning. Instead, enjoy them in moderation after a leisurely meal on your day off and disable the cyclic relationship between these substances and your stress level.

A diet too rich in meats and animal products may result in mood disturbances and compromise your ability to relax and even to achieve restful sleep. Raw foods and vegetables, on the other hand, support the body's nutritional needs while facilitating rapid digestion and the elimination of toxins that can cause tension and irritation in the body. Organic whole grains, nuts, seeds and beans, especially soaked and/or sprouted before consumption, help you maintain a clean digestive tract with optimal mineral absorption. The absorption of minerals is crucial to your body's overall well-being and your ability to ward off anxiety, irritability and stress. Fresh cultured dairy products such as yogurt, kefir and fresh mozzarella cheese are excellent sources of calcium, which nourishes your bones and nervous system, but avoid hardened and aged cheeses, as these are often much more difficult to digest, resulting in irritation. Taking a good mineral supplement will also help to keep your moods in check. Magnesium is known to expand and relax muscle tissue, and a warm bath filled with Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) is an excellent treatment for overall physical stress and muscle stiffness.

Honor the mind-body connection through movement and exercise

Taking time out to exercise, stretch your muscles and meditate is vital to the sustenance and vitality that your body needs in order to truly enjoy a full life. You can save time by combining the two activities into one, through a discipline such as T'ai Chi, Qui Gong or Yoga. Or, design your own relaxing and stretching routine using whatever movement elements you feel most comfortable with. The key is to reduce your heart rate and blood pressure, empty your mind, and massage your entire musculature as well as your inner organs. Bear in mind that stretching is not the same as aerobics nor is it the same as weight-bearing exercise. Those forms of physical activity are best performed after the body is fully stretched and relaxed.

Meditation

The best way to begin meditating is to find a tranquil spot and sit comfortably. Begin to inhale deeply using only your nostrils and the full capacity of your lungs, drawing the breath into the lower abdomen. Count to ten while holding the breath in your body, then release it slowly through your mouth. By repeating this deep-breathing exercise, you will soon feel your body challenging the depths of your breaths. Gently push onward, concentrating deliberately on relaxing every part of your body, beginning from the toes up. Focus on each part of the body as you visualize relaxation and expansion in your ankles, calves, knees, thighs, pelvis and so on. Allow yourself to stay in the meditation for a period of about 15 minutes. Setting a timer is a good idea so you do not have to worry about watching a clock.

After a while, you may find yourself thinking about all your current problems, situations in your daily life, and things that seem to be distracting you from your meditation. But wait! That is precisely what meditation is supposed to do: allow you to filter your thoughts through a state of utter tranquility and release them. Once you have systematically allowed all your thoughts to evaporate through the process of mental release, you will experience a soothing inner peace. At this point, you will know you have reached the state of absolute relaxation, the mental state known as Alpha. After lingering for a few minutes in the state of Alpha, you will have successfully relaxed your mind and body to a degree wherein toxins produced by stress and anxiety can be more easily processed and eliminated by your body.

Your sanctuary

By creating a quiet sanctuary where you can release your tension, you grant yourself the gift of space and expansion. Choose a private spot outdoors, in your garden or on a window-bench overlooking a tranquil view. If your sanctuary is indoors, make sure the room gets good natural light and is uncluttered. Burn a small amount of incense or use aromatherapy to elevate the spiritual and emotional energy of the space. Surround yourself with the colors, sounds, and fragrances that you love. By retreating to your sanctuary each day, you will feel mentally and spiritually replenished, charging your batteries for your otherwise hectic and busy lifestyle.

The Circadian Cycle and its Overall Impact on Your Health

The circadian cycle is nothing particularly complex. It's really just the cycle of night and day.

Virtually every living thing on earth adjusts its physiology and behavior to the 24-hour day-night cycle under the governance of internal "circadian clocks". This circadian rhythm represents a natural cycle of rest and activity that automatically responds to the energetic variations created by the earth's rotation around the sun in each period of 24 hours.

So what does this have to do with human health?

For most of my adult life, I was the quintessential "Night Person". Like many artists juggling the demands of a career and a family, I was trained to find my most creative time at night, often working into the wee hours of dawn and finally crashing right around the time that the sun was beginning to rise.

All seemed well in my life for a while, until I hit a certain age and my body began to alarm me to the dangers of this bohemian practice - quite unexpectedly.

Advanced Periodontal Disease

Living without health insurance for over 30 years, I was unaccustomed to visiting dentists or conventional medical doctors, and honestly, I never worried much about my teeth, as I had always been told that I had a great set of them.

But one day I realized that my teeth and gums were in horrifying condition, my teeth were loose, my gums had receded dramatically in less than one year, and my teeth were actually separating and wearing away, leaving unsightly gaps all over my mouth.

I visited three conventional dentists. $450 dollars and 3 sets of x-rays later, I was in shock processing the opinion of all three of them that my case was hopeless and that the only course of action for me to take was to have all of my remaining teeth removed and wear removable dentures until I could afford to drum up some $33,000 for gum surgery, bone grafting and individual dental implants and porcelain crowns.

Whew!
I'll let you absorb that.
Imagine how I felt.

Holistic Dentistry


Now, I am not by any means a newbie to alternative medicine, as I have been avoiding pharmaceutically-driven, insurance-robot medical practitioners for over 30 years now, and have successfully cured a number of ailments in my own body as well as raising two children to adulthood using only holistic healing to treat them. So I was ready to manifest my solution.

I found Dr. Steven N. Green, a Naturopathic Physician and DDS with a decades-old dental practice inherited from his own father, a neighborhood dentist in the South Miami area. When I walked into Dr. Green's office, not only was I was not reprimanded for having failed to brush and floss sufficiently (as I had been at the other 3 offices), but surprisingly, the Doctor's first question to me was:

At what time of the day do you eat breakfast?

And it was this little question that set off perhaps the most advanced healing process of my entire life.

Once the easy-going doctor got me in his dental chair, the education process began as he prodded around, testing the stability of each tooth, measuring gum pockets, and determining the degree of bone loss and overall ailing condition of my mouth.

The good doctor then enthusiastically proceeded to explain a very simple thing to me that he promised would change my entire prognosis and that in fact has changed my life and restored my ability to smile again:

Mineral Absorption and the Circadian Cycle

Dr. Green explained simply that my condition was due to a severe mineral deficiency, that my problem with severe bone loss (osteoporosis) was probably not isolated to the area of my teeth and gums, and that it was very likely augmented by my nocturnal lifestyle. He explained that every cell in the body, along with every other living organism on the planet, responds automatically to the circadian cycle, which dictates at what time of day things metabolize and break down, at what time of day nutrients are absorbed, and at what time of day organisms need to sleep and rest.

His main point was: the most optimal time of day to absorb the minerals that my body was desperately starved for is within one hour to ninety minutes after sunrise.

Gulp. Did you get that?

For someone used to going to bed at 4 a.m., this was shocking.

But I was in pain, desperate, terrified and willing to listen and obey. So I went home and changed my life that night by forcing myself into bed before 11pm.

I left Dr. Green's office fully committed to following his list of primary recommendations. These were: Eat the diet recommended for your blood type Eat Right 4 Your Type, take Chelated Mineral Supplements twice a day, and eat a full protein-packed, mineral-rich breakfast (i.e. a spinach omelet) within one hour after sunrise every day.

The Benefits of a Protein Breakfast

I have now been following Dr. Green's protocol for over six months, including his additional recommendations to eat soaked nuts and seeds, sprouted grain bread and fresh, raw organic food daily. I am thrilled to report that my teeth have stabilized dramatically. They are far less loose, and I have no more pain or abcessing in the gums.

Dr. Green prescribed a non-surgical peroxide gel treatment that wiped out the persistent bacterial infection in my gums (i will write more on this in future posts), and by following his recommended lifestyle changes, my body immediately began to respond to the treatment. The difference in my overall energy has been amazing, and i have experienced visible improvements in my skin, hair and level of muscle tone.

Above all, I am thrilled to have defied the surgical/pharmaceutical establishment once again, and beat their game.

Can I get a Witness?

So, let it be known that I am today the proud owner of a stable and permanent smile and a set of healthy teeth that I can use to chew on anything I choose! And that I have sworn forever to go to bed before 11pm, get up just after sunrise and scramble up a spinach omelet at that hour.

Be on the lookout for some more of Dr. Green's amazing recommendations in future posts and/or visit him at his website sngreen.com.

Santamorena

Ever since i started blogging, i have been writing incessantly for several days. Every part of my body hurts and i have not been practicing what i preach. My usual walk on the beach has been rescheduled daily. Not good. My teeth are getting loose from not absorbing enough minerals...

So ok. today, it's a chill and relax day. Spend time outdoors, walk on the beach, meditate, do yoga, listen to some music. BTW, can I turn you on to one of my favorite female duos? Alternative urban sound fusing latin, samba, jazz, rock, and soul.

watch Santamorena in concert here!