This workout just kicked my butt –> Kelli’s Abs and Upper Body Strength Training Workout – Chest, Back, Arms and Abs Superset Workout. I like that I can watch workout videos on Youtube from the living room on the big smart tv where I have the yoga mat and cardio equipment. Having the space set up for it makes it easier to fit in a few minutes here and there throughout the day. Or I can do it all at once as I just did here, so I can feel shaky and exhausted and sick afterward. I guess that means I had a good workout.

Studying the limbic system (our emotional brain) I now understand why people play games. Playing the game stimulates dopamine production. You get points by activating the seek and find mechanism and your dopamine surges each time you get the points. That happens with our FitBits activity counters too. We set a goal of 5,000-10,000 steps a day then keep checking to see how close we are to it. That little delighted Ummph we feel is as a result of our dopamine surging! It made me understand the infatuation process, because I fall into it quickly and out of it quickly and now I know why.  Yay for natural highs!

RELATED:  Meet Your Happy Brain Chemicals by Loretta Breuning, Ph.D.

Yes, Doreen’s focus has changed away but this is powerful and important work, the info stands and the results speak for themselves. Clearing and Balancing the Chakras from Doreen Virtue’s “The Lightworker’s Way”.  You might want to read this into an audio file for yourself.  Let’s begin.
Take a deep breath through your nose and hold it for about four seconds, exhale slowly through your mouth, now do this again… slowly. Completely relax… slowly .release all the tension in your body, see it flowing down through your feet into Mother Earth to be transformed…

Visualize or feel a round and transparent ball, colored in a beautiful shade of ruby red, floating inside your body near the base of your spine. This is your “root chakra”, the center of your strength and individuality.

Mentally look at or sense the ball. Notice if it has any areas of darkness. These are energy imbalances, and you can immediately wash them away by simply intending the ball to be perfectly clean.   Continue reading →

The chakras are energy centers in the body which correspond to our nervous system. Since energy is in motion, it is essential that our chakras stay open and aligned. If there is a blockage, energy slows and problems manifest in our physical body and in our outer life with others. Here are the Basic Balance / Imbalance Signs Of Each Chakra:

The First (Base/Root) Chakra: is located at the base of the spine. This center is our will-to-live, our drive to survive. It is our ground though which we gain power, stability and growth. It represents activity and movement and is associated with the legs, feet, hips, colon, rectum, bones, the adrenals, the immune system and the blood. The color is red and the musical note is C.

When this chakra is balanced, we have physical vitality and strength, we feel connected to nature. We are happy with our home, with our job, we feel passion, we are trusting, we feel we have enough, we feel safe and secure. We intuitively trust that life will be generous in offering us endless opportunities. We’re honest, we keep agreements and honor commitments.   Continue reading →

So I’m in the office working and Benny is looking out the window. Then he wants out so I open the window and let him out. Five minutes later he’s at the window wanting in. I go to the front door and call him and he ignores me. I go back in the office and close the miniblinds. That’ll teach him, right. Oh, wait…

I just received a letter from Alexander Selepe in South Africa who has money to release to me.  If you get one,it’s a scam.  The mail came to my office from south Africa.  His info is:
Dr. Alexander Selepe
11th Floor, Pinewood Office Park
Woodmead Sandton 2196, Gautend Province
South Africa
Tel: +27 62 0183 134
Fax: +27 86 6073 170
Email:  alexanderselepe@gmail.com
Here’s the letter http://horizonsmagazine.com/scam-letter.pdf

A friend had anxiety in anticipation of her divorce. It took 2 years but they reached an amicable settlement in a 40+ year marriage. He’d moved on to someone new. She didn’t want to be with someone who didn’t want to be with her, but she felt heartbroken and anxious about the future. She’d never had another partner, ever. She knew she’d be fine, she was in several support groups, but she wanted help dealing with her feelings of brokenness and anxiety about the future.  I reminded her that as soon as the final hearing was over, that was by no means the end to their relationship. They had three children together. They would know each other the rest of their lives. It wouldn’t always feel like this.  I reminded her after the hearing was over, her mind and body would let go of a lot of unconscious stress and resistance.  She’d begin forming a new outlook on her life, with new expectations and new perceptions. She’d begin to have a much broader view of her life than before.   Sure, she’d still have to process her emotional pain and go through the stages of grief, but in the meantime she could do some exercises to rewire her emotional brain – her limbic system.  She’d feel the same heartbreak and anxiety until she began consciously exercising new thoughts to pave over her old neural pathways. A neural pathway is a connection between parts of the brain, forged by thoughts and sustained by repeated memories.    Continue reading →

I have shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) in my yard. It began on a sunny side of a fence and quickly migrated under the fence to really begin growing and blooming in the high, dappled shape. My shell ginger has no fragrance that I can detect, the flowers nor the leaves. I’ve reaed online that the rhizome is not edible but the leaves are used in folk medicines and the dried leaves and stems can be crumbled to make potpourri. Also known as light galanga, pink porcelain lily, shell flower, shell ginger, variegated ginger, butterfly ginger, yàn shanjiang in Chinese, getto in Japanese, and Sannin in the local dialect of Okinawa, the leaves and the extracted oils of the plant have long been used in Asia to relieve fevers and malaria, as well as to serve as a general health tonic. It is also used in South and Central America as a diuretic, antihypertensive, and antiulcerogenic. Now, modern research has confirmed hypotensive and antioxidant activity in the leaves and rhizomes and extracts of the plant.  From http://naturalsociety.com/alpinia-zerumbet-shell-ginger-medicinal-plant/#ixzz3fJN0gEyc

The feeling we call “happiness” comes from four special brain chemicals: dopamine, endorphin, oxytocin and serotonin. These “happy chemicals” spurt when your brain sees something good for your survival. Then they turn off, so they’re ready to spurt again when something good crosses your path.   Each happy chemical triggers a different good feeling. Dopamine produces the joy of finding what you seek– the “Eureka! I got it!” feeling. Endorphin produces the oblivion that masks pain– often called “euphoria.” Oxytocin produces the feeling of being safe with others– now called “bonding.” And serotonin produces the feeling of being respected by others–“pride.”   Continue reading →

“The Ultimate Thigh Exercise — Standing, walk your feet out wider than your hips. Turn your toes out slightly, bend your knees and imagine you’re sliding your back against a wall (no hinging back like a regular squat). Aim to have your thighs parallel to the floor. Reach both arms in front of the body and begin to pulse your legs up and down an inch for 30 seconds. Now, reach arms overhead and continue pulsing for another 30 seconds. Finally, hold at the deepest point of your plie squat and begin to lift and lower both heels at the same time for 30 seconds. Repeat this series three times—embrace the burn (and shakes)!”  From 3 Things Your Fitness Instructor Is Secretly Thinking During Class