Heidi DuPree's Blog, page 12

The Significance of Synchrony

     One day while I was biking, I entered a walking tunnel under one of the streets in my community. At the far end of the tunnel was a couple walking side by side, silhouetted against the light streaming in from the opening. And then I  noticed...they were walking in perfect synchrony. Their legs moved and their arms swayed side to side at exactly the same time. I was so mesmerized, I stopped my bike to watch. I wish I had taken a video! But I was too caught up in the moment, because when we are in the presence of synchrony, we become synchronous. We become anchored in the present moment.





     It was apparent to me that this couple were in sync in more ways than their movements.  Their movements were a reflection of a body-mind-spirit synchrony in their relationship.

     Health is an expression of synchrony. When our body systems and energy systems work in synchrony, we feel calm, centered, balanced and present, and we experience higher levels of health. When our energy systems are out-of-sync, we are in disharmony. We live from the wounds of the past and feel anxious about the future. We can feel tense, chaotic, reactive and dull, and our health suffers.

     Synchrony isn't something you have to create, manufacture or search for. It's your natural state of being. When you are around people you feel in sync with, or in synchronous environments, you automatically revert to your natural state. This works because of wave resonance.

     To experience your own natural synchrony, spent time with nature, preferably outdoors. Observe nature whether that's the movement of trees in a breeze, birds flying in the sky, or fish swimming in an aquarium. 



 

There's No Judgment in Energy

     When I suggest to clients that the circumstances they see in their life are what they attracted, their first reaction is usually to judge themselves.  They think that if they are attracting health issues, or lack or difficult relationships, then they must be doing something "bad" or "wrong". But there is no judgment in energy.  It's physics!

     If you let go of a ceramic bowl and the force of gravity causes it to drop to the ground and break, it's just physics. Gravity isn't "bad" or "wrong" because it broke the bowl, just as you are not bad or wrong for what you may have attracted in your life, even if it feels like it will break you.



     It is the lower self that labels things as right and wrong, or good and bad.  The higher self recognizes there is no wrong or right.  If you are in your lower self, compassion will shift you to your higher self.  Doing so can be a simple as saying this affirmation, "Even though I judged myself as wrong for attracting this situation into my life, I choose to respond to myself with compassion." 

How to Have a Healthy Tantrum

          Children are so much more in touch with their feelings. When their frustration levels get too high, they freely express themselves with a temper tantrum to release it.  They explode like a thunderstorm, and then like a storm, it passes and the sun comes out and they feel better. But then we grow up and learn how to suppress our emotions. Emotional suppression creates disruptions in our energy that have been attributed to a host of health issues, from cancer to insomnia to chronic pain.  Even the conservative Center for Disease Control estimates 85% of all diseases has an emotional basis.


          Just as children do, adults also need some form of release as part of a healthy lifestyle. But you can't just drop on the floor at your workplace in front of your boss, or at home in front of your kids and start kicking and screaming when things don't go your way! What can you do when life becomes too much? Have a "tantrum" where and when its acceptable to do so.

     -- Choose a time and place where you are alone or with someone who unconditionally accepts you
     -- Give yourself permission to express yourself freely without judging or censoring.
     -- Stomp your feet or roll around on the floor.
     -- Say out loud everything you've been holding inside.
     -- Be as childish as you want.

          Allow yourself to do this for 10-20 minutes. Let the storm explode. Don't hold anything back. It will pass. No storm can last forever. Unless you try and contain it and suppress it. Then the effects of this frustration can literally last forever!

      How long do you want to hold on to it?  Want to let it go?  Then have a tantrum!  Just do it in an appropriate way.

The Gift of Energy Healing

     Healing isn't about eradicating disease and illness symptoms. It's a transformational process that includes discovering aspects of yourself you didn't know existed!  Award-winning books are available to guide you through this process.  And programs, classes and audio products are in the works now!

The Collective Consciousness and Starlings

     A few years ago in the spring, I noticed a flock of Starlings hanging out in the trees in my neighborhood for weeks -- flying over me while I meditated in the hammock, or while I swam in the neighborhood pool. Their presence reminded me of an experience I had many years ago with a baby Starling who fell from his nest.  Advice from a wildlife rescuer helped me raise him from a helpless, featherless chick to a mature bird, and then transition him to the woods behind our house. When he was old enough, he would roost in the trees at the edge of the woods at night and come peck at the sliding glass door in the morning when he was hungry.
     And then one day he was gone.
     I called out to him for days, but he did not answer.  As his surrogate mother, I worried that he had fallen prey to some predator and I assumed the worst.



     A year later, weeks before we were scheduled to move, a Starling showed up at my back sliding door and began pecking at the glass. When I opened the door, he studied me for a moment, and then flew away.  I have no doubt that this was "my" Starling, coming back to assure me he was OK, before I moved. 
     I believe the baby Starling fell into my life all those years ago to teach me to trust and let go. This current big flock of Starlings may be here to remind me to be in sync with life. Starlings form huge flocks in Europe, moving fluidly through the sky and creating spectacular formations. This is a wonderful example of collective consciousness. The birds are able to fly in sync with each other because they are in constant communication through a principle of physics called wave resonance. Humans can also experience being in sync with all of life through the collective consciousness, our oneness with the universal energy field, which is thought to contain the collective psyche, intelligence, and wisdom of humanity. Intuition happens when we become aware of our oneness to the information field. I use this awareness in my daily work as an energy healing therapist and through my writing.  

     If you are feeling disconnected, take a deep breath, let go of fear, angst, worry, doubt, and be like the Starlings -- one with everything and everyone. 

Love heals

     Fear contracts and disrupts our mind, body and spirit because it contracts and disrupts our energy.  Love expands and heals our mind, body and spirit because it expands and restores our energy. To heal fear -- love the part of you that is afraid...

Cleaning Out Your Pantry For Health

     The question for today is: What’s in your pantry?! Because the food items in your pantry can be a big determinant of your health.
            In 2001 when I started my doctorate in traditional naturopathy, Dr. Andrew Weil’s book 8 Weeks to Optimum Health was required reading for my first course. And the very first step toward optimum health was cleaning out my pantry! I got rid of any food products made with artificial fats, artificial sweeteners and artificial coloring. That would include margarine, vegetable oil and solid vegetable shortenings, as well as products made with them – such as cookies and crackers.  I also got rid of all canned and processed food and products with refined sugars.
            Cleaning out my pantry in 2001 was a great first start, but I got even bigger health benefits when I went grain-free and low-glycemic in 2008. Today my pantry looks very different. I used to have rows of canned and processed boxed goods. Now my pantry has a bottle of extra-virgin olive oil, canisters of protein powder, and bags of dried beans, almond flour, garbanzo bean flour, and flaxseed meal. Now I mostly use my pantry to store items like paper goods, trash bags, light bulbs, and vinegar for cleaning the floor! 


            Cultivating and consuming grains is a fairy recent activity in the history of mankind, and the theory goes that a segment of the population is not adapted to processing grains. It is clear that I am one of them. Grains convert to sugar in the body, destabilize blood sugar levels and create inflammation. Consuming raw fruits and vegetables also decreases inflammation.


           Within 3 days of removing all grains from my diet, my shoes were so loose they almost fell off and my rings were twirling around my fingers. Consuming grains had been creating swelling in my hands and feet that I wasn’t even aware of.  As the inflammation in my body decreased, the tendonitis in my Achilles tendon vanished. I also lost a large amount of weight during that year.                          So…what’s in your pantry?  What can you get rid of that will benefit your health?

When Illness and Health Issues Aren't a Bad Thing

     Several years ago I was scheduled to give a presentation on my new book to a group organized by a natural health consultant when I suddenly became ill and had to cancel. The natural health consultant pleaded with me to get well as soon as possible so I could still give my presentation. She sent me a string of texts about how much the participants were looking forward to meeting me and barraged me with advice on how to get better fast. But mostly, I just needed to rest! How did these text messages make me feel?  Pressured to get well and guilty for being sick. The underlying message seemed to be that being sick is a bad thing.


     This consultant was just responding from Western cultural beliefs where illness is seen as the enemy, ill people are seen as the victims, and health professionals as the rescuers. But this is a dysfunctional dynamic that makes people feel disempowered, shamed and guilty. I was raised with this same belief. When my left knee joint failed and had to be replaced, I felt like a failure. Especially because as a holistic RN and certified traditional naturopath, I am an expert in natural healing methods! But all health issues are part of our journey of life and present us with an opportunity to grow.

     When we are sick we are not victims and we do not need to be rescued. It is not a sign that we are deficient, not good enough or a failure. Sickness is a part of health. Health and illness are the ying-yang of life. You can't have one without the other. Illness can be the "house cleaning" that the body needs to upgrade to a higher level of health, or the catalyst to make some necessary changes in our lives.

     Have you had an experience where a health issue taught you something or ultimately improved your life? 

Can Cold Water Keep You Well in Winter?

      I recently had my first (and hopefully only) illness of the winter. I recall a winter many years ago when I was studying naturopathy, I used a hot-cold water technique that I learned in my studies. And that particular winter I was not sick a single day! Now I don't want to imply that it's a bad thing if you get sick. Sometimes we actually need to be sick.  More about that here. Regardless, I decided it was time to start using that technique again, and I would like to share it with you.
     Get two buckets or containers big enough to put both your feet in.  Put hot water in one and cold water in the other - enough to cover your feet. Adjust the temperature of each so you can tolerate putting your feet in it. I actually put ice cubes in the cold water bucket because I want to give my immune system a good boost!
     Place the buckets on the floor in front of a chair, with a towel underneath to catch the drops of water as you move your feet from one bucket to the other.  Put both feet in the hot water a minimum of 20-30 seconds.  Then move your feet into the cold water for the same length of time.  If you want to linger longer in either, that is fine. But the goal is to alternate a minimum of 6 times in cold and 6 times in hot.  At least once a day.


     How does it work?  Check out this previous post on cold water healing.
     Try it and let me know what you notice. I have found that it helps with the headaches I get from doing too much mental work, because it brings my energy out of my head and into my feet. I've also noticed tingling in my legs. And I feel more alert, focused, and invigorated -- and less illness!

Can a Wet Cloth Heal Inflammation?

          If you have read this previous post, you probably already know that I don't use anti-inflammatory medication.  So what are the alternatives for an inflamed tendon? There's ultrasound, diet, herbs, energy work, etc. But one alternative that I have tried with success was made famous by Vincent Priessnitz in the 19th century.
         When I began studying naturopathy, the stories of people healed with wet sheet packs during epidemic outbreaks, and the stories of individuals healed from injuries before modern Western medicine with nothing but wet bandages amazed me. It seemed too good to be true. But when I tried it myself -- it worked... and its simple.
         Here is my personal technique: I cut a yard of flannel-type cotton fabric into strips. I soaked one strip in ice  water, wrung it out, and wrapped it around the inflamed area, covering it with several layers of dry strips. When the bottom layer of wet fabric became warm, or dried out, I soaked it in ice water again, wrung it out, and repeated the process, covering with dry strips.  I cut enough strips so that I had enough to rotate through the dryer as the covering strips became damp.


          In my own experience, acute tendonitis was relieved repeating this technique several times over a day or two. For chronic tendonitis I had to continue for longer.
          How does it work? The water in the bandages restore energy flow, which increases oxygenation and blood circulation -- reducing inflammation and enhancing healing.
           Sometimes simple is all that's needed.
(Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only to help you help yourself and is not meant to be a substitute for medical care. )