third day Ayurvedic diet

Today is my third day on the Ayurvedic diet. I am a little tired today have had a slight headache the last two days but think it is because my family is sick right now. I woke and did my massage and that actually helped pull me out of the funk I was in and get me going. I have been reducing my caffeine intake over the last three days and this definitely has something to do with my headache I am sure.

Another aspect of the lifestyle, I need to look at this from the perspective of a lifestyle not a diet. When we think of the word diet, what comes up for you? For me it means restriction. It means being hungry all the time. It means feeling out of sorts and not being able to function. It means being off every day. Well I don’t feel this way and really this is a lifestyle change. It is all about balance in your life.

We know that balance is an important aspect for all of us. When we are not in balance our world flies out of control and really who likes to feel out of control? I don’t I am a control freak who wants to be in control all the time. We as humans want to have control over ourselves when we have a sense of control we feel in our groove with our world.

That is what this whole life style is about is balancing not just our bodies but body, mind, soul. We need it.  So not only is it important to eat the foods that keep your body in balance but to also keep our minds and spirit in balance as well. I mean when you think about when we are in control all of those aspects of ourselves are in balance and then we feel relaxed and not uptight and stressed out like most people

Today I wanted to share the importance of adding meditation to your lifestyle. It is part of the Ayruvedic lifestyle and something more people need to do. I know you are thinking when am I going to have time for that. Well that is what I used to think before I began doing some meditation. I realized that I meditate many times during the day. When I drive or are sitting quietly drinking coffee in the morning.

But meditating for reason is a little different. I have goals when I meditate now and get many questions answered. Many things come to us when we are quieting our minds and bodies. You can do your meditation any time of the day. If you don’t have time in the morning this is ok. Do it at another time. I tend to do mine at night when my kids go to bed and my husband is off at work. It is when I have the time to quiet myself otherwise I am thinking about everything I have to do for that day.

I wanted to share with you all that in March there will be a meditation challenge from Deepak Chopra and Oprah W            infrey. You can join and they will email you think links to join in and do the meditation. I believe it is for 21 days that you will meditate every day. I will enhance your lives. I myself did some meditation before but I haven’t been doing it everyday. So now with this new lifestyle change I am going to meditate everyday and with this I have already signed up for the challenge. Here is the link

https://www.chopracentermeditation.com/Bestsellers/LandingPage.aspx?BookId=178

So why meditate? What is going to do for you?  Well research suggests that people who meditate consistently lower anxiety levels in their bodies. The researchers have also found that it helps people who have chronic pain issues. I have some of those and will let you all know how it helps me. I know that when I meditate it makes me feel really relaxed and good. Daily meditation helps you to focus and not be so scattered.  I mean with all that we have to do in a day we think about a million different things all at once. It makes it hard to focus your attention on any one thing for a period of time. Meditation will train your brain to shut out outside stimuli and to focus on the topic at hand. This could be complete silence. Or it could be a specific question that want answered. I have found with my experience with meditating that it was hard to do at first. I couldn’t stop thinking about all kinds of stuff and I learned to push that aside and now I don’t have any outside distractions. My kids could walk in on me and I will stay in a meditative state and hear them but they will not disturb what my focus is.

To know more about the research conducted than check out this site and read the article. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361923011001341

One of the major benefits of meditation is it helps decrease your stress levels and you can deal with certain situations calmer when you practice the art of meditation each and every day. Don’t worry you can start slow and do it a few times per week to become adjusted and then add another day until you have been able to do a meditation 7 days a week. It does not have to be that long either. I meditate in the morning sometimes in the shower on my husband and children’s days off. I might spend ten minutes max in there meditating.

So what should you have to meditate? You don’t really need anything. Just a place of peace and quiet where you won’t here the phones or TV or are disturbed by someone. I like to light a candle and use the flame to get me into a meditative state. My neighbor uses water to get her into a meditative state. Find what helps you. A candle is helpful in setting up the place you want to meditate. Some want to meditate outside in their garden and the sounds of the birds around them put them into a meditative state.

So play around and find which area seems to be the best for you and you don’t have to only meditate in one exact place. You can do some outdoors sitting on your deck. Just make sure your body is open to movement of energy no closed arms and don’t cross your legs.

I listen to music while I meditate and/or listen to someone walk me through a meditation. Any of this is fine.

Not only does meditation help with stress it helps with many different aspects of your life. For one it helps balance you mind, body, soul but it also

1. You to lose weight
2. Reduce anxiety attacks
3. Increases serotonin which many people take drugs to do that and here is a natural way to doing it.
4. Relieves headaches
5. Helps maintain blood pressure at a normal range.
6. Enhances energy and stamina
7. Reduces tension
8. Helps reduce heart disease
9. Increases concentration

Check out this link for more valuable information about meditating. http://www.project-meditation.org/how_to_meditate.html

There are many different kinds of meditations and next time we will talk about charkas since having these in balance is key to be healthy all over.

In order to get into a meditative state you will need to focus on your breathing it is important. You will take in a deep breath I mean deep into your lungs slowly until you can no longer take any more air in. When you release it let your stress go with it and release it slowly. This will take time for you to do this. Don’t worry you will get the hang of it.

I think guided meditations are the easiest since you are new at this. Over time you can learn some other techniques and there is no right or wrong way to do this just being peaceful throughout your body and mind is important.

Mantra Meditation:

This is where you might vocally say like “aum” which can help bring you into a meditative state. You would close your eyes sitting with hands on legs with palms up to the sky. You would sit and say this, “aum” and feel the vibration go through your body.

Plan to meditate for 20 minutes or more. I feel this is the hardest for a newbie to conduct.

Trataka Meditation: This is one where you visually stare at something to help bring you into a meditative state. Remember how I talked about lighting a candle and using the flame to bring into a meditative state? This is that type of meditation. I feel since I am attracked to fire that it works well for me.

1. Prepare your space bring in music you want to listen to like sounds of nature or some other music that has no lyrics. I tend to like to listen to drumming music it tends to bring me into a meditative state fairly quickly.
2. Light your candle and have this be in front of where you are.
3. Be comfortable you cannot meditate if you are hurting yourself by trying to get into a position your body does not want to do.
4. I lie on my bed or sit on my bed. I cannot get up and down on the floor so I find chairs and seats to be good. It doesn’t matter but this is not to fall asleep so a chair might be better.
5. You should not fall asleep during your meditation you are focused during your meditation and you might see visions and when you are finished you should write these down if you could.
6. You have started your music and are in a comfy position.
7. Stare at the flame
8. Take a deep breath in keep going in, in , in until you cannot take anymore.
9. Now when you release it release all of the stress you have been feeling
10. Take another deep breath in and in
11. Release it with all the negativity in your body
12. Take another deep breath in keep going in
13. Release and send all of your worries out with the breath
14. Take another deep breath in and bring in love for yourself and others
15. Release fear that you may feel
16. Take another deep breath in and in taking in confidence
17. Release all the insecurities you feel with this breath
18. Now just breath and relax listen to the sounds of the music and watch the flame flicker
19. You will now spend the next 10 minutes in meditation and when ready to come back
20. Take a few deep breaths bring in love and compassion for yourself and let out any negativity
21. Now you should stretch and take your time to getting up you should feel quite relaxed.
22. You can do meditations before bed to help you have a restful sleep.

Notice over time how your body feels and how different you feel with meditating. It really can do wonders for your self-esteem and just having compassion and love for your self and others.

Go to this site and you can do a guided meditation that is great and only lasts for 10 minutes go here http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/7-health-benefits-of-meditation

another meditation one and if these don't do it for you than check out youtube for one that is more your style