Archive for the ‘Self development’ Category

Subconscious thoughts affecting our bodies

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Brain imageI’m sit­ting in my liv­ing room prepar­ing for a talk with some ladies tomor­row. The talk is on mas­sage around can­cer and I will be with the ladies of the RUH Breast of Friends Sup­port Group. I’m really look­ing for­ward to it!

As I sit and pre­pare, I noticed in increase of move­ment flow­ing through in my body. I’m famil­iar with this feel­ing. It’s the ner­vous feel­ing feel it before I do pub­lic speak­ing. So, it’s prob­a­bly a release of adren­a­line or cortisol. Perhaps it was also nerves of excitement.

BUT WHY NOW?

I was just writ­ing my notes for the talk.

I wasn’t think­ing about talk­ing. Nor was I think­ing that I was excited. I was sim­ply writ­ing. So why the release of hor­mones in my body?

It’s widely accepted that each thought pro­duces a chem­i­cal reac­tion in the body so I can under­stand think­ing about the talk would bring on ner­vous feel­ings and the release of chem­i­cals. But I wasn’t think­ing about it.

So, was my sub­con­scious think­ing about it? Per­haps the act of work­ing on my notes, which relates to speak­ing in font of peo­ple, stim­u­lated past mem­o­ries of nerves. Did these past expe­ri­ences  and feel­ings sub­con­sciously arise and result in this ner­vous feel­ing in my body.

If our thoughts have a reac­tion on your body, it seems our sub­con­scious thoughts can too.

What do you think, or feel :-) about that?

Image: dream designs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mediate while you wait

Monday, September 19th, 2011

Well, I don’t nec­es­sar­ily mean only while you’re wait­ing, but it was a catchy title.

BreatheI mean medi­ate pretty much any­time you  don’t really need to be con­cen­trat­ing or when you’re doing things that are sec­ond nature.

Our brains are run­ning so fast all day, any break we can give them is beni­fi­cial to our mind and there­fore our body: each thought has a chem­i­cal reac­tion, there­fore your thoughts affect your body. The thoughts can cre­ate stress and ten­sion. Of course think­ing happy stuff is allowed :-)

HumThe brains job is to think, so stop­ping it is quite chal­leng­ing. With prac­tice, it can be done. Especially  for short amounts of time.

Med­i­tat­ing for 10 min­utes each day is said to be ben­e­fi­cial for body, mind and soul. The goal of med­i­tat­ing is to achieve non-thought. Health and hap­pi­ness follows.

Sing while you're doing your laundryFind­ing just 10 min­utes a day can some­times be chal­leng­ing and or it can feel like a chore.

So why not steel snip­pets of men­tal silence all through the day. You’ll be sur­prised how much of your day you can spend in non thought!

This way you can can help your­self relax and achieve men­tal calm through out each day.

Whistle while you're groomingTop Tip 1: Con­cen­trate on your breath, sing a mantra, say a pos­i­tive affir­ma­tion, sing a song, hum, whistle…anything that will keep your mind from thought. I rec­om­mend doing some­thing audi­ble. This way when your mind kicks back in and you start think­ing again, your ears will realise and send a mes­sage to your brain that you’re think­ing again.

Breathe while you're packing and unpacking the dishwasherTop tip 2: Do this for long enough, and like any hab­bit, it will become sec­ond nature and you’ll start doing it naturally.

Top Tip 3: Keep and eye on your mind while you’re breath­ing or whistling. You’ll be sur­prised how much think­ing your mind can do with­out you noticing.

Top Tip 3: Put notes around to remind you to do it. Put some in your diary too

Top Tip 4: When you start ‘not see­ing’ the reminder notes…take them down for a while or move them to another place.

Here is a list of things we do daily or weekly dur­ing which we can ‘meditate’.

Dri­ving any­where, no mat­ter how short the trip. (Of course you’ll still be con­cen­trat­ing on the road! )

Walk­ing any­where, no mat­ter how short the walk (includ­ing around the house and the office)

Ablu­tions: flossing, brushing teeth, bathing, show­er­ing, stand­ing at/sitting on the loo.

Kitchen related: wait­ing for the ket­tle to boil, the whole process of mak­ing your tea, pack­ing and unpack­ing the dish­washer, unpack­ing your groceries.

Per­sonal groom­ing: Dress­ing, shav­ing, putting on makeup, brushing/blow dry­ing your hair, waxing.

Laun­dry: seper­at­ing your clothes, putting them in the machine, hanging up, fold­ing up, putting away.

Wait­ing: in a que, for a bus/train,

Sit­ting: dur­ing the ads on telly (top tip: mute the telly dur­ing ads)

House hold: water­ing the plants, putting things away, tidy­ing up, clean­ing, gardening, vacuuming

Shop­ping: pack­ing the gro­ceries in the bags and then into the car, standing in the que.

Clean­ing: your car, your pets, your house

Can you think of more?

Rec­om­mended reading:

The 5 Minute Med­i­ta­tor: Quick Med­i­ta­tions to Calm Your Body and Your Mind
Say a positive affirmation while you're washing up

BMI Clinic’s Bath weight loss open evening

Friday, May 20th, 2011

BMI clinic weight loss invitationI met a lovely lady names Debra Hobbs the other night at BBWA net­work­ing. The event was at Spirit Pho­tog­ra­phy in Bath, who oper­ate out of an old church. Very cool place to take photos.

Deb­ora Hobbs is pas­sion­ate about pro­mot­ing health and well being so as you might guess, we enjoyed talk­ing with each other. The BMI Clinic in Bath are hold­ing a weight loss open evening aims to aims to stim­u­late enthu­si­asm and moti­va­tion to achiev­ing a healthy diet and a bal­anced approach to weight management.

If you’re look­ing to start a weight loss reigiem, why not start with this talk (there are only 25 FREE places):

Thurs­day 26th May
6.30pm
Claver­ton Down Road, Combe Down, Bath, Som­er­set BA2 7BR
debra.hobbs@bmihealthcare.co.uk
01225 838802

A cen­tury ago, being over-weight was rare, but with our increas­ingly seden­tary lifestyle, it has meant that many of us are car­ry­ing that lit­tle bit of extra weight, which may make us feel less happy with our­selves and has con­se­quences of future life threat­en­ing dis­eases and that pre­vent long term good health.

The event is not about mak­ing peo­ple thin, but about achiev­ing a healthy diet that leads to phys­i­cal fit­ness and well being. The uncon­scious fac­tors that affect our food choices and eat­ing habits need to be recog­nised so that strate­gies to help man­age weight prob­lems can be tai­lored to per­sonal needs.

Anne Holdoway – clin­i­cal dieti­cian will pro­vide rec­om­men­da­tions on the prin­ci­ples of a healthy diet which empow­ers indi­vid­u­als to choose foods that are nutri­tional to sup­port health and man­age weight reduc­tion and maintenance.

Jo Booth - coun­sel­lor will explain the psy­cho­log­i­cal rela­tion­ship with food which con­tributes to per­sonal eat­ing habits and explain the emo­tional or sym­bolic role food plays in our lives, and what lifestyle changes can be made to con­trol weight.

Laura Mars­den — per­sonal trainer will rec­om­mend sim­ple activ­i­ties and exer­cise that con­tributes to healthy weight and phys­i­cal fit­ness. Small real­is­tic activ­ity changes inte­grated into every­day life can boost energy lev­els and increase weight loss.

Mr R Krys­zopik - gen­eral sur­geon spe­cial­is­ing in bariatric surgery will explain the sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dures which pro­vide per­ma­nent man­age­ment of weight. He will pro­vide infor­ma­tion on the Gas­tric Band sur­gi­cal tech­nique which pro­vides sig­nif­i­cant health and psy­cho­log­i­cal ben­e­fits for peo­ple who have strug­gled for many years with sub­stan­tial weight problems.

The inten­tion of this event is to inspire the audi­ence towards a pos­i­tive approach to dietary needs and a healthy, active lifestyle in order to pre­vent obe­sity. The speak­ers, by explor­ing the rea­sons for being over weight aim to encour­age a sus­tain­able healthy eat­ing pat­tern that sup­ports a healthy weight. There will be time to talk to the pre­sen­ters to gather more infor­ma­tion and any fur­ther sup­port that you require.

The Bath Clinic Chef has kindly offered to pro­vide com­pli­men­tary canapés, soft drinks and a glass of wine.

If you would like to attend this event please reg­is­ter your name and that of any guests. Should you require fur­ther help or infor­ma­tion please don’t hes­i­tate to con­tact me:

Journey to wholeness

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

A one day per­sonal devel­op­ment work­shop with Leora Sharp and Liz Foster.

Journey to wholness

Date: 6th Novem­ber 2010
Time: 10am — 4pm
Loca­tion: The Min­erva Cen­tre, 8 Combe Park, Bath, BA1 3NP
Price: £55
Book­ing: Liz — 07974 202 731 or Leora — 07887 612 242

Come and join Liz and me for this day of self dis­cov­ery, where you will iden­tify why your life can feel like an uphill strug­gle and learn steps for sup­port­ing your­self daily.

You will discover:
• how to achieve emo­tional and phys­i­cal wholeness
• what lim­it­ing beliefs hold you back
• sim­ple mas­sage tech­niques to alle­vi­ate stress
• bal­anc­ing breath work to ground you
• chakra med­i­ta­tions and pos­i­tive affirmations
• body con­nec­tion and awareness
• the keys to wholeness!
…plus you will leave with a daily guide to help you on your way.

Come and learn the keys to more inner peace, balance, self con­fi­dence, greater self esteem.

Step into your whole­ness and take the oppor­tu­nity to design an authen­tic and con­scious life.

Liz FosterLiz Fos­ter
Inter­na­tional work­shop leader and coach
liz fos­ter coaching.com

Leora SharpLeora Sharp
Holis­tic Mas­sage and Body­work Prac­ti­tioner
freemyself.net

Shaping your destiny

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

I am a firm believe in shap­ing my own des­tiny. What you put in is what you get out!

There is no doubt in my mind that we cre­ate what hap­pens around us and I was dis­cussing this very topic with my hus­band ear­lier in the week. What did I get this morn­ing in my inbox?…a sweet lit­tle reminder that I’m on the right track:

I sub­scribe to tut.com and each morn­ing I get a ‘Note from The Uni­verse’. This was today’s:

“You can choose to go, do, be, and have, and in the end you’ll exclaim, shocked and bewil­dered, that because of all the syn­chronic­i­ties of your life, all the “clicks” and “coin­ci­dences,” and the many happy “acci­dents,” your bounty and good for­tune must have been your destiny.

Or, you might choose to wait for a mir­a­cle, a sav­ior, or divine inter­ven­tion, and in the end you’ll exclaim, shocked and bewil­dered, that because of all the syn­chronic­i­ties of your life, all the missed chances and dis­ap­point­ments, and the many unhappy acci­dents, your lack and mis­for­tune must have been your destiny.”

My Dad calls it his ‘sil­ver spoon’. I’m choose serv­ing spoon size spoons…and fill­ing them with strawberries!

How do you cre­ate your  sil­ver spoons?

Image: Car­los Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Bath Positive Living Group

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Bath Positive Living GroupEvery mon­day evening (except bank hol­i­days)
The Cof­fee Lounge
Man­vers Street Bap­tist Church.
7.00pm — 10pm
£5

There is no need to book. Just pop along when­ever there is a talk of inter­est. It’s a Lovely, friendly and relaxed atmos­phere, every­one is wel­come. Refresh­ments included.

For­mat for the evenings:
Wel­come and intro­duc­tion 7.30pm (tea and bis­cuits avail­able on arrival)
Topic of the evening 7.45pm
Social and (more) refresh­ments 9.00pm
For full details of all upcom­ing talks please visit positivelivinggroups.co.uk/BATH.html

Or visit the  inter­ac­tive online com­mu­nity ‘Pos­i­tive Liv­ing Groups Net­work’ at PLGN.co.uk

Personal development holiday in Greece

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Liz FosterLook­ing to get away and dis­cover your­self? My friend, col­league and fab­u­lous Inte­gral Coach, Liz Fos­ter has some­thing for you.

23rd July — 30th July
Cost is £325 — includes all food and accom­mo­da­tion.
info@lizfostercoaching.com
If you want to know more just give Liz a buzz on 07974202731.

If  you haven’t booked your sum­mer ‘get-away’ its a really great oppor­tu­nity to do a bit of self-development work on your­self and mix it in with time out on the beach, whilst meet­ing new like-minded peo­ple and hav­ing a laugh!

What is this work­shop all about?

In this five day work­shop you will learn to love your shadow and step out of what is hold­ing you back in your life.

We will be spend­ing the morn­ings in work­shop space…exploring how you live your life, how your behav­iours limit you and how to have a huge shift.

The after­noons will be spent sun­ning your­self on the beach or explor­ing the local area.

Who is this work­shop really for?

It’s for you if you’re inter­ested in know­ing what robs you of your self-respect, courage and creativity.

If you keep on repeat­ing the same pat­terns over and over… and you’re fed up and want some­thing to shift.

This work­shop is for you if you want to have a mas­sive break­through, switch off the auto-pilot and open your eyes to reclaim your power and brilliance.

What will you get out of par­tic­i­pat­ing in this workshop?

Uncover the Shadow that keeps you stuck in the past.

Embrace the power of your true authen­tic self.

Learn to move through and beyond your fear.

Heal your heart from painful relationships.

Redis­cover your pas­sion for life.

More details: http://www.kalikalos.com/workshops/loving-your-shadow.html

And now a lit­tle more about me…

I trained with the worlds lead­ing facil­i­ta­tor in Shadow Work, Deb­bie Ford. Debbie’s work has gained her the sup­port of other great spir­i­tual teach­ers of our time, from Deepak Chopra to Mar­i­anne Williamson and Neale Don­ald Walsch .

I am a trainer, facil­i­ta­tor and coach in Deb­bie Ford’s work and am lead­ing her work here in UK.

I look for­ward to hear­ing from you and hav­ing some fun…and if you have any friends or fam­ily who would be inter­ested or some­one who is look­ing for that ‘some­thing dif­fer­ent’ on hol­i­day then please pass on this information.

Body, mind, spirit groups in Bath

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

When: Thurs­day 20th May 2010
Where: Mil­som Room, Man­vers Street Bap­tist Church, Bath
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Cost: Donation

Look­ing for a heal­ing, health or spir­i­tual change?
Would you like to join a group or find a workshop?

The 2nd of the heal­ing groups evening. The first,  in April, was very suc­cess­ful. Many groups in Bath united to inform indi­vid­u­als and other groups of their exis­tence. If you’re look­ing for a group or a work­shop related to body. mind, spirit, then do come do this event.

An oppor­tu­nity for indi­vid­u­als, heal­ing and work­shop groups in Bath to come together for an evening of med­i­ta­tion, sounds, short talks and get­ting to know one another.

For­mat for the evening
– Wel­come
– Short talk/meditation/sound/chant (speak­ers wel­come)
– Group intro­duc­tions
– Tea, bis­cuits and chats

Con­tact Liza:    info@lizaharwood.com     07789 880 415
lizaharwood.com/events-bath-bristol

Down­load PDF


Bach flower remedy workshop with Celia Stewart

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

April 27
7-9pm
@ Neal’s Yard Reme­dies, Bath, BA1 5AR
£15 includ­ing refresh­ments and a treat­ment bottle

I’ve met sev­eral lovely peo­ple since I started work­ing at Neal’s Yard in Jan­u­ary. One of them is the very knowl­edge­able Celia Stew­art. She’s also a funky dresser, which I really appreciate.

She is a reg­is­tered Prac­ti­tioner and will present an intro­duc­tory work­shop for those new to Bach Flower Reme­dies or who wish to fur­ther their knowledge.

The work­shop includes:

- back­ground on Dr Edward Bach

- a look at the most pop­u­lar reme­dies for women’s health

- an oppor­tu­nity to make your own treat­ment bottle

For fur­ther info con­tact Celia : massage.bach@gmail.com or 07761 016521

Celia’s web­site: http://www.bathholistic.co.uk/

Overcoming Barriers to Success – free talk

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Tues­day 23rd March,
5.45 to 7pm
Cafe Nero,  21–22 High Street (oppo­site Guild Hall).

Liz Fos­ter, an Inte­gra­tive Coach with whom I’ve done some fan­tas­tic per­sonal devel­op­ment work, will be guid­ing you through the bar­ri­ers to your success.

Bath Coach­ing Café would like to invite you to a free work­shop to enable you to see what really gets in the way of your suc­cess and learn some tools and tech­niques so you can over­come the bar­ri­ers and achieve the suc­cess you want in your life.

There can be many pos­si­ble bar­ri­ers to suc­cess in our lives. They pre­vent us from get­ting the job or pro­mo­tion we want, they limit us in our rela­tion­ships and stop us from liv­ing our lives fully. These obsta­cles may appear in var­i­ous guises; inter­nal blocks in the form of our neg­a­tive thoughts, fears, low self-esteem and exter­nal blocks such as phys­i­cal symp­toms, stress and com­mu­ni­ca­tion problems.

We have prob­a­bly all come across these bar­ri­ers at one time or another and found dif­fi­culty in over­com­ing them. It sounds sim­ple but the first step is to recog­nise these blocks, uncover your ‘story’ and look at your old pat­terns. The sec­ond step is to start mak­ing changes, incor­po­rate them into your daily life and lay down new pat­terns for deci­sion mak­ing so you can achieve suc­cess and lead an ener­gised and moti­vated life.

For the price of a cof­fee you can meet sev­eral coaches, com­plete a use­ful exer­cise and get the oppor­tu­nity to start over­com­ing your bar­ri­ers in a relaxed atmosphere.

For more infor­ma­tion go to www.bathcoachingcafe.co.uk or con­tact us on bathcoachingcafe@hotmail.co.uk