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Conscious breathing

There has been a lot of talk on the significance of conscious breathing in recent months. There are more and more breath workers/specialists out there, one of them being my personal trainer, Luke. As soon as I heard that he does breathing classes, I jumped on board. These sessions have become an essential part of my weekly schedule. A time to breathe.

It is no coincidence that breath is considered sacred. We really begin our earthly life when we take our first breath, the breath of life. That never stops until our last breath at the end of this life.

I can remember a few instances when people pointed out the importance of a deep, controlled breath. It was in primary school during PE lessons, particularly in regards to running. Then during choir rehearsals. When reciting poetry. In anti natal classes. When doing yoga, Tai Chi, meditating and now personal training (particularly when weight lifting).

Breathing is such a integral part of our life that it becomes subconscious. We stop paying attention to it over the years. It just happens naturally. Until we experience difficulty breathing for one reason or another. Then it comes back into our consciousness. Every time that happens is the perfect opportunity to take each breath with intention, noticing how much air we can take in, how long we take to breathe in and out, how good it feels when we breathe fully and slowly. It sends the positive signals to the rest of our body that all is well, that things are under control, that our body is in harmony with all that is.

Just like any other skill, conscious breathing takes practice. I have found guided meditations and breathing classes most effective in that regard. When you are in a relaxed atmosphere, guided by a trusted, experienced, knowledgable person, breath becomes a portal to the zen state. I have experienced tears, visions, past-life regressions, kundalini awakening, even fell asleep a few times. The experience is never the same but it’s always deeply relaxing, touching and energising.

My aim is to develop a daily breathing practice that will enable me to connect to my body, clear my mind, calm me down and re energise me.

I thoroughly recommend it to everyone to try it out, as there are endless benefits to conscious breathing.There is a lot of science behind it, but I always find that the proof is in the eating (I love my puddings). So, let’s get into the flow of the conscious breath and keep thriving.

Love, service and wisdom,

Angela.

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Self-care

What does it mean to self-care? What does it involve? How do we make it an integral part of our every day routine? Do we have a self-care routine to begin with?

It could be my age and my changing circumstances that are making me think about myself more. Whatever it is, I am beginning to notice signs of stress on my body, my mind, my emotional state and my very soul. It is time to take good care of myself, as well as of the people in my life.

I have heard people say that they have a daily routine for themselves, which includes anything from meditation, exercise, singing, dancing, breath work, reading, writing, cooking, and many other things that help them ground, balance, calm down and get back into their optimum centred state.

It is a fact that our physical body changes as we gain years and count birthdays. Menopause has changed me profoundly and I am accepting that my body is in charge. It is asking me to take breaks during the day, to eat regularly, to take supplements, to meditate daily, to pay attention to my breathing, to take regular walks in fresh air, to reach out if I need support, to pace myself, to appreciate good days, good moments, to learn from life’s challenges, to keep surrendering and accepting the things that I can’t change, to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of life, to recognise blessings in the smallest things, to express how I feel freely, to check in with myself all the time, to acknowledge how I feel, to seek pleasure and so many more things.

So, I have decided to create my self-care daily routine. So far, it consists of: having three meals a day, having fresh fruit and/or vegetables daily, meditating, breathing mindfully, going for a walk, having meaningful conversations, taking small breaks when I need to, cooking, listening to music, singing and on a good day dancing. As of recently, I have been introducing a few exercises that I want to expand on. My gym membership isn’t being utilised. I have my reasons to as why, but am aware that paying for it and not using it isn’t going to last much longer. I will decide soon enough wether I am going to use the facilities or cancel it altogether.

Taking care of our needs, listening to our feelings, maintaining and improving our health, doing things that make us happy, but also allowing ourselves to just be. Constant doing is going to wear us out, so let’s take a moment to breathe, to feel the air filling up our body and sending waves of calm through our nervous system. Let’s feel the sun on our skin, notice what nature looks like around us, let’s count our blessings, feel grateful, let’s smile more, allow ourselves to drop into our Heart centre and feel everything. Let us send love out into the world. Let us send thoughts and wishes for peace in the world. Let’s care about ourselves and about each other. Because, caring is sharing. When we look after ourself, we have the love, the patience and the energy to give to the world too.

Be gentle with yourselves, take care and spread the love.

Much love to everyone,

Angela x

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Holding space for ourselves (trusting our guidance)

It has been a while since I posted a blog. It isn’t because I had nothing to write about, but because I felt that I need to give myself time to just be, to live my day to day life. God knows there was enough going on. One very important part of being is resting, allowing our body, heart and mind to recover and re energise. In other words, it is holding space for ourselves.

I was surprised to discover that I haven’t written about holding space before. IT is a crucial part of healing, whether we do it for ourselves or for other people.

In the past I was more likely to do it for others, particularly during the intense 3 years of having a healing practice (September 2019-September 2022). But, time came for a huge change which was that The Body Suite was moving base. After much deliberation, I decided to move back home. As always, my intuition was guiding me but it wasn’t easy to follow it this time. I have put my heart and soul into creating a healing/treatment space, which came perfectly together seemingly out of ether. It was meant to happen. So was this change, I realised later on. It was time for me to hold space for myself this time.

The Autumn and the Winter passed in great internal turmoil because I felt like I have lost my life purpose, I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do next. What transpired was that the timing was right to find and buy a new home (after 2,5 years of searching). After the successful purchase, it was time to give my new home a new lease of life. God knows it needed a lot of work, love, care and attention. Soon after that, I completed a counselling course that was overdue. After asking for several extensions, I finally completed it. Since that was done, I went to visit my nuclear family in Serbia and have been spending a lot of quality time with my children here in UK, never forgetting myself along the way.

These past 9 months were almost like a literal rebirth. Throughout my life, I was focusing too much on other people (easily done for empaths) and neglecting my own needs. That was a life pattern that I had to break. I was aware of that, but never knew how or when to do it. Life has lead me to that point and through that process so flawlessly that I am in awe.

Giving space for ourselves means giving time (for whatever we might need), listening to our needs, following our intuition and letting ourselves relax in this process and enjoy it. It’s my daily practice now, as well as practicing a gratitude meditation every morning facing the sun 🙂

I am sending you so much love, beautiful souls. Enjoy life without delay.

Love and blessings,

Angela x.

 

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Dealing with negative emotions

Dear ones,

I have written about shadow work before, but working on self is never done (I don’t mean to sound discouraging). It is a fact of life that we are shaped by our experiences, be it day to day or on going things. Therefore, it is just as important to develop spiritual and emotional hygiene, as much as cleaning our bodies. Because, everything gets stored inside, whether it’s a thought, a feeling or food and water that we take in. It’s all going to mix up inside of us and change us. So, the question is: How do I clean myself of the thoughts and feeling that don’t do me any good?

Healing or emotional/spiritual/mental cleansing requires patience. It takes time. We need to allow ourselves to feel, to accept how we feel, to let ourselves surrender to the pain and the memories. By surrender, I mean accept the fact of how something made us feel. Because running from pain doesn’t work.

Something that I can’t quite figure out is why have we (humans) developed this defence mechanism of trying to stop the pain? Even the saying says:”No pain, no gain”. It’s true. We cannot get through something, unless we go through it. Not around it, not over it, but through it. One last time, so that we can put it behind. For good.

Being a highly sensitive empath and a healer, I have had countless conversations with myself and others about the ways of dealing with pain (by pain I refer to negative emotions that cause that feeling). First of all, we have to forget about the culture of treating symptoms or numbing pain (whether it’s medication, sex, alcohol, denial, a.s.o.). What is needed is therapy, or finding a way that helps you (deal with negative emotions). There is so much on offer nowadays: hydrotherapy, hypnosis, polarity, reiki, energy healing, crystal healing, counselling, talking therapy, kinesiology, meditation, exercise, and so many others. The key is to keep trying different modalities or ways of healing until we get somewhere. Whatever makes you feel better for doing it. It takes courage and trying new things, but how would you change things otherwise? Eckhart Tolle said that it is insanity to keep doing the same things and expecting a different result!

On a personal level, I have properly started my healing journey in 2011, after being diagnosed with Discus Hernia and Fibromyalgia. I was in chronic pain, depressed and completely exhausted. After refusing to go down the conventional medical route of taking medication to numb the pain, I had to find alternative/holistic ways of healing/therapy. Holistic medicine means that it treats a person as a whole, not just a certain part of it ( be it a body part or say mental health). That is why it takes time to properly heal and get through something. You cannot expect a person to walk pain free if they have broken a leg. It takes at least three weeks for a bone to heal and for the pain to ease. Why don’t we, then, treat emotional and mental pain and injury the same? It is overdue that we take responsibility for our wellbeing and change that. Take time to heal, to recover, search for ways of helping yourself, make changes, make better choices and you will see results for the better. I promise.

Love, service, light and wisdom,

Angela.

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Dealing with stress

I am prone to over thinking and stress. It has always been my downfall.

Today I had a school run in the morning, as usual (my daily routine since 2007), but what stressed me out was my car engine over heating. I have been driving for 20 years and never had I to face a possibility of being left on the road due to engine blow up. So, I was driving at snail’s pace (credit to my daughter who didn’t complain about my speed for once) in order to avoid the disaster. We were both watching the thermometer on my dashboard like a hawk the whole way (just under an hour’s drive one way). I did the same on my way home.

As soon as I dropped her off at school, I called the car service department. The man was asking me questions to which I had no clear answers. I could sense frustration in his voice, but he booked me in for the next day for service at my insistence. I was left wondering why do I have to convince anyone of what my car is indicating, as a faultless driver of two decades? I have driven various cars of better and less good quality and this is the first instance of such situation.

I admit that some people might think that I am over reacting to my situation. But to someone feeling stress, it is all too real. At one point I was feeling anxiety.

The man on the radio was talking about adults showing the way to children through their behaviour. And there I was taking things badly in front of my daughter. That made me think.

So, how do we let go of those feelings of stress, worry and frustration regardless of the severity of our situation?

I always resort to prayer. It is my daily routine and in stressful situations I pray even more. Also crystals (particularly Black Tourmaline), meditation, a walk in nature, journalling and taking time off (if at all possible).

Learning to deal with stress is a process. It takes patience with oneself, time and discipline. Being patient with ourselves is something that should really be emphasised when we are working on changing anything in our life, but particularly when we are trying to change our thinking habits and patterns. Rome wasn’t built in a day and we shouldn’t put ourselves under even more pressure to change quickly. It backfires with vengeance. Instead, we have to go within and face our true feelings. All feelings are there to be experienced, but the secret to a healthy mind is to learn to let the damaging feelings go. For some reason, our human nature is to cling onto the familiar things and keep repeating them. In this case it is a recipe for self destruction. It is no wonder that the great sages, gurus and other spiritual leaders dedicate their whole life to self mastery. It doesn’t mean that they are the chosen ones. It means that they have chosen to use all of their time to master their thoughts and feelings. Only then can they become spiritual leaders and help guide others to do the same.

What I am trying to say is that anyone can become a master of their feelings and thoughts if they want to. It is the self sabotaging, weak and small part in us that keeps tellings us that something is impossible. The truth is that there always is a choice in any matter on how we respond and how we deal with the situation. But we have to believe that. We have to train our mind to believe that anything is possible and that we will find the way forward.

Trust me, I know that it is easier said than done, but it is possible. Start by taking the small steps, by trying to change just one thing at the time that you know does you no good. Even if it takes years (like in my case still learning to manage stress at 46). Just don’t give up on yourself. Every change that we make inspires someone else to do the same. Trust me. So, even if your motivation is to do it for others, just do it. That’s all that matters. Taking accountability for our shortfalls and making the change. That’s what we’re here for my friends.

 

Love and light,

Angela.

 

 

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