Wellness Blog

How Toxins Affect Your Health

January 26, 2017 /

Toxins courtesy freedigitalphotos.netThe world that we live in has becoming increasingly filled with a wide variety of toxins. From different pollutants in the air, to pesticides and other chemicals in our food and water, to unregulated chemicals in our personal care products, we are exposed to MANY toxins on a very regular basis.

Some of these toxins, like those pollutants in the air, we can do very little to control our exposure to but there are others that we do have more control over. In this post I’d like to share 3 simple tips on how to lessen your exposure to toxins on a daily basis. However, before diving into those strategies, I want to provide a short overview of WHY lessen your toxin exposure is critical for your health.

Right now, there are over 80,000 different chemicals used in North America that we are exposed to on a regular basis and according to the World Health Organization, it is believed that if we can eliminate exposure to 600 of the most dangerous environmental toxins, 90% of chronic and serious illness could be prevented! That is quite a large percentage of our serious health issues that are caused by toxins in our environment.

Exposure to toxins places a very heavy burden on our liver, which much convert fat soluble toxins into water soluble toxins so that they can be excreted from the body. Sometimes our liver detox pathways become compromised or the body can’t effectively convert the toxin from fat soluble into water soluble and it actually stays in an intermediary state, which is even more toxic to our bodies than the fat soluble version.

In addition, toxins in our bodies can create epigenetic changes, which means that they are altering how our genes are expressing. This can lead to a wide range of health issues, including developing cancer and many autoimmune diseases.

So now that you have a brief overview of the danger of toxins to your health, what can you do?

  1. Make sure you are consuming as much organic produce as possible. Conventionally grown produce has much pesticide residue left on in and organic produce is not sprayed with those same toxic pesticides. If you are on a budget, make sure that if you are buying celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, kale and collard greens, cherries, potatoes, imported grapes, and lettuce that at least those items are organic. Those are the worst fruits and vegetables to buy conventional.
  2. Be aware that just because you buy personal care products in the “natural” section or in a place like Whole Foods does not guarantee that the products are safe. The last law made to regulate chemicals in personal care products was in 1938 and only 11 chemicals are restricted from being placed in personal care products in the US, compared to over 1300 in the European Union. It is important to be very careful where you are choosing to buy products like lotions, face products, and cosmetics as our skin is our largest organ and we absorb many toxins from products we use on our skin. If you are looking for a company committed to safety in personal care products, I personally recommend Beautycounter because they have a commitment to never put 1500 chemicals that are unsafe or “questionable” in their products.”
  3. Use the Environmental Working Group website as a resource to look at whether the cleaning products, personal care products, and other products you are using in your home are actually safe. They are a non-profit organization committed to researching a wide variety of products for safety and helping educate the public about the impact of toxins.

If you have questions about any of this information, reach out to me. I’m happy to chat with you and share more information and strategies to also help your body to clear out any toxins that are currently bogging down your system!

Staying Sane and Healthy During the Holidays

November 29, 2016 /

holiday stressThe year has once again flown by and December is almost here. For many, this is one of the busiest and most stressful months of the year… Holiday shopping to do, more time with family (which has its own stress), and so many activities that only happen once a year. It can feel overwhelming to many of us.

In addition, for many of us, our diets change at this time and we eat more heavy rich foods or foods with lots of sugar in them, placing an extra toll on our bodies.

In this week’s blog post, I’d like to share a couple simple strategies to help keep you less stressed and stay healthy through January.

  1. Make sure you are still making time for downtime and relaxation. It can feel easy to be short on time and put rest and relaxation at the bottom of the “to do” list but if you are exhausted, irritable, or make yourself sick, how enjoyable will your holidays be? Even if you are just carving out 30 minutes to just breathe or take a walk in nature, it can be powerful and recharging to do that regularly.
  2. Set healthy boundaries for yourself. Don’t feel like you have to say “yes” to everything and everyone. If you are exhausted, sometimes you might just need to say “no, I can’t this time” and take some time to rest and relax. Also, be mindful of setting boundaries with people who are key triggers of stress (perhaps like certain family members). If you find yourself in a situation where you are getting upset, it is ok to excuse yourself.
  3. Keep up with drinking water. This is a time of year where we often overindulge in all sorts of things- alcohol, sugar, rich foods. By at least making sure you are drinking plenty of water (filtered if you can), you will be helping your body to keep up with clearing out the accumulation of toxins. The rule of thumb is you should be drinking half your body weight in ounces of water each day. If that is too overwhelming, scale it back some but try and push yourself a bit.
  4. Try and overindulge just a little less. It can be easy to feel guilty about what we are choosing to eat at this time yet hard to stop ourselves when so surrounded by it. Perhaps try and just cut back some and then don’t beat up on yourself for what you do eat. Or if you really realize that things like sugar are not making your body healthy, try and look for healthy alternatives to some of your favorite treats.
  5. Find ways to boost your immune system. Stress, overindulging, sugar… all these things are likely going to bring your immune system down and increase the risk of getting sick. Try incorporating natural remedies like eating vitamin C rich foods, looking for natural remedies at your local health food store, and again taking time for relaxation as ways to help support your immune system.

If you feel like you could use a little extra TLC during this crazy time, now through December 15, I’m offering 15% off a stress reduction and immune system tune up session with me. Give me a call at 503-347-0258 or use the scheduling system below to book your appointment.


Self-Care in Difficult Days

November 17, 2016 /

self-care courtesy freedigitalphotos.netLast week was a doozy for so many of us. The results of the election in here the U.S. rocked many of us to the core and resulted in feeling a host of emotions, fears, and general overwhelm and ungroundedness.

For me personally, I woke up last Wednesday with a feeling like the world around me was suddenly different and I felt extremely off kilter. I spent most of that day just trying to process what I was feeling and there were numerous bouts of crying. As the week went on, I was still feeling off-kilter but was trying to move forward and find ways to get myself grounded again.

I have been hearing many people say that they are feeling the same way. Another thing I’ve been both feeling myself and hearing from others is that the self-care that we have been doing in the past might not be enough or the right thing for us right now. 

I feel it is important to share this all so that you know that you are not alone in feeling off-kilter, scared, overwhelmed, and out of sorts. You are not alone if you feel like you are doing your regular self-care and it just isn’t working for you.

If you are feeling any of these things, here are some suggestions for you based on my own experience and wisdom.

  1. You might need to increase the amount of self-care you are doing right now. While the amount you typically do might work in calmer times, right now, you might need to give it a boost.
  2. You might need to change up what you are doing for self-care. For example, if you typically take a relaxing bath, you might try instead moving your energy by going for a walk outside. Try different things and see what helps!
  3. I would recommend considering taking a break from social media and the news on occasion. I personally felt myself feeling more and more activated and ungrounded last week as I kept reading about the increase in hate crimes, seeing the protests in Portland turn into violence, and seeing people making nasty comments to each other on Facebook. For that reason, I stayed off social media and the internet for most of the weekend last weekend. You might not need a complete break but maybe just consider limiting how much time you are spending reading news.
  4. If you don’t know how to tap cortices, learn how to now! This simple self-tapping technique just takes a few minutes but is a powerful way to rebalance your brain and reduce stress. You can use it as much as you need! Learn how here.

Those are just some very simple and practice suggestions that I have to help you get back into your body right now if you are feeling overwhelmed or ungrounded.

If those things don’t seem enough, I’d encourage you to seek support from me or from someone else who you feel called to work with. I’ve been seeing the election come up as a trauma for every client I’ve seen in the past week and I can help you process the trauma through the power of BodyTalk. I personally had to get some support around these from other practitioners so I can speak to the fact that this might be necessary- and it helps!

I have another group session coming up on November 30 to help support us all in coming together and healing in these challenging times.

Also if you are feeling like you’d like some extra one-on-one support right now, I’d love to offer you 10% off a session with me now through the end of November. Just mention this blog post when you come in!

 

 

Hope in Dark Times

November 10, 2016 /

Love Trumps HateThe sun is shining on this fall morning in Portland and I decided I needed to start my day with a walk outside, rather than heading to the gym. I need to breathe the fresh air and be supported by Mother Nature’s light.

The past few days for me, like for so many others, have been filled with a feeling of dismay, grief, sadness, frustration, anger, and fear. Living in what feels like a bit of a bubble in a progressive place like Portland, it is hard to believe the reality that we are now confronted with. A world where hate, racism, misogyny, and violence have come more fully out of the shadows and are now given legitimacy by the man who is president elect. Just this morning I saw reports of how high school students who are minorities are being targeted by fellow classmates and I am sickened.

To be honest, Tuesday night, I wanted to leave this country. I was saddened, angered, and dismayed that so many people could vote for a man I see as a hateful monster. My husband and I were talking about how to move to Canada… probably along with many other people.

What I have come to see in the past day is that I feel like doing so is running away and leaving those most vulnerable, minorities, people of color, the poor, and the LGBTQ community to fend for themselves when they will need us to stand with them and stand up for justice and their rights.

Before I began my path to this healing work that is now my life’s work, I was a student of history. I have an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in history and was well on my way to my PhD. I think many of us, looking at the history of Nazi Germany, can wonder how that was possible. How someone could come to power espousing such hate. I see the reality of it happening around us now… But the difference is that we have the lessons of history and we have all of the amazing work that Civil Rights activists who went before us have done. We can know the possibilities of what could happen AND we can know that saying “Its not my problem… I’m not black, Hispanic, gay, etc” is what people did in Nazi Germany. We cannot let history repeat itself.

I feel a deep and stirring passion in myself this morning to be part of those standing up and saying “No! You cannot take away the rights, dignity, and safety of those around me who are at risk!” I ask you to stand with me, to start the healing of our country’s deep legacy or racism, bigotry, and misogyny and stand up and say no.

In the midst of so much hate and fear, I have seen people banding together to stand up and fight for what they believe in and to protect and support the most vulnerable among us. This is what I choose to focus on. There is hope even in this dark time.

I plan to offer group healing sessions on a regular basis to support those of us who are being traumatized by what is going on, those who might be being victimized, and those who are ready to stand up with me and say NO! Last night, in seeing the ACLU standing ready to fight for our rights and liberties, I felt that I need to contribute. So for each of these group healing sessions that I offer, part of the money given to me will be donated to the ACLU.

Love trumps hate… Always. We will stand in love and we will win.

Our 3 Brains: Head, Heart, and Gut

November 7, 2016 /

Recent scientific research is beginning to form a new understanding of our brains and our bodies and is revealing that we don’t just have 1 brain but 3 brains! This knowledge was actually something that certain Eastern traditions (like Ayurvedic and yogic traditions) were aware of but Western scientific understanding is finally catching up.

So what are the 3 brains and what do they do?

3 brains courtesy freedigitalphotos.netThe first brain is the one that we have always thought about- the one in our head. This brain is in charge of thinking, cognition, and perception. It helps us to make meaning out of things and masters our communication in language.

Our second brain is located in the heart. This is our emotional brain and it is also connected to what we value in life.

Our third brain is in our gut. This brain is all about our core identity- what is us and what is not us. The gut brain is also important for protection as it has many key immune functions.

The average brain (in the head) has around 100 million neurons but the gut  has around 500 million nerve cells and 100 million neurons and is almost the same size as a cat’s brain! Our gut brains are also responsible for producing around 95% of the body’s serotonin, the “happiness hormone.”

The way that these 3 brains communicate with each other is through the vagus nerve. What is fascinating is that research shows that the majority of information flows up the vagus nerve to the head brain rather than down to the other two brains!

Anil Rayvanshi writes, “Recent studies have shown that heart sends signals to the brain that are not only understood by it but also obeyed. Scientists have discovered neural pathways and mechanisms whereby input from heart to brain inhibits or facilitates brain’s electrical activity – just like what gut is capable of doing. Thus both gut and heart mind help in overall thought process.”

So how can you utilize all 3 brains more effectively?

One basic way to work with integrating and synchronizing all 3 brains is through the Cortices Technique, a simple self-tapping technique that you can learn more about here. 

Another way to utilize all 3 brains is to be more aware of their different roles. For example, allow the heart to express its emotional intelligence and wisdom by listening to it, rather than shutting down your feelings. With the gut brain, taking good physical care of your digestive system through eating healthy foods and using strategies to heal your gut can help optimize the gut brain.

BodyTalk is also a healing system that is focused on all 3 of these brains and getting them to communicate with each other more effectively. By receiving a BodyTalk session for a practitioner, your 3 brains can be optimized, synchronized and balanced to work more effectively. Learn more about BodyTalk by reading about it here.

What is BodyTalk? A quick video

October 20, 2016 /

Check out this great short interview with BodyTalk Practitioner Karen Atkins that will help you gain a quick understanding of what BodyTalk is and how it works!

Are the products you are using making you sick?

October 17, 2016 /

Beauty products courtesy freedigitalphotos.netOver the past few years, I have become more and more aware of all of the different products that I use in my life. It started with using more natural cleaning products as I have had a longtime sensitivity to harsh chemicals and the fumes they contain. I’ve also always been sensitive to artificial fragrances in things like lotions.

But as I have stepped further and further into my own healing process and have also been called to become more knowledgeable so that I can support clients on their path to health, I have been learning more and more about how various products like lotions, makeups, and skin products of all types contain a very long list of chemicals that can be harmful to our health.

Several months ago, I learned that the last law in the US to regulate the safety of personal products was in 1938! 1938 was a LONG time ago AND so many chemicals have been created since that time period. It was also shocking to me to learn that there are only 11 chemicals banned from use in personal care products in the US, while in the European Union there are over 1,300!

I’m writing this post because this is important information that we ALL need to be aware of. Toxins are easily absorbed through our skin and those toxins can then contribute to developing a wide range of health issues- from autoimmune diseases, to allergies, to even cancer. Toxins in products contribute to epigenetic changes in our bodies (changes in genetic expression), which are the major cause behind most disease.

Now that you are aware of the problem, what can you do?

Continue to educate yourself on the topic. There are many great resources to support learning more about toxins in various products. The Environmental Working Group has great resources to help you learn more about key ingredients to look out for. Another company that makes great products that exclude all chemicals banned in the EU and on a mission to change the industry is Beautycounter.

Look for products with a short list of ingredients and try and go as natural as possible by using things like coconut oil to help moisture your skin.

Some key ingredients to watch out for include: BHA, BHT, DEA-related ingredients, coal tar, formaldehyde,  dibutyl phthalate, parabens, parfum, petrolatum, sodium laureth sulfate, and triclosan.

While it may seem scary and overwhelming to navigate all the products out there, there are companies that do focus on educating consumers and providing safer products for us all.

BodyTalk: Holistic Healing for the 21st Century

September 28, 2016 /

holistic healing courtesy freedigitalphotos.netWhen you combine the clinical findings of Applied Kinesiology, the expertise of Western medicine, the energy dynamics of acupuncture and the wisdom of modern physics and advanced mathematics, what do you get? A state of the art integrative holistic healthcare paradigm: The BodyTalk System, one of the current fastest growing complementary holistic healthcare systems in the world!

What is BodyTalk and Why is it truly holistic healing?

The BodyTalk System is a comprehensive and dynamic system of energy medicine that is constantly evolving. It unifies a large number of highly recognized healing methods and principles of knowledge into one all encompassing system. BodyTalk addresses the bodymind from a truly holistic perspective and recognizes that the physical, mental and emotional components are inseparable; hence, all levels are worked on concurrently.

The BodyTalk System does not diagnose or address diseases on a symptom level; it creates an energy balance in the body that involves the body’s own innate restorative powers. It can be used as a stand alone system to address all physical, mental and emotional health issues and can also be integrated to support any other healthcare modality to enhance its effectiveness and promote even faster healing.

Why is BodyTalk Unique?

If you think of the image of an iceberg, most of the bulk of the ice lies beneath the water’s surface. This is similar to how most of the underlying causes of diseases and illness are not immediately seen or known but are deeper than the superficial level. BodyTalk is a holistic healing system that works with a priority basis- which means rather than focusing on giving someone a diagnosis of what is “wrong”, we focus instead of what needs to be addressed first, then second, and so on. For example,  if the liver was detoxified prior to ensuring the intestines were digesting and eliminating properly, the individual may get sicker if the toxins are not being released from the body. This means the BodyTalk holistic approach can eliminate the tendency for a “healing crisis.”

Once we use neuromuscular feedback to determine the priority for today, BodyTalk uses a variety of simple techniques to restore balance in the body and mind, as well as light tapping and touch over the 3 brains (head, heart, and gut).

To summarize, BodyTalk does not diagnose and uses non-invasive techniques that cannot cause harm in accord with the priority of its inner wisdom. It is truly holistic, and is complementary to other health care modalities, with which it can be seamlessly integrated.

How Does BodyTalk Work?

Areas in the bodymind that lack communication or synchronicity are addressed with the application of practical, effective techniques to facilitate wellbeing from within. This is done in an individual manner. No two clients, even those with seemingly identical symptoms, will have the same areas that are not communicating or working as a team with the bodymind. Much like the expression: give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for life, BodyTalk facilitates the body’s ability to heal itself. Once the body’s innate restorative powers are empowered with this new enhanced communication, it is then able to more effectively heal the bodymind from within, enabling lasting patterns of good health.

If you are curious about how BodyTalk can help support holistic healing in your life, give me a call at 503-347-0258 or use the scheduler below to set up a free phone consultation.


The Body’s Amazing Self-Healing Ability

September 28, 2016 /

The human body has an amazing potential for self-healing when we supply it with the right conditions. If our stress level is kept at a reasonable level, we eat good quality, nutrient rich food, and we get good rest (among other factors), our bodies are designed to be able to keep themselves healthy and functioning well.

Think about how your body immediately begins to deal with a minor injury like when you nick your finger while chopping vegetables for dinner. Do you stop to tell your body to clot your blood or to fight off any potential infection in the area of injury? Do you think about regenerating the tissue in the area? No! And yet the body immediately goes to work self-healing and doing those things. And this happens on a larger scale than just minor cuts, bruises and scrapes- our bodies are always working to keep us healthy.

self-healing

The problem comes when our bodies get overloaded by stress and don’t have all the resources they need to resolve our health problems and self-heal. When I talk about stress, I like to use the analogy of a fuse box. When we are too stressed, it is like the fuses in our fuse box get blown and then it becomes hard for our body to continue to keep itself healthy or to heal from whatever health issues (big or small) that we might be having because our circuits are “blown”.

This is where getting support from BodyTalk can help. BodyTalk is an amazing tool to reset the body’s fuse box so that it can begin to heal. BodyTalk can also support things like improving your digestion so you absorb all the nutrients from your food more efficiently and can help you get better quality sleep too.

If you are curious about how BodyTalk can help “reset your fuses” and improve your self-healing ability, give me a call at 503-347-0258. I’d love to talk to you about what is going on with your health and how BodyTalk might be a great support for you! I don’t charge for phone consultations so give me a call today.

BodyTalk for Autoimmune Disease: Lyn on the Radio

September 5, 2016 /

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being a guest on Sharon Sayler’s radio show, the Autoimmune Hour. If you didn’t get a chance to listen when the show was live, you can listen the recording here. Our talked focused on BodyTalk as an effective approach to help with autoimmune diseases.

Here’s a little overview of what Sharon and I talked about:

What happens when we allow our body’s energy systems to be re-set with healing methods such as Body Talk? In this interview, Lyn shares that your body is designed to heal itself, and together we explore the ‘bigger picture’ of health including:

  • How stored trauma and trapped emotions affect us
  • How to breathe your way to feeling better
  • How to talk to your body so it will answer you
  • How to reframe unpleasant memory or emotion