How often do you wake up in the midst of the night? Doesn’t Jackie Sabath capture its essence in her poem, the 4 am Club?
Get some ideas for sleeping more soundly below. [Read more…]
Wholesome Resources for Mind-Body Mastery through Yoga, Meditation, Guided Imagery, Stress Relief, Wellness
by Julie Lusk
How often do you wake up in the midst of the night? Doesn’t Jackie Sabath capture its essence in her poem, the 4 am Club?
Get some ideas for sleeping more soundly below. [Read more…]

Get the latest resources to unify and balance your mind, body and spirit connection with yoga, meditation, guided imagery and real relaxation. Uplifting quotes too! Mind Body Helpers
Find out how the mindbody connection can either help or hinder your health. Get practical tools to transform yourself and optimize your health with ease. Mind Body Connections
Transform daily stress into the energy needed to enjoy life. Going through life’s adjustments and changes can add unwanted stress causing unhappiness, sickness, poor relationships and lack of energy. Improve your ability to handle stress by practicing these effective ways to cope with stress. DARE to Relax © DARE = Diet, Awareness, Rest & Relaxation, and Exercise.
Enjoy a comprehensive approach to wellness and stress management that includes all the components needed for creating and maintaining professional and personal power. SPICES for Life © SPICES = Social. Physical. Intellectual. Career. Emotional, and Spiritual wellbeing.
Going through life’s adjustments and changes can add unwanted stress causing unhappiness, sickness, poor relationships and lack of energy. Improve your ability to handle stress by practicing the following effective ways to cope with stress.
♥♥♥♥♥ DARE to Relax is featured in the Mind-Body Mastery eBook. Instant Download! ♥♥♥♥♥
DARE to Relax includes: D = Diet; A = Attitude and Awareness; R = Rest, Relaxation and Relationships; E = Exercise.
DIET: Don’t deprive yourself of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that can help you reduce the effects of daily stress. Stress uses up your supply of vitamins A, B and C that can lead to feeling irritable and tired. Calcium is essential
for your central nervous system to function normally. Without enough, your nerves become frayed. If you consistently eat well-balanced meals, you can fortify your system giving you the nourishment to guard against the harmful effects of stress.
ATTITUDE AND AWARENESS: Research shows that as much as 75% of illnesses are the result of experiencing too much stress. Not being able to handle stress properly can decrease the effectiveness of your immune system. Become more aware
of how you respond to tension and stress in your life and begin to make adjustments. Are you responding appropriately? Could you be over-reacting? Is it possible to avoid or change a situation that causes you anxiety? By improving your awareness and improving how you react to stress, it might be possible to avoid some of your headaches, stomachaches and other problems. Try laughing. Laughter is like internal jogging. It aids digestion and improves alertness and productivity by sending blood and oxygen to your brain and increases the production of the body’s catecholamines.
REST AND RELAXATION: It is much easier to handle stress if you are rested and know how to remain calm. Getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night is essential. Although recreation and being diverted from stress is helpful (playing
tennis, watching a movie) true relaxation is different. It involves giving yourself an honest break from activity and excess stimulation. Breathing deeply, smoothly, slowly and from the diaphragm is relaxing since it too sends a fresh supply of blood to the brain and throughout the body. It oxygenates your system and even slows down the heartbeat.
EXERCISE: When under stress, there is an increase of adrenalin in the system as part of the flight or fight response, which can drain you of energy if not effectively released. Exercise regularly to work stresses off positively. This can improve your productivity and increase your energy. Be sure to choose physical activity that you enjoy.
Learning to cope with the stressors of daily living is crucial to health, happiness and well-being. It is estimated that 60 to 90 percent of medical conditions are stress-induced or worsened by stress. This is costly in terms of medical bills, absenteeism, and loss of productivity. An obvious remedy is to learn self-care techniques that both reduce stress and help one cope with the effects of stress.
DARE to Relax © is a wellness-based relaxation training and stress management program that is practical and well rounded. The format includes a balance of factual information and experiential activities. Participants will:
→ Julie Lusk, M.Ed. is available to speak about DARE to Relax ® and a variety of wellness and mind/body topics at your special event.
→ DARE to Relax is featured in
by Julie Lusk
Joan Borysenko says…
Meditation is a form of mental martial arts. If we resist thoughts, they will overpower us. But if we just step lightly out of their way, letting them come and go like birds flying overhead, we can use their energy to further focus our minds.
The nature of the mind is to think and create, so the mind naturally wanders during meditation. The demoralizing thought that only your mind wanders while other meditators are sitting there in bliss is a major reason why people give up on meditation practice. All people think when they meditate. What distinguishes the novice from the skillful meditator is the attitude of detached awareness that the skillful meditator maintains toward thinking.
Is this true for you? How do you handle it when your mind is restless?
OM |AUM conveys universal peace, harmony, and divinity. Om is the sound vibration of the true Self (Atman) and exemplifies supreme consciousness. The sacred vibration of Om (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain) is similar in sound and meaning to Amen (Christian), Amin (Islamic). Notice how Shalom (Hebrew) and Om Shanti (Sanskrit) share similar sounds expressing peace.
Comprehensive in nature, Om is visualized by the image (yantra) above. It is the cosmic, primordial sound vibration of divine universal consciousness. Like other mantras, it transcends the mind and emotions. Its celestial qualities can be revealed and actualized when one’s body and mind vibrate to its sacred sound through repetition (japa). Repetition can be done out loud to influence us physically, whispered or with one’s lips for a mental-emotional effect, and silently for inspiring one’s higher Self.
Om is naturally heard when breathing out slowly. Start with your mouth open. Breathe out to hear aaahhh. Listen for ooouuu as your lips begin closing. You will hear mmmm when your lips close. Listen to the silent pause afterward.
The full meaning of Om is infinite. Over time, chanting Om and/or visualizing it personally can reveal its significance. Reading about it is helpful but cannot reveal its power. For inspiration, here is some of its meaning and symbolism. Colors are provided to aid understanding of the relationship between the visual and auditory experience of Om.
Written and compiled by Julie Lusk. Primary sources: Vedas, Mandukya Upanishad, Bhagavad Gita, and Yoga Sutras. ‘The Secret Power of Yoga’ by Nischala Joy Devi. Diagram and explanation of OM’s symbolic significance by Sreedevi Bringi.
OM Sound and Symbol– pdf Chart to Print
| Sound vibration | A (aaaah) | U (oouuu) | M (mmmm) | Silent Om |
| Visual symbolism | Bottom left curve | Side curve | Top left curve | Crescent moon = Illusion. Obstacles |
| Dot = true Self | ||||
| Aspects of time | Past | Present | Future | Timeless |
| Aspects of focus | Outward | Inward | Outer inner harmony | |
| Aspects of being | Body | Mind | Spirit | Absolute |
| Chakra energy | Lower chakras | Middle chakras | High chakras | |
| 4 awareness states | Waking |Duality | Dreaming | Sleeping | Nonduality | Turiya (4th state) |
| 4 mind states | Conscious | Subconscious | Unconscious | Turiya (4th state) |
| 3 realms | Earth | Atmosphere | Heaven | |
| 3 gunas (attributes) | Rajas (overactivity) | Sattva (harmony) | Tamas (inactivity) | |
| 3 universal forces | Creation | Preservation | Dissolution | |
| Trinity | Brahma
Father / Mother |
Vishnu
Son / Daughter |
Shiva
Holy Spirit |
OM Sound and Symbol– pdf Chart to Print