I have loved these past 6 years.  During the first 3, I didn’t seem to miss much of my “stuff” as I was VERY focussed on my internal “stuff”. Journeying into myself, I didn’t need material goods, I needed time and space.  I had given myself lots of both of those things and resting in savasana, assimilating my new feelings and understandings was far easier with NO books nearby.

Now, I am on the verge of buying a home and for the first time in 10 years, and I am buying material goods again.  I bought a bed!  I have acquired books again and I am reading more.

AND, this stuff is heavy, not easily moved the way I have moved in the last 6 years.  I am beginning to see a new cycle emerge, one where I have room in my life again for stuff and yet is this what I really want??!!

Apparently, my love and life partner has been asking the same thing and sent me this lovely article to ponder.

Enjoy… in peace…

Post written by Leo Babauta.

We’re in love with stuff — with shopping, with acquiring, with owning, with collecting.

Let’s lust after life instead.

Our obsession with stuff has become unhealthy. When we have a void in our lives, we buy things. When we have problems, we buy things. And these things are becoming more and more expensive, bigger, shinier … more wasteful.

This obsession with stuff leads to owning a lot, having a lot of clutter … and yet this stuff doesn’t fill our lives with meaning.

It leads to deep debt, from buying so much, and needing bigger houses and storage spaces to contain everything. Financially, we’re worse off than ever, because of this obsession with stuff.

We buy things when we’re depressed, we buy things for others to show how much we love them … and in this way, stuff has separated us from actually dealing with our emotions, blocked us from truly connecting with others.

Let’s replace that lust for stuff with a lust for life.

Some ideas:

• Rediscover a passion for life. Get outside and feel nature, appreciate the beauty of the world around you. Get active, do some gardening or yardwork, play a sport, go for a walk, take a hike, go for a swim, ride a bike. Feel the life coursing through you. Breathe it in.
• Give experiences as gifts, not stuff. Instead of shopping for someone come birthdays or Christmas, think of an experience you can give them instead. A date with you, doing something fun, hanging out, cooking, playing, talking, exploring. A fun time at a park or beach. Something other than everyday. An experience is much more meaningful than an object.
• Connect with others. In real life. If you haven’t hung out with a friend recently, give him a call and go hang out. Get your kid away from the TV or video game player and take her outside to do something. Go on a date with your partner. Visit your mom or grandparents. And be present while you’re with them — really listen, really be there.
• Deal with your emotions. If you have a need to buy things, to shop when you are having emotional issues, be more aware of this. Then deal with the underlying emotions, rather than using shopping as a way to forget about them. If you’re depressed, or anxious, or lonely, deal with those. Find solutions, figure out what’s causing them. Good news: experiencing life, getting active, and connecting with others all help you deal with those emotional issues.
• Disconnect your attachment to stuff. Sometimes I find myself reluctant to give something up, even if I don’t really use it. And that’s when I ask myself, “Why?” What is holding me back from getting rid of this possession? Sometimes, the item has an emotional connection, but then I realize that it’s just an object, it’s not the emotion or the actual source of the emotion. Then I’ll take a picture of the item, upload it to my computer, and get rid of the object. I feel liberated, because I’ve broken an attachment to a physical object (but saved the memory). If you are attached to an object, figure out why — it’s not healthy in the long run.
• Realize that life, not stuff, is what matters. Objects are just objects — if you lose them, if they get stolen or destroyed … it’s not a big deal. They’re just objects — not your life. Your life is the series of moments that is steaming through your consciousness right now, and how you use those moments and what you fill them with is what truly matters, not what you fill your home with. At the end of this short journey, you’ll look back and remember your experiences, the people you loved and who loved you back, the things you did and didn’t do. Not the stuff you had.

Read more about simplifying in my book, The Power of Less.

What a wonderful gift to the world men are, men who are speaking their truth and opening their hearts!  These men who are taking a chance and sharing their story, their story of understanding and compassion. The consciousness of the world is changing and rising and I thank our men for their contributions to our healing journey.

Heal yourself, heal the world!  We are doing it!

Be picky and if your experience is less than wonderful, ask around and see if any other women have found someone worth seeing.  This relationship can be a very significant one.  Please go for the best!  I still receive messages and calls from past pregnancy clients and updated photos of their gorgeous children! 

Benefits can include:

increased relaxation

provide supportive environment

PLEASE NOTE:  the abdominal, the low back and the sacral areas are only gently massaged or NOT AT ALL during the FIRST TRIMESTER!

• decreased pain and postural dysfunctions
• decreased compression syndromes
• relieve breast congestion
• reduced edema
• increased circulation
• decreased trigger points, spasms and hypertonicity in affected muscles
• balance hyperkyphosis and/or hyperlordosis
• enhancing musculoskeletal health
• abdominal massage for relaxing and balancing digestion and elimination
• joint health
• decreased insomnia
• decreased leg cramps
• stretching and strengthening exercises
• hydrotherapy…the use of water (in its various forms) to provide comfort and relief for various conditions
• relaxation strategies:  diaphragmatic breathing, time for oneself.

Ask LOTS of questions and enjoy your time for self care!

This article was featured in my community newspaper back in February 2009.  I feel it adds a little more to the story of my journey in this healing profession.

Hands On Healing Bodywork is a reinvention of my massage therapy and healing practice in Toronto. I have been practising here on Salt Spring Island since 2004, taking additional training in Ayurveda, CranioSacral and Yoga. I have a variety of experience, working with pregnant clients, clients with cancer, clients with serious injuries, whether sports or job related and clients with emotional needs for support.

Are you feeling stressed? Do you long to pause? Do you want your body and your mind to relax? Is that pain in your neck more aggravating as each day unfolds? Take the time to increase your level of relaxation, be in a supportive environment, decrease pain and muscular/postural dysfunctions, increase your circulation thereby boosting your immune functioning, decrease trigger points, spasms and hypertonicity in your muscles, enhance your overall musculoskeletal health and joint health, decrease insomnia and learn take home relaxation strategies for self healing.

I have always recognised the need for balance and integration in my own life. Through my own personal beliefs and my studies in Meditation, Ayurveda, Yoga and Massage, I help you to experience unity through open hearted presence and consciousness, as well as deep relaxation and healing through massage and body wisdom. This is a deeply profound experience.

My studio space provides you a place to stop time and connect with your own wellness needs. My training gives me a unique combination of western and eastern philosophies that creates a balance between the worlds, a place where you can come and be deeply moved, physically, emotionally and spiritually. This is a partnership, where, together we create an environment of trust, allowing movement toward optimum healing.

Gift certificates are a great idea for Valentines!

Call me today at 250-537-3663 and book your appointment for greater relaxation, balance and well being!

Peace be the journey.

1. keep your chin level with the earth
2. touch your belly all day long
3. breathe!

Number one allows your head to be in alignment with your spine.  You will fell much more energised throughout the day especially in the late afternoon lull when most of us reach for some sugar or caffeine to give us that energy. In allowing this alignment of the head with spine, your posture is more naturally passive, taking less energy to hold you upright and allowing more energy to flow along your spine and to your brain.

Number two brings you back into your body through breath.  As you touch your belly and I mean that area below your waist around your hips, you can feel any tension that may be blocking your breath and flow of energy.  Simply touching this area will tell your brain what is going on and your brain will naturally bring more breath to this belly area.  Softening and releasing tension in your belly increases digestive function helping to eliminate waste products more effectively thereby decreasing fatigue from bile build up.

Number three may sound ridiculous because if course we are breathing.  Are you aware that you have ben holding your breath just until you finish that email?  Oh and just one more reply to this email and you can go and breathe… I’m suggesting you breathe as you write the email.  It may take a few moments longer but that particular email with breath may just be the solution your company has been looking for all week long, or the response your sister needed to read to allow herself some peace.  Breathe and type, breathe and listen, breathe and speak.  Why not?

Simple:  breathe, touch and equilibrium with the earth, simple.

Enjoy the peace through release!

I am now partnering with the lovely Charlene Linnell of beautifulthinks.com.

This creates another wonderful venue for me to express my heart’s inner cravings of love, union, support and peaceful creativity.