Spirited Woman Blogger Team

Meditation Used to Reduce Stress for Kids and Teens

As women, we serve so many roles in life. Daughter, wife, entrepreneur, sister, aunt and friend. One of the most wonderful (and challenging) roles is that of mother. We moms want not only to be happy for ourselves, but also for our children and family. We all have so much on our plates these days, it’s a wonder any of us can see straight at all!

In reality, our own happiness is often linked to the well-being of our children. As a Spirited Woman, I seek to find ways to share my joy and inner peace with my family, and especially my kids. When I see their smiling faces and hear their laughter, I know I can relax and enjoy the ride. For each of us, the real challenge is to share coping tools to help through those stressful rough patches.

USA Today wrote a recent article explaining the American Psychological Association's annual Stress in America survey results which show kids today are exhibiting stress-related behaviors related to the average family’s current financial and job stress levels. And the Washington Post wrote a recent piece on the possible correlation between brain impairment and stress.

Now we Westerners; parents, educators and doctors alike, are investigating meditation for our children and ourselves, as a natural way to soothe the stress, relieve anxiety and reduce mental over-stimulation. Over the last few years, several school systems, both domestic and abroad, have piloted meditation programs to help kids deal with the stress that comes with school, social pressures, family and growing up. For example, in the UK, a newspaper says “Pupils at a leading public school are to receive weekly 40-minute classes in meditation and stress relief in a ground-breaking addition to the school curriculum.” The entire story is HERE.

Creating Balance and Wellness with Acupuncture

As a kid, I remember always having a fear of going to the doctor and getting vaccinations. Actually, the vaccinations were fine, it was the thought of needles that scared me half to death. Now, I don’t dare miss my once-quarterly session with my acupuncturist. According to the National Institute of Health, acupuncture is defined as “the practice of inserting thin needles into specific body points to improve health and well-being.” For me, obviously, things have changed - since my belief in this health and wellness tool - way out weighs my fear of needles.

Acupuncture is an ancient healing practice originating in China over 2000 years ago. Performed by an acupuncturist by inserting several hair-thin needles into the skin at various calculated meridians, or energy pathways, in the body - the intent is to remove blockages in the flow of qi, chi or life force energy and restore and maintain health. The Mayo Clinic states, “In contrast, many Western practitioners view the acupuncture points as places to stimulate nerves, muscles and connective tissue. This stimulation appears to boost the activity of your body's natural painkillers and increase blood flow.”

Although science is still working to discover how it works, acupuncture has been shown to ease chronic joint and back pain, headaches and the side effects of chemotherapy. As I mentioned, I enjoy investigating alternative healing methods to assist me in living a well-balanced life and as I entered my 40’s, I found that my hormones and energy level would benefit from a boost. After speaking with my doctor to rule out any illness, a friend suggested I try acupuncture. Now I go once every three months for a “seasonal” pick me up. The procedure is completely pain free, and actually quite relaxing. I‘ve fallen asleep on the table on more than one occasion. It’s a simple, painless process to give my body’s natural immune system a kick start. For example, this last week, the energy points stimulated by the needles focus on the organs and flow of chi dealing with spring and the change of seasons.

Color Yourself Well

This is my favorite time of year. Sudden rain showers in April always bring unexpected rainbows over the local hills. With spring comes the burst of color in everyday life that always seems to lift my mood and help me set high hopes for the future. Bright red geraniums in the front yard, big yellow sunflowers behind the white picket fence down the street, purple peonies, pink tulips, orange poppies; life is reborn, vibrant and pulsating with vitality all around me.

It is a time to reflect on how we feel on the inside as well as the outside; abundant energy, positive mood and healthy skin and body. As a healing arts practitioner, I’ve learned much about the human energy field and how every aspect of our lives has a color associated with it. That means that we, as well as all living things, has life force energy and color related to it.

In her book Raw Food Life Force Energy: Enter a Totally New Stratosphere of Weight Loss, Beauty, and Health, author Natalia Rose, writes, “Natural, fresh food has harmonic vibrations that are very high in Life Force Energy. When you embrace a largely high-vibration, raw, sun-food diet (vegetables and fruits), you will reach states of physical and energetic ecstasy.“ That sure sounds good to me!

In essence, we have the opportunity to color ourselves healthy by eating a rainbow variety of healthy, live foods everyday. There is a helpful government nutritional website - with a tab named “Look Up Calories or Nutrients in Food” for a quick way to find the nutritional content of common foods we eat everyday.

Promising Alternative Treatment - Bee Sting Therapy

Every spring, I take a trip down to the local home improvement store to wander through the garden department and dream of my ideal garden. I’ve always heard that butterflies, hummingbirds and bees are a great compliment to the most astute gardener.

Recently, while strolling through the isle of herbs; lavender, sage, rosemary and thyme, I met a woman who mentioned how bees attracted to the aromatic herbs and flowers in her garden. When she saw my look of horror, she was quick to point out how she had been a happy patient of bee sting therapy for decades, and how it was the only thing that kept her diseased joints from swelling with painful inflammation. In fact, she said, bees were probably the reason she was able to continue to enjoy her hobby of backyard gardening.

Bee sting therapy, also known as bee venom therapy or Apitherapy, is the alternative medicine practice of placing honeybees on the body, at calculated points and with a prescribed number of bees, in a controlled environment by an accredited trained professional. It is a practice that has been available in China for over 3,000 years, and available in the US since the 70’s. According to the American Apitherapy Society, “Bee venom has potent analgesic and immunomodulatory properties that help reduce inflammation and promote healing. It also contains several anti-inflammatory compounds.”

The current trend towards people seeking to have complementary, inexpensive, non-surgical/pharmaceutical interventions for their ailments has propelled the practice of bee sting therapy into the spotlight lately. Apitherapy is currently being utilized for cancer treatment, pain management, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lyme Disease and fibromyalgia symptoms. As spirited women we are always looking for procedures that support and augment our quest for a full, healthy life, and bee sting therapy seems to be a promising treatment.

MiChelle Jeneen, www.facebook.com/spiritrefreshed, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/spiritrefreshed
Click here for more of MiChelle's posts.

Navigating the Healthcare Maze

Is anyone else confused by the tangled details of the new Health Care Reform Bill? The New York Times recently posted a rubric online. I’ve decided to focus on what I can control, and that is pursuing wellness, not treatment of disease (and who will pay for it). Two of the biggest keys to being a healthy, Spirited Woman are: 1) self-education, and 2) proactive, relentless pursuit of your own health and wellness.

As a person who has been blessed to have full medical coverage my entire life, I’ll be the first to admit I have always taken for granted the level of entitlement I’ve felt for quality health care. I remember my single mom having the insurance agent over for lunch every year to discuss options for getting us the very best health insurance she could afford for the two of us, regardless of the expense. I watched her pore over his written materials and grill him mercilessly on every detail of his plans. So naturally, when I started working full time, I never thought for a minute that I would forgo the paid medical insurance offered by my job at the time. My premiums were deducted from my paycheck every two weeks, and I enrolled every year for the best plan available.

A vibrantly healthy, fearless young woman, I would actually go years without visiting the doctor. My exercise-filled lifestyle kept me in good health for decades. Periodically, one of my girlfriends would have a health scare, and I’d be jolted back to the fact that I had full medical coverage. Picking up the phone to schedule a full battery of tests and exams was no big deal. I never dreamt it could be an option taken away from me at some point in life. Most of us are acutely aware of the devastation caused in families by illness when no or inadequate quality health care exists. So many women in this country have worked hard all their lives and when ill, have few alternatives for care as they have no insurance.

With the new Health Care Reform Bill, there are now informative resources available to assist you with deciphering it. The Government has a task force dedicated to disseminating information to the public, which will most likely go through many changes.

Healing Through Sound

Ever heard a song on the radio and immediately get transported back to a time where you felt happy and healthy? When it happens, don’t you feel your mood elevate and your lips part into a smile? Or have you listened to your wind chimes happily singing on a breezy day? The notes and tones just seem to tickle and vibrate joy through your whole body. Well, during these moments, you were actually experiencing sound healing.

As a Spirited Woman, I enjoy being able to have simple, inexpensive, natural and fun ways to experience wellness. And sound healing has been a great help for me over the years. I’ve often wondered about the mechanics of healing with sound, and why it works.

“Sound, and music of preference in particular, has been shown to be effective in pain management. Music reaches the emotional center of the brain, and has the capacity to stimulate release of our 'feel good' hormones that override the pain sensations. Meditation has been shown to be effective in relieving pain too. Both are natural alternatives to pain medication," says Judy Richman, a board-certified music therapist and speech pathologist and founder of the Music Therapy Wellness Center at California State University, where she is an associate clinical professor of music therapy. Judy also teaches meditation, guided imagery, and stress reduction and has co-written Sound Healing: Ease Chronic Pain (Sounds of Healing) (book & CD) with classical musician Howard Richman.

Science has confirmed that sound changes matter. Popularity of books like Dr. Masaru Emoto’s The Hidden Messages in Water have shown us how even speaking positive words can create healing sound waves. Sound healing can encompass tools like healing tuning forks, Tibetan crystal bowls (also called singing bowls) and healing music with a variety of frequencies and tones that make your heart (and body) sing. The technique called Bio-Tuning uses root frequencies and binaural beats, played back through a sound table, to entrain people into specific brainwave states.

Celebrating Women’s History Month Through Your Health & Well-Being

March is Women’s History Month and I am definitely feeling the love for my sisters. As a Spirited Woman, I’ve always strived to seek out those “fearless females” who have blazed the trail for others.

The National Women’s History Project theme for this year is "Writing Women Back into History." Even when recognized in their own times, women are often not included in the history books. National Women’s History Month provides an excellent venue to recognize and celebrate women’s historic achievements as well as an opportunity to honor women within our families and communities.

Today, we are fortunate to have organizations, and their strong women leaders, that focus specifically on our health and well-being. We often do so much for so many, our own wellness goes unattended. There are many scientists, researchers, nurses and doctors towing the line for our care.

This month, there are events and retrospectives planned to celebrate our illustrious place in history. A popular reference website, About.com has an interesting compilation of female doctors and nurses who set the foundation for modern medicine, as well as event calendars for events in various cities nationwide. For example, the society for Women’s Health Research is highlighting “20 years of Accomplishments in Women’s Health." In San Antonio, the UTSA is honoring Senator Leticia Van de Putte for her work in state legislature championing the specific healthcare needs of women and children. And the US Department for Health and Human Services Commission on Women’s Health has a full list of events in various locations across the country.

The Love of Creating a Happy (Inner) Home

It’s amazing how some people choose to look at life as having a glass half-full. It sounds cliché, but misery really does seem to love company. We all know that the current overtones and climate in the world are serious, and for some people, downright dire. However, a healthy dose of perspective and laughter can always be beneficial. Have I been called Pollyanna or accused of overuse of rose-colored glasses? Yes, more times than I can count. I find a way to look for the lesson and blessing, the proverbial silver lining, through out the bumps and bruises of life. Through all the ups and downs, what has served me best are my senses: common sense, a sense of gratitude and a sense of humor.

There is a relatively new science of psychotherapy emerging called Positive Psychology. Focusing on amplifying what works instead of harping on what does not work, it was  pioneered by Dr. Martin Seligman, professor and associate at the University of Pennsylvania. Time Magazine, in an article titled The New Science of Happiness discussed how when people focused on relationships like family and friends (and not necessarily money, things, and keeping a perfectly clean house), and doing in life what makes their heart sing, their happiness quotient raised exponentially. And U.S. News and World Report highlighted the findings at a four-day event, the First World Congress on Positive Psychology held by the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) attended by leading doctors, therapists and researchers dedicated to finding the key to a person living a more balanced life by lifting our spirits and living a more peaceful existence through happiness and positivity.

I’m always on the lookout for new, current resources to help me live my most joyful life. Lucy Danziger, Editor-in-Chief of Self Magazine and Catherine Birndorf, MD., psychiatrist and women's mental health at The Payne Whitney Women's Program in the Department of Psychiatry at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, have written a new book, The Nine Rooms of Happiness: Loving Yourself, Finding Your Purpose and Getting Over Life’s Imperfections. In it, they use the analogy of a house being the totality of all elements of our life and offer nine processes for getting rid of the negativity, accessing what works to create the happiness you really want to focus on. Their website is highly interactive with a discussion forums, instructional videos and “cheat sheets” for implementing the processes. Considering these women are so heavily invested in and committed to the wellness of women, I’d say they really know their stuff.

Sometimes our inner chatter is so loud, we are unable to hear the whisper of contentment and peacefulness inside. So each day, before my feet hit the ground, I set the intention of letting go of the need to be perfect and to fulfill the needs of the masses. Instead, keeping the rooms of my own inner house as neat (or untidy) as they need to be in that moment is just as perfect as anything needs to be.

MiChelle Jeneen, www.facebook.com/spiritrefreshed, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/spiritrefreshed
Click here for more of MiChelle's posts.

Chiropractic Medicine - Healing the Holistic Way

In our modern society, many more spirited women are seeking holistic answers to pain management, healing and overall wellness that they may not have considered even a decade ago. More self-empowering solutions to specific physical, mental and emotional health care needs.

Several years ago, after a car accident, I was introduced to my first chiropractor. Up to that point, anything I knew about chiropractors I learned from watching TV. Snap, crack, pop…magical transformation. Chiropractic medicine is defined as a hands-on therapy based on the theory that misaligned bones in the spine may cause many medical disorders.

The National Institute of Health's National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine has recognized chiropractic care as a valid form of treatment. They offer some great tips on what to expect at a chiropractor‘s office visit. People seek chiropractic care for a variety of ailments from headaches, neck and back pain, to ADD and low energy levels. When a patient goes for their first chiropractic appointment, the doctor (DC Doctor of Chiropractic) typically does a workup to discuss medical history, prescribed medications and what outcome they hope to reach. He or she then does a series of adjustments, or manipulations of joints and the spine, meant to relieve harmful pressure and to restore neurological pathways that allow the body to heal and self-correct whatever was blocked from the misalignment.

In my case, I had a series of about six sessions, over a few months, each appointment lasting about 30 minutes. There was no pain, and in the end, I did actually feel more balanced and pain free.

Drumming For Health

Have you ever been to a group drum circle? The first time I attended, I left feeling a deep sense of relaxation and emotional release. The advertisement said no musical experience necessary and instruments provided. When I walked into the room, there were all kinds of percussion instruments for us to choose from...tambourines, djembes, buffalo drums, click clacks and shakers. What a Spirited Woman adventure! It was not until afterward that I learned there is science behind the euphoric feelings we all floated out on that night.

Group drumming has been a part of indigenous cultures for centuries. Native American, Siberian, Korean, Chinese, African and Latin American have demonstrated their love of drumming at festivals, public shows and on the nightly world news. But research is showing promising results of drumming on strengthening the immune system, lowering blood pressure and increasing cancer-fighting T-cells, among other things. Some doctor are combining traditional medicine with drumming.

Barry Bittman, MD is a neurologist, author and international speaker. As CEO and Medical Director of the Mind-Body Wellness Center, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary outpatient medical facility in Meadville, PA., Dr. Bittman has pioneered a new paradigm for treating the person as a whole. “Along with conventional medical strategies, Dr. Bittman includes Health RHYTHMS group drumming in all of his disease-based programs.” The program integrates drumming, visualization and guided imagery in a fun, interactive way. In addition to having fun, people in their drum circles come for meditation, stress reduction, healing, and transformation.