Joyfull Living – June 2018

Although you may be experiencing pain or discomfort in various parts of your body, many conditions that cause the symptoms of pain stem from autoimmune conditions that start with chronic inflammation in your gut. Autoimmune conditions range from chronic fatigue, thyroid disease, Crohn’s disease, IBS, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, allergies and asthma, to name a few. There are over 100 diseases confirmed to have an autoimmune component affecting over 23.5 million Americans. Feeling good starts in your gut. Do you have the guts to feel good?

The life cycle of inflammation:

It all starts with imbalance in your body caused by what you eat and the effects of a stressful, fast-paced lifestyle, with no time to balance the demands of the to-do list with a self-care regimen. Your body is designed to protect you, so it tries to give you the message with symptoms in your digestive system that start out benign, like heartburn, indigestion, and constipation. When you don’t respond to the first signs of inflammation, your body sends out a louder “code red” to activate the healing process that can turn into acute inflammation with more debilitating symptoms. Your body’s natural wisdom is to restore balance. When you resist this natural process and ignore the signs of stress, it causes a malfunction in your body’s healing ability. Your state of resistance is a tiresome tug of war between your mind & your body. Suffering comes from your resistance to slow down and listen. Pain in your body is your Soul-Self calling out for your love. Making time for self-care is one of the greatest acts of self-love and a powerful preventative measure to enable you to have the guts to be well.

Yoga is a particularly useful self-care practice that is designed to activate a healthy flow throughout all the systems of your being, particularly with the science of Pranayama, which includes several yogic techniques and exercises that regulate your life force through breathing. Through breathing you can activate the healing process in your gut and create healing space in your belly and mind to reduce your stress level. Stress is the number one cause of inflammation-related diseases. By practicing yogic breathing, you begin to restore balance in your mind and body, which in turn will affect your ability to have the guts to feel good.

Although it is essential to work with your team of doctors and healthcare professionals, it is equally important for you to partner with your body to restore balance in your mind, body, and spirit. You can do that by making time to practice yogic breathing and practice slowing down. This alone can ease some of the pain and symptoms. As you support your natural healing process, you are lessening the resistance and supporting your body’s own ability to be well.

EATING for the love of your Gut

Besides breathing, another life requirement is feeding your body. There is so much research that shows us the importance of a healthy gut microbiome to improve health and to achieve healthy body weight. Health professionals recommend that you eat whole foods rather than heavily processed foods, avoid excessive sugar and fast foods. (If you don’t have time to cook, you can find delicious, healthy prepared foods from the Jefferson Farm Kitchen located at JoyFull Yoga Wellness Center.) Studies also show that eating a balance of prebiotic and probiotic foods is a key to restoring a healthy gut.

Prebiotic foods include asparagus, bananas, garlic, onions, cruciferous vegetables, to name a few.

Probiotic foods include yogurt, kombucha, and fermented vegetables. I love making kraut and kombucha, and recently, on one of my Pico’s buying trips, I found an excellent solution: the Mortier Pilon Fermentation Crock and Kombucha Brewing Jar. These beautiful fermentation vessels are designed to make it quick and easy for you to make healing foods at home. (We are offering you an exclusive 20% OFF this MONTH at Pico’s—see ad.)

To learn more about how you can support your gut to be well, I have created a program to help you decipher all of the information out there, as well as offer you more in-depth information on yogic self-healing techniques and strategies to regain the guts to be well.

Go to www.foundation4yourlife.com and click on the program YOGA to LOVE your GUT to help you restore balance in your Mind Body and SPIRIT (use coupon code: GUTLOVE6-18).

Most importantly, make time to breathe. You can also sign up for my Free “Stress RX~ “Do-Do Rescue Remedy” to help you manage your day to day stress. Get it now at: www.Foundation4yourLIFE.com.