Integral Wellness Blog

In the Jewish mystical tradition known as Kabbalah, they say that your name was given to you directly by God. However you want to define God, this can be a radical shift in how you relate to your name (it was for me!). Your parents may have been inspired by a great grandmother, a slick movie star or a baby name book, but on a deeper level if this is true, it has tremendous implications for how you can learn to find the key to your soul’s purpose.

The Kabbalist’s believe that letters and the sounds they create are actually codes of reality. In line with their belief about one’s name, the unique letters that make up your unique name, are like keys to your connection with the divine or you could say your higher self.

On this retreat with one of my main teachers, Thomas Hubl, he led us in a meditation where we would imagine our full name floating above our heads a few feet in the air. We imagined that the name was like a unique entry point to the cosmic internet, the database of all information that had ever been created. We would imagine that energy field of our name connecting to the energy field of all that is.

Once we felt the energy field open above our heads, we would then write, Dear Michael (in my case) and allow the pen to start writing. What emerged was like a channeled message from my higher self that read like a spiritual text. We then could ask ourselves questions and again start with Dear (our name) and the answers were simply profound! I encourage you to check this out on your own through a journal process doing what I just described.

I’ll be creating a meditation for purchase on this in the new year and that will be included as part of my new home-study program “Elegant Evolution: A Step by Step Resource Kit and Inspiration Station for Getting Unstuck, Feeling Freer, and Co-Creating Limitless Growth” that is on a special pre-sale right now! Check it out by clicking the above link.

To give you a taste of an excerpt from my higher self download…

“Times change and so does the way we orient to ourselves and reality. The time to become one with your essence is right now. It has always been there waiting for this Now. It is patient and urgent knowing you will accept it into your heart when the identification with who you have been told you are, becomes seen as the stepping stone, the building block, the matter that bridges Spirit with from. This explosion in the sky also takes place in your heart. Its a karmic alchemy where the building blocks of your past, no matter how seemingly ugly and disjointed, are the exact ingredients for the gold you soul has been born to weave.”

May you seen all that has come and all that is as the exact ingredients for the gold you were meant to weave in this life.

With Boundless Love,

Michael (now going by my full name to embody the fullness of the name Spirit gave me)

I was recently caught up in a mental funk that led to low energy, negative perceptions of my life, and just an overall bad mood. Compounded upon this mental state, was my semi-conscious belief that the state would last forever.

In Buddhism, they speak of the arrow of suffering that penetrates us all given that we are involved in the human condition. The Buddha warns against adding “suffering arrows” by judging oneself, focusing on the negative situation, or basically wanting to feel something other than what is present for you. The arrow of suffering is enough, we don’t need more arrows!

In my case, I need to get out of the house and start moving towards completing unfinished tasks (like writing a blog post ) to enable the energy inside of me to start flowing fluidly again. I also had to laugh at the fact that I was “thinking” that this state I was in was going to last indefinitely.

We can internally de-bunk the myth of permanence of our mental state that our mind creates by remembering that even this state is temporary and will soon pass. The notion of “this too will pass” is a widely used phrase. However, when someone says that to you and you get pissed off, irritated, frustrated, etc. you are still resisting the mind state you are in.

Next time you get wrapped up in a mental funk, close your eyes, feel into your breathing, and notice if any information arises as to why this state is present. If something arises, listen to it and follow your gut of what steps to take. If nothing arises, simply rest in complete acceptance of your current situation. You have to be sincere in this effort, really open your heart to whatever unpleasant mental state you are in. When you find that acceptance (you will know by your body and mind relaxing just a bit), you can then hold a greater perspective that what is happening now will not continue happening forever.

This small realization can open up the possibilities to finish that to-do list, take a walk, go the gym, smile for no reason, or do something that gives you a different experience and therefore changes your perception. The next time you feel a funk coming on, trust that it will be a temporary guest and use some of the aforementioned strategies to move back into your center.

Have a beautiful day!

Mike

I am currently on a train from Boston to NYC on my journey back to the bay area. Needless to say, my training was INTENSE! So much was learned and I am ready to get back home and hit the ground running. Blog posts, bay area workshops, and individual services will be in full force upon my arrival on the West Coast.

At Kripalu in MA, they have these plaques on the walls of the stairwells with inspirational quotations. The plaque above relates to the topic of this blog post. “Yoga” as it is used here can be exchanged with happiness, purpose, dharma, life of your dreams, etc.

One of the most poignant things that I have noticed in the “real world” after I left my little yoga utopia of Kripalu, is the palpable unhappiness that radiates off of so many people in the world. Simply sitting on the subway, the majority of people look frustrated, dejected, tired, stressed, and other states of being that are less than desirable.

The good news is that we can live a life that is pain-free, low-stress, meaningful, joyful and spiritually full. Despite claims to the contrary, there is no get-rich/healthy/happy quick scheme that actually works in any sort of meaningful way. There are however things you can do in whatever part of your life that feels unbalanced that can bring you not only to an equilibrium in your life, but to a high degree of wellness and happiness.

Our country’s founders had the difficulties of the human condition in mind when they phrased “the pursuit of happiness” as something that takes consistent work and practice to be experienced. If we dedicate ourselves to healing and growing path, we can achieve amazing things for ourselves and for this world.

This post is less of practical as it is inspirational. With the time I will have at home along with the enormity of wonderful information I gained on my training, I will be providing you the framework in several areas of your life to enable that practice and pursuit of happiness to yield results.

The beautiful thing is that you can start wherever and however you currently are. It sounds kind of corny, but today, this moment is where your journey can begin. No matter how your life has looked up until this second, you have a choice to move in a different direction forward.

The second part of the quotation relates to “non-attachment.” Deepak Chopra said that “intention is desire without attachment.” What this is saying is that it takes consistent practice to heal and grow into the life of your dreams. The other side of practice is allowing the things that you strive for to come into your life. A sense of surrender or letting go of the outcomes is a helpful counterpart to practice on the healing/growing journey. By all means practice and set intentions for the things that will best serve you. At the same time, it can also be helpful to be open and flexible to the unique and surprising opportunities that begin to show up in your life as you move forward. These opportunities may be in alignment with your “plan” of how things are and often the things we need the most, are sometimes the hardest to accept. I encourage you to have an open heart and a discerning mind as you move forward in your life.

Please follow this blog and sign up for my newsletter (integralwellnessmb.com/Newsletter.html) to receive free resources to give you things to practice as you continue on your healing and life journey. Look for one thing today that makes you smile and allow this perfect unfolding of your life to occur.

In peace,

Mike

As our society evolves, so does the demands on the people that live within it. That often means higher expectations at work, more pressure, more stress, and all the negative side effects that more stress brings about.

Oftentimes, we experience the stress reactions as habitual patterns that no longer can be differentiated from our everyday existence. In other words, stress becomes our “normal” state without us even knowing it. HOWEVER…this does not need to be the case! As with any change of habit, awareness needs to be present for any sustainable change to occur.

Lets take an example from someone who works at a computer with a demanding boss. We are often asked to do multiple things at once, after all, we are a multi-tasking society! You may need to distribute an email to a client, send a progress report to a boss, and turn in an expense report all by the end of the day…and its 4:50!

What does your body look in this situation? Are your shoulders up by your ears or relaxed? Is your breath deep and relaxed or is it constricted and shallow? Is your mood calm or anxious?

There is obviously a strong connection between the mind and body, when we have consistently negative moods, our body exhibits imbalances in the form of muscle tightness, compromised immune system, and even disease. However, by brining awareness to our mind, breath, and body, we can begin to shift our reactions to life’s inevitable demands and in turn affect positive change in our mind and body.

The Breath as a Bridge Between the Mind and Body

The breath acts as a bridge between our mind and our body. The tense shoulders from rushing to finish the emails under time pressure, can lead to a shallow breathing pattern in the chest, which then can affect the mood state turning into a feeling of anxiety or other detrimental emotion. Are you able to leave that anxiety/frustration/burnout/etc. at work or do you take it home with you? Instead of unintentionally allowing the tight shoulders and demands at work to turn into an emotional end result that you are not happy with, brining awareness to your particular response to situations and choosing new behavior, can lead to a more balanced stance towards your work and better boundaries with your emotions.

Using the Breath to Break the Stress Cycle

Take time to notice if your shoulders are completely relaxed or if they are tense and up closer to your ears. The first step is to notice where you hold your stress in the body, and then engaging in practices that help to alleviate that stress. When you are in your car leaving work, or some other private space after being triggered by a boss or a stressful situation at work, try these simple breath techniques. Try each one and see which is best suited for your personality and your needs.

1. Inhale and lift your shoulders up by your ears, and as you exhale slowly allow the shoulders to descend down and let out a deep sigh. Be as loud as you need to be given what you need to let go of and the amount of privacy you have. Repeat this 3-6 times or as much as you need to let go of some tension. Make your breaths very deep and long, slowly releasing as much tension in your body as you can.

2. Do the same inhale and bring the shoulders by the ears, but this time allow the shoulders to drop suddenly and say “ha” as they drop down. If this feels too forceful, stick with the first technique. Sometimes this drastic change from shoulders up to down, really shows the stark difference between holding tension and releasing and allows you to break up some of that stuck energy in your shoulders.

3. The last technique begins like the first two, but instead of saying “ha” once, you say “ha” and bounce your shoulders 5 times and say “ha” each time. Try this by yourself, or in public if you are open like that , and allow the “ha’s” to turn into a belly laugh where you relax your face, relax your shoulders, and reframe your perspective on the situation.

Of course these techniques are not going to “solve” your stress problems, but they do give you a way to bring awareness to how you hold your body as well as ways to help dissipate stress once it becomes apparent to you. From this calmer space you can take more perspective on some deeper patterns contributing to your stress such as being a perfectionist, not being able to say no, poor time management, etc.

Office Ergonomics

Office ergonomics are also a contributing factor to work-related body tension. Here are some quick tips to a balanced work station:

1. Sitting at your desk, close your eyes, lift your heart and descend your shoulders, and sit straight and tall in your chair. Allow your head to be directly over your shoulders and look straight forward (even though your eyes are closed). Then gently open your eyes. You should be looking at the center of your computer screen from this position. It allows the neck to sit directly on the shoulders rather than slumped forward and down. Place a couple books or other props to get the screen to this level.

2. Have your knees be below your hips in your office chair. This may mean that you need to raise your chair up higher and perhaps have a foot rest that is angled towards you. If you have a ergonomics department at work, call them! If not, be creative and simply sit the chair a little higher, sitting closer to the front of the chair so your knees can be below your hips. This allows your spine to be more effortlessly straight.

3. A final tip is to make sure your elbows are by the sides of your body as you type. If the elbows are forward of the sides, you are also bringing your shoulders forward and creating stress on the upper back. This stress then affects the muscles at the base of the neck and causes more strain in the body, which leads to shallower breath, which leads to emotions you don’t want, and on the story goes.

4. A final tip would be to practice the above breathing techniques to relax the tension that is present and bring more awareness to your body to not allow existing stress to get worse. This is of course a continual practice, but the longest journey starts with a single step. You can begin to make a shift in how you feel at work. I will be filming a short video for yoga at work in the September issue of my newsletter, “Life as Practice” so be on the look out for that. If you have not subscribed to my newsletter yet, you can by going to www.integralwellnessmb.com/Newsletter.html I will also continually be having more info on how to stay as balanced as possible at work through different practices and awarenesses.

My plan is to make these posts a bit shorter in the future, there is just so much to say. I plan to post again by the end of the week with some more tips to help you live a more balanced, passionate, and radiant life. I hope you are having a beautiful day!

In peace,

Mike

Hello from Massachusetts! I never could have imagined how palpable the energy at Kripalu truly is. As soon as you arrive, the mist that kisses the mountains of the Berkshires smile below at the rich, dense forest greenery with a beautiful lake at its edges. Kripalu’s surroundings are grand and beautiful, yet austere inside the walls. The simplicity and purity are seen in the decor, food, and the energy of the people occupying this spiritual place.

My Integrative Yoga Therapist Training does not begin until this evening, but I was able to take an “Ayurveda Tools for Renewal” workshop this afternoon. Ayurveda (Ar-you-veydic) medicine is a ancient healing practice from India based on the balance of the 5 elements in your body. The workshop was geared towards general tips to cleanse your senses in a daily practice that leads to more physical, emotional, and energetic balance.
The times of the day and seasons play a big role in what practices are indicated and how the body responds to the environment. The workshop covered some general guidelines during the day based on the natural rhythms of existence.

Daily Routine

-2-6am: qualities of lightness and clarity. This time of the day is perfect for spiritual practice such as meditation, prayer, and other contemplative acts. You will actually feel more awake when you get up during this time than if you sleep in later than 6am.

-6-10am: qualities of heaviness and lethargy. This is a great time to exercise, practice yoga, take a walk, etc. Contrary to Western nutrition, Ayurveda holds that it is better to eat a lighter meal because digestion is heavy and slower at this time.

-10am-2pm: qualities of fire and heat. This is a great time to eat the largest meal of the day because your body’s digestion is at its strongest. A quiet, relaxed environment is helpful to ease the heat of this time of day.

-2-6pm: the cycle of qualities recirculates and has the same as 2-6am. This is the time when the nervous system is most activated and is a great time for activities involving thinking and creativity.

-6-10pm: the same qualities of 6-10am pertain to this time. It is a time to wind down the day and again, digestion is slowed and a small dinner is preferred and no food after 8pm is recommended.

-10pm-2am: the same qualities of 10am-2pm pertain to this time. This is a time for the body to detoxify. If you eat food later in the evening, the body’s slow digestion will be preoccupied with digesting the good you ate rather than detoxifying the body.

These recommendations, like any recommendations I will share with you, are never absolute. We are all extremely different in countless numbers of ways and there is no one-size-fits-all advice in any realm. That being said, simply notice if these qualities match your experience and notice if trying some of these recommendations for several weeks makes a difference in how you feel.

Cleansing the Nasal Passages

Some of the Ayurveda techniques for cleansing the senses can seem pretty intense and foreign to a Western mind. However, if you go to any organic market or Whole Foods, you will find many different Ayurveda based practices. Even traditional drug stores carry items such as a Neti Pot to cleanse the nasal passages.

Nose

-Neti Pot: translated into English as “nasal irrigation or cleansing”, the Neti pot may seem like one of the most “out-there” Ayurveda recommendations and it is also one of the most beneficial. The Western equivalent are salt solution spray bottles that you squeeze up your nose.

Neti pots help to increase your breathing capacity and should be used if you are experiencing blockages due to a deviated septum, asthma, headaches, lethargy, anxiety, depression, nasal polyps, headaches, and allergies. Of course this is not a cure all, but the increased breathing capacity and energetic cleansing that Neti produces, allows more oxygen to enter the body and brain which therefore helps to alleviate some symptoms of the above conditions. Neti should not be used if you have a sinus infection.

Basically, you have this small pot with a long spout and you fill it with warm water and between a pinch and a tablespoon of non-iodized salt. There are special salts available, but non-iodized sea salts will work fine. DO NOT USE epson salts because this type of salt does not mirror the kind of salt found in the body.

To practice Neti pot, you place the warm water in the pot, place the spout in one nostril, tilt your head so you are looking up at the ceiling, open and breathe through your mouth, and slowly pour the water into one nostril and allow it to drain out the other nostril. As a general rule, if it burns you should use less salt and if it feels like you are swallowing the water you should use more salt. You must play with the temperature of the water and the amount of salt before you find the right combination for your body.

Pour half of the pot in one nostril, then half in the other. Gently blow your nose after the pot is complete to remove any excess water that may be remaining in the nose. It sounds a little intense, but its benefits are numerous and it is deserving of a try. You can find a Neti pot at any health food store, drug store, Whole Foods, or just google search “Neti pot” to find it online.

A less intense way to cleanse the nostrils is called Nasya (nasal lubrication). To practice, place a drop of sesame oil in each nostril, gentle close one nostril after the drops are in and breathe in a short quick breath to get the oil into the throat. Keep your head tilted back for a few seconds so the oil remains in the body. Some oil may come down into the throat, but that is OK. The taste may seem a bit funky at first, but you will begin to enjoy it after a few days.

This practice is great for sinus congestion, dry nose, lethargy, allergies, and sinus issues. You can find sesame oil at any health food store, Whole Foods, or online. Organic is best if you can find it. If you want to combine the two, practice with a Neti pot first, then practice Nasya.

My plan is to engage in both of these practices every day, among other practices to cleanse the eyes, ears, skin and mouth for the full month I am at Kripalu. I stocked up on all of my Ayurveda gear, and will report back later in the month to the changes that I am experiencing. I hope you found this post useful and I look forward to providing some more Wellness tips in the near future!

In peace,

Mike

Welcome to Integral Wellness Blog! This blog will cover an array of topics related to health, wellness, and personal development. Starting on August 22nd, I will be blogging from an Integrative Yoga Therapist Training at Kripalu in Massachusetts. The training is one of the most comprehensive yoga therapy programs in the world and uses knowledge from yoga philosophy, physiology, subtle energy, aryuvedic medicine and more to develop yoga-based therapeutic interventions for individuals and groups. I will be sharing gems from my studies that you can incorporate into your life in your pursuit of happiness and integral wellness!