She got a divorce...and lost 10 pounds!

True story:

A yoga student of mine came to a series of workshops based on my book, Peaceful Mind, Thinner Body: A Woman's Week-by-Week Guide to Emotional Weight Loss.

At our last session, she claimed, she needed to divorce her husband.  But she was scared he would be a tyrant, that she would be lonely, and that she would have no money.

I looked at her and said, he is a tyrant, you are lonely, and you have no money (he did not contribute financially).

Weeks later, she came to my big book signing.  We didn't have much time to talk, but she did manage to tell me he was out of the house and that she is happy.

Weeks after that, she came to my yoga class.  Having a bit more time to talk, she proceeded to tell me that he wasn't a tyrant, he simply said ok...tell me when to sign the papers.  Since then, her daughter and 1 month old grand-daughter moved in...she's no longer lonely.  And her daughter contributes to the rent...so she has more money!

And here's the biggest kicker: she lost 10 pounds!

See...our emotional weight is tied to our physical weight.  That is why this book is so powerful.  It doesn't show it on the cover, but on the back cover you see my weight loss transition.  I was 50 pounds heavier than I am today.  Working through the emotions leads to shedding the pounds!

It also doesn't show it on the cover, but the book comes with an accompanying guided imagery CD.  It works like a mail-in rebate.  Once you have the book, fill out and return the last page to me, and you will receive the CD.

Just wanted to share.

You can buy my book at amazon.com, target.com, borders.com, etc.  Enjoy!

Allow Time for Tears

Within this fast-paced, upbeat world, there comes an expectation.  The expectation is that we are to show up in life upbeat and positive.  That to feel down and express tears is a sign of weakness.  If you are seen crying, it is assumed you are unable to handle your job, your marriage, your children, and your life.

The truth is tears are a release.  Tears allow you to free your body, mind, and soul of frustration, disappointment, anxiety, and fear.  Each and every one of us experiences these common emotions.  Emotions: good, bad, or indifferent, are something we as people all have in common.

Allow your tears to flow.  Do so in front of someone you trust, you love, and who understands the need to express.  Even if that person is simply you!

Have not cried in a while and would like a good realease?  Try these two simple tips:

1. Burn eucalyptus essential oil in a diffuser.  Eucalyptus will open your lungs and allow you to let go of stored up grief  and sadness.
2. Add Chestnut Bud (a Bach Flower Essence) to your regime.  Chestnut Bud releases the old life patterns you have been repeating over and over again.

Both these products can be purchased on-line at www.spabodyworkmarket.com.  Please use coupon code Lisa upon checking out.  This way the good people of Spa and Body Work Market will know I sent you...and you will be rewarded a 10% savings!  But use coupon code Lisa...not the generic code their website provides.

Enjoy your realease, your tears, and your healing!

Checking In

By Lisa Saper-Bloom

Healing Arts Specialist

Remember January?  Remember your New Year’s Resolutions?  Remember yourself saying this is the year to feel good, get healthy, and lose weight?

It is now June.  And I ask you…where are you with that?

Being a yoga instructor, I am always practicing ahimsa.  Ahimsa translates to non-violence.  Violence can be a label we put on ourselves, a judgement we pass on ourselves, and all the degrading things we say to ourselves.

That being said: just ask yourself kindly…am I experiencing the resolutions I set for myself?

If your answer is yes, good for you!  Take a moment to celebrate within.  If your answer is no, here are some suggestions:

If your resolution was to feel good, diffuse citrus essential oils.  Citrus oils are known as happy oils.  They are uplifting to the mind and relaxing to the body.  All you have to do is purchase a diffuser, grapefruit essential oil, and orange essential oil.  You will add ten drops of both grapefruit and orange oil into the diffuser, light, breathe, and enjoy.

If your resolution was to get healthy, consider a Detoxifying Body Wrap.  This is something you can easily do in the privacy of your own home.  First, exfoliate your skin with a salt scrub or a dry brush.  Next, add some grapeseed oil to your skin.  This will work as a catalyst to bring the detoxifying ingredients into the skin on a cellular level.  Once this is done, add warm water to the detoxifying powder, mix, and apply to your skin.  After drying, which on average takes twenty minutes, shower it off.  You can treat yourself weekly to stay connected to your resolution.

Lastly, if your resolution was to lose weight, add three drops of grapefruit and orange essential oils to the detoxifying powder.  The combination of the two will create a powerful weight-loss combination.  But don’t stop eating well and exercising!

You can purchase all of these products from www.spabodyworkmarket.com.  To save 10% now, and money on orders in the future, use coupon code Lisa upon checking out.  If you experience any difficulties, please email Lisa at lisasaperbloom@yahoo.com.

Lisa is the author of Peaceful Mind, Thinner Body:

A Woman’s Week-by-Week Guide to Emotional Weight Loss.

Order Now at www.wheatmark.com.

The Healing Arts in Spring

by Lisa Saper-Bloom

Spring is a beautiful time in the desert.  The mountains are full of wildflowers, the temperature is perfect, and spring training is full of sunshine, tanning, and good times.  Orange blossoms are in bloom and the bees are doing their job making it all more abundant.

While most of us aesthetically love this time of year, for many of us, it feels like pure torture.  The nose is an endless drip.  The eyes cannot stop watering.  Kleenex is everywhere.  And the lungs find it challenging to breathe.

Six years ago I was that person.  I had a drawer full of over-the-counter remedies, prescription bottles, and Kleenex.  Lots and lots of Kleenex!

Finding the Healing Arts was finding a way out of the springtime mess.  Becoming a yoga instructor/practitioner and a certified aromatherapist was the doorway out of the dark and into the light.  I am not saying people need to become a professional in the Healing Arts.  What I am saying is that if people are willing to commit to a regular yoga practice and educate themselves with good quality essential oils, they would find huge relief.

The question I usually hear is “Where do I begin?”

Begin by finding a yoga studio.  Yoga will open up your lungs to a greater capacity.  Here in the western world, people breathe from the upper lobes of their lungs.  They breathe from their chest.  Yoga teaches a person to breathe through the lower lobes of their lungs.  Yogic breath expands the lungs resting behind the abdominal walls.  Each inhale fills and expands the belly; while each exhale draws the naval to the spine.  This way of breathing allows fresh blood and fresh oxygen to circulate through the whole respiratory system supplying the body with exactly what it needs.

When springtime rolls around, and my students come into my yoga classes feeling clogged in their nasal passages, the first thing we do is alternate nostril breathing.  Alternate nostril breathing is easy and effective.  You start by sitting in a comfortable cross-legged position.  If sitting on the floor is a challenge, you can do it in a chair.  Begin to settle into your breath.  Meaning, breath deeply, begin to let go of your day, embrace this opportunity as “my” time.  Whether or not you are on the floor, bring your awareness to your sits bones.  Feel them beneath you.  When you feel settled, bring your right palm up in front of your face.  Plug the right nostril with your thumb.  Inhale through the left nostril as thoroughly as you are able.  Once you do, plug the left nostril with your index finger.  Unplug the right nostril and exhale through it.  Continue on.  Inhale through the right nostril.  Again, as thoroughly as you are able.  Plug the right nostril with your thumb.  Unplug the left nostril and exhale.  Keep this process going.  Warning:  it does get messy.  Have a box of Kleenex handy.  After a few minutes of what may seem like discomfort, you will be breathing much easier.

Alternate nostril breathing is great when you have the time and your own personal space.  What about the time you spend at work? 

Essential oils are effective no matter where you are.  Eucalyptus and lemongrass are my favorite allergy fighting combination.  Before getting into the how to part of using essential oils, I would like to mention that not all essential oils are created equally.  I would also like to emphasize that everything labeled aromatherapy does not mean the product has pure essential oils.  A product can say it does, but you must know your product well enough to know whether or not it’s true.  Without a trained nose, you have no choice but to go with the suggestion of an expert.  Being an expert, I suggest you go to Desert Sage Herbs.  I have bought my oils there and have sent my clients there for years.  Their oils are high quality, therapeutic oils.  If their location is not convenient, order your oils on-line at www.spabodyworkmarket.com. 

There are several ways to use essential oils.  The easiest way to use them at the office is to bring them with you.  Put one drop of eucalyptus and one drop of lemongrass onto a Kleenex.  Bring the Kleenex up to your nose and breathe.  Eucalyptus will open the lungs, which will help you breathe deeper and easier, while lemongrass will calm the nervous system. 

You can also blend these oils with your favorite body lotion or moisturizer.  Put a quarter size of lotion or moisturizer into your palm.  Add one drop of each oil and mix it between your palms.  Apply the blend onto your body just as you would normally.  Do this several times, until the body is covered.  You will begin breathing deeper and easier in no time.

Diffusing essential oils is a nice way to use them at home.  Fill your home with beautiful scent and enjoy the healing benefits that go with it.  To diffuse this combination, I would add ten drops of lemongrass and five drops of eucalyptus to the diffuser.  Many people choose to add a splash of water.  I like to keep my oils pure and therapeutic.  Light the diffuser being extremely cautious.  Essential oils are highly flamable.  You can find a plug-in type diffuser if that is more comfortable for you.

Once you start using these remedies regularly, you will notice less need to use what is in your drawer and medicine cabinet.  It is safe to use these essential oils with other medications, but before long, you will notice yoga and essential oils can be your medication.

Don’t you feel it is time to throw away the bottles, the Kleenex, and the mess?

Learn to love yourself and your body.  The process does not happen over night.  Take time and patience. You are worth flowering mountains, orange blossoms, spring-training games, warm sunshine and clean, clear breath.  Enjoy spring!

Post-Holiday Survival Using Yoga and Aromatherapy

Written by:  Lisa Saper-Bloom

January is a time when New Years resolutions trigger diets, gym memberships, and detox plans.  Within the thirty days of January most people feel they failed their diet, they stopped going to the gym, and they are back to putting toxic foods and drinks in their bodies.

This January choose something new.  Choose lifestyle over diet. Eat with awareness.  Notice how your body feels fifteen minutes after eating.  Keep a food diary to identify patterns.  Foods that make you tired, bloated, or headachy should be eliminated.

Use yoga as one form of exercise.  Add biking or hiking for cardio.  Enjoy your workouts as a part of your lifestyle.  Stay clear of committing to something you "have" to do.  Instead, commit to something you "want" to do.

As far as detox plans go, make it enjoyable.  You do not have to starve yourself on vegetable broth or juice.  You can simply use aromatherapy and yoga to help detox your body, mind and spirit.

Make a detox moisturizer.  Choose an unscented moisturizer and purchase three essential oils.  Buy oregano essential oil for detoxing the body on a cellular level, buy grapefruit essential oil for flushing excess fluid from the body, and buy rosemary essential oil to help the body circulate at normal levels.  (Warning:  Do not use grapefruit before going in the sun and do not use rosemary if you are on blood-thinning medication.)  For each ounce of moisturizer, add 2 drops of oregano oil, 3 drops of rosemary oil, and 5 drops of grapefruit oil.  If it is easier, just add one drop of each to a quarter size of moisturizer.  This way you blend as you go.  After showering, apply your blend to your body.  Use the blend for a week or a month depending on how you feel.

Continue to detox your body with yoga's spinal twists.  Twists are classically done to wring out the organs and rid them of toxins.  Forward folds are also important.  This motion also wrings the toxin out of the organs.  Do not forget that yoga begins and ends with the breath.  Each yogic breath you take purifies and cleanses each cell in your body with fresh blood and fresh oxygen.

Enjoy creating a new New Years resolution for yourself.  And enjoy a body free of toxins.

You can also view this article in the Yoga Dosha newsletter.  To sign up for their newsletter, just log on to www.yogadosha.com

Massage and Aromatherapy as Breast Medicine

Yoga Dosha Newsletter October 2006 by:

Lisa Saper-Bloom , Healing Arts Specialist

Fall, a time when leaves change color, fires are lit filling the air with comfort and warmth, and the media fills the airwaves with breast cancer prevention.

Each year, women are encouraged to get a mammogram, establish an accountability partner and participate in their own breast examinations.

This year I would like to introduce a few new ideas. These ideas come from the healing arts, specifically massage and aromatherapy, and will empower you to take better control of your breast health.

Many spa and massage treatments use a natural bristle body brush to stimulate lymphatic flow. Many people do not realize it is lymphatic flow that creates therapy. When our lymphatic system is circulating properly, we experience relaxation in our muscles and our mind. We are less toxic physically and emotionally. We sleep more soundly and enjoy more productive and less stressful days.

Using a natural bristle body brush at home is easy. You can buy one at Ulta or anywhere with a well-rounded beauty section.

Every evening, when you get home from work, remove your bra and do a quick brushing under your breasts. Simply lift one breast with one hand and brush underneath it with the other hand. Use small brushing stokes in an upward direction toward the heart. This will encourage circulation. Take an extra moment in the underarm. This is an important lymphatic site. Stimulation in this site will help keep the body healthy.

After you take a few minutes with brushing, apply essential oils to the breasts. Make a simple blend of geranium and grapefruit essential oils. Pump a quarter size worth of non-scented body moisturizer into the palm of your hand. Add one drop of geranium and one drop of grapefruit. Make sure these essential oils came from a highly reputable company. Blend your mixture in the palm of your hands by rubbing them together and creating some heat. Apply to your breasts.

Geranium oil helps balance hormones and reduces breast engorgement. Grapefruit oil reduces swelling and removes excess fluid from the body.

Adding these simple techniques to your daily routine will empower you in taking control of your health and may be greatly beneficial in helping to prevent breast cancer.