This month I want to talk about the value of slowing down. Summer is the perfect time for this conversation as many shift their rhythms naturally during this time because summer is seen as playtime for children and adults alike.  Last summer I felt like I didn't have a summer because I got too wrapped up in work projects.  This year I've sworn to do it differently.

P.S.
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Our world today has become excessively fast-paced and goal oriented to the detriment of true quality of life.  And this excess has triggered a cultural response.  It is a counterbalance to the energetic and lifestyle imbalances that have left families over-scheduled, kids stressed out due to higher academic expectations from very young ages, and a rise in fatigue syndromes and chronic health conditions.  And with the founding of the Slow Food movement in 1989, we have been seeing more of these cultural counterbalances emerging.  Interesting to me is that much of what these modern slow movements are about are also reflected in yoga and Ayurveda. First, let me offer a bit of background on the Slow Movements.  The Slow Food movement is focused on food and is a "non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization".  Its mission is to combine pleasure with responsibility in order to counteract the fast food and fast life that contributes to the loss of local food traditions and separates people from the earth-food-body connections.  It is a conscious social movement to put the value back on healthy food, healthy bodies and healthy earth.   Since then, there have been larger movements that reflect a need to return value to quality over quantity. The trend is more than just slowly down; it's about slowing down to savor the moments, the activities, and the quality of what you're taking in to the body and mind. Recently the term Slow has become a general label to explain the benefits of doing everything at the right speed. Carl Honore, whose books launched the general Slow Movement which then extended to Slow Parenting, would argue that our addiction to speed devalues the very connections we're trying to make and the activities we're wanting to enjoy. Many of the so-called "time saving" devices really haven't given us more time. In fact, many aspects of technology make it harder for people to truly relax and let go because the cell phone is never turned off or the ability to check emails on your phone open the door to being constantly plugged-in to an outer world rather than the space you are presently in. Ready to slow down? Part of slowing down is evaluating how you are spending your time now. What is making up all the busyness in your life and is it really where you want to be putting your energy? It can be easy to get caught up in the cultural stream of energy and expectations, but you do have the power to make different choices. Get started by answering these questions:

• Life In The Fast Lane



• Quality of Life



• Increasing Sattva



• One Day At A Time



• Holistic Wellness Coach

Sunday Yoga
A class to anchor in your energy without overloading your summer schedule.
July 11^th, 4-5 pm

Integrating the Law of Attraction into Your Life
Learn how to practically apply this energy to manifest the life you want.
Sats., Oct 16-Nov 20, 8-9:15 am

Intro to Ayurveda TELECLASS FORMAT: Learn how to integrate this healing system into your life and have a clear understanding on what pieces support your health based on  your unique constitution.
Tues., Sept 21-Oct 12, 9:30-10:45 am

Feedback Survey
There is still time to give me your feedback and get a copy of "Staying Consistent in Healthy Living" class. If you already filled it out but didn't leave a contact, send me an email so I can send you the link.

1. What are you doing: make a list of all the activities that fill up your time.
2. Cross out the ones that are "shoulds".
3. Put a star by the ones that YOU want to be doing.
4. Think about how you want the quality of your life to be - how you want to be versus what you want to be doing. This might be a set of words that describe how you feel or the qualities you want to describe your life. For example, mine are balance, flow, ease, and joy.
5. Of the ones starred, which ones align with or increase the qualities you wrote in number 4?
6. For a week (or a month or a year) try focusing your energy on just the activities in number 5 and see what happens.

The Slow Movement emphasizes quality of life in order to have higher satisfaction, less stress, and greater connection with others and the earth. This thought is related to the idea of conscious living expressed in Ayurveda and yoga. The Vedic traditions, in which yoga and Ayurveda are sister sciences, talk about conscious living and quality of life in terms of three basic qualities - Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. These qualities are called the gunas which influence everything that happens on the large universal scale as well as on the smaller scale of your mind. In order to have more harmony, stability, and the virtue of being, you strive to cultivate Sattva which has an upward energy helping you to see and act clearly with true intelligence.

Overall our current culture is filled with the quality of Rajas which has an outward motion and is the quality of distraction, turbulence and activity. Though it has its place in nature, too much disturbs the mind and depletes the energy. Most technology has a rajasic quality. This quality in turn leads downward to Tamas which is the quality of dullness, darkness and inertia and causes decay, degeneration and death in excess.

Rajas and Tamas go hand in hand with each other. Over time, too much rajasic energy will lead to depletion and imbalance which is the start of disease. Sattva is the quality that balances excessive Rajas and Tamas.

Many of the practices and techniques in yoga and Ayurveda are meant to support a higher quality of life - physically, mentally, and spiritually - with the aim of creating healthy societies. You can mix these ideas of increasing Sattva with the general principles of the Slow Movements and see what unfolds in your life.

1. In general eat a diet that is full of light, soothing food that is easily digested with lots of fresh produce (organic is ideal), spring water and moderate portions.
2. Avoid processed, artificially colored, canned and chemically preserved foods as much as possible (these would also be foods Slow Food would advise against).
3. Focus your energy on activities that bring you joy, or whatever word aligns with the values you listed in the activity above.
4. Do not restrain natural urges such as sneezing or yawning (no, craving chocolate is not considered a natural urge!).
5. Spend more time in nature. Nature is considered highly Sattvic and healing. It reconnects you to the earth and natural rhythms and gets you away from the rajasic energy of technology and modern life.
6. Limit or cut down the intake of external stimulation such as TV, electronic games, computer use, cell phones, reading that focuses on trauma and drama, and excessive activities that have you running ragged.
7. Be gentle and forgiving of yourself.
8. Practice moderation in everything - be it diet, sleep, or exercise.
9. Fine-tune your senses through meditation. Controlling the senses helps provide a buffer to external input which can be depleting.
10. Slow down to make conscious choices and be present in the moments of life.

Build Your Self-Care Tool Kit Date/Time:Weds, Sept 8-Oct 13, 7-8:15 pm Location:Jensen Health & Energy, Elm Grove, WI Your health is developed one day at a time. Each day you make choices that either support you in health or create imbalance. I have put together this series made up of the components that will give you the strongest foundation for health in a format to fit your busy lives and at a price that won't over-stretch your pocket books.

While our current medical model is based on treatment, on-going optimal health really is based on prevention and maintaining balance. Rather than waiting to develop a problem or have dis-ease in the body or life, how much more effective to correct the imbalance at the root before it has a chance to build up.

To do this, you need a set of tools and resources to support your healthy life vision and know how to implement them into your life without creating more overwhelm. I call this set of resources your self-care tool kit.

Self-Care resource elements covered in this series will include:

• Clarifying your vision for health, identifying your goals & success markers
• Preventative Tools: understanding how the body works and developing greater posture awareness
• Home Tools I: hydrotherapy, compression release, stretching
• Home Tools II: acupressure and finger holds
• Food Tools: food as medicine and its role in health
• Mental Tools: meditation, sensory focus, and the power of words and thoughts

Spaces are limited and filling up so contact Jamie to register now.

Jamie Durner, NCMT, ACC, RYT, ALC is a holistic wellness coach, yoga teacher, workshop facilitator, speaker and author for individuals who are ready to embrace healing and harmony through an empowered self-care approach. Her areas of expertise include health and balance on all levels of body, mind and spirit; personal development, Kundalini Yoga, and living in spiritual alignment.

Through individual coaching, group workshops & presentations, and home self-care products, Jamie's mission is to assist individuals in knowing how to provide effective self-care as the foundation for good health by developing greater awareness, resources and confidence.

Contact Jamie