Many of us find working on a pc and the internet very stressful – we know they are marvellous tools and fantastic sources of information but if computers are just not ‘your thing’ they can be sources of frustration and irritation too leading to added stress in what is more than likely a stressful day anyway.

I was recently given an amazing smartbar that is full of fantastic videos, tutorials and free safe downloads for getting the best out of your pc.  The tutorials are very clear and easy to follow, even for a pc novice like me!  Using it I have set up my own Twitter page, business Facebook page, a brilliant online calendar, and that’s just in a week!!

If you want to have 1 to 1 training that is available here too.

Try the smartbar yourself, it’s free and safe to down load at www.killerpc.newsmartbar.com

Donna

I try every day to not let “the chatter in my mind” become the internal voice that controls me. Experience has taught me if I am to have peace of mind and a good night’s sleep, I have to calm the voice inside my head.

Many of us have difficulty getting a good night’s rest and this plays a crucial role in our health and well-being. More often than not, we lose sleep because our minds are preoccupied with going over the day’s events or planning for future ones.

You may even be trying to sleep every night with feelings of fear for the future or other painful feelings. These feelings may be so deep rooted that you may not even be fully aware of them.

In this simple article it’s not possible to deal with some of these deeper issues, however, the following technique we use regularly at Olive Branch has helped many of our students and clients.

Believe it, it works!

If you are thinking negative thoughts and feeling uncomfortable emotions or worries in the last few minutes before you go to sleep, your subconscious mind takes that in at a very deep level, and even if you do manage to fall asleep you are likely to wake up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep.

When you are in bed trying to go to sleep, take your mind away from your worrying by using the following visualisation technique to enable you to feel happy and relaxed.

Start by taking five deep relaxing breaths. Then, begin to recall as much as possible of what has happened during your day, going over everything in as much detail as you can remember, but only what you consider as positive things.

Example – You may have meet up with a friend for coffee and enjoyed a chat. Go over this in your mind in every detail all over again.

After you have recalled all the positive things during your day start to remember the less pleasant, more negative aspects, but change them into a positive memory.

Example – It’s been raining all day and every person you met moaned about the weather. Imagine this in detail again, but see yourself saying, yes it’s raining, I love how everything smells so fresh after the rain, or yes isn’t it great, it’s doing my garden a power of good.

You might imagine their faces as you reply to them in this cheery way.

If you have gone through your whole day and are still awake, try thinking about the next day and all the things that you know are to come in a positive way.

This simple technique trains your subconscious mind to become calmer, happier and helps you see the glass as half full, not half empty, as the saying goes. Do this every night before you go to sleep, empty your mind and body of negative tensions and fill it with positive thoughts and good feelings.

Use this technique regularly and you will begin to see the benefits in a very short space of time.

REMEMBER THE SUBCONCIOUS MIND BELIEVES WHAT YOUR CONSCIOUS MIND HABITUALLY TELLS IT.

You can actually think yourself into a situation, you can think yourself into not sleeping and you can think yourself into being ill. Conditions are created far more by thoughts than conditions create thoughts.

Think positive thoughts and you create an atmosphere around you that develops positive outcomes, however think negative thoughts all the time and this is the outcome that is created.

Good Luck and Sweet Dreams from
www.olivebranchretreats.com

 I followed this by mixing Persian blue with a little white then placed this on with the half inch flat brush.
Once again, blending this colour but in discrete areas and not across the whole canvas. Be a little more careful here not to over blend the colours. I don’t want you to lose the blue into the red and thereby change it into a purple colour, although that may work well and still look good.
9)  Finally I added the foreground area by placing on thick black paint with the half inch brush making the shapes of the mountains and a very thin layer of cadmium red just to highlight them.

The finished painting called Sunset Passion. Easy when you know how and now you do! Enjoy your painting and I hope you enjoyed mine.

For painting holidays or commissions please make contact: linda@olivebranchretreats.com

 You may think of meditation for spiritually minded people only, but it is so much more than most people believe.

 The word ‘meditation’ is really only a generic statement that gives us a simple way of describing the many techniques that work on our brain waves putting them into an altered state that is, in effect, calming and health promoting instead of health damaging.

 You see, meditation triggers the release of endorphins, which are natures own opiates, so this gives us a great sense of well-being and it boosts our immune system. Although this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the beneficial effects it can provide.

 Simple techniques can be very effective, for example, a meditation I like to use if I can’t shut off the chatterbox in my head at night is as follows.

Nonsense Meditation.

 We talk in our minds in our native language and we all know that this keeps our minds following all sorts of stories, worries, things to do, things that are done and all sorts of anxieties etc, etc.

To stop this, try changing your language to unintelligible nonsense.

If an unwanted thought enters the mind, become aware of it and simply decide to not continue with it, instead return to your nonsense and before you know it, it will be morning. If you still can’t sleep, just remember that meditation is almost as good as sleep itself, so don’t be stressed about not sleeping, you are releasing opiates into your body, (enjoy).

 So what nonsense do I use? What I do is simply say in my mind ‘Blah, blah, blah’ until the thought is extinguished. When the next unwanted thought surfaces, be aware of it and start the ‘blah, blah, blah’ again.

Just try it! It works for me although it does get easier with practice.

Meditation in Action

How about meditation in action, did you know that being creative such as painting a picture is meditation, simply because your mind is focused and you are enjoying yourself.

 Gardening, singing, dancing, yoga etc. are good examples of meditation in action. As long as you are enjoying yourself whilst being absorbed into what you are doing, you are releasing those opiates and improving your health and well being.

 So take up meditation or at least get a hobby and start enjoying those natural opiates!

 Linda

You know how you secretly dream of things but never really admit it to yourself, let alone anyone else? One of my secret dreams was to have a beautiful rustic house with stunning views and privacy with a pool and a work studio.
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I had learnt about a meditation technique called visualisation and so I started to practice it daily, I have a good imagination and found this meditation technique great fun. I got so engrossed in it that I really could see my dream house.  Now it’s not a dream, I actually have it.
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So now, during and at the end of each of my yoga sessions I always do some visualisation meditations.  One of the great benefits of visualisation is that you can imagine anything you like and it can be a fantasy of immense proportions.
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Like me, you may have heard about so called miracles happening to people who have been told they will never walk again.  However, the miracle is more in the fact that they use the meditation technique, visualisation and imagine themselves walking again so intensely, it actually happens to them and they walk again.
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Another great benefit is that you can visualise anything you want:- to be slim, healthy, rich, having great sex, etc, etc.  The skies the limit.
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I am currently visualising myself slim.  Why am I not slim already, you may wonder?  Well the truth is, it is my Achilles heel so to speak.
I used the excuses, I have thyroid problems and I’m menopausal.  Actually that is true, but I must admit I used these excuses because, I believed it was too difficult to keep the weight off even if I did lose it, so why bother yet again?  I tried to convince myself I was happy fat.
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Who was I kidding?  I hated it and myself for the way I looked and felt.
I don’t know how much weight I have lost, I don’t weigh myself, but I am not fat anymore.  I am not skinny; I am an average weight and size.  Not bad eh?
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I am passionate about yoga and meditation because it helped and continues to help me live a wonderful quality of life.
Linda

Well-Being though the Art of Yoga and Meditation 4

Have you ever noticed how it is so easy to moan about things?

I think there is an international need to moan, don’t ask me why, but have you ever noticed how everyone moans about the weather.

Not long ago, someone was complaining to me about the rain, he said “rotten weather again” expecting me to agree, as most people would and as a common courtesy it seems.  However, my response got me a hard stare and a humph, I replied “oh, do you think so, I love the rain”.  I think he thought I was mad!

I remember when I used to suffer a migraine attack I would feel very sorry for myself.  I would say to myself things like “It’s not fair, why me, I‘m always ill, I can’t stand this”.  I would be miserable and inadvertently I would make my family feel down too.

Through my practice of yoga and meditation, I learnt what a positive out look could do, and so I started to practice it.  I never realised how a positive attitude could change me as a person and the way I lived my life.

I now practice a nightly meditation where I change anything that may have happened during the day that I considered negative into a positive.

Now I don’t mean to sound as though I can change some of the really serious issues into a positive out come or to make light of them.  However, I do believe that you can almost always learn something from situations that at the time seem to be very bad.  As a result something good will eventually come out of even very difficult periods of our lives.

I read an article recently on how positive thinking reduces pain.  The article stated that US experts say they have strong scientific proof that mind over matter works for relieving pain.  Positive thinking was as powerful as a shot of morphine for relieving pain and reduced activity in parts of the brain that process pain information.  The Wake Forest University researchers say their findings show that by merely expecting pain to be less it will be less.  Their work is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

So, what do you think of that?

I am passionate about yoga and meditation because it helped and continues to help me live a wonderful quality of life.

                              �
Linda

I have changed in so many ways I never knew were possible thanks to yoga and meditation. 

Over time my flexibility improved and I could do things like put on my own shoes and enjoy laying in a hot bath again.

During the night I used to be in and out of bed trying to relieve the pain and stiffness, I could not remember having a good night’s sleep, yet, slowly even that improved.

Walking become a little easier and less painful, I started to visualise myself walking completely free of pain, and guess what, I still have arthritis, but now I very rarely have much pain.

Because of this I became greedy for good health and happiness and started to concentrate on other areas of my health.

My doctor had told me years earlier that the problems I was experiencing with my stomach were mostly due to stress.  At the time I thought if that’s the truth, then I am stuck with the problems as I could not change the things that I believed were causing the stress.

However, I leant that what we think and how we react to situations creates the stress and the stress in turn, creates the health problems.

I realised that I could use the techniques I had learnt in meditation to help me cope better with the stress and therefore alleviate the problems with my stomach.  And guess what again, most of the time I am free of problems with my stomach now too.

I am passionate about yoga and meditation because it helped and continues to help me live a wonderful quality of life.

 Linda

One of the greatest and most helpful techniques I have found is the form of meditation called Mindfulness.  It simple means being in the moment and that is more difficult then it sounds.

At first I found it very difficult and to be honest, a bit boring but I realised that something is only boring if you allow it to be, so I soon changed my attitude.  I practiced being in the moment over and over and I realised that this technique can be applied to almost anything and can in fact increase the pleasure in your life immensely.  I have now changed boring mundane jobs into fun activities using this technique.

I realised that my Yoga practice is in fact mindfulness because I am fully engrossed in it and no other thoughts intrude as I practice it. 

I have not always found it easy to fit in a full yoga routine every day, things have a way of coming up and taking my time.  I strive constantly to make time for myself as I know that my health and happiness is important, yet as a mother and wife I often find making the choice to help my family, overrides the choice to deal with my own needs.

Therefore, I set out to find ways I could build Yoga and the meditation technique called mindfulness, into my daily life without always needing to put aside large blocks of time.  For example, I will do some yoga postures and breathing meditations whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.  If I am stuck in traffic, I will enjoy the time by stretching out some of my muscles and practicing tension relieving techniques. 

Now when I am cleaning the house I put on music to help me enjoy the mundane jobs and I practice yoga dance methods.

I have found ways through yoga and meditation of making almost anything more enjoyable and at the same time increasing my energy levels, my fitness levels and my happiness and decreasing my pain levels

I am passionate about yoga and meditation because it helped and continues to help me live a wonderful quality of life.

Linda

Well-Being through the Art of Yoga and Meditation

I am passionate about yoga and meditation because it helped and continues to help me live a wonderful quality of life.

I used to be terribly depressed because I was in constant chronic pain due to acid reflex, IBS, migraine and arthritis.  The problems with my stomach controlled what clothes I could wear as during the day, as I ate each meal, my tummy would balloon up more and more so that by the end of the day if not before, I would appear pregnant.

This also controlled where and when I went out, I lived in fear of embarrassing myself and in fear of not being near any bathroom facilities.  I looked fat, I could not wear nice clothes and I worried about losing the affections of my husband.

Also, because of the arthritis, I couldn’t walk, dance or do anything active with my family.  I started to become phobic about leaving the house and would draw the curtains and hide away all day long, day after day.

I was in so much pain and there was no hope of ever getting better, or so I thought.

When the doctor first told me I had arthritis and that due to my other health issues could not take any drugs to relieve the pain, I felt very angry and that it was so unfair.  I started to feel more and more like giving up all together.

However, my doctor sent me to attend the pain management clinic at the local hospital, there they showed me yoga exercises and mind control techniques though meditation.  If I’m honest, I have to say my attitude was, this will not work.  I was in too much pain to do the exercises and the meditation stuff I thought was rubbish.  I was angry that the doctors could not relieve my pain with drugs.

To make these changes to my life instead of simply taking drugs was not easy.  However, I came to realise that it was up to me, not anyone else.

I finally understood that the responsibility for my well-being was mine alone and I had a choice to do something about it or continue to live with the terrible consequences of not doing so.

At first I thought meditation was just a religious or spiritual activity, however, I soon learnt it could also be used for better health and so started to practice it to change my negative attitudes into more positive ones, which gradually helped me to cope better with the pain.  I then learned how to use it to reduce pain also through breathing meditations.

I learned how to really relax and cope better with the stresses in my life.  I found by gradually increasing my activities with yoga the pain reduced and my flexibility improved.

I do not have the flexibility of a young fit woman, but I am not young, however, I can now walk, dance and practice yoga to a high level.

I was very close to being in a wheel chair permanently and ruining the rest of my life just because I didn’t know how to change the way I was.  I am so happy I did not give up, because, that was the start of an ongoing journey to better health, quality of life and happiness.

As my health improved, I gained in momentum and began studying meditation and yoga.

If you have similar health problems or if you want to stay healthy and the doctor can’t do any more with drugs and pain killers, try alternatives like yoga and meditation, like my doctor advised me to do.  Even better try the alternatives so that you don’t get to that point in the first place – as the old adage goes, prevention is better than cure and meditation and yoga are so much fun too!!

I tried the alternatives and I am so glad I did.  I now live and work in Spain, I have a great relationship with my husband, I am out going, active and happy and it’s all thanks to yoga and meditation!

Linda

Article on Yoga

Welcome to Hot Power Yoga by Linda R Halbert BA of Olive Branch Retreats.

Yoga can change you, reduce stress and help you regardless of your age or fitness level.

In our retreat program we integrate, breath and movement with intensive relaxation techniques.

Aiming to build suppleness, strength and improve general fitness in mind and body.

The hot temperature is important as it detoxes the body and warms the muscles, reducing the chances of injury.

The power aliment comes with each posture being done with purpose and full attention, therefore relaxing and rejuvenating the mind.

True power comes by focusing the mind on the breath and the postures,

Instead of chasing our thoughts around, thinking of the past or the future and worrying about things we can’t change.

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We at OBR teach with some of the postures flowing continually and some postures being held longer to enable building strength and grace.

We teach you to develop true strength of body and mind, better health, happiness, energy and control over the stress in your life, though the practice of ease of breath, steadiness of mind and the importance of respecting the limitations of your own body.

Yoga benefits everyone; there is no need to push ourselves.

It is more important to be consistent with our yoga practice.

This is why we teach you how to build yoga into your normal daily life without needing to put aside regular chunks of time every single day.

You can in fact do yoga in the car, sat at your desk or waiting for the kettle to boil, the choice is yours.

We all have choices to make every day, little ones we do all the time hardly being aware of them, such as cleaning our teeth or not, however if we don’t clean them we must take the reasonability and the results of loosen them.

Other choices are more urgent, like, we could choose to not pay our mortgage, however if we did this, we must take the reasonability and results of loosening our home.

You could choose do nothing to control your stress levels the choice is yours along with the reasonability and the results of developing health problems.

So come on an OBR and discover how you can learn (Hot Power Yoga) and so much more to reduce your stress and improve your well-being and happiness.

We are expert in well-being here at OBR please don’t ignore your stress levels, let us help you.