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

From Failing Health to Thriving Fortunes

For entrepreneurs Linda and Donna, passionate beliefs in the art of health and well-being were the inspiration for a thriving business concept.

Let’s begin by telling you a bit about Linda and Donna’s personal stories and what started them off on their paths to where they are now.

Linda celebrates every day because she is alive, has her sight, her voice and her hands and many other blessings that she greatly appreciates especially as she is an artist.

Donna rejoices that she is able to live a fulfilling and inspiring life, something that at one time she doubted she would ever be able to do again.

They are both passionate in their intent to live the best quality of life and that’s the reason their lives just keep getting better and better and are filled with so much joy, good health, peace and prosperity. Their lives are a success in every way.

However, this was not always the case.

Linda says: “I used to be terribly unhappy and inadvertently made my family unhappy too, even though I lived a comfortable life, all the good things I had in my life could not cast away the dark clouds that hung around me constantly. 

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 sunk into a deep depression.

I was shaking and could barely see through the haze of tears as I returned home and had negative thoughts, like becoming an invalided just like my mother and I was going to suffer constant chronic pain.

I felt very angry as I already had a long list of chronic health problems and felt it was so unfair to get yet another”

Donna who is beautiful in body, mind and spirit, was pensioned off at the ripe old age of 28.

She says: “I was pensioned off from one of the top companies in the UK.  I went from being able to go anywhere in the country (this was way before the days of Sat Nav!), work a minimum of 14 hours a day including most weekends, be away from home for sometimes weeks at a time, to not being able to walk out of my own back door without having a major panic attack. I had various gynaecological problems and at one time I was on so many different tablets that if you’d shaken me I’d have rattled!!  

I completely lost all my confidence and I felt as if my life had ended, which, as I had always known it, it had.

Then one day they both realized that things had to change drastically!

Linda’s life changed the day she chose to attend the pain management clinic at the local hospital following her doctor’s advice. It was the day her old life ended as she perceived it and it was the beginning of a life full of successful stories.

Donna’s life changed the day she met someone who was a homoeopath and as a last resort went to see her, that started her off on a completely new journey. At the time it felt that her breakdown was the worst thing that could possibly have happened but now she knows it had to happen to make her re-evaluate her life and set her off on a healthier and happier path.

One of the big lessons Linda and Donna learnt was that we all make choices every day, and our choices have an impact on our lives and on the lives of others around us. They didn’t realise it at the time and it wasn’t something they did consciously, but they had chosen to be the way they were.

They were both stressed within, and the joy of their lives was being sucked away by their perceived reality.
�
Linda perceived her reality as, “it’s not fair, I suffer so much pain I might as well be dead”. She had the “poor me” attitude.

Donna’s perceived reality was, “I have to rush here and there all day every day, it is my responsibility to do everything and get it right”.  She had the “taking the weight of the world on her shoulders” attitude. 

Thriving Fortunes

However, from ‘Failing Health’ to ‘Thriving Fortunes’ is what this article is all about. Now you have read about their past failing health, please read on to find out some of how and what their ‘Thriving Fortunes’ are now.

One of the most important things they learnt and now teach is the power of thought. Negative thoughts are totally destructive to the mind and the body but positive thoughts are constructive and healing so this was one of their first challenges and changes they made to their lives.

Once they started to accomplish this change, health and happiness issues become their focus and they began to slowly work on the things they each needed to change.

For Linda this included where she lived, what she ate and how she passed her spare time.

For Donna this included where she lived, what she did for a living and to make time for herself.

After they found their individual paths to fortune they started to work on helping others in finding theirs. They began their new journey with research, individual studies and their independent years of qualifying and practicing in the art of well-being.

Linda and Donna independently moved to the same area of the Spanish countryside amongst beautiful mountains, vineyards and olive groves where they met when Donna attended one of Linda’s creative meditation classes and soon become firm friends.

They subsequently created Olive Branch Retreats a unique retreat in the stunning vineyard and nature reserves of inland Spain. There, they, along with other professionals teach you simple methods to enable you to achieve your own thriving fortunes.

Linda and Donna both talk about money as just a side effect in their lives and that the most important issue for them and what they consider to be a privilege, is to have the opportunity to teach and share their skills and expertise to help others on their paths to creating their lives, full of better well-being and happiness, their own fortunes and abundance.

They urge you to look closely at your perception of your life, even if you are in perfect health, what you think and believe to be your reality could be adversely affecting your happiness, health, peace and prosperity.

It is all too common in today’s society to live life with chronic and insidious stress and at a pace that ignores our body’s need to really relax and rejuvenate, we tend to think we are invincible and stress related health problems won’t happen to us and that we have everything under control.

However, when we find our health becoming a real problem and the doctors can’t help much, we get a very nasty shock. 

Linda and Donna are so excited to have the opportunity, to share with you what they have learned and help you experience what they have, which is total abundance and fortune in all areas of their lives.  They want you to have a wonderful experience in the stunning vineyards of inland Spain with Olive Branch Retreats, an experience that could affect all areas of your life in a really profound way.
�
However, don’t do what they did and only look for an alternative as a last resort, grab the opportunity now before you reach the depths that they had reached.  Experience their wonderful, ultimately relaxing retreat. You can enjoy a great holiday at the beautiful spa hotel Casa Luzon and at the same time learn how to cope with stress and its effects, to cope better with pain and to live a happier, healthier and more prosperous life.

Please don’t leave it too late.

Linda and Donna

You know those feelings you have when you are away from it all and all the stresses and strains of everyday life just disappear – how would you like to experience those feelings everyday of your life?

www.olivebranchretereats.com

When you experience these daily chronic lifestyle stresses, you can be effected in many adverse way’s..

They can affect your thinking, concentration and even your behavior as well as your emotional and physical health.

Often stress builds up so slowly, over many years, you are unaware of the reason for problems such as

• Anxiety
• Fear
• Emotional Eating and Weight Gain
• Feeling Overwhelmed and exhausted
• Cognitive Impairment
• Loss of sleep
• Head aches
• Indigestion
• Skin problems
• Heart Disease
• Blood Pressure and Stroke etc,.

Learning about the role that stress plays in your life, can help you to create a healthier and happier you.

We can offer you on going personal coaching via email after your stay with us here at Olive Branch Retreats.

Linda