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.
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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.
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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

The first step is to be specific about what you want. You can’t be indecisive.
If you want to feel better, healthier and happier, you need to be specific about what and how.
Why?
When you’re specific about what you want and how you are going to achieve it, you give your conscious and subconscious mind a very clear set of instructions for them to follow.

Your subconscious cannot attract the right people, situations and circumstances if you don’t have your mind focused on what you specifically want.
Your subconscious mind will only create more and more blocks for you if you remain uncertain about what you want.
So be specific about your well-being goals. And if you’re not sure about the, what or the how, perhaps we at olive branch retreats can help. ( ask us questions though this blog)

Keeping an Open Mind
The next step requires that you keep an open mind and learn as much as you can about how to achieve your goals. Talk to others who have had the success you want and see what they have done. Maybe you could do the same.

For example: suppose you have stomach problems such as acid reflux or irritable bowel syndrome due to over work and stress, and your doctor tells you to slow down.

Your initial reaction might be that it is not possible; you might think that the only way to slow down is to take a holiday, and that’s only short term help.
But the truth is there are probably many ways to improve your stress issues.
One such way is as the doctor may suggest; take a holiday, however, a holiday that could teach you how to deal better with your stress issues at the same time as enjoying yourself.
Many people have found the techniques we use here at Olive Branch Retreats  have amazing benefits.

You should look for different, new and unique ways to achieve your goals.

When you’re open to all possibilities you will be guided to the one that is most fulfilling and most rewarding for you.

If you are not open to any and all possibilities then you limit yourself, you limit the chances of achieve your goals in the quickest, safest and most beneficial way for you.

Being open minded and willing to explore all possibilities, helps you live the life you want, with the best possible well-being, health and happiness.

Making Better choices
Make your mind up to making better chooses for your best well-being, you deserve it just as others do.

This means that sometimes the choices that you want to make may not be what other want.

You may even have to make a choice that you didn’t want to make, however; it may be the best option at the time.

Remember – get clear about your goals – decide what you want. Be open to any and all possibilities – you never know how you may achieve your goal or what might work for you. Choose to make better choices for your well-being, health and happiness – so that you live the life you want.
Sincerely,

Linda

Olive branch retreats.

“A Homoeopathic Christmas Tale”

What is it that makes Christmas time so stressful for many people?  For some it is the pressure of all that has to be done while for others it is the extreme changes in the weather that affect them.  For others it is the changes they make to their diets.  Whatever your individual stress may be, homoeopathy is able to support you and your family over this period.

I would like to introduce you to the Green family who regularly use a homoeopathic remedy kit.  Jane Green is preparing for Christmas.  She works part time and has two small children, Emily, aged five and George who is three.  Jane is apprehensive as her in laws are coming to stay for Christmas and there has always been some friction between her and her mother-in-law.  David, Jane’s husband is a workaholic and a gone viveur who enjoys the rich Christmas fare.

Jane is having sleepless nights worrying about all that he has to get done before the big day.  She is anxious that she won’t get everything done in time, she feels hurried and worried about everything.  What if the turkey does not defrost in time?  What if the presents she ordered on line don’t arrive?  What if the children get ill?  She tosses and turns.  She takes a few doses of Argentum Nitricum, which calms her down immediately.  She is able to get on without feeling anxious, she sleeps soundly.

At the end of term Emily comes down with a cold.  She got wet on the way back from school.  She insisted on playing in the puddles and then would not take off her wet socks.  She is clingy, feverish and has candles of yellow mucous coming from her nose.  Luckily Jane knows that her remedy kit includes Pulsatilla.  She gives Emily a few doses and within hours she is playing happily by herself, no longer welded to her mother.

Just as Jane is getting back on track with her Christmas preparations David arrives home after the office party feeling very sick.  He goes to bed but feels distinctly hungover in the morning.  He is irritable, has a headache and is still feeling sick.  He had eaten very rich food the night before and drunk a lot of alcohol.  Luckily he knows that the best remedy for over indulgence is Nux Vomica. He takes a bottle of it to work and takes a dose every hour until he feels better.

Jane is doing last minute baking.  The children are squabbling and she has to get the mince pies out of the oven quickly before they burn.  In the process she burns herself.  She reaches for the lavender oil that she keeps in the kitchen cupboard and smothers it on the burn and gets instant relief.  She then takes a dose of Cantharis. The following day there is no sign of the burn and no blistering.

That night Jane is woken by George screaming.  She had just gone to sleep and it is midnight.  She finds him feverish and burning hot with bright red cheeks; she can feel the heat coming off him.  Despite his temperature he wants to be covered by his blanket and screams when she uncovers him to cool him down.

She gives him a dose of Belladonna, repeats this during the night and by the morning the fever has gone and George is his old self again.

Jane is preparing herself for her in laws.  Christmas Day passes without event but Jane is aware that she is feeling irritated by them.  She does not say anything.  By Boxing Day a stye appears on her left eye lid.  She wonders why this has come up again and then remembers that last time it happened was when she felt angry with her mother in law for behaving rudely in front of the children by humiliating her.  That time she had kept her thoughts to herself as she did now.  She took a few doses of Staphysagria and the stye went down.

A few days later David’s father, Peter, went out in the cold without a hat or a warm coat and got chilled.  He came down with a cold.  Jane gave him some Aconite and he was soon well again.  His wife, Marjory, had been complaining for some time of not feeling quite rights; she had a headache above her eye and started to feel achy down her spine, she had a sore throat and went to bed, wishing to be left alone.  Jane administered some doses of Gelsemium for this slow onset flu and Marjory soon recovered.  Despite the inevitable illnesses of this time of year the Green family weathered the season very well thanks to homoeopathy.

Christmas Survival Kit

Aconite

Sudden onset of any symptoms e.g. colds, flu.  Colds as a result of getting chilled or getting in cold winds.

Arg Nit

Anticipatory anxiety with a sense of hurry and worry.

Belladonna

Redness, fevers worse midnight, better for covering, desires lemonade.

Cantharis

Burns.  Also useful in cystitis where there is burning during urination.

Gelsemium

Slow onset flu with aching in the spine and pain above the eyes.

Nux Vomica

Number one remedy for hangovers and over indulgence with headaches, nausea and irritability.

Staphysagria

Ailments from suppressed anger or humiliation.  This can include styes, cystitis.

We are a new business running well-being retreat holidays in Spain, for fun people who wish to learn and practice new skills to maintain a healthy body and mind in their daily lives.

We will be updating this blog regularly with fun ideas and stuff to help us all stay well.

Check back soon as we are writing new posts right now!