Be Flexible: Add Yoga and Meditation to Your Life

The following is a guest post from the wonderful Harry Cline of NewCaregiver.org

Seniors and their caregivers can neglect their fitness. This is understandable, as discomfort and physical limitations often accompany old age, and caregiving can put a great deal of stress on the family. It’s not just physical health that benefits from exercise, but also low-impact workouts can help elevate mood. Optimism is crucial for both seniors and their caregivers. Two of the best ways to improve anyone’s physical and mental well-being is by incorporating yoga and meditation into a weekly routine.

The Benefits of Yoga

When some people think of yoga, they may conjure images of a yogi standing on her head in front of a class of flummoxed people on yoga mats. Unlike a lot of other exercises, however, you do not need to master form to reap its benefits. Yoga provides a relaxing and calm way to stretch muscles and build strength, flexibility, and balance. Each of these benefits can help seniors improve their physical health. And while it provides numerous physical benefits, it’s not entirely accurate to label yoga as exercise. Instead, yoga is a practice. It infuses one’s life with positivity and balance. In fact, stretching alone can help put your mind at ease, relax your body, and help you manage daily stresses and anxieties. Here’s the best part: You can do many of these simple stretches at your desk or while you’re watching television.

Those who practice yoga are much more likely to opt for other healthy life choices, such as diet, relaxation, organization, and other exercises. This is because yoga provides life balance and inner awareness. In many ways, yoga is precisely the kind of lifestyle reboot that seniors and their caregivers need. Often, seniors regress into a sedentary lifestyle. Yoga can be strenuous, but most poses can be adapted for older bodies. Those with limited mobility, for example, can still benefit from chair yoga or poses that can be done while laying down. Some beginner poses that can be modified for a variety of abilities include:

• Warrior II. This pose is all about balance and centeredness. You strive to hold your body steady as you spread your legs slightly, and twist to one side, almost as if you were riding an invisible surfboard.
• Tree Pose. This classic beginners yoga pose involves standing straight and still as you bend one knee and place your foot on your unbent leg. Modify this move by holding a nearby wall or omitting the leg bend.
• Plank. This move develops core strength. Start off in a push-up position and hold still for as long as you can. Take a rest, then repeat.
• Camel Pose. Great for backs that can get slumped from poor posture or lots of sitting, camel pose involves kneeling on a yoga mat and arching your back as you reach behind yourself and try to touch your feet.

Mindfulness Benefits On and Off the Yoga Mat

Yoga also brings inner peace through mindfulness, but you can experience this benefit through quiet meditation, too. Although life may slow down a little for seniors and their caregivers, there are still stresses that plague everyone’s lives. Mindfulness can help seniors understand their place in the world and provide calmness. This calmness can be especially important for seniors who have lost spouses or loved ones to old age. And for caregivers, meditation can help them see the big picture and avoid self-neglect. Meditation has been shown to increase physical well-being, too. You don’t even have to leave your home to practice. Find a calm and quiet space in your home and turn it into a meditation room.

The mental and physical benefits of yoga and meditation also help those in recovery. For many people in recovery, having a good relationship with the physical self is just as important as the spiritual one. As substance abuse is increasing in seniors and their caregivers, yoga and meditation may be one way to stop to refocus on self-discovery and wellness.

Yoga and meditation provide many benefits to those in their later years and can help support their caregivers as well. Both are easy and fun to incorporate in anyone’s life and can provide years of sustained health.

Harry Cline

info@newcaregiver.org

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What is loneliness, and what can we do about it? Channeled Notes

I had the opportunity to channel for my incredible friend a few months ago, and during the session she asked about being single and desiring a partner. This led her to asking about her feelings of loneliness and what to do with them. The transcripts below are what came through.

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C: What self love aspects work do I need to do? What can I personally work on to aid in finding the right match?

Allison Holley Channeling: “Self love is not the issue. You’re making space for another person. You’ve been on a journey of exploration, enjoying your own personal space. You weren’t ready to have another in your life as a constant companion, though you felt that you were, you quite enjoyed being on your own. This is important for you to realize because there may be many times throughout your existence in which you desire to have your own experience. When you find yourself in these places, moments in time, you now know how to navigate that.”

C: So … When I’m feeling lonely … because I’m alone … Any advice for how to get through that?

Allison Holley Channeling: “Just as everything is, that is an Earthly experience you wish to have, an emotion that brings you growth. So in that sense, there is nothing to do about it but feel it. But we understand that your desire is to feel more pleasurable emotional states. Loneliness is an energy state of longing to not exist within the moment; in a way, not being entertained by yourself. When you feel lonely, get up and do something about it. Go be with people, self-pleasure, create the circumstances that you are seeking. Your problem is you believe loneliness is a state that you need to get out of, when loneliness is simply a state of being where no change needs to occur other than the observance of this state. You are stepping more now into being the observer at this time, which is new territory for you.”

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With Love,

Allison

The Mythology of Erogenous Zones

I once had a lover tell me that my whole body was an erogenous zone. It was one of the best compliments I’ve ever received! And subsequently it got me to thinking…

We’ve all heard of erogenous zones – those special areas on the body said to create pleasure and automatically turn your partner on – as if we are computers with little buttons that can be pushed to create a specific response.

But sexual intimacy is far more than a series of steps to orgasm.

The reality is that our entire body can be activated into a state of bliss, and this ecstatic feeling can begin and be generated from many points on the body which are individual to every single one of us.

This is important to know because believing in the common mythology of a specific set of erogenous zones can limit us in a couple important ways:

Tunnel vision – If we feel that there are certain areas on the body that will arouse our partner when we touch them there, we will limit ourselves to pleasuring those areas, instead of being present with our partners in the moment. Its true, your wife may always enjoy her breasts rubbed, but then again she may have days where that isn’t of interest. Sticking to just the known can put lovemaking into a repetitive rut.

Poor Self-Image – We may also feel that, if our bodies don’t respond to the known erogenous zones, there is something wrong with us or the way we get turned on. We may expect that our genitals be more sensitive than they are, while what really gets us in a state of bliss is having our feet rubbed. When we are expecting our bodies to respond in a certain way, we are not being present with ourselves, and may entirely miss what can really bring us to our pleasure.

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Conscious Sexuality revolves around being present: present with our bodies, and present with our partners. Deep presence connects us to far more than just the physical enjoyment of our sexual experience, it is a gateway into the energetic realms which are beyond time and space, allowing us to experience trance-like states of pleasure and opening up our ecstatic bodies. If we can pull ourselves away from the idea that only certain parts of our body can bring us pleasure, we are on our way to this level of presence, and beginning our sacred sexuality journey.

Let’s stop centralizing our pleasure – an awakened body is ecstatic.

Connecting with my Family – Starseed from Andromeda

The following was originally posted on April 15, 2016, on my previous website: www.WindandAllison.com

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Below are the transcribed notes from a channeling conversation I had with my soul family from Andromeda. Here I was shown much about why I incarnated on earth, where Wind is “from” (although he has also lived on earth for thousands of lifetimes), and our connection as twin flames, or what here is called “split soul awareness”. Thus far this is the most in depth information I have gotten about my starseed origins, and the beautiful and loving beings from Andromeda whom I often channel!

ALLISON: Andromeda, will you tell me more about Andromeda, about your people, about who I am channeling?

Our race/species is very loving. We are of the seventh plane (what we know as dimensions) and our calling is to assist you in this earthly realm. We are very grateful for it, and we love doing it. We will assist you always, because it fills us with joy beyond comprehension to assist in an earthly ascension. This is because our planet has also undergone an earthly ascension process. During this phase of our evolution, we had interplanetary help as well. We learned much from these benevolent beings, and we chose to assist earth during this time because it is our benevolent nature to assist you.

You see us correctly. (What I’m seeing is a sort of round head, large eyes, blue bodies, no hair; big eyes, like green with a long pupil like a cat. Their arms are long and their fingers are like frog fingers- round on the end. I wonder if they are just showing me what I can understand though.)

You are one of us, Allison. You have traveled across eons to assist the people of earth at this time. We know you love it, and that there is much joy in the process for you. What you don’t know is how you came to be associated with these people in the first place.

Your calling was actually to assist during Mayan times, in building the ancient Mayan calendar. (That’s cool!! That is really cool.) When you had finished with the process, you were anxious to continue in your service to mankind, therefore we devised a plan for you to enter into the human consciousness field and enjoy one of their earthly times: this time. You are here on a sacred mission, to assist with the ascension of the planet. This has been programmed into your DNA from the very beginning. You have known it always, there is nothing now keeping you from fulfilling your destiny in this manner; you are all set.😊

It is important for you to realize how much we are assisting you in your calling. This will keep you grounded and humble, and knowing that you are never alone. We do much work behind the scenes on your behalf. We are always creating a way for you to fulfill all that you have before you. Allow us to work through you by opening yourself up further to these higher energies and continually grounding yourself into the energies of this planet; this will aid us in bringing in new interplanetary awareness and understanding at this time. We are very proud of you for the work you do.

WIND: So if that’s where you’re from, am I from the same place?

Sirius – you’re from Sirius. Sirius is your home planet. We connected you two on the planet at this time with split-soul awareness to assist each of you in your personal callings. This does not mean that you have not known each other before, but rather this means that your energies have become intertwined from a knowing that for predates this galaxy/star system. This higher awareness of each other brings a higher awareness within your callings. In this day and age, it is important to have two doing the work that one used to do. This is to aid in your powerfulness, to bring a more all encompassing beauty into this world from the polarities of both masculine and feminine. (I’m literally getting these words: It is a cool gig that you have chosen, and exciting times are ahead for us all!)

Wind, your chosen calling is to thread time; to weave through the expanses of time and to bring them together. (Kind of like quantum physics, like when you’ve got linear time, like when you pull a thread and it brings fabric together? Am I getting that right?) Yes mostly. Your ability to see beyond time is what makes this a fitting choice for you. You are a time weaver, a time threader. You are bringing the expanses of time together in one moment, on finite moment. The common thread IS love.

WIND: Is there a way that I should be trying to accomplish that, that I don’t understand? It seems like a very ambiguous and overwhelming task.

(It’s funny because where I sit right now, it’s just you, it’s just who you are. It doesn’t seem ambiguous at all.) You are here to help others see beyond time; to collapse the funhouse of mirrors and to see clearly in all directions. When you are fully activated in this calling, you are able to see time in all directions. This will become more clear to you as you move forward in your calling.

ALLISON: Have I been on this earth before? Have Wind and I been here together before?

It was your choice to never have been here before; only in spirit form have you seen these planes. You chose to activate at this time as a new soul on this planet because the calling was great and needed you to be unaware of what was in store for you. (Hmmm, so I’ve never been here before! That feels more accurate than anything.)

ALLISON: What about my past life regression experiences?

(…It’s my highly empathic ability. Wow.) Your highly empathic perspective allows you to jump into the perspective of another human body, in the past, present, or future. (This is really cool information! It reminds me of the tv show, Quantum Leap!) Because of this empathic nature that you have, you need to be highly aware of yourself at all times, and grounded in the present moment, for you have a great capacity to lose yourself in the awareness of others. Your highest calling, Allison, is to be aware of your higher consciousness, and to be a bridge between heaven and earth. (My body is a literal bridge – and it’s a rainbow! The chakras are a rainbow – heaven and earth!)

My Tobacco Plant Medicine Diet (Video from Jan 2016)

The following was originally posted in January of 2016 on my previous website, www.windandallison.com.

CLICK HERE for my new youtube channel.

Recently I partook in a tobacco plant medicine diet at a healing lodge in Peru. Here I talk about this truly life changing process and some of the things I experienced, both during and free the diet.

Many people have heard of Ayahuasca at this point, but the sacred medicinal plant diets of the Amazon are still largely unheard of. I did a 7 drink tobacco dieta, and it was an incredibly transformative experience for me. Each day was filled with unique insight and clarity; assisting me in dissolving long held emotional patterns and removing deeply held fears in the form of smokey-black pain bodies. I was also shown, with great clarity, my purpose during this lifetime. And I cry over “shit”! (You’ll see what I mean in the video.)

Much of my insight came after the diet was finished and I resumed “normal” life again, moving out of the jungle and into the busy city of Iquitos. I felt odd at first, almost brutish; I felt so grounded (which was so unlike anything I have previously known) that I felt nearly Neanderthal! As I settled in, however, I was able to integrate my newfound groundedness with my upper chakras, and felt very dynamic and capable. I felt a strength within that I have not known since I was a child! I began handling the finances in our (Wind’s and my) relationship, which had always previously overwhelmed me. This and many other practical “life” things now felt like no big deal, and I wondered why I hadn’t done them before – a true testament to how much tobacco had changed me, or rather helped me become more of myself.

Now, a month after the completion of this diet and having lived in the city for a month, I am still integrating all that this diet brought me. I am so grateful to have had this experience. I am sharing this video for any who might be looking for a process like this, and to spread the word about plant diets!🌿

If you are interested in this or other plant medicine diets, the lodge I recommend is Amaru Spirit: www.amaruspirit.com