Live Healthy

Live Healthy!

Give your life Healthy Impressions!

Body | Mind | Spirit

Body

Healthy Baths
We live in hectic times. We're busy. We want to better ourselves and expand our horizons. At the same time, we forget that, like our family, our career, and our friends, our own bodies crave nurturing. Taking the time to pamper ourselves and respecting the needs of our bodies, will inspire us with strength and harmony that our
daily activities require.

You'll find that the act of doing nothing but sinking into the tub is an act of generosity toward yourself. Take this opportunity to indulge. The invitation to do so in your hands.

The Turkish Bath
The Turkish Bath or hamman (the root of which means "to heat"), draws on the benefits of sweat and steam. Sweat will carry toxins away from the body through open pores. You will need:

A candle (optional)
Eucalyptus leaves or oil
A loofah or body brush
A dipping cup or bowl
Mint tea (optional)

Close your bathroom door and any widows. Turn the lights low or illuminate the bathroom with a single candle. The dim light mingled with the steam will provide a relaxing enchantment.
Draw yourself a comfortably hot bath, trapping all the steam in the room.
Toss a couple of Eucalyptus leaves or a few drops of Eucalyptus oil into the water as the ancient Turks did for purification.
The room should be steamy by the time you enter the tub.
Once you are comfortably settled in the water, take a loofah or body brush to clean yourself of dead skin cells. The steam will enhance the exfoliating process.
Dip your cup or bowl into the water and pour it over you neck, shoulders, back and arms.
When you're done, lie back in your steamy eucalyptus retreat and relax, breathing in the moist and misty air. If you like, sip a cup of warm mint tea as the Turks do after
their bathing experience.

From Soothing Soaks: Relaxation for the Bath by Melcher Media

Mind

The Teachings of Zen

Pay Attention:

Just manage to pay attention twenty-four hours a day, whatever you may be doing, stepping back into yourself and silently bringup over and over again the contemplation, "What is this?" Keep contemplating throughout your comings and your goings, contemplating until you reach the point where there is no flavor, and no place to get a grip or foothold, and your body and mind are like space. Suddenly you loose your footing and stomp over the scenery of the original ground , breaking out in a sweat. This makes your life joyful!
- Sung-yuan

Stand on Your Own:

Apply your own concentrated attention, apply your own eyes and brains; develop yourself, stand on your own. One day your own eyes will clear and will radiate light shining through the whole world. Only then will you live up to the aim of your journey.
- Ch'ih-chueh

Spirit

Meadow Meditation

The following visualization activates the chakras or energy centers throughout the body through the use of color and allows you to let go of any problems that may be troubling you.

Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed for five or ten minutes. Lie down flat somewhere comfortable and draft free, then close your eyes, calm the mind and take a deep breath. Make sure that your teeth are not clenched.
Imagine that you are in a quiet meadow. It's very warm and peaceful, the sun is shining on your face, and you can hear the sound of birds calling.
In your mind's eye, see yourself getting up and walking slowly around the meadow. Notice the plants growing along the hedgerow, where there are wild roses, all pink and red; in another corner there are marigolds in different shades of orange and yellow. And the long grass is very green and lush with many types of delicate fronds and seed heads in the colors ranging from pale yellowy-green, through warm grass green, to shades of aquamarine.
Walk around the fence until you come to a gate. Open the gate and walk down a pathway that leads you to a stream. As you sit down on the soft grass among the waving reeds at the edge of the stream, observe how clear the water is as it chatters over the stones and around the reeds. Notice how flexible it is, flowing around obstacles - sometimes faster, sometimes slower, but always going onward.
Watch the deep green underwater plants bending gracefully with the flow of the stream, but never moving from their firm roothold in the river bed.
If you have some worry or unresolved problem, imagine that you are physically carrying it around with you. Take it out of your pocket, and in your mind's eye put it onto a small piece of tree bark you find beside you. Launch it into the water and watch the stream carry it away to be resolved in the course of time when it reaches the ocean.
Now imagine you sit back and let your gaze wander up to the blue sky. It's very clear with only a few little clouds. There's no wind so they hardly move in the upper atmosphere. Look directly above you where the sky is so deep and blue as to be almost purple. Allow your eyes to relax into infinity.
Slowly come back. Bring your gaze back from the blue sky, thinking of yourself standing up slowly and retrace your steps up the path to the meadow. Go back through the
gate and close it.
Wander around the meadow noticing the green grass, the yellow and orange marigolds, and the pink and red roses, until you reach the place where you began your journey.
Imagine yourself to be lying down again and in your quiet meadow. Take three of four deep, relaxing breaths, and slowly come back to the here and now.

May we all be happy, healthy, safe, peaceful and free!