Where's your head at?

5 steps to prevent practitioner burnout

2010-06-09T11:04:00.009+10:00

Burnout amongst practitioners in the health and natural therapy industries is common. Practitioners are passionate and enthusiastic about helping others - at first everything goes well but then over time they become exhausted and their health suffers.

Why is burnout for practitioners so prevalent these days? Burnout mainly results because practitioners are using ineffective strategies to stay grounded and balanced. A massage student recently told me that his lecturer suggests that practitioners should only give 80% of themselves when working with clients, otherwise they will get ‘drained of their energy’. Restricting yourself in this way or even using crystals or room sprays to ‘protect’ yourself gives you a false sense of security which eventually fades.

The key to preventing burnout is to develop a strong energetic connection so you feel grounded, safe and secure from within, rather than having a need to protect yourself externally. From this space of awareness, you connect more deeply to your clients and can tune into their needs with greater empathy, understanding and wisdom.

So how do you provide 100% of yourself to every client without burning out? The answer lies in having a daily self-practice to help you stay grounded. When you are grounded, you shift your perception of how energy is exchanged. You realise your clients’ energy is the same as your energy. The energy is neither positive nor negative – it’s your mind that judges it in this way. It is similar to when we see a flower. Our mind might tell us that we don't like its colour, fragrance or shape. To another person, however, the flower may be beautiful. The flower itself is neither positive nor negative - it just is. We often judge people in the same way.

If you ‘protect’ yourself from the negativity of others so they don’t drain your energy or transfer their stuff onto you, then do so knowing this is a temporary measure. It’s like training wheels on a bicycle, providing support until we are grounded from within ourselves. Then, we realise there is nothing from which to protect ourselves because this need for protection arises out of fear. Although this fear may feel genuine based on past experiences, superstitions, or beliefs, ultimately it arises from our mind judging others and external conditions as ‘negative’. We react in this way because we feel uncomfortable physical, mental or emotional sensations.

When we accept these uncomfortable sensations and focus less on the external world around us, we cultivate a strong energetic connection from within. To help you to be grounded in this way, try the following ‘five step self-practice’:

1. Transcend duality – let go of your fears, superstitions, beliefs and attachments to ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. Be responsible for your own uncomfortable sensations.

2. Centre yourself – build your energetic centre with Meditation, Qi Gong, Yoga or Reiki.

3. Be mindful – take 10 breaths anytime, be aware of your five senses when you brush your teeth, walk, and eat. Sit with trees, walk in nature, play with an animal.

4. Be kind to yourself – relax and nurture eg take a bath, read, play music. Move your body and exercise. Eat wholefoods, and snack between clients eg eat nuts or fruit.

5. Keep hydrated – water in your belly is grounding. Drink it between clients!

With daily self-practice, you’ll feel confident to give 100% to your clients without burning out.

Free healthy recipes

2010-06-09T10:54:00.006+10:00

Holding Reiki Courses from my home has given me a wonderful opportunity to prepare home-cooked, vegan meals for students.

Some of my favourite recipes, including the 'Divine Date Blissbombs' as they have become known in my family are available below (or you can download a copy on my website. So feel free to get creative in the kitchen...

And remember if you are looking for quick healthy snacks on the run, grab a banana or a piece of fruit, some nuts or dried fruit, or carry some 'salty live seeds' with you.

Divine Date Blissbombs

1 cup organic pitted dates
½ cup organic walnuts
¼ cup organic sunflower seeds
¼ cup organic raisins
1 tbsp organic unhulled tahini
Organic desiccated coconut and love

Place dates, walnuts, sunflower seeds and raisins in a blender or chop very finely. Then place mixture in a bowl, mix in tahini. Hand roll into small balls. Roll balls in coconut. Store in fridge.

To make chocolate version, add heaped tablespoon of raw cacao powder when you mix in tahini.

To make superfood version, add goji berries, chia seeds, psyllium, spirilina or any superfood you like.

To make apricot and macadamia nut blissbombs, replace the dates with apricots and the walnuts with macadamia nuts.

Raw breakfast oats

1 cup of ‘live’ oats (soaked in ½ cup of room temp water overnight)
1 organic apple chopped
1 organic banana chopped
Tbsp Goji Berries
Tbsp Pumpkin seeds
Tbsp Sunflower seeds
Tsp Chia Seeds
Tsp Psyllium
Tbsp LSA
Tbsp Love

Add extra warm water to the live oats to create oat milk and desired consistency. Mix together with other ingredients.

Quinoa Salad

1 cup cooked Quinoa (or sprouted Quinoa seeds for live-food version)
Chopped organic capsicum
Chopped organic shallots
Chopped organic celery
Chopped raw organic broccoli (soak for 1 minute only in boiled water)
Chopped organic tomatoes
Organic olives
Olive oil
Vinegar
Ground coriander
Salt and pepper
Love

Mix Quinoa with vegetables. Make a dressing from oil, vinegar, herbs and spices. Mix together.

Hot Cacao Drink

1 cup boiled water
1 heaped tsp raw organic cacao
Honey or rice syrup
Love

Mix cacao with water. Add sweetener to taste. Makes a wonderful hot chocolate alternative for these chilly winter nights.

Raw Hummus

1 cup of 1cm sprouted chickpeas (to sprout, soak chickpeas for 24 hours, then rinse chickpeas in
water twice per day until sprouts appear)
3 tbsp organic unhulled tahini
2 tbsp organic lemon squeezed
Filtered water
Himalayan salt
Ground Cumin
Ground Coriander
Dried or fresh coriander
Paprika
Sprinkle of Love

Soak sprouted chickpeas for 1 minute in boiled water (let boiled water stand for 1 minute before
soaking chickpeas). Drain and blend chickpeas in food processor, with tahini, lemon juice and water until you have created desired consistency. Add salt, herbs and spices to taste. Store in fridge for up to 3 days.

Live Salty Seeds
Organic sunflower seeds
Organic pumpkin seeds
Few drops of organic tamari sauce
Few drops of love

Mix seeds with tamari. Warm and dry seeds in sunlight or in a cool oven (set to under 100 degrees celsius).

For cooked version, lightly dry fry seeds in fry pan until they brown. Add tamari to taste. Let the seeds cool or eat warm.

Bon Appetit! :)

Healthy eating around Brisbane

2010-06-09T10:51:00.001+10:00

I keep putting it out there to the universe that someone opens a chain of 'LOVE food cafes' around town very, very soon. Until then, here's a few places you might like to try out:

Planet Matterz, Morningside

Fundies Organic Wholefoods Cafe, Paddington

Wrays Organics, Newmarket

Sol Breads, Paddington, West End, & Newstead

The Forest, West End

Northey St Organic Markets, Windsor

Green Grocer, West End

Mrs Flannery's Organic Supermarkets

Leavain Bakery: Shop 8, 38 Junction Rd, Morningside for sourdough bread

We order our fresh veges and fruit from local growers through Food Connect. Or you could shop at the Northey St Markets on Sundays 6-10.30am.

Bon Appetit!!

How to put some LOVE-in your food

2010-06-09T10:48:00.002+10:00

Food is affected by the environment in which it is grown and the consciousness of the people preparing our food. Make your next meal with LOVE and see how yummy it tastes!

Everyone can do this, whether you have learnt Reiki or not. As you wash and cut your vegetables and fruit, connect with them. Be grateful for the earth and water and sun that helped them to grow, the farmers that planted and picked them, and everyone else involved getting the food to you. Smell its freshness, be bedazzled by its colour, and finally savour its taste. You and the people eating the food receive the LOVE too.

And next time you dine out, take a look around and get to know who prepared your meal. If they are stressed, under pressure or just want their shift to end, that's the vibration you receive as you eat your meal!

We eat how we are

2010-06-09T10:42:00.005+10:00

You've probably heard of the saying 'you are what you eat'. The connection between what we eat and our health is becoming more obvious as heart-disease, obsesity and diabetes rates increase. Many people are realising that their reliance on overly processed or fast-food due to their fast-paced lifestyle is making them sick, overweight and depressed. Some continue to eat in this way, others are moving towards organic food, organic gardening and home-cooking with wholefoods (not tinned or packaged food). We eat to match the pace of our life, our state of mind, and our level of consciousness. Thus, we eat how we are.

I've been inspired by Gabriel Cousens MD whose brilliant book, Spiritual Nutrition has helped me to join more dots between what I eat, energy, and spiritual awareness.

Here's a few insights from Gabriel's book:

Food is condensed cosmic energy.

Without proper digestion to assimilate the different energy levels and foreign forces of food into our body, food would make us ill.

Our relationship with food is more than just adding up calories, vitamins and minerals; it's about understanding the subtle vibration from its energy field.

Food is affected by the environment in which is it grown and the consciousness of the people preparing it. So add some LOVE.

Food supplies only 10% of our body's energy needs (that explains why some people survive eating only unhealthy fast-food). Pure cosmic energy is the primary nutrient that we all take into our system - we get it through meditation. Other sources include sunlight, oxygen, sexual energy and the earth's Geomagnetic Energy.

Six Foundations for Spiritual Life are: nutrition (vegan, organic, live-food); building prana (through yoga, reiki, tai chi etc); service and charity (to see our attachment to things); spiritual guidance and inspiration; silence (meditation, prayer, mantra); Kundalini awakening (shaktipat initiation).

A little quote to inspire...

2010-06-09T10:39:00.003+10:00

Here's a little quote that might inspire you to go beyond your comfort zone:

A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future.

You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.

Denis Waitley

Stepping out of your Comfort Zone

2010-06-09T10:18:00.005+10:00

I've tried a few new things lately to consciously get myself out of my 'comfort zone'. For me being such a private person, it's easy to stay cocooned in a world of comfort, with regular routines, same-old-same-old behaviours. But wow... when you go beyond your comfort zone, the results can be quite liberating and amazing.

One of my recent experiences has been volunteering at a Brisbane-based hospital doing 'hands and feet massages' for people in the Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit and the Oncology Ward. It's been very opening, heart-warming and a bit nerve-racking all at the same time. Though I quickly realised how simple it is to face all those uncomfortable and unfamiliar sensations.

After week 2 I became comfortable stepping outside of my 'comfort zone'. I overcame embarrassment from not knowing exactly what to do, fear of rejection of approaching people who didn't want a massage, the uncomfortable session of being with people who are uncomfortable themselves, and of course a few smelly feet.

I'm now keen to embrace all new experiences and all the discomfort that goes with them. As I realise how easy it is to expand my comfort zone :)

When a situation troubles you

2010-06-09T10:05:00.003+10:00

Over the past few months I've met with many people who struggle to bring their awareness into the now - their thoughts never stop or they feel such strong physical pain that they become easily distracted. Remember that these old patterns may have formed over many years. You may need patience, persistence and practice.

When a situation troubles you, find peace in letting go of the struggle. To use an example from Dr Russ Harris, if we were in quick sand, struggling would only make it worse. Keep bringing your awareness back by asking 'What's wrong right now?'. If you do this, you realize that in this moment there are no problems. By separating your troubles from each moment, you soon discover that the troubles pass, while the moment (or life) remains.

Finding yourself...

2010-06-09T10:02:00.002+10:00

When you lose touch with inner stillness,
you lose touch with yourself.

When you lose touch with yourself,
you lose yourself in the world.

Eckhart Tolle

The Ki to our cravings and addictions

2010-06-09T09:57:00.002+10:00

Are you trying to lose weight or overcome a craving like chocolate, salty chips or coffee? Or maybe you are giving up a particular food, cigarettes or drinking?

Here's a simple technique using natural energy or what is often referred to as Ki (pronounced key) or Chi. Everyone can do this, you don't need to learn Reiki to heal yourself. If you have
learnt it, you’ll understand how this technique works but it still works regardless.

1. Become aware of a craving or uncomfortable sensation in your body.

2. Identify where you feel the sensation the strongest ie in your stomach, chest, head.

3. Place your hands gently over that part of your body.

4. Take five deep breathes in and out feeling the warmth of your hands enter your body.

5. Return to your natural breath now, leaving your hands on your body.

6. If necessary, say to yourself “I don’t like this feeling but I create space for it to be there”. Or, “It’s unpleasant, but I can accept it”.

7. Allow the sensation to be there. Cease the struggle and make peace with it. Respond to it rather than react.

Remember to be gentle on yourself. It may take time and practice. At first you may only resist the temptation for a few seconds or minutes. However, with daily practice your resistance will increase and your craving or addiction will start to dissipate.

How do we know we exist?

2010-06-09T09:47:00.001+10:00

How do we know we are alive? Because we can hear, see, touch, taste and smell everything around us. Our senses keep us grounded. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to lose all of your senses? You might have imagined what it is like to be blind or deaf, or blind and deaf. But what would happen if you were blind, deaf, had no taste and smell, and lost your sense of touch...

Eckhart Tolle refers to our senses as the 'doorway back into Being'. "As you let go of the busyness of life and cultivate your senses, you awaken again to the pure joy that is contained within each present moment". Stress, anxiety, depression, negativity and worries instantly disappear when we connect to our five senses.

Try it now - notice one thing you can see, hear, smell, touch and taste. How'd you go? Did all your fears and problems disappear for a few moments or even a second? It's simple but may take repeated practice. Eventually the seconds here and there add together and you find peace of mind for an hour or parts of your day. You stop feeling like you've lost touch with life or those around you. And you realise you don't need to work hard thinking to solve your problems no matter how big or small they seem. The answer is in the present moment.

Meditation made easy

2010-04-28T11:03:00.007+10:00

I know of so many people who just aren't interested in meditating. They say they can't do it, it's boring or they make excuses. With so much research revealing the benefits of meditation, it's popularity is now growing and it's starting to go mainstream. Personally, meditation helped me out of depression and anxiety, and I use it twice daily to release stress, fear, loneliness and find inner connection. To meditate, simply watch your breath for 5-10 minutes a day. Or if you have trouble meditating, repeat a mantra or sit in quiet contemplation. Sitting in nature or with your indoor plants is another great way to be still.

A day of being not doing

2010-04-28T10:38:00.004+10:00

Every week I take a day of stillness or a day of being me. I don't turn the computer on, I make no appointments, I do no chores, I resist the temptation to do things. I've had to re-learn over the years the importance of just 'being'. As we grow up there's a constant expectation for us to do stuff. We spend a decade or so at school in training to do one thing after another. Then we grow up and we are so centred on accumulating wealth, success, power, sex, food and material posessions. We seem to be 'human doings' not 'human beings'. It's tough in these times because society and the media also convinces us that we need to do and get things to survive. And when we have it all we aren't happy so then we believe we need more and more. It's been challenging to slow down and come back to just being, but I keep practising as I feel more and more joy entering my life.

Japanese Yoga for the mind

2010-04-19T09:53:00.000+10:00

I'm reading H.E. Davey's Japanese Yoga, using his experiments to understand that the mind controls the body, while the body acts as a reflection of the mind. Test it out for yourself.

Hold your two hands in front of you a hands-width apart. Now attempt to move your hands together using only the force of your concentration. Either mentally imagine your hands coming together or imagine they already are together. Or command that your hands come together. It may take you 5 or 15 minutes or longer.

After that, try using your mind only to change the direction of a spinning pendulum or for the Matrix fans to bend a spoon. Remember there's nothing super natural going on, you are merely unifying your mind-body connection using natural ki.

I'm starting with blind faith...

2010-04-18T05:42:00.000+10:00

With some reluctance after reading Ben Elton's Blind Faith a few years ago, I'm blogging my insights. Not because I think I'm special. My intention is to give openly and serve the greater community. And if my personal stories help at least one person it's worth it.