Stress can have a detrimental effect on the body.  It is increasingly becoming illuminated as being the silent killer.  Stress is a factor that is common to the human condition, and how we manage stress is crucial to health, wellness and our very survival.  However, not all stress is harmful, as certain stressors may actually spur helpful reactions such as personal growth and achievement through challenge.  Though, most stressors have been correlated to negative impacts on health and general well-being.  Prominent conditions linked to stress are hypertension, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, neck aches, low-back pains, and skin problems.  These have been classified as the “diseases of civilization”.  In addition to physical declines, stress influences mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of a person.  With stress having a multifaceted effect on the individual as a whole, the impacts of stress become far-reaching in areas of society, community, workplace, and relationships.

Mindfulness meditation is a vital component of wellness that decreases the harms of stress.  Mindfulness may change your life…

Mindfulness is a type of meditation that involves formal and informal practices.  In formal practice, you take some amount of time everyday to stop and meditate.  With informal practice, you allow the mindfulness practice to flow into all aspects of your everyday life. 

Through research and studies of the effects of MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), a multitude of benefits have been found.  Mindfulness has been shown to transform emotions and lift the spirit; help decrease and alleviate several physical health symptoms and cope with pain in the body; increase brain functioning and cognitive attention abilities; and cultivate inner resources and resiliency that bring peace, joy, life balance and vitality.

Mindfulness is simply awareness, which in actuality is not so simple.  Mindfulness requires that you intentionally pay attention to the present moment with an attitude of non-judgment.  Mindfulness meditation is an embodied practice that cultivates a healthy relationship with the self.  This personal and friendly relationship with yourself extends to create healthier relationships with others.  Therefore, your personal practice of mindfulness may also change the communities in which you engage as well as expand and reach to affect the entire world. 

Knowing yourself is powerful!  And it is also a major challenge – quite possibly the most difficult work that you can implement.  But what work is more important?  Mindfulness cultivates the deep listening that is required to truly come to know your own self in body, mind, heart and spirit and how these are displayed in the world. 

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Women of the World – March Event:

“Mindfulness as Self Exploration and Investigation: Realizing the Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit Connection to How You Show Up in the World”

Saturday, March 10th from 6pm-9pm in San Francisco
Organizer: Lucy Keoni 
Speaker: Melissa Green, MS, MA 

SEE DETAILS AND RSVP HERE

What kind of body vehicle are you cruising with?  No matter what conditions may burden and afflict our bodies, we can set intentions to care for and nourish whatever temple that we are in.  We create this connection by bringing a deep awareness to our state of physical existence.  When I did this many years ago, I realized that my body was a representation of a Southern style all-you-can-eat buffet, with an extensive dessert bar!   I have always loved food and being raised in Alabama, eating was the most favorite past-time.  I never thought that I would turn away from enjoying a multitude of fried foods, ham hocks, buttery cheese grits, and mounds of sugary snacks.  It would be a travesty for a Black woman from the South to not eat fried chicken!  Oh my….

However, when I began to deeply explore the feelings and sensations in my body, I found that many of these foods were not serving my body in a way that gave ease of digestion and increased vital energy.  This attention and mindfulness began to transform the way that I saw food.  I increasingly became able to identify if I was actually “starving” as opposed to when I was eating as a reaction to an emotional or mental charge or to fill a void in my soul.  Through having a loving partnership with my body and learning to listen intently to its needs, I slowly moved into a vegetarian lifestyle with a healthy balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.  I do not claim that vegetarianism is for everybody, but I do teach that deep listening is for all of us. Our bodies are mostly the same, though entirely unique at the same time.  What works for us individually can be determined by the knowledge from research that we have on physical health in conjunction with the knowledge provided by our own inner wisdom. 

We will discover that the body craves to be treated right according to the needs that will give it the most effective functioning and balance.  We will also understand that just as a computer sometimes requires a re-boot, our bodies may perform better with intermittent re-boots in the form of cleansing and detoxing.  Eating in this manner along with workable exercise plans and activities, we realize a body that is vital, thriving, and flourishing.  Now, at the age of 39, I am styling in a body that is exponentially more fit than it was in my 20’s.  See for yourself how minding your body can enrich you with a temple to be proud of!

Other reasons to eat mindfully – check out this article from the November 2011 issue of Scientific American Magazine.

Food We Eat Might Control Our Genes

Scientific American Magazine, November 2011

By Anne-Marie C. Hodge
Scientists find rice microRNA inside human cells

“You are what you eat.” The old adage has for decades weighed on the minds of consumers who fret over responsible food choices. Yet what if it was literally true? What if material from our food actually made its way into the innermost control centers of our cells, taking charge of fundamental gene expression?

That is in fact what happens, according to a recent study of plant-animal micro­RNA transfer led by Chen-Yu Zhang of Nanjing University in China. MicroRNAs are short sequences of nucleotides—the building blocks of genetic material. Although microRNAs do not code for proteins, they prevent specific genes from giving rise to the proteins they encode. Blood samples from 21 volunteers were tested for the presence of microRNAs from crop plants, such as rice, wheat, potatoes and cabbage.

The results, published in the journal Cell Research, showed that the subjects’ bloodstream contained approximately 30 different microRNAs from commonly eaten plants. It appears that they can also alter cell function: a specific rice microRNA was shown to bind to and inhibit the activity of receptors controlling the removal of LDL—“bad” cholesterol—from the bloodstream. Like vitamins and minerals, microRNA may represent a previously unrecognized type of functional molecule obtained from food.

The revelation that plant microRNAs play a role in controlling human physiology highlights the fact that our bodies are highly integrated ecosystems. Zhang says the findings may also illuminate our understanding of co-evolution, a process in which genetic changes in one species trigger changes in another. For example, our ability to digest the lactose in milk after infancy arose after we domesticated cattle. Could the plants we cultivated have altered us as well? Zhang’s study is another reminder that nothing in nature exists in isolation.

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Testimonial

 “Melissa's ability to connect with me as an individual made me feel safe and comfortable.  Her calm and soothing voice during the guided meditations really helped me to tap into a state of mindfulness.  The mindful eating exercise that Melissa led was very eye-opening and made me evaluate what it is that I am putting into my body.  The hike and meditation we went on was very powerful, as Melissa pointed out setting our intentions.  Her ability to connect with the mind, body and spirit in Mother Nature was a very grounding experience.”

M.Y., Business Accountant in San Francisco

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FREE gift!!! 

“Like” our Facebook page OR comment on our blog and receive a complimentary Mindful Eating session and consultation! (1 hour by phone or in person)

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Dragonfly Healing Center March Workshop:

 “Mind Your Body: Mindfulnes​s for Exploring the Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit Connection”

Saturday, March 31st from 1pm-5pm at Jikoji Zen Temple and Retreat Center

This is a Co-Ed workshop (all genders welcome!)

See details and RSVP HERE!!!

We are feeling the love at Dragonfly Healing Center!  The month of amor is here and we have nothing but love for all beings on this journey, with an extra sprinkle of heartfullness for those who dearly support us in our purpose.  Much gratitude!
  
We speak so much of the heart, and the heart has many answers…

Definitions – MacMillan Dictionary

1. organ in the body
2. area of chest with heart
3. your feelings
4. central part
5. most important part
6. shape representing love
7. suit of playing cards

When someone asks, “Can you feel where I’m coming from?” or just “do you feel me?” they are inquiring about a heart connection.  One that goes straight to the soul, from one human being to another. 

I have an affinity towards hearts, for I am a Valentine Cupid – born on February 14th that is.  Down in the heart of Dixie, I was delivered at our home by a skilled midwife.  She bonded with my mother as they worked to welcome me into this world.  A few years ago, my mother took me and my sister to visit our elderly midwife.  I was grateful for this act of love from my mother.  And I felt so much love for this woman whose hands first touched me as I gasped my first breath of air.  How wonderful and heartfelt to touch those hands. 

As humans we experience many kinds of love – after all, LOVE is what we all want and is what we all are –  it just gets a bit closed off and buried at times.

How do we open our hearts?  How do we cultivate more love in our lives, to give and receive?

A way that I know works for sure is through the practice of lovingkindness. 

Lovingkindness  is also known as Metta practice and is the act of cultivating love and care for all beings.  The meditations and teachings enhance our ability to send love and compassion to ourselves and others, including strangers and those that we may not even particularly like.  Lovingkindness is a heart-centered component of mindfulness practice.

Mindfulness, being in the present moment with an attitude of non-judgment, grows more awareness of loving the self and seeing clearly how we can best care for self.  The heart pumps blood to itself first and then to the rest of the body.  The heart is wise!  We must care for self before we can effectively help and serve others.

In showing our love and care for the future of this planet, Dragonfly Healing Center is supporting the upcoming Mindful Schools fundraising event through volunteer assistance.  This event features Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, who will be speaking on the role of mindfulness in education.

See complete details!!!   http://www.mindfulschools.org/home/jkz-benefit/