DAY 8~ Spark your Core Flame

DAY 8: MISSION: SPARK YOUR CORE FLAME Since yesterday was about maintaining your freedom in the midst of life's random chaos, today I want to take it a step farther. I want you to Spark your Core Flame. The Core Flame is Sadie's phrase for that in you, which needs nourishment to stay vibrant, inspired, and full of life. It's our balance, peace of mind, heart and 'joy of living'. How I personally keep this inner fire bright is a fun, interesting, sometimes very challenging practice that requires daily, hourly, even moment to moment vigilance. At the start of each day, whether my schedule requires it or not, I rise right before the sun. I make my lemon detox (w/an added tea bag because it has now completely replaced my coffee... & anyone who knows me, knows that is a surprising replacement, as I was a die-hard coffee feign just weeks ago!) and I head to my deck to watch the sunrise. This tiny bit of time, to myself, each morning is an absolute must to keep my fire burning bright. On days that I oversleep and my kids wake me up, my entire day is off. I feel as though I am playing catch-up all day, never quiet getting where I need to be, which is centered and in control. Once I am completely awake and the sun has peeked over the mountain, I move right into my morning yoga practice. I've attached, at the bottom of this post, the yoga video I've been doing for the past week. This morning, I gave myself an extra treat and brought the laptop to the deck and did yoga on the deck with this beautiful sunrise. A few years ago, when nothing in my life was working, I saw the consequence of living in ways that stifled my flame. When I reoriented my priorities from worrying about lighting other people's flames over my own, my life finally began to move forward. I could clearly track the path of the damage I caused to myself and others, damage by not loving myself first for so many years. After 10 years of being stuck both figuratively and literally, I made the brave changes necessary that were in the best interest of myself and therefore, my family as well. Not to say that everything in my life is perfect, by any measure. I am still a work-in-progress, just like you. Sometimes, life brings people into our path that are master 'drainers' or 'flame-blower-outers'. We may not, always, be able to completely rid ourselves of said energy-suckers at the drop of a dime. However, it's not healthy to give all your energy to others. It doesn't even help them. If you allow yourself to go dim, get depleted and and become unable to shine in the process of 'loving' someone, that's not love. If you are unable to rid yourself, completely, of people who drain you, at least learn to Spark your Core Flame. It's not just other people that dim our core flames. We can all sit home, day after day, stressing and obsessing about a million things, and hey, rightfully so--life is crazy, random and chaotic. Yet, the question is: is all that worry and extra work really serving you at your highest? Is it easier or harder to reach your ultimate goals and be in a state of balance when you participate in behaviors that leak your most precious resources--your time and energy? Wouldn't you feel so much more light, free, and able to live in peace and joy if you spent that time and energy maintaining your center instead? To Spark your Core Flame you must serve yourself, your loved ones and the world from a healthy, fit, happy, balanced place, you must do the present-moment 'mastering' it takes to avoid the things that deplete you and gather around those that put more fire back in your flame. So, for me personally, I avoid oversleeping and feeling behind each day. I avoid spending too much time or giving too much attention to the people I know drain me and more importantly do not reciprocate the attention, energy and time I spend on them. To keep the fire burning bright, I eat healthy as often as possible, workout in some way every day and if possible or if needed, more than once a day. I read and write as often as possible. Basically, I do whatever it takes to keep my mind, body and soul feeling good, balanced and centered. In doing so, I am better able to care for those who need me. You are the Master of Your Universe. Truly, whatever you are thinking and believing inside your mind will, in fact, manifest itself into your outer reality. So, what are you bringing forth into your body, your heart, your relationships, your day? The time is now to reframe, re-light and re-act from your brightest core, no matter what else is going on, and no matter who else is frustrating you or pulling at your attention. To experience the power of this practice for yourself, for this one day, and hopefully beyond, practice a simple but powerful technique, one that has led me so far into my wildest dreams: say yes to the things that feed your flame, and no to those that would try and snuff it out. What happens when you become the master of your universe and spend your time and energy igniting your core flame? Total transformation!! TODAY'S HEALTH TIP: POWER UP WITH PROBIOTICS If your gut is unhealthy and lacking good bacteria, weight loss will be a constant battle. Today we're going deeper into the core, literally, to get to your digestive function and help it help you burn fat and process your food like the powerhouse it is meant to be. Plus, focusing on your intestinal balance will keep you healthier! A whopping 60% of your immune system function lies within your gut--so enhancing its natural flora daily is optimal to both stay healthy--and maintain a healthy weight. To do this, eat a lots of yogurt!! Yogurt is not only an excellent source of probiotics, but also protein packed and usually fat-free as well. Remember that tid-bit of protein I gave you yesterday? Protein burns fat. So, if you're eating fat, you want to always make sure it is closely balanced with the same amount of protein. However, if you find foods that have a higher protein count than fat, you've hit the jackpot!! I like to start each day with fresh fruit and yogurt. Depending on my mood and the amount of time I have to prepare and eat breakfast, I either enjoy a fresh fruit and yogurt smoothie or a divine bowl of fresh berries topped with vanilla greek yogurt. However, if you have an issue with dairy, you could try using a powder or pill version of probiotics, the bacteria you require to have a happy belly. While it's true that yogurt can be a good source of probiotics; people who usually need extra digestive bacteria also may have issues with dairy. Eating too much yogurt just amplifies this. Remember.... "to get out of your rut you've got to start with your gut!" TODAY'S BONUS RECIPE: Banana-Oatmeal-Date Drops 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2-3 bananas) 2 cups rolled oats or quinoa flakes for a gluten free option 1/4 cup ground flax seeds 3/4 cup pitted dates 1 tsp vanilla Mash bananas, and then stir in oats, flaxseeds, dates and vanilla. Mix well. Drop onto cookie sheets, and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Voila! Pure yum! TODAY'S YOGA TIP: MOVE FROM YOUR TRUE CORE What many people think of as the "core", are really the abdominal muscles that wrap your body from the side to front of your torso. The rectus abdominis, or 'six-pack' muscle, helps you do a crunch. Your obliques are diagonal muscles that make you sidebend and twist. And the Transverse Abdominis is a girdle-like muscle that holds your abdominal organs in and helps you eliminate. The issue with using these muscles as primary generators of your core strength is that, well, they have certain side effects. For one thing, if you tighten your abs too much, you can't breathe. That's because these muscles also help you inhale and exhale. They should be able to expand on each breath in, and then contract on the breath out. And, if you just grip your belly area in, say, a Plank Pose (top of a pushup) to stabilize the spine from going into too-deep of a low back curve, then you're squishing the abdominal and pelvic organs back against the spine to do that. Double ew! When you recruit the deeper spinal core muscles that run along the sides and near the back of the low back (lumbar spine), then you get spinal stability from really close to the spine, so your organs are free to work and detox, not be compressed, and your abs are available to help you take full breaths in and out. Add these two areas to the Golden Flame Breath (pelvic diaphragm), and you've got yourself a triple threat that will create major strength, lightness, heat, detoxification and safe flexibility in all your poses. Today, when you do the yoga video below, aim to keep the front and back of your low back spine moving into the body and upward toward the center of the chest at all times. On your inhales, you can think about creating a wave of length from your low back spine that lifts and supports it, while you let your belly relax more. On the exhales, you squeeze and lift the pelvic diaphragm muscles (golden flame) up the spine and tone the low belly in and up too to keep the spine long and help you exhale more fully. This is a skill that may take you a while to master, as I am still working on this one myself daily both in and out of yoga. However, if we can do the really hard, emotional, work with our core then surely we can support that work by physically strengthening and supporting our core as well. Right? TODAY'S JOURNAL ENTRY: Imagine a time in your life when you were the most 'on fire' or 'alive'. This memory can go back as far as adolescence or even childhood. Using your visualization technique, go back to that time and remember how you felt when you were the most energetic, alive and 'hot' from your core to your toes. What specific memory arises? Write, in detail, what it felt like when your core was burning its brightest. TODAY'S HOMEWORK: Today, think about what causes you to lighten and brighten up! What are the perspectives, adventures, outside-the-box actions and choices you need to make to do things differently, move away from drama and anxiety and toward the freedom ride of being totally in alignment with your inner fire? Write them down and post them somewhere you'll see them daily. Then get going to do more nourishing behaviors that spark your inner light. TODAY'S POSITIVE AFFIRMATION: My inner flame burns bright with love and appreciation for all that I do to spark it" Good luck w/ your Day 8 ~Stephanie Chasles