​Sometimes the best way to get out of bad habits is to create a new habit that is more rewarding to our body, mind and spirit.

Below are some free, easy simple ways aid your body in it’s natural ability to heal itself. Start with 1 or 2 and pay attention to how your body feels.
 

1.  Get enough sleep: Do not use computers, phones, tv after 10:30 pm-This is just one article to explain how they disrupt your sleep. Sleep is important you’re your body to recover and heal itself. Here are two articles with more information on sleep. 
​
http://www.thesleepjudge.com/different-ways-technology-affects-sleep-quality/

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/power-down-better-sleep
 
2.  Reduce sugar, dairy, caffeine and alcohol and processed food intake: These foods all take energy for your body to process which takes away from it’s reserves to heal itself. 
3.  Take 15 minutes or more of time outside in nature:  listen, look, smell, and feel your surroundings- Trees, birds, plants, rocks, etc all live in the present moment, by taking the time to sit with nature, we are able to resonate with the present moment and find clarity and peace outside the chaos of our minds and society.
 
 
4.  Move for at least a half hour a day:  What ever you decide to do whether light stretching, walking, running, dancing, tai chi, yoga, swaying back and forth in place will help the blood flow in your body of which in turn helps your body to heal it’s self.
 
5.  Daily practice: whether it is meditation, mindful dish washing, painting, yoga, crafting etc.-  your body needs to get out of it’s logical mind of which uses up energy that it needs to use to heal itself. Below is just one article about this:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/25/health/brain-crafting-benefits/
 
6.  Drink 64 ounces or more of water a day. depending on your body weight. Most people are dehydrated, and your body cannot heal itself when it is dehydrated. Chronic dehydration leads to inflammation, depression, fatigue, heart burn, and many more disorders. Soda, coffee, juice, sugary drinks and even tea are all diuretics meaning they take water away from your body so if you feel the need to drink something other than water, you will need to add extra water above those 64 ounces . Below is just one article that explains a little more about chronic dehydration.
http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/are-you-chronically-dehydrated

“Gratitude is good nutrition for your soul. If you don’t take it in daily you will start to get sick, tired and dissatisfied.” Becky La Plante, L.Ac.

When The Secret by Rhonda Bryne first came out, I was young and hungry for the information. I acted as if I had everything I wanted; made vision boards, thought about the things I wanted and tried to be positive. I followed the steps, but I never truly believed that I could get what I wanted. I did get results, but the underlying beliefs of lack would always resurface and I was back to square one. Eventually I stopped trying and got frustrated with the process. I see now that I was lacking gratitude in this whole process. By being grateful for what I had, the feeling of lack could not exist because I had to consciously look for things to be grateful for.  

Fast forward to the past 2 years. I am now finally established in CT, and I can finally say I feel satisfaction, happiness love, and joy.  This was not the case 4 months ago. Moving across the country, taking new state exams, starting a new business while struggling to pay bills, make new friends, and continue my education and healing work left me too serious, lonely and alien in this foreign state, fearful of my financial survival, and hyper aware of my grief.  I was so wrapped up in trying to survive that I forgot to see the beauty around me.

I reached out for help and I was lucky enough to be introduced to the workbook called The Magic.  Because I was so fed up with being unhappy, I committed to the 28 days of exercises focused on being grateful for what I have now, had in the past, and will have in the future. I gave my self permission to just day dream about what I would ideally be being and doing if I had everything I needed. Miraculously, I instantly started to feel more relaxed, less tense, happier, and more satisfied. Things finally started to go my way. I was able to pay my bills on time, found love and found peace again. Things didn’t look exactly as I daydreamed them to be, but they sure felt the way I daydreamed I would be feeling.

I must admit, that there were definitely days that I still felt crappy and unfulfilled but thankfully I was committed to gratitude even if it started out at first with simple things such as my cats, my car, my bed, a roof over my head, etc. The more things that I thought of, the better I felt, and the quicker I got out of my doom and gloom.

After I finished the program, things were going well, and while enjoying the harvest of my hard gratitude work, I gradually started to forget to do my gratitude practice every day. I still had more tools and better gratitude habits then before, but I quickly learned that gratitude was like good nutrition and vitamins. If I didn’t take it in, I would start to feel tired and dissatisfied. This is why I am creating this support group.  I am sure it would have been even easier for me to stay on track during and after the program if I had other friends and people also taking gratitude as medicine to share my results and failures.  To support and to be supported is a great gift that can carry us far beyond what we could do alone.

I am 100 % sure that gratitude transformed my life and my health and after being in healing world since I was 16 years old, I am sure it is one of the quickest, easiest, and least expensive tools to take charge of our own peace, happiness, and joy. 

By Becky La Plante, L.Ac.
Licensed Acupuncturist
http://www.elementaltransformation.com/chinese-herbal-medicine.html

In Chinese Herbal Medicine and Nutrition there are over 365 plants, foods, minerals and animals that known to have medicinal properties. Each herb works with one or more organs, has particular temperatures, flavor/tastes, and directions/flows and energy pathways.

The summer is considered the greatest of yang and humans are effected by the heat, which along with feeling hot and humid we are prone to get other illnesses aggravated by these temperatures and conditions. 

Below are a yin cooling foods and herbs used in Chinese Medicine to help cool you down, and if you do get sick, to help heal you. Herbs are best used in partnership with each other. For any questions, please contact me through my website above. 

Watermelon: There is a reason why this juicy fruit is abundant in the summer. It is used in Chinese Nutrition for summer heat and to cool you down down the body and the blood. Although watermelon is 90 percent water, it can have diuretic properties to help clear toxins from your body, so make sure you don't use it as a subsitute for water. 

Mint
Chinese Name: Bo He
Again, if it grows in the summer it usually can heal ailments of the summer. Mint is abundant in the summer and can be found wild in nature.  Make a tea with some fresh mint, or add it to your water to cool your self down. 

It is used in Chinese Medicine to expel wind heat particularly from the head region -  for fever, headaches, red eyes, cough, sore throat.

Chrysanthemum Flowers
Chinese Name: Ju Hua
Crysanthemum is another cooling herb and is great made into an iced tea. It is used for general cooling and medicinally for fever, headaches, eye problems, and sore throat. It can be used as a compress for red inflamed eyes and infections. 

A Very Common Herbal Formula for a Summer Cold
Chinese Name: Yin Qiao Wan
English Name: Honeysuckle and Forsythia Formula 
Common cold, flu, general immunity, fever w/slight or no chills, headache, desire for fluids, cough, sore throat.

Granville Gorge During a Rain Storm

By Becky La Plante, L.Ac.
 www.elementaltransformation.com 

After 4 days of rain and during a holiday weekend on top of it, we are all cursing the rain and sick of the cold weather. But, when was the last time you slept in being soothed by the white noise of the rain outside, or spent a holiday at home rather than out and about shopping and active?

Rain is an opportunity to go with in and be quiet. In Chinese Medicine, rain is very yin and yin symbolizes the internal, the feminine, the unknown, the water element. 


After being back for a year from Southern California, I have notice that it is only the sunny clear days we appreciate, and the rest of the days that aren't sunny we complain about. Before I moved to Southern California many years ago, I loved nature, but I wasn't fully appreciative of different flavors of the seasons and the elements. It took 11 years of living in a city with only a few rain showers a year, a month of cloudy mornings and a regular forecast of SUNNY days to have me truly appreciating the rain. 

I have taken many classes for wilderness survival skills and the philosophy of living with the earth, and if it was raining for the whole week, there were no other options other than suck it up and get wet and dirty. At first it was hard, cold, uncomfortable, but after a while we got use to it and it turned out to be just like any day and a very bonding experience. 

There is something so freeing to be able to be comfortable in the elements like the animals and to realize that we as humans are tougher and more resistant than we give ourselves credit for, and we are missing out on a whole other side of life. 

So I challenge you to put on some warm clothes, a little rain gear at first, and take a walk in the rain. It is very healing and we all need to toughen up a little and appreciate all states of life even if they are uncomfortable at first. Explore what is beyond your comfort zone! And most important of all, it's the sunny crisp, clear days after the storm that are the most memorable, and as I always remind myself. "You can't experience the light without having experienced the darkness." 

Below is a link to how the negative ions created from the breaking of the water molecules actually causes well being and healing to our physical and mental bodies. Enjoy! 
http://www.iriswellbeing.com/negative_ions.html

By Becky La Plante, L.Ac. 
www.elementaltransformation.com 

How many times a day do you take a breath and just allow your senses to take in your environment? If you notice children and kids, they live from their senses, noticing the wonders of the universe. But as we get older, the educational system encourages us to succeed in using our minds, passing tests and getting a good paying job. Technology further takes us away from our senses and more into our left brain. 


Humans now spend so much time in their minds thinking about the past and the future rarely focusing on our breath, our feet on the ground, the breeze hitting our skin, or the magnificent colors of the trees or the flowers around us. The great thing about taking a break from our minds and being in nature is that the animals, the trees, the plants and the rocks all live in the present moment, and this makes it easier for us to slow down. When we are not busy digesting the past and the future, we can then slow down and take in our environments. 

The benefits are not only peace of mind and relaxation, but also of our physical and mental health. 

I would like to invite you all again to take a break from the chaos of your daily life. Sunday May 19, 2013 11am-1pm

Learn about and practice a simple way of walking practiced by Native Americans that: 

Reduces strain on your body 
Brings a greater awareness of your self and surroundings 
Puts you into alpha (meditative) state of mind 
Reconnects you to the present moment and nature 

Taught and Guided by Becky La Plante, Licensed Acupuncturist and Herbalist At Anew Massage and Wellness 

 # Of People is Limited. Please R.S.V.P. Please call (860) 341-1227 to R.S.V.P. and for more details. 

At Mclean Refuge in Granby, of 10 /202http://www.mcleangamerefuge.org/Directions/directions.htmDonation Appreciated but not required

By Becky La Plante, L.Ac., Granby CT

Feeling grumpy? Worried about your finances, the state of the world, your health? It is time for our society to start taking responsibility for our health in a free natural way! 

Research has found that making your self smile, by engaging the facial muscles, while and thinking about something that makes you happy will send a message to your brain that you are actually happy. The process of mimicking the facial expressions of an emotion can fool your self into feeling the actual emotion. This then eventually can improve your mood causing the many health benefits such as improved immune function and reduced blood pressure and more listed below.  

Another positive effect of smiling is that it will up lift the mood of the people around your through a process called emotional contagon. Emotional contagon is the tendency for humans and animals to mimic facial expressions, emotions, postures and movements of the people they are around.  That means feeling good and smiling is just as infectious as feeling grumpy and negative.  

Frowning and negative thinking causes actual physical responses such as the production ofcortisol (the stress hormone) and while smiling and laughing stimulates the production of serotonin (the "feel good" hormone.)

LAUGHING

Humor therapy or laugh therapy -the use of humor for the relief of physical or emotional pain and stress. It is used as a complementary method to promote health and cope with illness.  Humor therapy helps reduce the negative effects of feeling unhealthy, out of control, afraid, or helpless, which are common problems for those with cancer or chronic diseases.

Humor therapy is used regularly along with conventional medicine at hospitals and cancer treatment centers and involves methods such as movies, audio recordings, books, games, and puzzles to induce laughter and joy of which had many befefits of which are listed below.

BENEFITS OF SMILING AND LAUGHING

• Lowered production of stress hormones.
• Relaxation and reduction in muscle tension
• Improved immune system function.
• Reduction in blood pressure.
• Reduction of blood sugar
• Clearing the lungs by dislodging mucous plugs.
• Increasing the production of salivary immunoglobulin A, which defends against infectious organisms that enter through the respiratory tract.
• Aerobic effects that increased the body's ability to utilize oxygen.
• A rapid ability to disregard aches and pains or to perceive them as less severe, increasing pain tolerance by stimulating the release of endorphins.
• Makes you look and feel younger and more attractive causing others to respond to you in a positive way.

References:  

Diabetes Care May 2003;26:1651-1652

Anahad O'Conner, The Claim: A Fake Smile Can be Bad for Your Health

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/health/22really.html

Martin H Brutsche, Paul Grossman, Rebekka E Müller, Jan Wiegand, Pello, Florent Baty, and Willibald Ruch. "Impact of Laughter on Air Trapping in Severe Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease."2008

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528214/?tool=pmcentrez

Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, "Smile and Others Smile with You: Health Benefits, Emotional Contagion, and Mimicry," September 27, 2008.

http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/emiliya-zhivotovskaya/200809271036 

Joni Holderman, "A Geniune Found Smile Improve Health, Happiness," June 15, 2010.


http://mentalhealthnews.org/a-genuine-smile-found-to-improve-health-happiness/84834/ 

Paul E. McGhee, PhD. "Use Your Amuse System to Boost Your Immune System

Humor Your Tumor"

Paul E. McGhee, PhD. "Laughter Using Humor to Cope Part 1: Laughing in the Midst of Stress"

Paul E. McGhee, PhD. "Prescription for Pain Reduction"

Paul E. McGhee, PhD. "Using Humor to Cope Part 2: Humor in Concentration/POW Camps"

Paul E. McGhee, PhD. "Emotion: The Key to the Mind's Influence on Health"

Paul E. McGhee, PhD. "Impact of Negative Emotion on Survival"

www.LaughterRemedy.com

 

http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/MindBodyandSpirit/humor-therapy

Do you remember the last time you sat in your yard and noticed the flowers or the trees that you pass by everyday, or even the birds and animals busy with their day to day activities? It is easy to miss the beauty of nature around us when living in the city, driving in traffic, struggling to pay the bills, and then coming home to de-stress from the day with some form of media.

We spend more and more money every day on medications for insomnia, blood pressure, anxiety and depression and more, not aware of the possibility that just turning off the TV or computer and going outside can be the cure of many of our ailments.  The research suggests that this disconnect with nature and its elements may be a major contributor to physiological dysfunction and psychological imbalances.

Studies show that being out in nature contributes to relaxation and an increased sense of well-being, restoration of mental clarity, physical health and healing, decreased recovery time from surgery, and decreased A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. symptoms in children. They also show that walking barefoot or sitting on the earth has benefits too common disorders including sleep disorders, pain and inflammation, chronic stress, and cardiovascular disease.

There are many gems that nature has to offer us, including herbal medicine. Herbs have been used for thousands of years and most of the time the most beneficial herbs for us are usually growing in our own back yard.  

Go ahead and try the free and simple medicine experiencing nature has to offer and notice the difference in your health and well-being. Take 20 minutes a day, as many days a week, and just sit outside or walk barefoot on the grass, go to a local park and sit next to a tree, or even go for a hike in the mountains.  Notice the plants around you; you never know what medicinal qualities they may have to offer you. 

Becky La Plante, L.Ac. 


References:

Journal of Environmental and Public HealthVolume 2012 (2012), Article ID 291541, 8 pages doi:10.1155/2012/291541

Psychological Benefits of Nature Experiences: An Outline of Research and Theory

With Special Reference to Transpersonal Psychology John Davis, Ph.D. http://www.johnvdavis.com/ep/Psy%20benefits%20of%20n%207-04.pdf