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