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Image by Ashley Batz

MENTAL HEALTH

How we think and how we feel largely determine our wellbeing.

Our thoughts and emotions are intimately linked to our energy – our vibration. We cannot always choose our thoughts, but we can choose which thoughts to follow or replace. In this way, we can choose positive thoughts that encourage elevated emotions that increase our vibration. People can sense our vibration when we walk into a room. They can feel energetically if we are high vibe or low vibe. This is something we should be aware of. 

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When we are stressed, feeling low, or thinking negative thoughts, we are creating a low vibrational field of energy around us that can be measured. In contrast, when we are feeling elevated emotions and thinking positive thoughts we are creating a high vibrational field of energy around us that is expansive and uplifting to those around us. 

STRESS IS COMPLEX.

IT CAN COME FROM OUR ENVIRONMENT, OUR BODY, OUR THOUGHTS, AND OUR EMOTIONS.

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It can also come from other people’s energy. Stress can come from fear, and fear comes from trauma. Stress stimulates our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) – one branch of our autonomic nervous system (ANS) – that has numerous physiological consequences, which can be beneficial in the short-term, but dangerous in the long-term.

The other branch of the ANS is the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) that causes relaxation. Previously, medicine thought that the autonomic nervous system was automatic, meaning beyond our conscious control; however, decades worth of new science has shown what ancient wisdom has known for millennia: we can control our autonomic nervous system with our conscious breath.

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Breathwork and meditation are profound tools to induce relaxation, and when used in combination with our intention and attention, as well as sound therapy with specific sound frequencies, can be transformative for healing and conscious expansion. When the sympathetic nervous system is overstimulated for long periods of time, such as with chronic stress, trauma, chronic pain, sleep breathing disorders, and/or inflammatory diet, it can wreak havoc on the body.

A body out of balance creates an imbalance in the mind, which in turn further destabilizes the body. In this way, pain, sleep, diet, and mental health are intimately connected. To resolve this, we must address each problem individually and as a whole system.

One of the most important things we can do is address our traumas - the root cause
of our fears and fear-based programming that keeps us in a state of stress.

SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING MENTAL WELLBEING

Internal & Mental Practices:

  • self-love

  • loving kindness

  • empathy

  • gratitude

  • being mindful of negative self-talk

  • boundary setting

  • introspection

  • mantras

  • chanting

  • visualizations

  • positive affirmations

  • journaling

  • digital detox

  • reading inspirational books about mindset, trauma, and the human condition

Image by David Iskander
Image by Darius Bashar

Body-based & Physical Practices:

  • meditation

  • body scans

  • conscious breathing

  • holotropic breathwork

  • sound therapy with specific sound frequencies

  • autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR)

  • red light therapy

  • mindful movement (yoga, tai chi, qigong)

  • exercise

  • trauma release exercises (TRE)

  • somatic experiencing

  • tapping

  • aromatherapy (lavender oil)

  • grounding

  • spending time in nature

  • improving heart rate variability with a tracker

  • heart and mind coherence

External Support &
Therapeutic Practices:

  • eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)

  • plant medicine and psychedelics

  • cultivating community

  • art therapy

  • therapy / counselling / coaching

  • functional medicine physician (diet for mental wellness)

  • psychology or psychiatry

Image by Aaron Burden
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