anxiety

Do you consider yourself an emotional person? Do you feel like you’re happy one minute and angry the next? Although you very well could be having a rough day, blood sugar has a lot to do with mood and energy regulation and it’s a lot simpler than you would think to keep it under control.

I would call myself a very “emotionally reactive” kind of person. My family and friends don’t really know what to expect from me from day-to-day – little did I know how much that has to do with my blood sugar and not so much with my “all over the place” kind of personality.

Kava Kava (Piper methysticum) is native to the Western Pacific Islands region. Captain Cook is responsible for the naming of the kava plant, though he didn’t actually discover it. The Latin name Piper methysticum translates to “intoxicating pepper.” The terms “kava” and “kava kava” are both used often and refer to the same plant.

Lemon balm, also called Melissa officinalis and “the Herb of Good Cheer,” has easily become one of my favorite herbs in the past year. It tastes like a mellow, citrus-y herb (exactly what you would expect from something called “lemon balm”) but what I love most is that it’s an “all-in-one.” Not only is lemon balm calming for your nerves but it also has powerful healing properties and is especially helpful for killing viruses and lowering inflammation. Here are just some of the many benefits of lemon balm:

Powerfully minty-fresh with a cool distinctive fragrance, peppermint oil is quickly becoming one of the most versatile essential oils in the world. The rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia supports a wide range of health benefits due to the nutrient-rich compounds present in peppermint leaves.

Sandalwood refers to wood from trees in the genus Santalum. Sandalwood trees grow in India, Asia, and places like Hawaii. There are many types of wood that have desirable fragrances such as cedar and cherry trees but the scent of those trees fades pretty quickly compared to the sandalwood. The sweet, warm, woody, and soft scent of sandalwood stays strong for decades. Sandalwood’s sweet aroma has been around and highly valued for many centuries.

Popeye may have believed that the main health benefit of spinach was its iron content, but he would not have been able to flex his muscles as well if spinach was not so high in magnesium. That’s right – Popeye knows best. Eat your greens!

After going through a few hard months, I've recently been able to really focus on looking within and getting myself back to balance. I of course went for my go-to methods of relaxation and energy healing; meditation and yoga, but I also came across something called somatic therapy, which really piqued my interest.

We all bring baggage home from work. Sometimes it’s the day’s tiredness; sometimes it’s work that has to be finished. Mostly it’s stress—disguised as anger, impatience, and sometimes just plain old meanness.

Years ago I read an interview about James Franco’s childhood. When he found out he would die one day, he cried because there were so many things he wanted to do and he didn’t think he’d be able to accomplish them all in his lifetime. I relate, but not exactly in the same way. Yes, there is a lot I want to see and do, but my predominant feeling is that I’m behind. If life were a race, my perception is I’d be losing.

The roadmap to a mindful life lies in the simple pleasure of consciously becoming aware. In particular, meditation techniques provide individuals with introspective means of becoming conscious of their own sensations, thoughts, and feelings as they exist without judgment and over-identification. Often times this goes well and meditators feel a sense of joyful peace and freedom. Their flow of mind seems to float in a transcendent state of gratitude and appreciation.