5 Ways to Recharge Energy (for Empaths)

Empaths

Empaths often find it hard to keep their batteries charged. Work, social, and family obligations make it difficult to stay energetically amped up, and feeling the emotions around us more intensely than the average person makes it all the more crucial to stay in a powerful state. Operating on low energy levels is more likely to attract energy vampires and amplify our tendency to hide from social situations and personal relationships.

While frequent alone time and retreats are good (even crucial) for empaths, it’s not always practical with our busy schedules and obligations. Sometimes we need quick, go-to recharge methods that work fast and keep us in a healthy energetic state.

Here are 5 easy recharge methods that don’t take a lot of time and can help us feel continuously revived and in a state of self-empowerment:

1. Deep Breaths: Sometimes the simplest practices are the easiest to overlook. Our breath is the quickest and most accessible path to our power, and regular, deep breaths holds tremendous potential to restore and rejuvenate. Not only does the breath help relieve tension by calming our central nervous system, it also releases toxins, supports mental clarity, massages our organs, helps relieve emotional problems, provides pain anesthetic, assists in building muscle, improves posture, improves blood quality, aids in digestion, strengthens the lungs, makes the heart stronger, assists in metabolic function, and the list goes on.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, drained, anxious, or overloaded with energy, pause for a moment to take some deep, life-cleansing breaths. I recommend beginning each morning with some quick breath work. I use the 8/8/8 method:

8 slow breathes in through the nose, out through the mouth, 8 in through the nose, out through the nose, followed by 8 breathes in-and-out through the mouth. With each breath, visualize all excess energy being removed from your energy body and auric field. This technique is extremely powerful, energizing, and stabilizing.

2. Epsom Salt Bath (magnesium): Studies have shown that magnesium and sulfate are both readily absorbed through the skin, making Epsom salt baths an easy and ideal way to restore the body’s energy through detoxification.

Magnesium plays a number of roles in the body, including regulating the activity of over 325 enzymes, reducing inflammation, helping muscle and nerve function, and acting to prevent artery hardening. Sulfates help improve the absorption of nutrients, flush toxins and help ease migraine headaches. I recommend Epsom salt baths as a regular energetic hygiene routine for empaths, not only for its numerous health benefits, but most especially for its ability to relieve stress and tension in the body. This is especially beneficial for clairsentients and those who tend to carry the emotional energy of others in their physical bodies.

3. Ground in nature: Nature is another overlooked, yet simple and quick energy booster. Numerous studies have proven the amazing healing benefits of nature, but we don’t need to be in some remote location in order to get the benefits. Simply taking off your shoes and placing bare feet on the grass (dirt, or rocks) for 5 min a day can do WONDERS for energetic health. Not only does the electromagnetic field of the earth clear and transmute negative energy and technology pollution, it also acts as an anti-inflammatory, calms the central nervous system, and frees the mind. Combine grounding with deep breathes. If you work in an office, try to go outside on work breaks and take your shoes off to connect, center, and recharge. Every empath I’ve worked with that does grounding as a daily practice reports incredible results to their ability to stay centered and charged throughout the day.

4. Write or talk out your emotions: Empaths process an astronomical amount of energy/emotions throughout the day. Often we don’t know what emotions/feelings are ours, and what we’re picking up from others. Allowing ourselves time to process and release feelings on a daily basis is an important way to keep emotions from being suppressed in our energetic bodies. I like to do an “energy dump” at the end of the day, and write down all that I’m feeling. It’s important not to judge our emotions, and we certainly don’t have to figure them out or “fix” them. Simply feel, validate, and release. Daily emotional processing is good energetic hygiene, and a crucial step to feeling empowered as an empath.

5. Still the mind (meditate): The amazing benefits of stillness for an empath cannot be overstated. It is important to constantly be poured out, so we can be recharged with new, life-sustaining energy. Think of yourself as a vessel that is always emptied, and always being re-filled. We are in a state of receptivity, and therefore, always being emptied. When we mediate (even just for 5 minutes a day) we still the mind and find our center. All of our power rests in our ability to be in the present moment, and in our experience of silence. In the silence, God speaks (as the say).

Because it’s easy as an empath to get lost in energy and in the emotional climate of those around us, it’s easy to forget the present moment. When we’re anxious, worried, or fearful, we are not experiencing the present moment. Take time each day to still the mind and feel the eternalness of your whole being. You are not your emotions, feelings, or thoughts – and daily reminders of this is crucial for our sanity.

I hope these suggestions helped.

Have a fabulous Tuesday and remember you are loved.

Resources:

If you’d like weekly tips on how to thrive and feel empowered as an empath, subscribe to Chakra Center (on the left).

To connect with other empaths for support and encouragement, join our “Empowering Empaths” Facebook group.

To learn more about empathic abilities (and how to thrive as an empath), check- out these 3 Kickass Online Classes for empaths!

5 Detoxifying Habits to Start This Winter (Guest Blog)

Features

As many of you know, I think Mindbodygreen always has great, practical tips for everyday living, and as the holidays are here, I figured this would be a great re-post for today’s guest blog:

5 Detoxifying Habits to Start this Winter

Health guru or not, we generally let our healthy routines slip — even in the slightest — during the holiday season. Maybe we eat foods we aren’t accustomed to, skip workout days or drink more alcohol than usual.

It’s a challenge to stay “on” during this time, but we allow it because of tradition. And our hope is that our love for family and friends will carry us through the holidays, free of guilt and sickness.

Then reality sinks in. We start the New Year feeling sluggish, low energy and unmotivated. We want to so badly get back on track, but it’s hard to step out of the hole we’ve unintentionally created.

So how can we manage guilty-free fun at holiday parties and gatherings while simultaneously handling the harsh reality of repeated exposure to toxins? What are some simple, quick hacks that we can put into practice before, during and after our indulgent moments to cleanse our systems and maintain our vitality?

Here’s what I suggest:

1. Hydrate

This one sounds simple, but staying hydrated is very often pushed to the back seat in social situations.

My suggestion is to drink a tall glass of water before heading out the door and again between alcoholic drinks. This prevents dehydration and the ensuing constipation and fatigue. I often bring a water bottle with me to ensure instant access. Even if you store it in your bag and only notice it on the way out, it’s a great way to remind yourself to re-hydrate at the end of the night.

2. Breathe

Yes, we all know how to breathe, but how many of us are actually intentional about our breathing?

The practice of bringing your attention to your breath can be very helpful in social and stressful situations. Stop and take a few deep breaths, allowing your mind to clear and body to relax. It’s calming, grounding and prior to a meal, it’ll help activate your digestion. To help you remember, place a sticky note on your smartphone or set a vibrating alarm on your device.

3. Digest

If you overload your system and can’t properly digest the food you eat, your body can’t process, absorb or eliminate it effectively. The result: discomfort, gas, bloating, and in some cases, inflammation and low energy. Poor breakdown of food is common in social environments when you’re trying to get the food in your mouth quickly so you can get back to chatting.

The quickest fix is simply to chew your food and manage your portions. But in the case that you didn’t or if you’ve over-eaten, you can give your system a boost by taking digestive enzyme supplements.

4. Add fiber

Fiber is the unsung hero of regulating energy and digestion. It’ll help you manage spikes in blood sugar by slowing down your digestion and it’ll keep your bowels moving regularly. Fiber is found in plant-based foods in their most unprocessed form like nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

While at your party, identify some fibrous foods to complement the processed and sugary treats. And before going to bed, have a fiber supplement to make sure you wake up with happy bowels. Soaked chia seeds are my go-to source for fiber, but there are several to choose from.

5. Pay attention to your liver

Alcohol is often the great lubricator of our festive traditions and given the high volume of parties over the holidays, you’ll want a strategy to support your liver. Why? It’s the ultimate detoxification system and energy regulator in the body and when it’s stressed or overloaded, it doesn’t work so well. The liver relies on the activity of vitamins and minerals to help it with detoxification but these agents often get depleted during instances of toxic overload.

So make sure to load up on foods that will help reduce alcohol toxicity.

Besides supporting you over the holidays, these detox hacks can also be applied daily to maintain long-term optimal health. If you feel great over the holidays using these hacks, why not include these as part of your new year’s wellness plan?

Empathy and Weight Gain

Body Work, Empaths, Uncategorized

Yes. They are linked.

Most doctors and psychologist focus on the ‘depression’ aspect of uncontrollable weight gain, but the connection with extreme sensitivity to other people’s emotions is often overlooked.

In the “spiritual community” there’s a permeating false idea floating around that to be spiritual means to look like a supermodel. Maybe it’s the frenzy with social media spirituality (who’s the most popular and 100% raw?!), but it seems our societal obsession with perfection has lead us to believe that if we don’t look a certain way, we’re just not spiritual enough (as if women need one more thing to feel guilty about).

Some of the most tuned-in, loving, wise, altruistic people I know carry a few extra pounds. Many of my clients who have extreme empathic/psychic abilities almost universally struggle with weight gain and/or health issues. This is due to the way their body translates the energy of others around them.

Often, this over-sensitivity to environment/people stems from a childhood of abuse. In order to compensate for the overhaul of energy felt by those with empathic abilities, their bodies will often carry extra weight as a type of insulation between themselves and others (it’s a form of self- protection).

Even after they’ve worked through their emotional issues/past abuse, many empaths find the extra weight is the last adaptive mechanism remaining with them. Because the excess physical insulation has been so psychologically useful to them in dealing with others’ emotions (and their own), it is often difficult to build the neuropath ways to other soothing forms of self-comfort. Learning to self-sooth is one of the most important healing modalities an empath can learn.

What’s interesting about weight gain caused by empathic abilities, is that often those carrying the extra pounds do not over eat (though some do). Many overweight empaths eat extremely healthy vegan and/or raw food diets. It can be frustrating for these people to lose weight because the issue is emotional/psychological, not an eating obsession or lack of self-control.

The most self-aware empaths are conscious about their body’s tendency to hold on to weight and learn to accept/love themselves as they are. But I find so often that they (women in particular) carry an enormous sense of guilt and shame when it comes to their weight, constantly feeling the need to “fix” themselves. This added stress often leads to additional weight gain.

I personally have dealt with this issue my entire life, often going on extreme (and potentially harmful) deprivation diets in an effort to rid myself of my body’s natural response to processing an overabundance of energy.

Through much therapy and emotional awareness, I’m learning how to have balance and control over how my empathic abilities affect me, and I find that the more I accept my body as it is, the more grounded and powerful I become.

As I’ve learned to love myself unconditionally, I’ve notice my body holds on to less and less weight, because it feels safe with me. It feels loved. Self loves soothes the body and helps it feel less vulnerable in this chaotic world of emotions.

I wanted to send this out for any of you empaths out there who struggle with your weight and feel guilty because of it. Don’t.

Carrying extra weight does not make you any less spiritual or less valuable than anyone else on the planet. Learn to love and accept yourself. Thank your body for how it protects and takes care of you. I promise it will do wonders in your overall health and sense of well-being!

Self-acceptance is always the first step to self-love (which is the ultimate state of enlightenment).

Much love, family!

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): Tapping Into Empowerment

Quantum Empowerment

Every individual is unique and the variations in their lives and life choices are physical manifestations of the distinctive energy, essence, and disposition they possess. When an individual is searching for mental and emotional healing modalities, there is a need for therapy that is personal, effective, cost efficient, and uplifting so the person can move forward with their life in a positive way; emotional freedom techniques (EFT) surpass those expectations.

What Is EFT?

EFT is rooted in energy psychology, applying Ancient Chinese medicine theology, which focuses on the body’s energy grid. The energy grid utilizes pathways and nodal points through which your chi, or life force, flows. This theory states a traumatic event, negative psychological conditioning, or other experiences can cause a disruption in your energy flow through a blockage or imbalance, prohibiting the proper flow of chi; when your chi is imbalanced or blocked, mental and emotional illnesses, disorders, and issues will arise.

Gary Craig, the founder of the EFT technique, discovered by employing these medicinal philosophies, you would be able to tap specific acupressure points, the meridian or nodal points on the body’s energy grid, releasing the blockage and bringing your body’s energy flow back into a state of homeostasis.

However, EFT doesn’t just make use of acupressure point stimulation; this technique incorporates other psychotherapies already being used in conventional cognitive behavioral therapies, such as relaxation and memory recall, causing a long term cognitive restructuring within the brain.

When your brain reconstructs its cognitive processes, you no longer process thoughts or emotions the way you did before, meaning you can nullify the negative feelings or reactions you currently have, or have had for years, resulting in a neutral reaction to the same memory or situation when successfully employing EFT.

What The Research Says

EFT has proven to be a useful technique for a wide variety of disorders or illnesses; in various studies, EFT has successfully treated anxiety disorders, depression, hostility, aggression, posttraumatic stress disorder, addictions, phobias, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, panic, attention deficit disorder, hypertension, social anxiety, career issues, and somatoform disorders. EFT also has improved colds, headaches, joint pains, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, rashes, lower cortisol levels, irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia. Let’s take a look at some of these studies and experiments a little closer.

In a case study cited by Feinstein (2010), a 52 year old woman with stage IV breast cancer decided against conventional medicine interventions and instead used EFT on numerous personal issues that surfaced after she was diagnosed. The patient received six clinical EFT tapping sessions, lasting 60 to 90 minutes in length, then continued to use the methods daily until a follow up examination eight months after the diagnosis; the appointment revealed no trace of cancer, but some scar tissue where the cancer had been (Feinstein et al., 2010).

Stapleton, Sheldon, Porter, and Whitty (2011) conducted a randomized clinical trial on the effects EFT exerted over food cravings, the perceived power of food, psychological symptoms, and will power of 96 overweight and obese adults. When the researchers initially retested the participants, immediately after receiving their EFT treatment, the participants had significant reductions in food cravings, food wielded less power over the participants, and will power was improved. The improvements in cravings and the power of food were maintained at the six month follow-up.

Another randomized controlled study performed by Church, Brooks, and DeAsis (2012) with 30 first-year psychology students scoring in the moderate to severely depressed ranges on the Beck Depression Inventory. The participants in the experimental group received four EFT sessions of 90 minutes; the treatment proved to be both clinically and statistically significant, as the average post treatment depression score of the EFT condition group resulted in not depressed.

In a controlled pilot study by Benor, Ledger, Toussaint, and Hett (2009) with Canadian college students with severe to moderate test anxiety, EFT accomplished benefits equal to that of five cognitive behavioral therapy sessions.

Click here for images of brain scans from an experiment by Andrade and Feinstein (2004) using EFT treatments for participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD); these scans show the average brain scan procession over a course of four weeks with twelve sessions of EFT. The first scan is what an ideal brain scan looks like and the second scan is the average scan of the participants with (GAD) before they began EFT sessions; the brain scans progress toward their natural or ideal homeostasis state through EFT, reducing dysfunctional brain wave frequencies.

This study contrasted EFT with cognitive behavioral therapy, combined with medication when necessary, as a control mechanism. The EFT participants were more likely to maintain their new functional brain wave patterns compared to the cognitive behavioral group. Moreover, Andrade and Feinstein (2004) noted people treated with antianxiety medications did reduce their anxiety symptoms, but their brain scans maintained brain wave frequency dysfunction, implying the medication acts as a cosmetic layer without actually addressing the real issue(s).

How It Works

The research shows you the beginnings of the wide applications for EFT, but I want to explain to you why and how it works because there are several stratums to consider. The first level we will consider is the electroconductivity of the human body, then epigenetics, and finally the cognitive restructuring process.

Your body is a beautiful and amazing transmitter and receiver of energy as represented by its electromagnetic field. The human body produces electromagnetic fields with cells and tissues that can be measured on the skin, while all of our organs produce biomagnetic energy.

Within these energy fields, diseases and disturbances can often be measured before their physical symptoms can be detected. EFT literally taps into these specific energy fields to redirect their flow in a proper, balanced manner, alleviating electromagnetic and biomagnetic fields of disturbances and blocks.

Epigenetics is a subfield of genetic research, exposing an inherent variability within genetic expression previously thought impossible. Your DNA does not actually come with a concrete, inflexible blueprint dictating your every thought, action, and countenance; conversely, it is a vast set of probabilities, combining information from your default genetic expression, your thoughts, your beliefs, your behaviors, and your environmental and biochemical influences.

All of these inputs interact on the cellular level, communicating with the entirety of your body about the information received,responding by activating or deactivating the potentials within your unique genetic expression. This is why over time identical twins, people born with duplicate DNA, begin to look different; each individual has their own experiences, psychology, and environmental exposures offering an alternative expression of active and inactive genetic potentials.

As epigenetics proves genetic and cellular expression is affected by conscious thought and behavioral inputs, EFT offers somatic and cognitive inputs that activate positive, balanced potentials, while deactivating genetic potentials expressing imbalance and harm.

Researchers and practitioners assert the physical activity with the activation of mental processes alters the targeted response because the stimulation of acupressure points transmits signals to the amygdala and related brain structures, reducing hyperarousal to the given stimulus or memory; the brain then reconsolidates the memory, cognition, feeling, or mental picture, while the newly reduced or absent hyperarousal is retained as the new reaction to the initial stimuli (Feinstein, 2008).

Ruden (2010) asserts EFT techniques focusing on stress-producing cues, such as fear or traumatic memories, depotentiate the neural pathways maintaining maladaptive conditioned responses; this means the EFT techniques recode the conditioned responses that produce ill effects with desired behaviors or feelings. This creates a cognitive restructuring of the brain, so old paradigms no longer regulate your responses.

The Process

There is a basic EFT procedure, consisting of tapping on each of eight energy meridian points while using an affirmation statement that coincides with a memory or a feeling. The procession of tapping can vary depending on the therapist or practitioner you are working with, as can the affirmation statements.

Some practitioners use the industry standard, “Even though I have (or feel) this fear of rejection, I deeply and profoundly accept myself,” while other practitioners prefer a stream of consciousness dialogue. With the latter method, you would tap as you say whatever comes to mind that you would like to work with, using a shorter phrase to repeat as you continue to tap on the proceeding points to reinforce the issue you are working on.

Even though the sequence of point tapping may vary, I am going to share with you what has worked for me, which also seems to be the most common. As you repeat your chosen phrase or issue, you tap on your karate chop point, or the side of your hand, followed by the inside of your eyebrows, then the side of your eyes, the bone under your eyes, under the nose, between your lower lip and chin, then your collarbone point, under the arm, and then the top of the head. This would conclude one repetition.

You want to be sure not to tap too hard. You want to stimulate the meridians, but you do not want to cause bruising or pain. Look at the following chart for a visual representation of the proper tapping points.

Church & Brooks, 2010

Where Can I Learn It?

There are several ways to learn or administer EFT, such as with the help of a therapist or a certified EFT practitioner in both group and individual settings. If you are able, I suggest learning in a setting where you can have a certified EFT practitioner make sure you are accurately tapping your energy meridians. Because this method is so quick and easy to learn, you do not have to pour money into endless sessions with an EFT therapist. This is something you can do on your own, wherever and whenever you would like, empowering you in your health and healing.

There are also instructional DVDs you can use at home such as The Tapping Solutionand Project Tapping: Tapping Into Abundance With Dr. Carol Look. These are great alternatives for those of you who live in areas where you do not have access to a certified EFT practitioner.

If you decide to learn or try EFT, I suggest staying well hydrated to increase your biological electroconductivity and to do one session right before you go to bed. When you learn something new, or alter a pattern of thinking, and immediately go to sleep, you have several hours to integrate the new template in your brain without interruptions, resulting in a more effective and solidified change.

Spiritual & Personal Implications

By successfully implementing EFT into your daily routine, you empower yourself to take control over your emotions, thoughts, and how you choose to experience your life. Imagine eradicating irrational fears as they enter your consciousness or overcoming a traumatic event that has stifled some part of your life.

You no longer have to live captive to thought processes that do not serve your highest good or take medications that only serve as a temporary band aid while poisoning your system. You would not have to try to suppress negative emotions or thoughts because as they enter your awareness, you can safely and painlessly extinguish them.

By bringing balance and inner peace to your life, you offer more balance and peace to the world. Every energy field is interconnected, ebbing and flowing together to create an even larger field of energy. By correcting your energy flow, you aid in balancing the whole. You have the ability to heal yourself in many ways; EFT is quick, easy, cost effective, and encourages your unique zenith expression.

Much Love & Big Nonlocal Quantum Hugs

Written by: Positive PollyAnna

PollyAnna presents ways for people to come into their own power, how to powerfully manifest their reality, and how to balance their left and right brain so they can self-actualize, realizing their highest potential. Quantum Empowerment shares what it means to lead a quantumly empowered lifestyle. How are you affected by the energies, people, animals, and objects around you? How can you break victim mentality? How can you activate your DNA on a biological and energetic level? What are the ways you can expand your consciousness? This column covers a wide spectrum of information, all dedicated to helping people grow into their interdimensional, interconnected self and reality.

To find out more about Positive Pollyanna, her work and her services, check-out the following links:
www.positive-pollyanna.com
www.consciousnessseries.com
www.blogtalkradio.com/divinebreakthrough
www.divinebreakthrough.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/pollyprimeau?feature=mhee

References

Andrade, J., & Feinstein, D. (2004). The neurological foundations of energy psychology: Brain scan changes during 4 weeks of treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. Ashland, Oregon: Innersource. Retrieved fromhttp://www.eftuniverse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2470

Benor, D. J., Ledger, K., Toussaint, L., & Hett, G. (2009). Pilot study of emotional freedom techniques, wholistic hybrid derived from eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and emotional freedom technique, and cognitive behavioral therapy treatment of test anxiety in university students.Journal of Science and Healing, 5(6), 338-340. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2009.08.001

Church, D. (2010). Your dna is not your destiny: Behavioral epigenetics and the role of emotions in health. Anti Aging Medical Therapeutics, 13, 35-42.

Church, D., & Brooks, A. (2008, October). The effect of eft (emotional freedom techniques) on psychological symptoms in addiction treatment. Paper presented at Tenth annual energy psychology conference.
Church, D., & Brooks, A. J. (2010). Application of emotional freedom techniques. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, 9(4), 36-38.

Church, D., & Brooks, A. (2010). The effect of a brief emotional freedom techniques self-intervention on anxiety, depression, pain, and cravings in health care workers. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, 9(5), 40-43.

Church, D. (2010). The treatment of combat trauma in veterans using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques): A pilot protocol. Traumatology, 16(1), 55 – 65.

Church, D., Brooks, A. J., & DeAsis, M. A. (2012). Clinical study brief group intervention using emotional freedom techniques for depression in college students: A randomized controlled trial.Depression Research and Treatment, 2012, 1-7.

Cole, S. W., Hawkley, L. C., Arevalo, J. M., Sung, C. Y., Rose, R. M., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Social regulation of gene expression in human leukocytes. Genome Biology, 8, R189.

Emotional freedom techniques. In (2012). Natural Standard:The Authority on Integrative Medicine. Retrieved fromhttp://naturalstandard.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/databases/hw/generic-emotionalfreedom.asp

Feinstein, D. (2008). Energy Psychology: A Review of the Preliminary Evidence. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 45(2), 199-213.

Feinstein, D., & Church, D. (2010). Modulating Gene Expression through Psychotherapy: The Contribution of Non-Invasive Somatic Interventions. Review of General Psychology,14(4), 283 – 195.

Greeson, J. (2009). Mindfulness research update. Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine , 14(1), 10-18.

Kandel, E. (1998). A new intellectual framework for psychiatry. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 457-469.

Karatzias, T., Power, K., & Brown, K. (2011). A controlled comparison of the effectiveness and efficiency of two psychological therapies for post traumatic stress disorder eye movement desensitization and reprocessing vs. emotional freedom techniques. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 199(6), 372-378. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e31821cd262

Oschman, J. (2012, May 22). Science measures the human energy field. Retrieved from http://www.reiki.org/reikinews/sciencemeasures.htm

Poulter, M. O., Du, L., Weaver, I., Palkovits, M., Faludi, G., Merali, Z., Anisman, H. (2008). GABA receptor promoter hypermethylation in suicide brain: Implications for the involvement of epigenetic processes. Biological Psychiatry, 64, 645-652.

Reefe, J. (2012). Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and Its Health Benefits. Positive Health, (192), 1.

Ruden, R. A. (2010). When the past is always present: Emotional traumatization, causes, and cures. New York: Routledge.

Sakai, C.S., Connolly, S. M., & Oas, P. (2010). Treatment of PTSD in Rwandan genocide survivors using Thought Field Therapy. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 12(1), 41-50.

Salas, M. M., Brooks, A. J., & Rowe, J. E. (2011). The immediate effect of a brief energy psychology intervention (emotional freedom techniques) on specific phobias: A pilot study. Journal of Science and Healing, 7(3), 155-161. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2011.02.005

Sheldon, K. M., & King, L. (2001). Positive psychology: Why positive psychology is necessary. Retrieved from http://www.psicosport.it/news/Articoli – Sheldon – Why Positive Psychology is necessary.pdf

Stapleton, P., Sheldon, T., Porter, B., & Whitty, J. (2011). A randomized clinical trial of a meridian-based intervention for food cravings with six-month follow-up. Behavior Change, 28(1), 1-15.

Straub, R.O.(2006).Health Psychology: A Biopsychosocial Approach(2^nd Ed.).Worth Publishers

Wells, S., Polglase, K., & Andrews, H. B. (2003). Evaluation of a meridian-based intervention, emotional freedom techniques (eft), for reducing specific phobias of small animals. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59(0), 943-966. doi: 10.1002/jclp.10189

**Disclaimer: Before engaging in any health program, it is best to contact a doctor or health provider you trust to make the best decision for your individual needs.**

Christy’s choicest choices: Vega Sport Recovery Accelerator

Christy’s Choicest Choices, Giveaways, Health Products, Recipes

It seems that for the past month or two we’ve been socially experiencing quite surge of energy, coupled with a bit of a vortex. I couldn’t even stand still! The election media has been in everyones face stirring up some exhaustion. Then there was Hurricane Sandy, yikes. The storm pushed and cleared a lot of old energies, while destroying everything in it’s path. We all need some major recovery right about now!

Synchronistically enough, the product I set my sites to review several days ago, is a recovery product.

Vega Sport Recovery Accelerator is pretty amazing stuff.

I have been using Recovery Accelerator regularly with my heavy gym workouts for three weeks now. It’s really been an essential part of my routine. I started from a ground level, you know, I was a soft-body. I haven’t been to the gym in years and my hiking schedule was irregular this year. I wanted to see fast results in order to stay motivated. That meant I needed to do cardiovascular exercise coupled with weight lifting around 5xs weekly.

I had all the willpower I needed already stored up, from late night Pinterest surfing. Yet my experiences with sore muscles from previous fitness endeavors left me a little nervy. I did not have the time for feeling sore or being slow! Hey look that’s me headed to the gym with my game face on!

Now we cue the solution.. Vega Sport Recovery Accelerator my vote, this stuff really does work. I push it to the edge at the gym. I’ve had two gym visits where I did push it too far, but after an extra dose of Recovery Accelerator I felt much better. Magic, I know.

This stuff has some really awesome target dose ingredients!

-Almost 4,000mg of yellow pea and brown rice protein

-1,500mg of gelatinized maca root.

-Plus highly effective amounts of: Devils claw, Glucosamine, electrolytes, Astragalus, Turmeric, L-Arginine, and American Ginseng.

Lets talk in more detail about these effective ingredients.

First of all the additional small print things are lovely, nothing unnecessary or questionable.. Just good effective stuff.

Then we have the superstars of the ingredients list:

Devils Claw is used in the treatment of pain and inflammation. It’s a very sacred herb hailing from Africa.

Glucosamine hydrochloride aids in the rebuilding of “exercise damage” related to the bodies cartilage and tissues. It helps strengthen joints in the body which is essential for injury and accident prevention.

Electrolytes keep us hydrated, which is extremely important. Adding the Recovery Accelerator to Coconut water gives it a super charge!! Plus it takes your coconut water to a whole new flavor level!

The superstar in the mix, Astragalus is an amazing herb used for thousands of years aiding numerous issues! It boost antioxidant levels by ridding the body of free radicals, it’s been used as an anti viral/bacterial, and also as an anti inflammatory.

Turmeric has thankfully become more well known lately, beyond it’s curry claim to fame. It’s a natural anti inflammatory and also helps to heal the liver. Vega uses a 95% active compound, no cutting corners!

L-Arginine is a vasodilator commonly used by performance driven athletes to help the heart pump blood faster.

American Ginseng is another ancient herb used over thousands of years for physical stress, inflammation, and immune health.

It all sounds so complex but I promise it tastes delicious. I mix the Tropical flavor in my car while I’m still in the gym parking lot. I just bring a single serving with me and some extra spring water. It shakes well. There’s an Apple Berry flavor which is quite tasty as too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you take this Mercury retrograde time to heal yourself and recover from the passing storms. In an effort to pay forward my own recovery efforts, the first three people to comment and tell me how they help with any type of recovery (for yourself, other people, our planet) will receive their own supply of Post Workout Recovery Accelerator by Vega.

With each recovery comes greater strength,

Go with Love.

Christy Patton is Chakra Center’s savvy and experimental product reviewer. She is not a board certified medical doctor. This information is intended for educational purposes only.

After a bit of a wormhole induced hiatus, I’ve returned to reviewing products for Chakra Center.. Sorry for the programming delays. I’ve missed you.