Body Aligned™ collective

We all know the difference between living with gratitude vs. going through our days complaining a lot, being solely focused on the negative and always seeing our glass half empty.

The former accompanies internal peace and the latter breeds internal chaos and a deep sense of dissatisfaction, bitterness and resentment.   

By cultivating a sense of gratitude you’re enhancing your quality of life. 

Being grateful in life will help you in your relationship with yourself as well as with others. We're all attracted to people who are genuinely grateful and peaceful, inside and out. 

But what I wanted to focus on here is how to better practice gratitude!

I don’t think practicing gratitude out of a sense of guilt is the best way to go about doing things! We can do much better than just be grateful because there are people all over this world who are doing way worse than us.

Practicing gratitude doesn’t have to be a chore or yet another item on your to-do list.  

Practicing gratitude is not about mindlessly listing 3-5 things and having it over time become a meaningless and repetitive cognitive task. 

Gratitude is something that you allow yourself to genuinely feel. 

Here are a few scenarios that can help generate a real sense of gratitude in you.

Seeing a little one on the street who happens to smile at you. 

Catching the sunset and the gorgeous tapestry of colors that absolutely blows your mind. 

Contemplating about this beautiful and complex body that you inhabit and the countless functions that it conducts on a moment to moment basis without you having to do anything or even thinking about it. 

Going outside first thing in the morning and enjoying the gentle sunlight bathing your face and warming up your body. 

These examples and many more like them help shift your state from ordinary to feeling truly and deeply grateful.  

Don’t think about being grateful, drop into it and feel it in your heart. 

That’s where the amazing chemistry of the feel good hormones can benefit your health on all levels.  

When you train yourself to look for things and beings that help you shift into this mindset, you’re in essence always looking for what makes your day and life better and even magical. 

You’re looking for beauty. Simple moments that make a difference in your day and this is how you begin to see your life as a glass half full, in a very real way and not just by repeating empty positive words. 

And here’s even a more important concept when it comes to gratitude that most people forget! 

Practicing gratitude is also about taking action and taking good care of what you already have. This is about going a step beyond feeling and giving thanks and cultivating gratitude by taking action. For instance, the way to truly practice gratitude for your health is to take amazing care of your body and psyche on a day-to-day basis. 

Every day I get a daily reminder on my phone, through Sam Harris’s Waking Up App, called “Take A Moment?”. This daily notification contains a sentence or a very small paragraph with the goal of getting you to become present, remember what truly matters in life and (one of Sam’s favorites) remind you that all of this is impermanent: the good, the bad and life itself! 

So, today I want to share a few of these with you, as food for thought for your Sunday and hopefully the week to come!

“Something not worth doing isn’t worth doing well. Notice those times when you’re poised to commit significant resources of time or attention to something, and take an extra moment to consider whether this thing is really worth doing.”

“Most of life is a struggle to make things better. Truly accepting the way things are in this moment is the foundation of psychological wellbeing.”

“Everything that has the nature to arise will also pass away.”

“Tame your mind. Benefit others. Steadily lessen negative emotions. Cultivate non-attachment. In doing so, find peace.”

I hope that one or more of these speak to you and help nudge you towards becoming more present and more aware. 

When it comes to your health, the order of operations matters! 

And in my experience, the best place to start is with your physical health first. 

To improve your health and deeply heal, you need to first develop the energy and the bandwidth for it.

When working with patients, I’m well aware that normally the issue or issues go way beyond just the physical, but I will often start there.

Why?

Because most of us are way too nutritionally deficient, inflamed, fatigued and hormonally, metabolically and otherwise imbalanced to have the capacity to dig deep and address some of the non-physical components of our health problems!

It’s very difficult to do deep inner work or make a radical shift in your life such as leaving a job or a relationship that is no longer serving you – when your body is depleted and you’re exhausted. So, even if your goal is to improve your emotional health and address your depression, anxiety, etc, since all of these also have underlying causes that are physiological, starting there can be extremely valuable. 

And keep in mind that cultivating well being and true healing will happen in layers and over time. Your body needs time to assimilate and adapt to the changes. 

What do I mean by starting with the physical first?

I’m talking about your lifestyle – all of those little daily choices you make about what water you drink, what food you put into your mouth and from what source, when you go to bed, how much your move your body, what thoughts and emotions you welcome in your head, whose company you keep, how slow or fast you move through life, how you respond to your external world (and stresses) and so much more.

These are your carrying water and chopping wood daily tasks. 

So, start exercising your power of choice and choose better! 

Consider these as your non-negotiables – the factors that when stacked together can absolutely transform your health. 

The way you live, your daily choices, can make or break your physical AND emotional health. 

Learning to 

• hydrate and re-mineralize your body
• nourish yourself properly
• sleep soundly
• move well and without pain
• minimize your exposure to environmental toxins
• build resiliency and better manage stress 

… can *not* be an afterthought or maybe a good thing to do sometimes when you feel like it.

There is tremendous power in taking back control of your health (and life) through making better daily choices. These changes are a MUST if you wish to truly and deeply transform your health once and for all. 

And this is what we’ll do together inside Body Aligned™… in addition to healing your gut, boosting your metabolism and restoring your hormones.

Body Aligned™ is an online program that teaches the step by step process of learning how to heal your anxiety once and for all, by making daily lifestyle changes that deepen your mind-body connection. Without the use of medications, expensive biohacking tools or costly lab work.

Body Aligned™ is a culmination of years of working with patients and distilling down the most effective lifestyle strategies that are going to help you drastically move the needle towards establishing physical and emotional health.

Here are what a few of Body Aligned™ students have to say about their experience:

My mood, my energy, my gut, my skin and so much more have improved. My whole sense of self has improved. You’re brilliant, thank you for creating such a comprehensive resource for us. We need more people connected to their bodies. Xx   K.E.

You say that this course is to help heal our anxiety but I want to tell you that it does that and so much more. For years I’ve had the worst periods, in fact I hated my period. I would spend the entire month either anticipating the hell I was going to experience or actually experiencing it. Intense cramps, heavy clots, mood swings, worsened anxiety, insomnia, low energy, and out of control cravings were just some of the things I would have to deal with. But NOT ANYMORE!!! So, thank you thank you and thank you from the bottom of my heart ❤️ You know the crazy part? I started experiencing improvements even before I got to the hormone module. That was just icing on the cake. This makes me tear up to say but I got my period 2 nights ago and I put a hand on my womb area and just felt so grateful for all of it. So grateful for my body.   S.A.

I don’t usually write testimonials, but I feel compelled to share my experience with your course because it has truly changed my life. For years, I struggled with anxiety that seemed to control every aspect of my life. I tried different therapies, medications, and coping strategies, but nothing ever seemed to help for long. The course opened my eyes to how interconnected our physical and mental health are. I realized that the food I was eating, the relationships I was in, and even my daily exercise routine were all playing a role in my anxiety. Your holistic approach made me realize that to heal my mind, I needed to start by taking care of my body. I honestly feel like a new person. My anxiety doesn’t run my life anymore, and I’m more present and engaged with everything and everyone around me. Your course didn’t just help me manage my anxiety—it gave me the tools to overcome it. I’m so incredibly thankful to you for giving me my life back.   A. H. 

Let’s talk about a morning ritual that can help boost your energy, keep your hormones balanced, deeply hydrate your body, AND… give you clear beautiful skin! 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, involves starting your morning with an Adrenal Cocktail instead of coffee!! 

This concoction is meant to support your adrenal glands by replenishing them with what they need in order to do their job. Your adrenal glands are two small glands that sit right on top of your kidneys. 

And when your adrenal glands are HAPPY, the rest of your hormonal system is happy! 

Remember your hormonal system works as a whole. And the different glands constantly talk to one another. This is why your thyroid and sex hormones are directly impacted by the health of your adrenals. 

Your adrenal glands are also in charge of your STRESS RESPONSE!

In fact it is your adrenal glands that produce cortisol (amongst other hormones).

And coffee first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, can lead to a big cortisol response, cause you to feel on the edge all day and can be dehydrating. So, all and all not so good!

But before you get all upset, hear me out… you can still enjoy your coffee but with or after your first meal and *not* on an empty stomach. 

You may be thinking: well.. I’ve been starting my morning with coffee forever and it doesn’t negatively impact me. 

That may be true, but when you work with enough patients you realize that often what most people deem as normal is in fact not normal. It’s just that they’ve become desensitized to their own body’s signals. 

All of those symptoms that you thought you just had to get used to, such as having heart palpitations, racing thoughts, feeling shaky, jittery, ungrounded, unable to focus, restless, anxious and not hungry yet very depleted are not normal or things to get used to. These are all stress responses!! 

And now think about the fact that you’re subjecting your body and mind to this form of self-imposed stress every day – the minute you open your eyes.

But here’s the thing, you can have your cake and eat it too, meaning for those of you who are coffee fanatics, hydrate and replenish your body first and then reach out for coffee.  

The goal with the Adrenal Cocktail is to provide your body with nutrients and minerals such as:

• Potassium
• Sodium
• Vitamin C 
• Glucose 
• Other trace minerals (via a good quality salt)

This is how hydration and food can also be your MEDICINE!!

I start every single morning with

• 12-16 oz warm water 
• Heaping tsp of a  wholefoods-based vitamin C powder (Acerola berry &/or Camu Camu berry powder)
• ½ lemon or lime juice (freshly squeezed)
• Several drops of liquid magnesium bicarbonate 
• A dash of good quality salt

Please note that nothing about the “recipe” I just shared with you is set in stone! Play with the ingredients and the amounts. Make it so that you enjoy the taste. It shouldn’t be torturous for you to drink this! 

OK, it’s your turn now! You know what the ultimate goal is – to supply your body with the nutrients mentioned above and hydrate it upon waking up – so get creative and make the recipe YOURS! 

Try this for a week and see how you feel! And please be sure to let me know. 

Once you do this for a little while, there’s no going back to turning yourself into a dried prune with a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. 

A word on glucose…

You can add a little fruit juice or honey for glucose. I don’t use fruit juice personally, I prefer eating a whole fruit instead – the juice, the fiber and the rest of the goodness. In my observation, most people don’t have the optimized metabolism and the needed insulin sensitivity to be chugging 12 oz of fruit juice on an empty stomach. 

The reason why glucose, in the form of freshly squeezed orange juice, is part of the original Adrenal Cocktail recipe is to help avoid an unnecessary stress response due to low blood sugar levels after a night’s fast. 

You see, dips in blood sugar levels can be a form of stress for your body and can cause a spike in cortisol. Because, one of cortisol’s jobs is to keep your blood sugar levels stable! Your body, in its infinite wisdom, does this to ensure blood sugar stability. However, you do *not* want too much cortisol for too long since that has *many* downstream side-effects. 

A perfect solution to ensure blood stability not just in the morning but throughout the rest of your day is to have a balanced breakfast – with the emphasis on making sure you’re getting enough protein and fat. 

Since spring is all about lightening our load, externally and (hopefully) internally, I thought this note from a dear friend who does Family Constellation work would be poignant.   

Family constellation is a system, a philosophy, that allows you to uncover the dynamics, entanglements and loyalties that you have or hold unconsciously towards your past and your ancestors that impact your present life. Again, these dynamics are mostly unconscious, yet they seem to impact every facet of your life. 

The conversation was about the difference between acceptance and assent when it comes to dealing with life! And, here's how she distinguished the two...

In assent, there is surrender. There is compliance and a renunciation of our egoic positions. We speak of assent rather than acceptance because in acceptance, there is still too much of the self trying to take control. It is not the same to say “I accept” as it is to assent. 

In acceptance, the self is the protagonist, claiming the decision to include or exclude. In surrender, reality is the main actor. And suffering is created by the ego, which has a rich arsenal of mental stratagems and defensive positions to try to evade or even attack reality: from crude denial (“I can’t face death or abandonment; it’s too much for me, so I act as if it hasn’t happened”), to violence towards others (“It happened because of them, and I’ll never forgive them”), or guilt, through self-aggression or shame (“It happened because of me, and I’ll never forgive myself”), to the “dualistic” response (“I’m so angry at death for taking my dear brother that now I challenge it by constantly putting myself in danger” or “I’m so overshadowed by the sexual abuse I suffered that now I harm myself as punishment”), in a kind of pathology that darkens existence. 

How difficult it is to clearly see the facts, to allow them to hurt or enlighten us, to process them in our body and sensations, in our mind and heart, and to remain united within, congruent and not divided, driven by the essential truth that possesses us at every moment, sane, in sum! The challenge is to resist the temptation to challenge life, to arm wrestle it to see who is stronger.

The challenge lies in loving what is. Why? Because things get worse if we don’t.

If you’re thinking that you need to read this again to get it, I hear you! Read it multiple times with an *open* mind (and heart) and sit with it. Even and especially if it feels triggering.

I’m sharing this not because you need to accept every single word on blind fate, but solely as a perspective to entertain. Especially if what you’ve been doing thus far has not gotten you to where you’d like to go in life. In that case, perhaps taking a pause, reassessing and then changing course (i.e. changing perspective and as a result changing behavior) may be what is needed!

So my understanding of ascent, in this context, is facing life as an adult!

I find that when attempting to “lighten” our load internally, relying on a few clear maxims always helps to avoid overwhelm. And what I just shared, directly and indirectly, points to a few useful maxims...

• Do not lie to yourself, ever, no matter how difficult.
• Accept reality as it is, while striving to improve what needs to be improved. This means no forcing, coercing, manipulating, resisting, fighting, running away from and/or distracting.
• Do not always think that you know what is best for you. You only know what you know and You only know what you know and for most of us... that is not much!

Here’s to lightening our load and shedding some internal weight this season!

You may not be a stranger to this topic but stay with me… I promise it’s worth the reminder and hopefully you'll learn some new stuff. 

Having regular bowel movements is KEY for proper natural detoxification, hormonal balance, healthy skin and hair amongst other things. 

Let’s for example take the hormone estrogen... Did you know that your gut (your liver and your intestines) plays a critical role in detoxifying and excreting excess estrogen? 

So, constipation amongst other things can lead to reabsorption of estrogen back into your bloodstream.  This can lead to estrogen dominance and hormonal imbalances that affect everything from your mood to your menstrual cycle. 

And you may say: “but my estrogen levels are normal on my blood test so why should I worry?”

Well yes perhaps… but remember your blood test just shows the amount of estrogen that is circulating in your blood at the time of the blood draw, but you also store estrogen in other tissues such as your breasts, bones, liver and of course your fatty tissue. So, just because your blood labs show estrogen levels are within normal limits, it doesn’t mean your overall whole-body estrogen levels are balanced.

Back to the topic at hand… I define regular healthy bowel movements as at least one complete bowel movement per day without straining and without the aid of coffee or laxatives (natural or over the counter).

Are you thinking but this is not me?! I hear you and here are a few simple, low cost and practical solutions to help you regulate your bowels:

Hydration - this one is HUGE!!! How do you start your day? With a black cup of coffee that dehydrates you even further?? Please don’t do that! Instead wake your system up first thing in the morning with a big cup of warm water, freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice and a dash of salt or a good quality electrolyte powder and see how things begin to shift beyond even just your bowel movements.

Abdominal rubs - Gentle clockwise belly rubs can be magical. You always want to move in the direction of the bowels, which means from the right lower corner of your abdomen and up and to the left and then down to the left lower corner. Remember you want this to be gentle, this is not supposed to be a deep tissue massage. You’re just providing a sense of warmth, relaxation and safety to your body and gently waking it up.

Nervous system relaxation - you may be one of the many people who can not have a bowel movement on mornings that you feel rushed and stressed. Remember you’re not wired to poop if you’re in a sympathetic state and ready to run from the metaphorical tiger or stand and fight it. So, to get yourself in more of a parasympathetic state you need to plan better! Give yourself enough time to wake up without stress.

And here are some additional measures that you can take: don’t look at your phone or emails as soon as you wake up, sip on the morning concoction we just talked about, sit outside and expose your eyes and skin to natural light and take a few slow and intentional breaths while you gently rub your belly.

And no this does not have to be a 2-hour process, you can do all of it in less than 10 minutes and I know it because I do it every day myself. And remember you can combine these things, meaning you can sip on your warm drink while you are getting sunlight and while you're gently rubbing your belly.

The beauty of this is that the benefits go wayyyy beyond regular and healthy bowel movements. 

Salt is one of those foods that has been demonized, even though you absolutely NEED it. Salt is crucial for life!

Good quality salt can truly be life-giving and life-saving!

It improves low blood pressure, keeps you hydrated, provides you with electrolytes, minerals and trace minerals and supports your adrenal glands.

Salt provides you with both hydration and nutrition. And the hydration is at a cellular level.

Salt allows for proper electrical conduction in your body – think your brain functioning and heart beating!

But as with most things - the quality of the salt matters!

So, what type of salt should you be using?

Many of you may be using pink Himalayan salt because you’ve been told that it’s better for you. And trust me, I’m all for replacing your table salt with a better option. But that pink color comes from iron oxide and too much iron oxide is not a good thing!

Iron is one of those minerals that you do not want too much or too little of. And this is why I’m not a fan of randomly (or indefinitely) taking iron supplements – but that’s a conversation for another day.

So, even though you need iron for several key processes, such as being able to carry oxygen around in the body, you don’t want too much of it.

And what’s the problem with excess iron?

Excess iron is an added source of stress for your body. Oxidative stress!

And, oxidative stress is a form of physiological stress that can lead to premature aging and hormonal imbalance among other things.

Another issue with pink Himalayan salt is its potential contamination with heavy metals.

So what are some better options?

White sea-salt and Icelandic flake salt are examples of good mineral-rich salts that you can use instead of your regular table salt or pink Himalayan salt. 

I was recently gifted a book called Habibi, written by Craig Thompson. It’s a beautiful book (I mean the actual book is gorgeous with compelling imagery) and it tells a powerful story. The book chronicles the story of a girl who’s forced to grow up way too fast and a boy that she decides to adopt on a whim just to spare his life.   

So, there’s the main story but intertwined with it the author brings in a lot of little (ancient) stories that can each be life-lessons for the attentive reader. One of the many things that you’re reminded of, throughout the book, is the power that words, YOUR words, carry. And how important it is to be intentional about your speech – internal and external.

And the reason why I'm sharing this with you is because of a quote that I read early on in the book and can’t since stop thinking about. 

It says… “They say every slave - more than freedom - wants a slave of their own…  ”

It’s been one of the most moving sentences I’ve read in some time. It shook me to my core…

But instead of going on about my thoughts about this powerful sentence, I just wanted to share it with you and let you sit with it and get what you need from it!

And don’t worry in case you decide to read this book, none of this is going to ruin it for you. There's A LOT of story left for you to enjoy…

Do you continually talk yourself out of getting started on things that you know are needle movers in your life?

Do you look for the perfect time to start just to get disappointed when it never arrives?

Do you search for an endless supply of inspiration and motivation before taking even a single step? 

If so… here's a mindset shift to hopefully help you not get trapped in these vicious cycles!

If you’re someone who’s always looking for the perfect time… 

Perfect time for most people means when they’re not busy. But think about it… If you wait for when you’re “not busy” or “less busy” to start something, what would happen when you get busy again? You’ll stop. 

So, if you’re looking for lasting change, start now regardless of how busy you are. Don’t seek perfection! Ten minutes per day is better than zero minutes. That is 70 minutes a week, 4 hours and 40 minutes a month and 56 hours of your year that is now being spent on your actual goals as opposed to being squandered mindlessly!

If you learn to make it work in the worst condition, then of course you’re set in the best. 

If you’re someone who’s always looking for inspiration and motivation…

We all know that that’s not realistic or sustainable! Instead, if you’ve committed to doing something, follow through and look for your reward after the fact and not ahead of your effort. And the best reward is the credibility that you’ll build with yourself and the self-respect you’ll gain! You can feel what you’re feeling and still do what you need to do. Remind yourself that feelings change, so you don’t have to continually identify with them or act according to them.  

Remind yourself that tomorrow is another day, so today you just have to show up and do your part… your best for today is just perfect!

Just do it!!! As Nike with their most famous corporate slogan reminds us.