Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Waking Up Too Early! By Melanie Haiken

Great article…I have used every one of these techniques..they do work! Sleeping is essential to good health...hope this helps you on your healing path!

By Melanie Haiken, Caring.com senior editor

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Does the question “How’d you sleep?” make you want to scream? Those of us plagued by middle-of-the-night waking often feel like punching people who don’t know what it’s like to stare at the ceiling in the wee hours. Here are the five most common types of middle-of-the-night sleep problems, and what to do about them.
Problem #1: You’re awake for no reason, with your mind spinning.
Middle-of-the-night worrying is probably the number-one type of sleeplessness faced by people of all ages. And boy, is it frustrating. You know you need to relax and get back to sleep, but anxious thoughts and to-do list items keep popping into your head.
What to do
1. Preserve the darkness. Keep the room dark when you wake up. Keep a small book light or mini flashlight next to your bed and use it to navigate your way to the bathroom, or put a dim night-light in the bathroom and leave the door cracked, so you can find your way there. Whatever you do, don’t turn on the overhead light in the bathroom once you’re inside.
2. Move the clock out of reach. Constantly checking the clock and calculating how long you’ve been awake only feeds your anxiety: “Oh no, now I’m only going to get five hours of sleep.” Set the alarm, then move the clock where you can’t see or check it.
3. Write it down, then let it go. On your bedside table, keep a notebook and pen devoted solely to nighttime “worry lists.” Using a dim night-light, write down each thought that’s bothering you. Then, after you write it down, make a conscious effort to cross it off the list in your mind. In the morning, transfer the action items to your to-do list. Over time, you’ll develop faith in yourself that writing down your worries equates with getting them done.
4. Breathe and ease. In his book The Worry Solution, anxiety specialist Martin Rossman recommends a three-step approach to sleeplessness that really works. First, do “belly breathing,” which means breathing deeply enough that your diaphragm rises and falls. Next, isolate each part of your body, from your feet up to your neck, by tensing and relaxing it. Finally, imagine yourself in a favorite place, such as lying in the sun on the beach. Use all of your senses; imagine that you’re hearing the waves and smelling the salt air. If it doesn’t work the first time, do all three steps again in the same order.

City Manager of Roseville and Station want to sort this out! Compromise is always a WIN for Both!

I am so hopeful that this situation is on its way to getting resolved!
Hey folks. Updates regarding the STEEL Station in Roseville, CA.

(1) Things are on as normal for WCS please continue to come out and enjoy yourself!

(2) See yesterday's article in Sac Bee - 
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/​12/3763020/dance-venue-faces-a​-zoning-dispute.html
...
(3) KTXL (Fox 40) was out at the Station interviewing dancers from 6-7 pm last night...Thank you KTXL (Fox 40)!
See More

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

FREEDOMS FROM ADDICTIONS-MORE HAS BEEN REVEALED!

Thank you Ben! Please go to Ben's Blog for more tools for your toolkit!

"The realm of consciousness is much vaster than thought can grasp. When you no longer believe everything you think, you step out of thought and see clearly that the thinker is not who you are."

http://fff77.blogspot.com/2009/08/end-of-fear.html

More Has Been Revealed

Over the last 75 years the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous has helped millions of addicts find relief from their compulsion. Now, the work of Eckhart Tolle has provided deeper insight into the way addiction works, as well as how and why the 12-step program brings relief. This new understanding will help more addicts find relief faster and can even prevent addiction from taking root.
All people who compulsively drink, use drugs, or engage in dangerous activities do so to obtain some relief from the continuous background fear, lack, or emptiness that is a direct result of life as a thought-based identity (the ego). An egoic identity is a false one because it is based on thought instead of consciousness, our natural state of mind. The egoic personality requires constant compulsive thinking to sustain itself.
Any life based on compulsive thinking will be dysfunctional and unmanageable. Such a life is characterized by recurring feelings of emptiness, lack, and fear. People often describe this condition as having “a hole inside me that can never be filled.”
As Eckhart Tolle puts it:
"When the thought forms of 'me' and 'mine', of 'more than,' of 'I want,' 'I need,' 'I must have,' and of 'not enough' operate, no possession, place, person, or condition will ever satisfy you. No content will satisfy you as long as your egoic identity remains in place. No matter what you have or get, you won't be happy. You will always be looking for something else that promises greater fulfillment, that promises to make your incomplete sense of self complete and fill that sense of lack you feel within. "
"The ego always wants something from other people or situations. There is always a hidden agenda, always a of "not enough yet," of insufficiency and lack that needs to be filled. It uses people and situations to get what it wants, and even when it succeeds it is never satisfied for long. Often it is thwarted in its aims, and for the most part the gap between "I want" and "what is" becomes a constant source of upset and anguish."
"The underlying emotion that governs all of the activity of the ego is fear. The fear of being nobody, the fear of nonexistence, the fear of death. All its activities are ultimately designed to eliminate this fear but the most the ego can ever do is to cover it up temporarily with an intimate relationship, a new possession, or winning at this or that. Illusion will never satisfy you. Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free."
The fact that almost everyone suffers from this condition makes it seem normal and allows it to go unquestioned.
Consuming drugs or alcohol or obtaining things in order to relieve this unhappy condition may bring temporary relief, but the activity must be continuously repeated. This sometimes leads to addiction.
Substance addiction is a direct result of compulsive thinking, which is itself an addiction. That's why any solution to the addiction problem must focus on the underlying thinking addiction. The “compulsion to use,” not the substance itself, is the cunning, powerful, and baffling engine that drives addiction.
This blog applies the insights concerning the true nature of thinking, as presented by Eckhart Tolle in his books The Power of Now and A New Earth, to the 12-step program as presented in the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous.
I think Tolle’s work sheds new light on the underlying forces of addiction. This understanding points the way toward new approaches to gaining relief--and new ways to prevent addiction from taking hold in the first place.
The 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous has brought about a spiritual renaissance in many individuals--myself included--leading them to a happy, joyous, and free existence. But many more alcoholics and other addicts have turned away from this solution because it is veiled in mystery and language that is sometimes obscure or religious.
Tolle's work has unraveled for me the 75-year-old mystery of how and why the 12-step program really works.  I believe an accurate and clear description of the 12-step process and its results can only broaden the acceptance and increase the effectiveness of the 12-step program.

Monday, March 28, 2011

One time only Int/Adv WCS Class with Edwin Li at the Station!

 
Time
Tuesday, March 29 · 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Location
The Steel Train Station
1100 Orlando Avenue
Roseville, CA

Created By

More Info
 
 
Hi folks! I have something SPECIAL for you all at this week's Swing Time Tuesday dance at the Steel Train Station: Both Edwin Li and Brandon Gautreaux will be in town to rock the dance!

In addition, Edwin will be teaching a special Intermediate/Advanced WCS class at 6:30 PM. The cost for this class is only $5, but it is separate from the normal $5 for the Station's regular lesson/dance. If you are planning to attend this special, one-time only Int/Adv WCS class taught by Edwin Li, please mark yourself in this event as "Attending." Thank you!

Note that Edwin will also be our guest instructor for the regular 7:30 PM beginning class. And he (and Brandon!) will attend our dance, which runs from 8:15 PM until midnight or later. As always, the cost for the regular class and/or dance is only $5 total.

Hope to see you all out this Tuesday!!!

Martin

Friday, March 25, 2011

THE SECRET TO YOU!

HOW DO THE ARTS HEAL?


The Secret to You

To experience the maximum power from The Secret to You, read the words and feel them with all of your heart.

Share with your friends and family by sending them this link:

My Healing Changes
BECOME YOUR BEST FRIEND
 BE
YOUR OWN HERO! 
TIME TO SAVE YOURSELF
g.girl52@gmail.com
IT IS ABOUT OPENING YOUR SELF UP FOR NEW EXPERIENCES AND STEPPING OUT OF YOUR SANDBOX OF THINKING!
I love adventures, and everyday we should learn something new about ourselves. What you are about to read is the TRUTH and it will help anyone that wants to HEAL!

How do the arts heal?
Scientific studies tell us that the arts heal by changing a person's physiology and attitude in these 8 ways.
The body's physiology changes from one of stress to one of deep relaxation, from one of fear to one of creativity,  inspiration, and vision.
Art and music put a person in a different brain wave pattern; art and music affect a person's autonomic nervous system, their hormonal balance and their brain neurotransmitters.
Art and music affect every cell in the body instantly to create a healing physiology that changes the immune system and blood flow to all the organs.
Art and Music also immediately change a person's perceptions of their world.
They change attitude, emotional state, and pain perception.
They create hope and positivism.
They help people cope with difficulties.
They transform a person's outlook and way of being in the world.

In fact it is now known by neurophysiologists that art, prayer, and healing all come from the same source in the body, they all are associated with similar brain wave patterns, with the mind invoking body changes and they all are deeply connected in feeling and meaning. Art, prayer, and healing all take us into our inner private world, the world of imagery and emotion, of visions and feelings. This journey inward into what used to be called the spirit or soul and is now called the mind is deeply healing. For healing comes to us from within, our own healing resources are freed to allow our immune system to operate optimally and that is always how we heal. This is the contemporary version of freeing our healing energies and is now recognized to be crucial to healing. We go inward on The Creative Spiral together through art and music.
The essential process of healing ourselves with art, music, or dance involves our own personal change. When we are ill with a physical or mental problem or when we need to grow, we start to heal ourselves with art by opening ourselves up to our inner voices of change. We allow ourselves to listen to those voices and to let their messages to us emerge.
The first step is to see ourselves as an artist. Choosing a medium is the first priority. That may be done already if we have made art or played music before or if we saw ourselves as making art in our daydreams. Or we may have to ask ourselves what we want to do. Am I a painter, a sculptor, a musician, a poet, a storyteller, a dancer? Have I ever wanted to create something and been afraid or too busy to do it?
Second step clearing a space as a studio or place to practice is next. Getting materials together, orienting ourselves to this new world, looking at art, listening to music, being with friends who are artists, puts in the space to create.
Third step and the most important step is to make the first movement, to draw the first line, to make the first sound, raise your head and dance, to write the first word. We do that from a place of no judgment, from a place of letting go, of trust, of love. And we let the process happen by itself. As the lines increase on a canvas, the music sounds connect, the movements join, the words add up, a piece of art emerges or a dance of conversation and beauty begins as we see into who we truly are. The art becomes a sign of our healing, a visible or audible representation of our own transformation and healing.
As we see the art appear outside of us, it looks almost like it has been made by someone else. Its beauty and wonder are almost beyond us and its message more than we could have known. Yet we see it and are witness to its message of growth, change, and transformation.
Just like the arts,  we do the same inside ourselves-it is called HEALING, evolving and growing within. HOPE YOUR JOURNEY WILL BE A GREAT NEW ADVENTURE OF HEALING LIKE MINE HAS BEEN.
Learning to relax within is the next step. These 5 relaxation techniques work.
http://www.Soul-utions.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjh3pEnLIXQ 


5 Relaxation Techniques to Relax Your Mind in Minutes!