The Fibromyalgia Matrix

The Fibromyalgia Matrix

by | Mar 9, 2023 | Care of the Body, Care of the Mind, Emotional Health, Expression, Healthy Living, Mindfulness, Self Care, Self Love, Spirituality

When I first learned about fibromyalgia, I was excited . . . and then disappointed.

After 20 years of suffering, there was a name for what was going on with me. I thought that meant that it could be cured. I was sorely disappointed. I found that just because there was a name for what was wrong with me, didn’t mean that anyone knew how to heal it. 

I wanted to be healthy.

So, I pulled up my bootstraps and began applying what I had learned in my explorations of holistic health and consulted with holistic practitioners. By that time, I had given up on medical doctors as they had nothing to offer me that made any significant difference. In pulling it all together, I came to a place where I could manage my symptoms, but not make any real progress on completely eliminating them.  I wanted more. I wanted to be healthy and not live within the limitations of having fibromyalgia. I felt like I was living in a box and had to carefully manage my life to maintain a manageable level of pain and fatigue.  

 

Managing my symptoms wasn’t enough.

My search continued. I slowly began unraveling the underlying causes of my dis-ease.  Piece by piece, I began to resolve physical, mental, emotional, expression and spiritual imbalances that were keeping my stuck, unhappy and sick.   Realizing that there was not one thing that would fix or heal what was wrong with me, I coined the term the Fibromyalgia Matrix. 

 

Fibromyalgia Matrixtm

The Fibromyalgia Matrix is the interweaving and interconnected physical, emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual imbalances that underlies the experience of fibromyalgia. Each person’s matrix is unique to them, just like a fingerprint is unique. The Fibromyalgia Matrix creates chaos physically, emotionally, mentally, energetically. No foundation, no stability, impaired function, chaos, nothing to stand or build on. Sound familiar? 

 

Recovery from fibromyalgia! 

Recovery from fibromyalgia is a process of identifying and resolving these imbalances. It is quite like putting a puzzle together. You find the right pieces and put them together in the right sequence. Out of chaos comes order and improved function. As the pieces of the puzzle are found and put together, symptoms go away, health emerges, and peace is restored.  

Rather than chase symptoms, we find and resolve the underlying imbalances. That is the path to creating true health on all levels. 

 

The 8 fold process 

By moving through the 8-fold process I spoke about last week, we can unravel the Fibromyalgia Matrix, and progressively rebuild our health, reclaim our life, rediscover our joy and align with our purpose.   True health is much more than the elimination of physical symptoms. It is embracing the totality of who we are, body, mind, emotions, energy and spirit with love and compassion and reclaiming our uniqueness and our gifts and living successfully, powerfully and joyfully in the world. 

 

An Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience to the Rescue!

That my friends, is what I am about. Are you ready to join me in this grand adventure? I hope so. That is why I am launching the Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience next month. In this program, we can come together to heal individually and collectively. I’m excited about this. I hope you are too.  

Stay tuned, look for more information about the Integrative Wholeness Experience. 

May you be whole, 💕Bindu 


Coming Soon!  Stay tuned for details.

5 Types of Stress that Cause Dis-ease

5 Types of Stress that Cause Dis-ease

by | Feb 16, 2023 | Care of the Body, Healthy Living

What kinds of stresses cause disease?

Underlying all dis-ease is stress. Identifying a resolving the stress in our life and body is necessary to rebuilding our health. Most stress is that which lies in our subconscious and impacts us on a level below our conscious awareness. Yet, we can bring these things into awareness to resolve and transform our health and our lives.

Here is a brief summary of the top 5 areas of stress.

1. Basic care of the body is essential for improved health. The basic needs of the body includes healthy food, water, exercise and rest. You might be eating “healthy” foods, but it is also important to eat foods needed by your unique body type. Same thing with exercise. It is important to chose exercise that is in harmony with your unique body type and with the limitations of your physical condition.

2.  Our lifestyle choices is another area of consideration. Sometimes the person needs improved communication in home, work and social relationships. The individual might need greater balance between work, home, rest, and play.  Perhaps they need companionship, self-love, or community. Perhaps they have a loss of purpose and focus for their lives.

3.There may be biochemical imbalances happening in the body such as gut dysbiosis, Ph imbalances, hormonal imbalances, adrenal fatigue, etc. In these situations, a skilled practitioner would ask the question, “Why are the biochemical imbalances happening? What is the underlying cause?” Biochemical imbalances are usually secondary to a deeper underlying cause.

4. Trauma, abuse and other negative life experiences can be a major factor in someone’s health. Traumas leave a negative signature or vibration in the body. If that isn’t resolved, it can undermine out health and happiness. Identifying and neutralizing these energy signatures frees us from their influence, enhances our energy and opens the mind and heart to new possibilities.

5. The mindset and emotional balance are a factor in health.  If an individual is angry and resentful, they are compromising their body’s ability to heal itself. If a person is chronically sad and depressed, that will impact their health. Then the question that must be asked is why the individual is angry, resentful, sad or depressed. That often lead us back to trauma, abuse and negative life experiences. It can also be caused by lifestyle and relationship challenges as mentioned above.

These areas are interconnected.

Understanding the underlying matrix between the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic bodies can be complex. In order rebuild our health, it is important to look at all dimensions, the imbalances in each dimension and the interrelationship between them. We can progressively identify and resolve the imbalances and unweave the Fibromyalgia Matrix™.

An Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience

In the coming month or two, I’ll be launching an online course for women with fibromyalgia. This will be an opportunity for us to come together and support each other in identifying and resolving stress in our lives. Discovering, healing, honoring, sharing and growing together in health and fulfillment as a community.

Stay tuned for more information. I hope you will join us.

Wishing you health and inner peace. 💕Bindu

Acknowledging Positive Changes

Acknowledging Positive Changes

by | Jan 16, 2023 | Care of the Body, Care of the Mind, Healthy Living

Part of rebuilding our health is making different choices.

These choices can include dietary changes, exercise, in how you think, how you feel, the hours you work, making time for self-care and others.  This might feel overwhelming and undoable, but if done in the right way, it is very possible.

Making lifestyle changes is a journey, not an event.

The journey can be fun and easy if we choose to make it that way.  It is not about perfection.  Don’t feel like you have to make all of the changes today or tomorrow.  Taking small steps each week will make the journey easy and you will be amazed at the results you achieve over time.

Let go of the notion that you need to deprive yourself.

Bring your focus to what you can eat and what you can do . . . not what you have to give up.  Implementing changes doesn’t have to be hard work.  It is important to implement healthy choices at a pace that works for you and doesn’t cause undue stress.  

Self acceptance is an important part of the journey.

Changes made from a place of self acceptance are more powerful and longer lasting than changes made from self judgment.  For example, attempting to avoid sweets because you think you are unattractive because you are overweight is different from choosing healthy foods because they make you feel better physically, mentally and emotionally.  Read these statements a few times and notice how you feel inside as you read each one.

  • I am choosing to eat a healthy food because I feel better physically, mentally and emotionally.
  • I am avoiding sweets because I am unattractive and overweight.

Which one will motivate you more?  Which one makes you feel more positive and uplifted?

 

Acknowledge the positive changes you have made and the results of those changes.

Say you have simply chosen to eat a healthy breakfast 2 days a week.  Acknowledge that and also acknowledge how you feel on the days that you eat the healthy breakfast.  Whatever you focus on is what will grow.  By acknowledging the positive change you have made and the positive impact that has on you, it will grow.  Grumbling about what you haven’t done only leads to discouragement and ultimately will sabotage your progress.

Keep your focus on the journey with all the baby steps you are taking along with your ultimate vision of yourself as a happy, healthy fulfilled person and you will achieve your vision.

Use the following introspection to acknowledge the changes you have made:

  1. List all the changes you have made to rebuild your health.
  2. Make a list of the positive changes you have noticed in your health, happiness and wellness.
  3. Make some positive affirmations out of the lists your have just made.
  4. Notice how each affirmation makes you FEEL; only keep the ones that make you feel good.
  5. Write the affirmations on index cards.
  6. Post the index cards where you will see them . . . on your refrigerator . . . your bathroom mirror . . . or another place where you will see them on a regular basis.
  7. Read the affirmation on a regular basis and as you do so, imagine breathing the feeling of the affirmation into your body. 

Use this introspection to bring a positive focus to the areas where you are challenged?

It is also important to notice areas where you are criticizing yourself and diffuse the self criticism.  Otherwise it could subconsciously undermine your progress.

  1. Notice if there are areas where you are criticizing yourself for not doing as well as you think you should be doing. If so, write these down.
  2. Reflect on your expectations and notice if they are realistic or not.
  3. If your expectations are not realistic, feel free to change them:
    • Break down your expectations in this area into baby steps.
    • Set new more realistic goals
  4. Find a way to focus on this area of challenge in a positive way.
  5. If you feel inclined, share with a supportive friend or with this group. 

Ask for support when you need it.  Sometimes we will feel stuck when trying to implement changes.  At those times, ask for assistance in identifying and moving beyond whatever is blocking your progress.  You don’t have to do it alone.  Support is available. 

4 Essential Components to Rebuild Your Health

4 Essential Components to Rebuild Your Health

by | Oct 18, 2022 | Care of the Body, Healthy Living

The body is designed to heal itself if given what it needs.  Rebuilding your health is an inside-out process.   It takes the detective work to identify underlying causes of your symptoms and creating solutions that are in harmony with your body’s needs.  This approach has provided me with lasting solutions rather than chasing symptoms.

Here are the 4 areas that are essential to effectively rebuild your health:

1.  Essential Care of the Body

The body needs the proper food, rest, hydration, movement, relaxation, play, sleep, and breath to function optimally.  The body is designed to repair itself from daily functioning and even occasional stresses, traumas and accidents.  If any of these elements are missing, the body cannot properly repair itself.  If it cannot do that, then the wear and tear will degenerate the body at an accelerated rate which can show up as premature aging and chronic illnesses.

Another important element in the essential care of the body is to respect your unique bio-individuality.  Every body is different and needs a unique diet, amount of water, the right kind and amount of exercise, the right balance between work, play and rest, and even the right amount and timing of sleep.  Often these days we focus on treating a symptom or illness and disregard the bio-individual needs of the individual.   One size fits all approaches often don’t work.

A part of caring for the body is feeding it the right diet, exercise and rest.  But just as important is eliminating things that are stressful to the body, such as toxins from the environment, food, cleaning products, body products and more.  This reduces the toxic load that your body has to deal with and allows that freed up energy to be put towards healing.

2.  Care of the Mind, Emotions and Spirit

The mind, body and emotions are intricately linked.   You can be providing your body with excellent care, but if your mindset is negative, if you are dealing with a lot of negative emotions, if you have a history of abuse or traumas in your past your ability to rebuild your health will be compromised.

Working with a practitioner who is skilled in dismantling the mental and emotional components of an illness is a great resource.  I have found this is where the greatest and most effective healing is to be found.  In ancient, traditional and cutting-edge approaches, the connection between the mind, emotions and body is well mapped and can be identified and unraveled.

Modern research is showing that 80-90% of all illnesses are caused by stress.  Stress can come from many places.   The primary source of stress isn’t what is happening outside of us, but what is happening inside of us.  In his book, The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton, PhD, reveals how negative memories residing in our sub and unconscious data banks are a primary source of stress.  Identifying and resolving those hidden memories are an important component to rebuilding your health.

The spiritual dimension is also important.  It provides us with an inner sense of well-being beyond the body, emotions and mind.  It is a connection to God, our Higher Self and an increased connection to ourselves, others and the world around us.   Without that connection, our lives can feel empty . . . like something is just missing.  Feeling that divine connection is fuel for the energy that heals the body.

3.  Identifying and Resolving Causative Factors

When you have a chronic Illness such as fibromyalgia, it is because the body isn’t functioning optimally.  When the functions of the body are failing, it is because there is a toxic build up in the body and underlying imbalances in the energy flow and lack of communication within the body between the organs, cells and neuro-endocrine systems.  It would be like putting ill football players on a field littered with trash and with no direction or teamwork.  They would just run around in chaos and get very little accomplished.  That is what happens in the body.

The body’s innate repair system is not able to keep up with the degeneration that has happened.  It is important to restore the energy flow, detoxify the body, restore the microbiome, repair cellular damage, resolve inherited genetic susceptibilities and support the body’s systems to return to balance and optimal function.

If you have a chronic illness such as fibromyalgia, the imbalance hasn’t happened over night.  It has been building over time.  Perhaps your health declined slowly, or one event threw you over the edge where the body couldn’t recover.    Rebuilding your health is a process of reversing the degeneration that has happened with steady focus and commitment.

4.  Reclaim Your Life – Enhancing your Expression

To reclaim your life it is helpful, maybe even necessary to have a picture or vision of who you are as a healthy person.  What would your life look like if you were healthy?  What are your dreams and desires? What are your core values and mission?

For some, you can remember a time in your life that you were healthy.  For other, perhaps you have a vision of what you would like to be able to do or create with your life.  What is important about the vision is that it reminds you that what you are experiencing is temporary, that you can have a healthier happier life; that the work you are doing is your investment in a happier healthier future.    If you finding it is creating stress or tension between what is and what you want, remind yourself that acceptance of your current situation is but one step toward creating the future you want.

That vision is what will pull you through the healing process into health.  Rebuilding your health is a process, not an event.  It is a journey that will be filled with victories and challenges.  You will have good days and bad days.  It is during these times, that the vision of a healthy future can keep you going.

In Summary

The journey to full health can be an amazing journey of learning to love yourself and your body.  Of creating a healthy loving relationship with your body and rediscovering your intuitive knowing and inherent gifts and unique energy signature.  It can be a process of unraveling all that holds you back and keeps you stuck in life; whether that be your health, finances, career, or relationships.

My mission is to assist women with fibromyalgia who which to undertake this journey.  I hope you will join me.  Together we can create a supportive community of women committed to rebuilding our health, reclaiming our lives, rediscovering our joy and aligning with our purpose.

May you be healthy, ❤Bindu

Navigating Crisis with Awareness

Navigating Crisis with Awareness

by | Mar 16, 2020 | Healthy Living

The world is in a panic with the spread of the Corona Virus. Along with the political environment the world feels chaotic and unstable and even dangerous. How can we navigate this chaos in the most sourceful, calming and healthy way? How can we use this situation to enhance the positive rather than focusing on fear while at the same time taking necessary precautions to ensure our health?

Stepping forward with Awareness is the key. Without awareness:

  • The mind can spiral out of control down a frightening rabbit hole.
  • The panic purchasing has already spiraled out of control and fuels even more panic.
  • We can either exaggerate or diminish the true and healthy response to the situation.
  • Our pain body can become triggered and run the show.

How do we step back into awareness?

1. Stop and breath.

Several times a day, simply stop and take several long, slow deep breaths. Deep breathing calms the nervous system and lessens the tendency for negative emotions to take control. Deep breathing also helps one to step back into awareness.

2. Step back into awareness.

Engage the witness. Watch your thoughts and emotions. When you are in a state of witness consciousness, you have the power to choose. It not, the mind can drag you down a very dark tunnel.

3. Chose wisely.

What thoughts frighten you? What thoughts inspire you? What thoughts are aligned with fear? What thoughts are aligned with common sense? As you watch the mind from awareness, you can use discrimination as to which thoughts to give your attention to and which thoughts.

4. What is real, right here, right now.

Be aware of the tendency to awfulizing. What do you need to do right here right now to keep yourself and your family safe? Watch the tendency to project what may or may not happen in the future. Deal with what needs to happen in the present moment.

5. Trust in the big picture.

I know the world can seem like a very scary place right now. Yet, there is a higher force of goodness that is far superior than any egoic manipulations or dramas playing out in the world. Trust that there are more loving, heart centered people in the world and that the power of love will always, ALWAYS over come fear.

 

6. BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF LOVE.

Here are some quotes to help ground you in a positive focus

And the People Stayed Home

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still.  And listened more deeply.  Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows.  And the people began to think differently.

“And the people healed.  And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

“And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”

~Kitty O’Meara

Lockdown

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.

Yes there is panic buying.

Yes there is sickness.

Yes there is even death.

But,

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise

You can hear the birds again.

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet

The sky is no longer thick with fumes

But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi

People are singing to each other

across the empty squares,

keeping their windows open

so that those who are alone

may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland

Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

Today a young woman I know

is busy spreading fliers with her number

through the neighborhood

So that the elders may have someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples

are preparing to welcome

and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting

All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality

To how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters.

To Love.

So we pray and we remember that

Yes there is fear.

But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation.

But there does not have to be loneliness.

Yes there is panic buying.

But there does not have to be meanness.

Yes there is sickness.

But there does not have to be disease of the soul

Yes there is even death.

But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic

The birds are singing again

The sky is clearing,

Spring is coming,

And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul

And though you may not be able

to touch across the empty square,

Sing.

– Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM March 13th 2020

 

Until Next Week:

May you be safe.

May you be happy

May you be free.

May you know your true self.

May your heart be open to love and compassion.

From my heart to yours, 

Bindu

Start the New Year with Powerful Intentions

Start the New Year with Powerful Intentions

by | Dec 30, 2019 | Healthy Living

Start the New Year with Powerful Intentions 

I always love New Year’s Eve and New Years Day.  It is the end of the old and the beginning of a new year.  Also given that my birthday is on Dec 31, it is a new beginning for me as I move into a new year and celebrate the number of years I have been alive.  I take time to reflect on my life and what I have experienced over the last year and set intentions for the coming year.  

This last year has been very powerful for me.  Though I have been rebuilding my own health for many years, in the last two years I have been reaching out to support others wanting to do the same.  I feel a calling to share what I have learned and experienced with others with similar challenges that I have overcome.  I want something good to come out of my years of pain and suffering and to help others rebuild their health in a shorter time frame.  

“Coming out” has been a challenge for me in that it triggered all of my self-doubt.  Yet my inner intention and my commitment to my path has led me forward . . . so here I am.    

As I look back at 2019, I am very grateful that I listened to the inner voice that drew me past my fears and self-doubt.  I feel so grateful to be connecting with those of you on my mailing list and who are following me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram.  My heart feels so full when I see your comments and likes and know that I am contributing to your ever-unfolding wholeness. 

 

The Power of Intentions 

Today, on the last day of 2019, I would like to share with you the power of Intentions.  Too many times at the end of the year we create resolutions.  We make a commitment to lose weight, exercise more, clean up our diet and more.  But too often these resolutions fall by the wayside and we end up beating ourselves up for “failing” once again.  And maybe we have even given up making resolutions.  In seeing this pattern in myself, I made the switch to creating Intentions instead of Resolutions. 

An intention is like putting your deepest heart felt desires into a balloon and then sending that balloon into the heavens knowing that your prayers will be answered.  Resolutions have the feeling that I have to do it.  I have to make it happen.  

 

What is the difference between Intentions and Resolutions?  

Resolutions.  In my thinking, a Resolution is a goal created from the mind and enforced by will power.  It is a decision to do something to achieve a specific external result.  Underlying this is the desire to feel a certain way.  The resolutions are often fueled from our dislike of our self or our situation.  And yet the feeling part is often unconscious and/or accompanied with other unconscious desires to maintain status quo.  It is aligned with the do/have/be paradigm.  The paradigm that says, If I do this, then I will have this result and then I will be happy, peaceful, fulfilled, etc.   

Intentions.  Intentions are more aligned with the be/do/have paradigm.  When we create intentions, we connect within and identify what we want to feel, to be.  We create our intention around that.  From committing to our beingness, our true self, the actions of what we need to do flow from within and have the support of our higher self.  We feel inspired to take action because our actions are coming from a place of love and purpose. 

 

 Examples of Intentions 

Here are two of my Intentions for 2020 and how they work for me to inspire me, rather than to try to “whip” me into shape.  

I am home.  I have come home to my Self.  I am peaceful, harmonious, and present.  I am love, I am powerful, I am confident, I am fully alive.  

When I read this, I feel inspired.  I look forward to being this more consistently in my life.  It reminds me of who I truly am.  I feel inspired to take time to sit quietly with myself, to reconnect with myself, to be with myself.  Or to simply take moments during the day to take a deep breath and reconnect to my inner Self.  

I could have created a resolution saying that I am going to sit and meditate every day.  But that may or may not happen.  But starting with the intention, I will draw to me the actions and resources that will bring me closer to my desired state of being.  

 

I am enjoying ever increasing dynamic health.  I lovingly care for my body, heart, mind and spirit.  My body, heart, mind and spirit are harmonious with each other and in alignment with my highest good. 

When I read this, I relax.  It reminds me that, yes, I want dynamic health.  Yet, I want to be loving with myself and honor all aspects of myself.  I want my body, my heart (emotional body) my mind, and my soul to work together for my highest good rather than to be at war with each other.  

For those of us living with fibromyalgia or other chronic health challenges, we can create disharmony with our body.  We can sometimes think the body is the enemy.  We forget that our body is suffering too.  Our body wants to be healthy. 

 

A guide to creating your own Intentions 

Begin with some self-introspection.  Identify where you are in your life, what is working for you and what you would like to change.  As you consider your intentions, work through the following questions:  

  1. Think about where you are in your life. What are your greatest challenges that you would like to move beyond? What are the external changes that you would like to create? 
  2. Why do you want to achieve this new experience? What is your motivation behind this new creation?  What are you feeling that you want to change?  These are often negative emotions. 
  3. What do you want to feel when you have achieved your goal? This is the most important question.  Do you want to feel happy, peaceful, confident, free? 
  4. Take some time to connect to the feeling that you want to experience. Visualize yourself in that feeling.    What might your life look like?   What are you doing?  What do you need to do to move toward that state of being?  

Take the information from these introspection and create I statements.  “I am” is the most powerful statement.  It calls into being whatever follows that statement.  It also calls the experience into the present moment rather than putting it into the future. 

As you work with creating the “I am” statement, listen to your body and heart to see how they feel when you say the statement.  If you feel uplifted and encouraged, it is a good statement.  If your feeling drops, play with the statement until you feel uplifted.  You might want to say, “I am moving toward improve health” rather than “I am healthy” 

Let your heart be your guide.  Your heart knows what is in your highest and best good. 

 

I wish you much love, peace, joy and improved health in the coming year. 

Bindu