Heather Lietz here; you may know me from the front desk at the clinic. A friend of mine had forwarded me some information about the Total Wellness Summit presented by Food Matters. I decided to join the free access to the online summit which took place from March 21st through March 31st. Each day they presented a different topic with videos of an interview with an expert, a documentary, a recipe, and a yoga or meditation practice. So much great information about health was being provided that I thought I would share the knowledge.
Here is what I learned on Day 5: Finding Your Life Meaning
The following information comes from an interview with Pedram Shojai. He is the author of “The Urban Monk” and “Rise and Shine,” and producer of the documentaries “Vitality” and “Origins.” Pedram has a Master’s in Oriental Medicine and a Doctoral in Sacred Oriental Medicine. He practices martial arts, yoga, and meditation. Learn more about Pedram on his website: http://pedramshojai.com
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Pedram’s recommendations to find meaning in our lives:
-Bring conscious awareness into our everyday lives
-Take frequent breaks – breathe, drink water, go outside, stretch, etc. This helps us to get more done with less stress.
-Eat foods from the ground to fuel our bodies. This is important as our bodies then fuel our life energy (chi), which is driven by our consciousness. Health is the continuum of energy/ vitality while disease is the deficit of it. Toxins and the way we live in our current society diminishes our capacity to produce energy.
-Assemble life around acts of self love, better decisions, and better interactions
-We should take care of ourselves and then the world. When we take care of ourselves we will radiate energy, be present, and be able to give of ourselves to the people who need us.
-Practice a daily gong – this is an interchangeable healthy activity such as qi gong, yoga, etc. Set up achievable goals, for example complete a 10 minute gong daily for 30 days. This will help us to work towards happiness.
-If we are busy, we should book calendar appointments to set aside time for self care. We can swap out one action that’s not working for us in our everyday lives with a healthy action for our gong.
-It’s okay if we say “no.” We must be mindful of the things that we engage in.
***We must decide who we are going to be NOW and make decisions to move forward without focusing on the past***