Amira Ayad, PhD
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Embracing the wisdom of your feminine cycle

26/2/2021

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Since the dawn of civilization, women intuitively knew about that ‘time of the month’ when they were more vulnerable. Not just physically, but also emotionally. They knew that there is a time when they needed more support, love and care; another time when they may need to be more self-centered (not selfish), introverted and reflective. And, there are other times when they are more sociable, giving, creative and expressive. Women’s menstrual cycles express these different needs at different times of the month; and women in all traditional and ancient cultures intuitively knew and followed its natural flow.
 
And, since the dawn of civilization, women also intuitively knew about that ‘time of life’ when they grow wiser and emotionally and spiritually stronger and braver. In traditional cultures, menopausal years are empowering years of wisdom and experiences, they relate the story of a soul reconnecting with its ultimate source of wisdom!
 
To regain the health of your second chakra, you need to learn from this traditional women’s wisdom. You need to stop suppressing your feelings with legitimate distractions and sweet indulgences and silencing your pain with pain “killers”. You need to listen to your Body Whispers® and follow your intuitive wisdom.
 
This week, let’s delve into the meanings and wisdoms of our feminine cycle… Let’s learn how to flow with its delicate nature and tune in to the valuable whispers our body is sending us every month
 
The female menstrual cycle with its regular repeated pattern of hormonal change carries regular repeated pattern of emotional change. It holds much more than the physical reproductive power. It holds the power of producing ideas, meaning, missions, and changes. By understanding its pattern, you can access your own deeply held feelings and needs, you can listen to your body and understand what is bothering you, what is annoying you, what makes you stressed, unhappy, sad, or frustrated and thus learn how to align your steps back on the right track.
 
 
Emotionally and spiritually speaking, we can divide the female menstrual cycle into four phases:

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1. The Follicular Phase: Preparation & Exploration
 
 
Follicular phase: starts with the period (day 1 of the bleeding) and ends by ovulation (mid cycle around day 13)
 
 
Follicular phase is the time when the eggs are ripening in women ovaries. At this time of the month your

  • Estrogen is balanced
  • Progesterone is low
 
Women at this time of the month are in their nurturing mode. They have the energy and mental ability for nurturing others… other people, other ideas, other projects… They are in the peak of their self-expression, quite sociable and outgoing. They are full of enthusiasm, open to new ideas, experimentation, explorations and experiences. Their left-brain logical thinking is dominating, so they seem very understanding, able to plan, analyze and organize their life and their work. They have full control over their thoughts and actions knowing what to say and what to hold back.
 
2. Ovulation: Illumination
Ovulation occurs around day 12 or 13 of the cycle. This is when the creative nurturing and exploration that took place during the first follicular phase is ready to give its fruit. A balance in the left-right sides of the brain (analytical-holistic thinking) is taking place and your ideas become clearer. You seem to suddenly understand life much better.
 
The ovulation is initiated by a rise in two hormones secreted from the pituitary gland in our brain (FSH and LH). These hormones cause your estrogen level to rise. Estrogen, besides being essential for ovulation, is also a brain messenger that stimulates your left-brain activity… more logical thinking, verbal fluency and understanding. At the same time, testosterone is secreted to increase libido. Again, testosterone is not merely a sex hormone, it enhances your visual-spatial mental powers, functions of your right brain.
So now at this time of the month, you become sexually attractive and more receptive to the outside world, more willing to care and being cared for, to give and receive love. You are more relaxed, content and understanding. You are in the peak of your mental and emotional creativity with clear view and ideas.
 It is like when the egg is ready for fertilization in our uterus, we are also emotionally and mentally fertile land for creative and innovative insights.
We came to look at this stage of our menstrual cycle as “the good stage” since we are much more valued by the outside world.
 
3. Then comes the Luteal Phase with its Premenstrual Nightmare: Incubation & Percolation
If no fertilization takes place, the cycle continues. The sexual phase is wrapped up and preparations are made in the uterus (and the body) for another cycle.
 
The Luteal phase starts with ovulation and continues after that with all the premenstrual or PMS days ending when we start the bleeding again signalling the beginning of the new cycle.
 
During the luteal phase, and before the period, estrogen levels drop.
Estrogen is known to increase the production rate and receptor density of serotonin (your feeling good neuropeptide), dopamine (your motivation hero), epinephrine and nor epinephrine (your stress-managing hormones) and Beta-endorphins (your natural morphines). So when estrogen drops, all those neuropetide levels drop with it… This explains the low mood, low motivation and low tolerance of the PMS time of the month.
During the luteal phase, the sudden drop of estrogen leads to progesterone dominance. Progesterone is responsible for calming down your brain chatter and cooling off your brain over excitement. Nature is designed this way to actually give us access to more clarity and calming time… This phase of your cycle is actually a blessing, a gift… you can see it as a little window that opens every month for you to peek into your intuitive wisdom and see more clearly. If you tune in and trust your Body Whispers®, you will see that this phase is there to give you a much needed time for yourself. Time to calm down and shift your focus inward. This is a right-brain oriented time, an invitation to see the ‘big picture’, to reflect and ponder.
 
The luteal phase is the perfect chance for whole life integration, for a holistic view. It initiates a meditation and evaluation mode that makes you wonder: what did I achieve so far? What needs to change in my life? What aspects of my work/relationship/social life aren’t working for me?
The luteal phase is there to tell you that you need to slow down in order for you to hear your intuitive voice and heed your inner wisdom.
 
During the follicular phase, your left-brain was more active, your logical thinking and analytical mind were alert, you were able to calculate your steps and rethink your words before uttering them, you knew what to say and what to hold back. During the Luteal phase, though, you find it harder to control your emotions and hold back your anger and tongue slips. This is the phase when you are harshly judged by your surroundings or highly medicated to turn off those inner whispers that society usually find inappropriate.
 
Telling a depressed, furious or anxious PMS sufferer to learn “self-control” or “manage her stress”, is like adding fuel to a raging fire… not only useless, but highly damaging. The debris that surface during this time of the month are but signs and warnings… your subconscious is sending you messages through your Body Whispers®. Silencing the messages is like shooting the messenger. The debris will still be there, but instead of rising to the surface, you are sending them inward to wreak havoc not only on your emotions but also on your physical body.
 
We all need to slow down and listen, we need to notice and learn, we need to connect with our inner wisdom and there is no better time to do that than our pre-menstrual window. During your luteal phase, your intuition is at its peak. You just need to tune in and trust. Journaling is most essential and most valuable at this time of the cycle. It helps you discover the missing elements in your life, unveil your hidden fears, worries, and bottled emotions and see clearly once more.
 
If we refuse to slow down and listen, the calming down of this time of the cycle turns into isolation and repression… and you end up with mood swings, anxiety, overwhelm, and depression.
 
4. Menses: Organization & Reorientation
The first day of bleeding starts our next cycle. The period is a biological and physiological cleansing phase. As your uterus is shedding its lining to prepare itself for a new cycle, it is time for you to start shedding your fears, anger, and worries;  and reorienting your life for a new beginning.
Menstruation is the ultimate time for letting go of what is troubling you, of your negative feelings, destructive emotions, fears, frustrations, blames, shame and grief. It is the ultimate time for reorientation, reorganization and ridding yourself of old baggage.
 
 
 
Take a moment now to tune into your body and reflect…
  • Which phase of the cycle are you in?
  • How to you feel, emotionally, physically and mentally?
  • Is there any part of your life/ of your soul that needs your attention?
 

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When the Heart is Whispering

16/2/2021

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As our theme this month is the heart, let’s explore the main dysfunctions I encounter in my practice when women’s heart chakra is out of order.
 
As I always say, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, managing stress and proper nutrition & supplementations all play a major role in healing, but they are far from being the main piece of the puzzle… Over and over again, I come back to the same advice: LISTEN!
We need to learn how to feed our hearts and souls as we are learning to feed our bodies. Listening to your body whispers is a skill we all need to cultivate…


When Your Heart Hurts...

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Breast Cancer

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Mastitis (Breast Inflammation)

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Breathing Problems

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Warning: Again, as I always warn, if your ‘whispers’ reach a stage where they are manifested physically, you need to physically tend to the body with the proper nutrition, supplements and/or medical intervention from a qualified MD if needed along with tending to your heart and soul needs.
 
 
P.S. If you did not take the heart chakra Assessment… Here are your 20 questions.

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Don't Ignore The Call

9/2/2021

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In 2004, I set out on a self-exploration journey to learn more about my religious and spiritual teachings and to map out my own healing journey. At the time, I working on my Ph.D. in Natural Health, and as a side project, I started documenting my personal "Healing Body & Soul" path. I had no formal religious education at the time and did not even know how to properly read the Qur'an with the correct pronunciation (Tajweed). It was a fascinating journey, packed with synchronicities and discerning moments. Every step was leading to the next in such an organic flow as if the road has always been there waiting for me to follow. Soon, my side project grew to take over my Ph.D. thesis, which suddenly shifted from researching the healing effects of herbs to the healing effect of Islamic spirituality.
 
The healing journey that I was crafting for myself ended up as a roadmap for many others. My first book, Healing Body & Soul: Your Guide to Holistic Wellbeing Following Islamic Teaching, started as a personal journey for healing my own body, mind, heart, and soul through a deep dive into my cultural and religious teachings that I knew very little about. It was my personal attempt to make sense of many religious rituals that seemed foreign when they were stripped away from their spiritual nature. This process of healing and self-exploration did not just benefit me but was useful for thousands of others who later read my books and listened to my teachings. And, I am and will be forever grateful.
I would have never been here, sending you this email, wouldn’t I have taken the first step and followed this subtle voice inside me that pointed towards a totally unfamiliar path. Don’t brush off those whispers, don’t ignore the call just because you do not fully grasp the whole picture or understand the full meaning. I am not suggesting that you do any drastic dramatic changes either. All I’m asking is for you to take the first step: read that book, enrol in that course, write that blog, paint that picture… whatever this first step looks like for you… Take it! Don’t ignore the call!
 
 
And, since February is the month of the heart… I have 20 questions to help you listen and reflect on the health of your Heart Chakra… You can find them HERE.
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Immunity whispers

26/1/2021

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As we are still focusing on immunity, let’s listen to our Body Whispers! When you suffer from poor immunity, one of those three chakras are usually involved:
  • The root chakra with its relation to basic human needs including safety, security, and belonging.
  • The heart with the feeling of love (including self-love) and intimacy with ourselves, with others and with God.
  •  The throat chakra where your higher creativity is located, where you connect to your authentic voice and feel empowered to announce this voice to your surrounding while balancing your will and power with the Divine will.
 
If you find yourself falling sick over and over again, catching every “virus” in the air, you need to pay attention to what has been brewing beneath the surface of your conscious mind. Low immunity is linked to deep underlying grief… Grief has so many levels and is manifested in different shapes and forms. It is related to feelings of helplessness, despair, resentment, and dissatisfaction. Those feelings don’t only affect our emotional and mental wellbeing, they also deeply affect our physical health. Our inability or unwillingness to fight emotional and mental threats translates into an inability to fight environmental and physical threats. When your Body Whispers, it’s time to pause, listen and reflect. It’s time to make some choices and decisions.
 
And, as usual, don’t ignore the physical side of any “whispers”. You still need to support your body with healthy food, lifestyle, and even medications when required. If you missed it, here are my 30 tips for healthy immunity

And, this  is my favourite immune boosting smoothie
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What’s your favourite way of SLOWING DOWN?

15/12/2020

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​Do you feel that you are running and rushing all the time?
Are you tired and exhausted?
It’s as if you’re looking for something but don’t know what it is…  Your mind is working nonstop… Your mind chatter is torturing… And, there are those heart palpitations and speeding heart beats… Your breathing becomes shallow and your hormones a mess… PMS, pre-menopausal symptoms, thyroid issues… You have low tolerance to people and daily annoyances… Sounds familiar?
 
In the past month alone I had more than 20 clients and students approaching me regarding their anxiety issues… 
Anxiety is very individualized condition. It comes in various shapes and forms, different severity and intensity. It carries different pains and signs and poses varying challenges for its sufferers. The DSM (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) lists more than 30 different disorders under anxiety… Yet, if you dig at the core of it, no one really knows what anxiety is and where it comes from…

New studies link anxiety to autoimmune disease, Hashimoto Thyroiditis being a common one I see in my practice… Yet, is it a cause or an effect of the autoimmune disease? No one really knows. What we know for sure is that anxiety increases inflammation in the body and the inflammation in its turn increases anxiety… A viscous cycle. Turning on the furnace in our cells turns it on in our brain and vice versa.
 
I see anxiety as a gentle (or may be not so gentle at times) warning sign sent our way to tell us that we’re over doing it… over thinking, over acting, over working… We need to slow down… slow down the pace of our life and the speed of our thoughts… we need to close those pop-up windows that keep surfacing out of no where and jamming our mental screen. We need to slow down this crazy chatter and endless clutter of to-dos, ideas, information, worries, and fears… 
 
My favourite way of slowing down is taking a deep breath, grab my journal and do a “Brain Dump”… Pouring my thoughts onto the pages gives my brain a break…  It helps me organize my thoughts and decide on what I need to keep in my mind and what I need to let go of…
 
Hit reply and let me know, what’s your favourite way of SLOWING DOWN?
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Slow Down and Listen to the Whispers

1/12/2020

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​It all starts as subtle whispers... or, maybe mild symptoms like headache, heartburn, insomnia, or racing heartbeats... But you ignore the whispers... you pop a pill when you have a headache or an antacid when your stomach objects... or, maybe you watch a movie to distract your thoughts or burry your boredom in a double chocolate cheesecake only to hate yourself, even more, when you step on the bathroom scale at the end of the day...
 
All what you are doing is neglecting your body’s warnings, or even worse, suppress those warnings with quick fixes so that the whispers just shut up and stop bothering you... But, the whispers won’t go away, they will keep getting louder and louder until they turn into shouts and screams now requiring medical intervention and you end up with an official diagnosis... a ‘label’ that needs a prescribed medication.
But, the medicine won’t solve the problems you are facing at work... it won’t force your son to study... it won’t heal your broken heart... pay your bills... fix your relationship... calm your anger or ease your fears...
All what it does is suppress those whispers... it makes them stop nagging so that you can step back on the hamster wheel and keep spinning... non-stop.
 
I’m here to remind you to slow down the pace of your life and listen to those Body Whispers®… You are the only one who can listen, decode, decipher, and devise a healing plan…
 
Your body possesses an amazing healing power. If you give it what it needs, it will achieve all the healing… and what it needs is not just food, drink, vitamins, minerals, or supplements… but also emotions, feelings, mental patterns, and spiritual needs…To restore your health, you need to look at your health from a much wider perspective, wider than drugs or even herbs and vitamins… you need to work on your body as well as your mind, your heart and your soul.
 
So, today, it is time to Slow Down and Listen to the Whispers: What is one thing you can do today to help you slow down?
 
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What is your Body trying to tell you?

24/11/2020

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Do you feel that something is wrong with your body but you cannot quite define it?
Your lab results are normal. The doctors tell you that it is all in your head or maybe it is just stress. Yet, in your heart, you’re just not ‘you’.
Or, maybe you’ve been diagnosed with a chronic disease. You took medicine after medicine with no sign of relief. Some symptoms are fading; yet, you’re still tired, exhausted, and depleted. You lack energy… You’ve lost the zest of life, motivation, and enthusiasm.
Or, you’ve just recovered from a serious illness, life trauma, or grief. People praise you for how brave and resilient you have been. Your doctor tells you that you can finally get off your meds; you don’t need them any more… Yet, deep inside, you still feel depleted and weak. You’ve tried to eat healthy, live healthy, exercise, and sleep early. You’ve tried all the supplements, herbs and superfoods your friends and nutritionists recommended. Yet, you still have a deep feeling of unrest and unease. You start feeling helpless and discouraged with all your seemingly endless complaints that no one acknowledges. You start believing that this is the norm and you just have to get used to those body aches and pains... you have to get used to this brain fog, chronic exhaustion, anxiety, and depressive mood...
Your body communicates to you in a way that is uniquely yours—it is the sum of your experiences, memories, feelings, thoughts, and beliefs. You are the only one who can decode those Whispers… You are the only one who can devise your healing plan. Start by listening… What is your body trying to tell you?
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Hypertension... What is Your Body Trying to Tell You?

13/1/2020

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It is estimated that nearly one quarter of Canadians suffer from hypertension, a leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. But, it is interesting to know that most cases of hypertension are classified as primary or essential hypertension, which means that the exact reason for blood pressure rise is not known.
 
Although conventional medicine attribute the cause of hypertension to dietary choices, sedentary lifestyle and stress, traditional medicines have always added a deeper mystical understanding. In traditional medicine, blood is our lifeline. The smooth flow of blood in our blood vessels represent a smooth, harmonious, and joyful life flow. When the flow of life is constricted/restricted, so would be the blood inside its vessels.
 
According to ancient Indian medicine, at least one of the first four main chakras are associated with hypertension problems: the root chakra, the sacral chakra, the solar plexus, and the heart chakra.

  • The first chakra is your root, your foundation. It holds your primary sense of belonging – belonging to a family in its larger sense including the feeling of safety, home, peace, and harmony. The first chakra regulates musculoskeletal health along with the adrenal function, which determines our tolerance/response to stress – the adrenaline secretion that, when activated, prepare the body to fight or flee (raising heart rate, increasing blood pressure and slowing down digestion). Furthermore, chronic stress sustain the release of cortisol, a hormone that raises blood pressure, blood sugar level, causes muscle tension, and suppresses immune function.
 
  • The second chakra It is the centre of creativity, joy, passion, physical and emotional intimacy, and life flow. It mainly controls sexual organs and to a large extent body fluids, a main player in the blood pressure regulation.  Our kidneys regulate water and electrolyte balances – managing blood pressure.
 
  • The third chakra is the seat of your emotions. Those deep feelings of love and hate, courage and fear, acceptance and anger,... all are lodged here in your solar plexus, stored in your liver, gall bladder, and stomach. Many -or maybe most- of the malfunctions at this centre arise from repressed, unregulated or uncontrolled emotions and unmanaged life stresses. Poor digestion and nervous stomach are common disorders associated with the third chakra malfunctions. Worry, anxiety, and unmanaged daily life stresses are early signs of “gut feeling” that need to be addressed. And, stress is the main culprit in cardiovascular problems including hypertension.
 
  • The fourth is the heart chakra, the centre of love with all its meanings - romantic and spiritual, physical and metaphysical. Your heart is the link between your physical realm and your spiritual one, that’s why balancing your heart energy is essential in achieving holistic balance. And, balance means taking care of whole of you: body, mind, heart & soul. The heart chakra regulates heart function and blood circulation in addition to lungs and breathing.
 
As you can see, more than one chakra is always involved in any health challenge—especially in chronic physical disorders like hypertension. Restoring your health entails managing all aspects of your life (physical, mental , emotional , and spiritual).[1]

 
Energy Restoration:
 
If you find it hard to control your blood pressure, it is time to listen closely to your own body… What is your body trying to tell you? What message is it trying to deliver? Which of the four Chakras is/are out of balance?
 
 
First Chakra
  • Strengthen your support. Family support is an essential element in your foundation’s health. Think about the house you live in. How could your feel more “at home”?
  • Connect with Nature.
  • Be aware of your movements, especially your daily routine activities. Movement is a powerful energizer of our first chakra.
  • Prepare Food for Your Family.
  • Clear the Clutter. Living in a clean, orderly, and uncluttered environment is a first chakra energizer.
  • Get a Foot Massage.
  • Support your adrenals – Your adrenals need coenzyme Q10, vitamin C, B vitamins, and omega 3 oils.
 
Second chakra
  • Water has a powerful cleansing effect on all of the energy system. You can restore your second chakra balance through bubble baths or warm showers. You can energize it by standing under the rain, going to the beach or practicing water sports like swimming and water skiing.
  • Live with passion. The second chakra is the centre of creativity and life enjoyment. To energize it, you need to find pleasures, meanings and values in everyday experience. You need to step out of your comfort zone and try new stuff that makes you happy and bring you material, spiritual, mental, and emotional satisfaction.
  • Adopt a New Hobby. Learning a new skill or adopting a new hobby is about adding gratification to your life and also about boosting your creative powers, the two main sides of your second chakra.
  • Engage Your Senses. Let your sensual indulgence flow naturally and spontaneously throughout your daily experiences by cultivating awareness of your five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch). Although your life should be structured, planned, and organized (functions of the first chakra), it should be far from rigid. Flexibility, harmony, and flow are essential for a healthy second chakra.
  • Simplify and beautify your Surrounding.
 
 
Third Chakra
  • The sun is a major third chakra booster. UV rays of sunlight help lowering blood pressure, reducing cholesterol, increasing heart efficiency, boosting metabolism, increasing sex hormones levels, and sustaining the health of the eye retina.
  • Finding your path, your true vocation and life calling is essential for establishing health, vitality and happiness. The journey starts here at your solar plexus by re-evaluating your resources, your strengths, your talents and potentials; by boosting your self-confidence, self-worth and self-esteem; and by committing to your true values and vocations.
  • Love who you are, acknowledge your human limitations and be less critical and judgmental of yourself. Surround yourself with a loving, caring, and compassionate community. Connect with your family and friends and receive and give support. A healthy support system is essential in a stressful world.
  • Breathing Exercises adjust, synchronize, and harmonize the diaphragm movement thus restoring balance not only at the third chakra level but also at whole body levels.
 
Fourth Chakra
  • Awareness. The first step in restoring heart balance is actually recognizing that we are tumbling out of balance. Awareness is the key in every aspect of your life. Ironically, the more we struggle to stay in control, the less balanced we become.
  • Perform a Random Acts of Kindness. Serving others feed your heart.
  • Keep smiling. Studies in the field of positive psychology show that pessimism is very strongly associated with poor health and heart problems. Research has proven over and over again that the feeling of optimism, having a life meaning, mastery of your conditions and experiences, and having positive attitudes and emotions towards life are major indicators of your susceptibility to heart and cardiovascular diseases. These findings were more indicative of predicted death from heart attacks and cardiovascular problems than more conventionally stated risk factors like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, diet and lifestyle habits, obesity, smoking, and personality types.
  • Learn your love language. Love, the essential food for the heart, is a very important asset in relationship building. Dr. Gary Chapman, the author of The Five Love Languages, sees that each person understands and communicates love in his/her own language – be it gifts, acts of service, words of appreciation, physical touch… To restore your heart energy, you need to understand, receive, and deliver the right messages of love. 
 
Now, it is your turn to reflect. Which aspect(s) of those chakra energy is missing from your life?
What do you need to change/ add/ eliminate?
Listen to your body… What does it need in order to heal?
Write your own healing prescription…

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[1] It is very important to note here that if the malfunction reaches a stage where it is manifested physically, an experienced physician should be consulted. The advice given here can in no way compensate for a proper medical intervention or treatment, when such is required. 
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Listening to Our Roaring Pain

31/8/2018

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The Thunder, Chapter 13 of the Quran, describes how the thunder with its scary roar, in its essence, it glorifies and praises God. Could this be a parallel for our pains and sufferings? The roaring pain that brings within its folds a blessing and a gift from the Divine?
In its essence, suffering, like the roaring thunder, praises and glorifies God. Initially, our pain brings with it fear that might throw us into a chaotic narrative… the chaos of a life-threatening diagnosis or a life-altering illness, the chaos of cancer, depression, autoimmunity, fibromyalgia, or chronic pain… a chaos that forces us to press a pause or even a stop button on our lives…

But, what if we pause and listen? What if we try to decipher the message our body is sending us? If we listen carefully, we will hear our suffering opening the door for spiritual insight, a door that will take us closer to God. We will hear our suffering praising our Lord.

The Thunder chapter (Surat Ar-Ra’d) challenges our belief about the dichotomy of good and evil. To discern the wisdom in our trials, we need to challenge this modern cognitive frame. We need to stop judging evil solely on the basis of it not serving an immediate interest or pleasure. Likewise, healing should not be reduced to curing the illness. Healing means becoming whole again, becoming at peace with oneself, the world, and the Divine. 

Healing entails finding meaning and purpose that is bigger than ourselves and bigger than our suffering. It entails bringing all who we are, body, mind, heart, and soul into a relationship with the Divine. As physical suffering is drawing us towards a bigger life meaning and purpose, to a vocation and a calling, in reality, it is drawing us towards God. To find our calling, we need to know ourselves; and to know ourselves, we need to know God. Such knowledge allows us to understand the interconnectedness of all things around us and within us and the relationship to and ultimate dependence of this amazing web on its One and Only Creator.
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Listen to the inspiring story of Ali Banat: Gifted with Cancer, May God bless his soul.
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Trouble sleeping? Eat more fish!

24/8/2018

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In our modern day life, we are over-working our brains. We spend our resting time before the TV screen or our PC monitor. Our brains are constantly analyzing, calculating, worrying, and searching. And, at the end of the day, we wonder why we find it hard to sleep despite our exhaustion. Popping a sleeping pill or a calming sedative won’t do the trick. Studies show that these sleep-inducing medications interfere with your natural sleeping cycle. In other words, they may improve the quantity, but not the quality of your sleep.
 
Why do you need to sleep?
Besides relieving fatigue and restoring alertness, sleep has been proven to improve memory by consolidating, organizing and re-structuring the information you learn during your waking hours. It replenishes your brain performance and regenerates neurons. Sleep also lowers inflammation, boosts cells regeneration, and curbs oxidative damage. It improves your stamina, helps you better manage your daily stresses, calms down the fight and flight response, and increases your emotional stability. So much for such a ‘relaxing’ activity… isn’t it?
 
Essential fatty acids
Recent research has been studying the role of essential fatty acids (EFAs) in improving sleep. Essential fatty acids are pretty safe and well tolerated by most people. They are linked to many health benefits like reducing systemic inflammation, improving heart performance, relieving asthma symptoms, and helping in autoimmune conditions like psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, Crohn’s and colitis. They are linked to improving immune function, skin integrity, mood and hormonal balance.
EFAs have also been shown to mediate pain response by controlling the pro-inflammatory eicosanoids and cytokines. They have been proven effective in conditions like chronic pains, joints aches, carpal tunnel and fibromyalgia. They lower the risk of Alzheimer, dementia, cognitive degenerative diseases and even help with depression. Low levels of EFAs are linked to increased risk and symptoms of ADHD in children and adults.
 
Can essential fatty acids help you sleep?
EFAs improve our sleep through direct and indirect mechanisms of action.
Direct connection:
EFAs are proven to stabilize and harmonize the complex mechanism by which our body initiates and maintains sleep. [1]
Omega 3 levels, specifically DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), have been linked to better quality of sleep, reduced severity of sleep apnea and improvement in melatonin (your sleep hormone) level. [2]
In a study conducted by University of Oxford in the UK, supplementing 600 mg of DHA significantly improved children sleeping habits.
 
Indirect connection:
  • EFAs mediate stress response calming your brain chatter and regulating hyperactivity.
  • EFAs mediate pain response, which makes it easier for chronic pain sufferers to retire at night.
  • They manage the inflammatory reaction and cell oxidative damage, which again controls pain reaction.
  • Deficiency in EFA is linked to children hyperactivity
  • EFAs supplementation has been shown to lower anxiety, lower elevated cortisol levels, improves fatigue symptoms and balance mood.[3]
  • EFAs supplementation has been shown to be helpful in case of depression, another cause of insomnia.
 
Types and Sources of EFAs
We cannot synthesize EFAs, we need to get them from food. Our body needs a constant supply of two types of fats: omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
Our Standard American Diet is highly loaded with omega 6 at the expense of omega 3, which shifts the balance towards more inflammatory reactions, hormonal imbalances, mood and sleep disturbance. The balance between both types of fats is very critical for brain structure and function. Omega-3 deficiencies are widespread. We all seem to consume more omega-6 (mainly from common vegetable oils), than omega-3 (present in nuts, seeds and fatty fish and fish oil supplements).
 
So, do you have trouble sleeping at night? Try adding more cold-water fish to your diet and supplementing with some good quality EFAs.
Vegetarian sources of EFAs include seeds like flax and chia seeds; nuts especially walnuts; green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, and vine leaves; seaweeds like spirulina; cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts; and other vegetables like winter squash and leeks.

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[1] Yehuda, Rabinovitz, & Mostofsky. (1998). Essential fatty acids and sleep: mini-review and hypothesis. Med Hypotheses;50(2):139-45.

[2] Montgomery et. Al. (2014), Fatty acids and sleep in UK children: subjective and pilot objective sleep results from the DOLAB study – a randomized controlled trial. J Sleep Res, 23: 364–388.

[3] Yehuda, Rabinovitz & Mostofsky. (2005). Mixture of essential fatty acids lowers test anxiety. Nutritional Neuroscience Vol. 8 , Iss. 4
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    About the Author

    Hi, I'm Amira... I'm all for simple, natural, uncomplicated life... My core values are derived from my Islamic faith... My definition of wellness includes lots of smiles, human interactions, delicious food, music, joy, colorful paint, Mediterranean sunshine, blue sky and turquoise sea, care, love, compassion and deep heart-felt peace.
    I love learning… I love books and art supplies… And, I am saddened by human conflict and intolerance.
     
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    I've been helping people on their health and healing journey for more than 20 years now and I am committed to be authentic, caring and a beacon of love and peace.

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My wellness coaching, workshops, teachings, and all the services I provide are at all times restricted to education, teaching and training on the subject of natural health matters intended for general natural health well-being and do not involve the diagnosing, prognosticating, treatment, or prescribing of remedies for the treatment of any disease, or any licensed or controlled act which may constitute the practice of  medicine. 
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