[Day 4] How do you treat your body?

"Your body is your home"

Rich Hanson

For years I neglected to listen and respond to the signals my body was sending. Headaches, pain in my back, insomnia, nausea, panic attacks just to name a few of the signals.

The body was just sort of in the way, and at times I felt that it was robbing me of the chance to really get to a place of success and freedom - "if I can just do a little more, THEN I can relax" I would think to myself. The thing is you can ALWAYS do a little more, and more and more.

I was stressed and although It didn't come from bad intentions, I had never learned how to slow down enough to really respect my limits. A lot of us aren't friends with our body, it becomes our enemy at times.

By beginning to listen to the body's signals with gentleness and curiosity you can create enormous shifts. They may seem small, but just knowing where you are in this moment can help you respond more skillfully and in tune with what you need. The first step is always awareness with what is.

So, what is your body telling you? Get more sleep, eat less, eat more, less sugar, stretch, exercise, release tension, drop your shoulders a bit, relax your jaw, feeling strong, healthy, light, big or small, what signals is your body sending?

As Rick Hanson puts it "Your body is your home" and how does living there feel? Maybe you treat your body really well, how does that feel? How can you begin to treat your body like a good friend?

Remember this isn't about judging yourself, but observing with compassion (we will be diving into that some more later on ).

Now write a post or grab your journal and write about your reflections, experience and share your story.

I am LOVING your posts! 

1. Add the URL http://www.mindfulground.com/day4-how-do-you-treat-your-body/ as a TrackBack link

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2. Add a comment below with a few words about your post with a link to the blogpost

Recommended reading

Not Quite Nirvana: A Skeptic's Journey to Mindfulness

by Rachel Neumann

[Day 1] Welcome to the Challenge

  Yay, we are ready to start 30 Days of Living Mindfully and thank you for joining. I am so happy that so many of you have the intention of creating more space for yourself this November and beyond.

Allow yourself to be inspired, touched, challenged and create space to feel all the in between. I can't wait to read your posts.

Thank you for the willingness to turn inward and the courage to share your story.  <3

A little house keeping

Before we get to today's challenge here's a little info about the challenges, how to go about them and how to join.

There will be a few guest posts with some really cool teachers throughout the 30 Days. Everyone of them have a different perspective (as do we all), and field they work in. Some challenges will speak to you others may not.

Also...

• Don't feel the pressure to take everything in, believe or love it all. Instead reflect, look at resistance, why you like it or why it just might not matter. Being mindful includes it all and there is no right or wrong.

• Listen to your body and system along the way. You are the only one who can feel your limits and respect them. Be respectful of yourself and be responsible throughout the challenge.

• When commenting and interacting always be respectful of others. This isn't about judging others. Any rude, abusive or cruel comments will be removed

Now for the fun part

Now write  a post about your reflections and/or experience, and share it with us.

How to share and submit your your link:

If you're joining as a blogger or writing about your experience along the way you can do 2 things:

1. Add a trackback link to your post. The link you want to use is the URL for that day's challenge for example

http://www.mindfulground.com/30-day-living-mindfully-blog-challenge-day-1/

Past the link in the TrackBack box - It normally looks like this

When you hit publish, we get a notification and a link to your blogpost. This is the easiest way for us to find you and round up and share your posts.

2. Or you can add a comment below with a few words about your post and the URL to it.

Share the challenge with your followers

Click to tweet: I joined @mindfulground ’s 30 Day Living Mindfully Challenge. Come join me http://tinyurl.com/p9mr8sy #LMBC13

Sending these some love

Sometimes you just stumble across people that inspire you. And sometimes you just forget to tell them that that's what they do - inspire. So this is the month of challenges (in many ways) and we have come to day 9 i Natalie's blog challenge. They question today is:

Whose online business do you admire most and why?

I have to go 3-fold today. There are too many people I admire to cook it down to 1. I have never been good at "would you rather die by shark attack or fall off a cliff" and the "You HAAAAAVE to chose" kind of games... So not going to limit myself this time either.

1. Is Joanna Lindenbaum from Soulfulcoach.com

She is such a talented woman and always spot on. Her way of getting so close and personal even though she works 98% online amazes me. She brings her heart to what she does and it oooozes through the internet. When I grow up I want to be like her.

2. Is Caroline Cain from carolinecain.com

She is just so down to earth and really REALLY knows how to speak so you understand on a mental and visceral level. I could listen to her forever, and makes living healthy and happy sound like something that is possible, without changing everything about yourself... bonus.

3. Is Sarah Avant Stover from saraavantstover.com

I have never met her, but I adore how she brings women together via her online community. Important work and really something that more women need to engage in. When we go on our around the world trip next year, I might just have to ask her to drink coffee with me. :)

Besides those 3, I also have to send some online love to Natalie - she just helps so many people do what they love smarter.

<3

Sommer(bog)regn - VIND Stress Reduction for teenagere + en Bonus

Har du en teenager? Arbejder du med teengere? Er du selv teenager? Så kan denne bog +en lille bonus måske være noget for dig. Gina Biegel som er forfatter til bogen The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens, har forsket på området længe. Hun afholder kurser for børn og forældre, og uddanner lærere i hendes program MBSR-teens. Jeg har taget hendes teachers training og synes hun er dygtig. Hun brænder for at hjælpe stressede unge. Du kan læse mere om hende og hendes arbejde her...

Denne bog tilbyder konkrete øvelser, meditationer og inspiration som er lette at gå til. Denne bog er på engelsk, men meget let forståelig. Som en lille BONUS følger hendes cd med 14 forskellige meditationer med (dog også på engelsk, men Gina og jeg arbejder på en dansk udgave).

Hvad skal du gøre for at være med i lodtrækningen? 

Du skal smide en kommentar om hvorfor du gerne vil vinde bogen. Hvorfor er dette emne interessant for dig.

Vi trækker lod fredag d. 2. august kl. 12.00 :)

Om bog-regnen.

Hver uge i løbet af sommeren vil jeg give en bog væk. For at finde ud af hvem der skal have hvad, og for at lære jer bedre at kende, vil jeg enormt gerne høre jeres historier, kommentar, inspiration eller skepsis i forhold til de forskellige temaer bøgerne omhandler. Der bliver trukket lod blandt besvarelserne og vinderen får direkte besked. Jeg skal nok beskrive nærmere hver uge.

Jeg betaler portoen, men skulle du bo i København så kan bøgerne afhentes.

Sommer(bog)regn her på bloggen.

Min fødselsdag er i juli og hele mit liv har det været svært at hive ret mange gæster hjem til boller og kakao, fordi de altid var på ferie. Så nu ville jeg gøre sommeren lidt sjov, hive pakkekalender konceptet ud i sol, varme og bloggen. Jeg EEEElsker bøger, det betyder at jeg køber alt alt for mange af dem. Det betyder så, at jeg engang i mellem må rydde op i dem, så vi kan være i stuen. Flere af dem er købt til inspiration, nogle har jeg ikke fået brugt som jeg troede og andre kan jeg ikke huske hvor kommer fra. I stedet for at sælge dem, vil jeg gerne give nogle af dem væk via bloggen.

Hver uge i løbet af sommeren vil jeg give en bog væk. For at finde ud af hvem der skal have hvad, og for at lære jer bedre at kende, vil jeg enormt gerne høre jeres historier, kommentar, inspiration eller skepsis i forhold til de forskellige temaer bøgerne omhandler. Der bliver trukket lod blandt besvarelserne og vinderen får direkte besked. Jeg skal nok beskrive nærmere hver uge.

Jeg betaler portoen, men skulle du bo i København så kan bøgerne afhentes eller om muligt leveres.

Glæder mig til at høre jeres kommentar og til at give gaver i massevis - måske kommer der også et par overraskelser. :)

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I denne uge er det Mindful Spisning af Per Brændgaard og Uffe Damborg det handler om. Jeg har faktisk ikke selv læst den, så kan ikke sige så meget om indholdet. Jeg ved dog, at mange er interesseret i emnet og at de to herre har arbejdet og forsket i emnet i mange år.

Det skal du gøre

Så jeg vil enormt gerne høre jeres historie om hvordan måltider foregår hos dig. Er det foran fjernsynet, alene, med hele familien, læser du avis i mens? Går det stærkt, når du spiser, eller er der god tid? Hvor ofte smager du den mad du spiser?

Skriv dine kommentar i feltet nedenfor og husk email adressen, så jeg kan få fat på dig skulle du være den heldige vinder.

Der bliver trukket lod på tirsdag i næste ud og så er næste bog på plakaten onsdag morgen. :)

PS kender du nogen som du tænker "den ville han/hun elske", må du meget gerne sende linket videre.