Self Esteem -Self Worth – Self Love – By Louise Smart

Self esteem – is just that – we esteem ourselves. Healthy, robust self esteem, doesn’t come without effort, because from birth we are taught by parents and caregivers to value ourselves conditionally because that is how they valued us. Unless we question this, we assume our worth and treat ourselves based on how we were treated, and how loved or neglected we felt growing up. Despite best intentions no one, no parent or caregiver can love and approve of us unconditionally unless thy have done this for themselves first.  If they have, it is a rarity – one for the Guinness Book of Records!

So we are going to probably undervalue ourselves until we step beyond parameters we have innocently bought into. To break into high self esteem – we need to love, care and respect ourselves and our bodies in a way that others could not do for us in the past. And guess what, people magically reflect our decision about our worth back to us with more care, love and respect. Life reflects our decision back to us with more opportunity, abundance and success than ever before. The transition really means giving ourselves permission to decide what we are worth and then stand by what we decide and not give in to self-doubt.  

You can tell a lot about how far you have evolved past needing validation from others when you revisit your family or carers. It can be intense can’t it? If you haven’t shaken off your self doubt, instilled in you by all the judgement you received growing up, you get sucked into the old dynamic of reacting to the hurt of perceived or outright criticism. Annoyingly, family feel entitled to judge your adult decisions and you still hustle for approval so that you can feel good about yourself.  Why ? When you left home and forged an independent adult life, you did not form an independent decision about your worth that made you feel good. To make up for what your parents could not and cannot give you – do you bend over backwards for approval from lovers, spouses, bosses and larger social or political circles? If you do, your cycle of approval seeking has not been broken. 

If you really want to get off this merry –go- round, then you can start by  evaluating your worth on your terms. This means unravelling the emotional blocks and hurts to really allow the energy of love to flow through you so that your hunger for love and approval gets satisfied. And this I know is not easy because we are so deeply programmed to judge everything in life which means we can be very blocked to receiving our own love.

We are brimming with reasons not to like, let alone love ourselves. We find it painful and extremely difficult to forgive or have compassion for our so called human failings and failures.

If we get ill or we have been betrayed we don’t allow ourselves to feel sympathy for our misery. Instead we put on a stiff upper lip so that we can be loved and approved of for our heroic courage. This is self denial, a refusal to give to ourselves. If you have been conditioned that “it is better to give than receive” – then why not realign to” charity starts at home”, charity for your inner being. All denial does, is alienate us from the love and compassion that we essentially are. Believe it or not, there is no one else who can do a better job of loving you than you because you are the only one who knows what feeling good feels like to you. But choosing to do this I know is scary because we have a lot of resistance or don’t know how to start. Most of us need help.

It is the unconditional part of self love that is crucial to self esteem, because anything else is judgment. Judgement is the seed of self doubt and this destroys confidence. Change doesn’t happen overnight but when you commit to loving yourself without judgement, you can unravel fears of disapproval and find that your confidence and self esteem will steadily soar. 

So let’s stop and take a moment. Move your awareness into your body. If you feel relaxed and are breathing easily without trying, it is a sure sign you are feeling good about yourself right now. In contrast if you are tense and your breathing is shallow or irregular you won’t be feeling so good about yourself.

We can be in a tense state, habitually. We might only notice how good we can feel when we do yoga or meditate, dance or have sex. We just feel loving and expansive and free.

The warmth of love seems to infuse us and we like it – a lot! That is why we are obsessed let’s face it, in finding a mate who will love us relentlessly, unconditionally, because it makes us feel great. The point here is not to assume we should always be feeling one feeling and judge ourselves when we can’t hold on to peace or happiness or what ever. We all know how we can feel fabulous after a holiday. But it’s as if we never went away once we are back in our routine and something or someone triggers us and we are annoyed or offended or feel rubbish! I would like to help you here. I am not advocating staying around abusive people, discernment is vital, but when someone offends or hurts us, it usually has more to do with our self belief, maybe a hidden belief, that that person may be justified in their criticism or that we are not worthy of being treated well somehow. Instead of holding ourselves stable in our own good energy we drop down into a low energy frequency to match the energy of what the other person is saying or doing. But in reality when someone is offensive they are usually projecting onto you the way they have been treated and it is not about you at all. It is their stuff. So the essential thing is to not drop your energy to match your critics! What is helpful is to recognise, and again not judge, that there is something inside us that anchors us back into to those familiar feelings and grotty energies of low self esteem. What anchors us is a force field of energy that we can work with rather than attack with force. If we attack with force, all we do is further anchor the disharmony we want to release.

Any degree of self-limitation, unworthiness, fear, timidity, shyness, inadequacy, shame and guilt will inhabit our energy fields until we align ourselves in choosing love in response to everything that arises in us. That includes our own resistance to choosing love or our fear that we don’t know how to love.

Intention is everything. When you have the intention to love yourself without having a clue how, your nervous system will still get the message and start to relax. Then you will automatically feel better and more confident. What helps in the beginning is just taking deep long breaths as a way to invite the flow of love in. Breath for this reason is central to yoga and tai chi and many meditation practices. Breath contains light and light is the source of all creation and the source of all is the highest vibration, LOVE. So love is in our breath. Less desirable feelings get transformed. In the presence of love all lower energies are raised to a higher frequency.

There is a lot more to self love than breathing and there are complex reasons why so many people have a real resistance to taking time for themselves, to being consistent in caring for themselves. People have big blocks to love that are rooted in their conditioning, in the subconscious. Some people think self love is indulgent, selfish or a weakness because some religion said so. Actually that type of thinking is an erroneous and incomplete circle of love. Perhaps you mask your resistance to self love and instead anaesthetise painful low self worth, guilt, shame or inadequacy with; 

• alcohol, cigarette, drugs,
• over exercising
• being consumed in a drama or a risk situation all the time
• taking care of others
• over working
• codependent relationships where lacking confidence or self love is somehow taken care of by your partner. Your partner feels strong when you need them because they need to be needed

The very thing that actually heals shame, self loathing self abuse, self sabotage, the effects of abuse, childhood abuse of any type is the softest, gentlest kindest most sympathetic love that any humane being would give to a five year old in distress. It is not weak to love, it is strength because it is the power that heals us all.

The key here is not to assume that just because we don’t enjoy how we feel all the time, that we should not be feeling what we feel or not witness our feelings with compassion. By treating everything that arises in us with the same dignity and respect, we strengthen the presence of love within that is our core.

A stable core of self love is what allows us to embrace emotions as they come and go so that they don’t become blocks in our system. So we are not trying to eradicate or deny any emotion. Grief is grief, loss is loss. When we fully, lovingly allow every emotion to be what it is, we learn what we need to learn from the emotions and then they just naturally move out of our energy field. The core of self love that we have built inside remains untouched. With every successive triumph in loving what arises, this core becomes an anchored confidence. We learn we can trust and rely on the love that we are no matter what. Instead of desperately seeking or demanding love and approval from another to bolster us up and soak up our pain with their love, we do it for ourselves. We stop being needy and sabotaging all our relationships. The momentum of core love inside, magnetises the people and situations that mirror our self love. This is the law of attraction in action.

Now, a lot of people are familiar with this law of attraction and understand in principle that we need to be at a vibratory energy match for what we want to attract, be that a relationship, new job or a new home.  But try as we might to be a vibratory match, by visualising, meditating, trying to be happy in the moment or any mental gymnastics we put ourselves through to get what we want – it doesn’t always work. We get very frustrated and we start to doubt ourselves and all the work we have done on ourselves.

With the law of attraction the missing part of the energy puzzle for most people is unconditional self love. I will be talking a lot more about how energy works, self love, self esteem and the law of attraction in a series of articles  starting at the launch of this site, a few short months from now. 

Louise offers free 15 minute emotional detox consultations – check out her site for details.

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The Holistic Directory Interviews Dr. Eric Pearl – Reconnective Healing, Heal others, Heal yourself

Holistic Directory UK

Firstly it is a pleasure to connect and have the opportunity to interview you for our audience here at The Holistic Directory.  For those who may not have heard about Reconnective Healing and your book “Reconnective Healing – Heal others, Heal yourself”, would you be able to give us a brief overview on how Reconnective Healing came about for you following your initial training as a chiropractor? 

Thank you, it is my pleasure to connect with you and The Holistic Directory audience.

How this extraordinary work came to be discovered is still astonishing to me – as it may sound to you. I had one of the largest chiropractic practices in Los Angeles. And somewhere in my 12th year of practice a few strange things happened. I was awakened in the middle of the night by a bright light. I opened my eyes to see what it was. It wasn’t anything seemingly spiritual or metaphysical, it was just the lamp next to my bed. It had turned itself on. And, at the same time, it felt as if there were people in my home, which was a very uncomfortable feeling. So I got up bravely with a knife, a can of pepper spray and my Doberman Pincher and I went hunting through the house. I couldn’t find anyone, so I went back to sleep telling myself it had to have been my imagination. 

But that Monday when I returned to my office, seven of my patients, independently of one another, told me that they felt somebody in the room with us, the same way I felt people in my home that night I was awakened. Patients were telling me they could feel my hands before I touched them. I obviously didn’t believe them, so I asked them to close their eyes and lie down on the chiropractic table. While they had their eyes closed I stood a few meters away from them and held my hands aimed in different directions. Amazingly they could tell me if I was aiming towards their ankles or their fingers or their head. As I did this, I would see tiny little muscles in their face move involuntarily, and then their fingers or feet move involuntarily.

This was the beginning of recognizing that something different had occurred. In other words, I went home on a Friday night thinking I was a chiropractor, I came in on a Monday morning and I was something else. My parents had always told me that I was something else, but I have a really good feeling this was probably not what they had in mind when they said it.

“Instantaneous results with long term effects” is a sentence described for Reconnective Healing which is phenomenal and clearly something many people will be desiring. Often we over complicate things and seem to believe that in order for some form of healing to work it has to be really complex and difficult, this October you are running a 4 day programme enabling others to learn how to work Reconnective Healing Can you tell us more about this and who this may be suitable for? 

Yes, instantaneous healing with long-term effects is definitely something people desire, which is very unique to Reconnective Healing. And you are absolutely correct, many of us think that for a healing to take place, we need to do some complex technique or ritual, or we need to be some “special” person “worthy” enough to facilitate a healing.

I am here to tell you, you don’t! Reconnective Healing is a new level of healing that, according to the researches and scientists, may very well be here on the planet for the first time. Now, of course, scientists and researchers are the last people you would expect to make such a bold statement–and so I asked, “How can you say something this strongly?” And they said, “It really makes perfect sense if you just understand two basic concepts.”

Concept One is that we are four-dimensional beings. We exist in a four-dimensional world of height, width, depth and time. And in Quantum Physics today they often illustrate that world as a bubble. They tell us to imagine that the wall, or the cell of the bubble, the outside of the bubble, is comprised of height, width, depth and time, and everything inside that bubble is energy. This has been our four-dimensional existence from the beginning. Throughout this huge, vast, endless multi-dimensional Universe, we’ve just existed in this little bubble and everything inside the bubble has been energy, just as we’ve been taught in school. The healing techniques we’ve have had here–Reiki, Johrei, Jin Shin, QiGong, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma – whatever we want to call them – have been different portions, subsets or fractions of energy. You access Reiki through a different technique then you access QiGong. It feels different; they’re different parts of this energy.

It’s as if you’re looking at the heavens at night and studying the stars. You pickup a telescope and use it as a metaphor for one of these “techniques.” The more you fine-tune your view from that telescope, the more you fine-tune that technique, the better you might be able to see that one portion of the sky that is exposed to the planet at that moment in time. But what is the expense, what is the cost, what is the price that you pay when you fine-tune that telescope? Well, you lose the rest of the vista, the rest of the horizon, the rest of the picture. At some point it becomes wise to place the telescope down so that we can see everything. We can access the entirety of the energy that exists within our bubble.

But here comes Concept Two – which is – time is moving faster. Not just in a linear fashion from point A to point B…  but time is moving faster in all directions at once – in other words, time is expanding. Which means our bubble, our playground of existence is opening up, expanding further, further out in to the Universe encompassing more of what’s always existed in the Universe, but hasn’t been present on our planet before. In other words, it’s timeless in its existence, but once it enters into our bubble of height, width, depth and time it is new to us. And so what it is bringing us is levels of energy that haven’t been seen here before — and further expanding beyond energy into a spectrum of light and information that is present for the first time.

This is just one of the elements that we teach in our Reconnective Healing Training Programs. As you mention, we will be coming to London this October 16-20 at the Kia Oval. Here is what you can expect if you attend.

On that Friday night, October 16, we will give a three-hour presentation where we talk about the history, the theory, the philosophy and the science of the work. We will bring up volunteers from the audience and give live demonstrations of the healings. We even begin to teach you how to begin to feel these frequencies.

And what you learn at the seminar on Friday night, you continue on Saturday and Sunday where you learn how to do this on a personal level, for your immediate friends and your family. You will stand at the head of a massage table while someone lies down on it in front of you. The teaching assistants will come around to you and take your hand and show you how to find this new expanded bandwidth of healing frequencies, how to feel it, how to begin to work with it with your hands. And you will witness, right in front of your very eyes, the person on your massage table start to demonstrate involuntarily movements of their fingers or feet, arms, legs, even eyes and facial muscles. We will then show how to expand it, make it larger, make it stronger, make it even more expansive. Then you will trade places with that person so that you have an opportunity to feel it as they learn.

If you want to continue to learn on a higher level, what we call the Foundational or Professional level – which does not mean that you have to practice professionally, but you are good enough to practice professionally if you want to – then you will continue with Level II of the training program on that Monday and Tuesday. We bring in people from the public, people who are not in the seminar, who do not know what to expect so you can facilitate your first professional healing session. We teach you ways to do Reconnective Healing via distance as well as holographically. During Level II we also show you how to start and build and develop your own Reconnective Healing practice, how to speak to others about this work. Special new segments also include subtle ways of accessing the healing field that bring about dramatic experiences and results, both for you and for the person you are working with.

And by the end of the full training program, I can pretty much promise you two things: A) you will be able to do anything and everything in the way of this field of energy healing and beyond that I can do, and b) you will be able to do anything and everything in the way of this field of energy healing and beyond that any human being anywhere on this planet can do.

If you are a newcomer to healing, you’ll discover how to access this new and expanded spectrum of healing frequencies. If you are an advanced healer, you will find that elusive jump that will bring a more comprehensive understanding of the essentials of balance, wholeness and vitality.

We also have thousands of medical professionals around the world, including doctors, nurses and physical therapists that have attended our seminars and now incorporate Reconnective Healing into their medical practices. Many report that Reconnective Healing gives added benefit to their patients. It gives doctors an alternative option to surgeries and prescription medications, with one of the biggest advantages of Reconnective Healing  – versus conventional medicine – being that there are zero adverse side effects. They also report Reconnective Healing as a great complementary approach to their patient’s healthcare regimen.

A lot has been said about the year 2012 and the notion of a spiritual awakening and a reconnection to the higher energies of the universe. Having been carrying out your work for some twenty years have you noticed a shift in people’s awareness or need for the ideas and techniques you have been offering since this date?

Well, on one hand, there is much more scientific comprehension as to how this works and scientific confirmation that this works. We understand today that Reconnective Healing restructures our very DNA, bringing about a more coherent level of light that our cells emit. And this higher level of more coherent light is attributed to be one of the possible reasons that Reconnective Healings seem to function so instantaneously with the results tending to be lifelong.

One recent study at The University of Arizona demonstrated that 10 minutes of Reconnective Healing was substantially more effective than physical therapy, and the research goes on and on. There have been no changes in the use of Reconnective Healing because Reconnective Healing’s greatness comes from the practitioner simply accessing the frequencies and becoming a catalyst for these healings proportionate to their willingness to observe without direction or judgment. Because of this ease of accessibility, thousands upon thousands of mainstream healthcare practitioners incorporate this into their various healing professions.

But the level at which The Reconnective Healing frequencies exist on this planet are ever expanding. So as our egos learn to involve themselves in the healing process less and less, the results for the recipients become even more.

We must remember that we are continually going through a shift and expansion in time, including 2012. But we have had many shifts in the past and will continue to have more in the future. For the last 20 years I have seen an increased expansion in people’s awareness and consciousness. The world is ready for more than what we have experienced, or what has been available to us up until now in our existence before.

 

Up until now we have lived in our existence, as quantum physics often describes it, in a four-dimensional bubble as I described before. We are accessing something that is new here on Earth. It takes us beyond the subsets of energy we’ve been accessing with our energy healing techniques, it takes us beyond energy itself, into a newly discovered spectrum of energy, light and information!

 

What does this mean? It means we now have the tools, the Reconnecttive Healing frequencies, to help not only facilitate healings for others and for ourselves, but to help us in our journey to our next level of human evolution. The year 2012 was not an end of an era, but the beginning of a brand new one, one that exists at a much higher level of human consciousness and unity. We are just opening up to this now, and I am excited to see what else the universe has in store for us.

Research has revealed that if 10% of a group or population hold a belief long enough in time this will also influence the majority of the group. Your work and this powerful healing modality is clearly already influencing many people across the globe.  How do you vision the future for Reconnective Healing? 

Well, firstly, let me start by letting you know that there is absolutely no hope, faith, intention or belief involved with Reconnective Healing. The healings work even if the person does not believe in it. When I first started doing this work, I had people coming in who didn’t know what to expect. Some were adamantly against it but had been talked into it by a family member or friend. But then they would have a healing. Some had stronger reactions than people who already believed in it.

So far I have taught Reconnective Healing to almost 100,000 people around the world. Millions of lives have been positively affected by this work. I see Reconnective Healing as an ever expanding consciousness allowing us to make better choices and decisions, not only on a personal level but on a global levels as well. It allows us to recognize that we are not so much separate and unique individuals but rather that we are all one, part of a greater whole. And therefore as we evolve as individuals, we evolve as a society. As we evolve as societies we evolve as humanity. And hopefully one day, not too far in the future, a child will ask, “Really? Really?? Did people really used to swallow poisons to try to get well?” And the parent will say, “Yes, my Love, we did. Look how far we’ve come.”

On a final note Eric you travel the world delivering your programmes, and it is so beautiful that your high frequency is resonating across the globe at such a rate, what advice can you give to practitioners who would be considering taking the course and setting themselves up as a healer in this modality? 

First, if they would like, they can start by reading the book, “The Reconnection; Heal Others, Heal Yourself.” It is translated in over 39 languages. The third portion of it is a basic “how to” so that you, the reader, can begin to access this on a personal level.

Now, just as with any profession, you can’t read a book and become a professional practitioner. If you read a book on hair dresser or dentistry, you may learn to take better care of your hair and teeth, but you’re not a professional stylist or dentist. Reading the book does not make you a practitioner, but it does teach you how to bring a more evolved level of healing to yourself, your friends and your family.

If you would like to truly learn how to facilitate this work, no matter if you would like to incorporate this in your current medical or healing practice, or simply want to use the Reconnective Healing frequencies in your every day life, I highly recommend you come join us this October in London. For more information, go to: http://bit.ly/EricPearl_London2015

Acknowledgement, Forgiveness, Love And Gratitude.

 

With powerful and intense planetary activity powering us along this week it is an important time to focus upon the deep ways in which we can heal and acknowledge all that we are, with that in mind we wanted to highlight this beautiful piece by our Holistic Directory member Tara Love Perry as she shares with us her channeled messages and learning on Acknowledgement, Forgiveness, Love & Gratitude.

Acknowledgment, Forgiveness, Love & Gratitude

The Vanuatu people from the south pacific believe that secrecy is what gives power to the illness. When the error is confessed, it no longer has power over the person. They call this healing method Hoʻoponopono.Arch-Angel Michael came to me over a period of 2 years and taught me how to use the healing and restorative powers of Acknowledgement, Forgiveness, Love and Gratitude. It is very similar to Ho-oponopono but engages all of the senses when used in the ‘Angel Clearing Technique’ way. This is how it works.

The Power of Witnessing

Many layers of emotional trauma and grief, psychological disturbances and physical disharmonies are wrapped around our true essence like a cloak, hidding who we truely are. We can be like a child dressing up to get attention, or to fit into a confusing and unsafe environment.
When we fully and completely see these parts of ourselves, their hold over us is broken and a new choice is possible. The trouble is that there are often other people involved in the cause of the trauma, or the shadow mind is slippery and avoiding being seen.
When I see you, I fully see you, your shadows, your lost child, your buried essence and all your potential and golden uniqueness.
Witnessing activates the truth of you and dissolves the untruth of you; It’s that simple. 

The Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is The Master Key to all healing. Many people have a sour taste in their mouth at the mention of the word, recoiling in repulsion as it triggers insinuations of religiously indoctrinated guilt, sin and shame. Take heart, for in truth it is empowering and enlightening! Forgiveness is to release and give back what no longer serves you. The absolutely most powerful way of realeasing is to say “Please forgive me”, to yourself and to others. It means that through ignorance I have erred. I did not understand that my petty will, limited mind and human judgement have distorted the course of my Truth,
and now I am in pain. Please release this error, this pain, and relieve me of this burden I carry. To ask God, or the universe, or the angels is like asking a grown-up to lift the heavy baggage from your back. To ask another to forgive you is to undo the bonds or agreement between you that are out of harmony with your highest truth. To ask yourself “Please forgive me, me” is a petition to come back home to ‘rightness’, to clear what is unholy from us and causing us harm, and to relinquish all ties and baggage that weight us down. Forgiveness is granted where there is genuine honesty, humility and a will to release,
leaving you glowing with relief and empowerment.

I Love You

Truth feels ‘right’. It is the most right. It is our saving grace. Truth is what amends all broken deeds and realigns all souls with their Divinity. It is the law of creation that cannot be undone. Truth is LOVE; a force so strong that man cannot comprehend its magnifitude, and yet we are the very beings that have been created to experience this Truth at the most profound level in all of creation! It is also paradoxically our resistance to Love that makes it a worthy challenge.To say aloud the words “I LOVE YOU” is the key to our journey Home, because it opens the Heart. I love you spoken is the declaration of “I know the Truth, and I shall remind you”.  I love you is the salt that will wash the wound and the water that will wear away the rock. It melts all resistance. It is our Creative Source, the core Truth and our most fundamental need in life.

Thank You

Gratitude is the grease that perpetuates the flow of Truth. It is the completion of a cycle, the welcome home celebration, and the motive to propagate a new beginning. It is the ultimate acknowledgement of all that is True.
The power and gift of this acknowledgement is that, we get More of what we say “THANK YOU” for. 
Thank you literally expands and increases truthful perception and consciousness and clarity is gained with thank you.

You can find out more about Tara and connect with her work at http://www.taraloveperry.com/

Competition Winner Becomes a UK First!

 

When Holistic Therapist Magazine randomly picked a winner from their autumn 2014 competition, little did they know they were about to create a piece of history.

For the winner, professional massage therapist Trevor Frost of Corpus et Animus in Hertfordshire, was about to become the first male practitioner of the unique Face The World choreographed facial massage.

Trevor successfully attended the next training day in his region, held in the Holistic Training Courses centre in Hatfield on 12th Carolynn Binnie, Claire Wild and Kirsti Johns to literally get to grips with the patented facial “routine.” The Face The World holistic facial incorporates music therapy, aromatherapy, massage techniques and natural, ethical products – taking clients on a memorable virtual journey around the world.

The advanced one day course, aimed at professional therapists, covered all aspects of a facial from cleansing the skin to acu-pressure of the facial meridian points. Some mini Thai Foot, Tibetan Hand/Arm and Indian Head massage techniques were also taught for during the Ocean Rain Mask stage. To round off the experience, a sachet of overnight serum is given to the client to take home.

January. He joined fellow students, Trevor says of his win “Thank you for a super course yesterday. I really enjoyed learning some new skills, and also being able to use some of my current skills in a different way. The whole package is excellent and the music enhances the treatment so much more.”

To find out more about the facial, visit http://www.face-the-world.co.uk – or call Liz on 0845 544155 (liz@face-the-world.co.uk) for the latest offers and training dates.

In the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire border region? You can book your multi-sensory Face The World Facial with Trevor by contacting him at info@corpustherapies.co.uk or on 07428 590511.

Champneys Pamper Break 2014

Dates: 8th – 10th October

1, 2 or 3 Night Break with HD

One Pamper Night

2pm arrival

One nights accommodation in twin standard room (£25 single supplement)

All meals

Choice of 2 treatments from the following;

25 minute Champneys massage, 25 minute Champneys facial, aromatherapy body wrap or scalp massage

Departure at 4pm

£150 per person

(£25 Saturday night supplement)

Two Night Blissful Break

Two nights accommodation in standard twin room (£25 per night single supplement)

Use of all facilities

All meals

4pm departure

(Rooms must be vacated by 11am but you still have lunch and use of the facilities)

Option 1:

2pm Arrival

25 minute Champneys Massage

25 minute Champneys Facial

Thalassotherapy session

£275 per person

Option 2:

11am Arrival

25 minute Champneys Massage OR 25 minute Champneys Facial

Thalassotherapy session

£275 per person

Option 3:

11am Arrival

25 minute Champneys Massage

25 minute Champneys Facial

Thalassotherapy session

£299.95 per person

Three Night Relaxation Retreat

Package TBC

To Book

Call Marion Tracey at Champneys Henlow on 01462 818 235 or Central Reservations 0843 316 2222 quoting the booking reference ‘Holistic Directory’

Deposit of £50 required at time of booking, balance due min 7 days before stay.

Prices are per person, based on 2 people sharing a room.

Single supplement is available.

About Champneys

Henlow has been a refuge for centuries.

Once a Cistercian monastery stood here. Now, Henlow Grange is the ideal country escape and pampering health retreat in Bedfordshire, for those seeking the true luxuries of space and peace.

Set in 150 acres of beautiful parkland, the spectacular weir the monks built still stands on the river that flows past. The sound of water has always aided contemplation…

The resort spa is built around an opulent Georgian manor, with hand-painted walls and Venetian-style mirrors.

You’ll experience the finest Champneys traditions of health, fitness and wellbeing, as well as the latest spa facilities, including the state of the art Thalassotherapy pool.

There are more than 80 luxury therapies, from the traditional to the exotic, including Champneys Henlow’s signature treatments: Paraffin Wax Bath, Physiotherm, Hypnotherapy and Chinese body therapy.

Whether you need pampering, detox, relaxation, activity, spiritual escape, extreme sport, indulgence or boot camp, at Henlow spa hotel you can refresh yourself in your own way.

Find out more here: http://www.champneys.com/spa-resorts/champneys-henlow/

What to Expect

There will be a group of us at Champneys during your stay and you will have the opportunity to connect with us during your free time (when you’re not being pampered or sleeping) and also join us at meals, if you wish to.

We spend the majority of our time in dressing gowns and only dress for fitness/relaxation classes and evening meals. We would recommend that you bring comfortable sports clothes in case you want to join a yoga, pilates or sports/fitness class or hit the gym. There are beautiful grounds to explore too, so suitable footwear might be a good idea, although most times your sports kit can be used for both.

Evenings we do tend to dress up a little, nothing too glamourous but it’s nice to make a small effort for this. Slippers are usually supplied but if you have a pair of slip on shoes you’d prefer then bring them along with you. Dressing gowns are supplied Medium as standard (which will fit up to a size 16 approx), if you wish for a smaller or larger size then just let them know when you book, or on arrival.

The food is wonderful and, whatever your diet, you will be spoilt for choice when it comes to meal times and if you fancy a tipple in the evening you can enjoy wine, bubbly or whatever you fancy off the menu. There are also two bar areas where you can top up with drinks and snacks throughout the day.

Any other questions, please feel free to ask: support@theholisticdirectory.co.uk

 

Froothie Optimum 9400 Blender Review

There was much excitement in the house when the news that a new, powerful blender would be arriving imminently. My 14 year old daughter couldn’t wait to try her hand at soup, smoothie and sorbet making! So, when it arrived we were all keen to have a play… and it didn’t disappoint.

 

I’ve had an interest in ‘clean’ eating for a few years now and 2014 saw that interest become more of an obsession! I’ve done a 21 day raw vegan cleanse, various 3 day juice detoxes and have a juice or smoothie most days. The Optimum 9400 out-strips any blender I have tried before as it is both hugely powerful and also seriously easy to clean – and I love the lightweight jug. Plus, an extra bonus is that it is quieter than some of the cheaper options.

My first blender was a cheapy £20 one that I soon realised was not up to the job as it did not crush ice and really didn’t have the grunt to make smoothies actually smooth… there was no point even trying making anything thicker in it. My next blender was the Duronic BL1200 and it has done a reasonable job over the past 12 months; it crushes ice, is OK with frozen fruit and I have made a few raw cheesecakes with it too, though without a plunger it was a bit fiddly. I did have a couple of issues with it which required new parts. I can’t fault the Duronic customer services though, they have been speedy and helpful. So I would say it’s a good one to get if you’re just dipping your toe in the water.

The Optimum 9400 though is for you if you’re serious about incorporating more healthy food into your diet – it is awesome at everything: smoothies, soups, desserts, salad dressings, dips… anything you want to make that is unprocessed, good for you and of course delicious! 

Other, cheaper blenders will tide you over but you need something more capable to last the distance and take you to the next level when it comes to being able to experiment with more recipes and really up your raw/veg/fruit experience.

My daughter and I have had lots of fun experimenting with recipes and this is just the beginning. I have a list of smoothies, soups and more that I want to try out that will take me months to get through. There is such an abundance of fabulous recipes available both in the supplied recipe book and online that you really are spoilt for choice as to what to try next!

Speaking of the recipe book, you do get one supplied in the box and it gives a lovely range of recipes that will get you started with your blender. So, if you’re completely new to blending then you will have something to get you started. We’re working our way through them all! 

Rather brilliantly, you also get a nut milk bag in the box – which means you can immediately make your own nut milks, which are super easy to do and of course much healthier than any you could buy in the shops. 

I am delighted with the Optimum 9400 – it’s a wonderful blender that opens up new possibilities for healthy eating. I would recommend it to you highly. In fact I now have a growing number of friends who own them and they are all ridiculously in love with their blenders! haha – if you want a blender that will last and enable you to do anything you could possibly want to do with a blender then try the Optimum 9400. You won’t be disappointed! 

Things we’ve made so far:

This amazing ‘Cherry Berry Pie Recipe‘ from Jo Balfe at the Nectar Cafe: http://thenectarcafe.co.uk/cherryberry-pie/

Which came out like this (not as beautiful as Jo’s but delicious non-the-less!):

Mango Sorbet – we made it simply with ice and mango pulp but will be trying these 3 Sorbet Recipes: http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/1003505/3-easy-sorbets-made-in-the-blender

We also have been having a go at hot soup (yes you literally just add veg and then let the blender heat it up – magic!!)

I’ve also used the Optimum 9400 to make passata and other sauces that I’ve mixed in with say mince or lentils to create a thick, tasty sauces without the need for flour or other thickeners.

[Sneaky parent tip] if you have children you can blend up all sorts of great veggies and add them to say a bolognaise or cottage pie and they are non-the-wiser! A brilliant way to get more veg into their diets. Also, most children love smoothies and even more so if they can make them – I have seen my daughter easting far more healthily since we started blending and she loves any excuse to have a go with it and make something. It’s also encouraged her to try LOTS of things she wouldn’t ordinarily try, which is fantastic.

What do you get?

• The base unit
• A BPA free lightweight plastic jug with ‘plunger’ lid
• Nut milk bag
• Recipe book
• Spatula

The Specs:

– Powerful Industrial High Speed 3 Horse Power motor – The Most Powerful motor for any blender
– Incredible speed of 44,000 rpm, able to freeze ice cream and heat soups
– Variable Dial- 9 Speed Control Settings
– Heat-Resistant BPA FREE 2L Jug – Wet & Dry Applications
– Approved by FDA, UL and the European Commission for Food Safety
– High quality tamper tool
– State of the art Two in One Stainless Steel blade cutting assembly – Crushes ice, nuts and fruits in seconds
– Built-in sensor to detect over-usage; prolonging life of blender
– Green Energy Consumption: Proprietary carbon brush motor only draws the power demanded

Some recipe ideas from Froothie:

See lots more Froothie Optimum 9400 blender recipes on their YouTube Channel

Where Can I Buy?

Click here to check out or order your own OPTIMUM 9400 – Not Just a Blender!

Further reading…

If you’d like to connect with other food folk that are interested in healthy eating, juicing, smoothies and more then head over to my Raw, Juicy, Foody, Smoothie Folk Facebook group. You’ll find recipes, ideas and a whole load of helpful, motivating and positive people in there.

A few of my favourite healthy food websites where you can find more tips, recipes and info:

• Jason Vale JuiceMaster
• Young and Raw
• Mother Natures Diet

Interested in Juicing?

Froothie also do an awesome juicer: The Optimum 600

What’s the difference between a juice and smoothies?

More recipes:

• One of my favourite raw berry cheesecake recipes
• 3 Sorbet Recipes

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE OPTIMUM 9400

Making The Most Of The Knowledgebase

I was talking to one of our members the other day and I mentioned the Knowledgebase and they’d never taken the time to actually go and take a look, so I thought it worthy of an email to you this morning.

I know that most ‘directories’ are exactly that, a place for you to be listed as a promotional tool… but here at The Holistic Directory we like to do things a little differently!

You see, we appreciate that many of our members don’t have a strong understanding (and often inclination) when it comes to marketing their business, and we want to help.

That’s why we set up the Knowledgebase.

The Knowledgebase is just that – an area where you can expand your knowledge on a growing number of subjects:

• Branding
• Business Advice
• Human Resources (HR)
• Legal
• Marketing
• Membership
• Money Matters & Accounting
• Networks & Networking
• Q&As With The Experts
• Resources & Downloads
• Social Media
• Therapist News
• Work Life Balance

For example, in our ‘Q&As With The Experts’ area you’ll find these videos:

• Google+ with Jenny Braithwaite
• Marketing for holistic start ups with Nial Adams
• Marketing with no budget for holistic businesses with Nial Adams
• Preparing For and Promoting Event Opportunities with Nial Adams
• SEO with Kris Harris
• Direct Mailing with Graham Arrowsmith

Each is up to 90 mins long and you’ll hear our experts answering questions that are from and relevant to our holistic business members (and there’s more coming soon!).

I urge you to take some time to explore what there is on offer here for you. I can guarantee that you will learn useful things that will really help you with your business and your marketing.

So how can you find this treasure trove of information?

Log in here: https://www.theholisticdirectory.co.uk/account

and then visit: https://www.theholisticdirectory.co.uk/support

(Not a member yet? Find out more here: https://www.theholisticdirectory.co.uk/advertise or get in touch and we’d love to help you) 🙂

If you have any questions please email them to support@theholisticdirectory.co.uk 

Have a great rest of the week and enjoy this amazing (and at times bizarre!) weather we’re having and I’ll send you another update soon.

Blessings
Sophie
x

P.S. Did you know that we have a YouTube Channel where we promote our members through our interviews and that you can be interviewed by me all as part of your membership? Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCLVtr0Fq0RLTOYbIcfmGBA

Why Articles Help Boost Your Business

You’ve heard us say it loads of times; “You can add articles as part of your membership and it will help make your business more visible”, but does it really make a difference!?

I’ve got an example for you from one of our members who has recently renewed. We were looking at their stats you see and we found that in their first year with us they received around 300 views of their business listing (and we’ll go into how you can make sure those views turn into clients in another article!) – not world shattering perhaps, but good visibility non-the-less.

But here is where it gets interesting…

You see, they didn’t just have a business listing, they also have been proactive in adding articles to the website too and this is the difference it’s made:

 During the 12 months of being with us, they posted 15 articles, just over one a month, and those articles have been seen just under 6,000 times!! Now, i’m sure you’ll agree, that is quite a big jump in the level of visibility for the business and well worth the effort getting them written and shared.

As you’ll know, at the base of every article is a link to the authors business listing and also their website so not only do you help people with your informative writing, you also enable them to build trust with you and your business and then they are easily able to contact you to find out more (again another article about writing an effective bio to follow!).

So, if you’re not already posting articles on The Holistic Directory then I urge you to consider doing so.

As you can see, even sharing one a month can have a dramatic effect on how much exposure your business gets, not only on the Directory website but also online in general. And we’ve not even mentioned the extra exposure you can get by adding offers and events!

If you’d like help with ideas on what to write or you’ve got the articles but either struggle to or don’t have time to get them added to the website then please send them to us and we will be happy to help!

You can contact us at support@theholisticdirectory.co.uk Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing lots of lovely articles from you soon 🙂

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 Written by Sophie Jewry of The Holistic Directory

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 P.S. If you’re not a member yet and you’d like to get in on the action then check out our great value memberships online here: https://www.theholisticdirectory.co.uk/advertise/elite-membership

Mind Body Spirit London, May 2014 Review

Back by popular demand and in all it’s glory, this years MBS festival did not disappoint.

There really is something for everyone at these events so whether you are fresh on your spiritual path or completely embedded and own every Hay House and Watkins book ever published you will feel right at home.

After doing my usual lap of the hall to become familiar with my surroundings and begin to take it all in I was able to experience some Free Hugs being warmly distributed by the MBS team. Pretty good way to start the day it seemed and I began to settle in nicely.

I Decided to start off nurturing my body with some scrummy raw goodness from the guys at InSpiral, re-fueling with a Pina Colada Juice, Raw Pizza, Salad and topped off with a raw mint choc chip ice cream, Divine!! {Editors note: too jealous! Sophie}

Whilst enjoying my food I was entertained by the very wonderful Ruby Wax as she talked passionately with host Tim Wheaton about  mindfulness and how we can all be responsible for where we are at with our own thoughts and learn to self regulate these  “become the master and not the slave of your mind”. Ruby was fascinating, razor sharp and totally inspiring.

Although I did not manage to see Ruby at her full two hour workshop I did purchase her book Sane New World, I am looking forward to more of her deadpan humour which seems to work wonders for me.

As it seems so easy to loose track of time at the event my top tip for future MBS goers is to follow the line up of speakers on the website and book onto the ones you absolutely do not want to miss, there will always be others you are guided to over the course of the event. Best to not be disappointed though as we have another year to wait for the next London one.

I was thrilled to meet up with so many fabulous exhibitors in particular MBS regular Clare G Harvey from Flowersense and author of her new and updated – The New Encyclopedia of Flower Remedies, this lady is so connected to plants and how they can help us it is incredible. The aromas were so uplifting I could have been on their stall all day.

I was able to hear the story behind the girls new start up “Angel Feet” who are certainly worth checking out.

I finished up my time at the show by enjoying the Kindred Spirit Holistic Business Awards, presented by the lovely Robert Holden and team, it was a great way to end my day at the event and witness just how many fantastic business’s there are in this arena now and how many people are thriving and flourishing because of it.

Thank you MBS for another spectacular event we look forward to seeing you next year for your come back to your home ground at Olympia.

Find out more about Mind Body Spirit here:
https://www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk/london

And maybe we’ll see you next year?

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Article by Ruby Brown of The Holistic Directory and Tribal Wave SUP

Images by Tangle Photography – see the full MBS gallery here: http://www.tanglephotography.co.uk/mind_spirit

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Making The Most of The Holistic Directory (And Other Promotions!)

I was just checking out one of our members stats and it got me thinking about how people use directories and what their expectations are. So I thought I’d write this article…

In 7 months:
Their business listing received 243 visits
The 1 article that they have online received 120 views
They had also posted a couple of offers and events that would have each had roughly the same views as the article so we’ll round those up to 200

So in the 7 months they received an average of 80 ‘touches’ a month for their £10 a month membership (or less if they had taken an annual or lifetime option). Consider that to Google Adwords, Facebook Advertising etc that sometimes generates no actual clicks to your page and will cost upwards of £1 per day (ie 3 times the price of HD membership)! And the fact that the directory part is only a small piece of the Holistic Directory’s offering (download our Membership Prospectus here).

Now, this is just the tip of the iceberg as these 80 touches are not guaranteed clients but they are people who have an interest in the business and the article subject and have been interested enough to click to view it.

From here it is in the hands of the business listing to entice the visitor to take action and get in touch and I’d like to share with you some examples of how you can

1) Increase the likelihood of people taking action
2) Increase the number of potential touches for your business

So, let’s get straight into it…

1 – How can you get people who land on your business listing to take action?

No different to a promotional postcard, leaflet, brochure or even website, your listing is your platform to entice the visitors to take action – i.e. contact you!

Just because people are landing on your page, doesn’t mean that they are going to do anything about it… unless you give them a reason to.

Think about the reasons why someone might be on your page:

• They may have an interest in the subject
• They may be wanting to find out more about you
• They may be looking for a solution to a problem they have
• They may have got there by mistake

So you can guarantee that not everyone that lands on your page is ready to buy now. But you can also guarantee that there will be a proportion of visitors that ARE ready to buy and they’re looking for a good reason to do it now AND WITH YOU, not your competitor.

1) Does the copy on your listing give them a good reason to buy from you and not your competitor?

2) Does the copy on your listing give them a good reason to buy NOW rather than do nothing and put it off until later?

3) Do you have a special offer that entices them to take action NOW?

4) Do you have a clear Call To Action telling your visitors what you want them to do next?

If you are not answering a resounding yes to all of the above then, bluntly, you are doing yourself a disservice and pretty much giving away your potential clients to your competitors.

If, as a visitor to your page, I can see no reason to act now and I have to think about how I might get in touch with you, then I am having to think too much. In order for me to take the first step of getting in touch with you, downloading a free gift – whatever – I want it to be effortless.

This is of course just a small part of what you can do to boost your response rate from your promotions but if you do nothing else but address the above 4 key points then you will see an increase in the number of referrals you get from anywhere you promote your business.

2 – How can you increase the number of touches for your business?

We’ve designed the directory and the membership to give you the maximum opportunity to get in front of potential customers by enabling you to add:

Business listing
Articles
Event listings
Special Offers

Each of these interlink between each other so that it is as easy as possible for an interested party to get from one of your items to your business listing (and back again) as possible.

How can you increase your chances of being seen?

Simply by being more active!

If you take the article as an example, there were 120 views over a 7 month period. If there had been at least one article added per month then you are boosting that to 840. Add into that offers and events and soon your numbers begin to grow.

If you’re even more savvy and you write articles that you know will get more people clicking then you increase your view rate even further.

So, as with many things in life, the more you put in, the more you get back. The more articles, offers and events you add, the more you get seen.

Plus, even better than that! The more you post, the more you are seen as a credible expert in your area of expertise. People are looking more and more for businesses that can help them specifically and the more you can demonstrate this, the faster you will build trust and rapport with your readers.

In Summary…

Think about the customer experience. What do you like to see from people you are thinking about buying from? Think about what your Ideal Customers would like to see you doing and DO IT!

Active blogging and promotion increases both your visibility and your credibility and builds trust with potential clients while you’re sleeping. It also gives your SEO a boost too.

Carefully crafted business listings will increase the amount of referrals you get.

After all, what is the point of just splattering an un-dynamic, unimaginative, not particularly thought-out message everywhere? I’m sure you’ll agree that a well worded, targeted, easy to read and understand message is far more attractive and likely to get you to take action.

I haven’t even touched on using specific web links and tracking numbers to be able to track where your leads are coming from and I’m guessing you don’t know 100% where all your contacts come from either. That’s content for another article later! 😉

If this has got you thinking that you’d like to make some changes but you have no idea where to start, get in touch with us at support@theholisticdirectory.co.uk and we’ll be delighted to help you.

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Article by Sophie Jewry
of The Holistic Directory and Brand Kitchen

N.B. We haven’t included the stats for any events or offers in this example but they will also have received views similar to that of the article.