Meditation Basics and Dr Ian Gawler

Meditation Basics and Dr Ian Gawler

Meditation Basics Last week I had the wonderful pleasure of having Dr Ian Gawler and his wife Ruth over to my home prior to his Toowoomba seminar on “The Science of Health, Healing and the Mind”. Together we recorded an interview for my YouTube channel over a cuppa and some raw chocolate, discussing some of our favourite topics: lifestyle medicine, mind-body healing, epigenetics, cancer recovery, psychoneuroimmunology, and of course, meditation. Throughout an evening of research and inspiration, I saw many people inspired to begin meditating after experiencing a taste of inner peace first hand. Often people are curious about meditation

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The Quickest Way to Healing

The Quickest Way to Healing

The Way to Healing Please don’t think for one moment that I don’t have bad days or bad weeks where I feel overwhelmed, tired and fed up, and just want some time to myself. I’m not so great at resting when there’s so much I could be doing, so having to lay back for the last five weeks with my knee up after surgery has challenged me. Feeling vulnerable and frustrated that I haven’t been able to do things for myself and have to ask for help (especially when the children were home on school holidays) certainly tested my ability to stay cool under pressure! DEEP

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How My Late Mother Inspired My First Wellness Retreat

How My Late Mother Inspired My First Wellness Retreat

My First Self-Love & Wellness Retreat Take Time Out Before You Burn Out Many of you who have met me in person or follow my writings know that I lost my Mother to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma when I was 24. Even though nearly 16 years have passed, her influence on my life still permeates each and every day. My mother was a most wonderfully warm woman, who never thought twice about helping anyone. She was generous and thoughtful, quick to laugh and smile and she was always ready with a helping hand or a soothing cuddle. As I meet more and more women throughout my work, I think of

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10 Tips to Stress Less Now!

10 Tips to Stress Less Now!

Stress Less Now! Stress is now the number one underlying cause of all illness and disease in modern society. If you’re not sure what stress actually is or how it affects the body (physiologic responses) then check out my article on What is Stress that also includes 10 tips for promoting the Relaxation Response. Over-stimulation, achievement, demands, stimulus, finance and relationship challenges, children and lack of exercise…. the responsibilities all adds up. If we’re not stopping regularly to recharge our minds, bodies and spirits, then chronic stress hormones begin to damage the body and lead to illness and disease down the track. You

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3 Ways to Create Confidence and Build Your Self-Image

3 Ways to Create Confidence and Build Your Self-Image

Create your confidence and build your self-image by these very simple yet life-changing daily practices. You don’t need anything fancy to begin. You simply need to start making yourself a priority in your own life and pay attention. 3 Ways to transform your confidence:   1. Write down five things you are currently grateful for. (Use the term, “I am grateful for…”.) Focus on the positive feelings that come up as you associate them with your gratitude. Read them aloud and look for new things throughout the day. 2. Look in the mirror and name out loud, five things you admire most about

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I Miss My Mother on Mother’s Day But I Remember What She Taught Me

I Miss My Mother on Mother's Day But I Remember What She Taught Me

I Remember, on Mother’s Day Many of you who have met me in person know that I lost my Mother to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma when I was 24. And even though nearly 16 years have passed, her influence on my life still permeates each and every day. My mother was a most wonderfully warm woman, who never thought twice about helping anyone. She was generous and thoughtful, quick to laugh and smile, and she was always ready with a helping hand, and a soothing rock-me-gently cuddle. One of her greatest disappointments was knowing she would not see her daughters mature into mothers, and her grand-children be born

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Do You Have to do This at Parties?

Do You Have to do This at Parties?

Do you BYO Gluten-free to a Party? Over the weekend we spent time in Brisbane celebrating a close friends 40th Birthday. Turns out, my gluten-free dairy-free double layer Coconut Chocolate Cake was a delicious lifesaver for a Celiac guest at the party. She had brought her own container of fruit salad and drank several mugs of tea while others drank alcohol. She politely thanked and refused every single tray of food (mostly fried pastry assortments) that came around in front of her. She smiled with patience every time, never getting annoyed or frustrated, even after the dozenth time she was offered a serving of gluten.

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The Most Important Message You’ll Read Today

The Most Important Message You'll Read Today

The Inside Job Do you ever look in the mirror and make a point of finding something positive about yourself – instead of only seeing the bits you don’t like and want to change? So many people wait for the right moment or circumstance before they allow themselves to be happy: “When I’m thin, I’ll be happy. After I’m married, I’ll be happy. When I’m driving that car, working in that job, feel like I deserve it… then I’ll be happy.” How would you like to: > look in the mirror and love your reflection? > feel positive about yourself and your life?

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Transform your mind, body and life for wellness

Transform your mind, body and life for wellness

From Medication to Freedom! How my Achieving Your Wellness coaching program has helped my client move from medication to freedom. I have an intelligent, insightful and attractive young client who came to meet and work with me late last year in 2013. At only 18 she had spent years on anti-depressants suffering low moods, unhappiness, isolation and body image concerns that bordered on disordered eating. Her dreams of travel, true happiness, connection and vibrant health were being hindered by limiting beliefs and unhealthy habits and behaviours. She came to me with a desperate need to combat the life she had created for herself and turn

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Women’s Wellness & Meditation Retreat Sneak Peek + Q & A with Viki

Women's Wellness & Meditation Retreat Sneak Peek + Q & A with Viki

Women’s Wellness I am very excited to announce that my first Women’s Wellness & Meditation Retreat is now confirmed and set for October 10th – 13th! This has been many years of dreams and hard work and now finally I can bring my life, work and personal experience all together in these 4 special days to share with you 🙂 To make it very easy to get a sense of the purpose, aim and intention of my Women’s Retreat, we recorded a short Q & A video, plus an even shorter personal tour video of the beautiful venue, Woodlands of Marburg.

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How I let go of holiday stress & returned to energy, balance & breath

How I let go of holiday stress & returned to energy, balance & breath

Breathe, Relax, Let Go! Happy Wellness Wednesday Friends! 🙂 After the chaos and energy-focused Christmas and school holidays, I realised how much I had compromised my daily self-care practices for other “stuff” that really weren’t a priority. Did you do that too? As soon as I realised my energy, enthusiasm and moods were diminishing I took the warning signs to heart and immediately returned to my heart centre and breath. I knew I was missing and needed my daily self-care of meditation, full breath and mindfulness to keep on top of my self-talk, exercise and food choices.  So I shifted priorities to nourish myself first, and very soon balance

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How to Combat Stress in Daily Life + New Toowoomba Meditation Classes

How to Combat Stress in Daily Life + New Toowoomba Meditation Classes

To Fight or Flight ? Understand your stress responses  PLUS 10 Tips to combat stress in daily life! Stress: A pesky little word that gets tossed around a great deal in modern day life. We stress about things, we feel stressed by stuff, and situations are stressful… But do you really understand stress, and more importantly, how it affects your body? To combat stress, our bodies have a built-in protection mechanism called the Fight or Flight response. Normal day to day interactions aren’t likely to cause us physical harm, so most of the time our body is (or it should be!)

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New Women’s Wellness & Meditation Retreat in 2014!

New Women's Wellness & Meditation Retreat in 2014!

NEW Women’s Wellness Retreat + Group Coaching Course! This year I turn 40! My dream has always been to host a Women’s Wellness + Meditation Retreat – the kind of spiritual experience that I myself would love to go to and share with like-minded souls; the kind of retreat where you are fully allowed to immerse yourself into your inner world and give yourself permission to let go of the past and rebuild or strengthen your most important relationship… (hint: it’s with YOURSELF!) What better way to celebrate my 40th year than to host my very own inaugural MindBodyFood “Women’s Wellness + Meditation Retreat“

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Create your Happiest, Healthiest and most Confident self in 2014!

Create your Happiest, Healthiest and most Confident self in 2014!

FREE visualisation exercise and creating new habits worksheet below! Well it’s that time of year again when we start to think about the year that was and the one we hope for next. Instead of just hoping and wishing for your life to change, own it and be the catalyst for change yourself! Your life is your creation. If you’re not happy with any aspect of it, you have the power to turn it around. I lived for over 15 years with an eating disorder that consumed all of my twenties and the beginning of my thirties, until I finally

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Merry Christmas + Happy Eating Tips on Xmas Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS + happy eating tips! It’s that time of year again – when many of us freak out at the abundant supply of festive food that is often on our “forbidden/bad/diet says no” lists. http://susieandmedays.com/html/ Personally I don’t struggle with festive food like I used to in the throws of my Eating Disorder days. I simply know what I’m eating by preparing many foods myself with whole, natural and nutrient dense freshness. If I can’t really tell what’s in the food on the serving plates I don’t eat it. I always make sure that I continue to get up and

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