Your questions on MIND, BODY & SPIRIT
Dawn Breslin is a leading light in the field of coaching and personal transformation. In her work as a TV and radio presenter, best-selling author, inspirational speaker and media consultant, she has inspired thousands to heal and re-energise and their lives. www.dawnbreslin.com
Dear Dawn,
I lost my mum about a year and a half ago, but I don’t seem to have moved on at all. I think about her all the time and feel really guilty if I even start to enjoy myself. I go to bed thinking about her and I wake up in the night thinking about her.
Mum and I had a good relationship in the years before she died, but we lost our way for a while when I was younger and it haunts me. I just feel completely lost in my grief. What can I do?
Margo
Dawn Says
I feel your anguish, but looking for help is the biggest step towards making a change – well done. Parent/child relationships are often difficult as the parent and the child have different expectations, emotions, desires and fears. The path can be rocky as young adults separate from parents’ views to gain independence. The key to letting go your guilt is to find a way to forgive yourself. You have suffered enough.
I’m glad you found a place of harmony in your relationship before your mum died. It may help you change the way you feel if you focus on the good times you shared. List of all the memories you are grateful for and throughout the day, and when you wake in the night, re-read these positive thoughts to retrain your mind.
Do you think your mum would have wanted you to stop living your life fully? Imagine you are her, and write a letter from her to you, allowing her voice to express how she would like you to live your life from today. This process feels extremely nur turing if we allow the words to flow. Again, keep this note close and read it regularly. Heidi Dore is a yoga and shiatsu practitioner, working from a beautiful country setting in Balmerino in Fife. She has studied yoga and shiatsu extensively and believes passionately in the power of gentle healing to boost your mind, energy and mood. See www.yogashiatsuscotland.co.uk
Dear Heidi,
I am really hoping you can help me. I am completely at my wits’ end! I used to be able to eat anything I liked, but since reaching my 40s, I have started to get horrible indigestion and heartburn problems. I am now really uncomfortable nearly all of the time and it is affecting what I eat. My stomach feels as if it is tied up in knots nearly all the time – and it sticks out like a drum… Now my back is hurting too. Help! Susie
Heidi Says
Balance your diet with cooling foods such as cucumber, pears or greens, and I highly recommend a daily desser tspoonful of barley grass. Bloating, indigestion and hear tburn indicate excess heat in the body and a possible gallbladder imbalance which may be caused by too much sweet, greasy food. Mindful eating is as impor tant as what you actually consume, so make time to enjoy your meal.
Tr y active relaxation. Your symptoms may be stress-related.
Soothe and cool your body with gentle exercise such as a stroll in the park. Choose an activity you find enjoyable. Gentle yoga stretches such as Cat Cow Pose will ease back pain. I would also recommend spending at least five minutes a day lying flat on the floor with your legs raised on a chair. This will calm the ner ves, soothe the digestion, relax the back muscles and boost energy levels.
You can also tr y some do-it-yourself acupressure. Shiatsu uses the pressure point Stomach 25 (also known as Heaven’s Pivot) to relieve bloating. Lying on your back, place three fingers alongside the centre of the belly button. The point is at the edge of the last finger. Apply pressure, take three full relaxed breaths and release. Repeat three times, twice a day.
“List all the memories you are grateful for”
Visit Patricia Iris Kerins’ website for more information and guiding and healing your spirit and many other subjects to do with your Inner balance, soul and selfempowerment. www.patriciairiskerins.com or join her on Facebook at @themagdalenekey
Dear Patricia,
I am scared to acknowledge my spiritual side. I have a masters degree in engineering and technology and this logical part of me is at odds to my experiences where I seem to feel what others feel. I have been quite ill for many years and I think this discord may be contributing. I was taught in church that the occult is bad and that spirits should be left alone. I’m still working on this years later!
Tracy
Patricia Says
Great question! Our education system massages the left brain, the side that deals with logic and structure. It bombards you with the questions WHY and HOW? It is sceptical and doesn’t trust anything it cannot rationally explain. This isn’t a bad thing in propor tion; however, turned up too loud it can mean you are over thinking, over whelmed and putting yourself under stress leading to disease.
It also means you are not listening to your hear t. It also wants a voice in your life, to guide you to your hear t’s desires.
In our formative years we are bombarded with the teachings from religions, schools and parents.
“You can choose to suspend the chatter of the mind”
Religions in par ticular have sought to control, dominate and divide, making sure that any personal experience you have of Spirit is suppressed! They instil fear that if you listen to your inner promptings, something awful is going to happen – which is simply not true.
When you learn to listen to your hear t, you can quieten and suspend the incessant monkey-chatter of the mind. A peaceful, serene energy can and does enter in.