When we meditate, we provide an opportunity for our body and mind to connect with the universal oneness that brings us all together on this planet right now. As good as meditation is for each of us, it is good for the world!

Meditation on our chakras helps bring balance also in specific areas. Chakra, an ancient sanskrit word, means vortex or wheel. There are seven main energy centers in our body; each one corresponds to an area on our body and has emotional implications.

Unbalanced, or blocked, chakras can cause emotional and physical problems. Meditation helps bring our chakras in balance, which enables our body and mind to function ideally, and be calm, healthy, and compassionate.

The seven chakras

Red – Muladhara / Root Chakra – Meditation: “Vam” / “I am”

Located at your root; represents grounding, survival, fatigue, inner state is stillness and stability, balancing this chakra gives energy to the physical body, controls fear, increases overall health and helps in grounding. Imbalance: low self esteem, low energy, lack of trust

Orange – Swadisthana / Sacral Chakra – Meditation: “Lam”  /“I feel”

Located just above root of genitals; biji (seed) mantra, sacral, desire, pleasure, sexuality, passion, creative block, low sex drive, balancing associated with sexual vitality, physical power. Imbalance: feeling uncreative

Yellow – Manipura / Solar Plexus Chakra – Meditation: “Ram” / “I do”

The abode of fire just above the navel center; confidence, intuition, will, wisdom, power, poor digestion, low self-esteem, inner state is laughter, joy, anger. Balancing this chakra helps calm emotions and tension to help better use intuition. Imbalance: angry and helpless, unable to finish tasks

Green – Anahata / Heart Chakra – Meditation: “Yam” / “I love”

Located at the heart center, in center of chest, above of air, jiva (individual soul), form of flame , heart, love, compassion, heart disease, fear of intimacy, helps to balance circulatory system, heart and thymus, also promotes universal oneness. Imbalance: feeling unloved

Blue – Vishuddha / Throat Chakra – Meditation: “Ham” / “I speak”

Located above of ether at base of throat, power , expression, creativity, communication, blue, thyroid problem. Imbalance: difficulty expressing feelings

Indigo – Ajna / Third Eye Chakra – Meditation: “So hum” or “Om” / “I see”

Located between the eyebrows, realm of mind, imagination, psychic ability, intuition, awareness, headaches, depression, poor intuition, balances pineal gland. Imbalance: indecision

Violet – Sahasrara / Crown Chakra – Meditation: “Hamsah” / “I understand”

Located at the crown. Visualize jiva in the form of a flame. Visualize white light, connection, wisdom, spirituality, understanding, will, promotes thought. Imbalance: loneliness, depression, apathy

Allow your thoughts to leave your mind. Incorporate chakra breathing into your meditation practice occasionally and see how powerful it can be.

Start slowly. Pick one of these chakras that you see having a slight imbalance. It might be an area in your body where you have a pain, or it may be an emotional issue. Reflect on your individual self and see where you can use some focused attention and self-compassion.

Sit in a position in which you can be comfortable for 20 minutes. With your eyes closed, allow your mind’s eye to focus on the chakra that you want to bring in balance. Breathe into the chakra. Inhale deeply, exhale slowly. Keep breathing, and then say the associated mantra above. Go ahead and speak it out loud. If that feels awkward, say it in your mind. On every exhale, for 16 times, say the mantra and keep your mind focused in that area of your body.

Be mindful of the feelings that emerge. There may sometimes be difficult memories or regrets that come to mind. See these as opportunity for growth. Let them be in the past, and use them as a lesson to be better next time and feel the equilibrium emerge. The more often you can give attention to your imbalances, the sooner you will be fully balanced. Give yourself the time to sit often and focus on areas of disruption in your life and give yourself balance. Constantly work at it and you will reap the rewards. And those around you will reap the benefits as well.

If you care to go beyond meditation to balance chakras, you can also consider chakra stone healing, reiki, and crystals.

It wasn’t that long ago that I was over 30 pounds overweight. I was a new mom, and loved my son, but early complications during the pregnancy left me less mobile than I had been, and the scale crept up as the months passed. I stopped doing yoga, and didn’t take care of my diet. I stayed vegetarian, but wasn’t making very healthy choices, carrot sticks began being replaced with spoonfuls of Nutella. Most people know the typical story. As my son started walking and talking, and I realized that my marriage was crumbling, no doubt my diet and exercise suffered. I eventually split from my husband and moved back to the states. It was a difficult road, and it took me some time, but I found my path to get “back to myself.”

I made a really small change to start. You’ve probably read the articles that outline the basic small changes to make to jumpstart a healthier lifestyle. Park your car in the parking spot farthest from the store, take stairs over elevators, stop eating after 8 pm. These were little changes for me to make. The bigger commitment came when I bought and started wearing a fitbit step tracker. It was so motivational to me, seeing the steps increase each day. At 9 pm, when I saw that I was at 7-8,000 steps and seeing that I was so close to the recommended 10,000 steps, I found myself walking around my house after my son went to sleep, and then going up and down the basement stairs to make it to 10 floors a day.

The greater changes happened when I started tracking my food intake. There is a sense of accountability when you admit what you are eating, on an online app or in a notebook. Amazingly, I started to eat healthier when I wrote it down. I no longer craved the chocolatey goodness of nut spread, but instead longed for an apple or another fresh, crunchy, and all-natural food choice. Again, the motivation came naturally, which made the choices so obviously easy.

Each day I grew stronger, and each day the weight just slipped away. And years later, the weight is still off.

I’m concerned with the growing rate of obesity in our country. It is disturbing to know that according to The State of Obesity (https://stateofobesity.org/), the 2015 national average put high schoolers at a 13.3% obesity rate. Nearly 38% of adults in the United States are obese. This is terrible news. Certain states have higher percentages than others. For example, Colorado has the lowest adult percentages, at 22.3% obese, whereas West Virginia and Mississippi are at a staggering 37%! Let’s work to bring these numbers down!

With our hectic lifestyles it can be hard to find time to walk even 3,000 steps. But we have to do all we can to make some movement in our lives. Make walking, or biking, or some light weight lifting a priority in your life. Moving for 10 minutes a day will likely inspire you to add another 5 and then 10 minutes as the weeks progress.

Evolve your health in little steps and see big progress over time. You can do it. Be your own advocate for a healthy lifestyle. Incorporate a healthy habit of movement into your life. I promise you, you’ll be very happy with the results!

The first rule in setting a goal is to know what you want to achieve. I know it sounds simple, and, really, it is. Half the battle for most people is that they don’t know what they want, specifically. It is important to make goals that can be measured, that are specific, that have a time frame, are relevant and attainable. Don’t just say you want to earn a lot of money within 12 months. Say, “I want to earn $150,000 by the end of this December.

Writing down your goals is also really important. This gives you a measure to check them off as they are realized. Making specific, measurable goals provides motivation to do more and attain more. It is also important to review your goals over time to see what you’ve achieved, and how much further you have to go.

If you want to be really productive in marking off your goals, first start out by making an inventory of the long term things you want to achieve. Do you want to change careers, do you want to learn a new language, do you want to have a child? There is no limit to where you end up, but you have to know where you want to go. Only then can you decide which road to take to get there. Once you know what you want to do over the next 5-10 years, break down your big items into smaller, achievable targets that will successively help you achieve the long term goals. Next, make a list of action steps for each of these targets. Ideally, you give yourself a very specific time frame to achieve each item.

It is really important to take stock at least once a month on your goals. Have you set your expectations too high? Too low? Gain some perspective as you look back at what you wanted last month, see if your long term goals have changed at all, and go ahead and update your blueprint. The more explicit you can be in what you want, the sooner you will achieve it.

When you make your goals, make them performance goals, not outcome goals. You are the one that controls your destiny. Not a team, or your boss. You should set goals for YOU; don’t let those around you dictate the outcome of your goals. Focus on smaller goals. Having attainable goals that you can track will give you the confidence to do more and gain more in your life.

Take time to really appreciate your achievement of each goal. Consider how long each goal took you to achieve, and determine if you want to step up your game or give yourself a little more leniency. If after a month you see you aren’t checking items off a list, then you may want to ease up on your expectations. Making short term goal lists and checking them off as you achieve them will give you a great sense of accomplishment.

Again, be specific in what you yourself can do and achieve with a reasonable timeframe. Your goals should be your own, not drawn from a list someone else created. Rather than make a longer list of all things you want to achieve in 10 years, you can make a 10-year goal, a five-year goal, a six-month goal, and a one-month goal. Decide what are the most important things you want to achieve, then break down the action steps to make these dreams a reality.

Your big goals should be used as inspiration to keep you moving, and will always be a representation of your passion. Making action steps for your targets to achieve each goal makes it realistic to achieve each big goal. Baby steps take you a long way!

A trick that many others won’t share with you regarding goal setting is the importance of visualization. Once you have your list of goals, you can undoubtedly achieve them faster if you spend a few minutes, really even just a few seconds, each day closing your eyes and seeing yourself achieve the goal. If you want to sign on 5 new clients each week for the next month, spend some moments each day visualizing being on the phone with those clients, or visualize your bank statement number getting exponentially larger. You have to have serious intention to get what you want. You have to want it, but you also have to know specifically what you want. Be sure to review, or talk about, your goals on a daily basis. Only if you continue to think about them, and share with others (this helps with accountability), will you be truly successful.

Take time to make your goals; be specific and dream big. Break down each big idea into actionable steps and before you know it, you’ll achieve big success in your amazing goals!

I count myself lucky to have never been seriously sick. I know enough people who have a hard time moving from stiff joints, pained backs, or the immobility that being overweight brings. Not being able to move as you want is exhausting and often leaves one less productive than desired. This can lead to feeling down and certainly unmotivated.

Since I’ve been taking EvolvHealth products, I feel much calmer, am clearly driven to do more than ever, and best of all I’m clear thinking–a sweet relief for me with so much on my mind these days!

I was first interested in Evolv because of Limitless. I believed the anti-inflammatory benefits would be good for my athletic partner. Little did I know that it would be such an integral part of my daily life. Limitless has zero sugar; it fights fatigue, supports mental alertness, promotes joint comfort and flexibility, and fights free radicals.

Evolv Limitless contains a targeted concentration of beet root extract—with “nature’s anti-inflammatory,” betalains—found to reduce inflammatory markers by up to 47% in a clinical study (click here to read a copy of the study). Extracted using a patented process that leaves out all the nutrient-damaging, high-calorie sugar, the active ingredient in Evolv Limitless gives you a zero calorie, high-powered way to help you live life limitless!

I’ve heard some amazing testimonials about how Limitless provides a better quality of life that are way more sensational than mine. I can’t tell you that I no longer have knee pain while walking, or that I can hold a non-dementia restricted conversation, but I know that I am hands down more alert and upbeat from this little twice daily pill.

Most days it seems there is just never enough time. But finding 5 minutes daily to find inner peace can really be quite manageable.

If you make it intentional, setting aside 5 minutes a day is easy. Over time, you might challenge yourself to add 1 or 2 minutes more each day, slowly but surely, and in really no time you will be up to 20 or 30 minutes daily, which will provide you with so many benefits.

THE METHOD

Set aside time each day, preferably at the same time daily, to give yourself a relaxing moment. Your phone should be turned to mute, or better yet, placed in another room.

When you close your eyes, be sure to relax your mind and body. As you breathe in and out, envision any tension in your body being released. The energy might find its way out through your hands, your feet, or perhaps your head.

Watch the stress flow away as you focus on your breath. If you find your mind wandering, count from 1 to 10 and repeat as often and as slowly as possible. As thoughts enter your mind (distracting you), go back to 1 and keep counting up.

You can also focus on the feelings in your body such as a discomfort in your right knee, or realizing your back is slouching, or your chin is dropping. Keep your mind as present as possible, which will enable you to keep your mind still.

MAKE IT STRONGER

Once you accomplish 5 minutes a day for a week or 10 days you will see how easy it is to incorporate this simple benefit into your life. You will be sure to go back to your day feeling relaxed and refreshed and probably even proud of the steady accomplishment.

Be sure you sit in a comfortable position with loose clothing. Don’t focus on if you are doing it right, just go back to the counting and breathing. Keep your mind in the present moment, wherever that might be.

Don’t judge, just be. And relish these few moments that you give to yourself, which makes you a better human.

Namaste.

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Every morning, as your feet hit the floor, just before you head to the bathroom, take a moment to take a deep breath in and think about one or two things you are grateful to have in your life.

Sometimes when I’m feeling too rushed, or have a particular annoyance on my mind, I consider a related thing I am grateful for. For example, on days when I realize the laundry basket is overflowing, just after my shoulders slump as I wonder how I’ll find time to fold the stacks later, I think kind thoughts onto my washing machine and dryer which have never failed me in all the years since I’ve had them. It is nearly a miracle to put dirty, smelly clothes into a machine, press a button, and within a couple hours everything is practically like new.

Count your blessings as you cherish all the good in your life. Find something to be grateful for as often as possible.