Four Ways that Deep Breathing can lower your risk for disease

The website, http://www.healthoxygen.com/ lists several curative effects of oxygen, which include an increase in energy levels, detoxifying the body, aiding digestion, and enabling muscle recovery. However, you cannot achieve the curative effects of oxygen if you don’t breathe deeply enough to effectively oxygenate your body! Here are four key ways that deep breathing can actually lower your risk for disease.
1. You will oxygenate your body. Oxygen boosts the immune system and has been used for years in hospital settings as a method to assist with patient recovery. Think about it: oxygen is essential for sustaining human life! When the body is deprived of oxygen (for example – because of poor posture, slouching, or shallow breathing) at the outset it results in headaches, muscle fatigue, blurred vision and distorted focus. Imbalances in oxygen levels have been linked to migraines as well as certain types of cancers. Deep, diaphragmatic breaths can reduce your risk for these types of ailments.
2. Breathing deeply will slow down your heart rate. When the body is stressed it goes into fight or flight mode. When this happens the heart beats faster, blood thickens (causing the heart to pump harder), and blood pressure rises. Prolong these effects over time and you will be at risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD). When you are feeling stressed or tense, take a moment to slow your breathing, with a concentration on filling your lungs to capacity, circulating the oxygen through your system, and slowly releasing the air from your lungs. You will find after a few deep breaths that your heart rate will begin to slow, and you can bring your body functions back to baseline. Your heart gets enough wear and tear throughout the course of daily living – give it a break by regulating your breathing.
3. Deep breathing expels toxins from the body. The process of breathing serves an important function – aside from just keeping you alive. As you inhale, you are taking in oxygen – this oxygen travels through the blood stream, circulating throughout the body. Cells travel along this route to gather up toxins and “bad air” (aka carbon dioxide) which is then expelled each time we exhale. Shallow breathing does not allow for adequate collection of these toxins. Sure, we are keeping ourselves alive and we are circulating our blood and oxygen; however, when you take a deep cleansing breath, you will feel and see the difference immediately.
4. You will re-energize your brain. A properly hydrated and oxygenated brain is a high functioning brain. Studies state that we humans only use about 2% of our brain power. Imagine how a lack of oxygen and water contributes to the lack of functionality of that 2%! Deep breathing circulates oxygen back to the brain, which will result in better focus, clearer thinking, less headaches, and a more peaceful rest.

To learn more about the Anger Solutions philosophy on stress reduction, please visit our website, www.angersolution.com.

3 Reasons to Stop Stressing About the Economy

I don’t know about you but there is only so much doom and gloom talk that I can take before I start thinking… Arghhhh! The media is obsessed with inundating us with bad news – and right now (for good reason) the economy is the flavor of the month.

I am currently reading (for the second time) Jack Canfield’s excellent book, The Success Principles, and just passed over his comment, “They’re having a recession, but I’ve chosen not to participate.” I like that kind of thinking. Last year while we were headed on an economical downward slide as a nation, I tripled my sales. Why? Because I was focused on creating abundance rather than “coping with lack”, or worse yet – “avoiding scarcity”.

And so, as we continue to plod through the recession, here are 3 good reasons to shift your focus away from our current economic crisis:

1. The first reason to stop stressing about the economy is the most important one: You Can’t Control It! Stressing over what you can’t control is an exercise in futility, frustration, and fatigue. This kind of stress is consuming. It will invariably lead to illness, depression, insomnia, and disease (all things which will interfere with your ability to be a peak performer). When you are in a state of poor performance, you will be less productive. Less productivity = less money. Stressing about the economy will guarantee fewer dollars in your pocket.

2. Reason number two: What you focus on is what you will achieve. When you spend all your time thinking about the recession, worrying about your portfolio, and watching the stocks fluctuate, your world will shrink to the size of your television or computer screen. When you focus on scarcity – that is what you will see all around you. I remember when I worked in the downtown core; the road I took to work went through a depressed part of town. Hookers frequented the street corners, the area was littered with crack houses and most of the unsavoury business that happens on all inner city streets took place in this area. It got so that I was beginning to believe that my whole town was nothing but a big slum because of this one little pocket within the core. Once I realized that my focus was beginning to colour my entire perspective, I made a simple decision: I changed the route that I took to work. By making that one shift in my actions, I was able to re-route my perspective back to a more positive outlook about my town and the people living in it. Now more than ever, it is imperative that you choose to focus on abundance – on gratitude – and on the blessings you currently have. Remember – you can’t control the markets, so focus on what you can control… that leads me to point number THREE.

3. Focus on YOU. That is the only thing you can control or change. You can’t change the government (until voting time comes back around). You can’t influence the markets either positively or negatively. You will not be able to change the numbers that are flashing across your television or computer screen. The only thing you can change is YOU.

Your efforts and your efforts alone will impact your personal economy and your net worth. Are you turning into a miser – because you feel like you need to “prevent any further losses?” Or are you doing what you know will work to keep the cash flowing in your life or business? I’m not saying you shouldn’t be careful in these turbulent times; I’m simply suggesting that you do so with the proper intentions. Keep your focus on the things you can control. You can control your spending and your choices for saving. You can choose to turn off CNN in favour of doing something constructive, fun, entertaining, or relaxing. Even in tough economic times, you can choose to creatively attract abundance into your life.

Learn more about how to deal with the stress of tough financial times in my new E-Book - soon to be released. Contact me via my website: http://www.juliechristiansen.com/ to sign up to get your copy as soon as it hits the E-Market!

The 5 Minute Makeover

Make Yourself Over in just 5 Minutes!

I hate putting on makeup.

Absolutely hate it.

The whole time I am "putting on my face", I catch myself thinking about what a colossal waste of time it is - and how I could be doing something more profitable.

Most days I don't wear any - thanks to the fact that I have nice caramel coloured skin that usually takes care of itself. But then there are those days when I haven't had enough sleep, or I have broken out with a bad case of adult acne that require that I do a little something to help that caramel coloured skin along. One of the challenges of wearing makeup - aside from the fact that it just makes my face feel gross after a while - is the time it takes to apply it properly.

For example, I noticed the other day that my face was blotchy and I was looking a little tired, so I decided to put on a little base and powder to even out my skin tone. As I was ruminating silently about the time it would take, it occurred to me that I should be able to apply base, powder, and a little eye enhancer in 5 minutes or less. In effect, I have developed a system whereby applying makeup no longer is a time consuming effort. I call it my Five Minute Makeover.

Truth be told, with a little effort (5 minutes or less), I feel more ready to face the day because I don't have to worry about blotches distracting people, black circles under my eyes detracting from my appearance, and I can just move forward to deal with more important things. Knowing I look good when I go out the door DOES make a difference for the quality of my day.

You know what? When you get focused on the task at hand, it is amazing how much you can actually accomplish in 5 minutes. Reading this blog entry will take you less than 5 minutes. Making a phone call to book an appointment takes less than 5 minutes. Driving from your house to the corner Tim Hortons may only take you 3 minutes. On a good day, you can get through the Timmy's drive through in less than 5 minutes. Isn't it funny then, that so many people will avoid those 5 minute activities that could have a lasting long-term impact on their lives?

If 5 minutes a day were all it took to make you look and feel better - would you commit?

Well, here it is. An opportunity to take on average 5 minutes a day to invest in your ability to be a peak performer - to have more energy to go through your day - to remain focused on the more important tasks, and to achieve more success within a shorter time frame.

Are you ready for it? It is called the 90 Day Challenge. 90 Days - 12 weeks - 4 key sessions - and 5 minutes per day - all designed to help catapult you into forward motion, building momentum so that you can achieve the successes you desire in less time and with less effort.

Just think of what you could accomplish with just 5 minutes per day.

Are you interested in learning more about the 90 Day Challenge? Contact me at julie@juliechristiansen.com. I'd be happy to fill you in.

Visit my NEW website: http://www.juliechristiansen.com.