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How to Relax, Recharge, and Rejuvenate Your Body, Mind and Spirit - Eastern and Western Ways

Updated on April 21, 2012

A Good Life is a Balanced Life

A vibrant life is a measure of good health. Pleasure from the things we do, and positive energy both given and received are a few of the ingredients we all need for our overall well being.

We live busy and hectic day to day routines that often interfere with achieving a balance in our lives. Some of us forget to add this balance. Some of us don’t know how to do it. There are simple therapeutic methods we can apply to ourselves that will give us a renewed sense of who we are, and what we need to make things better.

People who practice Eastern philosophies understand that well being comes from a balanced life. Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chrakra and Ayurveda are some examples of therapies that teach harmony, and how to rebalance our energies in line with nature and our innate selves.

Self Reflection and Re-Energizing Yourself

There is no one set of rules that can be applied to everyone.  We all have different personalities and different issues and scenarios going on in our lives. So before we put together some ideas of how to improve our life’s situation, we need to know ourselves by defining our personality.
What is your basic disposition? Are you easy going and relaxed, or hot tempered and impatient.
What is going on in your life right now? Are you overwhelmed, did you just have a major life change, are you anxious or relieved about something?

Depending on what what is going on, combined with your personality style you might need to be re-energized or you might need some calming to help re-balance yourself. You might want to consider more self reflection or to seek help from others. To help gain a new sense of self renewal here are some ideas:

  • take it slow
  • let go
  • get to know

Setting Ourselves Up for Stress

Take It Slow - In the course of a day, our list of things to do is usually way longer than the hours we have in a day. We often expect to get more things done than are realistically possible.  At the end of the day, we rarely look at what we accomplished, we may instead feel unfulfilled for the things we didn’t get done. Sometimes we don’t get the things accomplished, because we were not focused, or we got distracted. Sometimes we  procrastinate doing the things we know we need to do. Sometimes we underestimate how long something can take. Often times we put too many things on our list of things to do. We have inadvertantly set ourselves up for failure. We may feel unfulfilled and incomplete because we didn’t achieve all we wanted to. All these things weigh on our mind and add stress to our day.


There are ways to de-stress and relax.

  • take the time to congratulate yourself for what you did get done
  • however long your list is, make it smaller
  • set realistic and small achievable milestones
  • take note of what you did do
  • relax with a cup of herbal tea
  • give yourself some quiet time
  • do some deep breathing
  • do something kind for yourself
  • take a warm bath  and if you like bubbles use them
  • give yourself some alone time
  • get plenty of sleep

The Things that Weigh Us Down, Hold Us Back


Let It Go
Within our mind, body, and spirit our thoughts, anxieties, burdens, and anticipations weigh us down. We have a lot of things that are on our minds. Sometimes the patterns and habits we get into sap our energy and hold us back. Emotional stagnation weakens our spirit and drains our energy.

  • unclutter your space
  • it is okay to do things to the best of your ability - let go of perfection
  • exercise to release pent up energy
  • self talk about things that may be holding you back
  • sing like nobody is listening
  • dance like nobody is watching
  • get a massage to release the tension in your muscles
  • take a way
  • draw a picture, do something creative and use your imagination
  • get out of your routine
  • step away from our electronic devices


Fulfillment from Your Passions



Get to Know
You can recharge yourself. Your passions and the things that give you fulfillment can stimulate your senses and excite your inner being. When you are doing something that brings you satisfaction, you feel younger, more energetic, more excited about your day. You can give yourself things to look forward to when it is something you truly like
  • spend time with the people and pets who are important to you
  • do something you have never done before
  • find meaning in the things you are doing
  • be true to yourself
  • join a community involving your interest or your hobby
  • take the time each day to pay yourself a compliment
  • accept that change is stressful and be kind to yourself
  • schedule time for you to do something you really like to do
  • enjoy and take pleasure in who you are - value yourself (even if it is for the littlest thing)

What are the different ways Eastern philosophies achieve balance?



Eastern techniques for self renewal

  • Chakra
  • Ayurveda
  • TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine)




Chakras

Chakra is a way to integrate the body, mind and emotions. lt comes from the Buddhist, Tantric, and Hindu traditions. Although references have been found in Jewish texts and the Kabbalah, in Egyptian, Christian and Islamic writings too. It means disc or wheel from ancient Sanskrit. There are 7 main chakras or centers in the body that are associated with specific organs, nerve pulses, and endocrine glands. Chakra techniques are thought to have originated in the second century B.C.E. In the past, chakras were focused to create higher level of consciousness. Today, chakras are used to help us be more grounded by bringing the energies within our body and connect us to the world. Reiki, yoga, crystal gem therapy, Tai Chi, Qigong, aromatherapy and Eastern martial arts are part of chakra focused therapy. 

Chakras were introduced in the West about 100 years ago. Chakras are a way to tap into our pure life energy, for healing, balance, and rejuvenation. Chakra can be a very powerful experience, and wonderful transformative work can be accomplished with a knowledgeable and qualified teacher. Chakra can renew your energy and inspire great things within yourself. You can learn to connect to an undiscovered energy that can radiate outward to light a new path for yourself.

Ayurveda

Ayurveda is a healing technique from India, going back thousands of years.It is an ancient philosophy that reconnects the self to nature and all that nature created. Ayurveda means knowledge of truth and refers to the science of life. Ayurveda is designed to bring the body, mind and spirit into harmony to create balance, health and long life. Emotional, physical, and mental problems can be traced to an imbalance in the Doshas (the three energies circulating in the body). The basic ideas behind the Ayurvedic approach is to purify the body and rebalance these three energies (doshas).
  • Panchakarma (cleansing) helps the body re-balance for better mental clarity.
  • Meditation
  • Herbs to improve digestion and eliminate toxins.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

TCM - Traditional Chinese Medicine is over 5,000 years old is a complete medical system that applies the laws of nature to the laws of the human body . TCM treats the illness and its basic cause, not the symptoms. It is a holistic approach that considers emotions, physical, and spiritual aspects of a person as one, instead of disconnected parts. They system is based on vital energy or Qi (pronounced chee) .The main techniques used in TCM are:
  • accupunture which helps Qi flow freely
  • accupressure - rebalances the flow of energy in the body
  • qigong  (gaining energy from simple movement and breathing techniques)  
  • use of herbs formulated to support and strengthen organs      
  • healing through certain foods based on its energy substance, not necessarily the nutritional value.  
  • consideration of emotions and their connection to the organs within the body and how it influences our health

Ignite the Source Inside You

The Western philosophy to regaining balance, energy and a renewed self is often looked from a psychological or medicinal approach. Counseling, therapy, and self improvement techniques are often used to gain a better understanding of our habits and patterns.  Sometimes people will seek a doctor’s prescription for anti anxiety or anti depression pill so they can refocus themselves.  In Western medicine, the symptoms are treated, but the cause may not be addressed. This can sometimes have the effect of other things being out of balance.

Most Eastern techniques and philosophies look to treat the body as a whole and believe that some toxins and other causes of the body being out of balance have been there for many years. Their philosophy is to cleanse and rebalance so the system can recharge and rejuvenate itself.

There are many choices that exist to renew your spirit, re-awaken a passion, and recharge yourself. You don’t have to just exist. You can live and thrive and flourish. Ignite the source of your energy and fire up your soul. New and exciting things await you from both Eastern and Western sources of renewal and relaxation techniques.

relax and meditate for a few minutes

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Have you ever tried using Chakra, Ayurveda, or Traditional Chinese Medicine?

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