When I was asked if I would do a review of this book ~ or, an interview with Brigitte Mars and/or Chrystle Fiedler, the authors, I was thrilled. I explained I’m not doing interviews anymore yet, if they would like me to do a review on my blog, feel free to send me the book. They did and it arrived yesterday!

What a pleasant surprise!!! When was the last time you held a hard-cover copy of a book in your hands?

O.k., my next thought was ~ how much is this? It’s GOT to be expensive! Well, it’s not! On Amazon, it’s actually under $20… even less than I can sell MY book for! (Mine being self-published costs more than going through a publisher now. It didn’t at the time.)

Next surprise… well, not really. I’ve got three other books by Brigitte and one thing I know about her is, she’s thorough. Let me run through the some of the contents first:

“Preparations 101: What You Need to Know to Make the Natural Remedies in This Book.”

One thing I’ve disliked in many herbal books is, they’ll give you the name of an herb yet not tell you what the heck to do with it. Do I make it into a tea? A poultice? Is it used internally or externally? In this chapter you’ll learn how to prepare herbs and throughout the book you’ll know how to use them for each remedy. Outstanding!

17 chapters, each beginning with “Natural Remedies..” including:

to Relieve Colds, Flu, and Related Illnesses
to Soothe Everyday Aches and Pains
for Relief of Burns, Bug Bites and Skin Afflictions
to the Rescue for Injuries and First Aid
for Common Ailments
for Women’s Special Concerns
for Baby and Childcare
Just for Men
for Stomach and Digestive Health
for Respiratory Health
for Circulation and Blood Disorders
to Boost Urinary Tract Health
that Encourage Emotional Health and Wellness
for Beautiful Skin, Hair and Nails
for Oral Health
for Healthy Sleep
for Addiction

There’s also a 12 page section on herbs entitled “A Closer Look at Herbs” where you can find out more about the herbs and their uses and in some cases, contraindications.

Throughout the book are little sections entitled “Good to Know” with little things you may not know such as: “Vitamin C can help prevent heatstroke or heat exhaustion” or, “A salve made of comfrey, calendula, and vitamin E can be used to heal bedsores should they occur”.

There’s also sections called “Skip This!” which tells you what to stay away from and others called “Thrifty Cure” one of which is “Look to your spice rack to ease indigestion..” followed by which spices do this and what to do with them.

Of course, I most likely did what you’ll do when you received this book and looked up whatever’s been ailing me including tinnitus, age spots, etc. and found them all!

If you’re tired of going to doctors and receiving drugs that don’t work and then having to get more drugs to counteract the side effects of those drugs, my suggestion? Get this book!

If you’re like me and into health and natural remedies, pretty darn sure you’re going to love this book as much as I do. It’s definitely a keeper.

Feel free to respond here with comments. Thank you!

~ Revvell ~

Just like any other part of your body, your eyes need exercise.

Ever hear the term ~ repetitive motion syndrome? We usually equate that with wrist and/or elbow problems. With spending so much time on computers, reading and, for many, watching t.v., our eyes don’t get the exercise they used to unless we do something to get them moving outside the little box we’ve put them in.

How to do that? The yogi’s have created a series of exercises one can do to get them moving beyond their “normal” range of motion yet, to me, this is good but not quite as engaging as what I do.

My preference is to get out and walk and while walking, exercise my eyes by looking up to the sky, down to the ground, out to the horizon (left, right, in front), closer and farther, at the plants in various yards, etc. Of course, you still need to be aware of where you are going so, stay conscious.

You may find, after a few days of this, your vision sharpens and your brain and thinking become clearer… How about that?

Revvell

Bodacious Living

Recently I’ve been watching a show called S.W.A.T. (not the long ago t.v. series) and saw how the “negotiators” interacted with those barricaded with or without hostages.

I realize they only show bits and pieces of what’s really going on and what’s really being said yet, from what they show it’s just textbook training, not life. If they talked to me when I was suicidal I’d have killed myself ~ as many of them do. Why? They show no compassion for what’s going on with the ~ hmmm, don’t know what to call him (it’s usually a “him”… so, I’ll just call him “perp” unless I come up with something better before finishing this.)

Himself and I talked about how I’d probably be a really good negotiator ~ left to my own devices, especially having dealt with suicidal depression. Why? Because I know what it felt like to always feel like no one is on your side; everything you do is wrong; what’s the point in going on?

I was considering this and wondering what changed for me? Why did I, all of a sudden, stop feeling that death was the only way out?

Well, one thing was was when I was 13, I was considering ways to do it and I thought that if I had the courage to kill myself, then, I also had the courage to live and find out where my life was going to go. (A thought I remembered numerous times throughout my life.) (Also, if you want to call suicide “the coward’s way out” think about how you are afraid to leave that job or that lousy relationship because your monkey mind is saying that “something is better than nothing” or “being alone is worse” or, the “the next one might be worse”, etc. Even though it’s where we originally came from, death is as unknown to us as life is. It takes courage to die especially by one’s own hand. LMAO! I’m just remembering that I thought I was such a screw up that I probably couldn’t even kill myself right and would end up being a vegetable for the rest of my life. One more thought that kept me alive.)

Not sure where I’m going with this other than one thought was, if one kills him/herself, they may miss that great turnaround where life becomes joy!

Oh! I know why I started this. I was thinking about gang members and how they feel they HAVE to join a gang in order to survive where they are. Many of them are amazingly intelligent, very sensitive and scared.

They often have to create this persona of toughness just to stay alive when in reality, they’re not who they appear to be externally.

What turned my life around was in finding who I really am, not who I pretended to be. When my teacher first told me “you don’t know who you are”, I had no idea what he was talking about. Of COURSE I know who I am. Well, I didn’t. I felt I had to BE tough in order to survive. Well, not true. I have to be me in order to thrive!

Injoy,

Revvell

Bodacious Living

I had just finished prepping for my UStream show and gone out for my walk when I realized I NEEDED to come back here and write this up. If I didn’t I’d have said it all in my head and forgotten it by the time I came back.

I’m realizing too that I really need to empty my voice recorders and take one with me every time I go out so I don’t have to cut my walk short. I did get in over 3000 steps before coming home though.

O.k., to the topic at hand ~ being a “Use To” person.

I go to quite a few networking meetings and meet various people and when they see what I eat they’ll ask if I’m vegetarian. When I say “yes” they’ll often say “I USE TO be”.

When I meet people who ride motorcycles, now, I’m a “USE TO” person. Before a friend died in a auto/mc collision and another lost his leg (same crash), I rode. I have to catch myself to not say I “use to” ride so they ask me, why don’t you ride anymore as I don’t want to inject them with MY stuff about riding!

What I like to hear is “I USE TO smoke, drink, do drugs but I don’t anymore!”

Instead I hear “I USE TO do daily appreciations; walk every day; exercise; eat well, etc.” I also know I’m not going to ask them why they don’t any more. It’s not my biz. I don’t want to hear their dreary excuses for why they don’t.

This came up for me recently in an online conversation with a gent who told me his girlfriend “use to” be a vegetarian ~ before she met him. Enough said.

What brought this up for me is a couple of times over the past months I’ve caught myself saying “I USE TO be able to get up off the floor easily” and “before I got married I USE TO go walking daily”.

For me, when I say “I USE TO”, I want it to be consciously attained. By that I mean “I USE TO be a meat eater (well, it’s been 24 years now); I USE TO procrastinate on getting in my daily play; I USE TO be angry; I USE TO contemplate suicide (that’s over 15 years ago)…

See what I mean? Keep the good and USE TO the not-so good. Now, I want to say I CAN get up off the floor easily; I DO get up and move daily; I AM aware of what goes in my mouth and supports MY body.

Comments?

Injoy, Revvell

Bodacious Living

Quite often I find myself throwing away produce because I forget I have it. When I purchase it, I have every intention of making smoozies with it or juicing it or SOMEthing. By the time I get it home and put it away, I often forget my intention or something else takes my attention and I never get to it.

Also as many of us have partners who tend to eat less healthy than we do OR, just keep food in the house we tend to crave, here’s a quick suggestion to cover both scenarios ~

Take sticky notes and, on any food (package) or shelf of foods containing something you prefer NOT to eat, write something on it like ~ “Do You Really Want to Eat This? Options” (depending on what you have available):

Bananas
Apples
Grapes
Green salad w/
tomatoes
cukes
marinated veggies
carrots
beets (shredded)
Olives
Orange juice (maybe you’re really thirsty and not necessarily hungry)
Coconut water
Water with lemon juice
Water

You might also want to add on the note ~

“You’ve just eaten! Are you REALLY HUNGRY?

Also, remember my program “Fit or Fat?” Ask yourself before you reach for “comfort” food out of habits or cravings.

That may give you a chance to contemplate what it is that may be eating you which turns you towards stuffing yourself with food.

Please, comment here and let me know what’s working for you!

Injoy!

Revvell

Bodacious Living

Well, this isn’t the “tomorrow” I said I would write this ~ sort of “manana” time though.

The problem I’m finding with writing my blog is that I get up fairly early, do some mundane things, then get out and walk. After writing my “How I Gained Weight” blog, the next morning I walked for about 2 hours. The following morning, I walked for 90 minutes (over 8,000 steps). During that time I think about all the things I want to write about including how I eliminated weight.

The difficulty is that by the time I get home, everything I want to say has already been said (in my mind) so, nothing left for me to say. O.k., well, not nothing. I can pretty much always say SOMEthing.

So, here’s what happened.

As you may have read in my previous blog, I had put on about 30 excess pounds. Usually, when I’ve gained weight previously, I didn’t have to do much other than to move! Mostly go to the gym for about 6 weeks and voila! Done! PLUS, I’d be buffed! (I buff easily)

This time however, it was a bit more difficult for a number of reasons. One, menopause. I’ve NEVER had a weight issue I couldn’t eliminate easily yet, my head was wrapped around what others have said about it being harder to drop weight during menopause.

Two, I LOVE staying warm in bed and cuddling with himself which means I didn’t get up and out walking or doing anything else for that matter. No matter how many times I promised myself at night that I was going to do it, in the morning that didn’t happen.

Three, my computer addiction. When I DID get up, I’d turn on the computer, sit down, go through emails, facebook, twitter, RFT, etc., etc., etc. By the time I took care of that addiction it was either too hot out, too late and had to begin work OR, I’d eaten (overeaten) and just didn’t feel to train and remember, it was already hot!

Fourth (last, but not least), he’d be up and asking if I wanted to go somewhere. Uh huh! Yep!

In essence, it didn’t take much for me to be distracted from what I said I wanted to do… eliminate the excess weight!

So, what to do????

I don’t remember exactly what turned me on to it but I’d been hearing about (Emotional Freedom Technique) EFT for awhile. Even though I’ve had training in Polarity Therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine including Taijiquan/Qigong, reflexology, etc. I kind of poopoo’d that something so basic could really make a difference (which is really funny because all the health I have is from “energy therapy” which is what EFT is.)

One night in class, I noticed that my teacher had some information on EFT that he was handing out to his students. I always figure he doesn’t waste time with something that doesn’t “work” so began using it with myself and my students. WOW!

Then I had a 4-week experimental group with 5 other overweight women who ranged from less than 50 pounds excess to well over 100 excess pounds they wished to eliminate. Each week we’d show up with new stories of how much weight we’d dropped or inches lost.

One woman told us on the first meeting that when she was stressed she’d eat a full carton of ice cream. She was using a sentence similar to … “I totally love and support myself.” She returned one week totally astounded. She said she’d never loved herself which is why she ate and overate yet during the previous week she’d felt stressed and instead of reaching for the ice cream she made some brown rice.. and overate it.

By the end of the 4 weeks, every one of us had eliminated 8-10 pounds. (I had already dropped the first 10 before beginning the study group). Not to say this will happen with EVERYone yet, it’s possible AND, just consider, if we can eliminate even 5 pounds per month consistently for a year, that’s 60 pounds!

So, EFT is one way. Another thing I included with the group were sentence completions which I’d learned many years ago during my training with my teacher. How that works is, we begin a sentence such as “One reason I keep the weight on is…” Then give 6-10 responses which may include “… I’m afraid to be seen”; “it’s too much work to eliminate it”, “I’ll have to purchase a new wardrobe”; “I wont know who I am”, “I’m afraid I’ll feel deprived”; “I don’t know what else to do when I’m feeling stressed”, etc. (All of which are addressed during my “Tap Into Your Ideal Weight” program.)

Two other things I’ve found help a lot are tapping while doing appreciations. I’ve found at the end of classes that when we do this, the women leave feeling calm and not stressed so they don’t go home ~ or out together ~ and eat late in the evening.

The final thing is visualization. Who are you when thin? What will people say? How will you look? How will you feel?

I wrote all this down for myself and am continuously adding to it. As I’m writing, I find how much of my life is interconnected and how it improves across the board.

Some of the things I worked on specifically for myself were ~ getting up and walking or training so, tapping on procrastination. I’d make a list of what I wanted to do and get it done.

Tapping on elimination of the desire for sweets. On the landing page for my program I have a picture of this overweight woman sitting with a place of chips (cookies?) beside her. The next picture is the plate behind her and she’s sneaking the chips. Been there, done that with sweets. I didn’t want the cake, I wanted the frosting! Now, cake with all that colored frosting doesn’t even look like food to me. When I go to functions I barely look at the sweets and when I do, it’s like they’re bugs under a microscope. It’s very weird and interesting. Almost as though I don’t recognize what they are as they seem to be from my distant past.

Tapping on elimination of the desire for what my husband eats including cheese and pizza. One night I was feeling very alone and he was gone so I cooked a pizza. Uh huh. I was physically done eating it by the time I was half-way through yet told myself I was going to finish it even if it made me sick. I did, it didn’t but I’ve not had enough desire to eat it again.

I eat salads! What I’ve found is, I can pretty much have the same ingredients in my salad every single day IF I have a good dressing so, 3 fresh dressings and, I have 2-3 different salads every day.

When going to a buffet, fill my plate with half of what I would normally. I can always go back for more and now, instead of going for pasta, I go for more salad!

When we go out to eat, I ask them to divide the meal and pack half of it to go. What’s good about that is, occasionally I’ll eat it as soon as I get home yet, many times I don’t because I’ve given myself time to know that I’ve been deeply satisfied with what I’d already had.

In the mornings, if I get up around 5, I get dressed (my clothes are either in the bathroom or my office so I don’t have the excuse that I didn’t want to wake him up by turning on the light) and head out.

Lately, I’ve been waking up around 3:30 so, I prepare my UStream show read all my personal emails, take care of Facebook and Twitter, might do daily appreciations THEN head out for a walk.

I’m much more consistently disciplined now that I’ve brought more focus on when, where, why, how and what I eat AND having eliminated most of the cravings, habits and eating patterns I’ve established during the past 6 years or so.

Thank you for reading all of this. It really wasn’t supposed to be this long. Guess I DO have something to say!

With that, I’ll say:

Remember, live bodaciously and always celebrate your potential!

Revvell

Things don’t really irk me much and once I write this out, it’ll be GONE! DONE! I don’t dwell anymore like I use to because life is SO grand and wonder-filled that I just don’t have time for it so, gonna put it out here and let it go!

(What I’m doing here is showing you how to live a stress-free life! So many would let something like this go on and on in their heads for DAYS! … and be binging while doing it. lol)

Anyway, I put out my blog from yesterday on a few sites I’m on and received some truly great responses. Thank you!

Today, I received a response from one person saying she was “shocked” at the price of my program! (What?? It’s too low? heh!) Well, I have to say, I’m shocked that she is shocked! (How’s that for a comeback? )

Since reading that, I’ve looked at it in various ways (this is good for you to do if you are planning programs yourself).

First, let’s start with my training. I began researching health and healing about 34 years ago. I spent 16 years in “formal” training which cost me literally thousands of dollars. I’ve got books, dvds, cds (again, investments of THOUSANDS of dollars) and articles (o.k., basically free except for the paper I printed them out on and the ink to print) which I’ve studied.

For 34 years I’ve used myself as the guinea pig in healing asthma, allergies, infections, depression, injuries, excess weight and more caused by various things including food choices, societal imprints, emotions and unawareness/consciousness.

I’ve got knowledge I’ve gained through my own study as well as knowledge gained from other people and their studies, knowledge and wisdom. I’ve got understanding from my own healings plus the hundreds of students and clients I’ve worked with. I’ve got wisdom from just staying alive for 60 plus years and the ongoing healing and health I’m experiencing.

So, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. The price of “Tap Into Your Ideal Weight“. Pretty much the price people charge for their trainings/coachings/teleclasses/webinars, etc. is arbitrary. If you ask them, I’m guessing they probably can’t tell you how they came up with their price.

Recently I paid $1995 for a program that was supposed to help me be a better marketer. I was sorely disappointed. The first few sessions were quite good. After she got past the “100% guarantee” part of the program (if you didn’t feel you were receiving your money’s worth by a certain time, you could receive your money back) the program went down-hill. It was sad. The first hour of the final 90 minutes of the program, she might just as well have been off the call. She even admitted she wasn’t only not present mentally, she was looking at her other site! The final half hour of that 90 minute session she spent upselling her next program. The “bonus” hour we received she spent ~ yes, upselling her next program.

I don’t DO that! The whole time, I am present; I am available, everyone interacts with me. At NO time do I spend time upselling my next, newest program. (I don’t HAVE one ~ well, not yet, anyway.)

Let’s break it down financially ~

The program runs 6 weeks with each call lasting approximately 90 minutes, PLUS, 2 half-hour one-on-one calls with me.

That’s a full 9 hours of semi-private interactive work/play PLUS, 1 full hour of private. That breaks down to $30 per hour. (I’ve never done this and am now thinking ~ I really need to raise my price EXCEPT! I want to make this affordable to as many people as possible!)

Add in the time I spend preparing for each session and the time I spend after, cleaning up the notes and adding in whatever I feel can make it even more informational and the hourly to me is even less.

ALSO, my engineer takes time out of HIS life to edit the audio and post it so participants can listen to it any time they feel to for FREE (to me). (Very often we’ll miss or forget something that happened that could be very relevant to one’s process so, it’s best to listen to the audio repeatedly).

*big sigh* Wow! O.k! I’m feeling better now.

On to what I REALLY wanted to write about today (which will most likely be uploaded tomorrow. Wait for it!)

Until then,

Yours in health,

Revvell

Bodacious Living

I awakened this morning contemplating weight gain. How fun is that? lol

There are a few ways and reasons I gained in the first place.

First was possibly menopause yet, I’m not sure of that one. I hadn’t gained before I got married at 55 and I’d gone into it a few years before OR, maybe I just didn’t notice which we’ll get into in a bit ~ the noticing, I mean.

One thing I’m sure of is going out and eating. Once I realized how much I’d gained since getting married (we could blame the marriage yet, that would be the surface, same as most dieters do ~ blame the food), being me, I had to really look at my habits, my new cravings and my emotional eating patterns.

What happened was, 6 years or so ago, I met a man I wanted in my life forever. I’d ALWAYS said, I saw no purpose in ever getting married and, that was true, until we met.

After knowing him for about 10 months or so, I was headed over to his home country to meet his friends and family as well as visit his country.

A few weeks before going over, he told me that he’d called the embassy about how he could come to the U.S. and stay with me. Their response “Marry her”. When he told me this, I asked “Well, do you want to?” He said “what”? Me ~ “Get married?”. I think he said something like “well, I guess so”. Anyway, he started the paperwork on his end with the outcome being we’d get married in Denmark, then go to Copenhagen where I had to file to get him over here.

So, that’s the background story ~ now, the fat part.

In all my life I’d never been in a REALY healthy relationship. Every relationship I’d been in, I gave up me to be with he meaning none of what I did was as important as what he was doing so, I’d always get involved.

This relationship began similarly. First, I dropped my healthy eating habits. I still stayed vegetarian yet, when we went out to eat, which was often, I’d eat things I normally wouldn’t and I’d overeat. If/when we go to buffets, I felt I had to eat enough to get his money’s worth. Even when full, I’d finish because I didn’t want to leave food I’d chosen, on the plate AND, I’d always have dessert. Not much but SOME!

Secondly, even when we went out to a sit-down meal and was given more than I could eat, I’d finish it because “it’s only a few bites” ~ no matter how full I was.. “it’s only a few bites”. Well, those “few bites” cost in weight gain. If we’d only gone out occasionally, there probably would not have been an issue. Since we went out often…

Thirdly, I use to get up and out walking every morning, first thing. Did not turn on the computer, did not eat, did not do anything but get up, get out and get walking! Where I lived, there was a mountain “loop” where I could go up one side, down the other. It’s about 4.5 miles. When I didn’t do that, I lived in a hilly area and could do a different walk almost every day of the week.

After getting married I loved sleeping in and cuddling with him. I vowed I’d get out and walk later. Well, “later” rarely came. In the summer it was too hot. If I didn’t get out early, I didn’t get out. We’d also moved to a “flat” area which to me, was boring so, I’d talk myself out of walking. If I wanted to train with kbs, ropes, etc. I really needed to take everything to a park. Being the lazy wench I’d become… that rarely happened.

One night in class my teacher said 4 of us, including himself were overweight. I was one. When he asked how much I thought I could lose I said “about 20 pounds”. He said “try 25″. Yikes!!!! (He was being generous. It was actually 30).

One thing I really got was how easy it is to gain and not notice! Previously it was SO easy for me to drop weight. So easy in fact that, I’d not notice until someone pointed it out to me (which is the same thing that happened with the gain). At that time, when I was emotional about something (which was often), I’d not eat, therefore, weight loss! Now, when I’m upset, I’ve developed patterns of eating and overeating; comfort and habitual eating.

If you do it slow enough, when you go clothes shopping and you’ve gone up a size, you can rationalize that it’s a different manufacturer and their sizes run small.

So, between eating out often, eating and overeating for emotional reasons, cleaning my plate and not moving ~ as I use to … weight happened.

Oh! the other thing is, as I’d mentioned, I’d not been in a really good relationship EVER! Think there might be some unconscious “protection” going on?

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about weight elimination. In the meantime, feel free to check out my program and find out how to eliminate weight, stay on a healthy food program and drop the cravings, habits and and emotional eating patterns that lead to excess weight gain and sabotage your new year’s resolutions.

Until tomorrow ~

Revvell

Bodacious Living

I haven’t given this a lot of thought so, writing as I contemplate, yet as I was laying down and resting my eyes from being on the computer so much lately and I began thinking about the various illnesses and diseases I’ve had throughout my life. (As you can see, I’m on the computer ~ again).

One of the first I can remember is getting the mumps. Now yes, most every child has gotten them yet, I get them ~ for the second time after my mother had signed me up for swim lessons. I did get to go in the water, but not with the other children. My thought on this ~ I was VERY shy and the mumps kept me out of doing a class. I learned to swim by watching what was going on in the class.

Next one ~ allergies to citrus especially grapefruit but then add strawberries and asparagus; two items I REALLY liked ~ then. We’d flown down to Florida for a 3 week vacation. I was SO miserable there! I slept on a cot in the front room of someone’s cottage and it was next to a train track so I was awakened every night. We lived on a cul-de-sac in Ct. so it was VERY quiet. PLUS, sleeping on the cot was SO uncomfortable AND, while down there, I got stung by a man-o-war. Think I didn’t have an emotional time?

Hayfever/asthma ~ When I was about 10 years old, my parents took my brother and I to a slaughter house where they purchased a 1/2 side of beef. Of course, bro and I were wandering the grounds and the door to the slaughterhouse was partially open and we looked in and saw the cows being tortured. The butcher’s saw us looking in and scared us away. Across the street was a wheat field. We chose to run through it. By the time we came out I was coughing, sneezing, eyes running. No trauma there, eh?

My father who was my heart died when I was 12 and I was gang-raped at 19. Any wonder I had issues with men, abandonment, etc?

By the time I was in my early 30′s I had asthma so bad it almost killed me. At the time I was lifting weights 4-5 hours a day, 5-7 days a week and also training in Kung-fu. My teacher was retiring. More man stuff, more health issues.

From the time I was 13 until I reached my mid-40′s, I had periods of suicidal depression.

I was allergic to cats, dogs and horses.

The reason I’m bringing this up is, whenever you’ve got something going on, check and see what’s going on emotionally. All of my emotional stuff manifested physically at some level.

Sure, a lot of the asthma and hay fever was resolved by diet change yet once I got a handle on my emotions ~ my fears, my guilt, etc., the rest of it dissolved.

Same thing most recently. I wrote previously about having problems with my heart. I realized I had some unconscious fears and when those were brought to the surface, the heart issue dissolved.

Very interesting how the mind works and how it manifests so many issues and how we’ve learned to cope with them ~ very often by stuffing them down with food.

Many years ago, I had the opposite problem which, I think may have been healthier at one level ~ I didn’t eat. One cannot digest emotions and food at the same time. On the other hand, I had so many emotions, I was pretty much starving myself.

Most recently though, I found myself gaining weight after having gotten married. A few reasons are, we went out and ate often and when I go out, I never even considered eating part and taking half home because my weight never bothered me. Any time I’d gained a few pounds, I’d up my work-outs and be back to my slim self in a few weeks.

Another thing I realized was, this being my first marriage, and never having had a REALLY good long-term relationship and, I guess, I scared the heck out of myself and subconsciously allowed myself to put the weight on as “protection”.

So, this again, was all emotional yet, I was “handling” it differently ~ eating, instead of not. What I found was that if I didn’t handle the emotional aspect of my weight gain, working out as I use to do, really didn’t make much of a difference.

That was a GREAT awakening for me! That was a time I understood how many women have tried over and over to eliminate weight by diet and exercise, very often to lose some yet, very often to gain it back because they’d not dealt with the cause, the underlying emotions, the habitual eating patterns! Whooooo!

As a natural health practitioner of 24 years, this realization is probably one of THE biggest I’ve ever had.

When I was growing up, we didn’t speak about the things we do now. If help was available, we didn’t know about it. Now, it’s out, it’s available, it’s amazingly simple and effective! I am SO excited to have created Tap Into Your Ideal Weight so now women can get to the cause of their weight issues and eliminate them!!! How cool is that?

Injoy,

Revvell

Bodacious Living

When I first began learning EFT, I had a hard time with tapping on the negative part of the sentences. For so many years, I’ve been saying “Acknowledge but don’t focus” and here, we’re saying something negative and tapping on it?? To me, that was like tapping the negative INTO myself and I had SO much resistance.

What I have found since then though is that the reason we say the negative is to acknowledge and accept where we are. For instance, if someone says, “Even though I constantly self-sabotage…” that’s just saying what we’ve done previously… up to now… then we switch to “…. I choose to stay focused on the results and support myself completely”. That changes the energy via our words AND the tapping.

What we’re saying is I know what I need to work on; I acknowledge and accept I do this and, now, I’m changing it. Make sense?

It’s as though I’m in Connecticut and I want to go to Nevada. Well, if I don’t know, acknowledge and accept where I am, how can I get where I want to go? If I “wish” I were somewhere else, it’s not going to help. Saying I “wish” I were in California and I want to go to Nevada, then I’d be traveling east yet, I’m REALLY in Ct. and if I travel east, I’m I’ll end up in the ocean rather than Nevada, correct? So! First step ~ Acknowledge and accept where you are now to get you where you want to go.

I understand many have an issue with the word “accept”, as well. They think if they accept something, that means they don’t/wont change it. One definition of accept is “…to regard as true..”. So, all we’re doing is saying “this is true ~ now”. It doesn’t mean it will always be true. Some examples of this would be: “currently I am 100 pounds more than MY ideal weight…”; “currently, I have a tendency to sabotage my successes…”; “currently, I’m in a less than ideal relationship…”. That’s it! Currently! It doesn’t mean you can’t, wont or are unwilling to change. It’s just a place to start.

I’ve also found many have a problem tapping on the positive… “I totally and completely love and accept myself.” There’s a little voice inside that says… “.. no you don’t…” which is why so many of us self-sabotage and cannot be the weight we’d like to be, have the health we’d like to have or the other successes. We feel we don’t deserve.

One of the high points for one of my students was when she stopped reaching for the ice cream whenever she was stressed because she chose that ending (or something similar) whenever she tapped. She came to class and she was astounded at her success saying she’d NEVER felt love for herself until she tapped on that for a week.

What’s interesting too is how so many wont do the tapping. They’re resistant and will say things like “this is silly”; “this wont work, etc.” which is fine. EFT doesn’t need to be believed to “work” or make a difference. All I say is, do it and find out for yourself.

I even have a couple of students who call themselves “shower tappers”. They’ll do it in the shower yet feel silly doing it in front of anyone. Others tap anytime, anyplace, especially when they’re feeling unhealthy (for them) cravings coming up or anxiety coming up which leads to self-sabotage.

A quick definition of Emotional Freedom Technique or, EFT is a simple, direct approach to release and redirect blocked energy patterns in the body/mind. Some call it acupuncture without needles.

Founder Gary Craig explains it thusly: In essence, EFT is an emotional version of acupuncture wherein we stimulate certain meridian points by tapping on them with our fingertips. This addresses a new cause for emotional issues (unbalanced energy meridians). Properly done, this frequently reduces the therapeutic process from months or years down to hours or minutes. And, since emotional stress can contribute to pain, disease and physical ailments, we often find that EFT provides astonishing physical relief.

What’s great about it is, once you learn it, you can tap on anything to resolve numerous issues which is why on my “Tap Into Your Ideal Weight” page, I tell you you’ll be able to keep and use the tools I’ll be teaching during the live, interactive teleclass. EFT is only ONE of the tools I’ll be sharing.

For those who are interested in eliminating excess weight and the habits, cravings and emotional eating patterns that constantly sabotage diet and weight loss endeavors, my “Tap Into Your Ideal Weight” teleclass series begins Tuesday, Jan. 12, 5 p.m. Pacific; 8 p.m. Eastern. As I work individually with each person throughout the program, space is limited AND you’ll save $50 if you register before Jan. 1, 2010 (if seating lasts that long). Let this be the last year you put “go on a diet” as one of your new year’s resolutions!