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Christmas Songs Therapy – List of 30

Christmas songs therapy is real. See a balancing list below good for your Ayurvedic moods. Plus a healthy Christmas tree cardamom recipe to balance out the holiday eating celebration. 🌲

christmas songs therapy can come with warm lights and festive concert colors.

You can get in holiday merry cheer with music that brings you back to the warm-and-fuzzy under-the-mistletoe feelings. 🎶 Ed Sheeran & Elton John have a “Merry Christmas” special duet and happy video to watch along to give you just that…

Peppy Christmas music can wake you up and help restore your mind and body’s anxious moods. If you have anxiety, brain fog, or need some joy, you can year-round get instant healing through the power of sounds, to calm and balance.

Below are 30 selected soothing Christmas songs therapy savers to help you relax your worried Vata, soothe Pitta, and wake up your Kapha sides. 🧘🏻‍♀️👯‍♂️

So often we think listening to music is nice entertainment, but it’s so much more as it’s used to heal the mind, body, and soul.

Music will do that faster through the ears to the mind, than food that can take the long route from the digestive body to mind.

And if you have setbacks, looming worry, or stress, know that it starts in your mind and shows up on your body in the mind-body connections.

If you have stress, the first warning signs can be a stress pimple, wrinkles, early gray hair, or other visible signs. And if you’re feeling depressed or the blues, you could hold onto extra pounds.

This is common around the holidays and winter months when seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can kick in.

You hear many stories of heart-related diseases around the holidays. The body usually gives earlier warning signs, but the holidays present a stressful time to many hearts.

So, using Christmas songs therapy and instrumental sounds is one totally healthy and often overlooked preventative way to keep your holidays happy and bright (from the start of the Advent to the end of the year).

Just a few minutes listening can be all you need to restoratively calm an anxious mind or soothe an irritated soul that needs rest and peaceful healing. And on then on the mend you can restore all your anxious, irritated and tired symptoms this season. Take the quick body balance quiz to see what you can do about these sour moods.

Christmas Songs Therapy For Calming Relaxation

Christmas songs therapy includes soothing songs, instrumental, classical music, and calm sounds.

1. Choral Classics (ethereal music) has a way of bringing peace-filled feelings, like the deep sound of a bell ringing that resonates.

When you hear classic Christmas songs in general, like “Noel,” sung by a melodic chorus in synchrony, they provide harmony to your mind. Even in a world of chaos, they can bring a feeling of peace and order, especially when feelings of uncertainty permeate.

2. “Noel” – Lauren Daigle has a modern twist to this classic Christmas song

3. “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” – Sarah Mclachlan (Wintersong Album)

Soothing Pitta From Irritation/Angry Feelings

4. Christmas Canon – Trans-Siberian Orchestra

5. Christmas Jazz – Kenny G Winter Wonderland

6. Dr. SaxLove – Snazzy instrumental saxophone

7. Kenny G saxophone – if you’re irritated, his instrumental music is known to hold the high notes longer that reach and impact your mind in a healing/soothing way

8. Ocean sounds – in real life, ocean waves are moving year-round (something for us to be grateful for as they affect the world climate). I have fond memories of going to the local beach in the winter when it’s off-season (and maybe you do also where you are). The waves are calm, and the beach uninhabited when everyone is indoors in hibernation

9. Tibetan Singing Bowls – these are used to start and end meditation sessions. Yoga instructors use these bowls for intentional yoga sessions. You can feel like you’re in a place of solitude (like monks).

Christmas Songs Therapy For Anxiety

Find indie music and off-beat music and chants.

Get out of the common everyday music and go into worldly music… in America, it’s easy to stick with the popular music bands that are advertised and played over and over again on television, radio, and half-time shows. You’ll get better mind-body satisfaction if you step out and explore other music. For a Vata especially, discovering fresh variety is going to be a breath of fresh air that awakens the mind if there’s a little Kapha going on.

10. “One Toy Solider” song And Winter Came Album – Enya

11. Amaratine Album (Special Christmas Edition)- Enya

12. The Reindeer Room – A Christmas Chillout Album – Most of the artists you won’t recognize but the instrument twists are not your usual beats. They have a futuristic vibe that you may detect. They are remakes of classic songs such as Sleigh Ride, White Christmas, and Little Drummer Boy

13. Gregorian chants that can make you feel like you’ve been whisked back in time

14. Chamber music (Saint-Saens Chamber music) – You feel like you’re listening from inside a music chamber

15. Crystal singing bowls. These sounds are so light and airy and can make you feel enlightened. They’re good to use while meditating or journaling and can be restorative for panic attacks

16. Waterfall or rain instrumental sounds that have varying tempos. Those light background sounds (including fire crackling) can restore stubborn moods

17. Christmas blues songs – unlike jazz, there are greater varied ranges and moods

18. Dee Yan Key – snazzy, upbeat instrumental that you can find in Music Archives to help you create or compose your own music

Waking Up the Tired Kapha or Depressed Mind

Find inspiration and music with heavier beats.

19. “Little Drummer Boy” – Pentatonix

20. “Do They Know It’s Christmas” (1984) – this is an oldie but goodie with a couple of George’s… Boy George, George Michael, Duran Duran, and a bunch of the famous rock singers of the past. So nostalgic (when the Brat Pack on film were popular…I digress), but you just can’t recreate the same 80’s happy music and the time period it represented

…if you start singing along to your favorite songs, you’re doing double good. You can’t be depressed and joyful at the same time. Singing no matter what you sound like, off-key or not, will make you feel better and open up your throat.

Another one…

21. “So This Is Christmas” – John Lennon (if you’re a Beatles fan)

22. Andrea Bocelli – “The Prayer” duet will wake up your heart and soul with the opera-esque components. Andrea’s amazing singing quality holds onto long high notes. Return to Love is a beautiful video where Andrea Bocelli serenades with a chorus, to his wife, that can remind you of fleeting moments. As a blind musician, Bocelli started his young career as an attorney. But he could sense the happiness and smiles that his singing brought to crowds and that’s what tipped his decision to become a professional musician

23. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is a classical classic, that’s good for balance. The violin in the spring concerto is going to be light and help wake up your senses. Summer is going to be fast and dramatic. Fall is light. Winter is best for Kapha imbalances, as it’s a faster tempo.

24. Another classic is listening to the music from The Nutcracker. You’ve probably seen the dreamy fairy tale performance before and can watch it online. The varying instruments piped into the drama is good for getting your mind out of routine.

25. Bret Eldridge – a cross between a big band, country, and Harry Connick, Jr.-esque. His fresh, modern take on class Christmas songs can awaken your senses

26. “Amazing Grace” – The Il Divo tenors are captivating to watch as they sing their parts of the same song

27. “Hallelujah” – Pentatonix has a chorus that’s refreshing to listen to especially if you’re in a mood funk. It’s like throwing a splash of warm water on your face as the singers echo melodies and imitate sounds

28. “Christmas Tree Farm” – Taylor Swift jingles can be a reminder of a jolly and hopeful time that Christmas is.

29. “Christmas Valentine” – Ingrid Michaelson and Jason Mraz (maybe he can add a Dancing with the Stars dance to his video?)

30. “Please Come Home For Christmas” – The John Mayer modern version with high guitar riffs, Jon Bon Jovi sultry version, or original Charles Brown oldie blues version can bring different moods. See if you can find the version that makes your day a couple minutes happier.

Just remember if you’re fatigued in any way, Christmas-y songs lift up your spirit. They will stay classic, as long as you want to remember them that way. We all grew up hearing the classic songs sung by different artists and repurposing an old song to a new version. Or are sung in collaboration with other artists. New re-made versions and meditative healing music are good for restoring different imbalances that your body is quietly thanking you for.

May your Advent season be happy and bright! 🌲

Print Recipe

Healthy Christmas Tree Cardamom Cookies

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1 cup flour (coconut flour or almond flour and AP blend recommended for healthy)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cardamom
1/2 cup softened butter or coconut oil
cinnamon and orange zest (optional for sweetness)

Instructions

Mix ingredients together to prepare cookie dough.
Form a disc and wrap in plastic. Let rest in refrigerator.
Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick.
Cut out tree shape or desired cookie shape.
Bake on cookie sheet on 350°F for about 12 minutes.

3 Thanksgiving Sayings To Adopt No Matter What Age

Thanksgiving sayings are appropriate for this time of year where the holiday can sneak up on us. And I have a cardamom Christmas tree cookie recipe below to get you ready. 🌲

…And then you’ll be prep ready for your Thanksgiving with a ‘lil family and social gathering prep.

Have you heard of the “Three Sisters” dish that’s popular in many cultures. This one is made in dip fashion with: acorn squash, corn, and white beans. Plus rice. This is a good hearty meal to appreciate harvest season and Thanksgiving. Keep the seeds of acorn squash that are loaded with anti-inflammatory goodness. Roast those up for an exceptionally healthy snack when you run out of salty ideas!

Thanksgiving sayings are appropriate for this time of year where the holiday can sneak up on us.

During the harvest season is a chance to be extra thankful, and especially on Thanksgiving. Maybe you’ve been planning a trip for months that you’re grateful for. And thankful or excited that travel or gas prices have come down for once. And you get to take time or a day off. Relative to our lives, there’s always something we can be grateful for.

And wherever you are on Thanksgiving, it’s a great time to take moments to reflect on what’s working (like a healthy body) and what you appreciate in your life. Plus, self-audit how far you’ve come since last year. Each Thanksgiving is a new season of growth.

And one way to grow is to change or tweak up your vocabulary. Often we pick up sayings in culture. Some that are trendy. Like the Gen Alpha kids of today use sayings like “sigma” as the leader of a pack. As the alpha, they may even have a lot of “rizz” or charisma.

Using sayings like these are TikTok culture-based that spreads like wildfire news, but one day those sayings will be replaced.

For those of us growing up in the Gen X generation, we also had come-and-go sayings. Some of them are old-fashioned, but timeless.

They are phrases that are appropriate for Thanksgiving occasions and in everyday life. They will take you far in life if you use them more often…

And when you practice these Thanksgiving sayings in your life, you’re developing valuable communication skills that are well-received across many generations. Especially if you want to be an Alpha. 🧡

The good Thanksgiving sayings have gotten lost over the recent years. This article is a good reminder for developing our healthy personal growth practices (and is timely heading toward a new year).

Good Thanksgiving Sayings

Say thank you. The greatest tip I got early on in one of my corporate work settings is, if you don’t know what to say just say “thank you.” This was in reference to sales work where my job was to talk. And sometimes too much. So using a simple phrase like “thank you” was a good piece of advice.

And that has stuck with me all these years. Because you can’t go wrong with those two words. You won’t regret those words as they are general, but for a specific situation.

And “thank you” can never be said enough. It is timelessly welcomed and always a kind gesture whether you’re passing food around the table or someone does something favorable that you’re involved with. And all the languages I know have an equivalent. It sets you apart as an adult.

Daily, it’s also good to have a thankful gratitude practice. Gratitude opens doors in the morning when looking out the window, in the shower to open yourself up to ideas, or in your yoga pose openers as a few examples.

In yoga, it’s easy to be thankful for what your body can do for you. We can easily take for granted our healthy bodies, but in yoga we’re prompted to think about our every body part including individual fingers and from head to toe.

Say “excuse me.” These days it’s not as usual for people under middle age to say “excuse me” unless they’re an old soul or have learned to say this growing up.

It’s part of the old fashioned etiquette we had when I was growing up that never grows old. When you say those two polite words, they open doors… literally, you walk past others and through open doors with kind gestures.

“Excuse me” is a way to acknowledge someone’s presence in close proximity. And it’s a good self-awareness opener to say when you have a question for a stranger.

It gets attention because it’s polite. Instead of nobody turning their head around, you get the receptive somebody to turn around.

That someone isn’t always in their headset world and recognizes “excuse me” as words in the same language. And they realize that their requested attention is not required.

People who kindly say “excuse me” rarely are annoyances to your day as self-aware.

And those who say “please” are trying to recognize they are making a request. So…

Please say “please.” This word works for all ages. You can use this word on adults… and older children where that reminds them that consideration is not dead in this world. And so, they learn to say please.

I learned this at work when I was still learning the ropes to working with others and delegating. I saw how a simple word like “please” when not overused went over well.

Instead of ordering requests that nobody wants to succumb to, it’s received as a request. And the gift is you get your request.

When you have those 3 Thanksgiving sayings down pat and use in your regular vocabulary, you’ll see your life change.

By demonstrating that you’re a respectful human, there’s a certain level of karma respect you’ll get back from the right people around you.

But the greatest change is that you’ll become calmer and have more peace. No one angry says those Thanksgiving sayings without a sarcastic tone. It takes self-control and when you’re calm, you develop more self-awareness.

And that’s something we have abundant room for in this world, and as you become your best self.

Happy Thanksgiving and abundant Harvest Season! 🦃

These healthy Pandan ricotta iced cookie trees are ever-green abundant as are the pinecones this evergreen time of year. 🌲

Print Recipe

Healthy Christmas Tree Cardamom Cookies

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1 cup flour (coconut flour or almond flour and AP blend recommended for healthy)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cardamom
1/2 cup softened butter or coconut oil
cinnamon and orange zest (optional for sweetness)

Instructions

Mix ingredients together to prepare cookie dough.
Form a disc and wrap in plastic. Let rest in refrigerator.
Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick.
Cut out tree shape or desired cookie shape.
Bake on cookie sheet on 350°F for about 12 minutes.

Mountain Pose Journey For Kapha Stimulation

Mountain Pose is a great way to get you into your daily groove in more ways than one. Mountain Pose yoga for starters can be a morning pose to wake up your body.

Standing tall with hands in the air helps additional blood circulation and Kapha stimulation esp. when you’re in a tired season (that can rob any imbalanced Kapha mind-body of excited feelings).

This article is about how to use Mountain Pose this season, both in yoga and climbing your mountain top or hill.

Yoga Mountain Pose

To get the most out of your Yoga Mountain pose, swoop swan dive arms gracefully down like your arms are eagle spanning wings. And then forward fold your hands to your yoga mat or your ankles grounded on the floor. 🦅

And then weightlessly reverse swan dive your arms back up into the air. That’s a good way to be purposeful in your daily moves.

It’s a way to finesse your ways as you grow, and is a good metaphor for personal growth moves with intentional motion today.

Repeat your Mountain Pose, but next time, coordinate your deep breaths, with inhales up and exhales down in going up and down your pose. This keeps you purposefully engaged from head to toe.

Remember this Mountain Pose and your breath practice when you’re outdoors on a walk, hike, or journey up a mountain.

This outdoor practice is a great way to get energy flowing when you’re lacking energy, need new calm headspace, or just a ‘lil motivational push. It’s great exercise for your entire body.

And when you challenge yourself to get up a mountain if you’re nearby to one, you’ll get all the mind-body benefits.

If you’re feeling tired, stop and take a sip of water to refuel. Look around at your surroundings in awareness and mindfulness. Maybe do your stretching Tree Pose.

“They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

Mountain climbing is a great way to accompany a mini-sabbatical journey. What’s interesting about each hike, is that there are different trails to choose from.

And every day, each trail is slightly different because the nature elements change… everything from the trees, sky, and ground you walk and rely on with each step.

Changing foliage reminds us that this moment is just a blink.

When you come back around, leaves and twigs have fallen and flowers and fruit change up the scenery.

Selecting a path or trail that suits you is fun. Take the hike that inspires you or sounds inspiring. The first time will always be a surprise. 🎉

Usually people who’ve never been on a trail, listen to what others have told them who have walked the trail. Sometimes it’s better to listen to your heart and nature as guides instead of other’s opinions.

Because we all interpret differently…

One time, I kept hearing the message about how much more difficult a specific trail would be. That reminds me of younger years when we didn’t have info. at our fingertips.

And so I avoided that one as a first-timer, so I could build up.

And then when I actually did the hike, I found it was the easier one than the long winded one. The “strenuous” reputation trail had hundreds of steps at the end, and that’s what was meant by “harder.”

But, steps to me actually shortcut the climb process because it provides interest and variety that keeps present awareness. So fully engaged, that feels like the process is sped up.

Mindful about your uneven steps, you’re already at the top before you know it.

The alternative is to take a longer trail path without a steep incline and as many steps. And that’s where natural Kapha tendencies differ from Vatas.

Know Your Individual Strengths

There’s a general fork in the road in body types.

Kaphas naturally prefer the endurance exercise which means longer courses and duration over steps that is perceived as work.

Vatas prefer the shorter, variety trail with different interest points that doesn’t seem like work.

And Pittas just want the challenge, so either trail is fine as long as there’s a little sprinting up and down the hill that wouldn’t hurt either. 😉

Each of us have our body strengths.

Climbing trails is an individual journey.

And in each season, we’re holding onto an imbalance even if just a smidge that we can course correct on our individual journey.

The first steps are the ones that can be mentally the hardest to get going on. And a part of you might be wondering: is it too late to turn around?

But when you focus on the baby steps of each step, it’s easier. You remove the blocks. And actually that’s what little kids on the trails do on their steps. They enjoy the climbing challenge and play with the immovable Lego blocks.

We need more of that in our everyday, where we look forward to trying a healthy challenge as part of our play.

It’s great natural exercise in the process.

With every step and turn, you can find your balance and appreciate how your body assets work for you.

Having a nudge motivation like seeing the mountain top view helps us get to the goal. The cherry on the top of the mountain doesn’t disappoint. And that’s a general consensus for all…

The ending is predictable. But the getting-there journey is not. The middle changes as you get different perspectives. And the next time, you’ve grown some. So you see life from a different lens and that can help you maneuver this season.

Balancing Kapha On Your Trail

If you’re needing a little push out of a tired mind that can make a tired body, on your trail, look for pops of color like fiery red leaves in autumn. Or berries on trees.

Wear a pop of color on your arm or shoes… (if you’re drawn to the bright or neon colors, that could be why as your body is intuitive). Just a pop of color though because bees are attracted to bright clothing and mountain air. 🐝 We can share the calm space.

Find a pine cone or forest fresh scent. Some natural bug spray scents have lemongrass and rosemary that help to wake up the senses. They’ll keep the certain bugs away and keep you awake.

Take energy food and water. Great snacks are nuts and energy bites. So, ready to get your Mountain pose on? ⛰️

Print Recipe

Gluten-Free Carrot Bread Squares

Course Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1/2 cup gluten-free almond flour or coconut flour
1/2 cup oats
2 eggs
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp honey
1/2 cup raisins and chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/2 tsp of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg each (optional)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Mix ingredients and bake on 350°F for about 40 minutes.

Homemade energy squares with: carrots, raisins, coconut, and apple cider vinegar.

Relaxing Easy Autumn Bread Recipes to Inspire You

autumn leaves inspires autumn creativity and autumn bread recipes for me that i share in this blog article. — When you blend autumn leaves together, they look like a colorful painting that life is. And that can give you inspiration for expressing creativity and your creative talents! One way I like to stay creative and express creativity is through baking. I share autumn recipe inspiration below that can help YOU find your colors. 🌈

Autumn bread recipes can be comforting for the soul. After baked, the hearty loafs with sweet or savory flavors bring moments of joy and satisfaction.

And creating your own easy autumn bread recipes is easy when you know what to do! You probably already have the few essential bread making ingredients needed in your kitchen cupboard. So you’re already half-way (or more) there to spark your inspiration. 🎨

After you’ve practiced and perfected your foundational bread making skills (aka making progress over perfection), you realize you don’t need “special” recipes to create your own bread masterpiece that will wow your taste buds and friends.

…And that can even be a table centerpiece for a few days, just long enough for you to have that enjoyment factor before it wears off. 😉

The simple things like bread can bring the most joy in this life. 🎉

And with satisfied feelings, bread baking is more an art, than a science experiment with baking measurements (in case that scares you off).

Bread chemistry science happens in the oven, so it’s mostly outta your hands! That can be comforting and take the pressure off.

And below step-by-step, I show you the easiest bread you can make and bake.

Your part is to put your love in your bread dough making process, and not to get mired down with complicated step-by-steps that doesn’t always pan out.

…And I learned this over many self-taught bread lessons. The a-ha is that sticking to the basics pans out every time. And that’s good for balancing Vata where the balance recipe is consistency.

The secret in making good bread is using your calm energy and heart where you enjoy the process. And maybe finding your bread making relaxing place, kinda like the one you find outdoors on a perfect fall day with no clouds in the sky.And then when the clouds roll in, spend time in your kitchen making progress on your bread baking skills. 🥖

Bread Making 101

Starting with pizza dough or crust is one easy way to learn bread making.

Because pizza crust is bread, and even if there’s no or low rise (or you don’t get it exactly right the first time), it usually tastes great. And will get eaten in minutes if you have delicious ingredients as toppings.

Oh, btw, did I mention I was a pizza maker for 4 teenage years, lol?

So in many ways, I got my feet wet with bread baking lessons starting from a young age. And in my more mature weekly recent home baking experiences, my pizza making lessons come inspired from those years.

When I do the bread in the young at heart way, then it works out. And you can do this too with practice.

You need four common ingredients: bread flour, water, salt, and instant yeast.

(Tip: keep the salt and yeast in separate corners of the flour before the dough is formed, as salt can kill the yeast early on).

After breaking down the gluten by kneading and then forming a cohesive dough ball, you can let the dough rest and proof in a covered plastic bowl for a couple hours or longer. That’s proof that even bread need rest! 😁

You will get the hang of the elastic dough texture (like soft Play-doh) after you do it a few times. It becomes some of the easiest baking prep you can do!

Instead of intricately cutting out cookies or delicately icing your cake just right, bread doesn’t need slicing or icing precision. You might add a decorative incision or a glaze at the end, but those take less focused gaze on your part.

You can make rustic and airy bread when feeling a bit Kapha tired because it doesn’t require finesse (for my Great British Baking show friends who like to make cottage loafs). 🎪

Spice up autumn bread recipes with cinnamon like this bread muffin.

The hardest part (if there is one), is remembering to make and prep the dough hours or a day in advance, so the dough has time to proof. You let nature of time do the work.

So here are the easy steps to by pass flops. This is the skinny on what does work for quick bread making wins… and without making skinny bread! 🍞

Learn to Make Inspired French Bread Pizza Crust

Once called “poor man’s bread,” this is actually an American invention that students love. In the public high school cafeteria I ate in, French bread pizza made a debut on certain days kinda like Taco Tuesdays.

With the same 4 ingredients you make pizza crust dough (mentioned above). After proofed, move the dough over to your baking sheet, and shape your dough in an oval or more football shape than a pizza circle.

Use a little bench flour to prevent sticky dough on your hands and the baking sheet.

When you’re about ready to bake and your oven is pre-heated to 350°F/180°C, you can flatten the dough center if you’ll be adding toppings that are wet like tomatoes.

Or make your traditional French bread pizza with cheese and sauce only, and leave the center alone so it can rise in the middle (or the reason why you proofed the dough in the first place).

The trick to airy bread loafs, is to gently handle your dough (kinda like in baking cakes where at times you want to fold in your batter or ingredients like meringue whites, so you don’t flatten and knock out the air you just worked on).BUT, you’re the artisan, so you decide!

And then bake (or be-ake! in Great British Bake Off terms).

Healthy Autumn Bread for Balancing Vata and Kapha

Keeping bread healthy, breads that have light airy pockets like French bread interiors or pita bread will not be as heavy and can melt in the mouth.

Here’s the quick bread breakdown low-down on body science:

When bread first enters our mouths, the breakdown starts as an enzyme called amylase in your mouth that initiates the process. Bread is one of the unique foods that doesn’t have to get to your gut first to start digesting (breakdown).

And it’s also one food, if not chewed well in the mouth, that can sit in your stomach like lead (or at least feel that way).

If you have a Vata sensitive stomach or bloating that’s common, or more a Kapha body who’s trying to lose weight, then not eating as much dense bread like sandwich rolls and fast food buns definitely helps your healthy cause.

Whole grain and sprouted breads are wholesome alternatives that could be a game changer for your heartier and healthier bread life.

3 Sweet A-B-C Healthy Recipes (From Autumn Bread Recipes)

And when you have a sweet tooth, these are some autumn healthy wise tips and healthy recipes that can easily turn into healthy autumn bread recipes.

What I most appreciate about easy autumn bread recipes are the intense hearty flavors. Hearty is anti-inflammatory spices and ingredients. It’s healthy comforting food alongside your meals.

You can sweeten pair with a divine pear and cinnamon duo or add a chai tea flavor twist. And you can turn autumn bread recipes into a bread cake, scone, or muffin recipe with just a few simple tweaks.

Sweet autumn bread recipes like these braided bread ones often have cinnamon or chai spices.

And these 3 sweet autumn baking recipes below are the healthy (my fave kind!)… with these ABC’s: apple, banana, or citrus orange. And loaded with other fall healthy spice and vinegar ingredients. And have no shortage of flavor burst wow! 🤩

Fall Apple Bundt Bread Cake with ACV (or pears) are loaded with polyphenols and apple cider vinegar is shown to lower blood sugar levels that’s good for losing weight and reducing risk of diabetes.

Healthy Fall Apple Bundt Cake Recipe

Chocolate Banana Cake Bread – banana and cocoa is loaded with polyphenols. Both will help to put a smile on your face so you don’t have to reach for processed foods and refined sugar sweets that lead to weight gain.

Chocolate Banana Cake Bread Recipe

Orange Scone – orange zest as a sweetner is loaded with Vitamin C and flavanoids. High in fiber and water content, that will help you feel full so you don’t eat other “bad” sweets with refined sugars.

Orange Scone Recipe

And before I leave you this week, I’m sharing some work inspiration from having professionally planned thousands of party menus with Lebanese food stirring up memories because of the pomegranates, that are an in-season autumn fruit. The red rubies are a dazzling pop of color that leave a juicy finish.

What do ya think?

Mind-Body Balance + Active Bridge Pose Metaphor

mind-body-balance

I just finished an Ayurvedic series and am starting a mind-body balance series TODAY.

This NEW series on Mind-Body Balance is I believe so important for our happiness. Because our mind-body’s off-ness or imbalance that we can restore, is the cause of why we’re feeling:

…misaligned with the natural season

…distant from our peaceful-joyful selves

…or, lack of clarity that’s different than uncertainty that’s part of this life.

And the good news is we’re able and empowered to restore what’s naturally meant to be ours… and mind-body balance is one of those life benefits.

One sign that we’re on a good track is when we feel mostly clarity…

Clarity defined as grounded in knowing who we are despite daily situations that change and shake us up.

Life situations play out and can put any of us in a funk. That’s a good reason to not take life situations so seriously… and instead, slip back to leaning into our naturally designed groove of being happy and living healthy.

Because if you’re not happy, those undertone feelings show up in and on your body… and preventing this is what mind-body balance is about on a practical level.

The below tips are to help you walk through imbalances and for the next time…

But, before jumping in, I just wanted to mention the next part will be about Mind tips as related to the mind-body equation. And then the last part will be on the Body in the mind-body that you may not have been informed of or thought about in those ways. So you can discover more about you and empowering better outcomes.

…Because you do have a choice in all three: your mind-body, mind, and body life.

If you believe that your happiness exists within you and not your situations, you can have your best season yet.

So clearing the mind is such an important tool to gain clarity on helpful beliefs, feeling better, and making better daily decisions.

Suggestion Reminder Steps to Feel Better

One good step and reminder is to take multiple deep breaths. Taking conscious breaths clears the air instantly…

You get a pause break from active thoughts, and you pump in life-giving new oxygen into your body, while pumping out old air. You get the chance to exhale bad energy and anxious thoughts not grounded in full reality.

You can realize in the moment that your thoughts are only part of the equation in any life situation.

And, maybe you take a few moments for a few deep breaths now to help you with your mind-body health.

Did you do that?

And, the second suggestion is to take a few minutes in silence by yourself every day where all you hear is the white noise in the background. You can do this in a quiet room with a door or at a quiet park. Listen to your mind-body…

Connect with your mind-body where you’re in tune with your heart’s whispers.

The mind-body is interconnected in a deeper way than the physical mind and body (e.g. organs like the brain and skin).

And connect the idea that symptoms on your body show up as outcomes from your carried thought-feelings.

That was revelatory for me years ago because that helped me to grasp how to change thoughts at any moment.

It’s a mental exercise that isn’t visible so it’s not as easy as say, picking up a ball where you don’t have to be as fully mind present.

And it’s one where we can have a block if we never embraced changing thoughts.

We can start by acknowledging that it’s healthy to agree to disagree with ourselves sometimes and exit out the negative thoughts. And we’re healthy wise to do so often!

But our ego tries to sabotage these efforts. And it takes mental power to fight our ego as it fights for us to be right with ourselves.

And most of us don’t have reinforcement backups, as we weren’t taught by our caretakers or teachers to debate ourselves. …Ah, but those old ways are old school.

…And I believe is the cause of us not living our best lives sooner. Until we can get to this more humble place of admitting our minds could be wrong, our outcomes are lesser than they could be.

Of course… this is by no fault of anyone as we were born into this mind and body… but now that we know better, we can do better.

We have to outsmart our programmed machinery.

And for me, that led to awareness, getting past my ego thoughts, and to the root of PTSD thoughts that I previously was oblivious to and then was one day aware (much like someone blindsided).

And you can too can uncover the wounds that need scar healing if you dial back your ego trying to mask imperfection… and if you tune into your deeper mind-body that’ll help reveal blind spots so you can get out of the lesser life and into your peaceful, whole, and abundant life. That’s why quiet time is super helpful.

And in busier moment times, emotional outbursts or displaced anger, irritation, anxiety, and withdrawal sub-feelings and undertones usually mean there are blind spots that need healing.

Blindly in our busy lives, any of us can carry around these past feelings and hurts, that are still presently heavy burdens that disturb our natural mind-body balance.

And if left unattended, they show up as accumulated body stressors that can lead to scientifically-known early aging and chronic diseases.

But you can claim back unnecessary unhappy years and seasons with a little effort on your part…

With humility, openness, and a desire to grow, you will save yourself and open yourself up to better opportunities.

Getting Mind-Body Balanced

1.Being and keeping aware is not overused. It’s imperative to bringing light out of darkness feelings… as is, connecting dots in your past to your present. And consistently flipping the negative thoughts to positives.

…Or said another way, gaining peace of mind, where you have less outbursts and negative reactions. And one day, no outbursts. That’s definitely possible! I’m living evidence 💕

And then, you enjoy more of your day. And you get more out of this life. You meet your higher potential that’s greater than what you originally thought was possible.

You don’t fear uncertainty as you’ve made peace with that, and you worry less (or not at all). You take moments in each day and use them as brand new chances to build off the days before.

And you use your past experiences in a beneficial way. And those new perspectives bring you better outcomes.

And when you believe deeply in your mind-body that all is possible, you speed up your growth and bypass ego’s tricks.

2. Uncover and replace mind-body blockage like that found in PTSD. This means confronting your feelings and questioning why those happen when you feel them. Make them visible.

And if you’re in a temporary funk, call that out. So you can figure it out. Exchange for a loving and life-giving belief.

And one great way to do that is to have a yoga pose that serves as a mind-body reminder.

And habit stack after walking around or whatever your favorite moving activity is. Or do it as a stretch before you get out of bed in the morning.

In the Blue Zones, the living 100 year olds in those concentrated zones do mostly natural activities that use their bodies and not machines for exercise.

And they also celebrate with yoga that’s a natural move in getting up and sitting down. In our younger, modern, and Western societies, we can do that too.

We optimize when we activate our mind-body and are aware that we’re naturally getting up and sitting down, using our body. And that awareness helps to calm us just like active breathwork.

Mind-Body Active Bridge Pose

A natural active bridge is an active body pose in motion. And you can combine with that your deep breaths.

Bridge pose is one you can make active and fun.

Here’s how:

You can use a yoga block to heighten your bridge. You can stack two blocks on the shorter height sides… or use the taller skyscraper building block side as your back support.

You want to place the edge of the block where the top of your tailbone meets your back (and the rest of the block or blocks are toward your buttocks and not your upper back).

Challenge yourself… reach to your outer edge limits!

It’s at that block meeting intersection where your legs take off, bend at the knees, and are grounded by your feet. And the fun comes in when you remove the block.

You can use this as a mind-body balance reminder: where you no longer need a crutch support like a block. And in awareness, you’re removing the yoga block and mental block that could be anything holding you back.

And when you release down, you let go of whatever that is… maybe it’s the how something turns out, control over someone else, past hurts, PTSD, etc. And that can start the process to heal.

And you maybe hold the block (or a dumbbell weight) close to your pelvic area and move your hips up and down.

Use the block as a peaceful symbol that you’re now aware of how what you let go of is easy now to see in front of you, and you know what to do.

…And the block whether it’s under your bridge or in your hands is in your control and helping to build strength in your life. In active moving bridge, you’ll also feel it in your buttocks and upper hind legs (hamstrings), so you have a full mind-body balance pose. 🧘🏻‍♀️

Ayurvedic Series:

Part 1 – Pitta/inflammation

Part 2 – Vata anxiety vs. nervous

Part 3 – Kapha awareness

For a mind-body balance recipe, you can make this star beet granola pan. Beets and cinnamon are good for Vata. Oatmeal is a good meal before practicing yoga. And this is a good snack to help tie you over 🌟

Star Beet Granola Pan

Equipment

plastic wrap

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup light olive oil
1/2 cup raw honey
chocolate, melted
beet powder
crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

Combine dry ingredients and then mix in wet ingredients.
Bake granola for about 25-40 minutes at 325°F or until toasted.
To make chocolate topping. Prepare chocolate on display pan you will be using. Take a piece of plastic wrap and put on top. Add melted chocolate and pour onto plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chocolate is hard. After granola is baked and cooled, you can pour into the pan and then add the hardened chocolate ontop removing the plastic.
To make beet heart: take a star stencil or make a star cutout with cardboard. Add beet powder to create star shape. For fallen star effect, use tweezers to pull out the yellow pepper flakes (found in crushed red pepper flakes) to make a fallen line.