Glute exercises are the most impactful. Learn why and what you can do about it below…
If you’ve ever been to physical therapy, the approach to restorative body healing uses repetitive movements, such as core, arm, leg, and glute exercises.
Like yoga, physical therapy exercises are healthy and help to increase your flexibility, strength, and balance.
When you’re not healing from an injury, your body is malleable and wants YOU to work out.
That’s our natural way, like horses and greyhound dogs that are born to race.
If they’re not galloping and running, they’ve lost the opportunity to do what they’re happily born to do. We as humans, similarly are naturally meant to think, be and do.
When we take the opportunity to get active and move, we gain energy and better our health, and that makes us feel better.
If your body could speak, it would say, “put me to work.”But your mind shares back, “I don’t feel like it,”…and then that puts an end to your physical activity. Your mind wins and you actually lose in that moment.
But if you could convince your mind that exercise is easy, effortless… oh, and fun! …whoaa, that could be a game-changer, and your mind, body and you could all be on the same page.
I’ve found (and maybe you agree), that if you find an easy, almost effortless, and rewarding routine, then you would continue doing (like your lifelong healthy eating diet plan)…
On that mission, I discovered some arm, leg, and glute exercises (described below), that give our overall delicate bodies, better results with little effort, that never gets old, and help you stay young and ageless.
Not to mention, the benefit of exercising without a gym. You can do these exercises when you just need a break (instead of opening the fridge for a snack or when you want to watch a few minutes of television).
This is more than 16 candles, it’s closer to 66 candles!
Sixteen Candles was one of the coming-of-age comedy genre movies that existed during the Brat Pack Days. If you don’t know what that is or means, don’t worry ‘bout it… if you’re interested in candles and aromatherapy healing, you’re in the right place.
And if you haven’t seen the 80’s classic movie, the Actress Molly Ringwald played the slightly quirky and embarrassed teenager who had a crush on the most popular boy in the school.
Her family forgets her 16th birthday around the planning of her sister’s wedding and all kinds of family chaos. With her signature pouty mouth and rolled eyes typical of teenagers (…remember those rebellious years?), her character, Samantha, says it all in this one line… “this is the single worst day of my entire life.”
Because when you’re a teenager everything is so magnified and important.
…Long story short, the movie has a sweet ending that includes birthday candles.
You and I have long passed our sweet 16th birthdays, and have created so many memories since. Whether yours was uneventful or memorable, you’ve survived.
And you can choose to live each day like a happy birthday if you’re doing and being well.
I was able to relive my fond memories by bringing out these bright cotton candy pink, white, sunny yellow, and navy blue candles, that have special meaning to me. They’re the ones you can find at the dollar stores. They were also the ones I saw on many kids’ birthday cakes.
…maybe you have a similar or favorite birthday memory that brings happy nostalgia feelings?
As an adult, you can make your own great memories, and that’s something to celebrate. One way I do regularly in joy and celebration is with scented candles that create a happier mood.
Scented candles can be healing for your soul. The light’s warmth and the aromatherapy effects, positively affect your mind and moods. Candles are powerful and healing. They can define a practice in a special way. You could be meditating, journaling, or just creating a new room atmosphere.
Sixteen Candles
These are my favorite balancing sixteen candles, that are easy to find online or at stores, and come in all shapes and sizes. There’s also one called “Birthday Cake” that smells like yellow or vanilla cake batter (similar to Christmas Cookie), but I think that candle is retired.
Sand + Fog candles Limoncello
Sand + Fog Mango Tangerine
Yankee Candle Christmas Cookie
Yankee Candle Vanilla Cupcake
Yankee Candle Juicy Citrus and Sea Salt
Yankee Candle Belgian Waffles
Yankee Candle Sugar & Spice
Yankee Candle Tangerine
Yankee Candle French Vanilla
Yankee Candle Pumpkin Pie
Village Candle Orange Dreamsicle – orange and vanilla candles have special powers over anxiety. If you don’t smell them or they’re sickenly sweet then it’s a good indicator that you’re Vata balanced overall at the moment… or if you never liked those scents, that’s not your natural dosha.
In America, our culture has noticeably woken up in awareness of this mind-body connection reality.
Your mental health is a reflection of your overall health, showing up in your physical body, through the internal mind-body connection.
If you were born before the internet, this could be a newer idea to you as you didn’t grow up with yoga or meditation practice.
In 2008, I attended yoga studios and classes weekly, but you had to do some research to find a general type of yoga class like Hatha or Vinyasa yoga. Over a decade later, you can find studios everywhere, for beginner and advanced yoga, and every class flavor in between.
This growing popularity of yoga in the western world bridged eastern philosophies that the mind directly affects the body. There’s a fine line between fact and woo, and distinction to spiritual thinking.
The mind-body connection is factually based, and you can find enough supportive evidence without too much effort on just about any credible mental health site. Personally, I’ve been living this out since my Perfect Health mind-body transformative experience.
Why the mind-body connection matters
Living in America, the bottom line to why mind-body connection matters to us are that we want to live our Best Self, so that:
1) we can have a great career, work-life, or business (or all three).
2) we can attract and keep a good relationship, have a happy family and friendships too.
3) we can stay healthy and look good and have the energy to pursue our passions, contribute, and give back.
Our Collective Bodies Today in America
In America, as a whole society, our bodies can get brushed aside unless we prioritize taking care of ourselves. This has stayed steady through the generations and hasn’t changed much from past decades.
It still takes work to maintain our bodies, and how much we do this can depend on our limitations, body, genes, lifestyle, attitudes, and thoughts.
We take care of our bodies, first so we can look good and appear healthy, and we’ll spend the money to invest in ourselves.
No matter what our motivations are, by taking care of our bodies with healthy foods, exercise, and good habits, our bodies are naturally resilient and strong, and we can get back to our normal health with relative ease if we’re healthy.
Like so many, when I was in my twenties I felt healthy enough, so having life longevity goals just wasn’t a top priority (like in other countries around the world).
In some other countries, patients are told they’re physically well so that they think themselves to better health. A healthy mind does good for the body.
In America, health prevention and pacing ourselves is not the way our society is set up. We don’t usually take the time to find out what’s going on behind the scenes in our bodies unless something goes wrong.
If we’re on the toilet too often or not enough, that becomes a mild concern as it’s telling us something about our current health story.
We hope and rely on modern medicine to cure and correct any building-up health problems.
If you go to the doctor’s office, they will prescribe some form of medication even if it’s just a mild pain killer. They won’t usually just send you home with happy thoughts and a list of foods to eat.
Expecting to hear something wrong and how to fix the problem can cause pre-conditioned responses. In thinking that we need medicine to heal or use as a “feel-better” crutch, addictions can take control (over minds and lives) if we’re not careful.
That can lead to hypochondriac thoughts and obsession over the smallest physical symptom that gets worse because of the excessive energy and worry thoughts put towards inflammation or ailment.
These are not good places for our minds to be. We want our thoughts to be happy, positive, and loving so we have healthy bodies (in the mind-body connection).
The thoughts that you agree with will drive your results. Stress eating and unknown caused inflammation that often gets brushed under the rug as minor, are potential signs that a place in your mind isn’t happy.
Practical Mindful Tips for Mind-Body Connection Health
Here, I want to give you some practical mind tips to positively affect your mental health, so you can improve your physical health. These can be wise gems you apply for longevity, overall good health, and a rockin’ body!
Begin with an open mind for what you want to achieve, whether that’s a great physical body or a healthy body, and your intention will help get you there in the mind-body connection.
Cracker Barrel menu vs. fast food is night and day. Cracker Barrel uses slow cooking methods for some dishes that us foodie enthusiasts appreciate! This homestyle burnt-top Cellantani and cheese (with a healthy option) recipe is below.
Homestyle burnt top baked macaroni and cheese reminds one of slow cooking, the Cracker Barrel restaurant, and the fond eating childhood memories. 🧡
In this post, you’ll get tips to lose weight from snacking, ordering off a Cracker Barrel menu, and how to make calories count! And how to to get the tasty burnt-top on your baked macaroni without drying out the pasta.
After your turkey feast has come and gone, what are the secrets to keep a healthy, trim body you aspire to? …I share my best tips below. And they don’t require giving up macaroni-n-cheese if that’s one of your favorites.
If you’re on the road, it’s easy to get off-balanced in your diet. I recommend the Cracker Barrel menu that’s loaded with options for a conscious calorie counter, where you can find a healthy meal for under a thousand calories. Real homey comfort food and not a frozen packaged one.
👇 You can get to my Cracker Barrrel menu selections if you scroll way below.
…But, as with most my blog articles, there is jam-packed meaty healthy inspiration and tips in between. So that’s where I’ll start… with my story.
My Food Life Lessons
I think I’m lucky because I have pretty much maintained the same ideal healthy weight since my late 20s (after some hairy years working around decadent catering food).
And yep, I’m a Vata so my genetics play a big, big part. I’m not a vain person, but I am self-conscious (another Vata trait we call sensitive). That could be you too.
We are all unique in that we have a different one-and-only body that’s given to us to maintain for our entire life. And that’s daily changing.
So we want to optimize our body and body image that’s relative to each of us. There are some tips that work for all of us females and humans. Some ideas that work better for some of us than others.
And you know your body better than anybody else.
For the lifestyle part, like everyone, I had to learn in life’s journey.
Early on I went into a testing phase and tried to listen to reliable sources about how to have a healthy body. I wanted to get more tone and slender so I tried the trendy health fad diets with so many others.
Back then, I focused on one diet in particular, where I counted calories. You can probably guess what happened?… I gained more weight during that season. I craved foods and especially pasta that I grew up eating and had given up.
I was also craving sweet foods I normally ate and gave up. If you have a sweet tooth (e.g. for Vatas that’s your middle name), bread just doesn’t cut it as a sweet if ya know what I mean.
That’s when I realized self-discipline and willpower produce backfiring results…
When I told myself “no” to certain foods, that just made me want them more. …sound familiar?
That’s because our minds, don’t actually hear “no.” Instead, your mind hears you’re putting energy towards that food item, so then you just want it more. English isn’t your mind and body’s first language. Your mind-body interprets words by your feelings and actions…hmmm.
…so I ended up essentially on a “yo-yo” diet, where I was below weight, gained it back, and then went over the weight that I started with as I got a taste of the foods I loved like mac-n-cheese.
These were years before Oprah was popular on television and we learned all about the yo-yo diet effects from her sharing journey to the masses.
And, weight and size are relative to each of our bodies. In my body size journey, I went down to a size 2 (from a size 6 at the time) and grew to a size 8.
I have fit into the same size clothing and maintained a size 4 since then (it’s funny how some clothing pieces have come back in style a few times and I can live them up again!). …OK, so before you judge or playfully roll your eyes at me, I KNOW what you’re thinking…
Oh my gosh, I would love to be a size 4 or 6 (if you are, you know what I’m talking about!)… Or maybe you prefer your ideal size whatever that is…
But the truth is, it doesn’t matter what your number, size, or weight is, as much as keeping overall balanced body proportions to your frame, where you like and feel better about yourself. When your feed your mind happiness, that shows up in a healthier body as body love (and NOT body shame).
That’s the ultimate goal (to feel good about ourselves and our self-image). We need to build up our self-esteem especially if it was beaten down in the past. You may have experienced PTSD or had a rocky childhood.
Or maybe you still need to heal from wounds, build self-confidence from insecurities, and develop an abundant mentality to replace the victim mentality. That’s common for most of us.
And like most personal growth goals, it’s up to you to make your choices along the way. That’s where replacing habits helps (plus, not denying yourself any one specific food or category to reach the goal).
Along my journey, these are a few tips I discovered in choices that I’ve found that make the biggest impact.
Workplace balance tips below can save you. And using Ayurveda in your work space can create a better work calm and stress-less zone.
A kitchari meal with egg is an Ayurvedic balancing meal. Recipe below. 🌱
This article has the perspective of Ayurveda workplace balance tips for the Western world modern office that can be stressful. And no a disco ball like this one I worked in is not needed. 😉
Despite its window view and disco ball, this was a tough office environment.
If the work could have been taken outdoors in nature that would have been more calming. Or even a photo of outdoors can help calm.
An example of a nature image you could have at your office desk.
And help create a collaborating and harmony environment that’s beneficial for productivity. In political organizations that have management hierarchies, finding those ways are the keys to mind freedom and better work life balance.
Because office relationships drive the bus for your success.
If you’re brave or want to develop your personal leadership skills, getting in tune with your co-workers can be worth the time and effort.
Taking your nose off the work grind and looking up at what’s going on around you no matter how busy you are, can pay off and change the way you see your work.
Learning to live balanced in your personal life plus incorporating Ayurveda workplace balance tips add up to your overall happiness.
Here are the 7 Ayurveda workplace balance tips to calm stress:
The first 5 tips are to benefit you and your surrounding co-workers (that apply to you too if you’re the boss!). The last 2 are for your edge-up with your higher-up boss manager.
1. Meetings. A subtle thing you can do is create a calm surrounding around you.
When you’re in inter-office meetings, bring your calming scents either in your coffee or tea mug, or wear subtle scents if others don’t have allergies that you’re aware of.
Beverage scent allergies don’t exist. Even people who don’t drink coffee don’t mind the brewed coffee scents, as they’ve gotten used to the aromatic smell.
Adding rose water in your coffee (…betcha that’s a slightly new one for you!) will help to calm you and the stressed worker next to you.
Match the desired beverage to the people you expect to be in your meeting.
You can also wear a subtle hint of patchouli or bergamot perfume scent.
…I know this can sound a ‘lil silly to be so coordinated. But why do you think when you walk into a nice spa or luxury hotel, the room you’re in smells so lovely and calming?
(The answer is, it changes how guests perceive their hotel property experience).
Being an ex-hotelier, I know the ways they try to win back return customers with subtle mood changers and amenities.
Scents help you and others stay calm and centered, and help to create a positive energy field.
On that note, keeping your smartphone in your pocket or a small bag from distracting notifications and silently vibrating phones can be what you need for a little peace moment.
You don’t see a phone in the yoga studio, so in the same way, you can treat your daily meetings with yourself like meditation breaks or an off-the-grid intentional focus session.
2. Your workspace. At your desk, play calming music like light classical music if you’re allowed to have music or sounds running in the background.
Like white noise, you can drown out some of the unimportant conversations and noises around you.
If you play relaxing sounds like ocean waves that can be too relaxing, you’re likely to put everyone to sleep including yourself.
Invite your manager to have meetings at your desk or space so you have the “home-court advantage,” as they’re coming to you and you’re not interrupting them.
Before their visit and preparing for unexpected visits, be sure you have an inviting space.
3. Have visible calming props. Watercolors paintings or pictures are good, such as Monet lilies and you can easily find a variety of blank cards or calendars from a gift and cards novelty store, that you can frame or rest on your desk.
It’s a similar to Zoom backgrounds where there’s an unspoken ambiance that’s created.
Pictures of your life are good for you, but they are distracting to others after they’ve seen them the first few times.
Competitive Pittas especially are very visual people. Many go-getting office workers are Type-A Pittas, so they will tend to look at your calming image choices and your surroundings.
Some other balancing items: bring in a perfectly round edible orange.
The California navel orange color and scent are good for calming worry-anxious energy.
And the scent from one fresh rose can soothe an angry-irritated mood. 💐
4. Take stressed co-workers out for tea or coffee. If you normally do lunch at your desk, taking a 15-minute break for tea or coffee with a co-worker is a good excuse to casually get to know them a little better.
If you’re short on time, bring them a new tea bag from home that they’ve never tried. For a Vata imbalance especially, this is going to be good and comforting, especially if it has cinnamon tones.
Next time you travel, find and collect unique souvenir treats that don’t have a short shelf life and you can offer up as a treat for “a better day.”
For a Pitta imbalance try bringing a lavender tea such as a lavender de-stress tea or a lemony flavor tea. Iced teas are good for irritated workers and even during winter, depending on their case severity.
For a Kapha, try a brisk Early Grey or If they love chocolate, bring them a piece. Chocolate is universally a happy gift. 😊
In a practical way, if you know that a co-worker is under a lot of stress or has recent demands in workload, then a stress-reducing tea is a thoughtful gesture.
You can also gift tea bags as a reason for conversation… and a great way to make work friends.
I know you’re wondering, “well… how do you know what balanced or imbalanced dosha(s) your co-workers have?”
In general, you’re better off just sticking with the basics with what they’ve told you they like or you see them with.
Everyone has traces of all the dosha profiles. And anyone can get imbalanced in any dosha at any time.
This is one of the core reasons why you can see a sudden mood or preference change in a co-worker when they say nothing is wrong as they may not know there’s anything different.
And why even if you’re paying attention and know what’s going on with them regularly, like with a cubicle mate friend that you visit often, you and they won’t always know.
And this is the same mysterious reason you prefer some foods, sounds, and activities now, that you didn’t like before. And then this changes again. It’s all connected.
You can call it a different season or mood, but your internal mind-body is always happening and changing, if ever so slightly like a second hand on a clock.
Your mind-body is always keeping score, so it’s good to practice Ayurveda workplace balance tips, habits, and ways, both at work and home.
Your mind-body is constantly revealing information about yourself.
That’s why the insight coming from the body balance quiz is invaluable for anyone in any season, and those you care about who is willing to dive deeper (like your friends… as you’re probably not gonna ask your boss to take a quiz unless you’re also friends).
5. Find a common interest with a core work group. Book clubs and fantasy football are common.
When you have a hobby, interest, or passion that you share in common, that creates a calm mind space.
Conversation creates harmony for workplace balance.
When you think of these work people that have a shared interest, you see them as humans and not just workers.
In one of my jobs, there were a group of women who liked scrapbooking photo albums (I think the hobby is still around and some of us have recent albums as proof 📔).
One attendee to one of the gatherings was a boss so we became work friends. So the dynamic changed and work was a better place.
That ice breaker made me see her in a different light, even though we didn’t discuss our common hobby when we were working.
6. Create a clean space for your manager to walk into. Clean and organizational tidyness shows respect for your workplace (where you’re working on “rented land”).
But, DO minimalistic-ally personalize. If you don’t have anything sitting on or around your desk, then you may not be occupying enough real estate.
If you’re too minimalistic, you will leave no mark or brand of who you are. And your manager can think you don’t have enough work to do. There’s a workplace balance needed with decor.
When you’re out, others may use your desk and it’ll look different when you come back.
This happens a lot with an Executive’s open office that is free of clutter or any personalization. And that’s up to you if you want that to happen.
When you make your workspace your second home, by taking up a little space, you create personal worth in your mind and can blend and balance your work-life better. You’re not just another employee.
Chair Facing Tip For Office Balance
How you situate your chairs in your office space matters. You want to a create a comfortable feeling space.
When you situate chairs facing the front of your desk where you sit, you’re in the power seat.
Anyone coming to see you feels like a subordinate. If you want to be collaborative, then you want them to sit more beside you. And even more open, they can see your computer screen and from your desk perspective. Rarely do you want your back facing the door.
If your manager comes to visit you, if they choose to sit, often you’ll usually see them either lean back or forward a little hunched to show they’re relaxed.
They’re the exception, as they’re never the subordinate in your workplace even if you’re more collaborative like in the tech industry.
7.If you want to have a meeting where your manager is more relaxed, arrange meetings with them late in the afternoon. This is a good opportunity if they say, “find a time on my calendar.”
As humans, we all get more tired as the day rolls on. By evening, we’ve done most of the important or urgent tasks for the day.
Stressed out managers (and micromanagers) are people too at the end of the day.
They look forward to the end of a long day as much as you do despite how they may come across.
You may encounter managers who are unprofessional, have a bulldog personality, or sharp edge. We’re all different in the workplace. And the workplace balance is finding how we work best together..
If you happen to find yourself in a defensive situation, and you sense a manager has had a bad day or week such as by acting grumpy or having irritated imbalance tendencies, acknowledge that, offer, and ask, “how can I help?”
Don’t worry that they would give you a list. That most likely won’t happen, at least not without huge thought. That would require more trust than they are willing to put on the line with just a conversation.
If they give you a general request, then do what they ask.
And in the case where they come back with a tall order, that shows that they respect you, you’re competent and probably worthy of promotion down the road. Plus, you get to learn something new. So it’s a win-win for you.
And in addtion to these tips you can implement right away to create a calmer (feeling) space and workplace, you can create a balancing spice kitchari work meal with rice and lentils.
A poached egg that’s easy to do (or egg whites) in minutes ontop of a kitchari meal could be the lunch that hits the spot.
If you want to add protein with your kitchari mixture of lentils and rice, adding an egg adds energy to your day. Coriander and cumin are cooling for Pitta balancing and ginger is good for digestion and Vata balancing. Black pepper enhances turmeric's anti-inflammatory effects and adds e a smokey subtle heat to the dish.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine ayurvedic, Indian
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
Ayurvedic spice mixture (coriander, cumin, turmeric, black pepper, ginger)
cooked lentils or mung beans
white rice
poached egg
Instructions
Cook your lentils and rice with spices.
Cook egg whites or poached eggs to top off your meal.