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35-Second Eye Lift for Winter Blues

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

How are you feeling right now? It is cold outside and most of us are having winter blues or suffering from seasonal depression, am I right?

Well, let us change that!

Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy & strong. The amount of work is the same.~Francesca Reigler

Let us spend some quality time on ourselves, taking care of our body and our skin including face and neck area. We can make some warming soups to take 10 years off our skin, practice food meditation as a stress relief tool and weight loss technique, learn foot massage for weight loss and better sleep, get rid of anger and frustration with Sun Salutation, and of course, try some facials for your winter skin.

Another great idea is to have your “ME Time“with 60-minute Retreats on my Radio Show for Women “Feel and Look Fabulous with Irina”.The show is dedicated to helping women feel and look fabulous naturally.

Or you can try something new, this facial fitness exercise that will make you look younger and feel happier.

If you enjoyed my video tip Three-Step Face Lift , you will definitely like this 35-second eye lift with Cynthia Rowland.

Click here to listen to our interview and get more tips on facial exercises with Cynthia Rowland.

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition

and Relationship Expert and Radio Show Host

NaturalCounselor.com

Posted in Beauty Remedies | 2 Responses »
Tags: Attitude, Eye Lift Exercise, Feel Happier, happiness, Look Younger, Winter Blues

May Your Dreams Come True

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

I would like to share with you beautiful wishes from my friend Melissa Zollo: blue_skies

May you begin each day with a joyfully renewed spirit, and embrace new experiences with gratitude for participating in a new beginning.

May you forgive others and yourself for anything spoken or left unspoken, carried out or left unfinished that could possibly keep you from living a full, rich, peaceful, and happy life.

May you recognize yourself as a joy-filled person, capable of receiving the abundance that is yours to receive.

May you understand that you already are the magnificent being you long to be.

May you be aware that you are loved and cherished unconditionally and may you be filled with joy, wonder and hope.

May you feel calm, courageous, confident and assured in every moment, place, and circumstance of your life.

May you create a beautiful and fulfilling story of life that continually unfolds !

May you realize that love unites. Love heals. Loves restores and increases your confidence and self-esteem.

May you welcome 2009 feeling wonderful, fortunate, healed, and aware that this is the year that your dreams come true!

Melissa Zollo, Imagination, law of attraction and self motivation specialist, is the author of “Discover the Power of Imagination” and “How to Unleash the Power With and Attract Money” CD audio programs. FREE daily tips and newsletter available at www.presentmemory.com

And as always, don’t forget to breathe, smile and be happy.

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition and Relationship Expert

NaturalCounselor.com

Posted in Self Motivation | No Responses »
Tags: Alternative Health, Dreams, happiness

Healthy Apple and Mushroom Stuffing Recipe

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

Image by miss_rogue via Flickr

I don’t eat meat, only fish, unlike my family, so I always have to compromise to keep everybody happy including myself. I hope this alternative to traditional stuffing recipe will make you also feel happy during your family Thanksgiving Dinner. You know why? Because it will help you not to gain weight and stay healthy during cold and flu season.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup cooked wild rice
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
2 big organic apples peeled and diced
1 cup walnuts
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup dill or cilantro
2 cups vegetable soup stock
1 tsp minced lemon peel
Seaweed Gomasio (sesame seeds, seaweed and sea salt) and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Sautee onions and mushrooms in olive oil for about 8-10 minutes. Add apples and cook another 4-5 minutes. Mix all ingredients in a bowl; taste it and make it extra moist. Bake in an oiled, covered casserole at 350 degrees for 20 -30 minutes.

Bon Appetit and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Let me know if you and your family like this recipe.

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition and Relationship Expert

NaturalCounselor.com

More Healthy Recipes

Apple Cider Cake

Healthy Butternut/Acorn Soup

Four Reasons to Eat Apples

Posted in Nutrition and Recipes | No Responses »
Tags: Apples, Baking, Cold and Flu Season, Cook, Diet and Nutrition, family, happiness, health, Healthy recipes, nutrition, Olive oil, Recipe, Thanksgiving Recipes

The Healing Power of Imagination — Open the Gateway to the Fulfillment of Dreams

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

My friend and colleague Melissa Zollo is my guest blogger today. Here is her article for you to enjoy.

Can you claim with complete certainty that within you is a powerful healing presence? Do you speak the words “I am healed in every way” every morning with inner conviction, remaining calm in the face of appearances and adversity, expecting new and wondrous results? Or do you mutter affirmations and then proceed to neutralize every positive idea you spoke once you read the morning paper, listen to the TV or have coffee with a friend trapped by gossip or greed?

Tortured by Content

One of the things that tortures most people, (no matter what they possess or how important they think they are), is the contents of their own mind. Torturous memories, images and feelings invade their mind from the time they start their day until they take a pill to fall asleep at night. A steady stream of endless fears and doubts dominates their focus, conversations and actions. They do their best to avoid their fears but avoida

nce will not neutralize an error pattern or habit.

All Causation is Imaginal (mental)

TheImaginal Dynamic explains how we can rise in consciousness into the ethericworld, create a mental blueprint, step into the world of thought and rebuild our beliefs and emotionalize ideas until we create a force field of energy around us that radiates out from us and attracts back to us people, things, and situations in harmony in the physical world.
The Imaginal Dynamic, Power of Imagination and the creative/imaging process is very misunderstood by most people. I feel once understood it addresses the underlying problem behind manifestation and points out the truth of life that can help us solve our problems, overcome challenges, and fulfill our dreams.
The Imaginal Dynamic helps us realize that there is only One Power, One Life-Principle, One Imagination and we are that Oneness. Call it the Living Spirit, God, Divine Imagination, or Consciousness, we could not change, move, shift or realign ourselves without the Consciousness of Infinite Intelligence within us.

Spirit Is indicates that the Master Architect, Originator and Source of the Universe is ultimate, infinite, imaginative, ever-present and complete, but the image, blueprint or plan of this Living Infinite Spirit is always unfolding in the workshop of imagination.

Harness the Power of Imagination

“The secret of imagining is the greatest of all problems to the solution of which the mystic aspires. Supreme power, supreme wisdom, supreme delight lie in the far-off solution of this mystery”, so writes Edward D. Faucett.

It is impossible for the sick person to find health, or a poor person to attract wealth, or the miserable person to find happiness, or a failure to become successful in the physical world no matter who he knows or what he does until he first images himself to be healthy, wealthy, happy, and successful. Results follow our mental impressions, they do not precede them. To constantly complain and focus on lack, unhappiness and limitation while remaining sick, poor and miserable in consciousness is to play the fool’s game. Changes will never take place from the level of consciousness of the problem and self-condemnation.

Nothing in life is condemned.

Everything is constantly being expressed and out-pictured by the creative use, misuse or abuse of imagination. It is important to realize that you unconsciously or unknowingly bring about the condition of limitation and lack. It is up to you to rise up to a higher level of awareness. Is it always an easy and comfortable process? I’d be lying to you if I said it is easy, but I will say it is the way to throw off the chains of wrong thinking. Doubts are stubborn. There are times when the habit of upheaval seems so powerful one feels shipwrecked on the shores of lack and limitation.

Questions to ask are: read the whole article

Bio. Melissa Zollo, law of attraction and self motivation specialist, is the author of “Discover the Power of Imagination” and “How to Unleash the Power With and Attract Money” CD audio programs. FREE daily tips and newsletter available at www.presentmemory.com .

Breathe, smile and be happy.

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Health, Nutrition and Relationship Expert

NaturalCounselor.com

Posted in Self Motivation | No Responses »
Tags: Affirmations, Awareness, Consciousness, Conversations, Dreams, Feelings, Fulfillment, happiness, Harmony, Healing, Idea, Imagination, Integral psychology, Intelligence, Law of Attraction, mind, Philosophy, Power, Spirit, success, Thinking, Thought, wellness

Get Healthier with Fall Detox and Exercise Shortcuts

Monday, October 27th, 2008

A beautiful Fall season is the right time not only to detox our mind to make it happier, but also to balance our body with detox and exercise shortcuts to make it healthier.

Fall Detox

To reach our body balance, and we call it a metabolic balance, we have to change our food and nutrition preferences, experimenting and making choices based on our bio-individuality.

As we know, processed foods contain chemically derived ingredients our bodies don’t know how to read. It creates metabolic disaster-imbalance.

Coupled with chronic stress and low level of exercises this blank (no nutrients) food contributes to chronic inflammation which in other words it leads to imbalance in our body.

Toxic chemicals in the water we drink and the air we breathe also affect our metabolic imbalance and contribute to inflammation in our body which leads to illnesses.

Fall is the right time for an easy fall detox/cleanse with seasonal whole foods. We have to incorporate in our diet as many as possible seasonal, local and freshly harvested:greens (kale, dandelion, beet greens, etc.), vegetables (fall squashes, beets, carrots, cauliflower, onions, garlic, zucchini, pumpkin, etc) fruits (avocado, apples, pears, kiwi, watermelon, etc.) beans (mung beans, lentils, etc.) nuts (walnuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds).

They all are full of fiber and help elimination which is the most important part for any gentle detox/cleanse you can do yourself.

Don’t forget to enjoy local harvest in juices and smooths to drink in the morning and as a snack.

You can always use some fruits and vegetables for homemade cleansing or rejuvenating facials (tomatoes, avocado, grapes, watermelon, apples, pears, etc.).

Exercise Shortcuts

We are moving towards Winter, and it means that the days are getting shorter and shorter following naturally after the many long days of light. But there is no excuse for us to exercise less because we don’t have time. Why? Well, we always can find exercise shortcuts:

* park your car as far as possible;

* take stairs whenever you can;

(this is a picture of famous Potemkin’s Stairs from my native city Odessa, Ukraine. I used to walk up

all 192 steps).

* get up every fifteen minutes to stretch and deep breathe which helps reduce stress and detox;

* dance / move / jump / stretch in the kitchen while you preparing a meal;

* use more bending and stretching any time you clean the house, do gardening or talk on the phone (you can do the whole working out routine while text massaging).

We have to learn how to prioritize our health, our relationships, our jobs, etc., to sort them out and start a wonderful journey to wellness – journey that will help us to get back our happy mind and healthy body.

Let us be smart, patient and full of a sense of humor if we want to feel and look fabulous this fall.

Breathe,smile and be happy.

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition and Relationship Expert

NaturalCounselor.com

Simple (video) Exercise for Detox, Weight Loss and Better Sleep

eBook Detox-101-Super Simple Detox-The Ultimate Guide for Beginners

Why We Need to Detox

Easy Steps to Super Simple Detox

Video Tip: Detox Recipe: Super Healthy Turmeric Dressing

Detox, Weight Loss, Glowing Skin and Other Reasons to Eat Radishes

One Extra Glass of Water and 500 Calories to Burn the Easy Way

“Super” Foods to Avoid During the Cold And Flu Season

Simple Detox with Cleansing Spices

Simple Detox with Cleansing Herbs

Tips on How to Detox Your Mind

Three Detox Recipes to Feel and Look Fabulous

Posted in Detox Weight Loss | 1 Response »
Tags: Alternative Medicine, Chronic stress, happiness, health tips, home-made facial, Inflammation, nutrition, Processed Foods, relationship, stress relief technique, Weight, wellness, Whole Foods, Whole Foods, women's health

Do We Always Take Everything for Granted?

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday I was talking to my former client and now dear friend, let’s say, her name is Kathy. A couple of days ago she came back from Europe, where she was visiting her mother while introducing her new husband. Yes, Kathy is a newlywed (thanks to my successful coaching), and deeply in love with her husband. So she told me that her mother was surprised and even annoyed with her daughter kissing her husband from time to time in public. She even asked her once or twice, why she was paying so much attention to him, he has been already her husband anyway, so why bother kissing him. My friend didn’t get into argument, trying to explain that a happy and healthy relationship takes a lot of work. She knew already that it was wasting of time to argue with her mother or discuss something she knew nothing about.

Well, Kathy was smart enough to let it go until … she came back and called me. She cannot understand why her mother has everything taken for granted, why she doesn’t realize that a good relationship is a hard work (well, we know that it takes two to be happy, and in this case they both do their best).

I am also wondering why is that? Why we don’t appreciate what we have until a wake-up call, until something changes, disappear or lost for good? I mean not only our relationship or marriage but also children and parents, our health, our career, our friends…Does it have anything to do with our ancestors, culture, environment? Or is it a human nature? Maybe if we appreciate a little bit more what we already have, we would be happier, less depressed, stressed out or angry?

Does it sound familiar? What do you think?

Image by Muonzoo via Flickr

Breathe, smile and be happy,

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition and Relationship Expert

NaturalCounselor.com

P.S. Kiwi and papaya are my favorite fruits.

Kiwi has more vitamin C than orange.

Papaya is rich in beta-carotene and fiber.

The most important is that they can make great homemade facials: use mashed kiwi with honey when you need a quick face lift; use mashed papaya to exfoliate.

more home-made facials

Did you find it helpful? Then please share it!

Posted in Dating and Relationships | No Responses »
Tags: anger, anti-aging, appreciation, beauty, children, depression, environment, Europe, Facial mask, family, Friendship, happiness, Holistic Health, Home, home-made facials, Human nature, kiwi, love, marriage, papaya, parents, relationship, skin, stress, wellness, women's health

Are you asking the right question ?

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

Conversations Silhouettes by Kirsty Pargeter

Image by b_d_solis via Flickr

At the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, I’ve learned how important it is to ask people the right questions. And I think”What is new and good? ” is the best question ever. People always start talking about bad things that happened to them after confirming that they are doing just fine. And after you refocus them on positive thinking, they realize that their life is not that bad and stressful as they thought it was. Next time you meet your friend or call her/him on the phone, try this trick: ask what new and good is going and wait. It is always fun to watch how people react. And if your friend cannot come up with anything new and good, encourage her/him to think harder and wait again.

Sometimes it takes time for us to realize that everything in our life is better than we imagine or assume. So if we ask ourselves every morning what new and good happened the day before, we do come up with some things we never even thought of. And as a matter of fact it is a very good stress relief technique. It always helps to:

breathe, smile and be happy.

Women’s Holistic Health and Relationship Expert

NaturalCounselor.com

Image via Wikipedia

P.S.

If you are really busy and don’t have enough time to take care of your skin, try this home-made facial for busy women: cut open one or two grapes and rub the juicy part of them on your face and neck. Don’t forget to rinse it off in 10 – 15 minutes. You can do it in the morning while you have breakfast or in the evening after work.

More health tips.

Did you find it helpful? Then please share it!