Grief, Castor Oil, Restorative Poses

The Inner Voice

A weekly newsletter from Debbie Jensen-Grubb, RYT500

June 3, 2013 - Issue 37

In This Issue

Restorative Yoga Poses

Rib Tickler of the Week

Mantra

Nutrition Prescription - Castor Oil

Ponderings - Grief

Quick Links

This weeks reading can be seen here at The Daily OM.

Daily OM:

Grief Is Important

**********************************************

To access past issues click here:

Archived Issues

of the Inner Voice

**********************************************

***********************************************

Gentle Yoga for Strengthening

Essential Relaxation

Yoga Nidra Cat Naps

The Daily Yoga Poses Poster

FREE Download as a Thank you for receiving my newsletter! Right click on the image

and save a copy to your files. Now open the file and print.

Greetings!

Grief is powerful and overwhelming. It is both a universal and a personal experience. In many cases it signifies a loss of some kind whether it is a loss of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, job loss, loss through theft, or even loss of a belief. In every loss there is the need to adjust to change, one we did not want. It is a redefining of ourselves and how we see life.

Mourning can last for months or even years and there are many stages to go through as you adjust. That said, each person handles grief in their own unique way (there is no 'right' way) and each particular loss has its own sense of grief.

Grief includes emotions, thoughts, physical sensations, and a spiritual awakening. It is one of the most hurtful of occurrences that we can ever go through, and we all go through them. It changes us in the most profound ways and brings us to a vulnerability, a more compassionate and understanding manner, and a deeper sense of ourselves than ever before. It helps us to respect life and to be more lenient to all those who live it.

And as time heals our wounds we grow from our grief to a better comprehension of the deepest fathoms of our ability to love...ourselves, others, and this still beautiful world of which we all are a part.

Restorative Poses

Restorative poses are a balm for those that are hurting from loss. They allow a person to stop for a while, be in their emotions, and aid in soothing a broken heart. It is a style of yoga that anyone can do and everyone will benefit from, though many shy away from it.

Restorative yoga promotes deep and total rest, a rarity in this day and age. It allows the body to relax in a soft and gentle method that brings a deep, cellular healing. It is a way to give ourselves permission to slow down and turn within as we open our hearts and minds towards acceptance of what is.

Restorative yoga is felt more than anything else. It is the art of internal touch. It expresses the quiet certainty of the sankalpa:

'I commit to this process, this life.

I have an inner light that guides me'.

Restorative yoga may not be a panacea, but it can speak to the universal dis-ease of our times. So if you are in the midst of coping - with grief, stress, or illness, then restorative yoga will speak to the heart of your disquiet and bring a hopefulness that you will help you to manage and enjoy this bountiful life once again.

Please click on the above photo to join me in some restorative poses.

Rib-Tickler of the Week - hee hee

Sam died. His will provided $50,000 for an elaborate funeral. As the last attendees left, Sam's wife Rose turned to her oldest friend Sadie and said,

"Well, I'm sure Sam would be pleased."

"I'm sure you're right," replied Sadie, who leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Tell me, how much did it really cost?"

"All of it," said Rose. "$50,000."

"No!" Sadie exclaimed. "I mean, it was very nice, but really... $50,000?" Rose nodded.

"The funeral was $6,500. I donated $500 to the shul for the Rabbi's services. The shiva food and drinks were another $500. The rest went for the memorial stone."

Sadie computed quickly. "$42,500 for a memorial stone?! Oy vey, how big is it?"

"Five and a half carats."

Mantra

A mantra is a sound or phrase that aids in the concentration of meditation. It is a Sanskrit term and literally means 'instrument of thought'. Here you will find a suggested mantra to use during the week (from Louise Hay's 'Heal Your Body'). Just repeat it whenever you need a lift.

Joy. Joy. Joy.

I lovingly allow joy to flow through my mind and body and experience.

Nutrition Prescription - Castor Oil

I have been using castor oil as a facial cleanser for a couple of months now and love the effects it is having on my skin. So I decided to see what else this amazing oil can do for alternative health benefits and found a whole assortment of supposed cures that it can do!

One of the most talked about on the web is how it can help to heal pain. Apparently its anti-inflammatory properties make it a wonderful massage oil for arthritic joints and sore muscles. To do so you must use a castor oil pack: take a piece of wool or cotton (one site an old towel was suggested) and soak it in castor oil (not dripping), place it over the affected area, cover that area with plastic to avoid staining anything, place a heating pad on top of that, and rest for about an hour. (A great time to listen to yoga nidra or do a restorative pose as you let the healing of the castor oil pull the toxins out.)

It can be used for skin infections and other skin problems (due to it's antiviral, antifungal, and antibiotic properties) such as sunburn, boils, stretch marks, liver/age spots, acne, and many, many others. Place a little on the area once in the morning and once at night for healing. Soaking stubborn fungal infections of the skin and nails in Epsom salts to soften the area before applying the castor oil is suggested for quicker healing.

It can also be used on stye's of the eye. Apply a small drop of oil on the stye 2-3 times a day.

Castor oil makes for a great laxative though it is not suggested as such now-a-days because there are many other alternatives that are not as harsh. If you do want to take some try a little each morning in your juice (to hide it's taste) and that will do the trick!

Use it as a detoxifying method for your liver by placing a castor oil pack over it as stated above. Edgar Cayce is the one that popularized the use of the packs to cure many ailments that his clients came to him for, including curing a woman's bowel cancer. Here is what the American Cancer Society has to say about it. I thought it interesting that they are using the ricin to reduce tumors.

William McGarey, a follower of Cayce's and a primary care physician, wrote a book (The Oil That Heals) that states research of castor oil improving the immune system by increasing the lymphocytes (the disease fighting white blood cells of the body) just by applying the castor oil packs on the abdomen.

There are precautions with this product. It is said that it can stimulate labor in pregnant women, so they should first consult their doctor prior to using it. The beans contain a potent toxin called ricin, so deadly that it is used in chemical warfare, though it is NOT in the oil that is expressed from it, but made from a protein in the leftover mash. Eating only 5 - 10 beans can be lethal.

You can find castor oil in health food stores, at Walgreen's or CVS, and even online or on Amazon. Do buy quality oil and look for cold-pressed, or cold-processed oil, only. The color of the oil should be a very light or pale yellow.

Let me know if you try it how it worked for you since most health benefits have not been verified by research and are anecdotal. I know that I love it and would love to hear if you do too.

Dr. Mercola: The Benefits of Using This Simple Home Remedy

Home Remedies Web: Castor Oil

Ponderings - Grief

This article beautiful describes the many facets of grief. Below is the 'General Conclusions' that the professor so eloquently surmised. Please click on any part of the below paragraphs to read the entire article.

'The sentence, "Grief is . . ." can be completed many ways. In part, this is because loss is something all of us experience and the specific characteristics of each loss contributes to a unique sense of loss and grief. If we took all of the responses from class members to the questions at the beginning of this unit, we would find something different about each definition. At the same time, we would find patterns of similarities among definitions. The same is true, as you can see, of scholars who study and write about this phenomenon.

As you see here and throughout the course, grief is much more than a person's emotional response to a loss. It is the totality of the response. Grief includes emotions and thoughts and is contradictory and confusing: Bereaved feel a need to be a part of something and to be apart from everything; the need to feel deeply and to avoid feelings; the need to talk and to be silent. Grief is the state of being that results from the recognition that the world that "should be" is different from the world that is--a world that is forever changed by the loss.

I see people as makers of meaning--in any situation, we need to make sense of the world we encounter. I also see grief as the natural response to a meaningless situation, that is, grief is an effort to make sense of the senseless and to regain a feeling of control and predictability in one's life. I agree with the participant in my research who called grief a "redefinition of normal." I think the process underlying what we see as grieving is a painful struggle to reconcile ourselves to the reality of the loss. To paraphrase psychologist Peter Marris, to lose someone you love is not like losing your car keys. It's like the laws of gravity have been repealed. We need to reclaim the law of gravity to survive. . . and that is the work of grief.'

Living a full and vibrant life includes opening ourselves up to life's wonder and also its pain. Challenging as it is when the sudden shift of change appears in a loss, it is not the end but the beginning of a new self. It is in the heart-rending progress of walking through this sad part of our pilgrimage that we come closer to finding the best part of ourselves. All we must do is allow the quietude and peace to permeate our hearts to bring comfort and permit the healing to begin.

Thank you!

Hugs and Namaste,

Debbie

Article Headline

Please join me in my next workshop...

Yoga Nidra

July 21, 2013

1:00 - 2:30 p.m.