Years ago, when I edited Cosmopolitan magazine, I called in Australia’s leading colour specialist Chris Brazel to do a feng shui/colour makeover of our office. She walked straight into my office and shrieked, “OMG, you’ve got a fire extinguisher in your relationship corner!!!”. At the time I was extracting myself from a very messy relationship. I called the maintenance dude and had him remove it immediately. Seriously! Again!

This time I got Chris to do a colour reading on stuff in my life…as a way of illustrating some stuff on colour. I gave her five images and she went to town:

1. My orange bike (and brown top)

With the brown top it indicates that someone is bogged down and the orange is about change and wanting movement towards balance or a change in direction with work.

photo by Vanessa Hunter

It is interesting to see that in each of the photos below there’s a representation of being at a cross roads (legs are crossed in almost every shot) in the direction to where Sarah was heading with her life and her knowledge…wanting to gain more balance in her life and with her work.

Legs represent direction.  Where you are walking to for the future.  When legs are crossed it simply means that you are at crossed roads.  The energy of the knee when sore or you have problems will indicate that you are being stubborn about a decision you know you need to make.  In all the items you sent through the legs were crossed hence the same energy of being at cross roads.

2. White leisure suit (well, it does look like one, right!?)

All white indicates not knowing which direction to take at the moment.  The head is tilted which suggests someone is still in an area of the past.  The angle of the knee, the right knee, says someone wants to move forward but  is still stubborn about something to do with their belief in their knowledge or themselves.

3. My blog header

Sarah sits with her legs crossed (again) above what she writes, which relates to her knowledge. The colour of her jacket is a salmon pink colour which can often indicate that the person may not be honouring what is best for themselves.  It can often be a sign of infidelity. Or this could simply mean not doing what is best for your inner child.

4. My loungeroom (lots of red and yellow)

The colour red is about focus, new beginnings, confidence, status and action. Yellow is about clarity, optimism, it is the energy of the sun, the yang energy, the male energy and the creative energy.

The artwork on wall – the girl has her legs cross above the books. Again!

I also got Chris to answer a few questions that you…and my lovely Jo…had…

* What is the best colour to make our screensavers?

Your screen saver is extremely important  as it is the first energy you seen when you first turn on your computer.My screen savers change every month depending on the energy of the month.  I have at the moment a purple – the reason being to lift my vibration and being recognised at a higher level for my knowledge and wisdom.

• Purple is a belief in your knowledge that your wisdom and knowledge are of a high value.  It is also a spiritual colour and a colour of strength.  When you have purple with white it has the energy of helping you face what you need to face to reach your full potential.
• Sunflowers are excellent for new golden opportunities.
• Dragon fly if you want transformation.
• You always avoid pictures of mountains as that will indicate that you feel you have obstacles in your way.
• You should also avoid butterflies if you want real change and especially two butterflies together as that will relate to relationships ending in sadness.
• Other animals such as the owl is great for wisdom, dolphins for freedom, horses to stop any stagnation.
• Most word computer  screen savers except for the tulips are not positive.
• Avoid black, grey or brown.  They’re a cry for help.  Grey means that you are in a grey area of your work and life, brown that you are bogged down and black – there is something that needs to end.

* What colour undies should we wear when we’re in a creative rut?

Orange, then add a little yellow

* What’s the best colour for a girl to wear on a first date?

Fuchsia pink – red is too strong, pale pink too flimsy. If you have pink and green this indicates that you are free to love again, or fuchsia pink and turquoise is the breath of love.

* What colour tea cup should we drink our tea/coffee from?

• Red would work for focus on drawing what you want into your life.  It is great for focus.
• Yellow for clarity and to be optismistic,  lime green for growth, peridot green for patience.
• Pink and green to have a feeling of free to love again.
• Orange and red if you need to change something in your career or finances.
• Turquoise is you want to be true and do what is best for you.  Turquoise and fuschia pink if you want the breath of love.
• If someone is going around in circles then they would avoid cups with circles running around the cup.
• If someone  wants to complete something then they could go for spots.  Red and white spots would indicate a person wants the confidence to close something in their life or to finish off a project so they can collect.
• Stripes are excellent for people who need to learn to work in a team environment or want to get on a direct route to where they want to go.  Green and white are excellent in stripes to get structure and growth.

To contact Chris to get a reading – she travels to offices around Australia – her service details are on her website.

What do you make of this? I’m personally a little worried about my cross-legged thing. But I do have a two pairs of orange undies!

This loosens things enough to allow the atlas to naturally slip back to its natural position. Natural? Apparently so. Most of us have an atlas that’s disconnected which in turn causes all kinds of ailments – crap digestion, headaches, general foginess, sleep problems, bad posture and so on – from poor blood supply getting to the right parts of our bodies.

* I did the adjustment with Sean Innis, who brought the concept into Australia and trains up other practitioners around Australia. He’s a dude.

* it takes one session only – about 45 minutes

* there’s no manipulation or cracking – just the buzzing pen thing

* it costs $200 ($100 for kids) you can find a practitioner here.

How did I find it? I emerged from the treatment pretty spacey and floaty.

Something had definitely shifted. And when I turned my head left to right things seemed more stable.

My head has always felt unstably plonked on my spine. When I meditate it rolls around, unable to find a still spot. All through my meditation it turns and twists around to the right, like Chucky. It’s a bit of a family thing – my brothers also twist their head to the right. My granddad was permanently swiveled. It gives us all a half-shrugged look.

After the treatment I have to say my head was much more stable.

Did it alleviate my other neck issues (I have several bulged discs and I pop a rib every few weeks)? Not so much. I’d hoped after a few weeks the realignment would settle its way down my spine, but it hasn’t. Although Sean reckons it can in many cases…

So. There you go.

Some extra FAQs pulled from Sean’s site:

“Why is the Atlas vertebrae dislocated in so many people?”

All manner of factors could play their part. Manipulation in birth and falls in early childhood (while learning to walk, for instance) could be responsible. In later life, accidents, car accidents, whiplash, sporting injuries may be the reason the Atlas is out of position.

“Is the treatment painful?”

Normally, no. In fact, some patients really enjoy the sensation. Others say there is a small amount of discomfort. Ultimately, it depends on the level of tension in the individual and their sensitivity. To reassure further, we’d say 90% of our patients feel no sensations during the procedure.

“What happens afterwards? Will I feel better straight away?”

It all depends. Some of our patients say that have felt an improvement instantly. Others say the realignment took a week or two to bring a noticeable effect. In our experience, as time passes and the connection between brain and body strengthens, the benefits become more apparent.

Sean cites the following benefits:

• Significant increases in energy;
• Improved eyesight, hearing and memory;
• Migraine headaches disappear;
• Increased comfort sleeping at night on an ordinary pillow;
• Ability to sleep without medications;
• Increased muscle strength;
• Menstrual cramps disappear;
• Hips and shoulders align properly;
• Back and shoulder pain disappear.
• You may also discover profound improvements take place that allow you to tap into a deeper spiritual sense of calm.

Have you tried it? Thoughts?

Meditation: finding the space between sensations

When the third person mentioned TM teacher Tim Brown to me, I signed up. I was down the beach at 5am, having not slept at all, distraught and lost. I was going through a grey time in my life. A random guy called Tom who I recognised from yoga came up to me, gave me a hug and said, “You’re in a tough place”. We met for tea that night and Tom talked up TM and Tim.

I find meditation is generally presented to people in this way. Perhaps this post will be what touches you, it will be your third strike?

TM very literally Changed. My. Life. Tim promised it would. I was skeptical. But six weeks after I started, I landed the MasterChef gig. I meditated in the car outside before going in for my audition. The casting team said my certainty and poise got me the job.

There you go.

The TM deal in a few dot-points:

* TM works like this: you sit in a chair (no need for crossed legs) with your eyes shut for 20 minutes, twice a day. You repeat a mantra in your head that your teacher gives you over and over. You repeat it gently – you don’t “shout it”.

* If your mind wanders, you gently steer it back to the mantra. Always back to the mantra. That’s all you have to do. The mantra is designed to do the rest. It “drags” your consciousness down, down, down. The teacher chooses a mantra with a vibration that suits you.

* I meditate after exercise in the morning (my body is more open, which helps go deep), often down at the beach in the morning sun. At night I do it before I go out/have dinner. It’s great to shower first because when you meditate you produce an oil on your face which is REALLY good for your skin and has been shown to make you look younger….

* TM has been scientifically proven to be up to five times deeper than sleep.  20 minutes of meditation is equivalent to 3 to 4 hours sleep.

* I don’t fret about where I do it. I do it on planes, in my office, in my car. In fact, the more “inappropriate” the place, the better. The slight discomfort makes me focus more. I’ve written about this before, the idea of finding happiness “in spite of” mess or pain or chaos.

* When I was hosting MasterChef I used to meditate in the toilet cubicle (the only place I could get some peace) while my curlers set. On Mondays at Sunrise, I meditate in the wardrobe. No one seems to have a problem with this…I don’t think (!?).

* Catalyst on ABC ran a feature on TM last week: Transcendental Meditation: Hocus-pocus or healthy practice? Worth a watch.

TM has attracted controversy over the years. I’ve read/heard it all. The main criticism seems to be that it’s expensive.

* TM costs about $1000 – for a course over 3-4 nights. Once you’ve been “initiated” you can then attend weekly group meditations for free. I reckon this is great value. For Tim, like all TM teachers, teaching meditation is his career. He has a family to feed. He’s not a monk sitting in a cave living off donations. Yep, you can learn meditation for free by volunteers. But – and this is an odd concept – I think the act of handing over $$$ for the service makes people like me respect the service more, and apply myself more fully to it. Hey, it’s the world we live in!

This is what meditation feels like (for me):

* You know that sucking feeling when you stick a Mac powercord in the socket? That’s how it feels when you slip into the meditative state – like it all fits snugly, nothing is missing, things are firm and certain.

* Sometimes I feel my body expanding, like I’m the Michelin man. This is, apparently, my consciousness expanding beyond the experience of my body. Other times my head spins around on it’s own. Some people collapse forward on to their laps.

* Mostly, meditating is a jittery, thought-filled experience. BUT, the important thing is that when I come out of it after 20 minutes I’m 2938473 times calmer. This is what counts. Not what you do in meditation, but what happens after. Everything feels sweeter.

The three things I dig the most about TM:

* The soukshma/sookshma principle: while repeating the mantra, practice soukshma, which- as Tim teaches – roughly means innocent, faint and effortless. That is, come to the mantra innocently, faintly and effortlessly. This, for me, is the beauty of TM…it instills soukshma into your very being. So that out of meditation, the innocence, gentleness and effortlessness continues. It imbues. Infuses.Soukshma, soukshma, soukshma…!

* Thoughts are good: It doesn’t matter if your mind starts chattering. Thoughts are little bubbles of tension that surface as we sink deeper. Thoughts release tension. They are good. They also remind us to return to the mantra. Thought pops up; cue “return gently to the mantra”.  This constant steering things gently back to the mantra is key. Because, when you return to real life out of meditation, it sets you up to gently steer things to calmness whenever your mind gets cluttery. It’s practice. It flexes a “steer to calm” muscle.

* It’s just stringent and organised enough: I’ve stuck with TM because I belong to a community that sticks to it. We meet every Monday night just to meditate and chat. I see TM’ers around town, meditating down at the beach and in parks. Feeling like I belong to a crew of meditators makes me do it twice a day. A bit like living in a society where brushing your teeth day and night is normal, expected. So you just do it.

* It makes me look younger. I know this is vain, which is not very balanced of me, but HTG (honest to God), part of the appeal of TM is it’s anti-aging properties. My skin has changed over the past two years. The muscles on my face have released, relaxed and opened up. HTG.

Tim Brown with a nice anecdote about meditation:

Meditation is not about withdrawing from life but learning how to access that space within oneself where we are able to enjoy the experience of life without being overwhelmed or consumed by it.

It’s a bit like when you go to the movies, get there late and get stuck in the front row. The screen is in your face and difficult to watch and the sound is way to loud. Far from having to leave the cinema all we need to do is get back a few rows.

Now we don’t want to go to the back of the cinema, that is no good as then the screen is too far away and the sound quality is poor – this is no more satisfying than being in the front row.

The ultimate place is in the middle of the cinema. That’s where the screen is at the right distance and the surround sound is the best. You can sit and be taken and engaged by the movie while still maintaining an awareness of yourself in the seat. This is what we call the “Goldilocks Phenomenon” – not to hot, not to cold, just right – or not to close to the experience to be consumed by it, not to far away so as to be disconnected from it, but just right in the sweet spot where the experience is engaging without being all consuming.

This is what we are looking to achieve through meditation. The rigors and dynamics of day to day living are drawing us further and further into the business of life which is causing us to become too enmeshed in it – as a result the experience becomes overwhelming and uncomfortable. This is the basis on which people find life stressful and all consuming, it is the basis for all suffering, discomfort and dis-ease.

This is exactly what meditation, or the “art of transcending” is all about – “moving beyond” ones current experience and gaining a greater perspective on the whole of one’s experience – this is what I call “conscious altitude” and it makes all the difference to being able to see things in context and brings greater stillness, clarity, creativity, energy, intelligence to the mind and prints out in the body as greater physical wellbeing.It’s not rocket science, and it’s been know for thousands of years how to trigger this response in the mind and body and the importance of doing so. The pressures of modern day living is causing people to reinvestigate meditation as an option – much to the benefit to themselves, those around them, their society, their country and their world – thank goodness!

Tim is based in Paddington, Sydney. You can contact him here.

Tim also lists other TM teachers in Australia, America, UK and NZ.

David Lynch on TM:

Are you a meditator? Tried TM? What’s your favourite, or “sweetest” observation about being in a  meditative state?

This week, I’ve invited Melbourne personal trainer, BioSignature practitioner and blogger Kat Eden to give her comic – or otherwise  – input.

thyroid disease can feel like you're hovering in a pool of sludge

I came across Kat on the site Dumb Little Men and loved her tips on living life better. I contacted her cold (it’s one of my favourite things to do – contact someone I find interesting and just start talking) and found her advice very sound, especially in regards to hormones and digestion.

Over to Kat:

What causes this whole caper?

From my way of thinking, and based on clinical experience I’d say stress has to be one of the biggest players in sparking auto-immune disease. In particular chronic stress. It doesn’t really matter where the stress comes from, or even if it’s a whole bunch of little stressors rather than one great big life-changing event. Your body doesn’t separate one type of stress from another in terms of the way your nervous system and hormones respond, so the accumulation of stress can be (often quite suddenly) very toxic.

What makes it worse?

When auto-immune sufferers (particularly those with thyroid dysfunction) fail to include enough protein in their diet things tend to get worse. Low protein intake is actually one of the prime reasons women tend toward hypothyroidism more so than men, and typically higher soy intake by the gals is another risk factor. As a health practitioner I’ve done a full 360 on soy and do not recommend that anyone with thyroid concerns include it in their diet. If you do choose to eat soy, fermented (tempeh) is definitely the way to go. It’s known to be less toxic.

If I had to give you a snapshot plan of action?

It all comes back to giving your body the tools it needs to detoxify stress – that’s definitely the best place to start. For many people that will mean improving quality of sleep (perhaps by taking regular time to wind down before bed, avoiding stimulants in the evening and using a magnesium supplement to aid relaxation).

For others it will mean eating some protein at each meal.

For some it will mean other forms of supplementation such as selenium, an essential mineral with potent antioxidant properties, and known to boost the thyroid.

Other natural approaches to boosting the thyroid include the herb guggul, seaweed salad, and iodine. All tricks and techniques aside, the truth is that different things will work to different degrees for different people – but one of the most powerful things you can do is share your story with others, learn from those who understand what you’re going through, and find an outlet for the things which cause you the most stress, whether physical, emotional, mental or all three.

Here’s his deets: Tri Makna, Denpasar, Bali sehatmandiri@dps.centrin.net.id