Tired but wired? 

Are you tired during the day but wired at night? Do you have trouble falling asleep or wake during the night and can’t go back to sleep? Sleeping pills may provide a short-term solution but there are natural alternatives that can create long lasting change.

Current research indicates that up to 30–50 percent of the general population is affected by acute (short-term) insomnia at any given time, and up to 10 percent have chronic insomnia that lasts more than several months. 

Having insomnia is another way of saying that you can’t fall or stay asleep. There are many factors that might be the root of insomnia such as not having a regular sleep-wake cycle, eating an unhealthy diet, chronic pain, emotional stress and more recently the overuse of screens and mobile devices. 

Everybody struggles to get a good night’s sleep now and then, but insomnia is an ongoing problem that causes sleep disruption. The impact of insomnia includes day time fatigue, physical and mental problems, moodiness, and an inability to concentrate. 

So how can a Naturopath help? My top 3 strategies for naturally improving sleep include changing the diet, creating a new bedtime routine and using essential oils and herbal support.

Diet: A common issue for many people is overeating too late in the evening, giving the body too much food to digest into the evening. By eating early and lighter, this allows the body to digest the last meal before you are ready for bed. Also, stimulants should be avoided as they frequently mess with the body’s natural sleep/wake cycle. 

Bedtime Routine: Many people have simply created unhealthy habits that are not conducive of a healthy night sleep. I recommend all my clients to put away their phones and screens 1 hour before their intended sleep time to avoid overstimulation and create a quiet space before bed. Reading a book, writing a journal or simply having a shower are much more relaxing options to prepare you for a good night’s sleep. 

Essential Oils and Herbs: There are a range of oils and herbs that are widely researched for their benefit with relaxation and sleep, and my top 2 favourites are lavender and chamomile. Lavender essential oil is a great sleep aid that can be massaged onto your feet before bed or add 1-2 drops on a cotton ball under your pillow. Chamomile is great to have as a herbal tea an hour before bedtime. 

There are many other options that can be implemented to overcome insomnia, and by seeing a Naturopath, we can assess your unique symptoms and create an individualised wellness plan to support you through these changes as well as providing quality supplements to support you naturally. 

What can I expect from a Naturopathic Consult?

A naturopathic consult is a one on one appointment with a qualified Naturopath to improve your wellbeing naturally. 

Naturopathy can be used to improve a variety of common chronic health conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, acne, allergies, sinusitis, headaches, migraines, fatigue, hormonal imbalances, diabetes, endometriosis,  polycystic ovarian syndrome, stomach pain, digestive issues, stiff achy muscles, joint pain, back pain, arthritis, poor circulation, anaemia, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, sleep irregularities,  insomnia, snoring, weight gain, and high cholesterol. Naturopathy is also valuable for acute health conditions such as colds, coughs, fever, and infections (bacterial, fungal, viral). 

The Initial Consult: 60 -90 minutes

·     Prior to the consultation you will be sent a detailed questionnaire that covers your health history, current signs and symptoms, medication and supplements currently being taken and an overview of your diet and lifestyle. 

·     This questionnaire helps to shape the direction of the consult and indicates areas that need more clarity and attention.  

·     During the consult, we will discuss your health concerns and goals, investigate all relevant areas of your body systems and carry out physical examinations as needed (temperature, blood pressure, ears/nose/throat/eyes/nails…)

·     Any previous pathology results may also be requested and/or viewed in the consultation

·     After the consult, time and research are invested to craft an individualised wellness plan to address your current needs for the next 4-6 weeks. 

·     The wellness plan will be emailed to you within 7 days and we will schedule a 20 minute phone call to go over the plan together.

·     After 2 weeks, you will receive a friendly follow up call to check in with your progress and to schedule a follow up consult in a few more weeks. 

The Wellness Plan:This is carefully crafted for you based on your current health and your goals. A detailed cover letter is written summarising the focus of the treatment. The wellness plan includes:

·     Specific nutrition advise with guidelines and recipes 

·     Specific herbs, essential oils and/or supplements to take with instructions for use. These are carefully assessed for any interaction or contraindications.

·     Lifestyle advice such as exercise and stress reduction techniques to improve your physical and emotional wellbeing

·     Relevant handouts with helpful info and advice. 

Follow Up Consult: 30-45 mins

·     We usually schedule this 4-6 weeks after you began following the wellness plan.

·     We assess how the wellness plan is going noting any changes in symptoms, discussing the benefits and challenges.

·     Diet and supplementation is reassessed for effectiveness and adjusted as required. 

·     Relevant physical examinations are also performed if required. 

·     An updated wellness plan will be emailed within 7 days to continue on for 4-6 weeks. 

Will I need supplements?

Some clients benefit hugely by starting nutritional supplements but we only prescribe them when and if they are needed. Herbs, supplements and essential oils can be posted or picked up from the clinic. 

It is important to note that we are very happy to work alongside your current GP and health care professionals. We believe that integration between Practitioners and modalities is how our clients get the best outcome!

The MOST important factor for abundant health

🤷🏽‍♀️ Last week I was asked what are the most important things I recommend for abundant health, and without much thought, I responded first with inner peace and stillness

🧘🏽‍♀️ Yes that’s right, as a Naturopath, I have learned about the body, nutrition, herbs, supplements, essential oils, and so on. And yet the most outstanding factor for optimum health to me is inner peace and stillness 🙏🏼

This may seem ‘airy fairy’ and yet there is so much science on the huge benefits of having inner peace and incorporating a stillness practise such as meditation into our daily life and the benefits of regularly being in nature and natural environments 🌳

We are all unique, and there is not a one size fits all when it comes to what brings inner peace, but the question is, do we prioritise this aspect of health 🍃

On a physical level, when our sympathetic nervous system is running our body (fight of flight mode) it prioritises go go go and neglects digestion, beauty and rejuvenation🏃🏽‍♀️

When we activate our parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest mode), we are in a state of peace -not panic, a state of calm -not chaos 🕊 Then our body is able to utilise nutrients to nourish us, cleanse, heal and flourish 🌷

We are more than a physical body, we are a spiritual being having a human experience and when we nourish our WHOLE being -spirit, soul and body, we have life changing results💫

Sometimes I neglect my stillness practices, and it doesn’t take long before I notice myself out of balance and lacking vitality 🤦🏽‍♀️ I choose to live my life from a place of inner peace and harmony…what about you?

Health and Harmony,
Rani

My Big WHY for Juice Fasting

Today is day 24 of my 30 day juice cleanse and I have decided to write my story and what motivated me to do this. Many of you know, last month I went to the USA to do some additional study/training to add to my Naturopathy training and to attend a Young Living Retreat with my global essential oil family. My trip was so amazing and I had a wonderful time, making beautiful lifelong connections, learning, growing, upgrading, awakening with lots of tears and laughter along the way.

 My last 24 hours in the USA were not so fun because I started to have pain in my left ovary and the pain became more and more intense. My roommate Karlyn loved and served me so well, applying oils, running a bath, contacting others for support and so much more. I was so loved and supported by all my new friends and Young Living family, however, the pain only increased to the point where I was shaking and needed to go to ER. My check in time for my flight that day was 4:15pm and I arrived at ER about 11.

As the Young Living retreat was ending many had to catch flights and make the trip home, but my amazing brand new friend Leslie took me to ER.  I will forever treasure in my heart the love and care she showed me. The pain was so intense I continued to tremble and cry. I was quickly seen and taken for an ultrasound which was very uncomfortable while being in so much pain. While I was walking back to the room after the ultrasound, I was overcome with pain and emotion. Here I was, due to fly home today, and I was in ER in incredible pain. 

That’s when I broke down. I started to cry, and weep and then I was overcome with a full blown panic attack. 

Fast breathing and unrestrained sorrow poured forth from me. Leslie quickly came to me, and she embraced me. Even as I type this now, tears are filling my eyes as I recall the intensity of my pain and yet, the intensity of love that held me in that moment. I heard the overhead speakers declare that there was a panic attack taking place, and despite some of this being a blur, I was aware there was a rush of activity and a screen was placed around the area I was.

Words cannot fully describe that moment, but as you read this, I know your heart can feel my inner world. So much pain, yet so much love. So much fear, yet I was wrapped in arms of love and peace. Within a few minutes, I was able to slow my breathing down and peace overcame me. This is the first time the pain severely reduced and I knew I was going to be ok.

The rest of the story I will summarise quickly. I had a cat scan to make sure there were no other source of this pain and the ultrasound results came back inconclusive because I was shaking too much during the scans. I finally was able to get some serious pain meds to calm the pain and give me confidence that I could travel 17 hours in a plane. Leslie continually engaged my vision with hope. She kept asking me how I will feel once I am home with my family. She kept faith that I would make it to my flight and begin my journey home. I am forever grateful for her faith and love. 

As I said, my check in time was 4:15 and we made is to the airport at 5pm. Phew! I checked in and it was time for me to fly solo. I cried my way through the airport. I looked a mess, I felt a mess, but I also felt so relieved that I was beginning my journey home. I had a 2 hour flight to Houston (which I slept) and I was wheel cheered through the airport to my next flight (now that’s an experience for a young fit mama). When I awoke on my final flight home, I was pain free and have not experienced any pain since then.

Sooooo, all this to say, this was the major push to do my juice cleanse. My body had whispered in the past that there was an issue here, but this time it SHOUTED and I heard my body loud and clear. I could choose to have surgery and have the cyst on my ovary removed, or I could have faith in all that I have been learning …the healing power of food, faith, declarations, emotional release and my God given ability to heal. My good friend Jack who I met in the USA advised me that a 30 day juice feast would give my body the nutrients and time it needed to heal, and so here I am.

I used to be able to feel the cyst each day, as it was up to 10cm and caused my tummy to look bloated, so I have enjoyed seeing my tummy flatten and I can no longer feel anything there. I am overjoyed with this miracle and I am booked in for a scan to confirm what I know has happened. I know so much more has taken place in my body than I can know, so I celebrate this transformation deep within my being. I am on my final 7 days of my cleanse and then I will transition gradually into eating whole foods again next week. I am so thankful for this opportunity to upgrade my health and experience the healing power of juice feasting. 

The Importance of Recognizing Self

Yesterday I began my new assignment on the immune system as part of my studies to be a Naturopath. I love to study and learn new things and I especially love it when God begins to show me a parallel between the human body and spiritual truth. Well, I had this expectation in my spirit yesterday and as I was reading I could sense the spirit of wisdom and revelation lingering, ready to unlock some truth to me. Over the next few hours as I read and answered assignment questions I received this beautiful and timely word for the Body of Christ. I awoke today with an excitement to share it.

The one particular part of our immune response that I received revelation on was the development of self-recognition. You see, our immune system provides us with protection from ‘foreign invaders’ that seek to attack and destroy us causing sickness, death and disease. Without this system, we would easily die from invading pathogens. However, of equal importance is our system’s ability to recognise which cells are ‘self’ and which cells are ‘foreign’.

There is a very complex process that our body goes through to develop our immune system to recognise ‘self’ so that we do not attack and destroy our own cells (as seen in autoimmune diseases). There are two processes known as positive and negative selection which ‘weed out’ immune cells that do not recognise self and this is where I received revelation of what is happening in the body of Christ.

We are in a process of developing recognition of ‘self’ as the children of God. And by self, I do not mean just me as an individual. We are a body. One body. Jesus himself prayed that we would be one as He is one with the Father (John 17:21). We are in a season where we must embrace and recognize Christ in us and Christ in others and complete Oneness as a body.

There is a ‘positive and negative selection’ taking place which is eliminating those cells in the body that try to attack ‘self’. We could call it self-sabotage. See, what I didn’t tell you was that those immune cells that try to attack ‘self’ cells are destroyed. Yes your body completely annihilates these cells and entire cells lines that are ‘out of line’.

Anything we do or say that attacks ‘self’ is up for annihilation. Whether it is myself or my neighbor, my friend or another church member, my children or a careless driver, these ‘cells’ or thoughts or actions need to die. This is the process of crucifixion. For a body to thrive, we must not attack ourselves. We must rightly discern ‘foreign invaders’ and attack with full force, but we cannot live with self-sabotage.

The good news here is that the immune cells that do not attack ‘self’ are then multiplied and sent all over the body to do their job of attacking only foreign invaders. This is where my spirit is excited. There is a multiplication that is about to happen. Everything in us that walks in LOVE towards the body is about to be multiplied and sent throughout the body to deal to the real enemy.

So I am encouraged today to embrace the ‘weeding out’ process of any thoughts, ways or actions that are attacking ‘self’ which includes myself and others. Let us remember we are ONE BODY. Any thought that is less than love is not worthy to be reproduced and not worthy to ‘serve’ the body. Every time we choose love towards others and recognize that it really is our ‘self’ we are setting ourselves up for greater service towards mankind.

I pray that those who have ears to hear will hear what the spirit is saying today. I pray for grace to confess our shortcomings and ‘crucify’ anything that is less than love towards ourselves and others. I pray for an awakening to love the ‘whole body’ and begin to recognize ourselves as one body.

Much Love to you today

Rani

Invitation to a Winter Wellness Journey

Well it is almost the last month of winter and I don’t know about you but some of my summery good habits have been forgotten. My heart for health and wellness is about cultivating a lifestyle that enables us to live in harmony with ourselves and the planet in spirit, soul and body. So I am inviting you on a journey with me for the month of AUGUST to reset good habits in our lives to sustain health and wellness.

Here is my Plan

QUIT:

• ·         wheat
• ·         sugar
• ·         Optional: quit caffeine, dairy and meat

Wheat and sugar are two very common foods in our modern diet that we can definitely do without. By eliminating these two things, we create opportunities to include other more wholesome foods in our diet.

COMMIT:

• ·         Drink 2 x litres of water a day
• ·         Exercise 3 x 30 mins a week
• ·         Optional: Daily communion

These simple activities are often neglected but can play a huge role in our overall energy levels and wellbeing. By committing for a month, we are setting ourselves up to create healthy routines for life. If Jesus is part of your journey, I highly recommend having communion with Him each day.

GROW:

• ·         3 x plants/herbs from seed/cutting in your kitchen

Now you may be thinking that you might skip this point and it’s not relevant for you, but this point is ESSENTIAL on your journey. This is to learn the art of love and nurture. I believe our health is a reflection of our love and nurture of ourselves. By growing some plants from seed/cutting this month, we will be able to see a daily example of how small acts of love make a big impact and cause growth and life.

Find an indoor pot, grab some seeds and start loving those seeds to germination. It will encourage and inspire you.

DECLARE:

• ·         Write and declare at least 5 daily declarations to support you

Declarations have changed my life this year and I have learned the more consistent we are, the faster the impact. Declarations can be very simple or a little more specific. Some of my declarations include: I am loved and accepted. I choose to be healthy and fit. I am fully awake and engaged with life.

If you need help writing your declarations, I am more than happy to help you out.

OILS:

• ·         Select and apply one or more essential oils every day

Essential oils have been a huge part of my journey to health. Young Living has so many wonderful blends to help you on your journey including Acceptance, Abundance, Awaken, Envision, Valor, Peace & Calming, Stress Away, Joy, Release etc. 

Choose one or more oils and intentionally apply them each day or night to support you on your emotional journey to wellness.

Yes! I choose this journey!

If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, then I am asking for your commitment to all 5 aspects of this journey as I believe they are a powerful combination.

QUIT * COMMIT * GROW * DECLARE * OILS

To join the journey:

Like my FB page ‘Harmonic Health NZ - Young Living Essential Oils’

Comment on this blog post and say “I’m in”, “I’m keen” “Count me in”

We will use this facebook page to share the journey of winter wellness together and post comments, photos and ideas with one another. In the lead up to August, I will post tips and ideas to get you started. 

Make a powerfully positive choice and join the journey! It will be fun to do it together. 

Love Raneeta

The #1 Secret Ingredient to Your Healing

I love Monarch butterflies. I love watching them, I love growing them, and I love learning from them. You see, about 3 or 4 years ago, when we first started growing butterflies at home with my children, I began to awaken to some sweet revelation about transformation. The truth is, monarch butterflies cannot transform without eating about 90% swan plant. We learned that you can feed them pumpkin when they run out of swan plant, but this is only if they are almost big enough to transform anyway.

 

So the wonderful revelation I had about the key to transformation is this. Swan Plant = LOVE.

 

Without love, we cannot and will not transform into the new creation that God has intended for us to be. And so, the secret ingredient to your healing, your families’ healing, your children’s healing is…LOVE! In the past 2 years with all that I have learned and practised on my journey to natural health, that common thread for ever healing has been LOVE. Loving others, but just as powerfully, loving ourselves! For one to truly heal, self-love is part of the journey.

Again this year, as every year, we have more caterpillars than swan plant and we run into the desperate situation of not having enough for all of our precious caterpillars to transform. And I have realised we have a shortage of LOVE worldwide. A global deficit. There are so many on their healing journey, so many who desperately want to transform and become who they were called to be, and yet, there is currently not enough LOVE around to be that secret ingredient to complete the transformation process.

 

I am challenged. I am deeply challenged. When I see caterpillars crawling off in search of food because there is none left, it touches my heart. And now with the ‘knowing’ that the same thing takes place in our world each day, that people, precious people are looking, searching, hungry for love to help them make their transformation, I am deeply challenged that I would sow more seeds of love and cultivate acres of swan plants, acres of a love culture in order to be the catalyst for true healing, transformation and freedom. It is our responsibility to plant seed, it is God who makes them grow. There is no striving in this kind of love. But there is lots of giving, feeling, connecting, enduring and persevering.

May this inspire us all to cultivate more love in our homes, our communities and our beautiful world. Everyone deserves an opportunity to transform. Let’s make sure we provide the love when it is in our power to do so.

Written with Love,

Raneeta