Project Creative Vision

7 Steps to Reduce Stress in Your Life— And Feel More Energetic and Connected

by Izabella Tabarovsky for Woman Around Town

 

 

We are a nation of highly stressed-out people. We can see signs of stress in others, and recognize them in ourselves: there is that sense of exhaustion (“I’m wiped out!”), taut facial muscles, dry skin, and irritability; there may be heart palpitations or the sinking feeling in our stomach or the sense that we are drowning in an endless sea of chores and obligations.

Stress is hard to define in scientific terms, and yet it is one of the biggest culprits in our worsening national health crisis. An estimated 90 percent of all primary doctor visits are said to be related to stress. Chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in your body and is considered to be a precursor to such serious conditions as type 2 diabetes, depression, weight-gain, back pain, and heart disease. At work, it leads to productivity losses and growing medical costs.

The problem is that sometimes reducing stress seems as stressful as, well, the very problem that had caused the stress in the first place. I regularly hear this from women for whom scheduling a 90-minute relaxation appointment with me is tantamount to performing a feat of organizational genius.

But the truth is that you can find your way to reducing stress without joining an ashram, blowing three months’ rent on a spa vacation or passing up on a new, exciting project at work. When it comes to stress reduction, you can do a lot in small increments – and on a small budget.

Here are some strategies that you can take to the office, on a business trip, or anywhere else your busy life happens to take you. The results to look for are more energy, sharper focus, a greater sense of peace and equanimity and, ultimately, better health.

Read the Full Article>>>

(www.ProjectCreativeVision.com, www.izabellatabarovsky.com)

Can Energy Medicine Help with Menstrual Problems?

I recently worked with a client who was experiencing symptoms of a post-traumatic stress disorder  (PTSD)  as a result of several highly stressful events in her life.  On top of that, she had suffered a miscarriage, and after several months, her period had not yet returned.  Memories of the traumatic events were intruding into her daily life.  When she came to me, she hoped that she might achieve a measure of peace with the events and, at a minimum, restore hope that one day she might have a child.

We began the session using an energy medicine technique that I have found to be exceptionally helpful when dealing with traumatic memories.  It involves bilateral stimulation of the brain and is similar, in some aspects, to the well-understood psychotherapeutic methodology known as EMDR.  Specifically, it involves tracing a figure eight ("infinity sign") in front of the client and asking her to follow the figure with her eyes while bringing a specific painful memory to her mind. 

After 15 minutes or so, the client reported, with surprise, that the painful memory we chose to work on didn't seem so painful anymore.  We then decided to proceed with the energy balancing session, in which she was able to relax on the treatment table while I balanced and cleared her energy field.

At the end of the session she reported feeling relaxed and said that an image came to her during the session - an image of herself walking through the door of her home, pregnant.  The image arose in her mind spontaneously, without conscious effort on her part.  It was very positive, and it gave her hope.

The next day I received the following email from her:

"I wanted to thank you for our session. I went home feeling at peace. I also wanted to tell you that I got my period the next day!!! How weird?! That was a major concern for me since the miscarriage. It was like the peace I felt allowed for me to get it."

I was happy to read this.  And I wasn't surprised.  Over the years, I've had patients who reported a shift to the better in their menstrual cycle as a result of our working together on the energetic level.  One client reported that, even though we were addressing other issues, one of the unintended benefits of our work was that her cycle became regular - for the first time in years.  Another mentioned, after our very first session together, that her next period was less painful than usual.

There are multiple studies that demonstrate that energy medicine creates specific physiological responses.   Energy work creates the well-understood and well-documented physiological response in the body known as the relaxation response.  The beauty of this response is that it allows the body to bring itself back into balance - something that the body is programmed to do naturally anyway and alwasy tries to do when this balance is off.  In other words, energy work taps into the body's own wisdom, allowing its own natural self-healing mechanisms to kick in.

In addition, with all three of these clients I had used a specific Healing Touch technique that specifically targets the parts of the brain that are directly involved with regulating our endocrine system - the hypothalamus, pituitary, and pineal glands.  This means that, even as we worked on something else altgoether, we supported the systems that were involved with these women's hormonal balance, and these systems fixed themselves.

All of these cases demonstrate something really important about energy medicine.  It addresses the body in a holistic, integrated way that includes your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.  The healing of one part of your system may provide it with just enough extra resources to heal others as well.

That is why, in energy medicine, we believe that our clients are active participants in their healing.  We also believe that the real healing comes from the cooperation between the client and the practitioner, rather than exclusively through some superior powers and expertise of the practitioner.

What all of these clients had in common was that they fully embraced the energy medicine approach and allowed themselves to become fully engaged in it.  And that allowed us, together, to create the best possible outcome for them.

www.izabellatabarovsky.com

www.projectcreativevision.com

April Specials: Breathe and Rejuvenate!

April is the National Stress Awareness Month.  Did you know that stress accounts for 90% of all primary doctor visits in this country?  And that 48% of all adults suffer from the adverse effects of stress in their lives?

To do my part in combating this epidemic, I have joined efforts with some of the best local practitioners to offer you opportunities to take care of your health and wellness at affordable prices.  Please take advantage of these - and here's to your best and most radiant health! 

Save $30 on a Series of 3 Energy Sessions! 

Energy balancing is calming, uplifting, and rejuvenating.  It supports your body's natural self-healing mechanisms and helps you sustaing optimum health and well-being.  It helps reduce pain, relieve stress, anxiety, and depression, and support healing on multiple levels.

This package is designed to help you take advantage of the cumulative health benefits of consistent energy work while saving over 10% on each session.

Price per session with the package: $85.  Regular price $95.  Sessions are 90 minutes each. 

Package available through April 30.  Sessions can be used through July 31, 2011

To purchase your package, please use the button below:

April Special - Energy Work

3 Sessions $255.00

  

 

Breathe!  Discovering a Path to Peace, Joy and Equanimity - New Workshop!

Join us for an information-packed, experiential workshop to help you reduce stress and restore vitality through the power of breathing and aromatherapy!

We will use guided breathing techniques and the relaxing and uplifting aromas of essential oils of lavender, orange, and ylang-ylang to help you diminish stress, tension and anxiety, and create peace, joy and equanimity in your life!

Come ready to relax and reconnect with your essential self!

I am proud to be co-teaching this workshop with my colleague, Lauren Chelec Cafritz, a DC-based BreathWork therapist.  I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to experience her work!

$35 in advance, $40 at the door.

For more information and to register>>>

Save $55 on the Soapstone Instensive!

Immerse yourself into healing experience with the Soapstone Intensive and breake through the  emotional blocks that have been holding you back!

Soapstone Intensive is a 3.5-hour session that combines into a seamless whole intuitive counseling, energy psychology (EFT), and body-based energetic release therapy.  In the course of the Intensive, you will work with me and my two colleagues at Soapstone Integrative Health Associates, Mimi Ratner and Mark Sullivan to help you achieve rapid progress with the issues you've been facing.

Clients report leaving the Intensive unburdened, uplifted and energized.  Many have reported taking their lives to whole new levels in ways they'd never thought possible.

For more information or to book your appointment, please email izabella@izabellatabarovsky.com

 

Breathe! Discovering a Path to Peace, Joy, and Equanimity

April is a National Stress Awareness Month!

To mark this occasion, Izabella Tabarovsky and Lauren Chelec Cafritz invite you to join them in a combined aromatherapy-breathwork workshop to help you reduce stress and restore vitality.

Stress causes 90 percent of all primary care doctor visits.  43 percent of adults suffer adverse side effects caused by stress.  Fortunately, there are natural, easy-to-use tools you can learn to help you reduce stress in your life and the lives of your loved ones.

In this information-packed, experiential workshop, you will learn how to use the combined power of breathing and aromatherapy to reduce stress, tension and anxiety, and create peace, abundance and joy in your life!

The workshop will include:

• Everything you ever wanted to know about the calming and healing properties of essential oils and breathing - and how to use the two as a one-two punch to help you reduce stress, diminish anxiety, and raise your energy levels.
• A 45-minute guided breathwork session that will lead you, step-by-step, through the dynamics of using breath to achieve peace and vitality.
• Personalized assessments to create your own, custom-tailored essential oils recipes to battle stress and maintain  peace, equanimity, and joy.

You will leave with specific tools and ideas to apply at home on the daily basis!

Please bring a blanket, a pillow, and a yoga mat if you have one.

Space is limited.  Pre-registration is strongly recommended! 

When:          Saturday, May 14, 1:30 pm – 4 pm
Where:         Chevy Chase Community Center
                    5601 Connecticut Avenue, NW
                    Washington, DC 20015
Fee:              $35 if paid by May 6, $40 thereafter

REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT: PLEASE SEE BELOW

Lauren Chelec Cafritz, TBF, IBF is a DC-based professional BreathWork therapist trained and  certified in Transformational BreathWork, Integrative BreathWork and who has studied many other breathing modalities. In addition to her private practice, Lauren leads group BreathWork classes and workshops at the Mindfulness Center in Bethesda, MD and has conducted BreathWork retreats in the U.S. and abroad.  Lauren received her training in Integrative BreathWork from Jessica Dibb, and her Transformational Instruction from Dr. Judith Kravitz (BreathWorker to Deepak Chopra, MD & Christiane Northrup, MD among others). Lauren brings a passion for healing and a compassion to her work and clients through her life experience as a BreathWork therapist, businessperson, wife, mother, photojournalist, nonprofit advocate and a past sufferer of chronic pain. In addition to 10 years of BreathWork training, Lauren holds an MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri and a BA in Business from Syracuse University.

Izabella Tabarovsky, MA/HTCP,  is a Clinical Aromatherapist, Energy Worker, Health and Wellness Consultant, and Life Path / Career Path Coach.  She is a founding partner at Soapstone Integrative Health Associates and is on staff at the Washington Cancer Institute.   She is a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, a Myers-Briggs counselor and has been trained in the Enneagram and other methods integrating Western psychology with the Eastern view of the body.  She brings these experiences together to create a holistic healing experience for her clients.  She is passionate about sharing information about the many benefits of aromatherapy, energy balancing, and other holistic approaches to health and well-being, and teaches frequently throughout the greater Washington, DC area and nationally.  Izabella holds an MA from Harvard University and a BA from University of Colorado.

REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT:

To register and pay through PayPal, please use the button below:

To pay by check, please email izabella@izabellatabarovsky.com, and we'll give you the address to mail your check.

Energetic Balancing and Self-Care Workshop in Houston

"Using the Power of Touch and Energetic Balancing to Relieve Stress, Manage Aches and Pains, and Restore Balance for Yourself and Your Loved Ones" 

Wednesday, December 29, 6:30 - 8:30 pm. 

Russian House, 18964 Groeschke Road, Houston, TX 77084. 

This is one of my most popular self-care workshops so make sure to reserve your place early!  To register, please email izabella@izabellatabarovsky.com

In this workshop, I will be teaching self-care tools that are grounded in the power of energetically-enhanced touch to help you relieve stress, manage and diminish aches and pains, and create an overall sense of well-being.  

These tools rely on the ancient and holistic methods of Reiki, Healing Touch, and other energy-balancing approaches that are increasingly validated by medical science. 

A growing number of studies demonstrate  that energetic balance is critical for our overall health.  In fact, a growing number of hospitals today is incorporating these approaches into their health regimens.  In the best-known example, leading cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, known for his appearances on the Oprah Show, uses energy balancing therapies during open heart surgeries.

The techniques I'll be teaching you in this hands-on, experiential workshop are gentle, non-invasive and produce no side effects.  You can use them on yourself, your children, spouses, and friends.

You'll learn:

• Basic facts about your energy anatomy and the essential role it plays in your health and well-being
• Your body's physiological response to energy therapy and how to use it to strengthen your body's self-healing mechanisms.
• How to hear the messages your body may be sending you and use that information to optimize your health and well-being
• Specific tools to reduce stress, improve sleep, diminish acute and chronic pain, manage anxiety and depression, and more for yourself and your loved ones.

For those of you who are not familiar with my work, I am a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, Clinical Aromatherapist, and a Life coach.  I am on staff at the Washington Cancer Institute and work with individual physicians and psychotherapists to help support their patients' path to health. 

I am a Founding Partner at Soapstone Integrative Health Associates, and run a private practice in the greater Washington, DC area.  I have been trained in Myers-Briggs, the Enneagram, Reiki, meditation, yoga, and other methods integrating Western psychology with the Eastern view of the body. I hold an MA from Harvard University.

For more information about my work, background and client testimonials, please visit my website: www.izabellatabarovsky.com or www.soapstonehealth.com

Cost:  $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

To register, please email izabella@izabellatabarovsky.com

www.projectcreativevision.com

How to Know that Your Essential Oils are Truly Therapeutic

Essential oils are highly complex substances, and many factors affect their quality. These include the quality of soil where the plants were grown, the time they were harvested (some plants can only be harvested during a particular month of the year to generate the particular quality of the oil), the speed and temperature of distillation, the bottling process, etc. 

Unfortunately, there are too many synthetic varieties on the market, often sold, unwittingly, by the most reputable health food stores.  While syntethetic oils may still smell like the authentic essences, they contain none the originals' therapeutic qualities and may, in fact, be harmful.

(Because the oil molecules are so small, they penetrate the skin surface and enter the blood stream within moments of application.  You don't want synthetic varieties entering your blood stream.)

So here's what you want to find out if you're looking for top-quality ssential oils:

1. Does the company producing the oils own any farms on which they raise herbs for oils? If they do, are they new farms on land formerly polluted with herbicides, pesticides, and chemicals that contain residuals from the past, or are they farming land that is clean, which has never been cultivated or has been untilled for at least the last 50 years?

2. Does the company have their own fully equipped testing laboratory to verify an oil's composition?

3. Do they have anyone on staff with a trained nose who can analyze oils by their smell? (There are less than 200 people in the world with noses sufficiently trained to discern the chemistry of a fragrance.)

4. If their company purchases oils from outside suppliers, do they visit the distilleries and farms of those suppliers periodically to observe if the herbs are grown organically, i.e. without pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers?

5. Do they know if the grower has a testing laboratory on the farm to determine when the crop is at its peak for oil harvesting?

6. Do they know if the crops were actually harvested at their peak time and, if so, was there an inordinate delay in taking them to the still and into the cookers?

7. Do they know if their distillery personnel understand the art and science of distilling, how to pack the cookers, how to administer the steam, how to maintain minimum temperatures and pressures throughout the cooker, and how to continuously monitor the process throughout distillation to make sure the oil produced contains all of its components in the proper proportions?

8. If their supplier makes a mistake in the distillation or harvesting processes that results in an inferior grade of oil, does that supplier sell the oil anyway or do they discard it?

9. Do they know if the cookers in the distilleries of their suppliers have domed lids or cone shaped lids? Most stills use dome-shaped lids. Cone topped cookers deliver a better grade of oil than dome tops.

10. Do they know if their suppliers supplement the distillation process with solvents to extract additional oil from the plant matter?

11. Do they know if their suppliers bottle their oils directly from the distillery without modifying the composition of the natural oil by adding anything or taking anything away?

 

Essential Oils for Animal Health

Great piece on how essential oils can be used to support your pets' health.

Best oils to use, as the article points out, are lavender, franckincense, lemongrass, and pepperment.  Also, check out this testimonial for the use of helichrysum to remove a tumor on a dog.

As always with essential oils, knowledge is key.  Essential oils are highly complex substances.  Many factors affect their quality, including the quality of soil where the plants were grown, the time they were harvested (some plants can only be harvested during a particular month of the year to generate the particular quality of the oil), the speed and temperature of distillation, the bottling process, etc.  And unfortunately, there are just too many synthetic varieties on the market, often sold, unwittingly, by the most reputable health food stores.

In my next post, I'll give you some questions you can ask your essential oils distributor to ensure that what you're buying are pure, unadulterated, therapeutic-grade oils.

 

Why Eating Late is Bad for You

One of the arguments against late-night eating: your liver needs time to complete its several hundred (!) metabolic functions (including blood purification) unhampered by the early stages of digestion.

According to Chinese medicine, the peak activity of the liver occurs between 1 am and 3 am. Late-night eating will keep it busy helping digest the meal, rather than perform the purification function. Thus, late-night eating is the first step toward accumulating toxicity in the body - the first step toward weight-gain, weakened immunity and, ultimately, disease.

If you eat your last meal at 6 pm, you'll give your body 7 hours to complete the preliminary digestive process and let the liver do its job at 1-3 am.

(Source: Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition, by Paul Pitchford.  Amazing book!)

Frankincense Oil Shown to Kill Bladder Cancer Cells

Evidence has grown over the years, demonstrating anti-cancerous properties of one of the most ancient healing agents known to man - the essential oil of Frankincense.  Here's a link to a study by the University of Okahoma researchers, published by peer-reviewed BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Conclusion of the study: "Frankincense oil appears to distinguish cancerous from normal bladder cells and suppress cancer cell viability. Microarray and bioinformatics analysis proposed multiple pathways that can be activated by frankincense oil to induce bladder cancer cell death. Frankincense oil might represent an alternative intravesical agent for bladder cancer treatment."

 

Biochemistry of Happiness

"Happiness is what we feel when our biochemicals of emotion, the neuropeptides and their receptors, are open and flowing freely throughout the psychosomatic network, integrating and coordinating our systems, organs, and cells in a smooth and rhythmic movement. Physiology and emotions are inseparable." - Candace Pert, Ph.D., "Molecules of Emotion."

(Can you tell I'm rereading "Molecules of Emotions"?  One of the most brilliant books on the biochemistry of emotions by the brilliant Candace Pert.)