Welcome to the self-care guidance blog for 6th – 12th January 2019
 
Unless your cells have what they need for proper function--nutrients, water, rest, sleep, exercise, play, and connection—some part of your system suffers.
 
You need physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy to be your best you.
 
Self-care renews these energies and provides the fuel for an effective, resilience, energised wise and meaningful life.
 
When we’re under a lot of stress, these energies can feel fragmented.  Patchouli is a wonderful essential oil that helps move us from feeling fragmented to feeling peaceful.
 
As we settle into a new year, and a new decade, we may be putting ourselves under pressure to accomplish and to be perfect today.
 
Soften.  Be gentle with yourself.  Success comes with each small baby step. 
 
With pressure comes fragmentation of our energy.   With gentleness comes peacefulness.
 
Here is a wonderful mantra when you need to find peace in the moment.
 
Breathing in, I embrace peace.
Breathing out, I know I am peaceful.
 
Allow the mantra and the breath to bring you back to yourself.  Set a timer for a minute, two minutes or three minutes.  Take long and slow inhales and exhales, silently repeating the mantra, and allowing you to come back to yourself.
 
This week’s stress management technique is to learn to identify your unique symptoms of stress. Once you recognise your unique symptoms of stress, you can better find a way to deal with it.
 
You can find ideas on how to work with me for relaxation and self-care at www.relaxfromstress.ie.

Welcome to the self-care guidance blog for 30th December – 5th January 2019
 
Happy New Year!!
 
Happy New Decade!!
 
Wow.  We’re moving into 2020.  How amazing is that?  How have you faired over the last 10 years?
 
The last ten years have had many ups and downs.  I am certainly stronger and happier than I was at the start of the decade.  It’s taken a lot of work over the last few years.  Becoming a Reiki/Seichem Master, a Kundalini Yoga Teacher, an Aromatic Kinesiologist and an Aromatherapist have all helped with that.  I met wonderful people who helped me along the way.
 
This is a time not only to take stock of the last year, but also take stock of the last ten years, and to notice how much you’ve grown.
 
Perhaps you experienced a lot of suffering in the last ten years and you feel defeated.  Or perhaps the positive changes happened so fast that they felt overwhelming and you ended up feeling defeated.
 
When we feel defeated, Black Spruce essential oil lifts our spirits so we can feel motivated again.  Black Spruce gives a wonderful boost to the adrenal glands.  If you’re feeling tired and drained from the last few years, allow the tall spruce tree to lend you it’s strength.  Black spruce encourages a broadening and opening to a sense of spaciousness within, a way of seeing your journey through life in a brand new way.
 
The Blossoming Heart Affirmation for Black Spruce is: Energy flow where my motivation goes. Motivation goes where my energy flows.
 
This week’s stress management tip is to plan for something exciting. After the busyness of Christmas, it’s good to have something to look forward to.  It doesn’t have to be expensive or big. It could be inviting friends over for a cuppa, going out for lunch or going for walk.
 
You can find ideas on how to work with me for relaxation and self-care at www.relaxfromstress.ie.

Welcome to the self-care guidance blog for 23rd – 29th December 2019
 
Merry Christmas!
 
I hope you have a wonderful time.  This can be a very challenging time of the year for many.  Whether we’re coming from a place of joy or sorrow, it is a busy and overwhelming time of year.
 
The essential oil that muscle tested for this week is Lemongrass.  Lemongrass helps us to expand on all levels when we feel restricted. 
 
How do you feel restricted at this time of year?
 
What would expansion look like to you?
 
Lemongrass enables the mind to shift towards fascination about what is possible, encouraging you to embark on a glorious voyage of discovery.
 
This is a wonderful time to take stock of the year, take notice of what went well, and notice where you may have limited yourself.   Fear of success and fear of change is often behind our limitations.  Lemongrass helps us move past them to a place of empowerment and joy.
 
The Blossoming Heart affirmation for Lemongrass sums it up: If it’s possible in the world, it’s possible for me.
 
This week’s stress management technique is to try a stress ball or something similar.  Making a fist create muscle tension. When you release your grip, it causes your muscles to relax. Doing this repeatedly can cause a great deal of muscle tension to be release.
 
You can find ideas on how to work with me for relaxation and self-care at www.relaxfromstress.ie.

Welcome to the self-care guidance blog for 16th – 22nd December
 
Christmas has the potential to be a stressful time of year. Here are some tips to help you through the Christmas period.
 

• Let go of trying to be perfect
• Try not to be all things to all people
• If you don't get everything done, that's ok
• Try not to spread yourself too thin
• Learn to say “NO”
• Make time for yourself
• Learn to switch off and do nothing regularly
• Learn to get along and accept each other’s uniqueness
• Appreciate what you do have
• Pace yourself, know when to stop

 
The essential oil that I muscle-tested for this week is Spearmint.  Spearmint helps when you feel weary and want to feel invigorated.   When you are feeling weary of body and mind, spearmint will help you to wake up, keep moving, get excited, harness your energy and get your mind into learning.    Spearmint helps us to align our intention with our energy. When this happens, it’s easier to accomplish what you need to accomplish. 
 
This week’s stress management technique is try listening to a guided meditation. Guided meditations include peaceful relaxing images that help you relax.  This can be a walk on a beach, looking at a starry sky, sitting in a peaceful meadow.  There are many to choose from
 
You can find ideas on how to work with me for relaxation and self-care at www.relaxfromstress.ie.

Welcome to this week’s self-care guidance for 9th – 15th December 2019.
 
Do you feel worthy?  Can you say to yourself, “I am enough”?
 
Feeling good enough for success, for a relationship, for a good job, for wonderful clients, is something that can elude many people.
 
We tell ourselves that we don’t deserve anything good.  Or perhaps, we feel that we’re just not worthy of good things and successful living.
 
You are worthy. So, so worthy.  Learning to feel worthy comes with practice. 
 
We tend to focus on lives downs rather than ups. We use these moments as “proof” that we’re not worthy.
 
A wonderful practice is to keep a daily or regular gratitude list.  Keep a track of the good things that happen.  It helps refocus our mind and energy on the things that are good.   This is our proof that we deserve and are worthy of all the good in the world.
 
Diffusing Pine essential oil helps us connect with our sense of worthiness. It validates and strengthens your own unique gifts and talents, encouraging a simple knowing and belief of your self-worth.
 
The Blossoming Heart Affirmation for Pine essential oil is: I believe in my own significance.
 
When we embrace enoughness, we are making a choice to let go of perfectionism. When we aim for doing our best and doing good enough, we take a lot of pressure off ourselves
 
If you feel guided to work with me, I invite you to visit www.relaxfromstress.ie for some wonderful ideas.

Welcome to this week’s self-care guidance for 2nd – 8th December 2019.
 
One of the signs that you need self-care is that you can’t relax or slow things down. 
 
When our to-do list becomes long, and when we feel time is short, we become overwhelmed.  We put ourselves under pressure to do as much as possible without taking a break!
 
In my experience, that’s when things start to go wrong.  Things break, cups smash, silly mistakes are made and things seem to take twice as long to get done.
 
When we stop and take a breath, or have a cup of tea, or go for walk, we reset ourselves.  When we come back to our to-do list, we seem to get through it quicker.
 
Sometimes we need to add in break after every two to three things on our to-do list.
 
Neroli is an essential oil that comes up when we feel like we don’t have a choice.  Often, we feel like we have no choice but to plough through our to-do list without taking a break. 
 
But we do have a choice, and neroli helps us to see that.
 
“The life we want is not merely the one we have chosen and made.  It is the one we must be choosing and making.” – Wendell Berry
 
Neroli’s fragrance is deeply embedded in the psyche and offers a quality of emotional renewal through making different and empowered choices.  A choice point is any place in your life where you would like to behave differently.
 
Do you need to make some choices that would stretch you.
 
Neroli’s Blossoming Heart Affirmation: I make my choices from the stillpoint within.
 
 
The stress management technique for this week is to declutter!  Go through your home or office, a little bit at a time, and decide what you need and what you ned to let go of.  Decluttering helps release stagnant energy and frees you up from holding on to things that no longer serve you.
 
If you feel guided to work with me, I invite you to visit www.relaxfromstress.ie for some wonderful ideas.

Welcome to this week’s self-care guidance for 25 November to 1 December.
 
The days are shorter and winter is making itself known.  It feels so cold some days and then there’s the rain as well.
 
With less sunshine and daylight this time of year, it’s important to keep our spirits up in other ways.
 
This week’s essential oil to guide us is Clary Sage.  Clary Sage switches on our inner lights, helping us to access our creativity and intuitive dreaming.
 
Winter is a time to go within, to plan and to figure out what you’d like to do when the brighter, longer days come.
 
Clary Sage helps you to access deeper parts of the subconscious as you explore options and sift through information, leading to inspired decision-making.
 
This week’s Blossoming Heart Affirmation is: “My intuition is bright and clear.”
 
The stress management technique for this week is to . . . get a comfortable chair!  Stress can be caused by something as simple as being uncomfortable. Whether it’s sitting at a computer, at the kitchen table or on the couch, make sure it’s comfortable!
 
If you feel guided to work with me, I invite you to visit www.relaxfromstress.ie for some wonderful ideas.

Welcome to this week’s self-care guidance for 18-24 November 2019.
 
Unless your cells have what they need for proper function--nutrients, water, rest, sleep, exercise, play, and connection—some part of your system suffers.
 
You need physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy to be your best you.
 
Self-care renews these energies and provides the fuel for an effective, resilience, energised wise and meaningful life.
 
Vetiver essential oil is wonderful to turn to when we are in need of assurance.  Sometimes life can seem threatening, with one challenge after another.
 
Vetiver has a wonderful stabilising quality that brings you down to earth and helps you feel supported.
 
We go through phases of growth and rest.  Either phase can feel challenging.  When we’re in a growth phase, we can feel like we’ve bitten off more than we can chew.  When we’re in a resting phase, we can feel bored or lazy and wanting to get moving again.  Sometimes there’s just no pleasing us!
 
When we feel challenged, we look for some way to hold ourselves steady.  Putting a couple of drops of Vetiver in an oil diffuser is a wonderful way to do this.  It helps to increase your endurance and strengthens your heart so it can remain open to what is challenging.
 
The Blossoming Heart Affirmation is: “My heart blossoms with quiet assurance.”
 
This week’s stress management technique is to look at old photos.  A little nostalgia can provide a feeling of euphoria.  It’s a good reliever for those of us who are feeling stressed out.  It’s not just family photos, but photos of local towns and cities that jog our memory and hopefully jog some memories that bring a wonderful smile to your face.
 
If you feel guided to work with me, visit www.relaxfromstress.ie for some wonderful ideas.
 
 
Lots of love,
 
Tracy Fitzgerald
 
 
Upcoming Events:
Angel Meditation Session: 22 November, 7-8pm, €10

Welcome to this week’s self-care guidance for 11th – 17th November 2019.
 
The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I’m not going to let myself pull me down anymore.”– C. JoyBell
 
Do you know if you’ve set yourself an insurmountable challenge?
 
Do you know when or how you’re holding yourself back?
 
The mind is an interesting thing.  It can create plans to move us forward and paradoxically, create behind-the-scenes blocks to making those plans happen!
 
When we make plans, we move into a trusting space, believing in our capabilities to learn and grown and move our lives forward.
 
Hidden in the background however, fear is often lurking.  We often believe that if we make our plans and hope and optimism bigger than our fears, we will be successful.
 
But what if our biggest fear, is actually the fear of success?
 
Fear thrives in the dark.  When we don’t look at it or examine it, it lurks beneath the surface of the mind, in our heart or in our stomach.  It’s only when we shine a light on it, that it begins to get smaller and smaller.
 
Shining a light on fear won’t always make it disappear.  But it will make it small enough to make it insignificant enough for you to thrive.
 
In Aromatic Kinesiology, Jasmine essential oil is used to help us move from fearful to trusting.  It helps us move to the stillness within so we can hear the quiet answers below the pounding fear.  Sometimes there is a hidden benefit to our fears, to make sure we stay safe.  Sometimes fear is operating from an old survival story that no longer serves us.
 
To help move beyond fear, here is a wonderful Blossoming Heart Affirmation:
“I trust myself, expect the best and bless the present.”
 
This week’s stress management technique is to dance!  Whether it’s going to a dance or Zumba class, or dancing around your kitchen, dancing is a wonderful and fun way to release tension from the body and mind!
 
Curious how you can practice self-care this week?  Visit www.relaxfromstress.ie for some wonderful ideas.
 
 
Lots of love,
 
Tracy Fitzgerald
 
 
Upcoming Events:
Kundalini Yoga: Next block starting 4 Nov. – 9 Dec. Class times: Monday 10am and 6:30pm. 6-week block, €60
Radiant Child Yoga: 5-10yrs. Next block starting 7 Nov – 12 Dec. Thursday, 5-5:45pm. 6-week block, €45.
Angel Meditation Session: 22 November, 7-8pm, €10