Looking back over my life, now that I’m in my middle years, I realise that the times when my metabolism, my health and weight has been the best have coincided with the times I had the most inner balance due to meditation.  During those times, I was very focussed on meditating early in the morning.  This focus made me careful of what I was eating and how much exercise I was getting.  At the same time, I was not following a strict diet (other than eating fresh, healthy food) and I wasn’t doing excessive exercise.  So I was shocked to find out I lost just over 1 stone in one week!  In this Journal post I’m going to tell you how I did it.

It was a few years ago and was trying to get my weight back on track after I’d started to get a bit negligent with working out and my clothes were getting a bit tight – I’m sure we all know that feeling!  I started to do gentle walking and running at home on the treadmill I had bought (to save on gym fees) and I tried reducing my carbohydrate intake, focussing on high quality proteins instead.

Then suddenly I had to go to Italy for a week for a seminar and I worried that this would completely throw off my exercise schedule and diet.  How could I reduce carbs in the land where every meal was centred on pasta - the most important national dish?  I had lived in Italy in the past so I could say with confidence I tended to eat more bread and pasta whenever I was there.  I don’t like to be rude and reject food that’s been offered to me so I knew my diet was going out of the window!

So I decided to forgive myself about food and exercise while I was there and just focus on the meditation part.  Every day in Italy, I woke up early at 4am and meditated for around 20 mins.  Then I got up properly at 6.30am, showered, dressed and meditated again for around 30 mins.  I then wanted to have pain au chocolat and coffee for breakfast each day so I walked down the steep hill, from where I was staying, into the village piazza and bought these from the café.  After breakfast, I walked back up the steep hill, ready to start the day.  At lunchtime I ate plenty of meat, pasta and salad.  Then in the afternoon, I either went for a long walk or swam some lengths in the village swimming pool.  Again in the evening I ate plenty of food.  I didn’t do much snacking in between meals.  I stuck to the same routine everyday for a week and it was easy because the meditation made me feel very focussed and I enjoyed being in the moment.

When I got back home to the UK and weighed myself I was shocked to find I had lost over a stone during my trip.  In fact I was so shocked that I completely lost all focus and stopped meditating early and stopped exercising and started to put the weight back on!!  It took me a while to get my focus back.

However, I know it can be done and we can all do this.  I am sure it was my inner focus that helped me achieve my weight goals.  When I stopped meditating early, my inner focus wobbled and I fell off track quickly.  Life throws so many curveballs at us that if we are not focussed it’s easy to lose sight of what we want to achieve.  It’s our consistency that brings success.  Meditation is where that can start.

I believe a healthy Nabhi Chakra is essential to help with balance, weight loss and feeling good about yourself and your life.  Find ways to clear the Nabhi Chakra, either through using our candle or the guided meditation in my previous Journal post.  Salt water is a great way to cleanse this chakra, as its element is water.  Light the candle and enjoy a soak in the tub with lots of Himalayan salt and your favourite bubble bath.  Notice how you feel refreshed and relaxed afterwards.  Try some of these tips at home and let me know how you get on.