Salt Bath | Marian Buck Murray

Relax & Recharge Tips

December 7, 2018 by Marian Buck-Murray Leave a Comment

During the holiday season, it’s easy to feel depleted, especially if you’re a sensitive person. At a time that feels stretched and overcrowded with obligations, it’s crucial to relax and recharge. Here are a few tips to help.

Meditation —Meditation helps change the brain to make it more effective in times of stress. Find what works for you. Even 5 minutes at a time will help.

Breathe — Deep breathing, from the belly, helps to stimulate the vagus nerve, and turn on the relaxation response.

Take a Magnesium Salt bath — Magnesium helps relieve tension, and revitalize the body.

Spend Quality Time Alone — Take a quiet-time-alone break, to nurture and nourish yourself.

Listen to peaceful, uplifting music. — Choose a favorite from your collection. Or, try the Insight Timer app for a nice variety.

Use the Heart Breath — This will help you get out of a busy mind, into the peace and calm of your heart. To learn how to use this breath, click here. (Once on this page, scroll down for the heart breath video)

Try EFT Tapping — Tapping on your karate chop, and other points, will help you feel more centered and relaxed. For a complimentary Peace and Calm guided EFT Audio, click here.

Spend Time Outdoors — Soak up the fresh air and natural beauty.

Move — Stretch, exercise, do yoga, go to the gym, dance, walk. Movement will help you feel more energized and alive.

Eat green — Green vegetables are full of minerals that will help revitalize your system.

Reduce or Limit Caffeine, Refined Carbs, Alcohol — Caffeine will overwork your adrenal glands, making you feel even more tired. Refined carbohydrates will cause a spike and drop in your blood sugar, draining your energy. Alcohol is quite depleting.

Get enough sleep — Sleep in a darkened room, with minimal, or no, electronic devices.

Use what works for you. Weave moments of relaxation throughout your day. You’re worth it.

In Courage,

Marian

I’ve created some holiday specials on session packages, click here to learn more.

Coming Back to Center

November 9, 2018 by Marian Buck-Murray Leave a Comment

Centering, it’s what we need more of right now. The holiday season is full of distractions, pulling us here, pulling us there. Top it off with a contentious election season, and the seemingly non-stop series of tumultuous events — it can feel nearly impossible to stay centered, calm, and relaxed.

Getting pushed off center is like losing our power connection. Every time we get pulled away, thinking thoughts of how things should or shouldn’t be, we lose power.

Our minds sometimes have us convinced that we need to be worried, concerned, or somehow attentive to all that’s going on. The emails, the tasks, the phone calls, the news, the problems, all grabbing at our attention. If we’re not careful, these distractions will continually force us off center.

Problem is, when we’re off center, we’re out of sync with our intuition, and our connection to all that is. We may think we’re doing something important by worrying, or obsessing, but if we’re pulled out of the present moment, we’re off center. When we’re off center, we’re weakened, and we limit our access to fresh ideas, solutions, and insights.

Getting back to center means letting go of distracting thoughts and concerns, so we can settle into our intuitive, powerful strength. It means dropping from a busy beta brain wave state, into a slower, more relaxing alpha brain wave state. This alpha brain wave state is where we find access to new insights, intuition, and deeper connection with the universal field. This alpha state is what helps our brains work more effectively, allowing us to function more powerfully.

Here’s how to get back to center

Meditate. I know. I talk about meditation all the time. I talk about it because it truly is that powerful. Sitting quietly for even 5-10 minutes in the morning, and/or at different times throughout the day, does wonders to center the mind. Don’t worry if you can’t ‘get rid’ of distracting thoughts. Allowing yourself to observe the distracting thoughts, as opposed to engaging with them, will help you come back to center. As you get more practiced with meditation, it will help you deepen your sense of inner peace and connection.

Use the Heart Breath. The heart breath is a very powerful way to drop out of a busy mind, into the peace and calm of your heart. The heart’s electromagnetic field is far more powerful than that of the brain. By breathing slowly and deeply, while imagining that you’re breathing through your heart, you will help yourself become centered in your body. This heart breath will increase the power of your heart’s electromagnetic field. This expanded heart field will entrain your brain, bringing it from the beta brain wave state, to a more relaxed alpha or deeper. For a video to learn more about the Heart Breath, click here.

Use Insight Timer — Insight timer is one of my absolute favorite apps. It’s free, and it offers thousands of free meditations. Find the meditations, music, and sounds that work best for you. Check out the binaural beats, which will work with your brain to help it come to a more relaxed, centered place.

Take a Magnesium Salt Bath — Step out of the fray, into the soothing comfort of a nice, hot, bath. Magnesium will help you relax. Water will help you feel more centered.

Take a Walk in Nature — Being fully present in Nature, without the distraction of phones and computers, is one of the best ways to come back to center. Help yourself stay centered by doing a walking meditation, observing and expressing gratitude for Nature’s gifts along your way.

Practice Yoga — Yoga will help you feel more aligned, grounded, and centered.

Use EFT Tapping — Tapping is one of the most effective ways to bring yourself back to center. Just by tapping on your karate chop, you begin to bring yourself back into your body. By continuing with the points, you help reduce the cortisol that keeps you on edge. Often, you don’t even need to use words while tapping. You can simply tap through the points, breathing deeply, and allow yourself to come back to center. Click here for more info.

Come back to your center, it’s where you’ll find your beautiful Self.

In Love and Courage,

Marian

How To Honor Your Sensitivity

March 21, 2018 by Marian Buck-Murray Leave a Comment

Being sensitive means many things. As a sensitive, empathic person myself, I know how painful it can be to feel or see certain things more deeply than other people. Over the years I have learned how to manage my sensitivity so that it has transformed into a gift I truly embrace. It’s this process that I share with my clients and students.

If you’re a sensitive person, you might notice that when others’ don’t share your depth of experience, you wind up feeling misunderstood, or even excluded. You might have heightened sensitivities to noise, smell, foods, and environment. If so, these sensitivities can easily contribute to feelings of weakness, illness, and irritability.

In addition, by believing society’s negative critique of sensitivity, you might think that you’re wrong for being ‘so sensitive’. Nothing could be further from the truth!

What’s important for a sensitive person, is to take steps to honor your sensitivity so that it transforms from something painful into a true gift of beauty and strength.

Below are some key steps to turn your sensitivity into a gift that will enrich your life, over and over again.

Understand Your Sensitivity – Understand that if you are one of the estimated 20% of folks with heightened sensitivity, you have a nervous system that feels things more deeply than most. This means that you need to care for yourself differently than someone without your depth of sensitivity. Get to know yourself better. Read up on the different aspects of sensitivity – there are a number of good books on the topic. Understanding yourself will help you increase feelings of self-acceptance. And, self-acceptance is key to honoring your sensitivity.

Get Clear About What Feels Right for You – We’re often brought up to believe that we ‘should’ enjoy certain experiences that others enjoy. Getting clear on what feels right for you might mean you don’t go to that party, or you opt for one or two good friends over a group of friends. Get clear about your ‘shoulds’ versus your true desires. Trust your intuition to help you find the right balance for you.

Honor Your Need for Downtime – Sensitive people need downtime. And, it can be easy to implement. Treat yourself to a peaceful nature walk, or sit quietly in a darkened room. A quick nap can do wonders to calm an overwhelmed mind and nerves. Throughout each day, allow for short periods of downtime. Regular breaks of just 5 minutes each can make a profound difference.

Create Self-Care Rituals — As a sensitive person, you likely lead a rich inner life. Honor it by nourishing it. Meditation, music, art, yoga, salt baths, and mind-body therapies are all wonderful tools to help you nourish your creative, intuitive soul.

Get Enough Sleep – Because sensitive people take in more information, more deeply, they need more sleep than people who are not highly sensitive. This means a daily minimum of 8 hours of sleep, preferably 9. If you have trouble sleeping, be sure to create a soothing bedtime ritual. Eliminate stimulants, and forgo electronics at least 1-2 hours before bed. Know that by just closing your eyes, you will help to calm and replenish your nervous system.

Take steps to honor your sensitivity. It’s a divine gift. And it’s a gift our world needs now.

In Courage,

Marian

To schedule a FREE 30 Minute Call, where I’ll help you get clear on your best strategy to honor your sensitivity, and give you a tool to turn it into a superpower, click here.

I’m an Empath, Are You?

August 23, 2017 by Marian Buck-Murray Leave a Comment

I’m an empath. Many of my friends are empaths, as are most of my clients. Due to the line of work I’m in, I meet empaths everywhere. At the wellness center where I have an office. At the professional trainings I attend. At group meditations and networking events.

It’s not easy to be an empath. Until I truly understood my energy, I struggled. I struggled with the belief I had to please everyone. I struggled with sensing too much about the world around me. I struggled with feeling the weight of the world. I struggled in large groups, and sought isolation.

I’ve gradually, and successfully, learned to manage and protect my natural sensitivity, and I’ve realized how crucial it is to practice daily rituals and exercises in order to help myself stay balanced and strong.

You might too be an empath, if you:

Sense and ‘absorb’ others’ feelings
Have high sensitivity to touch, smell, energy, sight, noise, etc.
Are easily triggered or overwhelmed by negative news stories
Have been told you’re too sensitive
Feel like something is wrong with you
Have a tendency to shut down when too much is going on around you
Frequently feel exhausted
Easily get distracted

But wait, it’s not all bad news! Empaths are beautiful people, and when we recognize our true strengths, it’s easier to strengthen inner power.

Empaths typically:

Are generous and giving.
Have big hearts
Are highly intuitive
Enjoy subtle beauty
Thrive in natural settings
Treasure authenticity
Are great listeners
Have a natural ability to heal
Experience relief when they connect with others who share their sense of sensitivity

Sensitivity is a gift. We add value and strength to our sensitivity by honoring it and nurturing it. In doing this, it’s crucial to detoxify and release all that doesn’t serve us. This includes: anxiety, self-doubt, negative self judgement, other peoples’ emotions and opinions, and any substances toxic to our system.

Over the years I have learned to manage my energy in a way that allows me to thrive, instead of hide.

Here are some of my favorite techniques:

Daily Meditation — Daily meditation helps me connect with my inner power. By continually connecting with our inner power, authenticity is easier to express. Meditation helps to clarify what is ours, and what is not.

Smudging – Using a sage smudge is helpful to clear negative energy in a room. I do this frequently in my home office. In addition, I have smokeless smudge from Rhonda Lee Barefoot Artist, which I use at my office in the center where I work. Here’s the link for Rhonda’s Spirit Mist.

Energetic Shield – Empaths typically have an easy time visualizing what’s invisible to the naked eye. Visualizing an energetic shield of light or love to surround you as you move through your day can help you maintain a boundary to filter out negativity.

Grounding – Grounding is crucial for everyone, especially empaths. Sometimes, the struggles faced by an empath will create a desire for avoidance, or dissociation from earthly troubles. However helpful it might be to drift into ‘la-la-land’ at times, it’s crucial to bring ourselves back to Earth. Grounding techniques include walking barefoot on the earth, EFT Tapping, and soaking your feet in a salt bath. You might also try a daily grounding meditation, during which you imagine roots stretching down from your spine and feet into the earth below.

Salt Bath — Ahhh. Nothing like a salt bath to soothe anxiety and detoxify the body-mind. Simple Epsom salts contain magnesium, which is both grounding and relaxing. If you have a bathtub, treat yourself to a salt bath one or more times a week. If you don’t have a bathtub, soak your feet instead.

Yoga – Yoga is a powerful technique for detoxification, anxiety relief, grounding, chakra balancing, nervous system balancing, and more. Each of these benefits is crucial for the sensitive, empathic soul.

Nature– Nature is grounding, healing, and soothing. It’s essential for maintaining balance. Delight in it in any way you can.

Don’t hide from the world. Don’t hide your sensitivity. Treasure your gifts, and light up our world.

Contact me to learn how EFT Tapping and Matrix Reimprinting can help soothe your soul and nourish your inner butterfly.

In Courage,

Marian