Tag: Nadirah “Heal Thee” Network

9 Reasons to Start Pumping Iron!

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The Benefits of Weight Training:
1. Overall strength: One of the primary reasons that people incorporate weight training into their fitness regimen is so that they become stronger. Gradually increasing the weight you work with will help you achieve physical strength. Start off with something you can handle, and then weekly increase your weight by two and half to five pounds.
2. Stabilizes joints: When the muscles surrounding the joints are strong and healthy they help keep our joints in their proper place, and we are also less prone to injuries.
3. Protects bones, tendons, and ligaments: Muscle with great tensile strength is like “insurance” for our bones, tendons, and ligaments. The added protection can help offset bone breaks, and tendon, and ligament snaps! Don’t forget to stretch!
4. Increases flexibility: Believe it or not, healthy muscles are flexible. They are not supposed to be tight and hardened. They may visibly appear that way because of the way they have been sculpted. However, if the muscle is healthy and NATURAL it will be flexible. Be sure to stretch after each weight training session! Get a massage monthly, and foam roll at least twice a week! For more information on foam rolling, read this!https://nadibody.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/the-benefits-of-foam-rolling/
5. Speeds up metabolism: Weight training causes the muscle to become metabolically active, thereby increasing your metabolism at a faster rate than someone who just does aerobic activity. People who weight train in conjunction with a healthy diet are likely to loose weight/fat and keep it off versus someone who does not.
6. Assist in cell regeneration: Weight training breaks down tissue/cells and then the tissue repairs itself. Imagine the possibility of creating a whole new body by weight training at least 4 times per week, and eating immaculately…a new you!
7. Enhances neuromuscular control: When entered into consciously weight training forges the mind body connection, thereby, stimulating neurons in the brain and in the body.
8. Improves Bone Density: Health care professional suggest that women over 40 do at least three hours per week of weight training to help build stronger bones. It is said that after age 40 a woman starts to lose bone, and weight training is like preventative care.
9. Positively alters body composition: Most people weight train as a method of body sculpting. They do this to simple improve the shape or composition of their physiques.

If the Spirit moves you START PUMPING IRON! Wishing you inner and outer strength, Nadirah A. Shakir

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Water Is Magic! Have Some!

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“Water Is Magic! Have Some!”

8 reasons to drink more water:
1. Water aids in the purification/detoxification of the body.
2. Water aids in digestion.
3. Water helps to maintain a healthy and natural ph balance within the body.
4. Water increases metabolism, and helps the body release fat, and extra weight.
5. Water helps you maintain clear and healthy skin, because you are getting rid of bacteria and other toxins.
6. Water gives you energy by keeping you hydrated.
7. Water helps you to feel full. Lots of times we eat when we are thirsty. If we stay hydrated during the day we will be less likely to snack/eat.
8. Water helps you think clearly. When the body is dehydrated your brain is less “foggy.”

Indications that you may need more water:
1. A sluggish metabolism
2. Not regular ( Depending on how much you eat, you should be having 2-3 bowel movements per day. If you are not going at least once a day drink up!)
3. Prone to acne
4. Crave sugar and other carbohydrates (drinking more water in conjunction with other detoxifying methods will help you rid the body of candida which can be the primary cause of sugar cravings)
5. Need to loose weight
6. Prone to edema, swelling, or holding water during your menstrual cycle
7. Adhere to a very physical lifestyle
8. Spend a significant amount of time outdoors in the sun
9. Have trouble concentrating (foggy brain)
10. Need to detox

Foods that promote dehydration:
1. alcohol
2. processed foods
3. white sugar and foods that are rich in white sugar
4. caffeine
5. regular sodas and diet sodas
6. Foods high in sodium/salt

Water is magic…have some!

Embracing the Relationships Around You

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So many single people are obsessed with being in a relationship. It’s as if they don’t meet Mr. or Mrs. Right their entire existence is irrelevant. They can’t eat. They can’t sleep. They can’t even go out to a social event without looking for their soul mate. I understand the basic human need for companionship and relationship. The desire to connect and share our hearts and lives with another soul is an innate trait that most human beings have. What’s unhealthy though is the yearning—the obsession to have someone–anyone, which drives people to make deplorable relationship choices. Also, entering into relationship because of a need—financial or other, will only lead to disaster. No one can learn our lessons for us or do the work for us. We have to do it ourselves.

One of the most loving things single people (all people for that matter) can do for themselves is to obtain a deeper understanding AND acceptance of themselves. You’ll be surprised at how many single people who are desperate to get into a relationship, haven’t the foggiest idea what makes them happy. Furthermore the desperation to be in a relationship leads them to compromise their very own happiness. The relationship will not last and if it does the energy will be toxic. Also, trying to hide behind personas and adhere to roles for the sake of obtaining a relationship will choke at ones life force as well.

One of the things that I do as a happily single individual is embrace the relationships around me. If you are single (or not) and desiring a sacred union you should too. Here’s why. The Universe is always sending someone to share in love with you. It may not be the type of relationship that you are looking for but the energy for giving and receiving is always there. Furthermore allowing yourself to be open to those around you will help you better prepare for “THEE” relationship you are wanting. When you see every relationship as a relationship that can assist you in becoming the type of person you would like to “be with” some day then you are on your way to sharing life with that special someone. In the meantime, just chill, love, and get to know you. Do some of the things that you dreamed of doing, and more importantly pay attention to the people around you. Someone is always trying to love you. Just look.

For further insights on self love, relationship, and inner confidence read pages 27-30, and 141-142 in my memoir Before You Work Out, Exercise http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000141255/Before-You-Work-Out-Exercise.aspx.

Wishing you unconditional love and fearless self acceptance, Nadirah A. Shakir

Grounding Yourself for Optimal Health

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sand in hand

“Grounding Yourself for Optimal Health”

Do you ever feel like your life is going so fast that you just can’t keep up? Sure you have! That’s called life! Often times, when we feel this surge of energy, or this exhilarated flow of life speeding up, things are more than likely going well. The Universe has/is providing for us new opportunities for further growth and success. In some cases there can be a series of stressors that have our head spinning as well. In any event, when life starts to go so fast that you just can’t keep up, go ahead a give yourself permission to slooooow down.

How can you slow down? You can slow down by engaging in an activity that grounds you. A grounding activity is an activity that you do where you become fully present in that moment. It slows the heart rate down. It relaxes the mind, and the muscles of the body also become relax. In other words, you become fully present in the moment. For me, getting out into nature helps me ground myself. The sea has a calming effect on me that relaxes my entire muscular and nervous system. There’s an exercise that I like to do when I visit the sea. I like to consciously connect with the rhythm of the ocean—the waves, and then I like to breathe with the moving water. I can’t began to tell you how wonderful I feel after about five minutes of doing this. I also like to play in the wet sand–pushing my feet into the mud—making mud balls—carving my name into the sand. I find that doing something silly like playing in mud helps me nurture my inner child which is very grounding! One way to quickly become grounded is to forfeit all the seriousness of adulthood and let your child play! For others, a walk under a full moon, or the warm sun may be grounding. Baking a cake or making love with a partner who you share a wonderful connection with can be healing. Praying, deep breathing, a great workout, running, talking to a therapist or a coach, journaling, and list goes on and on and on! You know yourself best, so do what works for you. If you are not accustomed to grounding yourself try my two personal favorite—journaling about your feelings, and taking a solitary trip to the sea. Either of these activities will provide the healing-reflective space for you to remember and conger up new ways to ground yourself.

I wish you peace today and everyday. Nadirah A. Shakir

Chakra Power

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chakras

I wish more people understood how they can utilize the power in their bodies. When I speak of power I’m speaking in terms of energy. I want to help you grasp the concept of energy in the body so I’ll keep it simple. We all have a chakra system. There are seven major chakras in the human body. They are the root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, and crown chakra. Each chakra governs a spiritual idea, an emotion, an organ, a color, and musical vibration and much more. Right now for simplicity sake let’s focus on the spiritual idea.We have the root chakra which is located at the base of our spine;it’s spiritual idea is groundedness. To be grounded means that you are comfortable in your earthly shell, and you understand your connection to Mother Earth. The sacral chakra is next. It is located in the pelvis. It’s spiritual idea is pleasure. There are many ways to experience pleasure. The primary focus of the sacral chakra though is sensuality and sexuality. The chakra of the solar plexus sits over the stomach. Place three fingers horizontally over your navel and you will connect with the landmark of the solar plexus. The spiritual idea of the solar plexus deals with personal power, a healthy sense of self, and confidence. Then of course we have our heart chakra which is located in the middle of our chest, just above our sternum. I consider myself a heart-centered person so during meditation I focus on the middle of the chest but slightly to the left where the heart is actually located. I instruct my clients to do the same during a session. The heart chakras’ spiritual idea is love. The fifth chakra is our throat chakra. The throat chakra is located at the medial clavicle, just below the Adams apple for men. The spiritual idea of our throat chakra is expression. Then we have the famous “third eye”, which is referred to as the brow chakra, located between the eyebrows. The spiritual idea of the brow chakra is intuition. Lastly, we have the seventh chakra which is the crown chakra. Our crown chakra sits at the top of the mid brain, dead center of the parietals. Our crown chakra connects us to the Divine.Now that we have a general overview of the Chakra system, I’d like you to consider this. If one of your chakras is out of balance, damaged, or blocked you might be challenged with health issues or life issues for the correlating Chakra. For example, if your heart chakra is out of balance, damaged, or blocked you could have trouble in relationships. If your throat chakra is out of balance, damaged, or blocked you could have recurring sore throats, or unexplained coughing. While there may very well be other causes which affect life circumstances and health conditions it is a blessing to know that we do have some control of what is manifesting in our bodies as well as in our lives. We have nothing to loose and everything to gain by simply meditating on these areas in our bodies daily and applying loving thoughts and touch to each chakra. What’s the worse thing that can happen…we might actually heal something before it can manifest?!

Daily Affirmative Prayer by Nadirah Aqueelah Shakir

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Have you ever wondered how to pray? Have you ever been apprehensive about praying? Have you ever wondered who and what you may be praying to? I think at some point in our lives we all have. Prayer can be different things for all of us, but in it’s simplicity prayer is simply aligning our minds and hearts with the Divine. We may call the Divine God, Allah, Buddah, Krishna, Goddess, Jehovah, or whatever. The truth is God answers and shows up by the name that we call it. What do you require in your life at this moment? Do you require peace? If so call on God as Divine Peace. Do you need money? Call on God as the Supreme Provider or Divine Substance. Do you require love and acceptance? If so call forth Divine Love. Remember God is all there is, and all that there will ever be. Connect with God by opening your mind, body, and heart to all the Power that God is. When you pray, join minds with God. In other words concentrate on the name that you are calling God, and give thanks in advance for the assistance of The Divine; because once you connect All-Mighty God takes action.

 

Below is a simple prayer to assist you in making contact with The Divine.  Have a blessed one! Nadirah A. Shakir

 

Divine Love flows through me.

Order my thoughts, actions, words, and reactions so that I become a reflection and expression of your pure, bright light. Divine Love help me release all thoughts of lack, limitation, fear, false-judgment, and grudge-fullness so that I can move speedily into your free flow of abundance.

Divine Wisdom is my guide.

Speak into my heart, mind, and soul. Let me become sensitive and obedient to your voice, and your direction.  Help me make wise choices and decisions for a richer, orderly, and peace-filled life. Help me break the chains of confusion, and procrastination. Make me a fearless and strategic thinker so that I can create for myself the prosperous life, the life that is natural, the life that you ordained for me.

Divine Power strengthens me from my core.

Give me the strength that I need to carry out the vision that you have placed in my heart. Give me the courage that I need to cast away all fear and doubt. Give me the discipline I need to stay on course.

Divine Substance provide for me

Place everything I need to live a prosperous life in my path. Give me this day and every day my daily bread. Place in my path all of my necessities, and the desires of my heart. Send to me helping angels, creative ideas, a free flow of interest free cash money, perfect health, working relationships, and jobs that not only provide in abundance but work that is pleasing and honorable to YOU.

This is the prayer that I pray today. This is the prayer that I accept today. In the powerful name of All-Mighty God I declare it to be so. Amen.

 

 

Good nutrition is NOT a mission!

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I was talking to a friend the other day, and he was telling me how he’s ready to rev up his workout regimen. He went on to ask me to design a meal plan for him. I began by asking him the typical stuff about his goals, his stats, and his medical history of course. He was in good health, and basically he wanted what almost everyone in America wants. He wanted to loose some fat, keep a decent amount of muscle, and have more energy. I told him I’d have the meal plan to him in about a week or so. Then he went on to tell me how hard it is for him to eat healthy because of his schedule, and how he only has forty five minutes to eat lunch when he’s at work…blah, blah, blah. I had to cut him off. “That’s no excuse,” I interjected. Then he sort of cut his eye at me. I cut my eye back and then I asked him some rather annoying questions like, how long does it take to eat, can’t you get a salad at any fast food chain now-a-days. Then I told him how I was pulled out to dinner a couple of nights ago, and how the restaurant had this whole menu dedicated to low fat, and low carb dieters. Even if they didn’t have a menu that accommodated my needs I could still order grilled salmon, steamed broccoli, and a baked sweet potato. My friend had to agree with me because what I was saying was completely true. Let’s face it. We are the ones who drive to the fast food window and super-size everything. We are the ones who ask for extra cheese. We are the ones who ignore the grilled chicken combo that CAN come with a baked potato, and opt for the classic crispy with large fries. I know I’ve done it before, BUT if you want to get into tip top shape you are going to have to sacrifice the savory dishes for clean eats. It’s as simple as that, and as far as preparation goes, it really only takes 1-2 hours a day once or twice a week to prepare your food for the entire week. So don’t make excuses! Just get into the habit of making healthier choices when you eat out OR prepare your food at home and take it with you so that you are not tempted to mess up on your diet. When I pulled out my lunch box and handed him a container of grilled chicken pasta sautéed in olive oil and apple cider vinegar he understood what he had to do—stop making excuses and commit to a healthier diet. I’ll be posting the recipe for my grilled chicken pasta soon! Stay tuned!!

Using Physical Exercise to Restore Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Balance

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One of my clients laughed at me the other day when I told her that we would only be training the right side of her body during her training session. “What about my left side,” she exclaimed! “I don’t want to be lop-sided!” What my client didn’t know was that she was ALREADY lop-sided—emotionally. During her physical fitness assessment I noticed that she had tremendous strength and balance on the left side of her body, but her right side was much weaker. On her left side she was able to perform more repetitions, and lift much heavier weight. When we performed stabilizing exercises or core exercises her right side often fell first where as her left side was able to hold the position longer. After assessing her, most trainers would credit her imbalance to a general muscle deviation or lack of strength on that side, and all of those assumptions may very well be part of the imbalance. However, as a wellness coach and a master reiki energy therapist I had to delve a bit deeper. After the assessment was over I asked her a couple of rather personal questions. What I discovered was that my client was having issues in her relationship with her male counter-part, and she had also recently lost her grandfather who had been the father figure in her life. Emotionally my client was suffering. Her weakness on her right side was the physical manifestation of her emotional suffering. FYI: We often suffer emotionally long before there are any physical symptoms. More often than not the physical symptoms come so that we can immediately turn our attention with in, since we are accustomed to ignoring our feelings, and “getting on with it.” Metaphysically/spiritually speaking, our right side represents our masculine energy. Sometimes, when we feel pain, discomfort, and weakness in one side or another it can be an indication that our emotional issues are becoming chronic. Once we receive the physical signal we are forced to explore our emotions more thoroughly. When we find the root of our discomfort by sorting through our emotions and mental patterns we can begin to heal ourselves at depth. An in depth approach to healing will insure longer positive results versus trying to bandage or “fix” an external problem. Does it take longer? Most of the time it does. Will it be more uncomfortable? Probably. But, at least you know you have rectified the problem on all three levels—mind—body—and spirit. Furthermore, you are empowered, because you now have clarity on the underlying issues which may be causing external discomfort. As for my client, she’s not lop-sided. She is becoming more aligned. That one session dedicated to her right side was just an opening for deeper healing. Pay attention to your body when it speaks (aches, twitches, sensations), and if you have any knowledge of the metaphysical anatomy use it to find underlying or root causes for discomfort. If you don’t, visit this blog often, as I’ll be posting what I have been blessed to learn.

Getting Physical for Equilibrium

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Many people use exercise as a way to distress, and get or keep themselves in alignment. It’s no wonder that as soon as life takes an unexpected turn and things get off normal track, many people find their way back by revamping a schedule that incorporates some type of physical fitness. “I just feel better after a really good workout,” is the mantra that is often heard after a long run, an intense weight training session, or a grounding yoga class. Why is this so? Why do people just feel so darn good after a workout? There are many reasons why, but perhaps the most fundamental reason why people feel so good after a workout is because they have done what is absolutely natural. They have nurtured themselves on all levels—mind, body, and spirit. They have made the mind body connection by thinking about and then performing the exercise, and they have refreshed the spirit through breath. Although physical exercise may appear to be just physical or external it is not. When entered into consciously exercise/physical activity becomes a powerful avenue for healing and restoring balance. So, the next time you opt to push your workout to the bottom of your list of “things to do” remember that exercise is not only good for the body, it does wonders for clearing and aligning the mind, and rejuvenating the spirit.