7 Top Products to Travel Well this Summer

PRODUCTS

People ask all the time which products I use.

Funny - because I lean toward tomboy and keep it super simple.

It’s been a few years since publishing my tried and true favorite products, so here ya go:

• Kangen Water :: Everything: Drink + Eat + Clean + Beauty + Baby :: DM Me!

• Pangea Essential Oils

• Herbal Face Food Serum

• Organic Rosehip Oil and/or Emu Oil

• African Shea Butter (straight up!)

• Sun Potion Supplements and Superfoods

Beyond these tried and true, I dip into a couple of sources of mushroom and other supplements - always playing around with what I need season-dependent. Plus generally keep it “clean" for all hair/skin/nail essentials and bare minimum makeup. The Environmental Working Group​ has an app for that.

XO 🌱

Support Your Immune System NOW + Year-Round with Holistic Preventative Measures and Solutions

Shelves sold out of hand sanitizer? Check.

Vitamins and powered mixes in plastic packets sold out? Check.

Toilet paper? We are all questioning WTH on that one. Um, check.

MOTHER EARTH TO THE RESCUE!

Poor girl needs a Good Long Break - yet she still endlessly supports us.

Ancient Nutrition + Holistic Support

Boost your immune system year round.

Given hand sanitizer flew off of the shelves (even though soap and water is the recommended first step for cleansing hands), we look back to ancient remedies, always at our fingertips, to boost our immune systems and whole health. 

1. Nutrition.

Fall back into this old post on SuperFoods to start your nutritional self-care.

2. Hydration.

Consume mostly water. Avoid plastic bottled water.

3. Herbs + Spices.

Quick list of common powerhouses. Cook with them. Take this current time-out at home to learn other uses, too. Some can also be found in high quality oils. Oregano oil is a great go-to immune booster.

            Oregano (antiviral)

            Thyme (antiviral)

            Clove (respiratory health)

            Garlic

            Cumin

            Tumeric

            Ginger

            Mint

            Cayenne Pepper

I snagged this quick list from Dr. Axe who also offers the following: Use Antiviral Herbs to Boost Immune System and Fight Infection. Worth checking out.

4. Hygiene + Other Therapies

            • One of my #1 go-to prevention techniques has been the Neti Pot used for Sinus Irrigation. I’ve used this technique since 1998 for seasonal allergies which vastly reduced sinus infections and irritating symptoms.

            • Oil pulling. This ancient technique pulls toxins out of not only your mouth, but your entire body according to Ayurvedic science. Coconut oil is most commonly used. Love this product is by Gurunanda although the plastic bottle deters my purchasing. (Hint, hint, Gurunanda.) My dentist is continually impressed – just sayin’.

            • Handwashing with essential oils. Lots of options here. I personally use a mix of antiviral herbs mixed with jojoba oil and whole leaf aloe. After washing with soap and water, I apply to my hands and around my nose and mouth during this outbreak of COVID-19 and new era of social distancing.

            • Sunshine. Gift from the universe. Good old sunshine is our #1 source of Vitamin D which will boost your mood alongside your immunity and much more.

            • Earthing/Grounding. Take your shoes off. Put your feet on the ground for 30 minutes. Read what the experts offer on the many benefits HERE.

5. Yoga, meditation and breathing practices.

Can’t say enough about these, but drop into this 3-minute practice to boost your immunity today with YogaToday. Use code ‘JONI30’ for an annual subscription at a ridiculous deal. Practice anytime, anywhere with internationally recognized teachers with decades of experience.

6. Mindset.

We all have a certain amount of control over our health. Know this. Trust this.

Cultivating deep trust in ourselves and our amazing biocomputers - known as the human body - is essential. Unsure of where to start? Talk to me.

7. Forgiveness.

Say what? It’s true. Harboring grudges is not to our benefit. While forgiveness can be extremely challenging, it does support the immune system. In times like this, conscious communication and relating is king.

If you are unable to verbally discuss and forgive, it is possible to do so energetically. One method I employ is the following:

            Find a comfortable seat.

            Close your eyes, take a deep breath in, and release it through the mouth.

            Notice the chatter in the mind about this situation needing forgiveness.

            Take all of that chatter in the mind and drop it down into the heart.

            Notice any shift that occurs.

When you feel an energetic shift or pulse at the heart, relish in that deeply for a moment.

            If it feels appropriate, send that heart medicine to the person or situation you would like to forgive.

            Make this a practice.

Love to all under these circumstances. Immense good will show itself on the other side.

May the force be with us.

Love What Comes Up

When something arises that we don’t want or don’t like, our tendency is to resist.

When I was growing up, like most of us, I didn’t know any better.

Did you?

What I’ve learned is to notice my reactions to what comes up. 

Now this isn’t always easy.

I have admittedly not yet learned the art of paying attention - every single time.

But pay attention. Notice if you are triggered. Ask yourself why. 

Creating awareness around reactions to anything that comes up improves life immensely. 

It’s an opportunity.

To learn from reactions.

Understand them. 

Own what is ours.

Take radical responsibility for our part.

Then make an effort to shift. 

Shift to that place of learning and gaining from an experience rather than resisting and running away.

We tend to cling to the way we want things to be, to control people and our experiences with them.

Instead, dropping into and sticking with an experience - as it is - allowing the rush of feelings and emotions to pass like waves - we find that usually something better awaits us on the other side.

Relax.

Love what comes up, whatever it is.

What is Holistic Health Coaching?

Health coaching is still a newer industry. Much like yoga, there are many styles without a truly unifying alliance yet in place.  That being said, when the coaching is described as “holistic” we are referencing the integration of all realms of life. Holistic refers to the whole; an intimate interconnectedness of all parts explicable only by referencing the whole. We are speaking on the human experience - body, mind, emotion, spirit. “Spirit” can be substituted with whatever works for the individual from religion to nature.

Health coaching is an industry on the rise given the state of our nation’s health and its healthcare system. Health coaches are not doctors, therapists, or nutritionists, although the practice holds strong components from all three. We support these professions, in many cases working alongside them, as well as referring out to them as necessary.

So what happens within a coaching session? Holistic health coaching means we are peering into all realms of life to find areas we can tweak to benefit the whole:

Health

Movement of body 

Nutrition

Home & work environment

Relationships

Social life

Spirituality (insert your own vocabulary)

Creativity & self-expression

Finances

Career

Continuing education

Overall joy

We are looking at root causes of disease, or lack of well-being, preventing and healing dis-ease, rather than slapping a Band-Aid on the byproduct for temporary relief. 

For the coach, sessions include deep deep listening to the client often beyond what the client is actually saying. What does this mean?? Well, some folks want a coach to be specialized in order to understand what exactly they will offer and what exactly the outcome will be. Commonly heard: “I want to lose weight.”. Commonly thought: "This person will give me the magic combination of diet, nutrition, cleanse, green juice and exercise which will for sure help me lose weight." While all of these will certainly assist and often remedy an issue, many times a deficiency in an area seemingly unrelated is actually the missing link!

Digging deeper, and this happens quite often, the client eventually finds that a certain person in their life, friend, relative, or partner is actually causing tremendous stress, turmoil, obsessive thought, and all related emotions leading to a severe lack of wellbeing expressing itself through additional weight, that annoying skin condition, chronic fatigue, loss of additional relationships, and so on. These conditions then will not go away by adding more vegetables to one’s plate. In fact, when a force to be reckoned with is sucking so much of one's time and energy, it’s really hard to eat more vegetables. So once we get to the root cause, we begin the evolution.

Holistic health coaches listen, support, guide, teach, coach, consult, deduce, heal, and inspire change in mind, body, thought, leading to transformation. Taking people from where they are now to where they want to be is what we do.