Rachel Bullen - Art of Natural Wellbeing

04/07/2021

The incredible power of scent ...

Essential oils

"Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived."
- Helen Keller

I love working with essential oils during Kinesiology sessions, as I find that scent has such multidimensional benefits. Of the five senses, our sense of smell is the most powerful, and aromas have the ability to trigger both physiological and psychological effects. Certain brain regions such as the Amygdala and Limbic System register and recognise a scent faster than sight, touch, taste and hearing, and is said to be 10,000 times more accurate.

Aromatherapy is aptly named, as the very act of smelling these aromas can have a therapeutic effect. Along with physiological effects, the psychological power of scent include its ability to evoke a memory in an instant - a person, place, time or thing; offering us the opportunity to review, acknowledge and integrate the memory.

14/06/2021

Colour has been known to have a powerful psychological impact on people’s feelings, behaviour and decisions.

Spanish poet and playwright, Pedro Calderon de la Barca, said "Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises."

The colour green symbolises life itself, and the reemergence of life, such as the Springtime when an incredible variety of shades of green expresses renewal and growth.

In ancient mythology, green was used to reference the fertility of the earth and all beings. In several religions, green represents regeneration or resurrection. In Japan, green represents eternal life. Worldwide, green is used to represent safety.

Studies have shown that the colour green may inspire creativity too. It has been found that green can improve reading ability - indicating its ability to bring clarity, focus, concentration. In one study, a green light environment improved reading ability in participants, whereas a red light environment reduced reading ability.

The colour Green is known to be universally healing. It is said to be the Healer’s colour. Green helps people feel rested and secure; to find hope, inspiration and a sense of inherent safety.

For me, green is the ultimate colour of life, potentiality and beauty. It represents nature’s intrinsic genius and harmony.

I am so happy to be surrounded by the living colour green
🌱💚🦎🌿🐛🌳🐸🍃🦚🍀🥝🥬

14/08/2020

Lychee or Rambutan? Can you tell?

Both are uniquely sweet tasting tropical fruits that look quite similar... they’re Doppelgängers. Same same, but different.

Both have juicy white flesh, contain a big seed, and have a red outer skin. But despite their similarities, these fruits are quite different in terms of taste and nutritional profiles. Plus they come from different regions of the planet and different botanical families.

In case you didn’t recognise the pictured fruits, they’re Rambutan (with an orchid at the centre). They have a delightful bright red skin covered in coarse red fur with green tips. In fact, the literal translation of the Indonesian name ‘rambutan’ is ‘hairy’. In Vietnam it is called chôm chôm (meaning "messy hair").

The fruit inside looks almost identical to lychee, just a bit bigger. The rambutan’s white flesh is floral, sweet and refreshing, with a creamy texture. Other than the fact it’s delicious and beautiful; nutritionally, the main stand out feature of Rambutan is its vitamin C content. Eating four to five rambutans will give you your minimum daily vitamin C requirements (NB I personally recommend having much more than the minimum vitamin C, in many different whole-food forms). And interestingly, compared to other tropical fruits, rambutan is relatively low in fructose/fruit sugars. Rambutan roots, bark, and leaves have various uses in traditional medicine, and in the production of dyes.

But if you were to choose rambutan over lychee, I’d choose lychee, as it has far more nutritional benefits. I mean, the name Lychee translates to “gift for loyal life” in Chinese. I’ll expand on lychee benefits in another post 😘

I was interested to learn that Rambutan only grows 12–15° of the equator. Thailand is currently the biggest producer of Rambutan, specifically Surat Thani (where I live) 🇹🇭✨

https://www.instagram.com/p/CD2kMgHnHKQ/?igshid=zu0fjfc5ksj3

04/08/2020

We all love the sun ☀️

Yet, we’ve all heard how excessive exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays aren’t good for our skin. But it’s important to know that moderate exposure to sunlight has many mood-lifting benefits.

Sunlight and darkness trigger the release of certain neurotransmitters in our brain. Exposure to sunlight cues special areas in the retina of the eye, triggering the brain’s release of Serotonin - which is associated with elevating mood; helping us feel calm, focused and at peace. It even helps heal wounds amongst many, many other functions.

At night, darker lighting triggers the brain to make melatonin, which in contrast is responsible for helping us sleep.

Without enough sun exposure, our serotonin levels may dip. Low levels of serotonin are associated with a higher risk of “depression with seasonal pattern” (aka seasonal affective disorder or SAD). This is a form of depression triggered by the winter time, when the days are darker and shorter. This form of depression can also be triggered if we spend way too much time indoors.

Because of this connection, light therapy/phototherapy is one of the main treatments for depression with seasonal pattern. You can even buy a light therapy box to use at home.

Sunlight offers many other health benefits that I’ll save for another post. But feeling good is a pretty good reason to catch some rays.

🌻 AND - I’m curious to try an experiment with a daily “Sunlight Meditation” - where we start by settling into a relaxed, meditative space, and go to our happy sunny place in our minds. Visualise looking into a vivid blue sky speckled with fluffy bright white clouds, and the magnificent sun beaming down on you, refracting all the colours of the spectrum. Feel the deep warmth on your skin, the smile forming on your face. See the vivid green trees and the infinite ocean, hear the sound of birds singing, see how the light really sparkles, as do you! Want to try??!! 😁

24/02/2020

Sleep is your superpower! 🦹🏼✨

And sadly, it is also one of the most common deficiencies. The long term impact of sleep deprivation is quite severe, and I’m pretty sure each of us feel it.

There was a time when I was attempting to be a superhero despite a severe lack of sleep; early morning high intensity gym sessions from 5:30am, followed by a full days work, topped off with indulgent socialising with a few glasses of wines... and then doing it all again and again on 6 hours sleep. Hey it was fun until I started to feel the initially subtle and then glaringly obvious impact.

I now realise I need a minimum of 9 hours sleep. Ideally closer to 10 hours. Seriously. 10 hours. Then I’m waking naturally and joyously, with a great day functioning on all cylinders. I would recommend that this be a goal for some of us, even to try just for a little while to feel how life changes for the better.

As Dr Matt Walker states - A good night's sleep requires four "pillars," including:

🌟Depth/Quality (your brain waves produced during the different stages of sleep)

🌟Duration (8-9 hours, non-negotiable)

🌟Continuity (minimum or no waking up during the night)

🌟Regularity (going to bed and waking up at the same time every day)

So awareness is the key. Take a moment to review your energy levels, daily routine, coffee & alcohol intake, plus daily and nightly habits.

This TED Talk sheds some powerful light on the impact of sleep deprivation, as well as ways to improve sleep quality and duration.

Sleep is your life-support system and Mother Nature's best effort yet at immortality, says sleep scientist Matt Walker. In this deep dive into the science of...