Barbara Sinclair
Barbara Sinclair is a holistic health practitioner with a passion for Ayurveda – the ancient mind/body system of health and longevity that originated in India.
A lifelong visual artist, Barbara woke up one morning in her late 40s with pain throughout her body. A diagnosis of fibromyalgia eventually led her to seek more holistic methods of healing – all while looking within for clues as to why this had happened.
For several years, Barbara was guided to explore all kinds of alternative practices. It was with fierce intent, a positive attitude, and help from some gifted healers that her body slowly began to repair itself. In the process of healing, Barbara fell head-over-heels in love with Ayurveda, a Sanskrit word which means “the knowledge of life”.
She now lives her daily life by its principles and its deep connection with Nature and the five elements, sharing its brilliance with others.
Meditation and energy healing, with their direct connection to Ayurveda, were also key players in her recovery. They helped her to access an inner place of peace and unlock deeply buried pain.
Today, Barbara is free from the symptoms of fibromyalgia and is grateful for the powerful lessons it taught her. Like many others who have managed to overcome a debilitating condition, it enriched her life, rather than destroyed it.
Barbara’s greatest joy now is to share the fruits of her own healing journey in hopes that it might spark a healing journey for others. Barbara received her Ayurveda training from Wise Earth Ayurveda, the first school of Ayurveda teachings in the US. She is also a certified holistic health counselor and energy healer.
For a complete list of services, or to read Barbara’s blog, please visit her website at www.barbarasinclair.com.
Barbara on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraSinclairHolisticHealth
Barbara on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BSinclairNYC
Barbara on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/BSinclairNYC/
Barbara posts a new article on CLN every Wednesday. To view her articles, go here:
http://consciouslifenews.com/author/barbara-sinclair/
Lack of sleep can do more than just make us cranky and reach for a cup of coffee. It can make us crazy and it can make us sick. Read Barbara Sinclair’s easy Ayurvedic tips for a good night’s sleep.
Can deeply listening to our intuition help give us answers during a healing crisis? As a species, we’ve become pretty out of touch with our intuition, especially when it comes to our health. Rather than “listening to our body” and letting our intuition guide us, we often run to the doctor with the hope that a magic pill will cure us – immediately. Following our inner guidance is a valuable tool that we can all access.
I can’t remember the last cold or flu that I had (knock on wood). But that doesn’t mean that I’m just lucky, or that I have a perfect immune system. What I do have is a list of to-dos that I implement when I feel a virus coming on that almost never fail to nip that cold or flu in the bud.
Food is the essence of healing. Nature’s foods embody rasa, the taste of life, and contain the universes’s energetic building blocks responsible for the body, mind, and spirit being fed, nourished, and celebrated.
This humble herb is so much more than a garnishment. Parsley is one of the most effective diuretics around from a natural food source. Many of us are in Kapha Season right now and might be feeling heavy, bloated, sluggish, and in need of some gentle detoxification.
Most everyone knows the healing benefits of aloe for sunburn. When you go somewhere tropical on vacation, you can be sure to find a tube of aloe gel at the beach hut or in the gift shop. It’s a hot weather staple. But ancient healing traditions like Ayurveda recognized aloe vera as a powerful plant for many common ailments.
Ayurveda, the 5,000-year-old system of health and longevity is deeply rooted in Mother Nature and her elements. Many people are intimidated by the complexities of this ancient science, but you can benefit greatly from its common sense wisdom without becoming an Ayurvedic scholar. We are all a unique combination of the elements – air, space (ether), fire, water, and earth. Think about the “fire” in our belly that drives digestion. The blood (water) in our veins. The air element that moves everything in the body. Without it, nothing would happen and our life would cease. There is space inside of us and our bones are of the earth. Air, space, fire, water, earth.
We may take our digestive system for granted, but Ayurveda places an extreme amount of importance on it. In fact, Ayurveda teaches that roughly 80% of all illnesses derive from digestion problems.
Spring is the perfect time for cleansing and detoxifying the body, after a winter of heavier foods and often a more sedentary lifestyle. The lymphatic system especially needs a boost at this time of year (or at any time of year if your body is overburdened, sluggish or toxic).
This colorful salad is full of immune-boosting, detoxifying, lymph-moving foods like beets, pomegranates, apples, cabbage, kale, etc.
I’ve been a student and practitioner of energy healing for several years. I’ve learned so many different techniques and modalities that I’ve lost count. I love both giving energy healing and receiving it. A session with a trustworthy healer can absolutely help shift energies and guide us to living a more balanced life. But lately, I’ve come to realize that some of the most powerful energy healing techniques are already in our toolbox, just waiting for us to dig in.
Cleanses seem trendy these days, but in reality they’ve been done for thousands of years. Ayurveda considers regular detoxing an essential part of maintaining a healthy mind, body and spirit.
“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” — Benjamin Franklin
We all know that getting to bed at a decent hour is good for us. Our body can repair itself during the nighttime hours while we’re asleep and we’ll be well rested for the day ahead. That’s a no-brainer. But what about the other half of the equation? Is there really a reason we should rise with the sun? Ayurveda, the five-thousand-year-old system of healing known as the “Knowledge of Life” would say a resounding “YES!”
Late winter is a time for rest and rejuvenation, according to Ayurveda. So even though Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow this year, and an early spring is predicted here in the Northern Hemisphere, we still have a few weeks to take advantage of this seasonal downtime. Many of us living in colder climates are making the shift from Vata Season (fall/early winter) to Kapha Season (late winter/spring). You can feel the cold, dry, lightness of Vata shifting to the cold, damp, heaviness of Kapha. This is a very tenuous time for the body (and the mind, as well). Ayurveda cautions us to give extra TLC to ourselves as we make the transition.
I don’t ever remember being given herbal remedies when I was growing up. Instead, it was the dreaded pink Pepto Bismol, or aspirin, or the new kid on the block, Tylenol. Nowadays drugs have become the norm, are advertised on TV but you can’t make a statement or claim that a herb, food, or plant can possibly cure an illness.
I guess my mother didn’t have any role models to teach her natural healing and thus, couldn’t pass it along to me. So, when my own children were young, I followed suit, not knowing any better. I gave them antibiotics when the doctor deemed them necessary. Ditto any other prescription or over-the-counter drug. Oh, how I wish I had had a Dr. Aviva Romm-type around when I was younger.
Wouldn’t you rather be doing this when the December holiday frenzy rolls around? Recently, during a conversation with a friend, I gently suggested that she might feel better if she focused a little more on herself and her own needs rather than on everyone else’s. She looked at me and said “But I think that’s being selfish.” This is such a common reaction and in my opinion downright dangerous. So, here are a baker’s dozen of self-love tips for the holidays.
