Why you should use essential oils!

Do you see everyone getting the flu or getting a cold every year? Do you sometimes feel tired during the day or do you not sleep well? Do you or any of your family have any allergies or skin conditions?

All this is caused by toxins in our environment and body. Our shampoo, shower gel, day cream, deodorant, etc… are full of synthetic chemicals. Together with other pollution, food additives, and so many other toxins, our body is attacked every day in every way!

It is our task to take our life back and get a more natural lifestyle. We need to nourish our body and mind! What better then than helping it with high quality essential oils.

Contact me for more information!
I am a life coach and Tai Chi instructor using essential oils in my practice to help people on a more holistic basis.

What is your story?

I want to tell you my story…
I worked in a bank in Belgium. It was a 9 to 5 job in an office with closed windows and my health was getting worse.
I moved to China in 2008, the middle of the financial crisis and I pursuit my passion: learn Kungfu and Taichi. I was an English teacher and after a couple of years I opened a cafe.

But… I didn’t like that I had to be at the cafe every day. It was also a tourist place, so I had to earn more in summer to cover for the winter and worked 16 hours a day during festivals. After 3 years, I was in debt, lost my relationship and had no job anymore.

It was hard to get over that again, but after more than 1 year, I met my husband and moved to Shenzhen. At first, I was an English teacher and I didn’t know anyone else besides my husband.
Everything changed when I met someone who introduced me to Doterra, an essential oils company. I came into a community of inspiring people who take care of their health and personal development.

Thanks to Doterra I have a product to take care of my and my family’s health and I have been doing a lot of personal development.
I am on my way to achieve my biggest dreams and I have the life and freedom I really want!

This is my new project: Combine Tai Chi, life coaching and essential oils together to help others to get optimal health and also achieve the life they deserve.

Go to my business website to see more: https://www.mydoterra.com/ericzhou/#/

Believe in your dreams

Do you have what it takes to persist? Do you believe your dreams will become a reality?

It is sometimes difficult to keep on persisting, especially when it is financially challenging. Or when your environment is not supportive.

Let me tell you my story. I came to China in 2008 to study Kung Fu. I thought of only staying here 1 year and then go back to Belgium, my home country. Life chose another way. I never liked office work and it was easy for me to teach English here in China, so I stayed. I studied first Kung Fu and since 2010 I started to study Tai Chi, while teaching English to support my life. I lived in a small cozy town in South-China. But after some years, and a failed attempt to open a coffeeshop (which I had for 3 years there, but language and cultural barriers made me lose money), I wanted something more. I dreamed of making Tai Chi known all over the world. I would give workshops, have retreats and train people to become trainers themselves. Tai Chi has so many benefits for people’s lives, I want everyone to experience it.

In 2013, the Chinese national tv even made a program about ‘My Chinese Dream’, where I explained my vision. After several setbacks, I nearly lost all hope and was even thinking of going back to Belgium and just find a regular job, which I would see as another failure, but at that time, I felt it was the only option.

I am thankful that life gave me another option: I met my husband and moved together with him to Shenzhen, a metropolitan near Hong Kong. The first year and a half I really struggled. I was ‘just’ an English teacher again, but now to kids. I had been teaching adults and that was kind of fulfilling, because they taught me a lot about Chinese culture. With kids, I just had to play games and I had problems with my throat, because of the shouting. I have deep respect for teachers who can do it and have it as their vocation, but I felt it was a step back for me, because it took me further from my dream. But, in such a big city, I didn’t know where to start and I thought here everyone wanted to have a Chinese Tai Chi teacher.

I went to a lot of networking events to get myself out there, get more friends and more connections. I met a woman who was into essential oils. I started to do that business too and because of that, I started to get some students for Tai Chi. It was not ideal: I had to travel all over the city (which can sometimes take about 2 hours by metro) and I was changing clothes in the bathroom of the metro a lot. Every time, I was in a smelly dirty bathroom, trying to get my clothes not to touch the floor, I repeated to myself: you will get successful, because you are willing to do this. I was reading a lot of self-development books and I was changing myself.

I stopped teaching English and focused on essential oils and Tai Chi (financially very challenging), because I know I need to focus on the big
picture and the future and I started to believe I could fulfill my dream!

 

 

Now, I can’t believe it! Within 1 week, I was on stage 2 times: at a Chinese company teaching and demonstrating Tai Chi to 70 Chinese employees. And yesterday, I was introducing

Tai Chi to 40 international entrepreneurs. Because of this, more and more people want to launch projects with me, doors open, new connections are made and I feel like I am dreaming! I am living my dream! Only one year after having to change clothes in the metro stations.

Keep on believing in your dreams!!! They will come true!

Take action every day

We are almost at the end of February. How are you doing on your goals for this year? I don’t want to call it resolutions, because that seems like something short-term and short-lived. Your goals set you on the path to achieve your dreams.

Before, I was setting goals, but didn’t believe strongly that I would achieve them or there was a setback and I forgot about them. I also thought I didn’t have the willpower to stick to whatever I wanted. I thought I was just like that.

Because of a couple major setbacks I got on the path to personal development and wow! the changes in my life…

It didn’t come overnight, so, I still had some small breakdowns, but now, I can say that my life is getting better and I am moving towards my dream!

I came to China in 2008 to study Kung Fu and Tai Chi. A different culture gave its problems and time to adjust for sure! Since 2015, I live with my Chinese husband in Shenzhen, a big city near Hong Kong. I met wellness advocates of essential oils and am now doing this business too as it goes together with my holistic health approach.
My dream was to do workshops in Tai Chi and to help people to find balance in their body and mind! This year, I have launched a new project: Body and Mind Challenger (a friend suggested this title) and I give workshops in Tai Chi and personal development.

I have to pinch myself to understand that this is truly happening! It was a process of years, but finally I have almost achieved it! My mission and vision is to spread these workshops all over the world. Make people aware about what they can achieve!

 

Chinese New Year

A couple of days ago, my husband decided to buy a Cobra snake to eat. We were at a fish market and we saw some sellers selling snakes, rats etc… to eat. I never ate snake and he found a seller who sold Cobra snakes.

They killed it right there in the shop and cut it open. They gave me the gall bladder in some ricewine and I had to swallow it in one go! ‘Good for my eyes,’ my husband said.

Well, I drank it, because, frankly, I wanna try everything in life! But, don’t believe a thing that it’s good for my eyes… That evening, we had a nice soup of Cobra snake and chicken, a traditional Chinese dish. They call it the Dragon Phoenix soup: dragon is snake and phoenix is soup.

But, I do just keep faith in my essential oils to keep my body healthy! I don’t believe the poor snake has any health benefits. Who dares to try?

If you need more information on essential oils and what they can do for you, go to my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bodyandmindchallenger/

 

About persistence and new habits…

Beep beep beep… The alarm goes off in the morning. Way too early, like everyday. What do you do? Do you hit snooze a few times before you finally stumble out of bed or do you jump out ready to start your day?

Your action has a lot to do with what you think. If you think about all the tasks that are waiting for you, or that annoying colleague that you have to face or that you have to leave your warm bed and are simply not ready to face the cold yet. Then, for sure you will hit snooze.
But… When you think about the things you are grateful for first thing you wake up, then you will feel more energetic and ready to start! You can be grateful for a lot of things, like being healthy, having a place to sleep, having enough food, etc. You get the picture!

There is another way to jump out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off. One that I apply and it really helps me to take immediate action. One of the new habits I wanted to create, was to start exercising in the morning. To be grateful was good to get me out of bed, but not to make me feel motivated to immediately start running or so.
So, now, whenever I want to hit the snooze button I remember the person that I was (and still am) and picture the person I want to become. I create a lot of pain in my mind, that is, I imagine that if I snooze, I will never realize my goals, will not be fit and be just the person I am today or even worse (getting fatter, getting lazier,…).
I, then, picture the joy I would have to get up, do a healthy morning routine of exercise and healthy breakfast that I just jump out of bed and have enough energy to run 10 km or practice Tai Chi or do any other kind of exercise.

That is how I believe we can achieve our goals faster and be more productive: link pain to your past behavior that didn’t serve you and link pleasure to habits that will help you become the person you want to be!

Contact me if you want to learn more on how to establish new habits or have any other remarks on healthy-body-mind@outlook.com

 

Tai Chi as a lifestyle

What is Tai Chi?
When I ask people this question, they picture old Chinese people doing exercise in the park, so they see it mainly as a health exercise.

Did you ever think that Tai Chi could be like an iceberg? The top you see above the water is what you see people doing. The rest (most of the mountain) is hidden under water, like most of Tai Chi is hidden in our bodies and mind.

How to start Tai Chi practice?
Tai Chi starts with basic movements and meditation. For me, I also didn’t like meditation the first months of my Tai Chi practice. I found I didn’t want to waste time to just standing still. I wanted to learn the Tai Chi movements and focused on how to perform them well. It was only after I really put some effort in doing the meditation every day for 15 to 20 minutes that I felt a huge difference. I walked differently, like my feet were sucked to the ground with every step and my Tai Chi practice took a whole other level: I had better balance, better focus, better… just an overall huge improvement of my movements.

The basic movements in Tai Chi consist of the figure 8 movement to loosen your hips and to improve coordination with your legs and arms. Our hips are very stiff, because we always do exercise in a linear way: walk, run, cycle,… Our hips don’t loosen, on the contrary, they become more stiff. With Tai Chi you have to move your hips in a circular way, you will loosen your hips and release any blockages you have in any of your joints.

Further Tai Chi practice
With every Tai Chi movement, you focus on your Dantian, the energy center in your body, located just 2 fingers under your navel. From there the energy moves all over your body, to every limb and back to your center. When you feel uncomfortable in a certain area of your body, you have a blockage there. With continued practice and the flow of the movements and Qi (as your energy is called in Chinese), you will release this blockage.

Tai Chi is much more than just exercise, it works with your energy and enhances the natural healing process of your body.

I welcome everyone to my workshops to experience it for yourself. If you can’t attend, send me a private message and we can do an online session. I don’t like to make videos, because you need a teacher to correct your movements. If you do the movements wrong, you will hurt yourself.

Contact me on healthy-body-mind@outlook.com

“Kathy De Leye. originally from Belgium, has been in China since 2008 where she has been studying Tai Chi ever since. In 2013, she won a gold and silver medal at an international competition in Henan, China. She received a high score in both the traditional and sword form at the Tai Chi World Championship in 2014, respectively 8.65 for her traditional form and 8.88 for her sword form.
Her aim is to let everyone know the benefits of Tai Chi.”

Your third eye revealed and how to take care of it…

Research shows that the Third Eye Yogis and the Veda’s are referring to is in fact our pineal gland. The pineal gland is a gland in the middle of our brain the size of a pea (although, apparently in ancient times, it was the size of a lemon).

The pineal gland is one of the most important ones as:
# it regulates our hormonal balance,
# it produces the hormone melatonin, which
@ is important for our sleep patterns
@ reduces stress,
@ regulates our energy levels
@improves physical performance
And has been identified as the Eye of Isis and the Third Eye. Ancient cultures believed that this is the seat of our soul, the place where we raise to a higher consciousness.

However, in a lot of people the pineal gland is calcified, due to a poor diet, drinking caffeine, alcohol and by heavy metals in our environment.
Some symptoms of a calcified pineal gland are:
# confusion
# stress and anxiety
# depression
# pessimism
# envy and jealousy
# early puberty in children

We can make our pineal gland healthy again by:
# eating unprocessed food, eliminate or reduce the amount of caffeine and alcohol consumed.
# meditation
# taking essential oils: frankincense, clary sage, myrrh and sandalwood. Studies show that when inhaling any of these essential oils might bring your pineal gland into action.

Until 15 January you can get a free bottle of Frankincense essential oil. Apart from taking care of your pineal gland, Frankincense has many more benefits.
Contact me for more information and start the new year by taking care of your health and bring more awareness!

Get the real essence of life

I am doing a lot of research for my workshops next year… Getting all the knowledge I acquired these past years and I am amazed by what I have learned already. I am watching videos on Chinese traditional medicine, but do you know that we had (have) Western traditional medicine? I studied it in Belgium years ago: the 4 temperaments by Galen, Hippocrates and further established by Avicenna.
I like Avicenna and have his book ‘the Canon of Medicine’. A must-read for everyone who wants a natural solution.

Essential oils are a must-have with that: they balance our temperaments, our bodies. They have the life energy of the plant in them. This is what we need to nourish our body, not some synthetic supplement or drug.

Let 2017 be a year to balance your temperaments and to nourish your body and mind with the real essence of life!

21 principles

I am working on a whole new set of workshops on Tai Chi and Personal development. It is going to be amazing! I am so thrilled, so excited to teach the world (Yes, I am dreaming big ;)) about the benefits of Tai Chi and how to grow and find our life purpose.

I will guide people through this process using, first, the Tai Chi meditation, then 2 Tai Chi basic movements and then an 18 form, using the main movements out of a traditional form. Each movement will be accompanied by a personal development chapter.

The first principle is the Zhan Zhuang or Tai Chi meditation. It means literally ‘standing like a post’ and is just a standing posture where you control your breathing.

Wang Xiangzhai, one of the first Chinese masters who recommended this posture as daily practice says this:

“In silence there must be movement, and in motion,
there must be silence.
A small movement is better than a big,
no movement is better than a small
silence is all the movement’s mother.
In Movement you should be like a dragon or a tiger.
In non Movement you should be like a Buddha.”
–Wang Xiangzhai

He talks about the 4 paradoxes of it:

• Standing still is good exercise
• Holding your arms up is relaxing
• Time flies when you are doing nothing
• Static posture training promotes fluid and coordinated movement.

And it is so true! I can tell you by my own experience that it sounds unbelievable. At first I didn’t want to do it, I wanted to just practice and learn movements. I found standing still was a waste of time. But, after months and some pressure from my Tai Chi teacher, I did it and I felt totally different.

These principles that are so hard to believe with our Western mind, I can teach you step by step and believe me… It will change your life!