The key to intention setting is for them to be specific and doable. When you set an intention it gives accountability and allows you to take control of your personal choices and life. You actively live your life with purpose, by becoming more present within yourself and in your relationships.
Think of it this way: intention setting is the foundation of a house, it will provide you with the base of how you want to feel, so you can actively live with a purpose.
So how do you set intentions?
With each one of our soulstates, we have an intention for you to repeat to help you reach Joy, Calm, Peace, and Love. The products and their aromas are powerful tools and work their best when you set an intention on how you want to feel, what you want to do and who you want to be. Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date with all our wellness content.
]]>Our focus should be on one soulstate at a time. With the seasons changing the soulstate that might have previously needed more attention might change. Ask yourself “What do I need right now? What part of me needs more attention?”. A lot of the time our body gives us the answers that we need. If we have aches and pains in certain parts of our body it might mean that there is some emotional distress that is being manifested physically. For example, if you are having stomach issues you might be going through a period of heavy stress. Your gut is your second brain & is the part of the body that holds onto a lot of unresolved emotional distress. If you are having back problems it might mean that you don’t feel supported, and so on. Listen to your body and what it needs.
Joy is designed to raise your energy vibration, it uplifts and awakens the body whilst enhancing the inner mood and mindset. Using guided meditation, visualisation, specialised massage techniques, as well as incorporating body brushing, you will feel uplifted with a strong feeling of abundance in your heart.
Calm focuses on the "second brain”, the digestive system, it allows you to release any worry or concern whilst reconnecting deeply to your body. Using specific reflex points on the feet combined with a deep abdominal massage, this treatment is targeted to emotionally de-stress, aid digestive issues, as well as ground your mind, body and soul to promote optimum health and wellbeing.
Peace allows you to disconnect from a turbulent mind and move you to a space of tranquillity. Inspired by Shirodhara from a natural form of Ayurveda Philosophies, it targets the 'Third Eye', scalp and Base Chakra in order to rejuvenate the mind and body allowing you to connect to a moment of sacredness.
Love encourages self-love, creativity, and self-expression. Incorporating rhythmical massage techniques inspired by traditional Balinese movements that cocoon the body with slow, rhythmical movements. It sends waves of energy through your body - opening the heart and allowing you to connect with the hymn of the universe.
Which soulstates needs more of your attention? If you’re unsure, you can either take our Soulstate questionnaire, or come in for an Energy-Balancing Treatment and our wonderful Master Therapist will guide you to the right soulstate for you.
]]>For Joy, we infused Amber gemstone which is the Sun’s gemstone. It absorbs negative energy and pain as well as helps to de-stress. It is helpful for people who need a boost of self-confidence and creates self-expression. Choose Amber when you need help with decision-making, spontaneity, balance, and patience. Allow the positivity to flow and let the negativity leave your soul.
Calm and Peace are infused with Amethyst gemstone also known as nature’s tranquiliser. It balances the mind, body, and soul. Amethyst carries calm energy that helps you to de-stress and relax soothing your body and relaxing your anxious nerves. This magical gemstone eases your muscles and instantly helps you feel more relaxed and peaceful.
Ruby is the gemstone of Love. It encourages you to light up your inner goddess and overcome old wounds of the heart. It strengthens the heart and ignites more love, more confidence, and more power. Ruby is the gemstone of good fortune for the body, mind, and soul.
Discover the power of gemstones and scents with our Kalmar products.
]]>What is as important as the Law of Attraction is the Law of Resonance. So what is the Law of Resonance? Objects, bodies, thoughts, etc are in constant movement which is commonly referred to as vibrations. The idea of the Law of Resonance is that When the vibration of a thing is projected, it attracts the energies of the same vibrations. The two laws work hand in hand, your conscious and subconscious need to be manifesting the same thing.
This being said, it is important to heal yourself before manifesting. Once you are healed, all you have to do is start!
There are eight principles of manifestation:
Discover the power of manifestation with Kalmar, follow our workshops and blogs to align your mind, body and soul. The Peace Balm is a great tool to add during your manifestation to keep a calm and grounded mind.
]]>Whether you are in fight-or-flight or feeling lethargic and unmotivated, simply focusing on your breath can immediately help you self-regulate. Slow, conscious, deep breathing from the diaphragm reduces cortisol levels. The Peace Balm of Serenity is a great tool to help you feel grounded and rebalanced instantly.
Ask yourself, how do you feel? What does your body need right now? When you don’t pay attention to signals that your body is sending when you are stressed, it becomes difficult for your brain to know what messages to send to your nervous system to relax. Notice the differences in your body when you are at peace and when you are stressed. The first step to letting go of stress is being self-aware of when your body needs a moment to relax. The Peace Balm of Serenity immediately grounds you, try applying the balm on your pressure points and taking deep breaths.
Living in the moment is harder said than done. Using your five senses and focusing on your surroundings such as listening to the birds chirping or noticing how the sun feels on your skin, are great ways to instantly bring you back to the present. Give yourself an arm and hand massage with our Body & Massage Oil. Focus on how the oil feels on your skin, what are the scents, and how your body feels.
It can be easy to get carried away with negativity, it is so hard to see the light when we are surrounded by clouds. The light is always there, focus on it and embrace it. When you are feeling negative try writing down your thoughts. For every negative write down two things you are grateful for. Practising gratitude helps to change the way you see things and minimises your perception of threats.
Show others and YOURSELF love! This is one of the most powerful tools to help stimulate the ventral vagal network. Light the Kalmar Love candle and follow our founder's Self-Love meditation, take a nice warm bath using the Love Sensual Senses Bath Oil, or massage your body with either the Love Body & Massage Oil or the I Am Loved Body Cream. Make yourself feel safe, and connected and stimulate the vagus nerve.
Accept the fact that you are having one of those days, you’re in a low mood, not feeling truly yourself; it will be okay. Once you accept this, try to figure out why you are feeling low; what is the reason? There can also be no reason.
If you need to rest, go out, work out, sleep, do what your body is telling you it needs. We all need a reset.
Show yourself some love: We should all be doing one thing a day that makes us feel good, happy, and calm. Take care of your skin, your soul and your mind. Kalmar is the tool just for that, take our Soulstate quiz to discover which one you need and try the products in the range!
Remind yourself how special you are: It may seem silly but saying out loud that you are loved, beautiful, smart, funny and unique can increase your self-esteem instantly.
surround yourself with positive and loving people. People who bring you up rather than pull you down. If you are on a path to finding inner peace, there is no room for negativity. Positive surroundings create a positive mindset.
Take a moment to feel your body. Body tapping requires you to close your eyes, give yourself a loving hug and gently tap your shoulders. If you would like to try body scanning, start off by becoming aware of your head. Stay there for a little while and move down to your neck and continue with the rest of your body, focusing on how every part of you feels.
We are always so harsh on ourselves that we don’t end up appreciating what we have done right. We sometimes don’t even realise how much we have done! Writing to-do lists and including even the small tasks like, making the bed or getting ready etc will make you feel accomplished.
It’s important to identify your inner critic, give them a name and be aware whenever they start to talk. When they start being mean write down what they are saying to you in a journal and also write down how you feel. Most of the time, we don’t even understand what emotions we are going through. Having to sit down and feel your feelings allows you to dig deep and find the core of why your inner critic is saying what they’re saying. It might be associated with something that you experienced in childhood, or some terrible that happened to you later on in life. Self-awareness is the first step to overcoming any self-esteem issues.
We are always our own harshest critics, taking a break or a step back is sometimes necessary. Our bad days don’t define our life or who we are. They will pass and you will go back to being the confident, wonderful person you have always been.
Self is the first step to happiness and yet so many of us are struggling with it. We are always our harshest critics and talk to ourselves in a way we would never talk to a friend the way we do to ourselves. Self-Love is a journey, it won’t be straightforward but little steps will help you reach the end goal.
]]>There are 7 pillars to self-care. Don’t worry, you don't need to focus on them all at once but focus on the ones that need more attention depending on your needs.
Nourish your mind, body and soul with our unique Kalmar products.
Namaste,
Kalmar xx
]]>Firstly, what is your Autonomic Nervous System?
If you ever feel a tightness in your chest or your heartbeat increasing whenever you receive an email from someone you don’t like or read a negative news story, it’s because your brain detects a threat and triggers the fight-or-flight response. This is your sympathetic nervous system.
On the other hand, your parasympathetic nervous system helps to switch on your rest and digest response and enables your body to relax. For example, in the case of our ancestors, if you successfully ran away from a tiger and returned to your warm, safe and risk-free cave, this would send a signal to the brain that the threat has been removed and you can return to a state of peace and harmony.
However, with the way our society has evolved, these days often the ‘off’ button does not get pressed - especially this year with the pandemic – and therefore our mind and bodies experience these continuous low (or high) level chronic stress. These underlying chronic stressors can have serious health consequences on our minds and bodies unless we intervene by activating our nervous system.
What is your Vagus Nerve?
The vagus nerve is a major nerve in the parasympathetic nervous system. It is one of the longest and most important nerves in the body originating in the brain and extending down through the neck to the gut.
Research has shown that it can affect everything from your mood and stress levels to your digestion, heart rate and immune response.
What is the Polyvagal theory?
Stephen Porges (a professor of psychiatry) hypothesizes in his “polyvagal theory” that the parasympathetic nervous system is governed by two major networks: the dorsal vagal nerve network and the ventral vagal nerve network.
What is the dorsal vagal nerve?
When you are unable to resolve a threat through fight-or-flight (i.e. in the case of the pandemic or constant emails pinging or other stressful chronic events, you are unable to run away or physically fight it) your body may decide therefore that it is ‘safer’ to physically and mentally ‘switch off’. This is the dorsal vagal nerve network kicking into play and is called dissociation. When you are in a dissociated state, you can feel like everything is too overwhelming, feel hopeless or even depressed. This is why after you hear some negative news or receive an unwanted email from a boss or client, all you might feel like doing is giving up, lying in front of the tv feel slightly numb. Although there is nothing wrong with choosing to relax in front of the tv if this makes you feel happy or calm.
What is the ventral vagal nerve?
Conversely, the ventral vagal nerve network, is stimulated when you deeply connect with another person (or with yourself, by acknowledging and reacting to your body’s signs of stress), which in turn causes a sense of calm. So, it is the ventral vagal nerve you want to activate whenever you are feeling stressed.
How does the ventral vagal nerve function?
The ventral vagal network, also known as the social engagement system, extends up from around the diaphragm to the brain stem, crossing over nerves in the lungs, neck, throat, and eyes. Rituals using parts of the body — including deep breaths, gargling, gagging, humming, or social engagement like smiling or making eye contact with someone — send signals to the brain to say that it is safe to relax.
Stimulation of the ventral vagal network can also activate the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that supports logical thinking. So, activating the ventral vagal network can help you to think more clearly, creating a ripple effect to further reduce stress in the mind and body.
So how do you stimulate the ventral vagal nerve (i.e. the vagus nerve) and trigger a sense of calm and peace?
Below are some (of many) ways to come out of your fight or flight state, reconnect to yourself and activate your vagus nerve to help you feel more Joy, Calm, Peace and Love:
We hope you find these tips and tricks helpful. What way will you try to activate your vagus nerve? How will you be using your Kalmar products differently now? Let us know on social.
Still yet to try our products or in need of a top up? Click here to shop our wellness collection now.
Please note this is not medical advice, if you have any health questions please consult your doctor or medical provider.
]]>Sharing love is so crucial for us.
We are social beings. We thrive on exchange – with our friends, with family or with strangers. We feed each other with energy and experiences, and in doing so we learn who we are. We thrive on giving and sharing our gifts, and above all else, our heart connection – our love.
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that these are the most important things in our lives. The connection to our inner self. The search for our own truth. Discovering gratitude, balance and joy in the midst of so much change, and the deprivation of our social lives.
We all want to share our essence, and send one another positive vibes. We all want and need to uplift each other, because we know this is a period of trials, in which everyone is going through difficult times. If we share what we go through, and what we learn from it, it becomes a human global project. It alleviates the pain of loneliness from our hearts. Sharing unites us in the face of adversity.
It is so important to ring a friend and say “I love you”. Hearing the voice is powerful – it is intimate and real, and we have been missing it. Keep the link alive. Revive the flow of kindness. Rebuild the net of love.
Write a mini message to all your loved friends. Create communities of kindness. Love is the true nature of human beings. Before, we took it for granted, because we were meeting people every day. It could be sharing a recipe, an experience, or an activity that you have discovered. Don’t judge yourself for it. People need it, and love it.
Keep the link alive.
Love,
Karen
Setting your intentions for the year. How do you set your intentions for the year in such uncertain times?
2021 is bringing us some new energy of hope. Let’s enjoy it and use it!
]]>2021 is bringing us some new energy of hope. Let’s enjoy it and use it!
What is crucial in uncertain times is to anchor yourself in the most precious and stable thing you own, your inner self. You need to cultivate your self-connection and create a world of wellness in your life. If you find peace in your heart, you will be able to connect to your inner self and start a conversation of what you really need to be happy, fulfilled and glowing. And actually, all of these do not depend on the external world, but only on your decision to be happy and take care of yourself.
So how do you do that?
The happiness road starts always with moments of connection to your inner self. Creating moments of stillness, or meditation, being in nature…and listening to your inner voice. In these moments, start writing about what your heart desires. Make a list of your dreams, of your favourite activities that would bring you so much joy. Make a priority list.
It’s all about taking care of your body yes! Your body is your temple. Are you taking good care of your own temple? Your body carries this high energy that you need. And moving the body insures you shift dormant or unwanted old energies.
Your resolutions should be about bringing joy into your movement. What movement will you choose that will bring you joy? Yoga, boxing, dance, maybe even a new form of movement?
Moving the body in a way that is fun and brings you joy will make you feel better both inside and out.
Self-care is part your sacred act of self-love. Self-love brings you to self-confidence and being able to create and achieve your own success and happiness. Create your list of self-care acts, it is so important.
Do you ever find yourself asking: ‘how can I be happy in a society filled with so many fears and a limited social life?’
Every day, clear your heart from the fears of the world, don’t buy into them, they will never love you, nor sponsor your wellbeing.
Try every day to connect with your loved ones, the people that bring you positivity and friendship. In these times, you will cherish this tribe of positive people you want around yourself.
2021 is a new kind of year but remember you hold the power to turn it around in positivity. Only positivity can create positive outcomes and vibes in your life. Know and believe you build your life with your inner energy. So, dream big and create the best possible 2021 you can!
Namaste
Karen x
]]>So, the senses are central to our range, a four-part collection of thoughtfully created clothing and wellbeing products which allow you to manifest the way you want to feel. Each product addresses one of the soul states – four elemental expressions of selfhood which underpin every element of every day.
The clothes we wear, and the products we use, play a powerful part in the way we feel. By filling these choices with intention, Kalmar offers every woman authorship over her own journey. Choose your own path; find your way to wellness.
Joy is a vivid, enlivening soul state – and the ideal way to begin your day. It evokes freshness, energy and optimism through a crisp combination of citrus, floral blooms and warming spices, inviting a purity of energy and experience which will carry you through whatever your schedule has in store.
Soft, relaxing and restorative, Calm offers a moment of tranquility whenever you need it most. A celestial combination of floral heart notes and woody, earthy elements will relieve the pressure of your day as and when required – be that just before an important meeting, or during a long, relaxing evening soak.
Peace serves to reconnect us with the Earth from which we came, quieting the mind, soothing the soul and enhancing the spiritual connection with everything around us. It invites awareness, reflection, and release – just the moment’s rest required after a long journey, or the scent to accompany an evening meditation.
Finally, Love comprises a heady, euphoric scent, wound up with sensual self-care, romance, desire and inspiration. It addresses self-love, the most important kind of all, and the myriad ways that compassion, respect and honour can lift and restore our spirits.