She's an actress, model, yoga instructor, mother and a leading voice on holistic and balanced living. And now, Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of novelist Ernest Hemingway, is an author in her own right. Mariel joins Dr. Oz to discuss living mindfully, finding time for silence and clearing the clutter in your life, topics she wrote about in her new book, Healthy Living from the Inside Out.
Illness in her own family, including cancer, mental illness and alcoholism, led Mariel to focus on living healthfully. She experimented with macrobiotic and vegan diets and practiced yoga, but it wasn't until her husband battled cancer that she had her "lightbulb moment." "I realized the ability inside myself to create a healthy lifestyle for me," Mariel explains.
By working with her husband to discover a healthy balance for healing, she began to plan a personal road map for health. Mariel says everyone needs to find their own way to healthy living. "If you clear away some of the toxins, you can get to the center and figure out what works for you—whatever soothes your needs, supports your peace."
Silence is an important part of personal healing, Mariel says, and it's something most people find difficult to achieve. One way to create silence, Mariel says, is to have a technology-free day (or just a couple of hours). Turn off the TV, the computer, the cell phone, and just sit with your self. "Tune into your breath and let it get you to a place of silence," she says. Most of us don't take any time for ourselves because we don't believe we deserve it, Mariel says. It's important to realize that sitting quietly is not a waste of time—it's a healing time, even if nothing fantastic happens, she says.
Sometimes it can be hard to find the silence in your life because of clutter, not just in your home, but in your relationships as well. Mariel says that too much clutter is detrimental to having a clear mind. "In every relationship, there's stuff you don't need, stuff you picked up because you thought it was right, or you were taught as you grew up," she explains. "Those are things you need to address all the time and go, 'I don't need this.'" Junk mail, whether paper or electronic, is another clutter culprit, taking up time in your life that could be spent doing something you enjoy, like reading, listening to music, or just sitting and doing nothing.
Mariel also recommends creating a sacred space, an area of your home that you can visit that will put you in a place of contentment. Fill it with things that make you happy, like candles and pictures of your family and favorite places. "It's important to create a space that is just for you," she says. "It enables that silence that you want to find, [and] can send you into a place that makes you feel comfortable about you."
