• The body reveals how we nourish…or don’t.
  • Things we put in the digestive system show up in all the other systems. Being on the road for a week in Alaska then a cruise ship for a week was full of choices – many options being inflammatory causing agents. Note to Self: the 24 hour dessert bar, eating on the go, “boxed lunches” with white bread for a week, dessert and alcoholic drinks with every dinner are not a good option for long term wellness.Especially when it’s all included! Refined sugar and processed food invite inflammation which does not help in pain management or other health conditions.
  • It’s easier to maintain wellness via eating when you cook for yourself at home. AND you feel so much better. The more plant based the better.
  • Yoga and other wellness practices are always here for us. They wait for us breathlessly, ready to welcome us back no matter how long it has been.
  • It’s okay to start again, no matter if it’s the second time or the seventieth.
• Certain body/mind types may need some sort of movement to avoid stagnancy, health conditions and sluggishness.
  • This must done so mindfully and compassionately to avoid injury and harm. The vital organs like your liver and spleen like to be massaged internally by movement. Don’t close down the abdominal cavity by tensing this area during cardiovascular exercise (like “sucking it in”), but instead keep open as an invitation to flush the organs. Your body will like this and thank you later.
  • Keep the clavicles (collar bones) lifted, the teeth parted behind lightly closed lips, the jaw and throat relaxed, and shoulder blades gliding down the back relaxed during workouts. And all the time really. Especially when prone to neck and shoulder pain.
  • Try this efficient way to breathe when activity gets the heart rate up: with a closed mouth inhale and exhale only through the nose. Difficult at first but changes the game once you get the hang of it. There are athletes that train by taping their mouths shut to tap into the efficiency of nose breathing. Plus it kicks in the parasympathetic nervous system to induce an aware state of calm. Mouth breathing does the opposite.
  • Try turning off the TV while doing indoor cardio and listen to your body or be moved by music for a welcome change of pace.
  • Don’t get obsessed. Attachments to any one thing become obsessions, which take over mental and emotional capacity and close us down to other ideas. They also fill the space so other things in life that most consider important are pushed to the side.
• Take a break
  • Don’t let time away get too far away. Time off/vacation is so important. It’s a big reset button. We need the physical and emotional separation from our work (no matter how much we love or hate it!) to ensure we avoid burnout. Burnout comes as physical pain and health issues from overuse and too much stress.
  • Time off can renew your joy in the work you do. Absence makes the heart grow fonder – for real!
  • Consider on the minimum of taking two breaks from work at a minimum of 5 days, at least twice a year. Even if you don’t go anywhere but your home retreat. That’s a low number to most of the rest of the world. Go block it off now.
  • Seriously you guys that have tons of paid vacation time banked and never use it….what’s up with that??? Paid vacation is such a gift that so many don’t recieve, it’s paid time to reconnect with your Self and the things that bring you joy, or give you time to organize your life. Use it because you CAN.
  • No one ever lied on the their deathbed wishing they had worked harder or took less time for themselves, family, friends and loved ones. We are here to experience life. I learned this traveling on a bus/cruise for two weeks with a group of 40, 70+ retirees. Why not embrace it while you can? There is so much to experience outside of work.
  • Manage your weekly calendar for less stress, less driving time and more times of freedom. Even if you think you can’t, give yourself 15 minutes to see how you may be able to shift things. I added another workday but made each day less hours in the office. I thought this would be terrible but I have actually been way less stressed and my body feels better.
• Each breath is a unique and beautiful gift connecting us with life.
  • No two breaths you take in or expel are the same. You can follow the breath down this rabbit hole forever. Look for quality, where it moves, where it leaves, places of open, places of closed, how it makes you feel compared to the last…
  • When there are people fighting to breathe like my dear friend that has Cystic Fibrosis we could find gratitude in each breath we take. Learn more about CF and local ways to support the cause by clicking here.
  • Without it we lose the connection to life. So embrace it now.
• Look for the obvious answers first.
  • When struggling with a health issue look first at external causes. For me a year long and current eczema flare up had me diving into all the natural and alternative health ways to cure and treat it. After changing diet, removing alcohol, sugars, spending hundreds of dollars and so much time researching I finally found an shocking idea. Take an external trigger out of the picture and watch the inflammation decrease. Which is almost free. And obvious!
  • If you have had itchy skin for a long time or lifetime or any other skin disorder it may be worth looking into removing Sodium Laureth Sulfate/SLS and it’s other forms out of your household. It’s in most liquid soaps, shampoos, clothing detergent, dish soap, and foaming cleansers. The shocking part is it’s in most Free and Clear/Sensitive Skin products too! Healthcare workers (and anyone that has to wash their hands frequently for work) are 30% more likely to develop eczema or contact dermatitis. The crazy part is the chemical sticks in fabric! So although it was a major PIA to clean the washing machine and dryer, wash all the clothes, tablecloths, napkins, bedding and towels in the house, the decrease in my skin irritation level has been astounding.
  • Click here for an article on SLS…and click here for one on SLS in shampoos if you have an itchy scalp
  • Click here for a cool product that is SLS free way to wash your clothes
  • Click here for a cool product to eliminate dryer sheets and chemical fabric softeners
  • Click here for an awesome sensitive skin SLS free dish soap
  • Check out “Crunchy Betty”, one of my favorite sites! Click here for an interesting article on removing traditional shampoo chemicals and what you can do instead. Shampoo maybe just another consumerism driven plot on the American public like pre-made greeting cards and the holidays that were created to boost their sales.
• Listen to your elders and find your own path.
  • My mom has been telling me to go to the dermatologist since this skin thing started. My dad had a tube of a strong steroid cream from his that he used for the same issue (but way less of a case then mine), and on me using has helped immensely. So I scheduled that appointment. Sorry Mom! However, I don’t disregard the learning experience and not sure if western med would have been able to point me to the idea of having an SLS allergy rather than just treating the symptoms per usual. So the parents were right! But I still support going your own way getting to answers as you may find more or deeper wells of information.
• Watch some TED talks online. Educate yourself on other perspectives. www.TED.com. It may just change your life. Click here for one of my favorites to get you started.
• Sometimes you just have to listen to you.
  • There is so much information out there and much of it comes from a place of fear, manipulation, pushing agendas, beliefs instead of ideas, control issues and the like. It’s okay to throw it all out the window sometimes and just be you – along with letting go of our own attachments to certain beliefs when presented with new ideas that make more sense.
  • Everyone is the star in their own show and everyone comes with a history and everyone was a child once.
  • Remembering and finding who are and what you prefer when you take an honest inventory can be the key to setting your true Self free.

Above all else, self compassion and forgiveness, of both others and your Self, can illuminate the world.