Do You Outsource Your Health Care and Self Care?

Why I Choose to Invest in Me

This past week I had an epiphany. As I walked through my local natural food store I realized that it has been a long time- at least two winters- since I have walked out laden with cough syrups and supplements.  And this made me smile. Because it means that I am finally on the right track to taking care of my health.
Continue reading “Do You Outsource Your Health Care and Self Care?”

Create Self Esteem + Better Mental Health with 10 Key Body Habits

Why Caring for your physical body is critical for your mental well being.

“Sometimes we can’t think things into existence. We need to breathe them into our bodies.”  Elena Brower

I love this quote from Elena Brower.  As someone who can spend a lot of time in my head and a lot of money on books, I have learned that as much as I may want to fix my tendency towards anxiety with mind-based solutions, my best day to day approach to creating better mental health is hands down one that is counterintuitive:  taking better care of my body. Continue reading “Create Self Esteem + Better Mental Health with 10 Key Body Habits”

Ready to Make a Change? My Experiments in Lifestyle Re-Design

We all know it- that day, that moment in time when something shifts and we know that it’s not okay any more. For some of us it’s the day when our anxiety is so gripping that we are paralyzed.  Or when that bit of depression that has been sitting over us like a cloud shifts so it is completely enveloping us. Sometimes it’s when our clothes don’t fit and we feel like we are in someone else’s body. Or my most memorable episode- when I sat down at a drugstore blood pressure machine and the reading was so high that the possibility of having a stroke or heart attack was staring me in the face. Continue reading “Ready to Make a Change? My Experiments in Lifestyle Re-Design”

A Simple Lesson in Prioritizing

“A friend of mine is a family physician. We are both health professionals who have kids, busy careers, and a history of athletic pursuits. Our health, our children’s health, and the general health of the patients and clients we work with is often a point of discussion.

My training in the conversation of health began when I started practicing as an occupational therapist in the traditional medical system. Over time, my work with clients with chronic disease and my own health challenges shifted my perspective- I began to look at health management and disease prevention through a broader lens.

But it was my most recent studies in Yoga Health Coaching where my ideas on health care took an even bigger turn as I started to learn and experience the massive benefits of implementing a daily routine that is repeatable and simple. Now, as I teach my clients the benefits of eating an earlier dinner, going to bed earlier, and waking earlier to meditate and move, the significant change I am seeing in their physical and mental well being is telling me that there is an untold story of health that needs to be shared.”

Check out the rest of my article on the Yoga Health Coaching Blog:  First Things First- Good Health is At Your Fingertips

What I Have Learned About Making Change

 

“Exercise. Stress management. Getting enough sleep. Monitoring sugar and salt intake.

Every family physician, nurse practitioner and allied health professional knows the value of health habits and has recommended them to their patients.  Referrals are made to dietitians who educate on diabetes and physiotherapists who design post-surgical treatment plans. We educate on the relationship between high blood pressure and exercise. We talk about stress and mental health.

But more often than not our patients are left to navigate their self care planning on their own. Facing yet another flu season with a run down immune system or weight gain following a stressful work project, our patient’s attempts to make significant changes in lifestyle are often short-lived. At their next clinic appointment, we revisit the same health plan. And frustrated, we wonder why our patients don’t take responsibility for their own health.”

Check out the rest of my article on the Yoga Health Coaching Blog-  Self Care and Health Care: Helping Patients Who Struggle with Change

Blissful Lungs: My Journey to Lung Health

“Then I hit a turning point:  my doctor recommended I try a new medication- a designer drug used to treat severe allergic asthma. I’d receive injections every three weeks- and be at risk of anaphylactic shock after each treatment. I was dumbfounded. Designer drugs? Me?

This wake up call invited me into a deeper question – how could I stop the cycle of inflammation and illness?  How could I bolster my health so that exposure to allergens and viruses did not trigger such a massive response from my body?  I realized I needed to look at the heart of what was making me sick. I had to start taking full responsibility for my health.”

 

Check out the rest of my article on the Yoga Health Coaching Blog:  Stress, Asthma  + Disease: My 3 Favourite Tricks for Blissful Lungs