Author: Katy

Personalize your self care

Posted on by Katy

A big part of my role as a massage therapist is to listen to clients express goals for their health and to find solutions together on how to get there. A pattern that I notice so much is that there is always somewhere we “should” be that we’re not with our overall routine. There’s always the yoga that we’re not making it to yet, but will soon. There’s the sleep we’re not getting to, the water we’re not drinking enough of, the exercise that we once did but aren’t doing as much now. There are these nagging things that we know we should be doing that we’re just not really doing. Yet.

What if we just for a moment throw away all of those “shoulds” and “really need tos” and just breathe deeply for a moment.

There is another way of looking at self-care, health, well-being and happiness that takes into account how much true satisfaction and contentment might play a role in every other part of your body’s health. There are so many layers and levels to your body’s wellness; your mind, your physical body, your sense of self and fulfillment, your emotional self, your spiritual side, your social side and beyond. Considering that nurturing each of these sides of ourselves is important for overall wellness, why do we focus only on the physical so much of the time? Why do we only see stretching, the gym and eating a certain way as the entirety of our self-care repertoire?

The other day I woke up to a sunny Saturday late morning and even before I was really awake, the usual shoulds of what my day might look like came to my mind. These  included a yoga class, yard work and some other things that can be put in the “making the most of my Saturday” category.  I decided to start the day with a ridiculously engrossing book and cozy in bed, I just kept on reading right past yoga, past breakfast and past the rest of my day, basically. How awesome to spend a whole day like that! I felt renewed and overfilled with self love for letting myself do what I really wanted to do that day. My mood was elevated and in turn, my body felt great, rested and in tune.

I’m not promoting that reading a book all day is equivalent to a yoga class for anyone else, but for me on that day, it was. What feeds your soul? What are the juiciest things you would love to be doing right now if you had an entire day to really choose? Remember your favorite, most peaceful and balanced moments in life and recreate them or invent new ones. Sometimes it takes a little love from deep within to refuel and re-inspire our idea self-care.

How do you react to stress?

Posted on by Katy

I remember going to the doctor years ago with a barrage of symptoms ranging from skin conditions to some painful gastro-intestinal upset, surprised at how my typically awesome immune system seemed to have taken a vacation. I felt helpless and confused. My doctor asked if I thought my body had been under much stress lately and I said that no, not at all I felt happy, like everything was going according to plan besides my health. After assessing my situation she looked at me bewildered and with her head cocked sideways she asked, “So, you don’t think that living and travelling in a foreign country, going through a break up and then relocating to a new city, new job and having financial strain is considered stressful for your body? ” In that stage of my life, the choices that I saw as part of living the essential adventures of my life weren’t connected in my brain to the stresses that were being placed on my body and my ability to stay healthy. My body was screaming at me “ENOUGH!” and I really didn’t get it until that awareness presented itself to me in illnesses galore.

This is not a lesson to be learned and to be done with. Our bodies are constantly changing, adapting and finding new levels of homeostatic balance at each new stage in our lives. With each choice that we make that concern our daily schedule, food, sleep, activities, exercise, movement patterns like sitting at a desk or driving, we’re asking our body to automatically adjust all systems to accommodate. Not to mention our powerful mental world where our stress response is activated by financial worries, doing enough, rushing, driving in traffic and waiting in lines. The following article highlights how stress can affect us in subtle and not so subtle ways:

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm

My best lesson recently was to realize that in extra busy times in my life, even when I feel like I’m “on top of things”, there are really subtle yet specific symptoms that will alert me to my stress before I may even be consciously aware of it. My stress red flags are: knotted up stomach, difficulty sleeping distracted, inability to focus, really falling off of my self-care (diet and exercise) routine (which is doubly counter-productive as these are the things that can keep stress under control). I’ll say things like, “I don’t have time for the gym. I’m too busy!” If you can learn to catch yourself with early warning signs, you may be able to stop stress in your life before it becomes illness.

Here are some articles that highlight common warning signs:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/stress-health-effects-body.html

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-symptoms/SR00008_D

So, what do you do when you realize you’re stressed out? We all need some tools in our toolbox to pull out when times are tough. Today we are barraged with information about stress relief and the point is: find something that you can and will actually do that will have some effect for the positive. It doesn’t have to be fancy, can be big or small, could take just a minute or it could be a long-term commitment to change. Often times if we can find just some space to put things in perspective, clarity will have its own neutralizing effect on some of the stress. Some small things to try to see if they fit your world:

Easy stretching, taking some deep breaths, journaling, taking a walk, talking with a friend, reading, watching a fun movie, turning off the phone, being in nature, meditating or just becoming more mindful of the moment, cleaning the kitchen, taking a nap, having a laugh attack,  being silly, playing with a pet, doing any kind of art, music or creating.

For larger stress issues in your life and chronic stress, it can be helpful to seek the professional and understanding ears of a therapist to help you navigate your best path to wellness. Other paths to wellness to try, with the recommendation of your doctor if you are seriously ill, are: regular exercise, commitment to a consistent food path that is in align with your health goals (more fruits and veggies!), self-care that includes:  relaxation, massage, hydrotherapy (sauna, steam rooms, swimming) and meditation, drinking plenty of water, and finding playfulness in your life that fuels your sense of worth and joy.

Here is a really cool NPR interview recording about stress:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=3911637&m=3911638

A more scientific look at your body’s reaction to stress and your immune system:

http://immunedisorders.homestead.com/stress.html

Ode to Injury

Posted on by Katy

Reflection

A recent arm injury reminded me of the great lessons that our body teaches us. As I went through the fear of not being able to work without a healthy body, I saw truths emerge that I would likely have missed without the physical jolt of pain and immobility.

There are some common and wonderful lessons to look out for with injuries that pose the following types of questions:

Am I resisting change in my life?
What can I change in my life to make my body and my soul happier?
Do I need to slow down?
Can I work on quality rather than quantity in any area of my life?
Is my body expressing something that my subconscious wants me to hear?
Am I happy with what I’m doing and how I’m doing it?
If I continue doing things the same way as always, will my body last?

Injury really gives us the opportunity to pause for a moment and reassess our choices and patterns. When we charge through recovery with only the end result in mind (like becoming pain free again) without that reflection, we might miss out on a great opportunity for growth and expanding awareness.

Thanks for speaking to me, body!

Why not?! Adventures In Self Care

Posted on by Katy

Boot camp. Week 5. Every day at 6:05 I am jolted into the reality of what the morning has in store for me and I head to the MKG gym for my morning fix of butt whuppin’ (me getting whupped). I enrolled in a 10 week, mixed martial arts, cardio and strength training course  and I’m in the thick of it. I felt like it was just really time for a taste of being in shape again, some consistency, follow through and hopefully results. The gym had become my nemesis. I loathed the stair master and any other machine that promised a sweat. I couldn’t do it anymore! Enter boot camp.

It’s been a long 5 weeks of pretty intense workouts that have engrained in me a sweet,  renewed sense of my body’s intrinsic strength. I feel great, actually. I have more energy (besides the less sleep thing), my body is changing slowly but surely for the better. I can see my arm muscles again, my pants fit a little nicer. The massive changes that I hoped to see immediately have still eluded me and I mark this as another reason to keep up. Before, I would get really gung- ho about the gym, only to find my enthusiasm wane at around two weeks. When I didn’t see an immediate six- pack of abs, I’d just loose motivation, realizing that the idea is to look long term, rather than a quick fix. Quite honestly, I’m a quick fix girl at heart.

We did a fitness test at the beginning of the boot camp and again last week. Every day in class, I swear I can only do five pushups before my arms give way and refuse to budge. Somehow for the test, by the same miracle that someone can lift a car to save a life,  I was able to do 28 pushups in one minute (Are you kidding me? I’ve told everyone who will listen).  If these entire ten weeks are dedicated only to eliminating these mind games that hold me back, it will be worth it. I realized that I just had to have someone say, “ I’m timing  you: GO!”  for me to see what I had in me all along. Awesome. Definitely worth it!!

Check ’em: www.mkgseattle.com

Move it like a kid

Posted on by Katy
Young ballerinas

This morning I had some enlightenment around a nagging injury I’ve had. Someone asked me to move in a way that I was convinced I couldn’t. I tried it despite my fears and I freakin’ did it! Why didn’t I think I could do a bent knee Ju Jitsu roll on the floor? Well, since martial arts training  is new to me, it had never occurred to me to do a rolling back kick to anyone’s face before. It just looked painful, wasn’t on the “my body can move in that way” list.  When I actually did the roll, my fears were put to shame, my body didn’t even complain a little bit. A ray of light shone on my sweet, formerly bum knee and its limber future of possibilities ahead.

I once wrote a poem called “Oh, knee of misfortune”. Maybe I had let that story sink in a little too deep, for a little too long and it’s time to reinvent my perception of what I can do, how I can actually move now, in spite of my fears. That my body is actually asking for new information constantly.

Look at this yoga teacher: Bette Calman, 83!

“No matter how much I move myself around, my strongest tendency is to move in the same ways that I have always moved, guided by the same deeply seated postural habits, sensory cues, and mental images of my body; but if I can succeed in surrendering to the movements that another person imposes on my body, without my own system of cues and responses interfering, it is possible to treat my mind to a flood of sensations that … [can] indicate what things I have been doing that have produced my aches and pains at the same time as they have reinforced my normal sense of self.” –Deane Juhan in Job’s Body   More about Yoga Teacher, Bette Calman, 83

Some ways to reconnect with your ever changing bod:

  • Join a new class at the gym just to see what it’s about like some Latin-inspired Zumba or a free movement class.
  • Every hour or so just shake your shoulders, your legs and your body. Shake it, shake it like you’re Jell-o.
  • Check out Yoga, Qigong, or Tai Chi. Slower movements with breath to create greater awareness.
  • Give yourself 5 minutes in the morning or evening to enjoy a good stretch. Watch a cat and learn.
  • Sit on a bouncy ball at work instead of your chair.  Try to be graceful.
  • Get a personal trainer session at the gym to check your form with familiar activities or to mix up your workouts a bit. Sometimes these are free!
  •  Eat a meal, brush your teeth or do anything with your non-dominant hand/side.
  • Float in water and be a fish for a while. Feel weightless.
  • Lastly, play like a kid more! Do some silly animal walks with your child, get down on the floor with them and roll around. Dance like you’re new! Watch children romp around and let their wacky wildness inspire you to explore and redefine your experience of your own new and precious body.

Watch this video for some serious inspiration!

Shake it like a three-year-old!

 

We are water.

Posted on by Katy

At a visit with my naturopath recently, this challenge was presented to me: Drink half of your body weight in ounces of water each day. She had said this looking deep into my eyes, sensing that I’m  was an expert water drinker just needing a goal.  As if it will happen because now I know. The truth is that I do have strategies for getting some fluids in but sometimes water just falls right off my radar and I fall short on consistency and volume.  I mean we are talking about some serious water drinking!

It’s really unclear in the field of hydration expertise how much water you should drink, with much debate around the topic, but it’s clear that proper fluid balance in your body is imperative to supporting every system in your body. See the following links for more information about how water works in your body. Think: motivation & visualization while drinking your water. There are also risks to drinking too much water that everyone should be aware of and the actual amount of water that each individual needs to drink does depend on their own body.

http://www.mangosteen-natural-remedies.com/benefits-of-drinking-water.html#Functions

http://www.health-benefit-of-water.com/benefit-of-drinking-water.html

Here’s a list of sweet tricks I’ve compiled from clients, athletes and friends that can help you stay on the water wagon. Get creative with it and add to the list!

  1. Drink water in the morning first thing.
  2. Try adding mint leaves, limes, or oranges to your water.
  3. Get a big drink container that you love and know how many refills till you meet your quota for the day.
  4. Try drinking water at each transition in your day- on your way to somewhere, sitting down to an activity, driving home, etc.
  5. Take drinks each hour on the hour during your workday.
  6. Drink with a straw or mix up how you’re drinking.
  7. Drink water in social situations (you’ll be surprised at how quickly it’ll go down and keep you from other non-water temptations).
  8. Combine habits: Drink water while you’re filling the bathtub, working out, as you sit down to read, on a walk, watching a movie.
  9. When you drink your water, think: “MmmmMm, water!” Imagine the water doing wonderous things inside  of you.
  10. Appreciate how blessed you are to have an abundant supply of clean drinking water available to you on a consistent basis. Give thanks to each sip!

i love water i love water i love water i love water i love water i love water

Chile Earthquake Relief Fund

Posted on by Katy

On Feb 27th at 3:30 am, an 8.8 level earthquake shook Chile to the bone. You’ve probably seen the pictures and can just imagine the damage to shaken buildings and tsunami- swept town centers near the ocean and the heart of the quake. My husband, Felipe, is from Linares and Talca in the 7th region of Chile, fifty miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, about four hours south of Santiago. We were just visiting the area this January and places we just went through are now in shambles along with damage to homes of family and friends that we visited.

Felipe’s family is luckily unharmed but scared because of continued intense aftershocks (his parents slept in their car for four nights afterwards, fearing thier house would fall) as well as the stress and heartache of rebuilding structures in a devastated region. Felipe’s grandmother, Aida Baeza’s, home of fourty years in the countryside is collapsed and they are working to rebuild at least a temporary structure for now to protect the remains from looting.

Felipe has set up a Chile Earthquake Relief Fund through Paypal and is accepting donations. All donations will be allocated 50% to Felipe’s family to help rebuild his grandmother home and 50% sent to local disaster relief efforts in that area, active through March 31, 2010. Below are some pictures of his grandmother’s property (before the quake)  in January.

Anything helps! Thank you, friends!
Update: Thank you so much for your kind donations! Felipe was able to raise $1500 for Chile, $750 going to Habitat for Humainity in Concepcion, Chile and $750 to rebuild his grandmother’s house. So wonderful! Felipe’s family is moving forward with the rebuild for Aida Baeza’s home and the rest of his family’s  homes are okay. Despite aftershocks that continue (still in May!) people are moving forward. I think it’s incredible how tragedy mobilizes a nation and brings people together in bittersweet, positive ways to overcome the stress and heartache. The human spirit prevails!
Aida Baeza outside of her homeAida’s living room
Property surrounding Baeza home