Feeling Stretched? Low Energy?

A common complaint I hear from clients is: “My energy is low and I don't find that my resiliency is as high as it used to be.”

Your digestive track comprises approximately 85% of your immune system. It also is responsible for approximately 80% of serotonin production, which is involved in regulating mood and 80% of melatonin production which is involved in circadian rhythm (ie: sleep/wake cycle). So what we put into our bodies has a significant impact on how much energy we create, our ability to flow with lifes ups and downs and how easily we move through preventing or fighting off colds and flus. In order to build resiliency, we have to provide foods that maximize blood and energy production.

When we are stressed, the body releases cortisol - a stress hormone. This hormone tells the digestive system, "Don't rest and digest, we need to move into fight or flight... I am stressed!" This slows down the digestive process while blood flow focuses on the heart. When digestion slows, our ability to produce more blood and energy slows, serotonin production is affected, immune function is compromised and a message goes back up to the brain to say, "hey, I am stressed down here in the digestive track - help." Stressed? No problem, here come more cortisol. And around and around we go.

So how do we interrupt this cycle?

• BREATHE
  Health isn’t merely the absence of disease; it’s living in balance within ourselves and recognizing we are dynamic. An intense period of stress needs to be countered by a period of rest. One very effective tool is to take 5 - 10 deep inhalations and exhalations. That can be enough to reset the parasympathetic system and put you back into that rest and digest state. A great practice before you put any food into your mouth. Also a great practice through the day, especially during or after a stressful event. Cultures around the world share a common tradition of pausing, reflecting or giving gratitude before breaking bread together. This moment of pause and breath is a natural reset to prepare the body for digestion.

• Time in Nature
  There has been more research lately speaking to the benefits of spending time in nature. You don’t have to drive to the forest to experience the benefits. You can walk out your office door at lunch.

  • My recommendation for clients is a 20 min solo walk outside 4-5 times a week. Solo because the intension is for you to fully show up for you for 20 min.

  The first few walks may feel like your mind doesn't stop. Your mind may unload for the entirety of the first few walks, while you are outside in the fresh air. Then one day you will find a quiet pause. In that moment you may notice the birds around you. A tree that draws your attention. A heart shaped cloud. You feel grateful, grounded, aware of both your outer and inner surroundings. This is when the magic kicks in and your intuition or inner knowing starts to speak up and guide you, light a spark for your future, or simply allow you to feel centred and present in the moment.

• Meditation
  Meditation’s ability to balance the body and naturally detoxify the liver is profound. It the body’s own natural detox. In Chinese medicine it is widely understood that one of the Liver's functions is to filter emotions. Do you ever notice around your period that the littlest thing can send you over the edge or unravel you? The Liver is working over time trying to initiate the flow of menses and all of the extra emotions it is storing is impinging this process creating a tipping point where the Liver just can't contain it all. Give meditation a try, period or not, you might be pleasantly surprised how even you feel the next time your next cycle rolls around. If you want ideas for meditation, I have listed a few great meditation options in the reference section of my website. One easy place to being is Gratitude. Gratitude counters fear.

  • Think of a few things you are grateful for each night before falling asleep. This simple exercise can profoundly shift your perspective and reduce fear.

• Food is Medicine
  We also need to look at ways to strengthen the digestive track. Some foods create a more sluggish effect than others and they tend to come from the typical offenders of dairy, sugar and wheat. This is where the process becomes individual. For example, I find a number of clients are fine with gluten, it's the wheat that creates the issue. Others, it's night shades (white potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, paprika and eggplant) that create and inflammatory effect in the body. For others, it is how they are combining foods that creates an issue. By identifying what triggers your system, we can begin to impact over all health. A good rule of thumb is:

  • Stick to the outside aisles in the grocery stores. There you find living food that will nourish your body and mind.

  • Eat ingredients not foods that have ingredients (ie: eat an apple rather than a fruit bar)

  • Focus on one change a week to give your body time to adapt and give feedback.
    

Are You Flowing With or Against Time?

As we move through fall, I have been reflecting on a lecture from a teacher of mine looking at the translations of Chinese medicine texts from 475 BCE. The discussion focused on our relationship with time.

Time in relation to following the lead of the seasons (sleeping longer as the days become shorter; gathering and collecting as we move through fall and prepare for winter).

Time in relation to flowing against or with life. If fall (or winter in Calgary’s case) comes early do I fight it or flow with it. Am I right with time?

When I am running late, am I acknowledging that today is overflowing and running late and adjust? Am I rushing, and beating myself up for being late? Am I right with time?

Is my desire for something so strong and immediate that I am pushing against time? Me telling time that I want this now, not later? Rushing time? Or am I having faith. Trusting that it will unfold exactly as it should, in the timing that is best for me and all those involved. Am I right with time?

Am I fighting going to sleep to numb out with my phone, TV or more one thing on my to do list? Or am I listening to my body and natures wisdom and winding down with the sun? Am I right with time?

When I find myself sprinting through the day and forgetting things, have I not created enough space between meetings, appointments, commitments? Am I right with time?

When my energy is low, is it connected to me pushing against time?

When there is loss, am I giving myself the space and time to grieve and honor my vulnerability?

In the fullness of life, can I find a way to be in unison with nature and time? Take a moment to reflect on time within your life and where you are in this moment, without judgement.

Fertility Warrior - Connection Over Fear

October is Infertility awareness month. It used to be a week, I think it has earned a month. You don’t have to look far at a dinner party to find someone who has been touched by the wide net this casts, be it challenges conceiving, holding the pregnancy or carrying that vibrant, bright soul to birth.  Oddly though, you likely had no idea, at that same dinner party, that others were sharing a similar experience to you. Why?

Hoping to welcome a child into your family and having it not happen easily, absorbs you.  It becomes a year round push-pull within self.  There are so many questions to busy your mind with. Will we be in the same city when I ovulate, how often should we be intimate, what foods should I be eating, legs up the wall? Headstand? Maybe I should just hang upside down for an hour...we could put hooks in the wall and make that work. Herbs, acupuncture, naturopathic medicine. What is the best fertility clinic to work with?  It can be endless. There is a desperation that appears. If I am being totally honest, a shame that sneaks in. It is a deeply vulnerable experience that touches who we are, our purpose and our beliefs about ourself at the very core.

Yet let me be clear, these women and men don’t lack strength, integrity, beauty, or maternal/ paternal wisdom. They are warriors who often walk in silence. Infertility has been changed to fertility because it sounds more positive yet the reality is we are very much in the world of fertility when struggling to grow a family and that world isn’t often talked about. 

When a woman comes in to see me for fertility, we look at all of the lab work, tests completed, diagnosis’ issued and all of the data that goes with it.  We look at the holistic side of the equation and reveal its wisdom.  All of it important information.  Fear though, has a stealth way of hiding behind all of that data collection, temperature charting, exercise enhancement or restriction, timing intimacy, web searching and food logging.  More to do’s, more looking at what isn’t working, more critical judgement of self, more shame, more isolation, more fear.

Then the conversation shifts. The door is opened for her to feel heard. To be fully seen for where she is at in her unique journey. To be fully and compassionately received.   The focus moves from what isn’t happening and the fear it elicits to what expands their light. A light begins to shine and a sparkle returns to her eyes.

She reflects on questions like: What deeply nourishes my soul? What brings me joy? Who are the people that can show up for me in my beautiful vulnerability? What boundaries do I need to consider to nurture myself?  An invitation to come home to her knowing, her wisdom, her heart. Something magical happens and there is a shift, the sun begins to rise.  There is an expansion at a time when there has been such a focus on contraction. Drawing attention back to self and not feeling shame for putting self at the top of the priority list. 

Her homework focuses on solo walks in nature and adding bite sizes pieces of joy through her day.

Walks can be twenty minutes on a lunch break yet has to be outside; rain, snow, sleet or shine. No friends or animals on that walk - just you. A chance to show up fully for yourself like you offer so often for a friend. You tend to be amazing at caring for others. Now it is your turn. Self care.

A chance to let your voice be heard, anger be acknowledged, sadness shed a tear, hurt be cradled.  Then a chance to watch a bunny lock into a stare with you as she silently speaks to your heart. A chance to feel an eagle soaring over you, its power breathtaking.  You see a butterfly and are reminded of the transformation that is happening within you all the time. You see the magic around you.  Then you hear a voice yet your brain didn’t say those words.  They came through you.  A deep knowing.  Your intuition. This is where your magic is.  This is the place that counters the fear. Showing up for your soul each day, expanding your light. This is this fertility warriors journey.