The study, as reported by the British Telegraph, said that a stress-inducing test caused a reported 25% increase in stress levels by those who did not receiving tea following their stress test. Those who did receive tea reported a 4%  decrease in stress. (click here to read more about this study).

Keep in mind this is a British study, and the Brits have had a longstanding cultural relationship with tea. Even though Americans do not engage in teas to the extent of our British cousins, the image and experience of making a cup of tea can induce similar ideas of unwinding; this idea permeates our culture mostly in advertising and movies instead of occurring in the home.

Give it a try and see what happens! Below is my favorite way to prepare tea:

Aimee’s Cuppa

I never liked tea, nor drank it in the British style, until I met my friend Nefratiri. I would go over to Nef’s house when I was about 18 to talk about religion and government and all sorts of juicy topics.  She would make me tea using soymilk and maple syrup and I became HOOKED on the stuff.  It has since become a very soothing staple on cold days or whenever I need a little extra love.

• 1 teabag or loose-leaf tea in a teaball (some of my faves: Celestial Seasoning’s Tension Tamer or Gingerbread tea; Republic of Tea Blackberry Sage, Morning Glory Chai or a redbush chai)
• 1-2 tsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup soy milk, almond milk, or hemp milk (rice milk is too watery)
• boiling water

Bring water to a boil in a kettle or pot. Remove from heat. Add the teabag to your favorite mug and top with water, leaving room for “milk”. Add milk and maple syrup and stir.

Sit back, inhale deeply, and enjoy.

The unscheduled nature of summer interferes with routines which keep weight more easily managed, and often people notice a couple of extra pounds in preparation for the winter months.

Given that we don’t opt to hibernate, this extra weight isn’t necessary! Here are some of my top tips to avoid gaining weight when traveling and enjoying summer festivities:

1) Grill It! Use your grill for good, not evil. Instead of ribs and hot dogs, grill a variety of vegetables, chicken kabobs and use a cedar plank to grill fresh fish. Use exotic spice blends for flavor and BBQ sauce on the side to dip your chicken in if you are sensitive to sugars.

2) Bring a healthy dish to potlucks so you can ensure a healthy option is available. Others will appreciate it as well!

3) Crowd out caloric drinks with water: Summer slushies, cocktails, and blended coffee drinks can have as many calories as your main meal. Keep caloric drinks to a minimum, and when you do have one, have a tall glass of water (with lime for flavor) before and after you have your high-calorie beverage.

4) Plan you vacations to include healthy options and physical activity: If it’s very hot, exercise in the morning or evening – stroll the beach at sunset, play in water parks with the kids, hike in the shaded woods. Pack picnic lunches, utilize grocery stores for healthy snack options, and plan ahead whenever possible. I often research restaurants in locations I am visiting to get an idea of options available to me. For road trips, this post may be useful to you.

5) Keep tabs on yourself! Don’t turn a blind eye. If you are prone to overdoing it on vacation or during the summer, keep tabs on your size with a specific pair of pants or measuring tape. Some clients find it helpful to keep a food log in high-risk situations to keep them honest and accountable. Do what you need to without sacrificing the joys of the summer months!

Joy is a choice.

Yes, a choice.

The mundane can be gleeful, and even the frustrating things in life can hold gems in them that lift us a little. That is not to say that we still won’t feel angry or sad, but recognizing that there may be something positive in any difficulty can keep us from getting submerged in the emotion, numbing it out with food, or acting out in other ways that may not be in our best interest.

With the economic and employment troubles affecting most everyone on some level, our national levels of stress have been stimulated, to put it mildly. Yet even in the most stressful times, we can minimize the harm of high levels of stress by seeking moments of joy that exist all around us.

Below are tools to create greater joy in your life – whether you are working through a personal difficulty or simply wanting more of what you already have.  These tools were shared with me in The Solution Method. Wired for Joy, the initial 6 week introduction to the Method, will be starting July 6th, 2009. Please email or call me for more details!

Conscious Attention: Mindfulness is key. When we are aware of what gives us joy, we can recall these memories at will.These memories can affect the brain chemistry as strongly as the  when the experience happened. Make a list of things which you know give you an emotional boost. Then be on the lookout for the day-to-day joyful experiences so you can add to your list. See mine below for ideas. No item is too large or too small!

Intention: having an intention of happiness and joy sets our compass in the direction we wish to head. Having the intention increases our chance of success – whatever the goal. Research backs this up – in the laboratory as well as through historical documentation (Napoleon Hill comes to mind). Add joy, pleasure, and intention to all that you plan on doing to the day. Don’t just intend to go to work, bu intend to go to work and have a positive experience there. Begin seeking joy in your life and expecting it to come your way and you live out your life.

The Earned Rewards in Life: Gratitude has been shown to be one of the best tools to shift one’s mindset from neutral to joyful. When we express gratefulness for what has come to us we not only increase our joy but become receptive to receiving more. Those who express gratitude not only are healthier, but live 7-9 years longer. Our left prefontal cortex is flooded with feel-good hormones when we focus on what is positive; the end outcome being flooding our brain with endorphins. Negative thinking activates the right prefontal cortex and floods the system with fight-or-flight response hormones that deplete us and can eventually lead to stress-induced diseases such as depression, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease, among others.

Make it a Daily Practice — take a deep breath settle in – what are three things I am grateful for in this moment? Ask this question daily. If you are experiencing more stress than usual, ask it several times throughout the day. Set an alarm on your computer or phone to remind you!

When you ask this question, what comes to mind? No pressure. Think of what you can in this moment. Feel gratitude in your body and acknowledge it. Just a small practice such as this can increase your joy and when you share it with others you can give it to them as well. JOY IS CONTAGIOUS! This is the reason why I always include Bragging Rights in my monthly newsletter.

Aimee’s List O’ Joy

• fresh juice

• spring flowers

• seeing fruit on the tree

• hiking in a forest

• a good joke; I am particularly fond of puns and intellectual humor.

• irony

• synchronicity in daily life

• warm bathrobes

• a cool, cloudy day

• Rain!!

• watching my turtles eat

• ripe, fresh berries

• farmers’ markets

• traveling

• airports

What brings you joy that you haven’t done in awhile? What have you planned to do to treat yourself that you haven’t done yet? Make a note of the ones you do regularly and set about the intention to experience focused joy around that area. I love spring flowers, but right now they are in abundance and I have become a little desensitized. So I am going to recommit to focusing high joy on the flowers that stop me in my tracks. Rather than walk by, I may stop and examine them closer, bring some home with me, or take a photo.

***********************************

Taken from notes: 3 June 2009; Teleconference with Judy Zehr LPC. MHRM

Also – The Strength of Goal’s Intentions Affect Outcome and UC Davis Study on Gratitude and Thankfulness

To learn more on the science of gratitude, you may wish to read Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier

To learn more about rewiring your brain for less stress and greater joy, visit www.thepathway.org

Big-time uncomfortable.

Digging heels in, I don’t-wanna, stop the presses and let-me-go-back-to-bed uncomfortable. It was a surprise, honestly. I thought I was more prepared.

Earlier this year I decided I wanted to teach Spin classes. It would give me some variety and expose me to a large gym that could have other benefits down the line. I would get to know more people in my neighborhood while getting in shape in a new and different way. I love the endorphins that cycling to music gives me (more reliable than runner’s high).  So I took a certification class and did an excellent job auditioning for the position. So well, in fact, that I was offered my own class (usually beginners get to sub for awhile). It may have been that I was passable and no one else wanted to teach at 5:30am, or that I was awesome. Who knows? Regardless, and despite the fact that I had no previous experience in front of large exercise classes, I was granted my own class. And after the hiring paperwork was said and done, I was offered a second class each week. GREAT! My wish was granted. I was set to teach Spin.

But let me tell you – this is HARD. Ask me to run 18 miles or lecture about healthy fats to 150 people and it would be easier. For me — a very left-brained, uncoordinated person — timing music to cues to public performance and finagling with a mic and my own sweat while smiling AND talking proved to make me extremely nervous. I had nightmares when I wasn’t experiencing insomnia, and would wake up with dread the mornings I was teaching.

But I knew that 12-20 people would be there waiting and the area manager found me skilled enough to lead them. I had to trust her instinct over my own at this point, because the level of unfamiliarity was rather blindsiding.  So I walk in, pretend I’ve done this before and give it a go.
I finished my fourth class last week, and I have learned a lot – about myself as a morning performer, about sweaty microphones and creating mixes, about what people are like at 5:30am and about my own inner demons.

I haven’t wanted to quit something in a long time. I had moments the last two weeks where I wanted to quit this crazy thing I had gotten myself into.

I share this with you because inevitably at some point we all face such discomfort. Something feels too hard and we’d rather say yes to the cheesecake or no to the workout. We think we are crazy because we signed up for a triathlon and we don’t know how to swim. We wonder why we are thrashing about in the water, setting our alarm for 4am to teach strangers, having the tough conversation or walking out of the bakery when it seems that everyone else in the world doesn’t have to.

What I want to highlight though is what happens when we embrace the difficulty.

There is great reward in facing down adversity. It is a time ripe with opportunities to see how we work under pressure. What sorts of weird stories do our brains tell us? Do we want these stories to be the basis of our reality (“I’ll always be fat”, “I exercised for an hour so I deserve a high-calorie treat”, “I’m any variety of insulting adjectives”,”I already have heart disease so I might as well…” )or do we want to create a new one? (“I can totally do this”, “I’ll show them”, “I’ve come so far!”, “My body can heal”, “I deserve to be happy!”)

When I get into an emotional pickle and I find myself challenged beyond my level of confidence, I reach out for support. I call my friends who have unwavering belief in me, I write to my business coach, I journal about it and I brainstorm solutions as I question my fear. Regardless of the outcome, I always learn more. Sometimes I learn what I must never do again. Other times I learn that I am a lot stronger and more creative than I often perceive myself to be.

Each time we face adversity and come out the other side, we build up our inner strength and tenacity. We learn that we can ask for help and receive it and that we are often better supported and stronger than we allow ourselves to realize. Over time, this breaks down self-imposed barriers that keep us locked to unhealthy eating and a sedentary life when we yearn for movement and the energy that healthy living can bring.

When you feel resistance rise up in yourself – in your relationships, in your work, in your commitment to a goal you are striving for – begin to ask questions. Look at the internal records playing and see if it isn’t time to change the album. Ask yourself — What do I most need to hear right now? Then give yourself that emotional nourishment. My guess is you may find  the challenge becomes less overwhelming and you feel more proud, stronger, and have more love and respect for yourself as a result. And the happier you are, the healthier you are, hands down.

What is one way you face down adversity? When your inner demons start chattering, what do you say or do to change the dialogue?

Ten Universal Laws of the Warrior Code

The Ten Universal Laws of the Warrior Code are contained In Dawn Callan’s book: Awakening the Warrior Within – Secrets of Personal Safety and Inner Security published by Tenacity Press.

These Laws encourage individuals to live impeccably with more joy, more choice, and more peace. This is a path not without risk, but not without rewards. Living by the Warrior Code will enrich daily living on your own terms.

1. Pay attention. Stay in the present. Its the only place anything is really happening.

2. Take responsibility. This is your life, take it back. Either you get to own it, or you blame someone or something else for it.

3. No kvetching. No whining, no sniveling – it takes you out of the present and lets you abdicate responsibility.

4. Don’t take any sh^t. It’s very bad for one’s self-esteem to take any abuse. Stand up to your tyrants, both internal and external. The cost is too great not to.

5. Do it anyway. Hard choices temper our strength and our integrity; they make the difference between a life of mediocrity and a life of excellence.

6. Don’t quit. Look at what stops you, at where you give the effort up. That is the edge between becoming a victim or a warrior.

7. Keep your agreements. A warrior is only as good as his or her word. The way we build self-trust and trust in others is by making and keeping agreements.

8. Keep your sense of humor. Otherwise what’s the point? Humor helps us to stretch beyond ourselves and our own limits.

9. Love one another. Otherwise where’s the meaning? It’s the way we remember we’re not alone in this universe.

10. Honor your connection to Source. There is a force in the universe, greater than ourselves, that creates us, sustains us, provides for us, cares for us, guides us, and loves us. It speaks to us from within. Trust it.

Which one of these comes easily to you? Which one do you have more difficulty with? Choose one to work on over the next week or month (depending on the level of difficulty you need to work through to integrate it). I’d love to hear how the experience is for you!

(list borrowed from http://russcelt.eu/commentary.htm)

Daily Om is something I heard about a few years ago and still have delivered to my Inbox. It is a fantastic reminder daily of how much possibility we have within each of us, how important it is to stop and breathe, and other aspects of conscious living.

To learn more, visit DailyOm.com

I’ll be the first to tell you I love coffee.

And I get a little sparkle in my eye when I admit it. My lips will curl up slightly and my voice deepens, betraying my deep appreciation (or addiction, if you insist upon labeling it that way).

Coffee, however, does not do well in my system. I began drinking espresso when I was 15. Mom always used to tell me it would stunt my growth, but I had largely stopped growing a few years beforehand so I didn’t hold much credence to it. Coffee was the media through which I connected with friends in high school and my father when he would come and pick me up from school. It was a warm creamy beverage that took the Alaskan chill out of my bones. My mother ordered fancy flavored coffees through the mail and had that creepy artificial creamer that came in fancy flavors as well.

By time I hit college, I peaked with 32 ounces of drip coffee in the morning to get me through the double whammy of biology and chemistry back to back beginning at 7:30 or 8am. Then I rotated between 24 ounces of drip and a double shot in the afternoon. Or a quadshot if I was working back-to-back shifts and studying. My body began complaining a lot. I had PMS, random panic attacks, and any additional stressors would cause me to hit stationary objects with my vehicle. (not intentionally!) I began having stomach problems; it was receiving so much acid it realized it didn’t need to make its own anymore!

I did not connect these incidences to coffee. I suspected the PMS was caused by my overconsumption of tofu (I was an ardent vegetarian at the time). Everything else was chalked up to a failing marriage and college stresses.  When student Naturopaths informed me it was my beloved bitter brew, I had almost wished they had confirmed my soy suspicion.

In an effort to cease the discomfort, I cut coffee out cold turkey. Fortunately, I was not crippled with headaches; however, I could not concentrate on lectures or studies, stay attentive enough to maintain a conversation, or even stay awake for that matter! I began cat-napping in my car between classes and struggled for about 10 days until it became time to study for midterms.  Then, I headed to Starbucks.

Yet in just ten days of abstinence I had cleared my body enough that my premenstrual symptoms were gone. It was AMAZING. I was convinced of this beverage’s power to cause both beneficial and prohibitive effects on the body and began experimenting with how much or little I could “get away with”. As years went on, I discovered my body’s unique response to coffee, what stimuli induced a java-response and observed my body change in its reaction to receiving coffee. I’ve also been able to utilize my experience to work with clients in discovering how coffee affects them.

This is not to say coffee is without its benefits. Anyone pushing a deadline will attest to its ability to speeding up thought processes and increasing the ability to focus. Exercisers often use a jolt to boost their workout. What caffeine does is allow you to work at a higher intensity without really feeling like you are pushing yourself that much harder. These benefits are the fight-or-flight response in action. Caffeine causes the fight-or-flight hormones to be released into the bloodstream, causing the body to respond as it would in a high-intensity emergency situation. Blood is pumped more rapidly through the body as heart rate quickens and the body is ready to go-go-go! We think more quickly, move faster, feel less pain and discomfort, and time itself seems to go by a little quicker. This happens regardless of whether you are running a race or sitting at your desk.

As can be expected, chronic emergencies over long periods of time wear the body down. It is important to realize that your body cannot physiologically distinguish the difference between nearly getting in a car accident and having a latte.

Over several years, stress-related illnesses begin to arise and we see such symptoms as high blood pressure, blood sugar and digestive disturbances, heart disease, poor moods, difficulty losing weight, decreased performance and tolerance to higher and higher doses of caffeine to function (or finding that non-functioning occurs if it is not consumed). While studies are in conflict regarding coffee’s direct role in heart disease, cancer and other health problems, there is no doubt that stress is a contributor to these diseases and that coffee stimulates the stress response in the body.

If some of these symptoms are present in your life, you may need to address the role that caffeine and other stimulants play in your day.  Begin by observing your habits and making efforts to decrease the amount of caffeine you are consuming. I find that coffee is the gasoline that brightens my flame when oxygen (Primary Food) is a little low. I reach for it when I am feeling lonely or disconnected from others because of its strong ties to old memories and its psychological boost. I also crave it when I am not taking care of myself in other ways – like getting enough sleep or incorporating enough play into my life.

These days, I remain largely symptom-free because of my understanding of how caffeine affects me. I now engage in what I refer to as “medicinal doses” of coffee as needed. When I am pushing a deadline, have a short stint of busyness or am feeling a little homesick I’ve been known to have some coffee for a time to get me through. I recognize this as a short-term solution that needs a more creative long-term response and act appropriately.

How does coffee affect you – boost positively and negatively?

Have you struggled to cut back or quit coffee, sodas, or energy drinks?

For those of who who successfully abstain, what have you noticed?

I *never* thought I’d qualify for Boston. Seriously. the best I had hoped for was to stay injury-free and not slow with age so that I could make it after I turned 45.  I’ve always been a pretty conservative runner because I value the peace and accomplishment I get from running too much to have my body give out on me and force me into retirement. I’m much rather get sick of running and choose something else (like Roller Derby!) than have my body give out while my mind still thrived on it.

Lo and behold, last May an incredible thing happened. The weather was right, the course was right, the support I received was more than I had ever had before. I raced a marathon like I had never raced it. I was like a cheetah, fast and strong and having the time of my life (a cheetah on catnip, maybe?). I ran 45 seconds per mile faster than I had previously raced in 3 marathons, suddenly acquiring not only a wicked Personal Record (or PR in runner’s lingo) but the Golden Ticket to Boston.

15 years early, at that!

I could hardly believe this gift! I had not even realized it until I was on my way home. In my head I confused the qualifying time and thought I had been 4 minutes shy of it. This is the power of disbelief!

So I have been waiting for Boston. I have trained and run since then, and here I am 5 weeks shy of flying to the east coast to run in the runner’s event.

…And I am canceling my flight.

Significantly cutting back on my training

…and waiting until next year.

This is NOT an easy decision to make. I will not candy-coat it by telling you it is anything less than absolutely (insert favorite expletive ending in -ly here).

It is not injury that has me sidelined. It is not a lack of accommodations, or schedule conflicts. It is the messages my body is telling me. The messages I know not to ignore, because I see how ignoring the signals affects other runners I have run with over the years.

While I am not injured, my body is exhibiting signs of not being ready. I’m taking too long to recover from training runs, my stamina is lessened and other life stressors have depleted extra reserves necessary for accumulating those miles properly. I sense that, if I chose to keep going and push through the fatigue for the Idea(l) in my head, I could very well end up injured. My body is telling me that 19 miles is a bit too much right now.

In hindsight, Boston would be my third marathon in 12 months. That is something I have never done before, and I may not have the solid base miles under me yet to hold that kind of load. These last two marathons came after an 18 month reprieve from marathons and I came back really strong. But that strength and power and excitement I experienced in Eugene last May is not with me.

So I have to say no. In good conscience, it is my only choice.

You are welcome to send flowers.

The reason I choose to share this with you is because sometimes the right thing is the thing that does not feel good in the moment.  It’s kind of like being a good parent. Discipline is sometimes a situation in which parent and child both feel crummy, but it is important for reasons not immediately experienced.

This situation is applicable to most aspects of health and well-being.  Limiting the Starbucks drive-through may feel like deprivation, but the reward in seen later the wallet and waistline. Holding off on fast-food in general is less convenient and may result in some whining from the backseat, but the rewards in health care savings, energy, and lifelong vitality far outweigh any Supervalue meal.

More commonly, having the awareness to recognize when to stop eating, when to go to the gym anyway, when to say ‘no’ and when to take a risk allow us to live our lives with fewer regrets, greater satisfaction, and feeling of control and competence even though it can be a pain in the butt and a lot of hard work to hone that skill.

But I’d rather postpone Boston for a year than mark it as the end of my running career, or come back and humbly confess to my running group that I did not stop when I should have. (yes – there is some pride at stake, here!)

How about you?

What has internal discipline given you? Did you ever ignore the messages and what was the outcome? Have you cultivated that awareness or does it still like a mystery?

I began the work in a final attempt to come to peace with food and to learn a new way of coping with life so that I did not turn to bowls of popcorn and tortilla chips, chastise myself for it, and repeat the habit the next time I was overwhelmed. What I gained from devoting myself to learning it over the following two years was profound.

• I became more in touch with what I was feeling and more clear in expressing myself.
• I was able to see the pattern and break it before I engaged in it. When I did engage in it, I recovered more quickly and compassionately than I ever had been capable of before.
• My ability to work within the stresses of day-to-day life skyrocketed-now there is very little panicking, getting frustrated, or feeling trapped! 
• I witnessed others doing the work with me also experience greater calm and joy in their lives as they became well-versed in their internal world and learned to choose different responses.

The numerous small and large ways in which it has affected me cannot be measured. My heart is lighter, I can laugh at myself more, and I have come to peace with how much of life has unfolded.  Last year I began training to become a provider for this Method myself, so that I can share these skills with others who are looking for less stress and greater joy in their lives.
With so much seemingly out of control these days, having an internal safe haven is paramount to getting through the rough patches with our hair and wits intact!

I encourage you to learn a bit more about the Method, and look for more information on telegroups and individual coaching from VIBRANCE to appear in the next few weeks. Wired for Joy, the 6 week introductory course to the Solution Method, will begin in early May.
If you are interested in registering for Wired for Joy or wish to begin individual coaching now, please contact me at aimee@vibrancenutrition.com or by calling 206-227-1231

For more information on Developmental Skills Training and the Solution method, please click here and here.

I also highly recommend the book The Pathway, by Laurel Mellin – developer of the Solution Method.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is a very real and common winter phenomenon. Historically we have called it the “winter blues” or “cabin fever”. I don’t doubt that its root is multi-faceted, but lack of sunlight hours in the winter months have a very strong and real impact on our physiology. The farther north one lives, the more likely one is to drive to work or school in the dark, sit in a building all day with artificially lighting, then drive back home afterward in the dark.

I grew up in Alaska and experienced severe seasonal affective disorder from the ages of 14 until I moved away at 22. It is what prompted me to get involved in exercise, as I found it to offer some relief from very debilitating depression. There were months where I saw very little sunlight because it was too cold to be outside or I would be sitting in windowless classrooms all day. Those of you who know me personally know I have a fairly strong response to cold, wintery behavior. This is partially in response to associating winter with such extreme emotional dispondency. At the time, all that was offered as a remedy was the new and exciting SSRI’s that Eli Lilly and other companies were manufacturing. I tried most of them at least once with varying degrees of relief.

Initially, I would like to say that a decrease in energy and vigor in the winter is PERFECTLY NORMAL. The world around us – plants and non-migratory animals – go into a state of dormancy or hibernation. Like them, we are an integral part of this cycle. Winter is a time of rest and reflection so that we have the reserves required for spring and summer’s bustle of activity. In our disconnection from nature’s cycles we have asked our body to continue with high productivity month after month and year after year. Our rest comes in the form of sick days and paid vacations. It is out of rhythm with the greater cycle we live in. This is, I believe, part of the reason why this condition has become so debilitating.

Older and wiser, I have found some non-pharmaceutical solutions to the winter blues. I am eternally grateful for exercise, the accidental discovery that gave me something to work with during my adolescence and has since become an integral part of my life and career. I have also found other tools over the years which are of benefit:

• Light Therapy: Sunlight affects our mood and energy by encouraging production of both melatonin and serotonin through messages sent from the retina to the brain. “Light boxes” simulate the intensity of sunlight on a clear spring day and can help normalize mood and sleep. I’ve also had clients benefit from dawn simulators to help with waking up in the morning.
• Taking Breaks during daylight hours: If you work in an environment which has little access to natural light, be sure to get out for 10-20 minutes a day while the sun is still up. It’s amazing how much of a boost a brisk walk can do mid-day.
• Get thee to thy local gym! If the weather is too crummy to be outside, get into the gym for three hours a week. The time you take for this will be returned in increased productivity, better moods, and decreased illness. Lift weights, watch the news while taking a brisk walk on the treadmill — just get your heart pumping and your blood moving. Hire a quality trainer or get an exercise buddy f you have trouble making it to the gym.
• Omega-3′s: A natural part of many diets in far-northern countries are high-doses of omega-3 fats from marine life. Cultural and laboratory studies demonstrate marked improvement from or absence of depressive symptoms when high doses of omega 3 fatty acids are consumed regularly. Dosage is dependent on symptoms; speak to a health professional knowledgable in nutrition and brain health for your specific needs.
• Expect Less of Yourself: This has been my most recent change and has really made a difference. Knowing that I am not seperate from the natural world around me has given me permission to slow down a bit from November through February. I do not expect as much from myself, I do not push myself and I allow more time for soothing, restorative activities: cooking, reading, having tea with loved ones, sleeping in a little more on weekends, and so on. Traditionally a Type A, this shift has taken some time to embrace but now that I have there is a lot less struggle in the winter months. Keep your appointment book a little more open for downtime, get a massage, sit in a cafe with a friend you’ve been dying to catch up with and re-connect.
• Monitor Yourself: Keep tabs on how you are doing. If you are trying to wean off of medication, make sure you have professional support to ensure a smooth transition. If you find that coming off of medication is not an option, the above suggestions can still be of benefit to you. Implement them as a means of not just surviving SAD, but moving through the season gracefully and pleasantly. You are not alone; upwards of 10% of northern populations experience symptoms.

I’d love to hear about your own persoanl experience with the winter blues and how you have worked with this season to stay happy, whole and healthy. Your ideas and suggestions may offer relief to someone struggling. Please comment below and share your experiences.

More Information:

Exercise and Depression
Omega-3-for-depression
http://www.mcmanweb.com/omega3.html
Light Therapy Products and SAD Information