Part Three: Get It! Instant Energy & Mood Lift

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Part Two: Get It! Instant Energy & Improved Mood, Part 2 of 5

Here it is ladies! Part 2 in a 5 part series on how to improve your mood and increase your energy in less than 3 minutes a day.


Don't forget to download yesterday's program as well. A quick and easy one page "how to"!

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Get It! Instant Energy & Improved Mood, Part 1 of 5

Mothers and women - if you polled us a group, how many of you would raise your hand and say you have been overly tired or in a poor state of mind in the past week? in the past month? in the past year?

Perhaps the whole lot of us would raise our hands in the affirmative. It is no secret that women suffer from fatigue and depressive* disorders more frequently than men.
In fact, many of the diagnoses connected to these symptoms were not even "believed" to exist until very recent history.

But as women, we know our bodies. As a health care practitioner, I have long supported many women with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, & longstanding depressive symptoms in my clinical practice. Even as late as the 1970's, grief was not even supported as an actual state of being. So it is no surprise that women have been unable to figure out what was "wrong" with them through the years. Unable to fit into a neat medical chart, their symptoms piled up- exacerbated by their mounting responsibilities as women, mothers, and human beings.

Through the years though, medicine has come to recognize that there is a psycho-emotional body, an energetic body - and it greatly affects the physical body. Women in my practice continue to improve in health when they receive compassionate physical therapy blended with a multi-cultural approach to healing. This approach I call "elemental renewal", the ability to see the person, not just the diagnosis. The ability to see all facets of the person and create a therapy program just for them.

The most common life experiences which can contribute to the "super fatigue" and mood shifts are, you guessed it, pregnancy, post-partum, life changes, job related stress, and the constant state of stress that is associated with child rearing and otherwise existing on this planet as a woman and/or mother.

In my practice, my first line of defense in helping women is teaching them how to breathe. So this week, I am going to dedicate the entire week to teaching you how to breathe - one day at a time, one breath at a time.

Each day this week, you will learn a different breath type so that you can have your own personal energy and mood lifting practice. In fact, sometimes I only need 2-3 minutes of concentrated breathing to turn my day around!

Read on to learn how you are only 2-3 minutes away from an instant energy and mood lift...

*If you are concerned about depression, please click here to learn more.

Freedom to Live Your Life, But Are You?

The days pass slowly, the years fly quickly by. If I had a nickel for every time someone has said this to me, I might be out of debt by now.

I actually do not dread hearing those words, and I appreciate hearing them each time a well meaning older parent says them.

For those of you who may not have heard those words, what I am talking about is this: our children grow up fast. Shorter still, the time that passes from the moment they are born until they enter kindergarten seems to pass by faster still.

Last week I left for another teaching weekend, this time in Lexington, KY, as I wrote earlier in my blog this week. My older son is having an increasingly harder time when "mommy leaves" for work weeks or weekends. He is aware that I will be gone for several days at at time. While I was gone, my husband said at bedtime he prayed that "mommy's plane doesn't crash." The next morning when he awoke, my husband asked him what he dreamed about. In his 3.5 year old voice he replied, "I dweamed mommy came home and gave me wots of hugs and kisses."

Children are aware. Our families are aware. Our society visibly suffers when the family suffers. Our work schedules and agendas are increasingly filled, even with good things like music lessons, community projects, and charity fundraisers. However, despite all the "good stuff" we fill our schedules with, we emerge more tired and glassy eyed than ever...and with less time to actually spend nurturing our family.

Last night I had choral practice for our tri-county Choral Society. It was only a two hour practice but when I told my older son goodbye he got very reserved and his chin began to tremble.

He had just spent 9 hours in daycare and I had only a quick dinner before I left again (after not seeing him for 4 days while I worked all weekend...moms sound familiar?). He was worried I was leaving him for an extended time again. I promised him I was not, and then I gave him hugs and kisses and left for practice. When I returned at 9:30 (way past his bedtime), he was waiting for me at the door, dressed in his Thomas the Train pajamas, sitting in his great grandfather's handmade wicker chair, writing his name on a sheet of paper. When I opened the door he said, "Mommy, I missed you."

I am acutely aware that my children will be grown and gone before I can comprehend it. Each day my husband and I mourn and celebrate their growth, because we fully appreciate the brevity of life.

Here are a few things I have been practicing this year, to help set protective boundaries around our family time in order to truly value and love them:

EXERCISING YOUR FREEDOM TO LIVE

1. Minimizing daycare: my husband and I alternate our work schedules so our children only have to spend 1 day in daycare a week. This creates the majority of our fatigue, because we must work at odd hours and sometimes on weekends and nights. However, it is the only method, while our children are young, which we have found to maximize our time together as a family. This may not work for all families. Sometimes daycare is unavoidable but I would recommend shopping for a daycare that is flexible and truly accommodates to the needs of each child. I have friends and colleagues who have "second mothers" in their daycare providers and are grateful for the "extended family" bond that their daycare provides. Either way, realize we DO have the freedom to choose. Society may not reward us for putting our children and families first, but the future of our planet rests on it.
   
2. Families that play together, stay together: This may sound obvious as well as easy, but it is not the case. We realize that unless we set time aside for family oriented activities, we will continue to be consumed with the demands of daily life. For example, yard work, home repairs and renovations, as well as daily errand running and household management alone could occupy all your time. Oftentimes, taking care of business leaves your kids to constantly self entertain while mommy answers work email or daddy mows the lawn or vice-versa. Try having a "family meeting" to poll your kids about what they want to do as a family. Then, make it happen within your budget. Get creative if you can't afford "Disneyworld". Go on a family camping trip, hike, local theme park, or take a roadtrip to visit family.
   
3. Set boundaries: We are all aware that corporate life slowly eats into family life, so many of us have set boundaries in that arena. We come home on time, we work from home offices, we compress our work schedules, we actually use all of our vacation/leave, and we give up job promotions for family promotions i.e. to have a quality family life. However, for those of us who have reigned in our work boundaries, are we doing anything about the "good activities" in our life - children's playgroups, sports and art activities, local volunteerism, church or temple work, etc. Sometimes we even have to pare down the "good" activities if they are a detriment to our family life. My husband and I recently did that. It was difficult, and we lost income, career exposure, and didn't get to pursue some extracurricular outlets we like to - but the career & personal time hit was worth it. We all are less stressed, more organized, and very grateful for the time together.
   
4. Count Your Blessings: When I think back to the time before I met my husband and before we had children, I am reminded how blessed we are today. My husband and I waited a LONG time to have children. Truly, we waited our whole lives for the family we have today. So I frequently count my blessings by recalling where I came from and how far I have come.
5. Choose your charity and community work carefully: A mentor once suggested that although all activities in your life may be good, they may not all be necessarily good for you at one time! At all seasons in our life, we have a host of opportunities to choose from. Young families struggle to balance work and family, families with older children struggle to balance their children's extracurricular activities with their own, empty nesters and retirees or grandparents also have their own set of struggles. However, at all seasons, there are activities that are BEST for you, and ones that although are good - are not your BEST option. For example, I limit which charity organizations I become involved in so I can focus on being effective. For others, this is making your child choose no more than 2 extracurricular activities per semester. To me, there would be nothing worse than being a jack of all trades and master of none. I don't want to be a person that starts one project and then leave it in the wake of starting another. Our whole family practices this as a kind of mantra, if you will. We keep all our activities on a consolidated calendar so we can prevent it from "overflowing."
   

In this way, in the words of Jonathan Swift,
"may we live all the days of our life." I believe we can.

*photo taken of our children during "box play" time. They had found a box and decided to get creative with it.

Conquer Your Fears

Eleanor Roosevelt said, "everyday do one thing that you fear."

Well said sister. So, I am taking to the roof to conquer my fears.

In an act of solidarity with other women who follow Eleanor's advice, on most days at least, I decided that my fear of heights (despite my high school days as a cheerleader teetering at the top of pyramids & being tossed into the air like an apple), had to come down.

So in order to diminish my literal fear of swinging in trees, and to lower my anxiety which would proverbially keep me "out of the tree tops", I decided I would paint (just a section, mind you) of my home's third story.

When the contractor finished construction on the house, he kindly left the scaffolding up so we could save a dollar and paint the house ourselves. My husband and I literally took to the skies, where the smallest breeze had me grasping for anything to hold on to and feeling as if I could be lifted off the scaffolding.

However scared I was, I stayed and painted. And, I survived and came down to tell the story.

After several trips up and down the ladder, and scooting, sliding, and somewhat walking on the scaffolding in order to finish painting, I learned something.

My fear DID INCREASE when I climbed up the ladder. But repeating this action did DECREASE my overall fear. In the end analysis, after two days of "roof swinging", I learned Mrs. Roosevelt was indeed right. Doing something you fear everyday does decrease your overall chances of being fearful in the future.

Ah - the sweet smell of courage. If we can all stand atop that roof confidently (& breathing!), then we can all better handle Future Fear.

So, the next time Fear rears its ugly head, I'll be better equipped. Will you?

*Photos: Evidence of Overcoming my Fear of heights(and heights + wind gusts), at least for a weekend.

Teaching Kentucky

This week I am in Lexington, Kentucky at Barefoot Works Yoga Studio, teaching a fantastic group of health care professionals about the medical yoga therapy method that is Professional Yoga Therapy Studies. Evidence based, PYT looks at healing the body and being through a "east meets west" method.
The students this week are motivated, intelligent, and determined take what PYT provides, the best of eastern and western methods of rehabilitation, and transform health care in this country (not to mention yoga classes!).
Kudos to all the students involved in my class this weekend, as they are a part of an elite group which will compassionately change the face of health care delivery in America, one patient at a time.
Because they are already health care professionals, they are well established in their scientific fields. Further, because they are yoga practitioners, they hold a unique specialty - the ability to combine west and east. Lastly, because they study side by side with their peers in the PYT method - they can apply eastern AND western modalities, and not simply east OR west, at an advanced clinical level - for their patients AND their communities.

Read more about PYTS School of Medical Yoga Therapy by clicking here.

Your Child's Best: Choosing Vitamins

I received this question via email today, and responded right away with the following answer.

Q: Ginger, I wanted to let you know I have been enjoying your blog. It is wonderful that you are sharing all of your wisdom. I read your article on nutrition and taking a high quality multi-vitamin. As for my 4 year old son, I have been having a hard time finding a chewable multi-vitamin for him that does not contain all the nasty dye's etc. What do you give your kids?

A: Great question! You are absolutely right – children’s vitamins are usually horrendously toxic – containing saccharin, loads of artificial dyes, and preservatives. I searched for some time before I found an honorable vitamin which seemed to meet my strict requirements: vegetable derived, no dyes, no artificial flavoring, no preservatives, and no saccharin! For children with allergies, these vitamins are also soy, dairy, yeast, and corn free!

I give my children "Animal Parade" vitamins – they come in liquid or chewable form. Both my children are on the chewables now and they absolutely love them.

In addition, my eldest son has developmental delays, so I supplemented his diet with fish oil to assist in his neurological development. The change was remarkable, and with no other apparent variables to influence his improvement, his speech improve markedly within a week of beginning the fish oil supplement.

In fact, the fish oil is so good that my husband and I started taking them as well. For those of you who are fish oil connoisseurs or those who cannot bear the thought of stomaching fish oil, Omega Fish Oil is mild and easy to digest and is proven to be beneficial for brain function and heart health.

Lastly, they both get extra vitamin C during the nasty winter flu months. They have been getting it year round since the swine flu outbreak, however. Studies disagree on the benefits of vitamin C, however, it is not expensive, is safe, and my children are sick less often than their peers.

My children take the following vitamins on a daily basis:*

• NATURE'S PLUS: ANIMAL PARADE CHEWABLE MULTI-VITAMIN: Click here to see the vitamin and the full list of ingredients.

• NORDIC NATURALS: KIDS DHA: Click here to see the supplement and a full list of ingredients.
  

• NATURE'S PLUS: ANIMAL PARADE CHEWABLE VITAMIN C: Click here for a full description.

Should your child take fish oil?
More information on fish oil for children
Does your child need a multi-vitamin?

*the information given is only a suggestion and not a recommendation. the suggestions contained here are only given as a "Good Samaritan" gesture to assist fellow moms who struggle to find as close to an "organic" vitamin as possible for their children and is not intended as health care or physical therapy advice in any way. All parents should consult their child's (hopefully holistic!) pediatrician to determine what vitamin, if any, is best for your child.

Holocaust Hero - What We Should Learn From Him

What can we learn from the holocaust? There are infinite lessons, but one we do not often see is the story I will tell you now.

A very humble, once young, 100 year old man organized a "kindertransport", which was ultimately responsible for rescuing hundreds of Jewish children from Nazi occupied countries in 1939. What is most amazing about this man's, Sir Nicholas Winton's, story is that he saved the lives of all these children without ever telling anyone, not even his wife, for almost 50 years, until 1988.
This story is beautiful and both heartbreaking and heartwarming, and to me, rings a loud and clear message.
To me this message of Sir Winton's story is this: we can and should seek out and do work without looking for the reward. No matter what your religious upbringing or practice, helping others without asking anything in return is a universal "golden rule" in itself. Much like mothers caring for their newborn children, we ask nothing in return from our children. However in the end analysis, ask any mother and she will say she received benefits and blessings immeasurable through the sacrifice she made to birth and care for her child. It would be no surprise then, that serving others, as the old adage goes, truly IS the surest way to help ourselves. And would the world not be better if we weren't all constantly striving, like crabs in a bucket, to serve our own needs?

Instead, may we selflessly strive to serve others. This week, may we, myself included, seek to do good for others without using the "what's in it for me" mentality.

For the full story click here or cut and paste this link in your browser: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32689095/ns/world_news-europe/

*photo of kindertransport in 1939 (Institute of Comtemporary History & Wiener Library Limited)

Breathing In This Life, Support for Women & Mothers

Every blog has one, a flavor that is. Some blogs more focused than others, some happy, some bitter, some nonsensical, some seemingly necessary, some helpful, some hurtful, some teaching self indulgence and gossip, some demonstrating healthy moderation and enjoyment of a life with less (stuff).
I want to let everyone know about the flavor of my blog, Breathing In This Life. Hopefully you will find your way here, either through knowing me, PYTS, or through a search engine. However you have found your way here though, I want to get to know you.
Please take a moment to sign up for my blog! I think you'll want to when you find out what it is all about.

The Flavor of Breathing In This Life:

• Is for Everyone, especially Women & Mothers
  
• Learning about Living without the Complexities of Life (aka living without gym memberships, protein shakes, complicated diets, scripted lives and rigid schedules, etc)
• Overcoming Chronic Illness & Pain through my methods of therapy
  
• Women's Rights (Health Care & health care reform, Education, & of their Own Bodies)
• Mother's Workplace Rights & Wages (whether in or outside the home)
• Getting Involved (with organizations who help women and children)

You will learn about

• Creating Ideal Health - Revitalize, Renew, & Rebuild Your Health
• Setting boundaries to protect and honor personal and family time
  
• The latest in cutting edge CAM (complementary and alternative medicine)
  

All in all, the flavor of Breathing In This Life boils down to this:

1. throwing your arms around those priorities and persons in your life which you love and need,
   
2. excluding what is not absolutely necessary,
   
3. using circumstances in your life to reflect & craft your Best Self.

I hope you will continue to enjoy this blog! If you do, please show your support by joining and signing up as a supporter! I can use your support to perpetuate the Good News!
SUBSCRIBE FREE TO THIS BLOG (see right hand column for sign up!)

Grace and Peace,
Ginger

*photo taken this summer while on annual retreat to the NC Mountains with my husband and children, at Valle Crucis Park

Are You Imbalanced?

Returning from Alaska very late on Wednesday night, I am piling up on the elements - mostly air, ether, and water. Having been surrounded by water while in Juneau, Alaska, in addition to hiking, flying, and driving from 0-3500 feet elevation a dozen times (which means an abundance of air and ether) over the course of teaching the low back and spine pain class, I am prone to be a little imbalanced elementally.

What in the heck does "elemental imbalance" mean, you ask? Good question! In Ayurveda and Indian medicine, as well as Chinese medicine, disease and dysfunction are treated by (simply) balancing the elements in one's body and surroundings. My approach to healing I have developed, Elemental Renewal, is a blending of many cultural approaches to medicine.

Back to the Alaska story: For me, I had an abundance of three elements, but mostly I was too high on air and ether, as I mentioned above. This imbalance (excessive air and ether) can manifest itself with the following signs or symptoms:

• inability to concentrate
• fatigue
• loss of drive
• headaches
• malaise
• gastrointestinal distress, such as bloating or slowed digestion

Those of you with a healthy skepticism of the value of balancing the elements, I applaud you! You should question all methods for treating health. I'll try to give you the short answer to why I believe elemental renewal works. If we look at a strictly western approach to the unlikely side effects of air travel, we find the dysfunction called "jet lag" is the culprit. Lucky for you, the symptoms of good old jet lag are surprisingly similar to that other cultures deem an excessive imbalance of air/ether:
Jet lag occurs when biological rhythms are interrupted secondary to rapid transitions across multiple time-zones", according to John Reilly, professor at the school of human sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool, England. to the 4 hour time zone change which manifests itself with all of the above signs and symptoms. Jet lag's technical term is known as "circadian desynchronization."
Too much travel
According to Elemental Renewal and other holistic approaches, including Chinese and Indian medicine, air travelers are not the only ones who suffer from "jet lag," or "circadian desynchronization." Anyone who travels, whether by plane, train, or automobile, or anyone who works or multitasks excessively, is prone to have excessive air and ether in their system.
Stop and smell the roses (or at least the dirt)
What can I and everyone else do to balance their air and ether elements if they travel or work too much? The bottom line is this (and its simple): Add a healthy dose of the opposite element. In this case, to decrease air/ether, you would increase the earth element. To decrease water element, increase the fire element.
Here are a few remedies that I use when I have the air/ether imbalance (which is often secondary to my own very busy travel schedule for speaking and teaching):
1. Use herbal remedies. This can include drinking teas which aid in digestion including mint tea, ginger tea or eating ginger candies, lavender or chamomile teas, cinnamon, cardamon, black pepper, cloves or other fire element herbs/spices. The alternative is to use their essential oil forms via massage oils, aromatherapy via diffusing in your home, car, or workplace, nasotherapy (simply smelling them, you don't have to put them up your nose!), or direct application application. Teas are easy to travel with, so on this particular trip I drank mint tea continuously - before breakfast, and after lunch and dinner, and sometimes for a snack. A smidge of local honey can also assist in calming the respiratory system, which I did use secondary to allergies with the local cottonwood while in Alaska (the last 2 days there was so much cottonwood in the air it looked like it was snowing!). If you are uncertain of what remedies to use, consult me at my website, your local holistic health care provider, or a Chinese or Ayurvedic practitioner to determine what is best for your constitution.
2. Eat sparingly. Digestion is more difficult when your body is shunting blood away from digestive functions to assist in primary functions (like traveling, heavy manual work, dealing with anxiety from travel or work, etc.) Eating less means you are less likely to have digestive upset, including reflux, indigestion, or constipation. When you do eat, choose foods you know that your body can easily digest. For air/ether imbalance - steer away from raw and uncooked foods and move toward some of the following foods below which would increase the earth element, fire element, and/or provide essential oils (such as fish oil or olive oil, which are good for decreasing air/ether). For you Ayurvedic (Indian medicine) purists, I generally eat an "anti-vata" diet while traveling.

• Breakfast - oatmeal with cooked fruit compote, and a small amount of honey, brown sugar, or dairy; mint tea
• Lunch - lightly cooked vegetables (yukon gold potatoes, kale, cooked garlic, for example) and freshly grilled sockeye salmon (it was a leftover from the night's prior dinner); mint tea
• Dinner - Roasted halibut with fresh chanterelle mushrooms (these had just been picked in the Juneau forest that afternoon! yum!) in a cream of mushroom reduction with Yukon gold potatoes and parsnips

Of course, this diet also highly not just increasing the earth element, but also reflects honoring the climate (damp, arid, cool), location- Juneau, Alaska, and season - early fall. Hence, the presence and high intake of fish (getting lots of omega 3 fatty acids though), root veggies, and teas I consumed while there.
3. Practice yoga postures and breathing to ground you. Practice postures and breathing which will mirror those of the earth element. Heavy, grounded, standing postures such as tree, triangle, the warrior series, as well as squats, low flying arm balances (think crane), and standing poses with a twist (think revolved extended side angle and revolved triangle) can assist in increasing the earth element and also assist with downward flow of energy (apana vayu) which will aid digestive motility (no constipation!). Breathing which should be practiced include uyaii/victorious breath (increase fire element), deep abdominal breathing (sandbag breathing), and TATD breath (if you are uncertain of any of these breaths, please leave a note for me and I'll elaborate with photos and instructions!) Each and every patient I work with received a unique, tailored prescription of yoga and breathing exercises to balance their constitution.
4. Get adequate sleep. Lack of sleep has been proven to be high risk factor in many diseases, including depression and other chronic illnesses, including early death. A 1997 CNN report even states that lack of sleep is America's top health problem. The National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimated that sleep deprivation costs $150 billion a year in higher stress and reduced workplace productivity. When traveling west, retire early to bed upon arrival. During flight, try to sleep as much as possible. When traveling east, try to readjust to the day by honoring that time zone (instead of remaining in your original time zone).
5. Hydrate. Drink plenty of beverages that are non-carbonated, non-caffeinated, and non-alcoholic. These impair digestion and alcohol and caffeine also act as diuretics and affect normal circadian rhythm in kidney function (think middle of the night awakenings and trips to the bathroom after a night of imbibing). In addition, dry air during flight increases air/ether and hydration can counter the effects of a dry atmosphere.
6. Don't multi-task. Scale back on work. (rest instead) Only do what is absolutely necessary during travel and upon the first 3-4 days return home. Following this rule is why my blog has been quiet until today. In other words, I practice what I preach!
These are just some of the tips I give and use for the frequent flyer, the multi-tasker, and the workplace executive with long weeks and little vacation. For more information on balancing your elemental constitution to attain ideal health, go to http://www.gingergarner.com/ to learn more. Remember that anything contained in this blog is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult your health care provider to determine what is best for your unique constitution.
*photo taken on August 28, 2009 on the second day of my arrival in Juneau, Alaska at Mendenhall Glacier