Ah, the holidays. I grew up in a large Catholic family, so Christmas was a celebration of food and board games – it was magical and fun. This time of year can be magical, filled with light and sweetness, but there’s also a bit of stress. The stress of expectation, of awkward gatherings, of being surrounded by less than healthful food. There is stress, too, in the ways life has changed since we were children.
Through the years that I’ve kept this blog, I’ve written quite a bit about the holidays – and how the heck we stay healthy during this time of year. Here is a roundup of posts that speak to moving through this season in a healthful joyful way. Enjoy!
In need of a truly extraordinary holiday gift? How about finding yourself & someone you love in paradise? There’s still room in our Costa Rica 5-day retreat – Feb 17-22.
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The mapping of the human genome brought tremendous opportunities for optimizing human health, but this flood of information has also led to more questions. Can genetic variations lead to long-term health consequences? How can these be bypassed? And, how can clinicians use genetic information to help people achieve their best health?
I just came from the national meeting of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) where I attended a seminar about how nutritionists can use common genetics tests (23& me) to help people customize their diet and supplements in accord to the own genetics. Imagine knowing which nutrition approaches and supplements would help address your unique mental health and metabolic genetics. What makes us each unique is the collection of single nucleotide polymorphisms – SNPs, in our genetics. 23&me testing will give you the raw data, and now there’s a group – a supplement manufacturer – who will help analyze those SNPs to guide nutrition based on your genetics.
The expanding field of nutritional genomics holds tremendous potential for healthcare providers to connect the dots between the human genome and nutrition to optimize health. The challenge lies in sorting through pages of genetic data, which requires a skilled eye and may take hours to interpret effectively. This means it is incredibly difficult for practitioners to take full advantage of this powerful information and provide every single patient with a personalized treatment plan for optimal health.
If you are interested in learning more about how your unique genetics interfaces with nutrition, and if you are interested in having your 23&me genetic report analyzed for its nutritional implications, let me know. annie(at)anniebkay.com.
A note on fees and financials: I do not have a financial arrangement with 23&me nor with the supplement group I would use to translate the genetic reports into nutrition recommendations through. The supplement groups assumes that the process will turn into supplement recommendations. My fees to you will be analyzing your 23&me data, interpreting the tests for you and your coaching session around it.
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Despite being at this game of health for decades, I continue to fascinate myself with my own resistance to…well, just about anything. I need help sustaining healthy change, and you probably do too.
I’ve been reading lately about the power of implementation intentions. There’s good research behind it as a strategy to help us move through our day and respond to the inevitable hitches that come up. When we get challenged, we remember what we are trying to do – “I intend to enjoy healthful eating,” and have a few if-then contingency decisions we pre-make every day.
If my husband isn’t home I’ll go to an extra yoga class. If my mom wants to come to Thanksgiving, then she’ll do the turkey.
Turns out that when set intention and we pre-make these decisions, we are more likely to carry them out.
Here are a few that may be helpful:
- If I’m hungry after work and it’s not dinner time yet, I will have an apple.
- If I don’t have time for lunch, I’ll grab a couple handfuls of nuts.
- If I’m tired, I will move anyway – but it will be gentle and enjoyable.
- If I work late and can’t get to yoga, I’ll take 10 minutes to unwind and meditate before leaving work, then another before going to bed.
- If I haven’t eaten vegetables yet today, I will double up at dinner.
I find that having three if…thens on a given day do the trick for me. If you can take a moment in the morning and visualize your day, and create three if-thens for your day that help you set an intention to be balanced. If…then.
If I see you today, then I hope you say hi.
Be well,
Annie
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Be Still.
After Labor Day, things swirl a little faster, everyone’s at their desk type type typing away, and off we go. Fall. It’s back to school, back to work.
I love Fall – the color in nature here in New England, and every year I do have a few back-to-school flashbacks, thinking of my Disney-bus lunchbox that smelled of old bread and peanut butter. Jelly!
This month I’m in the swirl of fall energy. New business, different business, I’m reaching into new places. As a small business owner (rather than my full-time job as Lead Nutritionist at Kripalu, which I left in January [they won’t be replacing me anytime soon, sorry integrative nutritionists]- though I still teach there a bit) I am learning my own way of marketing – how I inform those I serve of what I offer, finding my way toward having income and expenses balance out (they can balance out, right?).
Fall has some challenge to it. The cold winds begin to blow, aggravating our Vata (an Ayurvedic constitution embodying movement, cold, and dryness. Our whole culture, some say, is Vata deranged, meaning we are over-stimulated in a certain way). We are prone to colds and flu now – and here comes the first round!
I need to remind myself, in these busy days of September, to take time to be still.
To practice – perhaps bowing down to Ganesha, the tantric mascot of new beginnings, good friends, and family bonds. This month I follow his lead, being in the dance of joy and work-life. I’ll remember to enjoy the sweetness of this life no matter how absurd or challenging or ironic the universe seems.
So I practice. Practice wonder and work. And I care for myself in that fall flu preventing way. Here are few ideas:
- Eat Nutrient Dense. Especially antioxidants. Citrus, dark greens, brightly colored vegetables. Squash and tomatoes are your energy-rich yet calorically light friends.
- Tend Your Inner Garden. Remember that the vast majority of our immune system is found in the gut, and more specifically, in the collection of bacteria we tend in our large intestines. This is an excellent time to pick up a jar of fermented sauerkraut or kimchee, or, if you are not one for fermenteds, try a good quality probiotic. Look for one with a nice high CFU (colony forming units) number – more than 1 billion per dose is what you are looking for.
- Take Time to Be Still. As time passes, I am more and more convinced that it is what’s inside our minds that makes us well or not-so. Find a mindfulness group (yes this is the plug! – Check out my weekly online Mindful Presence Group). Or find a local one.
- Consider the Fine Art of Abhyanga. Through the winter, I rub myself with warm oil each morning, and actually, it’s fantastic oil at that. I either make my own – Ashawaghanda in sesame oil, or I get a nice fragrant (and expensive!) oil from the Kripalu shop for a treat. Each morning I warm a bit, and take a few of the waking moments to take fantastic care of myself. It has literally transformed my life! My Ayurvedic brothers and sisters do it in a particular way – and it depends upon your constitution, which way is just right for you. But, just the warm oil on my cold fall and winter skin. Heaven.
May you navigate the transitional season of fall with nary a sniffle. Be well, love your life and stay in touch.
Annie
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This month, I’m launching a telehealth private practice. Very exciting. You can now work with me individually online. I’m beginning with Tuesday and Thursday afternoon/evenings for privates and going from there. Wednesday at 6:30 PM EST is an online Mindful Presence Group.
One of the reasons I am partnering with the platform that I am is the capacity to do online groups – we can cyber-gather to meditate, brainstorm, collaborate. The first one that I’m launching is a weekly Mindful Presence Group. I’m launching that one first because I think that it is a powerful basic structure that supports our becoming more of who we intend to be – it supports change. It helps manage stress, forms community, and nudges us along the practice of mindfulness meditation. To paraphrase from my meditation teacher:
Meditation practice helps us quiet down, lets us catch up with ourselves. It leads us to and allows us to gently rearrange, the center of our being. No one else can do this work for you. Only meditation can unlock these doors.
While it does not replace face-to-face connection, it is easy and cost-effective (about $20/session) to practice.
Here is more about the practice:
Mindful presence eases you into meditation! The practice of presence – when we get clear about what is going on, and speak it, particularly in a supportive group, helps us understand that we are not alone and that life is…beautifully imperfect. For everyone. We witness another’s experience silently, with open hearts. Being heard by others in this way can make it easier to move with confidence into a deeper appreciation of life.
Each group is limited to 12 participants.
Outline for the 60-minute call:
- Annie: Welcome and meditation (10 min)
- Each participant speaks for 2-3 minutes (Annie will facilitate – it’s easy AND speaking is optional…you can just listen if you prefer)
- Annie integrates and offers a follow-up question or deepener
- Group members share as desired, time allowing (Annie will facilitate)
- Annie closes with a brief meditation
Basic ground rules of conscious communication:
- Statements come from your experience: “I am experiencing…”, “I am feeling…”
- Resist the temptation to cross-talk. While something someone else says may resonate with you, resist saying “I agree…” or “That reminds me of…”
- When someone has the floor, we are silent witnesses to their report. We simply hold space for one another.
- You don’t have to speak – you can pass. Too, when you are complete, let us know by saying “thanks,” or “that’s it.”
Give it a try!
It is a group meditation and conscious communication practice rolled into one.
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There is much talk of integrative health these days. We’re all happy when we have an integrative physician. So just what is integrative health? What is integration?
Integrative Health
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) – part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – thinks a lot about this, and has helped with some definitions that feel like a good (conservative, to be sure) place to begin. They say integrative health care is bringing complementary (treatments not part of Western medicine) and conventional Western medicine together in a coordinated way. So, using both the Western allopathic medical system, but also things like yoga, nutrition (yep, still pretty much considered, for the most part, complementary), acupuncture, and meditation in a skillful and informed way. These complementary modalities are ones that might not have a deep collection of Western scientific studies that verify their clinical use, but each of these modalities has been shown to be helpful. If we consider practice-based observational evidence, many of these practices have thousands of years of evidence. I like that way of thinking about integrative health. The skillful use of a wide array of modalities to support an individual’s care.
That’s health – but what does integration mean in life? We live in such a spinning world, where we often don’t have time to reflect on nor absorb what happens to us or around us. Experiences come fast and furious. It is, without question, an excellent time to practice.
I honestly think that it’s impossible to avoid stress and that we need to think about how we manage stress differently today. The world is different than it was even twenty years ago. The planet is a lot less stable and it’s impacting everything. In order to be healthy today, we need to be adaptive. Adaptive to chaos. Relax while tumbling. Release into the flow.
Integration
Integration, in an experiential or spiritual context, happens after an experience, when you take time to be quiet, restful and take in what happened. Integration is the energetic digestion of an experience. It requires time, quiet, rest, reflection. Relaxation. Usually more than is convenient in your busy day. Thus the rub.
When we hop from event to event in our lives – and no judgment here, I do it myself when I lose hold of that pesky schedule and over-schedule myself – we just don’t integrate. The pieces of us don’t come together in a new way (which is often the point, particularly if we seek positive or expansive ecstatic experience).
Try Less
So, we practice. We smuggle five minutes of reflective practice into our morning routine. We turn off the news during dinner. We eat breakfast in silence. One the wisest pieces of advice I got from an Astanga yoga teacher (the incomparable Bhavani Maki in Kauai) was “Try Less.” When I feel overwhelmed, I think about what in my schedule I can let go of. What is not really serving me? What perhaps used to work but no longer does? It’s not an easy practice.
We resist the temptation to reprimand ourselves for not being perfect. We breathe and relax instead.
We fall in love – on purpose – with our contemplative practice. We fall in love with our breath and the amazing places it can take us if we only just settled down to feel it. We fall in love with our meditation or our deep relaxation practices for the expansive velvet depth of our interior landscape they open to us. Maybe for 5 minutes. Maybe for a day.
So, if you are one to have experiences – expansive experiences – then please take a day or two afterward – if possible, to give yourself the gift of integration. Of reflection and relaxation and allowing the pieces of you to come together in a new way. Of silence – be it listening to the birds, meditation or walking in nature.
Here’s wishing you integrative health within a wonderful collection of loving and talented health providers, and deep integration of the expansive experiences in your life.
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