Physical Health Archives

How to Manage Cha-Cha-Changes

You and I…we are constantly changing and evolving.

My go-to phrase lately has been, “I was today-years-old when I learned ____.” Gosh, there’s so much to learn in this one life of ours, right?

Working on ourselves is part of the magic that ensues when we love ourselves through these ages and stages of change and evolution.

How You Have Changed and How You Will Change

Draw a timeline using right now as a reference and going back in time 5 years and forward in time 5 years. Mark pivotal moments in your life that have happened/mattered to you and those that will in the future. So, for the next 5 years portion of your timeline, manifestation will play a part; therefore, allow intuition and flow to fill in the details. Open yourself up to all of the possibilities that can and will be for you. Put them out there—even the big, bold ones!

What were your key takeaways and learnings with regard to how you’ve changed over the last 5 years?
What was a blessing?
Where were you resistant to it?
Any ah-ha moments there?

How to Respond to Change

Change requires adjustments. Sometimes these can be small things, like finding a new way to do something, or adding a new step to some of your daily routines. In other cases, you might find that change introduces significant disruptions to the way you live your life. This can create stress, angst and depression.

This doesn’t mean change is bad, but even good changes you are excited about can be stress-inducing. Things might not have been perfect before, but you may have been comfortable in that you knew what to expect so you weren’t caught off-guard.

Here are a few tips when it comes to responding to change:

Proper Preparation

Change often happens when you don’t expect it, so keeping your pulse on the future is beneficial. Think about upcoming events that may lead to changes or disruptions—for me right now it’s transitioning to a new job after 20 years.

Change the Narrative

The way you think about change plays a major role in determining how well you deal with it.

Reframing your thinking (aka shifting the narrative) is a technique that can help you look at situations with a more realistic, hopeful attitude. Instead of me bemoaning a big bill, I might tell myself that I am grateful to afford and benefit from a new kitchen sink.

Change and/or Maintain Routines

The routine that works for you depends on your own situation and needs. Think about the habits and activities that bring you comfort and peace (even if you are dealing with difficult or dramatic shifts in your life). For me, it most definitely starts with a glass of water and a cappuccino in the morning.

Support

Support can be a big part of helping you through change. It’s my go-to resource when I’m responding to change. Sometimes I need emotional support, other times tangible, and oftentimes I just need information to help me along. If it’s hard for you to ask for or accept support, just give it a try.

The only thing constant is change, and…the father of evolution Charles Darwin said it best.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Lisa Desberg
Sep, 14, 2022

Coping with Identity Loss after a Chronic Illness Diagnosis

Everyday there is grieving. Whether a loss, a memory, or even a broken amulet. We are always grieving in some way. And while we all grieve differently it becomes the fuel for growth. One of the hardest things I’ve grieved, aside from the loss of my father, was grieving the loss of identity after my life changing my diagnosis. For me, that meant finding out I had a stroke, that left me blind and deaf in the left side. I would need to learn how to walk again and even how to hold a fork to eat.

The next few months were crucial for my well-being and healing. I had to bring myself back to health with the help of my medical team and my desire to move on from this season in my life. I had really bad days and really good days. Overall I had the most important piece—the will to survive. I needed to accept my diagnosis to start healing. However, I had to go through some healing with identity loss.

After my initial diagnosis, I was left with lots of questions, unexplained emotions, and fearing the future of the unknown. I had to start all over again. I found this through acceptance, determination, willpower and grace. Somehow, through the loss of my old life, I was able to push forward. Therefore with the acceptance of what once was and what will soon come I was able to heal. It was time to put this all into practice and here’s what I did.

Acceptance for the Current Season in My Life

As hard as it was, I accepted what happened and decided that I had to do everything to heal. This is not to say that I didn’t have my days allowing myself to cry and be sad and even angry. I’m a believer that you need to feel and cry in order to heal. So cry, scream, and throw a tantrum if you need to in order to heal.

Goals

What goals? My goal was to heal, to live life again. I created goals for getting myself back to health. In this circumstance my goal was to get better; and allow work to take a backseat. My job now was to get better, to start life again. I was given a second chance at life and as much as it sucked to lose a lot. I had the option to build something new.

I can tell you that without that motivation , without that why, I wouldn’t be here to talk about my experience. We can either choose to feel sorry for ourselves or do the best we need to get better. I was determined to stay away from the hospital as much as possible. I was determined to live.

Creating a Gratitude Practice

I live in gratitude each day. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t thank life for the second chance to live. I can see how much I had taken for granted in my life and even of myself. I learned to view life in a new way. So you see I did have a loss. I lost the parts of me that didn’t belong to me anymore. And in turn I gained so much more. I saw a strength I never thought I had and stepped outside of my comfort zone to get better.

Allowing Myself to Move Through the Pain

This one is crucial in my healing journey. I allowed myself to grieve the past and feel. I journaled through the pain, which was incredibly healing. I had many days where I would cry and be angry with life with my circumstances, but I kept going. It’s ok to cry and scream. Feel it all and keep going. Looking back on all those years. I realize that this was a very important piece in my healing.

The grief with my identity when I received my diagnosis was a realization that I knew would change me forever was something that propelled me to heal. I knew that there was more to my life. I felt it. I am living and experiencing it. Incorporating these practices have helped me get there. And I hope the same for you as well.

Natalia Campos
Apr, 22, 2022

Skincare as Self-Care: Important Learnings from Getting My Moles Checked and Removed

Life is generally busy. And most of the time it’s a beautiful mess with plot twists popping up here and there, just for fun. There’s also a lot of pressure (from yourself and from others) to get things done; to optimize your time. Yet, taking preventative care of your health doesn’t seem to make it to the top of that to-do list. It needs to become urgent before becoming a priority.

Picture a visit to the emergency room because you neglected that cramp in your lower abdomen for the past week and now you can barely walk. Or a last-minute call to your therapist’s office because you kept re-scheduling that appointment and now you’re calling mid-cry on your lunch break.

Trusting that you’ve gotten my point, let’s hold space for self-reflection. Have you been putting off (or continuously canceling) a health-related appointment because there’s usually something more important that just can’t wait? I’ll be over here raising my hand too.

In case you also need the friendly reminder: scheduling, and actually showing up for that medical checkup, is another form of self-care. Even I, who consider myself a borderline hypochondriac, would delay going to the doctor in favor of doing something that according to my current priorities, is more important now. All depending on my perceived level of urgency. But when you think about it through the lens of common sense, what’s more of a priority than taking care of your health, right? (Right.)

The Perceived Level of Urgency

I knew I had a pending skin health checkup; for my moles, that is. And I’ve had it pending for the past 10 years…at least. The last dermatologist who checked my moles was pretty laid-back because none of them presented any warning signs, and since I was in my mid-twenties, she sent me off with a come-back-in-five-to-seven-years note. Thanks to this interaction, my perceived level of urgency for any skin-related checkup, was two on a scale of one to 10.

Fast forward a decade, and I noticed a slightly red-ish spot appearing near my hairline every time I came back from jogging. I blamed it on the sun leaving its mark on me, even with my visor and my exaggerated amount of sunblock protection—think Cam in Modern Family’s lake episode. Looking at myself in the mirror, the thought: “I need to get that checked,” popped up. And like the subtitles in a movie, it quickly moved along.

On top of the recurring red-ish spot, I started feeling a pimple-like mass on my upper ear, close to the skin on my face. That did it. I grabbed my phone and scheduled an appointment with a new dermatologist for the following week.

As life happens, the red-ish spot faded as did the pimple-like mass. And what did I do? I canceled the appointment. To give myself some credit, there’s one medical checkup I religiously book in advance and wouldn’t dare to miss: the one with my ObGyn, which was coming up.

During this visit, my doctor noticed a mole on my left breast. I didn’t freak out because I thought: “I’ve had it since forever.” But his reaction, prompting me to get it checked today made me question my own self-awareness: “Have I really had that mole there for that long?” If my ObGyn told me he’s concerned about this mole, and encouraged me to get it checked ASAP, you can understand how my perceived level of urgency rose from two to nine on the scale of one to ten. By the time I got to my car, I had rescheduled the appointment with the new dermatologist.

Getting my Moles Checked and Removed

I found Dr. Michele Quelquejeu through an online search (thank you, internet). I checked out Instagram accounts, watched some educational videos on moles and preventative skincare recommendations, and I was sold. Considering this was a healthcare professional I’ve never met before, she seemed approachable and genuine.

I’m glad to report my first impression was correct. I felt in good hands and as comfortable as one can feel lying on a medical chair half-naked while being meticulously examined.She performed the most exhaustive mole checkup I’ve experienced in my life. When she was done, only three moles raised a flag so I scheduled another appointment to get them removed.

Mind you that this was the first time I was getting a mole removed. The doctor explained the basics and I really didn’t have any more questions at that point. And my mind, who has the annoying hobby of crafting obsessive concerns out of thin air, was also at ease. The doctor mentioned that after the procedure it was preferable I didn’t sweat, and she recommended I refrain from strenuous physical activity for at least one week (I wasn’t thrilled about this). She also noted that my sutures would need two whole weeks to heal. “It’s only three tiny moles,” I thought to myself.

The day came and it was time for my procedure. I lay back in the medical chair and after a pinch of local anesthesia, the first mole came out. And so did my first thought: “one week without yoga? Pfft. This is nothing.”

After she was done with the next two moles which were slightly larger and located in my upper back and below my left glute respectively, I thought to myself: “Ok this was not nothing.” Spoiler alert: moles run deep.

When two days had passed and it was time to take off the surgical patch covering my wounds, I got a glance at the sutures on my back. Only then I got it, and said to my husband: “Wow, this is a big deal.” He nodded.

Fortunately, the doctor called me a few days after the procedure to let me know the results came back OK. And since I wasn’t expecting her to call so soon, my mind didn’t even have time to catastrophize. It was beautiful.

What I Learned From This Experience (and What Might Benefit You)

Two weeks later I was back getting my stitches removed, and to avoid focusing my attention on feeling that, I got chatty. So, I took the opportunity to ask the doctor if I could interview her. A few questions came to my mind after the procedure, and I thought I’d share the answers with you.

Actually, if I’m being super honest, the first thing I learned is that the medical term for mole is nevus (or nevi if plural). Here’s the rest:

COMMON RED FLAGS
Dr. Quelquejeu calls these the A-B-C-D-E of melanoma (a type of skin cancer). Pay closer attention to your moles and if you notice any of these, it might be a good idea to visit your dermatologist.
— Moles are usually round or oval-shaped, so watch out for asymmetry. — Borders should be smooth and regular. Look for uneven or curved ones.
— The color should be brown. If they show black areas, dark dots, or areas with blue, gray or white, pay attention.
— Notice their diameter, and keep an eye out for larger moles.
— Look for evolution or growth. if you notice a mole changing or growing rapidly, or if you realize you have a new mole after 40, perhaps it’s time to schedule that appointment.
— Other important warning signs to keep in mind: bleeding, itching, or crusting.
ANNUAL SKIN HEALTH CHECKUPS: START THEM YOUNG
According to Dr. Quelquejeu, complete dermatological checkups can start as early as 16. In the case of younger patients, a pediatrician could refer them to a dermatologist if they consider a mole needs attention depending on its size, characteristics or its location.
REMOVING A MOLE FOR MEDICAL REASONS VS. AESTHETIC REASONS
I never gave much thought to this until it was relevant to me. And the main difference is that when removing a mole for a histopathological study (to determine if there’s a skin disease), it must be removed completely and thoroughly. When a mole is removed for aesthetic reasons, and depending on the type of mole, the dermatologist can perform a superficial shave, which results in a less visible scar.

Post-surgical care for a sutured wound (with stitches) includes keeping the wound dry and covered, at least for the first 48 hours,” explains Dr. Quelquejeu. She also recommends avoiding alcohol consumption to prevent bleeding, and plenty of rest. After the bandages come off, cleaning the wound daily with soap and water, and applying a lubricating ointment will suffice. The care for a superficial shave, would only require the latter.

Back to Self-Care

It’s easy to resent whatever gets in the way of doing the important things. I know.

But you wouldn’t be able to do any of them, if you are not well. Whenever you find yourself postponing a medical appointment, a therapy session or anything else that supports your physical and emotional health, I encourage you to take a deep breath, and put yourself first.

Jit Garcia
Mar, 15, 2022

How to Attune to the Cycles of the Moon

I find I’m most in tune when it’s a full moon, and that’s because I spend a lot of my days around teenagers, and their sassy attitude and strange behavior almost always clues me into when the moon is at its peak. Can any other educators or health care workers relate? That phase used to be the most prominent in my world, but I’ve come to see and understand how and why all the phases matter—especially to my feminine energy and cycle.

Learning how women are impacted and influenced by the moon connects the cyclical nature of a menses to the cyclical nature of the cosmos. Integrating such lunar cycle information so you can align yourself with the universe means using both powerful energies to work in tandem.

Since reading Kate Northrup’s Do Less book and using her Do Less planner, I have embraced cyclical planning using the moon cycle as well as my menstrual cycle. The four phases of the moon give off a distinct energy and women do as well. Let’s learn to understand the importance of aligning woman energies with the specific energies of the moon.

4 Phases of the Moon as They Relate to the Menstrual Cycle

(Here is how to use the lunar cycle if you don’t menstruate)

The new moon is likened to menstruation.

This is a time to rest as new moon energy is associated with the middle of the night, the dead of winter. It’s the energy of turning inward—reflecting and relaxing. Have you noticed the American culture is beginning to accept this concept a bit more readily and shift the hustle mentality?

The waxing quarter moon is likened to the follicular phase.

Like the waxing quarter moon is between the new moon and the full moon, the follicular phase is after a women’s period and before her ovulation. It is associated with the energy of new beginnings; that is, it’s a time to initiate and plan. This is the metaphorical season of spring.

The full moon is likened to ovulation.

If you work in education or health care, you can usually sense when it’s a full moon as the energy among students and patients tends to be quite potent. To this end, the full moon is a time to connect and be visible. Oh, hello imaginative summer…I am here to be noticed!

The waning quarter moon is likened to the luteal phase.

And here we have the emblematic autumn. The waning quarter moon ushers things to a close—has you wrap up when you’ve been doing and take a moment to analyze what worked and what didn’t. And then again, the cycle continues.

4 Self-Care Suggestions Based on the Phases of the Moon

New Moon

Create a cozy space for yourself—grab a warm beverage and light a candle. Grab a pen and your journal. Journaling is such a powerful way of checking in with yourself. It’s quite incredible what comes out of your head, down your arm, through your hand and on to paper.

Waxing Quarter Moon

Get going on something new (or even a project you’re working on) by storming your brain a.k.a brainstorming—maybe it’s a home improvement project, maybe it’s a lifestyle change, maybe it’s content creation. I like to do this on a huge piece of paper with colorful markers, but you can go the tech route too and use Canva or Pinterest to create a vivid vision. Dream big and get going on something new!

Full Moon

It’s time to be seen and be social. You can do this through connecting with friends, collaborating with like-minded people or posting Reels on Instagram. It’s also time to attract what you want, and that means manifesting. Check out my most recent KPCo article which leads you through the 6 steps to attracting what you want and with ease.

Waning Moon

Take a deep breath because it’s time to declutter and organize. This means paying attention to your space. My favorite thing to do is put on an upbeat song, a true crime podcast or my latest Audible book and get going on creating the physical vibe I want to be in.

Using the moon as your touchstone in how you live your month is a cool way to live; believe it.

Lisa Desberg
Jan, 24, 2022

Breaking Unhealthy Addictions

Typically, when we hear about addictions, it has to do with being addicted to harmful substances or damaging behaviors like cigarettes, cocaine, heroine, sex, or gambling. Of course, there’s a good reason for this, as these tend to be some of the most addictive experiences out there. However, if we are really honest, addiction itself is incredibly destructive no matter what you are addicted to. And if we look closer at addiction, you’ll notice it’s all around us.

What are we addicted to?

It’s simple. Anything we continue to use, despite adverse consequences:

Continued scrolling through our social feed
Continued procrastination and putting off our lives
Continued excessive drinking and driving
Continued obsessive thinking and criticism about our past mistakes
Continued denying ourselves of basic needs or not spending money on legitimate needs
Continued vomiting of food, or using diuretics, exercise, etc. to avoid weight gain

I could continue, but I am also sure you are able to come up with a list of your own. We do all these things, despite adverse consequences.

For myself, thinking about these behaviors as “addictions” can be a powerful framing. I know from my own experience, addiction took years of being faced with negative consequences repeatedly before I realized I needed to change. After all, it is much easier to normalize my existing behavior. If you’re being beaten with consequence after consequence, by this point they have probably become so loud, and perhaps feel as if they’re coming at you in every direction, they become difficult to ignore. Your ignorance and constant silencing of your inner child’s needs and wants are now causing you significant problems and catastrophic consequences.

How to Break an Unhealthy Addiction

First, you have to make a decision to change. After all, I can drop you off at rehab, but if you are completely rigid in your belief system and committed to your wounding patterns, you will most likely carry resistance to the idea that anything can actually change in your life. You might spend a long time telling me why it can’t or won’t happen, or how you “can’t do that” or “you don’t know how.”

Very commonly, your rigidity (your stubbornly held beliefs) resides in your body—which show up as TMJ, hives, rashes, and digestive issues from your buried unresolved rage and resentment. All of these consistently reinforced patterns will stand directly in the way of your belief in your capabilities, therefore blocking any ability to heal yourself.

One way I like to help my clients move past their resistance and open to possibilities is with an Intuitive Healing Session. Together we can cancel, un-create and delete any disempowering beliefs, and then download empowering beliefs from the creator of all that is, in their place. We also have the opportunity to run your energy with the help of Reiki, as well as incorporate an energetic cord-cutting, increasing the speed in which the energy flows throughout all of your chakras, allowing you to feel lighter and brighter. When we bring your karma, contracts, and agreements into present time, we free you from any past life experiences connected to your unhealthy addictions. Through all of these energetic and psychic practices, you’ll notice that your resistance and the intensity of suppressed emotions will feel different immediately. You may feel more present awareness, instead of dragging your past around with you. Your focus, attention to, and sensitivity around receiving pleasure will be increased and heightened in a way you previously thought was unattainable.

What Does an Energetic Healing Do for Addiction?

An energetic healing instantly opens you up to the wisdom of your higher self, allowing you to trust in what you receive through your crown chakra (located at the top of your head, which symbolizes your connection to source, God, universe). If that energy continues flowing smooth and freely, it then allows you to see and believe in the wisdom of what you are creating (third eye chakra). If your throat chakra stays open, you receive discernment through active listening. In addition, you begin to share your truth—releasing the message you hear and your own inner guidance out into the world around you. You are “speaking things into existence.”

When a higher frequency of energy passes down through your energetic pathways, you have the opportunity to release any sadness, grief, despair, guilt, shame, anger or betrayal through your energetic and emotional bodies. When energy continues to flow freely through your heart chakra, this allows your love, compassion, and empathy to energetically pass through you into full expansion, just like your breath. In addition, the heart chakra is the gatekeeper and necessary to the lower three chakras.

From here, your imagination and creative ideas move into the integrity of your actions and self-belief (solar plexus chakra), finally moving down and into your passions and self-determination (sacral chakra) and becoming grounded through your root chakra (located at the base of the spine). This is how our ideas are born and delivered out into the world.

Through energetically releasing what is no longer is serving us, we shift our vibrational frequency, and become fully embodied, centered, and engaged in our aligned path—in integrity with our inner truth. When your chakras are clear and in alignment, your life can feel so much clearer and in alignment as well. Everything in life just gets easier.

How Else Can I Ensure My Success?

Prepare yourself and others to make the change you’ve committed to.

Set boundaries around what you plan to share or not share. If you are letting go of an addiction which incurs heavy symptoms of withdrawal, call on a relationship with those who also want to see you become a success. Find someone(s) who can cheer you on when you can’t find the strength to. Surrender your guilt around needing someone else’s help. Don’t worry, you can always return the favor.

Have a plan for coping with any withdrawal symptoms, or soothing your judgement around not being perfect or not enough when you slip up.

Getting mad at yourself indicates that you need to step in and rescue yourself from your learned ability to be unkind to yourself. In these moments, create confidence by asking yourself, “Am I empowered at this moment, or disempowered?” This offers access to your experience in a more somatic (feeling) approach, and encourages an answer to come up from somewhere other than the thinking part of you (which is where we usually get mentally and emotionally stuck). When we send our bodies the message that we are not good enough, we create additional shame and guilt that will need to be addressed later. We also energetically drain ourselves, which is a waste of precious energy that we could use in positive and beneficial ways that would increase our enjoyment in other areas of our life.

Continue to encourage your awareness around any replacement addictive behaviors and cultivate self-love around any comparison, impatience, or despair.

As our awareness increases, our innate impulse toward health and well-being will be activated, moving us out of danger and into a more positive and more natural, compassionate and loving relationship with ourselves.

Learn how to be your own best friend.

Take the time to ask yourself, “What advice would I give my best friend right now?” and take the advice. Ultimately, how can you better love yourself in that moment and make a healthier, more loving choice for you moving forward.

Continue to look honestly and deeply at all of your behaviors.

Look where the complacent person in you might justify your behavior and say, “Yeah, I know I shouldn’t be doing that, but it’s not that big of a deal… it doesn’t have a major negative impact on my life, so I can just let it slide. I just want things to be easy.”

Realize that as you change, you may have major changes in relationships and friendships.

Unfortunately, the people around us don’t always appreciate when we change, as it puts pressure on them to change their behaviors and how they are showing up to your relationship, as well. Be prepared for any resistance others have to you being what they need you to be.

An Invitation to Sobriety

The point here is, don’t feel bad about yourself and slip into an addiction of self-criticism. Let your awareness be an invitation to your sobriety. As someone who has gone from becoming an alcoholic, to becoming sober, I can say that life is about 1,000 times better when I approach it with a clear mind, reliably centered, and not under the influence. When I am able to approach my life from a place of energetic neutrality, I am more successful at knowing how to be emotionally contained. And for every other untraditional addiction I’ve let go of, like passive-aggressiveness, the movement into “sobriety” has significantly improved my life. This can be your experience as well.

What are your addictions? Are you open to looking at those (with self-compassion)? What might life be like if you went “sober”? If you really want and are ready for change, I have confidence you will make it happen. I know, through my own experience, that anything in life can be overcome.

Andrea Firpo
Jul, 22, 2021

Yoga 101: An Intro for Beginners

My love affair with yoga started out of curiosity, out of the need to find a ‘workout’ that clicked, and out of vanity—I needed to learn how to do those striking, impossible looking poses. All I knew about the discipline was based on perceptions: “yoga is for skinny people, yoga is for flexible people, yoga is for spiritual people, yoga is putting your leg behind your head.”

Eight years after my first class, I can tell you that I was wrong (oh, so wrong). Which is why I’ll start with what yoga is not.

Years ago, a young woman asked me how I could call myself a catholic and dare (dare…seriously?) to come to mass if I practiced yoga. Had I been drinking water when I heard that, it would have fountained out of my mouth and onto her face (because I would have burst into laughter). In the spirit of removing all doubt: no, yoga is not a religion. Whew! Glad we got that out of the way.

Then, What is Yoga?

Yoga is a practice, a philosophy, a discipline; one that has been around for over two thousand years. In fact, academics believe that yoga existed in India before history was recorded. The Indian sage, Patanjali, compiled the existing information on the practice into the Yoga Sutras – the foundation of most yoga teachings. The word yoga roughly translates from Sanskrit as “unite” or “to unite.” And yoga as a discipline is composed of a series of branches and schools that converge and intertwine to form what we know as modern yoga—the kind people used to sign up for at the local yoga studio (now, probably online).

In my world, yoga translated into many poses I could “never” do; poses strategically engineered for people with flexible bodies, not for the rest of us. Now I understand that flexibility—both physical and mental—is a benefit of the yoga practice, not a requirement to start practicing.

Yoga is more than postures or ‘asanas.’

It is the graceful union between movement and breath. A mind-body-soul practice.

It took me several years, and dedicated teachers, to understand that breath awareness is essential in developing a physical practice; maintaining the inhalations and exhalations connected to each movement: “inhale, raise your arms, look up…exhale, gaze forward, arms to the sides of your body”. However, and unfortunately, for many of us the priority is usually getting the pose right vs. getting the breath right. And of course—taking the pictures (thanks, Instagram).

The Four Components

One of the reasons the benefits of yoga go beyond the body and extend to the mind, is that it’s made up of four key elements that support an integrated wellbeing:

Postures: what seems challenging.
Breathing Exercises (or Pranayama): what can be slightly challenging.
Deep Relaxation: the gift of yoga (according to me – and the only reason I roll out my mat some days).
Meditation: the real challenge, bestowing the massive benefits.

And...Why Practice?

Apart from the overall feel-good sentiment that takes over oneself after a yoga class, there’s a host of science-backed benefits to keep rolling out the mat. Today I leave you with these four:

Increased sense of happiness through compassion, gratitude and present moment awareness. According to positive psychology researchers, these are among the factors that contribute to a person’s sentiment of happiness and fulfillment. And fortunately, these can improve with yoga and through the resulting mindfulness that tends to develop with consistent practice.
Sharper mind through meditation – this practice strengthens certain parts of the brain that can result in enhanced cognitive abilities linked to memory and learning, ft. attention, thought and language.
Reduced Stress by toning down the fight-or-flight response (caused by the sympathetic nervous system) and activating the body’s calming effects through the rest-and-digest response (caused by the parasympathetic nervous system). Research has shown that one 90-minute yoga session can lower levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.
Improved Physical Health by potentially helping, with mobility and balance problems, promoting flexibility and aiding to reduce joint pain. It can also improve body awareness, allowing the practitioner to be more connected to their body and recognize how it’s feeling and sensing when it’s tired, stressed, or in pain.

Before Staring Your Yoga Practice

I encourage you to consider these tips for a safer, more enjoyable practice:

First things first – check in with your doctor if you have a pre-existing medical condition (e.g., heart disease, diabetes, glaucoma, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, balance issues, recent medical procedures, and so on).
Keep in mind that yoga is a lifestyle complement, not a replacement treatment for any medical condition.
Go at your own pace. Move slowly, steadily and enjoy your practice, no one is chasing you.
Know your body. Be mindful of the difference between a challenging stretch and a painful posture. Yoga should never hurt.
Don’t force yourself into a posture, simply try to keep a proper alignment overall. There’s always a modification available if you need it, just ask.
Focus on the breath. The coordination of movement and breath regulates your breathing during the practice and can improve that deep relaxation.

Notes to Self

If you’re flirting with the idea of trying out yoga, and starting a consistent practice, here are three simple reminders to take the pressure off:

Just show up on the mat (one, two, three days a week – who’s counting?).
Keep in mind everybody, and every body is unique. Yoga as you can, yoga as you are, and keep it safe.
Enjoy the experience and trust your process.

Namaste.

(Fun fact—“Namaste” translates from Sanskrit as: “The light in me, honors the light in you”)

Jit Garcia
Jun, 15, 2021

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