More and more studies are confirming that mindfulness practices increase gray matter. These studies measure neurological changes in the brain.

Participating in a mindfulness based practice for 8 weeks for stress reduction will increase gray-matter density in areas of your brain involved in learning and memory, and emotion regulation.

People in these studies report improved psychological well-being, as well as symptom reduction in a number of disorders including anxiety, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and chronic pain.

But what can I do with this information?

Glad you asked.

Consider Yoga. Yoga helps calm your mind and relaxes your nervous system.

Tai Chi can not only be a mindfulness practice but studies also show it provides arthritis pain relief. Studies show that practicing Tai Chi two times a week improves fatigue, stiffness and increases a feeling of well-being.

Walking boosts your brain health and increases gray matter.

How much walking? 6-9 miles a week.

So there you have it. Three choices with plenty of evidence to back them up as good options for you if you want to retain your brain tissue and retain your memory well into your later years.

Once again an active and engaged lifestyle is the way to go!

After exercise, Yoga can give you a leg up on recovery!

Whether you’ve been out for a long run, long walk, bike ride, or gone skiing, hiking, or golfing, your legs have taken quite a large portion of the brunt of the workout.

Try this Legs Up the Wall pose.

It’ll give your legs, feet and mind a break after your exercise efforts.

It also speeds recovery by draining fluids from the legs, stretches the hamstrings, and relieves tired legs and feet. Stay in this pose for 10 minutes and feel the difference!

1. Sitting on the floor, slide one hip as close as you can to a wall.

2. Swing both legs up the wall and shimmy your rear end as close to the wall as possible (you’ll be lying on your back). If this hurts your hamstrings, slide a few inches away from the wall.

3. Rest your arms on your belly, or stretch them away from you in a T, W, or V position.

4. When you are done, bend your knees, roll to one side, and rest there, taking a few breaths before getting up.

Try Legs Up the Wall Pose and let me know how it feels for you!

shelli

I’ve been thinking about the choices we all make and how they determine our destiny.

One of the main choices we make, and maybe the most important one, is how we spend our time.

I’m thinking in particular about what we might call our recreational time: the non working, non sleeping, non eating time.

Yes, I know some people think eating is a recreational activity, but for now let’s set eating aside.

And are all recreational activities created the same?

It seems to me they fall into three categories:

1. those that are fun but are harmful and damage us in some way (like getting drunk)

2. those that are mindless distractions and don’t harm or necessarily help us

3. those that require some energy but are pleasurable and have lead to self improvement (like Yoga, for example)

Many choices fall into the middle where they neither harm nor help us.

It may seem that choices we make when we set them apart from one another don’t have much consequence, HOWEVER, when we start to add them up and see patterns, they really do determine so much about the quality of our lives.

No matter what you do in life, I think everyone needs at least a few hours every day to spend doing pleasurable things. Something that isn’t work!

I say that to remind myself, because I enjoy my work so much that even I have to be reminded of this!

So what’s your something else?

Let’s think of them as Gold choices, Silver choices and Bronze choices.

Gold improves you, Silver helps you pass the time, and Bronze damages you.

Let’s also look at some possible characteristics of each of these:

Gold Choices

These might be intellectually challenging choices and emotionally rewarding ones as well. They require a good amount of energy though they give back what they take. You often feel good about yourself as well as how you’re spending your time when you make this choice. Right now for me, studying Japanese, which I do every Saturday, falls into this category.

Silver Choices

These are often the choices we make when we don’t feel like making choices. They are easy to make when we don’t much care how we spend our time. Think of the times you mindlessly watched TV or spent too much time chatting and wish you had that time back.

These can be relaxing times when you want to chill out. You’re looking for something simple and mindless. Choose these wisely as they can often lead to feeling more drained than relaxed and actually leave you feeling more like you’re in the Bronze zone.

I think of a time a few weeks ago when what should have been a half hour conversation with a friend turned into a MUCH MUCH too long of a me listening and him talking and complaining about everything that was going wrong in his life chat. It left me drained for days and I can assure you this will never happen again.

The silver choices can be the tricky ones because we want them closer to the GOLD choices than the Bronze ones!

Bronze Choices

We all have our vices. Think of these as the things you do to sabotage or hurt yourself. It could be something like procrastination or any addictions that challenge you.

These often provide both pleasure and pain, which is why they can be tricky to spot.

It can often be overindulging in something that might be a silver choice. I can think of women I know who have exercise addictions. They may feel like they are having a great time, but they are really hurting themselves.

We often pick Bronze choices because we are weak and in a self destructive mode. When we regain our strength, our choices tend to move up to the silver and gold categories.

I’ve noticed a few things.

When we’re at our best and feeling confident and full of energy and our self esteem is in a good place, we choose the GOLD choices.

If someone were to ask, “How are you feeling?” and your answer would be, “So so,” you’d likely make a Silver choice.

When self doubt creeps in and we’re feeling pretty crummy about ourselves, we are susceptible to those Bronze choices.

So……

Take some time and make a list of YOUR GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE choices.

Here are some ideas.

1. Gold choices might include:

Listening to music
Yoga or Tai Chi
Playing an instrument
Watching a movie that inspires you
Reading a great book
Having great sex

2. Silver choices might include:

Getting a massage
Watching a live sporting event
Watching movies or TV shows you find entertaining
Reading novels that entertain you

3. Bronze choices might include:

Getting drunk
Watching stupid or degrading TV shows and movies
Doing things you’d be ashamed to talk about

Create a list that works for you!

Remember though that……

Gold means:

The activity/experience is intellectually challenging. It teaches you something worth knowing or develops a skill worth having.
It develops you emotionally.
It is energizing and gives you more than it takes.
It leaves you happy with your choice and feeling like you’re doing the right thing.
It builds confidence and self esteem.

Silver means:

The choice is intellectually and emotionally easy. It’s comfortable and enjoyable.
It is usually passive rather than active. Doing too much of it is not good for you. Think of sitting on the couch and staring at the TV screen. A little bit of it is OK but too much leaves you with the feeling that you’ve wasted your time.

Bronze means:

The choice is physically or mentally damaging.
It harms you intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Over time, when you engage in Bronze choices, you become less capable of peak performance in all areas of your life.

What will making different choices do for you?

Making better choices can’t help but create a better and more fulfilling life. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll discover about yourself, or maybe not.

Maybe you knew you were a GOLD medal winner all along!?

shelli

If you are falling asleep around 2:00 p.m. each day, you are not alone.

Many, if not most of us, go through a period of post-lunch listlessness.

When that happens, don’t try to push yourself to keep going. If you’ve tried this, you know it’s often a waste of time. You just end up spinning your wheels.

It’s often more effective to perk yourself up by taking a short nap, when you can, or going outside and getting some exercise.

Here are five things you can do to avoid the afternoon doldrums and keep your energy high all day:

1. Once in a while try skipping lunch, or at least skip the carbohydrates, and see how you feel. Eating lighter at lunch, and certainly keeping your starchy carbohydrate intake during lunch to a minimum, will make a difference in your energy level.

2. If you go out for lunch, keep it light, both in terms of total calories and starchy carbohydrates. Usually, that means eating a mixed salad with a portion of protein.

3. Make sure you’re not dehydrated. Dehydration will zap your energy. And, if it’s appropriate for you, try some caffeine around noon. A glass of iced tea or a shot of espresso does nicely.

4. Exercise helps. Many people exercise just before or after lunch. Fresh air will work wonders for your energy level, so even a short walk will help. Stretching, yoga or tai chi are good options too as they will naturally energize you.

5. Take a nap. Think of it as a mini siesta. Ten or 15 minutes is often enough to wake you up and get you going again.

Remember, there are many choices, so it’s about finding what works for you!

shelli

Genetics do play a role in flexibility, but everyone can increase their flexibility if they learn the correct techniques.

Stretching prepares your body for the physical demands you put on your muscles.

Good flexibility increases your ability to avoid injury because it permits a greater range of movement within your joints, ligaments, and other tissues so they are not easily strained or torn.

It also permits greater freedom of movement in all directions.

Hyperflexibility, however, must be avoided.

Loose-jointed people are more prone to dislocations and other injuries. Extremes in flexibility are of little value because it results in weaker joints.

Stretching promotes circulation and feels good.

The correct way to stretch is a relaxed, sustained, static stretch concentrating on the muscles being stretched.

The wrong way to stretch is to bounce up and down or to stretch until you feel pain. That does more harm than good.

When you stretch hold it for 10 – 60 seconds. Do this with each stretch. This is called static stretching.

Hold a static stretch so that the specific joint is immobilized in a position that places the desired muscles and connective tissues passively at their greatest possible length. Little risk of injury exists if static stretching is done like this.

Stretch until you feel a mild tension and relax as you hold the stretch. The feeling of tension should subside as you hold the position.

If it does not, ease off and find a degree of tension that is comfortable.

While stretching breathe normally; exhale as you bend forward and continue breathing as you hold each stretch.

shelli

Want to know how to sleep well again?

A client of mine had been having trouble sleeping.

For a whole host of reasons, her sleep quality and sleep patterns had been deteriorating for years.

She decided it was time to take charge and improve her relationship with sleep.

She was successful and shared what she did with me, and I’m very glad to be able to share some of what she learned and accomplished with you.

She decided to contact a doctor who specialized in sleep disorders.

Now what I’m about to tell you came as no surprise to me. Most of what was recommended fell into the category of REDUCING STRESS.

This included things like yoga, exercise, and meditation, along with reducing her intake of caffeine, alcohol and sugar (all things I’ve been recommending for years).

Other recommendations were changing the layout of her bedroom, removing the clock from her nightstand, not reading in bed and turning the lights off at the same time each night.

She also underwent testing and found out how many sleep hours she required.

We’re all different, so this was valuable information for her and she no longer needs to lay around in bed expecting to get more sleep. We’ve all had that experience of waiting for sleep to come. It can be very stressful!

Other blood tests showed chemical imbalances which indeed affect sleep patterns. She’s using supplements to fix those imbalances.

She’s regaining a healthy sleep routine and feeling much better.

She knows if her sleep feels off, she can look back over her checklist and make sure all these good ideas are in place.

Does your relationship to sleep need an overhaul?

Maybe it just needs a few tweaks.

In any case, think about what I’ve shared with you and see if any of it helps.

shelli

There are many prescription drugs available to treat all kinds of menopause symptoms, but I’m a firm believer in natural remedies.

The choice is up to you, but if you want to join me in working with natural remedies, here are a few ideas for you to try.

1. Yoga works for many women. Yoga may not be for every woman but it’s a popular choice. Join a class or use a video. Gather a few of your women friends and practice yoga in your own home. You could even bring in a yoga teacher to design a home based yoga program that addresses menopause symptoms.

2. Use acupuncture. Find a practitioner who has experience treating women going through the middle age transition. Acupuncture is very effective. Often herbal remedies are combined with the treatments.

3. Hot flashes are often the worst menopausal symptom. The simplest natural remedy you can use is deep breathing. Slow breaths can reduce the severity of the hot flashes and will relax you. For many women drinking a hot cup of herbal tea helps ease hot flashes.

4. Making dietary changes, limiting alcohol consumption, and exercising are all natural ways to relieve menopause symptoms. In general, clean up your diet limiting sugar, caffeine and processed foods. Instead choose fresh fruits, vegetables, healthy fats and lean proteins.

While you don’t have an option about going through menopause, you CAN decrease the side effects and symptoms naturally.

Start with these four basic ideas and see what works for you!

shelli

Life is stressful and menopause can be stressful as well.

We are all seeking ways to manage stress and handle fear and anxiety during this time of life.

Many women have turned to Yoga in their search for something to alleviate that stress and achieve serenity.

Even after only a short time of attending Yoga classes, you’ll notice the stress reduction benefits.

Because Yoga is non-competitive and the focus is on yourself, it appeals to many women.

In Yoga you do what you can in each asana (yoga posture) using your breath and awareness to stay focused in the present moment.

The health and fitness benefits of Yoga are now being confirmed by scientific research, even though for centuries anecdotal evidence was abundant.

Stress and pain relief are two of the benefits of Yoga.

Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation and lowering the levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Other related benefits are the lowering of blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system, along with easing symptoms of anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.

According to Yoga Alliance, studies have shown that practicing Yoga postures also reduces pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and auto-immune diseases, as well as arthritis, back and neck pain and other chronic conditions.

Here’s what else the Alliance says about Yoga:

– Yoga can lead to better breathing and flexibility, teaching people to take slower, deeper breaths, helping to improve lung function and triggering the body’s relaxation response.

–Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains.

– Yoga increases strength. Yoga asanas use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength from head to toe. Yoga also relieves muscular tension.

– Yoga can aid weight control efforts by reducing cortisol levels and by burning excess calories and reducing stress. It also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well-being and self-esteem.

– Yoga helps to improve circulation and more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.

– Even a gentle Yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.

– Yoga helps to improve body alignment, resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems.

– Yoga helps individuals to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create better health. It opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time and memory.

Many of the benefits mentioned here will also serve to ease your menopausal symptoms and optimize your health for the rest of your life.

I’ve been teaching Yoga for 10 years now, and while it’s not for everyone, it has much to offer.

Find a class and teacher that you feel comfortable with and give it a try.

If you already have included Yoga in your self-care program, I’d enjoy hearing from you and learning about the benefits you’re receiving!

Yoga CAN play a role as part of every woman’s self care toolbox.

Yoga is a combination of physical poses (called asanas), breathing techniques and meditation.

That’s a somewhat “official” definition.

There are many yoga styles and different styles stress slightly different aspects of these three elements. Although yoga comes from an ancient Indian spiritual tradition that includes meditation and chanting, a class does not have to include a spiritual component.

Yoga will improve your strength, flexibility and balance.

It has also been used to help women with back pain, insomnia, anxiety, depression, arthritis, heart disease and fatigue.

In other words, you’re not just addressing one symptom when you practice Yoga; you’re addressing your whole self.

Yoga helps people become better at maintaining concentration and coping with their emotions, which is important in producing lasting health benefits.

Due to Yoga’s benefits, many employers provide yoga classes for their workers. Employers find that yoga helps their employees handle stress, anxiety and burnout.

One example is Sandia National Laboratories, a national security laboratory in New Mexico. They offer free yoga classes in an on-site fitness center for its 8,300 employees.

So far, Yoga has been a hit. “There’s a great deal of call for it. Yoga has always been consistently attended here. It’s one of those classes you can take and go back to work and not smell really bad,” comments Stephanie Holinka, a spokeswoman for Sandia. Unlike aerobics or other types of exercise, Yoga doesn’t require a shower afterwards — something that employees appreciate.

One of Sandia’s main reasons for offering Yoga is to help workers feel more relaxed and less stressed, she adds. “On the days that I’ve gone, I feel so much clearer when I get back here. You end up coming back with a lot of energy, which is nice,” she says.

You might think you’re too old or too inflexible to try Yoga, but anyone can do it.

As I mentioned before, Yoga has many styles to fit everybody regardless of your age or fitness level.

I’ve been teaching Yoga for 10 years now, and while it’s not for everyone, it has much to offer. Find a class and teacher that you feel comfortable with and give it a try.

If you already have included Yoga in your self-care program, I’d enjoy hearing from you and learning about the benefits you’re receiving!

shelli

I am frequently asked to pick 3 natural things that work time and time again to relieve menopausal symptoms.

Here’s what I answer.

The first important thing to work with in order to feel better is your diet.

Exercise is important too, but your diet is queen.

There’s so much confusion these days about what constitutes a healthy diet.

We are suffering from information overload and conflicting messages in the media about what is healthy and what is not.

There are so many diet books about low carb, low fat, high protein, vegetarian, fasting, liquid diets, and hundreds more. The average middle aged woman doesn’t know where to start when it comes to eating what’ll help her feel her best during menopause. 

OK, if you’ve been a regular reader of this blog then you do know where to start, but you get my point!?

The starting point is to make sure your diet is as natural and unprocessed as possible. The overprocessing of food is in most cases what makes it unhealthy.

This will wreck your metabolism and disrupt the hormonal balance in your body.

To give you some examples, eat whole grains rather than refined grains. Stay away from refined sugar and choose natural sources of sugar from nutritious, whole foods like fruit. Eat natural sources of healthy fats like nuts, avocados, fish, eggs, coconut milk, and organically raised meat, instead of processed and refined oils.

It’s about the basics.

You can get too caught up in the gimmicks and miss the big picture.

Low carbs, low fat, high protein, or any other combination that has you focusing on one macronutrient or another can blind you to the big truth. Your body needs all macronutrients to thrive and help you feel your best during menopause. Cutting out an entire food group will send your hormonal balance out of whack, which is precisely the opposite of what we need during menopause.

The second thing that works time and time again, is getting sufficient exercise and enjoying an active menopause lifestyle.

All women enter menopause at different levels of hormonal health and at different levels of fitness. We all must start from where we are and go forward from there.

This may sound obvious but this point is not to be overlooked.

If you enter menopause in a fatigued state and see that you’ve gained a few pounds, your tendency might be to start exercising like crazy to thwart the weight gain.

However, that level of intense exercise will only fatigue and stress your already hormonally challenged body, doing you more harm than good.

It’s essential then, to first assess your health upon entering menopause so that you begin, or continue, the exercise lifestyle that is perfect for you!

Another point is to focus your exercise both on cardio and strength training, working your body as a whole. At this age we want to be functional, lean and strong and this is most effectively and efficiently accomplished by exercising your body as a whole.

For the third thing, let’s talk about managing stress.

Let’s face it, menopause is a stressful time.

These days women in midlife are pulled in many directions. We are caretakers for older and younger generations. We manage jobs, households, relationships and must find time for ourselves as well.

Whether you practice yoga, enjoy tai chi, meditate or sit quietly every day watching the sunset, every woman must make the time to manage her stress.

It’s not an option during menopause: it’s a requirement. 

Actually, in thinking about it, if you’re looking for menopausal symptom relief (and who isn’t) ALL  three of these are requirements, not options. 

These three: optimizing nutrition, leading an appropriately active lifestyle, and managing stress, are the three best pillars to use when building a foundation on which to go through menopause.

Let me know what you think!

shelli