The Importance of Mindfulness
The Importance of Physical Exercise
Oatmeal +
Not only is oatmeal an energizing, nutritious, and delicious breakfast; it's an easy way to introduce healthy additions to your daily food habits! Try different topping combinations to give your mornings some tasty and health-boosting variety. A few of my favorites include blue berries, raspberries, blackberries, chia and flax seeds, dried coconut, almond slivers, almond butter, and a pinch of brown sugar. I also love strawberry, banana, and cinnamon! What are your favorite oatmeal combinations? Comment below to share!
Check out some of my flavor combinations for more inspiration:
Mindful Monday - Coming to Pensacola in August 2017
Starting August 2017:
Introducing Mindful Monday: Group Counseling + Therapeutic Yoga
Three different yoga therapy groups available every Monday, all designed to improve mood, self care, coping, support, mental health, and functioning. Choose from a variety of group types including chair yoga, hot yoga, and restorative. Read on for more information about each:
Chair Yoga for Chronic Pain
Enjoy being guided through gentle and engaging movement, postures, and breathing sequences, designed to promote a healthy balance between activity and rest. Topics practiced in this supportive yoga group include healthy coping with chronic pain, fatigue, and physical limitations. In chair yoga, we use chairs, straps, and blocks to practice both seated and supported standing poses. (No getting up and down from the floor!)
10:30 - 11:30, Mondays
Hot Yoga for Depression & Anxiety
Bring your water bottle! Get ready to sweat as we work to replace negative thought and behavior habits that get in the way of enjoying life. In this group, we practice open level yoga in a heated room to encourage personal reflection, cultivate focus and concentration, and yolk our mindful intentions with a physical practice. Topics covered in this engaging yoga group include managing depression and anxiety by improving self-talk, self-esteem, and self-expression. At the end of our session, be rewarded with a cold lavender towel and guided relaxation.
2:00 - 3:15, Mondays
Restorative Yoga for Stress
Indulge the senses in this candle lit restorative yoga group, designed to provide a safe place to rest, reflect, and restore the mind and body. Restorative yoga is especially gentle and practiced primarily on the floor with a variety of props including bolsters, straps, blankets, and eye pillows (provided). Topics explored in this restorative yoga group include recognizing and managing stress triggers, chronic overwhelm, and emotional burn-out. A variety of therapeutic modalities are offered in this group, including guided muscle relaxation, aromatherapy, gentle and restorative stretching, mindful breathing exercises, and an (optional) shoulder press.
4:00 - 5:15, Mondays
Location:
Uru Yoga, 955 Nine Mile Road
Pensacola, FL, 32514
Please visit the services page to register for Mindful Monday sessions:
Yoga Therapy Group now available!
Self Awareness is the Key to Change
Self Awareness if not for the faint of heart. It can be a daunting task to face our emotions, our pasts, and our current behaviors; however, this is the only way to improve self control, self care, and ultimately, self esteem.
If you would like some support and guidance in your self care journey, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or another qualified mental health provider. You are not alone!
Be you.
To be the best you, try these tips below in times of self-doubt.
Live and Learn
Failure is no reason to give up, and if anything, it can be our greatest teacher. Setbacks, errors, and mistakes teach us what DOESN'T work so that we can consciously choose a different way.
Other times, failure reminds us that our skill level simply has not reached its full potential yet. With continued effort, focus, and practice, our "trials and errors" are replaced with knowledge, experience, and progress.
When we are willing to tolerate the process growth and learning, we make success possible.
At the center of wellness, we find yoga
Yoga. What do you need to begin the ancient discipline of meditation and movement?
Only your body and an open mind.
By way of introduction, we often define wellness as a healthy mind, body and spirit, and yoga exercises and strengthens them all together. With simple guidance, beginners can experience the wealth of health benefits the practice provides, from increased flexibility and lower blood pressure to relief from chronic back pain.
In this section of Self Haven we’ll explore physical exercise focusing on yoga. You’ll find instruction for all skill levels, whether you’re just starting or are a lifelong practitioner.
You may feel intimidated at first by all the different forms of yoga — there are more than 100! — and not know where to start. Fortunately, you don’t even have to be flexible to begin, and just like other types of exercise, you can start at your own knowledge and skill level and learn as you go.
Beginners won’t have to wait long to be encouraged. A study cited by greatist.com found that just one yoga class “had the ability to significantly reduce tension, anxiety, depression, anger, hostility and fatigue.” After 12 weeks, lower back pain was lessened.
One of the first poses that yoga students learn is called the mountain pose, illustrated in the photograph above, and you can try it now by just standing up. Pace yourself as you follow these simple instructions from dailyburn.com:
“Stand with your feet together and arms at your side. Ground your feet, making sure all four corners are pressed down. Next, straighten your legs, then tuck your tailbone in as you engage your thigh muscles. As you inhale, elongate through your torso and extend your arms up, then out. Exhale and release your shoulder blades away from your head, toward the back of your waist as you release arms back to your sides.”
There is so much more you can do, and we invite you to explore this amazing resource for self care.
Relaxation for mindfulness: Calming the body and mind
We garden. We put on headphones. We fold ourselves into an overstuffed chair with hot tea and our favorite author.
Relaxation — and how we achieve it — is personal. Here at Self-Haven, you’ll find resources to help you unwind, from simple, soothing photography to professionally guided relaxation sessions. Mindfulness often means time for quiet reflection, and there is calming support in this space.
When we’re relaxed, whether it’s from an enjoyable activity, sleep or simple peace of mind, our body changes. The effects are similar to what happens during a massage, where the release of physical tension finds its way to the entire body.
The University of Minnesota’s massage therapy school breaks down what happens: Our heart rate slows, the body increases production of serotonin, a chemical that promotes positive emotions, and our blood pressure drops. That’s what it feels like for stress to melt away.
Sometimes, however, life throws us circumstances that make it difficult to get there. How do we cast away our cares when they seem so present? When we clear our mind with yoga, meditation or music, for example, we center our perspective. Certain techniques as fundamental as paying attention to the rhythm of your breathing can have a calming effect. The result is often that we cut through the noise.
Deep breathing is a great place to begin alleviating stress, and here’s a technique courtesy of WebMD. Put your left hand on your abdomen and your right hand on your chest. Slowly fill your lower lungs with air so that your left hand rises when you breathe in, and your right hand remains still. Now, slowly exhale, and repeat the process eight to 10 times.
That’s just the beginning. There’s so much more to see, hear and feel, and we invite you to explore.
Food for the whole self: An introduction to our resources on nutrition
Nothing brings us back to earth like a simple, satisfying meal shared in the company of people we care about.
James Beard, the celebrated chef and author, put it eloquently: “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” He meant that when we break bread together, we feed more than our bodies: We reset and recharge what makes us whole.
In the Physical Wellbeing section of Self Haven you'll also find articles on everything culinary, nutritious and communal about food. We call it “Nourish.” In the spirit of presenting food as a basic part of holistic wellness, you’ll find informative videos, articles about making good food decisions and different ways to have fun in the kitchen.
It sounds obvious, but oftentimes life divides our attention away from watching what we eat, and eating is an essential part of self care. It’s easy to forget that eating to little, too much or eating poorly can have long-lasting effects on our mood, our energy or productivity, and even our relationships.
Food is essential to physical, social and spiritual health. And here’s the good news: Anyone can begin with his or her next meal. Good, colorful food from the earth is a great place to start.
Eating healthily — and eating together — is restorative to our well-being. In fact, mental health counselors recently told The Wall Street Journal that cooking is proven to relieve anxiety and depression. They found it helps to “soothe stress, build self-esteem and curb negative thinking by focusing the mind on following a recipe.”
The website Eater noted that psychologists call that “behavioral activation,” meaning by “increasing goal-oriented behavior and curbing procrastination,” we feel accomplished. The rewards for healthy eating are high, and we hope you enjoy the resources we’ve collected.
The Journal article began this way: “Many cooks know what a sanctuary the kitchen can be.”
When a plan comes together, life is good. Especially if the result is delicious.
