Wow, where do we begin?

Sleep? Stress? Nutrition? Exercise? Bacterial flora in the gut? Relationships? Career? Spirituality? All these are aspects of wellness. I would like to inaugurate this blog with some thoughts on where to begin if you don’t feel well and know you need to make some changes but you just don’t have any idea of what your first step should be.

Let’s start with the assumption that your body knows how to heal itself if you take the time to listen to it. If you already have a meditation practice, you can ask yourself before you go within “What is it I need right now to feel better? Maybe you need to laugh more. Perhaps you need to add more physical movement to your days. Your constantly upset stomach might be due to job stress, an unhealthy relationship or too much caffeine. It’s a given that we all need more fresh fruits and veggies, preferably organically produced. If you currently eat only iceberg lettuce in your salad, you might try adding some of the darker leafy greens. It is not generally advisable to jump on the bandwagon of the latest fad diet because the author of the diet doesn’t know YOUR body. You can try anything for a few days, and if it doesn’t help you feel better, for heaven’s sake, stop!

If you know you would feel better by dropping some weight, ask yourself “What is ONE adjustment I can make to my eating plan that will replace a high-calorie, low nutritional food-product with a high nutritional density, low caloric food. For example, if you’re drinking soft drinks or processed juices, ask your body if it needs more water and less sugar. If the answer you get is affirmative, start by replacing one sugary drink a day with water over the course of several days, depending on your consumption habits, and give yourself at least a week to eliminate the sugar laden drinks. See how you feel with that shift before asking your body again what else it needs to feel better. One step at a time.

If you don’t have a meditation practice (quiet time when you commit to check in with yourself – I don’t care whether you are sitting, standing or walking – when you unplug from the world and especially technology), this is the place to start. It’s hard to listen to yourself if you are always talking or listening to news, podcasts or talk shows. Part and parcel of making time for a meditation practice is learning – or remembering how – to breathe. We knew how to do it when we were babies. Many of us forget how to breathe due to life’s stressors. Singing, yoga and chanting are fabulous practices for re-learning to breathe but they are not the only ways. It’s amazing the health issues you can clear up by just filling your lungs completely and emptying them completely during the majority of the breaths you take.

Listen to your body. Oxygenate. Eat some green stuff. The rest will be revealed to you as you get to know your body. Above all, love yourself.