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To continue the theme of examining your life from last week’s post, we wanted to share a favorite poem “The Journey” by Mary Oliver in which she describes how ultimately we must abide by our “inner voice” if we are to survive. Imagine our delight when we discovered this is also Maria Shriver’s favorite poem which she presented for National Poetry Day at the 2011 Women’s Conference.

So sit back, relax (well maybe) and enjoy the following rendition of “The Journey.” Then let us know what you think. Is this too radical to imagine or not? If so, what may be standing in your way? What would it take to free yourself to be yourself?

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., creator of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) used worldwide to improve health and enhance wellness defines mindfulness as “Paying attention to the present moment on purpose as if your life depended on it in a non-judgemental way.”  It is slowing our lives down to notice what’s happening as its occurring instead of worrying about the future or  dwelling in the past.

Research indicates mindfulness contributes to improved physical health, greater immunity, less pain from chronic health conditions, shorter recovery times from surgery and many other mind-body benefits including decreased stress and better moods.  All it takes is time and consistent practice for it to work.

Here’s a fun way to practice.  Take a good piece of chocolate, and mindfully eat it.  To start, observe the chocolate and how it appears.  Then sniff it and notice the aroma.  Feel the texture and surface of it.  Pay attention to the sounds your body makes as you draw the chocolate near.  Finally, put it in your mouth and savor the flavor, texture, taste and total sensory experience. Mindfulness in action. Likewise, you can use a raisin or grape or slice of apple. It’s up to you.

This week dedicate 10 minutes daily to pay full attention to the present moment: playing with your child, sitting/walking outside, sipping coffee/tea, washing the dishes or showering.  Any activity is an opportunity to cultivate mindfulness as long as you are fully aware of it with all your senses.  As Kabat-Zinn suggests, treat it as though “your life depended on it” and you will succeed.

This week’s mantra: “When I bring my attention to the present moment and savor my experience, I can improve my health and feel better.”

I’ve been talking a lot this past week about Stephen Sondheim’s most excellent Broadway musical which was made into a movie with Meryl Streep this last year and how meaningful it is. I have been surprised at how few people saw the movie when it was in the theater because of its description as “a musical about several fairytales”. While it is that, the story is about the journey of life and going “into the woods” or as Pema Chodron says “the places that scare us” and discovering what we need to know about ourselves and the world around us in order to journey through life with greater clarity and skill.

There are many valuable life lessons, and Sondheim’s score and lyrics tell beautifully. He reminds us that what we wish for my not turn out to be what we want, that the choices we make always have consequences, and that being nice is not the same as being good. I love this film and it’s it’s made such a big impression on me, that I wanted to share it with you

To hear an excerpt from “Into the Woods,” please click here.

And as always, let us know what you think.

Namaste.

In need of self-care? Most of us are, much of the time. I did not have a crazy weekend but I’ve been recharging anyway because that’s what I need. As Wayne Dyer says, “We are human beings not human doings.” Periods of energy expenditure must be followed by energy restoring activities. What this means is that all the prep and energy you invested in your family’s Passover or Easter weekend need to be offset by some me-time and self-care. Fortunately, Girls Night to Give Back in STL, is what this doctor prescribes.

GN2GB is a fundraiser on this Thursday, April 9 from 5:30-8:30pm at a cool, new venue Feed Your Vitality, 1821 Cherokee. There will be a fabulous dinner, wine and beer, a dessert buffet, smoothies, tasty treats, live entertainment, giveaways including a 60-minute massage, free yoga classes, wine tasting for two, and beauty products and all to benefit a great cause-PSI Missouri which provides free phone and group support to moms with pregnancy, postpartum and early parenting anxiety, depression and other health issues. Ticket cost is only $3o.

To learn more about this event or register, click here- http://girlsnighttogiveback.eventbrite.com. Make certain to enter the coupon code 10LESS to get $10 off the original ticket price of $40. Please bring any family, friends and colleagues who want to recharge with a fun and relaxing evening.

Now, sit back and listen to the Whiskey Raccoons who will be performing live. Remember, whatever you do this week do something restorative for you. You deserve it.

Namaste.

I am very grateful and happy to announce that PSI Missouri’s first fundraiser, Girls’ Night to Give Back, was a success. It was wonderful to hear that the women who attending had a fabulous (my favorite word) time, and that everyone felt welcome, at ease and glad to be there. We had a lot of fun and raised over $3500 while enjoying ourselves. What could be better!

I would like to officially thank Abby Goldberg for her masterful leadership, Erin Shulan who is a social media maven and marvelous second-in-command, Tricia Brown for her creative contribution, Ashley Nanney of Feed Your Vitality for the most awesome venue and food, Whiskey Raccoons for their great entertainment, and the other vendors, sunflour goodies from Think.Eat.Live, smoothies from OWN, and Ava Anderson cosmetics from Katie Kurz Kollman.

I would also like to thank all the women who attended and those who donated to helping PSI Missouri (PSI MO) achieve it’s mission of providing free phone and group support to any pregnant, postpartum or early parenting mom who is experiencing anxiety, depression, or other emotional health issues. Research shows that 1 in 8 moms will experience postpartum anxiety or depression, and that for women with high-risk pregnancies it may be as high as 1 in 3. Likewise, it is known that pregnancy and the period following childbirth is an emotionally vulnerable time for all women.

In addition to the services they provide, PSI MO is in the process of becoming the first Missouri chapter of its parent organization, Postpartum Support International founded by Jane Honikman in 1987. With some of the funds raised, they plan to purchase the movie “Dark Side of the Full Moon” about women’s experiences of postpartum mood and anxiety disorders. It is also their goal to show the movie this May for Maternal Mental Health Month to promote increased awareness and education about this critical health issue affecting women and their families.

Please click here to learn more about PSI MO and their services, volunteer opportunities and making a donation or call Linda Meyer at 314-602-5184.

This week take notice of one or more things you are thankful for each day. Namaste.

Listening to the Women on the Edge of Evolution conference the past couple of days, helped crystallize this for me. In her new book Thrive Arianna Huffington writes about the Third Metric of success which includes well-being, wisdom and wonder, and talks about how to attain these. Sounds a lot like self-care to me. What I know for sure? Without self-care, people perish heart, mind, soul and often their bodies.

While this concept isn’t new, it finally appears to be reaching a tipping point as women decide that money and power alone aren’t enough to be successful. We want to be fully engaged in life. To make a difference. To live life with meaning. But to do that, we need to keep our energy, health and spirit strong through self-care practice or “thriving” as Huffington calls it.

In honor of May which is Maternal Mental Health Month (when will they just says moms’ health or well-being?), we will be kicking off our online self-care course with recommendations and exercises for establishing a daily/weekly self-care practice. As we say in mindfulness and counseling, lifestyle change is dose-related and the more consistently and frequently you practice, the more benefits accrue, and the stronger your self-care or stress-reducing muscle becomes.

If you live in St. Louis, you can join Dr. Sanford outside Macy’s at the Galleria next Saturday, May 2nd from 10am-5pm for Clinique Cosmetic’s Healthy Lifestyle event designed to help women #StartBetter everyday. Dr. Sanford will be sharing healthy tips about “feeling good from the inside out” and how to create less stress and more ease in your life by learning to let go of self-criticism and worry. She knows firsthand how women can be their own worst critics and has helped many women successfully set this aside.

To your health! Namaste.

In honor of May which is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month, we are kicking off our online self-care course with recommendations and exercises for establishing a daily/weekly self-care practice. As we say in mindfulness and counseling, lifestyle change is dose-related and the more consistently and frequently you practice, the more benefits accrue, and the stronger your self-care or stress-reducing muscle becomes.

Yesterday when I was at Macy’s Galleria in St. Louis partnering with Clinique Cosmetics in a “healthy lifestyle” event for their #startbetter campaign, from the customers to the other lifestyle experts (Paul Mitchell Salon students were there and did a great job on hair and nails) to the women behind the counter, everyone talked about how stressed and busy they are. A few, had regular mindfulness activities like gardening or walking in nature, but most did not. The problem-too little time.

How many of us tell ourselves that we don’t have time in our day to practice self-care? I know I did until I suffered from walking pneumonia seven years ago when I let myself get run down and didn’t know if I’d get back up. Or the story I heard Ariana Huffington tell last week as part of the Women on the Edge of Evolution online conference, about how her life had been frantic and out of control until she found herself lying face down in a pool of blood one day, passed out from fatigue and emotional exhaustion. Many of us have these stories to tell.

So, here’s this week’s assignment. See if you can carve out five minutes twice a day and do something restorative. Close your eyes and breathe for five minutes-click here for an online exercise; take a shower and dedicate your time to appreciating the sensation of the water or the smell of the soap instead of focussing on your to-do list; spend five minutes before you go to bed and in the morning when you wake up, expressing gratitude for what you have, or whatever self-care looks like for you.

Try it and see how it goes. Then, share your experience with us so we can support and encourage each other. You are “not alone” which is the theme of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month and one of my favorite songs from Into The Woods.

Our community is with you. Namaste.

For the past three years, I’ve been teaching mindfulness classes to women and couples to improve health, including fertility and decrease stress and mommy guilt at my practice, Midwest Mind Body Health Center.

My students often remind me how challenging it is to take time for self-care and mindfulness outside of class and how helpful it is to have a group in which we deliberately set aside time to practice. Honestly, I need this too. Having a class or community which actively supports your mindfulness and self-care practice is important and necessary for many of us.

This week when I thought about my upcoming mindfulness class, June 5 & 6,  and the online self-study course we’re hosting on living self-care,  it occurred to me that “mindfulness is self-care for the mind.” So, by taking 5 minutes twice a day to do something which is restorative or stress reducing is strengthening our mindfulness muscle. You can choose what you do. It doesn’t have to be sitting with your eyes closed meditating for five minutes. Instead, it can be simply paying attention to the experience of what you’re doing like the sensations of taking a shower, going for a walk or eating a yummy treat one bite at a time. If your mind wanders, bring it back to the sensations and feeling of the moment you’re in.

Because mindfulness is hard to explain in words, please enjoy this video of one of my mindfulness classes from the Fox Files on Fox2 in STL. Click on this link to see the video-http://fox2now.com/2015/05/05/mindfulness-approach-for-infertility-and-overall-health/

You can even count it as one of your five minute practices for this week.

In the meantime, let’s keep supporting and encouraging each other on-and offline. Namaste.

It’s Monday again. Time for week two of our online self-study course in self-care and mindfulness. If you’re joining us for the first time, welcome. If you’re back for more, we’re glad you’re still interested in improving your life through self-care and mindfulness. Although we will be going through the process step by step, it takes attention and effort to maintain in a world filled with distraction and external demands.

Last week, we asked you to spend 5 minutes twice each day in some self-care activity which could be closing your eyes and paying attention to your breath (mindful breathing) or noticing the sensory experience of taking a shower, walking in nature or washing the dishes. How’d you do? Were you able to set the time aside to practice for 5 minutes each day? Were you able to focus on what you were doing and bring your mind back when it started to wander? For now, what’s most important is dedicating the time to being in the moment and having a different experience than we usually do when we’re caught up in our busy, stressed out lives. True self-care.

This week your assignment is to spend 10 minutes twice each day in some self-care activity or twenty minutes once a day. I like to sit on my porch or deck and slowly sip a cup of tea (in my tranquili-tea cup a friend gave me) and watch the clouds passing in the sky, look at how green it’s become or listen to the bird songs. The same friend who gave me the teacup says it’s getting a little “mental spa” time. When my mind starts to fill with future worries or past regrets, I bring it back to the momentary sensations I’m experiencing before getting too far down the “not in the moment” road.

Your other assignment this week is to notice when your mind wanders and start to bring it back to the moment you’re in. If this happens, you can close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to redirect your attention. Another strategy is to hyper-focus your attention on one sense like seeing or something which provides a momentary experience naturally like watching a cloud pass by in the sky. When I’m walking and a train goes by, I stop and focus my attention on the train until I see the caboose. Then I resume my walk.

Whatever happens, congratulate yourself on your effort. Marcel Proust said “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new lands but in seeing through new eyes.” Namaste