In the dark days of winter, we would all do well to remind ourselves to be kind: to ourselves and to one another. We asked some local health and wellness practitioners for their tips as we pass through the holiday season and into a new year.
Find your ground
Allie Chisholm-Smith, www.ahimsa.ca
Have you become more indecisive lately? Wondering why you walked into the room? Anxious?
In Ayurveda, the medicine behind Yoga, we call this the Vata winds. Our world is overly mobile, we communicate mostly through the ethers and we seldom touch and truly connect. We have lost our ground, our stability, our foundation. The wind is whipping us around and the storms are raging.
Ayurveda is all about common sense. If you have lost touch with the earth, go talk to your plants or your pet (nature). If you feel like your head is spinning, sit down, breathe put your feet flat on the floor. If you are feeling lost and anxious, have a cup of warm tea with a friend, look them in the eye and inhale and exhale. If you can’t do that, do child’s pose – lay your body over your legs. Classically you would be kneeling but you can do this sitting in a chair. Just hang your body forward, let your head hang and breathe into your back. This will calm you and also boost your digestive process. Anxiety, after all, is indigestion of the mind.
Here are some simple steps to remedy this Vata wind and put you back on track:
- Get your routines down pat and stick to them.
- Put sesame oil on your skin in lieu of moisturizer.
- Be kind and gentle with you. You deserve this much.
Keep your balance
Stephanie Bourbeau, Surge Physiotherapy
In winter, from a healthcare standpoint, we see an increase in injury rates due to snow shovelling and/or navigating icy road surfaces. The most common injuries include strains and sprains, but injuries can be worse. Here are some tips and tricks on how to stay injury free this winter.
Shovelling can be a vigorous activity, especially if you are not used to exercising regularly. To avoid injury:
- Warm up with 10 minutes of light activity like walking.
- Ensure your shovel is a comfortable height and weight.
- Wear removable layers of breathable material and non-slip boots.
- Space your hands about 12 inches apart with one close to the base of the shovel to improve your leverage.
- Push the snow, don’t lift it (when possible).
- Keep the shovel close to you to create a mechanical advantage.
- Scoop small amounts of snow and walk it to where you want to dump it.
- Switch sides from time to time while shovelling to even the load between both sides.
- Pace yourself, this is an aerobic activity, just like jogging. Take frequent breaks and stay hydrated.
- Shovel snow earlier rather than later; it’s better to shovel a few times throughout the day than struggle with heavy piles of snow. If you have to shovel deep snow never remove it all in one go, do it in pieces.
- If you experience shortness of breath or chest pain, stop and seek emergency care.
To avoid falls when walking on ice:
- Ensure that your winter boots have rubber soles and good non-slip treads.
- Add grips or spikes that slip over your shoeto improve your stability. You can often find these for quite an affordable price at local stores.
- Walk like a penguin—bend your knees slightly and walk flat footed, turn your feet outwards slightly, keep your centre of gravity over your feet as much as possible, and take shorter, shuffle-like steps. Keep your arms at your side, NOT in your pockets, and go SLOW! Check out this super cute video, from Alberta Health Services, to learn more about walking like a penguin.
Give yourself the gift of yes and no
Kathleen May
There are few things that indicate a person’s care for themselves more than healthy boundaries. Holidays can see us putting undue pressure on ourselves (and maybe on others) while giving up our ‘me time’ at the drop of the hat. ‘Tis the season for giving, right?
What if I told you that the first person who needs a gift is yourself? What if I insisted that the gift of boundaries is one that will allow you to enjoy your family and friends more, AND keep you from feeling burnt out, run down, and overwhelmed?
Let me break it down into four small steps:
- Say no. Really. You don’t have time, you don’t have the energy, you-wish-you-could-but-you-can’t, etc. There is nothing wrong with a ‘no’! In fact, saying ‘no’ can help show other people in your life that it’s okay to put yourself first. It’s extremely healthy behaviour to model.
- Take your time before saying ‘yes.’ Instead of agreeing to every favour that gets asked of you (or worse, jumping in to ‘fix’ things before you’re even approached!) give yourself a barrier. Phrases like ‘I’d like to think about that’ or ‘let me check my calendar and see I can make it work’ can give you the space you need to decide is this really what you want.
- Create conditions. If you truly do want to help, say yes but with certain limitations. ‘Yes, I can help, but I need help with this in return’ or ‘I’ll be there, but I need to leave no later than 5 p.m.’ The only unconditional love should be for yourself.
- Say yes! If you really want to, if you’re thrilled to, then say yes. Because remember, what is a ‘yes’ worth if you can’t say no? I love hearing yeses from people with great boundaries because it means they are REALLY all in – no resentment, no bitterness. Just love.
Practice daily self-care
Leslie Tempest, ProActive Rehab
The start of a new year is the perfect opportunity to reset and find new ways to practise better self care. At ProActive Rehab, we use Five Pillars of Wellness to guide our self-care efforts. These five pieces of your life puzzle have been shown to be key to health, wellness and longevity.
- Get at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at least five days per week.
- Eat a wholesome diet of real food that is nutritionally balanced and includes lots of colourful veggies and fruit.
- Do something to evoke the “relaxation response” everyday. For example, yoga, meditation, mindfulness activities or slow, effective, deep, calming breaths.
- Maintain good and active social connections.
- Be positive. BELIEVE you can be well!
I would suggest that the final pillar—believing that you can be well—is perhaps the most important in establishing successful and sustainable self-care routines. By incorporating these five practices in your daily routine, you are sure to feel better, stronger and healthier. To learn more about our approach to wellness at ProActive Rehab, visit www.proactiverehab.com.
Refocus and reflect
Karen Patterson, Muskoka Family Works
The new year is a time for “re”. RE-focus, RE-adjust, RE-member, RE-define and RE-flect. Often, we look at the year that just passed and think about the changes we want to make.
This year, I challenge you to do it differently. This year, let’s think about the successes we’ve had and look at how to do more of that. Reflect on times that felt great over the past year. For every area in your life that you think about change, reflect on a time that you felt that area was going well.
Do you feel like you’re struggling with getting fit or staying active? Think of a time in the past year, or a previous time in your life that you felt fit. What activity were you doing? What did you feel like when you were doing it? What is one small thing that you can do in the New Year that will help you get that feeling again?
Have you been struggling with a “someone” in your life? Think about a time that you were able to be with that person without conflict. What was different then? What were some happy memories? Is there a way that you could plan a sliver of time with that person to try to re-do some of those happy moments?
Are you feeling the burden of financial strain? Again, think of a time that you felt more financially able. What were some small things that you did that gave you financial relief?
Often, when we set goals, we come at it from a place of deficit. “I’m not good enough at this so I have to change it.” What if, for a moment, we came at it from a place of hope and strength? What if we told ourselves “I was good at this once. I know that I can do that again!” This small change in our approach and belief about ourselves can have a huge impact on our feelings of success and empowerment.
Manage expectations
Warren Broad, www.warrenbroad.com
For many, the holidays can be one of the most challenging times of the year. We hold such much hope for what we want the holidays to be, and what it should be. Unfortunately, these incredibly high expectations can also set us up for some of the biggest levels of disappointment. The advertising, film, and television industry paints a reality that is seldom achievable, yet we aspire to achieve that perfect holiday celebration time and time again. By identifying your own expectations (both good and bad) and setting these expectations free, you can find peace during your holiday season.
Easier said than done? Here’s how it works:
Most of us have one (or more!) family members that challenge our holiday well-being. What past incidents and confrontations come to mind that create the mental image of what you expect to unfold this year? Are you already preparing for difficulty, or playing out scenarios in your mind of how you will handle a confrontation if/when it unfolds? If you are already preparing for challenge and struggle, your mind will be looking for it when the event unfolds. It’s the self-fulfilling prophecy at work.
Try this: Go Neutral! It may be just too much to pretend you really like somebody, but we can all go neutral. When you lower the expectation, and redirect your thoughts to drop the frustration, that person’s personality or actions do not have to consume your attention and thus ruin the enjoyment of your event. You may, in the end, find that when you drop the resentment of the previous holidays and the negative expectations, this one might exceed the expectation—in a good way!
Remember: YOU decide the quality of your holiday celebrations by what you pay attention to. Direct your thoughts to where you want them, and keep the focus on the enjoyment of the season.
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Rob Millman says
Great suggestions, all! Please remember that you are of absolutely no use to your family, friends, and others who care about you, if you allow yourself to get run-down physically or emotionally. And there is a great synergy between physical exercise and emotional well-being: Exercise produces endorphins, which are prescription-free anti-depressants.