Often people think about wellness/illness like an on/off light switch: everything is fine and then *boom!* one day you’ve got the flu! And they are surprised … “where did that come from??”  Well, our health is more like a dimmer switch, sometimes at 100%, but most of the time somewhere in between that and the onset of a symptom.  Think of the battery indicator on our cell phone.  When we check it at the end of the day and it’s at 14%, we make sure to plug our phone in and give it a chance to recharge to 100%.  But what about ourselves?  When we are feeling exhausted at the end of the day, and we go to bed … how many people actually sleep well enough to recharge themselves to 100%?  That’s where the salt bath comes in.

Our home and work environments can definitely have either a positive or a negative impact on our state of mind. For example, we finally got rid of the pool table in the basement.   Once it was gone, we experienced an amazing opening of space and possibilities.  We are now turning the previously unused pool table area into a deluxe home theater space.    Much better application of half of our downstairs space.

Apparently getting rid of the pool table somehow made this next step much easier.  Our old projection TV upstairs on the main level was unused for years, in fact, since everything turned digital.  In a very nostalgic way, it just sat there, still functional for DVD, just not relevant for anything else.  It was hard for me to throw it out because it still worked … just not for TV stations.   So I did some self work on releasing, letting go of attachments … and now it is out the door (of course being recycled)!  Read More

Over the years, I’ve tried to convey to people what meditation is, what it does, details, research, etc., and I feel like my “left brain” explanation has always fallen short of the value of the practice.  But now, I have finally found the perfect metaphor for meditation:  studded snow tires!!  Really … hear me out. Read More

Did you feel the earthquake yesterday?  I have to admit, it took me by surprise, and immediately my mind went to all the things I had done already to prepare, as well as the few things that were still waiting to be done.  It was time to move them up the priority list and get them finished.  And then after all the preparations are made, it is also important to review them, practice the process of evacuation or shelter in place, and feel confident that everything is in order.

Holidays can be like an earthquake for some people … it just rocks their world.    Read More

At a recent class on Stress Management for Teens, I used the phrase, “A stitch in time saves nine” … and from the way they were looking at me, you would have thought I was from Mars with two heads.  Apparently they were not familiar with that phrase.  They must not do a lot of their own mending … or something.

The point I was trying to make is that it’s easier to address a minor situation than a major one, so good idea to implement these techniques before the situation gets so out of hand.  This is as true for physical healing as it is for stress management.  It is much easier to work on and heal from something small, than it is to have to address a bigger issue.  Three recent situations come to mind. Read More