First off, I am not a licensed Therapist, so that is my disclaimer. I have treated Anxiety and Depression for many years with Meditation, Yoga, Acupuncture, energy work and more. I have used all of these to learn to manage and regulate my own emotions and mental state. Here are some tips that I have to offer. As the seasons change, especially as we head into fall and winter, some of us can be more affected than others. Some People develop SAD, seasonal affective disorder. Here are some things I have learned, from research and experience. Towards the end of this Newsletter, I have offered some resources. 1. Try not to compare yourself to others. (maybe avoid social media if that helps). We all have our own path in life. Think of the top three things that are important to you in life, and prioritize those. Examples, Health, spending time with family, having some free time, rest, work, or whatever comes to mind. 2. Eat regularly. Make sure you have a balanced breakfast with good fats, and protein. Examples, turkey bacon, meat, nuts, salmon, avocado, veggies, eggs. Keeping our blood sugar balanced can make a HUGE difference in mood stabilization. Try to avoid to many complex carbs and alcohol. Reach out to me if you need more help with this. 3. Do things that make you feel good; music, aromatherapy, dance, hiking, a walk, binge on netflix for a day. 4. Create some nice routines for yourself, with reasonable expectations. Short workouts, for example, I often do 10 minute workouts. More times than not, I will keep going once I start. 5. MOVE; walk or workout, gentle yoga. Moving your blood moves your QI (energy) and creates endorphins that make you feel better. 6. Meditation. There are so many great resources out there that are FREE, I also love EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) tapping, it is almost like giving yourself an Acupuncture treatment. I offer private sessions of both of these, we can customize meditations just for you. This system uses tapping on Acupuncture point to help relieve stress, PTSD and more. 7. Be gentle with yourself. If you feel tired, give yourself times to rest. 8. A Gratitude journal. A tip from my friend who is a burnout coach, says if you can't feel grateful, then write down your resentments, for each one create a boundary. CREATE BOUNDARIES, It is okay to preserve your energy. Gratitude helps us shift our brain and perspective. 9. Acupuncture! For one, take time to take care of yourself! Two, Acupuncture helps balance our brains and bodies, it helps to heal the Mind/Body Connection, getting your neural pathways flowing. We want to re-pattern ourselves for Optimal Health, and over time Acupuncture returns us to that state of vitality and health. 10. Make time for things you enJOY. Joy is amazing, it gets us into the more evolved part of our brains, actually helping us to see solutions and be creative. AND, who doesn't want some joy? What do you truly enjoy? 11. ASK FOR HELP. You do not have to do it alone! There are many great practitioners and groups that can help you. As humans, I do not believe that we were not meant to do it alone. A lot of the rise in Mental Health issues can be traced to a lot less community and more social isolation. In Chinese Medicine, we break the female cycle in into four stages. Yin, Yang, Blood and QI. Technically ovulation is a transformative time in a woman's cycle so we must address that as well.
That is why often, you will get a different herbal formula during each cycle or at least during menstruation or the first and second half of your cycle, the luteal or follicular stages. The luteal phase is the the second half of a cycle, A woman's cycle can range from 26-30 days. If the second phase is too short, we will treat that accordingly. We can work in conjunction with Western Medicine and often do! We will look at your diet and lifestyle and make adjustments as needed as well. Please contact us for more information. #fertility #alignwithnature #acupunctureforfertility #chinesemedicine What is being dys-regulated exactly? I don't even know if that is a real word... Basically, I believe it is when our Parasympathetic and Sympathetic system get out of whack. Yes, whack. When our nervous system is un-interrupted and healthy, we can naturally regulate ourselves. Animals do it too. They often will freeze or run when under attack, and literally shake to "shake it off". There are many ways that we can regulate ourselves, it means that we are not living in our limbic system. What is the limbic system? It is comprised of several parts of our brain, it has to do with emotions like fear, pride, and emotions that dictate our survival. Anything that makes us lose our breath, fear for our lives, security, status and more, can trigger our limbic system to turn on, even into overdrive. It is meant to protect us. The cliche example is if you see a bear and you need to run. But, living like that constantly, leads to ill healthy and other problems. An example of this is also PTSD, Post-traumatic stress disorder, where our nervous system stays stuck with a charge. There are many good ways to help us get over PTSD, BUT we can also learn ways not to get it at all. By dealing with Trauma, in the present. How do you like to balance or regulate yourself? We all have our favorite ways. You may not even realize you do it! I found at the beginning of this how much working with people would help me regulate myself, I would have to, to be in the space to work and the human connection is healing both ways. So, it was a hard transition to not be in that space with my clients. Another way I find helps is movement, doing familiar things, practices, like yoga for me, maybe it's reading a book you've read before, hugging a close one, walking in nature.. things that make us feel safe and give us a sense of autonomy. When we feel helpless or like we don't have a choice, it can even be damaging to our nervous systems. I have used my other vices too, like food, but the idea is to try and maintain a homeostasis. Sometimes that means, being sad, grieving life as it was, and that it may not be the same for awhile or ever. And actually, literally grieving for those who have died, are suffering or will suffer. It's about noticing what is happening, ask yourself how you feel, could be mental, emotional or physical. Do you feel jittery? Do you feel hyper, tired, overwhelmed, calm? Notice your body ? Do you feel defensive? Can you listen and let opinions wash over you? These are all clues to which part of your nervous system is more active. Acupuncture, helps lower stress, by helping your body regulate itself, that is why it is so powerful. Our bodies do know, but can forget,and get stuck in patterns. I have seen amazing results with PTSD with Acupuncture, not as a replacement for good therapy, but powerful in the healing process, and getting the QI, energy, flowing. Please share your favorite way to regulate yourself as well.. Warmly, Stefanie Rothert #acupunctureforstress #healyourself #acupunctureforwellbeing Last week, I was allowed to go back to work, with some stringent protocols. It was nerve-wracking, but also felt so good. I gave a few massages and did some Acupuncture Treatments, I honestly felt happier then I had for awhile. It's the human connection... How is that not good for our immune system? Even before this, mental illness was on the rise, due to people having less community? What does feeling like you belong, or healthy touch do for us? One study shows, that positive touch stimulates our Pre-frontal cortex, and those of you that know me well, know that I am all about that! And it soothes our stress response. So, what do we do now, that we are supposed to stay away from people? What is that doing to us? How can we connect? Tips for staying sane: 1. If you are not high risk, book yourself a massage. 2. Increase your affection with those that are in your vector/ family/ pick up to three friends to be in your vector. Hug those. 3. Exercise every day, moving your blood increases your serotonin, even if it is a gentle walk or stretching. Get that blood flowing, it will help your brain and increase endorphins. 4. Meditation, is shown to help decrease our stress response, join my self paced meditation series, on how to reduce anxiety here. 5. Support yourself with vitamins and good nutrition. Vitamin D, selenium, Vitamin C, the omega fatty acids, B Vitamins are key. If you want assistance with those, get in touch with us. 6. Do things that you enjoy (even if they aren't productive). 7. I recommend doing things that are comforting, perhaps something you have done for awhile, or want to pick back up. I just bought some paddle boards, so I have something to look forward to this summer. That helps increase dopamine and excitement. 8. Positive affirmations, thoughts, words, help our brain wire for positivity. If we can't muster that, the simple gratitude help. 9. Online groups, happy hours or communities that your relate to, can help us feel like we belong and aren't as isolated. I usually do a sunday brunch for mother's day and we did it online, it was great fun, and kept a habitual tradition alive. 10. Smile. Laugh, Dance, experience your emotions. We need to create habits that helps us persevere during this for the long haul. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-good-life-human-touch It is hard not to feel afraid during these times, especially in my profession for many reasons.
But, it does not help us to feel afraid. Fear is related to the Kidneys in Chinese Medicine. The Kidneys, are "the root of life." The Kidneys store our essence, our essence is our back-up, our constitution. We all have unique constitutions, which is why Chinese Medicine is so powerful because we treat everyone as an individual. Our immune system (click to watch a brief video) in Chinese Medicine is rooted in the Kidney Yang. We are made of Yin and Yang. The Yang is the warming protective energy of our body. When we experience excessive fear, that draws and depletes our Kidneys, you equate it to Adrenal Fatigue, as when we are stressed, cortisol spikes in our bodies, and our adrenals get fatigued over time. Cortisol is really there for emergencies, like if you need to run from a bear. Read this newsletter for some great resources. When Cortisol is spiked for long periods of time it starts to break down our immunity. So, what can we do ? Breathe. Move, gently if you must, hydrate, rest. Unplug if you need to. Focus on your sense of safety. We have some great Meditations available on this website for you. The lungs and Kidneys have a relationship. The Kidneys receive the breath from the Lungs. So when we have trouble breathing sometimes it is a lack of Kidney qi being able to "grasp the qi " from the Lungs, so then the qi reverses and we can't breath. So, imagine if you are very afraid. Most of us can relate to that, if you have ever had a panic attack, then you know that feeling. Let's imagine breathing deeply, maybe you can imagine your diaphragm expanding. You could even picture your lungs and kidneys, that they communicate. Imagine, your breath filling your kidneys, and your kidneys rising up to protect your lungs. Otherwise, Hydrate with warm waters, teas and soups. In health and wellness, Stefanie |
Arvada Location:
Located on the ground floor in the Delvecchio Chiropractic Office 7595 66th Ave. Arvada, CO 80005 |
Boulder Location:
Located in the Corca Center 4440 Arapahoe Ave Suite 215 Boulder, CO 80303 |