Did you know that 90% of Serotonin is made in the gut? 
Serotonin is on the same neural pathway as Melatonin, these two together regulate our sleep and wake cycles. 

Leaky gut is common, or candida overgrowths. We need a healthy balance of bacteria in our digestive tract, for absorption of food and the making of neurotransmitters. 

Do you? 
Feel foggy in the morning? 
Do you have bloating after eating? 
Do you feel heavy? Depressed? 
Do you clear your throat a lot? 
These are a few signs of a gut imbalance, along with possible sleep issues. 

A few EASY things to do are: 
- cut down on sugar (feeds the "bad"bacteria"
- take dairy out for a few days to a week
- take a good probiotic, we carry some or I recommend the raw probiotics by Garden of Life 
- take grains out for a few days to a week
- make sure you exercise regularly, even 20 -30 min of walking a day
- eat healthy fats, nuts, MCT oil, avocado, fish
-start your day with lemon water
-add greens into every meal

These are simple ways to start the gut healing process without getting too extreme. 
 
For more ideas and help, please contact us, 
Stefanie Rothert 
#healyourgut #behappy #immunity #serotonin #healyourself #sleepwell #haveenergy
#acupuncture 

Resources:
Use the coupon code FALL50 for this course, in this course we cover Meditation, Tapping, Acupressure and some Journaling to help you manage your anxiety. 
 https://stefanie-rothert.teachable.com/p/how-to-reduce-anxiety/

Barre 3: Online workouts that range from 10-60 minutes. Short but sweet, and you will be sore! Strengthening our core can give us a sense of strength and empowerment, when we don't feel strong mentally, a strong body and remind us that we are strong inside too! 

Yoga: Do gentle yoga until you feel better. Start with Yin and restorative yoga, these styles use props to help you feel supported, when we feel supported we can relax into a sense of safety. My favorite yoga app is called Yoga GLO, but also there are many great classes on Youtube: 

CBD: This has been known to help with Pain and Anxiety, I use and sell Rock N' Roots CBD. Read more and Order Here. 
Meditation: Many of you know I am Certified Neurosculpting ® Meditation Facilitator, I have a bunch of Free Meditations on Insight Timer, and there are many great Teachers on there. I often listen to many different types for fun on there. Yes, I am meditation Nerd. 

EFT®: The Emotional Freedom Technique: I LOVE this system! The potential is endless with this tool, from treating pain, emotions, Grief, improving relationships and more. Here is a link to a free website, they have a free app as well. I am happy to work with anyone privately that wants to learn as well. ​

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.

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