The Hub is Going Strong and Staying Safe During the COVID-19 Pandemic
health & wellness are more important than ever DURING THIS UNPRECEDENTED TIME!
Dear Boulder Community,
The Hub is here to support local wellness practitioners during this unique time, and is 100% committed to supporting Boulder's community of self-employed wellness practitioners, and their clients, for many years to come! We are marshaling all of the resources we can to make sure the Hub is thriving on the other side of this pandemic. I’m a believer in small, local business and it’s important to support such an important aspect of our homegrown civic life.
I am not only committed to keeping the Hub open for the long haul, but also to make it better than ever on the other side of the Covid. The Hub provides real benefit to the community of self-employed wellness practitioners in Boulder who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford practicing in Boulder because of the ever-increasing property values and cost of living. Keeping the healing arts alive in Boulder helps everyone in Boulder — clients and practitioners alike — and helps keep Boulder true to its roots!
We know that:
— many of you are seeing fewer clients in person and need to keep your costs down
— you may need private space away from roommates or family to conduct secure tele-health video sessions
— your regular schedule has turned upside down, causing you to need more flexibility with office availability
So: the Hub is here to help! Our professional flextime offices help you save on the costs of keeping your wellness practice open - you only have to pay for the time you actually need. You can easily book with your clients anytime, with 100% availability, seven days a week from 6am to 10pm - so your schedule can change as it needs to. Our flextime offices can also be used for video sessions using our free high-speed WIFI, so you have the privacy you need to continue working with distance clients.
Most importantly, you can rest knowing that the Hub is following all of the State of Colorado required safety protocols to ensure you can continue to support your clients while simultaneously stopping the spread of COVID-19.
— WE HAVE POSTED SIGNS THROUGHOUT THE HUB with clear and useful info on our rules and regulations, to ensure compliance.
— WE HAVE PLACED HIGH QUALITY HEPA AIR PURIFIERS IN EVERY FLEXTIME OFFICE. Air purifiers with HEPA filtration are designed to efficiently capture particles the size of (and far smaller than) the virus that causes COVID-19.
— WE ARE PROVIDING AMPLE ALCOHOL-BASED HAND SANITIZER IN ALL FLEXTIME OFFICES AT THE HUB and ask our members and their clients to use it often! (We also have a sink in the Hub break room for frequent hand washing.)
— WE ARE PROPPING THE FRONT DOOR TO THE HUB SUITE OPEN so that no one entering or exiting the Hub has to touch the front door to the suite.
— NO ONE (HUB MEMBER OR CLIENT) MAY COME TO THE HUB IF THEY ARE EXHIBITING COVID SYMPTOMS. We are asking all members to refer to a Symptom Checker such as this one if they or their clients are experiencing any symptoms.
— EVERYONE MUST WEAR MASKS INSIDE THE COMMON AREAS OF THE HUB as additional precaution to stop airborne contagion.
— WE ARE PROVIDING DISINFECTANT AND REQUIRING ALL MEMBERS TO WIPE DOWN ALL CONTACTED HARD SURFACES BEFORE AND AFTER USING A FLEXTIME OFFICE. This includes doorknobs, light switches, heater/fan switches, etc.
— EVERYONE MUST MAINTAIN A DISTANCE OF 6FT from one another when moving through the shared Hub spaces.
For the foreseeable future we all need to figure out how to live and work safely with COVID-19. We can see our clients in-person in a way that contains the spread of Coronavirus, but it takes commitment and strict adherence to the policies outlined by the experts and government officials. We have done exhaustive research of both medical and governmental data to create our Boulder Healing Hub COVID-19 safety protocols, to support you and your clients in generating wellness without decreasing wellness!
We all know: seeing clients solely via Zoom can be unsatisfying at best, and even detrimental to our health at worst. And of course there is simply no way that technology can deliver the healing touch of an embodied deep-tissue massage, or the precise medicine of an acupuncture needle.
Here’s the paradox: we need contact for our collective health, and yet our collective health is currently at risk from unprotected contact. It’s our unique responsibility as wellness providers to find a way to walk this line of intelligent contact with grace and integrity, within the governmental strictures for safety.
We wish everyone warmth, health, and wellness during this time of profound communal carefulness. We’ll make it through this, together!
With big warmth,
Lindsay Ann Sworski
Boulder Healing Hub Founder
Join us: Hub OPEN HOUSE! September 20th!
Join us for our annual celebration of our
collective healing community
The Boulder Healing Hub is starting its 5th year in business with over 100 of Boulder's best massage therapists, psychotherapists, nutritionists, acupuncturists, and more! Come share in collective wellness with us!
Free 10 minute sample sessions
Free presentations on a variety of healing topics from local leading professionals
Raffle of free sessions with many wonderful practitioners
Free refreshments and general merriment!
Everyone is invited to this event, whether you’re a Boulder practitioner interested in learning more about our awesome professional community and coworking space, or if you’re a local Boulderite who would like to enjoy an evening of wellness, connecting to great practitioners in the area!
schedule of offerings throughout the evening,
and list of amazing raffle prizes…
FREE PRESENTATIONS:
— 6pm - Keto Facts and Fictions: Using Keto Principles for Health and Longevity with Mary Kay Irving, LCSW in Room #5
— 6pm - Intro to the Healing Hub: Q&A for Interested Practitioners with owner Lindsay Sworski in Room #19
— 6:30pm - The Integrated Man: Who He is and How He Becomes One with Gary Howard, MA in Room #5
— 6:30pm - The Healing Power of the Spiritual Heart with Anne Rice, MA in Room #19
— 7pm - Chemical Sensitivities and Fight-or-Flight: Neurofeedback to Calm the Nervous System with Erica Ligon in Room #5
— 7pm - Listening to Hear with Jordan Matthews in Room #19
— 7:30pm - Meridian Magic: a General Overview of the Twelve Meridians and their Functions, Energetically, Physically and Spiritually with Jessica Van Antwerp, LMT, CSP in Room #5
— 7:30pm - Highest Truth and Infinite Love: Learn to Communicate with Your Spirit Guides with Jennie Rindler, MSW, E-RYT in Room #19
— 8pm - You Are Not Broken: The Truth About Highly Sensitive People with Becky Howie, LPC in Room #5
— 8pm - How Mindfulness Breaks Addictions with Julian Royce, LPCC in Room #19
FREE SAMPLE SESSIONS:
— 6-7:15pm Massage with Brenna Dee, LMT
— 7:30-8:30pm Jin Shin Jyutsu Energy Work with Paula Stephani, LPC
— 6-7:15pm PEMF sessions with Angela Dockter, BCHHP
— 6-7:15pm Core Synchronism with Karen Danko, DC
— 7:15-8:30pm Esoteric Acupuncture with Karen Danko, DC
— 6-7pm CranioSacral sessions with Ursula Hermann, MA, CST-D, LMT
— 7:15-8:30pm Tui Na massage OR Auricular Ear Acupuncture sessions with Serena Moss, LAc
— 6-7:45pm Massage with Rebecca Arnold, MA, LMT
— 6-7pm Psychic Readings with Vicky Vail, MA
— 7:15-8:15pm Tapping/Emotional Freedom Technique with Anne Moriarty
— 6-7:45pm Somatic Psychotherapy and Energy Medicine Sessions with Megan Ramos, MA, LPCC
— 6-7:30pm Mini Iridology Sessions with Alec Uitti
— 6-8pm Having Difficult Conversations sessions with Diana Calvo
— 7:30-8:30pm Nutrition Consultations with Mary Kay Irving, LCSW
— 6-7:30pm Integrative Health Consults with Erin O'Leary
RAFFLE PRIZES:
— 30min Reiki Session with Erin O'Leary ($45 value)
— 45min Nutrition or Health Coaching Session with Mary Kay Irving, LCSW ($45 value)
— 60min Deep Tissue Massage with Cindy Smith, LMT ($65 value)
— Registration for "25 Days to Sugar Freedom" Online Detox Program with Mary Kay Irving, LCSW ($69 value)
— 60min Massage with Rebecca Arnold, MA, LMT ($75 value)
— 60min Jin Shin Jyutsu Session with Paula Stephani, LPC ($80 value)
— 20min Phone Consult + 60 min Private Tapping/Emotional Freedom Technique Session with Anne Moriarty ($80 value)
— 60min Jin Shin Jyutsu Session with Jackie Aaron ($85 value)
— Enrollment in any half-day workshop with women’s wellness coach Heather Lee, MSW (value $85)
— 90min EPT™ (Emotional Polarity Technique) session with Beth Porter ($100 value)
— 90min Custom Massage (Deep Tissue, Cupping, Lymph Drainage, Injury, etc) with Elyse Sauls Meaney, LMT, CMLDT ($100 value)
— 60min Reiki Healing with Spirit Guide Communication Session with Jennie Rindler, MSW, E-RYT ($100 value)
— 60min NeurOptimal Neurofeedback Session with Erica Ligon ($100 value)
— 60min Acupuncture session with Serena Moss, L.Ac. ($100 value)
— 50min Transpersonal Mindfulness Session with Julian Royce, LPCC ($110 value)
— 90min Relaxing Massage with Jessica Baker, LMT ($120 value)
— 60min Somatic Psychotherapy and Energy Healing Session with Megan Ramos, LPCC ($120 value)
— 50min Bilingual Psychotherapy/Life Coaching Session with Mariana Iurcovich ($125 value)
— 60min Hypnotherapy Session with Lynate Pettengill, CH ($125 value)
— 90min Intuitive Healing Session with Diana Calvo ($150 value)
— 60min Couples Therapy Session with Kelly Bassin, MFT ($150 value)
— 60min EMDR Session for Performance Enhancement with Mary Kay Irving, LCSW ($158 value)
— 60min Integrative Health Initial Consult OR Nutregenomics Results Consult with Erin O'Leary (up to $333 value)
Our collective support for one another here at the Hub - and the support we offer the larger community of Boulder - is definitely something to celebrate! See you soon!!
Happy New Year from the Healing Hub!
Happy New Year from all of us at the Boulder Healing Hub!
We wish you all a 2019 filled with wellness!!
Below are some photos from our recent Holiday Party. At the Hub we love bringing together the worlds of individual health and collective enjoyment! Consider joining our team to bring more community wellness into your professional practice!
All photos in this post by Kendra Seoane
Honoring Native Land
“The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the dust and blood of our ancestors.” -Chief Plenty Coups, Crow (1848 - 1932)
We have a new piece of artwork in our waiting room here at the Boulder Healing Hub, designed by artist Keith Braveheart for the US Department of Arts and Culture’s #HonorNativeLand project. This project encourages businesses to acknowledge and honor the Native people who once inhabited this land where we come to work today. The Boulder Healing Hub sits on land occupied by Arapaho, Ute, and Cheyenne people.
Our research for this project started with the nice folks at the new Museum of Boulder (on Broadway and Pine - check it out!) as well as this great website that shows native territories across the United States and beyond. Another local who had just taken a Native American History course at CU Boulder shared with us that native peoples didn't have land "territories" like we know them, and they moved in bands to new locations every year - so there was no one tribe in one location. In general, the Arapaho 'territory" was here in Boulder County, the Ute were more in the mountains/on the eastern slope, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho intermingled a lot, though the Cheyenne "territory" was more northeast.
According to the #HonorNativeLand project website, “Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth.” We may not be able to recover what has been lost, but we can certainly do our part to invite and honor the truth that wants to be remembered.
You can learn more about this amazing project, and how you can offer respect and inspire action, here: https://usdac.us/nativeland/
In other Healing Hub news, we’re having such an amazing time serving our public and members-only communities!
We were so thrilled to have over 100 local folks attend our recent Open House, where the public came see our new space, receive free sample healing sessions, and schmooze over delicious snacks and good company.
Coming up soon in December the Hub is hosting our Annual Holiday Party for Hub members — complete with our hilarious White Elephant gift exchange! Here are some fun pics from last year’s party. :)
We wish you all the best this holiday season and much healing -
with the land, each other, and inside our own bodies and hearts.
May it be a magical and transformative 2019!
Photos of our Annual Open House Celebration!
Thank you so much to everyone who came out for our Healing Hub Annual OPEN HOUSE Celebration! last Friday! We had about 100 wonderful people enjoying our shared space together - attending the varied presentations, partaking in the awesome bodywork, and just hanging out with good people. And we have chosen our raffle winners so you will be hearing from us soon if you are one of the lucky recipients!!
One of the best things about the Boulder Healing Hub: it's a community of heartful connection and professional support for health practitioners, as much as it is a beautiful shared space for seeing clients.
Here are some pictures of our Hubbie-only gathering before the Open House, and photos of the big public event itself. It is such an honor to work with each one of these amazing practitioners! We look forward to another great year of supporting practitioners who are supporting the people of Boulder. <3
And we look forward to celebrating with all of you again next year!
Every Man has a Wounded Boy Living Inside of Him.
Why it Matters, and What to Do about It.
On my own journey as a man (as well as a psychotherapist, father, and partner), I am met, increasingly, with parts of myself that don’t feel good or initially make sense. They often perplex me with their seeming immaturity and impetuousness.
So much so, that my first reaction is to suppress what wants to come out of me for fear that I will be seen as childish. As it turns out, those parts of me are very young, have been pushed down for years, and are asking — and sometimes shouting — for my attention.
This is my wounded boy.
What do I mean when I say, “wounded boy,” and why would you want to find him?
Simply put, our wounded boy is the untended, unacknowledged, and often calcified wounds that we men feel—wounds that originate from all we did wrong, all we couldn’t get right in the eyes of those that mattered most, and the ways we were harmed in our youth.
Why work to find him? Well, because he holds the key to unlocking much of your life force, generativity, creativity, Eros, and aliveness that you long to feel again.
To get at what I mean here — as well as more of the “why” — I’ll use an example from my own partnership to illustrate what I’m speaking to.
My partner is a powerful woman who I find to be equal parts brilliant, fierce, tender, and loving. With that, she’s also sometimes relentless in her intensity around commitment to purpose, awareness, and growth — hers, her community’s, and sometimes , especially, mine. At times, this intensity comes from her own wound story of being all alone in her life with no one to help her make the world a better place.
Her vigilance around what I am doing and who I am often makes me feel as if she’s “picking” or “poking” and can trigger a fear response in my nervous system.
This place of fight/flight/freeze is where my wounded boy shows up most reliably.
My feelings about those kinds of experiences from my past shows up in the present and trigger the boy in me who is terrified that he will be physically harmed (I was), or, in a more mythological sense, destroyed. He’s failed to meet the mostly unspoken expectations made of him.
In this triggered place, even the smallest question around what my intentions are can activate the boy who feels powerful shame for not being right, for not being enough, and for committing the deeply dangerous act of getting it wrong.
So, how do we begin to love our wounded boy?
1. Get to know him.
Once you’ve identified him, you can begin to learn where he shows up in your life, how he shows up, and how he gets in the way of you having healthy, generative, adult relationships. To use me as an example, when I am intensely defensive, that’s my wounded boy showing up. For me, this can look like stoicism, making the other person wrong without telling them, having a “f*ck off” attitude, and occasionally acting out.
With just a little awareness and skill in this new and conscious way of being, this defensiveness can now act as a signal that we’re sensitive and triggered. Paying attention to this allows us to stay more present, speak to our whole experience—”Honey, I hear you and I want to stay present, but I am noticing that I am getting activated and need to take a minute to down-regulate. I’ll be back soon”—and stay in connection with ourselves and our partners.
2. Learn to love him.
This one’s hard at first. Loving a part of ourselves we have spent most of our lives denying, avoiding, belittling, shaming, and repackaging can be tough. I’m still squeamish about this process because, when I identify that I am in my wound and there is someone there to see it, it can feel like sh*t.
I’m training myself — through sense awareness, self-love, a solid breathing practice in my hardest places, and deep, consistent conversations with all of my people— to curb my long-held habits of shutting down, getting pissed and defensive, or ignoring my wounded boy altogether.
Instead — and this practice is vital — I am interrupting those behaviors and substituting new ones. I am slowing down, breathing, taking time to myself when needed, and letting my partner and others see this part of me.
It’s liberating (and terrifying), and it gets easier— not easy, but easier.
3. Introduce him to those closest to you.
This might be the hardest part of the whole process. When our (self-described) ugliest, least evolved, most shameful parts come out, it is usually either when we are stressed or otherwise poorly resourced (think arguments, road rage, sleep deprivation, marital spats).
The different path I am suggesting here is to build agency by proactively sharing these parts of yourself before you are in conflict. In the process, you end up reshaping your body’s reaction to these aspects of you through your vulnerable, courageous admission of their presence, while incrementally transmuting that habitual reaction into a healthier, agentic, learned response.
The other powerful bonus is that, in the process, you become more and more known to those you love the most. They begin to see more of who you are. By doing this, the folks in your community that you share these parts of yourself with now can become your advocates, helping you to see yourself more clearly and work with these hard-to-see places more effectively.
So, my advice to those of you wanting to know, love, and heal your wounded boy, is to share these parts with those who feel safe to you. It might only be your journal at first, or your dog. Maybe it’s your best friend. Perhaps it’s your partner.
Two more vital points: This won’t happen all at once—in fact, it can’t. So expect to feel familiar feelings while also working to act differently when they arise. This process will be messy—sometimes, very messy. And that is okay, and is truly, absolutely necessary. If we try too hard to get it right and work to have everything be smooth and beautiful, then we miss the point and we miss ourselves in the process.
And, lastly, be kind to yourself; be gentle with your little guy because he deserves your love.
He is you, after all.
Author: Jeff Howard
Editor: Callie Rushton
Published in Elephant Journal
Photos of our Grand Opening Celebration!
Thank you all so much to everyone who came out for the Boulder Healing Hub's official Grand Opening Community Celebration last Friday evening, September 23rd, 2016. We had about 100 people attend - who enjoyed the many presentations, bodywork offerings, yummy snacks, and great community n' conversation! It was truly a delightful evening of warmth and connection, celebrating the Boulder Healing Hub's one year anniversary of opening our doors in 2015.
Before the Grand Opening began on Friday we had a pre-event just for Hubbies (practitioners who work out of the Hub) to bless the space, connect to one another, and learn more about each others' practices. Then we invited the public in to see what we are about!
Check out the photos below, and feel free to contact us if you (or someone you know) is interested in joining our team. We still have plenty of space for new practitioners to be a part of our wonderful collective.
Clarity and Courage
We are faced with thousands of decisions in our lifetime. Some are very simple, such as what to wear that day. Others are more difficult, such as whether to leave a job or end a relationship. Sometimes the decision is made for us if we put it off for too long, which is a decision in itself. All are placed before us for our learning and growth.
Artwork by Natta Haotzima
Have you noticed that some people are able to make decisions with great ease while others agonize over the smallest choices? How we make decisions can be a reflection of patterns of how we go through life in general. Are we bold and confident? Are we withdrawn and give up our power? Do we embrace life or hold back out of fear? Some may see situations from many perspectives while others believe they have the only truth. All these patterns make us uniquely who we are in the world. We are held responsible for how we go through life and the choices or lack of choices we make. In order to live life to the fullest, the patterns under which we operate and how we make decisions require effective strategies and inner resources. Two of the qualities that are very helpful to have are clarity and courage.
Clarity involves knowing what we want, awareness of options, understanding the consequences and seeing the big picture. If you frequently hear yourself say, “I don’t know what to do; I don’t know what I want.” Or, maybe you come from the opposite end and frequently say, “I don’t care what happens, I’m doing it my way.” Both are examples of lack of clarity. One leads to feeling paralyzed. The other may lead to severe consequences that the person didn’t consider. There are several aspects that interfere with clarity:
· Not having criteria for the outcome. If you are going to buy a car, for example, it’s a very difficult decision to make from the hundreds of models available if you have no criteria for what you want. If you have the criteria of a certain budget, gas mileage, safety, comfort, sporty or seating capacity, it’s a little bit easier to narrow down your choices.
· How we ask the question. Starting a question with “Should I”, or limiting the options we look at often interferes with clarity. Our brain doesn’t know what to do with the word should, and gets hung up on that ambiguity instead of searching for answers. We also get polarized and create an internal argument as there are often positives to both options. If we pose questions such as, “Should I go out tonight or stay home.” Should I take the new job or stay in the old one,” we often get stuck. One way of bringing clarity in is by starting to connect with your inner guidance to know what you want that’s at a higher level. Examples of newly worded questions would be, “How can I best relax and unwind tonight?” or, “How can I enjoy my job and bring in more money?” The wisdom is in the question. When we ask a question starting with “how can I”, or “in what ways can I”, our brain starts on a search to find all the ways that can happen. One powerful question that fits any situation is, “What is my next step for my Highest Good?”
· No permission to have what we want. Sometimes we feel we don’t have the right to have we want. If we have beliefs of, “I don’t deserve”, “I never get what I want, “Every time I get what I want I mess it up”, the energy of those beliefs is going to stop us fromgiving ourselves permission to make a decision.
· Want to make a decision from a place of anxiety or anger. The part of our brain involved when we’re anxious or angry has to do with the flight or fight response. It can’t think of new options or be creative. So, making a decision from this place can be difficult. Doing some deep breathing and telling ourselves to relax and let go can be helpful. Another easy method is to put one hand on your forehead and the other hand behind your head and just hold it there for a few minutes, breathing slowly. This is a method that interrupts your body’s stress response, actually begins to retrain your body to relax.
· Fear of making a mistake, other people’s reactions, wanting guarantees. Sometimes we get paralyzed by beliefs that we must be perfect, that others must approve of all that we do, that we need a guarantee of success before we move forward. Although it’s helpful to get as much information as possible when making a decision, being overly influenced by what’s out of our control clouds our clarity. Sometimes it’s not so much that we don’t know what to do, it’s that we’re afraid of doing what we know to do. So, instead, we sit and wait and agonize, losing sleep and energy.
Courage comes into play in making decisions by developing trust in ourselves and our inner wisdom. Courage means going inside and connecting with our soul for the clarity and guidance for what to do, knowing that only we know what’s right for us. Our part is to be quiet and listen. Courage means knowing that life holds no guarantees for success, but does guarantee our learning and growth when we allow it.
May we all have the clarity to know our next step, and the courage to take it.
Dixie Clark, MS, DSS, is a registered psychotherapist and an ordained minister. She holds a masters’ degree in both counseling and spiritual science, and has a doctorate in spiritual science. With over 28 years experience in mind/body therapies, she combines spirituality, psychology and energy work to help people release emotional blocks, heal past trauma and change limiting beliefs to open to soul awareness.
www.dixieclark.com info@dixieclark.com 402-968-3894
Stress Management for the Holidays
If you live in Boulder and are looking for tips on stress management for the holidays, this blog post will guide you in the right direction.
For so many of us in our modern life, the holidays can bring up a roller coaster of emotions ranging from giddy and childlike excitement to overwhelming anxiety or debilitating depression. Much of the stress we experience is connected to expectations for that picture perfect, happy family or surrounded by friends and expensive gifts, a vision often promoted in the media by the corporations and local businesses. As many years of holidays as I’ve lived through, I always seem to catch at least a brief ride on this seasonal roller coaster.
Stress management: Say yes to yourself this holiday season.
Reality is a bit different than the media would portray. Life doesn’t stop because the holiday season is upon us. This means that everyday stressors such as financial strain, family conflict and loneliness that happen any time of year can be what is present in our life during the holidays. Major life losses such as divorce, death of a loved one, illness or injury, addictions and unemployment or anniversaries of these events means that many may be in the midst of the grieving process when the world around is expecting merriment. Even without a major life upset, the pressures and cultural circumstances during the winter holiday season can serve as a catalyst to magnify our experience of stress. It might feel like an easy way to escape for a while by jumping into the party scene, indulging in retail therapy or scarfing down the holiday treats in the staff room. But are the consequences worth it? Too many of us slowly awaken in January to a dazed state of regret from our isolation or guilt or remorse at the hangovers, added inches and credit card debt, or feeling no closer to family or friends or that media promoted promised land of happiness.
Luckily we have a say in how we navigate the season and how we respond to our internal and external pressures to eat more, buy more and drink more. If you are indeed struggling with a recent loss, ongoing mental health challenges, illness, isolation or family stress then stress management skills of self-care, compassion and putting yourself first, are of utmost importance.
The following suggestions can help reduce your stress, while keeping you physically healthy, energized and open to experiencing more of the inherent joy of the season. The truth is, these are simple suggestions that most of us may struggle with implementing any time of year with our busy lives. It is also true that following these guidelines can make a profound and powerful difference in how you feel and experience this holiday season.
*Maintain your normal routine, including the times you eat your meals and the types of food you eat. When you have nourished yourself with good food it makes it easier to indulge in a few of your favorite holiday treats guilt free.
*Get plenty of sleep, (eight hours is ideal ) going to bed and wakening at the same time daily.
*Attend therapeutic appointments, support groups, healing sessions or doctor visits as normally scheduled. There are many supportive professionals at the area’s new healing center Boulder Healing Hub making Boulder stress management this holiday season more than convenient. For some it might be helpful to increase these supports this time of year rather than cut back. Personally, this year I have gifted myself 2 massages this month and would highly recommend you check out Tina Tongen massage therapist extraordinaire at the Hub. I recently enjoyed the experience of melting on the massage table in her very capable hands!
*Get regular exercise, multiple times weekly if not daily. Get outside during daylight hours.
*Maintain hobbies and interests and social connections.
*Allow down time by yourself, away from crowds for reflection, practicing metta or meditation. Take a hot epson salt bath with your favorite essential oils. Take turns with your spouse getting free time from the kids and just read a book in front of a fire or the lighted Christmas tree.
*Minimize sugary foods and drinks, which tend to bring our body and mind out of balance in multiple ways, including contributing to feelings of depression.
*Drink plenty of water. While last on the list, this tip is far from the least important.
In fact, you may have noticed that 5 out of the 8 suggestions include basic physical care such as food, hydration and exercise. Being loving towards our bodies is essential for healthy functioning of our minds and moods. Though seemingly simple, the impact of failing to attend to these basic needs is often powerful and destructive to our health and our peace. The next time you notice an uptick in your stress or irritability ask yourself if you are hungry, thirsty or need a nap. If you remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, these basics are the foundation, the fertile soil for further opening to our higher states of being. When the basic needs are met, we naturally move towards our higher nature. Taking time for meditation or mindfulness practices keeps us paradoxically grounded as well as open to further expansion into the connection and love inherent in the season.
Boulder stress management with reflection, meditation or prayer.
More practical tips for holiday self-care including all those parties and obligations:
It is okay to say “no” or “no thanks, I have other plans.” These are complete statements and requires no further explanation. Can’t say no to a family or professional obligation? Allow yourself to arrive late and give yourself the option to leave early.
Have special dietary needs? Bring the food you know is best for you or plan and make time to eat before you attend a party. Similarly, bring your own fun drinks if you are not drinking alcohol. Kombucha and flavored sparkling water or juice with seltzer are all festive options.
If you know of a friend who has had a recent loss or no family in town, invite them to join your festivities. If you are the one alone and want to be with others there are many local churches or meditation sanghas providing services and holiday activities. In fact one local minister, Roger Wolsey will be providing a non-denominational, inter-faith Blue Christmas service at a local funeral home Dec. 22 in Boulder for those in grief, or not feeling festive for any reason. Another classic option when feeling down is actually reaching out to others in need which is a known mood booster. Volunteer opportunities near Boulder/Longmont
Finally, start your own holiday traditions that feed your soul. There are as many possibilities as there are people in this world. Perhaps babysit for that single working mom you know from work, shovel the driveway for your elderly neighbor or deliver a cup of hot cocoa to the policeman directing traffic at the mall.
Wishing you a very merry and stress-free Christmas!
A few of my own life examples have included hosting a holiday gathering I called the “HannaKwanzaChristmas festivus for the rest of us shrimp extravaganza and open house.” (Say that 5 times fast)! The point is, make it fun, personalize it with your own favorite people, foods and traditions.
I have also enjoyed Christmas caroling at a local nursing home. The residents came alive with delight as they sang along and it never failed to bring joy to my soul.
This year my sister is visiting from California and rather than stressing through shopping mall traffic and crowds for last minute gifts we have scheduled massages for ourselves to enjoy on Christmas eve day.
I encourage you this season to make time for the basic nurturing habits of good sleep, good food and staying hydrated and for cultivating activities that bring joy or maybe just a little more peace to others and ultimately to you. Simply put, you’ll enjoy yourself more without buying into all the holiday pressures and fantasies and the world will indeed be a merrier place!
Wishing you all a peaceful, loving and healthy holiday season!
Mary Kay
This post is written by Mary Kay Irving, holistic nutritionist, psychotherapist and lifestyle coach at the Boulder Healing Hub.