I know what you’re thinking… OMG, we’ve barely gotten through Halloween yet! But every year, without fail, the hustle and bustle of December sneaks up on us. And what is the first thing to go as we get preppin’ for the festivities? Self-care! You know that it’s true. We’ve all experienced it.  So, now seems like a good time to get an action plan together to pre-empt overwhelm and self-neglect.

Give yourself the gift of SELF CARE

Be specific in the self-care plan you prescribe for yourself by determining what, how often and when you will do something that is entirely devoted to you.

• What things do you currently do to practice self care?
• What might you add, revise or eliminate to optimize your well-being?
• How frequently do you take time out for yourself? Is it enough? Do you need more “me time”?

Review and revise your schedule to find the time for you.  That might mean saying no, or not now, to other people’s requests and any self-assigned tasks that have been standing in the way.  If you are not doing anything (or not enough) for yourself,  you need to schedule it in like you would any other important appointment and stick with it – no matter what!

Try making this plan not just for the December rush. Self-care should be a daily ritual.  And it doesn’t have to be any longer than 2 – 3 minutes to make a difference. Sometimes, the simplest way to do this is to take time out to breathe.

Furthermore, reassess your self-care plan monthly (or at least quarterly) to be sure it’s working for you.  In that way, it will help keep it top of mind and move you to making it a regular habit.

Need Help?

On that note, if you need some guidance implementing self-care and/or movement into your lifestyle, I’m offering a 4-week wellness coaching package at a fraction of the usual cost. For $199, we’ll work together one-on-one where you will:

• Learn practical wellness tips that are easy to apply to your day-to-day life
• Develop new lifestyle practices that help you tune into your body’s natural needs for nourishment and movement
• Reshape your well-being in a way that works for you

Includes:

• Initial consult, complimentary
• 4 – weekly private PT or yoga sessions in the home
• 4 – weekly one-on-one coaching calls
• Program cards with detailed exercise instructions
• Unlimited email support
• And MORE
• Valued at over $500

This Holiday promo only comes around once a year and there are just a handful of spots available. Contact Michelle today to see if the Define Me Way is right for you.

The post It’s That Time of Year Again! appeared first on Define Me Wellness.

Of course, I can certainly understand the backlash.  The thought of your child being made to feel embarrassed by the food they are eating and the shame and pressure that puts on parents going forward is problematic.  At first my reaction was similar to most parents in getting agitated about the issue and thinking “How dare they!”.  But those are just surface level responses.  There is a deeper issue at play here and we as parents/teachers/health professionals/advocates, are missing the mark.

It’s not a matter of teachers being inherently evil or wanting to shame our kids. It is my belief that teachers, just like parents, want what is best for children while in their care.  However, we are all to blame; we all created this issue and we can all be part of the solution.  And if we are ever going to solve it, there is a need to take a deeper dive into the root cause of what would make an adult feel compelled to take certain foods away from a child.

Let’s start with this question:

• Q: Why? Why did this happen in the first place?
• A: In a word – Fear.

We are being fed scare tactics via our cultural, scientific and mass media messaging.  Just think of some of the top headlines that come up when health and wellness is being addressed:

• “Today’s children not expected to outlive parents”
• “Declaring war on childhood obesity”
• “Sugar is the new crack cocaine”
• “Sitting is the new smoking”

That messaging influences our beliefs and choices around our own diets, exercise and health, which then impacts our beliefs around how other people should be eating – moving – living, which then quickly filters down to how we raise and teach our kids.

As a community of people invested in raising happy-healthy children, we need to see the issue of food policing in schools as a much more entrenched issue than what it appears to be.  We need to shift the conversation away from blame and shame, recognize our biases around food morality, body size and health and dialogue towards creating school food practices/policies that provide access to all foods in a balanced, yet relaxed environment, that will ultimately nourish us all.

The post Food Policing in Schools: There’s a bigger problem we are failing to address appeared first on Define Me Wellness.

This is your opportunity to try Reiki – one of many subtle body modalities that is known to reduce the stress response, providing relaxation and alignment of the whole system (mind and body and soul).

An in-person session involves the client lying on a massage table, fully clothed, while the practitioner places hands directly on or hovering over different points of the body.  Results typically experienced during and after a session (as told by my clients), may be as follows:

• Decreased pain and/or tension
• Improved inner body awareness
• A sense of being grounded
• More feelings of being calm, at peace
• Less feelings of overwhelm/depression/anxiety

Pay What Feels Best means you pay what feels appropriate for you; no minimum amount required, no obligation.  In fact, payment is discrete with a drop box for you to place your designated amount without the potentially awkward moment of money exchanging hands.

Sessions run in duration anywhere between 30 – 90 minutes.

Distance healing also available upon request.

Contact Michelle to schedule an appointment.

The post Reiki Appointments Now Available, Pay What Feels Best appeared first on Define Me Wellness.