Mindful Eating While Stressed Out: Part 1

Guest Blogger: Paige E. Butkus, Nourished to the Core, LLC – Holistic Nutritionist & Yoga Teacher

Stress is a part of life and how we deal with it determines the quality of our life. One way of dealing with stress is to eat foods that comfort us such as pasta, pizza, ice cream, cookies, and the list goes on. Just reading these words might conjure up feelings of happiness as carbohydrate-rich foods have been shown to increase your feel good neurotransmitter serotonin. Food has a profound impact on our lives in a multitude of ways from reminding us of our childhood to distracting us from dealing with our problems. In order to combat stressful eating, prepare yourself with awareness and knowledge.

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Image Credit: Creative Commons

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Yoga: Healing with Intention and Beginning Your Yoga Practice – Part 2

Guest Blogger: Nora Josephson, MA, LPCC, RYT-200

Start with an Intention.

What are you needing right now? What intention can you set for your practice? These can be similar to affirmations or coping thoughts. Maybe you need to hear:

  • “I am okay in this moment”.
  • Possibly it is as simple as, “Breathe in…breathe out.”
  • Or “Inhale” as you inhale and “exhale” as you exhale.
  • Or “I am ______” (examples: I am strong, I am enough, I am loved).
childspose

Photo Credits: Erin Stotts

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Yoga: A Healing Practice – Part 1

Guest Blogger: Nora Josephson, MA, LPCC, RYT-200

“Try to do everything in the world with a mind that lets go. If you let go a little you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom. Your struggles with the world will have come to an end”. –Achaan Chah

At this point in time, most people in the Western world have become familiar with the term “yoga”, however, there seem to be many varying ideas about the practice. People may often think of comfy yoga pants, or someone who is limber and flexible or possibly a monk sitting cross-legged, chanting “Om”. The truth is that anyone can do yoga! Many of you might be hesitant to try it out, or believe that you could in fact be a “yogi”, but if you can breathe…you can do yoga! “Once you rest your attention on your breath, everything else begins to open up with ease” (Stiles, 2012).

upwardfacingdog

Photo Credit: Erin Stotts

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