August is National Wellness Month
Since this is National Wellness Month (every month is always something), I thought I would throw out a few things that you can jump ahead to if it sounds interesting.
1. Habits: breaking old ones, creating new ones
2. Boundaries: Do you know yours?
3. Lymph, lymph, lymph
1. Improve Your Habits
An acclaimed book, Atomic Habits by James Clear, was so good I read it twice in sequence. I’ll draw upon some of the concepts in his book.
How do I break a bad habit?
Bad (subjective) habits can be deterred by making them undesirable. How? Make it difficult to achieve or accomplish.
Ex: You want to drink less alcohol? Get rid of or don’t keep alcohol at home. If you really want to drink, you inconvenience yourself by going to a bar and spending a lot of money or overcome the obstacle of traveling to a store and then home.
How do I get into good habits?
Do the opposite of above; make it desirable and easy to do.
Ex: You want to start exercising or get more exercise. If it’s in the morning, get your workout gear ready and clothes laid out the night before or if it’s after work, pack your gym bag the night before and take it with you.
Getting clear to your why you want to change your habits is also helpful.
I highly recommend reading Atomic Habits.
2. Drawing the Lines
It seems more challenging to have healthy boundaries these days, especially since technology makes almost everyone and everything available 24/7. I think it’s important to know when you need your space and honor that.
For example, I’m kinda crazy and work 6 days a week so on my one day off I often will not respond to text message or answer calls to my business line or look at email. Same goes for when I’m out of office for continuing ed classes or more personal time off (I’ll usually have an auto respond message for text and calls).
This works for me and it may not work for others. You have to determine what works for you and your well-being. If you don’t honor your own boundaries, no one else will either.
3. Oh, the Lymph!
I’ve had a lot of inquires about lymphatic work this year. FYI I do not do lymphatic drainage! BUUUUUT I do have a couple of colleagues in the desert that do and I’ll list their info below.
What is lymph drainage?
It’s a gentle manual therapy that helps the lymphatic system function more efficiently focusing on moving lymphatic fluid through the superficial lymph vessels toward the lymph nodes, structures that have immune cells that fight infection. The lymphatic system is an important system in your body because it helps process proteins and separate waste material to be eliminated. People often get this treatment after surgeries, injuries, or due to medical conditions that cause lymphedema. This can help speed up the healing process and reduce swelling.
How is Lymph Drainage administered?
Your lymphatic system is present throughout your body, deep and superficial. No lubricant is used. The practitioner needs that skin-to-skin contact to pull the skin in a certain direction to influence lymphatic fluid to move toward lymph nodes. Sometimes lymph nodes are surgically removed due to cancer and fluid has to be drained at other available nodes.
How Can I Help My Own Lymphatic System?
Move! Movement helps the lymphatic system operate. Unlike the cardiovascular system, there is nothing pumping the lymphatic fluid which is why people who get a lot less movement tend to be sick more often. My friend, Lisa, tells me, “You need to get into the pool” because, I guess, the movement through water influences lymph fluid.
Feel free to research this stuff on your own as I am no expert on this subject matter.
My friends and colleagues who do lymph drainage:
Lisa Ross
https://mldtherapist.com
Desert Hot Springs
Dee Dee Markes
https://bodywisdombydeedeemarkes.abmp.com/
Cathedral City
If you contact them, tell them I sent you!
As always, booking online is available 24/7 and there are options for buying bulk sessions with bonus $ for pre-purchasing PLUS you can share it with friends, family, spouses, lovers, lover’s lovers… you get the idea.
Have a wonderful month!
Richard