Hey Reader, Have you seen the new Inside Out movie? In case you aren't familiar with it, Inside Out is a Pixar movie that shows how an 11-year-old girl, Riley’s emotions interact and develop inside of her. The new sequel, Inside Out 2, features a 13-year-old Riley as she hits puberty and a new cast of more complicated emotions gets introduced, including embarrassment, ennui, and—most disruptive of all—anxiety. What I love about this movie is that you can see how anxiety is just trying to...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, A lot of people come to me with symptoms that conventional medical doctors have no good answers for. Chronic sinusitis? Throw a decongestant and some Advil at it. Migraines? Let's put you on birth control, caffeine pills, and prescription pain medications to see if anything changes. Anxiety and insomnia? No problem. There are drugs to numb those feelings and knock you out. Of course I'm being facetious. Pharmaceuticals can be life-saving, and you will often hear me singing modern...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, If you’ve come to see me in clinic recently, there’s a good chance we’ve talked about ways to support your body, mind, and spirit as we transition from winter to spring. Just as the weather can be fickle this time of year, sometimes it takes people a little time to acclimate. If you have too much cold still stuck in your system from winter, or you don’t have enough energy to push past the obstructions that will inevitably stand in your way in spring, you’ll feel the impact on both...
7 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I am not one to brag about exhaustion. I don’t wear busyness as a badge of honor (as so many are wont do in our society). If you ever hear me lament that I’ve had too much to do and too little rest, it’s because some deeper part of my psyche hopes that the act of voicing my overwhelm will somehow relieve it. This was often the case over the past month. With 2 small children, my life is already full to the brim with activity under even the most mundane circumstances. Add in a...
10 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, A few years ago I noticed this idea circulating on social media: that nobody can make you feel any particular way. Hand-in-hand with this belief, some self-help gurus also like to tell us that we're entirely responsible for our emotions. But try to apply this belief to your own life and you'll quickly start feeling confused, frustrated, and like a failure. Because the truth isn't quite so simple. No matter how hard you try, no matter how many gratitude lists you write and how many...
12 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Yesterday's workshop on the 3 Paths to Healing Chronic Stress and Anxiety went SO well that I feel compelled to do it again. This information is just too good to not share it with as many people as possible. If you missed the workshop (or if you'd like to attend again!) meet me here at 3 pm PST today (Monday 10/2) and use the passcode "3Paths" to get in. Here's what you'll learn: Hidden sources of stress that you can address right away A surprising category of food that can...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Happy Equinox, Reader! I’m sending an extra special email today, because we’re in the midst one of the most significant transitions of the year, and the more awareness you bring to this transition, the more you can work with it to see positive results. First, I’ll give you a little background info around the themes that dominate this transition, and then we’ll put this wisdom into action with 5 Essential Fall Wellness Guidelines to help you feel more grounded, content, and thrive this time of...
about 1 year ago • 4 min read
Do you ever wish you could time-travel, Reader? Whenever you experience anxiety that's exactly what you're doing. Because when you encounter a stressful situation that you can't escape, don't have the opportunity to process afterwards, or find yourself in repeatedly, the memory of that stress gets stored in your nervous system as a pattern. This stress-pattern is then reactivated whenever you find yourself in a similar situation moving forward, and it clouds your ability to see —and respond...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, Could chronic stress be impacting your mental and physical health without you even knowing it? The short answer is yes. Unfortunately, chronic stress has become so normalized that most people don't even realize that they're suffering unnecessarily. Here's what's going on: Chronic stress happens when you have repeated exposure to stressful situations that you can't escape or process afterwards. Stress patterns then get embedded in your nervous system, and you end up in a state of...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read