What works for me...the top three reasons I feel great
Being in the "healthcare industry" now seems like a revelation. And I truly mean HEALTH + CARE industry as opposed to the medical system. But let's just gloss over that elephant in the room to something more hopeful and positive like how good I feel at 46!
In fact, I can easily say I feel much better at 46 than I did at 40 or 41, or 42, or 43, or 44. 45 was pretty good, but I feel better now (see hormones). I don't feel perfect (knee still arthritic) or young or skinny or accomplished or successful to any quantifiable degree. I just feel better.
I've been thinking about why that is and I wanted to share it to see if my path to feeling great might help some of my friends who may have stumbled onto this blog. Here are some things that have helped me:
1. Connection:
Lately I feel more connection in my life with people, students, ideas, and the garden. That's a lot more connection that I'd been making before this last year. My astute teacher Ashton Szabo helped me realize that the best yoga teachers personally connect and care for their students. This approach to my own yoga instruction has blessed me way more than any of my students. This skill requires greater receptivity and an acknowledgement that we are all deeply connected already and has opened me to way more people in general this year (not just students.)
Here's another amazing thing that has improved my life this year. I've been studying enough philosophy and yogic thought to start to see how one teaching connects with that of another school of thought and how that ancient school of thought is being reapplied by modern writers such as Alan Watts, Mark Nepo, Stephen Cope, Charlies Eistenstein, and Eckhart Tolle. It's all connected and it's all pointing me to unity, acceptance and service and love.
2. Yoga, meditation, and fitness:
I'll lump all of my yoga and fitness pursuits together and put them just behind connection in making forty-six feel amazing. Because I work a lot less than I used to and have a wonderful sponsor and partner in Piet Aldrich, I'm still enjoying the privilege of strengthening and opening my body and mind almost every day. Ahhhh and it feels amazing- downright fun for a kin-esthetic person like me whose favorite high (after instructing a yoga class) is feeling deeply into my own body.
I'm also loving these meditation apps that are out there: Insight Timer, Biofeedback, YouTube videos. They allow me to squeeze in a five to 20 minute meditation almost anywhere (like sitting in my car on the 101 in front of Rubios waiting to pick up a kid from Jr. Lifeguards). It is truly an amazing world we live in where we have this kind of magic at our fingertips.
3. Other Self-care:
When I was working too much and into the wee hours of the morning designing landscapes in the cracks of space around familial obligations, I royally messed up my endocrine system. My adrenals took the brunt of it, but I also messed up my sex hormones. I can assure you it's something you want to avoid at all costs. I felt exhausted all day, insomnia at night, no sex drive, anxiety, and brain fog. I gained weight around my middle and didn't feel like going out or socializing. It was rough.
Luckily, a combination of efforts got me back on track towards wellness. My research guided me to a ton of expensive supplements* (see full list below). But, I'd be the first to admit that those supplements wouldn't mean much without the changes I made in my lifestyle. One of the most profound changes was just getting to sleep earlier. That means being asleep by 11:00 pm. Yes, your mom was right. Nothing good happens after 11:00 pm. A quick Google search of "adrenals and sleep" will confirm what I'm saying a thousand times over. I also took on less landscape design work and added a consistent and daily yoga practice. I ate better, more regularly, less, and improved my gut health. I realize those are broad generalizations, but I'm afraid diet and gut health might be a whole separate blog by someone way more knowledgeable that me.
One of the less obvious things that helped me was filling a prescription for testosterone from my OBGYN who confirmed through blood tests that I was well below any normal range. After two years, I stopped taking the testosterone- thinking that I had been feeling well for a couple of years and didn't need it any more. I quickly regained the spare tire around my waist and got that late afternoon fogginess back. My last blood test confirmed that I still did need the testosterone even after everything else had recovered. I have since learned that once you mess those sex hormones up, they hardly ever recover. And mama, I assure you it feels better to have your hormones in their optimal ranges. Here are the hormones you might want to check if you're a woman my age: Testosterone Free and Total, DHEA, FSH, Estradiol, and Progesterone. Ask your OBGYN for a panel at your annual check up.
I got things back on track over the course of a couple of YEARS. Yes, it took years to feel like myself again. I hate to think that any other working mama could be out there feeling tired, fat, anxious, sleepless and irritable and feeling that that might be their new "normal". It's not normal at all and you deserve better. I wish you the best of luck on your journey to health and balance. We all deserve to feel great.
*Supplements I take for maxed out adrenals: Dr. Wilson's slow-release Vitamin C, DHEA (15 mg/day, but careful not to over-do this hormone precursor) Vitamin B5 or Pantothenic Acid.
Other Supplements I take that most could benefit from: Vitamin D3 (I read somewhere that a majority of Americans are low in D3), Omega 3 fatty acids (my friend Dave who has a company that makes Omega 3's says we need over 3000 mg/day for optimal health), B12, Mega Food Blood Builder (iron and multivitamin) and Calcium with Magnesium. I know that's a ton of costly vitamins, and I'd be the first to admit that those supplements wouldn't mean much without the changes I made in my lifestyle.
