We are all familiar with the little red and white boxes filled with bandages, gauze and tools to help with the emergencies of life. Many of us have these located around our homes, in our cars, on boats and various other places where they can be handy. It is recommended that at least annually you take stock of your first aid kit and refresh supplies that have expired or that have been depleted. I personally recommend doing this prior to Spring when more outdoor activities start up and injury risks increase. In considering what should go into your first aid kit, I also recommend a large amount of natural medicines that are ideal for first aid use. Using natural products is important in my family in order to decrease our exposure to chemicals, especially in times of health risk, but also to promote healing. I have found natural health products for first aid to be effective, gentle and easy to use as well without the guess work of figuring out what to use for what in times of need. Additionally, natural health medicines for first aid are inexpensive and easy to access making them ideal for replenishing without worry of out-of-stock items in the big box stores. By far the biggest factor for me to use a natural medicine first aid kit was the versatility. If I’m out of something in my kit, there are plenty of natural elements in my kit that can be used as a substitute. In a worst case scenario I can also use directly from nature if our kit isn’t with us too. Elements of Natural First Aid Kit Homeopathic Tinctures I like to include basics to help with things like bleeding and pain in tincture form so they are fast acting. Our bodies naturally respond in these situations to help but a homeopathic can provide that bridge of support while our body works to repair and stop what’s occurring. In the homeopathic section I recommend: Valerian – anxiety, tension and insomnia Arnica – good for cold relief, anxiety and sleep Belladonna – fever, headaches Hypericum – supportive of painful cuts; use as a tincture for antiseptic to prevent tetanus Silica – splinters, boils Herbs Like homeopathic options there are several herbs that are great for certain emergencies. These are easy to use and can be freshly ground or pre-made and stored in your first aid kit. Cayenne Pepper – Helpful to cardiovascular care to help increase blood flow. In the event of heart attack while you wait on an ambulance, cayenne pepper can make a world of difference. Ginger – Upset tummies, diarrhea and digestive concerns can be comforted with the use of ginger. Chamomile – this is a great herb to keep in the first aid kit for wound care. You can use powdered chamomile for poultices to promote healing and reducing swelling Colloidal Silver – pain, discomfort, fever Comfrey – is a helpful herb for bone breaks. Using a poultice until medical care can be provided helps healing begin and eases swelling. Slippery Elm – Sore throats Goldenseal – antimicrobial for cut and wound bleeding also helpful with diarrhea Essential oils Using a high quality essential oil product, I recommend doTERRA, provides you with ease of access in using oils in your first aid kit. That’s because you don’t have to worry about if it will make matters worse and they can be trusted to deliver support when it is most needed. If you’re going to include essential oils in your first aid kit, then I also recommend you include a small bottle of fractionated coconut oil for dilution. This is helpful to increase absorption of the oil into the skin and provides a gentle experience for small children, seniors and those with sensitive skin concerns. Lavender – excellent for burns, including sunburns, bites and stings Peppermint – a natural antiseptic it helps with respiratory support. It is also helpful in situations of vomiting and nausea. Clove – a must for teething and loose teeth in children. It also helps with exposures to fungus, viruses and bacteria by being highly disinfectant. This is a great hand cleaner for prepping to care for an injury Tea Tree – is a anti-bacterial, antimicrobial, anti-viral and anti-fungal oil. This is good for many applications including cleaning out wounds and disinfecting first aid tools Other Natural First Aid Supplies to Include Fractionated coconut oil Natural antibiotic ointment – I recommend this one… Natural lozenges – I recommend these Pink Himalayan Salt – mix with water for mouth pain, as well as cleaning and disinfecting of wounds Hydrogen Peroxide – helpful with cleaning, oral care, ear pain Activated Charcoal – helpful with food poisoning, vomiting, diarrhea and toxins ingestion. Apple Cider Vinegar – helps to reduce duration of illnesses, digestive problems Witch hazel – cuts, scrapes, rashes Bandages, including butterfly, regular, small, large and kid print fun ones Gauze First aid tape Moleskin Elastic bandage wrap Collapsible Hot water bottle Small scissors Tweezers Thermometer Poison control phone number Ambulance phone number Natural Health First Aid One of the best ways to be prepared for an emergency is to have a first aid kit. Updating your first aid kit to include natural health medicine can be a safe and effective way to support emergencies while giving you confidence to support what is needed in that moment. For access to quality homeopathic, herbs, essential oils and other natural health care products please visit me online for access and information. Please visit dragonspitaothecary.com

I used to never wear gloves when I cleaned the house. They were a nuisance for me. I knew plenty of friends that would don the long gloves to wash dishes or clean the bathrooms but that just never worked for me. I also never wear gardening gloves for the same reason. It was not until I learned what toxins were really in our products that gloves not only became a tool of safety but also made me question what we were actually using some of the products for in our home. We can water down a lot of things to make it justified for use or consumption but when it comes to toxins, it really leaves behind a film of the worst kind. There is a lot of talk these days about toxins. It’s not new but with current virus variants, product concerns and environmental threats toxin concerns have once again emerged to top of mind. Toxins are something all of us should be concerned about because they are unavoidable. While we need to learn to live with some of them we also need to know how to eliminate and minimize others that can have a detrimental impact to our health. What is a Toxin? Let’s start at the beginning with describing what a toxin actually is. Like most things, the news on toxins has varied and not always been helpful in knowing if they are harmful or not. A toxin is very simply a poison. It is the fine print on labels that hardly anyone reads. It is dangerous to our body. This can mean it is dangerous to not only our skin but respiratory, digestive, cognitive, muscular, and nervous systems among others. The damage may be minimal or it may be extreme. It can harm our mental health, mood, appetite and even things we don’t even notice. It can seem not that bad too. Like a strong aroma that stings our nose when we smell it or dry hands after touching it. We scrub that off with soaps before touching other things but often there is still an exposure that has done something to our body. Our immune system is put into hyper mode trying to protect us from even the smallest of exposures of these kind. They are everywhere too. Toxins are not only in our products we use every day but our soaps we wash the dishes and laundry with, our food and water and even the air we breathe. It is unavoidable most days. We can take measures of course to reduce but there is no way to live 100% toxin free. Where we run into trouble with the toxin definition is with the word safe. In small doses some toxins can be considered safe for use, exposure and even ingestion. This is why most people don’t give them a second thought and labels on products go unread. Safety is relative in this respect and can be watered down to length of exposure, dosage, purpose and even accessibility. What is Toxic Load? Toxic load is another term you may have heard especially in the natural health space. Given that we cannot completely avoid toxins all of us have a toxic load in our body. Quite simply it is the level of the body’s total accumulation of toxic chemicals. High toxic load can occur through ongoing exposure to toxins but also because of the body’s inability to detox from these chemicals regularly. This results in a weakened immune system that can cause illnesses and diseases in the body. It can also occur through genetics passed from parents to children through DNA cells. This can result in deformities, diseases and illnesses in children even before they are born. It can also predispose us to lifelong conditions held in our cells when we are adults. Our mental health is also impacted by toxic loads. The brain’s ability to process thoughts, direct cellular activities and perform repairs are all inhibited. Nervous system issues and autoimmune concerns can transpire due to these weaknesses. Understanding Your Toxic Load There are laboratory tests that can be done to asses your toxic load. Many full panel lab tests can show the different chemicals in our body. That is a sure way to identify and work to improve our toxic load. Knowing we all have a toxic load we can easily begin with assessing our own lifestyle and determining a range of how high our toxic load could be. Begin by looking at all the products in your home and the ingredients they contain. If there are ingredients you don’t recognize or cannot pronounce look them up! You will be surprised at the amount of artificial fragrance and chemical in most every day products. It may be scary but also check your food. Processed snacks, sodas, sports drinks and foods can also be sources for chemicals. What shocked me the most is my dish soap. Here I was thinking I was washing my dishes so they would be clean and usable for our next meal only to realize I was applying chemicals to them and we were eating that. The flatware, plates, and cups we use every day were coated in chemicals that don’t rinse off. Another big source of chemicals is our personal care products. Hair care, skin care, bath products and more! On average we use products containing over 60 chemicals alone in this category every day. From toothpaste to moisturizer there is chemicals in every one of these products that are intended to help us not smell, be clean and are intended to be good for us. Yet by their very ingredients they can be a source for cancer, disease, illness and more. Once you know the products you have in the house and use regularly its time to find alternatives. This is where knowing your ingredients is crucial. Many manufacturers have learned that by changing some ingredients they can create green-washed products. These are products that are less chemical based but when you actually look at those ingredients they are just as toxic as regular products. A great example is the use of fragrance in products. Most of the time this is synthetic aroma that can be harmful to our respiratory system and that of our babies and pets. Detoxing from Toxic Load and Toxins There is not a one-sized-fits-all approach to toxin load detoxes. It is greatly dependent on organ, multi-system and targeted strategies. It also considers our nutrition and cellular health currently. To begin, swapping products is a great thing everyone can realize improvements from. It is believed by doing this alone we can improve our toxic load. However, that is only the beginning of detoxing. Obtaining naturally derived ingredient based products or making them yourself is not expensive and an easy swap. There are good quality natural companies that have great products. Making your own products is also easy to do with simple ingredients you can find at most big box stores. In conjunction with more natural products in our homes for cleaning, cooking and personal care, we need to address other areas such as nutrition, water quality and vitamins. Detoxing our bodies and rebuilding our health from toxic load can take some time and is one of the best investments we can make in our lifestyle. I like to use a detox protocol from the DesBio company called OmniCleanse. This is a professional protocol that I recommend to my clients as well. It contains botanicals, nutrition and homeopathy to relieve the symptoms of toxic load in all major organ systems. It is great to use when you just need that overall detox as it targets the common exposure to household chemicals, glyphosate, vaccinations and heavy metals. . If you have a specific toxic exposure identified such as candida or Lyme we can cater a detox protocol for those. Detoxing is great for resetting our bodies to begin generating healthier cells that can defend us from toxic exposure. It also helps in improving allergic responses to toxic chemicals we encounter every day. I like to follow up detoxification with introduction of nutrition that supports our body’s natural ability to heal. Supporting immune function, adrenal health and digestion gives our body what it needs to heal and start producing cells that perform optimally. To achieve this we need to look at nutrition. From the food we eat to quality of water we drink it all matters to our cells. Where deficiencies are found natural based supplements help fill those voids to ensure our bodies have what they need to build health. To support ongoing detoxification I like the doTERRA Zendocrine Complex and Softgel along with the DDR Prime. Together this trio helps our bodies continue a regular detoxification that is gentle while support new healthy cell regeneration. It helps keep things from returning to those higher level of toxic loads in between full detoxes. Nutritionally, I also like to look at diet. Specifically what we call meals every day and where it comes from. High quality fruit, vegetable and meat makes a big difference in our toxic load and overall health. The same goes for water. Most of us don’t think twice of turning on the faucet or grabbing a plastic bottle of water. These sources however can be problematic for introducing toxins into our body. Cleaning up our diet is not only good for our waistline but our overall health and well-being against toxic chemicals. Getting help with toxic load If you don’t know where to start or want to personalize your approach to toxic load, I invite you to schedule time with me. Assessing your personal needs and health is a great way to baseline your toxic load and develop a plan to reduce your risk. Schedule your consultation at dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

It is more than semantics. The differences between a cleanse and detox may seem like the same thing but in health they present a drastic difference in what they do and the results the produce. In our flurry to feel better can overlook important aspects of the tools available for our support. In some respects there certainly are similarities between a cleanse and detox but their focus, intent and result are completely different. I believe it is important to know what your body is asking for so you can provide the right solution. In doing so, we not only support the body’s need but we build health and provide ourselves with the right tools in the process. When it comes to working in the natural health space listening to our body as a complete being, in mind-body-spirit, is center for all the decisions and approaches we take to supporting our health. If we don’t take this vital step then natural health becomes just like Western medicine, in that, we apply one-sized-fits-all prescriptive answers and hope for the best. That is not healing or building health. How to know if you need a cleanse or a detox? Often when we seek a cleanse or detox we are looking for support to eliminate something that is blocking, preventing, or impairing our body’s ability to function properly. We are seeking enhancement to performance by clearing pathways, meridians and channels used throughout the body to carry nutrients, messages and vital functions from head to toe. Before embarking on either a cleanse or detox, it is important first to understand what each is and why and when you should use one. Your body naturally cleanses and detoxes on its own so before you introduce additional tools and products to self-induce a cleanse or detox it is also important to understand what you are doing, know the expected results and what tools are appropriate. Working with a natural health holistic practitioner is the best way to find a cleanse or detox that is right for your needs, if it is necessary at all. A cleanse is the elimination or clearing of something in the digestive, bowel or urinary system. It is literally a cleansing so you can then support improvements of building appropriate digestive flora (bacteria) and enhancing how these systems work when you eat, digest and eliminate foods. Again, your body does this naturally each time you use the restroom. However, at time we may need to support these processes by assisting in the removal of waste that builds up and is impacting our overall health. Most commonly cleanses are believed necessary for those times when we feel discomfort in our digestion or are experiencing regular bouts of symptoms in these areas. Mainstream dieting trends will have you believe a cleanse helps you reduce water weight, bloat, and things “held up” in your body that are not being eliminated properly. These can be true but the best way to use a cleanse is for digestive support improvements in the journey of overall lifestyle changes you are making to improve digestion and elimination functions. A detox on the other hands also works to eliminate but has a different focus. Our liver, being the largest organ in the body, is specifically designed for detoxification. This organ boasts enzymes that pathways that bind to toxins found in the body and breaks them down for elimination. Your liver also supports over 200 functions of the body ensuring it has what it needs in terms of clear pathways to optimally run. Detoxification can become bogged down due to toxins. Whereas a cleanse can also be toxin related it is more focused on food we consume. Detoxes are centered in toxins from all environmental, mental, food, stress and situational circumstances our body, mind and heart/spirit are exposed. When you detox it is much more intense with the result being a functional reset of the performance of your liver. For both cleanses and detoxes it is important to also note that undergoing these processes is not a free ticket to revert back to the situations and circumstances that led you to this need. The best mindset to have is using it for a launch into self-improvement for body-mind-heart/spirit. Whether those changes address lifestyle stress, eating habits, routines or general health it is vital to have alignment in your whole being that this is a move forward and not just something to rinse and repeat. You cannot continually cleanse or detox without appropriate healing before your body further sees these as just further abuses and exposures to things it cannot process. One of the things I found helpful before I took on an 8 week detox program was to make sure my basics were in a good place. For a couple months leading up to the detox, I focused on being consistent with hydration, cleaning up my diet and improving stress levels in my life. These steps made the detox I did much easier to see progress and build on the success from that point. Types of Cleanses From juice cleanses, hydration cleanses, vitamin and herbals and all in between, there are many types of cleanses available and all come with their own experiences and results. The more drastic cleanses can leave you in the restroom quite frequently while others can introduce flatulence and stomach discomforts. There are some things to look for when considering what type of cleanse may be best for you. Working with a natural health holistic practitioner is fantastic for helping your sort through the benefits and value of cleanses and find products that work best with your body without the added discomforts. Consider these factors in your cleanses: Products based on whole natural foods work the best as they can be more easily digested by your body Always properly hydrate during a cleanse to ensure appropriate cellular function. 50% of your body weight in water is recommended daily and more perhaps during a cleanse If you feel discomfort, pain, dizziness or experience vomiting, nausea, vertigo or other please discontinue your cleanse and contact your natural health holistic practitioner for support Follow reliable, trustworthy instructions and bottle dosages. This is not the time to experiment with a social media hoax recipe to cleanse your colon Eat a nutritious diet leading up to and through your cleanse. This may include supplementing with high bioavailable vitamins and supplements I like the doTERRA 30 day cleanse protocol that consists of probiotics, digestive enzymes and good quality supplements that make cleansing comfortable and without the side effects or elongated bathroom needs. This system provides nutritional support while rebuilding the gut’s flora and reducing any buildup in the body from digestive waste. For information, please contact me. Types of Detoxes This is where detoxes are significantly different than cleanses. Not only are there different types but forms and formats to which to achieve a successful detox. From eliminating social media to rebuilding our liver’s enzymatic processes, detoxes offer a lot to helping us build health physically, mentally and spiritually. All detoxes are work and require preparation to assure you are ready physically, mentally and spiritually. The resulting outcome of a detox is the launch of good habits, changes in lifestyle that are supported by a clean slate foundation laid by the detox procedure. Detox preparations include assessing your health needs across your being, understanding your longer term goals and having a plan that not only includes the detox but what happens afterwards. If you are not ready to make serious changes, then perhaps a cleanse or waiting until a future time is better. The best detoxes challenge us to be better than where we started. -Amy Kramer A detox should leave us feeling refreshed, stronger, healthier, lighter feeling and even excited for journey we have started. It can feel liberating to many people to rid their life of stress, bad relationships, jerk bosses, crappy jobs, poor diets, unhealthy habits and more. I like to describe it as an un-shedding of the layers to get at who we truly are and who we want to be. The real us. Social Media Detoxing Let’s start with a basic detox of reducing time spend on social media. This can be an addictive habit for many people that is difficult to break. It may require we completely break from social media for a time period in order to build healthy boundaries for when and how we use social media in our life. Understanding what we want to achieve with this type of detox can help build a plan that doesn’t result in torture during detox but also helps us achieve a healthy use and relationship with social media afterwards. To begin a detox of this nature, we would first assess how much time we spend on social media, what we do or are looking for when we’re on there and what it means to us. From there we want to outline what we want to achieve by changing what we are doing now. Are we seeking more time in our day, healthier relationships, structure and focus even? Or are we using this detox as a way to set boundaries with certain relationships because of pain? Being deeply honest about our feelings and purpose as well as our desired outcome sets the mindset for how the detox will proceed. We then define a plan based on that information to outline what the detox will look like, how it will occur and for how long. Being realistic and intentional even in a social media or mental detox is important because it helps us have a healthy positive experience in the detox process. If we see it only as punishment we are not likely to continue it and we will more than likely revert to old patterns and behaviors afterwards. If we see it only as punishment we are not likely to continue it and we will more than likely revert to old patterns and behaviors afterwards. -Amy Kramer I think it is important to set a start and end date to any detox. Just like a physical body detox we do not want it to go on without end or conclusion. Liver Detoxes Any form of body detox should include or entirely focus on liver function. Being the largest body organ, the liver supports over 200 functions in the body. The liver is where the primary functions of detoxification occur so it only makes sense if you’re going to detox to focus on liver function. Any form of body detox is best done using organic high quality raw vegetables, hydration, dietary improvements, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. There are also high quality homeopathic detoxes that work with a good diet and supplementation structure to help the liver unblock pathways and better support the body’s natural detoxifications processes. Understanding what products to use, dosages, duration and more is encouraged to be done with the support of a natural health holistic practitioner. They can provide you with high quality products, work with you on the type of detox you need and help you throughout the process. I personally like the natural homeopathic products from DesBio. They are a fantastic supplier I use regularly for myself, my family and clients for natural health support needs, including detoxification. For information and access to their products, please schedule a consultation with me. In the same way of the social media detox example, we want to be intentional in our preparation, goal setting and next steps following the detox. When I personally did the DesBio Comprehensive Detox for Brain, Spine and Liver detox I worked through an exercise of what I wanted to achieve by doing this process. In my case, I wanted to use it as way to expand the work I had already been doing to improve my diet and building a healthy lifestyle. I was also experiencing some physical symptoms that indicated my liver was struggling in properly detoxifying. As a natural health holistic practitioner I knew pain, inflammation and other symptoms we experience are messages from our body, in this case my liver. The outcome of a physical detox is the ability to further enrich our lives with good organic foods, healthy movement and better sleep that builds health. It also supports our mind’s well-being to seek out positive healthy relationships, and happiness while supporting our spiritual connectiveness. A detox, whether physical, mental or spiritual is about intentional rich changes in our life that allow us to move forward in a healthy and positive manner in mind, body and spirit. So to Cleanse or Detox? Both cleanses and detoxes promote the idea we need to break, eliminate, or just reduce something in order to add more good in. It is important we use these tools as ways to promote health building and not as a band-aid for recovery only. Understanding your body’s messages is the best way to know if you need a cleanse, detox or something else to deliver best results. In most cases, we can think of a cleanse or detox as only the first step in a long process of living better, treating ourselves better and building health. For help with your questions on cleanses and detoxes or other natural health questions, please schedule a consultation with me at dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

Change is of course uncomfortable, disruptive and even painful at points and who has time for that? While we have all heard change is inevitable that doesn’t make it anymore easier to accept at times, even if it is a change we know deep down is good for us. When it comes to resolutions though how do we actually beat the odds and see them progress and be achieved? Is it even possible to be a winner at resolution or are we just wasting our time in setting them? In my opinion, if resolutions were truly unachievable they wouldn’t be needed. Yet year after year we set them, sometimes the same one every year with the lofty hopeful wish that this year will be different. So, why not make that this year? But, we are naturally change resistant. I believe this struggle with change can be one of the leading reasons we find things like resolutions, specifically those working with our health, so difficult to keep up. It is not that we don’t think they are important or even worth the work but rather we are not setup well to include these changes in our life and they can be rather disruptive. Prime example is the gym membership for a resolution that said we were going to work out multiple times a week. By about week 3, we are sore, tired, hangry, and stressed. We take a night off and then it becomes two and then its a couple weeks. We struggle to return, fit it in our schedule and soon the gyms are back to their normal crowds by February. Happens every single year too. It is not that we don’t have a great resolution or didn’t start out pushing hard at it. The problem is we thought we could layer it into our already busy life and it would sort itself out how we would achieve that resolution. Our daily life though with all it’s to-dos, deadlines, and mom taxi routes, didn’t just make room for that resolution. So we try getting up at 5AM and find that just adding another thing to do in an already very busy long day doesn’t work for long either. Not to mention it’s very dark and cold at 5AM in January and who wants to be out in that going to the stinky gym? How do we achieve our resolutions? If we had to name the number one barrier to achieving any health goal, from losing weight to just feeling better, I know I would say stress. You probably would too. We have busy lives, stuff to do and people depending on us to get it all done. It is not just with resolutions this happens to but every Monday diet we start and every health change we want to make. The ability to recognize stress and actively do something to manage it, can seem daunting. We so often feel powerless against all the things that cause our daily stress. Yet it is in this very situation we can find out best solutions to not only reducing stress but making progress on resolutions and health goals. When I work with clients on improving health or dealing with a health concern, I start with their intake assessment. On this very lengthy form I ask a lot of questions about what happens in that person’s day. It is in that information the common theme of stress pops up easily. Yet when I ask about stress the typical answer is it’s just adulting or it’s not that bad. Until we get honest about the stress, no amount of pushing harder to fit it all in will make those results appear or make us healthier and happier in the long run. Stress management has to be part of our plan for better. This means more than just blocking our calendar to make time too. It is an action plan that deals with: How we will handle the tough days and struggle to keep up What we will do when we’re tired and need a break Where we will get support and help What are plan b is when things in our life get turned upside down (because they will) Looking through the wide-lens on resolutions The other part of making successful resolutions is our ability to be willing to look at them past January. Mapping our journey by week, month, quarter and half-year gives us a map. Certainly, things will change along the way but being able to know how we will structure this resolution into every week helps us build a structure to keep it moving. It is great to have a plan we can see but we need to be careful of not setting that plan to be based purely on results. When we only see milestones that are numbers based, such as pounds lost by March 15, we can end up feeling like we failed if that was our only focus. Set milestones to be a mix of not only results but other important aspects of your journey. For example, if your resolution is to lose weight, set a milestone that accounts for when to buy new sneakers based on a number of miles walked by a certain date. Or another for hiring a personal trainer. Building in progress points that go beyond the end result support you along the way and give you that needed positive encouragement to reach a certain point in time rather than just pounds lost. The biggest point on this is to build in grace. If we only build a hard-core single focused plan that doesn’t account for when one of our kids gets sick, or we have to work late then we end up just beating ourselves up with guilt for not upholding our great plan. Having grace with ourselves is a meaningful way to permit progress and real life to co-exist guilt-free. Play the Long Game on Resolutions There are plenty of promotions right now telling you they can help you lose your holiday pounds to look great by spring. Every year these same commercials appear to let you know they have the best approach for losing weight. The problem is they don’t. If diets worked then we would only ever need to do it one time. The weight wouldn’t come back and we’d have a lot of other resolutions to think about doing. Yet weight loss is the number one resolution year after year. The truth is January is one of the hardest months to start a diet and lose weight. It is the time we are coming off our sugar pleasant holidays back into work and school and getting life back to normal. We are also dealing with cold weather, short daylight days and bleakness. January is where the entire winter blues situation arises for a lot of people. In nature, January is just after the winter solstice which means it is a time of rest. Our bodies are aligned to nature’s clock so this also means we are meant to rest at this time. It does not mean we can be couch potatoes until spring but it allows for us to be gentle with ourselves. This time of year is perfect for planning what we want to do in our resolutions, how to do it and what we need to be successful. We can try a few things too to see what interests us or what we may also need to consider. For example, if one of those gym membership specials is offering some free classes it makes sense to try one without signing up for the membership right now. We can also do other things like working to improve hydration, cleaning up our meals to be more nutritious, getting our vitamins levels checked, working on getting better sleep and reducing stress. It is a great time to find a health care partner you like and trust to help you on this resolution, know your numbers in blood work and start working with building out the details for how to achieve your resolution. By building up our foundational aspects of health we position ourselves for better results on our goals. This can take some time to improve and can be part of your resolution work. When I started to work on improving my hydration every day, I started in January. My goal was to drink 50% of my body weight every day in water. It took some time to get used to drinking that much water and doing it consistently. By spring I was doing it quite regularly and felt more energetic, had clearer skin and was feeling ready to take on more parts of my larger health goal. When we stop feeling the pressure to follow the crowd on goals, we realize we have the ability to plan for the long game. Our smaller steps can help make significant progress later on when others have long since given up or are on their latest new Monday diet trend. How to work with me on your resolutions You are ready to stop having the same resolution every single year and seeing it never progress. This is where working with a natural health practitioner can help! They are able to work with you on a comprehensive assessment of your current health, what’s important to you and help you design a plan that is perfect for your individual needs. Breaking up with traditional resolution thinking and approaches is hard sometimes but with the right help you can feel liberated to pursue your resolutions with excitement and much less disruptions to every day life. To work with me, schedule your consultation today at dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

We are beautifully made and no one part of us can live independently from the rest. In doing so, we limit and eventually break the design of our being. Understanding that we are more than our physical body, more than the greatness of our minds and even bigger still than our spirits gives us the opportunity to attempt living wholly and completely as designed. It can seem incredibly complex but in reality is as simple as breathing in mind, body and spirit simultaneously until we feel the joy of living overwhelm us. I like to think of December as the month dedicated to healing of my spirit. It is in our spirit that we experience love and connectedness to not only those around us but in the greater universe of who we are. Too often these big sweeping questions of our purpose and why cloud the magnificence of what our spirit really needs to thrive. In much the same way our body needs air, water and food, our spirit needs connection in body, mind, others and God. We need all of who we are to feel complete. We need others for the sense of purpose and belonging. We need God to understand the power of kindness, love and overall greater understanding of life that we cannot put into words. It is often in December I intentionally find time to slow down. It is not that I lack things to do because just like any other working mom there is a mile long list this time of year. Rather it is the deep desire and need to hear my spirit speak openly and that cannot be done amongst the hustle and bustle of all the things going on around me. Some of my truest dreams have occurred when I allowed myself to pause in this season and take it in rather than give it out. To receive the gift of peace and understanding rather than flurry past it in overwhelming anxiety. Natural health often speaks about mediation, journaling and inner mind work often and I believe it is necessary but most people don’t understand or have the patience to do it. Yet, when we take the holiday time and use that to demonstrate what it looks like and how it feels, many people including myself feel it and know. It is a feeling that sticks with you and can build the foundation for the more extensive work of meditation, singing bowls, journaling and other reflective work we can do. I consider a form of exercise that like any we take on must be learned and then practiced. We don’t immediately go to the gym and can bench lift a heavy weight. We build up to that using smaller weights, repeatedly. When I first learned to use the holiday time as a way to learn meditation and reflection, I found myself at first thinking I was missing out on something else. It felt like punishment. Surely, if I wanted to heal and support my spirit than going out and being with others was a great idea! It can be but more often than not we need solo time first to know our own spirit and call her by name before it makes any sense to us in the connection with others. We need the time to ourselves for just listening to the silence. It is deafening at first and uncomfortable but once past that it is serene and delightful. What it means to heal your soul is to have the opportunity to check in with yourself. To understand how you feel, what your body is saying, what you think and where your heart is. It feels like unpacking a box of old photographs of yourself and enjoying the journey down memory lane while excitedly talking about what’s next for your scrapbook. I don’t necessarily encourage making goals at this time but rather letting the feelings come up, feeling them, and then releasing them. Letting them flow in and around you and holding close the ones that please your spirit. There will be time in the coming months to build plans, execute tasks and achieve goals but for now it is enough to dream, listen, marvel, reflect, and enjoy the presence of your spirit. Through this process I find it easier to mix with groups and be among the cheerful holiday noise. I have my own peace about me and get less wrapped up in stress from it all. My favorite space where I can walk in a store, hear the music and enjoy it while I browse, shop and wait in lines. True happiness regardless of circumstance in a balanced place where we are meant to live all the time. It is where our mind-body-spirit are all in alignment and connected so we can connect meaningful, intentionally and lovingly to those around us. I notice too my prayers become more enriched during this time as a result of this work. Gratitude flows more easily and I find that holiday joy without it being forced or obligatory. I am one with myself and God on a deeper level as a result. That feels rewarding and fulfilling. If I had to speculate it is where the idea of dancing under the snowflakes came from. The expression of childlike joy and curiosity allows our spontaneity and playfulness to be experienced openly and without regard to who is watching or tsking us. While I have never been much of a journal buff it is ideal to use this exercise to journal your thoughts, dreams, feelings and ideas. These insights give you insight to where possible paths of new experiences and dreams become doable. Again, it is not with the intention to lay out a budget, new construction plan or anything of the sort but rather ideas, free flowing thoughts and dreams of where you are at this time. Being intentionally present and seeing yourself in your current place, enjoying your life and being rooted to the Earth. Winter months are intentional in nature for the rest and slumber. We all need sleep in order to spark new growth. It is vital for our function and operation. Without judgement we let ourselves relax into a mode of deep relaxation that succumbs us to sleep in peace. That is not only where our body repairs our cells but also our mind and spirit meld into a joint conversation through our dreams. If you truly want to know your purpose in life, your true calling or even what you should do with yourself, take a good winter nap. Learning to heal your spirit by slowing down and taking in the time of this season is healthy for your overall well-being. Doing so, can set the stage for successful resolutions and goals coming from a place of true alignment for what is right for yourself. In a time when we can be anyone we should work to be more of ourself. For support, help with your health in mind-body-spirit, I wish you time to relax. I hold space that you use this time of season for the benefit of your well-being and personal health. To book time with me, visit dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

Preparing to go into a New Year brings about this time where we start thinking big picture. Resolutions, dreams, goals, and creative ideas start popping up like spring wildflowers. Even though it is the dead of winter some of our best thinking comes at this time of year because it is now that our intuition and dreams are the loudest. You thought Santa was the only one that brought gifts right? The truth is winter is the season of inspiration through our thoughts, dreams and intuitive alignment. It is what happens when we are aligned in living with nature, using the very seasons to support our health and well-being. The results can be exceptional life changing big impacts to our life in not only the new year coming but for years to come! Using Winter to Your Advantage I do not enjoy winter for it’s blustery gray cold days. I specifically do not like or enjoy snow and ice. Being cold is the least favorite thing I can think to do in my day. Yet even though I don’t like winter’s temperature, grayness and snow I can still deeply appreciate and love the health support winter brings to my being. It is in this very season we can be most alive in our life. Most of us feel our best around the holidays. Everything is bright, warm, cheerful and we feel pulled into the holiday spirit. We are anticipating, feeling excited and even nostalgic in all the good ways. These very feelings are more than just holiday glow from the twinkle of tree lights. It is nature speaking to us in her loudest voice that we need her at this very moment from our head to toes and everywhere in between. Holiday time is the perfect way to explain how living naturally in mind-body-spirit actually feels when we are aligned with nature. Our true self and being. The state we were intended to live every day of our lives and not just when it’s almost the holidays. This alignment actually starts at the time the days get shorter and we are drawn indoors against the dark, colder evenings. It is nature’s way of saying we need rest, connection to each other and warmth physically and emotionally. That is very intentional for why we are often drawn to warm foods that give us comfort, make us feel secure and cozy deeply in quilts. Understanding this connection and maximizing the time for supporting your health is where it all begins in shifting not only our emotional health but that delicate balance in mind-body-spirit overall. Tapping into Your Winter Health Now that you know what to recognize in the change of seasons, how do you actually tap into the health benefits of it all? That is easy and you’re probably already doing it! First though, we have to get real about stress. This is the one thing that will seriously block your qi and mess up every aspect of your health. Stress is often downplayed as just something we must all tolerate in the name of adulting but it is the one thing that can seriously derail not only our health but our hopes and dreams. We have to work through the stress in our lives and get it to the point we are not being managed by it every second of every day. That could mean a lot of different things to different people but being honest and real about stress is where health begins in the modern age. Please understand that fixing stress in your life is not a 5 minute band-aid either. I’m talking big things like boundaries, changes in lifestyle and letting go of the persona our life is a perfect IG reel 24/7. That work takes time but is necessary to release it so we can feel like our true self again while finding the balance that allows us to move forward. Setting a goal or starting a new diet in the middle of chaos is a recipe for disaster every single time. Winter can be a great time to work on addressing stress too! Using the downtime and cold weather to sort through your life is ideal so you can emerge in the spring stronger, lighter and happier. The next step in the process is to let yourself dream. This may seem odd but letting yourself open up to dreams, wishes and inner thoughts allows you to glimpse at your soul. Capturing these things on paper starts to breathe life into them as well. This step lets us get creative and dream up the wildest, craziest things we’ve always wanted to have in our life but never did or chased or built. Now it is possible to let those thoughts emerge to the surface and linger. Without judgement write down everything that comes to mind. This doesn’t have to be a one time session either. Take a few weeks and let your thoughts wander. Where is your heart pulling you? What really interests you? What did you want to be when you grew up? The tricky part in this step is stopping negativity and limitations that tell you something is impractical, silly or impossible. In this step we don’t care about any of that only for what is there inside us so we can analyze it. With our list we start to look for themes, common threads and connectors between our thoughts. If something is recurring then it is an area we need to look closer. Prioritize these items in order of interest, true love, desires, and truest dreams of how we see our life in the future. Be honest about the list and deeply feel each thing as if you were trying on a new dress. This is where winter rewards us with rest, reflection and the ability to experiment safely in what is possible in our lives. We use the final list as the start of a map. We may not build the map just yet but we being to see there is a path we want to explore and start to think about what it will take to do that. Winter Health Winter is intentionally about rest. Leveraging this restful period to build our vision of the future through dreams connects us not only to ourselves but the power of nature. I like to call this a marination period where we find those key themes and we marinate on them for how to use them in our lives. Sometimes it can be hard to hold back on getting started when we think we have found the path forward. Especially as it relates to health goals this can seem frustrating to slow down. I believe however when that kind of energy strikes us we should use it to make sure we have the right structure in place to support the work we are eager to begin. Maybe that is a new pair of sneakers to go to in the gym or working with a natural health professional to outline a meal plan or even a financial investment to start a new business. Ensuring you take the time to think through what you need to be successful often makes the difference on how much progress we achieve. Giving life to a new path in your life, whether major or small, is much akin to actual birth. We need a plan, knowledge of what to expect, training and exercise to be ready for it to happen. As silly as this sounds but perhaps if we took this approach to our health matters more of us might be successful on our diets. I get the anxiousness and excitement to start but having a plan gives us the directed guidance we need so we can start on the right foot. Winter is ideal for these types of plans to be formed, ideas to be made more solid and investments for success researched. You may even research and build a budget for the ideas that require an investment. Having a good map is the best resource for starting a new adventure. All of this can seem crazy to do if your goal is to lose weight or improve your health but consider this for a moment. How many diets did you start this year or even in your life? How many of them were successful and long lasting? Being intentional about a goal or dream requires an investment of all of our being in mind, body and spirit for ultimate success. Losing a few pounds, having more energy to last all day, and even improving our health all fall into this same category. Putting a Winter Plan in Motion Many people will start a new diet January 1. The gyms will be full and sneakers will be flying off the store shelves. In just a few weeks though things will return to “normal.” January 1 seems like the perfect time to start with a clean slate, but too often it doesn’t work for goal progress. We struggle to keep up the routine, build it into our day or make any kind of progress moving the needle. That is because it is still very much the peak of winter. Our energy is still in rest mode. Sure we can power through it and force it but that often leaves us exhausted and overwhelmed. See the stress point above in this blog because that’s where most of this leave us. If you want to start something in January to improve your health, take your shiny new plan and look for the intentional small ways to start building the path. This is not the time to go full blast but rather test your plan, solidify your structure and take a baby step. Maybe it’s finding a community group to take Saturday walks while the kids play. Maybe it’s exploring recipes to create healthy hearty soups. What we often miss in the quest of a new goal is the enjoyment of the journey. The scenery and process of improving our lives is often the best part because it enriches our experience, builds our knowledge and wisdom and expands our view. Seeing the whole picture and process integrates it more firmly into our lives. That creates momentum that makes things easier to keep up and use in our daily living. Treating a new goal like a beginner who is learning something for the first time opens our heart for curiosity and perspective that we often miss in our hurry to the finish line. If you really feel compelled to jump on a faster track make sure you have solid footing beneath you. Take it at your own pace and let go of the idea it is a competitive race. This is fully about your journey and what feels great to you. Too often we get sucked into this one-sized-fits-all approaches because we feel if we don’t have what the other person has or if we’re still fat and they lose weight then we are not successful. That following mentality prevents us from personalizing our own experiences and journey to the one that is perfect for ourselves. That is one thing the medical and diet industries miss is the need for individualization in the process. I highly recommend working with a natural health professional throughout this process to help you find your way, keep it personal and support your successes. This not only helps us achieve greater results that last but keeps us from falling into the one-sized-fits-all roller coaster again. To work with me To have that natural health support in your natural health journey, I invite you to schedule a consultation with me. Let’s help you define, develop and start the journey of your goals naturally and in good health. Book here: dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

If you are on a restricted meal plan trying to be good this time of year, good luck. As you’ll probably hear, no one diets during the holidays. January is when we give it all up and endure the DTs of sugar, salt and carb withdrawals. It is a time to celebrate now and enjoy food, festivities and cheer. Diets are next to impossible to adhere to against grandma’s famous mac n cheese, the office cookie exchange and parties laden with festive cocktails. While it is true the holidays are tough time to start or be on a diet, it is also where the diet mentality has failed us and our waistlines. This idea we must deprive, restrict, and limit ourselves in order to lose weight has corrupted what it means to diet and how it is done. It has also made it so we don’t lose weight. Despite the billions spent each year on meal plans, coaching, plans and programs, we are obese and only getting fatter. In fact, the United States ranks number one for the number of people considered obese and overweight. It really doesn’t matter what time of year it is either. Dieting Gone Wrong The way we diet sets us up for failure. Most diet plans contain restrictions on foods in either type or quantity or both. This puts our body into starvation or with uncontrolled cravings. Most of us cannot overcome that uncomfortableness and will revert to old habits within the first week on a new diet. Then there are diets and meal plans with pre-packaged meals, fuelings or some other name for what we should be eating on their program. Almost 90% of these program’s meals contain unnatural ingredients that are no better than processed foods we are already eating off a diet. From artificial sweeteners to preservatives and chemicals these foods put us at risk for creating further health complications. My favorite is the programs that require payment for you to receive coaching from someone who has gone through the program themselves successfully. Often these are unqualified every day people who just by chance lost some weight. They use a one sized fits all script they are taught. It really doesn’t matter the program you look at as you will find these elements in all of them. There is a lack of personalization for your specific needs and you are left feeling hangry. If you manage to make it through the first couple months you may lose weight but as soon as you stop it often comes back. How to Diet, Even During the Holidays If you are serious about improving your waistline, cleaning up what you eat and being healthier than a diet is a good place to start. However, a diet is not all there is to achieving those admirable goals. There are some foundations we need to establish to ensure we don’t fall into one of the diet scams this time. We cannot supplement or deprive our way into healthy weight loss There will be exercise We need water, a lot of water Positivity is a must Rapid weight loss is not healthy There is no one way to diet that is right for everyone. Each person needs to define what the list above means for them and what their body says it needs. We have to keep in mind we are one whole person of mind-body-spirit and separating ourselves physically from the rest of our being is not a formula for success. Elements of a Healthy Diet To begin, we need to assess where we are physically, mentally and spiritually before taking on a new diet. Getting a good check up with our physician or natural health practitioner helps us understand our numbers and get their support in personalizing our strategy. Secondly, we need to be honest with ourselves. What is our motivator for wanting to lose weight? What will that mean to us when we achieve it? What holds us back now from having it despite our size? We have to look past the pounds to make sure we are looking at our whole being. Consider our mental outlook, spiritual intentions and physical body in this honesty. The problems we have in life today won’t necessarily go away if we lose weight so we have to be honest now about those. We also need to look at our stress and current lifestyle. Does it support changes in our habits or will that further add to our stress every day? Being realistic about stress is often a great place to look to see what else we need to modify to support other healthy changes. If you’re in the middle of a crisis or chaos than it may not be the best time. You can always add in healthy things to your day but going full fledge on something new while in the middle of a storm is a sure fire way to see challenges we often cannot overcome. Now it’s time to define what it means to diet. Specifically, what our diet will look like and how it will serve and support us. What are our nutritional needs? Where are we deficient now in vitamins and minerals? What doesn’t appeal to us at all and what are we willing to try? Alongside improving what we eat we need to consider how we will navigate the real world. A life without birthday cake, holiday foods and treats is not sustainable the rest of our days. We have to acknowledge these things will always be part our experience and we must learn to live with food as friends not enemies. The best diets contain these types of foods and activities: Water – at least 50% of your body weight in water daily Good quality water – as in not from a plastic bottle or tap water but high quality filtered water Fruit Veggies Proteins Carbs Fats Treats A good formula to follow is the Rule of 25% that consists of 25% protein, 25% fats, 25% fruits and veggies and 25% carbs. That allows us to fill out plate using easy to use considerations. From there we can modify the percentages to fit your health needs. For instance if you have diabetes then lower carbs may be needed while increasing fats. This is where working with a trained professional who is helping you personalize your approach matters. You will not get that type of support from a standard program. Notice too the list included treats but they were not included in the percentages. It is good to have treats and we will need to learn to navigate these in real life. Restricting, limiting or eliminating all sugar, salt and carbs is not a lifetime success for managing weight and health. Certainly, most of can do with reducing sugar and improving salt but it is not realistic to completely never again have these things. A better approach looks to: Improve salt by using Himalayan or Celtic salt and eliminating table salt Improve snacks with processed ingredients in favor of natural sugar from fruit Look at serving sizes of treats such as cake, ice cream and baked goods Occasional realistically means one to two times a week at most ideally Be careful not to replace sugar with artificial sweeteners or sugar free options. These often contain chemicals that inhibit our body systems from operating optimally and can cause further health risks Holiday Diet Help Again, here it is the time of year where food is plentiful, sweet, savory and delectable. Some would say it is a horrible idea to start a diet now but that’s only because they don’t realize our diet is what we eat every day. Holidays count. When it comes to eating healthy during the holidays try these natural health tips: Include fresh veggies and fruits in your day, veggie trays are a wonderful way to have them ready to eat Eat a protein prior to sweet treats Drink adequate water Avoid saying no but rather take smaller portions. It’s hurtful when you won’t try someone’s dish or treat they made special for you. Try a little and share it! Simply giving it away or re-gifting is not the right move. Take a walk afterwards to process the food you’ve eaten and boost metabolism Fill your plate with your favorites and fresh healthy options. Balance is everything Try a little of everything and when you want more go for the healthier choices over other items Watch your alcoholic beverage intake. Seltzer and carbonated flavored waters can also be festive Be careful with artificial sweeteners as they may introduce health risk and trigger cravings If you overdo it, there are some important things to remember: It is not helpful to punish yourself with harsh exercise or talk negativity about your behavior. Forgive and have grace with yourself Reflect on what triggered you to overdo it and assess that patterns Make your next meal healthier, include healthy choices and options Listen to your body. What is it craving or needing that is pulled from a sweet or salty treat? Have a plan. You know the all-time favorites and sweets will be there. If you’re asked to bring a dish, make a healthy choice. Enjoy your meal! The holiday meal is about being together, celebrating and enjoying the food, friends and family around us Don’t let a diet ruin your day and bigger meaning of the holiday together with those we love the most Emotional eating and pressure eating are both very probable during the holidays. Between family members, social situations and even peer pressure we can find ourselves stuffed with carbs, sweets and alcohol that defeats our best attempt at being good. We can feel obligated to overfill our plates and have a clean plate afterwards. Be mindful of what triggers you have that can cause emotional and pressure eating and make a plan to navigate those situations. As you navigate the food being served and offered, be curious what appeals to you and why. Make selections based on where you are and what it means to you Accept it as a moment of time that is able to be balanced overall. Not all of our problems are going to go away by losing weight. The same pressures we feel now will exist even if we skip the mac n cheese casserole. When we restrict ourselves from comfort foods or things that have a near and dear feeling in our hearts then we feel deprived and resentful making matters worse. On any diet it is important to learn to live with food, all types of foods and not just those that fit into a restricted diet. There is strength in learning to live with food that can long serve you on your diet improvement journey. Diet Meal Plans and Coaching Programs Well intended indeed. The diet industry is a multi-billion dollar business. There’s good money in weight you could say. The honest truth though is most of these programs do nothing to actually help you live in the real world. From restrictions to limitations many of us find it frustrating and lacking in results. Not only have we spent a lot of money on these things but the likelihood of gaining back the weight we lost is significant. In fact, almost 80% of people who succeed in losing 10 pounds or more on a weight loss program gain it back within 3 years. So skip the expensive coaching and meal plan programs and opt for a natural way to not only feel your best but enjoy the holidays without the guilt. Find a natural health practitioner or professional licensed nutritionist specializing in natural health that will help you live in the real world, navigate the holiday buffet and feel your best where you are now and where you want to be in the future. Learn to rebuild your relationship with food rather than restrict and deprive yourself. How to work with me Booking a consultation can be done at dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

Who is this real negative Nancy anyways? To some she is the gal who is always complaining about something. She makes it all about her all the time too. We want to be her friend, because there is a lot of cool things about her we relate on, but it often feels like a 1-way street. She certainly is not there when you need her. You always have to be the one to reach out and try to make plans only to be greeted by a litany of things that are going on in her life that while she’d love to get together she is just sooo busy. This is of course after she just spent the last 45 minutes telling you about the latest slew of problems and stress she has going on in her life and how nothing is ever going right for her. It’s annoying as hell. Then there is the other type of Negative Nancy. She dresses in black regularly and seems like this super cool wish we could be like her image of a badass. I envision her in black thigh-high boots, mini and rockstar hair that emits cool and bad at the same time. She may not say much but when she does it’s definitely attention grabbing material. While I give her this super cool image, she’s not the one you go knocking on the door to ask to babysit your kids or join a girl’s night to the local Applebee’s. No. Trust me she already knows you’re going out with the girls and she’s going to be right there watching from the corner. Waiting. She is truly wicked. So much so the regular negative Nancy seems like kittens and rainbows in comparison. She lives inside our own head and is truly wicked. So much so the regular negative Nancy seems like kittens and rainbows. Each of us has a version of this darker Evil Negative Nancy. She is the true villain. She has the voice in our head that says the really nasty, mean things about us, other people, our spouse, and even the dog. We wouldn’t dare say any of it out loud but we still think it because she tell us to. It is almost like we are our own Cruella with two sides. Trouble is that sometimes our Cruella Negative Nancy ends up rewiring our brain and emotions to the point we can no longer tell she is dominating us inside and out. We swim in her negativity to the point we think it is a warm bath that is just how things are. You know the adulting that sucks, demanding bosses that never get off your back, traffic that doesn’t move fast enough making you late for pick up. It’s the voice that tells you to push forward and make your own way in the world because you can depend on no one. How Negative Nancy Takes Over Our Mind Bad things will happen in life. There will be hard times and periods where nothing goes right. We can get frustrated, stressed, overwhelmed, beaten down and tired from these experiences. It all wears on our emotions and is completely understandable too. Long term challenges like this can also shape how we see the world and the people in it. It is when we linger in these feelings of thinking nothing can go right for us or that the world is truly jaded and unfair that we can see this dark negativity consume us. Here’s how that plays out: At first it’s something small. We didn’t get chosen or were excluded and our feelings were hurt. We think we’ve worked through it, get over it and move on. We learn that sometimes people don’t get invited or included and sometimes that person is us. But it happens time and again. We work harder to fit in, make friends, do better. The times we don’t succeed we develop a voice in our head that beats us up for not knowing or doing better. We have the judgy comments about how an outfit doesn’t fit us right and we cannot find something we look good in. We pick on ourselves for not doing better on something, not being thinner or our hair not being perfect. We compare ourselves to others or what we see on TV or in the stores for what everyone is wearing, how they’re doing their hair and want to fit in. We hear our mother’s voice in our head about not doing what we should be doing in life. Why we are not in a good relationship, married, with a good job at this point. We underplay our own successes and accomplishments as not good enough. Then we start thinking and saying things in our head about what’s happening around us. Our house isn’t big enough, our car too old. Lastly, we pick on our relationships. Our children not being well-behaved, our spouse not doing all that they should. Our friends not being like we think we should have, not filling the need we need. It builds up to the point we start to see every little thing as wrong, insufficient, not good enough, not fulfilling and negative. We wallow in the negative. Every thought we have is negative. Even when we think we are saying something good, there is a sarcastic twist underlying the negative. We can all at times see things as not so glamourous in our life but it is when we continually pick on ourselves in this way that things can become problematic. How to Know if is you being the Negative One After you have swam in the negative pool for a while you may not realize you are the one who is always negative. Your view can be distorted and what you thought were doing is actually something different. There will be physical signs you can use to determine if Negative Nancy is holding you hostage. Low energy Moodiness Problems sleeping Changes in appetite Joint pain Inflammation How you really know if it is you though is to be honest with yourself. Are you processing your emotions, especially the ones that hurt or letting them fester? Do you let people know they hurt your feelings, talk out conflict or avoid these things? Are you missing out on invitations? Being excluded from things? Do you find it easy to make new friends or get involved in activities involving new people? Do you wait until someone reaches out to you or do you initiate contact first? What is the first thing you think of when you see your friends? Is it negative? When you need something does someone come help? While it is normal to have the occasional negative thought, letting them be our mainstream internal commentary can hurt us. As you can see from the short lists above, we can experience lower physical energy, darker moods, and even have body pain. Our minds and emotions move to a self-preservation space using negativity to try to protect us against future hurt we have come to expect. Whether that risk is true or not the negativity we feel can stem from past experiences or just our assumption about what might happen. Healing from long term negativity Overcoming negativity in our own minds takes time. It is like overcoming any other illness or healing we need to have in our body. I believe this is where natural health excels though because not only do we heal in body but also mind and spirit as well. Here are my best tips for healing on this journey and breaking up with the evil negative Nancy in your head once and for all. Consider professional help. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons we are negative. A lot of trauma, stress, bad experiences and more can create the negative space. It is ok to get help. Whether that is talk therapy, changing your diet, friends or situation. Getting guidance from professionals is a good way to make sure old negativity doesn’t follow you. Journal. Writing thoughts to paper is key in identifying where you are negative. Express your truest feelings, thoughts, perspectives and opinions line by line. Seeing it in actual words can help you assess your level of negativity and where work needs to begin. I also recommend journaling through the entire journey so you can see the battles won and space made from negative Nancy’s eviction. Move your body. Changing your physical view, routine, pattern and habits can significantly influence our thoughts and moods. Getting into a new physical space throws negativity for a loop. Use that opportunity to become curious, open to new experiences and reframe your thoughts. Assess your relationships. Sometimes negativity is bred from common negativity in our relationships. It feeds off what exists until it consumes us all. If you have negativity in your relationships, work to change the communications to have more positive interactions. If this cannot be done, then it may also be helpful to set some boundaries. Is it your friends? This is tough but sometimes it is the company we keep. We want to fit in but sometimes we’re trying too hard or its just not for us. That’s ok. Finding the right circle of friends takes time and sometimes we need to move on from other relationships to make that happen. Is it your diet? Food greatly impacts our thought processes and even our energy levels. If you’re filling up on processed foods, diet sodas and even harsh diets it can impact our thoughts. Our brains need healthy fats and our entire body needs nutritious foods. Take an inventory with yourself and update it regularly. Choose a few things you can adopt now and work to include other healthy changes as you progress. If it doesn’t feel right or you find yourself slipping back into negative habits and patterns, reset. Negativity is a situation that can long term impact our health. We may not always recognize it either. This is where developing healthy relationships can be of help to you. Not only do they build positivity around you but they can offer you that insight into when there is negativity popping up. Natural support for negativity When it comes to changing your lifestyle to be more healthy, it helps to work with a natural health professional. They can help you identify vitamin deficiencies, dietary support and a wellness framework for your body-mind-spirit. Seeing you as a whole person is a great perspective to helping you see things more optimistically. In making changes to your lifestyle from negativity, I recommend diet, supplementation and exercise. Even little movement such as walking improves our lymphatic system function and flushes out toxins. Negativity is a toxin and when it festers we find other body slow downs like low energy, depression, illness and even disease. Having the support to build health from the inside out not only improves your physical body but overall mental outlook as well. How to work with me I work with clients across the world to help them with natural health questions and structure to feel their best. Using only natural health techniques we identify root causes to help you build a plan personalized to your needs. To schedule time with me, please visit dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

When you first hear the word infertility it is like hearing of some disease that has no cure or hope. The emotion contained in this single word can crush so many dreams, hopes, relationships and life as we know it. That word is one we hope we don’t hear and are never prepared for it if it is said. There is finality to it where back up plans are deployed and you become this desperate seeker for that one in X chance your outcome will be different. It is a move against odds, a dare and challenge against your own body, your spouse’s body and even nature itself. You are immediately swept into a swirl of hormonal medications and injections, medical tests and procedures, scheduled sex and emotions beyond description. The trauma from infertility is deep. Some compare it to the grief felt with death and in many ways it is a death in itself. Infertility is not always resolved and can cause a pain that does not heal easily or quickly. It can rip marriages apart and impact our physical and mental well-being for years to come. None of it is intentional or desired but often is the result when answers are unknown or results not realized. So many couples endure the infertility journey and some are lucky while many others are not. There are no easy explanations or answers. There are not right or wrong answers either. If you are in this experience please know my heart goes to you as we have been there too. This blog is an outline of natural support to help you in this journey regardless of outcome or path you choose. What to know about infertility statistics One of the first things doctors will start sharing with you is the statistics associated with infertility concerns. You will hear a lot of different versions of numbers and it will quickly become overwhelming. The truth is all infertility problems are essentially 1/3 times the woman having an issue, 1/3 times the man having a problem and 1/3 times unknown reason. The other truth is that when it is you, none of the stats matter but those of you and your spouse. Knowing the stats at the onset helps you chart your own journey in this area. However, things happen quickly and you and your partner need to always be in communication with each other for what is right for you. Take the time you need to have those deep conversations and make those decisions. Some of these things in infertility treatments are irreversible for know what you’re getting into before you begin. Be on the same page about the process. What to expect in allopathic infertility treatments Depending on your situation, the first thing that usually happens is an exam of both you and your spouse. Please make sure you know what these tests are and that all tests are performed. In our own situation, only the basic sperm test was performed on our husband and not the full panel. It was assumed because of my history and age that I was likely the problem in our infertility. We would not find out until much later in the process and with a different fertility doctor that all the tests were not performed on my husband. In the beginning it is also common to have a prescription for Clomid, even before tests are performed. If you have had miscarriages or don’t have any obvious problems it is sometimes helpful with this prescription to boost fertility hormones. This prescription is typically provided for a short period of time and if it is not successful it can then be replaced or combined with hormonal injectables and more extensive treatments. The injectables also come with strict monitoring of your cycle, multiple exams and tests, and scheduled sex. This can go on for months. From experience I can tell you sex can stop being fun. It can wear on your relationship. It feels clinical and impersonal. There are so many emotions up and down with the hormones surging in your body. Then when you get your next menstruation, there is deep disappointment, anger, frustration and a spiral down. You repeat this until hopefully you are fortunate to become pregnant. There is no right or wrong answer if you choose this path to try to overcome infertility. I can tell you the drugs used are expensive. They also inject incredible amounts of these hormones in your body that can cause other physical and mental health concerns. The aim is to position your body to be able to become fertile and impregnated. The result is often damage to our cells, mental well-being and future problems with menstruation, menopause and risks to cardiovascular health. Please read the fine print of the medications. Naturally Supporting Infertility Before you become pregnant it is important to know your own health status. Take into account your nutrition, rest, stress, exercise and even your amount of daily sunlight. Additionally, your mental and spiritual well-being is important. All of these factors contribute to the experience as well as the health of you and the baby. I also recommend men look at their health the same way. While they will not be physically carrying the baby, their health is important in the process physically, mentally and spiritually. Using the time before pregnancy to prepare your body-mind-spirit is key especially if you encounter infertility. The mental stress these situations cause can easily impact your health overall. Then if you choose to combine other treatments to try to overcome infertility you can further introduce stress to your body and health. I recommend looking at getting real about stress. Too often we discount stress as normal adult living but in reality it is destroying our health and mental outlook. This may mean setting boundaries, changing jobs, getting financial structure among other things. Regardless of pregnancy or not you will never regret having less stress in your life. It is also important for you and your spouse to avoid toxins, plastics and electromagnetics. These interfere with our health and can increase the risk of infertility. Plastics include plastic food containers, water bottles and other common every day plasticware. Our environment of our body and what externally surrounds us is important to have clean and toxin free. The same goes for our mental and spiritual health. Reducing things that introduce stress, create depressed feelings, anxiety and other negative outlooks can impact our health. For nutrients, zinc, folate, multi-vitamins and a healthy diet will become your best friend before, during and after infertility. Please avoid folic acid, processed foods and trans fats. Increasing your movement and rest will also be cornerstone help. Emotional Support One of the things couple often experience is pressure in the pregnancy game. Whether self-imposed or from family and friends, there is this expectation that every couple should have a baby. It’s just how things are supposed to go right? We can apply a lot of pressure to ourselves as a result of this desire to follow the expectations of creating a family. It can help to have a conversation with those closest to you regarding what you need in terms of emotional support during this time. Explaining what’s going on or not is your decision but if the talk continual is centered on when you are going to have a baby, then it may be time for a talk. I remember going through infertility at the same time as a friend in yoga class was. Within a few months she was pregnant and understandably very excited. We were still struggling after miscarriage. When it came to her baby shower, she reached out and asked if I would want to come. She said she understood what I was going through and completely wanted to be supportive to me knowing the raw feelings that can come up. That meant more to me than anything that had happened at that time. She didn’t intentionally not invite me or talk to others about our situation, she reached out to me directly. Having people who understand what you are going through is helpful. If your current friends and family can’t relate check out community groups and online forums. I promise there is someone exactly where you are right now. Having that person to connect with when you need to talk or just have some sanity and reassurance is priceless. What Happens When Infertility is More than Temporary If happens more than you know. The number of couples who do not have a baby. Many will tell you they chose not to have children and this can be true but I have found too it is what people end up saying when they cannot. A lot of people will immediately suggest adoption. It is a beautiful gift and definitely a way to introduce a child to your family however it is not for everyone. There is a lot of stigma around adoption and most of it is bologna. Choosing to pursue adoption should be purely personal decision and a thorough understanding of your own feelings about it. For my husband and I we eventually turned to foster care adoption where we found our then 2 year old son. No he was not the freshly born baby but he had already spent the bulk of his 2 years in foster care. He was born addicted and long term problems could come up in his health and well-being as a result. He also had some initial problems with balance and speech. Most importantly, he didn’t have that nurturing family that most children start out life having. There was no question in our hearts about him and we’ve loved him every day since. Making the choice to adopt is not easy. The process of adoption is also not easy. Private adoption can cost thousands of dollars. Foster care adoption is free. There is no right or wrong answer. By the time you reach this point though I will tell you from personal experience you have to let your emotions and body heal from infertility some first. You have understand adoption is its own journey different from infertility but no less emotional and exhausting. Get yourself in a good place mentally, physically and spiritually just like you would in preparing to become pregnant. If you decide adoption is not for you then still heal from infertility. Once that healing is in place, make a plan for your future. What do you want to do together? How will you fulfill you idea of family? What does that look like for you? These are not easy questions to answer and take time to find the right answer for you and your spouse. For some it is taking adventures around the world, helping others in some form of service, adopting dogs and cats, getting involved in other interests and more. Whatever you choose, let it be an adventure that fills your heart and soul. I caution you on becoming so busy you hide your emotions of infertility which is why I recommend giving yourself time to heal first. Natural Health Care for Infertility Working with a natural health practitioner can be helpful in preparing and/or recovering from infertility. Not only do we address the physical but the mind and spirit needs as well through natural foundations of health. These services and products can work in partnership with other health care treatments you choose to include. To work with me, please schedule your Holistic Health Consultation at dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

There are so many families managing illnesses of loved ones every day. From temporary needs to long term, both physical and mental, many people become the primary caregiver of their spouse, parent, child and more during illnesses and diseases where healing happens at home. The role of the caregiver is a lonely, isolating, exhausting, strenuous and stressful labor of love that is also frustrating and overwhelming. There are plenty of tears, moments of laughter, and prayers of hope, every day. Then there are the moments of deep breakdowns and heartbreak in the shower covered by the sound of the water and closed door because you have to be the strong one but inside you simply don’t know if you can do it much longer or what the future will look like. Taking on the care for a loved one, making the hard decisions and carrying on with daily life is something no one is ever prepared to do. Even at first you think you are, trust me you’re not. The amount of energy alone is underestimated. I certainly wasn’t prepared for it in the least and thought it wouldn’t be that big a deal and I could push through it. There were a lot of things I didn’t know would be expected or needed or what it would do to my own health and well-being along the way. It is always the right thing do to and yet it is one of the toughest jobs there is. What caregiving looks like vs. reality On the surface, many make it look easy. They look like angels, heroes and magicians. The person they are caring for is well-taken care of and is in the best of hands. There is love, positivity, encouragement, chicken soup and magazines. You can feel the caring and devotion being poured into this person in need. It is beautiful and humbling. Honestly, looking at some of these situations you would never know anything was stressful or overwhelming to these caregivers. This is the stuff of cards and well-wishing that makes it seem it is all done with ease and no one ever gets short tempered from being tired. It is what you want if you are in need of care. That feeling of trust, love and dependence on another that you can focus entirely on healing and recovery because someone has you taken care of. Under it all though I promise you is exhaustion, stress, worry, concern, sleepless nights and lots of coffee. The late nights, early mornings, prepping for the next day, middle of the night needs, medication to keep straight, assistance dressing, bathing and using the bathroom. Even if you do nurse work as a full time job, it is different when it is your person, your loved one. It is your home, this is your spouse, child, family member who you are used to seeing active. There is a new level of need that is different than the needs we have when we are well. It is smelly, raw and challenging. It is the stuff you need to hold back from gagging on when you uncover the bandages and need to clean the wounds. There is no break between regular life and caregiving. Along the way they get blended to the point you can no longer tell one from the other as you move from task to task, each pulling on you for their own needs. You constantly move. The quiet times are spend hand holding, talking softly, soothing and comforting, watching them sleep hoping they are comforted. Even if there is other help you are still the person. You enjoy the brief reprieves you get through the support of others but you are always still the one worrying about your loved one. I even found myself hurrying to get back from breaks so I didn’t overextend the help provided out of guilt. It is challenging to relax and release for your own sanity and self-care when you are someone’s caregiver in these situations. Everyone will tell you not to let yourself go without caring for yourself but it is like being in a storm where you cannot get the shelter door open to get inside it. So instead you take cover under trees and where you can get just a slight break from the wind and rain in hopes it passes soon. It is not as easy as it looks and there are a lot of held back frustrating things you wish you could say, scream, punch and even cry over. But you don’t and most of the time you cannot because that would disrupt the care you need to give that person. You have to be their strength and grace in these times putting aside your own worry, fear and frustration. They can get frustrated but you have to be that balance for them, inching them back to the positive thinking it will all be alright. Caregivers know thoughts and words impact health. Healing requires lots of positivity and optimism. Our minds and bodies are so intertwined that not having positive energy around you can actually make your health worse. They are the ones telling their loved ones to focus on healing, giving them encouragement and being the smile to help them. We do deeply want these things too. For our loved one to feel better, recover, resume normal life, be active again. So, we often hold back our own fear, worry, frustration and concern and instead say encouraging things filled with love. What is caregiver burnout? It doesn’t matter if care needs are extensive or recovery takes a long time, all caregivers can encounter burnout. It is a risk inherent in the course of caring for another who is enduring an illness, disease, long recovery or life long disability. The caregiver burnout occurs when there is not enough support for breaks and you forego self-care to the point you do literally forget yourself. Nutrition, exercise, sleep, sunlight, hydration all suffer because your care is being poured entirely into someone else’s needs. It feels selfish to care for yourself sometimes too. When burnout stage is reached you have a tired in your bones that doesn’t go away. Your mood and energy are depleted. You feel like you’re doing your best but it’s not enough anymore. The stress of the situation is overwhelming and you even feel hopeless. One of the primary reasons this occurs is lack of support. It truly is in these times you find out how strong your network is. Everyone has busy lives and I get that. A text sometimes feels like a chore to respond to because you’re busy caring for someone. It can be assumed then you’re not wanting help or have it all under control so they leave you alone. The opposite is true of course and you’re not intending to be rude to the person’s text. It is an unfortunate miscommunication that occurs in our world. People think if you don’t ask for help or respond you don’t need them. Many families don’t have a large community of friends and family to help in these situation. Often when the illness or recovery is long even those you were relying on inch back into their own lives after a while. It is understandable and I hold no grudge. It does however mean you lack the network you can rely on to run errands, get a break or even just have someone to talk to about what is happening. Professional services including home health care, are wonderful. They are however expensive and once those benefits are exhausted care does revert back to the caregiver. Unless you’ve been through a situation like this it is difficult to understand the loneliness and isolation the caregiver can feel. Natural Support for Caregivers Having been through this with my own husband’s heart surgery recovery, I can say I have felt it all. The group texts, child care coverage help, lack of breaks, tears, laughter and more. Help will come from surprising places and you’ll be ever grateful for it. Help will also not come and you have to be ready for that. I cannot say I did it all right but I definitely learned from the experience. Here are some things I found to get through it and keep myself healthy and mentally well as much as possible. Use downtime while they’re sleeping to take care of yourself. Take a nap, walk, shower, get food, read, pray. Whatever you need do it during these times. Forget having things perfect. The house is going to get dusty and the plants will lack water. It’s ok. Prioritize what’s really important and recognize the accomplishment and progress there. The rest can be taken care of later. Hire help. If you can afford it get help. Delegate out yardwork, housework, child care wherever you can. Get reliable services you can count on and that have a good reputation. Check references. Reach out. This is hard but don’t be so proud you don’t ask for help. Even if none comes, make the effort to ask. I promise sooner or later someone will help you in some way, keep asking. Meal prep. Your person may have special diet needs but please know you do too during this time. Plan not only their meals but yours too. Freezer meals are a wonderfully practical option to ensure there is a hot meal ready when you can eat. Grocery delivery and pick-up services. Leverage whichever is available in your area. It is worth the fee. Fill your cart with veggies, fruits and healthy foods that will fill you nutritionally. Take a walk. When things get heavy or really stressful, it is ok to step away even just for a few minutes to collect yourself and release the stress. Make lists. Keep lists. This was by far the biggest help to me not only in remembering what I needed to do but when I had help I could look at these lists and delegate some things. Grocery lists, chores, care needs, medication times and types, pharmacy needs, anything at all you need to remember, write it down. Set automatic features. This is great for bills and recurring things that have the option for automatic processing. You can always remove it later but it sure beats realizing you forgot to pay the water bill at 3AM. Focus on one thing at a time. If it is your job, your loved one, preparing a meal, taking a shower, give it 100% of your attention. This is a great stress management tool. Breathe deep. Mindfully breathing especially when we feel stress will not only lower our blood pressure but reset our mind. Use the 4-3-2-1 breathing method as much as possible in your day and before bed. Use a network community app. I used Caring Bridge (caringbridge.org). This allowed a central place to post updates on progress, ask for help, share photos, get well wishes and questions and eliminated incessant texts and group texts. It really helped with ensuring no one was left out of communications and centralizing information. You can set it up too where you can ask for specific times for help, meals coverage, childcare and errand support and people can volunteer through the app. It is completely free and easy to setup. Most importantly, is you will hear a lot of people tell you to not forget to take care of yourself. These are great intentions but please realize you will be under incredible stress in this journey. Yes you need to take care of yourself. Yes you need food, water, exercise, sleep, sunlight and down time. When someone said this to me, I always thanked them and then asked if they would help so I could do those things for myself. Don’t be afraid to ask. Your schedule and time won’t be your own so have grace with yourself. It’s ok to skip some workouts. Take the time when you get it but don’t make it punishing on yourself. Use these opportunities for releasing stress, resting, gentle movement of your body and nutritious refueling for your body, mind and soul. Natural health care support Natural health care can not only help your loved one but you too. These are incredible services that focus on mind-body-spirit health and help you define a protocol to support you during stress and health needs. They are also usually very affordable. To work with me, please schedule your consultation at dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

A scroll through social media one day identified a wellness coach, lifestyle coach, nutritional guidance coach, exercise coach and even a sleep coach. I’m sure there are a lot more but at this point I was already coached out from seeing it all. They are all showing these before and after shots of incredible results, floating in their pool, driving high end luxury cars, telling you how great their life is now that they did xyz and how you can do the same. For a cost of course. There are coaches for everything these days but I’m betting most are struggling to make that car payment and the pool is their neighbors. Not to sound jaded but how it’s presented on social media makes coaching feels like a new version of network marketing. With all the coaching available, it got me thinking. . . Do we really need a coach at all? Coaching Your Way in Life When I hear the word coach I think of a field sport like baseball or football with a team of players all marching out in brightly colored jerseys. Coaching is what happens to form those individual players into a team that wins games. It is strategic like moving the game pieces on a chessboard. Coaches are important parts of team sports. They set the tone, build the culture and impart their perspective and wisdom on the players. They create unity and teamwork through their experience and knowledge. Coaches are tenured in their field and have that special insight that makes them admired, envied and inspirational to follow. They are leaders and some of the phenomenal teachers. They didn’t just wake up one day and start promoting themselves as a coach. It took years, hard knocks and intense work to reach this status of being the coach people want to work hard for on a team. Comparing this vision of a coach to the myriad of coaches promoting their business to help me with some problem in my life simply doesn’t compare. Why would I pay hundreds of dollars to someone to tell me what I probably already know, scream at me to work harder at my own goal or push me to buy their products? Is there really value in that? There may be times in life where we do need someone to help us through something. A personal problem, weight loss help, habit forming, or even business related. In my own experience I have turned to friends, religious guides, practitioners and even therapists. It is alright to ask for help. What I have found is often I do know the answer but it may not be something I exactly like so I’m seeking validation. For longer term needs where I need more structure and accountability to reach a goal or solve a problem, a coach seems a logical person who could help. By nature, it is part of their job description. However, I think sole reliance on coaches and mentors limits our own problem solving and creativity skills. When we only follow someone else’s advice or recipe for success we end up with their solution and not necessarily our own. The good part, I guess, is if it fails, at least you can blame the coach right? Before you turn to a coach I would challenge you to seek out why you think this is necessary. What are you really trying to achieve through working with a coach and if there are better options available? I do not imply that coaches are bad or unnecessary but if we have not done our own work first, then we are not ready for coaching to take us to that next level. We have to start with our own work first to test our own commitment to solving whatever problem we have and figuring out what we are made of from it. It also helps to understand where specifically we need a coach to help us. Choosing the Right Coach Once you’ve done your own work but find you still need help, a coach can be beneficial. With so many people claiming to be a coach I would caution you on choice and expense when choosing a coach. Here are some considerations: Expectations. What is your expectation from coaching? Are you going to follow all the person tells you or are you going to personalize it for you? Have you communicated that to the coach so both of your expectations are openly shared? Experience. Does the person have a successful track record helping people with your type of problem? Are they successful following their own advice? Credibility. Has the person completed formal education, certification and accreditation in this area or topic? Are they legitimate or just some fly by night “be like me” floating in my pool on Mondays making millions? Be careful falling for the “before and after” posts of coaches. References. Can they give you references of people you can contact about their experience with that coach? Ask if the person would hire that coach all over again? Were their results sustainable? What did they like best and least about the experience. Products. Does the coach demand you use their products only? Be careful on this please. Most of the time there is a product sale it is by a coach who really is out to make a buck and not necessarily have your best interest at heart. Check out the program in detail before signing up. Posts. What do they really post on social media about their coaching business? Is it quotes from their upline? Before and after shots of their clients, themselves or someone else’s? Are they showing off their beach life and Monday grind of pool floating? While we all want to cheer for successes, make sure what is being promoted aligns with your needs, focus and budget and is not just subsidizing someone else’s lifestyle. What I have seen is most coaches with programs and products, are trying to fit you into a one-sized-fits-most scenario so they can give you their tools, techniques, products and results. If it doesn’t work for you then you obviously didn’t follow it accurately. A real coach will personalize their program for your needs and areas of interest. They meet you where you are in your journey, not theirs. They could not care less if you buy their products and are more concerned with what you need for success. The messaging is completely different and void of before and after shots of others. It is about helping you individually, personally and uniquely. Where most of us fall for coaching is in being desperate for solutions in our problems that we hear these great success stories and want that too. It sounds like exactly what you’re looking for and you slap down that credit card in a hurry to secure the last spot available to work with that person. You buy all the products, all the extras and dive into this information with hope you finally found the answer that you need. Unfortunately, if you talk to a lot of ex-coached clients, they were able to get some results and sometimes they lasted for a while but it would take more coaching to get to their goal. Most people give up before then because of cost, time, program and coach mismatch. It is expensive to learn this the hard way. Differences in Coaching and Mentoring I find there are differences between coaching and mentoring. Certainly, a coach can be a mentor. Anyone can be a mentor for that matter, but fundamentally both have different purposes and scope. Coaching and mentoring both serve a time bound purpose for specific things we are seeking in our lives. Coaching is more aimed at an established program you follow based on someone else’s design. Mentoring is where you seek answers, advice, guidance and experience from someone else and then use that to form your own solution. A good coach can provide this to you with a personalized approach and guidance that you use to fit to your own needs. A good mentor has a story to tell that resonates with you. It inspires you to take action in your own life. The relationship is based on what you can learn from someone and make your own. Mentoring is often voluntary and freely shared but you may find some charges depending on the situation. In mentoring you agree on a scope, purpose and frequency to connect. The entire process is designed around you and your questions. It requires you do the legwork in preparation and what you do with the information afterwards is also up to you. I like this aspect of it for the personal accountability the structure of mentoring presents. If you cannot hold yourself accountability for action then a coach isn’t going to be able to do it either. This is where most coaching situations fail in delivering results and you end up spending a lot of money for nothing. In mentoring, the risk of cost is nominal if any and you are completely responsible for what happens next. Depending on your situation, it may be ideal to find a person who can serve as both a mentor and coach for you. These individuals are unicorns that truly have a service heart when it comes to helping clients succeed. They are interested in you as a person and what you need but they also expect you to meet them with accountability and commitment to your goals. Professionals and the Others The price points for coaches and mentors vary but if you do your homework there are a lot of good quality professionals available. While they may have set prices and rates some will work with you on payment plans if you need them. When it comes to you health, I highly recommend professional level people. It is important not to be taken advantage of and having a person you can trust is interested in your results as much as you are. Look beyond the social media posts and ads to check out the person you are considering. Working with a natural health practitioner or holistic healer is one of the best ways to get both mentoring and coaching through a professional service offering. These individuals are looking at you as a whole person inside out and meeting you where you are in your health journey. Their interest is in your result and not whether you purchase products or programs. Everything is personalized to your specific personal needs and goals. This approach also compliments existing health care you are receiving from your doctor so you can effectively co-manage your health needs. So the bottom line is really what are you looking for in terms of help? Before you hand over your credit card understand if you are signing up with a little league weekend coach or a professional practitioner and mentor who is going to work with you on meeting your needs. How to work with me Exploring natural health care is one of the best ways to support goals and health care needs. It starts with finding a natural health or holistic health practitioner that you like and trust. Together we can define the right path to help you maximize your health and realize your goals. To schedule services with me, please visit dragonspitapothecary.com/book-online

Eating strawberries is cool … again. That makes me happy but then I always thought strawberries were awesome. A college course I took in marketing one time gave me a 1-liner that has stuck with me for many years. “There are no coincidences in marketing. Everything is intentional.” That message comes to me when I see product ads and walk around stores these days seeing all the “new” natural products. There is such a purposeful use of words like simple, organic, fresh and natural used in ads and on the labels of these types of products. Even the way they are presented and spoken of are well-thought out and very smooth. It is done in a way to invoke feelings of health, well-being and even happiness that can be captured and bottled like the sun itself. We often fall for it too. That hope in a bottle. If it has that kind of promise to make us feel better, lose weight, have energy, sleep well, and it comes in a non-animal cruelty packaged label we buy it. This type of marketing and packaging off too helps us overcome cost objections because it appeals to our sense of environmental consciousness and helps us out too. If we move past the labeling, messaging and packaging though is the product actually any good? Will it actually deliver on those results for our own health or that of the environment? What is a Natural Product? Natural products can mean a variety of things depending on brand. It can be the simplistic labeling used to make it seem organic and simply made. There are unique aromas that also lend to that experience of it being homely and good for you. Even the store position on the shelf can serve as a natural spot you’d expect to find such a thing. It creates that feeling this is a product we must have and need in our lives. In truth though it is none of these things that actually tell us if the product will work. It is an illusion painted by marketers and advertisers to sell you that product. A natural product is one that is made using natural processes, ingredients and packaging as to support environmental, lifestyle and nutritional factors. It does not contain plastics, synthetics, man-made or manufactured ingredients. It comes from nature itself and is in its most natural form with minimal processing required for you to use and enjoy it. A simple example would be an apple or carton of eggs you buy at the farmer’s market. When it comes to cleaners it could be a packaged mix of naturally derived ingredients in a recyclable or reusable container. Anything more than that definition and it is not a natural product but a stand-in that may be more or less natural but is not in itself all natural. Natural health care is also a product and service. It is field of study, philosophy and system of health that encompasses different modalities aimed at achieving wellness. This health care system focuses on non-invasive support to the body-mind-spirit that supports our needs and providing self-healing aligned with natural, organic substances and techniques. This support is provided by natural health practitioners and produces directly from natural sources. You may hear it called alternative or complementary care but in truth it is not alternative at all. When it comes to natural health care products, the distinct difference with them and over-the-counter medications is the source, quality, effectiveness, price, result and purpose. When you consider natural health is aimed at preventative care and support of self-healing you quickly realize the vast difference in health care approach from any other model of health care available. These characteristics become what marketers use to substitute for natural products in order to sell what they consider comparable or similar products. Since most natural health products are not regulated as medications and pharmacy goods, it does become a buyer beware situation in knowing what a good brand is from a fake. Natural Health Care Product Shopping Walking down any grocery or big box store these days will show you plenty of more simple, organic, greener brands available. This should be a sign we are evolving as humans to understand our use of products has an impact on the environment and our health. Unfortunately though, money still dominates and most of the products sold are not as pure as one is led to believe. When selecting a more natural version of a product is important to read the label. There are also plenty of apps available that you can use to scan a product to get labels deciphered. Specifically though you are looking at the ingredients to target indicators that tell you it is not a naturally derived, made, or packaged natural product. Consider these points: Packaging promotes recycled materials used or reusable containers Packaging that does not use plastic or is minimally packaged Aromas and fragrances that are synthetically made and not natural at all Ingredients that are chemical based or manufactured for longer shelf-life Dyes, coloring and artificial textures Natural and artificial flavoring Sugars and sugar alternatives Non-animal tested Non-GMO You get the idea that reading the label and finding the hidden clues can often times identify the fake natural products that you can then avoid. Price is not helpful in these situations unfortunately. Natural Health Services When it comes to working with doctors and natural or holistic health practitioners here too we can easily fall for less than natural product recommendations. Understanding what to expect in your natural health services and trusting your practitioner only uses reliable, highly bioavailable products is essential. Many vitamin and supplement companies allow for private labeling of their products to practitioners. Even in these cases, you should still read the label, research the company and know what you are buying and how to use. Always follow the dosage recommendations on the label. It is also important to know a few practice techniques and their uses so you can understand what a natural health practitioner can provide you. A natural health practitioner can specialize in all these methods, a select few, or other modalities not listed. Aromatherapy Aromatherapy typically uses essential oils naturally derived from plants, trees, roots and flowers to activate our sense of smell, which is closely connected with brain function and memory. Essential oils can be diffused, used topically or taken internally if they are high quality and pure. Essential oils are considered supplements. Some brands, such as doTERRA, have pharmacy graded oils that are also considered medicinal. Iridology Iridology focuses on the story the eye can tell. This modality studies the eye to determine what organs or systems may need support. Different parts of the eye relate to certain structures in the body. For example, if a spot is identified, a practitioner can then recommend a corresponding natural health support. Nutrition In natural health, nutrition represents a means to feed yourself for supporting vitality and health. Nutrition is highly emphasized and will typically include recommendations for whole real foods and plenty of filtered high quality water. Vitamins and supplements fall under the category of nutrition because they are considered food. This is why it is so important to use a high bioavailable natural supplement. Flower Essences Flower essences, not to be confused with essential oils, are a branch of natural health that uses the nature of flowers and plants to support emotions and personality traits. Herbology Herbology relies on the use of herbs to support the body. In this field, herbs are used topically and internally for nutritional support that encourages relief to the body and optimizes functions. Its applications are vast and flexible enough to meet the needs of many. Herbs such as rosemary, sage, and peppermint are also accessible and relatively easy to incorporate into your daily life via supplementation, food, and teas. Physical Activity Natural health takes a whole-person, holistic approach to fitness. This means that a person’s mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and physical states are considered when supporting the physical activity needs. Spiritual and Religious Practices Belief in a higher power and connecting with the essence of life and creation is a powerful practice for promoting well-being. Religion and spirituality not only connect us to God and our Creator, but also one another, nature, and ourselves. Prayer, meditation, service to others, religious practice, self-care and reflection, taking a walk in nature and more can promote well-being, connection, and peace. These practices can also provide us with stress management support, encouragement, comfort and hope. Reconnecting with Our Health Moving past the labeling, pretty smells and marketing of products helps us uncover many options to taking care of ourselves. What was used thousands of years ago can still be found today and be beneficial to our needs. Using natural products and natural health care empowers us to own the responsibility for our own health. It creates a channel for us to reconnect with ourselves and support our vitality in a much more direct way that can even compliment allopathic are. With the guidance of a natural health practitioner, natural health care and natural products can help us achieve results and solutions to our needs. 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