02 Apr Symptoms – tune in to tune up your health

Maybe you’ve experienced something like this:

You aren’t feeling 100% well but you haven’t been “diagnosed” with anything so you attribute your symptoms to this or that and just live with it.

It took me a long time to figure out what was going on with me. Years ago I had routine blood tests done and doctors found elevated numbers which they attributed to “markers of inflammation in the body” but they didn’t sound the alarm so consequently I wasn’t alarmed.

Then my body started to increase its signs that something wasn’t right, but the doctors couldn’t explain the rashes on my legs or the “achiness” I constantly felt. I was told to take pain killers and go to a dermatologist, and even though the dermatologist couldn’t diagnose what the rash was, they prescribed a cream to “kill it”. The rash would go away for a while but it always came back — for 15 years! yikes!

During that time, I started to understand that the inflammation markers and the symptoms I was experiencing were related. I then went down the path of trying to better understand what was “inflammation” and what could be causing it.

I began to understand that for me the food I was eating just wasn’t getting digested properly and was causing my body to sound its own alarms.

My immune system was creating mucus and inflammation of the tissues as it does to fight off foreign substances.

My body was telling me things but I hadn’t been listening.

I stopped eating wheat — a common culprit for my symptoms, and suddenly my body’s army retreated.

The constant runny nose I had that I attributed to “allergies” was gone. I hadn’t even thought that was an issue. My rash went away. Best of all my joint aches disappeared and I could sleep at night.

Is your body trying to tell you something?

When you try to Google your symptoms, you might notice that it seems like the same list of symptoms often show up for anything from a cold to cancer. It’s no wonder it’s challenging for your doctor to help you.

But regardless of the diagnosis, the symptoms are indeed signs that your body is talking to you. It may be telling you that it’s not functioning optimally.

If you don’t respond appropriately, sometimes those signs can progress from a simple ache to something chronic or life threatening.

The body is always trying to talk to your mind and often there is a disconnect somewhere along the way.

This is where I credit my yoga practice for helping me to bridge this gap between body and mind on a very practical level.

I learned how to listen to my body and make appropriate lifestyle and nutritional decisions with my mind that served to support my whole self.

It wasn’t easy or simple at first.

The language the body speaks can seem like gibberish and the mind is stubborn.

It also wasn’t easy because the scientific language of studies about what is healthy for you can often be conflicting and confusing.

I went to school to study holistic nutrition. I learned the “eating for health” model as Ed Bauman calls it. This approach is an individualized map for healthful eating that draws on cutting-edge biochemistry, as well as traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, naturopathy, and ecological sustainability. This model can be applied to any chosen diet philosophy (raw, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, omnivorous, etc.).

Because the underlying message of this model is about awareness and tuning into your individual body, I discovered it aligns well with yogic philosophy and practices; and using yogic philosophy as a lens is a way that I find the eating for health model can more easily be applied in your everyday life.

I developed a series of workshops that combine Nutrition and Yoga as a way to share this nutritional model and insights in detail with you, to empower you with tools and tips and yoga practices that you can use to bridge that communication gap between body and mind.

You will learn to understand your health and nutrition needs as well as how to listen and interpret the messages that your own body is telling you – and then determine what direction to take from there.

You learn to tune in, in order to tune up your health.

As we all piece together the puzzle of our ongoing symptoms, I wish you well on your health journey. If I can do anything to support you with yoga sessions, nutrition consulting, or health coaching, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Oh…and of course, I do hope you’ll sign up for my next Nutrition and Yoga workshop. It’s always fun, informative, and tasty!