Elemental Health Coaching

Looking forward to The Taste Nature health expo next week. and will be sharing their experience in healthy living; fasting and plant based eating.

They will also be hosting their classic feast and fast retreat weekend .nz 16-18th February.

Can’t wait to see you there!

What a year it’s been- as I reflect on 2023 I have deep gratitude for all the opportunities for learning and growth. It’s been such a privilege and honour to walk beside my clients - you are all so inspiring - your fearlessness; commitment & determination to be your best selves and live your best lives.

As I look forward to 2024 I am setting an intention ( all change begins there ) for next year to be about expansion. In a world of everythingness where there is so much data we can be mired in a narrow crevass of thinking - I am hoping for expansion - more living from the heart and not just the head ; courage to shift old perspectives and consider new ways of doing and being; growing in community and our collective consciousness to address many of the challenges we grapple with : social inequality; climate change ; sustainable living; poverty and war. It is my hope we can expand into greater community and connection - with ourselves ; Mother Nature and each other .

Wishing you all a Merry Xmas and a healthy and happy 2024.

4P medicine is personalised, predictive , preventative and participatory.
Predictive medicine involves identifying genetic and other risk factors for disease to be able to understand and plan for the effects of illness in advance. In pH360 our assessment technology and the app can provide insights into so@e predispositions that can better inform an individual of the preventative lifestyle measures that are going to make an impact on overall wellness. This includes foods to eat, exercise regimes , stress management techniques to use, environmental influences and more providing 4P medicine to you.

medicine

We are recognising that “the cure “ for what ails us is often not in a pill but a change in perspective ; a change in behaviour and the adoption of positive lifestyle changes.

That what ails us is not just the symptom but that route-cause needs to be addressed. That healing requires work on a physical; mental, emotional, social; spiritual and environmental level.

Adopting lifestyle medicine to keep our whole selves at our best can be a winning disease prevention strategy.
Eat for your health; exercise for your health; nurture your body, mind and spirit; cultivate good habits and connect positively.

In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions:

When did you stop dancing?
When did you stop singing?
When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?”
- Gabrielle Roth

A powerful reminder about where we find happiness… not outside of ourselves ; not with possessions , accomplishments or in some abstracted state. It’s re-membering beauty; flow; joy and laughter resides within. It’s about doing more of the things we love…every day.

Inhabit all of yourself.
Express all of it.
Live an embodied life - mind.body.spirit.

Laugh, dance ,sing - welcome in joy and even the clarity and awe that moments of solitude can bring.

If you’re drawn to dancing more … join the wonderful Lili for ecstatic dance & somatic movement sessions.

We’re dancing on back beach in Karitane and it feels great !

Join us on retreat this summer.

Early morning paddle board on lake wakatipu at Jacks Point. Moving the body every day - in a way that brings me close to nature. The light on the water and shafts of sunlight coming through the Remarkables … pure magic.

Change can be hard - there are times when we feel an overwhelming inertia and resistance to making necessary changes.

It takes courage and vulnerability to take a good hard look at where we are at; to go to the edges ; to examine the long held self limiting beliefs or the story that is so attached to our sub conscious. To figure out what we really want.

When we do however - it is possible through self inquiry; curiosity; self- compassion and non-judgement - to clear a path … to make different choices … to build new habits…to let go of that which no longer serves us.

To move out of that comfort zone and embark on a whole new journey of self discovery; greater awareness; the adoption of new habits that support a better you - it’s about learning and growth…living in alignment with who really are…

Your health is in your hands - you are your own healer. You determine your future.

Much of the best “medicine” out there does not come in the form of a pill or tablet but is completely free.

Here are just 5 things :

1. Optimise your breathing
Science has found up to 90 % of us aren’t breathing properly - we either over breathe; mouth breathe or take shallow breathes(stress is often the culprit here). Simple 2 minute nasal breathing exercises that bring you back to your body and your breathe and the present can have huge positive effects.

2. spend time in nature
We are nature rather than living in relation to nature - get outside and amongst it. Get barefoot and reap the benefits of negative ionisations to ground and oxygenate your body - which in turn helps to reduce oxidative stress and affords you the opportunity to breathe your biome.

3. Change your light
Swap fluoro indoor light or screen light for natural light- your circadian rhythms - cortisol and melatonin regulation will love you for it. So will your immune system - some natural light and sunshine helps with all important vitamin D production.

4. Exercise - great for your physical body your music- skeletal and cardio-vascular health; great for detoxing and your lymphatic system; great for your mental health- great for you any which way you look at it- start now 10 minutes is better than 0 minutes ; make exercise and movement part of your every day- it’s you number 1 longevity pill.

5. Get cold
Your mitochondrial health will improve massively as will your body’s overall stress resilience. A 2 minute cold shower is awesome !

Driving to learn something new everyday is a great way to keep learning !

Step out if your comfort zone ; ignite your passion for new experiences and new insights- join a club; take a short course ; read up on a topic you have always been interested in - learning and growth is a positive feedback loop.

Cultivate a new healthy mental practise - this may be meditation; gratitude practise , journaling or as a simple as doing a crossword.

Build meaningful connections with people who make you feel valued. Meaningful relationships with family/ whanau; friends and the community increased our sense of belonging and strengthens our personal wellbeing.

Deep connection is at the heart of our happiness as a species.

Rather than connecting from a screen take the time to take notice ; a simple smile ; taking time to get to know someone new ; reaching out in person or simply laying an extra plate at the table ; or connecting with someone in need of a little support are great ways to expand and foster authentic connection.

Day 3 : Be Active

Move your body in a way that you love !
Embrace exercise as Medicine. The release of endorphins lift your mood and make you feel great.

Get out in nature ; on your own or with friends and get moving : hike; bike; swim, surf, do whatever gets you moving and nourishes your soul.

Movement helps train our bodies to move in and out of “stress” and recovery to improve overall resilience.

Day 2 MHAW: GIVE

In the age of ever more demands being made for our attention - being fully present is a rarity rather than the norm. Commit to being fully present for yourself and those around you. Give them your time; your words ; your kindness and support.

A random act of kindness - flowers ; some baking ; just showing up for someone else - is a beautiful way to get all the feels ; to share the love to commune in reciprocity.

Support a cause; a charity or volunteer.

Giving makes you feel happy. Your pleasure circuits are activated and acts of charity release endorphins which precipitate feelings of euphoria & joy and oxytocin which promotes tranquility; calm and inner peace.

It’s Mental Health awareness week and this years theme - Five Ways , Five Days . We are encouraged to take simple, proven actions based in Mental Health Foundations Five Ways to wellbeing to help find balance ; build resilience and boost overall mental health.

Day 1 - TAKE NOTICE

This week begins with an opportunity to take stock and acknowledge how you’ve been feeling recently and take notice of the world around you- remembering the simple things that bring you joy.

Focus only on what you CAN control- let go of that which is beyond your control. Lighten your mental load with any excess baggage that does not serve you in the here and now.

Useful activities for today:
Practising mindfulness through meditation; breathwork or journaling.

Practising gratitude - finding 3 things that you are grateful for today and the rest of this week.

Choose something that brings you joy today- this could look like a walk to a favourite place; or as simple as appreciating the beauty of a sunrise or sunset.

ph360 uses 15 different layers of science to determine your phenotypical profile. This allows your app, Shae, to correlate predictive, preventative personalised health data and give you practical health advice.

While our genes are the blueprint for our DNA- it’s our environment that actually drives which genes we are turning in and off.

It’s our epigenetics ( epi= above) that chronicle the story of our lived experience - the story of you- and how that is unique from anyone else.

ph360 is the world’s first personalised health program.

It’s never too late ( or too soon) to improve your health.

Leading research in the field of epigenetics has found that your environment; the food you eat and daily lifestyle can activate your genes - literally turning the good ones on and the bad ones off. all you need to know is how to do it… and that is what ph360 shows you!

When you change your environment…you can change your life.

Get in touch to find out more and join the personalised health movement.

I’m now also an endorsed ph360 Health Coach and Shae wellness provider - helping individuals to live their best lives.

Personalised Health looks to maintain and improve health by assessing you as a whole, now. It takes into account your genes, your environment and lifestyle and formulates treatment and prevention strategies based on your unique background, conditions and current state of health.

Using the power of AI and data from years of scientific research, your personalised health profile is created to support you in achieving your health and wellness goals.

From the best food to eat; exercise that is best suited to your unique biology; through to optimising your chronobiology - so you optimise your sleep; your productivity and all round “flow”.

It understands your unique brain function; dominant hormones and neurotransmitters to assist in development of your natural strengths, communication style and support with habit formation to achieve your goals.

Get in touch today for a 30 minute no obligation chat to find out more. Simply message me or drop an I’m interested below and let’s start your journey using precision health that’s unique to you.

Great to spend some time with Mercy Hospital staff to share conversations around wellness. Thank you so much for you time. we so enjoyed spending an evening with you.

This morning I have the Kelvin Heights loop track all to myself !

Time in nature is heaven for diplomat health types

What are you doing to reinvigorate yourself today

Diplomats have the longest digestive tract of all health types. They require lots of leafy greens (magnesium) in their diet. They are also good candidates for intermittent fasting. Delay breakfast to mid morning and whizz up your favourite green smoothie to break your fast.

Green smoothie ideas
Kale or spinach
Watercress
Almond milk
Chia seeds
1/4 lemon
1/2 frozen banana
1 tsp flaxseeds

Diplomat health types thrive when they feel deeply connected to nature - it inspires them, calms them and activities like a barefoot beach walk allows them to ground meaningfully with all the free electrons that we can uptake from the earth- something that our mitochondria needs for cellular support.

Learning how to optimise my wellness - started my day like this ! .ph360

Look good. Feel Great. Live life.

Office with a view in an organised but good-looking space - my diplomat sense of comfort dictating how I work best ! So excited to be learning more about ph360 this weekend and bringing personalised health to all my clients.

International Yoga Day

I am so grateful for yoga.
Over the years it has taught me so many things …and it continues to be my teacher …

It’s helped me to get out of my head and into my body.
It’s helped me to get quiet and turn inward and notice the feedback my body is giving me.
It’s helped me to B-r-e-a-t-h-e
It has shown me what an embodied practice ; right here in the now can feel like body- mind- breathe completely in the pose ; completely in this moment.
It is a work out and a work- in.

more than ever mastering a pose
It’s been about showing up for myself on the mat; setting the intention for my practise ; and embracing that with practise comes mastery- patience. perseverance.practise. Discipline. Calm. Softening. No judgement.

It has inspired me ; taught me to trust my body and helped heal me when I felt very broken.

I am grateful for all the beautiful souls I have met on the mat.

Perimenopause and menopause can be a bewildering and confusing time for many women. Find the right support; really listen to your body and establish what you need. Prioritise a healthy lifestyle; managing stress and a good night’s sleep. If you are unsure where to start here are a few ideas.

It’s time to break down all the taboos around mental health. It’s time to encourage and normalise conversations around the state of our mind and spirit- the old “she’ll be right” attitude was never an acceptable retort for anyone navigating a “wilderness”.

While social media urges us to paint only a “Mary Poppins” version of our lives the truth is we all come to a point in our lives where we are a little unravelled ; at a crossroads ; confused and have more questions than answers.

A recent On Being podcast really inspired one to imagine all the different “wildernesses” that so many of us face at some point in our lives - to places where there are “no mountains, or lions or bears. “

An illness can be a wilderness ; parenting can be a wilderness ;
Peri- menopause and menopause can be a wilderness ; addiction can be a wilderness; grief can be a wilderness ; ageing can be a wilderness; deep love for a suffering planet can be a wilderness.

Let’s start having conversations about all these wildernesses; for they are often the things we are never taught in a classroom ; never discussed around a dinner table ; too embarrassing and arresting to share with friends and considered socially unacceptable.

In releasing shame and fear and embracing a culture of courage and vulnerability we will find our wildernesses are all too often not unique to us but a shared struggle at a societal level. Let’s give ourselves agency to accept and acknowledge where we are ; embrace the difficult feelings ; to be ok with living in the questions with the grace ,courage and confidence that these will move to answers with time; through honouring and prioritising self-love ; self compassion and open dialogue.

Making positive lifestyle changes for your wellness can be hard and they take time. There is a perception that success is just a straight line, especially when you have a coach supporting you. The truth however is that success, just like wellness - is a journey. There are times when you move forwards in leaps and bounds and other times when things go backwards. Success is never linear. Life and cultivating better lifestyle habits ; releasing self limiting beliefs or breaking patterns of behaviour and changing your consciousness is instead real, raw and a process - an evolution. Be kind and compassionate to yourself on your journey… it is the journey and not the destination where all the interesting turns ; the beauty and the magic happens.

Start with an intention; follow this with action; be consistent until you have cultivated a habit and suddenly it’s a part of you.
Lots of small changes bring about Paradigm shifts.

images credited to

Wellness is multi- dimensional and holistic and encompasses all aspects of our lives : our fullest embodied self.

When I work alongside my clients ; we take a holistic connected view of wellness to explore motivation; identify areas for improvement ;set goals and transform our relationship with ourself and improving our wellness.

This holistic approach focusses on:
Physical : how we nourish a health body through movement; breathe, sleep and what we eat and drink.
Mental : how we engage with the world with our intellect; problem solving ; creativity and mental resilience.
Emotional : Being aware of and expressing our feeling and being aware of the feelings of others.
Spiritual: Finding meaning and purpose
Social : Connecting and engaging with others meaningfully and being in community
Environmental: how we nourish ourself with our connection to nature ; our home environment and living in positive relation to the planet.

As we transition into winter let’s invite in more “yin” practices to “mother” ourselves. Gone is the heady Yang energy and the heat of summer ; nature is inviting us to take this opportunity to embrace this more yin time of year to turn inward and to slow down. It’s a time to “refill the tank”; to contemplate and reflect- it’s a perfect time of year for some more self- mothering practices…

What self nurturing practices are you adopting this winter ? Share your ideas here - we would love to hear from you !

Mother’s Day - it’s been a week since the card by my bed appeared with accompanied by heartfelt hugs…This day always brings for me some reflection - for me being a mother has been the greatest joy, love ; priveledge and responsibility of my life. My three chose me to be their mother and everyday I am grateful for this Honor the universe has bestowed upon me.

I saw a quote on Mothers’ day that we don’t come with an operating manual we come with a mother. How true - we are there for them from their moment of their making to our last breathe - a mother. Always. Here to “mother” them with love and to show them how to physically, mentally and emotionally meet all of their needs to become resilient well rounded adults who forge beautiful lives for themselves.

Sometimes that role feels so undervalued in our world today. If I am honest there are days when I am simply “motherwhelmed”When being a mother and “everything else” feels a little beyond my capacity. There are days that are great; there are days when I am not up for a mother if the year award. That’s ok.

The reflection for me of this day is just like we do for a child ; how are we showing up to “mother” ourselves ? To nurture ourselves with love and compassion for ourselves every day? To forego expectation; to lose the judgement and to recognise that being a great mother includes modelling your own “mothering” every day…cultivating the lives we aspire to live ; actively nurturing ourselves ; seeking always to really thrive- thereby modelling for our children to do the same.

How are you “mothering” yourself today and everyday?

Mother’s Day it’s been a week since the card by my bed appeared accompanied by heartfelt hugs…This day always brings for me some reflection - for me being a mother has been the greatest joy, love ; priveledge and responsibility of my life. My three chose me to be their mother and everyday I am grateful for this Honor the universe has bestowed upon me.

I saw a quote on Mothers’ day that we don’t come with an operating manual we come with a mother. How true - we are there for them from their moment of their making to our last breathe - a mother. Always. Here to “mother” them with love and to show them how to physically, mentally and emotionally meet all of their needs to become resilient well rounded adults who forge beautiful lives for themselves.

Sometimes that role feels so undervalued in our world today. If I am honest there are days when I am simply “motherwhelmed”. When being a mother and “everything else” feels a little beyond my capacity. There are days that are great; there are days when I am not up for a mother of the year award. That’s ok- there is no such thing as perfect.

The reflection for me of this day is just like we do for a child ; how are we showing up to “mother” ourselves ? To nurture ourselves with love and compassion for ourselves every day? To forego expectation; to lose the judgement and to recognise that being a great mother includes modelling your own “mothering” every day…cultivating the lives we aspire to live ; actively nurturing ourselves ; seeking always to really thrive- prioritising our wellness - thereby modelling for our children to do the same.

How are you “mothering” yourself today and everyday?

We often use the terms health and wellness interchangeably but they do have very different meanings.

Health refers to a state where the physical body is free from dis-ease.
It’s the goal.

Wellness however is the overall balance of a person’s physical, social, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, environmental and occupational well-being. It’s an active process - achieved when we strive for balance in our lives by making choices every day that further our health, happiness & fulfilment. It is our wellness that has a direct bearing on our health.

Wellness is a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving your full potential. It’s multidimensional and holistic and personalised. Wellness is positive and affirming - enhancing our state of being.

What do your daily choices look like that support your overall wellness ? Are you on the right track? Are you stuck ? Do you need support ?

Get in touch if a little coaching and support would help you get on track.