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3 Ways to Overcome Overwhelm This Holiday Season
The holiday season can be a joyous and fun time for many, and a sad or lonely time for others. But regardless of how this season sits, it is almost always a time of increased stress and overwhelm.
With these simple steps, you can cut down your own stress and find peace of mind.
Get crystal clear on what is MOST important to you
With clarity about your values, you will be able to decide what you are going to say ‘yes’ to and what you are going to say ‘no’ to with greater ease and grace. If you want to feel peaceful? Say no to the four parties on one day. If you want to feel energetic? Put your phone down and go to bed on time. If you want to keep your immune system healthy? Go easy on the sugar and alcohol and make healthy food choices.
Volunteer!
Studies show that volunteering is good for your own stress level—as long as your motivation is for the benefit of others and not yourself. Find an organization you think is doing great work and carve out some time to help.
Set clear boundaries
With the onslaught of parties and events, visitors and responsibilities, it’s easy to get into more than we can reasonably handle. Don’t be afraid to say ‘no.’ My favorite tip for this is to tell people, when they ask me for something, is to say that “I’m not 100% sure if that can work for me; I’ll send you an email by tomorrow end of day to let you know.” That gives you a chance to actually consider whether it is something you really want to do, and also makes it a little easier to let people down gently.
Dr. Samantha Brody, author of Overcoming Overwhelm, is a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist and founder of Evergreen Natural Health Center in Portland, Oregon. Licensed as a primary care provider with extensive training and experience in both complementary and Western medicine, she has worked with over 30,000 patients and clients in the past twenty years. Her mission is to empower people to address the stress in their lives and help them to make changes that are in alignment with their personal health goals and values. She holds a doctoral degree in naturopathic medicine and a master’s degree in oriental medicine from the National University of Natural Medicine. She is a sought-after international speaker who educates lay and professional audiences on the issues of stress and health. Dr. Samantha writes for a variety of publications and has been quoted extensively in books and media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, and Shape. Learn more at drsamantha.com.
The community here at Sounds True wishes you a lovely holiday season! We are happy to collaborate with some of our Sounds True authors to offer you wisdom and practices as we move into this time together; please enjoy this blog series for your holiday season.
To help encourage you and your loved ones to explore new possibilities this holiday season, we’re offering 40% off nearly all of our programs, books, and courses sitewide. May you find the wisdom to light your way.
3 Ways To Be Present This Holiday Season
Holidays are a mixed blessing … they’re times when we take a pause from our daily routines and share more personal time with family and friends—some who we love unconditionally, and those that we love “almost” unconditionally (as long as we don’t talk about politics, the environment, the world, etc.).
Here are a few easy suggestions to help show up in all holiday situations, while maintaining full presence and a sense of calm.
Seek Moments of Stillness
Look ahead to your holiday social events, then plan for intermittent moments to be by yourself for creating stillness, physically and mentally, away from the hustle and bustle of family activities (or the TV). It’s easier than you think, especially if you are truthful about its importance for your health with those around you. If they are curious what it does for you, encourage them to try it too. And after, be curious about their experience as a conversation-starter when you’re together again.
Seek Moments of Silliness
Calm is not easy when our mind is preoccupied and struggling with the chaos often found during the holidays. Luckily the human species is bestowed with the gift of humor and light-heartedness, which research shows is capable of overriding the mind’s obsessive or compulsive tendencies to overwhelm our emotions, and take us out of the present. Engaging in a bit of silliness is literally child’s play and an elixir to bring us back to the present that helps strengthen connection and community.
Breathe Slow and Soft
Awareness of breath is one of the most common techniques for staying present in our “moments” during the holidays. By simply making the sound of our breath soft and the breath’s rhythm slow, we create a more naturally conscious state of being that stimulates our body’s parasympathetic response. This releases the tension and stress our sympathetic nervous system naturally creates during times of anxiety or distress. Remembering this during the upcoming season is truly the best gift you can give!
Peter Sterios, author of Gravity and Grace, is a popular yoga teacher and trainer with over four decades experience. He’s the founder of LEVITYoGA™ and MANDUKA™, as well as KarmaNICA™, a charitable organization for underprivileged children in rural Nicaragua. Sterios taught yoga at the White House for Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiatives for three years, and in 2018 he was invited to the Pentagon to share yoga’s therapeutic effects with the US Marine Corps. He resides in San Luis Obispo, CA. For more, visit LEVITYoGA.com.
The community here at Sounds True wishes you a lovely holiday season! We are happy to collaborate with some of our Sounds True authors to offer you wisdom and practices as we move into this time together; please enjoy this blog series for your holiday season.
To help encourage you and your loved ones to explore new possibilities this holiday season, we’re offering 40% off nearly all of our programs, books, and courses sitewide. May you find the wisdom to light your way.
4 Ways to Stay Healthy This Holiday Season
In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it can be difficult to keep your health in check. There are so many holiday parties, family gatherings and opportunities to overextend yourself. However, if you can follow these 4 simple tips, it will help you stay on track!
Hydrate
Drink plenty of water all day long. Choose water over sugary drinks and alcohol whenever possible. Keeping your body hydrated is a key ingredient in keeping your body balanced and in a state of homeostasis. Think of drinking water as bathing your cells in nourishment. If you’re at a party and everyone is drinking, just get a pretty glass and fill it with water and add a slice of lime or lemon. No one will know the difference.
Don’t Overeat
Only eat until you’re full. Did you know it takes 20 minutes for your belly to signal to your brain that you’re full? Eat slowly, mindfully and consciously, only choosing healthy options. You can treat yourself to dessert but try to keep the portion small and opt towards the healthier options.
Get Plenty of Sleep
Sleep is when your body rejuvenates and restores itself, so don’t skimp on rest during this fun (but often stressful) time of year. Keep electronics out of the bedroom and try to stay off screens for at least an hour before you go to bed. Instead, take a nice warm bath with bath salts and a drop of lavender oil. Read your favorite book or do a quiet meditation. Also, try not to eat 2-3 hours before bed.
Move Your Body
Exercise is another extremely important ingredient in staying healthy throughout the holiday season, as well as the rest of the year. Exercise brings oxygen to your cells and making you feel more awake and energized. If you can start your day with a yoga class (or even 20 minutes on your yoga mat in your home), it will set the tone for the day, helping you choose healthier options along the way. Even if all you can squeeze in is a short walk, you will feel so much better and less stressed.
Victoria Dodge is a cofounder of Yoga Salt, coauthor of The Yoga Plate, professional photographer, and cooking expert who has worked with companies such as Lululemon, Forbes, and Apple, as well as celebrity clients, models, and Hollywood figures like Shaquille O’Neal, James Cameron, and Sterling K. Brown. The Dodges live in North Carolina with their two children.
The community here at Sounds True wishes you a lovely holiday season! We are happy to collaborate with some of our Sounds True authors to offer you wisdom and practices as we move into this time together; please enjoy this blog series for your holiday season.
To help encourage you and your loved ones to explore new possibilities this holiday season, we’re offering 40% off nearly all of our programs, books, and courses sitewide. May you find the wisdom to light your way. Use promo code HOLIDAY10 and receive an additional 10% off your order.
Customer Favorites
Fleet Maull: Radical Responsibility
Fleet Maull is an author, consultant, and executive coach who founded Prison Dharma Network and the National Prison Hospice Association while serving 14 years in federal prison. In the 20 years since his release, Fleet has taught the expansive philosophy he discovered while incarcerated as a meditation teacher, end-of-life educator, and the creator of the Radical Responsibility training program. With Sounds True, he has released the book Radical Responsibility and accompanying audio program Living with Radical Responsibility. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami talks with Fleet about the roots of Radical Responsibility and how its philosophy came to define his life. Fleet explains what it means to leave behind your “victim story” even while honoring the fact that your boundaries were violated. Tami and Fleet discuss Karpman’s model of “the drama triangle,” which is essential to the tenets of Radical Responsibility. Finally, they speak on the neurobiology behind the Radical Responsibility model, as well as the paramount importance of recognizing the innate goodness of other people. (71 minutes)
Nate Klemp: Open, Expansive, and Free
It’s not just you. Millions upon millions of people today are feeling more stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed than ever before. As a result, explains philosopher and writer Dr. Nate Klemp, a lot of us are contracting ourselves—closing our minds in an effort to shield ourselves from the constant noise of the 21st century. With his new book, Open, Nate explores possible solutions to help us shift into a life of expansiveness, creativity, and wonder.
Press the play button and join Tami Simon in conversation with this innovative and inspiring thinker, discussing: breaking free from screen addiction; the drivers of closure; the concept of “feast practice”; our need for novelty; an experiment that may shock you; the practice of staying; shifting from a wandering mind to “meta awareness”; how an open mind is synonymous with an open heart; overcoming separateness; noticing your “closure cues”; skillful closing; the intent to win versus the intent to understand; the portal of bliss and the portal of suffering; getting unstuck; letting go; and more.
Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.
The Master Key: Awakening the Four Golden Wheels
Tami Simon speaks with internationally renowned Qigong master Robert Peng about self-empowerment through the activation of what he calls the Four Golden Wheels—the three dantians and the central meridian. Robert helps us learn now to identify these energy centers in our own bodies, and discusses how to expand the central meridian to connect us with the infinite energy of the universe. Tami and Robert also discuss his experiences as a Qigong healer under the guidance of master Xiao Yao. Finally, Robert leads us in the practice he calls “Awakening Awareness,” an exercise at the heart of many of the practices he teaches. (72 minutes)
