 Today would have been my mom's 75th birthday. These milestones remind you that grief often lingers beneath the surface, whether you acknowledge it or not. When she found out she was sick, she said she wanted to be around to turn 75, but that wasn't the plan. I am happy that she is no longer suffering. I'm currently on a little road trip adventure. I do this pretty often, and I'm sure that my free spiritedness comes in part from my mom. She definitely marched to the beat of her own drum. There's a lot to work through, but for now, on her birthday, while I spend time in nature with my best gal, I'm choosing to remember the good times.  Today I'm going to take it slow, check in with how I'm feeling, honour whatever comes up, and enjoy where I am. I am reminding myself of the things that I want to focus on in this new season of life…
I want to embrace peace and quiet. I want to lean into adventures. I want to lead with authenticity. I want to create opportunities for connection and self-care. Sending out lots of love to anyone who has a complicated relationship with a parent or is missing a loved one right now. Until next time. Stay grounded and stay bright, Kelly
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 For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about food. When I was a kid, I was often called the garbage can or asked if I had a hollow leg because I never seemed to get full. Those messages wormed their way into my brain, and sometimes, I still have feelings that rise up when my appetite seems out of alignment with others. But I've done a lot of work on my mindset and I've worked hard to break up with diet culture (I even bought a t-shirt a decade or so ago that says Riots not Diets). For a many years, I used the 80/20 guideline to help keep me mindful of what I eat. Where 80% of the time I ate and drank things that felt well-balanced, and nourishing, and 20% of the time I ate and drank things that brought me joy, even if they had no nutritional value. Through perimenopause and post-menopause, this has shifted closer to a 90/10 split. I have a major sweet tooth that I indulge but my focus is still centred on positive nutrition. And my thoughts on positive nutrition are inspired by the work of Amelia Freer, who is a nutritional therapist and author based in the UK.  Positive nutrition can profoundly impact overall wellness, not just body aesthetics or weight management. The core concept of positive nutrition is to encourage healthy, nutritious food choices rather than demonize less nutrient-dense alternatives. It represents a shift from exclusion to inclusion and a move toward habits that are sustainable, positive, and long-term (Martini et al., 2023). Positive nutrition recognizes the interdependencies of diet, lifestyle, and environment. It emphasizes choosing food that allows you to meet nutrition requirements, maintaining a weight that is healthy for you, and enjoying the pleasures of eating. Positive nutrition is about peace and connection to your body rather than having a hostile, combative relationship with it. In a nutshell, positive nutrition is an approach to eating that focuses on getting the ‘good’ stuff into our bodies (like jam packed veggie bowls), rather than worrying too much about excluding or cutting out the so-called ‘treats’. It is a shift in thinking from deprivation to abundance and a stepping away from the cycle of on-off dieting culture.  Fundamentally, our bodies need a wide range of essential nutrients every day to function optimally. Yet our whole conversation around food for the past few decades has often been about minimization – somehow ‘less’ has become synonymous with ‘better’. But eating less food (usually to consume fewer calories) often means fewer nutrients. So, by restricting our diets, we are also reducing our body’s ability to digest and absorb the essential nourishment we need to function. We do need to be conscious of maintaining energy by choosing foods that meet our body’s requirements for nutrition. And we should be cautious of all-or-nothing, prescriptive approaches to eating that create anxiety, fear, and confusion around food. Amelia Freer uses the term relaxed nutritional balance. To her, this means eating mindfully, or consciously, with overall health and vitality in mind while remembering that food can and should be a source of pleasure and joy (like the vegan gelato below that I ate on vacation). Figuring out your own balance is the key to finding contentment around food.  If we want lasting change in how we think about food, nutrition, and our bodies, we need to work on our mindset. As Dr. Phil once said, we can’t change what we don’t acknowledge. In the workshops that I lead on nutrition, I encourage participants to think about the following: How would you describe your current relationship with food? What do you enjoy about your current relationship with food? What do you dislike about your current relationship with food? Are there food rules that you live by? Where did these rules come from? Are these rules rooted in balance and nutritional needs? If not, how can you make them more balanced? Are there certain foods you consider to be good or bad? If so, what are they? Why do you assign this morality to these foods? What would you like to change about your relationship with food or your mindset around food? What is the first step to making this change?  Emerson said, “We are what we think about all day long.” Our mindset matters and if you have been on a yo-yo diet for most of your adult life, your thoughts have likely been influenced, and maybe at times consumed by food and your thoughts around food. We must remember that we have a choice in this. We can choose to embrace each day, to look at diet culture and societal messages with our eyes wide open (for example, a smaller body does not mean a healthier body), and consistently work toward a mindset and cultivate habits around food so that food is working for us, not against us. Positive nutrition is not about a free for all where we abandon our knowledge of what foods feel good in our bodies, energize us, and keep us satiated. Wanting to make healthy, balanced changes to the way you eat to support your body and mind is great, and it’s part of positive nutrition, but we need to be mindful about how we do it. The research is clear: a prerequisite for effective dietary change that supports our body and mind is that sticking to dietary changes must be feasible on a sustained basis. We need to abandon the approach that has us indulging in a food if we are going to work out later. Food is not a punishment and reward system, and it is not something that we have to earn. This mindset holds us back from living our best life, finding peace in our bodies, and being present to enjoy special moments.  When we look at nourishing our bodies with food choices that make us feel good, give us energy, support our mental health, and experience joy in special moments where food is central to the experience, it becomes easier to lean into the positive changes that you’ve made and stick with the new habits you’ve developed. Here are three practical strategies for incorporating positive nutrition habits into daily life
 If you’re looking for inspiration, some great accounts to follow on Instagram are @desireenielsenrd (Desiree Neilsen is a registered dietician and cookbook author), @soheefit (Sohee Carpenter, she is a trainer, nutrition coach with PhD who uses an evidence-based approach and @thenutritiontea (Shana Minei Spence, she is registered dietician that takes a non-diet, weight inclusive approach to food and nutrition). Until next time. Stay grounded and stay bright, Kelly   The effects of stretching on other fitness activities have been widely debated in sports literature. Should we stretch before or after a workout? Should we focus on dynamic or static stretches? Does stretching help improve performance and prevent injury? What about range of motion, day-to-day functionality, and quality of life? Stretching and flexibility are seen as pillars of fitness, but some argue that this long-held view is based on belief, not data. The science is dense and sometimes contradictory, and more research is needed, but here’s the bottom line…stretching is good for us! Sometimes the biggest hurdle is setting everything else aside and just stepping on our mat. We know we'll feel better afterwards, the benefits are endless. Stretching can improve flexibility and range of motion, enhancing our ability to do daily activities. It increases blood flow, boosts oxygen levels and helps deliver nutrients to our muscles, and helps usher out waste like carbon dioxide, ammonia, and uric acid. My favourite benefit of stretching is that it improves body awareness or our conscious connection to where we are in space. Body awareness is connected to balance, stability, and our ability to listen to what our body tells us. Better body awareness is linked to better posture, injury prevention, and avoiding burnout. So, let’s get bendy! Two common types of stretching exercises: Static/passive stretching –This is the most common form of stretching that involves holding a challenging but comfortable position for 10-30 seconds or five to ten breaths. This type of stretch doesn’t require muscular contraction and is considered the safest for most individuals who are uninjured. Dynamic stretching – This type of stretching is often performed during a warmup. It should involve a challenging but comfortable range of motion movement that mimics the activity or sport that will be performed. This type of movement should be smooth, controlled, and repeated 10-12 times. Here are six yoga poses to release the muscles that feel tight as we move through our day Seated neck and chest stretch – come into a comfortable seated position, draw your arms behind your back, interlace your fingers, root your knuckles to the floor, and tuck your chin to your chest. Hold for 10-30 seconds, or five to ten breaths. I have a lot of neck and shoulder tension and do neck stretches throughout the day.  Standing forward fold – stand with your feet hip-width distance, inhale, and reach your arms overhead, exhale, and fold forward with a soft bend in your knees. Make sure the head and neck are in a neutral position and hold for 10-30 seconds or five to ten breaths.This can feel great if you have tight hamstrings or need to release some tension in your low back.  Child’s pose – start on all fours (tabletop position), bring your big toes to touch, and sink your hips to your heels with arms extended. Hold for 10-30 seconds, or five to ten breaths. This should feel like a great release for your shoulders, low back, and hips. One of my favourites!  Thread the needle - start on all fours (tabletop position), thread one arm under the other, and bring shoulder and cheek to the floor. Extend the opposite arm. Hold for 10-30 seconds, or five to ten breaths, and repeat on the other side. This is another personal favourite, and if you take a yoga class with me, we'll likely do some variation of this pose.  Low lunge with a twist – start in a low lunge with your left leg forward and your right leg straight behind you. Place your right hand on the ground inside your left foot and sweep your left arm to the sky. Your gaze can follow your left arm or stay on the ground. Hold for 10-30 seconds, or five to ten breaths, and repeat on the other side. I love a good twist!  Reclined pigeon/figure four – start on your back with the knees bent and feet hip-width distance. Cross your ankle over the opposite knee and flex your foot so the toes pull back toward the shin. Draw your knee toward your chest and hold on to the hamstring or the shin. Keep the back of the head on the floor. Hold for 10-30 seconds, or five to ten breaths, and repeat on the other side. This version of pigeon is much gentler for folks who have knee issues.  You should feel a muscle stretching sensation in these poses, but nothing sharp or pinching. Try to stretch once a day, be gentle with your body, and think of the time it takes to complete the poses as a gift to yourself, to release the day!
Until next time. Stay grounded and stay bright, Kelly  This is my first blog post in many, many years, and I am happy to be back at it! I used to have a blog called Soulfood; it was about all things that fed my soul and lit me up from the inside out. I love to write and share, and my intention with this blog is to talk about all things yoga and wellness. There will be different categories to keep things organized, but I thought it would be appropriate to start exactly where I am, navigating the chaos and finding my calm. It’s been a bumpy ride lately… I spent the second half of the winter, all of the spring, and the first half of the summer feeling like I was in fight-or-flight mode. Most of us have been there, probably more than once. For me, it shows up as tight muscles, poor sleep, racing thoughts, and frequent heart rate alarms on my smartwatch telling me my heart rate is elevated when I’m just chilling. In February, I found out that retiring early from my almost 26-year teaching career at a community college was a possibility. This was definitely not on my radar and led to lots of reflection and tough conversations about what the future looked like. I ultimately decided to take the leap, and April 30th was my last day at my full-time job. And then I found out that my mom (who lived in a different country) was sick and that things were progressing very quickly. This was challenging on lots of levels, not just logistically. In the end, I’m glad that I was there with her, and that I had the time, mental and emotional capacity, and the resources to make it possible. A couple of weeks after my mom’s passing, I was leaving on a trip to Italy that was planned long ago. Initially it was hard to get excited. I felt conflicted about taking what felt like an indulgent trip when I "should" be grieving. It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but also a wonderful experience, largely thanks to the amazing women I was travelling with.  As I navigated my way through the chaos to the calm, I continued to teach yoga, had wonderful support from my community, and friends and family checking in with me regularly. What a privilege to be surrounded by such love! While I waited for my nervous system to recalibrate, I focused on routines, habits, and practices that helped me feel grounded. I walked every day drank lots of water spent time with my dog and my partner and walked in the woods I also went to therapy, got massages, saw my osteopath, and I booked some time at the spa. I realize these are not options for everyone, and I am so grateful that I have access to these resources. I do think there are supportive options available for most folks, but sometimes it's hard to take that step. We're either afraid to reach out for help, or we're used to existing with chronic stress, or we don't have the luxury of time, or we feel guilty prioritizing ourselves. I don’t know if I’m fully on the other side of the chaos, but I do feel more like myself. I feel energized, creative, and centred. I wrote down the things I want to return to as I move into this new season of life… I want to embrace peace and quiet I want to lean into adventures I want to lead with authenticity I want to create opportunities for connection and self-care Until next time. Stay grounded and stay bright, Kelly  |
AuthorHi, I'm Kelly. I've been teaching yoga for almost 16 years and I recently concluded a rewarding career as a college professor. I'm excited to focus fully on helping people slow down, reconnect, and thrive through yoga and sustainable daily habits. ArchivesCategories |
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