Holistic Health

My Experience with the COVID Vaccine

February 7, 2021 by Carol 2 Comments

Friday morning I had my second dose of the Moderna vaccine. After the first dose, the only symptoms I had were a very slight spacy feeling and an arm that felt like it had been hit with a baseball bat for about 36 hours. (I know what that feels like, my brother ‘accidently’ hit me once with one as a kid during a game!) The second shot is, for most people, a very different experience. I tell you this, not to scare you off the vaccine, but so you can be better prepared and know how to deal with it. The most important and helpful thing to do with the inevitable painful arm is KEEP MOVING IT. Stretch, pump your fist, hold your hand over your head and wiggle your fingers – even though it hurts, from the moment you get the shot keep it moving. Topricin is also helpful, and they may tell you to use ice, but as I explain below, the soreness is an inflammatory reaction that activates your immune system, you don’t want to suppress it.

By Friday evening I was feeling tired, a little achy, had a slight headache, felt a little queasy and started running a fever of 100.2.

[Read more…]

Thoughts on COVID-19 – part 1

May 9, 2020 by Carol Leave a Comment

On his deathbed, Louis Pasteur admitted that he was wrong about the germ theory, his famous theory that bacteria and other germs were the primary cause of illness. “The terrain is everything,” he said, and that is what alternative and holistic practitioners have been saying ever since. Bacteria and viruses are everywhere, and as we are seeing so clearly with COVID-19, some people get sick, some people get very sick, and most people are fine. So what’s the difference? The virus is the same, but their terrain, their inner environment, their receptivity and susceptibility varies greatly. It’s the host that is variable, not the virus.

So what does this mean in this pandemic? It means we can take control of the one thing we can control, supporting our systems to provide as healthy a terrain as possible. In looking back over my posts, I have written several times about the seasonal flu, and ways to protect yourself. There are a few differences with COVID-19 but mostly supporting your terrain, your immune system is the same.

There is a way in which this touches something very personal for me, this pandemic with all it’s talk of ICUs and ventilators, and it reminds me of a sad validation of the importance of terrain.

[Read more…]

Missing Things…

April 25, 2020 by Carol Leave a Comment

It’s been 37 days since I last worked on anyone in my office. I love doing remote healing sessions, but I miss the physical connections, I miss touching people, I miss my orchids beaming their own form of healing energy from my office window sill…

We are all missing things, in this strange time, and we all need support. The isolation, disruption of our routines, economic stress and devastation, the fear and anxiety of getting sick, losing our livelihoods, or losing someone dear to us blend with the collective trauma of what is happening to our world. Many people seem surprised by how un-moored they feel. It’s more than just not knowing what day it is, it’s a greater disorientation from how dramatically life has changed and how quickly and unexpectedly it happened. How, even when we see other people, we can’t see their faces, their smiles through their masks… How we have to constantly monitor how far away we are, stifle the impulse to hug a friend, the wave of fear at regular, simple tasks like getting groceries or mail. How can we not miss the things that have been our anchors? How can we not feel the effects in our bodies, our hearts, our spirits?

As a holistic healthcare practitioner, as a healing guide and coach, I consider it an honor to help you find balance and grounding and centering in these wobbly and challenging times. To find the peace that lies deep within your heart, the unexpected gifts of this pandemic enforced time out, the groundedness and safety of living in your body.

May we all stay safe and healthy and connected to one another.
with love and support,
~Carol

Coronavirus – Supporting Your Immune System & Office Update

March 13, 2020 by Carol Leave a Comment

As we do our best to prepare and take precautions, it is also vitally important that we tend to our stress levels, our immune systems and our body, heart, mind and spirit.
Why do some people get very ill and others have a mild or undetectable response to any virus? That depends on many factors, especially on how well their immune system can respond to the challenge. The function of our immune systems is to recognize what is me, what is not-me; what is my body, my food, and what is a virus or bacteria or toxin and then mount the appropriate defense to keep us healthy. It is very important to support our immune systems to do their best to respond appropriately when confronted with any virus. So this is an especially crucial time to nourish ourselves on all levels – eat well, avoid stressors like sugar and junk food, take appropriate supplements, get plenty of sleep and stay connected to people we care about.
Fear produces stress hormones that send energy to our fight or flight mechanisms, taking valuable energy from our immune systems and our ability to digest and heal and repair.

[Read more…]

Quick Stress Relief Tips…

March 1, 2020 by Carol Leave a Comment

Trying to find the time to implement stress relief techniques can be stressful itself, so I wanted to share with you some quick stress releasing ideas. It really doesn’t take long to shift your energy and calm your nervous system and access a sense of relaxation and peacefulness. Here are a few of my favorite, very quick stress releasing tricks.

#1 – EXHALE… A few focused, deep breaths can shift your mood in a moment. Exhaling slowly stimulates the Parasympathetic part of the nervous system, the part that calms and nourishes our system. Inhaling stimulates the Sympathetic part, the part that controls the Fight or Flight response. Think about the difference between a quick gasp and adrenalin surge when you are startled, vs. a long, slow sigh of relief…

[Read more…]

Changing Our Story – reality is relative…

February 16, 2020 by Carol Leave a Comment

We have experiences in our lives, and then we tell ourselves stories about what they mean, and then we live our life around the stories. So often the stories are not so happy, not so inspiring, and tend to leave us disempowered and upset. But if it’s my story, why can’t I just change it? The past shifts and changes anyway as our memories change or fade and come to resemble the story we’ve been telling more than what actually happened… So if you don’t like the story write a better one! I have been experimenting lately with changing some of my stories – re-framing and re-writing the stories I have been telling myself (and my friends!)

[Read more…]

the pursuit of the positive…

January 13, 2020 by Carol 8 Comments

Our brains are such busy little things, always looking for something to notice to comment on, to judge. When we think a lot about something, like “I don’t have enough money” “I don’t have enough time” “I’m lonely, I don’t like my body, I’m clumsy…” our brains start looking for things to notice so they can validate those thoughts. And we start seeing all kinds of things that seem to validate our belief.

So what if we flipped it around? What if we started telling ourselves that life is easy, there is always enough, I am beautiful just as I am… Suddenly, as if by magic we start seeing things that validate that new belief. Our brains start looking for proof of the positive; suddenly you notice a stranger is smiling, the client who’s late gives you time to take a deep breath and stretch, you walk past a window and see the beauty of the clouds instead of the cloudy sky, you find a quarter on the sidewalk…

[Read more…]

Happy for no reason…

September 1, 2019 by Carol Leave a Comment

Years ago, I was privileged to interview Marci Shimoff, author of “Happy for No Reason” for my teleseminar Profound Paths to Health, Healing and Happiness. We had a wonderful conversation about happiness as a state of being, not an emotion that comes and goes. Her concept of being happy for no reason makes me think of our relationship to the sun. The sun is always shining, even though when clouds pass in front of it, we tend to feel that it is gone… When our emotional states shifts, when we become sad or worried or scared, we think we are unhappy. But aren’t these “unhappy” emotions just passing clouds? Can we learn to allow happiness to be our essential state of being?

[Read more…]

Moods Are Like the Weather… Seasonal Affective Disorder

November 17, 2018 by Carol Leave a Comment

From a spiritual perspective, it’s been said, you are really the vast, deep, limitless sky, and your emotions are really just the clouds that come and go across that background. Sometimes they frame the sun and create a beautiful panorama, or a spectacular sunset. Sometimes they seem to block the sun and you can feel sad and gloomy. But then the wind blows, air currents shift and suddenly you are your true radiant self again…

As we move toward winter in the Northern hemisphere, we enter a time of challenging skies, often gray and cloudy, no longer balanced by the lush green of trees and plants. And many people find it difficult to remember the sun, remember the gentle air of spring, the brilliance of summer and most especially, their own inner light. They fall into seasonal sadness, also known as SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder. And it gets really hard to maintain a spiritual view on it all…

[Read more…]

Choices…

October 19, 2018 by Carol Leave a Comment

So many people seem to be stressed about making choices these days. Whether it is a major life change or decision – health issues or decisions about treatments, divorce or separation, career changes or simply the myriad of lifestyle choices we face on a daily basis – it is so common to feel unsettled and stressed and keep second guessing ourselves. When we make a choice, we want to feel a sense of peace and resolution.

But that’s not always easy… And the more distant or dis-connected we feel from our intuition and inner guidance the harder it is to be relaxed and at peace with our choices. Connecting with our deepest inner selves is often hardest at the times when we need it most.

[Read more…]