Stress-Proof Your Kid

Before the holidays begin and family gatherings, this is the perfect time to lessen the pressure building up in your kids.

My pre-Thanksgiving treat for kids, parents, and all kinds of families is a free 45-minute webinar. I’ll share 3 prime ways to “Stress-Proof Your Kids.”

All you have to do is sign-up for an invitation (and join my community).

Free Live Webinar

The live webinar is scheduled for November 20 at 7:00 pm PDT. You can take part in the webinar using a computer, smartphone, tablet, or landline. I promise to leave time for Q&A. Those who register will also get a link to the recording.

Download a Flyer

Stress-Proof-QR-Code is a flyer that will provide you with an easy way to get to the registration page where you can get all the details for the event. This flyer includes a scannable QR-Code.

To use the QR-Code, hover your smartphone camera over the code
Your smart device will ask if you want to open the page in a browser window.
You don’t even need to print the flyer, you can hover your phone in front of your computer screen.
And, if you want to share the flyer, please feel free. There will be folks joining us from around the country.

If QR-Codes aren’t your cup of tea, click here to get to the registration page.

Have a Happier Holiday Season with your Stress-Proof Kid

Did I mention, this is a free event. You’ll have a happier holiday when you learn how to “Stress-Proof Your Kids.”

Invite someone you love and share the good stuff.

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Catch Your Breath

Time to Catch Your Breath

Considering our recent wildfires in Sonoma, Napa, and Southern California, it makes sense to remind all of you how you can “catch your breath.”

2019, like the smoky days of 2017, brought high winds, intense fires, and intense emotions.

While we cannot control when and where fires erupt, we can control our reactions.

Your Breath and Self-Care Refresher

how to reclaim your breath
reorganize your immune system
calm your nervous system
and reduce the stress your body and mind are experiencing

Those of us who were not directly in harm’s way from the fire were under stress from a loss of power, and sometimes water too. We were living with uncertainty about when we could resume our normal activities and if we would be safe from disaster.

At my home and office, we were without electricity which affected our water, as we are on a well. We could stay in our home, but it was as if we were camping out for the week, as we nervously watched and waited. They evacuated many of my friends and clients, some more than once. And I understand that some folks were without power for more than a week.

Help Your Breath

I know there is concern about the ash in the air. The dust and debris have triggered:

respiratory projects
fatigue
scattered thinking
sleep disruptions
feelings of being under threat
Loss of control
Anxiety
General disquiet

In California, we are living in fire season. We have been on high alert since the first dry winds in September. Extreme low humidity, dry conditions, lots of vegetation/fuel, unusually high winds, a convergence of meteorologic conditions that result from global warming, all have contributed to our current situation. Life is not business as usual.

What You Can Control

Take extra care of yourself and by using these energy tips, you can feel more like yourself now and whenever you encounter challenging situations, natural disasters, work stress, and family pressures.

Get more information and tips from Recovering from the Sonoma Fires

https://www.deborahmyerswellness.com/2017/10/

Resources for Victims of California Wildfires

Wildfire Resources – California Victim Compensation Board

California Wildfire Resources

Resources for Victims of Wildfires | Official Website …

Northern California fires: List of resources for victims …

2019 Fire Season Outlook | Welcome to CAL FIRE

California Fire & Evacuation Maps: Track Fires Near Me Today [Nov. 3]

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April is Stress Awareness Month

Isn’t it crazy that we actually have a “National Stress Awareness Month”? Guess that shows a lot of people are dealing with some sort of stress in their worlds.

What is stress?

How do we best define it when it is so different for everyone? What can we do to reduce the effects of it so our bodies don’t go into reaction? And what can we do to actually have a sense of control so stress doesn’t seem to be running the show?

I’ll give you some historical background about how stress came to be recognized as a “condition” in our country. Then, I’ll share some easy-to-use self-help acupressure energy tips for changing how we can transform stress from a negative to positive. Transforming stress is a bit different from how Western medicine suggests we can manage it! And, when we get to that place of management, we truly are partners with our bodies.

Stress Awareness Month

It has been held every April since 1992. Sponsored by The Health Resource Network (HRN), a non-profit health education organization, Stress Awareness Month is a national, cooperative effort to:

inform people about the dangers of stress
successful coping strategies
harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in our society.

Medical Definition of Stress

In a medical or biological context, stress is a physical, mental or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stresses can be external (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal (illness or from a medical procedure). Stress can initiate the “fight or flight” response.

The state of mental or emotional strain or tension from adverse or very demanding circumstances can be so recognizable that others notice. We even hear comments like “he’s obviously under a lot of stress” and “she really needs to figure out how to manage her stress.”

Stress can cause or influence the course of many medical conditions. These include psychological conditions such as depression and anxiety. Medical problems can encompass poor healing, high blood pressure, headaches and migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, and many others. We now have “stress management” recognized as an effective treatment for many medical conditions.

To read more about stress and how the Western medical world defines it, go to

https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20104.

Transforming Stress

Articles that include tools for self-assessment, resources, and programs, can be found on the website for The American Institute of Stress. The organization is all about awareness, education, and collaboration.

Go to https://www.stress.org/what-is-stress/.

Stress as a Project

Personally, I like to look at “stress” as a “project that can be transformed.” The term stress was coined by Hans Selye in 1936. He defined it as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”. If we look at stress as “the rate of wear and tear on the body,” it makes sense that increased stress can actually accelerate the aging process.

And who wants that? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather walk around in a body that does not have major reactions to stressful situations. All of the experimental and clinical research confirms that the sense of having little or no control is always distressful, and that’s what stress is all about.

Energy Tips to Manage and Transform Stress

Here are my self-help acupressure energy tips that you can use to manage stress. They will allow you to be a partner with your own body. Because stress can take the breath away and cause us to wait with bated breath, follow along to learn how you can have full expansive breath. You’ll be way ahead of stress and its ability to affect you.

To help let go of stress, open up breath, release tension and increase vitality:

1. Hold upper arms by folding arms across the chest

2. Right hand — cup sternum directly below the collarbone

Left hand — hold fingers in a vertical pattern on your tummy

3. Right hand — hold the base of the right front ribcage

Left hand — hold fingers on the right chest below the collarbone

4. Gently cup thumbs

More than an Ounce of Prevention

The Daily Clean Your House Flow helps you stay in balance and get in front of stress. Doing the Daily Clean Your House Flow prepares your body for what you’re going to ask it to do now and for what might come at it (even major stressful traumatic events). Do the Daily Clean Your House Flow at least once a day. It will create a strong foundation for you to be able to be the best partner you can be with your body. I have been doing it daily for more than 20 years, as have many of my clients, friends, and family. This one practice is the best antidote to stress and you can do it anywhere, anytime. The more you do it, the better you will feel.

Do your part to Make Stress Awareness Month Obsolete

Share this post about the Daily Clean Your House Flow with the people you care about through your social channels, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You’ll be glad you did your part to lower the stress in the world.

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Holiday Excitement and Two New Cats

I love the holiday season!

There’s something about the getting ready that makes me feel good all over. It starts with sharing Thanksgiving with family and friends. And then I jump into decorating for Christmas and having fun times with friends. My tree covered with ornaments and lights, the mantle with Santa and his reindeer, my Santa collection spread throughout the house, and miniature nativity scenes set in their unique places all create the reasons why the holidays are such an extraordinary time of the year for me. You have to see my home to understand that I’m really into it. There’s nothing like the feeling I got when a 4-year-old walked in the front door and asked, “Are you Mrs. Santa Claus too?”

Something is a bit different this year

None of my beautiful vintage glass ornaments are on the tree because two new kitties, Topaz and Tux, are new to the picture and creating magic in the household. They’ve been super with all of the decorations, but I’m not going to take any chances!

A Season of Fun and Joy

I hope YOUR holiday season is full of fun and joy! And I hope that you and your family have many magical experiences!

Sweep Away Holiday Stress

Want a super easy way to do some holiday shopping? No matter who you are shopping for and how old they are, my animated video of the Daily Clean Your House Flow will help bring calm and ease to the special people in your life.
Help them sweep away stress and overwhelm and discover the magic of energetic balance!

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My Gift of Energy Tips for You!

My gift of energy tips for you!

Prepping for the Holidays

Prepping for the holidays is all about finding the time to do all you want to do! Maybe there’s some “I should do this” in the mix, but let’s just see how we can make it more manageable.

Your list can be pretty extensive: making the shopping list (we’re talking the gifts you’ve decided on), the shopping itself (usually requires multiple trips out), decorating, the clean-up that follows, wrapping gifts, baking, planning your own entertaining (definitely lots of steps involved including the food preparation on the day of your event), making time for all of the events you want to attend (don’t forget to make your reservations and get your tickets), getting those wrapped gifts delivered (either personal delivery or setting up shipment). Okay — I bet there are more than a few things that I’ve forgotten.

Are You Tired Yet?

You don’t have to be. In fact you can be totally with it and ready for the next thing on the list. And you can feel that you have it handled, with no built-up stress and anxiety about anything you have planned and still need to do.

The key is to have clarity and focus, energy to do what you want to do, and feeling rested for next “thing to do.” Here are easy-to-do energy tips to help you feel great about your holiday and all of your plans.

Holiday Energy Tips

Start each day with the Daily Clean Your House Flow
Consider doing the Daily Flow in the middle of the day to give you an extra boost.
When you feel “out of sync” or “I’ve lost my juice” do this to help you get centered and grounded and to feel revitalized:
With one hand: cup your sternum under your collarbone
With the other hand: hold fingers on your tummy
If you feel “out of breath” or feel “anxious about the crazy list I’ve created” do this to create breath and feel empowered:
Hold your upper arms by folding arms across your chest
Or gently cup your thumbs (let’s go of worry)
If you feel unsure and unclear of the plan and have lost track:
With one hand: cup your forehead
With the other hand: cup the base of your skull
To get a really good night’s sleep (and in the middle of the day, to feel like you actually took a nap)!:
Place fingers on right and left base of skull
Jumper Cable! Gently cup each thumb and finger for several good breaths.

Holiday Momentum

Okay! I hope you feel more prepared for your holiday season and for all that you want to create!

Mine is going forward with full steam ahead momentum! I love this time of year and I love being fully engaged with each and every part of my list. In fact, the list is “just there” and the time somehow appears for the items to be taken care of. As you can see, decorating my tree is an important item on my list. And the rest of the house reflects my love of “decking my halls!”

I wish each and every one of you a magnificent holiday season!

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Halloween Shouldn’t Be Stressful!

Halloween is supposed to be fun! Do YOU remember the decision process of what to wear for Halloween? Chances are good that it didn’t matter if you chose a costume that someone else was wearing, or one that wasn’t quite as spectacular as your friend’s costume, or even one that you wore last year. It was all about the experience of dressing up, being in the costume parade at school, and then, the very exciting time of going trick and treating. And it very seldom was anything but a safe experience.

I thoroughly loved Halloween. It was the holiday that allowed me to fully be out of regular character and act the part of someone entirely different from the normal me. Decorations didn’t play a big part when I was a child, but when I became an adult, my kids informed me that I went a bit crazy creating a Halloween go-to destination for trick and treating.

Halloween Was Indeed Fun

I do believe I made it lots of fun for all the kids in the neighborhood. Is it fun for your kids? I hear from way too many children in today’s world that they’re stressed about what to wear, about what group of kids they can hang with that night, whether they’ll be invited to THE party, and whether this Halloween will be better than last year’s holiday. They want something better than what they perceive is not okay and in that place of wanting something different, they’re stressed.

Stress and Halloween Are Not Supposed To Go Together

That’s not okay! If you notice your children are feeling anxious or nervous about the events of Halloween consider helping them by showing them how to be calm and relaxed. It’s all about discovering that breath is the key. Have you ever noticed that when YOU are anxious your breath gets blocked and congested? The trick is to open up the energy so breath expands. Here’s an easy energy tip to help your children breathe, to be calm and to let go of anxiety.

Your Halloween Treat

With one hand — hold your fingers on the upper back near the shoulder blade

With the other hand — hold your fingers on the upper arm

Then move those fingers to the outside of the wrist

You can do it for yourself too. And teach your children how to do it for themselves.

Right hand — hold your fingers on your left upper arm

Left hand — hold your fingers on the base of the right ribcage

Left hand — hold your fingers on the right inner thigh

Feel how the breath opens and everything in the body relaxes. And experience a whole new way of feeling, including being excited about Halloween. Enjoy!

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Is Finding Time Creating Stress?

Where did last week go? For that matter, where on earth did the last six months go?

Is time really passing faster? Or is it our perception? I believe that our brains take an accounting of all that we’re asking our physical, mental and emotional bodies to handle. When the list is long and the activities we manage to accomplish and check off of the list are many, our brains say, “I can do it all!” So our bodies step up to the plate to help us get around to it all and get it done and be able to even add more to the list.

FITTING IT ALL IN

But that means “all of the items on the list” need to fit into the calendar and into the entire picture. Our brains see all of those five and ten-minute segments and two plus hour time slots and have to figure out how we’re going to do it all. You would think that time would appear to slow down to allow it all to happen. But, alas, it is a paradox. The brain and our bodies get the sense that time is speeding up as we fill our days with all of the “to do items” on our lists because we’re NOT moving slow! It’s no wonder that feeling stressed comes into the picture.

OUR KIDS ARE AFFECTED BY WHAT THEY SEE

And here is the clincher. The kids in our lives SEE that behavior and our need to find time to do it all. Many children have an amazingly full schedule between school, studying, music, and sports without even talking about all of the other extras. And that’s not even taking into account just hanging out and doing fun things with friends and family. They manage to do what they see US doing: filling up their calendars, trying to do it all, and experiencing time passing faster and faster as the days go by. And this brings them to feel the sense of “being stressed.”

There are significant health risks associated with stress. In an article by Dr. Robin Berzin, she identifies 10 Reasons Why Stress is the Most Dangerous Toxin in Your Life. Of the ten health risks, one really stood out. Dr. Berzin cites research into brain chemistry that shows “Early life events determine your set point for stress.” And if that was the only harmful effect, it is reason enough to break this habit of hurry.

SLOW DOWN AND FIND SPACE!

The solution: slow down and create space for our bodies to experience feeling the breath, feeling the energy of “just being,” discovering that meditation is easy when we allow our brains the opportunity to “just hang out.” Consider doing something to help you and the children in your life more easily allow that to happen. I start every day doing the Daily Clean Your House Flow. It takes me anywhere from five to twenty minutes, depending what I choose. The animation video I created only takes six and a half minutes!

A DAILY MINDFULNESS PRACTICE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

And why are people doing the Daily Flow? They are noticing that they have better attention to detail because clarity and focus are boosted, that they are better able to do their activities without their bodies going into reaction (any sports, house and yard chores, computer work, etc.) and that their bodies stay healthier. But the absolute biggest reason is they feel less and less stress. People who do this daily practice have told me they notice that their breath is more expansive, that they can actually relax, that their brains slow down and let go of the chatter.

MY RECIPE FOR MINDFULNESS INSTEAD OF “MIND FULLNESS”

Try it for yourself. YOU just maybe will slow down and smell the roses! And just maybe we can model different behavior and change what’s happening out there in the world and help children NOT be in that terrible thing called stress.

Photo credit: Evil Erin / Foter / CC BY

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Breath Makes the World Go Round – Even for Kids!

Originally posted on Health at Your Fingertips blog.

Children Can Let Go of Stress and Be Happier

Stress can show up in lots of ways in our bodies. As adults we can often see what that looks like and feels like. What’s sad is how many children in our world are experiencing stress. Have you noticed a young person who is experiencing loss of energy, sleeplessness, extreme up and down emotions, chronic illness (even just ongoing colds), or inability to stay on track and focused? THESE are early symptoms of stress. What’s super sad is how many children get so stressed that they end up in the throes of anxiety and even develop respiratory and digestive issues.

I see these early signals of stress in so many of the children I work with. Their parents want to help them change that picture which is why they come to see me. What’s beautiful is that their bodies “decide” they don’t have to create the bigger issues. Instead, their bodies recognize that they don’t have to respond to the stress and the stressful moments that are in the world around us.

So, what to do? The trick is to let go of stress build up and “create” a body that doesn’t experience symptoms of stress. It’s all about getting the energy to flow and helping the breath be open and expansive. When the body is more open to receiving the inhale and letting go on the exhale, there is ability for the body to create the space for a healthier way of being. The children I work with recognize huge changes taking place when they do the Daily Clean Your House Flow. And many of them do it more than once a day — because they notice that their body is happier.

Here are some of the comments that I’m hearing from the children in my life:

“I’m going to sleep as soon as I go to bed.”
“When I wake up it’s easier to get ready for school.”
“I’m not falling asleep at my desk or when I’m studying.”
“I’m not missing school because I’m not getting sick like I used to.”
“I’m getting more done and getting better grades.”
“I’m not getting in fights with my brother.”
“I’m getting along better with my friends and we’re having more fun.”

So, folks — our bodies are hungry to be in balance no matter what our age! And our bodies want breath to be happening — easily, consistently and expansively. Do the Daily Clean Your House Flow whenever your body asks for it. Remember: “There is no such thing as too much self-help!”

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Breath Makes the World Go Round – Even for Kids!

Children Can Let Go of Stress and Be Happier

Here are some of the comments that I’m hearing from the children in my life:

“I’m going to sleep as soon as I go to bed.”

“When I wake up it’s easier to get ready for school.”

“I’m not falling asleep at my desk or when I’m studying.”

“I’m not missing school because I’m not getting sick like I used to.”

“I’m getting more done and getting better grades.”

“I’m not getting in fights with my brother.”

“I’m getting along better with my friends and we’re having more fun.”

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