What Health Coaching Can Do for You

What is health coaching, and how can working with a health coach (such as me!) improve your wellness? I thought I would share a little bit about how I work with people to support their health and well-being.

I know what it’s like to not feel well. When I was struggling to get to the bottom of my health issues, and to slowly put the pieces in place to feel well, I found various healers and coaches that made up my “healing team.” Having this support network was really powerful in supporting my body’s capacity to heal. I learned so much through my journey, and it’s my hope that I can help others in feeling their best.

What we eat can be hugely impactful to our health, but it really only starts there. In a health coaching session, we will also look at your sleep habits, your stress levels and nervous system, exercise, and a variety of other things that can impact your overall health. When we work together, we work in a partnership, compassionately listening to your body and giving you the support you need.

You don’t need to want to lose weight or make drastic dietary changes to work with me. Most of my clients are pleasantly surprised that the changes we make are gentle and small (but add up over time to make a big impact in their well-being).

Health coaching can also be for people who already feel healthy but still want and can benefit from support. Health coaching can help you take your wellness to an optimal level.

How we work together:

• Start with a free discovery call where I learn more about what your goals are and if we are a good fit.

• Initial evaluation where we will go over in detail your goals and set up a plan for support. Your plan might include Pilates and somatic sessions, and might include bi-monthly or monthly health coaching sessions. This will really depend on your goals and what kind of support you would like.

• You’ll feel supported in your health goals and feel your best!

If you are curious about what working together is like, please reach out. I’d love to chat more and support you!

The Best Chicken and Rice Soup

This soup is loaded with fresh garlic and ginger, which are both great for supporting the immune system. That’s especially important this time of year. Creamy rice and fresh lemon and spinach add brightness and help nourish the bones (and the soul) during winter. This is another of my favorite recipes from Run Fast, Eat Slow by Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

5 carrots, sliced

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 teaspoons sea salt (you can leave this out if broth is not low-sodium)

8 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger

1/4- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on your spice preference)

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast and/or thighs

1 cup short-grain brown rice

3 cups fresh packed spinach

1 cup chopped parsley leaves

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Cooking Instructions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onions and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring continuously, for 1 minute.

Add the broth, chicken and rice, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked and rice is tender, about 30 minutes. Remove chicken from the pot, place on a cutting board and shred chicken.

Return the chicken to the pot and stir in the spinach, parsley and lemon juice. If the soup is too thick, add additional water or broth. Add additional salt and pepper if desired.

Serves 5.

Restorative Pilates Class for Holiday Stress

Movement helps so much with how we feel physically and emotionally. Your workouts don’t have to be super intense to be beneficial. This gentle, 45-minute class will strengthen and stretch your body, and help you feel good with any holiday stress you are experiencing. Enjoy!

*Cats, dogs or children might want to join you on the mat!

Carrot-Ginger Soup for the Winter Comfort Win

This carrot-ginger soup is simple, warming and delicious. Around the holidays, there are so many more options to eat rich sugar- and fat-filled foods that, while they may be enjoyable in the moment, often leave us feeling foggy and over-indulged. This soup is perfect to support and nurture your body in between richer meals. I love the fresh ginger (great for immune support!) and the bright, fresh taste lemon. Another plus is how easy this is to make! The recipe is from Run Fast Eat Slow by Shalane Flanagan and Elsye Kopecky, and I highly recommend their book, which is packed full of easy and yummy recipes!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)

2 yellow onions, sliced

1 1/2 pound carrots, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon sea salt

4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable, to make it vegetarian)

2 tablespoons uncooked rice

2 tablespoons lemon juice (1 lemon)

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions

In a large pot over medium/high heat, melt the butter and add onions, carrots and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften; about 8 minutes.

Add the broth and rice to the pot, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Simmer covered, until the carrots are tender and the rice is cooked; about 35-40 minutes.

Turn off the heat and allow soup to cool for 10-15 minutes. If you have an immersion blender, blend until soup is smooth. You can also blend soup by carefully transferring the soup to a blender, just be careful to hold the lid in place so the hot soup doesn’t blow the lid off!

Once the mixture is blended, stir in the lemon juice, ginger and black pepper. Add more salt, if needed.

This soup is perfect just like this, but is also good with toasted pumpkin seeds and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

Somatic Experiencing: What Is It and How Can You Benefit from It?

Trauma is a big word and most of us immediately think of the big, horrible traumas that some experience. However, 70% of adults in the United States have experienced a traumatic experience in their lifetime, and experiences like divorce, chronic health conditions, emotional abuse, sudden relocation loss of a pet, and having a child can all be challenging and cause a trauma response in the body.

Somatic Experiencing is a naturalistic approach to resolving trauma. It is the work of Dr. Peter Levine, an expert in the field of stress and trauma, who says, “Trauma originates as a response in the nervous system and does not originate in an event. Trauma is in the nervous system, not in the event.” I love this because it allows us to work with the body and the body’s innate wisdom and capacity to heal. I love that this work is so helpful without us needing to go into the details of the trauma.

Our nervous system is capable of restoring equilibrium, and if this innate self-regulating function has been blocked or disturbed, trauma symptoms can develop. Healing happens in the present because, really, that is all we ever have. By learning to feel what is happening in the body now, in this very moment, we can identify patterns and responses in our nervous system. Identifying our patterns gives us the capacity to regulate, which then begins to heal symptoms of chronic and traumatic stress and dysregulation from shock trauma and developmental trauma.

When I first heard of Somatic Experiencing a few years ago, it just sounded like it made sense. After years of therapy, thousands of dollars spent on self-improvement and healing modalities, I still often had the feeling of something being ‘stuck’ in my body. Despite all the work I had already done, I had a sense of a piece that still needed more attention. I found a therapist who is SE trained, and over the last year it has really has been transformative to learn about my own nervous system. This experience has made such a difference in my life that I wanted to learn more and be able to share this with others. I’ve recently started a three-year training program to be a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, and I can’t wait to incorporate this into my coaching and Pilates sessions.

If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out! I will be incorporating some practice sessions into the next few months and would love to chat with you if you’re interested!