Do holidays stress you out? Here's how you can bring mindfulness practices into your holiday season. 1️⃣ Set a morning, mid-day, or evening routine that you can stick to. 5 minutes of grounding activities that you can do everyday to center and check in with yourself before another day of the holiday season. 2️⃣ Incorporate a breathing practice into your day, whether it's during #1, #3, or #4. Awareness of slow, controlled breathing is one way to engage mindfulness and slow your nervous system down. 3️⃣ Mindful movement can be exercise, gentle stretches, or an activity that you enjoy. Movement can bring awareness to the body and breath and is another practice in mindfulness. 4️⃣ Holidays bring together large groups for large meals. Mindful eating involves enjoying your meal and company in an intentional pace, thoroughly chewing foods before swallowing, and being aware of body cues for hunger and satiation. This can help your overall digestion too! 5️⃣ While we take time to reflect and write end-of-year cards and well-wishes, write some for yourself as well. Mindful writing like journaling or card writing can be great ways to practice gratitude and mindfulness of the accomplishments and moments of the past year. According to the National Institute of Health, mindfulness has shown benefits in studies on: ☺ stress, anxiety, and depression ☺ PTSD ☺ high blood pressure ☺ pain ☺ sleep ☺ substance use Source: https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-and-mindfulness-what-you-need-to-know Read more on mindfulness and meditation: https://wshcare.org/making-sense-of-meditation-and-prayer/ (fb)

Supporting integrative medicine means supporting communities. This #GivingTuesday, consider supporting Whole Systems Healthcare in their core initiatives: 1️⃣ Delivering accessible, high-quality, evidence-informed integrative healthcare to communities across the nation 2️⃣ Creating educational health resources for clinicians and health seekers alike 3️⃣ Developing and growing the body of research on integrative modalities and systems-based medicine See more ways to support: https://wshcare.org/support-whole-systems-healthcare/ #WSHC #WSHCare #BringingLifetoHealthcare #GivingTuesday2022 #donate #nonprofit (fb)