For thousands of years, people believed that stress made you sick. Up until the nineteenth century, the idea that the passions and emotions were intimately linked to disease held weight, and people were told by their doctors to go to spas or seaside resorts when they were ill. Gradually these ideas lost favor as more concrete causes and cures were found for illness after illness. But in the last decade, scientists like Dr. Esther Sternberg, director of the Integrative Neural Immune Program at NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), have been re- discovering the links between the brain and the immune system. [Read more…]
Wellness Coaching and Spirituality
It’s all in your mind. Or is it in your body? Or both? The interconnections between mind and body are the basis for many types of alternative health practices. Spirituality is believing in a source of value that transcends the boundaries of the self but also nurtures the self. Mind-body medicine builds on spirituality, encouraging methods for improving the body by altering the mind. Does your client believe that spirituality can improve their physical health? [Read more…]
Coaching Clients Through the Pain of Regain
The holidays are here! This is the time we reconnect with family and friends and celebrate. It’s a busy time that can prevent us from staying focused on our healthy lifestyle and fitness routine. We eat foods generally reserved for these special occasions and have a few (extra) wonderful holiday drinks. This time with others nourishes our souls which is so important! Unfortunately, it is also responsible for an average weight gain of between 5-8 pounds. Once the holidays are over, it’s time to get back to our regular diet and fitness routines. This is when we will see the client’s that need a kick start or just validation that they are back on track with their fitness routines and healthy eating.
How to Relieve Restless Legs with Nutrition – Wellness Coaching
What is ‘Restless Legs’?
Restless Legs is best described as an uncontrollable, strong urge to move your legs. You feel the need to move your legs, mostly when you are trying to relax, causing difficulties in sleep. Restless Legs, also known as Restless Legs Syndrome, or RLS, could give you unpleasant sensations in your legs, that occur mostly at bedtime. These sensations usually only feel better when you move your legs. You feel very uncomfortable and feel worse unless you move your legs. When the disorder is severe, you also may have the urge to move your arms, but that only happens in rare cases.
Many different symptoms have been described by people suffering from RLS, such as:
- leg pain
- cramps
- tingling
- itching
- burning
- aching
These symptoms will start or get worse when you’re inactive, or in the evening. The urge to move increases when you’re sitting still or lying down and resting. Restless leg syndrome usually begins slowly. Over time, the legs become more affected.
How to recommend the best bodywork for your wellness coaching clients
Bodyways (sometimes called Bodyworks or similar) can be one way for your client to benefit from an often-overlooked method to improve their holistic health. By definition, Bodyways are used in alternative medicine to describe any therapeutic or personal development technique that involves working with the human body in a form involving manipulative therapy, breath work, or energy medicine. In addition bodywork techniques aim to assess or improve posture, promote awareness of the “mind-body connection”, or to manipulate a putative “energy field” surrounding the human body and affecting health.
Fitness Training & Coaching: The ideal pair
I loved my 2 years in graduate school. I got to get up early every morning and study exercise science all day long with the help of a great library, an exercise physiology lab, and dedicated professors. What could be better for someone who wants to learn their profession!
I learned exercise science inside and out. What an asset that was and is. It has given me the ability to design and implement safe and effective exercise programs for hundreds of very diverse clients over the last 20 years. I am so thankful to have gained this in-depth knowledge through a well-designed curriculum of guided study.
From Binge Eater to Successful Wellness Coach
BINGE EATING DISORDER….. MY STORY
BY: JOSEPHINE CHAMPION
I was a binge eater for 20 years and began this way of eating when I was 8 years old. I would easily eat a whole box of cereal, ice cream bars and basically anything that I could find in the house. I would eat when no one was looking and it became part of my life. Even though I am Italian, everyone just thought it was a growing spurt and was a good eater. My parents always cooked healthy meals, but when guests would come over, there would be desserts, soda, pizza etc. Then I would love to eat any of the left overs.
Interim Wellness Coaching
There is a new opportunity rearing its head in the field of wellness. It’s called Interim Stage coaching. This is a descriptor related to those people who are seeking to make a change in their overall wellness and set out with the best of intentions… yet they might fall through the cracks, due to a lack of intervention or follow through. This is where the role of the wellness coach is most likely to be useful.