By Kathleen Reynolds
“Get healthy” may be one of the top resolutions for the New Year. If doing dozens of curls and
marching on a treadmill aren’t your style, we have alternate ways to think about yoga, massage
and diet/nutrition. Check with your health care practitioner before starting any new routine.
YOGA
Yoga is an ancient mind and body practice primarily based in Hindu philosophy and tradition. It involves combining breathwork, physical postures and meditation.
Kellie Brett is a yoga instructor who teaches at Napa health clubs, senior residences and has even taught preschoolers yoga.
“A big part of yoga is mindfulness,” says Kellie. “What yoga teaches us is being more mindful and kinder to ourselves. All the things we learn practicing within our own body, we can bring outside the mat. The kindness, compassion and grace we show to ourselves, we can show everyone else. In the Western World we recognize yoga as movement, but yoga is so much more.”
Kellie says this isn’t complicated.
“If you were to look at yoga as a tree, there are eight limbs of yoga,” explains Kellie. “The
physical yoga practice would be one limb. Meditation is another limb; breath work is another
limb. Each of the limbs are just as important as the others.”
“I feel that breath work can connect us to a deeper place,” Kelley says. “Often, we breathe at the
top of our lungs and don’t take full breaths. When we take deep breaths, it brings more oxygen
into the whole body. We live in a fast-paced world and don’t realize that our breath reflects that.
Taking a fuller breath slows down our body and brings us to a calmer space.
Yoga students don’t have to twist themselves into pretzels to enjoy yoga’s benefits.
“I hear people say I can’t touch my toes. Yoga is so much more than flexibility. It feels good to
loosen up our body, but yoga helps our mind as well. Through calming the mind and focusing on
ourselves in yoga practice, we learn compassion. When we are kinder to ourselves, we are kinder
to everything around us.”
“There are different styles of yoga. It doesn’t matter what’s going on or if there’s an obstacle you
feel or see, yoga will always meet you exactly where you are. Anyone can do yoga, at any age. I
help at preschool, and we’ve done yoga quite often. I taught them to “smell the flowers and blow
out the birthday candles” as a breathing exercise. Simple breath work is something everyone can
do.
There are several yoga studios in Napa and most local gyms offer yoga, too. If you’re nervous,
Kellie suggests trying it with a buddy or going to a class and telling the teacher you’re new.
MASSAGE
According to the Mayo Clinic Health System, massage therapy can help with stress, pain, anxiety, digestion and more.
“Often people feel better through massage because they have a specific or overuse injury,” says
Mee Rhorer, the owner and muscle therapy specialist at Massage Master in Napa. “It can be physical; sometimes it’s mental and emotional. I refer to myself as a muscle therapy specialist because what I do is customized, precise and goal oriented. I am present and go into each session with an intent; I am with that client in the room in their moment.”
“(Basic) massage is much different from what I do. When people leave the appointment, they’ve
said, “I wasn’t getting massages until I met you.” I specialize in a very specific form of deep
tissue. The only way I can describe it is neuromuscular therapy. Many practitioners do that, but
what I do goes beyond it. I’ve never had my modality patented, but I refer to it as the Rhorer
Method.”
She explains why massages are important to our health.
“It’s that human touch and connection that allows people to release. Clients tell me it helps them
to relax on every level. A lot of people are tight, tense and on autopilot and don’t realize it. Once
they’re touched, they say, ‘I need this. I need to see you regularly.’ They might come in on a gift
card and say, ‘You found a tight spot I didn’t know existed. I thought I was just supposed to feel
that way.’ That’s the biggest benefit.”
Some people may be reluctant to receive a massage because they may not like to be touched, or
they’re embarrassed or shy about the intimacy between therapist and client. Mee mentions on her
website that the minimum covering is a “Tarzan wrap.”
“For the most part, clients are very covered. I just uncover the area I’m working on.”
“People also ask if it will hurt, perhaps they’ve been hurt in the past,” Mee says. “But I’m a
specialist and before you know it, they’re asking to go deeper (into the muscles) with me.”
If you are planning to get a massage, Mee encourages people to stretch and take a hot bath, if
possible, to make their body more ready and open to touch. She works with people of all ages
and reminds anyone seeking a therapeutic massage that communication is the most important
thing between therapist and client.
DIET/NUTRITION
To quote from Harvard Medical School Publishing, “The foods you eat supply the nutrients your body needs to maintain your brain, muscle, bone, nerves, skin, blood circulation, and immune system.”
Karen Louise Scheuner has a master’s degree and is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist who started her career in 2005.
“In general, how we eat and how we fuel our bodies impacts our moods, not only mental health
but digestion, metabolism and energy throughout the day,” says Karen Louise, who is based in
Napa and sees clients both in person and virtually.
She considers herself “an anti-diet dietician.”
“A lot of dieticians and other health professional use a model that is weight-centric, meaning
endorsing specific diets with the goal of intentional weight loss,” Karen Louise says. “I use a
model that is non-diet centric and weight neutral. I don’t endorse any diet, per se.”
“There’s a $80 billion diet and wellness industry that upholds the belief that if we lose weight via
dieting, we will magically improve our health. There is a lot of money to be made in upholding
this belief. Weight loss diets are problematic because, in the short term, they work for a lot of
people. In the long term over five years, however, they do not work for most people.”
“A lot of people in the new year are excited about losing weight. It’s a lucrative thing, there’s lots
of money made selling the latest injectable, diet pill, book or program. Dieters inevitably get
caught in this vicious dieting cycle of losing, gaining, losing and gaining more weight over time.
It’s called weight cycling.”
“The approach I teach my clients is the antidote to dieting, an internal approach called Intuitive
Eating. I help people to repair the rupture they have lost with their bodies so that they can
reclaim their birthright to trust their bodies again. I believe that our bodies are the ultimate portion-controller, as opposed to counting calories and placing trust and control outside of our
bodies. Dieting leads us to a false sense of control.
People interested in this approach can visit IntuitiveEating.org.
“The official website has over a hundred different clinical studies to support the efficacy of
Intuitive Eating,” says Karen Louise. “People find me when they’ve done everything and are sick
and tired of being caught in the dieting cycle. They’ve hit bottom and are open to learning about
this radical alternative way of relating to our bodies, food and our health.”
“Body trust and Intuitive Eating is reparative and healing work that takes time; it’s not a quick
fix. It does not promise weight loss, although some people may lose weight with this approach.
The goal is not to lose weight; the goal is restoring trust with the body and making peace with
food and accepting our unique genetic blueprint. Everyone’s body is different. Some people are
just born bigger and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be healthy if they’re in
a larger body than what the culture deems acceptable.”
“I want people to become their own nutrition expert,” says Karen Louise. “My job is to get them
to listen to their bodies so they can hear their cues. Your body will crave healthier foods if we get
out of its way.”
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