Top 10 Tips for Mental Health Awareness Month

Be kind and compassionate to yourself and others.

You are not alone; 1 in 5 adults living in the U.S. has a mental health condition.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and if you are living with mental health challenges, I want you to know that you are not alone. I've had the privilege of coaching, teaching, and facilitating wellness sessions over the past four years, and I can say that I don't know anyone who has not been affected by mental health challenges in some way. 

If this is you, you are not alone. 1 in 5 adults living in the U.S. has a mental health condition, and those numbers have continued to rise over the past few years.

Did you know ...

• Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S.; 48 million living with anxiety

• 21 million living with major depression

• Millions live with post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia.

• World Health Organization has recognized burnout as a disease;  2/3 of full-time workers deal with burnout.

• Chronic periods of stress and anxiety negatively impact the immune system. 

The good news is that there are things that we can each do to take better care of ourselves, build resilience, and feel empowered to take control of our health.  

Ten things to support your mental health

1. Be kind and compassionate to yourself and others.

   We are often more unkind to ourselves than to others. Our inner dialogue can be ruthless and damaging. Practice self-awareness of your words, and choose a different, kinder thought in the moment. Also, give others grace and compassion because we do not know what they may be going through. 

   2. Get professional help 

   Seek out a mental health practitioner. Many organizations now offer these services to their employees. Take advantage of available resources or seek a referral from someone you trust.

   3. Get some sunshine to boost your mood. 

   There is a reason we feel better when we're outside. When we get proper sunlight, our bodies produce vitamin D and release more serotonin, boosting our mood and helping both anxiety and depression.  

   4. Try to get 7-9 hours of sleep each night.

   Sleeping 7 -9 hours is ideal for us, and sleep and mental health are closely tied together. When we sleep, our body rests and recovers. When we do not get enough sleep, especially REM sleep, the brain doesn't correctly consolidate positive emotional content, which is tied to mental health disorders and their severity. Sleep is now understood as both a cause and consequence of mental health problems. 

   5. Surround yourself with loving people you can talk to.

   We all need a tribe of loving and supporting people to talk to and share our concerns, especially when they're tied to our health. So seek out friends, family, or professionals to talk to. 

   6. Eat well and take care of your gut health.

   The gut is sometimes referred to as our second brain, and our gut and brain are linked through the vagus nerve, which sends signals to and from the brain. It's incredible, but the gut can influence emotional behavior in the brain, and the brain can impact the bacteria in the gut. Therefore, nourishing ourselves by eating whole foods, especially fruits, and vegetables, those rich in omega-3 fatty acids, dark leafy green vegetables, nuts, beans, and lentils, helps to boost our mental health. Also, investing in a good probiotic is essential for gut health. 

   7. Start a gratitude practice.

   Did you know that studies have shown that those who practice gratitude are happier, less stressed, less anxious, and less depressed? I love doing gratitude as part of my morning routine and in the evening before I sleep. When we acknowledge our blessings, we focus our energy on what we have, not what we lack. So try it; you may love it!

   8. Move your body daily. 

   Research shows that people who exercise regularly have lower mental illness rates and better overall mental and emotional well-being. Exercise helps release endorphins that boost our mood, help us sleep better, provide more energy, improve our confidence, and reduce stress.

   9. Reduce stress - yoga, meditation, tai chi, and breathwork.

   I can't say enough about mindfulness practices. They align our mind, body, breath, and spirit. Each of these modalities has been shown to reduce stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Mindfulness also trains our brains to be present in the moment and shrinks our amygdala, allowing us to be less reactive. 

   10. Get your blood tested to address deficiencies and get supplement recommendations.

   Several vitamins have been shown to support good brain health. However, asking your primary for a full panel test can reveal deficiencies in vitamins such as Vitamin D, B vitamins, and Folate, which are linked to mental health disorders.  

   Resources: 

• https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help

• https://www.counseling.org/knowledge-center/mental-health-resources

• https://nami.org/Home

• https://www.amenclinics.com

Living yogic principles today

Leveraging an ancient philosophy in today’s modern world.

Practicing the Yamas benefits not only the individual, but also society at large as we choose to be kinder, more forgiving, compassionate, and grateful.

When most people think of yoga they have pre-conceived ideas of what yoga is.  While most are familiar with the physical practice of yoga, yoga poses, or asana, is only one of the eight limbs of yoga.  Yoga is a philosophy that has been around for over 5,000 years, and is just as applicable today as it was when Patanjali wrote about it in the Yoga Sutras.

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, yoga is a philosophy, a tradition, and practice that teaches us how to live a meaningful and purposeful life.  The Eight limbs of yoga, called Ashtanga, require discipline, commitment, practice, and patience in order to realize self-transformation.   

The Yamas are the ethical standards, or outward display of behaviors, and how we live our lives.  For this reason, many compare the Yamas to the Golden Rule:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Practicing the Yamas benefits not only the individual, but also society at large as we choose to be kinder, more forgiving, compassionate, and grateful.  

The first Yama is Ahimsa.    Ahimsa asks that we show compassion for all living things by not harming.  This pertains to non-harming and non-judging with our thoughts, words and actions.  I’m sure we can each remember an instance where we were not practicing Ahimsa. Perhaps you recently had road rage, or had negative thoughts about the person in front of you in line at the store who was taking too long.  Did you speak or think unkind thoughts and words to yourself?  Words and thoughts do matter.  Practice some self-love and acceptance today. 

The second Yama is Satya.  Satya means truth and integrity.  Many of us aspire to be honest, truthful, and practice integrity, yet this Yama also asks us to look at the quality of our speech. Do we gossip? Do we omit details or information to persuade others to our point of view?  Do we practice integrity of speech with comments on social media?  With the proliferation of information at our disposal it is important to investigate the sources of information that we are consuming and sharing.  Practice Satya with the lens on Ahimsa at the same time. If the information shared will knowingly hurt the recipient, we may question our desire to share it.  

The third Yama is Asteya.  Asteya means non-stealing.  The most obvious interpretation is to not take someone else’s possessions without their permission.   Discerning between what is permissible and what is beneficial is critical in all of our actions.  If we probe deeper, Asteya is not tied only to material things.  We can steal someone else’s joy, their energy and their time if we are late. 

The fourth Yama is Brahmacharya.  Brahmacharya has been described most often relating to abstinence and sexual behaviors, yet the definition is broader.  When I went through yoga teacher training my teachers referred to Brahmacharya as “sense control”.   I like to think of this as being aware of our own energy, acting with self-dignity, and choosing wisely how to expend our energies.  Do our choices lead towards positive emotions, self-transformation, and elevation of spirit?  Or, do they cause us distress, depletion, and move us further away from our positive transformation?  Containing our energies, and choosing self-respect should lift us up, and bring us further on our journey.

The firth Yama is Aparigraha.  Aparigraha means to not hoard, to release attachments to material things, and to stop the insanity of acquiring more.  It means to stop clinging to possessions, relationships, and choices that no longer serve us, and prevent new blessings to come into our lives.  Aparigraha may be the hardest Yama for many in our society.  Sometimes it’s described as greed or coveting, yet Aparigraha is also the attachment to old thoughts, patterns and behaviors, too.  Focusing on building a daily gratitude practice shifts our thinking to appreciating what we have today, in this moment, and recognizing that it is enough. 

Practical ways to practice the Yamas now:

1. Ahimsa: Write positive affirmations for one minute in your journal as part of your morning routine. Practice, self-care, choose to be kind to yourself and others.

2. Satya: Examine your social media and news sources. Are they beneficial? How does what we read or look at impact what we share or put out into the world. Choose honesty, kindness and integrity.

3. Asteya: Plan your day and choose to be on time for all meetings or appointments, and end them early, if possible, to give time back. Return items that you’ve borrowed to their owner with a thank you note.

4. Brahmacharya: Journal on how you expend your energy. Do your choices elevate you and positively contribute to your best self, or do they cause angst and deplete you? Choose to make positive changes to contain your precious energies for those that lift you up!

5. Aparigraha: Start a daily gratitude practice. Write in a journal for one minute as many things that you are grateful for as part of your morning routine. Practice gratitude before each meal acknowledging what came to pass for you to be able to consume your meal. End each day journaling or reflecting silently as you fall asleep on the blessings you experienced this day. Look around your home and donate clothes, books, household items – anything you haven’t used or no longer need. Examine your limiting beliefs or your need to be right.

Cleaning out that which no longer serves us makes room for new blessings.  Practicing the Yamas is critical on your self-transformation path and will prepare us for the other limbs.

Hope, Renewal and Growth

I love Spring - it’s a season of hope, renewal and growth. The snow has thawed and melted, the grass is green, the flowers are budding, and the animals and humans are outside again. The potential for change in our environment and ourselves is exhilarating.  Yet, if we don’t pay attention, the changes seem to happen overnight, and we can miss them.  

Last year, in my need to bring more balance back to my life, and perform a bit of self-care, I’d started practicing yoga and meditation daily.  I have been practicing yoga for over 20 years, but inconsistently, and focusing more on it as exercise rather than medicine for my life.  Yoga is a practice in self-reflection. Meeting ourselves on the mat means learning to breathe through all of the thoughts, emotions and memories that arise when we move through our poses. The urge to run away can be very strong, but the only way to get to the other side is to completely surrender and breathe.

The Yamas and Niyamas are two limbs of yoga on the path towards self-reflection, and a guide for our life’s journey.  While studying the history and philosophy of yoga in my teacher training, I started to notice areas of my life where I was not practicing love, where I was grasping, where I wasn’t content, or where I was overly rigid.  I recognized when I was ruled by the ego and not the Spirit.

Running so fast, and for so long, allowed me (required me) to keep my mind, body and spirit separate. I had somehow disassociated from the core of who I was as a whole.  Yoga and meditation became the mirror that reflected my life back to me.  And, it wasn’t the soft lighting mirror - it was the other one that you’re scared to look at because its bright light magnifies every line and every blemish. Once you look, you can’t un-see what you saw. It was time to slow down and make some changes in my life.

My yoga instructors have taught me that the pose itself is not the goal; it’s the movement between the poses that matter more.  Injuries happen often moving from pose to pose when we’re not paying attention, rushing or pushing through despite pain.  Focusing on the breath, on proper alignment, being present in the movement and releasing the ego are critical in yoga.  I’ve come to realize how important these things are in life, too.

I know slowing down is not easy.  It forces us to deal with things that are unresolved. By making small adjustments, we can de-program ourselves from old patterns, thoughts and attitudes.  The changes won’t happen overnight, but they will come. 

Here are a few small changes you can implement:

1. Starting a daily meditation, affirmation and gratitude practice allows you to quiet the mind, practice being kinder to yourself, and recognize your blessings.

2. Schedule time on your calendar for alone time to take a walk, read, take a bath, enjoy a glass of wine, journal - whatever your version of a guiltless pleasure is.

3. Begin to de-clutter your home, closets, and drawers, and make room for new beginnings and changes.

4. Simplify your life to create room for things that bring you true joy.

5. Focus less on the destination and more on the journey. 

Revel in stillness and your breath.  Instead of racing from one destination to the next,  choose to live more fully in the space between the moments.

I am not “cured” of my controlling and high-intensity tendencies, but I am more self-aware and have the desire to change. Instead of beating myself up with unkind words or thoughts about my short-comings, I am practicing self-love and care. By finally slowing down, I feel peace, love and joy. And, you can, too.

Namaste

 “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist