life coaching

What has the biggest impact on your health?

The best thing you can do for your body and health is to drink more water!

If you are trying to withstand from alcohol for a month, similar to a Dry January challenge. The best way to get through the sluggish feeling that naturally happens when we change our habits around consumption is to hydrate with water. Added bonus- it’s cheap!

Take your weight and pretend it’s ounces, and then divide it in half. That’s how many ounces of water you should be consuming every day. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds. We would remove the “pounds” and say 150 ounces, divided in half is 75 ounces daily. That’s basically five plastic water bottles a day. However, I encourage you to use a reusable water bottle.

gretchen schock drinking ice filled water

I like throwing some mint leaves into my ice-filled water during the summer. I also find that if I drink water with a straw, I will consume more water throughout the day.

What is your favorite way to enjoy drinking water during the summer?

The Power of a Hug

Coaching, Parenting, Wellness

Knowing how to calm your nervous system in moments of overwhelm or overstimulation is extremely important to regulate your mood and maintain a sense of inner calm.

Last weekend, we had a large party to celebrate my oldest son’s high school graduation. I loved everyone who came, and I was excited to have them all in our home and gardens. But at times, it felt like a lot of emotions and energy to absorb.

The picture is of me hugging my two teenagers. We’ve done this for years. Originally it was our response when my older son Logan, who is on the autism spectrum, became overstimulated. We’d form this hug of protection around him. The pressure of the hug on the body sends signals to the brain to calm down, telling the nervous system that everything is okay. We call it a “family sandwich.” But now, I find great comfort in reaching for them and holding them in a squeeze when I need to regulate my own emotions.

Why?

Because when we are engaging in a hug, a chemical in our bodies called oxytocin is released. This hormone is associated with happiness and less stress. It is often referred to as the “cuddle hormone.” A hug from a loved one gives us a sense of safety, comfort, and empathy. It has a powerful effect on our mental health by reducing stress, our physical health by boosting our immune system, and our emotional health by combating feelings of anxiety and loneliness.

When the world feels unsettling and overwhelming, try reaching for a hug from someone you love. Then, hold the hug for at least 30 seconds and breathe.

What are your values?

Coaching, Mindfulness

Last month in the Refocus On Wellness group, we talked about values. I had the folks attending choose three values from the list I displayed on the screen and write their own definition of that value.

Here is the list that we used:

The purpose of this exercise is to live more intentionally and to filter our decisions and actions through those values to live with personal integrity. Studies have shown that affirming our values can lower our perception of stress and help keep us on track and aligned with our goals.

I often share my own choices with the group because I believe that vulnerability is what makes me a good leader. So the value I chose is honesty.

Honesty, to me, is about being vulnerable and transparent. And it’s a word that speaks to both my personal and my professional life. For example, I recently had a conversation with my teenagers after a disagreement that I had with my ex-husband. I am no longer shielding them from the co-parenting struggles because I believe they are old enough to understand and see the truth for themselves.

As for my professional life, it’s time that I am honest with my Bee Yoga Fusion community. 2020 was a challenging year for many people, but 2021 was even more difficult for small businesses. For the past six months, I have been running my business with my hands over my eyes. I did not want to see the numbers on my spreadsheet. But, having to get all my documents together to do my taxes forced me to finally look and see that Bee Yoga Fusion took an enormous loss in 2021. It was the first year BYF reported a loss in the twelves years that I have been in business, but it doesn’t feel good to see that large red number reminding me that we are still pivoting through a pandemic. So going forward I will be filtering my messages through the value of honesty.

If you are interested in joining the monthly conversation within Refocus on Wellness, you can sign up here; you will engage in thought-provoking discussions and receive access to exclusive on-demand yoga classes.

Letting Go of Holiday Expectations

Mindfulness

I’m letting go of the expectation that this holiday season will be stress-free, seamless, or magical.

Don’t get me wrong; I’d like it to be stress-free! But right now, the landscape ahead looks a bit bumpy. Recently I had some significant bombs dropped within my yoga studio structure, and right now, I’m just breathing through it. So that’s what I encourage you to do, breathe through it.

When a person is pushing a baby out of their body, and I consider that the hardest physical thing I have ever done, we tell them to breathe. When a person is dealing with a profound loss and sobbing, you often see someone rubbing their back and telling them to take a deep breath. So many of us are experiencing the exact same emotions right now but just with different packaging, so to speak. Mine is a small business owner’s stress. Others might be family get-together anxiety or end-of-the-year depression.

We often have these expectations that the lights hung up around us create this magical feeling, but instead, I think it’s a nice reminder for all of us that we create our own magic. It’s not the month of the year or the decorations that adorn the rooms in your house. Instead, we have choices in how daily stresses affect us. And rather than trying to control the stress or the outcome, when we take notice of our breathing, we then automatically slow down and surrender.

Within the nine years of my sobriety, I often refer back to the steps when I face a hard time in life. The step that consistently feels hard for me is Step Three of Alcoholics Anonymous. It focuses on surrendering your will to a higher power. It isn’t until I’ve exhausted my need to control and organize and plan that I can finally surrender. And when I finally do surrender, I’m exhausted from the fight, and it’s then that I’m reminded, oh yeah, Step Three. I should have started there! Everyone’s version of a higher power is different, but we often get there the same way. Again the outside packaging might look different. You may be on your knees with your hands clasped, or taking a walk in nature, or sitting in the pews at church. But all versions of reaching a higher power begin with getting quiet and breathing.

Whether mentally complex or physically demanding, or both, we don’t have to have the answers right now. We must first breathe. We sit in the uncertainty and listen to our internal rhythm to tap into a deeper, higher power.

Today, this week, and into the new year, I am setting the intention to breathe. I know that my breath carries me on my yoga mat, and I can confidently assume it will carry me through this bumpy terrain ahead. So I’m going to focus on breathing and surrendering my expectations, allowing room for true magic to appear.

How to Survive the Rest of December

Coaching, Movement

If you could only give yourself one piece of advice for the rest of the month of December, what would it be?

I’d tell myself to breathe and stretch.

December feels hard for many of us. There is always lots to do leading up to the holidays. Maybe you are feeling a bit of anxiety about navigating the holidays with family, both yours and your spouses’. Questions are looming in the back of your mind that you don’t yet know the answers to; at the work parties should you wear a mask or not? Will there be a neighborhood or friend party, and will folks feel comfortable eating around others? And on top of all of that, there is the end of the year! What will you do to mark going into 2022?
To get through the month with ease, I am reminding myself to take time to breathe and stretch. I know that I always feel better when I start my day with a few stretches and also when I am intentional about doing it. It’s not a looming to-do list item. It’s how I start my day.

Creating a new habit out of nowhere is complex, and the self-care that you are adding to your life shouldn’t add stress! So here is what breathing and stretching for December is looking like for me; when my alarm goes off, I hit snooze, and rather than trying to go back to sleep for a few minutes, I focus on breathing into my body. I wiggle my toes, fingers, and rock my head from side to side, to stay awake while I focus on inhaling and exhaling on a count of 4 each time and wait for the alarm to go off again. Then once I get out of bed, I stretch my arms over my head and interlace my fingers and lean over to each side, stretching the side of my body. I then put my hands flat on my bed and walk my hips back so that my spine and arms are straight, and let my head hang between my arms. This is a great way to open up the chest and shoulders. I stay here for about 30 seconds.
And that’s it, and then I begin my day. Yes, it is that simple.

Remember, it’s not about creating a whole new lifestyle change or overhauling your life. This is about focusing on what you need to be a safety net for the remainder of the month. What makes you feel better each day when you take just a few minutes to do it? Taking small steps towards change allows us to be the person we truly want to be during this holiday season.

How will you choose to finish out the month?

Are you being influenced by others?

Coaching, Mindfulness

Sitting in the seat of observation within yourself takes courage because it’s there where you can see a mirror shining back at you to see your own actions, missteps, and mistakes. This is a spiritual process.

Within many organized religions there is a dedicated day on the calendar that is reserved for atonement, making amends, and asking for forgiveness. In the sobriety and recovery worlds, this is Steps Eight and Nine. The symbolism connected to this process, whether for recovery or within your religious beliefs, is to inspire individuals to live a better life.

But we don’t need to wait for a particular day on the calendar. We don’t have to do Steps 1-7 before we take inventory of our life. We can sit in the seat of observation within ourselves at any time. The most important part of this process is to pull away from looking towards the outside world for acceptance and confirmation of our worth and instead look within yourself towards spirit. Take inventory of what is filling your social media feed on a daily basis. Are the images that appear in front of you making you feel good about yourself? Or are you looking at them and comparing your thighs to someone else’s, their organized, clean house to your living quarters, or their image of perfection to the ideas in your head of who you should be?

You are perfect, just as you are. Let go of the external energy that is not serving you to be your best self. And focus on the internal energy that is abundant within you. You are exactly where you are supposed to be!

I encourage you to take a moment today, regardless of your faith or sobriety, to sit in the seat of observation within yourself and look into the mirror shining back at you. Offer forgiveness and let go of that energy that is not serving you to be your best self.