Breathwork to Support Digestion
Are you someone that eats really quickly or is always eating on the go? Maybe you eat when you’re stressed or you often end up eating between meetings or at your computer?
Breathwork is an amazing healing tool for getting ready to eat and putting our body in a place where it's able to digest. One of my favorite ways to use breathwork to support digestion is to use “four, seven, eight” breathing for digestion. This video will take you through a breathing exercise so you can try this practice for yourself!
BREATHWORK TO SUPPORT DIGESTION
Are you someone that eats really quickly or is always eating on the go? Maybe you eat when you’re stressed or you often end up eating between meetings or at your computer?
This can be true for me too! So many of us tend to eat when we’re not in a place where our body is ready to actually digest. This can lead to a lot of downstream issues like heartburn or indigestion, bloating or constipation. And then this can have a carry over effect that creates even more downstream issues that come from impaired digestion. It could lead to nutrient deficiencies. It could be bacteria imbalances in our gut or autoimmunity. There are so many things that can be influenced by the health of our gut and our digestive system.
Breathwork is an amazing healing tool for getting ready to eat and putting our body in a place where it's able to digest food. Even slowing down and looking at the food in front of us can start this process of digestion. One of my favorite digestive support practices is 4-7-8 breathing. The video below will take you through this process so you can try this practice for yourself!
PREFER TO LISTEN? TUNE INTO THE LIVE WELL PODCAST BELOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE SO YOU'LL NEVER MISS OUT!)
Click here to listen in iTunes
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If we haven't met before, I'm Christina Tidwell and I'm so excited that you're here! I am a RN & Functional Nutrition Practitioner that helps those with autoimmune disease, hormone imbalance and gut issues heal without overwhelm so you can feel better in your body in a way that honors your unique needs and feels sustainable for the rest of your life.
If you suffer from:
Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm
...and aren't getting the support you need, I’m here to help guide you! My job is to clear the overwhelm, help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and co-create a sustainable path forward to help you reach your goals and feel better in your amazing body. When we work together you can’t fail.
In my health & nutrition coaching programs I support you in the quest to get back into balance by listening to your story, understanding your needs, getting to the roots of imbalance in the body and co-creating a sustainable path to healing together. These sessions weave together functional nutrition and science, lived experience, breathwork, mindset shifts, and intuitive guidance for a unique and full-spectrum approach to nutrition counseling and holistic health.
I always offer free 20-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and identify what’s standing in your way. Click the button below to set up your free consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.
How to Create a Life That Feels Healing
In this post we look at giving ourselves permission to rest, why we have so much resistance to resting, and how it can actually feel really scary to just slow down. Rest doesn’t necessarily have to mean taking a day or week off but instead is something that we can simply build into small moments in our daily lives. I also share common beliefs that tend to hinder many of us from resting. This is one of the most important pillars of healing that I do in my work with my clients and a big way we start to create a life that feels healing, where our interventions can take root.
HOW TO CREATE A LIFE THAT FEELS HEALING
From time to time on Instagram I will give out what I like to call "Adult Permission Slips," giving people permission to rest without guilt.
Every time I do I get a ton of people saying “Ok! you don’t need to tell me twice!” and also several messages from people saying how hard it is. How much resistance they feel to resting.
While I’m very sensitive to circumstances that we all might find ourselves in that don’t allow for much down time (multiple jobs, homeschooling, caring for others) as a coach I see the opportunity here to get curious about the resistance. Because that’s where the good stuff is.
So why do many of us feel resistant to something as benign as resting our bodies and minds?
By rest I don’t mean you have to lounge around all day or stop caring for your family to take a day long bubble bath. That’s the first part that gets misunderstood - the idea that rest can only come from vacation or pushing pause on life rather than it becoming part of our life.
We've come to associate the idea of rest with taking a vacation, and this idea that we can only really rest or turn off when we escape from our day-to-day lives. And then people start to think, well I can't because of XYZ… so many different reasons start to come up. What I want to first introduce is the idea that rest is available in lots of different forms. We need to shift away from the idea that we can only rest if we're taking a week off of work. Or that we can’t rest until we give ourselves the opportunity to do it at some set time. Rest can come from five minutes of breathing. Rest can come with laying down for a moment when we feel that our body needs a break. Rest can come from just a few moments of silence. Rest can come from sleep. It can come from taking a day off or taking a mental health day.
It's something that we want to build into our daily lives. We are human beings, not machines, and we've come to live with the idea that our bodies should be able to handle so much. And then we operate from this idea that we can only really rest when we have these long stretches of time. It doesn't have to look like being in a bubble bath all day and completely ignoring the needs of your family and anyone calling for you. Rest is accessible in many different forms.
Rest is simply giving ourselves moments of care. Of laying down for a few minutes. Of meditating. Of being in silence. Of breathing consciously. Of slowing down. Rest is something we build into our day. Because we are human beings not machines.
When we investigate with curiosity we may discover that when some random person on the internet (me) says to rest, and you feel triggered, it’s because there is a belief there that rest is for everyone else but not you. Or resting is lazy. Or in order to be worthy, successful or loved you have to produce and achieve, and resting doesn’t fit into that. If we hitch our worth to productivity then who are we if we take moments of rest and BE without doing?
Coaching hundreds of women dealing with autoimmunity I’ve seen how these beliefs can literally making us sick. Which is why I care enough to challenge you here if you feel resistance to pausing. Because I want to help you create a life and day that is healing, not something you constantly want to escape from.
Some common beliefs I hear that come up around this are: Everyone else can rest, but not me. That's not for me. That's not available for me. I have actually dealt with this myself too, and the idea of, if I rest then who am I then? What am I doing? Because our worth can oftentimes be tied up in productivity or achieving. We might have that belief in our head that resting is lazy, that we shouldn't do it, that we need to continually be achieving and doing and pushing to feel worthiness.
This is one of the most important pillars of healing that I work with my clients on, in one-on-one coaching, where we start to explore the idea of how do we create a life that feels healing and where our healing interventions can take root.
You deserve to rest and recharge, even if it's only for a few moments. So if a few moments is all you have, start there. Rest can look very different for each of us. Drop any expectations around it or ideas of what you “should” do to rest, and just ask yourself what’s available to me today?
I hope that is helpful for you andI would love to continue this conversation because it is has been so important for me in my own life, as well as for my clients! Tune into the video below to learn more.
PREFER TO LISTEN? TUNE INTO THE LIVE WELL PODCAST BELOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE SO YOU'LL NEVER MISS OUT!)
Click here to listen in iTunes
Click here to listen in Stitcher
If we haven't met before, I'm Christina Tidwell and I'm so excited that you're here! I am a RN & Functional Nutrition Practitioner that helps those with autoimmune disease, hormone imbalance and gut issues heal without overwhelm so you can feel better in your body in a way that honors your unique needs and feels sustainable for the rest of your life.
If you suffer from:
Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm
...and aren't getting the support you need, I’m here to help guide you! My job is to clear the overwhelm, help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and co-create a sustainable path forward to help you reach your goals and feel better in your amazing body. When we work together you can’t fail.
In my health & nutrition coaching programs I support you in the quest to get back into balance by listening to your story, understanding your needs, getting to the roots of imbalance in the body and co-creating a sustainable path to healing together. These sessions weave together functional nutrition and science, lived experience, breathwork, mindset shifts, and intuitive guidance for a unique and full-spectrum approach to nutrition counseling and holistic health.
I always offer free 20-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and identify what’s standing in your way. Click the button below to set up your free consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.
The 3 Pillars of Autoimmune Health
I've been working with clients for YEARS to support their immune systems and live well with chronic illness and autoimmunity, and with every single person, we work through three pillars of autoimmune health to really support true healing. When we work with these three pillars it really gives us a framework and structure to work within that can be personalized to you and what your needs are. This post dives deeper into my 3 pillars of autoimmune health and the tools & knowledge you can use to support your body in both empowered and sustainable ways.
THE 3 PILLARS OF AUTOIMMUNE HEALTH
When we are starting out on our healing journey and supporting our bodies in healthy ways, it can feel really confusing on what to do and where to go. I've been working with clients for YEARS to support their immune systems and live well with chronic illness and autoimmunity, and with every single person, we work through three pillars of autoimmune health to really support true healing. When we work with these three pillars it really gives us a framework and structure to work within that can be personalized to you and what your needs are. The 3 pillars of autoimmune health are:
1. Nutrition and Digestion
2. Inflammation and Immunity
3. Stress and Mindset
We have to support digestion (where 70% of the immune system lies!) and optimize nutrition, work to understand WHY the immune system is on overdrive (think leaky gut, infections, environmental exposures, stress, etc.), and calm the nervous system to create a body and life where healing can occur and take root.
As opposed to saying, "Here's a list of foods you can and can't eat, see you back in a few months!", I take a much more comprehensive approach because when it comes to chronic health issues it's the only way to get sustainable results rather than continuing to chase quick fixes. Together we go through, step by step, looking through this lens, to support your unique body to find its path to health.
I’ve had so many people reach out to me that are interested in this pillar framework, and so I wanted to share a little more about it. It’s important that you don’t feel discouraged if you’ve tried integrating healthy changes and you don’t see them affecting your whole body or making your symptoms go away… it’s just that we need to put the various puzzle pieces together to build a strong foundation and truly understand what works for your body and your health. If this resonating with you and you're interested in learning more & exploring a new way of living well with autoimmune disease, I always offer free 30-minute discovery calls for those who are interested in working together in coaching programs. I would love to hear your story and start supporting you on your healing journey!
PREFER TO LISTEN? TUNE INTO THE LIVE WELL PODCAST BELOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE SO YOU'LL NEVER MISS OUT!)
Click here to listen in iTunes
Click here to listen in Stitcher
If we haven't met before, I'm Christina Tidwell and I'm so excited that you're here! I am a RN & Functional Nutrition Practitioner that helps those with autoimmune disease, hormone imbalance and gut issues heal without overwhelm so you can feel better in your body in a way that honors your unique needs and feels sustainable for the rest of your life.
If you suffer from:
Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm
...and aren't getting the support you need, I’m here to help guide you! My job is to clear the overwhelm, help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and co-create a sustainable path forward to help you reach your goals and feel better in your amazing body. When we work together you can’t fail.
In my health & nutrition coaching programs I support you in the quest to get back into balance by listening to your story, understanding your needs, getting to the roots of imbalance in the body and co-creating a sustainable path to healing together. These sessions weave together functional nutrition and science, lived experience, mindset shifts, and intuitive guidance for a unique and full-spectrum approach to nutrition counseling and holistic health.
I always offer free 20-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and identify what’s standing in your way. Click the button below to set up your free consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.
Creating Habits That Stick
In this post, I dive deeper into habits: creating new habits and how to actually make them stick. I hear from so many people that they generally know what they should do, it’s just that they’re not doing it. This is not because you’re a failure but rather because behavior change is a skill that needs to be developed. If you’re feeling stuck putting things into practice and taking action, I’ll share more about how to uncover your personal blocks and how you can learn the skills and tools you need to successfully change and transform.
CREATING HABITS THAT STICK
“I know roughly what to do, I’m just not doing it!”
Raise your hand if you’ve ever found yourself saying this….? (Hand raised here!) I’ve heard this phrase from multiple people recently, so I wanted to talk about it. Have you had the experience of going through a course or working with a practitioner where you were given TONS of information and protocols, only to find that you didn’t follow through with it? Or maybe you felt good for a month or so while you were really motivated to make healthy choices, but then it didn’t feel sustainable so you weren’t able to stick to it long term?
This is not because you are a failure or due to a pure lack of motivation (although that’s often the messaging we receive). It’s because behavior change is a skill that needs to be developed!
When we don’t treat behavior change like a skill that needs to be developed and help people cultivate that skill, sometimes we’ll resort to using fear or even shaming in attempts to instill change. When I worked at a cardiac clinic patients would often get the message, “Lose weight or you’ll get another heart attack!” with the hope that the fear and information would be enough for that person to make the change. But the reality was that that person then went back home, to the same environment, the same cooking, the same relationships, and didn’t have any new skills to make these changes a reality. So they ended up feeling more shame and guilt without any of the positive changes.
Again you can see how it wasn’t that person’s fault. They simply needed a different kind of support to help and learn the skills of creating lasting behavior change.
These tactics of fear and shaming can sometimes come about because well-meaning practitioners aren’t trained in supporting people through the skills needed for successful behavior change. And we aren’t always aware of these things ourselves!
That’s why coaching is so critically important, and it’s why when people say to me, “I know what to do I’m just not doing it,” I know exactly how to help guide them. If you are feeling stuck in your health journey, you might need some information, but chances are you’ve done a TON of research and are having a hard time getting things to stick in a sustainable way.
I teach these skills in my 1:1 coaching, and they are tools you will gather for LIFE. I don’t just offer a list of foods to eat and not eat because that doesn’t work. Instead, we work week by week to uncover your personal blocks and learn the tools you need to successfully change. If you're looking for support, guidance and a clear plan of action to get you on track to achieving your goals, I encourage you to book a Discovery Call to learn more about how you can benefit from 1:1 coaching and learn more about my coaching programs. In this call I can help you identify what's been holding you back, and create a plan of action to move forward with clarity and confidence.
Tune into the video for more info about how to get started, and let me know in the comments what helps you create long-lasting habits.
PREFER TO LISTEN? TUNE INTO THE LIVE WELL PODCAST BELOW (AND DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE SO YOU'LL NEVER MISS OUT!)
Click here to listen in iTunes
Click here to listen in Stitcher
If we haven't met before, I'm Christina Tidwell and I'm so excited that you're here! I am a RN & Functional Nutrition Practitioner that helps those with autoimmune disease, hormone imbalance and gut issues heal without overwhelm so you can feel better in your body in a way that honors your unique needs and feels sustainable for the rest of your life.
If you suffer from:
Fatigue and energy crashes
Brain fog
Poor digestion
Painful periods and PMS
Symptoms of autoimmunity
Stress and overwhelm
...and aren't getting the support you need, I’m here to help guide you! My job is to clear the overwhelm, help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and co-create a sustainable path forward to help you reach your goals and feel better in your amazing body. When we work together you can’t fail.
In my health & nutrition coaching programs I support you in the quest to get back into balance by listening to your story, understanding your needs, getting to the roots of imbalance in the body and co-creating a sustainable path to healing together. These sessions weave together functional nutrition and science, lived experience, mindset shifts, and intuitive guidance for a unique and full-spectrum approach to nutrition counseling and holistic health.
I always offer free 20-minute discovery sessions to get clear on your major health concerns and identify what’s standing in your way. Click the button below to set up your free consultation and we can create a plan of action specifically for you.
