Cheer Up…It’s January! --Somatic Remedies for S.A.D.

24!

No, it’s not a reference to the TV show about Jack Bauer.  I’m talking about the snowstorm of Dec. 27, 2012 where, at our home anyway, we received about 24 inches of mostly powdery snow.

It’s that time of year where the sun is at the lowest angle to the horizon, and the days are still short (but getting longer!).  With the diminished sunlight, many folks experience Seasonal Affective Disorder.  We’ve all heard about it—when you become depressed because there is less sunlight during the winter months.

Natural Cures for Depression

There are some very effective remedies for seasonal depression.  Here are a few of our favorites:

• The Mayo Clinic suggests these easy and natural remedies for S.A.D.:

·         Make your environment sunnier and brighter. Open blinds, trim tree branches that block sunlight or add skylights to your home. Sit closer to bright windows while at home or in the office.

·         Get outside. Take a long walk, eat lunch at a nearby park, or simply sit on a bench and soak up the sun. Even on cold or cloudy days, outdoor light can help — especially if you spend some time outside within two hours of getting up in the morning.

·         Exercise regularly. Physical exercise helps relieve stress and anxiety, both of which can increase seasonal affective disorder symptoms. Being more fit can make you feel better about yourself, too, which can lift your mood.

·         Vitamin D3 can also help with S.A.D. symptoms.  Up here in the northern latitudes, short days, and cold weather make it nearly impossible to get adequate levels of Vitamin D from sunshine alone.  What many reports don’t mention is that adding Vitamin D3 to your daily regimen should really start in September, before your levels (and the sunshine) really start to decline.

• Bodywork for Depression?

“It is well known that chronic pain induces depression, anxiety, and a reduced quality of life.”*  In addition to our common sense notion that pain and emotion are related, there have also been quite a few studies showing specific brain chemistry and nervous system changes as a result of chronic pain. 

Depression and anxiety are frequently more amenable to physical touch than verbal therapies.  It has been shown that a multitude of hands-on techniques can help release deeply held or repressed emotions.

Bodywork can also help release some of the toxins that have built up during the short winter days.  (Watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FtSP-tkSug for one possible explanation how toxins make our fascia sticky/fuzzy and how movement helps to lubricate the fascia and purge those toxins.)

One of the basic tenets of Rolfing^® Structural Integration is working with the fascia (connective tissue) of your body. Rolfers encourage you to meet your Rolfer’s contact from your inside (core, emotions, movement patterns) to your outside (skin).  This allows you to become more aware of your body, while less focussed on your mind, anxieties, and emotional upsets.  Rolfing Structural Integration is a specific kind of contact (with varying degrees of pressure) that enlivens your tissue, and results in freedom from chronic or acute pain, standing taller, moving with more ease.

Physiologically, there are other explanations for bodywork’s positive impact on depression.  A good discussion of these effects can be found at http://www.integrative-healthcare.org/mt/archives/2007/09/bodyworks_thera.html.)

So if the short days, lack of physical exercise, or the 24 inches of snow have got you feeling a little blue, give Rolfing a try.  (And if the 24 inches of snow has got you excited about hitting the slopes, check out our recent article: Ski Better, SkiStronger.)

Join Robert January 9^th, 2013 at 5:30pm at Healthy Living Market Learning Center for a class designed to help you re-connect with your body, while allowing your mind to catch up to the vitality in your body.  In addition to exercises & explorations, you will also get to experience how Rolfing^® bodywork can improve your mood, energy, and sense of well-being.

*Reference:  Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology re: study at University of Toyama, Japan and http://structuralintegration.info/2008/08/25/what-does-structural-integration-have-to-do-with-emotions-this-time-with-detail/

Can 2 much texting Agrv8 Ur #Backpain?

There has been some fanfare across the internet due to an article from Newsweek/The Daily Beast.  Entitled “Is the Web Driving Us Mad?,” delves into some of the newest peer-reviewed research correlating excessive web exposure (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and our mental health.  There are even new diagnoses like Facebook addiction, and phantom-vibration syndrome floating around therapy circles.  These basically boil down to forms of ADHD and OCD at best, and “reactive psychosis” at worst.

As a Rolfer^®, my interest is what happens to our physiology, our posture, our relationship with ourselves and with others as a result of all our internet usage.  In Rolfing™, we talk about “core” and being balanced in gravity.  [Our perspective on “core” tends to be different from personal trainers, yoginis, Pilates and Gyrotonic instructors—click here for a great article describing “core” from one Rolfer’s perspective which I think sums it up pretty well]. 

As you work with your laptop or smartphone in front of you (while reading this article), notice where your hands are, and what fingers you use—where the tension is in your hands or fingers; does it take you a few seconds to uncurl your last two fingers? 

Notice how your shoulders feel—are the elevated, do your muscles feel tense or tight?

Notice the position of your head, neck and eyes—do you feel tension here? 

Have a full breath—do you feel breath up to your collarbones, or does your breath stop around the middle of your chest? 

And finally, notice how your back feels—are you slouching while you’re texting?

This brings me to another concept of Rolfing:  we have two centers of gravity. We are the only beings on earth that stand and walk upright on two legs.  For our “core” to be active, both centers of gravity need to be in balance.  The lower center of gravity (approximately around our navels) relates us to the ground, and ourselves.  Our upper center of gravity (approximately around the middle of our sternum, or our heart center) relates us to our skyhooks, and to others. This is how we stay in relationship with others. And a balance between the two allows us to dynamically feel and stay in connection with our core while being in relationship with others.

Can too much lower, or too little upper center of gravity lead to ADHD or reactive psychosis?  I don’t know.  But I do feel confident in saying that slouching over our heart center (upper center of gravity) can lead to decreased lung capacity, neck and/or lower back discomfort, while continuing to separate us from each other in lieu of our technology. 

In his essay “Is the Web Driving Us Mad?,” Tony Dokoupil concludes that:

“…it doesn’t matter whether our digital intensity is causing mental illness, or simply encouraging it along, as long as people are suffering. Overwhelmed by the velocity of their lives, we turn to prescription drugs, which helps explain why America runs on Xanax (and why rehab admissions for benzodiazepines, the ingredient in Xanax and other anti-anxiety drugs, have tripled since the late 1990s). We also spring for the false rescue of multitasking, which saps attention even when the computer is off. And all of us, since the relationship with the Internet began, have tended to accept it as is, without much conscious thought about how we want it to be or what we want to avoid. Those days of complacency should end. The Internet is still ours to shape. Our minds [body/mind/spirit] are in the balance.”

So, stop reading!  Turn off your laptop or smartphone, and take a walk, ride your bike, swim in your favorite swimming hole/lake, and breath our fresh Vermont air—preferably with a friend.

...And check out my new class at Healthy Living Market Learning Center, Can 2 much texting Agrv8 Ur #Backpain?, Sept 9^th at 11am (please call Healthy Living to register for the class, even though it’s free)