Hello! I'm Rebecca.

What support can I offer you?

I am a Licensed Massage Therapist - I am familiar with the aging body and the chronic pain associated with it, I understand the limitations this causes in physical activity.

I am a Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher -I don’t teach headstands or other intense yoga poses, I teach moving mindfully and create mobility where stiff achiness generally resides.

I am a Wellness Consultant -I aware of the impact that too much or not enough of certain things cause imbalance in our bodies and ultimately our health.

I am an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach- I have studied 100s of different dietary theories, practical lifestyle management techniques, and innovative coaching methods. I recognize and appreciate, one size does not fit all when it comes to making healthy choices. I practice a “whole person” approach to healthy habits by embracing your current preferences and guiding you through alternatives.

I have been a successful participant with losing and managing weight-loss -I have personally experienced the Mind over Matter struggles with changing habits.

I am familiar with depression, anxiety and their associated mood and health effects -I understand that everyone is unique and requires a different type of support.

I am familiar with Diabetes, Dementia, Alzheimer’s and Eldercare -I am intimately aware of the challenges life brings at times, and am able to provide approaches to managing self care.

I am a wife, mom, stepmom, gramme, daughter, caregiver, friend, introvert, excellent listener with the ability to ask thoughtful questions and provide empathy, feedback and make connections between choices, habits and identifying the impacts on one’s health.

It is your journey

There is always time to change the path you are on.

Maybe a conversation, with a Health Coach familiar with numerous diet approaches could assist you. Perhaps a Massage Therapist who has specialized in helping clients manage chronic pain for over 15years would have a suggestion or two on how to address some of your concerns of aging and the accompanying daily aches. Could a Trauma Informed Yoga Teacher potentially guide you through some mindfulness, gentle movement activities to safely become more active and in better physical shape all while restoring some balance to your life?

What are you waiting for? Yesterday you said tomorrow… lets get started, the choice is yours.

Imbalance is as necessary as Balance

When you fall, fail or lose balance -Be curious, look for and see areas in need of adjusting. Take the opportunity to make new connections to yourself, those around you, to your environment and your daily routines.

Balance is only possible after Imbalance

What are your food triggers?

Some are harmless. Some are mild annoyances. Some are a bit overwhelming. Many are habitual. Some are food based. Some are based on certain places or people. Some are rooted in certain activities or situations. Some can be addressed by changing a current choice for a healthier one.

We all have them. Can you identify yours?

Wine with Pasta

Pizza with Wings

Dessert with Coffee

Beer with Pretzels

Chips with Dip

Body Sense magazine / Autumn 2021

• How To Enhance Your Massage

• Neck Stretches

• Back to Massage

• Men’s Wellness Trends

In this issue, discover ways you can enhance your massage experience. From preparing your body pre-session, to quieting your mind during the session, to getting some extra sleep post-session, these tips will help you get the most out of your session and the therapeutic work you’re receiving.

This issue also offers some simple stretches to strengthen your neck muscles, gives a personal account of one client’s return to massage for the first time since the pandemic began (and the importance it held for him), and also offers a look at shifting trends in men’s wellness habits.

Healthy Self - Heal Thy Self

When you start taking care of yourself, you start getting healthier, you start feeling better, you start seeing yourself better, you start attracting better.

What are you drawn to?

We Could All Use A Health Coach

The following is an article published by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition -

Why work with a Health Coach?

It seems as though the health care industry is finally getting it – Jane Brody, longtime personal health columnist for the New York Times, said what Health Coaches have been shouting from the rooftops all along: "We could all use a Health Coach!"

Thirty years ago, the term and profession of Health Coach was unheard of. Today that is rapidly changing as public health in the United States and around the globe has declined due to:

• Increased prevalence of preventable lifestyle diseases

• Increased sedentary behavior and lifestyles

• Increased cost of healthcare

Brody outlined why someone would want or need to work with a Health Coach:

• You’re suffering from a chronic condition. (Nearly 150 million Americans currently suffer from at least one chronic condition.)

• You want to better understand how to manage your chronic condition through diet and lifestyle.

• You need support carrying out your doctor’s recommendations.

• You want to optimize your health and focus on prevention.

Whatever your reason, a Health Coach can guide you in making important changes that can ripple out into other areas of your life as well as the lives of other people!

Consider this: At your annual physical, your doctor notes that your weight and blood pressure have increased, and you need to focus on bringing them back down. You’ve also shared that you’re often fatigued and don’t have energy to spend with family and friends. Your doctor recommends modifying your diet, reducing stress, and incorporating more physical activity into your daily routine. In about 15 minutes, your visit is over and you leave with a list of to-dos but no blueprint for success.

Enter a Health Coach, whose primary goal is to empower clients to take a leading role in their health by providing knowledge, accountability, and motivation to inspire change. In the above scenario, a Health Coach would work with you to make changes to your diet that are achievable for the long haul.

They would also support you in exploring aspects of your life that could be impacting your health, such as identifying stressors and how to manage them better and figuring out how to overcome resistance to exercise. After working with a coach for several months, you might find yourself with more energy, less stress, and even healthier relationships with your loved ones – in addition to improved health biomarkers.

Body Sense magazine / Spring 2021

• Improve Balance in Body And Mind

• Upper Back Pain

• Massage After Vaccine

• Realign with Nature and Your Core

In this issue, learn how getting in sync with the rhythms of the seasons can help you reclaim your balance and stability, something all the more important when life finds you on shaky ground.

This issue also discusses how massage can help with upper back pain, often caused by sedentary lifestyle habits (like sitting at a desk all day) or from carrying heavy loads (like our kids maneuvering their overstuffed backpacks). Is upper back pain an issue for you?

is water really that important?

Did you know that you make numerous investments in your health every single day? 

If you are going to the gym, taking a yoga class, seeing a chiropractor or getting a massage... you are making an investment in yourself and your health. 

Protect your investment

What is the most effective way for you to protect these investments?

Water.  Seriously.  Water.  

Drinking water before and after strenuous physical activity increases the body's ability to fully benefit from the experience and significantly reduce the likelihood of injury.   Does it make sense to spend this precious time and energy and only receive partial benefit?  

When a chiropractor is providing treatment to someone who is not properly hydrated, it is like working with a completely dried out stiff sponge... Do you think that adjustment is going to  be smooth and hold for long?  Visualize it.. the answer is No.  Drink a reasonable amount of water the day before, of and after a chiropractic appointment.

Many seek massage therapy for pain or stress relief.  Massage focuses on releasing toxins, tensions and restrictions in soft tissue, muscles and tendons.  Massage increases the flow of blood, which consist of about 82% water.  Imagine a new can of play dough.  Until the play dough is warmed, moist and worked through it is stiff and difficult to bend and mold.  Add water... and wow, what a difference!  Protect your massage therapy investment and hydrate... your massage with be more effective and the benefits will last significantly longer!

How much water?  Ideally, 1/2 your body weight in ounces daily. 

Expectations and the Connection to Stress

We have a tendency to create our own stress... based on unfulfilled expectations. 

We expect others to treat us the way we want to be treated.  We expect things to go our way.  We expect things to happen when we want.  We expect the world to be as we see it... not as it is. 

As seasons change it can be a good time of the year for shedding the old and seeking the opportunity in new growth. 

Take some time to understand what “expectations” you have that may need to be looked at in a different light… more sunshine and clarity is on its way!

Find yourself some peace to prepare for the next season.

Pace yourself

When we move too quickly or jump from one step to the next, we risk stumbling, falling and becoming stuck. We then have the natural tendency to become frustrated, overwhelmed and may stop moving forward all together.

In the same manner if we move too quickly through making healthy choices, there is little opportunity for those choices to become healthy habits.

A series of small steps will take you where you want to go; each of them provide the balance and support to take the next step.

Being healthy is not linear

Has something blocked your path?

Life like the seasons is constantly changing -moving forward at times, pausing occasionally, taking what appears to be detours and sometimes forging completely new routes.  There is a specific sequence, but the schedule of when is always evolving.

We have our good days, and our bad days…

We have our healthy choices and our not so healthy choices.

We have episodes of resilient wellness and experience periods of illness.

It’s not a perfect path… but that is part of what strengthens us in mind, body, spirit and soul.

Functioning or just getting by?

What is healthy to you?

Generally when the body is not functioning properly, there are 2 reasons why.  Either there is too much of something or not enough of something.

A couple easy examples:

• When someone is very dehydrated the body will exhibit symptoms of thirst, headache, fatigue or hunger. Their body is in need of water. If the symptoms are due to dehydration, they will dissipate within a few minutes of drinking 8 ounces or more of water..

• When someone has a hangover due to too much alcohol consumption they may exhibit a headache, nausea, fatigue and brain-fog. Their body has an excess of alcohol and their liver is struggling to process it. Generally, water, rest and time will address this symptoms. Additionally, ingesting some type of healthy fat will also support the liver’s recovery.

The same is true for many other "mild" symptoms which can be attributed to ones body having too much or not enough of something.  

Sinus congestion and excessive mucus could be a reaction to a difficulty in digesting dairy products... Yes, it is not always a symptom of digestion when something is out of balance.

Interesting…. Some degrees of anxiety, constipation, certain types of heart palpitations and cravings for chocolate have been traced to a deficiency of magnesium. 

What is best for you?

If they were all the perfect option -why would we need the options at all... wouldn't everyone already be healthy, in great shape and living their best life?

Each of us have choices to make regarding our own health and well-being. Lately we are overwhelmed with numerous diet and exercise options and choices on how to get healthy, lose weight and live our best life. And everyone one of the options claims to be the one YOU need.

How do you decide?

An Ongoing Natural Process

Your body makes new cells from what you eat. During sleep, your body works to repair muscle, organs, and other cells. Additionally, chemicals are produced through the metabolism of the nutrients you consume that strengthen your immune system and are in full force of circulation through your system during your sleep.

You are what you eat and your body rebuilds while you’re asleep.

No matter how much it gets abused, the body can restore itself. The first step in to stop interfering with nature. -Deepak Chopra

Allow the time for change

Life is a delicate balance of holding on and letting go.

During this season of turning inward, seeking warmth and comfort, looking for change, uncertain of what direction to go or what are the best personal choices to make; the secret is in knowing …

What to hold on to, and what to let go…

• Let go, once the lesson is learned.

• Hold on to what is adding value.

• Let go of beliefs that no longer serve you.

• Hold on to what energizes you.

Letting go

- Holding on

When to stand your ground, or when to walk in someone else's shoes. When to hold yourself accountable, and when to forgive. When to remember and when to forget. When to accept and when to change. What to hold on to, and what to let go. The list goes on and on.

All of it comes down to choice. The choice is a personal one. A choice we each own. We can be influenced by those around us, although it still comes down to each of our choices.

Healthy Choices = Healthy Habits

Veteran's Day 2020

What does an attitude of gratitude have to do with it?

Everything!

• What does gratitude look like to you?

• Is it based on the simple things?

• Is your ability to be grateful more complicated this year?

We all need reminders, nudges or words of motivation to focus on what we have, what we have gained and what is truly important. A serving of humility and empathy will guide each of us through… and improve our outlook as well as our health!

What is EMPATHY to you?

Definition : the ability to understand and share the feelings of another; to be with and understand others' emotions. To hold space for another unconditionally.

What is HUMILITY to you?

Definition : the ability to be confident in your decisions, and not need or desire others to pay attention to them. To do what needs to be done without explanation or judgement.

#awareness #change #healthy #choices #wellness #pause #livewellwny #bodybewellsolutions #onechoiceatatime #resilience #flexibility #attitude #gratitude #yoga #listen #observe #checkinwithyourself #whoareyou #healthcoach #starttoday #justdoit #makehealthyahabit #mindful #mindset #humility #empathy

What is resilience? What is flexibility?

Excerpt from Article by Kells McPhillips

Many folks believe that stretching elongates your muscles, but that, my friends, is a myth. Instead, it mobilizes and lengthens the connective tissues surrounding your muscles, allowing both them and your joints to move more freely.

The ability to transition successfully through change is directly connected to resilience and flexibility. What are you doing to increase or strengthen yours?

Do you believe there is a connection between your behaviors, beliefs and your physical body?

How RESILIENT are you? 
Definition of resilient: the ability to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions, to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching, or being compressed.

How FLEXIBILE are you?
Definition of flexible: capable of bending easily without breaking, to easily modify response to altered circumstances or conditions, able to adapt to different circumstances.

Are you curious about tapping into an understanding and becoming familiar with your own resilience -you just might create an opportunity to increase your flexibility!

#awareness #change #healthy #choices #wellness #pause #livewellwny #bodybewellsolutions #onechoiceatatime #yoga #listen #observe #checkinwithyourself #whoareyou #healthcoach #starttoday #justdoit #sustainablechange #makehealthyahabit #mindful #mindset #essentialnutrients #foodbasics #resilience #flexiblity