Empower Your Life: Harness The Healing Power Of Mindfulness In Menopause

Introduction to Mindfulness 0:00

Hello, lovelies. Day six. Time for your little Dr. Stills Mini Talk infusion. And today. You know, I don't really do these in order of importance, and it's really hard to put an order of importance into all the things I talk about because they're all so important. And at some points, they're more important than others. Where you are in your life. And for some people, certain things are much more important because of your Constitution or because of your lifestyle. And today's topic? Mindfulness is.

Hmm. It's so near and dear to my heart. When I was in Catholic medical school back in 1997. Long time ago. Feels like just yesterday. I was very lucky to come across a colleague, another student who was doing it to do research projects, and he was doing a research project based upon Jon Kabat-Zinn's eight week MBSR course. Mindfulness based stress reduction. And I've been thinking about teaching it online. So if you guys are interested, let me know. And I will put together a program and we will we will make that happen.

But anyway, that's a side note. It's just something I've been thinking about doing. But he was doing a research project and I got involved with it and it okay, I had already been involved with meditation, specifically Zen, Buddhist meditation, Zen, which is like four passionate sitting on a cushion. And it's becoming present. It's becoming present to your body sensations and what you're feeling and learning to clear your mind. Just like you learn to pump iron and build a muscle, learning to to relax the muscle, mind the mind muscle and learning to be able to focus and to become into the present moment.

And so when I saw what they were doing with mindfulness and how it was helping with pain patients who had chronic pain

Mindfulness as Medicine 2:12

and how it's helping with anxiety and depression and sleep disorders and high blood pressure and irritable bowel syndrome and all of these things. I thought there's something to this. And so my colleague, my student who was working with a gentleman who was a contemporaryand trained by Jon Kabat-Zinn, he became my mentor and I kind of just glommed onto him. I'm like, I want to do this thing. And so I started working and learning from him. To this day, we're both in Scottsdale. He's always been in Scottsdale, but I'm back in Scottsdale and I'm actually going to meet him for lunch.

So to this day, in a few days, I'm excited about that. But to this day we're still close and I still respect him and I still adore him. His name is Paul Sugar. He's from Scottsdale Center for Stress Reduction. I just forgot the name of his website. But if you Google Paul Sugar MBSR Scottsdale, his website will pop up and he is a gem. So if you're interested and you don't tell me you want to do it with me, do with him. But doing an eight week and bazaar course really, really, really has the potential to change your life on a very deep way.

And that's because mindfulness to me is some of the best medicine, if not the best medicine around. And so what does it mean to be mindful? It means paying attention moment by moment on purpose while being kind to yourself, so not beating yourself up. Oops. I wasn't mindful there. Um. My mind wandered. Oh, I suck at this. Oh, I don't know how to do this. Oh, I'll just quit doing this. Oh, meditation is not for me. I've heard it all. No, it is. It's just like I said, with the gym, you don't go to the gym and try and lift 500 pounds and you can't doand you go, This is not for me.

You go all right, maybe start with £1 or maybe just my body weight. And so mindfulness is a is an action. It's a daily action. And some days you're able to do better than others. And that's okay, because some days stressful things are occurring more so than on other days. And so we have to first and foremost, like give ourselves grace for just being human, for being alive, for being in this human meat suit, and for for showing up, because that alone is like the first step and sometimes very difficult.

And so it's what I have found. So for for you as a patient, even just certain things like taking your supplements mindfully with gratitude, that you've found the right person to support you with the right supplements and you have a good brand that's really helping you. And oh, I'm so grateful for this Vitamin D drop I'm about to take because it's going to help in preventing cancer. It's going to strengthen my immune system, it's going to strengthen my bones, it's going to prevent diabetes. All these things that it's going to do when you when you connect, when you have the mindfulness and the acknowledgment, it helps things to to land deeper, both physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

So you could be very mindful in what you're doing when you wash dishes, wash dishes? I love washing dishes. I know it's weird, but like, feel the water or feel the gratitude. Feel what it feels like to have the soap or the hot water or the squeaky ness as you're scrubbing. That's what it means to be mindful, to become fully engaged in what you're doing.

Mindful Living and Eating 5:48

And so I talk about mindful eating a lot. So mindful eating means not scrolling, not watching, not reading. It's a little more challenging to do when you're with people because then you want to be conversing and connecting that way. But when you're alone, I mean, you could have a Mindful meal gang. You're like, Let's all eat quietly together. And that's beautiful too. But even just alone trying it, or it's something you could institute with your family, we're going to do mindful Monday eating. And that way everyone's in on it.

But what happens is you eat slower, you appreciate your food more, you taste your food more, you smell your food more, you feel your food more, you eat less because you're present in the experience. And so these are just a few things. I'm going to do a little mini meditation for you all just so you can have an experience. But I just I can't I can't emphasize enough. The other thing, too, is as a patient can. I know. I get it. I get it, I get it. I'm human. When you are sick or you don't feel good or you've been given a scary diagnosis, you want to go to the doctor.

And especially if you tend towards anxiety, it can be very anxiety producing. What's wrong with me? What do I need to do? What do we need to take? Let's get it done, let's get it done. And we're built on them. And so that actually interferes with the healing process. And so as best you can and maybe even just saying it, hey, you know, you were saying it to me, Hey, Dr. Stills or Hey, doctor, anyone. I really want to be present with this, but I'm scared. I'm scared because someone told me or you told me there's something going on in my breast.

My grandma died of breast cancer. I watched it happen. It was horrible. I loved her. So it's very easy for us to get triggered. I'm scared of dying. I'm scared of being sick. I'm scared of not being able to take care of my family. I'm scared of not being able to go do my job. But if we start to verbalize these things and we start to bring them out, then that can become part of your experience with the doctor and part of your healing process. And so that way we can kind of get it all on the table and we can be very mindful of what you're feeling and what you need.

Because what I find if we don't do this often, you don't hear half of the appointment because you're just in your head spiraling out. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I get that. But spiraling out about, Oh my God, am I going to die? What's wrong with me? Am I never going to get better? And you're missing the juice. You're missing what needs to be done. And so the more we can breathe, the more we can trust, the more we can be in the moment, even if it's scary. Because what happens when we sit and we're mindful with our emotions, then they kind of fade.

They kind of move When we suppress or ignore emotions, they're like, Oh, yeah, all right, well, I'm just going to hang around longer. You're not going to do that to me. But when we speak to them, when we befriend them, when we invite them in, often then they can just share a gift, share a lesson, whisper something in our ear, and they can move on their way and be gone. Or at least we can see if it keeps returning. It's something that we need to pay even more attention to dealing with and figuring out why this emotion keeps getting stuck.

So I'm going to ask you all because I know a lot of times and I was going to start, but I gonna say one more thing. I know when I when patients come to my office, I get it. I'm a hormone expert. I'm a naturopathic physician expert. I'm an expert on the terrain. They want to know what to take. They want to know the right hormones. And and I give that to them, and I love giving that to them. But this trust me, this is just as important. My meditation practice is equally, if not more important than my hormone routine that I do every morning and night.

And so again, I hear me say a lot, I want to change the conversation

Mindfulness in Medical Visits 10:12

around menopause. There's a lot of conversations I want to change when it comes to healing and medicine and being mindful and utilizing mindfulness as medicine, being able to stop and just appreciate a blue sky. There's so many beautiful healing opportunities and moments of joy that passes by when we're not mindful. So putting mindfulness at the top of medical options is that's that's the conversation I want to have. And so I appreciate you being here. I appreciate you listening and I hope you're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too.

Me too. Dr. Stills So let's just do a quick we're just a couple of minutes because, you know, these are short little chats with me, but just close your eyes and if you're sitting, put your feet on the ground, rest your hands upward on your lap. That's the receiving position. And make sure your spine is aligned. Almost like a string is pulling from the crown the top of your head up to the sky, and that your feet have roots coming out of the middle, the tree trunks just rooting you down to Mother Earth and really connecting them and starting to focus on your breath.

Because your breath is the best. Your breath is your medicine on so many levels. Breathing in through your nose and out through your nose, regulating, calming the nervous system. When we breathe in through our nose, our belly expands. We breathe out through our nose, our belly contracts. The exact opposite of what a lot of us have been taught to breathe in and suck it up. Suck it in. No, no, no. Breathe in and get in touch with your Buddha belly. And simply good way to start is often counting your breath.

And a good thing to acknowledge is that often when you begin by counting your breath, you can get past one before your mind wanders. And you're thinking about the post office or the market or the chicken you need to take out of the freezer and just kindly and gently emphasize and kindly and gently every time your mind wanders, it's bring it back to the present moment. If you never get past one, you never get past one. I promise if you keep working at it someday you'll get to and beyond. So breathing in, breathing out, focusing the breath.

One of my favorite things in mindfulness is mindfulness scanning the body. And I'm going to have you drop down now you're rooted, you're connected to the above, you're rooted to the earth and have you drop into your heart center. That's where the magic happens. You're beautiful hearts. You all have beautiful hearts. Whether you're connected to it or not, you're going to trust me. You have a beautiful heart. And just continuing the breath and seeing what you notice in your heart space. Is there a color?

Is there a sensation,

Guided Breathing Meditation 13:48

a vibration? Is there pain, purpose, shape? What do you feel there? Just breathing, Saying hello to your heart, honoring your heart for all that it does, for all the love and wisdom it contains right there, right there inside your chest Can't help but smile Every time I connect my heart energy breathing, breathing, kindness. And when your mind wonders the same. Hello Feeling the heart. Knowing that although this was just a short little taste, this experience, the heart energy is waiting for you.

It's always there, waiting for you to come mindfully say hello. Have you taken another deep breath? When you're ready, just open your eyes, Wrigley your fingers. Wiggle your toes. Hmm. Moving when I'm leading. And not totally in the meditation and kind of opening my eyes and checking the time and all those things, I still. I can feel the warmth, the buzzing. I feel more connected to all of you on the other side of the screen. So that's just a teeny weeny bit. But I hope you found some peace in it.

And if you didn't go back to it again and again and again, until you're able to get to one or two or connect to your heart, because mindfulness is not an activity, a one time activity,

Closing Reflections 16:24

it's not a one time moment. It's a continual paying attention moment to moment on purpose without judging or being mean to yourself. Don't be a mean girl to yourself. Be kind. I feel like sometimes the things we say to ourselves, we wouldn't say to our worst enemies. So start being mindful of that too. So thank you. Thank you for playing with me. Thank you for being mindful with me. And let's change the world. I swear we all got our mindfulness out on and our hormones balanced with the look out.

All right, ladies, enjoy the day. I'll see you throughout it on all the interviews. And thank you for being here. Bye.