Most folks are overscheduled, overcommitted, and undernourished. Time for self-care can feel exhaustively absent. This over-taxed state of being can make goals for better health seem like impossible dreams. 

The focus this month is to live more simply to create space for better health and resilience. This focus can help you prioritize effort, stay more motivated, and more confidently invite your health goals in and take action toward them. With this in mind, the intention this month is: 

Live Simply

Here are three strategies to focus on:

Pick And Purge: Declutter

• Space impacts the mind and body in big ways. Eliminate unnecessary items from your home in order to create spaces that are calm, warm, and that truly reflect you.
• Specific action: Choose two rooms (or closets) that you can sort through. For each room, aim to fill at least two brown bags full of items that you'll either sell, donate, recycle, or throw away. And don't let...

By Tim Culbert, MD

Sound is an important sense that has a profound effect on the mind. Listening to soothing, soft music or nature sounds can quickly balance mind and body.

Tune Your Brain. It's possible to actually “tune” your brain in response to rhythmic, repetitive sounds embedded in music or natural noises. Therapists have developed special music that contains these repetitive beats or rhythms that can synchronize brain wave frequencies in the listener. This process is called brainwave “entrainment.”  

Brain waves are a reflection of the electrical activity generated by brain cells, just like our heart generates electrical activity each time it beats. Brain waves come in five different varieties or “frequencies,” depending on their speed. Below, the five frequencies are listed from slowest to fastest:

• Delta waves are associated with dreamless sleep.
• Theta waves are associated with dream sleep, imagery, intuition,...

The Calming Breath Technique

The Calming Breath Technique addresses anxiousness and stress by emphasizing the exhalation. When you're anxious or agitated, your breath is shallow and rapid. On the other hand, when you're in a relaxed state, exhalation is easy, long, and full, with no sense of needing to rush to the next breath. You can cultivate a state of calm that can also help you fall asleep by consciously lengthening the exhalation. Here's how to do it:

• Settle into a comfortable seated position or lie down.
• Close your eyes and bring your attention to your breath. Slowly breathe in through your nose, counting to 3 or 4.
• Pause briefly after your inhale and then gently exhale as you count to 5 or 6 so that the exhalations become longer than your inhalations.
• Continue in this way without any sense of work or strain. As you follow your exhalations to the end, you may begin to notice a slight pause that occurs at the end of the...

Dr. Emmons spent some time with MomEnough to discuss strategies parents can use to bring more calm and joy into family life. 

Listen over here >>>

A recent article in Experience L!fe Magazine explores complementary approaches to depression that can be integrated into nearly every treatment plan. In the article, Dr. Emmons notes:

“Our diagnostic skills with depression are not where they necessarily need to be,” says integrative psychiatrist Henry Emmons, MD, author of The Chemistry of Joy. He believes that pharmaceutical treatments can be effective in manipulating brain chemistry for short-term relief, but that more reliable, lasting effects come from rebuilding systems throughout the body and mind. Emmons and other integrative health experts recommend starting with the following strategies...

Read about these strategies in the full article >>>

You can also visit the NMH Natural Joy category for a free mini-course that integrates some of these suggested strategies.

Spring is in the air! Perhaps ironically, this enlivening time is made even more refreshing when sleep is prioritized. Better sleep allows you to take in more fully the inspiration of spring and turn it into healthy actions to benefit your body, mind, and heart. With spring in mind, our intention this month is: 

Sleep Peacefully

Here are four strategies to focus on:

Spring Sipping: Drinks That Help You Sleep

Try a hot cup of chamomile tea or warm coconut milk mixed with honey, cinnamon, and turmeric before bedtime. 

Nap Mindfully: Ideal Nap Time 

If you want a nap, keep it under 30 minutes. Short naps can be beneficial, whereas long naps can make you groggy and negatively impact your sleep at night.

Be Grateful: Shift Your Attitude with Gratitude

Each night before bed, think about two or three things that happened during the day that you are thankful for. Even small things!

Nourish, Move, Awaken

The strategies above are built on our ...

Lying awake in bed when you rather be catching Z's can feel like torture. Perhaps you know the feeling as frustration over your lack of sleep increases, your agitation amplifies, and then sleep becomes even more difficult. It's a vicious cycle.

Read below for five tips that can prevent or crumble that cycle so you can get better sleep. 

1. Flow & Release. If you lie awake for 20 minutes or more, try to flow with it. You may find it helpful to write down any worries so that you can stop running them through your head and release them. Just remember to keep your room dark, even if you are journaling.
2. Disengage. To avoid ruminating about the fact that you can’t sleep, you can try techniques that disengage your mind. For instance, you can try doing some math in your head, like counting backward from 300 by threes. You might also try the calming breath technique (find this technique in our free Joy, Calm, or Focus mini-courses).
3. Time Your Meals...

Excerpt. Mpls St Paul Magazine; January 30, 2015

The Kids Are All Right

Who’s fighting America’s childhood ADHD epidemic? Dr. Tim Culbert, one deep breath at a time.

Culbert winces and shrinks when he describes the pressures on doctors to diagnose ADHD in kids.

“A lot of characteristics we are supposed to medicate these kids for would be positives in another context: High-energy people who can shift focus easily—that can describe Albert Einstein just as easily as it can describe a kid who can’t sit through six hours of lectures in a classroom. Someone who makes frequent loose, tangential associations? You could call that person unfocused, or a good musician or marketer. Yet if you give a kid a label, you’re going to leave him thinking he’s a lousy thinker,” Culbert says, adding that people tend to give up more easily after the diagnosis has been made.

“A lot of schools say: If you can’t sit in a classroom for six hours and...

February... love is in the air. Let that wind nearly knock you over as you practice more connection and self-care. With that in mind, our intention this month is: 

Love and Connection

Here are four strategies to focus on:

Face Time: Human Connection

Spend time with family and friends in person, not just via social media.

Be Together: Importance of Community

Join a club or take a class to engage with others who have similar interests or perspectives.

Radiate Kindness and Compassion

Visualize yourself radiating waves of love, kindness, and healing intentions to yourself and to friends, community members, and even those who are different from you or that you struggle with.

Nourish, Move, Awaken

Remember, the strategies above are built on our Nourish, Move, Awaken model. Incorporate them along with the model to build your resilience for life.  

Missed January? Don't worry, January practices are good for every month! Find them...

January is a great time to give your brain a boost and move into the next year with energy, clarity, and confidence. With that in mind, our intention this month is: 

Supplement Wisely

Here are four strategies to focus on:

Balance Is Key

Your mind and body rely on key factors to maintain health and balance. Look for a high-potency, broad spectrum multivitamin and activated b-vitamins to support production of the chemicals of emotion and to balance your entire system.

Support Your Foundation

Tune up your brain with these key nutrients:

• Omega-3 fatty acids
• Magnesium
• Vitamin D3

Favor Antioxidant-Rich Foods

Antioxidants are essential for the proper function of mitochondria. You can think of mitochondria as the power generators for your brain cells. That means as you fuel up with antioxidants, you keep your brain running strong. Colorful fruits and veggies will give you the best fuel. Add supplements as needed. 

Nourish,...