Celebrating Today’s Youth

As we celebrate youth this month with International Youth Day on Aug 12, let us be mindful of the enormous contribution our youth make toward creating our collective future.

Let us also be mindful that statistics over the past several years show a growing trend in emotional and mental health challenges in all age groups and especially in our youth. In addition, there has been an enormous emotional toll from our collective experience over the past year and a half.

As we emerge from the grip of a global pandemic, many of us are beginning to focus on the opportunity of re-imagining how we live and work. Human beings are infinitely creative, especially our youth, who have not yet become as set in mindset or habitual patterns.

How do we embrace our youth with authenticity and grace?

I spent over 30 years teaching music to mostly young students, from 3 to 24. One of the delights and gifts of being a private music teacher is the close mentoring relationship that develops especially with those who are with you for years.

As I teach them musical skills, they teach me how to best support them. Here are some of the nuggets I learned:

Read More . . .

Health Tip of the Month

A Healthy Sigh

A sigh is your body’s natural way of relieving excess stress. A good sigh stimulates your nervous system to release endorphins and hormones that helps you feel better and manage pain. A VOCALIZED sigh is even better at stimulating the release of these endorphins and hormones. 

Try this! Place your hands on your abdomen just below your ribcage. Take a slow deep breath into the bottom of your lungs and notice as your hands move away from your spine as you breathe in and towards your spine as you breathe out. Take two more of these deep breaths.

On the next breath, say AHHHHHH aloud as you sigh out all of the air. Allow the sound of your voice to drop into the low sounds as you sigh. Do this two more times. Notice how you feel.

“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation.”

-Pearl S. Buck

photo by Agip -Dutch National Archives, The Hague

This Month’s Gift

Woodland Song

Enjoy a free 60 minute download of “Woodland Song.” Uplifting birdsong coupled with soft water sounds offers you a highly focused mind and a relaxed body – with no effort. Just play it softly in the background whenever you need it.