November 2024 Newsletter

How can we be authentic with our words?

🦃 🌲 🎆 The holidays are fast approaching. 

Explore your authentic self through the lens of friends and family. 

These are opportunities to spread peace and create genuine connections. 

As we warmly head into the holiday season, let’s explore how to stay genuine and authentic during a tricky time of year. 

I love to have a few questions ready for when there’s a lag in the discussion. 

Or when the conversation is begging for a new direction. 

“What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?”

"What's the most beautiful place you've ever been?"

Let's direct the dialogue into places of honest whole-heartedness.

Soul-centering adventures

🌵 🏞️ 🎒 When was your last one? Who was it with? Where were you? 

As we settle into the darker months, reflect on past years. 

What brought a sense of calm to your life? 

Have you taken on a corn maze in your area to test your spatial skills? 

I received my dear ...

October 2024 Newsletter

Are you ready to take on a task with long-haul implications? Do you love a challenge? 

Here’s one: reduce or eliminate sick days this winter!

What are your secret ways to get ready for autumn and winter? 

Balance: Rest and Effort

A question that has been coming up in the past few weeks while I’m quiet, hiking, or both is, “Am I trying hard enough while resting and rejuvenating when necessary?” There’s such a fine line between the two ways of being. Summer can leave time to connect with friends. Who did you visit with that helped fill your cup? It takes organization and dedication to make gatherings happen (effort), and the reward fills my heart (rest and regroup). I visited with dear friends. When was the last time you connected and picked up a conversation where you last left it? 

Connections with friends and loved ones in the summer can prepare us for the darker months of the year when we might not have as many opportunities to see our commun...

September 2024 Newsletter

Three whys of wellness. 

What in your life helps you check the boxes? 

Thought-provoking and calming accountability

A spicy perspective and outlet to lifelong learning

It’s easier to do hard things when there's variety in life

The Payoff

Health statistics can scare me. However, the news and social media are full of suggestions and advice on living your best life. Somehow, these healthy lifestyle choices get lost in translation. The payoff of making healthful decisions is slow. Dedication can be as shaky as a bowl of, well, jelly. It’s been a hard day. Stress levels skyrocket for any number of reasons. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. I’m here for my clients when their dedication droops like a forgotten flower in the noonday sun. Accountability creates impact. 

Intellectual challenge

Over the years, we have evolved into different versions of ourselves. ARAY Wellness ignites my passion for helping women foster health through min...

How do you describe yourself to others? We define ourselves partly by sharing what we find astonishing. Engaging in personal reflection, whether through books or experiences, deepens our wisdom. Contributing our deep knowing to the collective not only heals the self and others but also invites us to be introspective and contemplative. 

As an adult, I deepened my love affair with plants through plant identification books and herbals, both modern and ancient. I became a gardener, clocking 10,000 hours on a bent knee, becoming intimate with the seasonal cycles in a garden. 

There are a myriad of ways to embrace the unknown. Have you ever gone on a blindfolded trust walk through the woods? How many trees have you hugged? When did you last sit by a green growing thing and listen for the wisdom? 

Little did I know that I had changed on a cellular level. I knew on body, mind, and soul levels which plants were the best remedies for various ailments. This understanding of my potent all...

Now that the fast is over, I can only think of good things about it and cannot think of one negative aspect. 

I love to share new perspectives on the world and health with my community. I’ve been fasting for decades. Now that I have mastered my schedule, I try to fit in four fasts each year. Who knew that the simple act of not eating could yield so many benefits? 

May 15, 2001 ~ Fasted for five days.

I started fasting on returning from a mother-daughter trip with dear cousins in Toronto. I kept up my routine. This maintenance taught me that I can incorporate this form of spirituality into my life without disrupting it too much.  

Forgetting about food is easy while fasting.  The day becomes one long work/play session without being dictated to by mealtime/my stomach. It was a great week to fast because the weather was getting hot—85 degrees on some days. The heat makes fasting so much easier for me, who quickly gets cold.  

Coming off the fast, I started exercising and realiz...

I have a gift for you. 

Relax and be present. How do you listen to your heart? What will it say? 

Listening is one of the first steps in making dreams come true. 

I welcome you to the 'Mindfully Renew Your Energy Retreat' at the Rocky Wold Deep Haven Camps, a serene and picturesque venue nestled on the shores of Squam Lake. The retreat will run from September 7 to 11, Saturday to Wednesday. 

During the retreat, you will have time to notice what you long for and gain skills and practices to build your energy, meet your goals, and listen to your heart. Each day will be structured with morning meditation, wellness workshops, outdoor activities, and evening reflection sessions. 

So many shades of green at this time of year! Blossoms reveal both scent and color. All of this was unseen a few months ago. What talents do you have that are waiting to unfurl? What do you need to birth your future spirit? 

How deeply do you desire a unique journey of self-discovery and growth?

🔬 🌠    In a ...

May 2024 Newsletter 

Do you feel your voice gets lost? Is the feeling of being truly heard a fading memory? As a woman with decades of wisdom and experience, do you know the narrative but are still determining who will listen?

In the symphony of “Elderhood,” Louise Aronson reminds us that it’s a new act when we’re 60 or 70. This is not just an encore but our opportunity to reflect, satisfy, and live life to the fullest.

Assuring our place at the table can be like finding the path through a labyrinth (did you know the first Saturday in May is National Labyrinth Day?). It’s essential to rewrite the tropes of the past and give voice to our diverse and vibrant elder experiences.

As a wholehearted health and accountability coach specializing in empowering women aged 55 and beyond, I aim to break up old paradigms, excite conversations, and cultivate safe spaces where all are heard and celebrated. We all deserve to be on the stage.

Are you prepared to use the wisdom of your decades...

April 2024 Newsletter

We can use the momentum of this new season to put some pep in our step. 

Are you ready to whip like a spring wind? What is in your dreamland at this budding time of year? 

It’s spring! 

Hopefully, winter’s over where you are. Does it seem as though the seasons are at a standstill? We know the buds are there, just waiting for the right time to burst forth. Often, I’ll feel a new season arrive on a clearing wind. 

Do you ever feel this way, that the right moment has arrived?  

This month, I struggled with low back issues and a cold that wouldn’t quit. I got out the big guns, used all the tools in my green medicine kit, and am finally on the mend. It’s not time to stop remedying. Actually, this is a pivotal point in helping prevent secondary infections such as sinusitis or bronchitis. 

Two nights ago, I had a clearing dream. We were together with cousins and other family members, and there was lots of laughter. I hugged one of my nephews and said, “It’s lit...

March 2024 Newsletter

Spring is in the air!

What will you do to greet the new Spring season? 

What memories come to mind? 

Let the new season brighten your mood as you replace the snow shovels with a garden trowel. 

Distill Spring's best and soak up the goodness that comes after making it through another winter. 

I love talking about Spring during late winter. 

I know not everyone lives in Zone 3-6 like me, and you may already be wearing your rain jackets, and tulips may be blooming in your garden. Snow has been scarce in Montana, so I'm considering when to plant my radish seeds. Is starting herbs on the windowsill calling to you?

A harbinger is "a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another." 

What are you looking for in the Spring? Your spring cleaning may involve changing out your clothes. Word has it that we wear only 20% of our clothing 80% of the time. Haven't worn an item in a year? Make space in your closet. Leave it empty or not—your cho...

It’s February. The Love Month. 

Let’s stop and breathe in this thought:  

the body is incredible. 

How can we tap into its healing potential, especially during times of crisis or anxiety? 

We all have stress. 

Get this…

Stress can positively affect the body. 

What, you say? 

Instead of fearing the effects of stress, 

stress can prime the heart for resiliency. 

Stress isn’t necessarily toxic and surprisingly, can decrease the chance of premature death. 

Wow.

Here are two indisputable thoughts: 

• We all have stress.
• A myriad of changes can occur in the heart during aging. 

 These two facts are indisputable. 

In Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk, “How to Make Stress Your Friend,” she makes the claim:

 stress can be equated with stress resiliency. 

How do you respond to anxiety? 

Do you…

Reach out to others?

Lean in 

to others to be resourced and a resource during stress and anxiety. 

It takes strength to be vulnerable. 

And that’s where th...