Nature Healers

Therapist Jennifer Udler was in the middle of a 50-minute session with a patient when it started to rain. Instead of being in her office, however, she and her teen-age patient were outside... walking and talking about anxiety and stress ... so they got soaked. But, the torrent had an upside.When they made it back indoors, Udler said, “Hey! Look at us! We're fine! We're a little wet, but, oh well ~ we got through it. Now you can use that next time you have anxiety before and during an event. (For most of the time, she practised in a traditional office.)

On another occasion, she was running and training with a running club ~

when she noticed how easy it was for her running partners

to open up about their problems ~ and one of the women suggested

she combine therapy with walking.

After doing some research, in 2013 Udler founded Positive Strides Therapy

where she conducts sessions while walking outdoors in nature.

“I specialize in cognitive behavioural therapy...in mindfulness...in family systems therapy.

Walking in the park is just where I practise.

It's especially easy to access mindfulness in 'walk-and-talk' therapy outdoors

with prompts such as What do I smell? I smell flowers.

What do I feel? I feel the mist of the rain.

What do I hear? I hear the birds.

In a vast garden of lavender/mauve flowers,

backed by a woodland of leafy trees, so green,

Mark and Ben Cullen state:

“Cultivate your garden ~ or else invasive weeds will cultivate it for you!”

“Do you hear that? It is the sound of gardeners celebrating the start of their gardeing season.

More than 80% of Canadians say they engage in the world of plants.

Beginner gardeners always enter a new season with a warped sense of reality. Experienced gardeners can get carried away with plants for a garden that are not likely to materialize as imagined. There will be failures. “My brother and I are not talking about catastrophic let-downs, but about experiences that teach us something by their occurrence”.

“Gardeners learn best by what they do wrong.

It is liberating to fail in the garden ~ as it is essentially harmless.

The consequences of failure in many parts of our lives can be diffucult to bear,

but, a plant that didn't grow is not a failure!

It is a composting opportunity. Be prepared to fail. Embrace it.

There will be triumphs ~ and you will not see them coming!

“Plants that do not grow, are not failures ~ they're composting opportunities.

Finding a monarch caterpillar's chrysalis in your garden is a triumph to savour.

Waiting for your favourite flowers to bloom, is a lesson in patience.”

Have That Glass of Wine: It's Good for Your Health

“The key to reaping optimum health benefits is extreme moderation,” doctors say.

Published in the Sun Sentinel, Cindy Krischer Goodman wrote:

“On a Friday afternoon,Yvette Vezina settles into her hair stylist's chair at Tipsy Salonbar in Plantation, Florida to get colouring ~ and to indulge in a cold glass of Pinot Grigio.

“Drinking wine is relaxing,” Vezina said, “I really enjoy it.”

Wine is a popular alcohol choice with American consumers, particularly women who make up about 60% of wine sales, according to the Wine Market Council. In 2018, wine consumption rose again year over year...as it has since 1993...with drinkers imbibing more than 750 million gallons of wine, according to The State of the Wine Industry 2019 report.

But industry experts are cautioning that wine sales

could taper off going forward, unless Millennials...the next generation of wine drinkers...

buy into the positive health messaging. So, how healthy is wine?

“It's an Antioxidant,” said Dr. John Rivas, a board-certified liver specialist in Hollywood.

We have a big-time epidemic of fatty liver disease in this country with super-sized foods and a lot of calories from fat. Wine, actually helps protect the liver from inflammation caused by fat.”

Rivas said that the health benefits depend on moderation in drinking ~ no more than 2 glasses of wine a day. You want to drink enough that you are getting the antioxidant properties ~

but not enough that it ends up causing damage.

Beyond benefiting the liver, moderate wine-drinking is linked with a longer lifespan.

In a 2018 study, 1,600 people age 90 and older, University of California, Irving, professor and researcher Dr. Claudia Kawas, found drinking wine regularly was associated with 18% reuced risk of premature death. “It did not necessarily have to be daily ~ it just to had to be sometimes,” she stated.

“While wine could affect longevity, it may also help with mental health as people age. A 2011 Loyola University Medical Centre study of older population, looking at data from 19 nations, found a lower risk of dementia among regular, moderate red wine drinkers in 14 countries.

Vezina, who says South Florida's warm climate makes a cold white wine enticing

and wonders if she should be drinking red ~ or if the stress relief of relazing at the salon

with a Pinot Grigio is benefit enough.”

Scientists have found red and white wines, if drinking in moderation, both contain resveratrol, a compound found in the skins of grapes, that has been tied to improved heart and blood health.

Red wine, however, has more veratrol.

Reading the labels on either red or white wines

will give you sugar content.

The older the wine ~ the higher price you pay.

And how can you refuse a glass of vino along with a slice or two of cheese?

Complied by Merle Baird-Kerr from articles here and there.

Written June 4, 2019

To comment: mbairdkerr@bell.net