Category: Stress
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Permission to Wallow
Even if you haven’t said anything, I see you. Even if you don’t want to bother anyone, because it’s more of the same, and people’s patience is bound to give out. Even if depression is a cliche, even if it’s seasonal, even if you have damn good reason. Your brain, evolutionarily speaking, DOES have…
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The Biochemistry of Rage
CW: sexual assault When I was in my early twenties, a friend of mine started having neurological problems. Intermittent, acute idiopathic pain, fatigue, and intermittent paralysis. Doctors could not find a cause. Some accused them of making it up to get attention. At the same time, this friend started having flashbacks. Memories, long buried, of…
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Satirical Aerobics
For years I have had a dream. It strikes me that most exercise videos are excessively earnest. Perky! Sincere! Cheerleader-esque! There seemed to be few, if any, home workout routines for people with a healthy sense of irony, and a taste for the absurd. My people. For too long I lacked the time, the equipment,…
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On The Bleeding Edge of Science
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Twenty years ago, a friend of mine stopped being able to walk. It happened intermittently. She’d be fine for a few weeks or months, then collapse. She had intense pelvic pain that doctors couldn’t find a reason for. Some thought she was faking it and sent her to the psych ward, or gave her…
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The Problems That Can’t Be Solved
My brother-in-law, Leif Weaver, passed away on November 14, after an eighteen-month battle with aggressive mantle-cell lymphoma. I loved him a whole lot. His memorial was filled with friends and family who were just as broken-hearted, many of whom had flown cross-country on a few hours’ notice to say goodbye. We spent the evening swapping…
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How To Make Your Body Disappear
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Some fun new research has discovered that turning your gym into an oversized, self-propelled boom box can boost your workout performance: …the results showed that most of the volunteers had generated significantly greater muscular force while working at the musically equipped machines than the unmodified ones. They also had used less oxygen to generate that…
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Touchy Topic Tuesday: I Am Embarrassed To Tell You This, But…
…I’m wearing an ankle brace. Turns out my crippled ankle wasn’t psychosomatic after all. According to my fabulous new podiatrist, I have posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, caused by the extra bone in my flat, flat foot torquing my gait and stretching the tendon until it is practically shredded. He says if I don’t wear this…
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Touchy Topic Tuesday: How To Avoid Being Swallowed
It’s impossible to overstate how big an effect your environment has on your nervous system. Living in urban environments, it’s easy to forget that human beings evolved, literally, in nature. Our nervous systems are attuned to cues that have been in place for millions of years–when to wake up (light gets blue), when to go to…
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The Five Stages of Healing (Bodyworker Edition)
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Like a lot of other practitioners, I tend to suffer from bodyworker machismo. I spend my days treating other people’s pain, and ignoring my own. Which is exactly what I advise my clients not to do. Recently, I hurt my foot. The technical description of what I did was tearing the plantar fascia on my…
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3 Quick Tips to Melt Stress, Boost Energy, and Enjoy the Holidays
What if I told you the Secrets to Stress Management, Time Management, and Improving your Health were all FREE, already exist inside of you, AND are inspired by ancient Eastern wisdom? Sounds too good to be true, eh? Then, what if I told you I could teach you these secrets in less than 2 minutes…