Why is understanding symptoms of depression and being proactive about seeking resources to help manage symptoms so important?

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In Search of Solutions: Using Nature Based Therapy to tackle the Chronic Disease Crisis

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Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome; What Causes it? What are the signs and symptoms?

February 10, 2021

It is February and the Winter Blues seem to be at a peak. Caffeine doesn’t even seem to be working anymore; no matter how many cups of coffee you may consume throughout the day, the dark and heavy funk of low energy is ever present. Does this sound familiar? This constant feeling of exhaustion could be Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome.

Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome can happen when the adrenal glands have become overworked, are out of balance and are not functioning properly.

The adrenal glands purpose is to secrete many hormones, including one of the most commonly known stress hormones known as cortisol; which is used in the regulation of blood pressure, the way the body responds to stress, the body’s inflammatory response, and the body’s metabolism of glucose.

Potential stressors could be dietary and environmental such as toxicity in the environment. It could also include emotional stressors such as over thinking and anxiety, trauma, grief, self shaming and auto-immune conditions.

Symptoms can include; fatigue and energy crashes, mood dysregulation, compromised stress response, brain fog or cognitive impairment, symptoms of depression, dependency on caffeine and other simulants, low functioning immune system, sleep irregularities such as insomnia, weight gain and bloating, sluggishness and poor circulation.

Adrenal fatigue is not the same as Addison’s Disease however, it can be considered to be closely related with many of the same symptoms. Addison’s Disease also has insufficient cortisol production affecting the adrenal glands however, it is due to a specific pathology. So it is important to get tested, to rule out Addison’s Disease.

Adrenal fatigue is considered to be caused by the overuse and exhaustion of an otherwise healthy functioning adrenal system. The best recommendation holistically for Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome is to decrease stress (since chronic stress is linked to lowered adrenal gland functioning), plenty of fresh spring water and hydration, replacing the high processed junk foods with nutrient rich plant based foods (especially foods high in vitamin C and B vitamins), then of course mindfulness meditation and spending time in nature to allow the stress response system to rest and repair itself so that it may function at it’s best.

Thank goodness Spring is well on it’s way in. Time to push forward, focus on health, getting outdoors to enjoy nature, and finding time for mindfulness, yoga and nutrition. I have noticed personally, that when I make room for spending time in nature, and mindfulness and yoga, I naturally crave healthier food options. Mindful Mountain Wellness L.L.C. will be offering an 8 week online course Mindfulness & Yoga for Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. We will learn 8 steps to help aid in recovery from Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Each 8 week online course will be followed with an option to sign up for a Mindful Mountain Wellness, Health and Wellness Retreat hosted in Captiol Reef National Park. We will enjoy plenty of mindfulness, yoga, nutrition, stargazing, steam room and spa time and of course nature walks and mindfulness hikes in the beauty of Captiol Reef

Go to MindfulMountainWellness.com to view our new Spring Courses. Sign up for an online 8 week course or a Mindful Mountain Wellness Retreat.

The Art of Hiking

Have you ever been so at peace with where you are; both in the literal sense and the metaphorical sense. Take a moment and imagine the sights, sounds, and smells around you as you sit under a juniper tree nestled atop a red sand rock bluff; overlooking miles and miles of scenic beauty and freedom.

The temperature is perfect and the blue skies make the fluffy white clouds seem soft and within arms reach. The gentle winds bring the scent of juniper berry close; taking in a drink of fresh, cool, clear spring water.

Pure satisfaction!

You stand up, stretch your arms above you, reaching from side to side, inhaling in, the fresh juniper air, looking, optimistically, towards the dreamy skies and the privileged clouds.

The trail is calling your name. You lean forward, lace up your hiking boots, and venture on, towards the open landscapes of limitlessness, breath, and life.

Poem by Anna Marie Hallows

Polyvagal Theory, Meditation and Nature

January 6, 2021

The polyvagal theory states that the polyvagal system is a third type of nervous system response that is called the social engagement system. This system can intentionally be activated or calmed in response to social interactions. This is how we learn to navigate through both personal and professional relationships with our self and others.

The other two parts of the nervous system are the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic nervous system (shut down response). These are involuntary responses to perceived life threatening situations. The more that we can shift into the third type of nervous system, the social engagement system, voluntarily, we can learn to have more control of our own sense of safety from a neurological standpoint, more intentional and less reactive.

Meditation and nature become very useful in developing a healthy social engagement system. Think about a nervous system that has habitually been placed into a perpetual state of fight or flight, which in the extreme can be characterized as anxiety; or, the counter opposite, imbalanced in a shut down response that is associated with depression and dissociation. Body awareness activities such as; yoga, meditation, and outdoor activities such as; hiking and backpacking require a presence of self that nourishes a healthy social engagement system through intentionality. This body -mind conscious, intentionality can help to ease sympathetic and parasympathetic over activity and imbalance.

Read more about Polyvagal Theory, Meditation, & Nature here

Our National Park High Light

Capitol Reef National Park

Torrey, Utah

January 9, 2021

Explore the natural beauty of Capitol Reef National Park with a day hike or an overnight backpacking expedition. There are well kept trails that wind through Capitol Reef’s most iconic landmarks including; Golden Throne, Hickman’s Bridge, Goose Necks and Sunset Point, Chimney Rock and Temple of the Sun and the Moon.

Stargazing

Capitol Reef National Park is one of the many International Dark Sky Parks. When stargazing in Capitol Reef’s night skies the star’s seem as though they are close enough to hold.

Register now 

Stress Disorders, what are they? Do nature and mindfulness really help?

Our stress response system is shaped through millions of years of evolution. An imbalance in the stress response system, in extreme cases, can lead to psychiatric disorders such as, post traumatic stress disorder. It can also increase the risk of other mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.

In a healthy stress response system, some stress can be healthy as the mental and physical body adapts to homeostatically take control over the perceived life threatening situation. However, when the stress response becomes excessive; the physical, mental, and emotional bodies become flooded with stress hormones such as cortisol. When stress is prolonged over a period of time, or too intense for the body to handle, the fight or flight stress response can take over and lead to compromised health emotionally, mentally and physically.

Coping mechanisms are resources to help an individual adapt when a stress responses is experienced. Self regulation techniques such as; Yoga, Meditation, Hiking, Biking, Canoeing, simply being in nature and many other outdoor activities can help the body and brain rebuild healthy neural connections. How? These activities are experiential in nature giving the body -mind connection opportunities to rebuild new, healthy pathways.

Using Nature Based Interventions to Re-Create Neuro Feedback Processes: How?

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February 15, 2021

Have you ever felt so tired, that you couldn’t even get yourself out of bed in the morning? Have you experienced the kind of exhaustion and fatigue that just doesn’t seem to go away? It is important to understand that normal fatigue can be experienced by anyone. Normal fatigue is temporary and the body can bounce back once adaquate sleep and nutrition has been balanced, and the (common cause) underlying bacterial or viral illnesses have subsided. On the other hand, Chronic Fatigue Syndome is more than normal fatigue, it is a constant feeling of exhaustion to the point of fatigue persisting for longer than 6 months. It is often accompanied by insomnia, muscle and joint pain, brain fog or difficulty concentrating and can be misdiagnosed as chronic depression or come with a co-occurring diagnosis of depression. Most people understand how serious a diagnosis of depression is, especially when thoughts of suicide or not wanting to live is present. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is just as serious. It can be a painful existence for those that experience living with this condition. It’s time to bring awareness to this common and serious debilitating condition!

In the scientific community there are no exact causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; However, the way CFS shows up in the body is now characterized as a neurological condition that effects the Central Nervous System. Simplified, It can be understood as an imbalance in the Nervous System, with overproduction of stress hormones and over burdened immune functioning. The symptoms are not linear in cause and effect, such as the chicken or the egg phenomena; but rather systemic in the idea that thoughts, feelings, emotions, and body sensations are all connected to produce symptoms of illness as well as progress of health!

So then, How can Yoga and Mindfulness be a tool to help assist in the recovery or healing of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? MindfulMountainWellness

We are offering an 8 week online course that introduces Yoga and Mindfulness Practices for overcoming symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Sign up on our website @mindfulmountainwellness.com

The Eight Limbs of Yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

February 22, 2021

The Eight Limbs of Yoga are Eight interrelated parts that connect all parts of an individual’s life! These teachings are taught from ancient Indian principles of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Patanjali is an ancient Indian Sage. A great mystic and seer of wisdom.

We will go into more detail each month on the ancient wisdom of the 8 limbs of disciple. Here is a brief introduction:

1. Yamas - Ethical Rules of Life

2. Niyamas - Ethical Rules for Living

3. Asanas - Postures of Yoga

4. Pranaya - Breathing Techniques

5. Pratyahara - Understanding of the Senses

6. Dharana - Focus and Attention

7. Dhyana - Meditation

8. Samadhi - Settled Mind

Remember that Health & Wellness is not a substitute for regular physicals especially as we age! Make sure to check in with your physician regularly!

A Reminder from Center for Disease Control

Heart Disease: It Can Happen at Any Age

“Heart disease doesn’t happen just to older adults. It is happening to younger adults more and more often. This is partly because the conditions that lead to heart disease are happening at younger ages.

February is American Heart Month, the perfect time to learn about your risk for heart disease and the steps you need to take now to help your heart.

Heart disease—and the conditions that lead to it—can happen at any age.

High rates of obesity and high blood pressure among younger people (ages 35–64) are putting them at risk for heart disease earlier in life.

Nearly half of all Americans have at least one of the top three risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking.” -CDC (Center for Disease Control)

Volume 1, 2022

Benefits of The Great Outdoors &Mindfulness Meditation

January 7, 2021

When people hear Mindfulness Meditation they may think of the distant, out of reach experiences of Buddhist monks and monasteries in a mysterious land far away. Individuals may never give meditation a chance because it doesn’t fit into their belief system of normative experience. This reality is not their reality, so they pass on the experience.

There are however, many people who are giving this new approach to life a try as the health, wellness, and medical industries are popularizing the practice. Organizations such as UCSD Center for Mindfulness are combining research, medicine, and mindfulness to further findings of the multiple health benefits of Mindfulness Meditation. Some of these benefits include; improved stress management, improved focus, improved emotion regulation, reduced impulsiveness, improved conflict resolution, increased empathy, increased resilience, improved physical well-being, improved creativity and collaboration, and improved expression of self.

For those individuals who find Mindful Meditation too foreign or extreme in belief, there is nature as an alternative. Mindfulness happens naturally when surrounded by beauty in nature. Engaging the body in awareness activities such as hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing, skiing, rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking, bird watching, or simply picnicking in nature brings many of the same benefits as Mindfulness Meditation. In fact, many physicians and therapists are prescribing nature as medicine. See what Nature Connected Research Group says about Nature as medicine.

Future Research.

Upcoming Projects

Mindful Mountain Wellness Center is hosting a 10 day yoga, mindfulness, and nature wellness challenge February 19 - 28, 2021.

We will be hosting two exciting guest speakers on the topic of Outdoor Health Care and Wellness and a look towards the future in Value Based Outdoor Health Care Models.

Make certain to subscribe to our magazine and blog to stay current with the latest news and development of Value Based Outdoor Health Care.

Self Care Ritual

Outdoor Health and Wellness urge to remind you that taking care of yourself on the inside and out is so important. Each week we will offer a self care ritual to help in the process of nourishing your being.

Herbal Foot Soak

This herbal foot soak is fun to do as a family after a long hike in the beautiful outdoors.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or dried herbs; sage, chamomile, lavender, pine, rosemary, elderberry, horsetail, dandelion, juniper or comfrey.

1 gallon of spring water

Steep herbs in boiling water for 20 minutes. Strain liquid and let cool to a luke warm, comfortable temperature. Pour into a foot basin and soak feet.

Time:

Soak feet for 20-30 minutes. Then pat dry.

Benefits:

This herbal foot soak has a calming and detoxifying effect. The herbs have healing properties that affect the immune, nervous and circulatory systems. This helps to soothe mental and physical fatigue and restore a calm balance to the body, mind, and spirit.

*Note this foot soak is simple to do while backcountry backpacking. After a long days hike it is so rewarding to soak in an all natural spring water and herbal remedy. Herbs can be cultivated along the trail (with permission and instruction from your guide), spring water can be collected in an empty water bottle, and a billy bath can is used to heat the water as a foot basin.

Be cautious of extremely hot temperatures.

What are the benefits of combining Nature Based Interventions with Traditional Treatment? How will that increase population health?

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Mindful Mountain Wellness

Book Club

Book of the Month

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

-Michael A. Singer

“What would it be like to be free from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to find this kind of inner peace and freedom? This book will help you discover what you can do to free yourself from the habitual thoughts and emotions that limit your consiousness by opening a door of self-realization and happiness.”

Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Action Plans: 4-Week Meal Plans to Heal the Immune System and Restore Overall Health

-Dorothy Calimeris & Sondi Bruner

Favorite Recipe of The Month

February 27, 2021

Inflammation-Soothing Smoothie

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Action Plans: 4-Week Meal Plans to Heal the Immune System and Restore Overall Health

Calimeris, Dorothy

Prepare to be soothed. Pears are low on the glycemic index, and fennel aids digestion. Add the micronutrients of spinach and you have a vibrant antioxidant blend to start your day right. Some vegan yogurt or one-quarter of an avocado can be added for a creamy texture. If you want to add protein and healthy fats to this smoothie, consider adding hemp seeds or your preferred nut butter.

1 pear, cored and quartered

1/2 fennel bulb

1 thin slice fresh ginger

1 cup packed spinach

1/2 cucumber, peeled if wax-coated or not organic

1/2 cup spring water

Ice (optional)

In a blender, combine the pear, fennel, ginger, spinach, cucumber, water, and ice (if using). Blend until smooth.

Book Review

Mindful Mountain Wellness

Coming Soon: April Book Club

Book of the Month

Dancing With Elephants: Mindfulness Training For Those Living With Dementia, Chronic Illness or an Aging Brain

Sawatsky, Jarem

A National Best-selling Book on Mindfulness and Chronic Illness

Simply said, this book is a great remembrance for everyone. A reality that we must cherish each moment with ourselves and our loved ones. It is a way to bring beauty to the journey of life and embrace life’s difficulty with grace. To learn to understand the ending is just as important as the beginning. Some of my favorite concepts, I have listed below.

Facing Elephants

Celebrate Everything

Loving our ancestors

practicing laughing

Please join Mindful Mountain Wellness in April as we take a closer understanding of this book into our Book Club for our April Book of the Month

Wellness Center Highlight

Mindful Mountain Wellness Center L.L.C.

Symptom Development and Environmental Impact: how biological, psychological and social processes interact over a lifetime to influence health and vulnerability to disease.

With Daniel V Papero, PhD, LCSW of the Bowen Center in Washington, DC
And Darlene Francis, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

See conference session here

January 8, 2021

When considering the field of neuroscience and an optimistic outlook towards health, this article provides hope in the possibilities of the brain’s capability of changing. Darlene Francis, PhD and Daniel V. Papero, Phd, LCSW specialize in subjects around molecular epigenetics or the way the environment influences how genes are phenotypically expressed and social epidemiology, how the structure of society influences factors of health. The idea that experience and social factors can effect biology is a beginning to understanding the possibility that the expression of genes can change. The example of addiction comes to light. For many years the belief was that addiction is a genetic disorder and if addiction or alcoholism runs in your family you are at risk. Once you are an addict or alcoholic you will always be an addict or alcoholic. While there may be some truth to this, a person’s environment can also change the course of an individual’s struggle with or triumph over addiction. The idea that information from the genes is one directional is not completely accurate, environmental factors are also important indicators of how the gene is expressed. This thought paradigm gives hope to the idea that environmental factors may also be capable of undoing the development of symptoms into more functional behavior.

Future considerations

How can therapeutic modalities such as; adventure therapy, Wilderness Therapy, mindfulness meditation/yoga & nutrition help turn around a devastating diagnosis?

What kind of an Impact will this have on our health systems and economic systems?

Value Based Outdoor Health Care

Sustainable Health care, What is it? How does it work?

Have you heard of the term Value Based Health Care? What is it? How does it work? Who would benefit from Value Based Outdoor Health Care?

Value Based Health Care is a Health Care delivery system where patients health outcomes are the main focus. The goals are to improve health, to reduce the effects and incidence of chronic disease, and generally to live a healthier way of life in an evidence-informed way.

The benefits of a value-based healthcare system includes not only patients, but… providers, payers, and society at large as health and whole person development is improved at the core.

We want to take value based care a step further and implement the outdoors and nature as a treatment modality to bring about even more efficiency in health care delivery through gaining a love for nature and the great outdoors and developing healthy habits and a healthy community along the way.

Learn More about value based health care

Bridging the gap in health disparities through social responsibility

read more

Think Tank

How can the value based outdoor health care community contribute to a decrease in health disparities?

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Favorite Recipe of the Month

Pear and Spinach Salad

From Healthy Family Meals: American Heart Association

Dark-green spinach, rich in vitamins A and K, provides a pretty backdrop for juicy pears slices rich in vitamins C.

Orange Vinaigrette

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon basil (minced)

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Salad

1 large pear, halved lengthwise, cored, and cut crosswise into thin slices

4 ounces baby spinach

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

In medium bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients.

Add the pear and spinach tossing gently to combine. Sprinkle with the walnuts and orange zest. Serve immediately for the best texture.