Announcements:
- The members-only online portal is up and running! Hooray! We have designed it just for REACH members so you will find resources relating to every pillar of wellness that we emphasize: motivational videos, clips and reads; tips & tricks handouts; real food resources of mealplans and recipes; yoga videos; and archives of our Sacred Sunday messages and workshop powerpoints. We will be continually updating this to be sure to save the page as a favorite tab in your browser. To check it out, head on over to to https://stjudewellnesscenter.org/reach-member-portal/ and enter your unique password:Iamhealthy
- We have a winner for the first week of Meal Prep September! Congratulations Claudia Ureno! You have won the raffle for a meal prep kit! Below are some screenshots of Claudia’s super inspiring and oh-so-delicious looking meal prep videos sent on Marco Polo! And check out our Facebook & Instagram pages to see pictures of all the other awesome meal prep submissions this week!
Calendar Review:
This upcoming Monday Sept. 10 is a workshop at 5:30 in the auditorium so be sure to add that to your calendar for the week!
For Megan, she is busy celebrating Meal Plan September and is busy not only doing meal prep for her family, but coming up with meal prep ideas for you all as well! She is doing a bit more cooking experimentation this week for this reason so has dedicated more time than usual in the kitchen, meaning workouts are scheduled exclusively for mornings and on time bedtimes are a non-negotiable.
For Heather, she’s 16 days away from her Canadian half marathon & she’s been making sure everything at work, home etc runs smoothly while she is away. That requires a lot of intentional scheduling and preparation and feels so good knowing you’ve taken care of it while you fly away J she’s also been experimenting with some vegan stuffed pepper dishes – her favorite can be found here ; https://www.cearaskitchen.com/vegan-stuffed-peppers/ for extra protein she adds veggie crumbles.
Heather’s meal prep needs to be “pretty & colorful” she will be highlighting her prep next week. She is also heavy training and pushing through a slight cold so water and rest have been the cornerstone of her daily activities.
Exercise Appointments
Have you tried Pilates? Heather is putting together an intro to Pilates night where you get to see the machines, understand what Pilates is and the many benefits. There will be a nominal however; if you ever wanted to try Pilates this intro class IS FOR YOU. There is limited studio space so responds to this email to let us know you are interested and we will get you on this list.
Meal Prep:
It’s the 2nd week of Meal Plan September! While everyone puts their own spin on meal prepping and planning, it can often be helpful to have some starter guides to get you going as well as for falling back on! Even the most creative chefs have weeks of not knowing what to cook for the week, so having some basic meal plan templates as well as a few key people to follow on social media are key to generating that culinary inspiration! For this reason, we have THREE new mealplans for you up on the website! One basic, one exclusively Trader Joe’s and one just with Costco items. There’s also a great meal planning template for you to use for creating your own backup meal plans! We can’t wait to see what you make! We also think you will love following these people on Instagram for extra meal ideas: rdmegan, mealpreponfleek, mealpreprecipes and mealprepdaily.
Recharge Mental Health & Self Care
Lately I ( Heather) have been thinking a lot about vulnerability, intimacy, love and support . last weekend I was overwhelmed with an unbelievable birthday gift. As I ruminated about it further I realized that I would not have received this gift had I not been honest, open, vulnerable and reached out to “my people”. Most of you know I am a clinician under Dr. Ornish in Cardiac rehabilitation the following is one of my favorite quotes:
“Love and intimacy are at the roots of what makes us sick and what makes us well, what causes sadness and what brings happiness, what makes us suffer and what leads to healing…I am not aware of any other factor in medicine- not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery- that has a greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness and premature death from all causes.” – D. Ornish
That’s a pretty big statement- this week I am asking the question “Who’s on your team? “ who can you be unashamed and real with? Who can you tell those secrets to? Who KNOWS you at your core? If those people are missing it’s time to make a plan to start building those relationships. Are their people that are toxic and not safe near you? Maybe it’s time to take a step back from them. Make a list of those that are “your people” and allow them the gift of KNOWING YOU & engage in the brave acts of love , intimacy, vulnerability & support.
Weekly Intention
Take three deep breaths.• As you become present ask yourself one or all of these questions “what is my desire for this week? What do I most want to happen in this coming week? How do I want to feel as I go about my days? What do I most want to accomplish in support of my personal and professional goals?”
As the answers develop write down what comes to mind, choose a word, a phrase or a sentence that describes your highest intention.
Such as: My environment is calm and centered, I surround myself with people that love me, I am known by others, I am committed, I am disciplined, I will remain consistent, I will get up when I fall, I am powerful!