1. Praise effort over personal characteristics. Working towards a goal will have children work hard and see challenges as hurdles.
2. Surround them with positive people. Children will adopt the attitude of those around them.
3. Give them a job. Children get an internal boost when given an opportunity to feel resourceful, helpful and successful.
4. Encourage them to set goals. When children have goals, they can feel the excitement of progress. Have them write down what they’re interested in learning.
5. Show them the evidence. Talk with them about what they have achieved with hard work and perseverance.

Your immune system needs a strong thymus and spleen to produce antibodies and specialized white blood cells that help prevent disease. Do you know how yours are functioning? Nutritional testing or Biofeedback are great ways to find out if there is a weakness or imbalance in these immune organs. If a weakness or imbalance is identified, specific nutrient formulations designed to naturally support and strengthen the thymus, spleen and immune system can be taken. This will help you to better fight against influenza, rhinovirus (common cold), pneumonia, and other bacterial infections – or avoid them altogether.

The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines suggest adults should perform at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week, as well as two sessions of muscle and bone strengthening activities, to achieve physical AND mental health benefits. With winter coming, and the challenges of leaving home, this can seem daunting! Your physiotherapist can tailor an exercise program designed specifically for you to do inside with minimal space (to help avoid the cold weather!), and with equipment everyone has around their home. At 30 minutes per day, the benefits of exercise are countless, while the side effects are minimal.

Dedicating a day for the pursuit of wellness once a month relaxes, renews and allows you to get off the “treadmill of life “and replenish. Having time to unwind, listen, reflect, nurture and reclaim your inner flow and balance is essential in a world where demands never stop. Recalibrating your nervous system and inner compass, listening carefully to your body, heart and spirit’s desires helps guide you and allows messages to come through that can’t when we are always on the go. Start your healing day by shutting out worldly distractions and devices. Set an intention and dedicate the time to healing by asking questions you want clarity on, choose wisely the healing tools that will best nurture you and let your day unfold.

Your pelvis is a ring of bones held together by ligaments and muscles. These muscles engage every time you walk, sit, stand, run, or even breathe! Weak stabilizing muscles cause your pelvis to move too much and surrounding muscles contract to control the excess movement, leading to chronic muscle tightness. By strengthening the core, our bodies are able to withstand these forces without muscle spasms. Some of the best exercises for core involve maintaining a neutral spine position and resisting forces. Your physiotherapist can give you specific exercises to improve your strength, while relaxing other muscles through manual therapy techniques.

Most of the people who read this will have suffered a headache. The most common type of headache and one that generally responds well to physiotherapy treatment is called a cervicogenic headache. Physiotherapists can help address some of the key causes of cervicogenic headaches. The major contributing factors include poor posture, stiffness of the joints in the neck and upper back, muscle imbalances (muscle tightness and weakness), and previous neck trauma (whiplash, sports injury). Treatment methods include neck mobilizations, modalities, soft tissue/trigger point release, acupuncture, and home exercises. So, if you suffer from headaches, see a physiotherapist!