Community News
Amazing Yoga Benefits for Children

Just like adults, children live in a fast-paced world with many stressors and expectations. The practice of yoga helps to bring minds and bodies back into a place of harmony and balance. Children classes consist of more than just the physical yoga poses; they also incorporate yoga teachings and traditions in a safe and nurturing environment. Classes are taught in a non-competitive, playful, and vibrant way through games, storytelling, music, and guided visualization. Through yoga, children will physically develop skills such as flexibility, strength, body awareness, balance, and coordination. They will also grow mentally cultivating self-love and respect while learning self-calming and relaxation techniques through breath work, mindfulness, and meditation. All improving attention and behavioral regulation, enhancing self-confidence and social interaction. Through yoga, children become connected; mind and body strong.

Harmony Warrior Kids Yoga, www.harmonywarrior.com

Play to Heal

Are you worried about your child or youth’s current behavior or mood? Anxiety, defiance, grief and behavior at school are just a short list of common concerns that parents may have. As a parent, it is hard to see our children hurting, and we may not know where to turn or what to do. Play Therapy is a treatment for children, youth, and families that involve therapeutic elements similar to adult talk therapies with very playful elements such as puppets, dolls, art and sand that allow children and youth to express their inner most emotions. Through play therapy, children and youth can also learn social skills and skills to manage emotions and self-regulate.

Melissa Beer B.S.W., R.S.W, M.Ed (counselling), www.growingrootstherapy.ca

Natural Product Review

Genuine Health Greens+ Extra Energy. Do you often feel tired or in need of a healthy, all-natural energy boost? Here’s your healthiest solution: greens+ extra energy. With greens+ extra energy, you get all-natural energizing ingredients including taurine and naturally occurring caffeine from the kola nut, PLUS a full serving of nutrient-rich greens in every scoop! Just one scoop daily provides immediate and long-lasting energy, while feeding your body the healthiest, research-proven nutrients. Benefits of taking greens+ extra energy include: An immediate, long-lasting source of all-natural energy, increased vitality and mental clarity, no over-stimulation or energy “crash” side-effects. Greens+ Extra Energy provides a full serving of greens for essential phytonutrients, antioxidants and research-proven health benefits. No matter how hectic your day may be, enjoy greens+ extra energy every day for the healthiest source of long-lasting energy – naturally.

Matthew Calvez, www.nutritionplus.com

Do You Have a Bad Knee?

Knee Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of lower extremity disability. Osteoarthritis is defined as degeneration of joint cartilage and the underlying bone. Some risk factors that increase your risk of having osteoarthritis are age, history of trauma to a joint repetitive activity and obesity. People who suffer from osteoarthritis usually have muscles weakness, altered muscle function, increased joint stiffness and lower aerobic fitness. Research suggests that exercise and education on weight-loss are the first lines of treatment for osteoarthritis. The most beneficial forms of exercise include; flexibility training (stretching), strength training (squats) and cardiovascular training (bike/walking). Physiotherapists are equipped with skills to assess and treat people who suffer from osteoarthritis of the knee. Physiotherapy includes techniques to help the joint move better through massage and mobilizations as well as providing you with a specific exercise program that is tailored to your needs and to make it the most enjoyable for you.

Kristy Maksymyk, Prairie Trail Physiotherapy, www.prairietrailphysio.ca

Float Your Way to Happiness

People generally have heard about floating by the terms “pods” or “tanks,” and start to feel claustrophobic. Float “Cabins” are different. Float Cabins come as large as four feet wide, eight feet long, and nearly seven feet high, and they are easily accessible easy to come out of with standard swing or sliding doors. Within each float cabin, 10 inches of water is infused with up with 1,000 pounds of dissolved Epsom salts, this makes the water extremely buoyant. With the option to remove light and sound, you experience the sensation of floating through space. Other options include the ability to play your own music and enjoy colour therapy as well. Floating regularly helps reduce physical and mental stresses on the body. The brain gives out alpha waves associated with meditation that allows the body to recover from stress and relax. Floatation therapy is a simple way to invest in your own health and happiness.

Fluid Float Studio, www.fluidfloat.com

Have You Tried Kefir?

Kefir is a unique cultured dairy product and one of the most probiotic-rich foods on the planet. Drinking Kefir has incredible medicinal benefits for your digestion and gut health. It’s tart and refreshing flavor is similar to a drinking-style yogurt, but it contains beneficial yeast as well as friendly probiotic bacteria found in yogurt. The naturally occurring bacteria and yeast in combine symbiotically to give superior health benefits when consumed regularly. It is loaded with valuable vitamins and minerals and contains easily digestible complete proteins. For the lactose intolerant, kefir’s abundance of beneficial yeast and bacteria provide lactase, an enzyme which consumes most of the lactose left after the culturing process. Drink up for benefits to your immune system, your bowels (see you later, IBS symptoms!), and your bones. It helps fight allergies, improves lactose digestion, supports detoxification, and even kills candida.

Disability Tax Credit, www.disabilitytaxcreditwinnipeg.com

Positive Mental Health is a Laughing Matter

While living with mental illness is no joke, laughing for positive mental and physical health seriously works. In fact, evidence supports the claim that a joyful heart provides a similar benefit to that of medicine. Although not considered a replacement for medical treatment, some doctors are using laughter as an adjunctive therapy. In the short and long term, laughter has been shown to, 1. Stimulate/boost the immune system; 2. Alleviate pain; 3. Reduce anxiety and stress; 4. Reduce depression; and, 5. Promote a sense of hopefulness. What if you don’t feel like laughing? No problem, fake it until you make it. Physiologically speaking, for the most part, your body doesn’t know the difference. And, faking it often leads to the real thing which may be exactly the health supplement you need to get to the positive side of negative circumstances.

Sean Miller, Canadian Mental Health Association, mbwpg.cmha.ca

Book Club: Big Magic Creative Living Beyond Fear!

Empowering author Elizabeth Gilbert asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.

Did You Know?

Blue corn has been popping up as an ingredient everywhere from tortilla chips to breakfast cereal. New research suggests that anthocyanins, the nutrients that give the corn its blue color, may help protect against metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer!

www.newhope.com

Clean Eating: Spaghetti Squash “Mac ‘n’ Cheese”

Ingredients:

1 large spaghetti squash

3 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp spelt flour

2 cups unsweetened almond milk

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion or garlic powder

pinch ground black pepper

1 cup (4 oz) any hard cheese, shredded.

Red pepper flakes, to taste. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Wash squash, cut in half lengthwise and remove seeds with a spoon. Place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 40-50 minutes. Let cool and separate into strands with a fork. Preheat medium pot on low-medium heat and melt oil. Whisk in flour and milk until smooth. Add salt, onion powder and pepper; whisk and let simmer for about 4 minutes or until sauce has slightly thickened. Add cheese and whisk again until smooth. Add squash and mix gently with a spoon to combine. Cover and let squash warm through for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

www.ifoodreal.com

Acupuncture for Women’s Health

Do you suffer from painful menstruation or menopausal symptoms? Acupuncture is an effective form of treatment. Dysmenorrhea, lower abdominal pain occurring before or after your period, can be caused by a number of issues. Traditional Chinese medicine looks at the root cause of the pain; Qi (your life-force) and blood stagnation, cold in the uterus or a deficiency of Qi and blood. Once the root cause has been decided, treatments of moving Qi and blood, warming the uterus or tonifying Qi and blood is undertaken with acupuncture, specific dietary and self-care recommendations, to treat the pain. Menopause is looked at similarly, to decide the root cause. Most often it is due to naturally diminishing Yin in our bodies, which occurs with aging, but can also be complicated by other imbalances. Once the imbalance is determined, acupuncture can resolve symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, irritability and cold hands and feet.

Naomi Johnson, www.heklaacupuncture.com