allison keli ~ books & blogs

Color Therapy… and Cosmo

Sometimes I unwittingly find myself teaching various topics to others. I typically call these classes ‘sharing sessions’ because I am by no means an expert on these topics.

A class I created based off of previous academic and personal studies is Color/Light Therapy. We delve into the visible spectrum and how the various shades of beauty shape the world we live in. We discuss aversions, loves, sounds. We talk about ajna therapy, UV therapy, listening in color, and more. I then send my students off into the world wearing groovy glasses from a color of the rainbow.

It’s fun.

Imagine my jolt of surprise when I randomly found myself with a Cosmopolitan magazine (VOL. 270, NO. 5) in my hand, and as I started to flip through it, I found mention of color therapy! The article “Hi, have you heard of color therapy?” was written by Lauren Adhav, and while a lot of it is silly in its very nature of being a Cosmo article, there’s still some good information in it.

For instance, she actually sites science: how when your eyes assess the color of an item, it can trigger an emotional response in your body. Sure, we know that. She mentions history, too, saying how most of color-mood associations stem from “waaay back”, at least according to a fashion psychologist she spoke with. She hails the ways of ancient Greeks and Egyptians and their use of colors in clothes and healing.

As it’s a Cosmo article, the author then enlightens us about how color therapy is already in use (offices are using violet to spurn creativity), but also how designers are in on it and starting to gear their designs to the emotions they wish to help you achieve.

Due to this author’s reawakening of my interest in colors, I figured I’d start a series on color therapy! I’ll reach from the classes that I teach, including Reiki from when we touch upon chakras.

Expect the series to start late Summer/early fall.

I wonder if there’s a hue that could give me fashion sense?

I attempted Commune’s 10-Day Community Challenge …

Well, I tried to, and am so bummed at how it turned out!

Here’s my brief history with yoga: imagine yourself on a cheap yoga mat from Wal-mart watching a scratchy VHS of Rodney Yee‘s voiceovers on top of his amazingly fit, tone and strong yoga body. That was the beginning. Then my VHSes turned into DVDs and I spent my time with Pilates-guru Jennifer Kries. (She’s making a comeback, just so you know. <3)

I also hung out with Craig T. Nelson (okay, I know that’s the actor and not the Yoga Journal instructor, I can’t remember his name offhand), did some Budokon, and anyway, my point is: I ALWAYS DID MY PRACTICE AT HOME.

I went to a few in-house yoga classes here and there, but if the classes weren’t forced on me by a friend, it wasn’t my jam.

Enter the digital age and YouTube, where Adriene Mishler‘s Yoga With Adriene stole my heart, breath and soul and my yoga practice finally became a regular thing.

I then finally signed up for that yoga training that had been on my mind for about 15 years — and was looking forward to being WITH THE PEOPLE for once. In an actual studio. And not just *any* yoga, but hot yoga!

Enter Covid-19.

I was back to doing yoga alone again. In the comfort of my pajamas. But hey — that’s what it’s really about, right? Going within?

So when Commune recently came around with their 10-day challenge, I was excited to try some different teachers out along with different methods. Adriene has made me so much stronger in my practice — and while ultimately her style is probably more my style than anything else, it is simply fantastic to change things up every so often to gain not only perspective, but experience in YOUR BODY.

From my yoga space, in my OWN HOUSE! (Because that’s apparently what I do.)

Day 1 with Schuyler Grant – I hadn’t really read what I was getting into, so I was a little taken aback that the first video seemed to be more of a demo for shoulder strength than a practice. However, after I dropped my expectations, I was infinitely delighted to focus on alignment. Then I realized there would be 3 videos to choose from each day, with varying skill levels and/or focus… now THAT is something I have never come across in these free offerings, and I think it was brilliant.

Day 2 with Chelsea Korus – I chose to do the medium difficulty and yes! It was more of a flow that kicked my butt in a good way, enticing different muscles than I normally use.

Day 3 – Wups. I forgot to do it.

Day 4 — er, Day 3 with Matt Phippen– Luckily Commune kept the sessions available for me to use even if I missed a day/fell behind. In the past they closed things up after a day or two — slightly nerve-racking.

I chose another medium difficulty and fell in love with the instructor. He gave the best cues for someone instruction-challenged like me and I worked on my hamstrings. After his instruction ended, I continued on with some shoulder lengtheners for me.

Day 4 with Mary Beth LaRue – I chose to do the easy one because I was tired and in pain from poor body mechanics earlier in the day at work. Easy! Ha! Beginner! Ha! Did I love it? Yes. Her cues weren’t as fantastic as the guy from the day before, but the poses were just what I needed. Mostly common poses, but with added stretches and flair to them. What a fantastic reminder to make your practice your own — in ANY pose. Don’t be afraid to branch out and try out something new that feels good.

Day 5 — Oh boy, this really isn’t going well is it? The child’s summer endeavors are taking a toll on my time management! It’s all pool this, playground that. I still had laundry to do by 9 o’clock at night so another non-starter.

Day 6 – er 5 with Jennifer Elliot – Okay, so I chose Level 1 and rocked the yin supported poses. I definitely felt the inspiration for yomassage as I got a little distracted and imagined a lovely foot massage in these gentle supported bridge postures. I liked all the props we used, and holding the postures for oh-so many breaths. Just what my tired mind needed. Be proud of me — I had even done traveling this day and still found my me time at the end of the day.

Day 6 with Adriene Mishler – I typically do yoga at night but this time I did it in the morning with my main squeeze. She seemed slightly different on this platform than on her own — but the practice was just what I needed to wake up though.

Day 7 -10 – The accessibility to the classes end tonight sometime, and I am so bummed I wasn’t able to partake in it more.

And I guess that’s the realism to a yoga practice in this world. It needs to be incorporated into your daily life — even outside of a full asana practice — as much as possible. And when you HAVE that moment, even if it’s just 20 minutes – to do a full series of some sort — take it and run with it.

Overall I think this course was AWESOME. The different levels with various teachers and longer accessibility was great — if it were in fact a slower time of the year for me. I would have loved to truly explore each of these sessions — not just one a day. Maybe some I would have just watched instead of performed.

They added some binaural beats at the end of the series for soothing listening. They had a community you could chat with during your practice, as well as podcasts and a chance to win some tea apparently.

They offer freebies throughout the year, but you can also join and have access year-round. I promise I am not affiliated with them in any way. I don’t even remember how I first came across it, to be honest. Maybe in the future they will sell access to certain courses only instead of access to the whole platform — I would purchase the yoga challenge in a heartbeat.

UPDATE!!!! (7/6) Link to purchase here for $19.99 lifetime access!

Panic! at the Grocery Store, at Work, During Sleep… & Ways to Help

Once upon a time, I was a more-or-less “normal” person. I worried too much at times about certain things, I would over-think certain things, but there was nothing clinical about the condition.

Then the world broke, and I almost didn’t die. Follow that link, and you can see the experience that led me to anxiety, and panic attacks on the regular. The event itself from that night didn’t cause the panic attacks, I don’t think — not dealing with it properly because I was too busy, did.

And the anxiety got horrible, and panic attacks happened at the grocery store, at work, while driving through tunnels. I was terrified of almost-not dying and only began to trust that I would be okay as time went on. I realized that I had had panic attacks in the past — usually stemming from my fear of dying from one of my food allergies (or really, just having the sensation from food allergies), but also Freddy Krueger (oh, yes, I went there).

But as I was now deep into my fears about dying and feeling weird, the observer part of me began to trace the brain connection made during a panic attack. As I began to heal, I could still see the brain connection, but it’s like you had to get past a firewall to get there, and as I had done things to relieve my stress and anxiety in general in my life, the panic attacks were that much harder to access.

I went to talk therapy which didn’t remove the fear, but reconnected me to meditation; cognitive-behavioral therapy, which really focuses recognizing the things you can control; the five-senses theorem, which states that by engaging in your senses, you’re brought to the present moment and therefore stop the looping of your mind; and Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), which helps reprogram your brain and emotions by reliving your crappy moments in a safe place.

I would looooove to learn EMDR, but right now it’s not available for therapists like me. It reminds me of tapping, in a way, only by way of your eyes instead of the physical and energetic parts of your body.

Here’s a list of things you can try to keep yourself out of the loop of anxiety, or stop panic attacks when one is trying to happen. At least, these are the things I did and do.

In the moment of the connection of a panic attack being made…

🔅List – in my mind, I would list herbs, starting with the letter ‘A’. This helped because I’m familiar enough with herbs to know many off-hand, but I also had to work a little harder with some letters. You could list games, names of people you know, anything.

🔅Name – look at all the things you can touch, especially if you’re in a room somewhere, and start to name and describe them to yourself. Cabinet – white; floor – wooden; banana – speckled yellow.

🔅Touch — FEEL what lies against your skin, FEEL, what is underneath your fingertips. Name what you feel. Describe what you feel.

🔅Listen – hear a sound, and name what it is. This, however, would backfire sometimes, as the sound I heard was my HEART. And then I’d freak out more!

🔅Don’t fight it. Observe it. Which leads me to the time that I didn’t fight my panic attack. I was at work, and while I recognized what was happening, I was very close to telling my client I needed to step outside for a moment to catch my breath. Instead of fighting it, I let it happen, and looked at it in wonder — (listen and feel) the faster and louder heartbeat, (feel and see) the slight shaking of my hands, (listen and feel) my labored breathing… and then it went away. I felt like an Olympic Champion afterwords.

🔅Listen to calming music… like Abbey Road.

🔅Move! – once during a forming panic attack at a doctor’s office, I found myself doing yoga asanas, really aligning into the poses. Moving and breathing helped relax me. I have wiggled my toes or tapped on body parts to bring myself into the moment and out of my mind. Use Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) if you know it.

A nasty habit I formed over the past year is pinching myself (feel). I will wake up in a state of panic during the first 45 minutes of sleep and am worried I’m dead, worried I forgot to take some medicine to keep me alive, worried I’m about to be trapped in mind…all fun things.

The pinching turned to BITING, unfortunately, so now I’ll wear socks on my hands if I’m going to have a night like that. For awhile I was afraid of sleeping because of it — but I got over that! I’ve accepted it, figured out how to move on with it. I do not fight it. I have a catch phrase to repeat to myself upon waking, when I know it’s going to happen (like a color, or something silly), or have the gloves on.

Outside of a panic attack (AKA – remember to TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF!):

🔅meditation

🔅yoga

🔅EMDR (with a therapist)

🔅CBT (with a therapist)

🔅hiking, walking, running, dancing — movement, preferably outside!

If you have anxiety and/or panic attacks, feel free to add your own suggestions!

Dry Skin / Eczema Cream (safe for wee ones)

{This post is edited from an original post on my Chronicles of Seedling website from April 20, 2016.}

Baby Boy has the driest skin on the planet (next to mine). He also has eczema from time to time, and sometimes it is quite awful. While the cortisone cream the Doc gave him works… who wants to use that? Not me. I had some California Baby cream, which was great, but I also have a ton of my own ingredients, so I chose to re-use the cream jar and start mixing my own stuff.

The recipe is below:

1/4 cup of almost equal coconut and castor oils
1 tsp calendula extract

Heat on stove, stir until mixed.

Set aside, let cool. Apply when hardened.

We use this all of the time now, and I need to make some more. With the first batch, I used much more coconut oil than castor; I will continue to play with the ingredients and amounts listed here.

For some reason, it smells like cinnamon to me. YUM. I imagine you can add calming essential oils to the mixture, like lavender, to your own liking (and safety!).

So far, this seems to work better than the other stuff we’ve tried. Is it the calendula, or the castor oil?? Coconut hasn’t really done too much for my son on its own… We apply it directly to his skin, as well as using thicker coconut milk as ice cubes for his baths.

Perhaps it’s the mixture itself! I remember reading somewhere that herbal remedies work better in a group.

Tell us what you use for dry skin and eczema!

Got a Covid Vaccine and it Hurts? Here’s What I Did.

Ouch!

Did you decide to go ahead and get the vaccine, and are in a ton of pain?

As a licensed massage therapist, someone who gets allergy shots, and in general, a pain-person, I am no stranger to muscular issues.

I got stuck by the giant vaccine needle in my right deltoid (that’s the triangular muscle rounding the shape of your shoulder) and while the moment of impact wasn’t that bad, that evening and following day/evening I could barely move it.

I iced it the second night — I tend to try to let my body use its natural defenses without any outside help at first (I know what you’re thinking — how interesting to read, considering I literally just said I got vaccinated — well, I hope, but that’s another story for another blog!), and the ice instantly helped reduce inflammation, as well as interrupting my pain sensors.

But that first day and night, I made sure to MOVE it, to keep those muscle fibers as stretched out as possible, to get that blood flowing! Now, I didn’t overdo it — but every so often, I did some chaturangas and up-dogs. (Did I mention I also took yoga training?) It kept my arm from getting too stiff.

That night I tried to keep it above my head when I slept, but I’m not going to lie – it was hard to sleep. The following day as the pain got even worse, I continued to intermittently do exercises to remove the blocked energy.

The second evening, I engaged in about 30 minutes of yoga practice. Rather than just popping on the floor for a push-up or two, I did some light vinyasa, flowing from chaturanga, to up-dog, to down-dog, and included some warrior poses. Child’s pose, chaturanga and up-dog felt the best on my arm — but it started to get tired and super sore, and so I was worried I had overdone it.

So before bed, this is why I put ice on my arm.

I had similar issues as the first night of sleep — sore as hell, tried not to lie on it.. but when I woke up the next day, I could lift my arm above my head no problem.

Running into it still hurts (!), but I really think that second night of more vigorous stretching helped me out.

So my official recommendation, based on what worked for me? Use ice and light stretching the first day; the second day, do a more vigorous flow, wait about thirty minutes, and then add ice again. This is assuming you already know the basics of yoga, and are physically able to engage in the following positions (or modifications thereof).

Always consult a doctor before starting a new exercise regimen!

Now that we’ve gotten through that, here’s the brief yoga practice I did:

Sit in a comfortable cross-legged seated position – sukhasana. You can sit on a yoga mat, towel or blanket. You can even prop your hips up a bit if you’d like to roll up your blanket. Lift your chin so it’s parallel with the floor, drop your shoulders down as you press your chest forward, lifting off of your waist. Stretch your arms out, and try to cup your hands over your knees for a gentle stretch. You should feel a slight pull in your arms, especially as you sit back onto your bum.

If anything is ever too uncomfortable, stretch less and relax your muscles and do a modified version of the pose. You can do gentle head lifts by painting a line with your nose down, stretching out the back of your neck, and then walking your gaze along the ceiling, bending your elbows as you do so. Straighten your arms back out as you look down. Do this for a few breaths, taking your time. Move slowly and with purpose.

From sukhasana, gently release the posture and walk yourself into table-top position. Release your palms down to the earth, bending the elbows slightly as you walk your legs back, bringing your hips over the knees. Start to straighten your arms, lifting off of the floor as you press down into the mat. Press into the tops of your feet.

Then press your hips back onto your heels for child’s pose, stretching your arms out long in front of you, palms pressing into the mat, arms slightly lifted. If this is uncomfortable, you can bend at the elbows for a more relaxed stretch. Breathe into the stretch, wiggling your arms gently from side to side, feeling a tug in the arm muscles. Press your forehead gently into the mat.

From child’s pose, make your way into downward facing dog. With your feet hip distance apart and arms shoulder distance apart, press your hips up to the sky in an upside down V with your feet gravitating towards the floor. With your palms pressing into the floor, curl your fingers a bit to take pressure out of your wrists, but make sure you arms are nice and long. Rotate your biceps forward to open your shoulders and release tension in the back and neck. Your gaze is gently focused on the fronts of your knees. Lengthen as you lift, exhale and deepen. Wiggle back and forth if you need to, working out the tension in your sore shot arm.

From downward facing dog, move forward into a plank position. No longer forming an upside down V, you’re going to have your shoulders directly over your arms. Keep your bum lifted a bit, hugging into the core. Gaze is at the floor. Hold the pose, feeling strong. Press the heels back. When you’re ready, begin to bend the arms into chaturanga, push-up position.

Breathe naturally, but breathe slowly, extending your inhalations and exhalations with each movement.

Once you are down onto the mat, lift up into up-dog, pressing into the mat. elongating your arms. Lift your legs off of the mat if you can, pressing into the tops of your feet. Press the heart forward, feeling strong.

BREATHE.

Untuck the toes, pressing yourself back into another plank.

From here, you can repeat, going back and forth into up-dog and plank, or take a breather, pressing into down-dog. You can also go back into a child’s pose. Flow between the positions until your arm gets slightly tired, and then rest completely into child’s pose with your arms behind you, palms facing up, or savasana, flat on your back.

Breathe into the uncomfortableness of your arm, and feel the energy and blood move!

Most of all: ENJOY!