Four Steps to Better Health

Good health-minded individuals learned ways to improve their physical and mental health when they attended the recent workshop:'What's in your Wellness Toolbox, an Intro to Self Care.

And the good news is the best tips are free.

The workshop was held at the Red Bank Holistic Learning Center on River Street by massage therapist and Reiki healer Nicole Lerario. As someone who has always been asked questions about health and wellness from being in the field she is in, she's developed this workshop, a first in a series, to educate and inspire people to live healthier lifestyles. It was a mission accomplished, according to its attendees.

Lerario used four steps: breathe deeply, drink more water, take a walk, and smile.

Breathe deeply - She explained that breathing deeply creates awareness and it’s a quick and easy way to relax. It can be done in five minutes a day to check in with the body and relieve stress.

"It's the fastest way to relax. You can just tell yourself to breathe deeply and slowly," Lerario said. “Health is a general condition of the body. It's a scale of factors and diet and mindset can be controlled. How you treat your body is how it treats you back.”

She went on to explain that ignoring messages the body sends can cause larger problems. And she highly encourages people to listen to their bodies.

"Wellness is like a savings account. What you do now will affect you later. If you invest a little time everyday, then you will have greater health," she said.

Drink more water - Lerario said water is the body’s nourishment. She had the audience call out some of the excuses they have made for not drinking water. Some people said they simply do not like it or forget to do so.  Lerario came up with ways to combat this: set cellphone reminders to drink water, add lemon or drink herbal tea (herbal tea she explained does not have caffeine and gives the body nourishment as water does) and to leave re-usable water bottles in places they can be seen and not forgotten about.

Take a walk - Lerario explained that moving and going to the gym is great for the body. If one doesn't have time or money to go to the gym or needs motivation to do so, starting by taking the stairs instead of an elevator or parking further away than usual is a great place to begin. To save money on gym memberships, there are yoga and workout videos for free on YouTube and walking outside and at home is free too.

Smile - This step tied into the education she provided on mental health and keeping a positive attitude. She explained that mental health is just as important as physical health and that an ‘attitude of gratitude’ can make all the difference when it comes to health.

“An attitude of gratitude opens up so many doors,” Lerario said.

She explained to the audience that keeping a journal of things they are grateful for helps.

“Every day, write down five things you are grateful for. I started doing this then added what I ate to it -- this will change your life,” Lerario said.

Upon the workshop's end, Lerario instructed attendees on how they can create their own wellness toolbox, explaining that a wellness toolbox is a place where one has things that make them feel good and help them relax and relieve stress.

She presented her wellness tool box as an example -- two basins with candles, a yoga deck, epsom salt, tennis ball, aromatherapy oils and more. She explained that it does not have to actually be a box and that she had the two basins to use one for soaking her hands and feet and the other to hold her stuff. The tennis ball can be placed on the back and rolled up against the wall between back and wall to relieve knots in the back.

Colleen Fay, a massage therapist and infant massage instructor, 55, from Middletown and Bernice Lopez, who works in business development at a credit union, 41, from Manalapan noted that the workshop was both helpful and useful.

“It was very informative. I never thought of having all these things at my hands,” Fay said.

“She gave some really simple yet useful tools for relieving stress and making health and wellness fun,” Lopez said.

For more information on Lerario’s series, email her at Nicole@AKneadedVacation.com.