how to ditch the Holiday Blues

This holiday is magical for many with stockings, snow ball fights, santa's lap shots, and classic Chevy Chase movies. But there's a dark side to the season that some of the GetHSH community may be struggling with.

If you've been boozing and indulging in holiday treats the last three weeks you might be finding yourself with a hint of apathy masking as depression mixed with fatigue that heightens end of year anxiety. So here's a few steps that help me snap out of a cold weather, sugar binge, holiday party marathon coma and start to get back on track and hit the New Year energized & inspired.

1. Realize it's the food and the weather.

The sugar of the holiday season really throws our system off. We're already craving more fatty sugary foods with the colder weather trying to pack on our pounds to insulate from the weather. Add the abundance of treats and we can quickly find ourselves addicted to the insulin cycle which induces depression making us literally a victim of the SUGAR BLUES.

View fullsize

2. Focus on your body when your head starts to run amok.

Start your morning connecting to your body. A couple morning moves make a big difference in starting the day right.

A)Grab your 3" massage balls, lay on your back, and roll out your glutes, sacrum, and spine. Sends blood flow to waking muscles, creates presence and perspective.

B) Hamstring Stretch into spinal twist. Lying on our back grabbing each calf. Then, grab one knee at a time and twist across the body to wake the spine and internal organs.

C) Ab Stabilizers: Lying on your back with your hands over your head pressing palms into the wall, lift one bent knee to 90 degrees slowly dropping it down to a toe tap on the floor and gently repeating on the other side. It wakes up the abs and reminds the brain of all the miraculous ways the body moves and stabilizes. It's the one move that gets me out of my head & appreciating my body.

3. Get back on the lemon water > Vitamins > Protein Shake > Greens train... Especially if you really don't want to

A two day cleanse of sugar and alcohol + 30 minutes of cardio & a little stretching do wonders for mood and jump start the will to power through the last of December.  .

View fullsize

If you're like me and feel like a little waddling sausage thanks to past poor party food choices, email me at gethealthysexyhappy@gmail.com to be added to our accountability cleanse group through the end of the year. I need a reason greater than myself to put down the 10th bite of Christmas chocolate.

BREATH WORK is an energy booster the yogis use to increase life force / pranayama. Try breathing through one nostril at a time by closing the other creating a cycle of focused oxygen. Start with 10 breaths on each side for an invigorating reset. 

4. Don't overthink the New Years Resolutions thing.

A New Year does not need to equal a new you. You have complete permission to be just as unique and awesome as you currently are while slowly working toward meaningful goals. Let's get through December together, realize the winter blues are a fleeting thing and connected motivation will return, rock the holiday parties in sequined fabulousness, embrace the cheer of traditions, and get back on the sleep, nutrition, exercise, breath work train.

Because we deserve to feel good... damn it!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

GETHSH is a wellness blog dedicated to researching the variables in the formula to feeling good. All suggestions should be reviewed with your licensed practitioner and taken on your own free will.