Every woman wants to look great, feel at their best, and be aware and in control of the emotional and hormonal shifts that occur in their monthly cycles and in their lives as time passes.
Four local women, all professionals in the health sector, have come together to start a series of workshops on how to improve the level of well being in women, physically, mentally and spiritually.
The series, “Optimal Life, Naturally Balanced Workshops,” begins Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hayden Fitness in downtown Vernon. The focus on the first workshop is on women’s hormones and how they affect health in so many ways.
To begin, Dr. Nicole Shortt, naturopath from Balance Natural Clinic, will kick off the day by taking participants through an educational talk on hormones, how they are regulated and how natural treatments can restore hormonal balance. Options for testing and ways you can tell whether or not your health concerns are hormone- related will also be presented.
“Women’s bodies are amazing and complex,” said Shortt, and she encourages anyone thinking of trying natural health remedies to take the first step by attending the event.
Marie Hayden, host of the event and certified personal trainer, knows first-hand how a mis-diagnosis and unanswered questions can leave women feeling frustrated and confused. She will share her journey with food allergies and intolerances as well as hormonal imbalance, and what she did to lose weight and keep it off. She is an advocate for effective fitness programs, and an expert in helping women achieve weight balance through exercise and proper food choices as they relate to hormones.
The workshop will then shift gears into the mind-body connection as life coach Jodi Seery will assist participants in learning a powerful and practical tool to harness the power of the mind to lessen stress and anxiety to improve hormonal balance and well being.
“Using this foundational tool will help women breathe better, sleep better, eat better and free up more energy,” she said.
To bring the day into the experiential realm, Satyama Lasby, owner of Open to Bliss Productions, will take you through a balanced yoga and meditational practice designed to control the breath, thereby improving blood circulation resulting in balanced hormonal levels. Certain asana (yoga postures) will be emphasized to improve organ function.
Lasby said chosen postures aid in digestion and strengthen internal organs.
“Over time, a regular yoga practice can truly change the look of one’s body, and the feel and perceptions of it as well,” she said.
The practice will be completed with a meditation specifically chosen to work on the balance of the hormonal and endocrine system of the body so that the mind-body connection is further established.
“Meditation is truly the answer to becoming so in-tune with what is happening with one’s body, that we may no longer need a doctor to give us a prescription,” said Lasby. “Once control happens in the mind, health is easy. It’s just getting to the level of awareness of ourselves that is the more difficult element — we need yoga to get the body to a place where it is strong enough to sit still in meditation, so yoga, meditate…then meditate, yoga…you need both to get optimal.”
The Women’s Health and Hormones Workshop will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hayden Fitness, 3403- 30th Ave. The $85 fee includes a gluten-free lunch from Gumtree Catering. To register, please call 250-306-7474.
