The Mind Switch
Transforming her life, Muskan Taurani, Founder of That Wonderful Feeling left behind a corporate career in favour of a new path in health coaching as a certified functional medicine health coach
WORDS: SARAH JOSEPH
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What do the first 30 minutes of your day look like, your morning routine? I like to wake up slightly before the house stirs which for me is between 5:30 to 5:45 am. I relish the silence it brings; with the start of newness and the promise it holds. I begin each morning with a prayer of thanks for the evening that passed in peace and the day ahead. I start my day with a glass of turmeric water followed by a black coffee. After which I head to a quiet corner for a 15 to 20 minutes visualization meditation. By this time, it’s time to wake up my kids and I look forward to the organised chaos of getting ready for school. What was the catalyst to change your life path and how did you decide upon functional medicine? It’s funny you ask this, because in life, sadly it is sometimes only when something unexpected “happens” we get a reality check of what is important. There were two moments like this for me that really shook me up and made me take stock of what was happening in my life and how much I needed to change my lifestyle. These “signs” are your body’s way of speaking to you and forcing you to seek help before things hit rock bottom. Six months after having my third child, I was on the treadmill and fell off in the middle of running, as I had a blackout. Nothing serious at the time however, once I regained consciousness my body was frozen and I wasn’t able to move for a few minutes. When I did get my stability back, I felt like something was not right as
I started moving. It took me several visits to the doctors to be diagnosed with spondylitis, where even my six-month-old baby’s weight was too much for me to carry. A few months after that, I fell gravely ill with immense gut and other chronic health issues. Once again, they couldn’t figure out the cause or effect. It was the diagnosis by functional doctors which really made me reassess everything. The quality of time, guidance and knowledge that I gained from some of the functional doctors got me interested in this new way of living and learning from it for myself and my family. I was curious to know; how is it by treating the root cause of one issue, that we can also heal so many other elements in our physical and emotional body. I started learning and looking at various healing modalities, and functional medicine ways of living where the root cause is constantly addressed. What started off as a personal wellness journey led to helping others, men, women, young adults. That’s how ‘That Wonderful Feeling’ was born. I feel as human beings we strive for that wonderful feeling in our daily life. Even a small element of it can take us through the entire day and sometimes weeks. I was passionate about clean eating, quality nutrition and movement promoting health. Simple changes and improvements in one’s lifestyle with exercise, diet, nutrition and ways to add positivity and vitality can simply reverse chronic complex diseases. Burnouts have become a common occurrence in corporate life. What practices are best to avoid this? Easier said than done for most of us, is limiting screen time. I feel it to be the bane of all existence. Yes, itʼs hard, but do consciously try and cut it off an hour or two before bedtime. As well as excessive consumption of caffeinated beverages and processed food which can cause havoc with digestion. So much healing takes place, on a cellular level, from a good nightʼs sleep. It leads to the reset we are looking for to start the day over. In the age of anxiety and burnouts, self-care is essential, as it helps to restore or refuel our own overall energy. My favourite example is we can eat all the organic food, kale salad and do yoga but if within us there is sadness and a feeling of lack and feeling of extreme exhaustion then whatever you are eating and doing won’t show at all. Self-care is a regular, intentional process. We have to cultivate time and devote ourselves selfishly to protecting and sustaining mental health. Instead of caffeinating ourselves, how about allowing our body to sleep instead because at the end of the day that’s what we really are craving, quality rest. Each healing is bespoke to the individual client – can you expand on the approach to this? I am a firm believer that there can never be a ‘one size fits all’ approach to anything in life. There can be similarities, but it needs to be customised based on your lifestyle, your needs,
LIFESTYLE
9/30/21 2:03 PM
