The Brick Magazine January 2020

BRICK

THE

JANUARY 2020

MAGAZINE

ANN ARBOR

WONDER WOMAN VS. THE BULLIES OUR COLLECTIVE HEALTH RENEW YOUR SKIN

PLUS! WANT BETTER HEALTH THIS YEAR? TAKE A TRIP

Tansy Degen

BIG DREAMS HAPPEN WITH SMALL STEPS

R E F L E C T YO U R L I F E ST Y L E .

Birch Design Associates specializes in residential and commercial interiors. www.birchdesignassociates.com

THE

BRICK MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

JANUARY 2020

Publisher • Sarah Whitsett

Assistant to the Publisher • Tanja MacKenzie

Art Director • Jennifer Knutson

Copy Editor • Angelina Bielby

Marketing Director • Steve DeBruler

Online Creative • Bridget Baker Cover Photographer • Heidi McClelland

Contributors >>

<< Fredi Baker Monica Brancheau Liz Crowe Morella Devost

<<

Kristen Domingue Tiffany Edison Beth Johnston Julie Mariouw Kellie Mox

Marilyn Pellini Lisa Profera Theresa Reid, PhD Maria Sylvester

Contact Us >>

The Brick Magazine, LLC 734.221.5767 Email: office@thebrickmagazine.com Visit us on the web at thebrickmagazine.com

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Advertising Inquires >> email office@thebrickmagazine.com or call 734.221.5767

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Find Us ... >>

Visit us on the web at thebrickmagazine.com to view our online digital edition, locations on where to find us, or subscribe to have THE BRICK MAGAZINE delivered directly to your home.

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THE BRICK MAGAZINE makes every effort to provide accurate information in advertising, editorial content and placement; however, we cannot make any claims as to the accuracy of information provided by advertisers or editorial contributors and will accept no responsibility or liability for inaccurate information or placement. No content can be duplicated without the permission of The Brick Magazine, LLC 6 | The Brick Magazine

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My Resolution? Drink More Wine

12

Big Dreams Happen with Small Steps with Tansy Degen

18

Design the Home Yoga Studio of Your Dreams

22

For Personal & Planetary Thriving The Path to Personal Thriving

26

Wonder Woman vs. the Bullies

28

Becoming Indomitable

30

Want Better Health this Year?

Take a Trip!

32

The Healing Power of Metaphor: Energy from an Unseen World

36

Our Collective Health

38

Caring for Our Minds Through Giving

42

Big Worries & Good News About Healthy Aging

46

The Best Way Forward is Back

48

Renew Your Skin

Welcome to Booze 101 with

Liz

My Resolution?

Drink More Wine

by Liz Crowe Photo by Justin Aikin

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I

f you’re reading this, you made it through the holidays and are eager to tackle the third decade of the twenty-first century. Congrats. I did too. Let’s drink to it, shall we?

I don’t know about you, but cold weather makes me crave fires in the fireplace, warm blankets, basketball games, delicious soups and stews perfectly paired with complementary beverages — you know, the basic winter requirements that do not, for me, involve going outdoors more than is strictly necessary. In other words, if you want to invite me along on your next ski vacation, rest assured I’ll be the one holding down the fort in front of the roaring fire with beverage in hand, planning that night’s dinner.

The whole “perfectly paired” thing can sometimes get confusing-slash-subjective in a way that leaves everyone in the conversation frustrated. Never fear. Liz is here. And I’ve enlisted an expert to guide us through the wine and food pairing maze in such a way that will leave us all in an existentially better place. Or, at the very least, we’ll have some solid wine recommendations for our next shopping trip.

First of all, understand that the “rules” for wine and food pairing are more like “guidelines.” The basic guideline is to pair intensity to intensity — i.e. a big old stinky blue cheese really requires a “heavy” red wine like a Napa Cabernet in order for both the cheese and wine to play a part in the pairing. You don’t want to overwhelm your food with heavy wine or vice versa, so as you begin your pairing knowledge journey, think about why you’re doing the thing in the first place: to enjoy both the food and the wine. You can’t really do that if you’re sipping a Pinot Gris with your steak, or pouring a spicy, rich Zinfandel with your lemony tilapia.

Caveat time! It’s easy to dismiss individuality when it comes to pairing wine and food. It’s even easier to sound snooty when saying things like what I said above. Please understand: that is not my point. Frankly, if you want to drink your favorite box rosé straight from the spout while eating pulled pork BBQ with your hands in the backyard in the middle of winter, you should by all means do that.

I can speak from direct experience — there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever. What we’re doing here is more about giving you a few pointers to help you

understand how some of these pairings (red wine with red meat/white wine with fish or chicken) became so universally accepted. There is actual science involved. But again — drink what you want, with whatever food you like.

That’s an order.

My resident expert’s name is Brian Hay. He’s official, that is to say a Sommelier, which is someone who’s taken endless tests and classes to prove they know their wines.

Brian is also a certified executive chef, which is super cool, since he can lend even more veracity to your January Booze 101 experience. Here’s how Brian recommends we think about eating and drinking (be sure to re-read the caveat above if you start to feel defensive).

If you’re having red meat, including lamb or bison, you really owe it to yourself to open up a cabernet sauvignon.

The reason for this is that cabs have medium to heavy tannins — an acid that comes primarily from the skins and seeds of the grapes, along with the oak barrels that the wines are aged in. Brian told me that if you leave a tea bag in water for about ten minutes then drink it, “tannin” leaves that slight film on your teeth. Not the best part of the drinking experience, really. The tannins in cabernet wines are reduced when you eat red (somewhat rare) meat. The acids in the wine help cleanse your palate between bites.

See? Science.

His recommendations for your shopping list? Franciscan Cabernet is a great value, while BV Tapestry is his goto for amazing depth and ever-changing long profile, if you’re not worried about price.

Moving down the red wine list, Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is what you want to pop open when you’re contemplating glazed or rubbed BBQ or roasted chicken. Zins are jammy, rich, sometimes peppery. These deep overripe fruit flavors, along with moderate acids, help cleanse the palate, which helps you appreciate the complexities of your favorite BBQ or the caramelization on the outside of roasted chicken.

Brian’s recs include Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel, which is a great value. On the other end of the price scale, Alexander Valley White Oak Vineyards Zinfandel, he claims is an amazing wine using grapes from vines over 100 years old.

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Prisoner Thorn is what you want if you’re looking to impress people with your merlot choice (and hope they don’t leave. Sorry — Sideways is one of my all-time favorite books/movies!)

Pinot noir is something we all associate with Thanksgiving. There’s a good reason for that. Pinots are earthy, almost mushroom-y in some cases, with flavors of under-ripe fruits, specifically berries, dare I say, cranberries. This, plus the low acid content, makes it a great match for roasted turkey and ham, cranberry-forward dishes, or anything with mushrooms.

What should you buy? According to Brian, look for Oregon Erath Pinot Noir and New Zealand Oyster Bay for great flavor for a good price. Oregon David Bruce Pinot Noir is one of his personal favorites on the upper end.

Now that we’ve hit the January reset button, I know I tend to roast a lot of root vegetables for dinner. No worries there, according to my expert. As long as you pay close attention to the spices, you can match those roasted rich acorn squash or sweet potatoes with ease. If you, like me, tend to use curry, the perfect match would be a German option. Gewürztraminer, the second best-selling wine after pinot noir at Thanksgiving time, is a great way to feature your warm spiced winter veg Photo by Jonathan Borba (since it has a slight pepperiness) in addition to a sweetness that is an ideal contrast to the spices, which will allow both food and wine Regardless of what Miles from Sideways claims, merlot is to shine. not a lame wine. In fact, my expert claims that its subtlety makes it, in some cases, better than the more in-yourThinking about how delicious roast squash with sun-dried face red wines. The soft, silky tannins in the mouthfeel tomatoes might be for dinner? Reach for a Gamay Noir, (literally, how the liquid feels on your tongue and inside of similar to a pinot noir but with an even more pronounced your cheeks), plus its moderate fruit acid make it a perfect unripe fruit flavor — Brian calls it “under-ripe grocery store match for rich meats, like duck or prime rib. strawberries.” This won’t work with the curry or otherwise highly-spiced veggies, but is perfect for the richness and His merlot recommendations for your shopping pleasure? acid of the squash with tomatoes.

Napa Duckhorn Merlot on the lower end. The 2015

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How about Spanish potatoes with smoked paprika and garlic? Go with a Rioja, a wine that some say is representative of Spain in a glass. It’s a fruitier, low-tannin, zippier red that will make that garlic sing inside your mouth.

Speaking of singing in your mouth, I always picture the scene in Ratatouille where the smart rat is making the dumb rat eat his garbage in a way that makes violins play over their heads. For the most part, that movie gives me the total creeps, since kitchens full of rats in Paris is not terribly far outside the realm of reality. However, that one scene is a great way to think about what you should be experiencing when you spend a few bucks on a nice bottle of red or white fermented grapes, and want to enjoy it and the food you prepared for dinner. A symphony of complementary — or contrasting — flavors combining in your mouth and making the money and time you spent on all of it well worth the effort.

Your takeaways this shivery cold January 2020? Think about how the wines you enjoy, regardless of what they are, might match what you’re eating. Intense wines taste best with equally intense food. Lighter wines would be smothered by rich foods, so be sure you can taste your

wine by pairing with equally lighter food. Sweet wines are great with sweet desserts. And be sure to try that Big Red Cab with your favorite super stinky stilton sometime. You won’t regret it.

Many thanks to Brian Hay, CEC (Certified Executive Chef), CCE (Certified Culinary Educator), Sommelier, for these insights and recommendations. You can check out his website for more tips: www.artofthepair.com.

Enjoy the first leg of winter, ya booze hounds. Next month, because nothing says “I love you” like chocolates and booze, we’re going to chat about how you could host a Valentine’s Day dessert and drinking party.

Amazon best-selling author, mom of three, brewery founder, craft beer marketing consultant, and avid sports fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor.

She has decades of experience in sales, public relations, and fundraising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse, all of which provide ongoing idea fodder for novels and other projects. www.facebook.com/lizcroweauthor (fan page) www.twitter.com/ETLizCrowe

January 2020 | 11

Photo by Heidi McClelland

12 | The Brick Magazine

Big Dreams Happen with Small Steps with Tansy Degen

by Kristen Domingue This interview with Tansy Degen was a breath of fresh air for our new year. Tansy’s tenacious, stickto-it-and-do-it approach to life is just the kind of energy we need at the start of a new year. Her annual event, Dancing with the Michigan Stars, is an incredible way to give back to the community — while also having fun in the community and getting to know the community. Read on to learn how she got started, and how to dance not just with the stars, but also with life.

I

started working with Arthur Murray in 2000 and went through all the processes to become a teacher.

I competed professionally as a rhythm dancer. I had a partner and traveled around the world. We were successful as competitive partners, but I also became pretty successful as a teacher. Becoming known as a teacher in the local area created the opportunity to take the step as a franchise partner in this business. At the time, there wasn't a studio in Ann Arbor, so I decided to start a new school here in 2005.

As a kid, I did not take dance lessons. My parents divorced when I was young, and there was a lot of shuffling back and forth between my dad’s small farm in Shaftsburg, MI and my mom’s home in East Lansing. At my dad’s, we milked goats before we went to school and collected chicken eggs. He built and repaired roofs for a living. My mom chose a career as a folk musician. Both households were financially struggling, but incredibly rich

in experiences and love. I can see now that watching them follow their passions in life really shaped my capacity to just jump into things. I wasn't too afraid to go outside of my comfort zone.

FROM SIDELINES TO DANCE FLOOR In the beginning, I was scared to death of dancing. I was a total wall fly. I would just sit and watch in awe and admiration, but terrified at the same time. I went to college in the 1990s, during a huge swing-dancing craze. I was a bartender back then and saw awesome swing dancing events. I would go to them with friends who were dancers, and loved it. One day, one of them mentioned that Arthur Murray, the dance studio franchise she was a part of, was hiring. They provided training and applicants needed zero experience. So I figured, what's the harm in trying? I went and I interviewed for the job and got it!

January 2020 | 13

Photo by Heidi McClelland

I commuted from East Lansing, where I lived, to Sterling Heights every day during rush hour. I worked from five to ten o’clock at night and loved it. It was never a thoughtout, planned-next-step kind of thing. I trusted that destiny would open the next door at the right time.

Initially, I think I started for really selfish reasons. I wanted to dance and I loved the attention. In the beginning, it feeds you so much when you hear “You're amazing, great work!” But at some point that flips, and you realize the benefits you're receiving from the dancing — the confidence, the fitness. You realize that you can see those changes in your students as well. You mature.

Eventually, you start to see what a student is really there for when they walk in the door (which most people don’t even know when they come in). So often, people think they want to learn the Foxtrot. But many are here because dance sounds fun and they want a creative, healthy hobby.

You as a teacher start looking at people and figuring out what they really need. Is it self-esteem? Is it social reassurance? Is it new connections or something to do?

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This is what kept me in the business for so long — figuring out how we could help the students ultimately change or enhance their lives. I still can’t believe I’ve been blessed to do this for 20 years this month.

When it came to owning the studio and joining the franchise, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. There was another franchise owner who was at a stage in her life where she was ready for a break. And so I transitioned from the day I started to a franchisee quicker than I would recommend other people do it. It was only five years and when I look back, I wish I had worked in different positions even longer, because it would have saved me a lot of trial and error later.

At the time, however, she didn't want to be in the studio, so I essentially ran her studio for her. We talked about running it as a partnership, but that wasn't in the cards for her. So I opened my own studio here in Ann Arbor, and after five years she was ready to completely retire. Then I purchased the two franchise studios she owned, one in Northville and one in Bloomfield Hills.

NO ONE PERFECTS THE CHOREOGRAPHY ON THE FIRST TRY I look back and remember some days when I would drive to work crying, wondering how I was going to make this work. There was a time when I couldn’t even afford to buy a stapler for the studio. I remember I had “Buy a stapler” on my to-do list for a whole year. When it was hard in those moments, I’d just remind myself, “One day, you will look back at this and these tears won't matter anymore. It'll all work out. It's all going to be fine. And if you just keep on track with what's the most important thing, you can do today and make a difference.”

In those early days I had no idea how I was going to make it work from day to day. It wasn't a well-thoughtout plan, but I trusted — in that Field of Dreams kind of way — that if I built it, they would come. I knew if I just stayed on course with what I thought I was meant to do and what felt good to do, I couldn’t really go wrong. Even if the studio closed.

At that point I didn't have kids, I didn't have a husband.

What was the worst that could happen? I knew I could get a job as a teacher and a dancer at that point. So I understood the risk, but I wasn’t afraid of the risk not being worth it. Maybe that comes from my parents being self-employed. I didn't grow up in an environment where people went to work from nine to five or have a really structured plan for life. The message I received was “Follow your heart, and it'll work.”

RAISING KIDS WHILE RAISING A BUSINESS Eventually, I did have kids, and my kids came to work with me until they started school. That’s when things got harder, because studios operate in the evenings so people can come after work. Of course that's when the kids were home, and I wanted to spend time with them. It was easy when they were babies; it gave me enough time to get the studios up and running and find and hire the right people to help me.

These days, I’m mostly at home with the kids in the evenings. I'm in the studios in the afternoons; I have executives in both locations running the school when I’m not there. We do training meetings so everyone knows their role and what they need to accomplish. I meet with all the staff regularly and stop in to see the students periodically.

Honestly, it's a balance, and I constantly feel like I’m not doing enough for the kids or enough for the studios.

There’s always this ongoing, internal tug-of-war: I should be here, but wait, I should be there. In the end, it becomes a matter of prioritizing. I have five different calendars and I align them all every night. I can't fall asleep at night until I’ve reread my “Things To Do” list; otherwise I’ll lay there and wonder, “What do I have to do tomorrow?” I reread each of my logs, jut to make sure it's all correct. Then I can clear my brain and go to bed.

When it comes to my kids dancing, neither one of them actively takes lessons right now. I never wanted it to be something they had to do. At this point, I know they learn more from me about owning their own business. To me, that’s important. They get to see what it’s like to lead people, a team, a staff group. They watch and listen when I have to leave the dinner table and answer the phone to work through whatever situation pops up at the studio.

There is something special that they are learning from this business specifically that is invaluable. They are learning that what you do does make a difference and small businesses can make a positive change in people's lives and their communities.

DANCING WITH THE MICHIGAN STARS I was in a unique position where I had the dance studios, the teachers on hand, and the strong desire to give back to my community. I wanted to see how much impact I could create, so I founded Dancing with the Michigan Stars.

The event was initially born out of a desire to give back to CS Mott Children’s Hospital. They were incredibly supportive of our family one year as we moved through January 2020 | 15

a challenging time. I wanted to do something to show our appreciation for what they did for us.

It grew into its own entity, its own thing. Every year we learned a little bit more about how to make it better and how to raise more money.

I'm not from the charity or nonprofit world at all; the learning curve has been steep and I’m still learning a lot, even now.

This year, I'm very excited because we've figured out a formula that allows us to give to multiple organizations in our community. This year, we’ll have 10 different charitable organizations represented by 10 different dancers. I think it's going to be our biggest and our best yet.

In addition to the “giving back” component, one of my favorite things about this event is that it’s just a great night out. People really dress up for it; many will do formal gala attire, which we encourage. We just want people to come and have a great time. We have a VIP party for all of our dancers and VIP ticket holders before the event, which includes cocktails and appetizers.

We have a live band for some of the dancing, and then the event itself is based off the show, Dancing with the Stars, where we have our 12 dancers and they each perform a piece based on the dance they learned in preparation. We've got celebrity judges, and this year they’re coming from the actual show Dancing with the Stars.

Photo by Heidi McClelland

16 | The Brick Magazine

This year, we will be joined by Snow Urbin and Anna Trebunskaya, who have both competed professionally, internationally, and on Dancing with the Stars. At the end of each performance, the judges will talk about what they saw, and it becomes a fun part of the evening with a lot of back and forth and witty banter.

It's basically one big party with an open bar and incredible plated dinner. There’s dancing between the acts, and as the night goes on, the dance floor gets crowded. The Marriott Eagle Crest does an awesome job making it absolutely beautiful every year; they do full professional lighting for us, and the entire ballroom glows from the moment you walk into it.

Tickets start at $160, but you can also buy a table for a discount. We do two big awards at the end of the evening.

We do a judge's choice and a people's choice award. The people's choice goes to the person who raised the most money for their organization, and then the judge's choice is of course based on their technical performances. The winners are awarded huge disco ball trophies as well as bonus checks from the proceeds of the event.

ANYONE CAN DANCE, BUT NOT EVERYONE CAN SERVE AND LEAD At this point in my career, I think that thing I'm most proud of is the staff that I develop and get to work with in the studio. We take people with zero experience in dancing and train them. Obviously we can teach anybody to dance — we do that all day. So, that's not what we really look for in a team member.

the past. With some distance, problems just seem so much smaller than they ever were in the moment. In that moment, it may have felt like things were falling apart.

But in hindsight, I barely remember those things. Or even better, I can see the perfection in why those things happened the way they did.

For example, when I sold the dance studio in Bloomfield Hills, that was a really hard decision for me, because at the time it felt like a failure. Now looking back, it makes perfect sense why it all happened the way it did. It allowed me to start Dancing with the Michigan Stars, which is something I wouldn't have been able to do if I had that third studio. So now, it all seems to make perfect sense. It may have felt like things were going wrong at the time, but they were actually working out.

One of my biggest lessons in life — and something I wish I could tell younger me — is to slow down. I used to not see stop signs, I would just speed past them. I opened my own studio at 26, but 25-year-old me could have worked for somebody else a little bit longer and experienced a little bit more before taking that leap. It may have made my journey a little bit easier. I’d make sure 25-year-old me knew that life isn’t a race to the finish line. She’d get there no matter what, she just needed to breathe through it all.

We look for people we can really develop to give the quality of service that we expect at Arthur Murray. It’s this quality of service that really sets us apart from other ballroom dance studios. At Arthur Murray, we understand that great dancers aren’t always great teachers — if something comes easily to you, you may not be able to relay the details when you're trying to teach a student. We really work a lot with the staff on people skills, customer service development, and how to be the best that they can be. We even go as far as to teach our team about different life stages and how to understand why people come to learn how to dance, and how to make an impact that could really change lives in the long run.

One of our favorite insights about our time with Tansy is the recognition that no matter how your life and circumstances are going, it’s almost always working out for our benefit, even if we feel like things are going horribly wrong. Her willingness to give back and to keep going, no matter what comes, is a testament to the incredibly bright future her Arthur Murray Studio has in front of it.

At our studio, we get it that dancing is fun; but you can learn how to dance at a million places. You can learn how to dance on YouTube. But here, we have a commitment to enhance the person's life in the deepest way possible.

It’s deeply fulfilling to see the staff I've been able to train go on to open their own studios and create their own livelihood in the same career. It’s also very satisfying to see the staff I have worked with now competing at a very high level.

www.facebook.com/DancingWithTheMichiganStars1

These are the things I think about when I have minimoments of regret or wish things went differently in

If you’d like to attend this year’s Dancing with The Michigan Stars, please call the Arthur Murray Studio at (734) 995-9500 or check out the Facebook Page for more information.

Kristen M. Domingue is a copywriter and content marketing consultant in the New York City area. When she’s not delivering on client projects, you can find her cooking up something gluten-free or in an internet rabbit hole on entrepreneurship or astrology.

January 2020 | 17

Design the Home Yoga Studio of Your Dreams

by Tiffany Edison Photo by Laura Olsen

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any people find that physical and mental fitness are equally important. Whether that be a commitment to work/life balance, mindfulness, meditation, running marathons, or healthy eating — it has become a focus in our lives these days. Ultimately, this is a commitment to self-care, and it can take many forms.

So, let us focus here on how we can dedicate space in our homes to assist us in creating optimal wellness.

I am happy to share that in the past decade, there has been a marked increase in homeowners identifying the need for a physical space in their homes dedicated to personal fitness. I have witnessed this trend with many of my clients, and see no sign of this request slowing down in the near future. It may be fair to say that the days of a bench press stationed in the garage with a smattering of free weights haphazardly tossed around are out. The boom box and wrist bands are no longer needed, and have swiftly been replaced with “smart” technology, awaiting your voice command for Van Halen’s “Right Now” to play faster than you can get through your first set! It’s a whole new world in the realm of home fitness, with personal yoga studios topping the list.

Avid yogis may argue that all that’s necessary for a dedicated practice space is a mat and a clear mind. I completely understand. I have practiced yoga myself for nearly eight years, and couldn’t agree more. However, in the mindset of non-judgement, I’d like to entertain the notion that some prefer a private, state-of-the-art studio space, designed to their liking. Regardless of the approach one takes to practice, the profound impact that yoga has on the body and mind is indisputable. A home studio is quite simply the physical expression of one’s commitment and desire to the practice. It can be as simple or as elaborate as wished. Of course, there are many things to consider...

Size At a minimum, a studio space should be at least 9 feet by 9 feet (180 square feet). This square footage allows for the ample space required to hold equipment without confining the practice. It is best to have a stable wall nearby that is free from décor and/or any equipment that might get in the way while practicing inversions.

TICKETS ON SALE JANUARY 6, 2020 at www.elesplaceannarbor.org January 2020 | 19

Photo by Mark Zamora

Flooring

Lighting

A flat surface is required for the practice of yoga, as balance often comes into play. It is best to choose flooring products that are natural and non-synthetic, such as reclaimed hardwood or bamboo. During floor installation, it is also extremely important to use a water-based sealant rather than an oil-based polyurethane, to minimize unnecessary exposure to toxins. Carpeted floors are less ideal, as they often trap moisture and odors, making them more difficult to clean than a hard surface.

Ambient lighting is also a consideration when designing a home studio. Whether you prefer candlelight, darkness, natural light, or the soft glow of sconces placed around the room, lighting can have a positive or negative impact on the practice of yoga. Installing a dimmer in the room is key, as it allows you to change the light depending upon the time of day you practice.

Location

Adding the scent of your choice to your experience is as personal as the preference for lighting. Aromatherapy is a key component to self-soothing, as scent has the power to trigger memories and impact the mind. Scent can invigorate or calm the senses, adding additional benefits to a home practice. A personal favorite gadget of mine is the Vitruvi Stone Diffuser. This small gadget packs a powerful punch, and can imbue up to 500 square feet with the essential oil scent of your choice.

I would argue that the very best place to locate your personal fitness sanctuary is wherever you will most likely use it. If that is near your bedroom, so be it. That being said, an additional factor of paramount importance is what time of day you are most likely to practice. If you prefer to practice as the sun comes up, than you will most likely choose a location on the east side of your home. Those preferring a dark space may want to consider a space located in the lower part of the home, absent from windows. In an effort towards sustainability, it is also wise to simply take a look around your home to see if a space already exists, just waiting for transformation.

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Scent/Circulation

Temperature Perhaps the best feature of a home yoga studio is having the ability to decide what temperature is best for your practice. Some believe that a higher temperature (above

85°F) allows for greater muscle relaxation, while others prefer a cooler setting to reduce sweating during the practice.

In the privacy of your home, you can go ahead and kick it up a notch. Enjoy hot yoga? Grab your bathing suit and don’t give a hoot who’s behind you!

Hydration Besides a great mat, I believe the best piece of equipment in a yoga studio is a hydration system. It doesn’t matter whether you bring your water bottle down from the kitchen, have a water cooler placed neatly in the corner, or get the plumbing for a full-scale hydration station (check out Elkay’s ezH20 Liv). The key is replenishing water. It is the healthiest thing we can do for our bodies.

Storage Any good practice requires a mat, a towel (with little nubs not to slip of course!), bands, blocks, and appropriate attire.

Where does one put all of these extra pieces without physically (and energetically) cluttering the practice space? I know the answer: California Closets. The king of closet organization also just happens to have a line designed for laundry room organization that can be easily

modified for your home studio needs. Check out the Meadowwood or Newport models online (californiaclosets. com), and you will see that pull-out hampers, adjustable shelving, and cabinetry designed to conceal storage for linens and cleaning products will fit the bill.

Décor It wouldn’t be an interior design article if I failed to mention décor. However, this is your sanctuary — not mine! Go ahead and customize it as you wish. Make your heart sing! Just remember to use little to no VOC (volatile organic compound) paint. And while you’re at it, why not paint an accent wall in your favorite color to gaze at to practice your drishti?

Tiffany Edison has been an interior designer since 2002, and specializes in both residential and commercial projects.

She holds a Master of Social Work degree (ACSW) and utilizes interpersonal relationship skills on a daily basis with her client base, largely comprised of Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit residents. She has a wonderfully large blended family residing in the city and enjoys the comforts of home. When she’s not fully immersed in client projects, you can find her active on the golf course, a favorite pastime. www.birchdesignassociates.com Instagram: @birchdesignassociates

January 2020 | 21

for personal

& planetary thriving

The Path to Personal ThrivingÂ

by Morella Devost, EdM, MA

Photo by Paula May

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our thoughts and emotions affect your health (or lack of it) as much as the food you eat.

The fact is that truly healing and thriving require not just a healthy diet, but also healthy thoughts and a healthy emotional expression.

I have found this to be true for myself and my clients. In my case, after battling cystic acne and hormone problems for over a decade, it all quickly resolved itself when I created the optimal healing conditions within my body, mind, and heart. And with my clients, for the past twelve years, I’ve seen the same: whatever their health challenge may be — excess weight, arthritis, or even multiple sclerosis — deep healing tends to follow a certain path.

That path is the journey of clearing the body, clearing the mind, and clearing the heart.

Clearing the body starts by wiping the slate clean of everything that could be negatively affecting your body.

This includes sugar, caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, smoking, and fake foods. Expecting your body to heal while you are consuming these things is like asking a warrior to fight an enemy while you tie his hands to his back.

One client of mine from a number of years ago was delighted to cancel surgery to remove a golf-ball-sized cyst from her wrist. After doing a four-week detox program with me, the cyst completely disappeared! No need for surgery.

In a nutshell: what you eat (and what you don’t) will make a difference.

Clearing the mind implies examining the beliefs and mental patterns that might be undermining the best of your intentions. This includes looking closely at whether you actually believe you can heal or not. Many of my clients with chronic health issues have a limiting belief dyad: they believe that some things simply can’t be healed, and they believe that the body inevitably breaks down. Why try then, if you’re going to fail? But these beliefs are just that: beliefs.

January 2020 | 23

One client with a shoulder injury was anxious about upcoming surgery. She had heard it was painful and the outcomes weren’t always great. Through hypnosis, we strengthened her belief in her shoulder’s ability to heal, calmed the pre-surgery anxiety, and instructed her body to prep for healing. Her doctor later said she’d never had a better result with any patient!

In other words: your thoughts (both conscious and subconscious) will make a difference.

Finally, once you’ve cleaned up your eating and thinking act, you have the energy and clarity to explore the difficult emotions that have remained buried throughout your life.

Feelings like anger, despair, panic, or grief stemming from difficult or traumatic life experiences can get frozen in your body.

I once had a client whose Crohn’s disease symptoms manifested shortly after three tragic deaths in his immediate family.

Because he was the head of the family, he felt the need to be strong and he swallowed his pain. When we helped him move through the buried grief by using EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and other tools, his intestinal pain started to disappear. The next session he said, “I feel like I’m walking on clouds!”

Essentially: how you handle your emotions (or avoid them) will make a difference.

As you start this year, which area of your health would you like to improve?

The first step is to give your body the chance to heal. In my world, this always starts with a four-week, food-based detoxification program. A detox not only removes the foods and beverages that are taxing your system, but it also boosts liver, colon, kidney, and lymphatic function, so your cells can clear out toxins more readily.

I like to follow the detox with a focus on 24 | The Brick Magazine

boosting digestive function, because let’s face it — if your digestion isn’t working right, your body can’t extract the nutrients it needs to heal. Finally, you shift into a sustainable antiinflammatory lifestyle (rather than a diet) that boosts metabolic function and focuses on longevity.

By giving your body a chance to detoxify, strengthen its nutrient absorption, reduce the sources of inflammation, and optimize metabolic function, you have installed all of the basic pillars for healing and vibrant health. The side effect? You also gain greater mental clarity, more energy, and a more uplifted mood! Then you have the mental clarity to notice your thought patterns, your limiting beliefs, and your hidden self-sabotage.

The next step will be to examine your thoughts. In my work, I invite my clients to do a belief inventory by journaling on questions such as the following: What do you believe is true about health in general? About your health? What do you believe is true about your body or your health condition? On a scale of 1 to 10, how strongly do you actually believe your body can heal itself? What stories/explanations do you give yourself to justify your answers? What does your inner dialogue sound like? And so forth.

life events have you lived through? How might they be connected with this health issue?

You then give yourself a mental oil-change or reboot of sorts. In my practice, we use either EFT or Neuro-Linguistic Programming to diffuse and deactivate limiting beliefs. We then strengthen more powerful, constructive beliefs.

However cheesy New Year’s resolutions might feel, the fact is that January is as good a time as any to set new intentions and clean the slate. Start by asking yourself: What aspect of your health would you like to improve?

After that, my suggestion is to start your journey down the body-mind-heart path.

Finally, with all of the clarity, energy, and regained personal power, you can tackle the deepest root cause of health issues: the emotional pieces. Much like the belief inventory, I help my clients tease apart significant emotions and life events that might remain unprocessed.

We explore questions such as: How do you feel about this health issue? Where else in your life do you have these feelings? How do you feel about your life in general? What emotions are challenging for you? If your body-part were able to speak, what emotion would it tell you it feels? What difficult or traumatic

The simple act of witnessing your answers to these questions can be powerfully transformative. You’re bringing them to the light of day and you’re doing so from a place of self-love. Your love for yourself creates the most favorable of environments for health. It also opens the door for you to heal deep wounds and trauma, which often requires professional support.

Morella Devost facilitates profound transformation for people who want to thrive in every aspect of life. After receiving two masters degrees in counseling from Columbia University, she also became a Clinical Hypnotherapist, NLP facilitator, and Holistic Health Coach. Morella is a Venezuelan-Vermonter who works with people all over the world. www.thrivewithmorella.com www.facebook.com/ThriveWithMorella

January 2020 | 25

Wonder Woman vs. the Bullies

by Monica Brancheau 26 | The Brick Magazine

I

woke up at 5:00 am, turned off the alarm, and started my daily routine. Get ready, eat a healthy bite in the morning, commute for an hour, and then be at work by 7:00 am. After work, I would go for a jog or a workout. Dinner would consist of non-meat products to accommodate my pescatarian lifestyle. I was proud of my healthy lifestyle! I ran numerous 5Ks and even ran a half-marathon. I was proactive about visiting health professionals. My yearly visit to my doctor — check. My twice-a-year visit to my dentist — check. All of this while juggling being a single mom of two kids. Sometimes I even felt like a superhero — a Wonder Woman!

This health bubble that I created around myself was popped on September 18, 2012 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was 38 years old and my Wonder Woman-level of health just lost all its superpowers. Man, I was angry! My healthy lifestyle should have ensured that I didn’t have cancer ever, especially not at 38. I felt so betrayed by my own body that I stopped trusting all my healthy decisions from the previous years. As I navigated the barrage of doctor appointments and cancer information, I continued to operate in fear and anger. I made an appointment with an alternative health doctor, and in that moment, I learned that my definition of health all those years was wrong. I was looking at our threedimensional world through a two-dimensional lens. For 38 years of my life, health was defined by two dimensions: healthy eating and being physically active. I scored a 100 in those categories. The one dimension I ignored for 38 years was my mental health; there, I scored a zero.

I spent 38 years navigating the world of bullies. A lot of bullies. Some bullies are in your life for a moment, screaming at you and shaking their fist through their car window, and others are in your life until you decide to remove them. Bullies can be people, jobs, groups, and situations. The dictionary defines the verb “bully” as “seeking to harm, intimidate or coerce.” It took me years to realize that untenable circumstances had become such a part of my normal fabric that I would drag myself down when no one else was already doing that. Stress created by bullies became a primary thread weaving in and out of my day, like air going in and out of my lungs. When I tried to remove that thread, it was always too unfamiliar and uncomfortable, so there it remained.

That was until a few years before my diagnosis, when I realized that things needed to change. I consciously took the first step on creating a less stressful life. These steps involved removing many bullies. Ultimately, I will never

know how I got cancer, or how this ultimate bully invaded my body, but I now know that my mental health is just as important as my physical health.

Fast forward to now; I am seven years cancer-free and I live a three-dimensional healthy lifestyle. I continue to eat healthy, although I do eat meat again (I couldn’t stay away from bacon!). Working out is a part of my life still, although running long distances no longer agrees with my joints. The one area I am the most protective of is my mental health. I sleep in and I don’t feel guilty about it. I say no and I don’t feel bad. I indulge in my guilty pleasures, like watching General Hospital (after taking a 20-year break!). Bullies continue to show up in my life, sometimes for a moment, sometimes longer. I either remove them or I change the settings. Breaking up can be hard to do, but is also empowering. Sometimes I think that it’s more challenging to create peace then it is to create war, but it’s worth it if it means being Wonder Woman to myself and my family.

A mom of four who has had multiple careers, Monica Brancheau is a Michigan native and graduate of the University of Michigan. She has decades of experience in working with children’s issues, from education to non-profit work in teaching in urban settings, non-profit management, marketing, and fundraising. She is currently the Director of Ele’s Place Ann Arbor. When not working you can find her gardening, reading, writing, listening to music, and spending time with her treasured family.

January 2020 | 27

Becoming Indomitable

by Fredi Baker 28 | The Brick Magazine

W

ith the holiday season behind us, many of our thoughts quite naturally turn to goals and game plans for living healthier lives in the new year. We may commit to eating better and exercising, feeling more energized after the busy months we’ve just come through.

Me too. In fact, I’ve been on a slow and steady weight loss for some time now, and didn’t veer very far off the path this year. It helps that I am eating more plant-based, vegan-ish types of foods, with occasional fish and eggs for good measure. Sugar is, for the most part, in my past. I’ve been slow and steady with exercise too. Those strategies helped me through the holidays, but now it’s time to up my game. What if you could up your own healthy living game? Take a look at what’s working, what’s not, and form some goals to spur you on.

This year, I’m befriending a few other heroes for good health. The first is easy: drink more water. When it’s cold outside, I turn to coffee, teas, and other warm beverages instead of water. Maybe you do too. And yet, water is an essential part of the equation. Drinking plenty of water helps with weight loss, lessens headaches, improves brain function, and aids digestion, to name a few benefits. In prior years, I’ve enjoyed hot water with a slice of lemon.

Maybe it’s time to get back to this as a go-to drink for the winter months.

Another health hero is daily meditation — that could mean centering oneself, or even just taking a minute for a few deep breaths. This also includes becoming more mindful of being in the present moment. I know this works wonders, and yet, when I’m busy or distracted, this seems to slip away — often without my even noticing. When I’m grounded and centered, everything is just better, and my outlook is more positive and focused.

Sleep. This health hero is bubbling up as a main priority for me right now. Somehow I’ve gotten into a few bad sleep habits. While I used to take a 20-minute power nap now and again, they’ve turned into much longer naps — along with breaks to check email, Instagram, etc. on my phone.

This causes me to stay up late, often falling asleep in front of the TV with my knitting. It’s a vicious cycle that I know isn’t best for my wellbeing. I know I’m not alone in the struggle for better sleep. In fact, I talked to a client this week who has a similar challenge. She sets all kinds of bedtime reminders on her phone, FitBit, etc., but when they go off, they merely jar her into being even more awake.

As she said, “Sleep is everything.” Something needs to change, for both of us.

Everyone of us is unique, and yet we’re all in this together.

What health heroes do you want to get better acquainted with this year? While there’s no magic formula, we can be on the way to reaching our goals with hard work and dedication.

What if the true key to good health and vitality boils down to becoming indomitable? I wonder what would that look like? Letting go of excuses, being willing to try things outside of one’s own comfort zone.

A big thing for me is letting go of having to be perfect. I don’t know about you, but this all too often stops me in my tracks. What if I could shift into focusing on what I can do instead of berating myself for what I’m not doing?

For example, even if I don’t have time for a full meditation session one day, at least I can do something, even if it’s only sitting quietly for a few moments and breathing deeply. While it’s not perfect, at least it’s on the path.

For me, becoming indomitable starts before I am making daily choices to stay on course. It’s making a deep, solid, unwavering commitment to become unstoppable — no matter what. Kind of like a commitment on steroids. It’s also saying “no” to things that might tempt me away from honoring my commitment to myself, my health, and my life. It’s taking a deeper look at why the commitment is important in the first place, what values it honors, and imagining possibilities of success. To do this, it’s essential to have a clear, inspiring goal to aim for.

Something that has worked in the past for me is asking myself, “If I were unstoppable, what would I do?” And then I do just that. Simple, and while not always easy, it’s a clear path forward. As my good friend and fellow coach Debby Lott, MCC reminds me, “Discipline is freedom.” I share this quote often with my clients, now it’s time to remind myself as well.

As you look forward into 2020, what would happen if you became indomitable?

Fredi Baker is a Master Certified Coach who believes in the power of the creative process.

For over 20 years, she’s coached people who are ready to break out of where they are and lean into their dreams, their vision, and their creativity. She helps them get inspired, focused, and motivated to live by their own rules and make a difference in the world. In her spare time, you will find her playing with yarn and needles — whether she’s knitting colorful, chunky wall hangings or designing shawls. Thus far, five of her patterns have been published, and she delights in seeing other knitters working with her designs and making their own works of art.

Find her at fredibaker.com

January 2020 | 29

Want Better Health This Year?

Take a Trip!

by Beth Johnston

I

t’s another new year — hello 2020! Many people make New Year’s resolutions, and that often involves resolving to improve their health. It could be losing weight, getting in shape, having less stress, or a combination of all of these.

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We all know the drill: we are gung-ho for a few weeks, maybe if we are lucky it lasts a couple of months, and then life happens. We get stuck back in the same old rut we were in before. Now what?

Would it surprise you to learn that travel is good for your health? Research shows that a vacation is good for your body and mind. What exactly are the top health benefits of travel?

Travel Lowers Stress Vacations give us a much-needed break from typical everyday stressors. We then return refreshed and ready to face our day-to-day grind again.

It probably doesn’t surprise you that being on vacation lowers stress levels, but did you know that a recent Austrian study* shows that even with a long weekend away, you will have fewer stressful days for up to five weeks after your return? So, even if you can’t take a week off, at least plan a weekend escape. Travel is the gift that keeps on giving!

Travel Improves Creativity Many artists, authors, and other creatives use travel to inspire their work. When we are in unfamiliar environments, our brains can form new ideas. However, according to psychological and neuroscientific research**, it requires more than just being in a new destination; it involves immersing and engaging yourself with the local culture. Travel can force us to develop “cognitive flexibility,” which boosts creativity.

Travel Can Help Improve Relationships/Personality I am a firm believer that travel is a way to connect or reconnect to loved ones. When you share new experiences together, you create lasting memories and a special bond. You connect on a deeper level.

Traveling allows and sometimes forces us to get outside our comfort zones. It helps us be more open-minded.

When I was in college, I spent a summer abroad in Germany. It was definitely a life-changing experience.

I am confident it made me a better person and a better global citizen. Studiesª back this up; people who travel tend to meet new people and have more diverse friendships.

Our world needs more openness, agreeableness, and emotional stability, wouldn’t you agree?

Travel Can Boost Productivity It is no secret that Americans, more often than in other countries, do not take their vacation time. In one study˚, 43% of Americans said that they’re afraid to take time off because they feel like they will fall behind, and in another study˚˚, 52% wasted unused vacation days. It turns out this can be detrimental to productivity in the workplace.

Countries with high productivity have at least 20 paid vacation days per year. Two vacations a year can grant you certain health benefits. If you are less stressed, more relaxed, and more creative, your productivity at work is bound to increase.

Travel Boosts Happiness Our happiness increases even when we’re just planning a trip. When you anticipate something fun, dopamine is released, which triggers the brain’s reward and pleasure center. A studyªª confirms that buying experiences (as opposed to objects) makes people happier, and part of that happiness comes from anticipating the experience.

What a bonus! Not only will you glean pleasure from taking a trip, it will provide weeks or months of happiness as you look forward to it.

These are just a few of the benefits of travel. It turns out that better health is only a trip away. Start your new year with a nice boost by planning your next trip — it’s good for you!

Beth was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI and currently resides in Pinckney. She is a retired elementary educator from Ann Arbor Public Schools (13 years) and Pinckney Community Schools (17 years). She is married to her husband Dan, and has three sons from her first marriage (ages 30, 28 & 25), a daughter-inlaw with a grandbaby on the way, and three step-children.

Orenda Travel was founded by Beth Johnston, a luxury travel specialist who believes travel holds the unique ability to change lives. Our custom-crafted itineraries speak exclusively to families’ unique needs, passions, and sense of adventure. www.orenda.travel www.facebook.com/OrendaLuxTravel/ www.instagram.com/orenda.travel/

*MDPI: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/1/130 **The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/for-a-more-creative-brain-travel/388135/ ˚CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/25/vacation-can-make-you-more-productive--just-ask-the-europeans.html ˚˚USTA: https://www.ustravel.org/research/state-american-vacation-2018 ªAPA PsycNET: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-20588-001 ªªCornell Chronicle: http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2010/03/study-shows-experiences-are-better-possessions

January 2020 | 31

The Healing Power of Metaphor:

Energy from an Unseen World

by Julie Mariouw

32 | The Brick Magazine

Our world needs creative, critical thinkers.

We nurture them here.

Delight-Filled Kindergartens Immersive Grade School Confidence-Building Middle School College-Preparatory High School

SteinerSchool.org

admissions @ steinerschool.org • 734-669-9394

“A

book must be the axe for a frozen sea inside us,” wrote Franz Kafka in a letter to Oskar Pollak. In using this metaphor — comparing a book to an axe — Kafka tells us more in one sentence than if he had gone on for pages. We see an image, we feel the impact in our bodies, we understand what he is trying to say. Such is the power of metaphor.

The dictionary definition of metaphor is “a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison…metaphor states that one thing is another.”

But metaphor is so much more than that. In I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor, James Geary tells us that metaphor is “derived from the Greek roots meta (over, across, or beyond) and phor (to carry), the literal meaning of metaphor is ‘to carry across.’”

We writers seem to be endlessly drawn to metaphor. This is, in part, because metaphor has such power to heal — emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Metaphor reaches into the lightning of our subconscious, pulls out power and wisdom, then makes an opening for these things to flow January 2020 | 33

into our writing. It sweeps over a page and rearranges words before they have even been written.

Let’s say I give an assignment in a workshop to write a metaphor about the body (which I’ve been known to do!). For example, “My body is a pitcher.” Immediately my mind begins to compare and contrast beneath the surface.

Metaphor is a road map, a trail for the universe to follow into the everyday world. Energy pours through it and down onto the page. Just like a pitcher! So you can see how the very creation of that metaphor influenced my writing instantaneously and came pouring out of the words before my rational mind had time to plan. Metaphor brings freshness to writing.

And metaphor opens individual words, too. Words are living things, carrying an embedded history and personality that has developed over thousands of years. Whether we realize it or not, we have set ideas about these words, and metaphor gets underneath our set ideas. It takes apart the components of words and rearranges them. Metaphor enlarges words, and then the words enlarge us.

Metaphor tells us that one thing IS another. But how can that literally be true? It can’t, of course. But then again, can it? Perhaps these are just possibilities we are not yet aware of, even with our big human brains. Perhaps we knew about metaphor before we got so smart, and now we are just

34 | The Brick Magazine

frustrated enough with our too-busy, self-directed lives to be willing to search for something larger and wiser than ourselves.

So how does metaphor heal? I believe that a big part of any illness is constriction. People have set ideas that they carry with them from childhood, and these set ideas are often harmful to people’s health because they constrict them, keeping people stuck in unproductive patterns.

To heal, we need to change some of our default settings. Metaphor does this. Before we are aware of what’s happening, a metaphor has rearranged things within us so that we have no choice but to see the world differently. It’s as if the metaphor gets under or through our fear. Constriction to freedom — that is the work of metaphor.

And metaphor speeds up the healing process. How? By combining two unlike things, metaphor creates a vortex, or a prism that focuses light and energy on an injured area and creates supercharged healing. This happens beyond our conscious awareness, so there is no possibility of blocking it. Therefore, once we notice the healing, it has already been accomplished.

We humans are energy beings, and I think of the energy inside us as water. Inside my own body, there are blocks of ice that correspond to each childhood trauma I have experienced. How might a metaphor tackle these? Well, metaphor doesn’t do so in a prescribed, linear way. When I write I feel metaphor randomly touch one place and then another. Gradually my energy moves, frozen pieces of trauma begin to dissolve, flow is restored. But I have to be willing to write about these stuck places over and over again.

So how can the average person — perhaps not a writer — benefit from the healing power of metaphor? I recommend writing daily for 5-15 minutes. This writing can be journaling, fiction, anything that is comfortable. We are not concerned, here, with the quality of the writing as much as the practice of writing. Think of it like daily physical exercise; you have to get your body moving in order to benefit from its effects. The same goes for writing — it’s the doing of it that counts.

Type out a list of random nouns, whatever comes to mind.

The only way you can mess this up is if you try to control the process. Print out the list and cut it into pieces. Then put these pieces in a container.

Every day, choose two random nouns and write them at the top of a page. Write the word “is” between your two words, effectively making a metaphor. Now write. Write as quickly as you can. Don’t cross anything out. Don’t be concerned with spelling or grammar. Just follow the metaphor wherever it leads. At first this might be difficult, and you will feel a strong urge to control, but as you continue this practice you will notice yourself beginning to let go.

I guarantee, then, that unexpected things will happen.

New connections will be made within your brain and body. You will feel a flow of energy breaking through stuck places. And even though you may not understand what is happening, you will definitely benefit from the process. Be patient and believe — the power of metaphor is at work!

Julie Mariouw is a published author, trained Amherst Writers & Artist workshop leader, English teacher, and owner of Wellspring Writing Workshops LLC, through which she offers creative writing workshops in the Ann Arbor area. Julie helps people bypass their internal critics, go directly to feelings & memories, and tap into the healing power of writing. www.wellspringwritingworkshops.com www.facebook.com/wellspringwritingworkshops

January 2020 | 35

Our Collective Health

by Kellie Mox

T

he enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition. – Constitution of the World Health Organization

a myriad religions, races, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and abilities. Needless to say, there were many people in the line that stood well behind me at the end of that exercise, which allowed us all to see the impact of privilege in a concrete way.

Twenty years ago, I walked into one of my first classes at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. I was twenty-four years old, and while I wasn’t without trauma or challenges, I was undeniably young and privileged.

Short of my two years living in Australia, I’d spent most of my life in a medium-sized, largely white, upper middleclass community.

Privilege: a right or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.

On that day, the professor lined us up next to each other for a privilege walk. He asked us questions that prompted us to take steps forward or backward depending on our answers. “If your family had health insurance, take one step forward.” “If you have visible or invisible disabilities, take one step backward.” I took steps backward for questions related to my gender and to having divorced parents, but I mostly stayed put or took steps forward.

My cohort was a diverse group of people comprising

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While privilege might not decide all of one’s health outcomes, it certainly makes things easier for those who have it. Privilege offers easier access to fundamental health promoters like health education, prevention programs, and more varied treatment options. Specifically, privileges such as socioeconomic status and race correlate with innumerable health-related outcomes. What’s more, the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, which revealed that early adversity is surprisingly common and has cumulative effects, also showed that early adversity has a profound impact on long-term health outcomes. The study’s participants were largely privileged white men and women, so we can only imagine what a similar study might find in populations with less privilege.

I’ve been sitting with some tough questions since I reclaimed my professional coaching and healing role two years ago. I know the privileges I inherited have provided me opportunities for healing that others don’t have. I believe that everyone should have access to the health-promoting resources and healing modalities that allow me to reach for my highest standard of health — things like homeopathy, acupuncture, trauma-informed therapies, energy and body work, brain rewiring programs, and health coaching. As the World Health Organization states, enjoying one’s highest attainable level of health is a human right.

My passion for our collective health and healing fueled my desire for a public health education, while my personal experience drew me to this career; at times, aspects of the two don’t feel aligned. How can I serve this ideal of health as a human right and be a healing catalyst, not just for the privileged women who can pay me for my services — I do need to generate income and help support our family — but also for those women who took steps backward that day on the privilege walk? How can each of us add to our collective health and shift the disparities that privilege promotes? I don’t have definitive answers, but I have some thoughts about where we can all begin if you’d like to join me.

It Starts Within At times I’ve struggled with the notion that focusing on my healing is self-indulgent, because so many others don’t have this same luxury. But that kind of thinking doesn’t serve anyone. I know that if we desire healing for our families, our communities, our country, and our world, we must start within ourselves; our own healing has a ripple-effect that radiates out to others. If we have the privilege of access to resources that can help us heal our trauma, unhealthy patterns, or diseases, and if we embrace these resources as opportunities for healing, we can shift the health of future generations. Consider the child who is raised in a violent home who goes on to enact violence toward herself, her family, or her community. As she heals these childhood wounds, she halts the destructive patterns not only for herself, but also for her children and anyone she may have impacted with her violence. As we mend our hearts, minds, and bodies in deep and lasting ways, we also have more capacity to hold space for others’ healing and experiences.

That is, we can have true empathy for others if we learn to have empathy for ourselves. And, as we heal our nervous systems and stop living in chronic states of fight, flight, or freeze, we bring new energy to every interaction out in the world. Rather than protecting ourselves from being hurt, we

allow ourselves to be vulnerable and open to true, authentic, healing connections with others.

Coming Together We can’t do this work alone. We are social creatures by nature, thriving on connection; even the most introverted of us crave a sense of belonging. The research on social support and connection reveals their profound impact on overall health status, addiction prevention and recovery, and mental and emotional wellness. It seems clear that one way we can strengthen our collective health is to come together with and for each other. I believe we can begin to do this by authentically sharing our stories of trauma and triumph with one another. This includes listening openly to others’ stories, especially others outside of our own cultural or community circles who may have different access to resources or levels of privilege. We can educate ourselves about privilege and the history and experiences of cultures, religions, or ethnicities other than our own so that we have more awareness and sensitivity. We can intentionally approach strangers and friends we meet without judgment, remembering that we are all inherently whole, despite our privilege or lack of it. We can continue to ask ourselves the tough questions and grow in our own self-awareness so that we can thoughtfully have difficult conversations with others. And, if we provide health-related services, we can foster our collective health by ensuring that our services are accessible to diverse populations.

I hope the questions I’ve been pondering might inspire you, too, to explore your role in our collective human health. I know these ideas are just a place to start; there are many more questions to ask and more conversations to have. We can all make a difference in our collective health, though, by starting within ourselves and by supporting each other.

Kellie Mox catalyzes revolutionary healing for women through powerful conversations and whole-health mentoring. She is passionate about authentic, meaningful connections—to the self, others, and the world—and believes that healing flourishes when we strengthen these connections and embrace our wholeness.

Kellie is a certified coach and a student of homeopathic medicine with a master’s in health behavior and health education. She works with women virtually and in-person from her home base in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Website: www.kelliemox.com Instagram: @kelliemox Facebook: www.facebook.com/kelliemoxcoachingandhealing

January 2020 | 37

Caring for Our Minds Through Giving

by Marilyn A. Pellini

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here are so many places, organizations, and causes we can offer our time to. Yes, we would probably prefer to sit on our comfy sofa with a bowl of M&Ms watching reruns of our favorite show, but that will not contribute to our good health at any age.

We should probably take a walk, go to the gym, do some pushups, or even vigorously clean our house. This will keep us in shape for sure. If we add to that mix a healthy diet of less red meat, more veggies, conservative portions, and carefully watch our sugar intake, we will at least be on the right track.

A good nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sleep is a must too. We think nothing of burning the midnight oil by the time we get to high 38 | The Brick Magazine

school. Children today are totally sleep deprived, as they are often out at their school bus stop when it is still totally dark outside. They must hop out of bed at an ungodly hour, and yet stay up late finishing homework or studying for a test. Just about every kid I know has a chock-full after-school schedule also, which necessitates late hours and little sleep.

My ninth-grade granddaughter plays volleyball, but she is required to stay for the JV game and the varsity game as well. If it is an away game, that may require an added halfhour on a school bus; often the team wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t arrive back at the high school until after 7pm. A parent must pick her up at school, and usually they bring her dinner with them in

the car, as she is starving and cannot take the time to eat at home with still hours of homework to do. All this for a fourteen-year-old.

Then the cycle begins all over again, with her school bus picking her up at 6:20am the following morning. This simply cannot be a healthy routine set so young in life.

Yet, it is a necessity. Colleges want athletes. They insist on well-rounded students, which means these young people must do community service projects as well as get good grades and high SAT scores, which are yet another priority colleges demand.

Well, we all have gone through that impossible schedule, followed by the rigors of college and our commitment later on to jobs and family. Before we know it, we are heading to old age. Our bodies are beginning to betray us. We simply cannot do physically what we used to. How do we stay healthy then? Eating right, exercising, and getting a good night’s sleep help prepare the body for the aging process, but what about the feeding and care of our mind and psyche?

Our own kids at that stage in our lives were off doing their thing. Hubby and I then did some traveling, but that got very costly and dug into the retirement funds.

Heavy bags and huge airports were daunting. So then he developed his own hobbies, and I had my volunteer organizations. That time of life seemed to be solving itself!

The groups and causes I devote myself to help me to stay young, involved, and giving. I belong to five women’s clubs and am on the County Federation of Women’s Clubs Board, and also on my town’s Tree Board. I am now considered to be on the “old age flight path,” and here is my mantra: “I am going out of this life swinging in any which way I can.”

When I became an octogenarian, I wrote a book. Now I go to different groups to give talks about it. It’s a grief book written in the form of letters to my deceased husband about the plight of widows and widowers in our society.

Other cultures feed, entertain, and look after anyone who has lost their mate. In our country, not only have we lost our life’s partner and our precious life as we knew it, but we are expected to get over it with no weeping, moaning, or gnashing of teeth, because this makes others uncomfortable.

I truly believe both my physical health and mental health are greatly enhanced by a spirit of giving to others. My prime women’s club, where I am a past president, owns a thrift shop, and they earn over $100,000 a year that they

DENTAL STUDIO

give to local causes. Our major philanthropic endeavor, however, is to offer as many scholarships to local students as possible, while still maintaining our historic clubhouse built in 1918 to honor local heroes who lost their lives in World War I. There is an intricate schedule of workers who cover the front sales desk and those who do the pricing of items donated to us for sale. Each month, I make the calls to fill in the thrift shop schedule. I have been doing this since 1991 and have never had a single cross word from a member. They know when they join the Club that they have an obligation to work two three-hour shifts per month. It takes me six to seven hours to complete this scheduling, but that extensive time commitment is probably my own fault. With each member I contact, I feel compelled to have at least a short chat. I know whose mother is not well, whose child is applying to college, and whose dog just died. For me, this personal contact with members is a great boon. I know about them and am involved in their lives, and they in mine. A sense of belonging and caring going both ways gives me a great sense of well-being. A while back, I had a lengthy hospital stay, and received eighty-six get well cards from club January 2020 | 39

Photo by Jordan Whitt

members. I just had to get better because so many people would be disappointed and sad if I didn’t! Their caring cards and notes pulled me through.

Knowing the hard work my club members do in order to give a $1,000 scholarship to between fifteen and twenty students each year makes me feel both needed and useful.

The club has two women who are both over one hundred years old, and they still give one three-hour shift per month in the shop as sales clerks. They have both been members for over fifty years.

Women’s clubs in America started over 80% of all our country’s libraries. What an accomplishment! We were at the forefront of the suffrage movement, too. We are carrying on a legacy that was hard fought-for.

These past generations introduced legislation to benefit children, which saved countless lives. They improved workplace conditions for women. And today on local, state, countrywide, and international levels, they work on causes such as world hunger and sex trafficking.

I do know many women who make great strides in their volunteer work, whatever their interest may be, and still they keep up with family and friends. Many older women now do lots of babysitting for their grandchildren if they are lucky enough to have them nearby. You know the saying: “If you want something done, ask a busy woman.”

40 | The Brick Magazine

The key to good health, at least later in life, is getting outside of yourself. Find a cause you love and contribute to its betterment. Don’t sit around in a funk and in solitude. Get out there and give. It will bring you joy and comfort, and might afford you good health, too. Do make your local women’s club the first place you investigate. These clubs have been in existence for over 100 years and have been so successful because of what they contribute to their communities; they’re such a valuable asset and resource. Many groups have both a day and evening session, so working women are able to join also. Camaraderie with other women is really a blessing and adds a healthy perspective to our lives. Look into your local women women’s club today or find another cause you can throw yourself into, heart and soul. It just may be your salvation, and it may contribute to the life of someone less privileged than yourself.

Marilyn Pellini has recently published a grief book titled Dear Al, A Widow’s Struggles and Remembrances. Her other credits as a writer include recent articles in Brick Magazine titled “Memories in My Button Jar” and “Restructuring My World,” pieces in Westchester Parent Magazine, Bay State Parent Magazine, On The Water, Balanced Rock, and others.

In May 2018, she took the first place prize in the NY State Federation of Women’s Clubs writing contest.

with Maria Sylvester, MSW, CPC

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Be Unstoppable.

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Enjoy a Complimentary First Session as a gift to yourself!

Maria Sylvester, MSW, CPC Life Empowerment Coaching, LLC 1785 W. Stadium, Suite 104 • Ann Arbor, Mi 48103

734-717-7532 • www.LifeEmpowermentCoaching.com

January 2020 | 41

Big Worries & Good News About Healthy Aging byTheresa Reid 42 | The Brick Magazine

O

ne of the many life experiences 30-year-olds share with older people is their fear that age will rob them of physical and cognitive health. In a large and rigorous nationwide survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago and West Health Institute a few years ago, 70% of people aged 30 and up said losing their memory and physical health were top worries about aging.

I am happy to report that for most of us, these fears are overblown.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Several factors influencing the way we age are beyond our control: our experience in utero, our genetic inheritance, the health of the environment we inhabit, the quality of our early childhood education, and the stress we experience throughout life (including witnessing or experiencing maltreatment or systemic injustice) all affect how we age.

These are hard facts.

Good brain news Yet also true is that we have a lot of power to counterbalance negative influences and to increase positive development as we age. Let’s start with brain health, since the possibility of losing our memory (our “minds,” ourselves even) is the greatest fear for many people. So, the good news: •

•

•

•

Most supposedly age-related functional declines are the result of pathology. The large majority of us have healthy brains well into our 80s. Healthy older brains — which most of us have — are often as good as or better than younger brains in a wide variety of tasks.

Healthy brains never stop developing and changing.

They begin growing and making connections as an embryo and do so until the lip of the grave, continually resculpting themselves in response to experience.

The aspects of brain function that do decline with age — for instance, raw speed on math problems, reaction times, and efficiency of short-term memory storage — are not the most important story about the aging brain.

Among the most important positive changes as the brain ages is that it begins to use both hemispheres to solve increasingly complex problems, rather than relying on one or the other. This means greater

flexibility and creativity in both everyday and more complex problem-solving.

•

The brain’s emotional circuitry matures and becomes more balanced with age. PET scanning shows that as we age, we experience less intense negative emotions, pay less attention to negative than to positive emotional stimuli, and are less likely to remember negative than positive emotional materials.

•

Most important: older brains have learned more than younger brains, especially material too complicated or subtle to learn quickly. This, and the use of both hemispheres, is a huge asset in complex problem-solving.

Good body news We’ll look at a range of activities to boost our brain health as we age, right after we review the good news about the body. Bottom line: the physical decline usually attributed to age is primarily caused by inactivity.

New muscle mass can be created, and cardiovascular health improved, at any age. In fact, no matter what condition you’re in, no matter how old you are, aerobic activity and strength-building can slow, stop, and sometimes even reverse physical decline.

Staying active is better than medicine, by a long shot. Here are some of the benefits of increased cardio and strength training — again, at any age.

•

Stronger bones and greater flexibility, reducing the risk of falls, breaks, and osteoporosis.

•

Better respiratory and cardiovascular function, lowering the risk and (often) severity of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke, and strengthening immune response.

•

Reduced dementia risk and generally — sometimes dramatically — improved cognitive function as a result of increased blood flow to the brain, stimulating neurochemicals that increase brain cell survival, neural plasticity, and development of new neurons.

•

Higher metabolism, resulting in improved gastrointestinal function. (Toss the laxatives!)

January 2020 | 43

•

Improved mood and sleep, partly because of all the previouslylisted effects, and directly because exercise produces endorphins, the “feel-good hormones.” (Toss the Tylenol PM™!)

Cool! How do I get that?

So, great news! Not all, but a great deal of how healthfully we age is in our own hands. What can you do now — however many years of life experience you get to claim — to optimize your mental and physical health as you age?

44 | The Brick Magazine

•

Exercise physically. I’ve just reviewed all the great benefits of strength training and cardiovascular exercise, so go do that!

•

Eat right. We all know that diets high in saturated fat, sugar, and processed foods are bad for us, body and mind. A number of research studies* suggest that the Mediterranean diet — high in fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, olive oil, legumes, whole grains, and fish — might lower dementia risk by improving cardiovascular health**. (Important point: Wine is not off the table in the Mediterranean diet!)

•

Establish strong social networks. Feeling part of a prosocial group has profound positive effects on mind and body at every age. Maintaining a social network can be harder later in life, as working relationships end, kids move out, friends and spouses move away or die, and other events beyond our control shift our position in the world. But continuing to forge new, meaningful social bonds — through volunteerism, joining interest groups, taking interesting opportunities to engage with others — is literally life-saving, and so worth every effort.

•

Pick challenging leisure activities that exercise your mind. These need to be activities you love, not chores.

Reading, dancing, board games, puzzles, musical instruments, language learning, teaching. Activities that make you work up a “mental sweat” push the continued creation and connection of neurons, shoring up your neural reserve.

•

Achieve mastery. Pick one or more of your challenging activities and get really good at it. Mastery confers a sense of control that can boost immune system cells. So go for it: pursuing an interest casually beats vegetating, but pursuing mastery works wonders for your heart/mind.

•

Meditate. Meditation is the ultimate exercise and balm for heart/mind. Meditation has long outgrown the woo-woo reputation it gained back in the 1960s and 1970s, with many peer-reviewed scientific studies showing the remarkable benefits of even a few weeks of practice. You can begin at any moment.

•

Cultivate purpose. Without a strong sense of purpose, all of your other activities lack a “So what?”

Our purpose — which evolves as we live and learn — is what gets us up in the morning. Time spent clarifying our purpose is repaid a thousand-fold.

To learn more, consider delving into these resources: The Mature Mind by Gene Cohen, MD, PhD; The Blue Zones, 2d edition, by Dan Buettner; and Legacies of the Heart,

by Meg Newhouse. Not to plug my site, but to feed your heart/mind, there are lots more resources to be found at aginforlife.org.

Upshot The myth that aging predictably means decline in mental and physical function is pernicious, not least because it can become self-fulfilling. Yes, there’s plenty in life that’s out of our control. And yes — at the very end of life, we

inevitably decline, hopefully quickly. (More on death later, which I feel better about the older I get, and the more I read.) But a great deal of the final third of life — say, from 60 to 90 and beyond — can absolutely be a time of continued growth and development. It’s never too late — or too early — to start laying the groundwork for a healthy, long, continually surprising life.

Theresa Reid, PhD, is Executive Producer and Host of Aging for Life, an emerging interview show about many aspects of aging, not including how to avoid it. She can be reached at theresa@agingforlife.org Instagram: @agingforlifetv *NIH: Mediterranean diet may slow development of Alzheimer’s disease: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/ mediterranean-diet-may-slow-development-alzheimers-disease **Mayo Clinic: Mediterranean diet: A heart-healthy eating plan: https:// www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/indepth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801

January 2020 | 45

The Best Way Forward Is Back

by Maria Sylvester, MSW, CPC Photo by Hugues de Buyer Mimeure

G

ame on! 2020 is here. If you are at all like me, you’re carefully, deliberately pondering possible goals or intentions for yourself in this new year. Here’s a little secret that will pretty much guarantee extraordinary days ahead: the best way forward is back. Back to you.

For an amazing new year ahead, I recommend first rediscovering and resurrecting the forgotten you — your essence at the core of your being. Time to peel back the layers and find your center. Embrace this previous lost, or perhaps buried, version of yourself, and boom — future paths will fall powerfully into place. You’ll be on super firm footing.

This is because returning home to ourselves always provides the best, most secure foundation for moving forward.

Think about it. If you try to leap ahead into fresh starts and new beginnings, all the while out of touch with your authentic self, things probably won’t go well. Consider for a moment the word “transformation.” Transformation means to rise beyond or soar above one’s form, into action. Trans.

Form. Ation. It follows then that one might benefit from

46 | The Brick Magazine

first knowing what form, or true self, one is seeking to expand upon.

Often, as we scramble through our days, we do not even realize when we are wearing a mask, or pretending to be that which we are not. We get so good at pretenses, or habitual ways of existing, that we can completely forget who we are underneath these layers. The false self begins to feel like the real self. We can glide along on the surface of our existence for a good long while this way, unaware. We might simply feel emotionally “off.” Despite this, too often we proceed to try and build our lives on this quicksand. We then fall head-first into ways of being and doing that are many steps removed from our true character, or from what is ideally going to serve us.

Goals and intentions most successfully manifest only if you are growing them from the place of alignment with your true self. Easy to say, yet how does one get there?

How do we arrive at the most genuine, open version of ourselves? And what might it feel like when we land?

“Love yourself completely, return to the root of your own soul.” ~ Rumi

Acceptance and Appreciation Accepting and appreciating yourself as you are now, at this very moment, is essential before trying to grow yourself further. So breathe; drop into the emotions that you are feeling right now. Dive deep. Practicing the art of radical self-awareness can help you acknowledge your present strengths, shortcomings, preferences, and ways of being that make up your beautiful, unique essence. This “you” deserves to be celebrated before being built upon.

We will be much more capable of moving forward in life if we can first see ourselves not from a deficiency model where we need to be “fixed,” but rather from a place of loving acceptance. I can’t say this strongly enough.

Appreciate and accept who you are.

Like pulling an arrow in a bow back toward yourself before releasing it into flight, pull back gently into yourself for an instant. Know deep in your core that you have everything you need internally to have a great life — that you are special and unique simply because you exist. This awareness then positions you perfectly for any and all next steps on your flight path. There are really no limits to what is possible for you. Trust yourself with yourself. And then let that arrow fly.

Clearing Negative Beliefs You can’t build a strong house on a weak foundation.

Start the new year right. No need to waste time striving toward new goals if you are still holding tight to beliefs about your brokenness. Return home to yourself and ponder for a hot minute where you go in your head at your worst moments. This is key step back on the way to moving forward. Negative or false beliefs about ourselves, conscious or subconscious, can haunt us and definitely run major interference when striving to grow further.

Any goal or intention is unlikely to manifest when the person desiring such is living from a place of feeling “not good enough,” “unworthy,” “invisible,” “unloveable,” or “a failure,” to name a few possibilities. Might as well not waste time on new strivings until these beliefs are identified and amended.The perfect launching pad for further growth is always from a position of standing in one’s worthiness.

When we feel worthy, anything is possible!

Aligning With Your Truth So, assuming you have arrived at a place of deep selfappreciation, and cleared away dysfunctional old negative stories and beliefs about yourself, now you are primed to align with your truth. It is so empowering to live from the heart of what really matters to you. It takes courage and bravery to trust in your inherently divine nature, and stand strong in your desires and beliefs. Imagine moving into this new year fiercely embracing the qualities and dreams that make you uniquely you, then building toward even greater expression of your full potential.

When we truly know and believe in ourselves, and align there, we grow exponentially in confidence, selfexpression, determination, and lasting happiness. Standing in your truth — “I am who I am” — and honoring yourself there fuels the clarity you need for taking on new ventures, opportunities, and challenges. In other words, you are primed to go after new goals and intentions.

To me, knowing yourself includes experiencing yourself as enough — as wise and insightful, resilient and resourceful in having lived all you have lived up to this point. It means loving yourself unconditionally and without judgement.

From this place, there are really no limits to what you can go on to achieve. Moving forward into the new year will be all about growing an even more magnificent you, rather than moving forward with goals aimed at correcting for shortcomings or feelings of brokenness. We are much more likely to be successful in achieving our dreams if we come at them from a place of wholeness.

And so, my friends, the way forward is back. Reclaim your beautiful, brilliant self, and then step fully and radiantly into your days ahead! Possibilities are endless from this vantage point.

Maria Sylvester, MSW, CPC is a certified Life Coach in Ann Arbor, MI who loves empowering adolescents, adults, and couples to live from the HEART of what really matters to them so that they can bring their fully expressed, vibrant selves into the world.

She has a special gift for helping women reclaim their feminine power, and embrace their radiant, sensual, sexy spirits. Their lives transform. They soar into their mid-life magnificence! www.lifeempowermentcoaching.com Instagram: @life_coach_maria Facebook: www.facebook.com/LifeEmpowermentCoaching

January 2020 | 47

Renew Your Skin

by Lisa Profera, MD

48 | The Brick Magazine

I

t’s a new year, so why not set a goal to renew your skin? The latest trends in skincare promote advanced rejuvenation with little to no downtime. Gone are the days where you had to hide out for a week or so at home after a laser procedure because you look like a burn victim. Now we can increase collagen and elastin, plumpness and volume, luminosity and glow, while correcting uneven pigmentation, acne, inflammation, and fine lines and wrinkles — all in one fell swoop!

Dermalinfusion is a game-changer.

It is the ultimate multitasker for skin repair and rejuvenation. Quick, gentle, and simple, with zero downtime, it is suitable for all skin types. This noninvasive system simultaneously exfoliates the skin, extracts debris, and infuses the freshlycleaned skin with a therapeutic serum using patented technology. One treatment takes about 30 minutes, and ideally, a series of sessions done two to four weeks apart can produce a profound change in skin quality.

Timing is key. You may be spending a lot of money on skincare products already. But did you know that less than 10% of the active ingredient in a skincare product

penetrates the skin if the skin is not properly exfoliated prior to application? You may be wasting 90% of your product and your money as well. Dermalinfusion closes the gap between exfoliation and infusion of product to provide ideal delivery to the skin.

How does it work? Dermalinfusion is a system designed by Envy Medical. It is an FDA-approved medical device that “is powered by its patented handpiece, developed to deliver many precise skin benefits in one simultaneous action. The pneumatic chamber at the handpiece tip creates closedloop suction onto skin upon contact, instantly lifting skin for extraction and

abrasion by a recessed exfoliating diamond tip. At the same time, pneumatic pressure infuses skin with ingredient-rich serums. This process is not sequential, but simultaneous, and is how Dermalinfusion’s technology eliminates time-gaps between exfoliation and serum application for optimal skin receptivity and retention” (Envy Medical).

This system has been shown to volumize the skin by 70% through rapid hydration delivered at the peak of the skin’s ability to receive the therapeutic serum. It reduces fine lines and wrinkles while stimulating healthy cell renewal. Skin tone is greatly improved. It cleans pores and reduces acne while polishing the skin surface, which helps reduce scarring, peau d’orange, and other skin surface irregularities. Because of its gentle action, it can be used to treat the delicate skin around the eyes and over the lips.

It also promotes lymphatic flow and drainage, which reduces the puffiness and congestion that some people are challenged with (especially under the eyes). Unlike other popular treatments that only act on the skin’s surface, Dermalinfusion deeply penetrates into the epidermal-dermal junction for more dramatic results.

Photo by Lisa Profera

January 2020 | 49

Depending on your skin type, different medicalgrade diamond head exfoliating tips are used.

You have a choice of the four condition-specific serums to be infused: ultrahydrating, skin brightening, Vitamin C (for rejuvenation), or pore clarifying (great for acne). After Dermalinfusion, your skin will remain more receptive to your daily skin care products. The friendly and knowledgeable staff at Facial Innovations can also recommend specific products that further promote improved skin appearance and health for post-procedure optimization.

I like to refer to Dermalinfusion as the ultimate vacuumcleaner for your face. Old cells are sloughed off along with debris, residual make-up, congestion, and poreclogging sebum. At the end of your treatment session, you can look at the clear glass collection jar and see all of the gunk and cellular debris that has been removed from your face. It’s a strange combination of repulsion and satisfaction knowing that your face is truly clean!

Another physician refers to it as “a medical-grade power-washer for the skin.” One happy customer even called it “a Biore Pore Strip on steroids.” Any way you describe it, it is more than just the next-generation of microdermabrasion. Not only does it exfoliate and cleanse; the real magic occurs in the infusion phase.

Once thoroughly stripped of dead cells, the skin is most receptive to any of the four specialized serums that are infused. Since this happens instantaneously, the skin doesn’t have a chance to clog up again — you get maximal benefits! The four serums are specifically formulated to target different skin concerns. The effective ingredients in each serum, such as pigmentreducing peptides, anti-oxidant botanical extract combinations, vitamin C, hydrating factors, and others are supported by research.

Dermalinfusion is not just for the face. Neck, décolletage, and hands are other popular areas to treat, as these also show our age. It can be a full-body skin care treatment. One can target problem areas such as rough patches, dark spots, extremely dry or cracked skin, acne of the back, scars, stretch marks, cellulite, and keratosis pilaris. It can be used to rejuvenate any part of the skin that needs help. You can look at the dramatic before and after photos on their website (https:// envymedical.com/dermalinfusion/results/). The advanced resurfacing effects provide head-to-toe body polishing, leaving you with clearer, smoother, and more youthful skin.

Women and men of all ages can benefit — from teens to those who are decades older. As we age, not only do we lose collagen, elasticity, and hydration, but our complexions can become grayer and duller. Personally, I love the skin-brightening benefits of Dermalinfusion, as it restores luminosity and radiance. Got an event coming up where you’d literally like to shine? Once you renew your skin, people will notice your new glow in 2020!

Owner and Founder of PROJUVU MD Aesthetics and Lifestyle Medicine in Ann Arbor, MI Expert Injector doTERRA Essential Oils Wellness Advocate BEMER Independent Distributor

Dermalinfusion is a procedure available at the newlyopened medi-spa, Facial Innovations, here in Ann Arbor (https://facialinnovations.com/). Book an appointment with their highly-skilled aesthetician and you will be amazed at your results. Your individual skin-care needs will be assessed and your treatment will be customized.

CrossFit® Level 1 Trainer www.projuvu.com | 1-844-PROJUVU | drprofera@gmail.com FaceBook business page: www.facebook.com/projuvu/ Request to join my Closed FaceBook group, Dr. Lisa’s Essential Oils Forum: www.facebook.com/groups/1952063771691445/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/youressentialoilsdoctor/

Disclaimer: Please note that the information in this article or any of its references has been designed to help educate the reader in regard to the subject matter covered. This information is provided with the understanding that the author and any other entity referenced here are not liable for the misconception or misuse of the information provided. It is not provided in order to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any disease, illness, or injured condition of the body. The provider of this information shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss, damage, or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this information. The information presented is in no way intended as a substitute for medical counseling or care. Anyone suffering from any disease, illness, or injury should consult a qualified health care professional. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.

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