Well-Being Practices for Thanksgiving Holiday

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Well-Being Practices for your Thanksgiving Weekend

Holiday travel, weather delays, flight cancellation, long lines, shopping, and even family can all be stressors adding to your already stressful life. Here are the top Unhustle well-being practices to survive and thrive during the Thanksgiving weekend.

 

1. Breathe

Our breath is the easiest way to get centered, balanced, and calm in a matter of minutes. (plus it’s free). Popular breathing techniques include Box Breathing, 4-7- 8 breathing, pranayama breathing, and Wim Hof Method Breathing. Depending on how much time you have this weekend, pick just one and do it. It will help you clear your mind, minimize stress, and make your Thanksgiving weekend more enjoyable.  Instead of jumping in reaction mode, take a couple of minutes to breathe first.

 

Watch my Box breathing technique in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbBCc3RdglE&t=58s

You can try Wim Hof Method breathing and see if you like it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzCaZQqAs9I

2. Practice Intermittent Fasting

 

Studies show the benefits of intermittent fasting. Since Thanksgiving for most people ends in overeating, this weekend, it’s a good idea to practice some intermittent fasting. Not a big fan of intermittent fasting? Harvard Health Publishing recently discussed intermittent fasting on their blog with the cons and pros. Evidence shows that if you want to improve your circadian rhythm, intermittent fasting helps. Go for 12 or 16 hours of no eating period and give your digestive system a chance to recover. You can drink water but stay away from everything else.

 

Watch this TED talk on intermittent fasting. It may help you reconsider your snacking habit and meal frequency:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Dkt7zyImk&t=11s4js_E

3. Start Your Morning with Bulletproof Coffee

To aid your intermittent fasting, you can opt for a bulletproof coffee. By adding brain octane oil and grass-fed butter to your coffee, you are consuming good fats. Just don’t add any sugar.

 

Here’s how I make my Bulletproof coffee. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Ig5z54ABM&t=2s

4. For Physical Well-Being – Move and Challenge Your Body

 

We tend to get stuck in the same old routines. How about spicing it up this weekend and trying something new. Maybe it’s a new practice or directly challenging your body to a new environment.

 

Connect Your Mind-Body with Movement

Yoga and QiGong are a great way to start your day.  Movement that combines the mind and the body can help you improve your focus so you can work in flow. My favorite free resource for yoga is Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. Lately, I’ve been getting very addicted to QiGong. I like Lee Holden’s videos. A quick 20 min flow in the morning will energize your body and get you ready for the day. The people I work with tend to love these flow movements and feel immediate results in their body. It’s electrifying. 

Check out these two videos with Adriene and Lee Holden and feel better in 20 min. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1H3xO3x_Jshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj4qo2KL9f4

A very appropriate Thanksgiving yoga session from Adriene is the Yoga for when you over eat. Taking care of your digestive system right now is one way to take care of your mind and body well-being. Video is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbguV_f6XOo

High-Intensity Training

How about adding some high-intensity training to your weekend and burning off the calories from that delicious meal you just consumed. Even just a 7 – min HIIT workout will get you to rev up your metabolism. Just do some simple things like push-ups, sit-ups, planks, squats, and running in one place. Still short on time or lacking the motivation? Then see how many squats you can do while you are waiting for your coffee. Don’t be surprised if you are a little sore the next day. Send me an email if you want to receive my 7 min HIIT workout.

Embrace the Cold

Bonus points if you send me a photo of you shoveling snow barefoot or without a shirt on. Cold exposure is good for your body. I didn’t make it too long outside, but even 10 min is a good challenge despite my husband’s disapproval.

5. Sleep

Sleep is critical to your well-being and often the first one to go out the window when work piles up. Since you have four days, take time this weekend to establish good sleep hygiene habits. You are not going to fix your sleep deprivation in a weekend, but at least you can catch up on some sleep.

Best practices for achieving quality sleep are:

• Avoid eating at least 2 hours before going to bed.
• Make your room temperature cold and as dark as possible.
• Create a sleep ritual for yourself and do something that calms your mind – mediation, breathing, legs against the wall, reading a book not on your iPad, listening to a yoga Nidra guided session, or brain waves deep sleep music.
• Avoid alcohol is you have a problem sleeping
• Wear an eye mask and earplugs to minimize waking up to sounds and light
• Use lavender essential oil in your oil diffuser to promote relaxation

Listen to my podcast with Amie Engerbretson, a professional athlete on how she manages to get enough sleep and perform at an optimal level. Professional athletes understand the value of taking care of themselves. Whether you are a professional athlete or an entrepreneur, your body needs time to restore fully.  

6. Improve your mental well-being with meditation

You are attempting to meditate, but you can’t create a consistent practice, or you don’t think you need it. Perhaps a lack of time is your challenge to overcome to commit to meditation. Even 5 min of meditation a day can keep your mind calm and focused and create more time in your day. It’s my non-negotiable Unhustle Morning Practice. Find a comfortable position like you are going to watch Netflix. Close your eyes. Focus on your breathing. If you start to drift in your thoughts, say to yourself: Thinking, thinking, thinking. Return to your breath. You can do this for 5 minutes this weekend. Bonus points if you do it for 10 min. See how you feel. Then, you can continue with the practice after the weekend is over.

I finally committed to a daily practice thanks to Light Watkins. Here’s his TED Talk. 

Light makes mediation fun and easy and breaks down the five most common myths of meditation. If you want to have more time in your days, start meditating.

Favorite free app to try: Insight Timer

7. Mindfulness

As someone trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, I personally experienced how mindfulness helps minimize stress and anxiety, improve relationships at work and home, and lead to higher performance and higher life satisfaction. Your task this weekend is to engage in mindful eating throughout the weekend. Take time to connect with your food, observe the colors, texture, smells, and taste. Chew slowly and savor every bite. Developed in India 2,500 years ago, mindfulness helps you get grounded, improves your overall well-being, and do more by doing less. You don’t need to go to a monastery to practice mindfulness. Practice mindfulness this weekend while doing the dishes. See if you can be 100% focus on the activity and do it with a smile. It’s guaranteed to make you and your family happy.  

Listen to my podcast episode with Ashley Graber on mindfulness in everyday life.

8. Lower Stress with Less is More Attitude

Manage your shopping habit this weekend. Remember that less is more and material things end up owning your time and energy. When you run across a terrific deal, and you itch to hit the buy button, take a few deep breaths and ask yourself: “Do I need it or is it more of a want and not a need. Would it bring me more value and joy to my life or be the next new shiny toy I need to spend more time with”. Before you hit that buy button, connect with your breath, your passions, your values, and reassess the desire to acquire.

9. Give 

Whether you donate your time, a donation, or the power of your voice in your community, this is the season to give back. 

Take time this weekend and do something that gives back to your community. If nothing comes to mind or you are snowed in and can’t drive anywhere, then check out the Giving Tuesday website. Dec 3 is Giving Tuesday day promoting global generosity. My favorite charities to give to are the World Wildlife Fund and 1LifeFullyLived. What’s yours?

10. Gratitude

Start your gratitude habit this weekend and continue it into 2020. Practicing gratitude has been linked to becoming  a happier person, even living longer. If you want to improve your mental and physical well-being, practicing gratitude is a great way to start. Whether you write it down in your journal or take the time to consider what you are grateful for, gratitude increases your happiness and contentment. Keep it simple, and start this practice this weekend. Bonus points if you can go for a long walk in nature while practicing gratitude. 

George Keith Chesterton (often known as G.K. Chesterton) is a prolific English writer, poet, philosopher, etc. who coined the quote, “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder” (Sacasas, 2010).

Which one of these well-being practices resonates with you the most this Thanksgiving weekend? How are you going to Unhustle?

“In today’s rush, we all think too much – seek too much – want too much – and forget about the joy of just being”

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