Getting Back on Track! if you’ve fallen off

Hello.

Hello. Welcome, Sageal. Lovely to have you here on the call. I'm just going to take a couple of minutes to let everybody know that we've started so any other people can join before we get started. But lovely to see you and excited to chat about how to get back on track. I know that we've been chatting a little bit about that too. If you can't show your video or can't unmute, that's totally fine. But if you can, I would love to hear something it is that you are grateful for today. And also, if you can hear me or not, I have some audio issues sometimes. I'm playing a couple of songs in the background, so please let me know if you can hear me. Good morning or good afternoon, Hardeep. Lovely to have you on the call. We're just going to wait for a couple of extra minutes for a few more people to join in. But I was just saying to Sejal, if you have any wins that you would like to share, I would love for you to either unmute or share them in the comments below. Awesome. Thank you for the confirmation, Hardeep. And glad that you were able to tune in even though your schedule is very busy. We always appreciate it. So I'm just going to give it 1 or 2 more minutes here to let everybody join. Good afternoon, Jennifer, lovely to have you here. Sure, thanks, Aja. We'll see you in just a second. And Jennifer, we are just, uh, I'm just welcoming everybody to this beautiful Friday afternoon. And as per usual, I would love to hear any gratitudes, any shares you have this week, or something that you're celebrating. We always love to celebrate the highs because there always is a high even amongst the lows sometimes that we can experience. And today is all about touching on that theme. Getting back on track if things get a little bit busy in, in life. But for now, I would love to hear something it is that you are grateful for.

Um, yeah, hey Alice, I, um, I guess I can say I'm just grateful that I am able to have the time to spend time with my parents. Like this morning, really random, like, like last night I told my parents that like I I wanted to go strawberry picking and I wanted to do it before I start work. And I found a farm that opens at 7 AM and I'm like, we're going strawberry picking. So I'm glad that my parents actually were willing to wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning with me today.

That's so nice. That is such a great, like, in-between. And I'm grateful that they were as pumped about it as you are. So thank you for sharing that. And time with loved ones is huge. Things just get so busy sometimes. So I'm grateful for you for manifesting a bright and early farm picking, which is beautiful.

Yeah, I'm glad that we actually get a longer day of light. The sun comes up pretty early in the morning, so I'm like, this is— it's actually nice to get up and do something first thing. Yeah.

What a great way to start the day. Oh, yeah. We're kind of removed from what it feels like to go and gather our own foods and go and actually find the things that we're going to nourish ourselves with. With. So to have that kind of like primal event and primal experience is so beautiful. So congrats for having some family time.

Oh yes, thank you.

Thank you. Lovely to have you back, Sejal. Welcome everyone. Yeah, lovely to see you too. Sorry, my camera is not working, but, um, I'm here on audio for sure. No worries whatsoever. We love to have you in any form that you can show up, so I'm glad that you are here today. Welcome, Mary. Welcome, Shelley. Lovely to see you ladies. Happy Friday afternoon. We are just sharing something that we are grateful for today. So whether you'd like to either write it in the comments below, if you would love to share it with your beautiful voice, I much prefer that. Love to hear from you ladies. But whatever you— your capacity is today, I invite you all to just find something it is that you are grateful for.

Hi Alice, can you hear me? It's Shelley.

Yes, I can hear you. Hi Shelley, how are you? I'm awesome, thank you. How are you?

I am well, just— I'm just having some computer issues, so I am on my phone. So, um, grateful today I have a backup plan.

Yes.

So yes, I've had some technical issues, and so that, that's number one. And then I guess Just grateful to be navigating summertime, kind of taking it a little bit easier than, you know, I originally had planned for, but it's all good. And just navigating the wonderful foods that present themselves in summertime. So just, you know, taking care of myself and all that good stuff. So That's my story for today.

I love it. Beautiful. And I know it's difficult for you to sit still sometimes, so the fact that you're taking some rest is music to my ears.

Thank you, Alice.

My pleasure. Thank you for showing up today. And Mary, if you have anything to share, we'd love to hear from you. I know you've had such an amazing reset journey and have been pushing barriers. So anything that you would like to share that you are grateful for today, we are all ears and eyes open.

Well, I could talk for the hour if you want me to, Alice.

I would love. I am sick of my voice. You can take it away.

First of all, I am grateful for you because Alice is an amazing Coach and has just been there for me through all of the hurdles and challenges and has not just, like, has just really listened and worked to find solutions that were individual to me. So, has been such a huge factor. Such a huge factor, Alice, in my journey and my success. So I'm so grateful to you. And yeah, I'm down 18 lbs. now. I just finished my 6 weeks yesterday, so I'm grateful for that. But I think the thing that I'm, I'm starting to think about now in terms of reframing, and Alice has helped me with that as well, is starting to think of this as like, you know, when I was like, oh, I'm going to be done my 6 weeks. Yeah, it's challenging and rewarding and you learn a lot, but Now it's like I'm starting to see this is, this isn't the end, this is the beginning. So this is like, you know, integrating these changes into my life and starting to think more about honoring my body on a more regular basis and just kind of changing my mindset around that. And like Shelly said, all of the, we have a farmer's market here in Burlington. I go every Saturday. So I'm so grateful for having the fresh fruit and vegetables. So I'll stop now, Alice. I could keep going, but I'll stop.

Please always do. I love hearing all the shares. Thank you so much for your beautiful words as well. It's honestly, it's a pleasure to be alongside your journey and each of your journeys because it's so beautiful what the body is capable of. And I love just being witness to so many different wins that you wouldn't even associate sometimes. Like, I know, Mary, you shared that you're Sense of scent has gotten so much better since release phase as well, which is like mind-blowing but also not at the same time. It's just so cool to hear what the body is capable of doing when you feed it the right things. You have the option of going to a beautiful farmer's market. Everything is so fresh and crisp and flavorful right now. So super grateful that you're able to get out, get your body nourished in the right ways and feel so great. And The truth of the matter is it can only get better from here. The, you know, the, the release phase has its structure and moving into the maintenance phase, you know, there are a few changes that happen, but they're good changes. And like you mentioned, you know, kind of sticking to this new lifestyle and noticing that it's a fresh start, not that something's coming to an end. There's so many doors that are swinging open when we do change and when we do implement new things because, you know, if nothing changes, then nothing changes. 'cause we know to expect that outcome. But it's once we do change that things start opening up that we never would've realized were even an option. So I'm so grateful for you and for all of you for diving into yourselves, for changing. It's quite literally the hardest thing to do for humans. It elicits that little critter brain all the time. So you guys are all pushing through it so beautifully. Give yourself grace, give yourself a pat on the back. You're doing all the heavy lifting.

Thank you, Alice.

My truly, my truly pleasure to be here to, you know, to resonate with all of you. And I'm super excited to chat about getting things back on track, as I know that that's something that everybody is going to come to at some point in time, myself included. We're all human. Nothing is perfect 100% of the time. So today's presentation is kind of giving you a a simple yet firm roadblock to come back to if things do derail, and, and kind of how to approach those derailments without completely falling off track. We might have just side, sideswiped our route. Let's say maybe we're taking the detour route instead of actually going to a full-on new destination. And, and know that you're in complete control of where that train goes. And sometimes it's just knowing the different steps to take and the different things that you have, you know, even within yourself that you start using to get yourself back on track. So I'm going to share this presentation in just a moment. But before that, I would love to do a quick little meditation with everyone. And it's a meditation that, you know, in case you don't meditate, it's great, especially if you don't have time to meditate. That's when you should meditate even more and even longer throughout the day. So this one is specifically geared towards uh, decompressing, slowing down, which is the exact theme that we wanted to tap into today when getting back on track. So welcome, Cindy. Welcome. And we are just about to dive into our wonderful meditation. So whoever can, whoever's in the right place and state to be able to sit up straight in their seat, I invite you to do that now. Feel free to leave your eyes open or closed. And I want you to just focus as you're listening to this meditation, maybe even put a hand on your chest, one hand on your belly, and start breathing into your belly as best as you can, making sure that that hand is the one that predominantly rises. And just bring awareness to where you're breathing into. So I'm going to go ahead and share that right now, and please let me know if the audio is okay.

So wherever you are right now, I'd just like you to just take a moment to get comfortable. Doesn't matter whether you're parked in a stationary car, sat on a train somewhere, maybe you've just arrived home, maybe you haven't left work yet. Whatever it is, wherever you are, just taking a moment to sit comfortably. Don't have to be fully upright, but at least sat in a position which will allow you to find that balance of focus, relaxation, sense of ease in both the body and the mind. And as you sit there, just take a couple of nice big deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and and out through the mouth. As you breathe in through the nose, sense of taking in fresh air, the lungs expanding, the body expanding. As you breathe out, a sense of letting go, letting go of whatever been going on for you today. Feeling the muscles in the body soften as the body exhales. Just a couple more times, taking deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. And the next time you breathe out, If it feels more comfortable, if you're in a place where it's easy and safe to do so, you can just gently close your eyes. And as you sit there, just enjoy that initial sense of having just put everything down, having left everything behind. And just that feeling of being present again, noticing the sensation of the body pressing down against the, the seat, the chair beneath you. It's that feeling, being grounded, feet on the floor. The hands and the arms on the legs. And as you sit there, just taking a moment without opening the eyes to just notice the environment around you as well. Maybe it's the sounds different smells. Maybe it's movement, maybe it's stillness, maybe it's the temperature, maybe it's the wind if you're outside. But with the eyes closed, just becoming more familiar with the space around you. And as you sit there, starting to notice how the body feels. So very often as we go through the day, we accumulate tension. Just noticing if there are any obvious areas of tension in the body, not doing anything to them. They, they'll unwind on their own. We approach them in the right way. But just noticing how the body feels, allowing any tension to come to the surface, knowing that's a good thing, allowing any tiredness, any feeling of heaviness to come to the surface, knowing that's a good thing. So in letting go now at this stage, We give the body and the mind space to be more alert, more awake after the exercise. I'm just starting to notice the, the breath now as well. The breath is also a good indication of how we're feeling in both body and mind, and without trying to change the breath in any way, just noticing whether the breaths are long, short, deep, or shallow. You can just gently place your hand on your stomach if you find that more comfortable, easier to feel that movement. And again, even though thoughts may still continue to pop in, perhaps about what's happened during the day, where you've just come from, or maybe even jumping ahead to what's to come, each time you see the mind wander off, just letting go of that. And coming back to the present, that feeling, that sensation, the movement of the breath. And then mentally now. I'm just going to imagine that the body, the mind, is taking a shower, that any tension is being left behind. Just like you to imagine a warm ray of sunlight just shining down onto the body. You can imagine it shines down on your back, your chest, on top of your head, wherever feels comfortable. And it's as though it begins in one place, but it expands outward in every direction. And as it does so, it just melts away any tension. You can even kind of work systematically down through the body, just watching, feeling any tension melt away. Mentally, we leave those thoughts behind. Physically, we let go. Of whatever's accumulated during the day. Expands outward in every direction, all the way to the end of our fingers, toes. So it's as though the entire body is not really separate anymore from that idea of sunlight. There's just a sense of ease, warmth, sense of having reset both the body and the mind for whatever is coming up next. And in your own time, when you're ready, You can just gently open your eyes again.

Welcome back, everyone. I hope that, that felt relaxing. And grounding, and maybe even enlightening to see where you are storing tension, if any tension in your body, where you mentally go when there's a moment of stillness. And I would love for anybody to share how they're feeling. After taking a couple of moments, a couple of breaths to yourself to really ground in the space that you are in right now. I know I feel very relaxed. So does Anne. Thank you for sharing. And I feel much more centered than I did, um, even 10 minutes ago. It's lovely to just take a little bit of time to yourself sometimes and really ground in the present moment and really connect with where you currently are. Because so often our minds rush to what's next, you know, what, what's the next to-do list item, what is the next place I need to be. But right now, all you need to do is just be here and be here fully present for yourself. So thank you all for, for joining in that practice. Anne is feeling relaxed. Sejal is feeling centered, which is amazing. Shelley is calm and peaceful. Mary is feeling lovely. All wonderful, high-vibing emotions that I encourage you all to carry as much as you can with you throughout today. Throughout this weekend and know that that was only 10 minutes. If you ever have a pocket of 10 minutes where you feel like things are stressful or you don't know where to go, what to do, remember that you always have your breath. You always have a pocket of time to devote to yourself. The world will continue to spin round for everyone and everything else. And it's okay to take that time, especially if it is very relaxing, very grounding and centering. So again, I thank you all for participating in that. And a little bit of the theme, you know, that we're gonna segue into as well is getting things back on track. So I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen here. And, you know, this is more or less like a gentle guideline. Like, of course we can view things, um, you know, in more systematic steps, or I guess more action steps. But I invite you all to see what a difference the shift was within your state by giving yourself that mental break. Sometimes it's not always about how many things we can do and, and the— and everything that it is that we are or aren't doing. Sometimes it's literally just taking a step back, taking a breath, and being where you are right now, because the present moment is the only thing that exists. So to get back on track, I invite you all to give yourself some grace. Grace is something that I don't believe we give enough for each other, or I guess for ourselves. I feel like we're more willing to give it to our loved ones, our neighbors, our families, our friends. But how often do we give grace to ourselves? Because there's seasons to life. There's much busier times than there are others. Even we see that in nature. There's different seasons to nature and that's on purpose. I mean, I guess depending on where you are in the world, but winter, at least here in Canada, shows you hardcore that it's slowing down and there's no room for discussion. And it knows that it needs that in order to break down the things that weren't meant to be carried over into the next season. And, you know, summer, the season that we all are mostly in right now, is a time of growth, is a time of abundance, is a time of lots of different things happening, lots of things buzzing. And so I invite you all to realize that summer provides, you know, its own rhythm and its own routine sometimes, as does winter. So giving yourself that grace where, Things aren't always going to look 100% 100% of the time, and that is totally okay. And what we do need to know is that we have to accept where it is that we are. The only kind of discomfort and dis-ease pretty much occurs when we are at odds with ourselves. We can't accept exactly what is, and then we start maybe feeling guilty or feeling a little bit ashamed of ourselves. But to accept is to love completely. And your body, your mind deserves all of the love that you pour into everywhere else in your world and in your life. And so the first step is really just accepting that things are different and being okay with the fact that things are different, but also trusting and knowing yourself that you can get back on track. The choice is ultimately always yours, And I really do believe that inviting gratitude as a practice, as a daily practice, is so important for acknowledging all the things that are happening that are beautiful in between, even amidst sometimes the chaos and the craziness. Because, you know, we tend to kind of more so focus on the things we aren't doing or the things that we did fail at. Or, you know, I don't know if anybody remembers back in school, but getting a report card, let's say you had straight A's on everything and there was only one on B. You wouldn't necessarily focus on all of the straight A's. You would be, you would kind of focus in on the B and say, why is this different? You know, why didn't I excel here? But the fact of the matter is a B is still a fantastic score. And you know, even, even computers, like some of you mentioned today, which are programmed to operate correctly and have it wired within, you know, its It's software systems. They too sometimes just won't turn on your camera, you know, or the audios might be a little bit different or a little bit delayed. And so everything has grace. Everything malfunctions sometimes, but it's how we treat ourselves in those moments when things aren't looking 100% is what really matters. So I invite you all to just give yourself some grace for life being different from time to time. And the second step that I really love to encourage is the awareness. So awareness comes in many forms, but the fact of the matter is, is that you can't really change something that you're unaware of is even impacting you or is standing in your way potentially. And that awareness could extend to, you know, to physical things. You know, like maybe there's been a huge increase or surge in work and you know, maybe stress is a little bit higher. Maybe time that you used to have to allocate to yourself isn't as much as it used to be. So bringing awareness to those physical factors and also being aware of the mental factors, the emotional factors as well. So you know, one of the biggest things to kind of focus on, and this is why a journaling practice is really amazing for this, whether it's 5 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or whatever that reflection practice is for you. I know I personally love journaling, is acknowledging what was that scenario that threw things off, or what was that emotional thought or that mental thought that threw things off? Because if we don't know, then we are subject to the same circumstance, or I guess the same route that the GPS is going to take. If you're frequently taking this one route, your GPS is always going to recommend this one route, but maybe there's another route. Maybe there's something that the GPS isn't sharing with you because it knows you're always going to go down that same path, but there is actually a shortcut and there is actually a more peaceful route that you can take. And sometimes we need to kind of kickstart or reboot our software system or our mentality in order to even be able to be open to seeing that there's a new route. So being mindful and noticing kind of when did things fall off, you know, what was the circumstances? How was I feeling? What happened shortly before maybe things were thrown off? Is this a scenario you find that you come in contact often? You know, maybe it's, you know, again, work demands. Maybe there was a layoff and now suddenly you've had to pick up you know, much more responsibilities than previously, and this is a recurring factor. Or maybe, you know, the kids are off of school for the summer, so then all the responsibility now kind of tacks on to all the other responsibilities that you have going on. So get familiar with scenarios that happen often, or the ones that you find derail you the most, and reflect on those. You know, reflect on the emotions surrounding those, reflect on the events that, that often occur, if there are any sort of frequent events, so that we can start planning a little bit better surrounding those and create easy ways that you can still maintain majority of your health practices at a time and way that's most beneficial to you in that moment in time. And what's also really important and kind of with the GPS scenario is what are my current paradigms? Surrounding health. You know, do I think that this is, you know, something that I'm going to one day cheat on myself with? Or is, you know, keeping up with this hard? Is eating healthy difficult or expensive or time-consuming? And those are really the blueprints our cells are working off on, our minds are working off on, and creating our physical reality, whether we are aware of it or not. And so that's why that awareness piece is so vital for long-term change, because, you know, it's great that we can practice habits for a short period of time. But what I do come to find often is, you know, people are— and this is outside of the program as well, this is just a human thing. But, you know, people keep up with something for a short period of time but then they revert back to their old ways and, you know, then they don't even understand how they got there in the first place. And often the reason is, is because we have some belief system that we have yet to reroute into a more positive and beneficial belief system, because everything begins with what we believe we deserve and what we believe we can achieve. And there's a really amazing quote that is so simple. I truly love it. It's changed my mind in so many different ways I can't explain. But I apologize, I don't remember who quoted this. It's not mine, but the quote goes, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. And in that saying, pretty much, kind of as daunting as it is to hear that, but it puts the onus and the control back onto you. Because whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're in complete— you know, you're the one that's leading and guiding yourself to water or maybe away from it. So it's so important to believe that you deserve certain things, that you are capable of all the things that you want for yourself. And, you know, Rome wasn't built in a day. Things might not change completely overnight, but boy, does 1% difference each day make a huge difference, especially in a matter of, you know, 100 days, which seems long, but it's only the initial period that is daunting because anytime we're making change again, that critter brain gets kicked up of, oh my gosh, I don't know what's— I don't— I can't predict what's going to happen if I make this change. I don't know the outcome. Of, you know, choosing this different path. There could be, let's say, like on a GPS kind of way, there could be a snake on this trail. There could be, you know, there could be a wild bear. There could be a moose that's looking at me like a snack. Who knows? But there could also be beautiful berries, and there could be flowers that are gorgeous, and there could be a lovely stream that you get to just sit at and dip your feet in and get some sunshine. You never know what's behind each trail. So really getting to know where your paradigms are currently sitting when it comes to your health and seeing the things that maybe you would like to reroute and update. So step number 3 is doing less. I know that that seems counterproductive, but typically what I find is that things get really busy and then that's when we tend to fall off track. And, uh, you know, certain things definitely need to be done, and there's definitely, again, busier periods to our lives than others. But ask yourself, what can wait? What does not need to be taking up my time, my attention, my energy, my resources? Like, what is truly not driving me forward in the real places that I want to go? And in the real changes that I wanna make. Like maybe you're, you've signed up for multiple online classes, or maybe you've said yes to a lot of different summer plans that are coming up when really, you know, going to those plans, sometimes you're kind of mentally checked out because you don't have the energy to spare for everything all at once. And so I invite you to really take inventory of what you have going on, the different responsibilities, the different commitments, and what can truly wait so that you can open up time and energy for the things that can't wait. So on that note as well, you know, don't be afraid to delegate. I know, especially with women, it's very difficult to delegate because we're typically more of the nurturing type. We typically take on, you know, multiple hats, multiple roles when it comes to our communities, our families. But nobody, uh, is a single standalone person. And anybody that you see has it together, they typically have a village of people behind them. They are not a one-woman or a one-man or one-person show. They know how to delegate, and they know where their best effort and energy is, is valued, or I guess is best spent for them, and they focus on those things and the things that we can delegate. Our family and friends love to be there and support us and want to help in any which way that they can, but oftentimes they don't know how to. And unless you ask, you never know if somebody is there or has just been waiting to, let's say, cook dinner. If you have a significant other or children still at home, or maybe even girlfriends or something like that, Asking for help goes such a long way. I know it's a difficult thing to sometimes get used to, but it's a muscle I want everybody to continue flexing. It's the same thing as going to a gym. You're not going to go to a gym and immediately lift 50 pounds. Or maybe you can. I personally can't. But whoever can, you work your way up. Whenever you go to a gym, you don't start with the absolute max out pace. You want to ease yourself. You want to start flexing that muscle and, and gaining confidence, gaining strength. So the exact same concept exists when it comes to delegation. So this is your personal permission to go and delegate some things that you can, asking coworkers if they can pick up the, the extra shift that you know is at the wrong time for you when it comes to your health or whatever. Whatever it is that makes sense. Pretty much, what can you take off of your plate that isn't driving the bus in the most productive way for yourself? So the fourth thing is prioritizing rest. I know this is one that we all could use a little bit more of, um, but rest is such a driving force behind everything else that it is that we do in our day, in our Productivity is only as good as the quality of our rest. So I urge you all to be impeccable with your nighttime routine. It is something we can't outthink, out-supplement, out-exercise. Like, without that proper rest, pretty much nothing else can function. It's again, like, something that balances our hormones, that detoxifies our brain, that allows us to emotionally process. The previous day's events. Your sleep is so important. So much so that actually, did you know that about 21% of car accidents are due to drowsiness? And if somebody has not slept for about 17 hours and driven a car, it's similarly to having a 0.05% alcohol in your blood. So the legal limit to drive on is 0.07. So you're nearly 0.02 away from that. And then 24 hours, it elevates it all the way up to 0.1. So that's over the legal limit, technically speaking, in how much it impairs you when it comes to your vision, when it comes to your reaction time. And actually every spring as well, whenever the time shifts forward an hour, and this is specifically for springtime, not the winter since it's dialed back. And in the springtime when we're losing that 1 hour in the day, it actually acutely increases for the next 2 weeks. There's a big uptick in heart attacks and strokes. So a lot of people, because of the stress of not having that 1 hour, and 1 hour doesn't seem earth-shattering to many people, that's why we continue with this daylight savings time. But 1 hour proven has increased fatal injuries by about 6% for the next 2 weeks, well more than it typically would. And it also significantly raises the risk of acute obstruction of blood supply in your body to your, to one of your organs or to your tissues as well. So this is for the, the 2 weeks following a 1-hour deep increase. And that's just the one day that we're trying to adjust to. That's just 1 hour on that one day. And how many different things come out of that? So if there's ever anywhere to prioritize your time and your energy and effort, it is in sleep. Sleep is one, again, of the biggest things when it comes to weight management, when it comes to mood regulation, when it comes to lowering your blood pressure, when it comes to detoxifying your body, regenerating your cells. Do not skimp out on your rest. This is again the biggest thing that can move the needle in all other facets of life. It's balancing your hormones as well. So regulating our nervous systems is so, so important. So I urge everybody from like a physical action step to give yourself like a max cutoff time at night, like No matter what, I don't care what the time is, but if you are— and eventually I want you to dial it back to somewhere around 10:00 PM. But let's say you're not starting there. Whatever it is, let's say you've been going to bed at 12:00 AM every single night. Make it a non-negotiable with yourself to, let's say, every single day this week, 11:30. I don't care what else needs to be done. I don't care what else is happening. Because I'm not functioning my best if I go to sleep past 12 or even at 12. So give yourself a time, you know, make that commitment as if you're showing up for a friend or for a loved one or for whoever when it comes to being super impeccable for that bedtime. 'Cause I find it's much easier to show up for sometimes others than it is for ourselves. So whatever it is that you need to do to make sure that you prioritize your rest, Everything else stems from it. I cannot stress it enough. So make sure you take the time to get 7 as best as you can. If you can, 8, kudos to you, gold stars all around. But the rest is really going to help move everything else forward. And you can couple the rest with even some passive healing, you know, and some ways to get started as well is turning on your red light. You know, I know the sun is going down a little bit later at this point in time because of summer. But turning on red lights as soon as the sun starts setting, as soon as it starts getting dark, because that is preparing your body for more melatonin production. Blue light actually suppresses melatonin production. It can suppress it up to 30%. So that's a third of your sleep efficacy gone just by being surrounded by light passively and the incorrect light at the incorrect time. And not to villainize blue light. Blue light is very necessary early in the morning because it does, again, suppress your melatonin production. And that's conducive to the morning time. You want to wake up, you want to feel energized, you want to go about your day and have your energy centers kickstarted. But at night, that's kind of doing the exact same thing. So it's the exact opposite state of where you want your nervous system to be. So whoever is not using that red light bulb or, you know, hasn't made it a consistent routine as of yet, I really urge you, it takes maybe 2 seconds to flick on a light or to turn on a lamp. And being around red light is going to just increase your REM sleep tremendously. You might notice that you're dreaming more. That means that you're emotionally processing more, that information is turning into long-term. Information, and your sleep is going to significantly increase by just being exposed to the red light and its calming effects on reducing your nervous system state as well. And so eliminating screens about an hour before bed, of course, follow suit with that. And, uh, one that I've personally started doing, um, as I'm brushing my teeth and as I'm going to bed and also first thing as I wake up is positive affirmations. Your body needs instruction, and that's where our paradigms really kick in. But I, you know, I, I urge you all to really get familiar with what those paradigms are first and then creating positive affirmations to start canceling out any limiting beliefs or any paradigms that are just simply not for you anymore. And what's amazing is that right as you're going to bed and right as you're waking up, your brain is in a theta wavelength, which pretty much means that you're a sponge. Anything you tell yourself, your body listens as if it's, you know, listening to instructions on how to view and function in this world. So something I've been doing for the last couple of weeks actually is as I'm going to bed, I say I'm going to wake up in my absolute best, healthiest, happiest timeline. And then when I wake up in the morning, I say today I woke up in my best, happiest, healthiest timeline. And not kidding, after 2 days I started noticing big shifts within my physical life that were out of my control. Things that I would never have maybe noticed before or things that never happened. Like, for instance, I was driving to my sister's and it's kind of a bit of a commute to get to her. And there's certain lights that I always hit that have been red for every single time I've ever been at those lights. And the second day after practicing this, it was the first day in the last 5 years that I've driven to her house where every single light I came to was green. And I'm like, wow, this is truly like my best timeline. And that's a bit of a silly example, but you start noticing those little wins even because you're priming your brain of, yeah, this is actually true. I see evidence that makes this statement that I've told myself true. And if all else, even if it just makes you a little bit more positive for a couple more minutes, that's still a huge win in the right direction. So really identifying what those positive affirmations could be for you. You could do it as you're brushing your teeth. There's nothing else going on. You can't really speak to anyone. You can't really do much else as you're brushing your teeth. And it's a routine that I hope every single person has in place on a daily basis. So it's not taking any additional time away from you. To implement that. And I urge you to even look at yourself in the mirror if you are in the bathroom. If you do have a mirror in front of yourself, it's important to know that I am speaking to me and this is what I want for myself. And through the truest intentions and in your most authentic self, this is what I need from myself and my body. And your body literally takes it as like a blueprint again, and it starts operating in those ways. Another thing, of course, is getting sunshine. Sunshine is massive for our circadian rhythms, and it's really very easy to keep up with. I know initially it's a little bit difficult if you haven't been getting up in the mornings and getting a good amount of sunlight, but early morning sunlight— again, like we mentioned with the blue light at night suppressing melatonin, it does that in the morning hours as well. It kind of primes your day, and it gets you started, gets your energy flowing and going. So even getting 1 to 2 minutes of sunshine first thing in the morning is going to do wonders for your energy. It's going to do wonders for your sleep come nighttime as well. So really focusing on, uh, making sure that you are aligned with the sun as best as you can and then powering down appropriately at nighttime. And then the last bit is, you know, make it easy. Don't reinvent the wheel. Don't, you know, think that you have to make the fanciest, the most put-together, the most amazing-looking meal you've ever made. Sometimes it's quick meals that get us through the day, or it's healthy snacks, even if they're a little bit packaged or a little bit processed. It's much better than grabbing something that's quick, maybe laced with seed oils that you would get at a fast food restaurant, or even eating out even at a nice restaurant. So having something like, you know, maybe wild-caught cans of tuna, if you can tolerate that. Maybe it's having some beef jerky sticks that you can grab and keep in your purse. I personally always keep an RX protein bar in my purse just in the event that I can't get to somewhere and I can't grab something that's healthy. But at least I know in my purse I have some nuts and seeds. I have a protein bar that can carry me through the day that's with clean ingredients. And so that'll give me a little bit of extra time, even if you're in a sticky spot, to come back to yourself and then not impulsively make those decisions where we're choosing foods that aren't necessarily the best for us. Every time you cook, please make a double portion so that you have lunch or dinner ready for the next meal. Because it's super easy to make 2 portions. I find that you tend to not get too bored if you have 2 portions back to back of the same meal. Sometimes might get iffy with 3, but an easy way, if you're already cooking, if you're already making something, pay it forward to yourself and make that extra meal so you have it already done, mentally prepped. You don't have to do anything else for the following meal. Focusing on intermittent fasting is amazing because it even lessens the amount of time that you eat throughout the day. So focusing on 2 meals, maybe making them a little bit larger, you know, 5 to 6 ounces of protein, 5 to 6 ounces of non-free vegetables with each of those meals, but then eliminating one of the meals that you already have, you know, throughout the day. So that's already saving you quite a bit of time. And you know that by intermittent fasting, you're giving your body an extra boost of, of not only burning fat, calming your nervous system, but also detoxing much better as well. So slew of benefits when it comes to the intermittent fasting as well. And the other huge, huge, huge heavy hitter is doing a couple of belly breaths before you sit down to eat, especially for lunch. I find that this one is kind of like the trickiest for people. We tend to be, you know, navigating calls and emails and appointments and you know, clubs and all the different things that we have going on in our busy lives, that when we sit down to eat, our nervous system is still ramped up in the same way that we were tackling all of our heavy to-do list items on. So by flipping that, by doing a couple of belly breaths, by really making sure, again, your hand is on your stomach, you can feel that this is the hand that's moving when you are breathing. That allows you to flip your nervous system state to parasympathetic, and it can increase your nutrient intake by up to 60%. Exact same food, everything else is the same. Just doing 1 minute of those deep belly breaths not only brings down your nervous system, flips your body into rest and digest, and it can actually assimilate 60% more of the already amazing, already nutritious meal that you have in front of you. So I hope that these tips were helpful for anybody that has fallen off track or that feels like, you know, maybe things aren't looking 100% for them each and every day. I urge you all again, give yourself grace. You're doing all the heavy lifting, you're doing amazing work, you're showing up for yourselves, and we appreciate that. You just want better and, and you're ready and willing to make those changes. So that is everything I wanted to cover for today. I'm just going to read into the comments here. Sorry for going over a little bit more on the time. I know some people have to go at 1, but yes, I believe it is Henry Ford. Shelly, thank you. I never remember who said that quote, but it's so amazing. I need to tattoo it like on my body somewhere because it's just such a great motivator to continue to show you that you do have control. You can change things. Uh, no, Shelley, you want to take slower belly breaths as best as possible for that period of time. The fast belly breaths are great at energizing you and kind of stimulating more energy, kind of like a yogic coffee, if you will. So you want to do, uh, kind of like a box breathing, so like 4 seconds in, 4 seconds out.

That's pretty amazing. The 60% more nutrients.

Yep. It's insane because then your body puts in all the resources to the trunk of you, and so it's ready and willing to digest. Whereas if you're stressed, it goes and rushes to your extremities, so your arms and your legs, because it's perceiving a lion literally behind you, and it's like, okay, I'm going to have to run any second. I can't even, you know, process any sort of food. And oftentimes, like, sometimes we see this in movies more so, but if you've ever been like really scared, people wet themselves because that's something that the body is just like, evacuate anything that is not necessary. Because if your life is on the line, which is what stress is kind of underlyingly telling your nervous system, nothing else matters.

Okay, wonderful. Thank you, Alice.

My pleasure, Shelley. Thank you. Any questions on anything we've covered? I know it was just a lot of chatting from me. I'd love to hear any of your voices. Doesn't have to be anything in relation to what we chatted about today, but anything in regards to the program or to your specific needs, I'm super happy to address.

Hey, Alice, it's Sejal.

Hi. Question. So I like the RX idea that you mentioned. I think those are— I've tried a couple of those. Those are good options for sure. What are your thoughts on like a protein shake if it's like clean ingredients? Yeah, you could definitely do a protein shake for sure. I would say to put in like a healthy fat in it as well. Something like a sun butter or if you tolerate like an almond butter, cashew butter, something like that. The protein and the fat will help to keep you satiated for longer. So those two things I would focus on. But if you have a clean quality protein shake, you can definitely use that too. Okay, great. Thank you. My pleasure. My pleasure, everyone. Thank you for your lovely comments here. So nice to read. And if there isn't any other questions for today, I wish you all a beautiful Friday, a beautiful rest of your weekend. I look forward to chatting with you all very soon as well in our calls and in the Q&A calls as well. So thank you for showing up again. Give yourself permission to give grace. We all deserve it. We all give it to our loved ones. So give it to yourself too. And I wish you all a beautiful rest of your day. Take care.