For you, like no other
amoenalife amoena.com.au
Spring 2016
Science Says: Sleep. Deprivation may be modern society’s undoing
An Exercise in Fearlessness Going up, up and away might inspire you
BEAUTIFULLY BRAVE #RealModels inspire audiences on the catwalk
Break Free From Your
Comfort Zone Limits
amoenalife 107 Fergie Street | Fitzroy North | VIC 3068 au.info@amoena.com | amoena.com.au/amoenalife
Some wonderful news about Amoena LIFE! Dear friend, Ever notice how, like good food, meaningful stories nourish you? They fill you up. You gather eagerly when a friend has a tale to tell. You crave the shared laughter, surprise, mystery, romance or poignancy — those common emotional threads that connect us as humans. In the pages of Amoena LIFE over the years, it’s been our privilege to tell your stories — both the everyday and the extraordinary ones. It’s gratifying that you keep reading — and because we care, we want to give you more. Everything you love about Amoena LIFE is going to come to you more often in the years ahead. Our new website is dedicated to you, particularly to the informative, inspiring articles you have come to appreciate from Amoena — not just twice a year, but every month, available every day, when you’re ready. Connected online, we can see which stories you care about, and give you more of those — so everybody wins. This issue is the last printed-and-mailed issue of our magazine. In touch with experts and cultural trends, we know that women like you spend more time reading digitally than ever before, so… we’re with you. Sign up for Club Amoena online soon, and follow us in social media to be sure you don‘t miss our Spring 2016 articles. Let’s continue to talk about the issues and exchange our stories to build a better community. A rich, meaningful Amoena LIFE. With our best regards,
Kerry Nash Editor Connect with us at amoena.com.au and facebook.com/AmoenaAustralia
[ cover story ]
Stepping
Outside Your Comfort Zone Our habits keep us instinctively safe, but are we missing out on big opportunities if we never venture across our own boundaries? By Beth Leibson Heidi Floyd was pregnant with her second child when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. At one time, that diagnosis would have given Heidi the choice between terminating the pregnancy or endangering her own life. But thanks to advances in treatment, her doctor said he would be able to care for both mother and child. Feeling scared yet hopeful, Heidi began a course of chemotherapy treatment. After her first or second chemo session, Heidi’s oncologist pulled her aside and asked a favour. “Would you mind talking with this woman about your experiences? She’s pregnant and was just diagnosed with breast cancer.”
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[ cover story ]
For most people, this might seem a simple request. Just talk about your own experiences with a very interested, receptive audience. But Heidi is extremely introverted, and not accustomed to sharing personal details with complete strangers. Professionally, she held a behind-the-scenes position, extracting data form computer servers. “I spent most of my time in my quiet little hole in the basement,” she says. The thought of having this very intimate conversation with someone she didn’t know was “terrifying.” At the same time, Heidi remembered how hard it was for her when she was diagnosed. “I felt so alone, I had no one to talk to,” she says. “I was in such a place of desperation and grief.” So she gathered up all her inner strength, sat down with the newly diagnosed couple, and took a careful step outside her comfort zone. Heidi was successful in that first conversation — so much so that she continues, several years later, to speak to individuals, couples, small groups, and even large audiences. “I think my biggest group was about 800 people,” she jokes. “I get scared every time. I’ve learned not to eat too much before I go on stage or I get sick. But every time, I think that maybe I can help just one person in the audience, maybe just one person needs to hear what I have to say. I even say that as part of my speech. Every time.” And every time, someone comes to Heidi afterwards and tells her, “I am that person. The person you were trying to reach. Thank you.”
with public speaking, be it one stranger or 1001. “But,” she explains, “I am petrified of needles.” When she was a toddler, Brody needed a spinal tap to test for meningitis. It turned out she was infectionfree, but she still remembers the trauma of the procedure. “I was screaming and thrashing,” she recalls. “They had to call in someone to help hold me down.” The terror remains with her. “Even today, the doctor still needs someone to help when he has to put something into me with a needle or take something out with a needle.” So, when faced with a debilitating shoulder injury — which she left untreated for more than a year due to her fear of doctors — Brody had three choices. “I could have surgery, and that always comes with risks. Or I could do nothing, which hadn’t been working out very well so far. Or I could try acupuncture,” she says. “Think about it — a dozen or so needles that would stay in my body for 20 or 30 minutes. My worst nightmare.” After much internal debate, she decided to venture outside her comfort zone. After receiving only one treatment, Brody can lift her arm above a 45-degree angle for the first time in months. “To think that all that stood between me and this release was facing my fear,” she says. She knows she’ll need more treatments but doesn’t anticipate hyperventilating before each one. That’s not to say she’s chomping at the bit for the next needle. “But I am excited,” she says. “The fact that I feel so much better after just one treatment completely blows my mind.” Brody’s experience is typical. We usually stay inside our comfort zone out of fear. Fear of pain, fear of embarrassment, fear of what people will think. We may be afraid to trust ourselves. Or, sometimes, we simply fear the unknown.
Stepping outside our comfort zone, can expose us to that fully unbridled joy, love, and happiness that is part of the human experience.
What Is A Comfort Zone?
We call it a comfort zone for good reason, says life and leadership coach Lisa Pachence. It’s a behavioral space, a set of habits, that helps keep our lives predictable and safe and gives us a feeling of being in control. We are creatures of habit, hard-wired to maintain the status quo because doing so keeps us happy and satisfied, and allows us to maintain a steady anxiety level that is low enough to encourage action without causing stress. “We stay inside our comfort zone for self-preservation, so we can live, reproduce, and continue the human race,” says Lisa. The exact parameters of the comfort zone vary from person to person. For Heidi, it excluded talking to strangers. Lisa Brody, by contrast, is completely at ease 4 Spring 2016
So Why Leave?
If maintaining the status quo keeps us safe and keeps anxiety levels low, why should we ever attempt to change it? Because stepping outside our comfort zone, no matter how tentatively, can reap huge benefits, says Lisa. It can help us evolve and grow. It can increase our productivity, help us learn, enable us to stay mentally sharp as we age, and leads to fewer regrets in the long term. It can enable us to help others, as Heidi saw,
The best way to start on your path to a “better than seven-out-often life” is to ask yourself a series of questions. Life coach Ann Fry recommends these as a place to start. • What do you want? • Where are you on the “Status quo” scale? • What makes your heart sing? • What’s something that would be way outside the box for you? Dare to explore these questions and more, with Ann’s downloadable worksheet at amoena.com.au/amoenalife
and can improve the quality of our own lives, as Brody experienced. Most of all, stepping outside our comfort zone, says Lisa, can expose us to “that fully unbridled joy, love, and happiness that is part of the human experience.” Fear of going outside our comfort zone, the life coach explains, forces us to “live a seven-out-of-ten life” — to stay in jobs, friendships, and even marriages that are unfulfilling. “Think about the way we grow bigger muscles,” says Lisa. When we exercise intensely, we cause microscopic tears in our muscles. As our bodies repair those tears, they fuse the fibres together, producing larger muscles with greater size and strength. “In the same way, we get stronger from the challenge of stepping outside our comfort zone. Sometimes we have to go
through a little mental or emotional pain — sometimes we have to stretch our mental muscles — but what’s on the other side is so much greater than that pain. Evolution is what makes us human.”
Choosing Change
Sometimes we are forced to change — perhaps out of sheer physical pain — and sometimes we choose it. “I stayed in an unfulfilling marriage for ten years longer than I should have because I was scared,” says Ann Fry, a life coach who helps people and organisations figure out what to do when they want things to be different. Sometimes the call to leave your comfort zone comes when you realise you’re living a “seven-out-of-ten life,” amoena.com.au 5
[ cover story ]
you want that “unbridled joy,” and you’re prepared to take steps to get there. But how? To start, you have to show up, says coach Ann. Think about what’s working in your life and what’s not working. Assess what you want to continue and what simply isn’t serving you anymore, she recommends.
admit to myself that that I was not happy.” She had to face her fears: finances, loneliness, generalised worry. You may find you need to give yourself explicit permission to act. When Ann realised she wanted to ask for a divorce, for instance, she was hesitant to do anything about it. “You have to give yourself permission to do what you need to do, whatever that may be.” Now she is living alone and loving it.
Bravery, planning and support
You have to give yourself permission to do what you need to do, whatever that may be. You have to be able to tell the truth to yourself — to be willing, at least in your own mind, to think about where you are in your life and where you want to be. “Before I could ask for a divorce,” Ann says, “I needed to 6 Spring 2016
Once you know where you want to go, plan it out — and rethink any part of that plan that feels scary. An outside perspective can help, say both Lisa and Ann. A therapist or life coach, for instance, can serve as a sounding board and can also “keep you honest” by providing regular check-ins. Start small. “Have a conversation with someone,” says Ann. “Chat with a friend, find a therapist or an expert — just take a first step that publicly acknowledges you want to do something outside your status quo, and helps you gather information about how to do it.” If, for instance, you want to explore Asia, call a travel agent; if you’re thinking about adoption, a social worker might be a good place to start. The steps you might take are as individual as the limits of your comfort zone. “You have to start by taking a look at your pattern,” says Lisa. “What are you afraid that people might find out about you? Use your curiosity as a tool.” Heidi, for instance, began by talking to that one woman. Then she progressed to speaking with more and more individuals and couples. She moved on to speaking before small groups and finally worked her way up to giving lectures at corporate fundraisers on topics as diverse as Mastectomies for Dummies and Cancer and Children. She still gets nervous about public speaking — but she finds she’s braver about trying other new things. When you strengthen those outside-the-comfortzone muscles, you may find you have more power in other parts of your life. “When you shift core paradigms, everything moves a little bit,” says Lisa. Ann, for instance, has found in the years since her divorce, that she was able to sell all her possessions and move from Austin, Texas to New York City just “for a new adventure.” Recently, Ann has uprooted herself again, to be closer to her son. If you find that wishing as hard as you can doesn’t get you what you want, sometimes you just have to pluck up your courage and step outside your comfort zone. And when you do, you’ll reap the rewards. Resources: Lisa Pachence: accomplishmentcoaching.com/author/lpachence Ann Fry: annfry.com
[ section header ]
“
So what have I done since I had cancer? I climb mountains. My body aches and I’m always afraid I can’t do it. I’ve been to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and I just got back from trekking to Everest Base Camp. There is something about looking fear in the face — the thing you thought you could never do — and doing it anyway. It makes you feel more powerful than you ever dreamed possible. I like feeling strong more than feeling afraid.” —Courtney, age 39
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[ fashion ]
Put it All Together
‌and dare to be Ir - re -sist - i - ble 1. lovable, charming, esp. calling forth feelings of love; 2. enticing; tempting to possess.
Charm everyone you see today, and get bold with an accessory or two. Amoena Candice wire free bra in dark blue or black/powder rose, sizes 10-14 A; 10-18 B,C,D,DD; and matching brief in sizes 8-20. 8 Spring 2016
[ #realmodels ]
Beautifully
Brave Stars of the show (l to r): Marie Aude, Nathalie, Sandra, Colette, Geneviève, Christelle, Janice, Ysa, Nicole, and Patricia.
Imagine an auditorium filled to capacity with fashion professionals, media, even a few celebrities… and you. You’re standing in the wings, behind the lights and curtains, the atmosphere abuzz with makeup, music and technical activity — not to mention the professional models of other brands — swirling around you. Are you ready to go out there and walk the runway in a bra and brief set and high heels? Don’t forget to smile! This is not a dare — but it was a reality for 10 women just like you earlier this year. In Paris, no less, at the 2016 Salon International de la Lingerie, these courageous women volunteered to take the stage for Amoena. And we can tell you: they owned that spotlight. Our #RealModels inspired audiences to applaud throughout their catwalk show, not only because their bravery as breast cancer survivors was and is irrefutable, but also because they looked radiant in Amoena lingerie and pocketed apparel that let them move freely.
We’re so proud of these ladies and eager to bring you more #RealModels as we discover confidence and bold moves with our Spring apparel collection. Follow us in social media, and to let us know how brave you are, tag us: #amoenadares amoena.com.au 9
[ report ]
Science Says:
Sleep. Deprivation may be modern society’s undoing
It isn’t just the mattress company that wants you to get more sleep. News and medical authorities everywhere continually report that always-on entertainment and hyper-connectivity—in short, our “sleep less” culture—is taking its toll on both physical and mental health worldwide. Sleep deprivation is now connected to illnesses and risks, like heart disease, diabetes, obesity and even cancer. Media mogul Arianna Huffington’s new book, The Sleep Revolution (April 2016), rightly calls the problem Our Current Sleep Crisis. She reveals: “There are nearly five thousand apps that come up when you search “sleep” in the Apple App Store, more than 15 million photos under #sleep on Instagram, another 14 million under #sleepy, and more than 24 million under #tired. A quick search for “sleep” on Google will bring up more than 800 million results. Sleep isn’t just buried in our subconscious; it’s on our minds, and in the news, as never before.” So we’re not getting enough, it’s detrimental, and we know it. Now, how do we solve the problem?
The Numbers Don’t Lie Whether you tuck wires under your sheets, clip on a wearable like FitBit, or rely on your smartphone itself, it’s likely you’ve tracked your sleep. Typically, motion detectors note nighttime movements and present you a colourful graph the next morning. Want to go deep with your data? Here are three of Wareable.com’s top sleep trackers: 10 Spring 2016
•W ithings Aura — a full system with bedside lamp, under-mattress sensor, and smart alarm, that wakes you gently during your lightest phase of sleep. • Beddit Smart 2.0 — the under-sheet sensor connects via Bluetooth to your smartphone and delivers data, including heart and respiratory rates, directly. • Sense — clips to your pillow and detects not only your movements, but also the temperature, light and noise levels in your room, for a broad picture of your sleep environment and patterns.
Beware the Blues One topic that intrigues sleep researchers is the study of how light interrupts sleep. Any nighttime light can decrease melatonin secretion, but the very worst light falls in the blue/green area of the colour spectrum. Good news: You can download blue-blocking software for your computer, or buy blue-blocking glasses. Read more: health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-adark-side
[ section header ]
5 Tips For Your Best Zzzzs
9 to 11 hours Schoolchildren (6 to 13 years)
1. Spend some time outdoors during the day — even just 10 minutes helps your body clock stay calibrated so you can sleep at night. 2. Stick to a routine. Bedtime consistency — yes, on weekends too — guides your brain to know when it’s bedtime. 3. Gentle stretching before bed: Easy forward bends turn your focus inward, calming your mind and body. Breathe. 4. Quiet, cool, and dark. Conditions in the room where you sleep are important. Make the temperature comfortable, leaning toward cool, turn the lights off (use black-out shades if necessary), and shhhhhhhh. 5. Wear something soft so you can move freely. Amoena Home wear offers new, supportive pajamas and nightdresses every season: visit amoena.com.au to see them.
8 to 10 hours
Did You Know? Sleep Needs Decrease Over Your Lifetime
We all know that babies need the most sleep (lucky little ones)! And it varies by individual, of course, but in general the human body requires less sleep as it ages — the oldest among us requiring the least sleep. Consider the differences here (from the U.S. National Institutes of Health):
Teens (14-17 years)
7 to 9 hours Adults (18-64 years)
7 to 8 hours Adults over 64
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[ mind & body ]
An Exercise in
Fearlessness Going up, up and away might inspire you
12 Spring 2016
Two more trendy moves. Perhaps you’ve Pilated yourself past pleasure, your Zumba enthusiasm is zero, and it’s now Barre-none for you. If you need a new workout challenge, be brave: consider these innovative options. They’re edgy, and are rewriting the definition of “workout” in a bold way. You, at New Heights: Aerial Yoga
Yoga has become more accessible to most of us, and aerial yoga is a fresh take on it. Carmen Curtis, owner and founder of AIRealyoga.com (the only brand of aerial yoga accredited by the Yoga Alliance), explains how a beginner can safely benefit from being suspended. She says, “You should research the style of aerial yoga you are going to take. Some aerial yoga styles are more circus — flips and tricks. These types of classes are not best for beginners. Aerial yoga is about staying in tune with the time-tested postures of yoga. The hammock assists in making yoga postures easier. It allows people to invert without compressing the spine. With the hammock, a person can get all of the benefits of inversions: decompression of the spine, increase in circulation, and decrease in inflammation. Inversions can help release stress, anxiety, and insomnia.” Need more evidence before you go upside-down? Carmen says, “A lady I knew had an illness where her bones hurt and she had been on medication for 28 years. After she started doing AIReal Yoga, something ignited in her nervous system and stabilising muscles. After a few weeks, she was pain free and was able to get off of her medications! She had tapped into her own self-healing, and the hammock allowed that.”
Move Freely Watch our video to see how the Spring 2016 Collection of pocketed lingerie and clothing lets you move comfortably in a whole new way.
amoena.com.au/amoenalife
Bringing Sexy Back: Pole Dancing Not only is pole dancing an outlet for your inner sexiness, but it also offers numerous health benefits. Although it may look fairly easy, pole dancing engages muscles in the entire body. It’s an advanced isometric and cardiovascular exercise in disguise. Pole dancing also awakens self-confidence, lessens stress, and creates a more limber body. As a weight bearing exercise, it’s good for your bones and joints, your heart, your balance —and may even help you sleep better.
Serious Soaring: Trapeze While not all of us have the arm, shoulder and core strength needed to master a trapeze workout, if you’re able, this is a great way to tap into fearlessness. In addition to physical benefits for core and upper body, as well as the aerobic boost, trapeze is a challenging mental workout. Nothing says, “I can do anything” quite like donning a safety harness and jumping from a 20-foot platform.
Author’s note: As with any form of exercise, consult with your physician before beginning and make sure you research the credentials of any teacher and/or studio you are thinking of using. Breast cancer survivors should be especially careful due to the risk of lymphoedema in the arms. amoena.com.au 13
[ nutrition ]
Avocad-o She Glows First it was green tea. The blueberries followed. Next came Greek yogurt and kale, then ancient grains, and now The Superfoods are ubiquitous. We’re sure you’ve already eaten a few today. A recent addition is avocado — and who doesn’t love avocado? Sometimes called the “butter fruit,” it features vitamins K, C, B5, B6, and E, postassium, folate, monounsaturated fats and protein. And in 2015 the social site Pinterest determined that its “most pinned food ingredient” by far, out of more than 500,000 food posts, was avocado.
Angela Liddon’s new vegan cookbook, Oh She Glows Every Day, includes breakfasts, desserts, smoothies, flavour-rich entrees... and plenty of avocados. It’s whole-food, plant-based evangelism, given with sincerity and lightheartedness, for busy families (Avery/Penguin Randomhouse, 2016).
14 Spring 2016
Glowing Review Canadian food blogger and cookbook author Angela Liddon created, in 2014, what we think is the most indulgent avocado recipe out there — her 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta. (Hint: there’s no cream!) 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta (Serves 3) Recipe courtesy of Angela Liddon | OhSheGlows.com (reprinted with permission) Ingredients: 255 grams uncooked pasta 1 to 2 cloves garlic, to taste 1/4 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, plus more for serving 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed 1 ripe medium avocado, pitted 1 tablespoon water 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste Lemon zest, for serving Directions: 1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. For a lighter option, serve the avocado sauce with zucchini noodles. 2. While the pasta cooks, make the sauce: In a food processor, combine the garlic and basil and pulse to mince. Add the lemon juice, oil, avocado, and 1 tablespoon water and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit more oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 3. Drain the pasta and place it back in the pot. Add all of the avocado sauce and stir until combined. You can gently rewarm the pasta if it has cooled slightly, or simply serve it at room temperature. 4. Top with pepper, lemon zest, and fresh basil leaves, if desired. Tip: B ecause avocados oxidise quickly after you slice them, this sauce is best served immediately.
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Publisher Amoena Australia Pty Ltd | Editor Kerry Nash | Contributors Dianne Armitage, Beth Leibson | Art Director Shan Willoughby | Design Sekayi Stephens | Photography Dorothea Craven, iStockPhoto, Shutterstock, Adobe Stock | Contact Amoena Life, 107 Fergie Street, Fitzroy North, VIC 3068, 1800 773 285 | The entire contents of this publication is copyrighted by Amoena Australia 2016. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of the contents in any manner is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the publisher. Amoena Life magazine is published twice a year and is available by request. Amoena Life magazine is distributed to subscribers, retailers and medical facilities. No liability for unsolicited manuscripts. Amoena cannot be liable for pictorial or typographical errors. While every effort is taken to ensure the information contained in this magazine is accurate, the publisher cannot be held responsible for any use of or reliance on the accuracy of such information. Any information provided is not a substitute for professional care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease. If you have, or suspect you have a health problem, you should consult your doctor. The editor reserves the right to edit or abridge letters.
Finishing moves Sometimes starting is the hardest part. So pack your bag ahead of time with supportive workout gear (don’t forget a pocketed sports bra), fill that water bottle, and just move. The finish line awaits... how will you feel when you get there?
In - vin - ci - ble 1. Incapable of being conquered, defeated or subdued; 2. Indomitable, having an unyielding spirit. Amoena Active Tank Top in charcoal and snake print, sizes S–XL, with built-in shelf bra Amoena Power Medium Support Wire-free sports bra in turquoise and dark grey, sizes 10-20 AA, A, B, C, D, DD Capri in black, sizes S–XL
amoena.com.au 49330075 - 8/16 Amoena is a registered trademark of Amoena Medizin-Orthopädie-Technik GmbH.©2016 All rights reserved Amoena Australia. 107 Fergie Street, Fitzroy North, VIC 3065