Healthy Living

A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

Inside: Find out how the Port Angeles First Step Family Support Center is benefitting from women in the Peruvian Andes.

Also inside: Family Planning of Clallam County works to reduce teen pregnancy, and a Sequim psychologist uses fly fishing to create positive change.

A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

march 2010 • Healthy Living 1

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It takes a community editor’s letter

The African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” made its way into popular culture after Hillary Rodham Clinton used it in the title of her 1996 book, “It Takes A Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us.” Clinton worked from the premise that children thrive only if their families thrive.

Family Planning of Clallam County and First Step Family Support Center offer a wide range of services that empower local families to do just that — thrive.

From job training to parenting classes and postpartum depression groups to domestic violence prevention, these United Way agencies lead the way in creating a healthier community.

On Page 4, Lacy Lennon, a health educator at Family Planning, and Jack Slowriver, the agency’s executive director, outline the perils of teen pregnancy and write about what Family Planning is doing to reduce it.

Turn to Page 6 to see how coffee beans grown by a group of women high in the Peruvian Andes is benefitting families right here in Port Angeles.

The coffee, sold locally at Renaissance in Port Angeles, is part of a project called Café Femenino. Café Femenino gives a portion of its proceeds to local nonprofits that work with women. Nonprofits like First Step.

Coffee sales are helping to fund the new training center at First Step.

The Training Center will offer job-training opportunities for young parents, the kind of opportunity that bolsters families.

This one project illustrates how it takes business, nonprofits, volunteers and committed parents to facilitate growth — in short, it takes a community.

We hope you enjoy the March issue of Healthy Living!

— Jennifer Veneklasen Healthy Living editor

Healthy Living Volume 6, Issue 1 Published by the Peninsula Daily News Main office: 305 W. First St., Port Angeles, WA 98362 360-452-2345

John C. Brewer editor & publisher Suzanne Williams advertising director Jennifer Veneklasen section editor and cover design

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Article ideas?

Did you know that 26 million Americans suffer from some type of hearing impairment? New technology is making it possible for hearing instrument users to enjoy the world of improved hearing by making these instruments more flexible, comfortable, convenient and stylish to wear.

Now matter what your lifestyle, with so many models and circuit options there is a hearing aid that may be perfect for you!

We are always on the lookout for new Healthy Living contributors.

Professionals in their field are invited to contribute informative and educational articles or columns for consideration in Healthy Living.

For articles, save as a text document attachment or in the body of an e-mail and send to Jennifer Veneklasen, special sections editor, at: jennifer.veneklasen@ peninsuladailynews.com.

(Note the period between the first and last name.)

For photos, please e-mail or send a CD with jpegs scanned at least at 200 dpi/ resolution.

We cannot guarantee publication due to space and content considerations. If your submission is accepted, we reserve the right to edit submissions. Articles are the opinions and beliefs of the contributing writer and in no way represent an endorsement

by Healthy Living or Peninsula Daily News.

A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

an expert look | rolfing & sound healing

what’s Rofling Structural Integration that?

+ BY MARILYN BEECH

Marilyn Beech

Joints get too close together, or twist, or get too close on one side and too open on the other. Organs get pushed on or left unsupported. Nerves get trapped in hardened, fibrous fascias. In short, much misery of different sorts can ensue.

Enter Dr. Ida P. Rolf. She was a biochemist at the Rockerfeller Institute who did the first research on fascias (the connective tissue that envelops muscle) during the 1940s.

Along with her early interests in yoga, movement therapies and osteopathic medicine, she became curious about our potential for structural change, and whether manipulating these fascias could get people out of pain and difficulties.

Over time, she developed what she called Structural Integration, an organized series of bodywork interventions.

These interventions tracked patterns in the fascias that had distorted the body’s structure making it shorter, twisted, asymmetrical, and many times, painful.

She created a series, now fondly called “The 10-Series

Recipe,” during which these patterns would be released in an organized and orderly manner.

She saw that it was important to not just get rid of the structural blocks, but to make sure the body was also finding a new way to support itself. Otherwise people would just get into trouble again.

So this series became a way to get the “holding” patterns out, but at the same time, build in support.

People commonly ask me whether they “need to be Rolfed.” The answer is generally “yes.” Nearly everyone has a problem demanding attention sooner or later.

Car accidents, surgeries, extreme illnesses, sports training, dance training, broken bones, emotional traumas, sprained ankles, bad falls, whiplash, even eyesight and hearing problems, will all create patterns of shortened, twisted, fibrous, fascias through our bodies.

Problems don’t usually become obvious while we are young, but as the patterns shorten and harden over time, we age into more pain and lack of mobility.

People also ask me if I can work on babies or older people. The answer is again, “yes,” to both. Babies do not need the whole ten sessions — usually one short session is enough, and it can relieve the child of any structural problems that may have resulted from the birth process.

As far as age goes, as long as you are alive those fascias can change, and often bring a lot of mobility back to aging structures. Of course, it’s much better not to let yourself grow into hardened holding patterns in the first place.

Getting your structure re-aligned earlier in life goes a long way towards longevity in our quest to stay mobile and enjoy life.

Dr. Rolf created the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration to carry on with teaching, and her work became known colloquially as “Rolfing.”

Structural Integration is now being taught in about 15 different schools around the world (three of these schools are in Washington).

Ten years ago the International Association of Structural Integrators was created to establish standards of training and accomplishment in the field, so that Dr. Rolf’s work would remain available to the public in its original form.

The certification exam for Structural Integration was developed so that the public can know whether their practitioner has trained and learned the original work.

Marilyn Beech graduated from the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration in 1993. She was one of the founders of The International Association of Structural Integrators and later its executive director for many years. She has recently moved to the Port Angeles area from Missoula, Mont. She can be reached at 360-4776855, or marilynbeech@gmail.com. Her office is at 1225 E. Front St., at the Willow Massage clinic.

learn more

t

At 32 feet/second2, gravity exerts a considerable pull on human bodies. As long as our own center of gravity (just below the belly button) is flexible enough to stay over our feet as we move, we manage this force just fine.

But once a body segment starts to twist, shift, rotate or shorten, that segment gets hit with the full force of earth’s gravity and we have no choice but to pull back with the same amount of force. Otherwise we would just fall over.

Our bodies have a wonderful tissue that envelops every structure inside of us — from the smallest cell to the largest organ or muscle. These are our connective tissues which connect but also separate all of our structures.

What’s wonderful about this tissue is that it has physical properties that make it harden up or grow more fiber when some part of our body is in trouble with gravity — when it’s being pulled down and needs to be held in place before we fall over.

These tissues are very “inexpensive” to use. They don’t need oxygen, glucose, or cues from the nervous system (like muscles and organs do) in order to do their job.

They just harden up.

This serves to keep us on our feet with our faces forward, but over time, these hardened tissues result in less mobility.

A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

To find rolfing practitioners in this area, or schools that teach Structural Integration, visit www.theiasi.org.

A glimpse at sound healing + BY VICKIE DODD Sound healing can be summed up in a few words: the mind quiets enough to listen.

For eons, in all cultures, we have used sound for chanting, praying, for mantras (the repetition of prayers) and in singing hymns. It has been part of daily life.

Sound is also an effective medium for releasing stress and promoting relaxation.

We are physically 75 to 80 percent liquid. Our liquidity can become congealed, congested, seemingly frozen from trauma and aging.

As we age our blood becomes more viscous, but sound and vocalization allow the body to become more liquid.

Vocalization sets up a wave vibration throughout the body that literally changes our homeostasis. Sounding helps digest and dissolve unexpressed, held trauma in the tissues. Your body loves the sound of your own voice.

Your body responds quickly to soothing, humming sounds, and you can learn to hum as a way to entrain the nervous system to relax.

Years ago Stanford University did a study of greatest fears. At the top of the list was the fear of dying; right below dying was public speaking. I am certain that sounding would be right below dying in this survey.

The beauty of sounding, however, is that you cannot do it wrong — there is no right way. This knowledge reduces fear.

Many of you may never have learned to enjoy singing.

Many of you were taught as children to be quiet, to keep secrets. Some of you were even traumatized and your voice nearly froze.

In sound healing we begin with vowels as a way to open up your voice and to soften your vocal terrain.

If you cannot seem to make a sound, whispering it softly or making the shape of the sound is as effective as full vocal expression.

What people receive from sounding is freedom and clarity. It wakes up sluggish thinking. It stimulates the circulation. Using your voice increases oxygen flow and your body breathes with ease.

Sounding rejuvenates us physically and spiritually.

Vickie Dodd is an author, nutritional practitioner, an Aston Patterning teacher, a teacher and practitioner of sound resonance and has been a workshop leader for more than 40 years.

She offers a Sound Circle for all levels the first Tuesday of the month from noon to 1 p.m. For information, phone Vickie at 360-452-5922 or visit www.sacredsoundschool.com.

try it for yourself This June at the Olympic Park Institute, near Lake Crescent, there will be a gathering of people singing (sounding), experimenting, learning and experiencing the power of voice. To join them, and try sounding for yourself, contact Vickie at the above number or e-mail her at sounds@olypen.com. march 2010 • Healthy Living 3

BABY , [THINK it OVER] + BY JACK SLOWRIVER and LACY LENNON

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In 2008 there were 68 babies born to women between the ages of 15 and 19 in Clallam County.

That’s a nearly 10 percent rise from 2007.

Research shows that one in three teen girls (15 to 19 years old) who have had sexual intercourse will become or have been pregnant.

In fact, 31 percent of teenage girls get pregnant at least once before they reach age 20 and 80 percent of all teen pregnancies are unintentional.

Becoming a teen parent isn’t easy.

Teen mothers are more likely to give birth out of wedlock and drop out of school. Up to 95 percent live in poverty.

Furthermore, children born to teen mothers are three times more likely to be born premature or underweight and are at a greater risk of abuse and neglect.

These children are more likely to be placed in foster care, less likely to be economically and socially successful as adults, and ultimately more likely to bear children as teens, thus continuing this perilous cycle.

and Rick Jurmain.

After realizing that teens may not fully understand the everyday responsibilities of caring for an infant, they developed a doll-like infant that expresses needs of a real infant, and then reports on how those needs were met. continued on next page >

So what can we do as a community to decrease these growing numbers?

Researchers have found that young people between the ages of 15 and 19 who received comprehensive sex education were 50 percent less likely to experience pregnancy than those who received abstinence-only education.

Evaluations of comprehensive sex education and HIV/STI (sexually transmitted infections) prevention programs show that they do not increase the frequency of sex or the number of sex partners among sexually active youth.

While learning about sexuality from parents or other trusted family members is ideal, this important resource for information is not available to all youth.

One young woman recently explained that she sought resources at Family Planning of Clallam County because, “I never had a mother to teach me about female things but Family Planning has answered all my questions. Their protection has also kept me ‘un-pregnant’ while I’m in school.”

Family Planning of Clallam County offers a variety of educational tools that can help support the accurate and factual education of teen sexuality.

One of the most exciting programs we offer is the Baby Think It Over program; which uses an infant simulator to replicate the real life needs of a two-month-old child.

The Baby Think It Over program began in 1993 by Mary

Sarah Nilsen, shown here with one of the infant simulators, is a participant in the Baby Think It Over program at Family Planning of Clallam County.

While learning about sexuality from parents or other trusted family members is ideal, this important resource for information is not available to all youth.

A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

>>> continued from page 4

any teen who is putting themselves at risk of teen parenthood.

It is also an excellent opportunity for teens and families to sit down and talk about the real life consequences that can come with being sexually active at a young age.

The Baby Think It Over program is just one of the many programs offered at Family Planning that may help you educate your family about teenage pregnancy and the responsibilities that come with being sexually active.

Family Planning is a fully staffed clinic that focuses on a variety of services including birth control consultations, annual exams and sexually transmitted infections checks. Most services are provided on a sliding-fee scale and many teens and young people are eligible to receive free care through the Take Charge program.

For more information about the Baby Think It Over program, or any other services provided by Family Planning, please visit www.familyplanningofcc.org.

Lacy Lennon is a health educator at Family Planning. She coordinates the Baby Think it Over program. Jack Slowriver is Family Planning’s executive director.

A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

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attest, it is the piercing cry of their baby at 3 a.m. that they remember the most.

Although the infant simulation is possibly enough to show teens what parenthood is all about, Family Planning also incorporates additional educational components which were developed by the Baby Think It Over company.

These components are given before the actual simulation begins and include an overview of infant development and infant safety, how to bathe a child and properly use a child car seat. It also addresses some of the lifestyle changes that come with parenting, including money management, education, friends and dating.

There is a full budget overview that includes the daily costs of parenthood, from diapers to day care to doctor bills.

After these components have been addressed, the simulation begins, lasting anywhere from 24 to 72 hours, where teens are fully responsible for the infant and its needs.

Once the simulation is over, the infant reports on how the parenting experience went. This includes every need the baby expressed from how many times the baby was fed and burped; to how many times the

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Children born to teen mothers are more likely to be placed in foster care, less likely to be economically and socially successful as adults, and ultimately more likely to bear children as teens, thus continuing this perilous cycle.

A Clinic for Traditional Chinese Medicine Sherrie Schouten, Photographer

The infant simulator is extremely lifelike — it cries, burps, coos, and makes other realistic sounds of an average infant. Much like a typical infant, the simulator will express a need with a cry.

The “parents” of the infant simulator must then figure out what that need is, and respond to it accordingly.

This may include a diaper change, a feeding, a burping, or a rocking.

Since the infant simulator is programmed before the session begins, it knows to Jack Slowriver and Lacy Lennon of Family Planning. only respond to the sensor that is assigned to the teen.

This will force the teen to deal with all the baby was neglected and mishandled. needs of the infant simulator, and not allow From here, the teen can get a view of for outside assistance. how well they would actually do as a real The schedule of the infant simulator is live parent. based off of that of a real infant, meaning While the Baby Think It Over program that its needs must be met 24 hours a day. teaches youth how to properly handle and This is another important aspect of the Baby take care of an infant, the goal of the proThink It Over program. As many parents can gram is to have a proverbial wake-up call to

march 2010 • Healthy Living 5

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Optimum Health Depends On Teeth If teeth had an owner’s manual it would start with maintenance. Subtle things cause neglected teeth to deteriorate. You don’t notice until you feel pain. Then you need corrective dentistry you could have avoided.

There are more bacteria in you body than human cells. In your mouth, they multiply and can form a hard layer on teeth. They hide within this ‘plaque’ and cause gum disease, diabetes, pneumonia, stroke and more.

However, dental diseases are completely Greg Barry, DDS preventable with maintenance. Proper daily oral care supports the best health possible and a long life. You have the power to reduce your oral bacteria with a soft-bristled toothbrush, floss and persistence.

You can live longer and be healthier by cleaning your teeth twice daily and also seeing a hygienist regularly. Every six months (or as your dentist recommends) you should have a hygienist remove the hardened plaque buildup (or calculus.) Hygienists also detect potential problems and train you to deal with oral health concerns.

Is your next hygienist appointment on your calendar? If not, why don’t you call us to set up a dental exam followed by a professional cleaning right now?

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Long before I was a massage therapist I studied to be a recently by updating a familiar adage: “give a man a fish and social worker in rural and boom/bust communities. he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

There I was inspired by a passionate teacher who welTeach a woman to fish and her entire community eats.” comed students by telling us that the only reason communiIndeed, studies have found that when women receive ties need social workers is that our rural communities are just one year of training, infant mortality rates decrease and hemorrhaging jobs. “If everyone had a job”, he declared, children are significantly less likely to suffer from illness or “you would scarcely be needed.” hunger. Most encouraging for the long term health of comWhile it may not have been the best way to welcome munities: her children are more likely to go to school. idealistic social workers to the slog of graduate school, it When a program comes along that allows the brightest became clear over the following years that he didn’t mean and the best of a community to stay put and work, rather to discourage, but to say that work is critical to community than leave home to find work, it’s remarkably good news for health; without work, communities and their people perish, a community. in multiple ways.

One such program, called Café Femenino, originates When America suffered the Farm Crisis of the 1980s 4,000 miles from here, but because of our global economy, thousands lost their livelihood. Rural communities suffered promises to have an impact on families right here in Port in ways unfamiliar to them: suicide rates rose, substance Angeles. It involves women who grow premium quality cofabuse sky-rocketed, and viofee beans high in the Peruvian Andes and in so doing have lence in homes soared. improved the economy of their communities, the safety Simultaneously, American of their homes, the health of their families, and greatly mountain communities increased the opportunities for their children. became ghost towns Non-profit organizations helped to jumpstart the as resourceCafé Femenino project through related jobs extensive training in high qualdisappeared. ity organic coffee production, Shortly therebut not before the farmers met after, Pacific a requirement to find a comNorthwest pany that would partner directly communities like with them to distribute their ours experienced the beans throughout the coffeesame community probdrinking world. lems when the timber and fishing In doing so, Café Femenino industries dramatically downsized. growers are learning to compete Today, this kind of joblessness plagues American in the world coffee market. rural and urban communities alike.

Since coffee is the second most Without work, we perish, body and soul. traded commodity on the world Work defines us, it allows us to support our market (oil is first), this is huge! families, it provides areas of competence, of conBut that’s just the beginning. tribution, so important to the core of who we are.

The benefits continue to flow all Work brings us into relationship with a wider the way to Port Angeles. community of people, expanding vital social supFollow the journey of these port networks. beans and their impact on the Organizations that pull communities out of ecocommunities through which they nomic crises have long understood that opportunitravel: First, the beans bring a ties for work must be created while attending to the fair wage to Café Femenino farmcrises that joblessness leaves in its tracks. ers, and subsequently their famiIn the past decade new understandings about lies and communities. this process are changing the way assistance is disWhen Café Femenino began tributed. Women are playing an increasing role in they committed to setting aside economic recoveries around the world. a percentage of their profits for Research on organizations that help troubled community resources: schools, communities have found that when aid is given to clinics, books for kids, etc. men, on average, they keep approximately 50 perSecond, the unroasted “green” Lynn Keenan on the cent of the assistance, sharing the remaining 50 perbeans, arrive at a roaster where a Renaissance deck cent with their family and community. roasting wizard puts his/her roast overlooking the Strait When aid is given to women, on average, nearly on the bean, and sells them to of Juan de Fuca. all of it is passed to the family and the community. continued on next page > Secretary of State Clinton said it metaphorically A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

>>> continued from page 6

cafés to be ground and brewed into the smooth, mild brew that is characteristic of Peruvian coffees.

At that point of sale the roaster, per an agreement made with Café Femenino, gives at least 10 percent of proceeds to a non-profit organization working to empower women in the roaster’s community. Now the beans are generating resources for women in North American communities!

Third, to complete its empowering journey, Café Femenino coffee is then sold by cafés to consumers, either as beans or as steamy brews.

Many cafés are extracting yet another benefit from these remarkable beans by responding to the encouragement of Café Femenino to give a portion of their proceeds to local non-profits working with women.

The coffee goes on to empower yet another community like Port Angeles. Café Femenino coffee sales at Renaissance are helping to fund the new Training Center at First Step Family Support Center.

The Training Center will offer job-training opportunities for young parents, the kind of opportunities that lead to work and all its benefits, financial and beyond.

The Training Center is just the kind of place that the farmers of Café Femenino are thrilled to know their crops are fueling.

+

Lynn Keenan is the happy owner of Renaissance, a tea and coffee bar and center for massage in Port Angeles. Reach her at 360-565-1199 or through www.renaissance-pa.com.

See the sidebar on this page for information on how you can be part of Cafe Femenino and support First Step.

Inside First Step

+ BY JENNIFER VENEKLASEN | Peninsula Daily News

a first step success story

At 17 Maggie Fricker found herself unexpectedly pregnant. She was scared, disappointed, and didn’t have a clue what to do next.

She stumbled into the First Step Family Support Center at the suggestion of a friend.

“I was immediately relieved,” she recalls.

The staff at First Step assigned a case worker who helped Maggie navigate the system, find out what kind of assistance she qualified for, and then apply for it.

Maggie was taught about proper prenatal nutrition, hooked up with birthing classes and given access to a library of videos and books on birth and parenting.

“I was extremely fearful of labor and out of my league as far as babies,” she says.

The support and educational tools provided through First Step assuaged many of those fears.

Maggie graduated high school when she was five months pregnant and went on to deliver her son Andrew when she was 18 years old.

She says she went into labor feeling empowered and had a textbook delivery.

The stigma attached to teen moms, however, wasn’t easy to shake. Maggie’s life as she knew it was over.

She’d been forced to resign as captain of her high school dance team and the A student didn’t attend college that fall.

Maggie felt that she’d let everyone down, but she was determined to be a good mom.

When Andrew was 1, she began attending Peninsula College, got a job and started supporting herself.

Maggie had her second son three years later, again accessing the support at First Step

A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

continued on page 11 >

Interested in being part of the Café Femenino project?

For every 12 oz. bag of Café Femenino sold, $2 is sent to First Step Family Support Center; for every one pound bag of coffee, $3 is sent to First Step.

The average coffee-drinking household consumes a pound of coffee weekly, making it possible to contribute $156 a year to building employment opportunities for young Port Angelino families simply by drinking coffee! How’s that for a win-win situation?

Café Femenino coffee is certified organic, fair trade, and bird friendly (the Smithsonian Institute’s certification that coffee growing practices maintain essential songbird habitat).

Renaissance, where you can drink and buy Café Femenino, is located at 401 E. Front St. in Port Angeles and is open Monday through Saturday.

For more information, go to www. renaissance-pa.com.

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First Step Family Support Center is a nonprofit organization that has provided support and education services to families in Clallam County since 1971.

The center’s many services include infant case management, maternity support, a drop-in center, readiness to learn programs, postpartum depression groups, vocational counseling, smoking cessation programs, support groups for fathers and teenage parents, parent education and much, much more.

Narcotics anonymous groups use the First Step facility two nights per week where First Step provides on-site childcare plus healthy snacks and activities for their children.

The drop-in center offers free clothing and an equipment closet, information and referrals, a children’s play area, emergency diapers and formula, access to phones, computers, fax and copier, healthy snacks and free children’s books.

The center’s influence is wide reaching. First Step has expanded into a beautiful new building to house their expanding programs. For more information on this organization or how you can help, go to www.firststepfamily.org.

to ensure a positive outcome for her and her kids. It was hard to be a parent of two, she says, and there were many sacrifices. College was again put on hold and Maggie worked full time as a waitress to make ends meet.

“I wanted to provide them with a stable home no matter what,” she says.

The father of her boys remained actively involved in their lives which Maggie acknowledges is very rare.

Determined to continue moving forward, Maggie Fricker Maggie kept her eyes open for better work opportunities.

One day she stumbled upon a job opening at First Step, the very organization that had been so instrumental in helping her during challenging times. She jumped at the chance to help other moms in similar circumstances.

“I applied and then I called every single day,” she says. “I wanted this job.”

Her first day at work fell on the same day as the organization’s annual staff retreat.

Displayed on a blackboard were the staff’s names and loads of sticky notes with work duties written on them.

march 2010 • Healthy Living 7

A new look at weight management + BY JANET GOLDENBOGEN-SELF

Consider this: If you’re having trouble managing weight, the same is probably true with managing life.

Everyday a new diet plan — guaranteed to work without fail — hits the media.

Eat this food; don’t eat that food. Raise your metabolism.

Drink your water. Listen to them. Change, then change again and you’ll be 10 pounds thinner in only two weeks.

Why do we even think this works?

Maybe it’s because we need to believe their plan will finally be the right one.

The one that slides us into clothes four sizes smaller by our class reunion next month.

If only it were that easy.

Fourteen years ago, as an registered nurse and holistic health counselor, I became a weight management support group facilitator. Each group, each individual, taught me repeatedly that the answer for weight loss management is attention to lifestyle choices.

Once you realize what drains your energy, how unconscious choices cause irregular and unhealthy eating patterns, the real progress begins.

Before one can even begin to change choices, readiness must come first.

Next, comes the need to discover what the hidden internal kernel of motivation is that will drive the ability to change. Sound time consuming or impossible?

Well, time consuming, yes. Impossible, no.

Take a deep breath and step out of the weight yo-yo drama. Now, open your mind to learning who you are and what you really need. Weight loss follows.

How to get started: Remember, small steps grow into a new path Discover your drains – make a list of the above drain categories and be honest with yourself about what is working and what isn’t in your life. Then immerse yourself into working with only one item at a time until it’s resolved.

Then, go on to the next.

Ask yourself, am I ready, yet, to do whatever it takes, whatever price I need to pay to make changes? If the answer is no, then STOP here and evaluate any fears, insecurities, and anxieties you may have that are blocking action.

What motivates you? A clear, strong motivation keeps us on track. Maybe it’s the class reunion; desire to wear backof-the closet smaller sized clothes; health concerns; urge to attract a mate; better self esteem.

Make a personal contract. Action plans — including daily or weekly self contracts — set a course.

For example: 1.) Pick one hour this week to discover drains, readiness cues and personal motivation 2.) Commit to one week of food shopping including only whole, unrefined items.

Let’s take a look at topics to address in addition to food: DRAINS — Relationships, employment, finances, addictions in any form, daily crisis and mini crisis, an ever growing list of to-do items. Ongoing heavy drains can add up to a heavy body.

READINESS — How do you know when you’re really ready to do the work? Perhaps a glance in the mirror catches your attention. Maybe your pants don’t zip up. Elastic waistbands loom as the only next option. You notice your mind’s readiness OFF switch turned to ON. NUTRITION — The S.A.D. (standard American diet) of packaged, refined and fast foods sets us up for weight gain and health problems. Everyday the media tells us this.

Reams of books and internet resources are available to help us change — but where do we start? The trick is transitioning from the S.A.D. to a whole foods clean eating program.

However, old patterns, family food favorites, and procrastination all place a wedge between what we’re currently eating and what we’d like to be eating.

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CR O SS FIT

at the Clallam County YMCA

The Clallam County Family YMCA is the first facility on the North Olympic Peninsula to offer CrossFit, a dynamic strength and conditioning program that embraces a broad and general fitness philosophy — a fitness that is fun, demanding and energizing.

The CrossFit prescription is constantly varied, using functional movement at a participant’s own high intensity.

Founded in Santa Cruz, Calif. by Greg Glassman, CrossFit began in 2002 as an online work out for him, with the aim of forging a broad, general and inclusive fitness.

As he put it, “CrossFit is, quite simply, a sport — the sport of fitness.”

The YMCA oversees CrossFit group classes five days per week, operating in the multi-use rooms or outdoors.

Every day, a Work Out of the Day — WOD in CrossFit speak — is posted from CrossFit headquarters on www.crossfit.com.

Workouts include components such as weight lifting, long distance training and movements inspired by gymnastics. The many components create a well-rounded participant.

In the hands of a skilled coach, the workout can be scaled to meet anyone’s fitness level.

CrossFit recognizes that the physical fitness needs of military or civil service personnel who need to be elitely fit, and that of a 70-year-old grandmother, differ only by degree, not by kind. That’s the beauty of CrossFit. By scaling the load and intensity, members of the class can perform the same workout at their own pace. Constant variation plus a stop watch takes the fun to a whole new level.

Through the YMCA’s On-Ramp program, a pre-requisite to attend regular CrossFit classes, participants are coached on nine foundational movements while the WOD gets progressively more intense.

“The emphasis of the On-Ramp is on skill development and exposure to the basics. It is designed to prepare the individual for regular classes,” says Kyle Cronk, the YMCA’s CEO and CrossFit level one instructor.

New participants are accepted into On-Ramp classes at the beginning of each month. They stay in the OnRamp class until competency in all of

the foundational movements is shown and the work out intensity is at a satisfactory level.

Once graduated from On-Ramp, participants roll into CrossFit classes which are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Space in the class is limited.

Call the YMCA at 360-452-9244 for class times and availability.

The fee is $55 per month for YMCA members and $150 per month for non-members.

With so many different components, the instruction for CrossFit is very detailed — hence the extra fee.

The classes are held to a maximum of 10 people which makes it more like small-group personal training than a large-group class.

To sign-up, visit www.ccfymca.org.

+

what people are saying “I was so happy to hear CrossFit was being offered by our YMCA that I even recruited a co-worker.

CrossFit is a fun way for me to get back into shape. The workouts are always different and the sessions are never boring. I am able to have fun and still maintain the level of fitness needed to pass the physical fitness test for the Army Reserves.”

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march 2010 • Healthy Living 9

a Sequim psychologist asks

Why fish? + BY JENNIFER VENEKLASEN | Peninsula Daily News

Give Dr. Tim Berry a day out on the water and he can pretty much tell how you handle life.

The fly fishing psychologist/coach uses the waters of the North Olympic Peninsula and beyond to accelerate growth and inner balance, to help clients see “that which has been blocking them.”

As far as he knows, he’s the only guy anywhere who combines coaching and fly fishing, although there are others who do it with sailing, rock climbing and horseback riding.

He describes his business model as uniting what he loves to do with what he knows how to do.

Tim holds masters and doctoral degrees in religious studies and psychology, but the other side of his business — the fishing — blossomed when he happened upon a free fly casting lesson while on vacation almost 20 years ago.

“I was totally turned on to it, and haven’t looked back,” he says.

He maintained a clinical practice in psychology, but his focus now is in using fly fishing to coach people and organizations towards positive change.

Base of Operations The Center for Positive Change began in 1995 on the north end of Napa Valley, Calif. where Tim mainly catered to high-level executives, corporate leaders and other professionals.

He offered them executive coaching — a field that has its roots in sports psychology.

Whether it’s for the playing field, the tennis court, or the workplace, this type of brain science is all about enhancing performance, Tim says.

The Napa Valley is famous as a vacation destination with world-class restaurants and wineries, but not world-class fishing.

“Napa Valley had wonderful wine, but the water wasn’t so great,” Tim says, recalling that he usually had to drive clients five hours away to get any good fishing.

In 2005 The Center for Positive Change relocated to Sequim, giving Tim and his clients access to many unspoiled rivers, creeks, alpine lakes and ocean shorelines.

Just as he did in Napa Valley, Tim uses the Peninsula’s waters as a living metaphor to guide clients into an awakening process.

Sometimes the process begins within the more sterile confines of Tim’s office.

One of his recent clients, an entrepreneur in his mid 50s, came to Tim for help in under-

standing why a particular scenario continued to repeat itself in his life.

The client would work tirelessly on a new business venture, but as soon as he hit a roadblock — poof — he would blow up and the project would fizzle.

“I said to him, we need to go fishing,” Tim recalls. The man hesitated, but eventually accepted Tim’s offer.

From the moment they stepped onto the water, the man kept trying to muscle the fly rod. He wanted no instruction or help. He actually asked Tim to get lost.

Tim wandered downstream and watched from afar, knowing what the man failed to see — that fly casting is paradoxical; less is more.

The morning passed by, and finally, after much time and frustration, Tim saw his client get a good cast.

“STOP,” Tim yelled at him from across the river. Then Tim asked his client, “What did you do on that cast?”

“Well,” the man admitted, “I listened to what you said about casting . . . and then, I didn’t try as hard.”

Tim nodded at him knowingly and said, “let’s sit down and talk.”

The man realized that trying “too hard” wasn’t working in his life, his business or with his teenage kids.

He couldn’t muscle his way on the river, just as he couldn’t muscle his way through life.

Tim and his client worked on that theme for the remainder of the weekend. Once they were back in the office, they continued to work with the metaphor.

The man practiced letting go.

It turns out that being on the water facilitated the profound change Tim’s client needed.

The man couldn’t see these things about himself while in the midst of his life and business — he needed the outdoors to open him up and thus set him on a new, more successful course.

“There’s something primal and spiritual about it,” Tim says of fishing.

“They start to learn to trust themselves more and that somehow opens them up. I know its the water.”

The doctor is quick to admit that he doesn’t care if his clients catch a fish.

“That’s just a bonus,” Tim says. “I’m more interested in people leaning to trust, to deal with disappointment and to honor their hopes and dreams.”

Few people have passion, he says, but water

10 Healthy Living • march 2009

Dr. Tim Berry fishing on the Elwha River.

jump starts and hastens that process.

Tim believes water can help people work through fear and get in touch with what they love to do.

Years ago he was cautioned that if he took his passion — fishing — and turned it into a job, it could lose its meaning.

Well, that hasn’t happened yet.

“There is something about the combination of fishing and coaching that turbo-boosts it for me,” Tim says about his work. Dodging hooks and untangling fishing line — “those are less than fun,” he says.

For people fishing on their own, Tim would tell them to listen and look for their own voice.

“That’s what we are missing the most because there is so much noise and clutter in our lives,” he says.

Standing in the water and casting is all about balance, and as such, it can get people in touch with life and work balance.

Bug biology is another part of the joy of fly fishing for Tim. He loves learning and teaching others about the quick transitions a mayfly makes from egg, to spinner, through the mating process and then to death (the best time for fish to gobble them up).

Humans go through similar, although usually much slower, transitions. The question,

Tim says, remains: what are we going do before we become fish food?

Casting a literary line Tim is in the midst of writing a book called “Why Fish.”

He has interviewed some of the biggest names in fly fishing including Tom Brokaw; Patagoinia’s radical founder, Yvon Chouinard; the world-famous fly fisher woman Joan Wulff; and Tom Skerritt, the actor who played the father in “A River Runs Through It.” Among other things, he asks them simply, “why do you fish?”

Their answers are surprisingly varied.

For Brokaw it’s all about humility, Tim says.

“The fish don’t care who I am,” Brokaw told Tim as they sat in his rustic New York office.

For Tim, the answer to the question of “Why fish?” lies in his own wildness.

“We are way too domesticated,” he says.

“And that dampens who we are.”

“When I hook a fish it does everything it can to remain wild — it fights, and I feel that tension in the line.

“That enlivens the wildness in me.”

He gets the same rush of excitement and wholeness when he releases the fish back into the wild, feeling its body writhe and its heart beat towards freedom.

A publication of the Peninsula Daily News

>>> Weight loss, continued from page 8

>>> First Step success story, continued from page 7

Everyone was instructed to match the duties to the person they thought was responsible for them. All of a sudden Maggie’s name was covered in yellow sticky notes.

“It was very intimidating,” she says. “But it also felt good because it was like they already really needed me.”

That staff retreat was nine years ago, and Maggie is still passionate about her work at First Step.

She acts as the office manager, handles all of the Medicaid billing, has spent time at the Port Angeles Dream center educating the community on what First Step does, has done outreach work with teen moms and Native American moms through the March of Dimes, and has even helped incarcerated mothers make a plan for treatment upon their release.

Maggie has also been privy to the more heartbreaking side of First Step’s work. The center provides a place for supervised child visitations which can be emotional and draining. Parents who relapse into drug and alcohol abuse are also among the challenges.

Maggie has cried over the harsh realities.

But seeing families be successful and grow is what keeps her coming back.

“There are hard times and there are big rewards,” she says.

“I’m thankful when I see moms move in a better direction.”

Maggie went on to build her own home through the Mutual Self-Help Program, a “sweat equity” program sponsored by the Housing Authority of Clallam County in which a group works together to build each other’s homes.

Participants work together under the guidance of a construction supervisor to build their own homes, contributing at least 65 percent of the labor as a down payment. No one moves in until all the homes in the group are complete.

Maggie’s future husband just happened to be building a home across the street — that’s how they met.

Today they have a beautiful family, complete with Maggie’s two sons and their 2-year-old daughter.

Over the years, Maggie says, her employment at First Step has been a saving grace. When questions about potty training, discipline, or one of the hundred other things mothers need to know comes up, the hugely supportive environment surrounds Maggie and shows her the way through.

“I love my job, the people, and I believe in what we do,” she says.

“I hope to be a part of the future of First Step and all the different ways we can serve families.”

Purchase no white foods like white bread, white sugar, white flour, salt, white potatoes.

Then eat the foods you purchase.

3.) Pick one or more forms of movement that you like and do one five days the first week for only 10 minutes.

Write it down. Find a small journal to daily track food eaten each day, movement, and personal discovery time. Not only does this provide you with a concrete record, but it awakens you to a conscious lifestyle.

Get support — some can do this work alone, but many need support. Luckily there is plenty.

Find a friend who wants to work on the same things. Seek out a support group.

Self-saboteurs are a reality. We all have them.

They derail us. Don’t worry if you can’t make the life changes yourself. Help is available Make the personal commitment — a commitment to change is a crucial component to weight and life management. Making a commitment to yourself as a number one priority can become a catalyst for change and can keep personal contracts and commitments alive.

As a final note, have fun and be gentle with yourself — one step at a time.

Janet Goldenbogen-Self, RN, RC, is a holistic health counselor and president of Holistic Therapies located in Port Townsend. She offers a variety of wellness services including a 12-week Conscious Eating/Conscious Living support group that is scheduled to start this month.

For more information, phone Janet at 360-3798134 or visit www.holistictherapiespt.com.

To kick off weight loss, commit to one week of food shopping that includes only whole, unrefined items. Then eat them.

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march 2010 • Healthy Living 11

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