Inside The Polished Apple

Thank you to Margaret Kennedy, Registered Acupuncturist and Reflexologist with Elan Family Wellness Centre, for these words about Mother Earth.  Men are born soft and supple; dead they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail. – Lao Tzu   Growth               Vision               Purpose               Anger/Benevolence The season of the Wood element is spring, when our Mother the Earth wakes from winter’s slumber and is reborn. Thus, Wood is the season of rebirth and new growth. The energy rises up and out of the ground with strong, creative force, exemplified in th...

Thanks to Scott Hutchison, Registered Massage Therapist and Professional Coach, working with us at Elan Family Wellness  Centre, in Bowness, NW Calgary, for these thoughts on our April ahead.  It is a brand new month and we have slid into my favourite month. Yes, April is my favourite because it is when Calgary wakes up from its long winter slumber. The daylight grows and so do the plants. My kids wander outside to help wake up our sleepy yard. I wander out and take stock of the work that needs to happen. If we look to this new season Mother Earth had gifted us, we can use it quite easily as a metaphor for our own life. Spring is a transformational season. A season when the resting and reflection gives way to motion, action and novelty. Like the first buds on the hedge. The small green shoots poking through the earth to become the first blooms of the year. Our lives go through these cycles. Expansion, contraction and a neutral static state. Recently, I started offe...

Spring arrived on time this year! I am so happy and relieved to see the sun and to be out in the warm weather-thank you to our Mother Earth! We have been a hive of activity around Elan this past month. We've been at the Just Be YYC market at The Village in Brentwood, The Mom Community Market with Mothering Vine, at a Lunch and Learn with our local service groups Carya and Bowwest (with food from an amazing program for youth, Redefin'd) and hosted our own Women's Wellness evening at Elan. All of these events relied on a number of community partners and supporters: Sage Traditions ,  Bev Wein Citrinity Healing , Lucy Pilch Routine. Natural deodorant. , Pippa Blair Real Organic Solutions , Mizahel Chaplain Young Living, Intuitive Readings & Reiki,  Sandra Catania Horse and Heart Connection , Marilyn MacLean Dr. Theodora Lo One Love Float , Treeka Calm N' Barrel Smiley Seahorse Ceramics Rumina Naturals April is always a special time for us to recognize our Mo...

Thank you to Dr Robert Clarke, Chiropractor with Elan Family Wellness Centre in Bowness, NW Calgary, for this article related to our Mother Earth month.  With Spring here, its great to feel the warmth of the sun and see the budding of new life everywhere. It helps us soften the memory of one of the coldest February's in recent history. Yet Mother nature is wise always balancing elements. We had a milder than usual January, this woke up the Pine beetles and Ticks, so they began to wake from their winter hiding to then be faced with The February Freeze. This helps to control the destruction of our pine forests, and decreasing the tick populations, both good things that we humans could not adequately manage. So take the time to observe the flow of nature from a grander perspective and marvel in the wisdom of Mother Earth. In the same way, monitor your body and your health. Often our body responds in ways that don’t make sense to us. Being sick isn’t always a sign of poor health. In ...

I have a fear of heights and a plan to hike the West Coast Trail this summer.  The trail just happens to have numerous ladders, suspension bridges and cable cars, so I need to get over my fear. Fast! So I did the only logical thing and booked us a Beginner Lesson at the Calgary Climbing Centre , which is located just minutes from our home and office. While I thought we'd be learning how to climb (yes, but not really), what we were really learning was how to get the harness on properly, how to tie our rope to our harness, how the belay system works (and how to properly and safely hook that on) and how to communicate succinctly when you are climbing and belaying. Once that's all figured out, then you get to climb. By the way, the lesson was excellent and we had a great teacher.  I conveniently have NO photos of me clinging to the rope. Once I was hooked up, climbing up the wall was okay-picking the easy holds of course. The torture for ...

Such a fun evening for our practice members and community members! We started the evening with a meditation with Margaret, our Acupuncturist at Elan. Lisa, Registered Massage Therapist, led us in stretches for Heart Openers-to help open up from our forward bending posture.  Next was Jodey Sharman, Registered Pyschologist, who spoke on the topic: People Pleasing... Is it OK to not be nice? Last up was myself, Dr Josephene Juell, speaking on 3 Myths about Women's Health that will SHOCK you!  We had beautiful gift bags with items donated by a number of local businesses. Thank you to Sage Traditions , Routine Cream , Rumina Naturals, Citrinity , Young Living/ Sandra Catania , Horse and Heart Connection , Naturally Unique and Dr Rob's chocolates! And of course, yummy food and drink and a photo booth.  Mizael from Real Organic Creations with samples of his raw cashew cheese.  Thank you for a wonderful ev...

Thank you to Margaret Kennedy, Acupuncturist at Elan Family Wellness Centre in Bowness, NW Calgary, for this advice on Self Care. Hello Everyone, Spring is coming, the time of year to start nurturing oneself for the coming year. What Self-Care do you make for yourself? You are in charge of your life, so choose to be kind to yourself, make the time for YOU. Value yourself – your time, set limits and priorities, make the time for what is important for YOU. Where are you going with your life? Look at all aspects of your Life: Health, Physical, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual, Relationships. Leisure time - fun, adventure, how do you like to spend  your  leisure time? Career/work related issues. Do you like what you do? List your likes, dislikes, ambivalent – then examine them, and eliminate those that are not necessary. Take one hour per day, quiet time for you and be by yourself – Go for a walk   Meditate Relax Have a bath with candles and music around you Fin...