Who likes lists? In this month's Tune Up, we're checking in and listing off the various pieces that are meaningful components of our wellness. Some are tangible tools (like lists) that help us manage our time and stay on track with our values. Others are less tangible qualities like courage, vulnerability, and friendship that we try to cultivate through our practices.

If we think of all of these pieces like ingredients in the recipe of life, we can recognize that not everyone needs the same amounts or even the same ingredients to live their life on the wellness side. What matters is to discern what your values are, what behaviors you need to engage in day by day to live in alignment with those values, and then put those pieces into practice.

One quick note on connection. One of the most helpful pieces that humans need to live well is connection with others. This can be friends, family, co-workers, romantic partners, etc. We all benefit from connecting with others who support and enhance our wellness - and this sometimes means limiting contact/connectedness with those who do not support our wellness. This isn't easy, but it is necessary. 

If you like this episode, check out some of our other Tune Up episodes - these shorter episodes come out once a month!

Is there something you're struggling with? Or something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember -  The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Free- Not under the control or in the power of another. 

If you want to free yourself, forgiveness is part of that process. Free your self with forgiveness, unchain yourself from those wounds and move forward in a healthy manner.  No hate, no retaliation, no extra weight, just eyes forward and keep moving step by step.  This week the Instigator and the Yogi attempted to tackle forgiveness and they did not hold back (or disappoint). 

Forgiveness offers many positive benefits, including reducing unhealthy reactions to anger, releasing stress and cortisol, lowering blood pressure, as well as reducing the effects of anxiety and depression. 

The team talk about releasing wounds in order to move forward in life cultivating healthy relationships. These relationships include the one you have with yourself and those you have with others. Falling into the pitfalls of negative thoughts will only encourage negative feelings and actions. Try forgiving yourself for not knowing better, for not having all the information to make a better decision, for doing what was needed to survive. Forgive yourself for any mistakes you have made in the past and it will help you use your mistakes to refine you instead of define you.  

Make sure to go back through the other episodes and try them out!

Is there something you're struggling with? Or something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember -  The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below: 

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This week we are delighted to welcome another therapist on Pieces To Wellness to talk with the Instigator and the Yogi. Jenna is a mental health counselor with Ellie Mental Health in Latham, NY. Jenna's enthusiasm and passion for helping others was engaging and clear right from the beginning. 

Like Tim and Karen, Jenna is all about busting the stigma related to mental health, and she loves to talk about things that others shy away from. One of Jenna's specialties is helping folks with OCD - obsessive compulsive disorder, which is a diagnosis she also has. Jenna opens up about her own challenges with OCD, breaks down some of the myths about this condition, and shares some tips and tools that have helped her along the way.

People's lived experiences are rarely black and white - life has so many sides and perspectives to explore. We are grateful to Jenna for bravely sharing her perspective on "the other side of OCD", bringing this diagnosis out of the darkness and into the light.

To schedule an appointment with an Ellie counselor, visit: elliementalhealth.com. They have locations all over, including 2 offices in NY's Capital Region: Latham and Clifton Park.

Is there something you're struggling with? Or something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

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This week's episode is short and sweet, and hopefully one you'll come back to over and over. One of the pieces that's been especially transformative for Karen's wellness is meditation, and this week she shares a guided meditation.

Before the guided meditation, Tim and Karen describe what meditation is, and what it's not. We even try to dispel some of the myths about meditation. One of the most common myths about meditation is that if you find yourself having to refocus on meditating over and over, then you're doing it wrong. In fact, refocusing on meditating over and over is what meditation is. Like most of the pieces we share, practice = progress, and meditation is no different. We don't strive for perfection here, there's no such thing.

Karen shares a relatively simple 5 minute guided meditation, and we hope that you'll listen to this part as often as you need to incorporate meditation into your wellness/self-care practices. We want to know what other tips and tools you want to hear more about! Breathwork? Journaling? Yoga?

Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected] and share your requests with us!
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

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This week we're delighted to welcome Cormac, a counselor from Ellie Mental Health. We met Cormac recently at the open house for their new office in Clifton Park, and knew we had to get him on the podcast! 

Cormac wanted to help people from a very young age, and naturally became a counselor. We found him kind, funny, with an ideal mix of knowledge, easygoingness, and a genuine caring heart. While he works with people across the whole age range, he specializes in working with children/teens, and especially boys. We talked a lot about the various strategies he uses to encourage male teenagers to talk about their emotions in a way that helps them understand that emotions are a natural part of the HUMAN experience. 

Cormac's services really run the gamut. From anxiety, depression & grief to sexual assault, domestic violence, physical abuse, and ADHD… Cormac can help. 

Stay tuned for more counselors from Ellie mental health! In the coming weeks, we'll be sharing some more great interviews with several other counselors from Ellie. 

To schedule an appointment with an Ellie counselor, visit: elliementalhealth.com. They have locations all over, including 2 offices in NY's Capital Region: Latham and Clifton Park.

Is there something you're struggling with? Or something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

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What are the Instigator and the Yogi up to this week? Better yet, what are they up to all the time?

During a recent interview (tune in next week for that conversation), a guest asked us what our mission is. In our usual way, we tag-teamed a response on the spot, then reflected on it individually. This week we identify and unpack our mission, the mission of Pieces to Wellness.

In short, our mission is to educate, inspire, and support. This holds true whether we're in the studio, on the bike, on the yoga mat, behind the zoom camera or just out and about in the world. We truly walk our talk and strive to practice our values day in and day out. Some days it comes easy, most days it feels like work. 

In each episode we plant seeds, one conversation at a time. It is our hope that these conversations provide you with new information, a touch of inspiration, and the support of knowing you're not alone. We're glad you're here!

Is there something you're struggling with? Or something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below: 

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The title of our podcast, Pieces to Wellness, can be interpreted in several ways. One is that wellness is like a puzzle and the image on the puzzle that we aspire to is different for everyone. Wellness is a broad, holistic concept with many interconnected parts. This week, we list as many parts or pieces as we can think of - those that help us most and those that we struggle to remember to implement.

We don't suggest that you try to put the whole puzzle together in one sitting, and you especially don't have to do it all by yourself. The actual pieces that complete your individual puzzle may even shift and evolve over time and that's ok. We hope to give you an idea of some of the pieces that work best for us, hoping that this will help you realize what works best for YOU. 

Plus, we LOVE lists. So if you don't know where to start, jot down the pieces that resonate for you and pick one or two to put into practice. A couple additional pieces that we thought of after the fact: staying off social media as much as possible, autonomy/sovereignty - thinking and acting for yourself, self-efficacy - simply believing that you can succeed, and service to others can all be key components to a life of wellness.

If you liked this episode, check out our Recipes for Wellness episode. Think of it like taking the ingredients in this episode and combining them into your own recipe for wellness!

Is there something you're struggling with? Or something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below: 

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Purpose. Joy. Flow. Kindness. Our guest this week is Leon Logothetis, widely known as "the kindness guy." This conversation is sure to boost your spirits, warm your heart, and maybe even inspire some faith in the inherent kindness of humanity.

Leon shares his story of what inspired him to step away from a life that looked "successful" on the outside, but was deeply unfulfilling to him personally. In search of the lived experience of kindness, he journeyed to many places around the world, relying on the kindness of others to literally sustain him as he traveled. As you might imagine, this adventure led to profound experiences, deep introspection, and some truly extraordinary stories. 

Leon chronicled this journey in The Kindness Diaries which is available on Netflix and Prime Video. Most recently, he released a film, The Kindness Within, also available on Prime Video (trailer linked here) which tells the story of his trip to India. Tim and Karen believe wholeheartedly that mental health is an inside job, and that being kind to yourself is one of the most important parts of holistic wellness, so we are delighted to welcome Leon to Pieces to Wellness. 

Check out all of Leon's offerings at: https://www.leonlogothetis.com/.

Kindness changes everything.

Do you have a suggestion for a possible guest? Or something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

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This week's episode discusses a common feature of depression and anxiety known as rumination. Rumination is also described as overthinking, and like many other symptoms of depression and anxiety, it tends to fuel itself. Ultimately, when we're ruminating, we're not being present or mindful, we're retelling old stories and/or anticipating possible future scenarios worriedly. While these thoughts may be attempts to protect ourselves, they are generally not helpful, and often completely untrue.

The antidote to rumination is mindfulness. But when you're in the grips of repetitive ruminative thinking, how do you break free? We share some key approaches that have worked for us - all of which involve interrupting our own thoughts - challenge those stories, assumptions, and worries. Movement is a great place to start. Karen shares the recovery mantra, "move a muscle, change a thought." 

Stopping ruminative thinking is a process - some days will be better than others. Noticing when you're ruminating, calling yourself out on it, and doing something about it, even something small, can make a huge difference. Once you find what works for you, rinse and repeat. Consider this a new tune up tool in your toolbox.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
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Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

Send us a text

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Another guest episode! This week we welcome Annah Elizabeth, founder and creator of the Five Facets of Healing Program. Annah's story is truly miraculous. 

Annah turned her intense personal experiences of loss, betrayal, and grief into an extraordinary approach to healing that includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. She shares her story with such openness and vulnerability and then describes the healing approach that emerged. Annah combines the modalities of Integrated Energy Therapy (IET) and other intuitive spiritual services with more traditional approaches. She is a widely renowned speaker who has been featured on the TEDx stage as well as in online forums such as Tiny Buddha and Open to Hope.

This conversation just begins to scratch the surface of Annah's offerings and tools, all of which are rooted in her own experience and supported by the bigger interconnectedness that all of humanity shares. We are honored to share this conversation and hope to have Annah back again soon!

To learn more about Annah and her offerings, visit: https://annahelizabeth.com/.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss?
Reach out on IG @piecestowellness or shoot us an email at [email protected].
Please check out our other episodes and tell a friend!
Remember - The road to a better you is paved with pieces to wellness…
Like, Follow, Share 🧩

Get a copy of Tim's book, Never Underestimate the Power of You by clicking the link below:

Send us a text

https://a.co/d/h7AQf91