Pieces To Wellness

This week the Instigator and the Yogi are back to our roots, talking friend to friend, peer to peer, about what's going on for us. Our topic? How do we find, maintain, cultivate grace under pressure? 

Let's face it, life is challenging, and emotions are compelling. They are designed to get our attention, and sometimes are meant to help us determine our next step. A term we hear regularly these days is emotional regulation, which relates to our ability to manage our emotional response relative to what's going on in the external world. Managing emotions sometimes feels like trying to wrangle a beast, or calm a storm, particularly when this is a skill we haven't had much practice with.

And that's the thing, regulating our emotions, exhibiting grace under pressure, is a practice; it requires effort and consistence. If we tend to be emotionally reactive, this can be a sign that we are operating on autopilot, which for many of us consists of patterns of behavior shaped by past experiences, present circumstances, and the resulting reactions which are not always healthy - at least not for us! When one is emotionally regulated (a state which comes and goes), there tends to be a pause between the physiological emotion (which lasts about 90 seconds) and the response. That pause? That's where your power is. Listen to us dig into this and share with a friend!

Is there something you're struggling with? Or something you'd like to hear us discuss?
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This week we're stoked to welcome Nick to the show. Nick is a physical therapist by day, and a musician, well, all the time. He's the guitarist for local band Gozer, and the brains behind the upcoming Joint Jam on 10/10 at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs, NY. This event brings together 9 local and touring bands and emphasizes community and wellness through partnership with HeartSupport Upstate NY. 

One of the things the three of us agree on right away is that healing is multifaceted and one of the facets or “pieces” to that, is music. Music is the universal language. Music is healing. Nick shares with us how the themes of community and music are celebrated where he works, Capital Area Physical Therapy & Wellness. They've integrated music into their work with patients as well as their interactions with each other in creative, interesting ways to stay humble, hungry, and motivated. 

Given the many ways music inspires movement, connection, and community, Nick has created the first Joint Jam, which weaves together all of these key pieces to wellness. The Instigator and the Yogi of course share our perspectives on how we connect these pieces in our own lives. If you want to get tickets to Joint Jam click HERE ($15 in advance/$20 at the door). To find out more about Gozer, go to gozerny.com or check them out on IG @gozer_music.

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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This week we are delighted to welcome a dear friend to the show. Suzanne O'Connor is one of Karen's seminary sisters. She lives in the Capital Region and recently published a memoir about her relationship with her sister Nancy titled, "'I Don't Want to Be Mean or Anything' said my Special Sister to the World". Available on Amazon HERE.

Suzanne's sister Nancy lived with multiple mental health and developmental challenges, which Suzanne describes in her book and with us with honesty, dignity, grace, and humor. We dig into the complexities of growing up in a large family with a sibling with special needs, and explore how relationships with family evolve greatly over time. She shares heart-wrenching stories of how a system based on recovery was often insufficiently able to meet the needs of people with persistent mental illness like Nancy.

Nancy was well-known for her natural gregariousness, her blunt statements of truth - sometimes silly/funny, often deeply profound, and her general selfless nature. Her insights were often spot-on, and her Nancy-isms are bound to bring a smile to your face! 

If you're interested in reading Suzanne's book, it's available for purchase 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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In recognition of September as suicide awareness and prevention month, our guest conversations this month are with people whose lives have been affected by suicide. This week, Pieces to Wellness is honored to share a really special conversation we had with Justine. 

Justine's brother Ryan died by suicide, and we admire her bravery in sharing her experience with such honest vulnerability. What Justine did next is truly extraordinary. She used her pain as motivation to raise suicide awareness in the construction industry where she works. We were fascinated to learn that the AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) has an initiative targeting suicide prevention in construction called Hard Hat Courage. Click the link to learn more! In fact, Construction Suicide Prevention Week occurs annually, to learn more, click HERE.

It was especially touching when Justine talked with us about her brother Ryan. Her love for her big brother shone through in every word. Justine's team for this year's AFSP Walk (Capital Region Walk for RITA) is Ryan's Relic Band. In fact, this whole conversation is genuine, honest, and filled with compassion. Please share it with someone you love.

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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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.

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. 

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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Things do get better … 

This week, we are honored to welcome Kristen Christy to the podcast. Kristen is co-creator of 988, the suicide and crisis lifeline. In the 4 years since 988 became available, they have responded to 23.3 MILLION calls/texts/chats. Literally saving lives each and every day.

Kristen describes herself as a hope dealer; she continuously spreads the message that hope is not cancelled. And what is hope? Hope can be the invitation to Help One Person Everyday or the message: Hold On, Pain Eases. Kristen leans on her role as a military spouse to reframe experiences, and reminds us that by asking for help, we give other people hope.

We also get into some of the nitty gritty of building and providing suicide awareness and prevention. We encourage people to develop a safety plan  consisting of 3 warning signs that you may need help, 3 reasons to stay alive, and 3 people to call. Sometimes prevention is intervention. Kristen also talks with us about post-vention, what to do after a crisis. This recovery period includes caring for the person who's had a crisis in a way that facilitates belonging and connection.

It bears repeating, 988 is a literal lifeline. Share this episode with someone you care about!

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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This week, we're re-releasing our episode on suicidal ideation in honor of Suicide Awareness month. We're talking about the difference between active and passive suicidal ideation. First of all, it's normal to think about suicide. It's much more common than most people think (a study from the NIH found that over 10% of the U.S. population experiences passive suicidal ideation in their lifetime). In this conversation we discuss the difference between passive thoughts and actively making plans to take your life. If you or anyone you know is having active suicidal ideation - meaning the person has made a plan to end their life, get help immediately. You can get help by calling 911, or by calling or texting 988 - the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

If you have passive thoughts of suicide that are becoming more frequent or intense, it's time to talk about it. There are many resources available for people who need help. By having these conversations, we hope to bring light to a dark subject. By bringing light to these subjects, we hope to help others find the courage to have conversations of their own. It all starts with normalizing conversations about mental health.

Here are some helpful links:
AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) - Find a mental health professional

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) - Crisis Intervention

IASP (International Association for Suicide Prevention) - Suicidal Crisis Support

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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Another raw, vulnerable conversation this week from the Instigator and the Yogi. This healing stuff is NOT for the faint of heart! In fact, the healing process is not linear, meaning that as we grow and heal, we uncover deeper layers of (fill in the blank) experience, emotion, awareness, learning, etc. This uncovering tends to be uncomfortable, and most of us dislike, or even avoid the uncomfortable. Therefore, self-sabotage is bound to creep up and companion most of us along the way.

We explore 3 ways that we can self-sabotage our own growth. To be clear, we are speaking from our own lived experiences here, and this is by no means an exhaustive list; we've actually barely scratched the surface. One way we self-sabotage is by shrinking ourselves to "keep the peace". For many of us, making ourselves small or quiet, masked or hidden likely helped us survive. Continually approaching all situations as potentially life-threatening keeps our nervous systems in a constant state of sympathetic arousal, and has numerous negative long-term effects, physiologically, psychologically, relationally.

The second way we self-sabotage is by saying yes when we want to say no. This behavior is very closely linked to the first method. Together, these two behaviors illustrate fawning, a trauma response that many of us adopt in unsafe environments or relationships. Over time, fawning behaviors become habitual, and appear to be deeply interwoven into the fabric of our personalities. 

You'll have to listen to the episode to get the deets on the third means of self-sabotage. Spoiler alert: stopping self-sabotage starts with noticing when you're doing it, and moving the needle of growth a little bit at a time. Slow and steady friends, slow and steady. 

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss? Someone you'd like to hear us talk to? 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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This week the Instigator and the Yogi get real and raw. How do you know if your brain is telling you the truth? When you realize that your perspective may be distorted, what do you do? 

Tim shares a trifecta of experience that is not for the faint of heart - feeling dismissed, misunderstood, and/or unheard. We talk through differentiating self-care from avoidance, loneliness from aloneness, fact from fiction. Ultimately, the answers emerge from the conversation itself. There's something to be said for sharing our thoughts and feelings, whether with a trusted friend or a page in a journal that helps new insights and connections emerge. Eventually, we recognize a common root, a connecting thread that links the feelings and experiences, and that's where the real healing begins.

We're reminded that one of the reasons we put these episodes out each week is to help ourselves process life. It's not all sunshine and rainbows and inspiration. This is where the rubber meets the road. Especially for folks living with mental health challenges, the act of processing our experiences and reactions helps to remove the distortions so that the direction of our inner compass can once again help us find our way. Enjoy!

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss? Someone you'd like to hear us talk to? 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, your favorite dynamic duo welcome Allison Karoly to the show! Allison is an energy and somatic practitioner, and founder of Amperella. Through Amperella, Allison provides a variety of complementary therapies including and often blending somatic experiencing, reiki, and emotion code to facilitate nervous system regulation and calm.

Allison shares her story of why this work chose her, and how it helped her in her own life, eventually leading her to share these healing practices with others professionally. She emphasizes that her work is bringing people back to themselves and helping them shift. This shift can be from stuck to self-assured, from indecisive to intuitive, even from reactive to resilient. These healing practices meet people where they're at, and often help folks find a path forward that they wouldn't have otherwise found.

As always, the Instigator and the Yogi share their own experiences with using these kinds of tools to help light the way for others. If you want to learn more about Allison's offerings, visit her website: theamperella.com or check her out on IG & FB @theamperella.

Is there something you're struggling with? Something you'd like to hear us discuss? Someone you'd like to hear us talk to? 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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https://a.co/d/h7AQf91