Health & Wellness Articles

Now, in this strange time of social distancing and quarantine, it is more important than ever to stay connected with our friends and loved ones. Check in with your friends that you haven’t heard from. Reach out to others if you are feeling alone, down, anxious, or afraid.

The fast-growing COVID-19 pandemic is impacting all our lives.We understand this is a difficult time for all of us, and it’s taking a toll on our health – mental and physical. We wanted to share some tools that can help you stay calm & centered.

If there is one book we recommend you read now, it would be The Rumi Prescription by Melody Moezzi. Melody’s story of courage and resilience intertwined with the timeless wisdom of Rumi is sure to soothe and strengthen us all.

As a young girl I was always very active. I started out with ballet as a toddler which led to highland dancing as I got a bit older. From then on, I was involved in a variety of sports such as volleyball, soccer and basketball. This kept me very busy as a child, if I wasn’t at school I was at practice or a game.

Instead of becoming consumed with my restlessness, I would focus on just free drawing and making up different patterns and configurations. It helped me take my mind off whatever was bothering me at the time, and at the end I would have a piece of art and a sense of achievement. Cutting would only ruin the design I spent time creating and over time my dependency on self-harm shrank. 

Here are 12 questions all of us should ask about our mental health. Please share this checklist with your family, friends, and colleagues to start the conversation about mental health. 

ASHA International salutes mental heroes like Emily Wu Truong featured in this newsletter for her courage in sharing her story to give hope to others on their road to recovery and well being.

Chacku’s shedding light on his unique cross-cultural perspective on well-being.

Anusha is a 19-year-old, dreamer, fashion designer, aspiring psychologist, poet, writer, blogger and mental health activist who was born and raised in California and currently lives in Bangalore, India. 

Dave Mowry is an author and stand-up comedian who has performed  40 Stand Up for Mental Health shows sharing his story and shattering the stigma surrounding mental health conditions, one joke at a time. And in his book, No Really, We Want You to Laugh.

Bekah Miles is a member of ASHA International’s Healthy Minds, Healthy Lives Speakers Bureau and the winner of the 2016 HopeBringer Award.

Melody Moezzi, an Iranian-American writer, activist, attorney and award-winning author.

Francisco Stork is a lawyer and author of six novels including a young adult novel The Memory of Light, inspired in part by his own experience with depression.

Depression affects 350 million people of all ages, from all walks of life, and in all countries around the world. It impacts people’s ability to carry out even the simplest everyday tasks and can have a devastating impact on their ability to earn a living, and their relationships with family and friends. When left untreated, depression can lead to suicide.

Twenty-seven years ago, a psychiatric nurse introduced me to the gifts of maintaining a gratitude journal and it has transformed my life. Every day, regardless of where I am in the world, I meditate and journal at least three things I am grateful for.

I don’t have the time or the need for exercise. But, my psychiatrist insisted that exercise could relieve my depression and boost my overall well-being.

Social connections improve physical health and mental and emotional well-being, boosts immunity, and lowers the level of anxiety and depression.

Each morning, after I meditate and brush my teeth, I drink a glass of water and offer gratitude for its many health benefits to energize, nourish and sustain my body and mind.  Water helps boost energy levels, regulates weight, lowers stress, builds muscle and tones, nourishes our skin, reduces kidney stones and helps us stay regular.

The yogis say “if you can control your breathe, you can control your life.” Our breathe is a barometer of our physical and emotional health. 

Each year, I reaffirm my resolve to nurture my health – physical, emotional, and spiritual. Ironically, it wasn’t until I was debilitated by depression that I realized the critical importance of emotional health.

I have learned over the years that alone we struggle; together we thrive. Yet, the stigma surrounding mental health issues deters most of us from seeking help.

On a beautiful sun-kissed evening in June, my dear friend Michele gathered a group of friends in her beautiful garden for an evening of friendship and conversation – about mental health. As the hummingbirds fluttered from bloom to bloom, we savored blueberry...

Listening to Kailash speak helped me realize that anger can be transformed into collective action to overcome many a global injustice – whether it is child labor or the stigma and discrimination marginalizing the lives of people living with mental illness.

Over the last twenty years, I have created a Personalized Wellness Action Plan that has helped me thrive despite recurrent bouts of depression. The daily practice of pranayama, Transcendental Meditation, journaling, and exercise, combined with proper nutrition, hydration, meaningful work, loving relationships, service, joyful hobbies, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and sleep have helped me thrive despite the stressors and setbacks of life.    

I had the honor of meeting Dr. James Gordon; a Harvard educated psychiatrist, and a world-renowned expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, anxiety, and psychological trauma.

It takes tremendous will power to turn off the lights and go to sleep while daylight lingers a bit longer each day. Yet, I have learned over the years, that I need to get eight hours of sleep to be healthy and productive.  

“Gayu, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” my mother used to insist, “It’s not enough to know how to do calculus. It is also important to know how to cook.” 

Social connection improves physical health and psychological well-being. And, the social support of family and friends has been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological consequences of stress and may enhance immune function.  

For the first time in my life, I met others like myself, people struggling with mental health issues, and I knew I was not alone. In the two weeks I spent in their midst, I received the gifts of hope, acceptance, compassion, love, and understanding that has helped me heal, and inspired me to help others like myself heal.

Many scientific studies, including research by renowned psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, have found that people who consciously focus on gratitude experience greater emotional well-being and physical health than those who don’t.

A 41-year old mother of two struggling with schizoaffective disorder was hospitalized due to her deteriorating health – she had lost 65 pounds in a few months and was haunted by hallucinations – once a vibrant woman who had plenty of friends, an MBA, and a career, today she spends her time talking to the imaginary demons in her head. And, a 24-year-old young man, struggling with depression, shot and killed himself. 

A wonderful work of mental health advocate and advocacy that is tearing down the insidious chains of stigma and discrimination, one day, one person at a time.

Nick Vujicic was born in Australia to a Serbian immigrant family, with a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Most of his childhood he struggled with depression, and after a suicide attempt, he decided to concentrate on what he did have instead of what he didn’t. He realized that his life story inspires many people.

Inspiring stories of people who have defied their diagnoses and discovered meaningful careers and highlight an organization that is promoting recovery through work.

Intention is the starting point of every spiritual path. It is the force that fulfills all of our needs, whether for money, relationships, spiritual awakening, or love. Intention generates all the activities in the universe.

Grateful people — those who perceive gratitude as a permanent trait rather than a temporary state of mind — have an edge on the not-so-grateful when it comes to health, according to Emmons’ research on gratitude.

Over the last two decades, I have created a life of holistic wellness by integrating the Eight Dimensions of Wellness: Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Social, Intellectual, Occupational, Financial, and Environmental. And, my new-found wellness has empowered me to create a life of meaning and purpose.    

Summer is one of my favorite seasons when my spirit soars with the sun and my blooming garden. Nurturing my garden nurtures my mind, body, and soul. And, it reminds me that cultivating wellness is very much like cultivating a garden. It takes a whole lot of hard work, dedication, and willingness to live in harmony with nature.  

There is a quote that says, “Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.” That day, Aida taught me that while depression has no barriers-not of age, gender, nationality, religion, or socioeconomic status–hope has no boundaries. Hope has the power to heal and make us whole again.

Meditation once believed to be a practice relegated to mystics, has increasingly become mainstreamed over the last couple of decades. 

Robert and his ensemble captivated the 300 conference attendees with their divine music, I stood in awe, witnessing the transcendent power of music to unite us as a people, comfort, inspire, and heal our souls.