It’s the time of year when your regularly scheduled programming for nutrition, exercise, and centering activities (like meditation and journaling) is interrupted for party hopping, shopping, and travelling. Throw into the mix the pressure of spending money and time (with perhaps some stress-inducing relatives), and it’s a wonder anyone says “Happy Holidays.”

Just as with the other eleven months of the year, you have a choice in whether you make your holidays merry and bright or, well, not so much.

In the busyness of the season, anxiety and depression can be gifts you’d rather not unwrap. But, they can be returned. 🙂

The key is to make a conscious effort to maintain a mind and body balance. While “mind/body connection” and “balance” are buzzwords that are often misconstrued and misunderstood, my friend and fellow Positively Positive contributor Dr. Frank Lipman and I want to offer some practical, easy daily tools to help you find a little more presence this holiday (your presence, by the way, is the ultimate present, despite what Target and Best Buy want you to believe).

7 Daily Tips for Better Holiday Presence

Cut the Caffeine

Switch to decaf or, better yet, herbal tea. Caffeine is a stimulant that can trigger anxiety and depression by making your thoughts and mind feel chaotic. It is also extremely acidic, which leads to inflammation (a factor in many diseases and ailments, such as heart problems, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and weight gain) and a diuretic (causes dehydration).

Drinking. Messy or Merry?

As with caffeine, alcohol is acidic and dehydrating. Drinking can also overwork your liver and may interfere with your body’s ability to properly use oxygen, which can make you more sensitive to stress. Also, alcohol masks the symptoms of anxiety because it is a depressant (meaning it slows down the nervous system and increases feelings of sadness) and is a form of self-medication that ultimately exaggerates the problem.

Water to the Rescue

As mentioned above, alcohol and caffeine lead to dehydration, as do processed, sugary foods and a general lack of sufficient hydration. Dehydration interferes with proper brain and body functioning, which can be a trigger for anxiety and depression. Aim to consume half of your body weight in ounces of water per day.

Foods high in water content also count—so load up on the fruits and veggies. When your body does not get enough water, it starts to conserve and prioritize allocation, meaning certain body processes suffer. Increasing water intake flushes toxins and other depression contributing elements from your system at a faster rate and keeps your brain, digestive, and circulatory systems in their prime.

Get Enough Zzzzz… for Belly and Brain

Lack of sleep can make you more vulnerable to anxiety by making you edgy, unfocused, and hormonally imbalanced. And generalized feelings of tiredness worsen depressive symptoms.

Holiday parties can often lead you to grazing late into the evening. Remember, every part of your body needs its rest, including your belly! Get into the habit of resting your digestive system for at least ten hours a night. This means that if you eat breakfast at 7:00 a.m., try not to eat anything after 9:00 p.m. Another tip: don’t eat within two hours of bedtime so your digestive system isn’t revved up while you’re trying to get everything to hush.

Seven to eight hours of sleep a night is recommended for your body to renew, restore, and replenish.

Move Your Body

Do any sort of physical activity for a minimum of thirty minutes a day. It does not have to be thirty solid minutes. Take the stairs and walk whenever you can. Do some crunches and pushups while watching television. If you are not sure what to do, don’t stress about it! Whatever you enjoy doing that ups your heart rate is perfect. Exercise helps flush toxins and lowers anxiety and depression-provoking chemicals and hormones while it increases feel-good hormones.

Breathe. Release. Repeat.

Deep breathing slows the body’s rhythms and restores calm. This is a super effective and completely free way of ritualizing relaxation and being present.

RPM (Rise Pee Meditate)—from my meditation maestro and another Positively Positive contributor DavidJi. Wake up five minutes earlier to just sit in silence and stillness and set the tone for your day. Throughout the day, schedule your cell phone to vibrate every three or four hours to take five deeps breaths.

Common breathing technique: Breathe in deeply through your nose and exhale out of your mouth with a sigh. On each inhale, breathe in love, expansion, and joy, and on each exhale, breathe out any tension or fatigue.

Savor the Flavors

Eating slowly gives your body enough time to gear up, stoke the digestive fires, and signal to the gastrointestinal system that it’s time for digestion. Gulping your food down in a hurry is like piling logs in the fireplace and expecting a crackling fire to materialize without striking a match.

I hope you take the time to implement some of these suggestions. You are worth the effort!

If your depression and anxiety are debilitating to the point of interfering with daily functioning, please seek treatment from a licensed professional. Therapy is a gift you can give yourself even if you are not suffering from clinical depression and anxiety. Consider it one hour a week that you do not have to take care anyone but yourself!

In the spirit of the season, we want to gift a member of the Positively Positive community a spot in our 21-Day Mind/Body Cleanse! In the comments section, tell us what you are struggling with, why creating and sustaining a healthy way of life has proved challenging for you, and what you hope this new balance will bring to your life. We will announce the winner in my blog next Friday, December 14th. We want you to ignite a revolution to achieving your resolutions in 2013!

Love Love Love

Terri and Dr. Frank

Terri Cole, founder and CEO of Live Fearless and Free, is a licensed psychotherapist, transformation coach, and an expert at turning fear into freedom. A cornerstone of Terri’s practice, meditation, was the impetus for her recently released guided mediation CD Meditation Transformation. Terri can be found on her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

*Liver-Palooza! A fundraiser for my sister’s liver transplant*

December 15th. 2:00 pm. The Mercedes Club (550 W. 54th, NYC).

An afternoon of amazing people gathering for an amazing cause! Sweat with an Intensati workout from Patricia Moreno…Meditate with DavidJi…Bid on auction items like a seat to Marie Forleo’s B-School, a Personal Fire Starter Session with Danielle LaPorte, a year’s membership to Tara Stiles’ Strala Yoga, a 1-on-1 Session with Kris Carr, a seat to Mama Gena’s Pleasure Bootcamp, just to name a few…Shop for books, CDs, jewelry, and other perfect presents…Enjoy yummy food and giveaways…

*For a list of silent auction items, click here!

We’re still adding, so check back and come prepared on the 15th!

Donate $35 to Tammi’s Liver Transplant. Your receipt is your ticket to entry (PLUS! You get my downloadable meditation CD). Reserve Your Space Now!

*Photo by kelp1966.

