Mother’s Day Musings 2019

When I had my first baby, I experienced a pride and joy that I had never felt before. A deep swelling in my heart that I didn’t know was possible. Kind of like the Grinch who stole Christmas, where his heart grows two sizes that day. It felt indescribable to fall in love with this beautiful, red shriveled up, baby with a head full of hair that stood up like a chicken. He was the most beautiful being I had ever witnessed! I still feel this way about my son, he is a beautiful being with a kind and loving heart and soul.

The miraculous thing is that I felt this way with the births of each of my daughters and then I felt it all over again when I've been blessed to be a witness to the birth of both my Grandson and my Granddaughter.

There’s a reason we have these intense feelings. Because being a mother is intense!  Along with babies come intense emotions, love, joy, sadness, fear, disappointment, anger, pride, you name it. It is the most important job on the planet, in my humble opinion.  Whether your children are your biological children, adopted children, nieces, nephews or your plants or animals, feelings are intense, because we care so deeply. If we didn’t care, if we didn’t love, it wouldn’t hurt. If it doesn’t hurt, we might not learn the lesson in front of us. That’s just the way we humans are. Some of us need to touch the fire multiple times before we learn that it’s hot and painful and to treat it with respect.

Yesterday, I was listening to Dr. Wayne Dyer’s PBS special on Living the Tao, and he said that children don’t come into the world for us. They come into the world through us. Each of us and our children have an inner connection to a greater source, to God, to a higher power or whatever you want to call it. I personally agree that we are all connected to this higher power, and to each other. Just like the roots of trees in a forest. Our roots keep us strong and protected. But I also believe because we are all interconnected, that it feels like children bring special gifts for us too.

Our children teach us key skills like love, courage, compassion, compromise, and connection.  We learn of ourselves through relationship to others. We are hard-wired for social connection. Our social connection supports us when we do stupid things.

Notice I said when we do stupid things. Who hasn’t done something stupid and hurt a loved one? Who hasn’t been hurt by a loved one? Maybe you said you were going to show up for something and you didn’t. Maybe you weren’t present when really needed. Maybe your job or personal ambition interfered. Maybe something worse happened.

When this happens what do you do? We have two choices. We can stay stuck in the Dreaded Drama Triangle or we can choose a different dynamic. We can stay stuck in pain, anger and fear. Or we can create, coach and challenge each other. 

The latter is based on a coaching and spiritual model. I believe we are spiritual beings having a physical experience. I believe that our spirits live on after death. This is the only way I can love and work with my clients that may not outlive me. It’s the only way that I can make sense of my loved ones who’ve already left us. It helps me not only survive, but to thrive. My heart goes out to my loving Mother Sisters who have lost sons and daughters.  If we didn’t love, it wouldn’t hurt.

It's easy to get stuck in the Dreaded Drama Triangle. Our negative news and biased news stations fuel this fire. Our country has become politically polarized. We've become fearful and intolerant of other viewpoints. We have seemingly opposite opinions, without the skill or capacity to hear one another. We fall into a vicious cycle of feeling or acting like a Victim, a Persecutor and/or a Rescuer. We often play all three roles within the same scenarios.  Think of this with 3 small children. There is always an odd man out. Two will get along fine, the third often feels like a third wheel. Mom and Dad are often the rescuer for the victim, and/ or the persecutor when they scold a child, or may themselves feel like the “victim” when children misbehave.

How do we stop the drama triangle? Focus on where you want to go with The Empowerment Dynamic.  Instead of focusing on what’s wrong, focus on where you want to go. Recognize that we have free will.  We can continue to do what we did; and subsequently get what we got. Or we can create change. Instead of staying stuck in the Victim role we become the Creator. We consciously change course. We create our future. 

We move from the Persecutor role to the Challenger. Again, if we didn’t care, if we didn’t love, it wouldn’t be so challenging would it? Instead of persecuting each other, we challenge each other. We recognize this as an opportunity for growth. This gives us motivation to work through the muck.

Instead of taking sides and creating a senseless war where no one wins. We move from the Rescuer role to the Coach. This can be particularly challenging when you are dealing with a sick loved one, your spouse or your children. If you want  a strong foundation, you need deep strong roots. The Coach can be each other as accountability partners, or it can be a professional coach or therapist.  Sometimes, we get so stuck in the Rescue role that we may need to hire a coach to guide us through. 

The same is true when it comes to your health. You can feel like a Victim of your diagnosis or dis-ease. You can stay focused on your pain, your label and your limitations. Or you can become the Creator. Commit to the first step in my seven-step process and take an honest personal assessment. You then become accountable and can consciously choose to create change. One small step at a time. No one accomplishes big things by doing big things. Children don’t come out of the womb running. We take baby steps, one day at a time. We build huge buildings one brick at a time. Our coaches keep us consistent until we wake up one day and recognize the progress we’ve made.

What can heal our families, our politics, and ourselves? A Mother’s love.

If your Mother was unable to demonstrate this, have compassion for her, then create the Mother yourself. Our families can demonstrate both; where we want to go and where we don’t.

In being the Creator, will you choose to mother your own body? Will you choose to treat yourself with unconditional, unyielding love? Become conscious of every thought and action. Ask yourself, is this (belief, thought, action) based on fear or love? This, is the most loving thing you can offer your spouse, children, family and friends.

With these musings, I wish every one of you a Happy Mother’s Day!

With Love, Lisa

About Lisa Jackson, RN, CHC, RYT-500, AFMC

Lisa is an author, functional nutrition and functional medicine trained health coach, yoga teacher, and retired Registered Nurse with the mission to "Inspire, Educate and Empower" individuals and corporations to achieve optimal health.

Lisa's book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think & Thrive is a self-health book offering her Seven Steps to Optimal Health.

When she is not coaching, or speaking, you can find Lisa joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance or playing with her two grandchildren. She is the mother of four adult children and believes, "Optimal health should not be a secret."

Transformational Tuesday

Fall always feels transformational to me; this Fall especially so. I took the past two weeks to literally go into the woods….by myself. I unwittingly went into my “closed for renovation” mode.

I planned to spend 2 weeks with my daughter and take a Yin Yoga teacher certification in upper Michigan. Family issues prevented me from staying with my daughter, so I made the bold move to ask a friends Father to stay with them. This was a good exercise for me.  I like many, find it easier to give help than to ask for help.

I preceded this with a weekend with a dear friend and fellow nutritionists and was labeled the “one most stressed and challenged”. By the time I drove the 14 hours, and after a brief visit with my son, daughters and grandchildren, I had 4 hours to sleep before class began.

Here’s why I made the journey:

In this beautiful little beach town in upper Michigan lays a remarkable yoga studio. This haven, Yoga4, is owned by a wonderful, creative and talented woman, Christen Landry. Our instructor, Sandra Carden, is a remarkable woman with 50 years of experience, mentoring and mentored with other top teachers around the world.

What was Sandra’s transformational message?

“We are constantly remodeling ourselves, so we might as well be conscious about it.”

Think about everyone you know who sits at a computer all day and has neck and back pain and/or hunched back and shoulders. Think of the athletes who have sculpted muscles but cannot sit on the floor, nor have the flexibility to easily bend over to pick up a fallen object. Our bodies are constantly remodeling from our minute-by-minute choices. It’s up to us whether we are conscious or not in our movements.

Since “sitting is the new smoking,” it is important to get up and move every hour or two. Opposite movements heal.

It’s easy to push ourselves and overdo, especially with a full practice when preparing to leave town. So it was with me. Two and a half to four hours of yoga a day allowed me to unwind. I planned to work the first week but found myself detoxifying with a resultant headache and congestion. The gift of dis-ease is that it forces you to stop. Instead of work, I slept, I meditated, I cried. The fact that it was damp and cold with rain and thunderstorms just added to my mood. In the end, it felt cleansing.

Through yoga, I’ve learned to weather and even honor these low periods. Through acceptance of our imperfections, allows self-discovery and growth that leads to transformation.

Often we fail to recognize how we store our “issues in our tissues”. Yin Yoga is a way to gently unwind and remodel the body from the inside out. It is the opposite of the yang Vinyasa style of yoga. It’s the necessary balance to the type A workaholic or the competitive athlete. It is complementary medicine at it’s best. I plan to teach a combination class in my studio one night a week this fall. Email me if you are interested in joining us, ljackson@carpediemwellness.org 

I also took my own 7-day Intermittent Fasting KickStart program and found it quite natural and an easy plan to do. I also felt great on it. My friend Margo came over yesterday and thought I looked like I had lost weight. I definitely remodeled myself from the inside out.

If you’d like to learn more about our new 7 day Intermittent Fasting Kickstart, join us for a free online webinar this Thursday evening at 5pm. Click HERE to Register for the Webinar  We are partnering with Tasty6 to offer amazing fresh raw juices and more, to support your optimal health. 

Here’s to your personal transformation! Carpe Diem.

Lisa

About Lisa Jackson, RN, CHC, RYT-500, AFMC

Lisa is an author, functional nutrition, and functional medicine trained health coach, yoga teacher, and retired Registered Nurse with the mission to "Inspire, Educate and Empower" individuals and corporations to achieve optimal health.

Lisa's book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think & Thrive is a self-health book offering her Seven Steps to Optimal Health.

When she is not coaching, or speaking, you can find Lisa joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance or playing with her two grandchildren. She is the mother of four adult children and believes, "Optimal health should not be a secret."

Motivational Mondays: Join me Monday to Celebrate YOU!

Monday is back to school for Fairfax County Public Schools. For busy Mothers, it is often a time to celebrate time to refocus on yourself. I've had a wonderful rejuvenating summer with family and friends and am ready to offer a class in my home studio on Monday mornings.

Please RSVP to join me Monday at 8:30am in my home studio for a sample class and a celebratory green juice. Cost $25.00 InfraRed Sauna and showers available.

We will work on creating more joy and flexibility. The practice of yoga and movement to music provides the union of all of your layers: physical body, breath body, mental/emotional body, intuitive, and spiritual bodies. It helps you move out of your head and into your body to deepen your most important relationship, with you.

It is an excellent way to start off the week and to prioritize the most important person, YOU!

With Love & Gratitude,

Lisa

About Lisa Jackson RN, CHC, RYT-500, FDN-P, AFMC

Lisa is an author, inspirational speaker and a functional medicine coach with a mission to inspire, educate, and empower, clients towards optimal wellbeing.


Lisa's book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think and Thrive outlines her seven-step process towards optimal health that is fun and transformational.

Lisa is founder of the Wellness Inspired Network and Carpe Diem Wellness and part of the Functional Forum and Evolution of Medicine, and the New Self Health Movement. When she is not coaching, speaking or writing, you can find her practicing yoga and joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance.

Important clues in your blood work that is often missed.

Are you suffering from fatigue? Have you been told that you have low vitamin B12 or iron in your blood? What does this really mean? What might your hematologist or oncologist NOT know to tell you? Like why this is low, and what you might do to elevate them? Please don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing your doctor. I'm merely pointing out the fact that although he or she spent $200,000 and 10 years in medical school, what is sorely missing in the curriculum is nutrition and functional medicine. Ask them, they will tell you. This is why we need to move away from disease management towards prevention and an integrative functional approach.

I've spent the last few years studying applied functional medicine for coaches. You can see me in the video on the home page.  

So I'd like to share why you may be deficient in B12 and iron. More importantly, I want to empower you with education on what you can do about it.

First, always ask for a copy of your lab work so you can take it to a practitioner that will read it and explain it to you in practical functional terms. When I recently worked for a hematology/oncology clinic, I had on my desk the book, Your Blood Never Lies. Two fellow Nurse Practitioners noted this and said, "Why weren't we trained in this?" 

Unfortunately doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses are not trained in the wealth of functional markers in standard blood work. You will have to seek and find a functional nutritionist to help you; read on.

One good marker to look for in any complete blood count, CBC is the MCV, (mean corpuscle volume) measuring the size of your red blood cells. The red blood cells, RBC, carries oxygen to cells. This is essential for life.  RBC's that are too small don't carry enough oxygen; too big and they don't fit in the small capillaries like in the eyes and the kidneys. 

This is why your vision and kidneys are often the canary in the coal mine. if you've read my book you know that I no longer wear bifocals after decades of use. This is because I've learned how to maximize oxygen. Getting the right size RBCs is one way. Anything over 90 is too big to be optimal, and yet is still within normal limits on the test. This is why it is so often overlooked. 

Normal denotes the "mean average of those tested within a given population" in blood tests. It has nothing to do with optimal. Look around, obesity and chronic disease is epidemic. We need NOT to be normal. We need to create a new healthy normal. We need to assess for optimal levels.

I discovered that my RBCs were too big which suggests either B12 or folate deficiency. I've learned that I also have a genetic snp called MTHFR which affects folate metabolism. To compensate, I take a methylated folate and b vitamin complex every day. This is a simple solution that allows me to avoid brain fog and is essential for energy production and detoxification. This is essential for prevention of all chronic disease, including cancer and heart disease. This is a simple solution. I can tell the difference, so am happy to commit to this. I also notice when my night vision becomes impaired and or my vision begins to get blurry, I now recognize the need for more self care. More deep breathing, more relaxation, more yoga and supplementation, more green juice (again in my book, not the sugar laden ones in stores), and essential fatty acids to nourish cellular membranes.

MTHFR is a simple test to add on to the Spectracell Micronutrient test, one of several, that I recommend to clients.

Please note that folate and the synthetic version, folic acid are NOT the same. This is how you can tell a reputable vitamin company. Does your multi have folate in the form of methyl tetrahydrofolate or the cheaper synthetic folic acid? This is important, you can become toxic on folic acid, if you have an MTHFR snp. Lack of folate leads to miscarriages as well as trouble with energy production and impaired detoxification. Can you begin to see the power in nutritional assessment of your blood work? How missing these critical pieces can contribute to chronic disease and even misdiagnosis? 

There are several forms of vitamin B12. The most common is cyanocobalamin, which is a molecule of cyanide and cobalamin. This is the cheapest, most common form found in supplements. I don't think I need to tell you why you may NOT want to be taking cyanide every day in a supplement. The best supplement companies will have either methylcobalamin, or adeno or hydroxocobalamin, or a combination. Yes, purity and quality definitely matters when it comes to supplementation. A good nutritionist can help you with this too.

Also important to know, is that a serum B12 level does not tell you what is actually being absorbed into the cells. MMA or methylmalonic acid, is a functional marker found in an organic acids urine test, or can also be done as a blood test, or Spectracell Micronutrient test. These will all give you cellular or functional levels for your unique body. 

What food sources are rich in vitamin B12? This needs to come from animal sources. If you are vegan, you can get it from microorganisms in algae. Every body is unique and so are your needs. Some may get plenty from algae, some may need supplementation. A common root cause of low vitamin B12 in the cells is not enough stomach acid. You need HCL to cleave the b12 so it can be absorbed further down in the intestines. 

What is the major cause of low stomach acid? Stress. We live in sympathetic nervous system overdrive. Here's a picture from my book:

Stress decreases stomach acid. This impairs digestion starting in the stomach and inhibits absorption in the small intestines. Nutrition is not what you eat, it's what you absorb. You could be eating all of the right food but not giving your body the signal that it is safe to rest and digest, rest and repair, or mate and ovulate. Everything is interconnected. 

The FDA and AMA laws dictate that I cannot diagnosis, treat or cure any of the 14,000 (and growing) diagnosis codes that describe any human condition. What I AM allowed to do is to teach you how to become your own best clinician through education and coaching. Now I find that inspirational and empowering! I hope that you do too.

Carpe Diem!

WEEKEND EVENTS

June is the halfway point in 2017. Lots of opportunities for self care. This weekend in Northern Virginia is the Love Your Body Day Festival in Reston I wrote about last weeks blogpost and a PEMF demonstration in Alexandria. Also Golden Health Pharmacy in Sterling, VA will be having an Open House Saturday from 11-3pm with discounts, raffles, food and more!

About Lisa Jackson, RN, CHC, RYT-500, FDN
Lisa is an author, inspirational speaker and a coach with a mission to inspire others to feel and look their best at any age.

She is the former Executive Director of the Integrative Wellness Program for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

Lisa's book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think and Thrive outlines her seven-step process towards optimal health that is fun and transformational.

Lisa is part of the New Self Health Movement and the Wellness Inspired Network. When she is not coaching, speaking or writing, you can find her practicing yoga and joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance.

Fundamentals: Sometimes we just plain forget the Simple Solutions!

Optimal Health is not complicated. Maximize, Minimize and Prioritize. Do these three things consistently and your body can naturally heal and repair from even the scariest diagnoses.

I've put in over 10,000 hours of study in applied functional medicine and functional diagnostic nutrition. I've coached hundreds healing from everything from infertility to autoimmune disease and cancers. I'm fascinated by complex health histories and marvel at the bodies natural ability to heal, once we've uncovered hidden stressors and get to the root cause of of the dis-ease.

I say this not to brag (although client testimonials are what keep me going). I say this because sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in all the data and to forget the fundamentals. To forget the simple solutions.

Let me give you an example. I've seen multiple clients with intense anxiety and autoimmune disease (where the body is literally attacking your own tissue), heal both (symptoms in remission), by eliminating gluten and other food sensitivities. I am not talking about celiac. Many will test negative on IgE test but that does not mean that they can tolerate gluten.  In fact, if you have a cancer or an autoimmune disease then the first thing you have to do is remove inflammatory foods, and heal the gastrointestinal tract. It is intestinal permeability (leaky gut) that has allowed large protein molecules to enter the gut associated lymphatic tissue (GALT) to create the antibodies that attack the tissue.  If you cannot remove the inflammatory foods, then you cannot heal the gut.

This is fundamental to functional medicine. Unfortunately, this is still not common knowledge in conventional medicine. Once you have one autoimmune disease you are prone to others. The only way to reverse the flood of antibodies attacking the body, is to turn off the spigot.

I've asked myself, why do we suddenly have this epidemic and increasing numbers of autoimmune disease? When I graduated from nursing school in 1981 there were a handful, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, MS, Crohn's. Now there are over a hundred! We didn't know then that epilepsy, macular degeneration, and type 1 diabetes (called juvenile diabetes way back then) are also autoimmune. I didn't know this as a nurse. Most of your doctors don't know this. I didn't know this until I studied functional medicine. Years ago, I was diagnosed with my first autoimmune disease, vitiligo. I was told there was nothing I could do about it. I was told to just wear sunscreen over my unsightly hands, elbows, knees and spots on my mouth and eyelids. I also wore a lot of makeup back then.

How has this happened in my lifetime? First, we are bombarded with chemicals and toxins in our food, water, personal care, cleaning products and lawn service products. Second, our wheat used to be 4% gluten. Today it has been hybridized so that it is ~50% gluten which makes for wonderful gummy, gooey breads. Good for the tastebuds, not so good for your gut.

Unfortunately, both of these factors play havoc on the gut. Chemicals, toxins, OTC drugs and gluten cause inflammation and wear and tear on the thin lining between the gastrointestinal tract and the immune system. The immune system is your friendly police force designed to protect you. When there are foreign invaders like undigested food, the police start firing and your body feels the collateral damage.

Gluten also causes the excretion of zonulin which actually opens up the tight junctures in the gut allowing undigested protein to enter the gut associated lymphatic tissue (GALT).  These tight junctures are designed to only allow macronutrients like amino acids to pass thru the gut and send bigger molecules downstream for further breakdown and digestion.

If your your defense system has to spend all of its resources fighting undigested food particles, what is left over to fight viruses, toxins, chemicals and pesticides (which also pass through)?

Today, a colleague just posted another new study from the NY Times that dormant viruses can cause multiple diseases . A second colleague posted a story in the Atlantic how autoimmune disease is the root cause of psychiatric disorders in young children. These are treated with heavy duty pharmaceutical interventions which can be life-saving. What is missing from these stories are the fundamentals. Well meaning providers and newscasters are not educated on the fundamentals. Review the first slide to see the effects on the brain, the adrenals and systemic inflammation.

So what do we do to prevent, and heal and repair our out-of-control autoimmunity? We enlist the 5 R's of functional medicine. Simple Solutions that are the fundamental foundation to health:

1. REMOVE the inflammatory foods, 
2. REPLETE nutritional insufficiencies, (whole foods/micronutrient testing)
3. REPAIR the gut lining with supplemental herbal solutions, aloe vera, bone broth soup
4. RE-INOCULATE the gut, 
5. REST and digest (or mate and ovulate if that is your goal) and alleviate external and internal hidden stressors. 

This is why food is the foundation. Stress reduction, addressing toxicity, and a healthy gut are essential fundamentals to health.

The truth is this. I don't care how many supplements and/or medications you are taking. If you cannot sleep, and you are still eating food that is inflammatory, then you are resigned to a lifetime of drugs to alleviate symptoms.  Good for big pharma and the processed food industry, not good for you!

If you want to heal, then commit to simple, small incremental changes over a minimum of 3-6 month period. Otherwise you will continue to waste money on other therapies. You cannot ignore simple solutions, and the fundamentals. Not if you want to heal from within.

This is where a health coach with applied functional medicine and functional diagnostic nutrition training becomes an invaluable member of the healthcare team. Health coaching and nutrition can uncover key missing pieces to your unique puzzle.

Let me know if you are ready to remove the physical blocks and uncover hidden stressors that are keeping you from obtaining optimal health. I have left the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and am now opening up my practice to taking on a few more committed clients. I welcome the opportunity to be a witness to your optimal health. Please schedule a short discovery call with me to see if we are a good fit for each other.

Carpe Diem,

Lisa

About Lisa Jackson, RN, CHC, RYT-500, FDN
Lisa is an author, inspirational speaker and a coach with a mission to inspire others to feel and look their best at any age.

She is the former Executive Director of the Integrative Wellness Program for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

Lisa's book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think and Thrive outlines her seven-step process towards optimal health that is fun and transformational.

Lisa is part of the New Self Health Movement and the Wellness Inspired Network. When she is not coaching, speaking or writing, you can find her practicing yoga and joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance.

Personal Transformation & Radical Remissions

My friends who’ve known me for a long time know, that I sometimes go through periods of being “closed for renovation.” Time when I need to hibernate or go inward for introspection. Time to get back in touch with ME, to rediscover what’s important to me, what I really really want. Wintertime is a good time to do that.  The bears do it and after all, I didn’t get the nickname “Momma Bear” without reason.

Spring is a time of transformation.  The caterpillar wraps herself in a cocoon to emerge in the springtime as a beautiful butterfly.  There’s a natural rhythm to personal transformation. Change happens whether we want it or not. We are always transforming in one-way or another. We now know that we actually get a new body every seven years as our cells die off and new cells are created.  We know that even the brain can create new neuro pathways, at any age. We are not bound by our current condition; neither are we bound by our genes.

I lead a weekly nutrition support group for an oncology clinic where we share specifically how we can change the genetic expression of our genes through diet, and mind body practices. A frequent guest speaker, Victoria Wood RD, MPH, CNS says, “We can become “the conductor of our own genetic orchestra”, or we can feel stuck and paralyzed by our circumstances.  The truth is, even the scariest of diagnoses, like cancer is not a death sentence.  Instead, it can be that wake up call to change the environment creating the dis-ease.

We now have the opportunity to actually learn about Radical Remissions from the subject matter expert. A PhD researcher who has spent over a decade interviewing, researching and studying those who have healed themselves against all odds.. To quote, Dr. Kelly Turner, “If we are trying to win the war on cancer, doesn’t it make sense to study those that have already won?”

Dr. Turner is now offering an online course, RadicalRemission: Applying the 9 healing Factors into Your Own Life, that you can listen to and take at your own pace.  As I said in last week’s blog, I am proud to be affiliated with her and she’s granted my readers an extra 10% off the 20% early registration price. The entire course has been discounted from $245 to $175 but only until April 1^st. So click HERE now to register.

You know that I believe in the power of having a private coach. Not only is this what I do for a living; I also have my own coach and mentors that I invest in. Not everyone can afford private coaching but being part of a group is so vital for support. Personal transformation, although a natural process, takes courage and a conscious commitment and we could all use some encouragement and guidance in the process. Group and online programs like this can be a perfect companion.  I welcome anyone to join our weekly luncheon at The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Wednesday at 12noon. RSVP to me at ljackson@ccbdmd.com Our Integrative Wellness Program also offers yoga and meditation classes, and more.

Have a wonderful weekend and celebrate the many messages of renewal that spring brings to us.

Carpe Diem!

ABOUT LISA JACKSON, RN, CHC, RYT
Lisa is an author, inspirational speaker, retired RN, certified health coach and yoga teacher. Her book, Savvy Secrets: Eat,Think & Thrive; Seven Steps to Optimal Health, is a self health book to enable healing from within.  Her goal is to inspire wellness and to help others look and feel their best at any age. Lisa is part of the New Self Health Movement, the International Health Coach Association and the Wellness Inspired Network. She is the mother of four adult children, a Grandmother, and believes that optimal health should not be a secret! When she is not coaching, speaking and writing, you can find her practicing yoga and joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance at every opportunity.