Where Physical Health Meets Mental Health
Where Physical Health Meets Mental Health is a course designed for those working on their chronic illness recovery. And for caregivers who support them and want to learn step-by-step techniques to help with the recovery. The course delves into the science behind energy pacing and why it’s helpful for bring balance back into the life of someone living with a chronic illness. This course can help with a wide range of conditions like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, cancer and those needing help with pain management.
What You Will Need:
During this course, you will need a notebook to write out how to apply what you learn to your situation.
Each lesson will guide you step-by-step through implementing the technique of pacing both mentally and physically. Starting with the science behind how your bodies nervous system and energy production effect your symptoms, and how to use pacing techniques bring them back within your control.
What’s Included:
In 7 lessons the course will cover the entire process of how our bodies make energy to how the nervous system is effected when we’re stressed and then burns that energy. And by the time you finish you will have all the skills you need to lower your fatigue and other symptoms based on being able to understand your physical energy limits. So, grab a notebook and let’s get started!
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Lesson 1: Essential Pacing Concepts
Welcome to our pacing! I’m excited to share this wonderful tool with you all as it gives you a powerful tool in adapting to life with a chronic illness.
In this lesson you can flip through the slides and follow along to learn about where energy in our bodies come from and how it affects our fatigue and pain symptoms. And lastly what we can do about it.
Here you’ll learn:
Why we need to Pace our Body
More About The Crash Cycle
How is Stress Affecting you?
The Nervous System
Welcome to our pacing! I’m excited to share this wonderful tool with you all as it gives you a powerful tool in adapting to life with a chronic illness.
In this lesson you can flip through the slides and follow along to learn about where energy in our bodies come from and how it affects our fatigue and pain symptoms. And lastly what we can do about it.
Here you’ll learn:
Why we need to Pace our Body
More About The Crash Cycle
How is Stress Affecting you?
The Nervous System
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Lesson 2: Breaking the Crash Cycle and Navigating Stress
Join us in Lesson 2 as we navigate the intricate relationship between chronic conditions, mental health, and stress. Break free from the crash cycle and learn how to employ strategies like pacing and utilizing the Parasympathetic Nervous System to transform your approach to chronic condition management and enhance your mental well-being.
Join us in Lesson 2 as we navigate the intricate relationship between chronic conditions, mental health, and stress. Break free from the crash cycle and learn how to employ strategies like pacing and utilizing the Parasympathetic Nervous System to transform your approach to chronic condition management and enhance your mental well-being.
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Lesson 3: Unraveling Energy Production and Pacing Techniques
This lesson unveils the connection between stress, fatigue, and energy levels. Delve into the role of mitochondria, our small bean-shaped cells responsible for generating energy (ATP), and learn how they convert food and air into the body's energy currency.
This lesson unveils the connection between stress, fatigue, and energy levels. Delve into the role of mitochondria, our small bean-shaped cells responsible for generating energy (ATP), and learn how they convert food and air into the body's energy currency.
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Lesson 4: Mastering Your Energy Envelope and Pacing Techniques.
Discover the incredible benefits of staying within your energy envelope, including the balance of symptoms and effective time management. Learn how to assess your energy envelope by observing when symptoms arise during activities. Explore tools and techniques to find your activity tolerance limits, considering various energy types like emotional, cognitive, and physical energy.
Discover the incredible benefits of staying within your energy envelope, including the balance of symptoms and effective time management. Learn how to assess your energy envelope by observing when symptoms arise during activities. Explore tools and techniques to find your activity tolerance limits, considering various energy types like emotional, cognitive, and physical energy.
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Meet your instructor
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Meet your instructor ✳
Elysia is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, who knows the struggles of living with chronic illnesses from her own personal experience.
In this course, she will help you learn how to pace yourself and manage your energy levels. She has a passion for helping people with chronic conditions and has done extensive research on the link between physical and mental health. She will share with you her insights and tips on how to cope with your symptoms and regain control over your chronic illness.
ELYSIA BRONSON
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Founder of The Woods Counselling Co.
What you’ll learn
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The goal of pacing is to maintain a consistent level of functioning and prevent
exacerbations of symptoms, setbacks in recovery, and fatigue. By practicing
pacing, individuals can avoid flare-ups of symptoms, relapse of their condition,
burnout, and reduced quality of life.
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When looking at the reasons we need to pace its important to start with how stress affects your body. And that’s through the autonomic nervous system (ANS), as it can be both the reason that our predisposed disorders are turned on or come out, as the ANS floods our body with cortisol a stress hormone causing inflammation if it’s trigger frequently like with trauma and stress. This in turn effects the body through worsening current disorders.
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after looking into how stress affects our bodies and can
cause a crash. It made me wonder about our energy levels and
the thoughts that come when I'm lying crashed out from over
exerting myself. I often think why cant my body just keep up
the way it used? And led me to research how our bodies make energy. So, looking at what causes symptoms like fatigue we can usually blame our mitochondria cells. These are small bean shaped cells that have the job of producing all our energy (ATP). It creates this energy for your body when you take in both food and air.
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In our first few weeks we will go over how to:
Develop a baseline: as you identify your baseline activity level by tracking your activities and symptoms for a week or two. This will help you understand your current limits and plan your activities accordingly.
Set realistic goals: Use your baseline to set realistic goals for daily or weekly activity levels. Make sure to pace yourself and gradually increase your activity levels, avoiding overexertion.
Use activity logs: Use an activity log to track your progress and make adjustments as needed. You can use a paper log or a digital app to record your activities, symptoms, and energy levels.
Break up activities: Break up activities into smaller chunks, taking breaks as needed. This will help prevent overexertion of one energy type (social, physical, mental) and manage symptoms.
Plan for rest: Plan for rest periods throughout the day and week, allowing your body to recover and recharge. This can include taking short naps, doing relaxation exercises, or engaging in low-energy activities.
Seek support: Seek support from friends, family, or a therapist to help you stick to your pacing plan and manage your symptoms effectively.
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Each week, you’ll learn new Pacing Tools and they may not all work for you or your disorder. Try each for one week and then if they aren’t helping move on to the next. Implement what works for you.
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Its important to learn boundaries in relationships as some can be more taxing and feel one sided. When we have finite amounts of energy it’s important to learn to communicate our limits to others and we can go over that further in this course.