Today marks the last day of school for most students across the province of Ontario. As the school year comes to an end, the anticipation of summer holidays intensifies and people feel ready to slow down and to enjoy some well-earned vacation time with family and friends. Before you jump into your summer vacation plans, you may wish to pause and reflect on ways to purposefully create periods of repose during some of the most beautiful days of the year.

The human body functions at its best when all of its systems needed for survival are balanced. This drive towards systemic balance is referred to as homeostasis. More and more scientific evidence shows the importance of mindful repose in re-establishing balance. The Corpse Pose in yoga is an excellent example of repose that is typically used at the end of each class. Aimed at bringing your body to complete rest after a series of physical movements and postures aligned with breathing, Corpse Pose marks the ending of the yogic experience. It allows your body to do its thing naturally to realign respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, reproductive, and other autonomic systems governed by your central nervous system.

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems operate in a miraculously coordinated way to ensure that you function optimally on a moment by moment basis. Occurring completely without any requirement for conscious prompting on your part, the nervous system automatically drives your biological systems towards balance and health. Of course, physical, psychological, and/or emotional illnesses disrupt the optimal functioning of the body thereby causing periods of unwellness that may be acutely episodic or chronic in nature.

A simple viral infection is a good example of an acute infection that typically heals relatively quickly with or without medication, but may return episodically over the course of your lifetime. Chronic conditions such as diabetes, hyper, or hypo-thyroidism, and autoimmune conditions generally require medication to diminish ill effects on your body over time.

Mental illnesses manifest in very much the same way as physical conditions in episodically acute or chronic ways. Some mental or psychological conditions require a course of medication to reduce the emotional anguish caused by the illness over a course of months and in some cases years. People usually report positive impacts of modern psycho-pharmaceutical drugs in reducing symptoms that impair the ability to function well.

Many people also seek counselling and psychotherapy treatments that focus on integrated cognitive and behavioural strategies proven to improve mood and overall wellness. Most people engaged in counselling psychotherapy report positive impacts as well, especially where a trusted therapeutic alliance has been developed over time.

As this summer holiday begins, take time to think about the importance of repose in your own life. Consider how will you integrate mindful periods of rest into your vacation plans and commit to them. You will most certainly benefit from self-care practices that include at least 20-30 minutes of daily mindful repose. Coupling a simple mantra such as, “I allow myself to heal” with a daily practice of corpse pose is an effective way to release the stress of the day and regain balance before turning in for a good night’s sleep.

Wishing you a restful and restorative summer!

Lisa Romano-Dwyer, MSW, PhD, RSW

One of the many benefits of longer term therapy is the clarity gained on what is most important in your life. This is especially true for people who have invested most of their personal time in activities designed to reach academic and career goals. The merits of sustained effort in achievement at school and work are multifold, worthy of affirmation and praise, and usually, well-compensated financially. Our society is structured to reward the hardworking efforts of its members, to advance individuals whose talents, attitudes, and work ethic support progress and productivity, and to support them once retired. It is often during the transition to retirement that people reassess the stuff of life and those aspects that are the most meaningful and important to them.

The period of rapid change created by Covid also offers you the opportunity to reflect on the stuff of life, and to take stock on what, if anything needs to change in order to enjoy those aspects that matter to you most. This opportunity to reflect is perhaps, one of the few positive outcomes of the pandemic. There were countless individuals who rose to the challenges of human service work during the pandemic despite risk of harm to self. There were several others who adapted rather quickly to the continued economic demands for work in corporate contexts albeit in increasingly isolated ways. Thankfully during this period, many hard workers sustained and, in some cases, grew the economic engine locally and globally, thereby ensuring that life as you knew it before Covid would be waiting for you once it was safe to resume activities with other people.

Unfortunately, there were also many people who were laid-off or lost work during the pandemic due to mandated social restrictions. Despite the many efforts of local government to respond financially, some businesses have not recovered. Some individuals who lost work unexpectedly found this transition to life without a monetizing role in it, somewhat traumatic. They lost their capital means to survival and had to access savings, or governmental programs in order to make ends meet. This double loss of purpose and wages in tandem with a prolonged period of social isolation from family and friends had harmful effects on health and wellness.

Now that the crisis of Covid is fading away, you have the opportunity to reflect on the stuff in your real life that brings you joy, a sense of peace and fulfillment. You also have the opportunity to review your work-life balance and to assess whether any adjustments are required. You may find that, like many people, your life is mostly about work and that your real life– the things you do after work have been put on hold. Healthy capitalist societies encourage, affirm, and reward excellence and grow people who are achievement oriented. High achievers run the risk of over-working and as such require a well developed healthy habit mobilization plan that sustains health over the long term.

Your real life activities – those things you prefer to do after work ought to be part of this plan. Invest in the good stuff in your life on a regular basis. This may be as simple as:

• A daily walk with friends.
• Enjoying a favourite healthy meal, and savouring every morsel.
• Celebrating important milestones with family.
• Attending a weekly yoga class.
• Participating in a book club.
• Walking with a loved one by a lake or in nature.

It is really important to establish activities that nurture your sense of joy and connection to others in your real life and on your time off work, so that your professional identity does not become the only way you view yourself or know how to be in the world.

So, ask yourself, what is the stuff of life that fills me up, and means the most to me, and how will I make these people, activities, and practices sacred in my life. Start today, so that you have a healthy tomorrow.

By Lisa Romano-Dwyer PhD, RSW

More and more information about the negative impacts of prolonged social isolation caused by Covid continues to emerge. It seems that the required mandatory restrictions during the pandemic did wreak havoc on health and wellness. Levels of social interaction continue to be lower than those prior to Covid. There is an overall decrease in the number of people attending in-person activities including arts-based cultural events, restaurants, or professional appointments. Some people resist attending any in-person school or work-based activities as well. It seems that a small minority of people struggle to return to life as we lived it prior to Covid.

Of course, options to perform some professional and recreational activities remotely have increased due to the ease with which virtually enabled platforms work. It is simply easier to attend some events virtually without the added pressure of travel, time, or arranging childcare. In my own experience, the professional fields of counselling and psychotherapy have for the most part migrated virtually. It seems that most clients prefer to meet with their therapist from the comforts of their own home or office between calls or regular activities of daily living. Although a small number of clients continue to prefer to meet in-person, most are generally open to migrating virtually once therapeutic alliance and trust have been established. Other fields report similar permanent changes to the world of work as well.

Certainly, there are benefits to family life with the increased flexibility of remote work. This flexibility in work would have greatly eased pressures years ago as well, especially while I juggled growing a professional career in tandem with a growing family. The emotional supports developed at home, in the workplace, and the community at large helped to meet multiple demands and pressures. Naturally occurring social opportunities to connect and network with people were regular events in real life, that perhaps today happen with less frequency due to the fact that most people are working in more socially isolating ways. Chatting with people throughout the day offered opportunities to practice healthy attachment skills with others. Even “water cooler” chat about the weather or sports provided people with the social climate to emotionally attune to the needs of others thereby shifting one’s perspective and focus from the self to the other. They also provided opportunities to co-regulate, that is to manage and cope emotionally with others. This informal network of emotional support has minimized in recent years.

Spending time with people in places and spaces that cultivate natural and informal systems of relating to one another structurally supported the development of social and emotional skills fundamental to the overall health and wellness of the human species. There appears to be a generalized positive impact on one’s health that is created by meeting people in the real world. It seems we need each other as people to develop and sustain physical and mental health and wellbeing. These positive impacts are not exclusive to the people we know and love. There are also seems to be health benefits from connecting with people at large.

It seems that virtual care is as effective in counselling and psychotherapy as in-person care has always been. This means that there is something about the medium of virtual platforms that allows the transmission of human emotion to occur. The timing is not always perfect when using a virtual platform that supports video-conferencing, but face to face contact is possible when using these tools. Nonverbal communication can be affected by poor timing or disruptions to audio equipment, but for the most part, individuals and couples are able to communicate and process human emotions virtually. Even where people resort to listening to sessions instead of watching and listening at the same time, emotional support and care seem possible. Telephonic care has been available for some time, and is also reported to be effective, and in some cases, preferred as well.

Notwithstanding the effectiveness of remote virtual care, the decrease in informal networking with people in the real world may be compromising our ability to build emotional intimacy habitually. Children continue to need in-person play-based opportunities with one another to build and grow highly sophisticated social and emotional skills required for healthy living. Covid has taught us that adults and seniors need these regular opportunities to connect with other people as well.

Here are some easy ways to increase your level of social interaction and to practice your emotional intimacy skills with others:

• Greet people as you walk pass them in your neighbourhood or building
• Reduce online shopping
• Go to your local store and purchase groceries or other items on a smaller and more frequent basis
• Talk to the cashier
• Avoid self-checkouts
• Volunteer at a senior’s residence, school, church, or hospital
• Take an in-person class on a subject or craft of interest
• Join a gym or your local recreational facility
• Talk about the weather
• Sustain eye contact for more than 5 seconds
• Invite a friend to go with you to the gym, a class of interest, concert, or exhibit
• Invite someone for a tea, coffee, or beer locally
• Begin a walking group in your neighbourhood before or after work
• Consider rescuing a dog and walk it at times when people are out and about

If you are feeling isolated and lonely, reach out for help. You may discover that you have habituated to being alone, and leaving your residence is harder than it once might have been. A professional can certainly help you to develop a wellness mobilization plan that gets you back into living your life fully again with others thereby prolonging it joyfully.

by Lisa Romano-Dwyer BSc, MSW, PhD, RSW