22 Easy Ways to Boost Your Health and Wellness: Start the New Year Right

One of my core values that drives me is health. This is something that has been important to me my entire life growing up as an athlete but my definition of health has changed throughout the years. When I reflect on why health is so important to me, I think about all the people in my family who have suffered from chronic illnesses for years. I knew I didn’t want the same for you or me. So, I want to share the health and wellness tips I have learned in my journey with you.

After “following doctors’ orders” my whole life, I went to a specialist when I had a major back injury. I was told that I would need multiple surgeries, medications, and a lifetime of interventions. This is what woke me up to realize there had to be another path. I followed that inner knowing to research, digest and change my life from my inside out.  I healed myself through changing what I ate, changing my mindset, learning how to breathe correctly, moving in a more natural way, balancing my own energy, and taking more time to rest and recover. And the results were remarkable. 

It put me on the path to earn my certification as a Holistic Lifestyle Coach, Nutrition Coach, and apprentice of different healers.

In this process, I found that a whole host of symptoms that I had since I was a kid including skin rashes, growths, restless leg syndrome, anxiety, chronic sneezing, congestion, allergies, joint pain, gastrointestinal and digestive issues, and brain fog to name a few, all went away.

So my intention behind writing this article is to share 22 health and wellness tips to boost your health this year and improve your immunity. I am not a doctor and where these work for us, they might not all work for you and that is okay. Try a couple out for a week (even a month) and see if you notice a difference. Then you get to choose if you want to continue. 

Here are some of my health and wellness tips.

1. Meditation – I start my morning with 20 mins of transcendental meditation to help clear my mind for the day, bring me into the present moment and give myself a moment of peace and clarity before I start the day. Then on Sunday’s I join Michael Bernard Beckwith for his Way of Meditation Service.

2. Positive Affirmations – After I meditate, when I am still in a place of calmness, I repeat positive affirmations to myself such as, I am happy, I am healthy, I am whole.

3. Daily Gratitude Practice – After my meditation and affirmations, MaryBeth and I share everything that we are grateful for in that moment and then share 3 things we are going to do to make that day great. Then at dinner, we share what we are grateful for that day.

4. Movement – Following my gratitude practice, we shake my bodies out to release any tension and wake them up. Then we do Dr. Zach Bush’s 4-minute workout, followed by 10 minutes of Tai Chi and dancing. After that, I do some natural movement practices that I learned from Tony Riddle to get my posture back into alignment. Then throughout the day, I will add more of these natural movements, tai chi, shaking, and 4-minute workouts when I feel like I need to release or increase my energy.

5. Organic Whole Food – The #1 thing I have ever done for my own health changed what I eat. This has been quite the evolution over the past decade and what works for us doesn’t work for everyone but I have found eating organic whole plant-based foods  has made me feel better than ever before.

6. Morning Hydration – I start my morning with 2 glasses of water with lemon, followed by celery juice. I have been drinking celery juice every morning for over 3 years and since that time, I have never been sick and had many stomach problems that I had for years all Int away.

7. Water Filter – Speaking of water, we added a whole house water filter. Why might you ask? Well, we absorb water whenever we shower, bathe, brush our teeth, wash/cook our food. I would never drink tap water that is filled with chemicals and toxins and I don’t want to absorb those chemicals in other ways, so the whole house filter fixes that issue.

8. Unity with Nature + Sunshine + Vitamin D – When you look at people who are getting sick, a lot have very low vitamin D levels. My favorite way to get free vitamin D is spending 20 minutes in the sunshine each day (I also love to couple this with doing tai chi, barefoot with my shirt off to enhance the benefits, more on that later). When the sun is not out, I will use supplements.

9. Supplements – Some of my other favorite supplements that I like to take to boost my immune system are Zinc, B12, Lemon Balm, L-lysine, Stamets 7.

10. Grounding/Earthing – as I mentioned before when I spend time in nature, I try to go barefoot as much as possible to gain the benefits of grounding in the earth’s energy to reduce inflammation in my body. However, that can be difficult in modern times, so we added a grounding mat to my bed so that I can experience those benefits for at least 8 hours each day.

11. Sleep – Getting 8 – 9 hours of sleep each night allows my body to recover and recharge for the next day. Sleep is vital so that I can physically heal, recover from illness, deal with stress, solve problems, consolidate memories, and improve my motor skills.

12. Natural fiber clothing and sheets – would you want to wrap yourself in plastic wrap? No, I didn’t think so, but when you are wearing clothing or sleeping with sheets and blankets that are made from plastic (think polyester) that is exactly what you are doing. Switching to natural fiber clothing and bedding (think cotton or wool) allows our bodies to breathe more freely and they are better for the environment. Ever have trouble regulating your body temperature when you are sleeping? Try natural fiber clothes and sheets.

13. Deep Breathing – Speaking of breathing, each night before I go to bed I do 4 rounds of Wim Hof breathing where I take about 30 full deep diaphragmatic breaths then release it all out and hold for as long as I can (sometimes as long as 3 minutes!). This process oxygenates the body and brings with it a host of healing benefits. I also love to use box breathing throughout the day when I am feeling stressed.

14. Floor sitting – after my back injury, I have been on a journey to find good posture. The simplest hack that I have found for this is sitting on the floor rather than on a chair or couch. Starting small by coupling this with watching TV is a great place to start.

15. Float Tank – about once a month we go into a sensory deprivation float tank, where we float in complete darkness and silence for an hour. I got into this many years ago when I was looking for ways to heal my back injury because it helps release and relax your body but it also helps you cleanse your mind as Ill. How often do you take an hour to only be with yourself?

16. Manifestation ceremony – The 1st Sunday of each month we take time to pause, reflect, honor, and attract what is here for our highest and greatest good. Then we take action each morning to acknowledge all the abundance in our life right now and coming to us. Since we started doing these, our lives have been immeasurably better. We have become healthier, built more wealth, and found greater levels of clarity, inner harmony and energy towards making my vision a reality. We now share this practice with others in our Community of Alignment.

17. Biogeometry – living in the city, we are bombarded with electrical energy. Our Biogeometry cube balances my energy systems and harmonizes their interactions with the environment by reducing environmental stress of the body, including electro-smog, geopathic stress, and low levels of radioactivity. BioGeometry is the only science to reduce the negative effects of Electromagnetic fields.

18. Minimizing – Why do we need all this stuff? That is a question we have been asking ourselves for years and buying our first tiny home in 2021 definitely got us going deeper into minimalism but it’s not just about getting rid of stuff in my house but what else can we minimize in my life so that there is more room for what I actually care about.

19. No News – Speaking of minimizing, we greatly reduced the amount of news we consumed. I take about 10 minutes each day to get what news I need and leave the rest. The news leads with fear and that is not a vibration that I want to be in.

20. Positive Intelligence – I am going through a training program to become a Mental Fitness coach using Positive Intelligence. Which teaches you how to respond to life’s challenges with a positive rather than negative mindset. These simple techniques have been transformational when we have thoughts that sabotage us.

21. Foam Rolling – Using a foam roller each night to work out any tension in our body is a great way to release any issues that get stored in our tissues. If I choose to do a workout, I will also foam roll right after to speed up the recovery process and reduce the chance of injury.

22. Cold Showers – Cold showers and exposure to cold have been shown to reduce stress, improve immunity, increase alertness and willpower, and even help you lose weight. I love to do these in the mornings instead of caffeine when I need an extra pick me up.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite movie quotes from The Matrix – “I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.”

As you try these health and wellness tips, listen to your body. Is it saying yes or no? Do you feel better or worse after trying one of these practices? Use this feedback to start making choices that better serve you.

So please enjoy and let me know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Stay tuned for my in-depth post about each going forward. And please let me know your thoughts in the comments below on these health and wellness tips.