Breath for the Soul: Self-Care Steps to Wellness

Introduction

We live in an incredible time in human history. But even with all the advances in medicine, science, and technology, we humans are still dealing with some age-old problems—those of stress, anxiety, depression, and grief. Breath for the Soul addresses these issues and will provide you with steps for self-care—things you can do for yourself to help alleviate the symptoms and put you on the path to wellness.

You might be asking this question: how is it that a medical doctor and professor recognized in infectious diseases and a seminary-trained inspirational writer and novelist collaborated to write this book? The answer is that we have been good friends for over twenty-five years, we have dealt personally with the issues we address in this book, and we desire to help others with what we have learned from our perspectives and knowledge bases.

From Dr. Jan

I had been practicing medicine for about thirty years when I experienced a series of personal losses that I will elaborate on within this book. As I have already explained to many patients, I noted for myself that while conventional medicine can do many great things, it is challenging to treat stress, anxiety, depression, and grief with this approach alone. With conventional medicine, most health-care professionals are trained to offer a pill. This approach is often needed; it can improve health and be lifesaving. Yet, including the treatment of the whole person—what Phyllis and I refer to as the soul that includes mind and spirit as well as the body—is often overlooked. None of these self-care measures we discuss are intended to take the place of medication that your doctor prescribes. They are intended to be integrated with traditional medicine that you may need as determined by your doctor.

As Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, said, It is not that we have a soul but that we are a soul. Many times, the difficulties of life can distance us from our soul, from our true selves. There are ways that we can reawaken the sense of our soul. These are among the self-care strategies that we will discuss.

My journey into complementary therapies began when I was introduced to essential oils by my massage therapist. I found that I benefitted from essential-oil support for mood and emotions as well as a number of other complaints including allergies, insomnia, indigestion, and more. (Essential oils are not FDA-approved to treat, prevent, diagnose, or cure any diseases.) Having a scientific background, I wanted to understand more about how essential oils worked, and so I studied texts and took many hours of instruction to become registered as an aromatherapist. As I experienced the benefits of essential oils for myself and others, it occurred to me that there must be other complementary therapies that could help me and other people.

I researched additional therapies and discovered the field of integrative medicine. The field was pioneered by Andrew Weil, MD, and is an approach to medicine that involves the whole person, including body, mind, and spirit—the soul. Integrative medicine is informed by evidence and is so named for the integration of complementary and holistic therapies with conventional ones. I completed a fellowship in integrative medicine at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at University of Arizona, where I learned about mind-body medicine, complementary and alternative practices, botanicals and dietary supplements, nutritional health, and integrative approaches to multiple medical conditions.

What I learned was helpful to me and others, and I began to apply integrative practices in my clinic, and also to work with our hospital system to establish an integrative medicine program. I began to see successes with this approach and the appreciation of patients and staff who were encouraged and supported by these modalities.

Much of the integrative approach involves self-care. And as I sought to instruct others in self-care practices, I began to think in terms of recurring themes of four pillars of self-care:

•    Breath

•    Movement

•    Nutrition

•    Spirit

All of these benefit from mindfulness—the practice of being present in the moment and undistracted by ruminations of what happened yesterday or worries about what will happen later today or tomorrow.

Self-care strategies like intentional breathing, movement, nutrition, and spiritual connection can be extremely powerful and beneficial. Intentional breathing is an effective way to invoke our relaxation response. Likewise, there is increasing evidence that movement is beneficial for our moods as well as our physical health.¹ In regard to nutrition, the Standard American Diet (SAD), high in inflammatory foods, processed foods, and sugar, is failing us. The Mediterranean Diet and the Anti-Inflammatory Diet offer lifestyles with healthier yet delicious foods that can make us feel better mentally, emotionally, and physically. And there is scientific evidence that people who embrace spirituality, as defined by a personal connection to a higher power, actually have a more activated brain—an awakened brain that offers more resilience and combats depression.² Quieting practices such as mindfulness and time in nature prepare us for spiritual awareness.

I wanted to partner with my longtime friend Phyllis Clark Nichols for this project to enrich the spiritual component. Phyllis is a gifted inspirational author and an expert musician. She is also one of the kindest, most insightful, and spiritually attuned people I know. She and her husband, Dr. Bill Nichols (a brilliant artist, author, and retired minister), have been spiritual mentors to me and my family for many years.

We will discuss evidence for each of the pillars of breath, movement, nutrition, and spirit, as self-care strategies for stress, anxiety, depression, and grief—conditions we all encounter at times in our lives. Phyllis will have a spiritual illustration and interpretation for all of these to enrich our spiritual awareness.

From Phyllis

As a former executive for a national cable television network featuring programming on health and disability, I developed a growing interest in wellness and self-care, and I had the opportunity to meet many influential people who shared my interest. During those thirteen years in the health television field, I witnessed firsthand some shifts in health and medicine.

I grew up in a small southern town at a time in our nation’s history when most people’s views of health, medicine, and wellness were limited. If I became sick, I went to the doctor for a prescription and went home to follow the doctor’s orders without question and without any sense of giving self-care. I believed it was the doctor’s responsibility to cure me, and the prescription was the magic potion to make me well again. My only role was to follow the doctor’s orders.

There was little sense of personal responsibility in caring for myself or for working toward wellness. The only mention of wellness I recall was the old adage, An apple a day will keep the doctor away. All I learned of good nutrition was the food chart from health class in elementary school—which now turns out wasn’t necessarily so healthy. And we were not told how important exercise was to our general health. Exercise was generally undertaken by athletes or someone trying to lose weight.

This was what I knew and experienced in my early life, but there were four factors that greatly influenced the change in my mindset: (1) personal illness, (2) relationships with many medical professionals who had a much larger view of health and medicine, (3) the explosion into the age of information and personal access via the internet to quality health-care data never before available to me, and (4) my belief that we humans are so much more than flesh and that there must be ways we can better care for our total selves.

Although I’d had much exposure to what was going on in the medical field through my job, when my husband, Bill, was diagnosed with his first life-threatening cancer in 2012, my need to learn became very personal and serious. That cancer was treated successfully with surgery. Then again, in 2018, Bill was diagnosed with another unrelated but life-threatening cancer. He was given weeks of chemotherapy followed by extensive surgery. We were determined to keep our lives as normal as possible. Cancer did not change who we were, it just changed what we did for a time.

During those months after his second surgery, we were grateful for excellent medical care, and I began reading and researching to learn what we could do to participate in his ongoing care. Our goal was to get him healthy and for both of us to stay healthy. We had always been disciplined with our eating and exercise, but with gratitude for Dr. Jan, I was learning more about food as medicine and fuel, exercise as healing, the effective use of essential oils, and the importance of proper breathing. We experienced the value of mindfulness and the use of guided imagery during Bill’s treatment and recovery.

At that same time, Dr. Jan was gaining knowledge and working toward establishing an integrative medicine practice. She introduced me to the use of essential oils, gave me books to read and study, and taught me how to make everything from aroma sticks to soothing balms and creams. I began to use them and see amazing results. My husband’s digestive issues and allergies improved. I began to rid our house of anything toxic—cleaning supplies, garden chemicals, skin-care products, and shampoos that had harmful ingredients. Dr. Jan taught us breathing techniques and suggested other forms of exercise and the importance of movement even in the healing and recovery process after treatment and surgery.

I fear I flooded Dr. Jan’s phone and email in-box at times with my excitement when we experienced good results from using these modalities. Since I wasn’t a medical professional, I was somewhat reluctant to share my experiences with others. But I wanted to. I longed for my family and friends to step onto the path to wellness and to realize that these practices do work. I wanted them to enjoy the benefits of these modalities. I didn’t want their children to grow up as I had, thinking that a prescription was magic and they had no responsibility in the care and health of their bodies. I wanted them to grow up to be healthier and to see that self-care is of great value.

Finally, within these pages, I have the opportunity to say these things and to share some of our experiences. That’s the reason I am so excited about this project. Breath for the Soul is the book I wish I could have pulled from my bookshelf years ago. I had the great blessing of having Dr. Jan, who taught me so much about wellness and self-care at a time when I was in desperate need of that information. I had access to many books informing me about ways to give care to my body through diet and exercise. Our bookshelves were filled with devotional books, Bible commentaries, and self-help books in psychology that spoke to the needs of my spirit. But I found no one book that addressed the needs of my soul—the total person that I am. Breath for the Soul speaks to the needs of the total person—mind, body, and spirit, and it addresses specific ways that we can give care to our bodies and our spirits on our paths toward wholeness and wellness.

From both of us

You will find Breath for the Soul rich in information and yet simple in giving very specific practices that work and that you can do at home for the most part without any substantial investment of money, only an investment of your time. These disciplines, if practiced consistently over time, will also improve your general well-being.

There is no one who has no need for self-care. Whether you’re healthy and whole, receiving care, or giving care, you still need self-care. You do not have to be dealing with serious emotional issues or life-threatening disease to benefit from the practices you will learn in this book. Of course, we encourage you to consult with your own doctor as you make decisions that affect your health.

The book is organized into four parts addressing the topics of stress, anxiety, depression, and grief. Under each topic, we deal with the modalities of breath, movement, nutrition, and spirit. Dr. Jan opens each topic with the physiological explanation of how these issues affect your body and then gives detailed information about modalities you can use to ease your symptoms. Then Phyllis will add spiritual insights. You will hear from both of us in every chapter as we share personal experiences, tell stories of others, and explain how we use these modalities in our own self-care.

Breath for the Soul was a carefully chosen title. And in keeping with our purpose for the book, we have included a section we call Inhale at the end of each chapter. These are quotes, scriptures, and thoughts for you to ponder and breathe into your life. As with the physical breath, Exhale follows Inhale as we breathe out our prayers, our gratitude, and our requests for help and guidance as we take steps toward wellness. The last section in each chapter is a list of practical Self-Care Steps for action on your path to peace, calm, hope, and gratitude.

Finally, at the end of the book, we provide additional information, resources and references, recipes, and a way to develop your own self-care plan.

We believe humans are more than flesh. We believe that as God created humans and breathed into us His breath, He made us spiritual as well as physical beings. Matthew Lee Anderson, founder of Mere Orthodoxy, said, You are a body. But you’re a soul too. And your human flourishing is contingent upon being a soul-bodied thing.

God created us with certain needs or desires. Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist of the 1940s, has categorized these needs.³ Our bodies have physical needs in order for them to exist on this planet: air, light, water, food, and rest. Humans also desire to feel safe and healthy, to feel cherished and respected, and to have purpose and a sense of their eternal security. For us to be whole, well, and healthy people physically and emotionally, these needs must be met, and God has provided ways to meet those needs.

Life and circumstances create situations where our needs are not met, and stress, anxiety, depression, and grief creep in. Sometimes they come crashing in, uninvited and unexpected. This book, unlike any other book we know, will provide the information that can help you to give self-care, easing your symptoms and restoring your feelings of wholeness and wellness.

No matter how we explain God’s role in the way He created us, it all comes down to this: the eternal God gave us physical bodies and everything we need to take care of our bodies. But He also gave us the more in life—that which transcends and is above the physical. It is this more that gives our physical dimension meaning and value. And with His Spirit and our spirits, He has provided ways for us to experience the more.

We have firsthand knowledge of the benefit of spiritual experience in our lives. It has transformed difficulties and tragedies into hope and healing. It is affirming and not surprising to us to learn that there is even scientific evidence now of the tangible benefits of spirituality. Not only is a spiritual person more likely to find internal resources to counter the difficulties of life, structural and functional brain studies actually demonstrate a more awakened brain.⁴ The spirituality that we share is based in the Judeo-Christian faith, and this is the perspective Phyllis will share with you in her reflections.

It is our hope that you will incorporate the aspects of intentional breathing, movement, nutrition, spirituality, and mindfulness that can work for you, and that you benefit from these steps to self-care in your journey through life. We pray that this book will encourage you to develop your own self-care plan on your way from stress to peace, from anxiety to calm, from depression to hope, and from grief to gratitude.

Jan E. Patterson, MD, MS, and Phyllis Clark Nichols

Part One

Self-Care for Stress

Step One

Let’s Take a Breath

The single most effective relaxation technique I know is the conscious regulation of breath.

Dr. Andrew Weil

From Dr. Jan

It seems that stress is always there, surrounding us. Waiting to engulf us. A stress response in the right setting and right amount can be beneficial. It can help us with physical and mental performance. Our ancestors needed it when they were running from predators and physically fighting for their lives.

When our body or mind detects a threat—physical or emotional—our brain and autonomic (automatic) nervous system respond and send messages to the adrenal gland, which produces our body’s cortisol steroid and adrenaline. These substances increase alertness, heart rate, and blood pressure and focus attention on the perceived threat. At the same time, functions such as digestion, sleep, growth, pleasure, and development are put on hold until the perceived threat is over.

So, while there is a time and place for the stress response to be helpful, chronic stress is bad for us. Decades ago, Hans Selye researched the effects of chronic stress.¹ He