Less Stress, More Joy – Nava Health & Vitality Center

I am receiving compensation for this event and review, but all opinions are my own.

Last week I was invited to a talk at the Nava Health and Vitality Center. The topic of the evening centered around enjoying the holidays more, with “less stress, anxiety, weight gain and more happiness, family time and joy.” Sounded like a good plan to me, so I was happy to attend.

The event took place in the small lobby area of the Nava Health and Vitality Center. Nava is an integrated health center that focuses on the whole you. It offers services from massage to acupuncture to chiropractic care to life coaching to bio-identical hormone optimization therapy.

The unique part is that they use what they call the Nava Method to create a plan that integrates those services that you need based on your health and extensive blood work. In addition to these integrated plans, they offer free seminars on various health related topics.

The talk I attend was lead by their  Medical Director, Dr. Douglas Lord and their Director of Life Coaching, Joda Coolidge. Both were extremely personable and quite knowledgeable. While we did delve a little bit into the various services they offered, the focus was on how to enjoy the holidays more and stress less, while still maintaining your health. While Joda did share some of the typical holiday eating management strategies (limit alcohol, don’t got to a party hungry, bring healthy treats, etc.), two things really stayed with me.

1. Don’t feel guilt. If you overeat or under exercise, move on. Don’t fall into the “well, I already screwed up, I might as well keep screwing up” mentality. Don’t beat yourself up. Accept the choices you made and move on.
2. Create some perfect moments during the holidays. They don’t have to be big moments, but find those moments and appreciate them. She suggested things like a cup of tea, sitting quietly and listening to your favorite holiday songs, watching a classic holiday movie with your family, going for a walk and appreciating nature…  The point being stay in the moment and enjoy it instead of constantly running around frenzied like many of us do during the holidays.

In addition to the talk, I got a quick tour of the facilities. The whole place felt soothing and every room, including the consultation rooms, were designed to feel warm and welcoming.

I had a few moments to talk to Dr. Lord about aging and menopause and the use of bio-identical hormone therapy. We had an interesting discussion about some of my personal health and running issues. I’ve been struggling with my weight and generally feeling slow and not as energetic as I used to. I don’t know which (if any) of the services I’ll end up using, but I’m really excited that in December I’ll be going in for their assessment visit and the complete blood workup. I look forward to learning more about what is going on with my body as I’m aging. I will share that experience and the findings with you all.

Have you ever looked into an integrated health plan? Do you use acupuncture or massage to help you manage your health? 

Disclaimer: I am receiving compensation for this post, but all opinions are my own.