Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau

Educator, Coach, Life Strategist

  • About
    • Marie-Claire Moreau
    • Press
    • Testimonials
    • Privacy, Terms & Conditions
  • Homeschooling
    • Articles and Free Courses
      • College Prep High Schooling: Free Mini Online Course
      • Intro to Homeschooling: Free Mini Online Course
      • More Articles
    • Homeschool Consulting – Advising – Guidance Counseling
    • “Suddenly Homeschooling” Book
    • Florida-Specific Homeschooling Information
    • Homeschooling High School Book
    • Science fairs for homeschoolers
      • Science Fair Information
  • Services
  • Speaking
  • Shop Books
  • Cart
  • Contact

Feb 05 2016

Saying YES to rest and play (and a challenge!)

If you’re like most women, you  cram more than your share of projects and deadlines into every day. With a list a mile long, you live life focused on completion, meeting (ridiculously high) standards, covering all the bases, and making sure you never neglect anyone or anything along the way.

You’re focused, hard-working, and forever the person in charge. You step up to the plate. Every. Single. Time.

You have to, amiright? That stuff won’t get done by itself.

Listen, I understand. I was that woman, too. Forever the list-maker, the achiever, the over-doer, I was always the volunteer and person in charge. I loved it. On the surface, it actually felt really, really good. In fact I wouldn’t have experienced much of my early success without those early behaviors. Chances are, your focus on production and over-achievement probably serves you well, too.  

But The Problem

While chronic busy-ness serves a useful purpose, it doesn’t come without a heavy price. We’re talking sleep, weight, relationships, happiness, and all of it.

You know what I’m talking about.

I meet women every day who do way too much.

Do you?

Perhaps you know you’re too busy and admit your suffering out loud. Or, maybe you don’t know it, but your busy-ness shows up in the form of sickness or pain. I meet high-achieving women going through all kinds of things in my my practice every week.

A Simple Solution

There is a solution, and it’s a lot simpler than you might think.

It’s down time— however you define that for yourself.

Down time refers to time for yourself, doing things that bring pleasure. This isn’t a luxury, by the way. It’s necessary for a healthy, stress-free life.

Regular time off isn’t a luxury. It’s necessary for a healthy, stress-free life.
Click To Tweet

If you were to ask me 10 or 20 years ago when was the last time I sat around doing nothing, I’d have laughed at you out loud. Back then, I couldn’t even recall a time when I allowed myself time to just sit and be. I believed it was a huge weakness to goof off, so I never allowed myself the indulgence, for it would destroy my production for the whole day.

Boy, was I wrong.

Looking back at the wisdom of people who counseled, “Go for a walk, read a book, or take a nap”, I see now that I had a lot to learn about health and happiness. My lack of this kind of awareness didn’t allow me to see past the flurry of activity and endless stream of things on my schedule.

If I’d allowed myself regular time off, I wouldn’t have developed my illness, nor the painful symptoms that plagued me for many years.

Say YES to rest and play

Fast forward many years, much research,  and many experiences and I see the things that stole big chunks of my life away. I am now called to counsel women and spread the important message about the value of self-care.

Often, I’m met with resistance — those familiar excuses I used for many years, too. Despite them, we work together on prioritizing, eliminating distractions, and discarding time-sucking activities. We rework schedules and find blocks of necessary time for the rest and peace they so richly deserve. Plus, I teach how to accept self-care without guilt, otherwise it isn’t self-care at all. 

The 7-Day Challenge

Ready to try something better in your life?

Will you commit to making time for rest & play daily for a week?

I’d like to see you take an hour daily, for one week. But, if you can’t, 30 minutes will do.

You can keep a journal about how you feel if that’s your jazz. Or, just reflect on the experience before you go to bed at night to notice if you feel any different.

If, after a week, you don’t feel the challenge has been worth it, I understand…it just might not be your time to receive this message. But, if you’ve enjoyed it, keep going. You’ll grow in knowing the importance of down time for your mind, body and spirit. 

To your evolution,

As a coach, writer, recovered over-doer and busyness addict, I understand the challenges of creating a balanced, healthy lifestyle while the mind tries to sabotage your success. In my journey to vibrant health, I created a personalized health system of nutrition and supplementation, lifestyle changes, and I retrained my mind and the energy of my body. I view my success as the formula to my happy, healthy life. I now empower other women to create their own personalized formulas, including the tools and strategies just right for them! Amazing life shifts come from our relationships. I look forward to helping you, too!.

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Women's Mind Body & Spirit · Tagged: calendars, chores, large families, play time, relaxed, scheduling, stress, time management, work-at-home, working moms

Oct 01 2015

Just breathe

woman-570883_1280

Funny thing about breathing is that nobody thinks about it until it’s harder to do. Do you remember the last time you suffered a cold or flu, focused almost solely on trying to breathe for several days, and the ecstasy you felt when breathing finally returned?

I remember times of troubled breathing vividly. Difficulty with my breath has always made me extremely antsy. That’s why I can never relax when I’m stuffed up, and hardly sleep until my breathing finally returns. I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection between breath and overall health much sooner.

I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection between breath and overall health much sooner.

Click To Tweet

What’s normal breathing for you? Have you ever thought about how you actually breathe?

To be honest, I had really never thought about it. Except for obsessing over it while sick, I’d never studied the quality nor style of my breath at all. It wasn’t until I hit my late 40’s and my health gave way a little that I actually realized I wasn’t doing it right. It was then that I understood I probably hadn’t been breathing correctly all along.

Can you believe I didn’t know that my belly should actually rise when I breathe, not suck in as I was doing (cutting off my breath, but also my chi, energy, life force, and everything I was). I learned breathing into my head or into my throat was barely useful at all, and how I was probably contributing to episodes of dizziness and loss of balance I experienced every once in a while. I learned my whole body  needed nourishing, not just my lungs, and not in that shallow way I was doing, that did little  to satisfy my body’s  craving for another generous dose of life-giving air.

Basically, in my 40’s, I finally learned how to breathe correctly.

And, geez, why doesn’t anyone teaching breathing while we’re young? Babies do it perfectly — have you  watched an infant sleep? But, somewhere, proper breath is lost during childhood. I’m not sure when and how exactly, but shouldn’t this be taught? Or passed from generations, perhaps?

I can tell you for sure,  breathing is certainly not something routinely taught in the western world. Which is why, after I learned, I made it a conscious part of the life curriculum I designed for my kids in our homeschool. I wanted to make sure they knew how to do it, too. I wanted to save them the nonsense I went through.

There are different kinds of breathing, different ways of breathing, and different habits we get in to with our breathing. Mostly unnoticed, the effects of this mindless activity can be very profound, indeed. I remember the “aha” moment I had  sitting at my computer  years ago, realizing  the harder I focused, the less I seemed to be breathing for what seemed like long periods of time. Particularly when using email…for whatever reason, I found myself not breathing when I focused very  hard. Thank goodness I caught and ended my own silly behavior. I have occasionally found myself scarcely breathing while driving my vehicle, too – almost as if in a trance!

So, when I learned about the art of breath, the way to take in air — not just to my head and throat – but all the way into my body, life began to change. I can now tell when I’m not breathing enough, not cleansing, not releasing, not relaxing, not nourishing myself in the ways that only breath can do. So, I correct it.

An eye-opener for me was the science behind proper breathing. Did you know that breathing alone may reduce stress, pain, inflammation, chronic health conditions, and more? Did you know folks who do not breathe correctly may suffer conditions like asthma, allergies, skin conditions and more? Breathing helps reduce anxiety, depression, stress and emotional states we sometimes aren’t even aware of. And people who breathe through their mouths may even have different face shapes and unevenly toned muscles in the face?  Surprising, right? I didn’t know either.

Paying attention to my breath has helped me in ways I am maybe not even aware. I will say, however, I feel like a different person when I remember to breathe, and when I do it right. I am instantly more relaxed, more focused, and more clear thinking. I honestly feel my breath now has a positive impact on my overall health.

I feel like a different person when I remember to breathe, and I do it right.

Click To Tweet

I’m sharing this with you in case you’d never thought about your breath, either. Treat yourself to a book, video or exercise to learn the kind of breathing that works for well for you, at different times of the day. Start by looking in book stores, or have another listen to your favorite meditation tapes, talk to a yoga teacher, or see a natural health practitioner for breathing advice.

To your good health,

signature

As a coach, writer, recovered over-doer and busyness addict, I understand the challenges of creating a balanced, healthy lifestyle while the mind tries to sabotage your success. In my journey to vibrant health, I created a personalized health system of nutrition and supplementation, lifestyle changes, and I retrained my mind and the energy of my body. I view my success as the formula to my happy, healthy life. I now empower other women to create their own personalized formulas, including the tools and strategies just right for them! Amazing life shifts come from our relationships. I look forward to helping you, too!

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Women's Mind Body & Spirit · Tagged: health, mind-body-spirit, stress

Dec 01 2014

Traditional schools stress kids out

Another infographic crossed my desk this morning.  This one caught my eye, as the title was:  #1 Thing Kids Want When They’re Stressed”. It illustrates the results of a study in which children were surveyed by a company providing a therapeutic program for anxiety relief.  Though the study facts and measures weren’t all that clear, I didn’t for a moment disagree with its findings:

Kids are most stressed by school.

I can’t say I’m surprised.  But, I have to say,  it really hurt to see that it in print.

I’m sad for those kids, and I’m angry about the whole situation, too.   It’s heart-breaking, isn’t it?  We’re talking about little kids here.

Think about this for a second: school stresses kids out.  Doesn’t that make you sad and angry, too?

You know, when we choose to homeschool our kids, we avoid the stresses of traditional schooling.  If grades are stressful, we find other ways to assess our kids.  If the work load is too great, we can scale back or switch methods (with no loss of learning or progress).  We’re not shielding our children from the real world, but instead helping our kids learn about stressors while they’re still in our care.   And we’re giving them the tools to deal with stressors when they’re adults.  It’s more gradual, gentle, and studies tell us — works better, too.

So, here’s my question to you today:  Are you taking notice?  If school is the #1 stressor of our nation’s kids, why aren’t more people standing up for change?  Of the zillions of great parents out there — and believe me I know you’re an awesome parent – why aren’t more of you deciding you’ve had enough?

As a nation, we parents need to speak up.  We need to look deeper.  We need to demand change.

Clearly, given this statistic, not enough of us are noticing what conventional schooling is doing to our kids.  Some of us are standing against Common Core, and that’s something. But why still support the system — if you already know it just isn’t working.

If you’re already a homeschooler, I am happy your children are not included in that statistic.  But if you’ve got kids in traditional schools, won’t you please take a moment to check in with your children today?  Make sure they’re okay — I mean, really okay.  Ask them how they’re feeling about school.  And please listen hard for what they’re trying to tell you.

Also today, spend some time looking into what is going on in your district, in your state.   Volunteer in your local schools.  Meet with your neighbors.  And read, read, read what other parents have to say.

By the way, the same study also revealed the #1 thing kids ask for when they’re stressed…their parents.

They’re looking to you.

Marie-Claire Moreau, Quick Start Homeschool

 

Considering homeschooling? This book tells you everything you need to get started.  You’ll be easily homeschooling in under 2 weeks, and your entire family will be enjoying it, too!

Click here for details:

Suddenly Homeschooling, by Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: me, random, socialization, stress

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2

· Copyright © 2022 · Marie-Claire Moreau ·