Christie Kruisenga Archives | Continuum Healing

Guided Stress Management

The “happy” holiday season is a time where many people feel stress a little more acutely. (Feel free to laugh loudly if you feel like this is an understatement…) In addition to shopping, cooking and planning, the abundance of family time, or for some, the lack of, brings up frustration, anger, sadness, grief, nostalgia, etc. Maybe it’s even this recent election season that has you feeling the potential conflicts already brewing around the dinner table. Maybe you’re already silently practicing your debate skills or planning your swift escape plan as you read this.

No matter what your situation, this time of elevated stress or joy is a great opportunity to take a breath and reflect on how we’re truly feeling and how we are responding to all of these situations. For many of us, letting all of these feelings of stress come up rather than stuffing them down garners the same response as the dog peeing on the Christmas tree. “NO! STOP! Get away!” If you let the cornucopia of emotions rise, they may feel like too much, so I encourage you to take on your stressors one or two at a time.

Provided here is a simple worksheet to …

A Natural Health Practitioner’s Take on Thanksgiving

Christie Kruisenga, Gratitude, Jenny Bork, Kara McNabbNo commentsgratitude, practitioner, thanksgiving

My first thoughts on creating a blog post on Thanksgiving are, meh, trite…one more thing to add to the slew of same-ol’ same-ol’ posts that are bound to cross through your social media feed today. Why perpetuate the mentality that one day is reserved for thanks-giving, when every day brings the possibility of reflecting and expressing gratitude?

But as my coworkers and friends, Christie Kruisenga and Jenny Bork, spent Wednesday talking gratitude in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I got past that. …

The Best Diet and Spiritual Bypassing – Things That Make Us Cringe

Christie Kruisenga, Micah McLaughlin, Natural HealthNo commentsdiet, spiritual bypassing

There’s a lot going on in the world of natural health. Most of it’s really great, but every once in a while, we see stuff that makes us cringe. Over the next couple months, we’ll share our perspectives on a few of these. First up: diets and spiritual bypassing. Here’s what naturopaths Christie Kruisenga and Micah McLaughlin have to say.

What’s a trend in the world of natural health that makes you cringe?

Christie Kruisenga: As a naturopath, I get asked a lot about what diet I think is best. My short answer: NONE.

There are far too many factors to consider when looking at a person as an individual to say that everyone should be vegan, paleo, ketogenic, macro-biotic, raw, vegetarian, etc. We each have our own constitution and what bring us into balance and throws us out of balance is variable from one person to the next.

Things to consider include, but are not limited to, your blood type, your dominant nervous system type, your dosha type, your glandular type, if you’re more yin or yang, the balance of your elements, eating with the seasons, etc.

In simpler terms, some people’s bodies thrive on meat, others do …

The blurry line between self-love and sloth

Christie Kruisenga, Emotions, Mind Body and Spirit, NaturopathyNo commentsavoidance, presence, self awareness, self-compassion, self-love

A radical act of self-love doesn’t have to mean spending a fortune on yourself or masking pain with fun distractions. It can just be a willingness to check the intent of your loving action at the door to make sure its purpose is to truly nourish your soul.

There are quite a few actions that I categorize under self-love, such as relaxation, choosing foods that nourish you, respecting yourself and your intuition, etc. But what is considered self-love can sometimes blur the lines with our defense/coping mechanisms. …

What is naturopathy?

Christie Kruisenga, Mind Body and Spirit, NaturopathyNo commentsHealth, Natural Health, naturopathy

As I work to complete my four year certification as a traditional naturopath, I am frequently asked about my field of work. Most responses vary around a polite, “Oh, interesting. Nat-ur-op-athy, what is that, exactly…?” to the enthusiastic, “Oh! My sister sees a naturopath! Do you know about essential oils?”

I have stumbled more times than I care to admit attempting to explain the concept of naturopathy based on the depth of knowledge the inquiring person was looking for. I went from feeling too vague and unconfident in my response to overly enthusiastic and overwhelming. “I love this! Don’t you?! Well, let me tell you more!” With time and experience I’ve improved (slightly), but still strive to develop my own definition of what I do and how to clearly portray that to anybody who might inquire.

The following is my attempt to answer the main questions I have received from the lady standing in the check-out lane behind me to the potential clients who call and are ready to do their research. My answers and explanations are solely based on what I have been taught or what I have learned through experience and will be presented without bias towards any …

The One Thing That Shapes Your Entire Life + What To Do About It

Christie Kruisenga, Emotions, Mind Body and Spirit, NaturopathyNo commentsCuriosity, Emotions, Fear, Love, Root

Do you ever get the uneasy sense that someone, or something, is lurking behind you? You can feel its presence, but with every glance over your shoulder you find nothing. Some may believe it’s a spirit watching over you, an energy passing by, or your intuition kicking in. All of these explanations are valid in my mind, but I’ve noticed a slightly more sinister creature breathing heavily on my neck as of late. It’s a familiar, intangible mass that changes density and size at different times, but it always loiters around, sometimes whispering in my ear. In fact, it’s probably sitting comfortably behind you right now, too. It goes by the name of Fear.…

The Mind, The Body, and Their Unbreakable Bond

Christie Kruisenga, Emotions, Mind Body and SpiritNo comments

Do you ever notice yourself having the same conversation repeatedly, but with different people? Sometimes it’s about a television show, a specific person, or other times it’s about a random life nuance that everyone simultaneously took notice of in the past two days. At first it seems coincidental, but by the third or fourth time you can’t help but wonder why this otherwise irrelevant topic is coming up over and over again. What on earth is it trying to tell you and why can’t it just spell it out with sky writing?

The past few weeks have brought numerous “déjà vu” topics of conversations my way, ranging from persons and places to the most random of things. But most intriguing has been the topic of the mind-body connection, or more specifically, how our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can positively or negatively affect our overall health.

Now given, I work in the natural health field, so this topic is not uncommon, but discussing it with my delightful waiter at lunch? And again in a public restroom? Finally, when someone who claims strong disbelief in holistic “voo doo” mentioned they heard that respiratory symptoms can be linked to unresolved grief, you …

Gratitude

Christie Kruisenga, Gratitude, Mind Body and SpiritNo comments

grat·i·tude
/’gradəˌt(y)o͞od/
Noun
the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

It is common for many of us to focus on the situations and events in our lives that we perceive as undesirable, inconvenient, and difficult. We’ve each experienced moments, maybe even thousands of them in total, when we’ve felt as if everything was working against us and that there’s no overcoming the barrage of bad luck plaguing our careers, relationships, and finances. These moments can range from tragic to miniscule, but no matter their severity or size, they consume our range of vision and distract us from the abundant joy and simple beauties that surround us every day.

Practicing daily gratitude has been shown to improve health, happiness, and to make us more resilient. It can also increase energy, enthusiasm, creativity, determination, and alertness, strengthen relationships, and reduce stress. There are few of us who don’t long for something to increase our happiness and lessen our stress, but many of us fall prey to the pattern of “I’ll be happy when…” “I’ll be happy when I have more money… when winter gives way to sunshine… when I purchase that new outfit… when I …

Category: Christie Kruisenga