May 14, 2022

150 Ways To Play!

150 Ways To Play!

This is such a fun episode because Janet Omstead loves to play, she lives and breathes it! It’s all about your mindset! Most people don’t enjoy “workouts” because it sounds like work! However, when you instead choose to “play” in whatever way brings you fun and in bite-size pieces throughout your day, you are boosting both your physical and mental health exponentially. Janet has written “The PlayBook”, which is an easy read with many helpful tips and 150 ways to play to get you started. For good health, it’s recommended you get 150 minutes of movement/week! It’s not about the “1-hour workout” that you can never make time for, break it down into 20 minutes/day, that’s doable! I love the idea of ‘play’, it feels light, refreshing, and fun, so let’s all get out there and enjoy our playtime and stop taking ourselves so seriously! Life is way more fun (and way healthier) that way!

On Janet’s website, you can download the free first chapter of her book

https://janetomstead.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/The-Play-Book-Ch-1.pdf

Your Guided Health Journey Membership – 1 month FREE Trial: https://yourguidedhealthjourney.com/membership-programs/

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https://yourguidedhealthjourney.com/hormones/

Health Kickstart Program: 

https://welcome.yourguidedhealthjourney.com/Health-Kickstart

Complimentary 15-minute consult:

https://YGHJappointments.as.me/free-consult

Discover Your Toxic Load Quiz: 

https://welcome.yourguidedhealthjourney.com/yourtoxicload

 

About the Guest:

As Canada's play expert, author, and executive health coach Janet is on a mission to reignite people's passion for play to help fight lifestyle-related diseases while improving their quality of life as they age.

With over 20 years of experience in the health and wellness industry, Janet Omstead's strength as a play expert lies in working with habit-based change behavior psychology, allowing individual and corporate clients to make sustainable progress towards optimal health. Ultimately, Janet helps her clients thrive through a "deep health" methodology.

Most importantly, Janet guides people as they change their habits and have fun!

Janet is passionate about helping people make each day a little better because she learned to make every day count at a young age. After recovering from a near-death experience in 1991, Janet promised herself she would listen to her body and thoroughly embrace life.

This positive mindset has seen Janet through the ups and downs of raising kids, recovering from injuries and accidents, being a caregiver to her husband through his cancer journey, and losing loved ones. It's also enabled her to embrace unique opportunities, such as interviewing world-class athletes during her years covering the Olympics with CTV Sports, traveling the world, and singing joyfully in a rock choir.  

Janet knows there is no one-size-fits-all approach to health. Her life's work is helping others live healthy, full vibrant lives. Through her personalized "outside of the gym" play-based approach, Janet helps her clients look for the good, find gratitude, and find joy.

 

Website: 

 janetomstead.com

Linked In:  

www.linkedin.com/in/janetomstead

Instagram: 

 www.instagram.com/janetomstead

Email:

info@janetomstead.com

Mobile:

416-951-8568


About the Host:

Melissa is an Integrative Health Practitioner helping people get to the root cause of their health issues.  Melissa neither diagnoses nor cures but helps bring your body back into balance by helping discover your “toxic load” and then removing the toxins. Melissa offers functional medicine lab testing that helps you “see inside” to know exactly what is going on, and then provides a personalized wellness protocol using natural herbs and supplements.   Melissa’s business is 100% virtual – the lab tests are mailed directly to your home and she specializes in holding your hand and guiding the way to healing so that you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. 

Melissa is the winner of the 2021 Quality Care Award by Business From The Heart and is also the recipient of the Alignable “Local Business Person of the Year “Award 2022 for Whistler. 

Melissa has been featured at a number of Health & Wellness Summits, such as the Health, Wealth & Wisdom Summit, The Power To Profit Summit, The Feel Fan-freaking-tas-tic Summit, the Aim Higher Summit, and many more!  She has also guested on over 60 different podcasts teaching people about the importance of prioritizing our health and how to get get started. 

 

www.yourguidedhealthjourney.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissadeally/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Guidedhealthjourney

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/guidedhealthjourney/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTYG85CdWUA5MZ0NDCs-Z3Q/videos

 

Thanks for listening!

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Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a note in the comment section below!

 

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Transcript
Melissa Deally:

Imagine getting up every day full of energy is

Melissa Deally:

if you were in your 20s. Again, what would that be like? What

Melissa Deally:

would that be worth

Melissa Deally:

to you? What is your health worth to you? Think about it.

Melissa Deally:

Your health isn't everything. But without it, everything else

Melissa Deally:

is nothing. And yet too many of us are taking it for granted

Melissa Deally:

until something goes wrong. No one wakes up hoping to be

Melissa Deally:

diagnosed with a disease or chronic illness. And yet, we've

Melissa Deally:

never been taught how to be proactive in our health through

Melissa Deally:

our school system, or public health. As a registered health

Melissa Deally:

coach and integrative health practitioner, I believe it is

Melissa Deally:

time this information is made available to everyone. Combining

Melissa Deally:

new knowledge around your health and the ability to do my

Melissa Deally:

functional medicine lab tests in the comfort of your own home

Melissa Deally:

will allow you to optimize your health for today and all your

Melissa Deally:

tomorrow's don't wait for your wake up call.

Melissa Deally:

Welcome back to the don't wait for your wake up call podcast. I

Melissa Deally:

am your host, Melissa dealey and very excited to be sharing with

Melissa Deally:

you today another special guest Janet Olmstead. Welcome, Janet.

Janet Omstead:

Hi. Nice to be here.

Melissa Deally:

I'm super excited to have you here. And I

Melissa Deally:

just want to introduce you a little bit and then let you

Melissa Deally:

share your story with the audience. But Janet is Canada's

Melissa Deally:

play expert. How fun does that sound. She's also an author and

Melissa Deally:

executive health coach, she is on a mission to reignite

Melissa Deally:

people's passion for play to help fight lifestyle related

Melissa Deally:

disease while improving their quality of life as they age.

Melissa Deally:

With over 20 years of experience in the health and wellness

Melissa Deally:

industry. Janet strength as a play expert lies in working with

Melissa Deally:

habit based change behavior psychology, allowing individual

Melissa Deally:

and corporate clients to make sustainable progress towards

Melissa Deally:

optimal health. Ultimately, Janet helps her clients thrive

Melissa Deally:

through a deep health methodology. Most importantly,

Melissa Deally:

Janet guides people as they change their habits and have

Melissa Deally:

fun. And so I love that you're looking at using Play to fight

Melissa Deally:

these lifestyle related diseases. And that's why I

Melissa Deally:

wanted you on the show because it aligns so beautifully with

Melissa Deally:

the work that I'm doing to also fight those same lifestyle

Melissa Deally:

related diseases. And so please jump in and share with the

Melissa Deally:

audience what brought you into this life of play?

Janet Omstead:

Well, I've always been a huge kid at heart. You

Janet Omstead:

know, all all fun aside, I really am passionate about

Janet Omstead:

health and wellness. And it comes from a deep sense of well,

Janet Omstead:

understanding how life is short. And the reason I got became a

Janet Omstead:

health coach, after years and years and years of having an

Janet Omstead:

interest in health and wellness is because my body gave me a

Janet Omstead:

sign in my 20s which almost took my life. It was my body was

Janet Omstead:

screaming at me and I wasn't paying attention. And I nearly

Janet Omstead:

died from a ruptured ovarian torsion. Six weeks before I got

Janet Omstead:

married, and I made it down the aisle. And that experience made

Janet Omstead:

me promise to myself, I would never take my health for

Janet Omstead:

granted. I would always look after myself. And ironically,

Janet Omstead:

when I wrote my book, on Play, play also stands for please look

Janet Omstead:

after yourself. In my book, I have some across sticks. And

Janet Omstead:

that's a huge one for me. So play is a double meaning, please

Janet Omstead:

look after yourself, which I promised at 24. I would. And

Janet Omstead:

also the act of you know, understanding life is short. And

Janet Omstead:

we do get to take care of ourselves ourselves. We don't

Janet Omstead:

have to we do get too. And I think it's really Yeah, it's

Janet Omstead:

it's a it's a choice, and it's a gift. And, you know, we are so

Janet Omstead:

lucky to live in an age where we have lots of options to take

Janet Omstead:

care of our health. But finding the most sustainable way really

Janet Omstead:

matters to me too, because I know there's a lot. There's a

Janet Omstead:

lot of quick fixes and magic potions that are sold to us. But

Janet Omstead:

you know, sustainable habit based change and the psychology

Janet Omstead:

that goes with it making deep changes to that our behaviors

Janet Omstead:

reflect our values and our, our own beliefs. That's how things

Janet Omstead:

last and that's what makes you show up every day and be able to

Janet Omstead:

take care of yourself the best way you can.

Melissa Deally:

And as hard as it was to go through that at the

Melissa Deally:

age of 24. Just before getting married, again, where we always

Melissa Deally:

look back at these things with 2020 vision and we know that

Melissa Deally:

things happen for us, not to us, right. And you were able to

Melissa Deally:

recognize that this happened for you because you needed to learn

Melissa Deally:

that lesson that it was a choice to look at After yourself, and

Melissa Deally:

you wanted to step into that, and you needed to listen to your

Melissa Deally:

body. And I love that, because again, it's so much about what I

Melissa Deally:

teach in the work that I do. And my regular listeners will have

Melissa Deally:

heard me say this many times. But at first, our body whispers

Melissa Deally:

to us with a gentle touch of a feather. If we don't listen, it

Melissa Deally:

might scream, some bus with a break. And if we still don't

Melissa Deally:

listen, then watch out for the wrecking ball. Right. And

Melissa Deally:

unfortunately, that is the reality for too many people.

Melissa Deally:

Because society teaches us to suck it up and push through and

Melissa Deally:

keep going. Right? Yeah,

Unknown:

work through the pain. Exactly. Yeah,

Melissa Deally:

as opposed to our symptoms truly are our

Melissa Deally:

body's way of talking to us and asking us to do something

Melissa Deally:

differently.

Unknown:

Yeah, and you know what, it's really served my own

Unknown:

personal life well, outside of my, like, a my first health

Unknown:

scare then. But as you know, I am a mom and I have had, I have

Unknown:

kids that have all had their challenges. And they, they all

Unknown:

started from their bodies talking to them. And I was able

Unknown:

to say to them, you know, you have to pay attention to these

Unknown:

signs, because they aren't fake, they're real. And you may want

Unknown:

to brush them aside. But, in fact, my husband, most recently

Unknown:

was his body was talking weird to him. And he luckily went to

Unknown:

the doctor and was able to capture really serious medical

Unknown:

condition early and get the treatment he needed. And thank

Unknown:

God, he listened to his body. Like, it's really important. I

Unknown:

can't I don't know how much the like else just to tell people,

Unknown:

please look after yourself. Yeah, it really matters.

Melissa Deally:

And listen to your body, like you say, right?

Melissa Deally:

And, you know, get to the bottom of it. Don't just mask it. Oh,

Unknown:

again, don't wait, you know, a lot of people are

Unknown:

scared. And often what happens to me as a coach, you know, I

Unknown:

will get referred to by a medical professional or another

Unknown:

client who's worked with me. And often because they like your

Unknown:

line of work in mind, they've had a wake up call, or they're

Unknown:

scared about something. And even if someone comes to me, and

Unknown:

they're kind of suffering from something, I'll say, please go

Unknown:

to your doctor, let's let's get this diagnosed on the one hand,

Unknown:

and then let's bring in all the other magic that is available to

Unknown:

us to help you, you know, be healthier. And yeah, it's never

Unknown:

too late to get the help you need. And I think it's crucial

Unknown:

that more people do. And

Melissa Deally:

the earlier you do it, the better. Oh, yeah, it

Melissa Deally:

is right. I'm always talking about the body being in balance,

Melissa Deally:

right? Yeah, exactly. It's just a little out of balance. It's

Melissa Deally:

just a little tweak to bring it back into balance. But when is

Melissa Deally:

way out of balance over here, it's gonna, you know, take more

Melissa Deally:

effort and more work and take longer. Yeah, the other thing

Melissa Deally:

that I like to share with people is, you didn't just get here

Melissa Deally:

overnight. So why are you expecting to be better?

Melissa Deally:

Overnight? This Oh, and building in your body for weeks, months?

Melissa Deally:

In some cases, years? Exactly. So if working with me, or

Melissa Deally:

working with you is a six month process that's still, in most

Melissa Deally:

cases, much less time than what you've already been?

Unknown:

For sure. And, you know, and especially in my line

Unknown:

of work to with habit based change, you know, the the secret

Unknown:

really, is you may not have paid attention to all those little

Unknown:

changes you were making to get that out of balance. But when

Unknown:

you start making little changes consistently over time. Yeah,

Unknown:

they're manageable. it's manageable. It's doable. It's

Unknown:

and like you said, it's, it will eventually come back. You just

Unknown:

have to give it time.

Melissa Deally:

Exactly. Yeah. So I have your book here, which

Melissa Deally:

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading, and I see your background there.

Unknown:

And I have a copy here. Yeah, and I

Melissa Deally:

highly recommend people pick up this book because

Melissa Deally:

it is such so much great information in it, some

Melissa Deally:

worksheets etc. And what I also really love that you have in

Melissa Deally:

here is your list, your list of 150 different things to get

Melissa Deally:

people moving, for those watching on video 150 ways to

Melissa Deally:

move more so I don't know if you want to maybe share your

Melissa Deally:

favorites from this list. Just to kind of inspires some people

Melissa Deally:

for some things that they haven't thought of. I certainly

Melissa Deally:

know I love moving my body but yeah, what are your maybe it's

Melissa Deally:

your favorites or maybe it's the easiest ones for many of your

Melissa Deally:

clients to step into when you get them moving again.

Unknown:

Yeah, you know, I there's two things about that

Unknown:

list. 150 is is a kind of a double meaning 150 minutes a

Unknown:

week is the minimum amount of time people need to invest to

Unknown:

keep healthy, which is if you break it into time, it's 20

Unknown:

minutes A day, right? And 20 minutes a day. The magic here is

Unknown:

it doesn't have to all be done at once right to break it up. So

Unknown:

coming up with 150 ways to move. I think that's, you know,

Unknown:

something that comes very naturally to me. I can be

Unknown:

outside and look at a sidewalk crack and think, oh my gosh, I

Unknown:

could jump over the sidewalk crack. I could do squats on the

Unknown:

sidewalk crack. Like there's lots of ways we're skipping

Melissa Deally:

over it as children like.

Unknown:

One, there's lots of wrong rhymes. Yeah, they're

Unknown:

really

Melissa Deally:

good. And don't step on the line or your break

Melissa Deally:

or father's fine. I mean, I hope in Japan, and we did that for

Melissa Deally:

air you go,

Unknown:

there you go. So the 150 so the the 150 minutes a

Unknown:

week, and then 150 ways because I honestly think people deserve

Unknown:

the option to find what works for them. And one of the

Unknown:

assessments, personal assessments, I didn't want to

Unknown:

actually call them worksheets, because I don't want people to

Unknown:

think of working out as this like, negative, right when you

Unknown:

you get to move your you don't have to but you get to play. So

Unknown:

the personal assessment on what did you like to do as a kid?

Unknown:

Because that is still available to us. You just because you know

Unknown:

we Yes, we grow and age. But those things that brought us joy

Unknown:

as a kid are still available. And often just as good as if not

Unknown:

better than especially for people that don't like to go to

Unknown:

the gym. There. The world is your playground. So my

Unknown:

favorites. Well, I love skipping rope. I love hula hooping. It's,

Unknown:

I love to Hulu, I love to stand in line. Yeah, I love to stand

Unknown:

in line and balance on a leg one leg, or, you know, I love to

Unknown:

airbox if I'm at a stop sign, like I just think of, you know,

Unknown:

I actually also don't care what people think when I'm doing

Unknown:

public. But I want to do some functional movement, because we

Unknown:

all need to keep strong and functional as we age functional

Unknown:

is just how we move our body naturally, like getting in and

Unknown:

out of a chair or on and off of a toilet or in another car. All

Unknown:

of those movements need to be practiced so we can still do

Unknown:

them. So you know, in my book, I even refer to stalking a habit

Unknown:

that you may have, you may not want to go do squats somewhere,

Unknown:

but boy, you go to the bathroom, you can do five squats after

Unknown:

you've done gone to the bathroom very easily. And so every time

Unknown:

you go to the bathroom, you can add that habit on. And yeah, it

Unknown:

just simple ways to put more movement in your day and make it

Unknown:

fun and playful. And then you can get those 150 minutes pretty

Unknown:

easily. It's not that hard.

Melissa Deally:

Yeah. And it comes from choosing or

Melissa Deally:

recognizing it's a choice. And then as you say, just figuring

Melissa Deally:

out how you can fit it in, in small different places through

Melissa Deally:

the day. Yeah, so I'd love to share with you a couple of

Melissa Deally:

stories. I recently bought the mirror. Are you familiar? Like

Melissa Deally:

it? Oh my goodness, I cannot say how much I love my mirror

Melissa Deally:

enough. Because it's right, you know, 10,000 workouts to choose

Melissa Deally:

from. Right, right. It's right downstairs in the living room

Melissa Deally:

kind of behind the couch. So I can do like stretching in the

Melissa Deally:

evening and my husband's watching TV and I'm on the other

Melissa Deally:

side of the couch. She doesn't even know I'm there doing my

Melissa Deally:

stretching. So AI stretch way more, which is really important

Melissa Deally:

after my days on the mountain skiing. But with 10,000

Melissa Deally:

workouts, I do something on that every single day. Sometimes it's

Melissa Deally:

two, sometimes it's three classes because they have five

Melissa Deally:

minute classes, they have 15 minute classes, right. And I've

Melissa Deally:

tried all these new things that I wasn't doing before. So I was

Melissa Deally:

spending about $1,400 a year on my yoga and my gym membership.

Melissa Deally:

Now I've bought this and the ROI is like within a year, and I pay

Melissa Deally:

$50 A month membership for it. But for all of these different

Melissa Deally:

classes now so I've tried boxing, I never did boxing

Melissa Deally:

before but now I'm learning how to box write and write. I've got

Melissa Deally:

cardio strength, I just found foam roller stretching the other

Melissa Deally:

day, which I needed after we had 70 centimeters of snow on the

Melissa Deally:

mountain last Monday and my thighs were killing me. So I've

Melissa Deally:

been doing foam roller stretching. I did Tai Chi with

Melissa Deally:

my kids when they were home at Christmas. We were laughing

Melissa Deally:

there's kickboxing, there's bar, there's Pilates, there's yoga,

Melissa Deally:

there's toning, there's sculpt, there's bar, I mean, there's so

Melissa Deally:

many different workouts on there. You can do competitions

Melissa Deally:

with other people. So they'll go together and for 30 seconds, you

Melissa Deally:

work out as hard as you can and you get a squat. So it's super

Melissa Deally:

fun. And again, it makes you union makes me feel like I'm

Melissa Deally:

playing and it's really convenient.

Unknown:

Right? That's a big piece for people really is

Unknown:

because

Melissa Deally:

even going to the gym is still for me I'm if I

Melissa Deally:

walk, it's a 20 minute walk. And then I do an hour workout and

Melissa Deally:

then it's a 20 minute walk home says a big chunk of my day. Or

Melissa Deally:

if I drive it's still a five minute drive and dadadada da

Melissa Deally:

right and then just to be able to go downstairs for Five

Melissa Deally:

minutes and just do something for five minutes. Right? Yeah,

Melissa Deally:

absolutely. So I really love that they've come out with that.

Melissa Deally:

And

Unknown:

yeah, the pandemic really did serve us well, on

Unknown:

that front because it brought the option to a lot more people.

Unknown:

I mean, even if you don't have a mirror, there are, you know,

Unknown:

YouTube has 1000s and 1000s. Exactly. And, you know, peloton,

Unknown:

you don't have to own a peloton bike, you can use the app, you

Unknown:

know, they don't have to have a bike. Just, you know, I think

Unknown:

that's a you bring up a really important point, convenience,

Unknown:

fun. And if you'll use it, then you'll do it. So and there's no

Unknown:

right or wrong, right? You're experimenting, you're a perfect

Unknown:

example of you're trying stuff on and wow, I really liked that.

Unknown:

And who knew and it just opens up a whole world that I think as

Unknown:

we age, and as life evolves, we deserve that. Because why

Unknown:

wouldn't you try? There's no reason not to. Exactly.

Melissa Deally:

And it has opened up a whole new world

Melissa Deally:

because before all I did was cardio classes and stretch

Melissa Deally:

strength classes at the gym, and Emily yoga classes, different

Melissa Deally:

kinds of yoga classes, but I didn't have access to bar and

Melissa Deally:

pilates and kickboxing, and boxing and tie all of these

Melissa Deally:

other things. Right. And I certainly wasn't stretching as

Melissa Deally:

much as I should share five minutes at the end of every

Melissa Deally:

class, but not like I should be right. Yeah, yeah, sure. What I

Melissa Deally:

also love too, is the whole family can do it. And like I

Melissa Deally:

said, they have classes from five minutes to an hour from

Melissa Deally:

beginner to advanced. So there's something for everyone. There's

Melissa Deally:

even chair workouts, which is fabulous. And I've done some

Melissa Deally:

chairs stretching, which is just as good as not doing you know,

Melissa Deally:

like, it's there's all sorts of things. So doesn't matter where

Melissa Deally:

you're at, you can get started.

Unknown:

You can also I do want to point out, you said something

Unknown:

really, really valuable there is that there's five minutes,

Unknown:

there's 10 minutes, the only reason that people think they

Unknown:

need an hour is because that's how trainers get paid. Right?

Unknown:

It's a huge fallacy to think that that is a necessity. You

Unknown:

don't need an hour at all. If you have an hour, awesome. Go

Unknown:

for an hour walk or whatever. But you know, just that all

Unknown:

movement matters. In the end the time you have, like you said,

Unknown:

it's fantastic.

Melissa Deally:

And in fact, and you can correct me if I'm wrong,

Melissa Deally:

but I've heard from other trainers that you're better off

Melissa Deally:

actually moving multiple times through the day then doing a

Melissa Deally:

whole hour long workout first thing in the morning and then

Melissa Deally:

not moving all day. Right? Absolutely. If that is your

Melissa Deally:

answer to those little five minute work workouts is better.

Melissa Deally:

Have you heard

Unknown:

of non exercise Activity Thermogenesis? It's

Unknown:

called neat. I have not. Okay, so neat is exactly what you're

Unknown:

talking about. It's a fancier word. But neat stands for non

Unknown:

exercise Activity Thermogenesis which means you are doing

Unknown:

yourself a disservice by doing your workout and sitting for the

Unknown:

rest of the day you almost cancel out the benefits. Versus

Unknown:

Yes, please still keep up your strength in your cardio on those

Unknown:

things. But be intentional about how you're moving throughout the

Unknown:

day set timers to get up. You absolutely that movement is as

Unknown:

good as if not better than a full long workout. All that's

Unknown:

why all movement matters. And that's why Yeah, it throughout

Unknown:

the day. It's everything. It's kind of the thing that people

Unknown:

don't talk about, but really everybody should know.

Melissa Deally:

And for me, I live in a two storey home. So

Melissa Deally:

after each call that I do with my clients, I'm always up and

Melissa Deally:

down the stairs, right just on purpose, I need more tea or

Melissa Deally:

something else. And then I sit on a ball. And I love my this is

Melissa Deally:

I can wiggle right. And I'm just always moving. You

Unknown:

got things going on there, girl. I love it.

Melissa Deally:

I love all of this. And what I do want to say

Melissa Deally:

too, about the mirror that I really loved is they give you a

Melissa Deally:

30 day money back guarantee. Right? You can't lose. You can

Melissa Deally:

buy it and try it. And if it's really not for you, you can

Melissa Deally:

return it. But I bought it and I tried it and I just loved it. So

Melissa Deally:

four months later, I'm still rocking my mirror.

Unknown:

Again, find something you love to do, and you'll stick

Unknown:

with it. Exactly. And if it doesn't work, there are 1000s of

Unknown:

other ways to move your body 100% And get outside. Yeah,

Melissa Deally:

something else that I also want to share with

Melissa Deally:

you. You were talking about, you know, what did you do when you

Melissa Deally:

were a kid? Right? Yeah. So I recently did some training and I

Melissa Deally:

did NLP and timeline therapy and hypnotherapy training. And we're

Melissa Deally:

tapping into the unconscious mind. And I know you're all very

Melissa Deally:

familiar with that with habit change. I'm actually reading

Melissa Deally:

atomic habits right now to Oh, what a great well, a lot so

Melissa Deally:

aligned here. But you know, understanding that our

Melissa Deally:

unconscious mind is a toddler, right? It just wants to play and

Melissa Deally:

have fun and it only communicates in signs and you

Melissa Deally:

know, numbers and single words because it's a toddler. So I

Melissa Deally:

went out for a walk during the day that we were doing

Melissa Deally:

hypnotherapy and it was just a beautiful sunny day, and I just

Melissa Deally:

let my phone just start playing music and I just wanted to dance

Melissa Deally:

and I'm on the valley trail I live in Whistler, so Oh, no one

Melissa Deally:

was around me at the point of that point. And when music comes

Melissa Deally:

on, I just have to move my body dancing across the bridge across

Melissa Deally:

the waterfall and eyes are closed, and I'm twirling, and

Melissa Deally:

I'm thinking, I'm just like a little kid and I start skipping,

Melissa Deally:

and it takes me back to being seven years old. I can't

Melissa Deally:

remember my skips, right. And then I see a man walking up the

Melissa Deally:

path the other way. And I'm like, he probably thinks I'm a

Melissa Deally:

nutcase. But I don't care, maybe he'll just see my pure joy. And

Melissa Deally:

maybe that was it for today. I kept on skipping past and

Melissa Deally:

enjoying my music. And I literally felt like I was seven

Melissa Deally:

years old again. And it was amazing. But so often we create

Melissa Deally:

ourselves back, right? Because we think, Well, an adult can't

Melissa Deally:

behave like that.

Unknown:

Yes, we can. Why not? I know, you know, it's true.

Melissa Deally:

We all get so serious.

Unknown:

Well, there's, that's the thing, becoming an adult

Unknown:

does take on a level of seriousness that also sheds the

Unknown:

light on the fact that, you know, we think these playful

Unknown:

moments aren't available to us anymore. I mean, imagine if

Unknown:

your, your spouse or your friend said, Hey, let's go play in the

Unknown:

woods. Or instead of going to the gym, it's so much easier to

Unknown:

say, Okay, I'm just gonna have to play for a while I'll be

Unknown:

right back, then I have to go do this serious thing, because I

Unknown:

know why it's good for me, but I actually hate it. And it's

Unknown:

really bothering me. And, you know, those kinds of things.

Unknown:

Being, being giving yourself permission to getting back to

Unknown:

being a kid feels way more fun and achievable, then, you know,

Unknown:

not it's, it's a state of mind, really, Melissa, you know, plays

Unknown:

a state of mind and exercise is playing. And that, that

Melissa Deally:

that is the state of mind, I totally agree.

Unknown:

Yeah, if people can switch the, their thinking and

Unknown:

understand that, you know, play is exercise, exercise is play,

Unknown:

then their whole world can open up

Melissa Deally:

100%. And I love what you said about let's go

Melissa Deally:

play in the woods, because I know, you've mentioned that play

Melissa Deally:

is nature's therapy. Oh, it is nature's therapy

Unknown:

on so many levels. And you know, the mind body

Unknown:

connection is so powerful and you really can feel it. Big time

Unknown:

when you're outside in nature. You know, the the mental and

Unknown:

physical benefits of being outside is, is really next

Unknown:

level. And again, it doesn't take a lot of time. But it does

Unknown:

take and I also like to say there's no bad weather. There's

Unknown:

only bad cooling down here. Yeah, I'm gonna guide leader I

Unknown:

know about what to do. Where I got it from, I was never a Girl

Unknown:

Guide leader. But you know, i No matter the weather, play is

Unknown:

still available to us. Yes. Yeah. As long as you're safe, of

Unknown:

course. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And because it boosts your mood, it

Unknown:

improves your memory. It helps fight disease. You know, there's

Unknown:

chronic diseases that are preventable. If you spend more

Unknown:

time moving your body and enjoying nature. That's why it's

Unknown:

nature's therapy.

Melissa Deally:

Well, and because we know that nature

Melissa Deally:

helps us drop out of our chronic stress state and into our rest

Melissa Deally:

and digest parasympathetic nervous system. And in our

Melissa Deally:

world, today, too many of us are living stuck in that chronic

Melissa Deally:

stress, state, fight or flight. We're in that fight or flight

Melissa Deally:

right in order for the body to be producing the cortisol, the

Melissa Deally:

adrenaline that it thinks we need in order for us to get away

Melissa Deally:

from the lion or tiger that it thinks is chasing us. It shuts

Melissa Deally:

down other systems, one of which is our immune system, because

Melissa Deally:

the immune system takes energy. And right now the brain thinks

Melissa Deally:

we need all the energy we can to get to safety. And so that's why

Melissa Deally:

it's so therapeutic. And I mean, I'm so fortunate I live in

Melissa Deally:

Whistler, I've got nature all around me. It was a choice to

Melissa Deally:

live here. I only ever came for one season. And two years later,

Melissa Deally:

I'm still here you are at 22 Somehow I knew to make that

Melissa Deally:

choice. But I remember just a couple summers ago, I went to

Melissa Deally:

Vancouver for the day, right? So driving around in the city and I

Melissa Deally:

was doing appointments and things and so that can be

Melissa Deally:

stressful when you don't do it all the time. Right?

Unknown:

And on the way home and all those cars on the road.

Unknown:

Exactly.

Melissa Deally:

Where's your money going? Where am I going to

Melissa Deally:

find a parking spot right? And why is it so grounded in this

Melissa Deally:

line because I have five minutes to get to my next appointment

Melissa Deally:

anyway. So I'm driving home and I stopped in at Alice Lake one

Melissa Deally:

of our camping sites in Squamish where my sister and her family

Melissa Deally:

were camping for the week and it was my niece's birthday and I

Melissa Deally:

pulled into their spot and I parked and I needed to go to the

Melissa Deally:

washroom so I walked over to the little outhouse there. And as I

Melissa Deally:

walked back towards their sight, like I had not been there two

Melissa Deally:

minutes, and I physically felt the stress just leave my body

Melissa Deally:

Yeah. And it was just again, another reminder of I'm fully

Melissa Deally:

aware of the benefits of this, but to feel it so. You know, I

Melissa Deally:

don't know viscerally. I guess in my body, I'm just that Aha of

Melissa Deally:

Gee, I did kind of had a stressful day to day for it to

Melissa Deally:

leave my body like that. Within two minutes of being back in

Melissa Deally:

nature. Love it, right. So by an outhouse. Wow, that's a lot.

Melissa Deally:

There's a lot of relief happening. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So

Melissa Deally:

talk to me more about, I know, there's studies that show the

Melissa Deally:

benefit of, you know, nature and the benefit to the brain, at

Melissa Deally:

cetera, et cetera, and benefit to health. So share a little bit

Melissa Deally:

more of these studies with me?

Unknown:

Well, sure, you know, there is a recent study found

Unknown:

that moderate physical activity thickened parts of the brain in

Unknown:

beneficial ways to that led 60 year olds who had been sedentary

Unknown:

scoring as though they were 20 years younger, which is kind of

Unknown:

phenomenal onyx, with executive function, which is the ability

Unknown:

to pay attention and organize and achieve goals. So you know,

Unknown:

that in itself, the having that happen, but also, you know, the

Unknown:

other medicinal benefits of play are, it can help manage

Unknown:

arthritis. In fact, it can improve arthritis symptoms by up

Unknown:

to 40%. And even that 150 minutes a week, the moderate

Unknown:

physical activity can reduce your risk of developing type two

Unknown:

diabetes by 26%. And that's huge in today's world. 26%. Yeah,

Unknown:

with moderate intensity, right. And that's what people have to

Unknown:

really understand that one in four adults globally, do not get

Unknown:

150 minutes a week of exercise, because there's this stop gap

Unknown:

between what they think they need to do to get in shape

Unknown:

versus really what's available to them. And that's where I'm,

Unknown:

you know, bringing this whole play message back to is that,

Unknown:

that 150 minutes, is seriously easy to get, when you give

Unknown:

yourself more permission to be playful, and find the things

Unknown:

that you'd like to do. Right.

Melissa Deally:

And you've got a whole list of 150 things to

Melissa Deally:

start sparking ideas.

Unknown:

Oh, that and, you know, also, I didn't want to write my

Unknown:

book, too, I didn't want to write another exercise book, I

Unknown:

didn't want to write a book that says, This is what you have to

Unknown:

do. And this is the way you have to do it. Right? I come in at

Unknown:

this as truly, as a coach, here are some tools you can use to

Unknown:

start understanding how much time you're moving every day,

Unknown:

the kinds of things you'd like to do your vision of what being

Unknown:

healthy as you age looks like, you know, having a I even

Unknown:

actually did a vision board specifically for this book,

Unknown:

which I have as a screensaver on my computer. And you know, it's

Unknown:

literally it's fresh fruits and vegetables and playing in the

Unknown:

woods and being in nature and those things, they really speak

Unknown:

to me and still to this day. And also things in my book, you

Unknown:

know, really what you value and believe. And really, you know,

Unknown:

what you're willing, able and able to do all helps paint the

Unknown:

right picture, as an individual to find the way to move a little

Unknown:

more and play every day.

Melissa Deally:

And I love that you made a vision board around

Melissa Deally:

it and just to create that future plan for yourself.

Unknown:

Yeah, well, you know, we deserve some inspiration. And

Unknown:

we all imagine, you know, it's this is not about getting cut

Unknown:

for competition, you know, play, it's not about, you know, always

Unknown:

building and, and goal achieving and those type of things. And

Unknown:

it's it's also not about fitting in a dress from when you were

Unknown:

15. This is about like achieving manageable, sustainable change,

Unknown:

and movement. Play is the most positive catalyst for change.

Unknown:

Once you start moving more, you feel better. Once you feel

Unknown:

better, you'll probably sleep better, because you're a little

Unknown:

more tired. Like your body's working for you, not against

Unknown:

you. When you're sleeping better, you actually eat better.

Unknown:

Those all those ways to manage our health, as we age are

Unknown:

available. And I believe the lowest barrier to entry and the

Unknown:

most fun way to do it is playing 100%

Melissa Deally:

I totally agree with you there. I totally agree

Melissa Deally:

with you. And you also mentioned just there we all need a little

Melissa Deally:

inspiration. And so I just want to let the audience know that if

Melissa Deally:

you're tuning into this episode for the first time that this is

Melissa Deally:

coming out in my theme of play for the month of May 2022. But

Melissa Deally:

my April episodes were all about inspirations So if you're also

Melissa Deally:

looking for inspiration in your life go check out those episodes

Melissa Deally:

as well. So I agree that the lowest barrier to entry is play

Melissa Deally:

like there's almost no barrier at all. And we can just walk

Melissa Deally:

outside our front door and find ways to play when we open our

Melissa Deally:

mind too that something again I'm grateful for through this

Melissa Deally:

pandemic is I bought a paddleboard because I figured,

Melissa Deally:

well, if I can't travel anywhere, I'm going to be home

Melissa Deally:

more, and I absolutely love my paddleboard. In fact, last year,

Melissa Deally:

April 16, was my first day on my paddleboard, Oh, I did it for

Melissa Deally:

seven days in a row because we had this sudden week of gorgeous

Melissa Deally:

blue skies, sunny weather. Yeah, I won't be on my paddleboard

Melissa Deally:

this year on April 17 16th. Because a the mountain is still

Melissa Deally:

open for the first few years is usually open but the last two

Melissa Deally:

years it closed early. But secondly, we still have a lot of

Melissa Deally:

snow this year, and the weather isn't as warm. So I will keep

Melissa Deally:

skiing. And then in May, I will I'm looking forward to getting

Melissa Deally:

my paddleboard out. But the other thing that I started was

Melissa Deally:

backcountry hiking with my oldest daughter, nice, and we

Melissa Deally:

have absolutely loved getting out into nature, you know,

Melissa Deally:

hiking up taking everything with us, exploring different

Melissa Deally:

dehydrated food options, et cetera, et cetera, you know,

Melissa Deally:

having our tent. And we're again planning this summer, more

Melissa Deally:

backcountry camping trips, because we just enjoy the time

Melissa Deally:

together the memories, where we're taking devices, but we

Melissa Deally:

can't really use them, we're having them for one more like on

Melissa Deally:

the way back and forth, et cetera. But we're out of self

Melissa Deally:

range, right? So we're leaving the world behind. Love that just

Melissa Deally:

getting into nature.

Unknown:

You know what I love about that. And I use the I

Unknown:

share this a lot with my clients in that, that in itself, what

Unknown:

you're doing is a wonderful role modeling opportunity to help you

Unknown:

know you, I know you're a guided health professional, but you

Unknown:

truly are guiding your own child and helping them explore and

Unknown:

understand those wonderful ways that nature can really

Unknown:

decompress us, and really help us tune into our world. I think

Unknown:

it's great, you know, there's a lot of people that struggle with

Unknown:

their kids on devices, or their grandchildren, or it's a real

Unknown:

issue. But having the opportunity to be in a role

Unknown:

model position to introduce other people that we love to

Unknown:

other ways of getting outside and moving. It's wonderful. So I

Unknown:

applaud you for that.

Melissa Deally:

Well, thank you. And we both really love it. And

Melissa Deally:

in fact, it was she that last October. Before we went, she

Melissa Deally:

looked up the time of sunrise, and she made me get up at 430 in

Melissa Deally:

the morning, because I think I think Sunrise was at five, but

Melissa Deally:

we wanted to see all the beautiful change of the colors

Melissa Deally:

in the sky. Right? I hope we have to first get out when it's

Melissa Deally:

pitch black.

Unknown:

Yeah, did you take pictures?

Melissa Deally:

We took a lot of pictures. Out there in complete

Melissa Deally:

silence, we found an empty platform that we just went lay

Melissa Deally:

on in our sleeping bags and looked up at the sky. And then

Melissa Deally:

when it started getting lighter, we actually sat up and took tons

Melissa Deally:

of pictures. And it was just magically we barely talked we

Melissa Deally:

didn't need to talk. We were so in awe.

Unknown:

Of what how and wonder. Yeah, no, we all deserve more

Unknown:

awe and wonder. And it again, like nature, it's available to

Unknown:

us. You have to be intentional. Be exactly and when your

Unknown:

intention matches what you really desire. That's, I'm so

Unknown:

glad you had that experience together. That's wonderful.

Melissa Deally:

Yeah, it was it was super, super fun. And I

Melissa Deally:

absolutely love what you're doing. And not only bringing

Melissa Deally:

this to individuals, but also into the corporate workplace.

Melissa Deally:

Because that's often where we can feel like we have to be

Melissa Deally:

serious, we're being paid to do a job, right. And, you know,

Melissa Deally:

that is a little bit bred into us in terms of society,

Melissa Deally:

especially in the corporate world. I know from my experience

Melissa Deally:

in my past life, being in the corporate world, that it's

Melissa Deally:

serious. And I think

Unknown:

the industrial revolution really set the tone

Unknown:

for that, that, you know, productivity over fun. And I

Unknown:

believe that it doesn't have to be like that. In fact, when I

Unknown:

talk to corporate groups, my the favorite topic I talk about is

Unknown:

how to add more play into your workday. And people are often

Unknown:

surprised by that. But it's it's not that hard. You just have to

Unknown:

find a way and again, role modeling as leaders. I think

Unknown:

it's important that leaders take the time to model that behavior

Unknown:

to their employees, because because you can you know, you

Unknown:

can It's simple. It's not easy, but it's simple.

Melissa Deally:

Exactly. And I was, I heard a stat, I don't

Melissa Deally:

remember the exact stat recently, but I know, you know,

Melissa Deally:

employee engagements are at all time lows, right? Like, like 80%

Melissa Deally:

disengagement, right. But when they see the CEO or the

Melissa Deally:

leadership step into caring for themselves, so this was more

Melissa Deally:

about encouraging CEOs to look after their health, looking

Melissa Deally:

after everybody else's, and then they're not looking after their

Melissa Deally:

own. But what they saw was when the CEO started looking after

Melissa Deally:

their health, then everybody else started doing it too,

Melissa Deally:

because it gave them permission to do that. So maybe if the CEO

Melissa Deally:

went for a walk at lunchtime, will Oh, he if he can do that, I

Melissa Deally:

can do that. Right. But if he's in his office working all

Melissa Deally:

through lunch, then the rest of the employees think that that's

Melissa Deally:

what they have to do to

Unknown:

Yeah, it comes back to that role modeling, whether you

Unknown:

are a CEO, being intentional with leading your healthy

Unknown:

behaviors and your healthy habits around others that see

Unknown:

it, it makes a huge, huge difference on how people will

Unknown:

show up for you, as a parent, or as a leader, for sure. Well,

Unknown:

parents are leaders. So let's just put that all in the same

Unknown:

category.

Melissa Deally:

And the reality is, is when we're playing, we

Melissa Deally:

are getting out of that stress state. And so ultimately, you

Melissa Deally:

might be thinking you're taking time away from doing something

Melissa Deally:

to play. But yes, actually get more done. Because when you get

Melissa Deally:

out of that stress state, your frontal lobe will function

Melissa Deally:

better. And you will be able to be more focused, when you come

Melissa Deally:

back to your work. And your mind just won't be in this overwhelm

Melissa Deally:

of ping, ping, ping, ping, ping getting nothing.

Unknown:

And not to mention, all that play time, adds up to

Unknown:

reducing the other big, big thing that's come out of this

Unknown:

pandemic, which is anxiety and depression, you know, getting

Unknown:

people to understand those movement habits, the play habit,

Unknown:

can reduce their help to reduce it. Absolutely. There's a whole

Unknown:

I mean, I speak to Dr. John Ratey, and my book who is like

Unknown:

the preeminent psychiatrist on movement, and play, and, you

Unknown:

know, just it can be as good as not necessarily replace

Unknown:

medication, but as good as taking medication. Not that

Unknown:

anybody should ever stop taking their medication with their

Unknown:

doctor. But those regular exercise can work wonders for

Unknown:

your mental health, and, therefore also lead to

Unknown:

productivity at the office. So

Melissa Deally:

100% agree. Well, I've totally love laughing

Melissa Deally:

with you throughout this episode. Because it's been fun,

Melissa Deally:

and we've been playing. So I always love to ask my episode

Melissa Deally:

guests. What does? Now I can't even say it. What does don't

Melissa Deally:

wait for your wake up call mean to you?

Unknown:

Oh, yeah. You know, the wait, don't wait for a wake up

Unknown:

call means be as proactive about your health as you can. You are

Unknown:

the CEO of your health, you are the person in charge. And

Unknown:

having, you know, stuff happens in life. But the more prepared

Unknown:

we are and the better we take care of ourselves proactively.

Unknown:

When those Wake Up Calls happen, like we talked about at the

Unknown:

beginning. They're way less scary, because you have things

Unknown:

in place to help you through, manage through and come out the

Unknown:

other side, on the positive end. Because Wake Up Calls will

Unknown:

happen to everybody. They just do at some point. So the more

Unknown:

prepared like a girl guy, the more prepared you are, the

Unknown:

better off you'll be, because health through health as well.

Melissa Deally:

Exactly. I love that. And I'm so happy to hear

Melissa Deally:

that your husband has just experienced exactly that. So and

Melissa Deally:

that he's doing really well. So that's awesome. So if people are

Melissa Deally:

interested in learning more about you, your work your book,

Melissa Deally:

how can they find you and reach out to

Unknown:

you. So everything anybody needs to reach out to me

Unknown:

is on my website, which is Janet Olmstead. So no l no, H O M S, T

Unknown:

E, D homestead.com. And over there, you'll find links to find

Unknown:

my book, I have free downloads. Those assessment sheets, we were

Unknown:

talking about the free first chapter of my book, if you'd

Unknown:

like to get a preview, and also, you know, speaking or coaching,

Unknown:

it's all there. So perfect Instagram, I'm on Instagram, I'm

Unknown:

on LinkedIn, and I think those notes will be in.

Melissa Deally:

Yes. So I will make sure all of that is in the

Melissa Deally:

show notes for the listeners. And yes, thank you very much for

Melissa Deally:

the gift to the audience as well of the first chapter of your

Melissa Deally:

book because I know when people read that they will definitely

Melissa Deally:

want more. And as we finish up, what is one tip that you would

Melissa Deally:

like to leave with the audience so they can listen to this and

Melissa Deally:

then go out and just start playing today? The tip

Unknown:

of this moment, I would say is, the mindset is, I get to

Unknown:

play, I don't have to work out, I get to play. And when you

Unknown:

change your mindset, it will make a big difference to how you

Unknown:

show up. And I'd love to hear how you're playing. So let me

Unknown:

know if you found something fun. Reach out to me, because it'd be

Unknown:

great to know how you determine that.

Melissa Deally:

I love that. So yes, start playing and email

Melissa Deally:

Janet and let her know what you have started doing in your life.

Melissa Deally:

Well, thank you again for joining us here today. Janet.

Melissa Deally:

It's been so much fun. And thank you to my audience for tuning in

Melissa Deally:

every week. And we will be here again next week. So have a

Melissa Deally:

wonderful week out there everyone.

Melissa Deally:

Bye. Thanks so much. Bye. Thank you for investing this time with

Melissa Deally:

me on the don't wait for your wake up call Podcast. I'm so

Melissa Deally:

glad you joined in. If you can take two minutes to share this

Melissa Deally:

episode with someone you think can benefit and have a positive

Melissa Deally:

impact on their life. That would be wonderful. Please leave a

Melissa Deally:

review by going to your favorite podcast listening app. And let

Melissa Deally:

me know what you enjoy or would like to hear more of it will

Melissa Deally:

support me in my effort to bring the possibility of natural

Melissa Deally:

healing to a wider audience and help disrupt the sick care

Melissa Deally:

system we have today and make human health a global priority.