Takeaways from WELL Summit ’18

As I’ve mentioned here and on social media, I attended the two-day WELL Summit in Brooklyn earlier this month. I got a lot out out the conference (more than expected, honestly!), and wanted to share some of what I learned with you all.

When I attended WELL Summit Boston back in the spring, the main benefit for me was spending time with likeminded people in a similar industry. Talking to others in the field always leaves me with a renewed motivation to get to work. I listened to a bunch of interesting discussions, but I wouldn’t say I necessarily learned anything I didn’t already know (that could just be a reflection of the sessions I chose to attend!).

During WELL Summit Brooklyn, I felt it was a good mix of those types of inspiring talks and discussions, but also sessions in which I learned new, practical things that I can put into action in my everyday life. I found myself furiously taking notes in some of the sessions, eager to soak up all I could. So it goes without saying, I’m beyond happy I got the chance to attend this year!

Takeaways from WELL Summit ’18

with Amanda, Danielle, Elizabeth, Liv & Aly // photo cred @misso.photo

I Need TCM in My Life like Yesterday (for Raynaud’s & Rosacea)

I have some issues with circulation that are more of a nuisance than a concern, but I’ve noticed them getting worse as I’ve gotten older. I’ve had Raynaud’s since childhood and the trigger threshold seems to lower each winter (although I noticed an improvement when I stopped drinking coffee a couple years ago!). In recent years, I’ve also noticed rosacea flare-ups starting on my face.

With Raynaud’s, the small arteries are basically constricting to the point that no blood flow goes to the area (fingers, toes and nipples for me—yes, nipples, it’s v special). Rosacea is kinda the opposite but again has to do with the circulatory system. Blood rushes to the cheeks and the blood vessels expand and then don’t constrict properly so the blood sits there causing rednesses and splotches that look kinda like pimples.

The Raynaud’s doesn’t phase me that much anymore, but the rosacea … not going to lie, it has me a little freaked. It’s on my face, after all—no hiding that! I’ve been treating it topically with facial oil blends and hydrosols I’ve made (putting that aromatherapy certification to use!) and have noticed great improvement, but I want to treat it internally as well to make sure I’m doing everything I possibly can to prevent this from getting worse. That’s where Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) comes in.

At the WELL Summit, I went to a session with Sandra Lanshin Chiu, L.Ac. called The Power of Chinese Medicine for Healing Skin. Sandra is an acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist and skin specialist. She talked about how TCM is all about circulation. It focuses on internal healing, from the inside out; not just topical treatment. This is important because skin issues can be linked to the digestive, hormonal, respiratory and nervous systems. The goal is for your body to function better—not to just treat the symptoms.

She talked mostly about using herbs and acupuncture to treat acne, but mentioned that it could be beneficial in the treatment of rosacea and other skin conditions as well. A while back, I asked Instagram for acupuncturist recommendations in Boston and never followed through with making an appoint but now I 100% am. And for anyone local who’s curious, the most highly recommended acupuncturists in Boston were:

• Yintuition Wellness
• Kim Foster
• Flourish Boston
• Acupuncture for Everyone
• Lea Tam Acupuncture
• Anastasia Hall

Side note: I’m going to do a whole series of blog posts on what essential oils and blends I’ve been using to help with the rosacea soon. I want to give it another couple months so I can be sure I’ve found the absolute best solutions before I make recommendations. But I’m so pleased with the improvement I’ve seen so far!

with Maddie // wearing K.Deer leggings

I Also Want to Find an Energy Healer in Boston

Speaking of finding alternative health practitioners in Boston … I’m now extremely intrigued by energy healing. The session I went to at WELL Summit was How to Clear Your Chakras and Manifest What You Want in Life with Nikki Novo. She went over the seven chakras (root, sacral, solar, heart, throat, third eye and crown) and explained that the bottom three are more rooted in the earth and grounding while the upper three are more spiritual.

The thing that really resonated with me was when Nikki said that if you’re able to visualize goals and scenarios but can’t seem to manifest them into reality, it means you’re good with the upper three chakras but need to work on the lower three. THAT IS ME. When it comes to imagination and visualization and intuition, I’m good. Kids today would even say my third eye chakra is lit, yo.

My root chakra is not, however, lit. If anyone has recommendations for energy healers in Boston, send them my way! I’d love to explore this more.

There Are Lots of Ways I Can Improve My Communication Skills

photo cred @misso.photo

Probably my favorite session of WELL Summit was Getting out of Your Head: How Better Communication Can Deepen Your Relationships with Vanessa Linsey. Vanessa had us partner with someone in the room we didn’t know and do an exercise where we had to tell this person about a time when we felt unheard. Our partner had to listen with a neutral facial expression and then say back to us what s/he had just heard. We then had to talk about the same time again, but using only emotions (“I felt xx,” and “I felt xyz because”).

Ummm … goodbye, comfort zone! Talking about my feelings in a serious way is really hard for me. Like I physically squirm and can’t form complete sentences and want to crawl out of my skin and vomit the whole time. It’s SO important to be able to find the humor in all of life’s challenges, but you need to be able to confront things seriously as well. I tend to stick to the former and avoid the latter like the plague, which usually results in me having a spectacular meltdown about once every three-five years (don’t worry, I just had one in 2017, we’re good for a few more years lol). <– further proving my point about finding the humor in everything *face palm*

The rule when we talked about our emotions in the session was that we had to maintain eye contact with the other person. YOU GUYS. I’ve never struggled so hard. I wanted to look away so badly and squirmed through the whole thing. I also noticed that my first instinct when uncomfortable was to make a joke about it (I resisted the urge, but staring into someone’s eyes for two minutes would have been a perfect time to make a, “At least buy me dinner first” joke … just sayin’).

Other takeaways from the activity and the session:

• Usually when we “listen,” we’re thinking about how it relates to our own lives and are just waiting for the person to finish so we can talk about ourselves. I.e. “I felt a similar way when xyz happened.” A lot of the time though, that person just wants to be heard. They’re not looking for your experience or even your advice—they just want to feel heard. By repeating back to our partners what they’d just said to us in the activity, it honored that need.
• Instead of responding to someone by giving advice or sharing your own experience, just tell them what you noticed about THEM and what you heard from THEM. “When you say this, you light up—it seems that there is a lot of joy there.” Make observations. That’s more helpful than trying to give them advice based on your own experience!
• Your body/non-verbals say what you’re feeling just as (or more) clearly than what you’re verbalizing (i.e. “I’m frustrated” while furrowing your brow). What we feel and tell ourselves is projected physically. Keeping that in mind, wouldn’t hurt to tell yourself “I’m confident, I’m capable, etc.” before walking into a business meeting!

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There were lots of other great speakers and sessions during WELL Summit, but those three are the ones that really stood out for me. So grateful I was able to attend!

xo Nicole