Empowering Ourselves During Uncertain Times

For the past 15 years, The Foundation for Living Beauty has provided programs that are built to address the mind, body, and spirit. Although our programs are specifically for women with cancer, the tools and education that you gain can be applied to any situation. Our goal is to provide you with as many resources that can benefit you throughout your journey and we want to continue to create connection and community especially during this time of social distancing.

Last week we had our first online meditation with facilitator Kristin Dwan and in preparation for her meditation we collected responses to help shape and facilitate the group based on your needs. In the responses that we’ve received, some ladies have shared that during this time of uncertainty, they are feeling anxious, overwhelmed and uneased. These emotions may be familiar to you as it relates to your cancer diagnosis. Together we are working to find the light in a very difficult and dark situation, and instead of allowing it to distance us completely, we are working to connect even more and be even stronger.

Below we’ve listed some resources that can transform your feelings of unease and uncertainty to empowerment.

Something for the MIND

The CALM app, is offering free resources during this time, including meditations, mindfulness resources and more.

Another way to start your meditation practice would be to go outside…Listen to the birds, and see how many different ones you can hear. Take off your shoes and stand on the earth (another plus is that the gravitational pull from the earth neutralizes some of the radiation in your body). Smell the flowers and the grass.  Find shapes in the clouds.  Sit quietly and listen to the universe talking to you. These are great tools for meditating when your mind is racing with other things.

Something for the BODY

Many of you have experienced the soothing calm of essential oils at our retreats.  Now is a good time to pull out those oils, including lavender, chamomile and more.  Here is a link to a great article about anxiety-reducing and soothing oils, and features info from our wonderful facilitator Hope Gillerman!

Try to take 10 – 15 minutes each sunny day and sit outside in the sunshine. A vitamin D deficiency causes anxiety in many women. Most women are already vitamin D deficient.  Staying indoors now contributes to that deficiency.  Ten minutes will boost your vitamin D intake!

Something for the SPIRIT

Our talented facilitator Chris Causey is posting free guided meditations on Facebook.  We encourage you to follow him here and take time to experience his calming presence.

Something for COMMUNITY

Now that we are practicing social distancing, it is even more important that we maintain emotional connections with those we care about and be sure to not isolate ourselves completely.  Check out this great article about staying emotionally connected during this challenging time. 

And as always, you can connect with your Living Beauty sisters! Log into our weekly zoom open chat and connect with other Living Beauties.  Keep a lookout for our emails with the link to join.

Question of the week:  What are you doing during this time to lower your anxiety?  Please share your tips for calm!

We’re sending much love and virtual hugs to you, today, and every day!

Nancy, Indyra, Ariana, and Mariella

More Resources –

Yoga 4 Cancer – Tari is offering a FREE yoga class every Monday at 11 am PST (2pm EST). Click here you register.
Tari is also offering on-demand classes that are available 24/7 also free of charge. Click here to view her library of classes.

Healing Breath Yoga – Sharon Holly is also offering donation-based virtual yoga classes. Contact Sharon for her weekly schedule.

Healing Studio Online – Facilitator Pierre Etienne and his colleagues are offering weekly group sessions on topics such as, “Practicing Wellness in Times of Crisis”, “Reduce and Manage Stress” and “Empowering Our Best Selves”. To get information on how to register, please email Pierre at [email protected].

Insight LA – is offering free online meditations in Spanish every Wednesday at 9 am PST. Please contact the Living Beauty office for the conference dial-in number.

Canplan – is offering a free digital download of their cancer planner starter kit. This is an organizational tool to help with your cancer journey and track your health journey overall.

YSC – The Young Survivors Coalition is also hosting virtual support for cancer survivors, along with other educational materials and blogs. Check out the links to learn more!

Cancer and Careers – Cancer and Careers has a ton of online resources that can be accessed. From ongoing webinars to their video archive and their free publications and blogs. They are also offering virtual support from career coaches and resume reviews.

Mind Over Money – Rita is offering free online support services, including her Money 101 workshop. Check out her website for more information.

Lyft – the LyftUp program is here to help people who need access to reliable and affordable transportation.

Food Resources – in Pasadena and in Los Angeles.

Meditation Apps – Calm and Flow.is are both free meditation apps that are available.

Breath Exercises to Strengthening Lungs – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qViH3a4S-Uk&feature=youtu.be

Grocery Store Deliveries – although there may be a fee associated with the delivery, we wanted to share these grocery stores that are delivering in order to avoid going physically!

If you know of any other resources that can be helpful during this time, please email [email protected].

Also, we are continuing to offer weekly virtual programs. Please be sure to look out for our weekly emails or check out our calendar of events page to stay up to date!