Becoming a physician is hard. Being one is even harder.

This statement was made recently by someone - not sure who…

It is true and why I got into physician wellness in 2002.

It is also why I continue to work on it twenty years later.

Practicing Warrior 3, amidst wind gusts, on an old and unstable pier is much like practicing medicine. Many of the challenges are the same. and many of the solutions are the same. This is true of life too.

The pier could and should be more stable and not rotting. The circumstances could be better - no wind.
I could choose to practice elsewhere- where there is no wind, no tipping pier, in a place with props, and even with some heat. Then I would also have no view and no fresh air.

What helps the most for a successful warrior 3 is the inner work--
intention, calm, strength, and equanimity. A purposeful focus on choice, simplicity, and ease.
Choosing to waste less energy and allowing the pose to happen
and the delight and joy that arise at the moment. Transitioning well into the pose helps. And relaxing in once you get there also does.

Warrior 3 and a less hard path through medicine, and life, require attention to your health, strength, and wellness - beforehand. They require setting yourself up to be strong, stable, and healthy enough to stand on one leg and balance.

Practicing medicine "well" requires similar approaches.
Purposeful choices, strategic support, and decision-making.
Knowing there will be a lot of balance and challenge and chaos along the way.
Success- being a whole and healthy human and healer- requires a decluttered mindset.
It requires focusing on simplicity and ease amidst the heavy winds.
It also requires a healthy and stable inner core.

All of this is what coaching and mindfulness (and mindful yoga) help you do.

Physicians are currently asked to live their lives and practice medicine in ways that aren't healthy or sustainable.
We are practicing in the wind and on rotten tippy piers.
Our healthcare system is a big problem that makes it hard to be a well and healthy human healer. The system should be different.
AND we, as both individuals and communities of healers, can also still improve our own lives and take control of our experience practicing medicine and living our lives.
When we do is when change happens.
Not because we are the problem but because we are smart amazing humans with tremendous brains creativity and determination.
We ultimately want to be healthy humans who are showing up as the best most healthy versions of ourselves, living our best lives, and helping others do the same.

Tuning up and decluttering our mindsets and healing and nourishing ourselves fully allows us to become the healthiest and highest functioning humans we can be. In this state, we also make the best and most impactful Healers.

Unhelpful thought patterns that are trained into physicians in medical training get in our way OFTEN.
Until we notice them and unlearn them we don’t show up with optimal empowerment, clarity, and energy

“We can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves strong the amount of effort is the same.” - Pema Chodron.

When we step out of victimhood, depletion, and exhaustion, we advocate more effectively. When we are calm, grounded, nourished, and present, we can contribute to creating systemic solutions that actually WORK. In medicine and beyond.

Why am I sharing these thoughts today?

Because it’s possible to become healthy, whole, inspired, hopeful, and alive again. Even without the system or the world-changing YET.
And that is something we all deserve.

Practicing warrior 3 on a broken rotten tippy pier in the wind is still a lot of fun.
If you want to learn how to practice warrior 3 or declutter your mindset - reach out.