124: Running and Art: Turn Your Dreams into Plans

Artist Ann Rea, talks about her experiences with anxiety/depression and how running and art are therapeutic. Go-to, real-food dietitian, Serena Marie, RD, and Kari discuss the scale—how to interpret the scale’s reading, why to take body measurements to track your progress, and how to view and approach the scale healthfully. Kari also shares some of her experiences with being a former Weight Watchers facilitator and how to deal with the scale. Finally, Kari shares some information about San Francisco trail running.

Featured Guest and Runner of the Week: Ann Rea

Ann Rea first caught Kari’s attention when she was featured in an interview by Alex Blumberg (from This American Life and Planet Money) during a podcast class.

• Ann shares how, why, and why she started running.
• She suffered from severe anxiety, depression, and insomnia for ten or fifteen years. She took the traditional route of seeing a therapist, anti-anxiety medication, anti-depressants, sleeping pills, and every time she would go to her appointments, she was told about new medications.
• She found she had no passion or interest in her occupations at the time (cubicle Hell).
• Her psychiatrist said that based on her medical history, she would probably always suffer.
• She asked for a protocol to wean herself off of her medications, but her doctor didn’t agree. She tried to wean herself off, but that didn’t go well (think Emergency Room).
• At the time in Sacramento, CA, no one suggested exercise to help with her anxiety and depression, but she started walking anyway, hoping that would help.
• One day as she was walking, she sprang into a run and started running.
• When she moved to San Francisco to be a full-time artist and to build her business, she knew that she’d have to manage her stress if she was going to achieve her goals.
• Ann started running even more consistently.
• If she had had a psychiatrist, such as Dr. John Ratey, things might have turned out differently.
• Ann talks about neurofeedback, and she’s become familiar with Dr. George Pratt, who is a noted performance psychologist whose latest book is Code to Joy: The Four-Step Solution to Unlocking Your Natural State of Happiness.
• Kari says that medicine can be magical, but she also likes integrative medicine.
• Ann runs every Sunday morning with her friend Felix, who is a renowned psychic medium in San Francisco.
• Ann worked with disaster relief, and she had to find a way to balance the reality of having to react quickly and finish up cases per day. Listen to her “The Artist’s American Life” interview with NPR’s Alex Blumberg.
• She had the opportunity to see an amazing cross section of the United States and a real perspective of what disaster is. The good news is that everybody can recover. Physical things don’t matter as much as your health.
• To get herself out the door and start walking at first, she made small promises to herself. For example, when she was working full-time and selling her art on the side, she was often tired, so she’d get herself up on Saturday morning, get ready for a run, and get out the door. If she didn’t feel up to a run, she’d turn back around.
• Jim Rohn said, “We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with,” so Ann was very clear in “firing” certain friends and be her own best friend. The act of being your own best friend means that you don’t tolerate certain behaviors, and you look for people who build you up, and you do the same for them.
• She improved her diet as well, and running became her meditation.
• Ann talks about running in the middle of the day. It helps her shift from the left brain to the right brain.
• She chats about the Making Art Making Money semester.She’s also launching a new website called com and has ArtistsWhoThrive.com.
• Move things from the “dream” category to the “plan” category.
• She took some a course on how to write a business plan at a small business development center to start her own art business. She was always very interested in marketing.
• She talks about running in Golden Gate Park, along Land’s End, and the Presidio of San Francisco.
• Her goal is to enjoy her runs, break a sweat, and clear the cobwebs in her head.
• She paints contemporary landscapes and works in oil and charcoal...