Introducing "The Art of Health"
© D. Yael Bernhard
Dear Readers,
I'm pleased to announce a new series of newsletter articles I'll be writing called The Art of Health. In these articles, I'll be writing about health issues and illustrating the basic concepts behind them.
Anyone who knows me personally knows I'm passionate about nutrition and health. In addition to being a professional illustrator, fine art painter, children's book author, and arts-in-ed teacher, I wear another hat which up until now has been less visible: I'm also a certified integrative health coach, with a focus on nutrition and herbal medicine. During the pandemic I went back to school, and after a year of online study at Duke University, became certified as an Integrative Health Coach in 2021. Six more months of study at Cornell University earned my certification in Nutrition & Healthy Living in 2022. In addition, I studied human nutrition at Empire State College; took online courses with the Portland School of Herbal Medicine; and illustrated two books on herbal medicine by renowned herbalist Susun Weed. For the past five years I've also worked for Catskill Fungi, foraging wild mushrooms, making medicinal mushroom extracts, and writing newsletters. But most important, I've been making and using my own herbal remedies for decades; collaborating with other herbalists; experimenting with recipes; reading books on herbal medicine; and observing the healing and nourishing effects of plant and fungi-based medicines on myself, my children, friends, neighbors, and pets.
Food is medicine, and good nutrition can both prevent and reverse chronic conditions. I'm a walking example of this myself, having overcome health problems that date back to my childhood with diet. Food is powerful, both as the foundation of health and the potential destroyer of it. It's also the cultural glue that holds families, communities, and whole societies together. My goal as a health and nutrition coach is to help people clarify their health goals, understand their food choices, and make them consciously.
Integrative health coaching comes from the belief that all areas of human health – nutrition, exercise, sleep, relationships, work, and spirituality – are interrelated. My main focus in the "Art of Health" series will be nutrition and herbs. Beginning this Saturday, I'll be sending these articles out roughly once a month – and as always, building bridges between life and art by illustrating the concepts I write about.
The first concept of health I want to share is encapsulated in this sun logo: for the sun is the life-giving energy that permeates the entire food chain to nourish our bodies, from the light rays in the sky to photosynthesizing plants to grazing animals and fish to our cellular mitochondria. Like sunlight, good health makes us shine, and the power to create it is in our hands. Health is both given and cultivated – a blend of nature and nurture.
In a few weeks I'm also launching my first nutrition initiative at my local middle school – a ten-day program titled "Outside the Box" which I've been working on for months. I'm excited to bring cutting-edge nutrition concepts to a hundred 8th graders, and hope to give them the knowledge they need to make a good start in life! Of course, art will be part of this program, too – for all learning can be channeled into creative expression.
Please note: "The Art of Health" newsletters will come to you once a month from a different email address: dyaelbernhard@protonmail.com. Please keep an eye out for it. You will also receive a duplicate of this introduction from that address. My "Image of the Week" newsletters will continue as usual from this email address, durga.yael@gmail.com.
To your good health –
Yael Bernhard
Certified Integrative Health Coach
