If there’s one thing to be gained from this pandemic, it would be weight. As in a few extra pounds. Maybe even more than a few and usually around the waist area. We tend to munch away mindlessly when we’re stressed. And it’s totally understandable. We’ve never been in this situation where we don’t leave home without a face mask or find ourselves washing our groceries in the sink before we can put them in the fridge – things we never thought we’d do, much less accept, as a way of life.
It’s not just that we’re overeating. We’re overwhelmed and overworked. And all of this is beginning to have a serious impact on ourselves and on our communities. But we can do something.
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 from 8:00am PST to 9:00am PST (11:00am EST to noon EST), Gawad Kalinga is hosting a special fundraiser with Dr. Marga Castro-Zarraga, physician, GK USA volunteer and GK village builder. She will be hosting an online information session on wellness where she will help us navigate our new normal. She explains, “I was given the opportunity to reach out to the GK community and because of my background, I’m able to bring multiple topics around mindfulness, nutrition, meditation, among others – I call it the Overcome Agenda.”
Dr. Marga is founder and CEO of Genera Health Direct, a primary care clinic that is founded on the relationship based care on the Filipino concept of ARUGA, which is defined as the deep essence of caring for another human being. “Before I was CEO, I did my residency in family medicine at the Brooklyn Hospital Center where I have a special interest in cardiovascular disease and preventive care. Recently, I’ve been helping my patients more through mindset work and mind-body medicine.”
She says, “As a primary care doctor, I leverage my work in mind-body medicine to stand out to my clients - 80% of what I do, is psychology, and the other 20% is physiology versus a traditional doctor who is usually is 95% pharmacology, 5% psychology, which is why it’s not effective.”
In the U.S., the average time in front of the doctor is 8 minutes as reported by President Obama during his time. That report became a turning point for Dr. Marga. “When I’m expected to treat people like numbers, that doesn’t equate healing or transformation to me and does not feed into my vision of the profession I committed myself to, which is the healing and the transformation of another human being.”
What is the Overcome Agenda?
During her wellness information session, Dr. Marga will be opening the conversation around health and breaking it into 3 topics.
Overweight – reports say there’s an average weight gain in 70% of Americans during the pandemic. Overeating is a poor coping mechanism and as a community, we need to become aware and pivot the other way to empower people with the proper mindset to handle the added stress.
Overwhelmed – this is something that speaks to our lack or loss of control, which can lead to anxiety and/or depression. Here, we examine your current pattern of thoughts and beliefs. Are they working for you or against you?
Overworked – actually, this is not about your work from home situation. This refers to the lack of self-care. Just like you would care for your car with regular tune-ups and maintenance, self-care is something that should be worked into your schedule. By managing your time and making self-care a priority, you keep your engine running cool.
Aside from the online wellness session, Dr. Marga will be offering free one-on-one sessions at the end of her talk for those who are interested in the opportunity for further growth with Dr. Marga as their life and health coach.
“There are many systems and people who have no interest in people’s healing and transformation. I believe that my calling and mission is, with my talent and knowledge, to bring inspiration to a motivated health work force. So I’m inspired by scaling, the goodness that I offer one-on-one. And so my drive, my energy, is plugged into the vision of scaling, the whole philosophy around healing and transforming one person at a time.”
All proceeds from the online wellness session will go towards supporting the operations of GK USA, which help make all other platforms possible.
