We’ve all heard of the body, mind, spirit connection, but what does that really mean? It means that diet and exercise alone are not enough to create the body of your dreams. To successfully create optimal wellness, you must also pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. It means you must have a relationship with your body. How do you currently relate to your body? Do you love and appreciate it? Admire its strength and flexibility? Acknowledge how hard it’s working on your behalf? Consider it beautiful? Or do you ignore it? Complain about it? Think and say mean and hurtful things about it? Do you consider your body incapable of grace, beauty, or athleticism? Think it’s impossible for you to lose weight, or feel ugly or fat? These kinds of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs generate negative catabolic energy that is literally having a destructive effect at the cellular level. Stop a moment and think, “My body is ugly.” Is there a physical feeling associated with that, such as an uncomfortable pull in the stomach? What physical feeling results from thinking, “My body is working hard on my behalf?” Do you feel a sense of easing up? Because you carry your body around with you everywhere you go, it is truly one of your most important relationships. Even a little bit of catabolic energy has a huge impact on your life. Have you ever walked around with a pebble in your shoe? How long were you able to keep going before you had to stop and remove the stone, even if it was tiny? Where you able to focus on the beauty of the day and path, or was much of your attention on […]
Eleven Tips for Creating a Healthy Body and Happy Life
In her book, The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin sets out a happiness manifesto that lists 17 “splendid truths” about happiness—and truly about life. Number five on the list? “Your body matters.” In other words, if your body doesn’t feel good, it’s much more challenging to be happy. Overall, the recipe for a good-feeling body is pretty simple—think mostly positive anabolic thoughts (about your life and body), eat foods high in anabolic energy, drink plenty of water, move your body regularly, and get adequate sleep. Simple, perhaps, but not always easy. One of those that is challenging for a lot of people is moving your body regularly. Rubin lists “Nine tips to stick to a schedule of regular exercise” that I thought were worth sharing. 1. Always exercise on Mondays. 2. Never skip exercising for two days in a row. 3. Don’t link exercise to weight loss. Exercise for sanity not vanity. 4. Give yourself credit for the smallest effort. (This is a tip that I particularly emphasis with my clients when they are getting started with exercise. Park at the far end of the lot and walk? Count it! Vacuum with vigor so you broke a sweat? Count it! Take the stairs instead of the elevator? Count it! Those wins add up fast and build momentum towards doing more and more.) 5. Think about context. Do you hate the loud music in your gym? Re-think your choices. 6. Exercise frequently. If you you’re staying in shape by playing pick-up basketball, you should be playing four to five times a week. 7. If you don’t have time to exercise and take a shower, find exercise where you don’t need to shower afterward. 8. Spend money to […]
Wellness Tip of the Day
What’s the best workout for burning fat? The one that you enjoy enough to do consistently!
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