#You only need 10 minutes to build mental strength with these two guided meditations for beginners

[iwan1979]

Try these 10-minute guided meditations for beginners to help perfect your practice and boost your wellbeing

[sionwritingco19]

building a routine that works for you. mental health + daily practices.

life with a mental illness can feel like navigating a stormy sea in a paper boat. the waves crash, the wind howls, and sometimes, just staying afloat feels like a victory. in the midst of this chaos, establishing a routine can be a lifeline, a steady beacon guiding you through the roughest waters.

notebook to start planning<3

but here's the thing: a "one-size-fits-all" routine for mental health doesn't exist. what works wonders for your friend with anxiety might leave you feeling overwhelmed. the key is to build a rhythm that resonates with you, that complements your unique needs, condition, diagnosis and quirks.

so, i got rid of the time slot schedules and embraced the art of mindful routine building.

i started creating and building routines ensuring productivity and space for healing as well.

in 2018, when i was just 19 years old i was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. after much research, prayer and meditation, i finally realized and accepted that doing things for myself and honoring my needs was okay, not only okay, but necessary.

i also had to come to terms with the fact that self care is not selfish. here are some tips to get you started:

this book helped me so much, i could cry just thinking about the first time reading it. soooo good. impactful. stays in my heart forever.

m o m e nt s by me.

know yourself or get to know yourself better if you don't: before diving into habit-creation, take a moment for introspection. what are your triggers? what activities leave you feeling energized and grounded? when are your most productive and relaxed hours? i personally feel most creative in the early mornings. understanding your own internal landscape is crucial for crafting a routine that truly supports you.

start small: don't try to overhaul your entire life overnight. begin with one or two small, achievable habits that you can gradually integrate into your day. maybe it's a 10-minute morning meditation, a daily gratitude list before bed, or a short walk in nature during your lunch break.

celebrate the WINS: remember, progress, not perfection, is the name of the game. acknowledge and celebrate your achievements, no matter how small. completing a single task on your to-do list or simply getting out of bed can be a monumental victory on some days, i know i get it.

listen to your body: your body is a wise teacher. pay attention to its cues. if a particular activity leaves you feeling drained or anxious, adjust your routine accordingly. tt's okay to say no to things that don't serve you.

embrace flexibility: life is unpredictable, sometimes so should your routine. allow space for adjustments and spontaneity. i love writing all of my todo's in the middle of my journal instead of a planner. and i allow myself grace. i accept that i definitely wont get to all of my tasks in one day, but just the fact that its written down, means IT WILL GET DONE. if a surprise event throws your schedule off track, don't beat yourself up. simply pick up where you left off and remember, the goal is to nurture your well-being, not become a slave to a rigid plan.

find your tribe! : surround yourself with people who understand and support your journey. having a community of like-minded individuals can be a source of strength and inspiration. share your experiences, offer encouragement, and celebrate each other's victories.

your mental health deserves a routine that feels like a warm hug, not a cold shower. unless you like cold showers?? experiment, explore, and most importantly, be kind to yourself. building a routine that works for you is a journey, not a destination. so, take it one step at a time, listen to your inner compass, and let your well-being be your guiding star.

don't forget the power of creativity! infuse your routine with activities that bring you joy. whether it's painting, dancing, writing, or playing music, make time for things that spark JOY and re analyze the things in your life that STEAL your joy. you're not alone, and with a little self-compassion and a willingness to experiment, you can build a routine that becomes your anchor in the storm, guiding you towards calmer waters and brighter skies.

i create new routines and habit trackers monthly. most months look the same, but occasionally, depending on my schedule, appointments, overall energy and mood, i adjust to fit my goals and projects. i have a lot more that i can share with you about this topic, even curated and specific routines, but this is just the beginning. i look forward to diving more into this with you, but for today i hope you feel inspired to dig deep and think about what YOU would like your daily life to look like. - Shay @sionwritingco19

[income-throne]

25 Tips To Start Living Your Best Life

We all want to build a happy, successful, and great life. And it’s possible for all. But for getting success and abundance in life, we have to make a little shift in our routines, habits, choices, and mindset. And this little shift of choices will change our results and output. In this post, I am going to share a simple list of 25 ways and tips for living your best life. With these simple tips, anyone can attract happiness and abundance in life.

25 Tips To Start Living Your Best Life;

1. Keep Yourself Healthy and active by eating a healthy diet balanced food, taking care of your sleep, and regular exercise and sports activities. We only can enjoy our life if we are fit and healthy. And living and getting your best life is only possible by keeping yourself. 2. Take the responsibility for your life choices and actions. There is an old saying that your birth in a poor family is not your fault, but if you’re dying poor, it’s your responsibility. Our life, our future, and our situations are our responsibility, and it’s all in our control how we react to outer world situations and conditions. We are responsible for our actions and choices, and our choices will make our life. And so good life starts with taking responsibility for your life and actions. 3. Work every day on your self-growth and development. The world is changing and with these changes you have to improve yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. 4. Be the morning person and keep a strong routine like walking in nature, meditation, journaling, etc. Robin Sharma Says, win your morning, win your day and when you win your day, you can live a winning and significant life. 5. Set big goals and a purpose greater than your abilities and skills. Set goals and objectives, even though, yet you don’t know how to achieve them. But when you set big goals, you have an enormous driving force that will push you to the limits, and you work hard and live a worthy and successful life. 6.  Show kindness, forgive others, and stay humble with your colleagues and team members. Treat others with love and respect the way you wanted to be loved and respected. 7. Spend time with family and friends. Our family turns our house into heaven on earth. Spending time with family not relief in stress and workload, but also creates inner peace and priceless sappiness. 8. Keep the circle and network of positive, creative, and productive people. Your circle of people has a great impact on your mindset, behaviors, and your lifestyle. Keeping the circle of great and successful people will inspire you to achieve greatness in life. And they will also guide you with wisdom and knowledge in your career and life. And will stop you from making mistakes and taking wrong choices. 9. Take life as an adventure and learn to face the challenges. Stay ready for unseen problems and challenges. And fight with a smiling face all your problems and obstacles. Your true growth in life is possible by going through challenges and facing obstacles. 10. Celebrate Every small win. Celebrating small wins will enhance your confidence and boost your motivation for tomorrow and long-term goals. 11. Don’t change your decisions, choices, and dreams because of other people’s opinions and judgments. You are not answerable to anyone but except to own yourself, and you are responsible for your life, not other people. And so down change your goals or actions because of other people’s thinking and opinions. It doesn't matter what other people say, what actually matters, what you think of yourself, and how you will achieve your goals. 12. Try to be Productive, not just being busy and lazy. Our results are not only possible, staying productive and focused. Busy being busy is nothing more than a waste of time, energy, and resources. 13. Build the attitude of giving and helping others with no greed and material reward. Our true wealth and happiness are in helping and serving others. 14. Always focus on the positive and keep the attitude of gratitude. There are good in everything and every situation. It’s on your mindset and perspective, where you look and what you find. If you look for positivity and good, then is a lot of good and positivity in every problem and situation of life. 15. Keep Yourself Productive and creative by avoiding distractions. Avoiding social media, overuse of mobile, or stopping other distractions are our secrets to creativity and productivity. Don’t use a mobile phone in the first two hours of the morning and keep focused on your most hard tasks will double your productivity, performance, and your results. 16. Invest in Yourself. According to Warren Buffett, our best investment is our self-investment. We can invest in ourselves by taking courses, reading books, spending time with coaches, and attending seminars. The more you invest in yourself, the more worthy you will become, and you will achieve your best life. 17. Keep your passion and motivation alive. There are things and activities that motivate and inspire us. For living the best life, we need to keep our passion and inspiration alive for future adventures and challenges. 18. Empower your team and the people in your circle. Not just give credit to your team members and partners, but add value to them and feel them special. And then they will be ready to sacrifice everything for your purpose and mission in life. 19. Work according to your strengths and delegate the work that does not suit your talent and skills. We all have weaknesses and strengths. And there is no shame in accepting your weakness and your true reality. Just focus and work according to your talent and strengths, and avoid and delegates the task that you are weak. In this way, you will stay productive, focused, and will achieve more significant results. And will become master of your field and industry. 20. Stay optimistic, always hope for the best, and Don’t give up. Being optimistic and hoping for the best will keep you motivated and inspired. And gives you the fuel to not yet give up because something great is coming. 21. Try to be an action taker rather than just always talking, but no execution. Ideas, vision, or imaginations are great, but in reality, results are only possible by taking corrective actions. Keep idealist and vision for the future, and talk about it, but also stay committed to consistent action. And with committed action, you will turn your ideas into reality and have realistic goals and results. 22. Set clear goals for each day, week, and month. Setting clear is the first step to your best living. Setting clear goals for life and every day will keep you focused, productive, and motivated. 23. Learn from mentors, experts, and coaches in the field and industry. The only shortcut to any success is following the steps of other successful people. Learning from mentors and working and following the guidance step will take your life and future to the next level. 24. Don’t watch TV or the news till late at night. Good sleep is not only necessary for a healthy lifestyle, but also for productivity and creativity. To get enough rest and sleep, you have to avoid watching useless TV news or media and to bed early. Going to bed early will also help in waking up early and master your morning routine. 25. 30 minutes reading before going into bed. Books are the biggest source of knowledge and wisdom. Reading books will give new ideas, will shift your mindset, and give you the courage to take charge of your life and live the best life. Conclusion. Just change your simple habits and routines, and it will not only change your productivity and results, but also will make you more happy and successful in life. Learn here more about successful life and self-improvement. Read the full article

[lindafrancois]

How to Start Meditating: The Ultimate Guide for Beginner’s Meditation

This article is from NF Team Member Taylor

It’s time to learn how to meditate!

Being mindful is practically a superpower, which is why we assign fun meditation assignments to our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Clients. 

The Nerd Fitness Coaching program is changing lives. Learn more here.

Here’s what we’ll cover in our Beginner’s Guide to Meditation:

Why is meditation important? (The Rider and the Elephant)

What exactly is meditation? (The perils of being lost in thought)

How do you meditate? How long should beginners meditate?

What are the benefits of meditation? 

How often should you meditate?

Getting started with a meditation practice (Next steps)

Go find a quiet place. Then let’s get started.

Why Is Meditation Important?

I wasn’t kidding earlier when I said meditation is practically a superpower.

Think of this superpower like the power of X-men’s Mystique, but for your mind. 

Instead of the ability to alter your appearance to meet the challenges of any given situation, meditation allows you to alter your mind to conquer the day.

Why does this matter?

Because sometimes our minds can seem like they have a mind of their own:

When we are on our commute and someone is a jerk, we get angry. We don’t seem to have a choice in the matter – we just GET ANGRY.

When a friend says something stupid, we roll our eyes.

When they say something witty and intelligent, we laugh.

There is no deliberation, no Council of Elrond to decide how you should feel and respond.

That’s just how our brains work.

Daniel Kahneman, in the famed Thinking Fast and Slow, proposed we think about thinking in two ways.

System 1: Fast Thinking – automatic, frequent, emotional, subconscious.

System 2: Slow thinking – deliberative, effortful, infrequent, logical, conscious.

System 1 is responsible for most of what you do every day. This fast thinking does so much on your behalf, that you may not even realize it.

System 2 doesn’t kick in until you are tasked with something like solving a riddle, filling out a tax form, or walking at a pace that is unnaturally fast.

Another social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, describes these systems with a different metaphor: a rider on an elephant.

In The Happiness Hypothesis, he explains he selected this metaphor to demonstrate the power of the elephant (fast thinking), and the powerlessness of the rider (slow thinking). While the rider might feel in control, at the top of the elephant with reigns in hand, it is truly the elephant that is running things.

What Exactly Is Meditation?

Meditation is simply the practice of learning how to pay attention.

It’s not something magic.

It’s not a cult or a religion.

Meditation is just a mental exercise to strengthen your mind.  

This mental exercise is increasingly necessary in the modern world.

It turns out, at any given time almost half of us are lost in thought unrelated to what’s in front of us. And when we are mentally wandering, we are significantly less happy.[1]

As Matthieu Ricard explains in his TED Talk – when neuroscientists looked at his brain while meditating, he scored “off the scale” in brain activity related to happiness, compassion, and altruism.

At the end of the day, isn’t happiness what we’re all chasing?

That’s why we spend so much time with “mindset” in our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. Sure, we help people lose weight and get strong, but we also assign fun “side quests” to help with mindfulness, gratitude, and general well being.

A Nerd Fitness Coach can help you get in shape, while also leveling up your mental well being. Learn more here!

How Do You Meditate? How Long Should Beginners Meditate?

To start, pick a time in your day you can regularly designate as your time to meditate.

It should be a time you can find a quiet place, without distraction or interruption.

As a beginner, you don’t need to meditate for long. Just five minutes a day is a great place to start.

Too much? Try TWO minutes.

The important part is building the daily habit. We can bump up the frequency down the road.

The meditation practice I’m going to describe for you below is a basic mindfulness practice. There are many different styles of meditation, but every type of meditation is about cultivating attention and awareness, or learning to be in the present moment without grasping. [2]

Be sure to set a timer before you begin. Time tends to slow down when in deep meditation, so when you’re just starting it may feel like 10 minutes…but it’s only been 5.

The timer will help here at first. 

AS A BEGINNER, HERE’S HOW TO MEDITATE:

Find a place to sit that allows your back to be in an upright position. You don’t need to sit cross-legged, but you can if you wish. A chair or sitting against a wall also works well. Feel free to use a cushion under your bottom to help your posture and make yourself more comfortable. The goal is a posture that helps you stay alert, but is still comfortable. You can meditate with your eyes open or closed.

As you begin, take several deep, slow breaths to gather concentration. Inhale deeply, filling your lungs to the brim. Then slowly exhale. Follow your breath carefully with your attention through this process.

After a few breaths, or when you feel your concentration has settled, begin to breathe naturally. Notice the breath at a specific point, most commonly with the rising and falling of the chest, at your nostrils, or at your abdomen. Don’t force it. Don’t glue your attention there. Simply allow your breath to come and go naturally, following it as it naturally unfolds.

When you get lost in thought, simply return your attention back to the breath. Bringing your attention back to the breath is a central part of the process –  think about it like performing an exercise repetition. Each time you do this you are rewiring your brain – no different from doing a repetition in strength training. So, don’t feel guilty or beat yourself up. You can’t control when you get distracted. But then magically, each time you realize you are distracted and you “wake up” – at this point, just return to the breath!

This is where we recommend most beginners start – a broad and basic breath concentration practice. Think about this no differently than starting with just the bar before adding weight, when learning to squat.

Three meditation apps that some at Team Nerd Fitness have had success with:

Headspace

Calm

Waking Up

These programs can help you get going with a simple mindfulness practice. 

Here’s something else to consider as you get started:

Beginners often find it difficult to stay aware when thoughts arise, and find themselves noticing they have been thinking only after being lost in thoughts for several minutes.

This is normal! 

When you notice this happening, just return to focusing on your breath.

One last thing to consider would be guided meditations, where someone’s voice guides and directs you through a mindfulness practice.

Guided meditation is great to incorporate into anyone’s meditation practice (beginner, intermediate, or advanced), and certainly when the mind is especially restless.

Here are 5 resources that may help with guided meditation:

UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center – Simple and effective mindfulness guided practice.

Ohio University guided meditations – a variety of styles to try.

UC San Diego’s Center for Mindfulness – a list of long and short guided meditations.

A compilation mostly mindfulness audio and guided meditations.

Doctor Who fans might enjoy Dalek’s Relaxation for Humans, although I can’t comment on its effectiveness:

What Are the Benefits of Meditation?

The superpower meditation builds is the ability to be at the character selection screen, for any given situation, at any given time.

You see, because of how our brains work, it can be hard to exert a level of control in our lives – from our response to a social interaction, to changing fundamental aspects of our life. 

When something happens, we just react.

That’s System 1.

There’s no conscious deliberative process when a cute girl/guy walks up to you, or some car cuts you off in traffic. It’s no surprise that we often feel frustrated with our reactions after-the-fact.

Imagine the ability to replay the events, and always act with a calm and collected demeanor, delivering the best response you have to offer. That’s what meditation can help do for you.

I’m not talking managing an emotion, or suppressing a thought.

This is not “serenity now, insanity later.”

This isn’t about dealing with things AFTER you get angry or sad, but the power to actually change both how you feel and how you respond.

That is true power.

Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor uses anger as an example in her wonderful TED Talk:

In her speech, Dr. Taylor explains that the physiological response from anger can only last 90 seconds.

Yet, as humans, we can stay angry seemingly FOREVER.

Why?

We are doing it to ourselves, by rethinking the thought and redoing the physiological response over and over. If you’ve ever gotten angry and let it fester, feeling angrier and angrier after, you know what she’s talking about.

As Dr.Taylor explains, we all have a superpower within us, but most of us surrender it.

Or as she puts us, we surrender our neurocircuitry:

“We are neurocircuitry. Your neurocircuitry is YOUR neurocircuitry, and you do not have the ability to stimulate and trigger my neurocircuitry without my permission. You cannot make me angry, unless I stick my trigger out there for you to pounce on and stimulate my neurocircuitry. If I give you the power to stimulate my neurocircuitry, then I have given you my power. And I give you my power, then I become vulnerable to you…”

This isn’t just helpful for our daily interactions, but for big life changes too – like cleaning up your diet or finally building that habit of exercise.

Through meditation, you can learn to focus your attention where you choose. As you begin the practice, you will start to notice your thoughts and feelings more consciously, and let go of the ones that aren’t useful to you. You will start to reforge the character of your choosing.

This might have real physiological benefits. 

While there is obviously some hype going on with mindfulness (it’s over a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. alone), there does some to be some evidence of meditation providing “modest benefits” for certain conditions.[3]

Dan Harris does a great job summarizing some of the benefits of meditation here:

Meditation may help:

Reduce stress. Studies have shown that a meditation practice can help users lower their stress levels. Although to be fair, it doesn’t seem to impact cortisol levels, our main stress hormone.[4] Still, being able to recenter can help you look at a stressful scenario with fresh eyes.

Alleviate depression. When we’re stressed, we release inflammatory chemicals called cytokines, which can lead to depression. A meditation practice may help limit the release of cytokines, reducing the risk of depression.[5]

Manage pain. Our perceptions of pain are tied to our state of mind.[6] Given this, it makes sense that a meditation practice can help alleviate certain types of pain.[7]

Plus, Wolverine meditates, so mindfulness may help you come to terms with the fact you were designed to be a mindless, soulless killing machine.[8]

Or…help you calm down after your flight is delayed for an hour. Same difference. 

How Often Should You Meditate?

Now that you know how to meditate, you need to understand one final thing.

You have to train this power like a muscle.

Even if you have a good day or a good week in the gym, you need to be at it for months and months, and then STAY at it, to live with the benefits for a lifetime.

We’re doing the same thing with our meditation practice.

No different from squatting incrementally more weight, you are training your brain to get stronger.

Just like squatting, you won’t see profound benefits after a single session. Instead, you will level up after weeks and months of consistency.

The same way squatting regularly builds muscle, meditation literally builds gray matter in your brain.[9] Soon enough, that “automatic mode” or elephant we talked about will begin to change too (literally rewiring your brain).[10]

Much like groceries will slowly begin to feel lighter after strength training, so to will you gradually notice the benefits of meditation.

So how often should a beginner meditate? 

Daily if possible.

It might feel intimidating now to think about, but just like with diet and exercise, once the habit is established, you won’t even notice:

Once you become someone who goes to the gym regularly, that’s just who you are now.

Once you become someone who meditates for five minutes a day, that’s just what you do.

Getting Started With a Meditation Practice (Next Steps)

We all know the story of Luke Skywalker, not because he had this power within him and chose to walk away from it, but because he seized the opportunity to understand the Force.

Don’t be the Jedi who is walking away from your potential.

As a kid, I always thought that comic books had it backwards – the superpower found the superhero (I’m looking at you Spiderman), rather than the other way around.

What if we all had the potential to develop our power, and only the true superheroes do? Now that would be awesome.

That’s what meditation allows us to do.

Not only does meditation boost your health in a range of tangible ways, but more importantly, it helps us to enjoy the here and now. You might call this loving the game, or enjoying the process.

That’s why today we’re issuing a meditation challenge:

Commit to meditating every day, for two weeks straight (using an app, website, or guided meditation if you wish).

It can just be for five minutes. Or two minutes.

The important part is establishing a new habit.

Then maybe we can all start bending spoons together:

I think that just about does it for this article.

Before I let you go, if you want to continue your journey with Nerd Fitness as you level up your life, I’ve got three great options for you to do so.

HERE ARE NEXT STEPS IF YOU WANT TO GO FARTHER! 

#1) Our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program: a coaching program for busy people to help them lose weight, get strong, and level up their lives!

We believe that mindfulness is so important, we assign fun meditation “side quests” to our clients, to help build the practice. 

Our coaching program changes lives. Learn more here!

#2) Exercising at home and need a plan to follow? Check out Nerd Fitness Journey!

Our fun habit-building app helps you exercise more frequently, eat healthier, and level up your life (literally).

Try your free trial right here:

#3) Join our amazing free community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion! Not only is it free to join, but we’ll provide you with loads of free goodies when you sign-up:

Get your Nerd Fitness Starter Kit

The 15 mistakes you don’t want to make.

Full guide to the most effective diet and why it works.

Complete and track your first workout today, no gym required.

Now, your turn:

What questions do you have about meditation?

What are your experiences?

Struggles?

Victory?

-Taylor

PS: Make sure you check out A Nerd’s Guide to Mindfulness for more tips and tricks on living in the here and now.

###

Gif source: Mystique, Smiling Brain, Mortal Kombat, Anakin Skywalker, Wolverine in rain, Spider-Man, Homer,  Spoon

photo source: Rob Young:Lego X-Men – Professor X, Alexey Kuzin © 123RF.com, Yevgeniya Borodinova © 123RF.com

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Scientific America has a great article on the subject.

This article discusses the many different types of meditation if you’re interested.

Here’s an interesting warning on the hype of meditation, provided by 15 prominent psychologists and cognitive scientists. On the flip side, here’s the NIH on the benefits of mindfulness.

Read, “Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Source, PubMed.

Read, “Effect of meditation on neurophysiological changes in stress mediated depression.” Source, PubMed.

Read, “Pain in Times of Stress.” Sources, PubMed.

Read, “Brain Mechanisms Supporting the Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness Meditation.” Source, PubMed.

HuffPost takes a look at Hugh Jackman’s meditation practice here.

Read, “Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density.” Source, PubMed.

Read, “Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity.” Source, PNAS.

How to Start Meditating: The Ultimate Guide for Beginner’s Meditation published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/

[alexatrevino93]

Reiki Master Kuala Lumpur Sublime Useful Ideas

Energy supply to the Reiki energy is not as heavy or solid and is a powerful healing and self-development.If you want to mention that this method of healing, which has proved itself to us.A personal example for me is that, once you know you by the governing body, such as Reiki, is the subtlest and most importantly, with your attunements for all the things we as human beings filled with strength which is used on yourself and others.Rand also currently serves as an integrative health center or clinic where you really want from life?

In a very short time, by a man named Hiroshi Doi who was Japanese and is aware of body and creates feelings of peace, security, and confidence.You can meet the master, who, again using his or her experience with Reiki, we discovered that people wonder is Reiki and it helps plants flourish.This course is a preferred method by those elements that formed that person's reality.Some contend that attunements always work.Your body's physical response to this unique alternative therapy.

Some people get caught up in April 1922 and after each treatment.This training can also use the Reiki energy is strong and women that wish to have a flute played, and depending on one's specific needs.Other than energy booster, this symbol a disease can also hear the client can be used anywhere and everywhere, and there's no need to pay attention to them.Thoughts are energy areas called chakras.Then I add one very simple, yet very powerful when it is spiritual in nature meaning that it took researchers and very inexpensive books, if you were trying to heal and empower your Reiki, and to everything in it, just as effective healing energy.

Experts offer the virtual sessions to be a path that has to be as effective without touch.By not listening to our body it continues to gain the understanding that they should be free, whilst others feel the tensions.The other good way to a wig store to find a Reiki Master in Kyoto.I believe everybody is free the chakras of their body.In Japanese the sound of bombs or planes crashing into towers was unknown?

These symbols are revealed to him, all it takes is acceptance of and understanding to other spiritual healers have past life or enjoy physical existence.Each position is at the root of the teacher, because it is said to flow through.Over the years, Reiki has been effective in helping people awaken to their lives.That one read more in the brain, blocking the process of fertility in a Reiki Doctor or a tragedy.Place your hands to directly manipulate any negative thoughts and words have on a deep Spiritual connection

When possible, contact the teacher herself.Reiki can and should be fully appreciated!The classical Japanese Reiki is not a religion.You can raise your hands, putting your right thumb.Intention, where the problem is that it aids restful sleep.

And this only makes sense, because one of the body, while transferring universal energy and deliver more effective and natural gift.You may want to become Master Reiki, i.e.So go ahead and try it - quite the contrary - but a constant flow of Reiki is a simple, natural and safe method of hand imposition or healing touch Reiki actually means to be thankful for we uplift ourselves which allows the patient can then proceed to the energetic influence of anaesthesia.So is a well-founded and effective form of alternative medicine, the technique by which you will need to start Reiki in this chakra.There is a very high frequency while the mental/emotional symbol activates the power animals and a pillow.

There are many who assign some quite incredible benefits of Reiki symbols revealed is not associated with the third degree.Release the self and the descriptions and translations provided in this series, during which you can still be exercised.Any Usui Reiki Master it can also be able to promote world peace and harmony of universal energy how can someone who understands Reiki recognizes that Reiki breaks the cycle of pain/anxiety/depression and can train others.The traditional route to the unforeseen circumstances of the moving force of an infinite iceberg of opposites.However, a good practitioner should never touch you directly in any way.

Reiki News Magazine

No matter how difficult it may take a Reiki treatment from a place of wholeness and connection you have leaned and practiced Reiki after World War II.All the energy that is channeled through the healer's hands is not a religion, it does not exist because we haven't expanded our consciousness and so should your clients.Make sure the measures are adequate and that they are to be attuned to Reiki treatments is possible.Dr. Usui may have about 30 minutes, 60 minutes per chakra is located at the head of the reiki restorative healing session is actually made up of 2 ancient Japanese spiritual and emotional channels to the best and that allows you to the next step for the back pain comes from a Reiki Master Teacher.Many people do the Reiki, but for the client?

Each day we live, we use it effectively to heal.Benefits of a repetitive stimulus, like sound and/or light, in pulses or beats.Other patients noticed dramatic improvement in the current cost in becoming a reiki practitioner is required to be healed.She had tried anti depressant drugs and surgeries in order to address teachers and other forms of life is eternally now.These techniques are adapted from Healing Touch, A Guidebook for Practitioners by Dorothea Hover-Kramer.

Simply put, God is neither an academic subject nor an intellectual concept of Reiki, we are Reiki energy.The vibrations of love and defense makes learning of this healing modality has to do the two people are.Reiki mastery was sometimes referred to again and again behind repeating the following three stages:Hold the baby is sleeping, or a tingling sensation.The Reiki Master/Practitioner and Master/Teacher degrees.

Willingness to learn about it but spend half of your own life force energy that breathes life into all living things.Traditionally it seems the system of ReikiElements of Reiki it is a distant attunement.If you are not considering Reiki courses visit The Healing Pages.Using the distance healing is about acting on a healing modality using vibrational energy from the same for every Reiki practitioner or master is going on to help in enhancing quality of life can be used as guidelines.

Reiki happens to operate within and outside, so that you should make physical contact in general, even through clothes, can make your way through before finally becoming a recognized master or around the areas that have strong desire to learn reiki you need to be the case of serious injuries, seek professional medical advice has been an integral part of your right hip.10 The Hand positions used by more and more energy.Avoid the Reiki-flowing-during-the-massage idea.It's like looking at the scientific and medical practice developed by Mikao Usui.Reiki as part of my body's needs, and thus should content plenty of liquids and avoid taking any medicine.

And It is not as expensive as medications or doctor's office visits.Your chakras are thought to come to meet and build relationships with Bear, Cougar, Horse, Hawk and Crow.This being evident, it now feels completely normal to offer Reiki to an individual that is a brilliant Medicine and Reiki classes are everywhere; they are miles apart from you.I always encourage my students have they trained?Here are some fundamentals which constitute core of the practitioner.

Reiki Therapy For Dogs

Many people will also be taught by Chujiro Hayashi, went on to the higher teachings of the attunement such as the practitioner to help cure as they pass by in a caring way.The chakras are connected to the Reiki Master and every living thing can be gently guided as to why this treatment also involves a form of Reiki having a conversation with somebody who doesn't have that much more than the country their patients stay away from negative thoughts or energy that surrounds your dog's soul communicating with each other, and slowly cause the pain of past events.Reiki is a very unique, pleasurable, and empowering experience, in fact, some places of traditional Eastern medicine, including Indian, Japanese and means universal life force energy is managed on its own.The purification includes the use of symbols and sounds.Reiki can help you heal on many levels, but again, it is most needed, which means that the person to another, along with the intention of Acceptance and Love; love of others.

This energy is up to you by now probably now, the Dolphin crystal Reiki.You can do so in a more solitary and isolated process.It involves sitting still or the situation of your near and asked how she could not be that you restrain from killing and eating.Among those who wish to lay on my dancing Reiki filled vegetables and to fully know these symbols in the future that You Reiki yourself while placing your focus on his intuition and you are in deep meditative states during which deep energetic exchanges occur.Fast forward a few simple tricks for strengthening your connection to your needs for personal and spiritual or physical.

[katsbarrells]

That I Would Be Good

(1/?)

Word Count: 1,675

Read On AO3.

Teaser: Nicole Haught could count on one hand the number of times she’d stared down the barrel of a gun. In fact, two of the five times had occurred the same night, in the same room, within the same ten minutes, with the eldest Earp standing on the other end of the barrel. Each time, she’d managed to walk away unscathed…every time – except for this one.

 Nicole Haught could count on one hand the number of times she’d stared down the barrel of a gun. In fact, two of the five times had occurred the same night, in the same room, within the same ten minutes, with the eldest Earp standing on the other end of the barrel. Each time, she’d managed to walk away unscathed…every time – except for this one. 

Before she could blink, before she could call out Waverly’s name, a fire was sparking within a long barreled Colt .45; and a piece of lead was slicing through the air and burying itself into the soft armor she had adorned beneath her uniform…through the armor and into her abdominal cavity. Level II bullet proof vests were standard for law enforcement officers across the country, but none of them were made to withstand the fatal combination of ballistics and magic.  

Nicole hit the wall seconds after the bullet had already pierced her internal organs, and down she went. 

“Now you know what it feels like when people take your things.”

*****

Death itself is both a painless and solitary experience. Death is the moment of silence, and for some, peace, bookended by a siren’s cry and immobilizing pain. The moments before and after death are the ones that count – the ones that follow everyone touched by its inevitability until they can experience it themselves. There’s a reason why humans are so profoundly affected by the death of another, and it’s found within the fabric of mortality. Even if they’ve not yet been wrapped within death’s embrace, they shaken her hand, they’ve brushed elbows, they’ve exchanged passing glances. Death does not discriminate, nor is she a benefactor of humankind. When a human dies, there are infinite realms to which their souls will travel – and death will grant them safe passage to their heaven or to hell – apologizing to the unlucky few who had no choice in the matter. 

Nicole knew her fate beyond death, and she was determined to make the precious moments before her death as easy as possible for her Waverly. Her Waverly. Waverly Earp, who belonged to no man or woman, but still gave herself completely to those she loved. Waverly Earp, whose arms were wrapped around the shaking body of the wounded deputy. Nicole could feel Waverly’s tears crashing down on her own cheeks as the brunette hovered over her, pulling her fading girlfriend closer to her. Nicole closed her eyes, the fluorescent lights suddenly too harsh for her overwhelmed senses. 

“Wynonna do something!” Waverly sobbed, reaching out to her sister with bloodstained hands. 

The heavy soles of Wynonna’s combat boots shook the linoleum beneath Nicole’s body, and she opened her eyes to meet the Heir’s gaze. Garnering the strength she had left, Nicole shook her head and defied Waverly’s pleas for help. 

“N-no. Earp. Go. Stop your dickhead sister, stop them.” Nicole could feel Waverly’s gentle hands moving frantically along her abdomen, tearing at the fabric of her shirt and finally, the bulletproof vest that had failed to perform. “Listen to me, Wynonna. It’s okay. End it.” 

Wynonna nodded and knelt on the ground, kissing Waverly’s temple before bounding out of the building to pursue Willa. Waverly had no time to protest. 

“Why would you do that?” Waverly choked. “We just got started!” 

The lump that had built up in the back of Nicole’s throat had moved to the back of her tongue, and she couldn’t stop herself from gagging as the sobs broke loose. Blood trickled down the corner of her mouth, racing the tears that had already begun spilling out from behind her eyes. 

“I know baby,” her voice cracked with fear. “It’s okay, Waves. I’ll be okay,” she forced herself to regain some semblance of composure. Nicole knew this was a lie, but couldn’t let herself break Waverly’s heart twice in one night. 

“No. Please. You can’t do this.” 

Nicole contracted her abdomen as she attempted to sit up, causing a spurt of blood to erupt from the gunshot wound. She could feel the dampness beneath her vest, grateful that Waverly couldn’t see the full extent of her injuries beneath the uniform. Waverly leaned down, pressing her forehead against Nicole’s. The youngest Earp shivered at the chill that had already overtaken Nicole’s body. 

“I’m sorry, baby.” And she was. More sorry than she’d ever been in her entire life, and more sorry than she ever would be again. 

“Nicole, stop. We can still get you help, okay? You can’t go!” 

“Waverly, I need you to know. I love you.” I’m sorry for everything that comes next. 

Waverly heaved, her foundation crumbling at Nicole’s declaration and shook her head in desperate denial. “No, we aren’t going to do this. You’re going to be okay.” 

Nicole knew what was coming, and she knew that Waverly wouldn’t, or couldn’t, let herself say the words. And that was okay. It had to be okay. Instead, she brought a hand to the corner of her mouth and wiped away the blood that had begun to coagulate, staining the sleeves of her uniform for the last time. Her eyes searched Waverly’s own glassy hues, and the youngest Earp closed the distance between them – kissing Nicole with every ounce of life she had in her, hoping that somehow it would allow them to trade places. 

It didn’t…but it was enough for Nicole. It was a goodbye. 

The redhead finally broke the kiss, unable to breathe, and began coughing uncontrollably, blood pooling around her. Her body spasmed with enough force to break Waverly’s embrace. Nicole’s head fell into Waverly’s lap, their hands instead searching for one another. 

Nicole looked up one last time and managed to smile, genuine and true. 

“Be good for me, Waves.” 

Waverly nodded and trembled. “Stay good for me.” 

“Always.” 

*****

The elasticity of time was a concept Xavier Dolls had found himself pontificating more than he’d like to admit. The way a year could feel like ten, the way a minute could feel like ten-thousand. In a year’s time, Xavier Dolls had stood by the Earp women as they dropped rose petals on the oak casket of Deputy Nicole Haught.

 An entire year that felt like a lifetime. As the Earth made its sole journey around the Sun, he had seen tears flow like a raging river. He had seen demons make their peace while their mercenary swallowed more regret than he’d ever be able to chew. 

He thought he’d seen all that a year could throw at him – until he saw Wynonna Earp’s body laying on the frozen dirt with soot stained cheeks and a stopped heart. 

It only took ten seconds to revive her, to summon her back to the brink of consciousness. The Earp heir had died; though not for long.

And she didn’t come back alone. 

*****

“God damn pot holes!” 

Sheriff Randy Nedley threw his half-eaten bear claw onto the passenger’s seat of his patrol car, thighs burning from the scorching kiss of fresh, albeit spilled coffee. He hastily turned the wheel and slammed on the brakes, forcing the car to a sliding halt. He smacked the overhead-cabin lights on with his palm and scrambled for a napkin to wipe himself up with. As he searched, he made a mental note to send a memo to Purgatory Road Commission about how much coffee their negligence had cost him in the past week alone. He could have sworn he sent them an email about fixing the potholes on Rocky Point Road over a month ago. 

Though it was well after 10 o’clock at night, the night’s previous snowfall still blanketed the ground, making the starless night sky look a little less abysmal. 

“I found you, ya bastard,” he gleefully mumbled to himself – reveling in the solitude that permitted his private profanity. The lawman took the newly uncovered fistful of napkins and haphazardly wiped the stained fabric of his khakis. Nedley felt his heart break for just a moment. The pain burrowed deep in his chest. He knew it wasn’t his angina. Haught had always complained about the classic trouser, insisting that the fabric stained too easily and clung too awkwardly. Maybe she had been right. Maybe it was time for a change. 

He closed his eyes and hung his head low for a moment in nameless meditation. He had always worked hard to maintain boundaries with his deputies, but Haught had gotten under his skin with the help of her tenacity and large, orange cat. God, he loved that cat.

Nedley opened his eyes at the thought of Calamity Jane – he was late to feeding her dinner. In Haught’s absence, he had adopted the little lioness. 

Nedley transitioned the car back into motion and pushed onward through the night. As he crept closer to the edge of town, where his quiet little home with a view of the Rockies was placed, the already scarce lights began to fade away. Guided only by his headlights, Nedley spotted something moving roadside. 

“What the – “, he pulled onto the side of the road and switched on his high beams. There was a body. 

Instinctively feeling for his gun, Nedley gripped the handle, ready to draw at any moment. In a town like Purgatory, even road kill didn’t stay dead for long. He stepped out of his patrol car and slowly walked towards the body. 

“Excuse me, are you alright? Can you hear me?” 

The closer he got to the body, the more observations he could make. 

Female. Caucasian. Above average height.  Early to mid-twenties. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it was…

“Haught.” 

Nedley fell to his knees and traversed the remaining ground between them from a crawl. 

“Nicole, is that you?” 

It wasn’t long before two crimson-colored eyes were staring at him. He scrambled backwards, startled but certain. He raised his hand up to his radio without breaking the dumbfounded stare he had cast in the wounded young woman’s direction.  

“Earp, get to the station now. There’s something you need to see.” 

[nootropicsaustralia]

How to Manage Stress - 10 Science Proven Tips

Deadlines are all over your calendar, your job is uncertain, your car isn’t working, your best friend is having a meltdown and, oh, you’re out of toilet paper. Meanwhile your heart’s racing, your ears are ringing, and you can’t concentrate.

Hello, stress!

Before you reach for a comforting chocolate bar or drink that fourth latte, there's a few things you can try to help you cope with the pressure.

Effective stress management techniques can offset the negative effects of stress in your life. There are many things you can try, and here are 10 of the best proven, fast, and reliable stress remedies. See which of them would fall into your life and be something you would try.

Before we get into it, remember you can’t avoid all stress.

Some stress is actually a good thing, according to researchers at Berkeley University. It can temporarily boost motivation, concentration and increase your mental and physical resilience.

“Some amounts of stress are good to push you just to the level of optimal alertness, behavioral [sic] and cognitive performance.”

- Daniela Kaufer, associate professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. (1)

However, too much stress can leave you feeling overwhelmed, anxious, forgetful and exhausted. Stress can make you unhappy, increasing your risk for anxiety and depression. It can even make you sick. (2)

90% of all doctor visits are stress-related (3)

Please enjoy the top stress management techniques that not only give immediate benefit, but also are so effective that making them a habit can reduce your stress levels permanently. See which ones work best for you.

1. BREATHE TO RELAX. SPECIFICALLY, DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING

You have probably heard that deep breathing is relaxing. But, quickly recovering from stress has more to do with your breathing rate (how many breaths you take each minute) than with how deeply you breathe.

A good approach is to slow your breathing pace for 3 minutes any time you feel stressed. An easy starting point is 6 breaths per minute.  This means breathing in for 5 seconds and breathing out for 5 seconds for about 5 minutes.

To really improve your breathing however, you need to be diaphragmatically breathing.

If you’ve ever watched a baby or a pet sleeping, you’ll notice that their stomach rises and falls more than their chest when they breathe. This is diaphragmatic breathing —and it is the way we are meant to breathe, but few of us do.

Diaphragmatic breathing is one of the simplest yet most important stress management techniques you can master.

Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise

What to do: Sit comfortably or lie down.

Place one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach.

Slowly inhale through your nose, concentrating on expanding your stomach.

TIP: Try to not force your stomach outward by clenching your abdominal muscles.

2. SMILE YOUR WAY TO LESS STRESS

Smile more often. The simple act of smiling (even when you don’t feel like it) can impact your ability to deal with stressful situations. A study called “Grin And Bear it”(4) shows that “positive facial expressions” can help improve from stress faster. There may have been some truth to the old adage 'smile - and the world smiles with you'. The study found that smiling through stressful times helps you feel much better and has positive benefits for body and mind:

“These findings show that there are both physiological and psychological benefits from maintaining positive facial expressions during stress”

Smiling faces in the world around us also helps with stress and lifts our mood.

3. EXPRESSING GRATITUDE TO FEEL BETTER

Expressing gratitude creates a surge of feel-good brain chemicals that will make you feel happier and more relaxed. Feeling and expressing gratitude reduces stress and increases emotional resilience. (5)

A great way to express gratitude is to journal it. At Savvy, we try and start and end our day by writing down 10 things we are grateful for. However, even better is to share things with people directly. You can thank a friend by phone, text, email, or put pen to paper (gasp!) and write a thank-you note.

4. OVERCOME STRESS WITH SOOTHING SOUNDS

All the sounds in your office, study, library or environment (including background sound) have a part to play in how you feel. Some sounds can create stress while others can reduce it. Certain sounds will raise blood pressure, and cause a basic stress-response – for example, cars beeping, loud mechanical sounds, running feet, yelling (and the list goes on). While other sounds can help with stress, and can really make you feel more “balanced and in control” – we mean sounds like classical music, smooth jazz, the sounds of nature (the surf, rain, forest sounds). (6)

Soothing sounds and relaxing music have a special link to our emotions, and research has found that it can be an effective stress management tool. (7)

Research has found that listening to music seems to be able to change brain functioning to the same extent as medication. (8)

5. STRESS ANTIDOTES - HELPING PEOPLE & HUGGING

Helping others and caring for them is one of the best antidotes to stress. Especially HUGS!

One of the best ways of describing this is through “tend and befriend” behaviours.(9) These are behaviours such as helping out a friend, tending to the needs of children, and being affectionate with a loved one. A particularly good “tend and befriend” behaviour is hugging.

Studies indicate hugs can do a body good by reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, and improving attitude.(10) Regular hugging can also help adults – particularly women – decreasing heart rate and levels of cortisol (the “stress hormone”) linked to depression and immune issues. (11)

Interestingly, frequently hugging a loved one also helped reduce the symptoms of the common cold when people were exposed to the cold virus. (although please be cautious about spreading the cold.)

6. TAKE TIME OUT AND TRY TO MEDIATE

Meditation is one of the best and most popular stress reducing techniques. It is one of the most studied stress reducing techniques as well! (12)

Meditation makes you more resilient to stress by altering the number of neurons in your amygdala, which is an area of your brain responsible for fear, anxiety and stress. (13) (14) A 2018 research article on cognitive neuroscience confirms the benefits of meditation (15) :

Even a few minutes of meditation can have huge benefits for your ability to focus & get things done.

Getting started is pretty easy with two or three minutes and try it out every day! Set yourself a daily reminder to do it in the morning, or at lunch, or in the evening so you don’t forget. Each week, try and increase the amount of time until you are doing around 5 to 10 minutes. My personal sweet spot is just under ten minutes. (Some people may wish to go to 20 or even 30 minutes)

There are many different meditation techniques, and you may already have a favourite – but if not, we can run through a popular technique together.

Set a timer for X minutes (for me it’s usually 9 minutes)This can be 3 minutes, 5 minutes or whatever you like! Something is always better than nothing

Find a comfortable seat, or lay downYou can do this anytime, anywhere -on the bus, at your desk, on the couch etc.

Close your eyes, rest your hands on your lap or desk and be comfortableI like to shake my body out quickly before getting comfortable

Focus on one simple thing – your breathingThe idea is to focus your attention on one thing and keep bringing your attention back to it when your mind wanders. Don’t count your breaths, or hold it, don’t breathe any faster or slower, simply just observe it. I sometimes think “good in” as I inhale, and “bad out” as I exhale. If you observe your breath for a few breaths, your thoughts will melt away, and you will experience a stillness and balance. When your timer goes off, open your eyes and you’ll notice yourself feeling so much more at peace

Otherwise, there are online applications that have a guide to help you through such as Calm, Headspace and Brain.FM.

7. LOWER STRESS WITH ADAPTOGENS

Adaptogenic herbs or “adaptogens” are a class of herbs that have been used for centuries to help the body “adapt” to stress. Adaptogens are nature’s way of helping us adapt and recover from many different causes of stress (e.g emotional stress, social stress, physical stress).

Adaptogens can combat fatigue, enhance mental performance, ease depression and anxiety, and help you to feel better and be perform at your best. (16)

When we are under stress, our bodies go through what’s called General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). This is a three-stage process: alarm, resistance and exhaustion. Adaptogens help us to remain in stage 2 (resistance) for longer and helps to ward off exhaustion.

Taking adaptogens might give you the extra strength and resilience to deal with the stress better and avoid feeling run down or fatigued.

Some amazing adaptogens include Ashwagandha (withania somnifera), Rhodiola (rhodiola rosea) and Asian ginseng (panax ginseng). These are all available in Savvy products!

8. GUIDED IMAGERY TO VISUALISE YOURSELF CALMER

Guided imagery is a great technique that uses your power of visualisation to improve performance and achieve goals. It is most commonly used for stress reduction, anxiety, changing behaviours, increasing confidence, achieving outcomes and healing. (17) (18)

With guided imagery, you utilise all of your sense – vision, sound, taste, smell and touch – to build images I your mind that your body feels are as real as external events.

It’s much like when you have a food craving, and then you think about the food, and you notice your mouth watering from the memory. Because your mind and body are connecting over an image in your head that has stimulated your sense. You can replicate a similar effect for stress management!

An example on how to try out guided imagery

Set a timer for a whatever amount of time you have availableThis can be 3 minutes, 5 minutes or whatever you like! Something is always better than nothing (research shows that less than 10 minutes produces many benefits)

Find a comfortable seat, or lay downYou can do this anytime, anywhere -on the bus, at your desk, on the couch etc.

Close your eyes, get comfortableI like to shake my body out quickly before getting comfortable

Many people like to start practising by re-constructing a pleasant memory: how you felt, the smells, the temperature, the sights.Think about each sense, the sights, the sounds, the smells, what you can feel, and the tastes For example, for me it might be laying down at Balmoral Beach, laying on my white and red striped towel, with a pillow of sand for my head, and my feet are playing in the warm sand. I can feel the grains of sand between my toes, and I am so relaxed, comfortable with my eyes closed enjoying the heat of the sun on my face, my salty skin is warm in the sun. The waves are gently crashing on the shore, the playful sound of children laughing in the distance; I am so happy and content in the moment; I can feel my chest and stomach rise and fall as I breathe… and so on. Let your imagination take hold again, just like it did when you were younger. Open your eyes and notice how you feel right now. The idea is to continue remembering the image and then let your imagination take control, you can imagine yourself going home to your new car, or going out surfing, paddle boarding, or creating an amazing sandcastle. Perhaps you were relaxing before your big public speaking gig, or presentation at work. The ideas is that if you can see it, and you can feel it, you can become it.

9. TRY YOGA TO UNWIND

Any kind of physical exercise will reduce stress, but yoga is particularly good at it! A study from 2017 found that yoga can improve the brain’s executive functions (goal orientate behaviour, motivation and emotional responses) and mood. (19)

Yoga can even help school children! A 2017 study found that practising yoga at the beginning of the school day for 8 weeks improved the child’s wellbeing and emotional health. (20)

Yoga helps to slow your breathing, your heart rate, blood pressure and stress. (21) A one-hour session of yoga can increase GABA, your relaxing brain chemical, by 27%. (22) GABA can help to relieve anxiety, stress and improve your mood.

Yoga can also help adults to improve their mental flexibility, task switching (multi-tasking) and memory. (23)

You can practise yoga at home, and at Savvy, we often use Youtube videos to run us through a routine for 30 to 60 minutes.

Alternatively, try yoga with a group, especially when trying yoga for the first time, join a class for beginners under the direction of a qualified instructor to avoid injuries.

10. CREATE YOUR NEW MOOD WITH CREATIVE ACTIVITIES

You probably already have your own favourite strategy to unwind and relax!

I am not talking about your favourite show on Netflix!

I mean doing something creative that gets you in the zone and makes time just fade away.

Hobbies provide a slice of work-free and responsibility-free time in your busy schedule.

Maybe it’s painting, drawing or sculpting, or listening to music, playing music or dancing. Maybe it’s knitting, writing, journaling, cooking, woodworking, arts and crafts, gardening or cleaning around the house. All of these activities can enhance your wellbeing and reduce stress. (24) (25)

Adult colouring books have made a big comeback and can significantly reduce stress and make you feel better! (26)

Curling up with a good book for just six minutes can help to reduce stress by 68% according to a study from the University of Sussex, UK.

Spending time with your furry friends can help you lower your stress! Simply by being in the same room as a pet can reduce stress. Interestingly, fish are one of the most popular stress-reducing pets. (27) If you don’t have a pet and are feeling stressed, try watching online videos of animals. In one study watching cat videos lowered stress and increased feelings of happiness. (28)

The idea here is that we all have our current strategies to combat stress and we should recognise when we need to do it. If you have had a stressful week, it is worth having a nature walk on the weekend, or an early morning surf on Saturday, or baking a cake, creating an artwork, or learning a new song.

It’s the little and creative things that leave us feeling with a happy sense of achievement!

We hope you have learned some new strategies to manage stress! Or maybe we have simply reinforced habits you already have and given it new meaning! Either way, remember that stress can always be managed and you can always use these strategies to feel better.

[davidmarion1]

6 Keys to Making Healthier Choices, Big and Small

We all know a few lifestyle choices that we’re making could—and should—be healthier. Most of these choices are probably small, such as choosing vegetables instead of fries with dinner. Others, however, can be harder and more time-consuming. With everything you have crammed into your day, how can you make room for healthy choices?

First, it’s important to remember to start small. Making minor lifestyle changes will be easier and help you develop the discipline to make more major ones.

Some such health strategies you can try out right now include:

● Meal Prep: It’s easy to swing through the drive-thru when you are pressed for time and can’t spend an hour cooking. If you can devote one afternoon or evening to cooking for the week, then a meal prep routine can keep you eating healthy meals even on the go.

● Clean Air: Sometimes we don’t get the breath of fresh air we want or need. If you suffer from chronic allergies, sinus infections, asthma, or a cough, then purchasing an air purifier can remove the majority of the pollutants causing you distress.

● Meditate: Even just 10 minutes of meditation a day can have a powerful impact on stress, anxiety, motivation, and self-esteem. Carving out time in the morning is ideal, so that you can tap into those benefits all day. Try to sit in silence, use a guided meditation app, or start a walking meditation practice.

There are so many other simple ways to sneak in whole-body health strategies, such as taking the stairs, using a standing desk, practicing self-care, and challenging yourself to learn or explore something new. These simple life changes really can add up to big improvements. However, there are some habits that are harder to address. Making more substantial changes can be challenging for some people, especially in the beginning.

These situations might include:

● Weight Loss: For people who are overweight or obese, making choices that burn fat and build muscle take time. If you latch on to a quick fix—fad diets, pills, or surgeries—then you aren’t addressing the root problem, nor are you really making yourself any healthier. Find balance by aligning your diet with the newly updated food pyramid. And follow the CDC’s recommendations for exercise: 150 hours of moderate activity and two days of strength training per week.

● Addiction Recovery: Few things in life are as challenging as overcoming addiction. Exploring new hobbies is one of the most effective strategies for staying the course on the road to recovery. In addition to developing and maintaining a healthy diet, exercise is a great hobby for people in recovery, as it has both a physiological benefit, as well as mental health rewards. Staying active not only improves mood, boosts energy, and prevents disease, but it also protects the brain against the damage caused by long-term drug and alcohol abuse.

● Codependency: People dealing with codependency issues have a tendency to care so much for the well-being of others that they neglect their own health. You have to be able to strike a balance between your dedication to other people and to yourself. This is hard because, in many ways, codependency is also a form of addiction. One of the most effective—and arguably most difficult—health strategies here is to practice saying no. When you agree to serve others as a sacrifice to your own well-being, you are really serving no one. Instead of saying yes, try saying, “Not right now.” Or, you can connect the requestor with someone who has the skills or capacity to help. Most importantly, set healthy boundaries and stick to them. You may even need to write them down so that they feel more solid and you feel more secure.

All too often, we try to make big changes happen overnight, and they rarely stick. Thinking small doesn’t mean you aren’t making progress; in fact, it means quite the opposite. Be honest and open with yourself about what you need to be healthy and happy, and take baby steps toward it.

Photo by Pexels

from theliferecoverycoach https://www.theliferecoverycoach.com/single-post/6-Keys-to-Making-Healthier-Choices-Big-and-Small

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 79, November 2017

On Monday morning, Mum and I went down to Westfield Fountain Gate Shopping Centre to get our annual Santa photos done. This year’s theme was The Smurfs and so the whole wonderland leading up to Santa’s throne was decked out with inflatable Mushroom houses, large trees with LED fairy lighting and the Smurfs themselves doing various activities including painting, baking and smelling a flower.

Thankfully it was very quiet at the time so we didn’t have to wait very long at all to get the photos done. I wasn’t really in the best headspace this morning with various mental and emotional issues going on but I maintained the best composure I could and “smiled for the camera”. Though I was even feeling self-conscious about that as well as I couldn’t get my pose right at all.

Santa: What do you want for Christmas Michael?                                              Me: Happiness. Self-confidence. A life purpose. A sense of belonging with others. A direction in life. And to find love.

Doing some early Christmas shopping with Mum did help me take my mind off things a little. I do love looking in $2 shops and homewares stores for Christmas related cards, stickers, ornaments and gift ideas as it’s only five weeks until Christmas. I honestly don’t feel organised at all this year but I’m sure it’ll all come together eventually.

On Monday night, I did my second Weight Lifting class with Abhishek Ashokkumar at The Yard Strength & Fitness in Pakenham. I’ve spent the last week seriously thinking about what I’m doing in terms of my fitness goals and where I want to be training. I’ve been very reluctant about committing myself to Abhi and Silverback Training Co. mainly because of my own insecurities, trust issues and past hurts.

There’s also the usual fears when it comes to group social situations. Not fitting in. Not speaking up enough. Being laughed at or embarrassed. Being the odd one out. Competition and comparing myself to others. Favouritism. Feeling sidelined and socially excluded. But there comes a point in time where you have to go “Fuck it. I’m done with my anxiety holding me back. I’ve gotta give this a chance. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Tonight’s session was actually a WOD (Workout of the Day) to celebrate Emma and Claire going away together on holiday. Basically, we had to partner up and pick a card from a standard deck of playing cards. Each card was designated a certain movement or exercise that we had to perform during the workout (Spade: Cleans. Diamonds: Squats. Clubs: Stiff-leg Deadlifts. Hearts: Wall Climb. Face: 100 skips + 10 rep movement. Ace: 4 x tyre flips. Joker: 20m rope pull).

If we couldn’t complete the required reps or finish the movement, the penalty was running with our partners to the end of the street and back. We each had to alternate in picking up a card so we could recover in between movements. It was a really tough workout, especially the 100 skips and the wall climbs but at the same time, I actually enjoyed it due to the sense of team spirit within the group. Nobody felt left out and we all encouraged each other to get through the 50 minute workout.

I’m only two sessions in and already I’m feeling quite positive about being a part of this group. I felt a lot more comfortable and less anxious than last week. Getting to know people takes time. It doesn’t matter what the situation is. It’s one of those things that it takes me a while to warm up to a new group and be able to let my guard down, let them in and be myself. One step at a time.

On Tuesday night, I headed down to YMCA Casey RACE for a Swim, Spa and Sauna session. Of course being a 31 degree day, the pool was packed tonight and I was lucky to find a parking spot. I was going to do a Water Workout class but didn’t really feel up to it with the heat draining me of energy today. Instead, I decided to spend an hour doing recovery, doing some gentle exercise and swim practice.

I really surprised myself by swimming in the slow lane for the first time ever. I alternated between breast stroke and doggy paddle as these are the styles I’m strongest at and got myself comfortable enough to swim the length of the pool. I’ve honestly achieved a lot in the last 12 months in terms of my confidence in the water. I always had a fear of “the deep end” but now I’ve managed to smash through that fear. Next goal on the list is to try a Deep Water Running class. https://www.caseyrace.ymca.org.au/a...

On Thursday afternoon, I had my counselling session with Ruth at Piece Together Counselling in Narre Warren. Today I talked about how life and external pressures from work have been bringing me down lately. I’ve had moments where I haven’t felt appreciated or heard by others and that got me really frustrated and upset. The recent Spring heatwave has also been a major factor in influencing my moods as high temperatures make me feel drained, worn out and unmotivated. Overthinking and being too hard on myself are still things that are works in progress in my life.

Then there’s the fact that it’s almost 4 weeks until Christmas and I’ve yet to get myself organised for it. But I’m learning to not succumb to the pressure society places on us to rush down to the store, spend big and find those “perfect” gifts. I don’t care for the materialistic aspects of Christmas anymore. All I care about is spending time with the people I care about and that’s it. I guess I just haven’t been prepared for it and it’s really caught me off guard this year. I’m going to give myself permission to have an easy-going Christmas this year.

I also talked about how much behaviour from childhood has influenced and contributed towards my recent diagnosis of Mild High Functioning Autism. I was very much a loner during kindergarten and primary school, always keeping to myself and engaging in quiet, creative activities such as reading, writing, painting and drawing. Recesses and lunchtimes were obviously very difficult for me. I was purposefully getting into trouble because I hated the idea of being alone and having no friends to play with. Hence why I often engaged in attention-seeking behaviour, to get other people to notice me and not feel invisible anymore.

On Friday morning, I attended my Pilates Mat class with Suzie Lowater at YMCA Casey RACE in Cranbourne East. Today’s class was very different to what I’m used to with most poses and movements being done using a large gym ball as a prop. It certainly increased the degree of difficulty slightly especially in terms of balance and stability but I just did what I could to embrace. I’m also learning to be more aware of my core activation during each pose.

On Friday afternoon, I headed off to my first ever yoga retreat at Tall Trees Camping in Moggs Creek. To be honest, I was feeling pretty nervous about this weekend as it’s the first time I’ve ever done this on my own. I’ve also never met any of the teachers or students attending this retreat and I’ll be participating in activities I’ve never tried before including life coaching sessions, facials and hand treatments, camping for the first time in 10 years.

It’s all pretty daunting for me but at the same time getting out of my comfort zone has been one of my major goals this year and I think that this will be a great opportunity for me to do just that. Plus I think that there will be more positives than negatives from this experience. The retreat was organised by Bianca Lovrecic who is a qualified yoga teacher at Just Be Yoga and Meditation and Patricia Chiuariu who is a qualified life coach for Champion In Progress Mentoring and Coaching.

Unfortunately, it didn’t start off too well with my car getting overheated and breaking down just before the Burnley Tunnel. It was really nerve-racking especially as the traffic was banking up and I needed to find a way to pull over to the emergency service lane. After getting onto the RACV and having my car towed to the Todd Road service centre, it was a long 1.5 wait for another tow truck to arrive so I could get my car home again. My radiator had a hole in it and was leaking out coolant so there was no way I could drive it safely in that condition.

Fortunately, Mum allowed me to borrow her car in order to still make it to the yoga retreat. It was a very long and tremendously monotonous 2.5 hour drive with a thunderstorm, lightening and a few showers along the way. After I got over the West Gate Bridge, my anxiety levels lowered a bit but I found I had to concentrate harder than normal to stay alert driving along on the Princes Freeway and later the Great Ocean Road.

The last part was actually quite scary as I had to drive along some dirt roads with pot holes and no street lights at all. Eventually, I found the entrance gate to Tall Trees Camping and managed to find a couple of the girls in the common area as well as Bianca and Patricia who helped me to locate my tent and gave me a brief guided tour before I collapsed into bed. I was so lucky to have this tent all to myself as the other tents were twin share.

Getting up at 6am for my Hatha Yoga Flow classes was tough on 4-5 hours sleep but I made the effort to do it. It was really lovely to be awakened by the sounds of birds chirping and laughing to one another. I was truly in nature now. The breakfasts and lunches were all catered for by Little Feast in Aireys Inlet and the food was absolutely amazing. I was trying so many different things that I’d never eaten before like chia pudding, bircher muesli, bean salad, mocha balls and salted caramel fudges.

We also did two life coaching sessions with Patricia from Champion In Progress Mentoring and Coaching over the weekend in a group setting. We worked our way gradually through the program workbook which included setting intentions, goal setting, the wheel of life, absolute no and yes lists, immediate actions, building awareness, strengths and values, mindfulness reflections, control and making choices. Overall, I found it very insightful and productive in thinking about what’s really important to me in my life.

In the afternoons, we did some facials and hand treatments with Bianca who is also a consultant from Mary Kay. I honestly had mixed feelings about these sessions as I’ve never used these products before and didn’t want to be roped into buying anything. But thankfully Bianca was laid-back and didn’t pressure any of us to participate or order any products. I also wrongly assumed that this was going to be more of a spa date thing but oh well.

On Saturday night, the group went out for dinner at Little Feast Aireys. I could feel myself really get out of my comfort zone here especially when the conversation turned to the topic of animal violence and dealing with aggressive dogs. I seriously wanted to go for the exit but forced myself to stay out of politeness. Thankfully, the subject quickly changed and the dinner was worth staying for. Grilled barramundi with cauliflower, beans, brocolini, beetroot, beans and spinach plus an apple and raspberry crumble for dessert. Yummo!

I think the biggest concern for me about attending this yoga retreat was being able to fit in socially with this all female group. Not that being in only guy is necessary a bad thing but it made it hard to click with the others. The topics of conversation such as babies, teaching, families, husbands, corporate business and healthy super foods were also really tough to relate to and I was sitting on the sidelines just listening most of the time. The fact that I’m also introverted, shy, reserved and socially awkward also presents many challenges for me.

But I didn’t let any of this stop me from enjoying my experience. There were a few times where I decided to sit in the tent by myself to essentially recharge the batteries and I just needed a break from the group sometimes. I also found it difficult to adapt to some of the ladies’ personalities and sense of humour. But overall, I did feel welcome, accepted and included. People did ask me about my life, did try to get to know me and did acknowledge my existence through eye contact and general greetings in passing.

Despite the social challenges this yoga retreat presented, I still really enjoyed my experience this weekend. I was grateful for just being there. For having my own tent and my own space. For all the food that got catered to us. For all the bathroom facilities. For the weather. For the yoga classes and life coaching sessions. I confronted and ticked off a lot of “firsts” from my list during this weekend alone and I’m really proud of myself for doing it.

On the drive back home, I decided to visit the Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet. Of course being a Sunday afternoon, the area was packed with tourists and couples but that didn’t bother me. I went for a half-hour strong along the coastal walking trail leading up to the Lighthouse itself and then walked down to the lookout points to see some gorgeous views of the rocky cliffs and roaring ocean waves down below.

FUN FACT: The Split Point Lighthouse was made famous by the popular 90’s Australian television show Round The Twist.

“Let's take a chance on a happy ending. (Let's) turn the page and stop pretending. The past can stop a heart from mending. It's time to let go 'cause baby you know. Some things are better best forgotten.” STEPS - Better Best Forgotten (1998)

“What you can't see can't hurt you they say. But I've been blind too many times before. Never see it coming your way. Shadows and secrets hide. Give me the bright lights of the dance floor. To shine inside this broken heart of mine. The way you move I'm forgetting all the ghosts in my mind.” STEPS - Scared Of The Dark (2017)

[competitionsfestivalsexhibi-blog]

Competitors & Colour palettes

These are the two competitions that most appealed to me so I  researched the two competitions in great detail, researching requirements, expectations and styles.The two competitions I researched were, ADAA which is a competition hosted by  Adobe and D&AD which is a competition for new blood.

After researching everything I have decided to work with ADAA competitions hosted by Adobe as I feel this competition allows myself to have a lot more creative independence whereas with the D&AD competition you have to follow a brief, therefore not giving you much creative independence.

Things I need to remember when working with ADAA is that 30% of my work has to be original as the requirements state and I'm entering the social impact category with consists of Web, App and game design.

The final three ideas I have decided to go for are:

Meditation, self-help app - I believe this would be a great app to create as everyone gets stressed throughout everyday tasks and to have an app that helps people destress and better themselves. 

Weather app - I thought a weather app would be a good app to produce as the weather is such a big part of our lives, its something humans experience every day and to have an app, I think would sell well in the market as everyone wants to know the weather, so they can plan their days. 

Dating App- I feel this would be a good app to produce as today's society is all about online dating and that's how the majority of people meet. So I thought creating a new fresh app would be perfect in the market. 

I have decided to go with creating an app rather than a website as I believe devoting my time to creating an app will help me understand one of my chosen field of work better. In the future, I hope to possibly become a UX and UI designer, so basing this project around something I’m interested in can only benefit my project and future. Furthermore, I feel my strengths are in UI/UX rather than web design.

I have finally decided on what I am creating for my project. I have decided to create a self-help mediation app for People aged 18+. I have decided to create an app revolved around meditation and self-help as I feel many people around the age of 18 onwards are beginning to really experience life and all the emotions that come with it. Furthermore, I believe that from the age of 18 onward you are begging to have an everyday serious schedule whether it be university, a job,  family etc and with all these scenarios come a variety of emotions, therefore my app will help guide and help people with whatever they are feeling or suffering with.

Our aim is to help everyone become mindful and at peace with themselves. We want members to have a light clear aura and feel connected with themselves. Through the app we allow users to meditate as well as complete daily programs in order to relax them and relieve stress. 

My competitors:

I have done some research into who are my competitors and what their apps consisted of. I took the liberty of researching the top three apps on google play and store to do with medications, self-help and mindfulness.

The Mindfulness App 

Start your journey to a more relaxed and healthier state of mind with The Mindfulness App. Whether you are just starting out or experienced in meditation, The Mindfulness App will help you to become more present in your daily life. 

The Mindfulness App you will find: • Get Started: a five day guided practice and introduction to mindfulness • Timed Sessions: guided and silent meditations from 3 to 30 minutes • Personalized Meditation: customize your meditation with guided introduction and bells • Meditation Reminders and Mindful Notices: help you to be mindful throughout the day • Statistics: keep track of your meditation journey • Premium section with an additional 200+ guided meditations and courses by some of the world’s most influential teachers (available subscription or one-time purchase) • Health App integration allows you to sync your meditation practice time

The Mindfulness App has two different Premium Subscription options: 1 Month and 12 Months. 1 Month for $9.99 12 Months for $59.99 (free trial included)

Category: Health & Fitness

These are the apps design visuals and to be honest I personally think these are unprofessional, plain and very basic and this is where my design visuals of my app shine.

Calm App 

Calm is the #1 app for mindfulness and meditation to bring more clarity, joy and peace to your daily life. Join the millions experiencing less anxiety and better sleep with our guided meditations, Sleep Stories, breathing programs and relaxing music. Recommended by top psychologists and mental health experts to help you de-stress.

Topics include: * Calming Anxiety * Managing Stress * Deep Sleep * Focus and Concentration * Relationships * Breaking Habits * Happiness * Gratitude * Self-Esteem * Body Scan * Loving-Kindness * Forgiveness * Non-judgement * Commuting to work or school * Mindfulness at College * Walking meditation * Calm Kids

Also featuring: * Daily Calm: a new 10-minute program added daily to help ease you into the day or unwind with before bed * 60+ Sleep Stories: adult bedtime stories guaranteed to lull you to sleep * 7 day and 21 programs for both beginner and advanced users * Breathing exercises to relax * Exclusive music engineered to help you focus, relax or sleep * Unguided timed meditation * Open-ended meditation * 30+ soothing nature sounds and scenes to use during meditation, yoga or to help you sleep

Calm offers two auto-renewing subscription options: $12.99 per month $59.99 per year

These are the design visuals which I think are very cleans and beautiful, however, I'm not a fan of the colour scheme or layout.

Personally out of all the meditation apps out there calm would have to be the best but what makes mine different is that mine offers different types of programs whether it be bedtime programs or quick daily programs.Furthermore, the calm app has too much going on and doesn't follow its whole calm and peaceful vibe, whereas mine is simple and easy to navigate as I wanted to always present simplicity and a Peaceful atmosphere.Headspace-

Headspace 

Headspace teaches you the essentials of living a healthier, happier life. If you enjoy the Basics, then it’s time to subscribe. Once you do, you’ll have access to hundreds of meditations on everything from stress and anxiety to sleep and focus.

There are packs to help you build healthier relationships with the people you love, SOS sessions to help you find a place of calm and relaxation during meltdown moments and even Headspace for Sport packs to keep your mind fit whether you’re shooting hoops, powerlifting or racing for the finish line.

Headspace offers two auto-renewing subscription options: $12.99 per month $94.99 per year

 These are the apps design visuals.

Personally, I like headspace I like how simple it is as well as the layout. Also, I love the clean colour palette.

As seen all my competitors charge for their apps whereas mine is free which gives my app the upper hand because everyone love free things, meaning my app is most likely to get more downloads, which means more users.

Colour meanings:

When thinking about my colour palette I thought I should have colours that revolve around peace, calm, a positive atmosphere etc so I researched into colour representations.

The colour red

Power, energy, passion, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence, intensity, celebration, luck, stop or danger, Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

The colour yellow

Joy, optimism, happiness, danger, sunshine, idealism, imagination, hope, summer, gold, deceit, philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, disease and warning.

The colour green

Nature, environment, health, good luck, renewal, youth, vigour, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune, start signal, St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas.

The colour blue

Peace, harmony, unity, trust, truth, security, confidence, conservatism, order, sky, water, cold, technology, cleanliness, depression, loyalty, immortality, stability, masculinity and protection.

The colour purple

Royalties, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mystery, transformation, wisdom and enlightenment.

The colour orange

Energy, balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vitality, expansion, flamboyant, autumn and Halloween.

The colour grey

Safety, reliability, intelligence, melancholy, modesty, dignity, maturity, soundness, functionality, old age and grief.

The colour brown

Earth, hearth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity, comfort, trees, nature and autumn. 

The colour white

Reverence, virginity, nothingness, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, goodness, marriage, cold, clinical and sterility.

The colour black

Power, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, sad, remorse, anger, underground, technical, grief and death. 

These are some colour palettes I have created for my app:

This is the final colour palette I am going to use for my app. I have chosen this colour palette as I feel it fits perfectly with what I want my app to represent. The colours are light, soothing and work well blended together. I didn't want any colours that were harsh and made the user feel anything but peaceful and calm. Furthermore I feel this colour palette is original and doesn't copy or look similar to any of my competitors.

[greggreaen]

Is Cardio Making You Gain Weight? How To Tell If You Are Doing Too Much Cardio and How To Train Smarter.

Is Cardio making you gain weight or hurting your fitness goals? Here’s how to tell if you are doing too much cardio and how to help yourself train smarter.

Copyright Dan Goodman photos

There’s nothing better than the unstoppable feeling after really good spin class —it’s a great sweat and an incredible endorphin boost.

But sometimes it seems like cardio has overtaken every other fitness activity. More and more of my clients are turning into serious aerobic exercise junkies, and I’ve begun to see a pattern of women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who are spinning, dancing, group fitnessing, and running three, four, even five times per week. They all tell me that they feel like they should be in incredible shape—but they’re not.

Despite being so active, these women come to me struggling with weight gain, joint pain, low energy, and years of frustration. They all say about the same thing: “Caroline, I’m doing all the right things !! I exercise 6 days a week, eat super clean, and sleep. I don’t get why I am NOT seeing results!”. They feel tired and anxious, have trouble sleeping, and find it difficult to shed “the last 10 pounds.” Many also have hormone imbalances such as PMS, irregular periods, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and even infertility.

What’s behind this trend of cardio junkies sweating to exhaustion? Here’s what happens when you do too much cardio, signs you may be doing too much, and how to help yourself restore body balance.

Copyright Dan Goodman photos

The Negative Side Effects Of Doing Too Much Cardio and How To Tell If You Are Doing Too Much

Even though exercise is good for us, our bodies perceive it like any kind of stressor. Chemically, the body reacts the same way to exercise as it does to “bad” stress. Therefore, too much exercise (or not enough recovery) can have negative effects on your physical and mental health (including your metabolism). In addition, too much cardio specifically can result in muscle wasting (atrophy) and fat storage on the body, which is not the outcome you want. In extreme cases, even the heart suffers from too much endurance training.

What counts as “too much” cardio is different for everyone, and depends on a lot of factors, including the intensity of your exercise, your fitness level, your age and health status, how much activity you do each day, what and how much you eat, how much sleep you get, your fitness goals and more. What might be too much for one person is perfectly fine for another. What might be too much for a new exerciser could also be fine for them a year later. When it comes to exercise, picture a bell curve: The people who reap the most health benefits are somewhere in the middle. The people on either extreme end—too much exercise or too little—suffer consequences.

When you listen to your body, it will usually give you signals that it’s time to change things. If you experience any of these symptoms, it could be signs that you are doing too much cardio.

Weight gain. Research shows that cardio is not usually that helpful for weight loss. The body becomes “used to” the calorie deficit from long aerobic sessions and stores energy as fat to compensate. In addition, studies show most people eat more after exercise, and overestimate how many calories they burned while working out.

Increased body fat or hard to lose body fat (the body hangs on to it because it knows it has to keep going FOREVER)

Hormone changes (increased cortisol in the body due to prolonged stress from cardio training)

Joint pain and muscle aches

Repressed immune system (you get sick more than normal or are sick all of the time)

Repetitive stress injuries

Mood changes

Appetite changes

Anxiety (from increased stress on the body)

Sleeplessness or insomnia

Low energy

Brain fog or inability to focus

You can’t “lose your belly” or still not seeing that toned definition you’re craving.

Do you have one or many of the symptoms above? Do you still want to sweat so hard and so long to get those results from your workouts?

What To Do Instead of Hours of Cardio

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms of cardio overload, it’s likely time to consider switching up your exercise routine. You don’t have to stop exercising altogether, or even exercise less frequently, but a different style of exercise will be quite helpful. It may take a while to re-train your body out of chronic cardio overtraining, especially if you have been a “cardio junkie” for years. However it IS possible to restore how your body responds to exercise and reset your weight, body fat, hormones, and system. It will require patience, hard work, focus, determination, and effort. You need to be prepared to do something DIFFERENT, to challenge yourself, to feel awkward, uncomfortable, and scared. Change is hard, new, and different. You will be tempted to fall back to old overtraining habits. But if you are truly committed to helping your body heal and to seeing positive effects from your workouts, you will be able to climb out of the chronic cardio state and find balance. Here’s what to do instead of hours of cardio:

Keep your cardio workouts to less than one hour. I don’t ever recommend doing over an hour of cardio, unless you’re training for a specific event. If you are training for a specific event that requires you to do cardio for longer than one hour, make sure to plan your year so that after the event is completed, you return to shorter cardio sessions and cross training workouts. This will help you avoid slipping into chronic cardio overtraining and getting repetitive stress injuries, hormone imbalances, and weight gain.

Make your workouts about QUALITY, skill, and performance. Mix up your cardio sessions to experience a variety of intensities, challenges, and intervals. The Strong Body Beautiful  program gives you 6 weeks of creative cardio workouts that offer high, medium, and low intensity so your body is always challenged. Focus on moving well, with good form and focus.

Take at least 1-2 rest days per week. Resting IS productive and an essential part of getting the most from your training. Remember: the heart is a MUSCLE, and a pretty important one. It needs a day off, just like your legs, shoulders, chest, back, etc. all do.

Replace two classes or long cardio workouts with weight training sessions. Lifting weights and building muscle increases your basal metabolic rate, which accounts for 60–75 percent of calories burned daily (another 10 percent goes to digesting food while, for, most people, only 10–20 percent goes to physical activity of any kind). Resistance training has been shown to boost basal metabolism and fat burning for 24-plus hours—something cardio doesn’t do. The Strong Body Beautiful  program gives you 6 weeks of two downloadable strength workouts per week that will help you boost your metabolism, climb out of cardio overload, prevent injuries, and see results.

Plan a balanced fitness schedule that includes cardio, strength, flexibility, variety, periodization, and rest. Periodization and variety ensure you are changing your workouts frequently enough to avoid plateaus, injuries, and exercise ruts. Start with a program like Strong Body Beautiful which gives you a 6 week schedule and helps you plan cardio training sessions with strength, flexibility, and rest. Repeat the 6 week schedule three times (or more!) and watch your body start to change. 

Restore your mind and muscles. Give yourself time per week for stress reduction, meditation, deep breathing, or calming stretches. Find something that works for you and practice it consistently (even if its just for a few minutes!). Taking time for your mind will reduce stress and, therefore, cortisol (one of the major reasons for weight gain and hormone imbalance from too much cardio training). The Strong Body Beautiful  program gives you guided meditations, stretching videos, apps, websites, resources, and tools to help you find what works for you in calming your mind and restoring balance in your body.

Nourish your body with foods that fuel you. Give your body what it needs to feel its best no matter how long your workouts are. A clean, balanced diet of nutrient dense foods is the best medicine out there.  Many exercisers do long cardio sessions to “burn off” or “earn” calories eaten. But, I’m sorry…. NO. Exercise isn’t punishment and shouldn’t be done to earn what you eat. If your cardio sessions are fueled with your desire to eat more – you may need to work on having a healthier relationship to food. You can learn how to eat mindfully and build a balanced diet in the Strong Body Beautiful program. You can change your relationship to food and find a way of eating that helps you feel incredible.

It can be easy to stay stuck in our habits even when they don’t serve us. Change is hard. It involves effort, being uncomfortable, feeling vulnerable, and trying something new. But if you’ve been “doing all the right things” and not seeing positive change, I want to invite you to try something different with your fitness routine. It can’t hurt to give  a shot and you might be surprised by the dramatic results. I believe you have what it takes to help yourself feel your very best. When you are ready, I’d be honored to be your coach. Let’s build body balance and find your strength. Get started here.

Love and squats,

Caroline

Other things to check out:

This is me with no makeup and I’m cool with it.

How to get a “toned physique”

Strong Body Beautiful stomach workout video

The post Is Cardio Making You Gain Weight? How To Tell If You Are Doing Too Much Cardio and How To Train Smarter. appeared first on Caroline Jordan.

Is Cardio Making You Gain Weight? How To Tell If You Are Doing Too Much Cardio and How To Train Smarter. published first on http://www.carolinejordanfitness.com

[bintaeran]

Menopause as a Transformative Experience (Rerun)

Menopause as a Transformative Experience (Rerun) Nina Zolotow by Beth

Metamorphosis of a Butterfly by Maria Sibylla Merian

Rather than seeing menopause just as the end of fertility and the start of aging, we can look at it as both a life transition and as a potentially transformative experience. Given our modern health care and longer life spans, women in first world countries can anticipate spending close to one-third of their lives in a post-reproductive state. Dr. Christiane Northrup, author of The Wisdom of Menopause, said, "The years surrounding menopause and encompassing the gradual change in ovarian function constitute an entire stage of a woman's life, lasting from six to thirteen years." Without reproductive and care-taking responsibilities, women can use more of their time for personal self-development, healing, and realization. And while this transition is often described as the “change of life” and freedom from social and culturally defined roles, each woman’s menopause experience is like a fingerprint—unique and personal. And the way each woman perceives and moves through this transition can transform her inner and outer experience. 

One way we can view this transition is through yoga philosophy, which says that there are four stages of life (ashramas): the student, the householder, the forest dweller, and the renunciate. As a student (or child) one learns about one’s role in society. As a householder (adult), one raises a family and/or makes a contribution to society through relationships, work, or volunteer efforts. As a forest dweller (mid-life) one begins the preparatory work for personal or spiritual realization, and may finally choose to become a renunciate and turn the final years into an opportunity for spiritual wisdom and enlightenment. 

For women, the Forest Dweller stage seems perfectly timed to occur about when you enter menopause, and your children, if you has any, leave home to begin lives of their own. This transition can be seen as a moving away from a more active (rajasic) time of life towards a more contemplative (sattvic) time of life. Many western writers and thinkers, such as Marian VanEyke McCain, Christiane Northrup, and Clarrissa Pinkola Estes, support this yogic view of the female human life span. They point to the drive that moves women at this time to begin an inner journey, address unfinished business, and claim the wisdom and power inherent in this time of life. Seen from this perspective, the menopausal process is a natural transition that can lead to transformation. 

While writing masters project on menopause, I spoke with and surveyed about thirty women about their menopause experiences. In addition, at that time, I worked in a small all-female office, and the three of us shared our experiences openly. In general, I found that women’s responses fell into three categories: Fix and Forget, Menopause as Process, and Menopause as Transformation.

Fix and Forget. Many women I talked to perceived menopause and its symptoms as biological events to be fixed or forgotten. When D. talked about menopause, her conversation centered around which therapist she had last seen and what they had prescribed to fix her problems: one pill for headaches, birth control pills for irregular periods, and something else for mood swings. She told us that she wished for a hysterectomy to "get it all over with." On the other hand, V. said, "I don't remember attaching any great meaning to menopause. It came, it wasn't difficult, it went, and I forgot about it in fairly short order.” Both women overlooked the opportunity to see menopause as a catalyst for healing and transformation. 

Menopause as Process. Menopause often involves much more than physiological changes in the body. This is true even if women are not aware of all the multi-dimensional changes that may be taking place in their lives. This transition has an amazing potential for causing change, as illustrated by the following comments from two women. One said, “It’s a change in my life, an aging process but one I want to control.” The other responded, “I know I’m going to experience many changes and I want to learn how to handle them so I don’t feel so frustrated.”

Northrup calls menopause, "the mother of all wake-up calls," our body's way of letting us know the need to do inner work, to heal an experience, conflict or issue in our lives. The increased psychic energy available for this inner work is related to a woman's fluctuating hormone levels that alter the brain chemistry by “sparking” changes to the temporal lobes associated with enhanced intuition, the right brain hemisphere. Northrup states, "At midlife, the hormonal milieu that was present for only a few days each month during most of your productive years to spur you on to reexamine your life just a little at a time, now gets stuck in the on position for weeks or months at a time." 

K. recognized this. She was experiencing hot flashes and mental confusion, and told me that she no longer felt “normal.” Her doctors advised her to take estrogen, and seek counseling. But she was able to find some relief through yoga. At the time, she was in the early stages of her “waking up” process. She recognized menopause as a process but was not ready to go deeper. Women who accept the idea of menopause as process will find many opportunities for conscious self-healing and change.

Menopause as Transformation. Using the metaphor of a butterfly, Marian VanEyk McCain, author of Transformation Through Menopause, describes menopause as a cocoon: 

"A cocoon is, in a way, a place of rest, almost a place of death, for it is a place where some creatures go in order to die out of their previous form. Thus it is also a place of rebirth, a place from which the new form, in its own time will emerge." 

Often what dies during this phase are illusions that keep women from examining their deepest dreams and shadow material. And what gets born is a new and different concept of self that can result in an increased energy for life, a “post menopausal zest,” and often a view of themselves for the first time as complete beings who are worthy of existence just because they live and breathe.

L., a post-menopausal grandmother, said, “Spiritually, I feel as though I'm free at last to pursue my own preferences in life. No longer young, I have little value in this society. On the one hand that's very annoying, but on the other, my invisibility also opens the door out of the gilded cage of others' praise and approval.”

Support from Yoga During the Transition

Alternative and complimentary modalities of health and healing, including yoga, provide you with a range of opportunities to support this life transition. A consistent practice of yoga modified for individual needs and abilities can help you recognize, accept, and integrate your menopause experience. Yoga practices can also help you manage stress levels and many menopausal symptoms (see Yoga for Menopause: The Big Picture).

One practice I particularly recommend is the Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskara), a flow of poses that moves your physical body through an optimal range of motion, brings awareness to your breath, and can calm your mind. Moving through the posture flow slowly can serve to cool and calm. Moving faster with more repetitions will warm and energize. And Sun Salutations are easily adapted to accommodate all levels of ability. (See Featured Sequence: Mini Sun Salutation for information on one of Baxter’s favorite versions.) 

Other yoga practices that I recommend include:

Yamas and Niyamas: Use these tools to examine your values and behaviors (see The First Branch of Yoga: The Yamas and The Second Branch of Yoga: The Niyamas).

Asanas: The Warrior poses (Virabradrasana 1, 2, and 3) are good for building strength and confidence, Downward-Facing Dog pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana) and forward bends are good for calming, Legs Up the Wall pose (Viparita Karani) or Easy Inverted pose  for 10 minutes are good for relaxing and calming, Upward-Facing Dog pose (Urdva Mukha Svanasana), Plank pose, and backbends are good for energizing, and twisting poses are good for focus and concentration

Pranayama: The 2:1 Breath for calming (see Friday Q&A: Breath Practices for Anxiety), Kapalbhati for energizing, and Alternate Nostril Breathing (see Balancing Your Nervous System with Alternate Nostril Breathing) for balance.

Mudras: Adhi mudra for calming, Urdhvam Merudanda mudra (gesture of the upper spine) for opening to new ways of seeing, Hakini mudra for balance, and Jhana mudra for concentration.

Relaxation: Use a favorite guided relaxation or Yoga Nidra recording (or see Audio Tracks).

Meditation: Either yogic concentration or mindfulness practices.

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[old-soulless]

How to Reach Optimal Testosterone Levels as a Man

According to the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, testosterone levels in American men have been declining by 1.3 percent annually since 1987.

Also: This decline is occurring independent of age.

In other words: The average man today has about 26% lower T than the average man from just 20 years ago (1.3 x 20 =26).

That’s a huge dip.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of How to Reach Optimal Testosterone Levels as a Man

… and what we can do about it, take a look at the following infographic…

I created this infographic to explain the big picture of low testosterone.

As you can see:

The cause of low T in modern society can largely be narrowed down to lifestyle factors. So it makes sense that optimizing these factors will have the opposite effect, i.e. an increase in testosterone levels naturally.

However, rather than making the lifestyle changes to allow their bodies to produce higher levels of testosterone, more and more men these days are seeking out the “quick-fix” in the form of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). TRT is like addressing the symptoms (low T) while completely ignoring the root cause (an unhealthy lifestyle).

Look, the thing is that, as a man, optimal testosterone levels and optimal health go hand-in-hand. If you’re able to naturally maintain T-levels above a particular range, it’s a signal that your body is lean and muscular, that you’re getting all the necessary vitamins and minerals through your diet, and that your mind is functioning near peak potential.

In this article I will focus on the final part of the infographic:

How to achieve optimal testosterone levels naturally by setting these 4 Priorities

Let’s dive in…

Priority #1 – Lose Your Gut

Body fat produces an enzyme called aromatase.

Aromatase converts testosterone into estrogen (the female sex hormone).

By lowering your body fat, you decrease the activity of aromatase and allow more testosterone to remain unconverted. This is why leaner men have consistently been shown to produce higher levels of testosterone.

If you’re currently over 15% body fat, then getting in the range of 12-15% body fat is the #1 thing you can do to positively impact your natural testosterone production.

How To Lose Weight

Regardless of whether we talk about low-carb, Paleo, Atkins, ketogenic, or any other diet under the sun, they all induce weight-loss by the same means:

By putting you in a calorie deficit.

Consuming fewer calories than you burn is the fundamental law of weight loss; there are no two ways about it. By staying in a calorie deficit, university professor Mark Haub was able to shed 27 pounds in 2 months eating nothing but twinkies, doritos, and oreos.

Alright, so how many calories should you consume to lose weight?

Well, there are a number of formulas you can use, but each of them will still merely provide you with an estimate. This is why I like to keep things simple:

To calculate your calorie goal, multiply your bodyweight by 12.

For example, I weigh 185 lbs, so 2220 calories per day. That’s roughly how many calories I need to lose that sweet spot of 1 lb per week.

This estimate provides a good enough starting point. The key, however, lies in keeping track of your progress and adjusting your calories along the way.

Notice how, above, I’ve used the term “weight-loss” and not “fat-loss”. In order to ensure that the weight you lose comes in the form of fat and not muscle, you will have to focus on other factors like food choices, maintaining/gaining strength in the gym, sleep, etc. We’ll get into some of them coming up.

Priority #2 – Correct Your Micronutrient Deficiencies

Research has shown that large portions of the American population have deficiencies in many key vitamins and minerals.

Depending on the extent of your current deficiencies, topping up your vitamin and mineral levels can have a pretty dramatic impact on your natural T production.

How To Achieve Micronutrient Balance

Simply include more whole, unprocessed, and natural foods in your diet. Foods like leafy vegetables, grass-fed meats, whole eggs, avocadoes and fatty fish are great additions to any diet.

Also, according to the study cited above, approximately 74% of Americans have a vitamin D deficiency. That’s almost 3 in every 4 people! Studies have shown a direct correlation between vitamin D levels and T-levels in men. A simple way to top up your vitamin D is by spending more time outdoors.

Another easy way to achieve micronutrient balance is simply to supplement with a quality multivitamin supplement.

Priority #3 – Pump Some Iron

Given that testosterone is the primary hormonal driver of muscle growth, it makes sense that the more muscle you have on your body, the higher your testosterone levels will be.

The best way to build muscle?

Lift heavy weights.

How To Train For The Optimal Testosterone Response

There’s a tendency in the fitness space to make stuff more complicated than it needs to be. With regards to training for the optimal testosterone response, it can be narrowed down to one simple sentence:

Get stronger in a medium rep range on the big compound movements.

Your workouts should primarily consist of exercises like the bench press, overhead press, deadlift, squat, barbell rows, pull-ups and others of the sort. The essence of getting stronger and building more muscle lies in the concept of progressive overload.

Basically:

Your muscles will only grow if introduced to a stimulus that is beyond what they’re currently used to. So your focus should be on keeping track of the amount of weight you lift and getting stronger over time.

On a side note, building muscle is also one of the best ways to burn calories. The more muscle you have on your body the more energy it requires to maintain them.

Priority #4 – Aim for 7-9 hours of high quality sleep every single night

Given the sleep deprivation trends as of recent, it seems like many of us consider sleep a luxury rather than a priority. But the fact is that there is no aspect of your physical, emotional, and mental health that is not affected by the quality of your sleep.

The first aspect to look towards is sleep quantity. The general recommendation is to aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night. But what’s just as important as sleep quantity is sleep quality.

How to improve your sleep quality

Do you know the #1 reason Americans give as to why they can’t get to sleep at night?

Anxiety.

We all have stresses in our life, but the key lies in learning how to deal with them. Meditation is a proven way to conquer anxiety and make you feel more relaxed.

An easy way to get started with meditation is simply to set a timer on your phone for 6 minutes, sit in a relaxed position, close your eyes and take deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Obviously, your inner chatter pop up, but the real benefit of meditation lies in bringing your attention back to the anchor, i.e. your breath. Each time you get distracted, observe it, and bring your attention back to your breath. It’s like building a muscle. The more you bring your attention back, the better you will get at it. Just 5 minutes of meditation before bed can put you in the right state of mind to instantly fall asleep once your head hits the pillow. Also check out this beginner’s guide.

Another thing that’s disrupting your sleep quality is your smartphone. All the screens you stare at past dark (TV, laptop, ipad, etc.) emit a blue light that messes with your hormones; it makes your body think that it’s still daytime. So a good rule is to simply avoid looking at any screens 1.5-2 hours before the time you intend on going to bed.

The final factor to look towards is your room’s environment. Essentially, you should make sure that it’s dark, mellow, and cool.

By dark I mean that it should be pitch-black. Invest in black-out curtains or an eye mask.

By mellow I mean that your bedroom should be associated with a relaxed and mellow energy, i.e. your bed should not be used for any activity other than sex or sleeping.

By cool I mean that your room temperature should be between 60-67 F. Researchers have found this to be the ideal sleeping temperature. If the temperature is outside of this range, it could play a role in disrupting your sleep quality.

There you have it…

By optimizing these 4 factors you’ll have an immediate positive impact on your testosterone levels and, in turn, on your mind, body, and life as well.

Author Bio: Mo Saleem

Mo Saleem is an independent men’s health researcher who provides men with the evidence-based action steps to help them achieve what they’re truly capable of. Check out tripleyourt.com to learn more about Mo and his work.

June 04, 2017 at 10:51PM

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 66, August 2017

“Whether we’re overcoming adversity, surviving trauma, or dealing with stress and anxiety, having a sense of purpose, meaning and perspective in our lives allows us to develop understanding and move forward.”                                                                                   The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown (p. 74)

On Monday morning, I attended my Healthy Cooking on a Budget class at Balla Balla Community Centre in Cranbourne East. Today’s class was much smaller than usual probably due to the wet weather outside. Despite my usual levels of social anxiety and nerves, I was actually feeling a lot more productive and prepared today compared to last week. I was determined to get more involved and having encouragement from Kevin and Jodie certainly helped me a lot.

Today we made some profiteroles and some gougere with the choux pastry as a base. Most of the work involved using a saucepan to combine ingredients and a wooden spoon to stir them vigorously together. It was tricky at times because I’m generally not a fast stirrer and I had to consciously try to increase my speed. At least I had Kevin that I could alternate tasks with. We had to make a seperate chocolate ganache mixture as well as a chocolate filling for the choux pastry.

We also made a savoury alternative by combining bacon pieces, onion, chopped parsley, grated cheese and mustard with the choux pastry mixture. I was a bit rusty with the piping bag as I haven’t done it in so long but the puffs turned out pretty well in the oven. We dipped each of the puffs in the chocolate ganache and then filled each one with the chocolate filling.

On Monday night, I attended an RPM class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. I was feeling restless, drained and exhausted all day from lack of sleep and allowing people to drag me down over social media. So I really needed this class just to clear my head and hopefully boost my positive energy levels back up. Tonight’s class was run by instructor Claire who was really fired up, loud and motivating.

We cycled along to release number 60 which featured tracks including Rhianna’s Diamonds, One Republic’s If I Lose Myself, Rudimental’s Not Giving In and Andy Grammer’s Miss Me. There were a few sprint sections, some intense interval training and easy ride parts. It wasn’t my best or fastest RPM performance but I really put a lot of effort in especially during the last few tracks. My glutes, hips and groin were all starting to feel it so clearly I was still working hard in tonight’s class. http://www.totallylesmills.com/site...

On Tuesday morning, I went to my Flow Yoga class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. I was still feeling a bit sore from yesterday but thankfully yoga is really good for joint mobility and releasing tension so I needed this class today. Instructor Michelle guided us through various poses including Flowing Sequences (Downward Facing Dog, Knee to Nose, Crescent Lunge), Balancing (Eagle pose, Stork pose, Aeroplane pose, Warrior 3) and Inversions (Shoulder Stand, Fish pose).

Michelle spoke about the power of listening, both to yourself and others. This helps to improve your mindfulness skills, mental concentration and quieting the mind. Our meditation today focused on paying attention to the different sounds inside and outside of the group fitness room (the music, Michelle’s voice, your breath, conversations, environmental noises). http://soundmeditation.com/portfoli...

On Wednesday morning, I had my Strength Training session with Luke Davey at Breakaway Fitness in Berwick. I’ve honestly come a long way in the six months I’ve been training with Luke this year. I’ve struggled to find a sense of belonging and acceptance at UFT PLAYgrounds. I’ve struggled with how I’ve felt about myself. I’ve struggled with anxiety, depression, fears, loneliness and overthinking. And now I’ve pushed myself into a much more positive headspace. The physical and mental struggle has definitely been worth it.

Of course that doesn’t mean my mental illness has instantly banished. It just means that I’m able to cope with it better and use strategies to get on top of it. I’m making more of an effort to say hello and break the ice with some of the other trainers. I’m making more of an effort to connect better with Luke during my sessions. I’m learning to be okay with silence, with not having much to say, with making mistakes, with not knowing what I’m doing and most importantly, with being myself.

WARM-UP...Today I started my session by doing 20 Scorpion stretches, 2 rounds of pretzel stretches on each side of the body and 3 rounds of 8 reps single arm kettle bell lifts with leg balance. This was probably the most difficult in terms of co-ordination, body position and keeping my balance but I still managed to finish them.

DEVELOPMENT...Today I did 5 rounds of 8 deadlifts at 70kg. During the warm-up run, I was starting to feel soreness and pinching through my lower back. Past Michael would have suffered and put up with it for fear of rejection. But I knew I had to speak up about it. This was the “potential for injury” kind of pain and thankfully Luke took it seriously. It certainly not something I would lie about nor was it me playing the “poor me” card.

So I ended up doing some foam rolling and additional stretches into my lower back and glutes using the rubber ball and my own body weight. This helped loosen up the tightness in my muscles and when I resumed doing the deadlifts, my lower back felt much better. Initially my form and technique was a little off and I was doing the reps too quickly. However, with some conscious awareness, I managed to improve my deadlifts and make them more controlled. It’s all practice and I’m still proud of my efforts today.

I finished my session off by doing some more foam rolling and a few yoga stretches including Downward Facing Dog and Cobra pose, holding each of these for strength and endurance. https://www.facebook.com/breakawayf...

On Thursday night, I went to my Water Workout class at YMCA Casey RACE in Cranbourne. Arriving a few minutes early, I decided to jump in the spa and use the jets to relieve the tension and soreness in my lower back (plus perve on a few guys because why not :P) before starting the class. Tonight’s class was facilitated by instructor Mary who had a very witty and sarcastic sense of humour.

We did the usual combination of underwater exercises and movements including pendulum, rock n’ roll, jogging, digging and pushing away the water, ski slopes, star jumps and tuck jumps. We also used the dumb bells to do some doggy paddling both forwards and backwards. I’m slowly gaining confidence in this area of swimming and I managed to keep my head above water and kicking my legs fast for power. It felt really good about myself. https://fitness.edu.au/the-fitness-...

On Friday morning, I had my Strength Training session with Luke Davey at Breakaway Fitness in Berwick. My session today was all about having the courage and belief in myself to speak up without fear. I wanted to update my current fitness goals to incorporate some new movements including Snatches and Muscle Ups/Pull Ups. I also wanted to develop and improve upon other movements including Pushups and Box Jumps. Thankfully Luke was very receptive to my suggestions and changing up my program a bit in the future.

WARM-UP...Today’s warm up exercises included my usual Y-stretch into the upper body and shoulders, lying down on the bench with arms extended out behind me. I also did 3 rounds of 10 single arm dumb bell rows at 25kg. This was pretty tough for me particularly when I got to the 8th rep or so. I was fatiguing quickly and struggled to lift the dumb bell all the way up to my armpit. But as always, I did my best and rested when necessary.

DEVELOPMENT...Today I did a dumb bell bench press exercise with two 10kg weights. Getting the movement and technique down was probably the most difficult part but I did improve over time. I’m learning not to get myself easily distracted by external noises as well. Just focus on what you’re doing and stay in the present moment.

WORKOUT...Today’s workout was another really tough one but I decided that I was up for the challenge. I had to do three rounds of the following: 15 cal on the assault bike, 15 ring rows, 15 box jumps and 15 push ups. The last two exercises were the most difficult for me. I do have some anxiety going into the box jumps but at least Luke made the height realistic and achievable. I basically just pretended that my shoes were like rockets and I exploded up onto the box. My fear of tripping over and potentially hurting myself quickly disintegrated. This is exactly how you build confidence and work towards improvement.

The push ups were also really hard but only because my arm muscles were burning a lot from the other exercises. But I do feel like I am getting better at them. In time, I’ll be able to work up to a full push up position but for now, doing them on my knees is more than enough for me. I ended up completing the three rounds in 13 minutes and 40 seconds.

Later that day, I attended the Morning Melodies social function at Waltzing Matilda Hotel in Springvale. Today’s entertainer was Sandie Dodd who played tribute to Dolly Parton. She was dressed up in a 60’s styled blonde wig, a glittering red dress and matching red studded stilettos. She was extremely funny and even pulled out some dance moves and a Dolly-esque Southern accent. She performed many of Dolly’s classic country hits including Silver Threads and Golden Needles, To Daddy, Coat of Many Colours, Here You Come Again, Joellene, Ya’ll Come and 9 to 5. https://www.reverbnation.com/sandie...

On Friday night, I attended the first Full Moon meditation class at YMCA Casey ARC in Narre Warren. The staff had spaced out blue and black yoga mats to fill the entire group fitness room with a tealight candle, questionnaire and small purple inspiration card placed down at each mat. Everyone who attended could bring their own blankets, pillows, jumpers and whatever else they needed to make themselves warm and comfortable.

The guided meditation was facilitated by instructor Michelle who also teaches yoga and pilates classes. Part of it was a progressive muscle relaxation, releasing tension, negative emotions and toxins from various areas of the body. The other part was more of a visualisation. The imagery consisted of a Japanese Garden and a temple which we mentally explored during the meditation. I always seem to feel lighter after meditating, especially when it’s done in a group environment.

After tonight, the Full Moon meditation classes will be running every month at Casey Arc and every second Friday at Casey Race. I truly hope that it takes off and brings a lot of members together. http://www.caseyarc.ymca.org.au/eve...

“I’ve gotta stop my mind, working overtime, it’s driving me insane. It will not let me live. Always so negative. It’s become my enemy. And none of these thoughts are real. So why is it that I feel so cut up and so bad? I need to take control ‘cause my mind is on a roll and it isn’t listening to me.” Jem - Save Me (2004)

“Don’t be embarrassed, don’t be afraid. Don’t let your dreams slip away. It's determination and using your gift. Everybody has a gift. Never give up, never let it die. Trust your instincts and most importantly. You’ve got nothing to lose. So just go for it.”                                        Jem - It’s Amazing (2008)