Friendships Are A Source Of Well-Being

Beyond a doubt, we must know and remember that true friends can and will improve our lives. Real friends can be a source of self-esteem, affection, good times and well-being.


Having a friend that you can talk to is one of the most important tools for happiness. Sometimes there are things that you don't want to talk to family about. You need a different perspective, a new take on the problem. A friend can help you see the world differently and open up new options.


True friends don't judge you. They may not agree with everything you say, but they won't think less of you if for believing differently. Differences are what make great friendships! It would be very boring if we all thought alike all the time.


Real friends will be there when you really need them. When you have a monumental problem, a real friend will drop everything and help, because they know you'd do the same for them.


Friends make you laugh. We already know that laughter is wonderful medicine. Sharing laughs with a friend is the best. It could be years later and a word or look will bring up a shared experience. Inside jokes are always cool.


If you have a true friend, hold on to them. Let them know that you treasure their friendship. Be there for them and help any way you can. True friends really are a blessing and true source of well-being.

Tips For Creating A Better Body Image

We all want to look our best, but a healthy body is not always linked to appearance. In fact, healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes! Changing your body image means changing the way you think about your body. At the same time, healthy lifestyle choices are also key to improving body image. Our society is obsessed with looks and weight, but that does not mean we have to passively accept the negative messages we receive about our bodies. Here are some tips to empower yourself.

Experiment with what weight feels comfortable to you, rather than trying primarily to be thin. Find your "set point," a weight where your body feels comfortable and will fight to remain. Accept weight variations throughout the life cycle.
Most of us judge each of our body parts individually -- my thighs are too fat, my breasts too droopy, my lips too thick. Try experiencing your body as a whole, rather than as separate parts that need improvement.

Instead of trying to conform to the rigid beauty ideal promoted in the media, experiment with finding a style or look that expresses something about yourself and feels good to you. When you exercise, pay attention to the rhythms and sensations you experience as you move. While exercise is often promoted as a way to lose weight and achieve an idealized body shape, it also often helps us feel good in our bodies, which in turn can help us accept and even celebrate how we look.

Reject the imposed ideals that womanhood must be suppressed. If you have a curvy body, embrace your curves as symbols of power and pride. Notice how much time you spend worrying about your looks instead of being aware of what is going on inside of you or around you. Try practicing mindfulness, a technique used in meditation and yoga.

Give up the media for a week. Forego reading magazines (especially fashion magazines!), watching television, or surfing the Internet. When you get the urge to click the remote control, go for a walk or invite a friend over for tea and conversation. At the end of the week, notice if you feel differently about yourself.

Inspired Wellness - Amazing Grace

Grace is a gift of the spirit. Amazing means so great that it is beyond imagination! You are so unique and so special that you hold this Amazing Grace (Great Spirit) "within" every single cell of your body. Honoring your body temple and living a healthy lifestyle involves being physically fit, spiritually grounded, nutritionally sound and in tune with your mind, body and spirit.

I hope you enjoy my video and I would love to hear your feedback and your thoughts!

Isometric Exercises Are A Good Way To Supplement Your Exercises

Isometric, or static strength training is a form of exercise that involves static resistance against an object or holding in a fixed position against resistance. These exercises can be done with bodyweight, free weights or weight machines or pushing against a wall or other object. They are great to use alone or in conjunction with other workout routines.

You need to be careful with isometric strength training if you tend to have high blood pressure. These exercises can cause an increase in your blood pressure, which will return to normal after relaxing the muscle. So you need to be aware if you have high blood pressure. Do not hold your breath while performing these exercises as this will help cause raised blood pressure

The following are examples of different forms of isometric exercises that help to improve the strength of muscles such as the back, biceps, chest, abdominals, shoulders, quadriceps and claves.

For The Back

Isometric Back Push:

1. Place your hands palms down on a table and push down hard until you can feel the tension in the back.
2. Vary your position of the hands on the table to target the different muscle groups of the back.

For The Biceps

Isometric Bicep Squeeze:

1. Place your palms together one on top of the other in front of you and push together.
2. Alternate hands.
3. If you do these from different angles you can give your muscles a more varied workout. You are only limited to your imagination as to what you can do for exercises, try anything.

Isometric Bicep Curl:

1. Begin in a standing position.
2. Give a bicep pose with your right arm bent at the elbow
3. Now place your left hand over your right wrist while contracting your biceps as hard as possible and maintaining your hardest contraction for at least 10 seconds.
4. Repeat on the other side in the exact manner.

For The Chest

Isometric Chest Sqeeze:

1. Place the palms of your hands together out in front of you.
2. Push them together hard till you feel the tension in your chest.
3. If you push hard enough you will start to shake a little, hold for five seconds or more. Vary the position you hold your hands in front of you to target the chest from different angles.

For The Abdominals

Isometric Plank:

The plank engages a lot of muscles; in addition to strengthening your abs, you’ll also condition your back. This is one of the best core exercises that exists.

1. Start out by lying flat on the floor
2. Slowly raise the body so you are resting on your toes and forearms.
3. Keep the back flat and the abdominal muscles taut.
4. Hold the position for 10-30 seconds.
5. Repeat the exercise 2 – 3 times.

Isometric Drawing-In Your Core:

1. Sit upright on the edge of your chair, grasping the arm rests or the edges of the seat pad.
2. You can also stand with your hands on your hips, feet shoulder-width apart.
3. Next, pull your stomach up and in as far as possible - -think of pulling your belly button toward your spine.
4. Hold that position for the count of 10, then release.
5. Repeat the 5 – 8 times.

For The Shoulders

Isometric Shoulder Raises:

1. Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart and the knees slightly bent.
2. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand and raise the weight out towards your side until it is at shoulder length and your arm is parallel to the ground.
3. Hold the weight in this position for 10-30 seconds.

For The Thighs (quadriceps)

Isometric Squats:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your back firmly against a wall.
2. Slowly slide down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
3. If necessary, moe your feet away from the wall to ensure your knees to not extend past your toes.
4. Hold the position for 10-30 seconds
5. Repeat 2-3 times.

Isometric Chair Leg Extensions:

1. Press your tailbone firmly against the back of the chair. If the chair is adjustable, move the height so your thighs are parallel to the ground.
2. Lightly grasp the armrest or the edges of the chair keeping your back straight and looking straight ahead, slowly extend your right leg with your foot flexed toward your shin.
3. At the top of the movement, your leg should be fully extended, but don’t forcefully lock out your knee.
4. Slowly return to the start position.
5. Repeat 10 repetitions, then repeat with your left leg.

For The Calfs

Isometric Calf Raises:

1. Stand next to a wall on one foot and touch the wall lightly for balance, if necessary, but do not allow yourself to rest against the wall.
2. Rise up onto your toes.
3. Hold the position for 10-30 seconds.
4. Switch feet and repeat the exercise for the other calf.
5. Repeat the exercise on both calves 2-3 times

For The Biceps, Triceps, Chest And Shoulders

Isometric Wall Push Offs:

1. Stand about three feet from a wall, and place your hands flush against the wall, about shoulder width apart.
2. Slowly lower your body toward the wall by flexing your elbows.
3. When your elbows are aligned with your torso, push back up.
4. Do 10 repetitions.

Isometric Stretches:

Cross Arm: For upper back

1. Sit upright and bring your right arm across your upper body about shoulder level.
2. Your elbow should be slightly flexed. With your left hand, grasp under your right arm just above and gently pull your arm across your chest, toward the left and hold.
3. Don’t shrug your shoulders – keep them relaxed.
4. Repeat with your left arm across your upper body..

Isometric Neck Stretch:

1. Sit or stand with your head upright. Slowly turn your head to the right as far as comfortably possible and hold, then turn slowly to the left and hold.
2. Next, let your head fall gently toward your chest and hold.
3. Avoid tilting your head backward.

PEACEFUL LIVING

What do the bible, the philosophy of yoga, the philosophy of all of the martial arts, the latest thinking on how to reduce illness and disease in this country, and the fundamentals of high performance in athletics all have in common? All are premised on the overriding importance of "peace" to our mind and body.

Peace is the natural state. As human beings we often undermine the natural state of peace by letting our ego's careen out of control. For left to its own, the ego creates a powerful force of our being eager to prove we are right - an action that time and time again creates stress and conflict. Chief among the destructors of peace is our ego and its need to be right. Let go of the need to always be right. As Dr. Wayne Dyer is fond of saying "when the choice is to be right, or to be at peace, always choose peace."

FEEL YOUR EMOTIONS!

 

To become a truly POWERFUL WOMAN, you have to be FIT in more than just your PHYSICAL body. You need to know how to sit "STILL" and FEEL your EMOTIONS and connect to something GREATER than yourself. When you learn to ACCEPT absolutely EVERYTHING about yourself you realize that happiness doesn't mean being perfect, it just means looking BEYOND your imperfections. You will rejoice in your FEMININE POWER when you CREATE harmony & balance between your mind, feelings, body and in your relationship to yourself, to others and to all of life. So many women cut themselves from their feminine essence by SWALLOWING their emotions and IGNORING the signals their bodies send them about the TRUE state of their health. By REAWAKENING the power of your FEMININE ENERGY, you'll enact deep CHANGES that can have a big IMPACT on the rest of your life.

Question #8: I’m trying really hard to exercise a few days a week. Why am I not losing weight?

Loosing weight isn’t easy. Here are some basic steps we all must adhere to when we want to lose fat.

1. Try is a lie. Make the decision. I will lose weight.
2. Schedule your daily exercise. This means six days per week, written down on your calendar.
3. Mix things up. Cardio, resistance and flexibility training are all important components of reshaping your body composition.
4. Write down everything you eat and drink throughout your day.
5. Calories Count! It takes 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. A quick walk or moderate jog of 2 miles burns approx 300 calories. Cut 200 calories from your diet (a glass of wine and a slice of bread), and you’ll hid a 500 calorie per day reduction.
6. No excuses! Take responsibility for your success or failure. Own this process. Make time. It’s your life.
7. Get Excited! You can do this!

Question #7 Do Women Get Bulky Lifting Weights?

 

Women do not produce as much testosterone (the hormone responsible for increasing muscle size) as men do, it is impossible for woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass. Professional female body builders unfortunately use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity. In addition, most also have good genetics that enable them to gain muscle quickly when they spend "hours" the gym lifting very heavy weights. Women who perform weight training without the use of steroids get firm and fit cellulite-free looking bodies. Weight training changes body composition, so that you lose fat, increase muscle and become leaner and lighter. Nothing else puts shape into a body if it is not assisted by the benefits of weight training and cardiovasular exercise. Lifting weights will make the difference by turning your body from the ordinary into the extraordinary!

8 Week Series - Questions and Answers Week - 6

Question #6: If I exercise can I eat anything I want?

Answer: How I wish this were true! However, this could not be further from the truth. Our individual metabolism determines how many calories we burn at rest and while we exercise. If we eat more calories than we burn on a consistent basis, our bodies will accumulate these extra calories as fat regardless of the amount of exercise that we do. This myth may have been created by people with such high metabolic rates (lucky them) that no matter how much they eat or what they eat, they never meet or exceed the amount of calories that they burn in one day. Therefore, their weight either remains stable or goes down.

If you have questions, please feel free to comment on my Post. I'd love to hear from you and address your questions.

8 Week Series - Questions and Answers Week - 5

As a Personal Health and Fitness Coach part of my commitment to clients is consulting with them. This includes answering their many fitness and health related questions. Needless to say, I get asked a lot of questions. And, there are several questions that seem to be on almost everyone’s minds. So for the next 8 weeks, I'm going to give the answers to the Top 8 inquiries that I've received. I'm going to address 1 question each week. If you have questions, please feel free to comment on my Post. I'd love to hear from you and address your questions.

Question #5: Is it bad for your body to workout some of the same muscle groups daily?

Answer: Typically you should allow your muscle to rest about 24- 48 hours before working it again. This is the safest approach and also the most efficient approach for improving strength. It will help you increase hypertrophy more effectively.

8 Week Series - Questions and Answers Week - 4

As a Personal Health and Fitness Coach part of my commitment to clients is consulting with them. This includes answering their many fitness and health related questions. Needless to say, I get asked a lot of questions. And, there are several questions that seem to be on almost everyone’s minds. So for the next 8 weeks, I'm going to give the answers to the Top 8 inquiries that I've received. I'm going to address 1 question each week. If you have questions, please feel free to comment on my Post. I'd love to hear from you and address your questions.

Question #4: I have hit a plateau and can’t seem to get the scale to budge (or can’t get any stronger). Can you help me?

Answer: The key to breaking through a plateau is change. One of the best techniques for overcoming a plateau is Interval training. This is a type of training that includes bursts of high intensity periods followed by lower intensity recovery times. You’ll also want to change your workout routine at least every 6-8 weeks.

My Top 8 Workout Questions and Answers

As a Personal Health and Fitness Coach part of my commitment to clients is consulting with them. This includes answering their many fitness and health related questions. Needless to say, I get asked a lot of questions. And, there are several questions that seem to be on almost everyone’s minds. So for the next 8 weeks, I'm going to give the answers to the Top 8 inquiries that I've received. I'm going to address 1 question each week. If you have questions, please feel free to comment on my Post. I'd love to hear from you and address your questions.

Question: I really want to workout and get in-shape, but I just don’t have the time. What should I do?

Answer: You are not alone. One of the top reasons people give for not working out is lack of time. The first step is to realize that it’s not that you don’t have the time, but that you are not making it a priority in your schedule. What people don't realize is that it doesn't take a huge time commitment to reap the many rewards of regular exercise. Many people think that if they can't workout several hours a week, then they might as well not workout at all. But, exercising even just a couple of days a week is far better than not exercising at all. The key is finding a truly effective and efficient workout plan.

Tricks To Avoid Workout Burnout

When it comes to getting and staying fit, consistency is a major component to success. Ensuring that you regularly eat nutritious meals and exercise week after week is mandatory. But, too much of a good thing can actually be harmful. Exercising too much can not only lead to injuries but also to burnout. Burnout is a genuine toxin that commonly plagues those new to exercise. This is one of the major reasons that so many people quit workout programs before they barely have gotten started.

As with most things in life, moderation in exercise is very important. A consistent and moderate exercise program varies by individual (and fitness level), but in general you should start slow and build from there. An effective workout plan will slowly increase both your exercise frequency and intensity each week in a safe manner.

Here are some quick tips to help you avoid workout burnout:

1. Don't overdo it in the beginning. Start with as little as just two 20 minute sessions per week and build slowly week after week.
2. Workout at home. You'll be able to save travel time and avoid the "can't get to the gym" excuse.
3. Watch for over training signals which include: loss of appetite, lack of progression, extreme fatigue and recurring injury.
4. Start slowly and try to manage your motivation so that it lingers rather than waning after a few short weeks.
5. Make at least minor changes to your workout routine every four weeksCompletely change your routine at least every 8-12 weeks.
6. Don't do the same exact workout every session. Try 2-3 different workouts per week.
   Strive to try something completely unique and different every few months.
7. Take a week off from exercise every 3-6 months.Alternate between 2-3 different cardio machines (or options) within a given workout. Try 5-10 minutes of each to stay interested.

Overcoming Exercise Excuses

You've told yourself dozens of times that tomorrow you are going to start exercising. Yet, tomorrow has come and gone, and you still haven't starting moving. So, what's holding you back? What excuse seems fitting today? It's time to face your excuses head-on so that you can overcome them and choose to live a healthier lifestyle. Here are two common excuses for skipping exercise along with ways to combat them.

I'm Too Fat (or out-of-shape): Unless your physician has forbidden exercise, then it's very unlikely that this excuse has any validity. If you are extremely out-of-shape, then you simply need to start with baby steps. Walking is always a great place to start. You may have to start with just five minutes. That's okay. You can gradually add more time each week. If walking is not an option, then you could try some pool exercises. At the very least, you can start by getting active while sitting. There are many beneficial strength training exercises you can do while sitting.

I Don't Have Any Exercise Equipment: Nice try, but it doesn't require special equipment to get your heart pumping. Don't underestimate what you can do with things that are already in your house. For example, if you have a flight of stairs in your house then you've got an awesome way to get your heart rate up with through walking or running the stairs. Grab soup cans or milk jugs filled with sand to immolate dumbbells for strength training exercises. Try push-ups and tricep dips and you'll quickly realize how hard your body has to work when just using it's own weight.

When you find yourself making an excuse not to exercise, read through some of the above tips again. And, remind yourself of all the many benefits of working out: lower body fat, decreased risk of many diseases, reduced instances of depression, improved bone density, reduced risk of injuries and many more.

Mental And Emotional Health

Taking care of your body is a powerful first step towards mental and emotional health. The mind and the body are linked. When you improve your physical health, you’ll automatically experience greater mental and emotional well-being. For example, exercise not only strengthens our heart and lungs, but also releases endorphins, powerful chemicals that energize us and lift our mood.

In order to maintain and strengthen your mental and emotional health, it’s important to pay attention to your own needs and feelings. Don’t let stress and negative emotions build up. Try to maintain a balance between your daily responsibilities and the things you enjoy. If you take care of yourself, you’ll be better prepared to deal with challenges if and when they arise.

The Three Intensities of Exercise

Exercise is physical exertion of the body. The aim of exercise is to achieve a beneficial level of fitness and health, both physically and mentally.

There are three different intensities of exercise; light, moderate and vigorous.

• Light exercise generally allows you to talk at the same time. Examples of light exercise include going for a walk, or doing some light housework, or gardening.
• Moderate exercise should make you feel slightly out of breath. You should feel slightly worn out, but not to the point where it is unbearable. Example of moderate exercise are going for a brisk walk, or walking up a hill.
• Vigorous exercise should make you breathe rapidly, and you should feel like you are just at the point where you are pushing your body's boundaries, without doing yourself any harm. Jogging, cycling, swimming and weight training are all vigorous forms of exercise.

It is important to start slowly with light exercise before increasing the intensity, and you should remember that everyone is different. What might be easy, or moderate exercise for one person, may be vigorous for another.

Are you doing the best you can in every dimension of your life with Love?

Do The Best You Can

Do your best - the very best that you know how to do in every dimension of your life - then let go and let life do the rest.

A huge fire broke out in the forest. All the threatened animals were scared and fled, except the hummingbird, who decided to stay and put out the fire. It flew to the nearest river and picked up a few drops of water, then came back and put them on the fire. The other animals watched from a distance and made fun of the hummingbird. The more they mocked, the harder the hummingbird worked, persistently and patiently bringing its little drops of water. “What are you doing?” the animals asked. “The fire is overwhelming. How can you make a difference? You are too little anyway.” The hummingbird answered, “I’m doing the best I can.”

(passage by Zoe Sallis )

Are you doing the best you can in every dimension of your life?

Are You Allergic to Working Out?

Wouldn't it be great if you could be allergic to working out?

Then you wouldn't have to admit to friends, loved ones, and co-workers that you simply hate to exercise. Saying your throat swells up or you break out in hives might be easier than enduring the disapproving looks that you fear might come with confessing the truth!

Rethink your definition of exercise. Think of it as movement, any movement—not necessarily something that you have to do in a gym or at a track. Gardening is exercise; so are walking the dog, playing tag with your kids, strolling through the woods picking blackberries. If you've been unsuccessful at sticking with a traditional program before, simply focusing on moving more in these ways may not only help you burn calories now but also prepare you mentally and physically for other activities in the future.

The Well-Being Workout

• Strengthen EVERYONE you meet with Encouraging Words and Random Acts of kindness.

• Reflect on Thoughts that are True, Good, Pure and Loving.

• Tap into your minds power to HEAL your body - Think Loving Thoughts - LOVE is Healing.

• Take Responsibility for your Own Health and Well-Being.

• Become LOVE By Exercising Loving Thoughts.

• Cool down your Temper and Stretch your Awareness.

• Exercise and condition your HEART muscle. Perform 3 Reps of kindness.

Self Leadership

Every one of us has a soul within us that knows what it means to be a decent, loving, and noble human being. When we do something wrong, we can try to fool ourselves by rationalizing what we did at a conscious level. We can create a whole story about how the world is out of integrity and we’re the victim. We can build a case that the other person deserved what they did to us and we acted harshly with them to teach them a lesson. But it’s not our job to police the Universe. Our job is to show up as Leaders in our own lives by understanding and taking responsibility for the LESSONS that this growth school is delivering to us. By doing so, this strengthens and evolves us into our Authentic and Best Selves.

Shift Your Perception

• For your life to change, YOU must change.

• keep choosing the HIGHEST, most LOVING possible response in every situation.

• Realize that happiness isn't a place you get to - it's an INNERSTATE that you create.

• Be AUTHENTIC, be real, be yourself. Get to know yourself.

• Look at your limiting beliefs and then workhard to RECREATE them.

• See the opportunity for growth in every single situation of your lifeand then take personal RESPONSIBILITY rather than blaming someone else.

• Don't run from fear, instead MOVE THROUGH IT with the understanding that where fear lives, your greatest growth lies.

To Become Whole Is To Become Healthy.

The greatest work that each of us can undertake each day is our own inner work and self development. We need to begin the process of truly knowing ourselves deeply. We need to detect our largest values and then define how we wish to conduct our life.
Inner discovery is a lifelong journey and our work here on Earth and it is never done till our last breath. Always be true to yourself.

Who we are as a people and the way we show up in life says it all. Let’s strive to become self leaders by accepting all the lessons that this life school is presenting to us. All these lessons are here to evolve us into our authentic and best self. When we act in ways that aren’t congruent with who we truly are then we’re out of integrity. When we live our best lives, our true lives, our authentic lives, we become all of our radiant and shining brilliance. To become whole is to become healthy.

The Optimist Creed

To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet. To make all my friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true. To think only the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful expresion at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet. To give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds. To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.

-Christian Larson-

This is True Beauty!

This is an example of a woman living her True Colors. A Beautiful, Radiant and Vibrant woman who only see's her dream of becoming a singer.

Once our motivation shifts from being perfect on the outside to being healthy on the inside, we will wake up each day feeling refreshed, renewed and restored in a whole new body and in a whole new frame of mind!


http://tinyurl.com/c49rgl

When To Listen And When To Overcome Fear

When you feel low-level fear-a vague anxiety, concern, or nervousness-your symptoms are likely to become subtle: a slight change in breathing,imperceptible or unnoticed increase in muscle tension in all or parts of yourbody, a knitted brow, nervous mannerisms like biting your lip or clenching your jaw. But when you perceive something as acutely dangerous or threatening, chemical messengers like adrenaline and glucose flood into your bloodstream to energize your muscles and ready you to face, flight or flee from danger. Your mouth may become dry. Your heart beats faster. Your breathing may become rapid and shallow or stop momentarily. Fear is psychologically uncomfortable. It's suppose to be, just as pain is physically uncomfortable-designed to get your "Attention'. So then, how do you know when to listen to fear's counsel and when to push through it?As a general rule, when the danger is physical, let fear guide you to take care and prepare well and choose not to take foolish risks. But when the fear is psychological, as in the fear of embarrassment, shame, rejection, and so forth, that is the time to embrace your courage and push through it. Psychological fears are indirect, subjective, and symbolic. For example, the sky doesn't fall if you forget a speech or sing off-key or fail an exam-there is no risk of physical injury or death. One key to facing your fears is by consciously visualizing "positive" outcomes-to form the pictures you want rather than focusing on the images you fear.

The Power Of Intention

You create your future with the power of your intention. Intention is simply the conscious act of determining your future now. Health, harmony in relationships, happiness, money, creativity, and love will come to you in the future, based on your intentions now.

The Secret -Daily Teachings - Rhonda Byrne

Soul-Work Exercise: EXPRESS YOURSELF!

FOLLOW MY LINK BELOW...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTn_5EzX1ZY

Body-Work Exercise: Weighted Step Up

• Standing erect with light dumbbells at your sides, plant one foot on top of a step.
• Push through the heel of that foot to lift your body, squeezing through your glutes, until you're standing erect atop the step.
• Reverse the movement to return to the start position, touching your back foot tothe floor only briefly.
• Repeat for a few reps and then switch legs.

We Are What We Think

One way to love your body more starts with adoring your inner self. just take a minute to look into a mirror at your eyes and love yourself.
-Anonymous-

Soul-Work Exercise:

"We are shaped by what we believe. All that we become is a product of what we think. We have the ability to change our perception when we change our attitude.
Check out my recent YouTube Video: http://tinyurl.com/dxynmb



Body-Work Exercise: Tricep Dips Using a Chair

• Sit at the edge of a chair, grasping the edges next to your hips, feet flat on the floor.
• Move your glutes just off the chair and descent to a 90-degree bend in your elbows, then press back up.

10 Rules For Being Human

1. You will receive a body.
2. You will be presented with lessons.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
4. Lessons are repeated until learned.
5. Learning does not end.
6. "There" is no better than "here".
7. Others are only mirrors of you.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
9. All the answers lie inside of you.
10. You will forget all of this at birth.

From the Book - If Life is a game, these are the rules." - Cherie Carter-Scott

Soul-Work Exercise:
We are all responsible for our own health and well-being. We must discover this truth for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.

Body-Work Exercise: Bent Leg Lift for Glutes

• Kneel on a mat with your knees directly under your hips and your elbows under your shoulders.
• Rest your head on top of your stacked fists.
• Exhale as you lift the left knee to hip height. Hold for a second, then inhale as you lower the knee smoothly to the floor again.

Let Go!

You cannot bring what you want to you if you are feeling stress. Stress or any tension at all is something you have to remove from your system. You must let the stress go - it is the only way you can bring what you want. The emotion of stress is saying strongly that you do NOT have what you want. Stress or tension is the absence of faith, and so to remove it all you have to do is increase your faith!

-The Secret - Daily Teachings- Rhonda Byrne

Soul-Work Exercise:

Breathe deeply and let go of all your worries and stress. Let all the good air in and all the bad air out. The rest will take care of itself automatically. "Believe" it to be true and then allow for it to happen.

Body-Work Exercise: Plank for a Strong and Sexy Core

• 
  Kneel on your hands and knees - align yourself, body, breath, and mind.
  Shift your hands and body forward; chest and eyes lifted. Say; "My core is strong and capable."
• Lower your hips so that your body is a straight line. Say; "My body is straight and I am feeling confident with my form.
• "Curl your toes under, lift with your belly and straighten your legs. Say; "I am solid as a plank and I am getting stronger and healthier each and every day."

Who Are You?

Here is a description of who you really are:

I AM Whole.
I AM Perfect.
I AM Strong.
I AM Powerful.
I AM Loving.
I AM Harmonious
I Am HappyGot any work to do?

-The Secret - Daily Teachings- Rhonda Byrne

Soul-Work Exercise:

Begin each day with a positive affirmation and that will set the stage for your day. If you "believe" that you are strong, then you are strong. If you "believe" that you are healthy, then you are healthy. Your thoughts are a powerful force that shape your reality and mold your perception. Walk in a positive vibration and you will run without boundaries or limitations into the light.

Body-Work Exercise: Dumbbell Lunges

• Standing erect holding light dumbbells alongside your thighs, take a step forward and firmly plant your foot in the start position.
• Keeping your chest lifted and feet facing forward, lower your body until your back knee nearly touches the floor, being careful not to let your front knee extend past you toes.
• Press back up through both thighs, and repeat a few reps before switching legs.

Have You Set Your Intention For The Day?

Have you set your intention for the day today, or are you going to let today be governed by the thoughts of yesterday? These words will help get you started.

All good is coming to me today.
All my desires will be met today.
Magic and miracles will follow me everywhere today.

-The Secret - Daily Teachings- Rhonda Byrne

Soul-Work Exercise:

If you are feeling frustrated with yourself because you haven't been exercising or eating healthfully, affirm that you are going to start now.

Don't let yesterday's habits prevent you from creating new and healthy habits today! Say to yourself; "I am going to exercise for 30 minutes today because I know that exercise is good for my heart, blood pressure and other organs and I will enjoy the benefits of more energy."

"I am going to eat healthy foods today because I know that healthy foods when combined with exercise can help me lose weight, lower my cholesterol level and improve the way my body functions on a daily basis."

"I feel better already and have more energy because I have chosen to set this healthy intention for myself today."


Body-Work Exercise:

• Hammer Curl for Beautiful Toned Arms
• Stand erect with your knees slightly bent, feet about hip width apart.
• Hold dumbbells alongside your thighs with a neutral grip (palms facing in).
• Keep your elbows close to your sides as you curl one or both dumbbells straight up towards your shoulders. Lower under control.

Do You Have A Positive Body Image?

Negative frequencies do not have good things on them. Get yourself onto the positive frequencies where your desires are sitting. To do that, look at every single thing in your life with NEW EYES; with grateful eyes, with positive eyes, and with eyes that only see the good. Adjust your vision and start to see clearly. Life is spectaclarly beautiful.

-The Secret - Daily Teachings- Rhonda Byrne

Soul-Work Exercise:
All of us perceive how our bodies appear in different ways. It's so easy to focus on all the things you don't like about yourself when you compare yourself to others. You may obsess about your waist size, while your best friend may wish her nose were smaller. Virtually everybody has hang-ups about some aspect of their bodies. Talking to yourself about all the positive things that you do like about yourself can help eliminate negative thoughts. Try not to focus on all the negative aspects and instead, think about how much you like your beautiful brown eyes or your long curly hair - It's all Good and it's all You!

Improving your body image is as simple as changing your mind about how you look. There are other parts of your life that bring joy and fulfillment. It is so important to remind yourself that your "value" reaches far beyond your physical appearance. Recognizing your strengths and talents will help you move beyond the surface level of your life and back into your center.

Instead of Looking Into The Mirror - Look Within!

To create your tomorrow, go over your day tonight when you are in bed just before you fall asleep, and feel gratitude for the good moments. If there was something you wanted to happen differently, replay it in your mind the way you wanted it to go. As you fall asleep, say, "I will sleep deeply and wake up full of energy. Tomorrow is going to be the most beautiful day of my life."

-The Secret - Daily Teachings- Rhonda Byrne-

Soul-Work Exercise:
Wellness is about creating your Best Self through positive thinking and truly believing that you have what it takes to get you there. When it comes to diet and exercise, we place so much attention on the outside results (like having perfect Abs, or losing 20 pounds) that we continually overlook the health benefits of what a healthy lifestyle signifies. (Increased energy, stronger bones, less stress, stronger immune functioning, better sleep, lower heart rate, etc..) Once your motivation shifts from being perfect on the outside to being healthy on the inside, you will wake up each day feeling refreshed, renewed and restored in a whole new body and in a whole new frame of mind!

February is the month of "purification" named after the Latin term Februum. So, let go and cleanse your heart of all the things that haven't served you and feel high gratitude and delight in all the things that have.

Compliment People Wherever You Go!

Write down all the great things about everyone you know. Make a huge list of all the wonderful things about you. Compliment people wherever you go. Praise every single thing you see. Be a ray of sunshine to everyone you meet, and make their day better for having seen you. Say "Thank you" at every turn. Walk, talk, think, and breathe appreciation and gratitude. When you do this, your outer life will change to reflect your inner state of being.

-The Secret - Daily Teachings-

Soul-Work Exercise: Compliment Someone
Most of the time, we compare ourselves to others "believing" that we are not good enough, smart enough, talented enough or attractive enough. This negative self-talk drains our life energy and weakens our self-esteem. The next time you notice that you are comparing yourself to someone else, pay them a compliment and you will feel your energy rise and your self-esteem begin to build and strengthen. You will begin to experience self-love and self-appreciation for yourself and for your own individual gifts and talents.

Appreciate Your Body

Why is it that most often you find that top-quality cars are kept immaculately clean and tidy by their owners, while the older cars are often dirty and messy inside? The difference is the evidence of appreciation.

-The Secret - Daily Teachings- Rhonda Byrne

Soul-Work Exercise:

Wellness begins by honoring, respecting and appreciating your body. If you value your health, you have to take the necessary steps towards keeping your body in top-operating condition just like you would a top-quality car.

If you abuse and neglect your body through poor dietary habits, lack of exercise and disrupted sleep patterns, you miss out on the long-term health benefits of a vibrant and productive lifestyle.

The difference between a healthy person and an unhealthy person is the evidence of appreciation. Take action by taking care of your most valuable asset. Your Body - it's the only one you have!

Just Give

The fastest way to receive is to give, because giving starts the reciprocal action of receiving. We all receive according to how much we give. Give the best of you everywhere you go. Give a smile. Give thanks. Give kindness. Give love. Your giving should be a giving without expectation of return - a giving for the sheer joy of it.

- The Secret - Daily Teachings- Rhonda Byrne

Soul-Work Exercise:

When you give unconditionally you do not lose what you give, rather, you receive more of what you give. If you give kindness you will receive more kindness, if you give love you will receive more love, if you give your energy you will receive more energy. Giving elevates your mood, rejuvenates your energy levels and increases your self-esteem.

Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

Many people who diet lose the weight and then put it back on, because their focus was on losing weight. Instead, make your perfect weight your focus. Whatever is your strongest focus is what you will attract.
-The Secret - Daily Teachings - Rhonda Byrne-


Try not to be so hard on yourself if you have failed at keeping with your diet and/or exercise program. It takes a lot of time, patience and many failed attempts to become completely successful at staying committed to something for the rest of your life. If you have fallen off the diet or exercise wagon, own your failure with genuine regret but never feel a sense of shame. Instead of placing all your attention on losing weight, for example, visualize what you want to look like and how that will feel to you. You are now on your way!!

Sometimes it is better to focus on one thing at a time, so that you harness all your energy for the one thing. That said, you can list multiple things that you want and spend one day at a time focusing on each one, feeling as though you have received it. You will most likely find that the things you have the least concern about will come first, because your lack of concern allows the Universe to easily deliver.
-The Secret - Daily Teachings-

Soul-Work Exercise: Journaling

If you want an effective exercise, begin journaling and writing down your goals. Writing down your goals brings them into your reality and gives them life! This exercise helps you become "clear" about what you want to attain and accomplish. Focus all your attention on completing one goal at a time until that goal is reached and then proceed on to the next goal. By performing this exercise, you will strengthen your self-confidence and inner abilities. This week is a good time to start journaling your goals and reaching your dreams.

Create A Healthier You

Creating a healthier you is probably the most important decision you could make. Living a healthy lifestyle involves making positive changes that you can live with and making these a part of your everyday life. The most effective way to introduce a new behavior into your life is to make it part of your daily routine. Walking around your neighborhood each morning is a great place to start! You don't have to walk long distances to reap the benefits of walking. Walking burns calories, conditions the heart, improves muscle tone and strength, relieves stress, and can help with back pain, osteoporosis, respiratory problems, diabetes, arthritis and a variety of other health problems. Once you begin living in a more healthy way, you will feel more positive, energetic and very proud of what you have accomplished.

Be Fit And Happy

You can turn your life into paradise, but the only way you can do it is to make the inside of you a paradise. There is no other way. You are the cause; your life is the effect.

To be happy, you have to train and exercise your thoughts in the same way that you train and exercise your body. It takes hard work and discipline but the payoff is life changing. When you train your thoughts towards being happy, your life experiences will reflect more happiness. Being happy starts by being grateful. This week make a list of all the things that you are grateful for and you will begin to "feel" the results.

Make Your Perfect Weight Your Focus

Many people who diet lose the weight and then put it back on, because their focus was on losing weight. Instead, make your perfect weight your focus. Whatever is your strongest focus is what you will attract.

-The Secret - Daily Teachings-

"Everyone's body type is different and unique so become the best YOU and you will never fail!"

-Gena Livings-

Don't Go Cold Turkey All At Once!

You'll only get discouraged if you try to kick all your bad habits
at once. Today, trade a half hour of watching TV for a walk or turn off the computer and do a few jumping jacks instead. Take small steps towards developing a healthier lifestyle and your habits will improve naturally over time. A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing.

Life Is Like A Rainbow

When my father was alive he loved nature and being outdoors. He had the ability to pick up natures clues and relate them to everyday life. He taught me that our life is like a rainbow and that it takes both rain and sunshine to create its beauty. Both joy and sorrow must come to it in order to develop, shape and mold its true essence. Our life is a combination of polarities/opposites (healthy - unhealthy, happy - sad, heavy - thin, strong - weak). Finding and creating a happy balance between the polarities is challenging but also necessary if we are to live a well-rounded, rich, colorful and brilliant life.

The best way to exercise and strengthen your new perspective is to "reverse" your position. This helps to create balance between your inner and outer life.

Exercises:

When you've been inside all day, go outside and take a walk in nature. This will elevate your mood, enhance your concentration and problem solving abilities. Walking will also provide you with a cardiovascular boost.

When you're feeling unattractive, create an environment for yourself that makes you feel beautiful. Allow yourself to see that beauty surrounds you at every moment and you will feel that same beauty covering you like a blanket.

When sitting behind a desk all day, stand up and stretch your limbs. Stretching increases the blood flow to your muscles, brings them nourishment and gets rid of waste byproducts in the muscle tissue.

When surrounded by people all day, take time out for yourself and be still. Being still has profound healing properties. Your heart rate and breathing slow down, your blood pressure normalizes and you use oxygen more efficiently. Your adrenal glands produce less cortisol, your mind ages at a slower rate, and your immune function improves. Your mind also clears and your creativity increases.

When feeling stressed, allow yourself to feel relief by releasing fatigue and anxiety through moderate exercise. When you feel calm, you lose the need to feel agitated or wrapped up in daily drama.

A Positive Exercise Workout

When I was growing up my mother use to tell me that our body is like a coat that we put on and take off again - our human experience is but a moment in time but our spirit lives on forever!

My mom has since passed - left her physical form (has taken off her coat) but her spirit, her breath, continues .....may these messages serve you well.

While healthy food, plenty of rest and exercise sustains the functioning of our physical body, spiritual conditioning is also essential to nurture and lift us beyond our physical form. This begins by being grateful for all things and maintaining a
positive outlook.

The Positive Exercise Workout:

Choose to be happy.
Look at the bright side of life.
Learn to master your thoughts.
Love who you are, right now.
Give until it hurts and then give some more.
Smile at everyone, even if they don't smile back.
Read quotes and affirmations that inspire and motivate you everyday.
Focus on the things that you are grateful for.
Focus on the positive qualities of someone you dislike.
Watch movies and listen to music that makes you happy.
Engage yourself in physical activity.
Visualize what you want to happen.
Associate yourself with people who think positively. Take a walk in nature.

Like any good workout program, this discipline takes practice, attention, concentration, commitment and repetition. Positive thinking brings inner peace, success, improved relationships, better health, happiness and satisfaction. It also helps the daily affairs of life move more smoothly, and makes life look bright and promising. Everyday life is our spiritual school and our exercises begin on the ground by creating a healthy body and a positive outlook.

Are You Suffering From Headaches, Insomnia or Heart Burn?

If you are suffering from insomnia or headaches, try eliminating MSG (monosodium glutamate) from your diet. Also, if you are experiencing heart-burn or disturbed sleep patterns, limit your consumption of spicy and fatty foods before bedtime.

Instead, delight in the sweetness of fresh succulent fruit and organically grown vegitables. Enjoy a quiet sunset walk while basking in the radiant glow of the vibrant fall foliage. Turn off the TV and turn on some soft relaxing music with candlelight and the fragrance of chamomile. This is a "natural" sedative and salve for the heart and soul.

Be Well - Think Well - Live Well!

Are You Losing Weight For All The Right Reasons?

If your true intention towards losing weight is because you truly care about yourself and your well-being and not because you are trying to please or get approval from other people then your chances of keeping it off "forever" are greatly multiplied. Before losing weight, be honest with yourself by being authentic about your true intentions. It is true that losing weight can make you feel better about yourself initially, but it's not the ultimate key to a lifetime of happiness and fulfillment. Being over-weight can cause you to feel unhappy but it can also be a symptom towards your unhappiness.

The human heart can only be fulfilled through Love. We first have to consciously choose to embrace and experience the peace and joy within by shifting our behavior and attitudes to a place of well-being by appreciating and loving ourselves first. It is in this place that we will successfully lose the extra weight and keep it off forever!

The Meditation Of Daily Life Is To Let The World Become Your Objest of Attention

The beauty of meditation is that you can do it anytime, in everyday life, with your eyes open, using whatever task is at hand as your meditative object. For example; serving tea, arranging flowers, walking, working in your garden, painting, reading, journaling... All are forms of meditation. Anything you do in daily life with your "Full Attention" is a means to quiet your mind.

The purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best which is within us. "The first step towards loveis to be present and listen with your full attention"

What You Eat Can Effect Your Moods

What you eat and drink affects your moods. Sometimes negative emotional states come not from your heart, but from your intestines. Lightening up your diet can help to brighten your moods.Increasing the proportion of fresh, uncooked vegetables and fruits in your diet provides unprocessed nutrients in their most direct form, with a full array of enzymes that help you assimilate the food you eat. These high water-content foods also provide fiber necessary for good food elimination. Eating mostly or exclusively raw foods naturally promotes weight loss, while ensuring high-quality nutrition and vitality. Eating only raw fruits and vegetables for a period of time has much the same cleansing effect as a fast.

Ultimately you are the final authority over how you feed your body, and you have to find what works best for you. Favor experimentation over rigid rules; diet involves lifelong learning and practice. The same applies to the arena of exercise.

To Transform Your Life Begin With One Foot In The Door

Breaking a negative habit or starting a positive one happens in two stages: First, making the desired change; second, maintaining the change. Patterns tend to reassert themselves unless you can maintain the new pattern long enough for it to become familiar and a direct part of you.

The key to change is keeping it simple: A little bit of something is better than a lot of nothing. You are more likely to do and continue doing, what is convenient and simple.

If you don't exercise every day but would like to start, then get up tomorow morning and remember to do one jumping jack; then the next morning do another jumping jack; and then the next morning and then the next. That one jumping jack every day is a profound step in the right direction, because it gets your foot in the door--you are forming the habit of dedicating a portion of your day, no matter how small, to exercise. The following month you may decide to trade in your daily jumping jack for a brisk walk around the block or two minutes of free-form movement and deep breathing. To Transform your life, begin simply, begin each day by being "Thankful", its a small little foot in the door.

Ask Yourself These 3 Questions

1. Are you eating well?
2. Are you exercising regularly?
3. Are you getting enough rest?

These three elements taken together, balance your body and generate vitalitythat enables you to meet the challenges of everyday life. It is not enough to know about or merely appreciate these three elements of a healthy lifestyle. For you to benefit from them, (diet, exercise and rest) they must become absolute priorities. Unless you make your health more important than your work, your money, or watching television, you will always find something more pressing to do instead. Each day you choose whether to make a nutritious meal at home or get some fast food, whether to get up early to exercise or sleep in because you stayed up too late watching television. And let's face it, it's much easier to watch television, sleep in, skip exercise, and grab some fast food. But ask yourself, "When I look into my full-length mirror, what do I see?" You see your living habits reflected back to you. So don't wait until you have time- make time.

Relax And Breathe

Breathing is the key to longevity and relaxation is the key to energy. You can live for weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without breathing. For most of us, breathing is a relatively automatic, unconscious act. You don't usually notice your breathing unless you have a problem with it. One of the goals of spiritual practice is to make conscious what was previously unconscious. You don't suddenly have to pay attention to every breath you take, but you benefit by expanding your breathing capacity and control.

So if breathing is the key to longevity then relaxation is the key to abundant energy. Relaxation is one of the most important life skills you can learn because the ability to relax enhances your strength, elasticity, grace, coordination, reflex, speed, sensitivity, sensuality, awareness, balance, peripheral blood circulation, breathing, and overall sense of well-being.

To improve the overall quality of your life just remember to breathe deeply and relax as much as possible in "everything" you do.

Inspirational Fitness

Peaceful Living

What do the bible, the philosophy of yoga, the philosophy of all of the martial arts, the latest thinking on how to reduce illness and disease in this country, and the fundamentals of high performance in athletics all have in common? All are premised on the overriding importance of "peace" to our mind and body.

Peace is the natural state. As human beings we often undermine the natural state of peace by letting our ego's careen out of control. For left to its own, the ego creates a powerful force of our being eager to prove we are right - an action that time and time again creates stress and conflict. Chief among the destructors of peace is our ego and its need to be right. Let go of the need to always be right. As Dr. Wayne Dyer is fond of saying "when the choice is to be right, or to be at peace, always "choose peace."

As you focus more on being at peace, you are likely to discover a new purpose for life. Perhaps you will even discover your calling. When you do discover your calling, you will achieve even more peace when you align your activities with your calling.

R.I.C.E. For Sprains And Strains

If you suffer from a sprain or strain, use R.I.C.E. The term stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Rest - Take a break from exercise or any type of movement that may stress the injured area. A minor injury should be rested for one or two days, while more severe injuries may need longer. Ice - Ice the affected area. Icing reduces pain, limits swelling and bleeding, and encourages rapid healing. Wrap ice in a towel to avoid direct contact with the skin. Compress - Compress the injury with a stretch bandage. Make sure not to wrap it too tight, just enough to support the injured area comfortably. Elevate - Elevate the limb. If possible, try to keep the injured part above the level of the heart. At the very least, try to keep it higher than the hips. This helps limit swelling and also prevents movement of the area that is injured.

Four Healthy Lifestyle Tips

1. Be communicative. Express your feelings in a non-threatening, non-combative way to significant people in your life, including your family, friends and business associates. Don't wait for the pressure to build and then blow your top. Catch the anger or concern before it causes you stress.

2. Find time for yourself, alone, every day. Even if it's just 10 minutes in the bathtub or 20 minutes walking or working out at the gym or with a friend. Spend the time in constructive ways such as meditating, listening to soothing music or just enjoying nature.

3. Don't try and keep up with the Jones'. Seeking material things is healthy until it becomes more important than human things such as sharing time with loved ones, enjoying a sunset or catching some rays at the beach. Find work you love and do it with a happy heart.

4. Build a network of trusted friends with whom you can share ideas, joys and sorrows. Remember to give as well as to receive.

Trans Fatty Acids

Trans fatty acids, also known as trans fat, is an artery-clogging fat that is formed when vegetable oils are hardened into margarine or shortening. While some foods like bakery items and fried foods are obvious sources of trans fat, other processed foods, such as cereals and waffles, can also contain trans fat. One tip to determine the amount of trans fat in a food is to read the ingredient label and look for shortening, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil. The higher up on the list these ingredients appear, the more trans fat. Be Sure to Read The Ingredients!