Sleepless Spring

Sleepless Spring? 3 techniques to be restful + fall asleep

If you find yourself sleepless this Spring – feel better rested by choosing from an assortment of meditation techniques. Try different methods until you find one that works for you. With practice, you can eventually and slowly choose your thoughts and create a more restful sleep.

Imagine it’s 3am and sleep is much desired – in one way or another we’ve all tried affirmation thoughts like; “I’s 3am, now I will fall asleep” “I will fall ASLEEP now”, “I will fall asleep NOW”, “NOW I WILL FALL ASLEEP!” ahhhh. Yeah, I tried that for years and it left me frustrated and wide awake.

When thoughts creep into your head that are not conducive to sleep, first of all give yourself a pat on the back for noticing that you’ve gone there, (becoming aware your mind is taking you down the wrong path is the first step). If (when) mind wondering happens, immerse yourself in 1 grateful thought specific to your life. Imagine loving yourself exactly as you are. Then proceed with meditation:

Follow these THREE TECHNIQUES and try each style (more than once) before thinking they may not work for you:

1) MEMORY TECHNIQUE – Lay in a comfortable position with eyes closed (hopefully that’s a given). Project yourself to your ideal place of relaxation; beach, mountain, lake, your comfy bed, etc. Imagine experiencing all the senses of your ideal place; are there any distinct smells, any tastes, what do you feel on your skin, etc.?

2) BREATHING TECHNIQUE – Take 3 deep cleansing breaths as you slowly repeat “relax” 3 times to yourself. (Take note of your breath and concentrate on the natural airflow of you body – you will go deeper into relaxation.)

3) COUNTDOWN TECHNIQUE – Count to yourself from 25 down to 1. Your body releases to gravity with every count, you consciously slow your breath down by constricting the area of the throat you gargle with. You feel a deeper level of relaxation (which can sometimes be more restful than deep sleep).

You have the choice to sleep better. If you practice these techniques, you can harness the power of your mind to achieve not only your mental, spiritual, and physical goals but your SLEEP goals! zzzzzzzzzzen I hope that you fall asleep in a great state of mind and much faster by focusing on the way that you think and what you think about. At the very least, you will be as relaxed as you can be in bed – meditating! How you think affects how u feel, how u feel affects your health.

Filled Under: Blog Posted on: November 24, 2015

Strength Training w/ weights

So when you want to build strength (with or without added weights), there are two main rules: lift in alignment and use multiple joint lifts. I can show you hundreds of exercises that can help you get bigger or stronger, but when you are time limited let’s stick to the MOST efficient power evoking moves. These happens to be our beloved monster lifts that will strengthen your whole body.

Our bodies are comprised of torn fibers (muscle) that help us push and pull things around. We will maximize our strength by using the largest push pull muscles. In order to most effectively do this, I choose the top pick for the whole-body push exercise which is: the squat.

A disclaimer – this is where we can get into a debate of added weight vs your body weight strengthening. This will be another blog post, but in my experience, gravity is the best ‘weight’ for most humans to build optimal strength for our needs in this modern era. However, if you’re lifting weights focus on the following are most efficient lifts to build your muscles efficiently.

Combine the king of all lifts with a high demand of a whole-body “push-pull” move: the deadlift. Now you’ve efficiently addressed most of your lower body and core muscle training.

For your upper body, the main two most common lifts are bench press and barbell row… BLAH!

I would instead recommend 1) pull-ups (assisted at first) to incorporate the brachialis and brachioradialis in the arms. These muscles are located near the elbow, and help move the forearm. Pull-ups also incorporate the biceps brachii, or simply biceps, cross the elbow and shoulder joints. 2) Reclined pull-over you use the lats to pull a weight over your head while lying on the floor. If you’re not familiar with this one, lie face up on the floor with your legs bent and feet flat on floor, knees up. Stretch your arms over your head with your hands resting on the floor. You’ll engage abs to stabilize your back as you slowly raise the weight up until your slightly bent elbows bring your arms perpendicular to the floor. Raise arms to the up position for a count of two, then slowly lower the weight back over your head toward the ground.

To gain muscle quickly use weights and aim for 5-8 reps for 3-5 sets per exercise. To achieve long lean muscle use no or low weights. Shoot for 10-16 reps for 3-5 sets. BE effective and ensure that those repetitions and weight loads help take your muscles to near failure on each set. You’re feeling a slight tremble or shaking in your activated areas! When training for strength, a bit more rest between sets is recommended for example, a couple min.
Core first, then bring your big strength lifts in early to your workout session!

So if strength is your goal in the gym, try doing all four lifts in one workout twice a week, leaving plenty of room between workout days (3-4 days) for maximal strength. Try the following full-body strength workout on Monday and Thursday for four weeks and watch your strength go through the roof. Try to increase strength by adding 5 pounds per workout on upper body moves and 10 pounds on lower body moves.

Filled Under: Blog Posted on: November 24, 2015

Weight loss CAN be fun!

How do you recover from winter hibernation weight gain in a FUN way?!

Since daylight savings it’s possible you’ve been feeling like a hibernating bear.

Suggestions to stop the lb’s from climbing:

1. Eat often. Sound GOOD? If you skip your meals, you run into trouble on many levels because you:

* slow your metabolism down

* set yourself up for overeating

* start using prescious muscle for fuel Take care of yourself with an assortment of; raw nuts, dried fruit, or Lara, Cliff and Luna bars.

Keep these small snacks at work AND stash them in your glove compartment.

Eat through the day to fire up your metabolism. (Snacks allow you to plan, shop and cook your next healthy meal without rushing into eating out or eating large portions.) Eating often will give you quality energy (fuel) to fire up your weight loss furnace! (Click here for EASY HEALTHY RECIPES)

2. Party!Stuffing your face at a party isn’t your intention, but sometimes overeating and overdrinking happens with friends (understatement)! Eat from your ‘snack stash’ as you’re getting ready for the party and drink water before you go. Never go to a party on an empty stomach.

Indulge with pleasure and moderation at your parties this holiday, but cut your own small sample slice of pie (not the fat wedge your grandmother likes to serve you).

Keep in mind if you over drink, you may lose your ability to monitor what and how much you’ve eaten. Always be mindful of the FUEL you consume – it will GIVE YOU energy or TAKE it away.

FILL UP on the healthy foods salads, grilled & raw veggies no need for mmm- mmm-mmmoderation.

Enjoy every slow bite of your favorite cake and pie. Forget the idea that feeling really full is normal! It’s not natural or normal for your glucose levels, your energy levels or your waist line!!!

3. Move.Start today with 12 repeat Crescent Moon Lunges on one leg, then switch legs and do 3 sets.  Briskly walk or run for 20 minutes before work and after work. Youtube a best abs workout and do 5 minutes of daily abs with the video. Your health is your priority – so don’t skip your workouts, regardless of how busy you are.
4. Relax.Make time to quiet the space around you with only the sound of your breath. Sit or lay in a very comfortable position and feel your body relax as you breathe. Imagine complete contentment without changing anything, then repeat,

“Keep my head up and my heart open.”

Filled Under: Blog Posted on: November 24, 2015

Women hard at twork

Understanding the why behind ‘twerking’…and lemme tell ya, it ain’t got nothing’ to do w/ MileySyrus! Why do people have such strong emotional reactions when they see it?

In case you are unfamiliar with it, (have had your head in the sand) ‘twerking’ is a modern name for an age old African dance whith the booty as the main focus bouncing with varied isolated movements. Mapuoka’s rooted in traditional dances founded from the Ivory Coast (including Africa, Jamaica and Columbia). Mapuoka (literally translated – the dance of the behind) is not a NEW bootie dance. Apparently the popular American ‘twerking’ has been around for ages in some of our most deeply rooted cultures. Over the years there have been many reincarnations of bootayshakin’ moves, twerkin is one.

People have a polarity of reactions when shown this ‘dance’ or body movement called ‘twerk’ or ‘twerking’.  People seem to love it, or hate it!

Maybe it’s primal, maybe it evokes strong emotion b/c we as apparently humans have been doing this for over a hundred years.

I’m not going out on a limb here to state it’s most likely been used as a mating ritual, and has now been transformed to a fad and/or a form of expression (and an unconscious MODERN mating ritual)!

Some people are passionately offended by twerking, feeling it’s oversexed, crude, tasteless, untalented and degrating. They never want to see it again. Others find it a beautiful art, a historical tribal movement and absolutely fascinating. They want to see it over and over again. In fact many folks want to experience it for themselves ASAP. Do you remember your first reaction when you witnessed twerking?

For those who are made uncomfortable by this dance craze, I’d like for you to ask yourself, ‘what lays behind your discomfort while watching these twerk videos or moves? ‘

 It’s not hurting anyone – in fact it’s a great workout. I find it fun, freeing, and a fabulous celebration of the feminine body. When I first saw twerking I felt more than a twinge of judgment. I thought – this move is degrading to women. I thought yes it looks fun, but people will think I’m ‘slutty’. I then remind myself that the way in which women choose to move, pop, display and ‘shake what their mama created’  belongs to them.

I had to break down barriers in my mind that limit my movements and categorize them as bad or taboo.

I had this moment of divine realization, ‘it’s for us to decide what feels right for our bodies and express it, NOT based on fear from what others may think.’

I then made a pact with myself to feel liberated, light hearted, and sexy while experiencing this movement and no longer be chained by fear of looking or being ‘slutty’ when shaking, twirking and MapuokaING! I teach my classes this move, and many private sessions have requested they learn to let go of their lower body and learn to twirk! I love it, I’ve learned how to do it inverted against the wall &it’s liberating to me. However, it’s all in the eye of the beholder and understanding your audience. Right?!

Ask yourself if you are doing it for yourself, or an ego show? If you worry about what others think of this, ‘a trashy hyper-sexualized fad,’ then hopefully you can twerkit out.

Hopefully being concerned about what others think is completely gone by the first few free flowin’ hip & bootie pops!

Dance is such a beautiful and true form of expression – don’t let others’ opinions, or your own self limiting judgments hinder your full expression!

I hope that this got your juices flowin’.

Next week I will teach you the moves, techniques, tips and tricks to this fun isolation in a JAMA video (Journey Around Moving your Asana). The first step in any dance is to begin with the intention to do it. The second step is letting go of all judgment around the dance. For those who love to move your body, stay tuned…

Filled Under: Blog Posted on: November 24, 2015

You ask why do I DANCE?

I proposed this question on my FB and received such beautiful and inspirational replies I thought you’d appreciate it.

‘You ask why do I DANCE? … why do I breathe?
I dance for the sake of letting go of what others think, I dance for me, to my higher power, for freedom, creativity, empowerment & happiness. I’ve danced through sickness & loss – bringing me laughter and love … curious WHY do you dance?’

Filled Under: Blog Posted on: November 24, 2015