News & Tips

THE ART OF BREATHING & MEDITATION

Your life begins with breath. The physical nature of breathing brings calmness, but it isn't always easy to sit and be still.

Your breathing changes with your emotions. You hold your breath when you are concentrating or take shallow breaths when you are anxious. But these responses are not actually helping you. Holding your breath doesn't help you concentrate more and shallow breathing can actually make you MORE anxious!

Controlled breathing is an immediate way to steady yourself and something you can use to shift your energy no matter where you are. When you align with your breath, you learn to align with yourself through every emotion - calming, centering, and de-stressing yourself.

Meditation is a great way to find your breath and your calm, but it's not always an easy task to be still. It takes practice and repetition. Try finding a comfortable seat. Put on some light music or nothing at all. Gently close your eyes and start to inhale... 1, 2, 3, 4 and exhale...1, 2, 3, 4. Feel the breath go in and the breath go out. Focus only on that. When you turn your focus there all other things will start to fall away. Let go of distractions and learn to listen to your breath.

Want to experience the full benefits of breathing and meditation? Join me for a yoga class or mindful meditation class to learn how!!

HOW TO STOP OVERTHINKING

Do you know that feeling when you are stressed, anxious, & unsettled? You are most likely overthinking something in your life. Some decision you have to make or someone else's behavior. Our expectations can get the best of us.
When the truth is that all you want to do is find peace, happiness, and joy in that moment! Sometimes we try to find peace in a difficult situation. And the more we focus on the situation and just how difficult it is, the less peace we find.
What if instead of focusing on the situation you turned your focus to peace? Your job is not to find peace IN the situation, but simply to find peace. And when you find that peace in yourself, you will bring it to any situation.
You see, a belief is simply a thought that you continue to think. So if you believe something bad will happen or have doubts, fears, and worries in your life, you are most likely overthinking some area and projecting these negative emotions all around.
The key is to shift your focus. Go back to your breath and start to find your inner calm. When you do, you will start to realize that some of the thoughts or beliefs you were creating were not real at all. You may even laugh at how crazy some of them sound. And even if your worst case scenario happens, what will you do? Will you stop in your tracks or will you continue to move on and find the path that sets your soul on fire? The choice is up to you!

FUNCTIONAL FITNESS

Movement is a part of life. We need to be able to move our bodies every day to not only get from point A to point B, but to FEEL good!! Movement is healing, it’s therapeutic for both your body and your mind. We sometimes take for granted how amazing our bodies are until we are sick, injured, or simply can’t seem to do the things we used to do. So how can you make fitness a part of your lifestyle and more importantly make every movement matter?

The first step is finding what you like to do. There is no one size fits all method for fitness and exercise. Some people love to run, swim, bike, lift weights, do yoga, or simply be outside gardening or playing a sport or hobby. It doesn’t matter WHAT you do as much as it matters that you love what you do and you do it well!!

We all have movement patterns that we use to perform any activity. From a young age, we learn how to move our bodies from sitting to standing to walking, running, and so much more. But depending on our hobbies, our jobs, or our lifestyles, we don’t always focus on good body mechanics and alignment. We simply want to get the task done as quickly and efficiently as possible. This isn’t always a bad thing, but if you’ve ever experienced injuries or aches and pains that don’t seem to ever go away, then you can appreciate what it feels like when your body moves well and feels good.

I'm here to support you on your fitness journey! Join a class or signup for a corrective exercise session TODAY to get your customized plan.

MANAGING TIGHT, SORE MUSCLES

Having tight or sore muscles is no fun. It limits our ability to function normally in our day to day activities and even to train our bodies the way we want to. So what causes soreness or trigger points in our bodies? Well, the way your train and the exercises you do are a big part of it. Also, YOUR flexibility, YOUR specific movement patterns, YOUR posture, YOUR nutrition, hydration, rest, stress levels and other lifestyle factors. Do you see a pattern here? (Secret...it's YOU!)

Our bodies learn to compensate for what we throw at them every day. BUT we CAN exceed our ability to recover with too many intense workouts, poor posture, and other lifestyle choices.

How do you prevent or treat soreness? Here's a few tips to get you started.

Be mindful when training AND with daily activities. Listen to your body.
Where you FEEL the pain is not always where you have the problem. (Low back pain = tight hamstrings, glutes, or hip flexors)
It's usually a weakness or imbalance somewhere that causes tightness or pain
No matter how much you stretch or foam roll, you won't improve chronic tightness if you don't address your body's imbalances
Strength training & good posture can be just as important as rolling & stretching to prevent tightness.

It's important to look at YOUR body and how YOU move to see where you can make some changes. The foam roller can provide so many benefits to anyone looking to find a sense of awareness and in learning to listen to your body. Want to learn how to use one or how to address YOUR specific needs? Setup a Myofascial Movement Therapy session with me TODAY!!