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I have just returned from a weekend meditation retreat. We spent a great deal of time in silence and in meditation, giving me a great deal of time to think and reflect. We were also encouraged to be mindful while we were walking, eating, reading or writing.
While on retreat, I put together the first week of the weightloss/wellness project i have been working on. Due to my location, it ended up being an exercise in mindfulness. We need to think about the where, when, why, when and how of our eating and our exercise. We need to sit down, and be mindful of what we are eating and why we are eating it.
We need to make concious choices to eat right and exercise well. These are not easy things, but necessary things. We find time in our day for all the other essential activities….we bathe, brush our teeth, fix our hair (well some of us….), work, drive and a myriad of other daily functions. Eating right and exercising need to become the same to us as brushing our teeth and sleeping. They need to be part of our day, part of our self.
Eating we do each day, but are we mindful of our eating? Are we standing at the counter, or eating in our car? Are we watching TV mindlessly shoving potato chips into our mouths or are we seated at a table, taking careful stock of each mouthful we consume? Are we tasting the true taste, or is it going down so fast that we don’t even recognize or remember what we ate?
So, if you would like to join me on this journey, which is intended to initially last about 12 weeks, send an email to simplicityquest@gmail.com or call me at 608-797-1990. I will put you on the list to receive the weekly information. There are a few simple purchases to make, but the program itself is free of charge.
I hope to gain great insight into my patterns as we go through this process together as well. If you are ready to get started, please visit www.teambeachbody.com/yogajen and order either Slim-in-6 or Power 90, so that you have them ready for week 2! These are outstanding programs, and you will use them again and again….
Have a wonderful evening!
yogajen
This last weekend, Dan, our friend Lisa and myself drove almost 7 hours to northern Minnesota to complete a trail marathon.
Dan and I shared the marathon in a relay, with me completing the first 13.1 miles and him the second. It was a fun experience, and for me, a challenge. I am not much into trails, as my fear of falling and twisting an ankle is just to great. I tend to slow down tremendously in order to make sure I am safe!
During the second half of the run, Lisa, who was completing the full marathon independently, ran into an 82 year old man who was completing his 299th marathon. He is scheduled to do Twin Cities in a couple of weeks to round out his 300!! He didn’t start running them until he was 57 years old.
Lisa ran with him for a while to chat and hear stories. She said it was an awesome experience! She crossed the finish line, and we were standing around waiting on those still finishing, and here comes Bert, the 82 year old man. Lisa yells to him “good luck at 300 in a couple of weeks” and he yelled back “WE MAKE OUR OWN LUCK!!”
How TRUE and what a profound statement! It has stuck with me all week, and I felt compelled enough to blog about it. I hear so much complaining these days. From I don’t have enough money, to I can’t lose weight, to my life just generally sucks…..so, ok, what are you doing to change that?
You can lose weight, you can change jobs and you can acquire more money! Even if you don’t do any of those things tomorrow, just living in this country you enjoy one of the most affluent lifestyles in the entire world! Be thankful…we are lucky!!
If you would like to change your path, take steps to do it, don’t complain about it! Do you need to lose weight or get fit? Find a plan you can work with, or a diet coach to help you and do it! Watch “The Biggest Loser” every week for motivation. Last night one guy said he came in taking 9 different medications for everything from high blood pressure to diabetes and within 2 weeks of good workouts and good food he was off all of them!
Do you hate your job? Find a new one! Get out there, send your resume and pound the pavement. OR start your own business, whether brick and mortar or homebased, find that thing you truly enjoy doing and make a business out of it!
Basically, if you don’t like your lot in life the way it is, change your thinking….positive thinking, positive doing….stop complaining and make it better….YOU MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK!!
Call me if you want help on weight loss, reaching your fitness goals or finding that perfect home based business!
have a great Wednesday!
yogajen
(now there is the perfect place to start on your fitness quest!! Click above, pick a program and get started!!)
I was watching the first episode of the new season of Biggest Loser last night. Dan and I love that show, as it does bring out the importance of fitness along with healthy eating. The problem that I do have with it, although I do realize that people who are morbidly obese, like those on the show, lose weight faster than those with less weight to lose, I still don’t think it is good to make people think that you can lose 10 or more pounds in a week and that is ok!
It is not ok to lose more than a couple of pounds in a week, three at the most. Keep in mind that these people are in a very controlled environment. The rest of us need to go about our day, live with distractions and people who are trying to sabotage our efforts.
Weight loss has so much to do with our mind, in addition to our bodies. We need to get to that place in our head where we can lose weight. Many who are overweight, aren’t in that right place in the mind to even begin a weightloss program. Diets really don’t work if you don’t fix the stuff going on with your primary food, which is the rest of your life besides eating. Relationships, stress at work, unfulfilling employment and lack of support all play into our ability to successfully lose and keep off weight.
Like I said in my last post, I have this stubborn 20 pounds to lose, and I would love to have a few folks help me along the way who are also in need of losing a few pounds! Through fitness, eating, yoga, meditation and journaling, we can start to work through the junk that keeps us from losing the weight!
This program won’t be easy, but hopefully it will be successful and break through some of those issues we face when we intend to lose weight. I will expect accountability! We will need to track eating and workouts along with journaling through the other stuff. I will expect at least one yoga class per week, and some practice at home of yoga and meditation, along with daily workouts of some sort. There may be moments that are difficult, but we need to get through them to reach our ultimate goals.
Getting to our goal is never easy, but always worth it!! Do you want to join me? Send me an email at arkjmv@aol.com . If you live in the Winona area we will do it onsite, if you live elsewhere, we will work the virtual way!!
Come with me for an interesting journey, where we help each other!!
yogajen
I just saw an ad on TV for Weight Watchers stating that diets don’t work, but Weight Watchers does. I beg to differ with them! It might work in the short term, but how many people keep the weight off in the long run?
Is dieting just a matter of eating less or exercising more? Is there more to it?
I think there is! I think that much of how we relate to food revolves around our feelings, our history, our emotions and a myriad of other things. For me, for example, I had lost weight after each of my girls were born, getting back to a near perfect weight, only to find myself pregnant again. After I had my son, I figured, “why bother”, I will just end up pregnant again! I didn’t say it out loud, but it was in the back of my mind.
When my son was about 9, I decided I could no longer go with the “baby weight” story, even though he had weighed in at over 9 pounds, and I needed to figure it out. I had another vice to get over at the time, so figured I might as well really shoot the moon, and quit smoking and lose weight at the same time!
That afternoon, I quit smoking cold turkey and replaced it with walking, alot!! I also started watching what I ate. I lost weight and it seemed relatively easy! I also started practicing yoga at the same time, which I think helped immensely with my “mind” part of the equation.
Over the years, I have done pretty well staying with the fitness part of the equation, completing a marathon, a bunch of shorter races, and teaching several yoga classes a week. I get out almost everyday and walk or run, lift weights a bit and make sure to practice yoga on a regular basis.
In order to make weight loss a long term success, the eating needs to be watched as well, and this is where over the years, I have fallen off the truck a few times. I have gained back about 20 pounds of my initial weight loss, and really need to get back to it!
I am working on a program for myself, which incorporates fitness, eating, meditation, journaling and comraderie with others. Would you like to join me? I am looking for 4 or 5 people who would like to test run a program with me, starting in October! There will be a few things you will need to do and buy to get ready (the total will be less than $100), but I will offer the daily motivation and coaching FREE OF CHARGE! If you are interested, send an email to arkjmv@aol.com or simplicityquest@gmail.com and let me know! I can get you a list of items we will all need to have, and we can get our group together. It would be good to start with a group all located in Winona, but if you live elsewhere, and would like to join us in a virtual way, let me know!
Hoping for a good response!
yogajen
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No worries, I am still doing a marathon this year. I have been training all summer, and have no intention of skipping out on it!! We will be doing the Whistlestop Marathon in Ashland, Wisconsin on October 11th, rather than the Des Moines marathon. The Whistlestop has a special place in our hearts as it was the first one that both Dan and I completed. It is an awesome route, easy on the knees. It is on an old railroad bed and it goes downhill for the most of the route. One year, it was snowing and the bridges were snow covered and icy. That was pretty interesting…
The first year we did the marathon, it was around 50 degrees and drizzling at the start. I stripped down to a tank and shorts, wondering if I had lost my mind. About one mile in, I was truly glad that I was wearing very little. At around the 18 mile mark, I was confused as to why all of the volunteers at the water stations were wearing winter coats and shivering!! It is amazing how warm you get when you are racing!
Anyway, tomorrow (Sunday) I am going to make an attempt at 3 times around the lake. That will be my long run at about 15 miles. We do a marathon relay next weekend, with me doing the first half and Dan doing the second half. That will be our training test to make sure we are set to go for the marathon!! Then I suppose we will both start to taper off our distances preparing for the long one on October 11th.
Will keep you posted!!
yogajen….
I have LOVED BeachBody products, since I first purchased Slim in 6 a few years ago. Since then, I have purchased almost every item as they have come out, and have replaced my VHS versions with DVD versions over the years. I am EXCITED to be able to now offer them to you at my very own BeachBody website!! I have signed up to be a BeachBody coach, and would love to help you get the same love of the products that I have!
I will be posting my results under the screen name yogajen at the BeachBody club site. I have done P90X, and think I am going to give that another whack this fall. To see all of the BeachBody products please visit http://www.beachbodycoach.com/yogajen
Thanks and have a great weekend!!
yogajen
The studio at 601 East 5th Street is in full swing, and we are having a great time!! The new class schedule is posted at www.yogafitnesswellness.com and I would love to have you join me for a class soon!
There are many new offerings this fall to make sure we have a class for everyone. Monday and Thursday there are both a hatha for relaxation and a power class. Wednesdays I have added a sculpt class which looks like it will be a great deal of fun!!
I also have a class called YogaWell, which is for EVERYONE!! If you have a health issue, diabetes, high blood pressure, recent surgeries, arthritis….this class is for you. I will work around whatever you have going on to make yoga a great experience that will help you to improve your flexibility and health.
I would also love to help anyone who is interested in improving their fitness or wellness. We can do an initial evaluation to determine a good fitness plan and work on healthy eating. You can view the information on my website as well in the weightloss section or the wellness mentoring tab for more information.
If you have always wanted to try yoga, join me in an accepting and non-competitive environment to work at your own place and start to improve your mind, body, spirit in your own way….
I encourage you to start now on a new path to wellness! If you have any questions, please call me or email me.
608-797-1990
I hope to see you at a yoga class soon!
yogajen…
