You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March 2009.
Working out at home can pose challenges. There are dishes beckoning you from the sink, and the cat that keeps getting underfoot everytime you try to do a workout video. The phone rings right in the middle of you set of 100 crunches, and for God’s sake that load of laundry has been sitting outside the bathroom door for a week!!
How do we bypass of all these distractions and find a way to make sure fitness is on our calendar everyday? The best investment I ever made, was Slim-in-6 Along with being an easy to follow aerobic and strength training workout, Debbie Siebers seems as if she is talking directly to you! You feel her wanting to help you towards your goals!
After I graduated from Slim-in-6 I went directly to P90X. Talk about getting your butt kicked in a home workout, this is the one! Now, Beachbody has outdone itself yet again with Chalean Extreme An intense, heavier weight, all out kick butt home fitness program.
What makes the Beachbody workouts different from the others that I own?
1. you get multiple workouts in each set so you don’t get bored.
2. the trainers are interesting and speak directly to you.
3. the people in the videos have all been there and done that!! They are graduates of the programs, not actors or models!
4.they are priced right so you can get a couple of different ones if you want to and still not break the bank!!
Pick a time each day that is workout time. Just like breakfast, lunch and dinner, fitness needs to be on the schedule of “must do’s” With the BEACHBODY WORKOUTS you will really WANT to workout, because they are fun!!
When you order these progams, you get a bonus of having ME be your COACH!! If you are interested in making a little extra money, you can become a coach yourself and get a whole variety of the programs for a special price of $199. You get Slim in 6, P90, P90x, TurboJam and Hip Hop Abs, Yoga Booty Ballet plus resistance bands and some other goodies! It is an excellent deal for the new coach!
So, fitness at home is workable. Fitness at home is doable…you have to make the time, commit to it and as they say at Beachbody, KEEP PRESSING PLAY!!
yogajen
How do you prioritize your day? I am reading a really interesting book right now called “The Joy of Not Working- for the retired, unemployed and overworked”. The ideas in the book are outstanding and I recommend it highly! Here is a link to the book:
One of the biggest lessons I have gotten out of what I have read so far, is that we spend to much of our day doing things that don’t challenge us or excite us. We spend so much of our time on a quest for money, that we forget to live our lives! The book doesn’t say you shouldn’t work, it just helps you to put into perspective “the job” vs “the life”.
As part of my “life coach” training, I have put together a life wheel. This life wheel helps us to determine where we spend our time and energy, so that we can figure out where we need to adjust and reprioritize our lives. It encourages us to evaluate “where we are at now”, so that we can figure out “where we want to be”. Would you like a copy of the life wheel? Send an email to simplicityquest@gmail.com and I will get it right off to you!!
Get ready to take control of your life…
yogajen
When I arrived home from teaching yoga tonight, I discovered that I had no dark leafy lettuce and no salad dressing. I try to eat a salad everyday, so was wondering how to go about it, without going back out in bitter cold, windy weather.
My husband had bought a bunch of iceberg lettuce in bags, because it was really cheap at HyVee over the weekend. I usually am not real excited about iceberg because it doesn’t have a whole lot of taste, and is basically just water with no nutritional value. But, since it was all that was available, I had to make do.
I remembered the dressing my grandma used to make when I was a little girl. She would buy a head of iceberg lettuce and cut it into big chunks. The dressing was made with miracle whip, milk, a bit of sugar and some salt and pepper. I loved that dressing, and I never had a better salad than the one that grandma made.
I pulled the ingredients all out and made just enough dressing for my little salad. As I sat and ate iceberg lettuce with grandma’s dressing on it, I had fond memories of hanging out at their trailer house, walking around in the garden and wandering about with grandpa looking at the trees in his yard.
I remember walking in to the house, the smell, where all the furniture was, I even remember the color of the kitchen cabinets. The trailer is gone now, replaced by a double-wide, but the memories will last my whole life. Wonderful memories of wonderful grandparents, who I was lucky enough to know until I was almost 40 years old!
As I look towards my own kids having babies, I hope that I can create those same fond memories for them, that I have of my grandparents ….
have a wonderful evening!
yogajen
In January, our oldest daughter told us we would be grandparents! At first a bit concerned, she is young, and then thrilled, as she and her significant other begin to make plans that include this new little life.
In February, an ultrasound showed some strange things. A follow-up a couple of weeks later confirmed that indeed growth had stopped and a miscarriage would be iminent. Our daughter decided that letting nature takes its course was the best route to take, so the wait began. Some intermittent bleeding began, but she continued to work and go about her days.
This morning around 9:30, the call came from her that I had been dreading. She was at home, the bleeding quite heavy and she was in the worst pain of her life. I dropped everything in my hands and got in my car to go to her house. When I arrived, she was on the couch shaking from the pain. Seeing your child hurt that badly is terrible…how I wished it could have been me instead, but it wasn’t and we needed to deal with the moment.
I made an executive decision that the emergency room would be the best bet. Her doctor was not available until noon, and this was pain that needed to be dealt with now. We got in the car, told her BF to meet us there, and drove to the hospital. The nurse there was awesome, explaining everything and working through the IV and blood draws in a most professional manner.
They gave her some morphine to help her through the pain, and some other pain medications to take home. This will heal the physical pain, and she will be fine…the emotional stuff will take some time. This was the saddest day. They can tell you that you will lose the baby, but until the day actually comes, I don’t think it is real. Watching your child go through first physical pain, then knowing the emotional pain that will follow is so difficult.
She is a strong person, and I know that they will come through this, and have babies in the future. I know that this pregnancy will be in her mind always as she goes through her life.
These sad days make the wonderful days seem even that much brighter. On the day when she gives birth to her first child, it will be the most wonderful day….
yogajen
Since the first of February, I have purchased nothing….oh, wait, let me clarify…I have purchased nothing that does not get eaten or used up. I have purchased food and toilet paper, shampoo and laundry detergent.
What I have not purchased is anything that I could borrow or get used. I did purchase a couple of books, but they were from a used store so I paid very little for them. I have purchased no new clothing or gadgets, no new things to sit around or hang on my walls…nothing, nada, zilch….
Why you may ask, am I doing this? First, I read and story about a college girl who made the commitment to not buy anything new for a year, and now I am reading Your Money or Your Life. It is a life altering book! You can get your copy here:
Joe and Vicki , the authors of the book, both retired young, but lived on little. Vowing to never work for money another day in their lives they founded the New Roadmap Foundation, to help others achieve financial independence.
Some people think financial independence means having millions of dollars and being able to have whatever they want. True independence from money is living on whatever you have, trading your life energy only for as much money as you need and reclaiming your true values.
We aren’t making a living, we are make a dying. We rise in the morning, bathe and dress, go to a job we don’t particularily care for, drive home, then drown our sorrows in a much deserved trip to Target, filling our cart with things to help us feel better about ourselves. It is called retail therapy. I stopped retail therapy, starting saving the money I would have spent, bringing me that much closer to being financially independent and I am happier in the process.
Think about it this way…would you rather work all day at a job you don’t like, then go to the store and spend what you made on two new shirts to wear to the job you don’t like, or would you rather volunteer doing something you enjoy, wearing the same old shirt you have worn for 3 years? Would you rather drop your kids off at daycare, then pick them up at 5pm, run through the fast food drive through and get them a toy to prove you love them, or would you rather spend the afternoon swinging them in the park with a peanut butter sandwich you brought from home? I pick wearing the old shirt, and I am pretty sure our kids would pick the peanut butter sandwich and your time….
We need to start to rethink our lives. What is it we want to do? How do we want to be remembered? Who would we prefer to spend our days with? How much do we really need to live on, and how much of what we spend is spent to keep up with our neighbors or to soothe our frazzled mind at the end of a hectic day?
Why don’t you try it for a week? Instead of going to the store, watch a movie that you already own and pop some popcorn. Instead of going out to eat, teach your child how to make spaghetti. Instead of buying a new shirt, dig through your closet and find one you haven’t worn in a while….everyone at work will think you bought a new one….only you know the truth…you are one day closer to retiring….hmmmm
yogajen
I had a rough week. Working became a nightmare on Wednesday, when I was told that I had not put in enough hours in January and February, and wasn’t meeting my “goals”. The insinuation was also made that I wasn’t worth what I was being paid, which is pretty unnerving. Quitting became high on my list of things to do this week, for a variety of reasons.
January and February were hellish months for me on a personal level. My husband broke his collarbone, which not only required surgery, but required me to take on many of the home duties he would have otherwise done. I was now responsible for clothes washing, dish washing, snow shoveling and all forms of cleaning. My daughter, who is 22, told us she was pregnant on the same day my husband had surgery for his collarbone. In February, she miscarried which was hard for all of us. My son was dealing with a variety of problems related to depression, made worse by the winter lack of sunlight.
I was, needless to say, overwhelmed. Work had to take the lowest spot on my list of priorities as I struggled to just get through the days. I am a holistic person, who has never relied on drugs, but I was forced to accept something to help with the anxiety and depression that I was now stuggling with.
Work has always been pretty low on my list, with God, children, health and husband being on top. Work to me is a way to secure funds to manage life, to pay the bills and to allow me to do the things I love. I wasn’t surprised when I was told “my head was in a different place”, because it was!
This discussion with him lead to his priorities, which he spelled out as work, wife then children. But with the birth of a grandchild, that had changed to work, grandchild, wife, children. I was saddened but not surprised by his admittance of this list. It is unfortunate that in a world with so much to offer us, that work would top the list! Remember the old saying “on your deathbed will you be saying ‘wish I had spent more time at the office, or wish I had spent more time with those I love’?” He said work was first, but can that really be?
I wrote my resignation letter than night, with guidance from some awesome friends. The next day, I went into my bosses office and said “got a minute? Something has to change…I can’t work 40+ hours per week, and maintain the life I want to live. I need better balance. If that means not working, then that is what it means I guess.” He suggested a reduced schedule, but he is still baffled that I would pick kids, health and teaching yoga over working more hours. He suggested that the reason I was behind at work had to do with the fact that I cram my schedule to full of other stuff.
Let’s put this in perspective….I work 40-45 hours per week right now. I teach 7 yoga classes, swim one night a week, and walk daily…all total, my troublesome “outside activities” total about 14 hours per week, and are the sole reason that I am sane right now. What is out of balance? The only thing I do more than work is sleep….I need alot of sleep.
So, now I have a decision to make. Do I fix my work schedule or do I look at finding a more acceptable balance elsewhere? Will he ever be able to accept that work is way down on my list of priorities and that will never change? Is the money I make worth the stress and unsettled feelings that it induces?
In reading “Your Money or Your Life”, I am inclined to believe that I need to reorganize things. I need to teach a bit more yoga, walk alot more and get rid of the day job. I need to minimize my material needs to those things that can be paid for with my teaching and selling junk I don’t need on Ebay. I have been practicing in February and March. I have purchased nothing other than food and toiletries, determining each need as “life energy” rather than money. How much energy am I willing to give away in exchange for a given item? If I need to work 2 hours to buy a new shirt, was that shirt worth 2 hours of my life gone forever? Would I have rather walked, read or volunteered for that 2 hours and foregone the shirt? When I think about it that way, I get a much clearer picture of what I should do…
So I will sit with this for a few days…determining what path to take….thoughts?? Let me know!!
yogajen
