Dig deep on your 5 why's!

Hello there, you fabulous healthicorn!

Let’s explore the 5 why process for exploring your drives and deep desires for pursing shifts in health, knowing and owning your why ALSO brings some excitement into the picture!

How do you do this?

Life moves so fast, take a moment to explore your why’s!

Start with…

• Why are you pursuing deep health?

• Go 5 layers deep, and use the verbage of the prior why and inject into it into the next one to keep goin deeper into YOUR why!

• Watch how you get to the core nugget of your root driver for deep health

Here is my 5 why’s, I am sure they will shift and change throughout my lifetime.

Check this out.

1) Why do I want to pursue deep health?

I want to wake up energized, with happy joints and a flexible body, and a sharp brain.

2) Why is waking up energized, with happy joints and a flexible body and a sharp brain important?

I want to be able to do a great job for my clients, to take care of my house, to be in a good mood for myself and my partner, and I super duper do not want some of the diseases of my family of origin.

Oh, see how each question gets a little deeper. 

3) Why is it important for me to be able to do a great job for my clients, to take care of my house, to be in a good mood for myself and my partner, not get some of the diseases of my family or origin?

Because memory problems and heart disease, and a wee bit of cancer run in my family.  

Witnessing those things has been painful, and I don’t want that pain for myself or my family if I can help it, and I know that movement, nutrition density, and stress reduction can help all these things.

Also , having a high say/do ratio feels really good to me, I want to know that I show up for myself.  Building trust with myself reminds me I am worthy of care and that I am responsible for the care of myself.  

And I want to model that for my clients…

Now its getting juicy! YES!

4) Why is it important to keep up the say/do ratio, model these things for clients, and not get those diseases?

I want to be trustworthy, to myself and my people (partner, family, friends, clients).  Meaning I show up, I can count on me and they can count on me. Accountability. I also want to experience all life has to offer, and I want my clients to as well.  I want to be able to care of our aging parents. I want to say yes to life adventures that call out to me, and not have my body or brain holding me back. And I do want that for my clients as well.

Oh yeah, I like this!

5) Why do I want to be trustworthy, show up, be accountable and say yes to life adventures, and also have your clients feel that?

To experience joy in life! On my own and with others!  I want my clients to also revel in joy and feel confident trying new things.

DANG.  See how I got to the heart of it. My first answer was good and true but the deep motivation got more clear as I cruised a bit deeper.

Sidebar benefits of 5 why’ing…you can see your values pop up!

See my values start to appear? Accountability, trust, being adventurous, joy, deep heath!

Running your why’s helps you harness the emotion to fuel change…helps you archaeologist yourself into YOUR values!

Self-Compassion and Self-Accountability

A loving two-fer!

What is Self-Compassion?

It’s a heart and soul muffler.  It is seeing yourself and your situations with true warmth.  

The compassion you would bestow on a family member in need, bird with a broken wing, or dear friend who is hurting, you take that and pour it on yourself.  Maybe even maniac-on-the-floor style!

It entails being kind to yourself in any general suffering sitch, failure, shortcomings, etc.

It means when something goes awry, you start cultivating a loving 3-pronged approach to figuring out how to course correct.

• FIRST,  hug-it-up. Employ self-compassion by using self talk that recognizes the ouch and soothes it.

• Next remember you = human.  You and we and us, we WILL fudge it up sometimes. That is normal.

• And then a shot of self-accountability.  Self accountability would be the how would you like to change things, versus a one-way ticket to shame town.

I got an example from the last 24 hours!

We are out of town on the tail end of a family emergency, and have been away from home for 7 weeks.

And I am feeling that see-everyone-help-everyone-hug-everyone feeling.  

The other huge component of maintaining a nomadic life is keeping up body moving and the deep nourishment train whilst without your normal kitchen and home workout tools.

WELP.  Yesterday,  overplanned and had to cancel with my mom and a dear buddy.  THAT felt bad.

• Say/do ratio is really important to me. If I say I am going to do it, I want to fulfill that commitment

• And yet, I made a mistake, actually two. I recognize that the overplanning is a symptom of wanting to hug everybody one more time, and people overplan and misjudge. It is truly human.

• Course correct! Okay, with that loving reflection, my partner and I agreed one major visit/activity a day as we wind down this visit. I owned and apologized to my people. I with move forward with extra knowing and remember to not overpack a day.

NICE!

SO…self-compassion applies real hard when a human is seeking deep health.

You might be frustrated and feeling a bit shamey even before you even start! 

Why haven’t I taken action? How did I get out of touch?

WELP. No worries! Let’s run our scenario above.

• First, compassion. Like real snuggly, true, hot tea for your soul…I haven’t taken action because (fill in a plethora of good reasons). And those things totally needed my attention. DO this part as if you are sitting couch-side with a good buddy. Don’t rush off, really make eye contact with yourself.

• Common Humanity. I am not the first person to get distracted by (fill in a plethora of good reasons). It is true overwhelm and life changes certainly can take a human off track.

• Self-accountability. Knowing this, in the future, I want to start planning to (fill in what you feel you can do within the bounds of your commitments) because (your why…).

Have you ever miscalculated or overplanned a day? 

If you like the idea of looking through these persepectacles, I am doing an online 10 week habit building group program starting October 6th.  This is about eating slow and working on being aware of fullness, learning 3 workouts, and building a menu from our groups favorite meals. And having a good time learning self-compassion.

Mindset. Movement. Menu.

Sundays at 3 pm PST!

Starts October 6th!

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PRE-PAIN Signals Making You Movement Nervous?

Ring. Ring. Hello!

It's your body. 

Have you gotten any wake up calls lately?  Or maybe a really brief text?

Maybe it’s that pre-pain sig on your pager from the 90’s.

Before the big ouch, we might have things like…

• Stiffness

• Decreased ease of movement

• Feeling not recovered between workouts

• Pain that is present before or after a workout but not during

That is a casserole of injury baking.

Sometimes body changes can be loud and really get your attention.  Sometimes the trigger may be subtle.

I challenge you to scan your body and see if anything is whispering.  Have you begun to accept discomfort and pain and modify your life around this sensation? 

Respect those remarks from your body, and explore the world of thoughtful self-care!

• Going for a walk: (did you just roll your eyes? I felt someone roll their eyes…). Walking is the job of the body and with the winter season you might simply not be walking continuously in comfy footwear enough.

• Try a BEGINNER yoga class…that’s right…simple, easy stretching. Or maybe just do safe, simple stretching…

  • An excellent all-the-things resource is Yoga Green Book launched by _____ for people of color, classes for every level of ability, affordable, and has nutrition and meditation information galore!

• Check out the MELT method…online and DVD videos, classes, and maybe local workshops.

• Pick up Jill Miller's ROLL Model book…so many way to treat thineself. Jill is so generous in her online communities!

• Call me! I am a nice lady.

Sometimes growing a bit more time for mobility work, self-care, and stretch and exposing your active range of movement is all you need to reclaim your full flexitude.

If you got hot and loud ouches though, find your doc!

I know that is a priviledge not available to everyone, so leveraging some of the free online resources above may be helpful.

One last thought on signals.  

IF you have had an injury doing (fill in the blank) then simply stop moving for a while...the offended area may no longer be actively painful, but it has changed.  If you hurt yourself, there IS a strength, range of motion, and neurological change.  And it will most likely come up if you go back to activity without loving on that zone.

One of the biggest indicators of low back is PREVIOUS back pain.  One of the biggest indicators of ankle sprain is having experienced one already!!!  

Pain may subside, but decreased range of motion, strength, power, or stability are indicators of change in function.  And I want you to function happy and strong in your world.  

READY FOR CHANGE?

That's a good question, right?

Usually a nubbly ball of issues or a big event will trigger a life change for the average mammal.

How you look in a photo. A fall. Job change. Injury. Desire to be a crazy strong mofo.

My clients come to me because they are fed up with an ouch, or feel tired and fatigued. Or all of the above. They want to be able to negotiate the stairs without pain, hike and feel stable, run faster, and carry in the groceries.  I would say physical limitations are the #1 driver of change that bring my people to me.  

We as a heath community know some things about successful change.  You gotta feel a bit excited about it, and will have more success with long term change if you change one thing at a time, versus mega overhaul everything at once.  It is equally important to get glacially clear about why you want it, and how you will feel when this goal is your reality.  Then look at what your limiting factor is, and implement a good ole behavior change.  

Here is an example form my own life.  Desired goal. Excitement. Limiting factor. Behavior change.

This year my goal is meditate daily.

Why? The sweet, sweet brain balm meditation provides oozes into all my other goals.  When I have a calm, clear mind, I make MUCH better decisions and am a better focuser (yes, this is a word..?).   I have two autoimmune disorders.  Evidence for this being a helper on multiple fronts in reversing or helping autoimmune disorders (reducing sympathetic tone, aiding against depression, and so forth) make meditation sort of like free medicine.  

My limiting factor? Just making time, life is a moving target. What worked in the summer, getting up early started to super duper not work in the winter,I used to do it first thing, bit Winter Beth does not like to a.m. meditate.

My behavior change? Do it at the end of my workout, that way it is “tied” to another for sure habit.  I also have a back-up plan! If I miss post-workout, I use it at bedtime as a sleep aid. Win-to-the-win-to-the-winny-win-win!

I am excited about how clean and calm I feel when I meditate, it helps everything.

Are you ready for nutrition and lifestyle change? Are you ready to rumble!

ROAD TRIP!

This post can be helpful for those wondering what is it I do that is different from other physical therapist + personal trainer hybrids.

I believe each person's health story is like a really great road trip.  Before GPS.

Words like scary, delightful, mystical, complicated, strong, unsure, breathtaking, certain, lost, found, calming, and victorious all come to mind.  I could probably fill a page simply listing great adjectives about health stories!

I think injuries can be helpful and weight gain insightful.

I see a brand new human emerge more resilient and connected to themselves when they achieve recovery from a body misadventure and return to the activity that was previously beyond their reach.

My skill is helping you find where meal making and body moving fit in the current rapids and swirls of your life. I meet you where you are at and we play with all the possibilities. 

As we move along, you learn:

• self care
• the right parameters of strength and cardiovascular exercise for your body
• practical meal preparation and planning
• how to make the kitchen a safe place for nutrition density

In the process of repatterning your fitness and nutrition we lay down new thoughtful habits and get results in performance and physicality.  

My clients:

• lower blood pressure
• enjoy walking and/or running
• get out and snowshoe
• travel
• run marathons and 5K's (3.1 miles)
• gain muscle mass
• lose weight
• discover there inner athlete

And they do it at their unique Goldilocks pace.  

Together, we define and discover what challenging feels like to you.  

Health is your life.  It is not separate or a condiment or a sidebar.  It is not a very intense 8 weeks before your cousin's Rita's kid's wedding so you look smoking hot as you win the dance floor dropping hot moves to Stevie Wonder's Superstition (the greatest song EVER!).  I am not saying that ain't important!  Read on!

I want your plan to be sustainable. 

It also doesn't need to feel heavy or daunting or lonely.  

You can start to pick and chose new things to invite into your life. It can be a book, a class, a recipe, or reaching out to me!  There is a spectrum of help out there that will feel just right.

If you have found your balance, bravo! Take a moment to let self love wash over you and see all the effort and planning it took to get here.  Keep it up!  It takes planning and boundary setting to find time and ways to care for yourself.

If you have not, bravo!  Take a moment to let self love wash over you and see all the effort and planning it took to get here, to a place where you can see maybe you want to change.  You are pretty awesome and you see a new avenue of awesome you may want to pursue.

I invite you to feel smoking hot right now, ('cause you are!), and for you to get strong, get balanced, and have it be sustainable and enough.  It is key for you to be prepped and ready to reign supreme at every dance off! 

How you enjoy movement and deliver nutrient density is as unique as your fingerprint. Your menu, your workout week, your favorite movement modality is going to be different from mine, and cousin Rita's, and her kid's.

Something to reflect upon...when was a time you felt aligned and fulfilled on your own health road trip?