January 3, 2018

Welcome to Part 3 of our Health Kickstart series. Read Part 1: Frame Your Day here, and Part 2: Speeding Up here.

This series is designed for people who want to get healthy… but just can’t seem to get any traction. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part. So, the goal here is to give you a step by step plan to do just that. Each part of the series will provide you with a simple, easy action to take each day. Before long, if you stick with it, the steps within this plan will make a big impact on your long-term health.

Watch Part 4 Now!

Or, read more below…

Have you ever left work, gotten into your car, driven the whole way home, and then realized that you couldn’t remember even a single thing about the trip?

That happens to all of us periodically. But, some people go through their whole lives like that. Moment to moment, forgetting what’s happened even a few seconds, minutes, hours ago. Moving through time without really ever making a sincere connection with the world, others, or even their bodies.

The solution?

We need to learn to slow down.

Because, not only does it increase our awareness of others, our surroundings, and what’s actually going on inside ourselves, slowing down is also necessary to reduce stress in our lives.

When we’re going and going, often we can’t even feel the stress… until, that is, it catches up to us. I have a good friend who works almost constantly. After a few days of chest pains, she went to the ER. She was diagnosed as being just a day away from a heart attack.

She’s 26.

So, we need to slow down. If you left your cell phone on for a week straight without plugging it in, what’s going to happen? Same thing with your body. Without pausing to recharge often, we crash. And remember my friend from before?

Sometimes that crash can be potentially fatal.

Yoga and meditation are a great way to slow down, but if you’re just getting started with our Health Kickstart plan, that might be a little too much, too quickly.

Instead, choose one of the following and do it for five minutes each day this week.

1. Deep, Purposeful Breathing

Deep breathing is a great way to slow things down and recharge.

Give this a shot:

Exercise: The Body Breath

1. Take a big deep breath. Inhale and then hold it. Notice where your center of gravity is located. For most people, that center of gravity will be high up in the body, making you more top-heavy. We call this a “face breath,” and it’s great for keeping your balance out of whack.

2. Now stand up straight, with your feet four inches apart and flat on the floor.
3. Push your feet into the floor and squeeze up— squeeze your ankles, your calves, thighs. Pull your belly button IN and continue squeezing up— through your lower back, middle back, upper back. Your body will naturally inhale.
4. When your lungs are full, pause. Be aware of what it feels like to be full of this life force. Be aware that taking this breath is the most important thing you will ever do.
5. Now, reverse the sequence and squeeze down, focusing on each part of your body as you do, from your upper back down through your ankles and into the floor. Your body will naturally exhale.
6. Pause for a moment at the bottom of your exhale, and notice how it feels not to breathe.
7. Wash, rinse, repeat. As you concentrate on and become more aware of your breath—we’re talking habits here, after all!—your capacity for taking in and pushing out your breath will increase as you continue to build this into your daily routine.

2. Easy Meditation

Meditation tends to bring up images of a wizened old man sitting criss-cross-applesauce up on some mountain ledge somewhere. But it doesn’t have to be nearly that involved.

Try this:

Find a quiet spot. Wear some comfortable clothes. Sit and close your eyes. Breathe deeply.

Now, sit with your thoughts. Observe them. Put space between them. Understand what they are, where they are going, and focus on recognizing that your thoughts are moving you to different places.

The more you practice this, the better you’ll get at it. You’ll begin to understand how your brain—and your thoughts— affect your body… and vice versa.

3. Intentional, Internal Awareness

We don’t like being alone with our thoughts, these days. Which is one of the reasons why we’ve created a culture of distraction. It’s easier to skim your Facebook feed than look inside and see what’s really going on.

Don’t get me wrong. No judgment. I’m guilty of this as well.

But cultivating an awareness of what’s going on inside us can be great for our health. What are you holding on to? Which thoughts do you not want to face? What are the tensions inside you causing you distress?

I’m not expecting you go super deep, super fast. Instead, just spend a few minutes with these questions. Relax and just listen to yourself.

4. Journaling

We’re good at making things up. Our brains fill in a lot of gaps that our memory leaves out. Which means, it’s hard to get an accurate view of what your actual habits are if you don’t write them down as they’re happening.

That’s why journaling is so important. It gives you a very accurate view of what your “normal” behaviors are.

So, spend five minutes today and write down your thoughts. Or what you’ve eaten that day. Or even just a list of goals you have for yourself.

So, whichever of these tools you choose to use, the key is this: Spend five meaningful minutes a day on it. Health just doesn’t happen. It only happens when you’re intentional about chasing it down. It only happens when the good habits override the bad ones.

Health is just another word for the momentum that happens when these simple steps stop being something you think about and instead just sort of take over, moving you forward on your health journey.

We’re looking to build these habits with this Health Kickstart plan, and the way to do that is to take each part, start small, and build from there.

Want more great information about the foundations of a healthy life and learning to slow down? Download our new eBook The 7 Habits of Highly healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

Listen to Part 3 Here:

The post Health KickStart Series #3: Slow Down appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

November 14, 2017

We get this question all the time… How do you get your mind calm, free of those racing thoughts, and allow yourself to just be? Here are three steps to achieving just that!

Our world is a hectic, noisy one. And although you’ve probably heard that it’s healthy to spend time each day in meditation, knowing where to start can be a challenge. So here are three ways to dial down the world around you and just BE…

1. Know that it’s not always easy to do

I’ll admit it. Even after years of yoga and meditation training, and I still have problems turning off my brain sometimes. I tell you that as encouragement. Things get busy, stressful, and your mind starts racing.

Sometimes even thinking about meditating, if only for a few minutes, just feels like too much. Like that silence is impossible to face.

So, even when you know all the techniques, it still takes practice. And again, if I can learn to do it, so can you!

2. The Body Breath

Try this exercise:

1. Take a big deep breath. Inhale and then hold it. Notice where your center of gravity is located. For most people, that center of gravity will be high up in the body (a “face breath”), making you more top-heavy.

2. Now stand up straight, with your feet four inches apart and flat on the ground.
3. Push your feet into the floor and squeeze up— squeeze your ankles, your calves, thighs. Pull your belly button in and continue squeezing up— through your lower back, middle back, upper back. Your body will naturally inhale.

When your lungs are full, pause. Be aware of what it feels like to be full of this life force. Be aware that taking this breath is the most important thing you will ever do.

Now, reverse the sequence and squeeze down, focusing on each part of your body as you do, from your upper back down through your ankles and into the floor. Your body will naturally exhale.

Pause for a moment at the bottom of your exhale, and notice how it feels not to breathe.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Continue to do this and, with practice, your mind will clear, and you’ll have far greater control over your thoughts.

3. Label Your Anxieties

So much of your health starts in your head.

We have a member who is prone to having a feeling like she is going to pass out. We found that if she says it out loud—”I feel like I’m going to pass out”—whenever the feeling comes, just putting words to it is enough to allow the sensation to pass.

Your mind is a fantastic instrument. It’s capable of far more than you probably give it credit for.

When you need to shut your brain off, just breathe. Just be okay with what’s happening. Put a label on it.

Say, “My thoughts are going crazy. There’s no reason for it, and it’s okay.”
Saying it out loud can have amazing effects. Reducing the anxiety to what it really is—a tiny worry, a moment of panic, a thought that won’t stop running through your head—puts it in its place and makes it small enough for you to handle.

So, the next time your brain just won’t shut off—no matter what you do—pull up this post. Recognize that what you’re feeling is normal. That everything is okay. Do a few deep grounding breaths. And then put a label on those thoughts. Put them in their place.

Then relax…

And just BE.

The post Flipping the Switch: How to Turn Off Your Brain… and Just BE appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.