Archive for the ‘Meditation’ Category

Forming new habits-why will power is not enough

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

How many of you reading this months newsletter have tried using willpower to  break old habits and form new ones?  ”I can lose these last 5 lbs. if I just don’t eat dinner.” or “I will use willpower to stop smoking”. This usually doesn’t work and here’s why:

orbitofrontal

Willpower is controlled by a part in the brain called the orbital frontal cortex (part of the frontal lobe located in the front of the brain).  In order for the orbital frontal cortex to be turned on it requires an active focus.  So one may ask how is this a bad thing?  Let me explain…

If I say to you “Don’t think of a pink elephant.” what are you most likely to do? Think of a pink elephant. Therefore, each time you think to yourself “Don’t eat the chocolate chip cookies.” You’ll want to eat the chocolate cookies. Before you know it you’re giving into the chocolate chip cookies and thinking of yourself in a negative manner for not having the willpower to say “No”.

Instead what needs to happen is that new good habits need to be formed by changing your beliefs, values & expectations. This happens by improving your ability to identify a negative behavior, emotion or thought before it actually takes place.  If you are able to identify the bad habit before it take place then you are in a position for a new good habit to be formed.

Remember this…bad habits cause immediate benefit but long-term harm with repetition.  Good habits cause immediate benefit and long-term benefit.

Quick tips:

1.     Don’t deprive yourself.  Depriving yourself fits the model of “don’t think of the pink elephant” as described above.

2.     Start out small & be gentle with yourself.  Don’t expect things to change overnight.

3.     Recognize and honor that making new habits take time as  bad habits are engrained in your subconscious memory and take awhile before they are pulled to the conscious brain.

4.     Surround yourself with opportunities & people who share the same goals.  We tend to think, act and feel like those around us.

5.     Identify where your bad habits are coming from…overworked, lack of boundaries, emotional stress or a childhood issues etc…once you’ve identified where the bad habit is coming from it helps to make sense of why your doing your bad habit.

6.     Enrich your life, manage your stress and find yourself a support system.  Replenishing Soul & ABS Fitness are always here for you!

References:  Institute for Brain Potential

Pic by:  http://dericbownds.net/uploaded_images/orbitofrontal.gif

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Posted in Emotional health, Exercise Tips, Meditation, Nutrition Tips, Prevention information | No Comments »

Break and Breathe: Simple Relaxation Techniques to Reduce Stress FAST

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Many of us are constantly on the go, stress0multi-tasking our way through our day and finding ourselves feeling stressed out. If you are like so many others, your mind may be racing, your heart rate and breathing may quicken and you may have trouble concentrating and getting your work done. This probably starts making you feel badly about yourself and negative thoughts start swirling in your mind which just causes you to be more stressed. As we’ve mentioned in other blogs, stress doesn’t just affect you mind, it also negatively affects the way your body functions. It causes hormone imbalances, disrupts sleep, digestion, your immune system and has a strong correlation with medical conditions such as heart disease and depression. 

 

The next time you are feeling stressed, I want you to remember the two B’s: “Break and Breathe” and do the following.

 

1. Take a Break:

You are given breaks at work for a reason, so take them. So often we get caught up in the mindset of “I don’t have time” and work through our breaks and lunch which only leaves us burnt out, more stressed and less productive. Instead, take a time out, do some of the breathing exercises below, and you’ll probably be more productive when you get back. It’s best to leave your workspace, but if you can’t you can easily do these at your desk.

2. Breathe:

One of the easiest ways to change how your body is physically reacting to stress is through your breath. By focusing on your breathing, you are forcing your heart rate to slow down which will calm your body and mind. Here are a few breathing exercises to choose from.

     1. Close your eyes and inhale as slowly as you can and silently count “1″. Then exhale slowly and silently count “2″. On your next inhale, silently count “3″ and so on. The goal is to reach the number “20″. By this point you should notice that your breathing will be fuller and deeper, and you will be more relaxed.

     2. Close your eyes and inhale as slowly as you can. Try to prolong your inhale to the silent count of 4 seconds. When you finish inhaling, gently hold you breath for 2 seconds and slowly exhale to the silent count of 8 seconds. Repeat for a minute or longer. If you can’t control your breathing for that long, its ok to shorten the duration of inhale and exhale, just make sure your exhale is twice as long as your inhale.

   3. Close your eyes. As you slowly inhale through your nose, visualize pure white cleansing air entering and filling your entire body. As you exhale, picture the gray negative, stressed air exiting your body through your nose. Continue this process as you inhale and exhaling, replacing your stressed out body with clean, fresh air and energy.

It’s also important to remember that mental/emotional stress isn’t the only way to stress out your body. Eating the wrong kinds of foods, going to bed late, not drinking enough water, having unbalanced hormones, can induce stress on your body and cause a multitude of symptoms including low back and neck pain, PMS, irritable bowel syndrome, frequent illness, migraines, and many others. We provide nutrition and lifestyle coaching in Los Gatos and San Francisco as well as over the phone. Give us a call to learn how to get your body back in balance.

If you try these stress techniques, let us know your experience, we’d love to hear from you.

 

 

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

 

References:

photo thank you to: http://www.stressrelatedillness.com/stress-management.html

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Posted in Emotional health, Meditation, Prevention information, Stress, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

To breathe or not to breathe

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

breathingTo breathe or not to breathe during an exercise that is the question.  You’re probably thinking… of course you should breathe during an exercise and you are correct.  However, did you know that most people breathe incorrectly when performing an exercise? Many times individuals breathe in when they should be breathing out and vice versa or they also hold their breath.  This is an important topic of discussion and within this blog article we will be discussing why breathing correctly is important as well as give you examples of when you should be breathing in verses out.

When taking a breath in, the body moves into what we call axial extension meaning that the body is expanding.  You can feel this by closing your eyes and taking a deep breath in, feel how your chest inflates and the spine gets taller.  Now, let the air out and feel your chest collapse and your spine begin to round, this is called axial flexion.  This is how the breath moves in our bodies naturally and it is this movement that needs to be replicated when performing an exercise.  There are exceptions to the rule and we will touch upon those later in this article.

Let’s take a body row for example.  When performing this exercise you hold cables in both hands, you pull with your arms by bending your elbows and squeeze the shoulder blades.  The proper breathing sequence for this exercise is to breathe in as you pull the weight back and breathe out as the weight moves back to the start position.  If you are not sure why look at the movement in a mirror.  As you pull the cables back your chest is expanding. Therefore you should take a breath in and when you move back to the start position your chest is collapsing therefore you should be exhaling.  Let’s take a lat pull down as our next example.  When do you think you should be breathing in verses breathing out…if you said breathe in as you pull down(chest expanding) and breath out as you move to the start position- arms over head (chest collapsing) then you are correct.

Performing proper breathing is vital to having a safe workout and what I mean by this specifically is that your body systems are programmed and have set ways of doing things naturally hence what naturally happens when you breathe in and out.  When you hold your breath or breathe improperly during an exercise neurologically as well as muscularly you begin to work against the body and this is how muscle spasms and injury can happen, not to mention breath is healing and helps to move stagnant energy.

Now, there are exceptions to the rule and these are for when you are performing difficult movements such as lifting heavy weight in a dead lift or performing power exercises such as weighted wood chops.  When performing such exercises there is a point of the movement that we call the “sticking point”- where there is a greater load placed on the body and in certain situations you want to breathe out at the sticking point regardless of axial extension or flexion.  For more information about proper breathing techniques during exercising visit a C.H.E.K. practitioner in your area or contact us here at Replenishing Soul.

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Practicing awareness

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

mediation AWARENESS… This is something I’ve personally been working on for awhile. 

The definition of awareness is to be mindful.  How aware /mindful are you of not just the people, places and things around you but how aware are you of you?  How aware are you of what you feel and why, what your thoughts consist of on a daily basis and more importantly where do those thoughts originate from?  On a not so deep level, are you aware of how your food tastes when you sit down to eat it or is it something that you just do because you are hungry, bored or depressed?

When you take time out of your busy schedule to be calm and still (meditation) you are working on mindfulness. By being still and not surrounding yourself with television or work brought home from the office or the internet you are able to bring a sense of peace and quite to your mind, body and heart.  These 3 areas can then heal and rest and give back to you when you need answers or energy.  You begin to display a sense of calmness to the people that surround you on a daily basis and a positive attitude is felt by others that will react accordingly.

Think of it this way, have you ever been around someone who was in a bad mood? You could feel their bad energy and as a result you found your mood changing.  Have you been around a negative person who emitted such negative energy that it drained you, maybe even left you with a headache? These are examples of individuals who are not mindful and aware.

So, how does one become more mindful?  The answer is easy. Practice, practice, practice.   I would like you to try to become more mindful and aware. You will be surprised at how things will start changing for you in a positive way.  Be patient as this does not happen overnight but even 10 minutes a day will have a profound effect on you and others that surround you.  Below are some suggestions that will help you to get star

 *     Breathe- how many times do you consciously breathe throughout your day?  Taking the time to feel the cool air going in through your nose and the warm air coming out?  This       is conscious breathing. Make sure to take time throughout your day to consciously         breathe.  Breathing in the morning will set your tone for the rest of the day. 

*     Eat your meals quietly and slowly- enjoy the taste of your food.

*      Take a quite walk- walk either in your neighborhood or out on a hiking trail. Get out into nature and get connected to the earth.  There is calmness to the energy that is emitted in the mornings and evenings get outside and begin to feel it.  Do not take your ipod or cell phone with you.  This is your time to connect to you.

*     Yoga, Tai Chi & Qi Gong- any one of these energy building exercises will be good for you.  These exercises are about you feeling and connecting with your own body.  Experiment with all 3 and see which one you resonate with.

*      Journal- journaling is a great way to express yourself and get your thoughts down on paper that you can come back to and read at a later date. I would suggest doing journaling in addition to one of the items listed above. Please remember reading books and watching television are not ways to become more aware.  Becoming aware is acquired by you connecting with yourself.  When you read a book you pull in your imagination and this takes the focus off of you.

I hope you find these tasks to be enjoyable and enlightening. I would like to leave you with this quote that was given to me by a client of mine: “Between the stimulus and the response lies a space and within that space, lies our freedom”. 

Health & Happiness from Replenishing Soul.

~Lori

 

 

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The Benefits of Meditation

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

As we mentioned in last week’s post, prolonged stress can have damaging effects on the body.  One powerful way to reduce stress and improve your health is through meditation. You may be thinking, “But what exactly is meditation? What do I think about when I am meditating? How am I going to cross my legs in that pretzel fashion?” And most importantly, “How am I going to get them out?”

You’ll be happy to know that it’s not as complicated as all of that.  Meditation means “a cessation of the thought process”. You can meditate by focusing on your breath, or by listening to the sounds of the ocean. Successful meditation is when your focus is on that one activity, and you free your mind of all other thoughts and distractions. You can also sit in any position that’s comfortable.

Numerous studies have found that meditation has many health benefits. A recent study found that meditators were actually able to shift brain activity to different areas of the brain (from the stress-prone right frontal cortex to the calmer left frontal cortex). This mental shift decreased the negative effects of stress, mild depression, anxiety and fear. This is not to say that meditation is a guarantee for good health, however there is a growing awareness of the connection between our body and mind. Often, physical ailments can be connected to emotional distress. How many of us have heard the story of a couple who was having difficulty getting pregnant and when stress was removed (by quitting a job, going on vacation, moving to a new town..etc) they got pregnant?

Meditation improves your general physical and emotional health. When your mind focuses on a particular part of the body, the blood flow to that part increases and cells receive more oxygen and other nutrients. Here is a list of some of the physical and emotional benefits of meditation.

It lowers oxygen consumption

It decreases respiratory rate.

It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.

It Increases exercise tolerance in heart patients.

It decreases muscle tension (any pain due to tension) and headaches.

It helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.

It reduces PMS.

It helps in post-operative healing.

It enhances the immune system. Research has revealed that meditation increases activity of ‘natural-killer cells’, which kill bacteria and cancer cells.

It reduces activity of viruses

It increases serotonin production, which influences mood and behavior. Low levels of serotonin are associated with depression, obesity, insomnia and headaches.

It reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.

It builds self-confidence and reduces emotional distress.

It leads to a deeper level of relaxation.

It improves concentration.

It helps to strengthen and control the mind. By gaining control of your thought, particularly negative ones, you are able to see life in a more opportunistic way. Your way of thinking changes from “I can’t” to “Why can’t I?”

 

Click on the link below for a one-minute meditation and start reaping these benefits today!

http://www.psychichorizons.com/docs/images/audio/OneMinMed_RevLaura.mp3

 

 

 

 

Resources: 

www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20030424-000003.html – 43k -

http://www.healthandyoga.com/HTML/meditation/objectives.html

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/the-physical-and-mental-benefits-of-daily-meditation/

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