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10 Highlights from the 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit to shape the Future of Brain & Mental Health

Source: https://sharpbrains.com/blog/2019/05/16/10-highlights-from-the-2019-sharpbrains-virtual-summit-to-shape-the-future-of-brain-mental-health/

_____

Wow. Fascinating three days last week. Some of our favorite moments and take-aways…

1. Dr. Tom Insel provided a spectacular overview of the digital revolution in brain health and mental health. While we have historically failed to bend the curve as well as in other areas of health, since “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”, new digital and neurological monitoring technologies are finally allowing us to remedy that fundamental issue so we can identify problems early and intervene early. Multiple Speakers during the Summit like Dr. Srijan Sen, Jan Samzelius and Louis Gagnon built upon Insel’s remarks with much research, tech and examples.

<img class="alignri…

Source: https://sharpbrains.com/blog/2019/05/16/10-highlights-from-the-2019-sharpbrains-virtual-summit-to-shape-the-future-of-brain-mental-health/

_____

Wow. Fascinating three days last week. Some of our favorite moments and take-aways…

1. Dr. Tom Insel provided a spectacular overview of the digital revolution in brain health and mental health. While we have historically failed to bend the curve as well as in other areas of health, since “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”, new digital and neurological monitoring technologies are finally allowing us to remedy that fundamental issue so we can identify problems early and intervene early. Multiple Speakers during the Summit like Dr. Srijan Sen, Jan Samzelius and Louis Gagnon built upon Insel’s remarks with much research, tech and examples.

<img class="alignri…

Mind the Gap

Source: https://womensbrainhealth.org/think-twice/mind-the-gap

by Women’s Brain Health Initiative: Approximately two-thirds of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are women. However, research into sex and gender differences in AD is astonishingly limited. Because the greatest risk factor for dementia is age, the discrepancy between……

Source: https://womensbrainhealth.org/think-twice/mind-the-gap

by Women’s Brain Health Initiative: Approximately two-thirds of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are women. However, research into sex and gender differences in AD is astonishingly limited. Because the greatest risk factor for dementia is age, the discrepancy between……

For Women With HIV, Life Can Hurt Fight for Health

Source: https://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/news/20190517/for-women-with-hiv-life-can-hurt-fight-for-health?src=RSS_PUBLIC

woman doing yoga

The study of nearly 2,000 HIV-positive women in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and San Francisco who have been followed since 1994 found that many have been able to control their HIV levels, off and on.

Source: https://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/news/20190517/for-women-with-hiv-life-can-hurt-fight-for-health?src=RSS_PUBLIC

woman doing yoga

The study of nearly 2,000 HIV-positive women in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and San Francisco who have been followed since 1994 found that many have been able to control their HIV levels, off and on.

Beginner Body Weight Workout & Exercises: Lose Weight, Build Muscle ANYWHERE!

Source https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

So you want to get in shape, but you have no gym membership and don’t know what to do. 

Ruh roh…

That’s fine, you don’t need one to get in great shape! You can work out anywhere, like me in the photo above, doing push-ups on a cliff in South Africa.

Luckily, you can burn fat, build muscle, and get a great workout by just doing body weight exercises – no gym or workout equipment required.

Cardio can actually be one of the least efficient methods of burning calories (which I explain below). 

Why not give bodyweight training a try and be more efficient with your time?

I realize doing just STARTING bodyweight training can be intimidating, and you’re probably also thinking “this better be worth it!”

I know. I struggled with progress for a decade despite exercising regularly – it’s because I was training the wrong way!

After all, there’s nothing more frustrating than putting in effort for months (or years) and not seeing results. And unfortunately, this is what I see from most people:

Lots of well intentioned – but misguided  – effort when it comes to exercise and no progress!

You probably don’t have years to make the mistakes that I did, and you want to start getting results today. I hear ya!

In addition to the free workout below, we also offer 1-on-1 Online Coaching, where you’ll get personalized instruction for your body type and goals, and professional accountability from a Coach on Team Nerd Fitness!

Today however, you can get started with our free bodyweight circuit below in the comfort of your own home: you’ll complete one exercise right after the other without stopping, you’re both building muscle and getting a cardiovascular workout.

Combine that with a good diet and you got yourself a kick-ass plan to follow!

Why BodyWeight Circuits Kick Ass

lego push-up

What makes bodyweight circuits work so well?

Every body weight exercise involved utilizes multiple muscle groups, gets your heart rate pumping, and burns tons of calories.

Essentially, circuit weight training, or circuit bodyweight training, burns more calories than interval training, and that in turn burns WAY more calories than steady cardio. When you strength train, you burn calories.

Then, your body needs to spend hours and hours afterwards rebuilding your muscles, which in turns burns even more calories (they call this the ‘afterburn effect).

As we cover in our Coaching Program and the NF Academy, our nutrition will account for 80-90% of our success or failure when it comes to getting in shape, might as well spend our time exercising being efficient and strong, right?

Want to make better food decisions? Read our Beginner’s Guide to Healthy Eating.

If you’re trying to lose weight, spending hours doing cardio on a treadmill is a really crappy, boring, inefficient use of your time.

If you’re a busy person (and I know you are), why spend hours doing something when you can be MORE efficient and build a better physique with less time?

Enter the beginner bodyweight workout.

I’m going to take you through a basic home workout today that can be completed anywhere – in your house, apartment, out at a park, in your basement, on the moon, wherever.

Beginner Body Weight Workout & Exercises

This is a basic body weight circuit.

In a circuit routine, you’ll do each exercise in succession without a break in between (if you’re able).  Once you’ve finished all exercises in the circuit, do it again.

If you’re still able after the 2nd run through, go for a third.

Because all of these exercises come one after another, you’re bound to get tired – and that’s okay! We all start somewhere.

It’s better to stop and take a break than to do an exercise incorrectly.  If you can’t do all three circuits without stopping, great! That gives you something to work towards.

Before you start, don’t forget WARM UP – Never ever ever ever forget to warm up.  Make sure to get your heart rate pumping and get your muscles warm or you’re just asking for injury.

You can run in place, jump rope, do a few push ups, pedal on a stationary bike, do some punches and kicks, jog up and down your stairs, and/or twist and swing your arms and legs to get them moving!

Give it about 5 minutes, and don’t wear yourself out completely, but get your heart rate elevated and little bit of sweat never hurt anybody.

After the warm up, here is exactly what you need to do:

  • 20 bodyweight squats
  • 10 push ups
  • 20 walking lunges – 10 each leg
  • 10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug or another weight)
  • 15 second plank
  • 30 jumping jacks

After you’ve completed your workout at home, do some stretches. All of your muscles have been contracted from lifting and need to be stretched back out and rebuilt.

For either the body weight squats or lunges, if you can’t do them properly yet, it’s okay to put your hand on a support to keep your balance.

For the body weight squats, think of it like sitting back into a chair. If you can sit down onto a chair, and then stand immediately right back up without having to lean forward, you are in balance.

For the lunges, keep your eyes ahead and your upper body completely vertical. I had a slight bend at times in the video due to trying to exercise and explain at the same time.

I used a milk jug for my dumbbell, but you can use whatever is heavy enough for you. Find something that is challenging to lift 10 times in a row.

Do this routine 2-3 times a week, but never on consecutive days.  You don’t build muscle when you’re exercising, you build muscle when you’re resting.

Generally I like follow a pattern of strength training on one day, then 20 minutes of interval training on the next, then strength training, then interval training, and so on.

Generally, I try not to do a strength training routine (of the same muscle groups) two days in a row, as your muscles need plenty of time to recover.

An Important Note About Nutrition!

Along with this bodyweight routine, you need to make sure you’re eating properly!

A good workout and crappy diet won’t get you results.

After all, one of the rules of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion is “you can’t outrun your fork” and you can’t outtrain a bad diet!

This means if you don’t ALSO fix your relationship with food, then all the exercise you do won’t be helping you lose weight and building muscle.

We’ve actually developed a 10-level nutrition system and mindset blueprint in the Nerd Fitness Academy, but let me break this down into some basics:

  • Eat natural, whole foods whenever possible.
  • Leave the soda, candy, and junk food out of your system.
  • Sugar is worse than Jar Jar Binks – cut back on sugar and liquid calories wherever you can. The stuff is in everything!
  • Swap out the grains on your plate for vegetables when you can.
  • Make sure you get enough protein each day (meat, chicken, fish) – this helps with rebuilding muscles and things like that.

The raw honest truth: how you eat will be responsible for least 80% of your success or failure.

I’m not kidding when I say that. If you don’t develop a healthier relationship with food, no amount of exercise will get you there.

So if you’re doing this workout program because you’re interested in losing weight, know that training is only 10-20% of the puzzle!

The WORST is dutifully doing this workout routine for months or going to the gym for years and not getting results because you didn’t eat the right way!

That was me – I spent 6 years without results because I didn’t know how to eat correctly to go along with my training!

If you don’t have months or years to make mistakes, and just want your own Yoda to tell you what to do, you’re in the right place!

We’ve been helping busy people like you train at home and make better food decisions without hating life! It’s our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program, and it might be a great fit for you.

Schedule a call with us to learn more by clicking on the image below:

Help Me Help You

Thanks for reading up to this point – I hope you had a great time getting stronger and challenging yourself in a new way. Strength training is one of the pillars of Nerd Fitness – it makes literally every part of life better, will improve your physique, help you lose fat and build strength and muscle, and it can be done quickly, anywhere.

Stick with it! Do this routine a few times a week and note how much better you get at it.

If doing just one circuit of the workout was really challenging, no big deal! Write down how you did, and try to do just 1 more rep or exercise next time through.

The whole point is “do a bit more than last time.”

We’ve got you covered!

-Steve

PS: If this routine is too easy for you, I have an Advanced Body Weight Circuit too.  You’ve been warned 🙂

PPS: Don’t forget to download this Bodyweight workout sheet so you can print out the sheet and train at home!

###

Source https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

So you want to get in shape, but you have no gym membership and don’t know what to do. 

Ruh roh…

That’s fine, you don’t need one to get in great shape! You can work out anywhere, like me in the photo above, doing push-ups on a cliff in South Africa.

Luckily, you can burn fat, build muscle, and get a great workout by just doing body weight exercises – no gym or workout equipment required.

Cardio can actually be one of the least efficient methods of burning calories (which I explain below). 

Why not give bodyweight training a try and be more efficient with your time?

I realize doing just STARTING bodyweight training can be intimidating, and you’re probably also thinking “this better be worth it!”

I know. I struggled with progress for a decade despite exercising regularly – it’s because I was training the wrong way!

After all, there’s nothing more frustrating than putting in effort for months (or years) and not seeing results. And unfortunately, this is what I see from most people:

Lots of well intentioned – but misguided  – effort when it comes to exercise and no progress!

You probably don’t have years to make the mistakes that I did, and you want to start getting results today. I hear ya!

In addition to the free workout below, we also offer 1-on-1 Online Coaching, where you’ll get personalized instruction for your body type and goals, and professional accountability from a Coach on Team Nerd Fitness!

Today however, you can get started with our free bodyweight circuit below in the comfort of your own home: you’ll complete one exercise right after the other without stopping, you’re both building muscle and getting a cardiovascular workout.

Combine that with a good diet and you got yourself a kick-ass plan to follow!

Why BodyWeight Circuits Kick Ass

lego push-up

What makes bodyweight circuits work so well?

Every body weight exercise involved utilizes multiple muscle groups, gets your heart rate pumping, and burns tons of calories.

Essentially, circuit weight training, or circuit bodyweight training, burns more calories than interval training, and that in turn burns WAY more calories than steady cardio. When you strength train, you burn calories.

Then, your body needs to spend hours and hours afterwards rebuilding your muscles, which in turns burns even more calories (they call this the ‘afterburn effect).

As we cover in our Coaching Program and the NF Academy, our nutrition will account for 80-90% of our success or failure when it comes to getting in shape, might as well spend our time exercising being efficient and strong, right?

Want to make better food decisions? Read our Beginner’s Guide to Healthy Eating.

If you’re trying to lose weight, spending hours doing cardio on a treadmill is a really crappy, boring, inefficient use of your time.

If you’re a busy person (and I know you are), why spend hours doing something when you can be MORE efficient and build a better physique with less time?

Enter the beginner bodyweight workout.

I’m going to take you through a basic home workout today that can be completed anywhere – in your house, apartment, out at a park, in your basement, on the moon, wherever.

Beginner Body Weight Workout & Exercises

This is a basic body weight circuit.

In a circuit routine, you’ll do each exercise in succession without a break in between (if you’re able).  Once you’ve finished all exercises in the circuit, do it again.

If you’re still able after the 2nd run through, go for a third.

Because all of these exercises come one after another, you’re bound to get tired – and that’s okay! We all start somewhere.

It’s better to stop and take a break than to do an exercise incorrectly.  If you can’t do all three circuits without stopping, great! That gives you something to work towards.

Before you start, don’t forget WARM UP – Never ever ever ever forget to warm up.  Make sure to get your heart rate pumping and get your muscles warm or you’re just asking for injury.

You can run in place, jump rope, do a few push ups, pedal on a stationary bike, do some punches and kicks, jog up and down your stairs, and/or twist and swing your arms and legs to get them moving!

Give it about 5 minutes, and don’t wear yourself out completely, but get your heart rate elevated and little bit of sweat never hurt anybody.

After the warm up, here is exactly what you need to do:

  • 20 bodyweight squats
  • 10 push ups
  • 20 walking lunges – 10 each leg
  • 10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug or another weight)
  • 15 second plank
  • 30 jumping jacks

After you’ve completed your workout at home, do some stretches. All of your muscles have been contracted from lifting and need to be stretched back out and rebuilt.

For either the body weight squats or lunges, if you can’t do them properly yet, it’s okay to put your hand on a support to keep your balance.

For the body weight squats, think of it like sitting back into a chair. If you can sit down onto a chair, and then stand immediately right back up without having to lean forward, you are in balance.

For the lunges, keep your eyes ahead and your upper body completely vertical. I had a slight bend at times in the video due to trying to exercise and explain at the same time.

I used a milk jug for my dumbbell, but you can use whatever is heavy enough for you. Find something that is challenging to lift 10 times in a row.

Do this routine 2-3 times a week, but never on consecutive days.  You don’t build muscle when you’re exercising, you build muscle when you’re resting.

Generally I like follow a pattern of strength training on one day, then 20 minutes of interval training on the next, then strength training, then interval training, and so on.

Generally, I try not to do a strength training routine (of the same muscle groups) two days in a row, as your muscles need plenty of time to recover.

An Important Note About Nutrition!

Along with this bodyweight routine, you need to make sure you’re eating properly!

A good workout and crappy diet won’t get you results.

After all, one of the rules of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion is “you can’t outrun your fork” and you can’t outtrain a bad diet!

This means if you don’t ALSO fix your relationship with food, then all the exercise you do won’t be helping you lose weight and building muscle.

We’ve actually developed a 10-level nutrition system and mindset blueprint in the Nerd Fitness Academy, but let me break this down into some basics:

  • Eat natural, whole foods whenever possible.
  • Leave the soda, candy, and junk food out of your system.
  • Sugar is worse than Jar Jar Binks – cut back on sugar and liquid calories wherever you can. The stuff is in everything!
  • Swap out the grains on your plate for vegetables when you can.
  • Make sure you get enough protein each day (meat, chicken, fish) – this helps with rebuilding muscles and things like that.

The raw honest truth: how you eat will be responsible for least 80% of your success or failure.

I’m not kidding when I say that. If you don’t develop a healthier relationship with food, no amount of exercise will get you there.

So if you’re doing this workout program because you’re interested in losing weight, know that training is only 10-20% of the puzzle!

The WORST is dutifully doing this workout routine for months or going to the gym for years and not getting results because you didn’t eat the right way!

That was me – I spent 6 years without results because I didn’t know how to eat correctly to go along with my training!

If you don’t have months or years to make mistakes, and just want your own Yoda to tell you what to do, you’re in the right place!

We’ve been helping busy people like you train at home and make better food decisions without hating life! It’s our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program, and it might be a great fit for you.

Schedule a call with us to learn more by clicking on the image below:

Help Me Help You

Thanks for reading up to this point – I hope you had a great time getting stronger and challenging yourself in a new way. Strength training is one of the pillars of Nerd Fitness – it makes literally every part of life better, will improve your physique, help you lose fat and build strength and muscle, and it can be done quickly, anywhere.

Stick with it! Do this routine a few times a week and note how much better you get at it.

If doing just one circuit of the workout was really challenging, no big deal! Write down how you did, and try to do just 1 more rep or exercise next time through.

The whole point is “do a bit more than last time.”

We’ve got you covered!

-Steve

PS: If this routine is too easy for you, I have an Advanced Body Weight Circuit too.  You’ve been warned 🙂

PPS: Don’t forget to download this Bodyweight workout sheet so you can print out the sheet and train at home!

###

My experience with MAGIC

Source https://changingaging.org/blog/my-experience-with-magic/

I signed up for the M.A.G.I.C. Project two-day immersion course at the University of Southern Indiana (USI) not really knowing what to expect. This feeling only intensified once I walked into the class; there were people of all different ages, ethnicities, and walks of life milling around the room. We were greeted by the M.A.G.I.C. […]

The post My experience with MAGIC appeared first on ChangingAging.

Source https://changingaging.org/blog/my-experience-with-magic/

I signed up for the M.A.G.I.C. Project two-day immersion course at the University of Southern Indiana (USI) not really knowing what to expect. This feeling only intensified once I walked into the class; there were people of all different ages, ethnicities, and walks of life milling around the room. We were greeted by the M.A.G.I.C. […]

The post My experience with MAGIC appeared first on ChangingAging.

Sales-Driven Cultures Ruin Health Club Data

Source https://www.clubindustry.com/trends/sales-driven-cultures-ruin-health-club-data

Fitness data is only good if it is valid, but health club companies that are sales-driven tend to collect data that is suspect, according to the CEO of a business intelligence company that works in the fitness industry.

Source https://www.clubindustry.com/trends/sales-driven-cultures-ruin-health-club-data

Fitness data is only good if it is valid, but health club companies that are sales-driven tend to collect data that is suspect, according to the CEO of a business intelligence company that works in the fitness industry.

YogaWorks' Q1 2019 Revenue Grew 1.2 Percent, Despite Net Losses

Source https://www.clubindustry.com/news/yogaworks-q1-2019-revenue-grew-12-percent-despite-net-losses

YogaWorks recently reported a small increase in its 2019 first quarter revenue despite steadily declining stock prices and $3.3 million in quarterly net losses.

Source https://www.clubindustry.com/news/yogaworks-q1-2019-revenue-grew-12-percent-despite-net-losses

YogaWorks recently reported a small increase in its 2019 first quarter revenue despite steadily declining stock prices and $3.3 million in quarterly net losses.

Hot & Bothered

Source: https://womensbrainhealth.org/better-thinking/hot-bothered

by Women’s Brain Health Initiative: At midlife – roughly mid-forties to mid- sixties – many women juggle responsibilities at work (during the peak years of their careers) and at home (sometimes caring for both children and aging parents). At the……

Source: https://womensbrainhealth.org/better-thinking/hot-bothered

by Women’s Brain Health Initiative: At midlife – roughly mid-forties to mid- sixties – many women juggle responsibilities at work (during the peak years of their careers) and at home (sometimes caring for both children and aging parents). At the……

Past the Call of Duty

Source: https://womensbrainhealth.org/better-thinking/past-the-call-of-duty

by Women’s Brain Health Initiative: Traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression have been associated with an increased risk of developing dementia, either each on its own or in combination with one another. This is of particular……

Source: https://womensbrainhealth.org/better-thinking/past-the-call-of-duty

by Women’s Brain Health Initiative: Traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression have been associated with an increased risk of developing dementia, either each on its own or in combination with one another. This is of particular……

How I Lost 30 Pounds by Meditating (and All the Things I Gained)

Source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/c29jWk0pYYE/

“Clear your mind. Your heart is trying to tell you something.” ~Unknown

I recently lost thirty-plus pounds without trying or intending to. I remember excitedly sharing this news on social media one day, after stepping on a scale in my hotel room and being shocked. I don’t own a scale, so between the time when I had last weighed myself and this day, I’d lost over thirty pounds without being conscious of it.

After my public announcement, people from all directions contacted me asking me questions. Everyone wanted to know how I did it and what could they do to lose weight too. My heart could feel the longing and pleading in their voices. I wanted to help, but what a precarious situation to find myself in! Weight loss has many layers to it, and it is completely individual to each person.

Many were hoping to hear about what pill they could take, or a new diet-of-the-day to adopt, or hoping for a secret exercise program that they hadn’t yet tried. What was the next Beach Body, ketosis, paleo, juice cleanse, gluten-free, South Beach diet, Crossfit fad—that was actually going to work this time?

My answer to this riddle was surprising to all and too unbelievable for most of my friends. But there was a handful that said they would consider giving it a try.

I lost the weight because I’d started meditating. That is the concrete foundation of it all. Many felt baffled by my answer, but it was because of my meditation practice that I naturally made lifestyle changes that led me to lose extra weight I wasn’t even aware I was carrying around.

I was in grad school at the time, and for homework my professor assigned (prescribed!) meditation. I secretly rolled my eyes when she did this and thought to myself, “I’ll blow this one off.”

About a month later, at our next teacher/student review, she told me that she could tell I wasn’t doing the meditation homework. She followed her accusation up with, “I understand if you think you don’t need this. But how are you going to lead someone down this road who does need it if you haven’t walked this road yourself?”

I was shook! How could she possibly tell I wasn’t doing the meditation homework? And the way she just called me out on it? Shamed. As an “A” student, I felt humiliated that she could tell I blew off the assignment. The fact that she knew I wasn’t meditating was enough to get me to do it.

Right there, humbled down, I began.

For twenty minutes a day, we were to clear our heads and focus on only our breath. It was excruciating! It was so much harder than I thought it was going to be, which is humorous considering the reason I blew it off in the beginning was because I thought I already knew how to do it.

I couldn’t even sit still at first. I would wiggle all around. I’d give up and then start again. Over and over. For what seemed like forever I would get angry and think about how this wasn’t working, and I didn’t think I could do it, and maybe meditation was for better people than me. Finally, after struggling daily but keeping at it, a little over two weeks later, a shift happened.

It was like when you are learning how to snowboard and every day it’s hard, and frustrating, and you spend most of your time falling down, but then with giant relief, you have that moment where you finally link your turns and suddenly you just get it. Everything clicks, and you feel like you are floating on a cloud. Or like the first time you learn how to ride your bike. Or, when you are surfing and struggling and getting beat up by the waves, and then finally you catch your first wave, and suddenly you’re gliding.

It felt like that. It was a connection. It felt good!

After that experience, when I tapped into a feeling of complete ease, peace, and surrender, I felt like I finally understood how powerful meditation can be if you keep at it. And then it became easier for me to tap into that feeling each time I practiced. Gradually, it got easier for me to maintain that feeling for longer amounts of time during the meditation.

Eventually, I was able to maintain that feeling outside of the meditation. And this is when my life really began to change.

This deeper connection to myself felt really good. This new sense of being gave me a fresh perspective, a renewed reverence for myself, which propelled me to make some changes in my lifestyle. It didn’t seem too difficult because it felt like the next natural step to take. I felt called to live in a new way.

When you meditate, you grow your self-love muscle. It grows your self-respect. Self-respect means to honor and care for yourself. This new feeling and self-awareness motivates you to make different choices and do healthier activities with your mind, body and soul.

Meditation trains you to listen to the voice inside of you that is always looking out for your highest good. When we get really good at listening to that voice, we are led to treat ourselves and others with greater care. It is not to be underestimated how life-changing this can be.

The voice inside of me told me that I needed to start going to bed by 10pm. It urged me to stop eating certain foods. It told me to get my booty moving and do daily exercise outdoors. It nudged me to stop drinking alcohol.

These were some of the changes I was called to make to take care of myself better, and as a natural byproduct I lost thirty-plus pounds in a matter of months. I watched my body morph into a body so fit that I couldn’t even recognize myself in pictures. All without consciously trying to lose weight. Meditation simply led me to love myself better, and my dream body was the result.

I don’t know what habits you personally need to change for you to get a healthier, fitter body. But I do know the tool that will get you there. We all have different habits that keep us from our best self, but meditation will give you the clarity to weed out whatever it is that you need to change.

Meditation clears away our head chatter—everything that vies for our attention and keeps us from being our best selves. Our heart, the voice of love, will always be in a battle with the mind, the voice of our ego. Meditation helps us quiet the ego so the heart can talk.

When we approach weight loss as something we need to fight, obsessing over calories and punishing our bodies in workouts, it’s an uphill battle that’s difficult to win. An unhappy journey doesn’t lead to a happy destination. This method is exhausting. It doesn’t feel good, and it doesn’t make us feel good about ourselves.

You don’t have any more time to waste struggling against yourself, disliking yourself, or being unhappy with yourself. It’s time to try a new approach. It’s time to love yourself into better health.

When we choose to love ourselves more, we have a greater desire to treat ourselves better.

When I check in with myself before I eat, and ask myself what is the nicest food I can give to my body right now, I make different choices. Before, mostly all of my food choices were emotionally based.

Most of us don’t eat consciously; we eat emotionally, trying to stuff down feelings from the past or the present.

When we allow our emotions to rule us in this way, we are ignoring our guidance system—our intuition, our inner wisdom—about what our body needs to function at its best.

Self-betrayal is when we disregard what’s best for us, which only leads us to more unhappiness and triggered eating. This is a painful cycle to be in, and it comes with a cost. The emotional weight that we carry manifests itself as physical weight. This sets a foundation for stagnancy and disease.

Meditation stabilizes emotions. It lifts you up out of old patterns of thinking. It can set you free. Free your mind and the rest will follow.

It also helps you develop self-awareness so you’re less apt to unconsciously reach for comfort food when you’re feeling something uncomfortable. Instead, you’ll be able to ask yourself what inside you needs to be comforted. Then you’ll be able to confront your emotion instead of trying to stuff it down.

Craving comfort is really a call for love. Craving sweets is a call for more sweetness in your life. Rather than eating for your sadness, you’ll be able to see this craving as an opportunity to give yourself what you are really craving—love.

Then, over time, as you allow meditation to soothe your mind, your need for comfort dissipates. It helps you recognize that love doesn’t come from outside you; it comes from within you. When you understand this, you will no longer crave it. Love is an unlimited resource located inside you.

If you’re interested in sustainable weight loss, meditation is your key, though it’s not a quick fix. Nothing worthwhile is. A daily meditation practice will naturally lead you toward some lifestyle changes that will unburden you and lighten your load—mentally, emotionally, and physically. It will take some practice before you get the hang of it, but stick with it. Remember, it took a while for me to get it too. If I can do it, anybody can.

Now I know how my teacher could tell that I wasn’t doing the meditation homework. So much changes in you when you start meditating daily. I wasn’t connected to my inner guidance, and to those who are connected, it’s obvious when others are not.

I was living, eating, speaking, and acting unconsciously. I was led by my feelings instead of being grounded in love. So much of the world operates this way, hence why we see so much chaos, drama, and disease.

Looking back on this now, it astonishes me because I had no problem with the way I had been living, and I had no previous intention to change. I am so thankful I had a teacher who led me to meditation and held me accountable long enough for me to experience the benefits.

Only you can know what is best for you, and your inner guidance—your heart, your intuition—knows the way. Meditation will help you hear that voice. Don’t delay—begin your best life today!

About Jennifer Marut

Jennifer Marut is a certified sound healing practitioner and Ayurveda health and wellness coach in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of Dharma Unwrapped, a 21-step guide to discovering your unique life purpose. Follow her on Instagram @la_gypsygirl to learn more about Ayurveda, meditation, and sound bath events in the City of Angels.

Get in the conversation! Click here to leave a comment on the site.

The post How I Lost 30 Pounds by Meditating (and All the Things I Gained) appeared first on Tiny Buddha.

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“Clear your mind. Your heart is trying to tell you something.” ~Unknown

I recently lost thirty-plus pounds without trying or intending to. I remember excitedly sharing this news on social media one day, after stepping on a scale in my hotel room and being shocked. I don’t own a scale, so between the time when I had last weighed myself and this day, I’d lost over thirty pounds without being conscious of it.

After my public announcement, people from all directions contacted me asking me questions. Everyone wanted to know how I did it and what could they do to lose weight too. My heart could feel the longing and pleading in their voices. I wanted to help, but what a precarious situation to find myself in! Weight loss has many layers to it, and it is completely individual to each person.

Many were hoping to hear about what pill they could take, or a new diet-of-the-day to adopt, or hoping for a secret exercise program that they hadn’t yet tried. What was the next Beach Body, ketosis, paleo, juice cleanse, gluten-free, South Beach diet, Crossfit fad—that was actually going to work this time?

My answer to this riddle was surprising to all and too unbelievable for most of my friends. But there was a handful that said they would consider giving it a try.

I lost the weight because I’d started meditating. That is the concrete foundation of it all. Many felt baffled by my answer, but it was because of my meditation practice that I naturally made lifestyle changes that led me to lose extra weight I wasn’t even aware I was carrying around.

I was in grad school at the time, and for homework my professor assigned (prescribed!) meditation. I secretly rolled my eyes when she did this and thought to myself, “I’ll blow this one off.”

About a month later, at our next teacher/student review, she told me that she could tell I wasn’t doing the meditation homework. She followed her accusation up with, “I understand if you think you don’t need this. But how are you going to lead someone down this road who does need it if you haven’t walked this road yourself?”

I was shook! How could she possibly tell I wasn’t doing the meditation homework? And the way she just called me out on it? Shamed. As an “A” student, I felt humiliated that she could tell I blew off the assignment. The fact that she knew I wasn’t meditating was enough to get me to do it.

Right there, humbled down, I began.

For twenty minutes a day, we were to clear our heads and focus on only our breath. It was excruciating! It was so much harder than I thought it was going to be, which is humorous considering the reason I blew it off in the beginning was because I thought I already knew how to do it.

I couldn’t even sit still at first. I would wiggle all around. I’d give up and then start again. Over and over. For what seemed like forever I would get angry and think about how this wasn’t working, and I didn’t think I could do it, and maybe meditation was for better people than me. Finally, after struggling daily but keeping at it, a little over two weeks later, a shift happened.

It was like when you are learning how to snowboard and every day it’s hard, and frustrating, and you spend most of your time falling down, but then with giant relief, you have that moment where you finally link your turns and suddenly you just get it. Everything clicks, and you feel like you are floating on a cloud. Or like the first time you learn how to ride your bike. Or, when you are surfing and struggling and getting beat up by the waves, and then finally you catch your first wave, and suddenly you’re gliding.

It felt like that. It was a connection. It felt good!

After that experience, when I tapped into a feeling of complete ease, peace, and surrender, I felt like I finally understood how powerful meditation can be if you keep at it. And then it became easier for me to tap into that feeling each time I practiced. Gradually, it got easier for me to maintain that feeling for longer amounts of time during the meditation.

Eventually, I was able to maintain that feeling outside of the meditation. And this is when my life really began to change.

This deeper connection to myself felt really good. This new sense of being gave me a fresh perspective, a renewed reverence for myself, which propelled me to make some changes in my lifestyle. It didn’t seem too difficult because it felt like the next natural step to take. I felt called to live in a new way.

When you meditate, you grow your self-love muscle. It grows your self-respect. Self-respect means to honor and care for yourself. This new feeling and self-awareness motivates you to make different choices and do healthier activities with your mind, body and soul.

Meditation trains you to listen to the voice inside of you that is always looking out for your highest good. When we get really good at listening to that voice, we are led to treat ourselves and others with greater care. It is not to be underestimated how life-changing this can be.

The voice inside of me told me that I needed to start going to bed by 10pm. It urged me to stop eating certain foods. It told me to get my booty moving and do daily exercise outdoors. It nudged me to stop drinking alcohol.

These were some of the changes I was called to make to take care of myself better, and as a natural byproduct I lost thirty-plus pounds in a matter of months. I watched my body morph into a body so fit that I couldn’t even recognize myself in pictures. All without consciously trying to lose weight. Meditation simply led me to love myself better, and my dream body was the result.

I don’t know what habits you personally need to change for you to get a healthier, fitter body. But I do know the tool that will get you there. We all have different habits that keep us from our best self, but meditation will give you the clarity to weed out whatever it is that you need to change.

Meditation clears away our head chatter—everything that vies for our attention and keeps us from being our best selves. Our heart, the voice of love, will always be in a battle with the mind, the voice of our ego. Meditation helps us quiet the ego so the heart can talk.

When we approach weight loss as something we need to fight, obsessing over calories and punishing our bodies in workouts, it’s an uphill battle that’s difficult to win. An unhappy journey doesn’t lead to a happy destination. This method is exhausting. It doesn’t feel good, and it doesn’t make us feel good about ourselves.

You don’t have any more time to waste struggling against yourself, disliking yourself, or being unhappy with yourself. It’s time to try a new approach. It’s time to love yourself into better health.

When we choose to love ourselves more, we have a greater desire to treat ourselves better.

When I check in with myself before I eat, and ask myself what is the nicest food I can give to my body right now, I make different choices. Before, mostly all of my food choices were emotionally based.

Most of us don’t eat consciously; we eat emotionally, trying to stuff down feelings from the past or the present.

When we allow our emotions to rule us in this way, we are ignoring our guidance system—our intuition, our inner wisdom—about what our body needs to function at its best.

Self-betrayal is when we disregard what’s best for us, which only leads us to more unhappiness and triggered eating. This is a painful cycle to be in, and it comes with a cost. The emotional weight that we carry manifests itself as physical weight. This sets a foundation for stagnancy and disease.

Meditation stabilizes emotions. It lifts you up out of old patterns of thinking. It can set you free. Free your mind and the rest will follow.

It also helps you develop self-awareness so you’re less apt to unconsciously reach for comfort food when you’re feeling something uncomfortable. Instead, you’ll be able to ask yourself what inside you needs to be comforted. Then you’ll be able to confront your emotion instead of trying to stuff it down.

Craving comfort is really a call for love. Craving sweets is a call for more sweetness in your life. Rather than eating for your sadness, you’ll be able to see this craving as an opportunity to give yourself what you are really craving—love.

Then, over time, as you allow meditation to soothe your mind, your need for comfort dissipates. It helps you recognize that love doesn’t come from outside you; it comes from within you. When you understand this, you will no longer crave it. Love is an unlimited resource located inside you.

If you’re interested in sustainable weight loss, meditation is your key, though it’s not a quick fix. Nothing worthwhile is. A daily meditation practice will naturally lead you toward some lifestyle changes that will unburden you and lighten your load—mentally, emotionally, and physically. It will take some practice before you get the hang of it, but stick with it. Remember, it took a while for me to get it too. If I can do it, anybody can.

Now I know how my teacher could tell that I wasn’t doing the meditation homework. So much changes in you when you start meditating daily. I wasn’t connected to my inner guidance, and to those who are connected, it’s obvious when others are not.

I was living, eating, speaking, and acting unconsciously. I was led by my feelings instead of being grounded in love. So much of the world operates this way, hence why we see so much chaos, drama, and disease.

Looking back on this now, it astonishes me because I had no problem with the way I had been living, and I had no previous intention to change. I am so thankful I had a teacher who led me to meditation and held me accountable long enough for me to experience the benefits.

Only you can know what is best for you, and your inner guidance—your heart, your intuition—knows the way. Meditation will help you hear that voice. Don’t delay—begin your best life today!

About Jennifer Marut

Jennifer Marut is a certified sound healing practitioner and Ayurveda health and wellness coach in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of Dharma Unwrapped, a 21-step guide to discovering your unique life purpose. Follow her on Instagram @la_gypsygirl to learn more about Ayurveda, meditation, and sound bath events in the City of Angels.

Get in the conversation! Click here to leave a comment on the site.

The post How I Lost 30 Pounds by Meditating (and All the Things I Gained) appeared first on Tiny Buddha.

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