Think Yourself Skinny

I love that Dr. Oz highlighted this concept in this morning's show.  I have been using and developing this technique for the past two years with fitness and weight loss clients.  I have been working with these kinds of clients for over five years. When I first added coaching to my personal training sessions I noticed how much emotional weight the women I was working with carried around. As we worked through releasing their beliefs about food, exercise, motherhood, family life, and the many ways that women guilt themselves, I noticed a significant difference in their performance and results. Emotional connection to everything was keeping the weight on. Emotional release was the first step. Belief about why their bodies were not cooperating came next. I worked with clients on the way they use food and exercise to get something that they wanted, which was always different than what they were voicing. Their deepest desires were about staying safe and secure in their world. Working with them on creating that safety outside of their bodies seemed to propel their results even further. When I added meditation to their weight lifting routines they were able to lift more weight and increased their endurance. Now that these bodies were experiencing incredible results I bumped it up an notch and after hearing a story about how the imaginative work of the muscle created a physical response I decided to experiment with virtual fitness. Olympic trainers use this method to increase the results in their athletes. As clients created a multi-sensory experience with an activity they actually felt the muscle response. After using this technique for a minimum of twenty minutes a day, clients were dropping dress sizes from size eleven to size four in less than three weeks. Now I teach physical mastery using the techniques highlighted in Dr.Oz's show. By using the power of the brain to change assist clients becoming conscious about their experience they feel good about what their food and exercise choices, experience fewer binge and purge moments, and resist impulse eating.

Habituation is the psychological theory behind the information presented on the show this morning. Habituation is the mind's auto pilot. We have two minds so to speak. The logical mind and the emotional mind. Some refer to the emotional mind as the "Monkey Mind," others the inner "Caveman." I like the caveman mind simply because it references our basic instincts for survival. The caveman in each of us makes quick decisions about risk based on easily retrieved information mainly images. The logical mind takes longer to access, sort, and compile information for decisions and because we make so many decisions with our caveman mind it has become lazy. Increased intentional involvement of the logical mind results in sound decisions, decreased emotional chaos, and decreased fear resulting in reduced stress, illness, hypertension, bad cholesterol, and fat.  The caveman mind uses the fight or flight mechanisms of the brain as it reacts to stimulus which turns off our immune system and routs energy to the adrenals, increasing insulin, adrenaline and cortisol into the body. The heart pumps harder to get blood to the extremities to prepare them for fight or flight. Adrenaline and insulin are pumped into the blood to provide fuel for the fight or flight, and cortisol increases to protect the major organs with fat to prevent damage.  All in all it is a perfect system. The glitch is that we live in an environment that is constantly filled with information for the caveman to draw on when assessing risk and depending on how highly we feel the probability of a thing happening to us the more it sticks in the quick memory system. If we have a highly emotional response to an event we see on TV or hear on the radio it increases it's stickiness in the caveman mind signaling it that this scenario is highly probable and to be on the lookout. Images about scenarios we don't feel will ever happen to us in a million years like being hit by a meteor are low on the caveman's priority list. The caveman thinking really comes in handy when there is a threat that we need to take immediate action on, other than that it can cause us a whole lot of trouble. The logical mind keeps an eye on the caveman but as long as the caveman seems to be doing a pretty good job the logical mind doesn't get involved, it just doesn't want to be bothered.

Increasing the involvement of the logical mind in decision making takes a little work. This is what I call conscious living. When you are using more of the conscious mind to make more of your decisions and using the subconscious caveman for what it was built for, fight or flight, you are living consciously and have more power in your life. You take on the power of creating the results you desire to experience in your life. The real secret is setting your mind to work in this conscious way so that your focus shifts to what you want and away from what you don't want.  Because the caveman is your auto pilot and we are all looking to make life easier as opposed to harder, I wanted to tell you that by repeating a behavior over and over again, it seeps into this caveman mind and resets your auto pilot. Similar to the example I like to use of the car with the manual transmission.  When you first learn to drive a car with a clutch it takes practice before it becomes "natural."  Any behavior you would like to put on auto pilot can be programmed into your caveman mind with practice.  This is what the psychologist referred to as habituation.Those beliefs you have about the way life works that are down deep in your subconscious and are effecting the way you react in the world can also be modified and reprogrammed. That's what I do, I teach you how to reprogram your thinking system to shift the way your are experiencing life by waking up the logical conscious mind and reprogramming your subconscious caveman mind to use its autopilot to streamline those logical responses to life's events, including how food and exercise impact your body.

The body is set up with systems that run perfectly and provide feedback when something is not working correctly.  Learning the language of these systems, how to interpret the feedback, and how to communicate effectively to adjust them is the key to creating change in your life. Being created of many layers of matter that are of different densities and vibratory frequencies we experience life through all of these layers and they all inform our experience. Simply by slowing down, breathing and thinking about our responses to input we become more effective and change what shows up in our experience. I tell people that as long as you are breathing you might as well make the most of it. And, as well as you are eating, moving, thinking, feeling, and using energy, you might as well make the most of it.  Breathing is one of the best ways to slow down and get the logical mind to get involved in your decisions. Taking three or four long breaths before acting slows this thinking process down and signals the logical mind that you want its input. If it takes you less than ten minutes to make a decision you are making it from the caveman mind. I have tons of resources, techniques, and methods for making the switch to conscious living. Keep an eye on my posts, Facebook, and my new Blog Talk Radio show to gain information that will assist you in living the life of your dreams.

Elle

Mastering the Bulge

According to World Health Organization, nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight, fifty percent of women and twenty-five percent of men are on a diet, over fifty-eight billion dollars are spent each year on weight loss products, and according to a U.S. Today online article, by Nancy Hellmich, obesity, thirty percent body fat or higher, will cost you twelve years of your life. In the Federal Trade Commission's Report on Weight Loss Advertising they clearly state that the reduction of obesity is the responsibility of the community as well as the individual then very soon into the report they state," Many of the products and programs most heavily advertised are at best unproven and at worst unsafe. By promoting unrealistic expectations and false hopes, they doom current weight loss efforts to failure and make future attempts less likely to succeed."



Physical mastery is essential to living BiG and while our community is producing products and providing resources the experts have pretty much doomed us to failure, as a collective society, we have agreed that certain things are true. We have agreed upon the information that food and exercise are the causes of thickness or thin-ness and that it is only through deprivation, pain, and punishment that our desires to reach our best body is obtained. Through my personal and professional experience as a fitness coach and a friend, I have listened to countless women, and men, discuss their personal fitness dilemmas, goals, aspirations, failures, successes, failures, likes, dislikes, frustrations and victories all in the name of health and fitness. The obsession with the body, food, and exercise does not sound healthy and neither do many of the methods. Most include eating too much of one thing and none of another, eliminating everything that tastes good, eating on a schedule (I am guilty of this one as well), regimented, rigid, and "rewarding," if you survive.


One definition of health is well-being mentally, emotionally and physically. I cannot imagine a world of well-being in any area of life especially in fitness where there is fighting with the body and where failure is preset “experts”. It’s as if we feel there are only two choices, either we live and do what ever we want when ever we want regardless of the result or the shape of the body, or we are rigid, regimented and deprive ourselves of the good stuff. I am still wondering what makes us punish ourselves for something that is so beautiful and amazing, a body that deserves to be celebrated and loved. I am wondering why we engage in failure, deprivation and rigidity? We are powerful creators. By the time, I was twelve I knew a great deal about the world and had accomplished many things. I had been in a dance group, performed on stage in a couple of musicals, and twirled a baton in several parades. I learned about boys and my body (ewe), had my first crush and my first kiss. I knew how to make a peanut butter sandwich, tie my shoes, and button my shirt. I knew my abc's, multiplication tables, addition, subtraction, that I loved to draw, the color pink and I had even had the chicken pox. Of course, I learned a lot of other great stuff and my point is that there is a lot to be done in twelve years, books to read, or write, babies to kiss, friends to be made, pies to bake, places to go, people to see, things to know and do. I do not want to miss all that I could experience in twelve years of life, do you?


When we get out of our own way, we allow our desires to come into our lives at quantum rates. Removing the barrier of obsession over the body’s physical appearance and performance is crucial to accomplishing purpose and living lives of passion. The spirit self is the highest working energy we have as living souls. When we allow our spirit self to lead through purpose and passion we live fulfilling lives. We live in a time where the power of thought is mainstream; thanks to Oprah and her attention on the authors of The Secret and Eckhart Tolle we new light is shed on our world as one of intention and manifestation. The body is the most intimate experience we have with matter so it makes sense that we have the ability to use intention to manifest a body that is in alignment with our purpose. By layering mental, emotional, and physical behaviors we can easily shape the body. Olympic athletes have been using virtual technologies to train their bodies for decades in concert with emotional and physical techniques for physical mastery. NLP practitioners use the brains ability to create a full sensory experience to rewrite the neuro-pathways creating greater performance and success for businesses, entertainers and other professionals. It is all about resourcing. According to the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, another definition for health is “a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.” Getting the body into the shape we deserve is less about external input, food and exercise, and more about internal mastery and resourcing.


Elle


LYFE© Strategies Coach
and Author of The BiG Skinny BUTt Camp©.


The BiG Skinny BUTt Camp© is an experience in revolutionary strategies for physical mastery using proven mental, emotional, and physical training methods. Rewrite your body contract so that it will do the job you have tirelessly been attempting without it's cooperation, discover the effortless virtual technology used by Olympic athletes for shaping and training the body's performance systems, and learn how to layer mental, emotional and physical action to enhance results.

Mediterranean Moderation

Simply consuming more fresh foods, herbs, whole grains, nuts, fish, replacing butter with olive oil, and moving more, you too can consider yourself a part of the Mediterranean diet craze. The little nuances in this eating style make all the difference, and when coupled with regular physical activity make a popular choice among many Americans looking for a new way to loose weight and keep it off. The Mediterranean diet is a perfect example of the principles of moderation and consistency put to practice in the way we choose to eat.


When creating balanced lifestyle strategies, especially those that include losing the excess in life such as weight, emotional stress, or activities, one must consider moderation in all things; exercise, food (especially dessert), fun, work, indoor and outdoor activities. Moderation is the key to consistency, which is the key to success. When applying tools such as new food choices that assist us to remove to the outer layers, or things in the present moments of our life that are in excess, we are better able to remove the under layers that sabotage our success.

Moderation motivates, as it is not extreme and does not lend its self to disappointment or discouragement we do not stop our progress to wallow in these feelings of failure. Fear and failure, plus the fear of failure are the biggest obstacles to making permanent change in our lives. We fear either change it’s self with all of its contingent emotions, or we fear that we will fail and never begin, or if we do begin in spite of the fear of failure, we create self-fulfilling prophecies about our failure. Any way you look at it fear gets in the way. Moderate changes in lifestyle are not scary because they do not require us to let go of so much of what is familiar all at once. So, moderation motivates because it is comfortable.

Slow and steady wins the race and I play to win, do you? In the parable of the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise wins the race with a consistently slow pace. The hare, assuming he has already won due to his confidence in his speed, foolishly falls asleep under a tree and wakes up too late to win the race. Those with who consistently apply themselves to change in a way that is simple and moderate will find themselves at the finish line sooner than they think. Imagine if you will, the last time you took on some fad diet. How long did it last before you were discouraged and gave up? What would be different had you chosen to approach your diet in a way that is moderate and consistent? Where would you be now?

A frog placed in cold water and brought up to boil is a cooked frog. A frog immersed in boiling water, immediately jumps out. Maybe that is too many analogies for one short commentary. However, the principle applies to moderation, which is like the cold water being heated; you are less likely to jump out of the pot, the diet, the activity, the relationship etc, if the changes are made at a moderate pace.

Leap into something new, fearlessly,

Elle

Breath Awareness

Here is a little exerpt from week one of the BiG LYFE Design workshop. In my experience one of the simplest ways to bring more peace into life it to breath. Breathing deeply relaxes the body, clears the mind, and slows the pace of a hectic life. Enjoy the process, feel free to print this off and use it at your convenience, and remember... just breathe.


Breath Awareness

Oxygen plays a vital role in a properly functioning system, it turns fat into carbon dioxide that we release as we exhale and water that supports the hydration of organs and tissues. Our stressful lives keep us in a continuous fight or flight mode promoting quick chest respiration that comes in handy for emergencies. Deep breathing reduces stress on the body telling the brain to return all systems to normal. Breath is also symbolic of accepting, allowing, and gratitude for the gift of life. To retrain yourself to breathe deeply take a moment to discover how you are using breath then practice the continuous breathing exercise that follows.



Do you hold your breath for any length of time? If so, how long?





Do you hold your breath in certain situations? If so, when? Describe the situations and the feelings associated with those feelings.





Do you fully inhale when you are accepting a breath? If not, why?





Do you fully exhale when you let go of a breath? If not, why?





What do you expect from the breath?





What do you receive with each breath?





What do you release with each breath?





When do you expect to accept breath fully?





When do you expect to let go of breath fully?

Continuous Breathing (1-2 minutes)
Imagine in your mind, a vast ocean. See the ocean ebbing and flowing in a soothing rocking motion. Listen to the sound the water makes as it moves onto the beach and then retreats to itself again. Feel the rhythm of the water as it moves, rocking you back and forth, back and forth. Now match your breathing to this rhythm, breathing in and out through your mouth, fully expanding and contracting the diaphragm. Place the index and middle fingers of one hand at the base of the sternum and press in one half inch. Feel the diaphragm as it presses against the fingers, pushing out on them. Continue practicing this breath for a few minutes and use this breath throughout each of the meditations in this section.

Here’s the Skinny…

What was your experience with breathing deep into your belly? What did you feel? Were you able to allow your belly to relax fully? What did you notice in your body as you practice this breath? How did you feel after you were finished with the exercise?