Yoga &/or Meditation: Why She's in Love with It

For those who know me, either personally or professionally, it’s no surprise that I am an avid and whole-hearted cheerleader for yoga and meditation. Over and over, I sing praise for (but try not to preach about) all of the benefits of a mind-body practice. My yoga classes sometimes sound like therapy sessions, and my work in individual and group sessions certainly resonate with tones of Eastern medicine, holisitic psychology, and integrated healing.

…but I never push. (As it turns out, attempting to push, force, control, insist, or fix people just doesn’t work – and it wastes a lot of energy).

However, I have noticed that almost all of my clients that have sustained any semblance of longer-term recovery, balanced living and wellness have one thing in common: a mindfulness practice. They do something, consistently, that involves A) being in their bodies and B) being in the present moment. Yoga just happens to be one of the easiest and most accessible ways to accomplish this, but is – by no means –the only option.

So why does it work?

Okay, first we have to go back. Way back. As lovely as it is to run around in our designer heels and fancy cars, we have to remember that our ancestors were cave people. We developed, biologically, from these very primitive and less sophisticated ancestors. Parts of our brain are primitive, and as sophisticated as our thinking can be, we still have our limbic system, firing away, in a similar fashion to our ancient relatives.

Imagine that you are a cave person and your survival depends on your ability to A) eat and B) not get eaten by a saber-tooth tiger. Imagine that you are out in the sunshine on a beautiful day, with the sun shining on your face, and feeling the soft breeze blowing in your cave person hair – and then BAM!!!!!!!! You hear a rustling in the bush. Immediately, you are prepared for danger because that sound may be a predator. You’re ready to run, or to fight – sending your parasympthatic nervous system into fight or flight response. Adrenaline pumps, and stress hormones are shot into your bloodstream so that you can survive.

Okay, so what?? We’re not cave people any more, so how does this apply to me and my life today?

Science has shown that our brains continue to demonstrate this negativity bias. In a split second, even when there is an infinite amount of positive stimuli to attend to, our brains with naturally, automatically, and because of evolution, zero in on the perceived threat, the “negative” experience, the rustling in the bushes.

And at one time, this saved our lives.

As the psychologist, Donald Hebb, put it: “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” Our thoughts, feelings, memories and behaviors leave behind lasting impressions on the brain – a lot like the grooves created by a stream flowing down a hill. These grooves are pathways, of sorts, that create the lens in which we perceive reality – both ourselves and the world. So very simply, our brain grooves set us up with a lens to perceive our reality in one of two ways: views that make us suffer, or views that lead us to happiness. Your experience matters.

As the intersection of science and Eastern philosophies continues to develop, the exciting news is this: there is a scientifically supported rationale for being nice to yourself. If your experience matters, this creates a substantiated argument that creating and experiencing more wholesome, calm, joyful, pleasant, and satisfying experiences will change your brain.

This is where yoga comes in. While there are many ways to access the elusive and healing “present moment”, we typically don’t learn them. We are top-heavy learners, relying on our rational minds, our intellect, and our reasoning to develop. We sit in desks and eat at scheduled times instead of moving our bodies and learning to trust our hunger cues. We learn to trust “what we are told” instead of our own intuitive sensations, essentially leaving the present moment behind over and over again to examine the past or to predict the future.

As Tara Brach points out, “the only place that is ever REALLY safe is this present moment.” And as for as our neurobiology is concerned, that is true. Whatever type of yoga class you sign up for, there is one unifying characteristic – breath. All yoga is (or at least should be) an exercise in finding the breath, yoking the breath to movement, and –alas- using the breath as a vehicle to come back to the present moment. That’s why yoga works. Eventually, the brain starts to change, and the cumulative effect of our nervous system registering the safety of this moment right now takes effect. I could sing praise for all the physical benefits of a regular yoga practice: joint health, muscle recovery, flexibility, and appetite regulation – but for me, the mental and emotional benefits have been profound.
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Earn Your Mac N' Cheese Tonight

Earn your mac n’ cheese tonight.

You have probably read something like this and other similar obnoxious advertisements at your local gym. And it annoys me every time. Can you imagine telling a child that they have to run 5 laps around the back yard to earn dinner? NO! Of course not. So why do we do that to ourselves? We often think in terms of:


30 min of biking for 2 pieces of chocolate

You can’t blame yourself for this type of thinking. It’s taught to you in just about every women’s magazine out there. But what would happen if we flipped our thinking?


2 pieces of chocolate for 30 min of biking

While I’m being a bit playful here, I’m serious about the principle. We have to start thinking about fueling our bodies for our busy days and physical activity rather than burning off our food and the associated guilt from eating. From a psychological and emotional perspective it is totally unproductive because it fuels the notion that eating is bad and is a sin that must be “atoned for.”

Why don’t you try turning your food/exercise equation on its head and let me know how it goes!

At the moment I have a book project I’m developing (in my brain for now). It’s geared towards helping people repair their relationship with exercise. If I was to write such a book, what would you want covered?

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Exercise: How to "make it count"

 * In order for my exercise "to count" it has to hurt
*In order for my exercise "to count" I have to do it 6 days a week, for at least an hour
*In order for my exercise "to count" I have to feel worn out after
*In order for my exercise "to count" I can't eat anything "bad" after

Ok, do any of the above statements sound vaguely familiar? When you see it written down, doesn't it looks somewhat abusive? Many people create totally unrealistic expectations of what their exercise should look like. And when they don't live up to those expectations, it's thrown out the window all together!

The Center for Disease Control has posted exercise guidelines for healthy adults. It states that in order to reap the health benefits from exercise, try to aim for 30 min of moderate exercise most days (not all) of the week. THIS INCLUDES: walking, riding a bike, doing water aerobics, mowing the lawn...perhaps hula hooping?

NEWS FLASH! You do not have to rake your body over the coals to benefit from physical activity. So lets let go of unrealistic, black and white goals around exercise.  Your best bet to "making it count" for the long run is to find exercise that you not only enjoy but can sustain. 

**Note: I tell all of my clients that a pre-requisite to any physical activity is consistent, adequate nutrition.

What are you feel-good exercise tips?


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Be Big

*Note: the post below is written by a client of mine, who happens to be extremely passionate about swimming. This article (in a longer form) appeared in the July/August 2011 New England Masters newsletter. She shared it with me and I was extremely eager to share it with you. Enjoy.

Recently at the pool I admired a guy swimmer’s newly peroxided hair. The guys around him said, “Yeah, we call him the Blond Baller now.” “Argh!” I screamed. For weeks I had been trying to come up with a female swim power phrase, the equivalent for “macho.” Our language doesn’t have many, or any, female swim power words.

The Blond Baller is a superfast sprinter, so I assumed the “Baller” part of his nickname referred to his fast (swim) stroke. I posted my female swim power language dilemma on the US Masters swim forum and got some interesting suggestions, many of them, ironically, from men—Piscine Goddess, Aqua Aphrodite, and Buff Babes—but none met my criteria of using body language words to convey power. I had my own pitiful list: Ball Busters (later on that one), Water Sweepers (thinking of housekeepers), Power Surgers, Tough-Breasted. Bleah.

Meanwhile, another thread on the masters swim forum was talking about Janet Evans’s possible return to Olympic swimming. A few guy masters swimmers close to her age began worrying that she would be able to beat them. One guy posted, “I used to think I was safe from being ‘chicked’ by masters women roughly near my age in distance races.” Another guy then suggested the term “outchicked” as a way to describe a powerful female swimmer, but this suggested a relational kind of power (aka “Ball Buster”) rather than pure female power.

I found some good nicknames for Olympic female swimmers: Faith Leech, a 1956 Australian Olympic freestyler, was known as the “Flying Fish” because of her streamlined length and “elegant” technique. Mary T. Meagher was known as “Madame Butterfly,” and AP quotes described Janet Evans as “a Force of Nature,” “a whirling dervish of a swimmer,” “perpetual motion.” There was one female-only suggestion from the masters swim forum that I sort of liked: “bitchin,’” as in “bitchin’ sprinter” (though it still has a slightly negative ring).

In the back of my mind, though, I kept thinking “Big Girls.” At a lot of swim meets, the really powerful female swimmers are big. Big shoulders, big arms, big backs, big quads, big muscles overall. They aren’t the majority, but they aren’t the minority either. I think of swimming as a sport where it’s OK to be “sized.” Big Women doesn’t do it for me—it’s gotta be Big Girls, to tie in to the link from childhood on that girls are supposed to be small. Petite. Svelte. Even if very strong, you can’t look it, else you risk being called manly or compared to former East German steroid-enhanced female Olympic swimmers.

I’ll take Evans’s “Force of Nature” any day, but I also want to say to every girl and woman who swims (or does any type of physical activity for that matter): Be Big. Take up a lot of space. Be a Big Force of Nature, a Big Whirling Dervish, a Big Powerful Bitchin’ Swimmer who doesn’t care about “outchicking” guys, but just wants to move with power and strength.

Be a Big Girl and be proud of it.
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Falling in Like with Exercise

 In the space of 7 days I had 3 clients tell me that they recently discovered that they truly loved getting physically active. Yes, I mean exercise (a dreaded word for some of you, I know, bear with me).  And I had to blog about this because all 3 stated that they started loving exercise when two things happened:

1. They were eating enough on a consistent basis. They were no longer overly restricting but getting adequate fuel to be able to sustain a workout.

2. They were NOT doing it with the intention of trying to lose weight. They were exercising because it was fun and felt good.

Now that, my friends, is what makes my job feel totally worthwhile. So many people, particularly women, dread working out. And I’d gamble that those women who hate exercise choose an activity they hate (does 60 minutes on the elliptical sound like hell to anyone else?) and are overly hungry (ie on a diet and trying to lose weight).

Just imagine what would happen if you had enough energy to dance your way through a zumba class, hike through the mountains, go for a stroll with a friend, take a restorative yoga class. If this sounds like something only dreams are made of, consider my tips for finding peace with exercise.

1. Don’t call it exercise if you hate that word.

2. Don’t do it in the name of weight loss. Check out this blog post for more detail as to why this point is so important.

3. Select activities that rejuvenate your body, not exhaust or deplete it.

4. Make sure that the types and amounts of exercise you are doing alleviates mental and physical stress, rather than contributing to or exacerbating stress.

5. Find the things you genuinely enjoy and NEVER with the intention of providing pain or punishment.

While my 5 tips may fly in the face of the advice in every Shape magazine article ever written, they just might help you find a happier, healthier balance when it comes to keeping your body strong and healthy.

And now, I gotta’ get out of my office to take stroll!

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Why a "Summer Body?"

Or a "beach" body, or a "bikini" body?

Why not a "rake-the-leaves" body or a "shovel-the-snow-then-go-cross-country-skiing" body? While we're at it, how about a "clean-the-house-then-go-grocery-shopping-and-carry-the-case-of-water-yourself-'cause-you're-just-that-strong" body?

And just how IS a summer body supposed to look when compared to a winter body? Assuming you even have a "winter" body in the first place (whatever that means).

The assumption is - at least in this part of the country, where we spend a good 6 months buried beneath layers of heavy sweaters and bulky parkas - that a "winter" body is a mess.

It's worthless and disgusting. It doesn't deserve to appear in public sans layers of heavy sweaters, and is ill-suited for display during the summer months without starving or over-exercising it into some magazine editor or diet pill/book/drink/meal company's idea of a "summer" body.

And we know what THAT looks like. . .impossible to achieve (photoshopping, anyone?), maintain (never again eat chocolate?), or even aspire to (genetics, remember those?).

Why waste all that energy trying to have an impossibly "perfect" body for just a few, short months? Why not work toward having the healthiest, strongest, happiest body you can, 365 days of the year?

Trying to make your body be someone else's vision of perfect will never, ever, ever, no matter how badly you want it, be doable.

If you're unhappy in your own skin, even the perfect "summer" body isn't the answer. . .you'll soon find another flaw. Then another. Then another.

I challenge you to embrace your physical uniqueness and kick that "summer" body idea to the curb.

This post was brought to you by Cathy Leman MA, RD. Cathy Leman is the founder and owner of NutriFit, Inc., a nutrition counseling, consulting, and worksite nutrition services business located in Glen Ellyn, IL. She is a registered dietitian, certified personal trainer, and holds a masters degree in health psychology.

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Exercise: Finding Your Happy Place

Exercise. Just say the word and notice what feelings and thoughts come up for you. If the word exercise is accompanied by a lot of negativity, you aren't alone. In addition to my role as nutrition therapist, I am also a certified personal trainer. And I have learned quite a bit while helping many people re-construct and find their own happy place with both food and exercise.

The reality is that our bodies, minds, and spirits need and crave movement. But many of you are battling busy schedules and damaged relationships with your bodies. How many times has an over-zealous exercise regimen been accompanied by a rigid/restrictive diet?  And you wonder why you hate it?!

If you would like to work on mending your relationship with exercise, the Weightless blog is a wonderful place to start. Margarita offers some pearls of wisdom, along with practical advice. Here are a few of my own suggestions to get you started:

* We take best care of the things we love. Appreciating and showing kindness to your body are the first steps to taking better care of it.

* Choose activities which are fun and make you feel good. Your friend may love the challenge of running a 5K but chasing your kids around the playground may be a much better option for you.

* It's ok to be selfish with your "me time." Making time for a little exercise often means other things (and other people!) may have to wait...and that's ok.

Have you mended your relationship with exercise? If yes, I'd love to hear what you learned. Send your thoughts my way: marci at marci rd dot com.

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A Call To Arms...Abs, Quads, Calves, Shoulders

Each month I try to post a blurb on exercise.  And this article (forwarded to me from a client, you know who you are and thank you) probably takes the cake.  Getting physical activity is about so much more than shaping and toning our tooshies.  And our culture's weight and body obsession has darn near ruined physical activity for many of us.  No, we won't ever look like the ladies on the cover of Shape Magazine (those air brushed fakes!) so let's stop trying.

And let's try to have a little fun with our exercise...you don't want to look like this lady to the left do you?

If reading this article doesn't inspire you to ditch Cosmo and embrace strength, I don't know what will.  Warning: this article does contain expletives. 
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The Exercise Balance

As both a dietitian in the field of eating disorders and a certified personal trainer, I've observed first hand what a complicated issue exercise can be for A LOT of people.

 "Working out" is often associated with punishment for eating or punishment for not looking a certain way.  It's easy to feel that your exercise regimen is never "good enough" and that you never worked "hard enough." Often, our motivations for exercise stem from a negative place, but then we wonder why we can get excited about doing it!  Many people have abandoned exercise all together while others work out so excessively their body is begging for a break.  And many people vacillate between these two extremes.

If you can relate to anything I'm saying, you may want to check out a useful workbook "The Exercise Balance: What's Too Much, What's Too Little, and What's Just Right For You" by Pauline Powers MD and Ron Thompson PhD.  Here's a blurb from the book: 

Healthy exercise means finding a balance between overtraining and inactivity. By using a combination of clinical studies and real-life examples, this book shows readers how to develop their own personal prescription for discovering that balance. Written by two specialists in the field of eating disorders, it details both ends of the exercise continuum, from compulsive exercisers who push their bodies to the limit to people with little or no physical activity in their daily lives.

Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, authors of Intuitive Eating, talk about the concept of Mindful Exercise.  Below are four components to keep in mind:
1. It is used to rejuvenate the body, not exhaust or deplete it
2. It enhances the mind-body connection and coordination, not confuse or disregulate it
3. It alleviates mental and physical stress, not contribute to and exacerbate stress
4. It provides genuine enjoyment and pleasure, not to provide pain and be punitive

Hopefully these words will help guide you in finding an exercise balance that's right for you.  Just as Aristotle's quote on my homepage says "For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one's strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases or preserves it."

Consider making a list of 5 reasons you like to exercise.  But here's the catch, they can't be related to burning calories or trying to shape/change your body into something it's not.  I'll start you off with my personal favorite:
1.) Helps to reduce stress and anxiety

Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Marci
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Fitness Fact: Feet!

A couple of months ago, a participant in my step aerobics class asked "Marci, my feet and shins have started hurting me, what could that be from?"  So I asked her how old her shoes were.  She thought for a minute and said, "hmmm, I've had these for about a year and a half."  After following my advice and investing in a great pair of shoes, she is free from foot and shin pain.

One of the most important things to think about when it comes to exercise is making sure your feet are taken care of.  Their job is to keep you upright and take the impact on a daily basis.  Plus, when your feet don't have the right kind of support, you'll start to experience pain in your feet, ankles, shins, knees, hips, and even low back. Two things to consider are the right fit and replacing them often.

1.) If you don't know what kind of shoe is right for your foot or the types of exercise you like to do, find a reputable store in your area.  I always recommend my Cambridge clients to go to Marathon Sports on Mass Ave (there are 6 locations in Massachusetts).  They have expert sales reps who are trained to analyze your feet and gait, to help guide you to just the right shoe.

2.) This article gives suggestions on how often to replace your shoes.  The general consensus seems to be every 5-6 months if you are using them on a regular basis.  Remember, if your feet starting aching, you've waited too long!

I often hear people complain that their feet fall asleep while exercising or that their feet hurt, even if their shoes are new.  There are two common pitfalls to watch out for.

1.) Don't tie your laces too tight!  Give your feet a little wiggle room.
2.) Consider buying a 1/2 size bigger than you normally would.  Your feet swell while exercising and you need space for your feet to expand.

Good luck and have fun!
Marci RD, Nutrition Therapist
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