The Daily Standard

The best way to stay fit requires some form of daily exercise.

Having a daily exercise routine has always helped me feel balanced. My routines have changed over the years but I've always relied on them to keep me centered and grounded. My weight hasn't fluctuated much in over 10 years and I know it is because of my dedication to a consistent exercise routine.

Exercise doesn't have to be grueling... it just has to be consistent and you experience the greatest benefit by doing it daily.

Right now, my daily routine consists of a triad of exercises that my husband has named "The Daily Standard". David and I both love to exercise with his product, the BOSU Balance Trainer. It is our favorite way to workout and has been yielding great results. Most of the exercises we do involve simply the BOSU ball and our body weight which is nice because they are easy to do at home.

The first exercise is called the "BGDGU" (aka: BOSU Get Down Get Up). You start by standing in front of the Balance Trainer and proceed to bend at the knees and the hip, lowering your butt down to the dome. Once seated on top, extend your legs out in front of you and lean your upper body back, coming to a plank like position with your lower back supported by the dome. (You can start by leaving the heels on the ground and later progress to balancing in a full supine plank with your feet lifted off of the floor.) Finish by bringing your feet back underneath you and use the momentum of your hands pressing off of the dome to come back up to standing. Repeat, performing 15 repetitions.

The second exercise is a downward dog-to-press flow movement. Start with the BOSU ball in front of you. Come into the downward-dog yoga position, with your hands toward the front of the Balance Trainer and your feet on the ground. Your body will look like an upside-down V. From here, shift forward, bringing one knee to the dome and place your hands on the floor in front of the BOSU ball. Lower your upper body down for a push-up and then press yourself back, bringing your hands back to the dome and your feet back to the floor to revisit the downward-dog position. Repeat the movement 10 times, alternating knees.

The third exercise is the Standing Balance with Head Tilt. Begin by standing on top of the BOSU dome. Take a deep breath and raise your arms overhead while tilting your head back, shifting your gaze to a point on the ceiling. Then, as you exhale, bring your arms back down to your sides as you tilt your head down, looking at a point on the floor. Repeat this movement 10 times and for an even greater challenge, try doing it with your eyes closed!

They say that it takes 21 days, or 3 weeks, to form a habit. Completing 4 sets of "The Daily Standard" takes about 15-20 minutes, depending on your speed and skill level. 15-20 minutes a day is hardly an unreasonable amount of time to invest in your health and well-being. The exercises in "The Daily Standard" include all of the muscles in the body and allow you to train cardio, strength, flexibility and balance simultaneously! Do it every day for 3 weeks and see how you feel.

Making the commitment to exercise on a daily basis is guaranteed to transform not only your body, but also your mind. Fortifying your mind through exercise will help you make healthier nutrition and lifestyle choices that will affect more aspects of your being than you might realize. Exercise is the key to strength, vitality and longevity in life. Take 3 weeks and make it your new Daily Standard of living.

Volunteering

I strongly believe in volunteering.

Giving back to the community through volunteer work is one way I have found to maintain balance in my life. We have all been blessed in different ways and I believe that a great way to fully appreciate those blessings is by sharing what we have with others. I'm not trying to sound self-righteous or pat myself on the back but I do think that what goes around, comes around and sometimes the most rewarding, fulfilling work doesn't come with a paycheck.

What's great about volunteering is the number and variety of projects you have to choose from. You can volunteer for a day or up to a year (depending on the program) and can volunteer your time, if you have it, or your support through donations. I make it a point each year to choose at least one volunteer project to commit to. In the past, I have taught Sunday School, mentored foreign exchange students, and donated gifts to Thanksgiving and Christmas charities.

This year, I decided to volunteer with a tutoring program called "Everyone A Reader". I go to a local elementary school once a week for an hour and a half and read books with four first graders. I see the same four kids every week so we are able to get to know each other and I can really help them progress in their reading skills. The kids who are assigned to tutors are kids who would benefit from the extra one-on-one attention and it is said that their reading skills improve by a couple of levels by the end of the year. In only a couple of months, I have seen each of them advance by 4-5 reading levels and have seen their confidence and interest in reading increase.

What I've really noticed, though, is the bond and relationship we've created through our time together. Some days, the kids are more interested in talking to me than they are in reading so I like to let them tell me stories and share what's on their mind. What's interesting is that they enjoy reading the books more now that we have established a relationship.

At first, I was worried about all of the chatting, concerned that we weren't reading the books and staying on task. What I eventually realized is that developing a bond and a connection with an adult is part of what the tutoring program is all about and is what actually makes learning for these kids easier, more interesting and more engaging.

But isn't that true for all things in life? That interaction, connection and relationships with other people make work and life experiences more meaningful and rich? It's as the saying goes that "two heads are better than one" because when there are two heads, there are also two hearts and when hearts connect, wonderful things happen.

And that's what volunteer programs are all about - reaching out to other people with your heart to hopefully connect with theirs; giving people hope, inspiration and encouragement, free of charge. Creating a relationship through volunteer work is one of the most genuine bonds you can make because your participation is, of course, totally voluntary. And your reward is the smile it puts on your face, the love it puts in your heart, and the satisfaction of experiencing the strength and power of human relationships.

What organizations have you volunteered with? I'm always looking for new ones to try!

Letting Go

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Oprah Winfrey. I love watching her show and I have our TiVo set to record it so that I am able to choose exactly which episodes I want to see.

I relate to her shows because I believe that Oprah is in the process of finding her balance in life too. She has been through a lot personally and has achieved great things professionally and financially. It only makes sense that a woman in her position would need to find a way to maintain a sustainable balance in life and a lot of her shows focus on helping other women do the same.

I was especially touched by yesterday's show. It was about young children who are obsessed with their looks. Little girls as young as 3 and 4 years old were shown throwing tantrums over feeling ugly and refusing to eat anything but fruits and vegetables for fear of getting fat. The three year old reads Victoria's Secret catalogs, insists that her mother let her wear makeup and cries in despair if her hair isn't perfect. When she feels pretty, she is happy but if she for any reason feels ugly (which seems to be often), she is miserable and has difficulty functioning. The four year old matter-of-factly will point out people who are fat and people who are skinny and refuses to eat anything that she thinks will make her fat because she believes that fat people are ugly. She exercises every day and will literally only eat fruits and vegetables.

Both of these stories are heartbreaking. The children's concerned mothers were on the show explaining to Oprah that they felt that this behavior began after their girls started going to school - that other little girls at school were influencing their self-esteem. However, after talking to each mother and examining her own lifestyle habits, it was clear that they were the ones primarily influencing their children. The 3 year old's mother is personally obsessed with her own looks and said herself that she thinks she is unattractive and the 4 year old's mother has battled eating disorders throughout her life and presently exercises once or twice a day and measures out all of her food portions. Is it really any wonder why their daughters obsess over the same things as they do?

It is said that we develop and establish our personality by the age of 6 years old. Therefore, the years prior to that are extremely impressionable and critical to the formation of healthy self-esteem. Dr. Robin, Oprah's resident psychiatrist, explains that mothers unconsciously hand down their insecurities to their children and that the process actually begins as the child leaves the womb. These little girls are truly in danger of permanently scarring their level of self-esteem unless their mothers are able to heal their own wounds. It is one thing to read or hear about such theories but seeing living examples affecting the lives of mere babes was quite a wake-up call.

We all have our issues - the emotional baggage we carry around with us - but never before have I been so motivated to do what it takes to check my baggage at the door. It is interesting to consider how the specific esteem issues we have could be passed along to us from our parents, how our behaviors could mirror or reflect the issues they have had with their own self-esteem. What I do know for sure is that I don't want my children to struggle with my esteem issues and that is reason enough for me to face up to them now.

For anyone, this is a daunting task. As I considered it, it scared me! I felt like if I didn't have my baggage to carry around with me anymore, I didn't know what else I would think about! Suddenly, I saw myself as an empty slate - that everything that had defined me would be gone. And that was precisely my fear of letting go of my baggage - that I wouldn't know who I was without it.

It was a startling yet amazing revelation, what Oprah likes to call an "Ah-ha" moment. I realized why creating change in your life can be so difficult - why people have trouble losing weight, advancing in their career, finding the relationship they want, or essentially getting what they want out of life. It's because we all have trouble processing, healing and then LETTING GO of our wounds so instead, we let them define who we are and determine the shape of our lives.

What is necessary to heal is making a conscious decision to permanently put our hurt, disappointed, and insecure feelings to rest and replace them with what is true about who we are, what we have, and what we want today. Not an easy task by any means but the most critical part is figuring out what will REPLACE the parts you decide to lose.

The key is to start thinking of yourself in a different way. For a long time, my self-esteem has revolved around how I look and that has influenced a lot of decisions I have made in terms of how I spend my time both physically and mentally. I've been feeling for a while that mentally, I have outgrown this concern but it has permeated so much of my life that I was afraid to let go of it. I've been afraid of letting go of that which I felt defined me for fear of exposing what may (or may not!) lie underneath.

It is time for me to step out of these old shoes and into something new. Redefining yourself is difficult but not impossible. I've decided to embrace the natural changes I am seeing in my life. I see that these days, I love reading and writing and am finding satisfying ways to fill my time with those activities. I'm appreciating a "quieter" time in my life and am enjoying the peace of introspection. A lot of this is in contrast to previous time spent in a faster lane but it is what best suits me now, today, in this moment.

I am grateful for having seen this particular episode of Oprah's show. I believe that if we really want to see change in the world, we need to realize that it starts with us and our behavior. I want to give my kids the best chance I can to start life fresh and march to the beat of their own drum. My baggage doesn't need to travel any further.

Accepting Change

I used to hate change and at some points in my life, fear it. But I’ve come to understand and accept the fact that changes in life are inevitable and are actually what inspire growth and the possibility of new things.

I think what I have feared the most about change is the chance that I would come away from it a different person, someone who I didn’t recognize or know. What I didn’t realize is that change offers a wonderful opportunity to reinvent yourself, to make aspects of your life different or better than they were before, to evolve and experience life in a new way, and to broaden your horizons.

The changes I have had the most trouble adjusting to typically involve relationships. I have always had the desire to connect very closely and intimately with people. My parents tell me that as a little girl, I loved to wave and say hello to almost everyone we’d pass on the street. I had a heart that was open to the world and wanted to embrace the energy of as many people as I could. To this day, I am still fascinated with people – how they think, feel, interact, and behave. I love to put myself in other people’s shoes and imagine their position in the world, considering life from their perspective. It is a great exercise in compassion, to truly see the world through someone else’s eyes, and it makes me feel connected and alive.

I have been close to many people in my life and to the ones whom I have been closest, I have given myself, 110%. However, I have learned that people move out of our lives as quickly as they move in. That your best friend might move to another school, another state, or another country. That physically, in person, you might not have the same relationship for as long as you both thought. The pain of losing face time with someone who you hold dear is a change that, for me, used to be temporarily devastating until I changed my perception of what was happening.

What I feared about changes in friendships and relationships was the feeling of abandonment – that I had been left for something bigger and better in life. Now, I don’t see it that way. I believe that friends come into our lives at different times for different reasons and that allowing them to come and go is okay. I believe that we all have different gifts and lessons to share with each other and sometimes, the lesson has been learned or the gift has been shared and it is time to move on and let each other grow in that experience. I also believe that old relationships can come back to us later in life or may simply remain a comforting memory in times of need.

All of the relationships I have had with people contribute to who I am as a person. In a way, they walk with me all of the time. Understand that the company you keep affects and influences your foundation, your spirit. Learn from them and all of their triumphs and mistakes. Let yourself grow and evolve in the spirit of those around you, those who have come into your life for a season of time, and let the experience change you. Open yourself up to the possibility of becoming a new person with new thoughts, new dreams, new desires. And rest assured that even as friendships change and life moves on, having invested in those relationships, you will never be alone.

standup.org

Every 25 seconds, another teenager in America drops out of high school.

Close to 752,000 students this year to date have already dropped out.

The school system in America is failing and something needs to be done.

I saw an interview with Bill and Melinda Gates on television last week which pointed out the American epidemic that is our public school system. Their campaign highlights the fact that we are trying to graduate kids in 2006 from a school system that was designed for life in 1956. Jobs are different now, culture and lifestyle are different now, and public schools are still following rules and using curriculum that were designed with a different workforce in mind. The system needs major updating if we want to strengthen and train a new generation to be successful and productive in today's economic structure. With so many people dropping out of school, never finishing a high school level education or entering into college, we are severely limiting the success and growth of our community and economy. If we don't make strides to overhaul education, we will become seriously imbalanced.

There are a number of people and organizations popping up to start tackling the problem. Charter schools are generally independent from their district which allows them to make their own decisions and impliment them quickly. A great example is High Tech High here in San Diego. Their cluster of schools are amazing places where project-based learning is emphasized. Kids are also using computers and are learning advanced programs and applications used by professionals in business and technology. What schools like this are doing is giving students the current and modern tools they will need to be successful in today's rapidly changing marketplace.

What will be equally, if not more important to the changes made in public eduation is the reinstitution of physical health education to each and every day. It is the one shortcoming I see in a model like High Tech - they don't require daily physical activity in their curriculum. They offer a period three days a week called "x-block" which serves as an elective period. Teachers are required to create a class they want to teach and students choose a different one each semester. Many of the "x-blocks" are physically active; they offer a running group, sailing, rock climbing, and yoga. But, they also offer study hall, chess, yearbook, and one called kindergarten where they eat milk and cookies and take naps. I think that "x-block" is a great idea as it is always nice to give students a variety of electives to choose from, but I believe that physical education should be a daily course required by all students if we want to raise a nation of healthy, vital individuals.

Obesity and type II diabetes are becoming increasingly problematic amongst young people and children. I believe that the elimination of physical education in schools has been a major contributing factor. It simply doesn't make sense not to teach our children how to live a healthy lifestyle, especially in light of the fact that advances in technology have allowed us to become less and less active on a daily basis. Never before has physical activity been more important to our health but it is the first class or program to be cut on a tight budget. Not only does movement keep your body fit, it also keeps your mind fit. I find that I literally think better and more creatively while I am physically moving. Part of the reason why I love long distance running is because of the way it activates my thoughts. Exercise stimulates all of the systems of the body, gets blood and fluid moving and circulating, and strengthen and activates neural connections in the brain and nervous system. In short, exercise helps you think, focus and concentrate better. Exercise releases certain neurotransmitters responsible for mood and energy production in the body. Perhaps if kids were taught and encouraged to move more, on a daily basis, they would be able to tap into the motivation they need to be engaged in their studies, their work and their life.

In this day and age, exercise needs to be a part of everybody's daily routine. We simply have to make time for it otherwise our health and ultimately our productivity as a nation will suffer. Kids will make exercise a habit if adults structure it into their day (and if they see adults exercising daily themselves!). 30 minutes a day is the minimum that will help and anything more is even better. Habits are hard to break the older we get so why not instill GOOD habits into everyone from an early age? It only makes sense that we should bring physical education back into schools on a daily basis and make it a requirement, not an option. Along with the education in exercise, kids should also be taught healthy eating and lifestyle habits. We have to remember that physical education isn't recess - it is a class that teaches us how to nourish and care for our bodies. A strong and healthy body leads to a strong and healthy mind. The collapse of one will stifle the potential of the other. If we want our kids to finish school and become productive members of society, we need to give them the tools they need to succeed in life. It is time to impliment the integration of mind, body and spirit into the public school system and bring our kids back into the twenty-first century.

** The Gates' have created a foundation to support the progress of a movement to change public schools. Visit www.standup.org for more information or to get involved. **

Making Decisions

In my opinion, the eighth deadly plague should have been the curse of indecision! A person's decision making process is so critical that it can (and does) literally change the course of your life. Yesterday, I was out running in my neighborhood on the sidewalk. It is proper etiquitte to run on a sidewalk in the same way that cars drive on the road - staying to the right. However, many times, I find that I am running head on toward a person who is walking toward me staying to their left. At this point, if you don't share the same notion of "rules of the road", how do you decide who is going to move? If you wait too long, inevitably you will crash. It made me realize that the best thing to do is to choose your path and stick to it. I've found that if I am strong and decisive up front, whoever or whatever I am up against will adjust their course accordingly. Because I was moving faster than the woman walking toward me, I decided to move over to my left, allowing her to continue straight along her path, essentially running around her. What I noticed is that she did not have a clear plan and became flustered when I moved, slowing down and shrugging her shoulders as if to ask "Where should I go?". I knew where I was going and I also knew that I wasn't putting her in any danger but she seemed uncertain and hesitant thus increasing the likelihood that we would collide!

I use this as an example because I believe that we encounter different forms of indecision every day and I also believe that it is a symptom of a lack of self-confidence or self-esteem. Everyone struggles with confidence and esteem issues at some (or many!) point(s) in their life and it usually shows up in our behavior. I've learned that it is important to discover and define "who you are" at various stages in your life. I am a different person today than I was in high school, in college, and even just a few years ago. Change is inevitable and in America, we constanatly have the gift and opportunity to reinvent ourselves and allow for those changes to happen. I don't want to be the same person my whole life. The foundation and root of my being won't change but aspects of my personality and my likes/dislikes will - and that's OK. What is important, then, is to understand that and constantly take the time to check in with yourself and learn about who you are today so that when faced with decisions or choices in life, you know how to respond.

If you find that you are constantly asking yourself what you would have done in any given situation as a person you were 2,5,or 10 years ago, then you really aren't living in the present moment, drawing from the years of experience you have had since then, appreciating how those experiences have shaped you into who you are today, right now. It can be hard to let go of the past but keeping your life in balance requires you to bring yourself up to speed and connect with yourself in the present moment.

The truth is that we really aren't anyone other than who we are right now, this minute. Decide to get to know, understand and respect that person and discover how much easier it is to be decisive.

Protecting Your Energy Field

The energy given off by human beings can be very powerful. I know because I am extremely sensitive to other people's energy. Have you ever noticed how your mood can suddenly change by the presence of another person? How you can go from feeling low to high or energetic to exhausted in the midst of a simple conversation or interaction? This is not happenstance. It is a phenomenon created by the transfer and absorption of energy between two people.

I only started to make sense of this a few years ago when I began taking classes in holistic health, working toward a certificate in massage therapy. I had never before considered why I reacted to certain people in certain ways and in most situations, developed coping mechanisms to help me get through it. When you are particularly sensitive to other people's energy (meaning their moods, feelings and projections), you tend to be empathetic, meaning that you not only sympathize with another person's situation, but you actually put yourself in their shoes in an attempt to experience what they might be feeling. It is a very deep way of connecting with and relating to people but if it is improperly managed, it can be draining. Eventually, you have to find a way to diffuse that other person's energy from your body.

I believe that I used two different strategies - running/exercising and drinking alcohol. Running, in a very literal sense, is a great way to diffuse energy. When I run (or do any form of exercise for that matter), I am able to mentally and physically let go of thoughts or feelings that are weighing me down. Somehow, at the end of a workout session, I am back to myself and my own energy field is stronger. I used drinking as a strategy when I was younger - in high school and college - because it too released any tension I had built up and for the time being, prevented any more tension from building.

What I discovered as I got older was that I was no longer interested in using alcohol as a tool to manage my emotions. I wanted to find a healthier, more interesting way to interact with people while keeping my energy field in tact. This has been a process of exploration for me. The idea of getting centered, going inside of yourself to that place where your energy reserves run deep, to your core, is what is helping me grow out of adolesence into adulthood. It is helping me learn how to strongly connect and identify with the heart of my beliefs and my values, two things that majorly influence our energy systems. I've found that the stronger my energy field is, the easier it is for me to still empathize with people but deflect rather than absorb their energy.

I've found a couple of great ways to center myself. One of them is by taking deep breaths. To some people, it sounds silly and in the face of stress, most people forget to do it but the truth is that it really works if you decide to practice it religiously. Taking a few long, slow, deep breaths cardiovascularly reduces your heart rate and encourages the parasympathetic nervous system to kick in and help you relax. Over time, utilizing breathing strategies can help lower your blood pressure, reduce headaches and curb anxiety. In the moment, deepening your breath will calm your body and your mind and give you access to the center of your thoughts and feelings. It is a great strategy to use anytime, anywhere.

BOSU exercise is another method of centering I use on a regular basis. Nothing brings you to your core faster than closing your eyes on an unstable surface. Closing your eyes in general can be intimidating because we are no longer distracted by anything we can visually see. In a sense, we are forced to look at and interact with ourself on the inside and the experience can be very revealing. If you aren't open to it, you will get frustrated and fall but if you open yourself to the possibility of learning a little more about who you are at your core (and aren't afraid of the brutal honesty that comes with it), you will find a whole new dimension of being, energy and light that you can begin to access and tap into when you need to.

Understanding energy and how it affects other people and in turn the world around us is a complex endeavor. At our essence, all we are is energy so it seems natural that we would be sensitive to it. Learning how to cope with and manage human energy is a fascinating way to fully experience life and our relationships. The trick is to find a way that works for you and to practice it religiously.

The Strength to Finish... and keep going!

"The race of life is a marathon, not a sprint."

A cliched phrase, perhaps, but one which I am finding more and more often to be true.

I started training for the Rock and Roll Marathon back in January. It will be my first full-length marathon and the training is quite different than what I am used to for half marathons. I assumed that once you reach a certain distance in running, going futher isn't that much harder, it's just longer. What I've learned is that adding distance is not only more demanding physically but also mentally!

I hit my first training "wall" a few weeks ago. My body ached when I ran and my mind wouldn't stop focusing on it, making it very difficult to motivate myself to get out there and keep going! It wasn't until our group did a 2-hour pace run that I realized that I had been trying to train for the marathon at my half-marathon pace. Essentially what that means is that I was running at a pace that was faster than I could comfortably sustain over a longer distance. My coach encouraged us to start the pace run conservatively and to finish the two hours feeling like we could keep running, not like we were dying to stop. He stood at points along the course for the whole two hours asking us how we were feeling to remind us that we should be feeling energized, not exhausted. I minded his advice and as a result, found a pace that was comfortable, sustainable and actually energizing... and it really wasn't that much slower than I had been running - maybe only 15 seconds or so per mile! I decided that over 26 miles, I could afford to add 15 seconds to my per mile time in exchange for greater physical and mental strength and endurance!

This revelation was refreshing and gave me the motivation and inspiration to continue to train. I had come to a point where I didn't know if I could continue - my body and mind both felt exhausted - but finding a way to make the difficult easy helped me move forward. I learned this principle through my husband David's BOSU training philosphy. He believes in finding ways to make exercise and movement as fluid and easy on the body as possible. He believes that performing repetitions of exercises/movements should be for "learning, not burning" implying that burning out a muscle so that you become painfully sore is not an effective approach. I would agree. I believe that exercise should be done in a way that is sustainable over time with the least amount of recovery time necessary so that you are strong and fresh enough to exercise again the next day. Adding BOSU exercise to my routine has been the best way for me to stay well conditioned because I always feel stronger after I do it. The rebounding effect of jumping or bouncing on the BOSU Ball is energizing and even flushes toxins from the legs which is great for my running. David has also created some combination moves which strengthen and tone the upper body, lower body and core all at the same time. I can feel the added strength in my core which has enabled me to maintain a solid upper body over the course of many miles - it feels great!

There are many ways to experience "marathoning" in life without ever running a marathon. My good friend Kelly just had her first baby (a girl!) last month. As she was telling me about her labor and delivery, she made reference to the experience as a "marathon". Life is full of marathon-like events which require marathon-like training. If what we are doing is constantly sprinting in life, we will cross the finish line feeling beaten, exhausted and dead. I want to cross the finish line feeling like I could run a whole other race! Now it is my goal to find ways in life to finish projects, races and even just each day with enough strength and vigor to keep on going. It's the difference between living life as a sprint vs. living life as a marathon. As I learn these lessons, I am finding balance in my life by becoming a marathoner.

Plateaus

Plateaus in life are often associated with boredom and stagnation, a place where generally you don't want to stay for too long. In exercise, you've hit a plateau when you are doing enough activity to maintain your level of fitness but aren't doing enough to stimulate many fitness gains. In fact, the longer you continue to function at the level of your plateau, the more likely it is that your level of conditioning will actually start to diminish. The same holds true for other areas of life whether it's at work or in a relationship. We stop growing the longer we stay at rest in a plateau but breaking out of it can be as simple as changing up your routine.

I'm a very "routine" person but the way I function within a routine has changed. For years, I used to eat the same three meals a day and follow the same weekly exercise routine. At first, the regimen helped me establish healthier lifestyle habits but after a while, I stopped seeing improvements. Now, I have worked on changing my routine periodically (rotating through different food options and different workout schedules) so that my body (and mind!) are constantly stimulated and challenged.

Now I consider plateaus in life to be about balance. One of my weekly neighborhood runs includes a handful of pretty steep hills. I sometimes avoid doing the run when I feel tired because it always takes a little extra effort and energy, both physically and mentally. But yesterday, I was feeling good so I decided to go out for my "hill run". The first hill climbs a bit, then levels out for a while before the final push up to the top. What occurred to me, as I was mid-way up the long hill, was how grateful I was for the natural plateau right in the middle! It would be so much harder to push up the hill if it just went straight up without a break. That plateau gave me a moment to "rest" and pick up some speed to finish it up, probably faster than if it were a straight hill! It also gives me a mental break, where I can recover from what I just did and prepare myself for what is to come.

If we didn’t have plateaus in life, we wouldn’t have balance. People who constantly push and push to the next level without taking some time to “level out” typically burn out, in more ways than one. I certainly have experienced burnout in areas of my life when I was too afraid to slow down. The body and mind need time to adapt to changes, growth and stimulation. Some people need longer than others but you can usually tell when it’s time to push ahead. You know you’ve been in a plateau for too long if what you’re doing is no longer exciting, interesting or stimulating. What’s great is that there is always a way to take your life to a new level. Breaking out of a plateau can be as easy as trying a new food, taking a different exercise class, implementing a new idea at work, or surprising your mate with a date or a new activity.

Now I can appreciate and accept the natural plateaus that life has to offer, instead of trying to avoid them or push right past them. Plateaus are another thing that bring balance to my life and give me the renewed strength and energy to move ahead with gusto.

A Spiritual Exercise

I exercise every day. It has become a habit, a positive addiction, and a part of my routine. What I've also discovered is that it has also become a spiritual experience for me. Doing certain types of exercise gets me in touch with my body and stimulates parts of my brain that are spiritually connected. I like to run long-distance (I am training for a marathon), mostly because for that time, I feel free. My mind is able to wander and usually, I find myself talking things out, playing out scenarios and visualizing future events, making myself more comfortable with myself and what is going on in my life. What I realized during my run today was that I am not only talking to myself... I am talking to God.

I like to go to church but I also strongly experience God outdoors, in nature. To me, that's where He lives and it is where I feel most connected to Him. I love to run outside for that reason and am lucky enough to live in southern California where I can be outdoors all year round!

I also feel a spiritual connection when I do BOSU exercise. My husband, David, teaches a great BOSU class at a local gym twice a week and I take his class every time. Exercising with the BOSU Balance Trainer (view it at www.bosufitness.com) gets you so tuned in to your body! It's hard to let your mind wander because of the amount of focus and concentration that adding balance challenges to exercise requires. The best way to "go inside" during this type of exercise is by closing your eyes! You get to experience the way your body moves and learn how to control it. Also, eyes-closed balance training requires a certain level of trust, of believing that you won't fall, that you will be okay in any situation, that you can always open your eyes or step off of the dome if you lose your balance. It reminds me that in life, we always have a way "out" of situations - we just have to FIND IT (as David always says in class)! He is a great teacher and I love learning from him.

Daily exercise keeps me balanced. I feel different on days that, for whatever reason, I can't exercise. Back in 1997, I studied abroad in France and lived with a wonderful French family for 5 months. While there, I ran every day that I could, something which is somewhat of an anomaly for the French! I remember my Host Dad telling me that I am a different person after I come back from a run. I'm not sure whether it was a compliment or a criticism but I do know that he was right!

Moving my body keeps me well balanced, not only physically but also spiritually. I need to have that time everyday in order to stay even-keeled. It's the healthiest way I've found to stay balanced and grounded.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome and thank you for visiting my blog!

"Finding My Balance" is destined to encompass many things. To start, it will record my own personal journey into womanhood and will share the experiences I've had and lessons I have learned along the way. We all know that growing up doesn't come with an instruction manual so I think that the best way to help and support other women on their journey is to be candid, open and honest and to share our truth with each other as we discover it.

"Finding My Balance" will also include an abundance of information on learning how to integrate balance into all aspects of your life. Balance is the key to living a long, happy life and I am learning many different strategies that I am eager to share.

Finally, this blog will also highlight BOSU, an innovative and revolutionary fitness training system and philosophy developed by my husband, David Weck. I met David in the spring of 2000 at a fitness facility here in San Diego, CA. I was doing an internship in the Personal Training department and he was in town giving a demonstration of his brand-new invention, the BOSU Balance Trainer. Essentially, it is a stability ball cut in half and mounted on a platform base. Many people refer to it as the blue half-ball and it can be found in most gyms and fitness facilities around the world. It is an amazing training tool, not only for balance training but also for cardiovascular, strength and flexibility conditioning.

Initially, BOSU was an acronym for "Both Sides Up", describing the way you can use the Balance Trainer with the dome side or the platform side up. As David has gone deeper into his training and exploration, BOSU has evolved to mean "Both Sides Utilized" to describe the mind/body connection involved with this type of exercise. It is about applying the principles and lessons we learn through physical challenges to other aspects and areas of life. It is about connecting body, mind and spirit (the trinity) and finding the balance throughout.

BOSU exercise is different from any other training I have done and its principles are refreshing. It's about finding a way to make the impossible possible, the possible easy, and the easy pleasurable. What a great way to workout!

You will find all of these themes running through each of my blogs with all of it describing and forming my growth and development as a woman. Life is one heck of a journey but I'm starting to discover that the journey is what it is all about! Learning to use balance as a tool to help along the way is making my journey more interesting, pleasurable, and rich.