WEEK 1:  Who and What Supports You?
Jan. X, 2016

Welcome to the first "official" week of the 2016 Embody Health 90-Day New Year Challenge.  

59 challengers have joined you in saying "YES" to body-life transformation in 2016 - and what a wonderful community of support it is!  

If you haven't yet joined the Challenge Group on Facebook - please do!  It's a great way to tap into a strong network of support.

Read on for the this week's Weekly Wellness Tip, Journal Activity, features, prize details and more.
Wellness Tip: Creating a Health-Centered Support System

One of the secrets to happiness and success in life is to have a supportive community. Having this in place as you work toward completing the 90-Day Challenge can really make a difference. Instead of taking up the Challenge alone, you're tapping into the energy of a whole network of supporters.

If you already have this; count your blessings! if you don't, you can take steps to create or strengthen your community.

Let's take a look at the sources of support in all four areas of life.

Body

This is the obvious one, as you've signed up to come into the studio and move your body. But have you provided yourself with the time and space to meet the Challenge? For example, if you're putting in too many hours at work, it can be hard to get to class. 

But you've got a strong argument for better work/life balance. Most employers have a vested interest in having healthy employees. Compare the cost of healthy workers who only need to use their medical insurance for preventive care to those who wind up with major illnesses. 

Another source of support for the body might be something physical, like a chair in Nia class, or props in yoga. Don't ever feel like you have to go without the supports you need, no matter what they are. There's nothing to "prove" to the teacher or the other students. Use whatever helps you dance or get into a pose.

Mind

They say that attitude is everything, and that definitely goes for fitness. If you're not in the right state of mind to take on the Challenge, how can you get there?

In terms of community, what you deserve are people of like minds. If you've signed up to take the Challenge with a friend, that's awesome! You can keep each other motivated and enjoy the lovely bonding experience of dancing or stretching alongside each other.

Embody offers a built-in community of like-minded people, too. You can sense it in the buzz of conversation before and after class. Introduce yourself, make a new friend. See the sidebar for links to Embody Facebook groups that focus on belly dancing, yoga, and Nia, where you can geek out with your fellow Embody folk online, sharing tips, recipes, stories, you name it!

Heart

Enlist the support of your loved ones in this Challenge. You'll be a great role model for your children if you show them how important physical fitness is to you. During the Challenge, we'll have opportunities for kids to take Nia and yoga classes as well, so the whole family can commit to healthy movement through Embody classes. Exercising with a spouse can be a great way to connect, too. My husband and I have taken yoga and acroyoga classes together through the years and find this brings us closer. He's also one of our resident Nia guys and especially enjoys the martial arts aspect of Nia. 

But if working out together or as a family isn't possible, try sitting your family members down and talking with them about how important this is to you, and how they can help support you.

One of the great things about Embody's practices is that they're all focused on the joy of movement. Above all, remember to have fun. Open your heart in your classes. Feel free to express!

Spirit

Your faith community and your higher power can be a source of support for your physical practice as well. Talk to God, to people at church, to wherever you get divine inspiration and connection. 

I have a prayer partner I talk and pray with once a week on the phone, and we often include our health goals in our prayers. It's made a huge difference in how I integrate physical fitness into my life. My husband and I also meditate together most nights. This didn't come easily to either of us, but we started with five minutes and have gradually increased from there. It helps us sleep better, and we feel more centered and focused as well, which supports our workouts.

Ask for help if needed in these four areas of your life: body, mind, heart, and spirit. You're deserving of a community of support, for the length of this Challenge and beyond. 
 
Journal Prompt: Sources of Support


List your current sources of support in the areas of body, mind, heart, and spirit. Some might end up in several areas, if the source supports you in various ways. For example, your daughter might support you in a heartfelt way if she's signed up for the Challenge with you and in terms of your mind by discussing the science of yoga with you.

Take a moment to feel gratitude for these helpers.

Now ask yourself if there are sources of support you'd like to add under each area. Who or what could help your mind? Heart? Body? Spirit? List these and describe how you'll reach for them, bringing them into your life.

Embody's Featured Wellness Coalition Partner 
Chehalis Naturopathic Medicine

Chehalis Naturopathic Medicine featuring Doctor Preeta Kuhlman is here to serve your overall health and wellness goals.  

If you're unfamiliar with naturopathic medicine, naturopathic doctors follow natural principles of healing and believe in the power of natural therapies to help people enhance their self-healing process.  They seek to identify the root causes of illness and to treat the whole person, not just suppress the symptoms.  

Chehalis Naturopathic Medicine offers a wide variety of natural treatments including:
  • Diet & Nutrition
  • Supplementation
  • Lifestyle Modification
  • Counseling and Stress Management
  • Physical medicine
  • Homeopathy
  • Botanical Medicine
  • Bio-Identical Hormone Therapy
Conditions they treat include but are not limited to:
  • Allergies
  • Anxiety & Depression
  • Diabetes
  • Digestive problems
  • Heart disease
  • Hormonal imbalances
  • Infections
  • Insomnia
  • Lung problems
  • Men's and Women's health
  • Nervous system disorders
  • Pain
Dr. Preeta accepts insurance.

For more information, please visit their website, pick up a brochure at the studio and call to schedule a consultation: (360)996-4761.

Dr. Preeta was born in Zimbabwe, Africa.  She left to pursue her undergraduate degree in Physiological Sciences at the University of Newcastle upon Type in England.  Thereafter, she attended Bastyr University in Washington.  She graduated in 1996 with an ND: doctorate in naturopathy.  She specializes in intestinal disorders, hormonal imbalances and pain conditions.  She is also a certified craniosacral therapist.


"It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever--the one who recognizes the challenges and does something about it." 

 -Vince Lombardi

 

CHALLENGE PACING TRACKER
***
5 CLASSES 
by January 16th

Quick Links
Class Schedule
Workshops & Special Events 
90-Day Challenge Facebook Group
Nia Facebook Group
Yoga Facebook Group
Tribal Belly Dance Facebook Group
Returning Challenger Q & A  
with Nancy McNichol
Q: What was the biggest factor in your success in completing the challenge last year?
A: The biggest factor that motivated me in completing last years challenge can be summed up in one word: reconnection!  For those of you that may not know me, I have been disciplined about weight lifting for the past 12 years, yet something had been missing.  When I entered the 2015 Wellness Challenge, I had no specific goals.  I just knew that the more I was at Embody, the better I felt. I was drawn to Embody and as I began to attend more classes, I remembered what joy truly felt like in unison in my body, mind spirit and emotions. When I danced I remembered what the sensation of joy felt like in my body, the simple pleasure of allowing music and movement to carry me into a connection with my body that I had forgotten.  As I danced, happiness was conjured and flowed out of me and into my daily life.  Joy had been dormant, waiting for me to remember what it felt like, and within the music and the movement, I reconnected with myself. What a great incentive!

Q: Who or what was is the greatest support for your practice?
A:  I quickly found that Christina's smiling face as I entered Embody and all my amazing friends that I danced or did yoga with were all the support that I needed to complete my wellness challenge.  I had found my  "tribe" as some of us refer to each other.  The positive encouragement and energy consistently received from Embody folks truly supported my goal of attending not 30 but 60 classes in 90 days.


Q: How has your practice enhanced your life? 
A: So now I am entering the second wellness challenge.  What is so great for me doing the second one is that my goals are even more specific from the knowledge I gained of myself in the first challenge. I know my strengths but i also know my not so pretty parts that can benefit from meditation and better self care with diet.  I can acknowledge the areas that will benefit from more mindfulness without feeling badly about who I am.  All because i reconnected with joy within myself.  I am excited for what's next...

Embody Teacher Feature: Greg Bowles, Yoga




Meditation As Life Support

Greg considers himself a "type A" personality naturally. "Without meditation," he says, "my mind won't stop on one thing. I'm in a loop I can't get out of."

But don't just imagine him sitting on the floor, cross-legged and chanting. While he does practice seated meditation, he also practices "moving meditation" while taking a walk or bicycling, or audio meditation using his own music or others.

"You make your body comfortable so that you can forget your body," he explains. "Your body becomes invisible."

Greg believes deeply in meditation's benefits, as it helps cultivate the Four Agreements, an idea popularized by Don Miguel Ruíz in his book
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. These are:
  1. Be impeccable with your word.
  2. Don't take anything personally.
  3. Don't make assumptions.
  4. Always do your best. (See this Psychology Today article for more.)
"For me," he explains, "meditation makes it so I can live my life, and I don't have to live the life my mind thinks it wants. I don't have to run around at a pace I can't really understand."

For those just beginning a meditation practice, Greg's advice is not to "try" to meditate, and to pretend that no one can see you, even if you're in a room full of people! In other words, don't worry about what you look like when meditating.

Week 1 Prize Giveaway
Week 1 Prize:
For the week of 
January 10th -January 16th
Topical Magnesium Gel from Chehalis Naturopathic Medicine AND
Deep Breath Designs "Good Medicine Ball" from Embody
Week 0 Prize Winner
Aaron Hergert
Congratulations to Aaron  Hergert who won our "Week 0" Challenge Prize - a $10 Gift Certificate to Embody's Lifestyle Boutique!

Embody Lifestyle Boutique Deal of the Week:
Deep Breath Designs
THIS WEEK ONLY! Challengers receive 10% off Deep Breath Designs products
Valid through January 16th

Good Medicine Ball:  
Used to relieve inflammation and joint stiffness. Filled with organic flaxseed, organic herbs and a soothing blend of essential oils. Massage with hands, roll on neck or roll under feet, use on shoulders, elbows or knees. Use hot or cold.
Perfect for: GARDENERS, KNITTERS, QUILTERS, MASSAGE THERAPISTS, YOGA STUDENTS & TEACHERS, WOOD WORKERS, men, women & children: works great as a 'boo boo' soother!

Back, Neck & Shoulder Wrap
Filled with organic flaxseed, lavender and lavender essential oil. Tie around lower back, wrap around shoulders, place behind neck when reclining, or wrap around elbows, knees or feet. Use warm from the microwave or cool from the freezer.


Lavender Eye Pillow
Filled with organic flaxseed, lavender & lavender essential oil. Muslin pillow with a removable, washable pillow case. When placed over eyes it can relieve eye strain, tension headaches and mental fatigue. Use pillow cold to help soothe away stress.

Embody Movement Studio & Lifestyle Boutique | www.EmbodyCentralia.com
(360)330-BODY(2639)  | 115 S. Tower Ave Centralia, WA 98631