Getting Healthy

Sometimes in our lives we need something to jolt us awake, and empower us to change.  For me, this has been my best friends battle with metastatic breast cancer. We are the same age.  The truth is that I have gotten too busy, and too stressed to take care of myself. But, watching Nikki fight so hard to stay healthy made me realize that I had no excuse.  Taking care of my body, my health, and my well being needed to be something that I made a priority in my life.  

That is when the universe intervened and introduced me to Jaime Hynes and her holistic studio Dantian Studio.  I jumped at the opportunity to be apart of the studio, and find out for myself what it meant to be healthy in all aspects of my life.  

The key difference between this and a gym?  The goal is to achieve harmony for your physical and spiritual body. Isn't that what we all want?  To be peaceful and healthy? 

I don't know about you, but I have always struggled to find the balance between enjoying my life (I hope to die on a desert island with brie, red wine, and french bread!) and taking care of my body.  But, the body part.... the "I wanna look good in a bikini" part doesn't cover it all.  You need to be healthy with your emotions and your heart too. That will be the hardest journey for me.  To be able to understand my road blocks, my setbacks, and to also come to peace with any grief or fear I have in my heart.  The thought of losing my best friend is something that takes over my body, and past losses continue to leave an imprint on my heart.  These things need to healed.  

SO, for the next couple of months I will be involving you on my journey.  My hope is that if I share my struggles, accomplishments, and experiences with my readers, that I will be accountable and in turn hopefully inspire some of you to join me.  Beauty is not just makeup or hair products.  Beauty is feeling whole, loved, and proud of yourself.  I want to glow from the inside.  

WEEK ONE:

The classes are small, which I adore.  

It makes it feel personal, and intimate.  I have immediately connected with the instructors and never feel lost, or overwhelmed. Listen, I am out of shape. Out. Of. Shape!  I tried going to larger group classes, and always felt embarrassed or overwhelmed with the classes. In truth, I would walk out of most and give up. They have a great, diverse list of classes, which helps to prevent workout burnout and boredom. The schedule includes CrossCore 180, Sculpt, Bootcamp, Yoga, Pilates mat, Taji, and meditation. 

My first classes have been Yoga, Pilates and CrossCore.  They all have effected me in distinctly different ways:

• Yoga:  I feel healed, but was admittedly surprised by the emotions that flowed out of me at the end.  It was as if I had squeezed something out of me during downward dog!  This is the one class I will be most looking forward to. Incredibly emotionally rewarding. 
  
• Pilates: Can we just rename this ass-cramp?  My goodness, I was twitching and making faces the whole class.  Is my body supposed to shake like this?? Ironically, after class I walked alittle taller... and felt sexy.  Weird, but bring it on! 
• CrossCore:  This class just might be the death of me. It was an out of body experience, that made me look like a sweating red beast.  I am not even going to pretend I was good at all the lunges and push ups, but I am now more determined than ever to conquer these ropes. Please don't judge me if I cry after class. 

Dantian Studio’s will also be customizing a regimen of natural healing therapies, nutritional counseling, life coaching, and soul alignment workshops for me. At first I was overwhelmed at the prospect of overhauling my life.  But, the truth is, I know that I desperately need this.  It won't be easy, but it is necessary.  This week I will be meeting with Dr. Tyson, and Carlos Casados. I have been told they are miracle workers. 

Later this week I will dive into more treatments, and keep you updated on the progress.  I am sore, but proud of myself for this.  

In honor of Nikki, Mia, and myself. xoxo