Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Nourishing Ourselves




Over the past several months, I have been wanting to offer a new course and it has taken some time to take it from the idea stage to reality. In the past, I taught a "Fitness & Fat Loss" course both here in the U.S. and in Australia. As I found my own life evolving through yoga and being in my 40's, my drive to offer such a course had, well...been pushed off-course!

I found that by giving people the "information" of fat, carbohydrates, movement options, calorie expenditure, protein and blah, blah, blah that the usefulness and application was limited. We'd have to have our heads in a cave, be on a mountain (or rainforest) top yoga retreat or be unplugged from all media not to have the awareness around our growing obesity "epidemic" both here and in Australia. So, if we have all the "blah, blah, blah" information and we have groovy gyms with the latest programs, and we have the most effective sweat evaporative cooling garments on the market...why do we have this challenge? Why does it seem to be getting worse, rather than better? Don't we know what to do?

Apparently, knowing is not enough.

It's the doing that makes the difference. Not just knowing what to do, but actually...yes...doing it. And the "it" has gotten quite confusing. How many calories and reps did you say? It seems that the connection to our own needs has lost its importance. Can we hear what our soul is asking for?

Perhaps that's part of the reason The Nourishment Program has taken time to develop. I wanted to explore not only the research on why 85% of all diets fail, but to learn more about intuitive and mindful eating practices. As I dug deeper, I began to see the obvious connection that these practices have to practicing a yogic based lifestyle. Not that you have to be a yogi to participate, but the similarities and overlap have common ground.

As we breathe, we bring life-giving oxygen into our bodies. What we eat and put on our bodies assimilates into our bodies. So if I choose to nourish myself, I need to begin by understanding that it affects all aspects of my being and therefore my life. It's not a simplification of calories in/out or what's "good/bad" for you. It's about honoring that all of us are worthy of self-care and self-love...not in the future, but in the now of the present moment.

The Nourishment Program aims to give the participants tools of how to do this every day. It's another step in deepening and refining our own evolution. All are welcome. Come join us, it begins October 27, 2010.

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