You Can Do It!

jessicaYou can do it!

Do you think that you can?  We are all capable of so much more than we believe.

Last week, I had the honor of speaking beside this beautiful woman above, Jessica Cox.  Jessica was born without any arms and as you can see she has learned how to use her feet to literally do just about anything!

She can drive, tie her own shoes, surf and even fly an airplane!  Coming from someone who used to surf a lot, I’m amazed that is even possible considering how hard it is WITH ARMS!  BUT, I know it is because I got to see a video of her doing it and she even showed us how she puts on makeup using her feet!  AMAZING!

I was truly inspired and it kind of made me sit back and think “what in the world am I doing with my life” when I had the opportunity to hear her speak and learn how much she has gotten creative over the course of her life to find ways to do things without arms.  Can you imagine how many hundreds of times she had to practice things to learn how to do it without using her hands?

Most of the time, we try something once or twice and if we can’t do it, we give up.  When you don’t have an option like Jessica on some things, you would keep going until you figured out a new way or until you COULD do it.

It’s given me a new perspective on a few things, especially when teaching yoga to my students. So many times people want to give up and say that they “can’t” do something.  I say we CAN, it’s only just a matter of time or how long we are willing to keep trying and in some cases to build up the strength so we can.

Are you willing to try a little harder on something you think you can’t do?

How do you think you would feel if you were able to do something you thought that you’d never be able to do?

Would you be willing to stop telling yourself the lies around limiting yourself and your capabilities and see where you can maybe step it up a notch so that you can live out your greatness?

Exercise And Diet Don’t Stop You From Dying At Your Desk!

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Did you know that exercise and diet don’t stop you from dying at your desk?

We all know there have been countless articles about how we are dying at our desk from Harvard to WebMD, NBC, Time, Huffington Post, and the list goes on…

CNN just posted an article a couple of months ago though talking about how exercise and diet don’t cut it and do not make up for the fact that we are sitting all day. Neither do stand up desks. Or, let me rephrase that…stand up desks are great, but DO NOT STAND ALL DAY! There are risks in that also. You can increase joint strain, varicose veins and back pain if you stand all day.

Depending on the number of hours you are sitting (typically around 6-12), your risk of heart disease, prostate or breast cancer, high blood pressure, depression and type 2 diabetes increases by 60-125%.

So, is there a solution?

YES!

What is it?

You MUST take small breaks throughout the day. Anywhere from 1-5 minute breaks every hour.  Some studies say every 30 minutes, but most say every hour, so I like to go with the latter as I think it’s more attainable.

Getting up and walking around, doing light stretching or even breathing exercises and meditations are good ways to give yourself a break mentally and physically. We get distracted and it’s hard for us to focus, so you will be more productive, less stressed and do your body and mind a huge favor by choosing to take these breaks and it just might save your life!

Need some help?

To get you started, I’ve created a YouTube channel that provides short breaks that consist of light stretching, breathing exercises and coaching tips to get you reset, re-energized and re-engaged. It’s called Daily Reset Break, but feel free to follow along with multiple breaks throughout your day.

Daily Reset Break YouTube Channel 

It doesn’t matter if you are not working in an office all day, the same goes for stay at home moms and retirees. Pay attention to how long you sit each day and please make sure that you take breaks.

Take good care of your beautiful self!

Photo credit: Hal Samples

Have You Ever Gone On A Secret Mission At Your Office?

top-secret

Have you ever gone on a secret mission at your office?

One of Hall of Fame Speaker and author Christine Cashine’s favorite ways of taking a reset break is to go on a secret mission.  She’ll teach you how to here:

As I mentioned on my last blog, I’m super excited that Daily Reset Break is now being offered for free on YouTube and you can learn more on this video below or subscribe to the channel here.

Hope you all have a safe and Happy Easter Weekend!

Have You Heard That Sitting Is The New Smoking!?!?

sitting-is-the-new-smoking

Have you heard that sitting is the new smoking?

Perhaps I’ve been sitting under a rock lately because I just heard about this earlier in the week.  I can’t believe that sitting at our desks all day working is compared to being as bad for us, if not worse, as smoking.

I had already heard of articles being written saying things such as “we are dying at our desks” but this put it into even more of a perspective for me.

How many of you sit at a desk all day?  And do you actually take time to get up and walk around?  Perhaps you have a stand up desk available that you use sometimes?

I’m excited to be doing an event next week with a group where not only will I be able to do a “Reset Break” to help break up their two day meeting and re-energize them so they can retain all they need to, but I will get to teach them tools and techniques to take back to the office to help get them moving and stretching at their desks.

More info on the “reset breaks” can be found here on the top link on this page:

https://findyourtriessence.com/physical/

What is something you could do next week to start bringing more movement into your day?  Would it be possible to take a walk when you are on a conference call?  Stand at your desk when talking on the phone?  Can you walk to lunch?  Maybe take a walk around in the halls when you are coming up with creative ideas?

Here are three great stretches you can do at your desk to get the blood flowing that are great for your circulation, along with other great benefits.

1)  Stand and stretch your arms up over your head.  Interlace your hands and spin your palms towards the sky.  Relax your shoulders down your back and take a big inhale.  On the exhale, stretch your arms over to the right.  Hold a few deep breaths in and out through your nose, come back to center and repeat on the left.  This improves circulation and can help refresh your body and mind.

2)  Chair twists – Sit in a chair, preferably without arms.  Swing your knees together over to the right side with your feet on the floor, (ankles stacked beneath your knees) and twist to the right by grabbing on to the back of the chair (or if the chair has arms, face your knees forward and when you twist, grab the arm of the chair).  Take a few deep breaths in and out through your nose and go a little deeper on each exhale.  This can help release toxins and relieve fatigue and depression.

3)  Stand with your feet hips width distance apart and bend forward with your arms towards the ground in a forward fold.  Try to release your head and let it relax and hang heavy.  Let your arms hang towards the floor or you can grab opposite elbows with your hands.  Forward folds help ease irritability and anxiety.

Here’s hoping you can find ways to incorporate more movement into your work day as I’d hate for any of us to end up dying at our desks 😉

Until next time…just say NO to sitting all day!!!