Too much Yang, not enough Yin
"In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you ~Deepak Chopra
When I use to work out to lose weight or make up for an overeat, I always chose high impact, high intensity workouts that would guarantee a high-quality calorie burn. I downplayed the importance of lower-impact, slower paced, yoga practices and workouts alike, believing that they would not deliver the results I desperately required because if I wasn’t getting a runners’ high or equivalent, it wasn’t worth it. I routinely thought that these slower paced practices were a waste of time, or that I had to make up for them by doing a hard-core workout shortly after. In my 20’s and 30’s I powered through many of these high intensity classes, but as time wore on I paid the price physically and often emotionally. When my coach suggested that I not use exercise for weight loss and only do workouts that I enjoyed, I fought this concept at first until my body started to break down a bit and I started to actually dread workouts. This led to me oftentimes skipping out and ultimately quitting programs prematurely. This dread had me reeling and I gave in to her suggestions and I am so glad I did. The result was, I slowed down. I got into a flow. I started to do things like meditate more and cultivate a more reflective practice. I started to address my emotional eating for the first time and learned how to really feel. I mastered the ability to feel my feelings and allow urges without giving in to foods or drinks that I was craving. I got authority over my body and my weight.I found restorative classes that have helped calm my mind and body. I look forward to going to them and now strongly believe that they will keep me in game longer with more stamina. Don’t get me wrong, you will still find me out for a long-run, stair climber class, or sweating like crazy at my favorite indoor spin studio, but I’m also listening to my body. I rest more. I crave stillness more and more and some profound insights have emerged.I encourage all of you to find this precious balance. To address any emotional eating or drinking you might be doing with a coach and workout for fun and restoration. Tune in to your body more. Our body is a brilliant design that will give us so many signals for what it needs and doesn’t need, but we often aren’t listening. I often advocate to switch from being a taker from exercise like I was. Instead, view it more as a gift, a sacred hour of movement you give your body and as an opportunity to increase discipline and your relationship with yourself: to honor commitments that you make to yourself in the form of movement.
If you want to find that balance that Yin and Yang with exercise and address your eating habits with a Life and Weight Loss Coach, I welcome the opportunity to have a consultation call with you. It may be the most transformative call you ever make, what do you have to lose? http://bit.ly/2rD8YZk
