It was a big “aha” moment when I realized movement is actual medicine. When we twist and bend our spines during exercise, we energize our core organs. Yes, our kidneys, liver, and spleen, to name a few, get space to circulate and a fresh batch of blood flow, helping them function more optionally. We’re trained to see medicine as some sort of substance that comes from a doctor’s order, a pill or sophisticated medical treatment we need our insurance...
Empowerment Is InevitableBecause it is so easy to feel disempowered today, I am obsessed with helping you stay empowered. I actually obsess over it! I’ve complied the five big ways we can use exercise to boost our sense of empowerment. These five things help us look, feel and function great, and the best part? We’re in charge. Yes, you and I can work on them ourselves, nothing standing in our way. Here they are: Almost all kinds...
Way back in 2000, I was living in Los Angeles and driving all over the city for work. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in my car. My car was littered with coffee cups, takeout containers and granola bar wrappers. I think I consumed 80percent of my meals in that Jeep Cherokee! For my resolution that year, I averred: I’m not going to eat in the car. I was disgusted with myself and I thought this...
Featuring a dumbbell-less sculpt class on Let’s Move! has got me thinking about Robinson Crusoe. Yes, I’m talking about the novel published in 1719, which centers on the survival of a shipwrecked European man, who spent 28 years living on a desert island off the coast of Venezuela. The main character, Robinson Crusoe, is depicted in the fictional book, as well as in the subsequent movies based on the book, as being very strong, fit and able. He fights off exotic...
While getting my car serviced last week, I saw a “startling” set of tires that were just taken off a vehicle. These tires were unevenly worn out – obviously so, even to my untrained eye – they skewed so much to one side, they no longer had a cleanly circular shape. The service mechanic referred to their state as dangerous asymmetry. I thought, aha, that’s a great term…and it doesn’t just apply to tires. When it comes...
Greetings from Narraganset, Rhode Island, the quintessential New England beach town I’ve been coming to pretty much every summer since I married Steve in 2004. Sometimes, our time here is just a day trip, but this year we’re doing a whole week. We have extended family here and it was time to get the kids together and really do it up. Like most people on vacation, my workout routine is thrown off. I’m in a...
When I was 18, I had started to teach aerobics classes at my local gym, and I remember telling my parents that I wanted to be a “career” aerobics instructor, and that I wasn’t too keen on going to college. My mom said, “That’s ridiculous,” and immediately denounced the notion. My Dad gave it a bit more thought but ultimately said, “That’d be like digging ditches all day, Ellen.” He was worried about the toll...
For my entire life – without realizing it until fairly recently – I have used “doses” of cardio as mood boosting medicine. When I was an 8 year old, I freakishly took my dog on walks into the woods when I could have stayed inside idly watching cartoons. (Where were the adults 😉?) In my early teens, I’d bike to my friends house even though I could have gotten a ride. In college, when feeling blue...
I’m a mom of one, a bona fide morning person, a nutrition geek, and a huge believer in “get your day started right,” so breakfast with my son has always been a big thing. We live in a culture that tends to race through meals, and while the rest of the day may require eating on the go, breakfast time is old school in my house. Simple but home cooked food. Real dishes. Real glassware. Sit...
Make sure your heart is in front of the head. Try to lift the heart and drop the shoulders. Does your heart lead the way? It is rare for me to see an adult with their heart open and shining bright, outside of class. I’d say the #1 alignment issue is a closed off, tight, sunken heart. Thus, getting that heart of yours unsunk is a major and ongoing alignment goal. The physical act of aligning the heart center...
