Season’s change. Right now, in Connecticut, it’s beginning to feel like winter. While every time of year has its greatness, this time of year, late November specifically, has always been hard for me. I already miss the barefoot ease of summer, and winter is not fully in effect. It’s colder and darker, and nature is still in route. We ‘ve left the shores of summer, but haven’t “landed” in winter, and I think that’s why I can...
“Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there.” – Rumi After years of working with people and being privy to some clients’ destructive inner dialogs, I realized self-criticism is the biggest obstacle to true wellness, and it usually comes from a place of self-loathing. At first, I thought, “Oh, it’s just words” but as my understanding of health and happiness grew, I realized that words stem from beliefs, and beliefs rule the world. How we feel about ourselves...
“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn Mindfulness in movement is self-education. You learn yourself. At first it’s physical things, like you learn how your ankle tracks when you step forward, and that lunging warms up your quads. Then it’s more than physical – just the other day, I learned that my breath tightens with thoughts of the approaching holidays! Our workout today is the most mindful one on the ellenbarrett.com platform. It’s Moving Meditation, 20minutes of meditative...
There’s a brand new video fit tip on Ellen Barrett Mindful Movement and this one may be the most outside-the-box yet. It’s literally what’s in my daily go-to bag. I’m a working woman on the run and you’ll see I am very practical and my bag is very functional. A few initial comments I received upon posting this were: 1. you don’t carry food or snacks? Nope. I’m not a snacker. 2. What about a change of clothing? I usually do go home...
The affirmation of the upcoming week on our ellenbarrett.com inspiration board is: ‘I’m up for the challenge.” This is a very powerful affirmation and applies perfectly to fitness. As a trainer, whenever I hear someone say it, I get psyched. It means that individual has a winning mindset and the possibilities for her are endless. Many many people quit before they start and it has nothing to do with reality. It’s only because their self-talk snuffed out their dream...
Are you someone who wakes up behind the eight ball, rushing around in the morning? Do you take your coffee or breakfast on the go and speed off to work feeling frazzled from the get-go? Even though I am an early bird, I used to be this “rushing around” person. But I’ve changed. A few years ago, I had a realization that rushing is rarely circumstance, it’s a mindset. It’s feeling like you are in a race against time. It’s...
When you’d like to workout but you’re feeling a bit “unambitious” about it, here’s what you need to do – just get to the mat. Just get to it. Maybe sit or lie down on it. Maybe stand on it. Just get to that mat with bare feet and comfy clothes and stay there. Something wonderful happens when you get to the mat – you nurture your self with movement. It might be seated in...
Upper Body Blast is here! This workout is wispy. I know that seems like a strange way of describing a workout, but it’s the best word for describing this one. I wanted the spine to be included with the arms. So often, when it comes to muscle conditioning, the spine gets “locked” in place, and looks and feels stiff. The intent in doing this is to stabilize it and engage the core – which is...
