In Real Happiness, Sharon Salzburg says that meditation is like “trying to split a huge piece of wood with a small ax. You hit that piece of wood ninety-nine times and nothing happens. Then you hit it the one hundredth time and it splits open.” She adds that it wasn’t the hundredth hit that […]
Q: My back hurts when I deadlift. Should I wear a weightlifting belt? A: The purpose of a weightlifting belt is performance enhancement, not injury prevention. When used correctly, it creates additional intra-abdominal pressure to support the back through a lift. The belt is worn for compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, Olympics lifts and […]
Stress has a bad rap. The right amount of stress at the right time, however, is key for our survival, our growth, and our happiness. A stressful event triggers our body’s stress response. The response ranges from jolting us into action in a life-threatening emergency to driving us to reach our goals and tackling our […]
This year, one of my professional resolutions has been weekly blog posts. As you can see, I’m on a roll! The Mastermind Group I joined has helped keep me accountable. I have a self-imposed deadline to post by the morning of our meeting. Then I can report my success to the group every week. But […]
Everything is hard before it is easy. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Having trouble committing to an exercise routine? When you do get to the gym and you see all those fit, dedicated people, are you envious of their level of discipline? Here’s the secret: they are no more disciplined than you. They have a habit […]
Q: A colleague asked “How do you stay motivated in your own training?” A: Sometimes it’s tough to find motivation for myself after a day of motivating other people. Here’s what helps me stay on track: Having someone else write my programming. Not just for the accountability factor, but also so I don’t have […]
Me- I’m vegan. Other person- I could never do that. I couldn’t give up cheese. I’ve heard this cheese defense often enough that it’s made an impression on me. I don’t know why cheese is so special, I’ve been pretty happy with Daiya Shreds and nutritional yeast. I also don’t understand the logic: […]
Ishvara Pranidhana, surrender, is the last of the Niyamas. It means having faith that everything will always turn out exactly the way it’s supposed to. Faith is not an excuse to sit idly by and let life happen to you, nor is it a fatalist “nothing I do matters anyway” philosophy. It’s about balance: striving […]
Svadhyaya, self-study is the forth Niyama. This is the process of knowing ourselves, our true selves. We practice Svadhaya by reading, learning, meditating, and reflecting. As we study various subjects, from spirituality and philosophy, to science, art, and history, we understand ourselves better. A meditation practice helps us uncover the ego that is blocking us […]
Tapas, self-discipline, is the third Niyama. Tapas literally means heat. Transformation requires heat. Dough is baked in the oven to form bread, clay is fired in the kiln to create pottery, iron and glass are passed through the flames so that they may be molded and shaped. So too must we hold ourselves to the […]
