My eye opening conversation with my Coach in 2007 may just be the eye opener for many others!
Coach: Do you exercise? Me: Of course I do! Coach: What do you do for exercise? Me: I run around my kids, take care of home, run errands and work as an IT professional! Coach (laughed in my face): That is not exercise! That is stress! Me: I also walk! Coach: That you should be doing no matter what! Me: So what do you want me to do? Coach: Joining a group exercise class will keep you motivated. Me: You want me to pay money to exercise? Coach: Ok, let me ask you a few questions before I answer that… Coach: Do you have a car? Me: Yes! Coach: Why do you have a car? Me: To take me places! Coach: If the car was destroyed/broken, would you replace it? Me: Yes, of course! Coach: And how much money do you spend on the car per year? Insurance, gas, maintenance etc.? Me: Not quite sure! Coach: So you pay blindly, not even knowing exactly how much besides the insurance money, because you consider it a given! Without the car one cannot truly do everything, especially in this day and age. Would you say it might be at least $3000 a year? Me: Yes! Coach: So this car, this piece of metal is so precious to you that you will go to any lengths, and pay minimum $3000 to keep it year after year and when it dies, you will simply replace it!
And yet when it comes to your own body, the vehicle that takes you from birth to death, and when it dies you can’t even replace it…and yet you have trouble spending on it for your own health!
I determined that I would exercise for the rest of my life!!!
Yes I joined group classes.
I joined kickboxing.
I started running.
And then realized how much of a damage I was doing to my joints! I also realized that I wanted to do something that would stay with me until my last breath.
I joined 2 week of yoga classes.
Immediately, realizing how wonderful it felt, I joined Yoga Teacher Training!
I have never looked back ever since.
Corporate America left its meaning.
Opening up my own yoga studio where I would help individuals through pain and anxiety, through stress and eating habits, was the best decision of my life. I am BLESSED.
Yoga is not just a set of asanas as many may think. Yoga is how we conduct our lives everyday – mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It is how we live, how we eat, how we relate to others and our habits.
At Wellness Haven Yoga in San Ramon CA, we spend time listening to your health needs, before we set up a personalized program for you. We see where you are with physical fitness and start you off on the right track so that you can ease into the practice with ease. We evaluate your nutritional needs and offer recommendations for weight loss. We evaluate your stress triggers and support you in your mental health through our very successful Breathing and Meditation classes.
If you relate to any of the following, you are ready for one or more of our wellness programs:
1. I am constantly stressed and overwhelmed with my daily life.
2. I used to be slim, but after my children I have put on weight.
3. I am suffering from join pain, knee pain, shoulder and neck pain, back pain, hip pain.
4. I am struggling with sciatica (Sciatica refers to pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve, which branches from your lower back through your hips and buttocks and down each leg.)
5. I am suffering from fibromyalgia (Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues.)
6. I am suffering from peripheral neuropathy (Peripheral neuropathy, a result of damage to your peripheral nerves, often causes weakness, numbness and pain, usually in your hands and feet. It can also affect other areas of your body.)
7. I am suffering from migraines (Migraine is a primary headache disorder characterized by recurrent headaches that are moderate to severe. Typically, the headaches affect one half of the head.)
8. I feel weakness in my limbs and my body feels very tight.
Reach out to us for a free consultation and evaluation and let us guide you back to the natural healthy state of your body: (925)819-6327
All of us who are health conscious and food conscious but also like having a healthy balance in life know about the wonderfully delicious ways to rev up our metabolism through conscious cheat meals.
Leptin is a hormone that regulates hunger and how much energy is spent through food regulation. This hormone is primarily synthesized by our fat and when we eat a calorie restricted diet, leptin level in the body drops causing the body to store fat and energy when in starvation mode resulting in slower metabolism.
To maintain a higher metabolism, continued weight loss/ fat loss, and top stay on track with your regimen, delicious, carb rich cheat meals come in very handy and support fitness, as well as feel-good strategy without deprivation. The 80/20 rule is the key top such weight loss and to keep the metabolism in jump-start mode as well as keep a handle on cravings.
One should keep in mind that cheat meals also require a lot of discipline and when done incorrectly can take you on a downward slide ruining all well set fitness goals and plans. To keep the leptin levels regulated become very conscious of setting up day/time for cheat meals and stick to it like fast glue, with the extra caution to not splurge and binge. For those on strict calorie diet it would take just a few extra calories to raise leptin levels and rev up the metabolism. Leptin has been found to have more response to carbs than protein and fats, so to rev up your metabolism indulge on healthy carbs on cheat days, with maintenance calories mode rather than being on a calorie deficit mode.
Want help as you reach your fitness goals? Reach out to us: (925)819-6327
From where you are to where you want to be is a journey of conscious steps that anyone can accomplish provided there is clarity about what one wants and clarity about the action steps. As you consciously take these action steps to improve the quality of your life, you also come closer to achieving what you desire. This is conscious living.
A. Acknowledge where you are.
This is the first step in your journey towards where you want to be. If there is no acknowledgement of where you are, how can you possibly know which action steps you need to start with? Write down everything that you know about you that keep you unsatisfied and wanting and everything about you that prevents you from achieving your desires and goals.
B. Boldly state where you want to be, your desires and goals.
The second step is to know your destination, the point you want to be at, for unless there is clarity about where you want to be how will you plan the action steps that need to be taken to get you there?
C. Start making small consistent changes in your lifestyle.
It is very important to know that if you do not ‘clean’ your life first, the ability to achieve your dreams will remain hidden to you! See below a list of actions that help you ‘clean’ your life.
Nourish yourself with ‘me’ time everyday. Wake up early, before the rest of the family members wake up, giving you the much needed extra hour without any distraction and to put energy and excitement in you for the day ahead. This is when you might go through some simple stretching, breathing and meditation exercises. You would have sufficient time to go through your list of things needed for the day, that you created the evening before, so that it goes smoothly. This will help you plan head and prepare before the rest of the house awakes.
Plan and pack your meals for the day. Packing healthy, wholesome and nutritious meals, that you planned the evening before, for the day ahead will keep you energized as you stay away from fatty, sugary, starchy foods that are depleted of nutritional value and packed with toxins.
Exercise to keep your body and mind limber. Yogic stretching, strengthening and balancing exercises, or whichever kind your body likes are very much needed to keep you limber and strong in both the mind and the body so that you can make clear decisions and physical aches and pains do not distract you from achieving what you have set out for.
De-clutter your space for a clutter free mind. Make it a habit to throw away the not-needed papers that come into your mailbox as soon as you go through them. Pen the mail and go through them right away throwing what is not of any use and filing what is needed in the right space. Give away clothes and books and anything that you do not need keeping your space congestion free. Make your space free of dust and grime. Keeping your space free of everything that you do not need and clean will enable you to think with clarity.
Clean out your To Do List Daily. Make sure that your To Do list is kept updated with all that you need and want to do. Whether it is paying bills, or going to the grocery store, the bank, the dentist, or the dry cleaners or a visit to your friend, take action daily and cross off your list. Keep yourself free of disappointments, frustrations, guilt and regrets by being disciplined about your daily tasks.
Eradicate negativity and negative people from your life. Some people never want to upgrade their life and stay deep into negative behavior and actions. Clean your life of such people if you do not want to drown yourself into it as well. Your life will not change if you do not change the circumstances and events around your life that are in your control.
D. Formulate the action steps towards your dreams/desires and goals. Once your life is de-cluttered in every possible way, ideas start taking shape and life starts coming on the right track. Your path to your dreams becomes clear and you now start your steps towards achieving your dream.
Plan your life keeping yourself flexible about impending changes. Create a master plan/action steps for your life goals, knowing that there will be changes and detours due to unknown factors. Have all those things in the master plan that you dream of no matter how impossible they seem.
Then each evening, sit down to plan your next day. Keeping in mind your master plan, and with the intention of checking off list items in the upcoming day ahead. This will keep you creative and productive and energetic and help you steer consistently in the right direction.
Plan your free time, fun time, goofy time, getting out of your comfort time. It is imperative to have fun as you continue living with discipline and consistency.
Plan to get out of your comfort zone by doing something that does not come to you easily or seems impossible. If something does not work, change the direction of your thinking and do it in a different way.
Plan a no-action, silent time. Never forget to take time out to do nothing, to simply be in silence for these are the times when new ideas come to fruition taking you closer to your dreams and goals.
Re-look and re-plan your master plan. Your life master plan is but a plan. It can change. Keep an eye on it and steer it in the right direction for you are the captain of your own ship. Take your ship where your planned destination is.
Just following the above clear and conscious action steps will take you closer towards tour dreams. If you don’t do it who will?
At Wellness Haven, we are invested in your health – your fat loss goals, your muscle building goals and your overall health goals. We go over and beyond to support you in all your wellness needs for we are with you every step of the way. When it comes to fat loss, our results are amazing for we stay with you until you have achieved it and beyond!
We especially help those with the following frustrations:
“I lost weight initially and now it has slowed down”
Or
“I am not losing any weight!”
Many in fact do not follow the guidelines strictly and instead of eating with awareness and caution indulge in emotional eating and wonder why they have not lost weight!
But for some others it may be that they saw amazing changes in their body when suddenly the progress stops! The weight loss is not so amazing after a few weeks of consistent weight loss!! In such a scenario when weight does not budge, instead of throwing your hands in frustration and disappointment and say in “I quit!” educate yourself and get excited about further action!
Weight Loss Plateau is reached when you do not see a loss in weight for 3-4 consecutive weeks. It is very much a reality but there are ways to counteract it and it definitely does not mean that it will never budge.
Let’s understand the words “weight Loss” first.
Weight loss could be changes in any of the following weights: Fat, Muscle and Water weight.
We measure once a week (and just once!) so that we can be disciplined, keep ourselves account table and track fat loss! Please do not weigh more than once a week and that too the best time is Monday morning! When we weigh ourselves we desire to see a loss in fat and not muscle or water weight. Most of the weight fluctuation (1-4 pounds) if you are eating correctly and exercising regularly is due to changes in water retention in the body. Those who consume high amounts of carbohydrates and sodium but drink very little water, retain a LOT of water resulting in increase in body weight. The key is to drink lots of water but stay low on carbohydrates and sodium and exercise to sweat it all out! You will lose the water weight and the result is loss in pounds when you weigh yourself. The more water you drink, the less you will retain it!
If you stay on track with correct habits, there is no need to feel disappointed, frustrated or lose confidence ever! When you see no drop in weight for 2 consecutive weeks, know that the first 2 weeks could be due to water retention. Check your water intake. If you continue to not see drop in weight in week 3 and 4, you may have reached weight plateau despite your very best efforts.
Weight loss plateau facts:
It is common to experience 2-3 plateaus lasting many weeks as you make your progress towards your ideal weight. Why? Changing our body is never easy. You have let yourself go for so long; don’t you think you need to give it some time to get back in optimal condition? If it was that easy then there would be no one suffering from weight issues!
The leaner you become, weight loss also becomes much more difficult, because percentage wise there is much less to lose! 0.5% – 1% loss in fat weight is quite a lot, and we always hope to see 15-25 loss in fat weight in week 1 and then at least 5% in 12 weeks! Trust me that it is a lot to lose! Know that as you lose weight, a smaller fat percentage loss equates to even more body weight loss!
Example:
Initial weight= 230 pounds
1st week Fat % loss=1% body fat weight = 2.3 pounds of fat approximately
New weight after losing 30 pounds= 200 pounds
Now 1% of fat is 2 pounds instead of 2.3 pounds!
Now you know that as you decrease in weight, it becomes slower over time!
Not only does the weight loss slow down over time, it is also a fact that the leaner you become and the closer you reach towards your ideal weight, the body works harder to hold on to your fat!
How to overcome plateaus?
Re-evaluate your calories intake after approximately every 10 pound weight loss:
As you lose weight, body metabolism also slows down. With lower body mass, the body does not require as much energy to support a smaller body frame! Re-evaluation will ensure that you are eating lesser calories than you are burning!
We eat more calories than we think we are eating if we are not consistently tracking and holding ourselves accountable! This when combined with metabolism decline from weight loss leads to plateaus!
Examples of mindless eating and creeping calories:
– frequently eating outside prepared foods and drinks be it at parties or office!
– not paying attention to portion control.
TRACKING and HOLDING ACCOUNTABLE are key factors towards weight loss!
Although eating right is the key in dropping weight, exercising and eating correctly go hand in hand. As we drop weight, we need to pay even more attention to eating right as well as looking at the intensity of our exercise routine. To maximize results in fat loss and muscle build program, one needs to stick to the structure and not keep jumping from one way to another ad confuse the body! Continuity in the exercise program is more important than continuous changing so that you are better able to track results. Our goal is to keep the basic structure of our exercise program the same and continuous but to progress you into a more intense routine so that you can track your health consistently.
How to overcome tough plateaus:
If you have followed everything to the letter and still unable to break the plateau, cleaning out the body followed by intermittent fasting method maybe needed. Also 80-20 rule in eating or eating optimally 5 days a week with some indulgence the remaining 2 days may just be what is needed to rev up the metabolism!
“Changing your body is a marathon, not a sprint!”
Remember that patience in anything you wish to achieve in life is a must. Some lose weight faster and others slower. Some may do it in months and some may take 1-3 years. One thing is a guarantee at Wellness Haven Nutrition: You become the healthiest you! We see to it that you do. We want your commitment, dedication and we want you to hold yourself accountable. Results are inevitable as you join in many health seeking individuals in our Jump-start Your Life Program for Unlimited Nutrition, Yoga, Breathing and Meditation Program for 3 months.
My personal health journey from not taking care of myself to becoming a health practitioner has given me tremendous life benefits that I will be forever grateful for. Learning healthy habits over the course of years has not only helped me and my family but it has enabled me to become a role model to many. I feel blessed to have started on this healing journey quite a few years ago. One of the biggest benefits of practicing healthy habits is my fast recovery from accidental body injuries. Over the years I have proven to myself time and again how quickly I heal myself withing 3-7 days where others may have spent weeks and months.
A recent accident when my wet feet slipped on laminated floor had me in pain in various parts of the body – My left upper arm could not be lifted with so much pain, my right elbow bone was in pain, my right toes were injured, and I realized on day 2 that my left side of the head must have also felt the impact of the fall. I did the right things – nursed myself with cold pack, took pain and inflammation prevention medicine, applied muscle relaxant, upped my water and protein intake, but kept moving gently as I taught my yoga classes with just the right amount of movement. I also went in for chiropractic adjustment. All of this had me healed in 3 days and by the 4th day, the pain had eased completely, and my arm movements were back to normal. My healthy life practices always come to the rescue.
Many people become home bound very easily as they:
fall sick frequently with symptoms of cold and flu
develop headaches and migraines
become over stressed
hurt or injure themselves
They invariably lag behind in work or some other important aspect of their life as they now take a long time to recover from the health issue. This is a direct result of the body not being in an optimal state.
The optimal body state is where blood circulation is normal, nutrients are readily available for proper body functioning, the lungs are healthy and the mind is calm and relaxed.
Healing is very fast with healthy life practices
When the body is functioning at its optimal state, illness, and diseases stay away. Immune system is strong and able to resist any illness in the surroundings. Such people don’t need to call in sick or miss important matters as a result.
A healthy functioning body also recovers very fast from accidental injuries.
Healthy life practices act like magic when it comes to prevention of illness or fast recovery from injuries.
Yoga Stretching, Strengthening, Balancing and Body Building Exercises.
Breathing/Pranayama Practices for healthy lungs and a strong immune system
Meditation Practices for a healthy, calm, joyful and peaceful mind
Clean eating with body cleansing foods and foods that do not inflame the system
Hydrating the body optimally
Getting restful sleep
Staying emotionally, mentally and spiritually balanced
Why don’t people practice healthy habits?
Healthy habits are formed over a period of time and requires effort until health becomes a habit. Many have never truly paid attention to their body or mind and have let themselves get derailed from the health track for many years as a result of lack of knowledge, lack of awareness and procrastination. They have formed a habit of making excuses for their lack of healthy habits. They do not know where to start after they become overwhelmed with stress, excess weight and fatigue.
How can such people get back on track with healthy habits?
By first becoming aware of their unhealthy state
Reaching out to compassionate experts for guidance, support and motivation.
What helps such people to get out of their vicious cycle of unhealthy practices?
Someone who will listen to them patiently and with compassion and caring.
Someone who will hold their hands virtually and take them on the right health path step by step.
Someone who will continue to motivate and inspire irrespective of what may be going on.
Someone who will become a friend showering tough love without emotional baggage.
Someone who will hold them accountable for staying on the health track.
We at Wellness Haven have the right skills, experience and tools to take such a person from chaos to health. We have helped hundreds cross the bridge from pain to health.
“I am a stay-at-home mom. I do not exercise. At the most I walk sometimes. I also do not eat very well. I do not lead a very healthy life. I am lacking in self esteem. My confidence level is at its lowest. I don’t feel interested in anything. All I spend time in is cooking, cleaning and taking care of my family. I feel unfulfilled. I don’t feel happy. I need help!”
If you also relate to the above, you are not alone! This is where many stay-at-home women in their forties are and feel trapped in their unhealthy state of living. Their children aren’t quite as young that they are completely busy and yet are not grown enough to feel released from responsibilities of still running around. More than anything, they do not know where to begin. They need expert but compassionate and caring guidance and support to extricate them out of their current chaos. We at Wellness Haven specializein bringing back health and joy into the lives of such women who themselves need nurturing, through tools like yogic stretching, strengthening, balancing, breathing and meditation as well as healthy eating habits.
“I am a mother of 2 young children. I also work full time. I do not get time for myself at all. I want to exercise but I have not been able to. I want to eat right but do not know where to begin. I am tired all the time. I need help!”
If you are someone like the above, you are also not alone. Young working mothers in their thirties, lead a very stressful life. They are unable to figure out how to get their lives back in such a way that they can also take care of themselves. At Wellness Haven we have a program to suit every person’s need for we run classes, group and private, 7 days a week at various times in a day. We guide you to maximize your time so that you are there at work, with your family and also spend some nurturing time for yourself.
“I am retired. I did not take care of myself very well with my always busy schedule before retirement and now I have joint pain, my muscles are stiff and I am not flexible. I also am unable to balance without support. I need help!”
These are women in their fifties, sixties and seventies who are very ready to bring healthgently into their lives and we are here for them when they need us. No matter what your age, we have the help you need through expert guidance.
“I should be happy but I am not! I have a good husband, beautiful children, a nice home, and we are financially secure. BUT I am not happy! Something is missing. I need help!”
These are women who may or may not be working, but they have crossed the busy parts of their lives which involved getting married, having children, working at jobs, acquiring 1 or 2 homes. They are at a standstill and searching for the joy that seems to have left! We at Wellness Haven help you find your way back to yourself through support and guidance and getting you to come closer to who you are.
“Now that I am in my forties, I feel I have become more sensitive in my friend circle. I get hurt even though I try to reason with myself. I do not enjoy the irrelevant conversations that go on at parties. There is too much conversation around, clothes and jewelry and things which do not please me any more. I want to be happy again! I need help!”
These are women who have done with superficial conversation with friends and want to get their life back on track with healthy living through yoga, breathing, meditation and clean eating. We at Wellness Haven have been very successful with our 3 month guidance program, “Jump-Start Your Life“.
How many times in your life have you felt “I am STUCK!”? It is our mission at Wellness Haven Yoga in San Ramon to enable you to become “unstuck” and to take charge of your life back into your own hands through our various programs that suit your need. We discover your need through a complimentary consultation session.
Each one of us feels this way at one point or another in our lives especially with feelings like:
I am stuck in my weight.
I am stuck in my relationship.
I am stuck in my job.
I am stuck in my life!
We feel stuck in various aspects of our lives: health, money, relationship, work. We get frustrated for we think we are doing everything to get unstuck but nothing comes of it.
WHY do we stay stuck?
This is because old habits die hard. We keep repeating old patterns of behavior. We are stuck in our belief system preventing us from changing in-spite of wanting to change. And after trying really hard, we feel overwhelmed. trapped, unworthy, dis-empowered, desperate, frustrated, disappointed and doubtful of everything. We start thinking and accepting that we do not deserve what we want! And if we do get what we want we will not be able to keep it! We stay stuck in fear. This is where self-sabotaging behavior begins and we sabotage ourselves again and again in spite of out best foot forward. We remain STUCK!
How do we become unstuck?
We need to look deeper into ourselves and discover what behavior and patterns we have had. We need to discover the limiting beliefs that have become barriers in our growth. And then we need to take actions steps to change those limiting beliefs and behavior patterns. But it is not easy. If it was simple, the whole world would be in a better place.
We all need help!
Change is painful But staying stuck is even more painful
Yes each one of us needs help and support to become empowered again, because this empowerment will take us over the hump of barriers standing in our way of attaining our goals to become unstuck. Each one of us needs proper and correct guidance, someone to hold our hands virtually and inspire us and motivate us every step of the way to the next level in the path of attaining freedom from barriers standing tall in our path . It is a fact that even though our loved ones, whether family or friends, are ready to help us, we may not be ready for their guidance due to our emotional connection. They also may not have the proper tools at their disposal to help us.
Well known and successful personalities have expert coaches behind their back for everybody needs help to get over barriers in their path and to go to the next level. The best coaches have experience, and have helped hundreds get over their mental barriers through tools and techniques, compassion and understanding and more than anything holding hands every step of the way until success is achieved. These coaches have also lived the experience.
The right coaches understand the basic emotional needs for every human are love, safety and belonging. They also understand that each one of us remain stuck simply because of our own mental resistance and objections to what we want, that we all unknowingly create struggling circumstances around us. We remain in the struggle for we are still able to somehow survive! We do not like “risks” or anything “unfamiliar”. So even when there is a opportunity for growth, to become unstuck, we become nervous about change, fear arises to the forefront and we choose to say “No” to the very needed experiences. Money issues come to the forefront for we are unable to evaluate the worthiness of spending for our own good. We fail to understand the long term benefits of investment into ourselves for we have become a society of instant gratification. We may not think twice about spending on things we do not need or the thousands spent on temporary pleasures, but our minds become stuck when it is about investment into our own health: mental, emotional and spiritual growth or non invasive physical health. We then justify ourselves for our indecision. We remain stuck for years to come!
Here are some of the sentences that spill out of us when we are at the verge of making a much needed decision that our inner gut tells us to make:
“I will get back to you!”
“I need to think about it!”
“I need to talk to my spouse about this.”
“I have started on many things before, but I have never stuck to them!”
instead of acknowledging the real reason behind the indecision: “I am scared of…!”
and then taking actions steps to actually make it happen, for antidote to fear is action!
We end up experiencing the very thing we did not want or need!
The 2 sides of our brain are always telling us 2 opposite things and it continues to sway and our dominant side of the brain wins!:
“I am too fearful to change!” or “I love learning and I want to change”
Acknowledge the need for change and accept help
The first step towards change is acknowledging that there is a need for change.
Research your resources that will bring about the desired change
Take the initiative and get help from the expert change agent
Take the expert advice, take the prescribed action steps and make the change!
Know that all you need is already there for you!
You simply need to make your way through your fears to make the change
You need to be ready for the receiving without fear and you will then change successfully
We as human beings are constantly evolving every moment and when this process comes with awareness, change is inevitable.
You want to lose fat? You can do it!
You want to be healthier in your body? You can do it!
You want better relationships? You can do it!
Trust your instincts. Have a little more faith in yourself. You will become unstuck.
“Every bone in my body hurts! I am hardly sleeping at night. Please take me to the doctor!” This used to be my thought every night in 2006 untilI actually took action to do something about it. Wellness Haven Yoga in San Ramon has been created with love and compassion in the heart for women who have been in similar shoes as mine, and especially women around 35 and above who need to be nurtured. It was created as a result of my own experience with chaos in my life.
These were the very words I had said to my mom, when I visited her in India in June of 2006. I had gone through very stressful life events, and I was in chaos both mentally and physically. My mother had been waiting for me to say these words to her so that she could take me to the family physician. One look at me and he diagnosed the mental stress I was under and prescribed medication for full 1 year at least! I vowed to get better as quickly as I possibly could. I was completely aware that unless I changed my mental state, the physical state would not change.
I was surrounded by chaos in my life that had started manifesting itself in many physical ailments: …and all because I was under so much stress that the internal system had become overloaded and had no other choice but to start showing up as physical conditions!
Physical symptoms I faced
blood pressure had been on the rise
sugar level had become border line
arthritic conditions had limited my right side
my lower right back was permanently painful
my shoulders and neck were knotted in stress
cholesterol and triglycerides were on the rise
I was facing allergies
Intense desire to change
Circumstances enveloping me at the time were chaotic, but determination to extricate myself from this chaos was stronger. I had been religiously taking medication for about 6 months, by the end of which time the root of the chaos in my life had come to an end due to major action steps. On January 1st 2007, I had an epiphany and I decided with a laser focused intention to start taking many important action stepsto become mentally stronger.
The road to recovery was intense
The moment this decision to get better was made, the Universe started embracing me with its magical hands and door after door started opening. It was neither easy nor quick. Tremendous patience was required, and I had made a conscious decision to be patient. It took me from summer of 2006 to start of 2007 to come to decisions and become self empowered. In October 2008, I published my book – A Journey of Self Revelationunder my pen name, Joy. It took me another year, to the end of 2009 to get to the state I had been craving for – to be mentally and physically fit. It took me yet another year, to the end of 2010, to become free of allergies.
In 2011, I reformed my eating habits! I was a woman on a mission for mental and physical health.
How following the 8 limbs of yoga changed my life
As a first step, I got rid of the medicine I had been on. (I never looked back; never needed it again.)
I started listening to and reading books on self empowerment and self growth. (This became a habit never to be broken.)
I discovered my personal development coach and started eradicating my mental barriers. (He is still my coach and in time with experience, I became a coach myself.)
I enrolled in breathing and meditation program – a very important limb of yoga (I still follow these exercises religiously and became a teacher in time.)
I started yoga asanas to build my muscles, flexibility and balance. (I became an instructor of yoga, opened up my own yoga studio and continue to impact lives.)
I started eating right – yet another aspect of yoga. (I learned life impacting concepts, experienced the difference in myself and my family and started Wellness Haven Nutrition Program.)
The more I took care of myself, the more joyful I became, and slowly but surely the ailments that had surrounded me started leaving me for good. Those who meet me cannot tell that I have suffered from so many physical conditions once. I manage my arthritic side very well with daily yoga and stay physically fit. Mentally I stay calm and in the moment feeling joy within and spilling it in the world around me with a daily meditation practice. I stay nutritionally fit through aware eating.
I have come a long way. My experiences have taught me so much that I could not possibly have gained through books. My coach encouraged me to teach it to others – how to thrive physically and mentally. I overcame my own mental barriers and in time created my own Wellness Haven in San Ramon as “Wellness Haven Yoga” and am forever grateful for this opportunity.
Yoga changes lives of women for the better
If you are a woman who can relate to what I have experienced in any small way and would like to change your own health, please reach out to us at Wellness Haven. Know that everything starts with a powerful desire, an intention to make things happen. We all need help and support in making changes in our lives. I could not have done it without the guidance of my coach. We are here for you.
“I think I am eating healthy. I also walk 2 times a week. I go to the gym and use the treadmill. I attend one zumba class per week. Then why am I not losing weight?!”
Are you someone who relates to the above? Then it is time to find out what may be going wrong with your lifestyle and re-invent the very way you think about food, exercise and stress management. The following mistakes are very costly:
You are used to eating without attention to nutrition requirements and giving in to temptations when it comes to sweet and salty food, fatty food, and food that should not be consumed on a daily basis.
– frequent eating out
– unaware eating at work place
– not packing food from home for lunch
– not having enough time to cook wholesome meals
– grocery shopping on an empty stomach
– the fridge devoid of ready-to-eat-food when you need it the most; when you are HUNGRY!
– not meeting protein requirements for the body
– believing that “if I eat right, I do not need to exercise!”
You are exercising sporadically, when you feel you have time!
– exercising 1-2 days a week
– simply working on the external big muscle groups and forgetting that the internal organs and glands that need nurturing with yoga
– thinking that just treadmill, hiking, biking and jogging will do what is needed for the body
– believing that “if I exercise I can eat whatever I want!”
You are always stressed, overwhelmed, and impatient!
– You are stressed with duties and responsibilities around home and work place.
– You have succeeded in demoralizing yourself and quit on health even before taking any action about it.
– You have forgotten how many years it took you to get to the state you are in currently and are impatient to lose all the extra weight immediately.
It is time you started really taking care of yourself. It is time to understand that it will not happen overnight, but success is inevitable if you follow expert guidance from someone who believes in you and your success, someone who has done it herself, someone who has helped hundreds of others in a similar situation.
All it takes is:
Desire to become healthy
A powerful intention of making it happen for yourself
Commitment and Discipline in yourself
Faith in the self
Trust in your Coach
At Wellness Haven we are ready for you and to ensure that you learn and experience a healthy lifestyle. Wehelp women who want to be helped.
