I’m Divorcing Exercise!

Yes, you read that right!  I have decided it is time, after 35 years to divorce Exercise….divorcing the traditional old thoughts, the new trendy thoughts, and everything in between.

I have decided instead to just MOVE.  To move my body because it feels good, period, end of statement.

I decided to let go of the damaging words and voices that I continue to hear in my head over and over again.  I have heard them year after year…decade after decade.  The I should’s, the I need to’s, the I have to’s.

Thus, the decision to divorce myself from the meaning of exercise and begin a new, exciting relationship with movement, joy and play. 

It was time to divorce myself from the old meanings that come up when we mention the word exercise.  Things like:

• ·       Burning Calories
• ·       No pain, no gain
• ·       More is better
• ·       Feel the burn
• ·       Push harder and dig deeper

And begin to engage in brand-new meanings like:

• ·       Feeling good
• ·       Getting stronger
• ·       Moving better
• ·       Having fun
• ·       Living life

Don’t get me wrong, I understand and support and want to share the numerous benefits that moving our bodies brings us.  That is why I decided to create Shaping Perspectives: A Woman’s Way to Joy. 

We are able to share with you multitudes of activities and movement opportunities and ideas, and give You, our client a chance to think outside the box and experience plenty of different ways to move your body including many ways that you may not have thought of before.

Our clients emerge from their work with us with a different outlook on what it means to move their bodies and they walk away with all kinds of different activities that they are excited about continuing when they get home.

-We make moving your bodies about joy, fun and sustainability.

-We make moving your bodies about function, mobility, strength and confidence

-We create ways to move that help you to live the life you want to live.

Whether your goal is to be able to play a game of kickball with your daughter, hoist your suitcase into the overhead bin, walk the streets of Paris, or to get on the floor to play with your grandchildren, our movement program will get you well on your way.

Summer time is a great time to try new things and to experience new environments.  You can take hikes to trails, mountains, beaches, parks and waterfalls.  You can experiment with kayaking, swimming and paddle boarding.  You can ride a bike into town, play volleyball, foot golf, pickleball or horseshoes, enjoy throwback moments in time by playing hopscotch or hula hooping or take the family to a zoo or museum for time together.

So, what do you say?  Are you ready for a divorce?  A divorce from the should’s and the have tos or the drudgery or boredom of traditional exercise? 

Come find pure joy in moving your body, and as a side benefit notice how good your body it feels both during and after.

Check out our Facebook Page here, or Contact us at ShapingPerspectives: A Woman’s Way to Joy.

How to Feel Comfortable in your own skin

9 C's to Feeling Comfortable in your own Skin

1.       Are you at war with your own body?
2.       Are you constantly comparing yourself to others or maybe to a version of your younger self?
3.       Do you judge or pick apart your body when you look at yourself in the mirror?
4.       Do you avoid doing things because you don’t want others to see you? 

If so, you are not alone.  Most women I have met throughout my life as a fitness professional and now as an Intuitive Eating coach have said yes to these questions...

I continue to see talented, engaging, smart, compassionate, funny, artistic, dedicated and passionate woman spend their day’s hating themselves when they find me.

Almost 100% of their thoughts every day are focused on things like…good foods and bad foods, what they have eaten or not eaten, what body part they hate, making excuses to go places, counting calories, looking up diets, thinking about their next eating episode, comparing themselves to others, how many calories they have burned, or not burned, how “bad” or “good” they have been, beating themselves up for their lack of “willpower” or the size of their thighs. 

These thoughts ride around and around on well-worn train tracks in their heads.

One of my first goals  is to help CREATE SPACE in their heads for more productive thoughts and activities, things like…

Singing, writing, creating, speaking, motivated, supporting, dancing, sharing, protesting, comforting, communicating, educating and more…

I want to help YOU start the journey to feeling comfortable in your own skin.  Guiding you to realize that you are so much more than a number on a scale or the size of your pants.  I want to encourage you to start appreciating and accepting your body.  

Here are 9 ways I support women JUST LIKE YOU find a path to take better care of yourself and it begins by believing that you are worth it.

-SELF-COMPASSION: Discovering, developing and strengthening a compassionate and kind inner voice that can validate pain, sooth suffering, ward off the mean inner voice and begin to befriend your whole self; body mind and spirit. 

-CHALLENGE you to question your current thoughts and beliefs with nonjudgmental CURIOSITY

o   Why do I think that way?
o   What made me feel that?
o   Why do I say that to myself?

-Give yourself permission to make CHOICES in regards to food, not based on any diet or on any set of rules. 

o   What to eat
o   When to eat
o   How much to eat

-Call upon COURAGE to make a CHANGE to your current thoughts and behaviors.  Our behaviors are linked to our current thoughts.  For example, when you step on a scale and a number pops up, what thoughts come up?  With those thoughts, what are the behaviors that follow?  Connecting the dots from the thought to the behavior creates a pause.  Within this pause change the thought. 

-Build CONFIDENCE through the COMPENTENCE of noticing the thoughts and pausing. By pausing we can question the thought, without judgment.  “Wow, I am such a failure, I might as well go to McDonalds, because it doesn’t matter anyway” to “Wow, that is interesting, why am I feeling like this? Why does a number on a scale provoke these feelings?   I know am doing the best I can right now.  Things have been hard.  I wonder what it is that I need?  Maybe I will take a walk” (take a bath, call a friend to vent, cry, journal etc) . Making a different decision will build more confidence, thus more competence, and so on….

  -Make CONNECTIONS with others who have had the same experiences, this creates validation and a realization that you are not alone.  Having someone to share thoughts and feelings with on your same journey can create a safe space to share.  We know that human connection has many benefits, decrease stress, anxiety, comparison and judgment, increase safety, OK-ness and a sense of well-being.

So when you are ready…

·         Start with some Self-Compassion
·         Be Curious
·         Make Choices
·         Challenge thoughts and Behaviors
·         Have Courage to create Change
·         Gain Confidence and Competence
·         Make Connections

Your body is your home, it is here within your own skin where you can find comfort, and contentment.   

Click here to check us out and grab your free YOU ARE ENOUGH Finally, Free, Fit and Fabulous 5 step guide to peace with food, eating, weight and body image. 

Changing Perspective, A Road to Joy

Have you ever had a good mood and a good day destroyed by stepping on a scale? Do you get frustrated, disgusted, disappointed and depressed by what it says?

Are you unhappy with your body? How does it feel when you catch a glimpse of yourself as you walk by a store window, see yourself in a mirror or spend an afternoon of clothes or bathing suit shopping?

Have you gained more weight than you would have liked to through stress, pregnancy, menopause, age, injury, or other life-changing event such as divorce, loss of spouse, disease, job loss, etc.

Do you spend your days beating yourself by listening to your inner mean voice (mini-me) scolding you over your weight, poor food choices, lack of motivation, failure to achieve your weight loss or fitness goals?

You are not alone…In fact

·      75% women are unhappy with the way they look,

·       Over 67% of women ages 15-64 withdraw from life-engaging activities,

·      95% of individuals will fail at achieving their weight loss goals.

I too suffered from hating my body and the way it looked, obsessed over the number on the scale, food choices, diets and compulsive exercise.  My story includes being diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa and Exercise Bulimia.

My first diet was at age 10, I have spent the last 40 years gaining and losing 100’s of pounds. I have done it all including binging, cleanses and fasting. My time, energy and mind has been consumed with the number on the scale, fat grams, calories, what I should and shouldn’t eat, pinching my belly, criticizing my thighs and beating myself up with my inner mean girl “mini-me” because I didn’t look the way I thought I should.

After a lifetime of striving to achieve the perfect body and thin ideal, being frustrated with never being able to sustain any results, punishing my body with exercise until it was broken and needing surgery.  I was DONE.

I decided a few years ago to change my perspective and give up dieting and compulsive exercise  for good.  In addition I went back to school and earned a graduate certificate in Eating Disorders and became a certified Intuitive Eating coach.

Because of this I finally learned to accept, appreciate and respect the body that I was given, I fired the big bully (mini-me) in my head that has been beating me up over the last 40+ years, and began a peaceful, loving relationship with joyful movement, eating foods intentionally and my thighs.  It has changed my life.

In fact I created Shaping Perspectives: A Woman’s Way to Joy to support, guide, educate, encourage and empower other women to find peace, joy, and happiness. 

Women who implement the Shaping Perspectives approach to living, feel more grounded, experience higher energy and live more authentically. They develop a higher connection, awareness and acceptance of body, mind and spirit.

If you are looking to change your perspective and transform your life, I am extending to you

A Special Invitation to join me at in Hebron NH on June 8-11 for a FIND JOY! A Women’s Wellness Weekend Retreat.

Enroll Here

During this transformative weekend, YOU and other like-minded women will learn

a plethora of new tools and strategies to reduce stress and improve self care enabling you to move successfully through the next chapter(s) of your life.

·      You will experience an array of fun and functional movement and play activities

·      You will learn how to transform your “mini-me” (negative self-talk) to more empowering and “maxi-me” (positive self talk)

·      You will learn how to tap into your physiological signs of hunger, and fullness and how to Intentionally and Intuitively eat

·      You will experience a changing perspective on what your body can do for you enabling you to develop the appreciation, acceptance and respect your body deserves.

·      Learn how to support and connect to your authentic self and your best friend (YOU).

DON’T MISS OUT ON YOUR BEST LIFE by adopting the Shaping Perspectives approach to living joyfully. Feel more grounded, experience higher energy, live more authentically and develop a higher connection, awareness and acceptance of body, mind and spirit.

Please join me at the Coppertoppe Inn June 8-11 in Hebron NH.

Go here to enrolltoday