Spring Renewal
As the trees, shrubs and flowers start to bloom here in Charlotte - dusting us with their lovely pollen and causing most of us to sneeze, cough and generally wish it was over, we can celebrate the new cycle of life starting all around us.
Every year, nature provides us with the gift of starting over. Everything looks fresh and new (well, with the exception of the pollen coating). How does nature do this?
I admit it - I am a bit of a science geek. I love reading and researching health, biology and general science topics. My favorite tv show to watch is The Big Bang Theory. (I actually get most of Sheldons jokes. LOL).
This interest lead me to start reading and researching healthier living, then living longer, and then longer and healthier lifestyles.
I started Thrive Yoga & Fitness because I knew that the more we move every day, the better we feel. The better we feel - the more energy we seem to have - the happier we are in our daily lives.
Let’s face it - we all want to live longer, be healthier and have more energy to enjoy our lives. We work hard (or worked hard) so we could retire and do the things we love. Travel, hike, spend time with our children and grandchildren, try new hobbies, go out with friends.
None of us want to be reliant on medicine, and equipment and other people to take care of us. Living our own independent life, doing and going where we want, when we want is the goal of most of us.
For years, our doctors have told us disease and pain and deterioration is “just what happens” as we get older. I never really bought into this. With my knowledge of the human body and how it works at a cellular level, this just felt wrong.
The great news is science is finally researching aging and longevity and discovering what many other cultures and civilizations have known for a long time: Disease and pain are NOT inevitable.
We can control pain and disease and even help ourselves feel better, avoid disease and heal issues. Our physical bodies are extraordinary machines, capable of regeneration and self healing.
We complicate or block this amazing super power by not providing our bodies with what it needs to repair itself.
Now, I am not talking about growing back limbs (we are not starfish). But we can heal or repair a host of age related issues with simple techniques that are available to every single one of us.
And you don’t need to buy magic pills, special procedures, supplements or equipment. What are these amazing things we can do to help heal ourselves? How can you activate your body’s healing and repair systems?
There are 5 main areas that science has identified! They are:
- Reduce our stress (specifically cortisol levels)
- Build Strength
- Provide good fuel (nutrition)
- Enhance/improve our Mind-body connection (memory)
- Stimulate our healing responses
I am super excited to share with you each what I have discovered about each of these areas and how we can “super-charge” our bodies to really improve our overall health and well-being.
Whoo - hoo!
I promise you will not need a medical degree or a dictionary to follow along.
I started Thrive Yoga & Fitness because I knew that the more we move every day, the better we feel. That fact that science and the medical community is supporting and going even further, saying we can improve symptoms and in some cases even reverse some diseases is cause for celebration!
I found that the more movement I added to my daily routine after my stroke and then hip issues, the better I felt. Group Fitness Class (for me specific yoga and pilates) began to gently encourage my body to release tension (stress) and remember how to move. This regular, consistent, gentle movement began lessening the pain in my hip and eventually it disappeared altogether.
The key is consistently doing SOMETHING. Even if it’s just walking two more minutes each day. Consistency will get you where you want to go.
If you need a little more support than doing it yourself, I would love to have you join us to try out some of our group fitness classes (we have all levels of classes) and you will meet some fantastic people and develop a strong support network to encourage you to stick with it.
Yours in fitness,
Colleen
Whats New?
Well, we are still in search of a great location for our regular fitness and training classes/groups. Our focus is the Matthews, Mint HIll, Indian Trail area. Our realor is upbeat and positive we will find the right location for us soon. Fingers crossed he is right!
