Pause and Meditate

I’ll be honest, mediation can be easy for some, but it is Hard. As. Heck. for me. Which probably means I need to do it so desperately bad, amiright? It would be easier for me to spend 30 minutes doing Insanity Max 30 with Shaun T than it would to be quiet and at rest and meditate. So this channel was designed specifically with me in mind. Just kidding. But really, this is AN AMAZING resource being added to Beachbody on Demand at no additional cost, so take advantage of it as much as you can! Right now, the whole world is quite a stressful place. Elections are coming, rioting and racism is happening (how is this even possible), Covid is not going away no matter how much we hate it and try to obey the rules; now more than ever, we all need a healthy way to relax, unwind, and reduce anxiety.

Growing research shows that meditation has a powerful impact on our well-being and is proven to help de-stress, decrease anxiety, promote positive physical and emotional health, improve sleep (fall asleep faster and sleep longer), improve sex-life, renew your energy, reduce negativity, and enhance your self-esteem, focus, inspiration and empowerment. All of these things = increased quality of life; that’s our goal right? None of those sound bad to me, so why is this so hard????

Meditation can help you:

• Build skills to manage stress

• Gain a new perspective on stressful situations

• Increase self-awareness

• Focus on the present

• Reduce negative emotions

• Increase imagination and creativity

• Increase patience and tolerance

There’s an entire channel dedicated to this (must be kind of important) including:

• 4 meditations from the Beachbody Yoga Studio (most under 10 minutes) perfect for first thing in the morning, or last thing at night;

• 13 Themed Meditations from the Unplug app;

• 60 meditations from Elise Joan based on her “I AM” cards from Barre Blend (let me know if you don’t have these);

• A 21-day guided program called Unstress: 21-Days of Meditation for Relaxation, Calm, and Less Anxiety, produced in partnership with the premier meditation app, Unplug, coming soon.

Happy #13 Anniversary to us!

Awwwww, my sweet hubby outdid himself. I was hoping not to get too much chocolate and well, I got none. So there you go! haha I know you might think I just jumped off the crazy train, but don’t worry, I haven’t, I just know that I have no self control and this LIIFT4 experience has been amazing and I’m not letting anything derail me from feeling less than great…except maybe champagne :)

We hit up Malt, which we visited last year for a date night when we first moved here and it was so delicuious and they were so accommodating, that I was dying to go back. When you’re lactose intolerant and you tell and chef that and he replies, “what does that mean?” you know there’s going to be trouble tonight. Malt has this dialed in and I feel I can rest easy that I won’t be sick all night. And how sweet of them to give us this Champagne split to take home and toast to, with a thougthful anniversary card!

I think you won’t believe this when I tell you, he food was amazing, and I have no pictures to prove it! But, it is true. I was so caught up in conversation with this man and thinking about our journey from san Diego, California, to Houston, Texas (which we never saw coming, but were certain it was our “forever” home till retirement” and now to Brisbane, Australia (which we again, never could have dreamed up!). But life is good and full of adventures and the best part is having someone to grow old with and share all these moments with.

Our anniversary isn’t “officially” till October 8th, but with traffic and late work meetings which happen more requently than I’d like to admit, I was worried we might bump our celebration and I didn’t want that. Travis is withouth a doubt the chef in the family. He enjoys cooking, and even finds it relaxing. Did you read that? R E LA X I N G. Who is this mate? So, he’s always cooked for me, but since he works late through the week, I pulled off Kangaroo, asparagus with parmesan and parsley and I replaced pesto linguini with arugula and cherry tomatoes to stay in line with “veggies most.” Y’all, if you’re not doing it, 2B Mindset is the easiest thing ever. Message me to ask questions. I’m Certified in it now and feel like this is the answer for 99.9% of people! Yes, that means it will work for you too!

Day 7: Roll & Release

Here’s your much-needed first Rest Day!  How do you feel about this?  Are you feeling "YAHOO" or more like "BOO-HOO"?  It sounds funny to say and I'm not a workout-a-holic, but rest day is hard for me!  I like to stay consistent and it keeps me in check.  When my exercise goes out the door, my nutrition is usually just a few steps behind it.  If you're like me, listen to your body and push past this!  Remember, we are doing a program and to get the intended results, we MUST TRUST THE PROGRAM AND DO THE PROGRAM.  All in, even rest days!

I also want to stress the importance of self-care. You’ll hear Autumn talk about it a lot in during 80 Days Obsession.  Here's why - we are training like an athlete y'all.  We really are!   These are not beginner workouts! You need to stretch, relax, and let your body recover from what you’re putting it through, plus, your muscles will have a chance to lengthen out and be ready for what they next 6 days have in store for them. Autumn created two bonus workouts that you can use anytime (but especially on rest day) which are Roll & Release and Stretch & Release.  You'll need a foam roller for this and at first, it might hurt.  But that's good pain and you're getting all the lactic acid out and increasing circulation to help relieve muscle soreness and restore mobility. Push past any pain and you'll feel better in the long run.