2012

February 28, 2012 / soulinteraction / 1 Comment

Here are your Tuesday spiritual fitness and nutrition tips!

Fitness: Breathe. It might sound easy, but I see many people in a state of waking apnea. Breath is motion, it is essential to life. When we take control of the breath and breathe with intention we can move stagnation out of the body. When we hold our breath it is hard to move. As a fitness trainer I see many people huffing and puffing through workouts, some even turning bright shades of red by holding the breath. If you do not breathe during a workout: The blood pressure rises, your core weakens, and you can’t give 100% to the exercise since you will tire out quickly. Try running while holding your breath. It’s almost impossible. We we become conscious of the breath not only in working out, but in our daily lives we see where stagnation is present, and we take responsibility for moving through it. When the breath controls us, we end up hyperventilating. Take a moment today and see where you might be holding your breath. Exhale through the experience, inhale in new experiences.

Nutrition: Balance. Sometime in our desire to be mega healthy we forget about balancing out our nutrition. When we want to build muscle we may focus on trying to get as much protein as possible, but forget it is carbohydrates that fuel the body through those strenuous workouts. Certain levels of fats must also be taken into the body for vitamin uptake and energy. I’ve said it before, and I can’t stress enough the use of a diet journal. It does not need to be complex, but a place where you can scan your intake and see where you might be lacking. A simple dietary intake for those living an active lifestyle is: 60% of calories from carbohydrates, 30% from protein, and 10% from fats. You take the amount of calories you are planning to intake and multiply that number by the percentage (or use a calculator) and this will give you the amount of C/P/F you are supposed to intake for the day. Don’t get too hung up on exact numbers, but this is a simple guideline for creating balance in your diet. I’ve never been a big fan of math, but we can make our high school math teachers proud by using simple numbers to create balance in our diets.

Comment, share, and grow!

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

http://www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Tuesday Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tip: 21 Feb 2012

February 21, 2012February 21, 2012 / soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Here is your spiritual fitness and nutrition tip! Enjoy, get moving, and create the best you possible!

Fitness: The fitness world can be an overwhelming place to step into. Just like any new addition to your life you’ll want to take some time to educate yourself on what fitness is and how you can best apply it to your life. Reading books about fitness, other people’s journey into fitness, blogs, and even watching you tube videos on fitness can be a great way to get the ball rolling. This is a time you want to really activate your discernment. Trust your intuition when it comes to the things you are reading. The one true axiom in fitness is: “If it is too good to be true, it probably is.” Do not trust quick fixes and promises. Skip over advertisements and read about processes, workouts, and application of techniques. Even reading a few books on anatomy to learn about how the body works can help you understand the process your body goes through when moving into a greater state of health. Often we go running into new things without arming ourselves with the information necessary to be effective in our pursuits. Take a few moments to read and grow. I’ll post some resources in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Nutrition: Sugar. Most of us have a love hate relationship with it. It creeps in to areas of our lives, and in some ways can be addictive. We also need to take caution with the fruits we are eating. Many of us give up cakes and cookies and make a transition to heavy fruits. This is a good thing, but if you are eating too many fruits that are high in sugar you can also create the same overload effect. This is especially important if you have sugar issues like diabetes or high blood sugar. You’ll want to supplement your diet with fruits that are low in sugar. You can check this on the glycemic index. Even healthy foods have limitations as to quantity you want to consume. Having a good mixture of low glycemic foods in the body keeps the insulin levels balanced out, which will also keep you feeling satiated.

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Tuesday Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tip: 2/14/2012

February 14, 2012 / soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Here is your Tuesday Tips for living a life of fitness on all levels!

Fitness: Rest. It’s a word that I typically do not personally invoke enough when it comes to my workouts. Rest days allow us to reconnect into our bodies, and it also allows us to give the body a break from a structured workout routine. During your rest days take time to meditate, or if you MUST do something active let it be something that is less impact than your usual workout. It also allows the body to heal. The act of working out is breaking down the physical to rebuild it brand new. Days off, and rotating the body parts you are working is an important way to avoid injury. Meditation is a workout for the mind, it allows us to be present, but it gives the physical body a bit of a break. Take time to allow yourself moments to rest, and pencil them into your workout schedule.

Nutrition: Keep a food journal! No, not one of those little online applications. The electronic versions are great and personally use one, but there are other things that you should also log when you are connecting to your food for greater health. We of course look at calories, fats, carbohydrates, proteins. You’ll also want to log how you feel when you eat. If you are reaching out for unhealthy foods due to an emotional upset, this will give you a few moments to detach from the action of reaching for food in a negative way. It allows you to also see where your emotions are during the day. You can also write positive affirmations for yourself that are more personalized than something you’d get online. The action of taking time to physically write something out in itself is an act of spiritual connection. We are holding something tangible, and its a more “real” connection. It slows us down. Which is very important when looking at how we are connecting to not only our food but to the world around us.

Much love and light, and happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

http://www.michaelbrazell.com

Michael@michaelbrazell.com

Tuesday Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tip 2/7/2012

February 7, 2012February 7, 2012 / soulinteraction / 1 Comment

Finding time to integrate fitness in our day can be a challenge. Here are a few tips to get the process going!

Fitness: Consistency is important when it comes to integrating a fitness plan into action. Try and workout at the same time every day. Once you get yourself on a solid routine it will be easier for you to maintain it, and it will be also be something you can look forward to doing. Early morning workouts can be a great way to start the day, and evening workouts can be a great way to release stress from a hectic day. Choose a time that works best for you, and commit to sticking with it for a week. It might mean that you have to get up a little earlier, or cut out a happy hour here or there, but you’ll be glad you did!

Nutrition: Eating with consistency can also help us bring our metabolism into greater alignment. First be sure that you are drinking plenty of water throughout the day. This will keep toxins flushed out of the body, and it helps to keep you balanced. If you work out in the mornings you first meal should be no later than 30 min after the workout. The day should then be divided into 6-8 smaller meals and snack throughout the day. This keeps your metabolism constantly fueled. Too often we eat snacks or drink juices that are high in sugar. This causes your insulin to spike making you feel more hungry. Having a consistent diet also gives you something to look forward to every couple of hours. You’ll be less likely to binge at the sushi bar, or eat an extra dessert. If you are someone that has trouble breaking free from your computer you might need to buy a countdown timer to remind you that it’s time to fuel up the body. Write out your diet plan, journal it, and keep with it. There are also a lot of great apps that you can download to your phone for easy tracking of calories, foods, and exercise.

If you have any questions, want to see tips on specific topics, or just have comments—feel free to leave them below!

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Tuesday Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tip 1/22/12

January 24, 2012 / soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Here is your Tuesday Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tip!

Fitness: Affirmations are powerful in how we connect or disconnect from moving into fitness. We have to take caution as to what we say less we create the experience or emotion. If we were to say, “I have no time to workout, life is just too busy”- it becomes our reality. If there is time to complain about there not being enough time, you just wasted time you could have been doing push ups, squats, or jumping jacks. “I am too tired to workout”– in the time it took you to plop down on the bed, turn on the TV, and find the perfect show to watch you could have run a few times around the block. We have to listen to what we are affirming. Some of these affirmation are stored in the subconscious (I’ll be doing an entire blog on this in the next few days). Some we speak daily.

Here are a few common negative fitness affirmations:

“I’ll never reach my goal weight”

“The gym frightens me”

“I’ll never have the perfect body”

“I’m too busy to workout”

“My life is too chaotic to spend time in the gym”

—What all of these are saying is simply this: “I do not have time to take care of the body that will allow me to be part of this wonderful physical experience. My temple is in shambles, and will not take part in its restoration. I willfully damage my connection to this divine vehicle.”

This is basically what you are saying by not committing to moving into greater states of health. What will it take for you to show up to your life?

Here are some positive fitness affirmation to add into your day:

“I make time for my body, my health and my well being”

“I am committed to my health in all areas of my life”

“My body is the temple of my life, I am committed to its upkeep fully.”

“Each day is a new opportunity for me to connect to my body through fitness”

“Fitness comes easily to me”

“I am perfect, and all my imperfections add beauty to my experience”

—You get the hint, now right a few of your own.

Nutrition: Simple, fresh and easy. Nutrition needs to be simple. This can be one of the most overwhelming areas when looking at making lifestyle changes. Start with micro shifts into more sound nutrition choices. Instead of eating fries or chips with your meal, have an apple. Keep fruit, nuts, and veggies handy through your day if you are a chronic snacker. Keep a food journal for a few days to see how many calories you are actually consuming. Not eating enough calories can be just as bad as eating too many. Many smart phones even have some useful apps that can help keep track of your daily intake.

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

michael@michaelbrazell.com

http://www.michaelbrazell.com

http://www.deviantyogi.com

Tuesday Spiritual Nutrition and Fitness Tip 1/17/2012

January 17, 2012January 17, 2012 / soulinteraction / Leave a comment

Every Tuesday I’ll be bringing you a fitness and nutrition tip to help move you your week. Subscribe, share and don’t miss out!

Nutrition: Don’t tell yourself that you “can’t have something”. We are programmed from a very young age that when someone puts a limitation on us we will rebel and do it anyway. Someone saying “Don’t push that red button”, just makes us want to push it. The same works with nutrition and diet. When we tell ourselves that we will never have sweets, carbs, etc. we only create a stronger desire for them. This is affirmation work at its best. Affirmations can work both ways, so we have to use a positive affirmation to eliminate the buried negative one.

Negative Affirmation:

“I will never have sugar again, its what is causing me to gain weight”

–This makes all sugar negative, and when we inevitably have something containing sugar, we hold onto more guilt.

“I allow myself to enjoy all aspects of eating. I am in complete control of what fuels my body to be at its very best”

An affirmation like this one still gives me permission to have that cupcake, and without the guilt, and with more enjoyment. Life is about enjoying what we have in front of us. Allow yourself to engage in treats, but give yourself permission to be in control. If you get a cupcake, eat 1/2 and give the other to a friend, or save it for another day.

Our relationship to food is 90% psychological, learning to balance this relationship will help you moving forward, and will be the focus of future blog posts.

Fitness: “I don’t have time to workout”. Well, I don’t have time to listen to limitations. There is always time. We find time to watch TV, we find time to go to Starbucks, we find time to complain about not working out. All you need to do is consciously connect to your day and find spots to add in a little fitness. Take the stairs instead of the escalator, if you are going to Starbucks pick one that is further away (and if it means you’ll be late getting back to work, more reason to move faster–adding in cardio). See how easy it is to simply add in a few moments here and there.

Here is a personal example: So we are stuck at my shop doing in inventory this week. I’ve been off my personal routine, but I am not going to let that stop me. Every hour my phone buzzes, I take a break, go into the back and do 25-30 push ups. In 8 hours I’ve done over 200 hundred push ups, an each time it only takes me 30 seconds.

There is NO EXCUSE not to add some fitness into your day. Connecting to the body is one step in connecting to the soul. So, stop complaining and start doing!

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

http://www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

The Ritual of Fitness: Intergrating Intention into Your Gym Workout Routines

January 10, 2012 / soulinteraction / 1 Comment

Intention, Motivation, and Connection to Your Physical Practice

The alarm clock goes off, and your feet hit the ground, and of course the first thought on your mind is heading towards the gym. I can already hear the “Yeah, right” screaming from the recesses of your soul. Many will sleep in until the very last possible second, some rush to the computer the moment feet touch the ground to check email/Facebook/twitter/or the latest foursquare updates. Then after a long day at work, we are faced with our second opportunity to step into the sacred grounds of the gym, yet… we would much rather curl up to Netflix and catch up on the latest episode of Cake Boss.

The toughest part of any workout routine is setting up a steady routine. There is a frustration when it comes to working out. We have to remember that it took us a while to get to where we are, and it is going to take some time to see the results of our work. As spiritual people we know that when it comes to manifesting things take time. The universe/God/Goddess hears our call and life begins to synchronize and align to bring about the desired outcome. Our time in the gym is a microcosm of grand universal effect. The first step is to set a realistic goal for yourself. Ok, let’s pause right here. Many of you immediately added up some magical goal weight that must be achieved, some of you might have seen muscles ripping out of every crevice of your clothing, others may have seen themselves coming across the finish line of their first marathon. Let’s take the goal to an even smaller and simpler place: Just show up. That’s it. If you do not show up to your workout, then the goal will just remain a dream. The dream is also dangerous, because it can hold us in an expectation that is too far for ourselves to reach. If my goal is to run a marathon, but I’ve never even jogged a mile, I might be frustrated if in one week, I’m not wearing that gold medal around my neck. We have to be realistic about our expectations when it comes to our fitness. Even better is to release all expectation. Just show up and engage your experience.

You’ll also need a workout plan. Not knowing what to do in the gym can be intimidating. The machines can be complex, the classes can be intimidating, and at times we might just be overwhelmed by the multitude of choices in front of us. Simplify your direction. Start with cardio and build, do not be afraid to ask questions and take a class or two. Group fitness classes are a great way to burn calories, connect with others that are moving towards similar goals, and just have fun! When I was teaching and taking classes at a gym in Norfolk, I looked forward to my class, they became my “gym family”. You share stories, and get excited in each others progress.

Now, let’s take our workout a step further. What if I told you that you could add to world peace simply by engaging your process in the gym? Take a moment and think of something that is important in your life, something that you want to dedicate energy to. The next time you are in the gym set your intention, and dedicate your workout to that goal/place in the world/or person that might need it. A simple affirmation might go like this, “I dedicate the energy from this workout to all the homeless in my area. May they find peace, love and happiness this day” “I dedicate the energy of this workout to my friend Jim, who is going into surgery today, may the energy created guide him into greater health.” You get the hint… Be creative.

By setting an intention, you create a deeper connection to your workout. It gives the action new life and purpose.

Set the intention the night before and you might feel new drive to get those feet moving towards greater health the moment that alarm clock screams you awake.

I’ll be posting specific workout plans and tips to help ease the process and to make gym life less overwhelming. For those of you that are not members of a gym, I’ll be posting specifics for you as well.

So, let’s recap:

1) Just start by showing up. Not just to the gym, but to your life. Choose health, choose life, choose to better yourself on all levels.

2) Set a goal for yourself. Be realistic and release all expectations other than to be present in your gym experience.

3) Ask questions, have a plan of action. If you can spend 10 hours on Facebook, you can spend a few minutes looking up workout routines. Also feel free to email me directly if you have questions. I will also be posting a resource list in the next couple of days.

4) Give your workout a greater purpose by setting an intention. By doing this you make it more than just about you. You are creating and giving energy to the world around you. This alone should help drive your desire to get moving.