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Transformation Fitness & Wellness

Arin Lindauer

Breaking Patterns

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Hope you are having a great day today!

Ever try to eat better, only to see yourself go right back to the same things you know you need to eliminate?

One of the hardest things to do is break a pattern.

Take for example driving to work…we drive the same route, driving a different route would feel weird. But there a most likely a few different ways to get to the same destination.

We are wired to do things the same way because we have always done it that way.

When it comes to health and wellness goals, we see people be successful when they can break patterns.

The first pattern might be not exercising, they add in workouts 2 or 3 workouts per week.

Now those workouts are part of their week. We become wired to do those workouts each week otherwise we feel off.

Nutrition, is more complex, but then again it isn’t.

We have attachments and feel good sensors that go off when we eat something.

Rewiring your brain to stop having a sweet after dinner is hard, and the longer you have done this the harder it is.

BUT it can be done.

Its important to understand why you would want to make the change.

Then we need to align our actions to our goals.

We can say we want to lose weight, but if you keep doing all the things that are keeping the weight on, do you really want to lose weight.

I know this is a tough conversation.

Its important to understand what we want, then align the actions it will take to get to the desired results.

Then the magic question, are you willing to do that.

Our brain is an amazing machine and when you take control, you can do anything. What do you need to rewire? For some of us this is deeper, we need to rewire how we feel about ourselves, the self-talk we have.

Instead of thinking, “I’ll only have one cookie.” “or why bother, I won’t see results and ways…” we have to rewrite how we think and view ourselves.

“I deserve to lose weight.”

“I am stronger than my desires.”

“I love how I feel when I fuel my body.”

I could go on.

You deserve anything you want and more.

We need to align our actions with your goals – daily…kinda like taking a bath. 😉

Arin

Wolves…

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I wanted to share another story from, Think Like a Monk, then a couple of personal stories…

A senior monk once told me an old Cherokee story about these dilemmas which all of us agonize over:

“An elder tells his grandson, ‘Every choice in life is a battle between two wolves inside us. One represents anger, envy, greed, fear, lies, insecurity, and ego. The other represents peace, love, compassion, kindness, humility, and positivity. They are competing for supremacy.’

“‘Which wolf wins?’ the grandson asks. ‘The one you feed,’ the elder replies.”

“But how do we feed them?” I asked my teacher.

The monk said, “By what we read and hear. By who we spend time with. By what we do with our time. By where we focus our energy and attention.”

Which wolf are you feeding?

Controlling our mental dialogue is one of the greatest battles we can win. We can become our own worst enemy if we allow it.

Just like we track what we put in our body from a nutrition standpoint. Take note of what is going into your mind.

Is it all negative from media sources or negative people around you? Try to reduce your exposure.

Find positive people to surround yourself with, people who are doing what you want to do, or achieving things you have only dreamed of.

One of the best tools I was taught years ago was talk to yourself vs listen to yourself.

When I was running my second marathon, I kept listening to myself and did not perform the way I would have preferred. “You are in pain.” “You missed your mile time to qualify for Boston, give up.” And so on…it was defeating. I struggled to even finish that race.

When I was getting ready to speak on a national stage in front of thousands, I talked to myself behind the stage. “You have prepared for this moment.” “You have a powerful message.” “You are a strong and confident woman.” I nailed that presentation and inspired so many people.

Two times in my life. One where I fed my mind negative self-talk, listening to all the negative thoughts, and another time where I intentionally put positive uplifting talk into my mind. I am sure I looked silly behind the stage, but it was affirmations I had been telling myself over and over in preparation.

Feed the positive wolf.

Read the information that will encourage you. Put yourself around positive people who are achieving things you desire. Focus on the good in our world today…it does exist.

Peace,

Arin

The Nose…

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Hope you had a good week!

I had some questions from a few people about diaphragmatic breathing.

When we are born, we belly breathe and more importantly, we breathe through our nose. Why does this change? Several reasons come into play.

Habit

Sleep Apnea

Stress

Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system leading to shallow, rapid, and abnormal breathing. Have you ever been around someone that was going 100 miles a minute or someone upset, sure we all have or we have been that person? Take note next time how they are breathing.

Encourage them to slow down, breath through the nose, you will see their whole demeanor change. You can pull them out of fight or flight and into a more relaxed state.

Try focusing on only nose breathing, no matter what you do. The nose produces nitric oxide, which improves your lungs’ ability to absorb oxygen.

Nitric oxide increases the ability to transport oxygen throughout your body, including inside your heart. It relaxes vascular smooth muscle and allows blood vessels to dilate.

Nitric oxide is also antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitic, and antibacterial. It helps the immune system to fight infections.

Here’s what I recommend you do, either sit or lie down, put your hand on your belly, breathe in through your nose, feel your belly rise.

If you feel your shoulders come up towards your ears or chest expand, stop, reset the mind, and continue to try again. Take a light breath through your nose and think about the belly expanding. This can take several tries in one session, be kind to yourself, and continue to practice.

Still to this day I struggle with diaphragmatic breathing. But the effects of my breath have lowered my anxiety, stress, how I handle situations and certainly has impacted my performance in a workout.

Again, it is so simple to do, it is simple not to do.

Hope this helps, be intentional daily focusing on your breathwork. Try to do this first thing in the morning, mid-day on a lunch break, or in the evening before bed.

Let me know what you experience!

Arin

Mind and Body Challenge

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We just launched our Transformation Mind and Body Challenge with our clients and we encourage you to take a look at this list.

Now more than ever we need to protect our mind.

What is interesting to me, is how in control we actually are.

I have done extensive work (and continue) to control my thoughts on a daily basis. Some days are great and others not so great, I am sure you have felt the same.

When I have been at my lowest, I have thankful realized I couldn’t walk this path alone. I have turned to professional help and scripture.

What I have also learned is the daily things we practice add up.

If we are sedentary and eat too many calories, we gain weight.

If we are intentional about moving our body and take in less calories, we lose weight.

At its root, it is simple…

Same with our mind, what we fill our mind with on a daily basis reflects how we feel and how we impact others.

Here is the list we are challenging our clients to do daily for the next 30-Days, take a look and see what you can do daily, it will add up quickly.

1.) Workout or be Active (15 min of activity)

2.) 1-10 minutes of Breath Work (diaphragmatic breathing)

3.) No Alcohol (or at least reduce)

4.) No Cheats: anything sugary (lets be real we know what we should and shouldn’t eat.)

5.) Drink a gallon of water per day (128oz.)

6.) Read 10 pages or listen to 10 minutes of a Self-Development book

7.) Post a positive image or selfie on IG/FB, tagging TFW

One of the best things I started doing over ten years ago was read, EVERY MORNING. I crave this time alone, reading something that is going to help me be better. One of our prized possessions in our home is our library. In our office we have two book shelves filled with business and self-development books.

I am not the same person I was 10 years ago and that’s a good thing. Its because of feeding my mind on a daily basis something that is inspiring, challenging and motivating.

Take a look at this list, if you only did one thing from this list I would recommend the breathing.

Have a wonderful day today,

Arin

Daily Wins

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With stress and anxiety so high and in all of our lives I thought I would share some ways we can win each day.

It’s important to recognize first how you feel and give compassion to your feelings. Sit with them and understand why you feel the way you feel.

As a child we are told to stop crying, but what if you said tell me why you are crying or tell me how you are feeling?

It would allow us to express our frustrations and pain.

This is why we all hold so much inside of us and eventually we burst or we simply live inbound nature.

Here’s the cool thing, we can do small things each day to help cope with the daily stress and anxiety.

1.) Workout or be Active (15 min of activity)

2.) 1-10 minutes of Breath Work (diaphragmatic breathing)

3.) No Alcohol (or at least reduce)

4.) No Cheats: anything sugary (let’s be real we know what we should and shouldn’t eat.)

5.) Drink a gallon of water per day (128oz.)

6.) Read 10 pages or listen to 10 minutes of a Self-Development book

7.) Post a positive image or selfie on IG/FB

None of these are a cure-all but done daily will help infuse positivity, healthy habits and I challenge you to do this for 30 straight days. (now you can pick and choose on some, but you get the idea.)

Start filling your body with positive energy, people, habits, and I guarantee you will see a change in your mood.

If you need a recommendation on a good book, I have been reading, “Think Like a Monk”, by Jay Shetty and this book can be transformational. I don’t say that often. Check it out.

Here’s another cool thing, starting next Monday we are challenging our members to the list above, they will track each item for the next 30-Days. By no means do we expect someone to do this perfectly, it is meant to help rid some habits and fuel your mind.

Let me know if you want in on the challenge. It’s 100% Free!

Have an amazing day!

Arin

Losing Focus

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Do you feel like you wake up and its Ground Hogs Day?

You keep experiencing the same day over and over. Nothing all that good, nothing all that bad, just bleh…

You get up, go through the motions, but you’re not happy, but you are not satisfied either…you want more.

If you are feeling bleh…it is time to get FOCUSED.

You may be asking on what?

For each person reading this you will have different answers, but what I am seeing is people are ready to make CHANGES.

They are tired of feeling the way they are feeling. They got out of a good fitness routine or what they are doing is not enough. Maybe they have put weight on over lockdown and its time.

Time to make change.

Where do you start?

I will tell you most people need motivation and accountability.

They need to know that someone cares whether or not they show up for that workout, track that meal, had that cheat and they need a safe environment.

That’s where we come in. We have a safe, socially distanced facility and procedures in place to continue to safely operate. (We still run our LIVE online workouts for those who are not ready or you like a combo of in person and online workouts.)

We also are launching a Free Challenge for our members to help them get Focused. We are starting Next Monday, Sept 28th! We have certain things we will have you focus on that encompass all things around your physical and MENTAL health.

It has never been more important to FOCUS on you, your health and most importantly your Mental health.

Don’t go this path alone, research shows you will be more successful with a coach and accountability system.

Shoot me a message back if you need help,

Arin