Here is a sample of more conversations I have been having with those who are experiencing the Healthy Lifestyle Resource Kit

Q.  What’s the difference between my “body brain” and my “brain brain”?

A.  When my client referred to her “body brain” on the audio, she referred to her body’s intelligence— the essence of my system.  When we respect our body’s innate intelligence; learn to access and share it; learn to communicate back and forth, we will co-create a body knowledge system that works for you.

 -Dana S, Parker Ranch, CO

Q. What do you mean by “separation”, “estrangement” between me and my body?  I can’t go anywhere without her…

A. Nor can I, however,  I am ALWAYS CONSCIOUS of her presence where ever, whenever we are, and whatever we are doing while we’re doing it. Her support, her friendship, her input creates the life we both love!

-Leslie L, Frisco, TX

Q. When you talk about personal Styles, do you mean behavior?

A. Yes, and choices, activities, decisions you make based on so many factors genetically and environmentally influenced.  Some of us are RE-ACTORS who try the latest fad diet, exercise craze, shoe style foisted upon us by the media. Others are PRO-ACTORS, the pioneers, the seekers who keep trying any and everything until they find something that works—for a while. The Styles express your natural selection, intrinsic solutions, in other words, WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!

-Mildred Q, Philadelphia, PA

My system teaches you how to identify your style in every area of your life, and then how to incorporate it into your life. One Style does NOT FIT ALL, and may not apply to every area in your life…find out which style fits each activity with Your Body Knowledge System.

Go here and get it now!

Share Tags: Body Relationship, Eating Healthy, Life Balance, Mind Body Connection

Some of you took advantage of my no-cost offer to share my Healthier Lifestyle Resource Kit with you last week.  Unfortunately some of you missed the offer so I’m offering it here one more time so you can benefit from the information you missed.

Requests for my Healthier Lifestyle Resource Kit keep coming along with several great questions!  I wanted to share them with you so here are the three most asked questions so far:

Q.  Why does your system work, when all the others fail over time?

A.  My system works because it empowers you to stay motivated by finding what works for you by doing it YOUR way.  My system becomes your system!

-From Susan J. in Newport Beach, California:

Q. Who says it works forever?

A. My clients and their experience.  As soon as you renew your relationship with your body, you are committed to her, and she to you. You have co-created an eternal relationship that sustains itself and rewards both of you with the results you desire.

-From Jill C. in Manitoba, Canada:

Q. What’s the magic method or secret ingredient? 

A. You and your experience co-creating the relationship with your body.  The process involves working with your BFF, your body, to determine what works for BOTH of you in every area of your life. My system will give you and your body a wide variety of tools and techniques to choose from as you restore that healthy, happy, sexy person you were born to be! From fun forms of motion, food choices, attracting new and better relationships, to doing the work that expresses your way of being in the world.

-From Marie O. in Chicago, IL

I want to share all I know about our bodies, ourselves—

My Body Knowledge is Your Body Knowledge— of Your Body.

In my system, everything begins with your body.

Through experience, my system becomes your system.

My system works for me, and when you do my system your way,

It’s now yours, Your System, Your Way.

Because it’s your system, your way; your system works with you and for you, every day.

Share Tags: Eating Healthy

FACT:  Events occurring in June contain four of the top ten anxiety inducing situations (marriage, family changes, debt and travel).  When you’re stressed, your body has one of these three reactions:

• Freeze, Flee, or Fight. 

Regardless of your specific response to stress inducers, your body’s reaction is always an extra dose of cortisol which slooooooowwwwwssssss your metabolism almost to a stop.

The result? FAT!

Celery or Chocolate Éclairs: regardless of what you eat, when you are stressed, you will get the most “bang” possible from every bite.

How ironic that when you want to look your best for an upcoming event, your body betrays you.

No! NOT TRUE! It is YOU who betrays your BODY!

The Body Knowledge System® is the Stress Solution for Event Anxiety.

1)      Body talk keeps it real.

2)      Comfortable clothes create confidence, enhance enjoyment, and reduce stress!

3)      Make each event easy on yourself…you are a guest, not the main attraction.

Client Story

Dahlia felt her stomach tighten as soon as she saw the return address embossed on the creamy linen envelope containing an invitation to her niece’s elaborate June wedding in Beverly Hills, CA. Aware of the upcoming event for months, she had dreaded this moment due to the family’s expectations.  Her hand shook as she stared at the RSVP card. Taking a deep breath, she reached for her copy of the Body Knowledge System®. Flipping it open to page 288, she read the introduction to the “Events & You” chapter. Her heartbeat slowed as she continued reading the reassuring words and the notations she had made in the margins. By page 308, she felt her smile return as she reviewed her notes addressing this event. Those notes were a product of her rediscovery of a real relationship with her body and the deep friendship that had been developing since she began to practice the Body Knowledge System® with her coach, Stephanie Wood, PPC.

Remember: Whether it’s a family event, or a networking opportunity, or a party with total strangers, or people you really don’t want to be with, BKS has a hot flash for you:  JUST SAY NO, THANK YOU!  And feel your anxiety slip away…taking the cortisol with it.

As an alternative, send a gift, and spend the day at the beach, the movies, or with a good book.

If you would like to have a conversation with me, please contact me, or if you would like to be in a free group tele-class, learn more here.

Share Tags: Body Image, Body Relationship, Eating Healthy, Reducing Stress

Re-invent yourself by re-connecting to your body.

This month marks more than turning a page on the calendar.  October signifies a shift in the seasons, too.  In the Fall…

1. The leaves change color
2. TV shows change time slots
3. The students change grades, and sometimes schools.

 And you change into warmer, and sometimes larger, clothes.

 Mother Nature controls the firs point, network executives control the second, and teachers control the third.

You control your clothing choices. Regardless of the season, often you achieve your body’s comfort zone with your clothing choices.

For the sun worshippers: With your last swim, you put away your bathing suit. You replace last summer’s cover-up with cable sweaters, baggy sweats, and swirling skirts. You smile in relief with the knowledge your days of exposing yourself to the scrutiny of the others on the beach or at the pool are over…for now.

For the sun avoiders: You relax in the knowledge there will be no more invitations to pool parties to regret, no more hiding in your home or office until it is “safe” to transition to another environment, no more squinting, sneezing from allergies, and no more sweating.

Fall is an ideal transition between the two extremes of summer’s and winter’s uncontrollable temperatures as it eases you from thin, light weight to thick, heavy weight clothing. Prior to covering her up, take advantage of this shift in seasons to get to know your body…before she goes into hiding on her way to hibernation for the winter.

Fall is the time to declare a truce with your body.

We practice this in the Body Knowledge System®

Here are some reminders but please feel free to add more by contacting me.

• STOP covering her up i.e. Allow her to breathe with pride
• STOP confronting her in the mirror i.e. As you see her let her know how much you love her
• STOP corrupting her with excess i.e. Practice thinking of her needs first
• STOP condemning her with every thought and word i.e. Remember she hears you, be careful

Re-invent yourself and reacquaint yourself with your body, your Buddy. Your body is there to help you, not hinder you. Your body works very well WITH you, FOR you, and always in your best interest. Getting to know her comes with body knowledge. Familiarize yourself with her as she renews her relationship with you. Teamwork, partnership, and support between you and your body accomplish miracles.

A new moon, a new month, a new season leads to a new you. Go with the flow of the calendar and change yourself with the season.

Re-invent yourself and reacquaint yourself with your body, your Buddy. Your body is there to help you, not hinder you.

Before September’s shift from summer to fall, we enjoyed that last burst of heat and sunshine present in Indian summer, the last kiss of the sun prior to the rains and snows of the upcoming seasons. Regardless of where you live, your climate, your urban or rural environment, when summertime fades into fall, the heat recedes into the past season.

Summertime heat affects you and your body in many ways. For some of you the warmth is welcome as you peel off layers of clothing to welcome the weather. Some of you peel off extra pounds from the winter hibernation, too. Others fill their days with good intentions to fit into last year’s bathing suit, then eventually give up and buy the next larger size when August fades into September. Labor Day signifies the swimming season is coming to a close, so all those good intentions fade with the colors of the leaves and you’ll lose those pounds, get in shape for next year’s swim season.

Part of your procrastination is a result of the warmer weather’s effect on your motivation. There’s a reason tropical climates are more relaxed than seasonal ones. As the sunshine warms us naturally, it also mellows us to not take ourselves so seriously. Vitamin D3 comes from the sun and is known to affect our physical and psychological well- being. In northern climates, physicians recommend supplementing our diet with D3 during the other seasons.

Increased temperatures create excessive perspiration. We need to drink more water to maintain our physical and mental health. Dehydration is not only depressing, but also dangerous to our well-being. Since your body is mostly fluid, when you lose too much you lose vital minerals as well and it weakens every aspect of you. Your immune system becomes unable to fight off infections without the minerals you’ve lost in your increased perspiration.

Increased humidity in the summer can also take a lot out of us—not just moisture. As the water content of the air increases, so does the swelling of your extremities: feet, ankles, and hands, fingers. Perhaps the number on your scale remains within 5 pounds of your desired weight, but your clothing seems to shrink as it covers moist, sticky skin. Increased humidity brings your sunny spirit into the shadows, as if you retreat in order to return to your comfort level.

Skin damage from the sun’s rays age us prematurely and is a known source for cancers. Even though the sensation of warmth on our skin elevates our spirit as it colors our skin, too much of any good thing can be toxic. Whether sun worshipping is a part of your daily summertime routine or available only over the weekend during breaks from your office work, it is one of the pleasures available to us during that cheerful season. Vacations, road trips, beach picnics, long weekend holidays, family reunions are all part of that season of expansion, growth, and relaxation for some of us.

Specifically, like flowers some of us open to welcome the rays of the sun on our skin. Others detest the results of summertime heat on the way we look, the way we feel, and the way we move. Some of you bounce from bed, climb into your bathing suit or sundress, slather yourself in sunscreen, and then skip outside with the early rays of the day. Others pull down the blinds, turn down the a/c, and reach for a cold drink to wait for the relief sunset brings.

Summertime heat and all that sunshine can energize you if you respond well to it, or it can drain and depress you by restricting you to the darkness of indoors. The seasons change and regardless of how you feel about summer, you resist change because you are a human being.

Change is the only constant; and seasonal change is as radical as the climate you live and work in. For those in the tropics the change is hardly noticeable, for those in more temperate climates, the transitions between seasons can be subtle or radical depending on the current weather patterns.

Re-invent yourself and reacquaint yourself with your body, your Buddy. Your body is there to help you, not hinder you.

Your body works very well WITH you, FOR you, and always in your best interest. Getting to know her comes with body knowledge. Familiarize yourself with her as she renews her relationship with you. Teamwork, partnership, and support between you and your body accomplish miracles.

A new moon, a new month, a new season leads to a new you.

Go with the flow of the calendar and change yourself with the season.

Share Tags: Body Image, Body Relationship, Eating Healthy, Mind Body Connection

The most important relationship in your life is the one you were born with: you and your body. At birth you were one with your body.

Now?

Not so much.

So as an infant when you were hungry, tired, cold, wet, gassy or grumpy you expressed yourself immediately to alert your caregivers to pay attention and “fix it”, make it better immediately!  Sometimes your body’s advocacy brought immediate and appropriate responses to fulfill your need, relieve your discomfort, and make you feel better. Other times your body’s alerts brought little or no response from your caregivers. Regardless of the response, your body’s actions always expressed your comfort level…your relationship was pure, direct and truthful. You and your body were one, a unit always acting in your best interest for mutual benefit.

As you matured, your body’s communications to you were censored by your caregivers. Part of being “socialized” meant ignoring your body’s needs in favor of what was “expected” of you and your behavior.  As the process progressed, your separation from your body increased as you learned to deny her input, ignore her physical sensations, and her “gut” feelings.  Without being aware of the immediate honest feedback from your body, your estrangement widened until your best friend became your worst enemy.

At first you focused on what you considered imperfections you saw in the mirror, and then you covered them up with clothing, make-up, hair styles—or plastic surgery. Regardless of your efforts, your feelings remained the same. Your attitude, your perception toward your body increased your dissatisfaction, your disappointment, and resentment perhaps leading to hatred for parts or all of her.  Your body’s response to the increasing abandonment by her best friend is to make the situation worse, by expressing exactly what disturbs you about her—only this time with exaggeration.

Do the words ‘yo-yo’ dieting have meaning?

Your body is as unique as you are. His or her personality is as individual as you are. Your life experiences helped mold you to become the person you are today. Your body also experienced the events, celebrations, relationships, challenges and opportunities that make up your history. Your body’s experience differed from yours as did his or her reaction to those experiences. Were you ever aware of the difference? If so, how did your body’s reaction affect you? Take a moment to remember a significant event in your life and then consider your physical reaction to it.  Did your body support you or did he or she betray you? It doesn’t matter if the experience was “positive” or “negative” only that it affected you physically as well as emotionally or psychologically. And sometimes the physical reaction was expected because of the quality of the experience, i.e. excitement and joy at your wedding. And sometimes your body reacted in an opposite way from what you expected, i.e. nausea, headache and chills at your wedding. (So the marriage ended in divorce within the year).

The Introduction…It’s never too late to get to know your body as the personality he or she is, because it’s never too late to save the relationship that began at birth.  An awareness of your connection, a willingness to risk befriending the physical self you perhaps have ignored, abused, or simply dismissed since your youth. No need to apologize for your absence, since your body has been, is, and will always be your best friend and BFFs (Best Friends Forever) accept each other for who they are with understanding, not judgment or criticism.

Become aware of your body for an hour, a day, a week. After you are comfortable with your body, that means acceptance without judgment or criticism for your body’s shape, condition, or current health, introduce yourself.

Welcome your body back into your life on a minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, every-day basis. Listen for your body’s input into your choices, decisions, and timing.  Note what happens when you return to trusting your “gut” rather than the “chatter” from your ego.

When you heed the physical input from your body, what happens?

When you ignore the message, what happens?

When your ego trumps your gut, what happens?

“Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You…” (Rogers & Hammerstein, The King and I)

Awareness is always the first step to ending the estrangement with your body.  An introduction requires a name. And like most names, it can change as your relationship changes, becomes deeper, more trusting, more reliable, more expressive. Communication continues through conversation. Part of the conversation is the dance when the magic of motion brings it all together.

This is the core concept of the Body Knowledge System®, my successful sustainable solution to every body’s life goals, desires, and achievements. I developed this over two decades of health and wellness practice and training.  My clients revealed to me my own secret: ending the estrangement with your body, as I had. Now it’s your turn to end your estrangement with your body and get what you want in life: healthy body, healthy mind, and healthy spirit in order to enjoy love and life to the fullest.

Share Tags: Body Relationship, Eating Healthy, Estrangement, Fit Relationships, Mind Body Connection

Learn one tool of many that will help you to not gain weight this holiday season.