At Totally New You! the most frequently heard phrase is BREATHE!

We even have a cool little sign above our front door:

Buddhist to do list:

1. Breathe

So many people have absolutely no idea how much the way they breathe affects the their health, mood, and energy. So the very first thing everyone needs to know is to re-learn how to breathe appropriately for the circumstance they are currently in.

Simply stated:

If you are breathing through your mouth you are stress breathing.

If you are breathing through your nose into your belly you are calm breathing.

This has a big impact on your blood pressure and stress levels!

We also use BREATHE as an acronym:

Balance

Renew

Energy

Align

Together

Habits

Exercise

These Progress Principles help guide our clients through a whole mind/body/spirit approach to wellness.

Balance refers to the need to keep your life in perspective. If you don’t schedule any time for you, is there ever going to be any time left over for you to take care of yourself? Keeping yourself healthy and happy enables you to help those around you much more effectively! You will work better and be kinder if you have taken some time each day to make sure you are at your best!

Renew is about replacing the energy we spend each day. This goes for the 8 hours of restful sleep we need to get each night, to the healthy nutritious food we need to keep our bodies fueled and ready for action each day. If you don’t recharge your mental batteries with sleep, and if you don’t put nutrients back into your gas tank, your engine may just stop! If you stop trying to “artificially enhance” your energy with energy drinks and soda, and actually put whole foods in your body at regular intervals, it will run much better!  Additionally I should mention the need for mental/spiritual renewal.  Every day I begin with reading and/or listening to positive books and programs.  I have a Big list of favorites – please ask me and I will get you a List! =)  This sets your mood and attitude for the entire day.

Energy is really all about Focus. If you are taking the proper steps to Renew yourself each day, then you should have plenty of energy to get you through your busy day. Focusing your energy on the important, rather than always on the urgent is key. Properly set goals and a well thought out schedule will do wonders for your energy levels! We also teach our clients to get rid of all the little nagging energy drains that constantly seem to get in the way. Once you learn this skill, you will wonder how you ever got along without it!

Align refers to your Posture. If you drive around with the frame bent on your car, don’t you think it’s going to mess with your gas mileage and performance? Due to our sedentary lifestyle our body gets out of shape – in more ways than one! It isn’t just the spare tire around your waist, or the air bags that may have formed on your hips. Sitting down all the time makes our shoulders round, our hips tight, and our backs ache! Our program focuses on Flexibility in the areas that are too tight, and brings Strength back into the areas that have gotten weak through disuse and neglect. You won’t believe how much better you will feel once you fix your Posture and get your body back into Alignment!

Together is about Social Support. Study after study shows that those who have someone to keep them accountable get far better results, and more importantly keep those positive results! That is the job of your wellness coach, but just as important is the friendships you can build with those in our community that are there to support and encourage you every step of the way! And this should be obvious, but if you could do it on your own, wouldn’t you have done it already?

Habits are something we tend to think of in a negative way, but good habits are Critical to good health! The biggest mistake we see people make is trying to eliminate bad habits without replacing them with a good one – this does not work! I tell clients all the time that if I could snap my fingers and have you wake up with the perfect body tomorrow morning, in 6 months they would be right back where they are today because they haven’t changed their minds and habits. We are all slaves to our habits, but the good news is that we can Choose which habits to make our own!

Exercise is usually the first thing that people tend to think of when it comes to fitness and wellness. It is incredibly important, but only as part of an overall lifestyle strategy. Literally 5-10 minutes of daily activity will do you more good than 5 hours once a week. Your body needs a rhythm and balance of activity to stay healthy. Going to the gym is Boring for most people. Add to that a lack of Results, and that is a recipe for failure. We make exercise Fun and Effective so that you can literally See and Feel Results from the very 1st day!

Don’t you owe it to yourself to start taking better care of your body, start stimulating your mind, and raise your spirits to new heights as you get your body back?

We look forward to helping you get in back in shape – and remember to BREATHE!