Release Stress – Get Fit – Calm Your Mind

The mind-body prostgram is for people who are overwhelmed with stress, feeling tight and out of shape and want to take control of their health. If your work/life is out of balance, and you know that something needs to change but don’t see how it could even be possible, then the mind-body program is for you.

Eight modules that lead to greater work-life balance—practiced and integrated through movement. Designed to get you fit, release stress and break through the blocks that keep you repeating the same self-destructive habits, each session in the mind-body program is made up of 3 elements.

First, we use conversation to explore each concept and how it relates to you and your life.

Second, we practice and integrate what we find through physical yoga. In other words, we do something about it: get fit (flexibility, core, mobility), release stress, and re-center all at the same time. My clients are busy and spend most of their days sitting. So, all practices are tailored to your body and adapted to your needs.   

Third—mindfulness. Time is a factor. The mindful practices allow you to weave exercises into your everyday life, giving you opportunity to practice and release stress no matter what you’re doing, whether it’s driving to work, or making dinner.

And that’s one of the core principles of the mind-body program. We reduce stress and find a sustainable work-life balance by working with your life as it is.

My philosophy

I don’t know what you need, but deep down, you do. This program is a process of self-discovery that helps you uncover and refine your way of living. Beyond teaching you accessible ways of getting fit and processing stress, my role as a coach is to help you clarify what you really want and need, suggest and design practices that help you integrate what we find, and keep you accountable.

My clients tend to excel at what they do and can push themselves like no other when it comes to work. They put mental, emotional, and physical stress to the side, and they get things done. This is their superpower, but it’s also their kryptonite because that stress doesn’t disappear. It only gets banked to be dealt with later.

At first, that unprocessed stress manifests as feeling tired, tight, and out of shape, but left unchecked, and it starts to affect every aspect of your life, for some even resulting in burnout.

Symptoms of unmanaged stress:

• Intense physical tension (shoulders, neck, back)

• Exhaustion

• Life feels like a never-ending to-do list.

• Difficulty enjoying and appreciating what you’ve earned.

• Relentless thinking causing loss of sleep.

• Self-destructive habits you can’t kick.

• Feelings of boredom you can’t shake.

• Feeling unfulfilled even though successful.

• A tendency to withdraw from loved ones

• Difficulty maintaining relationships.

• Too mentally tired to exercise.

• Unnecessary frustration and angry outbursts.

• A feeling of being stuck even though you know what you need to do.

The truth is you’re great at pushing through, but no one ever taught you how to process your stress. When you were younger, it was built into the system. You walked more, played sports, had fewer responsibilities, and felt more free to do what you liked. But the things we do for ourselves tend to be the first things we sacrifice.

Stress is inevitable. And there are times when we need to push through. But if you want to enjoy and live a full life, you need tools that help you work with the inevitable emotional, physical and mental stresses of life.

Each session is designed to return you to balance, and give you the tools so that you can continue to ground and center yourself with or without me. All of this so you can keep striving towards your goals, without sacrificing your life. The only way a work life balance can be sustainable is if it works for you and your life.

Benefits

• Build physical fitness (flexibility, mobility, and strength).

• Improved focus.

• Reduce physical pain.

• Get back in touch with what you enjoy.

• Recover from other physical activities more quickly.

• Improved ability to appreciate what you have.

• Increased energy.

• Learn to work with stress in a productive way.

• Gain tools that calm your mind.

• Release blocks that keep you making unhealthy choices.

• Find more peace of mind.

• Become more engaged and present with your loved ones.

• Become a more positive force to those around you.

Anatomy of a Session

1. Conversation (30 – 45 mins)

   • Each course starts with conversation. We discuss what’s going on and how the concept of the week relates to your life: where it’s already present, where it used to be present, and where it needs to be emphasized.

2. Movement Practice (45 – 1 hour)

   • Practice a yoga sequence that applies the concepts learned.

   • In each module, we use movement to release stress, build core strength, develop flexibility, and integrate work through what’s going on.

   • When done online, you will receive a video and have this recording to follow in the future.

3. Reflection and Mindfulness (15 – 30 mins)

   • After movement practice, we usually find deeper clarity.

   • We will discuss any insights, and I’ll share a mindfulness or breathing exercise for the week that you can apply and practice in your everyday life.

The Modules

Module 1: Finding Your Warrior Stance

1. Learn what fuels your perseverance beyond the paycheck.

2. Learn a foundational yoga flow designed to undo the negative effects of sitting all day.

3. Learn how to use movement to relieve the physical tension that often leads to agitation, a lack of patience, and reduced focus.

4. Learn to recognize what overwhelm feels like in the body so that you can decide to breathe instead of react.

Module 2: Momentum and Flow

1. Experience the flow state.

2. Learn to maintain momentum in your life without pushing to the point of exhaustion. And how to relax without falling into inertia.

3. Learn to take breaks that rejuvenate, recharge and process stress.

Module 3: Finding Rhythm: Breaking Patterns

1. Learn rhythmic movements that release tension and calm your mind. 

2. Meet external demands while respecting your integrity.

   • Driving the perfect speed doesn’t always mean going the speed limit. You’ve got to feel it out.

3. Use rhythmic movement to release tension, get into a flow state, and find clarity.

4. Remove yourself from circular thinking and break negative patterns.

Module 4: Receiving Tension (Yin yoga)

1. By learning to relax into discomfort, you will develop the resilience necessary to be with anything that happens in your life.

2. Learn to receive tension and how fighting it or tensing around it often makes it worse.

3. Learn to recognize tension and respond by breathing deeply.

4. Learn ways to practice even when you’re exhausted.

    

Module 5: Finding Clarity—Out of Survival Mode

1. Using supports during practice to learn the difference between strain and effort.

2. Learn techniques that help you define what you want more clearly.

3. Find greater clarity amid the constant demands of your life.

Module 6: Making Choices—Taking Back Your Power.

1. Recognize the choices that you are already making each and every day. Recognize the sacrifices you have already been making.

2. Recognize the difference between moving towards what you want and moving away from what you’re afraid of. 

3. Experiencing how the small space between stimulus and response is where your power lies.

4. Recognize the ways in which you are letting the world choose for you.

Module 7: Courage, Anger, and Your Desire to Grow.

1. It takes courage to find balance.

2. Learn how to use strength-based yoga practices to cultivate courage.

3. Learn to work with your anger without repressing it or losing control.

4. It takes courage to believe you can have the work/life balance you want

5. Recognize the courage it takes to break bad habits and instill good ones.

Module 8: Opening to Joy

1. We know how to reach for what we don’t have but not how to enjoy everything we’ve already earned.

2. Consider the possibility that contentment does not mean you stop striving to improve.

3. It takes resilience and strength to open to the intensity of real joy.

4. Enjoying what you have and opening to the feeling of joy is something you can actually practice.

5. Connect to what really brings you joy and how to find it more consistently.