If you have stress in your life, then you should meditate.  Check out these 4 convincing reasons why ALL of us should incorporate meditation into our daily lives.

DEFINEwine

Saturday, December 18th from 1pm – 2:30pm.  $30

The perfect holiday treat for yourself.  Join us December 18th for a full awakening for both your body and your tastebuds.  This workshop will start with a 30 minute DEFINEmind class to calm and relax the body while heightening your senses all at the same time.  From there, we will explore a variety of antioxidant rich wines from various regions around the world.  Get ready to learn a little, have a fun afternoon, and experience a roller-coaster for your senses!

Register online now!

DEFINEperformance

Saturday, January 8th or Saturday, January 22nd from 1pm – 2:30pm.  $30

Stretching is an essential part of marathon training.  Keeping your muscles, joints, and tendons healthy is the key to a successful run.  Join Hank for DEFINEperformance, a workshop focusing on lengthening the hamstrings, quadriceps, gluteus, hips, calves, and more.  Hank is a certified Yamuna Body Rolling instructor and the creator of DEFINE: body&mind.  DEFINEperformance will get you ready for race day, so you can perform at your best.

Click here to register online.

New Year, New You with Elizabeth Irvine

Saturday, January 15th from 1pm – 4:00pm.  $75

In this workshop with Elizabeth, you will focus on gentle yoga asana with an emphasis on breathing, body awareness and relaxation. After preparing the body physically, the student is then instructed in the practice of mandala drawing. Mandalas create patterns the mind can understand, thus bringing order and harmony. Techniques of self-reflection and goal setting are then followed with a guided relaxation to “plant the seeds” of intention that conclude the session.

This workshop will inspire and provide you with the tools to create your HEALTHIEST, HAPPIEST 2011. The price of this workshop with Elizabeth includes the following take home tools: A Moment’s Peace, Sounds of Stillness CD & Coloring Mandala Meditation Workbook

Register online by clicking here.

About Elizabeth: Through her experience as an ICU nurse, mother of three, yoga instructor and author, Elizabeth believes we can create a healthier, happier way of being from the inside out and raise families who care—about themselves, about each other, and about the world around them.
With twenty-five years’ experience as a health care professional, her passion lies in integrative health education. Focused on family wellness, she encourages women to reclaim the healing wisdom in their own body and believes when a woman changes her life for the better, her entire family benefits. As spokesperson for healthy living, contributor for Parent’s Ask, educational partner for Andrew Weil’s weilbaby.com and through elizabethirvine.com she reaches out to millions of readers. The author of Healthy Mother Healthy Child: Creating Whole Families from the Inside Out and A Moment’s Peace: A Mom’s Guide to Creating Calm Amidst Chaos, she lives with her family in Houston, Texas.

Need some motivation to keep going this week? Well, not only does exercising regularly make you look good and feel good, it also makes you SMART!

Here are 2 fun facts to get you through your next workout and on your way to becoming a GENIUS:

1. New brain cells development
Exercise stimulates the formation of new brain cells (neurons). Also, exercise strengthens connections between those cells. The areas of the brain that are stimulated through exercise are associated with memory and learning.

2. Cognitive and mental function enhancement
Physical activity improves cognitive performance, information processing and may delay cognitive impairment and dementia. For instance, older adults who engage in regular physical activity have better performances in tests implying decision-making process, memory and problems solving.

In my many years of searching for relief (including a nerve-block injection, many many months of physical therapy, yoga, pilates, and much more) I’ve found that exercises based on The Lotte Berk Method like CoreFusion (what I taught for several years), Physique 57, The Bar Method, The Dailey Method (which I also taught), and the others  have really helped my lower back.  So much, that I became a teacher of the method! And now that I have been teaching this method for over 8 years, I have not only experienced the benefits myself, I have been able to help other people achieve relief from steady sciatic pain.

What worked for me has been a combination of core strength with hamstring, gluteal (piriformis muscle specifically), and hip stretching.  The best combination for the body is to have a structurally strong body with strong muscles that have great range of motion.  And THAT is exactly what makes the methods I mentioned above so wonderful for the body.  Each of these exercise methods combines strength and flexibility to keep the body feeling and looking its absolute best.  They all have different styles, but each place focuses on the strength and length of the muscles.

What makes DEFINE unique, is our goal of achieving complete balance through both our DEFINEbody and DEFINEmind classes.  While living in NY I also came across a method called Yamuna Body Rolling.  This very detailed and thorough method combines elements of massage, chiropractic work, and anatomy precise movements.  This takes muscle work and length to a new level.  This method allows you to safely get even “deeper” into the muscle to allow for complete release (better than physical therapy or a lot of massages).  And the best part, is that you can control it yourself.

We all have lower back pains at times, but keeping it in check and balanced is what I’ve found to be a daily challenge.  So, we want to help all of our clients and beyond feel that sense of balance.

Check out the following stretches to help relieve sciatic pain:

DEFINEbody

Standing Pigeon:  This can be done on a bed, countertop, or ballet barre.  If you are extremely tight in your hips, then try sitting into a figure four position or do this lying flat on your back.

Spinal Twist:  A great stretch for creating length throughout the entire body (both upper and lower) this stretch will directly release the piriformis muscle to give the sciatic nerve room to “breathe”…..and not scream!

Hamstring Flexibility and Cross Over:  If you have a strap, great.  If not, use a towel or possibly the string from your bath robe . Try doing these stretches every night before you go t bed, and you will start waking up feeling rejuvenated and refreshed.  Waking up from sciatic pain is NEVER a fun night.

Keep your core and inner thighs strong and keep the hamstrings, hips, and glutes flexible, and you will start immediately feeling better!

Did you know that brain tissue is made of 85% water? No wonder we start feeling tired, slow thinking, or possibly non-thinking in the summer! The summer heat and humidity really cause us to sweat, therefore, making it very difficult to stay hydrated!

This summer commit to drinking water throughout the day! Start by simply sipping every few minutes! Sip water vs. chugging it all at once! Each person is going to be different in the amount of water they need to consume, however, if you are feeling thirsty, then you are dehydrated!

Buy a reusable water bottle, keep refilling it, and simply sip to enjoy a clear thinking summer!

A major pioneer of self-healing and positive thinking is author and speaker, Louise Hay.  Personally, I find her style to be comforting and straight to the point.  She is the author of You Can Heal Your Life and her most recent book Experience Your Good Now.  I would highly recommend reading either or both of these books if you find yourself seeking that next step for yourself.  Whether it is for your health, your career, your relationships, etc. I am a very strong believer that our own negative thinking is what often holds us back!

And just in case you aren’t “buying this”…watch the fun video below.  Sometimes the pure innocence of a child will remind us that at one point, we were all very pure.  If anything, maybe we can start paying attention to what we are telling ourself.  And just maybe, we will stop listening to the “b.s.” that each one of us tells ourselves so we can start living happier and healthier lives!

Primary food is our relationships, our career, our physical activity, our spiritual life.  The idea is simple.  When we feel satisfied in these areas of our life (relationships, career, physical activity, and spiritual life) then we are feeling more satisfied with life, and therefore life is feeding us and not forcing us to look to food for satisfaction!

I encourage you to start getting in touch with your body&mind.  Start thinking about what you are craving and why you might be having that craving.  If you are craving pizza, maybe you are craving fat.  If you are craving sweets, maybe you need to introduce more fruits and sweet vegetables (sweet potatoes!).

At DEFINE, our goal is to help you DEFINE your balance in whatever way we can!  Check out the video, and let us know what you think!