Listen to Your Self

I had a chiropractor appointment this morning. These interactions are very interesting to me as she's reintroducing me to a person I've known for years: me. My chiropractor serves as a combination translator and medium for my body. She takes what I'm feeling (I feel bad) and clarifies it (where, when, how bad). She also has me move in certain ways and then listen to my body to see what it tells her.

I've been very insensitive.

That's the only conclusion I can come to. Some of the "I feel bad" sensations I can clearly attribute to the collision. Some of the "I feel bad" sensations I only notice when she has me pay attention and feel for them. It really makes me wonder what other messages my body has been sending me that I haven't been paying attention to.

Thanks to her, I've realized I need to schedule more conversations with myself.

I used to meditate fairly regularly. I had some deep relaxation sessions on my mp3 player and I'd use the time during kid practices or my lunch to just completely and totally immerse myself in my breath. It really helped me refresh and renew my focus. It looks like it might be time to start meditating again.

I'll look for the links to the meditation podcasts I used to use. If I can find them again I'll share them in the comments.

Oh, and my chiropractor has one more very important job: she makes me feel better.

Walk Kansas Day 1

We're starting, we're starting!

deep breath. deep breath.

What should I do first?

• Get our your calendar and plan to do a Walking Test. 
• While your calendar is out, plan when and where you're going to exercise this next week.  Walk Kansas team members have committed to 150 minutes of exercise each week.  How and when are you going to get this done?  
• Share your ideas:  Each week our team, Walking on Sunshine, has a healthy eating challenge and a physical activity challenge.  In the past we've done things like try new fruits/veggies, attempt go carless for a day, and even aimed for a meatless/vegan day.  I'll be sharing with you the challenges that our team does, but I assure you that we'll be looking for ideas as Walk Kansas progresses.  

Where are you starting from?

The Walk Kansas team challenge doesn't start until Sunday, but it's a good idea to take a look at what you're doing now.  I recommend printing out the daily log and filling it in this week, just to see where you're starting from in terms of exercise and diet.  I started keeping my data on SparkPeople again and am realizing just how low on exercise and freggies I've gotten.

A clear vision of what you want to achieve makes it easier to do all the little steps.  Walk Kansas has a S.M.A.R.T. Plan for Healthy Living that each participant should fill out.  I asked my Walking on Sunshine team turn theirs in to me, but you might want to post yours on the refrigerator or the bathroom mirror so it stays foremost in your mind.   

Walk Kansas

I'm going to focus on Walking for the next 8 weeks through the Walk Kansas program, and you're invited to come with me.   Check out their web page at http://www.walkkansas.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=1 for more information.

Our team's name is Walking on Sunshine and you can read my emails to the team on this blog.  Use the comment section to let me know how you're doing on your personal challenge.