Even though I have taken a step back from my blog for the time being it does not mean that my life is not progressing.  In the last four weeks I have had a complete change in perspective of how I look at my body, my mind, and the world around me.  I want to talk about how my life is changing in a couple of parts so today I will talk about my changing body views.

From the MBB facebook group

The 8 Weeks to Wellness Challenge at Mind Body Barre coupled with May Cause Miracles 40 day Journey has completely made a difference in my life.  Being a busy full time, working mother, I felt like I often did not have time to think, no matter reflect.

But I was going about it all wrong.  I have shut off the TV and computer at night and made time to journal and reflect and it has helped me find was is really important in my life.

A huge eye opener was how I treat my body.  I have always struggled with my weight and anxiety.  I felt like it I wasn’t able to eat what I wanted I was depriving myself, so I would work out for HOURS a day.  Everyday I went at it harder, faster, longer.  Then I would go home make mediocre food decisions and then try to burn that food off again.  It was a never ending cycle and when I was unable to burn off all those calories or I would put on a pound I would become incredibly upset and anxious.

It probably did not help I was compulsively weighing myself.  What the scale said dictated my mood for the whole day.  Some days would be ruined within the first 3  minutes of a very long day to come.  It was not a positive way to live.

Now, I have been given the gift of realization that if you do not do what makes your mind happy your body will not be healthy.  Everything works together in this unit!

For me, my first love has always been running.  But I do not love running so hard or long that I get injured or sick.  I am a soul runner.  I would love to jog for an hour at a comfortable pace and chill out to my music.  But watching the pace and time on my Garmin causes me stress and anxiety and I began to lose the love of the sport.  I was always competing with myself and others.  I lost sight of why I was really running.  To be healthy, to be happy, to relax and to have fun!

I have also found that I love Barre, Pilates, and Pound.  They are fun, the time flies by and the meditation at the end creates a whole body mind experience.  It enables me the opportunity to develop and grow my mind, body, and soul.

In the past, even though I loved these types of exercises, I would decide I didn’t have time for them in my life, since they do not burn a lot of calories.  If I did them as a workout one day, I felt like I couldn’t eat and then when I did I would get upset.  I was miserable all the time.

But now, I do what is right for my body.  I am happier with my exercise  and it is helping me (along with the lovely Heather from For the Love of Kale) making better nutritional choices.

I have stopped weighing myself.  It creates negative thoughts and feelings of inadequacy which is not good for anyone.

These types of realizations would have been really hard to come by on my own (considering I never fell upon them in the last 28 years) so I am incredibly thankful to Mind Body Barre and all the incredible women who are so kind and supportive there.   My eyes have really opened to a new way to go through life and I strongly believe I am better for it!