First off, what is a vision board? Many of you already know and probably already have one but for those of you who do not, it’s a place where you put photos or quotes of things you would like to have in your life.  Some people cut them out of magazines and some people just throw up words or phrases that they create on the computer.

When The Secret came out, vision boards were a hot topic.  It’s how I manifested my husband in 3 weeks actually.  Jeanne knew this and wanted me to share my experience with their patients to inspire them to do the same and enjoy success in all areas of their lives- esp health and wellness.

How to do a vision board:

• Find and cut out pictures that inspire you
• Arrange and attach them to a cork board or posterboad
• Be as creative as you like or as simple as you like

How to USE a vision board:

Putting the pictures on the board will excite you as you do it.  The good, positive feelings you have will help to raise your energy and vibration causing you to become a magnet for higher energy things.

But once the board is up on the wall and you see it everyday, the effect will wear off unless you use it.

• Stand in front of your creation
• Pick 1 picture to focus on
• Imagine yourself IN the picture
• Concentrate on the smells, the sounds, and the feelings of touch or air on your body
• Focus on this until you FEEL something in your body for 1-2 minutes
• Open you eyes and carry these good feelings with you all day long

Vision boards are like exercise- they only work if you practice!

for guidance and coaching on your weight loss, exercise or wellness vision board be sure to start by visiting www.6weekbeachbody.com and get your free tools and inspiration and call us at 800 571 5722

Since our 6 Week Beach Body Program uses MIND TOOLS such as EFT, hypnosis and meditation, I wanted to share with you WHY and HOW you can lose weight by changing the way you THINK.

For some of you , the idea of hypnosis is being told to act like a chicken.  Wrong.

This article was written by Susan French, C.Ht.

Hypnosis is a powerful tool but exactly HOW does it work? The real magic is that hypnosis works as both a “magic wand” and as a “snowball gathering snow.”

Let’s take a look at each separately and then how they work together.

The magic-wand effect is when you have a hypnosis session and your issue is solved instantly and without further effort. Magic!

The snowball effect is what you experience with several hypnosis sessions, in which each session reinforces and enhances the relief created by previous sessions.

The reality is that both effects create permanent change. Hypnosis creates the initial change. Reinforcement ensures that the change lasts.

Reinforcement occurs when you regularly use a reinforcement CD made by your hypnotherapist, induce self-hypnosis, or through continued subsequent sessions with your hypnotherapist. Your hypnotherapist guides you in creating the initial change and reinforcing it, thereby accomplishing your goal of permanent, positive change.

Now, let’s look at it a little more closely.

We use hypnosis to change responses and behaviors. All responses and behaviors are learned. All that hypnosis really does is cause very rapid learning (or relearning) to take place so that new responses and behaviors become automatic.

Hypnosis allows this rapid learning to occur by interrupting the conscious, critical factor of the mind/brain. For reasons of survival, the critical factor of the mind/brain slows down the learning process. However, when those initial survival reasons are no longer necessary, it makes sense to interrupt or bypass the critical factor, which is precisely what hypnosis does – painlessly, safely, and effectively.

We know that no learning is INSTANT. You didn’t learn to ride a bike instantly. You didn’t learn to speak instantly. You didn’t learn to read or write instantly. You were taught the initial ideas and methods and those ideas were repeatedly reinforced until they become automatic.

Hypnosis allows that learning or relearning to happen more rapidly. However, as with any learning process, it needs to be reinforced. Thus, hypnosis is both a “magic wand” and a “snowball gathering snow.”

Let’s take a look at Joanna’s experience to get a better idea of exactly how hypnosis DOES work:

Joanna was sitting in the waiting room at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute. She was waiting for her first hypnotherapy appointment. She was desperate to lose weight. She had lost and gained at least three hundred pounds in her thirty-two years. Now, here she was, seventy pounds overweight again. She had tried everything.

She had heard some say that hypnosis could be like a magic wand. She had heard others say it didn’t work at all. Her best friend Martha had just lost fifty-five pounds using hypnosis. She said it was easy and it worked, but that Joanna would have to do her part too. Would it work for her?

If this reminds you of your own questions about weight loss and hypnosis, keep reading.

We can call the habit of overeating a food addiction, compulsive overeating, or a self-destructive habit. Whatever we call it, though, once that kind of behavior takes control, you will need to unlearn old, destructive behaviors and relearn new, constructive ones.

Joanna followed through with her hypnosis for weight loss. She learned the reasons she ate for comfort and she altered those behaviors. She learned that eating good, fueling foods were essential, and she incorporated those ideas into her daily life. She also learned that she needed to move her body more. Exercise became her oasis. It became her “me-time” every day.

Joanna lost her seventy pounds easily and happily and has maintained her new weight because she created a new relationship with food, with her body, and with life itself. That was five years ago.

Hypnosis makes the process of transforming counterproductive behaviors to productive behaviors easy, effective, and empowering. Any behavior that does not serve your goals and dreams can be changed using hypnosis.

Hypnosis accelerates your learning process so that what might have taken you twenty years to “learn” can be restructured in four to six sessions.

Hypnosis is being used in major medical institutions, such as, Harvard Medical School, UCLA, Stanford, Kaiser Permanente, Beth Israel Deaconness Hospital, and many burn centers, to ease pain, fear, and treatment [, and accelerate healing] for their patients.

Hypnosis is approved by, both, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) for Complementary and Alternative Medical Treatment and as an adjunct to traditional treatments.

The moral of this story is this: if you are wondering if hypnosis is a magic wand or a cumulative change response (snowball effect), it is both!

If all else has failed and you are ready and committed to achieving your goals, it is time to try hypnosis. It works!

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And that’s why we use it as the foundation for changing your MIND on the 6 Week Beach Body Program.  We want you to have long lasting change, not temporary results!   http://www.6weekbeachbody.com

This article was written by Oprah’s Dr. Oz and Dr Roizen.

“The best way to keep your job might be to leave your desk. That’s right: The less time you spend sitting on your bottom, the better it might be for your — and your company’s — bottom line.

In a study of entrepreneurs, people who worked out regularly also had companies that performed well. In fact, those who ran regularly were better at meeting their personal goals, and their companies had better boosts in sales than those owned by nonrunners. (The researchers didn’t ask about walkers.) People who stuck to a strength-training regimen were also better at meeting their personal goals than people who don’t lift weights — but their businesses weren’t doing off-the-charts better.

Researchers suspect that the lift in confidence and energy that people get from regular exercise may spill over into their careers, giving them an edge. Plus, getting into shape often means developing a mind-set that accepts and embraces hard work — a definite perk when it comes to moving a business through tough times and beyond……………..”

you can read the rest by searching Dr Oz and the title.  Now my 2 cents.

Duh?

Sorry if that seems simple and offensive but people who take time to take care of their body GENERALLY value themselves more than people who do not.  Therefore the people who care about their body, take action and then have ENERGY to spend giving to others.

If you neglect yourself, you probably neglect other things too.  And you end up being miserable and cranky because you feel badly and you want to lose weight but make the excuse that you don’t have time.  People know what your priorities are by WHAT and HOW you do things.  If you want change in your body or your wealth, it might be time to rearrange your priorities.

You get one body.        That’s it.     How are you treating yours?

1. Adrenal Fatigue and Hormones
2. Realistic expectations of the exercises you choose
3. Progression and Adaptation
4. Tools- HR Monitor
5. Physiology of resistance training

Now let me explain what this all means.

1.      Adrenal Fatigue: common symptom is severe fatigue.  Factors include high stress, aging, decline of hormones, lack of rest and balance. This is the #1 mistake people make in creating their programs because they do not know or take into account how the hormones and adrenals affect your results. Cortisol, your flight or fight hormone, will keep your body in a holding pattern and not release fat, water or weight if it’s elevated.  Simultaneously, if coritsol is high, your DHEA is low.  DHEA is the hormone needed to be the building block for your sex and thyroid hormones.  If your DHEA is low, that may throw off the production of all your other hormones.  If you have adrenal fatigue,  you should build you program around correcting that and supporting the changes that need to occur so your body can rebalance, replenish and release.

2.      Realistic Expectations of the exercises you choose: If you want weight loss, doing pilates or Hatha yoga for hours a week can leave you very frustrated that you are not seeing the results you expected.  These exercises are not the most efficient choice for weight loss for several reasons.  This does not mean you could not experience weight loss if you are adding other things and attending  to your diet, but generally speaking these are not “efficient” choices for a weight loss goal. Another example is when I ask clients if they do legs, they say ” I run”.  Cardio work is not resistance training.  Most cardio programs will not build muscle in your legs.

3.      Progression and Adaptation: Once you start a program, your body will change to adapt to the new circumstances ( the exercises). Depending on the degree of the intensity of the new environment will determine how much and how fast the body changes.  But regardless if you are adding a little or a lot, once you adapt, you slow down or stop seeing results.  In order to keep getting results, you have to keep progressing in your program.  There are several factors, including the FITT principle (Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type), that can be altered and adjusted to keep getting results.  Too often, I have clients who tell me they have been doing the SAME exercise routine for 3-5 years or more.  You can’t expect your body to change when it’s obviously good at what you do!  If you want change, you have to progress.

4.      Tools- HR Monitor: I can’t stress this one enough.  How do you know how hard something is for your body?  We often use RPE, Rate of Perceived Exertion, to determine how hard we think we work.  But this is a very flawed method because it will differ greatly from person to person. Ex athletes will have a higher threshold and maybe over train.  Non athletic people may have a low threshold and under train. The consistent gauge is a heart rate monitor that can tell you exactly what is going on inside of you minute by minute.  How do you know when it’s time to increase the intensity? Cardio training prescriptions are based on some of the prior points made here so one size does not fit all.

5.      Physiology of Resistance Training: I have been meeting with people who have no idea how to build muscle- unless you studied it, most people do not know. One person thinks that using light weights while doing aerobics will do it- nope.  Another thinks that lifting heavy and fast for 20 seconds will do it- nope.  There is a very specific science called physiology that explains the amount of intensity and time needed to change the muscle cells. Just like in point #3, as the body adapts, we need to progress.  Progression in resistance training to keep stimulating muscle growth is determined by a few things.  Again , using the FITT principle, applying #1 from this list and of course lifestyle are 3 main factors in designing an appropriate  and effective resistance training program.  How you know if it’s working?  You are losing body fat and increasing lean mass- this could still look like weight loss only.  You would need a before and after for body fat tests to compare.

Believe it or not, I have just scratched the surface of this topic.  Stay tuned for part #2 which is focused more for the population that is not consistent with exercise, lacks motivation and discipline and is unsure where to start.

Here is the 45 minute audio recording we did to cover this topic more in depth:

5 Biggest Mistake- Part 1 call replay

For an individual consultation on what you should do to get started or to uncover what factor is getting in your way and what to do about it, please call J.J. Flizanes at 800 571 5722 or check out http://www.invisiblefitness.com

Credentials and accolades follow the name of JJ Flizanes wherever it appears and for good reason. JJ is the creator of world-class fitness programs and routines, such as the Foundations Program for the New York Sports Club and Invisible Fitness^TM. What sets JJ apart from her Celebrity Fitness counterparts lies in her anatomically centered routines, which protect overworked and aging joints from catastrophic failure. Named by Elite Traveler Magazine as their 2007 Global Black Book pick of Best Personal Trainer in Los Angeles , JJ has been lauded by Shape Magazine as one of the top 6 fitness trainers in 2003.   JJ has been featured in many magazines including Muscle and Fitness HERS, Elegant Bride, Fitness Magazine, E Pregnancy Magazine to name a few. Her television appearances include LA’s KTLA, CBS and NBC. She appeared every week last summer on YOURLA on NBC in Los Angeles and has been heard on The Aware Show with Lisa Garr in local radio. She is the Fitness Expert for the Nourishing Wellness Medical Centre and an in house expert for FKC International.   In January of 2007, JJ launches her most challenging and exciting program to date: The 90 day Health and Body Makeover, in which candidates take on creating a new body and lifestyle for life. Invisible Fitness offer fitness training, fitness coaching, workshops & seminars, and corporate programs. www.invisiblefitness.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Ecomony and Corporate costs get hit hard!

The Hard Facts as of May 2008

• There is a $1.3 trillion total impact on the economy from seven chronic disease, pulmonary conditions and mental illness. Of this amount, $1.1 trillion is attributed to lost productivity (DeVol et.al. 2007)

• It is projected that by 2023 there will be a 42% increase in cases of the seven chronic diseases, which will cost $4.2 trillion in treatment and lost economic output (DeVol et. Al. 2007)

• Lowering the rates of obesity could produce productivity gains of $254 billion and avoid $60 billion in treatment expenditures annually(DeVol et. al. 2007)

• In 2004, the US spent 85% of every healthcare dollar on people with chronic conditions (www.silverbook.org/fact/1334)

• In 2002, the US spent more per capita ($5,267) than the next highest country, Switzerland ($3,446) and 140% above the median industrialized country ($2,193) on health care, with comparable outcomes ( Anderson et.al 2005)

• Chronic diseases are responsible for 7 out of 10 deaths in the US (PFCD 2007)

• The economic toll of chronic disease for developing and developed nations around the world is estimated at approximately 3% of gross domestic product, globally (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007)

• The world now has more people who are overweight than people who are hungry (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007)

• According to the World Health Organization, The US is the world’s fattest nation, with over half of adults overweight or obese. But China and India are growing fatter at a faster pace. By 2015, the number of overweight and obese adults in China and India will grow by 66% and 44% respectively (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007)

• More than half of multinational corporations in a 2006 survey expect to introduce or expand corporate wellness program over the next 5 years (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007)

• One third of multinational corporations are rolling out comprehensive wellness programs in multiple countries (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007)

• Presenteeism (days employees are at work but performing at less than full capacity because they are ill due to chronic disease) is increasingly viewed as an important contributor to employee health costs. The January 2008 Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reports that workers with moderate to severe obesity annually cost $1800 (about $500 higher than for other workers) in presenteeism, based on an hourly wage of $21 (Gates et al. 2008)

• More than 60% of American adults don’t get the recommended amounts of physical activity and the majority of the US population has a poor diet (CDC 2002)

• In 2006, the average annual premium costs for insurance-covered workers were $4242 for an individual, including both the worker and the employee contribution, and $11, 480 for a family of four (KFF 2006)

References:

1.    Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 2002.  HHS urges community partnerships to improve physical activity. www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r020501.htm

2.    DeVol, R., et al. 2007 An unhealthy America: The economic burden of chronic disease-charting a new course to save lives and increase productivity and economic growth. Milken Institute. www.milkeninstitute.org

3.    Gates, D.M. et. al  2008: Obesity and presenteeism: The impact of body mass index on workplace productivity. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 50 (1) 39-45

4.    Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). 2006.  Data spotlight. www.kff.org/charts/012907.htm

5.    PricewaterhouseCoopers. 2007. CEO’s take on wellness as corporate strategy; rising costs of chronic diseases hurting corporate profits and productivity. www.pwc.com

We offer comprehensive corporate fitness and wellness programs that are customized per client. We cover food, exercise, mental and emotional components, habits, lifestyle, accountability and tracking for all of our clients.

http://www.invisiblefitness.com   800 571 5722

Watch this first: http://twitpwr.com/Oprah/

1. Oprah’s exercise form is AWFUL.  She is probably doing a few different exercises for the camera but she has not control, she is swinging her arms and she isn’t doing enough weight or reps to get real benefit.  Whether this was staged for camera or not, it’s bad.

2. She isn’t wearing a Heart Rate Monitor.  HOW CAN SHE NOT KNOW about a HR Monitor?  Bob isn’t that good…. This is inefficient use of her time.  The talk test is not very accurate in telling you when it’s time to change your cardio to get the most bang for your buck in time.

3. She is working out 6 days a week?  No wonder she can’t stick to a program…..it’s all or nothing.  There is a happy medium….

4. I am sure she knows nothing about Gluten.  And I would bet money she (since we all are) is gluten sensitive.  The only thing I could see in her diet that’s gluten is probably the salad dressing…

5. Mental/ emotional- she didn’t touch on that one… but it’s the foundation.

6. Hormones- Oprah DID NOT test the right things- very incomplete.  She only did TSH. There are 3 Thyroid hormones: TSH, T3 and T4.  Dr Oz is BEHIND the times…..

7. I heard nothing of Cortisol.  That’s an adrenal hormone that I am SURE was elevated because of her imbalance of stress and schedule.  She probably had adrenal fatigue but would need to test DHEA to know for sure.  DHEA helps to make your Thyroid hormones so this would be WHY her medication didn’t work.

What IS good about this video

1.      She is scheduling herself in it for balance- good!

2.      Her food is charted out ( seems a bit boring of a menu to me hence why someone would fall off b/c it’s not very fun and it’s too repetitive)

3.      She gets her exercise in

When wanting to follow or create a program – please get some personal help with it!!!  That way you don’t waste time, deal with your real issues and have success from the start!  No one likes to waste time..

We offer a free program to help you get started!  Our 30 Day JUMP Start at http://www.invisiblefitness.com 800 571 5722

I have gone through some major life changes in the last few months and I myself have been extremely exhausted–sleeping 10-11 hours every night and still having no energy!  I was so UN motivated and tired to the point of wondering if it was mild depression!  I want to share my story with you for two reasons.  First, I am human too and feel ALL the same things you go through to the extent of my experience.  It’s always amazing to me to hear what clients think I am “like”. I am not super human. Secondly, through my pain and suffering, I hope to provide some hope, insight and maybe a new perspective on your own journey. I also want you to know that I truly understand.

As some if not most of you know, I got married in early August.  In the few months prior to the wedding, I was on “super overdrive” trying to get all details taken care of and successfully fund our event. I had a wedding planner (who was great) and that did help but the stress of this undertaking especially when we did it as a destination wedding was HUGE- more than I thought.  Well, more than I was aware at the time.

The wedding was fabulous and the wedding day was stress free thanks to all this planning! On our honeymoon, we got a call from Jeanne Peters who shared with us a “healer” named Ken that creates and works with flower essences.  Jeanne had encouraged us to have a session with him if we could before we left the island.  And we did.

To keep it short and simple, my reading was one of the deepest and intense readings he had ever done.  He said it 4 times in the 45 minutes we spent focused on me. I think he was relieved when my reading was over because he wasn’t used to delivering such powerful news.  Most flower essence readings are “kinda nice” as he described it.

The gist of my reading had to do with very early patterns growing up that I developed to compensate for something I didn’t want to feel.  There has been a feeling for 30+ years that I have NOT allowed myself to feel!  The flower essences were suppose to bring those up in order to balance them and dissolve them.

Let’s just say that for the past few weeks, since returning from the wedding, I have been not motivated, exhausted, depressed, and physically weak.   This phase went on for 3-4 weeks!!  ( I feel better now)  If I didn’t have to leave the house, I wouldn’t.  I even cancelled all my appointment one day because I was immobile and my body felt heavy and weak.  Even going for a walk would get me in my target heart rate zone!  Just WALKING!  I saw physical effects of my emotions.  I had plenty of rest, I ate fairly well (I am still gluten free) so the only thing it could be was emotional.

Wow.  What do you do when you feel this way?  I had no idea.  Normally, I just talk myself out of it! And choosing your thoughts is how to gain control of your life but I was doing it to AVOID feeling what I felt.  And so the feelings would get “Swept under the rug” so to speak and have built up over my life time.

So what if you are not motivated?  I wasn’t.  But what I was- was curious as to WHY.  Of course I have the desire to be as healthy and as fit as I can.  I didn’t like that I wasn’t working out.  I didn’t like feeling exhausted.  But just like a detox, I came to understand what was going on with me to except thi”phase”.

Had Ken NOT explained that the emotions would be triggered, I may have not taken the whole prescribed bottle.  But I knew to expect a detox of sorts.  I also while really IN this, made peace with myself, forgave myself and tried to be as loving as I could.  And then it passed.  I didn’t fight it.

For some people, feeling unmotivated is the excuse to stay in that stage longer than you need to.  It could be fear.  Fear of failure.  Fear of success. Fear of lack of support or fear of the unknown.

What is the underlying reason of your lack of motivation?  I believe, once you can pinpoint that, it dissolves.

For all the ladies who have made it to the end of this story, Jeanne Peters Rd and I are hosting a women’s only workshop called LOVE YOUR BODY.  It’s happening November 7-9^th, 2008.  If you would like to get to the bottom of your lack of motivation or any other feeling that is stopping you from attaining the health and body YOU deserve, call or email to sign up.  We’d love to help you transform your relationship with YOUR body.

Written by JJ Flizanes, Director of Invisible Fitness

800 571 5722

http://www.invisiblefitness.com