What yoga can do for you

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Nordic pole walking - not just a trend

You may have seen some people in your neighbourhood walking on the sidewalks or in parks with what looked like cross-country ski poles.  And you wondered.... what are they doing?  Well, I had the occasion a couple of weeks ago to attend a demonstration and training class to learn to walk with Nordic Poles.  It originated in Finland in the early 20th Century when cross-country skiers "practiced" on dry ground in the off-season to keep in shape.  Since then, the poles have been modified so they can be used on hard surfaces as well as sand.

What's the benefit?  Walking with the poles engages 90% of the muscles of the body, including shoulders, arms and back and helps burn 46% more calories than walking without poles.  Even after a short training session, I could feel  that my arms, shoulder and back muscles had worked.  Another benefit, is that you put less pressure on the hips and knees.  For me, with two new knees in 2012 and who love walking, this is a huge benefit.

I must confess I have not yet started using my poles.  I need to find something to attach the rubber tips and then, I'll be off, walking my little heart out.

I'll keep you posted when I go for my first 5 km walk, which should be soon.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Life Coaching for Women over 40
Wellness and Life Coaching for Women 40+

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

What's the "drop" that will help you move from a minus to a plus?

It's true that often a drop can be what makes a situation unbearable.  A drop can also be the one factor that will motivate you or steer you onto a wellness path.  We are all different and what motivates us can vary from one person to another.  For me it's my health.  My appearance counts also - I am, well, quite proud, but not enough to make huge sacrifices.  For my health, though, I can show more determination than anyone I know.  The first time I experienced it, was when at around age 40, I was told my blood tests showed I had abnormally high cholesterol.  I remember feeling my body had let me down. I was a single parent to still young children and I wanted to be there for them for a long time.  I also happen to love life, a lot.   My reaction was to first ask all the questions I could and to read as much as I could on the subject.  It was determined that it was "familial" type and even if I only ate carrots it would still be abnormal.  That's when I started cooking with the Heart Healthy cookbook from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  I managed to lower my numbers by about 15% over a period of 3 months.  My cholesterol is still high, but I now do with nutrition and exercise all I can to control what's lifestyle related.

These days, my motivation is still my health because I still love life, a lot and want to be here for a long, long time and I want to be healthy, to be independent, to be there for my daughters who are now new mothers and I want to have fun and be an example  in the life of my grandchildren, for many years.

What's your motivation to eat healthy, or exercise or lose weight?  Your health?  What exactly about your health?  You want to remain active, independent?  You want to travel once you retire?

If you feel you have let yourself down health wise, it's not too late.  Spend some time reflecting on how you want the next 10, 20 years of your life to be like. If you realize you don't have dreams and plans for the future, then, working on dreaming and having goals might just help you see how a healthier you can realize those dreams.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach
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My passion is to help women over 40  create a better future.

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Quick cardio

It's cold outside, the pool is closed but you want to do some cardio.  And you don't have much time.  One quick way to do cardio is to use the stairs.  My stairs have 11 steps -go up and down those stairs 5 or 10 times (it took me 4 and 9 minutes) and you get an intense cardio workout in minutes.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Life and Wellness Coaching for Women over 40
Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women over 40

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

The wonder of moving

I started writing the title as "the pleasure of moving" and pleasure was not an intense enough word to convey what I meant to say.  For some obscure reason, I started developing osteoarthritis sometimes in my late thirties and over the years, it progressed so that for the past 5-7 years it became extremely painful to walk.  Then it became impossible to walk more than a city block or so without extreme pain.  I changed my exercise routine and went for swimming instead.  Then in 2012, I had two knee replacement surgeries.  One in January and the second knee in September.  WOW!  What a difference.  After a few months I can now walk 2 kilometers and more with as fast a pace as I could 15-20 years ago, and, miracle, no pain.  While I will keep on swimming regularly, I can now go for a long, brisk walk anytime I want and for me, that's worth so much.

Do you move your body regularly?  Do you have a favorite activity?  Do you do it?  If not, what's in the way?  What would help you to practice it?

Moving is not just for weight loss.  Moving or exercising is for your health - physical and mental.  Exercise will give you energy, it helps your body fight all kinds of ailments.  And for mental health, exercise has been proven to be equal to some medicine.

And as much as I like walking or swimming, I don't always feel like doing it - what helps is to remember how  it feels when and after I do it.  And I am never disappointed.

Coaching challenge:  Choose one activity you enjoy and commit to doing it  - you don't have to do it for 30 minutes - start with 10 minutes and evaluate how you feel after.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Life and Wellness Coaching for Women over 40
Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women over 40

http://www.eftottawa.com
http://www.canadas-coach.com

Adult Daughters: Celebrate yourself today on International Women's Day

Did you think about doing something special to celebrate International Women's Day today?  Did you ever do something special on that day?  There is a good chance that if you grew up with one or two alcoholic parents or in an otherwise dysfunctional home, there was little space to celebrate your uniqueness and specialness as a woman.  Worse of all, you may have ended up in a family that worshiped males or simply did not respect women.

It's not too late to celebrate yourself and the other important women in your life: your mother, sisters, friends and daughters, even the very little ones.  (I am including my 30 month old grand daughter as someone to be celebrated this year).

What can you do to make today special?  It can be as simple as standing a little taller and wish yourself a great International Women's Day.  Or you can invite some female friends over for dinner or send them an email wishing them good on this day, or remind your family that today is to be celebrated.  Ask your husband or boyfriend to do something for you.  Buy a cake. Curl up in bed with a good book.

You are special and unique.  Today is a great day to remind yourself to take good care of yourself.  You are worth it.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Life and Wellness Coaching for Women over 40
Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women over 40
Coach to Adult Daughters

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

Planning is not enough

This morning I found myself totally ignoring my plans.  While I had planned to spend the morning painting with my watercolor and new oil paints, I ignored it.  I said, just 5 more minutes.  And I got engrossed in reading and surfing and it's 11 a.m. - now too late to get the material out and start.  Tomorrow I'll do it.

Because I was so intent on using the morning to paint, I decided to do a post-mortem on my failed plans and I discovered a couple of things.  First, while I had planned in my head to paint, I had not written it down in my day planner.  Second, my plan was vague: watercolour, oil, some drawing and being vague is the opposite of having a clear goal.  Third, I had not set the stage.  What would have helped would have been to  take my painting material out last evening.  Of course, that would have forced me to be a little clearer on exactly what I wanted to do.

Most plans fail because they are not written, because people fail to be clear about the steps needed from A to D and because they let themselves get distracted (like me this morning) by other stuff.

Do you have a goal that seems to be elusive?  Is that something really important for you?  Want help to achieve it?  Call me at 613-744-1538 for a free 20 minutes exploratory session.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women over 40
Life and Wellness Coach for Women over 40

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

Valentine's Day and Wellness

Do take very good care of yourself today.  Yes, a couple of chocolate, the dark kind, is OK.  If you are alone for this day, treat yourself with something other than food.  A massage, a good walk, a swim, a great movie, enough sleep.  Love yourself.  Today is Valentine's day.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Life and Wellness Coaching for Women
Success and Fearless Living Coaching for Women 40+

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

What is mindfulness

Mindfulness is not about spirituality, although it can be.  It's not about religion, although it can be.  Mindfulness is about bringing attention to the present moment, instead of being in your head, somewhere in the past or the future.  Mindfulness is about being present in the here and now.

Coaching challenge:Today, practice being 100% present for at least a few minutes, whether peeling carrots or playing with your child or enjoying a swim at the local pool.  Focus on what you see, what you hear, how it feels, everything about this experience.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coaching for Women

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

Mindfulness and, driving.

A lot if being said about mindfulness - and I try to keep up with the information because I truly believe that mindfulness can produce great benefits.  However, when it comes to trying to explain what it is and how to do it, most people find it too hard and too time consuming.  And yes, mindfulness takes some time and effort to master.

As I was driving this morning  it dawned on me that I may have started practicing mindfulness of sort when I started driving.  Giving all my attention to the task at hand, without letting my mind travel in the past or the future.  Being in the now.

If you have been curious about mindfulness but have not known how to practice it, I suggest that the next time you get behind the wheel, you make an effort to just concentrate on driving.  Consciously letting other thoughts go by, without stopping to worry, plan, make a phone call or receive one (turn off that phone in the car)  or get lost in the "what was done" or "what needs to be done".

This suggestion may not get the approval of purists but it will give you a taste of just being in the moment.  And driving is a task that does require all our attention.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coach for Women

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

Having discipline and stress: the link

From the title of this post you might get that having discipline will cause you stress, and well, it will, for a little while.  You see, most changes are stressful.  We need to be more aware, we need to do things we are not used to and that's more stressful in the moment, than simply continuing in our less-than-good-for-us behaviours that make our life unmanageable or even hell.

But there is a silver lining to this.  It's short term stress for long term relief.  Whether we are talking about discipline to be organized, or to take time to cook and eat healthy or to exercise or prepare your papers for filing your income tax, or the discipline to get to bed instead of watching a television program, even your favorite program, the benefits far outweigh the effort.

Coaching challenge: Choose one area of your life where you lack discipline.  Commit to making one change starting today for the next two weeks.  Record the benefits in a little notebook.  I promise you will come out ahead.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coaching for Women

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

Two tips for cold weather

If like me you live in Cold Country (it's -31 C this morning), it's tempting to push the thermostat up in the house.  Try to resist.  It's healthier to keep the inside temperature at or around 21 C during the day and lower at night.  My bedroom temperature is around 15 C, but you might prefer 18 C.

Why keep a cooler house?  It's healthier.  Too warm also usually equals drier.  Flu and other bugs thrive in warm dry places.  And the warmer the temperature you get used to, the more uncomfortable you will be as soon as you step outside or walk into a house that's a little cooler.  Better wear a sweater.

You will also feel more comfortable at 21 C if you have the right degree of humidity in the house.  It's worth buying a hygrometer.  A humidity level of between 30 and 50% is good.  Close to 30% is recommended by Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation when the temperature outside is below -10 C.

Finally, go outside.  Even in -30 C temperature, dress well, with hat and mits and a scarf to protect your face, and go for a walk.  Get your body moving, at least once a day - even if you don't have to.  You will feel better, have more energy and you will feel more comfortable with the thermometer at a lower setting.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coach for Women

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

If you get the influenza

Hopefully you won't.  Maybe you received the vaccine and you are mostly protected.  I failed to get one this year - I actually was sick when it was time to get the vaccine and I got the flu.  I now have the flu.  And I am getting better - still weak but coughing less.

If you catch the flu, stay home.  Do not go to work, to eat out, to the theatre.  Put on your pj's and drink lots of water, eat some light food (oranges are great, full of cool juice and vitamin C).  Rest.  Lie down on the couch and veg out.  Even after the fever has gone down, continue resting.  If cough keeps you from sleeping, ask your doctor for a sirup that will stop the cough at night.  Sleep is essential to heal.   The fever only lasted one day for me but I went to see my doctor to have my lungs checked.  You don't want it to turn into a pneumonia or bronchitis.

Once you start feeling better, take it easy for the first few days.  Make sure you go to bed early enough.  Keep on drinking water and eat healthy.  I hear many people feel weak and sick for up to two weeks.  Don't rush.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coaching for Women

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

Quick way to stop stressing yourself out

Are you upset about something or someone to the point that you are beginning to obsess about it? You stress yourself out.  You awful-ize the situation and cannot let it go?  I am certain you have heard "put things in perspective".  Well you can.  Take out pen and paper and write down in point form what could be much worse than what you are obsessing about.  For example, the ceiling is leaking, and you will have a mess because the landlord has ignored you when you told him it happened 3 weeks ago (this is close to home).  What could go through someone's head is: I will need to move when I don't want to, I will have water on the floor, what if I don't find a place I really like, moving is a lot of work, etc etc etc.

Now on your paper write down what could be worse:  breaking a leg, having a loved one in an accident, having an accident, losing a loved one, like your child, your grandchild, your spouse, mother, sister, etc.etc.etc.    If those things happened the reason you are obsessing would be so far from your mind, you would most likely not even think about it.  This is what putting things in perspective is all about.  It helps relax, realize that things could be a lot worse and know that you will be able to deal with this problem.

If you want to have support to learn to have a less-stressful life, call me for an exploratory session.
613-744-1538

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coaching for Women

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

Money and Stress: Financial Wellness

Do you know where your money is?  Did you find yourself this week or last week with a much leaner wallet?  Don't despair.  You can commit to changing your spending habits so that January 2014 is different.

One of the most important ways for women to exercise self-care and wellness is to take care of their finances, because over-spending brings stress.  Receiving credit card statements with large balances in January is not how you should want to start the year.

If you are really serious about taking care of yourself financially, now is the time to tighten your financial belt. This can be done by cutting out all non-essential expenses - including eating out, concerts, after work drinks, etc. for a couple of months to completely pay your credit card(s).  

Next, doing a budget.  If the thought of a budget makes you cringe, look at it as a way to improve your tomorrows.  At the very least, look at your credit card balance and commit to putting that much money, plus 10% in a special savings account between now and  next November.  That's about 10 months to save what you want to spend for gifts, travel, next Christmas.  Then imagine yourself, next December, with the money in your hand, not worried about how you will be saddled with a big debt (yes, credit card purchases are a DEBT), and then receiving your credit card statement of January 2014 showing: Balance: $00.00.  Close your eyes and savour that moment and the feeling of peace. Imagine how proud and satisfied you will be with yourself.

Working with a coach can help you make changes to improve all your life.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coaching for Women

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com

How are your commitments to a healthier lifestyle?

I just came back from a 2km walk.  Pretty proud of myself.  It's now almost 4 months after my 2nd knee replacement surgery and I feel stronger than in a long time.  Walking has almost been a passion for me ever since I was a teenager.  In the last few years with advanced knee osteoarthritis, I could barely walk a few blocks before pain became unbearable, so my exercise of choice was swimming.

What about you?  Did you commit to being more active in 2013?  What was your plan and now on day 4 of 2013, how are you doing?  If you doing great, fantastic.  If not, what's in the way?  What do you need to change to make it possible?

One tip: if you are going to exercise during your lunch time, exercise before eating.  It's a lot more difficult to get up after a big meal.  And exercise will not make you more ravenous.  On the contrary, some of the sugar is being released in the blood during exercise and you may just find you are less hungry.

Coaching challenge: Re-commit to your goal.  Write it down.  Be specific, for example: swim 20 laps twice a week, or walk 30 minutes on days I don't swim, at least 4 times a week, before 2 p.m.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Success and Fearless Living Coach for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coaching for Women

www.canadas-coach.com
www.eftottawa.com

Mindfulness chime for your computer

If you want to have a reminder to breathe and be in the present moment, you can install (free) a mindfulness chime which can play hourly, every 15 minutes or random.  I just re-installed mine and it is a very calming sound.  I set it to ring every 15 minutes.  Here is the link:  http://www.mindfulnessdc.org
Try it and let me know what you think.

Marguerite Tennier, M.A.
Canada's Coach

Sucess and Fearless Living Coach for Women 40+
Life and Wellness Coaching for Women

http://www.canadas-coach.com
http://www.eftottawa.com