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