by Joan Kent | Jun 9, 2017 | Master Instructor Blog
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Joan Kent
What does mind/body training mean to you? Which activities count as mind/body training? Yoga and t’ai chi almost certainly. Weight lifting? Why or why not?
Some would submit that almost any activity can be a mind/body workout, depending on how it’s approached. So maybe it’s best to ask what a mind/body approach is.
Jim Karanas and I wrote a post some time ago (The Tao of Training, parts 1 & 2), outlining the differences between exercise and training, and suggesting that the primary distinguishing element of training is consciousness. It’s a short leap from that to a discussion of mind/body training, since bringing conscious to an indoor cycling class would most likely make it a mind/body activity.
It’s almost impossible to discuss the mind/body approach without including focus. When some (maybe most) people exercise, their focus is not on what they’re doing. They may be thinking about work, calls they need to make, plans for the weekend, anything but the workout. This type of focus is called “dissociated.” It takes no practice because it’s our default whenever we’re not disciplined. Dissociated focus, I was taught, has no place in training.
It recently came to my attention that dissociated focus is actually taught in indoor cycling certifications. It’s a method of getting cycling participants to work harder by taking their minds off the discomfort of hard cycling. Because my first certification was quite some time ago, this surprised me. What I was taught to do is keep my focus on exactly what I’m doing. That type of focus is called “associated.”
Associated focus can be external or internal. External focus includes anything going on in the room: the instructor’s voice, the sound of pedals turning, whatever’s in your visual field. Internal focus pertains to what’s happening in your body: sweating, body temp, the feel of clothing against skin, heart rate, breathing.
Associated focus may be wide — taking in as much information as possible regarding what we see, hear, feel and so on — or it might be narrow — zeroing in on one thing, such as the pedal stroke or even one segment of the pedal stroke, e.g., the upstroke. In either case, the key is not to attach a thought process to it, but to “go sensory” and experience it through our senses.
I was taught to approach hard training by being aware of all that’s happening — in the muscles, with heart rate, with the breath, and more — but not to think about any of it. Jim loves to say we defeat ourselves mentally long before we’re defeated physically. He teaches us to feel everything, and then transcend it. “It’s not that it doesn’t hurt, it’s just that it doesn’t matter,” he said one day during tough, big-gear climbs. I immortalized the saying on a boxful of t-shirts.
As great as transcendence sounds, it didn’t always work for me. I would find myself “striving” to get into that transcendent state, then striving to stay there. The striving itself was antithetical to the state. It also linked “good” or “bad” with whichever state I was in at any moment. If I felt discomfort, was I doing it wrong?
My solution came from a non-cycling environment, a workshop with Zen master Genpo Roshi. I modified one of Roshi’s techniques, and discovered the key to keeping my focus associated during hard efforts. (For those who might want to try it or teach it, it’s helpful to practice first during moderate-intensity cycling.)
The Zen behind this is No Attachments, No Aversions.
Visualize a triangle superimposed on your body. The lower left corner is the part of you that feels the discomfort or pain and reacts to it: “This sucks. If it hurts now, what will it feel like in 5 more minutes? Why did I come in today?” And so on.
The lower right corner is the part of you that transcends the pain/discomfort and rises above physical limitations.
Now bring those two points together at the apex of the triangle, directly over your head. Clear your mind of thought, and train with absolutely no preference.
With no preference, there’s no striving to reach the transcendent state. One moment you might transcend the discomfort. There’s no attachment to that, no holding onto it because it’s better. Experience it for as long as it happens.
The next moment, you might find yourself feeling the pain, or reacting to it. If that occurs, there’s no resistance — either to the pain or to the reaction. Experience it with no aversion and let it pass through. Whatever happens is absolutely okay.
The state of No Preference is the ultimate mind/body state, or more accurately the no-mind/body state. In a very real sense, there is no emotion, just energy. Appreciate it; let it happen and pass through.
Using this technique, I can stay connected, associated with what’s happening. Because any state is okay, I don’t strive, fight the moment, or resist what is. I never feel I’m doing it wrong.
When students started asking me to run through “the triangle” during classes, including classes I subbed for Jim, I knew it worked for others, too.
This method is in the moment and fully conscious. There’s no fear of difficulty, because it truly doesn’t matter. Whatever happens is okay.
If you try this, please let me know how it works for you.
Originally posted 2012-11-19 05:22:53.
by Joan Kent | Jun 8, 2017 | Health and Wellness
As most of us have discovered, mistakes can be valuable if we learn from them. Here are a few mistakes a recent client made that may help you.
Getting Back On Track vs. Cutting Calories
What do you do after a ‘lapse’ in eating one day (or night)? The best thing is to go right back to your healthful eating program – but that’s not always what happens.
Recently, I worked with a client who would skip eating the next day to make up for the previous day’s binge. No matter how many times I told her not to, she kept doing it.
Of course, we should back up a little to look at what was happening. Her binges typically started with eating sugar because she “wanted it.” That statement was always made with a smile on her face, as if wanting sugar was an automatic reason to eat it.
She would eat some sugar 2 days in a row, then binge the next night. Because her binge often included non-sugary items too, she didn’t think it was related to wanting sugar.
Then she’d skip eating to make up for the binge. Obviously, she was thinking about calories – but brain chemicals, glucose and hormones actually figured into the situation strongly.
By fasting the next day, she was essentially letting her now “unstable” brain and glucose run the next day’s meals and food preferences.
Instead
She could (and should) have started the day early with a solid, stabilizing meal – or, at the very least, some protein. The rest of the day should have looked just like her “good” days, with no compensation for the lapse.
How Do I Know It’s a Craving?
The same client used to tell me she didn’t have cravings. But she didn’t recognize “wanting sugar” as a craving.
I did ask her to explain what a craving felt like or looked like in her mind. She described thinking about the food over and over, and even feeling as if she could already taste it in her mouth.
Yes, that seems like a craving, and a strong one. But wanting a food that’s not on your food plan and eating it just because you want it, regardless of consequences? That also sounds like a craving.
Instead
This client needed to expand her definition of “craving” so she’d be more aware of the next one.
FWIW, she had already purchased liquid B-complex to handle cravings, but never used it. Why not? She didn’t think she had cravings.
[For those not aware of the nutritional magic of liquid B-complex, it can take away a craving within a few minutes. It gives the brain the B vitamins it needs. Those vitamins serve as co-factors (catalysts) in the formation of the brain chemicals that will stop the craving and prevent its return, usually for quite some time.]
Instead
If she had used liquid B when she wanted sugar instead of eating some, that would probably have prevented the binges.
There’s Junk, and Then There’s … Junk?
Finally, this client used to worry about what she called “things” in her food. She avoided foods with guar gum and other additives. No criticism there – staying away from junk is always a smart idea.
But I had to wonder why she didn’t apply that strict standard to sugar. Eating sugar is trouble on many levels.
It’s linked with diseases and directly compromises the immune system.
It can trigger cravings – for more sugar or for other kinds of junk food.
And it can shift our food preferences away from healthful foods – like vegetables! – and toward foods loaded with sugar or not-so-good fats. That’s all because of the brain chemicals triggered by sugar – and the junk they makes us want.
Instead
She could and should have avoided all junk on food labels – guar gum, MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, and of course, sugar.
This client’s mistakes were persistent and sabotaged her progress for a long time. The good news: with my coaching, she learned from the mistakes and changed her behaviors. She did make excellent progress, but could have made it sooner without the mistakes.
Please benefit from these mistakes. And if I can help you with these or other food issues, I’d love to help. Just visit www.FoodAddictionSolutions.com/Coaching for your free Eating Empowerment Consult. Find out how easy it can be to make simple tweaks that solve big problems.
by Joan Kent | May 15, 2017 | Health and Wellness
This brief post offers one possible reason you may have difficulty sticking with your food plan.
Let’s start here: Do you have food cravings? And are the cravings specifically for sugary foods and other junk?
Next: Do you give in to the cravings by eating some of the foods you crave, especially sugar?
If the answer is yes, it’s possible that your way of handling the cravings is actually creating more cravings.
It’s all too easy to blame premenstrual hormone fluctuations, for example, but eating sugar when you crave it is a virtual guarantee that you’ll crave it again – later in the day, the next morning or other times of the day, and possibly for two or more days after you’ve had it.
No, this isn’t the case for everyone. Some people really do have a take-it-or-leave-it reaction to sugary foods.
Still, food cravings are common. And it seems to be common “wisdom” that the way to deal with those cravings is to eat a little bit of whatever you crave.
I absolutely must question the wisdom of that perspective. Of course, eating what you crave will take away a craving temporarily – after all, you just ate what you craved.
But the cravings will return – often stronger than before. You may be setting yourself up for these future cravings, and almost guaranteeing that they become too strong to resist.
What To Do Instead
Admittedly, this approach takes self-discipline when you have a craving, but here it is.
For short-term craving relief, here’s a solution I’ve proposed before, but I stand by it.
– Reach for 1 teaspoon of liquid B-complex when you have a craving. (Please first check with your doctor to find out if this solution is appropriate for you.)
– Make sure you’re using B-complex, rather than any individual B vitamin.
– Give the B-complex a few minutes – really! – to do its work.
– Get on with your life, craving-free.
Now let’s say your doctor has told you not to use B-complex, or you don’t have any available when a craving strikes. What’s an alternative?
One way to go is to have a little high-fat food – even one that you might not consider particularly healthful. Examples might include nuts (yes, roasted and salted are fine), cheese, guacamole, or other high-fat fare.
Combining those fats with a small amount of starch (most people say “carbs”) is a good choice. If you feel it won’t be enough, add something hot and spicy. This is one reason guacamole will work well.
In any case, the combination will modify your brain chemistry so it resembles the neurochem you’d create by eating sugar – only you’ll simply bypass the addictive response you might have to sugar.
It’s a surprisingly good deal.
If I could do one and only one thing for my clients (and my non-clients), I would love to communicate the foolishness of eating what you crave – especially if the food is addictive.
A self-perpetuating cycle is characteristic of food addictions – and absolutely not worth the taste of sugar or the follow-up taste of more of the same.
If you’d like help eliminating cravings or even quitting sugar for good, that’s what I do. Just visit www.FoodAddictionSolutions.com/Coaching and grab your free Eating Empowerment Consult. Find out how easy it is to regain control, increase your energy, and feel fantastic.
by Joan Kent | May 1, 2017 | Health and Wellness
Does your eating ever go off-track? Do you sometimes eat more than you “should” or foods that you “shouldn’t”?
This post poses 3 questions on eating behaviors.
Who (Whom!) Do You Blame When Your Eating Goes Off the Mark?
I always blamed my mother. She pushed food on me relentlessly, whether I wanted it or not. When I didn’t want it, she told everyone I was a picky eater.
But I wasn’t a picky eater. I was just constantly pushed — even forced — to eat food I didn’t want. It never gave me a chance to be hungry.
So eating food I didn’t need originated with my mother.
BUT!
My mom tried to sway me in other ridiculous ways — like making me afraid of dogs — and those didn’t work. Why did I let this food thing in?
Taking 100% responsibility means not blaming my mother for any mindless or unnecessary eating. I made the behavior mine, for better or worse.
Let’s explore 2 other eating behavior questions.
WHAT Do You Blame?
When it’s difficult to resist desserts or other junk you know isn’t good for you, WHAT do you blame?
I always blamed my sugar addiction.
Over 25 years ago, I was writing, reading (in varied science journals), and teaching my clients about sugar addiction.
That was way before everyone started comparing sugar to cocaine or heroin, or saying sugar was the most addictive of all.
And my sugar addiction was obvious (to me) many years before that – before anyone even acknowledged that sugar is addictive. Many people smirked when I mentioned it.
Sugar addiction was my go-to scapegoat — the reason for any struggle I had with food.
But taking 100% responsibility means I can’t do that anymore. As the world’s foremost(!) Recovered Sugar Addict, I know my recovery is the point.
It eliminates my old excuse completely.
So when my eating goes off the mark – for me that’s usually more about quantity when I’m stressed, not junk I shouldn’t have – I don’t have my sugar addiction to blame anymore.
It’s all about me.
I have to deal with stress in other ways.
What have you been blaming for any bad – or odd – food habits you may have?
Finally, WHEN Do You Blame?
Once you’ve identified WHO and WHAT you blame for your eating “excursions,” the next step is to identify WHEN you resort to blaming those people and things.
This can go a bit further than simply recognizing your triggers for out-of-control eating.
It’s helpful to know that you binge eat – or eat the wrong foods – under stress, for example. But does stress instantly trigger blame, a finger-pointing response?
In this example, stress may not always push you to get into blame, even if it does push you (maybe consistently) into out-of-control eating.
I’ve noticed that I get into blaming when I feel somehow victimized – say, when one thing after another is going wrong, and it feels as if that will never end.
And that’s when my other blame patterns come up – blaming my mother for pushing food on me, or blaming my sugar addiction for making me so sensitive to certain foods that it’s necessary for me to be overly rigorous about controlling what I eat. Yeah, poor me.
You know your Who and your What. Can you identify your When?
How will you take responsibility for your eating behaviors? More importantly, how may I help you?
If you’d like help with any aspect of your eating, including exploring or ending food habits that have been standing in the way of your good health and good moods, perfect. That’s what I do. Just visit www.FoodAddictionSolutions.com/Coaching and grab your free Eating Empowerment intro. Find out how easy and painless it can be to get foods working for you, not against you. Small changes can yield big results!
by Joan Kent | Mar 15, 2017 | Engage Your Students, Health and Wellness, Instructor Training
Many myths about food and nutrition exist, but the 3 below keep coming up among prospective clients over and over. Let’s take a look.
1. Nutrition is only important for weight loss.
Yes, weight loss is the main reason people modify their nutrition. And yes, tons of weight-loss information is available online — and much of it contradicts other info you’ll find.
But good nutrition can help with many issues. For example:
– Do you have trouble recovering quickly after workouts?
The right food plan can reverse that completely.
– Do you have high blood pressure, diabetes, pre-diabetes, or other health problem? The right food plan can reverse those problems completely, as well.
– Do you experience mood swings? Do you feel as if you need more energy?
Once again, the right food plan can help you manage and reverse either (or both) of those issues.
2. Weight loss is just calories in/calories out. I can do it on my own.
You can do many things on your own, including decreasing calories. But be aware that foods are much more than the calories they contain. The hormones they trigger may be much more significant.
It’s not true that all calories are equal. Often, changing what you eat can make a bigger difference than decreasing how much.
3. Uh-oh: Major changes required. It’s too complicated and too hard.
It really doesn’t have to be hard. It’s absolutely possible to make small — and easy — changes that produce big results. But there’s a catch — you have to do it. And sometimes a good coach can help you make those small changes and get the results you want.
If you’d like help with your food in a way that’s easy, just click here and request your free Eating Empowerment Consult. Find out just how easy it can be to make small changes, step by step, that help you feel fantastic.
