What is a habit? - We are what we repeatedly do

"We are what we repeatedly do"

-Aristotle

Habits play a crucial role in our daily lives, often operating beneath our conscious awareness. While many habits contribute positively to our well-being, there are those that can lead to long-term negative consequences. The challenge lies in recognizing unhealthy habits and understanding that simply stopping one does not equate to progress; it requires replacing it with a healthier alternative.

Identifying triggers is an essential step in this process. These triggers can vary widely—some may stem from physical dependence, while others could relate to stress relief or social situations. For instance, individuals attempting to quit smoking may find themselves drawn to cigarettes in times of stress or social gatherings. Similarly, someone aiming to cut back on sugar might crave sweets during moments of fatigue or emotional distress.

To successfully navigate the transition away from unhealthy habits, it is vital to incorporate new, healthier choices. This could involve strategies like:

• Mindfulness Practices: Engaging in mindfulness can help increase awareness of cravings and the situations that invoke them. This awareness can provide an opportunity to introduce healthier alternatives.

• Finding Substitutes: For those trying to reduce sugar intake, exploring naturally sweet fruits or healthy snacks can satisfy cravings without the downsides of refined sugar.

• Building a Support System: Surrounding oneself with supportive individuals can also facilitate change. Sharing goals with friends or family can create a network for accountability and encouragement.

• Setting Goals: Clear, achievable goals for incorporating new habits—such as drinking more water or committing to regular exercise—can provide a road map for change.

Ultimately, transitioning away from unhealthy habits is not merely about ceasing a behavior but about fostering a lifestyle that supports health and well-being. By understanding the nuances of triggers and implementing lasting, positive changes, individuals can embark on a successful journey toward better habits.

Do I need to be flexible to enjoy yoga?

No, you don’t need to be flexible to enjoy yoga. Many think flexibility is essential for yoga, but that's not true. Yoga is for everyone, no matter how flexible you are ..or are not. With regular practice, you’ll likely notice less restriction in your movement over time.

Yoga can also help with aches and pains from daily activities, especially from sitting too long. Common issues like tight hips, lower back pain, and rounded shoulders can improve with yoga practice.

Additionally, yoga helps improve posture and body alignment. By focusing on breathing, balance, and movement, you’ll become more aware of your body and can make adjustments for better alignment.

In short, yoga benefits physical and mental well-being, and anyone can enjoy it, regardless of flexibility.

Fountain of Youthfulness - Your Choices

How we age is a choice; with gratitude or misery.

• Have Gratitude! Express empathy, embrace humility and laugh frequently -they’re all contagious and fountains of youth!

• Chose to Move! A body in motion, stays in motion -take a walk, try yoga, simply move - a gym is not needed!

• Nourish Yourself! You are what you eat -eat your veggies, drink your water!

• Stay Connected! Get out there… you’ve got good stuff to share!

Yoga classes have been shown to relieve chronic low back pain...

In a recent article published through NPR - Yoga classes relieved chronic low back pain and slashed the need for pain-relief medications, a new study shows.

Back pain sufferers who took 12 weeks of virtual live-streamed yoga classes also slept better and moved more easily than participants on a wait list for the classes, the study published in early November in JAMA Network Open reported.

Read more ... through NPR

Pain Management

Pain is experienced differently for everyone, therefore, managing it is personal. Offerings such as massage therapy, yoga, mindfulness, and healthy lifestyle programs can help you manage and relieve pain, recover from injury, recondition impaired muscle function, and regain your overall quality of health.

Pain is experienced differently by everyone-

Therefor managing it is personal.

As you age, what will be most important to you?

Bring healthy mobility and less pain into your life. The smallest of adjustments NOT MAJOR CHANGES yield the greatest results. Although it seems so difficult to take the time and have the discipline to do it on our own and sometimes seems so painful to even consider.

Is the ability to move around, free of chronic pain and movement restrictions important to you?

I focus on supporting my clients to move mindfully and create mobility where stiff achiness generally resides. This can be addressed through any or all my offerings. I am happy to discuss which approach may be BEST for YOU.

Mindful Movement is available in person or remotely 5 times a week -offering you an opportunity to be guided through a serious of movements which will enhance your mobility and minimized the impact of most arthritis associated with aging and stiffness associate with minimal activity.

Healthy Habits is a 6 week program allowing you an opportunity to explore how your current choices (food, beverage, movement, self-care) affect your health including weight and inflammation = which is typically experience PAIN and stiffness.

Tailored to You is personal health coaching; schedule your introductory complimentary 20 Minute session today.

Massage Therapy is available by appointment.

Why have I evolved my practice beyond massage therapy?

JUST LIKE YOU-

I am getting older.

I have been a Massage Therapist supporting my clients in managing healthy aging and chronic stiff achiness and pain for 20 years. In that time, I too have been getting older.

On my journey I have discovered a few changes in my daily choices that currently have me feeling more mobile, energetic, less stressed and over all happier and healthier today -Without Feeling Deprived.

As a Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach I want you to feel your best - Now and at any age. I want to share these approaches with you.

The foundation of this is available through -

Tailored to You 1:1 Health Coaching or Healthy Habits 6week Weight-loss (Last offering before September starts this Monday 4/15)

Both include the opportunity to experience Healthy Choices Educational Grocery Tour and Mindful Movement.

One Choice at a Time

Re-Steady Your Balance

Being healthy is about Balance.   Somedays are easier than others. Its about making small adjustments to "re-steady" our Balance. The more practiced you are at re-steadying yourself -the more habitual it will be.  

Small adjustments help us re-steady and find balance.

Choices for a Happy Healthy New Year

What do you want MORE of in 2024? Or is a better question what do you want less of ?

To make room for more of something you will need to let go of something.  Release those choices and things that are not supporting your health and wellness.

How about less fatigue, less pain, less anxiety, less weight, less depression, less inflammation, less sick days, less headaches, less bloating, less putting out fires, less clutter or less waste just to name a few.

What do you want more of in 2024?

ACCEPT what you cannot change -your age, your genetics, all your choices prior to today, what others think, what others say, what happens around you, the attitudes, beliefs, choices and perceptions of others.

CHANGE what you can change - your future choices of how you move, how much you sleep, what you consume, how you treat yourself, your responses to others through your words and actions, where you focus your time, energy and attention, how you let others affect you, your gratitude and how you demonstrate it.

Body Be Well Solutions offers a variety of different approaches for Making Healthy a Habit, One Choice at a Time. Not a diet – that is short term.  Not even really big changes; sometimes its the smallest that have the greatest impact. Choices that actually change your lifestyle and get you on the road to health and happiness for good. Creating the resilience to get back on track during those occasions of getting sidetracked. 

Actions are more powerful than words - take a look…

Can you sense it?

Into the garden / woods / nature we go… To break loose from our minds and find our SOULS.

When was the last time you tapped into the healing power of nature? Its free for the taking. In one form or another it is available everywhere. Trees, clouds, birds, water, rabbits, squirrels, flowers, shrubs… the list is endless. Take a look (sniff) for yourself!

Nature can be the simplest path to peace while recharging one’s energy .

• A study showed that when participants were exposed to nature scenes; their brains linked with empathy and love.

• Researchers suggested that a nature view helps individuals tolerate pain.

Study on Obesity rates with Children

WNY Health Coaches making strides with family’s to create Healthy Habits for life by starting with one Healthy Choice at a time.

Life Does Not Have A Remote

Do you KNOW you need to make some changes to be healthier?

Do you WANT to make some healthy changes?

Are you READY to make some changes to be healthier?

Simply KNOWING and WANTING to make change is unfortunately not enough. More importantly -You must be READY!

Do you know why you make the choices you do? How READY are you to change? Could the key to sustainable change start with you spending time observing and learning about yourself and your preferences? Taking time to really gain an understanding of how you got to where you are today, then moving toward a clearer picture of where you’d like to be.

Life does not have a remote.

Are you READY to get up and make a change and choose a healthy path yourself?

Do you need to "Adjust" the volume?

As a Health Coach, Mindfulness Yoga Teacher and Massage Therapist; I coach my clients to be aware and “Tune In” as our bodies “Talk’ to us our entire lives… through pain, stomach discomfort/digestive issues, skin irritations/rashes, muscle restriction, joint stiffness, chronic sinus issues, sleeplessness etc.

This may require small or large changes in how you care for your personal health and wellness.

The body is designed through functional movement and chemistry to work synergistically. When there is an imbalance -anywhere is the system… your body will let you know. Sometimes its necessary to take a Pause … Tune in… Listen… Adjust.

What is Mindful Movement Really?

As a licensed massage therapist specializing in chronic pain for almost 20 years I felt there was a need to bring a form of yoga to many of my clients. Massage therapy is beneficial for many, especially those dealing with chronic pain.  However, what I’m able to offer as a massage therapist in a session, is short term.

… retain / regain movement function typically lost with aging and chronic pain.

I’ve been suggesting yoga to my clients who are typically between the ages of 40 and 75, equally male and female.  Most of them are dealing with some form of chronic pain including frozen shoulder, scoliosis, neuropathy, disc herniations, migraines and joint replacements to name a few. 

The response from my clients when I’ve suggested trying yoga has been… “there’s no way I can do yoga, I’m not flexible, my body doesn’t move like that”.

 I decided to focus on developing a type of “Mindful Movement” program that was inspired by some basic yoga poses.  The intent is to assist my clients on improving the quality of their lives by sharing ways to move daily to manage some of their chronic pain when they’re not in a massage session with me.

• Participants are diverse in age, gender and abilities.  Use of the chairs has been an important aspect for some, especially as we have been focusing on balance and stability. 

• Each session begins slowly with mindful breath work. 

• We then moved into a series of movements to warm up joints and various muscle groups to increase movement and flexibility. 

• A flow of a standing yoga poses, with chair modifications for those in need is where we pull our movements together. 

• Sessions end with additional breath work and a short meditation.   The overall focus is on being mindful of posture, movements and intention of activity, emphasizing how beneficial even gentle movement can be daily.

What people are saying:

-my shoulder pain is 75% better immediately after class and continuing on.  

-thank you for the session this morning, it lifted me physically and my spirits.

-this is exactly the movement I was looking for, not too little, not too intense.

-as you know I have always been resistant to going to yoga classes for many reasons. however, you have made your class such a safe place to practice yoga regardless of ability.

Consider why you stopped...

You’ve had success in the past. Things were going well. You were feeling good had more energy and less brain fog. You were sleeping through the night and waking ready for the day. You lost a few inches and pounds. You were more active and simply healthier than today.

What happened? What healthy choices did you stop making?

• Did you start saying YES to everyone and everything - and NO to yourself?

• Did you stop planning your meals before going for groceries?

• Did you start skipping meals?

• Did you start snacking more on convenience foods?

• Did you change the amount of water you were drinking?

• Did you stop taking supplements that were filling the gaps in your nutrition?

• Did you get caught up in social media and begin spending less time moving?

• Did you let your self-care routine slip away?

Being healthy is about having a kind, supportive, caring and nurturing relationship with yourself.

You made your relationship with yourself a priority in the past. You can do it again. You may not need to be searching for something new… return to the routine and choices that worked before.

Re-steady your Balance

Being healthy is about Balance.   The most practiced yoga teacher cannot hold a tree balance pose constantly. Somedays are easier than others. Its about making small adjustments to "re-steady" our Balance. The more practiced you are at re-steadying yourself -the more habitual it will be.  

Small adjustments help us re-steady and find balance.

Mindful Movement -Anxiety and Mild Depression

Anxiety and mild depression tend to interrupt the ability to focus…

The delivery of Mindful Movement provides an opportunity to gently realign the thought process and promote awareness of quieting the mind, simply listening, and moving.

Mindful Movement facilitated by Rebecca Albert, LMT INHC RYT200 of Body Be Well Solutions is a yoga-inspired program designed for those interested in a physical experience to maximize movement and increase body awareness. We work through various movements and focus on mindful breath to improve balance, focus, strength, and mobility.

Does aging always equate to having pain? Your Choices & Mindfulness

Why is it that we ignore the small discomforts in our bodies and don't respond until we're in full blown pain or have lost the function or ability to do something?

As we age, many shrug off small messages coming from our bodies as simply aging. However, what if we started paying attention to those subtleties?

A mindful part of aging would be to respond and be in the moment with curiosity about the discomfort that we're experiencing.

Consider an example if we are experiencing chronic shoulder pain and it turns out that pain is our dominant hand that we all hold our cell phone or our mobile device with. That particular position is chronically causing repetitive strain on those muscles.

Potential solution -put the mobile device in another hand when the discomfort or the tiredness in the arm is experienced; take a stretch or even put the device down for awhile to allow for rest.

Respond instead of delaying and waiting for full blown pain and loss of function and the need to react!

Healthy is Inside Out

If you get the inside right, the outside will fall in place. Focus on making healthy choices for yourself and you will experience the bonus of feeling and looking healthy as well.

Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, with one serving providing 184% of your daily value plus:
Vitamin C -Calcium -Iron -Biotin -Vitamin K1 -Potassium -Vitamin B6 -Lutein

You are what you eat… it shows in how you move and look.