Emotional Health, It’s time! A Must To Achieve Progress
By Quincy Martel, MA, Life Coach
Emotional health, much like physical health and wellness requires work, discipline, and practice. Just imagine if someone didn’t take care of their personal grooming such as brushing hair or teeth and not showering…we’d be quick to take notice at an unkempt appearance. We may even confront the person, and or attempt to help them. We recognize whether an individual takes care of their body, by looking at their shape and size. The physical is something that is outward and can be visually or apparent to the other senses. On the other hand, emotional health is not visible even though it may become apparent over time. Emotional health is often times neglected and many don’t pay attention to it. In order to have a better quality of life, mind and body, it’s important to work on emotional health in conjunction with physical health. Here are some tools to help work out the limbic system and develop and improve the emotional wellness.
It’ important to protect and develop emotional and self-care by working on self- esteem. Words have power and negative words may be weapons. Self-esteem is affected by how we value and talk to ourselves (internal dialogue) and people whom we surround ourselves…there’s and old saying misery love’s company. In the emotional world negativity attracts and feeds off negativity. It’s important to curb and catch self-criticism and negative self-talk.
The internal thought process and dialogue greatly affects the limbic system in the brain. Beliefs are based in thoughts. It’s important to choose those thoughts wisely and keep them in check. Negative self- thoughts beget negative self -beliefs that may affect self-esteem and self worth. Practice positive self-talk, affirmations, and surrounding yourself with positive supportive people. Just say “No.” Most people who are emotionally taxed do not know how to enforce boundaries within relationships. It’s ok to say “no” and enforce healthy boundaries with family, friends or coworkers. It may take practice, but setting healthy boundaries will reduce stress, and resentment. Journal. Active writing goal setting and journaling has emotional therapeutic value. Thoughts become reality when pen meets paper.
Find peace. Peace takes work…seems odd but true. Peace takes an emotional discipline that will help the individual detoxify from failure, resentment, rejection, hurt, pain. Letting go of emotional turmoil takes work, but hanging onto it is much harder and usually negatively impacts the individual’s behaviors and physical well-being. Letting go and finding peace is a discipline requires and individual to look at variables the may be able to control, and wisdom to discern the variables they cannot control. Attempting to control things we cannot control like being stuck in traffic threatens the emotional health of an individual…stress.
Stretch more stress less. Stress unless there is a bear in the woods…does the body harm. Keep your emotional heath in check by staving off stress by meditation, yoga, breath work and prayer life.
Find meaning and purpose in life. Emotional health and wellness is tied into purpose and meaning. A great man once told me the best way to help yourself is to help another.
There is no time like the now to take care of yourself by taking care of your emotional health.
Join the Class with Mayra Peñalosa in a Long Yoga session
Join the Talk with Eric Viskovicz on Internal Dialogue
The push up exercise has survived decades of change and progress and remains one of the best upper body weight exercises. It can be performed almost anywhere, because it doesn’t require equipment (unless modification is involved), and when taught the proper bio-mechanics, the push up is very safe. Still, it’s the one movement that, when introduced, elicits the same response: “I can’t do a push up.” In many cases, this is true. That’s why, when working with clients at Live in Fitness™, I have a step-by-step progression that helps achieve this effective upper body sculpting exercise.
There are many variations of the push up, but the standard push starts in a high plank prone position with elbows fully extended. The individual then lowers the body, trying to keep the shoulders, hips and feet in a straight line. Once the individual is lying on the ground or the back of the triceps reach parallel, she presses her hands and toes to the ground and reverses the order, ascending upward until she reaches full extension in the elbows.
One of the first things I ask from the group or individual is to let me see how they perform the push up. Once I see how close they are to actually completing a standard push up, I can determine where they should start in the modification progression. Below are four easy progressions to help you build the correct muscles in order to complete a standard push up on the floor safely and effectively.
Progressions starting from easiest to more standard:
Wall push up – This is performed standing and leaning against a wall, lowering the body as close as you can to the wall and pushing away.
Bench/elevated push up (Knees) – This is performed on a bench or some sturdy horizontal apparatus that can support your weight such as a ledge or bar, lowering the body as close as you can to the bench or apparatus and pushing away. The bar can start high and be lowered depending on how comfortable you are with the movement. You can lower your knees to the floor once you make it to close enough to the floor to do so.
Knee push up (Ground) – This is performed with your knees on the ground and your hands on the ground. Your body stays in a nice straight line through your shoulders, hips and knees, lowering until you are completely lying on the floor. Once you have reached this position, keep that straight line and push back up to full elbow extension.
Standard push up with knee – Starting in the standard high plank prone position with elbows fully extended, lower your body in a nice straight line through your shoulders, hips and feet until you are lying on the ground. From here you will push up to your knees. Once you have pushed to your knees, you will then push your toes into the ground and lift your knees off the ground until you are back in the high plank prone position with elbows fully extended.
Here is another great article for some push up exercise
You know that one girl (and everybody knows at least one) who is beautiful, smart and can do pretty much anything? The lunge is kind of like that… Exercise You Love to hate it. I don’t know if I would say a lunge is beautiful or smart necessarily, but it can do pretty much anything you want it to do—it can reshape your lower body, increase your muscle tissue, develop your core strength and make your hips more flexible. It works your body on multiple planes of motion, burns loads of calories, improves your balance, strength and flexibility, and requires no equipment and minimal space. In other words, it’s perfect.
So instead of hating the lunge, let’s go ahead and make it our best friend:
The Basic Lunge
Step 1
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your toes lined up. It helps if you visualize for a moment that you’re standing on railroad tracks.
Step 2
Take one foot straight back from the starting point. Imagine you’re tracing the track with your foot.
Step 3
You will be on the toe of your back foot. This is the balance factor. You’re in a split stance. Most of us, when asked to do that, move one foot back but end up like standing on a tightrope.
Step 4
Drop the back knee to the ground. The front knee will track the ankle, and both legs will be bent at 90-degree angles.
Step 5
Drive up through the front heel to fire up the posterior change ( glutes, hamstrings), ending just where you started…feet about hip-width apart like you’re standing on a railroad track.
When performing the lunge properly, you will have a wide stance, be standing tall and feel stable. And the stretch will be in the back leg as you sink down.
This is just the basic lunge. There are many other types, and once you have the basic understanding how to execute a standing alternating lunge you can experience all of them…you’ll have lots of awesome new friends.
Oh, I can’t forget to mention that it’s a great exercise you love can do almost anywhere…walking lunges at the office, down the street, or pretty much anywhere. No equipment needed. Just a desire to move and feel good.
