Evolving Warrior

I get asked a lot of questions on how to be healthy and expressions of frustration on its difficulty. To me, good health is not a stringent diet or strict workout routine. I find that true health comes from balance amongst many contributing factors. A good starting point to a healthy life is a healthy diet. Eating fresh, organic, ingredients that my body responds well to, is my basis. I am not anti-carbs, I don’t count calories, I enjoy a nice cocktail, and I don’t shy away from sweets. I am mindful of what I eat and how my body reacts to it. As I get older, go through different external stresses, or have a change in environment, my body is impacted. If I don’t like the reaction I’m getting from food (breaking out, fatigue, excess weight gain) then I change what I’m eating. It is a learning process of understanding the constant evolution of my body. 
A clean diet gives me a strong foundation to be able to attain an all encompassing healthy lifestyle. Going for a run, sitting in meditation, spending quality time with family, reconnecting with old friends, making new ones, lifting heavy weights, stretching in pigeon pose, laughing until it hurts, sharing a bottle of wine over good conversation, snuggling with my dog, reading a good book, passing on knowledge, surrounding myself with people that make the light in my heart grow bigger, going on a hike, falling during my handstand attempts and taking photos of things I find beautiful (apologies to all the writers for the run-on sentence). These are the things that make me healthy. 
I am healthy means I am happy. It means I am balanced both mentally and physically. The hardest part is to acknowledge that which does not serve me well and to let it go. That means everything from food, to certain workouts, to relationships with people. It can be emotionally and/or physically difficult at first but the rewards far exceed what the challenge ever was. This is what healthy means to me. Explore what it means for you. 

  Seeing a new place with fresh eyes has a certain charm to it. It is easy to become desensitized from the beauty around you if you are in the same place for too long. A new city, no matter how boring or interesting it may be, allows my mind to focus on the unfamiliar environment around me, offering a relieving break from the typical daily thoughts that I can be consumed by. Whenever I go somewhere new, I find myself noticing so much that I don’t necessarily acknowledge on a daily basis. The simple or extravagant architecture of homes, the street lamps, the trees that bombard the sidewalks or the ones that are barely making a statement in between large buildings. I notice the energy of busy pedestrians being upheld by sidewalks or the waves of serenity in places that are less walked upon. Instead of having a set itinerary, I keep only a general outline of things I want to see in order to leave room for spontaneous adventure. I love crossing paths with people I would have otherwise never met and perhaps, may never again see. I love having conversations with intellectuals, drunks, anti-socials, teenagers, elderly, and everyone else in between. Sometimes conversations take me by surprise and I end up saying things out loud that I didn’t know I had the knowledge to talk about in the first place. Other times, I realize how much more I have to learn. I enjoy letting the spontaneity of the moment whisk me through my journey. I can never be sure where I’m going to end up, but I always come out with a story to tell. 

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for"

    To find a moment everyday to express gratitude for at least one thing in your life would change your life dramatically. Let's look at that mirror again that I mentioned in The Victorious Body. Getting naked is optional this time. Bring your focus on where your heart is. Feel that rhythm in your chest responsible for giving you a fresh new day of life. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have one that works perfectly. If you are amongst those with the good fortune of a healthy heart, be so grateful for it that you can practically feel the gratitude pumping in through your veins and expanding throughout your entire body. What about your eyes that give you the privilege to see the phenomenon of the world around you? Your ears that can translate vibration into beautiful music and conversation? Your lips that allow you to express the emotion of love in the form of a kiss? Be grateful for all that you have even though you may not have it all. Let the experience of having it be the reason you cherish it rather than waiting for the experience of losing it to teach you its value. 

    Strip your clothes off. Stand in front of a mirror. Scrutinize every inch of your body. Pinch it, grab handfuls of it, jiggle it, flex it. Look at the birth marks, the scars, the cellulite, the veins. Now, stare directly at your body and tell yourself how much you love it. I want you to mean it.
    Seriously.
    Our society is in a constant search for "the secret" drug or workout that can revolutionize the appearance of our bodies in an ungodly short amount of time. Not even if Michelangelo was sculpting our bodies would we have the patience to let him complete a masterpiece. We are fed the image of a "perfect" body in every corner of the media which has worked wonders for the business of marketing. The consequence of this is the majority of people in our society cannot bear to look themselves in the mirror. The truth is, satisfaction of physical appearance will never be reached because when you look for the "imperfections" in your body, you will always find them. I challenge you for the duration of this post to let go of all of your preconceived ideas of fitness and the perfect body, and start with me from scratch.
    First and foremost, LOVE yourself. Roll your eyes at me if you must. Sooner or later you will find this to be as vital (in my opinion, it's more vital) than the weights you're lifting and the protein shakes you're chugging. If you cannot embrace the way you look now, then your chances of attaining your physical goals may never happen because you will never be able to change your body fast enough to satisfy you. This usually results in giving up.
    Second, let go of the aesthetic idea of working out to achieve the body you want. Instead, focus on achieving  the "little victories" of having a stronger, well-balanced, body. For example, this time last year, I was not capable of doing a perfect push-up, a strict pull-up, squat below parallel, or touch my toes in a standing or seated position. I became capable of all of these within a few months of actively working towards each individual physical challenge. The approach I took through my crossfit and yoga practice was incremental. I did modified versions of all the above until I was slowly able to develop the strength and flexibility to do the movements with proper form. It's like watching a toddler walk around holding onto the couch for support and then letting go for the first time as they discover their legs and balance can hold them up for a couple seconds before they fall. Letting go of that couch is a "little" victory towards the ultimate goal of walking, regardless of the fact that they fell. The gratification that comes from gradually excelling through each movement until finally reaching its perfect form is what motivates me to continue to push my body to new limits. The number of "falls" will only make the success of "walking" more gratifying when it happens.
     Third, block out the noise in your head. Take control of your thinking. Doubt and negative thoughts are there to challenge you, to see what you're really made of. These two have no manners and they're rude as hell. They dance their way into your mind and attempt to whimsically seduce you into following them. Acknowledge their existence, shake your head at their rudeness, and lead them out. If you practice this enough times, it becomes automatic. Soon enough, you will have a "Just Do It" mentality with your physical training. Nike did their research.
    Next, thank your plateaus. They are letting you know you are ready to move on to the next level. What you once found difficult and may have caused you some agonizing soreness is now far easier. Be grateful for it. Have the courage to move past it by trying something new. Even the smallest adjustment in what your eating or introducing a new workout can push you through a plateau in no time.
    Finally, be mindful of your body. Give it a break when it needs it. Push harder if it feels good. Don't set a goal to do a handstand if walking on your feet to the corner grocery store is exhausting. Wherever your body is at now is perfect. Start there.

    I was once told me to always have a really nice bottle of champagne in the fridge. The idea: always be ready to celebrate something.
    I love this mentality. All too often, we prepare ourselves for the worst of situations. Who says we can't anticipate the best? What if you lived your life everyday anticipating that something great is about to happen. The demeanor of your entire day would change drastically. Everything from your thoughts, to your mood, to your interactions, would be altered in the most positive direction. You know that feeling you have just after booking a vacation? Let that champagne in the fridge make you feel that way everytime you see it.
    Perhaps you might be thinking if you always anticipate something great happening, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment when things don't go right. I used to fall into this category. I felt like it was easier to assume the worst of situations because then, no matter what happens, it will never be as bad as I thought. If the worst did come, I would be "prepared" for it. Anyone who has existed in this phenomenon called "life," can agree that we can never be truly prepared for some of what life has to offer. What we can control is how much we want these things to alter our life.
    Dr. Wayne Dyer said "Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change." So simple, so profound, so liberating. My fear of uncertainty developed into excitement of the unknown. I stopped seeing negativity in my immediate surroundings and began finding myself surrounded by beauty. In those uncomfortable situations that I once feared the most, I found myself dealing with the best because my mind was clear and looking to get back on the track of optimism.
    Resiliency can happen instantaneously with practice. I found that if you condition yourself until it becomes a habit, then you don't have to try as hard. It becomes your default state. Within this state exists more opportunities to celebrate. So find the courage to let go, maintain the strength to live freely. You just might find yourself popping a bottle of Dom Perginon more often than you think.

    Brick walls hurt. I can confidently tell you this from the collection of fragmented bricks that trail throughout the steps of my past. These walls once stood in front of me in all different shapes and sizes. Some were exorbitantly thick while others were mighty and tall. The worst of them surrounded me on all four corners. The best of them were paper thin, though I never found that out until I gathered the courage to go through them.
    My inital approach to destroy them was highly inefficient. I used to walk up to the wall, pointlessly stare at it, and say something along the lines of "I don't understand why this is happening to me." This was generally followed up by complaining to multiple people about my situation.
     Ahh, but that sympathy felt so good...or so I thought.
     I realized the more people I would tell and the greater detail I went into, the further I was digging myself in my misery. Rather than dealing with the situation, I kept reliving it. Communicating your feelings during times of struggle is vital but I wasn't communicating. Instead, I was moping and procrastinating from tearing down the wall and moving forward with my life.
     Though destruction of the previous walls was strategically flawed, they left me with big muscles and callused knuckles. With that, the manner in which I conduct wall destruction now has changed. The last few were approached with " alright bitch, let's do this," followed by some awesome ninja moves. All I can say is THANK GOD, or buddha, or jesus, or your mom, or whomever else you feel is appropriate to thank. Truly speaking, life is far simpler when the things that once held you back can now excel you forward.
    Metaphoric brick walls aside, I am truly grateful for every moment of challenge and struggle I have ever come across. I would absolutely be a different person with out them and the person I am today, I happen to love. I am not trying to imply that I am an all-knowing expert at dealing with challenging times. Within my own life, I have just chosen to always find the good in even the worst of times. I freely allow myself to experience every emotion going through my body as a result of it. I greet these emotions kindly, acknowledge their existence, tell them to fuck off, and then let them go. I look for the lesson that each one has hidden. I focus on the strength that I know will come when it's over. Time is too limited to get slowed down or stopped for too long. This mentality works for me. Explore what works for you.