The one thing that keeps most people engaged in fitness activities…RESULTS of course but also FUN! If your workouts are fun you are much more likely to stick with it. There are so many amazing options now depending on your workout style – you can try a spin class, variety of yoga classes, rowing, HIIT, swimming, running and something I love- taking your workout outdoors and mixing it up.  There are bootcamp and crossfit type options you can do on your own, with a partner or personal trainer. I often grab my jump rope and some workout bands and head outdoors to a grassy or level paved area and get to sweating! You can also enlist the help of a workout buddy friend and take in a heart pumping hike or bike ride. The options are endless and your body, mind and spirit will thank you! #fuelyourselfhealthy XX, a-m

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Having been a gracious recipient of care packages and also a consumer when sending some to friends, co-workers, clients… I know how limited it can be to find items that are healthy. Flowers always brighten the day, but it’s also awesome to receive different types of snacks and treats… healthy ones!  This led to creating fully customized “healthy” care packages/boxes for your friends, children, clients, loved ones…you name it!  I recently had an athlete client of mine undergo knee surgery that will have him sidelined for several weeks.  Not wanting to send him a basket of junk- i.e.) processed, sugar- laden foods,  I decided to find healthier alternatives to keep his energy levels up and also add items that will keep his mental game on point- focused and positive because, after all, the mind-body connection is where its at!!

This healthy care box will truly show how much you care, because you are fueling with nourishing items. I have included some categories below, but this can be customized for anyone, so please feel free to contact me even if it isn’t on this list.  Have someone with gluten sensitivity, lactose intolerant or diabetic?  No worries, having a health and nutrition coach creating your customized healthy care box has you covered!!!  Last but not least- the final, personal touch… a hand written card to be included in the package with the wellness words of your choice.  Ah-mazing!!!  Let’s spread some healthy love and create your healthy care package today!! xx, a-m

Categories:

  • Sports Rehab/ Injury- Home from the Hospital
  • Boarding Schools, Colleges/University Students: semester finals/exams, pick me up, season’s greetings
  • Well Wishes (new job, thank you, thinking of you)
  • VIP guests
  • Baby Bounce Back- healthy kick start for new Moms
  • Valentine’s Day
  • Halloween Treats
  • Annual packages (school package 4x year)

Individual packages and price points from $40*- up depending on items included in the package

*Postage will be added according to delivery time requests, location and care package size/weight.  Same day courier services in select locations.

**Food allergies can be managed and modified accordingly.

 

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While setting up a new 21 Day Health Challenge for some of my clients as we enter into Fall, a lot of vibrations appeared around motivation and being mindful of motivation. What, who, when, where, how…all connect to the bigger picture of mindful meditation and its success in one’s own life.  I encourage my clients to be active participants in their lives- to do the work, step up and step IN to the life you want to live.  It’s one thing to want something and to step up to the challenge of it… but another, once we step IN to the challenge and pursue what we want- really push through any fears or blockages and know what might be blocking us and our personal energy from achieving our best self.

I truly believe that we all need to make the time to recharge so we can walk on renewed in body, mind and spirit. I also believe that we need to make the time to set what we seek- to set that intention to improve ourselves.  This, in turn, elevates others and our surroundings.  Family and friends that are supportive of your growth and journey can provide further encouragement on your path to greater health and wellness.

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When we wake up and get our minds right, we are better for it all day and every day. No matter how big or little your goal, you will get there if you train your brain to dial in each day to the mission! Know your WHY- why you want to look better, feel better, change your habits and/or routine. Is it to feel more confident in yourself, to represent your best self for the new job you are seeking, because you are at risk for disease or wanting more energy in your daily life?  By writing it down and referring back to it as you shift your lifestyle choices, will hold you accountable and what else… bring you to be present with your mindful motivation!

A daily consistent effort in the direction of your dreams can get you to the place you have always dreamed of getting to and even exceed it!! It’s amazing how far you will get just by staying with something long enough. Most people give up too early – their fears are bigger than their belief in themselves- that won’t be you! Get ready to power up, enjoy life and get after it!! I believe in you- set your intentions and let’s go!!!

xx,

a-m

 

 

I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with NFL Star Athlete Keith Mitchell, a former linebacker for the New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans, and Jacksonville Jaguars. Keith has been an inspiration to me in many ways and I thought it both appropriate with football season upon us and also impactful because of his story, to push forward some of the remarkable things he is currently involved in that are making a difference!! My next article regarding Keith will most likely be about his amazing swimming skills and my improved yoga practice as we trade off and teach the other with our own areas of expertise :).

Keith was at the top of his professional game when, without warning, his football career suddenly ended after being confronted with a paralyzing spinal injury during a game.This injury forced Keith into retirement at the young age of 31. Unwilling to surrender to the plague of emotional depression and physical defeat he often observed in many NFL peers facing similar traumas, Keith channeled his energy into the practice of yoga and meditation for healing.  His transformation from this daily practice of yoga and meditation was life-changing and compelled him to becoming a respected Master Certified Yoga Instructor with currently more than 10 years of experience.

I hope you enjoy the conversation below with Keith and perhaps it leaves you feeling more enlightened to take your yoga and meditation practice to the next level, begin practicing for the first time or become more aware of your own self care. Whatever it is, we would love to hear from you and your beautiful journey to better health and wellness! Namaste xx, a-m

AM: How did yoga and meditation get introduced to you and had you ever practiced it as an NFL athlete?

KM: Mediation was introduced to me as I was going through a traumatic injury while playing football for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I was diagnosed with a spinal contusion. I suffered paralysis for 6-month period.

 

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AM:  Football and yoga are so different but can absolutely complement one another.  How would you go about explaining that to some of your ex- teammates, strength coaches and/or current NFL players?

KM: Well this would be a strategy based on what their interests are, which in this case- excelling in their sport, creating longevity, better focus and calm to relax during intense situations. Totally superficial but yet complex, whereas most of the high-level football and basketball players don’t have a real understanding of how their bodies work and don’t have the healthiest nutritional habits.

 

AM: You had a rather abrupt, life-changing transition to make that for many would have sidelined them from life and left down and out.  How were you able to move through the transition when your world and all you had known it to be for so long, had changed?

KM: In this case I can’t take full responsibility of this action on my own. As for football, my anger pushed me, but in this case, maybe rebelliousness of one of my ancestors because I would not be defeated. It was because I wanted to love myself and I figured to be worth it…my masculinity, my view on the world, in particular my world.  Reflecting on my results and taking into consideration the results to be improvements, fulfillment, satisfaction or not…I didn’t want to live like that anymore-  I wanted more.

 

AM:  I know I personally have found my yoga practice to be challenging and beneficial to my current training program-not just physically but mentally, as I began a renewed spiritual journey and freed up a lot of blocked energy by letting go.  Your passion for sharing the practice of yoga and meditation is contagious.  What do you hope others will receive from your passion and practice?

KM: The pleasure of life is to create growth; this is the spice of life and in my opinion the true yoga.  To create the relationship, to check in through observation. To consider possibility instead of being stuck to one perspective- just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Due to the fact that most of our perspectives are based by unconscious behavior and traumatic conditioning never taking our own initiative to search out knowledge.

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AM: What are a few of the valuable lessons when it comes to controlling the mind/mental aspect of training that you learned through football that carried over into your yoga practice?

KM: Sports has a lot of symmetry to consciousness living due to the fact of development- to constantly consider getting better, no attachments to what we think we know, short memory, the practice of not bringing what just happened into the now.  The 3,4,5,6 dimensional learning curves.

 

AM:  What fuels you mentally, physically, emotionally to wake every day and go out and be your best?

KM: To create, to connect, to help, to inspire while giving all of that first to myself. If you think of a ladder and the journey to climb as I did in sports and to see myself do the same climb from more of a Zen perspective, from an idea of love and really something that’s aligned to who I am and what truly makes me feel fulfilled…I dig that! The other ladder was fueled by anger and chaos and I even thought the blueprint created an idea of success, doesn’t mean it has to be my only way. I believe or I hope to show people if they have doubt, see my example.  If they have fear, well maybe I can provide inspiration in a way that they find relatable in order pursue their truths to what they truly love.

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AM: What is an athlete/defines an athlete in your opinion and experience?

KM: Athletes have different looks yes, an athlete is built on the fight to step out of the norm, and it’s a non-accepting concept that we are not special. Granted there are a few sports that culturally get the popular vote, which include those types of players, so another sport is created, another athlete is born and this pattern goes on and on.

 

AM:  As we both know and have had many conversations around, more and more NFL and collegiate football players/athletes in general are seeing the positive benefits of incorporating yoga into their workout routines.  If you could share some of your useful lessons from your journey in yoga and meditation with some of your teammates and other NFL athletes what would they be?

KM: I believe the more information that you know about how you fusion, you will realize how to recognize your behavior. You will build the relationship, to an extent your physical, but you learn to develop your mind and when we can access the possibility of mind, we create possibilities of our reality. This is esoteric sounding I know…but it’s right on. I wouldn’t share this typically right off but these are possibilities.

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AM: I would love for you to share more about your non-profit

KM: I have a non-profit The Light It Up Foundation. I connect to our youth because I was there once and I endured trauma, a lot of unconscious characteristics. I believe the concepts of yoga allows our youth to start the relationships from earlier ages.  Light it Up educates youth from ages 10-17, and their families, about the importance of healthy living for brain development and education.  The foundation uses a three-prong approach by focusing on nutrition, physical education and strengthening the cognitive function. We begin the events in LA and will be setting more up across the country.

 

AM:  Besides the yoga and meditation practice, what other types of fitness activities/training do you participate in on a regular basis?

KM: I’ve created a yoga with weights program that I’m in to; weights are important in order to manipulate the body’s production of HGH and testosterone. I do believe in making my routines more functional because what’s the use of developing strength that will not help you in the world.

 

AM:  If we were to tap into KM’s playlist, what might be some of the most played songs we would find?

KM: I have love for electronic music with different hooks. Example artist Synkro~ song Look At Yourself.

 

AM:  You know I can’t set you loose without touching on nutrition and fuel – what are some of your go-to’s as far as pre and post workout fuel?

KM: Nutrition is simple to me, peoples patterns with feeding their bodies is the same pattern as how they ultimately feel about themselves. When they don’t truly care; they are not interested in growth, no understanding of nurturing oneself. When self knowledge is attained, you start doing things to preserve oneself; you look at life a bit different. Our foods are simple… as you create practices to move your body more, you must create a practice in order to sustain/fuel what you’re up to. Continue to do these things but raise the vibrations of what you’re doing in order to maintain and support of what your growing into…evolving in to.

Before Nutrition I would suggest cleansing the body to create a clearer channel within the colon and the intestinal tract. The bodies organs have been abused through the duration of our unconscious attitude toward ourselves and life happening to us, cleansing is important so that the nutrients can actually be absorbed by the body.

Keith Mitchell by Amir Magal

AM: What’s next for you?

KM: Just finished in NYC, helping build Wanderlust 108. We are headed to Atlanta on Sept. 28th and then I am teaching Wanderlust Austin, TX Nov. 6-9th. The Light IT Up Foundations health+wellness expo will be Jan 31, 2015. I am so excited about that, because no one can see create your vision like you can. I think this is something that the world will and can appreciate and how ironic we start this in LA…LA is definitely a trendsetter.

Check out more from Keith:

website:KeithMitchell59.com, FB: KeithMitchell59, IG: KeithMitchell59, #LightItUpFoundation

 

Loving the many uses of avocado, including this one that can be seen as an affordable mini-facial! This DIY face mask provides skin a boost of hydration and natural glow. Avocados have so many benefits when consumed but also in topical applications like this:

How to:

1 ripe avocado

Remove pits

Scoop out the insides

Mash the avocado to a paste

Apply to your face (MEN– you can do this as well. Have a beard or facial hair~ no problem, just work around it. Your nose, forehead and cheeks can all benefit). Leave on 5-10 minutes. Remove with a warm, wet cloth. Disclaimer: it doesn’t smell all that great when on your skin but the results are fantastic. Please make sure you do not have an avocado allergy before application. Get glowing xx, a-m

 

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