4 Top Tips for Recovery after a Marathon

Recovery after a marathon or any form of exercise is something many overlook and neglect. This is a big mistake. Underlying injuries and the stress the body is put under needs to be attended to, bringing the balance back. If done correctly you can be back training in no time and already have a headstart on improving your next performance. 

1 - 'Re-Fuel' - So you've crossed the line, checked your time, given someone a hug and patted yourself on the back in relief and pure joy after finishing your marathon. Keep moving for about 30 minutes to prevent 'blood pooling in your legs. Stay warm, even though you may be sweaty and your core temperature is high, this will drop pretty rapidly. Change into some dry clothes, wrap yourself up in the foil handouts or get some warm kit on ASAP. It's then likely you will register you are a acutely dehydrated (especially if it has been a hot day) and certainly in need of some extra nutrients. I know you are dreaming about that massive re-feed feast involving everything you've refrained from eating in the build-up to the race, but before that goes down, try adding a big pinch of Himalayan salt to your water or sports drink, and make a smoothie for after the race packed full of the essentials that will nourish your insides. My go to would be coconut water, bananas, spinach, blueberries, oats and good plant-based protein powder.

2 - 'Hot a Cold Therapy' - I'm a big fan of this treatment after seeing the results in my own performance but also after years of experimenting with athletes here in the UK and US. Spending time learning from pioneers like Brain McKenzie and Wim Hoff has unlocked a whole new train of thought to how we can speed up the recovery process and control how our body responds to these stressors. The science and research out there seems to show that when we jump from a full body Hot to Cold immersion, it improves the rush of oxygenated blood to the micro tears and other trauma of the damaged tissues helping you repair much faster. If you don't have the luxury of a sauna/hot tub and an ice bath after the race, getting in a hot shower and then switching it to cold for 1-minute intervals for a few rounds will suffice and do the job.

3 - 'More Food and Rest' - You may well be thinking of eating all the junk food you can find, but if you want to prevent putting on unwanted weight and slowing down your body, I'd always suggest re-feeding with a combination of good quality proteins, fats, and carbohydrates (I always crave sweet potatoes and a pile of veggies). Then comes the pizza. This might automatically put you into an induced 'food coma' alongside your body just needing some well-earned recovery sleep (don't set an alarm if you can and wake up when your body is ready). When you do eventually surface, get some more water on board as the body will be in need of it, and even though moving might not be what you feel like doing, getting outside for a walk or very light jog which helps get the blood flowing to the legs and provides you with the feedback you need to see what parts of the body need some attention and treatment in the coming days.

4 - 'Treat yourself to some TLC' -  No matter what your level of ability, no one seems to escape the wear and tear during a Marathon in some form. The steady repetitive impact on the joints and muscles can lead to stress fractures, musculature imbalance and millions of micro tears on a cellular level. After going for a little stroll or maybe you've already struggled to get out of bed and walk down some stairs, your body will be letting you know what area's need some love. Anything from blisters to full body realignment is vital to getting you healed and back to full power. Treating yourself to a massage and getting some professional treatment from a sports therapist can not only speed up the process, it can also help you identify injuries that can then be prevented next time by adding some new prehab exercises into your program.

Be safe, run smart, have fun.

The day I almost died.....

However, I'm going to tell you a story when the line became blurred and I danced momentarily into recklessness with near devastating consequences. It's only my careful preparation and training in breath that saved me.

...Ok, so that’s quite a dramatic title, but it hopefully got your attention....

But when I think back to the details, the story I’m about to share was the closest I’ve come to death while playing in my beloved ocean; surfing.

Since getting back to the UK after my recent travels I’ve had a lot of time for reflection; comparing my life back in London to the lives of those I meet while on my adventures. I like to think I work hard and do what I do for the right reasons, but sometimes we need to check back in form time to time and make sure that’s still the case. what are the right reasons?

The past few months have been full of new experiences, exciting new chapters, new skills and so much physical and mental expansion, all down to taking a chance on something I ‘felt'. Exploring the benefits of breathing for performance and the power of calming meditation lead me to becoming a Yoga teacher, and now it’s played a part in saving my life.Day one in the Mentawi Islands, 36 hours of transit from the UK to the remote coastline of West Sumatra in Indonesia and the trip of a lifetime is under way…

HT's (Hollow Tree's) - Last night was choppy crossing the channel, sleeping in our bunks rocking from side to side in 30 degree sticky heat. I woke up feeling super tired but soon came to life as I came above deck to see a wave outside the window next to a tiny little island covered with palm trees.

It’s not long before I’m paddling around on my board and it’s magical! The waves are coming in around 5-6 ft at the beginning then soon jump up to some 7-8ft bombs while we're out there. I'm trying to act all cool amongst the boys but my heart is pumping and the rolling water under me is enough to keep me out of the action and happy to see the lads warm into it. 

I'm out for a about 2 hours and content I've not managed to get smashed on the first morning. The guide makes the call to head around the other side of the island and get out of the wind that's picked up, next stop 'Lances Left'.

We arrive to two guys coming out of the wayer with snapped boards and the waves are powerful and big, but very clean so still inviting. I'm excited and also nervous at the same time. Some of the boys make the call to stay out of the water and spectate but I'm not one to miss out on the action and needed to keep up momentum to get some waves under my belt. I just wish they were more 'my size' (around 3-4 ft) and not 8, but me and 5 others headed out anyway...

I'm hanging on the shoulder (away from the wave drop zone) and watch the sets to gauge where I can slide in and steel a ride but there's a big delay and it's seems the wave pulse has dropped off, so we creep in a bit, then a bit more, then the mother of all waves comes through! This one’s the size of a house. One of the guys got caught at the top and bailed into a free fall over the top of me, then it was my turn.

I tried to duck dive as far under as I could but there was too much water and the power was like noting I'd ever felt before.
I was in the 'washing machine' getting thrown around like a rag doll made of cotton wool.
I was under, for what felt like minutes.
I hear and feel my knee ‘pop’.
There's no one to access what happened.
I'm getting bounced hard, but stay as relaxed as I can and remember my training (thank you Laird)  “Stay calm, you have enough air".
I popped up and gasped for a breath before going straight back under.
I knew there was reef under my feet.
I was bracing myself for a coral battering.
I tried to stand up and find my feet but there was nothing.
I'd slipped down the middle of a a coral bed.
The next wave took me under again.
My lease got hooked under the reef, looped around my ankle and pulled me down; I was locked in.
I take a big breath and go under to try free myself but it's too tight.
I have to brace for another set coming at me.
My board is getting smashed everywhere and the panic has set in.
I get a break from the waves so I dive under and manage to pull the leash off my foot.
The board comes free and I'm picked up by the current pulling me across the coral table.

The boat crew have seen I'm in trouble and send some help. All I have to do now is make my way out of the reef bed. I'm pulled into the boat and the blood starts to flow, I'm cut up pretty bad. The worry with coral lacerations is that the coral can start to grow under your skin if you don't treat it and clean the wound, so the crew get to work with ice for my knee and used the old school treatment of sliced fresh limes and start to rub it in and over the cuts (yes this stung a lot). The blood turns a dark brown and the coral particles wash away and my god did it sting!

It's starts to sink in that this is only day one and I'm out of action, time to go into turbo rehab and feel very grateful for my yoga and mobility training before I came out here, as it's literally saved my life and the surf trip.

The badboy chef is incredible on the boat, he really helps me reload and kick start the recovery process with a bottomless feast on local fresh fish, rice and vegetables. I’m drinking as much hydration nectar as I can with a combo of water and fresh island coconuts, and the lads enjoy their evening quota of bintang beers. I pass out after a dose of ibuprofen and paracetamol to end a very exciting first day.

…it’s day 4 before I get the confidence to get in the water again. I’ve been going stir crazy on the boat and everyone is worried for my sanity. Not ready for surfing yet, but I throw some fins on and a snorkel and head over to the island reef to spot some sea life and move my body. The ocean literally heals me in minutes, my knee is feeling ok and there’s finally some hope my trip is not over…

The end.

Ok, so that’s obviously not the end, there’s a lot more to this story (i’ve actually done a journal for each day of the trip) but I’m sure most of you don’t want to read it all now. But if you like me to share more of these adventure stories let me know?In the mean time, my words of new found wisdom… Learn how to meditate, practice the art of breath, stay safe, have fun everyday, explore everything, live with passion and do more Yoga!. 

Aloha.

Love Richie

x 

My Toughest Opponent.... Me!

Hi Temple gang, 
 
I wanted to check in one last time before the 2016 chapter comes to an end (still can’t believe it’s over already). But what a year it’s been..

Life changing experiences, emotional decisions, physical and mental challenges, lessons and enlightenment. This year has had it all; I’m guessing there will be a few of you reading this thinking the same? Powerful right?

I’d like to start by saying thank you to everyone that has been part of this ‘TheStrengthTemple’ rollercoaster journey so far. I may not say it all the time but I’m constantly pinching myself that we've been able to build something that has had such a positive effect on so many lives. Feeling and seeing the physical and mental benefits of making some better choices to improve the quality of life we can all have really has blown my mind and I’m buzzing so many of you are going down this path with us. 

This time of year can be super tough for a lot of us, for various reasons, so it’s really important we do what we can for those less fortunate and take a minute to appreciate and be grateful for everything we have. We all have special powers and it’s so important we use them to help others when we can. Remember a small gesture of kindness can really make someone's day or even save a life, all you need to do is look up and be aware of whats happening outside of your little bubble. Checking in with someone you’ve not been in touch with for a while, a simple smile or offering to help someone in need can be an incredible gift. Why not practice it today!

Richie’s mindfulness check list:

1. Write down everything I’m grateful for and read daily affirmations.

2. Make a list of all the experiences that have made me really happy.

3. Build an action plan to smash my goals for 2017 (we can help with that - click here!).

4. Meditate twice a day; morning and night for 20 minutes - focus on breathing deep cleansing breaths.

5. Remain present, let go of the past, recognise the lessons, don’t worry about the future.

6. Treat everyone and everything around me with respect and how I wish to be treated myself (karma is real).

7. Move my body and stimulate my mind everyday.

8. Take care of my precious life, eat well and value a healthy existence.

9. Always remember the effect I can have on another persons life.

10. Listen to my instinct, it’s always right. x

When it comes to taking care of yourself and keeping up with your fitness regime, once winter sets in and the festive party season rolls out, it can become hard for most to stay motivated. Colder days and less daylight to play in means going outside to train and pushing through xmas party hangovers and festive feasts often leaves you feeling heavy and sluggish. This inturn can lead to every excuse under the sun to not move our bodies. We might casually slipp into 'lazy ass mode’ (scientific term) and fall off track.

Remembering why you started your training journey and staying connected with the passion that drives you is the difference when the "lazy gremlins" are whispering in your ear.

I’m a big believer in ‘balance' when it comes to training and lifestyle, no matter what your sport and health goals are. If you’re a professional athlete, ‘#Fitfam’ social media gym junkie or simply working on your general wellbeing, ultimately its about taking care of your body and mind, feeling great and being happy. If that's not part of your motivation, I suggest you have a think about what really matters and whats going to keep you sane.

The popularity of social media, the thirst for recognition in the industry and amongst your peers in the fitness world, the need for followers and likes and what looks like an epidemic of body dysmorphia fuelled by aesthetic perfection is a concern. I feel there’s an element of neglect to remember why you’re going down this path in the first place. I didn’t want to spend too much time on this subject but it really does concern me and I’m worried for those that may have lost their way and it’s making people sick.

"Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of "Being" and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, for validation, security, or love, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer” - Eckhart Tolle, “The Power of Now”  This is from the book that helped me make sense of a few things and see the world from a new perspective.

Being a bit of an adventure nut and adrenaline junkie, there’s not much I wouldn’t do or haven’t tried at least once. Playing Rugby and competing in athletics throughout my younger years, I relied on my coaches to advise me on how to move, train and eat; thinking they would have all the answers and have my best interests in mind (not always the case I found). It wasn’t until my professional career dreams were over due to injury that I realised there was so much to learn, it was time to find some mentors.

This was the beginning of my rehabilitation and functional movement practice. My mobility geek addiction began and personal training journey started. The Strength Temple is born out of this new awareness and understanding and continues to evolve.

There is so much information out there now, it’s a mine field of facts and complete rubbish so it’s really important you connect and learn from those that are backing it up with science and practiced methodology.

We have the power to inspire, motivate and teach the younger generations how to live happy and healthy lives. It begins with taking care of yourself! Walk your talk and set the best example possible.

Here are some 'Strength Temple’ questions you might want to ask yourself before you start setting up your 2017 ‘Gamechanger’ campaign…. :)

1. What are you training for .. Health, wellbeing, olympics or all of the above?

2. How do you know the way you are training is the right way?

3. Have you experimented with other methods?

4. Are you experiencing reoccurring injury's?

5. Are you over training, feeling rundown?

6. Do you have the right structure in place with realistic and sustainable weekly targets?

7. Are you really preparing your body in the right way before exercise?

8. Are you putting in enough time to improve your range of motion?

9. Is your poor flexibility preventing you from getting to that next level?

We created a whole article on goal setting, specifically with a New Year vibe.  You can use it at any time of year though - the science is the same.  If you really want to set goals that will motivate you and increase your chances of success go do this excercise here!

The Strength Temple Goal Setting Plan

One of the biggest projects this year and one of most motivating, has been my recent campaign with NewBalanceUK. It’s been a powerful few months that's given me insight into the minds of incredible athletes competing at the highest level of performance and taken my respect for what is required to be the best to a whole new level. It's inspired me to face the battles of my mind and get me into the best shape of my life both physically and mentally.
 
I honestly thought I understood what it takes to be at the top of your game. I’ve been fortunate to have found mentors and gained priceless experience training with legends like Laird Hamilton, Brian Mckenzie and Gabby Reece (all incredible athletes and pioneers in this game) opening up a whole new chapter to explore; How we breathe, how we move and understanding that our minds really are the key to unlocking it all.

Having the right knowledge, up to date research, kit and equipment all plays a vital role in feeling the confidence you need at the highest level. Giving you the edge thats necessary to push past your mental boundaries and win (whatever that means to you.) This is another element I’ve learnt so much about this year.

The UK sportswear scene is pretty nuts and only seems to be gaining momentum as the world gets more and more fitness crazy. Before I became a training nerd, I’d picked kit based on looks and if it matched the rest of my outfit! Don’t get me wrong, style is still very important of course but the technology and research that’s going in into the NewBalance product performance really is next level.

I love that it’s cool and the norm to see everyone cruising around in their gym kit (even if they’ve not ever seen a gym) rocking a new hoodie, yogi pants and a fresh pair of trainers round town. I basically live in gym kit all year round so making sure it’s comfy, gets the job done and looks cool is very important to me. The grand opening of the huge NewBalance Flagship Store in Oxford Street London happened recently. Three floors of sneaker porn and fitness threads to immerse yourself in. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s time you went in to meet the team and see what they are up to.

 

http://www.newbalance.co.uk/
9. LONDON OXFORD STREET
287-291 Oxford Street,
London,
W1C 2DR
Tel: 0207 499 8089

Anyway… I better leave it there before I ramble on anymore and get carried away on another topic! I hope you can take something away from this post, even if it’s just checking in on yourself to make sure you're on track.

Begin creating now, manifest everything you want to achieve and believe it’s possible, because it is if you can visualise it (True story).

Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make decisions. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love.

Oh, and ALWAYS..... #respectyourtemple

Love Richie x

New Balance "You Are Your Toughest Opponent"

Richie Norton: New Balance #iamthecompetition

Hi!

So as some of you may know, I’ve just become an ambassador for New Balance (yes, very cool and I’m absolutely buzzing about it). I grew up competing in Athletics and Rugby, and the thought of being scouted to represent a brand like NewBalance was a dream. Now I’m here, years later, living that dream.

Even though New Balance are making bad ass kit, I'm actually excited to be a part of this brand because of their philosophy. Especially their newest campaign 'You are your toughest opponent'. This campaign is all about the recognition that the toughest competition involves the battles and obstacles that we create ourselves, in our mind and our lives. To me, this campaign is about developing your confidence, becoming the best you can be and excepting you will face challenges and obstacles; once you master your mind, your body can achieve anything.

Over the coming months I’ll be researching the challenges in performance, breaking down the mind games, while also analysing and product testing the awesome New Balance apparel. Luckily for me I pretty much live in training clothes, I now have the best excuse to never ever wear a suit again. (Although I did hear a rumour NB had plans for a sweet tailored dinner jacket)...

New Balance: Richie Norton #iamthecompetition

Trainers: Fresh Foam 'Zante V2'. Shorts: 7inch Shift Short. Top: Performance Merino

Richie Norton: New Balance #iamthecompetition

Top: Performance Merino Short sleeve

Richie Norton: New Balance #iamthecompetition

Top: Performance Merino. Leggings: Precision run tights

Richie Norton: #iamthecompetition

Top: Trinamic long sleeve Pants: Trinamic tight. Trainers: Suede Limited Edition Classic

With the health and fitness industry booming bigger than ever, even to the ‘trained eye’ it’s a daunting task understanding what to eat, how to balance your day, what exercises are right for you, what equipment you need (if any) and of course what clothing and footwear are required to support you training and lifestyle. This is where I come in.

This project with NewBalance is something I can relate to in many ways, on a personal level and as a professional. I've battled with career ending injuries, walked some dark paths and been on a wild journey before finding my way here. I’m grateful for the challenges that have given me so much insight into the struggle so many go through; how we grow from this always makes us stronger. I’m now finally understanding all my strengths (and weaknesses), following my passion and applying the knowledge I’ve developed from the many lessons getting here. I now hope to share this you. 

Over the next few months I’ll be working alongside @newbalanceuk, @menshealth and @runnersworld on a campaign all about understanding the power of the mind in performance and how your biggest opponent is YOU! Managing your expectations, getting the best out of your body, improving your health, pushing past your limits, exploring new challenges and reaching your highest potential. Mastering your mind is the key to it all.

If there’s anything you’d like me to research please let me know, I’ll pull it all apart!

This is our time to shine.

Oh - and here's a gift from New Balance:  Limited time: 15% off if you subscribe via the link below....

New Balance 15% off subscription

Richie Norton #iamthecompetition

Here's a little video message from me on the power of the mind in performance.

Our Mind Technique to tap into your Limbic System and Upgrade the way you FEEL!

We wanted to give you an insight around thoughts and feelings today and we encourage you to really take this one on board as it can literally change the way you are feeling in an instant!

Thoughts create feelings.  Feelings can create actions.  Actions  create outcomes.  Outcomes create new thoughts.  Repeat.  Just ponder on that for a moment and re-read it.  It’s really important to understand.

OK, got that?  Let’s move on then and define a term we often use called "Self Talk."

Your self talk is that little voice inside your head that provides a commentary on your life.  It’s the internal verbalisation of your thoughts. Some people have quite a loud voice, others softer, but we all have it. Becoming mindful and aware of your self talk is a key element to what we will be teaching in this insight.

One way to become very aware is to notice your self talk and reflect on how useful it is to you. People often describe a sensation of almost listening to yourself talking.

If you picture what this “looks like” in the theatre of your mind, it could be the “enlightened and higher you” sitting on a magic carpet watching and listening to everything your mind is doing. You are entirely detached from everything and able to observe and commentate if necessary on what’s happening.

Think about this for a moment.  Can you picture this process happening?  If you can’t , re-read what we’re saying so you completely understand it and then try again.  This is one of the most important steps to becoming mindful and for some is a revelation!

I like to picture myself looking in a state of complete relaxation, peace and calm on my magic carpet.  I’m sitting there cross legged in a beautiful blue sky, deep in the recesses of my psyche, looking very Zen!

So back to your self talk.  Whilst sitting on your magic carpet, observing your thoughts and feelings, if you catch your self talk and thoughts becoming destructive or negative, pause for a moment.  If they are positive reflect on that too.

If you’d prefer that they were positive and you recognise negative self talk happening, simply acknowledge it and say something to yourself like “oh - there I go again” and then allow the thoughts and discussion to change to something more empowering.

Have you ever experienced a time when you’ve chastised yourself using your internal dialogue / self talk?  As you become more mindful you may see this happening frequently and it’s one of the keys to changing how you are feeling.

So all of these thoughts tap into the emotional side of your brain and trigger the neurons associated with feelings.  Feelings are produced by the firing of specific sets of nerve clusters in the Amygdala which is part of the Limbic system in your brain.

The Limbic system is fascinating.  I got the following definition from Google:

LIMBIC SYSTEM:  "a complex system of nerves and networks in the brain, involving several areas near the edge of the cortex concerned with instinct and mood. It controls the basic emotions (fear, pleasure, anger) and drives (hunger, sex, dominance, care of offspring)."

So do your thoughts serve you in a positive way and fire the right sets of nerves in your Limbic System?  If not, then it’s time to check in with yourself and start to gradually allow your focus to move from negative to positive thoughts.

Now it’s important to emphasise at this point that this is not just about positive affirmations.  Some people advocate that simply saying “I feel good, I feel good, I feel good, I feel good, I feel good, I feel good, I feel good” is enough to create a change in state.  This may work for some people, but it’s not the essence of what we are teaching.
 
One thing about affirmations is that you may be in a situation that is too complex to allow your intelligent / logical brain to translate the situation into feeling better.  A more suitable way to change your state is to check in with yourself.  Be kind to yourself.  Let your current thoughts and feelings drift past you on your magic carpet as you observe them from your vantage point.  Breathe deeply and start to migrate your thoughts to more constructive ways of interpreting any situation.

Another powerful way to reframe destructive self talk is to remove its significance by considering it to be like “mental or emotional weather.” If you find your brain is misbehaving and gravitating to less empowering self talk, consider the words to be like a storm passing. Observe the storm from your magic carpet. Sit there peacefully in the knowledge that weather is transient and shining sunshine is just round the corner!

This will in turn bring about different more positive feelings, which will create more empowering actions, which reinforces your thoughts and the cycle continues.  This is probably best illustrated with an example.

I’m going to write two paragraphs and they are going to illustrate your internal dialogue.  See if you relate to any of it and reflect on how each way of talking to yourself could bring about different overall feelings.

“What a shit day!  Why does my alarm always fail to go off.  I can’t believe I’m late again - I’m always bloody late!  Missed my train, even after running. God, I’m shit at running too.  It’s going to be one of those bad days, I just know it.  Everything’s going wrong.  I’ve got to face those people trying to block my ideas at work too.  Why do they hate me so much.  I need a new job, but I’ll never find one in this economy.  What a shit day!"

OK - so I’ve turned on the taps to full here.  I hope that none of you have conversations with yourself of this magnitude of destruction, but then some of you might!  I’m chuckling to myself at how hard it was to write that, as I’ve been practicing mindfulness for some years now and it was difficult for me to come up with those words.  It might be easier for you?  Either way, I think you will see the point. Now let’s try another version.

"I love it when there’s mist in the mornings.  Everything looks like an abstract painting and the moist air feels great in my lungs.  I must remember to plug my phone in at night.  I’ve missed my alarm this morning  and I’d prefer not to let that happen again.  I’ll buy another charger today and put it next to my bed.  I think I’ll listen to that favourite album I’ve just found on the way to the station this morning to change my focus after this little setback.   I’m not going to rush as I’m a little late already, but have called to let everyone know, so it’s no problem.  It will give me time to think about how to get more buy in from my colleagues for my project.  I think they must need more information as the ideas are sound.  I’ll arrange some 121 meetings today to get some feedback on how things are going."

So there we are.  It takes practice to transition from one way of thinking to another as a lot of what we do as humans is habitual.

I hope you’ve found this interesting.  Here’s a simple little exercise to do to make sure you are more mindful of your self talk, focusing and feeling better!  Try it and PLEASE let us know how you get on.  We love to get feedback. 

1. Regularly check in with yourself and ensure that you are being kind to yourself and not beating yourself up with negative self talk.
    
2. If you “Catch” disempowering chatter just reflect from the vantage point of your magic carpet and say something like “there I go again", and let it float past.
    
3. Understand that there is ALWAYS a more positive way to reflect on any given situation.
    
4. After it has passed, be creative in thinking of ways to change your focus.  Either reframe the current negative situation in a more supportive and positive light, or consider some other situation that allows a change of focus and more positive internal evaluation of where you are.  The vital bit is to get your self talk to reflect this using more positive and empowering words and phrases.
    
5. Breathe and be kind to yourself.

This technique works best when combined with making changes in your physical state. We will discuss this in a future insight. :-)

Until next time.

#BeMindful & #respectyourtemple

Steps to make “some" people less annoying!

I pondered for a while on the title of this insight.  I’m a big fan of creating positive and empowering topics to promote a sense of wholeness in people and this one had me stumped.

How do I tell people that I can help them to stop getting annoyed at their perceived inadequacies and imperfections of other human beings?

In order to do that, then I have to put it out there that we may have inner annoyances with some folk (even if we don’t verbalise or act on them.)  I don’t like to think that I have any, but do you know what? I do; and we all do and just acknowledging that is the start of making a change for the better!

So when I talk of annoyances I don’t mean the more traditionally defined prejudices aimed at protected characteristics.  Protected characteristics are things like sex, race, age, physical characteristics, sexual orientation etc.  Here at the strength temple we are proud to be acknowledged as a company that supports and actively promotes equality and diversity.  We even have our own policy in this regard - so if you’re annoyed by protected characteristics please make some changes if you want to stay part of this community!

No, what I mean is the person that just seems to annoy you on a regular basis, or the dude that “gets your back up” more than they should.  The ones that you just want to avoid or remove from your life in extreme circumstances for some reason.  Also the ones that just slightly get on your nerves.  These feelings are generally around another person's habits or actions and it’s not a big thing - but it can become one!

If you could find a way to stop the negative energy associated with feelings around these types of people that has to be a good thing - right?!

If you’re the type of person that doesn’t get annoyed with anyone - please scroll down now and leave us a comment below with your secret of how you do this!  You clearly don’t need this insight.  If not, and you occasionally find yourself getting a smidge annoyed with people read on - the solution isn’t that complicated, but it is powerful and it does work!

Insight 1:  Firstly - when you find yourself getting wound up by someone, check in with your self talk?  What type of conversations are you having with yourself in your head?  What type of words are you using to describe the situation and the people involved?

Being mindful of your self talk is something we often discuss as part of our mindfulness insights. It’s so important and powerful and even just monitoring how you are feeling when something annoys you, how you describe this to yourself internally and how this energy can flow into other activities in your day is a valuable lesson.  If something annoys you and you find yourself constantly processing this information and ruminating on it you can all of a sudden start to get annoyed with other tasks that would usually make you happy.  It's a kind of transference of negative energy that you can prevent if you know how.

So firstly - be aware of your self talk and stop it in it’s tracks if it’s negative.  Don’t let it snowball into a stream of negativity that can pollute other activities or relationships.

Secondly it’s time to use a technique that has dramatically changed the way I feel about challenging situations as soon as I started applying it.  It involves a slight leap of faith, but it really works.

Insight 2:  When you are faced with a situation that feels uncomfortable, or if someone is annoying you, stop for a moment and reflect.  They key:  What is this situation trying to TEACH you?  What is the lesson here?

It’s probably best described with an example.

Imagine you’re the kind of person who is tidy and that someone close to you keeps leaving their stuff everywhere.  The converse could also be true.  Imagine that you are less focused on keeping everything in it’s place and thrive on chaos and have someone in your life that is constantly tidying up after you or moaning at your general inability to put things in their place?  Either of these familiar?  Well for both types of people these situations can start very innocently and over time reach a point where they can literally break a relationship!  Everything else can be perfect, but this one thing can get out of control and be the thing that ruins an otherwise great partnership.

Let’s apply both lessons described above to this situation.

Insight 1:  Firstly, be very mindful of how you talk to yourself about the other persons lack of, or strict tidiness.  As soon as you notice yourself internally criticising put the breaks on.  Just say something like “oh - there I go again.  Let’s just pause things there and move to insight 2.”

Remember Insight 2?  That’s right - what’s the lesson that my mind is trying to teach me in this moment?  Well the lesson here could be that you need to discuss your feelings with the other person - perhaps something that you haven’t been doing.  It could be that you need to celebrate other people’s differences more and be thankful that we aren’t all the same - how boring would that be!  It could be that the lesson is you need to focus less on a particular person’s less attractive habit and more on all the things you love about them.  It might be that you generally need to be more patient with other people and don’t let small differences be the focus of your attention - after all, it really isn’t that big a deal.

The list can literally go on for ever and it’s a fun thing to try and come up with new ways to find lessons in everything that annoys you.

So just try this for the next 24 hours.  If it reduces your stress and gives you an increased inner feeling of clam (and it will) then perhaps continue with this new habit for a week.  If after a week it’s still working (and it will be), why not make it a part of your being and share it wth others.

Trust me on this one - I started using this a few years ago and it's changed my life.

So, be insightful, be mindful, be peaceful, be kind to yourself and others and don’t forget to…..

#respectyourtemple

If you found this article useful and interesting please click the share button below.  We want to help as many people as possible and your assistance is very dearly appreciated. 

Our key to being Happy more of the time

We encourage our clients to set goals.  We have a whole section of our philosophy dedicated to the “why” of what we are doing and powerful goals are the foundation to an awesome existence. Goals contribute to growth which is one of the 6 human needs as described by the teachings of Tony Robins.  We love Goals!

As part of the goal setting process, the reason that a goal has been chosen is worth considering.  Goals are simply vehicles to produce feelings that we desire.  It is for this reason that sometimes, when we achieve a goal, we may paradoxically experience a sense of dissatisfaction or disillusionment.  We had expected that achieving this “thing” would make us feel a certain way and sometimes it doesn’t.

It’s a fascinating subject and if you’re interested in further reading check out some links at the end of this article to some of our teachings on goals.

The reason that I mention this in relation to being happy more of the time, is that when we distill most goals down, they are simply vehicles to happiness at some level.  Often a feeling of peace and pleasure is also sought.  The thing with these feelings is that they are ALL transient.  They may be wonderful whilst they are manifested, but they will pass.  This is the fundamental key to understanding how to be happy or to experience a feeling of peace more often.  Let’s explore this a little more.

Our mind is truly an incredible thing.  It takes experiences and classifies them based on outcomes and how they make us feel.  It then decides whether to gravitate towards that experience again and looks for ways to create more positive feelings in our lives.  The thing is that if we start to allow ourselves to feel profound disappointment at the passing of happy moments, our brains can associate this as being too difficult for us and actually moves subconsciously to make sure we don’t experience this pain again.  By doing this we can actually start to avoid some of the deeply happy moments in our lives!

A good example off this is the person that experienced a deeply loving relationship.  That magical time when you fall deeply in love with a person and your whole world revolves around that part of your life!  If that relationship ends for some reason, it can cause the individual to actively avoid relationships in the future.  Ringing true of any of you?

So lets explore a way of using self talk (our internal dialogue) to think of a new way to make sense of thoughts and feelings in our mind.  Start to discuss with yourself the fact that ALL feelings will pass at some point.  How we feel about things WILL change over time.  Feelings you’ve had in the past (good and bad) have come and go.  They will come and go in the future.

If we are experiencing negative emotions just say to yourself “there we go - a negative emotion that’s probably linked to a thought.  It may pass if I change my focus.  If not then it will pass over time.”  On the converse be aware that when you are in a sense of flow and deep peace and happiness that this will also pass at some point.  Continue to celebrate and perpetuate the feeling of joy, but don’t be afraid that it may pass.  Just live in the now.

The simple acknowledgement that everything is transitory means we don’t feel as much disappointment when the good times wain.  We just know that they will return again at some point in the future.  All of us have experienced good and bad feelings in the past.  They come and go.  This is the key insight to feeling more balanced.

So next time you are meditating, take a moment to check in with your feelings.  Just be aware of them and let them manifest and flow.  Think of them like a tide on a beach through the changing seasons.  Like the sea, your emotional states come in and out with varying magnitudes in different weathers.  The only constant is that they will come and they will go.  Learn to dance in the rain and go surfing in the winter.  When summer comes enjoy it, even though other climates may be around the corner.  Be generally mindful and kind to yourself.  If you practice this we promise you will start to feel more balanced and whole.  Oh and don’t forget to…..

#respectyourtemple

Here's the link to the Goal Setting Article.  We invested a lot of time writing this one - so please check it out :-)

Do you need a #TempleDay?

We’ve been discussing progress with goals and resolutions recently with a number of clients.  Sometimes a great start and bags of enthusiasm can fade.  It’s a good idea to revaluate your progress if any feelings of disappointment or setbacks come up to prevent you from straying from the path you've set yourself.  We want you to learn to dance in the rain ;-)

When we set goals we mainly do so because of how we think it will make us feel on achieving them as well as how we will feel during the process of attaining them.  Occasionally we might set some milestones or general expectations in our goals that we don’t achieve as quickly as expected.  Alternatively we might not experience the feelings that we expected on achieving the goal.  It’s during these minor setbacks that the real power of your will comes to action to ensure you don’t fall into the trap of becoming distracted or giving up and returning to old disempowering habits.

It’s a set of behaviours that’s also associated with an “all or nothing” type of thinking seen in some people.  So we've created the idea of a #TempleDay to get those of you who are waining back on track to being and feeling awesome during your journey through life!!
The concept of a #TempleDay is to decide that today, tomorrow or some fixed date in the future will be a dedicated day where you enjoy focusing on your Strength Temple by being mindful of your #7Pillars.  For those of you new to The Strength Temple or our 7 Pillars philosophy let’s recap!

The Strength Temple is our name for your overall being!  Not just your physical body, but your feelings of wellness, energy, joy and abundance.  It’s how well you give to yourself and others.  We achieve results in our Strength Temple through focus on what we call our 7 Pillars.  The 7 Pillars are Movement, Hydration, Flexibility, Mindfulness, Nutrition, Environment and Breath.  We provide programs to allow progression to mastery in each of these areas and this journey creates an incredible life and sense of being!

So if you ever feel like you’re losing your direction try just dedicating a single day, or even a shorter period of time, such as a morning, to focusing on your 7 Pillars.  Let’s consider this in the form of an example to give you an idea.

Jane had been really excited at the turn of the year and had completed the Strength Temple Goal Setting workshop and set some really awesome goals for the year ahead.  These had focused on feeling fitter and healthier by taking up a gym membership and setting some goals around running a half marathon in July.  She got off to a great start and had been eating cleaner and gradually building her miles running.

After a few weeks and a very enthusiastic start, Jane started to find some of her new habits were becoming more of a chore than a pleasure.  She found she was getting bored running on the treadmill and had reverted back to snacking on the wrong foods whilst at work.  Feeling disheartened she began to skip running sessions and by the end of January had pretty much reverted back to her old lifestyle.

If any of this sounds familiar to anyone - that’s cool.  Much of what we need to do when setting goals is change old habits and this can be challenging!  The key is to modify any feelings of setback and find ways to refocus and remind yourself why you wanted to progress on a path to a better you in the first place.

We advised Jane to be mindful of her self talk (that little voice in your head that can sometimes chatter negativity at you!) and to have a #TempleDay.  She picked the coming Saturday and arranged to do a number of things that would allow some focus on her #7Pillars and bring her back in alignment with what she was looking to achieve.

From the moment she opened her eyes in the morning we reminded her to take deep cleansing breaths and gently stretch as she reminded herself of the gifts already present in her life.  She focused on the fact that she was warm and in a comfortable bed.  She reminded herself of the support of her family and friends and remembered how fortunate she was to be holidaying this year in France.  After reflecting for a moment, she woke and immediately made her bed.  This is a great habit to set yourself up for a productive day and reflects a sense of order in your environment.

She then progressed downstairs and started her day with her usual coffee, but included some freshly filtered water to drink when she woke up to feed her hydration pillar.  She showered using her favourite organic products chosen for their aromatherapy actions and prepared for a long walk in the countryside with her dog.

Jane chose a route that she hadn’t tried before and took some friends along for the walk.  She made a conscious effort to be aware of the wonders of nature around her and went for her walk at sunrise to experience the wildlife she didn’t usually get to see.  She focused on listening to birdsong and ensured that she maintained positive breathing techniques.  The walk wasn’t rushed.  It was an exercise in living in the moment and enjoying the pure energy of being alive!

On the way home from her walk she visited her father for tea and to pick up some fresh, organic produce from his vegetable garden.  Kale, Cavalier Nero, Carrots and Leaks were in season and on returning home she made herself a delicious green smoothie to kick start her day and pay attention to her nutrition pillar.

We had coached Jane in balancing her lifestyle with some new hobbies and not making everything about nutrition and exercise.  Jane went shopping to purchase some new books on upholstery and did some eBay browsing purchasing an old armchair as her first project.

During the afternoon she prepared a meal for a dinner party in the evening prior to going for a run.  She decided to ditch the gym for the day and run in the local park.  It delivered some variety to her training and she did some research locally to find some other new routes to maintain variety in the future.

Her evening dinner party was very well received.  Jane made a number of dishes from our Strength Temple clean eating programs and she enjoyed sharing the love with her family and friends.

So that was Jane’s #TempleDay.  Yours might be very different!  They key is to do something that will address as many of your pillars as possible and to make it a day of sticking to your plans. 
Who knows, you might eventually decide to make every day a #TempleDay ;-)

In the mean time, we wish you courage in your journey.  Celebrate the great progress you are making and don’t forget life isn’t perfect.  If you get distracted, have a #TempleDay and get yourself back on track.

With love.

#respectyourtemple

Setting Goals & Your Best Year Yet!

OK folks.  It's that time of year when we all jot down a load of New Year’s Resolutions.  There is something very powerful about the turn of the year from one to the next.  When we really think about it there’s nothing to stop us setting some goals on any day of the year, but this tradition or “habit” is a cultural one for many of us, and it is a great opportunity to start moving in a direction that is more powerful for you.

So how does it go for you?  Doe this sound familiar to anyone?  “What shall I go for this year?  Is that realistic?  Will I stick to that one?  I know - let's put "get fit....."

Well it is a VERY familiar goal.  The number of people that join the gym in a New Year is very significant.  You may have already seen the subliminal messages going out on social media and around you locally.  Special offers will abound for memberships.

So we guess what we’re trying to say is that this is a GREAT time to set some goals for the year ahead (but if you’re reading this in February there’s nothing to stop you taking control and following this advice on goal setting anyway)!

What is most frustrating for many people is getting past week 1 and sticking to their intentions!  We're here to tell you, that if you just make your list in a slightly different way, create some new habits and progress steadily with the right expectations, your chances of success are significantly higher than before.  So invest a little extra time in making your list this year, and really describe what you are GOING (not trying) to do in the year ahead :-)

The thing about goals are that you need to feel rewarded by their attainment, but you also need to be able to "enjoy the journey."  Many people split goals or resolutions down into a check list to make sure that they are suitable, and more motivational.

So get yourself some paper & pens, pencils, paint pots - whatever floats your boat.  The first thing we will do is a brainstorm of what you want to do.  It sounds obvious, but what you MUST do is write your goals / resolutions down! Take a good 10 minutes or more doing this.  Use different colours, put your favourite music on, turn up the volume, get right into it - remember it's YOUR life you're planning !

Make your ideas into a compelling list, draw pictures and doodles on them, make them fun - do whatever you like, but commit them to paper. Just write whatever comes into your head.  Do that first before you progress with this article.

You should have a good list.  Before we go to the next step, how does this make you feel? Just ponder on that for a moment and start to manifest how your life will be when you have achieved some or all of your goals!

Now take another colour pen (we like to use a big thick marker) and write H for High, M for Medium and L for Low Priority next to each one and rewrite the lists in High, Medium and Low Priority order.  Then for each list write Easy, Medium or Hard next to each specific resolution / goal. We want you to have a balanced list of resolutions.

Then we'd like you to pick your favourite Easy, Medium and Hard from each list, and start the exercise below with each of these.

Before we go on let’s just pause again for a second.  If this all feels like a lot of effort - have a word with your subconscious.  This is FUN.  You are planning a better you!  A more enjoyable life!  Really allow yourself to feel excited, and enjoy the process.

OK - for each of your favourite resolutions I would like to you apply the following technique to make sure that you have EFFECTIVE GOALS.  You may have done this before and it’s called the SMART technique.

SMART goals exhibit the following characteristics:

S - They are very Specific (a wider goal can be broken down into stages of achievement)
M - They are Measurable and have a means to track progress
A - They are Achievable
R - They are Realistic
T - They have a Time within which they will be achieved.

We want you to apply this to ALL of your goals.  To help you we’ve given an example of how to apply the SMART method to a common goal and one close to our heart - get fit!

GET FIT! can manifest itself in a New Years Resolution list in  a number of ways.  You could simply write - Get Fit.  Or you might write Join a Gym.

The problem with both of these is that Get Fit is not really specific enough.  Join a Gym may help you reach your goal, but there is no mention on how you will USE the gym.  You need to get specific.  So a good start might be:

"I will get fit this year.  This will make me feel healthier and give me more energy to accomplish my other goals.  It will give me a sense of achievement, and allow me to lose the 20 lb's I need to shift.  I will feel more confident, and will look great on the beach during my summer holiday.  My friends will comment on how well I am looking, and how my mood is elevated for more of the time."

Now that's specific!  You need to really understand your motivations for your goal (getting fit).  They will be different for different people.  Write them down so you are have a deep understanding of why you are going to do what you are planning.

So now we must make it measurable.  Specifically - how many times will you exercise per week.  What will you do and what do you see as the pitfalls in your plan?  How can you make preparations for when they occur, so you can stay motivated?  Also, getting “fit” isn’t just about exercise.  How will you modify your nutrition to feel amazing all the time and give your body the best building blocks for the new you? Write it all down.  Don’t forget you can go to www.testrengthtemple.com for advice on every element of wellbeing at anytime.  It’s still all Free as we build our community :-)

Remember - if you are not used to exercise, be kind to yourself in the early stages.  If you are not joining a gym, but going running, then start by walking and build up gradually.  There’s nothing worse for motivation than running off at the pace you remember you could the last time you excerecised to find you are in pain, a world of suffering and aching badly the next day.  Take your time.  There is no rush, just consistency and commitment that win the day with this one!

Please also choose some activities that you like!  It makes everything so much easier.  Recruit friends and family to join you too.  You will be helping others and getting that motivational boost you need by sharing your progress.

So you may be feeling really motivated and writing "I will attend the gym every day for a year”.  That’s commendable, BUT - be honest with yourself.  Is this Achievable and Realistic?  Will you have the time?  Is it a good idea and does it give you sufficient time for rest?  It's often better to set a goal that allows you to overachieve.  Why not set a goal to go twice per week?  There's nothing to stop you going five times and having a feeling of massive overachievement!  We would recommend that you write something like this.

"I will attend the gym at least 2 times per week on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings.  As my training plan evolves, I will review this on a monthly basis.  If I manage to get to the gym in additional to this base commitment, then GREAT!  I will start with walking and progress steadily and enjoy the journey."

The above also includes an element of the T in Time.  It also allows some space for review and overachievement which will maintain your motivation and start to make your new lifestyle an empowering habit.

So let's go back to our original goal - Get Fit.  Well - another thing about goals, is that they work better if you have a target, and also if you have support.

How do you measure "Get Fit"?  It could be by weight loss.  It could be that you prepare for an event.  e.g. Run 5k, 10k, Run a marathon, do 50 press-ups, 100 press-ups, 1000 press-ups!  Choose your longer term goal, and aim for it.  Do another quick SMART check on it.  Is it realistic?  If it isn't at this point, then break it down.

There is NOTHING to say that you can't run 100k of you are committed to do so.  What you will need is patience and the ability to break this goal into more manageable chunks.  Aim for 1k.  Celebrate.  Then 3k - celebrate, then 5k etc.  You will get there in the end if you keep moving, are motivated and apply the principles above.  Also, if you decide that you want to change your goal, then change it!  As long as you are still on your path to “getting fit” then that’s great.

Finally - don't go for an "all or nothing" approach.  If you fail to hit any stage of your goal, it's a learning opportunity, not a failure or an EXCUSE to stop.  If you manage to get to the gym once in a week, revaluate your goal.  Why did you miss your target this week?  Do you need a friend to come with you for more motivation?  Are you getting bored?  If so change your exercise plan.  Variety is the key - don't just do the same thing week in week out - you will get bored.  All this should be fun!

So here is a summary and an example of a SMART goal to "get Fit".

"I will get fit this year.  This will make me feel healthier and give me more energy to accomplish my other goals.  It will give me a sense of achievement, and allow me to lose the 20 lb's I need to shift.  I will feel more confident and will look great on the beech during my summer holiday.  My friends will comment on how well I am looking and how my mood is elevated for more of the time.

My definition of fit is as follows.  I will lose 20lb's in weight slowly and healthily through exercise and moderation of my diet.  I’ll get my inspiration on a daily basis by researching my goal.  I will get inspiration from www.thestrengthtemple.comI will get my resting pulse rate down to 65 beats per minute.  I will train to compete in the local 10k run in September this year.

I will draw up a training plan on Monday and stick to this.  I will attend the gym at least 2 times per week, and take up Tennis and swimming to provide variety.  I will ask my friends to join me to provide a welcome social element to my training.

I will continuously check on a weekly basis that I am progressing toward my goal and will not be affected negatively by any setbacks, but will learn from them and change my plan to suit my needs.

When I achieve my goal, I will CELEBRATE,  evaluate the process, and see what worked and what didn't.  I will then be excited to set a new goal, and continue to enjoy the process and healthy habit of getting and being fit!"

Now apply this to your other goals.  DO NOT SKIP THIS PROCESS.

If you have chosen a goal you feel will be quite challenging (something like stopping smoking) then you can also draw on a very powerful technique we teach in this article:

Powerful Thought Game to Change your Future

We hope this has helped you.  If you feel that your friends would benefit, please send them a link to our article.

We want to help as many people as we can lead a happier more awesome life.  It's what gets us out of bed in the morning!  We can invest out time and do all our work in committing these techniques to our website, but it's so much more powerful if more people are exposed to it.  Just a quick click, cut and paste into Facebook or Instagram would be great, or use the share button at the bottom of this article.

Thank you in advance for sharing :-)

Have fun - and stick with it.  We'd love to hear your feedback, successes and setbacks.  You can do it.  We know you can :-)

In the coming year The Strength Temple will be releasing a number of programs to facilitate you progressing to an awesome life both physically and mentally.  Stay tuned for this by subscribing to our newsletter below.  We don't send loads of emails, just occasional summaries of our best content and we never share your data.

Our Director, Rich Davis used this technique to train for a Triathlon a few years ago.  Crossing the finishing line was an awesome feeling for him.  Here’s a picture we hope will inspire you to really commit to crossing your own finishing line - whatever that may look like.  Good luck and don’t forget. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

GO FOR IT!

#respectyourtemple

Jaws, Adam Amin & The Human Spirit

About a week ago I was sitting reading BBC news at the end of what had turned out to be an awesome week and I saw some surf story had made the most read chart.

Now before I go into this I should say I’m a very average surfer; but I love it.  Not living by the sea means that I maybe get to go surfing for 2 weeks of the year when we make our family pilgrimage to Woolacombe, Devon (England).  I’ve been going for about 22 years so I guess I have nearly a years experience in total.  What I’m trying to say is that I’m writing this with some knowledge of the sport, but it’s not meant to be some expert commentary of surf technique and etiquette.  I'm more interested in the human spirit element of what happened and what followed.

So I’ve seen this article and am immediately drawn to it.  If you didn’t see it I’ll just give you some background.  It was about a man called Adam Amin from Sidmouth, Devon (UK).  He was 19 and had 5 years surfing experience and followed his dream to ride one of the most notorious waves in the world - JAWS.

He had been travelling on a shoestring, sofa hopping and generally living a simple lifestyle after just saving enough money from his lifeguard work and surf repair job to get out to Pe'ahi, Hawaii in his search of one of the biggest and baddest waves in the world.

Amin was out there at the same time that the Pe'ahi Challenge contest was being held.  Big wave riders from around the world converged on the break for a competition.  It was a dream come true for Adam to even be there, never mind think about paddling out.

He went down to the shore at 0530 on the morning of the competition to secure a place and was turned away by security.  Undaunted, he travelled 5 miles down the coast to a spot where boats were ferrying competitors and the media to the surf area.  He was turned away again being informed that all the boats were full.

Now this is the bit that starts to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.  Adam decided that he wasn’t going to miss this.  He wasn’t going to take no for an answer and he started to paddle the 5 miles under his own steam.  When he was about a mile or so into the paddle a jet ski came by and the rider started to chat to Adam.  After a short conversation he decided to give Adam a lift.  What’s even more awesome is that the rider was Greg Long.

Greg is an American surfer from California.  He’s the only surfer to win the Quicksilver big wave international, the Mavericks surf contest and the Red Bull big wave Africa event.  To say he was something of a hero to Adam would be an understatement.

So Adams luck had started to turn.  When they arrived at the surf area he quickly realised that he was surrounded by big wave surf legends;  Pro surfers from around the world.  It’s the stuff dreams are made of and he nearly didn’t get to be there.  How many no’s does it take for the average one of us to bow our head, and turn away from our goal?

The surf was good on this particular day.  Sets of waves were rolling in and the surfers were paddling around saying in a safe area waiting for everything to start.  It was at this point that Adam saw his opportunity and went for it.  The following is Adam’s commentary of the experience:

"Yesterday was one of the best days of my life, if not THE the best!!!!

I knew the contest for jaws was going to be on and therefore the road which leads to jaws was going to be closed off to the public. So I tried sneaking past security at 5.30 in the morning but they beat me there.

I then decided to go to Malico Harbour which is five miles away and try to get a ride with some boats heading that way.  They turned me down and said there is not enough space therefore I decided that this was not going to stop me from fulfilling my dream.
I decided to attempt to paddle around 3 headlands to get there. I started and got quarter of the way until a jet ski came up beside me and not only did they give me a ride with my board to jaws but the guy in the ski was Greg Long which is my hero and is a huge pioneer to the sport of big wave surfing!

We got there after much turbulence and I witnesses 40-50ft waves breaking in front if me! I paddled out with not much safety equipment with 5 other of my heroes sitting right next to me. We all spotted a huge wave in the distance and we all paddled out and I saw my opportunity to prove that I can surf jaws so I turned around while all the others were paddling over the wave and caught this monster.

I caught it and rode down what seemed like riding down a liquid mountain. I got to the bottom and looked up.... It was the size of two houses above me.  I then noticed that I was going to make it until there was a bit of white water blocking my way.  I got taken out by this white water just after riding along the face and it felt like the ocean collapsed on me.

I held my breath and took the beating as long as I could and finally made it to the surface of the water.  I then noticed huge waves coming towards me again and I got pounded again and again by huge waves.  I then got very tired and ended up very close to rocks until suddenly a jet ski rider picked me up and took me to safety.

What a legend, he took me to the channel and the contest started.  Moreover I watched the entire event from the channel for five hours while talking to all of my heroes of the sport in one place!  I was in heaven ;D

After the event I went home and noticed the awards ceremony was going to be across the street so I went there and talked and got pictures with all of them."

Now this story moves my heart.  It has everything I love about the true spirit of the human race.  The never say die attitude demonstrated by significant game changing people though out history.  Kinship and kindness shown to strangers as demonstrated by Greg Long giving Adam a lift to the channel.  A man following his dream and despite setbacks getting there to experience the sweet feelings of accomplishment.

It’s for these reasons that I was dismayed to read commentary from someone who described Adam’s actions as “reckless” and made other similar statements around him not having the right to be there.  For the surfers out there the picture I’ve attached here provides the perfect analogy of how I feel about this person.  I’ll call them “Warchild” for the sake of this article and I guess that there’s another lesson in here too.

The internet makes it very easy for certain personality types to act as “keyboard warriors” and put people down for doing things that might go against that persons belief systems.  Don’t get me wrong, everyone has a right to their opinion, but I feel that the practice of what I’d call cyber bullying is rife and I pity the person behind the keyboard every time I see an example of it.  Highly negatively skewed commentary should be avoided at all costs in my opinion.  Needless to say I don’t want to dwell on this aspect of the story and only mention it as it strengthens my feelings of respect towards Adam.

The Strength Temple are a firm believer that successful people are not defined so much by their achievements, but how they handle setbacks.  It’s this that sets people apart and transforms great people into legends.  Adam's response to the article is below.

"I just want to say something I have read recently about my story.
 
I have recently read an article about my actions. I have and always will respect people's opinion but this was hilarious when it came to them speaking about big wave surfing and how much they do not know about it. They specifically wrote it was "reckless or stupid" yet I knew for a fact that there was going to be an entire safety team before the competition.   They were sitting there on jet skis, on standby just waiting for it to start and I spoke to the ski riders to keep an eye on me, only if I go too close to shore but to leave me if I take a bad wipeout.

Billy Kemper & Adam Amin

There is an etiquette which still stands that if you can surf big waves without all the safety equipment and withstand horrific wipeouts then you are accepted to be a part of the scene and should only then be accepted to wear safety equipment such as, inflatable vests. That is exactly what I did and that is exactly what every surfer did before all the fancy gear came out just like the story of Jeff Clark who surfed mavericks for 15 years on his own with no equipment like that.
It does not matter whether I have been surfing for five or fifty years but it does matter to respect the ocean and how much it is a part of all of us. Someone reminded me that Kelly Slater grew up in mushy waves for his childhood just like me and maybe that teaches people to look at the ocean differently.

At the end of the day people need to remember that surfing, whether small or big, we have to respect the ocean."

So once again, for me Adam has turned a negative into a positive.  He’s used the haters to spread a positive message about the ocean that we all need to hear and head.

I hope that The Strength Temple can meet Adam soon and hear more about that day.  We already consider him to be one of our #TempleTribe as he stands for everything we hold dear in the human spirit.

Adam - you have our upmost respect and thank you for doing what you did.  Stay grounded and calm in your approach to your next challenge, whatever that will be.  Whenever a “Warchild” comes by (and there will be others), stand tall and proud as we know you will ;-)  Just as you did before; do the work, do your research, consider the risks and make your play with respect and dignity.  We can’t wait to see what you get up to and want you to know that you have our deepest respect and support.

Rich Davis

Director - The Strength Temple

#respectyourtemple

#Video: Sun Salutations from our #yogi Shona Vertue

So this will be the shortest post so far.  Short is good.  Short is to the point.  Short of vibrant energy and happy smiles is what you WON’T BE if you follow The Strength Temple #7Pillars 😉  Here's some wisdom from our resident Yoga Guru; Shona Vertue.

The foundation of every yoga posture lies in the Sun Salutations.

So, while we may not all get the chance to do  a 90 minute yoga class every week, if we can practice the Sun Salutations every day, we are building and maintaining the strength needed to tackle other postures. Oh, and to just have a generally better time in our bodies. 

Do this with me in the mornings to really enliven your body, mind and inner goddess (or god).

x

Miss Vertue.
#respectyourtemple

The Power of NO!

Well there’s an interesting title.  "No" is usually associated with bad people.  It’s something we don’t look forward to hearing as it means we’re not getting what we’ve asked for.  It’s used by people stopping our progress.  People who just aren’t team players; but HANG ON ONE SECOND!

The power of a kind, well placed and diplomatic no is one of life’s greatest lessons and it’s careful use can open a gateway for your growth and ultimately a better outcome for everyone.  Let’s explore how you can use this often underused word to make everyone happier in the end; most importantly YOU!

How do you feel when you think of the word “no”?  What does it mean to you?  It’s an interesting thought exercise as it has different meanings to different people.  Are you the person that finds it easy to say no?  Perhaps you’re using it in the wrong way, or too much?  If you’re the type of person who is run ragged and finds yourself putting off important personal things at the expense of helping others or keeping appointments, then you should probably use it more.

The thing is, it doesn’t have to be a negative thing.  It doesn’t have to mean you won’t do something or help someone.  It may just mean that you won’t be doing it in line with someone else’s agenda!

So consider this for a moment.  The next time someone asks you to do something, PAUSE.  Just take a moment before that habitual “Yes, OK” response and ask yourself a question.  Is it necessary to say yes right now?  Do I want to do this at all?  If I want to do this, shall I agree now, or shall I postpone to another time when it is more convenient for me?  By asking these questions it will interrupt your pattern of immediately saying yes, or feeling you have to say yes and give you an alternative outcome.

This may seem like basic simple stuff, but I’m telling you now it’s potentially life changing!  Very quickly you will find that you’re working more closely to your plans and still satisfying the stakeholders that matter in your life.  It’s a wonderful thing!

Another interesting result of saying no is that it opens up a potential negotiation.  If you start with no and the other party remains persistent in asking for your time, then try asking for something in return for a yes!   “OK, I’ll do that for you, but it means I’ll fall behind with another project.  Could you do me a favour and organise a meeting with the team so we can delegate some tasks?”  If you start with no then you might get a little more balance in the transaction.

Try some of these things in the week ahead and let us know how you get on.  Repetition is the mother of skill, so we recommend you practice often by saying no :-)

• A great place to start is to decide what you’d like to achieve in the next few weeks.  All those things that you just don’t have time for.  It might be visiting family, going on a date, getting your hair cut, going to the gym, doing your Christmas shopping, cooking yourself and your partner or family a fresh meal.  Have fun with it and make a list.  You’re going to get to do all these things and having a clear picture of the outcome of your new habit will provide leverage and allow you to better follow through with the experiment.
   
• Book your activities into your diary.  If in two weeks time you  have decided to visit your friend in Scotland for 3 days, then book it in.  If something comes up that conflicts, you know what to do.  Just say no.  How did that feel?
   
• If someone asks if you can meet them to go through a proposal or idea at work make sure it’s on your terms.  If you can’t do it because you have other commitments, politely give them a time when it IS convenient.  If they can’t make that appointment then just say no.  See what happens!
   
• If you’ve got children you might be familiar with this already!  If they ask for something, say no.  If they are persistent then negotiate by saying they can have what they want if they….. clean their room, do the vacuuming, mow the lawn, clean the car.  It delivers a clear lesson that there is value in any personal transaction and it will assist them in later life.  It might even turn them into a top negotiator!

Often people who habitually say yes are taken advantage of by some individuals.  If someone asks you for something and you’d really rather not do it, SAY NO!  This is one of the hardest ones for many people (whilst others find it extremely easy).  You may be surprised at the other person's response.  Stick to your guns.

In the end if what we’ve done is to raise awareness of the fact that you can say no and give yourself some time to do the things your want and need to do, then it’s served it’s purpose.  If it’s given you food for thought, then our mission is accomplished.  Just don’t forget!

Finally I just thought I’d share something.  This lesson crystalised after an opportunity came by for me to catch up with the legend Chaz Davies.  For those who don’t know Chaz, he’s a World Superbike rider (Aruba.it Ducati Team) and an incredible human being.

My schedule was super hectic and I was really struggling with my inner dialogue around trying to make time for the adventure to visit Chaz at his home in Wales.  It meant that I would have to say NO to a number of people and projects and I was really struggling with the whole process.  In the end I made the right decision to say no and arrange to make the long journey into the countryside.

Arriving at Chaz’s extreme sports playground, you are spoilt for choice on what toys to ride, starting the days with a highland cross country runs chasing the sheep around, then ending with a endurance trials bike challenges through his private woodland… Needless to say this was one of the best action packed weekends I’d ever experienced.

In years to come I will not remember the things I thought were urgent, but I’ll never forget that time with my mate riding our bikes and just loving life.

Try saying no a little more often and see what happens.  It’s LIBERATING!

#respectyourtemple

Anchors & Healthy Chocolate Thick Shakes!

Interview with Shona Vertue on Anchors and her Thick Choc Shake for health!

TST “So Shona.  Great to have you with us today.  We want to explore anchors and how they may affect our eating on a subconscious level.  Tell us about some of your food memories from when you were at school."

Shona "Well, when I was little, one of my favourite things to do with my Dad was to have a Chocolate thick shake from Macdonald's. I became really attached to this Thick Shake because it reminded me of the time I would spend with Dad. It was comfort food."

TST “Ok, so that’s a perfect example of how we can create anchors which associate a particular thing with a feeling.  Over time this can mean that we crave that thing when we need to go to that same feeling.  Do you still drink them?"

Shona “Well I gave up MacDonalds some time ago, and I have to say it’s the only thing I really missed.  I guess it’s because of the thoughts of the great times I had with my father.  I think I was searching for comfort, but I found that replacing it with something better for me hit all the Anchors and kept me healthier and feeling better."

TST “OK cool!  So you effectively used the anchor that you’d already developed, but replaced the old habit with an empowering new one?"

Shona “Yes, that’s right.  I invented my own recipe for a thick chocolate milkshake and I have to say I actually prefer it to the old one so it’s a massive step forwards.  I still get the lovely smooth chocolate hit and feelings of comfort, but also some great fuel for my body which doesn’t have the crash effect of the old version packed with processed sugars."

TST “Thank you Shona.  So it’s a great lesson for all of us.  When you crave a certain food, just stop to think for a moment why that might be happening.  What feelings are you craving?  Try and find another “vehicle” to satisfy your needs.  This can be a food, but it can also be a number of other activities or things.  Maybe even a nice glass of filtered water to replace a bad habit.  Perhaps go for a walk in the fresh air.  Or invent your own healthier version like Shona did!

Here’s Shona’s recipe for her Healthy Thick Chocolate Shake.  We’ve tried it and it comes highly recommended.  As usual go organic with all your ingredients and enjoy!"

MacShona's Thick Superfood Shake

1/2 - 1 Avocado (depending on size)

1 Tablespoon Raw Cacao Powder

1 ripe Banana

1 cup rice or oat milk (maybe more if you like a more runny consistency)

1 teaspoon Manuka Honey (If you like it a little sweeter try adding a couple of dates as well)

3-5 Ice Cubes

Sprinkle of Bee Pollen

Place everything in a good quality blender and hey presto!  MacShona’s thick Superfood Shake.

Shona Vertue xx

#respectyourtemple

Breath - are you going deep enough? Try this...

#Breath is one of the #7pillars of your Strength Temple.  Our guest contributor, Elizabeth McQuillan explains why.......

Few of us pay much mind to our breathing. Like walking or talking, we accept it as something that just happens, an incidental adjunct to getting on with life. However, each lungful of precious air has the capacity to help us heal, burn fat and energise the entire body.

Sadly, we just don’t do it very well. Without “trying”, simply consider your breathing. If you are like most folk you pull a shallow breath in that barely inflates your lungs. Now really try to breathe in, and notice what happens. If your shoulders have lifted towards your ears, and your chest moves upwards, then you are doing a good job of inflating the apex of your lungs. That leaves a big void of lung tissue redundant.

Years of breathing in this way, exacerbated by holding tension and stress in the neck and shoulder area, means the body is rationed in vital oxygen. It cannot possibly function to best ability. Without inhaling enough oxygen (O2), or exhaling enough carbon dioxide (CO2), problems can manifest in the form of mental fogginess, fatigue and reduced tissue function.

Current recommendations for non-medicinal treatment of stress, anxiety and even depression are rooted in cognitive therapy used alongside the practice of “mindful” breathing.

The sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for our fight-or-flight response, can cause all manner of knock-on unhealthy effects when placed under constant stress. In chronic stress, where cortisol and adrenaline are continuously being pumped into the system, it is not uncommon to find depression, muscle pain and tension, insomnia and gut troubles.

Deep and mindful breathing is one of the best ways to offset these effects. It quickly kickstarts the parasympathetic nervous system, which counters the sympathetic response and invokes relaxation. Breathing like this swings the pendulum so that the body chemistry changes to take us from a status of high alert, to feeling altogether more chilled out.

Shallow breathing is also not our friend if we are on the quest to burn fat and lose weight. To metabolise fat stored in the body, our system needs plenty of O2, and a deficit means that what we do have is channeled to more essential places.

Available oxygen will not be used for non-vital body functions (ie fat burning) and will be directed instead to vital functions. Breathing awareness will increase the oxygen circulated by the blood, and the increased oxygen supply will enhance the cells’ ability to turn the stored fatty deposits to energy that the body can use.

In cases of poor general health, cancers, viral illness and poor organ function, it is important to consider the wellbeing of our lymphatic system. This is part of our immune system and is essential in the disease-fighting process. It collects cellular waste, and carries it away for disposal.

Shallow breathing and immobility allow the lymphatic system to become sluggish and congested, organ function to become compromised, and a build-up of toxins to stagnate within the system. This can lead to oedema (perhaps seen as swelling in the feet and ankles) and may even trigger cell pathology.

Since there is no pump to circulate lymph, we rely on arterial pulsations, organ compression, body movement and muscle contraction to do the job. Importantly, we need the pressure changes in the thorax that breathing provides. Shallow breathing simply won’t provide adequate means to get the lymph moving.

Stig Severnisen - Can hold his breath for more than 20 minutes!  Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.

Deep and mindful breathing will also increase sporting performance by providing an increase in lung capacity. World Champion freediver, Stig Aavall Severinsen – the first man in the world to hold his breath for over 20 minutes – certainly has the technique down to a fine art.

Remember how a baby breathes, with its tummy rising and falling. Each day set time aside to stand, sit or lie down in a quiet place for five minutes. Don’t force your breath, but allow the air to be drawn into your lungs, and feel your tummy rise. Relax your throat, neck and shoulders, trying to pull the air deeper into your lower chest.

Gently let the breath out (without disturbing an imaginary feather under your nostrils). Play with the breath, and imagine pulling the air into different areas of your chest and body. Be quietly aware of sights, sounds, smells and thoughts that come to you. Don’t dwell on them, but acknowledge them and let them go.

If you practice mindful breathing, the benefits start to manifest themselves really very quickly. Skin is clear and glowing, health and wellbeing improve and there is definitely a renewed calmness and control within life. Well worth a try.

Elizabeth McQuillan x

#respectyourtemple

#Video: Fancy a Quickie?

Breath is one of the Pillars of your Strength Temple.  It's there for a reason as it's so important for health, both physical and emotional.  One of the most amazing ways to focus on breath is through Yoga practice.

Here’s a beautiful article from Shona Vertue around treating yourself to some Yoga love.  We thrive on this at The Strength Temple and invite you to let Shona into your lives too.  She’s a force of nature.

How many of you find the thought of practicing yoga intimidating? Daunting even?  Putting the body in compromising positions, confronting situations, discomfort, stillness … it’s pretty scary stuff right?

I’m going to be honest here and tell you that it scares me too. And no word of a lie, about 2 minutes into my daily practice my brain has pretty much written a thesis on why I should stop and do something else.

That’s where the #yogaquickie concept came from … I thought – 5 minutes every day (or #yogaeverydamnday in the land of instagram) is better than 90 minutes once every month or fortnight.

6 minutes of deeply concentrated, joyful and breath-synchronised movement, is far more beneficial than 90 minutes of a pseudo-yoga class with a front row ticket to your own internal monologue ranting on about your likes and dislikes, to-do list and see-through lululemon pants.

10 minutes, 5 minutes, just 3 deep breaths even – it’s all yoga. To me an advanced yoga practitioner is determined by the quality of the connection between their body, mind and breath, not by how well they can impersonate a german pretzel.

I live in a busy city, time is more valuable than money and ironically more scarce – so I understand the need for fast, effective results. In my experience as an elite gymnast, yoga teacher, personal trainer and massage therapist, I know that nothing works better and faster than good old consistency (remember that concept of sticking to something for longer than it takes to go through your Facebook news feed?)….

So – give me roughly 3-5 minutes. Every day. Try a quickie, and see how you feel.  I've quite flexible!  Don't force any of the moves and only do what feels comfortable.  If you are unsure speak to your trainer or GP before you start on any type of new fitness campaign.

You’ll be amazed that you’re actually doing yoga. Every damn day and your body will thank you for it.

x
Miss Vertue

#respectyourtemple

Change your state in an instant

So we were having one of our stand up meetings at The Strength Temple HQ and brainstorming what we felt you’d like to hear about today.  Some of the most powerful techniques we teach as part of our Mindfulness Pillar are ways in which our clients can change their state in an INSTANT.  By state we mean how you are feeling in a given moment.

Before we go onto empowering ways to do this, it's important to cover an important point.  The reason that many people turn to drink, drugs, arguments, self harm or other destructive behaviours is purely about changing their state.  The power of these levers is in the instant effect that they have on your state.  Simply being mindful that this is the reason your are doing these things (if you do) is sometimes enough to start a shift in behaviour.  Techniques that you can employ to shift your state in a more supportive and empowering way for your body and mind are pure gold.  Cherish them.

There are many different ways to do this in our arsenal, but one of the simplest that we can give to you right now would be to start your own list of best quotes.  It might seem obvious as you read it, and this really works.

The following quotes are our favourites to motivate.  We have separate lists if we want to focus on different areas of our lives.  These might be love and relationships, growth, giving or our financial wellbeing etc.  For now we would like to give you our motivational quotes as a basis for you to start your own list.

We would absolutely love it if you would add some of your own to the comments section at the end of this post.  We are ALWAYS looking for new quotes to add to our master lists, so please share the love!

We have copies of these all over the place.  One of my favourite places is right in front of our running machine.  When the going gets tough reading through them motivates and changes our focus and ALWAYS gets us to the finishing line 😃  So copy and paste these and print them off.  Stick them on your fridge, or hang them up in your gym.  It will start to move you in a more powerful direction.

Have a mindful day, share this post to help others and don’t forget to…….

#respectyourtemple

"If you're gunna be a bear - be a grizzly."
Mahatma Ghandhi

"Life isn't about how many breaths you take, but the number of moments that take your breath away."
Unknown

"A man is not so much measured by his successes, as by the challenges he has overcome."
Adapted from Booker T Washington

"Never give advice unless you have walked the walk, because anybody can talk the talk."
Valencia Mackie

"Life is about using the whole box of crayons."
RuPaul

"We do today what others won't. We do tomorrow what others can't."
Jerry Rice

"Pain is weakness leaving the body."
Daniel J Evans

"It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Abraham Lincoln

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."
Mae West

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than anything on which it is poured."
Mark Twain

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
Dorothy Parker

"The difference between Ordinary and Extraordinary is the little word Extra."
Adapted from Jimmy Johnson

"Courage to start, strength to endure, resolve to finish."
Unknown

"You are the most prepared maniac I have ever met!" 
Nick Pugh

"Improvise, Modify, Adapt, Overcome." 
The Recruit (modified from a Marines quote).

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
Aristotle

"Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It's like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you."
Mike Tyson

"The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it."
John Ruskin

"In order to be the best you can be it's OK to fail sometimes. It's never OK to give up." 
Unknown

"If you're going through hell. Keep going."
Winston Churchill

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Winston Churchill

"The two most important days in your life are the day you were borne and the day that you find out why."
Mark Twain

"The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have."
Vince Lombardi

"If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten."
Tony Robbins

"The mind is everything. What you think you become."
Buddha

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
Martin Luther King Jr.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Gandhi

"Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
Dr. Robert Schuller

"You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them."
Michael Jordan

"You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take."
Wayne Gretzky

"Every ending, has a new beginning."
Laura McGrath-Scott
 

Powerful Thought Game to Transform Your Future!

The first time I did this my goal was to get out of rented accommodation and into my own home.  I didn’t think I had the financial capacity to do it and it was really getting me down.

Within 2 weeks I’d found a new home and placed an offer that was accepted. I also used it to stop smoking and change my career.  This stuff works!

A good way to really take some action towards something is to momentarily  consider what would happen if you don't.  Think of something you really want to change.  It could be anything - your fitness level, your finances, your relationship with someone (existing or imagined!), your diet, smoking, drinking or anything at all really!

Now, the following process can can feel a little emotionally painful in places, but it's worth it and will allow you to shed your fear and live in the now.  It's also important when doing this exercise to make sure you have a good half an hour of no interruptions.  Turn your phone off.  Find a quiet place.  Make sure you are comfortable.  It's a kind of meditation, and so light a candle if that's your thing, and get yourself centred.  If you can’t do it now, book some time in your diary for later and look forward to it!

Preparation is the key. Put all of this in place before you read on, or this won't work.  I want you to do this properly, and this will take me some time to write and explain, so return my investment in you by doing exactly as I ask, and don't cheat.  You will be rewarded at the end for your honesty.

The process requires you to stop at times. When I write PAUSE, do what I have asked, and don't read on until you have done this.  Promise me.  Don’t cheat yourself out of a better result.  It will work so much better if you follow these instructions to the letter.  After the pause there will be a long blank section to stop the temptation to read on before time.  When you are ready just scroll through these sections to the next stage.

OK - So have you prepared??  If you haven't PLEASE DON'T READ ON.  Get yourself set up.

I'm assuming that you're ready and have done all I asked.  I respect you for this, and wish you an interesting and enlightening journey. Let's begin. Be prepared to feel all the emotion associated with it.  I promise you will feel great at the end and have more clarity.

START

Sit quietly on your own with no distrations. Now consider your life where you are now. Really think about your current situation, the current thing you either don't have, or behaviour you would like to change, and allow yourself to "feel" everything.  Take a couple of minutes, don't rush.  How do you feel about this thing?  Breathe deeply.

PAUSE - do this then scroll down to the next part...

OK. Once you are focused on this, you need to consider what you want.

I want you to focus on this for a minute, and more importantly the perfect scenario. Imagine a balanced life.  Imagine you have changed the bahavious you want to change, or achieved the goal you imagine.  Close your eyes and focus using pictures - make them colour, sounds, smells, touch and taste. This process uses what's called the "theatre of your mind". There are no rules, no restrictions, it's all up to you to make it real.  Really take time to describe this to yourself as if it’s happened.

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

Have you done this? If you haven't thought about the perfect situation go back and start over - it won’t work properly unless you do this exactly as I describe.

If you are still being good, awesome.  Enlightenment is round the corner!  Does it almost seem real because you ave taken the time to really feel it, and imagine it with colour, sound, smell - everything? 

Good - Now for the more difficult part.

In a minute, I want you to close your eyes again, and see yourself in 1 years time WITHOUT what you wanted to happen.  Not just the actual habit or thing, but all of the things you would have missed out on, or how your energy levels will still be low.  I want you to really FEEL how things are with nothing changing. Use all your senses again. OK do this now.

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

Have you done it? If you haven't stop right now and do it bofore reading on.

OK. Now I need you to do the same thing, but forward yourself 5 years into the future.  You still haven't changed, or achieved the thing you wanted.  How old are you now?  What are you doing?  What is missing in your life because you haven't simply gone for it?  Do you have any regrets?  Really feel it. Don't skip the steps.  Do this now for a minute or so.

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

OK. Now launch yourself 10 years into the future and do this again.  What has happened.  How is your physical body and health.  What are you doing?  What have you missed out on.  What are your wider friends and family doing?  What do they think of you?  Again for a minute or so close your eyes and really FEEL the situation like you are there 10 years from now.

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

OK. I should think you're feeling pretty rubbish by now, so lets really raise the bar. I want you to project your life 25 years into the future.  This will be hard, but really see yourself without what you want.  Where are you.  What do you look like.  What have you missed out on?  Are you happy?  Do this for a minute or so, and use all your senses.

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

OK.  I am sorry to have had to do that to you. It will be more than worth it though.  The thing is:

NONE OF THAT HAS HAPPENED

Feel relief. Feel thankful for your current situation and that you have the opportunity and power to bring any change in your life you desire.  Bring yourself back to the present.  Breathe deeply and give yourself the opportunity to take another look at your future.  This bit is amazing.  Take your time before you start, because you have just gone through quite alot.  Have a sip of water or something.  Breathe for a while and feel relaxed in your surroundings and body.  All that stuff hasn't happened, so let's design your future the way it WILL AND SHOULD BE!

So you've thrown away all of the future you just envisaged - BIN IT!!  Lets do this again.  This time, FEEL everything in the theatre of your mind for what would be going on in your life if you go for what you want or change what you need to change.  In 1 year from now, if you have that perfect relationship, what are you doing?  If you have decided to change your diet and take regular exercise how do you look and feel, what are your energy levels like?  Where are you?  Give this some thought for a minute and close your eyes.

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

You guessed it - starting to feel a little better.  Now it gets better and better.  5 years get's a chance now. Do it again. Don't skip the steps.  Really take time to enjoy the feelings that you are experiencing having achieved what you wanted.  If it was a new relationship - are you married (if that's what you wanted)?  Do you have children.  What do they look like.  If you wanted a new house - where are you living.  What is everyone doing around you in your new life? Feel everything. Get into minute details. Don't hold back.

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

OK - That's great, now let's go for ten years. Don't rush this. Have a good look at yourself. It's tempting to rush at this point, but really take time to experience your new life as it will happen. What are you up to now??? Did you stop smoking or drinking?  Where have you been travelling to in the world?  Amazing! Take as long as you want.

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

GREAT! Now let's go for the big one. 25 years from now in your desired situation how do you feel?  Is there a picture of you on holiday somewhere on the wall? Feeling great, looking fantastic; amazing?  Think of EVERYTHING. Take as long as you want and enjoy and relish in the experience!

PAUSE do this then scroll down to the next part...

Right - bring yourself slowly and gently back in time to the present.  Have a think for a minute about the two scenarios you have just allowed yourself to consider. The ying and yang of your future if you will. One - not what you want, the other - what you are perfectly capable of. Which one do you want to focus on and do everything in your power to go for and attract?

You might want to try this exercise with a friend if they have an open mind and are perceptive to it.  There is a share button at the bottom of the post.  We’d love to impact on as many people as possible to reach their dreams.  Please spread the word.

If I were you I'd sit and reflect for a while. Feel content in your power to design your future. You really have all you need to make it what you want.  Just don't be afraid to go for stuff.  If you get hurt or knocked back, what the heck.  All you have is a lesson in how not to get there, so try something else.  It's not what you know - it's what you do.

If you don't make mistakes, you won't make anything, and your life will rush away from you.  The past does NOT equal the future.  You have the power to go for what ever you want, and it starts right now.

Oh - and don't rush, enjoy the journey :-)

#respectyourtemple

Rich 

Mindfulness, Anchors & Peak Performance on demand

I’m at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend.  I’ve been here for the last few weeks working with some awesome people and getting their game just right for the incredible sport of Motor Racing.

Teams at this level invest significantly in every 100th of a second.  It’s apparent from the sheer obsessive attention to detail of the people involved that they leave no stone unturned and no technique is omitted in their goal of the perfect race.

Clearly the car has a large amount to do with this, as do the teams with their carefully honed skills in pit discipline for tyre changes and telemetry analysis, but it’s the driver that I’ve been focusing on.

There are many lessons to be derived from elite athletes and one of the areas I’d like to discuss is Mindfulness and Anchoring.

Mindfulness is defined as the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something, or a mental state achieved by focusing ones attention on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting ones feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations.

Focusing on achieving mindfulness can also produce a state where we feel what’s commonly described as “flow.”  Flow is the state where your senses are heightened and you are able to focus on the task at hand with what feels like 110% of your brain.  It’s this state of “flow” that we look for when coaching our clients, and we are careful to build anchors for them to allow a rapid return to that state when it’s needed most.

So anchors are a fascinating thing.  Let’s just take a quick look at them before we go into a technique for getting into your flow at will.  Have you ever heard a song on the radio from years ago that immediately teleported you back to that place where you experienced feelings of that time in your life?  Sometimes the sensations are so acute that they can come as a bit of a surprise as memories come flooding back to the present.  Other people mention a smell that they experience like candy floss (cotton candy for our US brothers and sisters) that takes them back to a fairground experience as a child.  These types of sensations and emotions can be positive or negative.  What you’re experiencing is an anchor.

The interesting thing is that we can create anchors on purpose that can act as empowering levers delivering top performance in a desired situation.  These anchors can take various forms from rituals to a physical act or a set of words and the key to their success in their consistent use at the right time.

Our Pillar on Mindfulness takes you through a full process for developing anchors, but for the sake of this article try this.

Find a routine that’s easy to do when you feel you are in a peak state of “flow."  Something like pinching your ear lobe.  Make sure it’s something unusual that you must mindfully do.  Something you wouldn’t do by accident.  Each time you feel in that state of flow in your life be sure to be mindful of this moment and activate your chosen anchor (e.g. pinch your ear lobe.)  You must constantly do this so it becomes a habit.  If you do this consistently, in time simply pinching your ear lobe will evoke the same  feelings and with practice it can be of the same magnitude.

Some of the people I’ve been training with in the last few weeks have anchors.  They may or may not be aware of them.  Sometimes what we might call “natural” athletes and high performance individuals have just stumbled on the technique by accident if it’s not directly taught.  I love it when I see it happening as they enter that state of flow.  It's a wonderful thing.

I’d like to encourage you to research the topic more.  It’s fascinating and can give you that extra edge required when the race starts or the business meeting kicks off.  Let us know how you get on - we love hearing from people on how they apply our techniques.
 
So until next time have an awesome and mindful day and don’t forget to.......

#respectyourtemple.
 

Are you a Human Being or a Human Doing?

Let’s just pause to think about this statement for a moment.  Does it leave you feeling like you might have missed a trick?

I don’t want to define this statement too much as I want it to be more of a process of pondering and thought rather than a lesson delivered on a plate.

I suppose it’s a little like looking at abstract art.  Your interpretation of a piece of art may be entirely different from someone else.  Does that make either of you wrong?

I guess one thing I will say is that there is a message in here about mindfulness.  Mindfulness is defined as “the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something” and “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging one’s feelings, thoughts and body sensations."

I think for me a Human Being is more mindful and not on autopilot.  We’d love to hear what this means to you.

Have a Mindful day.

#respectyourtemple
 

Comfort zones and growth

Before you read this, just take a second to evaluate where you are on a scale of 1-10 with regards to getting out of your comfort zone?  Don't take too long, but evaluate where you are.  Got your score?  Great, lets crack on then!

So everyone’s heard of the Comfort Zone.  It’s that place where we don’t feel pushed or stressed by an activity or situation.  We handle it with ease and it’s where some people assume they do their best work.

So what does your comfort zone really look and FEEL like?  After you’ve read this paragraph, close your eyes and see if you can GO to your comfort zone.  Pay attention to the colours that predominate, the sounds that you might hear, the smells that might be present.  What does the place look like?  What do you see?  Is there anyone or anything else there.  What’s the temperature?  Indulge yourself and really take a moment to enjoy what this feels like.  OK, so off you go, close your eyes.  Stay there for as long as you like.  Then come back to me :-)

So how do you feel right now?  I bet you feel quite centred and relaxed and that's because being in your comfort zone is a good thing.  I’m not going to tell you it’s not.  The thing is, life is all about balance.  We NEED comfort in our lives, but we also need to feel stretched and pushed.  That’s right, it’s not just a "nice to have" or an option, we actually NEED to feel challenged.  It’s what creates growth and is part of feeling fulfilled and happy.

Tony Robins (widely considered to be one of the best coaches on the planet) refers to this as the human paradox.  We have a NEED for CERTAINTY and a NEED for UNCERTAINTY.

Reflect on this for a moment and let it resonate with you.  If this is a revelation for you - enjoy the insight and get ready to understand how we can actually enjoy this process, because whilst your comfort zone is great, it’s when we get outside of this area that the magic happens.

The key to getting outside involves a number of things based on your current situation.  The mere thought of getting out of your comfort zone can feel quite exciting to one person and yet fill another with dread and fear.  This is based on how you define these actions internally in the theatre of your mind, and how you anchor them to past experiences.

Moving outside is a bit like stretching your muscles.  If you aren’t used to it you should start gently and gradually.  As time goes on you will start to feel the benefits and can go a little further.  Over time you will suddenly realise that you are so far removed from where you were that it’s miraculous!

This applies to your personal situation as well as your career.  How many people do you know (perhaps even yourself) who have been made redundant only to find that they land a better job?  How many time in your life have you eventually been forced to take action on something only to find that things were better after you did?  You see your comfort zone can be a death rattle for progress if you're not careful.  We recommend you regularly take time to evaluate where you are and make plans to stretch yourself and grow.  Just small steps can expand your zone sufficiently to achieve growth.

The Strength Temple Mindfulness Pilar deals extensively with techniques to move you to a wider comfort zone in a staged way.  If you’d like to hear more let us send you cool stuff here.  We’ll let you know when our online program is ready to rock your world and take you to a whole new destination within your expanded comfort zone.

In the mean time, let’s revisit how you feel about the thought of pushing yourself and getting out of your comfort zone; are you motivated?  On that scale of 1-10 where are you now?

We always say at The Strength Temple that you should never leave an empowering thought or insight without taking action to progress what you’ve learned.  Why don’t you make some plans right now to do that little thing that expands your comfort zone.

With love from The Strength Temple.

#respectyourtemple