Christa Dietzen, captain of the 2016 Olympic USA women’s Indoor Volleyball Team calls this being in a “flow state.” She describes it this way: “I almost feel a ‘blackout’ phase in sports where I don’t remember what happened and I’m not thinking, just doing what my body has trained and programmed me to do.”

Related: How Making Mental Space Can Help You Unlock Your Purpose

This explanation is right in line with the findings of K. Anders Ericsson, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Florida State University and author of the new book Peak: Secrets of the New Science of Expertise. In his research, Ericsson found that when a once-in-a-lifetime performance takes place, the main thing an athlete might notice or recall is that, “all the elements of the performance were following each other without the need for effortful corrections.” In other words, there was nothing really out of the ordinary happening, except that none of the many things that could go wrong, did.

When an athlete “nails it” during a competition, they’re repeating elements they’ve likely already perfected during a practice, only all together, in front of a huge audience, and with much higher stakes. Nailing it is less about the stars aligning and getting lucky and more about having had the proper preparation and coaching up until that point. “Those individuals who engage in more deliberate practice with a coach tend to perform better than their competitors at public competitions,” says Ericsson. “If you can produce the peak performance consistently during training then you are more likely to do so during competitions.”

That double layout followed by a half-twist that Simone Biles nailed during her floor routine? You can be sure that wasn’t the first time she was able to perfectly execute that sequence. It was just the first time she did so in front of 20-plus million fans with a gold Olympic medal up for grabs.

“Nailing it means hitting the best sets that you’ve ever done,” says Biles. “You just feel so ready and confident … Once you get up there, you’re on autopilot because you’ve just done your routines so many times.”

The “flow state” individual athletes experience can also happen in team sports, with many people simultaneously performing at their peak in order to score a goal, win a relay, or otherwise kick-ass. And not surprisingly, the path to getting into this group zone is the same: purposeful practice.

“Something that we pride ourselves on as a team is the fact that on a random Tuesday afternoon, we’ll come out to train, and no one is watching, and no one knows that we’re training, but we put 100 percent out there,” says Lauren Crandall, USWNT athlete, and Team USA field hockey defender. “When you get to the Olympic Games, it’s not just showing up and playing six to eight games of your best hockey. It’s knowing that you’ve put in that work on a random Tuesday afternoon and you’ve done 100 percent every single practice for the last three-and-a-half years. You’re just banking on that work that you’ve put in to show up at the Games and perform like you know you can.”

Related: A Workout Meditation to Do Before Exercise

The practice can be rigorous, but for some athletes, this flow state—when your mind is blank and your muscles are firing like a machine—makes it work it. “A wave of contentment goes through your body,” says swimmer Maya DiRado, a four-time 2016 Olympic medalist, including two golds. “All of that [training] goes into that one moment when you’re able to execute and do what you know—what you’re capable of—when you have to do it. It’s one of the best feelings in the world and I think that’s why people get addicted to sports and why they keep coming back and keep trying to compete.”

“That’s something that I’ve learned through swimming and years of practice—how to put it together when it counts,” says DiRado, who is also a member of the BMW Performance Team. “That’s why you see a lot of emotions when that happens. You feel proud of yourself and you feel grateful for all the people who helped you put that effort together. You feel lucky that that was able to happen to you because it’s not guaranteed. You can do everything right and still fall short sometimes. So it’s a truly special moment when that all comes together.”

Reporting for this article was done in collaboration with Cristina Goyanes.

The post What It Takes to “Nail It” in Competition appeared first on Sonima.

While this year’s Olympics are over, the American duo’s season is still in full swing. This week they head to the FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam in California, then the AVP Championships in Chicago, followed by the FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto. After this season, Walsh Jennings, age 38, is going to take some time to figure out whether or not she’ll continue playing. While Ross may not be certain at this point who will be on the court by her side in the coming years, she is clear about one thing: “This is not my last Olympics.” Read on to hear more about Ross’s experience in Rio and what keeps her calm, focused, and performing at her peak.

What was your take on the semifinal match against Brazil? How could it have gone differently for you?

I haven’t had a ton of time to think about it yet. I haven’t watched it back. I’m not sure how it could have been different … I think we didn’t have the best match. I liked our game plan and attitude coming in. No doubt we were there to win that match. We never gave up. They played really well and it didn’t go our way.

Did you and Kerri feel connected that night?

Yeah, we worked really hard to come together and have that connectedness no matter what’s happening on the court. And we definitely felt connected. It wasn’t a case of bad communication or not being on the same page or not being solid as a team.

When you hugged at the end of that semifinals match, it appeared Kerri was consoling you. Was she?

Not necessarily consoling me, no. We’re both really accountable and hold ourselves to high expectations. So I think the main feeling we had when came together after the match was ‘I’m sorry’ that we let each other down. How did you refocus for the bronze medal match? We wanted to win and believed that we could do it. But then our coach, [Brazilian-born] coach Marcio Sicoli, gave us the most inspirational pep talk ever. His emotions and passion got us ever more riled up and ready to go. Last night [at the semifinal] didn’t even matter. We’re here. We’re 100 percent present, focused, and ready to win. There’s no particular line that he said. It was more his sentiment and the finality of “forget last night” this match being our “gold medal” match.

Do you have a spiritual practice that helps you stay calm?

Yes, I meditate for 20 minutes every night before I go to bed. On match days, I meditate before we go to the venue to start warming up. That involves prayers, visualization, and meditation. We work with sports psychologist Mike Gervais, Ph.D., and he’s really big into meditation. His biggest advice most of the time is to listen to yourself and do what you feel you need to through meditation. He’s guided us through meditation before, but I’ve never done any other kind of guided meditation. I use his advice and little snippets I’ve read about the practice and made it my own.

What does it feel like when everything comes together and you “nail it” for a win?

It’s like a trance state. I don’t think I have ever felt the way that I did in the third game of the bronze medal match. I didn’t even realize it until afterwards because people keep asking you what was going through your head. I was so ridiculously focused. The only things I was thinking about were tactical and positive. Everything just all came together. I feel like I did everything to the best of my ability. It was a combination of being super-focused. Having your back against the wall, it’s the only option you have—to play the best that you can play. It’s a euphoric feeling for sure. The flow I had with Kerri wasn’t unique to that match. We’ve been working on it for three and a half years. That has just gotten better with every tournament we’ve ever played. We’ve worked really hard for that. To me there’s never a doubt in my mind that we’re connecting and flowing.

Related: 5 Inspiring Sports Mantras of Olympic Athletes

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Until April, Jorgensen held an unprecedented 13-race winning streak that ended when she came in second at the ITU World Triathlon Series’ Gold Coast race in Australia. Three months later, in July, Jorgensen took silver again at the Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon in Germany. The two defeats blotching her near-perfect racing record isn’t even the worst of it. The elephant in the room is her Olympic debut in London. Four years ago, a flat tire on the bike resulted in a devastating 38th place finish. That’s the beauty and the curse of the Olympics: No matter how hard you’ve worked or how much you deserve a victory, the outcome is out of your hands. In this one-on-one interview with Sonima, the Oakley and Specialized athlete opens up about the unpredictability of racing, the end of her winning streak, and how she handles the stress.

Was breaking the winning streak good in a way? Did it take some pressure off?

You never want to lose, right? You’re always going for the win. I know that on race day, anything can happen. I never thought about the streak. I can’t control what happens on race day. I can only control what I do. I go into every race trying to be prepared. My coach Jamie Turner and my husband Patrick help out getting me ready for race day. I just spoke to Patrick. He’s so calm. He’s more calm than normal. I guess you can call him support staff, but he’s my husband. He’s really invested in this. He has no control over what happens on race day and I think that can sometimes be more nerve-racking for spectators or people who aren’t the actual athletes racing. It’s basically up to me on race day and he’s done everything he can to prepare me. Normally, he’s nervous, but now he’s pretty relaxed, which is nice.

Is Patrick part of your strategy for staying calm?

It’s the Olympics, right? It’s something that you’ve been preparing for four years, so you think you should be really, really nervous. I have good nerves but I’m not overly nervous. Having Patrick there is definitely part of that calming.

Are you still doing your daily affirmations?

I do still write down three affirmations every day. We’re doing nothing new. It’s just another race. It’s a big one, but we prepared for it. I’m really excited to race, which I think is good.

What did you write anything down for today?

I usually do it at the end of the day. We’ve been go, go, go. We woke up, had the Specialized bike preview, had to eat and then had to transport here. Haven’t really had time to think about it.

Tell us about what you’re expecting of the Rio Olympics race course.

We raced on this course last year, but how the race played out then isn’t necessarily how it’s going to [happen] now. Going into any race, I think that’s something that you have to be aware of and prepared for. It’s an ocean swim, which I really am looking forward to. I train in Wollongong, Australia for part of the year, and I just love swimming in the ocean [out there]. I think it’s fun. On the bike, there’s a hill that we have to go over a total of eight times that’s significant, and I think that hill could be a breaking point in the race. Then you start the run, and running off the bike like that, you’re going to have fatigued legs. I think it will be a challenging course for everyone, and I’m excited to go out and give it my everything.

How does this Olympic experience so far compare to London four years ago?

This has been a very focused four years leading up to Rio. Four years before London, I had never ridden a road bike in my life. I’ve been on this four-year build-up to Rio, and with Jamie Turner and the Wollongong Wizards, I’ve been training in this daily performance training environment. I’ve had Patrick with me, which has been a huge help. I have a huge support network, and a lot of people who have believed in me and allowed me to do this full-time, and really focus all my energy. I’m just focusing on racing and training, it’s been wonderful to have that support.

Speaking of support team, who’s out here in Rio with you, besides Patrick?

I have a ton of people here: My mom, dad, and sister, Pat’s mom, dad, and sister. I have a couple uncles who are here, and then I have a group of four high school friends and two college friends who are here with their significant others and parents. A lot of people have come out here, and I’m looking forward to seeing them after the race. Hopefully we can have a big dinner and just hang out. I haven’t seen a lot of them in nine months, and my parents I haven’t seen since Christmas. It’s been a long time. My parents actually got in today and I’m looking forward to seeing them later.

What’s next, after Rio?

I have no idea. I’m going to spend time with Patrick. That’s my only plan that’s set in stone. I don’t know where we are going. I don’t know what we’re doing. I’m a planner. I’ve been planning for four years everything that I’m doing up to this point. It’s a little weird to not have a plan after. We don’t even have a plane ticket home to Minnesota. I’m just not thinking about it. We’re not worried about it.”

The post Triathlete Gwen Jorgensen on Her Olympic Race appeared first on Sonima.

How have you and the team been handling the loss?

I think for a day or two it was really, really difficult and bitter. And I think it will be bitter for a long time. But I think it was a humbling experience because this team has such high expectations for winning and doing well historically in tournaments and being consecutive, three-time Olympic gold medalists. I think it was very devastating and heartbreaking at first. I think we will back bounce from this and come back even stronger, but it will take time. I feel like it’s a good distraction for me to be able to support the rest of team USA.

Does practicing yoga or meditation help?

Meditation has definitely helped because of the craziness and just the devastation that came along with the loss. I haven’t been able to do yoga. But when I get back home, I feel like yoga and meditation will definitely be a part of my weekly routine. So that will definitely help.

Do you practice a specific type of meditation?

I just do mindful meditation. I don’t follow any specific meditation practice [or mindfulness app] right now. I just try to clear my mind, sit still and be present in the moment.

Related: What Is Transcendental Meditation?

What’s the biggest hurdle for the national team going forward?

It’s not like we played a bad game. It’s not like the effort wasn’t there. For us, it’s more about getting over the heartbreak. I don’t think there’s a huge hurdle to get over. But I think it’s going to take time and luckily there’s three years between now and the next major tournament, so time is all we have right now.

What’s next for the team?

We have a long way to the World Cup in three years. So now, it’s just rebuilding and continuing to get back on course. We have two friendlies in September. That will be about getting the team back together and getting us thinking positively and back on the right track.

The post Soccer Star Alex Morgan on Dealing with Loss appeared first on Sonima.

What was your mental strategy going into the Rio Olympics?

It’s been really different this year, as I have been dealing with a pretty devastating injury. Mentally, I just try to be strong and rely on my love for the sport and know that the amount of work I’ve put in to this sport throughout my life will guide me.

Related: 5 Inspiring Sports Mantras from Olympic Athletes

What was your morning routine leading up to Rio? And in Rio?

I don’t wake up really early. I’m usually up by 7 or 7:30, then have a relaxed morning—catch up on tasks and errands. Mornings in Rio I usually get up, head to the track, then get some kind of massage or chiropractic work; I’ve just been getting my final preparations in!

How had your training plan changed going into these Games compared to previous Olympics or world championships?

It was definitely more intense. When I was injured my training had to be altered. I had to do a lot of rehab, spend time in the pool and on the bike, so the training definitely got more creative than ever before.

What has been your experienced in Rio so far? Any funny stories from traveling, commuting, or hanging out with other athletes in the Village?

The favorite has been opening ceremony and walking with everybody.

What are your plans to celebrate post-Olympics? 

Definitely going on a vacation. I love the Caribbean so maybe I’ll go there. And just relaxing, doing nothing, enjoying being still.

What has kept you focused in the days leading up to the track and field competitions in Rio?

Having my support system here in Rio, being able to be around them and eat with them or just hang out. That makes it feel like I have a little piece of home with me, which makes me more comfortable and relaxed.

Can you tell us about the role your mom has played in this journey?

It’s been special being a P&G Bounty athlete and taking part in their Thank You, Mom campaign because my mom is one of the greatest drivers of strength in my life. She has always pushed me to reach my best potential, so being a part of it allows me to say thank you to her for everything she has ever done for me.

The post One-on-One with American Sprinter Allyson Felix appeared first on Sonima.

“I got this.”

Moments before gymnast Laurie Hernandez mounted the balance beam in the women’s team competition, she can barely be seen whispering to herself, “I got this.” Clearly, this mental reminder provided the boost she needed—as if the spunky cat-eyed powerhouse ever had any doubt. Hernandez delivered a stellar performance to help the Final Five clinch gold in an 8.2-point margin over the Russian team, and we can’t wait to see what her killer confidence will bring in the individual competitions.

“Because I can.”

The next time someone questions why you’re putting in extra hours toward a goal when the odds are against you, channel cyclist Kristin Armstrong’s matter-of-fact response: “Because I can.” That’s what she had to say when faced questions about why she came out of retirement at age 42 to compete at an elite level once again despite several hip surgeries. Last week the Boise mom and hospital worker became the first cyclist—male or female—to win three consecutive golds in the same discipline, NPR reports. We couldn’t be more inspired.

“I’m the first Simone Biles.”

It’s tempting for the media to draw comparisons between rising stars entering the canon of history and other great athletes who have come before them. But doing so fails to fully acknowledge the unique contributions of up-and-coming men and women, especially the likes of an unparalleled talent like Simone Biles. In response to such comparisons, Biles said, “I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I’m the first Simone Biles.” While this may not be a mantra of hers per se, the sentiment is a reminder that your accomplishments are not anyone’s but your own, and you are an individual above all else.

“To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.”

In an interview with Sonima.com, sprinter Allyson Felix cites the quote above by legendary runner Steve Prefontaine as her go-to mantra during training or competition. “It’s been really different this year, as I have been dealing with a pretty devastating injury. Mentally, I just try to be strong and rely on my love for the sport and know that the amount of work I’ve put in to this sport throughout my life will guide me,” she says.

“These are not sacrifices, but investments.”

Triathlete Gwen Jorgensen, who is favored to win gold on August 20, used to view things like giving up holidays with family and missing her best friend’s wedding as sacrifices. Fortunately her friends and family understand. “They know I’m investing in my future. And that’s something that [my coach] Jamie has taught me,” says Jorgensen. “They are not sacrifices, but investments. I truly believe that it will pay me back 10 fold.”

Related: 50 Innovators Shaping the Future of Wellness

The post 5 Inspiring Sports Mantras from Olympic Athletes appeared first on Sonima.

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But it’s important to differentiate between the traditional Eastern practice of cupping and the use of cupping as a tool for myofascial release, says Carrie Gaerte, a doctor of physical therapy and certified athletic trainer with the Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Sports Performance (SVSP), which is staffing Proctor and Gamble’s Athlete Recovery Center in Rio during the Games. (Ralph Reiff, who was director of athlete care for the 1996 Olympics, is St. Vincent’s executive director, and SVSP has helped train 97 athletes on the U.S. gymnastics, track and field, and diving teams.)

“We’re not practicing the traditional Chinese form of cupping,” says Gaerte, who has been using the method for the last three years, and says about half of her clients these days want to try cupping. “We don’t support it as a cure-all—we’re using it as a tool for soft-tissue mobilization, like any other type of manual therapy. We’re able to identify myofascial restriction and release it, in an effort to reduce pain, free up movement, and help the body move more efficiently. What we’re doing is specific to musculoskeletal issues.”

In Eastern medicine, cupping is traditionally done along the body’s energy meridians to promote the flow of chi, with the goal of activating one’s natural healing abilities. Dating back to as early as 3000 BC, the practice was used by Egyptians and by Hippocrates in ancient Greece (according to the Ebers Papyrus, the oldest medical textbooks in the Western world) before spreading to China, where the Taoist alchemist and herbalist Ge Hong recorded its use around 300 AD. The method is fairly straightforward: Suction is created on the skin—traditionally through using flame to heat a glass, which is then placed on the body, creating a vacuum that sucks the skin up into the cup.

Related: What is Rolfing and How Does It Work?

These days, many practitioners use hand or electrical pumps attached to the cups, rather than heat, to create suction. The signature bruises are caused when the capillaries just below the surface rupture. (A variation known as “wet cupping,” which involves making a small cut in the area below the cup so the suction will draw out blood, is less popular among Westerners, for obvious reasons.) Gaerte and her colleagues at SVSP use silicone cups that don’t require pumping or heat to create a vacuum.

How does cupping work? Gaerte says the suction creates a rush of blood to the area that, for some people, seems to facilitate healing and release of tension—perhaps in part because of the warmth created by the increased blood flow, which helps to loosen the fascia. “There’s a lot that’s not known about it,” she says. “It’s not for everyone—some people find relief and some don’t.” Many of her clients swear by it, and she has found it to be helpful for people who have trouble tolerating more intense forms of manual therapy for myofascial release.

Scientists have had mixed results in validating the method. A 2012 review of 135 studies on cupping therapy concluded that it appears to be effective for various diseases and conditions (shingles, acne, facial paralysis, and arthritis in the neck were cited as responding particularly well to the practice) but warned that few of the studies met the standards necessary for unbiased research.

A 2013 study, comparing cupping to progressive muscle relaxation as a treatment for neck pain, indicated that the two techniques had about the same level of effectiveness—but those using cupping reported greater levels of well-being and less pain sensitivity. Another study, done on patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, showed a decrease in pain compared to a control group. Because it’s so difficult to set up double-blind studies—when you have a suction cup stuck to your body, you definitely notice it—researchers posit that the placebo effect might be in action with cupping. That’s also been suggested when professional athletes have turned to healing methods such as kinesio tape for stimulating blood circulation, cryotherapy for decreasing pain and inflammation, power bands to enhance balance, and aqua-titanium necklaces to reduce fatigue.

Related: The Magic of Dry Healing for Pain Relief

“There are not a lot of randomized controlled trials [on cupping] out there,” says Gaerte. “They’re challenging to carry out, because this isn’t a drug where you can control all the variables. Even touching someone [during cupping] can create a positive response in the body.” (Though it is possible to self-apply cups, Gaerte recommends that those interested in trying the method should begin by visiting either a Chinese medicine practitioner, sports medicine practice, or certified trainer who’s experienced with the process.)

But Gaerte wholeheartedly supports any benefit athletes might get from cupping, even if it’s all in their heads. “As long as it’s safe, with minimal risk, I see no reason not to try something,” she says. “If we can help somebody to perform optimally and realize their full potential, why wouldn’t we?”

The post The Gold-Medal Healing Power of Cupping appeared first on Sonima.

If this sounds like something you’ve witnessed or experienced—whether you’re the one on the treadmill or the elliptical—you might have wondered, is the person who’s audibly panting getting a better, more effective workout than the one who’s silently chugging along?

Noiseless exercisers can continue to breath easy: The answer is a clear-cut “no.” Recent studies in sports science reveal that labored, erratic, or rapid breathing may actually hinder your movements and even cause harm.

“A cardiovascular reflex is activated when the breathing muscles are forced to work hard during exercise that restricts blood flow to the limbs,” says Alison McConnell, Ph.D., the world’s leading expert on breath training and author of Breathe Strong. McConnell also points out that this type of breathing compromises the stabilizing muscles in the trunk, which translates to weaker limb movements. This puts you at risk for injuries, especially in high-impact sports like running, where each step must absorb as much as three times one’s body weight.

“The diaphragm, [the main abdominal muscle below the lungs], is an important contributor to the increase in intra-abdominal pressure that stiffens the trunk and stabilizes the spine,” McConnell says. Without a strong and engaged core to manage the impact, runners feel the effects in their knees, hips, and back, confirms a 2010 study published in the journal Spine.

Related: Is Your Breathing Pattern Normal?

The risk of getting injured is only the half of it. You might also unintentionally trigger the fight-or-flight response with this kind of intense breathing, too, which can really make exercising stressful. When inhalations are rapid and shallow, called apical breathing, only the lungs’ upper lobes inflate. As a result, you might set off a stress response, a hormonal shift associated with feelings of anxiousness and panic, explains chiropractor John Douillard, the former director of player development for the New Jersey Nets NBA team and author of Body, Mind and Sport.

To avoid getting sidelined or going into panic mode, try slowing and deepening each round of breath so that the diaphragm is fully engaged. This form of breathing pulls oxygenated air into the lower lungs and activates the relaxation response, which elicits feelings of calmness, control, and focus. A body that is relaxed and calm performs more powerfully and efficiently.

This is where learning to breathe mindfully may not only improve the ease of your movements, but also greatly boost your fitness outcomes, too. This is especially important when exercising at high intensities. “As your rib cage opens and becomes more flexible [as a result of diaphragmatic breathing], the breath rate will slow down rather than speed up while you increase your workload,” Douillard says. This is particularly helpful for those exercising to lose weight since it keeps the body in fat-burning (aerobic) zone.

Use the following three mindful breathing techniques to enhance your workout. Practice them separately for at least one week each. Then employ all three together to create better fitness outcomes with less stress and exertion, and more ease and efficiency.

1. Breathe like a baby.

We’re born masters at belly breathing. But as we age, a stressful and sedentary lifestyle leads us to become habitual shallow breathers. To breathe like your first day on earth again, inhale slowly, extending the belly outward. This helps draw the breath into the lower lungs and extend the diaphragm. By fully inflating the lungs, you’re also taking in the maximum amount of oxygen possible with each breath. As you exhale, the belly draws in and the diaphragm moves upward. Since it may feel backwards to breathe this way, practice belly breathing while walking before using it in workouts until it feels more natural.

2. Find a rhythm.

During aerobic exercise—such as cycling, swimming and running—aligning your breath with your movements in a regular pattern creates more ease, flow, and aerobic efficiency. Do you have one area of your body that is chronically more tight, sore, or injured? That achy side is probably taking the brunt of mechanical stress during exercise. Rhythmic breathing can help equalize your movements and prevent favoring one side over the other.

Depending on the type of exercise, the pattern may be three beats (such as foot strikes during running) for the inhale and two beats for the exhale. This 3:2 pattern, for example, alternates between feet as they hit the ground at the beginning of the exhalation, which is when your core is weakest. This more evenly distributes the landing impact stress across both sides of your body, reports a 2013 study published in PLoS ONE. This technique also keeps you calm and relaxed even when performing difficult or high-intensity movements.

“Rhythmic breathing creates a pathway to a deep centeredness,” says exercise physiologist and running coach Budd Coates, author of Running on Air: The Revolutionary Way to Run Better by Breathing Smarter. “In the martial arts, this inner connection and centeredness allows more immediate and precise control of the physical body,” adds Coates, a four-time qualifier for the U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials.

3. Use only the nose.

Breathing only through the nose during exercise has many benefits. The snout’s smaller, narrower shape forces pressured, slower inhalations, which give the lungs more time to extract oxygen from the air you breathe. Plus, a study published in the Australian Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport showed that nostril-only breathing during exercise mitigates the effects of exercise-induced asthma, allowing those with asthma to exercise harder while breathing easier. Keeping your mouth shut during exercise feels hard at first (a bit like you’re suffocating) and forces you to slow your pace until your nasal passages expand and adapt, which they will! When starting, perform nasal-only breathing in 15-second increments, then gradually build up to several minutes at a time.

The post The Intriguing Way Breath Affects Your Workout appeared first on Sonima.

To a certain extent, this rule applies to exercise form. In a sedentary culture where many of us work in chairs, drive to and from the office seated in cars, and often recreate by sitting and watching movies or TV, you are better off doing something that gets you upright and moving around—even if that something is sloppy jumping jacks—than doing nothing at all.

Once you are off the couch, however, the activity you do can either help you move toward your fitness or weight-loss goal or put you on a path to the doctor’s office. While yoga studios often provide helpful descriptions indicating a class’s degree of difficulty (so beginners can opt for “all levels welcome” and not “hot powerful flow level 3”), there are typically no such guidelines at the gym, making it tough to tell what risks an exercise might pose. Furthermore, the degree of potential risk changes depending on factors specific to you, such as your age and level of health.

To help you tell when it might be OK to be a little fast and loose with form—and when you better nail it picture-perfect—here are six times when you need to be especially strict while performing an exercise.

1. Form really matters when…you repeat a movement regularly.

The body is a brilliant machine designed to distribute weight, exert force, and absorb impact. It is also exceptional at adapting to whatever we might ask it to do. That means it will try to accommodate any movement pattern we instruct it to do—even one that might put its knees, ankles, spine, or any other body part at risk. The more often we send risky instructions, the greater the pounding those parts will take.

“As you repeat a motion, basically what you are doing is leaving an imprint on your neuromuscular structure,” says movement teacher Johnny Gillespie, founder of Balanced Athlete in Wilmington, Delaware. “If your technique is poor, eventually physics is going to win out, and you’re going to have some type of joint problems or musculoskeletal issue.”

2. Form really matters when…you increase the weight you use.

If you’re already performing an exercise incorrectly, then doing the movement with more weight—something most people associate with progress—is actually more like double jeopardy, according to Gillespie. “It’s putting an even deeper imprint on your structure because you’re adding load,” he says. “Adding heavier load to an improper pattern is just going to increase the likelihood of injury.”

Related: How Important is Perfect Form in Fitness, Really?

3. Form really matters when…an exercise is complicated.

Along with the rapid growth of CrossFit has come a similar growth of “fail” videos showing the sometimes merely funny, sometimes awful and tragic consequences of advanced lifting gone awry.

Exercises like the snatch or hang clean are complex—Gillespie says there are nearly 30 form cues coaches will look for in proper Olympic lifts—and therefore should be repeated with light or no weight at all until mastered.

The problem is that people too often focus more on the amount of weight they use when performing a move than the way in which they perform it. That’s especially dangerous with Olympic lifts, because the combination of an explosive movement performed incorrectly with heavy load “is just a disaster” that could lead to severe injuries, Gillespie warns.

4. Form really matters when…your fitness level increases.

This one is essentially a combination of the first three factors: An experienced trainee will perform exercises more regularly; they’ll likely want to increase the weight they use over time; and eventually they may want to try out more complex movements.

Throughout all of the stages of fitness, a person should be examining the way in which they move to see if it’s in line with the way the body is designed. “We salute everyone who gets off the couch and tries to make a difference through exercise,” Gillespie says. “Once you get moving, if you do not learn to move your body in an ergonomic way, your likelihood of injury is going to escalate.”

5. Form really matters when…you get older.

It’s no secret that our bodies change as we age. Nick DiNubile, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and author of the Framework book series, says those changes can have a dramatic affect on your muscles’ performance—ones that increase the need for you to be diligent about doing exercises correctly.

“I think with increasing age form becomes more important because your body is more vulnerable. Your tissues are less forgiving and less elastic,” DiNubile says. “It’s a lot easier to injure stuff.”

6. Form really matters when…you have a history of injuries.

This will be no surprise to yoga teachers out there who’ve had to offer adjustments to students: A person who has suffered an injury may also suffer from a limited range of motion as a result. DiNubile also says that, in addition to age, a prior injury or musculoskeletal ailment make proper exercise form more important. A person will need to work within their abilities or avoid a wounded area entirely.

The post 6 Times When Exercise Form Really Matters appeared first on Sonima.

What’s really keeping you from sitting still for 10 or 20 minutes is that you’re having trouble concentrating on the single task at hand which, in this case, is doing nothing, says Dandapani, a New York City-based Hindu priest and former Hindu monk of 10 years who teaches techniques to build a sustainable meditation practice in modern-day-life.

In this do-more-now era, everyone is a multitasking ninja. From snacking or sipping coffee at your desk while answering emails to chatting on your headset while driving or picking up groceries or the kids. If there’s one thing that you excel at, it’s doing a lot at once. Take walking down the street: It’s nearly impossible to get around without your smartphone in hand, ready to change a song, pick up a call, shoot a text, scroll through social media, take a selfie, or all of the above. This explains why just doing this one thing, which happens to be nada, is so challenging.

“We become really good at whatever we practice. If we practice distraction all of the time, we will become really good at it,” says Dandapani, who, later this summer, will launch a new 12-week online intro-to-meditation course. “We dedicate a whole week to learning how to concentrate. Concentration is the pre-cursor to meditation,” he continues. “If you don’t practice concentration, you will always struggle to meditate.”

Concentration is more than just finishing what you start. It’s the act of giving anything or anyone complete, undivided attention for a period of time. It takes real mental effort to focus 100 percent. Can you recall the last time you did this? Or even the last time you went 20 minutes without checking your phone? (Sleeping, going to the movies, and other events that cut you off from communication don’t count.)

“When you try to multitask, in the short-term it doubles the amount of time it takes to do a task and it usually at least doubles the number of mistakes,” warned psychologist JoAnn Deak, Ph.D., author of the book Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, at the annual Girls’ Schools Association conference in the UK last fall, according to Forbes.com. “In the long-term it changes the brain from being able to focus deeply on a single task well, to being what we call a rifle, that wants to jump around a lot,” she added.

Echoing her sentiments, MIT neuroscientist told The Guardian in January that our brains are “not wired to multitask well… When people think they’re multitasking, they’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there’s a cognitive cost in doing so.” For example, every time you switch between tasks, it takes an average of 23 minutes to get your head back in the game, reported Fast Company in an interview with Gloria Mark, a professor in the department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine.

Identifying yourself as multitasker doesn’t make you one. But because you’ve decided that you like juggling, the idea of just doing one thing can be the least appealing and therefore last item on your to-do list. The only way to move it to the top priority slot is to build your concentration skills. Sounds like a kindergartener’s goal for the school year, we know. Fortunately, the solution is simple.

“One of the best ways to practice concentration is to do one thing at a time,” says Dandapani. “If you’re speaking with someone, just focus on them. If you’re emailing, just email. If you’re talking on the phone, just do that and not check your email at the same time.” As easy as this sounds, you’re inevitably going to find yourself fighting the constant urge to welcome distractions, like a pinging phone.

“If you’re 40 years old and have been practicing distraction for the last 20 years, you’re an expert in distraction. If you expect to learn concentration in a week, six months or even a year, you’re deceiving yourself. Concentration is going to take a lot of hard work, consistent practice and a lot of time,” says Dandapani. Think of it this way: “I have a friend who is an Olympic gold medalist in beach volleyball. It’s like going up to her and saying teach me one thing so I could be good at beach volleyball,” he says. “Am I going to be good at it? No. It doesn’t work that way.”

Instead of expecting an instant change, start building up to it in incremental steps, like choosing your spouse or partner as the person to give your undivided attention to every time you speak. “If you can focus on your spouse for three hours a day for a month, you will start to see a difference in your meditation. But to truly see a big difference, it will take a while,” says Dandapani. Do this consistently for a month. If you succeed, he suggests adding a second person, like your child or best friend. Add a new person every month but only after you are consistently able to fully concentrate on the people from the previous months.

The post The Real Reason Sustaining Your Meditation Practice Is So Hard appeared first on Sonima.

There aren’t reams of studies about mindfulness’ effect on strength training as there are with diet, but top trainers and fitness professionals agree that the same inward focus that’s central to yoga can help increase the benefits and efficacy of lifting heavy stuff—and lifting the heavy stuff may also enhance the yogic mindfulness a trainee can achieve.

Of course, it always helps to start slow, and with mindful strength training, it can help to be even slower—as in stopped. Isometric training develops muscles through static exercises, such as wall sits (you can learn how to do wall sits or “air bench” in this quick workout), during which muscles contract without changing length as they would during a biceps curl, which involves raising and lowering a weight.

When holding an exercise position for an extended period, you can start to feel the sensation of where it’s working, says Jeremy Frisch, owner of Achieve Performance Training in Clinton, Massachusetts. Frisch has used isometric holds like these with athletes at Holy Cross University and at his training space—by holding the bottom of a lunge, for example, trainees can start to feel their glutes and quads engaging, firing, and tiring.

“You can feel your hamstrings take over in part of the squat” when you move slowly, says David Jack, owner of the ActivLab, a strength and conditioning facility in Phoenix, Arizona, and the founder of ActivPrayer, an online movement centered on infusing physical action with intention. “You cannot feel that at speed. You feel those movement patterns, and become really aware of the muscle.”

This awareness is a basic principle of mindfulness, commonly defined as “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally,” according to Jon Kabat Zinn, M.D., founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Holding these positions, then, can make you more mindful of what you’re supposed to feel and what you really are feeling—and can help you improve each detail of them.

Holding the bottom of a squat, for instance, you can concentrate on placing the weight of your body in your heels, feeling your knees press slightly outward, and the feeling of keeping your chest lifted—much as you would with a yoga pose. And in so doing, says Sally Mitchell, lifting helps increase our mindfulness, and strength training becomes yoga.

“Feeling release is just a byproduct. The core of yoga is all about the mind, reaching higher consciousness,” says Mitchell, a teacher of “Iron Yoga” in Sonoma, California. The physical practice of yoga helps practitioners become truly present because the physical movement requires them to focus on the breath and the mind-body connection. “When we add strength training [elements like weight], it’s even more crucial to have that sense of self-awareness. If we’re doing a yoga pose and adding in the strength training, you really have to slow down [mentally]. This builds an even greater sense of true yoga.”

Mindful strength can also be built by moving—in fact, it can be used to enhance your senses during a lift. To accomplish this, Greg Justice has his clients shut out another sense. They wear blindfolds.

“[Russian Olympic athletes do this] to bring awareness to their body signals and to remember the degrees of tension in their working muscles,” says the owner of AYC Health and Fitness in Kansas City, and a former conditioning coach with the Kansas City Chiefs. With his own clients, the blindfold can help trainees experience “a greater precision and stability by remembering body positions, joint angles … it is also a great way to note some skills or areas that could use correction that might otherwise not be realized.”

And it can improve your proprioception, the body’s sense of its orientation to the space around you. Proprioception is how you keep your balance when you feel yourself falling, or change the radio station in your car without looking. Exercising with a blindfold—shutting off your sense of sight—requires you to keep balance using your other senses, especially proprioception. So this mindful strength practice can make you more attuned to the space around you, and ultimately make you more graceful and aware of your body outside of training sessions.

“You cannot or do not have control by sight alone,” he says. Muscular control “depends on developing delicate sensations in the muscle and joints and understanding your own body movements.” Without sight, the other sensations of each movement can be concentrated on more fully.

Closing your eyes can also help with strength when you aren’t even lifting. In a study from 2004, participants were instructed on how to quietly visualize a lifting technique for 12 weeks at regular intervals. At the end of this study, the visualization group had improved their physical strength in this same movement by 35 percent without physically practicing it over that period. In another study, basketball players who visualized shooting free throws with an imaginary basketball improved their free throw shooting by 23 percent in 30 days without ever touching a basketball—just one percent less than a group that did a dedicated free throw improvement program.

This kind of preparedness is what makes mindful strength training powerful, says David Jack. Mindful strength training is not about being slow, quiet, or peaceful, he says, but preparing your mind for the task your body’s about to perform, whether it’s a plank hold or an explosive jump.

“You set a stage with awareness. You’re setting the stage to focus the energy to one specific goal and feeling, directing your thoughts and intentions to that place,” says Jack. And that movement can be slow and controlled, feeling for every sensation of the exercise. But in other cases, “that’s about feeling fast. [When sprinting,] you’re trying to get your feet on and off the floor as quickly and effectively as possible. But you have to be aware and focused on that result. Once we set the expectation and can set our minds to it,” the benefits and the effectiveness can be amplified.

The post The Surprising Ways Mindfulness Can Improve Strength Training appeared first on Sonima.

Here, we’ve talked to people who inspire us in the world of health and wellness—our teachers, colleagues, and friends—in order to honor their mothers and ours through recollections of lessons learned over the years. Read on as we pay tribute to these most amazing women who have shaped not only the worlds of these powerful people, but our worlds as well, with their wisdom, beauty, laughter, and energy.

Dana Flynn, Yoga Teacher, Co-Founder of Laughing Lotus
Margo Flynn, Her Mother

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“OMG! My mom Margo was my Brownie leader, volunteered at the library, and always threw the best parties for any and every cause. Her involvement in the community was a complete turn on for me. It got me really participating in this ‘all in’ kind of way that creates family and togetherness! She always said if you have one good friend, you are lucky and blessed,” Flynn reminisces. “[My mom] created something from nothing each and every day. Sewing my dresses, decorating my room, crafting fun colorful projects that made me feel alive, and loved…through her being, she showed me that magic is REAL. She’s my SHERO!!”

Margo Flynn recalls, “Dana was always kind, loving, and respectful toward her aunts and grandmothers, especially as they got older. Even from a young age, she was so aware of their heart and what they were going through. Everyone always felt so supported and loved by Dana and her generosity. She has that extraordinary gift where you feel like you have known her forever. She’s always been my #1 cheerleader and I am thrilled to be her MOMMA!”

Mallika Chopra, Author, Founder of Intent.com
Rita Chopra, Her Mother 

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Mallika with her daughters, Tara and Leela

“My mom has always served her children, her family, and her community selflessly,” says Chopra. “Through her example, I learned what it means to love without expectations. She is an example of living with intent—of giving to others and improving the lives of those around her by her daily actions.The most important lesson I have learned from my mother is to always be proud of who I am. My mother never apologized for ‘just being a mom.’ She showed me that it was truly an honor to play this role.”

Adam Bornstein, Fitness Writer, Founder of Born Fitness
Sandra Bornstein, His Mother

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“I grew up with a selfless mother,” says Bornstein. “Everything my mom did was never about her, but instead about her four children. We were loved unconditionally and always told to chase whatever we wanted. It’s that same mentality I take towards health and fitness. I think we all need to love who we are and what we want to achieve. At the same time, I don’t see limits when I see people. I see those that just need some encouragement, a path, and a realistic timeline. Any goal is possible, but some journey’s just take longer than others.” Bornstein’s mom taught the fitness icon not to compare himself to others. “Growing up, whenever I didn’t do well—in sports, in school—I’d always say something like, “Well Bobby didn’t do well either.” My mom (and dad) were great at reminding me that it’s not about other people, but rather the effort that I put in. It’s been my driving force in life: focus on what I control and don’t worry about everything else.”

Sandra Bornstein recalls how caring Adam was towards his younger brothers, relishing the opportunity to be a “big brother.” She goes on to say, “I am exceptionally proud of all of Adam’s accomplishments in the health and fitness industry. By using his background knowledge and people skills, Adam has successfully inspired people around the world to pursue a healthier lifestyle. His interactions via social media and in person have enabled a wide variety of people to make educated choices. Without a strong work ethic, Adam’s positive contributions would not be possible.”

Kerri Walsh Jennings, Three-Time Olympic Gold Medalist and Bronze Medalist, Beach Volleyball Player
Margie Walsh, Her Mother

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“My mom has led by example her entire life, especially when it comes to her children,” says Walsh Jennings. “She lives a life centered around her faith, her family, hard work, and love. These pillars have always served as the foundation of our family upon which we were taught to be good people, to always have faith in ourselves and others and to serve ourselves, our family, and our community with humility and gratitude. For my mother, wellness comes from living a life well lived and from the constancy of her faith. She knows what her priorities are, she is diligent and generous in all she does and in doing so, she has shown me that living by example is a great way to inspire. Wellness has always been body, mind, and spirit in our family!” Walsh says she always has her mother’s voice in her head, “cheering me on, reminding me to smile, and reminding me that great things come from hard work and trying times.”

As it pertains to Kerri’s work, Margie Walsh expresses pride in “her being so passionate and relentless in her quest to be the very best. She believes in herself and her teammate, April. Kerri is almost never satisfied, she always believes she and April can be better. Kerri is a really good teammate, a goal setter and a BIG dreamer. I think those qualities are contagious and make those around her better. Kerri is a really good role model. She is a doer. She shows in her work ethic that if you have passion and work really, really hard, you can achieve great things. Kerri is always strengthening her mind, body, and spirit to accomplish her goals. She may stumble at times but she uses these moments to motivate her to work harder and smarter to achieve her dreams. Kerri is gracious, humble and thankful with her success. She is so proud to represent the U.S.A.!”

Allie Burdick, Health and Fitness Blogger at VITA—Train for Life
Andrea Capo, Her Mother

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“My mother was overweight almost her entire life. I grew-up watching her ‘Sweat to the Oldies’ with Richard Simmons and do endless side leg lifts with Jane Fonda, as she watched them on a VHS tape and struggled to keep pace from our living room,” says Burdick. “Sometimes she was successful in her weight-loss quest, and even once shed almost 100 pounds before slowly and inevitably gaining it all back. I observed, but was not truly aware. In 1989, as a 12-year-old eighth grader, I listened to my dad’s words in disbelief; “Mom has cancer. Ovarian cancer. But, she’s going to be okay.” She wasn’t. Five years later, and just before my 18th birthday, she died.”

“You may think it’s sad, even tragic, and it is but I consider myself lucky. I’m lucky because my mother was a fiercely strong, opinionated, and smart woman. Before she died she taught me how to be the same. Because of her and what she went though, I am the epitome of health. I became a personal trainer and fitness instructor. I owned my own studio while I raced marathons, triathlons, duathlons and countless other races, and gave myself the power to help women and men like her, become truly healthy. I had the courage to pursue all of my dreams—not some, but all of them. I was blessed with twin boys, one of whom I think was sent directly from her to show me what growing up with a mini-me is really all about, and love you can not even conceive of until you are a parent.”

“There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t want her back. I miss my mom horribly and sometimes break down just from seeing a mother and daughter together at the mall. But, 20 years after her death, she still influences my choices and drives me to fully realize all my potentials. I owe her that much.”

Kara Goucher, Elite Marathoner, Two-Time Olympian
Pat Wheeler, Her Mother

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Goucher recalls that her mom has always helped others, volunteering for MADD (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving) when she was a kid. “My mom has always had so much compassion for others who are struggling and has always helped those that need it. She has inspired me to help others as well. Although I don’t have the same skill set as my mother, I do know that I can help improve others’ lives by encouraging them to take better care of themselves and by discovering running. I love helping others find that they are stronger than they ever thought possible, and that is exactly what my mom does as well,” she says. “When I had bad races and felt like I let my entire country down, my mom would always point to the positives—that I tried my best, that I am more than a runner, that the sun would rise again tomorrow. My mom has always taught me to look for the positive things in my life, and it has profoundly affected the way I view the world.”

“Even as a child,” says Wheeler, “Kara was always kind to other kids and thoughtful of others. She never wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings. She was concerned about how they felt, what they might be going through, and what they might need. She would do little things to help others when often they didn’t know it was her.” Wheeler is so proud of her daughter. “Her dedication, determination, and ability to never give up. She is humble and honest and not afraid to let people know her strengths, weaknesses, and what she feels. She is able to see the big picture and have the patience to do what she needs to do to reach big goals. She enjoys sharing her love of running with others. She is grateful for what she has. She focusses on staying positive. She never hesitates to reach out to others who may need help or support. She is a true role model.”

Melisa R. Burton, R.D., The Valentine RD
Michele Burton, Her Stepmother

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“My mother is still alive but we have had a very distant relationship for most of my life. My mother is deep in the throes of mental illness but also in very deep denial,” says Burton. “As a very young child, I hated that my mother was the parent who believed in all things ‘natural’ when it came to food. Few children in the 1970’s enjoyed wheat bread, carob, and having a sugar restriction imposed upon them. I never thought that the childhood thread of nutrition would become my passion (and second career undertaken at the age of 30 after 10 years in marketing).”

“Although the seed of the importance of wellness may have been inadvertently planted by my biological mother, it was the loss of my stepmother, Michele, at age 16 that may have had the greatest impact on me. Michele was my true mother figure growing up. Michele was overweight for most of her life and she was very self-conscious about it. My stepmother was a force to be reckoned with in most aspects of her life but her self-image and relationship with food was definitely not a positive one. Michele’s weight kept her from regular check-ups with her doctor. Only once was she taken to the hospital (due to back pain) where she was diagnosed with a very advanced form of cancer. She died three weeks after diagnosis at 36 years old. Michele was the most important mother figure I had in my life. She and my father raised me when my mother was unable and I still feel her loss deeply. When I became a parent at age 37, I named my child after Michele. It still seems so strange that I became a parent at an age older than when my stepmother had died. Having been a parent for the last eight years, I’ve only felt more gratitude and love toward a woman who has not my mother but loved me like one.”

Sharon Gannon, Founder of the Jivamukti Yoga Method
Evlyn Gannon, Her Mother

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“My mom believed in living for the moment,” recalls Gannon. “She did not invest much in the future. I learned from her not to procrastinate, not to put things off. I can feel her influence in my own feeling of urgency when it comes to helping others. I try to offer my services in whatever capacity I have and not wait for a time when I will have more time or more ideas or money. Instead, I tend to move forward and do whatever I can now.” Gannon says her mother taught her “to be optimistic. Have faith in the goodness of life and remember that everything changes—difficulties are only temporary—it is best to let them go and not hold on to them.”

Alison Overholt, Editor-in-Chief of ESPNW and ESPN The Magazine (the first female to head a major sports magazine)
Monette Overholt, Her Mother

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“My mom struggled with her own health and wellness throughout her life, and watching that struggle was a defining part of my childhood,” says Overholt. “It was hard to see her go through these cycles with her weight and her confidence. At the same time, she was such a huge sports fan—she loved the Red Sox more than anything, was a massive basketball fan, and loved to play tennis when I was little. Over time, as she struggled with her health, she stopped playing. Watching her miss out on chances to play the sports she loved—even as she was instilling that same love of sports in me—is something I’ve never forgotten. It has made me want to maintain my own fitness so I have the energy I need to have adventures of my own, and adventures with my family. And it has made me passionate about finding ways to engage women about sports and active living, and to find and share really useful and accurate information about wellness and healthy lifestyle choices.”

“My mom was the strongest person I’ve ever met. And she always encouraged me to be strong. I think I was—sometimes to her chagrin! We had epic clashes over the years, two big personalities, battling it out. But in the end, she always said, ‘Ali, you will be anything you want to be.’ I used to think that was a cliché, but now I think there are far too many girls who have never heard those words, from their moms or anyone else. And I think everyone should hear them.”

Elena Brower, Yoga Teacher, Author of The Art of Attention
Judi Brower, Her Mother

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Judi Brower remembers her daughter always being empathetic from a young age, “Elena was always kind with others whether it was an animal, another child, or an elderly person. I am proud of Elena as a giving human being. She has been able to touch so many people in a positive fashion and enhance their lives. Most of all, I am proud that Elena has found her happy place and shares it with so many others.”

Shane Barnard, Founder of Urbankick
Pat Ness, Her Mother

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Barnard recalls that her mother led a life in which helping people was the norm. “She was a counselor for persons with developmental disabilities, a social worker with the state of Washington, and an animal lover, advocate, and supporter. Watching her devote her life to helping others shaped my values about what is truly important. It was never about her or her success, rather how she could assist others to find their success. I always knew I wanted to work with people in a capacity to help them overcome obstacles, whatever those challenges may be.” The biggest lesson she learned, then, was “to be empathetic, compassionate, and work hard. If we can relate to others and begin to understand where they come from, we are better suited to assist. I also saw my mom work very hard and never take anything for granted. This work ethic fuels me today along with the appreciation that I am so lucky to have a career that I love.”

Ness remembers that “Shane was always a helpful little girl, especially when I would bring home some of the adults with developmental disabilities from the group home where I worked during shut-down periods. Shane always played with and helped them around the house during their stays. Ness is proud of her daughter, and “her ability to be independent and seek opportunities. She moved out state, studied dance, finished college and worked to help reunify families as a social worker, then graduated from law school to become an attorney for foster children in San Francisco. She never stopped seeking new challenges to become who she wanted to be all the while helping, advocating, and educating others to be their best selves.”

Sophie Jaffe, Raw Food Nutritionist, Founder of Philosophie
Phillis Aaronson, Her Mother

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Aaronson says her daughter has always exhibited “the desire and drive to help others, and always goes out of her way to help anyone in need. She’s been an ear for anyone in pain and has a strong sense of empathy that she’s been following her whole life. When she was choosing an academic path, she immediately gravitated towards psychology as a means to hone that particular gift and learn how to forge a path to mental wellness … [Sophie] has the ability to truly listen to the needs of others and learn how to help keep them engaged in a life of well-being. I’m sure I speak for many when I reflect back on the good she’s done for so many people she’s encountered in her life.”

Marion Berrian Roaman, Co-Founder of Peloton Cycle
Marion Williams, Her Mother

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“As a child, I watched my mother go through some very difficult times. Somehow through those trying times she created an amazing support group of friends an confidantes. Those people became like a second family to us. From a very early age, I learned the power of community,” says Marion Berrian Roaman. “I saw how one person helping another, then helping someone else, and so on was a beautiful thing—a positive, at times life-changing, domino effect. I have taken this ingrained sense of community and brought it into the group exercise space. There is no way I would have trusted my instincts in all of this if it weren’t for my firsthand experiences watching my mom grow her community.” Most of all, says Roaman, her mother taught her “to never give up. No matter what.”

Williams proudly says of her daughter, “Marion has always been a great communicator and a people person—even before she knew how to talk! Once on the way off a transatlantic flight with baby Marion, who was three months old, passengers came up to me and told me how much they had enjoyed meeting my daughter. She didn’t know words yet but as they passed is in the aisle Marion would nod her head look them in the eye and babble knowingly with people. Marion has genuinely always loved people.” Williams says, “That she has combined her love of cycling and her incredible energy with her extraordinary communication skills and love of people makes me a very proud mom.”

Jasmine Tarkeshi, Co-Founder of Laughing Lotus
Alice Tarkeshi, Her Mother

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“My mother has lived a life of service,” says Jasmine Tarkeshi, “Whether it was service to our family when we were kids or to her teacher Chogyam Trungpa and Shambhala Sangha or the countless jobs she had as a recreational therapist working with the most underserved populations including homeless women, people with schizophrenia, autistic children, people living with AIDS, and countless others cast aside, she has devoted her life to helping others.” Tarkeshi recalls that her mother “was known as sort of a miracle-worker, reaching and touching those who were considered a lost cause. This planted a seed in me as a teenager, that everyone, including me, could be awakened to the light within through compassion and action. At 75 and retired, she still serves tirelessly including her devoted care to my daughter, her granddaughter, Indigo. It’s truly humbling and inspiring.”

Her mom glows similarly. “Jasmine was born with healing hands and a natural empathy for living things—humans and animals and what grows on the earth. Her sympathetic heart combined with a natural, impressive practicality and fearless action showed itself in many instances when she was young, bringing a healing touch to me when I ached, solving problems in the running of the household, caring for animals, and helping to educate me in vegetarianism.” Alice Tarkeshi waxes pride about her daughter, “I am deeply proud of Jasmine’s ability to creatively, and with bright humor, bridge the wisdom and practices of the ancient past to this present world; she has her finger on the pulse of evolutionary energy, fueling her students with inspiration and courage to transform.”

Lodro Rinzler, Author, Meditation Teacher
Beth Rinzler, His Mother

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Rinzler remembers his mom organizing meditations for the community when he was a kid. “She would open up our home to all sorts of people with the desire to help them by offering a space for them to relax into their innate wisdom. She never boasted about her credentials or held herself above them as I have seen other Buddhist teachers do (despite the fact that she has been teaching meditation since the early 70s). She met them where they were emotionally, welcoming them into her home, and gave them tools for working with their mind. I think seeing her offer herself and her resources wholeheartedly from such an early age molded me a great deal.” On her greatest lessons, Rinzler says, “She taught me that compassion means being on the same level as others, connecting to them from an empathetic, rather than sympathetic, point of view. She leads by example, offering her presence and heart to whomever she encounters.”

Beth Rinzler has early recollections of Lodro’s knack for healing others, “When he was three he climbed up onto his father’s psychiatrist chair, thoughtfully advised me as if he was in that role, and then at the end asked us how much money he should pay for the session. We knew then he was destined for the non-profit world. A few years later when Lodro was five, I remember his upset at the plight of the homeless. One man in particular lived on the steps of the bank two doors down from our apartment. One evening as we walked by, he asked the dreaded question: “Why, when we had so many rooms, couldn’t we take him home?” Sensing my discomfort, he did me a favor and we marched off to get the gentleman a pizza instead.” Beth Rinzler has much to be proud of, but she says, “What I am most proud of is how he has taken his life experience and his Buddhist practice to heart. He thinks a lot about how he can best benefit the most people and works hard to encourage others to do the same. He’s doing something awesome with his life.”

Candice Kumai, Clean Green Chef, Cookbook Author
Miho & George, Candice’s Parents

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Kumai goes on to credit her mother, Miho, as the reason she works so hard: She’s my “Japanese rock,” she says. “She is the reason why I became a creative artist. When I was just six or seven she even taught art classes out of our home in San Diego in addition to teaching Japanese at schools. I never forgot how to use my eyes, my hands, my heart because of her. I never loved math or science, but man, did I love arts, crafts, painting, watercolor, any crafty project I could get my hands on. She allowed me to be an artist, too!” Not only that, but Kumai’s love of cooking comes from her mother: “I watched her cook from scratch my whole life. She made every single one of my birthday cakes by hand, homemade breads, jams, sauces, soups, sushi, okonomiyaki, gyoza, every Japanese dish imaginable (and Polish dishes, for my Dad!) She was my Japanese Martha, she still is. She is my inspiration for all of my books. She is my heart.”

Candice’s parents wrote us together to exclaim their love for Kumai’s work in the world.”Well, we used to take our daughters to places that were of great interest, such as museums, churches, and natural wonders like the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Japan. They learned so much and learned to appreciated what we had; and from that they learned to help others. And of course their mother insisted that once a day we sat down as a family at the table, even just for a short time, to enjoy a meal.”

Gunnar Lovelace, Founder of Thrive Market
Adriana Goddard, His Mother

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Gunnar Lovelace cites his mother as an inspiration for Thrive Market, an online retailer providing healthy foods at affordable prices. “As a child, I saw how hard my mom worked to make healthy choices and put organic, wholesome food on the table. She was a single mom, but later remarried a man who ran a health food buying club from an organic farm where we lived in Ojai, California. The buying club showed how healthy living can be accessed at much lower prices when people work together. For years, I’ve been interested in creating the 21st Century modern version of a health-food co-op online.” Additionally, says Lovelace, “My mom always taught me the importance of working hard for what you believe in. She is one of the most hardworking people I’ve ever met, and set an incredible example for me during my childhood. I draw upon that inspiration all the time as a founder and CEO of my own company. It’s incredibly hard work, but when I need a little motivation, I remember my mom and how hard she worked to provide the best life she could for me.”

“Gunnar was always a very easy child, and he was always fully cooperative,” says Goddard. “I remember one time when he was very little—younger than three years old. We went to the movies one afternoon, after the movie, a big crowd was trying to leave the theater, but couldn’t get the doors to open. When we got close to the door, Gunnar noticed a small lever on the side of the door and propped it up to open the doors so everyone could flow out easily. I remember being so amazed. He was so tiny, but he had observed what needed to be done and did it. And because he was brought up in an environment where we spoke Spanish, English, and French, he wasn’t very talkative yet. At least one hundred adults must have passed ahead of us and nobody noticed the solution.” Goddard says with pride, “He is also genuine, tender-hearted, and devoted to his family and friends. Gunnar always goes full blast with his passions and that’s so inspiring to me.”

Lunden Souza, C.P.T., Runtastic Fitness Coach
Martha Souza, Her Mother

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“Lunden was always really, really social,” says Martha Souza, who lives in Merced, California. “She loved to be around people and talk to literally everyone who would talk to her. At the local pool we would go to, she would often go hang out with the lifeguard and start braiding her hair, ask her about her job and her life and have full-on conversations with people constantly!” Souza is proud of her daughter for “following her dreams and passions. I think it’s incredible that out of whim she decided to move to Austria to make her presence bigger and better without really knowing for sure what would happen. She is never afraid to take a step out in faith and I admire her for not being scared—or at least never letting fear get in the way.”

Susan Guillory, Founder of Bread & Circus
Anne-Marie Harnett, Her Daughter

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“My daughter has understood that the basis of healing work with others comes from self-knowledge,” says Guillory. “As a result, the example that she has set for her Polarity therapy and RYSE technique clients has permeated her work. For example, I have had numerous close friends tell me what fabulous sessions they have had with Anne-Marie but because my daughter adheres to very strict professional boundaries I never knew that these friends were seeing her. The largest gift that she is offering to the world is by using her deep spiritual understanding and pre-med degree to teach future healers privately and at a massage school. It is an honor and a gift to have one of my children share in so many lifestyle values.”

Harnett recalls her mother always putting others’ welfare first. “She taught me to pay attention to the subtle cues of body language and tone of voice in order to discern how someone was truly doing. She taught me to listen underneath. This has led me to a career in massage and healing work where I am listening deeply to what someone’s body is telling me. And reconnecting my clients to their innate, but often lost, ability to hear their own bodies.” The biggest lesson Guillroy passed down was “to love and honor the healing capacity of food. To cook consciously, imbibing the food with health and vitality. She taught me that what you’re thinking about and how you’re feeling, goes into the food while you’re cooking. So, when I cook for myself or when I give dinner parties, I purposely put good things into the food like love, connection, play, wonder. It’s fun, and it’s powerful!”

Jamie King, Co-Founder and President of FitApproach
Julie Wong, Her Mother

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“My mom is amazing,” says King. “She was single for most of my childhood but never made me want for anything. I realize now just how much she did for us and just how incredibly strong she is—in fact, she is the most tireless, hardworking, generous, and compassionate person I know. She has always supported me through all of my different interests and activities and shown me that with a little hard work and dedication, anything is possible. I think she imparted on me not only an incredible work ethic but also a great deal of compassion and generosity. She shaped me into someone I am proud of, someone who cares for others and works hard to make sure others are cared for, whether it’s through my work with the Sweat Pink community, as a yoga and bootcamp instructor or my family.

According to Wong, Jamie has always had a penchant for helping others. “She is also incredibly determined and won’t give up until the job is done. A great example of this was when she taught her cousin how to dive. They were on the swim team together and Jamie noticed during swim practice that Alyse couldn’t dive into the pool. Jamie couldn’t let it go and after practice invited Alyse over for diving lessons. I remember watching them from the kitchen window and seeing Jamie’s determination to teach her how to dive. No matter what, she didn’t (and wouldn’t) give up and made sure that before they got out of the pool that afternoon, she had a diver on her hands. I think she doesn’t like anyone to feel like they can’t do something—she always wants everyone to be as great as she knows they can be. I’m so proud to see my daughter inspiring and helping others live more active and healthy lives; she was born for the role she is playing and I couldn’t be more proud or feel more lucky to have her in my life.”

Meaghan Murphy, Executive Editor, Good Housekeeping
Kathy Buchan, Her Mother

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“I’m a fitness fanatic,” says Murphy. “My motto: You’re one workout away from a good mood. I get that love of and need for movement from my mom. The woman is a firecracker, a real-deal Energizer Bunny. Sometimes I feel like my childhood was just one big living room dance party set to Richard Simmons’s playlist. But the thing is, although we were often sweating to the oldies or popping in a Jazzercize or Jane Fonda VHS, it wasn’t exercise. And it never occurred to me that the 5K we trained for and ran as a neighborhood was a workout or that soccer practice was actually good for me. It was just fun. Mom taught me that a workout doesn’t need to feel like work. You can put the fun in fitness and still reap the body benefits! I wake up every morning at 5:03 a.m. excited to play because that’s what exercise has always been to me thanks to my Mom. And I hope to give that gift to my three children…but maybe with Pitbull as the DJ.”

Buchan is equally proud of her daughter. She says, “Meag was always a selfless people-person who tended to the needs of others before herself. As the oldest of three she was a little mother handing over the last freeze pop to her siblings and not worrying if there were more to be had. So it was not surprising to me when she volunteered at the New Brunswick Soup Kitchen or an Asbury Park Homeless Shelter fearlessly taking some challenging young men on Ferry rides to New York City Yankees games. As a Horatio Alger Scholar she spoke from the heart about eating disorders in the Washington D.C. area and helped countless young women see their true self worth. I am proud of my clone, a true Energizer Bunny with an amazing work ethic, buoyant enthusiasm and creativity, and her ability to inspire those around her to become more than they ever believed they could.”

Rachelle Tratt, Yoga Teacher, Founder of The Neshama Project
Nicole, Her Mother

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“My mom, Nicole, inspires the very core of who I am, what I stand for, and is the foundation to my work in the world,” says Tratt. “When I was nine years old, she passed away, very suddenly and tragically, and this event completely changed the course of my life; directing me on a lifelong adventure to learning about her, a day-to-day desire to live my life to the fullest, and a forever journey of healing my own mind, body, and heart.”

After her mother’s passing, Tratt spent time in many parts of the world, including Israel where her parents first met. After years of teaching yoga, she created The Neshama Project, a spiritual jewelry and lifestyle brand that supports charitable causes. The “N” in the word Neshama, which means “soul” in Hebrew, is in honor of Tratt’s mother, Nicole. “During the nine years that I spent with my mom, she taught me many valuable lessons of life and family,” says Tratt. “At a young age, I was taught that the essence of a good deed is when someone performs acts of kindness without the need for praise in return—well, this right here, was what my mom was all about. A humble heart, a kind soul, an incredibly talented artist, with the ability to make everyone around her laugh, and who was constantly putting others way before herself.”

In a dedication she shared with Sonima, Tratt writes, “Everything that I do is for you, mom. Every day, I choose to celebrate life, to breathe, to heal, to dance through the ebb and flow of it all, to say YES to adventures, to stumble, to pick myself right back up, to fall in love, to cry, to believe, to get lost, to have faith, to feel you in nature, to see you in shavasana, to live a life that you never had the opportunity to, and to live a life that would make you so very proud.”

The post 21 Mothers Bring Light into the Wellness World appeared first on Sonima.