What would it be like to have your clients walk away not only achieving their goals but also feeling great about their experience with you? What is behind the motivation to have a healthy body and lots of energy? The desire to be happy! Even if someone truly just wants to improve the physical condition of their body, they likely got to where they are because of feeling like they lack in some area. What good is a healthy body if you are not happy? You can take things up a notch for your clients by including an individualized inner wellness program that assesses the three following areas.
How is your client breathing?
Breathing is the foundation of our existence. Without it, how would we be alive? The way we breath can trigger the parasympathetic nervous system to relax the fight or flight response. We have a sharp quick inhale when we are met with a surprise or fear, or a long slow exhale when we make a sigh of relief. If you start to listen to the quality of your clients’ breathing, you can learn a lot about their attitudes.
You are probably already used to having clients exhale on exertion. If you listen closely to the sound of their breath, does it sound forced because they are going beyond their current capabilities? Does it sound like they have been holding a lot of tension and not fully releasing on the exhale? Are they letting the breath out faster than it takes to perform the task at hand (or in other words, are they not preserving enough energy for the full exercise)? What we want is to harmonize the breath (inner goal) with the movement (outer goal.)
You can teach your clients to do more allowing rather than forcing. In life, we often get greater results if we put our best efforts forward and then let go enough so that things come together at their own pace. How often do solutions come in the shower or while driving when we are not actually thinking of the problem? If we fully allow the physical motions that we need to exhale, it naturally happens. On the inhale, you can have people think of the body expanding to create space for more breath to fill it rather than pushing the space open.
In your natural state, your inhales and exhales are the same length. Certain exercises may require one or the other to be longer. When you can, keep them the same to help your client harmonize with their natural state.
As people get into an aerobic state and their breath speeds up, the fast breathing pace models what would happen when the sympathetic nervous system is triggered. When doing aerobic exercises, if you take a long breath after every two regular breaths, you will completely slow down the speed of breathing. That gives the aerobic activity a much more relaxed feeling so they can be even more energized and less depleted right afterward.
What is their mental diet?
The simple concept for weight loss used to be 40% of the change comes from exercise and 60% from the diet. Forbes Riley, the health and fitness expert and TV host, decided to run an experiment on people who were very overweight. In their first meeting, she realized they all had experienced serious challenges in their life like rape, violence, and poverty. She focused on their emotional issues first and 30 people lost 700 lbs in ten weeks. People don’t often realize it, but focusing on their inner consciousness has a great effect on the body.
By developing rapport and finding out more about your client, you can work with them to make sure they are looking at all aspects of themselves. See what they can do to reduce the stress levels in their life. Suggest they take action to heal any emotional wounds through activities such as meditation, affirmations, or counseling. Suggest they go on a worry fast for a week.
Another fun activity that helps change our mindset to view ourselves positively and increase our abilities is to join the ‘Captain and Crew’ movement from Gerry Robert’s book, The Millionaire Mindset. When we recite affirmations or try to make the change in ourselves, the ego tends to resist. If you allow your conscious mind to become the captain of your ship and imagine your ego or subconscious mind is the crew, then the captain can give commands to the crew and everyone can work together towards a common goal. Try it for 90 days and see how much that changes in your life!
Does their plan rate high on their happiness meter?
It is important to set up a plan for your client that creates a high rating on their individual happiness meter. If running on a treadmill is absolutely boring to them or too intense, what other creative way of getting exercise could you develop for them? Could they take group exercise classes instead, take their dog for longer walks, swim, dance, play a sport…?
Are they trying too hard and getting caught up in the goals to the point that they forget to enjoy the process? Make a realistic plan that keeps them present in each moment so they can fully experience and enjoy it.
Sometimes people try to change themselves because they are not accepting their divine design in the moment. Encourage them to make shifts in a loving and nourishing way. Make sure their goals are not just things they “should” do, but rather things that excite and inspire them.
If they do not love themselves from the start, they may not afterward, even from putting together a great diet and workout plan. It is like trying to put a t-shirt fully under water. When one side gets under, another pops up. Encourage them to go back to improving their mental diet. Help them see these actions are something to do because they want to love and care for themselves. And make sure you are having fun along the way too!
References:
Breathing and Your Brain: Five Reasons to Grab the Controls
Running on Air: Breathing Technique
http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/running-on-air-breathing-technique
The Millionaire Mindset
Captain and Crew Movement
http://www.Captainandcrewmovement.com
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Avital Miller
To connect with Avital and take advantage of her offerings, please visit www.avitalmiller.com
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