Fitness programs and exercise workouts have for some time been far too overrated. When we think of workouts we imagine them lasting for far more time than our schedule will allow. Trying to squeeze a fitness routine into our already busy lifestyle makes us exhausted even at the thought. Taking the time to drive to the gym, putting on clothes to get hot and sweaty, exercising, showering and then putting on fresh clothing to go to our next event. For the average gal, this is just not a very appealing invitation.  But don’t lose hope because this is not the only way to experience a killer workout as you seek to discover meeting your personal wellness goals. Let me tell you about 5 minute workouts.

You no longer have to spend hours in the gym to obtain a rockin’ body. As a matter of fact, when you do visit the gym, you may notice that the girls with the perfect figure, washboard stomach and buns of steel are not so easy to find.  Fitness and over health are not only found in the gym and there is much more to a nice figure than exercise.

5 Minute Workouts-What?

Yep, workouts that will only take you 5 minutes and here’s the Magic Bullet.  My motto, “Find something physical that you enjoy doing and do it often”. Keeping this in mind know that if you just find one or a variety of physical activities that you enjoy doing and experience them often you will reap great physical and emotional benefits. When putting together your 5 minute workouts you have control of mixing it up a bit and bringing spice to an otherwise mundane attitude towards fitness. Walking, dance, swimming, calisthenics, sports.

You name it! If you enjoy it; you’ve got it.  If one of the things listed below are addressed in your 5 minute workout then you are surely on the road towards fitness. Check these out…

1. Cardio Vascular
2. Strength
3. Core
4. Flexibility
5. Endurance
6. Range of motion

Now that you have discovered what areas you want to drive a 5 minute ‘home run’ towards take a look at just a few amazing benefits that will come to you in just 5 minutes.

• Can be done anywhere
• No need for fitness attire
• Saves time
• Reduces stress
• Encourages variety and continued fitness experiences
• Enriches self image
• Affects overall health

Love the idea of only 5 minutes of physical activity but not sure where to start?  Check out my 5 Minute Workouts to help get you fit in no time at all.

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Why so much buzz over Detox Retreats these days?  The answer is quite simple. Obesity, sickness and disease is on the rise.  People are needing to know the answer to what a Detox Retreat can do for your health.

Are you a good candidate for a Detox Retreat?

If you’re living a your hurried lifestyle and it has had an impact on you emotionally, mentally as well as physically. Then a Detox Retreat could and should help to put your life back on track.  A good Detox Retreat will have the knowledge and experience in helping individuals overcome the obstacles that at present they cannot seem to manage. It will answer the question once and for all what a Detox Retreat can do for your Health.

What a Detox Retreat can do for your Health

• Provide you a peaceable environment for you to look at the issues that are negatively impacting your life
• Provide you time and resources to begin preparing you towards a road of wellness
• Have qualified instructors to assist you in the Detox process
• Customize your Detox regimen to address both emotional, physical and even spiritual areas of your life
• Equip you with a “How To” program in order to secure continued success once you’ve returned to home

What one might experience in A Day at a Detox Retreat

Within a short amount of time you will be introduce to easy to understand, comfortable ways to begin enhancing your lifestyle amidst your busyness.  A Detox Retreat will emphasize how diet, exercise, rest and other habits affect you in every area of your life.  You will receive instruction on nutrition, weight loss, stretch and breathing techniques and most of all encouragement as you take this time for yourself; away from it all.  Juice fasts are often available to aid in the detoxification process as well as providing nutrient dense meals.

What a Detox Retreat can do for your health supercedes what goes into your mouth and lost by a sweaty workout out in the gym.  A Detox Retreat will equip you with the tools to be healthy and stay healthy for life.

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Ten year’s passed; now in our 30’s. We would sit around the table almost rolling out of our chairs as we laughed and talked about the men we married and how we were managing to shuffle being a wife, working a full time job (in our desired or not so desired professions), as well as trying to hit the gym two to three times a week. Boasting proudly and knowing full well that we were ‘super women’ because we could do all of these tasks and more.

Bragging about how we could have dinner prepared and placed on the table every night even after managing our own lives and that of our children, with their equally active schedules. Yet during this time, there never once was a conversation where we would not mention how we couldn’t wait to get some ‘me time’, amidst the business of our lives. I remember well how much I contributed to these conversations and was so thankful to have great friends to banter with about the day to day challenges and obstacles of trying to live ‘the dream’.

As we entered our 40’s our table talk had began to shift quite a bit. The conversations where we once laughed and challenged one another to experience life to the full became more sobering. Laughter was replaced with tears being shed over financial burden, weight gain, health concerns and relationship issues. Talk about lives filled with stress took precedence around the very table that used to be a place of relaxation and joy. I listened to my dear friends whom had found themselves stuck in critical areas of their lives. I remember sitting around the table with a sudden realization that I did not fit in “40”. I myself was not being challenged with most of what these close friends were facing.

This sudden realization came as an after affect from a decision that I had made about 10 years earlier. While in my very early thirties, I made a decision to make some lifestyle changes. They were proving themselves to be ever so faithful, as I realized I was alienated from these dear 40’s. I have heard rumor that 50 is now the new 30. Well if this be true; then I guess I’m now a member. I will always remember the table of my 20’s, 30’s and reflect deeply on the table of my 40’s. Now I sit at the table of my 50’s and the question is; do I fit in 50? Did I have a hiccup in my 40’s and time has finally caught up with me? My answer would be, “absolutely, YES”. No, there was not a hiccup in my 40’s. My yes resonates; I fit in 50 because I’m fit in my 50’s. I love sitting around the table of 50’s.

Around this table come decades of wisdom and life experience that the 20 year old table just doesn’t have nor is it necessarily looking for. When I sit around the table with my peers in their 50’s many of them struggle with diseased bodies, obesity and challenges to keep living ‘the dream’; I’m humbled. However I discovered that it is never too late for change and restoration in any area of our lives; be it mind, body or spirit. Nowadays because of the lifestyles of most, I sit at the table of 20’s, 30’s, 40’s or 50’s and meet many who are ‘stuck’, regardless their age.

Conversations most often times direct towards how healthy, young and happy I appear. I’m privileged to share my journey and how initially I changed my diet, to what I call a lifestyle of ‘nutrient intake’. I began eating living whole foods as well as preparing fresh vegetable and fruit juices daily. I chose to eliminate meat and decrease consumption of cooked or processed food. I followed and still do to this day a ‘nutrient intake’ of 80% living fresh food and 20% cooked and/or processed food.

I had always been fairly active and if you would have taken a look at my busy lifestyle you would never question inactivity. However, I began to try different physical activities that I could enjoy as not to get bored (which is a huge issue for me-I’m pretty curious). I experienced water and snow skiing, bicycling, various dance forms, various aerobic forms, weight training, swimming, yoga, tennis, basketball and even Muay Thai kickboxing.

Although, to date I have experienced much much more. Back then I stayed physically active, ate well and began to take inventory of my personal life and lifestyle. I found that making these changes to my life caused me to have physical health and an overall sense of well being. I began to educate myself about how to care for the number one asset that I possessed; ME! As the years proceeded I became a Certified Health Minister and have spent the last 15+ years of my life helping others uncover where they are ‘stuck’.

Joining them in the process to overcome, move forward and discover their health and beauty from the inside out. I found what I believe are the seven (7) key areas of our lives that constitute overall health and personal wellbeing. They are air, water, food, exercise, sunlight, rest and relationships. If we learn how to care for these seven areas of our lives then we will live a life without weight issues, chronic illness, disease, emotional and spiritual turmoil. I jumped for joy (literally) alongside budding models in a recent photo shoot for a young designer launching her “Casually Uncommon” swim wear line. Each of these beauties were young enough to be my children and they were inspired as I shared with them that I know that women have been seeking the fountain of youth for hundreds of decades.

I confessed when I was in my 20’s; this was my desire as well. And even today, I’m fortunate to be able to wear adorable swim wear, just as they are. However, I’ve discovered that the fountain of youth comes from the inside out. I no longer dread the idea of grey hair, wrinkles and age spots that will eventually find their way on to the skin that I love. I’ve learned to care for me, all of me. I look forward to fit in to my 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and even my 90’s.

Feeling confident that each of my days are ordered and that as a good steward of my body, mind and spirit I will reap the benefit of many more incredible years, in hopes of graciously being invited to the table of 100.

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But Krabi does not just take your breath away, it also gives back.  You might say, “What do you mean; it also gives back”?  Krabi, Thailand has some of the freshest air in the North Eastern hemisphere.  The quality of the air has been unspoiled by automobile exhaust and industrial plants oozing waste emissions in to the air. Unaware the entire time you are walking along the beach or drinking a fresh coconut juice under a palm tree, you are providing yourself the number one need of the human body; Air.  A mixture of invisible, odorless, tasteless gases that surround you as simply enjoy your holiday.

Air or Oxygen if you will, is something that you’ve got to have; period.  All that need be done to see the importance of oxygen is to cut off its supply for just a few minutes.  Life can remain without food for a few weeks, without water for a few days, but only a few minutes without oxygen. There is a continual process of taking in air.  Filling our trillions of cells with oxygen then breathing out carbon dioxide; thus removing toxins from our oxygenated body.  The length of human life depends on the quality of air that is breathed in.  Air influences the level of health that is attained throughout your life time.

Endurance building activities often referred to as aerobic exercise is a great way to obtain air.  Aerobic literally means “with oxygen”.  A few aerobic exercises, which can be sustained, are walking, swimming, jogging, dance, jumping rope, etc.  These forms of exercise circulate blood to the muscles along with oxygen to produce energy to perform a physical task, as well as burn fat.

Deep breathing is also a key factor to bringing plenty of air into the lungs.  Sadly, most adults breathe quite shallowly.  Tight clothing, sitting hunched over, sitting sedentary and being under stress produce shallow breathing.  However, this can be reversed.  Here are a few suggestions to help you fill your body with air as you enjoy your time in paradise.

1.  Squeeze and relax each and every muscle from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.  Hold each flex or contraction for approximately 3 seconds, release and go to the next body part. Do this either standing or lying down.  The blood will circulate and drive oxygen throughout your entire body.
2. Deep breathing. Improper breathing causes oxygen deficiency. Use the full capacity of your lungs by expanding both the chest and lower abdomen. This is even better if you are out of doors, where there is better air quality.  Sitting on a mat on the beach is a great location for you to practice this exercise. Begin breathing from your diaphragm.  Keep your shoulders pressed away from your ears and breathe in deep enough to where you feel your lower rib cage increase.  It should pinch just a bit. When exhaling, use your stomach muscles to push the air out as if you are pulling your belly button to the back of your spine.  You want to eliminate all of the air from your lungs before taking in your next breath.  Do this 5 times.
3. Aerobic exercise increases the capacity of the heart to pump blood and increases the capacity of the lungs.  It doesn’t matter what aerobic exercise you do.  No matter what it is, try to start from 5 minutes up to 15/20 minute intervals.  Just have fun, breathing in and out.  Giving your body the number one need that it has; air!
4. Eat smaller nutrient-dense meals as overeating causes oxygen deficiency. Thailand has delicious health food. Consume meals that are easy to digest, not engorging yourself.  You will find that you are not taxing your body and exhausting your oxygen, as your body tries to process your meal.

One more tip as you make your way back to where you call home.

Avoid carbon monoxide.  Simply put; bad stinky air is of no value to your body.  Car exhaust, cigarette smoke, refinery fumes and the like should be avoided when at all possible.

Enjoy your time in the “land of smiles”; now breath…

Zina is the founder of “i AM WOMAN”.  Educating woman to discover their health and beauty from the inside out; overcome weight issues, sickness and disease. Want to know more.  Contact:  info@beautyfromtheinsideout.org

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