Category: Monthly Motivation

Should you take regular days off to recover? This is a key question and one I cover in detail in today’s show. Resting for a day a week for elite athletes helps the immune system recover from the demands placed on it through vigorous workouts during the week. Mental and physical recovery is therefore imperative for elite athletes. However, a day off is still important for the rest of us, though it is more to recuperate mental health than anything else.

Resting our bodies to relax our minds. You don’t need a recovery day for your body if you’re not placing acute demands on your bodies. However, when you place too much physical stress on your body, you need to make plans to have a physical recovery day. By upping the frequency of an activity, you may need to consider that recovery day, depending on the frequency and strenuous nature of the activity.

We are designed to keep moving, every day. Not necessarily at the same high level, but even walk, swim a little bit on our recovery day. I’m a great advocate of listening. Listening to your body and mental health. Taking that rest if it’s needed. Differentiate through between listening and just falling into a habit of doing nothing.

• Listen to your body and your mind.

• Have a recovery day if you are (a) increasing your stress load or (b) increasing the frequency of heavy exercise.

• Starting up with a new strenuous activity.

• Consider a recovery day for mental quietness. Perhaps a day where you remove yourself almost entirely from screens. Connect with nature and people.

Resources:

• Check out: movementbylara.com
• Instagram: @lara.heimann
• Facebook: facebook.com/movementbylara

I always love the idea of setting a goal and getting there and today I talk of our goal of breaking the world record of the number of people doing handstands simultaneously in one area. 

I don’t just mention this flippantly. I have seen how handstands can change people. How they have gained their sense of self-worth and confidence and changed their lives in accordance with these new-found realizations. All through the exercise of getting on your hands.

We have the opportunity now, to set the world record for the highest number of people doing handstands in one place, at the same time. It’ll be on Saturday, August 3 in New York City and will be a huge event. A 30-minute yoga class before to warm us up. Please come out to the world record attempt if you’re around! All details to register are on our online website.

In the meantime practice your handstands!

Resources:

• Check out: movementbylara.com
• Instagram: @lara.heimann
• Facebook: facebook.com/movementbylara

Sometimes transitioning back to reality after a break is difficult. Returning from a hike is always a bittersweet moment for me and I’ve constructed this episode around those moments when you need to return to your day-to-day life after being away for a while. I travel a lot and transitioning back to “reality” is something I do a great deal of. Here are my tips that make transitioning back far easier.

1. Embrace the end of the phase you were in. The first thing is to “mourn” the end of the break. Allow yourself a short amount of time to feel sad that you are no longer on vacation (for example). Learn to be OK with the sadness of endings. This will help with the transition.
2. Make a list of what you’re grateful for. Make an internal list of all those things that you’ve missed while you’ve been away. Those things for which you are grateful to return. This gets easier the more you transition.
3. Decide if there is anything you can bring back to ordinary life. This third step is where you (for example) go on a retreat and become a different person. Can you bring back things you’ve learned in your daily life? This combines the memory of the break with an improved everyday reality.

Resources:

• Check out: movementbylara.com
• Instagram: @lara.heimann
• Facebook: facebook.com/movementbylara

How do you deal with that concept, so often used by children, of continually asking “Are we there yet?” Rather than constantly thinking of our destination, it’s more constructive for us to focus on the present moment. The big question is: “How do we do this?”

If we can be more present, stay in the moment, it will help us mentally. There are so many things for which we need patience. While it’s human to be impatient, doing so doesn’t help. We use techniques in our hikes that have helped in the past and we continue to use in our walks to develop that “present moment” strategy. These are as follows:

• Taking breaths. The mere act of taking bigger breaths, also the counting of the breaths, can help you return to the state of being present. Take a moment and breathe fully and consciously. This revitalises your energy and brings your mind into a clearer focus.
• Engage your mind. Do an activity that will help bring your mind fully into the present and gives you a boost of energy at the same time. One example, when you’re hiking or even in a car, is to sing a song! The repetitive nature of the song is like a metronome that hooks you into the present moment. It feeds the spirit so you can continue.
• Use the journey/hike to learn something. Such as memorising a poem. Instead of just being on electronics in a long car trip, practise learning lines of a play. Create a story!

All of these are productive and lovely ways to engage our brains and focus them in the present moment.

Also, try to negotiate with yourself if you’re on a big project. For example, say you’ll sit down and have a snack in ten minutes. Break down (say a hike) into parts. Give yourself and your kids a reward. Treat yourself to get yourself out of the moment where you are being dragged down.

Use these mind tools where you have any project where there is a quality of endurance.  

Resources:

• Check out: movementbylara.com
• Instagram: @lara.heimann
• Facebook: facebook.com/movementbylara

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have used music as a way of connecting to their spirit and community. Music has been a central part of our civilization and has always had the power to move — and even change — us.

Often we can put on a piece of music and find that it changes our emotional feeling. So what is it that is changed? Some are more tuned in to these changes than others. I grew up with music. My grandmother was a classical pianist and she would often visit and play for hours. I was also classically trained.

There was something so connective about growing up with various forms of music and dance for me. Something about music with a strong primal drum beat moves me. Now I play songs in my yoga class and create a specific class called “Fire” which is a mashup of classical yoga and high-intensity training. The music is a central part of this class.

All my classes have music that is crafted to the experience of the participants. It’s essential to the movement experience. However, just creating a playlist of music that you like for a yoga class doesn’t necessarily work. I find the music used with a yoga class needs to be a blend of instrumental and those with vocals. This helps the music act as a guide for how the yoga movement will feel.  

For ideas on the type of music that works, go to my Spotify playlist.

Music also plays an important role in hiking, though the songs are usually upbeat. One song I love, particularly when I’m fatigued is by Snap, “The Power”. Others are “It’s Tricky” by Run DMC, “I Got a Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas and “A Little Respect” by Erasure.

It’s important to have your own playlist that you can pull out when you feel less than stellar. Remember music is a fundamental part of spirit expression.

Resources:

• Check out: movementbylara.com
• Instagram: @lara.heimann
• Facebook: facebook.com/movementbylara

I love the word compassion, it holds such a deep meaning to me! Compassion is having a desire to do something about the sadness that you feel for a person, cause, or event that is upsetting to you in order to alleviate the suffering. In today’s episode, I’m sharing the compassion that I feel and what I’m doing about it, and I know it will inspire you to get out there and do something out of compassion, too!

Over the past 20 years, my family has been using compassion as our fuel to try and bring attention to causes that are very near and dear to our hearts. I know that I’ve grown stronger mentally, physically, and spiritually ever since putting my compassion to action.

Don’t forget to join the #TSBT challenge!

Resources:

• Check out: movementbylara.com ; c2c4compassion.com
• Instagram: @lara.heimann
• Facebook: facebook.com/movementbylara

Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!

Showing up is a constant thread for me, and lately the idea of truly showing up has come into play in a lot of ways in my life. Showing up is a movement, an action, and an intention that we shouldn’t take lightly. Today’s podcast episode is a calling for us all to show up in bigger ways.

I am especially enthusiastic, and I say yes to a lot of things, but I’ve found that as that event came closer, I would be exhausted by the idea of carrying through with it. If you begin to develop a “hell yes” attitude, it will help you realize just what you do want to show up for, and what you’ll say yes to doing.

How are you showing up in your life? Are you afraid of what people are thinking about you? Who are you showing up for? What are you showing up for? When are you going to show up?

Resources:

• Check out: movementbylara.com
• Instagram: @lara.heimann
• Facebook: facebook.com/movementbylara

Today’s episode is sponsored my LYT Daily online yoga classes. This is an exclusive pass into my personal practice and program that I created from my experience as a physical therapist and 20 years developing my LYT yoga methodology. There is a different class with me everyday – including special monthly live streams – so you can feel your most LYT up – anytime and anywhere. Get a 3 day free trial today by going to movementbylara.com and clicking “daily classes.” Let’s get moving!