The tortoise vs. the hare

A few weeks ago we began our Optimal Wellness Provisions series on Fitness. In this series, we outlined the output side of the Optimal Wellness hourglass, talked about getting enough sleep, talked about using breathing techniques and laughter to enhance your fitness, and talked about savoring the beauty in life to enhance your fitness.

In the May 3rd NY Times, there was an interesting article, titled "A Healthy Mix of Rest and Motion" that reported on the finding that "for at least one workout a week it pays to be both tortoise and hare — alternating short bursts of high-intensity exercise with easy-does-it recovery." The article mentions that "a workout with steep peaks and valleys can dramatically improve cardiovascular fitness and raise the body’s potential to burn fat." This claim is backed by a 2005 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

We at Life Trek Coaching are big proponents of this form of training, frequently referred to as "interval training." As was stated in Provision #503: Fitness 401, the use of interval training is at the root of the Optimal Wellness prototype:

"The secret of their fitness was not continuous activity. The secret was oscillating between activity and rest, including lots of sleep. Their activity-rest pattern meant that they were frequently raising and lowering their heart rates, promoting the very thing that researchers are now increasingly documenting as evidence of optimal wellness: heart rate variability (HRV).

As a diagnostic measure, and for personal training purposes, HRV refers to the variability of the heart rate at rest. The more variability, the more vitality. The less variability, the closer we are to death. Literally. As we age, HRV declines until it becomes a flat line. From beat to beat to beat, there are little to no variations. When that happens, the life force is on its way out.

Although biofeedback training is one way to increase HRV, it's also helpful to significantly increase and decrease the heart rate beyond its baseline through exercise and relaxation. These large swings in HRV, when practiced daily, are the natural healing rhythms that lead to optimal wellness.

That's why the output side of the Optimal Wellness Prototype Click includes both invigoration and relaxation exercises. We need to do both, at regular intervals and spontaneously through the day, in order to tap into our body's natural potential and inclination for wellness. It's the rhythm between work and rest, not just the workout, that determines our fitness."

Question: Are you incorporating interval training into your fitness regimen and lifestyle?

Business Blogging

The Dilbert comic from April 26, 2007 is a witty demonstration of the similar relationship between Bob Tschannen-Moran and his "ghost blogger," Michelle. :)

Non-violence

Here at LifeTrek Coaching, a passion of ours is passing along the teachings of non-violence, particularly non-violent communication. Since 2006, we've been inspired by the works of Marshall Rosenberg of The Center for Non-Violent Communication. According to Rosenberg, non-violent communication:

"helps connect us with what is alive in ourselves and in others moment-to-moment, with what we or others could do to make life more wonderful, and with an awareness of what gets in the way of natural giving and receiving."

We have begun incorporating the teachings of non-violent communication into our work as coaches and hope to inspire you to begin communicating in a non-violent manner.

The April issue of Ode Magazine helped bring the concept of non-violence to the 21st century in an article titled, "Give Non-violence a Chance." In this article, Mark Kurlansky examines the power of non-violence through an historical context. Kurlansky concludes the article by asking the reader:

"But what if we lived in a world that had no word for war other than non-peace? It would not necessarily be a world without war, but it would be a world that regarded war as an aberrant and insignificant activity. What kind of world would that be?"

For more information on how you can work with a LifeTrek coach to incorporate non-violence and non-violent communication into your life, contact LifeTrek Founder and President, Bob Tschannen-Moran at Coach@LifeTrekCoaching.com.

The NY Times

The NY Times has really kept us on our toes the past few weeks.

On April 15, 2007, the lead article for the NY Times Magazine was by Thomas Friedman, author of "The World is Flat." In his article titled, "The Power of Green," Friedman evaluates the idea of how the US can regain it's international stature by becoming a green nation. Friedman states:

"In the world of idea, to name something is to own it. If you can name an issue, you can own the issue. One thing that always struck me about the term "green" was the degree to which, for so many years, it was defined by its opponents-- by the people who wanted to disparge it. And they defined it as "liberal," "tree-hugging," "sissy," "girlie-man," "unpatriotic, "vaguely French." Well, I want to rename "green." I want to rename it geostrategic, geoeconomic, capitalistic and patriotic. I want to do that because I think that living, working, designing, manufacturing and projecting America in a green way can be the basis of a new unifying political movement for the 21st century."

In addition to his article, Friedman also explains his unique perspective in a brief video.

On April 22, 2007, Earth Day, Michael Pollan once again shared his thoughts on food in America. In his article titled, "You Are What You Grow," Pollan examines why highly-processed foods cost less than fresh foods. Pollan states:

"Compared with a bunch of carrots, a package of Twinkies, to take one iconic processed foodlike substance as an example, is a highly complicated, high-tech piece of manufacture, involving no fewer than 39 ingredients, many themselves elaborately manufactured, as well as the packaging and a hefty marketing budget. So how can the supermarket possibly sell a pair of these synthetic cream-filled pseudocakes for less than a bunch of roots?"

A different article on the 22nd highlighted the use of eco-friendly cleaning products by NY Socialites. The article, titled "Eco-Socialites Make Cleaning Green a Priority," highlighted how eco-friendly products are slowly becoming trendy:

"Trend sensitives as finely attuned to a cause as they are to the charms of Hermes paddock boots, Ms. Barnett's guests seemed to share her conviction that in this day of fervent eco-consciousness, one can never be too green."

For more information on healthy eating habits, check out the Life Trek Wellness Provision series beginning with Provision #471: Nutrition 401.

Remembering to Laugh

To accentuate today's Provision, we have included a link to the audio file of the speech Nikki Giovanni gave during the Virginia Tech convocation on Tuesday, April 17th. Listen along as Giovanni encourages the Virginia Tech community to remain united as one and to have the courage to laugh again.

March Recap

It's been nearly a month since our last posting and we've come across a fair amount of intriguing articles during that time. The following is our brief synthesis of the articles that made us think this month:

Time Magazine debuted a cover story on the issue of organic vs. local produce on March 2nd.
NPR examined the release of a new "heart health" study on March 28th.
The NY Times looked at the issue of "being too busy" on March 31st.
At the end of the month, Ode Magazine did a piece on the "world's happiest man."

Healthy Eating

As we've stated before, here at LifeTrek we're big fans of Michael Pollan's work, The Omnivore's Dilemma. We referred to Pollan's work when we created our Marvelous Menus, when we talked about Planetary Predicaments, and also when we discussed Trojan Foods. The Omnivore's Dilemma has been a catalyst for the way we think about healthy eating here at LifeTrek.

To better highlight some of the key points in this book, view Pollan's interview on the Amazon.com program "Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher". In this interview, Pollan highlights why Americans' health is sufferring due to how they eat.

For more information from LifeTrek about healthy eating, read the Optimal Wellness series starting with Provision #471: Nutrition 401. Also of interest, the Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise series (1), starting with Provision #284: Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise.

Happiness

At LifeTrek Coaching International, our motto is "Celebrate the best for exceptional results." We work with you to "celebrate the best to bring out the best in individuals, schools, congregations, companies, and organizations." We also "enable people and organizations to move forward quickly and successfully in the directions of their dreams."

At the root of this work, is helping you to find and tap into your own happiness. We've talked about making well-made choices that "contribute to both (your) happiness and the happiness of the world," creating fan club moments by "help(ing) others to feel heard and (by) show(ing) true interest in their happiness and success," as well as balancing saying 'yes' and 'no' in order to "create an enduring Work/Life balance, greater performance, and happiness" amongst other aspects of happiness. As a whole, happiness plays a large role in the work we do.

Recently, NPR added a new essay to their This I Believe series that focused on the power of happiness. This I Believe is a "national media project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives." This new essay was written and read by Wayne Coyne, a singer in the band The Flaming Lips. In his essay, Coyne states "Happiness is not a situation to be longed for or a convergence of lucky happenstance. Through the power of our own minds, we can help ourselves. This I believe."

Listen to Coyne's essay and tell us what happiness means to you. Where do you find happiness? How do you share happiness with others? Can we create our own happiness? What role does happiness play in your life?

For more information on bringing happiness into your life, start with LifeTrek Provision #152: Am I Happy?

Heart Health

At LifeTrek Coaching International we talk a lot about our hearts. We talk about eating a "heart-healthy diet," "exercising leadership with backbone and heart," and "attending to what your own heart is saying." We've even talked about Bob's struggles with his own congenital heart valve defect. Being as our hearts are at the center of our lives, it's seemingly unavoidable to discuss them every now and then.

The feature story in National Geographic Magazing in February was an informative article on the topic of heart disease. The article looks at this epidemic and how science is looking for better ways to mend broken hearts across the globe:

"Cheeseburgers, smoking, stress, the rise of the couch potato: These are the usual suspects on the list of risk factors for heart disease, a malady reaching global epidemic proportions. Now discoveries about genetic triggers may help us spot trouble before it starts. "

As you read, however, don't forget that prevention is cheaper than rehabilitation. For more information on keeping your heart healthy, read the LifeTrek series on Optimal Wellness, starting with Provision #471: Nutrition 401.

Nutrition 401

A recent article in The New York Times Magazine by Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma), titled Unhappy Meals touched base on many of the nutritional aspects found in the Optimal Wellness Prototype. Pollan stated:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy. I hate to give away the game right here at the beginning of a long essay, and I confess that I'm tempted to complicate matters in the interest of keeping things going for a few thousand more words. I'll try to resist but will go ahead and add a couple more details to flesh out the advice. Like: A little meat won't kill you, though it's better approached as a side dish than as a main. And you're better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That's what I mean by the recommendation to eat 'food.' Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages festooned with health claims, which brings me to a related rule of thumb: if you're concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it's not really food, and food is what you want to eat."

For more information on nutrition, read through the LifeTrek series "Optimal Wellness -- What Goes In," starting with Provision #471: Nutrition 401.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Unlike Dilbert's co-worker, are you remembering to make S.M.A.R.T. goals? Don't forget to create goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.

For more information on S.M.A.R.T. goals, read through Provision # 496: S.M.A.R.T. Goals.