Get Fit Tips by Holistic Health Practitioner Dylan Goodrich

Tip 1. Give up sugar

This may be obvious but it’s a sure fire way to turn your diet around and lose a few or lots of pounds. Whether you are doing Atkins, South Beach, or the Paleo diet, what many of these plans have in common and why they are successful is that you give up sugar. For some people however, these diets can be a bit extreme and hard on the body. Unless you need a complete diet overhaul, try just giving up sugar in the form of pastries, desserts and unrefined carbohydrates. Unrefined carbohydrates include white bread, white rice, many breakfast cereals and crackers.  Instead replace sugar with fruit, especially when you have a sugar craving. In winter months look to your freezer section for good quality frozen organic wild blueberries and red raspberries.  My favorite fruit right now to snack on is organic Kiwis. They are packed full of vitamin C, which we need to keep our immune system up in these cold months.  

Tip 2. Add Organic Lemon 

Lemon is also full of vitamin C and have the great power to alkalinize your system. After a month of heavy eating and drinking, lemons will also help cleanse your gut. This in turn will help your skin to glow and also help you to lose weight. Try a cup of warm lemon water in the morning and spritzing lemon juice on your veggies and savory dishes.

Tip 3. Go Organic

Did you know that added hormones in meat and dairy could contribute to weight gain? Added hormones from food can change your personal hormonal profile. In turn, our hormones directly affect the strength our metabolism. Think of how ones weight fluctuates during big hormonal changes such as the step from teen to adult or entering menopause. Hormones affect our weight throughout our life even when not in an obvious life transition.

The Feldenkrais Method for Somatic Education Workshop

Thursday, February 1st, 7 to 8:30pm

Feldenkrais has been trending lately in the New York Times and Huffington Post in its positive effects on the body and mind. If you have ever worked with our physical therapist Caroline Feig, you might think she has magic hands. As it turns out part of her magic comes through her knowledge of Feldenkrais. Whether you’re a novice or have tried Feldenkrais before all are welcome!

Cost: $40 Reservation required

Register as unpaid through our Mindbody Reservation System. Click "Enrollment" tab to sign up for workshop."

Read the New York Times most emailed and shared article on the topic.

Workshop: Stay Pain-Free

Self-Care Secrets from a Master Bodyworker

It’s hard to see ourselves clearly. Our bodies don’t come with a user’s manual and what we call Physical Education doesn’t really teach us much about how our bodies work and how to care for them.  This class aims to fill that gap.

Working with thousands of clients over three decades of professional practice as well as with his own physical challenges, Stuart Garber has cultivated an expertise in supporting people in developing more comfort, ease and freedom in their embodied lives.

Come join us for a playful and informative experiential tour through your body-being.  We’ll explore basic practices to help you stay balanced and pain-free for the long-haul, weaving:

• Movement practices
• Self-Massage
• Breath Work and 
• Mindfulness-based heart-centered awareness practices integrating cutting edge insights from neuroscience and more

Geared for students at all levels of fitness, this class will be of special value to those seeking support in speeding recovery from accidents, illnesses and surgeries or living with chronic conditions.

Saturday December 2nd 3-5pm

Reservation required-Cost $40

You can sign up for this workshop through our Mindbody reservation system. Once you have logged into Mindbody, click “Enrollment” tab to reserve and pay for your spot.

*Full refunds for reservations canceled within 24 hours of workshop.

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Stuart Garber is a New York State Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Polarity Therapy and Shamanic Reiki Practitioner with close to 30 years of professional training and practice. He has worked on the staff of the Ostrow Institute for Pain Management and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s Integrative Medicine Program.  In addition to his bodywork practice, Full-Spectrum Touch Healing Journeys, Stuart leads classes and day retreats in meditation, self-massage, and body-centered stress management and self-discovery, as well as advanced bodywork and counseling skills for massage therapists. 

fullspectrumtouch.com

Create Your Life by Design Workshop with Katie Vason

Photo by Anthony Collins

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Ontological coaching is the study of being- the idea that who you are being can change everything. It is a methodology for creating effective change for individuals, teams and organizations. Rooted in the idea that clarity around purpose, intention and awareness of one’s being is the catalyst for lasting change, that who you are being is more important then the all the doing we often find ourselves in. 

When I decided to take on Accomplishment coaching’s year long training program, I knew I wanted to access more tools in order to support people in creating effective change in their lives but I was also knew I craved a personal kind of transformation that would enable me to tap in to my full potential, both personally and professionally. Deep down, I knew I wanted a change, one that would support me in accessing all that I have to give.  I was a little hesitant, uncertain and skeptical but the idea of possibility far outweighed any skepticism or fear.  I needed to take a chance. 

And boy I am glad I did! Through working with my own coach over the past year while going through the program, I have experienced tremendous growth in moving forward- not only was I able to graduate from a rigorous training program, but I also found my voice, created a coaching business, rekindled my passion for environmental issues and through my own coach’s support, was able to successfully enroll an entire organization in changing their water bottle policy by switching to more sustainable options. This change all started from looking at who I was being, who I wanted to be and my bottom line commitments. 

Much like working one on one sessions with a Pilates instructor or personal trainer where the instructor has an outsiders perspective, working with a coach is about working towards goals, creating breakthroughs that lead to more possibility and incite that might not be as accessible on one’s own. A coach serves as an accountability partner in supporting the client’s bigger vision. 

I love working with clients one on one in this way- it is an honor to support them in creating a life that reflects what they truly want. Sound like something you might be interested in? Come check out the workshop on November 7th! Here is a testimonial from an amazing client:

“Katie Vason has served as an inspiration to me since the moment we met. Her enthusiasm for life, her welcoming and warm heart, and her passionate drive towards her ambitions become contagious in her presence. 

While I've known Katie for a number of years now, I have worked with her specifically as a life coach for three months. In that time, she has filled my life with gentle but fervent encouragement, questions that continually provoke further thought and investigation, and support in the face of challenge and much change. I so look forward to our weekly sessions, as I know that I will walk away feeling more centered, grounded, and energized and prepared to work towards the change I seek in my life. She meets my requests with thoughtfulness and always ensures that I leave our session feeling empowered.

I am so grateful for her diligence in our work together, her kindness and accessibility as she listens and offers her support, and to have someone I can confide my dreams in and gain help from in the makings of those dreams. Katie is an incredible coach, and I'm sure she will only continue in her growth in this field, benefitting herself and others along the way.” - LB

Surfs Up!

Why take a surfing workshop?

• Because at Pilates Garage we do a lot of balance work in our classes and it is a fun new way to explore balance and how it relates to your core strength.
• Because our backs are tight and rolled forward in our work and/orhobbies and surfing really works to open up the chest, strengthen the shoulders and the back so you can paddle your board out and catch a wave.
• Because core stability in relation to your limbs is needed to paddle out and then stand up on the board and we all need to work on that.
• Because endurance is neededto paddle out and catch waves and we could all use some more endurance.

Surfing entered my life when a friend took me down to the jersey shore for my 40th birthday. I did not stand higher then my knees but I did catch some waves and the awesomeness of being in sync with the power of the ocean was pretty incredible.

We went to Costa Rica for surf camp. The highlight was that I caught and rode a 6 foot wave and I came home with a surf board. 

A couple years later, a regular client who knew I had been surfing asked me to train her for surf camp. We had about 4 months. It was a lot of Pilates work in surf type positions. She went to camp and was the only one still standing after the first lesson. The only one without aches and pains the whole week. Yes she worked hard and we had a blast. I did a Surfs Up workshop after that and we had tons of fun. Only one person was actually a surfer in that group.

Think of this workshop as a fun way to explore and play with balance and discover how your core can aid in stability.

Even if you don't plan to catch a real ocean wave, come catch a roller wave in Surf's Up.

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Surfers of all ages... 60, 70 and 80.... Not everyone has to do crazy huge waves... Gentle waves are awesome!

Read the story on the health benefits of surfing in the Surfing Handbook blog.

What's Up?

So much depends on who you are asking! But in the Pilates Garage lately there has been a lot of refinement of what the direction Up means to the body. In our combined knowledge of Pilates, Alexander and from Caroline Feig, our PT and Feldenkreis practitioner, Up means awareness of the body in multiple dimensions and movements.
One thing is clear:  Up doesn't pull you down.

Here are three experiments you can play with at home or in the studio:

1. Standing on the floor. Notice if your pelvis is dropped or weighted down on your legs. Ask your legs not to pull down on your pelvis. You could also ask your pelvis to float on your legs.

2. From standing, lift up your heels or releve up onto your toes or the balls of your feet.
(You can place one hand on a wall for balance) How did you come up? Did your pelvis push forward first? What is it to come straight up rather than hanging forward in your lower back or hips? What needs to shift for you to go straight up?

3. Lie prone on the floor. Tuck one set of toes under. Begin to straighten that knee using your low quad muscles just above the knee. Notice if you stay balanced in the pelvis as you straighten or if your pelvis drops and presses down as you extend the knee. What would it be like if the knee extension gave a support up into the hip and all the way up through the top of the spine?

We look forward to exploring all about "Up" in the upcoming workshop.

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Workshop: WHAT'S UP? Monday June 6 at 7.30PM

Owner of studio Margi Douglas and senior teacher Theresa Squire will co-teach a 1.5 hour workshop using mats and equipment to help clients explore finding more buoyancy, ease and support from the ground up. Participants will be learning through movement so come prepared to work out and get lighter.

Read this story on "Two exercises to improve health of our feet - most overlooked part of human body" in South China Morning Post which has inspired a part of our What's Up workshop.