Making the Transition from Winter to Spring

It’s almost that time of year when you finally open up your windows, clean out your closets, and take in the fresh pulse of life nature brings after a long, dark winter. As we count the days until warmer weather, we witness the Earth’s remarkable transformation, unfolding in stages, like a graceful dance.

Unlike nature, however, we as individuals tend to transition less smoothly into spring vitality.  Most often we find ourselves feeling tired and heavy, aching to feel health and balance. It is in our human nature to be so incredibly consumed in our day-to-day routines that we ignore the changes and needs of our bodies.  

Where is our grace?

Ayurveda, one of the world’s oldest healing systems, dates back to ancient Sanskrit texts, the Vedas, written some 5,000 years ago. This system examines the physical constitution, the emotional being and the spiritual outlook of the universe.  According to this system, the universe is made up of three different energies known as the Tridoshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha.  Every being from the moment they are born gains a unique set of these forces.  Though we all retain some of each, many times we develop one or two dominate forces.

As we attempt to keep in step with the changes of mother earth, we find these forces (our Doshas) fluctuate without hope of control, affecting our health on many different levels. The most common time of the year when these imbalances occur is in the transition between winter and spring.
Kapha is the dominate force in the winter season. The characteristics of Kapha include heaviness, softness, sweetness, cold, stability and unctuousness. During winter, Kapha tends to accumulate, leaving most with weight gain, depression, and heavy, sluggish feelings. Merging into spring, it is important to check the accumulation of Kapha and put it back in balance.

The primary lifestyle recommendation for balancing Kapha is to get moving. Physically, get some exercise every single day. Mentally, challenge yourself with new activities—learn a new skill, solve some puzzles or take a class.

Diet is crucial – do not skip meals, and do not fast. Not eating on time slows down your metabolism, encouraging the Kapha qualities of heaviness and stability- perfect for hibernation, but not for spring awakenings. Start your day with a light breakfast, eat a sustaining meal at lunch, and a lighter meal for dinner.

To put the Kapha quality of unctuousness in proportion, deep-cleanse oily skin twice a day with a natural cleanser to rid the skin of surface impurities and grime. Once a week, exfoliate your body with a cleansing scrub, and once a month, treat yourself to a revitalizing facial.
Spring time is one of the most beautiful and dynamic times of the year.  Its gift of life and energy is enough to lift any head in search of a more happy and healthful life.

Ask COMPLETE body and spa for a holistic practitioner who can give you a comprehensive, tailored Ayurvedic prescription for this coming spring season. The beauty of Ayurveda is its ability to take each body and mind, recognize it, nourish it, and make peace of it.  Find the time in your days to slow down and listen.  Year round, mother earth provides us with tools and energies for dancing with her rhythm.  This spring take it upon yourself to reap the many benefits Ayurveda has to offer and open yourself up to a healthier, more peaceful way of life.

By Alina Darrah

Moreover, treat yourself to snacks between main meals, such as fiber bars and trail mix (nuts are rich in Omega 3 and other healthy fats necessary for the body).  Also, low-fat yogurt and fresh fruit is a great choice as a nutritious and satiating snack.Beyond all this, it’s very important to drink plenty of water throughout the day even during cool weather (not just when it’s 80 degrees outside!). Water helps keep your appetite at bay, since thirst is often confused with hunger.
For more nutrition and diet counseling, feel free to reach out to me or any of the other COMPLETE™ body & spa trainers- we always integrate nutrition counseling into our training programs, and we consider ourselves your professional resource for a healthy and happy body.

Dinu is a dedicated and skillful personal trainer with more than five years experience delivering personal training services that ensure clients receive personal attention, motivation, and professional, state-of-the-art exercise instruction. He has helped many clients change their lives with COMPLETE body, always developing a personalized fitness program to ensure the best results out of every individual.

With several more relative benefits to all gym goers, more training programs are rooted in functional design.

As there is a premise to every exercise, it is important that fundamental progressions must be understood and mastered prior to engaging in advanced movements. Check out the below example of a “Lateral Squat to Knee Raise”, which is an easy exercise for beginners but can also be progressed to a level of difficulty that is formidable for any functional regiment.

Beginner – Execute a lateral squat to knee raise keeping the non-balancing leg raised for 1 to 2 seconds.

Intermediate – Execute a lateral squat to knee raise on an (Airex or Versa Balance Pad) keeping the non-balancing leg raised for 1 to 2 seconds.

Advanced – Execute a lateral squat to knee raise on an (Airex or Versa Balance Pad), holding Dumbell weights of your choice, keeping the non-balancing leg raised for 1 to 2 seconds.

Lateral Squats help build overall stability and strength in your glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps. They also help by adding diversity and body awareness in a plane of motion which is rarely addressed.

As a former collegiate athlete I value the importance of a robust exercise program. Incorporating a few challenging moves will help any weekend warrior to develop a better fitness level. Take your workouts to task with lateral movements and expand your exercise portfolio.

1. Eat for Two (Your heart and you!)
While there are many different specific diets that you can follow to provide your heart with a strong source of nutrients and sustenance, there are also several smaller, simpler changes in your diet that can help reduce the risk of heart disease.  Cutting trans fats and saturated fats from your diet is the first big step because these particular types of fat not only raise the levels of Low-Density Lipoprotein (‘bad’ cholesterol)but they also lower your levels of High-Density Lipoprotein (‘good’ cholesterol).  Foods that are heavy in these fats are beef, cheese,  butter, milk and coconut oil, so it best to try and keep these in moderation.  In addition, adding five to ten servings of fruit and vegetables throughout your day can help keep your heart (and the rest of your body too) running and feeling stronger.

2. Quit Smoking
Due to the many harmful chemicals in cigarettes as well as the inhalation of smoke, smoking cigarettes, cigars, or even pipes greatly increase the chances of heart disease.  The nicotine in cigarettes narrows your blood vessels, and the carbon monoxide in the smoke replaces a portion of the oxygen normally travelling through your blood both of which force your heart to work harder immediately upon inhalation.  The many other chemicals in cigarettes also lead to a narrowing of arteries that increases your risk of heart attacks more and more dramatically the longer you smoke.
Quitting smoking has an immediate and beneficial impact on your heart and within such a short time as a year can greatly reduce your risk of heart disease, so please, quit today.

3. Exercise
Staying physically fit, and getting regular exercise are the two best proactive ways to prevent heart disease, and there are more options than ever for us to pursue an active lifestyle.  Either with the assistance of a personal trainer or by yourself, whether taking group exercise classes or just going for a run, there is no better treatment for your heart than putting it through a good workout.

4. Watch Your Weight
As we put on weight throughout adulthood, most of that weight gain is fat as opposed to muscle.  Carrying around this extra weight not only forces your heart to work harder than it’s accustomed to compensate, as well as putting you at a greater risk for cardiovascular diseases and other conditions like diabetes.  Two ways of determining if you’re overweight or not are by determining your Body Mass Index (BMI) or by taking a simple waist measurement.  Your BMI considers both your height and weight to determine whether or not you have an unhealthy amount of body fat, and can provide you with more specific  details about your body while the waist measurement follows a much easier do it yourself method.  In general, the average male is considered overweight if their waist size is larger than 40 inches while for women the number is 35 inches.  These are obviously subject to change in individual cases, but are basic barometers for accurately judging your own physical well-being.

5. Schedule Regular Check-Ups
High blood pressure and cholesterol are just a few of numerous other conditions affecting our hearts and bodies that we may not notice on an everyday basis.  This is why it’s important to regularly visit your physician for a simple exam and blood work.  Doing so, while taking so little time, will pay off exponentially for you.
There are no sure fire ways to prevent yourself from being susceptible to heart disease, but these changes in your lifestyle will dramatically improve your chances against our nation’s greatest medical threat.  So starting today, treat your heart the way it deserves (and needs) to be treated- with care and respect.

It’s easy to stay indoors during the winter, relaxing in front of a fire, reading a book. But for many this means the end of most of their sources of cardiovascular exercise. For runners who aren’t fans of treadmills, and for bikers and rollerbladers who find the park an icy gauntlet- we’ve got some suggestions to help keep you active, and healthy and also having fun.

Skiing

Both Alpine skiing and cross country skiing are excellent ways to get a great cardio workout while working your legs, arms and core. For those looking to slim or tone their glutes, the prolonged squatting posture of sitting down into your turns will make alpine skiing especially rewarding, while the workout that your arms and legs will get skulling on cross country skis will certainly have you feeling the burn.

Snowboarding

The balance and power of a snowboarder comes from their core and their legs, and challenging yourself to learn this offshoot off traditional downhill wintersports becomes an even better idea once you see the results reflected in that new six-pack you’re sporting…

Snowshoeing

While you may think of snowshoeing as something your parents (or perhaps even theirs) might have done, it’s a fantastic replacement for running and jogging, as advancements in the design of snowshoes have brought them into the 21st century. No more wood and wicker, these new shoes offer a better tread, and easier range of motion making running a breeze.

Sledding

Tried and true, nothing is more enjoyable in the winter months than grabbing a toboggan- or anything really- and going for a tumble down a snowy hillside. Sledding may seem like mindless, and childish fun, but see how your legs feel about that once you hike (or run) back up the hill ten to fifteen times!

So whether you want to make an adventurous day out to the slopes, or merely just ride the train up to Central Park, there’s plenty of fun, healthy (and tiring!) options for you to enjoy during the brightest, whitest time of the year!

Taking shorter, cooler showers is the first step.  While nothing feels better than hopping into a hot tub or shower after a cold walk home, in reality, the chemicals in the water combined with the heat are only doing your skin a disservice.   Additionally, moisturizing your skin regularly is key to helping your body beat the cold.  Applying lotion while your skin is still damp after bathing provides a simple day-to-day remedy for locking every bit of moisture into your skin you can as well.Spa treatments such as paraffin baths, and body wraps seal moisture into your skin while drawing out any impurities there might be, while professional scrubs slough off dead skin and nourish the fresh new layers underneath.

Added benefits to these treatments are that body wraps are designed to also soften the feel of your skin, while highlighting the shape of your natural curves.In addition, mud body wraps have also been known to tighten and firm up the entire body.  Due to the toxins entering our system daily, each of our cells becomes surrounded by liquid to neutralize the effects of those toxins on our system.  Over time this fluid becomes cellulite.  The mud in the body wrap helps open up the pores and the wrap itself absorbs any fluids that are released.  The wrap then squeezes the cells together, closing up the spaces where the extraneous fluid once was.  This leaves you feeling lighter, tighter and leaner.

Aside from professional treatments, there are a few extra little things you can do to help your skin look and feel it’s best.  Purchasing a humidifier to help moisturize the air while you sleep, or applying sunscreen when you go outside are two simple, everyday solutions that will help you avoid dry, itchy skin. Following these simple rules, you’ll find the only thing left to worry about in the cold is a runny nose, so stay warm!

People work out for years and never achieve the physique they want.  If you were to ask them how hard they work out, many of  them would say very hard.  If you asked them about their diet some would say they eat a very clean diet.  If you asked how many of them do cardio, you would again hear many say, they do plenty of cardio.  How many of these people can honestly answer and say they do resistance training, eat properly, and do cardio?  The answer would be not many. The people that did all three of these things would be obvious, due to their outstanding physical development.  Having the proper balance of these three components of fitness creates a synergistic effect, the result being a physique that any workout enthusiast would kill for.  If this was an easy endeavor everyone would look great. Just remember with dedication and the the proper knowledge of sound exercise principles you to could not only look great, but you can also feel great.  Until next time,

“Captain” Kirk Wassong

A few weeks ago I was looking through a book of patterns when I came across one for a beautiful sweater.  Before I could convince myself that I couldn’t make it, I scribbled down the first line of instructions and shut the book. I bought new yarn and completed that first task. Then I copied out the next instruction and ignored the remaining four pages of pattern code.  I kept working this way, line by line and stitch by stitch, until the garment began to take shape.

Particularly now, when we set lofty goals & resolutions for the New Year, it’s important to remember that if we can just persevere through one task at a time, eventually we’ll reach our goals. Whether you want to start a yoga practice, run a marathon, or crochet a sweater, the same rule applies: stay focused on the individual components that make up the bigger picture, and soon enough you will have created a masterpiece.

As for that sweater? I’m wearing it right now.

Becca Faith Grossman has certifications from Yoga Synthesis and OM Yoga, and carries a BA and MA in English Literature from NYU.

Many people are experiencing higher amounts of stress during these trying times.  Constant fear of an unstable economy creates increased tension and fatigue.

We need to take a step back and remember that one of the most important aspects of our life is our health and well-being. As stress builds, tension is increased, your mood can be unstable and one’s overall general health begins to diminish. You need to allow a continuous healthy outlet from a recent and long-term build up of stress to better maintain mental, physical, and spiritual health. Complete Body wants you to take care of yourself and offers a few tips to help you get started:

• Take 15 minutes out of your day to meditate. Sit alone in a quite room, empty your thoughts, and focus on your breathing. Creates overall relaxation.
• Start your day off with some light cardio or a training session. This will boast your natural endorphins (your “happy” hormones) and increase energy.
• Volunteer your time for a local charity. Helping others creates happiness for both you and those in need.
• Schedule yourself a massage or body treatment. Come on, you deserve to treat yourself after all that is happening in your life.