Nourish & strengthen our minds; no workout necessary. #RESTWEEK April 8-14.

April 2, 2013 -
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Do you maybe feel that you’re stuck in a “rut” with fitness, healthy eating, or a mind block? Is there a body image hang-up that you’d like to shed? Do you find yourself looking to exercise to “fulfill” that outward appearance approval?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions – you’re NOT alone!

When I was visiting my soul sister Heather in Boston a few months ago, we had many deep talks about our fears & hang-ups that we wanted to shake. We asked each other – what is one thing that totally makes you feel anxious? We found that if we were to be forced into a week off from working out – we had this anxious/constricted feeling as if we would be letting ourselves down. After talking about our feelings, we looked at each other & said…I think we just found our new challenge.

As I get older, I’m realizing that in order to get over a fear, I have to confront it head on. I have to allow myself to feel the fear & once I face it – getting over it doesn’t seem so bad. It’s just the challenge of getting through it that brings you to the other side with a new perspective.

If taking ONE WEEK off from working out makes you feel nervous, anxious, defeated, or uneasy – why not join us to challenge yourself to one week of nourishing our bodies and strengthening our minds – no workout necessary.

Are you ready to take on the challenge?

Heather & I are so excited to bring you #RESTWEEK. From April 8 – 14, we are going to guide you through 7 days of self-love to work on looking to ourselves to feel good enough instead of looking to a workout fill that void.

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While Heather & I are so grateful for the gifts that the healthy living blog community has brought to us in the form of friendship and inspiration, we are also seeing a lot of obsession around what we look like, how much muscle tone we have, and how many calories we burn during our workouts – especially on Instagram. Sure, it’s nice to challenge yourself physically. But your body is not an inanimate object. Your body is a vehicle through which you express love. And sometimes, we need to strip away anything that blocks us from really knowing that truth. And so, #RESTWEEK is born.

Make sure you sign up for the #RESTWEEK newsletter for extra doses of love to guide you through the week. We’ll be posting exclusive mantras and fun things in the newsletter that we won’t be posting on our blogs!

Let’s Do This

You’re NOT ALONE! We are doing this entire challenge right along with you, and so are a whole bunch of other incredible women! We’re going to be checking in with you on Twitter every day under the #RESTWEEK hash tag and we’ll even have a Facebook chat on Heather’s Facebook page next Wednesday, so keep an eye out for that too! Our goal for this challenge is to strengthen our minds and our bodies without feeling like we “have” to fit in a workout – because we don’t!

We take vacations from work every weekend and even two or three full weeks per year. We always come back to work feeling more refreshed and energized. Our brains are de-fried and ready to take in new information. Well, the same goes for our bodies. Sometimes, we need to nurture them with rest! Capeesh? It’s only 7 days! Not the rest of your life Winking smile

I know when I went to Rome a few years ago or when I go to the beach, I like to give my body a break for days. I always come back feeling better & ready to get back into workouts with a new mindset of getting stronger & enjoying the process.

Morning Me Time

We are going to start every morning with the best gift you can give yourself: love, baby! After waking up and peeling our beautiful bods out of bed, we will spend 5 – 10 minutes basking in “Morning Me Time.” These morning exercises are super special tools that Heather practices on a daily basis. Through a daily commitment of renewing our body vows, we can break free of any body-related hangups we have going on! This is stuff is transformative Trust us – you’re not going to want to miss out! Here is what you’ll need:

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Aside from our “Morning Me Time,” I will have recipes to look forward to! These recipes will not only going to nourish our bodies but our souls. That’s why we call them SoulFood. It’s food for the soul! We included a grocery list of everything you’ll need so that, come day one, all you’ll have to do is check your inbox and you’ll be good to go!

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Honor Yourself

Take a moment to close your eyes and take a deep breath in and out. Honor yourself for making this week-long commitment to strengthening your mind and your body. We are so honored that you joined us and we are so excited to go on this journey with you!

  • What can we do during this week?
    • Live your life! Go to work, school, friends, family, or whatever you normally do! We’re just working on replacing that “workout time” during our day with something else; like one of our mantras or cooking a recipe. Instead of thinking what you’re deducting from your day- think of what you’ll be gaining in your mind.
    • I plan on stretching, maybe doing some light yoga, and definitely taking long walks to enjoy the scenery and not so much worry about the calorie burn.
    • Cook new recipes! Use one of the recipes I will providing or why not try out a new recipe you’ve been wanting to make!
    • Schedule a lunch date, coffee date, or some “me” time with a new book!
    • Take a bubble bath – gosh, when was the last time that happened? Why not!
    • Make some time for YOU.
    • Make time for friends to catch up or family members you haven’t had a chance to meet up with!
    • I actually made an appointment for a massage & manicure (thanks to the boyfriend giving me this beautiful gift for christmas!
    • Do some spring cleaning! I have a lot of clothes I need to change over & I could use this time to really get ahead and organized!

If you’re in – let us know! We will be posting each day.

We are not sitting here saying, “sit and play video games all week and be unhealthy with your food choices.” We are hoping that we just simply can replace that need to workout for approval and look to ourselves to realize we are already good enough without external factors.

Video will be coming later this week!

 

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Heather & Kasey

 

Are you joining in for #RESTWEEK?