Resilience Is....

Uncategorized Sep 26, 2023
Resilience Is...

Mastering the art of self-regulation to combat everyday stressors, from environmental factors to personal challenges, and building a stronger, more resilient you.  Everything is energy and energy can not be created or destroyed; only altered.  Learning how to self-regulate and consciously alter your energy is the foundation for resilience.  Learning these skills and practices is the foundation for my SURFERS Method.

Resilience can be improved just like the strength and endurance of any muscle can be improved.  The processes are the same; challenge/stress is synthesized into growth.  Challenges, setbacks, and stress in our mental, emotional, and spiritual lives are similar to challenging our physical muscles using resistance and challenge. 

Resilience can be improved by becoming more aware, and mindful of our inner landscape and recognizing the physiological signs that accompany going into The Stress Response...
Continue Reading...

What is Munay?

Uncategorized Aug 30, 2022

Munay is a word that comes from the Incas of Peru. Munay is both a noun and a verb and implies much deeper meaning/power than the Western understanding of what we think of as love, even in its unconditional sense.

Munay is intertwined with individual willpower and divine willpower. Experiencing munay concentrates infinite levels of love and willpower. It is the will that can 'move mountains'.

For me, it makes me think of the incredible physical actions that a mother, saving her child from harm, is capable of (e.g., lifting the end of a car, grabbing a shark by the tail and hurling it, etc.). I am sure that you have heard of such heroic actions motivated by deep love.

The energy of munay is located at the heart center. Munay is not only a feeling but also an attitude of respect and appreciation for everyone and everything. To walk in munay is to walk in the power of love and to walk your own walk; living on the path of love.

Have you ever experienced munay? If so, I would love to...

Continue Reading...

Best Diet for You & the Planet

Uncategorized Aug 30, 2022

Take time to consciously expand your 'circle of awareness' and "think globally; act locally." I was introduced to this concept while I was in graduate school at Teacher's College, Columbia University. My advisor, Joan Dye Gussow, author of the Feeding Web and close friend of Francis Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a Small Planet, opened my eyes to the impact that each of us has via the choices we make. Our planet Earth has exhaustible resources and man's lack of respect for this inconvenient truth has the potential for making our planet uninhabitable.

Did you know that the diet that is best for you and your holistic health is also the diet that is best for our planet, Earth? Whether you are choosing to follow The Blue Zone Diet, The Anti- inflammatory Diet, The Mediterranean Diet, The MIND Diet, a Flexitarian, Vegetarian, or Vegan Diet, all of these "diets" or eating plans have been shown to positively impact your holistic health and are the safest for our planet.

These ways of...

Continue Reading...

What is Holistic Fitness?

Uncategorized Aug 30, 2022

I have been using the term holistic fitness for years, and have assumed that most people understood what I was referring to, but this may not be true. I went to Wikipedia to see what their definition of 'holistic fitness' is, and they don't have one. I am going to submit one and see if they like it.

My definition of holistic fitness is a paradigm that examines and evaluates the mental-, physical-, emotional-, and spiritual fitness state of an individual, based on both empirical data and self-reflection/reporting. It is a multidimensional, synergistic, dynamic, and plastic state of being. All of the parts contribute to an individual's state of health and fitness, and each part influences the whole; hence wholistic or holistic. It is the opposite of dualistic and allopathic.

Although using this paradigm may complicate the evaluation of an individual's state of health and fitness, I believe that it is a more accurate and empowering paradigm.

Eastern medicine, wisdom traditions...

Continue Reading...

Are You Fit to Survive in the 21st Century? An interview with Sue Urda, Co-founder of Powerful You! Inc.

Uncategorized Feb 01, 2022
GAUYAFIT, LLC
Are You Fit to Survive in the 21st Century? An interview with Sue Urda, Co-founder of Powerful You! Inc.
26:52
 
Continue Reading...

Functional Fitness What is It & Why is It Important?

Uncategorized Mar 02, 2021

Functional fitness is the ability to perform everyday life activities repeatedly and with ease.  Functional fitness involves working many muscles groups together in ways that mimic everyday life activities (e.g., getting up from a chair, going up a set of stairs, going down a set of stairs, bending down to pick up something, reaching for something on a high shelf, carrying your grocery bags to the car, turning over in bed, etc.).  

Functional fitness weaves together many fitness components (i.e., muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, core stability & strength, agility, balance, and mobility).  

Functional fitness training involves doing exercises that are most similar to the activities in your daily life.  Functional fitness training helps you live your life independently and full of choices.  This becomes increasingly important as you age and is a key component of your life quality.

The fitter you are, the more...

Continue Reading...

Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

Uncategorized Oct 29, 2019

Tree pose can teach us so much.  It allows us to experience grace in uncertainty.  It teaches us (physically), how to root down in order to rise up, and using a mental image of a tree can help us become more tree-like.

Want to try this pose?  

Start in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) with both feet solidly rooted, weight evenly distributed through all four corners of both feet, feet hip-distance apart and all of your joints stacked from the feet on up.  

Think of pouring all of the energy from one leg into the other and mindfully take one foot off of the floor.  

Find a focal point for your gaze (drishti).  A laser-like focus of the gaze can really help with focusing your attention and being fully present; making balance easier.

Turn the knee outward, come onto the ball of the foot, gently lift the foot off the floor or ground and find a comfortable spot on the opposite leg to place  your foot.  This place can be below your knee or above,...

Continue Reading...

EXPERIMENTING WITH EQUANIMITY

Uncategorized Oct 29, 2019

For me, equanimity is a mind quality that we are encouraged to experiment with not only during our yoga practice (on the mat) but also after our practice (off the mat) when we interact with the world.  What is an equanimous mind?

An equanimous mind is one that values all mind/body states equally without the judgements and the labels of "good and bad", "right and wrong", etc..  Equanimity is all about the balance of opposites,  vigilant re-alignment of body/mind/spirit, and letting go of the Ego and judgements.

Merriam-Webster says that equanimity is evenness of mind, especially under stress; balance.

Wikipedia says that equanimity is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by experience of or exposure to emotions, pain or other phenomena that may cause others to lose the balance of their mind.

Play with concept and see what you come up with.

Continue Reading...

Water Logic

Uncategorized Oct 29, 2019

WATER LOGIC vs ROCK LOGIC

Water Logic is dynamic, fluid, flexible, resilient and is associated with a "Growth Mindset".

Rock Logic is static, rigid, inflexible, fragile and associated with a "Fixed Mindset".

In a world in which change is inevitable and the pace of change increasing exponentially,  Water Logic may serve you better.  Test it out...

Continue Reading...

What does, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf" mean?

Uncategorized Nov 15, 2017

It means that you can not always control the landscape of your life and/or other people’s actions, but you CAN always control your response. You can learn to become more resilient. You can learn ways to re-balance, re-center, re-focus yourself anytime. Resilience and Stress Resistance can be trained and improved. 

My Vision, Mission and Brand (GAUYAFIT) are all focused on helping people, Midlifers (50 ish years of age) develop skills and practices which improve their ability to, "Surf the waves of live."  In these turbulent times, it is easy to get overwhelmed, overstressed, anxious and depressed. Most of us have experienced many life-altering challenges by this point in life. We have had health challenges, financial challenges, marital/relationship challenges, challenges related to the well-being of our children, challenges related to dealing with aging parents and role-reversal. The list could go on and on.

The point is WE have survived, but maybe Our...

Continue Reading...
1 2
Close

50% Complete

Two Step

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.