381 I Am Centered | January 2018 Tuesday Week 3

Tag Me Tuesdays-#372 January 16th The Strong Within Daily Affirmation Podcast

I Am Centered

I like to think I'm a pretty balanced guy, physically. I spent a good portion of my life training in the weight room and playing a multitude of sports. I played ice hockey in college and I learned a thing or two about having better balance. Now that I personal train people in the gym, I work to help them be more physically balanced in their life as well.

Think about someone who is losing their balance on an uneven surface. Usually what they do is stand up straight too fast, locking all their joints making themselves as rigid as possible, which puts them even more off balance as they throw their arms in the air frantically in hopes of finding their center. But if you are aware of your center of gravity, your hips, you learn how to move and adjust more efficiently without wide ranges of motions that destabilize you. I talk to my clients about being supple in their ankles, knees, and hips. It's like shocks on a car, the more stiff and rigid they are the more the car bounces roughly, but the more ease and agile the shocks then the smoother and more balanced the ride is. And by being more supple in those joint areas, the person only has to make micro movements to rebalance themselves.

You see, we have this false idea that balance is a stable place; that once you find it, you are good. That's why we try to stand up straight so quickly. We think that's the most balanced spot for us, tall and upright. But balance is always needing to correct itself. Your muscles will never be able to be perfectly still, even if they look it, they are adjusting all the time. Learning to physically have better balance is a great thing to work on, but what happens when you aren't balanced mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?

At the end of every spin class, I give the same speech. If you have to leave early, please wipe down your bike and sign out, but if you can stay to cool down, meditate, and stretch…it will help to bring more balance into your life. I continue by saying that, "we go about our lives from one problem to the next, one stress to the next, and one excitement to the next…never taking time to center ourselves. So let's begin the process of coming back, to what strengthens us."

I believe in the power of focus and meditation to help our healing. In fact, while I was brainstorming this podcast, I got a call from a friend who was feeling really overwhelmed with everything that's going on in their life. She told me how she felt she was getting sick and was feeling run down. So, I talked about the effects that stress has on our body…and there's even a statistic on WedMD that says 75-90% of all doctors visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.

It was 11 pm so she couldn't go to the doctors anyways, and she began crying saying how bad she felt. When she gets sick she gets emotional saying she wants her mom…and I know that feeling because for guys, when I have gotten sick I am always sure that I am dying. I literally think in my head how this might be my last night, and so I begin praying to God asking for forgiveness for all the bad things I have done in my life in hopes of penance. But somehow, I always seem to make it through even though I'm sure it's my last day on earth.

Anyways, I said to my friend… are you in a comfortable spot? And she said, "yes, I am sitting at my desk."

I did a guided visualization mediation with her focused on healing and relaxation. I do a muscle relaxation technique where they systematically go through their entire body relaxing it. I have them envision a healing light at the top of their head. I like to use the color blue as it feels calming to me, but you can use any color that feels healing to you. And so I did a guided meditation with her, by instructing her breaths and telling her to move that healing light down her body slowly and feel it help relax every muscle in her body.

We did a quick meditation since it was late. But I also wanted to prove how just taking a minute or two to focus on meditation and her breathing would be simple, yet powerful for her. So we did a 2-minute meditation. I asked her how she felt after we were done, and she said felt better and calmer. We talked a bit more, and she thanked me for always being there to rescue and help her…but I corrected her right away and said, "I don't rescue you. I remind you about your own power within."

Our conversation, whether she knew it or not, was about finding her calm and finding her balance again. It was about understanding the healing powers within her body…and how it knows exactly what to do when we stop overly stressing and we get out of our own way—when we relax and let our body and mind do what it does best…heal us.

When we re-center ourselves we come back to a truth that we have forgotten a long time ago—that life isn't as complex as we make. So find your center by breathing deeply again, find your center by working to eliminate the negative stress in your life and know that most stress occurs from how we look at the situation, and find your center by calming your emotions knowing that they aren't in control of you, you are in control of them.

When we can come back to our center, when we re-balance ourselves, we begin re-aligning ourselves to let our body, mind, and soul do what it does best…heal us…and make us stronger…we become better humans, better individuals, better people by remembering this strength.

Today's Personal Commitment:
See if you can relax your whole body on command. Get comfortable and close your eyes. Start at your forehead and move down your body progressively to relax each muscle in your body. If you're having trouble doing the visualization then try something called progressive muscle relaxation technique. This is where you will flex the muscle you are trying to relax so you know what it feels like engaged…and then relax the muscle. Go down your whole body from top to bottom and see how much more you can relax and re-center yourself.

One tip is to remember deep breaths in and out. Try it a few times today; you don't have to do it for a long time just take a few moments out to stop and focus on centering yourself. See how much this helps re-center and calm you during your day today.

I Am Centered

Thanks for listening. I'm sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together,
Personal Development Life Coach-
Chris O'Hearn

Contact info- email: chris@strongwithin.com phone:865-219-3247

Music by:
- Zest by basematic (c) copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
- I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee USA but available worldwide