Welcome to Sustain Your Vitality, the podcast that gives you a nurturing kick in the ass so you can take action every day to feel better, not older. Your lifestyle holds the power to change how you feel and no matter your age or health issues, you are in the driver's seat.

I'm your host, Zoa Conner, Functional Wellness Guide at Zen and Vitality with Zoa and retreat leader at Intentional Vitality Retreats.

I'm here to help you figure out how to lower your stress, increase your energy, put yourself into a healing state, boost your drive and pleasure in life, prevent disease, and feel the best that you ever have with no regrets later. Let's go.

Today we're going to talk about what makes wellness sustainable. Today we're going to talk about what makes wellness sustainable.

The first concept is that it has to fit into your daily schedule. I want your wellness activities to fit into your schedule painlessly, seamlessly and smoothly.

Based on your schedule, do you need wellness in the morning, at lunchtime, after work, or before bed? Do you need to fit your wellness in in little chunks of time or do you have big chunks of time to allot?

Which days of the week do you have space and time? Which days of the week do? Do you have a greater need? What's the difference between days that you are at work and days that you are not at work?

Let's match your wellness activity to the time you have available and the time of the day that that activity would best serve you. Sometimes you need to layer together activities in order to make it work. Some activities are tied to optimal times in your schedule.

For example, cardio or heavy weight lifting just before bed will disturb your sleep. Gentle yoga in the morning might be perfect or it might put you back to sleep.

So looking at your schedule and fitting in this activity here and that activity there will mean that you can find ways to get everything that you need. The second concept is that your wellness should not add unwanted stress.

If you are racing driving to your relaxing yoga class and get pulled over for a speeding ticket, maybe that was a day you should have taken class from home. Or you should have communicated with me or your teacher that you're going to be late. Sometimes that added stress isn't worth the activity.

Suppose that you really wanted a strength building class or you signed up for it and don't want to lose it, but you're already exhausted and maybe you feel a cold coming on. That's a day to make a change. What if it's day one of your menstrual cycle Skip the challenging class. Go for a more restorative one.

Or maybe take a walk and make yourself something yummy that's nourishing because it's a day of rest.

Maybe you thought you were up for a long walk with your friend, but you really are just in the mood for a warm bath or a relaxing infrared sauna session. Listen to your body.

You feel like you should say yes to this invitation for a party or a dinner or a weekend event or a phone call, but you have so many things on your plate that you're not really looking forward to it. That sounds like unwanted stress. Maybe it's time to add challenge to your weight. Program your weight lifting.

You're ready for more, but you've been feeling a little twinge in your shoulder when you lift. Don't go up. Work on your form. Work on your Pilates stabilizing muscles. Don't add that extra stress. You might hurt yourself.

What's the easiest way to get that healthy food into your home? Or into your lunch bag? Or into your mouth? Don't add stress worrying about whether or not your food is healthy enough. Focus on getting it in.

The third concept is making use of your current skills or gaining skills that you want. You are more likely to keep doing something when you feel capable of doing it well.

I am all for learning new things, but it should be an enjoyable experience, not stressful. New endeavors can be hard to sustain, particularly if you're getting frustrated easily.

It's hard to improve the quality of your diet and reduce how often you eat out.

If you don't know how to cook, making use of your current skills would be let's improve your diet in ways that you can do while we work to add progressively a higher level of cooking skill. The fourth concept is that your wellness activity should offer the right amount of challenge and stimulation.

If it's too easy, you won't feel the benefit. If it's too hard, you won't feel good doing it and you'll avoid it. You're looking for Goldilocks just right.

What works for your husband or wife or sister or friend or co worker or guy down the street or your hairdresser doesn't necessarily work for you. If I'm teaching you in a class, I might say pick up a three pound weight for the next activity.

If you are having a bad shoulder day, you might opt for a £1. That's a safer choice.

The right amount of challenge if you're having a I feel awesomely strong kind of day, maybe you reach for the five pound and see if it works for you.

I have certainly been to yoga classes where I was anticipating a strength building class with whole body movement and what I received was a restorative, lay on the floor kind of class which did not please me or relax me. It was not the right level of challenge and stimulation for what I needed. What I expected it wasn't Goldilocks.

Do you need the big room at the gym with 30 people in class or do you need a small room with four people in it and the teacher's constant attention? What's the right level of challenge for you? Your needs vary daily, weekly, monthly. They have a rhythm. You might know the rhythm.

It might be tied to your menstrual cycle or school schedule. Or you might not know the rhythm. Like if you're caring for a loved one who's sick or injured. Honor those variations.

Adjust the challenge and stimulation. The fifth concept is that it should help you feel good. You should feel good while doing the activity. You should feel good after you did it.

You should feel good because you did it, not in spite of it. Your body and mind should notice your activity in a good way. If you did a lot of lower body work, your butt should feel it.

Not pain, but added sensation that lets you know that you asked that body part to level up a bit. You should be glad you went. You should look forward to the next time.

You should sleep better, have more energy, be in a better mood, have confidence in your body, breathe more deeply, enjoy your food and delight in life. It should help you feel good. The sixth concept is that your wellness should fit into your budget and finances. Wellness is important.

It's worth spending money on. It is not worth adding financial stress that keeps you up at night or is more than you can handle. Many wellness choices are free. Take a walk.

Spend time with people you love. Sleep. Other wellness choices you must invest in. You invest time, energy and money.

You need to balance those three aspects in any given moment to make it work for you. Let's think about this for a moment. Why do we buy convenience foods? They cost more money.

Well, we buy them because we're low on either energy or time. How do we shift this?

Well, you could try meal prep on the weekend, making things in your crock pot, sharing cooking duties with someone else who has similar food priorities. There are other ways you can address this lack of time or energy that don't necessarily involve more money. Why do we skimp on proper movement?

Training how to move our body safely, but we'll freely spend time on things that just sit in our house, ask to be watched or ask to be dusted. It's because we haven't adjusted our budget to allow this shift.

When I was a new teacher, I didn't discuss budgets with my clients, but now I absolutely do because I understand how intensely it can impact people.

If I'm making you a three month wellness plan, we are definitely going to talk about your wellness goals, which actions should go in that plan and how it fits into your finances. Idea number seven is that you like who you are while doing this wellness action. Why do I teach yoga on five days out of every seven?

It's because I like how I interact with myself and the world around me when I get to immerse in that yoga mindset all those days. Why do I like making and eating a salad of some sort every day? Because my body feels good when I put those vegetables and proteins into my body.

I like how I feel when I do it. Making and eating the salad is worth my time.

The eighth concept of what makes wellness sustainable is that you get to spend time around the other people who support your wellness goals. What I found from clients who come to me is that most of them don't have a community around them of people who support their wellness priorities.

They might have one person over here who tries to eat healthy. They might have one person over there they can take a walk with at lunchtime at work.

But what they gain from working at my studio, that the people around them share their goals. They're moving, they're eating, they're consciously making choices every day about how to live healthy and to make their wellness sustainable.

If everyone around you had the same wellness goals, it would be easy. You'd feel lifted up, you'd be supported. You would have someone to call on when you need a little bit of help.

When everyone around you has different goals, or perhaps you can't see any wellness goals in them, it's very hard to keep yourself going. It feels like you're fighting a losing battle, always climbing up a hill.

A wellness community like the one I have at my wellness studio provides you the ability to be surrounded by people and to have your lifestyle choices be honored and encouraged. Concept 9 is that your wellness choices should make you feel in place, not out of place.

Usually most people find that when they're feeling out of sorts or out of place, it doesn't sit well with them. They have this drive to move to a place where they feel like they belong. We don't want you to move out of your wellness practices.

We want you to feel like that is the right place to be the comfortable place, the easy place concept number 10 about making wellness sustainable is you should absolutely not feel like you are depriving yourself of anything. You should feel like you are nurturing yourself.

Wellness is about nurturing and feeding your body, mind and spirit so that you can be all that you want to be.

Feelings of deprivation lead to resistance fighting yourself, saying no, skipping leg day at the gym, choosing to get the ice cream on the way home instead of eating the soup that's waiting for you. You don't want to feel deprived. You want to feel surrounded by nurturing, wonderful healing practices.

So think back to these 10 concepts of making wellness sustainable. Let me review them for you.

It has to fit into your daily schedule, should not add unwanted stress, should make use of your current skills or help you gain the skills that you want, should offer the right amount of challenge and stimulation, should help you feel good, should fit into your budget and finances. You should like who you are when doing it.

You should get to spend time around people who support your wellness goals, should feel in place, not out of place and there should be only nurturing, no deprivation. So what changes do you need to make for your wellness lifestyle to be more sustainable?

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The Sustain your Vitality Podcast is a gift from Zen and Vitality with Zoa LLC and Intentional Vitality Retreats based in the State of Maryland, usa. All the podcast things planning, recording, editing, producing have all been done by me, Zoa Conner, PhD.

Even though you can call me doctor, I'm not a medical professional and your safety is your responsibility.

By listening to this podcast and understanding that any movement, nutrition, lifestyle or health protocols discussed, you are agreeing to take full responsibility for your actions. Zen and Vitality with Zoa are not responsible for any injuries or issues that may occur.

This podcast is intended for educational and interesting informational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical, wellness, nutrition, lifestyle or movement and fitness advice. Always practice any fitness or movement related activities in a safe environment.

I make no claims about the effectiveness of the techniques or protocols discussed for you or any specific results that you may achieve. I recommend you consult with your healthcare professional before changing your diet, exercise, routine or healthcare plan.

Zen and Vitality with Zoa and the guests of this podcast are not liable for any injuries or health problems that may arise from following the information presented.