Our First Meeting!

Journey in JOY- Holistic Health Adventures
 
Words from Jennifer: We had our first meeting March 19th! It was a beautiful culmination of people willing to SHOW UP and commit to being part of something that will support being the healthiest version of self.

I want to say it early on that doing this with my husband Josh is a dream come true. It sure does make it easier to show up and more fun to explore together.  I feel like we made 15 new friends too!  Josh’s background as far as health goes is in personal training and began 10 years ago with his very personal journey to using exercise and food to feel better and healthier.  For me, I began getting pretty serious about exercise when I was 13 years old, this led to yoga, holistic health, a graduate degree in holistic wellness and what seems like a lifetime of learning and practicing varying ways of creating a healthier me and others in the work that I do…Phew, moving on…
If you couldn’t make it to the first meeting but are wanting to join the journey in our adventures you can jump in our next meeting April 1st 7:15-8:15pm.  If for some reason that meeting time doesn’t work you can join the next one and so on. 

In our first meeting as you will hear if you tune in using the zoom link: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/AHYjsJGD0P6XcHLv8NwcDHqcrrQgIBi5BcItPGCsR8ch1GKDviGrxXPmlWxvgSDK.JvJWkrmCPS33TJ2k?startTime=1647695751000

You will learn a bit about each person that showed up and the making of our mission statement!  This journey is so important to do together.  As stated in the first meeting, I KNOW there are a MILLION different things to choose from to get healthy but in that I know at least I tend to do nothing when overwhelmed with lots of information.  That is why we created this journey and accountability group!
Here is what the handout said from Saturdays meeting:

Journey in JOY – Holistic Health Adventure
 
WELCOME!!
 
Evolving Mission: 
Let’s break down the mission
Cultivating meaningful community around holistic health.
Accountability, discipline, support (compassionate witnessing), awareness (internal), mindfulness (inter-being), heart (remembering the missing link), commitment to the personal well-being and collective well-being)
There are no goals except awareness and flexible evolution towards greater well-being.
This is sacred space.  We are leaving judgement and ego in the jar at the door.  You can leave it in there and it will go to lost and found and hopefully will never be found.
The missing link, the war of art, the energy of procrastination.
Habit energy: we rarely highlight our success and easily highlight out failures – let’s reframe.
Small wins
Kindness to self
Homework:

Figure out roughly their ideal caloric intake that is in alignment with a realistic weight you would like to be.
Calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

Be aware of your thought patterns around health and well-being.  Body, weight, your thoughts, actions, words, relationships.
What does each word in the mission mean to you?
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Together we will hone our mission.
It all sounds simple yet we are all here because when we feel alone or defeated we don’t do the thing, we become overwhelmed with too much information, we don’t have a support system which leads to procrastination.  Why are you putting it off?  What is holding you back? 
 
PARTICPATION IS EVERYTHING!!  I encourage you to listen to the whole meeting.  We touched on so many pertinent topics that I feel are super relatable for everyone that has health in mind.
 
3 other words we will be adding to our mission are:
INTEGRITY & SUSTAIN & INSPIRATION

Here are pictures from our mission board:

One of my favorite topics is “What is the missing link?”  What is the thing that pulls us from our self-defeating mode into our motivated mode?  Please comment here on what that is for you.  The more ideas that we can pool together, the better!
 
A few notes that I wrote down from what participants said at the meeting that struck me as universal are:
“I have a 3 week window of motivation”
“I lose 100lbs a year.”
“Self-Sabotage”
“How do I sustain”
We will work to create a container of success in order to overcome these challenges to creating and maintaining a holistic lifestyle.
 
Most participants were interested in the mindful aspect of what we are creating here.  Meditation and mindfulness are known for so many health benefits one of which I love and that is increasing  neuroplasticity, reducing age-related brain degeneration and improving cognitive functions.  Neuroimaging studies have shown that brain connectivity changes in meditators.
 
We talked about connection!  How do we maintain accountability and connection when we are not meeting? 
This blog & Our Facebook Group

Please join us for our next in person meeting April 1st 7:15-8:15pm (FREE)

The goal of this blog is to elaborate on different topics related to holistic health.

Words from Josh: 

First off, thank you to everyone who came to the meeting and anyone reading this and participating in any way. Thank you for your part in making this a reality.  Jen and I have talked about the pitfalls and challenges of maintaining healthy habits and losing weight from the moment that we met, and all the ways we could be better.

​I thought the first meeting was great! We learned some things about each other and talked about some of the challenges we face in creating healthy habits. Some were unique to each of us. But most were universal to all of us, much like the concepts and topics we talked about.

Things like awareness, discipline, commitment, support, mindfulness and heart. We talked a little about what these words mean to us began to think about how these ideas either are or are not present in our lives. I imagine we will discuss these ideas often and figure out together, how to make these things the norm of our lives.

To me, our mission...these ideas along with exercise, are the foundation of healthy living. I think they transcend our physical health and actually touch and lift up every part of our being. Bringing richness and contentment to all parts of our life. This is the really exciting part of this journey for me. Healthy living, is more than blood pressure or body fat. It is a key to our hearts and loving ourselves. It gives us permission to be who we really want to be. The confidence to achieve anything. The grace to always be kind. And the courage to love fully and honestly in every moment. Those are things important to me and I think the ultimate benefits of a truly healthy lifestyle. Thank you again! Looking forward to our next meeting and future blogposts. 

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