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For the past 10 years I’ve had the pleasure to offer my fitness, wellness, and active lifestyle services for a nonprofit organization called EngAGE, which provides programing to thousands of older adults and families living in affordable apartment communities in California, Oregon, and Minnesota. The tailored programing is free of charge to residents and focuses on well-being and the arts. . My tenure has included on-site and virtual classes in the Los Angeles area at The NoHo Senior Artist Colony, The Piedmont, and The Burbank Senior Artist Colony. The classes I teach have been developed by me specifically for the [...]
Is there an area of your life you just can’t seem to take charge of? Do you find yourself feeling unmotivated and low on energy? Are you uncomfortable in your work or home environment? Do you feel there’s something missing in your life that you can’t quite put your finger on? If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions you should consider a Lifestyle Insights Report. One of my staple products throughout the years to help people take charge of their health and wellness is my Lifestyle Insights Report. It is an owner’s manual for your body [...]
Grateful in the mist – gorilla trekking and chimpanzee tracking in Uganda. Did you know? Uganda has 50% of the world’s mountain gorilla population. There are about 450 gorillas in the sanctuary of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where we had the opportunity to trek to a particular family named “Mishaya” on a recent primate safari tour in Uganda, Africa. The tour also featured chimpanzee tracking. After flying into Entebbe, Uganda we made our way first to Kibale National Park to track chimpanzees, the primates with the closest DNA to us humans. But, once we caught up with the community we [...]
It was finally here, our South Africa Safari Adventure. Our South Africa Safari Adventure was a chance to see the Big 5 animals in their natural environment (lions, elephants, leopards, rhinos, and buffalos) as well as giraffes and other exotic African animals! We flew into Johannesburg and rested up for a couple of days, seeing the Mandela House Museum in the suburb of Soweto where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946-1962 before his long prison sentence for standing up against the apartheid government of that era. The house is a single-story red-brick matchbox built in 1945. It has bullet holes in the [...]
Ahhh – the Florida Keys are just one of those places that has its own unique feel. When you’re there, you get the sense that everything runs on “Keys’ time.” It’s laid back and bohemian atmosphere makes it one of those popular destinations for just getting away from it all. It has world class scuba diving and fishing as well. There are many ways to experience this part of the state but we chose a bicycle journey through the Florida Keys We decided to experience it up close and personal by bike riding all the way from Key Largo in the northern [...]
After a year of lockdowns, mask wearing, and plexiglass dividers; there’s been one message that has been largely lost during the pandemic: get / stay healthy to keep your immune system optimal. The CDC reports 78% of hospitalizations for Covid-19 were overweight or obese people. In fact, the risk of death from Covid-19 is about 10 times higher in countries where most of the population is overweight, according to a report released recently by the World Obesity Federation. Here in the USA, 67.9% of our adult population is overweight, according to the report. Think about it, that is almost three quarters [...]
Running, jogging, dancing, cycling, swimming, treadmill, and elliptical machine - these are all great examples of cardio activities to implement into your routine. I always also suggest that so many forms of cardio involve the leg muscles, you can also do boxing exercises which involve your upper body muscles and still use your cardiovascular system. (By the way, our bodies are similar to hybrid cars. We have two main ways our body makes energy to function and exercise - the anaerobic system, which we use during our resistance and weight bearing exercises, and the aerobic system, which we use during [...]
You don't have to lift weights like you're preparing for the Olympics to reap all of the benefits of weight bearing exercise. And you don't even have to have weights; you can use your own body weight as resistance. While cardio training does burn more calories per hour, with resistance and weight bearing exercise, your metabolism is about 20% higher for the first 48 hours after resistance training. What that means is that it's kind of an "after-burn" effect from weight bearing exercises, so your body will be burning even more calories while you are watching TV, sleeping, at your [...]
Endorphins can be your own private "narcotic!" They can affect us like codeine or morphine, but without the addiction. Understanding this can then help you increase a sense of euphoria in your life. Endorphins are neurotransmitters, chemicals that pass along signals from one neuron to the next. They originate in various parts of your body and interact mainly with receptors in cells found in regions of the brain responsible for blocking pain and controlling emotion. While endorphins block pain, they're also responsible for our feelings of pleasure, and these feelings of pleasure exist to let us know when we've had [...]
If you enjoy hiking, you’ll love Tucson. Since the city is surrounded by five mountain ranges and bordered by two halves of a national park, there are seemingly endless opportunities to get out and experience nature. A small group of us went in January, when the weather in Tucson is typically perfect for outdoor activity. Tucson enjoys 350 days of sunshine per year and fortunately the rays were out in full force while we were there. We stayed at the Downtown Clifton Hotel as our base. It has a cool vibe and the staff there are all very attentive. I [...]