Pilates Teacher Training Program

I am holding two Pilates Teacher Training Courses in March. Our last one sold out!
Please feel free to send your friends to this site for more information: http://www.canadianpilatesinstitute.com/

March 13-15 Level 1 Special offer - join with a friend and save $300!
March 27-29 Level 2 Refer someone and we give you a $100 thank you!
(Fri eve, Sat & Sun)

Level One 49 hours includes the following:
3 hours: anatomy familiarization and review
20 hours: learn to instruct the basic Level 1 Pilates exercises with modifications.
Postural and alignment issues addressed
10 hours: apprenticeship and observation
8 hours: student teaching
5 hours: personal practice
3 hour follow up session
No charge retake option available within a year of completion of original course - space permitting.
23 BCRPA CEC's

Level Two - 20 hours

What students are saying:
I love that I learned a lot about the fitness industry as well.
The course was fun and taught with a lot of enthusiasm. I like the follow-up.
Great instructions, great atmosphere.
I liked that we actually performed every exercise, with corrections so there was no guessing.
Extremely informative/great size of course.
I liked Cari-Lee's relaxed style of teaching. Cari-Lee is very personable and makes you feel comfortable. She is also confident which makes you feel confident in what you are learning.

Why does my skin look so good?

I often get comments on how nice my skin is. I realize I am fortunate and I realize that mostly because I get a lot compliments on it - sometimes you don't really see what is in the mirror. This "new truth" is something that I am slowly getting used to, as when I was a kid I had horrible acne. So horrible that when I was 11 I stopped eating anything with sugar in it. This was a challenge for me because in my family it wasn't a question of "Mom, what's for dinner?" It was always "Mom, what are we having for dessert?" Up until I started cleansing about 3 years ago, I had had very strong sugar cravings, where I would eat 5-6 pastries in a sitting every day. My point is, that for me to give up sugar at 11 was a challenge but I didn't want pimples. I was fanatical. I was often the tester for things my mother made, like homemade iced tea and I wouldn't even sample it to see if it was sweet enough. I stuck to this diet for months and it was around that time that I stopped eating meat. My skin got a lot better.

Just yesterday I had a girlfriend send out an email to a group of us asking the question: Just wondering if any of you have done any anti aging stuff for your face? I'm looking for something that reduces fine lines, makes you look vibrant.... Cari Lee, your skin always looks fantastic.. care to give me your secret?

I thought about this question and though I do a lot of good things on the outside for my skin, like using proper non-chemical skin care products that nourish my skin, I believe that without a proper diet my skin would not look as good as it looks. When I had acne, I would go to the Dr. and ask for remedies, I was given loads of bad chemicals to put on my face and in my body (could these strong drugs be the reason I got MS years later?) and it was suggested that I wash my face with Ivory soap. For 10 years I walked around with a tight dry face because that was preferable to oily!

There are a few things I do regularly that help my skin and they have all been proven to make a difference in the skin - I won't go into the reasons because that would be too long but I will make a note about it for another blog post. They are the following:

1. I drink at least half my body weight in ounces of water daily with lemon


2. I cleanse with a gentle anti-inflammatory natural cleanser & replenish with a non-alcoholic toner that rebalances my PH


3. I use a Vitamin C serum that has antioxidants and I use 30 SPF every day and a Night cream before bed.


4. I do a moisturizing face mask - probably should do it more than once a month but I do it when I remember.


5. I get a facial by Marta who does an amazing job - I should probably go every 4-6 weeks but it doesn't end up quite that often.


6. I wear a hat in the sun and avoid tanning


7. I take antioxidants, fish oils and other nutritional supplements daily.


8. I take a morning shake that floods my body with nutritents.


9. In addition to my seasonal cleanses, I do two cleanse days a month.

These are really easy things that become habits. We do so much for the outsides of our bodies but really it starts with the insides. How much stress is in your life? How much exercise are you getting? Is your body dehydrated? Are you nourishing your internal body with life giving alkalizing foods?

For more information on the skin care line and cleansing products I use, please visit http://www.cleanseenergy.com/ or to see a video on why cleansing is important visit http://www.cleansedforlife.com/

What are antioxidants?

I was attempting to use my own explanation of antioxidants when I came across a really good explanation on the internet. This is from a website called http://www.inflammation911.com/

Antioxidants: The Four Levels of Defense

Defense One: Anti-oxidants prevent oxidants (otherwise known as free radicals from forming inside your body. To understand this, consider what happens to a lead pipe when exposed to oxygen-it rusts, right? Well, similarly, the body, when exposed to oxidation, essentially "rusts" from the inside out. Ouch!

Defense Two: Antioxidants intercept and neutralize oxidants that have already formed inside the body, putting the brakes on the chain reaction that just one free radical can cause. A good analogy here is the game nobody plays anymore-dominos. (Isn't it is ironic that when you say dominos most people think of pizza?!) Like a string of carefully lined-up dominos, once the first one falls, the rest are inevitably next. Likewise, antioxidants neutralize the line-up of free radicals and breaks the chain reaction so inflammation is halted.

Defense Three: Antioxidant are actually able to identify and address the remnants of an inflammatory response so those remnants don't prolong the damage. Like a hurricane relief crew, antioxidants mop up behind the whirlwind of an immune system we all have, leaving only healthy, balanced cells and tissue.

Defense Four: Can you say Inspector General! As they travel throughout your system, antioxidants continue to check and recheck that toxins have been removed and oxidants have been neutralized. By keeping a sufficient amount of antioxidants you are providing a 2nd and even a 3rd line of defense to your cells. Antioxidants are abundant in fruits and vegetables, as well as in other foods including nuts, grains and some meats, poultry and fish. The list below describes a few food sources of common antioxidants.

A good option to ensure you are getting your antixoidants is to take Isafruits and Healthy Greens. There are more than 30 fruits in IsaFruits added as whole-fruit concentrate juice powders, many popular juice concotions have as few as 9 fruits and lack enzymes. That's more than 20 pounds of fruit into one bottle-cold processed to preserve enzymes (click here to learn more about enzymes). It is free of fillers and has less than 1 gram of sugar and is a great alternative for sugary drinks and kids love it! I mix it in with my morning shake.

To learn more about it please visit http://www.cleanseenergy.com/

Cats and Dogs

I am figuring out how to post videos and this was sent to me today. I thought it was cute so I decided to try posting it here. It has nothing to do with health and fitness but maybe it will make you laugh, so I guess that is health related! :)

SMART GOALS

What do you want to achieve this year? Do you want to lose weight? Make exercise a part of your lifestyle? Do a cleanse for the first time? Whatever your goals are, you should make sure they are SMART. How many times have you said that this is going to be the year? If you have been setting the same goals every January maybe it is time to make an action plan with some guidelines. This is where the SMART principle comes in. This will take your goals and break them down into sizeable chunks.
Goals should be S= Specific - Detail them, avoid vagueness. "In one week I will have increased my vegetable intake by 2 a day", as opposed to "I want to eat more vegetables". M = Measurable - you must be able to measure success; how will you know when you have succeeded? E.g."In two weeks I want to reach 15 repetitions with the same weight" as opposed to, "I want to get stronger." A = Attainable - Set small easily attainable goals. E.g. "I will show up for both workouts this week" R - Realistic- Do not set your goals too high to start, take small steps. "I will run and or walk twice this week" as opposed to, "I am going to hit the gym 5 times this week and run 10 kms everyday" - not very realistic if you have never been a runner nor lifted a weight before. You can work up to this. T - Trackable - Set review/revise dates. Keep accurate records. This formula for goal setting can be used in other areas of your life by using the same SMART principles. Remember to write them down and review monthly to see general progress and make adjustments where necessary.

My friend Derek

My friend Derek called yesterday and gave me some good advice on blogging and newsletters. I probably would need a full on in-person tutorial to get all that I should, but I am going to attempt to make this blog into something worth reading. I will not worry about the daily updates. How mundane! To read and to write. After all, as Derek pointed out, I am not Britney Spears. No one cares if I am writing this while I am sipping a latte on Rodeo Drive. If I was Britney, maybe that would get me some reads but anyway... I go on. My goal is to figure out how to make this useful to people and then to have them see it. Watch for more useful updates as the days go on. I think my next step is to record video!

Oh, by the way. New Pilates teacher training course upcoming Jan 16-18 http://www.canadianpilatesinstitute.com/