Getting to the Heart of Mind Over Matter
(A holistic approach to physical fitness)

By J. Marie Larson

    When I was nine months pregnant with my first child I weighed in at the Doctor's office at 190 pounds.  This may not sound so bad unless your body height is a mere 5 foot 2 inches, which is what mine is.  Needless to say the extra seventy or so pounds did not turn out to be all baby.
    I worked extremely hard to lose that extra weight incorporating both concepts of physical activity and dietary change into my lifestyle.  At that time I had not pursued any aspects of mind-body healing although I did enter the field of Practical Nursing.  With my personal research into nutrition I quickly obtained a position with a clinic that aided people in learning how to manage their weight.
    I have counseled individuals from all walks of life, both male and female, and as I began to study the relationship between mind and body one factor stood out perfectly clear - image is everything.  The image I refer to, however, is not how other people perceive you, but how you perceive yourself.  To quote a phrase I once heard Dr. Wayne Dyer say, "As you think, so shall you be", or as the immortal words of Rene' Descartes suggest, "I think, therefore I am."
    The question is, just what is it we think about ourselves and how dramatically does this impact our physical makeup?
    Within the field of medical science it has been proven outside stimuli directly affects the biology of the human body.  Stress and anxiety are prime examples of this.  Both are activated by the thoughts we have in relation to something going on around us.  These thoughts begin to generate chemical and physical responses within our bodies.  Stress can lead to stomach ulcers, migraine headaches and high blood pressure, while anxiety can lead to an increased heart rate, sweating and diarrhea due to nervousness.
    For decades now, the medical community has encouraged people with such ailments to learn to read their body.  Methods such as biofeedback have shown significant changes in the body's response to external stimuli.  In successful cases, people learn to be aware of their own reactions as they occur and counter them.
    Taking the time to get inside your own head will increase every effort you make toward any goal ten thousand fold.  Learning to deprogram conditioned beliefs is the first step in attaining what you desire.  In connection to physical fitness attitude plays a major role.  It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to understand a person who believes they can't change something most likely won't.  The best tool anyone can use in becoming more physically fit is getting to know the perceptions they hold about themselves.  When you can understand how you think, you begin to see how you perceive yourself in relationship to the world around you.  Often it is in this personal field of perception where we make the choice to succeed or fail.
    Sometimes you may find you have accepted a belief based on what the general public appears to accept as truth, such as in the case of women who have borne children.  For years I bought into the belief that it was normal for a woman to have a protruding lower abdominal "pouch" due to bearing children.  I likened my lower abdomen to having a fanny pack stuffed with two or three large potatoes.
    I have always followed a very active exercise regimen.  In the course of a day I would do hundreds of sit-ups, leg-lifts and upper body toning with weights.  In an average week I would also bike and walk between 20 and 30 miles.