Week 5: Meditations and Affirmations

1. As previously discussed, mental health is essential to weight loss, increased energy, and high levels
of performance. While the public and society at large can ignore the importance of mental health
and performance…(largely because the media industry profits more by keeping us in a constant
state of mental stress), you will no longer ignore it because of how much it will help you transform
your thinking over time.
Now, if you have a habit of negative self talk, complaining, spending time with negative people,
watching the news, aimlessly scrolling through social media or watching Netflix, or you have other
addictive behaviors like binge watching Netflix shows, viewing pornography, alcohol dependency,
etc, then these patterns won’t be changed overnight! Typically changing the state of your mental
health in a permanent way (much like transforming your body and creating the habits for long
term transformation), can take much longer than 12 weeks. Scientific research has pointed to the
need for at least 18 months of habit change to make something permanent.
In the quest for mental health, there are 3 primary practices, which if done consistently will give you
a greater sense of control and security in your mental and emotional health. One deals with your
relationship with the past, one with the present, and one with the future.

2. If we take it one step further with an added component of self-compassion and comfort towards yourself; that is we
speak in our mind or out loud words of kindness, we can heal deeper on a different level with noticeable changes in our
body and mentality.
I love this style of meditation the most because it increases your sense of self kindness and kindness.
There are several studies comparing mindfulness meditation with self-compassion meditation and its effects on weight
loss.
One study found that the mindfulness meditation with self-compassion lost significantly more weight. The reason being
is that compassion offers more resources than mindfulness alone, likely to the change in thought patterns and soothing
aspects of words, rather than just breathing. It has been shown to be a more significant predictor of quality of life and
reduces severity of anxiety and depression.
If you experience deep sadness, pain, agitation etc. this style of meditation will help tremendously. Even if you’re not in
pain, this will set your mood for the day - being kind to yourself enables you to be kind to others.
1) Still spend about 10-15 minutes with each session. Sit and breathe deeply [5 seconds inhale, 10 seconds exhale]
and get the rhythm before closing your eyes. Breathe with your heart and visualize air expelled from the center of
the chest.
2) Close your eyes. Do a body scan and notice any tension or pain in the body as well as any negative thoughts and
emotions. Sometimes you can ‘feel’ that emotion in a certain area of the body. For many, that can be a heavy
heart if there’s sadness.
3) Think of 3 close friends or family, people you love deeply and imagine one to your right, one to your left, and one
right in front of you. Pretend they are saying words of comfort to you, well wishes and love.

3. Example: “Your name,” I wish you the best of health, happiness, and freedom of pain. Say this to the person on your right,
left, and in front of you.
4) Say it back to them. “Their name,” I wish you the best of health, happiness, and freedom of pain.” Give them a hug and
see them smile. When you do this, it can feel pretty surreal and you sense your body reacting.
5) You can stop here and just focus on these people or you can extend this kindness to others you imagine as well.
Sometimes it can be nice to extend these words to a stranger you don’t know very well or someone you had a bad
history with.
The goal is to be as kind to yourself as you are to these 3 people. Think about when a friend is suffering, how do you
console her? These words in mediation would be an example of that. But think about how you normally treat yourself in
times of pain.
Do you judge or run away from it? The goal is to convey these loving words of kindness to yourself just as you do for
them.
6) Finish with one last body scan and see if that pain still sits somewhere in your body. Open your eyes and notice your
sense of relief and relaxation. Now begin your day with fresh thoughts and presence.

4. The first exercise in helping you acknowledge and approach the past from a positive way is
gratitude. Gratitude is the opposite of complaining. When you complain about something in your
current experience or past, you reinforce your attention towards what you don’t like. This makes
the problems or “negative” things in your life SEEM worse than they really are. When you focus on
negativity, then your brain will release more of the hormone cortisol and increase your stress
levels. However, when you experience or create gratitude, you are focusing your attention on what
you want to experience, and therefore create an impression that your life is BETTER. You are
happier,
more positive, and have more emotional security. Even if your gratitude practice is something
simple like writing down 3 things each day you are grateful for, you will feel much more powerful in
the delivery of it.
The second exercise is meditation. Meditation is one of the most common practices by people who
are high performers and extremely healthy. People like Oprah, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and
Michael Jordan have all expressed tremendous benefits from this practice. If you want to
experience a greater sense of self control, personal peace, and greater productivity/focus, then
simple forms of meditation can help tremendously. Meditation can be as simple as sitting down,
closing your eyes, and focusing on following the inhale and exhale of your breath for 2-5 minutes
at a time. When your mind wanders (which it will), the goal is to bring your attention back whenever
you notice it. The goal of meditation is not to “be good” at it, but just to bring your attention back
to your breath as often as you notice it getting off course.

5. The third exercise is affirmations/visualization. This is a practice where you state out loud,
write down, or imagine the future you want to experience as if it’s already yours. You can write
out the goal weight you want to have, the body you desire, or how you feel in your body as if
it’s already true. An example of this is to say “I am so grateful I effortlessly maintain my goal
weight of 120 pounds.”
An example of a visualization is to sit with your eyes closed and imagine a moment when you
have achieved your goal weight as if it’s already done. When you look in the mirror and see
your body in the shape you’ve always dreamed of, maybe with your partner or kids
acknowledging you for the transformation.
Doing these daily can be very powerful for your long term transformation, I discuss more
about this and train more deeply on transforming your mindset in my 12 month program.
All in all, “training” isn’t just something you do for the muscles in your body, it’s something you
do for your mind in your body as well. Both are essential to your long term happiness, health,
and well being.

6. Action Steps
This week, choose one of the 3 habits to practice daily. If you practice none of them right now,
then start with gratitude as your first exercise.
Spend 2-3 minutes when you wake up and before you go to bed noticing things you are grateful
for, this will set your mind up to feel good throughout the day.
Once you practice gratitude for at least one full week, add in meditation.
If you already have a gratitude practice of some kind, add in meditation. You don’t have to do this
for 15-20 min to start, it can just be something you do for 2 min. Download a meditation app like
Calm or Headspace if you’d like to be supported in your meditation journey.
Finally, if you practice both gratitude and meditation, add in visualization.
The keys with these habits is not trying to do all at once. You could spend 30 days just focusing on
adding one of these new mental habits. If you spent the next 90 days adding these 3 to your daily
routine, it would change the course of your mental health, and therefore your life as a whole.
After doing this for the next week, share in the Facebook group your experience!!

7. Journal Prompts
Today, I am grateful for
1. My ability to see the best in others.
2. The ability to help my clients feel good from the inside out.
3. My healing journey - it all led me to exactly where I’m supposed to
be.

8. Manifestations
I am getting healthier and happier with every passing day.
Thank you for my healing.