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Breathing is easy. Yeah right! If breathing were easy, then why do most people have trouble with breathing? As in they just don't know how to breathe properly. Do you know how to breathe properly? What does it even mean? I am breathing well inhaling through my nose and exhaling through my mouth, correct? 

Yes, you are partially right!

In this episode, let's explore breathing. 
You will discover the HOWs to: 

• Breathe properly 
• Deep breathing helps to relieve stress 
• Use of different types of breathing techniques 
• Focus on breathing 

Have you noticed when you are breathing, your mind tends to wander? You are probably wondering why. Of course our minds wander hence we have automatic thoughts. How do you bring your mind back though? How do you really just focus on your breathing? Well, the key part is to focus on something that is associated with breathing? 

I mention using a single word adjective in your breathing technique. When you are breathing, what are you inhaling? Air of course. Right. What is it for? Breathing has so many amazing benefits when we center our minds to know what the intention is. It is therefore important to be really specific what we want to receive into our bodies and what we want out of our bodies. 

If you are experiencing pain, how do you want the breathing to help? You want to be able to feel relaxed and possibly pain free afterwards, right? When  I heard of Doc Daniel Amen's EP on breathing with 3-1-6 technique, the holy spirit impressed upon me John 3:16. If we could just receive salvation through this breathing technique. Well, on hindsight, you can if you say the sinner's prayer while you breathe. 

Enjoy this episode and breathe alongside with me. 

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Turn up your volume, sit back and enjoy crackling up with my favourite guests in this episode! 

Please do not take them seriously in this episode especially Bobby. No, I am just kidding! 

As usual, Bobby is brilliant, comedic and insightful in his down-to-earth manner. Anna Marie is also clever, authentic and humble in nature. 

In this episode, both of them share times when they experienced burnout. Anna Marie shares about her daughter who has been feeling unwell for quite a while now and this has caused stress and at times anxiety. Bobby shades about his experience as a Coach in his new setting and environment post returning from Singapore. 

I have known Bobby for more than a year now and Anna Marie close to six months.  They are such dear friends to me and I hope you find this episode valuable. 

Available on Spotify, Apple and Google.

To know more about my coaching services, check out www.coachanywhere.fitness  

Enjoy! 

Coach Karen 

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An excellent episode that you will find meaning in learning what your strengths are through Clifton StrengthsFinder. 

This episode, you will discover how Coach Jason uses his unique and clever animal analogy to illustrate certain themes out of a total of 34 themes altogether. 

Coach Jason works with multi-national corporations, small medium businesses, medium businesses and schools to help tap into their maximum potential. 

As a business owner myself, it is imperative to find partners or team who could complement my strengths and be treated as valuable assets and not some money makers. 

Coach Jason can be reached at his website:

https://www.perfectperformance.org/about

https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachjasonho

Do drop me a 5 star rating to support me as well letting others find me. 

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Abuse is abuse period. 

Abuse is an abuse be it emotionally, mentally or psychologically, and physically. When a person is emotionally abusive, this person was emotionally abused as a child. These are all learned behaviours and it is the same thing with someone that physically abuses someone else. It is the same thing as someone who is a narcissist or a psychopath and again these are learned behaviour in childhood. People who are born with a severe mental illness is very small. Children who are living in such households pick up such abusive behaviours from their parents or siblings or the people who raised them or whoever they were around with they might not have seen all of these tactics but they saw enough to learn what emotional abuse is and now they go about life thinking it is normal. 

in this episode you will discover:

- What is emotional abuse?
- How to spot emotional abusers?
- What is gaslighting?
- Who are the typical emotional abusers?
- Points of reflection for 2020
- A Youtube link on emotional abuse 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EavMqZ_6UvQ

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Today we are exploring Teenage burn out. 

What types of burn out do you experience? Before we even go there. Let’s understand what burn out is from Ethan 18 years of age and Emma 16 years of age. 

Ethan is back by popular demand. 

You will discover:

- What is burnout
- Identifying symptoms of burnout
- What burnout means to a teen
- How does one cope with burnout 

Tune in now: 

http://makesmartsexy.buzzsprout.com

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What is the difference between feeling good and good mental health?

In this episode on mental wellbeing, an 18 year old teenager and I are conversing what mental wellbeing means to him and how to recognize emotions as emotions such as depression and as an illness. 

We are both not experts for sure but I hope this episode will help you recognize emotions and see mental health as brain health instead. 

You will discover:

- The importance of keeping up on your mental hygiene
- A distinction between mental health and brain health
- How to look at your brain anatomy better
- How we look at brain health spiritually 
- What has nutrition got to do with our brains

Items mentioned in this episode include:

- Daniel Amen, MD https://www.instagram.com/doc_amen/

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In today's episode, I am continuing from episode 1 "Why Stretching is bad?" 

What type of stretches are a big NO before a run? 

3 questions to ask yourself really.

1. Should you stretch before exercising?

2. Should you stretch after exercising?

3. Can you stretch anytime?

Be sure to check out Coach Karen's Move Smart 27-Day program at:

www.coachanywhere.fitness to purchase a workout program that will train mobility, flexibility, cardio and functional strength. 

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Thank you

Coach Karen 

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The origination of the term 'Coaching' started in the later part of the 1880s. This term has been mostly associated with the sports profession through its varied forms. The first thought which rushes to our mind when we think about coaching is about sports coaching.

So if you are looking for a coach; not a sports coach but a health and wellness coach in particular, you will hopefully get some insights about coaching. 

Today’s guest, Simon Matthews, the CEO of Wellcoaches Australia and a Psychologist and I are diving into coaching and lifestyle medicine coaching. 

In today’s episode you will discover:

• What is coaching 
• What isn’t coaching
• How are the principles and framework of health and wellness coaching differ from other types of coaching 
• How can coaching bring about transformational change 
• What are the techniques of coaching
• What is behavioural change
• Should everyone have a coach 
• What is lifestyle medicine and Is it similar to holistic lifestyle

Behaviour change is typically a product of 

motivation not education. 

Coach the person and not the problem. 

In coaching, there are certain techniques that coaches use: 

1. Motivational Interviewing
2. Self-determination theory 
3. Transtheoretical theory of behaviour change 

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a counseling approach developed in part by clinical psychologists William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick. It is a directive, client-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence.

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a macro theory of human motivation and personality that concerns people's inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. It is concerned with the motivation behind choices people make without external influence and interference.

The TTM is not a theory but a model; different behavioral theories and constructs can be applied to various stages of the model where they may be most effective. The TTM posits that individuals move through six stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination.

Items mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with Simon Matthews LinkedIn profile 

http://linkedin.com/in/simonmatthewsfaslm

• email is [email protected] 
• www.coachanywhere.fitness 

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People don’t know how much you care until they know how much you care.

John Hanley

Doing motivational interviewing is like entering their home. One should enter with interest, respect, kindness and affirm what is good and refrain from providing any unsolicited advice about how to arrange the furniture. 

Kamilla Venner

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Why do we think that stretching could solve our problems? 

Very rarely does someone get better by doing a certain stretch. 

Don’t get me wrong. 

I am NOT against stretching. In fact, stretching can be good for us when it is done correctly and mindfully. 

We are just trying to stretch a certain area that feels tight and thinking that if we stretch enough then that tight muscle will loosen up. Right? Well, it isn’t true! 

Static stretching before exercise can cause damage to the tissue. You’re inhibiting nerve contraction, so it’s not going to fire as quickly to tell the muscle to contract and perform.

If a muscle is tight then there is a good chance that it is also weak and that is where the problem lies. A weak muscle will tighten up to try and create stability then it will cause discomfort and a lot of times pain because it never releases. 

Back pain will never get better by stretching the back, and shoulder pain will never get better by stretching the shoulder. And hip pain will never get better by stretching the hips. 

For instance. Knowing you have tight hip flexors is one thing. Knowing how to fix tight hip flexors is another challenge altogether. I know right! Isn’t this common sense? Mhmhm not at all! 

First of all, hip flexors is a hard area to reach. If you see how the psoas is attached within your body, it’s buried deep inside your core making it too tough to access. It’s a hard muscle to find, let alone train so it’s no surprise it requires more than a simple static hip flexor stretch to fix it. 

Sorry to burst your bubble - no amount of stretching is going to help you! 

Allow me to give you 3 specific movements beyond simple static stretching you can use to unlock and loosen your hips, legs and back. 

1. Dynamic stretching examples are high knees, butt kicks or travelling lunges. Why? Cos you are activating the muscle around a joint and moving that joint through its full range of motion in a progressive manner. This leads to an increased range of motion, warming up of the muscle around the joint and improved circulation around the joint. 
2. Mobility exercises are movements from one point to another. You are helping the joint function optimally which allows a joint to move more freely. 
3. 3D core stability exercises target the muscle in all planes of movement so the core and abdominal muscles have good activation, endurance and strength in all planes of movement. This leads to a decrease in unnecessary damaging stress on joints. 

Now that you know what is effective, it is important to do the movements in the right order as this unravels all the tissues including muscle, fascia, connective tissue, and the joint capsule while breaking up scar tissue. 

So in summary, dynamic stretch and strengthen is when the magic happens. 

In my next episode I will cover the types of stretches to do and NOT to do before running so pls subscribe to my podcast for new episode notification. 

If you would like to know more about movement and mobility program, please visit my website at www.coachanywhere.fitness to schedule a discovery call with me. 

Till then, stay safe and move smart.

Love you 

Coach Karen 

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Social cues are the signals people send through body language and expressions. When kids miss social cues, they can misunderstand people and situations.

In this episode, my guest Anna Marie who is a Board Certified Applied Behaviour Analyst and I discuss autism spectrum disorder and high functioning type such as Asperger in children and adults. Anna Marie and her team in Staten Island, New York, United States work with children who have autism.

Anna Marie talks about applied behaviour therapy.

It is an umbrella term for types of therapy that treat mental health disorders such as ADHD, depression, anxiety to mention a few. This form of therapy seeks to identify and help change potentially self-destructive or unhealthy behaviors. It functions on the idea that all behaviors are learned and that unhealthy behaviors can be changed.

She also talks about the differences between applied behaviour therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy.

So, parents please pay attention to this brilliant episode as Anna Marie shares certain tips and strategies which prove to be highly effective should you encounter such issues with your children or friends who have autistic children.

According to a recent study, 1 in 150 Children in Singapore Has Autism. One in 150 children here has autism, a higher rate than the World Health Organisation's global figure of one in 160 children. This comes as more pre-schoolers here get diagnosed with developmental issues.

What are the principles of ABA?

Anna Marie shared that the basic principles of ABA consist of environmental variables that impact behavior. These variables are antecedents and consequences. Antecedents are events that happen right before the behavior, and a consequence is the event following the behavior.

And, 1 technique is Springer's Operant Conditioning. Operant conditioning occurs when a consequence (positive or negative reinforcement or punishment) is paired or ceases to be paired with a behavior and it increases or decreases the likelihood that behavior will recur.

Enjoy this episode!

To learn more about Anna Marie:

https://affautism.com/about-us/

https://www.facebook.com/anna.dorelien

Be sure to subscribe to this podcast to receive new episodes automatically and it is available on Apple, Google, Stitcher, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Deezer and Listen Notes.

To learn more about me, do check me out at:

https://www.coachanywhere.fitness/

Coach Karen  

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