Wordsworth – Mons Romulo – Philippine Star
13 August 2024 | 12:00 AM
“My sister-in-law, Sofia Elizalde, hosted a class with yoga teacher Bella Lipat at Steps Dance Studio and invited me to join. After my first class, I was hooked. I gradually transitioned from gym training to yoga,” says Marilen Gonzalez Elizalde.
“I'd been going to the gym since I was a teenager. I did weight training, aerobics and Pilates, but I felt like I needed something more.”
Marilen eventually received her first certification from the Centered Yoga Institute in Thailand in 2009 and went on to study under several teachers both locally and internationally. Some of her teachers were Paul Daragan, Richard Freeman, John Scott, David Cale, OP Tiwari, etc. The rest is history.
Currently, Marilen is a certified FLAG (Fast Like a Girl) Lifestyle Coach, having studied and trained with Dr. Mindy Peltz, a nutrition and functional health expert, certified yoga teacher and certified aromatherapist, and attended the New York Aromatherapy Institute with Amy Galper.
Marilen has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and teaching yoga for about 15. She continues to lead private yoga classes.
As a Fast Like Girl certified coach, Marilen offers one-on-one coaching, helping women understand how their bodies work from the inside out and developing sustainable individualized programs.
Marilen also hosts wellness workshops. At the core of her workshops is helping women (and men) make sustainable lifestyle changes they may not have thought possible. She shows you how easy it is to make a simple change to one aspect of your life and get closer to your health goals.
When I asked her where she sees herself in five years, she was quick to reply, “I see myself thriving coaching and mentoring women. My goal is to inspire women to know how to make their bodies function at an optimal level and how to use their lifestyle as a tool to maintain their health.”
Marilen is married to Santi Elizalde and is the mother of Santiago, Enrique, and Isabel.
Here she shares her 10 healthy lifestyle tips.
1. Exercise. Our bodies need to move every day. You don't need too much exercise. From your brain to your joints, exercising every day can improve every part of your body. Whether you incorporate small exercises into your daily routine or adopt a new activity like cycling, yoga, or simply walking around your neighborhood, you can improve and enhance your overall health. Your muscles, bones, joints, brain, heart, and lungs will improve.
2. Sleep. Most adults need to get a regular 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night to feel rested and prepared for the next day. Sleep affects every system in the body, including growth and stress hormones, the immune system, appetite, breathing, blood pressure and cardiovascular health. Research shows that lack of sleep increases the risk of obesity, heart disease and infections.
3. Diet and Nutrition. Whether we like to admit it or not, diet plays a very important role in our lives. The saying “we are what we eat” is true to some extent. Whatever we eat affects our body, our mind and our spirit. We may not realize it, but many diseases come from what we put in our mouth. We need to look after and be kind to our body. We need to be conscious about what we put in our mouth. We can slowly change our eating habits by following a whole food diet and avoiding processed foods, eliminating food sensitivities such as dairy and gluten, addressing nutrient deficiencies such as magnesium, zinc and fatty acids, and incorporating fasting into our daily routine.
4. Spiritual discipline. It's important to have a spiritual discipline – to develop a relationship with God. Daily prayer and gratitude keep you grounded and focused on what's most important in life. My day always starts with prayer and meditation before starting yoga.
5. Meditation. Creating quiet time and quieting the mind is one of the most important gifts we can give ourselves. I meditate because it helps me quiet my cluttered mind. Meditation gives me a blank canvas every morning so I can focus and be mindful of what I want to accomplish during the day. Meditation helps me clear my mind of all the little unnecessary noises that cause the mind to generate negative thoughts. When I have a big event or life-changing activity that I need to prepare for or do, my mind gets filled with “negative” thoughts and I lose sight of the bigger picture. Meditation helps me focus and trains my mind to tell me what to do.
6. Spend time in nature. Whenever you have the chance, get outside. Get some fresh air and sunshine on your skin. Go on a nature walk, hug a tree, go for a saltwater swim. Spending time in nature has many benefits. Spending 20-30 minutes outside can immediately improve your mood, reduce feelings of stress and anger, help you feel more relaxed, and improve your physical health.
7. Emotional Health. It is important to take care of your emotional health. If you are emotionally healthy, you will be able to deal with the stresses of daily life without losing control and will bounce back easily.
8. Detox. By definition, detox is “a process or period of time in which toxins or unhealthy substances are removed from the body in order to improve health and promote weight loss.” This word is often associated only with food and diet. However, I feel there are many aspects of our lives that can benefit from a proper detox. A physical detox from the foods we eat and the medications we take. A mental detox from our work environment. An emotional detox from toxic relationships and harmful friendships. A detox from toxic ingredients in cleaning products, cosmetics, and toiletries. A digital detox from all the gadgets we rely on to get by.
9. Self-care and relaxation. As women, we want to do it all. Whether it be at home as wives and mothers, at work as corporate leaders, or at the gym as the strongest, healthiest women around. Yes, we can do it all, but it comes at the cost of over-stressing our bodies and ultimately hurting ourselves. Too much cortisol isn't doing us any favors. We need to stop the busy woman inside us and sometimes stop, take a deep breath, and relax. Massages, alone time. Girl time. Time just for us. We give ourselves “me time” and we are better for “we time.”
10. Relationships. Relationships are the foundation of radiant health. We need to nurture our relationships with our partners, children, parents, relatives and friends. No one is alone. With good relationships, we have love, support and understanding in everything we do. Good social connections reduce rates of anxiety and depression. People with good relationships also have higher self-esteem and more empathy.*
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