reinvent yourself

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Move Your Body

Posted by John Shinavier - Life Coach | Speaker on March 11, 2014
Posted in: General Blog, Yoga Therapist/ Instructor Blog. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

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“It doesn’t get easier as you get older, but that’s your choice.  Move your body or the alternative is, you’ll probably end up in a wheelchair.”   Words of wisdom from my beloved 72 year old yoga teacher who was still teaching until a month before her death of cancer.  If you’ve come to the same decision in your life and you’ve chosen to begin or continue working out, walking, dancing etc., then chances are you’ll still be able to push through most of what aging puts us through and continue living a life of quality.

I’ve done many of the disciplines of body movement in my life, tree climbing as a kid, ocean swimming, Taekwondo, weightlifting, dance and yoga are only a few.  As I age, I find that for me it’s important to practice yoga everyday, and swim when I can find a pool or a fresh body of water.

Which brings me to yoga.  Yoga can be practiced in any space, no matter the area; in you’re in bed, or in the smallest of studio’s apartments. Rotating the head, carefully, in neck rolls while sitting at your desk can release much of that tension that is held in the shoulders and neck areas.  Removing your shoes to point and flex your feet will keep your Achilles tendon from hardening.  Abdominal breathing oxygenates your blood quickly when all breathing is done through the nose.  Learning this is simple.  You lay on your back, place a book on your stomach, breathe through your nose and direct it to you diaphragm.  When you see that book moving up and down as you inhale and exhale, then you’ll be able to practice it while sitting at your desk or waiting for a light to change in traffic.

Lately my model for perfect flexibility is a baby, specifically toddlers.   Watch a baby struggle to stand; they use their hands as much as their legs.  Look how they play with their toes, swing their arms forward and backward etc…  You’ll never get younger, but if you can learn a few moves from a toddler and you practice them, like they do, your body will respond, and you’ll never again lose that sense of gratitude when you incorporate movement into your daily life.

John Shinavier, MA , RYT, Life Coach

Go to <a href=”http://www.thumbtack.com/Kali-Natha-Yoga-the-yoga-of-developing-the-Mystic-within-you-Los-Angeles-CA/service/1062451″>Kali Natha Yoga, the yoga of developing the Mystic within you.</a>

Seasons of a Mans Life…..Group Now Forming

Posted by John Shinavier - Life Coach | Speaker on September 4, 2012
Posted in: General Blog, Men's Group Blog, Therapy Blog. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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Generally speaking, a man can wake up at any point in his life.  Developmentally  this happens first in his early thirties.  It’s a gut feeling that he senses when he’s not doing what he supposed he’d be doing or is not where he feels he should be in his life.  He also might come to the realization that what his choices may have been at a younger age were more his parents choices then his.  It can be a little overwhelming in the early thirties, but there is still hope and youth to fuel any new direction, whether it be in career, relationship,  or higher education.  Some years later there is quite a different man entering his late thirties, early forties.  If he has not met any of his important goals that he had set in his late twenties or early thirties,  then, this realization can have a crippling effect  coupled with an urgency to change his life.  His whole world is sometimes called up for review and his attempts to change may show themselves superficially in buying that sports car, leaving his spouse/partner, cheating on the one he does have or self medicating his feelings of low self-worth by drinking, using drugs or just behaving badly.

“Seasons of a Man’s Life” is a small group of like-minded men who will gather together one night a week for ninety minutes of introspection, discussion, education and story telling.  Along with interesting exercises that will reveal what truly is important to them.  The group will hopefully find answers to questions, learn problem solving skills that will help them reevaluate their lives and find fresh energy for the work that lays ahead of them.

If this sounds like a group for you or for someone you know, please call me for an initial free consult to see if you could benefit from such a group?  It’s open to all men between the ages of thirty to fourty eight.  It will initially run for eight weeks at the cost of two hundred and seventy five dollars, payable at the first meeting.    The group is planning to begin towards the end of September.  You will be given an informative packet of the schedule and the topics that will be discussed on any evening.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely

John Shinavier, MA, Life Coach, RYT

“One Clients Goals Reached”

Posted by John Shinavier - Life Coach | Speaker on May 31, 2012
Posted in: General Blog. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments


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Many clients ask me when will they be finished with therapy.  It is measurable.  Below is one client who reached their goals in a relatively short time.

One Client’s Goals Reached

  • Be aware
  • Breathe
  • Stay in the Moment
  • Be Free
  • Assume nothing, Expect nothing
  • Don’t project for yourself or others.
  • Tell yourself the truth and then move on.
  • If people say its okay, then let it be okay.
  • Own your own feelings.
  • Speak your mind.
  • Don’t own what’s not yours.
  • Don’t be a container for the feelings of others.
  • Act, as if.
  • You do not have to be thinking or feeling something.
  • You do not have to have an opinion, or voice one.
  • You do not have to react.
  • Choose neutral or nothing at all.
  • Know your triggers.
  • Don’t be so hard on yourself, or others.
  • Select your thoughts don’t let it be the other way around.
  • Let the bossy girl go.
  • Be the calm center in the storm around you.
  • Support, don’t protect.
  • Receive kindness.
  • Talk less, listen more.
  • Stop trying to fix things.
  • Don’t judge, yourself, or, others.
  • Don’t take things personally.
  • Relinquish your need for external approval.
  • Watch where you put your energy.
  • Drink as you pour.
  • Unzip, Detach, Have some Fun!  Remember there is freedom in simplicity.

Does This Sound Familiar?

Posted by John Shinavier - Life Coach | Speaker on August 8, 2011
Posted in: Life Coach Blog. Tagged: , , , , . 1 Comment

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You’ve been out of work for a long time. One year quickly became three. Any ounce of self respect and knowledge of what you use to know has gone the way of the “old technology”. Self confidence has been replaced by fear. What have you been doing for the past three years?  
We only got through to one of your referrals! Everyone that you knew at your last company has left!

Do you know the new systems?  I learn very quickly, you reply.  You’ve lost this job already. You can feel it. You’ve never felt like “yesterdays news” before. Whenever you interviewed for a job that you wanted, you got it. Now they won’t even meet with you. Chances are there will be several phone interviews by their assistants before you’ll ever meet anyone face to face. The money for the positions you’ve held in the past is lower now, and what you would not have considered doing a year ago is now at the top of your list, for here you are, applying at “Trader Joe’s” for part time work. You’ve had to dumb down your resume for practically any interview, only to be seen by a manager who’s looking for someone to stock shelves in the middle of the night or answer the phone!  Welcome to the new job market.

Everything has changed. Your buddies, like yourself, had to move out of expensive apartments and return to their bedrooms at home. Girlfriends stuck around until the money ran out, and you find yourself repeating what you did in
high school; throwing darts at your old dart board and watching a lot of porn on your MAC.
It’s maddening, but not impossible to find a job in your field. Depending on your area of expertise, you can count on getting hired for less than what you received six years ago. That’s a reality. Don’t let it throw you. Many recruiters that I
have talked to are saying that employers are putting all new hires on a year’s probation, for the simple fact that many job seekers find employment only to find a better job and quit.  Others are waiting until something better comes along, and yet, depending on the need, many will stay with the company that hires them and hope that after a few years the salaries and benefits will match their expectations.

According to a survey of college graduates, co-authored by Cliff Zukin, a Rutgers University political science and public policy professor, the Great Recession has hit them the hardest. “The median starting salary for those who graduated between 2006 and 2008 was thirty thousand. For the 2009 and 2010 grads, it dipped to twenty seven thousand. And women graduates continued to make less than men.” Zukin said that with future salaries dependent on the initial one. It could mean the recent grads will have lower earnings throughout their careers.