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Seasons of Change

Charlotte Siems — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:00:29 +0000

It’s storm season in Oklahoma. A few days ago some places in our state experienced hail the size of baseballs! Having lived in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas all of my life, thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes are a fact of life. They’re an expected part of the season, just like snow in winter and triple-digit temperatures in summer.

Life has seasons, too. Young married life gives way to a season of babies and toddlers. (That season lasted about 25 years for me!) Gradually it changes to life with kids, then teens and eventually grown children. Then we watch the cycle repeat with our own children.

As much as we’d like for things to stay the same, they don’t. My younger children don’t have the same life at home that the older children had, and that’s not a bad thing. Even if I did everything exactly the same, it would be different. Our family structure shifts as children grow up and leave home, and everyone grows and changes personally.

Six years ago when I lost nine sizes with T-Tapp, that started a ball rolling that eventually led to me becoming a T-Tapp Trainer to share it with others. With two preschoolers at home, I wasn’t interested in traveling or being gone much, so I explored the possibilities of working at home online. It proved to be a great solution, as I was able to homeschool, be mostly at home and still build a business to benefit our family.

Fast-forward to today. Our youngest child is finishing first grade and we have “only” five children at home, with the oldest a senior in high school next year. Grandbabies are in and out along with their parents, we’re still homeschooling and it’s a good life.

Seasons change in a business, too. It’s been very interesting to me that having a business has required more honesty with myself than anything I’ve done besides mothering. I haven’t had a grand business plan, it has grown and changed with me.

Currently it’s in a season of change, as I’ve been working with a Social Media company for a few months in addition to my own website. Recently Boom! Social offered me an increased opportunity working with online business owners in a new training program. It means doing the things that I love: writing, speaking, answering questions and teaching, bringing in mindset and the power of thoughts and attitude. I’ll still be at home and I’m excited about the work.

If you’ll read between the lines in the hundreds of posts on my blog, you’ll see that “how we think” is a common thread. I’ve known for a long time that there was more for me to share than recipes and exercise tips, although that will continue to be a part of what I offer. I’m not going anywhere and the website will remain, with new posts added regularly although usually once a week rather than twice.

I’m so used to sharing with you what’s going on in our family that it was natural for me to tell you the story. Like all stories and seasons, it might shift and change as time passes so we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

If you have thoughts or comments, please share them here…

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Charlotte Siems

I'm a happy wife and mom of 12 who lost 100 pounds, shrinking from size 22W to 6 with the T-Tapp workout. I've homeschooled for 26 years, baked a million cookies, taught T-Tapp and kept things together (and mostly sane) at home. I love to help people find practical, real-life solutions for home, family, fitness and business--no guilt or perfection needed!

My Recovery From Adrenal Fatigue, Part 2

Charlotte Siems — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:00:37 +0000

In My Recovery From Adrenal Fatigue, Part One, I detailed the “physical” things I did to help my recovery from adrenal fatigue. I would say that I had moderate adrenal fatigue teetering on the edge of severe at times, over a period of several years. I haven’t had further saliva testing to confirm my current state, I just go by how I feel.

I am now able to stay up late, get up early and have a busy day without a crash, but I do monitor myself for “adrenal feelings.” For me, when I feel adrenal-y, I feel a weakness inside my bones—that’s the only way I can describe it. I also feel very tired and emotionally “down.” At that point I know it’s time to drink some adrenal fatigue tea, increase the Vitamin C dosage and get more rest for a few days.

However, I believe that for me personally, learning to deal with stress and my thoughts were the biggest key in healing from adrenal fatigue.

Working through this piece not only helped adrenal fatigue, it also greatly improved an autoimmune issue of a very low platelet count (thrombocytopenia). A normal platelet count is 150,000 to 400,000. Mine ran about 36,000 and dropped into the 20’s or lower on several occasions, resulting in petechia (red spots which are literally bleeding in the skin), easy bruising (such as from a purse on my arm), fatigue and feeling blue. Worst-case scenario is severe bleeding but I never got there.

I’ll remind you that I’m no scientist or doctor but I believe my body was destroying itself, literally eating its own platelets, because of self-hatred resulting from rejection issues. I didn’t like who I was and I didn’t think it was good to be me.

I won’t go into the reasons for this, other than to say that I survived a difficult childhood and some traumatic experiences as an adult. My deep issues of rejection and abandonment expressed themselves as feelings that I didn’t deserve anything good and that I was not good enough.

That translated into a tendency to avoid vulnerability or needing anything from anyone, which is common for someone who was wounded as a child. I am extremely grateful for my husband, who has patiently loved me across the years and coaxed me into a trusting, intimate relationship.

The non-scientific explanation of how our brain works is that it seeks to categorize experiences and exposure to new things. It searches through the “file cabinets” of previous experiences to see if it can organize the new experience and place it in the right drawer along with other similar files.

So when a new experience comes along, such as someone else’s words or actions, we pretty much associate it with a previous experience. Husband didn’t notice our new haircut? That feels an awful lot like when Mom didn’t notice our carefully gathered wildflowers. So we assume a motive and/or immediately jump to the rejection feeling.

Multiply that by twenty-five years. Adrenal fatigue often shows up in middle-aged women who have borne stress and ways of thinking for many years. Finally their adrenal glands (stress glands) just get exhausted. Throw in an especially demanding or stressful season and they go downhill in a hurry.

My journey of dealing with mindset issues began with T-Tapp, the exercise program I did to lose 100 pounds. Read more about that here. Eventually I became a T-Tapp Trainer, which led to an online business. Having a business forced me to deal with emotional issues stemming from fear of vulnerability and putting myself out there. This very article is a testament to how far I’ve come in getting past my stuff!

Please note that I’ve been a Christian for many years and definitely found help from God all along—I just didn’t really believe that God loved me or that I deserved His love. The antidote for rejection is the love of God but I didn’t accept it until the last few years.

I worked with mentors to identify where I was struggling and find new ways of thinking. I realized that I often created anxiety even when everything was handled because that was what felt normal to me all of my life. The Bible says “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Turn that around: You shall know lies and the lies shall enslave you. I finally began to believe and think the truth.

Of course this is just the short version, but I wanted to make sure that this part of my recovery from adrenal fatigue was included because in the end, it was (and still is) even more important than the physical things. I am very grateful for the healing I’ve experienced. The training, study and experience I’ve had with mindset issues not only improved my health, it is changing my work (more on that soon).

As always, your questions and comments are welcome.

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Charlotte Siems

Living Backwards

Charlotte Siems — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:00:56 +0000

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the average American family has 1.86 children. Perhaps you, like me, have never figured out how one manages to have .86 of a child. All I know is that we had whole children and a lot of them.

It was not in the original life plan to have a very large family. If I had known on my wedding day that I would have twelve children I might have run screaming in the other direction. Fortunately we grow into our destiny, and the children were born one at a time.

The first four children were born in less than four years. We had a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old, a 16-month-old and a newborn. It was hard when they were all little but it’s not hard now that they are 30, 29, 28 and 27.

Little children are one of those tests of character that do not go away when you are tired or stressed. Sometimes I think that God gives us children so that we ourselves will finally grow up.

There can be difficult times in raising children, when it seems that a certain stage will last forever and we’ll never get a full night’s sleep again. We can get short-sighted and begin to long for our own convenience and “rights.” As an older mother can I share a bit of perspective?

In her wonderful book, The Hidden Art of Homemaking, Edith Schaeffer writes, “You cannot expect to have a close relationship with a teenager who, after all, is still the same person as the two-year-old you stuck crying into bed, the three-year-old you spanked and shoved aside, the four-year-old you wouldn’t listen to, the five-year-old you never shared beauty with, the six-year-old you found boring, or you ‘trained’ never to butt in, but never gave time to make a cozy and beautiful background out of which you could talk to him or her.”

And in What is a Family? Mrs. Schaeffer warns, “Neglected mothers and grandmothers may perhaps have been preparing for their own neglect by teaching over and over again that people’s sensitive feelings, and people’s need of response is never as important as clean houses, schedules, or rules and regulations.”

I have always found it helpful to live daily life with a frequent reminder of “what will I wish I had done?” It’s a good question to ask yourself, along with “If I found out I had a week to live, how would I spend my time?” If that was a reality, putting off a toddler with a saggy diaper while we are on Facebook would probably not be among the choices. Nor would we refuse to read a book to our young children or scream at our five-year-old. Just a thought and perspective for you to consider.

Whether you have 1.86 children or ten, make sure that you are loving them and living with them in ways that you will not regret in the future. If you have regrets (as all parents do), God is in the business of restoration and repair. Look forward to where you will be someday, and then back up to where you are now. Living backwards can help you end up where you want to be.

What helps you gain perspective on living with the end in mind? Please leave a comment…

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Charlotte Siems

My Recovery From Adrenal Fatigue, Part 1

Charlotte Siems — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:00:39 +0000

Note: Lately I’ve received requests for information about my recovery from adrenal fatigue. I’m not a big researcher, I’m more the just-tell-me-what-I-need-to-know type. There are tons of resources available on the internet, so feel free to research away. I am not a medical professional nor do I play one on TV, and I’m not giving advice on how to treat medical conditions. What I am doing is sharing my experience and how I’ve worked with my own body, in the hopes that it will start someone else on their own healing journey.

What is Adrenal Fatigue?

In early 2010 I was officially diagnosed by my care provider with adrenal fatigue, after a saliva test revealed my cortisol levels throughout the day. In the months leading up to that diagnosis, I had experienced some strange symptoms: absolute, to-the-bone exhaustion (especially after workouts and in the morning upon arising), dizziness and blackouts upon standing from a sitting position, inability to sleep through the night, feelings of overwhelm and burnout, shakiness and low blood sugar and weakness in the muscles in my legs. Many of these symptoms were also related to low thyroid, which was diagnosed at the same time.

The terrible fatigue was the worst part for me. I struggled to do simple tasks like shopping for groceries, and I kept feeling like “What is wrong with me?”

Adrenal fatigue is basically a condition that results when your adrenal glands—your stress glands—get depleted after years of stressful living.

Here’s a link to information about adrenal fatigue symptoms and causes (see the link in Helpful Resources at the end of this article for a quiz): http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/what-is-adrenal-fatigue

What I Did to Help My Recovery From Adrenal Fatigue

I tried a lot of supplements and many of them seemed to work for a while and then stopped working. I think that’s common for adrenal fatigue sufferers. What follows is a list, in no particular order, of things that I did and continue to do that seemed to help the most. I’m currently in a good place with adrenal fatigue and I am vigilant to not push myself beyond my limits. There are times when I feel “adrenal-y” and that’s when I pull back and take better care of myself with rest, stress reduction and nutrition.

My list doesn’t include a particular diet or way of eating, but I know that is important for many people. The list is divided into two parts: physical and non-physical things I did. I know you can’t actually separate the two, but it made more sense for two shorter posts.

Go to bed early and be asleep by 10:00pm. For me, that meant heading to bed by 9:00pm. If I stayed up much past 10:00, I got a second wind and didn’t want to go to bed and that was deadly for the next day. There are physical reasons for that second wind having to do with cortisol levels.

In the morning upon awakening, stay in bed, awake, for at least 15-20 minutes. Often I got up to use the bathroom and take thyroid medication, then I would lie back down. The best time for adrenal fatigue sufferers to sleep is 7:00-9:00 in the morning but that wasn’t going to happen for me. Staying in bed was the next best thing. Often I would feel weak when I first got up but would feel much better after staying in bed for a while. This also has to do with cortisol levels.

Use Young Living essential oils to sleep much better at night. I remember the first night I used the oils, I dreamed in vivid color. I use the roll-on Stress Away on my wrists, roll-on Tranquil behind my ears and on my temples, and 2-3 drops of Lavender and/or Peace and Calming in magnesium gel, rubbed on my feet. I still follow this routine almost every night and have no trouble sleeping. At first the magnesium gel made my feet rough but after several weeks it softened the skin like a fresh pedicure. In fact, I had a pedicure last week and the technician complimented me on the soft skin on my feet. This is after years of rough, peeling skin on my heels.

At least one tablespoon of coconut oil every day. I usually eat it straight, with raw almonds. It helps with energy and clarity of thought. Teresa Tapp said it won’t make you gain weight, it will help you lose weight.

Adrenal Fatigue tea. Well, that’s what I called it. I still drink it when I start feeling bad. Mix one tablespoonful of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar, one tablespoonful of raw honey and cinnamon to taste in a mug of hot water. I drank two mugs on days when I felt really tired.

Plenty of Vitamin C. I usually drank Emergen-C, but now I sometimes make a batch of homemade liposomal Vitamin C.

T-Tapp and Adrenal Fatigue

Fatigue and muscle weakness made T-Tapp difficult for me at times. I remember getting in the shower after a workout sometimes and feeling so bad I wanted to cry. Here are a few tips that helped me:

During seasons of adrenal fatigue episodes, take two days off between workouts.
Take extra water breaks and kick out between moves.
My favorite workouts for adrenal fatigue: Senior Fit, Menopause Management, MORE, MORE Chair, TappCore. Senior Fit especially targets the thoracic area of the spine to support the adrenal glands. It actually makes me feel energized rather than exhausted.
On Plies, only bring arms up to a V.
Fewer reps with activated muscles. Inactivation is bad for the adrenals.
And my miracle move: the T-Tapp Ladybug Move (a floor move available on a separate Ladybug Target PoP DVD). The key is pressing the back in the floor and on the reaches with the foot, really r-e-a-c-h with the ankle. I can drop to the floor and do four of those if I’m feeling adrenal-ish and it cures me–seriously. At the T-Tapp Trainer Certifications during my Ladybug cert, Teresa stopped me and had me really reach. She noticed that I was doing wimpy reaches with the foot. I got up from the floor a new woman, it was that helpful.

Recovery from adrenal fatigue is tricky. It’s not a linear improvement, where you get better every day. You can feel good for a while and then have some bad days. It’s not a fast recovery process, either. I’ve felt better in the last few months than I did over the last four years.

In the next post we’ll take a look at some other important, foundational things I did to help me heal from adrenal fatigue.

Helpful Resources:

http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/take-the-adrenal-fatigue-quiz

Bailey’s Naturals, Safety Harbor, FL 727-725-1617 (Balanced Body – This herbal supplement did help with energy on bad days.)

Young Living oils: http://www.youngliving.com/ (My distributor number is 1209500 if this has been helpful to you)

If you have questions or experiences to share, please leave a comment.

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Charlotte Siems

Tips for Your Bible Quiet Time

Charlotte Siems — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:00:12 +0000

Reading the Bible and having a quiet time are an important part of my life. I’ve noticed that my thinking is clearer and I am calmer when I start my day with some reading and journaling. If too many days pass without a dedicated time to read and pray, it shows up in my life as less patience and joy.

As a young Christian I wondered how in the world to have a “quiet time.” Devotional books usually caused me to just read the devotion and skip the Bible part. With a job that required overtime, and later a bunch of little children, I didn’t have time for a complicated study.

Over the years I struggled to maintain an active devotional life, but gradually I found what worked for me. The Bible says that God will “gently lead those that are with young,” and what I do now as an older mother whose youngest child is seven differs somewhat from what I did during the baby-and-toddler years (25 years, in my case), but the basic principles are the same.

Everyone is different and personal quiet time is, well, personal. Your beliefs and practices will probably differ, but here are some things that work for me:

Read a chapter a day. When I had little ones, this might be shortened to a verse. If you read and think about just one verse a day, that will definitely add up. If you keep meaning to get to a chapter and never get around to it because you’re overwhelmed, that will add up to a lot of days with no Bread of Life.

Find a passage that speaks to me. Usually something will jump out at me, either as encouragement or conviction. If it doesn’t, I keep reading.

Copy the passage that speaks to me in my journal. We do copy work in our homeschool, and I tell my kids that I still do copy work every day as an adult.

Personalize and/or write about the passage in my journal. This can be either re-copying the verse in a different tense (change “you” to “I”) or paraphrasing it and using part of the actual wording.

Occasionally do a simple word study. If there is a passage that really speaks to me, I will look up the main words in the Webster’s 1828 dictionary. That usually opens up the meaning for a deeper understanding.

Continue the conversation with God by writing more in my journal. I write about what I’m thinking of, problems I’m having, sins I’m confessing, gratefulness I’m expressing, and more.

That’s it. No DVDs, no book studies, no formal Bible studies. I’ve bought a few over the years and I don’t know that I ever completely finished one. But I’ve been pretty consistent with my simple method for many years.

Years ago I found myself in a dry spell spiritually and I listened to Cheryle Touchton in an interview. Her “Six-Week Wisdom Challenge” really helped me and I repeated it many times.

As a 19-year-old new Christian, I felt like I had a lot of catching up to do (and I still feel that way). I wanted to grow up to be a godly woman, and somehow I knew that God’s Word was a key. Thirty-four years later I’m still learning and an almost-daily quiet time has shaped my life.

I hope these tips have helped you! Please leave a comment…

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Charlotte Siems

Out of Bed and Into Your New Life with T-Tapp

Charlotte Siems — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:00:13 +0000

An alarm pierces the silence of the early morning and a middle-aged woman gropes in the darkness to turn it off. She lays in bed for a few minutes, gathering strength to haul herself out of bed.

Getting out of bed requires technique. She places one hand on the nightstand and one hand on the bed for leverage to ease the burden of weight on her knees. The creaking comes not only from the bed, but also from her knees and back. She walks slowly to work out the morning kinks and soreness, groaning with the effort. The woman doesn’t have major health issues, but her weight and lack of exercise is affecting every part of her day.

No matter what occupation we choose, everyday life requires that we move our bodies. In the movie Wall-E, humans have their every need met while they sit in portable chairs. By the end of the movie, the people realize that their sedentary lifestyle has trapped them in the limitations of their inactive bodies.

I was the woman getting out of bed and in some ways, I was trapped, too. Besides the morning slowness I struggled with both sitting down and getting up from chairs. Walking up and down stairs was uncomfortable and hard on my knees. Reaching the bottom shelf at the grocery store was difficult and embarrassing.

Fortunately for us, T-Tapp is known as the ultimate functional fitness workout. It builds a strong, flexible core that enables you to function in daily life–carrying groceries, picking up children and yes, getting out of bed. The key is strength combined with flexibility, and they are both built with T-Tapp’s techniques.

Since I had never aspired to a lifestyle of fitness, when I started T-Tapp it didn’t occur to me that it would affect my daily functioning. Hey, I just wanted to lose a couple of sizes for a wedding. Within two weeks my children were saying to me, “Wow, Mom, you’re not tired all of the time anymore.” All of a sudden I realized I was on to something besides dress sizes. The months passed and grocery shopping became a new experience as I could reach the Kleenex box at the back of the bottom shelf. Getting in and out of the car was no longer an ordeal. My new state of fitness impacted me in unexpected and exciting ways.

It’s one thing to read about all of the health reasons for exercising. It’s another thing to live it. To my surprise, T-Tapp absolutely transformed my daily life because it affected my moment-by-moment physical functioning. Functional fitness means getting out of bed is now a jump-up-and-let’s-get-going experience. I started out with a goal of wearing new clothes—but instead I got a new life. It can happen to you, too!

How has T-Tapp’s “functional fitness” impacted your life? Please leave a comment…

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Charlotte Siems

“Kay Loves Family” Mother’s Day Sweepstakes

Charlotte Siems — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:00:33 +0000

Photos record memories. They are often all we have to remind us of a special moment. Ask someone which possessions they would save if their house caught on fire, and the answer likely includes old photographs. While the digital age has changed how we take pictures, old prints and negatives can be priceless and irreplaceable.

A confession: I’m not much of a picture-taker. It just doesn’t occur to me. It’s better since my phone has a camera, but often I smack my forehead later and say “I should have taken a picture!”

The funny thing is, I love photos and I love it when my grown children send photos by text message. Whether it’s something funny the toddler did or the college student out on a date, families and photos just seem to go together.

We have albums upon albums of old photos. One summer our oldest daughter spent hours placing pictures in albums as a surprise anniversary gift to us. Having such a large family, it’s fun for the younger children to pore over the albums and see how the older children looked at their age.

Holidays and birthdays seem to bring on the urge to look at old pictures. Mother’s Day is just around the corner and that’s an especially bittersweet time for Moms. It reminds us of how quickly our children grow, and we’re so glad for the glimpse into their younger years.

I was recently contacted by Kay Jewelers about a “Kay Loves Family” Mother’s Day sweepstakes they’re holding. You enter by liking their Facebook Page and creating virtual scrapbook pages with your family photos. It’s actually really fun to put one together on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/KayJewelers/app_383704475070331

The best thing is that you get a chance to win a family vacation to your choice of one of three destinations: Orlando, Aspen or a Caribbean Cruise. You can also win jewelry gifts each week, and you can enter every day between now and Mother’s Day!

When you create your scrapbook page to enter, please be sure to list me as the one who referred you. They have a little blogger challenge going, and I have a chance to win and have Jane Seymour write a post for my blog!

I have to say that it made me laugh when Kay Jewelers contacted me as a “Mommy Blogger.” I told them I had never done anything like this before and I thought to myself “Do they realize how old I am?” But I’m giving it a whirl, and the family scrapbook contest theme is really nice.

Whether you decide to enter or not, take some time to scroll back through some photos on your computer or phone (or look through albums!). Be glad for the memories and resolve to make some more good ones with your loved ones while you have them.

Are you a photographer? Do you scrapbook with your photos? Do you have questions about the contest? Please leave a comment!

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Disclaimer: Please note that I am receiving prize(s) from Sterling Jewelers Inc. at no cost for participating in this blogger challenge. That’s the official wording—it actually means they sent me two pretty bracelets for working with them:

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Charlotte Siems

How to T-Tapp When You Don’t Feel Like It

Charlotte Siems — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:00:35 +0000

Do you ever feel like your exercise routine is going down the drain? There’s a myth out there that T-Tapp Trainers and those who have reached their size goal always feel like working out and don’t have a problem staying consistent. Excuse me? Last time I checked, we’re all human. Life happens, we get busy and/or just plain lazy. From experience, let me show you how to T-Tapp when you don’t feel like it.

But before we get to the nitty-gritty details, let’s get something straight: you do not have to be perfect, or have the perfect workout schedule, to get results with T-Tapp. I run into people who are fearful that skipping a workout will make all of their efforts swirl down the drain. So much so that when they do inevitably skip a workout, they figure “what’s the use?” and quit.

The trick for long-term consistency is to give yourself a good balance between grace and a kick in the pants.

Too much grace and you give yourself permission to be as bad as you wanna be, eating too much and exercising way too little.

Too much kick in the pants and you begin to associate T-Tapp with pain and drudgery and punishment, so why are you surprised when you don’t want to do it?

Here are my tricks and tips for when I know I need to T-Tapp but I don’t feel like it:

Think about how good I’ll feel when T-Tapp is done. Rather than focus on how hard it is and how much I really don’t want to do it, I think about how glad I’ll be that I bit the bullet and did the workout.

Choose my hard thing. It’s hard to be achey and tired after a workout. It’s hard to be achey and tired because I haven’t been working out. Both are hard things. But when I’m achey after a workout I feel a bit proud of myself and hopeful that the workout is doing its thing. When I’m achey from being a sloth, I feel aggravated and have a nagging thought that I need to get to work.

Tell myself “Thank you for sharing,” lace up my shoes and push “play.” We spend more time arguing with ourselves and trying to talk ourselves out of a workout than it would take to just do the thing.

Pick a favorite “don’t feel like it” workout:

TappCore – 9 separate moves that make it easy to pick and choose. Somehow it seems less overwhelming when it’s not a continuous sequence. Do one, three or nine. Balance will kick your buns if you’re staying tucked and lifted.
Healthy Hormones/Menopause Management – Love using the towel for the warmup sequence. I just go till I’m done, even if it’s just one move. Usually it’s more. Sometimes the whole enchilada.
Senior Fit – I. Love. Senior. Fit. On an “I don’t feel like it” day, I do Primary Back Stretch (Tempo-style) and then skip through, usually to Oil Wells, T-Tapp Twist Stretch and always, always Scarecrow/Ski because it’s so awesome.
MORE, especially Chair – Or Step Away. Or both. On a day when I really don’t feel up to a full workout DVD or I don’t feel well or I’m recovering from something, MORE Chair is a lifesaver. Many a time I have used the regular MORE workout to work back up to strength for a couple of weeks after an illness or medical leave.

Do some T-Tapp but not necessarily a workout. T-Tapp is functional fitness. You can apply its principles to daily life. Walk in T-Tapp form, stand in T-Tapp form. Do a move here and there throughout the day, like the clap/pulls from Senior Fit. (Just don’t do twisting moves without first warming up the spine).

Promise myself a non-food reward after a workout. Favorites: magazine or Pinterest browsing, window-shopping, or just sitting in my chair. That’s a rare one.

Do something besides T-Tapp. I personally don’t do other workouts, but I like to ride a bike around our neighborhood. Sometimes I walk but I much prefer biking. I like to feel the wind on my face and it feels faster and more fun. Throwback from childhood. I often do some form of Primary Back Stretch first.

Take a day off. What? Hey, it’s reality. I listen to my body and mind. When I can tell that I really do NOT want to workout, as in dreading and hatin’ on it, I don’t. This is not a viable long-term strategy. But it IS part of long-term consistency.

I bet you have some ideas on how to T-Tapp when you don’t feel like it. Help others keep from going down the drain and share your tips!

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Charlotte Siems

How Do I Change My Attitude?

Charlotte Siems — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:00:29 +0000

As a young mom I remember wondering “How do I change my attitude?” There had to be a better way than getting mired in discouragement every day. Thoughts took me wherever they wanted to go and I went along for the ride. It felt like that was just the way things were, since I wasn’t blessed with a cheerful personality and an easy life.

I felt like Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories:

“Good morning, Pooh Bear,” said Eeyore gloomily. “If it is a good morning,” he said. “Which I doubt,” said he.

“Why, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can’t all, and some of us don’t. That’s all there is to it.”

“Can’t all what?” said Pooh, rubbing his nose.

“Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush.”

It took years to realize that the power to change my attitude was in my own choices.

Of course we can’t control which thoughts pop into our heads. But we can control which thoughts to dwell on.

Which will it be?

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Watching the clock and letting self-pity and resentment overtake me when the baby wakes up crying every two hours.

Extending grace to a tiny person who hasn’t lived on the earth for very long and realizing the truth that this season of babyhood is very short and less sleep isn’t going to kill me, especially when I don’t think that it will.

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Sighing with martyrdom and self-righteousness when I have to pick up my husband’s dirty clothes, slinging them in anger for good measure.

Thinking affectionately of this man who works hard and being grateful I have a husband to pick up after.

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Feeling annoyed and snappish when children don’t follow my nicely planned homeschool schedule.

Realizing that the interruptions and imperfections are exactly the life that God is sending to me today, and staying aware that even the homeschool years are a fleeting season.

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Note that the circumstances in each scenario didn’t change. Only my choice of thoughts.

Our first thought could very well be the aggravation-resentment-self-pity one. But at that point we get to choose which thoughts to focus on and strengthen. It’s our choice which thoughts to bring to the front of our minds and water and fertilize and carefully tend.

The truth is, sometimes we don’t WANT to choose gracious, loving thoughts. It seems unfair. We’d rather focus on ourselves and our rights, with a bit of foot-stomping and crossed arms. Waahh.

But of course we can’t escape the inevitable reaping of what we sow. When we scatter seeds of self-pity and resentment, we harvest bitterness and grouchiness and all manner of ugliness.

If you don’t want to think positive, that’s okay. Just get rid of all the negative thoughts in your mind and whatever is left will be fine.

Choose your thoughts wisely, for as a woman thinks in her heart, so is she.

We don’t want our family to remember us as a stressed-out, grouchy, sad-faced, aggravated Mom. You CAN change your attitude. Nobody wants to be an Eeyore, so don’t think like one.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment…

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Charlotte Siems

Tips to Tweak Your T-Tapp Workout

Charlotte Siems — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:00:20 +0000

Not only does the T-Tapp workout shift and redesign your body curves, it changes and progresses itself. As Teresa Tapp continues to introduce new techniques of muscle activation, it brings new life to all of the T-Tapp workouts.

Just because a new form tweak is introduced in a new workout doesn’t mean that the original form is obsolete or “wrong.” The new stuff has a different purpose or an easier way of creating the desired result. But you can add some variety to your old favorites by incorporating a few tweaks from other workouts to ramp up your routine.

For instance, let’s look at some ways to spice up MORE Chair with a few techniques from Senior Fit:

Do the Senior Fit Tempo version of Primary Back Stretch, then move to MORE Chair.
Use the Senior Fit hand position on Bicep Curls and In-Outs.
On Combo In-Outs, reach up to a V rather than all the way up.
Press feet into the floor but pay special attention to jazzing toes.
On Chair Hoe Downs, use the Senior Fit hand position and keep ribs UP while lifting the foot/knee.

You’ll still follow along on the video with MORE Chair, just add some tweaks. Pay attention to how it feels. You may find that some simple changes make you sweat more!

Just remember the rule for adapting a T-Tapp workout: you can skip moves but don’t rearrange them. The T-Tapp sequence matters. Seriously, you’d be surprised at the “why’s” of the small details. The benefits and genius design of T-Tapp never cease to amaze me. If you spend any length of time with Teresa Tapp you’ll know what I mean!

Occasionally I hear people say they get bored with T-Tapp. Everyone is different and I’m sure they have their reasons. But after more than six years of regular T-Tapping I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface.

Of course it helps that I own a variety of workouts. Some days I just “feel” like floorwork or a walking workout. Sometimes I finish a standing workout with the Ladybug floor move. Don’t be afraid to do what sounds good to you—it could be that your body is trying to tell you something.

It also helps to mix it up with form tweaks or parts of one workout married to another. My current favorite is Senior Fit (as you can probably tell) and I like to carry over parts of it when I do something else.

Try mixing it up a little. Tack on TappCore Balance to the end of Basic Workout Plus. Do TappCore Spine instead of Primary Back Stretch sometimes. Do MORE Chair followed by MORE Step Away for variety. Get creative, but don’t stray from the sequence. Always begin by warming up the spine with some form of a T-Tapp Primary Back Stretch.

Do you have a favorite way to tweak your T-Tapp workouts for variety or results? Please leave a comment and share with us!

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Charlotte Siems