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  • VFIT STUDIO
    • CLASS SCHEDULE
    • CLASS DESCRIPTIONS
    • CLASS INSTRUCTORS
    • SERVICES & RATES
  • LEARN MORE
    • WHAT’S THE VFIT STUDIO
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • FAQ
  • MY STORY
  • CONTACT
  • VFIT BLOG
  • VFIT SQUAD
    • RECIPE ROLODEX
    • MEAL PLANNER
    • SHOPPING LIST

The Benefits of a Mastermind

June 21, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

VFit Community

MASTERMIND.

Here at VFit Studio we believe in health for the whole self: mind, body, and spirit. We deliver functional workouts over 70 times a week and these connect us with in real time with our team.

For an enhanced membership experience, to bring connection even further, we also have opportunities for our community members to join Mastermind groups. These groups are formed based on different program or membership experiences and help our members engage, learn, and lean on one another in a variety of program formats and options.

The Mastermind group opportunities we have for our members include:

  • VFit Connect – year round enhanced membership experience with includes 2 weekly community corner sessions a week, a monthly wellness workshop, and monthly manifest Monday meditation session
  • Ascent – a 100 day challenge that runs in the late winter/early spring that connects teams of 10-15 together with a wellness coach to work together to hold one another accountable in working towards personal goals
  • 6 Month Challenge + Holiday Hustle – accountabilty challenges based on either 6 months or from Halloween to New Years, that brings together small groups of VFitters along with wellness coaches to work on check in goals and team building. Spoiler alert … In 2022, we will host our first Holiday Hustle!

We continue to work to find new ways to bring together smaller groups of our community to foster more connections and bring together shared experiences.

Below, we have all the letters that spell out mastermind explained and use our CONNECT membership enchancement as a basis to give more concrete examples of how each part of a mastermind benefits the members that are a part of it.

M

MENTORSHIP –  Having mentors around you is going to keep pulling you upwards.

Each of us is a master at something.

During our CONNECT sessions, we we are able to share our expertise with one another and learn from others .

You can find a mentor in so many areas of life through CONNECT, and you can be a mentor to others.

Chance are if you are facing something big or small, someone on the CONNECT team has already navigated those waters and can help you learn from their lessons and experience.

A

ACTION – if you are not a part of a group aligned with similar values, chance are at some point you won’t take action and will get stale or stuck.

You need the right support team to be by your side to keep you in ACTION.

This is part of this year’s mantra.  Action.  Are you putting in the work for your goals?

Your CONNECT team is here year round to keep you accountable, taking action towards you goals and dreams.

S

SUPPORT – CONNECT offers a big added level of support and structure, that is consistently there year round to hold you up.

A mastermind is your safe place to bring your challenges and let others in to help you find solutions.

The support in CONNECT is through the VFit trainer team AND other members of this mastermind and something you can count on in this add-on membership experience.

T

TEAM – Take it to the next level with a smaller group that is your TEAM.  Your go-to group that you can rely on and know you can connect with twice a week, plus two live specialty monthly sessions.

What you get out of the team experience is what you put in!  This goes two ways.

There’s a huge benefit to leaning into teams and growing together.  A rising tide brings up all ships, and this team is your tide to help you up-level your health and well being all year round.

E

EXCELLENCE – We aren’t talking about aiming for perfection here, but honoring progress.

Continuing to work on yourself and honoring that work in progress you are.

Without being a part of a group who are sharing goals with each other, there’s a tendency for excuses to start piling up and many of us can slide back into old, familiar habits, losing ground on personal goals and development.

R

RESULTS –  A lot of the results and reward in working towards a goal are all those incremental steps you took to get there.

Think of hitting a large goal like running a marathon.  Don’t imagine and celebrate the end result of yourself just during actual race, but picture yourself pushing through each moment, each practice run, to keep going.  Even showing up on the days when you just don’t want to.

That push, those mini-wins along the way, all add up to your end result and those pivotal moments are all something to be celebrated as benchmarks you’ve set out for yourself.

M

MANIFESTATION – Whether you believe in manifesting and bringing your vision to life or not, hear us out.  There is real power in this – it’s called the power of attraction.

Our brains are powerful beyond belief and help you connect the dots once you start putting your dreams out there.  When we are in tune and alignment with our dreams, it’s 10,000X more times more likely to happen.

Having a group to support you, to share your dreams with, to push through with, to help you believe in YOU – is so important.

I

INSPIRATION – We all need extra inspiration at times.  Whether you have hit a slump or bump in your road, having people around you that can help you when you are needing the extra inspo is huge asset.

Looking for a new book? New job? Taking on a new project at the kids school? Getting through a funk?

Masterminds can help you grow your inspo tank as well, by bringing fresh ideas, support, and to lend a hand.  Share it and let your inspiration grow and take shape.

N

NETWORKING – Not in the traditional, salesy sense, but in working in a deeper level with people who have been through similar trials and tribulations you have been through.

Connecting through shared experiences to hep cope with grief, tackle the transition from working life to retirement, to the everyday demands of life.

Those with shared expertise or going through similar life events are a big component of the mastermind.  Connecting virtually or in person with one another is made possible through the group.

Networking together helps you know more people and possibly explore new places to build deeper relationships.  Whether it is new career paths, new friendships, or learning how to build stronger family ties.

This is a special network for you to be a part of and grow, to lean on if you need one, and to help you expand your comfort zone.

D

DEVELOPMENT – You are never so good at something, that there’s no room to grow and improve.

Working on personal development gives you something to look forward to and new goals to stride for.

Personal and professional development opportunities are part of the mastermind experience.

Monthly workshops are crafted to help you grow each month and weekly sessions provide opportunity for spontaneous sharing of resources and connections.

Sharing our expertise, giving you resources and material to help you grow and develop is at the heart of a mastermind.

Filed Under: VFit Studio News, VFit Tips Tagged With: exercise, fitness, inspiration, mindset, motivation, wellness

First Friday’s Wellness Cafe Round Up: The Kinetic Chain and Posture, How to Stop Body Bashing, and Marma Points

June 3, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

The Wellness Cafe at VFit Studio has been in full swing this spring with two excellent sessions held in May and June.

In May, Lauren and Maria hosted the Wellness Cafe with insights on the following two areas:

  • the kinetic chain and posture led by Maria, sharing insights on functional movement and body balance and imbalances and how to work to correct them
  • how to stop body bashing with Lauren with insightful prompts and tips on how to combat this negative self talk led by Lauren

Slides

After the presentations, there was an excellent live session discussion focused on negative self talk, thank you all who attended for sharing and we will bring this topic back in the future for round 2.

In June, Shari led as a guest host in the cafe with a conversation and presentation on marma points. She led us through a thorough presentation and why these areas on our body are important then we went through the top 10 marma points together. This was an eye opening and powerful exercise and a great introduction to this concept which was new to many of us in attendance.

Slides

Filed Under: VFit Studio News, VFit Tips Tagged With: inspiration, mindset, motivation, nutrition, wellness

First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Special Guest Misa with 12 tips for raising healthy eaters

April 8, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

For our April First Friday’s Wellness Cafe we had a special guest, VFitter Misa from New Hampshire, who shared 12 tips for raising healthy eaters. Misa is passionate about helping kids find joy in exploring eating a wide variety of foods and shared her personal story of what led her to create Misa’s Clean Kitchen as we began the cafe. Her youngest daughter was diagnosed with failure to thrive which led Misa down a path of exploration and deciation to better understand the impact that food choices made on our bodies. She went on to become a certified nutrition coach and open Misa’s Clean Kitchen to share her new knowledge with others.

We have the full replay below for you to soak in all the goodness of Misa’s 12 tips.

We also have the Google slides that Misa used for her presentation if you’d like to go through the slides to read through each of the tips! Click here to view the slides of the presentation.

Thank you again Misa for being a guest host in the Wellness Cafe! Join us next month as Lauren and Maria share live demos of tips and tricks that have helped their clients in reaching their wellness goals on May 6th at 8:30 AM PST.

Filed Under: VFit Studio News, VFit Tips Tagged With: mindset, nutrition, wellness

First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Ayruveda 101 with Lindsay

March 7, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

This month in the VFit Studio First Friday’s Wellness Cafe with Lauren and Maria we were honored to let Lindsay M take over the cafe with a special workshop on Ayruveda.

As Ayruveda has helped Lindsay personally navigate the changing of seasons of life, she has put her focus in the Signature Series here at VFit with working one on one as a coach to assist those looking to deepen their understanding of their own constitutions and use yoga and Ayruveda principles to help restore balance and harmony in their lives.

Below, we have the full replay of Linday’s Ayruveda 101 Workshop in the Wellness Cafe:

Lindsay culled her own personal knowledge along with the following book as part of her workshop, Practical Ayurveda: Find Out Who You Are and What You Need to Bring Balance to Your Life by the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre.

Lindsay’s Slides are available here for viewing here.

To learn more or explore ways to work directly with Lindsay, her one on one coaching services are available through the VFit Studio Signature Series.

Join us next month for the VFit Studio First Friday’s Wellness Cafe when Lauren and Maria have guest host and VFit member Misa from Misa’s Clean Kitchen as she shares information on her specialty area of adding healthy food to kids (and OUR) plates, by providing strategies to make healthier food more appealing and fun for all.

Filed Under: VFit Studio News, VFit Tips Tagged With: fitness, mindset, motivation, nutrition, wellness

First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Revisiting Wellness Intentions and Mindset Shifts

February 16, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Tune in to the full replay of the VFit Studio First Friday’s Cafe with Lauren and Maria up above.

For the February installment of the First Friday’s Wellness Cafe with Lauren and Maria, the duo revisited the idea of setting intentions, goal setting, and mindset shifts from their January session.

Self improvement by means of setting intentions is a powerful activity, but is often challenging to achieve without support and a framework to work from. Throughout the Wellness Cafe session, we held an open dialogue about how our experience has been with setting intentions so far in 2022, and shared different resources that have helpd us.

Lauren shared that after the January session she revisited her feelings about walking and shifted her mindset of it being done as low impact workout or recovery exercise to getting in quality me time, outdoors, ALONE through her neighbhorhood. This mindset shift has turned this marathoner and HIIT-workout lover into a neighborhood walker and she’s now hooke on getting in her walking time.

Maria shared in the Cafe about how last year she focuse on two words as intention: flow and connection. Each of these words encompassed different areas of her life and actions she wanted to focus on and brought many of her 2021 goals to light. This year by leaning in on these two words again, while out with her sister having brunch, she was introduced to a home care cleaning and maintenance program that’s been really working for Maria to have a system for taking care of the house. It’s been a game changer for her, and a few other members were familiar with it – Fly Lady. Maria’s been using the Fly Lady app and following along with the morning, afternoon, and evening homecare habits along with the zone cleaning areas and it’s made a world of difference in her sense of peace at home.

Other members shared their power words and intentions for the year and took the opportunity to open up on goal setting and empowerment. Thank you to all who were able to join us and your continued support with the Wellness Cafe Series. We look forward to returning in March with more wellness goodness to share!

If you have any tips on setting intentions, goal planning, or would like to share your words or personal mantra for the year, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment below and share this blog and replay with those in your life who you think would enjoy this positive message of growth mindset, self improvement, and self care being critical care and not being selfish.

Filed Under: VFit Studio News, VFit Tips Tagged With: fitness, mindset, motivation, nutrition, wellness

First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Setting Intentions for the New Year

January 24, 2022 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

We kicked off 2022 in the First Friday’s Wellness Cafe with Lauren and Maria focused on intentions for the New Year. With a focus on a short and long view for goals, our conversation flowed and worked on brainstorming personal goals and intentions, with a shift in mindset from a classic New Year’s resolution.

We have included the full slides that were used by Lauren and Maria during the session which include many prompts and brainstorming ideas for the upcoming year:

We also have below the full replay of the session below. During this 30 minute session, Lauren and Maria share ideas on the topic and there’s member engagement and sharing about ideas to set intentions for the year:

During the live session, a few other resources and comments were shared by members. We have them included below:

Sarah Z shared the following:

A good video to help you understand how to dig deeper and figure out why you want to do something….called 7 layers deep. It’s so good. I will share it here as it can help you with what Lauren is sharing:
https://youtu.be/Sv882g7UVQE

Kristin A shared a great New York Times article about our human desire to do an annual instinct to improve eating.

https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220107&instance_id=49661&nl=the-morning&productCode=NN&regi_id=84225412&segment_id=78932&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F24640e1a-d7a1-5738-b879-173bfe80fa46&user_id=dad5236cf145bc250375e6bb767b776a

Linda A shared a journal that has been working well for her called The 5 Minute Journal which has worked well for her to get into the daily habit of journaling.

For planning out the year with weekly and daily goal setting, many members have picked up the VFit Annual Compass Planner. For those still looking for a comprehensive planner these are still available for sale as a PDF download.

Filed Under: VFit Tips Tagged With: exercise, fitness, inspiration, mindset, motivation, nutrition, wellness

Dream Believe Do Repeat

December 28, 2021 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

It has been SOOOOOOO hard keeping this in, but the time has finally come to share our 2022 VFit “Mantra of the Year!”

We do not take lightly to choosing these each year. After all, the powerful words we are called to set as out mantra, set the underlying tone for an entire year around here.

Sweat, Smile, Shine was one that would be hard to out-do and will be grandfathered in as a permanent tag line of VFit.

But as we head in 2022, nearly 2 years into a pandemic and where every single person has gone through some major life shifts and transformations, we have a calling to: Dream, Believe, DO, Repeat!

VFit is a one of a kind community, we need a one of a kind mantra!

In fact, we went back and forth many times on the trainer team, with many good mantra’s but none of them gave us the chills we needed!

Then Rachele hit to her 2021 vision board and there it was front and center! Words she had been staring out all year long, without realized the true power they held.

Dream

When we have dreams within our mind, body and souls, we are alive! Having dreams/goals gives us emotions, it keep us uncomfortable, it reminds us that we have more potential than we even realize in this life. It all starts with a dream within…….

Believe

But a dream is just a wish, until we start believing in ourselves, in those around us and when we have that unshakeable faith that….

YES I CAN!

DO

DO = action! It means doing the things day in and day out that will proper you closer to the dream you believe in. It means that you are willing to show up for yourself on that days you don’t feel like it, that when you fall down, you

have built the tenacity to get back up.

DO is a sum of the choices/actions you make day in and day out, that make up the quality of your life.

Repeat

We say this often in classes… “repetition produces results.” You do not do something one, 2 even 100 times and become proficient in that area.

We are what we repeat, and repeating the positive habits in your life on a regular basis, WILL change you life for the long term.

Focus on your “best practices list,” meaning what are the actions, that when done on a regular basis, leave you feeling and living your best life.

If you fall down 99 times, get back up 100 and repeat the habit of not giving up on YOU!

While we know a new year will bring much that we didn’t plan for, or that is out of our control, we firmly believe the power of these words will keep us united as a community and #VFITSTRONG in 2022!

Filed Under: VFit Studio News, VFit Tips Tagged With: fitness, inspiration, mindset, motivation, wellness

Why Real Connection Matters in Fitness

November 15, 2021 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Not getting the fitness results you want with yourself current plan?!

This may be why👇

A series of code isn’t going to help you get the fitness results you are looking for…

We’re seeing a big trend in infusing tech with at home fitness, by using AI and the celeb factor.

While that is great for a lot of things, it won’t work for most people to be successful and get the results they want in the long term for maintaing health and wellness. We are humans and are geared for REAL connection.

A real, authentic community is what really sets us apart from what’s out there in the marketplace as you shop around and consider what your next fitness program will be.

Since day 1, we’ve valued knowing our members names and hosting our live workouts on Zoom so we can safely guide our members through each class.We know our members kids and grandkids names, and have had the opportunity to watch many grow up through the last 6 years.

If you’ve missed class, we check in on you if it’s been a while to make sure everything is okay.

Our members travel with us and take us on vacations, that’s just how commited they are.

A true test of your fitness plan is if it “works” out when life is out of the norm. When you find a platform that works for you and helps you biuld that consistent workout habit, that’s what you do. Your entire lifestyle changes.

With our members rehabbing from injuries or coming back from maternity leave, our live instructors are there making sure to provide modifications for them to get in their workouts alongside the entire live team.

We celebrate our members birthdays and they get to coordinate with our instructors who host birthday celebrations in class. We truly know our members. You can’t replace that with algorithms and avatar stats.

We aren’t robots. We aren’t celebrities.

Right now, REAL connection and support is needed more than ever.

Our members keep coming back because of that human connection we offer. It’s heartfelt. Authentic. And not something you can code.

Your workouts can be virtual and from home, but if you wonder why “the glam and glitz” isn’t keeping you motivated – you may need to change your approach.

Filed Under: VFit Studio News, VFit Tips Tagged With: inspiration, meditation, mindset, motivation, wellness

Wellness Cafe – Break Up with Your Scale

February 8, 2021 by Maria Sogard Leave a Comment

Welcome to VFit Studio’s First Fridays Wellness Cafe series. Join VFit Studio wellness experts in an open forum discussion on topics related to fitness, nutrition, and healthy habits. This series will be led by VFit Studio Trainers Maria Sogard and Lauren Ferrara. Maria heads operations at VFit Studio and is a certified nutrition coach focused on clean eating and meal planning. Lauren is an avid marathoner and registered dietitian working closely with clients to learn intuitive eating and engage in a healthy relationship with food.

Welcome to VFit’s First Friday’s Wellness Cafe Series

With a stacked trainer team with a wide variety of expertise, it just makes sense to have collaborations as many of us have shared expertise and passion beyond leading VFit Studio online workouts.

It’s with this in mind that the VFit Studio First Friday’s Wellness Cafe came to life – with our first session held on Friday, February 5th.

Lauren is a seasoned dietician and I’ve been working with clients the last year as a nutrition coach and we have so much we want to share and be a resource for our members.

Up above we’ve shared the full recording of our first session. Below are our talking points and some brief questions and answers we fielded from our first session.

To begin – we’re all members of an active online community like VFit Studio to become better versions of ourselves and our dedication comes through on that cause with every check in we make.

You can get all the check ins in the world, but if you aren’t balancing your 7 pillars of wellness, your mind, body, and spirt will be off balance.

VFit Studio’s 7 pillars of wellness: you can learn more about each pillar and our core philosophies here in depth with a special blog post covering all 7 pillars.

We wanted to created a forum where we can help address the food pillar and nutrition in a special monthly series to help serve as resource for members.

Together, Lauren and I want to help the team look at food as fuel, and to help transition that mindset about ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ food, to how the food makes us feel.

Let go of that idea of diets and restriction, it’s proven again and again those simply are not sustainable and often cause more harm than good in the long term.

Are you viewing your food as fuel and helping your body build muscle mass and have sustained energy stores?

It’s important to be mindful of what you choose to eat, how your body will use that fuel, and how that will impact not just your workouts, but your energy level, your sleep, your mood, etc.

We want you to feel comfortable and enjoy having your cake and eating it too, while being mindful of the balance of what food you choose to eat throughout each day.

One classic nutrition rule of thumb is to work on the 80/20 rule, or another ratio that may fit better with your lifestyle and objectives. Basically, you work to eat well and heathfully 80% of the time, and let yourself induldge and have – and enjoy with no guilt – the other 20% of the time. Now this scale may be different numbers for some but the key takeaway here is that you eat well mos tof the time, and when you don’t, you enjoy it, but then you move on! You don’t let one cookie turn into 10, or cookies for dinner every day of the week. But eat that cookie if that’s what you want and let yourself enjoy it. If you are just starting out trying to eat more healthfully you can work in a ratio that is more reasonable to start and then slowly build on the healtheir number until you feel you’ve found balance and your body is performing how you want it to.

Looking at the ‘classic numbers’ related to your body like BMI and the scale are doing yourself a disserve. BMI does not take into account a whole host of factors including muscle mass (bmi doesn’t acct for muscle vs fat), genetics, sex, etc.

And the scale … now that’s the BIG ONE. Here’s where Lauren comes in and gives a talk that every person needs to listen in (or read) and let sink in:

Break Up with Your Scale

From Lauren:

“I have a Health at Every Size, Intuitive Eating, anti-diet (not anti-health), body diverse, body positive – approach to wellness. There are no strict food rules, beauty ideals, or extreme measures. I focus on self-acceptance, self- compassion, nourishing and moving in ways that creates a better life for yourself.

How often do you weigh yourself? Do you rely on the scale to dictate your body’s needs?  Does it dictate your food choices or how much you exercise? Does it dictate your mood? How you feel about yourself? What benefits does the scale bring you?

When you treat your body like a problem, you carry blame and shame, which results in avoiding behaviors instead of approaching positive changes. It’s not your body that needs to get rid of the weight, it’s your mind. One of the first steps is to get rid of dieter’s tools that are not serving you.

False measurements of health such as ideal body weight and BMI have led us to believe that we need to be a certain number of pounds to be healthy, and that a lower weight equals health, which simply isn’t true. You may think you’ll feel better when you lose the weight or look differently, but where did you get that idea? Studies have shown that improvements in psychological well-being associated with weight loss are just as temporary as the pounds lost and regained (which they will for 95% of people). The good feelings diminish with regained weight and existing issues of self-worth return.

A focus on weight loss and dieting only keep you stuck in the belief that your weight is a measure of who you are. Your weight, your body, is not you – and your worth is not tied to your weight. 

True health means nourishing your body, moving it in ways that you enjoy, speaking kindly to yourself, getting sleep, having social connections, and so much more. It is not punishing yourself with extreme diets or exercise to fit into an unrealistic ideal.

What happens on the scale?

In one moment, hopes and desperation combine to form a daily drama that will ultimately shape what mood you’ll be in for the day.

Ironically, a good or bad scale number can both trigger overeating.

The scale ritual sabotages mind and body efforts; one moment devalue days, weeks, and even months of progress. Focusing on the scale or your weight immediately introduces an external factor, creating a wedge between your inner wisdom and eating choices.

What if you were feeling your best, but the number didn’t reflect what you thought it should – would you stop all of your positive behaviors?

The scale does not reflect body composition, genetics, body type, activity level or your overall well-being. Deifying the scale to give you the power to feel good or bad about yourself is falling prey to the influence of false facts. Water, hormones, and diet all cause daily fluctuations.

Weighing in on the scale only serves to keep you focused on your weight; it doesn’t help with the process of getting back in touch with your intuitive eating, what feels good to you, and what matters in life more than how much you weigh.

Take away tip: Get rid of dieter’s tools such fitness trackers and apps that count calorie counters, points, or macros.

What of this information resonates with you? What can you do?

Detox yourself from dieting and appearance focused influences that don’t make you feel good or don’t help you cultivate a better life. Break up with your old ways and set up a clean slate.

Lauren Ferrara – registered dietician

1. Break up with your scale – Write a note and paste it on there “I love myself more than you.”

2. TOSS IT.”

At the end of the First Friday’s Wellness Cafe, we took up a few questions from those in attendance and have shared some brief answers here. It is recommended that you consult with your doctor, a registered dietitian, or certified nutrition coach before making drastic changes to your eating behavior.

If you’d like to learn more about the First Friday’s Wellness Cafe series, you you can email Maria directly. VFit Studio runs wellness resets focused on the 7 pillars of wellness each quarter, with group nutrition coaching sessions led by Maria beforehand. Lauren is available for one-on-one nutriton sessions and you can book a complimentary 15 minute discovery call with her here, as space allows.

Questions & Answers

What is Intermitent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. There may be some benefits to this eating style, and works well for some people, but ultimatey it restricts your eating window so you have to see if it is a good fit for you.

What is protein and how much should you have?

Protein is involved in almost every structural and functional component of the body. Protein can be found in meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, soy, and beans. The recommended dietary allowance for protein is 0.5-0.7 grams/pound of body weight for recreational exercisers and up to 0.7-0.8 g/pound for athletes. Adequate protein is consumed in most American diets, but vegetarian or vegan diets may need some more support to make sure enough protein is consumed from non-meat sources. Protein supplements are also available, but natural sources are preferred.

What is collagen and should I be having it?

Collagen is a protein full of the amino acids which helps maintain and repair your skin, tendons, bones, and joints. Production slows down as we age, resulting in loss of skin elasticity, dry skin, wrinkles, less flexible tendons and joints. Collagen can be found in powdered form or bone broth so explore what works for you. It can be a good addition to any diet to help with muscle recovery and increased protein intake, but like all supplements, it may not be for everyone.

  • The Benefits of a Mastermind
  • First Friday’s Wellness Cafe Round Up: The Kinetic Chain and Posture, How to Stop Body Bashing, and Marma Points
  • First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Special Guest Misa with 12 tips for raising healthy eaters
  • First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Ayruveda 101 with Lindsay
  • First Friday’s Wellness Cafe: Revisiting Wellness Intentions and Mindset Shifts

Filed Under: VFit Studio News, VFit Tips Tagged With: diet, mindset, motivation, nutrition, wellness

12 Lessons Learned from 2020

January 7, 2021 by Maria Sogard 2 Comments

Above: VFit Studio Founder and Trainer Rachele Jaegers

The year 2020 has come to a close.

Start your 80s era slow cap as we usher in a brand new year together.

While many want to push 2020 as far out of memory as possible, it is through our toughest times that we grow and learn the most.

We are here today to to look back at the last year , sharing our top 12 lessons of 2020.

There was a lot of good and light that came from the darkness, silver linings, and strength. We encourage you to take some time to reflect on your own lessons and just how far you have come.

You can read the highlights below, or press play on this workout replay of willPower with Rachele, where each lesson is woven into a 30 minute workout:

Replay of Willpower weaving in the top 12 lessons of 2020

Lesson #1: Dream Big

Right now you have opportunity in front of you in the form of a blank slate of a year. If 2020 taught us anything, it is that we can’t predict what may be coming, and to focus on what you can control.

Your dreams are all yours for the chasing.

Go forward and let yourself have those big dreams.

Find something that lights you up and try to soak some of that joy in as often as possible. Do your best to not let the past get you down and not to feel like all is lost.

Keep your faith and hope, and always remember: dreams are for everyone.

Lesson #2: Chase More Sunrises and Sunset

This lesson was personally experienced while I was at a retreat in February with my Todd Durkin Mastermind group. There was a special ‘optional workout’ each morning and the second morning’s workout happened to be a beach sunrise workout.

While it sounded amazing, the ocean is magical, it was also my first time away from my husband and 3 kids – I ad the opportunity to sleep in.

BEEP – the alarm chimes off at 6 am and with blackout curtains doing their thing, there was that voice inside my head that said, “why don’t you sleep in a bit?”.

Thankfully, I didn’t. In my gut I knew that it was going to be a magical workout full of energy, laughter, grit, sweat and the beautiful sun rising over Coronado toward the Pacific Ocean. I can still vividly remember that morning and just how magical the experience was.

At VFit, we always say, “If you beat the sun up, you have already won the day.”

If you aren’t a morning person “yet”, you can start slow and gradually start waking up 5 min earlier each day to create that earlier morning routine. Talk to yourself as if you ARE a morning person.

There’s magical peace in the quiet of the mornings. The early mornings are often the only part of your day you have full control over.

On the flip side, as the days come to a close at sunset, don’t forget to look out, take a deep breath in and look at the sun setting. Some of the most magical painted skies come at sunset and it is an opportunity to honor the day and your 100% record of making it through.

Lesson #3: Be the Coffee Bean

From the book The Coffee Bean by Damon West & Jon Gordon, this lesson we shared all year long at VFit.

The world is a pot of boiling water. Right now the water is boiling and as hot as can be.

In life, you can be three things: an egg, carrot, or coffee bean.

2020 taught us just how needed more coffee beans are in the world.

In the boiling water of life, the carrot gets soft, loses hope and structure.

The eggs harden and gets tougher, loses hope and becomes pessimistic.

The coffee bean, however, when it hits the water, it changes the water.

Even if you are walking into store with mask on, smile! People can feel your energy and one thing we can not lose grip on is hope and faith.

While there is much we can’t control, we will always control our thoughts, reactions and how we treat others. Be the coffee bean!

Lesson #4: Serve More

As humans we have service in our hearts.

When March hit last year and the world around us crumbled, we rose to the occasion and found an opportunity to serve more.

VFit had been open for over 4 years and knew that we could offer help so many were in need of. We pride ourselves on our community, so we opened our doors FREE TO ALL for an entire month with the VFITSTRONG initiative.

Overnight we doubled our class schedule, attendance nearly tripled to our classes, we added kids classes, cooking classes, Spanish, happy hours – we were doing everything in our power to bring light, love, sweat, smiles and shine to others.

Our VFITSTRONG mission tested every system we had built the past 4 years to the max. We could have easily crumbled had it gone wrong, but we didn’t even have time to “what if” ourselves.

Sleep was scarce, fear was high, trainers were working overtime, we were vulnerable, but we were called to serve and lead with our hearts!

We wanted to help create a sense of stability, community and sanity to a world that was just flipped upside down.

While this month of trying to navigate our own home lives being flipped upside down and opening our virtual doors to all, was one of the toughest months of 2020, we wouldn’t take it back for the world.

We stayed true to our mission of purpose, impact, change lives, save lives.

It may not always be at the perfect time, but find ways in your day to open your heart and serve others.

Lesson #5: Ask for Help

A tough lesson, but one we will all need to learn. You may have a hard time with this one too, but the thing is, if you don’t ask for help, no one knows you need it.

In 2020, we learned to lean on others more than ever and often times in more creative ways than ever.

I would have never made it without the help from my spouse, family, in-laws, trainer team, and friends.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Think of a swinging pendulum and don’t try to balance everything all at once. Work to be vulnerable and ask for help when you need it. Others want to serve as well, so you’ll be doing both sides a favor.

Lesson #6: Get Busy Living

It can be so easy to get caught up in fear, anxiety, and paranoia, that we can forget all the parts of our life we do have control over.

Do your best to connect with family and friends more personally. Do things that light you up – whether it’s dancing more, snuggling your pet, or diving into a hobby and passion of yours.

Say yes more and do what feeds your soul. Take the trip down the street, hike that mountain, swim in the lake, unplug more.

You don’t need to travel the world to get busy living. It is about being present and connecting more.

Lesson #7: Who Matters Most

Who are those people that truly matter the most to you? With quarantine, many restrictions and cancellations placed through the pandemic, we all found ourselves at home more.

Some suddenly had more family time than they knew they could handle and others are still counting down the minutes until they can hug their loved ones again.

In 2020, we were shown just who matters most in our life.

Or, perhaps in this last year you discovered that there were those around you that were casting a dark shadow and changing your thought process. You were able to let them go.

Find who matters most in your life and protect your space like it’s gold, because it is. You have the ultimate control over the energy you let in. Your life will be a reflection of the people you are surrounded by.

Lesson #8: Daily Habits Define Your Days

When the world was spinning out of control last year, it was easy to go into spring break mode, let loose and give up on many of life’s daily tasks and activities.

While that’s okay in small spurts, it clearly is not sustainable in maintaining a high quality of life.

Having structure is important.

Ask any VFitter and they will all be singing praises of gratitude for the structure, stability and support of the daily habits we continued to keep in place.

Some days it took every ounce of our energy to just show up, but those times when it is the hardest to show up and you still do – those are the times that build your resilence.

When we lose structure of our strong but powerful daily habits, we start to let our days control us and suddenly a whole month or year may fly by and you can’t remember a second of it.

Habits aren’t always the most fun word in the dictionary, but create good strong ones and you’ll have a lot more time to have fun and thrive in life.

Hone in on your daily habits to help you maintain structure and control.

Lesson #9: The Stick

We all carry ‘the stick’ around with us. The stick is what we use to beat ourselves up with and judge ourselves. Have you ever noticed that the voice in your head is harsher to yourself than you are to everyone else around you?

Stop beating yourself up with the stick.

Instead turn that stick into a back scratcher!

Use it to celebrate a win or compliment and change that mindset.

Same tool, two very different uses, choose wisely.

Lesson #10: Unplug to Recharge

Last year we were all pushed to our max. Oftentimes, this happened over and over and over again.

How do you recharge and get inspired? There were so many times in 2020 when I personally didn’t have inspiration or motivation to get it all done and keep serving with my many hats.

In 2020 I found the best inspiration come back to me when I finally stepped away to unplug. It is now on my 2021 goal sheet to take one weekend a month to fully unplug.

You don’t have to read everything out there and look for outside inspiration all the time.

Your true inspiration is from within.

Quiet your soul and dig into the whispers.

Lesson #11: Simplify to Amplify

2020 taught us, we can’t do it all!

You do not have to recreate the wheel in everything you do. Last year taught us all that there is a simpler life – because so much was taken off our plates.

Less commuting, being away from home, travel, etc. Getting in quality time with your family and things that feed your soul sometimes means simplifying your life and daily calendar.

Be intentional with what you choose to add back in and be sure to keep some of that quiet that 2020 brought to us.

Lesson #12: Community Matters

I am an only child and have worked hard my whole life to build strong communities.

Community is what gets you through.

We all had a story to write last year. We all made it. Don’t compare your story to anyone other persons’ story.

Make sure you are part of a community that TRULY wants the best for you and in the toughest of days they will pull you up.

You also have to lean into it as well and give to your community. Be a team player, share your lessons learned, reach out and offer a helping hand, don’t be afraid to speak up.

Without my family community and the VFit community I am not sure what 2020 would have looked like for me and I am thankful I don’t have to find out.

As human beings we need other’s, make sure to build strong communities in your life.

So that’s a wrap on 2020 – Those are my top lessons. Do you have any you would like to share with us? Let us know and comment below.

And always if you are looking for that team that truly wants the best for you, is there to lift you up, make you smile and keep pushing you forward in your health and wellbeing journey, we have room for more at VFit.

Check out our team options here.

Filed Under: VFit Studio News Tagged With: inspiration, mindset, motivation

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