What is the difference between a life coach, personal trainer and expert? How are they relevant in 2012?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Jackie Savi-Cannon

What to look for if you are hiring these people personally or for your facility:

  • Life Coach: This professional deals with more conceptual behavior modification. They help you realize your perceptions of living and develop strategies for you to move through barriers that are interfering with the next chapter of your life.  A high-level life coach should have some type of training in physical exercise.  If they don’t, they should have a qualified trainer assisting them.
  • Personal Trainer: This individual specializes in physical health. Their role is to educate and supervise you with a structured plan that was a result of a complete fitness analysis. – behavior and medical.  To maximize your experience, create a concrete vision of what you really want out of your sessions.  Weight loss is a byproduct.
  • Expert: This person can seamlessly blend from one role to another.  They have a strong background encompassing a wide range of academic training and hands on experience working with multiple populations.They must have some specialized experience in the science of the mind and body as well as have a panel of academic, credited professionals that are part of content development.  This person has a traceable record. What happens when you Google their name?  Remember you are looking for credibility not celebrity.

    Ropes Course: Ormskirk, England

Accountability and support is only one layer.  When you gel with your teacher in a way that is multidisciplinary you begin to optimize your own skills and assets. It should never get casual and completely conversational.  Their job is to keep you fully present with your body – noting the sensations that go along with great form and proper use of breath.  The program should never be repetitive and every live session should be different.

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5 thoughts that may be interfering with your healthly lifestyle…

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Jackie Savi-Cannon

 

  • You have your stress under control even though your body is telling you otherwise.
  • You need to be at your desk to be productive.
  •  You can’t lose weight with short workouts.
  • You can’t afford a healthy lifestyle.
  • All general trainers and coaches understand the mind/body connection.
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Mind/Body Fitness Trends For 2012

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Jackie Savi-Cannon

Healthy Culture in Amsterdam, 2011

Most people are looking for a general sense of well-being and stress management in these turbulent times.  Spending on pure aesthetic desires is hard to justify for families on a tight budget. As we move into an era where the foundation shifts on a daily bases and time is currency, efficiency is key. The following are some things to look for this year as you (Teacher or Student) try to reconnect with the authentic importance of fitness in 2012.

  1. Diversification: Look for facilities that represent a more global, free-thinking healthy culture. Experiential/sensory activities should be the focus. The generic spa setting is no longer sufficient. The environment should promote a sense of healing as well as indulgence. You should feel like you are investing in your health and not buying into a cookie-cutter template.
  2. Mind/Body Integration:  Because time is limited, the actual moments spent in a facility/studio are precious. A 360 approach is imperative in order to truly serve you. Regardless of whether you are attending a class of any description, working with a trainer or independently, there should be elements included to ensure you are nurturing you mind and body simultaneously. East/West; Psychosocial/Physiological; Artistic/Uniform; Connection/Noise; it really doesn’t matter which lens you view it from.  Decompression followed by excitement concluded with restoration is a cycle that can be translated into any discipline if the professional is a Linchpin.
  3. Accessibility:  Most facilities, studios, independents all get caught in the same trap – catering to the early adopters or small percentage of people whose current lifestyle demands match the model that has been used for decades.  Technology is allowing us countless ways to personalize health and fitness training and client retention. If there ever was a time where we could develop creative programs that are easy to adhere to, it’s now. Healthy living applies to every person not just a certain convenient demographic.
  4. Restoration:  Recovery is key to any successful program.  Ironically this concept has been industrialized like most everything else.  No down time as we push our limits. Zen spaces and free space for self-led members encourage recovery and downtime. Pushing the physical body is pointless if the center of the human is not grounded. If your teacher or trainer isn’t providing you this experience and knowledge, this may be a red flag.
  5. Culture Conscious: Understand the ‘mind job’ the marketing of the fitness has created on everyone. This dysfunctional limb of the industry is still present and will be as long as we continue to buy into it. Good professionals know how to translate their continuing education into an experience that brings out the best in their clients. Understand that pros are also human.  They are so inspired by what they do that they are willing to live in a fishbowl for you.

Active Living in Amsterdam, 2011

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Sharing the 5 C’s at TEDxWindsor!

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Jackie Savi-Cannon

Bringing TED to my Windsor Essex Community is very important to me.  A mentor introduced me to TED in 2006.  As I explored the eclectic data base of information, I realized I was home.  The best way I heard it described was ‘for intellectually hungry’.  My first opportunity to host a TEDxWindsor event was last year on December 8th.  It was a last minute opportunity which gave us 8 days to put it together.  The BUZZ of this first event was magical so we decided to do it again on March 2nd in conjunction with TED’s 2011 theme – Rediscover Wonderment.  What better way to discover wonder than to be part of a creative atmosphere. Our Art Gallery of Windsor seemed the most logical choice.  As a teacher who tests boundaries, we decided instead of our guests just viewing art, lets make them part of it.  Cue FLASH MOB.

We 'Raise Our Glass' w/ Pink

We wanted to make it clear that in order to truly be creative, we needed to step out of our comfort zone.  I haven’t taught a ‘live’ fitness class in 4 years.  Rehearsing for this event gave me a reason to not only do it again but do it a way that also proved to me and my guests that I had NO FEAR of the FUTURE.  Healthy living in 2011 requires an open-minded intellectual approach. Thank you Sanja Frkovic for a well written article on the piece.  The emails I received after the event were incredible.  I believe we left changed for the better.  My warmest thanks to everyone who played a role in making this event brilliant!

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Adapting to CHANGE with LESS STRESS in 2011.

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Jackie Savi-Cannon

2010 was about revisiting key elements that are the foundation   of JSC. Personally I was faced with a comeback story within a comeback story. As most of you know I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2006 at the age of 38.  I felt I had made a dignified recovery given the gruesome, lengthy treatment as well as elective hysterectomy (prevention of a re-occurrence). It turns out there was more I needed to learn since a completely idiotic skiing incident left me faced with a broken ankle.  It was the movie Ground Hog Day mixed with a touch of Hell. It was a bit of madness I must admit. So once again…there I was helpless…people needing to take care of me.  At least when I was receiving Chemotherapy treatment, I had some dignity and could drive and participate in the world.  In fact, I would make sure to run up the stair to the chemo suite.

Ironically in my pursuit to stop the hamster on the wheel, I became the hamster living in my own little cage.  Very Fear and Loathingish.

So I lay there, frantically my mind races through the data base of every piece of motivational rhetoric I have ever produced searching for a splinter of hope through this mad life of mine.  The same question kept coming to me.

Ask WHAT not WHY?

WHY puts you in the role of VICTIM.

WHAT puts you in the role of ARTIST.

I prefer the LATTER.


My laptop was my savior.  Our lower floor futon became my bed/office/dressing room.  Nice.  There I was again washing my hair in the kitchen sink because going to my beautiful spa en suite was a marathon not worth hobbling.  I dove into the sea of the World Wide Web and researched, read, watched; soaking in new information.  I often said I needed a sabbatical to create new content but somehow I envisioned it much warmer and less painful!  So here we are just over ONE YEAR later.  My hardware-mended ankle is about 80% healed which will due for now.

Life awaits and the lessons are too good to not SHARE NOW!  What MISTAKE did you make today?

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