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Monsoon Sky

Here's the walk toward the spa from the Life Enhancement Center. August monsoon clouds plus the afternoon sun make for breathtaking beauty!

#CanyonRanch #Life Enhancement Center #health #wellness #calm #monsoon #health spa #healthy living #relax #de-stress #serene #relaxation #Tucson #sunset #walk #walking

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Canyon Ranch’s entrance is a eucalyptus tree lined roadway familiar to all ranch guests.

#canyonranch #canyonranchtucson #health #healthy living #healing #healthspa #Tucson #peace #peaceful #calm #Integrative Medicine #Canyon Ranch

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The Ranch Store

Here’s a view of the Canyon Ranch Store from the walkway looking across the creek.  The store is full of all kinds of things to take with you…to wear, to read, to sense, to experience, and to remember Canyon Ranch.

#canyon ranch #heal #healthy living #health spa #tuscon #relaxation #nutrition #de-stress #exercise #canyon ranch store #the ranch store #health

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Healing at Canyon Ranch

This is obviously the sign for the Health & Healing Center which includes Life Management, Medical Services, Nutrition and Food, and Complementary Medicine.  But you have to know that health and healing is not just localized here.  It is everywhere at Canyon Ranch.

#health #healing #Canyon Ranch #nutrition #life management #exercise #health spa #healthy living #wellness

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Convenience foods to the Canyon Ranch nutritionists means purchasing things ready to cook or consume that normally take some fixing.  You are encouraged to go ahead and buy fruits and vegetables already cut up if it means the difference between eating it and not.  No shame here.

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #nutrition #nutritionist #nutritionists #healthy eating #healthy living #health spa #eat your veggies #fruits and vegetables #eat your vegetables #get your veggies #wellness

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Colorful Foods - Canyon Ranch nutritionists recommend eating a rainbow of colors daily.

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #health #health spa #healthy eating #nutrition #nutritionist #integrative medicine #wellness #fruits and vegetables #healthy living

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Wisdom with Tai Chi - Above is the Mohave Room in the Life Enhancement Center at Canyon Ranch. George Mera teaches Tai Chi and Qi Gong here and slowly and thoroughly guides his class through the movements. George’s words are wise as he mingles his instruction with observations about life. During a recent Tai Chi class George was heard to say, “Don’t pay attention to the wars in the world.  Listen to the civil war in your head. You’ve heard that you are supposed to love your enemy? Love the enemy that is in you.”

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #health #health spa #healthy living #relax #relaxation #de-stress #Tai Chi #Qi Gong #George Mera #wellness

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Sleep - In his integrative medicine talk, Dr. Param Dedhia said "Sleep is not a luxury conversation."  He said that "the sleepy brain craves...give me sugar, give me fat, now." (6/22/15)

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #health #healthy living #health spa #sleep #sleepy brain #integrative medicine #Dr. Param Dedhia #wellness

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Get Moving - I heard a term mentioned at Canyon Ranch that I have not heard before and that was "aging sedentary." Yikes! It doesn't take much to realize what that means and to know that you don't want to be that person. Gotta get moving!

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #health #healthy living #health spa #wellness #aging #sedentary #aging sedentary #exercise #get moving

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Staying Hydrated - Canyon Ranch provides every guest with a refillable water bottle and carrying bag which can be filled in the rooms and at drink stations in three locations. Shown above is the station at the Life Enhancement Center complete with filtered water, ice, tea, coffee and Canyon Ranch’s own sports drink. Guests quickly get in the habit of staying hydrated while at the Ranch and become trained to take that home with them.

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #health #health spa #healthy living #hydrate #hydration #wellness #exercise #nutrition

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Salad Bar - Lunch and dinner in the Canyon Ranch Clubhouse and the LEC Dining Room always includes a healthy salad bar. Have you ever thought of putting out a salad bar for your own meals with the components that you and your family love? It isn’t hard to do if you have the ingredients handy and already set up in containers. This can be a great way to get the servings of veggies that we all need!

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #life management #nutrition #health #healthy eating #healthy living #health spa #veggies #wellness

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Life Enhancement Center Lectures - A dozen plus lectures happen in the Saguaro Room each week for the Canyon Ranch LEC guests. One of the first lectures for the Milestone Cohort was Integrative Medicine: A Path to Optimal Health by Dr. Param Dedhia. Dr. Dedhia started off with a couple of gem quotes.   He said, “The bookends of wellness are how to eat and how to move” and “You have to have joy. Joy without food is a diet and exercise without joy is boot camp.” So true!  (6/22/15)

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #health #health spa #wellness #nutrition #exercise #diet #integrative medicine #optimal health #Dr. Param Dedhia #LEC

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Brief Meditation - Intertwined with learning about nutrition, exercise, and many other topics we were taught that we must disengage from our busy thoughts in order to destress.  At the Life Enhancement Center, we experienced guided imagery, meditation, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, yoga, and mindfulness.   Above you can see the walkway up to the Life Enhancement Center and at the following link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsu1Zlgx1Ag, you can experience the view from the top of the walk on a late summer afternoon.  Feel your stress melt away.

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #wellness #health #health spa #healing #healthy living #meditation #Mindfulness #exercise #nutrition #relax #relaxation #destress #Qi Gong #Tai Chi #guided imagery #yoga

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Sleep Well - Nancy Davis, massage therapist at Canyon Ranch, has become an expert on sleep posture and she does a lecture on this topic on the spa side. Nancy shared that the three key things for good sleep are cold, dark, and quiet. She said that we sleep better in a cool room (and 67 degrees is the ideal sleeping temperature), a dark room (she said to cover windows well or use a sleep mask), and a quiet room.  Zzzzz…..

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #health #healthy living #health spa #sleep #Nancy Davis #wellness

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First Goal - Several of us attended a lecture on the spa side by Erik Alikpala entitled “I know I should exercise, but…” and Erik had a great suggestion to get us going.  Erik asked us to commit to one exercise goal that we would do daily for 5 to 20 minutes for 30 days.  At first that sounded like way too small of a goal…I mean really, 5 minutes?!? But the more Erik talked the more we understood.  Erik said he is trying to set us up to change behavior and that is really the battle. Here are the specific guidlines from Erik:

1.  Make it easy, specific, and measurable and do it daily for 5-20 minutes for 30 days.  Answer the questions What? When? and Where?

2.  Log your results daily because writing is a different connection.

3.  Report it to other people.  You can do this online if you like by using Strava, Facebook, etc.

Erik asked us to email him at [email protected] after 30 days to tell him how it went regardless of whether we are successful or not.

Sounds pretty straight forward doesn’t it? Erik said we are making a habit and after 30 days, we can adjust it.  Definitely a doable approach.  Let’s go for it!

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #Erik Alikpala #Exercise #goal #first goal #wellness #health #healthy living #fitness #change

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Returning Home - So here’s the challenge.  Canyon Ranch sets you up to be successful in pursing good health and a balanced life.  Their motto in fact is The Power of Possibility.  Our job is to take the guidance, knowledge and example that Canyon Ranch gave us and transform The Power of Possibility into The Action of Actuality.  As you fly home, you can feel your previous habits and challenges coming back into the forefront.  Just remind yourself that you have been afforded all you need and you have already felt success.

#Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #health #healthy living #health spa #nutrition #wellness #exercise #take care of yourself #changing habits

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Life Enhancement Center - This sign marks the walk up to the Life Enhancement Center at Canyon Ranch, a place where those seventeen folks over the course of seven days learned how to take care of themselves and where they needed to grow. On June 28, 2015, they parted ways having completed the first part of their journeys. All are firmly determined to apply what they had learned and support each other as they had at Canyon Ranch.

#health #healthy living #health spa #Canyon Ranch #Life Enhancement Center #nutrition #life management #exercise #spiritual wellness #wellness #Tucson #intentions