So as I have mentioned before I can tend to be an oversharer but sometimes it can be a good thing - at least I think so. This past month (September) wasn’t the best of months - at all! Nothing life threatening happened, I didn’t lose anyone or anything. I was able to get up every morning - draw breath, get out of bed, walk, eat, work, all the normal things I usually do but for some reason I just had the blues. Extremely grateful but just sad. A number of things were going on - I’ll spare you the details but it all just piled up and made me tired and very anxious. All of this is a part of life - you have your ups and downs. I get it but, its not a space I like to be in for very long. I found myself searching non-stop for things to get me out of the funk. Even if there were just little moments of bliss here and there...it would be something. I recently started training more clients in the morning so I decided that I would go and take a class after my clients sessions and before I headed off to my freelance job. You know where I headed - Who’s House??? Tone House. 8am with Shaun, Alonzo, Zack or Shayne - my moment of bliss happened. I mean how simple was that - something that is so in my face - like on a daily basis. Start my day off right - ENDORPHINS!!! The class got my endorphins sky high. That high that people call “endorphin rush” or “runner’s high”. That euphoric feeling that people sometimes get when they exercise. Endorphins are produced by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus in the brain in response to pain, stress, excitement, love, and even exercise (and more). When released, endorphins bind to special receptor cells - opioid receptors - which block the transmission of the neurotransmitters that are associated with pain. Endorphins trigger a positive feeling in the body (just what I needed), they diminish the perception of pain and act as a sedative (opiate) in a sense (also just what I needed). Endorphins are naturally released during exercise - especially prolonged strenuous exercise (do I need to say it again - who’s house???). Not only do they mask any pain that might be brought on by activity but they help you push past your normal threshold and power through whatever activity it is you are doing (which is always needed in a Tone House class). And after exercising sometimes instead of feeling tired you actually feel more exhilarated and sometimes that feeling can last for a couple of hours. If I could bottle this feeling - I would!!! The month may have started out not so great and I was in a funk for most of it but...its not how you start its how you finish and each day is a new beginning. Both of those saying are said to death but they are so true. So I thank Tone House and I thank my body for releasing the endorphins and for that euphoric feeling - little moments of bliss are not to go unrecognized!!!

For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends. Ralph Waldo Emerson