Blogs

Fitness for Life with Patch Schwadron

posted on May 03, 2010 by Julia Valentine

Patch Schwadron is an ACE certified fitness instructor, former ballet dancer and current career counselor at the Actors Fund. Patch is passionate about wellness and fitness, and is committed to motivating others to build strength, flexibility and wellness into their everyday life. Patch is a beautiful and dynamic lady, and her great energy is contagious. In this interview, Patch discusses the role of fitness in her life, how anyone can overcome their initial resistance to exercise by being willing to experiment, and the importance of finding an uplifting instructor - read on!

Interview with Patch Schwadron

Julia Valentine: The first time I saw your picture, it was on a Fitness for Life exercise class flyer at the Reebok Sports Club/NY. Your picture is fantastic. You look gorgeous. And Fitness for Life is such a great motto. How did you come up with it and can you explain the double meaning?

Fitness At Any Age

May

03

2010
by Tadeo Arnold

I spent some of my youth in Europe, and much of my training was in Europe. After coming to America, I found myself somewhat mystified by the way the American culture views age. As a professional trainer, I work with a wide spectrum of people, from preteens to the elderly.

 

Keys to Joyful Mentoring

May

02

2010
by Mayra Reyes

There are many types of mentoring programs out there; from informal to formal programs, one-on-one to group-based and from school to career-based. With a little digging, you could easily find a program that fits your personal style, time-constraints and best utilizes your forte to benefit a younger person. 

Fitness and Fun

May

01

2010
by Tadeo Arnold

Fitness and fun—these two words are usually not used in the same sentence post–elementary school. However, the fundamental difference between a successful life change and another failed fad diet is a positive association between fitness and happiness. Utilizing your body is not a chore, it is a luxury.

 

Personal Creativity Is Essential to Maintaining My Spirit

posted on Jan 10, 2010 by Julia Valentine

In Part II of this interview, Donna Rohlf shares how personal creativity has helped maintain her spirit during trying times and come up with a beautiful symbol of Universal Peace called SashiFlag.

Continued from Part I

Why Happiness is Beyond Reach for Most People

posted on Jan 05, 2010 by Julia Valentine

Many people spend their lives in a state of boredom and mild fatigue, punctuated by brief moments of happiness after a temporary fix of food, alcohol, shopping or TV entertainment. If we look beyond this picture of happiness and instead think of happiness in terms of living in a state of fulfillment, vibrancy, joy and bliss, few people would be able to say they are “happy.”

Although there are numerous explanations as to why living a fulfilling life is the exception rather than the rule, we will throw out a few thought-provoking ideas.

Suffering and Pain: The Best Justification

Money, Joy, Meaning

posted on Jan 05, 2010 by Julia Valentine

When I was in high school trying to choose a college and a major, I operated under the assumption that I needed to find the one thing to do in life that was going to bring me income, give me joy and provide my life with meaning. What agony to try to find all three in one place!

The first inkling that there was a flaw in my thinking came when I observed my stepfather. He played violin in the orchestra of an opera house, which brought him great joy and meaning but relatively little income, not to mention it took up most of his time. Since he knew everything there was to know about violins, he became a violin dealer, finding great deals for a few of his clients — and in the process, he substantially increased his income in just a few hours a month. I was amazed. Suddenly, the dream of the triad of money, joy and meaning was a lot more achievable.

Creative Aging

posted on Jan 05, 2010 by Julia Valentine

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, best known for his research on the state of flow, devotes an entire chapter in his book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1996) to the subject of creative aging.

Most people are familiar with anecdotal evidence of creative genius continuing well into the later years of life. Giuseppe Verdi composed “Ave Maria” at age 85; Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal lenses at 78; Frank Lloyd Wright completed the Guggenheim museum at 91. 

Please Experiment

posted on Jan 05, 2010 by Julia Valentine

There is an easy way to stop yourself from bringing more money, joy and meaning into your life. Just believe that you should have figured out by now what you'd like to do, that it's too much trouble to go through change, that you are not certain about the outcome.

But why not have fun with it? Why not play with it, try it out, experiment? If you can't decide if mentoring students is something you'd enjoy, try mentoring one for just a semester and see how you like it. If you'd like to give Greek lessons, try it for a few months. Maybe it's for you. Maybe it's not. Either way, it's all good — and how will you know if you don't test it out?