The Real Commitment That Will Turn Your Health Around

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As a culture, we’re obsessed with quick fixes: the newest workout class craze, the buzziest new “superfood” ingredient, the shiny new supplements — we’re incredibly seduced by the idea that health and wellness is just one consumer decision away. The truth is, there is no pill for vitality. It’s not easy — as Kirk likes to say, “this is the warrior’s path.”

However, success is not a product of perfection. For the average busy, exhausted, overworked person, the first step to a lifestyle of health and wellness is getting used to prioritizing yourself.

No one “has” time: You have to make time

Our modern lifestyles demand much of us: time and energy are at a premium as we rush from workout to event, home to work and some quick shopping. For many people, the pressure causes them to deprioritize their own wellbeing. In order to maintain a healthful lifestyle that contributes to lifelong vitality, we have to create space for ourselves to exercise and eat nutritious foods, but we can’t do that if we are overextended. That’s why you must make time for yourself — to create and nurture the energy you need to make healthful decisions.

It’s in our nature — but not our own best interest — to put ourselves last

There’s a reason that airlines ask you to secure your own oxygen mask before helping anyone else with theirs: You can’t be useful or helpful to people if you don’t take care of yourself. Unfortunately, when prioritizing, too many people put themselves last. The effects of this can end up hurting your other priorities, however. Part of caring for others is caring for yourself.

Start small: Make plans with yourself — to relax

Get in the habit of rewarding your desire to be kind to yourself. Once per week, even just for 30 minutes, do something that relaxes you and makes you happy. Go for a walk in your favorite neighborhood, go catch a movie solo, treat yourself to a pedicure, cozy up and read a book by the fire — anything that makes you feel like your spoiling yourself.

Embrace deservedness for better health results

You deserve time, care, and energy you devote solely to yourself. Once you’ve allowed yourself this time, and gotten comfortable with the feeling of expending precious time and energy solely on yourself, making healthful decisions will come easier. At Mountain Trek, we delve into why this is, the behavioral science behind habit formation, and how to adjust your framework of time to optimize your health.

We promise that in the end, taking time for yourself will actually make you a better team member, parent, friend, and more. There’s no better way to jumpstart a resolution than commit a full week to yourself: come retrain your mind and nurture your spirit at Mountain Trek.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Thriving During The Holidays

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How to stay healthy throughout the holidays.

How to stay healthy throughout the holidays.

The Key To Surviving The Holidays? Kindness.

The holidays can be a fraught time for health goals. With an influx of food, family, and oftentimes stress, many people feel overwhelmed and powerless to maintain a healthy balance.

At Mountain Trek’s fitness retreat and health spa, we spend all week detoxing from what the body, mind and spirit don’t need (caffeine, empty calories, technology, stressful environments), and instead spend all of our time feeding our souls: with hale and hearty meals, 4-5 hours of cleansing physical activity in the pristine mountain air, and deep, restful sleep.

This lifestyle isn’t realistic for many — and is especially difficult around the holiday season — and towards the end of the week at Mountain Trek’s health and wellness retreat, we discuss the journey of goal-setting and habit formation, and how to take elements of what we experience in the program and apply it to your busy daily lives. Our biggest piece of advice tends to surprise people: The only thing you must do every day to make a serious change: Practice self-kindness. Being compassionate and understanding with oneself is the cornerstone of success.

A treat now and then or missed week of exercise won’t kill you — but the quest for perfection might.

Perfect is a myth. Perfection is the enemy of progress. Aspire to live healthfully 5 days a week, and give yourself 2 days off. One thing we see time and time again: People (Americans, especially) focus on perfection: They want to exercise 7 days a week, to journal every single day, and to never have a drop of wine ever again! This is not the successful path to meaningful change — by setting yourself up for failure, you sabotage your goals.

Your ultimate obstruction isn’t calories or sedentarism: It’s negative self-talk.

Keeping your thoughts and actions self-supportive is crucial in any long-term health goal. Creating a daily practice of self-care is the cornerstone of success. Too often, one setback sets people into a tailspin of guilt and shame, and the memory of guilt and shame stops them from pursuing the initial goal. You must create space for yourself to fall off track. You must give yourself permission to be human.

Reward your intention to do your best — whether you fulfill the goals, or not.

Navigating our modern world — replete with foods bereft of nutrition, stressful city environments, at the total mercy of our devices — is the warrior’s path. It’s not easy, and there’s no button or quick solution. Kale isn’t the answer — neither is the newest workout fad or the most expensive blender money can buy. You must respect, love, and honor yourself before you can truly make everything we teach at Mountain Trek truly work.

If you’re ready to commit to change, ready to grow and deepen your relationship to yourself, your truth, and the breathtaking outdoors, click here to view rates and dates at Mountain Trek for 2018. Shepherding people back to their essential selves is our life’s work — come to our mountain lodge in Nelson, BC, and find out what the mountain has to offer.

More Than Just A Wellness Retreat: What Alumni Truly Take Away From Their Visit

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Mountain Trek hikers

There’s a reason why we call guests “alumni” — Mountain Trek guests tend to want to return to our fitness retreat, and many are even 4-, 5-, or 6-time guests. While most people come to Mountain Trek for a well-deserved retreat, to refocus on a fitness journey, or to lose weight, most people take away something even deeper, sometimes even spiritual.

Immersion in the pristine, invigorating forests, breathtaking mountains, and idyllic alpine meadows is indescribably therapeutic. However, there’s no need to rely on our word for it — Read on for excerpts from Mountain Trek’s (glowing) reviews of their stay at our award-winning health spa.

The Gift of Lifelong Vitality

“Doing something can change your life. Mountain Trek does change your life.” – Jack

“The people behind Mountain Trek are amazing and truly inspirational, the lectures by Kirkland, Cathy and Jen will stay with me for a long time. Things we forgot about nature, nutrition, society, life. I had an amazing time and feel so much better after attending the retreat, I am also really inspired and have learnt so many new things I want to incorporate in my life to make myself healthier and better.” – Inia

Making Real Changes For The Better

“Body, mind and spirit leave functioning at a higher capacity than you might ever expect possible. I returned home strong, healthy and ‘alive’ again. Something is missing and you don’t know what it is…. Go find out on the most beautiful trails, in the most capable hands.” – Mollie

“Mountain Trek is a journey that teaches you a lot about who you are as a person. It is not an easy trek but nothing in life worth doing is easy. The staff’s insights, knowledge, and passion is second to none. The real-time community that you build with other trekkers makes the daily challenge fun and achievable.” – Aman

“They helped me changed my state of mind, which is where it all starts. Practical and sustainable. I am thrilled I invested the time and money in myself — I feel a shift in myself and it feels good.” – Kimberosie

Restoring Confidence + Reclaiming Your Life

“Thank you, Mountain Trek. You have given me back 3 years of my life, restored my confidence, and helped me find my way again. This is debt that can never be repaid, so I will just have to come back again next summer to show you how much the experience has enhanced my life.” – Christine

“Mountain Trek is amazing in so many ways: the staff, the facilities, the views! The most amazing thing MT did for me was to show me that I am strong and there’s nothing I can’t tackle with a little sweat, support and one tiny step at a time.” – Jen

“Our last hike was nearly five hours long and I really thought it would break me. But as I realized we were near the trail end where we started, I powered through the fatigue, walking tall and strong. I have NEVER been more proud of myself. And that, my friend, is something everyone needs to experience. We are capable of so much more than we realize.” – Lee-Ann

Learning How To Healthfully Navigate The World

“Kirk and his team are knowledgeable, well trained, and fun to be with. Mountain Trek does a great job of teaching you simple steps to a healthier way of life. I’ve integrated several changes to my life and have seen the results last.” – Janice

“What you learn stays with you; simple tips you can take home and easily add to your routine. Eight months on and I still use lessons learned from the amazing cast of characters at Mountain Trek just about every day. And just so you know, I’m a naysayer by nature.” – Amy

Mountain Trek isn’t just a place, or a retreat, or a distinct group of people: It’s a philosophy, a set of tools for reclaiming vitality in a world full of difficult choices, a retreat, a return to nature, and a return to the self. Eager to experience your own “aha” moment, and take a well-earned break? Ready to commit to lifelong vitality? Read more about the daily schedule at Mountain Trek, and book your trip today.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Back pain? Read This Before Getting A Back Brace

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woman holding her lower back pain

If you suffer from lower back pain, you may be considering using a back brace for your workout. It’s common to see braces being used in the gym; however, a back brace may be doing more harm than good. 

Nearly 80% of North Americans will experience back pain at some point in their lives. For many, the injury is triggered by a strenuous activity, like gardening or weight lifting. Others simply bend down to pick up a pencil and their back gives out.

Build Your Core Muscles

Although the pain may have started after gardening or a long workout, it’s likely the cause has been building for years. Most people have weak core stability which leads to poor posture. When going about day-to-day activities with poor posture, over time this puts incredible strain on the back. By simply leaning over incorrectly, pressure can increase on your back by 50%. 

Building strong core muscles helps maintain good posture, takes the pressure off nerves, and reduces back pain. 

At Mountain Trek, we are constantly encouraging guests to engage their core to protect their backs, maintain balance, and increase power. Learn how to strengthen your core muscles to stabilize your body and keep your back pain-free for life.

Should I Use a Back Brace for Workouts?

Unless your doctor or healthcare professional has prescribed a back brace for a back injury, we do not recommend using one for your workout. The brace hinders the muscles that should be providing stability, and over time they can weaken. Prescribed back braces are typically meant to be used sparingly during healing so your body doesn’t become dependant. If you are thinking about using a brace, seek advice from a professional to help build a plan for your long-term health. 

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

You Deserve To Reward Yourself – Seriously

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woman laying on a massage table in a spa

In our modern-day society, it can be seen as selfish to reward yourself, and yet this action is important to build healthy habits. To achieve your long-term wellness goals, it’s imperative you treat yourself regularly. The behavioral psychologist that helped us build Mountain Trek’s Habits To Health app says we should all be rewarding ourselves at least once a week. After all, we deserve it! 

Life isn’t supposed to be all work and no play. At Mountain Trek, we encourage everyone to let loose occasionally otherwise our day-to-day can become too stressful. Have that glass of wine on a Saturday night. Treat yourself to that 90-minute massage. As long as you ensure your “rewards” don’t become unhealthy habits then indulge! In fact, we believe that as hard as you’re working to accomplish your health goals, it’s just as important to be rewarding yourself for your effort to do your best.

Reach Your Goals With Positive Reinforcement

Treating yourself is important – even if you don’t achieve your health goals right away. When we reward ourselves for doing our best, we support the journey to our success. Rather than punishing ourselves for failing along the way, we can celebrate the intentions to do our best.

Building a new habit or breaking a bad habit can be hard. That’s why it’s important to keep perspective and to give yourself a little treat, a kind of pat on the back if you will, just for staying the course.

How to Treat Yourself

Rewards can be anything positive, as long as they don’t involve sweets or salty indulgences. Here are a few of our favorite types of rewards, but the sky’s the limit!  

  • Get a massage
  • Sleep in on Sunday
  • Treat yourself to a manicure or pedicure
  • Make a wildflower bouquet for yourself
  • Indulge in a hot bath with Epsom salts and essential oils
  • Attend a local art exhibition
  • Take a class in something you’ve always wanted to try
  • Buy some new, quality bed sheets

For more ideas and to learn how to incorporate rewards into an overall health and wellness strategy, feel free to reach out about our balanced health and wellness program.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Build a Habit and Change Your Life

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Good Habits

What are your health goals? Are they weight loss? Improved fitness? Stress relief? Detoxification? Deeper sleep?

Most of us can identify with at least one, if not more, of these health goals. Picking a goal is the easy part; the difficulty arises in figuring out the next steps.

The good news is that reaching your health goals is simpler than you think. It’s not the latest diet or health fad, however. The answer lies in habit formation: making one small change regularly that, after a while, becomes as natural as brushing your teeth. It’s so intuitive you don’t even think about it anymore.

Whatever your health goals are, we’ve built an app to guide you along the way. Our brand new Habits to Health app helps you identify small changes you can make to your life each day that will, over time, bring you closer to your wellness goals.

Start building healthy habits today: download the Habits to Health App for iPhone now.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

5 Tips for Successful Habit Building

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5 Tips for Successful Habit Building

Building habits is hard work. If it were easy, I wouldn’t be writing this article. In fact, human beings are hard-wired to perform actions in a repetitive way. Rinse, wash, repeat. The challenge is getting yourself to get rid of the bad habits and replace them with the healthy, life-affirming ones.

We’ve had a lot of experience in the field of habit building, so we’ve decided to share with you our 5 most effective habit building tips.

Reward Yourself

1. Reward yourself

This comes as a surprise to most people – but just as important as adhering to your goals is rewarding yourself for your intention to do your best. That’s right – the reward comes whether or not you’ve successfully achieved your goal that week. That means that for every week you are setting out to build a habit, you should also be give yourself a treat. These treats can be anything – like getting a massage, visiting a museum, or sleeping in on Sunday.

 

Start small and realistic

2. Start small and realistic

Start with small and reasonable goals that you think you have a high likelihood of success. If this means only striving to do something once a week, that’s perfectly fine. It’s much better for you to succeed at making a change once a week then to set a goal of 5 times per week and only do it once. You’ll eventually start beating yourself up and may give up all together. Don’t strive for perfection; instead, do the best you can, and remember, tiny improvements quickly add up over time.

 

Focus on no more than two actions at a time

3. Focus on no more than two actions at a time

We strongly recommend that you focus on no more than two health actions at a time. Our extensive research and background in the field of habit building and wellness has shown us that most individuals can successfully incorporate a maximum of TWO new habits into their life at any time. Set yourself up for success and focus on one or a maximum of two habits at a time.

 

Be social

4. Be social

Get support from your friends and family. Tell them about what you’re doing and ask them to encourage you! And, if you’re feeling down or having trouble that particular week, seek support from your community.

 

If you are having trouble, change your goals

5. If you are having trouble, change your goals

Notice when things are becoming a bit too difficult and you are starting to feel frustrated. If you can’t achieve the action you set out for yourself, you have a few options:

  • First, reduce the target frequency. If your goal was to do something 5 times a week, try instead for 3 and see if you’re able to do that.
  • If changing the target frequency doesn’t work, go ahead and pick a different health action that you might be more likely to achieve.

Remember, success breeds success! Choose reasonable and realistic goals that you can actually achieve and grow from there.

For more tips and tricks related to habit-building for wellness, we suggest you download Mountain Trek’s brand new Habit-Building & Goal-Tracking App in which we guide you through the process of turning health actions into habits into lifestyle changes.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Habit Building for Wellness

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Habit Building for Wellness

You’ve decided you want to lose weight, get fit, reduce stress, sleep better? That’s great! The next step is figuring out how to start. A quick search on the internet might lead you to the latest diet fad or the newest fitness gurus, each with their own personal recipe for success.

Perhaps you might get overwhelmed by all of this and wonder when did health and fitness get so complicated? Well, it doesn’t have to be!

Related Article: 3 Steps to 10x Your Success Rate

Achieving wellness can be as simple as making small changes in your life on a day-to-day basis and taking incremental steps towards something that will ultimately lead to big changes in your life.

It’s all about turning actions into habits. Let’s break this down.

Actions repeatedly regularly over time = habits

To put it as simply as possible, to turn an action into a habit, you have to repeat it over and over again until it becomes second nature.

Like brushing your teeth: you brush your teeth at least twice a day when you wake up and before you go to bed. But, you weren’t born this way; your parents drilled it into you from when you were a toddler, and then you did it every day, twice a day, for years until it became a habit and you stopped thinking about it.

The more you repeat something, the easier and more ingrained it becomes. Building a habit is a simple as repeating an action again and again until it becomes habitual.

Accumulated habits = lifestyle changes

The thought of making big lifestyle changes can be overwhelming, but when you break it down, lifestyle changes are simply collections of tiny actions repeated over and over again that then become habits. When you think about it this way, it may seem more manageable and less overwhelming.

Rather than focus on the lifestyle change or large health goal you want to make, what about instead breaking it down into discrete actions and focusing on them one at a time?

One action repeated regularly over time makes a habit and an accumulation of habits makes lifestyle changes.

Lifestyle changes = wellness goals

From these actions which we transform into habits and which then leads to lifestyle changes, we bring ourselves closer and closer to our wellness goals. It’s these lifestyle changes that ultimately bring us to our wellness goals, whether that be weight loss, reduced stress, detoxification, fitness, or better sleep.

For more tips and tricks related to habit-building for wellness, we suggest you download Mountain Trek’s brand new Habit-Building & Goal-Tracking App in which we guide you through the process of achieving your wellness goals through habit building.

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:

Digital Detox Tips For A Stress-Free Life

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Do you spend more time checking your phone than looking at your lunch date? Or find yourself checking social media frequently and experience anxiety if you forget your phone at home? You’re not alone – the Western world is dependent on technology, and we don’t go long without checking a screen. But we can make strides towards a healthy relationship with technology using these digital detox tips.

7 things you can do to digital detox:

1. Get reading

Go back to an original paper book and put down the ebook!

2. Live theatre

Give your eyes a rest from the screen and treat yourself to a night at the theatre or opera.

3. Stretch

Have a good stretch; whether 10 minutes sitting in a chair, or going to a local yoga class, we could all use a little more stretching.

4. Get some fresh air

Go for a walk, hike, or a bike ride – even for just a few minutes, the fresh air revitalizes immensely.

5. Get creative

Paint, draw, pottery, or make a blanket fort with the kids! Accomplishing a creative endeavor brings a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. It can be a tangible, beautiful result of time digital detoxing.

6. Cook

Make a big batch of soup for the freezer for ready-meals, or make a bean salad for dinner and a few work lunches. This is a great opportunity to create a healthy nutrition plan for your week!

7. Have company

Engage in any of the above with a loved one! Face to face interaction rather than online interactions has been proven to uplift mood, reduce more stress, and release endorphins. So rather than chatting online, go out for a tea or a walk!

Try having one digital detox day per week. Turn off the computer, phone, and Netflix to see what fun you can have without being plugged in and how you feel after having that cleanse.

Digital Detox Tips

Technology as friend, not foe

Integrate some digital detox practices into your life to promote a healthy relationship with technology, rather than a dependant one. 

Health apps: More applications exist for our smartphones than we could ever dream up. The Mountain Trek App can support you on your wellness journey.

Alarms and reminders: if you spend the majority of your time on or near a computer, use it to your advantage! Set reminders or alarms to remind yourself when to have that healthy snack, or when to get up and go for a 15-minute walk to stretch the muscles and get some fresh air.

Tip: Use your computer or phone’s calendar to organize your week; when you’ll go swimming at the pool, when you’ll go to that pump class, and you can even schedule in the time to go for an after-dinner walk with your partner. Treating all these aspects of your health as ‘real’ and important appointments will make you less inclined to ditch them.

Your digital detox, like any detox, is important to cleanse and grow towards more desirable habits in your every day. Learning to use technology as a tool towards our goals, as opposed to addiction is sure to benefit us in the long run. And who knows, while you’re not online, you may just discover something fun that you love doing, unplugged or not!

What is Mountain Trek?

Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress, anxiety, and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below: