Experience Music: LifeBalance has added a number of musical options to get you in the groove. Whether you are looking to attend a concert or performance, purchase CD's or learn to play a new instrument, LifeBalance can free up your wallet so that you can focus on the music that matters most to you.
For complete listings, please visit the LifeBalance Music page.
Alaska | Idaho | Montana | Oregon | Utah | Washington
Spring Training Mode: The birds are chirping louder and the flowers are in full bloom. You have a renewed skip in your step and you're ready for whatever the world throws your way. Take advantage of the changing weather, rev up your fitness routine and kick yourself into spring training mode. Here is a baker’s dozen of surefire ways to bust out of a rut and start your spring out right. Jump rope. Although you may not have done this since the third grade, jumping rope is a great aerobic exercise. Jump ropes are inexpensive and can be used almost anywhere. Be an early bird. Sign up for an early morning boot camp class or start running with a friend. It's a drag at first, but you'll be pleasantly surprised by the extra jolt of energy you'll have throughout the day. You'll also have more time after work for things you really want to do, like seeing a movie, having dinner with friends or spending time with the family. Sign up for a run/walk or ride with a friend. There are an endless number of causes now that raise money through athletic events. You'll not only improve your own health, but will be helping others in need. Go on the defensive. Many community centers offer self-defense classes that teach you how to protect yourself in an emergency situation. Not sure you want to be a Kung-Fu master? How about trying Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, Kickboxing, Aikido, Capoeira or Krav Maga? Clear your head. You already know that exercise benefits your physical health. It's great for mental health as well. Studies show that there is a link between physical exercise and brain activity, resulting in more creative and productive mental activity after exercise. Change things up. Try changing your exercise routine every three to four weeks. Your muscles adapt and when things become "easy", you're not getting the most out of your workout. You may even surprise yourself and find a new activity you really enjoy. Pump iron. Buy some free weights and begin a weight training routine. Weight training has been proven to prevent bone loss, improve balance, boost metabolism and tone your body. It's even good for your heart. Start a Fitness Log. Logging your hours, activities and even how you felt during and after exercise will help you pinpoint which exercise you enjoy and get the most out of it. (The LifeBalance Activity Tracker is a great option.) Do the hustle. Sign up for a dance class. Not only are dance classes a great social activity, they can also get your heart rate up and burn a ton of calories. The number of dance styles to choose from is endless; try ballroom, swing, funk or even a hybrid called yoga ballet! Set a goal. Although you've heard it a thousand times, setting a goal can really make a difference when you're trying to get in shape. A goal can be as small as progressing in your push-up routine, or as big as running your first marathon. Keeping a record of your goals and discussing them with friends will help you keep stay focused on achieving them. Go climb a rock. Although rock climbing may seem too adventurous, there are great physical and psychological benefits to it. If you can't find folks to climb with outside, find a sports club or rock climbing club where an expert can teach you basic techniques. Climbing is a great workout for your legs and upper body and there's no better feeling than reaching the top. Join a sports team like softball, baseball, soccer, ultimate frisbee or tennis. It's an automatic guarantee that you'll get active and burn calories. As part of a team, you're committing yourself to keep at it and not let your fellow team members down. Laugh more. Go to a comedy club or rent a funny movie and allow yourself to relax. Or call up a friend who always puts you in stitches. Laughing not only enhances your mood, but those giggles can add up and burn calories. Try to find something to chuckle about each and every day. (FoodFit)
Keeping a Food Diary: Food diaries are often the first step dietitians recommend to individuals who want to lose weight, as they are a valuable way for people to recognize just what, and how much, they are eating. The discipline of recording what you eat helps you determine if you are eating too much, or too little. It also helps you identify whether you are eating enough of each food group and getting your necessary nutrients. "Keeping a food diary is a technique that works, and it's simple to do," states the American Dietetic Association. "It helps you learn to know yourself and your eating style. It's an inexpensive way to improve what you are eating." Perhaps most importantly, a food diary can help you identify your eating "triggers". If you chart what and when you’re eating and your activities and moods surrounding meals and snacks, you may start seeing patterns. You may find that late night eating or boredom-induced snacking is the culprit of your weight gain. A review of your moods (happy, depressed) and events (a fancy dinner, watching TV) that accompany eating will help you identify your "triggers" and that can help you make important behavioral changes. Weighing or estimating portion size can also be very enlightening (sometimes a single portion of chicken weighs in at two portions).
The best way to keep a food diary varies for each person. Some people prefer to carry a booklet specifically designed for the purpose while others are happy using a small notepad from the store. You can refer to food count books and online resources, like the LifeBalance Food Finder for nutritional information on specific foods. Keeping an exercise diary at the same time to monitor your level of physical activity helps you focus on how much exercise you are getting, as well as how much you need. It also takes the focus off food, as the calories added and calories burned complement each other and add up to a healthy lifestyle. (The new LifeBalance Food Tracker & Journal is a great option.) For a food diary to succeed, try the following: 1) Write down what you eat when you eat it, rather than relying on memory. Calorie amnesia is very common. 2) Use a convenient format, even if that means writing down calorie counts on napkins and taking them home to input. 3) Be aware of portion size. Weigh, measure or estimate, but don't fool yourself, as you may be eating more than you think. Keeping a food diary can be a real eye-opener! Write it down and keep it off! (FoodFit)
The
randomly drawn correct answer to this trivia question
wins a LifeBalance Member Event gift certificate to
an upcoming event.
Last
month's trivia question, which asked members to identify a photograph of a LifeBalance Vendor was
correctly answered by Janis Kinney. The correct answer was the Seattle Mariners. Congratulations!
This
month's question is in the form of a photograph from a LifeBalance Vendor in Oregon. Who is this LifeBalance Provider?
To
answer this month's trivia question, simply fill in
the form below.
The
correct answer to this month's question will be revealed
in the next edition of eAction!
 The randomly drawn correct answer to this trivia question wins a $10 certificate from LifeBalance Partner CNCA. Remember, LifeBalance members receive special savings from CNCA. Visit the LifeBalance / CNCA page for details.
Last month's trivia question, which asked about DHA and EPA was correctly answered by John McAleenan. The correct answer was "5000 iu."
This month's question: A medium size apple, about the size of a tennis ball, contains what percent of the recommended daily fiber intake.
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LifeBalance Food Tracker: The LifeBalance Program is pleased to announce the launch of the new LifeBalance Food Tracker & Journal. Members can search a database of thousands of food items to add to their daily journals, add favorite foods to the list, set their caloric intake goals, monitor progress and more. Log in to your MyLifeBalance account today to get started.
LifeBalance Activity Planner: Plan out your weekly exercise & activity regimen and calculate how many calories you can burn with the new LifeBalance Activity Planner in the MyLifeBalance section of the website.
Eat Seasonally this Spring: Marta Vaughn of Portland Health and Wellness provides some great advice on how to get the best flavor and nutritional value from seasonal produce in her article entitled Discover Seasonal Produce in the Ask the Experts section of the Wellness Window.
The LifeBalance Wellness Window offers members streamlined access to all things wellness related, including fitness and health club listings, personal coaches, massage practitioners, yoga and Pilates studios and more. The Wellness Window also offers members health and wellness related articles and content including daily fitness tips, healthy recipes, motivational insight, fitness tools, health and wellness calculators and more.
"A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline." – Harvey Mackay.
Find the Positive: Tired of your same old complaints? It's so easy to get caught up in how things should be different. You may find yourself talking with your coworkers about all the things that should be better and how the company should pay more attention to this and that. This month notice anytime you say the word should and consider that it (what ever it is) is fine just the way it is. You may find you're able to unplug from negative thoughts and bring more LifeBalance to yourself and the others around you. (Brought to you by Jason
Stein Coaching)
Opera: Opera began in the late 16th century in Italy, invented by a group of wealthy people in the area of Florence, who wanted to reproduce ancient Greek dramas. Sixteenth-century Europe was experiencing a Renaissance, a time when artists, writers and architects became interested in the cultures of the past, especially the ancient Greeks, whose sculptures, architecture and plays still exist. The texts of ancient Greek dramas made it clear that music was used in play productions hundreds of years earlier, but since there were no recordings then, the sound of the music remains a mystery. The 16th century Italians began to experiment by reading the plays aloud and adding a few musical chords as accompaniment to develop the modern day opera performance. (Kennedy Center)
As a LifeBalance member you can can save on performances with the following Opera companies.
Anchorage Opera
Southcentral Alaska - Anchorage
Opera Idaho
Idaho - Boise
Opera Pacifica
Olympia & Centralia - Olympia, Centralia and Hoquiam
Portland Opera
Portland Metro - Portland
Seattle Opera
Seattle Metro - Seattle
Utah Opera
Utah - Salt Lake City
What You Can: When a challenge first comes along, it can seem overwhelming. And yet, you know you must get past it so you do what you can. Day after day, you do what you can, when you can, as well as you know how. And something amazing begins to happen. What you can begins to be more than what you could. You learn, you experience, sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail, and most of all you grow. You grow stronger each time you do what you can. At the beginning it doesn't seem like enough, yet with persistence it becomes more. What once seemed difficult becomes easy. What once seemed awkward and uncomfortable becomes natural and even graceful. Taking on a difficult challenge can bring about a great accomplishment, yet it can bring so very much more. In challenge there is strength to be gained, there are lessons to be learned, and there is a kind of nourishment that cannot be delivered in any other way. If the challenge seems a bit too overwhelming, that's the one you want. Take it on and let it pull you up. Do what you can do, again and again, and what you can do will truly amaze you. (Daily Motivator)
Experience Lends a Helping Hand: The gift of mentorship, whether in personal or professional life, benefits both mentees and mentors. Originally started as informal relationships between friends or coworkers, mentorships have also evolved into organized, formally designated relationships created through business or non-profit associations designed to support individual growth and development within a business or community. A more structured mentorship program might involve extensive training on the part of the mentors, goal-setting exercises for the mentee, assessments and follow-up for both. The business community uses mentor relationships to ease new employees into the workforce, develop leaders within their employee pool and work with employees facing career development obstacles and personal struggles. Studies show that new employees partnered with a mentor are twice as likely to remain with the company long-term than a new employee given no such assistance. A mentorship program based in the United Kingdom paired experienced mentors backed by a financial investment firm with inexperienced entrepreneurs. The mentoring relationship was one of the firm’s conditions for investment in start-ups run by the entrepreneurs. The initial 40% success rate of the start-up businesses rose to 75% within three short years of the introduction of the mentorship program. Research shows that mentoring relationships are most effective over time, when mentor and mentee have a chance to form an on-going relationship for two or more years. This research is particularly important when applied to mentoring programs aimed at helping at-risk youth who need the stability of a constant relationship. Many opportunities exist for involvement in mentoring relationships as either a mentor or a mentee, formally and informally. Mentoring relationships serve to further the success of both participants and their community. (Brought to you by Xenium)
Each month, Boone Bridge Books features a different title for LifeBalance members. This month's title is:
100 Simple Clues of Happy People:
What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It
David Niven.
Scientists and academics have spent entire careers investigating what makes people happy. But hidden in obscure scholarly journals and reports, their research is all too often inaccessible to ordinary people. Now the bestselling author of the 100 Simple Secrets series distills the scientific findings of over a thousand of the most important studies on happiness into easy-to-digest nuggets of advice.
LifeBalance members save 25% on this title!
Boone Bridge Books offers members at least 25% Savings on all titles (excluding textbooks) ordered from their website.
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For
a complete overview of the LifeBalance Program website,
visit the About LifeBalance section of the site and take a guided tour.
Find
exclusive LifeBalance savings at thousands of recreational, cultural & wellness related businesses throughout Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The LifeBalance Program Vendor
Network gives members the opportunity to quickly
search for specific recreational, cultural and wellness providers
by geographic region and category, or by business
name, through the LifeBalance Search for Savings.
You
can use our secure server to make payments online
for many LifeBalance Member Events and Tickets. LifeBalance
offers members thousands of special events at reduced
rates with the top vendors, instructors, and venues.
LifeBalance also has your ticket to the arts, including
theater, dance, musical performances, sporting events, ski resorts, museums and more. Visit
the LifeBalance Events Calendar and the LifeBalance Ticket Window for a complete listing and select the listing that interests
you and then complete your registration.
The LifeBalance Wellness Window offers members food and fitness tips, wellness calculators, information about community events and more. MyLifeBalance is the component of the LifeBalance Program that includes personalized wellness tools, customized content and more.
You
can also easily print the LifeBalance Program materials
and this newsletter by visiting the Printable Materials section of the site.
The
LifeBalance Program always welcomes your feedback! Complete the LifeBalance Survey and let us know about new recreational, cultural and wellness businesses that you would like to see
added to our existing network of benefit providers,
new member events, suggestions for the LifeBalance
website or even suggestions for this online newsletter.
If you would like to speak to a member of the LifeBalance
Member Service Team, please call 503.234.1375 or 888.754.5433.
The
LifeBalance Program
Absolute Recreation Management, Inc.
503.234.1375 / 888.754.5433
www.LifeBalanceProgram.com / info@LifeBalanceProgram.com
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