from the February, 2011 issue of Kiai!

Holiday Health Project: Goal Setting & Progress


by Michele Curley

The Holiday Health Project was a six-week challenge that encouraged Thousand Waves members to take a look at their health and set goals in three areas:  nutrition, exercise and stress management.  During the informative introductory session led by Jun Shihan Nancy and Senpai Sarah Kranz, we were given basic guidelines and possible ideas. 

Baseline measurements were available for those who wanted to set goals related to weight, BMI, % Hydration, % Body Fat, Lean Body Mass and size of arms, waist, abs, hips and waist-to-hip ratio.  We then sat down and discussed ways to approach our goals. We could make S.M.A.R.T. goals: goals that were Sensible, Measurable, Attainable, goals that you can take Responsibility for and which have a set Time.  Another approach was to look our goals every week and revise them as needed.

I decided to set small goals in each area.

Fitness: run three times a week and add cross-training like yoga, tai chi or swimming to increase my flexibility. Nutrition: cook more often, cook with others and cook healthy meals. Stress management: continue my meditation practice, but meditate more often.

Participants stayed in touch throughout the Holiday Health Project with an online social networking tool called Ning. By starting a Ning discussion entitled “Leftover Lunch Potluck”, Janet Lefley organized an evening at her place in which we all brought something that we had cooked portioned out into several Tupperware containers.  For the next week we had a variety of things to eat instead of making one big pot for just ourselves and then eating that dish over and over again.  People brought various dishes from soups to empanadas to quinoa.  This potluck inspired me to continue cooking and I ended up with healthy food for not just one week but two weeks. 

I was moderately successful with the running part of my fitness goal. During the holidays I ran a little less because of various family events and the weather.  But after the holidays I did get back to running three times per week.  As for the swimming, yoga and tai chi part of my fitness goal, I have not gotten there yet. The positive slant is that I am now clear these are activities I want to do; I just need to find the time to fit them in. 

I did achieve my stress management goal, which was was to meditate more.  I definitely meditated more during the six weeks of the Holiday Health Project and am continuing to make more time for meditation.

The Project concluded with an opportunity for updated measurements and healthy pot luck at Jun Shihan Nancy’s home. We discussed our accomplishments and challenges, and realized many of us had revised our goals as we went along.  We agreed that the main benefits of the Project were building awareness about our overall health and that we set and worked toward health related goals.  The best realization was that we could extend our goals beyond the Project and bring it regularly into our daily routines.  Overall, participating was a valuable and enriching opportunity making health related change a reality. I wholeheartedly encourage you to participant in the next Holiday Health Project.