When this is all over, what will be the most important thing to you?

For me, the answer is things that have no price tag.

Health. Connection to my family and the most important humans in my life. An honest job that I love. Good sleep.

Three years ago I took my mom to the emergency room at OHSU because it was the only way I could get her in to see the neurologists who could help decipher why a healthy 68 year old suddenly couldn’t walk or remember basic things. Through what turned out to be a 3 year process including two hospital stays and three trips to the Mayo Clinic, I saw first hand that health is the ultimate gift. That I would go to any lengths to do every known preventative thing to keep myself and loved ones out of the healthcare system. Money can buy specialists. But even then, oftentimes there are no good answers.

This week I watch as one of my very dearest friends checks herself into OHSU for a bone marrow transplant. She’s 43 like me. She has two school agers, like me. And I know hands down that her advice to anyone with a willing and able body would be to do every last thing you can to take care of that body. She would give anything to lift a trap bar at the studio right now.

My experience with my mom and Amanda both 1000% cemented my dedication to what we do at Hyatt Training. Exercise IS medicine. It is the #1 thing – when done correctly and with a plan – that can keep people healthy. So we can keep moving our own bodies long into old age. Thinking clearly. Walking and living without pain so we can enjoy the little gifts and joys.

Things that are priceless.

In health,
Lee

PS. My Friday Community Connections yoga class has a following of people who’ve known yoga is “good” for them but struggled to make it part of their routines in the past. If this sounds like you, I’d love for you to give my class a try. I believe our body is a tool to help us feel our best and my classes center around that theme each and every week.


Author Lee Carson is a writer, health advocate, principal and co-founder at Hyatt Training. She believes in a minimally processed whole-foods approach to nutrition, and loves sharing ways to use food and movement as catalysts and tools for optimal health. Learn more about Lee, or get in touch with her by emailing us at Go@HyattTraining.com.

Hyatt Training is a team of certified, enthusiastic and innovative personal trainers in Portland, Oregon. To read more studio leadership posts like this one, follow this link.