Dreams Coming True for Deb Rene....

  

  Deb, Nov. '05          Deb, Sept. '06                                           

 "I first met Lani through her heart.  In 2005 I had been struggling, trying to get back into a consistent workout routine, since a knee surgery and broken foot the previous year.  An attempt to jump start this was to sign on for a contest, which I hoped to do well at and if I was fortunate enough, would land me a spot at the coveted T-Tapp Retreat in Safety Harbor in October of that year.

"I worked hard, but not hard enough.  At least not hard enough to win that spot.  And I felt like a failure. There was a fleeting moment that I thought….”why am I even trying?” 

"And then I met Lani.  Her heart came through in a post to all the contestants and it was the start of a phenomenal journey. Lani's "Tappy Holidays" thread  was really just a teaser, but it got me started. Then there was Lani’s online class  ~ "Tappy New Year" ~ and truly it was a NEW YEAR for me….and the newness of it is still happening, even today….. nine months into this NEW YEAR.  Changes began to find their way into my life. 

"First of all, I was finding that it WAS possible to become a morning person.  Having never been a morning person in my entire life, this was quite life changing.  I’ve since learned how to be at peace with food….knowing how I eat (learning from our Slow Down Study Group at Lani's Fitness DreamMakers Forums),what I eat (it’s important for me as a Type 2 Diabetic and I need to consider some foods more or less as “allergies)…and enjoying my food, not feeling deprivation at all because I eat when I’m hungry (thanks to what I’ve learned through my readings and study with Naturally Thin).  Learning that it doesn’t have to be an “all or nothing” frame of mind when it comes to working out,  I enjoy a variety of workouts and then of course, there are some workouts I do, not because I enjoy them, but because they’re good for me.  And I’ve learned that’s perfectly fine!

"Towards the middle of the year, I had the incredible opportunity to work with Lani in person at a T-Tapp clinic in Walnut Creek, CA. [I live in Texas.] Thinking that this was probably a once in a life-time opportunity, I was not about to miss it!  I could see in the flesh and workout with this woman whose heart I had come in contact with those several months earlier and learn even more.  It was an incredible experience and moved me a little further down the journey. Looking back now, it seems almost a trivial point, but it was HUGE from my perspective …and that was the time we spent stretching with belts at the end of the session.  Something new to pull from the toolbox and what a difference it has made for me!

"Taking bits and pieces of many lines of thinking, modes of movement, ideas about foods and mealtimes, I’m becoming a composite of all these parts.   Truly, there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to fitness and health and that simple fact is much of what Lani has taught me.  Find what works for me and then work it!

In doing so, I’m coming closer to realizing my dreams.  I looked up “Dreams” in an online dictionary and found the following three parts of the definition perfectly address the journey on which I find myself:  “a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep” (though these images aren’t just passing through my mind during sleep) and “a vision voluntarily indulged in while awake; daydream; reverie” (I am indulging in these daydreams, but working to make them come to pass) and finally “something of an unreal beauty, charm, or excellence” – Lani has been a dream come true and I know that as I continue to chase these dreams, my dream will as well!

 Deb working out with Lani, May, '06                                         Deb, Sept., '06