You can figure out what a domestic diva is – just watch an episode of a “Real Housewives of ….” But what is a domestic athlete? This is a person who puts in the most effort in the least amount of time and gets results.

So you don’t play competitive sports, frequent a gym, work out with a trainer, take boxing/martial arts classes, or are particularly gifted athletically. However, you walk/jog, bicycle, swim, garden, clean your home, cook, and play with the kids and the dog. The key is that you do everything mindfully, executing conscious moves always present to whatever you are doing. The goal is to experience life consciously, aware of feelings, both painful and joyous, and to keep moving forward with flexibility and strength.

As a result, the domestic athlete can:

• Shed stress efficiently throughout the day by moving stress hormones out of the body and the mind – literally
  
• Generate better cardiovascular and immune system health by moving frequently as opposed to sitting on your gym laurels for the rest of the day. Look for opportunities to move
  
• Mind your muscles as you move through the old school tried and true basics like squats, lunges, pushups, abdominals whether it is squatting to carry a laundry basket up the stairs, or lunging as you vacuum or wash your floor
  
• Demonstrate a powerful endurance that will go the distance both at work and within the home
  
• Avoid distraction, a loose mind, to demonstrate a laserlike focus when at home to just be at home and when at work to just do work to accomplish more quickly and accurately.
  
• Be alive and alert using the five senses to get to the sixth

Training to become a domestic athlete:

• Synchronize thoughts with movements
  
• Pay attention to energy boosters and energy drains
  
• Before you do something, ask yourself: “How does it feel?”
  
• Don’t dwell on the negative; cultivate a positivity bias
  
• Learn to live in the present, accept yourself for what you are now, not what you once were
  
• Change your routine to wake up your mind – stir your coffee backwards
  
• Clean out the clutter: Mental and physical. You can begin with a drawer
  
• Take charge of your schedule and shed what is depleting you: Exercise control over your life
  
• Eat well which means quality foods to nurture your body which signals to your mind that you are worth it
  
• Breathe deeply inhaling and exhaling on exertion
  
• Walk and sit in good alignment (shoulders back and down) to oxygenate your brain, feel confident and receptive to others

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For more information on managing your stress and reclaiming your life read my book, Addicted to Stress: A Woman's 7 Step Program to Reclaim Joy and Spontaneity in Life. To listen to archived radio shows with guest experts visit Turn On Your Inner Light Radio Show