An Odyssey to Total Wellness By: Faith Mayer

 

Lurking inside of each of us is an adventurous spirit waiting to be discovered. Sometimes, the key is to find a person that will draw it out of us while we are still young enough to enjoy it.  I knew I had found that person, when at 38 -years- old, I entered the looking glass and discovered myself again.

 

Stephanie Keimig, or Steph to the many who know her, is a Holistic Life trainer, and she is leading me on a journey that is changing the course of my life. She, with your help, can change yours too.

 

Holistic Life Training, according to Keimig , strives to empower participants to live the fullest life possible by leading them to total wellness. Total wellness is designed to help the individual achieve a high level of fitness and health by giving them the tools necessary to maintain true wellness. The holistic trainer will teach individuals to believe in themselves to the point that they begin to see what they believed was impossible clearly is possible. “My job is to assist people in finding their true life goals and succeeding, kind of teaching them how to look at life with new eyes. My slogan is “focus on balance”, she explained.

 

Trained as a mountaineer, a physical education teacher, and a personal trainer, she has found that the first and foremost way to assist her clients is to help them better understand their lives.  “True inner happiness is a key end result,” she says.

 

My personal journey with Keimig began in March of 2003 when I made the mistake of whining about the extra weight I carry around while she and I were creating scrapbooks.  She invited me to come work out with her that week, and for reasons I still don’t understand, I did. I heard her offer differently that March day because I had recently buried my mother at 57 years young, and I had plans to live to be 100. It was time to get Faith back in shape.

 

And so my odyssey began. At first I would meet with Keimig in her home gym. We would work on various weight machines, the treadmill, and the floor. She taught me proper techniques and I would follow instructions carefully. But somewhere along the way we began to talk about the important stuff.  In the course of getting into shape externally, I was releasing the internal pain that had haunted me for months after my mother’s passing. In the course of our chats we would talk about my genuine hate for winter, the fact that I thought camping was for the insane and how difficult daily life could be with four small children. She listened to my words and heard my heart. We became fast friends.

 

Was I getting any thinner? Yes, at first, I was. I lost inches and pounds in rapid succession and was feeling darn good.  However; as time went on, I began to work on the “whole person” and was beginning to care less about the actual number on the scale. Slowly, the weight loss stopped and the real work of finding me (extra weight included) began.

 

As Keimig is quick to explain, “You cannot work on your physical self until the rest is attended to. Most all go about their lives backwards and wonder why they are failing. My experience has shown me that most people do not know how to live genuinely and are missing out on many things whether it is their kids, spouses or the simple beauty of God’s earth. All that stuff creates negativity and harms everyone. My job is to deal with that in a safe environment and teach people to not be so hard on themselves,” she says.

 

Despite some of the things she’s asked me to do, I’ve never questioned my safety. I’ll never forget the day she informed me that we were going to climb a mountain. “Mountain,” I asked incredulously, “I cannot climb a mountain, in the winter, in the cold without mittens, boots or a hat, I hate to be wet and cold.” But, I went anyway.

 

I went slowly at first, but I learned every day.  First time up Mt. Wachusett took me over two hours with more than one threat from me to shove Steph off the side. Today I am a hiker. I have conquered Mt. Wachusett (I can now run up in under 35 minutes), Mt. Monadnock, and just recently I saw the peak of Mt. Madison in the Presidential range. I climbed Madison with a 25 pound pack on my back and slept in a tent.  I’m playing again, and I now know that I can do anything I set my mind to. After all, I’ve conquered a mountain!

 

I’ve learned that the key to enjoying life is to live it, cold and all, and a challenge is always welcome. Not all that work with Keimig will wind up on a mountain, but if you do, my advice is to enjoy the view.  

 

My husband, who now claims he has met his inner child and she is a small, Greek, woman(think Steph) is climbing and hiking too. At 40 years old, he feels like a kid again despite the fact that the kids call him the old man.  More importantly, he’s remembering the challenge of chasing a dream, and catching it.

 

In the words of Keimig’s 46- year- old husband Michael, her favorite climbing buddy, “Four years ago I couldn’t make it upstairs without the rail and feared heights, and now I’m hiking the Presidential ranges.” 

The real key, in my opinion, is to live like you are dying so you can die like you are living. I’ll see you on a mountain top.