On “board” to save the world…

Posted on November 15, 2020

This week we will hear from Charmaine Ironside, fitness trainer and wellness coach and former Olympic Snowboarder. She is inspirational on so many levels, we are one of her biggest fans!

There are not very many women who embody the physical appearance of “Wonder Woman” more than an Olympic Athlete such as yourself. What can you tell us about the importance of mental and emotional strength alongside a strong body?

OOhhh, I love this question! I believe that developing mental strength is the first step in having a body that is strong and that we feel good about. In the past I did all kinds of diets and crazy regimes to try to lose weight and get fit but none of them were lasting until I shifted my mindset (this is a huge can of worms I can dive into more if you like!). I also find that if we have strong emotional health then we are able to cope with any of the challenging emotions that come our way in healthy ways rather than in not so healthy ways that are destructive to our body. What I am talking about are behaviours such as over eating, over drinking, marijuana in excess etc. like I used to participate in to numb my challenging emotions. In summary I think mental and emotional strength are actually step one and two before the strong body can fall into place and stay in place for many of us. What rocks about doing the “inner work” first is that it becomes no longer a chore to do what it takes to be healthy and strong. Once the inside work is there then it becomes an honour and a privilege to take care of our bodies and that is a much more enjoyable and empowering way to live life!

2. A lot of us are feeling the impacts of Covid, whether financial, health or otherwise. What has dedication and discipline to achieve a goal very few attain taught you about dealing with pressure, disappointment and things that are outside of your control?

Yes indeed, there are so many effects of this whole thing. 1 big thing that I learned in my snowboard career was the importance of staying calm in order to perform and stay healthy and avoid burning out. I have a lot of relaxation practices such as simply taking 3 deep belly breaths when I am feeling anxious all the way up to sitting in silence for an hour in the morning and they have helped me in sport performance and daily life. I am struggling with the way Covid has and is  being handled and my solution is to focus on what I can do to make a positive difference. I am standing for my inner truth and what I believe from the research I have done and also trusting the guiding intuition deep in my gut. I am also doing my best to energetically protect myself and have boundaries about how much Covid19 talk and time I spend and often get to remind myself to surrender what I can’t control (which is a lot!)

3. In your opinion, coaching women during this time, do you feel that women are coping with Covid differently than men? Are there any trends you are seeing either good or bad?

I believe women in general are more sensitive to the energies around us so I believe we feel a heavy collective sadness and fear for the state of the world, perhaps more than many men (there are exceptions of course).  I think women are also more prone to putting themselves last so that on top of all the extra stress with Covid there can be a lot of unhealthy health patterns to overcome.

4. When you were forced to step away from snowboarding due to injury you found a new purpose in helping others. I also know that you are an advocate of setting goals. How has goal setting for yourself translated into helping others?

I really love this question. Becoming totally obsessed with goal setting and achievement and accountability throughout my snowboard career and then in my business career has really translated into how I work with my clients. I think more important than even setting goals is having ways to measure them and celebrate them and adjust them as we go. Most people forget that part. I have also noticed that so many people don’t bother setting goals because they always fall off track so a big part of  my passion is to help people stay on track in a loving and supportive way.

5. You have spoken about the importance of truly grieving a loss and making a conscious decision that you will learn from it. How does this apply to our current situation, facing this pandemic, and do you have some words of wisdom for us, especially all of us Moms, sisters, daughters and girlfriends etc.?

I also really love this question. I think it’s really important to sit with our feelings and not try to trivialize them or avoid them. Something that has also really helped me in all the tragedies and challenges of life and throughout this whole time is to ask myself “how I can learn from this?” So some great questions to ask would be  “What is this whole situation trying to teach me” or even “How can I become an even better version of myself throughout this challenge” Also it is important to remember that this won’t last forever, nothing does!

Thanks for this opportunity, fabulous questions.

Thanks so much to Charmaine! Your thoughts and honest sharing are an inspiration to us all. You can follow Charmaine @charmaine.ironside

31 thoughts on “On “board” to save the world…”

  1. Mama Fish
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    What wise advice and tips from this particular ‘Wonder Woman’! I completely appreciate the reminder to use breathing and relaxation techniques to slow things down amidst this Covid situation.
    I agree that woman are highly intuitive and attuned to the frequencies that tell us “something isn’t quite right here”. This creates an emotional load that is invisible at first glance but overtime can express itself through sabotaging habits.
    How do we alchemize these heavy feelings into productive energy when so much is out of our control? I think that Charmaine nailed it when she talked about small goals, baby steps and a boundary on how much “Covid talk “ we spend a day. Thank you for all of the great reminders!

      Reply
    1. Charmaine
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      Heck yes Mama Fish! Alchemizing the heavy feelings is so important, I find the more I let them be felt (as hard as it is sometimes!) the more good comes quicker!! Thanks for reading 🙂

        Reply
  2. Brenda
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    Thank you for such a brilliant and insightful interview. This interview really resonated with me and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to read her views on these topics. I love her position on not trivializing our feelings and instead critically reflecting on them in order to gain growth and emotional well-being. I also found it very enlightening her ability to practice shifting her mindset, establishing boundaries and focusing on contributing positively within society during the global pandemic.

    Thank you Jenn for such an amazing interview!

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