An Interview with Nordine Zouareg, author of Mind Over Body: The Key to Lasting Weight Loss Is All in Your Head

I recently had a chance to do a short email interview with Nordine Zouareg, a professional fitness coach at Miraval Life in Balance Spa and a former Mr. Universe

In his book Mind Over Body: The Key to Lasting Weight Loss Is All in Your Head, Nordine describes how everyone can find this mental motivation - what he calls our "core desire" - and then master the tools (visualization, meditation, affirmation) to keep on track with weight-loss goals. After readers develop this foundation, they move on to the inspiring nutrition and exercise plan, simple, effective program developed to help shed weight and keep it off forever.

A Mama's Rant: Many people are wary of "new age-y" and Eastern techniques like meditation and yoga, and feel these techniques go against their religious principles. What do you say to people like this?

Nordine Zouareg: Prayer is a form of meditation... and it's really not in me to try to change their mind. I'm much more interested in sharing my experience with like-minded people. There are enough folks who already do meditate - close to 50 million Americans.

AMR: You work at a beautiful spa, Miraval, where you bring people's lives into balance and teach them how to live mindfully. It's one thing being isolated at the spa and another being home with kids, work, noise and interruptions. How can one successfully bring your techniques into everyday life?

Nordine: Great question! You know people in China practice Tai-Chi outdoors surrounded by both the population and the traffic. They just manage to focus on what's important - their inner wisdom.

Identify the time that works for you - where you can be on your own in a calm and peaceful environment such as a specific room. And make sure that you actually set a specific time for YOU and honor the YOU that is taking care of everyone else around.

Take the step and acknowledge that only by taking care of you, you will better be able to improve your health, feel great, have the body you always wanted, and manage all the stress of everyday life. Build the Miraval you want in your own home. Poeple do it all the time.

AMR: When we think of losing weight, we think of diet and exercise, but never using the power of the mind. I'm seeing a few changes in this, namely your book, Mind Over Body: The Key to Lasting Weight Loss Is All in Your Head and The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person.

Is using the mind really the part we've been missing to losing the weight, keeping it off and getting in shape?

Nordine: Yes. The body is the servant of the mind. You conceive with your soul, you create with your mind, and you experience with your body. It is like that with everything we choose to manifest. So think, feel and manifest the body you truly desire. It is your birthright to do so.

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Comments

[Hueina Su]

Great interview! I like what he said about making self-care as an important priority, and meditation as part of your self-care routine. Just like the Chinese people can manage to stay centered doing Tai Chi amongst outdoor weather, crowd, traffic and other noises, we can learn to become quiet within, no matter where we are.

I once heard an interview of Bob Doyle, one of the teachers in The Secret. He used to be a fitness trainer. He found that some of his clients did all the exercises he taught them, but did not lose weight like others did. When he looked closer, he found that the difference was that, deep down, these people didn't believe they could lose weight, be healthy & fit, or they didn't truly believe they "deserve" the body they wanted. The successful clients, on the other hand, did all the work and totally believe that they could achieve their goals and have the body & good health they wanted. Some of them also used visualization & meditation every day. He said it really comes down to HOW you see yourself in your mind (consciously or not) -- as a fat person, or as a healthy & vibrant person. It really shows how our mind affects our body, doesn't it?

Warmly,
Hueina
Intensive Care for the Nurturer's Soul