In 2015 , international fitness trainer Judy King was expecting when the unexpected hit : She and her partner both lost their job contracts . They lost their home in Jakarta at the same time . And their daughter was due in just four weeks . It was one the most challenging moments of her life .
Judy then turned to a mental strategy she ’ d been using for years , one which would change the way she communicated with others and herself , to find her way out of the mess and back to Bangkok to raise her family .
She calls this strategy neurolinguistic programming ( NLP ), a psychological approach to personal development that focuses on retraining the brain by examining self-talk .
Scientific studies say there is little empirical evidence for NLP ’ s effectiveness , but King believes that changing the way we talk to ourselves and investigating our limiting beliefs and habits can lead to taking full responsibility for everything that happens to us — which is what helped Judy solve her problem and may help others solve their problems , too .
THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION
What is measurable is easier to see . When trying to build muscle , increase endurance or lose weight , people tend to focus on things we can count , like reps , intervals , heart rates and macros . Perhaps because they ’ re not as measurable as calories consumed or kilometers run , people often forget about their minds . But our minds , according to King , are powerful players in any fitness routine .
King says that people end up being controlled by fluctuating motivation levels and fail to get to the gym whenever they ’ re not feeling in the mood for a workout . “ We don ’ t ask : How could I train my mind so that every day I can wake up feeling energized and motivated to go and workout ?” King points out .
The secret , King says , is to focus on retraining the underlying mental framework used to approach fitness regimens . In other words , how you think about yourself and your workout changes your approach , which will in turn affect how your body reacts . Like running a marathon , or connecting more spiritually to a yoga practice , so much of fitness is a “ mind game .”
EXERCISING THE BRAIN
Growing up , the Australian native aspired to be a professional athlete . She started tennis at the age of 4 . As she achieved high competition levels , King began to psych herself out on the court by fixating on what not to do : “ Don ’ t hit it into the net ,” she ’ d tell herself .
But this mental method was ineffectual . And , in fact , her body responded to her warnings by doing exactly what she told herself it shouldn ’ t do : Her serves would go right into the net . “ If we ’ re telling ourselves negative self-talk , such as , ‘ You ’ re not skinny enough ,’ or , ‘ You ’ re not muscular enough ,’ the unconscious mind believes it and creates it ,” King says .
STRIVING FOR MORE
Though King struggled with the mental aspects of her tennis game , fitness has always been her passion . She ’ s been the Ms . Fitness Australasia Champion several times and is a Master Trainer with Les Mills Asia Pacific . King is a Senior Master Instructor for TRX International and has appeared on numerous training DVDs , at live events , and has been responsible for training other coaches around the world .
In 2012 , King was in a good place physically and professionally but not mentally : “ My personality is based around a need to be growing ,” she says . “ I reached the peak of what I could achieve in the fitness industry in what I do . I needed more .”
It was at a training summit that asked visitors , “ What are you moving toward ?” that King realized she needed to be helping her clients in other ways . “ I ’ ve always felt like my purpose here , really , is to inspire and empower others to become the best versions of themselves ,” she says .
Spurred by dissatisfaction with her own relationship as well , King then began studying the power of positive thought and internal communication in every area of her life .
In doing so , King believes she was able to overcome the challenges and negative emotions she ’ d experienced in her relationship and felt like she was able to move forward for the first time in a while .
King ran her first five-day workshop in Bangkok in February 2017 , realizing she now had something she had to share that could inspire others . Similar to retraining and strengthening muscles , the workshop aimed to help participants break down , regrow and strengthen the neural pathways in their minds .
OVERCOMING LIMITING BELIEFS
We acquire our beliefs over a lifetime of challenges and emotional stressors and through our impactful relationships . And many people , King says , don ’ t realize the values and beliefs they hold affect their approaches to life on a daily basis .
For example , one of King ’ s clients was failing to lose weight . She wasn ’ t getting to the gym , and she was drinking wine most nights to relax . Why was she consistently struggling to change her habits ?
King and her client worked to discover that the woman was experiencing feelings of worthlessness and guilt . She was relying on a stereotypical role of a woman as a caretaker to put everyone else first , making the excuse that she didn ’ t have time to work out .
In time , she was able to believe she was worthy and let go of experiences in the past which left her feeling guilty for taking time for herself . She started to operate from those new beliefs and was able to clean up her diet , give up daily wine , and started “ to love herself as a person and achieve what she wanted in health and fitness .”
Limiting beliefs about what we can achieve are common stumbling blocks to fitness goals , King says . “ If , for example , we have the belief that ‘ I ’ m not good enough ’ — which is very common in today ’ s society — then we will find a lot of reasons why we ’ re not good enough and operate at a really low level to show that this belief is true .”
King encourages people to delve into the sources of limiting beliefs when it comes to their health and fitness . She believes in the power of getting honest with yourself and figuring out which events in your life have led to the beliefs holding you back . With this knowledge , you can then look back at these events , find new , positive meaning , and move forward with more positive thinking .
Stepping inside of a gym or altering the way we eat requires discomfort . But change is uncomfortable , and “ we can ’ t have excuses and results at the same time .” Knowing this and acting on it , King says , is “ total empowerment .”
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