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The Full Spirit Workout
Q & A with Author Kate Eckman

We all understand the basics of physical fitness, and many resources teach mindfulness, business skills, and entrepreneurial chutzpah. But often undermining these goals are less-tangible roadblocks — mental and emotional baggage, deep-seated insecurity, self-judgment, and overwhelming stress and anxiety.

In her new book The Full Spirit Workout, author Kate Eckman draws from her multifaceted training, as an athlete, executive leadership coach, and meditation teacher, to present a program that empower us to break through these blocks and accomplish our goals. It’s a rewarding workout made up of daily mind-body-spirit exercises and neuroscience-based practices that bolster resilience and inner strength. Best of all, Coach Eckman builds in creativity, flexibility, and delight so that each “rep” feels less like work and more like play.

We hope you’ll enjoy this Q and A with Kate about the book.

Tell us about the title of your book The Full Spirit Workout.

The Full Spirit Workout is a play on the expression "full body workout" that you often hear advertised at the gym. But it’s also about bringing your full spirit — your presence, passion, purpose, potential, and unique gifts — to everything you do and to everyone you meet. I believe our life purpose is to be happy, express joy, and spread love. So who are we to not shine as brightly as we’re capable of shining?

What is spiritual fitness and how can it transform our lives?

Spiritual fitness is being willing to get our spirit in tip-top condition so that we can have the life we’ve always wanted. It’s an inner strength system that helps you live your life based on love, support, faith, abundance, and authenticity. It’s about fighting against emotional gravity like fear, stress, anxiety, comparison, judgment — anything that weighs us down — and shedding excess mental and emotional pounds. Being spiritually fit transforms our lives because we are able to finally feel confident, fulfilled, peaceful, abundant, loving, and joyful.

Imagine a life that isn’t about how to “get this” or “do that,” but instead about being the person who naturally attracts all that your heart desires. You just have to believe how powerful you are! Increased performance and resilience, more meaningful relationships, newfound confidence and well-being, true fulfillment, and fun are available to you when you get your spirit in shape.

The magic happens when we approach our spiritual fitness with creativity, playfulness, and delight. Spiritual fitness is your invitation to get radically honest about what is happening inside you at your core. Just like physical exercise, spiritual exercise can be challenging but also extremely rewarding, and we always feel so much better after a great workout, even if we resist it at first.

You were a successful model, beautiful on the outside, yet like many of us, insecure on the inside. What inner beauty characteristics can we cultivate to help lift ourselves up and shine as brightly as we’re capable of?

I’m not going to pretend that it isn’t a huge challenge to love ourselves in a world that’s constantly telling us not to. But I think our time is far better spent cultivating our inner characteristics rather than working on “problem areas” to attract a partner, win approval from others, or try to conform to society’s very narrow view of beauty. The physical workouts aren’t going to help us love ourselves more. That’s an inside job, which is what the Full Spirit Workout is all about. And the more we believe in ourselves regardless of how we look, the more we automatically attract people into our lives who see us that way, too.

Remember that you’re a spirit going about life in a body that’s here as your vessel for expressing love. Again, it’s an instrument of purpose that allows you to experience and express joy. That’s miraculous, isn’t it? Rather than beating ourselves up for not fitting some arbitrary image, why don’t we choose to instead appreciate all that our bodies give us? It’s self-sabotage to pin all our self-worth on our appearance when our souls are so much more important and meaningful.

You are a former elite college athlete who is familiar with the rigors of physical training.  How did you learn to build “emotional muscles” and how can others do it?

What I learned from my 17-year competitive swimming career was that if we want to be physically fit, we have to train our physical muscles through cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and stretching. We also know this takes discipline. We won’t see any benefits unless we exercise regularly. The same is true of our emotional muscles.

Building strong “emotional muscles” means being able to return to our center, which gives us power because we are grounded and present. You can do this by giving yourself emotional timeouts. Rather than acting on emotional impulses and saying or doing something we will later regret, we can resist the temptation and see our reaction as an opportunity to grow and develop character. We can also take the high road and forgive. When someone is rude to us and we don’t engage, we pass the test. When we are willing to take responsibility even though it’s hard, we grow up faster and build strong character that attracts abundance into our lives. Another exercise? Don’t get on board. It’s hard to overlook an insult, keep a positive attitude, and be patient when nothing seems to be going our way. We think if those rude people would just stop being rude, everything would be great. But when we allow ourselves to realize that this rude person or upsetting situation is perfect for us because it allows us to change for the better, we take back our power.

Kate Eckman is the author of The Full Spirit Workout and a Columbia University–certified executive leadership coach. She leverages her experience as a well-known communications, performance, and mindfulness expert, accomplished entrepreneur, and elite athlete to equip leaders with the tools, methodology, and energetic boost they need to excel. Visit her online at www.kateeckman.tv.

Excerpted from the book from The Full Spirit Workout. Copyright ©2021 by Kate Eckman. Printed with permission from New World Library.

This is regarding my sister, who passed away a year ago. She committed suicide because she was depressed about her wedding getting called off twice. When she first died, I had dreams about her; now not so much. I keep wondering if she is happy now or if she is sad about leaving us. How can I know if she has crossed over and is at peace? Relatives have dreamed of her as a bride. Is this just our imagination, or is she showing herself like this because she wanted to get married before she died? I pray for a sign from her. Is she not coming back and talking to family because she feels guilty? Are souls who commit suicide punished? I wish I could talk to her; I would probably ask her to stay with our family forever. When I talk to her picture, I feel she is talking to me like when she was alive. I am not sure if this is really her talking to me in my mind or if I'm just imagining it. I know these are a lot of questions, but please help: you guys are the only ones helping us to solve these mysteries.

M.

Susyn:

Losing a loved one is always difficult, but it's especially so when they take their own lives. Often their spirits come to us through dreams or signs, which offer confirmation that they have made it to the other side. Though there may appear to be lapses between the times we can sense their presence, they are always near.

I am sure that your sister is sad about leaving you, but I do feel that she has made peace with what happened and is now happy. The burdens and disappointments of her recent life were simply too much to bear. Now that she is in the spirit world, she has more awareness of why things turned out the way they did.

Your sister comes dressed as a bride to identify herself and perhaps to communicate the reason she felt she could no longer stay on the earth plane. Her perception of life and of being married has changed because things are different where she is now. I feel that she hopes that appearing in a bridal gown will let you all know that she is finally at peace.

It can be difficult for a spirit to make their presence known if the people they are visiting are too wrapped up in their own emotions and grief. Though you may not be aware of them, your sister sends many signs to you and your family. When we search for signs or look too hard, we can miss the obvious. You may be feeling guilty about not being able to stop her from taking her own life. She does not want anyone to blame themselves, as this was her choice.

When you talk to your sister's picture, I'm sure she can hear you. The conversations you two have are very real even though the messages are exchanged mentally instead of physically. You can trust what you hear and believe what she says.

I encourage you to watch for other signs that your sister is around. Perhaps a favorite song of hers will come on the radio, someone will use phrases specific to her, or you will smell scents that remind you of her. When this happens, she may be trying to send you a sign to pull out her picture so you can have a telepathic chat.

Souls who commit suicide are not punished, nor are they blocked from reaching out to connect with their loved ones. There is a difference between suicides and those who die natural deaths, however: much to their surprise, suicides still have to find spiritual ways to work out the issues that caused them to give up on life.

Please know that your sister is happy and doing well, and is never far from you and your family. Even though she may not visit in your dreams anymore, you can still call on her whenever you like, and emotionally connect with her much as you did when she was still in the land of the living.

*****

Oceania:

I'm so sorry for your loss. I encourage you to seek support through individual counseling, a bereavement group, or an online community like pos-ffos.com. As you dig deeper into this healing process, you may discover that your questions are intellectual exercises that are keeping you from grieving. You may believe you'd feel better if you knew all the answers, but we often have to live with not knowing some things, for not all questions can be answered.

What WILL make you feel better is grieving: acknowledging and expressing all of your feelings, even the irrational ones. Feelings aren't right or wrong - they just are. You may feel guilty because you're wondering if you could have helped your sister, or find it hard to enjoy YOUR life when she chose to end hers. I'm sure you also feel sad and mad. You may understand that her act was not personal, but it's still normal to feel like she gave up and abandoned you.

Most of us survive life's disappointments. Those who turn to suicide have usually been struggling with mental illness for some time, and have rigid, unrealistic beliefs. To endure life's unexpected twists, we must remain flexible and humble while keeping our sense of self strong and our self-worth intact. As is often said, life is what happens when you're busy making other plans!

I don't believe anyone is punished for committing suicide. I'm confident your sister is at peace and is receiving the healing and wisdom she needs to move forward. I know she wants the best for you as you continue your earthly journey. I also believe she IS communicating with you as you speak to her picture, so tell her everything you're feeling and listen for her replies. She has found compassion and forgiveness for herself, so while she's not in a place of feeling guilty, she is sorry for the pain she caused you and others.

I drew a tarot card to represent each of you. For you, it's IX, The Hermit, a card about individual strength and walking a path of integrity. For her, it's XIV, Art, which follows the Death card! The meaning of this is rebirth and creating something new from the old. I asked her if there was a message she wished to give you, and drew the 10 of Cups, Passion! It is the most vibrant card in my deck, full of huge tropical flowers bursting into red, orange, yellow and purple blossoms.

There is a golden winged Lion in the center of the card. I don't know if either of you is a Leo, but Leo's message is surely to live large and let your light shine. More than any other card in the deck, this one is about being open to receiving life's gifts, which I think is a lovely message from her to you!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.