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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.

I've been dreaming of a boyfriend from 25 years ago. The relationship was intense over a five-year period. It feels like he keeps coming to me in dreams even though I try to put it out there that I don't want to see him in my dreams. I try to get him to tell me what he wants in the dreams as well. The dreams are vivid and I often wake up with a start; as soon as I fall back asleep, the dream continues. I have a strong feeling that there is something going on, for these are unlike most of my dreams. Is this sort of thing possible? Could he be trying to communicate through the dream? Are our subconsious minds trying to communicate? I just don't think I would have any huge unresolved feelings after 25 years, for it wasn't a bad break-up and was a good time while it lasted. Thank you for any light you can shed on this.

LeeAnn

Susyn:

It would be nice if we had more control over our dreams and could choose who and what we will dream about. Unfortunately, in the dream state, our subconscious minds determine the images and messages we receive. The dreams you describe appear to be very vivid and profound, which suggests that they are trying to tell you something.

When we experience recurring dreams, our subconscious is trying to send us an important message. At times it might feel like perhaps your ex-boyfriend is trying to communicate with you spiritually, but until he actually reaches out and contacts you, it is best to treat these dreams as symbolic of unfinished business.

These dreams are taking you back to the past, when you were a different person. Perhaps you were more light-hearted, spontaneous and trusting then. It may be that your subconscious is asking you to reconnect with the young girl you once were, to embrace aspects of yourself that have been lost over the last 25 years. Spend some time meditating on who you were during that time period, and then consider integrating some of those aspects of yourself into your current life.

It is also possible that you continue to carry feelings about this man and the relationship you once had. Because it was so full of promise, there might be a part of you that continues to hold on and wonder if things might have somehow worked out. What if things had turned out differently? Sometimes such questions can be triggered by general unhappiness.

If your current relationship is unsatisfying, you may tend to hold it up and compare it to the one in your dreams. It is time to look a bit closer at this, for when we are not happy in our current circumstances, we often try to escape via our dreams. Ask yourself how you feel about this idea and if there are any problems you are experiencing with your current partner that need to be addressed.

If in fact you are without a partner at this time, it's natural for your mind and heart to return to the most powerful relationship in your past as you long to experience that connection again. We all do this; when we find ourselves in a holding pattern or lacking in companionship, our thoughts fill with wistful longings for the past.

I don't feel that you need to reach out to your boyfriend from the past unless you have maintained a friendship over the years. These dreams are asking you to look at yourself, at your current situation and what changes you can make to restore your sense of fulfillment. Once you address these matters, the dreams should subside or disappear altogether.

*****

Oceania:

What stands out for me is where you describe this relationship as intense over a five-year period. When it comes to relationships, intense usually means sexually charged with ups and downs, breakups and makeups. Sometimes intense involves an element of secrecy.

Intense relationships are transitory because they're rarely about the two people involved, and are instead a mutual reenactment of childhood wounding. Each party almost always represents for the other a parental figure who did not meet their emotional needs. Therefore, the participants find themselves in a love/hate dynamic, alternating between feelings of desperate and needy desire and rejecting rage. Such relationships often include deprivation, abuse and suffering.

When you say it was good while it lasted and that it wasn't a bad breakup, I think there may be some denial or whitewashing going on. When we sum up a relationship in a tidy, casual way, it often means we don't want to closely examine or revisit the emotional pain involved.

Intense relationships usually do NOT end well and are usually NOT a good time while they last, except for some memorable highlights. We enter such relationships when we're trying to avoid something challenging in our life because these trauma-drama relationships can be very distracting and time-consuming! We endlessly discuss, analyze and try to understand the other person, just as you're doing now with your dreams about this man.

Twenty-five years ago suggests young adulthood, which is often a rocky transition period when we leave our families of origin and forge our own identities, values and goals. I believe you have resurrected this old relationship because it served you so well as a diversion in the past, and that once again, there is something significant going on in your life that requires your attention.

Are you in a situation today that no longer serves you, like a job, marriage or routine? Mid-life is a wake-up call that brings keener awareness of mortality as we watch parents age and decline. Mid-life is a natural time to assess the current state of our lives and let go of what no longer fits. It is often a time of grieving as we realize that goals we set for ourselves long ago may not have come to fruition.

In your dreams, you try to coax your ex into telling you what he wants. Try redirecting the question: What do YOU want? As you discover what ails you in your waking life and tackle it head-on, these intense dreams will fade away.

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.