From the Founders of BOXT and WundaBar Pilates

You might wonder what BOXT and Wundabar Pilates have in common besides two strong, empowered – and empowering – female founders. It turns out, quite a bit. At least in their philosophy and approach to mindful focus and a healthy start to the new year.

WundaBar Pilates founder, mother and inventor, Amy Jordan, is a firm believer that with focus, optimism and movement you can achieve anything. She’s used this approach to thrive as an entrepreneur, open multiple locations, raise her children – and even beat cancer during the pandemic. Through movement, Amy finds clarity and focus and can more easily see what serves her goals and what does not. She believes it is impossible to be negative while in movement and uses the focus Pilates brings to each moment to fuel her optimism. This focused mindset is a big part of the reason she is now cancer free and has just opened two new WundaBar Pilates studios.

Loving the Fact that You Can Move

Amy says, “I love the idea of bringing mindfulness into everything – like Sarah talks about even enjoying a glass of wine. The “why” behind what we do, and how we do it. The same applies to movement – are you moving to feel amazing? With gratitude for your ability to exercise? Because you love yourself and what your body can do? Too often we approach moving as a chore or as a vehicle to criticize where we are in our own skin today. But if you can shift that mindset to loving the fact that you can move, and that moving creates better physical and emotional health with every breath – that’s something to celebrate!”

BOXT founder, Sarah Puil, has a similar belief in the power of focus. She knows that constantly seeking balance and being 100% present all the time in all the areas of her life isn’t sustainable, but she finds that laser focusing on what is in front of her in each moment –  being mindful of the people she’s with, of the shifting demands of her business, her own needs – helps her navigate the juggling act of being a mother, wife and entrepreneur. It’s that focus that helps her notice when opportunities to collaborate or connect show up and that mindfulness allows her to be fully present in those moments. Sarah says that when she’s in this mindset of focus, “Incredible things can happen.” 

With that in mind, our founders each want to offer up three ideas for practicing mindful focus in the new year for a healthy start. 

Anything Can be Mindful

Believe it or not, movement and wine can be mindful – because anything can be mindful, anything can be done with focus and intention. You don’t have to sit in a room full of Nag Champa chanting Om to be mindful and focused. Exercising, working, being with people you love, standing in line. Every moment is an opportunity to find your focus, and to be mindful of what you’re focusing on. Is it positive? Is it negative? Is it serving you? Or can you let it go? 

Even your decisions can have focus and mindfulness for you and the world around you. You can choose to purchase wine that’s part of the solution to climate change (i.e. BOXT) or choose to practice a health routine that’s founded on inclusion, self love and non judgement (that would be WundaBar). That’s all mindfulness – it’s about watching ourselves make decisions and narrowing down our focus. 

Three ways our BOXT founder likes to take wine to the mindfulness level: 

1. Before you pour a glass, take a moment to focus your mind and to name how this glass affects you and what it’s giving you permission to bring into your life – how it is serving you in this moment. Maybe it’s your cue for some much needed “me” time. Maybe you pour a glass and go work in your garden, or work on your book or your knitting or your art. Maybe you’re pouring so you can sit down and connect with your best friend or partner. The why doesn’t matter so much, it’s the focus of your attention on your intention. 

2. As you pour your wine, bring your focus to your senses of sound and smell. Focus on how the liquid hitting the glass resonates. Listen to how it changes as the glass fills. Notice the color of the wine and how it smells.

3. Now bring your attention to taking a sip. Roll the wine around in your mouth. Notice what flavors or notes come through for you. Relish how wonderful it feels and tastes. Focus on the entire experience, on the act of enjoying your wine, your book, your quiet, your friend, whatever it is you’re doing. 

Feeling inspired? We encourage you to drink mindfully, include movement in your life and bring focus and intention to your resolutions – and that includes gifting yourself some mindful wine time.

Three of Amy’s favorite WundaPractices for focusing and being mindful:

1. Stand barefoot on a level surface and look straight ahead. Do a mental scan of your body – do any joints feel locked? Does any body part feel checked out? Is anything twitching? Now intentionally melt the soles of your feet as equally as possible across all four corners of your feet (big toe/second toe joint, pinky toe, inner heel and outer heel). Balancing out where you load your weight onto your feet gives your core the wake up call to keep you standing tall and brings your attention to your entire body.

2. Bring your attention to your thoughts and your intentions. When you’re in any situation, notice how you are reacting, what thoughts your mind is presenting to you about your situation and consciously choose focus over fomo, breath over tension, grace over judgement (this applies to yourself too!), love over hate and self-care over stress.

3. Move. Move in any way, anywhere, for even a short amount of time. Focused movement helps you stay healthy and helps you heal. If you’re feeling stuck, or sick, or unsure, or if you’re on the other end of the spectrum and full of joy and energy, move, because movement is focus in motion.  

Wishing you all a focused and healthy year!

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