Ojai native Kathleen Weedon is also a Balance Health Center “native”, having been a member from the start. “I have been here since day one!”, she recalls with a smile. “I remember meeting Kathy and what a bubbly happy person she was. Everyone from the beginning was so nice and helpful, and I was motivated to come because of the atmosphere.”

Prior to joining BHC motivation for Kathleen to make it to the gym was difficult to find. “I hardly went…sometimes once a week and it wasn’t fun. I come at least four times a week now!” Kathleen exclaims. In addition to using the cardio equipment and the weight machines, Kathleen is taking full advantage of the many class offerings, participating in the Floor Ex, Line dance, Yoga, Zumba, and Nutrition classes. And the benefits of regularly attending those classes are clear: “I just love em! I have a pretty stressful day at work and I could go home and just collapse but I am motivated to come here and instead I when I’m done I feel so much better; more energized!” states Kathleen.

Kathleen is a dedicated attendee of the Tuesday night Nutrition group and has taken the tools learned there, like mindful eating, portion control, and reading labels and applied them to her life. “I am pre-diabetic but the doctor isn’t concerned and that’s due to the nutrition tools and eating better”, she states. “Before I started going to nutrition group I would just go to the store and buy hamburger, but I now eat a lot more chicken and fish and red meat hardly at all. I had trouble sleeping, but because of the things that I have learned about what to eat and what not to eat, and what to drink and what not to drink I now am sleeping better.”

Even Kathleen’s heart condition and stress have improved and she credits her attendance at BHC with those improvements, “I don’t have a fib as bad as I did, I have less stress; I’m so much calmer than I was 2 years ago, and I attribute that to coming here. I don’t let people get to me anymore, when someone barks at me I just put on my raincoat and let the water roll off!”

The mindfulness learned in the nutrition class has reached into Kathleen’s overall life, “I’m more mindful of just being happy. Now I see a tree and I think it’s beautiful! Life is so much better. I was kind of a Debbie downer person. Now I am happy!”