Archive for April, 2009
Hiking the trails of Crumpit Woods
Monday, April 27th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments
Isn't Squamish Beautiful?
Sadly, this past Sunday was our last group hike. Nancy Sotham chronicled the hikes for us with her camera.
See below:
The uphill switchbacks begin...
The Cycle of Completion: Making Way for Success
Sunday, April 26th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments
by Jack Canfield
Do you live in a state of mental and physical clutter? Do you have a bunch of unfinished business lurking around every corner?
Incomplete projects, unfinished business, and piles of cluttered messes can weigh you down and take away from the energy you have to move forward toward your goals.
When you don’t complete tasks, you can’t be fully prepared to move into the present, let alone your new future.
When your brain is keeping track of all the unfinished business you still have at hand, you simply can’t be effective in embracing new tasks that are in line with your vision.
Old incompletes can show up in your life in lots of different ways… like not having clarity, procrastination, emotional energy blocks and even illness. Blocked energy is wasted, and a build up of that energy can really leave you stymied.
Throw-out all the clutter and FEEL how much easier it is to think!
Make a list of areas in your life (both personal and professional) where you have incompletes and messes, then develop a plan to deal with them once and for all. Fix and organize the things that annoy you.
Take your final steps in bringing closure to outstanding projects.
Make that difficult phone call. Delegate time-wasting tasks that you’ve let build up.
Some incompletions come from simply not having adequate systems, knowledge, or expertise for handling these tasks. Other incompletions pile up because of bad work habits.
Get into completion consciousness by continually asking yourself…What does it take to actually get this task completed?
Only then can you begin to consciously take that next step of filing completed documents, mailing in the forms required, or reporting back to your boss that the project has been completed.
The truth is that 20 things completed have more power than 50 things that are half-way completed.
Finishing writing a book, for instance, that can go out and influence the world is better than 13 books you’re in the process of writing.
When you free yourself from the mental burden of incompletes and messes, you’ll be AMAZED at how quickly the things you do want in life arrive.
Another area where you’ll find incompletes in your life is in your emotions. Are you holding on to old hurts, resentments, and pain? Just like the physical clutter and incompletes, your energy is being drained by holding on to and reliving past pain and anger.
Remember, you’ll attract whatever feelings you’re experiencing. So, if you’re stuck in revengeful thinking and angered in muck, you can’t possibly be directing energy toward a positive future. You need to let go of the past in order to embrace the future. Letting go involves forgiveness and moving on.
By forgiving you aren’t releasing the other person from their transgression as much as you’re freeing yourself from their transgression. You don’t have to condone their behavior, trust them, or even maintain a relationship with them. However, you DO have to free yourself from the anger, from the pain, and from the resentment once and for all!
When learning to forgive, make sure to complete the cycle.
Acknowledge your anger, your pain, and your fear. But also own up to any part you’ve played in allowing it to happen or continue. Make sure to express whatever it was that you wanted from that person, and then see the whole event from the other’s point of view. Allow yourself to wonder what that person was going through and what kind of needs he/she was trying to fulfill at the time.
Finally, let go and move on. Every time you go through this process you’re learning how to avoid letting it happen again!
I’ll be back in two weeks with another edition of Success Strategies. Until then, see if you can discover ways to immediately implement what you learned from today’s message.
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
Dream child-like dreams
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 | Inspiration | No Comments
When I was a kid, my best friend and I were considered “tom boys” because we were very sporty. We loved to run and it was a hobby of ours to “beat the boys” in the 1 km run we had to do in gym class. Most of the time we did!
When we were 14 to 16 years old we would meet a 6 am on a street corner half way between our houses to run. I remember pitch black Edmonton winter mornings in the -20’s with a strange fondness.We had to meet that early because Nancy had to do her paper route after that and before school! We couldn’t call each other to “bail out” because we’d wake each others’ households so we HAD to be there. During our runs together, we’d discuss which Olympic sport we’d want to represent Canada at…hers was badminton and mine was marathon running (ha ha ha).
I guess you might say that “life got in the way”. But the two of us have stayed active throughout the 20 years since those early morning runs and we’ve both run marathons and she competed at a National level in badminton. But somewhere, those “BIG DREAMS” of the Olympics disappeared.
I recently read the story of Ruben Gonzales, who at the age of 20 (quite late in a potential Olympic athlete’s life to take up a new sport) decided he wanted to go to the Olympics. He found out the luge would be his best chance. Despite being informed that almost everyone who participates in the sport breaks a bone before mastering hurtling down a 1 mile course at 90-miles-per-hour or more, he was not discouraged! To make a long story short, he went to the Calgary Olympics in 1988, Albertville in 1992 and Salt Lake City in 2002. I haven’t looked up if he went to Torino in 2006 but he had plans to! He would be 46 now and most athletes would have been half his age!
Is there an endeavor you have put aside because “you’re not a kid anymore” and life is full of adult obligations? I don’t believe it’s ever too late! Really. Perhaps I have my parents to thank for this belief. My mother decided she would become a synchronized swimmer in her 50’s with a masters group that competes yearly and performed their routines at the World Masters Games held in Edmonton a few years back. My dad decided that if his kids could run marathons, so could he…after 25 years of running 3 miles three times a week, at 49 he decided to run 26.2 miles before he turned 50. He’s now completed at least 8 marathons and is 65 years young.
Ok, maybe my family isn’t typical but I encourage you not to shelf those dreams, that have child-like proportions (ie. BIG OLYMPIC size dreams) but be moved into action by them!
Have a great, inspired day!
Sue
Well Rounded Fitness- by Erica Otta
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments
Find out about the author HERE.
There are five components of fitness which together determine your overall physical well-being and ability; Cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and balance.
Together these components provide general health benefits also known as functional fitness. Functional fitness is comprised of exercises and activities which includes two or more of these components. They are all equally important because they contribute to a longer and more importantly independent life.
Cardiovascular endurance is essential to a healthy circulatory system and heart; your body’s transportation system to nourish itself. Because heart health is so vital for everyday living regular cardiovascular exercise, is a sure fire way to ensure it is optimal for as long as possible
Muscular strength is important in everyday movement, getting out of bed, getting dressed etc. These are things we take for granted until we are no longer able to perform them for ourselves. Because we lose muscle mass as we age it is important to build and maintain as much as possible so that you can live independently for as long as possible.
Muscular endurance is the ability to repeatedly move a muscle without tiring and allows us to participate in sport, gardening, hiking; activities which contribute to our quality of life and are essential to our overall well-being.
Flexibility helps us maintain range of motion around our joints reducing stiffness and tension. The more flexible we are the less likely we are to get injured because we can more easily move our joints properly.
Balance is critical in injury prevention especially as we age. Participating in physical activity which requires us to balance helps us build and maintain our stabilization muscle which helps prevent falls and related injuries.
Preparing yourself for “High Risk” situations
Thursday, April 16th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments
In the world of recovery from addictions, a high risk situation is one that could tempt you to be thrown back into old habits. Maybe it’s the favorite drinking hole where you’d hook up with friends after work, or a nasty comment which would cause you to reach for that abusive substance.
In our realm, being that of establishing a health habit, for example, “high risk” situations come up all the time. They masquerade as “excuses” and “obstacles” that keep us from keeping our promises to ourselves to exercise everyday.
Here are a few tools that might help you when facing “high risk” situations:
1. Remember a time you overcame an obstacle (big or small). Recall how great it felt. Douse your mind with those happy feelings. Use those happy feels to help you seek MORE happy feelings. Head towards the door, put your shoes on, walk out the front door with a blissful demeanor!
2. Think of a day when you felt close to not following through on your commitment to do your daily exercise. What caused you to consider not going? What tipped you towards going anyways? Were you glad you finally went out? How did you feel if you didn’t go out? What could you “learn”?
3. Write down 3 high-risk situations. Then, beside each of them, list three things you could SAY to yourself that could help you withstand the urge to break your new habit. List three things you could DO to keep you from not following through on your commitment. Lastly, come up with an image you could think of our look at that would inspire you to hold your path of resistance. Click on the next link to download a copy of a worksheet you could use for Dealing with High Risk Situations created by our very own Squamish addictions counsellor Jeff Thompson.
Here’s an example. Let’s say that I have a hard time exercising in the evening after work. I find the couch too comfortable, my favorite shows are on or maybe it’s family time (and I’d have to give up to exercise at this time). Obviously, morning exercise would do the trick for me but I’m a bit resistant to giving up my sleep and my cozy bed. The alarm clock goes off and I “SHOULD” get up.
3 things I could SAY to myself to get out the door for my 30 minutes of walking are…”Sue, if you do it now, it’s done for the day, I know you’re tired but remember how energized you get after exercise?” OR “Sue, Grey’s Anatomy is on tonight and since you LOVE that show and it’s a new episode, you won’t want to exercise during the show. Get up now so you can enjoy your show tonight” OR “Sue, you’ve got to log something in that Fitness Journal. The whole day is jam-packed. Got on with it NOW”.
3 things I could DO to get myself exercising in the morning. Walk to my favorite coffee shop for a morning cup of joe. That gets me moving because I love the smells, the flavors and the warmth. Put a really good audio book on my iPod- that gets me walking for hours actually! Pick up Sammy’s leash and watch her wiggle with excitement, that naturally gets me going!
What image could I use to motivate myself? Well a photo of Sammy comes to mind!
Not so hard to do, is it. Writing it down lets you see that you’ve got strategies, you ARE resourceful. You are practically your own coach or “cheerleading squad”. This “high risk” management exercise can be applied to many facets of life- I’m thinking it could help me tackle some procrastination habits I’ve got…
Good luck and keep up the great work everyone!
Sue Shalanski
The Structure of a Workout
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments
I’ve been guilty of skipping some of these key parts of a workout. When you prepare your workouts, you might want to consider these elements to avoid injury!
What every workout should contain.
Article provided by Erica Otto, local personal trainer, fitness leader & Reiki Master.
Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes:
Friday, April 10th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments
A Step-by-Step Guide
by Jack Canfield
You have an awesome power that most of us have never been taught to use effectively.
Elite athletes use it. The super rich use it. And peak performers in all fields now use it. That power is called visualization.
The daily practice of visualizing your dreams as already complete can rapidly accelerate your achievement of those dreams, goals and ambitions.
Visualization of your goals and desires accomplishes four very important things.
1.) It activates your creative subconscious which will start generating creative ideas to achieve your goal.
2.) It programs your brain to more readily perceive and recognize the resources you will need to achieve your dreams.
3.) It activates the law of attraction, thereby drawing into your life the people, resources, and circumstances you will need to achieve your goals.
4.) It builds your internal motivation to take the necessary actions to achieve your dreams.
Visualization is really quite simple. You sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and imagine — in as vivid detail as you can — what you would be looking at if the dream you have were already realized. Imagine being inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes at the ideal result.
Mental Rehearsal
Athletes call this visualization process “mental rehearsal,” and they have been using it since the 1960s when we learned about it from the Russians.
All you have to do is set aside a few minutes a day. The best times are when you first wake up, after meditation or prayer, and right before you go to bed. These are the times you are most relaxed.
Go through the following three steps:
STEP 1. Imagine sitting in a movie theater, the lights dim, and then the movie starts. It is a movie of you doing perfectly whatever it is that you want to do better. See as much detail as you can create, including your clothing, the expression on your face, small body movements, the environment and any other people that might be around. Add in any sounds you would be hearing — traffic, music, other people talking, cheering. And finally, recreate in your body any feelings you think you would be experiencing as you engage in this activity.
STEP 2. Get out of your chair, walk up to the screen, open a door in the screen and enter into the movie. Now experience the whole thing again from inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes. This is called an “embodied image” rather than a “distant image.” It will deepen the impact of the experience. Again, see everything in vivid detail, hear the sounds you would hear, and feel the feelings you would feel.
STEP 3. Finally, walk back out of the screen that is still showing the picture of you performing perfectly, return to your seat in the theater, reach out and grab the screen and shrink it down to the size of a cracker. Then, bring this miniature screen up to your mouth, chew it up and swallow it. Imagine that each tiny piece — just like a hologram — contains the full picture of you performing well. Imagine all these little screens traveling down into your stomach and out through the bloodstream into every cell of your body. Then imagine that every cell of your body is lit up with a movie of you performing perfectly. It’s like one of those appliance store windows where 50 televisions are all tuned to the same channel.
When you have finished this process — it should take less than five minutes — you can open your eyes and go about your business. If you make this part of your daily routine, you will be amazed at how much improvement you will see in your life.
Create Goal Pictures
Another powerful technique is to create a photograph or picture of yourself with your goal, as if it were already completed. If one of your goals is to own a new car, take your camera down to your local auto dealer and have a picture taken of yourself sitting behind the wheel of your dream car. If your goal is to visit Paris, find a picture or poster of the Eiffel Tower and cut out a picture of yourself and place it into the picture.
With today’s technology, you can make even more convincing images using your computer. I personally use our Dream Big Vision Board Screen Saver Software, click through to see my own personal vision board in action.
Create a Visual Picture and an Affirmation for Each Goal
We recommend that you find or create a picture of every aspect of your dream life. Create a picture or a visual representation for every goal you have — financial, career, recreation, new skills and abilities, things you want to purchase, and so on.
When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul® book, we took a copy of the New York Times best seller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the “Paperback Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous” category. We printed several copies and hung them up around the office. Less than two years later, our book was the number one book in that category and stayed there for over a year!
Index Cards
We practice a similar discipline every day. We each have a list of about 30-40 goals we are currently working on. We write each goal on a 3×5 index card and keep those cards near our bed and take them with us when we travel. Each morning and each night we go through the stack of cards, one at a time, read the card, close our eyes, see the completion of that goal in its perfect desired state for about 15 seconds, open our eyes and repeat the process with the next card.
Use Affirmations to Support Your Visualization
An affirmation is a statement that evokes not only a picture, but the experience of already having what you want. Here’s an example of an affirmation:
I am happily vacationing 2 months out of the year in a tropical paradise, and working just four days a week owning my own business.
Repeating an affirmation several times a day keeps you focused on your goal, strengthens your motivation, and programs your subconscious by sending an order to your crew to do whatever it takes to make that goal happen.
Expect Results
Through writing down your goals, using the power of visualization and repeating your affirmations, you can achieve amazing results.
Visualization and affirmations allow you to change your beliefs, assumptions, andopinions about the most important person in your life — YOU! They allow you to harness the 18 billion brain cells in your brain and get them all working in a singular and purposeful direction.
Your subconscious will become engaged in a process that transforms you forever. The process is invisible and doesn’t take a long time. It just happens over time, as long as you put in the time to visualize and affirm, surround yourself with positive people, read uplifting books and listen to audio programs that flood your mind with positive, life-affirming messages.
If you would like a step-by-step, comprehensive approach for defining your goals, creating affirmations for them and how to create a powerful visual support system, take a look at ourDream Big Collection… it contains a everything you need–just add your dreams!
Repeat your affirmations every morning and night for a month and they will become an automatic part of your thinking… woven into the very fabric of your being.
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
Just relax, dammit!
Thursday, April 9th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments
This morning, Kimberly Beck, a registered yoga instructor came to my house to guide me through a lovely asana practice in my living room. It was fantastic, not only because Kimberly has an infectiously upbeat, light energy, but because unlike 99% of my days, THIS one began in a calm, very “centered” place.
Those who’ve known me, have certainly observed a level of frantic “busy-ness” and anxious energy (some get exposed to it more than others of course) that I operate with. Over the years, and numerous people telling me to “just relax”, I learned to manage my anxiety personality with a few insights, that have come largely from reading spiritual and some yoga-related texts.
First thing that I remind myself, when I’m getting that anxious/stressed feeling in my body, is that anxiety is a fear of what MIGHT happen. It’s the product of my very creative mind, conjuring up things that might NOT happen but that a trained mind that’s always “vigilant” for disaster or negative outcomes is very practiced at honing into! So, I ask myself- this thing you’re so worried about, is it truly something to worry about??? Is it possible I’m over-reacting? Yes? OK, how would I rather see things? Yes, from a place that’s more PEACEFUL! Good. Worried mind calms down.
Sometimes, keeping my mind at ease involves avoiding certain things I know spark my “worried mind”. Now, I’d like to think that most times we should confront, rather than avoid the things that scare us, but over the years, I’ve learned to manage my creative mind (in that it creates negative outcomes and disasters, so to speak) but not exposing myself to negative stuff, like the news or movies that can upset me. I’ve become a far more peaceful person by acknowledging that these things exist but choosing to focus on other things that I have influence over. Albert Einstein is said to have asked “is this a friendly universe?” If I can answer YES to that question, anxiety goes away! Seems that research supports this idea- belief in a friendly universe is good for our health. Gail Ironson from the University of Miami found that people with HIV who believed a universal power was loving remained healthier longer than people who believed in a universal power/God that was punishing.
Because I want to keep this short today, I will leave you with a thought and then some links to check out on your own time. Early in our yoga practice together this morning, Kimberly reminded me of a little piece of wisdom I needed to hear- we all want peace, and when we have it, live it, we affect others around us. It’s a gift and it’s contagious.
See if this happens in your life- your emotional state gets matched by those around you. If you’re agitated, how long before those around you are too? I practice this consciously at work, because people come to me in pain and carrying frustration or disappointment about their bodies not co-operating well. I need to offer a calm presence otherwise together we would feed that frustrated, disappointed state.
Check out these links, if you’re interested:
Harvard Medical Article on Benefits of Yoga for Anxiety and Depression
An e-course on how to meditate
Spring into Exercise!
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | General | No Comments
Spring is truly here …
Does your activity level need a boost before summer hits? Did you hunker down hard this past winter choosing the couch over getting outside for walks in the ice & snow?
Here is a spring remedy that will inject some energy and maybe a little more fun into your life. How’s that? With a 7-day plan of “fast breaks” of activity! A mere 30 minutes a day of active living has been documented to increase your energy levels by 65%, reduce fatigue, make you sleep better and improve your memory to name but a few perks.
But what if exercise isn’t “your thing”, you might ask. I admit I’ve been an avid exerciser since elementary school. To this day, I find myself getting irritable when I haven’t exercised for a day or two. But I have subsequently learnt that not everyone feels the same way about exercise. My roommate is an example of someone who was happy with a fairly sedentary life. That is up until last week when he joined The 30 Day Exercise Challenge. He was previously quoted as saying “exercise kills”, jokingly of course. He’s now committed to riding his BMX around Brackendale whenever he needs to do local errands. We are 7 days into the Challenge and he’s doing well aside from some sore leg and neck muscles. While I have lots of faith in his endeavor, it’s early on in the Challenge and like New Years Resolutions, “all or nothing” approaches are not often successful.
I offer you exercise is “small bite size” amounts that add up to a more energized and hopefully happier YOU!
Here’s a 7-day plan to enable you to move MORE. This will NOT turn you into an athlete, it will simply have you moving more on a daily basis, helping to create a healthy habit of exercise. Before you know it though, you may get hooked and actually take on more but for right now, it’s about starting small to avoid blowouts and throwing in the towel on day 2!
Creating a new habit isn’t easy. It requires positive past experience and enough repetition that it becomes automatic. So let this be a jumping off point for you:
Sunday: This is from the RealAge.com website….do you know which hobby has probably added years to the longest-lived people in the world? It’s gardening. Okinawans — whose men typically live to age 78, women to age 86 — have a long tradition of working with soil. The benefits of gardening reach body and soul! Get out in your backyard, do ten minutes of raking, pull weeds of another ten minutes and then 10 minutes of stretching! The hard part about this? Stopping after the ten minutes of raking or pulling. Who can resist all the rest of the work needing doing? YOU. Pacing is important. Pass the rack on to your spouse, child, neighbor… Remember to be kind to your body, you’ll be grateful tomorrow. Don’t have a yard, do some spring cleaning: Pick a room, set a timer and stop after 20 minutes. Stretch for ten minutes. Voila! First day down, 6 to go.
Monday: Clear out the living room, pop in a DVD from the library or download something from iTunes or NetFlix and move in your own living room. Sparkpeople.com sells a Cardio Blast DVD that features 6 different 10-minute workout routines that can be done at home. Click here to find out more about it. Maybe you have a great playlist. Pull the curtains closed and dance to those hits of the 80’s that bring back fond memories. Or if there’s a good morning show to put in the background, get two plastic milk jugs out of the recycling bin, fill them with some water (1 litre is roughly 2 pounds). After marching on the spot for 1-2 minutes to warm up, do a set of squats, maybe some biceps curls, lie down and pretend you are bench pressing, get up and do some lunges. Drop the water. March on the spot for another 1-2 minutes. Repeat the four exercises. Stretch for 5 minutes and you’ve just done roughly 25 minutes of exercise. A study conducted at Boston Sports Clubs found that participants who did 20-30 minutes of exercise were more consistent than those who did workouts lasting 45-60 minutes. Congratulations!
Tuesday: Get outside with runners on and headphones plugged in- bring along a good upbeat soundtrack. Several websites create playlists that have beats conducive to getting a fast walking pace going. Find walking boring. Borrow someone’s GPS and go geo-caching. Squamish area has several of these, some will be under the 30 minutes to find. Adds an element of adventure to a “daily walk”. Check out an earlier post this week describing geocaching. There’s a map of the local caches at the bottom too.
Wednesday: Clip a pedometer to your waist band and just aim for 10,000 steps in a day- this is the recommended amount for good health. It’s a great tool to see what an average day is like for you. Then you can make a small effort to increase the previous day’s number by 500 steps at a time. Be prepared to invest in new shoes shortly though, you may be hooked! Order yours through our online store and pick it up at either the Downtown or the Highlands locations.
Thursday: Meet a friend or co-worker who’s lunch hour coincides with yours and see how much of your local ‘hood you can cover in 20 minutes. Once back at your desk, take two 5 minute breaks, maybe while talking on the phone with a headset on, to stretch your wrists, shoulders, neck and facial muscles, especially if you work at a desk all day long! Visit this link for “office appropriate stretches”.
Friday: Pick up a yoga schedule at any one of the 4 studios (click here for Bodyvine Yoga’s current schedule) or 3 gyms in town and find a time you can attend. If you’re a complete beginner, choose a restorative class. Don’t let intimidation stop you from attending. While yogi’s are bendy, they don’t expect YOU to be. Honor your body, start slow. Pretend you are the only one in class aside from the instructor so that you don’t compare yourself to the person next to you. Don’t want to be inside today? Take a dog from the Pound out for a walk.
Saturday: Schedule an “exercise date” with someone special. Instead of dinner and a movie, pack a snack, hike to a beautiful viewpoint or out on the Spit and watch kiteboarders. Walk to Brennan Park to watch or join friends playing ball. Ride you bike along the myriad of local trails.
It may help to think of exercise as “me” time. Make ten minute appointments with yourself to nurture your spirit. If you’re afraid you’ll get hurt, get some outside help from a personal trainer, physiotherapist or chiropractor but don’t let that be your excuse!
Still don’t think you can do it? Get support. Many communities exist online and offline. Be resourceful and reach out. You will be rewarded.
Sue Shalanski has been practicing physiotherapy in Squamish for over ten years. Her clinic, Reach Physio Solutions, runs 30 Day Exercise Challenges to support people who want to create a healthy habit of daily exercise, just 30 minutes a day. Visit reachphysio.com or join our fan page on Facebook by looking up “Reach Physio” to find out about future events.
How hard am I working?
Monday, April 6th, 2009 | 30 Day Challenge | No Comments
An Overview by Erica Otto
Click on the image to go to Erica's Website
Exercise intensity can be gauged based on this simple equation:
220- (minus) your age gives you a fairly accurate estimate of your maximum heart rate.
Heart rate is used as a benchmark in determining exercise intensity because as the exercise gets more difficult, the heart has to provide the working muscles with more blood, which means the heart has to pump faster. Working at a maximum intensity is very uncomfortable to exercise at and is most suitable for athletes. For the general population, a healthy exercises range is 60-80% of you maximum heart rate. To find this rate, take your max heart rate and multiply it by .6 and .8 respectively to get your exercise range.
Your exercise range can be further broken down into moderate and vigorous zones. If you are looking to improve your cardiovascular fitness over time, then incorporating small bouts of vigorous physical activity into your daily routine can help. Start small; 2 minutes and work up. As you become more fit, it will take more intense exercise to get you in the vigorous zone. Eventually you will be able to enjoy more vigorous physical activity pursuits.
There are several ways to know what intensity you are working at: the heart rate equation, and/or how you feel. Moderate exercise is characterized by an increased heart rate, increased rate of breathing, mild sweating and the ability to carry on a conversation while exercising. If you find you cannot carry on a conversation, then you are working too hard. You can also use a scale from 1 to 10. If the exercise you are doing feels like a 6-7 then you are in the moderate zone.
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